[Fic] want the flame without the burning

[vagabonddawn]

Title: want the flame without the burning
Summary:

Set during Episode 2 / Volume 1, Chapter 4: Scrape Wound

Secondary hemostasis is an important process for the body, but the cells who make the clot just have to resign themselves to the situation.

-


"I just had to thank you!" AE3803 says, almost tripping over her words in her rush to say them. Her fists are clenched on her thighs and she bows forward slightly from her kneeling position beside him. "The White Blood Cells fought those antigens for us and the Platelets closed up the wound, but we Red Blood Cells were useless. All we did was run away while you protected the peace in this blood vessel. So the least I can do is say thank you properly."

U1146 rolls his head the slightest distance that the Fibrin allows him to move, so that he's staring straight upwards to the edge of the abrasion, where the Platelets are busy corralling the rest of the Red Blood Cells with Fibrin and Coagulase. If it was just his torso or legs, he might be able to extract himself before they finish – at the cost of his uniform – but he's fully adhered on all his exposed skin, neck and hair and hands included. He's not going anywhere.

It's a little embarrassing, to be thanked so profusely for just doing his job, but AE3803 is sincere. Totally and completely honest, with both her gratitude and her disappointment in herself.

Which also means… she hasn't thought this through, and she hasn't realised what comes next.

Surprisingly, the thought only leaves him feeling fond, rather than annoyed or irritated. Of course AE3803 charged down onto the Fibrin without thinking it through, just to see if he was okay after the fight. She would never do anything else, would she?

"Sekkekkyū," U1146 says, once AE3803 has finished her outburst. He doesn't repeat the truth that they were only doing their jobs, or that no one would expect the Red Blood Cells to fight because that wasn't their job. "You have been really helpful today. Are being helpful, rather."

"Hakkekkyū-san?" A flicker of confusion crosses her face. She braces one gloved hand against the Fibrin as she leans forward, and when it fails to lift again, appears to make her realise that she's stuck. "I can't move!"

"Right," U1146 says. "When there's a hole in a blood vessel, the bodies of cells like us are used to plug that hole until the outer walls are restored. That's-"

"Secondary hemostasis," AE3803 completes, covering her face with her free hand. "I completely forgot!"

U1146 watches the Platelets leading complaining Red Blood Cells down to the Fibrin. They start packing in at the edges; it'll be a while until they reach the centre where he and AE3803 are. The energy and drive from the fight with bacteria is draining away, leaving him feeling mostly just… tired and calm. There's nothing he can do now, literally. Just wait it out, until the Fibrin dissolves and releases them.

"You should make yourself comfortable," he suggests, because AE3803 hasn't moved. "Once the clot forms you won't be able to move."

She lowers her hand from her face and gives a short laugh. "I guess that's a good idea," she says. "We used to make pretend clot piles as Erythroblasts, and I always got really twisted up! One time, my foot-"

And then she glances at him, the space between them, and appears to calculate just what the resulting position would be if she laid down, because she goes very red and abruptly silent.

U1146 feels a little flustered himself and wishes he could adjust his cap to hide his face. It's not even particularly bad – she's kneeling by his side and leaning forward would only mean that she ended up lying across his chest. It wouldn't exactly be perfectly comfortable but it wouldn't be… not, either.

The silence is definitely uncomfortable, though.

"Sekkekkyū," he asks, "if you still have a free hand, could you please adjust my collar? It's a little twisted around." The top button is digging into his throat and it's not the only part of his uniform that's uncomfortable – his knife sheath is digging into his hip, and the bacteria cytosol is going to become unpleasant very shortly - but all he can do about those minor discomforts is resign himself to them.

"Of course, Hakkekkyū-san," AE3803 says brightly, sounding a little eager to be able to do something. She even wiggles her right hand out of her glove so that she can use both hands to fruitlessly try and drag his shirt back into some kind of order. "Is that better?"

"Thank you," he confirms, but more important than that, AE3803 no longer seems quite so distressed, like having crossed one little line gives her the confidence to approach another.

"Are you sure it's okay?" She asks, glancing over at where the clotting Red Blood Cells are encroaching on them. Her hands are still resting on his chest and they feel incredibly warm.

"It's fine," U1146 says and tries not to feel like he's won something when she leans forward.

She curls her arms beneath her, and her elbows are digging into his ribs like the sharp points of a bacterial flagellum seeking to do damage, but she tucks her head into his shoulder and this is definitely the best instance of secondary hemostasis he's ever been involved in. He wishes his own hands weren't stuck to the Fibrin, but maybe it's for the best that they are.

AE3803 gives a short laugh. "I guess this is better than being tied up by the Platelets," she says. "Do we really stay like this for three days?"

"We really do," U1146 says. "Did you really make practice clots when you were growing up?"

AE3803 laughs again. "We really did!" she mimics. "It wasn't much fun if you ended up on the bottom of the pile," she says, and the nice thing – one of the many nice things – about AE3803 is that she's always cheerful and talkative. She launches into a long story about her time in the bone marrow and all the things that immature Erythroblasts are taught.

He can think of worse ways to spend the next three days.

Comments

Ahhhh

[math_is_magic]

I wish I didn't have to title these things because it's getting ridiculous how often I want to title replies to your stories "PRECIOUS" or "SO CUTE" but they really are!

""It's fine," U1146 says and tries not to feel like he's won something when she leans forward."
Be still my heart. They're SO CUTE