sing me to sleep [wilbur soot]

27: BLACK AND BLUE

Gemma stood outside the bakery as the late April wind twisted around her. Since seeing Fiore, she'd kept her head down and kept her eyes glued to her phone. Her foot tapped as she heard footsteps approach and as she turned to see who it was a fist collided with her face, near her eye, as a ring cut into her skin. She gasped and shrieked, dropping her phone and stumbling to the side.

"Whore. I saw you." Fiore spat.

"Leave me the fuck alone." Gemma snarled, leaning down to grab her phone, "you're a sick twisted bitch, I can't believe half of the shit you did to me."

"And you're cheating on Wilbur!" Fiore stepped closer and Gemma flinched, bringing her hands up to block another hit as she scrambled away.

"What? That was George! Seriously? You know the guy!" She corrected her footing as she stared down her sister, trying to force the tears in her eyes back. Before Fiore could move to strike again, the bell above the cafe door rung as someone stepped out.

"I know what I see." Fiore smiled, sickly sweet, before turning and getting back into her car. Gemma wiped her hand under her eye where blood streaked down her face as her sister sped away.

"Are you alright?" Whoever had scared off Fiore said, they seemed young based off their voice.

"I-I'm okay." Gemma said, "promise."

"Okay..." the woman said and as she stepped back inside, Gemma watched the way she pulled a small chair up to the window to sit and watch. Soon after, a car horn blared and made Gemma jump as she turned to see Wilbur's car parked on the curb. She smiled, despite the pain in her eye, and quickly made her way over to where the people she truly cared about sat. Before Gemma could even make it to the car, Wilbur was climbing out and jogging towards her. As he reached out to cup her jaw, she flinched away and he paused. After a second, Gemma leaned into his touch and he rubbed his thumb along her cut.

"Did George do that?" He nearly growled and she shook her head.

"No, god no he would never." She whispered back, and Wilbur gripped her shoulder and pulled her along with him to the car. Techno leaned over to open to door for Gemma and waved as she climbed in before Wilbur took the drivers seat in front of her.

"Phil can you hand me a tissue from the console?" Gemma asked and he nodded, leaning over to grab the tissues and hand the box back to her. She took one out and folded it up a few times before pressing it to her under eye as they started to pull away.

"What happened Gemma?" Phil asked, looking back at her.

"C-Can we just get home before I have a panic attack..?" She whispered softly as she leaned against the door. No one said anything as Wilbur began to speed up.

Once they were home, Wilbur guided Gemma inside to where the group could hear Tommy and Tubbo carrying on while Ranboo cracked up beside them. Techno and Phil went ahead, gently warning the boys of what was to come.

Mostly that fact that Wilbur would be rightfully pissed off.

Upstairs, Wilbur gently nudged a towel against Gemma's check and swiped the blood away while she flinched.

"At least I finished filming before this." She tried to joke, but Wilbur's stare at the deep gash that ran under her eye and into her eyebrow made her quiet down.

"Gem, you're probably gonna need stitches." Wilbur sat back, while still applying pressure.

"I don't want to go to the hospital." She whispered and he hummed, gently pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"I know, but I'll go with you and it'll be okay." He looks back towards the door and Gemma gasps, leaning closer.

"No, please, Wilbur." She grips his wrist and he hesitates.

"I just don't want it to scar and ruin the whole filming thing you have going on." Wilbur murmurs, gently cupping her face with his other hand.

"But..." her plea dies in her mouth and she sighs heavily. With tears in her eyes she nods and Wilbur smiles down at her, gently giving her a kiss.

—

"Alright Miss D'Amore, so luckily you'll only need stitches on the lower part on your cheek." The doctor said, "and we'll be able to do it right now, so no waiting will be needed. However, before I do this, I need ask how the wound occurred just to make sure we do not have to do any removal of glass or what not. Don't be worried about embarrassing yourself, I've heard a lot of stories over the years."

"Uhm. I was punched in the face by my sister, and she had a ring on. So it cut me." Gemma glanced down and she could feel Wilbur's gentle hold on her hand tighten.

"Do you want us to call the police?" The doctor leaned down a bit to be on Gemma's level and she fervently shook her head.

"No, I'll be dealing with it on my own." Gemma whispers and the doctor nods.

"Then lets get this cleaned out and stitched up." The doctor smiles and quickly walks off to the side to find a nurse to assist.

—

Gemma was basically numb in half her face by the time they got home. So eating dinner was a hysterical challenge as she had to literally hold her lips closed on the left side of her face to make sure she wasn't being gross. Gemma had declared she was going to clean up to allow the boys to hangout and busied herself in the kitchen almost immediately. She didn't want to talk to Wilbur yet, because she knew he'd be upset, but he deserved to know about it. Even if Fiore had just hit her and claimed something that was so outlandish Gemma hadn't even expected it.

"Uhm." Gemma nearly shrieked at the deep voice and whipped around to see Ranboo awkwardly shuffling on his feet.

"Oh god kid, hi." She laughed, rubbing her unbandaged cheek.

"Hi! Sorry to startle you." He adjusted his hoodie sleeves, "uhm... we were gonna watch some Disney movies and Wilbur told me to grab you so you could come and watch with us."

"What are we watching?" Gemma set her dish towel down and adjusted her posture.

"I know Tommy wants to watch Up... but I think we also wanted to put on BOLT and Finding Nemo." Ranboo rubbed his hands together and she nodded, walking over and shoulder bumping him.

"I'm down. And there's no need to be so timid, I'm not gonna bite you." She smiles up at him and he laughs.

"I'm still getting used to being around you all. In person is different than online."

"It is, but it's nicer I think." Gemma guides him to the living room where she can see Tommy throwing pillows at Techno while Wilbur sneaks up behind him. Tubbo's shouting the lyrics to some random song while Phil sits perfectly calm amongst the chaos with Kristin at his side. Gemma and Ranboo pause, taking in the moment as the taller boy breaks into a grin.

"Yeah. It is."