Genprompt Bingo Fill #6

[battleloveryuma]

Title: Name Calling
Fandom: Blood Blockade Battlefront
Prompt: Pain
Rating: G
Warnings: Major Character Injury.
Summary: Steven doesn't receive many visitors in the hospital after his run-in with an Elder Class Blood Breed and he isn't that all surprised, either. It hurts a little, sure, but he knows that it's all in the line of duty.

He doesn't expect his entire trip to be made well worth the pain when he receives a visit from Libra's newest member, though.

After a long day of doctors prodding and poking at him, Steven finally got to relax. He was conscious during the blood transfusion and even the resetting of his shoulder; it'd be a lie before God if he said that it didn't hurt because it stung like the Devil's touch. His feet were still numb and his legs immobile, but the doctors just attributed that to the extreme frostbite he suffered (and in the middle of summer, odd.) His head throbbed as he attempted to reach across the bed for the TV remote. With a wince and a grunt, he snatched it and slowly laid back onto his pillow again.

Although quiet and secluded, the room felt hollow. Klaus and Chain had just left two hours prior, bidding him their fondest wishes and demanding that he do nothing but relax while in the hospital. Their words, while sweet and with the best of intentions, held little more weight than the empty room he occupied. It was something he expected, that they would visit him, and they were always the only ones to do so. K.K was also doing fine, Klaus had informed him, and Steven was almost positive that everyone from Libra visited their surrogate mom already. Steven laughed in spite of himself and smiled wryly; someone who didn't keep as many skeletons in his closet as he did always made friends more readily.

Silence was his only companion this evening. It was always this way and he'd grown accustomed to it.

That didn't mean it still hurt less, though.

He heaved a sigh and flipped through the thousand channels available to him. His eyebrow twitched and he became bored in an instant. The loneliness gnawed at him worse than ever and he'd almost wished that Klaus left some paperwork or something to occupy his thoughts. It was dangerous to leave a man with so many demons to his own devices, cornered by his own mind.

"Hm?" He looked away from the TV screen and over at the door when heard a gentle knock. "Ugh. Another doctor?"

Instead, a nurse held the door open. "You have another visitor, Mr. Starphase."

Steven blinked a few times. "I...do?"

"Mr. Steven?" Libra's youngest and newest recruit poked his head into the room with an uncertain smile. "Um, I hope you don't mind me dropping by unannounced."

Leo had a black 'patch' covering one of his eyes, provided by Abrams, and there were a few patches of gauze taped around his cheeks. Steven had almost forgotten that the kid's eyes were damaged prior to the Blood Breed attack, and that it had also been Leo who divined the name of the Elder Class that Klaus sealed. In a sense, he owed the kid his life.

"Come on in," Steven said and smiled, waving to him. "Heh. I didn't expect anyone but Klaus and Chain to visit me, so this is quite a surprise."

A frown instantly replaced Leo's timid smile and he stumbled into the room with a few gifts in his arms. "Really? Why?" He sounded genuinely shocked and his concern almost touched a soft spot within Steven that he'd left neglected for years. "Oh, right! These are for you!"

"Presents?" Steven asked dumbly as a teddy bear was thrust into his arms and a bouquet of flowers set in the empty vase beside his bed. "Really, kid, you shouldn't have gone to this much trouble. I'm hardly worth the fuss."

Leo's frown pinched upward into a pout. "If I thought that then I wouldn't have bothered, but I did! You really shouldn't talk like that about yourself, Mr. Steven."

"I could say the same to you," Steven retorted softly and felt himself relax a little. "Thanks just the same, though. It's a nice surprise."

Leo pulled up a chair and sat near Steven's bedside. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Eh, I'm not too sure with all the pain killers they loaded me with." Steven put the remote and teddy aside in favor of turning his attentions to his charming visitor instead. "How are you feeling? You look a little rough."

"Much better, actually! Mr. Abrams said that my eyesight should return to normal within a day or so!" chirped Leo, grinning again. "Eheh. At least, what you could consider normal with the All Seeing Eyes of the Gods, that is." He rubbed the back of his neck.

Steven never realized that Leo's 'gift' was such a pain in the ass for the kid. The All Seeing Eyes were supposed to be a blessing, he'd heard, but he knows all too well that most gifts carry curses along with them. His numbed legs were a constant reminder of that fact. This brought up another important question: how did the kid remain so chipper all the time? Was he just blindly optimistic or was there a strength hidden within that brilliant smile of his?

"I've been really worried about you, since I saw Mr. Klaus pull you from that awful Blood Breed mess, I mean...You and K.K..." Leo muttered while staring down at his hands clasped in his lap. "I was so scared when I saw you two battling that thing on Mr. Klaus's phone, I...I thought we'd lost the both of you."

Thump. Steven swallowed hard.

"You were amazing, though! Being able to hold your own against that thing," continued Leo, gripping the fabric of his pants. "Tch. Me, on the other hand, I couldn't do anything but watch...I'm glad that Zapp and Mr. Klaus were able to..."

Steven's stare was hard and seemed to pierce right through the kid. "Don't discount your abilities so easily," he spoke clearer and harsher than normal. "You were the one who divined the name, right? Klaus couldn't have sealed it without that knowledge."

"Mr. Steven..."

"I wouldn't be here without your help, Leo. Don't forget that." Steven reached up and settled his hand on top of Leo's head, tousling soft brown hair. (Too soft, almost. Way too warm.) "Man, am I actually pep-talking someone?"

Leo opened his one good eye slightly. "Did you...?"

"Hm?"

"Just now, you called me Leo." The kid leaned forward in his chair. "Didn't you?"

Steven realized his sentimental error too late in the game and tried to shrug it off. "That's your name, isn't it?"

"But you always call me 'kid' or 'young man.'" insisted Leo, refusing to back down. His smile stretched a little ways across his face. "I know you called me by name! Don't deny it!"

"So you've graduated, so what?" Steven joked and tried to smile as best he could, but his facade was broken. "How the hell could I let myself slip up so easily? And in front of a kid?"

Leo leaned down and whispered, "It's okay, I won't tell anyone! I promise."

That smile was way too warm now. Steven backed away from his visitor a couple of inches and breathed a sigh. "It's not a big deal."

"No, no, I think it is," Leo corrected him and sat back down. "I won't tell a soul, I promise...and I'll stop teasing you about it, too."

The kid called him out on his shit, made fun of him for it, and now promised to forget it ever happened? Steven never felt more confused and conflicted in his life. Was it possible for any human being to be that benevolent?

"Do you mind if I stay a while?" asked Leo next, breaking the awkward silence. "It seems kind of gloomy and lonely in here, I mean."

Kid read him like a fucking supermarket tabloid cover.

Giving in was Steven's best option now, and for once in his secretive, bold-faced-lie of a life, he felt it easy enough to surrender.

"Yeah, actually," he murmured and offered a smile up at Leo. "I'd like that."