VIVEE

divider creds:

Likely tracking who knows how much dirt through your freshly cleaned carpet, you hear him awkwardly stumble his way down your hallway, past your slightly open bedroom door, and make his way towards the bathroom. Could be bad news.

Cool air creeps across your skin as you reluctantly shove your comforter back, blearily reaching up to rub your eyes and swinging your legs off the side of your mattress. You pause at the edge of your bed, listening. Blüdhaven was far from a quiet city; muffled music could be heard down the street, a dog barking a block or two away, and the constant shriek of sirens were an ever-present fixture in the familiar resonance of the city. What concerned you was the sickly silence coming from your tiny bathroom. Definitely bad news. 

Jamming your feet into your fluffy slippers, you lurch your way through the darkness towards the faint light at the end of the hallway. 

“Dick?” you call out croakily. “Are you okay in there?”

You hear the clatter of falling objects as you approach.

“Uh. Yeah. Everything's great! Get back to bed. I’ll be there in a minute.” His voice was airy and high with something latent. “Or, like, maybe five minutes–”

“Dick!” you shriek before clapping your hands over your mouth, remembering your neighbors were probably sleeping. Like you should be.

Dick sat on the tile floor, digging in the cabinet under your sink for the first aid kit. This meant that the first thing you saw, unfortunately, was his back. His suit had been ripped to reveal a nasty gash between his shoulder blades. Though not so horrific by itself, the sheer amount of blood covering the area shocked you. 

“Ohmygod–”

“Please don’t freak out babe–”

“What the hell?” you whisper-yell. You join him on the ground, quickly shuffling closer.

Subtly angling his back away from you, Dick looks at your face, offering an awkward, dimpled grin. “It’s fine. Everything's fine.”

“You’re covered in blood.” you hiss. “You’re actively bleeding out, asshole.”

“It’s fine! Not all of it’s mine anyway. I’m healthy as a horse.” He rolls his shoulders back in an attempt to prove it to you, but he immediately winces as he lets out a weak ‘neigh’. 

Sighing, you snatch the first aid kit out of his hands. “Turn around. Did you really think you could fix this up yourself?” Your shoulders sag. Then you add gently: “Let me help you.”

Slowly, he turns his back towards you again, grinning. “There’s a cloth in there. If you just clean the blood away, you’ll feel better. Probably don’t even have to stitch me up. Did we run out of those butterfly bandages?”

You dig around in the box a bit. “No, looks like we still have… more than enough probably. But next time you’re out, stop by the drug store instead of getting beat up.” You pull out a cloth and reach up to the sink to wet it. “You didn’t want to take a shower first?”

“Thought I might wait for you to join me.” Though you can’t see his face, you can still feel his wink and the wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Ha-ha. Not happening, pal.” You begin wiping the blood away, a muscle twitching on his back as the cold cloth makes contact with his bronze skin. There’s a moment's lull in the conversation as both of you take a quiet moment to listen to each other's breath.

“I have to go back out.” Dick hears your sharp inhale. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me, Dick. I know what you do is important to you. And what’s important to you is important to me too.”

“But…” he prompts.

“But I’m worried about you. I know you can handle the things that are thrown your way, but I just can’t help being uneasy. I don’t like seeing you get hurt.” Your cloth-bearing hand falls to your lap as you’ve finished cleaning the majority of the blood away, revealing the cut to you. It doesn’t look as deep or as intimidating to fix as it did before, but it made your shoulders sag nonetheless. 

He turns towards you slightly, saying your name. “I don’t like seeing you upset. So how about for the rest of the night, I try not to get hurt?”

“That sounds good to me.” you reply, rummaging in the kit for the butterfly bandages. “What about your suit? Can’t have you going out with a giant rip in the back.”

“I’ll put on a spare once the pretty doctor’s done fixing me up. If you’d have given me a minute, I could’ve taken this one off for you.” The playful tone to his voice returned, easing your anxiety slightly. If something terrible was happening, he would be much more serious. His upbeat attitude meant he would make it back home this morning.

You spend a few minutes in comfortable silence as you stick the bandages onto the injury one by one. When you finish, you plant a gentle kiss to a patch of exposed skin above the cut and rest a hand on his shoulder. Dick reaches for your hand and kisses the back of it. Then he turns, pressing a kiss to your lips; quick but full of intention, like the seal to the promise he made you.

“You should go get changed now.” You whisper.

“You should go back to bed.”

He gets up off the cold tiles first with a groan and a stretch, before reaching down to help you up. You didn’t realize until now how much the hard floor caused your legs to ache. The two of you make your way down the hall, hand in hand. Entering your bedroom, Dick turns on a small, dim lamp as you kick off your slippers and plop down on the bed. Quickly stripping and throwing the worn suit to the side, he reaches towards the closet to pull out a fresh one. 

“Good thing we got extras, huh?” Dick jests.

You hum sleepily in response. 

He slips into the fresh suit as your eyelids start to droop. Making his way over to you, he kisses your forehead tenderly. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” You reach for his cheek, rubbing it with your thumb.

“Goodnight.” On his way out, he turns off the lamp, leaving you in darkness. You hear him make his way down the hall towards the living room again. He grabs his abandoned escrima sticks before making his way back out the window, shutting it firmly behind him.

divider creds: @/portdividers @/dxstoeskyvjbess