Whumptober #15
Oct. 15th, 2023 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rosanicusI really thought I would keep up with Whumptober but unfortunately illness threw me off! Hoping to catch up but as it is here is today's entry.
No. 15: “I don't need you to help me I can handle things myself.”
Makeshift Bandages | Suppressed Suffering | “I’m fine.”
The passenger cabin of the Otter had been wrapped in self-conscious silence for hours. Pat Manton was asleep in his chair, snoring loudly, while Lacey and Hebblethwaite were occupied in flying the plane. Fritz, who still had a look of disbelief in his eyes every time Erich caught him staring, had taken the seat beside his uncle and begun a long and unsuccessful battle against wakefulness. He startled awake every so often, saw Erich still next to him, and settled back down into his half-doze. His head had come to rest on Erich’s shoulder. It reminded him of when Fritz was a much smaller boy, made yet smaller by hardship, who curled up in Erich’s arms as he carried him to bed.
It was in those visits that Erich managed to maintain some semblance of humanity.
The problem with his nephew’s affectionate pose was the pain it caused. Erich could not, however, bring himself to move, even as sparks of nerve-pain spiralled down from a recently-relocated shoulder to his fingertips. There was much to hate on Sakhalin, but at least such disabling injuries would be treated quickly. Quickly, not painlessly.
He stifled a pained noise as Fritz shifted, his temple pressed against Erich’s collarbone. He felt stretched thin enough already without causing Fritz more distress than his arrest already had.
No. 15: “I don't need you to help me I can handle things myself.”
Makeshift Bandages | Suppressed Suffering | “I’m fine.”
The passenger cabin of the Otter had been wrapped in self-conscious silence for hours. Pat Manton was asleep in his chair, snoring loudly, while Lacey and Hebblethwaite were occupied in flying the plane. Fritz, who still had a look of disbelief in his eyes every time Erich caught him staring, had taken the seat beside his uncle and begun a long and unsuccessful battle against wakefulness. He startled awake every so often, saw Erich still next to him, and settled back down into his half-doze. His head had come to rest on Erich’s shoulder. It reminded him of when Fritz was a much smaller boy, made yet smaller by hardship, who curled up in Erich’s arms as he carried him to bed.
It was in those visits that Erich managed to maintain some semblance of humanity.
The problem with his nephew’s affectionate pose was the pain it caused. Erich could not, however, bring himself to move, even as sparks of nerve-pain spiralled down from a recently-relocated shoulder to his fingertips. There was much to hate on Sakhalin, but at least such disabling injuries would be treated quickly. Quickly, not painlessly.
He stifled a pained noise as Fritz shifted, his temple pressed against Erich’s collarbone. He felt stretched thin enough already without causing Fritz more distress than his arrest already had.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-15 07:48 pm (UTC)I completely believe this, though, he would rather suffer than upset Fritz by admitting that he’s in pain. And this too:
It was in those visits that Erich managed to maintain some semblance of humanity.
💔
no subject
Date: 2023-10-15 07:55 pm (UTC)Fritz's wonder and joy at having his uncle back, though. ;__; Erich sitting and suffering in silence so as not to disturb his sleeping nephew is just so him. And "It was in those visits that Erich managed to maintain some semblance of humanity" - brb, crying forever.