Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

medkit was at his computer, tapping keys mindlessly. he could feel his eyelid drooping; it was far too late into the night to be working. ugh. he still had to finish the research paper he'd been putting off.

minutes stretched into hours, and with each minute his head grew heavier, until he finally dozed off completely, head landing directly onto his keyboard with a rattling melody of clicks and clacks. if his monitor had been any closer, his horns would have likely knocked it over. he could feel his body letting go, the comfort of sleep releasing the tension in his shoulders and back-- and along with it, a long string of jumbled letters and symbols that came with him using a keyboard as a pillow.

he had no idea how long he'd been asleep when he suddenly heard three perfect knocks at his office door; metallic, ringing uncomfortably in his ears. without a doubt, a biograft. but which one?

none of that mattered to him, they all posed the same threat anyway. the idea of a biograft at his door vexed him, ignoring the fact it could very much be coming to kill him, it had also interrupted his fleeting moment of sleep.

he muttered a few curses under his breath. it was 3 am, why now? shoving the thought away, he rummaged through his pockets, procuring a gun; his weapon of choice decorated to his liking. he crept toward the door, peering through the peephole; it was too dark to see anything. he decided he would risk opening the door, gun poised to kill-- yet when the door shrilly squeaked open, a wave of confusion washed over him.

the biograft that stood before him whirred quietly, staring forth with an air of apathy toward him. it held no weapons, and seemed not to pose a threat, but the glare it gave him told him under different circumstances, he would be very dead right now.

go figure, the killing bot wanted to kill him.

that wasn't his biggest concern, though. what it was holding in place of a weapon was subspace's limp, half-conscious body. god, he was in terrible condition; the rot had gotten far worse than when he last saw him, and the smell almost knocked him off his feet.

where he should've felt anger, he felt...pity? shockingly, he felt bad for the scientist. he certainly looked pitiful, but that didn't mean he had to feel pity for him.

seeing medkit hadn't spoken yet, the biograft straightened up to speak. "CREATOR IS INJURED. VINE STAFF IS MIA. HOSPITAL IS OVERBOOKED. YOU ARE THE LAST RESORT."

medkit scoffed. "wow, i'm the last resort? nice to know he's still thinking of me." the biograft narrowed its artificial optics. "DO NOT THINK OF THIS AS A PEACE TREATY. ONE STILL SEES YOU AS A THREAT TO ELIMINATE. A TRAITOR."

medkit rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "behave, or i wont help your creator. you're lucky i still have a semblance of concern for him." he glanced back at his office. the small room with a hospital bed and some equipment's door was ajar; it was clean, ready for a patient he hadn't expected to come. "bring him in, but you're staying out. uh...you can guard the door or whatever." He pointed at the obviously satirical "NO BIOGRAFTS ALLOWED" sign scythe had made, scribbled onto a scrap of wood with a half-dried out sharpie. she had insisted he put it up in his office, and he did so with much reluctance; he didn't find it very humorful. he didn't exactly expect it to come in handy.

the biograft, recognizing an order, marched mechanically into the room. "AFFIRMATIVE."

—

subspace awoke groggily; his whole body felt terribly stiff. what time was it? where was he? he didn't know, which instantly put his senses on high alert. he blinked his working eye open; the room, which he didn't recognize, but he could tell was a hospital room, was quite dim. it didn't look like blackrock's hospital rooms-which he hated to admit, he had been frequenting recently-and also definitely wasn't vine staff's living room.

he could faintly hear the sound of a biograft somewhere outside. sitting up, with much pain, he scanned the room. before he could process what he saw, a stinging pain struck through the left side of his body, and he doubled over. a whimper unwillingly escaped his lips; alerting medkit, who had already begun dozing off again. the sound of the wheels of an office chair rolling over tile told him someone was coming to see what happened.

medkit peered into the room. "ah, you're awake. i expected you'd sleep longer than that, considering your condition, but i can't really expect anything with you." he stood from his chair, walking swiftly to a cabinet and rummaging through it. he turned to subspace, holding two bottles; one was more squat than the other, presumably a container of topical cream; the other produced a rattling sound, likely pills.

subspace scooted backward in his bed, as far away from medkit as he could get without falling off the edge. "hell if im taking whatever you give me!! do i look insane to you??"

"do you really want me to answer that?" he deadpanned, striding to the door to lock it shut. subspace looked like he would jump out of his skin at any moment. "care to explain why you're locking the door??"

medkit shrugged "i'd rather not get beheaded by your robo-dog the moment it spots me trying to wrangle you into taking these pills-which you will be taking, because they're going to help-but that might just be me." subspace let out a squawk of suprise, pointing a bandaged finger at him.

"you won't!!"

"i will, actually. if you don't come here, i'll get you myself, and im sure neither of us want that considering your current state."

"come get me yourself, then." subspace hissed through sharp, gritted teeth. medkit raised an eyebrow before setting down both containers to roll up his sleeves.

subspace froze for a second. he hated to admit it, but that was kind of attractive. wait, what? medkit? attractive? there's actually no way i'd EVER think that, what am i on about--

medkit took advantage of subspace, who was deep in denial of his pining for medkit, to shove him down into the jumble of covers and attempt to force a small handful of pills into his mouth. subspace almost choked on his own spit in surprise before quickly clamping his jaws, which held very sharp teeth, onto medkit's arm.

medkit let out a stream of curses not even subspace would repeat, whacking the latter multiple times on the head with a clenched fist. "good lord, let go of me you phucking piranha!" subspace released his clamp, proud of the damage he'd done, until he realized medkit had now backed away to a further corner of the room, brandishing a very familiar gun.

subspace spit out a mouthful of medkit's blood and backed up to the wall, raising his arms out in front of him in surrender. "okay, okay, jeez, i'll take the pills!! you dont have to phucking shoot-"

the sound of a muffled gunshot interrupted him. subspace froze, he didn't actually expect him to go through with it; but instead of feeling dead, he felt...tired. very tired.

did medkit just phucking sedate me? what. what the phuck.

medkit left the room for a few minutes, allowing the medication to serve its purpose; subspace could hear an irritated medkit reluctantly conversing with a biograft outside, probably about the bite he'd scored on him. ha ha ha. it would've been funny if he wasn't falling asleep right now.

he felt his eyelid start drooping, and a serene calm wash over him; medkit came forth again with a newly bandaged arm, sitting on the edge of the bed. subspace slumped back against the headboard of the hospital bed. medkit opened the bottle of pills again, having discarded his previous handful due to it having been scattered all over the floor when subspace tried to take a chunk of his arm off. "so wasteful," he muttered. "old habits die hard." he gently leaned subspace to rest on his chest, which caused subspace's face to instantly shift to a violent shade of red. "c'mon, just take the pills, they'll make you feel better."

reluctantly, subspace obeyed, letting medkit coax him into taking the pills with a mouthful of water; which cooled his throat, he hadn't noticed it was dry. he had a habit of not noticing such things, forgetting to take care of himself and whatnot.

huh, he thought. i miss having someone to take care of me like this.

as much as i hate med, i kinda wish we could stay like this.

the emotional pain and yearning distracted him from what medkit was doing. he gently pulled subspace closer, resting him in his lap, and scooted backward, leaning over to grasp the container of ointment. methodically, he unwrapped the bandages on his face, which had stuck painfully to the fresh, raw rot that had brought him here in the first place. subspace's face twisted in agony, and he bit his tongue to avoid whimpering; medkit sensed this. "don't hold your tongue, tell me if it hurts. i won't judge you, not now or here."

he gently applied the ointment, a cool green color glittering with traces of crystal dust, to subspace's wounds. it stung nonetheless; subspace hissed quietly, squeezing medkit's free hand weakly. medkit didn't protest, but continued to apply the cream with even more gentleness.

it felt like ages before medkit was done; when he looked up, it was somehow still night. he knew, though, soon the warm morning light would begin to seep through the blinds that were slightly ajar. subspace had long fallen asleep in his lap; his face more peaceful than he had ever seen it.

it hit medkit that he'd never seen subspace asleep. he wondered if he still took care of sub, would he have gotten this bad? another pang of guilt and hurt hit him, he only ever looked content while asleep. he'd even admit he looked kinda...cute? (oh my phucking gods just get married atp)

before he even had the time to think about what he was doing, he gently moved subspace to one side of the bed, removing his weirdly-shaped jacket and hanging it on the headboard. he gently covered subspace with the crumpled covers in the bed, causing subspace to shift in his place and curl up into a ball. medkit snorted, he really did act like a cat. med took off his own jacket and hung it next to subspaces, joining the hunched figure in the bed.

realizing it was quite chilly, he pulled the covers over himself too, and wrapped his arms securely around subspace. he had no idea why he would do this; the inphernal wanted him dead, for phucks sake, but he did it anyway, gently petting his unkempt white hair.

subspace let out a content sigh, sleepily leaning further into medkit. med could swear he could almost hear him purring. he pulled off his eyepatch, tossing it onto the counter behind him-a sign of vulnerability, he hadn't even shown scythe his missing eye- and shut his good eye, dozing off in the warmth of their shared bed.

his heart wanted to say something to subspace, the figure that seemed to occupy his thoughts with no relent. his lips cracked open, a whisper almost as quiet as a shaky breath;

"i still love you, subspace."

and even though the smaller inphernal didn't reply, he swore he could just barely hear his response,

"i love you too, meddy."

Chapter Text

it was early, too early in the morning to be awake. even the midnight crows had yet to return to their nests to get their sleep. subspace sat at his desk, sketching diagrams. his hands shook, it was basically freezing in his lab; but no, he couldn't have it any other way, if it were any warmer he'd sweat, and the salt didn't go well with his rot.

he was cold, fatigued, starving, but continued to work. his whole body was numb from the cold; the only respite he could just barely grasp in his claws from the sickness that plagued him.

to him, though, it didn't matter; the only meaningful thing at the moment was the jumble of papers before him, pencil scribbling through the night (or was it morning? the hours had merged together so much he couldn't tell) seemingly endlessly.

he had begun to get distracted; he could only go so long without eating or drinking something. the hunger gnawed at him like dull canine teeth, digging at his stomach slowly, but surely. he wanted to get up and eat, but that required assistance, and took painfully long; he was sure if he did now, these diagrams wouldn't get done until the sun had risen, and his superior needed them far earlier than that.

his eyes felt heavy, and they stung with dryness; his body itself cried out for rest, comfort, for him to take care of himself, but to subspace, work was more important.

he never saw himself, as a living, breathing body, as flesh and bone, blood pumping through veins, to be more important than his legacy. all of that was finite, would one day rot away to leave pearl-white bones buried deep in soil, and those too would eventually dissolve; but what he created, what he left behind, his work, would last for eons.

truthfully, he hadn't left his lab for days, instructing his lone partner, a biograft whom he'd affectionately nicknamed "bio", to run necessary errands for him. he'd been living off of instant ramen, not exactly the most nutritious, but easy to get down and tasty nonetheless.

for a fleeting moment, he wondered, "is meddy worried?"

...

nah, he probably thinks i'm fine. he knows i'm strong or whatever, i do this all the time! not like its unhealthy or anything.

actually what am i talking about. i'm nowhere near healthy, i'm the OPPOSITE of healthy. hah.

—

medkit was fairly worried about subspace. considering he hadn't seen him in days, which was new considering how clingy the scientist had become, it was something to be concerned about. and if med was going to be honest subspace didn't exactly have the best eating or sleeping habits.

so, the doctor took it upon himself to visit subspace's lab. he got shady looks from the other blackrockians, heard the words "traitor" whispered when they thought he wasnt looking-- a rumor that seemed like it would never leave; but he kept his head held high. he wouldn't let some randoms bring him down; he was the medkit, after all.

these thoughts plagued his mind the whole way to the scientist's office, and only when he found himself at the door did his thoughts slow to a halt. he knocked three times; slow, methodical. there was nothing he didn't do with surgical precision. seeing there was no response, he went to grab the door handle, only to realize his glove wasn't exactly aiding him in turning the knob. frustrated, he pulled it off, and tried again, only to yank his hand back in shock. the doorknob was freezing cold, enough to leave his hand numb for a few seconds.

"good god, did he turn his lab into a freezer?" medkit hissed, exhaling on his hand to warm it back up. he fiddled with the doorknob for a minute before the door finally swung open. he was hit by a blast of cold air, almost as if he really had opened a giant freezer. his breaths left puffy cloud-like shapes in the air, and he quickly scanned the room.

subspace was hunched over his desk, a thin blanket over his shoulders, scribbling on a paper. he looked...terrible, to say the least. the doctor could tell he hadn't been eating properly; he looked like he'd lost weight, and his hair was haphazardly piled atop his head in a sad excuse for a bun. a few rebellious strands kept getting in his face, but he paid no mind to them, continuing his work.

he hadn't even heard medkit come in; neither had bio, having gone into sleep mode to preserve energy. how ironic, the robot that didn't necessarily need to sleep slept more than the scientist who actually required it. the doctor clicked his tongue. "subspace? hello?"

"mmh," the latter replied. he didn't look up from whatever he was doing, continuing to scribble away. "subspace, look at me." again, he didn't respond. medkit was...infuriated, to say the least. here he was, in a freezing room, and subspace was ignoring him.

he strode forward and grabbed the back of his swivel chair, forcefully turning him away from the table to face him.

"sub- good phucking god, what happened?" medkit was entirely taken aback; subspace's state was somehow worse face-to-face. his eyebags looked like bruises, and he was already nodding off now that he'd stopped working. med genuinely wondered how the inphernal functioned, let alone was alive following this routine.

"i'm not having any of this. you're going to eat and sleep. no buts." subspace suddenly gained a burst of energy, straightening up to plead with the doctor. "but-! i need these papers done by morning, i can't miss another deadline!" medkit crossed his arms. "subspace, it is morning. i'll take care of it, i promise. the only thing that matters right now is getting you taken care of." without another word, he grabbed subspace's wrist and tugged him out of the chair, only for the inphernal to slump over onto him. the sudden weight caused medkit to stumble backward, quickly catching himself before either of them fell. "jeez, are you alright?"

subspace nodded with all the grace of a newborn foal. it was painfully obvious he was dizzy. medkit frowned. "someone needs to study you in a lab, i seriously have no idea how the phuck you're still alive with all the stunts you pull." the latter grinned weakly. "it's my trademark, what can i say?? and anyway, you've stuck around this long, so you probably find it endearing meddy!!"

medkit's face flushed, taken aback by the sudden comment. luckily, subspace was too busy attempting to get the room to stop spinning to notice. medkit glanced around the room quickly; it was quite the mess, not the most suitable place to eat or sleep, and it didn't have a kitchen anyway. "sub, could you wake up your biograft for me? i need it."

to his suprise, the biograft woke up itself at the mention of its name- which was odd, considering it hadn't responded to such commands before. medkit blinked. subspace must have programmed it with his voice too.

he had to admit, the scientist had a way of giving him butterflies when he least expected it.

"...great. uh-bio, was it? could you gather whatever papers subspace was working with and anything else he might need to finish his work? oh, and his jacket, please."

the robot straightened up, servos whirring and clicking as it processed it's order. "AFFIRMATIVE. ONE MOMENT, PLEASE."

medkit heaved up subspace further into his arm to las, wrapping him in his coat for the time being.

"oh, and call a cab when you can. private, please. i'll pay."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

—

compared to the freezer that subspace called a lab, medkit's apartment felt like a warm summer day. with one arm around sub's waist to support him, he flicked on the lights, gently guiding him to the couch to lay down. "just try to sleep, i'll take care of everything."

suprisingly, subspace didn't protest this time. maybe the couch was too soft for him to even consider going back to his papers, or he trusted medkit to go through with his word; either way, the inphernal curled up under the covers, evidently still chilly.

the sun had begin to peek over the distant mountaintops, casting a warm glow over the world. medkit went to the kitchen, taking out pans and other various kitchen utensils. when he wasn't preoccupied with being a doctor, he loved cooking.

by the time the sun had finally painted the skies shades of pastel purples, pinks, and yellows, a stack of pancakes was sitting on a plate, topped with a cat made of whipped cream, strawberries, and blueberries.

he had to admit, it was pretty damn cute. such a shame sub would have to eat it...

when he was sure subspace hadn't woken up and was watching him, he snapped a quick picture of his creation, swiftly putting his phone away before tiptoeing over to subspace to gently rouse him.

"sub? wake up, i made you breakfast. i think you'll like it." medkit half-expected subspace to stay asleep, and he couldnt blame him; he hadn;t seen a good bout of rest in days, so when the inphernal sat up and yawned, he was suprised.

somewhat.

it was always something new with subspace...

the scientist blinked the bleariness out of his eyes, glancing around. medkit's apartment was oddly comforting; he'd never been, but he felt at home already. "whatever you made smells good!! im starving!!"

medkit snorted. "i'm sure you are. do you want help eating, or are you fine on your own?" sub simply nodded in reply; medkit helped the latter off of the couch and onto a kitchen stool, sitting next to him to feed him small bites of food. time went by painfully slow, and in the meanwhile biograft had begun putting on a bath for subspace.

once subspace had eaten his full, the warmth of the bathroom had already reached where they were sitting in the kitchen; he was slightly antsy at the idea of bathing. truth be told, he never really fully bathed; the idea of water getting all over his rot scared him, so he usually just slowly wiped whatever intact skin he had left with a washcloth and soapy water.

medkit could tell subspace was nervous. "don't worry, it's medicated. it'll soothe your wounds. let me know if you're not feeling alright, but otherwise i'll leave you to bathe yourself in there."

even with how much medkit had been taking care of him recently, subspace appreciated that he at least let him do some things himself. it made him feel better about his illness; like he still had control.

something he had really, really begun to miss.

—

subspace sat wrapped in a bathrobe, feeling the best he had in months. he made a mental note to come to medkit for whatever medication he'd put in that bath; it had soothed his chemical burns just right, and the warm water made his achy bones feel so much better.

he felt ready to get back to work on his projects! after he got dressed, of course.

"subspace, your work is finished. you can have a rest day; i already got bio to deliver the papers to your superior."

subspace was entirely dumbfounded. "what?? you can't just do my work for me and submit it, surely i'll get fired!! or worse!! exiled!!"

medkit stared at him. "you had almost finished it anyway, i could fill in the gaps pretty easily. anyway, today you're staying home and getting pampered. you need a break, seriously." when med looked back at subspace, he had donned a puppy-eyed expression. "you're not fooling me, you've been working too much recently." medkit gently pulled subspace into his lap, combing his fingers through his hair. "you really need to take care of this mop you call a head of hair. i'll brush it for you if you want."

subspace lit up at the proposition, he absolutely adored the feeling of someone running their fingers through his hair- particularly, meddy. "of course meddy!!"

medkit smiled, a rare sight. "you can put on a show or something, you can choose what we watch today." he planted a gentle kiss on subspace's forehead, earning a flushed expression from the latter; then gently began combing through his milky white hair, taking caution not to pull too hard.

the buzz of the tv, and the warmth of his companion caused subspace to doze off quicker than medkit expected.

a perfect morning, in his eyes.