streetspeakin:

‘  yeah, i get that a lot.  ’     ( he doesn’t. ) 

back on topic, his chin tips up in gesture to the curb.  ‘  pop a squat,
brother, n’ keep that hand steady. no prayin’ to the lord of the under-
world while i got my back turned, capiche?  ’   but he’s already had 
his back turned the entire time, kneeling to unzip and scoop into the
untold depths of his dufflebag. gloves, patches. a few stray smokes, 
their carton long since reoccupied by a small sewing kit.   gauze  by
the  mile,   bandages,  a  gel  ice  pack — sadly,  entirely  unthawed.
usually chucks it in the freezer just before the fight. cushioning all of
that in place on the floor of the bag is a  decently  thick  comic  book
he’d lifted earlier,   slipping it out from underneath to give it one last
longing glance.      TANK GIRL: BAD WIND RISING.         shame he
never got around to reading it first.

now setting it aside with the rest of the armful he’d since dug out from
the treasure box, he pops his own damn squat onto the harsh cold of
the concrete and begins unraveling a decent length of gauze with his
teeth.  ‘  so, rocky.  you read the papers at all?  watch the news?  ’

he’d give a mock laugh if he thought the other was trying to be funny. even
if he was, it was a pretty poor attempt. but he nodded and made his way down
to the cub, sitting and holding the one arm still. his fingers could bend a little
but pain would shoot up if they went any further. he’d need some heavy pain-
killers when he got home. hell, he could go for a drink right about now. instead
he watched as the other dug around ins his bag for what he needed. must be
a magic one if he can pull out the proper bandages. or he gets into a lot of
fights. the latter was more believable than the former.

“ you trying to make small talk like a real doctor would? ” it’s said rather
monotonously - he knew that he didn’t need to take that sort of attitude. but
it was past his lips before he could stop himself. his gaze dropped down to
his hand and he held it out for the other before letting out a sigh. “ don’t read
the paper much, watch the news a little. i only pay attention to what’s important. ”
to him, the world was a shitshow that only thrived with the more attention it
got. it left him out of the loop on some things but he was happier that way.
more calm as well. “ and you can call me layne. maybe i can get your name
since you’re helping me out here. ”