#guess who finally wrote about hero & kel’s fight…

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

Tell Me Where It Hurts (Hero and Kel Brotherly Hurt/Comfort and Angst Fic)

"What Hero wanted more than anything else in the world was to protect his little brother—to take care of him, to help him whenever he was hurting. Nothing hurt Hero more than to see his brother in pain, especially a pain he couldn’t fix."

OR

When seven-year-old Kel falls off his bike, Hero immediately steps in to help him care for his wounds. All he has ever wanted is to take care of his little brother, but what will happen when he can't protect him anymore?

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Pre-Canon, Family Feels, Hero & Kel's Fight, Hero & Kel's Brotherly Love, and Sad Ending

Characters: Hero (POV Character) and Kel

Relationships: Hero & Kel as brothers (A/N: Love them! They deserve the world 💙🧡)

Word Count: 2089

Rating: T (for canon-typical heavy themes such as grief and depression)

Warnings: Mentioned Minor Injuries from a bike accident (Non-graphically depicted), Mentioned Blood, Canon-Typical Heavy Themes (i.e. grief and depression). Emotional Hurt and Heavy Angst. OMORI SPOILERS.

Link to work on AO3. Full text below the cut.

Thank you for reading!

“I’m fine,” Kel insisted, but he groaned—tottering on his scraped and bloodied knees as he pulled himself up off the ground.

Hero sighed. “Kel…” He held out his hand, patting his brother on the shoulder, but Kel just frowned at him then at his crashed bicycle—rolling his eyes in that annoyed yet affectionate way it seemed only seven-year-old little brothers could manage.

Hero’s chest ached. Despite his insistence that he was fine, Hero could see the way Kel’s eyes shimmered in the corners, the way he bit down hard on his quivering lip. Hero sunk to his knees beside him in the grass—something visceral, instinctive aching in him as he reached out his hands to Kel, begging without words: tell me where it hurts.

Kel shrugged him off, squirming away from him. “Hero,” he began to protest again, but he sniffled—wiping his hand across his nose then his eyes and leaving a streak of dirt on his cheek.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Hero gently interrupted, rubbing his hand comfortingly across his brother’s back.

“My bike—”

“It’s okay. I’ve got it.” With a reassuring nod, Hero grabbed the orange handlebars and set the bike upright again. It was in much better shape than Kel who had been flung off of it when he had hit that uneven spot in the sidewalk outside their house. Despite Hero’s gentle warnings that Kel should slow down and look out for that infamous crack in the pavement, Kel had slammed into it at rapid speed, losing his balance and skidding across the sidewalk into the dirt with a painful scraping sound. Hero could only imagine how much that had had hurt. The thought made something twist in his chest. He couldn’t stand to see the tears caught in Kel’s long eyelashes, to watch his bottom lip trembling as he tried not to cry. He wished it had been him who had crashed the bicycle rather than his brother. It probably would have hurt less.

As they carefully made their way back into the house, Hero shifted—pushing Kel’s bike with one hand as he reached out the other to try to support his brother, but Kel, stubborn and resilient as ever, just shrugged him off, hobbling along on his injured legs. When they finally made their way inside the house, Kel, thankfully, let Hero support him up the stairs to the bathroom—leaning almost imperceptibly on his elder brother’s side until they reached the landing. Bounding through the bathroom door, Kel plopped down on the side of the bathtub as Hero thoughtfully scanned the hutch of shelves for a first aid kit or bandages. His parents had been pretty insistent that since he was only ten years old, he wasn’t allowed to rifle through the medicine cabinet, but they usually kept bandages and antibiotic ointment where he and Kel could reach them. It was a good thing too seeing as his little brother’s impulsive recklessness often led to lots of scrapes, cuts, and bruises. Thankfully, it was never anything too serious—only usual childhood injuries, but Hero still worried. He had quickly become pretty talented at wound care and his brother’s “little doctor” as his parents sometimes affectionately teased him.

“Ow!” exclaimed Kel, pulling Hero out of his thoughts. He turned to his brother with a start to find him frowning at his leg as he rubbed a faded, worn washcloth across the scrapes and scratches.

“You should get that wet first,” Hero gently suggested, as he turned on the bathtub’s faucet. He grabbed a clean washcloth off of the hutch, then ran it under water when it reached a comfortable, lukewarm temperature. After ringing it out, he began to wipe the mess of dirt, blood, and grime off of Kel’s legs and arms. Kel’s knees and elbows were especially beat up, and—Hero sighed—the massive, scabby scrape on Kel’s forearm from a scooter accident a week ago had just reopened. Kel was lucky it was all just superficial scratches, and he didn’t need stitches. He really should be more careful.

Kel squirmed and fidgeted. “Ouch! That hurts!” He yelped, jerking away from him as Hero cleaned the nasty gash on his knee as gently as he could.

“Sorry,” mumbled Hero. “But we really need to clean these off. You’ve got dirt in them.”

“So what?” Kel huffed.

“So…you can’t put bandages on them until they’re cleaned off.”

Kel huffed again, crossing his arms. “I don’t need any bandages.”

With a sigh, Hero shook his head slightly. His brother really could be so stubborn sometimes. Truthfully, he kind of admired that, especially since Hero, himself, had always kind of struggled to speak his mind and stick up for himself, often finding himself exhausted by arguments and desperately trying keep the peace. In times like these, however, Kel’s stubbornness tended to get him into trouble.

Hero sighed again, but his expression softened as he gently encouraged, “But mom got those new Captain Spaceboy ones and everything.”

Kel’s brow furrowed, and he hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I guess that’s okay.”

Carefully, Hero got up from his place on the side of the bathtub and washed his hands in the sink. Then, he grabbed the tube of antibiotic ointment and several boxes of bandages of various sizes. Kneeling down on the bath mat in front of the tub, Hero put the antibiotic ointment on Kel’s knees and wrapped them up in large, square bandages. Then he did the same to the scrapes on Kel’s legs, arms, and elbows. To Kel’s disappointment, most of his wounds were too big for the Captain Spaceboy Band-Aids, but he had a few small scrapes on his hands that could use them. Hero hoped Kel wouldn’t mind that too much, especially since putting them there would make it easier for Kel to show off the bandages to his friends when he saw them next.

Sure enough, as soon as Hero had placed the Captain Spaceboy bandage on the back of Kel’s hand, he had held it up and exclaimed, “This is so cool! I can’t wait to show Sunny!”

As Kel excitedly scrambled to his feet, Hero chuckled lightly to himself. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Yeah, thanks, Hero! You’re the best.” Kel’s face lit up into a wide smile—bright and beaming even despite his couple of missing baby teeth. “If you weren’t gonna be a chef, you’d be a really good doctor.”  

Hero’s face flushed, but he smiled. “Thank you, Kel.” He patted his brother on the head, ruffling his thick hair. Kel frowned as he absentmindedly fidgeted with the bandage on his arm, and Hero's brow furrowed. “Don’t pick at those. You have to leave them alone so they’ll heal.”

“Yeah…yeah...” mumbled Kel, rolling his eyes.

“Also, try to be a little more careful, okay?”

Kel shrugged. “I guess I can try, but it’s okay because I’ll always have you to take care of me if I get scraped up and stuff.” Laughing, Kel paused, turning to him with wide, smiling eyes. “Like a hero, just like your name.”  

Hero’s face softened, and his heart ached. What he wanted more than anything else in the world was to protect his little brother—to take care of him, to help him whenever he was hurting. Nothing hurt Hero more than to see his brother in pain, especially a pain he couldn’t fix. He couldn’t save him from that—couldn’t save him from falling off of his bike, from losing his favorite toy, from scraping his knees, and from getting his feelings hurt, but he knew he would do anything he could to make things better and to fix him up anytime he needed him. He didn’t have the words for how much it meant to him to know that Kel saw him as someone he could always depend on, someone who would always be there to help and support him—a real hero.

Sniffling just a little, he pulled Kel into a quick hug and quietly reassured him, “That’s right, Kel. I’ll always be here.”

*-*-*

6 Years Later…

Something caught Hero before his knees slammed into the hardwood floor of his room. He could barely see anything through his blurred, weeping eyes in the dark. The frantic but hushed voices of his parents talked over each other as they held onto him, but his head was spinning, throbbing. He couldn’t make out what they were saying. Everything around him shook. No, he was shaking, trembling as he gasped for breath. Hot tears cascaded down his cheeks. Somehow he hadn’t even noticed. Hadn’t noticed anything. How could he when he was drowning—desperately struggling to stay afloat in a dark, endless void of dark water. It spilled out into the room—filling every corner, every crevice until it swallowed him whole. In truth, he barely even knew where he was, who he was. It didn’t feel real. It was just another part of this horrible, never ending nightmare he had been living ever since Mari had died, leaving him numb, empty—a void of feeling. A shell of a person.

But then he caught sight of something over his dad’s shoulder. Kel... with tears caught in his eyelashes, struggling in the corners of his eyes, and streaming down his cheeks. The sight was so overwhelmingly heartbreaking that he wanted to cry out, but his throat was raw, hoarse from the painful, thoughtless words that had just lashed out of him. 

As Kel met his eyes in the dark, something shattered inside Hero. His chest panged and twisted at this image of Kel utterly broken down and torn apart—trembling, cowering against the wall as tears spilled down his face. It would be permanently seared into his mind, would haunt his thoughts, his waking dreams, his nightmares.  For the rest of his life, whenever he would think of his brother, he would see this moment, and the regret would destroy him.

For the first time in months, he felt something riveting through the numbness in his heart—something visceral, instinctive aching in him as he lurched forward, desperately reaching out his hands to Kel, begging without words: tell me where it hurts, even though he already knew the answer. 

Tears pooling in his eyes, Hero wrapped his arms around him, pulling him tightly against his chest as it panged and twisted. He sobbed, bitterly, choking on his anguished apologies. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Kel’s chin pressed into his shoulder. Hero could feel him trembling, could hear his whispered assurances that all was forgiven and that he was fine.But he wasn’t fine. And Hero knew it.

He felt the words ache in his heart, desperately begging again and again: tell me where it hurts until the truth clawed at him, tearing him apart in guilty anguish so great Hero could feel it crushing him until he couldn’t breathe—like the world was caving in around him.

The truth was Kel didn’t have to tell him where it hurt. Didn’t have to tell him that the pain he felt now was worse than any cut, any scrape, any bruise he had ever gotten. He didn’t have to tell him that there was no bandage, no ointment, and no first aid that could fix it. And he didn’t have to tell him that it was all his fault.

Hero knew that the wounds we couldn’t see hurt the most, especially when they were given to us by someone we loved, and he wept—writhing in pain as he clutched onto his brother, screaming apologies into the night as if they could somehow drown out the ghosts of his thoughtless, painful words. But he knew they couldn’t.

Something was broken now, and it could never be fixed. They could never go back to the way things were before, back when Kel knew he could always turn to him for help, when he knew he would always be there to fix him up and support him. Hero could never again ask Kel to tell him where it hurt and expect a straight answer. He could never again patch his wounds or hold him while he cried without the dark, heavy weight of this moment, of their one and only fight, hanging over them. Doubt would always set in, and even now, even as he held his brother so tightly, so desperately—it made no difference. He could feel the distance between them.

He wasn’t Kel’s hero anymore.

[smugraccoon137]

Supergirl Season 2 episode 8 Medusa review part 2

If your curious part 1 was just my breakdown of Kara and Mon-els relationship that got way too long. But as always SPOILERS AND GAY THOUGHTS AHEAD

Me and kel get so excited when Lenas in an episode. Like practically giddy. I can’t help smiling when shes on screen honestly. And yes Katie McGrath is beautiful, but beyond that such a pretty smile and lovely voice. I’m sure ratings started to spike when she joined the cast. Okay enough about pretty girls on to the review 

Tipsy fucking Alex though guys I can’t get over this mess of a person. 

Alex: if I have to come out to my mom then I choose to do it drunk

Kara: no your not *yoinks beer*

Alex: wait no my coming out juice

Kara Danvers sneaky sneaker extraordinaire can totally interview Lena and find out Cadmus things without anyone knowing. The confidence this goofball has is top tier

Underrated relationship: Alex and Winn though. I really really love Winn and honestly Alex is such big sister energy to both him and Kara. 

wow Lenas pretty in the interview scene. A touch of auburn hair from the sunlight really makes this shot and we never get to see her with her hair down. Fan service honestly, or maybe she heard a certain beef cake reporter was gonna come by and wanted to dazzel her.

Lena: hair up is for business. Hair down is for flirting friendship time with Kara

Poor baby thinks she falls short nooooo. Your doing your best godamn your only like 25 jesus. Kara give her a hug she needs love and affection

Kara thinks shes being so sneaky in this interview. Such a golden retriever, bad at sneakin. As soon as she toes the line Lena catches on and kicks her out. Really good acting in the scene, the subtle change in expression to show Lenas guard raising. Good job Katie.

Real quick Lena why is your office so ugly? How do you keep it clean? You spend 99% of your days in this place and its whiter than a hospital room. I hate it. Why is your desk an oval? and why does it have a hole in it? Kara cant eat you out in secret anymore damn. 

OOHHHhhhh noooo the fucking gas bomb in the bar what the fuck. EVERYBODIES DEAD JESUS WHAT WAS THAT

Poor Mon-el. What happened at the bar was fucked up, and he feels like its fault when its obviously not.

Love that he and Kara are having bro time playing some Monopoly. Oh no not Kara asking if he likes her. Honestly thought these two had good chemistry in this scene. Im a sucker for dumbass not understanding certain words and phrases. So Kara having to reiterate her questions and finally being like “You don’t want to mate with me do you?” was super fun. Omegaverse vibes mfs. Although I am confused by mon-els reaction “I mean have you seen the kind of women I’ve been attracting?” I honestly don’t know what this means.

Kara internal reaction though: Oh thank god

Wow Kara really just has no regard for her own life, huh? she just opens the door and possibly contaminates herself. It’s good to want to help people, but love you gotta care about yourself too

Good reveal with the fortress of solitude. Oof Kara gonna feel like its her fault all those aliens died and mon-els sick. They do a really good job of showing Karas relationship with her parents through their holograms. She wants so badly to see them again, to talk to them. And she can, but not really. They just aren’t real.

Lena cattily to her mother: im used to celebrating holiday weekends alone at my desk

me to Kara: please invite her to thanksgiving

Okay so Lena being adopted is another interesting parallel to Kara. Also the fact that both Kara and Lena fall into there families shadows, and are left behhind or forgotten. Really interesting how Lena and Karas relationship is so similar to Clark and Lex’s for obvious purposes. Though the CW queer coding the fuck out of their relationship in Smallville really only adds to Supercorp fever. Its always been Homoerotic subtext Harold!

Me watching Lena and Lillian trade verbal blows: Wow ya’lls relationship is fucked up. Lex and Lionelle would spar and fence but you two are on another level jesus

oooooof that last line. 

Lena: I know your lying

Lillian: and how could you possibly know that?

Lena: because you told me you loved me. And we both know thats not true

Who wrote this jesus fuck my heart. The PAIN.

Bonus thought Lena thinks Karas smart. Goofball beefcake sneaky sneakster who doesnt know the difference between flirting and friendship is smart she thinks. I love these idiots

Wow Kara just doesn’t wait huh? Oh cadmus is going to be at LCorp? Not on my watch. Lena’s there. I know this because I tune into her heart beat just to check on her cus she likes to work late. Don’t worry Alex it’s for friendship reasons.

That LCorp security guard got princess carried for .2 seconds. Best moment of his life.

God its like dark out. Lenas working on a holiday weekend into the night. I hate this, give her friends.

Lena looks so scared when Kara gets thrown into the giant LCorp sign

And then hurt Kara looking up at her with dread.

Kara internal: fuck don’t come out now. I came here to save you

God I love the protectiveness. Its *chefs kiss*. Hank throwing the beam at Lena and Kara even in her hurt state throwing herself in front of it. Sometimes self sacrifice is gay. But how Lena looks at her after wards like “I can’t believe I’m alive. I can’t believe she chose to save me”. Met with a gruff “Get out of here!”. mm yes this is my kind of content. Fight for me.

I was robbed an aftercare scene but I doubt it will be the last time. (*COUGHS* the “im leaving” phone call *COUGHS*)

Talking about the virus Eliza: what about Lena Luthor?

Kara: What about her?! (super defensive is also a super power maam)

Winn: Luthors can be pretty good actors

Kara: No, I looked into LENAS EYES. She doesn’t know anything about cadmus or her mother

J’onzz: Would you stake Mon-els life on that?

well I guess that really puts Lena and Mon-el right next to each other in priorities huh? Which one is more important? 

Wow Lena totally has a crush on Supergirl after that. Flustered dork. 

Lena: *laughs nervously* you know that doors not really an entrance

Kara: *upsettit stone face pupper*

Lena: :,) 

Okay but the way Lena just says “Anything” all breathless and helpful when Kara says she needs her help. Shes crushin hard

Kara tells Lena her mother is in charge of Cadmus. 

Lena: >:(

Annnd the crush is dead. That did not last long. Really love that Lena has such a different relationship with Kara vs Supergirl though, good dynamic having her reactions so different. Which I believe actually relates as a Clark and Lois parallel? Seeing as how Lois has two separate relationships with Clark and Superman. 

OOf the way Lenas throat bobs with genuine sadness because who she thought Supergirl was is wrong. Shes just like the rest of them. Thinks Lena is just another crazy Luthor. It hurts

Kara: I know what its like to be disillusioned by our parents, but Im a pretty good judge of character, and you are not like your mother. She is cold and dangerous. And you are too good and too smart to follow in her path. Be your own Hero.

Wow just what a good line. They are capable of some things here and there arent they? Melissa's delivery on this is excellent. And the way Katie McGrath is able to show such depth of sadness and bitterness even from a shot of her BACK is really cool. Great acting in this scene in particular. And I can see why the “desperation to be good” is such a highlighted part of these two relationship. Its the one thing in common between Lena and Supergirl, the place where they can meet in the middle. And the way Lena looks after her as she leaves! AHHH thats the good shit, the pining

Okay big Mon-el scene in coming so if you dont want to hear my ranting skip over this part. 

Funny how as soon as Kara has this big impactful scene with Lena full of tension and emotion the writers were like: shit we almost forgot Mon-els dying. 

Kara: *staring sadly back into Lenas office kind of wanting to go back in*

Writers: *cough cough* KARA He’s DYINGGGG

Kara: Oh shit right. Mon-el Oh no. My *looks at poorly written handwriting on her palm* romantic interest?

Wow Mon-el looks like shit, poor guy. Someone swaddle this pillow princess and get him some soup.

Heres a question. Kara is visibly upset that Mon-el is dying. Is it because she’s sad that the guy shes likes is dying. Because her friend is dying? Because her father created the virus thats killing him (what the writers want us to think)? Or because no matter what Kara does the people she loves keep falling through the cracks and shes helpless to stop it?

Her parents. Clark. Her adoptive father. Now Lena. Now Mon-el. Why can’t she ever do anything? Why is it always her fault? This poor kid has some deep seeded abandonment issues

Mon-el: you know you look beautiful with the weight of all these worlds on your shoulders.

I do remember my reaction here, cus I thought this was a weird line. A line that was obviously meant to be romantic and complimentary, but it felt unsettled in my stomach. Coming back and watching the scene it sits even more uncomfortably there. He obviously means well, but this line is kind of just shitty. Its a very selfish and unthoughtful thing to say to someone. 

Kara’s entire fucking life has revolved around other people and making sure they are happy and taken care of. But having “failed” at such a young age to do the impossible things asked of her (carrying on Kryptons legacy, raising Clark) she overcompensates. Any normal person would just make their life revolve around their family and friends, not healthy but it works. But Kara feels responsibility over an entire world of lost people and lives. So the amount she overcompensates is ungodly. She does have the weight of worlds on her shoulders. This is not a joke or hyperbole. Its just her life. And thats so fucking shitty. And to have someone actually see that and acknowledge it. To make it a reality so to speak. Then to have them say “yeah you look good like this” while you’re a shaking Atlas being crushed. It is just a little too much isn’t it? That pain to have someone see you finally, and then completely miss the point. For them to go “oh wow your so strong. your so brave” instead of “let me help you. you shouldn’t have to do this at all, forget by yourself. But now I am here”. 

I imagine this was the scene that crowned my darling himbo boy Mon-Hell? Which is so unfortunate. I hope Im wrong, but I feel that his character might just end up a big missed opportunity

I want everyone to know that me and Kel screamed through the entire enxt few seconds of the scene. We knew the kiss was coming from how they were building it up. But god was it painful, especially for it to be delivered after a line like THAT. But yeah very loud angry screaming

Also not to be that bitch but Kara and Mon-els scene was a total of 1:53 RT, and Kara and Lenas ran at a 1:57 RT. Just sayin...

No Lena don’t be evil thats too sexy...

Okay but the way that Lena just tricks Lillian is so good. Shes so clever. And added bonus she makes her ask for her help, which is nice actually. Lillian's obvious vice is weakness and that is often shown in embarrassment. A woman like this asking for help borders that line of weakness and its nice to see on such a dislikable character. Lena didn’t just get what she wanted she got a point over her mother.

Lena looks good in the purple coat. Repeat she is pretty

Love the mental chess game between Lena and Lillian. Lena offering help right off the bat and giving her the isotope free of charge. And then Lillian making Lena launch the virus to prove herself. Good stuff.

Kara appears: don’t do it Lena!

Lena: why not? im a luthor

Okay so obviously Lena switched the Isotope and the Virus won’t work. But thats what makes this line so perfect. Throwing it back in Supergirls face. Like “Yeah, Im a luthor. And Ill show you what im capable of.” But instead of mass death and destruction Lena saves the day. She saved thousands of lives, and its because shes a Luthor that she was able to do that. Really nice way to full circle that 

Wow Lillian really just starts booking it without Lena, huh? bitch

I really love the scene of the virus falling all around National City. The choice of an orangish snow falling was a really really good one. Paired with some excellent music for the mid season finale.

Its sad but I do love Hank just being ready and at peace with death. Im sure he misses his wife and daughters. 

Okay but Lena calling the cops is tea. Send your mom to jail honey. 

So we’re really not gonna talk about how Lena saved everyones asses? Like don’t you think Supergirl would want to talk to the woman that A) kind of tricked her, and B) saved National City. Thats just what makes sense??? But no we’re going to ignore that the DEO is a kind of shit at their job sometimes. And that the woman that they were accusing of having a part to play in all the xenophobic shit is the one who did their job. BY HER SELF. 

Okay rant over. This was a long one review dear god. Really really good episode though. I enjoyed rewatching all the scenes even if it was a mixed bag of feelings. Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed all the screaming!