#violetwolfraven

Mush is worried. It’s not really his fault, he’s a worrier. The sun is starting to set and some of the boys still haven’t been accounted for. He knows that everyone took off once the bulls showed up, but most people had made their way back to the lodging house or checked in with one of the other newsies by now. The only people still unaccounted for are Jack, Crutchie, and Kid Blink.

Mush occupies himself by making rounds, continually checking in on everyone who has returned and making sure that everyone who was injured has either already been treated or is being treated to the best of their ability. He’s in the middle of cleaning a scratch on Finch’s cheek when Kid Blink appears, looking a little worse for wear, but overall okay.

“Heya Kid, you made it! Are Jack n’ Crutchie with you?” Finch asks. Mush’s head snaps around to see Blink walk into the main room, he immediately drops everything he's doing.

“Blink!” Mush exclaims. Within seconds he's at the blonde’s side trying to check over him for injuries. Blink gently pushes him away.

“I’m fine Mush, you don’t gotta be fussin’ over me.” Blink turns to Finch, “Why do ya ask, are they not here yet? I thought I’d be the last one to show up.”

Mush looks sheepishly back to where he’d abandoned Finch mid-bandage. He quickly returns to Finch’s side to finish patching him up. Speaks as he works, “No one’s seen or heard from Jack or Crutchie since the cops showed up. Also Finch you should be good to go.”

“Thanks Mush.” Finch says, wandering off to go find Specs.

“I’m sure they’ll be back soon Mush, they’re probably just makin’ sure they lost the bulls like I was.” Blink says reassuringly. He places his hand on Mush’s shoulder and looks him over. “It’s getting late and we’ve all had a long day, you should get some rest.”

“I dunno Blink, what if something happened to them?” Mush frets.

“Mush they’re going to be okay,” Blink says slowly, making careful eye contact, “Jack and Crutchie will be fine, but right now you need to get some rest.”

“But-”

“Mush you spend so much time taking care of others, let me take care of you.” Blink pleads. He’s tired and so is everyone else, they won’t be able to plan their next move if no one gets any sleep.

Mush takes a deep breath, “Okay.” It wouldn’t kill him to his boyfriend, and besides, Blink is right, staying up and worrying isn’t going to do anyone any good. He lets Blink drag him upstairs and to their bunks. Mush is in the middle of changing into his sleep clothes when Kid Blink freezes, staring in his direction.

“Uhh… do you need something Blink?” Mush hesitates, confused.

“Is that blood?” Of course Mush is a bit roughed up, they all are, but that definitely looks more serious than a scrape or bruise.

“What?”

“Is that blood on your shirt? Mush, are you hurt?” Blink’s concern was palpable. He knows that Mush tends to put others first, but he wouldn’t have allowed his own injuries to be ignored, would he? Fuck, that’s exactly something Mush would do. Blink immediately tries to get a better look, pulling at Mush’s shirt so he can see the wound.

“Woah- Hey! Blink hold on! It’s just a scratch, I didn’t even realize it was bleedin’, musta dried up a while ago.” Mush says, trying to extricate himself from Blink’s grasp. From what Blink saw, it was clearly not ‘just a scratch’, in fact, it looked like a pretty nasty gash. And Blink says as much.

“That’s bullshit Mush n’ you know it,” Blink narrows his eye, “Shirt. Off. Now.”

Mush hesitates, eyes flicking between Blink and the rest of the room, from newsie to newsie, then carefully removes his shirt, exposing his back.

“Mushy… what happened?” Blink asks breathlessly.

“You were there at the strike, ain’t it obvious.” There’s a gash just right of the center of his back and a scratch leading from it all the way to his right side. Visible bruising surrounds the wound, with it being most severe at the point of initial impact. Dried blood covers a good portion of his lower back, tacky on his skin.

“So how do I do this?” Blink takes a tone of voice that implies that there would be no room for argument.

“Do what?”

“Take care a’ this, you’re the one with the medical know-how so you’s gotta tell me what to do.” Blink says. Oh, Mush thinks, he wants to help him. He doesn't think he'll ever get used to the warm feeling that comes with that thought.

“C’mon let’s go to the bathroom, we’ll need to wash it before you can dress it,” Mush grabs some of the medical supplies he’d been using to treat the other boys and hands them to Blink. He’s careful to put his shirt back on, not bothering to button it, but not wanting to to draw any extra attention or worry from the other boys.

They situate themselves as far from the line of sight of others as they can. Mush hops up to sit on one of the counters, winces, and turns so Blink has more access to his back. “Wet a clean rag an’ try to get it soapy, then just try to wipe away the grime n’ stuff. I don’t need to tell ya to be gentle do I?” Mush jokes, trying to quell some of Blink’s worry. Blink only lets out a small chuckle before going about the task silently.

Blink wipes away the blood as hard as he dares, and freezes for just a second every time Mush flinches. Rinses the rag and repeats until his back is as clean as it’s going to get, thankfully there didn’t appear to be any splinters or dirt to deal with. As he’s washing off the cloth he asks “What now?”

“Just gotta dress it, here I’ll show ya,” Mush turns and grabs the bandages. Blink just nods along and does his best to follow Mush’s instructions.

“There, does it hurt any?” Mush twists to check Blink’s work in the mirror, it’s a little sloppy but it’ll do.

“No more than it has all day and I’ve done fine until this point.” Blink frowns at that. He doesn’t like the idea of Mush being in any pain, but there’s little he can do to fix that at the moment.

“Here, put this on,” Blink hands Mush one of his shirts, he must have missed Blink bringing that with them, “Yours is filthy ‘nd since you seem so set on hiding this from the boys this’ll cover it.”

Mush smiles fondly and carefully shrugs on Blink’s shirt, it’s a little on the small side but he can’t complain. It’s kinda nice to wear his boyfriend’s clothes. He starts to button it but Blink bats his hands away and does it for him. He was perfectly capable of doing it himself but he’s not gonna say anything to that effect, Blink standing so close and so obviously displaying affection wasn’t an everyday occurrence.

Blink finishes the last button and looks up to meet Mush’s eyes, breathing soft. Quickly looks around before pressing a quick kiss to Mush’s cheek, then immediately takes a large step back.

Mush’s smile is blinding, “Thanks for looking out for me, Blink.”