The "Take Care" Meme

[promenades]

The "Take Care" Meme
a shipping meme

Life is hard. You can go through rough patches and over bumps, and sometimes it feels as though you're definitely worse for the wear, both physically and mentally. It's nice to have someone - someone more than a friend - there for you in those times...even if you don't think you want them or deserve them. But they're here, and they'll take care of you.

How to Play:
* This is a shipping meme for more tender, soft moments, but a little more serious than your usual "fluff." It's for people who've been broken down by their experience and those who wish to heal them.
* Comment with your character/your preferences. You may also want to specify whether your character will be the one "cared for" or the one doing the "caring" + pertinent information, but for most effectiveness, it's best to be open to both.
* Comment around.


Prompts
1. Know You've Been Hurt By Someone Else: There are scars left on their heart from a past relationship or fling, and you have to let them know you're not the same way.
2. Can Tell By the Way You Carry Yourself: The person you have feelings for is one of those "cold stone wall" types who pushes people away. Can you get past that?
3. I've Asked About You: You've only heard bad things about this person, but you don't believe it.
4. What's a Life with No Fun: Lighten up a bit! You'd do anything to bring a smile to their face.
5. Please Don't Be So Ashamed: You have a big, BIG secret you don't want the other person to find out about, because surely they wouldn't want to even be near you if they did.
6. I've Had Mine, You've Had Yours: You've both had problems, and it could help to compare wounds so they can begin to heal.
7. Those Lies Heal: Protecting your loved one is more important that the truth, isn't it? It's a lie, but there are good intentions here.
8. You Can't Sleep: Because of past trauma, you're having a sleepless night. Luckily, this time you have somebody to help you and give you some comfort.
9. You Cry Still: The obligatory "seeing your significant other/love cry over something and wanting to make them stop at any cost" option.
10. All Get a Little Taste: Your loved one is sick or injured - literally this time - and you're looking out for them and trying to get them better.
11. You Just Don't Know: Either through magic, torture, or blunt trauma to the head, your special person can't remember you! It's up to you to get them to remember what was between you two by showing all the ways you cared for each other.
12. I Give Her Space: Part of being a careful lover is knowing when you need to leave them alone.
13. Tryna Run from That: Uh-oh, you don't want to fall in love, because you've been there, done that! Maybe there's still time to escape from this...or maybe it's too late.
14. I Will Care for You: After a particularly rough day, you're need a little TLC. Your loved one is going to do everything for you - a bath, food, the works.
15. All the Baggage Just Ain't as Heavy: You know it will take a while for this person to mend psychologically and spiritually, and you're willing to wait.
16. Change the Pace: And the smut option. Show you care through sex.
17. We'll Just Go Slow: You're going to take things one step at a time. No need to rush and define things. Just enjoy each other's company and the healing it brings.
18. We All Have Our Nights: Your lover, because of their past experience, is having a complete breakdown. You have to bring them back from the edge.
19. You Don't Say You Love Me: You both know how you feel, but one of you is having problems saying the four letter word. That's okay, though. Your lover understands.
20. To Save You: After months or years, you've both worked on the problems and old scars and you might just be ready to start something resembling a normal love.
21. CHOOSE SOMETHING ELSE

Comments

8 .... ?!... ?!

[noizless]

[ It's pathetic, really, that he can't get to sleep. Even more pathetic that when he goes to get a glass of water at a riduclous hour in the morning, holding his head because yeah he still feels headaches ... Aoba is still up messing around with his Coil or something. Or maybe he just woke up from the night before and is waking up for the day? Either way, Noiz's brows furrow and he tries to remain quiet and uncaring, his eyes heavy as he slips across the floor to get that water. Good god don't let the defenseless-hero spot him. ]

8D .... !!

[talkscrap]

[Aoba is still up, as it happens; having taken a nap far too late in the evening, he's only just considering going to bed. Hanging on a couch, he's really only playing a dumb game on his Coil to pass the time, and he's fully intending to go to bed when he finishes this level, but... Well, it's not so absorbing a game that he doesn't notice Noiz.]

Hey! Up already? [Wait - didn't he just go to bed a few hours ago?]

hello aoba *a*

[noizless]

[ Caught. Caught so red-handed. Noiz stiffens, hands in his pockets, back to Aoba. Damn it, why did he have to see him. ]

...Couldn't sleep. [ He says it stiffly, avoiding Aoba's gaze at all costs as he moves again to the kitchen, as if to save some face. ]

yo! XD

[talkscrap]

[Couldn't... sleep? It's not something Aoba would have expected from Noiz of all people, though he's not sure why. With a few quick touches to his Coil, he saves and closes the game he was playing (well, it really wasn't all that interesting), and goes to the kitchen, following Noiz.]

... Too much on your mind?

[It's said very carefully, as if the very tone might make Noiz more likely to snap than he already is.]

[noizless]

[ He's actually very close to the verge of snapping and being standoffish, entire body language screaming tenseness. He fills the glass up with water and takes a long sip before uttering a slightly breathy: ] Yeah.

[ Even his tone betrays him. He's been thinking so much, about such troubling times and thoughts, that he's almost out of breath. Couple that with exhaustion, and it's a bit hard. ]

[talkscrap]

[Snapping may well be inevitable; it's Noiz, after all, and Aoba can't say he's not prepared for just about anything around that guy. But Aoba isn't about to drop the topic. He's curious, and he cares.

How can he do this right...? As tempting as it is to ask what's troubling Noiz, that kind of invasion of privacy might be pushing it. Maybe later, but...]

Do you want to... watch a movie together? Take your mind off things.

[Number one therapist award goes to Seragaki Aoba! Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.]

[noizless]

[ ... a movie.

Noiz had expected the usual prying and insistence that comes with Aoba, and he almost can't blame the guy because that's just how selfless and annoying he naturally is. But this? This is unexpected and Noiz has to bite back a laugh at how absurd the offer is. Really, Aoba?

He takes another sip of water. There's a heaviness in his chest that pulses, threatening to climb up into his throat. ... Does he really want to reject it? Go back to his room? Alone....?

He sets the water back down. ]

I doubt you have good taste in cinema. [ He moves away from the glass but goes over to the couch. He isn't leaving. He's accepting, just too proud to say yes aloud. ]

[talkscrap]

[When Noiz walks away, Aoba expects the worst, and he's really not sure if he should go after the guy yet again. But then Noiz plops down on the couch, and Aoba has to try not to grin too much. Victory~!]

Fine, fine... So you pick something.

[He's far too relieved to be any kind of offended, settling on the couch next to Noiz.]

[noizless]

[ Noiz settles back on the couch some more, reaching for the remote. Now that there's decent light, it's easy to tell he isn't wearing his flashy black-and-green schemed Rhyme clothes he usually does. Even his All-Mate cubes are back in the other room. He's wearing a simple grey-shirt and very light grey sweats, with the only color being a small strip of green down the sides of the sweats. His hat isn't on, either, and his hair is messy from having trying to sleep earlier. ]

It's late. Only infomercials are on. [ He frowns. ]

[talkscrap]

Well, it is pretty late.

[Still, Aoba isn't moving. It's sort of nice, being together, even if there's nothing on, right? Right.

But it's painfully obvious that Noiz doesn't feel that way - or that's how it seems to Aoba. The guy's got so many walls around him, it almost physically hurts to try to get through to him - but Aoba can't just let him be unhappy, either. The fact that he's unhappy at all is -... Well, it's got to be pretty bad if he even admitted it.

Which is why, after trying to give it another minute or two, Aoba will ever so gently try to broach the topic anyway.]

So... What was keeping you up, anyway?

[noizless]

[ Aoba, things were going so well until you brought that up. He wants to ask, does it matter, what are you getting out of it, but he knows Aoba's answers already. Such a selfless idiot that just wants to help people for no reason. Has the heads of Ruff Rabbit and Dry Juice and Beni-Shigure eating out of his hands. And that stupid voice of his.... ]

Thoughts. [ He's keeping it very vague, moving to drag his hand back through his short hair. At least it's dark so Aoba can't fully see his expressions. Right??? ] Why?

[talkscrap]

Even if you ask 'why' -...

[It doesn't work that way. Because he wants to know; because he wants to help. But admitting to either of those things won't help his case - not with Noiz.

A deep breath, and Aoba tries again.]

It can help to talk about it. To stop thinking about the same things in the same way.

[noizless]

[ Noiz eyes him out of the corner of his gaze. Ah yes, it's just like Aoba to combat his question with something like that. Noiz heaves a louder sigh and he flicks his gaze fully back to the other. ]

I was thinking about being back home, in Germany. [ He frowns. ] It's nothing.

[talkscrap]

Germany?!

[Why this is a surprise, with Noiz as blond as he is, is anyone's guess - but then, it's not like he has even a trace of an accent. Of course, if he's come from so far, thinking about home might well keep him up.]

... Do you miss it?

[He shoots, he -... fails miserably.]

[noizless]

[ ... Aoba, you have the worst choice of questions. Ever. That's it. It's done. It's over. Everyone leave.

Noiz tenses up at the words 'miss' and he scoffs before he can steel his expression into indifference. Miss it? He hated what he went through. His knuckles tighten so much that the piercings there nudge together. ]

Of course I don't miss it [ He says it bitterly, glaring down at his knuckles with a hot stare. He really shouldn't even be telling Aoba any of this.... ]

[talkscrap]

[Oh, crap... Aoba sure missed the boat on that one.]

Sorry. [That much is easy enough to say; Aoba feels bad about making Noiz more upset, even if he had no way of knowing.] You never told me about your home...

[A not-so-subtle hint that now is as good a time as any to change that? Maybe.]

[noizless]

Why would I have? [ Notice that it is in the past tense, Aoba. Past tense. Small victories, right?

Noiz shakes his head, scoffing again before he reaches up to rub at his forehead. It doesn't do much. The dull throbbing in his head isn't even felt by a massage to his temples. This all sucks. He should be used to it. Asking 'why do you want to know' is a moot point, as ever.

Noiz frowns. What's with this guy... ]

I moved here to get away from it. That's all. End of story.

[talkscrap]

That bad, huh?

[If the words are light, his tone of voice is not. The idea that Noiz - Noiz of all people! - would run away from something is -... It's almost a little scary, really. Noiz isn't the type of person who is easily scared, and he always seems like he can put up with just about anything. Just how terrible must things have been?]

Sorry to hear that... Everybody needs a loving home.

[Aoba knows the value of that better than most.]

[noizless]

[ He's going to snap, 'what do you know about it', but the fact that Aoba lives with his grandmother should be telling enough. Noiz pinches the bridge of his nose again, mindful of his many piercings, before he finally looks Aoba's way. ]

Right. [ He gets up to grab his glass of water, needing to down it, and ends up jamming his toe agains the couch. It makes a loud 'thud', possibly enough to break the nail down to the flesh, but Noiz doesn't even flinch and continues to the kitchen. ]

[talkscrap]

Hey!

[jkabfjllh Noiz, always so difficult! Aoba barely has time to worry about whether or not Noiz may have hurt himself, before Noiz takes off to the kitchen, and Aoba hurries after him, feeling uncomfortably like a lost puppy, while the infomercials are making their usual annoying noise in the background.]

You can talk about it, you know. Ignoring it clearly isn't -...

[Glancing down at Noiz' toe isn't even deliberate, but Aoba does it anyway, immediately losing his train of thought as his face twists in sympathy pain. That does not look good.]

Ouch...

[noizless]

What?

[ Noiz hears the words and he glances over to Aoba, in the middle of drawing himself another glass of water. Ouch? What is ouch? Did Aoba trip into something again? Noiz is about to make fun of him when he realizes his foot must have jammed against the couch when he was getting up. He had felt the pressure but nothing more and assumed he just nudged it.

A cursory glance down at his own foot confirms. He blinks slowly. That's... not condemning at all, no. ]

[talkscrap]

[Something is very wrong here, but Aoba is so distracted by figuring out what to do that he's not even fully realizing yet that Noiz is... not reacting. At all.]

Your toe! It's -... Hang on, I'll get the first aid kit.

[He's not panicking; he's totally got this. Just... what do you even do about a broken nail like that?! He has no clue. But he's hurriedly digging around in a cupboard to find the first aid kit, all the same.]

Ah, there we go! Sit down, I'll bandage it. [And maybe disinfect? Yeah... Yeah, that sounds like a plan.]

[noizless]

It's fine. [ Noiz shrugs it off, grabs his water, and heads back over to the couch, walking on the damaged toe as if it is nothing. Because it really is.

It's nothing. ] Calm down and sit back down. [ He's frowning over at Aoba. ]

[talkscrap]

It's not fine! [Seriously, it hurts just to look at it; Aoba swears he sees parts of the nail wobbling, disconnected from the flesh. Ouch, ouch, ouch...

So no, he's not sitting down; he'll let Noiz head back to the couch, though, and kneels in front of him with the first aid kit.]

Ahhh, that looks so painful... How can you say it's fine?!

[It's more sulking than a serious question, as yet.]

[noizless]

[ He eyes Aoba's position and mistakes it for something else at first, until he realizes the idiot still has that first aid kit and is mumbling about his toe. Noiz shakes his head, slightly irritated.

He cocks his head to glance down at Aoba, wondering... ] It'll heal by itself. Get up. [ He doesn't even flinch as he shifts on the couch, dragging the nail against the carpet, making it worse. ]