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

[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. ]

[talkscrap]

It will heal faster if you take care of it!

[What is this guy's problem?! Flinching at the sight of the nail dragging against the carpet, Aoba decides he's had enough.]

Right... Give me that.

[And he grabs Noiz' ankle to pull the injured foot closer to him. If Noiz is going to act like a kid, he can be treated like a kid.]

[noizless]

[ NOT A KID THANK YOU. Moving on.

Noiz flinches at that. Not the pain, of course, but because Aoba just grabbed his ankle. He's going to try and wrench it free, even resorting to trying to nudge his foot hard against Aoba in the process. He is not having this conversation right now, and it truly is fine ]

Cut it out.

[talkscrap]

[Totally a kid. Erogaki.]

I'm not going to cut it out!

[That said, he does let go of Noiz eventually, more because he's afraid to hurt him worse than he already is than because he's afraid to get hurt himself.]

Fine! You do it, then.

[Have a first aid kit dropped in your lap while Aoba sulks and sits down next to you.]

[noizless]

It doesn't need to be fixed. It'll heal on its own. I'm not doing it.

[ Noiz regards the first aid kit in his lap rather uselessly, shaking his head. He glares over at Aoba, but it isn't vicious or cruel.

It almost looks exhausted, ok. ]

[talkscrap]

Now, listen. You can't just leave injuries untreated!

[Exhausted or not, Aoba doesn't care. One of them is going to bandage that damn toe, whether Noiz likes it or not.

Aoba may or may not have forgotten how they ended up this way in the first place, but give him a moment, it'll come back to him.]

[noizless]

It doesn't matter.

[ Because even if it gets worse, he won't feel it. And things have always healed on their own before. Aoba, you really aren't doing a good job of helping his sleepless night. You're just getting him more wired, more worked up.

More unwillingly exposed. ]

[talkscrap]

Of course it matters!

[He's so close to flipping completely - how can Noiz be so frustrating?! - but he catches himself doing it, takes a deep breath, and tries to be reasonable about this.]

It matters to me. So just... let me do this. Please.

[noizless]

[ Noiz frowns, leans his chin into his palm again, and slowly answers the affirmative. Fine Aoba, fix his foot. He doesn't care.

Likely it'll be a dead giveaway something is up when the disinfectant doesn't even cause a wince on his expression, or a tensing of his body. No, completely stone-still and unmoving. ]

[talkscrap]

[The relief is overwhelming; at least he gets to do something! Taking the first aid kit off Noiz' lap, Aoba puts it on the other side of himself, takes Noiz' leg and and urges him to turn just a little, so Aoba can rest it on his lap. It looks so painful... Aoba warns before applying disinfectant, but Noiz doesn't even flinch.

That's weird... and a little worrying. Could there be more damage than Aoba thought?]

... Doesn't it hurt?

[noizless]

No.

[ It's flat, not at all surprised or concerned, and Noiz doesn't even wiggle his toes. He does shift, though, showing that there are other, now healed, huts and scars on his arms that aren't cared for, either, that are there and yet show no sign of pain. ]

It doesn't. Are you done yet?

[talkscrap]

[It's honestly a little creepy, but mostly worrying. How can Noiz just ignore injuries like that? Biting his lip, Aoba tries not to think too much about it for now, focusing on bandaging the toe as quickly as he can - before Noiz changes his mind about letting him.]

Just a moment... There. That's the best I can do. But if it doesn't hurt, you should really get a doctor to look at it...

[It's a question, really; it's not normal for an injury like that not to hurt - not to mention all the old ones. Just what is going on here?]

[noizless]

[ He almost looks offended at that doctor comment - do you think something is wrong with me aoba he almost wants to snap, and then curl in on himself and shut out the world - but he flinches. normal people feel pain. normal people don't shrug others away and refuse to accept help.

normal people.

not monsters. but aoba is here right now. noiz eyes him for a long moment before he reaches into his sweat pocket and takes out a dull knife - yes, he carries one around with him at all times, just in case. just incase... as a team leader it's a must and he doesn't really trust people to begin with.

he pointedly catches aoba's gaze and gingerly slices a thin line across his fingertips, knowing that normal - not monsters - are most sensitive on their hands on their fingertips. it's only enough to cause marks as small as paper cuts on his fingers, but it's a point he needs to prove. ]

I don't need a doctor. [ he breathes it out, exhausted again, before he sets the knife away. he doesn't want to have to explain it, say it, if he's going to let aoba be privy to this, going to let this selfless idiot in on this, he isn't going to verbally announce it.

it's too shameful. ]

[talkscrap]

[It's too shocking for Aoba to even respond; there's a moment where he thinks that he's finally gone too far, that Noiz is going to threaten him, but... what happens is the opposite, if anything, and Aoba can only stare.]

Why -... Why would you..?

[He doesn't understand; he doesn't understand any of this, but it hurts to see Noiz do that, to see Noiz act like that. It's not that Aoba expects Noiz to avoid doing it for his sake - he certainly doesn't expect Noiz to care about him - but shouldn't Noiz at least care about himself a little?

That question hurts more than thinking about the physical pain, and Aoba can't even figure out what to say in response.]