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“Elysium.”
Thorns waited for a response on the comms, staring at the building where Elysium had gone to retrieve Myrtle. It’ll only take five minutes had turned into ten, and then fifteen, with no sound from Elysium’s end. Aak had ominously informed them two minutes ago that another squad had discovered explosive charges with some kind of gas attached to them. They’d been set in other buildings, but they had no idea if it were the same for the one Elysium had entered.
They should be fine was the message delivered by the squad.
Should be was very different from will be and it made Thorns a little uneasy. “Elysium.” He spoke again, a little tenser and Warfarin shifted to her feet.
More static.
He climbed to his feet, ready to head over even though he knew he wasn’t supposed to.
Just as he was about to go, the line crackled to life, Elysium’s cheery voice strained as he spoke much too loud and Thorns winced, cranking down the volume of his earpiece.
“Yo! There’s a lot of debris to climb around, and the reception is horrendous in here, but Myrtle and I will be out in two minutes. We found some civilians, so it’s taking a little longer.”
“You should have called for backu— Hurry up.”
Elysium laughed, breezy and unworried. “Prickly! Like I said, reception here was, and still is horrible! I only got to contact you just now, dunno how long it’ll hold up. Besides, we can handle a couple of civilians on our own, bro!”
Thorns closed his eyes, lowering himself back into his seat. Chatty as usual. “Don’t call me that. There might be explosive charges in there, don’t linger any longer than you have to.”
Elysium hummed a confirmation and the connection cut off again.
Thorns didn’t even have to look behind him to know that there was someone standing behind him.
“See, he’s fine! Ya worry way too much about your little birdie.” Aak hovered over Thorns’ shoulder as he started to check his weapon, until Thorns raised a hand, dripping in his toxins. Aak backed up a couple of steps and Thorns turned away again, satisfied with getting his personal space back.
“Don’t call him that.”
“Which part, ‘yours’ or ‘little birdie?’”
He hesitated, not expecting the question to be phrased like that, and Aak let out a snicker.
Before he could come up with a proper answer or retort, Andreana stiffened from where she’d been observing the building, whipping around to stare at Thorns. Her mouth opened and she started to speak, but her words were lost in the resounding explosions that rocked the ground.
Elysium’s hand was warm. Thorns rubbed his thumb along the back of it, unused to silence when in Elysium’s company.
“When do you plan to stop being lazy?” he murmured quietly, afraid to speak too loud. Warfarin had been lurking, looking for any reason to kick him out and he didn’t want to risk it.
Elysium’s eyes slid open at the sound of his voice, hazy and unfocused like he had done several times before, blinking a couple of times before closing them again. Thorns sighed, and then let go of his hand, dragging his own through his hair.
“When was the last time you slept?” He jerked out of his stupor, blinking slowly at Warfarin. He hadn’t even heard her come in.
“Don’t need it.” He leaned back into his chair, squeezing his eyes shut as his headache that he’d been staving off returned with a vengeance. He pinched the bridge of his nose, staring up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the quiet beep of the monitor that was starting to drive him mad. He was sure it’d haunt him in his dreams even if he decided to sleep.
Warfarin stared at him a moment longer before picking up the clipboard, making a couple of notes before putting it back in its holder.
Before she left the room, she glanced over her shoulder. “You should get something to eat at the very least. Maybe freshen up a little too.” A pause. “It’s not like he hasn’t woken up yet. His condition is not… Delicate. He’s not on death’s door. His infection isn’t worsening.”
“I know.”
Warfarin looked like she wanted to say more but said nothing more than, “I’ll be back to check on him later, let me know if anything changes.”
“Dude, you look like shit.”
“Thank you,” he replied dryly, standing up to stretch as Aak set down what looked suspiciously like a lunch packed by Matterhorn. “I didn’t expect you to come by.”
“Aw, come on, I miss my lab buddy! I might hafta start converting your space into mine if you stay away any longer though.”
Thorns fixed a stare on him, unimpressed and unamused. Aak laughed, putting his hands up. “Kidding, kidding. But you should really sleep n eat, Elysium wouldn’t want ya to— Elysium? ”
“No jokes today,” Thorns managed tiredly, not even glancing in Elysium’s direction even though Aak’s act was… Good.
“ Dude .” Aak’s act persisted so Thorns decided to bite, turning his head slowly.
His breath caught in his throat. Elysium was staring at him, tiredly, but different from all the other times where he’d woken up briefly. And he was struggling to sit up, a movement that Thorns knew would be very bad for his cracked ribs.
“Get Warfarin.” Thorns wasn’t aware he’d moved to help Elysium sit up until Elysium was hunched over, making soft wheezes of pain while Thorns rubbed his back. “Don’t try to speak,” he told him sharply when the Iberian opened his mouth. For once, Elysium listened, closing his mouth slowly.
Thorns gave Aak an unimpressed stare.
“... Yeah! On it! HEY, WARFARIN!” Aak tripped over his own feet, hollering out the door until someone yelled at him to be quiet . Elysium huffed, and then leaned against Thorns’ chest, reminiscent of how he would curl against Thorns sometimes after he woke up in the mornings.
A tap on his shoulder. Thorns hunched over his notes, ignoring it.
Another tap.
He ignored the next three, until Elysium cleared his throat like he was going to speak. He immediately whipped around.
“What—” His sentence was cut off as lips closed over his. He blinked slowly before relenting, resisting the urge to run his hand through Elysium’s feathers.
The Liberi’s shoulders were shaking in silent laughter when he pulled away and he couldn’t find it in himself to be annoyed. “Very funny. I’m working.”
Elysium shrugged, turning his chair around before settling down on Thorns’ lap. He had half the mind to complain but there was no reason to—not like Elysium was heavy enough to make his legs go numb unless the Iberian sat on him long enough. Idly, he remembered that he would need to pick up more food for them both whenever Elysium was hungry again. Looking after Elysium had forced him to have somewhat of a normal eating schedule since Elysium insisted on eating together.
“You should be resting, instead of moving around.”
Elysium reached behind him, picking something up before a pen started scratching paper and Thorns hoped he wasn’t writing on his notes.
He held up a page. After a moment of checking, he determined it was from the notebook that held his notes but thankfully, empty.
You could be working at the lab .
“Your ribs are still cracked and you have a tendency to be clumsy.”
Elysium pouted—somehow not being able to speak had made him become about twice as expressive with his face, and Thorns rolled his eyes, carefully turning him around before spinning the chair around so Elysium could furiously scribble out his next sentence in a less awkward position
Could ask Bagpipe or Myrtle to look after me instead.
“They’re busy.”
And you’re not?
“I am not, at least currently.”
You took time off. You’re still writing notes. You have work to do.
“I have accumulated sick days.” They had been sitting there and Thorns doubted he’d ever use them. He never needed them anyways.
You don’t have to babysit me . Elysium may not have been speaking but he could almost hear him, could easily imagine how he would sound, indignant and confident.
He elected not to say anything in response to that even though Elysium couldn’t talk back. Instead, he tucked an arm under Elysium’s legs, supporting his back with the other and stood up, hefting him into a modified bridal carry, heading back to the bed.
“Stay,” he ordered after setting him down carefully, flipping the blanket over his head.
Another pout appeared when Elysium pulled the blanket off his head, hair sticking up from the static. He looked ridiculous, and Thorns absently patted it back down, frowning when Elysium fixed a grip around his wrist and tugged insistently.
“We slept all morning.”
Elysium had gotten disturbingly better at his kicked puppy face—not like it hadn’t been good before but… Thorns looked away, wrist still in Elysium’s grip. He was unfortunately not wholly immune to it.
“Will you rest and listen to me if I do?”
Elysium nodded furiously and Thorns let out a sigh of defeat after a long moment of consideration, climbing back onto the bed after shedding his jacket and gloves. Pros… Rest and Elysium would settle down. Hopefully. Cons… Elysium would most likely wake up hungry later and Thorns would be behind in what he’d wanted to accomplish today.
Elysium grimaced as he laid down, making use of the extra pillows he’d brought over from his own room in an attempt to help Elysium rest more comfortably.
It was cute, he’d arranged them in what looked almost like a nest. There was enough space for both of them.
He sighed, clambered in without a comment and leaned over Elysium, brushing hair out of his face as the Liberi’s eyes started sliding shut almost immediately. So he was still exhausted and had been pushing himself. He let out another sigh.
“Elysium,” he murmured quietly, “look at me.”
A faint noise of protest came from Elysium—it was the loudest sound he could currently produce without hurting his throat further but he turned his head towards Thorns.
“Don’t be difficult,” he said before leaning down to kiss him, hand moving to cup the back of Elysium’s neck, feeling his feathers quiver. Usually there’d be a squeak or two to accompany the blush that spread across his face but there wasn’t, and Thorns decided he didn’t like that—he didn’t like a quiet Elysium as much as he complained about his incessant tittering. “Or else I’ll tell Kal’tsit you aren’t listening to the medical department, and she’ll hang you on the deck after you’re better.”
A fist thumped against his chest in silent protest before Elysium pulled his hand back, wincing.
“What did I just say.”
Elysium stuck his tongue at him and tugged at his shirt until he lay down, wiggling closer until he could tuck his nose into the crook of his neck.
Eventually Elysium’s breathing evened out and the tension bled from his body. Thorns rested his chin on top of his head, and stared at the digital clock next to the bed, starting the countdown for two hours.
“Where ya goin’?”
“Lunch break.”
“You don’t do lunch breaks. Not at a reasonable time anyways.”
Thorns checked the time on the clock hanging from the wall and shrugged in response to Aak.
“Time for Elysium’s medicine?” Warfarin was perched on her own chair, examining some kind of blood.
Thorns didn’t answer, exiting the lab instead.
“Your goggles are still on your head,” Weedy fell into step beside him. “And your hair smells like you burned it.”
“I did. It’ll grow back soon.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Take a shower at least.”
“No need, won’t stay long.”
“You’re not going to eat lunch with him?”
“... It won’t take long.”
“Shower. You’re filthy . He’ll appreciate it.”
Elysium wouldn’t care that much. He turned down the hallway that led to his admittedly unused room instead of the cafeteria anyway.
Elysium did appreciate it, taking too much joy in braiding his wet hair while he tried to eat lunch quickly—to the point where he started a second one on the other side of his head after getting Whisperain to switch seats with him. Thorns tried to bat his hands away until he remembered he should still be careful because Elysium’s sides were still tender.
“It’s going to get wavy,” Andreana mumbled through a mouthful of food and Weedy scooted over a seat.
“That’s why I never braid it when it’s wet,” he shot back, keeping his head still after Elysium swatted his head when he tried to tilt it away, “or only after I wake up.”
There were gaps of silence where Elysium’s commentary usually filled in the conversation and Thorns sighed, frowning when Elysium pulled another elastic from his pocket.
“Oh. Pretty,” Whisperain said when Elysium tucked the ends of the braids together at the nape of Thorns’ neck, tying them together. The Liberi clapped his hands together and Thorns touched the braids, wondering when his hair had gotten long enough to pull off something like this. Maybe he needed to cut it again.
“Are you done?”
Elysium beamed.
“Oh,” Aak’s voice dripped with amusement as he strode back into the lab, two hours after he’d left. “That’s cute . Will Ely do my hair too?”
“I can,” Thorns offered candidly, bending over his workstation and surprised at how the hair didn’t fall into his face even though there wasn’t a ponytail, “with a razor.”
“Dude.”
“I wonder how you would look bald.”
“I don’t,” Warfarin said ominously, and the topic was dropped.
“You stayed beside me the entire time.”
Elysium was talking again—quietly and carefully because while the medical department had given the go ahead to start talking, they had said nothing like screaming or using his arts.
“Did Aak tell you that?” He knew Aak and Elysium had talked, at least for a bit because Thorns had finally seen both of his eyes at once in the lab one day, his mass of hair that hung over half his face styled up. But just for one day.
“Your hands were cold.”
“I’m Aegerian.”
Elysium huffed, hunching over on his chair. “I wasn’t complaining.” After a moment, he continued. “It was nice… I’ve never had someone do that before. Stay beside me like that. It was nice to know i wasn’t alone even though I wasn’t really awake.”
Thorns continued working, quiet clink of vials being set back in their rack breaking the silence that settled over them.
“You shouldn’t have gone without sleep though. Or eating. I wasn’t going to die .”
“Why are you scolding me,” Thorns calculated how long ago Elysium had woken up, “over a month later.”
“It wouldn’t have been effective if I had written it down!” Not for the first time Thorns wished Elysium had a volume button.
“That was a little loud.”
Elysium opened and closed his mouth several times before he spoke again, lowering his voice.
“You still shouldn’t have—”
“I know my limits.”
“You don’t have to push them for me!”
Thorns glanced at him.
“Are you angry?”
“No!” Too rushed. And his feathers were twitching in the way they did when he wasn’t telling the truth.
“You’re not a very good liar.”
The Liberi crumpled. “Fine. Yes. A little. I don’t like it when you…” He trailed off, not quite finishing the sentence but Thorns knew him well enough to finish it by himself. “Just… Next time… Take care of yourself. Promise me.”
“Only if you promise there won’t be a next time.”
“I promise!” Loud again.
“Then there’s no need for me to make that promise.”
A beat before Elysium’s face changed as he entered the first stage of processing what had just happened.
Thorns kissed him before he could start complaining.
“Unfair,” Elysiym grumbled when Thorns sat back, “I cannot believe—”
“We weren’t even betting and you lost?”
“You tricked me.”
He was pouting. Thorns sat back, propping his head up with a hand. “You walked into that yourself.”
“Be nice to me,” Elysium dropped onto his lap, draping his arms over Thorns’ shoulders, face buried into his chest, “I’m still recovering.”
“That wasn’t the case last night.” Elysium made a strangled noise that couldn’t be good for his throat and Thorns swatted the back of his head. Nicely. Because he had asked for that.
“What wasn’t the case last night?” The Liberi froze while Thorns took advantage of Elysium on his lap to hide his face. He was sure Kal’stit was staring at them with a look he’d rather avoid, and he would have sighed if it would have helped their situation any.
In hindsight, even though the lounge was mostly unoccupied at this time, it would have been better to talk in a room even though Elysium had complained about being sick of being confined to his room for weeks on end. The chances of Kal’stit overhearing that specific part of the conversation had been… Low. Well, it was unfortunate.
If Elysium didn’t say anything first, maybe they could weasel their way out of this.
He opened his mouth but Elysium squeaked, “ Nothing .” And sealed their fate.
“I’m sure you two would prefer to be in the company of each other while on deck, so I’ll wait until Elysium is cleared for duty again.” Elysium dropped his head onto the Aegerian’s shoulder, eliminating the barrier between Kal’stit’s gaze and Thorns. Nothing he hadn’t faced before but it was withering. “You should know better.” And then she left, heels clicking on the floor.
It took a while before Elysium spoke again.
“My beautiful face is going to get burned again,” he faux wailed at about a quarter volume of his usual dramatics, apparently having learned his lesson. “This is horrible.”
“You big baby.” Bagpipe strode in, opened the fridge to grab a drink before continuing. “Surprised it took this long with all the stunts you’ve been pulling ever since Thorns finally went back to the lab.” Her head snapped around a second later, expression vaguely horrified. Thorns shut his eyes.
“ Bagpipe! ”
“Oh… Oops…” She made a hasty exit and Elysium made a move to get up, seemingly regretting his position on Thorns’ lap now.
“What stunts?” Thorns asked calmly, pinning the taller man down with ease even as he squirmed. “Elysium.”
“Nothing bad! Well, too bad. I promise.”
He clicked his tongue. If Elysium was lying, he’d know because it’d essentially be broadcasted. He relaxed his grip on him.
“You’re going to start coming to the lab with me until you’re cleared with duty.”
“Whaaaaaat? I talk a lot though, wouldn’t that annoy—”
Thorns pressed his thumb down on Elysium’s lip, cutting him off.
“Well, I suppose if you're too chatty, I could just gag you,” he suggested calculatingly, feeling his jaw slacken against his hand. “But you are coming to the lab regardless.”
“I-I-I… I guess, I’ll try not to be so loud,” Elysium finally managed, and Thorns noted the flush that was travelling down his neck.
“You’re not supposed to be, but you do that.” He tried to keep his voice neutral, but perhaps it was something he could no longer control when it came to teasing Elysium.
“Stoooooooop—” Elysium whined, and Thorns closed his eyes again.
“Loud. Might have to find one then—”
“ Stop .”