I'll Always Be Here
Damien Haas x reader
Word Count: 1468
Warnings: Chronic illness mentioned (POTS), lightly edited so don't sue me.
Description: Based on this request! After you push yourself, triggering an episode, Damien comes home and helps you to bed, reminding you that you have to take care of yourself.
Author’s Note: I did choose Damien, I just felt the prompt flowed better with him in consideration (Trust I loveee Spencer but this prompt just felt more Damien coded). I also want to mention that I did enlist the help of a good friend, as they do have knowledge about POTS and were able to help give me pointers and correct me. Thanks bro!
The floor had very quickly become your best friend. You had gotten too ambitious, thought you could commit and be fine, but your body decided it didn’t want to cooperate. The smartwatch on your wrist buzzes impatiently with a high heart rate warning. As you lay on the floor, trying to make the world stop spinning, you realize that Damien would be home soon, and you’d have to explain, and disappoint him by explaining that you neglected resting when you needed to, and pushed yourself too far. You hadn’t passed out, but you knew if you tried to stand, you’d end up right back where you currently laid.
Accepting that he would just have to be disappointed, you stayed put, eyes closed, trying to remember where you had left your Gatorade. You wonder if you could muster enough strength to crawl towards it. Since the world still feels too spinny to even think about opening your eyes to look for it, you decide against it.
Freyja meows as she wanders up to you, head butting your arm. You feel the pressure of one paw, then two, then three as she climbs onto you. Damien’s cat walks up your torso, headbutting your chin twice before settling into loaf form on your chest.
You smile softly as Freyja begins to purr. Now, even if you felt better enough to move, Freyja wasn’t going to let you get up. You accept your fate, letting yourself tune into the purrs of the cat on your chest. Uncontrollably, your hands shake, and you pet the purring creature on your chest, trying to control yourself.
After not too long, you hear the door to the apartment as Damien comes home. “Y/n?” he calls out, and you open your eyes to watch him come into the kitchen. Quickly, you close them again. The motion wasn’t as bad as before, but it was still too much to even try to make sense of the world spinning around you, simply feeling it was enough.
“Kitchen,” you call out. Freyja meows, headbutting your chin again, unhappy with you not petting her anymore. You hear the shuffle of him moving around, putting down his bag and keys.
“Y/n,” he softly says, and you can tell he’s in the kitchen. Once again, you try to open your eyes. Damien walks over, sitting on the floor next to you. He looks disappointed, and guilt suddenly punches a hole in your chest. “Sweetheart…”
“I’m okay,” you lie as he takes your shaky hand. “I just overdid it a little.” Freyja stands, meowing as she wanders over to Damien, brushing into his knee. He gives her a quick scratch under the chin. “Freyja helped me feel better, I just didn’t want to risk passing out and getting hurt. So the floor became a friend.”
He nods. “What have you been doing today?”
Slowly, you start to sit up. Timing is everything, sitting up too fast would only cause more issues, and you weren’t wanting to take any risks of that. Damien helps, and you lean back against the counter, the knob of the cabinet brushing your side as you situate yourself. For a moment longer, you keep your eyes closed. Too much motion would put you right back on the cold linoleum.
“I did laundry, cleaned up a little in the living room, and I was just now doing dishes. I was going to rest again and call it a day after I finished them, but I didn’t get that far,” You explain, your face turning red with embarrassment.
“Were you resting between everything?” he asks sweetly, taking your hand again.
You think for a second. “Only between the laundry and cleaning the living room,” you sheepishly admit. Recalling the day was hard in the moment, and even just trying to talk about it made you tired. You majorly overdid it, and you feared it would have an effect on you for the next few days. Mentally, you note that you’d have to talk to crew and see how things could be shuffled around to accommodate call times.
“What did you eat today?” he asks, reaching over you and grabbing the Gatorade from the counter above your head, unscrewing the cap and handing it to you. “Drink.”
You nod, and take a long sip as you try to recall what you had eaten today. “Um… I had some cereal this morning, and some chips after I switched the laundry, while I was resting.”
“Darling, you have to eat more than that,” he softly reminds you. He stands up, looking at you. “Do you feel okay to stand now? We should move to the couch, it’ll be more comfortable.”
“Beanbag,” you request. You loved the couch, but right now you wanted something a bit more plush. “And just one minute.”
He nods. “Okay, stay there, I’ll be back to help you in a moment.” His tone is stern, and you know it’ll only upset him more if you try to be independent in this moment and move on your own. He disappears from the kitchen, and you stay,
leaned against the counter, sipping your Gatorade. It helped enough, and when you check your heart rate on your watch, it’s gone down.
It only took a few moments before Damien comes back into the kitchen, walking over to you and offering his hands to help you up. Once up, he keeps a hold of your hand, leading you into the living room. Every few seconds, he looks back at you, watching for something to happen. You smile at him, his concern for you endearing. When you reach the living room, you look in the corner, where your giant beanbag lived.
Damien had taken a moment to set the corner up for you. He had brought your favorite pillow, blanket, and a few of your favorite plushies out of the other room. Cutely, he had set up one of your bunnie plushies to hold your switch, looking as if the plushie was playing on the console. He gauges your expression, and you smile, closing the gap between you and wrapping your arms around his torso, burying your face in his chest. “Thank you.”
He lets out a chuckle as he hugs you back, petting your hair softly. “Of course,” he coos softly. “I’ll lay with you in a moment, but you should lay down, sweetheart.” You look up at him and nod, moving to lay down. “Where did you leave your cup, my love?”
“Might be in the laundry room? I was carrying it around with me earlier,” You reply, starting to move the blanket over you.
“I’ll check, but let me help.” Without a moment of hesitation, he reaches for the blanket, taking it and holding it up, finding the corners and lightly laying it over you. “I would tuck you in, but then I couldn’t join you, and I don’t want to make you get all wavy and icky.”
You smile gratefully at him. “Hurry back to me please?” He nods, then rushes towards the laundry room, making motorcycle noises.
He rushes back out of the laundry room, holding your favorite tumbler cup. Motorcycle noises continue, and he untwists the cap as he turns into the kitchen. You hear the ice machine on the fridge, then the Brita filter from the fridge. Damien’s motorcycle noises continue from the kitchen, and a few seconds later, he turns back into the living room, walking over to you as he tightens the lid to the water bottle. A tires squealing sound comes from Damien as he hands you a cup.
You take a few sips, then hand it back, smiling. He sets it on the night table before laying next to you on the giant bean bag. “How do you feel?” he asks, moving some of the hair from your face.
“Better,” you say, guilt settling in as you remember him looking at you when he came into the kitchen and found you earlier. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” he asks. “There’s no need to be sorry, you didn’t do anything.”
“I forgot to eat,” you say. “I wasn’t taking care of myself so now you have to, I feel helpless.”
He takes your face into his hands gently, shaking his head. “Nope, stop that,” he shushes lightly. “You are not helpless. Somedays, you need my help, and that has never, and will never, be something to apologize for. I love you very much, and I’ll take care of you every single minute of every day. If that's what you need, I’ll always be here.”
“I love you,” You say after a moment, speechless. “Thank you.”
“I love you.” He smiles, taking his phone from his pocket. “Now, what do you want to eat?”
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