Pt2 to this post
'Is something wrong?' Nancy asks, not long after the two of them have taken their familiar spots on the hood of Steve's car. They're basking in what might be the last warm sunlight of the year, looking out over the quarry, at a safe distance from the edge.
It's become a tradition the two of them share, ever since they reconnected back in March. It calms them both, to just sit here and take in the view, no one around but each other. Nancy is one of the few people Steve can share a comfortable silence with: sometimes they sit here quietly for what feels like hours, side by side, listening to music or to nothing but the birds singing around them. But they also have their best conversations here: it's the place where Nancy entrusted him she wanted to break up with Jonathan; it's the place where they talked about their shared past and decided they would always love each other as friends; it's the place where they finally talked about Barbara in a way they couldn't when they were younger. It's where Nancy talked about the ghosts still haunting her and Steve talked about how lonely he sometimes felt.
Steve huffs. 'How did you guess?'
'When you frown, you always do it with your whole face,' Nancy notes. 'So it's hard to miss, really.'
Steve glances at her side profile. There's a serenity to her features that's still relatively new. It means she's healing, slowly learning how to be happy again. It means she stopped waiting for the end of the world and started believing in a real future again. It makes Steve proud of how far they both have come.
'I had a fight with Eddie,' he confesses. 'And with Dustin, I guess.'
'What happened?'
He sighs. 'It's complicated.'
'Wanna tell me about it?'
The look in her eyes is kind and inviting. Steve hesitates. He wants to, but he doesn't know if he can. It's a risk. It's scary.
But he can't imagine Nancy Wheeler ever being careless with his secrets. He can't imagine her judging him, can't imagine her being as small-minded as most people in this town.
He was planning on telling her anyway, because things had been going so well with Eddie lately and – no, he shouldn't think about that right now. But maybe it would actually be nice to talk about it with Nancy.
'So, um...' His throat feels tight and his hands are sweaty. 'I recently discovered some things about myself. I-' The words get stuck somewhere on the way to his mouth, and he clears his throat.
Nancy doesn't push, but only gives him an encouraging nod, waiting for him to find his voice again.
'I found out I like boys,' he finally manages to confess. 'And I need you to know that – that that doesn't mean that what I felt for you wasn't real. It was. I loved you, and now I fell in love with a boy. And-'
'Steve.' Nancy's hand suddenly covers his, causing him to finally jerk his head away from the view over the quarry, to focus on her face again instead.
Her eyes are wide, and she squeezes his hand.
'You don't have to explain yourself to me,' she tells him. 'We're good. But thank you for telling me. For trusting me with this.'
Steve heaves out a relieved sigh, and Nancy smiles; it's that genuine kind of smile which reveals all kinds of dimples and soft lines across her face.
'We might be more similar than you thought,' she tells him, a faint blush spreading over her cheeks.
'Really?' Her words make his breath catch in his throat. He squints at her, trying to see her in this new light. 'Are you saying what I think you're saying?'
She shrugs. 'I don't know. I'm not sure yet,' she admits. 'Still figuring things out.'
'Take your time, there's no rush,' he tells her. 'But...' He bumps his shoulder against hers. 'When you're done figuring it out, talk to me, okay?'
She nods. 'Okay.'
For a while, it's quiet between the two of them. Some kind of raptor circles high above them in the sky. They both follow it with their eyes until it disappears among the tree tops west of the quarry.
'Is it Eddie?'
Steve blinks dumbly a couple of times.
'Wha- what?'
'The guy you were talking about. The one you fell in love with. It's Eddie, isn't it?'
'Jesus, Wheeler, what kind of sorceress are you?' Steve exclaims.
Nancy laughs again. 'You're not being as subtle as you think,' she tells him. 'The two of you have been hooking up for a while now, haven't you?'
Steve huffs dramatically. 'This is unfair. You know everything; I can't even tell you my own secrets anymore!'
'So what happened?' Nancy asks. 'You said you had a fight with him?'
'It's fucking stupid,' he sighs. 'Dustin was getting way too excited about the fact that I was gonna be hanging out with you, so I told him I was seeing someone. Next thing I knew, he was telling Eddie all about how I was seeing a girl.' He waves his hands around to make annoyed air quotations. 'I wanted to tell Eddie it was a misunderstanding, but Dustin was there, so I couldn't out us just like that, and he looked so betrayed and heartbroken... He didn't wanna listen to me.'
Steve sighs; he still can't manage to forget that look in Eddie's eyes when Dustin delivered the big news. 'I wish I would've talked about what I felt for him earlier. I should've been honest when I had the chance, y'know. But I was afraid he wouldn't wanna label what we had, that he wouldn't feel the same way – and now we're in this whole mess. God, he must hate me right now, Nance.'
To his surprise, Nancy gives him an unexpected slap against his arm.
'Ouch, what the hell was that for?!'
'What are you even doing here with me, Steve? You should've gone after him, tell him how you feel!'
'I tried, obviously, but he didn't wanna listen to me!'
'So make him listen! You're in love with him, he obviously feels the same way about you, and you let him leave to wallow in a broken heart he doesn't even need to have!' She rolls her eyes and slides off the car, adding something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like an exasperated 'Boys!' before she pulls Steve off the car as well. 'C'mon, time to get your ass over to the trailer park. Right. Now,' she says through gritted teeth. And, well, Steve knows better than to argue with a determined - and truthfully quite terrifying - Nancy Wheeler.
Read the last part here
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(I only put people on this list who explicitly asked to be tagged. That's really no problem, I love to do that so dw about asking, but I got a lot of relatively vague reactions to the previous post that i'm not gonna dissect and interpret, bc I don't wanna clog anyone's notes unwanted. So just to be clear: i consider it a huge compliment if anyone asks for a tag but please do it clearly if you do!)
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I've given myself heat exhaustion AGAIN (heck, I hope it's only heat exhaustion, rip) and I am not here for it ffs so to make sure y'all know about it, imma share the signs of heat exhaustion!
Heat exhaustion is quite literally your body getting too hot and Exhausting itself to cope. Heatstroke is your body Failing To Cope.
Heat Exhaustion signs include:
You get a headache that Will Not Go Away
You feel confused and dizzy (balance who? Idk her)
You don't feel hungry but you feel sick as well (this sucks and happens a lot in high heat so try and snack regularly)
Sweating and clammy skin like the kind that has people go "you're freezing!" because you've sweated so much you literally end up with a chill on your skin
Cramps. Feckin cramps. Arms. Legs. Stomach. They suck ass.
You have a heckin fast pulse or you're hyperventilating like you've just had a Scare
Your body temp is over 38°c (because you're literally boiling like a lobster in a pot)
You are Beyond Thirsty and no matter what you drink it Does Not Abate
If you end up experiencing any of these symptoms, or multiple, and you're in a hot/warm environment, then sit your ass down in the shade, get something to drink, and get a damp cloth on your head or a change of clothes that are cool.
Basically, stop what you're doing and give your body a chance to Not Keep Boiling
Heat exhaustion is NOT THE SAME as a heatstroke.
Heatstroke is So Much Worse™.
Heatstroke signs include:
Still feeling like utter shite 30 minutes after you sat your ass down, rested in a cool place, and rehydrated
Not actually sweating even though you really do feel like a lobster in a pot that has the heat up High
Your body temp is 40°c+ (which is bad btw, that's temp for causing your to pass out etc)
Hyperventilating/fast breathing or actual shortness of breath (I struggle with this because asthma so I'm always like "idk if I got this oops)
Feeling confused but in a like "I don't know what's going on, I can't think, I have no idea about anything, someone help me please I'm crossing into traffic and don't even realise" way
Having a fit/seizure because your body temp is so high your brain is Actually Getting Boiled In Your Skull 🙃 [upside down smiley emoji]
Passing out and not actually responding or waking up from a brief fainting spell (this is the Serious™ kind of passing out that has doctors going "oh shit, we need an IV STAT!" or whatever it is they say when Shit Is Going Down)
Heatstroke can be really dangerous if it isn't treated quickly so please don't ignore these signs. Right now, I'm in a cool environs, with hydration, and am avoiding moving and am gonna have a nap because I'm going very dizzy, can't focus properly, have a headache, and am only coherent here because I'm HyperFocusing on this post. I can't even understand words being said to me right now hence nap, hydration, and cool environs.
So please, y'all, take care of yourselves. Seriously.
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Leo and Donnie, Treat (also love your works.. i got a prompt at 2am my time IMBI updated, and i woke up in a rush to read it)
Thank you!! A little Leo and Donnie treat for you ^^
Can you tell I didn’t know how to end this one?
No warnings this time
———
Mikey is out with Draxum and Splinter and Raph are out having father-son bonding time and Donnie is in the kitchen getting more coffee which means the sneeze he just heard from the living room has to be Leo.
The initial sneeze is followed by another, then a third and a fourth and a fifth because even with sneezing Leo has to be dramatic.
Donnie stares at his coffee and tries to rationalize. Maybe Leo just breathed some dust - Pizza Supreme knows they haven’t dusted in at least six months. Or maybe he got a tickle from some of Dad’s fur. Or he stared too hard at a light bulb.
Leo coughs, deep and hacking from his chest, followed up with a sniffle, and Donnie sighs and fills his coffee mug.
“Noooo, you can’t be sick,” he says as he walks out. “I’m the only one here to take care of you.”
Leo is sprawled in Splinter’s chair, wearing the hoodie he only wears in the lair in the dead of winter (or when he’s sick) and the fuzzy socks reserved for very cold days (or when he’s sick). He looks Donnie right in the face and says, “Well lucky for you I’m not sick.”
Like a liar.
“Yes you are,” says Donnie, exasperated.
“Prove it.”
“You have a temp of 100.4,” he says, goggles down now.
“I always run hot.”
“No you always run cold, dum-dum.” Donnie flicks the goggles back up, debating getting a mask before he goes any closer. “At least tell me if what you have is contagious.”
Leo sulks down further into the chair, but at least he’s not denying it anymore. “I did a test. It’s just a sinus infection, so, you’re safe.”
Well that’s good for Donnie, but it does not change the fact that Leo is sick. And Donnie is the only one here.
“I’ll make you some tea,” he says, and turns to go back in the kitchen.
“You still don’t have to take care of me,” Leo calls after him, but Donnie ignores him. He’s already going over what he needs.
He sets the tea kettle going, then heads for the train car they’re using as a medbay. They don’t have any antibiotics, so he has his computer search up the ones they need and then hack an order to a local pharmacy, paid for by an insurance company his family definitely doesn’t use. Then he sends a text to Raph asking him to pick it up on the way home.
(Raph texts back a few minutes later asking if they need to come back early, to which Donnie responds with a negative.)
In the meantime he grabs a decongestant and and fever reducer. Then some cough drops, and a box of tissues, because if left to his own devices Leo will be disgusting.
Then he’s off to Leo’s room for his blanket and pillow. When Leo’s sick, he sleeps better in front of the TV.
Finally he goes to their film collection and grabs a few of Leo’s favorite JJs to queue up. Then it’s back to the kitchen for the tea.
When he returns, arms and battleshell appendages laden, Leo is just finishing another coughing fit. He looks up through watery eyes that go wide on seeing Donnie.
“Thought you said you were getting tea,” he says.
“And a few other things.” He hands over the tea and the medicine. “Here.”
Leo takes it without complaint, at least. Donnie hands off his pillow next, then starts up the first movie. The opening refrain of Jupiter Jim Last Trip to the Moon 7 fills the otherwise quiet room.
There is one more thing that makes Leo feel better when he’s sick. If Mikey or Raph were here, Donnie would pass the job off to them, but they aren’t, so it falls to Donnie.
“Scoot over,” he says, matter-of-fact.
Leo looks bemused. And sleepy. Mostly sleepy. “Huh?”
“Scoot. You’re hogging the chair.”
It takes Leo another second, but he catches on. A small smile growing on his face, he shifts over so Donnie can fit next to him, rearranging the pillow so it’s behind both of them and the blanket so it’s draped over all four legs.
Then he reclines the chair a bit and opens his arms without comment.
Immediately Leo has snuggled in against him, head buried under Donnie’s chin. He lets out a long, content (but still very congested) sigh, wiggling a bit to get comfy.
“As soon as my legs fall asleep you’re getting dumped in the floor,” Donnie tells him with no bite.
“Sure, D,” Leo answers, already sounding drowsy.
Donnie does not dump Leo in the floor. Not even when Raph gets home, grinning as he takes a picture.
He can get his revenge for that later.
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