Chapter Text
When Nina wakes up, Tenma is no longer holding her in his arms.
She's scared at first when her eyes open - she doesn't remember having a second nightmare that night, yet the fear inside of her isn't about that, it's about the idea that Tenma could have left her. She tries to listen carefully - the surroundings, everything around herself, she tries to hear any sign of him being there. And she's so glad when she hears the TV playing, knowing that she didn't leave it on the previous night.
'He's still here', she thinks to herself.
Nina removes the bedsheets from her body and quickly gets up, putting on her house slippers to go to the living room. Tenma greets her with a smile once she opens the door of her bedroom, and it's like last night hasn't even happened. It's scary to Nina that she let herself get that needy - she shouldn't have crossed the line and made him sleep in the same bed as her, his arms around her body, his chest pressing to her spine. She shudders at the thought of what she allowed to happen. But she's glad that Tenma doesn't seem to look disgusted or afraid of her, hell, he looks as if he hasn't seen her in years, decades, there's a look of longing in his eyes.
Nina doesn't see that.
She walks over to him, her slippers barely making a noise when they hit the floor. It's a like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders, from her heart, yet there's still some tremendous tragedy, threatening to unravel itself inside of her. Nina tries to be careful, she tries not to blush or smile too much when she sees Tenma looking at her carefully, studying her expression.
"You okay?" It's like he senses the dilemma in her mind - and he's quick to mention it. Nina isn't caught too off-guard, but she still doesn't appreciate that he can read her that well. But Nina can't do anything but be appreciative that he's attentive, that he's looking at her, as if under a microscope.
"Yeah, I..." Tenma doesn't let her finish her words, he knows what she's gonna say.
"I'm glad." Nina shakes her head at him and he looks at her with a questioning glance.
"I'm sorry about last night." Tenma stares at her, a sad expression suddenly taking over his features. Nina feels bad, being the one to cause him to furrow his brows, curve his lips down slightly lower, his eyes closing just by a mere millimetre or two.
"What?" She looks down to the floor, not wanting to look at Tenma's face. She doesn't wanna know if he'll find her repulsive after the previous night.
"About what happened." Nina finishes her words, and when she hears Tenma clearing his throat, she looks up to meet his face. He looks a bit defeated, yet the smile comes back to him.
"You don't have to apologize, Nina." She stares at him in near-shock. His words catch her off-guard, and they make her stutter out a response.
"But... I woke you up, and-"
"It's alright. I know what you mean. I did that out of my own will." Tenma walks over to her, he looks at her with an expression that Nina can't read and he pats her on the head. Somehow, it makes her feel like a kid. It's like the barrier between them is back. And it's only the first day.
Nina feels content with that.
-
On the first day after his official return, they just sit at home and relax.
Tenma's turned the TV on, switching through different channels every twenty minutes. Nina happily sits on the couch beside him and she watches whatever crap is being broadcast. It could be the news, a stupid sports show, but she still watches with delight because he's there - he's back, but he's back specifically next to her. It makes her feel superb. They discuss music awards on some channels, on others they talk about political situations. To Nina, it doesn't matter. Tenma is the only thing that can cross her mind and fill her head with thoughts.
Nina is the one to make breakfast - she makes some avocado toast for the both of them, putting more salt and herbs on Tenma's. She knows that he likes his food to be on the more savoury side, not on the neutral, lightly bland one. She makes hers plain, because she doesn't care for what she's consuming. As long as she can make Tenma happy and please him with whatever it may be, it made her feel better. It's not like she wants to focus on eating, especially not when Tenma is here. There's a side of her that literally wishes she could starve herself to death, so that she can let this man see her utmost vulnerable, worse than the previous night.
Tenma makes lunch, and he makes a simple caesar salad for the both of them. The proportions are big enough for more people, hell, a literal buffet is what he's managed to make, but he does so because he notices Nina barely eating during breakfast. It may have been because she woke up at nearly midday, yet to him, that's no excuse to starve and throw food away. He finished her avocado toast when she refused to eat more, but now, he was adamant that she should eat.
"This time, you're gonna finish your meal, I hope?" Tenma looks at her when he's finished with his food. She's barely made a dent in the portion.
"Of course! I just wasn't really hungry when I woke up. That's why I didn't eat the toast." He looks at her in an odd way, noticing the way that she's trying to look away from him.
"Okay, I'm taking your word for it then." Nina nods and goes back to eating. He sneaks glances her way as they watch the TV, looking to see if she's actually gonna eat. And she does. Tenma's glad at the sight, yet he still watches over her, looking at her for a mere second once in a while.
Nina eats the entire bowl of salad only because Tenma's made it. She wants to appreciate his efforts.
--
On the second day of his return, Nina has to go to the library to grab some books for her last exam. She has to take it in two days, which deeply upsets her. It's not the fact that she has to study - because she loves to spend time learning new things and practicing for her future job, but it's tiring. Specifically now, when she wants to focus on being as close to Tenma as possible. And she has to spend two days, mindlessly repeating different codices, laws, political aspects of law and justice systems. It's boring and mundane to do so, especially when the one man she can't stop thinking about has come to Germany to visit her.
She meets some of her fellow students at the law school's library, for which she isn't grateful or excited.
"How've you been?" One of them asks her.
Nina feels a pit at the bottom of her stomach. What the hell is she supposed to respond with? She hasn't shown up to one professor's lectures in the last month, she's barely appeared in the other one's. The other students probably have either forgotten about her, or they've thought that she's either quitting or gotten sick with something. 'I've been a bit under the weather' would be a ridiculous response, considering that many of the others also weren't doing too-too well, yet they still attended lectures.
"I've been busy with some family stuff." Nina answers, and she hopes that the conversation ends there.
It doesn't.
"I would've thought that you had met some man that you'd fallen head over heels for, and just ditched all of us!" It catches her by surprise, completely stopping her in her tracks. The expression she had on her face flickers for a split second to one of shock and disdain, but she quickly fakes it with a laugh and a smile on her lips. Her lip gloss shines with the sunlight as she answers.
"Haha, really?" Nina is glad that these people can't read her as easy as Tenma does, because if they could, they'd see through her lies in an instant.
"Someone even made up a rumour that you were quitting because of this imaginary fellow." Her expression flickers once more, with something akin to both disappointment and anger. Who the fuck could that be? She didn't care. All she cared about was getting back home to Tenma. Nina quickly makes up a dumb response and finally, her hope is rewarded. The conversation ends with her words.
"That's silly, I would never do that!"
Yet here she was.
---
On the third day of his return, Nina is busy studying, so Tenma offers to do the chores. She has only this day to study for her exam, and she chooses to at least do it once and for all. It's her last exam for the season and the things she has to study for it aren't something too difficult to grasp. At first, she's baffled by Tenma's proposition. She stares at him as if he were a madman, and she looks him up and down. Maybe he's hit his head somewhere? Why would he even be offering to do chores for her? He needs to rest as much as he can before he has to return to his 'stupid' (because it takes him away from her) job.
"I can see how focused you are, come on, Nina." Tenma takes into account the possibility of her failing her exam in case she doesn't study enough, but Nina is quick to contradict his ideas of doing work around her home.
"You're kidding, right? You have a month off and then you have work again. You need to use this time to relax..." He refuses her futile attempts at discouraging him, and Nina feels like she wants to bash her head into the table. Again, she's the reason why he's so pressured and keen on doing something.
"Listen, it's not like I'm gonna melt from doing this, or suddenly become unable to work."
"But still!" Tenma smiles at her, one hand waving a non-verbal 'not on my watch', while the other holds the vacuum cleaner.
"Just focus on studying, alright?" Finally semi-accepting defeat, Nina lets out a sigh and turns her head to the books in her lap.
Tenma first vacuums around the apartment. He starts with the living room, so that it can be done first and Nina can study there, then he moves on to cleaning the windows. Once he's done with that, he takes the vacuum cleaner and moves to her bedroom. It feels like he's somehow invading her privacy, even though he's technically not. She's allowed him to do this, so clearly, she isn't afraid of him seeing her belongings. Her room is nicely decorated, with the desk and the shelves being very well-cleaned already. There isn't anything akin to a mess anywhere in her room - it's like she's obsessed with keeping it tidy for some reason. Everything is in perfect order, even her books. They're ordered by the alphabet, starting from A to Z. Tenma notices it, and he doesn't pay too much mind to it. He quickly vacuums around the room and goes out to get food for dinner.
When he's back, Nina has fallen asleep on the couch, her head and hands resting atop the table in the living room. He smiles at the sight, almost as if by instinct. He feels a rush of euphoria at the sight of her calmness, because it's the most calm he's seen her since he's arrived. There's no sight of that terrified woman in his arms, thrashing and screaming, anymore. She's peaceful, calamities being driven away by her sound sleeping.
He places the dinner preparations on the kitchen counter, having purchased some steak to cook for her. Tenma hopes that it'll be a good surprise when she wakes up.
----
On the fourth day of his return, Nina is taking her exam.
She's studied enough to at least pass with a good score. While she's in the exam room, Tenma chooses that it's a good time to visit Reichwein and Dieter. They meet at the city centre and they talk about countless things - how Reichwein has been doing, has he been feeling well, has Dieter been acting like a good kid or has he been stirring up trouble for the man. They eat some hotdogs that they purchase from a stall two blocks down and they sit down on a bench at the local park.
"Tenma, has anyone flirted with you recently?" He nearly spits out the hotdog at what he hears, and he stares at the kid.
"What the...Dieter, where is this coming from?" The parental instinct he's developed for this kid is scary, because he's began to feel like he's his actual father now. Tenma secretly wonders how Nina would look as Dieter's mother, picking him up from school in the future, going to the parents' conferences at the schools.
Reichwein slaps himself jokingly, almost knocking his own glasses down to the ground. He shushes Dieter by pointing to the hotdog in his hand, urging him to eat his food before it gets cold.
"He overheard me talking to Nina a month or two ago. She talked about some guy from the university. Dieter, since then, has been asking me 24/7 if you're going to bring a woman home once you return, doctor." And the older man stares at Tenma, as if awaiting some alien response, something odd. He's aware that Tenma hasn't spoken about any women over the phone, yet it's like he's curious.
"Oh, he's become noisy. What's up with that, Dieter?" Tenma smirks and pinches Dieter's nose, making him gasp.
"I was just curious!" The kid smiles innocently, as if he's not always being mischievous in some way or another.
"Well, what did Nina talk about?"
"You're being noisy!"
"Shh, Dieter, just tell me. I'll buy you sticker packs if you tell me."
"You're bribing the kid?"
"Well, I heard that he's popular, and that he really likes her. He kept flirting with her, I think, I heard her say something like that!"
Tenma feels like he's losing his footing.
He ignores what he's heard. He buys Dieter a few sticker packs before he leaves to return to Nina's place.
-----
On the fifth day, nothing happens until the night.
They have a simple meal together for lunch, Nina skipping breakfast, just like the previous day. They talk over lunch and dinner, during the former they discuss how her exam went. Nina explains how some of the questions caught her off-guard, meaning that she wouldn't have a 100% score, but she didn't seem to care much, at least that's how it looked to Tenma. During dinner, they discuss what Nina plans to do in the future. She says that she isn't too sure herself, there's still time to think about it. Tenma nods at anything she says - he feels a familiarity, one that reminds him of how he was, years ago. He'd never realized he wanted to be a neurosurgeon at first, but it's not like he still has the same type of job.
When they're cleaning up the table, their hands touch by accident. Tenma doesn't blush or budge, but he notices the way that Nina lets out an incredibly quiet sigh that he almost doesn't catch. He does, however, catch the way her cheeks reddened slightly.
Neither of them speak about it.
------
On the sixth day, they go to a restaurant.
It's a fancy one, and Tenma's chosen to take Nina out to eat. She finds it suspicious, peculiar even. Why would he be doing this for her?
She still chooses to dress to the best of her abilities, finding one of her favourite dresses. She hasn't worn it in ages, but god, it's stunning. And now that so much time had passed since she'd even bought it or worn it - it's like her curves are more visible now than they were years ago. She puts on some thigh-high stockings and she puts her nicest pair of heels on. She doesn't even wear a bra - she's being risky, but there's a strange thrill inside of her. Her nipples aren't quite visible through the fabric of the dress, and she doesn't even care if they are.
It's like a strange confidence has washed over her, a calamity threatening to wreck what's between her and Tenma. The yellow satin covers her body, and she sees the way in which Tenma looks at her. She catches his eye, but Nina can't tell if his feelings are beginning to change, or if he still sees her as a mere friend. He opens the door of the taxi for her, he holds her hand and helps her get out.
"You look great, Nina." Tenma smiles as they sit down at their table, the waiter bringing over two menus for them. They offer complementary water, and Tenma nods to it. Once the waiter leaves, Nina replies.
"Hehe, thank you... I tried my best to look a bit more fancy." She blushes at his compliment and she fixes her shoulder straps.
"I mean, you beat me in this category for sure. I look like I'm going to the store." Tenma keeps his joking manner up, like a defence mechanism against his own feelings. If he doesn't act like an idiot, he feels like he's gonna accidentally tell her that he wants to eat her cunt out under the table.
"Hey, don't say that. I like what you're wearing." Nina smiles at him, and Tenma notices the dim flame in her eyes. It's like she's also thinking of something concerning, yet he can't prove it.
But he knows that he'll never be what she's thinking of in that way.
_______
On the seventh day, nothing happens between them.
They go shopping for lunch and dinner. Tenma buys a small bottle of wine to celebrate Nina's exams being over.
They drink and they go to sleep on the couch and on the bed respectively.
________
On the eight day, the summer heat catches up badly.
The temperature is concerningly high, and they choose to go out and grab ice cream.
Nina drags Tenma to the nearest corner store and they both look for something that's got a nice summery flavour, tropical or exotic fruits being the one thing they're searching for the most. Nina picks out a papaya flavoured popsicle, and Tenma picks out an ice cream sandwich with a white chocolate exterior and a lychee interior. Once they're out of the store, they look for a bench to sit on, preferably one under a big tree. When they find one, they rush to sit down and open up their ice creams.
Nina puts the popsicle in her mouth, and she sucks on it in silence. She doesn't pay attention to Tenma, even she doesn't know why, and she just stares at the summer sky, the clouds barely covering the scorching bright sun. There's so many thoughts rushing through her head, but they're mostly of Tenma. She's starting to imagine that he also loves her back, that maybe her feelings aren't being rejected. Yet there's still something she can't put her finger on, and that's why exactly Tenma would even want to be with her. She knows that she's probably imagining his reciprocation, so she just stares at the sky in utter quietude.
Tenma, on the other hand, is staring at her lips as the popsicle leaves her mouth and enters once again. Her lips become covered in the papaya flavoured ice, and his head begins to spiral. He wants to feel her lips on his cock, he wants to feel her lips on his own. He imagines how she would writhe in his embrace, he imagines the taste of her, god, he wants to feel her and to have a lick at her skin, her flesh. He wishes that this desire of his could be reciprocated, even if just for one night. He's not the type of man to go for such simple things like one-night sex, but if it was with Nina, he would crawl through scorching fire to taste her. Even one night would be enough.
Yet his hunger isn't satiated.
_________
On the ninth day, they run into the man that Dieter thought Nina was 'dating'.
Tenma and Nina go out to buy ingredients for their meals of the day, just like they've been doing for a while now. Yet, an unexpected visit catches both of them off-guard and it specifically affects Tenma, even though it shouldn't. The man looks at them, as if he's never met Nina in his life. Maybe it's the fact that he hasn't seen Tenma specifically alongside her. He's quite a good-looking fellow, taller than the average male, he's got broad shoulder, he's got a toned body from what's peeking through his gym clothes. It appears that they've ran into him while he's going to do what he clearly enjoys. Nina feels a sense of discomfort pooling in her loins, and she wants to run away from the scene, but by the time she pulls on Tenma's sleeve gently as if to say 'I want to leave', the man has already walked over to them.
"Hey, Nina. It's been a while. How've ya been, beautiful?" He smirks, fixing his hair up. He quickly throws a curious glance at Tenma and then looks back towards Nina, awaiting her response.
"I... I'm okay. You, Otto?" Tenma makes a mental note of the name, just in case he hears her talking about this man some time in the near future.
"Also doing good." Nina holds the bag with the ingredients, but Tenma taps the back of her palm with his fingers, asking if he can carry it instead. She offers it to Tenma and he takes it in his own hand, not wanting her to hold the heavy mass of everything they'd purchased.
"That's nice to hear..." A faint blush, not one of enjoyment or pleasure, but one of embarrassment, taints Nina's cheeks. Tenma notices it instantly.
"Who's this fellow with you?" Tenma wonders if he should respond instead of her - what is Nina even gonna say? Questions flood his mind, but he chooses to give her some peace and quiet so that she can answer by her own will.
"He is, uhm..." When she stutters, Otto attempts to stop her from pondering mindlessly by adding more to his words.
"Let me bet, this is the boyfriend everyone's been talking about?" The shock is evident on Nina's face, as if she hadn't heard about it from the girls days prior. Tenma pretends not to hear, choosing to stay as out of this as he can.
"Huh?!"
"The girls didn't tell you? That one rumour. About you and a prince charming, or whatever." Otto stares at Nina and chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Nina wonders what to respond with, and she's quick to do so when she musters out a few words.
"No... This man isn't my boyfriend, he's a good friend of mine." Tenma nods. Otto does so too, and he extends a hand towards him.
"I hoped that to be the case. Nice to meet ya, sir." They shake hands and Tenma offers a sincere smile of gratitude, in hopes that this conversation will be over.
"Nice to meet you as well."
"I better get going now, Nina. I'll write you an SMS once I get back to my place. See ya." Otto removes his hand from Tenma's and winks at Nina, finally starting to walk away. And it's a pleasure to Nina when she can finally say a 'goodbye' or something of the sort, because she didn't wish to see that man at all. She's tired of this flirting, the borderline catcalling when others aren't there. But she can't worry Tenma, not more than she already has, at the very least.
"Bye-bye!" Tenma looks over at Nina, noticing how she's still slightly blushing.
He ignores it and they go back to her apartment.
__________
On the tenth day, Nina masturbates in the shower while Tenma is making dinner for them in the kitchen. The water drips down her hair, trickling down her cheeks, jaw and neck, then it reaches her tits, the droplets cascading down to her stomach and then her thighs and her pussy. The medicinal smell of the shampoo in her hair reeks, it reminds her of the metallic scent of gunpowder and gauze covered with blood. She wants to feel Tenma's tongue at her folds, she wishes that she could feel his lips at her clit, she wishes that he could eat her out and make her cum.
The stench of shower gel and shampoo cling to the air like a leech drinking blood from its owner, and Nina can't help but put one of her hands to her mouth as she uses her other to stimulate herself closer to orgasm. She wants to focus all of her senses on the touches that she's delivering to her genitals, and she wants to only think of Tenma. Anything else would ruin it, it would completely drive her away from her climax. Tenma turns the TV on, and Nina swears that she can hear it through the water dripping down the shower head. She wishes that she could remove it and manually use it on her cunt, the water pressure could probably help her cum quicker, but it's sadly mounted to the wall.
The last ten days have been torture for her, for her body and for her soul. She feels like she's being toyed around with, and she can't explain why. Nina wonders if whatever Tenma has done for the past week and a half could be something akin to romantic, if he could be trying to express his own feelings, but she's overcome with a sense of dread that tells her that she's imagining things. Nina removes her hand from her mouth and uses it to make motions on her nipples, teasing all of her erogenous zones at once, both her chest and her lower half receiving stimuli.
It doesn't take long for her to cum, not when she's thinking of Tenma. It's become increasingly easier for her to cum ever since she started to think of him during masturbation, even if before that she could barely get herself to feel a bit of pleasure. It's like he was what was missing, it's like he's the piece of her puzzle that she needs to finally feel complete, physically and mentally.
Nina imagines Tenma being the one to take her virginity, and she cums as soon as she imagines his cock inside herself.
___________
On the eleventh day, Nina visits Reichwein's office while Tenma goes out to buy groceries and do the chores.
She leaves early in the morning by express train and she arrives not too long after lunch-time. When she arrives in front of his doorstep, he's waiting for her with open arms and a smile on his face. His glasses reflect her face, and she can see that she's smiling as well. Nina jumps into his hug, feeling like maybe being away from Tenma for just a small amount of time may refresh her mood. Reichwein has become like a grandfather to her, a guardian who she can trust with all her secrets. They move away from the front door and enter the house, sitting down at the kitchen table. Nina throws her bag somewhere on the sofa in the living room before sitting down.
"How've you been, doctor Reichwein?" Nina asks, her demeanour being perfectly normal, yet there's a peculiarity in it, in the way she's acting. She keeps on looking away at different objects, as if trying to distract herself.
"No need for the familiarities. You don't have to call me doctor, y'know, Nina?" Reichwein takes out a piece of black-forest cake from the fridge out, and he places it on the table in front of Nina. He goes to grab a fork and knife from the drawers, and he puts them next to her plate.
"I don't think I'll grow out of the habit soon." Nina chuckles, and it somehow makes Reichwein feel a bit safer, knowing that she hasn't lost herself after what she'd gone through in Ruhneheim.
"Well, that habit shouldn't be a worry of yours. If it makes you feel better, keep calling me doctor."
"Where is Dieter?" Nina's finished the slice of cake by now, and she chooses to start a conversation. She eyes the stairs for the upper floor when she notices Reichwein pointing there.
"He's asleep. Do you want me to go and wake him?" Reichwein gets a bit closer to her so he can get a closer look at her. He's noticing the signs already. Nina knew that this would happen, and she chooses not to drag Dieter into this mess if Reichwein starts discussing it.
"No, no need for that." Nina shakes her head with a fake, plastered-on smile, and she turns to look out the window.
Reichwein looks at her oddly, noticing her strange movements. She's trembling, but it isn't cold. Her eyes don't display the signs of fatigue such as microsaccades, yet she still attempts to look away from him or she tries desperately to look at the floor. Her fingers move haphazardly in her palms, completely restless.
"Do you want some tea?" To ease the mood, he quickly asks her a question, knowing she'll be fast to respond.
"Chamomile, if you have some. And if possible, can it be cold?" And Reichwein is right - Nina takes mere seconds to respond, as if she is aware of her surroundings. So what is troubling her so deeply?
"Of course. I'll make a teapot with chamomile tea then, and we can let it cool." Nina's smile is contagious, yet it's still fake - there is a fallacy within her, one that Reichwein thinks he's able to finally crack.
"Thank you so much." Her words of gratitude are cut off by Reichwein confessing what he's become a witness of.
"I can tell that something is going on."
"What?" Nina's head begins to whirr, the imaginary crossroads in her mind all filling up with piles of burning, broken, destroyed cars. She doesn't know how she let it get that obvious, but maybe she was just stupid and she hadn't been careful.
"You keep avoiding direct eye contact. You're fidgeting with your hands, your lip is trembling slightly. You're anxious about something. What is it?" At least Tenma hadn't seen those things, or at least he probably didn't pay attention that close, Nina doesn't feel as afraid as she would typically.
"I..."
"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine, but not only as a psychologist, but also as someone who cares for you a lot, I recommend that we discuss it."
"..."
"I think I can guess what it is."
"I'm in love with Tenma."
And he nods, to which Nina feels a strange quiet in her soul. She's not spiralling now, she feels safe in the presence of Reichwein. Because she knows that he'll keep her secret untold.
____________
On the twelfth day, Nina pretends to be sick.
Her love is slowly eating away at her, and she doesn't know how much more she has until she can't hold it inside herself anymore. She's already back at her own apartment, having taken the train right after her and Reichwein had lunch. Disturbing Dieter was something she hated to do, and when she was faced with waking him up versus letting him sleep soundly, she much more wanted him to get enough sleep.
Tenma worries for her. He looks through the cabinets in her apartment, trying his best to find medicaments that could work for headaches and just pain receptor-blocking ones, yet he isn't able to. It's not because there aren't - in fact, there are, they're just not in the cabinets where he's looking. Out of care, he quickly puts his everyday clothes on and rushes out the building, careful not to fall down the stairs in his hurry. He looks for the nearest pharmacy, and once he arrives, he quickly picks up the ones he would use for when he has headaches.
When Tenma returns, Nina pretends to be asleep in her bed. Tenma quietly opens up the door to her bedroom and he looks at her - he sees her laying there in peace, and he smiles. Nina can't see his face, because she's not only closed her eyes, but she's also facing away from the bedroom door.
"I'll just place these here..." Tenma whispers, and Nina hears him. Her pretending has made her feel sleepy, and once she hears Tenma leave the room, she laughs quietly to herself. A few minutes later, and she actually takes a much-needed nap.
Once she wakes up and sees the meds, Nina walks over to Tenma in the living room and asks him why he's spent money on her once again.
"You were in pain. I don't like seeing that. And you don't seem to have medications for headaches in your supplies, so they're also in case of a future situation."
"But Tenma, this stuff is expensive-"
"Shh. I don't mind paying when it's for things about you. I told you already, no?"
And Nina shuts up. She goes back to her room, lays down on the bed, and quietly cries. She thinks she has ruined this man.
_____________
On the thirteenth day, Reichwein calls Tenma while Nina is asleep. It's early in the morning, but Reichwein begins to suspect that Nina's heart will shatter sooner than it should.
"How's she doing?" Tenma wonders why that's one of the first questions that Reichwein has, but he just chooses to reply.
"Fine. Did she not visit you?" He doesn't expect a serious response, but the older man doesn't make a joke - it's clear to Tenma that something may be going on.
"She did, yes, but it was for a short while."
"Seems you didn't talk much?" Tenma chuckles as he realizes he can whatever he wants, because Nina is asleep. Perhaps that's why he feels calmer to talk.
"Not really. Just discussed her academic studies." The birds chirp outside, and Tenma doesn't expect Nina to wake up soon.
"Ah, well. We can visit you and Dieter in a few days, so you can talk more." His suggestion somehow changes Reichwein's tone, and Tenma takes it into account.
"That'd be appreciated."
"Alright, I'll ask her when she wakes up." He nearly presess the button to end the call, but then he hears a cough, and then words follow.
"Just one thing, doctor Tenma."
"Yes?"
"Have you noticed anything suspicious going on with Nina?" A pang is what he feels in his heart, as if he's been caught. He's unsure of where this is coming from, yet he still chooses to respond to Reichwein. Even if he accidentally slips, he's sure that Reichwein wouldn't say a thing.
"No, not really." Tenma is glad that Reichwein doesn't continue asking, and he lets out a quiet sigh of relaxation.
"Okay. I'll tell Dieter you'll visit us soon."
"Talk to you later then, doctor Reichwein." And he finally ends the call.
Tenma is still suspicious of Reichwein's questions, but he doesn't pay much mind to it.
______________
On the fourteenth day, Tenma and Nina watch a movie at home.
'The Blair witch project' is the movie that Nina has bought at the DVD store, and she's also bought a bag of popcorn. They would have gone to the cinema, but the weather forecast showed severe rainfall for the entire day, and Nina had rushed to the stores early in the morning, and she ran back home as soon as she saw dark grey clouds approaching. By the fifteen minute mark of the movie, Tenma looks over at Nina and begins to suspect that she's not looking to forward to continue watching. She's trembling just a bit, her eyes twitching every few seconds, as if in anticipation.
"Do you even like this genre?" He asks her, and he puts a hand to his chin as he looks away from the screen completely.
"Thriller?" She chuckles a bit and stares back at Tenma, batting her eyelashes.
"This is a horror movie, Nina." They both laugh, and then they glue their eyes to the movie once more.
"Well, it hasn't been that scary so far."
Her words quickly backfire, and soon enough, she jumps in fright, accidentally landing on Tenma's lap.
"Sorry, sorry- I didn't know that that would happen!"
"Hey, it's fine! If this is too scary, turn it off, I won't be mad, or anything."
"No, we can keep watching, just... If I jump on you, you can push me off."
"That'd be stupid. If you're afraid, you're afraid. You can just get off me after you calm down."
Every single time a jump-scare pops up on the screen, Nina flinches and gets close to Tenma. She grasps his forearm, she accidentally falls on his lap or on she bumps on his chest. Her cheeks taint with blush every single time, and she manages to get up quick enough for it to not be as awkward. She's painfully unaware of how cute Tenma finds it - he longs to tell her to just sit in his lap and watch the movie from there, his head peeking over her shoulder, his arms around her waist so that she can calm down in a quicker manner after she gets scared.
After the movie is over, it's like nothing has happened.
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On the fifteenth day, they run into Nina's 'friends' from the law school.
They're walking to furniture store, because Nina needs to buy a cheap chair for her kitchen table. One of them has a semi-broken leg, and if Tenma sits there and falls to the floor, Nina feels like she'd kill herself. They don't hold hands, hell, they walk with a visible distance between the two of them, yet she still hears the three girls talking mischievously when they pass by.
"I think that's him." One of them says, and Nina overhears the response of the second one, while the third is just giggling.
"Wow, he looks good. I'd quit university for him as well if I was her." Nina begins to hurry to the store, and Tenma is quick to follow suit, and she lets out a sigh when they finally pass by the three girls.
Nina doesn't mention it, but Tenma asks her if anything is wrong when she doesn't say anything for the entire duration of the walk.
"Nothing, I'm just thinking of something for the next semester."
Tenma nods and smiles at her, realizing that there really is something wrong, just like Reichwein suspected.
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On the sixteenth day, Nina overhears Tenma talking on the phone to one of his colleagues.
"You're coming back with us after your break?" She's hiding behind the wall that masks her bedroom from the living room, and Tenma can't see her from where he's standing. But she can't see him, she can only hear him.
"Probably." He answers it cheerfully, and Nina's stomach churns.
"Well, it's been tough without you." It's about the MSF missions, yet Nina mistakenly things it's about the relationship between Tenma and whoever this woman may be.
"You're missing me, eh?" Tenma jokes, and Nina can't handle it anymore. She turns around to walk over to her bedroom.
"Surely." The voice echoes from the phone, and Nina finally hears that it's a woman.
Nina feels more jealous because of the tone that the woman says the words with. She goes back into her bedroom, ignoring the instinct in her gut telling her to cut herself. She closes the door quietly, before she can even hear Tenma's response loud enough. Her mind ignores what she barely hears.
"How've you been?" Tenma hears the slight noise of the bedroom door closing, but he thinks it's just something from the outside. The windows are open, he can hear the cars driving on the streets.
"Good. The entire team has been quite supportive of everything."
"You finally got married? Like you said, right before the trip ended?"
"Yeah. He's the greatest thing I could ask for. And you, have found anyone?"
"I have." Tenma smiles, and he hears Heidi gasp. He imagines her covering her mouth with her hand. He hears her husband talking in the background.
"I hope she's great. I know you'll never make a mistake."
"She's the only thing I live for. You don't even have the slightest idea how much I love that woman."
Nina's cries completely mute the words, and the music in her room blasting from the radio only gets louder. The bedsheets only quiet her cries as she sobs into the fabric.
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On the seventeenth day, nothing happens. Tenma writes down some stuff in a notebook he's brought. It's about work, and Nina doesn't pay too much mind to it.
She rearranges the books in her bedroom and tidies up the desk.
They barely talk.
Nina doesn't leave her room for the day, she only goes out to eat for lunch and dinner.
They don't talk during either moments.
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On the eighteenth day, Nina burns her hand while cooking.
She lets out a scream of pain from the kitchen, while Tenma is on the balcony, fixing up the chairs after he'd sat down the previous night. When he hears her, his heart stops. Tenma stops handling the chairs and he quickly puts them down, without paying attention whether they fall or not. He opens the door to the living room and rushes into the kitchen, looking at Nina on the floor. She's holding her left hand, her palm reddened by the trace of the burning oil.
"What the hell happened?" Nina suddenly turns around to look at him when she hears his voice, and she lets out a gasp at his tone. It's guttural, angry, monotone. It's not like him. Nina feels like she's once again responsible, even if it was by accident that she did this.
"I'm sorry, I accidentally slipped while cooking and my hand..." She's nearly in tears, she's unsure of why she's crying. It doesn't hurt as much as she would have expected. Maybe it's the initial shock of it all, maybe it's because she's once again worrying Tenma, and she's not sure anymore.
"Don't apologize... Stay here, I'll go and grab the gauze." Tenma shakes his head and he runs off to the cabinets, opening and closing them as if solving a Rubik's cube. His hand operates on instinct, telling him that he needs to do this fast.
Her left hand will be marred by one more scar, just because of her own self-negligence. Nina stares at Tenma's back as she awaits for him to return with the gauze and the burn ointment. Once he's found them, Nina turns her face away from him out of guilt. He rushes back to her and he sits down on the floor with her, taking her hand in his own. He sets the gauze down alongside the cream medicament by their legs. The light from the outside illuminates on the kitchen counter, reflecting their shadows.
"You need to be more careful, Nina." Tenma's tone has gone back to its gentle variant, and Nina feels that surreal calm washing over her like waves in a sea of anguish. There's a hint of protectiveness in his words, and it pains Nina to her core. It's like he sees her not as an adult, but as a child who's done something stupid and suffers the consequences. She nearly wants to cry again, but she feels like it'll only lead to her sharing her deepest feelings out loud if she were to.
"I know." Tenma's face isn't as horrified anymore, he's not the least bit angry. His fingers envelop Nina's hand gently, caressing the unburnt flesh as he applies the gauze with his other hand. Nina feels her stomach churning, butterflies floating around in her gut at the feel of his digits on her porcelain flesh.
"Try not to do this again, okay?" And she nods, because she can't do anything else.
They stay like that for minutes, maybe an hour, until Tenma has finished bandaging her hand up with gauze in the best way he knows. The room stinks of oil, silk, cotton and blood, it smells like a hospital. It brings Nina back to that faithful encounter between herself and Tenma in the hospital after she attempted to kill herself. She remembers his smile, his rough features looking at her with something inescapable, and she thinks that maybe that's when she realized she actually loved this man.
Once he's done, Tenma lightly caresses her hand and she blushes upon the contact. He quickly lets go of her hand, and they don't speak about what happened for the rest of the day. Tenma does the cooking, he brings Nina some pain meds later, so that it won't hurt anymore, if it even does. She takes all that he gives her with a smile on her face, until the night falls, and she goes back to her room, fresh tears streaming down her face as she touches herself with her right hand to the thought of him holding her.
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On the nineteenth day, all Hell breaks loose.