Fatality [Azraeth]

[Flynn]

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Azraeth’s carefully constructed composure came to a screeching halt the second that the Paladin said he loved him. It was like watching the walls of a dam slowly crack, the water just beginning to leak in that split second before it became clear that it wasn’t going to hold and soon the floodgates would be open. In the blink of an eye, the vampire was falling apart at the seams. Azraeth had cried in front of him before. A few times, even, but this was different. It wasn’t just the fact that his partner was a vampire that Flynn considered him to be one of, if not the strongest person he knew. The man carried a lot on his shoulders, regardless of how easily he seemed to play it off as no big deal, and he handled it well. It was, perhaps, part of the reason that the human accepted the antics that came with the territory, as they were something was purely Az and not a reflection of his responsibility.

This? This was a full scale emotional breakdown. Like the threads of his partner’s self-control had managed to slip right through his fingers, leaving him to grasp at only air.

The only thing Flynn could do was anchor him. Keep him grounded enough to get through the tunnel of his emotions until he reached the other side. It hurt far more than he let it on by the wince that accompanied the movement, but he shifted on the bed so that both arms could circle the vampire and keep him close. Softly mumbled assurances passed between them with an occasional apology thrown in there every once in a while. Not that he was apologizing for what happened rather than the fact that he had gone through in the first place. Perhaps it wasn’t just an action done out of a need to comfort Azraeth, but also himself. It was like the man’s screams were still echoing in the Paladin’s ears, but he was right here. In his arms. And he was fine. Well, relatively speaking, because he clearly wasn’t fine and Flynn couldn’t rightly blame him for that, but that wasn’t the point.

The vampire hadn’t entirely settled down when he spoke, but the disagreement was so commonplace that the human couldn’t help but grin. The conversation wasn’t funny, there was no humor in the situation, but it didn’t seem quite so bad when the exchange was so totally...normal. So them. Azraeth shifted closer and took that single opportunity to steal a quick kiss. A mere brush of their lips for the sake of his rioting lungs, but a kiss nonetheless. He didn’t need to repeat the sentiment; Azreath knew. There was also the fact that he never had the chance as his love filled that short silence with an explanation.

Three days.

The Paladin’s eyes narrowed on the vampire as soon as the words ‘your mother’ were said, but was otherwise silent as his wheels continued to spin on the notion of being here, in this hospital bed, for only three days. Time was a subjective thing, and his mind had created an illusion of...months. In the span of three days. Which, in hindsight, was probably for the best. He could only begin to guess what all Azreath had thought and done in the last three days, and if he had actually been comatose for months, well...he probably wouldn’t be seeing the same man he was now. Time was a *****, after all. Still, the disconnect was unsettling and only fueled the hazy of confusion that was slowly poisoning Flynn’s every thought. That confusion existed purely out the realization he had lost 3 days of time, and had no idea what had happened in that timeframe, because his memories of it were just...dreams.

”I love you, too, but...backtrack to my mother…” he finally said, the quality of voice no different that when he had tried to speak before. Good thing vampires had that supernatural hearing and all, because any human would have had to lean in way too close for comfort to do the same. ”New rule. She gets left in the dark unless I…” ...die. The sentence cut off and Flynn frowned. Too soon. ”Unless the circumstances are different.” It wasn’t that he didn’t think his mother deserved to know, because she was his mother...she had that right. Plus the fact that Azraeth, for some obvious reason, wouldn’t have been able to get information on Flynn without her. But, truthfully, it was just better that she remain as oblivious to his life in Harper Rock as possible. The last thing he needed (and he fully believed it would impact Az much the same) was his mother refusing to bring Liam here for concerns of his safety. Even if she had more than enough reason to. ”I’ll...sign paperwork or something with your name on it so they can’t turn you away, again. Loopholes. Not that I’m pushing for it, but…if I were to end up here, again...”

He waved a dismissive hand. Better not to dwell on that too much. Plus the fact that his chest was in flames.

[Azraeth]

One of the greatest lies the media told about words was that they had to be bold, well spoken, and powerful to have impact. It was a lie as old as the arts themselves - having existed well before Shakespeare’s Caesar asked Romans to lend him their ears. Human language was about one thing. Communication. Communication which did not require charisma, and did not always come in the form of Braveheart speeches. Like prayers, some words were softly murmured, barely audible. They were secret and private, and filled with earnest truths. Az rather liked those more than grandiose articulation and perfect grammar. There was something sacred about the human ability to comfort with those warm, soothing sounds. After all, a few quiet words at the end of a man’s life could hold as much or more meaning than any other. ‘Your life had meaning’, ‘You will be remembered’, ‘You will always be loved’. Azraeth had a degree (or a few) in the field of Anthropology, and he’d been avidly fascinated by linguistics for most of his life. He knew with his mind, and at his very core that those phrases which went unrecorded, though they may not have changed the lives of millions, held the deepest and greatest sway over individual souls.

There was some of that in the way Flynn whispered apologies to him. Az wanted to refute that, but he didn’t have the energy in him for it. So those murmured phrases, those indistinct words passed between them like a safety line. A thread sewing two souls together.

There was silence in the brief seconds between that, and when Az began to explain everything that had happened. The vampire was attempting to be gentle, to be very careful with his partner. He didn’t want to do more damage, but it felt good to be wrapped in those arms again, to give himself the opportunity to at least wedge one under a body, to press so close he could feel that labored breath. And in classic Flynn fashion, they got right to business, backtracking to the topic of his mother. The man had just woken from a coma, and he was as solid and as strong of mind as ever. One of the things that had attracted Az most to him was his cool head, the way he tempered some of the Mystic’s more impulsive tendencies without caging him. Love, for Az, came from that. Admiration. He loved the people who had qualities he identified with. More importantly, he loved people who had qualities he wished to emulate, and the Paladin had so many of those. There were times when what Azraeth felt for his human was akin to awe. And that too, added depth to the ocean behind his eyes.

His hand pressed tighter to Flynn’s, his thumb dragging across knuckles slowly.

He listened to everything the Paladin had to say. The new policy relating to the man’s mother made sense. Getting documentation to allow him into the hospital made sense too. The vampire didn’t want to think about all of that. Those practical matters were too grounded for him. Too much in the world of reality - a reality where Flynn was not omnipotent, where he was not the god Az so often saw him as. Where he could be harmed, and killed, and the vampire could lose him forever. “I think we should go away for a bit.” He said suddenly, though he had been nodding through all of Flynn’s words, to make it clear that he didn’t disagree. “After you are better rested and more healed up. I think we should go to that bed and breakfast I got you a pass for during Flynn Week.” He continued.

He was interrupted by the pulling back of the curtain which cut them off from the rest of the room. A nurse stood there looking at them a moment, only to her avert her eyes as if she’d just stumbled on something a lot more intimate than it really was. “Oh uhhh. I can come back in a bit.” She said, and reached for the curtain once more.

“No, no. What’s up?” Az was still trying to process how he felt about what Flynn had said.

“It looks like our rooming chart wasn’t updated from today. There’s a room that opened up, and we’re going to be moving Mr. Connors there.”

“Does it have a bathroom? You know, is it one of those long term rooms?” With space for a vampire to sleep during the day - that’s what he was asking.

“Uhhh yeah, I think so. You ready to go?”

[Flynn]

Outwardly, Flynn was his usual self. Steady and rational, tackling one thing at a time as they were presented to him. Sure, he’d glossed over the bigger issue of the fact that he was currently strapped to a hospital bed by more wires, machines and tubing than he cared for, but he could process that all later. When Azraeth was forced to leave and the doctors and nurses were content in the knowledge that he wasn’t about to crash on them at any second. When it was quiet and he was alone to really sit back consider what had brought him to this point and what it meant that he had lost not only one, but three days worth of time. For the time being, he could play the part of a man totally in control. For the time being, he could hold off on the potential breakdown if one was just around the corner. And that was entirely possible…

Because, inwardly, everything was in a state of utter chaos. Every inch of his body ached, every breath was like agony, not only in his lungs, but his ribs. If he had to guess, if they weren’t healed already, then some of them were still broken. His head was pounding, his stomach protested a lack of nutrition that came in the form of actual food rather than IV supplements, and yet he was growing increasingly restless. More than any of that, though, was the disaster zone he called his mind. His thoughts, his feelings. At no point were they stable, taking twists and turns that made it impossible to keep up. Except for one thing; the tormented screams that had, for all he knew, jolted him awake played back on an endless loop. It was a wonder he managed to listen to Azraeth at all when those sounds intermingled with his voice, creating a distortion of reality that left the Paladin anxious. While he could physically feel the vampire pressed close to him, could focus on the weight of the man’s hand in his own, he was almost afraid to rely too heavily on it.

What if all of this was still just part of a dream?

So focused on the inner turmoil that he was, Flynn almost missed his partner’s suggestion for a vacation. It was no surprise that Az suggested the bed and breakfast from Flynn Week, but it was the motives for doing so now that had the human scrutinizing his partner, his head tipping toward his shoulder as his eyes narrowed in question. No response made it past his lips, however, as a nurse pulled the curtain aside and all but barged her way into their conversation. The look on her face was priceless, the way her eyes widened at the sight as if she had walked in on something she hadn’t been meant to see. It immediately made the Paladin smirk, but it was laced with hints of venom. It was so uncharacteristic that he quickly filtered it, wiping away any evidence that it had been there at all. Which was really only for the best that Azraeth had taken on speaking to her, because chances were, Flynn wouldn’t have been very pleasant.

Of course, the fact that she was moving him to another room quickly dissipated any hostility he felt for her presence. His mouth opened to answer her, but Az beat him to the punch. A bathroom? Eyebrows furrowed as he glanced to his side, twisting any number of reasons as to why that might matter to the man. It wasn’t until the nurse confirmed that there was, in fact, a bathroom that it clicked. Taking a deep breath in through his nose, he shot the vampire a disapproving glare before turning his attention to the nurse and nodding ”That’s fine.” She nodded to confirm and promised to be back in only a moment with a few other nurses to assist in the move, since he could not be disconnected from most the machines and tubing just yet. Once she had left, however, his attention immediately returned to Azraeth.

”Tell me that you don’t actually plan to sleep in that bathroom..?” he asked, only taking a moment to pause before a heavy sigh passed his lips and he offered a shake of his head. Azraeth didn’t even have a chance to answer before Flynn did it for him. ”Oh, but of course you do…” He wasn’t angry or upset in the knowledge that the vampire wouldn’t be going too far. But once they were in the private room, the man could bet his *** that the Paladin planned to try and convince him otherwise.

Chances were...he'd lose that battle, but he planned to fight it, anyway.