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There was a loud bang, an explosion and then panic. So much panic. Nobody knew what had happened. They just knew that one minute they had been enjoying the lovely party and the next they were lying on the ground amidst piles of rubble with fires raging around them.
Toby blinked open his eyes after being knocked unconscious and felt a sharp pain at the back of his head. He moaned, reaching out instinctively. He felt his hair, normally so soft, now sticky. When he returned his hand to in front of his face it was covered in blood. Suddenly, he was aware that he couldn’t breathe, whether it was from panic or the smoke, he wasn’t sure. He took a sharp intake of breath, trying to force the air into his lungs but instead choking on the fumes that engulfed him. He needed to move. He needed to get outside. That’s all he could think about.
Slowly he managed to stand himself up, holding his head as if that would help halt the bleeding. Luckily, the rest of his body seemed to be without damage. He looked wildly around him, but there was nobody else injured or trapped. It was just him. Where was everybody? Where were Freddie and Adil?
It was that terrified thought that spurred him on. He didn’t know how he managed to get out but the next thing he knew he was tripping down the front steps, feeling dizzy and faint but the fresh air giving him a new lease of life. The clean, crisp air filling his lungs and letting him breath again without it burning. His eyes moved wildly, scanning the crowds of people in front of him for Adil. But it was too difficult, there was so many of them and it was dark. People were rushing around all over the place, it seemed impossible to distinguish anyone. He had no doubt that Freddie was off being a hero so he wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t spot him. But Adil? Toby berated himself. He had gotten so good at picking out Adil’s face in a group, no matter the size. It was one of the things he prided himself on. So why now, when it really mattered, was it so damn hard?
He was beginning to make his way over to get a closer look when he was suddenly ambushed by Freddie who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
“Toby, thank God you’re alright! Where were you?” Freddie exclaimed, grabbing onto his brother’s shoulders and rendering him stationary. He was covered in dust and debris but looked otherwise unharmed. Toby was relieved. He wouldn’t know what he would have done if something had happened to him. He couldn’t speak though, he still needed to find his boyfriend. He turned his head swiftly so he could see past Freddie who was blocking his view so he could keep searching, even if he couldn’t move.
“Toby, you’re bleeding! You need to sit down!” Freddie pushed on him softly, motioning him towards the ground but Toby pushed back harshly, with more force than was probably necessary.
“No, no, it’s nothing. Need to find…” He trailed off, having thought he had spotted Adil’s slicked back hair as someone rushed by. He sighed deeply when he realised he was wrong.
“Don’t worry, Mother’s fine. She’s over there,” he motioned to one of the ambulances that were sitting in a row on the road. “She’s a little shaken, but physically unscathed.”
His mother. Was it bad that ever since he had woken up on the cold, hard floor he hadn’t thought about her once? She hadn’t even crossed his mind. It’s not that he didn’t think she was important, it was just that in the past few months Toby’s priorities had changed and Adil was more so. He was the most important person in the world right now, and he had to find him.
Toby wanted to scream I don’t care, I need to find Adil but refrained himself from doing so.
“No, NO!” he repeated, shouting the last word and startling his brother as he rushed past him and into the mass of bodies.
Freddie didn’t understand, would never understand why it was so important for him to find Adil. Right now. How would he have felt if Emma was missing and he couldn’t find her, if he didn’t know she was still alive? Toby assumed she was okay, otherwise Freddie would have been distraught and told him straight away.
He pushed himself through everybody milling around, checking and double checking each face as he passed, paranoid that he would miss him. Was Adil looking for him as well, feeling as anxious and scared as he was? He noticed a small group gathered around something and talking animatedly and he ran over to see what was going on. He got close enough to realise they were surrounding a body lying on the ground, he couldn’t tell if they were dead or alive. He saw a pair of bright red heels on the person’s feet so he knew that it was a woman. It wasn’t Adil, that’s all he needed to know. He turned around and raced back towards the hotel, after making sure he had checked every single person who was outside – even those in the ambulances.
“Toby, where are you going? You can’t go back in there, it isn’t safe!” Joe shouted to him as he sprinted by but Toby didn’t even pause to contradict him, even though part of the hotel was still on fire.
Most of the hotel staff and guests seemed to have gotten out not unharmed, but alive. He had passed a lot of familiar faces in his search for Adil so he knew that the majority were now outside awaiting treatment and news. So that meant that anybody else, anybody who was still inside the hotel was either stuck somewhere, too injured to move or, even though he hated to even entertain the idea, dead. If they were able to they would have already made their way out by now. It made Toby sick to his stomach. Scenarios circled around his head which was still pounding, each situation he thought up gradually worse than its predecessor.
At first when he burst through the front doors he was completely disoriented. Nothing was the same anymore. The doorway to the bar that he passed through every day had caved in, the glass panels shattered everywhere. The main staircase up to the rooms was covered under piles of rubble, blocking the path up to the other floors. He whipped round frantically, trying to figure out where to go. Trying to think of a plan so that he wasn’t just running around aimlessly. He couldn’t let the panic and dread overtake him, even though he could feel it starting to consume him, like a virus that was attacking every one of his cells. He had to stay strong. He had to find Adil.
He didn’t even know where Adil was. Why didn’t he know? He had seen him mere hours before but it felt like a lifetime. Adil had visited him in his room as he got ready for the party, he remembered the way Adil had looked at him in his new suit and bowtie and how he had been so close to saying screw it, let’s just stay here instead. But he hadn’t. He had pulled his shoes on and kissed his boyfriend on the lips before watching him sneak out. Maybe Toby should’ve told him to stay. At least they would have been together when the bomb went off. Adil went back to his world and Toby to his. They were always segregated, always separated from each other when they didn’t have the luxury of complete and utter privacy. And Toby hated it. He hated it so much.
He wouldn’t have been at the bar, Toby thought to himself logically. Because he knew that Joe had been there and he had just seen him so obviously that area wasn’t too badly affected. He might have been in a great number of places - the staff area if he was on his break, down in the cellar if he had been sent to get more wine…
His feet moved without guidance, but Toby’s mind was elsewhere. He was trying to remember what the last thing he had said to Adil was, but he couldn’t. No matter how hard he tried. He knew that it wasn’t I love you though. Why hadn’t he said it? He didn’t tell Adil enough how amazing he was or how much he appreciated having him in his life or how much he loved him. He vowed then that after he found Adil, he would declare his love over and over, every single day for the rest of time.
He stumbled over toppled chairs and broken tables as he made his way across the room to the door that he knew lead downwards. The smoke wasn’t too thick here but Toby still felt it billowing into his lungs. He had nothing to cover his mouth with, so he just let out a deep cough before moving further down into ruins.
As he descended he could tell that although this area hadn’t been directly hit with the bomb there was still plenty of damage. There was no fire, but piles of rubble where walls or shelves used to stand.
“Adil!” Toby called out, desperation and need leaking into his voice. Where was he?
Toby glanced around at the chaos but he couldn’t see anyone. It was deserted.
He was just away to turn and leave when he heard a weak voice pierce the silence.
“Toby…”
He stopped in his tracks and strained, trying to listen. Did he just imagine it? Over the sirens from outside and people still shouting and screaming and the firefighters trying to put out the blaze Toby could barely hear himself think.
But he took a few steps further into the cellar.
“Adil!” he screamed back, hoping he would hear the voice again in return.
“Toby…” Adil croaked again, and Toby felt his heart skip a beat in relief. The feeling was like nothing he had ever experienced before. He was alive. He could think of nothing else. Adil was alive. Toby clumsily rushed down the stairs, stumbling more than once in his haste to get there.
It was dark and Toby couldn’t see that well. He was also starting to become a bit light headed – probably from the blood loss and shock – but none of that mattered because Adil was alive and Toby needed to get to him.
“Adil, where are you?” he called out, struggling to find Adil in the wreckage.
“I’m over at the corner nearest the corridor to the kitchen,” he said before succumbing to a coughing fit. But the description along with the noise he was making allowed Toby to locate him.
He looked wrecked – and not in the good way. Dust was still tumbling down onto him as people or structures moved on the levels above. His face had a line of blood flowing down one side and the rest was covered in black soot. The smoke wasn’t that thick down here but Adil coughed harshly, and when he spoke his voice was raspy as if he was struggling to breathe.
Toby scrambled over piles of debris – smashed wine bottles and vodka bottles, glass crunching under his feet. Broken crates and splintered shelves completely ruined. And finally, after what felt like forever, Toby reached Adil.
Adil’s face was scrunched up and that, along with the small whimper that he released when Toby reached out to him, told him that he was definitely hurt.
“Why are you here?” Adil sobbed, his voice filled with confusion.
“I couldn’t see you outside I had to – I had to find you.” Toby cried, still trying to make sense of the scene in front of him.
“That was stupid. You should get out.”
Toby shook his head harshly.
“No. Not without you.” He declared, reaching down to try and get Adil up.
“Toby, I can’t. I’m stuck.” He whimpered, his voice breaking.
And that was the moment Toby really took in the situation. One of the shelves had snapped, and one end was still attached to the structure and the other, the other was buried deep into Adil’s leg.
“No!” Toby sobbed, scrambling closer and looking around frantically, trying to find something, anything that could help.
“Can you move at all?” Toby begged, even though he was pretty sure he knew the answer already.
Adil took a deep breath before attempting to sit up, putting all of his weight onto his elbows but he only managed to lift the top of his back off the ground for a few seconds before his arms started visibly shaking and he lost all balance, collapsing back onto the ground. The scream of pain that pierced the surrounding silence shattered Toby’s heart. Now he knew what it felt like, seeing someone you love hurting and not being able to do a single thing to help them.
“It’s no use you need to go.” Adil whimpered, a painful grimace on his face. It was obvious that the small movement had put a lot of strain on Adil’s body, he was now collapsed in a heap with his leg at an awkward angle.
Tears flowed down Toby’s face and to begin with he tried to wipe them away, but there was too many of them and they came too fast that he decided to let them be. Adil wasn’t crying though, he had always been the braver of the two of them, since before they were even together.
“I can’t leave you here…” he explained through the tears, kneeling down beside Adil and grasping his hands in his own.
“You can. You have to.” Adil said, before his eyes closed suddenly and his head rolled to the side.
“Adil, Adil!” Toby panicked, quickly letting going of Adil’s hands and reaching out to grasp his face and move his head back into a straight position. His own hands were shaking profusely as he tried to keep it still. Adil’s eyes reopened, but they seemed distant.
Toby didn’t know what to do. He wanted to remove the wood from inside Adil’s leg but he wasn’t sure how deep it went and even he knew that it was the only thing keeping the blood in Adil’s leg right now. If he attempted to take it out, Adil would probably bleed to death. On the other hand, if he didn’t move him he may well go the same way anyway. Toby knew he was the worst person to be here, actually. He had absolutely no first aid training, no experience with war or casualties like Freddie or Emma. For all he knew he was only making everything worse, but he had to at least try.
“I’m going to move you a little to try and make you more comfortable, okay?” He told Adil who smiled weakly up at him in agreement, trusting him implicitly.
There was still rubble falling questionably close to them and Toby was paranoid that at some point soon a bit of ceiling would plunge straight towards them and Adil wouldn’t be able to move to save himself. He was worrying most about his head now, the most vulnerable part of his body. If Adil sustained a blow to his skull, along with all his other injuries, Toby didn’t think he’d be able to make it. So he reluctantly abandoned all contact with Adil and shrugged his dinner jacket off as quick as he could. He folded it up before slowly, slowly lifting Adil’s head up a fraction, careful not to make any sudden movements, and slipped the make-shift pillow underneath it, hoping that it would at least somewhat protect him if he moved abruptly or had a seizure or something.
A brick fell inches from where they lay, causing Toby to speed up. He lay down beside Adil, as close as he could, before turning onto his side. He leaned over Adil, using the whole upper half of his body to shield Adil’s face and chest from anything that may tumble down onto them.
“There. That’s better now, isn’t it?” Toby soothed, trying to keep his voice light and friendly even though his eyes stung and his heart ached and he just wanted to scream get up, get up! But he knew it wouldn’t help, and he needed to stay strong for Adil.
“Thank you.” Adil croaked, and Toby didn’t know if it was just the light but he thought he was gradually getting paler. He needed a better plan, he didn’t know how much time he had.
“I love you Adil. I won’t leave you.” He promised, his head spinning.
“If you love me you’ll go. You’ll survive.” Adil begged. But Toby wouldn’t, he couldn’t go.
“I don’t want to live without you.” Toby spoke the words without even thinking and it was only after they settled into the fresh silence between them that he realised how true they were. He hadn’t been living before he had met Adil, not really. And he wouldn’t know what he would do without him.
Adil gave him a trembling smile, tears openly falling from his face now too.
“I love you too Toby, so much. You brought so much into my life that I didn’t even know I needed. And being with you, you made me so happy. So so happy.”
“Adil stop,” Toby sobbed. “Don’t you dare say goodbye, you hear me?” He scolded, dipping his head slightly, a natural reaction as more fragments broke free from above.
“Toby Hamilton. You were such a surprise. I took a massive chance kissing you. It was down here, do you remember?” he asked, and Toby could hear his voice getting quieter, as if he was getting more and more tired and it was getting harder for him to speak.
“Of course I remember!” If he was being honest with himself, it was one of the first things Toby had thought about when he had first realised where Adil was lying, a mere two feet away from where they had stood that day. The last time he had been down here his life had changed in the best way imaginable. He wasn’t going to let this time be the complete opposite.
“I was terrified. But once I had time to think about it I realised who I was and why I had never felt whole. You saved me Adil, when I didn’t know I needed it. I need you. You can’t leave me.” He thought that maybe talking would help – help distract Adil from the pain or both of them from the fear. He didn’t think it was working.
“Toby, if I could I would stay with you forever. But you need to promise me you’ll live a full and happy life. Don’t give up who are for the sake of your mother or anyone. Even if you can’t be together with a man in public I want you to find someone who loves you with all their heart and will do everything to give you the happiness you deserve.”
“I already have that. I have you.” Toby cried, shaking his head in indignation.
“Toby…” Adil breathed out, sounding resigned.
“I’ll go and get help, we’ll free you and --- ”
“No, Toby. I’m bleeding too much, it would be too late.”
Toby then remembered something Emma had told him that she had learned from her nights in the ambulance.
He reached down and unbuckled his belt with shaking hands.
“Toby, what are you --- ”
But Toby just shushed him and manoeuvred the belt so it was around Adil’s thigh, above the point where the wood was sticking in. As well as that the bottom of the leg had a huge gash in it and blood was steadily pooling out. There was also blood marking a path down his face from a head injury, which made Toby think of his own. He reached up to touch the side of his head for the second time that night and when he brought his hand back down it was still sticky with blood.
“Toby you’re hurt. You need to go.”
“No!” Toby screamed harshly and his hands shook as he tightened the belt as tight as it would go, and Adil looked quite shocked.
“Don’t ask me to do that. You wouldn’t leave me and you know it.” Toby knew for a fact that if the roles were reversed Adil would be doing the exact same thing.
Toby finished the tourniquet and let out a sigh of relief even though he had no clue if it would make a difference or not. He then pulled off his shirt and pressed it down to try and stem the bleeding.
Adil started to close his eyes again and Toby slapped his cheek.
“No! Open your eyes Adil, you can’t. You can’t leave me here alone.” Toby was petrified that if Adil fell asleep he would never wake up again.
What was taking everyone so long? Surely Joe would have told Freddie by now that he had seen Toby go back inside, so where was he? They must be looking for him.
Adil’s eyes fluttered open but he let out a chesty cough, and when he removed his hand from his mouth there was blood. Toby let out another sob as he looked at Adil lying there getting weaker and weaker, as if his life was pouring out of him, his pupils refusing to focus on anything. Toby knew that Adil was trying his hardest to keep himself awake, but he also knew he must be torturing himself to do so. He watched as Adil opened his mouth, trying to speak. But no words came out, only gurgling blood instead.
“Shh, it’s alright. I’m here, I’m here. I’m not going to leave you. They’ll be here soon to get us, don’t you worry.” Toby wasn’t even sure if Adil understood what he was saying anymore.
Toby ran a shaky hand through Adil’s hair and wondered if this was the last chance he would get to do so. He let out a terrified sob as a whole section of the roof nearby caved in. He ducked his head again to try and protect himself, and Adil, a little from any further harm. He squeezed his eyes shut and counted up to 100 under his breath to try and calm himself down.
When he opened his eyes again, Adil was unconscious.
“No, no, no, no…” Toby cried grabbing Adil’s shoulders and shaking him. “I love you. I love you Adil. Wake up! Please, you have to wake up!”
Toby let out a strangled sob, repeating the mantra please don’t be dead over and over as he checked for a pulse. It took him a minute and it was very weak, but it was there. He was still alive.
And then another shower of debris rained down upon them. Toby quickly moved so he was once again protecting Adil, and then – nothing.
And that’s how the rescue team found them - Toby draped over Adil, both of them unconscious and the world continuing to crash and burn around them.
When Toby next awoke, he was in a bed in a room that he did not recognise. He squinted his eyes as they adjusted to the bright lights hanging above him and frantically looked around the room for Adil, but it was empty. Where was he? What had happened? Was he alive?
All he could remember was lying beside Adil’s unconscious body, shielding it and whispering into Adil’s ear that everything was going to be fine, even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to hear him and he was not in a position to be making such promises. He must have blacked out himself too, because the next thing he knew he was waking up here.
Toby needed to find Adil. He tried to push himself up to get out of the bed when a nurse decided to bustle into the room, carrying some bandages and a jug of water. When she saw that he was awake and realised what he was trying to do she hurriedly put them down and rushed over, gently guiding him back into bed.
“It’s alright, Mr Hamilton. You’re in the hospital. You’re going to be just fine, but I need you to stay in bed for me,” she directed, adjusting the pillow underneath his head that had slipped slightly with the movement.
“What happened?” he asked, starting to panic slightly.
“I don’t know, I’m sorry. I just know what’s happened since you were brought in.”
“Did anyone else arrive with me, another casualty? A small Indian man with a white shirt and black bowtie and a shelf in his leg?” He waited with bated breath for the answer, not sure if he was ready to hear it.
“Oh yes, poor soul. He was in a very bad way. I’m surprised he lasted that long. They rushed him straight to surgery.” Toby let out a shaky breath that he hadn’t realised he had been holding. Adil was alive. At least, he had been. Toby had no idea how long he had been out for.
“Can I see him? Where’s my brother?” He asked hurriedly, pleading with the nurse to let him out.
“I’m sorry, you can’t leave this room. But I can go and get an update on his condition for you, and fetch Lord Hamilton, how about that?” She smiled down to him, and Toby felt like he was a child again. He sighed, not feeling up to arguing. He had the worst headache he had ever experienced and had almost forgotten about his own injuries. But Freddie would be able to explain everything, so the quicker she got him the better.
When Freddie burst through the door minutes later Toby couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. He raced over to the bed and enveloped Toby into a bone-crushing hug.
“God Toby, don’t you ever do that again, you hear? I was so worried about you!” Toby realised that Freddie was crying, and he felt guilty for making his brother feel this way.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I had to find him…” he started, but he knew there was no way that he’d be able to explain to Freddie the motivation that drove him to almost death.
“I know.” Freddie replied, a look of pity and understanding in his eyes. How much he knew though, Toby wasn’t sure.
“He’s still alive?” Toby queried, knowing the answer had the ability to ruin his life.
“He’s still alive.” Freddie answered with a smile, and Toby broke down into relieved tears.
“Please, tell me what happened. Tell me everything.” Toby begged.
So Freddie did. He spent the next twenty minutes describing how he, along with Joe, had led a rescue team back into the hotel once he had been alerted to Toby’s disappearance.
“The emergency services weren’t going to let me come, but I convinced them that they needed me because they didn’t know the layout of the hotel or where you might me,” Freddie explained proudly.
It had taken them quite a while to find the pair of them, but once they did they stretchered Toby out before removing Adil from under the fallen shelf. Toby was thankful that Freddie didn’t bring up the position he found them in, he wouldn’t know what to say. It did not go unnoticed to Toby that Freddie didn’t explain exactly how they got him out. He opened his mouth to ask, but was cut off by Freddie continuing his story.
“We brought you both here and then they took Mr Joshi into surgery. It took hours, but when they were done he was stable and no longer in a critical condition, and he has remained so ever since. He’s still unconscious though. They bandaged up the wound on your head and gave you some painkillers. You are both very lucky to be alive.”
Toby knew this. It was a miracle. He didn’t know how else to describe it.
“Please, Freddie. I need to be there when he wakes up. I need to seem him,” he begged, trying to convey the importance without saying anything, just looking into his brother’s eyes. Freddie nodded, and Toby began to wonder if he had been more aware of the situation between himself and Adil than he had ever let on.
“They said you’re not to move, but I’ll see what I can do. If I can find a wheelchair I can take you to him.” Freddie suggested and even though Toby was adamant that he would be able to walk, he didn’t know how far away Adil was and he needed to conserve all his strength.
Freddie left and returned a while later with the promised wheelchair. He helped Toby out of bed and into the seat and Toby tried not to wince in pain. If Freddie thought he was hurting he would not let him go.
Freddie wheeled him through corridor after corridor and Toby wondered how anyone could find their way around this place. A few times, he thought that a nurse or Doctor was going to stop and question them, but when they realised who Freddie was they just hurried on. Eventually, they stopped outside a pair of double doors.
“Toby, I need to warn you before you go in there. He isn’t going to be the same as he was before. His body isn’t going to be the same.”
“What do you mean?” Toby asked confused. He knew that the leg was going to be badly injured and maybe scarred, but why would that need a specific warning? Freddie sighed when he saw the puzzled look on his face.
“They had to amputate the leg, Toby.”
Toby felt the colour drain from his face as the words sunk in.
“No, no. Why did you do that?” He cried, thrashing as he tried to turn around in his seat so he could face his brother, so that he could see he was lying. Freddie moved hurriedly to kneel in front of Toby so they were at the same level.
“It was the only way to get him out. It was the only way they could save him.” Toby wailed in anguish, and Freddie pulled him once more into a comforting hug.
“Shh, Toby. It’s okay. I’ve seen so many men in the same position as him. He can get a prosthetic, he can still go about his life the same as before.”
But life was never going to be the same for either of them. How could it after what they had just been through?
“It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault…” Toby whispered repeatedly into Freddie’s shoulder as he continued to sob.
“It was the belt, wasn’t it? It stopped the blood flow to the leg and it died and they had to cut it off!”
“No, Toby. Listen to me,” Freddie demanded, pulling back so they could look each other in the eye.
“You saved him. If you hadn’t done that he would have bled out before we were able to reach him. He may have lost a leg, but if it wasn’t for you he would have lost his life.”
After Toby had calmed down, they entered the ward. Toby was surprised to see that Adil had been placed in a room with at least 9 other men, sounds of moaning and groaning filling the air. It was a stark difference to the silence of Toby’s empty room.
Toby spotted Adil immediately, and did not look away for a second as Freddie moved him over to his bedside. He looked peaceful, almost as if he was sleeping.
“I’ll leave you two alone for a minute,” Freddie said tactically, spinning the wheelchair round so that Toby was level with Adil’s face.
“Wait, why is he in here?” Toby asked, but he already knew the answer before Freddie had opened his mouth.
“You’re a Hamilton, he’s not. You have your private room, and he has to be in a public ward,” Freddie said sadly. Toby knew he didn’t like the segregation in classes as much as he did.
“I want him moved into my room. They can put in another bed, there’s plenty room for it. I can’t leave him on his own in here. Can you do that?” He gazed hopefully at his brother, knowing that he had the power once again to solve Toby’s problem.
“Of course, Toby. Once he’s well enough to be moved I’ll get it sorted.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Once Freddie had left, Toby immediately reached out and latched onto Adil’s hands, caressing them softly even though they were in a room filled with people. He didn’t know any of them and most were sleeping anyway. He took a moment to just take it all in – the fact that they were both alive and going to be okay.
He whispered into Adil’s ear, telling him how proud he was of him and how brave he was and how much he loved him, begging him to wake up so he could see those beautiful eyes and charming smile.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry that this has happened to you and that I couldn’t do more to save your leg. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but I know that I’m still going to be with you – cripple or not. And I know what you’re going to think – that this is just another reason why you’re not good enough for me. But it’s not and you’re wrong. Nothing could change the way I feel about you. We’re going to figure this out together and I’ll be with you every step of the way. I know it’ll be difficult and it won’t happen overnight, but you will adapt. And I’m going to have you moved into my room so I can keep an eye on you, I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I’m not going to leave your side for a single second.”
Now that he was no longer worrying about Adil, he felt himself grow tired. He had only woken up about an hour ago but what had transpired since then had really put a toll on him. He felt his eyes droop, and stopped trying to fight it. He let himself drift off with one hand holding onto Adil’s, the other locked gently in his hair. He laid his head on Adil’s chest and fell asleep to the comforting rhythm of Adil’s heartbeat.