Alleyway Rescue
Summary: A bystander intervenes to stop a public figure from abusing her partner on the street.
Content: Rescue, abusive relationship, famous whumper, stranger caretaker, gentle caretaker, broken whumpee, hair whump, begging, abandonment
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Caretaker and their friend could just see the light rail approaching their stop as a startled cry cut through the ambient noise of the busy street around them.
“It hurts… Please, Whumper, I’m sorry, please let go! I’m sorry!”
Passersby automatically, unthinkingly parted around two figures. The one in front was tall and elegantly dressed, with a look of fury mixed with contempt on her face as she dragged the other, much less impressive-looking person - shorter, almost ragged-looking in his worn clothes - along by his shoulder-length hair.
For a moment, everyone seemed at a loss as far as what to do. A buzz of uncomfortable whispers seemed to surround the two at the center of the scene. One person pulled out their phone and started recording. A number of people just straight-up looked away.
Caretaker's friend was one of them. “Looks like someone’s having a bad night,” they said, turning to Caretaker with a grimace as the train slowed to a halt in front of them.
At first, Caretaker had been just as frozen as everyone else. Then, a second yelp from the victim snapped them out of it. They dug into their pocket, reaching for their phone to call 911, but then shook their head. It’d take too long for anyone to get there.
They stepped away from the train car's open door, shaking their head. “Hey, you head back, okay? I’m going to see what’s going on.”
“Caretaker…!” Their friend groaned from the doorway.
“I’ll catch up with you later!” With that, Caretaker took off after the two who’d just turned the corner into an alleyway.
“Don’t do anything stupid!” Their friend called after Caretaker's retreating form right before the doors slid closed.
As Caretaker rounded the corner, they heard a whimper and another “Please, I-I didn't mean to, I'm... I’m really sorry —!” followed by a loud smack and a cry of pain.
Caretaker inhaled sharply at the sound, and picked up their pace in approaching the two strangers. “The fuck is wrong with you?! Let him go!”
The small man who this Whumper lady had shoved up against the wall jerked to attention, looking at Caretaker with tears starting to well up in his wide, terrified eyes under glasses knocked askew.
Whumper didn't take her eyes off him. “This doesn't involve you. So stay out of it,” she said coldly to Caretaker. If anything, her hold on the scared little man's shirtfront only tightened further as she pinned his back against the brick building behind him. He let out a whimper.
"Yeah, no, I'd say I'm pretty involved after seeing that," Caretaker said heatedly, grabbing her by wrist to pull her back.
Whumper finally turned to look over her shoulder at them with an expression as icy and contemptuous as her tone. She yanked her hand out of Caretaker's grasp, then let go of her victim, only to shove him roughly against the wall. "Don't move," she ordered him sharply as he stumbled and fell down onto the dirty cement.
"Wait, s-stop!" he called out weakly as Whumper turned to confront Caretaker.
Caretaker's eyes flitted over to him, giving what they hoped was a reassuring smile, but his eyes only went wider and he flinched back as Whumper landed a solid hit to Caretaker's face.
Caretaker only mostly suppressed their own shout of pain as they reeled back with the impact, thinking that maybe this hadn't been such a good idea, actually. They were, what, a couple inches taller than the guy on the ground at most, and not exactly the most athletic person in the world.
They didn't need to beat this lady, though. They just needed to get her to leave the poor guy alone.
So just before she turned around to head back toward him, they spat the blood trickling out of their split lip at Whumper. They got some right on her face, and a few spatters on her expensive outfit for good measure.
That got them the reaction they wanted. She stared at Caretaker in disbelief, her eyes wide with fury and disgust.
Caretaker grinned at her with a challenging upward jerk of their head, doing their best to tamp down their nervousness about how this was going to go.
Sure enough, Whumper walked quickly and deliberately toward them, backing them up so they nearly tripped back onto a trash barrel. Before they could fall back, Whumper roughly grabbed their face and pulled them forward until their noses were only a few inches apart. Despite themself, Caretaker let out a surprised cry.
"I'm giving you one more chance to walk away from this," she warned them in a tone that wasn't as calm as she seemed to be going for. "I'd suggest you don't make this harder for yourself."
Caretaker yelled as loud as they could, "What the hell's wrong with you, lady, are you drunk or something?! Let go!" They abruptly kicked the trash can over behind them and struggled out of her grasp. This was gonna suck, they thought, as they let themself stumble and fall back over it. They landed with a grunt on the cement, and crawled back out of the alleyway.
Whumper was more than happy to let them, smirking at their apparent cowardice and humiliation, until one person, and then two more, walked over to offer them a hand up. Another bystander, who Caretaker swore they had seen earlier, not so surreptitiously held up their phone to record this.
"You alright, kid?" A sturdy-looking middle-aged man asked as he helped them to their feet, looking back into the alleyway suspiciously.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks," Caretaker said breathlessly, wincing as they checked a scrape on their elbow, then thumbing at Whumper. "I don't know what's wrong with her, she just attacked me out of nowhere."
"Want us to call the cops for you? Do you need an ambulance?" the man asked.
Whumper fumed. "That… whoever they are was trying to rob us," she snapped, gesturing to the man still cowering on the ground behind her. "He… she… whatever, they scared my partner here half to death."
It was Caretaker's turn to look enraged. "Are you -- ?! Yeah. Let's call the cops, see what they think about this," they shot back.
"Please don't…!" Whumper's partner said feebly from behind her. "You don't need to. I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to. To upset everyone. I'm sorry."
The man standing in front of Caretaker ignored him though, pulling out his cell phone with a look that suggested he was more than happy to turn this over to someone else to figure out.
"Hey, hold up," another onlooker, a woman about Caretaker's age said, putting a hand on his arm. "I think I recognize her. Isn't that -- ?!"
"I'm pretty sure you're right," her friend agreed from behind her, then wrinkled her nose. "What's she doing with that guy, though?"
She was beating him up, whoever she is, Caretaker was about to say, before Whumper shook her head. "No need," she said. "Whumpee, let's go home."
The small man made no move to get off the ground, though, looking at the small crowd of people with a stunned expression. He flinched, and began mumbling apologies while rocking back and forth against the wall.
"You don't have to go," Caretaker said gently. This only seemed to upset him more, though, and he pressed his head against his knees with a sound of distress, trying to make himself small.
"WHUM -- !" Whumper started toward him, but then stopped short as he startled and scooted away. She shook her head at this display. "Do you really want to take your chances here on your own, Whumpee, after what just happened?" Caretaker could swear they heard a warning tone in her voice.
Whumpee stopped rocking briefly, and looked in Whumper's direction with a helpless expression. "I'm sorry, I don't… I'm sorry," he repeated in a voice that threatened to break at any moment.
"Fine, you can find your own way home then," she said coolly, and brushed past the crowd of people with a brief glare toward Caretaker.
"Wait...!" Whumpee cried out, futilely, and let out a sound of despair when Whumper didn't so much as look back at him before rounding the corner. “Don’t leave,” he said in a small voice, too late.
With the confrontation over, the small crowd that had formed to watch the confrontation began to disperse.
"I'd watch my back if I were you," the man who had helped Caretaker up said to them, attempting a joking smile. "With all the money and connections that family has… hey, for all I know it could be just rumor, but it doesn't hurt to be careful."
"Wait, who is she?" Caretaker called after him, but he was already walking off, as was the guy recording them. Caretaker briefly thought they should be concerned about where that footage might end up, but there was nothing to do about that now.
Meanwhile, though…
"Hey," Caretaker said, sliding down the wall to sit next to the still-trembling man on the ground. "You're Whumpee, right?"
This only got them a startled squeak in response.
"It's okay! Not gonna hurt you, promise," they said, giving Whumpee their most disarming smile and holding their hands up in a gesture of harmlessness. "I'm Caretaker, by the way. Nice to meet you."
Whumpee eyed them fearfully, finally adjusting his glasses with shaking hands. The look on Caretaker's face seemed to slightly reassure him, enough to force a sad little smile. "Hi," he said, almost inaudibly. Then, after a long pause, he blurted out, "I-I'm sorry you got caught up in this. I'm sorry. She's going to be so --" He squeezed his eyes shut with a high sound of fear and despair, before pulling back in on himself. "I'm sorry," he repeated, now muffled by his knees.
"It's not you who's got anything to apologize for, alright?" Caretaker told him. "This is on her. I just wish I'd shown up before she hit you. Who is she, anyways?"
The only response was another fearful sound, more like a whimper this time.
Caretaker shook their head. "I guess it doesn't matter. She still did it, and nothing says you have to go back. So what, do you need a hotel for the night?"
"You don't have to," Whumpee said quickly, shaking his head.
"Or… there's also my place, if you don't want to be alone," they offered instead.
Whumpee looked over in their direction with a wary, indecisive expression, and they responded with another kind smile. Finally, he looked back down and gave a small nod.
Their friend was going to ream them over this, Caretaker thought. Still worth it.
"Cool," they said instead, pushing themself up. "I'll call us a Lyft, and… can you stand up on your own?"
Whumpee tried to clamber into an upright position on his own shaking legs, but he quickly fell down with a startled squeal and let out a defeated sob.
"Here, I've got you," Caretaker said, extending their hands. "We're gonna get up slowly now, alright?"
With a resigned expression, Whumpee reached for Caretaker and allowed them to help him to his feet. Still shaky, though, he slumped against Caretaker, who did their best to support him as they arranged a ride home. He seemed to calm down a bit during their wait, trembling only slightly after a couple of minutes, but he remained leaned against them. Caretaker couldn't tell if it was for balance or comfort at this point, but either way, this was some improvement over where they'd started.
"Hey, time to go," Caretaker said gently as the car pulled up. "Feeling more steady on your feet?"
"Yes. Sorry," Whumpee said, pulling away quickly and looking down. Caretaker caught a brief glimpse of his flushed face in the lamplight over head.
"You didn't do anything wrong," they clarified. "Here, if you still want to --"
But Whumpee was already scurrying into the back seat of the Lyft, pressing himself against the opposite door. His shoulders were hunched, and he pressed his face against the window, not acknowledging Caretaker’s presence as they climbed in, as if by doing so he thought they wouldn't notice him either.
Caretaker took the hint, and exchanged the usual pleasantries with the driver. He wasn't particularly interested in talking, though, so the conversation faded into awkward silence other than Whumpee's shaking breaths and the sound of him rocking against the leather seat. Leaving him to stew in his own thoughts was apparently not helpful, as a few minutes later Caretaker heard a sniffle, followed by a distinct sob as they pulled up to a stoplight.
"It's alright," Caretaker tried to comfort him, scooting over to the middle seat, but he flinched and shook his head repeatedly. "Okay, maybe it's not alright yet, but, we'll get there. And I'm --"
They broke off. What could they actually, realistically promise here? But Whumpee was looking at them now with uncertainty in his expression, along with maybe the tiniest bit of hope.
"I'm gonna be there to help," they finished, smiling even as they wondered what they were getting into. "Here, do you do hugs?"
Whumpee hesitated for only a beat, looking back and forth as if trying to figure out what the safest response was. Finally, he took a breath and leaned into their open arm, pressing his head against their shoulder. "I-I'm sorry. Thank you, I'm just… I'm sorry I'm like this," he said in a muffled voice.
"There's nothing wrong with you, though," Caretaker tried to reassure him.
He just shook his head mutely, his face still pressed against them. They tried not to react at the discomfort of his glasses digging into their skin, instead pulling him closer as tears started to drip off his frames onto their shirt front.
"We're almost home, okay? I'll keep you safe," they said, ignoring the now quite insistent buzzing of the cell phone in their pocket as they tried to figure out how they would prove worthy of Whumpee's fragile trust.
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“It’s just hair, Whumpee. It’ll grow back.”
Carding their fingers through their long, black locks, Whumpee slowly shakes their head, running their fingers through the fine strands faster and faster, dead hairs falling onto the cold bathroom floor near their bare feet.
Caretaker points. “Look. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I’m tired of seeing your hair everywhere I go. You shed like a dog.”
“That’s what hair does,” Whumpee says, holding onto their own.
“Well, yeah, but nobody sheds as much hair as you do. Besides, you waste so much shampoo on it, and you aren’t even the one paying for it. As a matter of fact, you don’t pay for anything. Cutting it off is the least you could do for me.”
Whumpee grips their hair even tighter, its silky texture comforting to their shaking, sweaty hands. “No. I’m willing to pay for the shampoo.”
“Oh? With what money?” Caretaker raises their eyebrows and puts their hands on their hips. “Money from the job you don’t have?”
“I can get one.”
Caretaker rolls their eyes. “Can you? You cry at anything and everything. You can barely hold a cup without breaking it.”
“There are plenty of jobs out there.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure none of them would want to accept a good-for-nothing freeloader like you,” Caretaker replies, crossing their arms. “Or do you want to be a maid instead? Because I’m sick and tired of cleaning the house every damn day after work because you’re too lazy to do it.”
“I’m not lazy—”
Grabbing a pair of dull silver scissors off of the sink, Caretaker steps towards Whumpee. “Then what are you, huh? What are you?”
“I’m… I’m just —”
“Again with the excuses!” Caretaker yells, pinching the bridge of their nose. “Do you ever get tired of making them?”
Whumpee swallows tears down their aching throat. “They’re not excuses!”
Caretaker opens their mouth, but closes it right after. They purse their lips and eye Whumpee’s straight black hair, the ends curling ever-so-slightly at Whumpee’s waist, opening the scissors and grabbing Whumpee by their shirt, forcing them to sit on the toilet lid and grabbing a fistful of their hair.
Whumpee squirms. “Stop it!”
Ignoring Whumpee’s nails drawing blood from their arm, Caretaker closes the scissors around Whumpee’s hair, hefty piles of thick, shiny black hair collapsing onto the floor as Whumpee cries, as Caretaker kicks the hair to the side as if it’s nothing, nothing at all.
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