Out of A Shell (Dash Parr x Fem!Shy!Reader)

Familiar Face

Dash and I spent a lot of hours talking, about a variety of things.

To start off, he told me his hobbies. Being in our school's track team was fun for him, since he liked running. He liked playing sports in general, soccer especially. He liked going to the gym, and going for walks or runs around the city too. He has seemed like the physical-type of person, if his lean and built body type implied as much, so none of that was surprising.

However, he said he partook in photography some, usually when his family took vacations to different places. I found that very interesting; I never took him as the type to like taking pictures of things, but he did. He said he'd show me his collection sometime, and I'm looking forward to that.

When it was my turn to share, I hesitated. I honestly didn't do much, not like what Dash did. It took some gentle prodding from him for me to speak.

I listed off a few things I liked doing. Drawing, Reading, talking walks... They weren't special to me, but Dash was interested in them. Especially drawing. He asked if I drew a lot, and I explained I used to, but not anymore. Sometimes I doodle now and then, but it's nothing serious.

"You used to draw a lot? Why don't you still?"

"It...got ruined for me." I answered, rubbing my upper arms.

"How?" From his relaxed position in his chair, Dash sat up straighter, invested in this.

"...I had a notebook, that I filled with my sketches. My mom found it, said that I was better off spending time doing something worthwhile...then ripped up the pages and threw the notebook away."

As I spoke, the memory spread across my mind like freezing water. My notebook being snatched away, the patronizing words, the glare, the sound of tearing and ripping...

"I'm sorry Y/N." I glanced up, truthfully not expecting to hear Dash's solemn tone of voice. His smile from before was gone, in its place was a frown. He looked apologetic.

...And vaguely...mad?

"It's ok." I took a breath and exhaled. "But, yeah. That really made me not want to draw anymore, so I stopped for a while."

We moved onto other topics, music being a fun one. Dash's favorite genre was rock n roll, but I didn't really have one. I wasn't that picky; if something had a good beat and ok lyrics, I could listen to it.

As we continued chatting, I felt the atmosphere wasn't as light as it was before I told him about my mom. It put a damper on the overall mood...I need to get better at keeping my mouth shut.

Dash went home when visiting hours ended, but today, he was right back when the hospital opened up again. It was nice, really nice, but it reminded me that tomorrow was Monday...Dash had to be at school, so I don't think he'll be able to visit me in the morning. That made me frown, but not as much when I realized I was going to be missing out on school. All the work I'm gonna need to catch up on...ugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was 6 pm now, and I was in a new room. I was deemed well enough to be taken out of the ICU, and was placed into a room in the lower levels of the hospital, where a lot of other patients were. Fortunately, I didn't have to share my room with someone else. I was still on an IV, but only the one in my arm. They removed the one in my chest, thankfully.

The hallways down here were more busy, so it was often loud, but I was fine with it. My room had a TV in it, and I devoted a lot of my attention to that. Mostly since Dash left a few hours ago. I managed to convince him to go home and "take a break from me" so he could eat something and relax out of the confines of hospital, even though he was adamant in not going. It was honestly funny that he was attached to me, like a puppy is to someone they like.