Being bitten by a giant spider is uncomfortable enough, but worse than the sharp pain you feel on impact are the linger effects of the bite. Being bitten can cause nausea, dizziness, fatigue and hallucinations. These symptoms can begin immediately after being bitten or can manifest up to a few hours after the toxins are introduced to the bloodstream. These symptoms may only last for a few hours—or up to 72 hours. You, or someone you know, has the misfortune of being bitten; no medicine seems to help this ailment, so you’re stuck weathering this one out on your own.
Tobias was happy that he managed to drive himself and Evan back to his own house, he wanted to have been able to get Evan back to his home…but honestly it had taken more concentration than he figured that he could muster even to make it the two miles to his own. Plus, Evan wasn’t really in the mental state to protest…he had just stared out the window the whole time not saying a word.
It had taken about half an hour before the two of them were ready for bed. Evan had been easy to coax into a pair of old pajamas, but Tobias had wanted to try and clean the wound which looked faintly green in the glow of the bathroom lights, and the green did nothing to help assuage the nausea that kept rocking him, spinning the room and making Tobias feel more off kilter than anything had before.
When he finally got into the bed he wrapped his arms tightly around Evan, both wanting to feel the younger male in his arms, and as a precaution in case he tried to bolt if he woke up frightened, and slipped into a fitful sleep, his arm stinging and burning through the night.
By the next morning, Tobias felt like death, his hair damp against his forehead and his eyes glassy. He nudged Evan though, reaching close and kissing the soft skin of his cheek. “…You okay, Evan…” His voice felt hoarse and he tried clearing his throat but…he felt so tired. And his arm was still ******** spiders.
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:21 pm
Evan had remained silent for much of the trip; he hadn’t argued or complained when they went to Tobias’ house instead of his own, and he hadn’t made any effort to contact Cambria or Zac either. Tobias’ pajamas hung loosely on him, too large to really fit him. But, they worked. They covered what they needed to, even if the plaid flannel wasn’t exactly his style.
For long time he had remained quiet; he was as still as if he were asleep, but his eyes stayed open and stared blankly at the wall across from them for at least an hour after they got home. He hadn’t reacted when Tobias wrapped his arms around him, and he didn’t remember when he actually fell asleep.
When he woke up, the sun was filtering in. He tensed when he felt Tobias against him—until he realized who it was. He rolled so that he was facing the male, wiping at his eyes tiredly. He didn’t feel as if he’d had a restful sleep, but he didn’t imagine Tobias had, either.
Groggily, he glanced around and tried to figure out how he’d gotten over here last night.
“You look like s**t,” he said, stifling a yawn. “Are you sick, or…?”
Something nagged at the back of his mind, trying to break through the haziness of fatigue and tiredness, but concern was slowly slipping onto his face as he reached over to comb Tobias’ hair off of his damp forehead.
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 3:33 pm
Tobias tried to give what he hoped was a passable smile and shrugged. “I’m…okay. I’m pretty sure that I’m not dying, at least. Spider bites kill quickly, right? Either you die right away or you’re strong enough to fight whatever it is out of your system. I’ll be fine soon, I’m sure.” He didn’t have the energy to protest being told that he looked like s**t. Didn’t have the energy to make a joke out of it, or pretend that nothing was wrong. Because…something was clearly wrong, and he didn’t think he could pretend for very long even if he tried. Evan’s fingers felt nice as they moved his hair and with a sigh, Tobias let his eyes slip shut again, shifting slightly to get comfortable, though wincing and letting out a low hiss as his arm knocked against the bed.
“Damnit.”
Purple eyes flew open once more and searched for Evan’s face, taking a moment to focus. “How are you feeling? I was worried about you last night, Evan…I didn’t…I was worried.” He sounded so sappy. Like some love-struck loser on his death bed…though, with the way he felt…
“Thank you for saving me. I think that spider would have kept chomping down if it hadn’t been for you.” He kept his gaze on the younger male for as long as he could, finally sighing and letting his eyes close again. “Sorry for getting us into that mess.”
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 8:55 pm
Tobias’ smile was not passable and Evan seemed far from convinced. For a moment after Tobias spoke, Evan remained quiet and just kept playing with the other’s damp bangs. His brows knit as he tried to recollect last night; at first, it was like trudging through a muddy memory and then all of a sudden it hit him, violently.
His mouth went dry and his heart started pounding; he reached a hand up to rub at his eyes.
“Oh,” he said after a moment. The memories were faint, but they were there.
“…That sort of felt like a dream,” he said after a few seconds of contemplation. “I don’t really, uhm. I don’t really remember much of it.”
What memories he did have were either extremely graphic or little more than a foggy haze. He didn’t seem willing to risk try to traverse the maze in his head and instead just focused on Tobias. “You pushed me out of the way,” he murmured. “You got bit, instead of me. Are you—did it poison you? Is that what this is? Let me see where it bit you,” he insisted, already trying to tug at Tobias’ clothes so he could see the bite.
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 8:59 pm
“Of course I did. I promised you that I would keep you safe, Evan. I’m not going to break a promise to you, not ever. I love you far too much for that.” Tobias didn’t open his eyes, nor did he try to fight Evan off as he reached for the injured arm. “Careful. It hurts like a b***h still. I wrapped it up last night…not really sure how it looks now, since you know. I was sleeping. Kind of.”
Finally he cracked an eye and raised the unbitten arm, placing his hand against Evan’s cheek. He was annoyed that it trembled. “Guess I’m a pretty lousy prince charming, huh. If I end up dying at the first chance of saving you…that sucks…”
The hand on Evan’s cheek slowly slid off and landed on the bed with a soft thump and Tobias sighed. “Sorry…my arm feel so stupidly heavy…Evan…if I die, you’ll avenge me, right? Name your kids after me…keep a picture of me in your locket and beat the crap out of whatever spiders you can find…yeah? You can call yourself…the “Raider” because…you’ll have raid okay…Get it? Raid? Like…Raid.”
A quiet, stupid sounding laugh escaped Tobias and he fell silent after it was finished.
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 9:21 pm
Evan leaned into the touch but, for the moment, didn’t seem entirely relieved. He forced a smile at Tobias’ joke, but it was for his comfort more than Evan’s amusement.
“You’re not lousy, Tobias. You did everything you could. And I made it out okay, so I think you did a good job. But I’m worried about you, now. So let me make it up to you, for all that you did for me.”
He reached for Tobias’ injured arm with more focus and carefully peeled up the sleeve. He moved slowly and deliberately, making every effort he could to unravel the injury and not hurt Tobias in the process.
“I don’t know much about spider bites, but if this looks too bad, you know I have to make sure you get to the hospital, Tobias, right? …I care about you too much to let you suffer. I need you to get better.” He chanced a look at Tobias’ eyes for only a second before he returned to his arm. “So you can save me next time.”
He didn’t realize he was holding his breath as he peeled the last layer of bandages off of Tobias’ arm.
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 9:33 pm
The wound looked infected. There was still a greenish tinge to it, and while the punctures were small, they were puffed up and quite disgusting. “I don’t want a hospital, Evan…I hate those places. Besides. I’m comfortable here. I have you.”
Tobias sucked in a breath as the air hit the bite and turned his head so that he didn’t have to look at it. “…how bad is it, Evan? Do you think they’d have to cut the arm off?” There was an emotion in his voice that he didn’t normally let creep in, one that was starting to pop up far too often. Fear was not a word that had been in big, tough Tobias’s vocabulary, but when things started getting…too real to ignore…well. Fear decided to join in with his other emotions and throw a few wild house parties.
“…Ev…while I have you here, I have to be honest. My head is spinning and I feel worse than I’ve felt in my life, but I just…I know you don’t want a relationship…and I know I promised to respect that…but I want to be with you so badly that it hurts. I’ve never…” Tobias let out a low breath and shook his head, his eyes closing again, weather out of exhaustion from this illness or from the weakness that he was spewing right now. “I’ve dated people before, and it’s never been much of anything, but you, Evan. I’ve never invested so much time in anyone before. I’ve never gotten to know them like I’ve done with you…and I just…I really want to be your boyfriend…”
The words trailed off at the end and Tobias seemed to slump a little more against the pillows. “…I have to say…I’ve never…put someone’s safety above my own before…so…that’s a thing…”
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:03 pm
Evan’s face contorted into one of disgust and then immediately after, concern.
Truthfully, he didn’t know how to answer Tobias; the infection was disgusting and Evan briefly wondered if they might need to remove the arm. He tried to focus on that and not the rest of Tobias’ words, not because they didn’t make Evan’s heart flutter but because any time he tried to think about how to respond, he just clammed up. His heart pounded and he got scared, and they’d already had too much of that for one night.
When he spoke, his voice was strangely raspy. “Well. I hate hospitals too, so I don’t blame you, but you need to focus on that and not your love life right now. Because, I’m gonna be honest, Tobias.”
He looked at the arm for another second. “…This looks really bad. But. I’m going to help. I just—where’s your first aid kit? I don’t…know your house all that well.” He swallowed and looked around; he had actually never really been inside Tobias’ house. He had walked him here, once, as Malus, but…
This was entirely foreign territory.
He realized slowly that he was wearing pajamas that weren’t his and suddenly couldn’t recall putting them in. A wave of concern flushed and he recoiled just slightly, somewhat paled.
It was a stupid time to be self conscious but his arms suddenly itched. He rubbed at them through the fabric of the long sleeves and tried to clear his throat. “I’ve—I’ve had some cuts get infected before, but I made it out okay without a hospital. So I think I can help you, but if you don’t get better within a few hours, I don’t care what you say. I’ll take you to the hospital. I can’t let anything happen to you.”
There was a lump in his throat and he had to force himself to speak around it. Softly, and earnestly, he said, “I need you.”
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:23 pm
Shot down again. Even at the edge of death Evan wouldn’t…
Maybe he knew what a jerk Tobias could be. Maybe he could just sense it. Or maybe he had talked to Laurence, that jackass. Laurence must have filled Evan’s ears with stories of how rotten Tobias could be sometimes and Evan decided that he didn’t want anything…to do intimately with him. That had to be it.
Tobias let out a short laugh without any real humor and a few hot tears made their way from his eyes. He wasn’t crying. He was just…weak right now. And hadn’t Evan just said that the arm looked bad? He could easily throw those tears into the pain pile, and not…
Well. Rejection.
“Bathroom. Under the sink.” The words were hardly a whisper, Tobias didn’t trust his voice not to break or tremble. Especially after the last words that Evan said, the ones that caused him to open up his eyes and look at the boy once more, a few more tears escaping out from behind his lids. “Why?”
He hoped that Evan understood the question…but was prepared for some other means of deflection.
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:58 pm
Evan was quiet for a long moment; his mouth was dry and his throat felt raw. Deflection was second nature to him but something made him stop before he gave some half assed reply or played stupid. And yet, instead of answering the question, he ran into the bathroom and retrieved the first aid kit. He wanted to take as much time as he could to avoid answering, but at the same time he didn’t want Tobias to suffer.
He returned with his eyes downcast and began to fish through the first aid kit for supplies. He pulled a few out but hadn’t brought himself to begin working on cleaning the injury or rewrapping it.
Not until Tobias got an answer.
“Because,” he said, slowly, “I ******** things up.”
He tried to clear his throat so he could talk again, but all it did was cause an uncomfortable burning sensation in his throat.
“Because there are things about me that you don’t know, that I don’t want you to know, that I can’t keep a secret if we change what we are. Because I know ‘it’s me, not you’ is such a cliché statement, but you don’t understand how ******** up I am. Or maybe you do, and you don’t care, but I do, and any relationship with me isn’t just food and fun and happiness. You want that because that’s the part of me I let you see. But the other part, I,” he laughed, awkwardly and humorlessly, and shook his head. “I like to pretend like it doesn’t exist, but it does. And I’d hate myself even more if I let anyone else see it. I’m not ready to deal with it. I can’t.” He shook his head. “I’m not strong enough. I’m afraid of it. And I wish I could make you understand without me having to spell everything out, but I can’t. And I’m sorry, Tobias.”
His voice was soft now, little more than a whisper. He reached for an alcohol pad and tore it open with shaking hands. “I don’t want to lose you.”
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Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:45 am
Tobias listened, but he wasn’t sure how much of Evan’s explanation really got through the fevered haze that covered his mind, but he shook his head. “You’re…not going to lose me to anything voluntary. I mean, if I die from this…infection or whatever, that’s a different story, but that’s not my plan, I assure you.”
In the time that Evan was gone, he had wiped the liquid weakness from his eyes and through whatever force of will he still contained, managed to force away all of the feelings that he could, even going so far as to manage something like his normal cocky smile.
“I don’t think you ******** anything up, but hey. It’s your decision. Sorry for bugging you again…I’m not really feeling myself right now, or I wouldn’t have bothered.” He wondered idly if that sounded too harsh and after figuring that it did, he reached out with his good arm, still trembling a bit from the utter fatigue that encompassed him and stroked Evan’s cheek lightly. “I’m not going to stop feeling the way I do for you though. And I’m sorry.” He wasn't sure he could stop feeling this way even if he had wanted to. This was a whole new game for him...in the fact that it wasn't a game any longer. He really truly wanted Evan's affections. And that was dangerous. Caring about someone like that was the most dangerous thing that a person could do
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:16 pm
Evan flashed a faint smile, leaning into the hand Tobias placed against his cheek. His uncertainty over the relationship topic had little to do with his nervousness now. It was a talk they could have, but not now; Evan could barely articulate how much concern he had for Tobias, and his hand was trembling when he tried to figure out how to best treat the injury.
“You’re not going to die,” he insisted, because that was the most important thing to him right now.
Tobias needed to be okay, needed to be alive so they could even have any of the conversations. He just didn’t want Tobias to be dealing with doubt or the feeling of inadequacy or anything like that on top of this sickness. Evan’s brows remained knit and he finally confessed, “Tobias, I don’t want to hurt you but your arm looks really nasty. I have to put some disinfectant on it, so please don’t hate me.”
He didn’t really give Tobias time to argue; he prepared the disinfectant and as quickly and gently as he could, applied it over the injury. Neosporin was quick to follow, and he was reaching for the bandages in almost the same motion.
“You’re okay,” he insisted as he moved. “And I’m gonna spend all day making sure you’re taken care of, okay? I’m not going to leave your side and I’m going to make sure you’re healthy. I’m not going to let you die.”
He leaned down and planted a quick kiss on his forehead. “It’s gonna be okay. All right? Just trust me, let me take care of you.”
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Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:23 pm
It hurt. A lot more than Tobais wanted to admit while Evan cleaned the wound and rebandaged it, but the things that Evan was saying made the pain at least slightly worth it...and the fact that he was going to be taking care of him all day, made the pain a little easier as well.
“I’ll do my best not to die. I don’t want to leave you.” He flashed a small smile and closed his eyes again. “...Thank you for all of this. I don’t really deserve it, but thank you. You mean the world to me.” It didn’t take too much longer for sleep to claim him, and it was at least a slightly restful one this time.
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:25 pm
Evan’s smile was slightly more genuine, if only because he felt like he could relax a little more with Tobias all patched up. It wasn’t perfect and he knew he’d have to keep a diligent eye on the injury just to make sure it didn’t get any worse, but for now they could relax for a bit.
“Just rest,” he insisted, once more playing with Tobias’ hair. “You’re my friend, Tobias. One of my best. So stop worrying, and stop thinking you don’t deserve it. I want to help you, so just relax.” His voice was soft and something; he wanted Tobias to go back to sleep so he could regain some of his energy.
And, afterwards, Evan was going to have to creep around the house and find the kitchen so he could cook for him.
He glanced down at the pajamas he was wearing and realized his options for clothes were either the costume Tobias had picked out for him, or the pajamas Tobias had picked out for him.
