(no subject)

[haolehothead]

After everything the past few weeks have delivered, Danny shouldn't be surprised when life tries to kick him when he's down and right now, said kicking is helped along by the fact that his stitches have busted loose and he feels like he can't breathe. Every inhalation accompanies a burst of fire and he's trying to get home because it's closer to there than the Compound and Steve will find him.

Steve has to find him. Shit, if they're going to relive the disaster in the woods, then he's not going to be able to take it.

Clutching his side (his white button-down stained with a blossom of red), he manages to make it to the hut, using his good shoulder to burst through the door, catching his breath the moment after. "Steve," he calls out, pained. "Steve, I need -- I need your help, babe. Please!"

Comments

[newkindofcop]

Steve's standing over the kitchen counter, wielding a knife in hand as he finishes cutting up some fresh pineapple - but when the door bursts open like that, it takes every amount of control not to give into the reflex to flip the knife around in his hand, to go into a combative stance with fruit still dripping from the blade.

The knife clatters down on the cutting board as he rushes over to Danny, face immediately paling to match, and he reaches out, putting a hand down over Danny's abdomen, over the source of the bleeding. "Come on," he says, his voice soft but directing. "We need to get you sitting, get your heart rate down. Just breathe, come on, sit down." He practically knocks a chair over in his haste to drag it across the floor.

[haolehothead]

Danny lists into Steve, taking comfort in the fact that he's so close. "Didn't mean to rough myself up again," he admits warily, wrapping an arm around Steve's shoulders to keep himself steady. "Jack, though...someone was attacking Jack and I couldn't let him go through that alone. I had to help." He's breathing heavy, but he sinks down.

[newkindofcop]

"It's okay, just - don't stop talking," Steve mutters, getting Danny down steady before he heads toward the last place he'd seen their first-aid kit. It isn't much, just a few bandages and gauze and other things he's accumulated over time, but it should be enough to patch Danny up temporarily until they can get him stitched up again - and he's pretty positive Danny isn't going to want some kind of roughshod job at suturing the way he learned in the Navy.

Danny just needs to keep talking. It's the moments when he stops that generally mean bad things.

[haolehothead]

Danny winces heavily when Steve prods at him slightly, sinking back into the chair so his posture doesn't need to be supported so much. "Swear to god there was a time when you said you'd pay money for me to shut up," he says with a grimace and a groan, scoffing at how much has changed since.

[newkindofcop]

"Well, this is one of those times where I'm willing to make an exception," Steve replies, not biting back a response so much as he's trying to focus on what he needs to do, cracking open the first aid kit before his fingers fly over the buttons on Danny's shirt, trying to peel it away from his side.

[haolehothead]

"Hey, hey," he protests when Steve starts undressing him for him. He swats at Steve's fingers, though they do linger. "What is it about me that makes me look like an invalid, huh? You that eager to get me naked, babe?" he jokes weakly.

[newkindofcop]

"Hey, hey," Steve replies, in a similar tone but slightly firmer. "I'm just trying to see how much damage was done by you feeling the need to play hero. Just lay back and stay awake, alright?" With the shirt out of the way, he realizes that the bleeding makes it look a lot worse than it actually is, and he openly breathes a sigh. "Okay, you've just pulled a couple - I can bandage you until we can get to the clinic and someone else can do a better job."

[haolehothead]

"Hey!" And this time, Danny's actually irritated, a sharpness to the word. "I wasn't playing hero," he bites out the words. "I was helping Jack. What did you want me to do, leave him to his nightmares? And I didn't do anything stupid. I cuffed him and put him behind bars. It was the first hit and the dog that did the damage."

[newkindofcop]

"Whatever you say," Steve replies, briefly biting back a tiny smile. If anything, keeping Danny fired up is going to keep him awake, but he doesn't want to raise his heartrate to the point that he'll get too excited and start bleeding more.

[haolehothead]

Danny mutters under his breath, but finally concedes as he leans into Steve's grip, not wanting to do anything but let him check up on the wound. "He was so scared," he murmurs. "And all I could think of was Esther. And how scared I was. And how much I wanted to be able to be in control that time."