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Exhaustion had overtaken one Damien Bloodmarch by the time he managed to drag himself out of his car, fumbled for his keys to open the arched doors to his home, and flopped himself on the nearest living room couch. By the time he felt his cheek find a comfortable spot against the armrest of the couch, he was too drained to care that his glasses were now crooked, his hair was still pulled back in a high ponytail, and his binder was growing uncomfortably tight, an indication that he had been wearing it for far too long today.
Damien sighed loudly, knowing that logically he should at the very least remove his binder, but also being very aware that he needed a good few minutes to attempt to regain at least one spoon so he could have it to expend on the movement taking his binder off would require.
A soft, drawn out "fuck" left his lips, followed by a quiet yell of "ahhhh," as he attempted to rest his body for a moment, eyes closing shut tight to block out the lights that felt all too bright, in the hopes that the strength to move would reach him soon. A total of twenty minutes had passed by the time Damien realized he would not be regaining any spoons soon enough to take care of things on his own.
The sound of his front door opening was the first clue, the second clue quickly following, as the sound of a familiar gruff voice echoed through the hallway leading down to the living room.
"Damien? Are you home?" Robert's voice asked, moving closer. His voice was loud, too loud to be comfortable for Damien in his bordering overloaded state, coupled with the disturbing thunk, thunk of Robert's heavy boots as he moved closer. "Dejaste la puerta bien abierta, Damien."
Instinctively, Damien's hands moved to cover his hears, hoping to muffle some of the sounds, as he let out another soft "ahhhhhhh," a little louder than before.
This was how a confused Robert Small found his boyfriend, laying on his couch, hands covering his ears, eyes tightly shut, and screaming quietly. Robert's brows drew together in concern, as he immediately dropped to his knees in front of the couch, a hand hovering over Damien's shoulder, worried that if he made physical contact with Damien, it might make things worse, but also wanting to comfort him physically. Robert settled for dropping his hand, instead choosing to attempt to speak to the other man.
"Damien? It's Robert. Are you alright? What's wrong?" He asked, though the barrage of questions resulted in Damien's gentle scream increasing in volume slightly again. Robert's concern continued to grow. "Cariño, please tell me what's wrong. Te quiero ayudar. Estas bien?"
Damien nodded, his soft yell coming to a brief stop as he replied with a quiet "...fine...fuck..." before continuing to yell.
The soft slapping of bare feet against hardwood floors drew Robert's attention away from Damien for a second, to be greeted by the man's son, Lucien, already wearing his pajamas for the night.
Seeing his dad laying on the couch with a worried looking Robert next to him, Lucien turned his good ear towards them to get a better auditory intake of the situation. His dad's gentle screams were a sound Lucien was, not necessarily accustomed to, but a sound that he recognized instantly.
Snapping his fingers to get Robert's attention, Lucien signed.
"Hearing aid isn't in. Too loud today." He prefaced. "Speak quietly. Tell dad to open his eyes and look at me."
Robert, who was still learning sign language, was able to grasp most of what Lucien said.
"Damien, amor, open your eyes. Lucien wants to talk to you, and his hearing aid isn't in." Robert said, keeping his voice soft, before he looked back at Lucien again.
Pointing to Robert, Lucien signed again.
"He's overloaded." He informed Robert, attempting to keep it as simple as possible. "Speak quietly and hold him. Physical contact is good."
Robert nodded in understanding, again getting the gist of what Lucien was telling him, before signing a "Thank you. Will he be okay?"
Lucien gave a nod of his own. "It happens sometimes. He's extremely low on spoons, and needs comforting."
Pointing to Damien, once Lucien noticed his father prying his eyes open to look at him, he signed.
"Dad, Robert is here, and he will take care of you. I am here, if you need anything." There was a momentary pause, before Lucien added "Take your binder off, before you hurt yourself with it."
With the nonverbal communication removing the stress of verbal communication and the loudness of voices, Damien's quiet screaming became no more than a soft hum. It was his turn to nod, as he let his hands drop from his ears, no longer feeling a need to muffle the sounds around him.
Before Lucien attempted to walk away, Robert asked "Should I help him out of the tight shirt?" his memory of signed word, or was it more than one, for binder escaping him for the moment.
Damien's hand reaching out for Robert answered the question for Lucien, who let out a chuckle before he retreated to the kitchen, his original destination.
Robert's attention returned to Damien, who was nodding, with one hand, clenching and unclenching his fist in a grabbing motion towards him, while the other moved to attempt to push himself to a sitting position.
Large, brown hands assisted him in sitting up and pulling the purple polo shirt over his head, revealing the black fabric of Damien's binder. Robert paused before moving to touch the hem of the half tank.
"Damien," He said, voice just barely above a whisper. Robert wanted to be sure he was keeping his boyfriend comfortable, as he was well aware that Damien's chest was still a site of dysphoria for the man, being the reason Robert hardly saw Damien completely shirtless. "I'm going to take your binder off now. That's going to involve me seeing your chest, though. Are you okay with that?"
For a moment, Damien hesitates, biting his lip as he thinks. He nods after a moment, mustering up enough energy to speak.
"I-it's okay..." He replies, his own voice quiet, heavy with exhaustion. "Just... do not touch my chest once my shirt is back on...please..."
"I won't touch. Promise." Robert agrees, moving hooking his hands just under the hem of Damien's binder, tugging it upwards and over the man's head. "Bad day?"
With the binder off, Damien holds a hand up to momentarily stop Robert as he stretches, taking a few deep breaths. He made a small noise of acknowledgement, a soft "mmhm" in reply.
Robert's eyes planted themselves on a spot on Damien's forehead, only having looked at Damien's chest to be sure he had a hold of the binder, which was then discarded on the coffee table. Once it was off, he kept his eyes locked on the pale forehead, contemplating placing a kiss on the skin there. Damien took a second to rub the sore skin of his shoulders, and just under his breasts, before motioning for Robert to grab his shirt again.
Helping him back into the purple shirt, Robert took the opportunity to kiss the covered skin of Damien's shoulders, where he had seen Damien rub. His fingers the found themselves reaching for Damien's glasses, gently placing them next to the binder on the coffee table, before removing the hair tie from Damien's pony tail, letting his hair loose.
Robert leaned back, against the arm of the couch, motioning for Damien to lean against him. Damien turned, his back facing Robert, before comfortably resting himself against Robert's chest, eyes finding themselves closing again, though this time, in a relaxed manner. Robert's arms carefully draped around Damien's waist, his hands resting against the man's hips.
A moment of silence passed before Damien spoke again. "Thank you, by the way."
Robert pressed his lips against the top of his boyfriend's head. "No need to thank me. Solo quiero cuidar te. Te amo."
"And I you," Damien felt his lips tug upwards in a smile. He was still extremely exhausted, and bordering overloaded, but he felt calmer, safer, in Robert's arms.