Chapter Text
Heath sat on the couch, living his best life. He had his arm around his girlfriend Mara, who was sleeping soundly on his shoulder. He cherished her so much. She was amazing! They understood each other so well too. Mara shared the stress of being on the front lines. Knowing that if you couldn't defeat the opponent in front of you, your friends would have to deal with it and possibly die. Luckily, he and Coshi could handle just about anything!
Heath loved that about her too. She was incredibly tough. That wasn't just because her powers were so, well, powerful either. They were, but she'd trained so hard to make sure she could fight well with them. It had worked too, seeing her in battle was amazing! It made Heath want to up his own game.
His thoughts of admiration were interrupted by someone coming down the hall. He looked over to see it was Astra, his girlfriend’s girlfriend. For some reason Heath couldn't pinpoint, it looked like she was walking weird.
“Hey Astra,” he called over to her. She looked over at him surprised,
“Oh, hi Heath,” Astra waved at him and there it was, she was standing weird now too. Heath could see why this time, almost all of her weight was in her left leg.
“Are you ok?” Heath asked, already pretty sure he knew the answer.
“Yeah, I'm fine.” Astra replied as if she was confused why he'd even ask.
“Why are you standing weird?” Heath pressed. Astra rolled her eyes,
“Because I feel like it, is that a crime?”
“Well no, but-”
“Great, now, I don't want to wake Mara up, so can we be quiet now?” Astra snapped. Heath glanced down at Mara nervously, sighing in relief upon seeing she was still asleep and muttering,
“Yeah, right, sorry,”
“It's fine. Tell her I say hi when she wakes up,” Astra turned to walk away. Heath caught the tiniest glimpse of a wince when she stepped forward. Her leg also didn't seem to carry her properly.
“Astra what happened to your leg?” Heath stopped her.
“Nothing.” Astra insisted way too quickly.
“Astra,” Heath prompted, moving to get up.
“No! Don't-! Ugh, fine! I twisted my ankle while running away earlier,” Astra begrudgingly admitted. Heath looked her up and down for any other injuries, but found none.
“Did you keep running?” Heath asked in shock.
“Of course I did. I didn't want to get caught.” Astra said as though it should've been obvious.
“What, exactly happened?” Heath gently inquired.
“It doesn't matter, I'm fine!” Astra repeated.
“Astra, if you don't tell me what happened, I'll wake Mara up and I guarantee she will baby you for the rest of the day.” Heath threatened. Astra actually growled at him,
“Fine!” She spat,
“A long time ago I gave a symbiote to a friend of mine in D-107. Somewhere along the way, it attached itself to a black dragon. He started wreaking all kinds a havoc, so now the RAS foundation went after him. Long story short, they conscripted me to help then since it's technically my fault, and I ended up being the bait. I twisted my ankle while running away from him, and now they got him all locked up so I came home.” Astra finished explaining and crossed her arms.
“Astra, you should rest your leg,” was Heath's main takeaway from that story.
“Heath, I'll be fine. I'm not going on a mission for at least another couple hours,” Astra grumbled.
“You shouldn't go on another mission for at least the rest of the day.” Heath pointed out,
“Besides, you'll be able to do it better if your not in constant pain.”
“I won't be!” Astra shouted,
“Once the adrenaline wears off, I'll get used to the pain. I always have. And I bet it's going to be a hell of a lot easier than fighting with broken ribs.”
“Mm, what's going on?” Mara murmured sleepily, their fighting having woken her up.
“Oh, did we wake you up? Sorry sweetie, it's just that your girlfriend broke her leg and is refusing to rest it.” Heath answered, glaring at Astra. That fully woke Mara up immediately,
“What?!”
“I twisted my ankle, and that was just what Jerry said, he's dramatic, it's probably more of a sprain,” Astra downplayed. Mara darted over to her in a blur of purple,
“You shouldn't be walking on that!” Mara exclaimed, looking worriedly down at Astra's ankle.
“Thank you,” Heath activated his powers and dashed over to their sides.
“Guys, I'm telling you it's not that ba- Hey!” Astra yelped as Heath scooped her up into a bridal carry.
“Now you're going to rest that leg. No more arguing.” Heath decided. Astra looked back and forth between Heath and Mara.
“Fine.” Astra grumbled, realizing there was no escape. Heath grinned smugly as he started walking. Now he could finally get Astra some proper care for her leg.