No Place Like Home | Closed to Eridan

[lunaquatic]

Going home to an empty house felt like a poor idea, especially given that Feferi remained low on blood and high on tension. Her first thought was the Striders, whose domain was very much her domain as well, but they had chosen to keep their wholly inadequate couch... And would probably not be particularly receptive to her bursting in and nesting in their apartment for however long she stayed.

That left Eridan.

She didn't particularly want to have to explain about Kanaya's accident, but between a tense conversation and going home to her empty house was no contest.

The route to his house was nearly as familiar as the way home and she parked her car where she usually did here it wouldn't block he or his family's vehicles.

With less than her usual chipperness Feferi made her way up to the front door, unlocking it and going inside without bothering to knock. She practically lived here sometimes and the Amporas were well used to her ways. It didn't occur to her to text or call and her knees felt too wobbly to look around for Eridan so she made a beeline for his room.

She dug around in his dresser for one of his shirts when she found his room empty and shucked out of the bits of her clothing that weren't good to sleep in, as ever choosing comfort over propriety. In their place she pulled on his longer shirt.

Fef hesitated, then carefully unwrapped Kanaya's scarf from around her throat, gingerly touching the sore area. A shudder worked its way through her and Fef grimaced before burrowing into Eridan's bed, shoving his blankets and pillows around into a comfortable nest and curling up. Between the anemia and the exhaustion from stress she was out like a light, her cheeks unusually pale and the bandage a patch of white against her dark skin.

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[capesandvvapes]

Like any responsible young adult left alone in an empty house with all sorts of potential for shenanigans, Eridan was making the most of it.

Which means he lounged around in t-shirt and sweatpants, marathoning mock-umentaries,
scrolling his dashboard, and indulging in his guilty pleasure, hot pockets dissected and stuffed with canned tuna. But there were only so many episodes of Ancient Aliens, and so many hot pockets, that one guy can handle in a day, especially once the batteries of both laptop and mobile phone run red. Perfect example of Newton’s first law, Eridan was finally moved from his very comfortable seat on the sofa, driven by the burning need to power his dying electronics.

It isn’t until both his devices are plugged in and charging that he notices something is off. There’s the worrying addition of clothes to his floor, being 1) neither his, in regard to the smaller woman’s items, 2) nor Fef’s, in regard to the floral scarf, and a lump of girl in his sheets like she was Goldilocks and his bed was Just Right.

“Would it kill ya to say hi before bargin’ in and commandeerin’ my mattress?” He mumbles with an exasperated sigh, more to himself than in any attempt to wake her. It was rather odd that she’d come over just to crash but then again, not much she did really surprised him anymore. His house was practically her’s at this point. His bed however, wasn’t, no matter how often she decided it was, and while he didn’t really care, he had to put up a front that he did. There were a few lines he had to draw or he’d find himself coming home to a refurnished room and everything decked in garish pinks.

He walks over to the bed, crouching down beside it and reaching out a hand to shake her awake. When he sees the bandage on her neck, the tone of her skin, he flinches, hand quavering free in the air as he pulls back. He has two assumptions about what could have happened, but he firmly kicks one of those straight into the trash because he is not going to get weird about Fef getting a hickey after all this time. So what’s left, is that she’s sick, and while sleep will help her heal, he can’t exactly be sure she’s comfortable if she’s unresponsive. He rests a hand on her shoulder and nudges her. “Rise and shine sleepin’ beauty. Your prince is here and I ain’t kissin’ you back to reality if you’ve got mono.”

[lunaquatic]

Feferi's initial response was to make a complaining noise and burrow deeper into his bed. Moving her head however set her neck to throbbing and a flash of bloody memories and being trapped swamped her with sudden adrenaline. Feferi sat up with a gasp, arms raised defensively as she looked around wildly. (Eridan might notice she had also put on one of his shirts.)

Eridan's room and surprised face were familiar enough that relief replaced panic and she slumped back to the bed, putting her hands to her temples gingerly. "Owww," she complained, but wiggled back to make room for him in his bed. "My head feels bad."

She gingerly touched her bandaged neck and grimaced. It wasn't so hot that she feared infection, but the skin underneath was definitely forming a spectacular bruise. Feferi patted the bed next to her, inviting him into her nest as she buried herself in blankets again.

"Not mono, just anemia and bruises," she said with a sigh, looking tired. "I thought company would be better than my empty house in case I blacked out or somefin... Drank some juice before I came but she took a lot out of me..." She yawned hugely and seemed to lose the thread of what she had been saying.

Her eyelashes fluttered but she rubbed her eyes stubbornly and looked up at him with eyes slightly out of focus as she drifted. "Didn't know where else to go," she mumbled, closing her eyes again. "You're not gonna chew on me too, right? Too much chewing..."

Fef's eyes snapped open again and she grabbed his wrist with a rather cold hand. "Sorry if I got blood on anything," she said with more of her usual verve before sinking down to the pillows again, yawning wide enough that her jaw cracked. "Smells like fish..." she mumbled.

[capesandvvapes]

“Honestly,” He huffed dismissively, shaking off her grip and the oddity of her insecure rambling with some of his own, “You’re always welcome here, even if here might be as empty as your own place. There’s absolutely no obligation for you to provide me somethin’ to chew on, or anything else, for that matter.”

He is not so secretly pleased that she would come to him for help, if she needed it, which clearly she did. It's not like he’s never seen her like this before, though on previous occasions, it was obvious what was wrong, a sickness or moderately severe injury. This was different. Other than the bandage and surrounding bruised areas on her neck and even knowing her paleness was due to blood loss, there didn’t seem to be reason for such a drastic change in her demeanor. She was very out of it and it was not okay.

So yeah, he wasn’t worried at all. Not even a little bit. He’s pretty sure the knot in his chest is just heartburn.

He tried to remember what little he knew about anemia and found the result perilously blank. Turned out years of being a hypochondriac with access to webMD had not gifted him with any particular insight on the subject, especially not when he might actually have a need for the information. The most he could think to do, was keep the swelling on her neck down and provide her with enough hydration to allow her body to recover on its own.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the invitation to my own bed, but I’m going to go grab you some supplies first. Make sure you’re getting the best of possible care here, not that you’d return the favour,” He griped, voice fading as he swept out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen, “I mean, how rude can you get, callin’ me out on fish smells when this whole stunt a yours is what really smells fishy.“ The scent of warmed tuna and processed food still lingered in the air, though he very stubbornly ignored it as he gathered a bag of ice and a glass of cold water.

Swiftly returning for his venture, he rests the glass on the nightstand with a small click of glass on wood, and sits on the edge of the mattress, one leg folded above the crumpled dark sheets, the other dangling above the floor.

“Now what’s all this about blood and brusin’ and chewin’?” He says, leaning over to press the bag against her neck, slowly to keep her from flinching too much at the sudden coolness. He notes, with rising discontent, how the skin peeking out beneath the plaster was purpling a shade that would be very nice on her, if only it were clothing and not her flesh. With each sentence it gets harder for him to keep his voice level. “And who exactly is she ‘cause I’ve got a thin’ or two to say to her about whatever state this is she’s left you in. Don’t know what kind of kinky shit you were up to but it’s obviously not workin’ if you’re comin’ here for aftercare.”

[lunaquatic]

The ice burned cold against her bruise, but after the initial shock it soothed the ache. She had woken up a little more while he ran around for her and she cracked a smile, opening her eyes. They didn't get more than half-open though. She was still low on blood and feeling it.

Feferi sighed, but she'd known she'd have to tell him what happened. "Nofin kinky sadly, just Kanaya almost dyin," she said, trying to keep her tone light. "You know how she's been getting more vampire-y? Turns out if she's dyin she goes into a... a frenzy. Like a shark."

Feferi shifted a little, but it was too nice to have Eridan fussing over her to bother sitting up or holding the ice pack in place herself. "I was over at her apartment to do some final fittings on some clothes I commissioned from her and she went to go find some embroidery samples in her cramped little workroom and some stuff fell over and she got impaled on some big shears," Feferi explained, grimacing at the memory. "Luckily I was between outfits so when I rushed in to help I didn't ruin any of my new pretties but it was... it was reely bad... She was just... gushin blood..."

Fef was decidedly unsqueamish for the most part. You couldn't hunt and kill and clean fish for fun and eating and get upset at a little blood, but remembering how close Kanaya had come to dying was a different kettle of fish. "I fin she was... no... she would have died... except her powers sent her into... the frenzy.. you know? Next fin I knew she had bitten me and... she was so strong Erifin..."

Feferi shuddered, unused to that feeling of helplessness. She pulled her legs up and wrapped an arm around them to cover her belly instinctively. "She grabbed me too, which in hindsight was lucky because if I'd fought her off my neck would be in even worse shape..." Feferi glanced up at Eridan and then went back to staring at nothing while she told her story.

"I guess... I guess she came back to herself when she wasn't on death's doorstep any more and she got as much blood off of me as she could. I had passed out... And she bandaged me up and then stood around panicking.... I came to and she gave me a bunch of orange juice and apologized a bunch but mostly I'm glad that she didn't DIE!!! I guess my blood was better than someone else's blood? She healed entirely and looked right as rain."

Feferi sighed. "I know it was an accident but I was still pretty freaked even if I was glad she wasn't dead, so I got out of there... but I still felt pretty faint in the car so I came here instead of going home because I figured at least if I passed out for a day eventually you'd find me," she said with the casual confidence of deep trust.

She yawned and closed her eyes. "Can you check my neck? I wasn't ready to peel up the bandage and see if she reely did chew on me...." Feferi mumbled, starting to drift again. If he did lift the bandage he'd find a darkening bruise and some very neat bite marks. Kanaya was very, very strong.

[capesandvvapes]

He sat, absorbing her tale, anger and fear and worry churning in his gut to froth that would make even the most turbulent of oceans jealous. There was no part of him that was expecting both of his close friends to have been injured as badly as they had, and no less that one of them had caused injury to the other because of scissor accidents and mystical vampire bullshit. It was… a lot to process and he wasn’t going to react on his gut impulse when that wasn’t what Fef needed right now.

So he kept his mouth shut until he could straighten out his own thoughts on those matters and focused on her more immediate request.

“If you want me to get a proper look at your neck, you’re goin’ to have to unpack a bit.” He says as he places his hand on hers and guides her arms away from where they clung. “You’re sitting tight as an anemone in low tide.”

He brushes her thick loose hair from her neck, gathering it and twisting it to rest upon her opposite shoulder and tilts her head up from its sunken position with the curled knuckles of his other hand.
“I’m glad, that Kan is okay, though I ain’t gonna pretend I’m happy about the why.” He says hushed as he peels up the edge of the bandage, slowly pulling until it’s free of her skin. He turns away only briefly to drop it down on the table beside him before truly assessing the damage with a frown. ”And if at all possible, it would be best to mitigate the likelihood a this happenin’ again.”

He tries to ignore the way his hands are shaking as he examines her neck. Though the wound was violently coloured and the bite marks deep, the holes from fangs had scabbed over a dark brown and the bleeding was unlikely to resume, so long as it remained undisturbed. It was a relief to say the least, to be able to avoid strange hospital trips for a little longer.

“Bet you saved some a that healin’ power for yourself, with the way it’s patchin’ itself right up Hardly a consolation, but shark-like as she seemed, Kan is needlessly tidy, even in her frenzies. Not so much chewin’ as a nip or two.” A gash or two, more like. “ Aside from scabs and bruises and obvious blood loss, you ought to be alright.”

If Fef wasn’t used to helplessness, well Eridan was far too friendly with it. All this shit about magic powers and his friends turning into supernatural freaks of nature, that was all well and good when they’re fighting whatever odd thing pops up to terrorize the city. It was another thing entirely when his friends start using their powers on each other.

[lunaquatic]

Feferi did as requested, breathing slowly and relaxing her defensive position. If Eridan wasn't safe, nowhere was. She didn't comment on his shaking hands, just relaxed further as he assessed the damage. She let out a sigh of relief and slumped across his lap, laughing giddily. "I fin I'm going to renovate a place downtown to be our superhero lair," she said. "Kanaya needs more space and it'd be nice to have somewhere to practice without old people bubbling at us..."

She shifted carefully until just her head was in his lap, her dark hair spilling across his legs as she looked up at him, eyes more than half closed but lips still curved into a sleepy smile. "Have you found any powers spilling out of you Erifin?" she asked, wiggling to get comfier and tuck her feet under blankets again. "What kind of powers would you want to have? Water manipulating is nice and all but I wish I had mermaid powers instead... How am I ever supposed to meet a giant squid without being a mermaid??"

Feferi yawned and closed her eyes properly, her breathing slowing as she began to drift off. "Maybe you can get bat powers like Batman!!" she said fuzzily. "He wore a cape and had... wait... what powers did Batman have? Was it super hearing? Bats have good hearing..."

Her arm flopped across her stomach as the last of the tension drained out of her and she fell asleep again, her heavy head and long hair resting in his lap.