Whumpmas in July day 9: Choice
Whoa Bessie
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James wakes at 2 am, a mess of sweat and spit and hair. He rolls over, pulling the quilt over Steve’s snoring body, then yanks it clean off the bed and onto the floor.
“Buck?” Steve blinks blearily. “You ok?”
But James’s three steps ahead of him, stumbling across the dimly lit room toward the ensuite.
“Fine,” James mumbles, though he isn’t at all sure what the fire in his chest wants him to do tonight. He’s shaking off images of dead Taliban, burning car parts. The taste of burning oil mingles ever so slightly with the summery stenches of his own bodily secretions. His musk, his bile, his blood...
James gags hard and stop at the sink, which is closer. He expects it to be a one-off. Gag, get a little out, maybe cough a few times rinse up, go back, to bed, pretend nothing happened. That sort of thing. He doesn’t expect himself to truly be sick.
“It’s ok.” Steve takes him by the waist and hauls James the four feet or so from sink to toilet, vomit trailing from his lip to his chin, across the counter, onto the floor, and up again onto the pristine white toilet seat. “I got you.”
James just coughs. “I wanna--go back to bed--”
“Get it out of your system first.”
“Ugh.” It’s not like he has any choice, really. And that’s what James hates most about it. It’s like he’s a prisoner again, this time to his own body. He sputters, trying desperately to spit before his stomach’s quite finished heaving.
“Hey, be calm.” Steve rubs his back in long strokes. “I got you.”
James sighs, letting his jaw hang open. “...K...” He lets his body slacken in Steve’s grip. “’M tired.”
“I know.” Steve lifts James’s damp hair off the back of his neck. “It’s gonna be ok. We’ll get you cleaned up, then you can go back to sleep.”
“Hm.” James nods, though it redoubles his nausea. “Ok. That sounds... Ok.”











