Blood Bound

Interlude - whumptober drabble

alright remember how I said I was burnt out like, yesterday? Yeah so I had no plans to do whumptober but reading the day one prompt gave me this Image and at this point I'll take anything SO have this short little thing

Whumptober day 1: safety net / swooning / "How many fingers am I holding up?"

**

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three." Steven brushed his roommate's hand away from his face with a scowl. "You're being dramatic."

"You've passed out twice today." Brine grabbed his hand, checking his pulse again. "I'm only being cautious."

"I'm on the couch, Brine, what's the worst that could happen?" Steven grimaced as he was poked and prodded, the dim light from the other room enough to make his head throb. "I sleep?"

"Passing out is not sleeping, Steven." Brine scolded him. "And I won't have you sleeping until you eat something. You haven't eaten since before your appointment."

"Guess so." Steven admitted, not willing to fight. He'd had a package of crackers, but those were hardly satisfying, and his roommate's cooking was a far superior option.

"I'm going to the kitchen. Don't die on me." Brine instructed, then rose from his side and walked off. Steven unlocked his phone to occupy himself and keep him from drifting off, idly scrolling through his calendar. He had another donation appointment in 6 weeks... hopefully that would be enough time for him to recover.

He could hear Brine moving around the kitchen, but otherwise the apartment was silent. That wasn't out of the ordinary for 2 AM. Caden was asleep in the other room with his cat, and the only reason Steve and Brine were awake was because his roommate hadn't stopped fussing over him since he'd arrived. He didn't feel any worse than he normally did after an appointment, except for a little more fatigued, but he wasn't going to argue that point with his serial-killer-slash-vigilante of a roommate.

"You're killing yourself, you know." Brine's voice made him look up, and he tracked Brine's shadow on the wall until he came into view to sink down next to the couch. "Keep this up, you're only going to get worse."

"W-well..." Steven coughed to clear his throat. "Does it matter, really? It isn't as if I do much else with my body."

"What kind of a mindset is that??" Brine fixed him with a glare. "I think the blood banks could survive a few more weeks between donations, if it meant you lived to give them for another forty years."

"I... guess." Steven rubbed at the inside of his arm, over the bandaid that covered the injection site for his IV. He usually didn't get one. They'd told him he was dehydrated.

"You're so callous with your life." Brine muttered, half to himself. "You're more than just a body... you know that? You're more than just the blood you produce." Steven shifted, looking at his phone again. "Hey." Brine grabbed his hand, forcing Steve's attention back to him. "You have a mind and a soul, you have worth as a human. Understand?" Stunned, Steven blinked at him.

"This feels like a therapy session."

"Maybe you need a therapy session." Brine flicked him in the forehead and made him yelp. "I'm going to go stir your food before it burns." He got up to leave the room again, and Steven gazed after him, watching his shadow on the kitchen wall.

It didn't take him long to return, bearing a plate of reheated stir-fry which Steven pushed himself up to accept with a murmur of thanks. Brine seated himself nearby as Steven ate, neither of them speaking until the plate was all but clean.

"You're all Caden has right now." The former said at last, drawing a startled look from his patient. "Try to take care of yourself." With that, he took the plate and went back to the kitchen to wash it. Steven sat there quietly for a few minutes as his meal settled in his stomach, mulling over Brine's words in his head. Finally, he opened his phone, going to his calendar and pushing back his next donation by four weeks.