Teammate’s heart is pounding so furiously it might be about to burst through their ribcage. They clutch Whumpee close to their chest, moving as fast as they dare without further injuring the person in their arms. “Hold on to me, okay? Just keep holding on. I’ve got you.”

Whumpee doesn’t respond, but they don’t let go either.

“It’s been days and you’re just getting worse.” Caretaker’s voice is still calm and gentle, but the desperation bleeds through. They tap their foot against the floor anxiously until Whumpee asks them to stop; it’s making their headache worse.

“If you’re not better by tomorrow, I’m finding an ER to take you to.” They both know their chances of success at that are unlikely, but Whumpee is too weak to even tell them “good luck.”

“I can’t stay awake anymore.” Whumpee’s words are raspy in the wind, but final nonetheless. They lean against Caretaker, not hearing their words of encouragement and eventually, begging. Everything is soft and quiet for the first time, and the world fades away.

Little lady was found dumped in a park and brought to us.

Please don’t dump domestic rats, they do not survive in wild.

Parker is emaciated, has an advanced RI, was covered in mites, lice and bugs, and has some pretty severe wounds likely gotten from wild rats.

As reported though, she doesn’t hold it against anyone and is incredibly sweet. She gave me a little kiss yesterday and I was again blown away at how resilient rats can be.

So casually cruel

A closes their eyes against the harsh sting of B’s palm slapping their face. They’re hunched over with their hands on their knees. There’s not enough air in the world. Their chest burns from running so fast for so long, it feels as if they’re about to throw up.

B’s hand cups A’s cheek, grabbing the skin on their cheekbone painfully. ‘Get up. Fucking get up A, I swear,’ B yells.

vs

A closes their eyes against the agonising pain of their wound. They keel over, dust parting as they thud onto the ground. It feels as if all they’ve ever known is blinding, burning pain. There’s not enough air in the world. Everything burns.

B skids to A’s side, cupping their cheek softly in their hand. They rub their thumb tenderly over A’s cheekbone. 'Get up. A please get up, I swear,’ B’s voice breaks on the edge of a sob.

Little things in the hidden injury trope that give me life more than water does

• Tying something between their teeth to stop their cries from being heard while they treat themselves in the dark
• Bloodied bandages stuffed into the gap between the wall and the bed
• Whumpee wearing long sleeves/pants but their bandages still finding a way to peek out
• Blood running down their limb from inside their clothes and dripping onto the ground
• Bloody footprints
• Bloody handprints
• Faint bloodstains on the floor that whumpee can’t get off no matter how hard they scrub
• Whumpee limping as soon as the other person turns their back
• Dark undereyes from obv no sleep
• Those sexy beads of sweat and pale skin
• Leaning against wall/ furniture whenever they get the chance
• When a normally talkative character is quiet
• Controlling their breath while they try to complete normal tasks but then doubling over and gasping for air behind closed doors
• When they peel back the bandages to check their injury and it’s gotten worse
• Whumpee trying to bring it up with someone but then deciding against it when the other person starts talking about future plans
• Someone in the team feeling like there’s something wrong with whumpee but not knowing what so they don’t bring it up and then the GUILTthey feel afterwards holy
• Whumpee FINALLY fainting - behind closed doors and being found by someone later or just dropping to the ground while they’re with someone else
• I mean just imagine character A talking and thinking whumpee is beside them and whumpee just drops out of frame with a sigh and a thud
• Whumpee trying to tell the others that they’re fine and that they can handle it while they’re literally bleeding out on the ground
• Bonus! The scene afterwards when whumpee wakes up and their wounds are bound in those crisp white bandages instead of the bloodied, dirtied torn pieces of clothing they’d used before

NOTE: I’D LOVE TO BE TAGGED IF YOU WRITE OR CREATE ANYTHING INSPIRED BY THIS LIST

The spy and the healer (Enemies to lovers First meeting fic): ‘Your bloody knuckles betray you’

A strides quickly up the dark corridor, constantly checking behind her for the security chasing her. Her lungs burn but she manages to keep her breathing silent. It’s her first mission and she’s so lost despite having spent hours poring over the blueprint of the enemy’s headquarters.

The grey walls feel as if they’re closing in on her until she sees a door of frosted glass near. It’s dark on the other side so she opens it quietly and slips inside. A fumbles for her flashlight, allowing herself to pant freely in her temporary refuge. She can’t discern any wind that may come from a window. The room feels small, an office perhaps. She finally grabs a hold of her flashlight but before she can shine it, the room’s lights up in brilliant white.

A’s heart near leaps out of her chest, she almost curses aloud. Looking around, she sees a desk before her. It’s covered in paperwork and books. Behind it, a chair with a white coat laid carelessly atop. Against the far wall is a patient bed and various medical equipment lays beside it. There’s another door on the other side of the room, across from the bed. That’s where the figure steps out from.

'I don’t usually get visitors at this hour,’ B says, closing the door.

He walks up to A, running his hair through his messy black curls. He looks at her, and stops.

A averts her eyes and her hands move behind her meekly.

'Recruit!’ B says jovially, regarding her ill-fitting disguise.

'I’ve never seen you before. Guess you’ve never had the pleasure of being injured enough to see me’

A looks up and their eyes meet.

He looks young for a healer, he’s probably naive too. Under the white lights, his soft brown eyes sparkle.

'Recruit, take a seat’ B pats the patient bed.

Hesitant to leave the door, A steps slowly past the desk and toward B. She feels his eyes on her, assessing, undressing.

Sit sit, he gestures. And she does.

He pulls his chair close to her. Tutting softly, he brings a soft cotton pad to the angry red cut along her right jaw. It stings but as he does so, she looks around the room further. As she suspected, there are no windows in this room but she’s not sure about the room that the healer exited from earlier. Her best bet is probably to leave the way she entered. Right now, she’s sitting duck in this healer’s office.

'Luckily, your cut isn’t that deep that I need to stitch it’, B says softly, sticking the adhesive bandage to her face.

'Now, let me see these,’ B reaches for her hands. A’s knuckles are split and bleeding. She bites the tip of her tongue to stop her hiss as he takes one hand in his and spreads an antiseptic gel over them. Although he’s wearing gloves, his hand is warm and soft. A watches him as he focusses on cleaning her knuckles. The healer’s dressed in a sweater, he doesn’t wear his coat. He looks around her age. She feels a small guilt for deceiving him.

B finishes applying the solution to her hands and reaches over to his desk to retrieve a book. She holds her hands out as he fans the book over them. The cool air instantly relieving the heat and pain.

B smirks. 'Recruit, you’re a model patient. Even the toughest pros tear up when I give them the antiseptic for their cuts. But not you, recruit.’

He takes a small roll of white bandage out of a drawer and begins to wrap her knuckles.

'Tell me recruit, what’s your name?’

'A’

'Nice to make your acquaintance A. I’m B’

'Doctor B?’

'No no, just B’

'A, how did you injure yourself?’

The question is posed casually but A grows wary.

'Training. I, er, went too far’

B hums acknowledgment. He finishes up wrapping her second hand and leans back over to his desk. His fingers find a button beneath and press it.

Looking at A, he says

'You sure you didn’t get them from our guards, Agent A?’

He smiles crookedly.

'Your bloody knuckles betray you. All our recruits are forced to wear hand wraps during training’

The distant sound of boots approaching grows louder and louder. A stands up abruptly in an attempt to make a mad rush for the door but there’s a sharp, cold prick under her chin as B holds up a pair of scissors.

'Uhuh, not so fast little recruit. I’ll cut you a deal, since you were such a good patient. If you go now, you’ll have like five seconds on 'em.’

'In exchange for what?’ A asks through gritted teeth.

'This.’ B undoes the zipper of her jumpsuit and tugs off the locket at her neck.

A’s eyes go wide and she lunges for it but B jumps out of reach. She’s torn between retrieving her locket or running for her life. A bolts for the door but as she leaves she hears B call:

'See you around recruit’

When she’s gone, he looks at the locket in his palm.

'I’ll see you soon enough anyway’

A character who is suddenly mortally wounded drops to the ground writhing and screaming in excruciating agony. Their body quivers but they guard their injury rigidly as they scream and scream and scream. Team members rush to them, trying to pry their hands away so they can transport them to a healer. Their voice is pitchy and breaking with strain but their screams are relentless, begging them to stop moving them.

A character who stays in the room while the other teammates file out to tend to their own wounds. They grit their teeth at the sounds of their friend’s unrelenting screams - voice now hoarse and grated. The doctor seems unfazed, working swiftly and binding their injury with confident hands. All while the character’s own hands are gripped by their sides, unable to control their shaking. They stay even after the doctor leaves, till the hoarse screams die down to whimpers.

They stand against the wall, keeping distance between them and their friend. A distance they should have crossed before it was too late. They should have protected them, saved them. Instead they had stood helplessly and listened to their friend scream in pain for hours till they lost their voice. A friend who may not be okay again while they were perfectly fine.

[Everything is different now]

Dialogue that hurts and comforts

I love seeing dialogue that can be used in different ways. It’s so cool when it’s repeated, now with new meaning. As a reader, I feel a bit smart.

LIST

‘Get away from me’

• A yells, trying desperately to kick their attacker off of them.
• A cries, chest heaving as sobs wrack their bound body. 'I’m dangerous’

'Watch your step’

• B yanks A back by the arm, their foot about to cross into a place of danger
• Villain smirks as Hero stands on the other side of the room, traps separating them.

'Careful’

• As a threat. 'Watch your words or I’ll nail your tongue to the door’
• As concern. 'You’re still injured. If you must go then use me as a crutch’

'Get up’

• Villain challenges Hero who is gasping for air on the ground. 'I want a real fight’
• Caretaker crying over whumpee’s unresponsive form. 'Please get up’

'Can you hear me?’

• Communications crackle as Hero tries to radio into HQ
• Whumpee is fading and can hear Caretaker’s voice as if it is in the distance. Despite Caretaker shaking them, their eyes close and their body becomes limp.

'Here, let me’

• A is struggling to complete a task. Impatiently, B takes over.
• Whumpee tries to stitch up a wound themselves but their hands shake in fear and pain. Caretaker gently takes the needle and thread from their hands and hands them a bottle of alcohol instead.

'I can’t’

• Hero drops the dagger, shaking. 'I can’t. I can’t kill you’. Villain, tied up, huffs and retorts 'So what are you good for?’
• Tears run down caretaker’s face. 'I can’t leave you’. Whumpee smiles despite the pain and reaches up to cup Caretaker’s face, wiping their tears gently with their thumb.

'Where have you been hiding?’

• Whumper’s sinister call echoes as they search the woods near their property. With those wounds, whumpee couldn’t have gone far.
• A strokes hair out of B’s face as they lay beside each other. 'Where have you been hiding my whole life?’ they say softly.

AS ALWAYS, TAG ME @whumpyourenemy IN YOUR HURT/COMFORT WORKS IF YOU USE MY PROMPTS OR TAKE INSPIRATION. I’D LOVE TO READ AND SUPPORT!

Dialogue parallels *squeals in good character development

‘I don’t need anyone’

'I need you’

'Get out of my sight’

'Stay’

'I am never wrong about this’

'I was wrong. I was so wrong.’

'People like us don’t have the luxury of caring for others’

'Get behind me’

'I couldn’t care less how you spend your time’

'Where are you?’

'If you’re too slow, I’ll leave you behind’

'Get on my back, we’ve got to get you to a medic’

'You will never be one of us’

'On this oath, I pledge my loyalty to you; my leader (my love)’

Gorgeous

An indestructible hero falls to their knees in pain. Blood pours from a wound inflicted by villain. Hero’s confused face turns to helplessness. Villain’s eyes widen in shock that they were actually able to injure Hero.

‘What is happening? How.. Argh,’ Hero groans as they clutch their wound, the edges of their vision is growing dark.

Villain watches Hero’s face. The way their nostrils flare and their lips curl. Perfect teeth grinding against each other. 'Does it hurt Hero? Do you want me to kiss it better?’

A cult believes that A is an evil deity/worthy sacrifice that must be tortured and killed for the sake of their beleifs. 

A is subsequently kidnapped and bled for hours, as well as branded with burns and carvings that meant nothing to them before, but will be a haunting reminder after the ordeal. 

Caught in a storm. 

The wind stings and the rubbish swirls around their legs, nearly tripping them on multiple occasions. They’re soaked to the bone and the rain is blinding as thunder rolls overhead…

…they don’t see or hear the car skidding around the corner. 

The Captain, while recovering from an illness/injury, still has to direct the Big Mission™. They’re exhausted and feverish throughout, but just about make it through on coffee and painkillers. 

Bonus points if they sit in their chair wrapped in a blanket/forgo their usual uniform for sweatpants and a t-shirt. 

Bonus bonus points if they’re forced to fight and their injury gets worse because of it.

“We need to pull over, A’s bleeding through their bandages!”

I love the image of an emergency evacuation - when the caretakers decide their current location is too unsafe for the whumpee to recover in:

• “It’s not safe here, we need to go.”
• Hastily packing up A’s meds and other stolensupplies into a backpack. 
• Coaxing A from their nap and stuffing shoes on their uncooperating feet. 
• Ensuring A is bundled in the most comfortable clothes that still allow for access to change bandages/inspect the wounds. 
• Maybe their clothes are the bloodstained ones they were brought to the location in. 
• “Where’re we goin’?” A slurs, either being carried bridal style, via piggyback or pushed in a wheelchair. 
• “Shh, just sleep, A, we’ll sort everything out, just focus on resting, alright?”
  
• “You comfy back there, A?” The driver says, giving a tight smile to the rear-view mirror at A, who is leaning heavily on B. A smiles tiredly. 
  
• “The fevers worse, we should stop.” B says, feeling the worrying amount of heat radiate from A’s forehead. 
• “Just a few more miles, I want to make sure we’re far enough.”