[ He can’t read lips just yet but the look on Ian’s face when he passes him the hammer, that reaches Mace clear enough. It’s not a good expression, and his attention is diverted to the rest of Ian’s body for a second, taking in his posture and looking for signs of injury or bleeding.
Finding none at the moment, his gaze sweeps back to Ian’s, mystified. Which is when he catches the way Ian’s eyes are going from his shoulder to his face and back again, and …
Another head shake, firmer this time, followed up by a thumbs-up. It’s okay, and it really is. Or will be, once he pops it back in, which is the lesser of any number of evils he might’ve fallen prey to if Ian hadn’t pulled him out of that tree in time. His own fault for reaching out to catch himself with a fucking hammer, of all things. Then again, if he hadn’t, he would've broken the fall with his face. Which is already swelling up thanks to Casper the unfriendly fuck, back at the cabin.
A deep breath, a moment to reach behind him with his arm angled toward the opposite shoulder, reaching for it with his elbow at a ninety-degree flexion. On the count of three, except you did it on the count of two so that your body wasn’t expecting the — ]
Motherfucker.
[ It hurts almost as much on the way back in, and Mace focuses on rotating it gingerly for a moment, trying to see his range of motion. His other hand reaches out to absently pat the closest part of Ian he can reach, glad that it's covered in fabric, that Ian hadn't been wandering vulnerable without it. ]
no subject
Finding none at the moment, his gaze sweeps back to Ian’s, mystified. Which is when he catches the way Ian’s eyes are going from his shoulder to his face and back again, and …
Another head shake, firmer this time, followed up by a thumbs-up. It’s okay, and it really is. Or will be, once he pops it back in, which is the lesser of any number of evils he might’ve fallen prey to if Ian hadn’t pulled him out of that tree in time. His own fault for reaching out to catch himself with a fucking hammer, of all things. Then again, if he hadn’t, he would've broken the fall with his face. Which is already swelling up thanks to Casper the unfriendly fuck, back at the cabin.
A deep breath, a moment to reach behind him with his arm angled toward the opposite shoulder, reaching for it with his elbow at a ninety-degree flexion. On the count of three, except you did it on the count of two so that your body wasn’t expecting the — ]
Motherfucker.
[ It hurts almost as much on the way back in, and Mace focuses on rotating it gingerly for a moment, trying to see his range of motion. His other hand reaches out to absently pat the closest part of Ian he can reach, glad that it's covered in fabric, that Ian hadn't been wandering vulnerable without it. ]