[ From his position on the floor; fetal and trembling, Hunter is strangely aware that some of the following pain isn’t just his own. It’s different. Connected, but different. It isn’t coming from him this time. Not his own body, not his mind.
And then he can feel the vibration of footsteps. Heavy, thudding sounds before the bang on the door comes. He reached a hand out but he didn’t really need it to unlock the door at all so when it clicks he just drops his hand back down and takes a breath.
[ the world seems to sway on it's axis even as baein barely moves, doesn't look away from hunter, eyes wide and lips parted. he hears him, but the words are muffled as if there's cotton in his ears, his own breaths a little too loud in his own head. when he finally stumbles half a step further into the room, almost slips and stumbles to catch himself against the sink, the world seems to slow down around himself and hunter, particles and droplets of blood in the air floating around them like a slow moving morbid mist.
baein doesn't even try to stop himself as he all but slips to fall to his knees in front of hunter, feeling the slippery wet of blood against his bare skin.
and the door somehow slams shut behind him without him moving a muscle. ]
What's... going on...?
[ it startles him how his voice comes out like a wheeze and barely able to squeeze through his windpipe, and baein breath's hitches, hands shaking as he reaches out to touch hunter. ]
[ confusion laces through baein's brain for a second as hunter takes his hand and then the world stops. everything freezes in place besides himself and the feeling of hunter's hand on his. the sounds of their breaths is the only noise audible, growing loud enough it echoes against the tiled floor they're sitting on, bouncing between the walls and washing over them like waves.
and it burns. hunter's fingers against his skin has pain lacing up baein's arm like hungry snakes and spreading like branches of agony out over his chest and his back and oh. oh, i've felt this before he thinks vaguely as he chokes on a strangled noise, eyes growing wide before he starts to slowly tip forward, body convulsing through the pain slicing down his shoulderblades.
he can't hear himself scream, white noise rushing through his ears as something wet and tangled and sharp claws its way through his skin and bursts open his back in a mangled mess of blood, circuits, feathers and bone. they look broken, feathers tattered and stripped of down, now adorning sharp and jagged pieces of skeleton sticking out the wings hanging limply down his back. they tremble as they— he tries to move, and baein whimpers as it only serves pain to bloom across his back and out into limbs he didn't even know he had. ]
[ …they feel it at the same time; and maybe it does hurt but Hunters body is already in shock from his own…rebirth or whatever this mess is, that he doesn’t feel it.
But he has to watch it. Turning away from it or closing his eyes feels wrong so he doesn’t. He watched every agonizing second until the screaming stops and the others body is left feeling much like his own. The first instinct he has is to push himself up off off the floor enough to reach for him. To pull him closer as gently as he can, using the blood coating the tile to help the process.
His own wings are w bloody, twitching mess, the bottom half hacked away but he knows he can heal them. He can. Just like everything else. But he can’t do it right now. And even if he could…
…he takes a long look over the others back and knows he would help him first.
Hunter reaches for his face and he isn’t sure when he started to cry but he had. Silently. But his gaze is soft on the others face. ]
I’ll help you as soon as I stop feeling like I might pass out from a trillion paper cuts.
[ baein exhales on a gasped shudder as hunter pulls him close, and all at once, the frozen mist around them suddenly is awash in life again as droplets of blood rain down on them when baein's meager grasp on time slips through his fingers.
he didn't even know he was holding on to begin with. but he curls his fingers against hunter's skin, tugs him closer still, not wanting to let go. ]
Hunter— n-no, you... your back. I-I... I can—
[ on the verge of hyperventilating, baein breathes through the pain flitting back and forth between his sensors as he desperately tries to lower the frequency as best he can when his mind isn't swimming with questions and low key panic. he can't have his anxiety flare now, he can't, he refuses. ]
[ baein's breath hitches once, twice, and it feels like his heart skips a couple of beats when it too stutters in his chest before his body finally sags against hunter's. ]
Calm. Right. Calm... I'm— calm.
[ there's a few more moments where baein quietly lets himself regain his equilibrium, pushing away any thoughts on what's just transpired and instead focusing on hunter's breaths, and the way his nerves goes silent and still the further down he dials his sensors. you'd think he'd fallen asleep if it wasn't for the skip in breath as he shifts. his voice is slurred and slow as he finally finds his words again, marginally more relaxed than before. ]
You spoke t' me. In m' head. [ swallowing, baein turns around to try and catch hunter's eyes. ] What... wha's happenin'? Your back— you... you're bleedin'.
[ the calmer Baein gets the more Hunter feels his own brain start to slip. Blood loss maybe? Shock? Whatever it is, the pain has begun to fade into an ache down his spine.
He swallows and licks his lips. They taste like copper and salt and he winces. ]
I can do that…when it happened I just thought…you….and Sungki…
[ he takes another breath and breathes the Fae’s name one more time before he slips into a weird sort of unconsciousness.
[ the taste of blood is almost a little overwhelming and baein can imagine it's the same for hunter when they're both breathing in all the red saturated into the air around them. ]
Telepch— telepahsg— [ baein lets out a frustrated noise when his lips won't form the words. ] Tele---thing. Read minds...?
[ despite the pain, something in his chest settles when hunter mentions he called for baein too. it's a sense of belonging he doesn't have anywhere else, and the hacker lets it sink into his bones. his own eyes droop a little as he starts to slip under too. he only startles away when there's no immediate reply, and baein shudders against the other, fingers tightening a little on hunter's arms. ]
Hunter... 'nter...?
[ but the farther hunter slips, baein's mind seems to follow right along, words fading on his lips. ]
[before anything else, lavender starts to cry. sungki hears it even from a few rooms away, along with daeshim's hushed but worried voice. what should be a normal sound for a baby is actually quite ominous, like the cawing a crow as it flies through the night, or the sound of a baying black dog just outside your window.
lavender doesn't cry, and he's already wondering what will follow when hunter's panicked voice tears through his mind, sharper than ever before. sungki hisses at it, but also at how his name isn't the only one on his boyfriend's mental tongue. it's not even first.
to be addressed later. the fae stands and leaves their room, glancing in the direction of lavender's crying, which seems to have gotten louder. dae will be properly distracted for awhile. he continues on to the bathroom, a quick march, but he doesn't run. his face is impassive, even if his heart is pounding against his ribs like the wild animal it is. he barely even pauses at the closed bathroom door, the doorknob already molten and dripping before sungki pushes it the rest of the way open.
he knows the smell of hunter's blood intimately. and the painted room is so thick with it that he can even taste it on his tongue. something in him tenses, but he still doesn't panic - hunter isn't dead. their lives are still tied together, so as long as he has breath, the other breathes too. he is hunter's literal lifeline, because the assumption was that he was the more fragile, vulnerable of the two.
looking down at him now, sungki isn't so sure anymore.
he takes in a deep breath, exhales it slowly, and then crouches down to stroke his fingers along hunter's hair.]
I knew you were a monster. I didn't realize that you were the worst kind.
[the monsters that still have mankind fooled, so many still believing that angels are on their sides, never realizing that their "prayers" are as binding as any fae dealing. sungki smiles at him fondly, but that smile drops as he looks at the two of them tangled together. he reaches to try and pry bae's fingers from him, and if successful, carefully lifts hunter to carry him to their room.
he gives bae's prone body a glance. he's someone else's problem.
a minute later and he returns for him too, grumbling human curses under his breath. the both of them will be carried to his and hunter's bed, placed careful onto their stomachs. the three mothlings emerge from the closet and approach.]
You know where Hunter keeps his first-aid kit. Take care of them as best you can. I'll handle the bathroom.
[ somewhere deep in the darkness it feels like he’s floating in - he’s aware of Sungki. Aware that he’s there. Aware that he’s upset…but he can’t do anything about it. That one word, though, echoes in his head loud enough that he curls a bit against whatever he’s on.
That’s what they called him, too…
…and then he’s gone. Panic rises inside of him but he can’t move. It’s like he’s in a cage again, limbs heavy, suffocating. But it all comes in these little waves.
Nothing, and then enough consciousness to panic before it’s drawn back into the darkness like a wave.
How long he stays like this, he isn’t certain. Isn’t even sure he cares.
But his eyes slowly open to the feeling of hands probing and wiping at his back. He flinches and hisses softly—oh…it’s the mothlings. Baein is still out but he expected that. ]
Sungki. Where….
[ It’s enough. He can mend what’s left later. He wants Sungki. So naturally, he nudges at the mothlings and even if he’s tired and broken in more ways than one, he does manage to push himself up. The wings at his back tremble but he tucks them in close and just breathes. ]
[ the last time baein was knocked out in this way, he was comatose for half a week as his whole cybernetic system needed time to reboot. granted, he did turn back time then, stopped death, defied some measure of fate, even. this time, slowing down time was merely an accidental shocked reaction, like when you sneeze. it happens, and you can't really stop it. no, this time is different.
however the world is no less a thick, oppressive and dark void, but it's less muted as his sensors are still operating, though very slowly, sluggishly and numb. he's so tired, it's all he can do to try to listen, try to focus on anything but the searing and simmering agony along his spine, pulsating with every breath he believes he's taking. the rest of his body feels so far away when he can't move, can't even think straight. so instead he tries to zero in on the warmth of hunter's presence, and how it multiplies into two as someone else (sungki?) joins them.
he can't even hold on or protest as hunter starts to slip away, and cold panic washes over his mind because it feels wrong, like a part of him is fading away and he's slipping, tethering on an edge. last time, he could somehow feel jasper and daeshim there, a constant, comforting presence, but now— he barely notices someone returning before he drops a little further into the dark molasses of his mind.
waking up feels a little bit like being slammed back into his body with a suddenness that steals his breath away, and baein gasps, immediately wincing as the motion has zaps of pain lacing down his spine, and he squeezes his eyes shut with a low noise.
he can feel hunter's presence again, and it's also the first thing on his mind. the hacker shifts his head slightly to look around, though any movement has his sensors screech and he has to hitch on air, voice a little unsteady. ]
[the mothlings' antennae tremble, and their bodies too, like they're receiving some incoming message. and then they push back against hunter again, gentle but insistent. and in hunter's mind, a real-time montage: sungki in the bathroom, a gallon of bleach, bloody water being wrung out of a sponge and streaking down his face as he focuses on his work.
and then he's back again, the mothlings retreating behind him until they vanish and take flight to circle around the lightbulb. the fae's face is still stained with drying streaks, and his previously white shirt is now a disgusting shade of muddy red. sungki peels it off over his head and gives it a toss into the corner, sighing before he turns to observe them.]
[ he protests a little against the Mothlings; gently trying to swat at their hands but he stalls to watch the vision, if that’s what it is, and he reluctantly gives into their little fluttering hands. ]
…I would have cleaned it…it’s my mess…
[ calling Sungki wasn’t for the purpose of cleaning it up. But now that he’s awake, he’s able to let everything settle in his mind. Everything that had been locked away, he now knows why. All of it was painful. Every last memory hurt him in ways that he hadn’t even known. Shaped the things he did and the person he was today.
Some of the images stick out more than others and he can feel the tears coming again, albeit silently. It isn’t a physical pain so much as spiritual.
He doesn’t immediately look to Baein when he feels him jostle on the bed beside him, but he moves his hand closer to quiet him. ]
I’m here…it’s okay. The Mothlings are helping.
[ he feels guilt for that. They shouldn’t be getting their pretty white fuzzies stained anymore than Sungki should be cleaning up their horror filled bathroom.
He wets his lips and hooks their pinkies together. ]
I knew there was something about you.
[ but then he feels him and he immediately wants to move—apologize, cling to him, cry, yell, everything all at once. The Mothlings scatter and he finally does start to move, but he stalls again and just watches Sungki.
Truthfully, the sight of him like that would have triggered an entirely different emotion if this wasn’t the cause of it.
He could say anything. He could. But his mind hurts and his heart hurts. ]
I’d give you anything you ever wanted as long as it meant you’d never leave me.
[ it takes a moment for the hacker to realize what hunter's talking about, and guilt immediately floods his mind, both because it's baein's mess too, he added to it, to the pain and the blood and— his mind quiets when hunter reaches for him, and he sags where he lays, trying to breathe a little slower even as he can feel hands on him, on his back. oh. the mothlings. and... oh. ]
I... [ hunter's fingers are warm against his, and baein moves his hand around to brush it against the other's and curling his pinkie in turn. ] Yeah. Somehow, I knew it too. About you.
[ the scent of blood is still hanging in the air until it mingles with the sharpness of bleach and baein shifts to turn and face the door in time to see sungki discard his shirt.
honestly, baein doesn't know what to think, but he keeps quiet as hunter speaks. this isn't his moment, and he's almost surprised that he's even allowed in this room with hunter in the first place, and that he wasn't left behind on the bathroom floor.
because he's here in hunter's and sungki's room, probably bleeding on their mattress too. ]
[hunter's mess is his mess, just as much as the opposite is true. sungki arches his brow at his words, a little smirk immediately curving his lips.]
Deal.
[he's never going to leave him anyway, but if he can get a little extra something out of it... he's a fae, okay?]
What happened? Tell me.
[he glances from one to the other. he knows what happened, that much is obvious. what he means is what triggered it. why now?
he frowns after a moment.]
And you can stop doing that now.
[he gestures. the pinkie thing. otherwise he will crawl between the two of you, he doesn't care how injured you are.
but for now he finds himself on hunter's side of the bed, curling the back of his fingers against his cheek while he takes a closer look at his injuries.]
[ what Baein and Hunter have is still something he’s going to have to think about a little longer. It’s confusing, to say the least but he knows he wouldn’t exist without the other. In a literal sense. Complicated. It’s all complicated and everything is too fresh right now to even try and pull it all apart.
But when Sungki smirks, something in him softens. He won’t leave…
He didn’t believe he would but confirmation always helps. Especially when you’re partially split open.
He smiles faintly and then blinks and slowly pulls his hand from Baeins with a small pout. It isn’t like that.
Twisting a little more towards Sungki he knows he won’t lie to him. He never would. ]
Things between Lennon and I officially ended. There is no more elephant in the room. It’s done. Completely.
[ …more thanks to Lennon than anything. ]
I don’t know how I ended up in the shower, but I was there, and then…everything hurt. Something snapped in my head and then…everything was there all at once. I couldn’t stop them from…
[ he trails off and reaches for the bottoms where the wings are hacked at…]
They did this…
[ but then he glances at Baein… ]
We’re connected somehow. It’s why I called both of you. I knew it would happen to him before it did.
[ there's no way baein can compartmentalize and make sense of his connection to hunter right now, because even if he's felt something different there for a long while, the idea that it runs deeper than just a feeling is beyond what he expected. they're not even from the same world, and yet...
the blonde stifles the urge to whine as hunter pulls away, but he doesn't hold back the mirrored pout on his own face as he watches the couple. strangely, he can almost feel hunter's palpable relief that no, sungki isn't leaving him, but he's not about to ask why the worry was there. actually he's not about to speak up and interrupt them just yet, and instead he looks away and attempts to drag his body to sit up.
the way his wings drag against the sheets of the bed is nothing short of agonizing, not to speak of the broken bones rattling against each other, and the hacker forcibly swallows the pain down and tries to will their trembles to stop.
he wants to tell hunter to not apologize, at least not to baein, because there was no way they'd know... ]
[he listens closely, eyes softenening even as his jaw clenches. in the end, there's something that he and bae would actually agree on. hunter doesn't have anything to be sorry for.
the others, however.
he takes a deep breath and exhales it slowly, fingers still idly brushing against hunter's skin. where should he start? the hospitals. a few humans are going to pay what they owe. maybe he won't kill them - just threaten their loved ones, force them into deals worse than death. it can be his wedding gift to him.
or maybe lennon. oh, he'd love nothing more than to force something through his back so he could see how it feels. leave daeshim free to go to his woodland boy-thing once and for all. but can he actually do that without jeopardizing everything?]
...You called him first. [the fae's brows knit together as he remembers that, but he quickly shakes his head.] You need rest. [his eyes flash to baein.] Both of you.
[ he feels too calm and that worries him suddenly.
He’s watching emotions roll over the fae’s features, feels them like they were his own and he knows this feeling. It’s that deadly calm right before something snaps inside of you and everyone should start praying that they get out of the way in time.
His head tips curiously when Sungki makes that statement, and he reaches for his face. ]
Don’t do that. Don’t put weight where it’s not needed. His was a warning, yours was a calling. You’re everything to me - he’s a part of me.
[ baein looks up at them again at the continued exchange, and for a second, he thinks sungki is going to follow up on his comment that he wasn't first, but the fae surprises him again when he's included in the other's care, no matter how strained it might be. and the hacker would quip back normally, if they weren't in this kind of situation.
and he's weary to his bones, can feel hunter's exhaustion like a layer on top of his own, but also sense the low key tension in the air. because it's telling, what hunter is talking about, and while baein knows he hasn't really told him much, he's is well aware that whatever happened to hunter was done to him with intent. sungki's expression speaks vengeance, after all, and baein would gladly join him for it.
a warning. because he's. they're... the same? baein's lips part around a soft inhale, and he sits up a little straighter, not entirely without a wince. ]
[it's easy to draw a lot of dark things out of sungki - his jealousy, his spite, his sharp tongue. he lets it flow freely. but his anger is surprisingly different. the exchanges that he's had with others in the house have never been in anger. the insults and barbs are a game to him, it's just that others don't always find it very fun. sungki's anger, his real anger, is something different. it's silent and cold. like now.
people have hurt someone who's his, and they're going to answer for it. he's pissed and impatient, and that's what's really bothering him. but it's easy to blame it on this "twinning' that's happening right in front of his eyes.]
You're the same. Fine. Then you shouldn't have any problem sharing this bed for a few more hours. [but just to clarify:] To sleep.
[ Hunter deadpans the best he can in his current state and sighs. ]
We aren’t even remotely interested in touching each others junk, now or any other day.
[ which obviously isn’t an insult. Hunter and Baein likes to banter and flirt but it never has and never would go beyond the occasional butt touch or attempted smooching.
Hunter is absolutely, disgustingly, devoted to (1) Yard Gremlin.
But he does feel the anger in him. It’s something Hunter appreciates to some degree because it’s new and seems to be revolving around him.
There’s an argument there on his tongue because he doesn’t want his fae to leave. Not now. Not when he feels completely vulnerable, but he knows that this heat won’t just go away. It will fester inside of the other until it bursts - probably on the wrong people. ]
I love you.
[ This time around the words feel heavier, deeper…needy and possessive. ]
[ baein is too tired to take that kind of blatant accusation without basis, despite the fact that sungki is angry, and even if baein can tell he's just an outlet for the fae. he sighs, though. ]
What he said. At this point, I thought you were aware of this.
[ but being in the way between two lovers like this is weird. he'd leave himself, if his legs would carry him, and if he could stand the idea of not staying in hunter's immediate vicinity at the moment. which... the thought itself makes him a little nauseous. ]
That too. Don't keep him waiting.
[ he can afford to say that much, can he? baein wants to see hunter upset as little as sungki does. and he can recognize the tone of voice in his "twin" or whatever hunter is. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2023-01-23 11:45 pm (UTC)And then he can feel the vibration of footsteps. Heavy, thudding sounds before the bang on the door comes. He reached a hand out but he didn’t really need it to unlock the door at all so when it clicks he just drops his hand back down and takes a breath.
Baein.
He swallows a lump in his throat. ]
Close it. The door. Daeshim…
no subject
Date: 2023-01-24 12:06 am (UTC)baein doesn't even try to stop himself as he all but slips to fall to his knees in front of hunter, feeling the slippery wet of blood against his bare skin.
and the door somehow slams shut behind him without him moving a muscle. ]
What's... going on...?
[ it startles him how his voice comes out like a wheeze and barely able to squeeze through his windpipe, and baein breath's hitches, hands shaking as he reaches out to touch hunter. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-01-24 12:10 am (UTC)…it broke free finally.
[ everything. The pain. The truth. All of it…everything he had been ashamed of, scared of, hated…all of it. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-01-24 12:49 am (UTC)[ confusion laces through baein's brain for a second as hunter takes his hand and then the world stops. everything freezes in place besides himself and the feeling of hunter's hand on his. the sounds of their breaths is the only noise audible, growing loud enough it echoes against the tiled floor they're sitting on, bouncing between the walls and washing over them like waves.
and it burns. hunter's fingers against his skin has pain lacing up baein's arm like hungry snakes and spreading like branches of agony out over his chest and his back and oh. oh, i've felt this before he thinks vaguely as he chokes on a strangled noise, eyes growing wide before he starts to slowly tip forward, body convulsing through the pain slicing down his shoulderblades.
he can't hear himself scream, white noise rushing through his ears as something wet and tangled and sharp claws its way through his skin and bursts open his back in a mangled mess of blood, circuits, feathers and bone. they look broken, feathers tattered and stripped of down, now adorning sharp and jagged pieces of skeleton sticking out the wings hanging limply down his back. they tremble as they— he tries to move, and baein whimpers as it only serves pain to bloom across his back and out into limbs he didn't even know he had. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-01-24 12:58 am (UTC)But he has to watch it. Turning away from it or closing his eyes feels wrong so he doesn’t. He watched every agonizing second until the screaming stops and the others body is left feeling much like his own. The first instinct he has is to push himself up off off the floor enough to reach for him. To pull him closer as gently as he can, using the blood coating the tile to help the process.
His own wings are w bloody, twitching mess, the bottom half hacked away but he knows he can heal them. He can. Just like everything else. But he can’t do it right now. And even if he could…
…he takes a long look over the others back and knows he would help him first.
Hunter reaches for his face and he isn’t sure when he started to cry but he had. Silently. But his gaze is soft on the others face. ]
I’ll help you as soon as I stop feeling like I might pass out from a trillion paper cuts.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-24 01:08 am (UTC)he didn't even know he was holding on to begin with. but he curls his fingers against hunter's skin, tugs him closer still, not wanting to let go. ]
Hunter— n-no, you... your back. I-I... I can—
[ on the verge of hyperventilating, baein breathes through the pain flitting back and forth between his sensors as he desperately tries to lower the frequency as best he can when his mind isn't swimming with questions and low key panic. he can't have his anxiety flare now, he can't, he refuses. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-01-24 01:15 am (UTC)[ even as exhausted as he is, he somehow manages to find a way to cradle Baein to him and exude some semblance of calm.
He does finally close his eyes while he brushes his fingers back through the others blond hair, smearing the blood back through it. ]
Just hold on to me. We’ll be okay. Just need time….
[ he pulls in a breath and presses his hand to the others heart. ]
Calm…slows blood flow…..and panic….
no subject
Date: 2023-01-24 01:23 am (UTC)Calm. Right. Calm... I'm— calm.
[ there's a few more moments where baein quietly lets himself regain his equilibrium, pushing away any thoughts on what's just transpired and instead focusing on hunter's breaths, and the way his nerves goes silent and still the further down he dials his sensors. you'd think he'd fallen asleep if it wasn't for the skip in breath as he shifts. his voice is slurred and slow as he finally finds his words again, marginally more relaxed than before. ]
You spoke t' me. In m' head. [ swallowing, baein turns around to try and catch hunter's eyes. ] What... wha's happenin'? Your back— you... you're bleedin'.
[ pot, meet kettle. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-01-24 01:34 am (UTC)He swallows and licks his lips. They taste like copper and salt and he winces. ]
I can do that…when it happened I just thought…you….and Sungki…
[ he takes another breath and breathes the Fae’s name one more time before he slips into a weird sort of unconsciousness.
Sorry, Bae…]
no subject
Date: 2023-01-24 01:59 am (UTC)Telepch— telepahsg— [ baein lets out a frustrated noise when his lips won't form the words. ] Tele---thing. Read minds...?
[ despite the pain, something in his chest settles when hunter mentions he called for baein too. it's a sense of belonging he doesn't have anywhere else, and the hacker lets it sink into his bones. his own eyes droop a little as he starts to slip under too. he only startles away when there's no immediate reply, and baein shudders against the other, fingers tightening a little on hunter's arms. ]
Hunter... 'nter...?
[ but the farther hunter slips, baein's mind seems to follow right along, words fading on his lips. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-01-24 03:10 pm (UTC)lavender doesn't cry, and he's already wondering what will follow when hunter's panicked voice tears through his mind, sharper than ever before. sungki hisses at it, but also at how his name isn't the only one on his boyfriend's mental tongue. it's not even first.
to be addressed later. the fae stands and leaves their room, glancing in the direction of lavender's crying, which seems to have gotten louder. dae will be properly distracted for awhile. he continues on to the bathroom, a quick march, but he doesn't run. his face is impassive, even if his heart is pounding against his ribs like the wild animal it is. he barely even pauses at the closed bathroom door, the doorknob already molten and dripping before sungki pushes it the rest of the way open.
he knows the smell of hunter's blood intimately. and the painted room is so thick with it that he can even taste it on his tongue. something in him tenses, but he still doesn't panic - hunter isn't dead. their lives are still tied together, so as long as he has breath, the other breathes too. he is hunter's literal lifeline, because the assumption was that he was the more fragile, vulnerable of the two.
looking down at him now, sungki isn't so sure anymore.
he takes in a deep breath, exhales it slowly, and then crouches down to stroke his fingers along hunter's hair.]
I knew you were a monster. I didn't realize that you were the worst kind.
[the monsters that still have mankind fooled, so many still believing that angels are on their sides, never realizing that their "prayers" are as binding as any fae dealing. sungki smiles at him fondly, but that smile drops as he looks at the two of them tangled together. he reaches to try and pry bae's fingers from him, and if successful, carefully lifts hunter to carry him to their room.
he gives bae's prone body a glance. he's someone else's problem.
a minute later and he returns for him too, grumbling human curses under his breath. the both of them will be carried to his and hunter's bed, placed careful onto their stomachs. the three mothlings emerge from the closet and approach.]
You know where Hunter keeps his first-aid kit. Take care of them as best you can. I'll handle the bathroom.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-24 04:54 pm (UTC)That’s what they called him, too…
…and then he’s gone. Panic rises inside of him but he can’t move. It’s like he’s in a cage again, limbs heavy, suffocating. But it all comes in these little waves.
Nothing, and then enough consciousness to panic before it’s drawn back into the darkness like a wave.
How long he stays like this, he isn’t certain. Isn’t even sure he cares.
But his eyes slowly open to the feeling of hands probing and wiping at his back. He flinches and hisses softly—oh…it’s the mothlings. Baein is still out but he expected that. ]
Sungki. Where….
[ It’s enough. He can mend what’s left later. He wants Sungki. So naturally, he nudges at the mothlings and even if he’s tired and broken in more ways than one, he does manage to push himself up. The wings at his back tremble but he tucks them in close and just breathes. ]
Don’t leave me…
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Date: 2023-01-24 06:13 pm (UTC)however the world is no less a thick, oppressive and dark void, but it's less muted as his sensors are still operating, though very slowly, sluggishly and numb. he's so tired, it's all he can do to try to listen, try to focus on anything but the searing and simmering agony along his spine, pulsating with every breath he believes he's taking. the rest of his body feels so far away when he can't move, can't even think straight. so instead he tries to zero in on the warmth of hunter's presence, and how it multiplies into two as someone else (sungki?) joins them.
he can't even hold on or protest as hunter starts to slip away, and cold panic washes over his mind because it feels wrong, like a part of him is fading away and he's slipping, tethering on an edge. last time, he could somehow feel jasper and daeshim there, a constant, comforting presence, but now— he barely notices someone returning before he drops a little further into the dark molasses of his mind.
waking up feels a little bit like being slammed back into his body with a suddenness that steals his breath away, and baein gasps, immediately wincing as the motion has zaps of pain lacing down his spine, and he squeezes his eyes shut with a low noise.
he can feel hunter's presence again, and it's also the first thing on his mind. the hacker shifts his head slightly to look around, though any movement has his sensors screech and he has to hitch on air, voice a little unsteady. ]
Hunter—?
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Date: 2023-01-24 06:28 pm (UTC)and then he's back again, the mothlings retreating behind him until they vanish and take flight to circle around the lightbulb. the fae's face is still stained with drying streaks, and his previously white shirt is now a disgusting shade of muddy red. sungki peels it off over his head and gives it a toss into the corner, sighing before he turns to observe them.]
Which one of you wants to buy me a new shirt?
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Date: 2023-01-24 06:41 pm (UTC)…I would have cleaned it…it’s my mess…
[ calling Sungki wasn’t for the purpose of cleaning it up. But now that he’s awake, he’s able to let everything settle in his mind. Everything that had been locked away, he now knows why. All of it was painful. Every last memory hurt him in ways that he hadn’t even known. Shaped the things he did and the person he was today.
Some of the images stick out more than others and he can feel the tears coming again, albeit silently. It isn’t a physical pain so much as spiritual.
He doesn’t immediately look to Baein when he feels him jostle on the bed beside him, but he moves his hand closer to quiet him. ]
I’m here…it’s okay. The Mothlings are helping.
[ he feels guilt for that. They shouldn’t be getting their pretty white fuzzies stained anymore than Sungki should be cleaning up their horror filled bathroom.
He wets his lips and hooks their pinkies together. ]
I knew there was something about you.
[ but then he feels him and he immediately wants to move—apologize, cling to him, cry, yell, everything all at once. The Mothlings scatter and he finally does start to move, but he stalls again and just watches Sungki.
Truthfully, the sight of him like that would have triggered an entirely different emotion if this wasn’t the cause of it.
He could say anything. He could. But his mind hurts and his heart hurts. ]
I’d give you anything you ever wanted as long as it meant you’d never leave me.
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Date: 2023-01-24 07:13 pm (UTC)I... [ hunter's fingers are warm against his, and baein moves his hand around to brush it against the other's and curling his pinkie in turn. ] Yeah. Somehow, I knew it too. About you.
[ the scent of blood is still hanging in the air until it mingles with the sharpness of bleach and baein shifts to turn and face the door in time to see sungki discard his shirt.
honestly, baein doesn't know what to think, but he keeps quiet as hunter speaks. this isn't his moment, and he's almost surprised that he's even allowed in this room with hunter in the first place, and that he wasn't left behind on the bathroom floor.
because he's here in hunter's and sungki's room, probably bleeding on their mattress too. ]
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Date: 2023-01-24 07:22 pm (UTC)Deal.
[he's never going to leave him anyway, but if he can get a little extra something out of it... he's a fae, okay?]
What happened? Tell me.
[he glances from one to the other. he knows what happened, that much is obvious. what he means is what triggered it. why now?
he frowns after a moment.]
And you can stop doing that now.
[he gestures. the pinkie thing. otherwise he will crawl between the two of you, he doesn't care how injured you are.
but for now he finds himself on hunter's side of the bed, curling the back of his fingers against his cheek while he takes a closer look at his injuries.]
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Date: 2023-01-24 07:33 pm (UTC)But when Sungki smirks, something in him softens. He won’t leave…
He didn’t believe he would but confirmation always helps. Especially when you’re partially split open.
He smiles faintly and then blinks and slowly pulls his hand from Baeins with a small pout. It isn’t like that.
Twisting a little more towards Sungki he knows he won’t lie to him. He never would. ]
Things between Lennon and I officially ended. There is no more elephant in the room. It’s done. Completely.
[ …more thanks to Lennon than anything. ]
I don’t know how I ended up in the shower, but I was there, and then…everything hurt. Something snapped in my head and then…everything was there all at once. I couldn’t stop them from…
[ he trails off and reaches for the bottoms where the wings are hacked at…]
They did this…
[ but then he glances at Baein… ]
We’re connected somehow. It’s why I called both of you. I knew it would happen to him before it did.
[ he breathes. ]
I’m sorry…
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Date: 2023-01-24 08:03 pm (UTC)the blonde stifles the urge to whine as hunter pulls away, but he doesn't hold back the mirrored pout on his own face as he watches the couple. strangely, he can almost feel hunter's palpable relief that no, sungki isn't leaving him, but he's not about to ask why the worry was there. actually he's not about to speak up and interrupt them just yet, and instead he looks away and attempts to drag his body to sit up.
the way his wings drag against the sheets of the bed is nothing short of agonizing, not to speak of the broken bones rattling against each other, and the hacker forcibly swallows the pain down and tries to will their trembles to stop.
he wants to tell hunter to not apologize, at least not to baein, because there was no way they'd know... ]
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Date: 2023-01-24 08:16 pm (UTC)the others, however.
he takes a deep breath and exhales it slowly, fingers still idly brushing against hunter's skin. where should he start? the hospitals. a few humans are going to pay what they owe. maybe he won't kill them - just threaten their loved ones, force them into deals worse than death. it can be his wedding gift to him.
or maybe lennon. oh, he'd love nothing more than to force something through his back so he could see how it feels. leave daeshim free to go to his woodland boy-thing once and for all. but can he actually do that without jeopardizing everything?]
...You called him first. [the fae's brows knit together as he remembers that, but he quickly shakes his head.] You need rest. [his eyes flash to baein.] Both of you.
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Date: 2023-01-24 08:25 pm (UTC)He’s watching emotions roll over the fae’s features, feels them like they were his own and he knows this feeling. It’s that deadly calm right before something snaps inside of you and everyone should start praying that they get out of the way in time.
His head tips curiously when Sungki makes that statement, and he reaches for his face. ]
Don’t do that. Don’t put weight where it’s not needed. His was a warning, yours was a calling. You’re everything to me - he’s a part of me.
[ his brow furrows and he glances at Baein. ]
You’re part of me.
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Date: 2023-01-24 08:46 pm (UTC)and he's weary to his bones, can feel hunter's exhaustion like a layer on top of his own, but also sense the low key tension in the air. because it's telling, what hunter is talking about, and while baein knows he hasn't really told him much, he's is well aware that whatever happened to hunter was done to him with intent. sungki's expression speaks vengeance, after all, and baein would gladly join him for it.
a warning. because he's. they're... the same? baein's lips part around a soft inhale, and he sits up a little straighter, not entirely without a wince. ]
And you're a part of me...
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Date: 2023-01-24 10:21 pm (UTC)people have hurt someone who's his, and they're going to answer for it. he's pissed and impatient, and that's what's really bothering him. but it's easy to blame it on this "twinning' that's happening right in front of his eyes.]
You're the same. Fine. Then you shouldn't have any problem sharing this bed for a few more hours. [but just to clarify:] To sleep.
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Date: 2023-01-24 10:29 pm (UTC)We aren’t even remotely interested in touching each others junk, now or any other day.
[ which obviously isn’t an insult. Hunter and Baein likes to banter and flirt but it never has and never would go beyond the occasional butt touch or attempted smooching.
Hunter is absolutely, disgustingly, devoted to (1) Yard Gremlin.
But he does feel the anger in him. It’s something Hunter appreciates to some degree because it’s new and seems to be revolving around him.
There’s an argument there on his tongue because he doesn’t want his fae to leave. Not now. Not when he feels completely vulnerable, but he knows that this heat won’t just go away. It will fester inside of the other until it bursts - probably on the wrong people. ]
I love you.
[ This time around the words feel heavier, deeper…needy and possessive. ]
Don’t be gone long….
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Date: 2023-01-24 10:57 pm (UTC)What he said. At this point, I thought you were aware of this.
[ but being in the way between two lovers like this is weird. he'd leave himself, if his legs would carry him, and if he could stand the idea of not staying in hunter's immediate vicinity at the moment. which... the thought itself makes him a little nauseous. ]
That too. Don't keep him waiting.
[ he can afford to say that much, can he? baein wants to see hunter upset as little as sungki does. and he can recognize the tone of voice in his "twin" or whatever hunter is. ]
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