(#𝔭𝔯𝔬𝔪𝔭𝔱.) ¦ * ❝ blood's not going to come out of that sweater. you should just throw it out. ❞ @tremaynes' FIONN TREMAYNE !
riot looks down. the sweater is ruined. fionn is right about that. the cuff is stiff where it has dried, darker at the wrist, soaked through in places where someone else's blood has reached the seams. riot rubs their thumb over the edge of the stain. parts of it flake beneath the pressure. ❝ yeah. probably. ❞ the corridor around them keeps operating. monitors beep behind half-drawn curtains. shoes squeak over the floor. someone cries behind a closed door, the sound pressed into their own hands. the ambulance bay doors open somewhere down the hall, and cold air slices through the emergency department. or is this their imagination? riot's shoulders tighten before they can stop it. today's tense and every inch of their body is on alert.
the sound is not tyres on ice. not metal folding. not their brother’s breath turning shallow beside them.
it is just doors. just doors. this is a different time. they let their hand drop from the sweater.
❝ it's not mine, ❞ riot adds after a second, because that feels like it matters and does not matter at all, actually. ❝ the blood, if that's what you're wondering. i'm fine. ❞ are you hurt? did they hurt you? did you hurt them? where is the weapon? who else is inside? everything reduced to boxes to be ticked, statements, the chain of custody. riot lives inside the shape of it. they keep their authority folded small, tucked close to the ribs. ❝ my sergeant will tell me i escalated, ❞ riot says. there is no humour in it, but something close to a laugh, buried and airless. ❝ then he'll tell me i took too long to act. somehow both. ❞
everyone breaks in public sometimes. riot stands in the middle of it, again and again, keeping the line from snapping while their own hands have learned to quake only when no one watches. dried blood pulls at the skin beneath their sleeve. they should wash it off and file the report. ❝ you ever keep something you know you should get rid of? ❞