"be more careful next time. i don't want to bandage you up again" buttercup taking care of bubbles (or blossom) after a monster fight? just butters showing her love for her sisters through acts of service. thanks ily ‹3
haha, hey anon, we both agree "time" is just a concept, right? sorry it took so long :(
If you forgot this prompt is for this ask game!
content warning: vague body horror/gore, major character death (sorta?)
a/n: experimenting with writing styles, the pacing isn’t my norm.
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"You know, forget what that huffy college advisor said, I think you'd make a great nurse!" Bubbles chirped, trying to break the nearly suffocating silence. It hung so heavy around the two of them, it felt as if someone or something was sitting on her chest, force feeding guilt and anxiety straight down her throat.
Silence aside, Bubbles was only telling the truth. First-aid was something Buttercup was apt at doing, given all the fights she had been in, and really, honestly, she should have been doing it professionally, if she didn’t have such lousy bedside manners.
Buttercup's jaw clenched and her nostrils flared as she spat out through gritted teeth, "shut up."
"I'm serious!" Bubbles protested, "Really, honestly, Butters, you'd make a great nurse."
Buttercup slammed a roll of bandages down on the tray beside her and shoot up out of her seat. She walked a few feet away and kicked over another freestanding tray, spilling its contents onto the ground.
"You know damn well that isn't what I meant!" Buttercup seethed, turning around to point a shaky finger at her.
Bubbles didn't even flinch. She sat still, taking in the angry flush running across her sister's face and the fire in her eyes before deflating.
"I know," She whispered, "I know it isn't."
Bubbles let her gaze drop to her hands. They were wrapped up in gauze, just like most of the rest of her body, making her look like some modern day mummy. If she had been human, she would have been dead, but Chemical-X, that wonderful, mysterious chemical, was one heck of a life saver! Her skin was still healing, however, burnt, bubbling, and smelling of rot and decay.
It was so...strange, how bullets bounced off her, but still left bruises, and acid did nothing to her body, but still stung, and lava was like water, but still burnt, and the sun's rays only left cumbersome sunburns, but HIM's mist, at least, in that moment, when she had lunged towards Blossom before her sister had disappeared into that dark red haze, had felt like nothing, and yet, had left her body almost beyond repair.
Her bandages were neat and tidy, Buttercup made sure of that everyday when they needed changing. The Professor had offered to do it, but her sister had insisted, and Bubbles preferred it that way. She could deal with Buttercup's anger, but the distraught, broken look in the Professor's eyes was too much to bear. It only reminded her of the things she'd rather forget, of her failures, of Blossom. Not that she was having any trouble remembering on her own.
She felt a crying sensation behind her eyes start to swell, closing her throat and stuffing up her nose, but no tears came out. She had no more to spare. It was almost a miracle. Her, Bubbles Utonium, had no more tears to spare.
For what it was worth, she gave it her best try.
Dry, heaving sobs echoed throughout the lab-turned-med bay, and Bubbles wished she could stop. It hurt to cry, but everything hurt, so it didn't make much of a difference.
"I'm sorry," She choked, sounding almost as desperate, but more borderline hysterical, "I'm so, so sorry! She—she was right there! She was right there!"
"Bubbles, wait, don't," Buttercup pleaded desperately, "don't cry."
"She's gone!" She wailed over Buttercup’s protests, thrashing around and pulling on her IVs, "She's gone! And it's all my fault!"
Firm hands carefully clutched her own, keeping her still. "Stop," Buttercup ordered, "stop. You're going to hurt yourself."
"What's that matter!" She hissed, "What does any of it matter!"
“I’ll get her back!” Buttercup yelled, her voice cracking, “I promise! I’ll get her back, now, please! Stop!”
“How!” Bubbles cried back, “How! She’s gone! I killed her!”
“I don’t know!” She shouted, her eyes shiny. Buttercup sunk down into a squat, and when she spoke again, her words came out around a half-formed sob, “I don’t know.” Buttercup cradled her head, “I almost lost both of you, please, just, please be more careful, okay? I can’t—I don’t want to bandage you up again.”
“Please,” Her sister begged, speaking into her hands.
They sat there in silence as Bubbles observed Buttercup, realizing for the first time, that the toughest out of all of them, the doer, was unable to do anything at all but fix her bandages. Her perfectly wrapped, clean bandages. It was only then that Bubbles felt her heart fill with something she had thought died along with Blossom.
It felt like love. It felt like hope. Whatever it was, she clung to it.
“Okay,” Bubbles agreed after another long, painful silence, punctuated only by Buttercup’s quiet sobs. “I’ll be more careful.”
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