#rocking

[outsidewolves]

[peppermintquartz]

Tommy gets the phone call even as the official request is coming in over Dispatch, and the next thing he knows, he's in the cockpit and Jason is in the back with Bloom, the latter shadowing the former.

"What are we expecting?" Bloom asks over comms.

"Gunshot wounds, multiple, torso and thigh," Tommy says, his heart rate resolutely steady. "This call is from SWAT so they had tac gear, but the guy that got hit was in there undercover. He was conscious but fading when the call came in."

"How did you know all that?" Jason demands.

Tommy's jaw is tight. "I know a guy."

+++

The medevac helicopter lands on the roof, and Tommy finally lets his worry and fear kick up his pulse when he sees Deacon and Hondo waiting with Donny, whose wounds are already packed and wrapped with whatever SWAT had on hand. Donny is already unconscious and Deacon's face is paler than usual.

"C'mon, Deac, I need you there in my place," Tommy bellows when Deacon hesitates about jumping in.

Hondo slaps his teammate's shoulder and shoves him forward.

Meanwhile, Jason and Bloom are doing the necessary to keep Donny from dying in the back of the medevac, hooking him up to fluids and monitors. Tommy kicks the chopper off from the roof as soon as he hears Jason give the okay, and then all he can think of is flying, because if he doesn't focus on that, he will panic. He can't listen to anything the two paramedics are saying because if he does, he will get distracted, and his job is simple right now: Get Donovan Rocker into surgery.

The moment the chopper lands, Jason and Bloom hurry to hand Donny over to LA General's finest. Deacon jumps out and follows them, with a look over his shoulder at Tommy and a firm nod.

The second the doors close, Tommy climbs out of his harness and the cockpit to sit on the hard concrete floor, head bowed, hands shaking. He takes long, deep breaths.

Bloom hurries over. "Kinard, you wanna just... You wanna go in there, too? I mean, that's your twin brother."

"Someone has to radio Harbor to fly this back then," Tommy grits out. Swallowing dryly, he gets to his feet. "I'm taking us back. I have one more flight left in me before I freak out entirely. Jace, sit up front with me, you know the drill."

Jason nods tersely and climbs in. He does know the drill and he is learning to fly as well, and it will be only ten minutes back to their station.

"Kinard, are you really-"

"Another word, Bloom, and you're Ubering back," Jason warns.

Tommy glances at the probie. "I'll be fine."

He'll be fine, he thinks as he swings the bird through the air back home. He has to be fine.

He and Donny have just reconciled for a couple years. They can't be split up again the way their parents split them up.

He doesn't know he isn't breathing right until Jason's voice crackles over the comms, "Inhale for four."

Tommy blinks and he follows Jason's calm orders, mind deliberately empty. After they land, he goes to Melton to cut his shift short, and then he goes to the restroom and pukes.

+++

When he gets to LA General, Deacon is still there, a phantom haunting the corridor outside the operating theaters. Tommy goes to him and they embrace, not a word exchanged.

"How bad was it?" Tommy makes himself ask.

"Happened too fast," Deacon replies. "They grazed his leg first, probably, and the next few..."

"Few?"

"I counted four."

"Fuck," Tommy exhales and sits down, head in hands.

Deacon sits with him, arm over his shoulders. The two of them let time flow around them as they wait to hear if the man they love survives.

Some others from SWAT trickle in. Hondo. Tan. Hicks. Alfaro. Powell. Then Tommy's own crew from Harbor: Nic. Jason. Saint. Donato.

Then Evan, who almost leaves skid marks when he runs into the waiting area, and hugs him so tightly that Tommy feels like Evan wants to compress him into a pocket-sized boyfriend to keep safe.

They wait.

And suddenly Tommy thinks, I've been here before, on the outside. Looking in on a different family.

He glances around and realizes he knows everyone who is waiting. He knows their names and he knows their idiosyncrasies and he knows he can call them because he has their numbers and they will be there for him.

Donny is going to laugh at Tommy when he hears what Tommy realized.

He leans on Evan, who whispers, "Do you need anything, babe?"

"No," Tommy replies, linking his hand with his boyfriend's. "I got my family right here with me."

+++

[blondebrainpowered]

Dumbo, 1941

[adventuresofalgy]

In Algy's opinion, early spring in the wild west Highlands of Scotland was not all that a fluffy bird might hope for, nor indeed quite what someone used to a more "normal" northern spring might imagine… For not only do temperatures tend to stay below 10 degrees (celsius), but the legendary March winds take their job to heart with a great deal more enthusiasm here than in many other places, battering everything in their path, and flattening the flowers of the spring bulbs that had emerged with such enthusiasm as the days grew longer.

And so Algy was not particularly surprised that it was blawin' a hoolie yet again, but after a day of being tossed hither and thither in the driving Scotch mist he felt in need of some rest, so he decided to try to sleep in what he hoped would be the relative comfort of a dense cypress hedge. But when he settled in among the soft, evergreen needles as the day faded into night, Algy found that even here it was necessary to maintain a very firm grip on the branches, and he reflected that although in principle he definitely approved of being rocked to sleep, Nature sometimes went about this task with rather too much vigour…

Nevertheless, Algy soon began to doze, for the constant sound of the wind roaring through the trees and bushes around him was surprisingly soporific. And as his eyes closed and he began to fall asleep, Algy thought of his birthday at the end of the week, and imagined that somehow he was being transported by the gale – perhaps only temporarily – to some beautiful, warm and wonderfully calm place in which he could enjoy his birthday without being constantly buffeted by the wind and the rain…

[heartnosekid]

a soft asriel stimboard w/ hand / physical stims (like tapping & rocking) & fur for anon!

🤍-💚-🤍 / 💚-🤍-💚 / 🤍-💚-🤍

[gilearstimboards]

---

"Impure" Regression Stimboard

Made for: anon

I hope this helps you feel a little less alone anon. :) For everyone who needs to hear it: you are not "impure" for feeling sad or angry during regression. It's okay and normal, and is just your body processing your feelings. You are not a bad regressor.

Credits: x x x | x x x | x x x

[cryptid-stimming]

TDOV: Let's Grow Old Together Stimboard

x x x / x x / x x x

[image ID: a stimboard with 8 gifs around an image of the pink, blue and white trans flag. Each gif has some of the colors of the trans flag. They are themed around activities and objects associated with older adults such as slippers, teacups, birds at a house-shaped birdfeeder, a rollator walker, a reclining armchair, someone crocheting, someone in a rocking chair and someone using a lawnmower.]