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"Ow. Shoot!" Axl swore and growled under his breath. Steven looked up from his comic to see Axl limp into the room.
He jumped up and ran to Axl's side. "You alright, dude? Is it your heel?"
"Nah, I... ate it getting off stage and twisted my knee up." Axl cringed and tried to shift more weight off his knee.
"Go sit down, let me help."
"I don't think you can—" Axl gave up when Steven was too far out of the room to hear him. He limped over to the empty equipment box and leaned back against it to let his leg rest.
Steven came back a minute later with ice and a roll of bandages. Axl had no idea where he could've found any of it. "Let me see your leg."
"It's really not that big a deal, you don't have to do anything. I'll walk it off."
"You're gonna hurt yourself. Just let me help you." Steven put the bandages down and got on his knees to ice Axl's leg. "How'd you fall anyway?"
Axl frowned. "Clipped the side of a riser or something."
He sounded annoyed.
"I'm sorry, dude." Steven smiled up at Axl. "That feel better?"
"Mostly, yeah."
"Cool." Steven pulled his shirt up to wipe the little beads of water off Axl's knee. "Stretch your leg out."
Axl flinched, but he listened.
Steven tapped the back of his knee. "Bend it a little. There we go."
He pulled the metal fasteners out of the bandages and started wrapping Axl's knee.
Axl looked surprised when it seemed like Steven actually knew what he was doing. "Where on earth did you learn to do this?"
"I used to do it a lot when I was a kid."
"What, did you also used to lose fights with ledges?"
Steven laughed. "I was a running back when I was a kid. I thought stretching was for wimps, so I got hurt a lot. I was pretty good, though, so I guess it wasn't that big of an issue."
Axl looked surprised. "You played football?"
"No, track. We called ourselves the Running Backs. Track kids are really clever." Steven grinned.
Axl didn't even flinch at the sarcasm. "You never told me."
"It never came up. I don't think I even told Slash, it's history." Steven pinned down the end of the bandage and stood up. "How's that feel?"
Axl flexed his leg and put some weight back on his leg. He took a few shaky steps, then just looked over at Steven, amaze. "Man, that is so much better! What the— Thank you, dude! Wow!"
"Don't mention it."
They both turned when Duff and Slash finally came around the corner.
"Oh, shoot, you're standing!" Slash joked.
"Yeah, looked you were gonna be outta commission for a while after that one. I thought we were gonna have to amputate!"
"You think I won't come over there and whup you both?"
Slash and Duff looked at each other and smiled. Slash stared in again. "How are you gonna do that? After an accident like that, I'd be surprised if you could walk."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." Slash squared his shoulders and stared back at Axl.
Axl grinned. "Surprise!"
Steven stood back and watched in shock while Axl chased Slash and Duff both down the hall.