cap_ironman | Hurt/Comfort Month: First Aid in H/C Fic

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Hurt/Comfort Month: First Aid in H/C Fic

Tony Stark selflessly preforming first aid on Steve Rogers. The Avengers v3 #70.

The structure of H/C is usually such that we have some discussion of the hurt, then later we get comforting to make the hurt better. The hurt is frequently injuries in battle, torture, illness or odd things done by aliens and/or wizards. The comfort may or may not involve wild monkey sex, or snogging at the very least. However, between the horrible torture and the wild monkey sex, there is usually some kind of scene wherein the comforter (let's call him Tony) finds the hurt person (Steve, for example) in a state of hurtness (totally a word!). At this point, Tony will probably have to do something immediately to help make Steve better, or at least to keep him from dying before Tony can cradle his seemingly lifeless from in his iron-clad arms and fly away into the sunset (or into the local hospital).

This would be first aid.

Necessary Disclaimer:
I'm not a first aid instructor, and if I were I wouldn't be allowed to randomly teach people first aid over the Internet. This post is for writing interests only, and information herein (what there is of it, as I plan to be vague) ought not to be used in meatspace. Please, if you're at all interested, go out and take a first aid course. Heck, take one if you're not interested. It's good stuff to know.

That said, I have taken first aid every two years for the last twelve years, and currently hold a marine first aid certificate. Additionally, I was raised in the bush, and my parents were into first aid to the point where, when encountering incorrect first aid when reading stories aloud, they would both stop and explain why one should never ever put butter on a burn or just go and yank out out a jagged shard of alien crystal embedded in one's leg. Which is probably why bad or completely absent first aid in stories makes me twitch to this day. It's also why running into well-used first aid makes me make little clappy motions with my hands and write good reviews.

All that out of the way, we can now move on to:

What Is It?
The main point of first aid is to keep a sick or injured person alive until actual facts medical professionals can fix the patient in a more comprehensive manner. This has secondary goals such as knowing how not to make injuries worse (like randomly carting about someone with broken bones), and knowing some things about aiding recovery once the patient gets to a hospital (so that what you do doesn't get in the way of what the doctors are likely to do). Most courses deal with taking care of an injured person for up to an hour, though you can take more involved programs such as marine or wilderness first aid which handle what to do if you're on a boat or in the back country and far away from help.

First aid also teaches how to look after minor injuries that don't need professional attention, but the first point is key. The goal of a first aider is to keep the patient alive, and if possible ready for transport, not to make injuries all better fixed. As an example, Tony's right on here: I've only rarely heard of CPR making someone's heart start beating again on its own. The point is too keep blood to the brain until the ~~King of Wakanda~~ professionals can step in.

Who Knows It?
In that the Avengers spend so much time engaged in either battle or disaster relief, I'm pretty sure Steve would make knowing some kind of first aid a requirement on joining the team. I would like to take this opportunity to say that anyone who writes about a Mandatory Avengers First Aid Course will be my friend forever, because those things are goofy enough as it is, without throwing Wolverine into the mix.

Not everyone we're writing about is actually in the Avengers, but first aid is still a pretty widely-held skill set when it comes to people who would interact with Our Heroes. Anyone who has a job that requires them to potentially deal with sick or injured people is going to know first aid. For example: Police officers (Monica and Misty), military personnel (Rhodey, Carol and Jarvis [and probably Steve, though first aid in 1944 ≠ first aid now]), spies and agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Sharon, Jessica Drew, Natasha, Bobbi, Maria Hill, and Nick), and people who have worked in science labs (Hank, Jan, Bill and Reed). That's just for starters, too. Many workplaces require at least one available first aider at all times. Lots of people take one course or another on their own, especially if they think they're likely to deal with say, Tony Stark; who's a disaster zone in progress a lot of days.

It's up to each writer, but I tend to default to most people around the Avengers knowing first aid.

Basic Use in Meatspace
So here's what's supposed to happen:
Assess Scene: A first aider is not supposed to enter a situation that has the potential to injure the person offering assistance. This is on the theory that two injured people are more trouble to rescue than one (As an example: not far from where I live, one worker saw another lying unconscious on the ground, and didn't think to assess the danger but just went in after him. It turned out the area the unconscious worker was in was flooded with poison gas from a mine shaft. Both workers died).

Assess the patient: the first aider is also supposed to do a careful and complete assessment of the patient. Treating immediate needs like oxygen and blood circulation, and then moving onto secondary care of potentially dangerous but not immediately lethal conditions. Secondary care includes treatment for shock, hypothermia, burns, cuts that aren't going to bleed out immediately, broken bones, and so on. This is also supposed to be done in an orderly fashion.

Stay where you are: When encountering a sick or injured person, a first aider should keep the injured person where zie is and assess the situation. Only when the first aider is confident that it is safe to do so, can the person be moved. If there is any doubt, or moving the person has the slighest potential to make things worse, zie should stay where zie is. The main reason for this is that there are often unseen internal injuries, especially to the neck and spine, that moving a patient could aggravate.

The only exception to these steps is if the patient and/or the first aider is in more danger if they stay were they are. For example, if the building is about to explode.

Probable Use in Comics
Which is the thing with comics and fic for comics fandoms: the building is always about to explode (/burn down/be vaporised by aliens/turn into a giant mushroom/be trampled by dinosaurs). Therefore, writers can and do realistically short cut a lot of the above, and that's okay. Steve is going to just rush into a burning building to save Tony. Tony can totally just grab Steve and go, because potential spinal injuries are less bad than guaranteed consumption by mutant giant squid. (Plus there are ways to move someone in a hurry that minimise the risk of further injury). Also, someone who is experienced in dealing with combat injuries, such as all of the Avengers after about two weeks on the job, will be able to cram a lot of this assessment stuff into a pretty short time.

Also, in that a lot of our heroes are meta humans, we're going to feel less worried about some of them. Luke isn't going to bleed out from a bullet wound (externally, at least); Carol's unlikely to suffer from electrical burns, Logan's pretty much going to be fine no matter what, and Tony has a healing factor for the period in which he had the Extremis (start of New Avengers through the end of Secret Invasion, more or less). Plus the whole lot of them, meta or not, regularly bounce back from getting punched through walls, with no apparent damage done.

However, we're still talking about writing H/C. These people can and do suffer from injuries, and can and do require ~~healing cock~~ treatment. In fact, being meta human can make treatment more complicated. A canon example is the New Avengers arc wherein Luke Cage suffered a serious heart attack, and they couldn't do surgery because of the whole unbreakable skin issue. Tony likewise has heart conditions largely unknown to medical science, and regular sedatives or pain killers may or may not work on Steve (my canon on this is a little fuzzy). There's a whole lot of wiggle room one way or another when it comes to writing this stuff.

TL;DR
I am in no way suggesting that authors extensively quote the standard first aid manual every time they write about an injury. That would be pretty dull. There is, however, a right and a wrong way to treat any situation involving an injury, that most characters will probably know. Even a little research beforehand will save an author from writing about characters using chest compressions to make an already established heartbeat stronger (I swear I actually read that once), or smearing antibiotic cream on second degree burns, or moving a potential spinal injury for no reason.

Also, first aid is fun! We've all read hypothermia fic, and CPR seems to come up a fair bit, but did you know that part of treating shock actually is hand holding and talking comfortingly to the patient? And there's all sorts of excuses to feel people up! (-coughs- which makes being a first aider sound skeevier than it actually is, but work with me, here).

For Example
In a Different Light by

marinarusalka
In which Hank applies proper treatment after Tony gets chemicals in his eyes. Oh, and there's hilarious and touching H/C plotty goodness that follows.

Good Things Come in Cold Packages by Nix
Hypothermia porn. Why mess with the classics?

Hold Me Down by Elspethdixon and Seanchai
More hypothermia porn. Sort of, there's damaged heart stuff and emotional trauma as well. These two write great H/C in which many people (well, usually Tony) are injured and then receive correct medical treatment (and sex).

Plus, you know, everything I've written on the topic is technically flawless, because I'm perfect like that -g-

I've been trying to think of more than this all morning, and there's totally more out there, but apparently my brain's melted. Please comment with your favourites. Or pet peeves when it comes to incorrect first aid. Or glaring errors anywhere in the above essay.

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Lovely! I work in Corrections (pre-release center), and first aid is one of the mandatory things that all of our staff are required to know. It's nice to see someone write up a succinct overview of the subject.

Plus, y'know, if my mandatory first-aid classes involved subjects like Tony ~~feeling up~~ checking over Steve, or ~~healing cock~~ extraordinary options, they'd be a whole heckuva lot less boring. *g*

Yeah, I'm in the coast guard (it's civilian in Canada), and same.

Though we've generally got pretty good instructors, so they find a way to make taking the same damned course every two years at least somewhat entertaining.

Icon love!

Appropriately enough. XD

These icons depict the "comfort" that happens after the "hurt" of a fic with egregious punctuation errors? :D

Actually, I meant the whole 'icon love' line, but yeah... now that you mention it, I do believe your're right. *grins*

You have made my day.

Now I want to read a first aid class fic too. And a fic were they go over each avenger specific medical needs. I figure after a while Steve would know that it's a good idea to figure out who's allergic to what, who's imune to what and who needs a quadruple dose of morphine to get the effect of a tylenol *before* going into battle.

Oh! and what everyone's baseline looks like. In Elspethdixon and Seanchai's alien invasion epic there is a great scene where Wanda has to tell the medical personnel again and again that no that is Quicksilver's normal resting heartrate, yes it's suposed to beat that fast.

Thank you -bows-

We still have better than half of H/C month left, if you wanted to a) sign up for meta about baseline vitals and Avenger's medic alert bracelets or b) write the first aid fic.

I thought about reccing When the Lights Go on Again, as it's full of well treated injuries, but really long story is really long, so I just included it in a general author rec.

We still have better than half of H/C month left, if you wanted to a) sign up for meta about baseline vitals and Avenger's medic alert bracelets or b) write the first aid fic.

Tempting. But I really don't know enough canon. I would need more than a beta, more like a co-author. It really should be written by somebody who knows what they're doing. Hell I've never taken a first aid class. But now you almost make me want to give it a try.

Well, maybe someone else will pick it up. I'm tapped out on commitments right now.

Totally take a first aid course. It's good stuff to know!

You are a darling, and this was delightful (and informative). Improperly applied first-aid (or no first aid at all!) in an HC is one of the few things that can get me scowling at an otherwise good fic. It's a worse turn off for me than typos.

I also would love to see Avengers First Aid Training Hijinx.

Thanks for sharing your expertise.

This post was brought to you by the morning I spent writing 3k of detailed instructions on how to treat 3rd degree burns, only to read not an hour later a fic (same fandom, different author) wherein one character was totally going to cool them, then decided to smear ointment all over the things instead -waves arms in incoherent horror-

I was, at that time, going to call this post "Bad First Aid in Fanfic Makes Baby Jesus Cry" but since decided better.

Was this in A-Team fandom, by any chance? I've read some extraordinarily bad h/c in that fandom.

It was! Though movie verse, where Hannibal is not explicitly stated to be a medic, so that made it hurt slightly less.

Oh, yay, this was wonderful! Best thing to wake up to on my birthday. *g*

Thank you for writing it!

Thank you, glad you liked it.

Also, Happy Birthday!

Does having sex with Captain Janeway while her leg is broken, without particularly textually doing anything to immobilize it first, count? I still shudder at that one...

This is very shiny and hmm, it has probably been about two years since my last CPR course. Be handy to have it up to date.

I'm sorry. I would remember you telling be about that, but a) I may have been really drunk at the time (and if I wasn't, I should have been), and b) I'm pretty sure I blocked any details that made it through the haze from my mind. And, no, you needn't bother reminding me. Thank you -g-

They offer emergency first aid at the local rec centre. I don't think it's that expensive (and maybe you could get work to pay?)

There MAY have been rudimentary first aid, but if so, it didn't stick in my mind, being entirely overrun by the thought that Chakotay may ~~have healing cock of epic~~ be awesome BUT STILL, NOT GOING TO WORK, OW. It was the classic "stranded on a planet" setting, I believe. Suppose if I were moved to do so, I could find it again, but...yeah. :P

Work was going to train a bunch of people to do first aid (they're one of those places where somebody has to know it somewhere in the building) and you'd get a raise if you did, but by the time I called them they said their quota was full. Sad face.

I'm glad you wrote this! Just last week I read a... White Collar, I think... fic where a jaggedy piece of metal was pulled out of a body part by non-medical personnel outside in an isolate setting. I don't know why I see variations on that one so often. Maybe having one character say to the other, "Hold still, this is going to hurt," hits a specific h/c kink.

I love the idea of Steve or maybe Jarvis giving first aide lessons to newer Avengers. I'd write that if I could find a minute of spare time these days.

Did one character perhaps really not like the other character, and was secretly trying to kill him? Because I don't know about con men, but cop know fist aid. Actually, Neal on a mandatory first aid course would be pretty good too.

Did you ever read that SG-1/Sentinel/Invisible Man crossover where they all had to go to Canada for sensitivity training?

Well, it was Peter pulling it from Neal's side or leg or something. Must secretly resent him. Or he really hates the hat.

Did you ever read that SG-1/Sentinel/Invisible Man crossover where they all had to go to Canada for sensitivity training?

No, but that sounds awesome. Especially since I've seen neither hide nor hair of the Invisible Man fandom in years. I don't suppose you saved a link.

Must have been the hat.

There you go: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/189223/Helena_Handbasket
Top link.

Oh, man, an Avengers first aid class would be epic! There would have to be a special section on "Alien physiologies," and another one on "human but with really weird metabolism," and one on "magical injuries," and regular updates on "what's up with Tony's heart this week." Jarvis probably keeps a spreadsheet or something.

Well, that too.

I was mostly thinking of all the pretending to be injured and putting bandages on each other stuff that gets goofy enough when it's just a bunch of coasties.

YAY! Happy dance! *see icon for further demonstration of said dance of happy* I'm so freaking happy that someone else is irked by incorrect first aid in stories/films/video games that deal with psuedo-realism. I quite enjoyed your essay. Well-written, excellent hook, and splendid examples and logic.

As a thought, that's pretty bad when you see misused first aid in fandoms such as Team Fortress 2 and Kingdom Hearts, in which characters can forgo the usual methods and opt for a Curaga spell or a juicing from the Medigun. O_o No, instead the Scout will yerk out an arrow or the Spy would use his knife to cut out a bullet, even though there's a medic on the team (who may or may not be medically trained, but STILL.) And I can see Sora taking a beating because you can only use Curaga as your MP/potions/Donald Duck/other Ally will allow, but even then...

I digress.

I absolutely would love to see more, as I have recently been tangoing with a H/C idea in my head. :D

Glad you like it.

I don't know either of those fandoms, but seeing tragically misused first aid in fandoms like the original A-Team where Hannibal has field medic training and should absolutely know better might actually cause me physical pain.

I hope you write your H/C. This is the month for it. Or sign up for meta. Lots of days left.

I would like to take this opportunity to say that anyone who writes about a Mandatory Avengers First Aid Course will be my friend forever

I vote that Dr. Strange be the instructor. Or Don Blake, I guess, but Strange would be funnier.

The question is, should it be Heroic Age or New Avengers era, so it can include Spiderman & Luke, or some point in volume 1 when the team was just ridiculously, insanely large for maximum mayhem? Or MA-verse, for maximum fluffy humor? (or all three, plus Ultimates to collect the full set)

I kind of want to say New New Avengers era, when Clint was running the team and the entire MU was on it and all living in Bucky's house. For added hilarity.

I want a team with Thor on it. But I also want a team with Luke on it. Maybe we could set it now, and have a cross team training week or something, to rope everyone in.

How about Steve or Dr Strange is conducting the class for the New Avengers with Steve flashbacking to previous classes, (I figure they need to do it everytime the layout changes so they don't poison anybody by accident), or to the various incidents that promped them to implement what protocoles they have (my impression is that a lot of what the Avengers know about heroing they learned from bitter experience)

Hey, was sent to this post by

seascribe! Am one of those frenzied Avengers movie-loving types who's trying to familiarize self with comic canon. This entry makes an excellent resource - thanks for explaining what does and does not work with first aid and fic.

I'm planning on delving into this pairing a bit more, and had a concern regarding the fic I'm planning. Maybe you could humor me and give me your thoughts: Does Steve would age at all? Perhaps at a slower rate because of the serum? I'm planning on taking a look at him at an older age, but if that's not in his cards, I might have to rethink the premise of my fic.

Thanks again for this resource!

LOL. I tried to drag

seascribe into this fandom for years with no luck. Glad she's finally seen the shiny. Glad you like the first aid post.

I've seen Steve ageing writing both ways in comics. One theory is that the super soldier serium works like the Infinity formula that keeps Nick Fury and Natasha Romanova from ageing, and I've seen AUs where he doesn't age.

Another theory is that it doesn't really do much past keep him fitter longer. House of M, for example, had an elderly Steve. He was perhaps in better shape than an average eighty year old, but he didn't go off fighting mutants, either.

As movie canon hasn't mentioned one way or another, I'd say write what you like, and good luck.

Haha, was just chatting with her last night and she told me the EXACT SAME THING. It took the film to bring us both over. We are floozies for the screen, I suppose.

Thanks for letting me know. Am glad canon is such that I can do what I'd like with older!Steve! <3

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Hurt/Comfort Month: First Aid in H/C Fic

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