Eridan hissed at the heat of the washcloth Sollux was using to clean his wounds.
"Easy!"
"I don't want you to get any more infected wounds. Bear with me, it'll be over before you know it."
Eridan bit his lip as Sollux reapplied the cloth and cried out when it came in contact with his infected gills.
"It's okay," Sollux reassured him, "don't be such a baby after what you did last night."
"Ain't… ain't a fuckin' baby."
"Then sit still. Why the hell won't you let someone look at it?"
"It really ain't that bad, Sol. I don't need someone analyzin' every fuckin' little injury I get."
Sollux sighed exasperatedly. It was no use arguing with Eridan while he was so feverish and ornery. "At least get some sleep," he said, wringing out the washcloth. "I'll bring you to bed." He wrapped an arm cautiously around Eridan, who was dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers to make it easier to clean his wounds, and supported him as they walked to his bed, wrapping his gill wound in a makeshift bandage.
"You ain't leavin', are you?"
"No, no, I'll be here when you wake up," Sollux mumbled as Eridan's eyes slid closed. He pulled out his phone.
kk.
OH GOD, WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT?
you know 2omethiing about mediiciine, right?
NOT MUCH, BUT SOME. WHY?
ii need you two come look at a wound.
WERE YOU HURT? GOD FUCKING DAMN IT, SOLLUX, DO I SERIOUSLY HAVE TO FUCKING BABYSIT YOU? BECAUSE IF I HAVE TO, I WILL. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ESCAPE THE VICE OF MY AUTHORITATIVE CLAWS. YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF COMPLETELY FUCKING ENSNARED IN THEM.
no, iit wa2n't me, you dumba22, don't fliip your 2hiit.
OH.
THEN WHO WAS IT? WHO COULD BE SO IMPORTANT TO YOU THAT YOU WOULD EMERGE FROM YOUR SELFISH SHELL IN I-DON'T-GIVE-A-FUCK-ABOUT-ANYONE-BUT-MYSELF LAND AND ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT THEIR WELL-BEING?
ii'll ignore that blatant pot2hot. iit'2 ed.
WHAT.
Sollux grimaced, trying to focus on Eridan's soft snoring and ignore his brewing migraine.
ERIDAN?
ye2.
NO FUCKING WAY! NO WAY IN HELL AM I HELPING THAT IGNORANT PILE OF ROTTED CAVIAR.
ed ii2n't really 2o bad anymore, kk. he'2 tolerable now, two 2ay the lea2t.
NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE.
NOPE.
NO.
pleeeeeeeeeea2e?
UGH. FINE. I'LL BE THERE SOON. YOU FUCKING OWE ME, CAPTOR.
briing egbert.
—-
"He had better be fucking dying," Karkat growled at Sollux as he opened the door.
"He may as well be. C'mon. He's not a pretty sight."
"When is that walking heap of bentic sludge ever a pretty sight?"
John snickered in spite of himself as they followed Sollux to Eridan's bedroom door. The three of them could hear delirious mumbling coming from inside. Sollux opened the door slowly. "Ed?"
"Sol…"
"It's alright. Are you bleeding again?"
"Don't know. Are those doctors?" Eridan blinked blearily.
"No, it's just E— John and Karkat. They're just going to look."
"Hey, Assbutt," Karkat muttered, unable to think of anything worse to call the injured troll once he laid eyes on him.
Sollux twisted his head to look at Karkat with a stare of complete and utter confusion. "'Assbutt?' Seriously, KK? Seriously?"
"Shut up, Captor, god damn."
"Eridan, I'm just going to take the dressing off, okay? I've had years of medical training on Septimo Mens, so don't worry." John pulled off the towel, which was sticky with congealing blood and pus. He made a small noise at the sight of the wound, which was now extremely swollen, then reached into his bag and pulled out a flask of cold, transparent liquid. "This is going to sting," he warned.
Eridan felt Sollux's hand slip into his own. His vision became white as John poured the liquid onto the wound. He screamed and arched his back up, his voice reaching an incredibly high pitch; at the same instance, he squeezed Sollux's hand hard enough to raise a hiss from him. Disease poured from Eridan's wound onto the towel beneath him, and John put the flask away, exchanging it for a syringe. When Eridan's vision returned, he caught sight of it and tried to wiggle away.
"No! No, fuck no! Don't get near me with that fuckin' thing," Eridan screamed. Sollux held him still and looked away as John pricked his arm with it and pushed the top down, letting the anesthesia it contained flow through his veins. Eridan quickly stopped screaming and squirming, his breathing becoming peaceful.
"Karkat, I need you to run to the hospital and get me a couple bags of violet blood. He's lost quite a bit, it seems, and he'll be losing more. Sollux, can you cover a table with plastic for me? I'll need to move Eridan to one."
"Yeah, Ed has a huge dining room table you can use," Sollux explained, jogging down the stairs. Karkat scoffed and muttered as he followed, leaving through the front door.
—-
John laid Eridan on the covered table, a bag of blood attached to one limp arm and Sollux clinging to the other. John had brought some surgeon's attire and handed everyone masks and a pair of gloves.
Why didn't you just let me take you to the hospital?
"I'll have to cut out part of his gills and stitch the wound after cleaning up the infection a bit. He'll be in intense pain for a while, and his gills on this side will be completely and permanently useless." John worked diligently, talking a very nervous Sollux through every cut he made, every bit of flesh he removed. He sterilized the wound once before sewing it closed and once after, causing Eridan to twitch slightly, even through his heavy sedation. He changed the bag of blood and told Sollux to carefully carry him back to bed, which, thanks to a very reluctant Karkat, now had fresh sheets. Sollux laid him down gently and placed the rack holding his IV on the side of the bed, then covered him with his violet satin blanket, arranging the pillows around him to ensure that he would be as comfortable as possible.
"I'll go and pick up the medications he's going to need, and I'll be back from time to time to check on him. He's going to be a little groggy when he wakes up. Karkat will be here to remove th—"
"No, I won't, Egbert, I'm going the fuck home. Someone needs to take care of that thing you call a daughter."
"Ehh… Alright," John muttered.
"I'll do it, it's pretty easy," Sollux said. "I'm going to be here anyway. Someone has to stay with him."
"If you're sure. I'll be back in a while, then."
"This was a fucking waste of my precious time," Karkat murmured under his breath. "I could have been doing something productive, but no. I have to spend time with these three asshats."
"Karkat, you have to spend time with me anyway," John chuckled as they left.
Sollux stayed beside Eridan and played with his fingers, caressing them, intertwining his own with them. His slow, labored breathing told Sollux that the anesthesia was beginning to wear off.
John returned with the medications long before Eridan awoke, though.
"Alright," he began, handing several bottles to Sollux, "this is a strong painkiller, it's going to make him tired and a little dopey, and these are antibiotics to clear up that infection and to stop a new one from forming. He's not going to be useful for much over the next couple of weeks, and he might say some… odd things. I'll be back next week to check on him. Call me or take him to the hospital if he gets worse."
"Thanks," was all Sollux could say.
John smiled and left for the second time.
"Are you going to be a good patient and take these, Ed?" Sollux mumbled, knowing full well that Eridan couldn't answer him. Instead, he just moved closer and played with Eridan's fingers again.
—-
Eridan's eyes fluttered open, excruciating pain filling his side. He tried to move, but it hurt far too much.
"Stay still," Sollux reprimanded sharply, not looking up from Eridan's fingers.
"Sol?" Eridan asked, the word slurred from the aftereffects of the sedative.
"Good job, you remembered my name, Sleeping Beauty. Listen, you need to take these medications, alright? They'll make your pain a little more bearable."
Eridan began to argue, but Sollux silenced him and handed him three pills and a glass of water. He took them and then rested his head against Sollux's chest. "Sol, I'm sleepy."
"It's the anesthesia, you'll be fine. The painkiller's going to make you tired too, and John said you won't be able to do very much. But I'll take good care of you, don't you worry."
Eridan made a small noise and pressed his face into Sollux's shirt. Sollux began humming in order to soothe both Eridan and his own nerves. Eridan's large home had sunlight streaming in through the windows that seemed to be everywhere, but even with this, the owner of the house next to him, and his own humming, he still found the place eerily quiet and desolate, unsettling, even. They stayed like this for what felt like eons but couldn't have been more than twenty minutes when Eridan cut him off.
"Sol," he started, sounding extremely out-of-it already, "I love you sooooo much." He shifted up and stretched out his arms as far as they could go to prove his point. "This much." Then he fell back against Sollux.
"Sure you do, Ed," he sighed. It must have been the painkiller talking. Must have been. He wouldn't have said something like that otherwise, would he?
Could we even call it love?
No, it's got to be way, way too soon for something like that.
"Do you love meeee, Sol?" Eridan nuzzled against him, then looked up at him with delirious puppy-dog eyes. Sollux gathered him close and buried his face— which fit perfectly between his wavy horns— into his silken black hair. The yellow tears came slowly, silently at first. His body shook with the sobs he was trying to restrain, but when one broke through, the rest followed. Soon, he was quivering and crying loudly into Eridan's hair, internally thanking the Signless and whatever other deities that may have existed that Eridan was alive, even if the painkiller made him a useless, delirious mess. Sollux couldn't say anything to Eridan, but he felt him softly pat his chest and then drift back off to sleep against it.
Sollux wanted to believe with whatever husk of a soul he had inside him that when he had said that, he truly meant it. But he just couldn't bring himself to when it fell from the mouth of a drugged-up Eridan. He had only said it because of the influence of the painkiller, of this Sollux was certain. This hurt him to think about, but he couldn't delude himself. And either way, drugged or not, Eridan probably didn't love Sollux as much as Sollux loved him— as much as he had loved him for a long time. If he felt that way at all. For all Sollux knew, Eridan had probably only agreed to be with him to kill time. And he was pretty sure Eridan was the type to do that, despite anything he had said before. He seemed so much more organized than Sollux, so well put-together; sure, he had his own share of issues, and even if right now he was sleeping, loopy, utterly fucking useless, he was still better off. In spite of all that had happened, he was still better than him, and Sollux hated it. But most of all, he hated himself because he couldn't hate Eridan for it.
That day, Sollux Captor cried longer and harder— had shown more raw emotion for another being— than he had in an extremely long time.