“Oh, shit-“, Skye winced as Julia dabbed at the cuts that littered her shoulder blades and back.
Even with Julia’s light touch, the chemical sting was sharp and unavoidable. Her first instinct was to flinch away, jolting from Julia’s gentle hand.
Skye sat forward from her cross legged position on the ground, balling her hands into fists as Julia knelt behind her. She moved with her, continuing to dab at her bloodied back with a sterile cotton ball. Skye bit back another curse as the antiseptic hit a particularly deep cut on her arm.
“Stay still,” Julia provided dryly, taking a moment to stick a bandaid over a particularly bad gouge.
“Stay still,” Skye repeated, overdrawn and teasing.
Julia huffed, realizing her tone had been flatter than intended. “Sorry. It’s hard to work with you moving.”
“Hey, you’re alright! Just teasing, Jules.” Skye settled back onto her arms to look at Julia properly, face apologetic. Julia hardly noticed, too wrapped up in sorting through her small bin of medical supplies for another cotton ball.
“You’re doing pretty good for someone with one eye.” Julia looked up at Skye and promptly flicked the tip of her nose, sending her facing forward again with an ‘ow’.
“Keep talking and I’ll leave you to reach your own back. I’m almost done, anyways.”
Gritting her teeth, Skye managed to say still and mostly silent for the rest of her treatment.
“Alright. That should be it,” Julia stated, standing and stretching. She walked around Skye, offering her hand. Skye took it, letting herself be pulled to stand. Skye groaned in pain, rolling her stiff shoulders.
Thumb tack and splinter free, the two went about preparing to leave the arena. It was a separate affair, with Skye half-limping out of her bloodied street fight gear into casual clothes. More than any of her cuts and scrapes, the sunset flip onto the commentary table was the most painful.
“Pain is life’s greatest teacher, you know,” Julia supplied from across the room. Skye didn’t turn, running her hands through her hair after freeing it from her disheveled space buns.
“Were you watching me change right now?” Julia didn’t comment. The silence spoke volumes. She didn’t have to say anything. Julia’s dark eye had some sort of pull to it, and Skye could always feel when it was trained on her. Not that she minded.
“Did Brody teach you that? The life lesson, not the vouyerism.” She finally managed to shake off her kick pads and boots, changing into her normal shoes.
“Malakai, actually. Pain changed me. Taking that mist to my eye, it was the most pain I had ever felt. Tonight, pain changed you. You’re more dangerous than you’ve ever been.”
“I don’t feel dangerous,” Skye said, sitting down on the couch in the middle of the lounge room. She winced in pain. “I feel like shit.”
“You are dangerous. You always have been. What’s what I like about you.” Julia was out of her street fight gear now too, bloody clothes bagged to clean later. “This isn’t over. This was just one battle in the war. The House always wins.”
“Right,” Skye agreed. “And danger’s what you ‘like about’ me, huh? You sure that’s the only thing you like?” Skye shot an amused glance Julia’s way, cheering internally when Julia’s cheeks flushed pink.
“You know that’s not all. We’ve talked about this.”
Skye shrugged. “Just like hearing it from you, is all.”
“You’re so needy,” Julia teased. She was finally packed, and she picked up Skye’s bag as she crossed the room to join her. Julia offered her hand like before, pulling Skye to her feet. “The boys are waiting for us back at the hotel. Are you ready to go?”
Skye took her bag from Julia. With her free hand, she laced her fingers with Julia’s, giving their arms a little swing. Julia laughed softly, and Skye wished she could hear the sound forever.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Skye assured, not sure if she was comforting herself or asserting Julia. “House always wins.”