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lilac-gold · 7 months

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Hiding an injury

AI-less Whumptober: Day 4 Hiding an injury | Betrayal | Lying @ailesswhumptober

Fandom: OMORI Rating: Teen Word Count: 1730 Summary: Mari’s supposed to be perfect, not go running for help. Hero’s got enough of her worries on his plate without her bad knee too. AO3 LINK

Mari loved being active, playing softball especially. The adrenaline kick it gave her made her feel like she could do anything, Mari always feeling especially good after a game. Besides, it gave her something to focus on that wasn’t her schoolwork, and she enjoyed the competition. She was a perfectionist with a high drive to succeed, and that meant that she put a whole lot of effort into playing.

So, when Mari injured her knee, she was devastated she wasn’t allowed to keep playing. It was sprained, so she had to wear a brace. Apparently, she’d ‘torn her anterior cruciate ligament’ during a match. Mari wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but she knew it was bad.

It had hurt a lot when she first sprained it. She’d felt and heard a sickening pop, crashing to the floor as her legs failed to support her. Her knee buckled painfully beneath her when she tried to stand again, white-hot agony lacing through her entire leg. She’d been rushed to a hospital, given a diagnosis and some stretches to do, and strictly ordered not to play any sports for at least a month.

So she didn’t. And Mari felt useless.

She missed the rush of running, missed being able to carry Sunny around on her back without everyone fussing over her. She rushed the exercises she was given, doing them three times more than advised to in the hope that it would hasten her recovery further. Mari had to be perfect, and that wasn’t possible with a bad knee! It limited her far too much.

It was embarrassing, sitting out of gym lessons with the feeble excuse of a knee brace. Even as Hero lamented about how he wished he could sit at the side with her, Mari remained completely dissatisfied with her predicament. As soon as she got home, it was always ‘ooh, Mari, how’s your knee?’ or ‘Mari, make sure you’re taking it easy on that bad knee!’ or ‘be careful, Mari, remember you’ve got a sprained knee’. She was sick of being treated like she was made of glass. Mari was strong. Mari was capable. Mari was perfect.

And that meant that when it began to hurt a little more than usual, Mari said nothing.

It throbbed when she went upstairs, ached when she stayed sat in one position for too long, twanged unpleasantly whenever she stood up. But it was nothing she couldn’t handle! Mari was perfect after all, and would be fourteen in a month. She didn’t need coddling like a baby.

She went out with Hero one day to Gino’s, assuring him that she was completely fine. It was sweet that Hero was so worried about her, but it really wasn’t necessary. Her injury was minor. The constant fretting honestly bothered her more than the wound itself, and Mari was able to mask her grimace of pain quite well as she sat at one of the tables. She’d left her brace at home, put-out by the reminder it posed of her injury and figuring that it must have healed enough by that point that she could just leave the device at home. The grinding feeling that arose when she took her seat wasn’t exactly reassuring, but Mari ignored it steadfastly, clenching her fist under the table.

“I’ll go order food. You’d like a margherita pizza, right? No pepperoni?” Hero checked, fumbling through his pockets for his wallet.

“You got it,” Mari laughed. She didn’t much like pepperoni, it was too spicy for her tastes– and, in her opinion, vegetables had no place on a pizza. So, she stuck to cheese, and enjoyed it, no matter how plain her younger friends (especially Kel, who put the strangest toppings imaginable on his own) sometimes claimed her pizzas were. “Don’t worry, Hero, I’ll pay for mine.”

Hero shook his head. “I insist.”

“Thank you,” Mari smiled at him, enjoying the way his face quickly grew pinker. Unable to resist, she added on teasingly, “you’re a true gentleman, Hero.”

“Ah– um, yes, of course– I…” Hero fumbled, the pink shifting to a more red colour. Mari stifled a laugh. Hero looked rather like a tomato. “It’s no problem.”

And he hurried off to the till, practically leaving a trail of steam behind him. Mari shivered slightly. Despite the internal heating at Gino’s, it was still a very chilly February day, and every time the door opened, a frosty draught blew in. Hero soon returned with the pizzas, Mari eagerly taking a bite of her own then recoiling, wincing as the pizza burnt her tongue.

“Too hot?” Hero guessed, then grimaced sympathetically at her nod before placing his sandwich on the table. “It’s all good, we can wait for a little while first.”

“You can start, Hero, I really don’t mind,” she assured him, touched.

“The point of this is that we eat together, Mari, and it’s not exactly like my sandwich’s going to go cold, hah. Besides, I like talking with you,” he grinned sincerely at her, and that time, it was Mari who flushed, tugging at her coat sleeves.

“I like talking with you too,” She responded brightly, then quickly changed the subject. “What did Gino think of you ordering a Hero sandwich again?”

“I think he’s given up on trying to convince me now,” Hero rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “He just… Looks a little constipated whenever I ask. His face scrunches up, it’s like I’ve told him his great aunt just passed away.”

Mari giggled. “I don’t know why he still keeps it on the menu.”

Hero shrugged helplessly. “I’m not sure if he knows how to print a new one.”

A smile still wide across her face, as was always the case when she was with Hero, Mari cautiously took another bite of her pizza. Now, it was just the right temperature, warm against her tongue without hurting in the slightest. The bit she’d burnt before smarted a little, but it was ignored easily enough. She opened her mouth to continue their conversation–

And had to suppress a gasp when the door swung open again, chilly draught going straight to her knee. Quietly as she could, she inhaled through her teeth, feeling a sharp spike of pain under her skin.

“Mari?” Hero said uncertainly, and Mari jumped. He must have noticed her tightened expression, because his eyebrows had knitted in concern. Darn it. “Are you okay? Is your knee hurting again?”

“It’s fine!” She blurted out quickly– a little too quickly, perhaps, if the doubt in Hero’s worried eyes was anything to go by. “I’m okay.”

Hero didn’t look convinced, but there wasn’t really much he could do to argue with her. He handled so much, all the time. Whenever there was a possibility he could help with something, Hero offered his assistance, and never once complained when given tasks that shouldn’t be his responsibility. Mari admired how selfless he was, but Hero (a little like herself) had a tendency to take on too much at once. He didn’t need her knee on top of his preexisting worries. That was Mari’s problem, not his.

He was always there to listen, always there to help. But Mari had piled enough of her worries onto him anyway, it wasn’t fair to force him to carry this too. Mari was strong. Mari could handle this herself.

They finished their food, and began walking around Faraway. With each bend of her knee, that grinding feeling began again, Mari feeling nausea well within her at the feeling of her bones rubbing together. When they finally reached the park, she readily sat down on a bench, unconsciously stretching her knee out and sighing in relief.

She turned to look at Hero with a relaxed smile, expecting to be met with his signature charming grin, only for her stomach to sink at Hero’s stricken face.

“...Where’s your brace, Mari?” He asked warily, carefully scanning her knee.

Shoot. Maybe she should have brought the brace after all.

“It’s um… At home,” Mari winced at Hero’s alarmed expression. “What?! Why? Is it broken? You should have told me! We didn’t have to go out today,” Hero said, clearly upset. Mari felt shame curl in her stomach.

“No, no, I’m fine!” Mari assured him. To prove her point, she tried standing up. “See?”

It was fine for a moment, Mari able to support her weight and hiding her grimace at that creaking feeling once again.

Then, her knee collapsed in on itself again, and she crumpled to the floor. Hero dived forward, catching her before she could hit the concrete and graze her skin, panic painted clear as day across his face. Mari’s knee throbbed, feeling swollen and sore.

“...Okay, I might need some help,” she admitted softly, turning away a little.

Hero’s jaw set, face hardening in determination. And, much to Mari’s surprise, he lifted her straight off of the ground. She gasped, eyebrows raising as a blush spread across her face.

“H-Hero–” She exclaimed, instinctively wrapping her arms around his neck. “I thought you weren’t strong enough to do this sort of thing!”

He grinned bashfully. “You carry a guy’s fridge enough times and it gets easy to pick up a Mari.”

He began walking, making a beeline for their houses. Mari was a little disappointed, having been thoroughly enjoying their outing (sans the pain). Still, this was necessary, and she had to admit that she did need a little help, lest her knee fail to support her again. That was the only reason she let Hero carry her home. The only one. Definitely.

He was very careful with her leg, trying his best not to jostle her as he walked, each step careful and purposeful. Soon, they arrived at her house, and Hero laid her down on her couch. Mari tried to hide both her disappointment and the hiss of pain at the change of positions.

“I’ll go find your brace and your mom,” Hero told her, knowing her dad worked on Sundays and she wouldn’t want him involved in this anyway. For all he cared about her, he could be a little… Overprotective at times. “I’ll be back in a minute!”

And as she laid back on the couch, waiting for Hero’s return, Mari considered that maybe, just maybe, asking for help wasn’t quite as mortifying as she’d first thought.

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