#‘hey check it i just got top surgery’ and it’s just ribs

[wickjump]

i think canon sans undertale would be queer but unlabeled because he’s too lazy to figure it out. he’s also a trans guy btw he told me himself

[chicago-pd-is-weird]

Day 2: Feeding Tube

@the-three-shits-whump

Read it on AO3 or find it below the cut:

Fair warning, I’ve been given some very choice words by two of my readers, because I take whump very seriously. This isn’t just angst, it’s whump.

@kamryn1963 can testify to these statements.

“Fuck!” Hank yelled, crouching behind a wooden box as gunshots rang out his way. “Al, you good?!”

“Fine!” Al replied, sitting behind another box nearby, looking at Hank. “I feel like I’m in Italy again.”

Hank breathed quickly, looking around as the gunshots continue to fire at them, making his ears ring. “Damn it, we’re pinned down.” He grabbed his radio, clutching it tightly. “10-1, 10-1, shots fired at the police and by the police. We’re pinned down! Three offenders!”

Hank peeked up over the crate, pulling his gun up to return fire. He got a few shots off before a guy with a semi-automatic started pounding bullets into the crate. Hank could hear the whizzing of shots past him as he ducked once more, falling to his stomach.

“Hank!” Al called, looking over at his partner and best friend. “Damn it, you hit?!”

Hank only moved again once the shots stopped and the men reloaded. He got up to his knees, crawling over to hide behind a metal pillar the crates were up against. “I’m good!” he replied to Al, nodding and giving him a thumbs up. Al moved away from his own crate and over to one of the metal pillars as well. That was when Trudy and her partner, Emma Crowley, ran in as well, Trudy coming to Hank’s side and Emma to Al’s. They returned fire as the gunmen started up again. It was an intense shootout, ending with half of the district at the scene.

“Is this what you signed up for, Platt?!” Hank shouted over the scream of the bullets and ricochets.

“Sure is, Voight!” She replied, looking at him with a small smile. Just then, a grenade was thrown their way, the four of them getting down on opposite sides. Al pulled Emma around and covered her as the bomb went off, but Trudy had been too far away for Hank to do the same. Instead, she jumped on top of him when it exploded.

Hank’s ears rang. He could barely hear anything as the smoke cleared. He groaned, feeling the weight of something heavy on top of him. “Fuck…” he mumbled, shaking his head to try and regain himself. It wasn’t until he heard Al’s voice that he came back to reality.

“Hank, hey man, are you alright?!”

Hank groaned again as the weight was pulled off him, Al flipping him over onto his back. “Damn it…”

“Our guys got them. They got them,” Al replied, putting a hand on Hank’s chest and looking him over for injuries. “You hurt anywhere, man?”

“Help!” A woman’s voice came from nearby them, a scream really.

Al looked up with a frown. “Oh fuck,” he said, several cops rushing over to Trudy, who was lying limp on the ground nearby.

Hank looked over, groaning as he sat up, Al helping him. “Trudy!” He wanted to rush over, but the aching in his ribs hurt too much. He gasped in pain, his face contorting to match.

“Lay down, Hank,” Al said. “There’s nothing you can do for her.”

—

When they got to the hospital, Trudy was carted off to surgery. Hank was brought into a trauma room, doctors, nurses and other hospital staff crowding him. Al was there, pushing away those who were trying to check him out, citing that he was fine.

Hank groaned when they touched his midsection, having his shirt unbuttoned at this point and his white t-shirt pulled up. They poked and pushed on his ribcage, causing his face to contort once more in pain, then they carted him off for an x-ray. Al was beside him until he wasn’t allowed to be, Hank asking him to check on Trudy instead while he was gone.

—

After hours of being in the hospital, Hank was finally patched up and given a proper diagnosis. He had some cracked ribs, but no internal damage, along with a slight concussion. He forced them into discharging him, then looked around for Al. He was sitting in the waiting room, so Hank sat beside him. “Any word?” He winced as he lowered himself into the chair, holding his bandaged midsection.

“No, she’s still in surgery,” Al replied. “I already called her Sergeant. He’s getting a hold of her dad.”

Hank hummed. “You didn’t call Camille, did you?”

Al looked at Hank knowingly. “No,” he replied. “But I’ll tell her if you don’t.”

Hank laughed, shaking his head. “I doubt I could ever hide it from her. I’m bandaged up and bruised. I look like I got into a fight and lost.”

Al hummed. “Well, I think you did lose to that grenade.”

“Guess so,” Hank replied, sighing and looking down. “She jumped on top of me, you know… She… probably saved my life.”

“She’s strong. A fighter,” Al mumbled, putting a gentle hand on Hank’s arm. “She’ll be alright.”

“I hope so…” Hank kept his eyes down, silence falling over them as they waited.

—

Trudy’s father rushed in some time later, bombarding nurses and doctors with questions, saying that he knew she shouldn’t have been a cop and that he wished she never had become one. Hank and Al looked at one another, instinctively becoming smaller as he came over. Robert moved in front of the two of them, asking questions in a relatively loud voice, making Al raise his hands to his ears. Before Robert could protest about it, Hank stood up, though wincing, then put his hands up. “Robert, yelling isn’t going to help anything. We don’t know yet how bad it is.”

“She’s my daughter, Voight! The two of you promised me you’d protect her!”

“To be fair, she doesn’t need protecting, sir,” Hank replied, shaking his head. “She’s the one who jumped on me. I might not be here if it weren’t for her.”

Robert huffed, opening his mouth to say something else when a doctor walked over. “Mr. Platt?”

Robert turned around. “That’s me. How’s my daughter??”

“We have her in a medically induced coma. Please, come sit down with me and we’ll go over her injuries and how to proceed.”

Hank and Al looked at one another, Al now standing as they watched Robert walk away with the doctor. Al went to the nurse’s station, sweet-talking the nurse into telling him where Trudy’s room was. Then, the two hurried over there before Robert could get there.

When they walked in, Trudy looked worse for wear. They couldn’t pinpoint her injuries, but they could see all of the needles and tubes connected to her body. Hank sank down in the chair, taking Trudy’s hand gently, more gentle then he’d ever been, as if she would break on contact. Tears came to his eyes. He hated hospitals in the first place, but seeing Trudy hooked up to everything was terrifying.

Al came to Hank’s side, putting a soft hand on his back. “It’s okay. That’s all helping her.”

“She’s got one in her nose, Al,” he mumbled. “I don’t even know what that is.”

“It’s a feeding tube,” the doctor said as he walked in, Robert in tow. “Since she’s in a coma, we’ve run a tube to her stomach that’s feeding her nutrients.”

“This is your fault,” he said to Hank, walking over and grabbing him up by the shirt, pushing Al over in the process. Then, he slammed Hank against the wall, making him wince due to his injuries. “You did this to her!” He then reeled back, punching Hank, over and over until he was on the ground. It certainly hadn’t helped his concussion, his sight going in and out. The next thing he knew, he was being carted out by a couple doctors to another room and being laid on a bed. His ears were ringing again and all he could think about was seeing Trudy’s lifeless body on the floor of that damned warehouse. He closed his eyes, unconsciousness overtaking him.

[vulpeskorsak]

Day 24 of Whumptober 2024: Collapse

No. 24: RADIATION POISONING Collapsed Building | Equipment Failure | “I never knew daylight could be so violent.” (Florence + The Machine, No Light, No Light)

AO3 got banned in my country and VPNs have not been working well on my PC lately, so I am not going to post these there for now. But hopefully I can do that at some point.

This is taking place in my own DnD/fantasy world.

Dr. Victor Moreau is my mostly human fleshsmith inventor (KibblesTasty Homebrew class).

Ludwig Richter is a tiefling and a former gravedigger turned archeologist who wields a rifle and a battle shovel named Charon.

--------------

Collapse

Victor is sitting on top of the pile of debris that used to be his laboratory just a few hours ago, occasionally picking up a small piece of metal, rock or wood and tossing it down half-heartedly. Ten years of hard work. Destroyed because of some stupid glowing rock.

No.

The rock was not stupid.

It was him, who did not exercise enough caution. But he had no way of knowing an explosion of this power would occur. He just placed the glowing rock in a vat of chemicals overnight, wanting to check if the odd poisonous effects of the rock would transfer to the liquid. He has no idea what went wrong. Perhaps, there was something wrong with his equipment? He does not remember if he checked its integrity beforehand. He usually does but there have been times he forgot before.

There were many explosions in his laboratory over the years but none had ever been this severe.

Victor's ever-present smile is almost gone and his eyes look dead, especially with how pale his skin has become these days. He was lucky he was on the second floor when the explosion took place. It did not take Ludwig long to find and dig him out. He only spent a handful of hours under the rubble.

Some of his ribs feel broken or cracked and he has been coughing out blood for a while now but he could fix that. The glowing rock made him do that a lot lately, so he has developed a good elixir to counteract its effects. As for the ribs… he will get to them later. Most of his surgery equipment has been obliterated in the explosion. He hopes they can recover at least some things.

Perhaps, Ludwig and his crew can find his Bag of Holding in the rubble. He has quite a lot of medicine in it.

"Hey… Victor?" Ludwig asks softly, appearing seemingly out of nowhere next to him on the pile. His tiefling hooves are surprisingly good for climbing.

"Yes?" Victor asks without looking at him.

"I have sent for a healer after all. You are clearly not doing well."

"I am fine!" Victor responds grinning up at Ludwig sharply with all his teeth, blood seeping out of his gums and a hole where one of his teeth used to be before the explosion and spreading all over his mouth.

"Victor. I have barely seen you over the past couple years." Ludwig sighs looking quite concerned. " You've been holed up here experimenting with your, frankly fascinating, rock. And now that I do see you, your lab is in ruins and you are obviously in poor health... You clearly need a doctor."

"I AM A DOCTOR!" Victor snaps in sudden rage feeling insulted to his core and more distressed than he has been in many years, smiling from ear to ear, though his lips are twitching. "I get it now! That's what this is about!"

"What? No, Victor, I-"

Ludwig is clearly taken aback, almost stepping away but realizing his precarious position on a piece of a broken wall. He has almost never seen his partner express an emotion this strongly negative.

"No. No. I must be such a failure in your eyes now that I can't even fix myself." He gazes around at the ruined building pointedly. "I get it. Victor has lost his touch. Victor destroyed his lab. Victor is not a real scientist. Victor is not a real doctor. Just some fraud who does not even have a laboratory because he messed up an experiment! Victor gets it!"

He gets up suddenly to come face to face with Ludwig. The rubble shifts and crumbles under his feet, sending him tumbling down with it. Ludwig jumps into action, quite literally, his hooves landing on a flat piece of metal far below with a loud bang. He grabs Victor by one of the leather straps of his dusty apron just as his tumbling sends him into the air head down again and yanks him up into his arms, wrapping them around his waist. Victor is taller than him, so he bends his legs at the knees, so that they don't catch on anything as Ludwig carefully hops down to the bottom of the pile.

Once he is put down, he looks even more hurt than he did before, having taken a few hits while tumbling. Half his face is covered in blood and there are new bruises on the open parts of his arms. He spits out another tooth on the ground between the two of them.

"It seems Victor has dislocated his shoulder. Ah. Serves him right for-" He begins rambling but is cut off by Ludwig grabbing his head and pulling him down into a soft kiss that quickly turn much more intense.

Ludwig leans away a bit after he feels Victor relax and fully focus on the kiss. He spits out Victor's blood before looking up at the man with his brows furrowed.

"I called for a doctor because I love you and I don't want you to be in pain. You are a respectable, if unlicensed, doctor but it does not mean you don't need help... Don't you dare put words into my mouth."

His glare makes Victor finally drop his tense grin that turns into his usual light smile while his eyes glisten with tears just a little from how in love he is at that moment. He should not be unfair to his partner, that he is right about.

"I am sorry, my love…" He says sheepishly. "I just… everything is gone. My lab. My rock. My research. All my other equipment and experiments…"

Ludwig takes his dusty gloved right hand in both of his, petting it gently.

"I understand… my love."

He blushes deeply, unused to saying such nicknames out loud.

"You still have your clinic in the city. And my Tower has your old laboratory. I did not move anything there… Besides, I am sure we will be able to recovered some of your stuff. Don't worry. Most things are recoverable with enough effort and magic… I am happy to help you with everything. And you can always come back with me to the Tower…"

"Because you want to keep an eye on my well-being?" Victor chuckles sarcastically, though he is grinning again, this time with genuine happiness.

"Because I miss you."

Victor giggles, forgetting everything bad that happened to him that day as his heart melts at his love's honesty.

"You are so sweet, my dear Ludwig! I miss you too."

[lazyblueghost]

Update

Hey everyone!

Sorry I've been absent for the past..what? a couple of months? Shit has just been happening so I haven't had time to stream, make a video, or even post anything orz

So to catch everyone up on what's been going on, my room is slowly getting destroyed by water.

So I'm still sleeping out in the living room since my floor is starting to warp like...really badly. So bad that I have to walk on the floor beams so I don't fall through my waterlogged floor. On top of that, the hole that the raccoon created is still not completely fixed. Me and mom had checked the room a couple of days ago and there’s some mold slowly growing on the ceiling not too far from the hole. So even if everything was fixed I still wouldn't be able to sleep in there.

A family member did come over to make a temporary fix for both the hole and floor about a month or so ago, but the temporary fix for the hole just fell off a day or two ago so now I smell wet installation every time I walk in.

On top of that, the water is spreading into the hallway and bathroom. So we have to watch our step everytime we go near my room or the bathroom least we will start to sink.

So I’m gonna have to pack my belongings and move them somewhere else least they accidentally get waterlogged, fall forward, or through the floor.

But there is some good news to share.

I never really said all of this out in the open like this but basically Mom had a heart attack about 3ish years ago, she had gotten heart surgery and what not but the surgeon fucked up somewhere cuz not only did she still feel pain from the surgery, but the bottom part of where they had made the incision never healed causing more problems. It’s been like this ever since she got the heart surgery. On top that, just recently an actual, honest-to-good wire that they had used to keep the ribs together became loose and had started to poke out of the hole that never closed on her chest.

We had been trying to get this fixed for the past 3ish years, yet almost every doctor we talked to didn't want to actually do anything and kept telling us to go to different doctors, plastic surgeons, or back to the original surgeon who did this to begin with. The main problem was that the original surgeon that had done her heart surgery in the first place had retired, the plastic surgeons outright said ‘we can't do anything until you talk to a heart surgeon,’ or another doctor didn't want to touch her in fear of a POSSIBLE lawsuit. ORZ

This was twice as frustrating since the closest hospital that treats this sort of thing is an hour long from our house, and my very easily motion-sick ass didn't help things either.

We had only just now found a doctor who could help take the wires out and clean her wound so it could heal properly and not cause any pain to her. I'm still unbelievably pissed that it took this long for an actual doctor to finally help us instead of sending us off on another wild goose chase that would last for actual months. Thankfully, everything went as planned, the doctor made sure to clean everything up. Right now, she's out of surgery and is catching some much-needed Z’s. We would have gone home today, but her right eye was hurting so badly that we opted to stay at the hospital overnight.

That's what has happened these past few months. Sorry if this post looks like the ramblings of a madman, I haven't had a a decent night of sleep these last couple of days so my vision is a bit blurry. >_<

[nezumithewriter]

season four of the magnus archives was

ep 121: was that a will wood reference-- *SATELLITE EXPLOSION SFX*

ep 122: bro woke up from a six month coma with an identity crisis and a hunger for statements

ep 123: I'M GOING TO KILL MY BOSS (THIS IS A LEGALLY VIABLE THREAT) (I BROKE THE WALL)

ep 124: Tragic events in history; simon's death. when jumping out of a cable car, simon forgot his parachute, and fucking dIED

ep 125: SURGERY AT 3AM (GONE WRONG) (I STABBED MY BITCHASS BOSS)

ep 126: "thanks bestie i really wanted to make this gift to my spiral bf special" "mary is in my basement"

ep 127: "Jonah i fucking hate you i'm not gonna talk to your bitch ass anymore" proceeds to go on in great detail about eyes in some guys organs

ep 128: how did they get me to feel bad for the creepy gay delivery guys

ep 129: man loan companies are crazy nowadays

ep 130: normal woman gets dragged into helping with eldritch god's dinner

ep 131: "(joking) all i need is my rib removed" melanie king with a practiced top surgeon in the basement (the hallways tm)

ep 132: THEY FUCKING LEAD HIM OUT WITH HIS FAVORITE FOOD (statements)

ep 133: worst fate imaginable; being just like Jon

ep 134: throwing peter into the ocean rq

ep 135: Hey check out this cool black hole i made

ep 136: "boohoo I'm so alone and a monster"

ep 137: "Daisy has me listening to the Archers so maybe death is the answer."

ep 138: "NO LITTLE BRITISH BOY (jonah) DON'T GO TO THE EYE" "oh mein gott i have 20/20 vision"

ep 139: how to make your own jesus christ in ten steps. number ten; don't let them read ao3 coffeeshop aus

ep 140: I FUCKING HATE EDMOND HALLEY. HE AND HIS CULT FRIENDS KEEP THANKING ME FOR TURNING HIM INTO AN ELDRITCH MONSTER AND SAY "GO LITTLE SAND BOY GO"

ep 141: hungy

ep 142: hungy pt. 2 ft. Jon Sims' tired boyfriend

ep 143: damn cool black hole you got there *perceives it causing it to collapse in on itself*

ep 144: bro was forced to become a gravity falls fan against his will

ep 145: fire x ice wlw

ep 146: jon's intervention pt. 2 but everyone there is a hypocrite

ep 147: the horror of knowing you don't want to stop

ep 148: let the boy eat i swear to god

ep 149: yall ugly *peaces out*

ep 150: the lonely fucking malding after accidentally helping someone's relationship

ep 151: simon fairchild is my favorite now actually

ep 152: Hezekiah "Please god i just want to sleep" Wakely fucking hates bells (kills a baker)

ep 153: my silly ass enjoying the genuinely disturbing cult narrative only to get hit with the Trevor and Julia jumpscare

ep 154: i fucking love eric delano, oh and "i'm not gouging my eyes out and running away with you jon"

ep 155: EYE QUIT MY JOB (GONE WRONG) (HAD TO GOUGE MY EYES OUT)

ep 156: martin no

ep 157:

ep 158: "Peter, I want another divorce."

ep 159: GET HIS ASS JON

ep 160: world's weirdest clipshow pt. 2 that ends with the world fucking exploding

[deanstead]

Pieces (10): Work This Out

Chapter 10: Work This Out

Chapter Summary: Jay keeps his promise to Chloe and helps Y/N make temporary arrangements for Chloe.

Word Count: 1,928

Warnings: canon-typical mentions of injuries

A/N: In Resa's effort to try to go to bed early I'll be pushing up the postings to 10PM (GMT +8), so just an hour earlier! Updates will still be on Tuesday and Fridays in my timezone! Hope you guys like this update, please drop by to let me know what you think!

SERIES MASTERLIST || JAY HALSTEAD MASTERLIST

Previous Chapter || Next Chapter

Jay hoisted Chloe more securely onto his arm as he hurried into Med to look for someone, anyone.

It had been a hard decision, as Jay watched the paramedics pile you in and heard them say that he could come along for the ride. Technically, he could have had Hailey bring Chloe to Med but it didn’t feel like that would cut it. He’d glanced at you and turned back to the district to deliver his promise.

“Jay!”

Jay spotted Will and headed straight in. Will glanced at Chloe in his arms and nodded at him. “You should wait to talk to Connor.”

Will opened his arms. “Chloe, why don’t we go get something to eat?”

Chloe nodded slowly before she turned to Jay and Jay smiled, nodding. “Will knows the best snacks here.”

Chloe smiled and allowed Will to lift her from Jay’s arms.

Jay watched them disappear, just as Connor walked into the waiting room.

“Connor.”

Connor nodded, heading towards Jay. “Her injuries are extensive. We had to put in a chest tube when she first came in, she had internal injuries, two fractured ribs. Her arm is broken, and the stab wound caused even further damage.”

As Connor watched Jay’s expression change, he quickly added. “The surgery went well. She’ll need some time to recover, but she’s going to be okay.”

Jay exhaled.

“You can see her now if you want.”

Jay nodded. “Thanks.”

When Jay entered your room, he was glad he hadn't gone to get Chloe first. Your arm had been put in a cast and the bruises across your face were now more pronounced.

“Hey.” Jay greeted, as he reached your bedside.

You looked back up at him, glad to see him. “Chloe?” You whispered.

Jay smiled and nodded. “Will took her to get some food. I’ll bring her by later. You feeling up to talking?”

You exhaled, but nodded.

Jay got as much information from you as he could without pushing, clenching his fist as he felt the rage course through him while you recounted what had happened in the bodega. The only thing you were thankful for was that they were so hopped up, they hadn’t noticed Chloe, merely thinking that you’d been trying to run. So they’d taken their anger out on you, hitting and kicking at you, a few times with the baseball bat. You could hear the rage turn into shrieks of excitement at the violence they were inflicting as they pounded into you.

As you recounted the attack, you exhaled as the memory of the moment you'd felt the knife slice into your abdomen hit you and Jay reached out for your good hand, gently squeezing. “It’s okay, we can stop.”

You glanced up at Jay and squeezed back. “How’d you find her?” You asked after a while.

Jay smiled. “She found me. Kind of.”

You frowned in confusion.

“Apparently her school had taught them how to identify police station buildings, fire stations, that sort of thing. One of the patrol officers found her somewhere outside the district and brought her in. When I came into the building, Trudy was already talking to her. You got a brilliant kid.”

“I was scared, Jay. Putting my four year old out on the street like that? What if someone took her? What if something worse happened because she was alone?” You whispered, your voice trembling. “But she would be in far more danger inside, so I…”

Jay leaned forward to stroke the top of your head. “Slow breaths, Y/N. It’s okay, she’s okay. I promise.”

You met his green eyes and nodded, your breathing slowing again.

“Get some rest. Connor said they’re moving you to a room. I’ll check on Will and Chloe and I’ll bring her by, alright?”

You nodded, as Jay smiled at you and disappeared out the door.

This had thrown a whole wrench in your plan to not fall deeper into what you already knew were feelings for Jay Halstead. You’d told yourself, and him, that you weren’t ready, that you couldn’t deal with anything romantic. But this? You weren’t prepared for. The way Jay just swept in to take care of you and Chloe even though you were holding him at arm’s length, the way you knew that if Jay was there, Chloe would be safe, and so would you.

“We got them, Jay. They were too high to worry about security cameras, Kim got them before they hit another store.”

Those were the only words Jay needed to hear right now. “Where are they?”

Jay heard his partner sigh over the phone. “Coming down from their high. It’ll be another few hours I think. Everything okay there?”

Jay glanced over where Will was bringing Chloe back in. “Yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can. I want in on the interrogation.”

Jay hung up the phone as Chloe ran towards him. “Jay, can we see Mom?”

Jay glanced at Will but bent down to speak to Chloe. “Yeah, but can we talk first?”

Chloe nodded.

“Mom got a bit hurt. We can go see her but it might be a little scary, alright?”

Chloe studied Jay before she nodded. “I’m not scared.”

Jay smiled. “Alright, come on.” He picked her up easily, as Will led the way to your room.

Jay could see the relief on your face when you finally laid eyes on Chloe. “Gentle, okay?” Jay whispered as he put Chloe down next to you and she hugged you, burying her face into your neck. You held her close to you, finally feeling like you could breathe right.

“You okay?” You asked her.

Chloe nodded. “Jay kept his promise. And Will and I had pudding.”

You smiled, glancing back at them. “Thanks, guys.”

Will smiled, nodding before he joined Connor to peer at your chart. “I’m gonna have you here at least a week if not longer.”

“Connor… I can’t.” You said, glancing at Chloe who was lying comfortably beside you now.

Connor sighed. “Y/N, your injuries… you know this. There’s an equal chance of internal bleeding so close after surgery. A week is already pushing it, alright? Is there anyone… her father?”

Chloe’s eyes darted up. “No, I don’t wanna.”

Jay glanced at Connor, then Will, before back at you.

“Y/N, we’ll work something out, alright? Let me talk to Voight, see if there’s anything I can do.” Jay said, standing up. “I gotta go back to the district, but I’ll swing by later this evening?”

“What are you…”

Jay just smiled. “Trust me.”

He leaned forward to pat the top of Chloe’s head affectionately. “I’ll see you later, kid.”

Chloe grinned back up at Jay and Jay squeezed your hand discreetly. But not discreetly enough, as Will gave his brother a look accompanied by a small knowing smile.

Jay’s idea of ‘work something out’ was the village. Natalie had come by to tell you that Owen would be more than happy to have a playmate for a few days, Jay had said that he had a few days he could take and he’d be more than happy to take Chloe home or stay with her, whichever made you more comfortable.

So you’d let Chloe decide.

You’d been trying to ease Chloe back into seeing Caleb more, especially since he seemed more interested in reconnecting with his daughter. But it hadn’t been easy and you weren’t keen on shipping her off there while you were in the hospital. You’d rather have Chloe choose who she wanted to stay with. Chloe and Owen had been on a few play dates, even though you and Natalie weren’t terribly close, but you kind of knew what Chloe would choose even before she’d said it.

To say you weren’t happy with it was an outright lie, because you knew that Chloe would be safe and happy. But it wasn’t helpful to you.

“You sure you can take the few days? I don’t want to put you out more than…” You asked Jay. He’d been gone for most of the day but he’d just come back from the district.

Jay gave you a look. “I already took the few days. They owe me furlough anyway and it’s a…” He shrugged. “Family emergency.”

You felt the breath catch in your throat. Here you were, practically dangling him on the line, not wanting to cross a line with him, but there he was willing to do almost anything just to keep you at ease and to keep your daughter happy.

Jay smiled, putting his hands up. “I didn’t mean anything by it, alright? I’m not pressuring you or anything.”

“Jay.” You stopped him. “I know.”

Jay let his mouth fall shut before he smiled. “Anyway, we got them. I went back to do the interrogation. They were high and just…” He sighed. “This shouldn’t have happened.”

You just gave him a small smile and turned just a little to look at your daughter who was busy drawing on some papers that April and Maggie had delivered up to you.

“At least she wasn’t hurt.” You whispered.

Jay headed over towards you, stopping just a little distance away like he was being careful about pushing the boundaries. “You shouldn’t have been hurt either.” His voice was low.

“Did she give it to you?” You asked.

Jay raised an eyebrow.

“Chloe? Weren’t you going to give Jay something?” You asked.

Chloe’s head jerked upwards and she grinned before she reached for her bag and took out the paper she’d been carefully carrying around all day, before she handed it to Jay, her little features scanning his face and watching his reaction.

Jay took it from Chloe, the four-year old handwriting of “My Hero” scribbled at the top, along with a drawing of what could only have been Jay in a police uniform.

“And that’s me and Mom!” Chloe said excitedly, pointing to the two small figures next to him. “Do you like it?”

Jay glanced at you, smiling, before he turned back to Chloe, bending back down to her eye level. “I love it. Thank you, Chloe. This is for me, right?”

Chloe nodded and Jay smiled as she threw her tiny arms around his neck.

“I'll keep it really well." Jay told her as she pulled out of the hug. "So what do you say we go home and let Mom rest? We can come back tomorrow.” He told her.

Chloe nodded. “Are we going to your house?”

Jay glanced at you and you pointed to your bag, where Jay found your keys so that he could go pick up some of Chloe’s things.

“Are you sure about this, Jay? You can still back out of this.” You asked him in a low voice.

Jay nodded. “We’ll be fine. Won’t we?”

Chloe smiled. “We’re going to have a sleepover!”

You laughed, feeling the pain from well, everywhere, shoot through your body and you winced.

Jay’s head snapped towards you and you shook your head. “I’ll be fine. Go on.”

Chloe came to the side of your bed. “Bye, Mom.”

“Be good.” You whispered, leaning out far enough to give her a quick kiss to her forehead.

Jay picked Chloe into his arms and grabbed her bag. “Jay.” You stopped him, as he turned to look at you.

“Thanks.”

Jay winked, before he left with your daughter, leaving you staring at the ceiling.

Everything hurt, and everything felt more confusing, but at the very least, you knew you and Chloe were in safe hands.

THANK YOU FOR READING!! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THIS!!

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[pythors-pandemic]

Broken Ribs - Lloyd Garmadon Oneshot

Summary: Jay teaches Lloyd how to chest bind properly

Pairing: Trans!Lloyd and Trans!Jay (platonic)

Takes Place: before season 8

Warnings: swearing, a little mention of blood, dysphoria, kinda sad

Word Count: 1,054

A/N: yeah idk where this idea came from, I HC that Lloyd is ftm and I wanted to expand on that so here ya go some trans rep

Masterlist

Lloyd had no idea what happened. One second he was in battle, losing his breath, and the next he was on the boundy’s exam table, had a light in his eyes, and his family surrounded him with worried faces. 

“Lloyd! oh my god are you okay?!” Kai yelled once he saw Lloyd's eyes were open. 

“What… happened?” Lloyd muttered. He tried to move his arm to shield his eyes from the light, but a sharp pain made its way through his shoulder and into his chest. He winced and put his arm right back down. 

“You got hit. Your shoulder is sprained and we think you broke a rib or two, but we need to remove your shirt to make sure.'' Zane informed him. he had surgical scissors in his hands. Lloyd's anxiety skyrocketed. “Are you okay with that?” he asked. 

“um… no.” Lloyd shook his head. all the ninja gave each other knowing glances. 

Everyone knew Lloyd was trans. He came out as a kid, he’s never not been him and he’s never not been supported. Everyone also knew Lloyd did everything he possibly could to conceal any feminine traits he had. What they didn’t know was Lloyd didn’t do it the way he should. 

“Lloyd, it’s okay. We just need to make sure nothing is wrong. Jay said, taking his hand. Lloyd squeezed it and took a deep breath.

“Please guys. It doesn't hurt that bad. I'm fine.” To prove his point, Lloyd tried to sit up, but an aggressively sharp pain rushed up his chest and spine, making him lay back down. He knew there was no way he was going to get out of this. He looked around at all his brothers and felt tears welling up. He locked eyes with Jay and tightened his grip on his hand. 

Jay was also trans. He understood the embarrassment and dysphoria that would follow Lloyd's check up, but something by the way Lloyd was looking at him told him there was more to the story. “Hey guys, I don't think all of us need to be in here. I know what broken ribs look like.” He told the group. Lloyd sighed in relief, which hurt but he didn’t care— it hurt every time he breathed anyway. 

Zane handed Jay the scissors on his way out. “Have you been able to breathe lately?” Jay asked after closing the door. 

“Yes.” Lloyd responded, avoiding eye contact.

“Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, how many times do I have to tell you you’re shit at lying?” Jay said with a joking tone. Lloyd smiled while holding in his laugh. 

“It's always hard to breathe when you're trans, you know this.” Lloyd said. 

“It shouldn’t be. I'm going to get this off now, okay?” Jay said, his expression turning serious. Lloyd swallowed his anxiety and nodded. “I didn't have many issues. Have you been taking your binder off at night?” He asked as he started cutting the green fabric. He stopped once he saw Lloyd's chest. Jay’s heart sank at the sight. He was bruised all over, and even worse, he was wearing ace bandages. 

Lloyd started tearing up again. “Jay— I'm—“ he tried to speak, but his emotions were silencing him. 

Jay finished cutting the shirt before responding. “Do you always use these?” He asked. He started taking out the safety pins while Lloyd tried to compose himself. 

“I don't have a binder.” He finally got out. A few tears fell as he watched Jay undo the first bandage. There was blood on it, which Jay was expecting but it pained him nonetheless. Lloyd filled with shame as the second and third bandages came unraveled.

“I would've given you one of mine. I thought you already had one.” Jay said sadly. He was lucky enough to have gotten his top surgery a few years back, so his binders were in the back of his closet serving no purpose. 

Along with the intense bruising, there were tiny bleeding marks Jay knew were from the safety pins. It didn't take him long to confirm that Lloyd's ribs were broken. “Do you wear them when you’re sleeping?” Jay asked. Lloyd nodded. His tears were flowing freely now. “These can cause permanent damage, Lloyd. Especially if you don’t give your chest a break.” Jay said. 

Lloyd closed his eyes. “I know. I know. I'm sorry.” He quivered. 

Jay's heart shattered. “Don’t be.” He whispered. He took Lloyd's hand again, making him open his eyes. “When you’re all healed up, I'll give you one of my binders.” He said with a sad smile.

“How long will that take?” Lloyd asked. 

“A couple of months.” Jay watched as Lloyd's face became washed over with sorrow. “I know it’s going to really suck, but I'll help you through it. I'll be here the whole time. If you're having a tough day, come get me. I’ll even help you steal one of Cole's hoodies.” He reassured. Lloyd smiled at the joke as Jay threw away the ace bandages. “I'll be right back.” He said before leaving the room. 

He came back with a bottle of ibuprofen, a cup of water, and Lloyd's green sweatshirt. He helped put it on before handing him the medicine and water. “We'll get you a top surgery consultation as soon as you’re 18, but until then you have to promise me something.” He said as Lloyd took two pills. He nodded and Jay continued. “You have to bind the safe way. don’t sleep with it on, and give yourself breaks with sports bras during weekends and stuff. Can you do that?” 

“Yeah. thank you, jay.” Lloyd said, wiping his tears. 

“Of course. Us trannies gotta stick together, right?” Jay said with a wink. Lloyd laughed, which made him wince, but he didn’t care. “Oh shit sorry!” Jay said, a slight bit of panic rushing through him. 

“It's okay.” Lloyd smiled. Jay carefully wrapped his arm around him, trying his best not to hurt him.

“Let's get you into your actual bed.” Jay said, picking him up gently. 

“Jay?” Lloyd said quietly

“Yeah?” He responded

“Thank you again. I really appreciate everything you do.” Lloyd smiled. “I love you.” He added sheepishly.

“I love you too, brother.” Jay returned the smile and brought him to his bed for some well needed rest.

[whumpkeys]

Blood Brothers (9-1-1 Lonestar Fic)

After an incident on a call leaves Carlos and Judd injured, TK has some guilt to look through. CW: Canon-typical violence, gun violence, drug mention.

It was a normal call. Or at least it was supposed to be. Dispatch had mentioned a simple car accident on the freeway with a possible missing kid. Nothing more, nothing less. They had found the kid and gotten four of the five people out of the cars with limited injuries and no deaths so far. The police were only really there for traffic control. Everything was going fine and overall, it was the kind of call that would no doubt be celebrated later with a night at the bar. Until Paul noticed something.

While Judd knew that he wasn’t as observant as Paul was, he was also far from oblivious. The sudden stiffening and look of concentration on Paul’s face betrays the fact that he had noticed something, though it wasn’t clear exactly what he’d noticed. It never was. Not until he did some fancy Sherlock Holmes type deduction and blew everyone away. Then it just seemed painfully obvious and left Judd with the thought that this is what Watson must feel like. A quick glance around reveals the fact that Judd isn’t the only one who’s noticed. Marjan and the probie were sharing a look of confusion and glee, clearly excited to see what it was that Paul had discovered.

Judd wasn’t immune to the lure of the trick either. Though he tries to remain outwardly uninterested, he still watches out of the corner of his eye as the other man approaches the truck, walking with purpose. Just as Paul’s about to make his first comment or ask his first question, something else catches Judd’s eye and he turns his head, recognizing the all-too-familiar glint as sunlight reflects off the long barrel of a shotgun. Judd follows it with his eyes, his heart stopping for a moment when he realizes who it was pointing at. TK wasn’t paying attention, of course, too busy chatting it up with his little cop boyfriend.

“Gun!” Judd’s shouting the warning almost immediately as he takes off towards the boy, knocking him to the ground just as the gun fires with a loud bang. The two of them land on the ground, Judd on top of TK, and he can only groan as TK shouts in surprise, asking what the hell was going on. Judd wants to answer. Really, he does. But just at that moment, the pain hits.

It’s a burning, searing pain that seems to spread out from his shoulder and throughout his entire body. He can hear somebody letting out a string of foul curses, ones that would get him smacked upside the head if Grace heard him saying, and it takes him a moment longer than it should for him to realize that it was him cussing up a storm and not some poor bystander. Judd tries to get up but his arms feel like Jell-O and refuse to follow his commands. All he can do is groan and hope he isn’t crushing poor TK under him.

As much as he liked to portray himself as this fearless, tough-guy cowboy, he was only human. He was susceptible to pain. And this shit? It hurt like a mother. Through the haze of pain and confusion, he can feel two people shifting him onto one of the stretchers. His arm moves at the same time that the pain spikes and a numb feeling shoots through his arm before making his entire body burn like it was on fire. He barely gets a strangled scream out before he's passing out on the stretcher.

~~~

Owen didn’t think he would ever be as scared as he had been when he found TK that night before moving to Austin. The stone-cold terror he’d felt when he’d found his son laying on the ground, cold as a corpse and not breathing, wasn’t something that was going to be easy to top. But the fear he feels when he sees the barrel of a gun pointed at him while he’s so clearly distracted definitely comes close.

“TK!” he yells, though it’s immediately drowned out by a louder shout, warning them about the gun. Owen freezes for just a moment, seeing a blur tackle TK to the ground just as the gun goes off. And that’s when everything goes to shit. Carlos is knocked aside in the commotion, his head hitting the edge of the truck and knocking him out, and TK himself doesn’t seem to come out unscathed despite what Owen is now considering divine intervention of some sort.

Owen forces himself forwards on unsteady legs, dropping to his knees beside the two. Michelle was already with Carlos, helping him to sit up and drink some water. For a moment, Owen’s convinced that he’s the only one who had seen this. The only one who knows what had happened. But his theory is quickly disproven when Paul and Marjan are there all of a sudden, helping him move Judd onto a stretcher. The cowboy was shouting out foul curses, causing most of the bystanders to cover their children's ears and look utterly scandalized. When he passes out, Owen finds that the silence is much worse.

TK hadn’t gotten up yet, which Owen was trying not to find concerning. He’s still laying on the pavement, curling up in the fetal position and not moving.“TK? TK, are you okay? TK!”

TK’s response is fairly quick and Owen just about sags in relief. “I’m fine. Just sore ribs. Think Judd broke ‘em. What was that all about anyway?” he asks, sitting up with one arm wrapped around his chest, a slight wince on his face.

Owen watches as the ambulance pulls away with Judd and Carlos inside and just shakes his head. “Come on. We’re going to the hospital.”

“Dad? It’s not that bad, seriously. I’m fine.”

“TK, it’s not for you.”

It takes a few seconds but the look on TK’s face when he finally realizes what had just happened makes Owen wish that he’d just invented some kind of elaborate lie or something to cover up the whole thing. He knew it was illogical but the urge to protect his son from any more hurt was there, overpowering any logic or rational thought. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

~~~

They arrive at the hospital shortly after. Despite what he’d been told, about the trip not being for him, his dad had still made him get checked out. The whole way to the hospital, he’d been hunched over with his arms wrapped around his chest and Owen had been understandably concerned. A few moments after arriving, he's diagnosed with cracked ribs. After being told about caring for his ribs, they head into the waiting room to find Carlos sitting in the corner with an ice pack to his head and a pink emesis bin in his lap. He glances up when the two walk in, giving TK a small, pained smile. TK immediately glances away.

From what he’d been told, this whole thing was his fault. If he had been paying attention to the call instead of hanging out with his boyfriend when they were both working, then he would have seen the gun. He would have ducked or moved or done something other than just stand there like a lovesick dork. Judd wouldn’t be in surgery. Carlos wouldn’t be sitting there in obvious pain.

TK knew he had a bad habit of internalizing things and blaming himself. His dad told him practically every time it happened. But in this case, he was certain that it was his fault. How could it not be? He had been standing there, flirting with his boyfriend while everyone else was working hard. Judd had been right, he was slacking. And now he was paying the price for TK’s mistake.

Before he even has a chance to try and stop it, a strangled sob escapes him, and just like that, the dam he’d oh so carefully constructed breaks. He sits there, in the cold, cramped hospital chair, with his legs pulled up to his chest and his face buried in his knees as loud sobs wracked his body. The fabric on his knees is getting wet with his tears but he can’t bring himself to care. With everything else happening, it doesn’t seem to matter that much. He feels somebody’s arm wrap around him, pulling him into their side with a quiet, “Oh, TK.”

He recognizes his dad’s voice and the feeling of his chest. Briefly, he’s reminded of the time when he was a kid and he’d had a nightmare. He’d stood over his dad’s bed for nearly ten minutes before Owen had woken up. His dad had later told him that he’d scared the shit out of him. But after that, he’d just hugged him and held him close. He had rubbed his hair like he was doing now and he’d told him that everything was going to be okay. That whatever had happened was just a dream and it couldn’t hurt him. The mantra was different today. Today, his dad was assuring him that what happened wasn’t his fault. “Everything will be okay. It wasn’t your fault, TK, these things happen. Judd’s gonna be fine. Carlos is—”

“I’m fine,” Carlos pipes up, though his voice is tinged with hurt. TK can’t tell if it’s from the concussion or TK ignoring him. Either way, he had caused it. It was his fault.

“Tyler Kennedy, you listen to me.” TK hadn’t realized he had been speaking out loud. “This was not your fault. Okay?”

“But Carlos got— and Judd he—”

“They’re fine, TK. Right now, I’m more worried about you.” Owen lowers his voice, leaning in closer to his son. “How are you feeling? Any… urges?”

TK sighs, rolling his eyes and looking up at his dad. “I’m not a werewolf, you know, and I’m not made of glass either. I’m not gonna- I’m not going to OD again, okay? That was… it was a one-time thing. Not every issue is going to break me, okay? Okay, dad?”

“I know,” Owen tells him, a small smile on his face. “I know. I’m just worried, okay?”

“Yeah, well you don’t have to be.”

“It’s kind of my job, TK.”

TK feels a small spark of inexplicable anger appear. “No, your <i>job</i> is to save people.”

“Not as a firefighter, TK, as your dad.”

TK’s quiet for a moment. Just like that, the spark is gone and another sob leaves him. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Owen assures him, rubbing small circles into his son’s back. TK just nods, too busy trying to hold back the sobs and tears that threatened to overspill. By now, Paul, Marjan, and Matéo had returned from taking the truck back for the next shift and were just sitting awkwardly in the chairs beside Carlos.

When Paul catches the captain's eye, he mouths something that Owen takes for meaning, ‘Is he okay?’ Owen hesitates, looking down at where TK was sitting, practically in his lap with his head buried in his chest. He nods. TK might not be completely okay right now, but he would be. Owen knew that. If his son was anything, he was resilient.

Owen glances up at the sound of footsteps, relieved to see the doctor approaching. He knows the exact moment that TK notices, shifting and accidentally elbowing Owen in the chest. “Oomph!”

“Sorry,” TK’s quick to apologize but pays his dad no heed as he looks over at the doctor, a tall blond man. “How is he? Is he okay?”

The doctor opens his mouth to say something when Paul pipes up. “Relax, TK, he’s fine. Doc’s relaxed.”

“Wel—”

“Plus, Judd’s a fighter. He’ll be fine in no time.”

“May I—”

“Wait, did anyone call his wife?”

“If I can—”

“Yeah, I called her earlier. You know, she’s actually really nice. She invited us for dinner this weekend.”

“Guys,” Owen says, holding up a hand. “Let the man speak.”

The doctor sends him a thankful look and adjusts his clipboard as he clears his throat. “Thank you, Captain. Mr. Ryder’s going to be just fine. He’s lost a bit of blood but we were able to remove the bullet without much difficulty at all. He’s awake and ready for visitors. If you would like to see him, somebody can go in now. He’s been asking for his little brother?”

As soon as the doctor’s finished speaking, Owen looks down at his son. “That’s you. Go see him, make sure he’s not giving the nurses a hard time.” TK hesitates before shaking his head slightly and pulling his phone out as if he got a text. “I uh- actually, I have to go. Meeting a friend.”

Before anyone can protest, he’s out of there, taking off like a bat out of hell. Owen sighs, standing up. “Guess, that’s me then.” As he heads for Judd’s room, he hears Mateo comment on TK leaving to see a friend instead of visiting his brother. Marjan smacks him upside the head and calls him an idiot before Owen can say anything. He’d talk to TK later, make sure he’s okay.

Nobody, not even Paul, notices Carlos slipping away.

~~~

As soon as he’s out of the hospital, TK breaks down completely. He slides down one of the large white pillars and buries his face in his arms as he cries. Loud sobs wrack his entire body as he struggles to get a breath in without choking on it. He can practically feel everyone staring at him, watching as he loses it right there on the pavement. TK can only imagine the sight he makes. He was still in his turnout gear minus his helmet, which was probably still in the waiting room with his dad, and definitely looked the part of a badass firefighter. And here he was, sobbing like a child.

Too focused on dwelling on his own mistakes and trying to get a breath in, TK doesn’t notice somebody sitting down beside him until there’s a sharp inhale from the spot to his left. “It’s bright out, huh?” TK freezes, recognizing his boyfriend’s voice. He looks up slowly, trying to wipe the tears away with the back of his hand. They just keep coming.

“What are you doing here?”

“Come on, TK. I know you. And I know that you’re taking this hard. It’s not your fault. You know that, right?”

TK shakes his head. “That’s not— I wasn’t doing my job. I was just standing around, talking to <i>you</i>. I was distracted.”

“Everyone was standing around, there wasn’t much to do. You did nothing wrong. Please tell me you understand that,” Carlos says, an arm around his shoulders as he pulls TK into an awkward, half hug. TK just laughs bitterly and shakes his head again. Carlos frowns and decides to try another tactic. “What, you’re not going to ask how I’m feeling?”

TK looks up at him, the slightest hint of a smile on his face. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I just won a steak-eating contest.”

“Nauseous?”

“Yeah. Doc says I have a concussion. Nothing serious though.”

TK nods. “Good. Look… I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

“TK, you have nothing to apologize for,” he tells him with a smile, squeezing him against his chest. “What happened was an accident. I know it doesn’t help much but it’s not your fault.”

“I know, it’s just…” TK shakes his head. “Nevermind.”

Carlos frowns but decides not to say anything for now. “Come on, Tiger. Let’s go see Judd. I heard he’s giving the doctors a hard time.”

This time, TK doesn’t protest as he’s led back towards the hospital.

~~~

“Where’s the kid?”

Standing at the end of Judd’s hospital bed, Owen got the strange feeling that he was at his judgment day. Judd didn’t look like he’d even been shot. If it weren’t for the bandage wrapped around his shoulder and the stark white hospital sheets, he could have just been laying in bed. He wasn’t wearing a hospital gown either, something the captain found fairly odd but not important enough to mention.

“He… had to leave. Had a date with a friend,” Owen tells him. They both knew he was lying.

“He’s blaming himself, ain’t he?” Judd asks, groaning slightly as he props himself up on his elbows and looks over. Owen just nods. “Fuck, knew he would. He’s okay though, right?”

Owen nods again. “Yeah, he’s fine. A couple of cracked ribs but he’ll be fine. How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m floating on cloud nine, Cap. Think they gave me the good stuff,” he responds with a shit-eating grin.

Owen laughs. “I don’t doubt it.”

There’s a moment of quiet as the mood slowly shifts and Judd looks up. “Any idea where he is?”

Owen shakes his head. They both knew who Judd was referring to. “I don’t know. He told me he wouldn’t be…” he trails off with a shake of his head. “But I don’t know.”

“Yeah, well, he’ll be fine. What happened out there?”

“Paul found cocaine. A ton of it. The guy didn’t want anyone finding out, I guess.”

“Whew-”

“What, no ‘welcome to Texas’?”

Judd shakes his head. “This ain’t Texas shit, Cap. That’s some LA shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

Though the silence between the two had never been awkward before, it was now rife with tension. Owen wasn’t too sure what to say. He knew TK wouldn’t appreciate him telling Judd about their earlier talk but right now, he was considering telling Judd their entire life story just to have something to talk about. Thankfully, by some sort of miracle, he’s stopped from oversharing by the door opening and a light cough from the doorway.

Owen turns around immediately to see TK and Carlos standing there in the doorway. Carlos’s arm is wrapped around TK’s shoulders in a protective gesture and the police officer is giving them both a look that dares them to try anything. TK, for his part, was just standing there with his eyes on his shoes and his arms wrapped around his chest as if he could hold himself together just like that.

Nobody says anything for a few moments before Carlos nudges TK, prompting a slight glare at the other man and a quiet, “Hey.”

“Howdy, kid. Nice of you to drop by,” Judd responds, not missing a beat. Despite how withdrawn and hesitant TK was at the moment, Judd was acting as if they were just hanging around the fire station. And for that, Owen was grateful. TK hated any kind of pity or sympathy or anything like that. And while Judd wasn’t the type to pity people, Owen knew that his son would definitely interpret any difference in behavior as such.

TK doesn’t respond, leaving them with yet another awkward silence. It takes Owen a moment to see the look Judd was giving him, too busy watching his son with obvious worry. Judd clears his throat and Owen gets the sense that he was tired of waiting for him to catch on. “Hey, Cap, why don’t you and Reyes go call Grace or something?”

The dismissal was anything except subtle but it got the job done. Carlos seems to snap out of whatever protective trance he was in and nods. “Right… yeah. Uh- see you later, TK?” TK just nods, still not looking up from his shoes.

With one last lingering glance at his son, Owen follows Carlos out of the hospital room and back to the rest of the crew.

~~~

Judd doesn’t say anything as he watches the kid in the doorway. His posture and expression screams guilt and Judd knows that whatever he’s thinking about was eating at him. He shakes his head. “Am I gonna be receiving an invite to this pity party or is it one of them private affairs?”

TK glances up at that, a hint of a glare on his face as he looks towards Judd. It’s lacking any heat, though, and seemed more instinctual than anything. Judd sighs. “Come on, kid. What’s eating at you?”

There’s another brief moment of silence as TK seems to gather his words before speaking. “You got shot.”

Judd raises a brow. “Believe me, brother, I know.”

“No— you got shot because I wasn’t paying attention. I was flirting with Carlos. Flirting! At work. And you were— you—”

As he speaks, TK starts to pace back and forth across the room and Judd holds up a hand, stopping him in his tracks. “First of all, you’re making me dizzy. Second, this kind of shit happens. It could have happened to anyone. Probie, Marwani, your dad. Hell, even me. You know how many times I’ve tried flirting with Grace over the radio?” TK shakes his head. “Too many times.”

Judd pauses for a moment, just to get a sense of where they were, and then launches into the seemingly endless story of how he’d flirted with Grace over the radio, got himself smacked upside the head by his captain, and sent to the couch for the night by Grace, and almost drowned as a direct result from the incident. Partway through the story, TK migrates over to the hard plastic chair beside Judd’s bed and by the time he reaches the part about the couch, TK’s fast asleep with his head on the bed. Judd doesn’t stop talking just yet, continuing the story as TK lays there, his head laying on his folded arms.

He doesn’t reach the drowning part before he’s dozing off beside the kid, confident that they’d be alright.

[gloriafc]

Baby

Slight greys anatomy mention

You're Eddie's daughter. You were the product of a teen pregnancy, the reason your parents got married. They had Christopher as an attempt to save their marriage and it worked for a little bit. When your mom left you were also graduating high school and ready to go off to college.

"Dad I don't have to go. I can take a year off. You need help with Christopher." "I can handle it mija. You go and become a doctor like you want. Make us proud okay?" And you do just that, the year you graduate med school is the same year he joins the 118. You take a trip to visit them and help them move before your internship starts, Christopher of course is very happy to see you without a screen separating you two and your dad is happy to see how much you've grown.

You start your internship in Seattle, becoming a surgeon at Seattle Grace.

When the fire station finds out about Christopher, no one finds out about you, your dad not knowing how to bring up that he has an adult daughter.

When the incident with the bomb in the or happens, your dad is worried about you resulting in him finally telling the firehouse about you. "Why didn't you ever say anything?" "I don't know. I don't put pictures up, there was never any reason. But now." "Now she's been injured."

They don't get the chance to meet you until the mass shooting, you've been shot twice in your side protecting others. Your dad is your emergency contact and gets the call while he's at work. He freezes as he listens to the doctor talk, "She's alive though right?" Everyone can hear the worry in his voice an immediately question him when he gets off the phone. Bobby immediately gives him time off as he and Christopher head to Seattle to visit you.

It kills Eddie to see you injured, you're his baby girl after all, but you hide your pain well around Christopher. After you get discharged you decide to head back to LA during your time off to heal and to be with your family. So you finally get to meet everyone. Of course Buck quickly becomes the protective uncle you never had, and you're happy to see that your dad has a friend like him.

Halfway through your visit is when your mom comes back, and you don't really know how to feel. You've always bumped heads with her, but it got worse when she'd fight with your dad, even worse when she decided to leave and never made it to any of your graduations. And now you're an adult who watched you're dad build up everything she tore down. She didn't know that you were staying with your dad and tried to hide her reaction when she saw you sitting on the couch with Christopher playing a game of cards.

You tried to keep things civil but you can only do so much on your part. You kept your responses short or hardly spoke unless spoken too, until one night you both finally snapped. There was nothing Eddie could do, he loved you both, but he knew this was something you both needed to work out. "Admit it mom. If you knew I was here you never would've come back, not yet at least." "Y/N-" "No! I bet you don't even know the reason why I'm here. Fuck you couldn't even show up to my graduations. You say you left for yourself but what about your kids? You said dad never made time because of work, but he did. He was there. Me and Christopher forgave him for the things he missed because he made up for it. And you were too busy being pissed that once you got the chance you dipped. You probably don't even know that I went to medical school. That I put in so much effort I graduated early. That I'm a surgeon and one of the ones at the top of my class. And you can't even be proud because I'm a mistake." No one knows how to respond so you continue, "Admit it. You never would've married dad if I wasn't born, if I wasn't a mistake."

You leave the house and as much as Eddie wants to go after you he knows you better than that, better than your mom. He stands in the kitchen doorway as your mom sits at the table with her head in her hands, "She's always been difficult." He can only look at her, "No she hasn't. She's hurt and she has every right to be. She's right she was a mistake, but I wouldn't have it any other way. But what about you? She's here because she was shot twice in a mass shooting protecting others from the shooter, but you didn't know that. You didn't know your daughters a hero. You probably didn't know that she was injured by a bomb either. But I did because I was the first person she called, because I am her father. I made up everything I missed for them because of how much I love them, they both understand that I made a sacrifice to keep us financially stable. They learned love comes with sacrifices from me. You had your reasons to leave and I know that but she's right, you had no reason to leave your kids behind, you could've sent them post cards or something. I had the decency to write letters while I was on yours. I'm so proud of her, of the things she's done. She tried to take a year off of school to help me with Christopher because I had no idea what I was doing, but I figured it out. She lives in Seattle but she still finds time to call and text so Christopher doesn't think he's the reason shes gone. She's sacrificed just as much as everyone else, so if you still think she's a mistake, then what did you think our marriage was? Why did you come back thinking she wouldn't be apart of things like she's not your daughter as well?"

Athena's the one to see you walking the street at night, recognizing you from one of the pictures Christopher showed her. "You're Eddie's daughter right?" "Uh yeah, Y/N." She sits with you, "Athena, Bobby's wife. Why are you out here so late?" You don't know why but you vent to her, "My uh. My mom came back. And we got into a fight." You explain everything to her and she offers her couch to sleep on seeing that you don't want to go home just yet.

In the morning Bobby is the one to drop you off, your dad opening the door when he hears the car in his driveway. You walk passed everyone not wanting to say anything, but your dad follows you to Christopher's room where all your stuff is. "Where'd you go?" "I met Athena she let me sleep on her couch. I already ate, Bobby made breakfast." "Mija-" "Dad I just want to take a shower. I'll probably catch a bus and head somewhere. I'll be back before dinner." He can only sigh as he looks at the floor as you rummage through your bags, "She might be staying." "That's your marriage dad, not mine. You work out what you need to work out. I'm going back to work in a couple days anyways. I'll have to deal with a therapist there. Everything will be fine." He moves and pulls you into his arms sighing as you wrap your arms around his waist and press your face into his chest like you did when you were little, "When did you grow up?" "When I got boobs." You both laugh before he kisses your head and tells you he's heading to work leaving you in a quiet house with your mom in the kitchen.

You quickly shower and head out before your mom can even say anything to you, getting back just as your dad arrives. You end up leaving a note for your dad and leaving in the middle of the night with all your stuff, catching a cab to the airport and catching a early flight back to Seattle. Of course Eddie is upset but he understands that you and your mom will just continue to bump heads and if you think it's what's best for yourself, who is he to argue, you're an adult.

Of course you text and video call all the time, sometimes catching him when he's at the fire station and he's just happy to see you're happy and healthy.

When the plane crash happens he finds it weird that he hasn't talked to you in a few days but brushes things off thinking you're just busy. The day you call, he's at the firehouse with Christopher for a family dinner, he happily answers the phone. "Hey baby! We're having dinner, do you want to talk to Christopher?" His smile quickly faulters when he hears your shaky voice, "Daddy." He quickly walks off after checking that your brother was with Buck, "What happened?" "There. There was an accident. We had a case. We. We had to fly to Idaho. The uh. The plane. The engines were faulty and the plane crashed. My. My right side was, uh. They have to do surgery to repair my right side from my ribs to my knee."

Eddie can feel tears threaten to fall just listening to how scared you are but you continue talking, "They did enough to fix everything but they're sending me to LA for the rest of the cosmetic surgeries and physical therapy while they work out everything with HR. I'm already at the airport with some medical staff, were getting on the plane." Your dad runs a hand down his face as he tries to stay calm, "Uh okay. Call me when you get here. I'll meet you at the airport in a few hours."

Your mom is the one to find your dad outside, "What's going on? Christopher's waiting for you to play the game with him and Buck." "I'm uh I'm going to the airport. Tell him to start the game and I'll play tomorrow." "What happened?" "Y/N was in a plane crash they're flying her here." "I'll go with you." "No. Just stay with Christopher. We don't. We don't need a recap of what happened last time. Not while she's like this. And I need to be alone. Before I see her, with her injuries."

Your dad waits for hours at the airport, the staff tell him where the airplane will land and offer to take him out when the plane lands so he can stay with you. You're out cold when he gets to you, "She started freaking out before the plane took off, which was understandable we sedated her to keep her under for the plane ride, she should be waking up soon."

Your dad sits by your side as you sleep. He counts and recounts all the IVs connected to you, quickly standing when he hears Christopher, "Dad what happened to Y/N?" He looks at your mom and the rest of the firehouse behind them, "What are you guys doing here?" Buck answers, "You left without saying bye. We figured you needed some support, that she needed some support after we heard what happened. She's family too." While everyone is distracted Christopher makes his way to the spot your dad was sitting in and grabs your hand. You're laying on your left side due to your injuries and Christopher can only wonder what happened to you. After a few minutes you open your eyes squeezing the small boys hand in yours, "You're awake Y/N/N." "Hi Christopher."

At the sound of your voice your dad is immediately at your side, "How are you feeling?" Your sarcastic side comes out, letting your dad know you're okay for now, "Like I fell out of a plane."

Of course everyone quickly learns how bad doctors are as patients, "The stitches are wrong." "They should've done this, it's faster." Buck easily jokes with you, "The doctors are probably ready to discharge you and your whining already." "They wouldn't be if they knew how to do their jobs right."

After you get discharged your dad takes you home. Everyone can see you're out of it, so someone is always with you, even your mom, but the conversations stay short but trying for your dad and brother. One day Athena offers to take you out to lunch. "How've you been feeling?" "I don't know." "Your dad's worried about you. Everyone is. You're putting on a brave face." You blink away tears, something that doesn't go unnoticed by Athena, "What's wrong?" You look around thankful you got a corner table and it was a slow day for the restaurant. You take a deep breath before looking at Athena, "I haven't told my dad yet, but a few days before the accident I found out I was pregnant. I'm not anymore... Obviously."

Athena sits with you, talking about the news that is no longer news for anyone, "Are you going to tell your dad?" "I don't know. I think. I think I'm still trying to process everything. The baby. A miscarriage. The crash. The fact that I was only a few seats away from getting crushed to death." Athena nods, "Do you know what's happening with everyone else that was on the plane?" "Uh yeah. The hospital is taking fault for using that airline service with known cases of faulty engines, were basically sueing the hospital for damages up to 15 million each. It'd shut down the hospital, but we all plan on purchasing it." "So you're going to own a hospital." "Part of it along with the others that were on the plane. So I'm not actually pocketing anything right now, but over time."

After a few more days you tell your dad about the miscarriage as you both sit on the porch, "Did you tell the dad?" "No. Uh we were never in a relationship. At least I don't think we were. It only happened once and we were both pretty drunk."

After another month you go back to work to finish off your residency. You apply for fellowships, but know which one you're going to accept. You never tell your dad, opting on surprising him randomly. You show up at the firehouse, your dad running over as soon as Hen points you out, "What are you doing here?" You smile, "I decided which fellowship I'm taking." It takes a second for it to click in his head, "The one here?" You don't get the chance to respond before your dad's picking you up in a bear hug. "Wait until Christopher finds out."

You jump into working, even though you live in your own house now your dad and brother are both excited to have you close again. After a few years, and after your mom's death, things fall into a normalcy. You get invited to any family dinners Bobby and Athena throw and you always find time to spend with your dad and brother.

You manage to become chief of trauma, you still have your board seat in Seattle and occasionally fly out sometimes taking Christopher and your dad for a getaway.

The first time anyone in the firehouse actually sees you in your natural habitat is when they have to bring in a druggie with a gsw. Athena is also there since the patient is the one who had the gun. Buck was grazed by a bullet so the firehouse was still in the ER while he got patched up, as Athena asks you about the patient. "I wouldn't try questioning him yet. He's still whining like a baby." "Can't you give him something for that?" "If I give him morphine I'd have to pump his stomach. And considering he knows the exact name of the morphine I'd have to use. I'm deciding against that. It's one bullet that was at the surface and has been removed. He can suck it up, I'm not gonna be the one to aide in his addiction."

All the beds are in the open with curtains as dividers so everyone can hear the man complaining and pulling against his restraints. The firehouse can hear everything go down when you declare he's ready to leave. "You gotta give me something for the pain." You simply look at him before shaking your head, "I really don't." "You bitch." You push the man back down on the bed making him since since his wound is on his shoulder, "You're the bitch in this situation. The pain you're feeling is from withdrawal from all the drugs in your system you idiot. You want something for the pain fine but that comes with your stomach getting pumped. Do you really want that considering you're over here bitching about a small bullet wound?" The man looks at you before seething, "You don't know the pain I'm in!" "Try me. Your bullet was at the surface and has been removed, the area was numbed with cream so you didn't even feel it. I've been shot twice in a mass shooting both bullets imbedded in muscle. I survived a bomb incident, a plane crash, and a miscarriage while stranded during that plane crash. So tell me I've never felt worse." When the man doesn't say anything you look at Athena, "Get him out of here."

Your dad looks at the spot you were standing, he's never heard the things you've been through ever leave your mouth like that. Bobby sets his hand on his shoulder, "She's tough Eddie. She's fine."

When a natural disaster occurs the hospital sends out surgeons to aid first responders for the people who wouldn't make it to the hospital otherwise, you're one of the few that get sent out due to your trauma certification being more than qualified. The firehouse is lightweight surprised to see you in the field working the tent. "You got sent out?" "You do realize I worked in a trauma one center right? My first year we had a ferry crash." Everyone is amazed with how fast and calmly you work, half of the patients you get wouldn't of survived even getting on an ambulance otherwise.

There is one patient who's stuck under a piece of cement inside a building but is in critical condition. Unfortunately you're the only one small enough to fit through the gap to get to him. "No! She's not going in there!" You can only look at your dad, "We have no choice. We can save him." Reluctantly your dad lets you go knowing you'd go anyways and he doesn't technically have a say in what you can and can't do. They give you your dad's jacket and helmet as a precaution before you slowly slip through the hole. You yell out when you reach the patient allowing the firehouse to continue trying to get the guy out.

You manage to move the patient under a stable piece of metal before suddenly yelling out making everyone stop, "What's going on?" "It's starting to collapse!" Before anyone can respond the building shifts closing the hole they were making. You dad starts freaking out, "We have to get her out of there!" "And we will. Eddie calm down or sit out."

When they finally get to where you and the patient are they can see the patient is stabilized and sort of groggy but they find your body a few feet away. Due to you having your dad's protective gear he wasn't allowed to enter the building but Buck is at your side checking on you, "I got a pulse! She has a leg stuck under some concrete. She probably knocked out after she got stuck." Bobby nods, "Let's get them out of here!"

Your dad watches as Chimney and Hen bring out the man, "Where's Y/N?" Chimney sets the man up on a gurney as Hen talks to your dad, "She moved the man out of the way. She has a pulse but her leg was caught under some concrete." Just as she finishes Buck and Bobby leave the building with you in Bucks arms. Eddie is instantly taking you into his arms as he slowly sets you down on the ground, "Baby wake up." You let out a groan before slowly opening your eyes, "Why are you so loud?" Everyone chuckles, even your dad, at your ability to bounce back so fast even with a broken leg.

Everyone helps you out while your leg heals, Christopher decided to spend the night with you one night and before your dad left he sat with you on the porch. He looks at the cast that everyone has signed and Christopher has drawn multiple pictures on before throwing his arm around your shoulders and pulling you into his chest, "When did you grow up?" "The day you told me go to college to make you proud. Did I?" "You did... You're still not dating until you're 45." You can't help but laugh and shake your head as you both watch the street lights come on and the stars come out. "Aren't you the one that had a kid at 16? The irony." "You're my baby I can be as ironic as I want."

[massivelycreepypineapple]

The Accident

Request:  I am here again!! I am so glad your requests are open😍 can I request on Jensen and daughter reader story? Jensen is a doc and reader is in accident. Jensen is her doc after she brought in hospital so no emergency no needed, dislocated shoulder maybe? Ooh ooh Needle phobia also? I wanted to add some more stuff but I am so excited that your req are open that I forgot everything 😂 please write if you can think of some more. Angst, fluffy stuff please? Gracias❤️

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x Daughter!Reader

A/N: I hope this is alright. :)

Feedback is welcome!

Word Count: 2059

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You should’ve known that nothing gets past your dad, especially when you show up at his work place with a dislocated shoulder along with a small cut on your side to boot. It wasn’t anything serious really and not to mention it was such a ludicrously gained injury too, but leave it to the hospital staff to page your dad who was head of Orthopaedic surgery. 

“Where is she?! Where’s Y/N?!” Your dad’s voice could be heard. The nurse looking after you in one of the rooms turned around just in time to see Jensen storming in. 

“Hi Daddy” You grinned at him. You were a little loopy from the painkillers.

“Y/N! What happened, baby?” He looked so worried and out of breathe and he was still in his scrubs. It would seem he ran here after his surgery. He grabbed the clipboard with your details on it and began going through it.

“Nothing big. Just my bone fell out of place when I fell off my cycle. Stupid motorbike dude crashed into me.” 

“What?! Y/N!”

“Dad it’s fine. It was an accident. He lost control.” His anger sobered you up a little and you tried to calm him down.

“Lost control?! It could’ve been worse!” He was angry, his baby girl got into an accident and he didn’t know how to process it.

“But it’s not. It’ll be fine. Besides it happened close to the hospital. So some people helped me come here.” You made the mistake of shrugging at him and winced immediately. Luckily the painkillers were doing their job. 

“Don’t move, Ms. Ackles. You could make it worse.” The nurse said. She was a sweet thing who was very gentle with you.

He sighed. He didn’t want to argue about it right now. So instead he made his way to you to check on your shoulder. He gently grabbed your arm to check how bad the damage was, making you gasp in pain and tear up. 

“It’s going to be okay. We’ll just pop it back in no time.” He said, calming down to not spook you out even more.

“Daddy, it hurts.” You said wincing from the throbbing pain on your shoulder and sides.

“I know, honey. Just try to relax okay?” He said, grabbing everything needed for after fixing your shoulder. 

He came back beside you and motioned for the nurse to hold you. You looked at them wide eyed, the fear sobering you up a little. The nurse had a solid grip on your uninjured shoulder while Jensen grabbed your other arm, getting ready.

“Okay, on count of three, we’ll pop it back in.” He said looking into your tear filled eyes. 

You didn’t dare move. You sat there stiff as a board. 

“Sweetheart, you need to relax.” He whispered worriedly. 

“I can’t. It hurts a lot and I’m feeling cold. My left side hurts. I can’t relax.” You said sniffling. 

“Okay, look at me baby girl.” Jensen said standing in front of you. 

You looked into his eyes and a tiny sense of calm washed over you. Your dad always had a way about him that made you feel so safe. 

“Tell me about your day.” He smiled at you. 

“I-I didn’t do much actually. I just spent it watching a movie in my room before this.”

“Yeah? Which one?” 

“Ice age.”

Jensen laughed at that. “You always loved that one. You used to recite the dialogues by heart as a kid.” 

“Hey, it’s a really awesome movie.” You smiled a little.

“I agree.” He was rubbing your arm, trying to warm you up a little. He felt you relaxing as you talked more about the movie and while you were distracted, he motioned for the nurse to hold you once more. 

He watched your eyes widen when you realised what was happening. “Hey c’mon. Tell me more, don’t stop.” 

“Daddy-”

“I really like the tiger. He’s hilarious.” 

“Y-yeah. He’s like you when you’re grumpy.” You said smiling very little.

“Hey now. I always earn my grumpiness.” He said smirking at you. 

And as soon as you relaxed some more, Jensen popped the bone back into place making you gasp out in pain and gripping his scrubs tightly.

“Shh, it’s over. It’s over. That wasn’t so bad.” He kissed your forehead and wiped away the tears streaming down your cheeks. 

“It was horrible! You didn’t warn me!” You snapped at him, still reeling from the pain. 

He put your arm and shoulder in a tight sling and then hugged you tightly to him, placing kisses on your head and summering apologies for not warning you.

“I don’t like you right now.” You mumbled into his chest. 

“Aw, man I’ll have to make up for this then” He said pulling back and booping your nose like he always did when you were a child. “Now lie back. Let’s take a look at your bruise.”

You did as he asked and lifted up your top. Jensen pulled back the bandaid stopping the blood to take a look at the gash. He noticed the small bruises around the wound going up to your ribs and he sucked in a breath. He pressed around the area to see how bad the damage was, making you flinch. 

“Luckily you don’t need stitches. And no ribs broken.” He mumbled mostly to himself.

You felt him, clean the cut once more before dressing it with a fresh bandaid. You noticed the frown on his face and your heart hurt for worrying your dad like that. 

“I’m sorry.” You whispered. 

Jensen’s eyes snapped back to yours immediately, “What for?”

“I got hurt and worried you.” You said. “You told me not to cycle during peak hours and I still went.”

“We’ll talk about it later.” He gave you a tight smile. You knew he was still upset with you for not listening to him and you felt really guilty. You were his only child and you were all he had after your mum died and it made him over protective of you sometimes.

Meanwhile, the nurse came over to you with a shot. The second you noticed it your eyes went wide. 

“Daddy, no please.” You whimpered. You hated needles. You were so terrified of them and the very thought of something sharp sticking into your body filled you with so much anxiety. 

“Sweetheart, this will prevent infections.”

“Please no I’ll take my chances. Get that thing away from me!” You were doing your best to not cry again. You already shed tears over your shoulder and you didn’t want to cry again over a stupid needle. 

“Y/N, I know you hate them, but it’ll be over before you know it.” He tried to sooth you.

“NO!” You yelled, trying to get up. But in a hurry you moved your injured shoulder making you cry out in pain. 

“Okay, okay. No shots. Just take a breath baby.” Jensen was doing everything to keep you still and not aggravate your shoulder further. He could see you were going into a panic attack and he was freaking out internally. There were only a few times he had seen you get this way and it had killed him. 

He coached you through the breathing and you had calmed down a little. The nurse had moved away to give you two some space which you were grateful for. Once you’d calmed down Jensen asked the nurse to place the shot on the table.

“I’ll take it from here. Thank you.” He smiled at her before she left. 

“Please daddy.” Your lips were trembling and the sight of you broke his heart. You looked like a little kid all over again and it reminded him of the first time you had to get a shot for getting hurt. You had created a big fuss and he had to carry you and walk around the hospital till you calmed down. 

“Be a good girl for me, baby? I promise this is the last one. After I’ll give some more painkillers, the sleepy kind so you can take a nap in my office till I’m done. Does that sound good, baby?” He said wiping away a tear. 

You shook your head no making him chuckle. But he knew he had your attention so he went ahead and cleaned your arm with a cotton ball and then reached for the shot. Your hands were shaking at this point and you wanted to run away so bad. Jensen rubbed circled on your arm, trying to show you that he was right there and he’s be as gentle as possible. 

You closed your eyes tight as he brought the needle close to your skin. “You’re so brave baby girl. I’m so proud of you.” He whispered as he gently sunk the needle in. 

“I hate this. I hate this so much.” You kept repeating it with your eyes still closed. 

“There all done. It’s all over.” He smiled at you, rubbing the area with cotton once more. He got up and kissed your forehead once more before disposing the injection. He then brought over the painkillers for you to swallow. 

“Let’s go to my office. Do you want me to get you a wheelchair?” 

“No, I can walk.” You mumbled trying to sit up.

Jensen came over and helped you up and gently led you to his office where you promptly got comfortable on his sofa till it was time to go home. 

_______________

The two of you made it home after a few hours and you went straight to bed. But some time later you made your way back to the kitchen to get a midnight snack. Your shoulder was hurting and the bruises were painful too and you couldn’t sleep. 

You reached into the cupboard for some cereal and placed it on the counter. Everything was hard to do with one hand and adding the lack of sleep, you were frustrated beyond belief. You brought over a bowl and tried to open the packet inside the box with one hand. You yanked the thing really hard using your mouth for leverage and the damn thing split open, spilling the contents everywhere. 

“Dammit!” You cursed. 

You heard footsteps coming into the kitchen and you turned around to find you dad standing there looking amused. 

“Fancy seeing you here. Need help?” He asked coming over to you. 

You sighed at him. “I can’t do anything.” 

“It’s only for a few weeks. You’ll get better.” He said pouring the cereal into a bowl and taking some for himself. 

There was silence between the two of you while you ate. 

“Couldn’t sleep?” Jensen broke the silence. 

You shook your head, a frown still marred your face. 

“Same. Night shifts really mess with my sleep schedule.” He tried making conversation. 

There was silence again before you broke it. 

“Are you still mad at me?” You whispered looking into your now empty bowl. 

Jensen stopped the spoon midway, looking at you, and then placed it back in the bowl before talking. 

“No, honey. I was upset back in the hospital but not anymore. You just really scared me. You’re all I have left, Y/N. You’re my heart. If anything happened to you I don’t know what I would do. It’s why I expect you to listen to me. And as a dad it feels so unfair that the other guy didn’t get hurt while my baby did.”

“I’m sorry, daddy.” You said.

“It’s quite alright, baby. I’m just glad it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.” 

“Yeah…” 

“How bout we watch something on the telly for a while since we both can’t sleep?” 

“Yeah. Sounds good.” You smiled at him. 

He took your empty bowls to the sink as you went to the couch in the living room. He placed a lot of pillows against the arm rest and helped you settle into them comfortably so your shoulder wouldn’t hurt. He then got comfortable next to you, placing your legs over his leg. He turned on the telly and flipped to some random channel. Few mins into the show, you were fast asleep feeling much better with your dad next to you. 

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Tags below

@hobby27 @akshi8278 @castiellss @miss-nerd95

[jaysworlds]

T4TMA Day Three - AU

Gerry has a lot of tattoos, he knows that. He gets looks from old women on the tube if he’s wearing short sleeves and looks from children in the street, and he’s running out of empty space on his torso, but he likes tattoos. Every time he spends a little more of his late mother’s money on a new design it feels like a fuck you to her, and he revels in it.

(So, he may have one or two issues still to work out. He’s fine!)

Unfortunately his last artist (a rather difficult old woman named Gertrude, who gave the impression of someone who would crochet doilies, not give tattoos) just moved to the states, and now he has to find a new one, and he doesn’t like change. Or people.

It’s proving kind of difficult. Most of the artists just aren’t what he’s looking for, and maybe he’s picky but they will be sticking needles in his body, so he feels like he’s allowed.

A couple of months after his artist moved he walks past a new tattoo shop on his commute home from work. He knows it’s new, because he’s been to pretty much every shop in London by now and he’s never even heard of this one.

It’s called The Archive, and he doesn’t have time to stop by now, but when he gets home he pulls it up on the internet.

The website looks like a myspace page from 2002, but the examples look pretty good, and it’s close enough that he might as well check it out.

The site doesn’t say whether you have to make an appointment or not, and it’s new enough that Gerry guesses probably not.

He has time at the weekend, so he makes a note to drop in and then pushes it to the back of his mind and gets on with his life.

He’s forgotten about it until his phone dings with the reminder and he realises that he might as well go now. If it doesn’t work out it’s just another thing to cross off the list.

The shop doesn’t look like much from the outside, but there are some designs stuck up in the windows that weren’t there before, and the sign says open, so he pushes the door open and goes inside.

The person behind the counter is hot. Like off the wall hot. Button up shirt rolled up to the elbows and hair that somehow manages to look soft hot, and Gerry nearly turns around and walks right back out, because he’s definitely going to make a fool of himself if he stays, but the person has already noticed him.

“Hello,” they say, standing up a little straighter. They’ve got vines twisting up their forearms. “What can I do for you?”

“Hey,” Gerry says, and takes a few cautious steps further into the shop. “This is a new place, right?”

“Yes,” the person says. “We’ve, uh, just opened. Already had a few complaints from nearby old women.”

Gerry huffs a laugh. “I’m not surprised.”

The person nods. “Yes, it’s … it’s fine. Sasha usually deals with it; she’s very good at speaking to old ladies.”

“Sasha?” The name is familiar, and Gerry wonders vaguely if it’s the same Sasha who used to work for Gertrude. He kind of hopes so, because it would be nice to have a familiar face around. They hadn’t exactly been friends, and he hadn’t yet figured out where she’d gone when the old shop had closed down.

“Yes,” the person says. “She’s … one of the other employees. I’m Jon, by the way. My pronouns are he and they, and if you have a problem with that this isn’t the place for you.”

It sounds almost rehearsed, like he’s anticipating people who do have a problem, and Gerry kind of gets it.

“Great,” he says, perhaps a little too eagerly. He hasn’t met a trans artist before, but he has met several who have been weird about his top surgery scars, and honestly it’s a relief to know this place is trans-friendly. “I mean … that’s nice. To know. I…” He is making a real hash of this. It’s Jon’s fault for being so goddamn hot. “I’m trans too,” he manages, running a hand through his hair.

“Ah,” Jon says, and they’re smiling a little. “In that case, what can I do for you?”

Gerry shrugs. “Are you free now?”

Jon nods. “Yes. As long as what you’re hoping for won’t take longer than a few hours.”

“I don’t really have anything in mind,” Gerry admits. “Maybe you could come up with something for me?”

“Alright,” Jon says. “You can come into the back with me. I’ll get one of the others to watch the desk.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Tim!” Jon calls, and a moment later a tall man in a frankly hideous shirt pokes his head out of the door behind the counter.

“Yes, boss?”

“Could you watch the desk for me.”

“Sure thing. Who’s this?”

“A customer,” Jon says, giving Tim a withering look.

“I’m Gerry,” Gerry says, walking over to the door Jon is beckoning him towards.

“Right,” Tim says, waggling his eyebrows. “Enjoy yourselves.”

Jon glares at him again and ushers Gerry through the door.

“I’m so sorry,” he says, sighing deeply. “Tim can be … a bit much sometimes.”

“He seems great,” Gerry says, smiling a little. “Horrible sense of fashion, though.”

“I’ll tell him you said that,” Jon says, lips twitching upwards. “He won’t believe any of us.”

“You do that,” Gerry says.

Jon nods quickly. “Anyway. Do you want to sit down?”

“I can do,” he says, wandering over to sit on the bed. “You wanna see the stuff I’ve got already?”

“That would probably be best,” Jon says, stepping a little closer.

Gerry shrugs his jacket off and pulls his shirt over his head, showing off the patterns over his chest and arms.

“Wow,” Jon says, and he sounds honestly impressed. “I hate to think how much all that cost you.”

Gerry laughs, leaning back on the bed. “A lot,” he says carelessly. “My mother’s money, though. I imagine she’s rolling in her grave.”

“Ah,” Jon says. “My condolences, I suppose, though you don’t sound as though you miss her.”

“I don’t. I was thinking here, for the tattoo?”

Jon wisely doesn’t ask any further questions about his mother, just comes over to see the patch of skin he’s referring to, over his left ribs. They ghost their fingers very gently over his skin, and he can’t help but shiver a little.

“Alright,” they say, finally. “That seems reasonable. I doubt I need to warn you that it will hurt?”

“Nope,” Gerry says. “I don’t think I’m capable of feeling pain anymore.”

Jon laughs quickly. “Great,” he says. “I’m sure I can come up with something for you.”

He moves away from Gerry (to his disappointment, though he’d never admit it) and over to a desk, getting a pencil and a sheet of paper and scribbling away for a while.

Gerry is content to sit quietly and look around the room. It’s almost empty, just some basic equipment and one or two designs. He supposes that the shop hasn’t been open long enough to collect stuff.

“How many customers have you had?” he asks, after a while, and Jon looks up.

“Two, including you.”

“Huh,” Gerry says thoughtfully. “How long have you been open?”

“Two weeks.”

“Not bad.”

Jon smiles. “No, it’s not. Would you like to see what I’m working on?”

“Alright,” Gerry says, and gets up, walking over to Jon’s desk.

“Here,” they say, offering him the paper they’ve been working on. “I thought it went well with your whole … aesthetic.”

Gerry takes it to look over, and they’re right, it does fit his aesthetic. A book, flames curling over the pages. His mother, with her immaculate libraries, would hate it.

“It’s perfect,” he says, and Jon smiles.

“Thank you.”

“You can do it now?”

Jon nods, waving him back towards the bed. “Yes.”

“Awesome,” Gerry says, and goes to sit down, pleased with himself. This was definitely worth it, and he thinks he’s going to be coming back.

Jon takes a moment to pull gloves on and gather up his equipment. He’s humming to himself, Gerry thinks, and it’s … kind of adorable. Not that he would actually say that; Jon strikes him as the kind of person who might take it as an insult, and that’s the last thing he wants.

“Alright,” Jon says, finally, and comes back over. “Could you lie down for me?”

Gerry complies, biting back the joke that immediately springs to his lips. He doesn’t know anything about them, really, and he doesn’t want to get kicked out for making an off-colour joke.

He’s more than used to getting tattoos by now, and honestly it’s pretty relaxing. Especially since Jon’s hands are stroking gently across his ribs, and every time he hisses involuntarily they say shh, shh, and he really likes that.

It takes just over an hour and half for the tattoo to be finished, and it’s rather sensitive by the end, but Gerry expected that. He has tattoos on all his joints, and those hurt way worse than down his ribs.

“Right,” Jon says, finally. “I’m finished.”

Gerry opens one eye and looks up at him, pulling his gloves off. “Great.”

“You were very good to work on.”

Gerry raises an eyebrow. “Is that a compliment?”

“Yes,” Jon says, their cheeks going a little red. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Gerry says, sitting up and waving a hand. “It was nice to have you working on me.”

“Will you be coming back?”

Gerry grins. “You want to see me again?”

The colour in Jon’s cheeks gets a little darker. “I … well … I suppose so, yes.”

“You could have just asked me out.”

Jon exhales, a little shakily, and Gerry prays he hasn’t misstepped. It will really suck if he scares him away by being too forward.

“I…” Jon stutters, seemingly trying to compose themself. “I didn’t want to assume anything.”

“You can assume if you want,” Gerry says, smiling a little. “So, are you going to ask me out?”

“If … you would like that. Then yes.”

“I would like that,” Gerry says. “Do you want my number?”

Jon nods quickly, pulling his phone out of his pocket and offering it to Gerry. Gerry types saves himself as cute goth <3 and hands it back. If Jon wants to change it they can, and he thinks it’s funny.

“Right,” Jon says, and he’s smiling as he puts his phone away again. “Thank you. I … will message you.”

“Cheers,” Gerry says. “I look forward to it.”

He gets up and stretches, wincing as it pulls on his sensitive skin.

“Hold on,” Jon says, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Let me cover that for you.”

“Alright,” Gerry says, pleased, and stays still as they care for the very fresh tattoo with careful hands. He’s definitely not going to complain.

“Right,” they say, once they’re finished. “That’s all, then. I’ll message you.”

“Thank you,” Gerry says, leaning in to kiss them on the cheek, almost without thinking about it. He pulls away very quickly, realising he hadn’t exactly asked if he’s allowed to do that. “Shit, I’m sorry. Is that okay?”

“It’s okay,” Jon says, looking almost as though he’s trying to hide behind the waves of his hair. “I don’t … it’s okay. Thank you.”

Gerry smiles, relieved, and does it again. “Alright. Good.”

He really does have to leave now, but he really doesn’t mind. Got a new tattoo, and gave the very cute artist his number.

Not bad going. Maybe he’ll even forgive Gertrude for moving away.

[3raaaachachacha]

8:57 pm

Kim Dongyoung x female reader / 579 words / angst / fluff

Warnings: hospital settings, mentions of blood & injuries

~ medical au ~

⊱ ──────────────────────── ⊰

"What have we got here?” Dongyoung exclaimed, pulling the curtains closed behind him as he put on his gloves to use his slit lamp to check your pupils for any signs of consciousness.

"A female in her early to mid-twenties with multiple fractures to both her arms and right knee as well as her two fractured ribs. Heart rate and blood pressure are extremely low, so we gave her a shot and have her on oxygen," The male paramedic stated, reading though your medical chart, "At the scene, she was responsive and able to provide us with her name, but that was all."

"Fuck," Dongyoung cursed before grabbing some saline to clean you up to reduce the spread of any infection, "How on earth did this happen? She’s wounded pretty badly."

There was a small silence before one of them spoke up, “It was a suspected hit and run. Bystanders were at the scene when we arrived, stating that the driver ran a red light and smashed right into the poor girl."

“I don’t understand how someone could flee after doing something so terrible. She could have died. I hope whoever did this has some sense of guilt lingering over them,” He exclaimed, furious at what he just heard, "Help me switch tables. She needs to be transported to the emergency room for surgery," Dongyoung stated, but as he got a glance at your face, he stopped in his tracks.

"Doctor?" One of the nurses asked confused, "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

“You said she told you her name. What was it?” He questioned as the nurse glanced at her file before telling him. He let the name process in his head before he spoke up again, "I know her," Dongyoung sighed.

"If this is too personal for you, I suggest we get someone else and-” He cut the nurse off quickly.

“No,” He firmly stated, “I’ve got this. Please order a CT along with blood work and get Doctor Lee to come in and help me examine her fractures. I’ll clean her up first, then we can prep her for surgery.”

Everyone looked at him and nodded before getting back to work and leaving Dongyoung with you, “Hey Y/N,” He whispered softly, placing his warm hands against your cold skin as he watched the way your eyelids slightly fluttered open, “I don’t know if you remember me, but it’s Dongyoung from med school. I’m going to help you okay?”

“Dongyoung?” You quietly exclaimed, wanting to say more as you tried to remove the oxygen mask, only for him to stop you.

“I'm glad you remember me, but I need you to keep the mask on," He said, placing a hand on top of yours while readjusting the mask, "Can you do that for me?"  

You nodded as best you could before smiling at Dongyoung, "Doctor Lee and I are going to prep you for surgery shortly once we clean you up," He said before explaining everything that he was going to do just so you were aware and could give consent.

You didn't say much, instead, you laid there listening to everything he said, while admiring the way he turned out as a doctor. You always knew one day he'd do great things.

"Alright Y/N, it's time. I'll see you after the surgery and we'll make sure we have time to catch up." He exclaimed with a grin, "You're a fighter. I'll see you on the other side."

⊱ ──────────────────────── ⊰

- Admin 🌶️

[sentient-stove]

Cartilage

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Characters: Virgil, Patton, Remy, Roman, Logan, Emile

Relationships: Roman/Remy/Emile, Familial Analogical, Familial Princxiety

Additional tags: hospitals, human au, autistic virgil, therapist emile, car accidents.

TW: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH

Summary: Roman finds a teen during a traumatic event.  He adopts him basically.

Word Count: 2914

Notes: I didn’t kill virgil this time. (I have track record of doing that)

AO3

“Prince, we need a nurse in trauma room one, go!”

Roman looked up and nodded, speed walking to the trauma room, running into an anesthesiologist, who was flipping through a tablet.

“Do you know who’s in there?”

“No, but there was a bad wreck on I-37, father and son are coming in, it should be one of them.”  She turned.  

Roman nodded and they broke apart, with her heading to the other trauma room and Roman going to wash and put on the sterilized gear.  He was getting inside the room right as two paramedics came wheeling in a teen on a stretcher.

“Fractured ribs and possible collapsed lung, he’ll need surgery.”  One said and Roman nodded, helping transfer him to the table.

The room was dead silent as nurses and doctors worked, Roman quietly helping as the lung was reinflated and they stitched up a few smaller cuts on his face and chest.

When it was all over, Roman helped transfer him into a room.

“What’s his name?”

“Virgil Alt, fourteen.”  The other nurse said as he wrote it down and placed the clipboard in it’s holder at the edge of the bed.  “His father died while in surgery.”

Roman looked at the small body, swamped by machines and bandages.   “Poor thing.”

“CPS will probably be here once he wakes up…”  The nurse trailed off.  

…

Two hours earlier

“Dad?”

“Yes Virgil?” “Isn’t it kinda dangerous to be driving in the snow?  I mean, we did have a snow day because of it.”  Virgil looked up from his seat on the passenger side.

Logan sighed.  “We’ve talked over this before.  The roads have been cleared now, and I wouldn’t be taking us anywhere if I wasn’t absolutely certain that we would be in danger.”

Virgil nodded and turned the radio on.  “Sorry for being nervous.”

“It’s perfectly fine to show concern.  It is late at night and there has been an increase in car accidents.”

Virgil hummed and pulled a rubix cube from his hoodie, relaxing as Logan snuck a glance at his son.

“I love you Virgil.”

“I know Dad, you get so sappy at the most random times.”  Virgil didn’t look up at his cube and Logan smiled before returning his gaze to the road.

Sure, it was dark and late, but they would be fine.

Unfortunately the semi that hit the patch of black ice would prove otherwise.

...

Roman got home around midnight, quietly creeping to the bedroom that he shared with his husbands, being careful as he got changed out of his scrubs and climbed into bed to join Remy and Emile.

Both were already asleep, thankfully, Roman hated it when they waited up for him and so he threw an arm over Remy and pulled the comforter back over him as his breathing settled.

Poor kid.  Roman wished that he could get out the thought, he’d seen plenty of people die during his time as a nurse, but this was his first time with a child losing his family.

Hopefully he had another relative that he would wake up to.

…

Virgil woke up in extreme pain, head feeling fuzzy as he attempted to sit up, only to have a hand at his shoulder, gently pushing him back.

“Hey kiddo.  You had a bit of a rough night, so you need to lay back, okay?”

Virgil nodded.  “Where am I?”  He turned his head to see a cheery looking man with curly hair writing something down.

“Hospital.  You got into a bad wreck last night.  We had to fix your lungs and give you some stitches.”

Virgil could vaguely remember last night and he blinked slowly.  “Where’s my dad?”

The man pursed his lips.  “I’m not sure.  Probably in a separate recovery room.  I’ll have to ask around.”

Virgil nodded and settled back.  “Everything hurts.”

“We’ll get you some medicine, okay?”

“Thank you.”

“Just doing my job kiddo.  You’ll be back to normal in no time.”  The man smiled softly.  “I’m Patton.”

“Thank you Patton.”

…

Roman danced around the kitchen, Remy sneaking from his spot on the counter and Emile already sitting at their table, the only one completely ready for the day as he took a drink of his tea.

“I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream!”  Roman sang as he approached Remy and tapped him on the nose.

“Ew babes, you know I hate the mushy stuff.”

“That’s not what you said this morning when you were trying to convince Emile to not get out of bed.”  Roman teased as he turned back to the stove and flipped the French Toast that he was making.

“It was cold!”  Remy complained and Roman gave an easy laugh.

“Sure love.”

Remy stuck out his tongue at him, before moodily picking up his coffee and taking a sip.

“Ro, what shift do you have today?”  Emile called.

“Noon to five.”  Roman put the French Toast on a plate and handed it to Remy, dipping the next two slices of bread into the egg mixture he had.

“I get off at six, should we do a date night tonight?”  Emile looked at the pair and Remy nodded.

“I just have to email a few people and then I’m done with work, so I can do the planning if you guys are okay with that.”

Roman flipped the toast again.  “Sounds great.”

…

Patton sighed quietly once Virgil fell back asleep.   He didn’t want to be the one to break it to the teen that he was alone in the world now.  

Lying to him was wrong, but he didn’t know what else to do.  Patton checked the vitals again before leaving the room, nearly running into a fellow nurse, Roman.

“Hey Popstar!”  Roman smiled at him as he sidestepped and Patton gave him a weak grin back.

“Hey Ro.”

“Is the kid okay?”

“For now, we still haven’t broken the news to him though… I don’t want to be the one to do it.”

Patton sniffed a bit and Roman held out his arms, welcoming the other into his embrace.  “It’ll be alright, he has family to take care of him.”

Patton shook his head.  “No he doesn’t.  It’s just him and his dad.”

Roman exhaled slowly.  “Oh.”

…

Virgil decided that he didn’t like the hospital.  No one was telling him where his dad was, most people just gave him sad looks and said that they didn’t know where he was.

So he took it into his own hands after the nurse left him, saying that she’d be back if he needed anything.

He kicked away the tight sheets and winced as the pain in his ribs flared as he moved to stand.  Virgil didn’t let that deter him though as he pulled the IV along with him, being careful as he detached everything else like how he’d seen the nurse do when she let him have a bathroom break.  Nothing went off, which was good, and Virgil walked unsteadily to the door of his hospital room and pushed it open, the IV rolling next to him.

The hallway was surprisingly empty as the teen wandered down in, looking through the windows of every room as he looked for his father.

“Dad?” Nothing.  Virgil took a deep breath as he turned down another hall, bare feet quiet on the cool floor.  

He was passing another door when a nurse came out, looking startled.  “Hey, what are you doing up little guy?”

Virgil tilted his head to the side.  “Looking for my dad, his name’s Logan Alt and people keep telling me he’s here but not where.”

The nurse’s face crumpled.  “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

…

Roman was finishing up with a patient when a scream rocked the floor that he was on, a horrible, heart wrenching thing that clearly communicated that whoever was the source was in pain.

He rushed out into the hall, looking for the source and seeing that one of his coworkers was trying to hold down a thrashing child as the kid screamed.

Not a child.

Virgil.

He must have found out about his father.  Roman hurried over to the other nurse and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“If you keep trying to hold him down, he could collapse a lung again.”

Virgil screamed again as the nurse let go and he curled up into a ball, still sobbing as the screaming died down.  Roman reached out a tentative hand to rest on Virgil’s collarbone.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!”   Virgil yelled and Roman recoiled, an apology on his lips as he backtracked in his mind.

Virgil shuddered and let out another sob as a few more nurses entered the hall, seeing the three people on the ground.  Patton was among them and Roman watched as the teen’s eyes locked onto the nurse.

“You lied to me!  You said he was okay!”  Virgil struggled to sit up as he pointed.  “You said “You’ll be back to normal.”  and my dad’s dead now!”

Roman could feel the tension as if it was another person, and Patton’s eyes filled with tears.

“I’m sorry kiddo…”

“STOP!  I DON’T LIKE LIARS!!!”  Virgil screamed and then the solution to the problem practically slapped Roman in the face.

“Virgil.  Look at me.”

The teen let out a shuddering breath and turned his head to Roman, refusing eye contact.  Roman reached out his hands, keeping his palms up.

“We’re gonna count to ten, together okay?”

“I don’t want to…”

“Please?  We need to make sure that you can breathe.  I’ll start.  One.”

“Tt..two.”  Virgil stuttered out as gasping sobs ran through him.  Roman smiled softly.

“Good job.  Three.”

“Four.”

Virgil crawled a bit closer, still avoiding eye contact as he took more breaths.  “Five.”

“Six.”

Virgil placed his hands on top of Roman’s, looking at the wedding band that the man had on.  “Seven.”

“Almost there Virgil.  Eight.”

“Nine.”

“And ten.”  Roman exhaled and gently wrapped his hands around Virgil’s  “Can I help you walk back to your room, I don’t want you to get anymore hurt.”

“Okay…”

Roman helped him stand and then pulled the IV out of his arm carefully.  “Do you want me to hold your hand?”

“Yeah… Really tight though, please?”

“Of course.”  Roman tightly gripped Virgil’s hand.  “Any other touch no’s that we need to know?”

Virgil silently shook his head, and Roman noted that there were still tears streaming down his face as the nurse led him back to his room.  He helped him back into the bed and hooked him up.

“Did you get out yourself?”

“Yeah.”

Roman whistled.  “Impressive kiddo.”

“Don’t call me that.”  Virgil's voice was sharp and Roman nodded.  “It’s okay, I’m sorry.”

“Liar called me that, why did he lie to me?” Roman looked up to see that the teen was making eye contact, storm grey eyes filled with misery and hurt.

“I don’t think that Patton meant to hurt you Virgil.”

Virgil hissed and looked away again, starting to cry again.  “My dad’s not coming back…”

Roman finished with the replacement IV and reached forward to card a soothing hand through Virgil’s hair.  “I’ll make sure that you’re taken care of, promise.  I know that your dad can’t come back, but there’s a lot of people here that care about you.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.”

…

Emile and Remy both got calls from their husband that he wouldn’t be able to come home in time for the date and that he had something to discuss with them when he did.

Naturally both were concerned and waited up for Roman to return, which he did around eleven thirty, not surprised to see them both on the couch.

“Hey loves.”

“Is everything okay Ro?”  Remy asked as Roman sat down in the beanbag, instead of going to the couch.

“Not really.  Bad work stuff.”

“What happened?”  Emile said as he leaned forward and offered his husband a tissue.

“There was a bad car wreck yesterday night, father and son got plowed off of the road by a semi… Uh, the father died.”

Remy gasped and Roman sniffed, wiping at his tears.  “We were all trying to figure out how to tell him and he didn’t take it well.  I’ve never heard such a heartbreaking scream.  No relatives and he’s slightly autistic and I promised that I’d make sure he was safe. I can’t break that.”  Roman started to cry as Remy and Emile got off the couch, wrapping their husband in a hug as he sobbed.

“Hey, it’s okay.”  Remy soothed as he pressed a kiss to Roman’s hairline.  “We’ll do anything to help, okay?”

Emile nodded.  “If he needs a home, you know that we’ll give him the best one he can get.”

Roman let out a watery laugh.  “Seas and stars, I love you two so damn much.”

“I should hope so, you fucking married me.”  Remy responded.

…

Virgil hated change.

New house, new people feeding him and new smells hit him all at once when Roman finally said he could leave the hospital.

He didn’t like Patton still, but he promised not to hiss at the nurse when he came in anymore.

Some weird lady had led him out of the hospital, saying that she was part of the government and that Virgil could call her ‘mom’ if he wanted to.

He didn’t.

She had taken him to Dad’s and his house, and he had had an hour to pack all of his stuff.

Someone else would take Dad’s stuff, but Virgil had managed to take Dad’s favorite tie and his book collection with him.

Now he was sitting in the lady’s car as she chattered happily about something that he wasn’t paying attention to.

He wanted Dad.  Dad smelled like books and he let Virgil learn about stars and sailor culture, and taught him how to use rubix cubes.

But Dad wasn’t an option anymore.  The lady had told Virgil that there was gonna be a funeral on Saturday and then after that, he was going to meet his new family.

Virgil tucked his head against his chest and quietly let himself cry.

... Emile was nervous as he adjusted his tie and sweater again, looking at the door.

“Babes, con calma, they’re not going to be here for at least another ten minutes.”

It was Saturday afternoon and Roman had gotten a call that Virgil would be arriving with a social worker within the hour and so Emile had made sure that everything was as calming as it could be.

The poor kid, having to go to a funeral and then change houses all in the same day.

There was a knock and Emile surged forward, pausing before he could fling the door open.

“Ro, they’re here!”

“Okay! I’m coming down!” Emile opened the door to see the social worker, with Virgil behind her, slouched over as if he was trying to take up as little space as possible.

“Roman?”  The social worker grinned and Emile let out a nervous laugh.

“Ah no, that’s my husband.  I’m Emile.”

“My apologies.  May we come in?”

Emile turned to the side and let them in, smiling softly at Virgil, who pointedly looked away after making eye contact.

“Roman?”

“Nah, I’m Remy, Roman’s other spouse.  Take a seat on the couch, Roman will be down in a minute.”

Virgil didn’t sit and Emile sat next to Remy as Roman came downstairs, beaming at Virgil.

“Spiderling!”  

Much to the shock of the social worker, Virgil set down his back pack and walked over to Roman, holding up his arms.   The nurse picked up the fourteen year old with ease and hugged him tight.

“I missed you.”

“It’s only been five days, seven hours and thirteen minutes.”  Virgil said back as Roman put him down, although he still clung close.

The social worker cleared her throat.  “You three just need to sign a few papers and then I’ll do monthly check ups to make sure you’re fit to be parents.”

“Thank you.”

…

It wasn’t perfect.

Virgil still held a lot of trauma from what had happened and he had to go to a therapist that wasn’t Emile so that it would be more effective.

But Roman would always admit to crying the first time that Virgil called him Dad.  And even though it was mutually agreed that Logan was always going to be Virgil’s real dad and that he wouldn’t have to feel obligated to call any of his adopted parents that, somehow, over the course of the next year, Virgil warmed up to them.

There were always bad times, and they stopped celebrating Christmas, due to the time of year that the accident happened, but they always made it through.

Remy ended up teaching Virgil about latte art, which became a heavy fixation of their son’s, leading to lots of coffees with too much cinnamon when he messed up, or the most glorious cup you had ever seen depending on if it went well.

Emile and Virgil bonded over Saturday morning cartoons and sugary cereal, and he was the first one that Virgil accidentally called Mom.

Emile liked it and so it stuck.

Roman was the one who spent the most time with Virgil and as the teen grew up, he was grateful to have someone that had spent the time to find out everything he could about Logan, making sure that his Dad wasn’t ever forgotten.  Roman never broke his promise.

He kept Virgil safe.

[writing-for-me-at-this-point]

Hurt S/o! | Shikamaru + Kiba + Shino | ANGST + Fluff | HC’s

Request: This is my first request so please forgive and correct me if I do something wrong. I was wondering if you could maybe do an angsty headcanons for Shikimaru, Kiba, and Shino from Naruto’s reaction to their S/O getting seriously injured protecting them. If the S/O recovers or dies and the enemy is all up to you, I’ve just noticed a real lack in content for them and I’m craving it hard. Please and thank you!

Word Count: 1953 words

Page Count: 5.5 pages

A/N: i got so caught up in writing this it became way too long lmao. im sorry i forgot about naruto :( but i hope you do enjoy the rest! i made sure to end everything well. i have a shit ton of angst requests so i thought id leave this on a happier note :)

Tags: @bipolartryingtosurvive

Shikamaru Nara

- I could see this being during the Hidan fight.

- Hes set the plan in motion at that point.

- And you’re to make sure Hidan is distracted for the time being .

- Hidan may be an ass, but he isn’t dumb.

- He notices how you are keeping him from Shikamaru.

- Fucking LIVID

- You notice how hes shifting your fight closer to Shikamaru until he gets to the point where he definitely can get a deep slash into the Nara.

- You knew he was trying to get to him.

- You were fast, one of the fastest in the village, but that was because you were fairly weak when it came to strength.

- You tried to zip around, gaining speed and momentum, and within seconds- right when Hidan was going to bring his scythe down on Shikamarus neck, you slammed your body to his side.

- Shikamaru flew away as Hidan managed to get a large and deep slash into your body; you felt it start from under the right side of your ribs, curving across your stomach, and finally finished above your left knee.

- You didn’t feel it until you fell to the ground- shock really is a bitch.

- And then you felt the dull sting grow and blood dripped from the wound.

- The stinging grew into a pulsing and unbearable ache, and you knew for a fact he cut through each muscle in the way of his scythe, but your organs were nipped ( at best ) in the process.

- You couldn’t hear what was going on.

- You heard your heart beat in your ears, it was deafening, but you focused on your breathing and trying to keep calm.

- You trained for this- having a close friend beat your ass near death so you could focus on remaining in a state where you could prolong the inevitable.

- Yeah you thought of the most wild scenarios, and managed to prepare for them- turns out it worked out well.

- Once Hidan is buried Shikamaru went straight to you, managing to help out with Ino and Choji, stopping some of the bleeding while getting you to the village.

- You’re passed out at that point, so Ino cauterizes the wounds ends, the part under your ribs and the entire thigh.

- Shikamaru starts freaking at this point, he almost passes out, and Choji has to get his ass back together.   

- Once you get back to the village Tsunade is ready to go, with Sakura by her side your ass isn’t ending up on that stone.

- It takes about four hours to get you all settled, and into a private room, out of critical.

- He’d stay by your bedside, your hand in his till you woke up.

- “Shika…?”

- “Oh my gods, [ Y/n ]!”

- “Hi”

- Your soft giggles helped ease this poor boys heart.

- “You look awful.”

- “Don’t look too hot yourself.”

- “Wow. Okay.”

- “Get up here, you need some sleep. And don’t even deny it.”

- He took off the bulky clothes, only in his pants and tank top, climbing in next to you as you settled your head on his chest.

- “Thank you for taking care of me,”

- “Thank you for not dying.”

Kiba Inuzuka

- Being in Anbu had its ups and downs.

- But mostly downs.

- Okay. Only downs.

- But you managed to find your light, in a childhood friend and now lover.

- Though- he managed to act more like a puppy than a boyfriend at times.

- You didn’t mind though, and you lived your life peacefully after having to leave Anbu due to an injury that limited your eyesight greatly and it hindered all sight starting at arms length.

- Though, when in Anbu, its always- ALWAYS expected to have an old rival or two come back for more, even when one is retired.

- And here you were, walking through the forest with Kiba and Akamaru, talking about his past mission with Hinata and Shino.

- He got so excited to tell you that he didn’t notice the shift in scents in the air, and you couldn’t see ahead or through your peripheral.

- It happened so fast.

- Too fast.

- One second you were smiling with his arms around your waist, his chin on your head as you both laughed with Akamaru yipping.

- The next you were slipping from his arms, and blood was pooled at his arms, the slash at your neck was gruesome.

- Your hands went to your neck as Kiba yelled, Akamaru going after the person who came from the shadows.

- “No. No. No. No. No. No. [ Y/n ], NO!” He was panicking, picking you up quickly as a hand wrapped around your throat, gripping it so tightly you almost couldn’t breathe.

- Almost.

- You learned to stay calm in situations like this, and with Kiba’s harsh grip you didn’t have to waste any energy to help with the bleeding, so you focused on breathing and not getting your heart to pump too fast.

- “Tsunade! Fuck- get a medical nin! Now!”

- He yelled, running into the village again, where many were coming to help you out.

- Akamaru had come back by then, his mouth bloodied as well, but nothing else- indicating he got a good bite on the fucker.

- You made it to the hospital before you lost consciousness, making Kiba worry even more, because THAT was never a good sign.

- He had to be the one to lay you down on the table and his grip never wavered, getting into a sterile room and waiting for some instruction.

- He was freaking out inside, he wanted to cry and let go, just hold you- but you would die if any of that were to happen.

- He had to stay calm for you.

- He wasn’t going to let you die.

- The tell him to let go quickly and all hands go to your neck, working quickly to stop the bleeding, while a nurse came to get Kiba cleaned up and situated.

- His mom even came to help the boy, who looked dead while staring at your room, not even wanting to go in.

- “Boy." 

- Oh did she go off, telling him to go to his girlfriend and be a man.

- He did want to go, but he couldn’t help but feel so… helpless.

- "Helpless? Helpless! Boy, you do understand you just saved your girls life? That if you weren’t there she’d be laying there dead?”

- Kinda rocked his shit, but thanks mom.

- He went into your room alone first, your neck was bandaged and you looked pale, with blood and other IV fluids being attached to your arms.

- He noticed the especially dark bruise on your neck.

- It could have been either from his hand or the surgery, but he still felt bad.

- His mom came in and sat with him on the other side of you.

- They both held your hands and visited you till you woke up.

- “I lived bitch.”

Shino Aburame

- I honestly can’t see his S/o getting hurt so bad.

- Because when you think about it his bug control is OP AF.

- Like he can essentially control you with a bug.

- I would go with someone would be after him, but since they can’t get to Shino- you would be the best option.

- Get hurt him physically so lets do it mentally and emotionally :)

- Poor boy

- I could see this being when your both adults, and teaching the younger generations, including your kids :)

- And you’re chilling on your house rooftop, that you’ve decorated with couches and tables and such, even hanging lights around.

- You had Shino build a retractable sliding glass on top in case it rains.

- If you’re having trouble imagining this- think Fast and Furious ending where everyone is eating dinner together.

- Yeah that’s ya’ll with the rest of the group :)

- You’re relaxing, reading a book and curled into the couch and drinking some tea or coffee or hot cocoa ( THEY’RE ALL VALID ) 

- You had gotten up a second to go to the large chest you had near one of the tables, to pick out a fluffy blanket.

- You never noticed how someone had mixed a poison into your drink, because they were gone before you could even decide on a blanket.

- Your kids would have been home soon, and they knew you liked to hang out up here, especially Shino since he kept the bees up here.

- You settled down and read some more, before taking sips of your drink.

- You noticed it tasted weird, and you had gotten up to check it out you felt your head get light, and your throat was stinging- making you cough horribly.

- You honestly felt like death was coming for you, and you knew something was wrong, but by the time you had gotten to the door you fell down and struggled to breathe.

- “Hey mom, Aponi kicked me-”

- “Shut up! Adonis don’t be- Mom!”

- “Mom?!”

- Your kids started freaking out, with your little girl noticing how strange you looked and saw the cup that was broken at your side.

- “Addy! Get dad! Mom drank something!”

- “Alright! Stay there- I’ll be back!”

- They managed to get their dad and Uncle Kiba, with Aponi looking to the cup- having some of her bugs recognize what was in it.

- “Dad! Its Saifu Ants! Someone poisoned mom with Saifu ants!”

- Shino had gotten some for himself and used their toxins to create an antidote.

- You were currently at the hospital, and declining rapidly, stressing out everyone around you.

- Even Naruto came and the dude is Hokage and is busy as hell.

- “You should all be prepared for the worst.”

- Everyone’s hearts dropped, and Shino couldn’t be there- he was helping making the antidote.

- It took about 20 more minutes until Shino came rushing in with it.

- Everyone made their way to your room and god.

- You were so pale, you honestly looked dead. Your kids only knew you were alive due to the heart monitor and your weak chalkra signature, your breathing was supported by a machine and even then your lungs sounded horrible.

- God Shino worked as hard as he could so fast.

- He felt like his heart stopped, that everything was moving too fast for him and he was going to pass out.

- Thank god his eyes were covered cause he had tears in them the entire time.

- He felt his soul ripping apart, what would he do if you left him so soon? The kids?

- You had gotten the antidote in time- but not before the poison had it’s time with you.

- Your lungs were destroyed and your heart was weak, your muscle was torn down.

- But you made it back to them.

- Everyone held a sigh of relief.

- You were a little off at first- still sleepy and slurring.

- After a few month you were able to leave- with everyone visiting you in the meantime with what had been going on in the village.

- Once you made it home you collapsed on your bed with Shino, easing his heart just a bit.

- Your kids jumped in too, snuggling up to both of you, with Aponi on your chest and Adonis on your stomach.

- “You scared us. Please, don’t do that again.”

- “It’s okay. I told you. You can’t get rid of me that easy.”

- “Like I’d want to.”

[punksarahreese]

I might not get another chance for recurrence?👀

Hehe

Uncertainty | Recurrence

Cancer!AU; Ava makes a leap of faith after a bad thing happens

Prompt: “I may not get another chance.”

Word count: 1451

CW: cancer talk

Part 2 of Collapse

***

This was something Sarah had feared since Ava first said the words. It was never a dealbreaker, she didn’t dwell on the idea because she knew it would drive her insane, but it was a worry. Ava meant the world to her, she had become so important to her in such a short amount of time and her love grew greater as they became closer. Ava was so strong, so confident, and her past only proved how far she had come to get to where she was. She had been doing so well, since she was fifteen years into her remission the only thing they ever had to worry about was her missing ribs and minimized bone density. It was all supposed to be okay, Sarah had been so confident, but her hopes were shattered when Sam found her that day.

“Doctor Reese,” she had caught up to her in the cafeteria and Sarah was confused, “I need you to come with me.”

“Doctor Zanetti, I-”

“It’s Ava,” those words had her attention in milliseconds, “She collapsed.”

Sarah had almost cried right then and there, terrified for the wellbeing of her girlfriend. Still, Sam had taken her hand and tugged her out of the room, knowing she needed to be with Ava in that moment. Everything was so uncertain, especially since they didn’t know why she collapsed, and both of them feared for her. The two weren’t close, only friendly because Ava gave them a common relation, but they were here for each other in this. Sam knew if this was bad news that Sarah would bury her own fear for Ava’s sake, so she silently made note to check up on her too.

Ava was in an ER bed, an oxygen mask over her face and her eyes half-lidded. She was clearly medicated, barely noticing Sarah had entered the room until she came over to the bed. A gentle hand on top of hers got through to her, though, and Ava looked up at Sarah weakly. She was embarrassed, that was obvious, but her breathing was too shallow and ragged for her to make any believable excuse for her being there. Something was wrong, they both knew that, and they could only wait for the worst.

“What happened?”

It was Connor who answered, walking into the room again, “After a surgery I went to ask her about a case. We were walking to the ward and she collapsed, her respiration was really low.”

“Chest… tube,” Ava muttered as she gestured vaguely to the plastic tube that Sarah hadn’t seen sticking out of her gown before. She looked at Ava incredulously, knowing that her flinch from that morning had been way more than just a strained rib. Hindsight was 20/20, though, and all Sarah could do was sigh and lean a bit closer to bonk her head lightly against Ava’s. She needed to be close to her, to be sure she was okay; it was all she could do.

“Fluid?”

Connor nodded but didn’t say anything, just leaned heavily against the wall across the room. He wasn’t there as a doctor, she realized, he was there as a friend. Sam had stayed outside, citing that it was too cramped in the room and she didn’t want to make Ava uncomfortable. They all knew she hated this, the worry and the coddling, but it was all they could do.

“Best case scenario is pneumonia, then,” she concluded with a shaky sigh, making Ava tug on her wrist.

“H-hey,” she took a deep breath that Sarah could hear rattling uncomfortably in her chest, “I’m... fine.”

“Ava, I had to shove a plastic tube into your mediastinum less than 45 minutes ago,” Connor retorted incredulously, “You had to have known something was wrong.”

Sarah looked at her pointedly but didn’t add to that, because she didn’t need to be chastised or embarrassed anymore. Ava had a habit of pretending she was okay until she wasn’t and this was just another one of those times. She was used to pain, she spent half her childhood and adolescence in pain, so of course she was used to it. Ava didn’t like to appear weak and to her this was probably nothing, even though they all knew the implications.

“I didn’t want to assume the… the worst,” she shrugged, “I’m alive, for now.”

“Ava, don’t,” Sarah warned, not ready to even think about what she meant by that. Of course Ava was assuming it was back, even though pneumonia would make more sense. It was cold and viral pneumonia was going around the inpatient ward, she probably caught it when doing post-ops. That’s all Sarah could tell herself because she was too afraid to admit what else might be happening.

“Sorry…”

“You’re okay,” Sarah leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head, “Just… you’ll be fine, okay?”

“I’m fine, darling,” Ava concluded, the sure nod she gave Sarah was enough to soften her and ease her nerves.

“Gross,” Connor rolled his eyes as the brief affection, “I’ll go check on the CT.”

When they were left alone, Ava shifted a little on the bed and looked up at Sarah. The space she made was a peace offering, an apology for hiding her pain and for making light of the bad situation. It was also a silent request for comfort, even though she wouldn’t ask outright in a situation like this. She needed Sarah, she needed to feel grounded and safe in so much uncertainty. It was what they both needed and it’s why Sarah didn’t hesitate to sit down on the uncomfortable gurney mattress beside her.

Ava leaned into her immediately, hiding a flinch when she jostled her chest tube. Sarah just wrapped an arm around her, mumbling a “be careful,” into her shoulder.

“Sarah?”

“Yeah, Avey?”

“I-” she sighed shakily and held out her hand, waiting for Sarah to take it. Their fingers laced together as perfectly as they always did, a familiar pressure that soothed them both. Sarah waited for her to gather her thoughts, knowing she was probably terrified and trying to make light of it all to cope. This was hard on her, sure, but Sarah couldn’t imagine what Ava was feeling right now.

“I’ve got you, okay?” she said gently, “Whatever this is, I love you, Ava.”

That had Ava squeezing her hand, a shy sound escaping her as she looked down. She nodded and then glanced back at her with a little smile. Sarah wasn’t sure what she was thinking at that moment but the words that came out of Ava’s mouth had her in shock.

“I want to marry you.”

“A-Ava I-”

“I’m serious,” she added firmly despite the way her breathing was uneven, “I love you and… I may not... get another c-chance to say that. So yeah, I do want… want to marry you.”

“God, you will be the death of me,” Sarah muttered as she hid her face in Ava’s shoulder, even though she knew she had already seen her embarrassed blush. She wasn’t upset, she honestly felt her heart swell knowing Ava wanted to marry her, but the situation was hard. She didn’t want either of them to think about a future where they couldn’t spend it together, even though the threat was looming over them.

“Don’t say that,” her words were a little muffled, “You have every chance, okay? You’ve made it this far and I’m sure as Hell not giving up on you, so you better not either.”

“Sarah…”

“Hey, I want to marry you too,” she added pointedly, “So you will keep your stubborn ass alive, won’t you?”

Ava grinned at her, mood immediately improving as she took off her oxygen mask to lean forward and steal a kiss from her lips. Sarah just laughed a little, kissing her back gently. Despite everything, this was the kind of comfort and reassurance they both needed. Whatever happened they were together and they would get through it. Ava certainly wasn’t going to miss a chance to see Sarah as a bride, her bride, that was for sure.

It was short lived, though, because Sarah knew she was struggling to breathe enough as it is. She urged her to put the mask back on, though she did press another kiss to Ava’s forehead to appease her. Ava compiled without complaint, just happy to know Sarah was there. Despite all this uncertainty, one thing she was sure of was that she would marry Sarah Reese one day; not even cancer would stop her.

[eleanorbloom]

When You’re Ready Ch. 10

Pairing: Bryce Lahela x f! MC (Eleanor Bloom) x Ethan Ramsey.

Word Count: 5.3k (Sorry!!!)

Warning: Innuendos at the beginning, then, just angst and a bit of cursing.

A/N: Yes, I’m sorry. Today’s chapter is the longest I’ve done so far, but it’s worth it (at least to me) because is about my babyyyy. Things are going to get harder from now on, so I’m excited for the upcoming chapters!! I hope you enjoy the angst because there’s more to come. Hehe.

A/N2: I’m gonna post some One Shots for Kinktober, so I was wondering if anyone wants to be tagged? It will be BrycexEleanor and DrakexMC from The Royal Romance. I’ve never published anything for TRR but I’m planning to write something in the future. Meanwhile, I’ll exercise with some smut muahaha. So let me know if you wanna be tagged 😏

Taglist @utterlyinevitable @binny1985 @shanzay44 @choicesficwriterscreations @laiba-the-person @starrystarrytrouble @lahellacute @lucy-268​ @aylamreads @cinnamonspongecake @romewritingshop @angela8756

_______

Chapter 10: Stay.

Funny you’re the broken one

But I’m the only one who needed saving.

 “Is that Raf?”—Eleanor raised her head from Bryce’s chest and stared at the ceiling, trying to prick up her ear.

At the distance, it was heard a deep voice in the middle of a mix of laughter.

“Yeah, that’s totally him.”

“What is he doing here so early?”

“Early?”—He chuckled—"It’s midday, babe.”

“Midday?!”—She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and checked. It was 12.10.—"And how we slept through all morning?”

“We stayed up late, don’t you remember? I think we got here like 3 am and then you just couldn’t shut up about how mad you were because Ramsey is being irrational about the influencer girl.”

“Oh, right. Drunken rant.”—Her cheeks blushed—“I’m sorry”

“Why are you sorry?”

“For making you hear all this crap when probably I ranted all night at Donahue’s about it.”

“Actually, you were just pissed off that Ramsey was mad at you, but when we got here you said the real stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Like you think that Ramsey is suspecting about your relationship with me and he’s taking it on you. He’s mad because you went behind his back with the Gwyneth thing, obviously, but he has contained his rage for weeks, and now he’s just… exploding.”

“Oh, fuck, you’re right, I did say that—She covered her face with both hands—"God, I’m so stupid.”

“Why? I think you’re right. He’s been acting like an ass with me this whole time too, he looks at me like I’m a piece of garbage or something.”

“But it’s really unprofessional that he is taking a work issue to an extreme just because he is what? Jealous? Mad that I’m getting over him? It’s very inconsistent of him.”

“Yes, it is. Are you going to do something about it?”

“Like what?”

“Like talk to him, tell him to stop,, that he shouldn’t take it on you at work just because he’s jealous.”

“I… I don’t know, I wouldn’t like to mix things, maybe I’m wrong.”

“You’re not wrong, Elle. You can’t let him be this ass with you, much less affect your work.”

Bryce saw how her head inside was spinning around, and her hands tensed over his rib cage.

“Just think about it.”—He added, stroking her hair comfortingly—"Don’t think for a second this is your fault, ‘cause it’s not. He made his choice in the first place.”

“I know…”

Eleanor leaned on her elbow to look at him in the eyes, smiling faintly at him.

“Thank you for being so understanding”

Bryce smiled back and then caressed her cheek while his eyes were expressing tenderness and protection.

She nuzzled into his soft chest losing herself into the sweet scent from his neck.

“Let’s focus on something less stressing and boring instead”—She whispered, lovingly.

“Like what?”—He asked tantalizingly roaming his hands through her back.

“Like the fact that I’m finally waking up with you.”

“Aw, you woke up really sugary today, uh?”

“Don’t you like it?”—She asked seriously.

“I have sweet tooth just because of you.”

“Awwww”—Eleanor encircled her arms around his neck pulling him down to her lips.—“You’re saying I’m sugary, but you just gave me a diabetic coma.”

“And I am having constipation ‘cause you, Eleanor Bloom, are being too cheesy.”

She burst out laughing, resonating in the whole apartment.

“Bryce! You’re impossible.”

“And you are impopsicle, babe.”—Before she could retort anything, he caught her lips into his, his hands travelling slowly down her bum. He deepened the kiss the moment she opened her mouth in a sigh.

“Do we have time for a quickie before getting ready for the concert?”

“Is it me or you’re doubting about your timing skills?”

“No, I’m just asking for consent.”

“We are wasting precious seconds, Dr. Lahela.”

Both chuckled before Eleanor pushed him against the bed and climbed on top of him, the sheets falling and pooling behind her, exposing her bare body.

“Sweet, sweet cowgirl ride me till the end of the world if you want”

Eleanor laughed hard again.

“Yeehaw!”—She joked between laughs.

This time it took like two minutes to make her stop. It would have been more if it weren’t for Bryce, who replaced her laughs for other more improper exclamations  that soon had to be hushed too.

By the time Bryce and Eleanor appeared in the living room, all their friends were ready for the Music Festival Eleanor had invited them, courtesy of her patient, Gwyneth Monroe. After a quick chat, they all headed to Cambridge, excited for the new adventure.

The group spent the afternoon eating, drinking, playing lawn games and, of course, enjoying the music. At some point, they split when Eleanor, Kyra, and Aurora decided to see an art exposition while Bryce, Elijah, and Jackie joined Sienna to see an indie band she had been fangirling all afternoon.

Once the group met again, an hour later, it didn’t take long for Bryce and Eleanor to get lost in the crowd, enjoying the music while savoring the moment alone in the open air.

The sun was about to set when Bryce felt his phone buzzing. As he pulled it out of his pocket the letters froze him. He ended the call and saw 10 missing calls and a lot of messages in the notification bar.

“Bryce, where are you?”

“I’m outside your apartment.”

“Bryce, please answer me! Are you at work?”

Eleanor stared at him worried, sensing his nervousness.

“Is everything alright?”

“I… I have to go.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Nothing, I just remembered tomorrow I have a really difficult surgery and I need to study up.”

“Okay.”—Her brows knitted, suspicious.

He kissed her quickly and turned to leave, but she caught his wrist before he could get lost in the crowd.

“Bryce!”

“What?”—He replied, trying to hide the fear that was invading him just right.

“If something wrong you can tell me, you know that, right?”

“Yeah.”

He smiled faintly and gave her one last kiss before walking out of the crowd.

He didn’t know how he reached the parking lot and got in the car, his hands were trembling and a knot of anxious had settled in his stomach. He pulled the phone out and called back.

“Bryce!”—He heard on the other end of the line—"God, I’ve been trying to reach you for hours, where are you?!”

“Keiki, what’s going on? How is that that you’re in Boston?”

“I’ll explain later, are you coming?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there in forty.”

“Hurry up, I’m bored to death here.”

When he got to his floor, she found a tall girl in a red leather jacket sitting against his door, a backpack between her legs. He barely recognized her, even if he had seen dozens of pictures of her on her social networks. She was a teenager now, not the little girl that said goodbye to him with tears in her eyes when he left for college.

“Keiki”

“Bryce”—She said getting up from the floor. He opened the door a few moments later and both got in.

“Can you explain to me now what you are doing here?”

“Hey, bro, I’m glad to see you too.”—She ironized—“Thanks for the kind welcoming.”

“Keiki, please.”

“I ran away from home, okay?”

“You what?”

“I don’t wanna live there anymore.”

“Keiki, you can’t do that”

“Why not? You did it.”

“I went for college…”—He replied, feeling the guilt sharpening inside him.

“Yes, and then you never came back because you couldn’t stand our parents. It’s the same with me.”

“That doesn’t excuse that you escaped from home and underage. Do you have a plan? Or you’ll just wait until they come here to take you back and maybe they will report me for child kidnap?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Bryce. They wouldn’t that.”

“Still this isn’t right, Keiki. It could’ve happened something to you on your way here.”

“Yeah, but it would have been worth it if it means not spend another second in Maui.”

Bryce looked at her, intrigued. He couldn’t understand how things were bad for her if she had everything she wanted back in Hawai. A room the size of his apartment, all the clothes she wanted, and millions of things to do. But that was enough? He knew well it wasn’t.

“Can I stay with you?”

“Of course, Keiki, but you’ll go back tomorrow. Call mom to know if she can buy you a ticket flight back, I’m not sure I have the money for that.”

“Don’t you understand? I’m not coming back there, Bryce. Period.”

He shook his head and sighed. It was impossible to reason with her, and he knew it wouldn’t get anything by pushing her even more.

“Call her to let her know you’re here, then.”

“I bet she already knows.”

She seated on the couch, looking at him defiantly. He just ignored her act.

“Have you eaten something?”

“Some Doritos I bought around the corner.”

“What do you want to eat? I’m calling a delivery.”

“You don’t cook? I want real food, Bryce.”

“I’m a surgeon, not a chef, Keiki”

“Either way, you should know how to feed yourself by now, how you have survived all these years?”

“Take out.”

“Unbelievable”

Bryce didn’t know what to do. Maybe he could just watch a video on Youtube and cook something basic to save the day. Eleanor’s face popped in his mind, but he shook off the idea as soon as it emerged. Calling her would implicate to tell her the truth about his family and he wasn’t ready for that.

“Okay.”—He said after some deliberation—"I’ll go to the grocery store, so you have food for breakfast tomorrow and all that. Do you wanna go with me?”

“Nah, I’m tired, I think I’m gonna lay down a bit.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be back in a bit.”

The moment he was out of the apartment, Bryce rubbed his hand across his face in exasperation. He didn’t know what to do, how to deal with his sister, and with the mistake he had been making all those years.

He always knew he shouldn’t have left her sister just like he did; never go back to Maui; call her just once in a while to finally only for her birthday. The guilt that has been accompanying him for ten years was materializing now in one of his worst fears: face his sister and deal with the consequences of his abandonment, the rage and the loneliness she might be feeling, all without prior notice.

He tried to clear his mind. At that moment he needed to stay calm to give Keiki the stability she had come to look for with him. He was the adult there, so he couldn’t let the feelings overwhelm him and make Keiki feel worse than she already was. 

Once he regained calmness, Bryce made his way to the grocery store where he collected all the ingredients for a spaghetti recipe he read on the internet, plus some vegetables, fruits, bread, butter, bacon, eggs, cookies, Doritos, so Keiki would have something to have breakfast and eat while she was at his place.

When the doors of the elevator opened again on his floor, she found the silhouette of a woman with a black and golden dress on, talking to Keiki. He froze for a moment until both directed to him.

“Elle”

“Hi Bryce”—She looked at him surprised, while Keiki just eyed them, leaning in the door frame, arms crossed.—“What’s happening?”

“Let’s get inside and talk, okay?”

Keiki moved backwars to let Bryce and Eleanor in. He went straight to the kitchen and set the bags over the counter meticulously, like trying to gain some time before facing her. After a few moments, Bryce turned to Eleanor.  

“Elle, this is my sister Keiki. She arrived today from Maui. She’s visiting.”

“Like hell. I told you I’m not planning to go back there, Bryce.”—She barked while she was flopping on the couch with the remote control in her hand.

“Hi Keiki, I’m Eleanor, nice to meet you”—She replied, giving a smile, even if she wasn’t looking at her.

“Yeah”—The girl just said, her eyes not moving from the TV.

Bryce just sighed, making evident his frustration. Eleanor looked at him worried and then pulled him to the kitchen.

“Can you explain to me now what’s happening? Why your sister ran away from home? Hell, I didn’t even know you had a sister, Bryce.”

Even if he wasn’t ready to talk about it, Bryce knew it wasn’t fair Eleanor didn’t know he had a sister, while she had talked about her family countless times.

“Elle, I…”—Now another fear was materializing: telling the truth about his family to someone from Boston. To the woman he loved, no less.—“To make a long story short, my family was a big deal in Hawaii. When I was in high school my dad went to jail for insider trading, and my mom only got off by testifying against him even though she was right there helping him the whole time.”

Eleanor gazed thoughtfully at him until she realized.

“Oh my god, Bryce… Your parents are The Lahelas? As in property tycoons turned white collars criminals The Lahelas?”

“That’s my family, and Keiki lives with them back in Hawaii. Dad got paroled a while ago for good behavior.”

Bryce saw as she remained in silence, surprise in her eyes. He couldn’t help but wince, waiting for the disappointed look, the disgust, the judgment. But nothing of it came. She instead tried to understand why Keiki was running away from home, what could have triggered that. She tried to convince him that this was not a simple rebellion as he was thinking. There was no judgment in her eyes or words. She just focused on Keiki and how to help him to deal with her.

Once Bryce felt less tense, he asked Eleanor to help him with dinner, which she accepted gladly. Half an hour later, the three of them enjoyed a plate of pasta that felt tastier as it was a result of collaborative work. 

Even if Keiki was hesitant to talk at first, the food put her in such a good mood that Eleanor got her to chat a bit with her, Bryce observing the exchange with admiration. From the answers, Eleanor could tell Keiki was a smart girl and mature for her age; she had a hot temper but the same self-assurance Bryce had, even the same smirks and looks.

“Thanks for dinner, Eleanor. .”—Keiki said before going to sleep.—"Good to know I won’t starve to death my first night here.”

“You’re welcome. It was nice to meet you, Keiki.”

She smiled at her and then got to the room.

Eleanor and Bryce stood in silence for a bit, none of then sure who had to speak first.

“Bryce, why you never told me? This is big.”—Eleanor finally said, standing in front of him, concerned.

“I know… I just…I was afraid.”

“Afraid of what?”

“Of you judging me.”

“Judge you? How could I judge you, Bryce?”

“Because it has always been like this. People know me and it’s okay at first, but then, when they know that I’m the son of a criminal, they assure me it’s okay but they never look at me the same, never treat me the same. They look at me like I’m about to do something, or like I’m a professional liar and I’m trying to cheat on them.”

“Bryce..”—She whispered, cupping his cheeks, her eyes full of sadness.

“I wanted to start from scratch here, no one knowing about my parents, no one judging me for that, just focusing on what I am, on how hard I worked to be at Edenbrook and be known for that.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”—She said as he took him in her arms, embracing him tightly.

They stayed in silence for a while.

“How could you ever think that I would judge you, that I would treat you like that? I would never, Bryce. Never.”

“I know but some part of me thought you would.”

“Now I understand why you always changed the topic when I asked you.”

He nodded.

“But now you know you can trust me, right? Whatever you need, I’ll have your back.”

“I know, but… it’s not that simple, Eleanor. Since high school, people have seen me as a disease the moment they know I’m a Lahela, so I’ve never had anyone to trust about what I felt or just tell…stuff… the stress, the sadness… the things friends share. I never needed anyone to deal with problems, I could do it on my own until… until I met you, but I’ve ignored the feeling because I don’t wanna hold on to you, I’m scared that you’ll go away and I’ll lose the one person I trusted.”

“Why would I go?”

“Because nothing’s settled between us. There’s still the possibility that you’ll go with Ramsey or simply break up with me because you don’t want me anymore.”

“Bryce, we’ve been together for two whole months, I’m not planning to go anywhere.”

“Yeah, that’s what you say now, but you still want our relationship to be a secret because you don’t want Ramsey to know and make it a reality, because some part of you don’t want it to be true.”

“How can you say that?”

“Don’t be hypocrite Eleanor, please. I’m not stupid.”—Bryce retorted, hurt. She had never seen him this serious and cold.

“It’s not like that. And I don’t get where you’re going with this.”

“My point is, Eleanor, that I want to trust you, I really do want to tell you what is happening inside my head, but I can’t if the one person I can trust maybe won’t be here with me in two months or in a year. It doesn’t work like that with me. I have to keep on my own as always.”

“Bryce, no matter what, I’ll always be here for you, even if things turn out different-”

“No, Eleanor”—He interrupted—“Please don’t do this. Don’t be this selfish, thinking that if we end up things, we could go back to what we were. If I hold on you, I don’t know how I’ll deal with losing you or be away from you while I heal.”

“Bryce… Don’t be afraid, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith…”

“Don’t you think I haven’t taken enough leaps, Eleanor? I showed my feelings for you, I told you I loved you even before we were dating. You’re the only person I’ve done that with, and yet there is always a possibility that you won’t feel the same ever. And what about you? Yeah, you took a leap when you started dating me, but you can’t take a leap in leaving Ramsey in the past, tell him the truth, scrub all over his face that you moved on, because your ego is terrified that you weren’t enough to heal him. So, don’t dare to tell me that I should take a leap.”

He turned around and sat on the couch, both hands over his hair.

Eleanor looked at him, seeing the real Bryce for the first time. The Bryce that feels in pain, angry, annoyed, frustrated. Vulnerable. Human. The side she had never seen in him and she always wanted to know.

She took a few steps towards him and squatted down to face him.

“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to push you —She murmured—”I just want you to know that I’m here for you if you need me, okay?”

“I know, but I don’t think I’m ready for this, Eleanor. This is too much, and I need to deal with this on my own, that’s how I know best.”

“I understand.—She said softly, while taking his hands on hers.

The moment he felt his touch, his eyes threatened with tears and a knot ached in his throat. He pulled away from her grip.

“I… uh… I need you to go, Eleanor. I want to be alone.”

“Of course”—She replied, standing up.  

Once she collected her things she went to the door.

“Whatever you decide, just remember that I want the best for you, Bryce. I know we are in a complicated situation right now, but I’m doing my best to end this hell soon.”

And she left.

Bryce stood unmoved on the couch recounting the events of the past hours as the tears streamed down his face.

His biggest fears had occurred, and now he was feeling the incessant need of trusting Eleanor, tell her all the pain that was buried in his heart, but he just couldn’t. Just like his issues about his parents,  he had been burying the thoughts about Eleanor not wanting to confront Ethan about their relationship. He knew she still loved him and couldn’t blame her for that, but it was hurting him more than he thought, and he had just ignored his feelings and not said anything to her because if he opened up to Eleanor, even for one single thing, it would be like to open the pandora box, and he wasn’t ready to let all go.

Things were difficult in the next days. Keiki was absolutely decided to stay with him, especially since his parents didn’t reach him or Keiki to make her come back to Maui, and he still didn’t know how to deal with Keiki, because at any try of conversation, they ended up fighting or she ignoring his tries to be friendly.

The frustration and guilty were getting bigger and bigger.

He didn’t speak to Eleanor, and barely spend time with the rest of his friends. He just locked in on himself, focusing on working hard, and go straight home to be with Keiki even if they didn’t say anything or just argued. She was alone all day so she needed some company, and he really wanted to understand her, bonding with her and be like they were before, o maybe not like before, but he wanted to be her brother again.

However, soon he realized that he had been too harsh with Eleanor. Even if she was still in love with Ethan and didn’t want to make it official, it was all within their agreement. And more importantly, she had always been very respectful of their relationship, because she had only eyes and time for Bryce, and even if she wasn’t ready to commit, to tell the truth to Ethan and stop loving him, she was all in the relationship with him. He was her priority, he sensed that. He knew it.  Because she had been refusing any contact with Ethan since he was back.  When Bryce assumed that Eleanor had kissed him the night she stayed at Donahue’s, the reality was different.  And Ethan’s behavior the past weeks was proof of that. So, he felt bad for reacting that way. She didn’t deserve it when she only wanted to help.

*

Bryce was walking by the fourth floor, expecting to find Eleanor there, when he heard heated voices inside an empty room.

“This anger you have against me is about something else and I won’t allow it, Ethan.”

“What do you mean by ‘something else’?”

“Not work-related. You have been an ass to me for weeks, and whatever might be your reason, you’re being unprofessional and you’re exactly what you wanted to avoid.”

Then, absolute silence.

If Bryce was right, Eleanor was confronting Ethan about his behavior in the past weeks. She didn’t address the problem openly, but it was clearly a step he thought she wouldn’t take so soon.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”—She said when she ran into him, not cathing it was him at first.—"Bryce? Hi”

“Eleanor”—They stared in silence for a moment—"I was looking for you. What time does your shift end?”

Bryce saw the brief moment Ethan passed behind Eleanor, his face impassive and cold as steel, ignoring their existence completely.

“Half an hour, I’m doing my final round. Why?”

“I need to speak to you, meet me in the atrium as always?”

“Okay, yeah.”—Her cheeks flushed and couldn’t help but look at him with hope.

“See ya later, then.”

He waited in their usual spot and finally, fifteen minutes later, she appeared.

“I’m so sorry, I had to run new tests for a patient, and it took me ages.”

“Don’t worry, I’m glad you’re here.”

“So…”

“Let’s go to my car, we can talk there.”

“Okay.

Once both got in the car, they looked at each other until Bryce broke the silence.

“Elle, I want to apologize. I realized I was too unfair with you the other day. I know you were trying to help and I just took it on you, because I was frustrated with the situation and I didn’t know how to deal with it, let alone with another person offering help.”

“It’s okay, Bryce, it’s me who should apologize. I shouldn’t have pushed you like that.”

“No, you were trying to help me, and I thank you for that. But I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that about Ramsey. You have been very respectful to our relationship, I want you to know that. I really appreciate it, babe. It’s just that sometimes this is… hard.”

“Bryce, listen, you were right, you don’t have to apologize for telling me the truth. I am afraid, and sadly I still have feelings for Ethan and I don’t want to hurt him, but I don’t want to hurt you either, so it’s all so complicated.”

“I know, Elle, I know, that’s why I shouldn’t have been so rude. By no means you have been unfair or mean to me. It’s just that this is getting a bit hard for me, that’s all, especially now that I’m dealing with something big in my life and I want to hold on to you… But I’m terrified to do so.”

Eleanor rested her hands over his. 

“Look, I know I can’t promise you we will be together forever, but I want you to know that our relationship it’s the most important thing to me now, and I’ll do whatever I can to take care of us. We are still in this difficult process until things are clear inside my head, but right now I want to be here for you, I want to help you with your sister and with whatever you need. Just say the word, okay?”

He smiled thankfully and then nodded.

“Truce?”—She said, offering her hand.

“Truce”—He agreed, but instead of taking her hand, he kissed her sweetly in the lips.

Eleanor giggled against him.

“God, I missed you so much.”—He sighed, parting from her just a brief moment, to keep kissing her for another couple of seconds.

“Me too. These days have been a real nightmare without you. How are you dealing with Keiki?”

“Not so well, actually. That’s why I wanted to ask you if you would like to go home with me tonight. I haven’t been able to talk with Keiki, and if you there with me, maybe I’ll understand her better. I don’t wanna fight with her anymore.”

Eleanor smiled warmly at him.

“This means that you’re letting me in?”

Bryce had made his decision but couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous.

“Yes. I want you with me in all this, Elle.”

“You won’t regret it. I promise.”

When they get home a delicious smell invaded their nostrils. Keiki was in the kitchen apparently frying some beef.

“Hey Keiki”—They both greeted.

“Hey. Eleanor, I didn’t know you were coming. I hope I’m doing enough food for the three of us.”

“We’ll make it work”—Bryce said, hopeful.

“If not, Bryce, you can call a delivery just as you like.”

“Haha, always so loving, sis. Whatcha doing?”

“Mongolian beef, I found an easy recipe on Instagram and here I am.”

“You need any help?”

“Umh, maybe with the rice, I have to chop the scallions and then have an eye on the beef.”

“Sure.”

They both washed their hands and then Eleanor taught Bryce how to cook rice while suggesting topics to talk. Some were delicate and Keiki reacted badly, but after every scowl Eleanor gave to Bryce, he tried to act more empathetic, listening to her before judging.

Once the dinner was served, the three seated with smiled on her faces.

“Keiki, this is great!”—Eleanor praised after giving the first taste to her plate.—“You had cooked before?”

“Yeah, a couple of times, but it’s not that I have the chance to do it often when you have people who cook for you”—She replied, a bit embarrassed.

“And what do you like to do? Reading? Singing? Playing an instrument? Skateboarding?”

“I like drawing, reading, and sometimes taking pictures.”

“That’s great. Boston has such beautiful places to do it.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I’ve took some really nice. ”

“You must show me them after dinner, okay?”

“Sure”

“ And what about your friends? You are not missing them now that you’re here?”

“Nah, I don’t have actual friends there, they all hate me.”

“Why they hate you?”—Bryce asked, brows furrowed.

That was the moment Bryce had been waiting since her sister got there, because with that question, Keiki let everything out. 

Bryce finally knew the motives that made her leave home and fly all over the Pacific Ocean and to the other side of the country to be with him, even if they hadn’t seen each other in ten years.

And it happened that her sister was living the same hell he lived. Her classmates hated her for what his parents did, and of course, they hadn’t done anything to protect her. They only cared about their reputation.

The mistake he kept making for ten years had led to this. Her sister suffering from loneliness, abandonment, bullying. Just like he did.

“Keiki I’m …. I’m sorry I didn’t call more. I should have been looking out for you.”—Bryce finally said.

“It’s not like you could have done anything from all the way over here.”

“I could, Keiki. I should have tried, I should have done better, I should have stood in front of mom and dad if you needed me to. And I didn’t. I let this happened. But I’m gonna do better, starting from today.”

Bryce got up from the chair and opened his arms, inviting her sister to do the same. After a few moments of staring at him, she finally stood up and threw herself into his arms.

“I’m sorry I was a jerk when I turned up. And like… every day since.”—She apologized, complete sincerity in her eyes.

“The only jerk here is me. You can stay with me for as long as you need, okay? We’ll figure it out.”

“Thanks, Bryce.”

“I’m sorry, Keiki. Truly.”

“Bryce, it’s okay. I’m happy that I can count on you.”

“Always.”

The three chatted on the couch until Eleanor started to feel sleepy. She and Bryce said goodnight to Keiki, who had given his bed back a couple days ago as she found out the couch really comfy and his brother needed proper rest more than her.  When they locked in the room, Bryce pulled Eleanor to his chest gently, resting his forehead into hers.

“Thank you for doing this.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“All the right questions, and all those scowls and deadly glares that meant ‘stop screwing it up, Bryce’ is doing nothing? Really?”

“Ah, well. It was minimal. You did the hard job here, you get your sister to talk, and you listened to her and empathized with her. You apologized. You were the support she was looking for. You did it amazing, Bryce. Not me.  I’m so proud of you.”

“This wouldn’t have been possible without you.”—He kissed her in the lips, giving her the sweetest smile she had even seen in him, it made her stomach flutter.

“Good things happen when you trust people, you see?”

“Only with you.”

“I know. And I won’t let you down.”

___