Okay okay hear me out: matthew getting hurt but he's essentially feeling super isolated and worthless and he doesn't want to bother zaya or seline, doesn't think he should bother anyone tbh. He's also not stupid and while he doesn't know Isaiah/seline are together, he can see something shifted there. Hidden injury escalates to infection and then u know the drill, he ends up feverishly arguing with one of the two or both and then collapsing mid argument, cue much panic and guilt. Wdyt??? 👀👀😅
Ohhh Soup, that is one amazing idea 👀 let's see, let's see! A very delicious prompt, thank you! Had to write it right away.
Hidden injury
The injury wasn't healing.
Matthew didn't know why exactly it wasn't. Most of the time he spend his days tired, and he was very tired that evening from sparring at the gym. And he so happened upon a bunch of wolves.
Kids really. Overconfident and provocative, thinking they could take an older wolf like him.
It was so satisfying to put someone's teeth in the dirt when they deserved it. The adrenaline and then the win overflooded him with sparks of temporary joy and triumph as he dusted himself off, his shadow was eager and happy.
Unfortunately, there were problems that couldn't be solved that easily. Whatever the thing it was at home - this punishment of sorts Seline made - it was way worse. And he couldn't fight his way out of it.
He made preventative measures. He worked on his temper much much more. Isaiah said he saw the improvement. What else did she want?
It was his fault, though. Fear he enjoyed, when it came from annoying people, other wolves or his enemies. A natural thing, really. But he didn't want to feel it from her. Complete and utter betrayal, that's what it was. How could she believe he would hurt her? He wouldn't hurt her even if she did try to fight him. His shadow just jumped up with the emotion and the instinct and...
Yep, it reacted even now, swelling angrily at the memory. But it wasn't her he was fighting, for hell's sake.
Matthew kind of relied Isaiah would talk some sense into her, make it easier. Persuade her to give him a chance to make it up and move on from this.
And something did happen. He felt it did, because from one night to the next, Isaiah was allowed up to the second floor and came down with her smell all over him from then on. They didn't do anything when he was there, and he didn't dare to ask, but something major did occur under that roof.
And not only was he not allowed to know, he couldn't even tease his best friend about making a move or laugh at his only girl friend for finally getting the guy.
This was stupid. It shouldn't be upsetting him so much, but it did and he wondered why the hell he even bothered with people in the first place. Easier to just be alone.
You had no one to disappoint that way.
Matthew headed home, his legs dragging behind feeling like lead.
His side burned. He got clawed there pretty well with one of the shadow claws of the busier kids. It was a small thing, the injury, but bleeding horribly when he put his torn up shirt up and it hurt.
The first sweeping of his shadow took the blood away, though the injury was still visible, open, red and puckered. It didn't heal all the way. Weird.
His shadow was tired, but he figured if he just waited for a few hours he would have enough energy to try again. It wasn't bleeding, it wasn't smelling, it was fine. He threw the torn up shirt away, glad he shook off his pullover down for the fight and saved it from the blood stains.
Maybe he should ask Isaiah if it was normal. Shadows wouldn't heal things, when they were tired, or when it was a serious several weeks to heal thing, or when it wasn't acute but more long-term running or chronic...was there something he was missing?
Isaiah would know. Matthew also didn't feel like asking.
If Isaiah stopped pretending like he was neutral in this tug war of wills, it would be much better. If he wanted to side with Seline and leave him alone to it, who was he to complain?
They were doing him a big favour by giving him a chance in the first place.
He didn't want them to regret anything else they had given him.
Matthew was very happy for the elevator in the building. Usually he could take the stairs, since running them up was great exercise for free, but today he felt dead on his feet.
He found the way to their door almost blindly, opening the door with his shoulder. Grunting a hi was about all the manners they showed each other these days. Why did they even bother?
Was there even a way to escape their rejection? The whole apartment radiated it. From the shut off light in the kitchen, the empty couches in front of the TV, the quiet nonchalant movement behind Seline's closed doors on the upper floor...
Matthew threw his back by the door at their shared room, finding Isaiah on his bed with a laptop in his lap.
"Hey, Matt. You are late," Isaiah said in a friendly voice, observing him.
Matthew rolled his eyes. As if he cared when he was coming home. That time was long over.
He shut the door behind him loudly and the shuffled over to his own bed.
He didn't feel like changing. He didn't feel like saying anything. His side burned, his insides burned, his head was heavy and about to fall from his shoulders and his muscles were screaming with the strain of the day's exercise. Sleep was the only escape that didn't involve anyone dying.
He vaguely registered Isaiah asking him how his day went. Matthew ignored him, threw himself on the bed, wincing inwardly at the pain that flared at the sudden movement and curled up on his side.
Maybe he should have taken some painkillers. Then again, he didn't have any. All painkillers and first aid kits in this house belonged to Seline or Isaiah. They pooled their resources and fields of expertise to the apartment, willing to share, forgetting how to divide things when the sharing wasn't an option anymore.
He didn't want to think about how this was the first time after some time that he actually had people to ask for help and simply couldn't make himself.
Things were so much easier when he was alone.
The oblivion of sleep took him quickly though, saving him from anymore painful thoughts.
***
Matthew woke up to the darkness of the empty room. He could hear muffled voices coming from the living room.
They they actually have a movie night without him now? There was a faint sound of Isaiah saying something and Seline laughing in response.
Oh. Good for them.
Matthew didn't think it was possible, but he actually felt worse than before. While the groginess helped him forget, his side was on fucking hellfire, eating him from the inside.
He pushed himself up on his arms, turning the nightstand lamp on. Forcing himself up into a sitting position was torture. His muscles contracted painfully around his side and his arms were shaking as he attempted to throw his legs over the edge of the bed. One. Two. Slow and painful.
The effort left him light-headed and clenching his teeth to not scream. What the hell was wrong with him?
He grunted, bowing his head against the onslaught of light. His pullover was sticking to him with sweat and he was uncomfortably warm. Was it the rest of the exercise? Should he go shower?
Even tensing up to consider standing felt like a fight not worth the effort.
Matthew slumped back against the bed, giving up. His shadow wasn't even stirring, so he must have still been tired. Best thing to just go back to sleep.
***
"'-thew? Matthew? Hey man, wake up."
Isaiah was shaking his shoulder, jostling him. Matthew grunted in discomfort, turning away from him.
"Come on, man. You slept in, I think. It's already past 9."
Was it? Why was that even relevant? His side burned, his head was stuffed with wool. He just wanted to sleep.
"Don't you have classes today?"
Matthew swatted Isaiah's hand away. He didn't care about classes, he wanted sleep.
"Okay. I think it's good to take a break once in a while. You have been pushing yourself like crazy."
Matthew didn't like that patronizing tone. Isaiah, fucking Wolfson, always sounding so superior to everyone. Always doing everything perfectly, always in control.
"Come at least have breakfast with us. We never get to do that when you leave so early."
Matthew just pulled the blanket over his head in response.
Isaiah sighed, patted his shoulder and left. The door closed softly behind him.
***
His bladder was about to explode. Matthew was irritated his body wouldn't stop annoying him with such annoying mundane concerns when he was in pain and wanted to sleep.
He shuffled out of the bedroom slowly, feeling dazed and out of it. Everything hurt, but that seemed like a normal state at this point, constant discomfort, the feeling og boiling in his own skin, the pulsating pain in his side...
He had to hold on to the wall several times to not fall down. His limbs weighed a ton, each step a struggle against gravity.
Finishing in the bathroom and half-heartedly washing his hands, he tried to wash his face too only to get dizzy over the sink. He caught himself just barely, only to spend the next few minutes dry heaving over it. Why was it so hot here?
What time was it? What day? Everything was so confusing.
Leaning heavily against the door, he started the slow torturous walk back to his bed.
"Matthew? Seriously, why are you sleeping so much?" Seline's voice was like an arrow, sharp and painful against the fog in his head.
"You know, I can't make you come to eat with us or watch a movie. If you want to be hauled in your room, be my guest. But you could at least get your shoes into the cupboard. How many times do I have to ask?"
He blinked, trying to locate the source of her voice. Ah, there she was, hands on her hips, staning in the entry hall.
"How am I supposed to vacuum this place with your sneakers always in the way? You forgot to do the grocery shopping yesterday, you know? Isaiah made food, I'm cleaning and you not only don't hold your part of the deal, you have to make my part harder." She talked in a calm tone, but the critic was obvious.
He focused his eyes on her, slumping against the wall next to the bathroom. "That's just great," he grumbled.
"What did you say? I didn't hear you."
"It's just great," he cleared his throat, "that the first thing you decide to talk to me about in weeks is this. Just fucking awesome."
Seline's eyebrows shot up. "Oh? I'm the one who isn't talking? Not like you bother to ask me anything. You refuse to give any effort. Why do I always have to do everything here? If only one person is trying-"
That angered him enough to straighten up. "I am not trying? I'm doing my best here; it's you who isn't trying." He coughed against his hand, feeling light-headed again. "I trained. I asked Isaiah to test me. I doubled my sparring rounds. I have done everything I could think of. You gave up."
Seline frowned, taking a breath to speak. Matthew couldn't register what she said next. Her mouth was moving, but there were two Selines speaking now and his vision was blurry at the edges.
Matthew's head was pounding. The little energy the anger got him flew out of him just as quickly. His side burned again, stretched by the motion of simply standing. He groaned, doubling over, hands shooting up to cradle the skin around the pain.
"Matthew?"
He coughed. His throat felt tight and he felt his stomach sloshing and turning. The skin around his abdomen was tender and swollen, warm to the touch. He tried reaching for his shadow, but it stirred in protest, slipping out of his hands.
He was so tired. Why couldn't he just go back to bed?
Something warm rushed up his throat with the next cough, spraying between his feet. He blinked at the pool of watery vomit in confusion.
Then his legs gave out.
His pants immediately soaked up the mess, but he had no time to worry about it as another wave of puke found its way out of him. The movement was completely involuntary. He didn't see it coming. He didn't understand. Everything was so confusing.
Maybe that was good he didn't heave. He didn't have the energy for it, just coughing up small mouthfuls of bile and water and foul-smelling liquid.
Seline was closer now. She was kneeling beside him, talking quickly into her phone. Then she reached for him, cupping his cheeks in cold hands. He winced at the contact.
Her hands went over him frantically, pulling against the pullover on his side. Matthew tried to stop her, but she squeezed his hands and then continued. He let her.
When she brushed her cold fingers against his side, he moaned in pain, trashing around. Cold lips touched his forehead and pressed against it for a long time, grounding him. Everything was too hot, too painful and he was shivering. Something smelled really awful.
His vision came and went for a while in a hurrying mess and chaos. His head somehow ended in Seline's lap. He wanted to ask her if she forgave him now that she was touching him again. She didn't seem to register him and he had no energy to formulate the words.
Then Isaiah was there, fingers on his nape, gripping his shoulder tightly. He was repeating his name, over and over. Matthew blinked at him. Yeah, I know that's my name, what do you want? Just let me sleep.
***
The next time he woke up, he was in bed. A clean shirt, a damp cloth on his forehead.
The first thing he truly registered was the absence of pain. He was still tired, still confused, but the sheer relief that the pain from his side was gone left him breathing deeply for a few minutes. This is how beautiful it felt, not to be in pain? He should relish it more.
Matthew reached with his hand towards his side. Under his shirt, he could feel bandages.
"No, don't touch it," a voice near his head said.
Matthew let his hands go limp, turning his face towards the voice. Isaiah sat on a chair next to him, elbows braced on the bed. His green eyes looked strained and shadowed, like someone painted bruises under them, but there was something relieved in his face.
"Your wound was infected. Your shadow was hurt and didn't heal it all the way. It was deep and open and you didn't clean it when you came home. That's how it got so serious."
Matthew watched him silently, expecting a lecture.
Isaiah's face contorted in anguish. "Why didn't you say anything? You must have been in so much pain."
That was actually worse than a lecture. He tried to speak, but his throat was dry and he coughed instead.
Isaiah sat up, taking a glass of water from the nightstand with a straw and holding it to his lips. "Drink this. Slowly."
Matthew obeyed, eager at the sight. The water was moderate temperature and it was the most heavenly taste he ever experienced.
Isaiah watched him intensely, bringing the glass away when he drank about half of it. He took the damp cloth that Matthew shook off with the movement and mopped his forehead and neck with it.
Matthew wanted to protest the treatment - he wasn't a child - but tensing up made him flinch in pain. It was only an echo of what it was before, but still.
"You will be okay. Just take it easy for now. We cleaned out the wound, applied antiseptics and got you some antibiotics from the pharmacy. It already looks a lot better, but you had a really high fever and you threw up a lot. We almost took you to the hospital, but your shadow was so out of it I was worried it was something else. But when we cleaned the wound, you got better rapidly, so we figured it was alright..."
"We?" Matthew rasped.
Isaiah nodded towards the end of the bed. Matthew tilted his head just enough to see what he was pointing at.
Seline was curled up on the bed beside him, a hand thrown over his leg, face almost pressed into it, breathing steadily.
"You think...she will forgive me now?"
Isaiah's eyes widened, lips quivering. The black-haired wolf leaned over, burying his face into the place between Matthew's shoulder and collarbone, hand going over his chest as if he was afraid Matthew would disappear if he didn't hold him down.
"Don't you ever do that again," Isaiah whispered against his shirt. "If you ever hide an injury like that, I'll kill you myself." It sounded like he was a hair away from sobbing.
Matthew tilted his head towards the black tousled hair, cheek against Isaiah's forehead. "Okay."
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thanks for @playmetheclassics for the amazing header!
Hello hello!
I have reached my first milestone in the form of 1k followers! For this, I want to sincerely thank you guys <3.
As a celebration, I want to give back to you in the form of a little something, hehe.
From now until August 1st I will take your requests!! To know that you are sending one for this event, please use the 🦋 emoji somewhere in your ask!
While I already have some requests, I will work through them together with these, so feel free to send as many as you want! For the requests I would need the following things.
A / Multiple members
I am fine with writing multiple members, but please mind that so far I’ve only written threesomes! I would definitely do up to four though!
A prompt
What do you want to happen?
Ex. Member A and MC are trapped in an elevator.
A trope (optional!)
Friends to Lovers
Enemies to Lovers
Roommate AU
Royal AU
Anything really
A genre
Do you want it to be fluffy, angsty, smutty or a mixture of them? Just lmk!
An example could be
Hi! I would like to request a fluffy friends to lovers au in which Wonwoo has a crush on mc and decided to confess to her through 14 letters for the 14th anniversary of their friendship!
A quote (optional!)
"That's seriously all you got from what I just said?
"Is this your revenge?"
"I love how you look in my clothes."
"Do you mind If i sleep in here tonight?"
"You're beautiful did you know that?"
"Did you just kiss me?"
"When are you gonna admit you actually like me?"
"How much longer are you going to ignore me?"
"Oh, sweet baby... you shouldn't have."
"If I look at you any longer I doubt I can help myself."
"Don't look at me with those eyes."
"You'll be the death of me."
"You're so sexy when you're angry."
"Most people call me gentlemen, but I'll take that one too."
"Wanna bet?"
Obviously you can make it as detailed as you like! The more detail, the better for me, hehe, but if you only want to give me a short description that is also fine!
I really want to give back to you guys for reading my little works (or not so little) and for making me feel very at home here. So I hope we can make some nice memories through this <3.
Please note, that I still remain the right to not write a certain request! My guidelines should be the first thing you look through when sending a request ofc! Also, I hope no one gets offended by the length difference that can definitely occur! Some requests tickle the creative juices more, but this doesn’t mean that one is better than the other!
Much love,
Mitchie <3
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