[ He clearly isn't paying enough attention, because that hug takes him by surprise. He's pulled against Flynn's solid chest, the rest of his breath knocked out of him, and it's hard to get it back. It's hard to get it back because he's so tired, because emotion swirls in his chest, behind his eyes, crowding into his mind and not giving room for any coherent thought.
He leans into the hug, breath hitching, eyes tired and wet, his face pressing into Flynn's shoulder. ]
Shut up.
[ It's mumbled, tired and annoyed ]
Shut the fuck up, Flynn.
[ Let him have this. Let him enjoy that you did something for him, that he feels-- good for the first time in days, maybe longer. He feels better and feels taken care of, and he's not good at feeling taken care of, but right now he's tired and weak and it feels good to have Flynn there with him, have Flynn trying to help him, that he can lean on Flynn, literally and not, that Flynn wants to be there for him.
He's not good at accepting help. He never is. But this feels like something other than help. This feels like when Hanks would bandage them up after a fight, like when the lower quarter banded together to help find Flynn after he fell into the canal, like Brave Vesperia catching up to him in the forest, slapping him around for daring to leave them behind. It feels like he isn't alone. ]
[ Coming from anyone else, that would probably hurt, but Flynn knows Yuri, and he knows Yuri when he's tired and hurt, although maybe never like this. He doesn't mean it like that: he just means Flynn is an idiot for apologizing, which is probably true because it isn't like he chose to leave, and he did everything he could to try and get back. He failed, and he is sorry for that, but Yuri doesn't need his apologies.
He isn't... actually sure what Yuri needs, right now.
It feels selfish just to let himself hold Yuri, to feel the wetness seeping through his thin shirt and the hard chill of him, to press his nose into Yuri's lank hair and stay there, breathing with him, but perhaps that's what Yuri needs right now. If it had been Flynn trapped there, he would need this. After his death it was all he wanted: Yuri, strong and real.
Maybe Yuri really does need... at least this. A reminder that he is free, that he isn't trapped anymore, that Flynn is here now even if he'd failed before. Flynn could ask, but he doesn't want to make Yuri talk.
He just nods, wordless, and then pushes a kiss to the bruised skin at Yuri's temple, tasting blood and sweat and not caring. He shifts just enough to pull Yuri's weight entirely onto himself, until he can press the flat of his palm between Yuri's shoulderblades like an anchor and hold him there in warm silence. ]
[ It feels good, really good, to press close to him, to have Flynn be strong when he can't be. He should probably stand on his own feet, he should be stronger, he shoulder pull back and show that he can do this, that he can do it himself, that he doesn't need Flynn to pick up his slack like he has for so long.
But he can't bring him to do it. He can't bring himself to pull back. He feels like a little kid, for a minute, huddling up near the fire, wishing that he didn't have to be alone. It was always a stupid thought, because he was alone. He was alone for a long time, no matter how many people were around, none of them were with Yuri, none of them put him first. At least, until Flynn. And the two of them worked together for so long, did everything together, two halves of a whole, supporting each other, chasing down bullies together, learning to fight together, protecting their quarter together. They leaned on each other, and that was never weak. It was never bad, it was how they lived, how they survived, by the sword, with each other.
It changed when they grew up, when they were no longer together all the time, when Flynn became respectable and important, and Yuri became the nothing that he always was. Without Flynn there, he was alone, with Repede, sure, but still more alone than he was before. Repede is his partner, but he isn't his other half. He didn't let him lean on anyone, he couldn't. He was a whole by himself, he had to be.
But the last few months, being with Flynn all the time, sharing a bed with him again, Yuri feels almost like they're kids again, fighting together, dreaming together, and he knows he's the one who fucked that up, who ruined their plans to be knights together, to carve out their future together. He's the one who left Flynn alone, and he doesn't deserve for Flynn to take on his weight, but here he is, doing it willingly, holding Yuri close when Yuri can't make himself stand on his own two feet.
He wants to stay there, feeling supported, feeling loved, taking those feelings that he should leave for someone else, for someone who deserves Flynn's love, but he wants it. He wants it with a burning ferocity in his heart, that had been an ember, but has climbed up in the last few months and, if he's being honest, much longer. He has no claim over Flynn, not anymore, not ever, really. He has nothing to offer, nothing to give, but he loves him, and it's so simple a fact that it's just a part of him, and the selfish part of himself wants to keep Flynn for himself, and that part he can't let stand.
Minutes, maybe longer, later, he sucks in a breath, and pushes himself up. His eyes are bloodshot, and he doesn't look at Flynn, he can't, but his hand drops to Flynn's squeezing tight. ]
Gonna clean up. Uh, [ He wants to ask Flynn to wait for him, or come with him. He doesn't want help, exactly, but he doesn't want to be alone. ]
[ When was the last time Yuri let anyone hold him like this? The weight of his head against Flynn's shoulder is a fragile thing: he isn't all that heavy and Flynn feels trapped with it anyway, like if he moves too much or breathes wrong Yuri will realize what he's doing and get up and leave, and Flynn is content to let time stretch until his limbs go numb. At some point, he tangles his fingers into Yuri's hair and leaves them there, idly petting, reassuring them both that they're really here.
He could stay like this forever, even with Yuri cold and stiff and bloody, but it is probably for the best that Yuri does eventually shift up. Flynn doesn't protest except with a small sigh, lets Yuri tangle their fingers together and meets his eyes for a moment. ]
Come on.
[ Yuri doesn't like the fussing, Flynn knows that, but he also knows that the moment Yuri left him alone when he'd come back his body had closed in on him like a cage. Maybe Yuri is stronger than him, but Flynn isn't willing to risk that.
Repede shifts up off the couch first, his claws clicking on the floor as he heads for the stairs. Flynn stands next, letting the blanket fall off where it had pooled between them, and pulling Yuri with him. ]
[ Yuri doesn't let the blanket go. Maybe it's stupid, but it's important to him. The rest of the paper falls off as he stands up, holding it closer against his bare chest, the jumpsuit hanging around his hips. He stays close to Flynn as they climb the stairs. His legs feel exhausted, like he's been sick for days, or just walked miles on miles and, maybe, he did both. He lost so much blood to that place, doesn't know what they're going to do with it.
He pauses by the bathroom, holding the blanket against his chest. He isn't really going to ask Flynn to come in with him. He can handle this. He can be alone.
With more effort than he wants to admit, he pushes the blanket into Flynn's hands and offers him something like a smile, but it comes out more like a grimace ]
[ You don't have to be alone, he wants to say. I'll help, let me help, please, all I want to do is help—
But he swallows the words, curling his fingers into the blanket, watching Yuri's pain-lined face for a moment. Determination sets his blood-smeared jaw, and Flynn recognizes that look from himself, knows that he had to try and do this alone, too, to prove that he could.
Instead of pushing forward to help, Flynn lets out a breath and leans in with the blanket between them to kiss Yuri, soft and slow. ]
[ Yuri's emotions aren't under his control. He wants them to be, wants to play this cool, that being trapped for days on end, having his blood siphoned out of him, that that meant nothing to him. That he's fine, that he's strong and solid and that Flynn doesn't need to worry about him.
But then Flynn kisses him and it's all he can do not to grab onto him and never let go. Flynn makes him feel safe, and that scares him. It scares him to still want to be close to Flynn like this, like those years when he was on his own don't matter, like he's still a kid who wants to be with Flynn, always. Who wants to watch his back and have Flynn at his.
But when Flynn pulls back, Yuri doesn't hold on, even though he wants to. ]
Yeah, thanks.
[ He manages to say it, his voice thick, then makes himself step back into the bathroom.
With the door shut and the water on, warming up, he can drop to the ground, wrapping his arms around his legs. He's so tired, bone tired, and cold, frigid cold without Flynn and that blanket (that blanket that Flynn got for him, for his birthday, because he remembered even though Yuri doesn't think of it as being another year older, he can't. Not yet) and Flynn kissed him like that's still something they do and he doesn't know what it means but he likes it and wants to keep it for himself, selfish and needy when he should be strong and solid.
The air in the bathroom heats up, and eventually, Yuri manages to step into the shower, the jumpsuit still on and getting soaked until he unbuttons it and lets it drop down to his ankles. The water stings on the fragile skin Flynn knit up over his wounds, but he doesn't care. He doesn't care, and he stands there, letting the water rush over him, those awful, annoying emotions welling up in him, and at least he can cry in here because it's already wet. He isn't crying, his face is just burning and wet from the shower.
It takes a long time for him to feel up to washing his hair, but he has to. It's awful and tangled and it takes forever to sort out even with soap to help. At least it's a familiar task, working on it keeps his hands busy while his head fills with static.
He's home. He's safe. Flynn is here. Flynn is safe. Flynn still wants him.
His mind skipped around so much when he was lying there, prone, tied up, unable to do anything but think. He would think about Flynn, about kissing him, about what that might mean. He would think about their relationship, how it's changed, how much he regrets letting it shift, letting them drift apart. It's his fault. It's all his fault, and Flynn doesn't seem to care. Flynn still wants him, and that seems so improbable that it aches, it aches deep in his chest, and he's too afraid to ask, doesn't want to know the answer.
Goddess, he feels so weak. Afraid of talking, of asking a question. When did he get so pathetic?
The thoughts still float in his head when he finally shuts off the water far too long later and walks, zombie-like, out of the bathroom. His hair is dripping, and he knows he should dry off because the water just makes him colder, and he's shivering by the time he gets to their bedroom, his towel wrapped loosely around his hips. ]
How can he not? It's what he does with all his nervous energy, it's where he channels all his feelings: idle hands, idle mind and all that. Flynn's mind when idle is a terrible place, full of spinning thoughts and worry about the future, and it's bleaker now because he can't seem to make himself stop thinking about Yuri, bloody-mouthed and half-beaten, grinning victoriously at him. Yuri had come back to save him in Aurnion and Flynn repaid the favor by doing nothing at all.
He puts on tea, though, and listens closely to the hum of water from upstairs, pours probably too much, dissolves a lemon gel in it, and shoves everything onto a tray to carry back upstairs with numb fingers. At the top, the unexpectedly-slick floor has him nearly tripping, makes him shove his hand down onto the teapot to keep everything from spilling because on the floor is...
...water.
Of course.
He snorts, and it tips into helpless laughter that shakes his shoulders as he skirts the rest of the drops, heading into their bedroom. ]
[ The laughter startles him, still naked but now wrapped in the blanket (so warm, like when he's sleeping with Flynn at night, their limbs tangled together, Flynn's body warm, so warm against his). He looks up and a smile just touches his lips when Flynn comes in the room. He's tired, or else he'd be better at putting on a face about all of this. ]
What, you thought I'd be changed or something?
[ It's a joke, but, well.
Maybe he should be.
The smile falters when his eyes meet Flynn's. He wishes he were better at pretending right now. Pretending like everything that happened wasn't horrible, wasn't awful, wasn't a painful experience to go through, physically, emotionally, mentally.
He takes a shaky breath and looks down at Repede, curled by next to him on the bed ]
[ Kind of, Flynn doesn't say, and presses the tray carefully onto their small beside table with his heart in his throat. He hates that look on Yuri's face, hates the faltering smile and the quiet, the odd pallor to his skin and those strange fangs. Flynn has no idea what to do, what's going on: he's out of his depth and sick with worry and has been for days now. He's running on barely any sleep and too-little food, heartsick exhaustion making his limbs heavy and his head slow.
All he can do is sink down on Yuri's other side and wrap an arm around him. ]
It's okay if you are.
[ The words come out unbidden, quiet in the still air. ]
I would be. If I'd been... trapped there. It was horrible. I can't imagine. Or—I imagined it too much. I'm... so glad you're alright.
[ Yuri's eyes fall shut, and he doesn't move, but the weight of Flynn's arm helps. It's comforting, familiar, makes him feel a little less crazy after everything that happened to him. ]
Knew you'd be torturing yourself over it. I'm-- [ not fine, not really ] alive. I got out.
[ Some people didn't, and that hurts to think about. It hurts to think about that place, about all the people dying in there, people used for others' gain.
His hands curl in the blanket, deciding to change the subject ]
This is nice. [ The blanket ] What kind of magic is it?
[ Like Yuri wouldn't have been torturing himself, too. Like Yuri would have been any less frantic, any less upset, although possibly more measured: he has always been slightly more cool-headed in a crisis than Flynn.
But he is alive, and that is what matters. Everything else they can deal with later. Flynn won't push him while he's still so cold and so subdued. ]
Blood magic. What else?
[ He can't tell Yuri the details of it, because he figures he won't like those at all: how he went to a small strange shop in Prufrock and sat there for hours with blood draining from his arm, how his blood infuses that red, red thread and radiates the heat Yuri always seems to be missing. ]
It was a strange process to watch, but it seems to work, and they made it in such a way that the pollution was lessened. Used it all, cleared the air afterwards.
[ Should he be disgusted by that? He's too tired and it's to warm to be, and if Flynn thought it was okay, well.
He trusts Flynn. Trusts his judgement, and touched that he would even think of getting Yuri a present (is it because they're having sex, now? Did that change their relationship so much that gifts got involved?).
Too tired, he sags against Flynn, nodding his head. ]
Do weird stuff with blood, here. Y'know, that's what they wanted. Blood. My blood, Kaeya's blood, Lysithea's. [ Flynn's ] Took it. Lots of it. So fucking tired, Flynn.
[ Flynn sucks in a sharp breath at the words and the weight of Yuri's head both.
It makes sense. Of course it does: they'd been collecting blood by the buckets, and there's only one place to get blood, and of course Yuri had gotten himself trapped again, because Flynn wasn't there to help him and they likely would have been overwhelmed eventually anyway.
And he'd known, distantly, that other people must be trapped there as well, because the city was quiet and haunted by zealots.
And Yuri is tired because he was bled for Goddess-knows-how-long, there in that awful place alone. Flynn presses his nose into Yuri's still-damp hair, trying to make himself breathe. ]
The people who were taking it were also out hunting Sleepers down. I tried to get one to bring me back to the tower. It's impossible to find on your own.
Flynn-- [ A small part of him rails against Flynn trying to find that place, trying to get stuck there again, that Yuri can handle it, that Flynn should stay out here, stay free. He's more important than that.
But Flynn would hate it if he said any of that out loud. ]
Fuck. Bet tons of people are still in there. Gotta do something.
I wasn't better off out here with you still in there.
[ Flynn bites out. It's not a negotiable thing in his own head: leaving Yuri in there to bleed out was an unacceptable outcome, something he could never even have considered, no matter what Yuri says, no matter the risk to his own life. If they'd have died in there together then at least when they'd come back together they could have figured something out. Better than letting Yuri think he was in there alone without any support while Flynn moved on with his life.
Which might not be what Yuri thinks. Flynn doesn't know anymore: he's too tired to think clearly, catastrophizing where he shouldn't be, and he knows it. He turns his head, pressing his forehead against Yuri's. ]
I'm always going to come back for you. You have to know that.
[ Emotion balls up in Yuri's throat. He's the one who should be saying that, not Flynn. Flynn's the one who's worth a damn to the world, the one who can change things. He's the one who grew up, who moved on, who became someone great, who shouldn't be with Yuri. Yuri knows that, knows that Flynn could do so much better than him. That Flynn could be with someone as great as he is, but for some reason he kissed Yuri, gives him presents, risks his life to look for him.
Yuri doesn't deserve that. He doesn't need that. But he sure as hell wants it. He wants it in a way that makes him kind of sick. He wants Flynn, he wants Flynn to stay with him, to want him. He doesn't want Flynn to risk his life for him, no, but everything else?
[ Flynn didn't, maybe, on the surface, but deep down he knows very well: Yuri is too good to abandon Flynn, too kind and compassionate and stubborn to ever leave someone in trouble when he could do something about it. ]
So don't you dare tell me not to come after you. I don't want to hear it.
[ The thing is, he's so tired. He could let it be. He could just nod and say "yes, of course, Flynn," but he's not in a coherent enough headspace to say that and only that. ]
Shouldn't.
[ He murmurs it against Flynn's shoulder, his eyes falling shut. He should really sleep, or eat something at least. His body feels heavy, weak ]
What would it do, Flynn? Then we'd both be stuck in there. Don't want, don't want that to happen to you. Don't want to see you like that. Too good [ For that, too good to let that happen to. ]
[ That thing flares in Flynn all over again. He can't move—Yuri is leaning on him like he never does, heavy-headed and exhausted—but he clutches tighter to Yuri all the same, something like anger simmering in his belly.
He shouldn't engage. He knows that. Yuri is exhausted and talking more than he ever does, and Flynn knows very well what ridiculous things he'd said when he was shaky-limbed from his own rebirth, chased by memories of dying. He'd been full of fear and guilt and shame all at once that Yuri had to support him like that, and he can only imagine Yuri is feeling some combination of the same thing under the leaden wall of exhaustion pressing him down.
With a rough sound, Flynn tugs at Yuri, pulling him back along the bed to make him lie down. ]
[ "Yes" Yuri would say, if he didn't still have some sense of self-preservation left in him. Some things are better left unsaid, and even his exhausted mind knows that.
He drops back onto the bed, curling up with the blanket wrapped tight around him. He doesn't want to let it go, too warm both from the heat and from the knowledge that Flynn gave this to him, Flynn thought about what he might want or need and got this for him, and that makes him feel all sorts of things. ]
I-- dunno. Make a better plan than "get stuck in there again."
[ Flynn moves with him, letting Yuri get settled before he tugs the blanket down around his feet, too, and moves to lie beside him. Maybe it's selfish of him to want to stay so close when Yuri probably just wants to sleep, but Flynn can't make himself move away. ]
I had a better plan.
[ He shifts a little closer still, watches Repede stretch out along Yuri's other side. ]
[ It's a stupid plan, and Yuri laughs, just a small puff of laughter. Flynn is close, and that's what matters because he's damned weak, too weak to push Flynn away like he probably should. He wants this so, so much ]
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He leans into the hug, breath hitching, eyes tired and wet, his face pressing into Flynn's shoulder. ]
Shut up.
[ It's mumbled, tired and annoyed ]
Shut the fuck up, Flynn.
[ Let him have this. Let him enjoy that you did something for him, that he feels-- good for the first time in days, maybe longer. He feels better and feels taken care of, and he's not good at feeling taken care of, but right now he's tired and weak and it feels good to have Flynn there with him, have Flynn trying to help him, that he can lean on Flynn, literally and not, that Flynn wants to be there for him.
He's not good at accepting help. He never is. But this feels like something other than help. This feels like when Hanks would bandage them up after a fight, like when the lower quarter banded together to help find Flynn after he fell into the canal, like Brave Vesperia catching up to him in the forest, slapping him around for daring to leave them behind. It feels like he isn't alone. ]
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He isn't... actually sure what Yuri needs, right now.
It feels selfish just to let himself hold Yuri, to feel the wetness seeping through his thin shirt and the hard chill of him, to press his nose into Yuri's lank hair and stay there, breathing with him, but perhaps that's what Yuri needs right now. If it had been Flynn trapped there, he would need this. After his death it was all he wanted: Yuri, strong and real.
Maybe Yuri really does need... at least this. A reminder that he is free, that he isn't trapped anymore, that Flynn is here now even if he'd failed before. Flynn could ask, but he doesn't want to make Yuri talk.
He just nods, wordless, and then pushes a kiss to the bruised skin at Yuri's temple, tasting blood and sweat and not caring. He shifts just enough to pull Yuri's weight entirely onto himself, until he can press the flat of his palm between Yuri's shoulderblades like an anchor and hold him there in warm silence. ]
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But he can't bring him to do it. He can't bring himself to pull back. He feels like a little kid, for a minute, huddling up near the fire, wishing that he didn't have to be alone. It was always a stupid thought, because he was alone. He was alone for a long time, no matter how many people were around, none of them were with Yuri, none of them put him first. At least, until Flynn. And the two of them worked together for so long, did everything together, two halves of a whole, supporting each other, chasing down bullies together, learning to fight together, protecting their quarter together. They leaned on each other, and that was never weak. It was never bad, it was how they lived, how they survived, by the sword, with each other.
It changed when they grew up, when they were no longer together all the time, when Flynn became respectable and important, and Yuri became the nothing that he always was. Without Flynn there, he was alone, with Repede, sure, but still more alone than he was before. Repede is his partner, but he isn't his other half. He didn't let him lean on anyone, he couldn't. He was a whole by himself, he had to be.
But the last few months, being with Flynn all the time, sharing a bed with him again, Yuri feels almost like they're kids again, fighting together, dreaming together, and he knows he's the one who fucked that up, who ruined their plans to be knights together, to carve out their future together. He's the one who left Flynn alone, and he doesn't deserve for Flynn to take on his weight, but here he is, doing it willingly, holding Yuri close when Yuri can't make himself stand on his own two feet.
He wants to stay there, feeling supported, feeling loved, taking those feelings that he should leave for someone else, for someone who deserves Flynn's love, but he wants it. He wants it with a burning ferocity in his heart, that had been an ember, but has climbed up in the last few months and, if he's being honest, much longer. He has no claim over Flynn, not anymore, not ever, really. He has nothing to offer, nothing to give, but he loves him, and it's so simple a fact that it's just a part of him, and the selfish part of himself wants to keep Flynn for himself, and that part he can't let stand.
Minutes, maybe longer, later, he sucks in a breath, and pushes himself up. His eyes are bloodshot, and he doesn't look at Flynn, he can't, but his hand drops to Flynn's squeezing tight. ]
Gonna clean up. Uh, [ He wants to ask Flynn to wait for him, or come with him. He doesn't want help, exactly, but he doesn't want to be alone. ]
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He could stay like this forever, even with Yuri cold and stiff and bloody, but it is probably for the best that Yuri does eventually shift up. Flynn doesn't protest except with a small sigh, lets Yuri tangle their fingers together and meets his eyes for a moment. ]
Come on.
[ Yuri doesn't like the fussing, Flynn knows that, but he also knows that the moment Yuri left him alone when he'd come back his body had closed in on him like a cage. Maybe Yuri is stronger than him, but Flynn isn't willing to risk that.
Repede shifts up off the couch first, his claws clicking on the floor as he heads for the stairs. Flynn stands next, letting the blanket fall off where it had pooled between them, and pulling Yuri with him. ]
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He pauses by the bathroom, holding the blanket against his chest. He isn't really going to ask Flynn to come in with him. He can handle this. He can be alone.
With more effort than he wants to admit, he pushes the blanket into Flynn's hands and offers him something like a smile, but it comes out more like a grimace ]
I'll be quick.
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[ You don't have to be alone, he wants to say. I'll help, let me help, please, all I want to do is help—
But he swallows the words, curling his fingers into the blanket, watching Yuri's pain-lined face for a moment. Determination sets his blood-smeared jaw, and Flynn recognizes that look from himself, knows that he had to try and do this alone, too, to prove that he could.
Instead of pushing forward to help, Flynn lets out a breath and leans in with the blanket between them to kiss Yuri, soft and slow. ]
Call me when you're done. I'll heat up some tea.
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But then Flynn kisses him and it's all he can do not to grab onto him and never let go. Flynn makes him feel safe, and that scares him. It scares him to still want to be close to Flynn like this, like those years when he was on his own don't matter, like he's still a kid who wants to be with Flynn, always. Who wants to watch his back and have Flynn at his.
But when Flynn pulls back, Yuri doesn't hold on, even though he wants to. ]
Yeah, thanks.
[ He manages to say it, his voice thick, then makes himself step back into the bathroom.
With the door shut and the water on, warming up, he can drop to the ground, wrapping his arms around his legs. He's so tired, bone tired, and cold, frigid cold without Flynn and that blanket (that blanket that Flynn got for him, for his birthday, because he remembered even though Yuri doesn't think of it as being another year older, he can't. Not yet) and Flynn kissed him like that's still something they do and he doesn't know what it means but he likes it and wants to keep it for himself, selfish and needy when he should be strong and solid.
The air in the bathroom heats up, and eventually, Yuri manages to step into the shower, the jumpsuit still on and getting soaked until he unbuttons it and lets it drop down to his ankles. The water stings on the fragile skin Flynn knit up over his wounds, but he doesn't care. He doesn't care, and he stands there, letting the water rush over him, those awful, annoying emotions welling up in him, and at least he can cry in here because it's already wet. He isn't crying, his face is just burning and wet from the shower.
It takes a long time for him to feel up to washing his hair, but he has to. It's awful and tangled and it takes forever to sort out even with soap to help. At least it's a familiar task, working on it keeps his hands busy while his head fills with static.
He's home. He's safe. Flynn is here. Flynn is safe. Flynn still wants him.
His mind skipped around so much when he was lying there, prone, tied up, unable to do anything but think. He would think about Flynn, about kissing him, about what that might mean. He would think about their relationship, how it's changed, how much he regrets letting it shift, letting them drift apart. It's his fault. It's all his fault, and Flynn doesn't seem to care. Flynn still wants him, and that seems so improbable that it aches, it aches deep in his chest, and he's too afraid to ask, doesn't want to know the answer.
Goddess, he feels so weak. Afraid of talking, of asking a question. When did he get so pathetic?
The thoughts still float in his head when he finally shuts off the water far too long later and walks, zombie-like, out of the bathroom. His hair is dripping, and he knows he should dry off because the water just makes him colder, and he's shivering by the time he gets to their bedroom, his towel wrapped loosely around his hips. ]
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How can he not? It's what he does with all his nervous energy, it's where he channels all his feelings: idle hands, idle mind and all that. Flynn's mind when idle is a terrible place, full of spinning thoughts and worry about the future, and it's bleaker now because he can't seem to make himself stop thinking about Yuri, bloody-mouthed and half-beaten, grinning victoriously at him. Yuri had come back to save him in Aurnion and Flynn repaid the favor by doing nothing at all.
He puts on tea, though, and listens closely to the hum of water from upstairs, pours probably too much, dissolves a lemon gel in it, and shoves everything onto a tray to carry back upstairs with numb fingers. At the top, the unexpectedly-slick floor has him nearly tripping, makes him shove his hand down onto the teapot to keep everything from spilling because on the floor is...
...water.
Of course.
He snorts, and it tips into helpless laughter that shakes his shoulders as he skirts the rest of the drops, heading into their bedroom. ]
You made a mess, as usual.
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What, you thought I'd be changed or something?
[ It's a joke, but, well.
Maybe he should be.
The smile falters when his eyes meet Flynn's. He wishes he were better at pretending right now. Pretending like everything that happened wasn't horrible, wasn't awful, wasn't a painful experience to go through, physically, emotionally, mentally.
He takes a shaky breath and looks down at Repede, curled by next to him on the bed ]
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All he can do is sink down on Yuri's other side and wrap an arm around him. ]
It's okay if you are.
[ The words come out unbidden, quiet in the still air. ]
I would be. If I'd been... trapped there. It was horrible. I can't imagine. Or—I imagined it too much. I'm... so glad you're alright.
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Knew you'd be torturing yourself over it. I'm-- [ not fine, not really ] alive. I got out.
[ Some people didn't, and that hurts to think about. It hurts to think about that place, about all the people dying in there, people used for others' gain.
His hands curl in the blanket, deciding to change the subject ]
This is nice. [ The blanket ] What kind of magic is it?
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But he is alive, and that is what matters. Everything else they can deal with later. Flynn won't push him while he's still so cold and so subdued. ]
Blood magic. What else?
[ He can't tell Yuri the details of it, because he figures he won't like those at all: how he went to a small strange shop in Prufrock and sat there for hours with blood draining from his arm, how his blood infuses that red, red thread and radiates the heat Yuri always seems to be missing. ]
It was a strange process to watch, but it seems to work, and they made it in such a way that the pollution was lessened. Used it all, cleared the air afterwards.
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[ Should he be disgusted by that? He's too tired and it's to warm to be, and if Flynn thought it was okay, well.
He trusts Flynn. Trusts his judgement, and touched that he would even think of getting Yuri a present (is it because they're having sex, now? Did that change their relationship so much that gifts got involved?).
Too tired, he sags against Flynn, nodding his head. ]
Do weird stuff with blood, here. Y'know, that's what they wanted. Blood. My blood, Kaeya's blood, Lysithea's. [ Flynn's ] Took it. Lots of it. So fucking tired, Flynn.
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It makes sense. Of course it does: they'd been collecting blood by the buckets, and there's only one place to get blood, and of course Yuri had gotten himself trapped again, because Flynn wasn't there to help him and they likely would have been overwhelmed eventually anyway.
And he'd known, distantly, that other people must be trapped there as well, because the city was quiet and haunted by zealots.
And Yuri is tired because he was bled for Goddess-knows-how-long, there in that awful place alone. Flynn presses his nose into Yuri's still-damp hair, trying to make himself breathe. ]
The people who were taking it were also out hunting Sleepers down. I tried to get one to bring me back to the tower. It's impossible to find on your own.
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But Flynn would hate it if he said any of that out loud. ]
Fuck. Bet tons of people are still in there. Gotta do something.
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If you were about to tell me I shouldn't have been trying—
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He shakes his head, letting out a sigh, and stays close because Flynn is warm and it feels good to be close to him like this. ]
I was going to say that you're better off out here. I don't want you to get, get trapped in there again. Dunno if you'll be as lucky next time.
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[ Flynn bites out. It's not a negotiable thing in his own head: leaving Yuri in there to bleed out was an unacceptable outcome, something he could never even have considered, no matter what Yuri says, no matter the risk to his own life. If they'd have died in there together then at least when they'd come back together they could have figured something out. Better than letting Yuri think he was in there alone without any support while Flynn moved on with his life.
Which might not be what Yuri thinks. Flynn doesn't know anymore: he's too tired to think clearly, catastrophizing where he shouldn't be, and he knows it. He turns his head, pressing his forehead against Yuri's. ]
I'm always going to come back for you. You have to know that.
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Yuri doesn't deserve that. He doesn't need that. But he sure as hell wants it. He wants it in a way that makes him kind of sick. He wants Flynn, he wants Flynn to stay with him, to want him. He doesn't want Flynn to risk his life for him, no, but everything else?
Yeah. He wants that. ]
And you know I'll do the same thing.
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[ Flynn didn't, maybe, on the surface, but deep down he knows very well: Yuri is too good to abandon Flynn, too kind and compassionate and stubborn to ever leave someone in trouble when he could do something about it. ]
So don't you dare tell me not to come after you. I don't want to hear it.
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Shouldn't.
[ He murmurs it against Flynn's shoulder, his eyes falling shut. He should really sleep, or eat something at least. His body feels heavy, weak ]
What would it do, Flynn? Then we'd both be stuck in there. Don't want, don't want that to happen to you. Don't want to see you like that. Too good [ For that, too good to let that happen to. ]
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He shouldn't engage. He knows that. Yuri is exhausted and talking more than he ever does, and Flynn knows very well what ridiculous things he'd said when he was shaky-limbed from his own rebirth, chased by memories of dying. He'd been full of fear and guilt and shame all at once that Yuri had to support him like that, and he can only imagine Yuri is feeling some combination of the same thing under the leaden wall of exhaustion pressing him down.
With a rough sound, Flynn tugs at Yuri, pulling him back along the bed to make him lie down. ]
What would you have me do instead? Abandon you?
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He drops back onto the bed, curling up with the blanket wrapped tight around him. He doesn't want to let it go, too warm both from the heat and from the knowledge that Flynn gave this to him, Flynn thought about what he might want or need and got this for him, and that makes him feel all sorts of things. ]
I-- dunno. Make a better plan than "get stuck in there again."
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I had a better plan.
[ He shifts a little closer still, watches Repede stretch out along Yuri's other side. ]
It was "get Yuri out too."
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Oh, yeah? How were you gonna do that?
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