forum you can always hit my phone. (one on one, o p e n ! !)

Started September 09, 2019 by Deleted user

tune

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"Everything hurts and I'm dying," Damian called in reply, only half-joking. Every time he so much as breathed it felt like dad was cutting his back open again. "I dunno if I'm ready to get up yet."

"take your time, love. if you need help, just yell." juniper got up to grab damian some more painkiller, hoping that the poor guy would be able to function at some point.

"Not fucking likely," he muttered to himself, even as he yelled "I will!" and shoved himself up onto his elbows, promptly biting down on his arm to keep from screaming. He realized, distantly, that he was trembling. Fucking fantastic, now his back would hurt even more.

((deepest apologies. i have nothing to say for myself.))

juniper shook out two pills, biting the inside of his cheek as he studied the medicine cabinet. we really should get some stronger painkiller. not everyone has our genetic pain tolerance, and i guess damian's going to be my responsibility for a while.

he shut the cabinet. he'd bother magik about that later.

(it's fine, shit happens)

By the time Damian had managed to force himself to his feet, he'd torn open his back again. Blood soaked the bandages and his head felt dizzy and strange. He leaned up against the doorframe, not convinced that he would be able to support himself on his own. "… juniper?' His voice was weak, so he cleared his throat and tried again. It was hoarse, but loud enough to be heard by someone downstairs "Juniper?"

"damian? i'll be right there." he strode quickly over to his door, raising his eyebrows. "you need some assistance, love?"

"I got blood on your sheets," his tone was apologetic, even as pain ripped through him. He was swaying on his feet, unsteady and woozy, and he stumbled forward so he could lean up against Juniper. Upon closer examination, his skin was pale and his eyes were glassy. "I'm sorry."

juniper chuckled, catching him easily.

"no worries, man. blood gets everywhere in this house, we're used to it at this point. that does sound like your bandages need to be changed, through. you don't look so good either."

he walked damian to the couch, setting him down before sitting next to him, handing off a glass of water and the painkillers.

Damian rolled his eyes, leaning on Juniper even once they were both sitting. The touch was nice. It kept his head from feeling like it was about to float right off his neck. He sipped slowly at the water, ignoring the painkillers for now because as soon as he'd stopped moving the pain went from a searing sting to a dull ache. "Yeah, I figured. Getting your back sliced to hell and back'll really take the fight out of you."

"you can say that again. glass is awful. but hey, you can chill for a second, but you're gonna want those painkillers if i'm gonna change your bandages." he tapped damian's arm gently.

"also, dad is gonna have to come back pretty soon. he's been out for a while, and i need to text him about getting stronger drugs, but after he grabs those he'll come back. he's obviously not going to mess with us but i thought i'd let you know that the person that'll be at the door is my dad."

Damian straightened violently when Juniper tapped him, startled by the sudden movement. A hiss forced itself from his clenched teeth and he started to reconsider the painkillers. "Thanks for telling me. Could… um… could you not… touch me like that?"

"absolutely. are we waiting for magik to change bandages, or… let me know what's happening, love." he retracted his hand and patiently let damian lean on him.

he had never had glass in the back before, and couldn't imagine how painful it was. one's back was always moving, the wounds must get pulled open pretty often. to be honest, damian probably needed stitches, but he knew he didn't trust magik to do them. maybe juniper would be able to convince him to go to a doctor.

While the chances of letting Magik fix his back were slim, the chances of convincing him to go to a doctor were nonexistent. Letting a stranger in a strange place touch his back would provoke an outburst or a panic attack, but never anything good. Damian leaned up against Juniper slowly, sighing quietly as he stopped aggravating the wonds on his back. "I don't want him to touch me," he said quietly. "I'd let you do it though. You… you could bring him in to watch, if you have to."

"oh, i know how, i just wanted to know if you wanted stronger painkillers. he doesn't have to be in the room at all. speaking of…" he pulled his phone from his pocket to shoot off the request to magik.

"there. are you good just on ibuprofen?"

Damian nodded stiffly, finally reaching forward to down a few pills. Normally he'd be more careful about taking so many so close together, but today had been… tiring. To say the least. So he swallowed four and prayed it wouldn't make everything else worse. "I'm fine. You don't need to do me any favors, I'll be okay."

"you will most definitely not be. fancy an infection? turn around, bud." juniper raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms.

Damian sighed and turned around as best he could, bent awkwardly over the arm of the couch with his shoulders curling in tight enough to hurt. It stretched some of the cuts closer to his shoulders, sending a new wave of blood into the already soaked bandages. "Can… can you warn me? Um… before you do anything?"

"yeah. i'm gonna start unwrapping the bandages now." thank god the stuff from when they dug the glass out was still on the coffee table. he started gingerly, trying his best to cause as little pain as possible.

Every brush of fingers was a burning wave of pain, a whimper muffled carefully into the couch because Damian understood the necessity of this just as much as he hated it. His breath would hitch occasionally, and he found himself reaching back to clutch at Juniper's thigh. "You can move faster," he lied. "I don't mind."

"uh huh. the hand crushing my thigh says as much. feel free to keep doing that if it helps, i don't care, but we both know this is the fastest this can happen." the first layer came off successfully, and juniper started on the second.

Damian gritted his teeth in annoyance, shoulder blades pinching together and relaxing enough to fall apart as he went from stab of pain to stab of pain. His grip on Juniper only tightened, knuckles startlingly white against his jeans. "Only if you're gonna be a fucking pussy about it."

juniper raised his eyebrows. so that's how this will go down.

"you're the one with the wounds, babe. i'm trying to do this as painlessly as possible, but if you're gonna argue, we can not. i don't advise it."

"I'm not a fucking baby, Juniper!" Damians back tightened with anger and loosened forcibly when the pain raced through him. He was tense now, shaking with the effort it took to keep still and relatively calm. "I can take it. I'm not made of glass, you don't have to treat me like I'll break."

"i know, damian." he said gently. "i know you're experienced with pain. it's pretty obvious. but wouldn't it be nice to be handled gently, just for once?"

he slowly pulled off the remaining bandages.

"damages are meant to be treated with care. and so are you. there's it's done."

Damian shivered at the promise of being handled… gently. It seemed so alien, but it sounded so good. He'd always been treated as a blunt weapon, as an object to be used and banged around and discarded until the next time it was needed. Gentility had never been part of his life and he'd never expected it to. "Thank you, but… I… I'm not…"