The Park, Friday Morning

[suitably_heroic]

The medic had freed Atton from his kolto bath again on Thursday morning. Another full day of observation, and he was good to go, with a bunch of patches in his pocket and an abdomen that still hurt if he bent the wrong way.

And then Mical had put him on the Ebon Hawk and sent him back to Fandom. (The Hawk was to make a point: stay there, don't come back. Otherwise Mical would've just kicked him through a portal.)

He wasn't planning to stay there. Not for long. Not with Mira out there, dealing with this problem that Atton was beginning to suspect was bigger than they'd anticipated.

He didn't bother to go back to the apartment - he didn't want to run the risk of running into Sparkle just yet - but stumbled down the stairs and walked down to the park.

That alone was probably more exercise than he should've given himself. He winced at the sound of his own breath as he sank down on a bench.

Space.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

"About what? I got shot, it was a whole thing, they stuck me in a kolto tank for four days and now I'm back," Atton said, waving his hand.

It was Karina. Straight up lying wasn't going to work.

[notacokeperson]

At least he knew that!

"You look like shit," she said, "and you're hanging out in the park after getting shot? What the hell? How the fuck do you fool people into thinking you're a responsible adult? Do you have any idea how worried we--I mean, Sparkle's been?"

Because she hadn't been worried at all. Not at all. Shut up.

[suitably_heroic]

Uh huh.

Well, Atton wasn't going to harp on about that slip-up. It wasn't in his best interest.

"Hey, if anybody thinks I'm a responsible adult, they haven't been paying attention and it's not my fault," he retorted. "I just wanted to have a nice sit-down and breathe some clean air, so sue me."

[notacokeperson]

“Don’t tempt me,” she said crossly. Karina sat down on the bench beside him, folding her arms over her chest. “On a scale of one to ten, how shitty do you feel right now? Don’t bullshit me.”

[suitably_heroic]

"Better than I did at the start of the week," Atton said.

Read: he'd crossed the treshold where being stuck in bed like an invalid was more unbearable than the pain.

[notacokeperson]

She huffed.

"Maybe I should be asking how likely your impatience is to worsen your recovery instead," she said, frowning.

Karina had been around enough injured Heroes to know how they talked.

[suitably_heroic]

"Not by much, since Mical kicked me out of the Temple for now," Atton said, pulling a face. "I'm going to go home after this and have a nap, if only to avoid all of you nagging grannies around here."

[notacokeperson]

“I’ll come with you.”

She wasn’t going to take no for an answer either, but a vaguely acceptable excuse was needed…

“Sparkle owes me a proper pizza after the marshmallow travesty we tried.”

Yes. Clearly that was the reason.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton squinted at her. "Do I have to tell everyone on this island that I don't need a babysitter?" he said. "Because I don't need a babysitter."

[notacokeperson]

Because he was doing so well without one?

"I'm a terrible babysitter," she scoffed. This was true. She really was. "It's just about the pizza."

[suitably_heroic]

"You know where Pizza Planet is."

Atton was going to lose this one. That didn't mean he couldn't put up a fight for his dignity.

[notacokeperson]

She rolled her eyes.

"Sparkle owes me one," she reminded him. "He's going to make me one."

This would be news to Sparkle.

[suitably_heroic]

"Is he even here right now?" Atton asked.

Please don't be.

[notacokeperson]

Karina had no fucking clue.

"Yes," she said definitively.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton groaned. Loudly.