Born A Soldier (Reader X Herobrine)

Chapter Twenty-Two

     Seeing you cringe so, "I am a fast healer. Should only take a good meal and a fine night's sleep before I am good as new." Silently, you nodded, letting him know you at least heard. Gosh, it was so awkward tending to the man's wounds, especially when you were supposed to pretend to actually care about him! This lead you to mostly stay silent. At least when you were sparring with him before, you could excuse your flashes of anger as just 'being in the moment.' Here, though, you actually had to take up the role of a caretaker! When his hands were finally clean of blood, you grabbed some gauze and layered them carefully over his skin. Then, as a final touch, you wrapped it all in medical tape! 

      Though your job appeared to be done with his right hand, feeling them so shaky and stiff reminded you of Jason: a good friend of yours in the army. He would get into so many fist fights at the bar, his hand joints would lock up by the time he returned to camp. You ended up being his personal caretaker since you knew if word spread of him getting into fights among the medical team...the word would eventually make its way up the ladder until he was fired. Other than his moments, Jason was a good man, so you wanted to give him as many chances as possible. Remembering this, you near mindlessly started massaging Herobrine's hand to get it back into shape.

     "What are you-?"

     "-Oh-oh, sorry! Remembered one of my friends!" You quickly snapped out of it, fond memories fading. Ohh, that Jason. Always the funniest when drunk!

     "No, please... That actually helps." Herobrine faintly smiled, handing you back the hand which you had just dropped. A little awkwardly this time, you massaged the stiff muscles a little more until you felt them soften over time. "Ahh.. Thanks." Hero snatched his limb back, flexing all of his fingers with satisfaction before his eyes. You just chuckled awkwardly. Then, slowly, Herobrine extended his swollen left arm. "Can you...snap this one back into place, too? Do you know how to do that?" Herobrine cringed at his own question. You could see him already preparing for the spring of pain.

     "I- I can try! Only done it to myself, though." You answered.

     "That's good enough experience for me!" Faking a cheery tone. You delicately grasped the man's hand and pulled it your way. Then your fingers traced over his swollen skin, feeling for any obvious fractures. "A l-ittle further down." He coaxed you as you searched. Then, your hand grazed over a tender bump- "Ow!"

     "Sorry!"

     "I-it's fin-n-ne! Just..gotta," inhaling and exhaling slowly, "..prepare." The fallen Nether King's arm stiffened.

     "...You need to relax it."

     "I am relaxing it!" Hissing.

     "Fine..fine... Your funeral." You sighed, shortly after feeling his arm forcing itself to relax some. You placed your thumb and middle finger over the two crucial points on his wrist, and, before he could even think about pulling it away-

Snap!

     "OWOWOW!" The Herobrine hollered. You couldn't help but snicker. Thankfully, he was too distracted to hear you. Yanking his arm away from you, "YOU DIDN'T WARN ME!"

     "That would have just prolonged the process." You said, shrugging. Herobrine huffed a few more times in pain. "...Did it work?"

     "I don't KNOW!.. All I feel is pain!"

     "And all I feel is a bitter emptiness; now hand me your hand again so I can check it." You said, extending an open hand for him to place his into. After a moment of reluctance, Herobrine caved a little, turning his eyes away as he relinquished control of his aching limb to you. You delicately felt around, pleased to find the bone was back in place. "Alright..feels good. Now I just have to bandage." Herobrine hissed occasionally as you cleaned that hand up and dabbed it dry of blood. Once it was all clean, the fallen Nether lord asked that you at least massage his fingers a little so he could bend them properly. Hiding another huff, you did just that. "There! Good as...at least better than a moment ago." Finally releasing his hand. Hero flexed his fingers to assure they were still working. A small smile crept onto his face when he saw they were.

     "Thank you..." Catching you a little off guard. You had already begun to turn away. So, you spun halfway back around, a brow raised by his kind speech. "It's...hard to come across someone you can actually trust..these days." The tall man sighed, still smiling at you faintly... Strange... It looked so genuine... Like that of an old friend.

     You just nodded stiffly. "It is." Then you turned away to leave him again.

     "-Wait!" He made you freeze again. You didn't put in the effort to turn back around as he continued to speak this time. "I just...wanted to remind you of your promise. You will stay close to me...correct?" Hero asked.

     With stiffened shoulders, you finally responded. "...As close as I am needed. Why?"

     Awkward suddenly, "I need someone to..defend me as I sleep."

     "-What about Sandrah?" Monotone.

     "Pardon?"

     "Sandrah... You know... Your girlfriend. Would give her life to save you.. --t-too." You reminded him, turning around to meet eye to eye.

     "Ahh.." Hero chuckled slightly, hand raising to rub the back of his hair. "Do you think she would be...alright with it, though? I- I was just thinking another bed be added to the room.-"

     "They are all out of beds here. But lucky you, Sandrah has already worded her okayness with sharing a bed."

     "She-she HAS?!" The man suddenly blushed. A funny sight for sure.

     "Yeh." Simply spoken. "...I'll let her know you want her to join you tonight." Spinning around, you smirked, already imagining the absolute fluster-fit that girl would have. The bed would at last be all yours.~ She kept kicking you in her sleep last night despite all the pillows, so you couldn't wait for the sleep deprived Herobrine to show up next morning and complain about how terribly his bedmate was at keeping still! Ohhh, that would be so funny!

     "To-tonight?! Oh no..." Wrapped hands covering his burning cheeks, the man quickly descended into a chaotic, panicky state behind you. You smirked. How cute- "Wait! Maybe don't?! I- I- I.... Can I tell you something?" That caught your interest. You turned around slowly, eyebrow raised.

     "...Mmhm.."

     Herobrine's shoulders dropped, terrible guilt clear on his face as his eyes returned slowly to stare directly into yours. "I... I don't actually like Sandrah...in that kind of way... Just...don't want her to..feel so bad."

     Your eyes widened a smidge. "Wh... Whaa?"

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Thanks for the idea, _Akira91 ! Had no idea I would use it so soon! 😅

OOOHHHOHHHHH!! Just did the maths. I have about 100 average readers! 👀 Broo!!! I could..like...squish you all into the deep dark cellar under my house and y'all would have a hard time fitting... Woa... That's a lotta people...