"Too late I'm already up, and diagnostics are cheap for me." Poke.

"Hmmmm concussion seems like it'll be okay, but walking should be kept to a minimum. If she's up for it, your partner should probably carry you places."

What? They're cute together, she can play matchmaker.

'I will call us an autotaxi. And I can totally carry him."

Aww, they're so cute.  Is...that what it's like talking to me, though?  Hm.

Don't like that.

Fuck if I know how to fix it.  But it can go on the list.

"Cool," agrees Ji-woo, and then back to April she goes.

Her work here is done!

Huff.

"All's well that shall be well, and so forth... This is really putting those emergency response sim games into perspective... My fatigue is at like sixty out of a hundred..."

(He would be more mortified about being Weird if he were less foggy brained. Luckily he is, so he isn't. Or is is the other way around...)

"Well for the rest of the day you only job is snuggles. I'll order takeout for us too. Chinese okay?"

To April, "Incomes for professional partners of high-rank espers are well into the six figures," she says matter-of-factly. "You can definitely get a house!"

In a somewhat lower voice, "Sure- Wait." Sigh. "Right, actual preferences not just agreeing, right. Because my next job is resting. Um... I want something homey American style. Like mashed potatoes and turkey or something? Meatloaf?"

"Sure. You wanna browse UberEats and find something you like?"

(Nodnod. Browsing on a phone is easier than expressing preferences. Apps are handy like that. And he can just standardize the tip and Not Think About It. He'll poke people when the food is ordered...)

She'll look over his shoulder and order from the same place on her own phone. So the meals will hopefully arrive at roughly the same time.

Time passes.  Food arrives.  Tim's backlash ticks higher, despite April and Sara and Jay's intervention.  Soon enough, Tim's last batch of the night is done.  Burns are healed and the burned skin ready to slough off, bones are knitted together, stitches removed in favor of tape, then the tape is removed.

Soon, the little impromptu cuddleparty begins to break up.

Tim hasn't been quite this flavor of bone-tired in a while.  It's viscerally satisfying, to look at Parabola absentmindedly scratching herself and revealing beautiful, baby-smooth skin.  Or to watch Gridshell start to realize that she's almost done, that she can afford to wiggle a little.  He can feel an unnamed esper put little bits of stress on their broken shin, and it doesn't hurt anymore.

And if it costs him a little tiredness, to Hell with it.  Watching someone take a first step that they'd expected to wait months for just can't be bought, and it chokes him up a little sometimes.  And with liberal teleportation and two hospital's worth of nurses and Uisa herself backing him up, there's a lot of injuries that can be treated.

But now is not the time to sleepily marvel at his handiwork.  "Think that's everyone?"  He's pretty sure nobody urgent popped up in the last ten minutes?  Please?

"...thank you," Gridshell says. She's still speaking quietly, but not whispering, now. "...all of you, but especially you, Baek Ji-woo, Aumento."

Sara has octopus'ed herself around Tim by this point in an attempt to guide him better. 

"I think... that looks like everyone?" 

The food is ordered and the car is on the way and the Meghan is still cuddled so he's probably not going to go offer to poke people on his own.

she gently nudges him "Come on, lets go around so you can poke people before we leave. You don't have to talk much."

"Right. Better to know than not."

Up they get? Wow, he really does feel better. "Healing is amazing."

"It really is."

She's going to support him just in case though.

"You're very welcome, ma'am."  Tim smiles up at Gridshell - it's a tired smile, but a slightly smug one, too.  He turns to his partner and murmurs to her, "Let's go home, okay?"  Tim's going to do his level best to stand up without de-octopusing himself from his partner.  He doesn't really want to let go right now.

She does her best to help him with this. Her help is only mildly unhelpful! 

"Should I poke?" She un-octopus'es one of her hands. 

"Sure." She hasn't poked Sara yet either so poke?

Poking all around. If they don't seem against it?

"Oh, that's... A little bit with you, Sara. And nothing with you, uh, Tim."

"It's a meh here. But it's nice to meet you, your partner was talking you up." she says to Sara.

"Nothing here, either."  He processes Meghan's words and vaguely feels like he should be embarrassed, but he's too tired to actually feel embarrassed.  The one upside of my backlash.  "It was good to meet you, sir.  Remember to stay off your feet, okay?  Uisa's orders."  Not sure why, he looks pretty much fine?  Maybe it's an inner ear thing.