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Getting into a thunder and rainstorm on the way back home wasn't on the plan ;
Neither had been staying out until nearly 2 in the morning.
At first, they only followed the plan.
Sword had taken Rocket out onto a dinner , then they went out to buy records and after the shopping spree, going into the movie theatre
Spending hours since they left the movies running around the dark and empty street, dancing around, chasing each other , giggling, kissing , chasing each other, goofing around and then entering an empty building , sneaking up the stairs up onto th e roof of the mini skyscraper only to end up stargazing for what felt like only a short amount of time but were in truth more than 3 hours, talking about the stars, yapping about what happeend during today's Phight and about so much more, was not on their plan.
They had eventually even sat down on the edge of the building, chatting about the plans for the upcoming wedding ceremony , making both feel all happy and fuzzy in their stomachs and hearts.
It had been the perfect night.
Still, every good thing would come to a stop .
It had been Rocket who had heard the distant grumbling in the night sky and who had then rushed both of them away from the roof and then fastly out of the empty unstable large house which had been an apartment complex back in time.
Despite their running, they still got inside the rain.
Shielding both with his jeans jacket , Sword had tried to keep Rocket as safe as he could from getting wet
The rain was too much. The storm arrived in the town faster than they could think.
They had wanted to run back all the way to the apartment over Zuka's shop in which he and Rocket lived , Sword wanting to stay at Rocket's for the night and the next day.
It was impossible.
After a few turns, one could barely see what was next to them due to how heavy the rain was and how dark it had turned and the wind was clashing the water onto them
Quickly the streets were flooded with the rainwater which was falling too much at once for the canals to handle that good
One thunder crashing so loud that one could feel it inside their body exactly on top of the large Crossroads, a just as bright flash following , making the street lamps as well as the lamps inside of the homes and the ad boards turn themselves on and off for a second, were causing Rocket to yell loudly that they had to quickly get inside a building , that it had been too risky.
His lover had never been one to be scared by thunder so hearing this meant a lot.
It had been as if it was destiny that Sword had been able to recognize the buildings and that it had been the apartment complex in which the doctor had been living for so long.
After both had fallen into the apartment building's lobby, a loud thunder had shaken the buildings once again.
Quietly tiptoing up the all the staircases to Medkit's apartment, they were scanning the doors and hallway
Somehow not a single one had still been up.
Dragging themselves up, having to rest often, due to the prosthetic of the shark-like Phighter hurting by now, due to him up on it for too long by now, barley giving himself rest since the Phights earlier and now in the evening.
Cursing under his breath that he should have thought about taking his portable travel crutch with him he was slowly walking after Sword who looked over his shoulder, watching the other anxiously.
Rocket shook his head whenever he offered help so all that he was able to do was looking for the other, in order to catch him , as soon as he would stumble, as soon as the leg would give in, as soon as he would crash and fall, or as soon as he would trip over the stair case.
To both of their relief they had reached the door to the Medics apartment without any bigger trouble.
By now, their clothes were stuck through their skin , rain droplets running down their faces, their strands of soaked hair, down their bodies, down the outfits they had put on and down the wings of Sword, the rain making them all soaked which made them awfully heavy on him , making his entire body feel in pain.
Reaching the apartment, both suddenly felt the air around them shift.
Neither of them dared to ring the doorbell, aware of what the med was a part of, not wanting to cause any trouble for him-
Neither of them wanted to run into the cult .
Standing there, not talking, afraid to make any sound which could reveal that they were outside the home, it had been Rocket who finally reached for the bell.
"I don't give a shit anymore my leg is wet as shit . If I can't dry it I will be getting mechanical issues and they suck. Besides if the cult would've been in this apartment, the lights would be on and I saw that the window to the kitchen was entirely black. He is sleeping or some shit but he is not in the kitchen having any awfully shitty people in there I'm sure."
Wanting to push the buttons on the small white cheap bell, his love held him back , shaking his head.
"I know him, he's my own brother and he NEVER sleeps before sunrise, he is always awake and is reading , smokes, everything, but never sleeping . "
The other just raised his eyebrow before sighing.
"We really should check on him if that's really how he usually is following his daily routine. Don>t you think so ?"
Not letting the spartan reply at all, he stretched his arm out and rang the bell.
This earned a shocked noise from his boyfriend who then immediately held his own mouth closed as they looked at the door, the noise of the doorbell louder than usual in the entirely silent apartment
Inside it was quiet. Not a single noise.
Growing more and more scared, the two beings were outside , Rocket stepping from one foot onto the other , looking at his fiancee, who looked even more scared than before, looking more and more scared with every moment.
Just when the Rocketeer was about to grab the doorbell one more time , the door was finally opened, slowy and quietly and just a tiny crack.
Inside the room behind the door it was black, no lights had been on.
Behind the door, a light green, glowing eye was looking at both of them.
Medkit looked at them with a horrified look on his face, which did fade as soon as he realized who was wanting to get into his flat.
He directly opened the door, the look on his face exactly the look which he used to have if they told him they got hurt again.
His thick brown eyebrows tightly together he let his eye wander over them , asking them at the same time what they were doing soaked, shivering and Rocket in pain in front of his apartment door at nearly 2 in the night.
While he was letting his eye wander over them, they did the exact same thing on him.
Something about him seemed positively weird.
The cyan paint over his light green horns was cracked on the most spots , a clear sign for him not having redyed them for quite a time.
His dark brown curly hair with too many grey strands for someone of his age was tied up into a messed up high ponytail , strands of them hanging out of it as if he had been sleeping for a long time and as if he slept very deep.
Something he barley could due to the night terrors which he always had.
He had told his brother about them one time.
They were mostly about his past but also about the people of the Church.
He had looked so vulnerable and tired when he had told Sword about them, only making short sentences, barley even telling him what they were about but he didn't need to tell him everything, he understood him without any big words.
Seeing him like this was rare, a sign of trust and it made Sword feel even more desperate and even more helpless, wanting to free the other from his problems, wanting to save him from these cultists and from his night terrors but ultimately failed doing so, not even knowing how to save the other .
He was too deep in this severe mess in which he had gotten himself and the only one to get himself out of this was Medkit himself.
All Sword, Rocket and any other people who wanted to save him from this miserable living situation , were only able to watch and offer him any help but in the end , Medkit had to take the first step towards trying to get himself out of this fine mess.
Usually, Sword was able to see that Medkit didn't care, too tired , too worn out and way too deep in depression.
He didn't even say a word of protest when they dressed him in the robes of a doctor, something he never wanted to become. He wanted to be an inventor for modifying gears. He wanted to be a robotics engineer.
Yet he wordlessly customized himself as a medic.
He colored his antlers and the crystal in the cult's colors after they had forced him to do so.
He gave up his own style which he used to love so much, which Sword only ever saw in one old picture which Med kept in his Gear , dressed in bronze, light green and dark brown with golden accessories . He used to be a Steampunk. His love for experimenting and inventing on Gears and anything with a machine involved was open for everyone to see, all kinds of parts of old machines just like old screw nuts and screws sewed onto the things he used to wear or crafted into all kinds of jewelry.
In the cult, he now even wore sweatpants and shirts in the cyan shades , in his own flat.
where nobody could see if he wore the colors of the cult or not .
His eye always tired and dull, no spark left in them and always dark underneath them.
Usually, he only looked like that.
This night however he was wearing old light brown pants which reached his knee and looked as if they were made out of very lightweight and silky fabric as well as a very oversized cream long sleeved shirt, looking like something straight out of a past century.
Around his neck, a bronze necklace with a tiny old gear on it; something was engraved in it but it was too tiny to read from afar.
The circles underneath his eye looked less awful.
Through the cracked color the light green was visible and while Sword didn't notice it, Rocket saw the light green merge together with a bright deep shade of hot pink at the top.
However he wasn't sure if it was due to the weird lightning in the dark building or if it was his pain making him see stuff since it had gotten to a point where it made him feel like throwing up .
It was Rocket's partner who finally broke the quiet.
"We were stargazing and the thunder and the rainstorm crashed down over the town out of nothing. We tried to run to Da shop but it was too much and too fast, a lightning hit the road a few roads away and we needed to get into a building to be safer. We would have never made it all the way home in safety and it's not possible for me to fly us back. The wind is too extreme, one can barley see what is in front of them because of how awful the rain and the dark got and there are lighting flashes every other minute. Then I recognized the apartment house. We thought maybe you would be okay with us waiting for the thunder and the rain to ease out in your apartmen. "
Right after he finished his long and fastly spoken explanation, another thunder shook the house.
Sighing, Medkit fully relaxed his shoulders and Sword heard the clicking of his revolver, only seeing it in this moment, the other having it in a firm hold, only by now putting the safety pons in.
Seeing it, made Sword's heart ache a bit, hating how horrified Medkit always was, always scared of the cult or Blackrock being in front of his door, ready to finally end it.
All he could defend himself with was that old tiny thing , his own ability absolutely awful for his own defense.
The Medic's tired and still raspy voice stopped his mind from racing too much, bringing him back into the dark entrance of the apartment door.
"What's up with Rocket?"
"Pains", was everything Rocket grunted in a pissed off manner, despising how MEdkit could see when someone was in any sort of pain , seeing their colors as greyed out , as a part of his own healing abilities.
"Why."
"Overdid it . "
"How."
"OH MY- Sword and I went directly into the city right after the Phights. We changed out clothes in the changing stalls in the Phighting lobby and took the train back. We were walking around only sitting for like 3 hours today. Now my leg is feeling like it is gonna end my life soon and I want to vomit right on spot. "
HEaring the other grunt in and seeing him pinch the bridge of his deer nose, made Rocket avert looking at the other, preparing himself for the lecture.
"So you are telling me that you did not stop and let yourself relax after you overdid it that much today? I barely could keep up with healing you and didn't you get like 3 times MVP ?"
"5 times or 4 I don't remember."
"And you whine that your leg feels that bad."
"It's my fault I realized that by now too"
With an awkward yet angry expression, Rocket stared back at him.
Usually he wasn't that easily pissed by the medics lecture but tonight he was in pain, soaked and he was miserably shivering so all he wanted to was to get into something dry and then sit.
Besides that,, the deep dark stairs behind him and the depressed and rather uneasy outside of the apartments made him feel weirdly uncomfortable.
He knew that cultists often were in this complex and he did not want to be seen by them right now.
His leg made him feel defenseless and he knew that he could barley do anything with it , in case they would run into the guys right at this hour.
It was his partner who stopped their beginning argument.
"Please if you could let us in you could discuss this problem in your apartment since I don't think that we should be talking this much and this loud here where everyone is able to hear what we are doing."
"Yeah your right but…-"
Medkit seemed to hesitate, clearly uneasy about letting both into his home. Immediately, Rocket and Sword both looked at the other with a worried expression, Rocket however looking more suspicious than anything.
"Medkit is everything okay?", Sword quietly whispered, staring at the dark apartment entrance behind the other.
"Huh, oh yeah don't worry everything is okay -" Fidgeting on the little gear the necklace, he looked at them clearly wanting to say , reveal something to them but couldn't find the sentences on how .
He couldn't even start to put together a string of words which made sense somehow though .
The secret came and showed themself before Medkit could tell it.
-
Suddenly, there was a pink glowing light where the entrance to his bedroom should be , a faint sound of something metallic getting rolled and the sound of limping footsteps were heard .
"Meddy are you okay?"
Hearing the cracking, raspy and characteristic voice of Subspace Tripmin , Medkit let his shoulders, who had previously been tensed up again, sag , closing his eye and exhaling .
Rocket had his eyebrows raised, obviously struggling to keep a put together expression , only a split second away from bursting into laughing.
Sword didn't look anything like them-
In terror he looked at Medkit, then back into the hallway.
Feeling his heart sink he wanted to ask if it was really him.
Turning around, Medkit looked back into the hallway.
"Yeah it's just that Swor-"
He didn't finish .
Subspace had been too quick , standing in the dark hallway .
It was dark, yet his horns and the crystal glowed in a vibrant shade of pink. The top of them was a shade of light green, the color of Medkit
The light made it easy for the two outside to be able to see him.
He didn't wear any of his Cybergoth clothes.
Instead of the long wig with black and vibrant cyberlox , they could see his real hair f, the first time in their life, short black and thinned out hair.
He was missing the pink , large , reflecting and rounded sunglasses which hid his eye and his expression as well as the gas mask he always wore.
Instead, they could see his face and his expressions.
Over the side of his face where the rotting was server and where he had only an empty socket where the eye used to be , a very tidily and accurately bandage was wrapped around that half of the head , thick primary dressings underneath as if Medkit put some sort of treatments like ointments on the dressing.
The same kind of bandage was wrapped all over the disabled and rotting arm of him. as well as around the hand of this arm.
Into that hand went, the long tube of the three bags on the portable IV stand .
From what Rocket, who had been into more hospitals than he could keep track of, could read and tell, the bags were one with numbing painkillers but a less high dosage for nighttime and sleeping, one with general vitamins and nutrients. He couldn't tell what was in the third though.
It had no writings on it, no names and generally it was just a bag without anything written on .
No dosage, no warnings, nothing.
The stuff on the inside was faintly glowing and the same shade like Medkit's crystal. A very glowy light green.
Subspace had his hand wrapped around the stand, dragging it behind him , now using it for a bit of support to stand straight.
Something in the bags seemed to make him feel drowsiness. Judging by his tried and a bit zoned out expression.
If Rocket would be forced to guess, he would guess the third bag.
During the day time he was anything but feeling drowsy. Even if he was on much higher concentrated pain medication.
So it couldn't be them.
His face half looked awfully torn apart by the rot from what they could see but for some reason it looked less awful than they thought.
The dark black tattoo of the symbol of Blackrock which he usually wore with pride on his upper arm on his healthier not rotten side never having the arm covered up, always showing off the tattoo with either sleeveless bodysuits or with shoulder free clothing pieces was now hidden behind the pink sleeve of a wide vibrant pink tee.
On the shirt was a print with hearts, crosses and bunnies, all in the pink and dark colors like his one outfit which he wore sometimes in fights.
The entire shirt matched the same kind of style which this exact outfit resembled .
Aside from the shirt he wore grey short and wide pants.
From his neck hung almost the exact same necklace than the one around Medkit, just with a silver necklace .
As Rocket quickly scanned the other, his heart sank as he saw the other's leg.
One was, as he had already guessed, partly wrapped in a bandage, the skin around it faintly pinkish,
The leg was infected from the rot but not nearly as bad as other body parts.
It was also not infected throughoutly.
Still, it was enough to disable it a bit.
It did explain the slight limp he had which got worse when tired or when he overdid the fights ; way past his own line.
The other leg though, was healthy but deep yet clean and thinner scars were messily on his entire other leg, most of them on the thigh.
While they were all closed and mostly, if not entirely healed up,he could easily see how deep they really were and that they matched exactly to his sharp, longer, claw-like fingernails.
He couldn't really stand Subspace , knowing what he did to Med and knowing how he always acted but still he felt his heart twist deep inside his chest, feeling sick in his stomach.
Looking back up at him, he saw how his expression changed from the tired one to a terrified look .
All of them stood there, staring at each other neither of them opening their mouth to say anything to breath the awful awkward silence until Subspace turned around quickly and hurried back into the dark bedroom-
The medic and Rocket continued to look into the dark room even after the other was gone again.
Medkit loudly sighed, looking at his own hooves and rubbed his temple with force as if he felt a headache coming.
Rocket didn't say anything, torn between wanting to laugh, screaming that he knew it and between asking if he finally could let both two in.
Suddenly he heard the sound of Sword's gear being summoned , causing him and Med to immediately turn around in order to look at him.
"Why is he here!? Are you in danger? let me help I beg you", he spoke, trying to sound firm, his voice snitching his true feelings, quivering .
"Sword, man, look at Med and didn't you see how he was looking? I really doubt that he is in any trouble at least right now."
Placing his hand on the other's shoulder, massaging it in tiny circles in order to try and calm him again, the shark-like being shot him a look of both shock and care.
"What if he's forced to treat him, what if he's in a hostage situation. "
"While both look like they had the best sleep in a long time?"
Sword didn't reply , only looking at his brother with a scared expression, ready to run in and kill the other in the apartment if Med would just somehow confirm that he would be having a bad and risky issue again.
The medic however looked at him with a dead pan expression, yet with a bit of a guilty shimmer in his own eye.
Upon seeing this , Sword started to look less anxious and more as if he thought that this was a dream. A wild feverish dream.
"Are you just doing that to feel as if you aren't in danger anymore from him?" , stammered Sword out eventually .
After this question, the other almost looked at his little brother in an insulted way, eyebrows raised, looking as if he would explode .
"Oh my god no Sword no, certain stuff happened and I needed to make a decision. To leave him forever or to give us one second change.I know that we both felt the same, Sword, we never really stopped seeing each other under certain circumstances. It started two years ago by now two and a half. We got into a situationship . I was denying my feelings the entire time. He wasn't. Still the entire time I knew that I too still had feelings and yeah. It's been half a year now that we really got back into an established relationship since I was forced by destiny to realize that my soul would always long for the other.
I'm sorry that I never told you.
I wasn't sure how to tell you .
"
Sword stared at the other for a long while, an uncomfortable quiet between them until he silently asked him : "So are you safe. Promise me."
Sighing Medkit smiled at the other, a small and guilt filled one.
"I promise you, I am safe. No, I am not safe from Blackrock, I am not safe from the cult but here I am safe with Sub."
Letting his eyes roam over Medkit, he looked for any hint thst the other was not telling him if something else was truly up , yet he could 't find any trace of that what he just said was nothing but the truth.
Internally, he felt conflict.
If it was true, which it really seemed like it was the case, he felt so happy for Medkit, knowing how awfully he missed the other, how much he was blaming himself for not seeing how Subspa got abused and spiraled into severe mental illness right in front of him, his health becoming more and more bad and unstable every single workday.
He blamed himself that he didn't talk to him when he was overworking himself even on free days.
He blamed himself that they never talked when the other started to act not like himself, when he would easily aggressively lash out, when he started to get even more severe mood instabilty than he already was having before.
He had told Sword everything.
How he blamed himself for only seeing it all, too busy with his own problems and too avoidant to sit down and have a chat about what he s had been observing and about his own issues, when it all was beyond a fix.
How he blamed himself the second he had seen how awfully thinned out and broken Subspace's long deep black hair had been, how skinny he had been, how dark the circles under his eyes had become.When he saw how the other's hands shaked and how breathless and weirdly fastly he spoke, and when he saw the pure look of a manic and insane episode in his face.
How he blamed himself when the other begged, pleaded to him even , to become his partner in the strategy with both of the crystals , the strategy being gutwrenching , brutal , bloody and absolutely uncharacteristically weird even for him.
He knew that he couldn't stop giving himself a big part of blame for never asking Subspace what they were doing to him, how he was doing, what was going on.
If they really had solved everything out now, he was more than gleeful but still , somehow he felt so very angry and betrayed.
If this was going on for so long, how come he never even just dropped a hint once.
Sword knew Medkit like he knew his own soul and Medkit knew Sword better than he knew his own self so how come he kept it a secret .
Sword couldn't prevent himself from doubting if his brother trusted him at all.
Still, he let his gear evaporate again , hanging his head and shoulders in defeat.
"I apologize… I beg you, forgive me", he muttered to which Medkit just smiled apologetically.
"There is nothing to be forgiven and don't apologize. You thought I was in danger and you wanted to help me out. That was very caring and polite. I appreciate your reaction.
-
Now, if you two would please get in. I don't want either of you to catch a cold and I really want to take a closer look at your prosthetic. "
Taking a step back and to the right side, he held the door open , turning on the light with the light switch on the light cyan painted cement walls next to his side.
Nodding, both entered the apartment , Rocket thanking him while they entered, Sword not saying anything.
"You can take the shoes and jackets off and put them here and put the jackets on the coat stand if you could. I will grab some towels and some dry clothes. Do you mind wearing some of my home attire by the way ?"
"No it's fine I really want to get out of these clothes." , replied the shark-like Phight as he struggled to get his wet shoes off .
"Good ", was the medics reply before he hurried into the bathroom and came back with two large and soft towels , two sweatpants and two tshirts, all cyan.
"They aren't folded and ironed, I just took them off the drying rack I'm sorry I hope that's okay."
"Absolutley. I barely iron mine."
With a smile, Rocket grabbed everything as Medkit pointed towards the bathroom.
"You can change and dry off in the bathroom. The hairdryer is also on the little drawer close to the sink. Don't use it for too long though . The thunder is really concerning. I wouldn't use it for longer than like two minutes each. If you want to change separately someone can go into the living room and change in there. We will then meet in the kitchen ."
After that, he turned on his hooves, walking into his own room, his hooves making clacking sounds on the wooden floor of the sad little apartment, shutting the door after he walked into it again.
After the door was closed, Rocket turned his head to look at his partner again, his voice worried.
"Sword, are you okay?"
"Yes why wouldn't I?"
Sword tried to smile at him yet Rocket could tell , the smile failed to reach his eyes, clearly a smile he forced himself to do.
"You are acting absolutely weird. How long do I know you again… I can tell if something is wrong , love.", Rocket replied gently,
"It is … I don't know … Let's get into the fresh clothes now before Med comes . Want to share the bathroom?"
For a second, his partner stared at him in a bit of disapointment , then he sighed and agreed.
Inside the bedroom only the lamp on the small nightstand next to the small bed of Medkit was turned on .
As Medkit closed the door, Subspace flinched and shot around , staring at whoever entered before somewhat relaxing again as he saw who it was.
He was standing at the desk of Medkit , over whichs chair his clothes were hung and where his accessories and his cyberlox were put .
Currently he was trying to somehow unknot his Cyberlox however he was doing it too fast and with too quivering hands causing it to become worse knots than it were before.
He still wasn't wearing his gas mask yet, so Medkit could see the horrified expression and the pink poison wavering out his mouth as he exhaled, clearly too stressed to handle it and way too near to a downward spiral and crashing out , he knew him too well and he could read him too good.
"It is me. The others are in the bathroom ", he slowly and calmly explained . Keeping his voice quiet.
Looking at him in worry and confusion he voiced what he was confusing him this much.
"Tell me, what are you even doing ?"
"Oh well ", replied the other in a snarky manner, turning to look at his Cyberlox once more and continuing to fidget on the tangled up tubes which got even more worse with every try to detangle the knotted tubes.
However Medkit heard that the snarky tone was only to hide his shaky voice from the other.
"Since I knew that you won't let them NOT enter I mean yeah I understand it it's your little brother and his partner or what do I even know about these two but anyway, and since I won't stay in the bedroom since it will make the impression as if I am scared of them, even as if I would be hiding, I will properly put myself together again and come join you into whatever you three are doing ", he complained loudly, speaking so fast that he almost stumbled over the most words, wording his sentences very randomly, nothing like the well articulated long sentences with extraordinary words. He was getting way too much into risking a crash and Kit saw this much.
He also knew what had the other this much triggered.
With a deep exhale he approached the other until he stood next to him , carefully removing the Cyberlox from his hands, placing it on the table again and then taking the other's quivering hands in his own , holding them , his hold as tight as he could without causing the other any painful feelings especially in his ill hand .
He knew that pressure helped the other to calm himself down to a point.
By now he had gotten used to the other's breakdowns and crashed and knew how to help , putting himself through nights of research .
"If you want to, you can come join us, I would be happy having you right by my side tonight and in general all the time.
Yet, if you put on the Cyberlox now it would look as if you are desperately trying to hide yourself.
You could only wear the Cyberlox, the cargo pants , your sunglasses and the jewelry.
You couldn't change your top right now with the infusion and you can't remove them right now as they are still not done , you would highly mess up your treatment and the levels of medication in your blood circulation I don't want to test it out tonight..
I still need to heal Rocket. I don't know how much of my abilities I can use after that and if you would mess up your body now I maybe could barley fix you .
I don't want to risk that because of some stupid reason like that now.
And you would look mixed up only wearing half of your clothes and the accessories put on in a rush. You couldn't even properly fix the Cyberlox in this short amount of time now, it would look as if you fell inside the closet.
You look fine like how you are looking now."
"I DO NOT LOOK AT ME
I am bandaged , my hair is thinned out and short they can see my face, look at my shirt look at it-"
"You come to Phights in that one dark pastel goth fit with a black skirt and pink legwarmers and you don't mind being dressed in cute pieces. I come to Phights in a skirt too every now and then you know and about your hair, you did notice Rocket's entirely bald point next to his right temple on the right side next to where he has these awful burnscars on the right side of the face and over his eye and on the right side where the arm is gone? Why would they mind if your hair is thinned out and your illness is very much visible even in Phights."
"THAT IS SOMETHING DIFFERENT ", wailed the other.
"Not a single being , aside from you, is supposed to see me like that is allowed to see me in this state with my face and the rot all opened for everyone to look atMedkit I am
I am Unsightly
That is all my appearance is without anything covering and hiding it, without anything to gloss it over, something cool and flashy. I am so awful looking."
Medkit looked at him with a hurt expression, trying to cover it up with a more serious looking one.
There.
He knew it.
I am unsightly.
The first time he had said these exact three words had been in a very bad crashout a couple of months ago when he arrived at his apartment, already wrecked up and immediately starting to scream and cry the moment Medkit had closed the door behind him as he let him inside the apartment.
It had been after another bad meeting with the HQ.
It had been them who called him that, who used this as an excuse to order him into only showing himself outside in the Gamma Biocraft suit.
He was unworthy of being the face of their facility looking this bad.
They blamed him for something he had no control over.
Still it felt for him as if he disappointed them, as if he wasn't perfectly suited for the role.
Satisfying them with his actions and with bending himself so much that his existence seemed flawless was his only goal, the only reason why he thought he was born.
He had said it himself that evening, he was only born to break himself for them, it was all he ever knew about his existence never looking deeper into things he really wanted to be instead of being their servant.
Less than that.
Not even a person.
Just a thing they could break.
Everything they called him, was directly how he too called himself.
Medkit despised violence and yet found himself yearning to shoot the HQ people.
Right now, he couldn't focus on these thoughts which rose up in his thoughts.
He had to focus on calming the other.
Staring straight into the other's glowing pink pupil, he gently caressed the other's cheek on the uninfected side of the face.
He hated when he spoke like that, the words of the HQ beings leaving his tongue and not the words he himself would usually use.
It felt like he talked with one of them and not with his one and only love.
He wanted to tell him that what they told him wasn't the case but he was aware, trying to talk him out of the mindset was by now almost impossible, only making him more upset.
Feeling the other touch his face, he stopped moving , just standing there and staring at the other with a unreadable a bit desperate look in his eye before he leaned into the soft touch.
Melting into it, his eye became less wide , his face softening.
"Subspace, this is NOT Blackrock. They are not the HQ.
Nobody here will judge you for your appearance or your illness.
I can promise ."
For a moment, there was silence, both of them just holding each other and looking at each other .
Then Subspace nodded, almost exhaling no poison anymore as he calmed his breathing again.
Squeezing the other's hand before he let go , he ruffled through his own hair, exhaling deeply.
"Don't ever tell anyone about that stuff."
"Why would I?"
"… Just let me put on long pj pants. That's the only clothing change I need to do. Then I will come with you."
"Yeah alright"
He wanted to tell him that even for the scars neither of the two would judge but he could understand.
Tapping the other on the shoulder, causing him to turn around , Medkit pulled him closer, kissing him softly before he pulled back again and shot him a small smile.
The other looked back at him with a happy grin before he turned around, putting on the spare pjs and the gas mask , putting a small canister which he used when he wasn't in Phights and which would dissolve the poison he exhaled in it, on the rim of his pants.
Connecting both of the long dark grey tubes of the mask with the connectors on the canister, he complained loudly about the two being way too fragile , about them being unable to handle this amount of a bit of pure poison , Medkit rolling his eye while listening, adjusting his own eyepatch .
Entering the kitchen, the lights were still turned off, Sword and Rocket still in the bathroom changing and drying themselves.
Turning on the single little light over the kitchen table, Med walked over to the fridge.
The light submerged the kitchen in a slightly weird orangy weak light .
Outside the window it was pitch black, only the sound of the heavy rain against the windows could be heard.
It was loud and not relaxing at all.
Opening the fridge, the cold light of the inside mixed together with the other light and the shadows inside the still somewhat shadowy kitchen as he took out a cooking pot, setting it on the stove .
Inside the cooking pot was an orange soup with many vegetables inside.
Turning the stove on, setting the lid to the side and taking a wooden spoon out of the many cups which he always stored on the small counter top , with cutlery and many other kitchen utensils organized and separated inside of them , stirring around in the soup as it started to heat up, he heard how the other behind him was collecting all the pens, notebooks, scribbled on paperpads and blueprints which had been scattered all over the table, not a single free space on the tableplate.
A minute after, Sword and Rocket entered, both finally in dry clothes looking much less cold.
"Take a seat, I will check your leg in a moment, I am heating up soup for you two you need something to warm yourselves from the inside otherwise you risk getting the flu", he muttered, pointing at the table and at two of the chairs on one side of it.
"Thanks", replied Rocket with a surprised expression , staring at the soup.
Med never cooked, skipping meals and only ever quickly eating something like two slices of plain bread or food he randomly had in his home which he did not need to do anything with .
Seeing him on the stove was both a good thing and such a weird image.
Sword was looking at the soup as well, his expression soft before his eyes wandered over to the scientist who didn't say anything .
He didn't even look at either of them, still busy with whatever was all over the table.
Walking a bit to the table, he tried to take a look at the things on it, his eyes stuck on one massive print.
It was a plan of a gear. Med's gear.
Around it, many notes and mathematical stuff.
Rocket had suspected to see the robotic engineer's writing on the plan but he knew who's was on the plan-
It was the handwriting of Med.
He knew that the medic was good at stuff like this but he wouldn't have thought that he could do such massive mathematical formulas easily .
The sketches were flawlessly drawn in both 3D and 2D , showing the heavily modified Medkit.
The Gear on this was able to transform into a weapon.
Looking at it in awe, just understanding half of what was portrayed on it, he tried to find the details.
Suddenly, the print was snatched off the plate .
Next to him, Subspace shot him a pissed off expression and for the first time Rocket could no t only actually see the other's eyes and looks but also how in this almost darkened kitchen his eye seemed to glow a bit .
Just like Medkit's.
The other's sneer tore him out of his mind.
Angrily Subspace put the print in his arm in which he held all the other stuff which had been on the top.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you to NOT peek into the bps of other beings??"
With a shrug, Rocket walked to the opposite of the table, pulling back the chair and taking a seat before he talked back.
"No. I never was introduced to any sort of"scientist rule"
I'm soooorryyy.
Just thought it looks rad as shit"
"That's because it IS "rad as shit"", replied the other making Rocket lift an eyebrow.
Subspace only ever bragged about things he had made himself.
"Why wouldn't it be absolutely a sensation anyway it is made by the best engineer and mechanical inventor this awful little world has ever seen, after me of course, but even in the field of Gear related tech and mechanical inventions in regards to modifications of a Gear I can't match up ,
Seeing Medkit's cheeks becoming a dark shade of red while he could barely hide his own smile, not looking anywhere else than at the soup, still moving the spoon around inside the liquid , Rocket looked at both of them with a stunned look, Sword looking at Medkit both happily and surprised.
"I never knew that Gear modification can be done !", Rocket almost screamed in excitement, putting his hands on top of the table barely able to stay in the seat.
"It can, it was him who first tried it and who modified one."
Pointing at Med behind him, Sword and Rocket could imagine how large the grin of Subspace had been behind the big gas mask only by looking at the eye.
"I only modified my Gear years later into fusing them together with the poison , yet only Med ever turned a Gear into an entirely differently functioning thing."
"That is an amazing thing???? ", yelled the shark-like being.
Subspace grinned only wider .
"Nobody is allowed to be aware of that ", stopped Med both of them , two bowls of steaming food in his hands as he walked to the table.
"But all the possibilities!"
"Exactly. Please don't tell it to people. I can modify anonymously like I did with my boss' Gear however if it would ever come out who can modify stuff and that it is possible in such ways it would only be used for bad things."
Setting the plates on the table, he lowered himself a bit, kissing Subspace who had by now sat down , all the stuff he had taken away put in a large bag next to the chair of him and which was laying against the cyan kitchenwall , softly kissing him on the top of his head before walking over to the stove again, grabbing spoons , cups and a bottle of soda , placing it on the table again.
Sitting down, Sword smiled a tad bit.
"I am just glad that you started crafting and inventing once more."
Returning the smile with a bit of a sad shine in his eye Medkit stood behind the chair he himself wanted to sit in later.
"I have painfully wished to be able to do it again. It feels like this is what I was born to do I can not tell you how fun it is."
He then exhaled, walking over the Rocket and crouching down.
"If you let me check on the leg would be good now you look as if the pain is too much too sit through"
"It has become a bit duller but therefore more as if it won't get better without any medical treating", he uttered , stretching out the leg so Medkit could take a look , holding up the already short pant leg of the short pyjama bottoms the medic had chosen for him to put on, keeping the accessibility in his mind.
Sword watched silently with a worried and scared expression as the other was checking on the leg , exhaling in relief as the medic got up , telling both that it was really hurting due to him overdoing it today and that all he could do was resting, relaxing , taking meds, removing the leg for now and applying ice to help the nerve pain.
He then let Rocket tell him if he wanted an injected painkiller of if he wanted a pill painkiller , summoning his gear and handing him the white medication as the other had told him he would prefer a solid medication , hating all kinds of syinges after what he had experiences with doctors and the multiple hospital appointments. However especially after the one event where he lost his leg, arm and got horrible scars all over his right side.
After handing him the meds, he let his gear evaporate, walking to the fridge, grabbing a cooling pack , walking to them, giving it to him before sitting in his seat himself.
Thanking him, the shark-being took his pain meds , took off his leg , putting the ice on his own body , relief flooding his body and only then picking up the spoon and taking a spoon of soup into the mouth.
Only now , Sword started to take a sip of the soup too , his eyes immediately lighting up.
"That tastes so great ???"
"Thanks. I'm glad. I haven’t cooked anymore since ten years."
Putting his head on his hand, propping himself up with the elbow against the top of the table, his partner closed his one eye, lifting his own eyebrow.
"See I was telling you, just from what I am able to tell it's great !"
The other just huffed , trying not to grin-
"sooo since how long are you here?" , Rocket questioned the scientist who then looked at him, tilting the head which was resting in his hand .
After he debated whether he should be honest or if he shouldn't tell him the entire truth, he settled on a reply .
Humming , he looked at the ceiling as well as at the wall to his side.
"I have been staying at his home since some time ."
"Isn't that like a risk ?? Blackrock seems kinda, fucked"
"If they would find out Medkit would be ended right on spot and I don't know what would be their ideas for punishing me ; or what they could be doing with me"
"I think they would force you to end me…", was Medkit's reply, his voice lacking any feeling.
"Yes, some things like this."
There was dead silence after this sentence, both of the other two looking at them in terror.
Rocket had voiced his opinion as the first being to stop the dead-silence again. Yet Medkit stopped him from saying the entire opinion.
" That is messed up as shit , and you say your country is so awesome, obeying to all the -"
"Man if there wouldn't be the danger of the rain flooding my kitchen if I would go to the window for a smoke, I could really go for a cig at the moment ,"
"Samee", was the reply of his partner .
"I didn't know you smoked"
To Rocket, the robotic inventor seemed like someone who would never smoke in his life.
"Oh no I do, since I was at Blackrock University."
Next to him, Medkit groaned. Rubbing one of his temples again, he looked at the robot maker next to him.
"You know I have been telling him to finally quit. "
"My body is falling apart cigarette tobacco can't make it even worse I think"
"I fear it will eventually make it worse…"
watching them , both, Sword and Rocket were able to see how much both of them were caring for each other and how in love both of them were simply by how smooth their dialogues went and by how the looks which they gave each other were, even if they were discussing
Their entire posture appeared so relaxed neither of them had ever looked this peacefully.
Both constantly also wanted to be as close as possible with their lover, leaning towards them ever so slightly or making their legs rest against the ones of the other under the wooden plank.
It felt so off seeing them like that but both couldn't stop from feeling so happy for them.
Mainly just for Sword's brother though.
Yet still only Rocket really seemed in a gleeful mood.
His partner was still rather quiet.
It was uncharacteristic for him,seeing him not talking and messing with his soup moving the metal cutlery in it , until his older sibling asked him if he was okay.
The ask tore him out of his spiraling head and back into reality -
He just nodded.
Raising his brow the older looked at his brother.
"You know you can talk to me about all the things you want to talk about remember?"
"I do… but how come you don't talk to me about stuff anymore. ", was the deity’s answer, raising his voice without him wanting to raise it in the first place. "You could have told me. Why didn't you? "
Hearing that, he looked at the other with guilt all over his expression .
What Sword didn't notice was Subspace narrowing his eye , staring at the younger brother.
His expression far away from polite , alone the eye of him showing it
Never once had Rocket seen how expressive just the area of the eye was.
Maybe that was the reason for the pink glasses through which he covered the eye.
If he showed what he felt that openly through his eye maybe he wore it so nobody could see what he truly would feel.
Still he did not voice any sentences
"sword I'm sorry —"
"I just don't think that you still trust /"
"Oh shut it. I do . "
"Why could you inform me I thought that I told you everything and you told me all the important stuff in your life ..*
"Well want to know a thing" , the robotic engineer suddenly said
" he is not obligated to inform you about all the things he does in his private life."
"Obviously!! But we never had secrets"
"That's insane. So you always told him literally all the things happening in your private life? Everything you doWith Rocket too. I would never tell Hyperlaser all the things I do …"
"NO not like this but OH please
You get it."
"Please stop discussing now. I apologize. Please forgive me. I had wanted to tell but wasn't sure …where. And on what circumstance;And if you would handle it somehow good."
He seemed small in his seat, letting his shoulders and head lower, causing Sword to scorn himself, feeling hurt but never wanting to make his brother feel hurt.
"I mean I would have been anxious
However not for long.
I just want you to be happy and feel safety."
Nodding, smiling a bit the other brother sighed.
"I am aware. I am so thankful that you always want to be here for me and I appreciate it. really I am so deeply apologizeing. Please im sorry "
"Please don't talk like that. You don't need to be sorry . I hate when you act as if someone is above
I'm not someone from that horrible circle of beings.
True eye or whatever I don't know their group." , mumbled Sword, fidgeting on the long braid in his white curls.
Feeling guilty he looked at Medkit.
"I'm sorry for acting so weird. I felt as if you wouldn't trust me.
"
Shaking his head Medkit quickly said : " Im sorry ; I will tell you important stuff much earlier from"
"ONLY IF YOU WANT ", cut the bird-like Phigter the others word off
There was a short moment of dead silence , the older brothers look becoming happier as he had a genuinely looking smile on his mouth.
"Also I am really happy for the two of you and I wish you all the luck and the best !"
Quietly whispering a thanks to the other the medic reached for Subspace and held the hand of the robotic engineer.
From then on the feeling inside the small and awfully lit up kitchen turned into a cozy one instead of the tensed up from a few moments before.
Eating soup and talking, they spent the time , the guests slowly getting to know the intimidating creator of the robots in Blackrock and even letting themselves calm down .
This went on until Sub yawned, resting his head on Medkit’s shoulder, careful not to hurt him with his own set of long and pointy horns.
Quickly taking a look at the window it was simple to see; the rain and the storm were still as extreme and over the apartment they still heard and saw thunder and lightning.
Offering the two guests to sleep here for this night they nodded, happily thanking him .
By now all three of them were painfully exhausted and going into a bed sounded awesome.
"Wanna come and help me with the bedsheet and with the couch"
Getting up the older gestured at the kitchen door
"yes sure" was the bird-phighters answer rushing after him as his brother left the kitchen after quietly whispering a "I come back in a second to the Blackrockian. Kissing him on the side of his head before rushing into the other rooms , Sword following him closely.
Inside the living room was a much warmer light than inside the other room
There was a bedsheet as well as two thick bedpillows lying on the floor .
He had taken them out of his room from a drawer in the drawer next to the window
Now they were next to the red bed-couch
"Could you help me with switching that thing?"
Was the medics request and Sword agreed before pushing the little table next to that thing into a corner and then turned the thing into its bedpart.
Closely observing the other while he neatly put the thick bedpillow and the sheet on the couch making them a nice place to rest and sleep tight for the night he couldn't help but voice a question which he had since they were in the home.
"matching necklaces mh? What did you two write on the gear? I can't read it, it's in your language."
"It's the title of the project we made after we got together. Our first shared project while being finally with the other. We took the gears from it too.
I just recently discovered, we both still keep it."
"This is so amazing"
With a big smile he hugged his older brother tightly.
Whispering he then explained
"I am so happy for you and I am so sorry for how I was talking in the kitchen before we had it all solved .."
Returning the hug tightly Medkit made a relieved sound looking happier than the other could remember him looking since they had first gotten friends.
When the place was ready they went back to the kitchen and after talking about when they would return to their shop, Medkit helped Sub up and into their room and Rocket let Sword carry him as well as the detached metal prostheticleg in the room , where he gently sat him down onto the made bedsheets and bedcouch.
After Sword had found the remote and turned on a DVD to watch in the back while trying to fall asleep for the one rain night in which they wanted to stay at his home and after they had removed the metallic blue and silver prostheticarm which was working with crystalpowers, setting it on the table together with the metal prostheticleg they were cuddling .
Having two of their legs intertwined with the others they were caressing each other's back .
Listening to the movie and to the rain on the outside and to the heart of the other steadily beating , clearly being able to feel the heart beating against the ribs.
As they both nearly drifted away it was the shark-being who voiced an ask.
Struggling to keep his eyes open he quietly mumbled his face pressed into Sword's crook of the neck
" what is your actual way of feeling now?"
"I think that I will end Trip.Mine in case he wants to do anything horrible "
Pressing his face in the shark beings hair he then quietly told the continuations.
Right now my brotheis happy thoand if my brother is happy I wont do stuff only that is important to me