Desperate Remedies

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” 

Luca sped past the other nurses gathered in the medical tent, weaving through the cots and IV drips set up around the main grounds. He was gonna kill that moron. 

The medical tent had three separate sections and Luca was unfortunately stationed in the third section, ‘Post-Recovery.’ 

He rushed through the small group of hunters working out together to regain the strength they lost while injured, doing his best not to trip on the equipment splayed on the ground, watching as the patients dressing old wounds, getting deep tissue massages and receiving their medication blurred as he continued to make his way to the middle section. ‘Recovery’. Patients re-learning how to walk and getting physical therapy all looked up at him watching confused as he ran like a bat out of hell.

Why was this section so big? They should make it smaller. It seemed to go on forever. His lungs were actually starting to burn, but he couldn’t slow down. He had to get to the front of the tent. 

All thoughts had slowed to a stop, without even the comfort of theoretical possibilities to console him. Only one voice in his head right now, and it was telling him to run. Just get to him. You’re almost there.

He could see the dividing curtains separating out each section of the tent, and the second that awful, drab green color was out of the way, his eyes were scanning each and every cot for the one face he knew better than his own. This section, the ‘Wounded’ section, was the most depressing of the three. The hunters who accidently happened upon a Shadow Mephit or found themselves on the wrong side of a crossbow and were lucky enough to somehow make it back. Luca avoided this section every opportunity he got, even going so far as to beg his team lead to position him in ‘Post-Recovery’. He’d become a nurse to help his community. To aid the hunters who went out and put themselves in danger every day to continue keeping their grounds safe. But this part of the job? The pain and suffering. Watching as hunters who had trained to be the best of the best were reduced to crying in agony on a cheap, paper cot. He couldn’t do it. He was weak. Couldn’t stomach the most crucial part of his own job.

And now, standing in front of one of those cots looking down at his new patient, his heart still in his throat, Luca could confidently say this section would forever be his own personal Hell.

“You better have a damn good explanation” he brought his hands to rest on his hips, catching his breath as his boyfriend squinted up at him sheepishly

“Hi baby” 

Luca sighed, slightly amused now that his panic had been dampened, “Hi”

He looked over at the nurse that had been helping Aiden settle in for an explanation. Her face was familiar, but he couldn’t be bothered to remember her name. 

His heart dropped for the second time that day as he took in her expression. Less amused, regretful even. Almost as if grieving, “C-Dart” she said simply. 

The world stopped spinning. 

Luca swallowed thickly. C-Darts had one of the most difficult and complicated poisons to treat. It attacked the white blood cells and immune system at the same time, multiplying with every new blood cell infected, making for a very tricky balancing act to remedy. 

“How’d he get—where was he?” 

“The outs team found him by Koin River. There wasn’t a dart on him when he showed up” she shrugged.

Luca finally took a breath and started scanning his boyfriends’ body for a puncture wound, “Where were you hit?”

Aiden seemed to think for a moment, “The bottom of my foot. I think I stepped on it”

Luca sped down to the bottom of the cot, taking notice of the small pinprick on the heel of Aidens foot. Good. He had a little more time to treat it before the poison reached his heart. Once the heart pumped out the infected blood to the rest of the body, there wasn’t anything else you could do. 

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Luca scolded, sighing in relief while making a mental list of everything he needed. 

He turned towards the other nurse, meeting her eyes as he told her what he needed her to bring. IV bags, catheter tubs, 18-gauge needles, saline, O- pints. He trusted her to get what they needed, she had trained in the same class as him after all.

Once she had left to gather everything, Luca leaned down to his knees to be face to face with Aiden, grabbing the other boys’ cheeks in his hands, “After this is all over, we’re going to have a serious talk about watching where we step. You absolute moron.”

Aiden chuckles, “You have horrible bedside manners” 

“Well, maybe I’d have better bedside manners if it wasn’t my idiot boyfriend on the cot in front of me”

Aiden only laughed in response before puckering his lips out in a whiny pout. 

Luca rolled his eyes, leaning down to kiss him before preparing him verbally for what was about to go down. 

“Okay, it isn’t gonna be pleasant, but we’ll need to do a complete blood transfusion. Once we’ve got most of the infected blood out, we’ll set you up with some antibiotics and saline and continue with the transfusion until all the poison is out of your system.” Luca explained, slightly grimacing at how crude the process sounded.  

Aiden hummed, “My boyfriend’s so smart” 

“My boyfriend’s so dumb” Luca hummed right back, hearing the other nurse arriving with all the supplies he requested. 

As the two of them started setting everything up, Luca took a mental count of all the pints they had. His eyebrows furrowed. There were only six.

“Do we have any more pints? We’re doing a complete transfusion” 

She didn’t even have the decency to look at him when replying, “That’s all we have. We haven’t been able to restock since that group of three came in with GSWs”

Fuck. That’s right. A small team of snipers came in earlier this morning with gunshot wounds and had needed a bag each. 

“We can’t start a transfusion without all twelve.”

If they went ahead with the transfusion without the correct amount of blood, the remaining poison would just infect the new blood and they’d be right back where they started. They needed all twelve. 

The first solution would be to just have each nurse donate a pint each, but there were only ten nurses in the tent and only three of them Luca knew were O- blood type. They were still two pints short. And taking a pint from each nurse, himself included, would take too long. They had maybe ten minutes before the poison would reach Aidens’ heart. Luca racked his brain for any possible solution. They couldn’t use the reserved pints and they couldn’t take any more blood from anyone else. Where were they supposed to get enough blood to properly do a complete transfusion? Panic in his eyes, Luca looked over to see a sad, dopey smile full of admiration staring right back at him. Aidens’ eyes were soft, scanning every inch of Lucas being. Taking it in for the last time.

That bastard knew he was going to die.

Tears threatened to fall and Lucas' vision became blurry. He didn’t even register when the other nurse left, leaving just the two of them in this small, cramped corner of the tent.

Luca slowly stepped forward, knees weakening the closer he got. He barely reached the edge of the cot when a single thought stopped him in his tracks. 

“Interpersonal transfer” he muttered to himself.

Aiden turned his head higher, trying to make eye contact, “What?”

Luca looked down at the ground, “We could do an interpersonal transfusion”

“What’s that?”

Luca didn’t answer. He knew Aiden wouldn’t approve so he didn’t waste any energy trying to explain it, he just turned himself around and got to work fixing up a double IV line. One to take the infected blood out, another to transfer his own blood to Aiden. 

“Luca, what are you doing?” Aiden spoke, sitting himself up to watch questioningly.

Only after he had each line set up accordingly did Luca turn to face Aiden and tell him his idea,

“We don’t have enough O- pints set aside here in the tent, but you and I are the same type”

Aiden blinked, Luca could see the gears turning, “No,” Aiden looked almost offended, “Absolutely not. Just give me what you’ve got, I can fight it off”

“No you can’t.” Luca replied calmly, slowing his speech as if he were talking to a kid, “C-Dart poison multiplies. If there’s just one cell that’s infected, it’ll take over the new blood just as easily as it is now. You’d be back to square one. You need a complete and total transfusion.” 

Aiden looked angry now, “Fine then. I refuse treatment”

Luca sighed, god his boyfriend was a toddler, “No you don’t”

“Yes I do. I refuse to let you treat me”

“You can’t”

“Yes I can”

“No you can’t!” Luca yelled, “You’re going to die! Do you hear me? If I don’t do something, you’re going to die”

Aiden goes silent, his eyes staring lasers into Lucas’, “That’s okay” 

It’s Luca’s turn to go silent, arms falling limp by his side at the absolute audacity this man before him had. 

“No. It’s not” Luca turns away, refusing to look at Aiden any longer, “You’re not allowed to do that. Just giving up. That’s not an option”

He clenches his jaw. If he says anything else, he doesn’t know what will come out. 

Aiden is apparently the same way because silence follows the two of them as Luca continues to set up. 

Once everything is in order, Luca takes one needle in each hand and sits on the edge of the cot, turning to face Aiden. There’s tears in his eyes. Luca assumes he looks the same. 

“Please” Aiden whispers, shaking his head slightly, “Please don’t” 

Luca feels his bottom lip quiver, “I can’t live in a world where you aren’t” He swallows and pricks his own arm with the first needle. 

“And you think I can?”

“You have your little cousins to take care of,” Luca inserts the second needle into Aiden’s left arm and clips the end of it into a waste bucket to gather the infected blood, “My father’s already retired.” 

He had no one else depending on him, Aiden still had his family.

“And what about me? You still have me to take care of. Artemis knows I need it” 

Luca lets out a wet chuckle, “Yeah, you’re pretty hopeless”

And now they’re both laughing, wet, thick laughs with smiles that don’t reach their eyes. 

Shock probably, Lucas' brain offers. 

They’re running out of time. Luca stifles his giggles as he slides the end of the first needle into the crook of Aidens right elbow.

Aiden takes in a deep breath, his laughter dying out as well, “What am I gonna do without you?”

Luca wishes he had an answer. 

He reaches over Aiden to start the suction in the two needles and plops back down heavily. The two of them sit in silence for a while, not knowing what else to say.

Gradually, Luca feels his head getting fuzzy. At least he knows the transfusion is working. 

Aiden shifts to his side and holds his arms out, invitingly. Luca smiles tiredly, scooting down to lay on his side and burrows into them facing Aidens’ chest. One arm wrapped protectively around his back, the other tucked against his chest so he could hold it. 

As they reposition slightly, Aiden tucks Lucas' head under his chin thoughtfully and closes his eyes.

“I found another oak tree today, I think it was the perfect height for that tree house we wanted to build.”

“Yeah? Did it have a lot of dead branches?”

“Nope. No chance of that thing falling apart anytime soon”

“Sweet, now all we have to do is actually build the damn thing” 

The conversation was whispered, Lucas’ voice becoming weaker with every word. 

Aiden could feel the grip on his hand loosening, “I think I’ll make that roasted quail you liked for dinner tonight.”

“Mmm, that sounds good”

Aiden could barely hear the reply, the bustling noise in the background disappeared. 

He buried his nose in Lucas’ hair. Rubbing alcohol and coconut.

“You used my shampoo again?”

“Yeah. Smells like you”

“No wonder I kept running out faster than normal” 

He felt Luca smile against his chest, “You’re just not good at hiding things” 

“Hey, I hid my feelings from you for a whole year. That’s gotta be worth something”

Luca shifted slightly, “They weren’t hidden at all, trust me” 

“Well damn” Aiden watched as Lucas’ shoulders bounced as he giggled, the front of his shirt slowly becoming damp.

“Don’t worry. I liked you too. Maybe even for longer.”

Aiden chuckled lightly in response, the tears finally falling “I love you. So much” 

Luca didn’t respond.