#whumpee

Leo cracks an eye open and the fluorescent lights overhead immediately make him want to close it again. A muted wave of panic cuts through his chest at the sight of his left arm in plaster. That’ll mean being half as useful at work for God knows how long. The cast runs up over his elbow and his fingers sticking out the other end are wrapped in gauze of their own. At least he can move them, blood-ringed fingernails twitching. 

At least his right side— 

Aiden. 

God, who called him? There is no situation that warrants dragging that poor kid into a hospital. Ever. 

He’s sitting in a chair by the curtain that separates Leo from the next patient. Back ramrod straight and knees pulled up to his chest, somehow managing to fit even the toes of his shoes on the plastic seat in front of him from how tightly he’s curled in on himself. He looks hollowed out, trying to disappear. 

A doctor in a white coat rushes past the seam in the curtains at the foot of the bed and Aiden tenses like any minute one of them will tear him out of his chair. His eyes are rimmed with red. 

“Hey, buddy.” 

Aiden jumps, gaze snapping to Leo’s only after he checks that no one has materialized on the other side of the curtain to snatch him. Once he determines the coast is clear, he hurries to close the short distance between them and hover at Leo’s side. 

“Are you—Is…uhm—” 

Another doctor or nurse walks by and Aiden stiffens, glancing back to the gap in the curtains. 

“Hey, look at me.” Leo holds out his good hand and Aiden latches onto it with both of his. His eyes fill and he bites his bottom lip to stop it from trembling. 

Leo resists the urge to demand he name whoever told him to come here. And the subsequent urge to send Aiden packing. Back to the house, back to the version of himself that looks at home most places. He hasn’t looked this haunted in months. Months and months. Leo hates to imagine how many fears and triggers he had to face head on to make it this far, to be sitting at Leo’s bedside. 

“I’m okay,” Leo tells him, squeezing his hands tight. “A little banged up but I’ll be fine. Yeah?” 

Aiden nods, eyes tracing Leo’s face. They settle above his left eyebrow, sticking there long enough that Leo slips his hand free to feel for himself. There’s a bandage, a rough line of stitches raised beneath it. He doesn’t need a mirror to imagine what the rest of his face looks like on that side, Aiden’s crumpling expression tells him it’s bad enough. 

The poor kid lifts a shaking, sleeve-hidden hand to cover his mouth, turning his head away to hide the fact that he’s crying now. Toward the seam in the curtain because he still has to glance that way every few seconds. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” He reaches for Aiden again and this time pulls him down into a one armed hug, ignoring the pinch of the IVs in his arm. Aiden folds over the railing of the bed like he’s boneless to collapse onto Leo’s chest. He muffles a shuddering, wrecked sob against Leo’s shoulder. 

“What if— you could’ve—” He clutches fistfuls of Leo’s hospital gown, can’t even finish voicing the thought and Leo doesn’t want him to. 

“Shhh. Baby, I’m right here.” 

Aiden only sobs again at that so Leo tugs him closer until Aiden concedes and climbs into the bed next to him. The gangly kid tucks his limbs close, trying to make himself as small as possible, and it tugs at Leo’s chest. He can’t remember the last time they did this. Nowadays, an arm around his shoulders on the couch after a frustrating day or a tight hug after a sleepless night is enough to settle him. Leo presses a chaste kiss against the crown of Aiden’s head, hating that he smells more like the tang of fear than of home but he’s already calming down. He even closes his eyes, now that he’s bodily against Leo, and Leo can’t help but feel a rush of warmth at being granted something so precious. 

In a show of typical dumpster fire hospital administration, it feels like more than an hour passes where they’re undisturbed. How his sister can work in this system is beyond Leo. 

Aiden has his head tucked down so that he can press his ear to Leo’s ribcage, right above his heart like it’s not enough for him that Leo is awake—holding him no less—and he actually needs the basest evidence that Leo’s right here and alive. 

“What’s your assessment?” he asks, hoping Aiden can hear the lightness in his tone. 

Aiden lifts his head to look at him anyway. “Good. Steady. It doesn’t…hurt?” 

“No, I feel drugged to the gills though.” 

“Fentanyl,” Aiden says seriously, fluently like he practiced it. He pushes himself up and deftly lowers the railing of the bed so he can swing one leg over the side. The seam of his jeans is suddenly fascinating. He picks at it with both hands at his bent knee. Leo rubs his back, waits for whatever he’s gearing up to say. “Your, uhm, ribs are…bruised. Stitches. On your leg. Your head…”

“Did they say anything about the other driver?” 

He shakes his head. “You might uhm, might have, a, an uhm, a concussion.” His fingers curl into fists on his lap. 

“I don’t feel dizzy or anything,” he says, hoping Aiden takes that as a good sign. The kid is still tense under his hand. “Hon, look at me.” 

His eyes are filmed with tears again but his jaw is set like he’s determined not to let them fall this time. 

“How long have you been here?” 

He shrugs but has to break eye contact to keep selling the indifference that only he’s buying. He pulls his phone out of his back pocket and lays it on his thigh to hide the shaking in his hands. “Six hours.” It comes out a whisper. 

Leo swallows an uncomfortable wave of regret. He doesn’t have to ask if Delia’s working. If she wasn’t she would already be here. “Who called you?” 

“Some guy.” He fumbles trying to slide the phone back into his pants pocket and gives up, dropping it into his hoodie instead. “Delia’s uhm, intern. She was…in surgery.” 

“Well—” 

“Your, your—” He swallows in a way that makes Leo want to ask him if his throat is hurting. “—doctor called her first. She didn’t, didn’t want me to come. She…wanted me to wait. At home.”

“You should have.” 

Aiden frowns at him. 

Leo tries to lift his brows and winces when that tugs the mess on the left side of his face. Thankfully, Aiden is back to watching the opening in the curtains. 

“I tried,” Aiden admits in a small voice, like it’s something to be ashamed of and not exactly what Leo would have preferred. “Delia said you were...okay. But. It was…worse. Alone. W-wondering.” 

Fuck. Of course it was. Leo swallows. “I’m proud of you.” 

Aiden rolls his eyes. “Same as…staying?” 

Leo reaches up to tug his earlobe and Aiden scrunches his face up, all the while leaning into Leo’s hand on his jaw. “Yes. It was going to be hard either way so I’m proud of you either way.”  

Aiden feigns a pout that doesn’t reach the warmth in his eyes. He takes Leo’s hand off his face, considers it in both of his. “I—” 

The curtains part and the sight of blue scrubs and a white coat makes Aiden freeze. 

“Hey, kiddo,” Delia says breezily. She levels Leo with a fierce glare. “You.” 

Leo ignores her poor bedside manner and squeezes Aiden’s hand. He’s not breathing. Not even blinking, like his brain hasn’t caught up yet and his body is just hoping to disappear again. 

Delia clues in immediately and shrugs out of her white coat, tossing it over the foot of the bed and coming to stand in front of Aiden. She lays a hand on his arm and he flinches, reanimating to gasp in a sharp breath and squeeze the shit out of Leo’s hand. 

“Aiden?” Delia chases his gaze, looking into one eye and then the other. “You good?” 

“Yeah,” he says, voice wavering unconvincingly. He clears his throat and tries again. “Yes.”

“Good. So I can focus on killing Leo now.”

“I’m gonna need this back for defense.” He pulls at his hand, fingers starting to throb in Aiden’s death grip. 

Aiden lets go immediately, bringing his hands up to cover his mouth. “Ohshit. Sorry.” 

“You’re good.” 

“You on the other hand,” Delia cuts in. “Christ, Leo.” 

“It’s not like it was my fault.”

“You have a responsibility to both of us to be indestructible. Right, Aiden?” 

He nods adamantly. 

Leo grins. The two most important people in his life, gaining up on him. 

Delia huffs a laugh. “Look at that loopy smile. They aren’t messing around with the drugs here, huh? Let me find out when they’ll discharge you.” She ducks her head out of the curtain and asks someone to page Dr. Thompson. He’ll be down when he has time, ma’am. From the sound of it they didn’t even stop. Delia’s expression is soured when she turns around.  

“Oof. Not your kingdom, huh?” Leo teases. Aiden bites his lips together. 

She glares at Leo and roughly pulls her white coat back on, even digging her stethoscope out of the pocket to drape around her neck. It takes a minute of standing in the gap for her to find a new mark. This time she gets a right away, doctor. Apparently, the white coat is symbol enough. Embroidery naming a completely different hospital across town is just an insignificant detail. 

Aiden smirks. 

“That’s more like it,” she says, dropping into the chair. “You should get some rest, Leo.” 

“Right back at you. How long of a shift did you just come off?” 

“Seventeen hours. I got off early though, as soon as I could scrub out.” She stretches her legs in front of her and crosses her ankles. “I’ll be fine with some coffee. Seriously, close your eyes.” 

Aiden gives him an encouraging, if concerned, nod. 

“Fine, just for a minute…”

Unsurprisingly, given how much the ceiling had been spinning, Leo falls asleep right away.

He doesn’t know if Delia’s summons worked with any speed or at all. When he wakes again, there’s a stranger at his bedside and Aiden and Delia are in full crisis mode. 

Masterlist — Next

@octopus-reactivated @maracujatangerine @nick-pascal @whumpy-writings @cracked-porcelain-princess

@meetmeinhellcroutons @thingsthatgo-whump-inthenight @jo-doe-seeking-inspo @neuro-whump

@wolfeyedwitch @skyhawkwolf @haro-whumps @onlybadendings @vivisectophile

@peachy-panic @fillthedarkvoid @rabass @crystalquartzwhump @dont-touch-my-soup

@mylifeisonthebookshelf @hold-him-down @guachipongo @creetchure @leyswhumpdump

@aseasonwithclarasblog @catawhumpus @magziemakeswhatever @pigeonwhumps @batfacedliar-yetagain

@whumpinthepot @dustypinetree @whump-in-progress @light-me-on-pyre @whumps-and-bumps

@i-eat-worlds @hellodecisionparalysis @heartfullofhoney @alternateminds @taterswhump

@handsinmotion @arobear @dj-subwoofer @deluxewhump @wildliferehabstudent

Hero snorted in contempt. "You're a villain. You don't help anyone for free. So what are your real motives in coming here? Gonna try and get information about Agency from me? You've already made it clear you're not here to kill me. But why?"

Villain gave a half-shrug, refusing to meet her gaze and pretending to be intensely focused on checking her pulse again.

"...That wasn't rhetorical," Hero clipped, and that finally earned her the eye contact. "I want to hear your reasons."

"Let me... get you some food first. Then we can talk." Villain dismissed himself and disappeared into Hero's kitchen, eventually returning with a hot bowl of chicken noodle soup which he set in her lap when she sat up, propped against the back cushions.

Hero eyed him distrustfully, but was too hungry to worry about the food being drugged -- she wolfed it down, and after several days of eating nothing, it was the best thing she'd ever tasted. She set the empty bowl down when she was done, placing her hands in her lap and attentively putting her full focus on Villain, one eyebrow arched in silent demand for answers.

⏪️ Back Next ⏩️

Masterlist

@scoundrelwithboba @lumpofsand @isikedmyself878 @iamheretohurt @fleur-a-whump

@ay5ksal @otterfrost @whumpages-things @togzy @whump-till-ya-jump

@cravesunconditionallove @whumpwritinglover222 @written-in-the-stars135 @neverthelass

@starz8nk @redwinesupanover @whumpisgoodwhumpislife @theforeverdyingperson @whatwhump

@whumplicity @flsh-bone @yougivemewhumperflies @soraksorak @doctorsawyer

@dinobasherr @galactic-worm @harperglitterheart @turtlesnap1 @whumpcave

@seraphmolar @yourlocalurbanlegend222 @hiddencowboybarbarian @thevegetablenoonedaresname @arsonfrogger

@sondersunbeams @stars-hide-our-fires @yellowcatcallshome @pigeonwhumps @rainy-fizzie

@hueningplushie @lazytoshiko @noctemys @ohnowhoops @rebloggingwhumpthatiilike