"It's fine, Harry. Don't worry about it." He couldn't even be bothered right now, he was just amazed by what Harry was showing, what Stephen was telling him. "Stay down, love. I'll take care of the hands. Up the insulation on the gloves for next time."
He still didn't know how long they'd gone, but clearly they had heated up more than anticipated. He'd have to check them for damage. For the moment, he followed Stephen's advice and held them under cold water, even if it meant taking a few steps away from Harry.
"How are you feeling? No snark, I just want to know."
"Dunno. My head hurts less but I still feel like utter shit." He was still sick, after all, so his chest hurt and he was nauseated but other than that, he was feeling like he had more energy. Maybe. "I'm not sure if it's placebo or not but I think I feel more... awake?"
He tried to push himself up, his arms struggling as he finally got himself sitting, looking at Hartley.
"I haven't falling over yet so that's a good sign, right?" His vitals looked good so -- it had to be good, right? He rubbed at his eyes. "Felt so weird. Like all my nerves were dancing."
"Yeah, it's..." Hartley treated his hands, very quickly bandaging them both. Not his first time, he had been experimenting with the gloves a long time, after all. With them bandaged up, he headed over to the bed, sitting next to Harry. "We don't quite know anything yet. I'm hoping for some change to your T-cell count. And it should keep going right now, whatever we started. We don't know for how long. Could be that the effects keep going twenty-four hours. Maybe a week. Maybe longer or shorter. Keep improving you."
Here was hoping. It was all theoretical still, but at least something had happened. "You have some colour in your cheeks. I'll say that. That's not just placebo."
He was trying not to be too hopeful, but he hoped nonetheless.
"It's going to take four to five hours for the count. Relax, lie down, I'll keep an eye on your vitals."
Harry nodded to Stephen and leaned against Hartley before he held onto his jacket and pulled him down with him when he flopped back. With a smile, he forced Hartley to lie with him on the awkward little bed, holding onto him tight as he closed his eyes and leaned against him, rested and feeling much less pained than usual. For the first time in a while, he actually managed a nap that lasted.
So much so that when he woke five hours later, he was groggy and confused but Stephen was yelling from the other room.
"T-count is way up! You were 54, you've shot up to 200! Almost at the threshold." Stephen whooped from the other room. "Fuck yeah."
"What?!" Hartley had dozed off as well, so he took a moment to process. And this was better than he'd have ever dared to dream, so processing took even longer. Then he pulled Harry into a hug and held him, simply held him, trying to comprehend. "It's working. It's... Harry, it's really working!"
All those hopeless, empty promises he'd made, the many times he'd sworn that he'd save him. The fights they had had over this, the tears he'd shed. The days and nights of working without sleep, the many letters and phone calls, the begging for donations, all of it, it was actually paying off.
His world was healing.
He got up, finally, to hurry over to Stephen. "Can I see?! It's-- We have to do more tests. Do we do another round? Do we wait a day? A week? How long can you stay?"
"Is 200 good?" Harry asked sleepily as he sat up, reminded of his old party days right now because there he was, feeling a tad hung over and not understanding anything that anyone was saying. He yawned loudly and pulled himself up, his body weary and tired but eager to be a part of things.
"I would say maybe a week? His body is still very weak physically, we can't push to a limit but look at that. That's remarkable. It's like resetting a body." Stephen was amazed, he looked at the blood test and then pulled up the one before, showing Hartley both with fascination. "See, the T-count is up and all his other markers are at a way better ratio."
"So... am I okay?" Harry asked, getting the feeling he was. "Hart? Am I-- Am I gonna make it?"
"That's... I mean, it reflects some of my hypotheses, but I never really believed it would--" He trailed off, pressing his lips together, overcome with emotions. Holding both blood tests in hand, he walked over to Harry and made him sit down next to him on the bed. "This is your blood test from before. This is the one we took after."
He pointed out the various changes and explained, trying to stick to layman terms as much as possible. "A T-count of 200 or less indicates that a person has AIDS. You being at 200, possibly higher by now... You are more like someone HIV positive. Not AIDS. We don't know how stable any of this is, if you are still going up, but Stephen is right. It's like we reset your body."
The way he had envisioned it. "We'll keep testing your blood, I'd say at least twice a day. And we can do another round of treatment in a week. But..."
Hartley paused, finally, turning to simply smile at Harry. "Yeah. You're gonna make it."
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no subject
He still didn't know how long they'd gone, but clearly they had heated up more than anticipated. He'd have to check them for damage. For the moment, he followed Stephen's advice and held them under cold water, even if it meant taking a few steps away from Harry.
"How are you feeling? No snark, I just want to know."
no subject
He tried to push himself up, his arms struggling as he finally got himself sitting, looking at Hartley.
"I haven't falling over yet so that's a good sign, right?" His vitals looked good so -- it had to be good, right? He rubbed at his eyes. "Felt so weird. Like all my nerves were dancing."
no subject
Here was hoping. It was all theoretical still, but at least something had happened. "You have some colour in your cheeks. I'll say that. That's not just placebo."
He was trying not to be too hopeful, but he hoped nonetheless.
no subject
Harry nodded to Stephen and leaned against Hartley before he held onto his jacket and pulled him down with him when he flopped back. With a smile, he forced Hartley to lie with him on the awkward little bed, holding onto him tight as he closed his eyes and leaned against him, rested and feeling much less pained than usual. For the first time in a while, he actually managed a nap that lasted.
So much so that when he woke five hours later, he was groggy and confused but Stephen was yelling from the other room.
"T-count is way up! You were 54, you've shot up to 200! Almost at the threshold." Stephen whooped from the other room. "Fuck yeah."
no subject
All those hopeless, empty promises he'd made, the many times he'd sworn that he'd save him. The fights they had had over this, the tears he'd shed. The days and nights of working without sleep, the many letters and phone calls, the begging for donations, all of it, it was actually paying off.
His world was healing.
He got up, finally, to hurry over to Stephen. "Can I see?! It's-- We have to do more tests. Do we do another round? Do we wait a day? A week? How long can you stay?"
no subject
"I would say maybe a week? His body is still very weak physically, we can't push to a limit but look at that. That's remarkable. It's like resetting a body." Stephen was amazed, he looked at the blood test and then pulled up the one before, showing Hartley both with fascination. "See, the T-count is up and all his other markers are at a way better ratio."
"So... am I okay?" Harry asked, getting the feeling he was. "Hart? Am I-- Am I gonna make it?"
no subject
He pointed out the various changes and explained, trying to stick to layman terms as much as possible. "A T-count of 200 or less indicates that a person has AIDS. You being at 200, possibly higher by now... You are more like someone HIV positive. Not AIDS. We don't know how stable any of this is, if you are still going up, but Stephen is right. It's like we reset your body."
The way he had envisioned it. "We'll keep testing your blood, I'd say at least twice a day. And we can do another round of treatment in a week. But..."
Hartley paused, finally, turning to simply smile at Harry. "Yeah. You're gonna make it."