Mark sighed when Ace went through every nick name he could imagine. The request to lay down with Ace... Ace wouldn't sleep. Mark felt that there would be an abundance of roaming hands and little giggles and the possibility more band-aids. He could still feel the ghost of Ace's breath on the skin of his neck where hair now tickled. Ace was inspecting the kittens on his new bandage so Mark took advantage of the distraction to retrieve a new bag of blood from their refrigerator. Ace caught his balance easily when MArk pulled away though it wouldn't be a surprise if he threw himself to the floor anyway. The doctor did his best to ignore what his patient had said. "It was the bowl." he said. "It was too shallow," he said. "You put the popcorn in the bowl." "You picked out the bowl." Mark wasn't taking pains to remember what Ace had said exactly because the guilt was distorting his memory. Ace would, at times, place the blame on him if not just to demand a payment. "You should make it up to me."<br/>Mark finished changing the bag, placing the new one in Ace's uninjured hand. He took the mostly empty packet back to the fridge to keep for emergencies. There were maybe a few mouthfuls left but in the event of an emergency they would prove useful. Ever thinking ahead, right?<br/>"I don't want to nap alone." Ace had said. Mark stood in silence a moment before letting out a sigh. "Fine, we'll nap together." He agreed. It felt more like he had just thrown himself from the frying pan into the fire. With nothing to distract Ace from him and him from Ace what else but the obvious would happen? And Ace was so easily injured that Mark always had a hard time. Agree and he might hurt Ace. Refuse and he might hurt Ace. Agree and touch him and hold him but if he was to hurt Ace, Mark wouldn't let himself continue. He knew that he would just fix Ace and leave. Then his little patient would be hurt in more than just his body. Ignore Ace though he did, Mark was well aware of what was too much. And if he refused out right Ace might be hurt even more than if they had tried. Mark tried not to notice what colorful bandages were showing as he gently pressed his palm to Ace's back and guided him to their room. "I'll stay if you promise to actually make an effort to sleep. You have to try." Mark warned with a stern tone. In the end he wasn't even sure why he tried anymore. Ace would just step around it and get what he wanted anyway.