ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ʜᴀʟғ.

Lise shuffled over to the stool and, with difficulty as she didn’t want to use her hands, scooted herself up onto the stool. She watched him look through the first aid kit, ignoring the stinging in her hands which was subsiding anyway due to endorphins. “I don’t want to wear knee and elbow pads though,” she sighed, head drooping slightly. “I guess if it is safer, I just won’t do any magic. I mean, I lived without it for this long. I guess I just wanted to try it out at least for once, but…” she raised her hands. “It didn’t end well, so obviously I should just stop.” There was a bit of sadness in her voice, as there should be, as if she was disappointed  in herself as a witch, but she had basically lived mortally for so long that she didn’t get too upset with it. A sadness which was easily lifted with Lip’s presence, seeing his outstretched hands. She placed hers in his, palms up, eyes lifting from the hands to his eyes, giving him a soft smile. “You’re good to me, Lip,” she said. She knew well that his energy balanced hers, and she could only hope that Lip realized the same thing.

“I hate to be the one to tell you, Lise, but sometimes you have to do- or in this case, wear- things you don’t wanna do, all in the name of staying alive,” half a joke, half not. He was kind of confident that aside from a few bumps and bruises, Annalise would never do herself too much damage-- but when magic and the supernatural were involved, he could never be too sure. Immediately, he felt bad for his words. “Lise--” he started, before he realized that aside from wanting to rid her of that slight sadness he’d detected (and felt, through the bond), he had no idea what to say. “You...” he bowed his head, continuing his rummaging in the box as if he were searching for something when really, he wanted an excuse to say what he had to say without making eye contact. At least if he wasn’t meeting her blue eyed gaze, she might not be able to see that no matter how much he hated the supernatural and by extension, magic, he was determined to help her- “You’d be a fool to give up. I don’t even think you can, if you tried-- Your magic is a part of you, and that’s not something you can just ignore now you know its there. You’re going to get hurt, much as I hate to say it, but.. don’t let that stop you. If nothing else, improving in your magic will keep you safe. It’ll make sure that no one, ever, has the power to hurt you.” He couldn’t remember a time he’d ever said so much, nor with so much kindness. It felt like too much, too soon, and though he remained gentle with her offered hands, he remained silent for a few long moments after her statement. “This’ll sting,” he murmured, before he began softly dabbing her hands with an antibacterial wipe. It wasn’t until he’d cleaned one of her hands and begun on the second that he answered her statement, just as quietly, “You haven’t seen the worst of me, Lise.”

It wasn’t as if Lise was incapable of cleaning the wounds herself. If she were alone, she could have easily gotten up and ran her hands under some cold water for a while before treating herself, all without complaint. But Lip being there somehow made it different. She wasn’t taking advantage of him, more that she was relishing his willingness to take care of her. His heart was cold, there was no doubt, but it was interesting that when it came to Lise, his heart seemed to soften just enough to let Annalise near. The more she was around him, the more she realized this, and additionally, the more she wanted to feel the effect of Lip opening to her. “Okay, okay,” she relinquished argument finally, her hands tingling both on her palms and where Lip’s touched hers. The way she looked at him was a little odd. Her eyes were wide and doe-like, and it wasn’t clear whether she was being humorous or if she was actually hypnotized with him. “Thanks, Lip.”

Let me do this for you, he thought to himself, but couldn’t bring himself to say out loud. It was too much to verbalize the sudden need to take care of her - funny, how such a small injury had him gentle and kind. Pink lips pressed tightly together turned up ever so slightly when she didn’t continue to argue her own point, and almost as if he were embarrassed by his sudden tenderness, his words in answer were quiet, “You’re welcome, Lise.” One final look at her big blue eyes, that he thought he could look into forever, and he let go of her hands to locate and bring back the first aid kit. It didn’t take long - she kept the shop very organized, and long enough working alongside her had taught him where those things were. Along with the kit, he carried back a stool, putting it down and gesturing for her to take a seat before kneeling in front of her and popping the top of the medical box. “Good job to keep well stocked, huh?” There was a nervous sort of joking tone to his words, as if his earlier gentleness had him spooked, and he was trying to cover and go back to his normal... and failing, “Makes sense you would, considering all your accidents. Even without magic involved... maybe you should think about investing in knee and elbow pads.” Looking up at her, briefly, as if til then he’d been scared to meet her gaze, Lip held out his hands once more - making no move to snatch hers back to him, but going slow, “May I?”

She was relieved to hear the softness in his voice. She had been sure that he was going to scold her. The bond meant that he could feel her pain, and so by hurting herself, she had bothered him enough to feel the same stinging. She thought that was what he was going to get angry about, but he didn’t seem angry at all, which both set Lise at ease and confused her. When he suggested that they clean her hands, her eyes ventured upwards, blinking a couple of times. “But it’s going to sting,” she protested, though her tone indicated that she wasn’t actually refusing. “I’m sorry, Lip. I didn’t mean to inconvenience you.”

God, he wanted to be annoyed. At the first thing, he’d felt like being so - but how could he be, when it meant she was hurt? It was her fault. She brought it on herself, but knowing she felt more than the bit of stinging he had felt across his own palms inspired a tenderness in the boy that he hadn’t known before her. Instead of scolding her, telling her how stupid she had been, he was softer - he gently cupped her hands and didn’t dare press where they were hurt. “If they sting, they sting. You’ll need to tough it out,” that was about as close to annoyance as he got, and even that he softened, “You need them cleaned and covered, to prevent infection. Believe me... you don’t want an infection.” He didn’t need to elaborate - he was peppered in scars, she knew that, and he could only hope she’d assume the meaning of his words from what little he said. “You don’t need to be sorry, Annalise. You just need to let me take care of these for you, alright?”

@lipisms

He had been ready to make some offhand comment about how she should be more careful, but bit his tongue when he heard the upset in her voice. It got to him, more than most things; and when she offered her hands, he winced at the sight of the scrapes and burns as if they were fresh wounds on his skin, too, and he was able to feel the pain through the bond. "Lise..." he breathed, and slowly, without being able to stop himself, Lip reached out to hold the backs of her smaller hands gently, studying the wounds across their palms, "- You silly, silly girl. We... we'll have to clean these."

Do you want some help?

“Can you hold this, please, so I can punch the holy crap outta it?”

Raising an eyebrow, Margo couldn’t help to scoff at the sight of the male holding his arm. “Poor thing.” She said sarcastically, mostly to herself but loud enough so he could hear.

Brown eyes drawn to the source of the sound, it took no time at all in such a small room. Lip gave her a once over, lip curled softly, and spoke gruffly. “Got a problem? Or are you just admiring the view?”

“That looked like it hurt,” Lucas with a small laugh of amusement rather than sympathy. “Do you want me to hold it, or are you done with that?” he asked, nodding at the bag.

“Looks can be deceiving,” he muttered in reply, and though it was obvious that his arm was far from ok, Lip let it fall to his side in an effort to look unmoved. “I’m done. I mean, I’m not done cause of that,” well, yeah, he was, “But, my workout’s finished.”

Annalise considered it, playing with the end of her hair and pursing her lips as she watched him. She did feel pretty bad for the state of his apartment, and it was likely that plants wouldn’t be harmed as long as Lise was the one taking care of him. “Oo! That would be nice. We get shipments of bags of soil now and then, and those are really heavy so it would be nice to have someone to do that. Usually we have two people on it, plus a cart.” She let go of the strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear, smiling at him. “Alright, fine. I’ll get you the job,” she said, finally. She tried to imagine working with Lip, but it was hard. She pictured him lifting the bags of soil, transporting them here and there, and found that in this scenario she would get little to no work done. She blinked a few times to wipe the picture away. “When are you free to start?”

Her smile seemed promising - but the amount of time it was taking her to think it through did not. Really, he was stood there attempting not to show how much it would actually mean to him; on the outside, he remained casual, as if it had been a passing whim. On the inside, his mind was whirling with all the thought that had gone into the idea, before he’d even brought it up to her. The idea that he could move things around had been his trump card (the only one he had which he felt might do any good at all), and he waited anxiously for her to come back around to whether she’d actually allow him to work for her or not. Annalise seemed to like the idea... he couldn’t stop his answering smile when she gave in, and Lip didn’t waste any time about wrapping his arms round her tiny frame in a hug, lifting her a few inches off of the ground. It was his first job - his first proper one - and for a moment, he was caught up in happiness that felt so... strange. Sure, it was a job given to him by his bond, and it was more so he could watch over her than take care of something he was passionate about, but there was a real sense of pride knowing that he’d achieved something that small. Setting her back down on her feet, his hands resting on her shoulders, he didn’t bother trying to hide the smile she’d put on his face; he’d given up on that some time ago, when it came to Annalise. “Whenever you want me, boss.”

“N-no! Not at all. I know you need a job, and I would be happy to oblige you. It is just that a lot of the work around here isn’t that interesting, and I wasn’t sure if you would like it. Mostly it is just watering the plants and making sure they are healthy, which… well, we both know what happened in that area. But we might be able to use someone to answer the phone, keep records, do sales and ads and stuff.”

“Maybe if I helped you out a bit more, I’d know how to actually take care of plants,” that was about as close as he’d get to mentioning the unfortunate gift he’d been given before; he still felt pretty bad for its fate. It was no secret that Lip needed a job-- he was living, quite literally, with a bare minimum-- but it wasn’t so much the need of a job than the want of being nearer to Annalise. The world was pretty crazy, and with many recent attacks... he felt it’d be easier to keep an eye on her, “I could do those things. I think-- I mean, I’ve never really had an actual job before, but I’d learn. And I could do any or all heavy lifting... move around stock, that sort of a thing.”

“You want to work in a flower shop?” Lise asked, disbelievingly. She wasn’t thrilled by the idea, mostly because he nearly killed the only flower he had owned, but she didn’t bring that up. “I don’t think you would enjoy it.”

“Uh... something wrong with that idea?” Well, yeah. Even he knew that it was a bad idea-- the time she’d gifted him with a plant and it had ended up half dead sprung immediately to mind-- but it was too late now to pretend he’d never asked. “I don’t have to enjoy the work, if I enjoy the company I’m keeping.”

Annalise wasn’t expecting him to pull her close, but she was glad he did. Her nose filled with his familiar scent, and even though it used to annoy her she felt oddly comforted. She pressed the side of her head against his chest, her arms slipped around the middle of his body, hugging him back. She let her eyes fall closed briefly as both people held the other close. Something in her chest stirred. It almost felt like the bond between them was finally satisfied, filling Lise with a feeling of completeness now that they were together. But there was also the possibility that the hammering in her chest was not because of the bond, but because of an overwhelming rush of emotion for Lip that only seemed to grow larger over the past week. “Good, good,” she said finally, opening her eyes. “I’m glad you’re okay too, Lip. Don’t worry, either, we can get through this. It will be fine.” she said, though her last statement was quiet and almost more to herself.

He often found himself thinking of how small she was, when they were near toe to toe and he was forced to bend his head just to look her in the eye. But it wasn’t until she had her arms wrapped around him that he realized just how tiny, and just how delicate, Annalise really was. She felt so dainty, that he could scarce believe the girl wrapped in the circle his arms created had the power to do anything at all. In one movement, he could break her-- it was a thought which shook him to his core. It would be so easy, if he were so inclined... yet he would never, because never had he felt quite as protective as he did at that moment. He didn’t feel like the weak human that some of the supernaturals made him feel like; he felt strong, and he felt as if it were his job, not hers, to protect the tiny blonde. Whether that be from actual harm, or the emotional harm which would come from too many patrols. The sickness he had felt deep in his chest through the bond when she was gone had been replaced by a great feeling of protectiveness, of keeping this girl safe, no matter what. “You’re right,” he murmured, voice only ever loud enough so she could hear. This moment, despite being in the middle of a hall, seemed private-- as if it shouldn’t be shared with the rest of the people gathered. “We’ll be fine. We’ve got each other, after all.”

“I should probably plan on getting into them. Besides– I don’t even think my bond is here.”

“Well then, red, you’re on your own. The only smart thing for you to do is learn to keep yourself safe, and screw anyone else-- not literally screw, that is.”

“Great– I don’t think I’m safe anywhere.”

“Probably not. But... you can get trained to take care of yourself here-- that’s one of the few pluses. If you want my advice, then I’d take the lessons. for the sake of not having to rely on your bond.”