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sperriTitle: Stress Management
Fandom: Blood Blockade Battlefront
Prompt: Medication
Medium: Fic
Wordcount: 1,538 Words
Warnings: Cursing and spoilers for the manga.
Summary: Marcus checks up on his brother during his house arrest following the botched delivery of the Noctova Smile. It takes a while, but Daniel finally realizes just how difficult this ordeal has been for his brother and that he needs to step up his game.
“Make sure the door is unlocked,” Marcus says into his phone as he climbs out of his car and shuts the driver side door behind himself. “Oh, and I’d better not catch you drinking, either. Alcohol is strictly forbidden because it fucks with your medication.”
He can almost hear Daniel roll his eyes over the phone. “Just get up here already.”
Marcus smiles and ends the call with a tap against his phone screen. It’s only been a week or so since the Noctova Smile was destroyed en route to those overpaid bureaucrats and Curious disappeared. With Daniel under house arrest and investigation for the botched delivery, things have been tense around the precinct for him.
Of course, he’d never let his brother know that lest it worry him even further.
“Knock, knock!” Marcus announces at the door and pushes it open. “Anyone home?”
Daniel’s gruff voice calls to him from the bedroom, “As if I can go anywhere right now, ya jackass.”
A chuckle escapes Marcus as he watches his brother shuffle out of the bedroom on crutches to greet him and with a clunky monitoring device clapped around his right ankle.
“Nice to see you, too,” Marcus teases him and sets his bag down on the kitchen counter. His demeanor suddenly shifts as Daniel missteps and almost falls, and he catches him in his arms just before he can hit the ground. “Take it easy. You can’t be hobbling around like that.”
“Eh, I just lost my footing for a second,” Daniel says and flops onto the sofa with his brother. He stretches his uninjured arm behind his head and feels Marcus’s eyes still on him, and he heaves a sigh. “Look, man, I’m not gonna keel over at any given moment. Quit staring.”
Marcus smiles sympathetically and pats his shoulder. “You think I’d be used to it by now, huh?”
“That’s more like it,” Daniel says with a grin and a gentle tap against Marcus’s upper arm. “How are things at the station? Hectic as ever, I’ll bet.”
Shit, has he caught on already? Marcus thinks as he tries to laugh it off. “Well, everyone misses you stomping around and cussing the higher-ups into submission. Internal Affairs is also being a pain in the ass, but that’s to be expected.”
Daniel shudders involuntarily at the mention of the bureau. “Who’d they send to investigate?”
“Agent Henrikson,” Marcus grimaces and leans back on the sofa some. “Guy’s a real smart ass, too. Keeps talking shit about everyone and the way we run things.”
“Fuck him,” Daniel spits and reaches into his robe to fish out a pack of cigarettes. “He’s always been a douchebag. Bastard has had it out for me ever since we attended the academy all those years ago.”
Marcus frowns and nods. “Yeah, because you humiliated him during that hand-to-hand combat demonstration in front of the captain and he was deferred to desk jockey after signing on.”
Daniel lights his cigarette and takes a long drag of it, exhaling slowly through his nose afterwards. It’s a bad habit, he knows, but it always calms him down and makes him more logical.
“So, what kind of movie are we gonna watch tonight?” Marcus asks as he gets up from the sofa and heads into the kitchen. “I ordered pizza just before leaving work, so it should be here soon.”
“You don’t have to waste your night entertaining me, Marc,” Daniel tells him with a wry smile as he watches him shuffle about the kitchen with the contents from within the bag he brought up. Marcus turns and flashes a smile over his shoulder at him and Daniel can’t help but laugh. “I am grateful for the company, though.”
Marcus snorts, “As if I have any place else to be! Besides, someone has to keep an eye on you or you’ll end up doing something stupid.”
“Hey,” Daniel grunts and gives him a look. “That was one time.”
A knock comes at the door and Marcus circles around the kitchen island to answer it. Their pizza has arrived and he tips the delivery driver handsomely before sending them on their way.
“One time, seriously?” Marcus picks up where they left off as he shuts the door. “I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to beg Mr. Starphase and his gang of misfits for a favor in order to save your sorry ass.”
Daniel clams up at the mention of that name. “That prickly bastard. Just wait ‘til I get off of house arrest. I’m gonna – “
“Do no such thing,” Marcus interrupts and sets the pizza box on the coffee table. “You may not like Libra or its operatives, but they’ve done a lot of good for this city and saved countless lives.”
Mumbling to himself, Daniel opens the box and snatches a slice of pizza from within.
“Even if their methods are somewhat destructive,” Marcus thinks aloud and shudders. “Can’t recall just how many times we’ve been stuck dealing with the aftermath of their messes, actually.”
Tearing a hunk away from his pizza slice, Daniel mutters through the partially-chewed food in his mouth, “And then Starphase had the fucking gall to come for me after the fact! Scolded me for ‘destroying’ the mask or some shit when it was his boss who did the smashing!”
Marcus finds a Clint Eastwood western for them to watch on a fuzzy cable channel and offers Daniel a can of root beer. “Well, you did kind of get in the way when Mr. Reinherz warned you not to.”
“All right, all right,” Daniel surrenders with a raised hand. “I’m a hothead who doesn’t know how to take orders well.”
“It almost cost you your life,” Marcus reminds him, looking over with a frown. “I’m glad that Mr. Reinherz and the others were there to have your back. Don’t wanna think about what would have happened otherwise.”
It finally registers with Daniel just how much of a liability he’s been throughout this ordeal and all of the pressure put on his brother because of it. The unshaven stubble poking out from Marcus’s chin is telling and he seizes him by the face to turn him towards him suddenly.
“When was the last time you shaved?”
Marcus’s eyes are wide as he gapes back at him. “Huh?”
“You’re a stickler when it comes to removing body hair,” Daniel points out and relaxes his grip on Marcus’s cheeks to briefly touch his chin. “The fact that you haven’t shaved for a few days means that you’ve either been too tired or busy to do so. Am I right?”
The brave facade that Marcus put up before he even entered the apartment building crumbles to nothingness and he sighs. “Is it that obvious?”
“I’m sorry.”
Marcus is taken aback yet again.
“When this is all over, we’re going out on the town. Just you and I,” Daniel promises him, moving his hands to grasp Marcus gently by his shoulders instead. He smiles and laughs at the way Marcus starts to relax beneath his reassurance. “Think I’ll call in a favor from Leo, too. Have him keep an eye on you.”
Marcus laughs louder this time. “Are you still holding all of those voided traffic tickets over that poor kid’s head?”
Daniel grins, all teeth. “Nah. We’re more gaming buddies than anything else, really. Said if I ever needed his help, all I had to do was call.”
“We should invite him over soon!” Marcus says excitedly, jumping in his seat. “You just bought the new DLC expansion for Half Dive 4, right? We can all play it together!”
“Sounds like a plan,” Daniel agrees and takes another bite of his pizza.
Marcus snaps his fingers and remembers, “You haven’t taken your meds yet!”
“Shit,” grumbles Daniel. “I was hoping you’d forget.”
“Nice try,” Marcus says as he gets up and crosses over to the kitchen to retrieve the pill bottles from the counter by the stove. He returns with the proper dosage and sits beside Daniel, facing him this time. “It’s just two lousy pills. Don’t be such a baby.”
Daniel shrinks away from them. “Yeah, but they’re fucking horse pills! Look at ‘em!”
Marcus smiles and shakes his head. “I know how much you hate taking medicine, but you need these.”
“Ugh. Doesn’t help that my gag reflex is insanely strong, either,” Daniel mumbles as he takes the pills in hand and gropes around the side table for his can of root beer. “I’m only doing this so you’ll stop hounding me about it.”
“Fine by me,” Marcus chirps, satisfied as he watches his brother choke the medication down. “I’ll stop by every night if it means getting you to take what you’re supposed to.”
Daniel coughs and hacks for a few more minutes with tears in his eyes. He feels Marcus’s hand on his back and instead of playing tough guy, he enjoys what comfort the affectionate gesture brings him.
“I’d, uh, like that, actually,” he says at length, looking back at his twin again. “It gets lonesome around here sometimes.”
Marcus scoots closer to him on the sofa and whispers with a smile, “I’d be happy to.”
Fandom: Blood Blockade Battlefront
Prompt: Medication
Medium: Fic
Wordcount: 1,538 Words
Warnings: Cursing and spoilers for the manga.
Summary: Marcus checks up on his brother during his house arrest following the botched delivery of the Noctova Smile. It takes a while, but Daniel finally realizes just how difficult this ordeal has been for his brother and that he needs to step up his game.
“Make sure the door is unlocked,” Marcus says into his phone as he climbs out of his car and shuts the driver side door behind himself. “Oh, and I’d better not catch you drinking, either. Alcohol is strictly forbidden because it fucks with your medication.”
He can almost hear Daniel roll his eyes over the phone. “Just get up here already.”
Marcus smiles and ends the call with a tap against his phone screen. It’s only been a week or so since the Noctova Smile was destroyed en route to those overpaid bureaucrats and Curious disappeared. With Daniel under house arrest and investigation for the botched delivery, things have been tense around the precinct for him.
Of course, he’d never let his brother know that lest it worry him even further.
“Knock, knock!” Marcus announces at the door and pushes it open. “Anyone home?”
Daniel’s gruff voice calls to him from the bedroom, “As if I can go anywhere right now, ya jackass.”
A chuckle escapes Marcus as he watches his brother shuffle out of the bedroom on crutches to greet him and with a clunky monitoring device clapped around his right ankle.
“Nice to see you, too,” Marcus teases him and sets his bag down on the kitchen counter. His demeanor suddenly shifts as Daniel missteps and almost falls, and he catches him in his arms just before he can hit the ground. “Take it easy. You can’t be hobbling around like that.”
“Eh, I just lost my footing for a second,” Daniel says and flops onto the sofa with his brother. He stretches his uninjured arm behind his head and feels Marcus’s eyes still on him, and he heaves a sigh. “Look, man, I’m not gonna keel over at any given moment. Quit staring.”
Marcus smiles sympathetically and pats his shoulder. “You think I’d be used to it by now, huh?”
“That’s more like it,” Daniel says with a grin and a gentle tap against Marcus’s upper arm. “How are things at the station? Hectic as ever, I’ll bet.”
Shit, has he caught on already? Marcus thinks as he tries to laugh it off. “Well, everyone misses you stomping around and cussing the higher-ups into submission. Internal Affairs is also being a pain in the ass, but that’s to be expected.”
Daniel shudders involuntarily at the mention of the bureau. “Who’d they send to investigate?”
“Agent Henrikson,” Marcus grimaces and leans back on the sofa some. “Guy’s a real smart ass, too. Keeps talking shit about everyone and the way we run things.”
“Fuck him,” Daniel spits and reaches into his robe to fish out a pack of cigarettes. “He’s always been a douchebag. Bastard has had it out for me ever since we attended the academy all those years ago.”
Marcus frowns and nods. “Yeah, because you humiliated him during that hand-to-hand combat demonstration in front of the captain and he was deferred to desk jockey after signing on.”
Daniel lights his cigarette and takes a long drag of it, exhaling slowly through his nose afterwards. It’s a bad habit, he knows, but it always calms him down and makes him more logical.
“So, what kind of movie are we gonna watch tonight?” Marcus asks as he gets up from the sofa and heads into the kitchen. “I ordered pizza just before leaving work, so it should be here soon.”
“You don’t have to waste your night entertaining me, Marc,” Daniel tells him with a wry smile as he watches him shuffle about the kitchen with the contents from within the bag he brought up. Marcus turns and flashes a smile over his shoulder at him and Daniel can’t help but laugh. “I am grateful for the company, though.”
Marcus snorts, “As if I have any place else to be! Besides, someone has to keep an eye on you or you’ll end up doing something stupid.”
“Hey,” Daniel grunts and gives him a look. “That was one time.”
A knock comes at the door and Marcus circles around the kitchen island to answer it. Their pizza has arrived and he tips the delivery driver handsomely before sending them on their way.
“One time, seriously?” Marcus picks up where they left off as he shuts the door. “I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to beg Mr. Starphase and his gang of misfits for a favor in order to save your sorry ass.”
Daniel clams up at the mention of that name. “That prickly bastard. Just wait ‘til I get off of house arrest. I’m gonna – “
“Do no such thing,” Marcus interrupts and sets the pizza box on the coffee table. “You may not like Libra or its operatives, but they’ve done a lot of good for this city and saved countless lives.”
Mumbling to himself, Daniel opens the box and snatches a slice of pizza from within.
“Even if their methods are somewhat destructive,” Marcus thinks aloud and shudders. “Can’t recall just how many times we’ve been stuck dealing with the aftermath of their messes, actually.”
Tearing a hunk away from his pizza slice, Daniel mutters through the partially-chewed food in his mouth, “And then Starphase had the fucking gall to come for me after the fact! Scolded me for ‘destroying’ the mask or some shit when it was his boss who did the smashing!”
Marcus finds a Clint Eastwood western for them to watch on a fuzzy cable channel and offers Daniel a can of root beer. “Well, you did kind of get in the way when Mr. Reinherz warned you not to.”
“All right, all right,” Daniel surrenders with a raised hand. “I’m a hothead who doesn’t know how to take orders well.”
“It almost cost you your life,” Marcus reminds him, looking over with a frown. “I’m glad that Mr. Reinherz and the others were there to have your back. Don’t wanna think about what would have happened otherwise.”
It finally registers with Daniel just how much of a liability he’s been throughout this ordeal and all of the pressure put on his brother because of it. The unshaven stubble poking out from Marcus’s chin is telling and he seizes him by the face to turn him towards him suddenly.
“When was the last time you shaved?”
Marcus’s eyes are wide as he gapes back at him. “Huh?”
“You’re a stickler when it comes to removing body hair,” Daniel points out and relaxes his grip on Marcus’s cheeks to briefly touch his chin. “The fact that you haven’t shaved for a few days means that you’ve either been too tired or busy to do so. Am I right?”
The brave facade that Marcus put up before he even entered the apartment building crumbles to nothingness and he sighs. “Is it that obvious?”
“I’m sorry.”
Marcus is taken aback yet again.
“When this is all over, we’re going out on the town. Just you and I,” Daniel promises him, moving his hands to grasp Marcus gently by his shoulders instead. He smiles and laughs at the way Marcus starts to relax beneath his reassurance. “Think I’ll call in a favor from Leo, too. Have him keep an eye on you.”
Marcus laughs louder this time. “Are you still holding all of those voided traffic tickets over that poor kid’s head?”
Daniel grins, all teeth. “Nah. We’re more gaming buddies than anything else, really. Said if I ever needed his help, all I had to do was call.”
“We should invite him over soon!” Marcus says excitedly, jumping in his seat. “You just bought the new DLC expansion for Half Dive 4, right? We can all play it together!”
“Sounds like a plan,” Daniel agrees and takes another bite of his pizza.
Marcus snaps his fingers and remembers, “You haven’t taken your meds yet!”
“Shit,” grumbles Daniel. “I was hoping you’d forget.”
“Nice try,” Marcus says as he gets up and crosses over to the kitchen to retrieve the pill bottles from the counter by the stove. He returns with the proper dosage and sits beside Daniel, facing him this time. “It’s just two lousy pills. Don’t be such a baby.”
Daniel shrinks away from them. “Yeah, but they’re fucking horse pills! Look at ‘em!”
Marcus smiles and shakes his head. “I know how much you hate taking medicine, but you need these.”
“Ugh. Doesn’t help that my gag reflex is insanely strong, either,” Daniel mumbles as he takes the pills in hand and gropes around the side table for his can of root beer. “I’m only doing this so you’ll stop hounding me about it.”
“Fine by me,” Marcus chirps, satisfied as he watches his brother choke the medication down. “I’ll stop by every night if it means getting you to take what you’re supposed to.”
Daniel coughs and hacks for a few more minutes with tears in his eyes. He feels Marcus’s hand on his back and instead of playing tough guy, he enjoys what comfort the affectionate gesture brings him.
“I’d, uh, like that, actually,” he says at length, looking back at his twin again. “It gets lonesome around here sometimes.”
Marcus scoots closer to him on the sofa and whispers with a smile, “I’d be happy to.”
