Chapter Text
“Avery?” Derek choked around the bile in his throat, “What are you doin-”
Derek gets cut off by the fireworks outside. He puts his hands on the ground, trying to push himself up.
“Derek, wait, stay down please, you shouldn't be moving,” Avery pleads.
“Im good dont-” Derek starts coughing violently, his lungs heaving, trying to expel the bile that inhabits them.
Avery puts his hand on Derek’s back, steadying him.
“Keep going, just breathe,”
Avery tries grounding Derek through his coughing fit, rubbing circles into his back, and speaking sweet nothings into his hair. After a few minutes that seem like hours, Derek’s coughing slows -he’s holding it in.
“Hey, hey, hey, don't keep it in, there’s so much bile…”
Meanwhile, Derek is dying, he feels like his body is denying himself. The pressure under his ribs feels like it's going to rip him apart. No matter how much he coughs, it just feels like he’s drowning, sticky sand filling his lungs, making him burst at the seams. His mind is so muddled, struggling to pick apart reality from truth. The world is shattering into fragments.
Over the sound of fireworks, and the ringing in his ears, he can barely notice the soft hands on his own. Derek barely notices the chest he’s lying on, through the layers of a large winter jacket. Through the visions of Armageddon and the birth of stars, Derek can barely hear the boy whispering in his ear.
What was Derek doing? Oh, yes, he was swimming in nausea, drowning in his knowledge. The world was fracturing into one point, cracks showing in Derek’s whole being. Suddenly, like the moment before lightning, Derek got his body back. He held his breath, he was not going to let this blow him apart. Unfortunately things didn't usually go too well for Derek. The pressure in his chest, unsurprisingly, only got worse.
The fireworks where slowing, letting Derek hear something over the fucking ringing in his ears. “...dont keep it in…” What did Avery mean? If he was going to go out anyway, he’d much rather do it this way than cough his throat raw.
So he held his breath, letting the pressure build, his mind going numb with nausea. All of the sudden, the pressure in his gut took on a different edge. Ohmygodhewasgoingtothrowup. Derek thrashed under Avery’s grip, trying to free himself. Avery only held tighter, unaware of how urgently D3rlord needed to pull away. With the last of his waning strength Derek wrenched himself from Avery’s grip. He let himself fall on the carpet, pushing himself onto his elbows.
The nausea became overwhelming, and Derek couldn’t keep himself together. He started gagging, his diaphragm spasming. Nausea came in waves, but he was getting somewhere. The sticky mass inside of him was being pushed to the surface, like a parasite being expelled from its host. No matter what, Derek would survive this. Not just for himself, but for his parents, the people that owned this house, gave him life. He wondered how they were now, at their friend’s house for New Years after a warm family Christmas. Even though the last few hours had been eventful, he had wondered more than once how much of a difference it could have made if they were here, could they have saved him?
Derek’s wet gags resounded in the now-quiet room. Avery’s stomach churned, he never did well with people throwing up. Derek started heaving, black bile stilling from his mouth and onto the floor. It was leaking out of his eyes, his nose, his ears. Even the cuticles of his nails were wet with black goop.
Avery startles back in horror, how could this much liquid be held in such a lean frame?
Then a smooth lump of dark, undulating flesh came out of Derek. With one last shudder Derek stopped throwing up.
The room was eerily silent, only the sound of ragged breathing from both permeated the stillness. Relief washed over Avery, breathing was good, breathing means someone is alive, someone can make it.
Derek slumps over, sprawling on the carpet unconscious from the strain. And Avery finally gets a look at the parasite that caused Derek all this pain. A back slimy creature, the size of clasped hands writhes on the floor. It was grotesque and bulging in different spots, its skin smooth and damp like that of a worm. Though it makes no noise, Avery could almost swear it was crying out, cursing the world as it twitched on the floor.
A wave of nausea swept through Avery’s gut, he was entranced by the horror in front of him. So much so, that he almost forgot about Derek.
Derek
Avery hurried over to where Derek was slumped over, mere inches from the creature. Using his last strength from the adrenaline Avery pulled him away from the parasite, dragging him towards the bed and making him lean against it. Crouching in front of Derek, Avery started inspecting him for any injuries.
Everything seemed intact, his face was flushed and hot, maybe the start of a fever from the mental strain. His eyelids are closed, even though his brow is furrowed with tension. Avery notes his breathing, steady, if not a bit ragged. He did a full examination of Derek, checking his limbs for injuries, though most of the struggle was internal.
Curiously, there were bruises all over Derek’s palms, as if he had been digging his fingers into the soft skin there for hours. Avery pries open Derek's fingers with tenderness, massaging the tension out of his hands, as if to say, ‘don’t worry, I'm finally here’.
In a moment of weakness Avery presses his forehead against Derek’s, immensely relieved. He had been able to save him, he’d been on time, and he would never, ever, ever be late again.
****************************************************
Derek’s head was swimming, consciousness blurry. He opened his eyes, trying to get his bearings. Where was he? Certainly not in his gaming chair. Not on the carpet where he had fallen after the king took his body. His back was pressed up against cool metal, his head resting on some sort of pillow. His entire body was freezing, as if he had just jumped in a frozen lake. His hands though, they were warm, and Derek believed it to be the most pleasant thing he had ever experienced.
His vision focused on taking in more of his surroundings. The door that had been thrown open, the black goop everywhere, the faint glow of the fairy lights, and blue screened monitor. Derek, despite seeing all this chaos, couldn't help but focus on one thing.
Green eyes looked down at him in relief, the freckled face of a boy he had only seen in his mind. Why was Avery here? Then it all came back- the struggle, the suffocation in his chest, the calming voice holding him together as his body threatened to give up.
“Derek? Thank god you're awake,” Avery’s voice cracked with emotion, and those pretty hazel eyes started misting up, threatening tears.
“I’m-” he cleared his throat and tried again, “I’m ok Avery, please don't worry.”
Avery pulled Derek into a desperate hug at those words. Derek tensed up, yet fully melted into the embrace. He wasn't one for physical touch, but the warmth was so tantalizing, so comforting, he gave in. And Avery was so soft, he smelled like lavender soap and energy drink. Derek realizes he never wants to leave.
After a few minutes Avery pulls out of the hug, seemingly satisfied with the reassurance that Derek is breathing. Derek is not. He craves Avery’s intimacy. The comfort of a hug that could last for hours.
“Damn you really are crazy,” he thinks to himself.
Derek peers over Avery…and immediately looks back. There is a line of goop smeared towards the bed that they are now leaning on, it looks like a blood smear. But even that foreboding image isn't as revolting as the creature on the floor. Derek can feel the malice and hatred coming off the creature in waves. Now that he’s seen it he can't stop hearing it, the screeching in the corners of his mind. The creature winds itself in his mind, pulling on the corners of his consciousness.
Derek falls into Avery in distress, his brain being stretched and grated as the screeching takes on a voice. A voice that screams curses and blessings in a tongue so warped that it is impossible to know what it's actually saying. Needless to say the point still gets across.
Then, as the pain reaches a crescendo it stops. Derek’s head swims his brain feeling fuzzy and slightly like a rubber band that has snapped back. His vision comes back in blurry fragments.
On the other side of the room Avery is over the parasite, his hands soaked in black insides. He’s breathing heavily, his face and hands dripping in goop. His eyes are crazed staring at the spot where the parasite was with manic focus.
Derek takes this all in at the same time he registers the loss of warmth. His body recoils slightly, as if a bandaid had been ripped off, sharp and sudden.
Dimly he realizes what Avery is doing. Avery is destroying the parasite. Derek watches as Avery tears the creature apart, remorseless. And that wild look in his eyes proves everything. Avery is just as affected as Derek is. The screeching and screaming got to him too.
Derek lies his head back in exhaustion letting a hint of a smile slip on his face. He doesn't think he's quite in his right mind at the moment, but he can't bring himself to care. Not when Avery is defending him from the creature, not when his eyelids weigh about a thousand pounds. Honestly Derek just wants to sleep, staring at a screen for 7 hours tends to do that to someone, even if they weren't fighting off a coma with every blink.
“Hey Derek, you good?” Avery asked in a slightly shaky voice, standing up to face Derek.
“Sure, about as good as it gets in my situation,” Derek chuckles a little at that.
Avery awkwardly grins at that, relief clouding his face. “So, what are we going to do?”
Derek hoists himself up, albeit with a bit of difficulty. “My parents aren't going to be home tonight, so I might need you to help me with this whole mess. But I can definitely just stay here.”
Avery rushes over to Derek, stabilizing him as he stands up. “If there is no-one to take care of you here I'm not going to take any risk, you should come home with me.”
Derek slumped into Avery, truth be told, he didn't really want to stay here. His room was filthy anyways, and no matter how thorough a job Avery seemingly did, Derek did not trust being in the same room as that thing.
Avery fumbled to catch Derek, putting a stabilizing hand on his back. He chuckled at Derek’s genuine ability to reject all of his help. Maybe in the time between Avery trying to turn himself into the vessel and this soft moment, he’s forgiven Derek for pushing him away. Or maybe he hadn't. Either way Derek had reluctantly given himself over to Avery, and Avery wasn't going to throw away trust that easily.Avery took on most of Derek’s weight pulling him into a slow walk to the hallway.
“Do you want to grab anything from the room?” Avery asked.
“Not really?” Derek dragged his eyes across the room, "I'm hoping to come back anyway.”
“Yeah, sounds good.”
Silence draped over the two young men. The silence was awkward and stilted, like it couldn't pick whether to be filled or let hang. It was the silence of two people who realized that they really didn't know each other. Well, one of them knew far too much about the other. Avery felt uncomfortable, who truly was Derek, sure, he knew his name, face, birthday, job, and college. But he didn't know what made Derek tick, what his humour was. He doesn't know whether Derek would look down on Avery for being younger, or would treat him as an equal.
With all these uncertainties hanging in the air, silence spread like a thick heavy weight around both. But in the sea of potential consequences there was a thread of connection. Both boys had given their lives to the other. And they both had cradled the other’s life force in their hands, and had chosen to do the best with that flame of trust. And in a silence that held everything, comfort bloomed.