Pain is a pesky part of being human.

[rule_britannia]

WHO: Arthur & anyone
TONE: General
RATING: G
WHEN: 27th, after the quidditch match
WHERE: Hospital wing
WHAT: Feel like visiting?
STATUS: Ongoing

---

How he'd managed to hold onto the quaffle after taking a speeding bludger to the shoulder wasn't something he really wanted to think about right now. It was probably lucky that the game had ended when it did because he'd been close to falling off his broom with the pain shooting up and down his arm and across his chest.

The nurses had seen to it quickly, of course, and how much it had hurt was just a distant memory now but every now and then he'd touch two fingertips to his shoulder and mentally wince. His clavicle had been pointing out at a very unnatural angle, he recalled, though not quite breaking the skin. Bones shouldn't be able to bend like that, he was sure.

He sighed and plucked at the bedsheets. It would be a few hours before the bone was properly knitted together.

Comments

[rule_britannia]

"I'll be fine, it's half healed already. The only thing that might kill me while I'm here is the boredom." Forget his shoulder, Bruce looked like he was about to keel over at any moment. Arthur took the chocolate, leaving it on his lap as he used his good arm to push himself up into a better position.

"... You're not looking so good yourself. Are you ill?"

He unwrapped the chocolate with one hand, breaking a piece off and offering it to his friend. "Looks to me like you're the one who should be in here."

[greenmoonrising]

Bruce stared at the chocolate for a moment before figuring it'd be best for him to have a bit of energy at least for the oncoming night. He took it with a small smile and nibbled, not all that eager to eat it but knowing he should. "I think my steak and kidney pie last night wasn't quite right and I'm paying for it today. I'll be fine, just need a bit of sleep and to stay close to the bathrooms."

He glanced around the room before asking, "How long until you can go back to your dorms anyway?"

[rule_britannia]

"Huh." He didn't sound convinced, but he didn't question it further. Arthur settled a little more into the bed and closed his eyes for a moment, shifting uncomfortably as his shoulder gave a particularly noticeable, creaking twinge. "They probably have something they can give you for that."

Arthur cracked one eye open then, letting out a snort. "A few hours. They want to make sure it's all healed up before they let me go."

[greenmoonrising]

"I'm sure they do, but if I took a potion for every time I got sick I'd be an addict by now," he answered with a shrug.

Bruce smiled at Arthur and patted the Slytherin's knee. "That shouldn't be too bad, I mean, some students end up stuck in here for over several days, you know?"

[rule_britannia]

"Mm, I know. It's a small mercy that I wasn't knocked off my broom." He shifted a bit under the pat to his knee, and smiled weakly.

"I don't think I'd recover from a fall like that so quickly. Sometimes I still wonder what possessed me to go for this."

[greenmoonrising]

"Adrenaline rush, acting without considering the dangers of it, you've got plenty of reasons," he snorted. "Lucky you're not a muggle with those injuries, healing takes forever without magic."

[rule_britannia]

"So I've heard," he muttered. He wouldn't ever like to find himself in a muggle hospital, though he found their almost barbaric ways of doing things fascinating in their own rights.

"I suppose it might have been worse. A few inches higher up and the bloody thing would have brained me."

[greenmoonrising]

"That could have ended up very... Messy."

[rule_britannia]

A wince.

"I give you Bruce Banner, the king of bloody understatement," he said, gesturing towards his friend with one hand and a half-smile. "I'm not sure 'messy' comes close. I've resisted the urge to research the kinds of fatalities that have been involved in quidditch matches."

[greenmoonrising]

"Let's just say there's a reason I avoid going to the matches," he shrugged.

[rule_britannia]

"I'm disappointed. I'd hope you'd be there cheering me on."

He looked about to say more, then grimaced and rolled his shoulder slightly.

"You know, she told me not to move. I'd like to see anyone stay still under this kind of discomfort."

[greenmoonrising]

"Leave that to your fangirls."

Smiling, he patted Arthur's knee. "I know, I was in here in my first year with a broken leg after my first flying lesson and she told me the exact same thing. It helps to sleep if you can."

[rule_britannia]

"If I could sleep, I'd certainly be doing it." He slept badly regardless, and the occasional twinging in his shoulder would be more than enough to wake him.

"Besides, I'm finding this conversation far more rewarding than spending a few hours unconscious."

[greenmoonrising]

"That's because my word is gospel and you are filled with a sense of great enlightenment when you speak to me," came the sassy response, Bruce even deigning to give Arthur a cheeky wink despite how tired he looked.

[rule_britannia]

"Ah, but of course. How could I forget the importance of the Gospel of Banner."

He smirked, but he hadn't yet dismissed how tired Bruce looked and he sat up a bit, frowning at him. "Are you quite sure you're alright? Sorry to keep harping on, but you do look rather awful."

[greenmoonrising]

"Hey, you're supposed to stay still," Bruce chided immediately at Arthur's movement. "And don't worry about me, I just need a bit of rest is all."