Hermitcraft Oneshots and Other Things I guess

|COLLAB WITH CASUALLYY| The Beauty Of Pain (Bdoc)

Hello! Today we're here with something special! A collab with Casuallyy! WOO!

Yes I know they're now Vestigially, but their half of the collab is on their old account, so we're sticking with that!

Basically, they chose the prompt above. We're both going to be tackling it, so I recommend checking out theirs as well, if you haven't already. The twist is that Saph is going to do that prompt exactly, but I'm doing it with the names reversed. Basically:

Saph: Doc gets hurt and Bdubs helps him.

Storm: Bdubs gets hurt and Doc helps him.

Hope that makes sense! If not, that's not my problem! :)

Also, if you're new here, which I'm sure there are at least a few of you, HI. I'm Storm!

Setting is the Hermitcraft server.

Warnings are spiders (for anyone with major arachnophobia) and blood and injury. The injury does have a bit of description, so watch out.

WC: ~1030 

Enjoy!

Bdubs ran through the grass. The meadow was moonlit, shimmering softly under the night sky. It would have been beautiful.

If Bdubs were observing it safely behind a window.

And if he weren't running for his life.

The American dived forward, narrowly escaping a skeleton's arrow. Bdubs gasped for breath, his lungs outputting air in ragged, uneven pants. He crouched in the tall grass for a moment, resting to catch his breath.

Only a little further... the mansion is close, Bdubs told himself. The male waited for a moment longer, wanting to get his breathing regulated.

That was a mistake. 

Out of the blue, a spider leaped at him. Its red eyes glowed menacingly, and it was upon Bdubs before he could comprehend what was happening. The spider tackled Bdubs, its hairy legs covering him. Ew, A small of Bdubs's brain protested, but the rest of him was in defense mode. His sword had broken a while ago, so Bdubs settled for trying to just push the arthropod off him.

The spider wasn't having any of that. It bit down on Bdubs's shoulder, hard. He let out a scream, shoving the spider off him and running. Bdubs put a hand to the wound, then pulled his hand away and winced at the blood covering it. 

Just get back to the mansion, he told himself, his sprint uninterrupted. The building was already in view, he just had to get there. The wound was still bleeding freely, the feeling of his own warm blood trailing down his arm was nerve-racking. Biting back tears, Bdubs continued the trek to the half-mansion. 

By the time he had reached home, the wound had stopped bleeding. But it burned. The pain scissored through his veins, sending fires of agony through his system. Bdubs could barely move without wincing. A small part of him knew that he might just need some medical attention. So, when he saw Doc, he knew exactly what to do.

Ignore him and the pain, steel his nerves, and keep walking.

I don't need help, Bdubs told himself firmly, storming into his half of the mansion. It's just a scratch. Nothing major. Medical help, HAH! I'm sure it'll be gone tomorrow. It barely even hurts.

Turns out, Bdubs had been lying to himself a lot that day. 

Bdubs stood in front of a mirror and rolled up his sleeve, flinching at the slight contact. Stupid, it's just a scratch. 

The bite mark had scabbed up, for the most part. Shades of bright and dark red clotted blood made for a not-so-pretty mark on his upper arm. Feeling sick, Bdubs quickly rolled his sleeve down. 

What do I do about it?

Wash it?

Bdubs gave a small sigh, wishing that he knew more about medical things. Some water wouldn't hurt, right?

Doc might know what to do-

Bdubs mentally took the thought, balled it up, and promptly internally defenestrated it. He didn't need help. He didn't want it. He didn't need anyone to know how much it hurt. 

It was just a mark.

A day later, Bdubs put even more emphasis on the 'was'.

As in, previously. 

Bdubs glared at the disgusting cut on his skin. It was lightly swelling, crusted yellow, and seemed to hurt more than it had before. It was just a process of healing, right? 

Wrong.

Okay, so maybe it's pretty bad. 

"Bdubs?" 

Said person froze at the sound of his name. He was outside, working on a build. 

"Is that...?" Doc's voice was behind him, and Bdubs refused to turn around to face the robotic creeper. He knew how pained his eyes looked. He knew how much agony he was in. He knew it hurt. He didn't need Doc to know that.

Or anyone. 

"It's nothing," Bdubs grumbled, moving a hand to cover the wound. However, he immediately pulled his hand away at the sparks of pained protest his nerves sent. Doc came in front of him, and the worry on the hybrid's face was prominent. 

"That's not nothing," Doc remarked, staring at the wound. "You are getting that treated, mister. Come here." When Bdubs didn't move, Doc grabbed the hand of his uninjured arm and practically dragged him to Doc's side of the mansion. Bdubs wasn't protesting, he just followed Doc numbly. It wasn't until Doc seated him down at a table and got out some medicine from a cabinet that Bdubs's brain kicked into gear. 

"You- you don't have to do this," he mumbled, his gaze frozen on the tube. 

"Don't give me that," Doc snapped, sitting down next to Bdubs. "I'm doing this whether you like it or not." The German grabbed Bdubs's arm. 

"It's fine!" Bdubs protested, trying to pull away. However, Doc's grip was like iron. Or rather, whatever metal his robotic arm was made out of. 

"It's not fine," Doc flashed back, scooting closer to Bdubs. "Wounds like this can get infected, y'know." Bdubs did nothing other than hold his breath as Doc wiped the cream on. Sparks of pain bolted up, and Bdubs found tears springing to his eyes. The cream was made to disinfect and help, yes, but that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt.

Don't cry, Bdubs internally yelled. Don't you dare cry. 

"I can't believe you didn't treat this earlier," Doc grumbled, but there was an odd gentleness behind his voice. "This can be dangerous, Bdubs," Bdubs said nothing, just held his breath and waited for it to be over. 

"You know, you can cry in front of me,"

Bdubs froze. Those were the words he had never expected to hear from Doc, not in a million years. Wouldn't Doc scold him for being overdramatic? For being too childish? For crying over nothing. 

"I- why would you- but-" Bdubs was cut off by another flare of pain. He felt a single tear drip down his face, and he wanted to slap himself for it. Who was he to cry?

But when Doc's gentle fingers carefully brushed the tear off his cheek?

Something about the touch almost made Bdubs want to seek comfort in Doc.

And so... he did.

And Doc didn't mind. 

That was the beauty of pain.

Not super proud of that ending, if I'm completely honest with you all. Buuuut I can't really think of anything better so... there you have it! Again, please check out Saph's chapter if you haven't already, I believe it is in their Bdoc oneshots book! Saph, thank you for doing this with me! Goooooodbye!

-Storm