He Came to Stay (Blue x Bad Guys)

3

The next week went the same way. Get up, get sick, eat, get sick again, lay down. Whoever was watching him never had much time to talk with him, but mainly was there just to make sure he could get up to the bathroom, down to the dining room, and back.
Slowly, the throwing up did become less frequent, and Blue was able to retain some of the energy from the food he ate. He could stand upright without wavering, and sit up in bed to talk to whomever was watching him.
Surprisingly, Killer and Dust volunteered to spend the most time with him. Dust opted to do as little as possible, but he'd never been much of a talker anyway. Usually, he'd just help Blue get to the places, then just lay down on the bed with him.
As for Killer, Nightmare could hear him from outside the room, making up crazy stories and parading around the room, making Blue smile. There was no laughter, but the smile was more than enough.
The others had their moments. Horror and Error also usually kept quiet, letting Blue recover on his own time. Cross was tough with him, making sure he promised to be okay, over and over again. And Nightmare took care of him as well as he could.
It was a surprise to Nightmare when he heard the soft knock on his door. "Enter."
Blue leaned against the doorframe, hobbling over to the chair, slumping down and closing his eyes. Nightmare was confused, but let him be. If he wanted to talk, he would.
"Why did you take me in? Why not let me die?"
Nightmare's head snapped up. "Let you die?" He sighed, pushing his papers away and standing up. He took a deep breath, trying not to scream. "Would Ink and Dream have let you die?"
"I don't know." Blue wasn't facing him, but Nightmare could tell from his emotions how messed up his train of thought was.
There was always guilt, buried or up front like a hurricane. Guilt, guilt, nothing but guilt, like everything was his responsibility.
"You have a brother. You have friends. And just because two shit-faced gods think you need outside sources to 'help' you, to get you to 'keep up', that doesn't mean shit. They don't mean shit, and you shouldn't let their thinking get to you like that." Nightmare sat down on the arm of the chair. "You are not responsible for the fate of the multiverse."
Blue curled up closer, pressing up against Nightmare. "Than what am I here for? If I can't help, what am I supposed to do?"
"Live. For yourself. What do YOU want to do once you get better? What do you want to see? Do you want to spend your life by the ocean, in the mountians,in the middle of the forest?"
"But-"
"There are ways to protect people without killing yourself."
"But-"
"You are not around Ink and Dream anymore. They can take care of the multiverse. You can take care of you."
"But what if-"
Nightmare placed a hand on Blue's back. "You want to help, I get that. You know what, you can help Horror make lunch. Will that satisfy you for now?"
Blue paused, then nodded.
"Good. But if you feel even slightly uncomfortable, you need to rest."
Blue nodded and got up, using the wall and leaving the room.
Horror was in the kitchen when Blue showed up, moving to see if he could help. Confused at first, Horror instructed him on what to grab and help out with. Blue nodded and helped out as well as he could, leaning against the counter to steady himself. He was able to speed up the work a bit, and Horror was happy to see him perking up, getting more excited and starting to him to himself, a peppy, upbeat tune that Horror could sort of recognize. It reminded him of a cartoon or something. He didn't ask, not wanting to ruin Blue's sudden good mood. Still, he enjoyed the help, and the closeness the two had. It was just them downstairs, in the kitchen, alone. Just them. It was strange, how excited it made him. He didn't understand why.
Perhaps it was his natural protective instinct. It had developed when he and his brother had gotten to an extreme low point, and Horror had sometimes sacrifices his own food for his brother, who had been extremely weak most of their time down there. Now that he saw Blue in the same state, it was very likely that that same instinct had returned. It was likely, but it didn't feel right. Horror ignored the feeling, focusing on cooking.
About halfway through, Blue felt his head swim. "Uh oh."
Horror quickly set his knife down, grabbing Blue by the arm and dragging him to the nearest bathroom, leaving him there to have his time.
As Blue came back out, Horror had already finished the meal. Blue hobbled back to the dining table, sitting down.
As the others filed in, Nightmare paused, seeing Blue already seated. "Are you alright?"
"No, but you already know that." Blue snorted as he looked up. Horror brought the food out.
"Are you going to eat on your own?"
"I'll try." Blue took some food, his fork shaking slightly as he lifted it to his mouth. Slowly, Blue finished the small portion he'd served himself. It was nice to be able to finally do some things on his own.

(Hi! Hopefully I can get some more chapters out soon. Part of me knows this book needs to be slow, do that Blue can actually recover.
The other half is screaming at me to hurry up and get to the romance.
So this one's gonna be a slow process as I make sure everything's going at the right speed-)