#I LOVE YOU FELLOW WHUMP ENTHUSIAST

[silvercap]

Hey I just really want to say that I love all of you <3 I know I've been a little distant lately with school and all but I just want to say I'm thankful for this little community!! Not to get all sappy ajajjdjsjs but I just. Yeah. Always such an honor to get lovely comments or have conversations in tags or replies :)

[calmlb]

Hi Essie!!! Hope you're doing well! (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)❤️

So I had this idea for a sick!Dazai fic (that I'm honestly too tired to write dhehee), and who else is better to brainstorm it with than my fellow Dazai whump enthusiast? :D

Based on my own experience of being sick for the past week, I forgot how awful it can get. It sucks. You're feverish, your nose is either runny or super blocked, your throat hurts, you get headaches, you're lethargic 80% of the time, all that stuff. But what sucked the most for me was how hot my skin felt. Like, clothes were so uncomfortable to wear from the sweat, especially since it's still summer around here.

So imagine putting bandages into account as well?

Yep, awful.

So I present you with a scenario: Teen!Dazai in his office, has taken over paper duty (that Mori knows he isn't gonna complete anyway) because of his fever. He feels gross, to say the least. Flushed and hazy, a little nauseous and sleepy. But his skin- his skin is scorching, and there is no way for it to disperse that heat because it can't breathe. He endures it for as long as he can until he just can't.

In his haze, he scrambles to tear his bandages off, loosen his tie, and decides that he will lie on the cold floor shirtless. The air conditioner isn't enough. No one is there to stop him.

Until Chuuya barges in without knocking as usual (to discus the paperwork he also knows Dazai isn't going to finish) and stumbles onto the scene.

Dazai doesn't even acknowledge him, has already taken off the bandages around his eye and is halfway through tearing off the ones around his neck. His clothes are disheveled as he loosens them and looks like he's about to take them off.

Chuuya gapes for a solid second, before exclaiming with a blush-

"What the fuck?!"

He rushes over, trying not to look at Dazai's skin that's on display and stops him. He wraps him with Mori's oversized coat aggressively.

Dazai fights against him, exclaiming that he needs to lie on the floor. Chuuya doesn't get it, all that he knows is that Dazai is delirious, and even if he thinks it's a good idea to tear through his protective layer now, he'll definitely regret it later.

So Chuuya ties him with the coat and decides to take the paperwork to his place, along with a flailing Dazai on his shoulder.

I just wanna see Dazai giving Chuuya hell during treating him 😭 cuz even if cooling off is a good idea for a fever, not staying huddled in the warmth equates to chills and endless sneezes. Makes you feel even more awful. So it's gonna be a push and pull of Chuuya trying to warm Dazai up (in order to fight off the fever faster), and Dazai wanting to cool off (because he isn't used to being this warm and hates it), until they come up with a compromise somehow dgdhejndjd

Yeah, just a fun idea! :3 Feel free to expand on it hehe

PEA 😭 i saw this when i was having a Very Bad Day™️ & it immediately made it sm better tysm 🥺🩷🩷

UGH THE TENDER, FEVERISH SKIN UNDER THE BANDAGES ❤️‍🩹 where everything just feels like too much, i completely understand why Dazai (in his feverish delusion) would think removing the offending material would be the solution

Chuuya barging in and quickly going from 👁️👄👁️ to 😳🤬. i love that he goes into protective mode, thinking of how future Dazai will surely regret this course of action & putting measures in place to prevent that 🥺

Chuuya would wrap Dazai up like a sushi roll & carry him on his shoulder like a log back to his apartment, where he proceeds to lose the idgaf war & embrace his mother hen side (which he still denies exists)

meanwhile Dazai is kicking & fighting him every step of the way, acting more like a 5 year old than a mafia sub executive (he’s still only a kid sobs), even as he shivers with chills

until Chuuya manages to get a hand in his sweat soaked curls, gently carding through them. the coolness of his leather glove against Dazai’s overheated scalp makes Dazai go still… and then slump against the couch in a mixture of relief & exhaustion. Chuuya takes advantage of his compliance to make him agree to stop fighting him, & they spend the rest of the day resting on the couch, watching movies & playing video games (well. Chuuya plays. Dazai watches & points out all of Chuuya’s mistakes) 🩷🩷🩷

[wyked-ao3]

can you give us the origin story behind tkopdr? what inspired you to write the story? where did the idea come from? what motivated you to put pen to paper and actually write it?

miss tou wyked <3

Thank you for the ask @thecomfywriter

Origin story- a varying amount of things that interested me including lore/mythology, several weird dreams and pirates all merged together to craft this... storyline

Where did the idea come from-. Not particularly certain I had some OC's in mind for over seven years... finally figured out why they wanted to belong to.....then about 50 more showed up knocking on the door 0_o

What inspired it- probably my internet in pirates of the Caribbean (not even technically a favorite like lol) and pirate queens and leaders that made huge impacts on the pirates throughout history. Grace O'Mally and Anne bonny both have a special place in my heart. So does Stede Bonnet

What motivated me to type it out since I don't hand write anything legitable- well I started in fanfiction and made some friend who have been great support to me and they inadvertently motivated me to actually write out my series versus leaving it in my head and I have made a few friend since then who have continued to motivate me when I was feeling down.

So in book one I'm warning there will be a long as thank you page.... with several pen names on it considered this a warning (this is not the speech getting used but... decided to include one in the warning)

@lillybaaaka- who is the first friend I made on Tumblr and a fellow fanfiction writer (I love your work...) who taught me a lot about writing. 🫂

@adhdprincess a friend who taught me a few things about punctuation and who writes the last of us fanfiction and another friend I made shortly after joining Tumblr and has been a fun person to talk to about wips. 🫂

@evilwriter-originals who is also writing their first novel and fanfiction although the novels a wip if you like whump I would check it out. 🫂 Also they write httyd fanfiction and original stories here

@the-golden-comet who is a dear friend and has been super kind, and supportive and has a pirate story as well, they have been a huge motivation to continue my story 🫂

@gioiaalbanoart who is my shovel buddy and a dear friend, who has enthusiastically asked questions and has got to hear several rants about charaters along with golden lol.. She has a wip I'm super excited(the scarred angel) about and is my beta reader who has been really amazing (thank you so much!!) 🫂

@tragedycoded my dearest eldritch friend who popped out of the murky swamps of Tumblr and made me realize that perhaps people would like Braith after all....(I was half convinced I'd be the only one to like that oc lol) Tragedy also has a wonderful weird western story also you are great to complain to about unruly OC's...or perhaps I just like hearing more about Royston 🤔 🫂 who along with golden and jev convinced me to toss the tree people back into the book (y'all are also getting to hear some biology behind that soon 😈 ok as soon as I figure it out completely.)

@jev-urisk who I may not have know the longest out of the group of friends but I value your input greatly, also you and golden motivated me to make certain scenes longer. Lol 🫂 your wip seven circles is one I'm super excited about.

@thecomfywriter a friend who has definitely shown interest in my story and has earned the title Amon's biggest fan... despite not knowing him 😑 lol. 🫂 Who had also shown support thank you (she is publishing her novel soon)

@thatuselesshuman @gioiaalbanoart @lychhiker-writes @thecomfywriter @evilwriter37

@saebasanart @the-golden-comet @mauannacreates @kind-lion @alinacapellabooks

@kuebiko-writing @kaeru483 @differentnighttale @theink-stainedfolk @unstableunicornsofasgard

@mysticstarlightduck @demon-sneeze @an-indecisive-nerd @smellyrottentrees @honeybewrites

@pheonix358 @the-letterbox-archives

[whumpsday]

ummm hello i have one question... do you know of the anime owari no seraph/seraph of the end? if not and you like anime you should absolutely 100% watch it bc........ vampire whump. also its cool i liked it a lot more than i expected and i keep thinking about it bc of you (beloved fellow vampire enthusiast). oh this also goes to any other vampire enthusiast in the community who happen to see this. watch it. you will love it. i swear im not just saying this bc i liked it a lot and now im obsessed i just genuinely think everyone who likes vampires and whump in the same sentence should feel obligated to watch it anyway hope youre doing well

yeah i watched like 3 episodes when it first came out back in 2015! i don't care for minor whump (it is on my squicks list) so i wouldn't enjoy it for the whump aspect, and these days i really only watch anime if it's something my bf wants to watch, so i prob won't get around to it. but thanks for the rec!! love vampire things and it's sweet you thought of me :)

unfortunately i am the covid and am not doing well but i will be better next week!! i also hope you are doing well

[whumpishvices]

header

hi hello,

i am whumpish vices, side blog of bitterish vices and avid anguish enthusiast.

here you can find whump, of course, some miscellaneous writing bits, tropes that make me gaily spin around in circles, and other such things i'm not normal about in the slightest.

it’s lovely to meet you. feel free to stay around :)

(peek under the read more for more information— rec list + favorite tropes)

Favorite tropeS

intimate whumper

defiant whumpee

✧･ﾟcannibalism my beloved✧･ﾟ

conditioning

deconditioning

religious whump

whipping

hhhhhh vampire whump

dehumanization

multiple whumpees

whumper who is a bit of a wet paper bag

✧･ﾟdeprivation my beloved✧･ﾟsleep deprivation starvation dehydration anything of the sort i go mad

self harm

whumper-turned-whumpee

carewhumper

bad caretaker

sickness

historical whump

BITING

fantasy whump

lashing

i like it when. a lot of blood

hurt no comfort

My lovely rec lisT

k&j

our man flint

you can’t follow your heart if there’s a stake through it

a new beginning

sanctity

this should go without saying but just in case some non-whump fellows happen upon this, my interest is purely fictional, and Real Life Torture Is Bad.

i do have aspirations of writing, but i am not sure if i will.

[ao3feed-ineffablehusbandz]

Show Me You Love Me?

Show Me You Love Me?

by theRavenMuse

After dealing with a few unruly demons, Aziraphale has been crowned the local demon expert. This mostly means informing the local priests that they have in fact trapped yet another normal human and setting the poor fellows loose. That is until today.

Alternatively: Crowley gets caught by some enthusiastic humans and was likely well on his way to discorporation before Aziraphale steps in. Aziraphale tenderly cares for Crowley, and then there are love confessions, and then Aziraphale takes care of Crowley in a different way. Hehe.

Basically just whump followed up by incredibly soft smut. Happy Valentine’s.

Words: 3910, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens)

Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)

Additional Tags: Whump, Smut, soft smut as torture aftercare?, MINOR Graphic Depictions Of Violence, i don’t think it’s enough for an archive warning but it is there, Crowley Whump (Good Omens), Hurt Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens)

From https://ift.tt/zMBaXjm https://archiveofourown.org/works/45063751

[theminecraftbee]

Hello second theminecraftbee i saw your post about princess tutu (genius idea btw aaaaa i need that in my life) and as a fellow magical girl enthusiast i wanted to ask your opinion on madoka magica?

madoka fine! i liked madoka! the aesthetics of madoka are on-point! i think there are parts of madoka that warped how people think of magical girls like... too much, though. something something, people convincing themselves suffering is the key to a better story, missing the fact that the original madoka ended with a hopeful ending and ended with EXACTLY "the power of love saves the day", even after all the desconstructive dark shit that madoka did.

i also kinda hate how people act like madoka magica invented the idea of anything dark happening in magical girl shows. it did not. magical girl anime has ALWAYS been capable of dark emotional beats. the sailor scouts all Fucking Die. more than once. just because large parts of the show are light and silly doesn't mean it's not worth taking seriously, you know?

and a lot of madoka imitators are just... they're all suffering, and nothing else. and if my rant on whump fics and how people write them wrong didn't make my opinion of THAT clear...

but madoka itself is fine. i think more magical girls should have guns, actually, homura akemi's superpower being "i have stolen a military arsenal of weaponry" is an inspired choice, and i really like a lot of madoka concepts. i just think that the EFFECT madoka had is... not my cup of tea. most of the time... i just want people to play magical girls straight. and terrible things can STILL HAPPEN when you're fighting things with magical girl transformations and the power of love. but the genre itself, in all of it's monster-of-the-week, glittery, sappy glory? i prefer it like that. i prefer the power of love prevailing. i like the teams that are close family. i love how princess tutu never actually fights, her superpower is basically “i give you therapy while dancing”. i just... yeah i love the genre played straight, as what it is.

there are other ways to do magical girls well guys, i guess i my opinion.

[shipping-kitchen]

The Homestuck Beta Kids Write Fanfiction (Headcanons)

Dave

all low effort crackfics

just in it to try and make people cringe

if you've read those kind of fics you know what I mean

his fics either get a ridiculous number of faves/kudos or none at all

writes super weird rpf about actors

occasionally writes vent fics and never publishes them

Rose

exclusively writes 100k+ long slowburn AUs with a ridiculous amount of worldbuilding

definitely falls into over-descriptive flowery language at times

only writes gay love stories, queen of f/f rarepairs

writes her friends in as background OCs when she's feeling cheeky

kills off half the characters in tragic and subversive ways

fills her fics with so much plot that you forget it's supposed to be a fanfiction

John

mostly writes headcanons!

has a lot of thoughts but has difficulty writing them down

writes self-insert stories but gets too embarassed to post them

really enjoys fan-kids and gen fics

tries to support Dave but gets a little sqeamish about his writing sometimes

likes writing cross-over fics of characters from different fandoms meeting

mostly in small fandoms with <50 fanfictions and doesn’t get a lot of attention as a writer, but the fellow fans who see his stories/headcanons are Very enthusiastic

Jade

it's either pure fluff or pure whump and no in between

absolutely brutal injury scenes, everyone's like 'is she good??'

really loves writing for other people's prompts but you never know what you're going to get: she takes prompts very liberally

has a fondness for sorting characters (hogwarts houses, factions, etc.) and will go to bat for her headcanons

writes a lot about cartoon characters and gets some backlash for it, but doesn't really care

the only one of the beta kids who's really active in a community: gives fics as gifts, participates in arguments, etc.

[stab-the-son-of-a]

When you get this, please respond with five things that make you happy~! Then, send to the last ten people in your notifications anonymously. You never know who might benefit from spreading positivity~!

An excellent exercise in practicing being mindful of potential self care options, positives in our lives, and everything we have to be grateful. </armchair psychology>

To point:

1. My friends and fellow enthusiasts! @b0amagination @pepperonyscience @galaxywhump @brutal-nemesis @whump-it @canniboylism @a-series-of-whumpy-events @whatgoeswhumpinthenight - I'm definitely forgetting some and sorry for all the tags, folks, but sending love and affection- talking to you and interacting with you guys is a delight.

2. My cat. I call him a smelly bastard and insult him on a daily basis but he's an adorable little menace that helps make my mornings 10x fluffier and cuter.

3. When that "Mmm yes you have Created / Done A Thing" feeling comes and I feel productive

4. Seeing tags or comments in the reblogs. I'm a little mouse pushing at that post button like it'll dispense cheese, but I love seeing people's reactions, takes and opinions on either my work, my thoughts, or random conversations. Makes this place feel homey, like we're all just chilling in the communal area shooting the breeze.

5. My job, for all the frustration it gives me. I'm thankful to still have it, grateful for the support I receive from my boss, and my coworkers are all sweet and friendly, and genuinely kind people.

[aceofwhump]

Hi, fellow WM obsessed! 😁 Do we have an idea how many and which kind of injuries our favourite monk sustained in the fight with The Trinity Guard? Asking for reasons. 😉

*waves enthusiastically* Hello!!!

Oh my god my friend I love you for asking me this. I have put WAY too much thought into this very thing for a fic I may have started that is purely Gawain and Squirrel taking care of him after the finale so I needed to ascertain what his injuries were and spent a loooong time watching the scene over and over and over again (such a chore am i right lol). Here’s what I figure:

*SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T WATCHED*

First of all, this?

Was like a day ago at most so he’s still got all of those really bad lashes on his back which I doubt were treated at all cause, ya know, “the pain will cleanse you.”

Okay so now his fight with the Trinity Guard. The Trinity Guards, for some reason, aren’t using swords for most of the battle but are instead using flails. A lovely weapon that is definitely under utilized in the whump community. Ya know, these bad boys right here

So The Weeping Monk kills a bunch with his swords and then he faces down the rest of them but gets both of his swords ripped out of hands by these things (they sort of wrap around the blade and yank them away leaving him weaponless) and is then mercilessly beaten by them.

Most of the hits seem to be on his back (remember he still has all those lashes on his back too) and chest but he definitely is taking some on his arms and legs as well. And a flail is gonna do a lot of damage. We're looking at:

Deep, deep and extensive bruising across his back and torso

Possibly (probably) broken ribs

Deep punctures and cuts from the spikes

Internal bleeding

Other possibilities: broken/sprained/cracked arm bones, shoulder injury from the force of the blows.

Then to make it even better, once he's on his knees he takes several hits to the face and head which let’s be real probably would have killed him if this wasn’t a television show.

So now we can add:

More bruising and cuts and punctures wounds

Most likely a concussion from the force of the blows

A broken jaw but we know that's not the case cause he talks just fine so whatever. His mouth is definitely injured as well.

So to sum up, our Weeping Monk's list of probable injures include:

Deep bruises all across his torso and back

Deep puncture wounds and cuts over his back, torso, arms, head and face of varying degrees 

Internal bleeding

Broken ribs (and possibly other broken bones in the arm and face)

Concussion

Jaw bruising and some damage to the inside of his mouth

Blood loss

Lash marks all across his back that had no time to heal before being wailed on so I’m sure those are not bleeding again and probably made worse.

OUR BOY IS NOT WELL AFTER THIS!!!! That’s a lot of damage he sustained. Of course I doubt the show will make it that bad but look at that beating. It’s bad.

And the fight/beating has CLEARLY exhausted and weakened and I’M SURE in a lot of pain him judging by this

I’m in pain just looking at him.

So yeah that’s my very looong explanation of they types of injuries I think our favorite boi has sustained.

I hope you enjoyed they results of my hyperfixation overthinking :D

[redstainedsocks]

This blog is 1 years old today!

Oh how fast time flies. I made the blog on the 27th, but didn’t make my first post (or my initial greeting post) until the 28th, and here we are, a year later, still going. It’s been such an odd one, but a perfect time to be escaping into fiction and fantasy scenarios and thinking about anything other than real life. Thank you all for enabling my habit of distraction from everything out there.

I’d been reading a few stories for a few months, and sending the odd ask or request, and finally caved (thanks to @whumpthisway being terrible at talking me out of it 😜) and started my own blog so I could reblog and interact and collect all the things I like in one place. I didn’t really expect to get many followers but there’s a fair few of you now, and I promise if you like or reblog or comment on anything I post with any regularity I know your name and appreciate having a fellow fan of all the same things that bring me whumpy joy.

I also already had my own idea for an OC whump story last December and I let it grow and develop in my head for a long time, but I finally started posting it last month and I’m very excited that it has some incredibly enthusiastic readers. Before that got going of course, Kit stole my heart and attention and taught me a lot about writing for OCs and I hope to continue to have more good times writing more of his story too, I know he’s well loved and that in itself is amazing to me.

Anyway, it’s taken me all day to get round to writing this and I’m posting it with 7 minutes to spare, but mostly I just wanted to mark the occasion and say thanks for being here, and I hope to continue to see you around. I’d love to open up to taking prompt requests at some point in the next year, and engage with you all even more. And as ever, I shall do my best to keep reading and loving on the stories—old and new—that get me excited about whump every day!

[silvercap]

💌 ❤️❤️❤️❤️🫶

I want to get to know you better!! You're always so enthusiastic, and your tags and comments always make me smile :) Happy to have met a fellow whump writer!! I also love finding new art in your reblogs, you have good taste!

[go-whump-in-the-night]

Help needed!

Hey guys, I don't like to do this, but things are getting a bit serious so I'm reaching out to my followers and fellow whump enthusiasts for some help. This post is a bit long, but please read all the way through. 🖤

I've recently been diagnosed with bipolar 2 disorder and have been seeing a therapist and a psychiatrist for the first time in my life, after struggling with self h*rm, childhood trauma, and su*cidal ideation for as long as I can remember. Because of this, for the first time I've been able to get help and medication and am finally on the way to getting control of my life at age 27.

I also, after a lot of fear and deliberation, came out to my family as genderfluid and have begun living and presenting with my new name, pronouns, and my preferred gender expression.

However, just before the holidays, and after I had already bought Christmas presents, I came down with the flu and was concerned that I might have gotten Covid-19. My work policy meant that I had to Quarantine with no pay for the next two weeks. Because of the overlap with that, and the fact that I need to see my psychiatrist every two weeks to adjust my medication, I am now $50 in the red with no real way of getting any more money before my rent comes due at the end of the month.

I go back to work tomorrow, but I won't be paid for that period until the month has already ended. My psychiatrist sessions are $125.00 each, my therapy is $140.00 a month, and my medications cost around $40.00. This normally isn't too bad, but I didn't have the money saved up (because of the afformentioned work issue) and now I'm in the situation I stated before. I live with my partner, and as of right now, he'll be forced to pay the entirety of our bills at the end of the month.

If anybody could help me out, any little bit helps. My PayPal is @eternalcynic and I also have a Kofi if that's more convenient. Alternatively, check out my pinned post for my commission info.

If you can't donate, reblogging this really helps me out, too. Thank you guys! I love this community.

[anguishmacgyver]

I genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, hope your Thing goes well tomorrow and that things turn out ok. Your fellow Macgyver whump enthusiasts are all cheering for you via the internet 📎 👏🏻 💜

aahhhhhhhhhh this is so sweet 😭😭😭 I hope so too, my friend. I extend my love and appreciation to the MacGyver whump enthusiasts that keep me going ✊❤️ thank you!! you're amazing

[set-phasers-to-whump]

“i’m sorry, i didn’t know”

prompt: “i’m sorry, i didn’t know”

whumpee: kyle valenti

fandom: roswell new mexico

hi hi i bring again whump of a character that caters probably only to Me!!! i absolutely love kyle and alex so much and i like to write them sweet...there is plenty of pain in here tho!! def pre-ship vibes but you don’t Have to read it that way?

It hurts. A burning kind of pain that radiates out from his right ribcage all throughout his torso, hot and constant and spiking in intensity whenever he tries to breathe. Broken ribs, he thinks, dismally. Why? Anything but broken ribs would be fine. Pretty much any other kind of break can have something done about it. But for this? He can take a couple ibuprofen and set an ice pack on them and get back to work. 

Not that he particularly should, with broken ribs. A few days off is wise, as is getting checked out by a colleague, but to be honest he doesn’t feel like telling anyone. He doesn’t have any internal bleeding and nothing’s poking out of his skin, so he’s fine. He’s fine.

Except that his whole chest hurts every time he breathes, let alone speaks, or, god forbid, walks. But he has to do all three of those things, because he’s got work today, and then he and Alex are hanging out tonight. He’s not about to skip either of those things.

Work sucks. There’s no sugarcoating it. He hides his injury as well as he can, excusing his awkward posture, slight limp, and occasional wince as being products of a late, sleepless night, and if his colleagues doubt him, they’re kind enough not to say anything. 

Everything goes about as well as it can go until around lunch. He’s operating, a procedure he’s done so many times he could do it in his sleep, but he can’t fully extend his right arm or he’s pretty sure his whole chest will tear in two. He tries to ignore it, but he swears he’s on fire, and he drops his scalpel right on top of the patient. 

Nothing bad happens, but a fellow doctor gives him a curious look. He reaches for the scalpel and can’t quite hide a wince as he stretches out his side a little too much.

“Are you alright, Dr. Valenti?”

“Fine,” he says, a little more snappishly than he’d intended. He bites down on his lip to stop himself from making any more noise and stubbornly blinks away the tears of pain that have formed unwillingly in his eyes. 

The rest of the procedure goes off without a hitch, but Kyle can’t quite escape from the other doctor afterwards. 

“You sure you’re okay? I saw you wince when you reached for that scalpel.”

“Yeah, it’s nothing,” he says, as casually as he can, not wanting a repeat of his reply from before. “Just slept a little weird.”

“Thought you didn’t sleep at all.”

“Barely,” he says. “I barely slept. What I did get...not the best.”

Evidently this is a sufficient explanation, as the other doctor leaves him alone to go grab lunch. Kyle is definitely not hungry, so he skips out, hiding in the locker room until his break’s over. 

He gets home shortly after six, now slightly hungry, but unwilling to eat, lest it cause him more pain. The whole drive home his seatbelt had pressed against the lower side of his ribs, jostling them whenever he’d come to a stop. It hadn’t bothered him too much that morning, but evidently all of the ibuprofen is wearing off. He just wants everything to stop hurting.

He limps his way through the door, not bothering to take off his shoes or remove anything from his pockets. He makes a beeline for the bathroom, where he again takes too much ibuprofen and carefully lifts up his shirt to inspect his injury.

His entire right side is a vivid purple with the occasional splotch of red. It’s slightly swollen and excruciatingly painful to touch. God, it hurts. 

He very slowly makes his way to the couch, stopping by the freezer for a soft ice pack. He lies down carefully and places the ice pack onto his ribs, through his shirt so as not to freeze his skin off. Which would be just what he needs, he thinks. 

The light contact of the ice pack hurts like he’s been punched, and its steady pressure is almost unbearable. He lets out a groan of pain and finally gives in to the hot tears building behind his eyes. Even so, he leaves the ice pack on. It’ll help in the long run, and he’s still got things to do today.

Things which he could very easily cancel. He could text Alex and tell him he’s just not feeling well tonight, but then Alex would ask what’s the matter? and probably get concerned for him and Kyle really doesn’t want that. So he’ll suck it up. And he’ll ice his damn ribs. 

At 6:30, Kyle lifts himself up off of the couch as gently as he possibly can. It hurts anyway, but slightly less thanks to the time spent with the ice. He’s wearing the clothes he’d worn to work, which are slightly out of place for the Wild Pony, but there’s no way he’s changing again (into and out of his scrubs had been painful enough, especially with the added pressure of making sure nobody was around to see the rather horrific colors painting his torso). So the work clothes stay on.

He climbs into his car, wishing he didn’t care so much about his own personal safety as he buckles his seatbelt, which again presses itself uncomfortably against his ribs. He drives, doing his best to make the ride as smooth as he possibly can.

He arrives at the Pony five minutes late and slightly sweaty and feeling fairly awful. Still. He can’t help smiling when he sees Alex sitting in a booth, waving at him. He nods in response, not wanting to lift his hand. 

Kyle sinks down into the booth across from Alex, hiding a wince. 

“How was your day?” Alex asks, as one of the waiters comes up to them.

“Pretty boring. One surgery, a consult, no emergencies.”

“That’s good,” Alex says, as they order their drinks and some snacks. 

Kyle nods. Neither of them says anything for what feels like an age. It’s awkward. He can practically feel the tension in the air. But he really doesn’t want to talk. It hurts. 

“So…” Alex says, but evidently can’t think of anything to say after that.

“So,” Kyle replies, softly. He blinks hard as a slightly more intense wave of pain hits his side. Their drinks arrive, and he takes a big sip, hoping to cool off his ribs from the inside.

Which does not happen. In fact, the movement only makes them hurt worse, and he knows he doesn’t hide his wince.

But Alex, apparently sensing that Kyle doesn’t want to talk about it, doesn’t push. God, he’s so nice. And here Kyle is, acting like he doesn’t care about anything and not talking just because, what? His ribs may very well be on fire?

“Hey, I finally watched Star Wars,” he says at last, grinning, stubbornly ignoring the spike of pain in his ribs. 

“Oh really?” 

“What, you don’t believe me?”

“Tell me one thing that happened.”

“Let’s see...some planet got blown up.”

“You’re going to have to be a little bit more specific.”

Kyle racks his brain. “It was red?” he says, at last, not entirely sure of that fact. “Winona Ryder died,” he recalls. 

Alex laughs out loud, and Kyle can’t help grinning along. “What?” he asks. “What’s so funny about Winona Ryder dying?” 

“Kyle, that’s Star Trek. And not exactly the best Star Trek, either.”

 “Oh.” He smiles a little more. “Which is the best one, then?”

Alex goes off on a fair tirade of the various pieces of media in the Star Trek franchise. If Kyle’s being honest, he only follows about half of it, but Alex is clearly into it and kind of ridiculously passionate about which show is better than which other show, and which character was done so poorly in this rendition, and it’s incredibly endearing, so Kyle just pays as much attention as he can, asking questions whenever he feels able. 

On top of it being nice to hear Alex so enthusiastic, the conversation is also a nice distraction from the pain in his ribs, which has only increased due to all the talking. The fire has spread out and gotten hotter and he can barely stand it, but focusing on Alex helps. 

Their food arrives. Alex chews a fry thoughtfully as he explains the merits of The Animated Series. 

“...so there’s these close-ups, right? And it’s like, their entire face fills the screen at this dramatic moment, and…”

Eventually, Alex runs out of things to say about Star Trek, and Kyle runs out of questions to ask to keep him going, and the conversation, rather unfortunately, turns to him. 

“You haven’t eaten anything,” Alex observes, and pushes their basket of fries closer to Kyle.

“I’m not really hungry,” he says, though he carefully picks up a fry. He is hungry, truly, but he doesn’t want to figure out what it feels like to eat with broken ribs. 

“You should still try to eat something,” Alex points out. “You look a little pale.”

Kyle pretends to be affronted, throwing the fry very lightly across the table, where it lands on Alex’s lap. 

“Nice try,” Alex says. “Eat something, Kyle.”

He’d sigh in exasperation, if it weren’t for the fact that it would hurt like hell. He very slowly picks up a fry and bites it. Not too bad, he decides, swallowing. And yeah, that hurts a little more. He barely stops himself from putting a hand to his side in an effort to make the pain stop. 

He doesn’t eat any more. Alex doesn’t try to make him, though he does reach out a hand across the table, putting it to Kyle’s forehead.

“I’m a doctor, Alex. I think I’d know if I was sick.” 

“Hm,” Alex says, like he doesn’t believe that. “Maybe you’d know it,” he continues. “Don’t know if you’d do anything about it.”

Kyle can’t fault his logic on that. Not when he’s sitting here with broken ribs that hurt and hurt and hurt, because he hadn’t wanted to tell anyone and he hadn’t wanted to cancel on Alex. 

Their conversation moves on from that naturally enough, and eventually they find themselves at a natural stopping point. They pay for their food, and Alex stands up. Kyle takes a second to build up the strength to make himself stand, and then does it, shutting his eyes instinctively against the pain. 

Alex’s hand is on his arm when he opens them. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks, looking like he’s not going to believe Kyle’s answer.

“I’m sure,” Kyle says. “I’m so okay. I’m super.”

“Sure,” Alex replies. “That sounded so convincing.”

“I’m fine, I swear.”

“If you say so.”

They make their way out to the parking lot, where Alex leans up against the driver’s side of Kyle’s car. 

“Hey!”

“I’m not letting you get in until you tell me what’s up with you.”

Kyle is so not in the mood for this. He walks around to the passenger side, intending on climbing across. Which is a really horrible idea. He gets one leg over the center console and reaches out an arm to balance himself, and his whole world goes white with pain. 

He slowly sinks back into the passenger seat, feeling his body shaking involuntarily. The too-familiar hot tears of pain are pouring down his cheeks, and he’s trying not to take the shuddering breaths his body so desperately needs, because they’ll only make the pain worse. 

Alex’s hand is on his arm again, and then Alex is turning Kyle’s body so he’s facing out of the passenger door, towards him. Kyle knows this only because he can feel a slight breeze on his face, since his eyes are screwed shut against the pain. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Alex asks, and his voice is as soft as anything. “What’s wrong, Kyle?”

He can’t speak. It hurts too much. His face is burning from tears and from shame and his chest is burning with horrible pain and it hurts so much and he just wants it to stop and -

Then it’s worse, it’s worse, it’s so much worse. Alex’s arms are around him in a gesture that would be the most comforting thing in the world were it not for the sheer amount of pain their presence is generating. He must scream, because all of a sudden Alex’s arms draw back. 

Kyle risks opening his eyes, hoping Alex hasn’t left completely. He doesn’t want to be alone. 

“Kyle, what’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

He nods, minutely, and sees Alex’s face fall through a haze of tears. It’s not your fault, he thinks desperately. You didn’t know. 

“Are you hurt? I mean, were you hurt before?”

Another small nod.

“I’m sorry, Kyle, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” Alex sounds pained, almost like he doesn’t think Kyle will believe him. 

That gets through the pain enough to let him speak. “Not your fault,” he whispers. “Didn’t...wanna tell you.”

Alex shakes his head. “I should’ve seen that you were hurting,” he says. “And then I went and made it worse, thinking your pain was just emotional and that maybe you just needed a hug.” He scoffs, like he thinks that was a stupid line of reasoning.

“Alex,” Kyle says, forcing his voice to be a little stronger. “Shut up. Y’ were helping.”

“But-”

“No.”

Alex sighs in defeat. “Okay,” he concedes. “Not my fault.”

“Mine,” Kyle says.

“That’s not how this works,” Alex protests. “How is it your fault?” he asks, after a beat.

“Stupid,” Kyle mumbles. “Fell ‘n hit my ribs...knew they were broken...didn’t tell anyone.”

“Kyle,” Alex says, a mix between exasperated and worried. “Why not?”

He’d shrug, were he physically capable. “Didn’t want to.”

“What do you want me to do?” 

“Don’ need the hospital. Nothing to do about it. Jus’...wanna go home.”

“Okay,” Alex agrees, not even for a second insisting that they do anything else. “We’ll leave my car here. Give me your keys.”

Kyle lets go of the keys he hadn’t realized he was still holding. They’ve left red marks on his palm where they’d dug into his closed fist. 

Alex takes the keys and very gently pushes Kyle’s body to face the front of the car, and then brushes his hair off of his forehead with a light touch that feels like the nicest thing in the world to his warm skin. Alex starts the car, reaching across Kyle to buckle his seatbelt, which now presses against his left side and is a great deal less painful. 

“So it’s your ribs,” Alex says, after they’ve been driving for a few minutes.

“Yeah.”

“And they’re broken.”

“Yeah.”

Alex leaves the conversation at that, though something in his tone tells Kyle they’re not done talking about all of this. The rest of the ride home is quiet, though not uncomfortable, except of course for the pain, which still increases every time there’s a slight bump in the road or the car changes speeds. He’s crying again, though it’s entirely possible he never stopped. 

They reach Kyle’s place, and Alex helps him navigate his way to the door. It’s an incredibly painful journey, but Kyle tries his best not to lean too heavily into Alex, mindful of his leg and not in the mood to be the cause of any more pain. 

Alex slips his hand into Kyle’s pocket and grabs his house key, then wraps his arm around Kyle’s waist as he starts to list to the side. He inserts the key into the lock and turns it, then leads Kyle inside and directly to the couch.

Kyle very carefully sinks down onto the couch in a sitting position. He hears Alex walking around, apparently gathering...things, and then sees Alex standing in front of him with his arms full of various medical supplies, food, a bottle of water, a blanket…

He moves to say something, but Alex interrupts him. “I know you said you can’t do anything about your ribs, but I’ve got some ice for any swelling and some pain meds and some food and water because you really do need to eat, and blankets so you can sleep out here…” He trails off. Kyle gives him a little smile, for once glad there are still tears dripping down his face, so Alex won’t see him again tearing up at his sheer kindness. 

Alex gets to work in a very businesslike manner, stuffing a pillow up against the arm of the couch and guiding Kyle to lie back against it, picking up his legs and setting them onto the couch. He pulls off Kyle’s shoes and very gently undoes the buttons of his shirt, until it’s open enough to reveal his bruised side, which can’t look any better than it had earlier, if Alex’s horrified gasp is anything to go by.

“Kyle.”

“‘S bad. I know.”

Fingers gently touch the bruise, not hurting as much as Kyle expects. They’re cool against the burning feeling, and they don’t press into it. Alex drapes a soft hand towel over the bruise, then lies an ice pack atop it. 

Kyle is familiar with the sensation, having done a similar thing earlier, but it still hurts. He sucks in a sharp breath, which of course only exacerbates the pain. 

Alex’s hand moves to his face, cupping it with that same gentleness. “I know it hurts,” he says, “but it’ll help. You know that.”

“Yeah,” Kyle whispers back, because he does know. That doesn’t stop it from hurting, though. 

As though reading that thought, Alex holds out an opened bottle of ibuprofen. “You’ve probably taken way too many of these today, but I trust you’re not going to overdose.”

He lets Alex shake two of the pills into his hand, which he very carefully and slowly reaches up to his mouth. He swallows the pills dry, which is a terrible mistake. He coughs on them and feels his ribs explode with pain again. He groans. He is so damn tired of this. 

Alex’s hand is back, wiping away the fresh tears of pain from his face. “Easy,” he says, and holds out a bottle of water. Kyle takes it with a shaking hand and can’t find it in himself to be embarrassed when Alex’s hand joins it, helping him lift it to his mouth. 

He drinks a little water and feels the pain minutely recede. Alex pulls the bottle away, and Kyle leans his head back into the pillow, closing his eyes.

“I’m not gonna make you eat anything right now,” Alex says, and he holds up the assortment of items he’d brought from the kitchen. “But I’m guessing you haven’t eaten anything all day, so when you wake up you are going to eat. Okay?”

Though it’s phrased as a question, Kyle knows full well it isn’t. “Okay,” he agrees. 

“Good,” Alex replies, and puts a soft hand in his hair. “Now sleep. I’ll be here to remind you of that promise when you wake up.”

 thanks so much for reading this!!! like i said i am a huge sucker for kylex and i love them so so much :) i hope you enjoyed!

[alipeeps]

I wrote this fic as a little present for a very special person - my fellow cdrama/kdrama/whump enthusiast, partner in crime, and number 1 enabler, the very lovely @terribleteej . I hope you enjoy it hon.