was gonna write Abolish whump then I got beamed with bloodletting thoughts by the devil from the bible. So!
While transforming is painful for Owen, his bat form is generally more comfortable, but it's weaker. That body isn't scarred like his human one, which means generally less pain. Legs doesn't realize this for a while mostly because he doesn't realize how much pain Owen is in cuz Owen is almost never in his human form during flareups.
He can also sleep as a bat! So he sleeps off his flareups mostly. And Legs can't really resist letting batwen feed cuz he's a bat,,, so cute with his big huge eyes.... So Owen will often sleep on Legs as a bat. Legs thinks it's cute until Owen wakes up and immediately latches on and he realizes that oh. It was not affection. It was greed /silly
I think he would put this together once he decides to pretend to believe that Owen is asleep and goes to grab painkillers for him and comes back to a clearly annoyed bat. Who obviously has forgotten that Legs closes the windows fully at night if he's there. For safety reasons and stuff. Owen can open them from the inside if he wants out.
Legs is. Not a vet. And he doesn't know if Owen would react to meds like a human or like a bat. Or something else. So he would rather Owen not be a bat and he gets the most deadpan glare in response to being asked to turn back. And I think Legs would realize why Owen doesn't wanna transform pretty fast after that and just sighs and starts searching for how to medicate a bat. Owen falls asleep on the arm of the couch and he's clearly grumpy about the fact when Legs very carefully wakes him up with an attempt at medicine for him. Owen is hard to convince as a human on anything medical but with a bat that cannot speak. It's even harder. Because Legs doesn't know what arguments Owen is making.
He can guess, though. And somehow manages to get Owen to take at least a little bit after offering blood.
I think medicine would work as long as it didn't require the bloodstream to disperse (no heartbeat= no blood movement. I don't think vampires have blood left in their veins anyways so. That stuff wouldn't work) and! Bats often purr in reaction to pain being lessened!! Owen starting to purr after a while and Legs starts searching because he's never heard bats purring before ! He's not a vet!!! He is a . Well. He's not always a human doctor but he's definitely not an animal doctor.
He is so glad when he puts together that the meds are probably helping somewhat despite the. Large amounts of guessing done.
augh. yeah. Owen spends as long as he can in bat form, claiming it's just because he's feeling particularly humanphobic (Legs regrets teaching him about tiktok,) and sleeps hanging from the rafters in the doctor's house... because Owen won't let him try to help unless Legs lets him in first (Owen doesn't feel safe unless he's the one with the weapon, and Legs recognises this for the threat it is but also doesn't care if he dies.)
Little baby bat Owen hanging off the doctor's wrist... that's so cute oh my god. And him bonking into the windows like a bird, too. Legs is getting cussed out in octaves he can't hear.
I think he only really realises painkillers might help (Owen is certain nothing will help and the only pain he can be spared now is satisfying the Thirst, however temporarily) after Owen drinks his blood and he had painkillers in his system. (Or... alcohol. Given that the doctor drank whenever it was available. Owen letting himself in when the doctor is drunk and maudlin and demanding blood "since you care so much about the pigeons" and receiving it and. Visibly getting hammered bc he does not have the alcohol tolerance of a war veteran in his fifties who's been drinking to forget for decades.)
Little baby bat getting staggering drunk on painkillers bc the doctor calibrated them for human-size Owen...
Owen would refuse to transform back, Legs would avoid pressuring him (he's treating Owen like a feral cat,) and nothing would get fixed until Owen decides he wants that thing actually and he will allow Legs to use blood to bribe him to have it. Thinking to himself about where was he back then, of course. Thinking if he was in Oakhurst I would never have needed to go so far. Thinking if he was in Oakhurst they would've killed him too, he's too kind, and never imagining a world where Legs did what he thought he had to when given proof the mayor was consorting with the occult, or a world where Owen burned him along with the children.
The doctor has to be like Louis, after all. Which is why Owen needs to convince him to turn. Surely, this existence isn't better? Surely the constant dizziness and chills from blood loss aren't helping? He gives so much of himself, and the world never gives anything back - in a fair world, he would never tell Owen someone died on the operating table, in a fair world, he would never have those shadows under his eyes - If he accepted the Gift, he could live like this forever. He wouldn't need to sleep. He could save everyone he ever saw.
(Sometimes the only thing staying his fangs is the knowledge that if Owen turns the doctor, he will never be forgiven.)
