imperfectsoldier: (55)

[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-30 12:13 am (UTC)(link)
He moves for the drawer, without hesitation or stupid questions about infection. Not able to stay dead means if nothing else, worst case scenario, infection's going to at least be a slower death.

It also means he's going to be causing more pain either in the sewing up or slower death, but- So be it, he guesses.

"Let me know if you'd just rather... die." He doesn't know. He is firmly over his head in trying to put together how to approach this. Given that he is, actually, defaulting to trusting the authority on the subject here. "Or otherwise need to tap out."

Once he's got that sewing kit, though, he - Well, stands across Zerxus' legs and ultimately sits in his lap, facing him. It's the only practical way he has to reach.

He's not shaking. He's not pale. He's just grim, determined, and with some (hidden) anger underlining it. "I'll do my best, but best case it's still gonna hurt like a bitch."
Edited 2024-10-30 00:14 (UTC)
imperfectsoldier: (pic#17482446)

[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-30 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
Steve looks up from what he's doing, briefly. "Well, let me know if that comes back along with your ability to die." There's eye-contact with that, and he... probably shouldn't see burning red eyes as reassuring, but he... does.

Then he bends his head back to the task, starting with the lance wound. It's... just adding more blood to all this, making everything slippery and the whole thing harder. This man better still be able to heal in some capacity though, because there's more damage here than just on the surface.

"You still owe me a question." He doesn't look up, and his weight on Zerxus' legs doesn't shift. Just focused, but also: talk to him.
imperfectsoldier: (93)

[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-30 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
He's grateful Zerxus isn't fighting him. He doesn't know if he's just shocky from blood loss, or feeling more pain than he's consciously aware of - that tremble could be either - but holding Zerxus down to do this, after he's pretty convinced he caused it wouldn't be a good time for either one of them.

"Not exactly. Dad died when I was a couple of months old, and mom was a nurse. The lady who stepped in to help had a kid who was about my age I grew up with. Stuck together all the way through enlisting together. He died in action not long before I took a really long nap." That's more than was needed, delivered with an air of distraction since he's focused on sewing this shit up. And being as gentle about it as he can, given the circumstance (including equipment and severity and lack of experience).

While not at all convinced there is any point. At least, he hopes, it's keeping Zerxus distracted and thinking. "Was the assumption that you were older personality or something else?"
imperfectsoldier: (80)

[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-30 01:09 am (UTC)(link)
The angle of that slash is a bear, and leaves Steve needing to brace himself against Zerxus' chest with his forearm to get to it.

Still getting it done, needle biting in, thread pulling through (which Steve can almost hear, and can certainly feel the friction of), knotting it off and then breaking the thread and repeating the process.

"Bucky was older than me - and until that project I mentioned taller. He was pulling my ass out of the fire most of the time until then. He was kind of a devil may care type, but I was in some kind of fight every time he turned around. After... things flipped around on size and who the responsible party supposedly was." Then, since Zerxus is drifting: "Why'd it take you that long to meet?"
Edited (DRIFTING NOT DRAWING WTF) 2024-10-30 01:19 (UTC)
imperfectsoldier: (55)

[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-30 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
That potentially makes sense.

And Steve would feel a lot better if that grip was a lot harder, but he'll take the help he can get - and point of contact. It's useful for monitoring Zerxus.

Right?

Right.

"I can't tell if it was a magic thing, a 'close as brothers' situation, he married your sister, or one of your parents married one of his."

Potentially makes sense. Definitely does not actually make sense. "Maybe tell me which one if you feel like it. And ask me a question." Steve is not losing track. Of anything.
Edited 2024-10-30 01:40 (UTC)
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[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-30 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
Mention of a son makes Steve sadder for Zerxus. He doesn't know how old this situation is, not even close. He does know it isn't new. He isn't sure that really matters, here, except in making it more painful.

He finishes up that lance wound, pauses to wipe blood off his hands and onto the barely attached fabric of his pants (and incidentally onto his thighs), clears more blood away from the next wound.

"No family, no kids." He actually sounds a little amused by that albeit in slightly bitter way. Mostly, he's totally busy trying to keep this guy alive (since said guy wants it). "I almost had a relationship once."

He needs to find a way to get Zerxus to keep talking without asking questions. "Taking your son says a lot. He must have been an impressive guy you trusted a lot."
Edited (family not marriage, ignorable) 2024-10-30 02:04 (UTC)
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[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-30 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
Steve starts to say something about the number of ways, given what his life is and has become, that not having family is really the better option. Even if he's also the guy who points out he was going to need something if they were going to care about his soul.

Then Zerxus comes out with that and Steve stops stitching, stops working, pulls back stares. "I can't really argue, given that I didn't know the guy existed until now, but I feel like me sitting in your lap and blood loss are probably contributing to the impression."

Eternity is not long enough for the length of time it would take him to ask all the questions in his head right now. Not given he'd have to answer one for every one he asked, anyway.

And he's still trying not to blurt out questions.
imperfectsoldier: (21)

[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-30 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
The grip on his hip tightening makes Steve take a moment and a deep breath. Of all the inappropriate reactions....

That are mostly happening in response to stress, connection, and intimacy, rather than just touch and position.

He's just abruptly aware of both.

He makes a rough noise in the back of his throat. "I'm gonna dodge being the kind of dishonest arguing any of that would take, except maybe kind - and I think your judgement there might be clouded - and point out anybody who managed a marriage to your ass had to be stubborn. At that point it's just a survival skill."





imperfectsoldier: (Default)

[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-30 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
It's fine. Steve's mind is fully anchored in the present, none of his blood is on the floor, and he's scaring himself off.

Except the part where he doesn't move, just takes a second, closes his eyes briefly in response to the hand sliding down his back and then a deep breath.

Then goes back to what he was doing. Which is... stitching a man up, who is probably bleeding to death on his way to a temporary death that will leave Steve alone in hell.

He's not much of a runner.

...He wants to arch back or lean in. At least someone here is half dead. Horrible safety net, but it does at least exist. Covered in blood should be enough, though. Sense should be enough.

"You aren't trying to tell me you have a functional standard of kind."

imperfectsoldier: (94)

[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-30 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
Steve is going to have a whole, if quiet, identity crisis at some point about the ways he's not actually sadistic, if the responses he keeps getting are like this. At least once he's able to untangle out what's driving his reactions -- and it's not pain or blood.

Now is not eventually on that one.

"You should give me an example of him being kind so I can compare." You should keep talking about your husband while Steve finishes getting a damn grip on himself. And/or finishes this clean up job.

He won't be insisting on distance or that Zerxus stop touching him though. He didn't work that hard to convince the man to do it for that.

He thinks he's leaving it with that remark. Means to. What comes out of him is a different train of thought coming in, without his permission. "This is my fault."
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[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-30 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
The fuck it's not.

Steve makes no attempt to evade eye-contact, meaning that there is something of the thought translated into his expression and eyes. He doesn't verbally argue, though. The stronger grip helps that.

Because he's still not going to spell out what he sees as his options, or the deliberation and damn near math equations that determine which one is coming out on top at any given moment. A lot of the weight is very much coming from 'don't sacrifice your entire world for one person' - most of it - some of it is absolutely that he said that aloud and to Zerxus.

Doesn't mean he's not paying attention to what feels like the direct cost of protecting his soul, in the form of things like 'I need you to let me care' and 'don't pull away'.

"You should go back and tell me something about your husband while I finish trying to clean this up."
Edited (Just fixing a word, IGNORE THIS SAGE DAMN.) 2024-10-31 17:00 (UTC)
imperfectsoldier: (48)

[personal profile] imperfectsoldier 2024-10-31 05:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Steve exhales hard through his nose when Zerxus' hands tighten and tenses up against them. Not to get away or discomfort but more just a wave of... wanting more of it.

He uses the hand without the needle and swats Zerxus' gently on the forearm.

"Stop that. I don't need to untangle why a half-dead demon covered in blood in hell is turning me on." Well. At some point... Steve often breaks to uncomfortable honesty and truth. "What you did was stupid, but I'm not gonna argue with it - but only on the grounds that you got to make a decision for yourself and that probably was worth it."

It does not make him feel less like it was his fault, here. Leverage. Almost immediately. He hates it. He also can't do anything about it.
Edited ( I to a.) 2024-10-31 17:53 (UTC)

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