Work Text:
You're sitting on the porch steps smoking a cigarette. As you blow the smoke, you try to make rings. You fail and make oddly shaped plumes of smoke, but as you tilt your head back to do this, you catch sight of the sky. The sky looks as blue as only a sky could, with clouds lazily drifting by. You argued with Murdoc once about whether the clouds could move or not. He was very drunk while you were very high.
It didn't end well.
That's not something you should be thinking about, but you place a hand over your ribs as you remember the bruises he left you. The bruises are long gone, but the memories are not. You don't want to think about this, so you take another drag off your cigarette and focus on really making a ring with the smoke. You fail again. You're always messing up something one way or another. Murdoc has always been the first to point this out. Always grinding his heel, figuratively and literally, against you in annoyance.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It won't happen again," was always tumbling out of your mouth, hoping to placate him. You'd hear a grunt of acknowledgement before he moved his heel off of you. He'd turn around and walk away, leaving you staring as you watched him from the bubblegum pink floor. Your skin was (and is still) so pale and sensitive that any pressure against it left you with a bruise. You were never without bruises.
Why are you thinking of these things? It's sunny out. The day is beautiful. Your phone dings, and your cigarette dangles from your mouth as you use your hands to get it. It's a text from Noodle:
Noodle: 𝚃𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚣. 𝙻𝚎𝚝'𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚘 𝚊 𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚗.
You stare at your phone. For a second, you forgot that you were in another time and not on Plastic Beach. That's right, you're here with Noodle and Russel. You are on the porch steps of a house.
You and Murdoc are getting along. He hasn't laid a hand or heel on you in years.
You smile to yourself, taking in one last drag of your cigarette and, again, trying to blow rings. This time, you accomplish it and grin after blowing the rings out.
You survived.
You are still alive.