Chapter Text
Underdog laid on a hospital bed. His right leg was bandaged and raised, and his right arm was casted and laid across his chest. Despite most of his wounds being taken care of, two trails of dried blood were still on his upper lip and a swollen black eye was apparent. Tubes were taped to him and stands holding bags were littered around the bed.
Bombay flung open the door. Underdog's almost-closed eyes snapped open at the sound of it.
"Heyyy, bud!" they exclaimed, slamming the door shut equally as loud. "How ya doing?"
Underdog groaned, flopping his head back down on the hospital pillow.
"That bad, huh?" Bombay asked, flopping down in the hospital chair a few feet away. Immediately they jumped, sitting up straight and rubbing their lower back. "Yeah, I getcha, I'm still hurting too," they chuckled.
Bombay laid their head and arms on Underdog's stomach. Underdog felt like a water balloon had settled on top of him.
"Sooo..." Bombay ventured, "What all'd you break?"
Underdog let out a deep sigh. "My arm... hand... a few ribs, half my collar bone... my femur..."
Bombay's ears pinned and they made a humming noise. "Well, they say that's the worst pain a man can go through!" they tried to joke. Their tail twirled behind them. "At least there's that."
Underdog snorted. "Yeah," he answered noncommittally.
Bombay clenched their jaw, trying not to think too hard about what would have happened if they had fought Simon Barsinister instead of Underdog... sure, they'd fought all those villains at once and also broke some of their bones, but that was for a few hours. Underdog had fought them for days on end... and then battled a massive robot.
"At least you didn't hurt the important bits."
"Hm...?"
"Yknow," Bombay motioned a hand to their ear, "Your head."
"Oh," Underdog answered. "I did."
Bombay shot up, their fur standing on end. "What! Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Underdog answered. Bombay laid back down, their eyes huge and damp. "I had a concussion... maybe a little hemorrhage...? I don't remember what'e said... but at least I'm fixed up now!" Underdog made a shakey smile, his mouth lopsided.
Bombay stared at him. Mother Milky Way, their friend could have died... almost more importantly, if that had been them, they could have died!
"Don't look so guilty," Underdog piped up, noogying a gentle hand on Bombay's head. "It's not your fault Simon fucked me up so much," almost as if he wanted to prove his point, he convulsed slightly with a dry cough. Bombay straightened up, then laid back down as the cough subsided.
"I coulda helped you fight his robot," Bombay replied somberly.
Underdog chuckled, which made him cough again. "Don't be silly," he said weakly. He cleared his throat, "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have had the chance to fight his robot."
Bombay hummed. They hesitated for a moment, glancing at either corner of the room while trying to think of what else to say. They could've said a lot of things, none of which were easy.
"If you were a normal guy, you would've died," is what they settled on.
"I know," Underdog answered, almost immediately. He was staring blankly up at the ceiling. "But I'm not a normal guy. Not like that, anyway. So you don't need to worry about it," to prove his point this time, Underdog started to stroke Bombay's head.
"Hey, man, you can't just do that—" Bombay muttered, thickly swallowing. "You'rrre — you're gonna make me — rrrrr..."
Underdog snorted. And now that they had started, Bombay couldn't turn the purr rumbling in their chest off. It came with every breath, and they stared angrily up at Underdog.
"So unfortunate," Underdog giggled, "You have to be a kitty who gets pet."
"Don't you darrrre call me a fucking kitty, canine."
"Kitty cat~" Underdog teased further.
"Stop ittt," Bombay exclaimed, their ears heating up.