Chapter Text
"Ugh. This sucks ass." Rupert swept his flashlight back and forth, "Why do we gotta be't ones to check up on t' new recruit? This a bet t' see how stretched we can fockin' get!?"
His partner, Dave, gave a ragged sigh, "I know, Rupert. I'm tired too, but someone needs to make sure he's okay. He won't answer his phone, and the other tenants here have been wary of him. If any senior soldiers are gonna make sure he hasn't kicked the bucket, it might as well be us."
"Sure, but why's it so dark n' creepy!?"
The two of them were in an old apartment complex. The place was rumored to be haunted, which made the rent cheap, but most people were still unwilling to spend any amount of time there. Rupert wasn't the suspicious type, but even he had to admit that something about this building didn't seem sound, like the wiring wasn't insulated properly or something.
"Okay, this is..." Dave's flashlight beam fell over one of the doors; The only door that wasn't fully closed.
"This is the place? Right, what was the bloke's name..." Rupert gingerly opened the door, "Oi! Henry! Are y'ere, mate?"
Dave tried the lightswitch, but no lights turned on. Looks like the power bill hadn't been paid. Rupert took his cap off to fit it with a headlamp from his belt while Dave investigated the small kitchen area, still covered with the remnants of food scraps like peanut butter and bread crusts. The trash can smelled of something rotten, but other than that, the place seemed reasonably clean and organized.
"'enry!" Rupert called again, but there was no answer.
Dave wandered into an adjacent door, which turned out to be a small bathroom. The upright shower smelled like bleach, and the floor was riddled with pens, out of ink judging from how many had been discarded. Dave felt bad for snooping, but he had an increasingly terrible feeling that something had gone wrong. Henry was here, he was sure of that...but then, where was he?
Rupert must have felt similarly, because he tugged on the collar of his uniform when he began to sweat, "Davey, I've gotta real bad feelin'..."
"Me too." Dave opened the cupboard under the sink, but only found cleaning supplies and similar assorted things, nothing suspicious, "Hey, this just came to me, but do you know how close Henry was to Charles?"
Rupert flinched at the name as his heart squeezed painfully in his chest. Charles. The lad that had been his best friend since fifth grade. About a month ago, he'd gone up into space to stop the Toppats, and while he'd succeeded, he hadn't lived to tell the tale.
"Oh." Rupert thought aloud, "Henry was on that mission, wa'n't 'e?"
"He was totally out of it when he appeared at camp to tell us everything." Dave relayed, "Oh my god, you don't think that Henry-!?"
"Calm yaself, Davey Baby. We dunno that yet." Rupert turned his head when his headlamp beam got in Dave's eyes, "Sorry. C'mon. Let's see if we can figure out where 'e'd've gone."
Dave nodded, linking his free arm in Rupert's as the hand that held the flashlight shook. The hallway was next. Two of the three doors were open. One led into a basic bedroom that was empty except for some storage boxes and letters with a lot of red strikes through them. The other was a closet with a broom, a mop and a bucket, several jackets hung up in a neat little row, and a pile of old journals. Rupert felt Dave gently separate from him, but he didn't look over until he heard Dave's fearful squeak.
"Davey?"
Dave trembled, dropping the flashlight with both hands over his mouth, "Rupert...?"
Rupert followed his gaze. There was a note taped to the door, written neatly in bold sharpie ink;
To whoever finds this; DO NOT open the door!
Call the police. They'll know what to do.
Rupert's throat went dry. He swallowed hard.
Dave made eye contact with him, "Rupert...sh-should we...?"
Rupert guided him away from the door, handing him his flashlight with fumbling fingers, "Here. You call for backup. I'll see how bad it is."
Dave nodded numbly as he hurried away, turning on his walkie talkie to notify the local police. Meanwhile, Rupert took a deep breath, absolutely dreading what he'd find on the other side.
His fingertips brushed the doorknob, then his palm flattened against it. He gripped it a little too hard. He twisted it, and he heard the latch click before he gingerly swung it open. His headlamp illuminated everything that wasn't blocked by the door as it opened.
A foul smell wafted over Rupert as soon as the door swung open, making his eyes sting. They fell first on the wooden stool, carelessly kicked over. The door opened wider, and he registered dangling feet. Shoes too worn to be useful anymore. Dirty, frayed laces. Dark blue.
Rupert finally mustered the courage to look up into familiar, glassy blue eyes, and that was when he found his voice again;
"HENRY!!!"
Henry's cheek pressed against the window as his eyes squinted against the harsh sun of Montana's countryside. Charles was driving, keeping a keen eye on the path as it twisted around the rocky mountain range. He glanced over occasionally. Henry hoped he didn't ask.
Charles had left his helicopter on a base in Denver before driving up to western Montana where his family lived. They were going up to visit for the first time together, and Charles beamed brightly to himself as he drove, knowing of the secret he held that hopefully, soon, everyone would know.
When they were about ten minutes away from their destination, Charles said softly, "Hen?"
Henry grunted distractedly.
"You okay?"
Henry huffed, a little bummed that he was so easy to read. To Charles, anyway.
He glared out the window, "Nightmare."
"Oh." Charles' grip on the wheel tightened, "I'm sorry to hear that."
Henry was grateful that he didn't press. He didn't want to think about the nightmare he had, much less talk about it, but he knew that apartment. It was the one he lived in during the last month of his life, in a place he never wanted to see again.
Damn. He'd better find a way to distract himself fast, or he might just start sobbing within seconds. He'd been listening to music for awhile, then catching up on his favorite podcasts, then he'd rewatched his favorite show for the 500th time before his ears were ringing and he had to recline his chair to close his eyes and relax. He wasn't able to sleep, but maybe that was a good thing, considering how his brain had decided to betray him the previous night.
Finally, before Henry had a chance to overthink everything again, Charles pulled off the dirt road into a long driveway, which wound up towards a huge house surrounded by a natural lawn, with the forest continuing out on all sides. There were people out in the yard, but most of them didn't pay attention to the approaching vehicle.
Charles shut the car off, leaning back and just letting the silence hang for a moment.
Henry put his hand on the car door handle, but Charles touched his knee, so he stopped.
"Charles?"
Charles sighed, letting his head loll to the side to look at Henry through his eyelashes. He looked sad. Sad and really tired.
Charles flipped his hand over so his palm was facing up, "Arms?"
Henry huffed out a breath of frustration, "Do you have to check every day? How could I have had the time to cut since you last checked? It's been less than twelve hours!"
"You don't have to." Charles replied gently, taking Henry's hand to hold it between his middle, ring finger, and thumb, "But...it really helps my peace of mind. Humor me?"
Henry deflated, leaning forward until his forehead hit the glove compartment. After a moment of just taking in a few deep breaths, he turned a little in his seat.
"Fine."
"Thank you." Charles took Henry's left arm, pulling the hoodie sleeve back to inspect the raised red lines, "Okay, no new cuts. That's good."
Henry tried not to sound irritated, "Yeah. It looked like this last night. It's looked like this for months."
"I know, but..." Charles' voice dropped to a whisper, "...I...just...want to make sure. Is that okay?"
Henry leaned his side into the backrest of the car seat, "Fine. Just do it quick."
"I know, my paranoia must be so annoying to you, but I can't help but worry." Charles checked the other arm, his fingers disappearing up under the sleeve as if new lines could just magically appear there, "I do trust you, Henry. I trust you to tell me if you add any more lines, but I still worry. I like just looking at these lines, knowing they're fading..."
Henry shivered as Charles traced the lines so gently with one finger, his touch barely grazing the skin as he went over each line from wrist to elbow. All of them were horizontal, from one side to the other along the inner side of Henry's forearms, except for the three most recent cuts, which were long slices from the inner elbow all the way to the wrist on Henry's right arm. Charles' gaze lingered on those. He traced one finger up the cut in the middle, his touch so light it tickled and made goosebumps rise all over Henry's arm.
He shivered again, swallowing as he mustered his voice, "Erm, Ch-Charles..."
"Sorry." Charles retracted his hands, "I just...god, it didn't feel real until now. Until after all of that happened. These lines are not supposed to be here."
Henry self-consciously pulled his sleeves down to cover the scars, "Yeah, and how do you think I feel when you keep insisting on looking at them and touching them all the time!?"
"Ack!" Charles flushed red in embarrassment, "Gosh, Hen, I'm so sorry! It's not...they don't make you look any worse, I'm not repulsed by them, if that was your fear. I just..."
He fell back into the driver's seat, taking the key out of the ignition and glancing out the window to make sure they were still alone.
Charles reached up to stroke Henry's cheek, "Before...it was something I just got used to seeing. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable by dredging up something you were intending to forget, so I just tried to ignore them. I just accepted that you carried them with you, like any other mark on your skin you'd acquired overtime. They made me sad, but at least it was nice watching them heal."
Henry leaned into the touch as Charles' other hand came up to tuck a hair behind his ear, then he simply held his head in both hands, circling his thumbs around both cheekbones. Henry closed his eyes.
"But these new ones...they just shouldn't be there." Charles turned in his seat to bury his face in his hands, "You got really hurt, and I almost lost you, and those shouldn't be there. It just keeps reminding me of how I failed to reach you in time. I'm sorry."
He'd said that before. It didn't feel any better now.
"Charles, it's not your fault." Henry reached over to take his right hand away from his face, "It just happens, remember? It was me who decided to do it. It's my brain that's messed up. Do not blame yourself for this. Please."
Charles wiped his eyes with a hopeless-sounding laugh, "Sorry, Hen. I know. It just feels so real now. I can't describe how that just..."
He trailed off.
"It kinda felt like that for me too." Henry confessed, "My criminal days always felt so far away when I was with you, but after...that...it all just came flooding back. Look, I get it, but I hate my scars enough as it is, you don't need to act like they're monsters that are sucking the life out of me."
Charles visibly flinched, blinking as his eyes misted over.
Henry almost apologized, but before he could, Charles took his hands, "Your scars make you beautiful. You say that about my scars, so let me say it about yours. They make me sad because I love you and I don't like seeing you hurt, but I also love them because they're part of your history. They're a testament to how strong you are. All this evidence that you've lived and survived and kept going regardless...it's a wonderful thing."
Henry let himself smile as he leaned over the middle of the car, "Kiss me?"
Charles matched that smile as he leaned in, cupping Henry's cheek in one hand to steady him while he tilted his head to meet his lips.
It didn't last long, but it still did wonders for Henry's nerves. He felt Charles break the kiss to place another in the palm of his hand, a thumb tracing a scar hidden just beneath his sleeve.
"I love you, Hen."
Henry laughed hoarsely, "Love you too."
Charles kissed Henry's palm one more time before unbuckling his seatbelt, "Okay! Ready to meet my family?"
Henry felt himself pale. Ah, shit.
"Haha! Hey, no worries! They'll love you!"
"You don't know that." Henry fidgeted in his seat, "And besides, I-I get really anxious..."
"I know." Charles quickly got out of the car to run around to the other side, opening Henry's door, "Come on. I'll walk with you. You trust me."
Henry shook his head, "You can't just say 'You trust me!' every time we go into a nerve-wracking situation!"
"But you do trust me."
Henry pouted.
"Aww, don't be like that, Love!" Charles pinched his cheek, "Or you could, I guess. You're so adorable when you pout!"
"Charlllllllles!"
"Come on, baby. We've already come this far, right?" Charles kneeled on the car seat, one knee between Henry's legs, "They'll love you. I promise."
Henry gulped loudly. Charles was suddenly so close. If he leaned forward just a little bit, their lips would easily meet in the middle.
Well, there was nothing stopping him, right?
As their lips met, Charles hummed into his mouth, which made him shiver, but before he could deepen the kiss, Charles suddenly pulled back.
He hit him with a teasing smile, "You're stalling, aren't you?"
Henry flushed red, "Yes, Charles!"
Charles laughed, which made Henry pout again.
"Look, if you really want to turn around right now and go home, we can. I'm not gonna push you too hard if I can help it, but I really want you to meet them. I know they'll love you. They're related to me, after all! They'll see your charm!"
Henry bit his lip. He wasn't so sure.
"Come on, Hen." Charles fully climbed into the car over him, practically in his lap now as he caressed his cheek, "Where's that smile I love so much?"
Henry refused to meet Charles' eye as he fidgeted again, pushing back into the seat just in sheer reflex. He sucked in a breath of air when his heart fluttered.
"Shhh..." Charles kissed his cheek, "You're okay, Hen. Deep breaths."
Henry tried to obey as Charles left more kisses across his jawline, bringing both clammy fists up in front of his chest as Charles cradled his head to bring it to each kiss.
"If you want to, we can just wait out here for a bit." Charles pulled back to meet his eye, "Just let me know so I can text my family and tell them we'll be running a little late. They'll understand."
Henry leaned forward to hug him, tucking himself against Charles' body and placing a kiss on his neck. He stayed there for a little bit, just reveling in Charles' warmth.
"No. We can go now." Henry swallowed as he pulled back, "Hold my hand?"
Charles climbed out, "Of course."