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“OOOOOWWWWW!!”
Stepford whined dramatically, tearing up again as Farya examined his very smashed nose. You were trying to deal with the aftermath of an accidental disaster in the workout room. Dunk threw a basketball at you, assuming you’d catch it. But it flew at you with such force and speed that you instinctively ducked, and the ball went crashing into the trophy shelf behind you.
In the physical world, the ball hit the golden trophy cup, it fell off the shelf, bounced off one of the treadmill handles, and then landed so hard onto the floor it left a small dent.
Which translated to Stepford taking the basketball to the face, knocking him and Shelley off balance, Shelley falling over onto Stepford making him also fall, Stepford bumping into Kristof, Kristof barely reacting, and Stepford landing face first onto the floor.
Stepford had immediately let out a shriek of pain and clutched his nose. Shelley started having an anxiety attack over how her biggest fear actually happened. Seeing Stepford actually sobbing from the intense pain wasn’t helping, so you carefully ushered her into the bedroom to do some deep breathing away from the chaos. Kristof was more or less unaffected. When you asked if he was hurt from Stepford falling onto him, the viking-like man responded with a laugh so powerful that it scared away the birds perched on the windowsill. (“Hey!! We were having a deep conversation!” cried an annoyed Wyndolyn.)
“You think tiny little cup man could harm this titanium body? HAH! I find this funny!” He had scoffed, with an assured flex of his giant build to prove his point. It was safe to say that neither his body nor ego had been bruised. Stepford on the other hand was still sobbing on the floor as the pain throbbed.
Dunk ran to get some ice for Stepford’s face, while you went downstairs to get the first aid kit and ask Farya for help. Farya was ecstatic to hear an honest-to-God injury had happened. Stepford had recoiled a bit at the manic glint in Farya’s eyes when she entered the room. It looked like one Dr. Frankenstein might’ve had before flipping the switch to bring his creature to life. But she was insistent, and the only one in the house with bandages. She was a little too enthusiastic when examining Stepford’s crushed nose, and made creepily giddy sounds as she turned his chin in her hand to look at it from all angles.
“Alrighty Stepford, I need to see if the bones in your nose are out of alignment. So lemme just-“
She gave it a poke, and Stepford cried out in pain once again. A little drop of what you assumed to be his blood dripped out, but to your surprise it looked more like gold glitter glue.
“OW!! Stahp, dohn toch it!!” He cried, sounding like he was having the worst cold of his life.
“Oh my goodness, stop being such a cry baby!” Farya groaned. She reached for his face again, but Stepford leaned away and started pushing her away. The sight made you think of two kids annoying each other in the back of a car during a road trip.
“Noooo! Mayke ‘er STAHP! I doh wahn ‘er tohchin me!” Stepford cried, looking at you with big wet puppy eyes hoping you’ll save him.
“It’s fine Stepford! I’m a doctor!” Farya insisted.
“Noh yor not!”
“I’m ALMOST a doctor.”
“Noh, yor NOT!”
“Okay fine, I’m almost on my way to becoming a doctor. In any case I’m the only one with any knowledge on how to treat this!”
“Actually…I’m first aid certified.” You said, a little too quietly but still audible.
The two of them froze and looked at you in surprise. Farya looked incredulous, while Stepford had a glint of hope in his eyes as he looked at you like you were going to be his savior.
“What? I like to be prepared! And a friend needed to get certified for work reasons, but she didn’t want to go alone so I went with her. Farya you should know this, I keep my card in your bag!” You defended.
“Oh! That’s legitimate? I just assumed you found a picture online and printed it out.”
“Wha-NO! Is it really that hard to believe I know how to be helpful sometimes?”
Before anyone could answer (much to their relief) the moment was interrupted by the sound of Dunk rushing back into the room at full speed.
“I got some frozen peas from Freddy! I hope that’s alright. He said that he knew you were never going to eat them, so they might as well be used for this. Again, I’m so sorry Stepford!”
Poor Dunk had apologized several times already to everyone in the gym, feeling absolutely awful that in his enthusiasm someone got hurt. Dunk was all about sports and exercise being fun for everyone, so in a way this was the worst thing that could have happened to him, Shelley, and Stepford.
Dunk handed you the bag of frozen peas. Then Kristof gave Dunk a congratulatory slap on the back.
“Stop with the sad face Duncan, and be proud! Your first real act of violence was not only brutal, but comical!” He laughed proudly, which only made Dunk feel worse.
You opened your mouth to try and say something comforting to Dunk, but Farya had taken the distraction to grab Stepford’s face again.
“Okay Stepford, let’s keep your blood IN your body. So tilt your head back and-“ Farya continued, starting to push his chin up.
“Nope! No no no, don’t do that! You could choke on your own blood!” You piped in quickly, gently removing Farya’s hands from Stepford’s chin.
“…OH. Oh yeah, no that’s right that would definitely happen. Sorry, I keep getting that one backwards.” Farya admitted, a little embarrassed but pride still intact.
You found some gauze in the first aid kit and gave it to Stepford to hold by his nostrils as he tilted his head downward. The poor man said nothing, resigned to doing whatever these semi-competent people told him to do.
“Right…well if you guys are set, then I’m going to check in on Shelley.” Dunk excused himself, genuinely worried about Shelley as well. Kristof went back to not caring about the situation and strode to his own corner of the gym.
“Are you sure you’re not suffering from anything else Stepford? Maybe a concussion?” Her voice noticeably lilted towards the end, unable to hide her hopefulness.
“I dohn think so? Whah do dose fee’ like?”
“He’s forgetting things!!” Her eyes lit up, as instant regret filled Stepford’s.
“Farya, I think we’re covered here.” You chimed in to Stepford’s rescue. “Could you please help Dunk check on Shelley? She’s not that great at handling her anxiety even during the best of times, and this really upset her.”
“Ohh…okay fine.” Farya resigned and exited towards the bedroom.
You could practically hear Stepford’s whole body unclench once she was gone.
“Okay, let’s finally get some ice on that.” You very gently placed a small corner of the frozen peas against Stepford’s nose, and he flinched in pain. He teared up again. Even his tears were gold, glittering like drops of champagne at the corners of his eyes.
“I’m sorry! I swear this will help. Want me to wrap it in a towel?”
“Ih duhsnt mahtur.” He cried. “Ahm wuined. Mah face ez bwoken and Ahm ughee!”
“Nooo, you’re not ruined or ugly Stepford!” You tried to reassure as you carefully placed the bag back onto his face. He winced at first, but bit by bit let you apply more until it covered his whole nose.
“I am!” He insisted, trying to tough it through as the cold seemed to bite at his skin. “Ahm nofing now! Ahm nefar goin’ to be gud enoff to cahmpete OR be preshented as a trowfy! Cuz who wud wahnt a busted trowfy?? Wha iff Ahm like dis forefer??”
You weren’t sure how to reassure him, as you also weren’t sure how healing was supposed to work here. If he was human you’d be more confident in his nose eventually going back to normal, but looking at the dented trophy cup made you unsure. You remembered Daisuke recovering from one of his plates being chipped, you hoped that could still happen here. But you weren’t exactly an expert. Maybe Farya should have stayed…
“Aw Stepford-“
“I jus…I wowrk sho hawrd to do mah jawb right!” There was a little crack in his voice, as more tears poured down his cheeks. “No one likes me fo’ me othderwise! They jus know me as da pwetty golhd tropy guy! Ahm suhposed to be perfect an’ pwetty! An’ if Ahm naht perfect, then why else wud anyone wan to be awound me?”
As garbled as they were, his words made you pause. A trophy was a moment of glory when you received it, it represented a personal victory, and then spent the rest of its existence looking pretty enough to take you back to that moment. You could see now why a dent like this was more devastating to him than you realized. It didn’t just hurt his face, it hurt his purpose.
Realizing that made your heart ache, and suddenly you just wanted to hold him. There were times when you sorta envied the dateables in your house. They all had a clear purpose that they were all more or less happy with. Beverly made drinks, Kopi made coffee, Cam took care of your trash, Keyes was a master of the piano, Koa provided peace and comfort, and Artt was passionate about all things artful. They didn’t have to spend nearly as much time wondering who they were, what their true passion and what they wanted to be. But you supposed that just made it all the more devastating when something broke or dented like this.
“You’re not just pretty Stepford.” You said in a softer voice. “You’re also sweet. You’ve been sweet to me ever since we met, when I really needed a friend. And you have this confidence I really admire. When I see you loving yourself and being happy just to be you, it makes me happy too. It kinda inspires me actually…”
You abruptly stopped yourself. You felt like you revealed too much, and you felt that familiar horrible burn that bloomed in your chest right after being too vulnerable. Your mind started to race with “Why did you say that??” on repeat. But then Stepford looked up, his eyes still wet as they met yours, and you felt your face turn pink.
“Really?” He asked, something careful in his tone. Like he was afraid he heard you wrong.
“...Yeah. Even when you were feeling shitty and wondering what to do next with your life, you were able to find something that you still liked about yourself. And it was never in a completely arrogant way, you just know that you’re allowed to like yourself. I’ve kinda envied that about you, you make it look so easy.”
Stepford’s eyes widened while you stopped yourself again, feeling like you were about to make this about you while Stepford was the one having a crisis.
“But! That’s not the issue right now! Let’s see if your nose has stopped bleeding.” You said before Stepford could say anything.
You lifted the bag of peas off his face as he cautiously pulled away the now gold and glitter stained gauze from his nostrils.
“Oh hey, it actually doesn’t look as bad as I thought it was! And the bleeding looks like it’s stopped, so that’s a good sign!” You observed, and Stepford let out a little sigh of relief. “But I’m still a little worried about it being misaligned. Farya wasn’t actually able to confirm if it was or not.”
Stepford’s expression went from relieved to more like a puppy during a thunderstorm, scared but adorably vulnerable.
“If I promise to be reallllyyy careful, will you let me touch it? Not a lot, just to feel if something is off.” You pleaded.
“...okay.” He conceded.
With as light of a touch as you could manage, you carefully traced the bridge of his nose. Treating it more delicately than you would a thin sheet of glass, as you felt for bumps or anything irregular. Stepford’s breath stopped as soon as your fingertips made contact, perhaps bracing for the pain. Or perhaps because it was you touching him.
“Everything seems to be okay. I’d still double check with Farya. Or you know, an actual doctor.” You informed him with a little smile.
“Okay,” Stepford started, his voice finally clearing up. “Though if you don’t mind me saying, I think I’d still prefer you. You definitely have better bedside manner.”
You let yourself laugh a little at that. Your eyes wandered to the actual trophy cup on the floor, and were surprised to see the dent had vanished!
“How-?” You started.
“Don’t think too hard about it.” Stepford insisted.
“But like-?? Let’s say my computer gets a virus, do I call for tech support or could I just give Mac some chicken soup?” You asked, half joking but half completely serious as you realized repairing your appliances may have just gotten a lot simpler and cheaper.
“Sorry, you’re asking the wrong guy. ” he admitted a little sheepishly.
“Right, right, I just. The more I hang out with you all the more questions I get!” You laughed, but it didn’t last. “Sorry for dragging my own problems into this earlier. I just-” You started.
“Hey, no one said anything about your problems being…a problem!” He cut in.
“Thanks, but I just didn’t want to take the attention away from you.”
You realized the setup you created the second the words left your mouth. Stepford gave you a cheeky “Really?” kind of look.
“Hun, I’m a trophy. A drop dead gorgeous one at that! I’m literally MADE for attention.”
“Ha, sure. You’re just so popular, that’s why you spend your time with the biggest nerd in the entire house.”
“Well, maybe I like being taken care of by a babe like yourself.”
Stepford flashed his literal award winning smile. The one that was mischievously flirty, yet the most seductive part was how earnest it still felt. His warm amber eyes were half lidded as he looked into yours, drinking in the sight of you. There was a warm gentle blush on his cheeks as he leaned in closer to you.
He knew you thought he was attractive, but also that your heart had been toyed with. You could sense there were moments where he wanted to be more flirty with you, but he didn’t want to push you too much too soon. Perhaps ironically, that consideration and care just made you more attracted to him.
You took out a wet wipe from the first aid kit and held it out for him. “That actually would have worked on me, if it weren’t for the dried blood on your face.”
Immediately turning red (“Wait, how?? His blood is gold!” You thought to yourself) Stepford took the wipe and faced the other way as he quickly cleaned the bloody sparkly mess around his nostrils. You tried your best not to laugh at his expense, especially when you were being serious. You were a sucker for his shiny charms and you knew it, you just didn’t want to kiss someone with glitter and blood caked above their lips. That and a little part of your heart still felt scared to completely give in to a new possible love just yet.
“Did I get all of it??” He asked, genuinely worried about his precious face. You realized maybe that was a little meaner than you meant, what with his earlier fears of being ugly and unloved.
“Yeah, you got it.” You smiled apologetically, feeling like you messed up a literal golden opportunity. You steeled yourself with a quiet breath. “…Does it still hurt?”
“Kinda, yeah.”
You placed a feather light kiss to the tip of his nose. He’d already been blushing, but now you could practically feel the heat radiating off his wide-eyed face. Or maybe it was from yours?
“Awww! Does little baby Steppy need you to kiss his booboos?” A loud mocking voice boomed from the other side of the room.
You groaned. “Go away Kristof!”
The viking laughed as he went back to his workout.
“You know…” Stepford spoke up, his voice a little sly. “Kristof and Shelley are both built like ROCKS. I probably got a bruise or two from bumping into them during my fall. But I’m sure they’d heal faster if they each got a little k-”
You suddenly but playfully smashed the bag of peas back onto his face, muffling the rest of his sentence and blinding him from seeing you blush again.