Bruised, not Broken

They had ended up at Magnum's, for a change, eating pizza and sharing beers and generally unwinding after a week full of stress and hassles and everything that came with living in Hawaii.

"You two finally got your shit together?" Rick mockingly exaggerated his relief, babbling on about how he had thought he'd end up somewhere in between rather than hanging out with the two of them because they were both stubborn mules who would rather die than apologise to each other over something as solvable as the case.

Of course, he would never say that his relief was probably even greater than Magnum's, who had been pretty torn up about T.C.'s abrupt termination of their friendship after so many shared experiences. Magnum's sudden trip to the bathroom easily conveyed that he would not admit anything, even if it might explain how half his face was practically one giant bruise. Honestly, seeing the variety of colours that stretched from his forehead to below his ears was painful even for Rick himself.

"Shut up, Rick." T.C. shoved another bottle of beer in his hand, his glare ineffective when weighed against his jovial tone.

"How did it happen though? Was it mushy? You know I love it when you two become all mushy - don't tell me I missed that!" Rick laughed, raising his hands to shield his face from the onslaught of popcorn just as Magnum walked back, presenting a perfect opportunity; "I bet you just grumpily walked up to him, and then grabbed him around his middle and gave him this massive bearhug and swooped him right off his feet, didn't you?" Rick walked up to Magnum, demonstrating exactly what he had just explained (much to T.C.'s humour and Tom's almost petrified look), and was utterly unprepared for the strangled scream that Magnum let loose before going utterly limp in his arms.

"Magnum?"

"Thomas?"

Rick and T.C. spoke spontaneously, flabbergasted at the unexpected turn of events. T.C. was suddenly in front of him, beer bottle forgotten as he helped Rick manoeuvre Magnum until the latter was lying down on the sofa.

"Tommy?" Rick called out again, tapping his cheek softly in an effort to rouse his friend, who was apparently just dazed if his guttural groan and repeatedly blinking eyes were any indication.

"Rick? The hell happened?" Magnum went to sit up, but T.C. promptly held him down.

"You just passed out when I hugged you. Not exactly what I meant by 'swooping you off your feet', just so you know." Rick jibed, subtly grabbing Magnum's wrist and monitoring his somewhat erratic pulse. Magnum shook his hand in an attempt to dislodge his hold, but Rick held firm and levelled a semi-glare at his friend to show him that he was being serious. "Let us take care of you, Thomas. It's okay, there's no one else here. What happened?"

Magnum seemed to deflate, his face appearing gaunter and more drawn as he gave up all pretences that he was anything but exhausted, "I'm fine, just bruises and cuts from the window-"

"Window?" T.C. cut him off before his eyes widened in realisation, "You went another round with that fighter? Are you insane?" His hand, which had been resting on Magnum's shoulder, tightened and Magnum barely held back a flinch.

"What fighter?"

"An MMA one, almost as thick as me. Come on, off with your shirt." T.C. huffed, seeming as annoyed as ever. Rick knew that he was concerned, but he also knew that Magnum would never remove his shirt as long as T.C. was in such a mood; the big dude tended to self-blame way too easily.

"Grab the first aid and a bowl of water, T.C., I have a feeling we're going to need them," Rick said as he gently pulled at Magnum's arm to get the other to sit up. Magnum didn't have much difficulty performing the task so Rick wasn't immensely worried – bruises were a way too normal occurrence with them.

"A round with an MMA fighter? That's a new one." Rick pulled Magnum's shirt up and over the other's head, whistling lowly at the colourful display that was exposed.

"Was trying to prove Hani's innocence; he surprised me and kept tossing me around." Magnum shrugged, wincing as the deeply bruised shoulder protested his movement.

"Anything broken?" Rick gently probed Magnum's side, hating how Magnum flinched or sucked in a pained breath but knowing that it was better to check than encountering surprising complications later.

"No, it would hurt way more if anything was."

"Your back is littered with cuts; I'll just clean them, no need to bandage them. You want some ice for your face?"

"Yeah, sure."

T.C. chose that moment to walk back in and put the bowl of water and the first aid kit down before taking a look at the damage himself, frowning slightly when he realised what had happened while he was brooding at home.

"I'll clean those. Get a towel and the ice." T.C. muttered as he grabbed the cloth from the water, making sure to squeeze most of the water out before he tenderly wiped it across Magnum's back and down his arms.

The silence was stifling.

Magnum could barely contain his fidgeting.

"It's not your fault, you know," he said, turning his head to look at TC. The latter just (effortlessly) turned Magnum's head so that he was facing forward again, allowing T.C. to wash away the dried blood on the back of his neck. It was infuriating. "Don't disregard me, you know I hate that." Magnum bit out, bracing himself against the pain as he turned to face his friend.

"I let you go back there alone and look at what happened." T.C. threw the cloth in the water and Magnum was momentarily distracted by its pinkish state. How many shards had pierced him? "Most of that is from one of the deeper cuts, you'll live."

"I can handle myself on my own-"

"Clearly that is not the case." T.C. cut him off again.

"Look, T.C., you believed I had ratted out your friend without giving him the benefit of the doubt, which I did, because I honestly thought that it was him. You had every right to react like that, and I'm sorry for going behind your back, but if you keep harbouring this guilt, you're not even giving me the option of forgiving you for throwing away our friendship. I don't want something like this to wipe away everything that we went through, man. Stop looking at my bruises and cuts, they'll heal and I'll live, and I don't want you fussing if it's just because you feel guilty."

Magnum knew he was being harsh but he was at the end of his rope and he was never one to beat around the bush when it came to ending disputes – It was one of the things that had led to his great friendship with Nuzo.

"You shouldn't have to forgive me." T.C. looked away, evidently uncomfortable with the conversation; he was never one for emotional heart to hearts and it was honestly humorous to watch.

"We're good, T.C.," Magnum said, smiling softly when T.C.'s shoulders sagged with relief.

"Well, the good news is that there's only one cut that needs to be disinfected just in case; otherwise I'll just bandage your shoulder while you ice your face," Rick announced his presence once again, fingers softly probing Thomas' back just as he handed him a glass of water – Magnum downed it without any thought and attempted to move away from Rick, but both his friends were nonchalantly holding him in place.

"You don't need to wrap my shoulder – it's just bruised." Magnum shrugged and completely ruined his argument with an unintentional flinch.

"And it will swell if we don't bind it, so shut up and let us help you." Rick handed him the ice-compressor, making sure that Thomas was holding it against the bruises before towelling off the excess water from his back. Magnum barely had time to relax before Rick was disinfecting the wound where the shard had impaled him, sending a jolt of pain through his back. Yet, it was dimmed somehow; Magnum knew that disinfecting a wound (no matter how small) was usually more painful.

Oh.

"Involuntarily drugging is a crime, O'ville," Magnum said, hating how he slurred his friend's name. Honestly; any drug worked too fast on him. It was something that worked against him when they were POWs and that he could never build a resistance against.

"Who are you going to report me to? Katsumoto?" Rick gently pulled Magnum's arm up, wounding the bandage around his shoulder with nearly expert ease; maybe they were right – he did get injured way too many times. At least the painkillers were really working their magic – they were probably the heavy-duty stuff that had been left over when he got injured enough to warrant a hospital trip.

"He'll believe me!" Magnum protested against the humour in Rick's voice, but his brain was too foggy to come up with a good retort and his arm was tired of holding the ice to his face. Someone took the ice from his hand, great.

"Of course." T.C. was suddenly next to him, gently shepherding him to his bedroom. That was good. Magnum wanted to sleep. He hated how foggy they made his brain and he didn't want to blab anything about himself without even thinking.

"Don't worry, we'll keep Higgins away while you sleep everything off. I'll stay with you and wake you up if you have nightmares, okay?" Rick was crouching in front of him and Thomas belatedly realised that he was sitting down on the bed and that the blond was putting him in a pair of light sweatpants.

"Thanks, Rick." Magnum tried to squeeze Rick's shoulder, but his hand somehow ended up in Rick's hair and the blond was chuckling as he manoeuvred Magnum until he was curled up on his side underneath the duvet. "Your hair is fluffy."

"Yeah, the ladies dig it." Rick settled down on the other side of the bed, making sure that he was within reaching distance. It settled Magnum's nerves to have him so close; he could easily notice if his nightmares flared up tonight.

T.C.'s presence was silent yet prominent, like a lion protecting his cubs. It was endearing even if it was a bit frustrating to be coddled by his friends over a few bruises and a banged-up shoulder.

"Go to sleep, Tommy. We have a game to catch tomorrow, and you're not going to miss Mak winning, right?" T.C. piped up, petting Thomas' leg – they knew he appreciated the tactile comfort; it reminded him that he wasn't in solitary confinement anymore, awaiting his final day with a bated breath.

"Of course not."

Magnum wasn't sure whether he said it out loud or not, but he knew that his friends got the message. He knew that they would stay there; his silent vigils until they truly believed he was okay, but he found that he didn't mind as much as he thought; it was nice to have somebody to lean on, especially knowing that absolutely nothing would come between their friendship.

But no time to think about that. Magnum focused on Rick's hand; the light touch on his head grounded him in more ways than one, and he let sleep carry him away.

Disclaimer: I do not own Magnum (2018), so am not making any profit from this.

Hi! So, I hope you enjoyed this little indulgence if you made it till down here XD

I would like to take the opportunity and excuse myself for my inactivity; I'm currently dying with exams and swamped - This fic was literally me blowing off steam because I started Magnum P.I. right before my exams - not really such a great idea (but its whump is glorious) XD I love it enough that another episode tag (1x07) is supposedly coming once I finish up with exams!

So, if you have any pointers on characterisation, mishaps I did, or any comments you'd like to leave on this fic feel free! I love to hear feedback!

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Kudos,
Chrisii.