x-wingsandarchers:

whumpstar:

never-enough-whump:

You know what’s a good comfort?

Unexpected comfort. When the caretaker (B) treats the whumpee (A) so much better than A expects. Especially good when B is A’s boss/leader/mentor/similar role.

Some examples:

1. A screws up the mission and gets hurt in the process. When they get back to the team, they try to downplay their injury and apologize profusely, thinking they’ll be in trouble for failing. But B is actually more concerned about A’s injury than about the mission and their first priority is making sure A is all right.

• A screws up the mission because they were too scared to do part of it. They lie to B about it because they don’t think being scared is a good enough excuse, but B isn’t buying it. Eventually, B gets A to admit what really happened, and instead of being mad they reassure A that yes it was a scary situation and no B doesn’t think they’re useless or weak because they couldn’t go through with it.
• A has a mental illness and is hiding it from the team. B doesn’t show a lot of emotion and is always making a big deal about how the team can’t let their emotions get in the way of their job, so A doesn’t think they’ll be very sympathetic to the way A’s illness affects them. But when B does find out, they’re way more understanding than A expected and try to make things easier for A if possible.
• A’s previous boss/leader/mentor/similar before B saw A as lesser because of their difference in status. A got used to that treatment and even started to believe that they deserved it. The first time B treats A as an equal/prioritizes A’s safety over the success of the mission/doesn’t punish A for their mistakes/etc., it’s a shock to A and they’re slightly confused but overwhelmed with relief/happiness/feeling of belonging/etc. Bonus points if the incident brings A to tears and causes them to reveal their past to B or the team. Bonus bonus points for lines like “I know my place” and “why are you being so nice to me?”.
• A accidentally reveals to B that they’re touch starved. At first A is really embarrassed, but then B starts to do things like brush their hand when they’re handing each other stuff and ruffle A’s hair or pat their shoulder when B’s proud of them.
• A is captured and tortured for information and tells their torturer something. It’s not something super big or important, but it’s enough to make A feel like a traitor. When they get back to safety, they resist being taken care of because they think they deserve to suffer after telling the enemy what they did. B reassures them that no one deserves to go through what they did and A eventually allows themself to be comforted, because if B wants to help them then it must be OK to accept.