|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2024 8:07 pm
He knew he messed up the moment the comment had left his mouth, but he was hoping that maybe Evan would be distracted by whatever he needed to do with work to take much notice.
Riker knew better, of course. Evan was great in that he was so caring and understanding, but Riker also hated the idea of making him worry or upset.
So he sighed and held out his arm, lowering the ice pack from his face as he did so. Not that Evan could see anything with the long sleeves he was wearing. The zip up hoodie was light weight! And he would rather be covered and overheated than exposed.
“Just a cut. It’s fine, my friends let me crash at their place, and their parents made dinner.”
It was the truth, even if it wasn’t the whole truth. The idea of burdening someone with that, or turning it into seeking attention or whatever-- it made his stomach queasy.
“I don’t want to take advantage of you, Evan,” he clarified after a moment, taking a step back to give him some space. “I know I could get a lot out of you, but I wouldn’t feel right about it. Do other people take advantage of you? I bet they do. You’re too sweet.”
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2024 5:16 pm
Evan flashed a half smile but it was unsurprisingly lacking in mirth. “They used to. Sometimes I used to let them. Sometimes I didn’t get a chance. But it’s okay,” he said, because he was talking about himself. He wouldn’t have thought the same if it had happened to Riker.
His hands hovered just over Riker’s arm but he didn’t touch him. “I don’t think you’d take advantage of me, though. You’re a better person than the people I knew back then. Can I see your arm? You can say no, it’s not like I’m a doctor. It’s just, I’ve got a lot of old scars on my arms.” Evan used to get into a lot of trouble. He understood the long sleeves, it was easier just to cover up scars than to deal with everyone staring. A lot of his looked like kitchen accidents. A lot of them didn’t. But it wasn’t really polite to ask about injuries, new or old. Maybe he was a little bit of a hypocrite, then.
“So I was thinking maybe I could recommend some of the creams that helped me heal up the best. If you haven’t found anything that works best for you yet."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2024 4:54 am
Riker hummed indulgently when Evan claimed it’s okay, if only because he was doing the same. He watched as Evan reached out to his arm, and after a moment of hesitation he lowered it so that Evan could do whatever he wanted with it.
Not before glancing up to carefully watch Evan’s expression as he explained how he had a lot of old scars. Enough that he could recommend creams to help with healing.
“What kind of old scars?” he asked, because if he was offering his arm, and even pulling up his sleeve to show to Evan, then he thought it would only be fair to learn more about whatever it was that Evan had to deal with.
“I don’t know if it would be very sanitary to take off the bandages, but if you wanted to you can. The bleeding has stopped. My friend has some healing magic that helped,” he shared, frowning at his arm, but also glancing curiously over at Evan’s arms to try and see what he was talking about.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2024 7:34 am
With the invitation, Evan gently rolled up Riker’s sleeve. He couldn’t see the injury beneath the bandages nor was he inclined to remove them. They covered more of his arm than he expected and with the heat outside, Evan was sure it wasn’t for aesthetics.
He wasn’t ignoring Riker’s question but he had a lot of old scars he could talk about. He didn’t really like talking about most of them.
Evan looked to the window, like he expected someone was going to be there to hear.
There wasn’t anyone. He could see the fireflies dancing in the distance. The live music in the distance was a gentle reminder that they weren’t so far from civilization.
“No, I don’t want to disrupt it if you’ve got it wrapped up. But you have to be so hot in that sweater. I’ll close up and then we can get the air conditioning going in here while we clean up. But no rush. I think we should both take it easy.”
Someone had dropped a pair of star charms outside of the truck and they were sitting on the counter in case someone came back for them. They hadn’t, so he figured he’d share with Riker. If he even wanted one. They were pretty.
…Or maybe Evan was just trying to distract himself from thinking too deeply about scars.
But, the truck was closed. It was just them.
There was no one to judge.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
