#stuck here with you

[thesconesyard]

Happy birthday to the best writing partner a person could have, @hummingbird-of-light 🥳🎉🎊🎁

This is for you leannan! (I haven’t finished it yet, but it’s been pouring out and we’ll see what happens over lunch 😁) I know how you love a good Jim & Scotty bro ship 😁

Stuck Here With You

“Oh shit!”

James Kirk had come back to consciousness only a moment ago. He had taken a quick inventory of himself- blood running past his eye, and his head pounding; ribs aching as he breathed deep. The blood was from what felt like a shallow cut above his brow and the ribs were probably bruised (hopefully not cracked or Bones would turn that scowl at him) from being thrown so hard against the restraints.

No, he was swearing at the sight in the chair next to him. Bones would probably murder him. Scotty was lying across the console in front of them, blood pooling under his face. He must have thrown his arm up to protect himself as whatever had hit their shuttle did its damage. His arm was twisted under his head keeping his face above the blood pool at least.

Jim ran a hand over his own face then struggled to undo his restraints. Something was bent and his right shoulder was trapped. He slid to the left and freed himself. As he went to stand his legs wobbled and felt like rubber. Jim grabbed quickly at the back of his seat to steady himself.

“Scotty!” he called hoarsely. Jim cleared his throat. ���Hey! Scotty!”

The chief engineer did not move, and panic began to rise in Jim’s chest. Bones was going to kill him.

“Shit.”

As his legs steadied Jim reached over to touch Scotty’s shoulder.

“Scotty?”

A shocked sound escaped Jim as he leaned in. The side of the shuttle was crushed in against Scotty’s legs, pinning him to the seat. Blood was dripping onto the floor next to Scotty’s boots.

“Oh no! Scotty! Hey!” Jim gave his engineer’s shoulder a shake, then wiped blood from his own eye again. “Scotty, come on! Wake up!” Jim heard the panic in his own voice.

He nearly fell down at the shivery groan that came from Scotty’s still body. A twitch went through his torso. Jim’s fingers moved quickly to find the pulse in Scotty’s neck. Relief filled him as he felt it strong under his fingers.

“Ooooh,” came a long low moan.

“Hey! Hey! Scotty I’m here! We’re ok!” Jim gently placed his hand against Scotty’s back.

“J- Jim?” Scotty sounded groggy. His head began to lift, then dropped back with another moan.

“Yeah Scotty, I’m here.”

“What happened?” Scotty muttered something in Gaelic. “I hurt.”

“I know,” Jim said sympathetically. “I don’t know what got us.”

Scotty had slowly lifted his head, and Jim gasped at the wide gash from his forehead to his cheek.

“I cannae get up,” Scotty said in confusion.

“I’ve got to get the kit,” Jim said quickly. “We’ve gotta get that closed.” He was staring at the cut. He hoped Bones could fix it without leaving a scar. He began to move away.

Scotty grasped at his wrist tightly.

“Don’t leave me!” he begged with wide eyes.

“Scotty, we need the medkit,” Jim said calmly, moving back to where he had been. He was surprised at the fear in Scotty’s face. “I’ll talk the whole time, ok? You know I don’t have to go far.”

Finally Scotty relaxed his grip with a nod. Jim moved as quickly as his sore body could go, keeping up a steady stream of chatter as he did. He set the medkit on his seat as he returned.

“Comm’s dead,” Scotty said when Jim stopped talking. He was poking at buttons on the console around the blood that had fallen from him.

“We’ll fix it,” Jim said, putting as much confidence as he could into his voice. “I’ll fix you first.” He ripped open a sterile pack and began to dab at the blood around Scotty’s face wound.

Scotty hissed at the sting.

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright lad,” Scotty got out. He let Jim tip his head to get at the injury better. “Anything for the pain in there?” he asked.

“Gimme a second,” Jim said, concentrating on finding the edges of the wound. He turned back to the medkit and dropped the soaked cloth to the ground. Another one was ripped open quickly and patted back gently to Scotty’s face.

“Hold this.” Jim brought Scotty’s hand up to hold the gauze like cloth before he dug in the kit again. “Here we go.” Jim lifted a hypospray and cartridge.

A small hiss moments later and Scotty’s body relaxed slightly. They were silent as Jim got the cut cleaned and covered.

“What happened Jim?” Scotty finally asked.

“I don’t know,” Jim said darkly. “We got hit.” He shrugged, moving around to get a looked at the crumpled wall of the shuttle. “I’m not sure I can get that away from you, or if I even should.”

Scotty looked down at his lower half, the wall keeping him in the seat.

“I can move my toes,” he finally said.

“Good. At least Bones can’t kill me over that,” Jim muttered.

[lesbianralzarek]

"life doesnt get better, you just get stronger" does NOT include ages 11-17. life does in fact just get better from there. those years are dogshit. like, you do get stronger but its mostly just a factor of not being 11-17 anymore. positive thinking helps but it doesnt fix whatevers going on at 15, you have to brute force through that one raw

[drulalovescas]

Happy anniversary to those who celebrate

Three years?????? THREE YEARS????!!!!

[noodles-and-tea]

twins in time continuation of that blue doodle comic thingy, but fidd is forced to take care of stan when Ford gets into the portal stuff, leaving him behind.

I reckon he teaches him math…

[squidthusiast]

“I could listen to your laugh all day”

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Soup solves everything.

[thekaiserroll]

Hug

It's nearly impossible to have a quiet and peaceful day with the crew, like the strawhats. Nami is mostly used to the noise on Going Merry but one day she gets fed up with Zoro and Sanji arguing. Not only are they extremely loud, but they've also already broken way too many things during their fights.

She decides that If they want to act like brats, then she's going to treat them as such. So she makes them apologize and hug each other in silence for an hour. None of them are happy about this punishment, but Nami threatened to raise Zoro's debt, and Sanji couldn't say no to her. It could be worse.

It's awkward enough for them to not incite any fight for a long time and Nami is quite proud of herself. She knows it won't last forever but at least now she knows how to handle them. It inevitably happens again. And again. And again.

Much to her surprise, those fights became more and more frequent. And what's even weirder is that she could see the way both Zoro and Sanji occasionally glanced at her to make sure she was nearby. It's almost as if they wanted someone to make them hug each other. As if they needed an excuse.... these idiots.

Soon, they don't even need Nami's help. When they aren't busy training, cooking or fighting, they cuddle together. Sometimes Luffy or Chopper would join them, but most of the crew knew it was their time.

After two years spent separately, they became extremely clingy. It's no surprise when they start sleeping in the same bed. What is surprising is that despite them behaving like a lovey-dovey couple, those oblivious idiots are STILL unaware of each other's feelings.

[keeskiwi]

So much more of the natural world feels close and accessible now. When I started birding, I remember thinking that I’d never see most of the species in my field guide. Sure, backyard birds like robins and western bluebirds would be easy, but not black skimmers or peregrine falcons or loggerhead shrikes. I had internalized the idea of nature as distant and remote — the province of nature documentaries and far-flung vacations. But in the past six months, I’ve seen soaring golden eagles, heard duetting great horned owls, watched dancing sandhill cranes and marveled at diving Pacific loons, all within an hour of my house. “I’ll never see that” has turned into “Where can I find that?”

-Ed Yong, When I Became a Birder, Almost Everything Else Fell Into Place

[captain-krow-drozdov]

Danny Is An Alternate Version Of Ra's Al Ghul And Flash Already Called Dibs On Adopting Him

Danny In All His Sleep Deprived Slightly Scuffed Up From A Fight Glory Is On His Way To Clockworks Tower To Hopefully Get A Nap And Maybe Some Homework Done When A Natural Portal Opens Up In Front Of Him And Proceeds To Unceremoniously Drop Him In The DC Verse Just Outside Of Central City Before Promptly Closing Leaving A Tired Danny Behind In A Run Down Abandoned Parking Lot.

It's Times Like This When Danny Regrets Putting Off Learning How To Make His Own Portals, Cause Now He Is Very Much Stuck For The Foreseeable Future And He Has No Idea Where Or When He Is. Luckily For Him However Central City Isn't Too Far Away, Unlucky For Him However Is That Once In The City He Realizes This Isn't His Dimension. He's Pretty Sure He'd Remember Something Called The Justice League.

So What Do You Do When Supernatural Bullshit Fails You? You Fall Back On Your Mad Scientist Roots And You Make A Portal Gun. So That's Exactly What Danny Plans To Do.

Unfortunately Staying Alive And Building Questionably Safe Portal Technology Requires Money And Supplies, So He Ends Up Wandering From City To City Doing Odd Jobs/Fixing Up Busted Tech For Cash Or Unwanted Electronics For His "Operation: Get Home" Needs. This Obviously Ends In A Few Superhero Encounter Shenanigans.

Though He Always Ends Up Back Near Central City, Both On The Off Chance The Natural Portal Will Open Up Again And Because Out Of All The Superheroes That Apparently Exist In This Universe The Speedsters Are His Favorite (Red Robin Is Solidly His Second Favorite Ever Since The Gotham Vigilante Gave Him A Large Coffee Filled With Enough Caffeine To Kill A Man).

Unbeknownst To Danny However Is That Every Hero/Vigilante He Has Encountered Has Come To At Least One Of The Following Conclusions; 1. Run Away Meta Who Is In Desperate Need Of A Good Meal/Adoption Bait. 2. Possibly Red Robin/Tim Drake Clone 3. A Good Kid But Could Possibly Be A Future Rouge If Left Unsupervised. 4. Did Bats Get A New Kid And Why Is He Here?

All Flash Knows Is That He Saw The Kid First And Therefore Has Dibs. Suck It Bruce.

Fast-forward A Few Months And Danny Gets Hurt During A Rogue Attack While Trying To Help Some Civilians Get To Safety (Old Hero Habits Die Hard (Ha Die Hard) And All That Jazz) And He Nopes Out Once Everyone Is Safe And When The Paramedics Are Busy With Other People Unaware He Left A Blood Sample Behind.

One DNA Test Brought To You By Paranoid Bat Concerns Of A Possible Red Robin Clone Later And They Find Out That Dannys DNA Matches One Ra's Al Ghul.

They Now Think Danny Is An Escaped Ra's Al Ghul Clone.

Memes For The Vibes:

[wilsonmybeloved]

heard we were fiddlestanning

you know the drill..

(full image under cut)

[possiblyawesometmblr]

i'm allowing myself exactly one (1) moment of pure delusion:

jon martin jonah. thanks for your time.

[thesconesyard]

Alright love, @hummingbird-of-light, I finished it. Sorry it took nearly a week past your birthday, but here’s the rest finally 😁

Stuck Here With You

Working together Jim and Scotty got the engineer from his chair and on the floor behind the seats. Scotty was breathing heavily and sweat had broken out across his forehead. His arm had tucked across his chest, holding his side. The restraints had dug into him as well.

Jim tried to keep his face neutral as he took in the bruised body of his friend. He didn’t want to worry Scotty. He turned to get the medkit.

“It’s not good, is it Jim?” Scotty asked.

“What?” Jim asked, trying to play dumb.

“Me,” Scotty said. “How bad is it?”

Jim gave a quick glance over his shoulder then went back to digging through the medkit.

“Jim.”

He heard the sound of Scotty struggling to sit up, and whipped back around.

“Hey! Lie down! Don’t overdo it,” he warned. He reached for his command shirt that had slipped away from Scotty’s shoulders. He folded it quickly and slid it behind where Scotty’s head would lay.

“Come on,” he encouraged. “Back down.”

“Tell me then lad,” Scotty said as he let Jim guide him back down onto his back.

“Yes. It doesn’t look great,” Jim admitted. “That cut is more like a gash on your face, and it’s already starting to bruise.”

Jim had given Scotty another dose of pain meds when he had finished doing what he could for the engineer’s leg. He had stopped the bleeding at least. The medkit only included basic equipment and Jim thanked his lucky stars that Bones had insisted on drilling him about first aid so many times.

As Jim sat back his head began to pound. He looked longingly at the hypo with the pain meds. He wouldn’t take it himself though. Who knew how long they would be stuck and Scotty needed it more than him. Jim could deal with a headache.

Scotty was dozing. He was still stretched out on the floor, Jim’s shirt for a pillow. Jim had found an emergency blanket and draped it over the engineer. Scotty had begun shivering again as Jim worked on his leg.

Five more minutes passed before Jim pushed himself to his feet. His head hurt and his side ached, but they had to get out of here. He had to see what they were dealing with. Whatever had hit their shuttle had knocked out comms and their beacon. The engines seemed alright, but the connection between them and the main console had been damaged.

Jim thought of the Enterprise and the crew waiting for them. Would they know something had happened? Would they know where to begin looking if they did start a search? Uhura would be hailing them only to receive no answer. Bones would be wearing a path back and forth behind the chair and Spock would be calling for wider and wider scans.

Spock.

If anyone could find them it would be the Vulcan first officer and the best bridge crew in the fleet. A quick smile crossed Jim’s face and he began to unscrew covering panels from the main console.

Scotty mumbled something in his sleep and Jim glanced over. Scotty’s fingers tightened in a fold of the blanket. He could almost swear the engineer had mumbled the doctor’s name, but it had been followed by what sounded like Scottish to Jim’s ears, so he wasn’t certain.

As he lifted the panel he had unscrewed away, Jim let out a sigh. He knew his way around the inner workings of a console, but the crushed confusion before him was too much. He set the panel cover aside and crawled back over by Scotty. When the engineer woke up, maybe he would have a better idea of what to do.

Scotty looked more himself when he woke. His face was darkening with bruises around the cut and bandage, but his eyes were bright and eager to work. Jim helped him sit up and maneuver towards the panel he had opened. He didn’t want Scotty putting pressure on his hurt leg.

“Find me some tools lad?” he asked and Jim hurried to the back of the shuttle for the rest of the toolbox.

When he returned Scotty was pushing wires aside and peering through the mess.

“This doesn’t look good Jim,” he said with a frown.

“If anyone can fix it, it’s you,” Jim said confidently.

Scotty gave him a tight smile, then turned back to the console.

It was silent as Scotty worked, except when he asked Jim for different tools. The more he dug deeper into the panel, the lower his hopes dropped. Too many shorts and burnt out wires. He couldn’t make a strong enough signal with anything left still functioning and that was even if he strung them all together.

He could open other panels, in other places on the shuttle. He could take what he needed from those places. But trying to remember what would fit from where would take time, and Scotty’s body was tiring from his injuries.

“I had one idea Jim,” he said softly.

“Hmm?” Jim asked.

Scotty looked over his shoulder and saw the heavy lids on his friend’s eyes.

“Do- do ye and Spock have a bond?” Scotty asked bluntly.

Jim’s face began to color, and he eyed Scotty nervously.

“I- I don’t know what you mean.”

Scotty sighed and set down the tools he was holding. Sliding himself back, he sat up next to the console.

“Jim. He’s Vulcan. They form bonds between partners. Ye’re partners. So. Do ye have a bond?”

“We- we aren’t - we aren’t —” Jim was shaking his head, but Scotty saw the guilty look in his eyes.

“I’m not judging. I’m happy if yer happy. Ye want it to be a secret, great. I’ll keep it secret. But if ye’ve got a bond and can call to him through it…” Scotty looked at him expectantly. “If I could call to Len like that, I would have done it when ye woke me. But we can’t. Too human.”

Jim’s mouth was working around but no words were forming.

“It’d save us a great amount of time if ye can,” Scotty continued.

“You and Bones?” Jim finally got out.

“Aye lad. We like our privacy too.”

Jim looked at Scotty in surprise. His thoughts raced and things he had barely noticed the last few months suddenly made sense. Bones had been cheerier, nicer to Jim when he ended up in medbay. He had also begged off from meeting for a drink more often, claiming he had work or was tired. Of course if he was spending his time with Scotty that all made sense.

He dropped his head to his chest as Scotty continued to look at him expectantly.

“Yes,” he admitted quietly. “We’re together. We want to keep it quiet. I’ve never reached out to him like this though. I’m not sure…”

“I’m sure ye can,” Scotty said encouragingly.

“Ok.”

Jim took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. He pictured Spock in his mind. The Vulcan’s image sprang up right away.

Jim?

Spock!?

For a moment Jim saw Spock sitting in the command chair on the bridge.

Jim, what—

The shuttle was hit. We’ve got no comm or beacon. Engines are out, and it’ll take time but they can be fixed.

Where are you?

“Scotty, do we have our coordinates?” Jim opened his eyes.

“Give me a minute.” Scotty pulled himself up into one of the chairs, careful to not put pressure on his hurt leg.

Jim closed his eyes and breathed deep again.

Jim?

Scotty’s hurt and will need Bones.

The coordinates?

Jim repeated them silently in his mind as Scotty read them off to him.

Sulu estimates we will reach you in ninety minutes. Are you injured?

Jim hesitated.

Yes, but not like Scotty is.

The minutes dragged as they waited.

Jim had made Scotty lie down again to rest and prevent any further harm to his leg. In turn, Scotty had forced Jim to go find another emergency blanket for himself, since Jim’s shirt was still Scotty’s pillow.

“It will nae hurt ye to stay warm,” he had told Jim.

From time to time Jim closed his eyes and thought of Spock. Almost immediately the Vulcan would respond with how much longer it would take for the Enterprise to reach them. Jim would relay the information to Scotty, who would nod and remind him to relax.

Finally Jim’s curiosity grew too strong.

“How long Scotty?”

“Hmm? Ye just told me twenty minutes.” Scotty glanced over with a confused look.

“No,” Jim shook his head. “You and Bones.”

“Oh,” Scotty said. He closed his eyes for a moment. “A few months,” he said, eyes opening again. “But please Jim, don’t say anything about it. We’ve liked keeping it quiet.”

“Sure. You’ll keep me and Spock quiet. It’s repaying the favor.”

“Will ye and Spock stay quiet? How are ye going to explain how he knew where we were?”

Jim’s face dropped. “Well, I won’t say anything about you two at least.”

“Thanks lad,” Scotty said sympathetically.

“It’s good?” Jim asked. “Bones seems happier.”

Scotty smiled fondly. “Aye. Quite good.”

“Lot easier to be secret when your quarters share a bathroom.”

“Ye would know lad,” Scotty laughed. Jim’s face colored lightly. “But yes. I may have rewired a few things between our rooms. The door and comms for one.”

“What? Really?”

“We spend most of our time on my side. Late night calls from sickbay can’t go unanswered.”

Jim looked at Scotty in wonder before he gave a laugh.

“I don’t suppose—”

“No problem. Tell me when,” Scotty grinned.

When the shuttle gave a shudder, Jim closed his eyes and Scotty looked out the window at the front of the shuttle.

“She’s here,” Scotty said. He pushed himself to sit up. The Enterprise was closing in on them.

“They’ve got us in the tractor beam,” Jim said, opening his eyes again. “Bones and a team are standing by in the shuttle bay.”

“He’s not going to be happy seeing us like this,” Scotty said looking at the cut on Jim’s face and the bruising beginning to surround it.

“No,” Jim corrected. “He’s going to blame me.”

“Nae Jim, he just gets worried. So worried and it comes out like anger. If he didn’t yell at us some, that’s when I’d be concerned.”

Jim managed a weak smile. “Ok,” he agreed with a nod.

The door opened nearly as the shuttle settled on the hangar floor. The doctor was in the shuttle quickly with Spock hot on his heels. McCoy’s face went a few shades paler as he took in Scotty half laying, half sitting on the shuttle floor. His cheek twitched and he seemed to stop himself before he said something.

“What happened?” he finally managed, crouching close to Scotty and beginning to turn the engineer’s head to look at the gash.

“I dinnae ken,” Scotty said, before murmuring something else to McCoy.

Spock looked over with a questioning look, before turning back to Jim.

“Captain, are you injured?”

Jim shook his head. “Just this.” He pointed to his face. “Oh, and my ribs might be bruised. Scotty got pierced and pinned by the shuttle.” Jim pointed at the crushed console where Scotty had been sitting.

“I did what I could, Bones,” Jim continued as McCoy pushed away the blanket to see Scotty’s leg.

“At least something I said to you stuck,” McCoy grumbled. Jim saw Scotty reach for the doctor’s hand. A moment later McCoy added, “you did a good job kid.”

Jim began to get up.

“Sit back down!” McCoy commanded. “I haven’t checked you over yet. Spock, get Chapel and the stretcher in here for Mon— for Scotty.”

Jim felt his mouth twitch into a grin.

“So relieved to see your lover in one piece you almost forgot yourself, huh, Bones?”

Jim moved back a tiny bit as McCoy whipped around and glared at him.

“Aye, love, he knows,” Scotty said, touching McCoy’s shoulder. “And he’ll keep his mouth shut.” Scotty looked at Jim warningly.

“He better,” McCoy growled.

He reached for Jim’s chin and turned his face to see the cut. “Any pain? Light sensitivity? Dizziness?”

Jim pulled his chin away and shook his head. “No, but you’re still going to force me to medbay aren’t you?”

“You know it,” McCoy said, a faint smile appearing slowly. “Thanks for taking care of him,” he said softly.

“You’d have done the same for me and- and Spock,” Jim admitted.

McCoy raised an eyebrow. “Dammit, now I owe you twenty credits don’t I?” he said looking over his shoulder at Scotty.

Scotty grinned. “Aye, ye do.”

“What?” Jim asked in disbelief. “You bet on us?”

“Of course,” Scotty said. “Ye made it obvious.”

“No!— We— No—” Jim shook his head, but the color continued to rise on his face.

“Oh Mr. Scott! You poor thing!” came the voice of Nurse Chapel.

“It’s nae so bad Nurse, the captain did a fine job patching me.”

“Well Dr. McCoy will get you fixed and back to engineering before you know it,” she smiled.

“Yeah he will,” Jim muttered under his breath as the doctor and nurse helped Scotty onto the stretcher.

“Lt. Keenser is already on his way up with a team to begin repairs,” Spock said.

“Good,” Scotty said. “I think I could do with a day off.” He winked at McCoy, who began to blush and Jim laughed.

“Make it two days Scotty. I want you back in top form.”

“Aye aye sir,” Scotty grinned.

[iwasbored777]

Wolverine's reaction when Deadpool got Nicepool killed is one of the funniest moments to me. He knew that Deadpool could fuck things up but this was so huge that even Wolverine couldn't believe that just happened

[skeletood]

it's just that dude you always do everything with, no biggie

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji goes to Lotus Pier (No relation to the AU of the same name)

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[morganbritton132]

I’m thinking about Steve’s mom in the context of this AU I’m (apparently) creating where Steve is the affair baby that broke up his much older half-siblings’ family.

Put yourself in the shoes that his mother would’ve been in. You’re nineteen. You have no education and you’re working your first real job. You start an affair with your boss - who is the father of the friend that got you the job - because you’re young and you think you’re in love, and you don’t think of the consequences.

Suddenly, you’re pregnant and he’s leaving his wife for you, and you still think you’re in love so you follow his lead. You’re nasty to his first wife because he is and you’re insecure because she nothing but nice to you. Her children hate you but Richard says that they’ll get over it so you believe him. They never do.

Then you’re married and you have access to more money than you’ve ever had in your life, and you’re in love. And you’re a mother. He sleeps through your delivery but everything is okay when you hold your little boy.

You know that things have changed now. That you’ll do everything in your power to make sure this little boy makes it in the big scary world. You promise yourself that you’ll do anything for him.

The baby cries, and you cry, and you thought things would be different and that you’d know what to do, but you really don’t. You don’t feel a connection with your baby beyond wanting to protect him, and you hate this. You hate being a mother. You hate this constant failing.

Richard is never home. He still works long hours but you’re no longer at the office with him. He seems completely disinterested in being a father and less interested in you playing mother, and you’re not stupid.

You know he left his wife for a younger, more attractive woman. You know he fell in love with you because you’re passionate, you’re fun, and you haven’t been that in a while.

You stood smug and happy by his side while he tried to take everything in the divorce, and you know his first wife has more money and influence than you. You know she has lawyers and you don’t. You don’t know what happens to you if he wants a newer model. You don’t know what happens to your son but you think he’ll try to take him from you.

Richard doesn’t want to be married to a mother, so you stop being one. You have to for the marriage to survive and it feels like guilt to be relieved by that. You’re not his secretary anymore, but his assistant. You travel with him and you join the right committees. You join the walking club and you shed the last of the baby weight, and he loves more than he ever has.

And you’re happy but you’re not in love.

It was too easy to pass motherhood onto Richard’s daughter, onto the nanny. It was easy to sidestep into the role of ‘friend,’ so you befriend your son.

Not a close friend. Not in any way that would make Richard feel like he wasn’t your world, but you’re there. You know the drama currently happening on the basketball team but not that your baby is failing English. You go on spa dates and make a whole day out of getting your hair cut together, but you don’t discipline him. Richard does that.

Then one day, you come home from the Poconos and your son has bruises on his face and bandages on his fingers, and a haunted vacant look in his eyes. He job was a pile of burning rubble when you drove into town. You asks what happened and if he’s alright, and he’s gives you the same smile you’ve been wearing for years, “Everything’s great, ma.”