Chapter Text
It's unclear at first what is it that does him in, it's not as if he couldn’t find food, but as days passed Barnabas felt tired, more and more tired. The longer that Jonah took to answer the more hopeless he felt.
He should have known better, he warned him about Mordechai, but he was a fool, an idiot. Thought himself better and paid for it with his life. Had to live in this empty husk of a world, feeling an ache in his chest, in his bones, deeply seated there, he felt a void where before he could feel joy and love.
His brother's face started to slowly disappear from his memories, his sisters and mother too. It was just him, always and forever.
And Jonah.
Jonah was clear, Jonah face and eyes were burned in his mind and he didn't know if it was better or worse. Because it made him feel the wait, the hours where nothing happened even more keenly. It made him feel lonely, until one day he realized that the other man wouldn't come.
Maybe he was unable to help him. Maybe Mordechai refused to bulge on his decision to keep him here and his dear and beloved Jonah could not do anything for him. That is what he clinged to.
That was what he decided to believe to his bitter end.
Through the foggy streets, through the empty room that made his home, through his own small business he sees echos of memories of the man he loved, he could almost see the ghostly face of Jonah watching him and in his moments of weakness he followed it, it ultimately lead nowhere causing him to fall into despair even faster. Barnabas Bennet dies an empty and meaningless death while a man watches from a place he can't see.
...
Jonah loved him, true, but he was walking a path that needed sacrifices and Barnabas was the paving stone for what he would become one day.
His death wasn't meaningless to Jonah Magnus, on the contrary, it meant everything.
Barnabas Bennet's demise was his new beginning.
…
…
…
He did not expect to wake up, that is the first thing that came to mind. He shouldn't be waking up, it's.. hazy, he is not even sure why he was thinking that. Regardless, he kind of gets up, albeit for some reason he doesn't remember how he got up, only that one moment he was on the ground and the next he was up.
Strange and curious, Barnabas feels sort of adrift, like a paper being carried by the wind.
Focus, focus, he needs to focus. Where is he? Looking around he sees familiar walls, the institute, he would recognize the decor, his last memory of being there was of him delivering his letter to Jonah with the hopes that he would be able to help him-
Wait-
He pays attention, during his entrapment all he could ever hear was silence, however from afar he could distinguish the voices of people talking.
Did… did Jonah do it? Did he come for him and let him rest here, safe from whatever hell Mordechai put him in? Oh how marvelous that was, how wonderful, he will apologize to Jonah for not heading his warning. He will send Mr Lukas his cursed money and never speak with him again.
Ever, ever again. He will remain away from anything supernatural, beyond hearing his beloved Jonah’s talks, even if they made him uncomfortable; they were something that made him happy and that he could approve of.
Soon steps come closer and he holds his breath, he will kiss him and hold him. God he wants to kiss him, his dearest Jonah-
Said man walks inside and stops at the entrance making him grin.
“Oh Jonah, i knew you would help, i'm so sorry angel for hearing your warnings im-” But the man doesn't seem to want to hear him, because he shakes his head a little looking confused and opens the door.
“How odd” He doest clarify what it is, but Barnabas feeling apprehension due to his attitude. He comes closer to touch him and it's when he tries to hold his wrist that he realizes, that his hand passes right through him as if he was a specter of some sorts. Not only that but his dear Jonah shivers at his touch and looks around with an even more bewildered look.
“What on earth…”
“Jonah? Jonah, oh, oh no, this has to be a joke right? Something to do with one of your stories it can't be real, it can't-” Barnabas starts to panic and breathe harder, but it doesn't matter how he should feel himself out of air, it never happens. When he looks down to his feet he realizes with horror how they seem to somewhat see through.
He didn't truly make it, did he?
Life… or death is quite similar to what it was, however the main difference is his ability to leave. He seems to be entrapped in the institute. At first he assumed he was following Jonah, that his wish to see him kept him here as one of the ghosts of his stories, however the man could leave and when he tried to follow… well it was as if a wall kept them inside.
Not only that but the further along he went into the institute the more he felt a need.
A need to go back to the office of his dearly beloved. That makes him surmise that perhaps there was something there tying him up to life- or well as a ghost. It was a depressing existence, he could only go so far and his dear Jonah did not see him, sometimes he would look around and shiver, but besides that it never seemed like he could hear him. Barnabas couldn move or do anything to show him he was still there.
The only relief he felt was how his friend was as much of a workaholic as he has always been, because it meant he would stay late in the institute, even fall asleep on his desk. And true, he always told him off for doing such a thing, but he was so desperate to see someone familiar that he could let it be.
It's in those moments where he sleeps that Barnabas lightly tries to touch his cheek and if he was being romantic he would say that his Jonah can feel it, for he sighs and moves away. Barnabas is cold now, that he has come to realize. The cold of the other world Mordechai put him in never left him, not even in death.
Barnabas doesn't realize what he is tied to until he sees Jonah open up a drawer and retrieve a skull and a letter. He sees him read and trace the familiar handwriting. His last attempt for help, he got it, he kept it, but more importantly he has his bones .
Why does he have them?
Why aren't they buried-
“Oh Barnabas…” Taking a deep breath he feels his chest ache, it's the first time he has heard him call his name since he woke up, since the last time he saw him when he was alive. Jonah looked sad, melancholic, he missed him . The thousand questions he had were forgotten once he saw him so… upset over him. He wasn't forgotten, not completely.
He hears him talk to it, to his skull he means, and at first it was creepy, but eventually it resolved into being a conduit to feel that somehow he was still talking to him. Jonah would once in a while drop a kiss to the top of it, where he usually did in life when they were laying on the bed. He swears he could almost feel it, albeit its probably his imagination.
Its in one of his monologues that he finds out what happened to him, Jonah laments over it, but admits to letting it happen, he did not lack affection for him or the resources to stop Mordechai. But his need to know was stronger. His need to feed his own patron was much more powerful than his ability to care for him.
It shatters him, he wishes the man could hear his screaming, that he could tear this office- no, this prison, to pieces. His life was expendable for him in his pursuit of arcane knowledge, his love had been nothing in comparasition, Jonah betrayed him by his innaction.
The office was as usual, and all he wished to do was torn up the books and papers lying around, but no matter what he tried, nothing he touched moved an inch, it all just went right through him. All Barnabas can do is curl up and cry at his cursed existence and his broken heart.
His curious and bright Jonah left him to die so he could watch it unfold, he took his bones as the winners spoils. It didn't matter how much he seemed to feel sad about it, it didn't erase how he could have helped him. How he could still be alive today if it wasn't for him and Mr Lukas.
Barnabas stays as far away from him as possible.
He can only stay in the institute, so he walks among its hallways seeing people talk and interact, watches from the windows the outside world, while he was trapped in that lonely world there was nothing outside, but now-
Now its worse, to have it be so close but impossible to reach, the loneliness eats at him even more so than before. Mister Lukas would feel particularly happy about that, he had liked Mordechai, had been to his home and played games with him. Has joined Jonah in certain activities involving the man and… he was interested in him as a lover as well. Albeit never quite like his Jonah.
Of course it was never enough, Barnabas had mouthed off to him for the last time, has been too cheeky for his own good.
Jonah always did tell him that he should calm down around others and not be so abrasive, but how to help it? Barnabas would not tolerate other people's responses.
“Too much Barnabas, that was too much, just a little bit more and lady Daniella’s husband would have dueled you. Then where would you be!”
“She was being a liar, implying certain things- I could not let it stand” Jonah had kissed his cheek and looked somewhat smug. He knew he had liked it, knew that Barnabas had been defending him, Daniela made a very pointed comment about Jonah’s sister and his own appearance into society, that he had to correct even if it meant invoking her husbands anger.
“Let it be next time Barnabas, rumours are unimportant. If you start to do that they will think there is something of a truth and i would rather avoid that spotlight” He had tried to make him understand but Jonah rebuffed him until he got mad at him and snapped. Once when Barnabas had mumbled an apology his dear Jonah came and kissed him softly in the cheek.
“Just take my point of view into account” He did not notice the tired and annoyed look he had at him, how could he? He was smitten to this capricious man.
Time passes and he keeps going like this, occasionally he goes to the office when Jonah leaves, to.. rest? Mope? It's unclear. He just likes to be there; it lets him feel whole. Seeing his..
Well not his friend anymore, only gives him pain, but it's something, something familiar at least. Even if he sees him slowly go downwards into his new patron, when he reads letters from friends and their own horrible fates. When he receives packages with books that he knows belonged to Albrech due to his letters, however he doesn't intend to give back.
It culminates with a letter from Jonathan talking about the man's fate.
Another poor soul lost to Jonah’s whims.
Barnabas is numb, it's as if he had become frozen in death. He can't be mad, he is just tired of existing like this. Wants peace.
But that peace wont come for him, not at all.
…
Its eerie calm, watching life unfold at a certain point, when the hopelessness of his situation hits, it hits truly well. There was no point to bemoath his fate, only… live right through it.
More time, more plans, more nervousness, Jonah will try his ritual despite Robert's warnings, and well-
Barnabas doesn't feel sorry at all about his feeble attempts to stop Jonah or the man's death .
Robert Smirke was the one who poisoned Jonah’s mind with all of his ideas, who let him grow into this. He ignores his own guilt into it, by letting it happen, by not pushing more to take him out of it, by being mesmerized by his clever Jonah, always bright and shining…
What a joke.
All those talks, all of Barnabas dreams of being with Jonah, even in the shadows to keep them safe from prying eyes and judgement, were nothing but sweet meaningless talk. He should have seen the way his smile thinned at his ideas, the way he never seemed quite as taken by it as him.
Barnabas made himself blind to it, because the alternative was worse.
Because it would mean being alone.
His only true companions were his brother and Jonah, he was too impulsive, too hot headed. Too prone to fight or joke or evade. And Barnabas was also jealous, he longed for freedom, but he resented being left behind or alone. The more that Jonah pushed to be around the others… the more bitter he was, but he kept it hidden and only used his own barbed words when in their company.
He was guilty of sometimes ruining some connections between his friend and others. How could he not? He had cared for Jonah since they met, even if back then he used another name and looked different.
Barnabas has loved him no matter the change.
And-
Barnabas would love him still no matter what face he wore.
Which became relevant very soon.
William Bennet, no relationship to his own family, is Jonah’s next choice of body. Barnabas feels floored at his choice, he is unsure if its a mockery or his own guilty mind acting but he can't stop thinking about it.
He also knows it's him, one day Jonah left and then William came. The man picks up his skull and talks to it the same way, brags about beating death. His own personal victory against the End. And it's infuriating, it's unfair and it makes him mad.
The glass panels of the windows are frosty for months and months to come.
Before the change he moved the institute to London, over what used to be the Panopticon. From here he could see even more busy streets and people walking and working around, causing him to become more lethargic. Anger and despair over what became of his friend, over his own demise it piles up.
What he does notice, between bouts of jealousy when he sees or hears Jonah bring some gentleman to help fund the place. Is that the more time that passes the less he starts to care about the people he hurts.
It's easy not to, what does it affect him in his spectral state to see his Jonah terrorize the people around. What does it matter if he takes glee in the awful fates of those who tried to get close to him and failed. The more time that passes the more he finds himself awaiting to see their downfall.
Because something he finally came to realize is that ever since he died, Jonah had been truly alone, no one had loved him like he did. No one would ever love him as much and as madly as he did and his dear Jonah knew it.
It's why he kept the skull, why he always came back to it and talked to him through it, why he re-read his letter with sadness, traced his fingers over it. Barnabas swears he feels something tingly in his chest. Peculiar.
Its also why he keeps the small bunny doll he made for him.
His Jonah betrayed him, but by doing so he ensured that no one would ever care for him as much. Barnabas was his one true love, the one that he will always think of in the end when everyone else is gone.
He never mourned the others, he discarded them like trash, but Barnabas? No, he kept him close by, robbed him of his true afterlife, of a proper burial, his ghostly figure remained and saw that he would always love him, even in his own way.
It's what he believes, what he knows from the bottom of his heart to be true.
Baranbas can live with solitude, will let the fog drape over him like it did for Mister Lukas, for he will never be more alone as he is with his Jonah, and he will love him as such.
No one mattered as much as him.
Barnabas can't seem to find any failings to his logic, and whether it's due to the isolation, the delusion of his view of Jonah or his need to find a meaning in his hopeless situation, what he chooses to do its to merely love him from up close.
He chooses to live in denial, because its easier to deal with than to face what the truth might be.
So? He watches his beloved, sees every relationship he has crash and burn and feels smug satisfaction over it.
Death made his own jealousy and possessiveness a hundred times worse.
And so, for many, many years to come, he was happy to stay and observe, for he knew that whatever relationship Jonah tried it would fail. And that he was the only thing he would come back to in the end.
That is, until-
Peter Lukas.
Jonah was going by James, there was a party at the institute and so Barnabas followed, his beloved would flirt, talk, and threaten anyone he needed to keep funds. It was marvelous to see how bright and sharp he still was. How the years have not taken out his beloved's energy.
However, that's when he meets him.
And at first glance Barnabas feels terror seizing his non-existent body, feels himself shake, for he sees a familiar shape talking with Francesco- no now he goes by Simon- in the corner of the room.
It was as if he came back to taunt him, yet when he turns around and he sees him better he notices all the clear differences with the Lukas patriarch. Mordechai was sharp and cold, his hair had been black to the last time he saw him, his bear was trimmed and in perfect shape. He had been relentless.
Barnabas was no stranger to the Lukas, Jonah kept in contact still due to needing the funds from their family so he saw delegate after delegate, and he saw Jonah have relationship after relationship with them, they all ended up being replaced or forgotten to the mist.
He ponders if perhaps its a small vengeance for him, ruining their lives and ruining Mordechai’s wishes of leaving them alone.
This man had a similar build and features to his ancestor.
But through them he could see… softness. His hair was already graying at such a young age, it was also longer than his late friend would have ever allowed it. The man was attempting to grow a bear, his features looked… soft, not delicate, he wouldn't go that far, but he looked friendly and nervous. His hands were playing with the glass he was holding and he looked only at Simon, seemingly trying to make himself invisible from everyone else despite his height.
The eyes were the most odd thing, they had a spark of amusement that most of the other Lukas lacked. He actually seemed lively.
That's when Barnabas sees Jonah turn around and stare too, probably thinking along the same vein as him. It takes a moment, but he starts moving towards his direction with purpose and he knows he is in for a treat. Jonah will break this one too.
When the man sees Jonah walk towards him his face stays still, frozen in a smile. Simon is far more forthcoming and says hello.
“Why James its been a while!! I was talking here to Peter- say hello lad- He is Nathaniel's nephew, i believe he will be the one in charge soon of dealing with the institute and-” Simon chatters and Peter looks at James, Barnabas was about to start commenting on it when he sees his cheeks flush.
Oh?
Jonah smiles and tilts his head to the side, Mr Lukas becomes even more red in the face.
“It's a pleasure meeting you Peter, I will be waiting to make business with you” Then he turns and goes. Peter Lukas is left a flustered mess and Barnabas is cackling at this.
Oh Mordechai would hate this man so much.
He stands corrected, Barnabas himself loathes him with every cell of his ghostly being. Because his beloved Jonah seems to be kind of taken by him. And it doesn't help that every time they split up they end up back together as if nothing happened.
It doesn't help that Jonah for the first time in… well ever, admits to Peter, while in his new body that he is Jonah Magnus.
Jonah tells him all about it in the institute, always mentioning the man. The only things his beloved talks about is his plans about his ritual, his archivist being an annoyance and… Peter. What he admits to him about the man makes him ache all over. Barnabas freezes the room- the hallways. Jonah complains about the AC not working properly, but he doesn't care. As much as he loves him he can show his own anger with this at least.
He has every right to be furious at this betrayal and besides, making the room colder is all he can do, he is still intangible, nothing he touches seems to be affected. Jonah can live with his frosty attitude about this.
His beloved is sharing his secrets with that man, he is living with him!!! Unafraid and out and about. His heart shatters once again, his only comfort is that Peter is a Lukas by heart and that by being gone he lets his beloved Jonah go for months on end. That his angel is lonely and because of that he starts to pay more attention to Barnabas skull again.
Peter, like Mordechai, will hurt him, unlike Barnabas...he could never do such a thing to his beautiful beloved!!!
But as if the gods above decided to mock him, he gets hit with the worst news ever soon enough..
“Oh Barnabas… you will not believe it, he… asked me to marry. True it's not legal yet, he just wrote on a piece of paper our names and made me sign it as our marriage certificate but… I haven't been that happy in a while” Jonah chuckles and he wants to break something, most likely Peter Lukas face.
“I never thought… that I would even say yes to such things, they are beneath me, but we both are faithful to our gods and we get that from each other. Peter is… heh, he's lovely. Stupid sometimes, childish and impossibly smug, but its also endearing. Better to never let him know that, his ego would grow too much” He mock whispers to him in a parody of telling him some gossip. All it does is make him feel inmense rage.
Jonah is wearing a ring while holding his skull, walking around the room looking-
Looking happy.
He is happy without him.
The realization hits him like a ton of bricks, his Jonah hasn't been happy, yet this… this thief made it. He did what he had been wishing to do if given the chance and Peter wont even appreciate it, he can't not with his god ruling over him. He will just tear his Jonah apart and make him hurt.
Barnabas world was shattered once before, this was the second time only… however he chose to take his anger with someone else instead. To let all the anger and fury he felt through the years like a poisoned dagger, into one single man.
The man who represented and mocked everything he cared for.
Because if it was someone's fault, because if anyone was at fault for stealing his loved one's attention, like the monsters he and his entire family were, it was of course Peter bloody Lukas. And Barnabas will find a way to make him pay for everything he has done to him, that his family did.
He chooses to go down that rabbit hole, refuses to contemplate the part that Jonah is playing in all of it. Because… he thinks that would just break his last thread of sanity if he did.
Jonah misses Peter when he is gone, he awaits his return and hides it with thinly veiled insults that are meant to not show the fondness he feels. It makes him sick to the stomach to hear. Even more to see when the sailor comes about, once in a while, to the office to “talk business” Barnabas wishes to stab him when he sees him and Jonah kiss.
He doesn't care that Jonah, now Elias, is the one that touches him until it leads to something else entirely. He only wants to get rid of Peter.
Elias never acted like this with any of the others before, Barnabas was fine with him messing around because he knew it never meant anything, yet this time it feels like it does. And it's tearing him apart from the inside out, he wants to ruin that man.
For causing his beloved to miss him, for leaving him when he has the chance to stay! For throwing away all the things that he would kill to have. To be able to touch his beloved once more, to kiss him- hold him-!
To feel his touch just one more time…..
He would kill to get that.
Time passes, days, turn to weeks that turn into months and then years. Every single time Peter comes by, Barnabas can't help but to be more frosty than usual, the temperature lowers significantly in the room and Jonah always blames Peter who says that its not him.
Of course his dear doesn't believe him, how could he? It only happens now when the man its in his presence, he could not possibly realize that it's him causing the cold. That it was always him…
Barnabas pines away, the solitude and company of only his Jonah drives him mad, albeit he refuses to entertain such thoughts. Never would he doubt him, his beloved is all he has, the last remaining connection to this world, the last person who cares about him and remembers him even remotely by.
He can't give that up, even after Jonah left him to die, that has been long buried and forgotten and is no longer a concern of him. Barnabas mind started to slipped by slowly enough that it was like a chip on a cup, slowly emptying its contents in such a way that he could not tell the difference. Could not realize what he was becoming.
Something is afoot, that's what he thinks one day, Barnabas talks to himself a lot, or well, to Jonah, he has to or he will lose it even more. So even when Peter is there he hammers down the talking even more to cover up any meaningful conversation they could share.
He refuses to hear it.
Yet this day, Peter would keep getting side tracked, would stare to the sides with an odd look, that Jonah kept snapping at him for.
“Pay attention!!” The lonely man grimaces and plays it off as a way to annoy him, but Barnabas is not so sure.
He realizes he… can manipulate the fog too, has been able to for a while, he keeps meddling in the institute with the people around. Slowly eroding away their connections. He thought… that perhaps, just… perhaps he could use it with his beloved-
NOT to harm him, but juuuust maybe he could get him to leave Peter for good. So? He begins to slowly touch him with it. Small bits, not enough to startle him into a revelation, but enough to get him to become more grumpy.
To come and tell his skull how Peter was being childish, how he kept- kept lying to him.
It was perfect.
Barnabas tries to caress his cheek, makes the motions even if he can't truly feel it.
“Don't worry, soon it will be us again, no more Peter. You will see Jonah, it will be for the best. He could never love you the way I do. Now more than ever I can finally see, finally understand” He sees his skin raise up in goosebumps and he laughs a little before kissing his cheek. The phantom touch makes him blink a few times.
“Huh”
It works well, Jonah is slowly becoming more lonely and gets mad at Peter thinking its him doing it. It annoys him, but as long as it works to help him achieve separating them Barnabas can live with it.
The other thing was that Peter seemed… more lost when he came by, he would look around and seem to strain to… hear something apparently. Elias would complain and scoff, but Barnabas was very interested.
He decided to test it out, he would stand in different sides of the room and talk, and even if just a little he would see him turn his head to where he was speaking from. It made him pause.
Jonah kept talking none the wiser.
Slowly his tests would become more complex, Barnabas would talk, Peter would turn slightly to hear, Barnabas would slowly touch the back of his neck and the man would slap it back as if killing a bug.
He notices how uncomfortable he looked.
Eventually… he pulled leaned on the fog and waited, focusing on Peter.
It took several months for it to do something, for him to finally, finally move something, but by the moment it did, he knew what he wanted to do. Barnabas had managed to flicker a lock of hair from Peter's hair on his own.
Thats how he realizes that the only thing that he was able to interact with directly, was Peter himself.
He heard enough spooky tales, have heard the archivist record them, was in artifact storage-
Barnabas just needs a last connection to make it work.
And after so long… it came.
It was like any other time for them, Peter came over, but everytime he did he seemed more twitchy, more stressed. Jonah attributed it to his watching to make sure he wasn't doing anything bad, but he was wrong. It was not that at all.
Barnabas stood next to him and slowly traced a finger over his forearms, Peter pulled the sleeves down immediately. He grinned a predatory grin.
The man looked very, very uncomfortable.
“Elias, can we make this quick?”
“Right, right you want to go back, surprised you asked for the divorce this time” And he sounded… upset, thinly hidden but he did. Barnabas wanted to wrangle the neck of the man. Just… a little bit more.
“Well if someone didn't keep accusing me of doing something im not guilty of-”
“As if-! You know what you did, how dare you try and pretend you haven't messing with me with the lonely i'm not an idiot Peter i can-” Barnabas blows a puff of air into his face and Peter steps back startled.
“What you think is acceptable for home-”
Barnabas stands in front of him and puts his hand on his chest, right above his wretched miserable empty heart.
Peter's eyes slide down and focus with complete clarity over himself, for the first time Barnabas is seen in almost 200 years.
“Buu” He pulls inside his chest and he sees his eyes widen while he grins possibly maniacally, it's been so long without to have to pretend to be something charming or sweet-
And truly the last thing he wants this bastard to see is his face.
Barnabas pulls and pulls and manages to sneak inside.
Its not easy, not by a long shot, the other is fighting him off, it is his body after all, he tries to pull the lonely, tries to use the-
I want to be alone!!
Like a toddler throwing a tantrum, like a child who is afraid of harm and wishes to be left to his own.
But Barnabas? He has been subsisting on loneliness from even before his own death, has known it personally so, the fog was more him than anything else at this rate and to Peter who only has had it for what? Some 40-50 years? It's like he was batting him away with a weak hand.
Barnabas just pulls and pulls and suddenly the world tips over, it does a complete 180° spin and he feels like he was being compressed and then stretched out. The room was spinning around him.
That's when he realizes he is on the floor clutching his chest and above him with a face of actual worry and fear was his beloved.
“Peter-?!! Peter!!!” He thinks he will start crying, but it would be so out of character from the man himself that he has to avoid it. So instead he tries to croak out his name. Well, the body's name, not his beloved's.
“E-Elias?” Jonah looks relieved and it's bitter, knowing that it's because of this pathetic man, but it's unimportant, he had missed him. Had missed-
Oh.
Oh god he can't stop the tears, Jonah was caressing his cheek, it was so soft and unexpected he couldn't pull himself together fast enough.
“Ok, i think we need to call emergency services, are you- did you get a stroke?!”
“N-no, im- im fine” The disbelief is obvious.
“I’m- really i'm fine it doesn't hurt i swear”
“Peter, I saw you clutch your heart and go down like a sack of potatoes, I am very sure that is not fine, not at all” God how wonderful it was, to have him hear him, to bask in his presence and hear him answer to him.
“Also you keep smiling” He is? He can't help it.
“I love you so much” Elias eyes widen and he looks for a second there very flustered. It both makes him happy and sad that it's because of Peter.
“Clearly that bump was far worse than i thought” His hand traces his forehead softly and he sighs closing his eyes “Don't sleep, fairly sure you have a concussion”
“M’sorry”
“Well i can't blame you for feeling bad-”
“Bout the fight you were right i was messing with you” And its not a lie, Jonah just doesn't know which one of them did it “It was a joke, don't wanna divorce” His hand stops moving and he almost whines, he wants to keep feeling the closeness.
“We shall see, for now you should go to a medic…. or home” Panic almost seizes him, he has no idea where they live, he has not been able to leave the institute.
“Can I stay here and we can go back together? My head hurts” Please buy it love, please-
And Elias stares him down, watches into his eyes and for a second he is afraid he will know. But it passes and they soften up enough. Its so beautiful he almost cries he missed having those gorgeous eyes staring at his person so much.
“Stay on the couch, don't sleep and stay quiet. i need to do scheduling, since there is no divorce for now… if i work fast we can go back early. I need to check you out for real if you don't want to go to a doctor”
Nodding he helps him up, Barnabas stumbles, Peter was much bigger than him.
“Wow, ok, are you sure I should not call a doctor or something?” Elias touches his head with a frown and Barnabas is hit with affection. He leans down and kisses him. His beloved Jonah hesitates for a second- he was mad at him before this- but succumbs and kisses him back. It was addicting, it was-
All he has ever wanted for years.
Barnabas presses closer and Jonah opens his mouth. It lasts until they run out of breath, he forgot he needs to actually breath now. The love of his life pulls back looking pink on the cheeks.
“Not so bad, very surprising Mr Lukas” Barnabas keeps himself calm and nods. Carefully he walks to the small couch and lays there on his side, watching the man work. It was very relaxing, because when he made a noise-
Elias would look at him and his lips would twitch upwards in a small smile.
It was a dream come true.
Barnabas steadily ignores the invisible man who kept trying to get Elias to listen to him.
Peter can enjoy true loneliness now, he should be thanking him for it, he has given him the true gift for his patron. With a tired smile he merely watches how he tries futilely to make his Jonah listen to him.
“It's not me- Elias that's not me!!!” He begs him to listen and it's hilarious and pathetic. Exactly what he deserves.
Yes, he is having a wonderful time.
Barnabas is finally exactly where he wants to be.