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Today was a bad day.
Maybe not one of the worst days of his life, but certainly one of the worst while on the show. Which was honestly kind of hard, because most of those days sucked. But hey, at least during none of the challenges (so far) a bookshelf had collapsed on top of him.
If asked, Iceberg Lettuce would not be able to tell how this started. He knew that it had involved Poker Chip and Emerald, and maybe Crystal. Surprisingly no one from the other team.
But it didn’t really matter how it started, not in his opinion, but it did matter how it ended. And it ended with Iceberg protecting Poker Chip from being crushed under a bookshelf, by taking the brunt of the damage.
Which brought them to where they were right now, Emerald and Crystal loudly bickering over what happened all the while Poker Chip profusely tried to apologize to him, slightly panicking while he tried to calm her down.
He wasn’t even mad at her, not really. He was mostly annoyed, and even that wasn’t really directed at her.
It was because during the whole ordeal, one of his legs had gotten stuck under the shelf, which meant that now there was huge bruising running up his lower leg, as well as a nasty scrape on his knee. It didn’t really hurt per say, but it did sting every time he put too much weight on it, mostly making it a pain to walk.
But his leg could wait, at least until he had gotten control of the situation.
Or so he thought.
“Woah, what’s going on over here?”
…
Oh no.
Ohhhh no.
Iceberg froze, just for a moment. Turning to where the voice came from, he saw Starfruit skipping towards them, and with her, that weird feeling started up again. He had deeply hoped that if it hadn’t gone away by now, he would’ve at least gotten used to it. But he hadn’t, and instead of fading into the background it had just gotten stronger. Worse.
Not bad enough that it interfered with his ability to function, or compete in the challenges, but it was still constantly on his mind.
Distantly he noted that Teacup and Diamond were also following Starfruit.
“Oi, you’ve just missed the fun!” Emerald waved them over.
“Definitely looks like fun,” Teacup commented, taking in the destruction. Other than the shelf, there was a previously unbroken table, which used to hold an unbroken vase that wasn’t in pieces on the floor. Used to. “I don’t think the hosts are going to be happy about this,” she pointed out, unhelpfully.
“Well no kidding,” Crystal fired back, hands on her hips, “we’re still trying to figure out what to do. Or well, I am.”
This prompted a somewhat indignant response from Emerald, as well as a guilty look from Poker Chip.
Iceberg on the other hand didn’t feel too bad. Emotionally I mean.
He hadn’t even had time to properly assess the situation, much less help find a solution. Trying to do at least some damage control, he stepped forward to talk.
Just for him to immediately falter the moment he put more weight on his leg. Shit. He winced involuntarily and shifted onto his other foot.
That hurt more than he expected.
As he took a look at his leg he heard a few winces from the others, as well as a snort from Teacup.
And a gasp from Starfruit. Looking up to his friend, he saw that there was a shocked and sympathetic look on her face.
She looked… genuinely distraught.
Iceberg could feel his face get involuntarily warmer and his heartbeat get just the littlest bit quicker.
She just cared so much, and he just didn’t understand why.
“Holy moly! Iceberg, what happened?”
“Nothing ba-” “”A bookshelf fell on top of him!”
He paused, and then angrily squinted at Poker Chip. Ok, now he was annoyed at her.
“What?!” Starfruit shouted and stepped towards him, taking a hold of his hands in an attempt to steady him. She was holding his hands. If Iceberg had even five percent less self control he probably would’ve made a noise that sounded like a dying donkey.
“You shouldn’t even be standing right now, how come no one has looked at this yet?” She paused shortly, before turning to the other three participants and asking in a much harsher tone, “how come no one has looked at this yet?”
It was a surprising change in attitude, throwing everyone else off. It probably would’ve even gotten Iceberg to at least raise an eyebrow if he hadn’t been so preoccupied with the fact that Starfruit was holding his hands! Why was this making him so flustered?!
“Well he’s pretty sturdy mate, I just kinda assumed he was fine-” “Honestly I was already panicking over the fact that he got hurt-” “I, haven’t noticed so far, sorry, but-”
Starfruit interrupted all of them.
“I don’t want to hear your excuse, please.” And wow, she sounded incredibly disappointed.
It effectively shut the three up and caused Teacup to snort, which she quickly tried to cover up as a cough when Starfruit glared at her as well. Diamond, who hadn’t said anything so far, was just silently looking at Iceberg, a… somewhat knowing look on his face. Maybe one of dim realisation, because Iceberg himself still didn’t quite know what was going on yet. At least when he glared at Diamond the other backed off, turning his attention back to everyone else again.
“Look, it doesn’t really matter why it happened or whose fault it is,” Starfruit said, turning her attention back to him, “how about this? You guys go deal with this, get the hosts or the staff or something. I’m going to check Iceberg over, okay?”
And while the others agreed, Iceberg was now the one that wanted to object.
“Ok, there’s no reason for that. It’s not that bad, and it’ll probably go away quickly anyw-”
He cut himself off when he felt her squeeze his hands, and when he looked down at her he felt himself stutter slightly.
The way she was looking at him was just making him feel so… strange. How her eyes were filled with so much- he didn’t know. Admiration, awe, affection?
… love?
Either way, when she spoke to him her voice was so much softer than with the others.
“Hey, injuries like this are pretty common at my work. I’ve had to patch up a lot of bad bruising over the years.” Determination was written all over her. “Just let me handle this.”
…
Honestly, forget about the bruises, she was going to kill him.
Like straight up, whatever his body was doing in response to her was probably just going to do him in before she even had the chance to look him over.
But he couldn’t tell her that. Wouldn’t either.
So instead he simply relented.
“If you say so.”
And that is how he found himself in his room, propped up against his headboard while his leg was supported by a few pillows and Starfruit not far off messing around with some stuff, chattering all the while.
“Elevation is always good, helps a lot with spreading and swelling. Cold usually helps too but I don’t think that is necessary for you,” she gave him a lopsided smile, “you’re already a pretty cool guy after all.”
He huffed, but didn’t respond otherwise. Causing Starfruit to falter.
Damnit.
But before he could salvage the interaction, she already continued on.
“Well, heat can also help, but that’s usually better for the later healing stages. Plus, I don’t actually know how much it would help you specifically.” She laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. “For now it’s best to put some salve on them and wrap everything for support. And plenty of rest!”
“Wouldn’t dream of moving,” Iceberg responded, for once letting a bit of humor seep into his voice. Afterwards, he just quietly watched her work for a bit.
Her hands moved steadily, a lot slower than usual as if more careful. It wasn’t surprising in the face of an injury, but Iceberg had also seen her trip over her own two feet plenty of times, sooo.
“You seem pretty good at this.”
“Thanks,” she replied, “like I said, injuries like this are pretty common in my line of work, so knowing your way around the basics is always helpful. Machinery and heavy metals can be pretty dangerous.”
He hummed as she started to wrap up his leg.
“Makes sense; for me it’s basically the opposite. It’s why I like to keep active in my free time…” He trailed off as a thought crossed his mind. “Though, I thought you said you didn’t keep active?”
“Well, there is a difference between, like, weight lifting and jogging. Being able to lift heavy stuff doesn’t mean my stamina is good,” she answered, then grinned at him, “y’know, I bet I’d be able to lift you.”
That got an actual smile out of Iceberg.
“You think so?”
“Yep!”
“Mortar too?”
“Eh,” she shrugged, “probably not at the same tim-”
Their banter was cut short at that point, as Starfruit accidentally put too much pressure on one of the bruises, causing him to wince. She cut herself off immediately, her smile falling from her face, much to Iceberg’s displeasure.
“Oh! Sorry-” “No, it’s fine, it was an accident,” he quickly reassured her, hoping it would maybe get her to smile again. He still couldn’t pinpoint why exactly, but her happiness just felt important to him.
But it didn’t, and they were plunged into an awkward silence as she finished wrapping his leg.
“Alright, I’m just gonna quickly disinfect the scrape and then we’re done for now, alright?”
“Got it.” Honestly, he had all but forgotten about that one. It wasn’t bad at all, basically just a skinned knee, but if Starfruit wanted to take care of that too he wasn’t about to stop her.
Disinfecting wasn’t too bad, it stung a bit sure, but nothing he couldn’t handle. After that, Starfruit made sure it was clean before applying a band aid and-
“Starfruit?” Iceberg asked, attention on his leg as she turned her focus to him.
“Yeah?”
“Why is this a children’s band aid?”
She looked at him, confused for a second before she looked down at his knee and saw a band aid covered in small cats, realizing what she had done.
“Oh my god! I am so sorry, I usually use those for myself, I mean, I know it’s childish but I like how colorful they are-” her face flushed in embarrassment as she started babbling, her hands flapping in distress.
It was an even starker change in attitude than before, and again one that Iceberg didn’t mean to cause. Acting almost purely on instinct he reached over to his friend, and picked her up into a hug, snapping her out of her spiral.
“I-” he started, wanting to calm her, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, I just wasn’t expecting it.”
He gave her a minute to calm down, holding her all the while, before he set a more calm Starfruit back onto the ground. Her panic was mostly gone, but embarrassment still lingered on her face.
“Are you sure? I can still get you a new one-”
“No no, I really don’t mind. It’s honestly kind of-” Cute. It was really cute, but could he even say that? God, how would she react? “-nice. It fits you at the very least.”
Starfruit finally, finally smiled again, though her face was still quite red for some reason. Hopefully she wasn’t still feeling too embarrassed. After that they fell into a more comfortable silence as Starfruit cleaned up and packed away her stuff, and before long she approached him again.
“Well, I’m done now, so I guess…,” she trailed off for a second, “I guess I’ll leave you alone now.”
She gave him one last little smile before starting to shuffle towards the door.
And Iceberg. Iceberg really didn’t want her to leave. If it had been anyone else he would’ve gladly let them leave but Starfruit? The thought of her leaving just made him feel, he didn’t know. Disappointed?
Pushing through the everlasting buzzing inside his chest, he called out to her.
“You… don’t have to leave.”
Starfruit paused, her hand already on the doorknob.
"Huh? What do you mean?”
Iceberg stuttered, having to suppress a blush of embarrassment before responding.
“Out of everyone here, I really don’t mind your company. If you want to stay you can stay.”
She stood still, looking sceptical.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he reassured, “I… wouldn’t mind learning more about you. Listening to you talk is… nice as well.”
Please please accept that as an answer-
“Well, if you say so.” Starfruit’s face had settled into a more subdued, but also more genuine smile, and she finally left her place by the door to drag a chair over to his bedside. Iceberg had half a mind to just let her sit on the bed with him, but that… probably would’ve been a bit much.
And as the smaller settled next to the bed, a new topic already filling the air, Iceberg relaxed. This was admittedly not ideal.
Not his injury, and neither his… unnecessary feelings.
But he also couldn’t really bring himself to complain. Whatever this was, he honestly enjoyed it, even if it confused him.
Though for now, he’d focus on getting better.
He owed Starfruit that much.