Suffering in Silence (Agent 3)
It was another one of those days, when Runo's legs just weren't cooperating. Not even that they weren't cooperating; more like they were merely complaining the whole way. Every step they took worsened the ever-present aching, even just walking from their room to the kitchen, or from Cuttlefish Cabin to the sewer grate. Their legs simultaneously felt like jelly, and as if they were under immense pressure; weak and shaky, but accompanied by a throbbing pain that together could easily leave Runo facedown on the ground in an instant.
As if it wasn't bad enough that they already had to carry a bunch of things around, as the NSS would be staking out the Canyon for a while, and there wasn't nearly enough room for 6 people inside the Cabin itself, so the Agents were pitching tents and setting up a little camp for themselves. Unfortunately, that meant Runo had to help when what they really wanted more than anything right now was to sit down and rest with Captain Cuttlefish. But if they did that, then the others would surely ask questions, and Runo wasn't sure “my legs hurt” would fly as an excuse to get out of manual labor. So they decided to suck it up and hope that they could get it over with quickly and Runo could rest afterwards.
“I heard it's supposed to rain tonight…” Marie commented, staring at the sky. Well, that would explain the cause of Runo’s pain at least; incoming storms were known to cause flare-ups.
“Awwww man! But I wanted to roast marshmallows!” Callie pouted.
“We probably still can. Octo Canyon is not known for heavy rain.” Eight told her, “But it does freeze at night. We will need warmth if we have no fire.”
“Good idea! Hey, 3, would you go grab the extra blankets? There should be a few tucked away somewhere inside the Cabin.” Callie asked. Runo held back a groan as they nodded and got up from the ground where they'd been sitting, and reluctantly walked back to the cabin. Every step felt like fire racing up and down their legs, and at this point in the day, it was hard to hide their slight limp. Still, nobody else brought it up, so Runo didn't mention it either.
Or so they thought. Little did they know, someone did notice: Eight. Of course it wasn't like she could ever seem to take her eyes off of Runo to begin with, so that much wasn't a surprise. Still, Runo thought they were doing better than that at hiding it.
“Are you hurt?” She asked, approaching cautiously behind them, “You were walking funny.”
“I'm fine. Don't worry about it.” Runo told her.
“You looked uncomfortable earlier too. Every time you stood up, I saw you frown. It looked like you were in pain.” Eight noted.
“I told you, I'm fine. Nothing you can do about it anyway.” Runo sighed, just barely able to hold themselves back from snapping. Eight didn’t deserve to be yelled at, she was only showing that she cared. It's just that Runo was beyond annoyed at the moment, and having to think of new ways to get Mother Hen Octo off their back was not helping them to focus on the task at hand any more than the pain itself was.
“You should not be working if you are hurt!” Eight argued, before realizing she was getting nowhere with them, “Mr. Cuttlefish! I believe there is something wrong with Agent 3!”
“Captain—” Runo started to correct, “Wait, whoa, hang on! You can't just do that, Eight! It's not even any of your business! I told you, there's nothing anyone can do about it!”
“Oh, are your legs bothering you again, 3?” The elder squid asked.
“Again?” Dan asked, “That's a common occurrence?”
“NO! SHUT UP!!!” Runo lied. So much for sucking it up so they wouldn't be benched for the rest of the mission…
“If I had known, I wouldn't have made you carry all that stuff over here.”
“Are you going to be okay if we end up having to go down into the kettles?” Callie asked.
“YES! It's just a flare-up, probably from the storm!”
“Calm down, 3. We're just worried.” Marie said calmly
“AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM! I DON'T NEED YOU WORRYING ABOUT ME! I'M 17, I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!”
“But that's why we’re worried! Because you are so afraid of people caring about you that you would rather suffer in silence and risk your own health than admit when you're not at 100%.” Marie argued.
“I haven't been at 100% since we met, Marie! This is nothing new! There's nothing you can do, and I'm not just going to sit around and watch as everyone else does all the work. I'll sit down and take a break when we're done setting up camp.”
“No, you'll sit down now. Right over there by Gramps. We'll handle the rest.” Marie told them firmly, “I outrank you Agent 3. You'll do as I say, or I promise you'll be sitting this entire mission out. Got it?” Runo rolled their eyes, but did as Marie asked.
“Yes, ma'am.” They grumbled.