#tw: injury

[a-kind-of-merry-war]

It's been over a week since this and my wrist still hurts and my knee is still.... like this

JUST SAY NO TO GENDER

I was walking to the shops and I was so deep in thought about one of my OC's exact gender specifications that I missed the curb and quite dramatically stacked it, injuring my knee, elbow, thumb, and phone screen.

You WISH you were as OC-brained as me!!

[schrijverr]

I Didn’t Mean to Say I Do, but I Do. I Do. 32

Chapter 32 out of 50

Secret marriage of convenience buddie slow burn AU, where Buck and Eddie have been married for years so Buck could adopt Chris and no one at the 118 knows.

In this chapter, Buck wakes up to find no one except Chris and Eddie in his hospital room, the more time passes, the more he questions why no one else is there. Eddie has to explain what went down while he was out, before another bombshell is dropped on them.

On AO3.

Ships: Buddie (slow burn)

Warnings: ableism mention, emotionally abusive parents mention, insecurity, self loathing, injury, homophobia mention, referenced near death experience

~~~

Chapter 32: Breaking the News

Buck feels groggy and bone tired as he tries to pull himself to consciousness. A part of his brain registers beeping and the sterile smell of a hospital – which he is very familiar with due to the line of work he’s in, his kid and the injury prone people he surrounds himself with – but it’s not yet connecting that to what that might mean.

He is yanked out of his limbo by Chris, who half clambers on top of him as he yells: “Papi! You’re awake!”

Behind him, he can hear Eddie call out: “Mijo, be careful! He’s hurt,” while Buck fully opens his eyes and clicks the pieces together that he’s in the hospital, because he’s hurt.

Once he has the realization that he’s injured, the dull ache that comes with being medicated hits him with full force. He hasn’t been in a hospital like this since he was a teen, but he still knows the feeling well and gathers that he’s broken a bone at least.

With momentous effort he moves his arm, hugging Chris to his chest as he lazily croaks: “Hey, buddy.”

“You’ve been asleep for forever,” Chris complains. “It was so boring.”

“Because he had to rest,” Eddie explains, with a gentle tone that informs Buck he’s explained it a hundred times before, as he appears on Buck’s other side. He holds a glass of water so Buck can drink with a: “Here.”

“Thanks,” Buck smiles, taking a sip. He knows that he got stuck under that engine, but he barely remembers anything after he was pulled out from under it, except the blinding pain. He desperately wants to know what happened, but he doesn’t want to traumatize Chris by asking.

Oblivious to his inner turmoil, Chris happily says: “But he’s done resting now, right?”

Eddie, however, is a little more in tune with Buck, so he says: “Well, he’s not done resting, but he can be awake for a little bit. But he’d probably like a snack for breakfast, so why don’t you and Carla go pick out a chocolate bar for him?”

Chris pulls a thinking face for a moment, considering the request from his perch on the bed next to Buck. On the one hand, picking out a chocolate bar is fun and a highly important task to a seven year old, on the other hand, he doesn’t want to leave Buck’s side.

Buck’s heart melts a little and under different circumstances, he would have loved nothing more than to keep Chris there, but he does really want to know the verdict. So, to encourage Chris, he says: “You know daddy has horrible breakfast taste.”

That makes Chris giggle and he whispers way too loud to actually be a whisper: “He does, he wanted a Bounty.”

“Oh, that is bad,” Buck agrees, pulling a face, wanting to muffle his laughter and failing.

“Yeah, yeah, I can hear you,” Eddie mock complains, as he moves to lift Chris off the bed. “Go have better taste than me, huh, buddy.”

“Don’t worry, daddy, I’ll find you something better too,” Chris informs him cheerily with a bit of little shit thrown in, before he and Carla leave the room.

For a second, Buck meets Eddie’s eyes, the two of them sharing a fond smile at Chris’s antics, before reality sets in again. Scared and tentative, Buck says: “I, uh- I remember it being bad. What did the doctors say?”

Eddie hesitates for a second. Eddie never hesitates like that, so Buck braces for the worst. “Uhm, well, you’re now the proud owner of one titanium rod and four cobalt-chromed screws. Surgery went okay for how you were looking coming in. They’re expecting you to walk again.”

Relief washes over him, mixing in with confusion. “But that’s great, right? Why are you still looking like you got sentenced to the gallows?”

“It got pretty close for a second there,” Eddie admits, looking shaken. The only time he ever looked like that is the day Buck met him at the Johnson farm. Softly he says: “They nearly amputated, you’re gonna have chronic pain for the rest of the life. You’re gonna walk, but they’re not sure if you’re gonna work, Buck.”

“Wh- What?” Buck chokes as he struggles to place the information.

Remembering the accident, he knew it was bad, I mean, he got tossed out of an exploding fire engine that then landed on him. He assumed it would be bad, further confirmed by Eddie sending Chris away to break the news, but that… that is a lot.

He’s been in a lot of accidents, but he’s always come out unscathed. It’s ridiculous with the line of work he’s in, with what he sees every day, but a part of him never believed something truly bad could actually happen to him, yet here he is, faced with the reality that that just isn’t how the world works.

If he’s honest with himself, it’s not even the chronic pain part or the nearly amputated that gets to him. He knows that chronic pain is nothing to sniff at, and he’s absolutely not looking forward to figuring out how bad it’s going to get, and while loosing a leg would have been a massive adjustment, it’s not the end of the world. No, what gets to him is that they’re not sure he’s gonna work again.

When Eddie says it, he knows it’s about firefighting. Both of them know that this is his job. He might have only started because it was the best option with his level of education and the income they needed, but he fell in love with it.

Buck is a firefighter to the core.

It’s not as if he’s only a firefighter of course, he’s a father, a brother, a friend, even a husband – though he tries not to think about the last one too much, because it always messes with his heart – but those are personal. In his profession, a firefighter is all he wants to be.

But just because he wants to be that, doesn’t mean he’ll get to. The doctors aren’t sure he’s going to work again. If he wants to be a firefighter, he’ll need to re-certify after an injury like this and he might never make the cut again.

Then he’ll have to find another job. A new job. A job he’ll probably hate, or at least won’t be as good as what he has now. He’s done it before, many times already, but the thought alone is still enough to make him feel ill.

“Hey, don’t- don’t do that. They’re not sure, with your stubbornness, who knows what will happen,” Eddie snaps him back to the room. It’s a little stilted and stunted, but he means it.

Buck is sure his eyes are still devastated, but he manages a watery smile: “Yeah, you’re right. I mean, we’re practically PT experts at this point, right?”

“Yeah, Chris is already excited about giving you all the tips.” There is a clear relief in Eddie’s voice when Buck reacts like that instead of breaking down into tears, something Buck would make fun of him for just a little, if he weren’t still feeling so fragile.

“Can’t wait,” he says, trying to mean it and semi-succeeding.

Before they can get into it more, Chris and Carla return triumphantly with arms full of vending machine snacks. The second he sees him, his enthusiasm and smile become real. “Oh wow, Superman, that’s quite the haul. Lemme figure out these buttons so I can sit up.”

Chris proudly shows off the candy and chocolate, going into great detail about why he chose the things he did. Buck has never found any other talk more interesting than this one. Whatever will happen with his job, this at least, will still be here. He won’t lose his family.

He eats his chocolate bar with Chris squeezed in beside him. He still feels a little groggy and maybe a little scared too, but he’s managing pretty well all things considered.

After a bit a doctor comes by to check on him. He doesn’t know her, but Eddie seems like he does, giving her an awkward half smile. When Buck sees that he quirks a brow at him, curious why she’s getting that reaction, but Eddie only gives him a shake of the head, before he nods to tell Buck he needs to pay attention to what she’s doing.

Then Eddie quickly leaves the room with Chris for a bathroom trip and a coffee run. Tea for Buck, since he’s not allowed coffee yet.

When the doctor is gone, Buck asks Carla: “What was up between Eddie and the doctor?” He can’t imagine what would make Eddie uncomfortable like that. Maybe he flirted with her? Or vise versa and it didn’t go well? But that seems out of character. Still, it’s not entirely unplausible and the thought knots his stomach.

“I wasn’t there for it, but when she came to break the news about you, it got ugly in the waiting room, especially when she suggested they’d amputate,” Carla tells him.

Not what he expected, but better than he feared. Eddie was probably upset at the thought or something, or angry on his behalf that this was his fate and now likely feels awkward about what was a messy altercation about it. The thought makes him feel warm and his stomach untangles itself.

He smiles at Eddie when he comes back into the room. Eddie studies him for a second, before deciding it looks genuine and he returns the smile. As always, the sight of that smile makes Buck’s heart flip and he hates the heartbeat monitor he’s hooked up with for giving that away as he blushes and quickly focuses on Chris to avoid having to look at Eddie.

Some awkwardness keeps lingering and Buck focuses primarily on Chris as to not talk about it. He also naps some here and there, which is still very boring according to Chris, but he lets him doze. At some point, Carla leaves and a bit later Buck gets an actual meal in the form of lunch.

By the time lunch is gone and the afternoon is creeping in, he finds himself wondering where Maddie is. He can understand she had to work or organize her own stuff in the morning. He also didn’t show up until the afternoon when she was in the LA hospital after Doug, but it’s already getting late and he hasn’t heard from her at all.

The others not being there is also a little weird, but they have their own families to go home to after being in an explosion and maybe there is paperwork to be done around the incident or something. So, he doesn’t question them not being there, while Eddie is (the thought of Eddie and Chris not being there never even crossed his mind). But Maddie’s absence is weird.

So, he asks: “Where’s Maddie? I half thought she would have been hovering already.”

The joke is to cover the hurt. He can’t remember a serious injury Maddie wasn’t there for. It’s how it’s supposed to go, her being there because he got hurt. He half expected the others there too, everyone waited for Chim to wake up. Maybe his injury wasn’t serious enough? Was that it? It felt serious, but comparatively, he might be blowing it out of proportion? It’s just a broken leg after all, they see worse every day, no matter how scared he’d been at the time.

That is before he sees Eddie’s face. It shutters for a second, pain being reflected in those beautiful eyes of his, before they become blank. He tugs Chris onto his lap and seems way more interested in adjusting him than looking at Buck as he says: “She had to go home. They were all there until you got out of surgery, but there was an explosion, you know. They went home to rest. Athena said she’d and Bobby would come by later. So did Hen.”

It’s a weak excuse and Eddie’s heart isn’t in it. Buck can easily make out that there is something wrong, very wrong. A bit sharper, he asks: “Eddie, what happened?”

Eddie stares at the top of Chris’s head for a moment, as if that will change anything. Chris just looks confused, eyes flicking from Buck to Eddie, then back. If Buck had known it would be a serious conversation, he wouldn’t have started it in front of him, but he’s started it and now that he knows there is information to know – information to explain why no one is there – he is desperate to know.

When the silence drags on and Eddie figures out Buck isn’t going to break it, he finally looks up and says: “I’m your medical next of kin, Buck. I got to make the call on what happened to you when you were in surgery. Maddie wanted to make a different call, but as your husband, my opinion was the only one that counted. Everyone was there for that conversation.”

He brings it delicately enough that Chris doesn’t pick up on the intricacies, but with enough clarity that Buck immediately knows what happened; they’re busted.

“Oh. That’s not good.”

Eddie laughs humorlessly. “Yeah, you can say that. Bobby, uhm- he wasn’t pleased. He has to appear in front of the LAFD brass today. He’s still waiting on the verdict of his suspension and now this has come on top of it.”

Buck’s heart sinks at the news. Both knew they were taking a risk when they started lying at work, but that was always meant to be just the two of them, who were taking that risk. Now it’s the whole station, especially Bobby, that are jeopardized. No wonder no one is there, he’s about to lose them all their jobs.

The thought of everyone turning against him, against them, makes him paralyzed with fear. He loves the 118, the family he made there. Sure, he had tía Pepa and Abuela, but they have always been Eddie’s side of the family, in a way, the 118 was his side, before he had Maddie.

But now he has neither.

A part of him can’t help but be incredibly disappointed that this was what was too much for Maddie, that this is what made her run. Again.

Buck knows that they hadn’t spoken in years before she came back into his life and that they’ve had their ups and downs. They promised no more lies and Buck broke that. He broke the trust they had just rebuilt, but he at least expected her to be here to yell at him about it. Not this.

He is crushed. He fucked it all up. He just got her back and now he’s pushed her away. All he wanted to do was spare her the headache of keeping the secret, but now it’s out in the open and he lost her.

However, he can’t feel like that right now. There is still a chance he can make it right with Maddie, explain his side, grovel, apologize, try to make it up to her. He doesn’t know if he can make it up to the others, but he has hope about maybe Maddie and that is something he needs to cling to, because he can’t break down when Chris is right there.

So, he plasters on a grin and says: “Well, hopefully our news heroics swing it in our favor. I remember the cameras, do you think they got my good side?”

For a moment Eddie looks as if he can’t believe Buck just said that with all the deep shit they’re in, which gets wiped off and replaced with understanding the second Chris giggles. “Of course it will, papi, you’re the best heroes.”

“Ahw, thank you, Superman,” Buck smiles, the expression feeling more real and less strained. “Want to show me the drawing you’ve been working on?”

Chris happily clambers off Eddie’s lap to return to his place on Buck’s bed to show him his drawing. Meanwhile Eddie gets up to stare out of the window. Buck wishes he could make it better, but he can’t do anything from his place in the hospital bed. All they can do is wait until they get word from the brass. If Eddie feels the need to brood while they wait, he can brood.

They have to leave when the night comes, but Eddie promises he and Chris will be back the next day, so he won’t be alone. Eddie offers to ask for a cot so they can stay there, but Buck tells him to go home. Chris being properly supported while he sleeps is more important than Buck’s abandonment issues.

The next day, tía Pepa comes by too. When she comes into his room she claps her hand over her mouth as tears spring into her eyes, then she rushes forward to give him a big hug. “Oh, Buck. Are they feeding you well in here? I’ll make you some food.”

“Thank you, tía Pepa,” Buck smiles, melting into the hug. “But I’m fine, I promise. I’m gonna be out of here soon. Probably today or tomorrow.” Then he remembers he likely can’t cook when he gets back, so Eddie is on chef duty. “But maybe some food would be nice for when I get discharged.”

“I’ll make sure to bring some by when Eddie springs you,” Pepa tells him with a wink. She also knows whose cooking he’s going to be stuck with.

Chris is also excited to see his tía. Buck doesn’t know whether it’s good or bad thing that Chris feels comfortable enough in hospitals to treat this as normal. With how Eddie danced around his prognosis when Chris was in the room, he thinks Eddie shielded him from how bad Buck got hurt and how close it got. So, he probably doesn’t even realize how serious this could be.

He puts it out of his mind for now, just like he puts the lack of other visitors, lack of messages and cards or flowers, out of his mind. He has Chris and Eddie. That’s all he had for a long time and that’s enough. It has to be. It is. …Only he also misses what he had. Just a little.

Still, worrying about that seems practically inconsequential when two uniformed LAFD officers enter his hospital room. The first one identifies himself: “Firefighter Buckley, Probationary Firefighter Diaz, I’m the Chief of Staff for the LAFD, Mike Brandson, my colleague here is the Deputy Chief from HR, Miranda Halleway.”

“I’ll take Chris for a moment,” Pepa says, whisking a confused Chris away with a small frown and short: “Bye, daddy, bye papi.”

Both Buck and Eddie say bye back, because it’s important in their family to say bye. Even if both of them internally wince, because that’s not a good look for them, which is confirmed by raised eyebrows they get from Brandson and Halleway.

“We have been informed by Captain Nash that the two of you are married, but have failed to file the appropriate paperwork that would potentially allow the two of you to work together, instead choosing to lie to the department, creating an unassessed safety risk and liability in the meantime,” Brandson starts.

He levels both of them with a stern look and Buck feels a despair grip at his throat. This is already not sounding great for them.

“However, when informing us of this, Captain Nash imparted on us that this is because the two of you are not actually together,” Brandson continues. “Further clarification was not given, so we would like to know exactly what was meant by that.”

Room to explain and share their side. Neither of them had expected that and they share a quick look, before Eddie gestures to Buck to explain.

“Well, I met Eddie when I was living in El Paso in 2015, it was. I knew his ex-wife and had met Chris while he was with the army the year before. We didn’t speak much at first, but then Shannon left, signing over custody to Eddie. It’s a lot to suddenly do it alone, so I offered to help,” Buck explains. “I worked days, Eddie nights. Just friends, but co-parenting. Then Chris needed two surgeries and PT is expensive. Eddie needed to sign up for another tour to get the bills paid, but then he’d have to leave Chris with his parents and he didn’t want that.”

“Might I ask why you didn’t want that, Mr. Diaz?” Halleway cuts in, directing the question to Eddie, who’s been quietly nodding along.

Eddie’s mouth tightens into a line, before he tells them the harsh truth Buck doesn’t think he ever even admitted to himself out loud like this. “Because they’re overbearing and baby Chris to the point of debilitating him further. I want my kid to be healthy, Deputy Chief. I want him to have as much independence as he can. And I wanted to get him back when I got home. I know what they say about teen parents, but I love that kid like crazy, okay? I don’t want to lose him.”

Halleway nods, writing something down on a notepad. Neither of them know if that’s good. Buck wants to check in with Eddie after that confession, but he’s staring out of the window again, arms crossed and shoulders tight.

Buck decides to tell the story further. “Uhm, yeah, that. So, I offered to adopt Chris, you know. Take care of him while Eddie was away until he could come back and we could do it together again. He was already kind of my son too at that point.”

“And you don’t find that an offer that is unusually close for just two friends?” Halleway asks.

“No!” Buck frowns, slightly offended she’d ask that. “I like helping people, it’s one of the reasons I became a firefighter. Eddie became family, as did Chris. I didn’t have anyone back then. Maddie, my sister, only got back into my life late last year after not speaking to her since I was nineteen and I still haven’t spoken to my parents since then. Of course I was going to offer to help.”

Halleway gives him a skeptical look, but writes something down again, before asking: “And how did marriage come into play?”

“The easiest and fastest way to adopt a kid is through stepparent adoption,” Buck shrugs. “It’s not like either of us had anyone we wanted to marry, so it made sense with the time frame we had. It was convenient, nothing more. Eddie got hurt in the army, he could stay on my income while he recovered, as could Chris. Tax breaks are nice and we’re good friends. Best friends. Our plan has always been to divorce when we found someone to settle with, but we just haven’t met anyone yet.”

At that Halleway makes a soft humming sound. “So why didn’t you inform Captain Nash or the LAFD that you were married to each other?”

“You don’t have to declare marital status,” Buck tells her, a little annoyed at her attitude. “It’s part of the anti-discrimination laws. I didn’t want to have my on paper gay marriage there when I didn’t even know who I was going to be working under. Not to mention that it wasn’t a traditional marriage out of love. I am single, just legally married.”

“And when the two of you decided to lie to work together? According to Captain Nash, everyone at the 118 was under the impression, the two of you met last year at the station.”

“That might have been a bad call on our part. But our situation is complicated to explain and it’s a hassle to make people understand. It would be easier to not have to do it, but when you say you know each other, people wonder what from. We lied, because it was easier.”

“Without thinking to file a fraternization papers?”

“Why would we? We weren’t dating. Look, the two of us working together isn’t any different than other friends working together. And friends are allowed to work together, every day. We didn’t feel the need to file those papers, because they aren’t true for us now and they weren’t true for us when we started working there.” He and Eddie aren’t dating, no matter how much Buck wishes they were sometimes. They’re just married.

“Would you not state that the two of you have a connection that are different from best friends. The two of your are co-parents, are you not?”

“We are,” Buck confirms and Eddie nods sharply. “But the fraternization papers are specifically about dating a coworker, there are no specifications about raising a kid together. Are divorced couples with kids meant to file those papers? What about foster parents, who happen to get custody over the child of a coworker? There are no clear specifications, we didn’t file, because from what we could see, they didn’t apply.”

He’s gaining steam now and goes on: “Not informing anyone that we had a legal connection might not have been the best call, but it wasn’t illegal. And looking at our record, you can see that we never prioritized each other on calls. We have remained professional at the job and left our private life at home, that’s not a crime. The people we work with every single day, didn’t pick up on anything weird about our conduct on the job, until I was hospitalized and Eddie had to make a medical decision for me.”

It’s quiet for a second, then Halleway clears her throat and asks: “Do you have anything to add to Mr. Buckley’s words, Mr. Diaz?”

“No, uh, I think he said all that needed to be said,” Eddie says.

“Thank you gentlemen,” Brandson nods.

“So what will happen now?” Buck asks.

“Well, after your public injury, we won’t cut you loose, Mr. Buckley. You’re put on paid medical leave for the time being, while we investigate your claims further. There likely will be a verdict on whether or not there will be any disciplinary actions, before you’re fit to return,” Brandson tells him and Buck doesn’t inform him that he might never return.

“And what about me?” Eddie asks.

“You’re being suspended without pay, Mr. Diaz. For the coming three weeks at least while we determine whether you can continue to finish your probationary year at the LAFD.”

With that, the two LAFD officers shake their hands and say their goodbyes, before leaving Buck and Eddie in the hospital room, shaken and with an unsure future hanging over their heads.

~~

A/N:

If I look like I know how the LAFD works, I regret to inform you that I do not. Here we live of fanfic vibes, so do not take this as anything but my plot convenient whimsy! :D

[wintersoulwitch]

Seeming - The Burial / In the Earth (2021) AO3 ¦ YouTube

[ferretfyre]

Academy Award for Best Picture:

If I told you about her, what would I say? That they lived happily ever after? I believe they did. That they were in love? That they remained in love? I'm sure that's true. But when I think of her - of Elisa - the only thing that comes to mind is a poem, whispered by someone in love, hundreds of years ago: "Unable to perceive the shape of You, I find You all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with Your love, It humbles my heart, For You are everywhere."

The Shape of Water (2017, dir. Guillermo del Toro)

[the-storm-chaser]

Her frame visably trembled as the pain became overwhelming, her voice becoming hoarse from the screams. She was frozen in place, her arm throbbing each time her heart beat. The stench of the charred flesh was enough for her stomach to turn. Sweat began to cover her brow as her eyes lost focus to the world around her.

It was as if she were back at the forge again.

Reds and oranges could be seen at the edge of her vision, but instead of turning to look, she instead tried to make herself smaller, protecting her frame from any other flames...if they had been there.

She had messed up. She couldn't run even if she tried.

Fear had taken hold...or so she thought.

Without warning her body went slack, her muscles loosening to the point she fell forward... and to the side, her head hitting the ground. Eyes unfocused, her breaths were sharp, borderline hyperventilating as she saw a pair of feet approaching her. She couldn't move her head to look at their owner...but the sandles...they were familiar.

Tears ran across her face and into the sand.

Well that wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting. Aatrox flickered a 'look' at the virus inside the girls brain, and recoiled from what he saw; a mirror of his own, broken psyche. Something had triggered a reaction in the girl, something usually only seen in soldiers who'd just come back from a hellish war, and still flinched at loud noises.

He watched as she crumpled, screaming her throat raw in moments, and bidding fair to burst the voicebox in only a few moments. With a preemptory gesture, Aatrox simply cut the girls sensations of the world, drowning her in darkness and what passed for softness when you could quite literally not feel a single inch of your own form.

A frission of regret filled him; for the skin of a heartbeat she would feel all the things that had driven him, a pillar of honour and power to become the monster he was now, that is to say, nothing at all.

It's for her own good, this time. Setaka whispered inside his head, having retreated at the sound of the soul-scream from the girl. She'd always been queasy at dealing with emotional pain in others, he remembered, even as he exerted his will, wiping the girl clean in the skin of an instant. Her arm would require time and energy to heal, and flesh to craft the requisite parts. Thinking quickly, Aatrox moved to stand over the girl, mind racing to work out how to get her away from this place, back to his sanctum, and healing.

[ivyithink]

some of the arcane doodles! no actual idea behind them, mostly just doodling along to my own thoughts

[artsymeeshee]

Alright, folks. We're entering the hurt of the hurt/comfort part!

pg.1/pg.2/pg.3/pg.4/pg.5/pg.6/pg.7/pg.8/pg.9/pg.10/pg.11/pg.12/pg.13/pg.14/pg.15/pg.16/pg.17/pg.18/pg.19/pg.20/pg.21/pg.22,pg.23/pg.24/pg.25,pg.26/pg.27,pg.28/pg.29/pg.30/pg.31,pg.32/pg.33,pg.34.pg.35/pg.36,pg.37,pg.38/pg.39/pg.40/pg.41/pg.42/pg.43/pg.44/pg.45/pg.46/pg.47/pg.48/pg.49/pg.50/pg.51/pg.52,pg.53/pg.54/pg.55,pg.56/pg.57/pg.58/pg.59/pg.60/pg.61/pg.62,pg.63,pg.64

[reginalusus]

Ah yes. When the protective dad-figure beats up the son-figure's past tormentor only for said tormentor to make a point(?), because the tormentor is the catalyst of Gotham's chaos, and seeing two pieces of the debris from said chaos come together to try and be less broken is amusing. The butt of Gotham's joke, if you will.

I just felt like illustrating a scene from a possible future Harvey-Jason-centered fic...

[gentletrees]

Some doodles from different scenes of @ssreeder 's fanfic LIAB! I literally drop everything when you upload QuQ <3 thank you for putting so much effort into this fic, it really shows! I love it!

Really wanted to capture the two most heartbreaking moments of the last few chapters - two very, very different reunions with very different underlying emotions.

And the last one is a doodle after reading the most recent chapter - Zuko wearing his hair in a messy ponytail, dressed in expensive clothing - moments before disaster :))

[dragiani2]

The Femur Breaker

(Based on a discord joke between me and @vistfull)

[vintage-fuzz]

Thinking about the possibility of Fiddleford noticing various random injuries & unexplained bruises that Ford would’ve received from when he was possessed.

Thinking about how he’d be concerned for his friend, only for Ford to shut him out, not wanting to reveal the existence of his “muse”.

Thinking about, despite his best efforts, Fiddleford would be forced to watch Ford suffer in silence, unwilling to tell him the truth.

[bynineb]

found potato

[owlygem]

Some Ben Lore and practice sketchy comic pages!

[pipinpali]

Little fan animation of @tthevoic3s's series From Blood Births Life and Death,, (specifically chapters 8 and 9... )

Might not look too good since im still trying to figure out my new drawing program ,, but i think it turned out decently.

[zimt-deathnote]

Some post-explosion sketches from the weekend. I will fully and unashamedly use this new found power of having 3D references of their flat, to just paint over and it looks nice, until I throw up.

----- My other socials Commission Info Let's drink some Ko-Fi! 🍵

[kiyo-cant-write]

Imagine if Yuu gets hurts doing something stupid most likely with Ace or Deuce. Floyd for whatever reason ( cough Azul or Jade) think he's what caused their injury. Floyd feels super guilty and wants to make up for what he thinks he did. Until Yuu explains no it wasn't Floyd. Floyd revenge optional.

floyd thinks he injured his s/o ✧･ﾟ

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Hello anon! I'm sorry that this took so long. I love Floyd! Thank you so much for requesting! This was fun to write ^^

I love set ups like this where there's a misunderstanding >.<

Note for everyone that I have a few requests left from earlier to get done before the close of the year and then everything else sent from here on will not be posted until 2025 January. Please keep this in mind, thank you for supporting me!

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Summary: Floyd feels responsible for the injury sustained by his partner and goes to great lengths to apologize. But.... What did you say? It wasn't really his fault?

TW/CW: mentions of violence/injury

Notes: established relationship, the reader is Ramshackle Prefect/Yuu, they/them pronouns for the reader

Guest Stars: Ace Trappola, Deuce Spade, Riddle Rosehearts

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Floyd Leech

Floyd likes violence but not towards [Name].

His partner is one of the people he doesn't want to hurt.

He cares so much about them.

Floyd doesn't usually feel bad but seeing them banged up because of something he did (or so he thinks) makes him feel sick.

He's not in a working mood. Not in the mood for basketball either.

Everyone is annoyed with Floyd now but he doesn't care.

It's his fault. He deserves to feel like this, and so does everyone else. That's how he sees it and he will tell people this.

"I said I'm not in the mood so go mope like the sorry piece of shit you are, none of us deserve to be happy right now."

However, as with all things Floyd, his mood does a swift 180 as soon as he realizes that it was not his fault.

Run.

Ace, Deuce... You're really in for it now.

Not even [Name]'s pleas can stop him this time.

Let him have a little fun with them, won't you?

This sure was boring. Floyd had to hand it to his Shrimpy, they were the most interesting thing in his life. That said, giving them space took something out of his life that he hadn't realized was so integral.

Stupid strength. Stupid impulsivity.

He sighed, leaning against the table he was meant to be cleaning and looking up at the ceiling of the lounge. Was this going to be forever? He was deserving of this punishment, but still... so bored.

Floyd had been left on cleaning duty. Well, that wasn't quite right. Floyd had chosen to do cleanup because that was something he hated. He had to do it or [Name] wouldn't forgive him.

How could they? How could he forgive himself?

The one thing that Floyd didn't want to do was hurt his beloved little shrimp and yet here he was responsible for their injury. How could he have let something like that happen? He should have been more careful, that's what his parents would have told him.

Still, this sucked.

The cleaning was horrible. It was so... repetitive and dull.

"Ughhh."

He wished that something would happen. He wished that [Name] was here with him, chatting with him to pass the time. He wished they would show up to talk to him, so he could apologize too.

Was he really such a coward? He hadn't even said "sorry." Floyd didn't like apologizing, he rarely did with others but they deserved one. And yet here he was punishing himself but still too pathetic to face them.

"Floyd!"

He looked up from the desk to see [Name].

"Shrimpy? Whatcha doin' here?" he asked them, confused.

"I was looking for you! Why are you avoiding me?" they asked.

He shrugged, avoiding the question as well as looking at the bandages peeking out from their sleeves. He didn't want to think about it. Maybe people were right and he was dangerous not just generally speaking, but for [Name] too.

"I'm not."

[Name] let out a "huh" at that statement.

"You are!"

He shook his head.

"Not."

A growl escaped his partner.

"Are!"

Damn, they were being fucking persistent.

He looked at the bandages and then up at their face. They looked annoyed and they had every right to be. He did this to them.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" he asked them, brows furrowed.

"Resting? I'm fine, you sound like a mom."

They rolled their eyes though they seemed confused. Floyd never acted like a mom, that was more a trait of his employer. This was... weird, even for Floyd. [Name] knew their boyfriend. This wasn't normal for him in the slightest.

"You should rest. You're hurt, right?" Floyd repeated.

They sighed this time.

"Just because Deuce accidentally punched me and now everyone is treating me like I'm made of glass or something!" they cried.

Floyd paused.

"Mackerel?"

"Yeah, Deuce was trying to punch Ace and hit me full force," they said, laughing awkwardly as they fiddled with a sleeve, "And that sent me into the roses at Heartslabyul."

"Mackerel..." Floyd said, trailing off.

[Name] gave him a sideways look.

"Don't worry. Riddle already yelled at them for two hours."

Floyd either didn't hear that part or didn't care to comment.

"I didn't do nothing," the eelmer said to himself a moment later, resting a hand over his face as he let out a relieved laugh before it turned into something far more evil.

"Huh??" [Name] looked at him, "Did you think you did this?"

"Maybe."

"Is that why you were avoiding me?"

Floyd averted his eyes for a second before nodding.

"Felt bad."

"Aww!"

He was suddenly hit with the full force of [Name] hugging him and saying things about how he was so sweet to be concerned and how much they loved him. It was nice, actually. He missed them.

"Glad you're alright~" he told them, holding them closer to him.

...

A day later, during a break, Floyd stepped into Heartslabyul against the wishes of its housewarden. But he didn't care, he had a certain mission he needed to complete and it was unlikely anyone would be able to stop him. He wasn't movable where [Name] was concerned.

"Heyyy~" he drawled out, stepping towards the flamingo pen.

Floyd didn't even have the lightheartedness in his soul to make fun of Deuce's outfit. He had business with them. Still, it was quite a sight to see the "honor student" of a mackerel in pink leopard print.

"LEECH-SENPAI?" Deuce almost screamed as he stood quickly, rigid, "What are you doing here in our dorm???"

"NO TIME DEUCEY, RUN!" Ace yelled, already several feet away and sprinting at speeds he had never run before, "THIS IS THE END."

Deuce wasted no time and took off in the same direction as Ace.

"Find your own direction!" Ace told Deuce who just about scoffed.

The eel cracked his knuckles in preparation.

"This should be fun~"

"FLOYD LEECH LEAVE MY DORMITORY THIS INSTANT!"

The sound of heels against the pavement heading toward him.

"Don't wanna~" he offered, taking off after ADeuce.

"FLOYYYYYDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD-"

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Imagine the rest yourself~

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