(closed) december catchall

[entreats]

Who: Ange (entreats), Chizuru (tealeafs), Daniel (miyagimagic) and various others.
What: December shenanigans.
When: During all of December.
Where: Locations vary.

Content Warnings: Bullying, (mild) violence, will edit to add more later.

( starters in the comments! if you want to plot anything with me, feel free to either pm the journal or contact me at queeningsquare, i'm always open to new ideas and threads! )

Comments

[strongroots]

Robby wonders if getting cleaned up means the full works (he thinks he has some spare clothes here for Danny to nick later); he knows it'll probably mean his wounds, Mister LaRusso already trying to care for them once, and he'll have to begrudgingly go along with the man if he doesn't concede under a minimal amount of resistance. He'll give all the plans a mumbling "'kay" for now, though the later offer makes him feel childish, but is he going to fight a dad over his dad-like qualities?

(...even Mister LaRusso is more dad-like than he's ever wanted his own dad to be. Knowing his favourite foods, reminding Robby of what those are, letting him sit here with him like this. None of the gestures or show of affection he's ever thought about - or expected - a dad to give before.

He could probably give in, and rest his head on the man's lap like he used to with his mom long ago, once upon a time, and Mister LaRusso let him. Robby won't, though; he's got Mister LaRusso's omen on his lap, after all, and he's comfortable enough as it is.)

He's happy not to move for now, until whenever Mister LaRusso decides with his adult sense of time when they've had enough. Happy not to do much or anything, and just let himself rest; but Robby does peer out through the cracks of his eyelids, just to see enough what he wants, reaching with his hand on Mister LaRusso's lap over to the man's spare hand.

...because maybe it just feels like he needs to give a little something back, with how much is being offered to Robby, and what is he meant to do? Maybe this is just for him, too, and Robby can't tell himself that it isn't.

But this is enough, and he closes his eyes again, giving the hand a squeeze despite the burn across the skin.

[miyagimagic]

They sit there for a while.

Because Daniel feels Robby needs it, sure. Even without any further words being exchanged for a while, Robby still seems like he could just use this - a physical presence close to him, a sense of time passing without anything attacking them. Knowing he's safe, and that he isn't alone. And it's not like Daniel himself can't use it either, especially when that hand suddenly attaches itself to his own hand.

He's still shaken up from what happened as well, after all. Waking up tied up in a strange place, all the suffering and gore he saw, the fighting, the thought that Robby almost died - it's all so much. It weighs heavily on Daniel's heart, and the presence of the boy he saved so close to him and alive makes up for a lot.

It can't last forever though. Daniel isn't even sure how much time passes before he finally gently nudges Robby back into a seated position without leaning against Daniel. Before he gets out the first aid kid to try and treat both of their wounds as well as he can, guiding the boy into the bathroom so he can clean off some of the blood by himself. Daniel ponders making some food in the meantime, but it's late, and he knows they're both just physically and mentally exhausted. It can wait until breakfast for once. Instead Daniel just uses the time to change his clothes as well, and then to grab the blanket and pillow from the guest room, bringing it over towards the couch once Robby is at least physically a little more patched up and waiting for him there.

"Here," Daniel says, a small smile on his face as he gives the boy the pillow, though he still holds on to the blanket himself. "Go lie down."

.. Is this a little too childish for a kid Robby's age? Definitely. This isn't the sort of thing he'd normally do with Sam either, after all, but.. he does remember a few times, so close after the school fight, when Sam had seemed so tiny and scared and hurt that Daniel couldn't quite help but sit there with her and hold her hand before she fell asleep, just so she knew she wasn't alone.

He won't embarrass Robby with all of that, but he can at least cover a similarly hurt boy with a blanket, right.

[strongroots]

Robby doesn't think about time--in actuality, he starts to drift off, the exhaustion on his mind and person enough to have him be lulled into sleep. It's only with Mister LaRusso's nudging that he stirs, to a rather disagreeable instruction of getting up to get cleaned.

He considers being stubborn and staying sitting where he is, and does hold out until the first urging to get up he's giving after the initial one, but he's still too weak right now to the man to put up any more of a fight. (Ugh.) Robby stays mostly quiet for the rest of the night; he doesn't complain to his face or hands being touched, but if Mister LaRusso considers his stomach, he'll shake his head and say, "--Sleep'll help. I'll clean it tomorrow."

He learned that one from his time in hospital with the busted hands.

It's his only other resistance, as when he's led back to the couch, ...yes, he's not sure why Mister LaRusso is keeping a hold of the blanket, but it's a two-second thing, at most. He sets down the pillow and sits on the couch with his feet on it--half-way to laying, but still sitting up. Because he's not expecting anything else but to be handed over the blanket.

...but if Mister LaRusso insists Robby lay properly, then he won't argue it, even if he doesn't seem sure; he's still in a compliant mood, shifting his body lower, and some thought given about laying on his side. But he'll skip on that for now, with his (thankfully superficial) stomach wound.

[miyagimagic]

Daniel just waits there, still holding the blanket until Robby seems like he's made himself comfortable - or as comfortable as one is going to get while sleeping on a couch with a stomach wound, anyway. (Or after going through a nightmarish scenario.)

It's then that he gives Robby the blanket. Though it's not really giving, as much as Daniel is draping the blanket over the boy here, making sure that he's properly covered up. Tugging the bottom so it's over Robby's feet, making sure it's not hanging too far to either side of him.

It's a little much, perhaps, but Daniel needs to feel like he's at least doing something for Robby here. When there's so much he can't fix, and only so much he can do to make up for anything that happened.

When he's done, he moves his hand to gently move through Robby's hair once.

(That's definitely too dad-like, but-- he feels like Robby's dad in this moment, perhaps stronger than he ever has before. What else is he supposed to be when a boy sought comfort in him so desperately, when Robby trusts him with all this?)

It's only a faint fleeting moment anyway, before the hand is already back at Daniel's side.

"Good night, Robby," he adds then. "If you end up needing anything at all, you know I'm right here."

.. though he thinks he's going to sit outside for a bit longer first. A moment to think about everything by himself, to try to properly calm down, restore balance as far as he possibly could after all this.

He won't linger long - mostly because he figures it's too embarrassing for Robby to say anything in return, so Daniel just gives him a patient smile before moving away from the couch, walking over to go sit out the back.

[strongroots]

He hasn't been treated like this in a long time, that Robby both knows and is confused about what Mister LaRusso is doing. Because this isn't a fussing that people do except for mothers at an age that Robby can barely remember; and even the touch of his hair - gentle as it is - makes him question that assessment of the world.

Is this what other kids get, even at this age? From a present father, a doting mother? There's no time or room to work out any of this in his brain about any of this before Daniel is speaking, Robby's eyes only glancing at the man quickly before looking down.

"...Night," he does say though, even if it's not while looking at Daniel. It's lonelier once the man leaves, but Robby doesn't feel completely so. But if he could be like any kid (a kid with his mom, just like she'd do when he was ill and young), he wishes he could be one falling asleep with an arm around him, a hand stroking his hair.

(A body next to his, their presence telling him everything was going to be alright.)

...but Robby's learned to make do with what he has, and so he focuses on what he did as he closes his eyes. Pretending Mister LaRusso to be a warmer man as the blanket gives him comfort, and refusing to think any farther back than them sitting silently side-by-side.

It's all he needs.