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

[soundmind]

'Course I did, why wouldn't I?

[Having a friend that she can actually share her favorite books with and not get an educational history or a comment about her being a nerd was never a high that wore off. Maka's used to it by now, of course, Kaneki's just one of those once in a blue moon special people that one meets.

But still, it's nice. It's too nice. Nice things didn't usually happen to her. She supposes then the part where he's not human and could violently kill her without being able to control it in his own environment is a trade off.

...Yeah, that sounds right. That's how it was with Crona, too. Kaneki is almost like a spiritual successor to Crona--except his gender is not ambiguous, he very likely was not locked in his mother's basement and abused his entire life, and the thing that comes out of his back doesn't obnoxiously scream about panties.

God, she does not miss Ragnarok. Maka almost prefers the concept of the kagune to Ragnarok.]

I'll just have to put together my own library in Johto, one that's better than this. Then we can share it all the time, without weird dream worlds or going home.

[That's practically a marriage proposal on her end, even if she doesn't intend anything romantic by it. Sharing a whole personal library with another person? It's like moving in together!]

...Hmm, if that's all right with you anyway.

[samsa]

That...that would be amazing, Maka.

[He isn't even thinking about the implications, really. Having something like that in Johto...well, it would be a dream come true, both figuratively and literally. It would be a lot of work, certainly...but it wasn't as if they didn't have the time.]

Probably a little dangerous, though...if there was a library better than this one in Johto, I don't think I'd ever want to leave.

[soundmind]

Haha, that's okay, I'd be right along with you, so we might as well make a house in there too. You can take the bed of books on the right side and I'll take the left.

[Creating a grand library on par with the Academy's will be a task, sure, but hey at least she wouldn't be alone in it.]

[samsa]

That seems fair. Everyone in the rest of the region would be jealous, don't you think?

[More like laughing at how nerdy they are.]

[soundmind]

[That was so earnest it was almost...cute.]

Eh...I think they'd assume we're just moving in together.

[...Sweet Arceus, now the color is coming to her cheeks. She didn't think of the implications very far ahead--shit.]

I--I mean not that it'd be bad, I don't want it to mess up anybody's perception of you.

[samsa]

..Ah...

[...oh. He...hadn't thought of that either. ...not until she brought it up.

U m.]

W-well...a lot of people share houses, don't they? It wouldn't be unique to us, at least...

[But that wouldn't change the fact that, yes, they would be basically moving in together.]

[soundmind]

...Yeah. Nobody would mistake us for a couple, they'd think you cracked finally.

[That...that should be read as a joke, she wanted it to be read as a joke, but it blurs so closely to the truth in her head that it comes out in the flattest tone possible and eyes averted. That is not helpful.]

Y'know, like...we're friends. We've been friends for a while, I'd open up my whole house to all of my friends if I could.

[samsa]

[Even if it was meant to be that, the statement strikes Kaneki oddly. His smile flickers, and he's a bit glad that she isn't looking his way, because he isn't entirely sure what his expression is doing right now. Still, he doesn't comment on it, or call her out on it at all. He just lets it pass, his head tipping down a little so he can look at the book again as he replies.]

O...of course. I think anyone would.

[soundmind]

[Bless him for not--she'd get defensive that it was just a joke, if a very accurate joke that isn't actually a joke at all.]

Well, I dunno, there's some friends I wouldn't. If Black*Star was in Johto, I wouldn't want his dumb ass living with me. He'd just break everything and get in the way.

[Boy, his shoulder is shockingly comfy. It's only the idea of how weird and boring it'd be to fall asleep in a dream that's keeping her from just closing her eyes and decompressing at that moment.]

Ninjas are like that.

[samsa]

Mm...I guess you have a point. Hide means a lot to me, but I don't know how much of a good idea that living with him would be.

[But that's neither here nor there.

As for his shoulder, she's pretty much welcome to continue using it as an impromptu pillow for as long as she'd like. He doesn't seem to be planning on going anywhere any time soon as he carefully flips through the pages of the book.]

Still...living with someone can be nice.

[soundmind]

Living with you would be nice. I'd like it. Traveling with you is the most fun I've had while living in Johto, and the most peaceful too, and you're the reason I started the book club. So...

[Where is she going with this? Ah, dammit, lost the train of thought.]

I dunno. If the idea of people mistaking us for a couple doesn't offend too badly, I would like living with you.

PS sorry my icons suck rn, waiting for hiatus end to get closer before renewing the paid

[samsa]

[He's been trying not to say anything, but he can't help but look over at Maka now as she says that.]

Why do you think I would be offended by that?

[soundmind]

Eh?

[Maka glances up at him in reply. How the heck does she answer that? She doesn't even really know, it's just something she's gotten so used to saying.]

'Cause...uh...I mean, don't you get sick of it sometimes? People assuming that you're dating someone just because you hang out with them a lot? I've never run into anything like that in Death City, so when Rin started jumping on that bandwagon I was really taken aback.

[She was even more taken aback by Rin implying that not just Kaneki would be interested in that with her, but multiple people. That, however, might get this train of thought to go deeper than she wants.]

[samsa]

Well...Hide used to do that all the time.

[He replies, his hand lifting a little to rest against the side of his face.]

It was either that or trying to get me matched with a girl...it was always a little embarrassing.

I guess what I mean is that people can assume what they'd like. It doesn't mean that it's true.

[soundmind]

Oh...I guess...it's different, because you're a boy.

[Liz tried to get "so what guys are you interested in?" conversations going, but very few of the girls ever took her up on it. She never pushed beyond that, she never tried to match make anyone.]

I mean, if it were Soul, he'd say something like..."as if I'd ever be into some unappealing girl like you." Only it'd be a lot ruder, he had no problem insulting me for...uh, everything about me.

[It did what he wanted it to do, anyway, it pissed her off and it kept her from ever really learning anything about him.]

...I kinda underestimate how easygoing you are sometimes.

[samsa]

[Hold on. Back up.]

...he really said that to you?

[soundmind]

Yeah?

[Oh. Right. The part where people that aren't from Death City think that it's fucked up.]

...Yeah, he's an asshole to me. Not all the time, he's just a snob about everything I like and he says no guy with sense would ever want me since I'm just a gloomy bookworm with no sex appeal.

[A pause.]

I mean, it's not like he's the only one. I'd get bullied about that a lot back at home. "Hey look there's tiny tits Albarn, she thinks she's so smart, let's pull up her skirt in front of the class," you know?

[Suddenly it might be a little clearer why Maka's first instinct is to respond with violence in a situation.]

[samsa]

[Gee, he wonders what that makes him, then...]

...that's awful.

[It's all he can manage to say at first, his hand growing still against the book as he looks back over at Maka again. He looks very clearly disturbed by the way she'd been treated, and it shows in the look he's giving her.

Then he looks away again, his cheeks a little red as he mutters.]

Maybe...he's the one with no sense.

[soundmind]

He's pretentious.

[And he's very insecure and doesn't want people getting close to him so they can find out what a loser he is, yadda yadda. Maka doesn't particularly feel like discussing her relationship with Soul and all its...uh, complications. It feels wrong to talk about Soul when he's not even here to give his own perspective.]

It doesn't matter anyway. Being in Johto gave me a new perspective on that stuff, that not every guy is just concerned with how shapely a girl is, and not everyone thinks it's acceptable to treat people a certain way. You, Rin, Twilight, all of my friends, all the people I've met in Johto...you're all so nice. It's weird, but at the same time I like it.

[samsa]

[He knows better than to make too many undue assumptions about Soul, but that doesn't mean he can't express his displeasure at the way he's treated Maka. It's just...not right.]

I know what you mean. Having so many people around who seem to really care...it's different in a good way.

[soundmind]

[She knows. And that's weird to know. All the things she just accepted as part of life weren't right at all. Maka hates describing herself as a victim, but in a lot of respects she was definitely improperly treated.]

It's kinda like you have one big family, doesn't it? Twilight's like my big sister, Rin's like my big brother, you're...

[She trails off. Huh. It's hard to think of a descriptor for Kaneki that fits in family terms.]

[samsa]

...best friend?

[He supplies, realizing a second too late that a best friend doesn't really count as family...at least, not in a technical sense.]

[soundmind]

Heh, yeah, my best friend.

[Probably the best best friend she's ever had, Kaneki's stunt as a ghoul was the first and only time she's cried because of something he's done--and it wasn't really him anyway, it's that she was saddened by the pain he was in.]

Thanks for stickin' with me all this time, even after finding out I'm not that normal.

[samsa]

[Kaneki laughs softly, turning his head so it will rest lightly against Maka's.]

I'm the one who should be thanking you.

[soundmind]

[She hums, a short note of content, lazily closing her eyes as the two rest against each other. This is nice, it's comfortable. She never thought she'd feel this comfortable around anyone, let alone a boy. Let alone a boy that has admitted he needs to cannibalize people to live and can't really control the impulse.

But, Kaneki hasn't actually made her feel uncomfortable in any sense, he hasn't made her feel guarded or like she would get into a big argument at the drop of a hat. Sure, his naivete has driven her a little bonkers, but nobody's perfect. Actually, being around him is about the most like a normal person she's felt in...ever.]

Well, you saved my life when I was trying to save yours, and we stuck with each other through all kinds of crap, so I think we can just call it even.