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“Where is he?”
It was 12:43 AM on a Wednesday. Usually, he would be sleeping next to his partner by now, stress free and enjoying his time with Korvo. But now he was anything but stress free.
About two hours ago Korvo had gone to pick up a part for the ship that was remarkably similar to the Shlorpian part he had been missing. He had insisted to Terry that he wouldn’t be long, and he could simply go to sleep without him. Of course, Terry had to stay up to make sure everything went okay.
Of course, he didn’t really think anything would go wrong.
He had tried calling Korvo twelve times, all to no avail. Terry hoped the hardware store just had a freakishly long wait to check out and his phone had died. Or maybe he got really hungry and stopped at a diner with no cell service that happened to be open late at night. Or maybe the car broke down. Or maybe he left his keys somewhere in the now closed store and was walking all the way home right now. He was sure one of those scenarios had to be correct.
Convincing himself that this was the case, he tried to put his mind to rest by getting some sleep. He made sure to leave his ringer on all the way up, and made the walk to the front door to unlock it. Just in case he lost his keys.
Although he felt sick with worry, he fell asleep almost instantaneously.
———
Another two hours later, Terry woke up to the front door silently opening. He opened his eyes just enough to see the clock on the bedside table blaring out the numbers 3:08 AM. He heard the door shut slowly, as to hopefully not wake anyone up, and some loud shuffling coming up to their bedroom door.
The door to the bedroom creeks open, as Terry sees his partner creep in the quiet moonlit room. He lets Korvo shut the door before turning on his lamp, foolishly, because now he’s temporarily blinded himself.
“Where the HELL have you been?-” Terry whisper shouts while rubbing his eyes, hoping this will help his eyes adjust quicker.
“And why haven’t you been answering my calls?!” Terry removes his hands from his eyes, finally able to see again. And what he sees simultaneously breaks his heart and shocks him to his core. He freezes.
Korvo is standing in the doorframe pitifully, covered with a mixture of rain, dirt, and blood. Gooblers are swarming around his feet, and more join the party every second. His robe was slightly shredded and his left shoe was missing, leaving him in a muddy bright purple sock— presumably something he stole from Terry by mistake. He had a huge gash over his left eye, and bruises marked every bit of skin he had showing.
His eyes are red with exhaustion. He was clearly trying not to burst into tears by the way his lips were quivering. Shaking violently, he tries to speak but it all comes out in jumbles of nothing, and once he stops he holds his breath, trying to contain his tears from flowing.
Terry is temporarily paralyzed, taking in everything that’s in front of him. He quickly tries to remember everything they had taught him to do if someone got injured back on Shlorp. Clean, cover, care.
“Terry I-“ he cuts himself off, not being able to finish his words.
“No, shh shh. Explain later, let me help you first.”
Terry gently takes Korvo’s hand and helps him to sit down on the bed. He tells the blue alien that he will be right back.
When he leaves, he sprints to the kitchen to pick up some Shlorpian medications, Neosporin, and the first aid kit Korvo bought for emergencies a few months back. He grabs a glass of water for Korvo to drink and a washcloth to clean his wounds.
When he gets back into the room, he finds Korvo sitting in the exact same position he left him in, staring at a wall looking both terrified and lost. Terry felt a pang in his heart, wondering who or what could have possibly done this to his Korvo.
He sits down next to him with what he hopes looks like a comforting smile. He doesn’t want him to know he’s about to lose his shit right now. He needs to be taken care of first. That’s the most important part.
“Here, take these. I know you’re not the biggest fan of pills but they’ll help you feel better.”
Terry has never seen Korvo take pills as fast as he just did. He drank the water in gulps, never once coming up for air. He puts the emptied glass back on their table and sits as still as possible, trying to not let Terry know how badly he is hurting. Terry noticed. And he couldn’t stand to see him trying to act brave at a time like this.
“...And Korv, it’s okay to cry.”
This was the final breaking point for the wounded alien. He slouched his shoulders and let the tears fall from his eyes. He gasped for air as he sobbed, still sitting on the bed. He was desperate for physical contact from Terry, but was in too much pain to receive it. Korvo wanted nothing more than to be sleeping in the arms of his loving partner, but sadly that was not an option right now.
Terry felt horrible about not being able to give Korvo the love he needed. But instead of dwelling on that, Terry carefully removed the shreds of robe Korvo had left on his body to start properly cleaning his wounds.
“I’m so sorry, Korvo,” Terry whispered to him soothingly. “Do you think you can make it to the shower? These gashes are too deep to just be cleaned with a washcloth. I’ll help in any way I can, just let me know to the best of your ability.”
Korvo stood up slowly, wobbling and stumbling every couple steps, but Terry was with him every step of the way to make sure he got there safely.
“Thank you, Terry,” Korvo croaked out once they got to their shared bathroom.
“Don’t even mention it, buddy.”
Terry helped him sit on the closed toilet lid while he got the shower to the perfect temperature. He knows Korvo likes things to be ever so slightly warmer than he himself prefers, so that’s exactly what he does with the water temperature.
“Alright, grab my hand and let’s get you cleaned up.”
Korvo, still crying, grabbed his partners hand tightly and hopped into the running water. Perfect Korvo temperature.
As soon as he made contact, the bottom of the shower was flooded with brown dirt and blue blood.
“This isn’t gonna feel good, but I need you to try as best as you can to cooperate. I promise it’ll only help you.” Terry said with sadness in his eyes. The thought of hurting Korvo, even to help him, didn’t exactly make him happy.
He grabbed the washcloth and put some unscented soap on it so it didn’t burn more than it had to. He targeted his eye wound first, because it was the biggest and he wanted to get it over with first. Korvo was still holding the green aliens hand, and he only tightened his grip when Terry started to clean the large gash.
Terry squeezed his hand back lightly, as he slowly washed around the deep wound. He rinsed the washcloth off a few times to get the blood off, and gingerly cleaned the rest of the cuts he had all over his body.
Once he finished, he turned the shower off and helped Korvo out, wrapping the fluffiest towel they owned around him.
Terry sat Korvo back down on the bed, putting disinfectant medicine on the cuts and wrapping the bigger ones in gauze, including the one on his eye. Luckily, whatever struck him didn’t get his eyelid, so nothing had to cover his eye directly.
He helped Korvo put on some fresh socks and his biggest night shirt, before getting up to grab their biggest water bottle so he could drink more than just a glass.
When he returned, he decided to really talk to him for the first time in the night. But only if he was up to it.
He sat down next to the man he could’ve lost tonight and turned to face him.
What he wasn’t expecting was Korvo to give him the biggest and warmest hug of his entire life. Terry smiled to himself as he cautiously hugged him back, not wanting to reopen any cuts.
“Fuck. Where would I be without you?” Korvo said a little uncharacteristically. Terry could still hear the sadness in his voice.
“Korv... what the hell happened?”
Korvo sighed and let go of his favorite alien, now settling to hold his hand. He composed himself as best as he could before gathering his thoughts and putting them into words.
“The street was empty, Terry!” He begins, thoughts and feelings completely blended. “I was driving home and respecting all of the colored signs when a human comes and slams full force into my door while I was sitting at a stop light. He just kept going, too. Fuckin human.”
“The car was totaled, and I couldn’t move. So I just stayed laying on the sidewalk for some amount of time. Eventually, I try to stand up, after a few shots I finally stayed balanced. Then it started to rain. Then I walked six miles home. I tried to call you but my phone was shattered as soon as I hit the ground.”
“Jesus Christ. I’m so fucking sorry Korvo. I can’t believe no one helped you.” Terry says. He lightly rubs his thumb on the side of his face that doesn’t have gauze all over it. “Are you feel any better now? At least okay enough to sleep?”
“As long as you’re here, I could sleep forever.” Korvo said, the strong pain medications seemingly having kicked in by now, telling by his weird words.
They crawled under the blankets as Terry clicked off the lamp. “Little or big?” He says, knowing Korvo will understand.
“Little.” He says, already half asleep.
Terry softly moved closer to Korvo, wrapping his arms around his frame. “Don’t be hesitant to tell me to fuck off it I ever hurt you, okay?”
“Mmhmmmm” He mumbles in response.
Terry kisses the top of his head, “Thank you for being safe.” he says as he already hears the other snoring away.