#EMT!Jason

[windybluebelles]

Bernard Dowd is approximately 15 years old, has just had his allowance cut off, was fired from his job, and is 99% sure that both his best friends are somehow involved in the mob.

(I mean he wasn’t entirely wrong on either front but hey ho, no use dwelling on it)

All this means is that he has no money and no good way to spend his free time as Tim and Darla are always “Busy”

So when he hears of an up and coming crime lord just desperate for new recruits, he jumps on it!

(Guys I swear he’s a good person most of the time, he’s also a teenager who is rude or die and if his besties are involved in the mob who’s to say he shouldn’t be?)

Jason Todd (who was really only mildly desperate for new recruits, thank you very much) takes one look at clearly a child Bernard and immediately turns him down.

Bernard does what everyone else in his generation did and just ignores him and starts following him around everywhere.

Hey! Atleast he doesn’t have a camera and isn’t in a cape!

Jason falls victim to the same thing that Bruce did and realises that Bernard will continue doing what he wants and the only thing he can do is either help him or break his legs. Unfortunately he has a policy against hurting kids, even bitchy annoying ones with stupid sunglasses.

Several years go by,

He no longer has those friends, he doesn’t speak with his parents, and he’s about to enter college. He really doesn’t have time to be one of Hood’s merry men anymore.

He quits the life of crime, accepts his last pay check, and gets given a personal number from his boss.

(Of course they aren’t friends, don’t be silly! Jason is glad to see the stupid kid gone, gone off to civilian life where he’ll never see him again!…)

Bernard starts college, a dual major in Medicine and Cookery cause he hates himself, and almost immediately joins a cult!

…Should he have stayed with the Crime Lord?

Probably! ANYWAY-

Another year or so passes, he leaves the cult, starts dating Timothy Drake-Wayne, eventually finds out his boyfriend is Robin, yadayadayada boringggg

Bernard is at Wayne Manor one day when he hears a voice he never thought he’d hear again.

And then it’s like that spider man meme idk, I can’t write guys I’m so sorry

[oldmannapping]

Fic: On Call

Summary: Sequel to Networking, but can be read solo.

Bernard makes some unexpected connections.

Featuring BAMF EMT Bernard Dowd, injured Roy Harper, alarmed Tim Drake, and grumpy Red Hood.

Excerpt:

“Bear? What’s wrong?” Tim’s sleepy voice greeted him after only two rings. His boyfriend was the best.

Keeping his “quiet on set” hand raised in Red Hood’s face, Bernard spoke. “Hey Tim, so sorry about this. Everything’s fine, everyone’s okay, but I need you to organise transport to whatever the medical wing of the Batcave is. Can you guys do surgery there?”

Read it here

[rigginsstreet]

When [the paramedic] told me “we’re gonna move you now” there was a “thank you” that came out of me that was just like, in that moment I was like “Oh. That is it. Thank you for letting me play that Jason.” I knew it was gonna be much different after that for me. -Scott Porter IT’S NOT ONLY FOOTBALL: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS AND BEYOND

[lorena12me]

Almost every kid gets married or promises to marry someone on the school playground, but only Bernard does that promise come back to bite his ass 13 years later.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ok so this just wouldn't get out of my mind and I had to draw it to rest.

Well, I figured something like Bernard had a best friend in elementary school, who he used to play with at recess, used to go to the little grove at the end of the yard and share his lunch box and legos with him, they were the best friends. They promised to get married when they turned twenty so they could be together forever and when Bernard stopped seeing Tim, he "realized" that he was just an imaginary friend.

After all, no one else could see it and the bright blue wings and skin were indicative of Bernard's childish mind working at 100%. It had been fun, though, for as long as it lasted. Tim told him incredible stories about being the prince of a country, with a dragon for a father and a variety of brothers who were also magical creatures and according to him, Bernard had snuck into his castle. He played along because it was fun and Tim was very cute. The weird thing was that even though he grew up, his memories of Tim never faded like imaginary friends in children's minds do, he still remembered him and his stories perfectly.

On the other hand, Tim finds this intruder fascinating. No one has ever been brave enough to sneak into Bruce and his brothers' castle grounds just to play with Tim, show him such weird and funny things. When in the middle of one of his games the subject of marriage comes up (he doesn't know if it was Bernard or Tim who brought it up) he thinks it's a good idea. So they both promise, but then Bernard doesn't come back and Tim is sad for a while, but then he meets more friends (Kon, Bart and Cassie) and little by little Bernard becomes a nice memory in his memory.

Bruce found the fairy circle on his property and made sure to destroy it well enough that it would never grow again. He checked the territory to make sure that no unfortunate human was lost in the fairy realm or none of his subjects or his beloved children had gone to the human world unintentionally.

The promise is forgotten.

Tim becomes an ambassador for the Bruce kingdom and Bernard is making his way as an ER nurse.

And then Bernard comes home from a long shift to find an incredibly attractive stranger in his apartment playing with his cat.

"Hi Bern" The boy says with a dangerous smile "Do you remember me?"

From then on it would be a drama/comedy of the boys trying to break their promise, which obviously includes a trip/kidnapping of Bernard to the fairy realm, meeting the family, Ra's al Ghul trying to get rid of Bernard so that Tim he can marry one of his many daughters and have her join his family and work for him, more drama, and Tim and Bernard falling in love.

There are misunderstandings because they think that Bernard locked Tim in the promise to take advantage of him, and Bernard only knows that fairies are evil to humans and thinks that Tim is like that.

[slightlydepressedmelon]

-No Upside Down AU-

Chrissy is still dealing with all the shit from her mom and the expectations of high school and Jason being his shitty self so she goes to Eddie just like in the show. they go to his trailer and while Eddie is looking for his stash instead of getting possessed by Vecna Chrissy has a seizure and Eddie freaks out because he has no clue what to do other than be near her and say “Chrissy wake up”. eventually it ends and Eddie calls 911 and holds Chrissy’s hand while they wait because they’re both kind of freaked out. Eddie hates feeling useless as the paramedics check Chrissy out, he feels like he let her down but the longer he watches the more fascinated he becomes. he starts asking questions and is taking everything they say in like a sponge. by the end of it Eddie has decided he wants to be an EMT. of course Chrissy and Eddie end up dating and he credits her with giving his life direction, she thinks it’s too much credit but he just kisses her

[mangoisms]

weird question. but in ur opinion, what major would tim do at college? I was thinking comp sci but making him a business major would be so funny

good question! to be honest.. i want to say it’s difficult to pin down any one major he’d choose, especially because i feel like he’s not exactly academically inclined, at least if he’s doing vigilante stuff? school was always a big issue for him hence him dropping out to focus on The Mission and that seems like All He Is Doing right now thank you dc editorial. but if he isn’t… comp sci is a good choice but for me, i lean towards maybe something like mechanical engineering? or electrical engineering? kinda feel like he has comp sci in the bag already from having to learn it/having learned it in his time as a vigilante (largely due to babs im sure!)

but mechanical or electrical engineering just because of how much stuff he created for his suit when he was robin and how he was always reconfiguring redbird and messing with all of it. although where those skills and that degree could be applied is Another Question Entirely. my best guess is — and this is probably super basic — with WE? or maybe if we want to have a little fun. somewhere like kord industries. or even STAR labs. or maybe a teaching position? could see him being down for that as he gets older

a little more indulgent would be photography but even if not a major i would like to think he at least minors in it or something!

business major would be SO funny because he would be miserable the entire time. i think.

but yeah! he’s just. idk. probably hates prerequisites. probably wants to take ten classes at once. he’d really need to slow down i think which is the goal. ultimately. for me. in any case This got very long my bad <3 i’m just. fascinated by him and his mysterious future

[theglamorousferal]

Just found out about the Enough Stuff Non-Profit in Illinois and it got me thinking about Crime Alley and about if there was a place like that, they’d work hard to keep it going.

Now I’m imagining Danny, ghost king with its coffers, things at relative peace, but not having to actively work. He’d want to still be able to give back I think even if it’s not actively fighting. What if Danny started an Enough Stuff shop. Everything there is free. Everything is donated. It runs on donations. (The first few months it runs on his savings; ghost money translates thankfully).

Danny lives in the apartment above the store and the store has two floors. Sam moves in next door and runs an apothecary and plant store. She ends up running a vegan bakery and coffee shop too. If you perform or write a poem, you get a free coffee and scone. If she has the chance, she’ll teach you about basic herbal remedies and also some basic first aid because while honey is an antibiotic, it doesn’t do shit for something needing stitches. Jazz moves in and opens a free pediatric clinic. Tucker can be found running the business side of the non-profits and pushing Sam to “just get an EMT certification already, you’re more than qualified, and you know you want to.” Val travels a lot, she’s an Olympic martial artist, but when she settles someplace to train it’s usually with the trio in their Frankenstein apartment made up of the top two floors of three connected buildings. Between Danny finding he enjoyed training from his years as a hero and Sam wanting to always be in top form there’s a gym there she can train in and Danny’s usually free. She helps with whoever needs it when she has free time so she doesn’t feel like a mooch for living there only part-time. She ends up saving some kid from a thug and deciding to train him up. This leads to the kid bringing more kids to learn from her. She ends up buying a building on the block and renovating it to be a gym and training facility for her and it gets added to the list of non-profits Tucker is running. (He only leaves his corner office, he insisted, during working hours for lunch or meetings and the occasional lunch meeting).

Tim losing his mind trying to find anything about them. Him constantly hitting firewalls of binary, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Esperanto and some other language he could only describe as auditory Zalgo text. Tim desperately wanting to investigate in person but he promised Jason he’d stay out of it until he asked.

Jason coming back from a long mission with the Outlaws seeing the “cute little trust fund kid’s experiment” not only flourishing, but growing. He goes to research them only to find they’re mostly squeaky clean. There’s some stuff about disturbance of the peace and minor property damage when a teenager, but that doesn’t mean anything for someone setting up in Crime Alley. He watches them for a while, listened to what his guys said about them and the general opinion. He decides they’re above board, but he’d still watch them.

Then he got shot. More accurately, a shot grazed just under his armpit where there was a gap in his armor. He ended up stumbling out of an alleyway and directly into the pathway of one red headed doctor.

Kinda want to add more Amity Parker’s at some point. Debating having Paulina run a fashion house in the fashion district because she couldn’t convince her dad to let her move to a place known as Crime Alley, and just spend a bunch of time at Danny’s shop and maybe drop off ‘fits she made there. Star and Wes running a local radio station. Dash becoming a mechanic (after freaking out about not making it in football). Kwan opens a vet clinic. Eventually the Amity Parker’s own a full two blocks of housing and businesses.

[ultimate-marysue]

Batkids but instead of being pigs they're first responders.

Obviously Dick should be a firefighter, I'm not the first to come up with this and it's so brilliant. Overworked, underappreciated, the backbone of society. I get that he was a cop so he could investigate the corruption at BHPD, but there are other ways. I just think that the self sacrificial part would call to him.

Barbara would obviously be a 911 operator. That one is self explanatory, it's half her job.

Cass could also be on the Firefighter team, probably in the maritime rescue unit. She's vibing in her little boat zooming around the toxic waste of Gotham Harbor. Unbothered queen.

Jason would be specialized in dealing with shock victims and handling the psychological part. I'm not sure who handles that in US, but some time of on site counselor/therapist. You know, the guy that talks to victims before the police starts questioning. He is the most emotional of the Batkids and I want to see him channel it towards compassion more often (kinda like how he's always kind to prostitutes, the homeless and children in canon).

Steph would be in CPS handling the victims that are minors, especially providing legal advice and helping to protect them from police bullshit. Either that or EMT with Tim.

Tim would be a very stressed EMT. I'm a sucker for Tim working in the medical field. Based on what? Vibes. Also he's been physically fucked up so much in canon I think he could get a degree from personal experience. That or 911 operator with Barbara

Duke would be Firefighter, but particularly the search and rescue expert. In hard cases with little to no evidence he uses his powers to find out where the missing person went. He has to be careful not to get caught tho.

I think Damian would want to be either a 911 coordinator (he is the natural choice of a leader of course TT) or an actual ER doctor because his father never finished school and Alfred (grandpa) already had a place saved for the degree so someone has to graduate. If he actually got it he would give so much shit to the others for dropping out.

[webshood]

Jason is in med school with plans to specialize as a pediatrician, he's probably never going to practice, but he enjoys the idea of being able to really help kids beyond the basic first aid and EMT training he already has.

He likes to carry a bunch of cartoon band-aids, tylenol, benadryl and allergen-free lollipops, his siblings only find out when Damian gets a scratch and Jason immediately pulls out a sailor moon themed band-aid and a watermelon lollipop from his jacket

[batfambrainrotbeloved]

Do you have any headcanons from your current fics (Mama Bird or Spoiled Brat) that you want to add into that fic but you can't figure out how to mention within a chapter? (without spoilers, of course)

YES! Also apologies for delayed awnsering I genuienly said to myself "God so many-" and didnt have the brainpower to sort through them all.

Heres a little list though (Some of these have been heavily implied but not yet/if at all driven into)

SB! Tim picked "Cardinal" both for the symbolism (devotion and tales of dead family members visiting via the bird) but also based on the Cardinal flower, native to NJ and one of Alfreds fav to grow.

MB! Barbara struggles with bounderies since she was constantly shown they could be broken at a moments notice "for teh greater good" or "for the job"

SB! Jason goes to college part time and is working towards an English PhD w/ a minor in Theater

SB! Cass accidently goes non verbal at times and prefers using sign language at times. BUT she does try to push herself to speak since its proof of how far shes come.

MB! Damian loves video games and begs Duke to take him to the store at least once a week (Duke likes the comic books)

SB! Dick learned to become an EMT after Jasons incident (its what helped him qualify as a firefighter EMT)

MB! Tim struggles with emotional outbursts where his emotions come out in "bursts" he learned to supress- until of course he reaches a point and needs to cool off lest he accidently snaps out.

MB! Duke doesnt always feel like part of the family and in turn pushing issues aside as "not his place" only further distancing himself (except for Damian, they are VERY close)

ALL of SB! Batfam have attended therapy, some just decided it didnt work for them or go more than others. Dick enjoys talk therapy, Jason and Damian prefer talking to the therapist to air their issues instead of addressing someone directly and Bruce enjoys it helps him see past his assumptions to other perspectives.

MB! Jason stress bakes. But he also just enjoys baking in general, its methodic and comforting to see the results of his work like that.

SB! Steph is a "regular" at like 30 different places for random reasons because she likes going to walk around to clear her head

These are just a few but I have TONS more- but ill be touching on a lot of them in future chapters!!

[spacedace]

Sorta sequel of this post (where Bruce is happy that Damian has totally and completely normal human friends). You don't have to read that one to get this one tho lol.

Slight Trigger Warning: minor description of injuries and blood, including injuries to ears and scalp. It's quick and not much detail on the injuries themselves, but I wanted to give a heads up.

Tim always thought his friend group was the most unhinged in the family.

Not anymore.

His friends at least had enough of a sense of self preservation to book it when Bruce caught them doing something they shouldn't and leveled them with A Look.

Tim's pretty sure Damian's friends call god a bitch to his face everyday and give him a wedgie in a Denny's parking at least twice a week. He's positive he saw them roast one of the League's S tier world ending threats to the point of tears last weekend. The footage was too badly corrupted to prove it, but he knows what he saw.

All of which to say, he's shouldn't be surprised when Bruce levels little Elle Nightingale and her cousin Billy Batson with his patented "You Are In So Much Trouble" BatDad Face (TM) and the little hellions just grin back at him, entirely unaffected. Shouldn't be but still is because holy fuck even Jason will still back off when Bruce levels him with that look. And these kids had the gaul to ask Bruce if they could go get ice cream after they were done here.

Bruce blinks first. It feels like an omen for the ends times.

Tim can't blame him though, you can’t look into the heart of insanity and chaos like that for too long without risking losing something in the process. Steph was right, they really are nightmare demons sent to feed on their fear and uncertainty.

Billy swipes a smear of blood away from his busted nose with the sleeve of his torn and dirty shirt. Elle's teeth are pink and red from blood - Tim isn't sure if it's better or worse that it's not her blood. Jon was bouncing between fussing over Damian - who Superboy had been mostly able to keep from joining the fight and thus probably saved a couple of lives - and casting worried looks at his two bloody friends as they stood lined up in front of Bruce. At least one of them had enough sense to be wary of that look.

Tim would say that Jon was the well behaved one of the bunch - and worryingly enough he might be - but he'd heard him yelling give em the chair at one of the two scrappers as he and Bruce came running over so he knows it's only the fact that a punch from even a baby Kryptonian would have killed a person that kept the littest Kent out of the fight rather than any idea that the fight itself was wrong. All four children look ruthlessly proud of each other.

The ones the hellions were fighting - a couple of guys Tim's age who had been stupid enough to try and bully Damian at all, let alone in front of his pack of feral raccoons - looked like they'd gone several rounds with Killer Croc before being thrown around by Bane and run over by a car. They deserved it- assholes - but they still looked rough.

One was bleeding from several bite wounds Elle had inflicted on him, earlobes a mess from where the little girl had torn his earrings out, both eyes blackened and swollen to the point he couldn't open them anymore. The other had a large red and bleeding bald spot from where Billy had ripped a good chunk of hair out, nose completely shattered- likely in retaliation for what had been done to Billy's - and elbow hanging at an odd angle. Tim's not sure which one of them had the chair - thankfully one of those fabric folding ones and not something more solid - broken over them, or which hellspawn had taken Jon's suggestion to heart, but either way he could see the twisted up remains of the item in question laying not too far away.

At least the EMTs were ushering the two weeping teens away into ambulances so they could get taken care of. Tim's pretty sure Elle and Billie would try and get a few more hits in otherwise and knowing them he doesn't doubt that at least one of the cops that had shown up on the scene would end up losing a finger or two in the process. Which normally Tim would be fine with - he has files on all of these guys and they deserve way worse than what a couple twelve year olds could do to them - but in this case he's already having a hard time convincing the officers that it's just a matter of some kids defending one of their friends from a couple of bullies.

Ugh. Some people just didn't understand children and it really showed. It was a public park, kids were gonna be kids. Just a normal childhood scrap. The real problem were the highschoolers who tried to start shit with a group of little kids.

Sure the hellions were feral and unhinged enough to be unbothered by Bruce trying to chide them about starting fights instead of getting an adult to help, but at the end of the day playground scuffles will happen and the kids were just defending themselves. Cops should be thankful that BL wasn't able to join them for the day or someone would have ended up shoved into a cooler or something.

Eh, whatever. He got them to drop the assault charges - which were ridiculous, Elle & Billie were normal twelve year olds getting into a fight, it wasn't like it was Damian with all his training and skills - and Bruce had given up on trying to be disapproving of them not reporting the attempted bullying to him instead of handling it themselves. Probably because at the end of the day he was a little proud of the little shits for defending Damian and standing up against some bullies. And really Tim was too. They might be vicious little hellspawns sent there to torment them all, but they were good kids at the end of the day and they cared about Damian enough to throw down with guys twice their size.

Tim pulled up a list of the nearest ice cream places on his phone, Bruce was totally going to cave on that front and even if he didn't Tim was willing to use his executive Big Brother privileges to get them ice cream anyway. He isn’t going to need to though. Jon had thrown his puppy dog eyes into the mix on that front and Tim knows from experience how much a kryptonian looking hopeful could get away with when it came to this family. Hell, Kon had probably taught his little brother that face for these exact kinds of situations because of how effective it was.

"I'm still going to have to tell Jazz about this." Bruce said as they shuffled off towards the restrooms to try and get everyone cleaned up, a parting shot to make up for his failure to cow them earlier.

"Please don't tell her! She’s gonna make us read articles about conflict resolution again!"

"B come on that's no fair! You said we did good not letting those assholes get away with their bullying shit!"

"Language!"

Huh, Tim thought with a grin. Maybe the little demons weren't as terrifyingly unstoppable as he thought.

[ghost-bxrd]

How would Talon!Dick react if, during patrol, he called out for Jason and didn't get a reply, and it turns out Jason was kidnapped by a rogue or something?

At first he wouldn’t think much of it. They usually stick close during patrol, yes, but it does happen that one of them wanders from time to time, mostly on accident.

So when Dick first calls out and doesn’t get a response he simply switches to the comms. The chirps and hoots don’t carry as well over tech, but Jason and Bruce will know what they mean and answer anyway.

Only that Jason doesn’t answer. He only gets Bruce’s confused pseudo-hoot in response, and that’s when Dick knows something is wrong.

His owlet always responds.

Unless he can’t.

Bruce requests a status update several times, calling for Robin to answer the comms, and when he‘a just as unsuccessful as Dick there’s two things he knows right away. One, Jason is in trouble. Two, Bruce is about to have a near feral Talon on his hands hunting for his owlet.

And BOY is he right.

Dick doesn’t stick around to discuss with Bruce what they’re going to do or how they’re going to track Robin down. He’s already five steps ahead, hunting through the streets like the horror of children’s tales come to life.

Dick may have hated being with the Court, but they taught him how to find someone. How to sniff out one target in a city of millions. Whoever took his owlet is going to pay.

Dick finds Jason in record time and slashes the kidnappers open with such clinical precision the EMT’s on scene are horrified.

The perpetrators all survive, but none of them will ever gain full use of their bodily functions ever again.

Bruce berates Dick for the brutality of his actions but he’s not stupid enough to believe the talon wouldn’t do the same thing again twice over if Jason was ever abducted again.

That same night Bruce integrates several trackers into Robins suit.

[oldmannapping]

Fic: The Lecture

Summary: Fourth in the Networking series, which is my little playpen where I put Bernard, Jason, and Roy into the same room as many times as possible.

In this installment, Bernard gives Tim, Jason, and Roy a lecture about the importance of disguises.

Excerpt:

“Tim, you and I have had this conversation before,” said Bernard. “You know I respect what you do so much, but it’s physically painful to watch you and your family run around acting like a little sex dungeon mask is all it takes to maintain a secret identity.”

Roy grabbed Tim’s arm. “I love him,” he told Tim quietly. “If you don’t marry him, I will.”

Read it here

The Networking Series

[introspectivememories]

my ideal ending for tim, if you even can call it that, is he does the vigilante thing for like another decade, until he's like minimum 27? maximum 30-ish. and then walks into the batcave one day and just straight up tells the whole family that he's retiring. cue jason and dami going "you can retire???". and then he and bear move across the country so he can teach superhero school in socal and bear can do emt work and tim's happy cause he can finally put down roots without having to constantly leave bear and all the sunlight does wonders for bear's complexion. as much he loved superheroing, nothing beats waking up to the sound of the ocean and bear humming in the kitchen as he makes breakfast. nothing beats, waking up to bear's sleeping face as the sunlight streams in through the window. and yeah, tim's not gonna lie, he does miss swinging over rooftops and helping people but doesn't helping old lady himiko from down the street pick oranges count as helping people? doesn't teaching the next generation of heroes count as helping people? doesn't watching bear come out of the ocean in his wetsuit, still holding his surfboard, dripping, shaking his hair to get out the excess water, as the sunlight casts a halo around him, count as helping people??? it helps him!!

[were-wolverine]

selina adopts dick au - timeline + ages

dick (10) watches his parents die and selina brings him home with her

dick (11) asks selina for help getting revenge on tony zucco and they bankrupt him and get him arrested. he then begs selina to train him in the art of theft

dick (12) becomes Stray

a year passes with dick as Stray

babs (14) becomes Batgirl

about four years pass

jason (13) is adopted and becomes Batboy

dick (16) gets officially fostered by selina

tim (10) confronts selina and reunites with dick

a year passes

selina blackmails the drakes into letting her be tim’s emergency contact & babysitter while they are out of the country

babs (18) is shot by joker and becomes Oracle

a year passes

dick (18) dorms at Gotham University but visits selina and tim (12) every weekend

jason (15) runs away from the manor and stays with selina. he decides not to look for Shelia Haywood.

dick drops out of college and starts paramedic training

a year passes

dick (19) gives Stray to tim and becomes Nightwing

tim (13) becomes Stray and starts training under Oracle

steph (14) starts out as Spoiler

jason (16) decides to leave Batboy behind when he goes off to college

a year passes

dick (20) completes his paramedic training and starts working as an EMT

a year passes

jason (18) goes off to college

steph (16) becomes Batgirl

a year passes

jason (19) goes to the League

tim (16) is sent to boarding school

steph (17) temporarily becomes Stray

cass (18) is adopted and becomes Batgirl

[steddiehands86]

~*TW: gunshots*~

Eddie didn’t feel the gunshot at first. Saw instead the horrified look on his friend’s faces: Dustin’s face going white, Steve’s chocolate eyes widening in alarm, Robin screaming in terror as Nancy scanned the tree line.

He took a halting step, then another before he stopped, looking down as a ruby flower bloomed under his shirt and hearing Steve’s footsteps hurrying toward him.

Just as he was about to fall, knees knocking together in sudden weakness, he was caught by Steve’s strong arms carefully winding around his waist as he gently laid him down on the ground.

“It’s okay, you’re going to be okay,” was all he could hear through the muffle in his ears, momentarily deafened by the sound of the bullet.

He could hear Dustin’s high pitched voice screaming over the walkie, Robin frantically encouraging him to stay awake, to keep breathing as best he could because his torso was on FIRE.

And Nancy? She was an avenging angel, a Valkyrie coming to his rescue.

Her sharp eyes scanned the path ahead to see Jason and his cronies, the blond clutching his hand in pain because of course he wasn’t holding the weapon properly. She swiftly swung her bag around, pulled out the pistol Eddie was sure wasn’t there before and aimed at them. Her voice rang clear and firm, carried through the trees by a soft, gentle breeze, “I’m going to give you guys to the count of three to get out of here before I start firing.”

The boys ran, Jason stupidly dropping the weapon in his haste to get to safety.

Eddie was shaking as his vision blurred, watched them stumbling over the forest path.

“Robin-” Her voice was calm as fuck, eyes never strayed from watching the jocks run off, “Robin I’m going to need you to listen to me right now.” Nancy still held the pistol aloft just in case, “I need you to go over there, quick as you can, and get that gun. Don’t touch it with your bare hands, we’re going to need it.”

Robin hurried over, wiping at her eyes as she did as she was asked and trying to get her own breathing under control.

“Hey Eds,” Steve brushed his fringe from his clammy forehead, Eddie’s gaze filled with the sweetest, kindest face. Pure puppy dog concern with a strange wash of determination. Daddy in control written on every feature. “This is going to hurt, I need to get this bullet out but I’m going to be as gentle as I can.”

“Steve we gotta get him to-”

“Where, Dust? He’s a fugitive, we can’t chance him getting an infection, or ripping through shit making it worse.”

“How do YOU know it’s not somewhere life threatening?!”

Steve rolled his eyes, as if this was the conversation they needed to be having with a dusting of ‘we don’t have time for this’ flavoring his tone, “Ever since the mall fire I’ve been taking EMT courses.” He shrugged, looking almost embarrassed at his confession as he whipped off his yellow sweater. “Need you to look at me, Eds. This is going to fucking hurt, but I’m going to make sure you’re okay. Do you think you can nod for me that you understand?”

Eddie, wide-eyed and frightened, awed that Steve was so cool headed about all of this, not to mention that Eddie was eyes to hairy tits and wondered what it was like to just…live there right in between those magnificent pecs- odd what his mind decided too focus on while he was bleeding out at Skull Rock, nodded mutely.

Steve’s smile was blinding as he ripped at the soft material, “Perfect, you’re doing so good Eddie.”

He wanted to be good for Steve, just as long as he could keep looking at this Adonis for his last moments, Eddie was floating. High on adrenaline and pain he could only feel a weird tugging at first, legs numb and tingling before absolute fire as something went in-

“I know Eddie,” Steve crooned low and deep, gripping his jawbone tenderly, rubbing his thumb over Eddie’s tear-stained cheek, “-almost over- got it right-”

Eddie’s scream echoed through the clearing, bouncing off the rocks making Steve wince in sympathy, “Here Dust, put this in your pack-”

“Are you serious?!”

“We’ll need the evidence for later, buddy. It’s gross, make sure you wash your hands.” Steve smiled down at him in reassurance, brushing Eddie’s hair back with a clean hand, “you did so well. Don’t worry, we’re going to get this bandaged up, and then I’m going to take you to my place. You’re going to be just fine-”

“Steve-”

“Nancy,” Steve warned, voice firm and brooking no argument this time, “They’re never home. And if he’s in my room, they’ll just assume he’s me. Trust me, they don’t care.”

It was in snapshots, how Eddie remembered the rest. He recalled Steve’s warm, tacky hands gripping his face and telling him ‘just keep breathing- in and out- that’s good’. Felt the wrapping, the sting of having his midsection jostled as they wrapped him up, feeling the blood gushing just a little before the pressure eased. He floated seemingly through the air but knowing that wasn’t quite right- he smelled a spicy, soft cologne and sweat- through the forest until they reached Steve’s car. The trees rushed by in a blur of hunter green and dark brown, the sunlight peeking through to dazzle his vision making him feel like he was flying to Heaven, cushioned on a firm thigh. He blinked, then feeling the forced air of what he could only assume was the hallways of the Harrington home, feeling the soft springiness of his mattress smelling of sage and cedar wood.

Steve’s now clean hands coaxed Eddie to swallow down painkillers, antibiotics, and washing it down with crisp cool water. Before utter blackness took hold he felt the gentle press of lips at his temple, Steve whispering, “I’ll be here when you wake. You’re safe.”

Safe with Steve, the king of his heart.