Work Text:
It happened nearly two weeks ago, but Party still couldn’t walk. In fact, he could barely even stand without one of his friends acting as a crutch.
Jet Star managed to remove the bullet from his leg, stop the bleeding, and prevent infection within an hour of the drac fight, but he couldn’t repair the muscle damage.
He hated being useless. The other Killjoys were carrying out missions and doing important work as usual, while all Party could do was lounge around the backroom of the diner and wait for his leg to heal. He was their leader, he should’ve been out there with them. Not here, being completely and utterly incompetent.
The sun was low in the sky, casting a pink and orange haze over the zones. Jet and Kobra had just left for a supply run, leaving Fun and Party to their own devices.
Fun slumped down on the ratty sofa next to Party, lazily tousling his red hair while leaning into him.
Party felt so guilty that Fun constantly had to hang back from missions just to take care of him, and tried his best to hide the pain he was in, not wanting to burden his boyfriend even more.
Fun could always see through it, though. He saw the way Party winced with every sudden movement. He hated seeing his boyfriend in so much pain, and he would give anything to take it away from him.
”Can I re-wrap your bandages?” Fun gently whispered to Party.
He nodded in reply, watching as the dark-haired man got up off the sofa and gathered various supplies— Bandages, saline, scissors, and tape.
Fun kneeled down at Party’s feet, rolling up the tattered black jeans that he refused to wash.
Party flinched at the sudden touch on his leg, but managed to stay still enough for Fun to cut off the week-old bandages with ease.
Fun looked up at Party before cleaning the wound, “This is gonna sting, okay?”
Party swallowed the subtle fear rising in his throat and nodded his head. If he couldn’t handle a little saline, then he wasn’t the man he thought he was.
He poured some liquid on a clean rag and began dabbing at the wound site, placing gentle kisses on Party’s knee every time he winced.
Party was sweating from the pain by the time Fun had finished.
He put away the supplies and got rid of the dirty bandages before sitting back down on the sofa.
Fun gently caressed Party’s jawline with his thumb, leaning in to place a kiss on his forehead.
”You okay?” Fun softly asked.
”Not really,” Party admitted.
”Whats wrong? Does your leg still hurt, cause i can go get ice and-“
”No, no, it’s not that. I mean, it is, but it’s not what i’m talking about.”
Fun shot him a confused look, slightly tilting his head.
Party sighed, “I just- I hate being stuck here. I should be out there with you guys, raiding BLI bases and doing important shit, not sitting around here being useless.”
“What? Party, you are not useless. You’re just injured, and thats not your fault. Remember that winter when I got pneumonia? Was I useless then?”
”No, of course not.” He hastily replied.
”Exactly. So if I wasn’t useless then, you definitely aren’t useless now, okay?” His tone was gentle, yet firm.
Party gave no response, just leaned in to Fun’s shoulder, burying his head in his black hair.
Fun ran gentle fingers through Party’s hair, whispering soft praises for his bravery with the bandages earlier. He rubbed his hand across his back and held him tight.
Back when Party got shot, Fun thought he lost him. He had collapsed on the ground in the middle of a fight, bleeding all over the sandy orange ground. Every time he remembered that moment, he got a chill up his spine. The thought of losing Party was unbearable.
The sun had disappeared now, and the blazing heat of the day was finally starting to cool. All that could be heard was the chirping of crickets and a subtle breeze through the wind chime.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was home.