(Haiii, pls don't cuss me out. 1/2 Updates. I apologize for the time skips. Enjoy hehe :p)

SETTING: Belle's hosptial room (In-case y'all forgot)

    We talked for hours. So much so, we ended up talking ourselves into silence. The room was still pitch black, but it didn't bother either of us, and though he'd evaded my first question by saying that he'd - Tell me one day- I ended up learning a lot of things that I never even thought about asking him; like how I was apparently older than him by 3 years. ' I still can't believe that'. Now that I'd got a few questions off my chest, the main one that I was dying to ask, was now prodding at me. 'Can I see your face...?'  I wanted to ask him so bad, but I was afraid that I'd cross those invisible boundaries.

    I'd already asked him why he never took it off, it would be intrusive of me to prod even further. Out of nowhere, I felt one of his arms slowly snake its way around my waist, gently tugging at the small of my back to pull me even closer to him. I let out a shocked gasp and felt as his arm went limp. "Ahh... I'm sorry. I should have asked first. I thought...you had fallen asleep because you were so quiet." He sounded like a child who had broken something and was about to get in trouble, and I couldn't help but huff a laugh. "It's fine König. I was out of it. You just startled me a bit."

    I felt my head begin to throb and I instantly reached a hand up to cup my nose. I let out a painful groan. 'I guess I talked too much.' I threw my head backwards and squeezed the bridge of my nose. quick to catch on to my sudden discomfort. "Bärchen? Is your nose bothering you...?" He let his arm drape over my back, and he shifted forward a bit, his free hand coming up to gently cup my chin. How he found my face that quickly in the darkness was honestly beyond me. I didn't make any attempt to move away nor say anything.

   'He's getting a bit bolder huh...' I felt as one of his cold fingers began absentmindedly rubbing my bandaged cheek. "Are you in pain?" His voice was soft, but low. Again, I said nothing. "Hm? Are you? Mein schöner Bär." His voice was the same as before, but something was off about him. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he sounded almost feral, but I did know better so I brushed it off as his voice just getting tired. 'Like that makes any sense.'

    "No, not really. Just got a mini headache. What did you say in German?" He let go of my chin and I heard him move his entire arm, placing it somewhere behind him. "Hm... don't worry about it. It doesn't matter right now." He punctuated. I shrugged, "I guess." We fell into another pit of silence, but this time it seemed more tense. For whatever reason, he kept shifting around, moving my body with him. After a while, he went completely still. "Ms. Belle, can I tell you something ...?" Shivers immediately ran down my spine. This was only his second time using my real name, and to be honest , it felt strange.

    'I guess I got too comfortable with him calling me out of my title and my name.' A small sigh left my lips. "Sure, what is it, König?" I felt his entire body quake. After a long minute he spoke , "Ich mag dich." I stared at the black void that was probably his chest. I sighed. "König, I have no idea what you said." I heard him curse under his breath. "Ah, my bad. I meant that I- ah you mean a lot to me." He finally stuttered out. I didn't say anything for a good minute as everything felt like a blur. 'What...? He doesn't mean like, that does he ?'

    I sucked in air through my teeth, "What do you mean?" It was all I could think to ask. I had to make sure he wasn't talking about what I thought he was. He stayed silent for a second before answering. "Well...you make me feel so... comfortable and heard...in a way. When I first talked to you, you didn't stare at me in a judgmental way. You accepted me for me, and you even tolerated my stubbornness, heh. You took the time to teach me, and most people don't. I thank you for that, truly I do. You're my safe space, at least that's what the therapists say ha-ha." I felt my face heat up and I brought my hands up to cover my face. 'So that's what he meant. What the hell is wrong with me?'

    "Liebling, are you sure you don't want me to call the nurse? You seem to be in pain." I brought my hands down from my face and stared into the darkness. I was happy that it was as dark it was. I wouldn't have been able to stand the amount of embarrassment if he could see my face. "I'm fine König, thanks." I mumbled in a small voice. "Mhm. Liebling?" My head slowly tilted upwards, and I stared up at the black void that was probably his face. I hummed in response to him. "Tell me, will you be okay if I left to run arrands?" I didn't respond at first. Instead, I laid there and thought if I'd really be okay with him leaving.

    I knew deep down that I was way too dependent on him for both entertainment and assistance, but I also knew that he had a life to live, and I was getting in the way of that. "Yeah, I'll be fine." I lied. I knew I'd be bored out of my mind, but I didn't want to keep him holed up in this hospital room with me. "Are you sure? I'll be gone for a few days, a week at most." He had a tinge doubt in his voice, and I couldn't blame him. I didn't really sound too convincing. "König, I'll be okay. I'll just try and catch up on some sleep." He hummed a response, and for a minute the room fell silent. After a while, I felt him lift his arm that was slung over my side, and he scooted his body away from mine. I almost reached up to grab him, but I stopped myself.

    Instead, I laid there and listened as he made his way out of the bed. If he was trying to be quiet, he was failing miserably as the hinges on that poor bed were squeaking their heads off underneath all his weight. It did a final shake once he was completely off of it. He made his way over to my side and put a blanket on me, wrapping my body in it like a burrito. Once he finished, I heard him mumble something in approval and he left my bedside. I couldn't tell which direction he was heading towards because of how light and quiet his footsteps were. However, the unmistakable sound of him clicking various straps and tightening velcro gave his location away. He was putting back on his gear.

    After a couple minutes of him shifting back and forth, he made his way back to my bedside. "Liebling, I'm going out for a little while. I'll be back, I promise. Please don't do anything to hurt yourself." He softly whispered and before I had the chance to respond he was already at the door. He cracked it open, and immediately light came flooding in. A ringtone sounded off and I perked up my ears a bit. "Hallo, sind diese Wichser schon draußen?" His voice was gruff and harsh, he almost sounded as if he was growling. 

    If he wasn't standing in the doorway of my hospital room I would've mistook him for a whole different person. I wanted to eavesdrop, but it didn't really help that König wasn't speaking English and the person on the other end of the phone was practically whispering. I shut my one eye and didn't bother opening it again. I couldn't tell what he, nor the other person was saying anyway. He stayed in the doorway for what seemed like forever before I heard it shut.

He'd left.

  'I should've asked him what time it was since he had his phone with him.'  With my one eye still closed, I did the only thing I could think to do. Sleep.

-

     When I awoke, it was light outside. I sat up slowly and rubbed my aching eye. Looking around, I found that König still hadn't returned. I sighed and turned to stare at the concealed window. 'It would be nice to look outside.' The door to my room rattled a bit before opening, revealing a red-headed nurse. A small smile crossed my lips and I waved at her. I had grown somewhat close to her during my stay. Whenever König wasn't around to keep me company, I confided in talking to her. She pulled a cart in behind her and waved back. "Sorry bout' that doll, thought you were sleepin'." I huffed a dry laugh.

    We talked for a while as she took samples of my blood. When she finished, she moved to examining my nose. "You're just about all healed up hun'. You burst another blood vessel in your nose though." felt as she freed my nostrils of those damned wooden rods. Blood rushed from one of my nostrils and she stuffed a cotton ball to stop the fresh stream of it. "That's going to run for a little while. Good news is you don't need these!" She held up the two bloody, wooden rods that were once nestled in both of my nostrils. I cracked a small smile and she chuckled. She handed me more tissues to help with my running nostril and disposed of the rods.

    As she made her way back over to me, she grabbed some bandaging tape from the cart and some scissors. "These definitely need to be changed." She lifted my chin and carefully cut away at the bandages on my face. Once the left side of my face was free, she lightly pressed on different parts of my cheek. "Feel any pain?" I shook my head. Grabbing a cloth, she wiped my face with warm water and applied a cream. She brushed out my hair that was once concealed and paused. "Want me to braid your hair, doll?" I nodded. "That would be nice."

    I sat there patiently as she braided my hair down and re-applied the bandages to my face. She changed my IV bag and bid me a 'goodbye'. I waved and thanked her. She made her way out of my room, and I sat in utter silence, just thinking. As my eyes scanned the room, I noticed a clipboard that was stacked to the brim on a nearby table. I perked up instantly and swung my legs off the side of the bed  and reached over to the table to grab the clipboard. At some point, Laswell and Price had dropped by, but I wasn't awake. Paperwork, along with a note was attached to the clipboard I'd read it later, and picked up the thick stack of paperwork.

    A smile flashed over my face. 'Now I have something to do for the next few days.'  As the hours passed, I found myself getting more and more...bored. I took a break from my paperwork and did a small stretch. I peeked over at the window again and decided to move the curtains so that I could see outside. I put my clipboard to the side and leaned forward onto my knees. I crawled over to the window and took a hold of the beads on the side .In one swift motion, I yanked the blinds up and stared in awe at the sunset. My mind drifted over to König. 'What is he doing right now?' I wondered in blank thought as I stared out of that hospital window.

- Time Skip: 3 days later...

     I had gotten down to the very last of my paperwork and was growing increasingly bored. Just a day ago, my favorite nurse had come to inform me of my official discharge date. Another week from now. My nose was somewhat back to normal. With the exception of the occasional blood vessel bursts that I get when I talk too much, my nose was almost as good as new. Rosetta, my favorite nurse, had told me that it was a common symptom and would go away with due time. My cheek bone was almost reset fully, but I still needed to wear the bandages to keep it in place for just a little while longer.

    I still hadn't seen or heard from König since that day he told me how much I meant to him. I wasn't worried for his safety as I was holding him to his promise that he'd come back. I just hoped he showed up before I was discharged. I'd be lying to myself If I said that I wasn't missing him and his company. If anything, it was lonely without him around. No one really came to visit me besides Laswell.

    My guess was that no one knew what happened to me, which was something I wasn't mad about. The last thing I wanted was a whole bunch of fake pity. As I toyed with my pen in between my fingers, knocks rattled the door . My head shot up, and part of me was hoping, praying that it was König. "Come in." The door meekly opened, revealing a somewhat stressed Horangi. Roze was nowhere to be found, and they were always together. He invited himself in and shut the door behind him.

Horangi...? How did he know where I was and what was he doing here...?

(2399 Words)

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// Y'all have been ON . MY. ASS. I'm sorryyyyy!!! Like I said in my announcement, I got some severe writer's block, so I'm sorry If this chapter doesn't make that much sense T-T . Btw, where did König go...?//