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When his eyes blearily blink open, the first thing that hits him are the harsh fluorescent lights beaming down from directly over him. Kircheis finds it hard to keep from squinting, if not for the growing curiosity about where he currently is he probably would have just shut his eyes once more until the lights were dimmed. Forcing his eyes to stay open, he takes note of the plain, almost sterile environment; save for a few small flower assortments resting upon a small table backed against the wall directly opposing him.
As he goes to turn his head to survey the room, Kircheis notices the fact he’s having trouble moving his neck. A small sliver of worry shoots through him as he feels the brace covering his neck, but he trudges on and instead turns at the waist to example the rest of the room.
Everything else, unsurprisingly, also appears quite plain in its off white color palette. Kircheis only really gets a sense of where he is once he’s turned enough to his right side to notice the steadily beeping monitor and realizes he’s currently attached to it.
He’s at a hospital and has absolutely no clue why.
The worry grows stronger now, Kircheis just cannot bring to mind what had happened to make his end up here.
That is, until he turns to face his left side where he’s met with the welcome sight of Marquis Reinhard von Lohengramm snoozing away in a small chair pulled right up to the edge of his hospital bed. Marquis Lohe- Reinhard doesn’t seem to look too good at the moment either.
‘He looks simply exhausted’, Kircheis thinks to himself, taking in the sight of the purple bags under his dear friend’s eyes.
The longer he watches Reinhard’s still face and gentle rise and fall of his chest, the more starts coming back to him. The fight, the ceremony, the assassination attempt, the immesne fear that struck him as he watched someone try to take his dear Reinhard’s life and the subsiquent addrennaline that took over as he grabbed the perpetrator. Everything was flooding back into his mind at once.
Kircheis thinks about the way Reinhard cradled his bleeding and crumpled body after he had collapsed on the floor. The way he adamantly insisted that Kircheis was going to make it out of this to tell Annarose he kept her promise, all while tears threatened to spill from his frightened blue eyes.
‘Guess I will get to tell Annarose afterall..,’ the redhead muses.
His eyes remain on the blond, Reinhard has always been a handsome man, but the way his face looks while stripped free from any worries and can just relax is simply second to none. Not that it’s Kircheis’ first time admiring a sleeping Reinhard, prior to his last stint on the frontlines and their recent quarrel, he often accompanied the other man to bed.
“I always feel more at ease when you’re around, Kircheis,” the other would murmur, faces inches apart, curled up close in the taller man’s warm embrace. Eyes flutter shut and even with just the dim moonlight shining in upon his friend’s face, the look of relaxation that blooms across his sleeping features is one of the most beautiful things Kircheis has ever seen.
Some of his most treasured memories are from the nights shared within Reinhard’s lodging. All he hoped is that those fond moments would begin again after this.
But, alas, he was here, contained in a hospital bed and attached to multiple monitors.
With a deep sigh, his eyes fall to the blond’s right hand that has been resting on top of his crossed legs. Moving on instinct, the redhead reaches over and moves the hand into his own, gently stroking his thumb in loving circles against the top of the hand and across the rough knuckles.
Even though the action was performed with care, this nonetheless stirred the sleeping man. Reinhard’s eyes opened, but widened immensely upon meeting Kircheis own soft gaze and small smile.
“Kircheis?!”
“Yes, Lord Reinhard?”
“You’re… I can’t believe it… ,” Reinhard trailed off, looking over his friend with astonishment. He couldn’t help but grin widely at the other, all while feeling the start of tears forming.
“How long was I out?”
Squinting his brilliant blue eyes and shaking his head slightly to keep from letting those tears spill, he responded, “It’s been 5 days, no one has been certain if you’d recover or not since your injury was just so…” Reinhard couldn’t dare to finish the sentence and conjure thoughts of his bloodied friend once more.
Instead, he just squeezes the taller man’s hand and takes a silent moment before continuing in a tentative tone, “ I haven’t said this yet and this may just be too late for forgiveness, but… I’m sorry for lying and disrespecting you.”
Kircheis’ expression softens further, “Lord Reinh-”
“Please, just Reinhard. It was wrong of me to throw aside all of our history and force you to refer to me as above you. You are my closest companion, it’s cruel of me to make you act otherwise and for that I also apologize.”
“Reinhard,” Kircheis frees his hand and moves it to tenderly squeeze the other man’s shoulder, “I accept your apology”. He meets Reinhard’s gaze with that beaming smile of his.
Sighing with relief, Reinhard leans to place his forehead against Kircheis’ gown clad shoulder.
“I’m just so glad you’re okay, I don’t know what I would have done without you… “
Kircheis guides his friend’s face from his shoulder and lovingly cups his cheek, “ Reinhard, I will always be by your side, from now on more than ever.”
And the looks of adoration and appreciation that filled Reinhard’s eyes said that was left unsaid.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the night of Kircheis’ hospital discharge, he, once again, found himself back in Reinhard quarters.
That night, they had wined and dined in celebration of his release (and truly the fact he lived, but that part was left unspoken), and finished up the celebration in his room with another bottle of vintage wine on the plush loveseat adjacent to a window displaying the sea of stars that made up the sky.
Kircheis almost felt like he had died and gone to Valhalla, but knew nothing so sweet would await him up there since the ones he cared about most were still very much alive and currently spoiling him with affection.
Childish behavior coming from Reinhard while the two are alone isn’t anything new. Yet, the sheer amount of affection coming from the shorter man, who at present has made himself comfortable against Kircheis’ left side, resting his head against the other’s broad chest, was much more than usual. Perhaps due the buzz from the wine or the high he felt knowing Kircheis was still here with him. Either way, Reinhard made it abundantly clear that there was no way his dearest friend was leaving this room any time soon.
Their lounging, drinking and conversing bled into the early morning before Reinhard untangled himself from under the redhead’s arm. Setting his empty wine glass down with a loud clink before wordlessly offering a hand to the sitting man. A noticeable flush stood out against his pale cheeks and he did so.
Kircheis smiled softly up at the blond, taking his hand and allowing himself to be guided to the four poster oak bed.
They easily fell back into the motions of their typical embrace. Kircheis moved onto his side and immediately welcomed Reinhard into his strong arms. Reinhard quickly found his
place, face tucked into his love’s neck, hands holding his waist and legs tangled together.
As he settled his arms around the newly christened Duke, he nuzzled his nose into the wavy blond curls and let his eyes fall shut.
Right before he fell into deep sleep, Kircheis felt a few soft kisses being planted on the crook of his neck, making him chuckle low and smile.
The last thing he heard before finally drifting off was whisper, “my friend, I’m so glad you’re still here.”