(no subject)
The hospital was quiet at two in the morning, and since regular visiting hours were over, I had the small waiting room to myself. On one side was a vending machine that held several kinds of candy bars and a few packets of questionable origin... For the supes that didn't exactly eat normal food. Next to it was a drink machine that dispensed soda, hot coffee, and the cheaper types of blood. I considered getting some for Karl when he woke up, but decided against it. I tried not to think too much about it, the fact that I was the one who had him turned. The icy cold terror still prickled at my insides, it had haunted my dreams for the past week, four of those days were spent under heavy sedation. The dreams were horrible.
I threw a crumpled styrofoam cup into the waste basket and headed back down the hall, appreciating the quiet. The room Karl was staying in was on one of the lower floors, there were no windows down there. Room 112, I pushed the door open, fully expecting Karl to still be asleep. Instead, I found him awake, sitting up and staring at his hands. He looked troubled, and I could probably make a guess as to why.
"Stan?" His voice was so small when he called out to me.
"Hey," I said, I couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Why...?" Terrified didn't begin to describe his expression.
I dropped into the chair beside his bed, not surprised when he grabbed my hand. He was cold, dead cold.
"I'm sorry," Explaining myself was a lot harder than it probably should have been. "You were dying and I--" I had to swallow around the lump in my throat, and blink away the prickling in my eyes.
"The doctor gave me a cup earlier, I-I thought it was going to be coffee. It was blood, fucking /blood/," He sounded breathless in his fear.
What else could I have really said to him? He looked so vulnerable like this, not the Karl I'd grown to love. Love? I was getting too old for these feelings, especially for a kid ten years younger than me. I remembered watching him in the news, idly thinking he had such a bright future. And I'd ruined that, I'd ruined him.
My hand looked tan compared to his milky skin as I slid a thumb along his cheek. It didn't take much urging to get him closer, he'd probably been wanting it. We didn't say a word as he leaned up and kissed me. The cool weight of his hands settled on mine gently. Everything about this was gentle, I didn't want to admit I was kissing him like he was going to break.
After a few moments, I pulled back and rested my forehead against his. Neither of us spoke, at this point, there really wasn't anything to say.