Ameliorate

Chapter 16. Sword and Shield

Art by qarameiio on Twitter, again not directly for this fic.  Make sure to give them some love :)

Everyone else was quiet in the wake of Zak and Darryl's stories.

"I guess I can go next, if no one has any complaints," Dave stated.

No one had any complaints.

"Oh, wait, I still have your knife, Addison," he said.

Addison blinked. "You...stole my knife?"

He shrugged. "Sorry. There was some powered asshole who needed to be taken down. It was easier than just taking one through TSA."

"As long as you didn't shank anyone with it."

"Well, you see-"

"Please don't tell me-"

"Don't worry, I washed it off."

"That's not gonna do anything, you gotta use peroxide so you don't-" Addison cut herself off with a hum. "We'll fix that."

"How do you even know about that?" Will asked.

"She's dating a writer, I talk about shit like this," Weslyn dismissed.

Dave squinted at her.

"Yes, I know how to get away with murder, continuing."

"Anyways. I found out I had healing stuff after I caught a hot pan."

___

This was not how he wanted his morning to go.

He just wanted his goddamn bacon.

Dave had actually gotten eight hours of sleep, so he was feeling particularly responsible that day.

Shame that he knocked his hand into the pan and it tumbled off the stove.

It's a bigger shame that he reflexively tried to catch it.

"Son of a-" Dave jerked his hand back, stepping away from the stove and the spilled bacon grease. "Oh, that's gonna be a pain to clean up."

He sighed, hand throbbing.

He walked to grab a paper towel to wipe his burned hand with.

He glanced down at his hand before freezing.

The burn on his hand looked like a timelapse of a healing burn, but it still throbbed with pain. It only stopped after the burn had reduced itself to a neat little scar on the palm of his right hand.

The apartment was silent.

"What the actual fuck."

Not knowing what else to do, and knowing that if he called anyone he'd get thrown into a mental asylum or at least studied, he called Phil.

He'd probably be able to help him think through it.

The call rang on Discord for a few moments before Phil picked up.

"This feels early for you, mate-" Phil greeted.

"Ok, this is gonna sound fucking insane, please don't send me to a mental institution-"

"Wait, what? Dave, what's going on-"

"So I'm trying to be a responsible adult, right? I just got eight hours of sleep for the second night in a row, I'm making breakfast, but I hit the bacon pan."