The Hurt/Comfort Meme

[winterbolt]

Hurt/Comfort - Hurt/comfort is a fan fiction genre that involves the physical pain or emotional distress of one character, who is cared for by another character. The injury, sickness or other kind of hurt allows an exploration of the characters and their relationship.

- Post with Character Name | Series in the subject.
- Others respond.
- Roll 1-10 at RNG for a scene, play it out and have fun!

1. INJURY. You've been injured. Broken bones or bleeding out or maybe just a tiny little papercut. The choice is yours.
2. SICKNESS. You're sick and laid up in bed, at home or in a hospital. The severity is up to you.
3. FEAR/ANXIETY. Something is happening and you're scared beyond belief.
4. LOSS OF SENSES. Sight, touch, taste, hearing, smell, etc. You've lost some important sense or ability and now you're left to deal with it.
5. DESPAIR. Nothing is good or right anymore and you can't shake the depression. Maybe that friend of yours can help though...
6. BREAKUP. You've been dumped. You need someone to comfort you, possibly by the one who dumped you.
7. MAKE UP. Fight or break up, it's time to makeup.
8. RESCUED. You've just been held captive and/or tortured for however long and finally, someone has come to the rescue.
9. BAD ROMANCE. Fight, cheated on, abused, whatever the case is, someone else can clearly see you need comfort from someone who isn't your terrible lover tonight.
10. LOSS. You've experience a loss of some kind and need help getting through it.
11. INSANITY. You're seeing things that aren't really there, hearing voices, or you're just convinced you're at your wit's end finally and you're going to crack. Maybe someone can give you a helping hand.
12. TIRED. You've had a heard life recently and you're just worn too thin to really care anymore. There's no fight left in you anymore. Can someone help change your mind?
13. ADDICTION. Drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, or any other type of addiction has got you in its grasp. First time or relapse. Will someone be able to save you?
14. INSOMNIA. You can't sleep anymore, no matter how hard you try. Maybe someone can give you company.
15. NIGHTMARES. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, you can't sleep without gruesome, horrible nightmares. Either someone is stuck in your dream with you, witnessing it or they're just waking you up, soothing you out of it.
16. BLACKMAIL. You've been caught doing something you shouldn't and you were blackmailed because of it
17. SEPARATION. You're going to be separated for awhile or were separated for a long time. Either make up for lost time or try to spend every last moment together.
18. VIOLATED. You've been violated in some way. Can include sexual overtones or not. Can someone help you through it?
19. STRANDED. You've been stranded somewhere remote, with no help of anyone finding you for awhile. Can you survive this together?
20. SINS You're feeling the weight of your sins and guilt clearer than ever. Can someone give you absolution or lessen the ache any?
21. SECRET. It's difficult having to keep that secret of yours, be it a relationship or something you just don't want to share with anybody else. Maybe it's okay to talk about it now though...

From Bakerstreet

Comments

[amadaman]

[It's been about four hours since Ken turned on his heels and ran away from Kaneda. The sun was already starting to set, and the air around them is growing cooler yet -- it was already pretty cold to begin with, in this forest thick enough that sunlight was limited. The rain that fell on them a couple hours ago wasn't helping things much. It certainly didn't stop Ken from slipping on a wet, moss-covered rock and tumbling a couple dozen feet downhill to the edge of a stream.

It wasn't really either person's idea to get into this situation. Sure, Kaneda was usually the one who suggested their misadventures. Going off the map a little, going over the speed limit by a few miles, getting sidetracked and sneaking them into no-trespassing zones... they were things Ken went along with with no more than an exasperated sigh, anyway. Even the suggestion today to go "check out where this path leads us" as they were passing through the forest wasn't anything particularly crazy. Except they'd gotten lost, their phones were out of range, they were hungry, and it had gotten them both extremely, extremely irritable. He can't even remember what small muttering it was that set which one of them off, but it had been enough. At the end of their shouting match Laneda had said just the right thing to extinguish the anger in the kid... as well as throw a figurative punch to his gut. And Ken had run off with a yell of, "Fine, whatever!" and sped off before anything else could be said.

A few hours, a storm, and a fall that left him with a scraped leg later, Ken curls up on the riverbank and shivers in his rain-damp clothes, damming himself for wanting to cry. This is so stupid, he did he decide to yell at Kaneda like that?]

[rassera]

[Honestly, he can't remember what he said. He was too in the moment at the time, too angry, pushed too far. Words were spoken (yelled), and tensions were more than just high. In the end, Ken had run off, Kaneda only realizing moments too late what exactly he'd done. The anger flickers out like a suffocating flame, replaced now by worry. The things he said now rang clearer in his mind, haunting him as he replayed the conversation, finding ways he could have said things better.

No, he wasn't going to end it like this. Ken had to be somewhere, and he was going to find him.


Wherever he was.

Which is what he had to do first--find him. It's not so easy when it's been raining either, slogging through mud and uneven ground, yelling until his voice had gone hoarse. It's a rough couple of hours until he makes his way to the river, seeing a small body hunched over the riverbed.

One he could recognize a mile away.

He doesn't say anything, walking forward, his boots sloshing through the mud as enough of an indication that he was here. He was tired, he was worried, and he just wanted to go home.


Ken probably more so.]

[amadaman]

[Ken stands out bright as ever in his orange outfit, even with all the mud, against the cold greys and browns of the ground around him. The rain earlier added plenty of water to the river, and it roars past him loudly, but even then he can hear the sound of someone -- Kaneda -- making his way through the mud toward him.

He uncurls from the ball he was in, raising his head and turning toward the sound, and he sees the tiredness coming off of Kaneda in waves. The two of them were alike in certain ways. While Ken was usually more conscious about keeping an anchor on himself, they both got swept away by their emotions easily. His knee hurts -- the disinfectant is going to burn when he cleans it -- and he's cold and hungry and exhausted from their fight and the hours.

He doesn't move as Kaneda approaches, his expression just falling into a sad, little frown.]

[rassera]

[He gives himself a moment, as if his own eyes have to make sure that he's actually there--it wouldn't be the first time he'd imagined something. His fatigue, hunger, anger...they all vanish at once. The pit in the bottom of his stomach finally started to alieviate.

And when his boots do move, his mind's not in control of them. It's automatic, the way he practically scrambles over to the riverbed and drops on his knees--mud be damned as he pulls the kid into his arms, pulling him close to his chest as if he'd slip right through his fingers if he didn't.

His head presses to the others, forehead first so his eyes cast down. ]

Dammit, Ken...

[What does he even say?]

[amadaman]

[It's not until Kaneda's touching him that it sinks in for Ken that he is there. It really is him. His eyes widen as hes pulled into the embrace, muddy face against damp shirt -- they're both cold, but suddenly it feels so much warmer, the press of a forehead against his hair more comforting than he'd ever felt it to be.

He's raising his arms to grasp Kaneda's shirt before he even thinks about it, mouth opening to gasp out,]

Kaneda-san. Kaneda-san, I'm-- I'm sorry.

[rassera]

[It doesn't sink in until Ken's against him either--just how cold he was. You learned to block things out when you were desperate enough. Cold was ignored, pain was forgotten. Only now does it feel that way, everything slowly returning.

Not that it matters. He's too happy to care at this point. If feeling his head press to his chest wasn't enough to convince him that this was real, his voice sure did.

That hand laces through his hair, chest heaving out a sigh of relief.]

Just...you're okay. That's what counts, alright?

[It's hard for Kaneda to admit he's wrong. Pride can be his one fault. But here...]

I'm sorry too.

[amadaman]

I'm fine, I'm fine. Just-- just a cut, really.

[He got cuts a lot. He was an outdoors kid even with his introversion, so he had scrapes here and there usually anyway. The gash on his leg is a little bigger than anything he'd get outside of battles usually, but it's nothing life threatening. And now that Kaneda's here and they aren't alone, it hardly matters at all.]

You don't have to apologize. I ran off.

[rassera]

[Even so, those arms don't drop. They keep hold of him tight, just soaking in that Ken's here. That they can get out of this place. Wherever they were, it had to have a road that led somewhere, and right now...that could be anywhere.

Home, some gas station, a truck stop, anything.]

You're an idiot, you know. [There's no malice in that statement, in fact...he's laughing.] Thinking you could run from me.

[amadaman]

[Somehow, it's that sound. That laughter that rumbles in Kaneda's chest and out of his mouth that does it. The tiny shaking of Ken's body grows more obvious until he can't take it anymore and lets out a small, single hiccuping sound.

He had run away. And this time, unlike the last time, unlike the time before, he was somewhere he couldn't navigate himself. In Iwatodai, he walked himself back to the dorm; in Nonah, he still knew exactly where he was. Here, in this forest, he was alone and he couldn't tell left from right and it had felt so, so lonely.

He didn't know this sort of loneliness could still exist in him.]

Kaneda-san... [it comes out thick, almost whiny, as Ken presses his face into the front of his shirt and holds on tightly.] I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.

[rassera]

He pulls him closer, until he's sure he can feel Ken pressed against his chest. His heart is beating rapidly from the sheer adrenaline rush, and his ears seem to pound from the blood flowing through him.

Ken's sounds are so familiar, reminiscent of another boy who tried to stifle his tears against him. One he missed considerably. But here, he could do something...here he was that person that someone could hold onto and cry and everything would be okay.

His voice is hushed, uttering something in Japanese over and over. It sounds like 'idiot', just a string of 'idiot', masked by laughter as strong arms wrap around him.

He'd found him. And they'd go back together.

A part of him wants to get up, to get out of this mud and take him to a gas station for...something. Food, a bandaid, anything. But right now...he'll give it a few minutes. Soak in the fact that Ken wasn't going anywhere.


A small part of him never believed the opposite.
...
"We're not telling anyone about this, alright?" It's soft, resting his cheek on Ken's hair.

[amadaman]

They've both lost more than enough. They've never really sat down to talk about it; Kaneda knew about Ken's family situation (or lack thereof), and Ken knew enough about Tetsuo. The two of them understood each other enough without disclosing all of the details, so as Kaneda holds him close and whispers weak insults against his hair Ken understands. He was never a leader; he's the youngest of his team; position wise, Kaneda is much closer to Minato, but he understands.

He's so, so glad that Kaneda came to get him, but somewhere, he knew he would.

"Are you kidding?" he responds, still holding tightly on to him. "I'm not telling anyone, they'll never let me live it down."

[rassera]

"You're not kidding! I can hear the lecture now." Not so much for him getting lost, but Ken? The lecture he'd get about losing Ken would be so long he would be able to go out to the bar and drink after.

Because he'd be of legal drinking age.

His grip keeps tight, but he starts to hoist the boy back up onto his feet. Ken was right, they didn't need to tell each other everything to understand. And in some ways, that made them closer. Ken was young, and Kaneda had always been the big brother, the protector.

He did it with Tetsuo, and he would do it with Ken too.

"You hungry?"

Because he sure as hell is.

[amadaman]

"Mm."

Ow, that hurts. The cut on his leg, of course, but apparently everything else hurts, too. He must have landed hard because his back aches as he gets to his feet, and he feels shakier than he expected. Is he hungry?

"Yes," he answers more firmly than he thought he could. His stomach is empty. He wasn't this hungry a few minutes ago; this is what relief must do to a person. Usually he would stubbornly try to stay on his feet, but this time, he lets Kaneda hold him up.

"Do you have something?"

[rassera]

Steady hands keep Ken upright, in case that shaking causes his legs to stop working. Maybe part of it is just to make sure he makes up for the time he wasn't there. The time when Ken GOT that cut.

One hand stays firm on that shoulder as he unclasps that jacket, taking it off and draping it around Ken's shoulders. It was well worn by now, so Kaneda's body heat has soaked into the fabric by now

It's too big for someone like Ken, but that's what was needed right now.

"Think I got something in the pockets. Hi-chew til we get to a gas station."

[amadaman]

Oh, it's warm. Ken catches the jacket with his hands before it could slide off his shoulders, and with the jacket now in place he's dwarfed by it, making himself look smaller than he already is, really. But it's warm, and he doesn't actually hesitate to adjust so he can slide his arms through the too-long sleeves and hooking one of the front buttons closed.

It's warm. Warmer than he has been for hours, and maybe it's a trick of the mind that makes him feel warmer than he usually does in his own jackets.

He ducks his head and shakes his head, though he has to laugh.

"That's not gonna make us any less hungry! But... it's good."