Morality || Bonten Timeline x Reader || UNDER MAJOR EDITING

29

"Why am I here?" You groaned, laying upside down on Mikey's couch.

He had called you to his office two hours earlier and had said nothing but didn't allow you to leave as he leafed through papers on his desk.

"It feels like I got my medical degree for no reason. Do you know how hard I worked for it?" You rambled on, swinging your arms so your fingertips would brush against the floor. "I want to go outside. I miss civilisation."

Mikey, who had done no work in the past two hours as he was busy listening to your whining, had the slightest hint of a smile decorating his porcelain face.

"And Sanzu's back to acting like he's got a stick up his butt, the stupid, crusty, cotton candy cockroach.  And here I was thinking that he had had character development." You got up with a groan and looked out the window. "Man I'd kill to go outside right now. Actually I'd settle for some bubble tea. I'm hungry."

Your childish whining amused Mikey. It was a side he hadn't seen of you yet and he thought it to be a little cute.

"Can we go out or something?" You asked.

"No." The immediate response.

"Can I go with Mochi or Rindou?" You tried.

"No. They're not here."

"Kakucho? Or even Koko," You slumped over his desk to look at him.

"No one else is here. Just us and the underlings." He sighed, scribbling on a piece of paper.

"If you let me go with the underlings I'll be well behaved. I won't even try to escape." You bargained, rolling a pen back and forth on the desk.

"I don't trust them." He answered shortly.

With a groan you tried again, "Then can we order delivery bubble tea?"

"No it's too easy to be tampered with." Mikey flipped through his papers.

"Then can we get someone to get the ingredients to make some?"  You pleaded, inching closer to his field of view. "Please? Everything comes in sealed packets nowadays."

He looked down at you, staring long and hard before sighing. "Write what you need down." And he slid you over a piece of paper.

You nodded and wrote down the ingredients you knew you didn't have. And some other things. "Thank you." You smiled and patted his head.

He just nodded and called up an underling who took the piece of paper from him with a curt nod.

"Thank you!" You called after him.

And so then you waited. You passed the time by staring out the glass walls of Mikey's office, at the little people getting in their little toy cars. About an hour later, the underling was back with three bags of groceries.

"Oh sorry, I didn't think it'd be that much." You tried taking them from him, but he simply shook his head.

"Upstairs, to the living quarters." Mikey commanded as he stood up and followed after.

The elevator ride was tense and you almost sighed in relief when the grunt left the room, shooting you a small smile.

Mikey visibly relaxed as he sat at the counter and watched you unpack the groceries. You put some music on to listen to as you worked, humming along cheerily.

You quickly washed some strawberries and took the leaves off, placing them in a small porcelain dish for Mikey to eat.

He watched as you prepped the ingredients, brewing the tea before putting it in the fridge then moving on to make the pearls.

You had just cooked the tapioca dough and were rolling it out carefully as it was still hot when you noticed Mikey had finished his strawberries.

"Want some more?" You asked, pointing to the dish.

He shook his head and got up, taking the bowl and washing it up before standing behind you, head over your shoulder. It was awkward, him watching you so closely so eventually you asked if he wanted to help.

"Can I?" He whispered. You smiled and nodded, stepping to the side to make space.

"Wash your hands and dry them first, then help me roll it into little balls," You instructed and he quickly did as you said, standing beside you with his hands held out awkwardly. You sprinkled some of the tapioca flour over his hands and he began copying you as you sectioned off tiny portions of dough and then rolled them into balls.

"I'm guessing I'm not going to be able to see my brother for a bit, huh?" You asked after a while.

"Probably not. We're already on high alert because of Hanma." Mikey replied.

You spoke with an amused sigh, "Always had a flair for dramatics he did."

"I thought you two weren't close."

"Hey to be fair, I was scared you were going to kill me because you thought I was part of Kurahikari. So revealing that Hanma and I were, well, friends," You cringed as you spoke, "Would've basically been suicide."

"So what is the extent of the relationship?" Mikey questioned, eating a chunk of the dough. "Ooh. Sugary."

"Well," you slapped his hand lightly, "We met when I was about sixteen, he stumbled into my apartment after being stabbed in the shoulder and sustaining head injuries and a torn muscle in his left calf and begged me to patch him up. From then on, he kept coming around and bothering me."

"And?"

"Well, we became friends. He told me a little bit about the whole gang wars stuff you all had going on as kids and wow y'all were crazy."

Mikey shot you a look. "You spent two years in an asylum."

"A mental health institution. And for your information it wasn't that bad." You spoke with an informative tone, poking his cheek and leaving a fingerprint of flour.

"Yeah?" He asked, rubbing his cheek.

"I mean, sure it wasn't great but it wasn't the worst. I met some nice people there who will probably stay there but it wasn't that bad." You thought back to those two years, "I spent a lot of time studying and they let us do courses in our time there. Well I did because I wasn't actually insane."

"So why didn't you go to juvie?" He watched as you got a pot of boiling water ready.

"I don't actually know. I think the judge chalked it up to mental trauma and stuff. Mrs Baji testified too, so that was really nice of her and I think she had a big play in it, you know, being a social worker and all."

"Baji's mom?" Mikey's eyes widened slightly.

"Yeah, she took care of me for, well, most of my teenage years before she passed away." You spoke solemnly and fondly of the young mother. "Lovely woman. She hated Hanma though. Would run him out the house with a broomstick if he got near." You recalled with a smile.

Mikey sat back down at the counter and watched you, his head in his hands. You spoke so lovingly of the people you held dear to you and it made him a little envious.

"How'd she die?" He asked eventually.

"She got sick. And she gave up, she stopped trying to live." You whispered, looking out at the afternoon sky, a few clouds drifting by. "It broke me so much more than I ever thought it could. But at least Hanma was there."

"Oh." Mikey muttered. You turned and flashed him a sad smile.

"Everyone suffers. But we can choose to succumb to the pain or to come out stronger than before." You poured the pearls into the water, stepping back so it wouldn't splash you.

Mikey felt his eyebrows crease. The dim world he had grown accustomed to seeing lit up for a moment as you were in view. Then his lashes swept down and everything was back to the monotonous colors, dull and bleak.

"(N/n)." He called. You turned with a look of confusion. "(N/n)." He called again. You watched as he stood up and wrapped his arms around your waist, burying his face in your hair. "Save me." His whispered cry for help made shivers run down your spine as you wrapped your arms around his thin frame.

"I'll do my best, Manjiro."