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“You really should be more careful.” Rem chastised the dark haired male slumped over on the chaise. “Playing around with a knife to impress Emilia was bound to end in disaster.”
“Sister, I’m back with the needle and thread you asked for.” Ram announced her presence with a knock on the door and then stepped into the room shyly. “I also grabbed some alcohol for you to clean the wound with so it doesn’t get infected.”
“Thank you, sister.” Rem nodded. “If you want to go ahead and finish dinner I’ll take care of Subaru.”
“Of course.”
The second Ram left the room, Rem looked Subaru in his eyes. He looked back, wondering why her blue eyes were boring into his like that, but before he could interpret it -- honestly, probably disappointment -- she had turned away and with tiny, delicate fingers was threading the needle.
“This will probably hurt.” Rem spoke shortly, never having been one for words, “I suggest you hold a pillow or something. I would offer you my hand, but I need it to keep the stitches steady.”
Subaru knew better than to disobey the blue haired maid and simply nodded, grabbing a faux pillow and wrapping his good arm around it. His other one lay exposed on the bed, blood trickling from the laceration down the middle of his forearm.
“Alright, deep breath.” Rem instructed, and Subaru complied, taking a huge one.
It didn’t quite prepare him for the pain that came afterwards.
Red had placed a towel damp with alcohol on his arm and the pain was nearly excruciating. Gray dots flickered across his vision as the pain tore his arm nerve from nerve. He screamed, but planted his face into the pillow, letting it catch his agony.
Then, as soon as it came, it was gone.
Rem was staring at him again, that weird, blank stare. She had switched out the rag -- now covered in crimson red blood -- and was holding the threaded needle. She only looked him in the eyes, blue irises wavering in the light and blinked once-- twice-- her hand shook, and then she blinked again and resumed movement in stitching him up.
It was then that Subaru swore he’d never cook with a knife that big again, because the pain of the stitches was unbearable. Rem didn’t say a word the whole time, even when he let his tongue slip and called her something that he should never call a girl ever, and kept her nimble fingers occupied on the task at hand.
When she was done, Subaru almost collapsed onto the smaller female. She pocketed her materials and reached around behind him to fluff his pillow and lay it down, then guided Subaru to lay down on it.
“Sleep.” She commanded him, and Subaru was more than happy to oblige.
He drifted off almost thoughtlessly, letting his pain and fatigue whisk him away into blissful slumber.
Rem paused to look over her shoulder at the sleeping boy before she left his room. Perhaps, if she looked back on it later, this was the moment when Rem realized she loved Subaru. She couldn’t help but feel something in her heart break when she caused him pain to help him, but he needed those stitches, even if it did hurt both of them to pull his arm back together.
Yes, Rem decided, she did love Subaru, even if he loved Emilia.
Until the day she lost him, though, she would stitch him up and pull him back together, and then maybe one day he would realize how she cared for him.
But until then…
She would wait.