More Than Human

Chapter 90: I'm Yours

At the hospital, they put Graves' body in cold storage. Price wanted to bring him back to the estate and bury him there. For now, they got their injured teammates treated.

Alejandro's wound was still steadily closing from Rudy's tears, his broken bones long since mended themselves. Simon's body was littered in bruises. He still had a few fractures from the fall, but he had already healed most of them from his impromptu meal. He was going to be sore for a few days, but otherwise totally fine. They got Roach placed under a small heat lamp and busted out some hair dryers to use on his wings. König stood around and used his tentacles to evenly disperse the warm air from the devices. Roach kept letting out pleasant little chirps and buzzes at the feeling of being further warmed and dried. Price was already looking into possible materials he could use to patch some of the holes on his wing.

The nurses gave Soap a hefty blood transfusion. They treated Soap's bullet wound so that it would heal properly without any silver residue inside. They were a little confused at how he had lost so much blood just from that, but the team had decided not to mention that Ghost was a vampire in case they freaked out about what had happened. The staff definitely noticed the distinct bite mark wound on his arm though.

Price was just about ready to fly off the handle when one of the nurses made a little comment, "He's lucky that thing didn't drain him all the way. Very well could have been killed."
Partly because the nurse had called the vampire a thing. But also because he could already tell how guilty Ghost was feeling about it, and the man had visibly deflated at the words. Like the nurse had just confirmed all of the nagging thoughts in his own head.

Ghost sat by Soap as he received fresh blood and antibiotics from multiple tubes hooked up to his body. Price had noted that he was carefully avoiding touching him now, as if scared that he might drain him with a brief brush of their skin. It was about an hour and a half into the transfusion when Soap began to stir. His eyelids fluttered a bit and his head flopped around on the pillow for a moment before his face scrunched up and he began to squint his eyes open.

"Simon?"

"Mm." Ghost hummed out a reply.

Soap's hand felt around the mattress for Ghost's hand and when he brushed it the vampire pulled away as if he had been burned. Soap couldn't hold back the whine that escaped his throat.

"Si?"

"I hurt you."

"No. No you didnae hurt me." Soap argued, voice dry and a little scratchy.

"I did, Soap."

Soap was already pale, but he felt like he paled further. Soap. He had called him Soap. He was weak, and in the hospital. Now was the time for Johnny's and Puppy's. Not Soap. Not from him.

"Don't you fuckin' dare do that to me, Riley." Soap practically snarled, trying to cover up his childish urge to sob, "Don't you dare try and drive that wedge in right now. I won't have it."

"I could have killed you, Sergeant." Ghost growled.

He was actively trying to push Soap away further despite his protests by calling him by his rank. Soap knew it.

"You didn't." Soap insisted, voice a little wobbly. He could see how it made Ghost swallow.

"If Price hadn't been able to wake me up..." He trailed off, "I know you say you trust me, but I can't trust myself around you, Soap. I was worried about something like this happening from the beginning, and I was selfish to try and have something with you when I knew you could get hurt."

"No, no, no." Soap shook his head, "Yer a daft fuckin' moron, Simon Riley. You really think you're the most dangerous thing on this planet, don't ya? Ye think that you're such a rabid nasty beast. What about me then?"

"What?"

"Aye. You never stopped to think that maybe I'm scared too. Not of you, though. Never of you. I'm worried whenever the moon is full that something'll snap and I'll turn into the rabid creature everyone says werewolves are. I'm scared that one day when I shift I'll lose myself to the mind of the wolf and I'll lash out. Hurt someone. Hurt you."

"But you haven't, Soap. You're too good. You're good and I'm..." The word broken almost slipped past his lips but he stopped himself, "I bit you."

"Nae. I bit me."

Ghost scoffed, "Hard to believe that when I woke up with my teeth in your flesh, Sergeant."

"I chose that! I put your teeth in me!" Soap sounded desperate. Desperate to get Simon to understand. "You wouldn't wake up. And your heart was getting weaker and you promised."

Ghost felt something in his heart clench at the way Soap bit out that last word before continuing.

"You needed to eat. So I made a choice. It was me, aye? You didn't do anything wrong. I give you my blood freely because I'm yours, Simon Riley. I dinnae care if ya think yer dangerous. I know ya aren't. Now you can haud yer wheesht about all of this. I frankly dinnae care if yer scared to hurt me. You don't get to be selfish and hide. Not when I need you." Soap had tears welling in his eyes, "You can lecture me all ya want later about how reckless it was for me to do that when I had already lost blood. Right now I need ya to cut it with the Soap and Sergeant shit. Just call me Johnny, or Puppy, or Pup, or Love, or Lovely, or whatever other sickly sweet things you can concoct in that thick skull of yours."

Ghost sat back and stared for a moment. Looked at Soap's shuddering breaths and red eyes. At the determined and insistent face. Soap still wanted him. Soap wasn't scared. The only scared one here was himself. And Soap was exactly right, withholding what his Sergeant asked for after all of the promises he made simply because he was afraid would be selfish. Especially when all Soap was aksing for was him.

Ghost took a deep breath before nodding, "Okay, Johnny."

Soap sucked in a deep and shaking breath through his nose, giving a firm nod, "Good. Now hold my hand or I'll cry."

Simon quickly snatched his hand up at the sound of the little wobble in Soap's voice. Despite his conditions, as soon as Ghost's hand was wrapped around his, he crumbled. Steeled and insistent face falling and giving way to sobs.

Ghost cursed himself that he had caused this. He had made his Johnny cry like this. He climbed up beside him on the bed and took a hold of him the rest of the way. Soap's hands instantly fisted into his sweatshirt and he buried his face in his chest. Ghost cupped the back of his head and leaned down to press a thousand masked kisses into his hair while he sobbed into the fabric.

"I'm sorry, Lovely. I'm so, so, sorry." Ghost apologized profusely against him.

Soap made a weak little, "S'fine." Between hiccups and wheezes.

But it really wasn't fine. Ghost knew it. He had hurt Soap. Tried to push his puppy away when he really needed him. And he would do everything in his power to make it up to him. He would give Johnny everything he asked.

Even if it scared him.