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Everything was hot and red, narrowed in on the wounds to his stomach and chest.
There was heat covering his skin, soaking into his clothes. Blinking, he stared up at the sky above him. It was a lovely, pale blue color, and he gasped in another breath. His ribs were…weird. Flexing the opposite way of how he breathed, and he twitched. Felt someone’s hand curl around his own, and then Kiem’s face was blocking out part of the sky. Not a bad view. Not by any means, actually. Gasping, Jainan tipped his head to the side. Looked up at his partner, blinked. Something rattled in his chest, and he wheezed again. “Jainan. Hey, hey, you’re alright.” Leaning in, Kiem brushed his hair out of his eyes. Tried to pull it back, away from his eyes. Eyes fluttering, Jainan sucked in another breath. His ribs were broken, they had to be. There was blood on Kiem’s hands, slicking his fingers with dark red. “Come on, open your eyes? Please? I need you to open your eyes a little bit more, okay?”
With a nod, Jainan coughed. Felt someone else’s hands on him. Flinching, he turned. Saw Ressid and Gairad both crouched beside him. Their hands were settled on his chest, his stomach, sinking into his skin as they applied pressure to the injuries. “Wha—” He trailed off. Blinked and turned to Kiem. Then, he jerked. Gasped in pain as there was another strike of burning hot pain. “Kiem—”
“Ssh, ssh. It’s okay, you’re alright. We have you.” Raising his head, Kiem said, “Bel, how’s that medic coming?”
“They’re almost here, he just needs to hold on a little bit longer. He’s going to be okay.” Bel urged, moving into Jainan’s view. Blinking, Jainan tipped his head to the side. His collarbone hurt. Everything hurt. Mouth falling open, he cried out weakly. Immediately, it pulled Kiem’s attention to him, eyebrows knitting together in concern. He reached out for Jainan with his other hand. Then, he pulled back. Clutched onto Jainan’s hand. “Squeeze my hand if you need to, I don’t mind. Just stay with us, okay? Just for a little while longer.” Kiem begged. He really was begging. Blinking, Jainan stared at him for a moment. Swallowed and then blinked, looked into his partner’s eyes. Then, he glanced to Ressid, to Gairad, as they knelt over him and applied a little more pressure. It hurt.
Everything whited out for a moment, and Jainan gasped. Grabbed at Kiem’s hand and squeezed tighter. He felt his partner’s bones shifting under his grip, popping slightly, and Jainan searched for him as best as he could without really being able to see him. “Kiem—”
“It’s okay, it’s alright. I promise, it’s going to be okay. You’re okay, I promise you. We’re going to get you to the hospital, you’re going to be perfectly okay.” There was some sort of jolt of pain, and Jainan whimpered again. Grabbed for Kiem, felt him holding his hand tighter. There was a ringing in his ears, he coughed. Something hot, tacky, flooded his mouth. Coppery in taste, slick and gross. Hacking again, he blinked away the white in his eyes, in his vision. Kiem was right next to him, tears in his eyes. Coughing again, blood (he knew it was blood, he just didn’t want to think about it) spattering with it, Jainan stared at him. If he could, he would have reached up and brushed at Kiem’s face. He didn’t care if it was Iskat tradition not to show affection in public, even for royalty. Jainan wasn’t from Iskat, he was Thean. Affection was something they shared willingly (Taam had never wanted him to, but Kiem did. Kiem actually loved him, and seeing him cry was the worst thing for him to see).
There was a sort of…pulse or something in Jainan’s chest, and he kept looking at Kiem. Watched fear cross his face.
Everything went black.
+
Jainan was lying on the floor of his and Taam’s room, panting and sucking in breaths as the cool surface set against his cheek.
One of his hands was in front of his face. The other was awkwardly pressed beneath his body, under his side. Blinking, he stared forwards for a moment. Then, he twitched his fingers. Watched his nails scratch against the surface for a moment. Then, he wheezed in a breath. Taam was standing at the window. Sending a dark look over his shoulder, Taam shook his head and then scoffed. “Pathetic. You’d better be up within a few hours, we have a gala to attend.” With another scoff, he walked over Jainan to the door and then disappeared into the hallway. The door locked behind him.
Closing his eyes, Jainan took a few breaths. Left his eyes closed. Then, he jerked his body and pulled his arms underneath him. Tried to push himself up. Arms shaking, he closed his eyes for a moment again. Wheezed again. Everything hurt. His ribs ground together. Gritting his teeth, he fell to the side. Tucked his head down, rested it against the floor. The cold felt nice on his forehead, and he slumped down. Blinked and then shuddered.
There was a hand on his back.
Blinking, Jainan looked to the side. Sitting next to him was Kiem. This wasn’t quite like when they had the—the thing that Jainan didn’t talk about. Somehow, he knew that this wasn’t actually his partner sitting beside him, looking at him with those concerned eyes. He was dreaming, or—unconscious? Suddenly, he was on his back, Kiem was beside him and looking worried.
(Somehow, he could feel Kiem’s hand curled around his, warm against the otherwise cool air of wherever they were. He was lying down, on his back. There was something down his throat, and not something he wanted to have down his throat, either. Clutching onto Kiem’s hand, Jainan inhaled slowly. The air was cold. It tasted and smelled strange, almost aseptic. He found he didn’t like this air very much, it was very different from the recycled form that came on cruisers and other spaceships. This was…something else. Dimly familiar, somehow, yet all the stranger for it.)
“Hey, Jainan. Take your time. Get some rest. Everything’s going to be just fine, you’re going to be okay.” Leaning in, Kiem kissed his forehead, brushed his hair back. It had been carefully braided in one of the ways that Jainan liked it to be put, done by Kiem’s careful hands. He’d spent hours learning how to braid Jainan’s hair the way that he liked it to be held up in. The delicacy with which he did it the first time that Jainan actually was comfortable enough to let him do so, he cried. It was just so gentle, so delicate and soft, and he couldn’t help but cry at that point. He just loved Kiem so much in that moment.
Twitching on the ground, Jainan curled his fingers in Kiem’s. Squeezed. There was a gentle squeeze right back, and he looked to Kiem’s face. Even in his dreams, the softness there remained. He lifted Jainan’s hand to his lips, kissed the backs of his knuckles (his lower lip was scabbed over, it had been split at some point. Who hurt him? Someone had hurt him while Jainan wasn’t there. He moved to try and stop the assassination, moved to try and prevent Kiem from getting hurt, but clearly he did, anyways. But he didn’t remember the injury when he was lying on the ground, with Gairad and Ressid desperately trying to keep him alive. Had something happened while he was out? How long was he out? He needed to wake up, he needed to wake up now—)
“Ssh, ssh. It’s okay. Your body is tired, and you’re not well enough for stims. You’ll be okay, get some more rest.” Kiem had been saying that over and over again, when he was bleeding on the ground and then now, and before that as well. When Jainan had his nightmares, the ones like this one where Taam lingered in the back of his mind like some kind of unwanted shadow.
There was a faint pinch in his arm, something he felt even in sleep, and then he passed out again.
+
When Jainan opened his eyes, he was lying in his and Kiem’s bed in their chambers.
Which, weird. Last he had known, he and Kiem had been on Thea. Thea. His heart dropped as the memories of what had happened before he dropped into unconsciousness reared their heads once more, like some sort of resurrected beast that was no longer what it once was. Is everyone alright? Ressid? Gairad? There was an attack on the embassy, he remembered that.
Tipping his head to one side, he forced his eyes open. Felt a hand touch his cheek. Eyes snapping open, he turned the other way. Looked over and met Kiem’s dark gaze. There was a soft, delicate smile, but the skin beneath Kiem’s eyes had darkened with insomnia-induced bruises. “Kiem.” Jainan whispered, voice hoarse.
“Wow. He looked my way first, you know.” A tight voice teased. Jolting, Jainan turned. Spotted Gairad sitting beside him, with Ressid to her left and Bel on Ressid’s other side. Expression flattening, eyes half-lidded in what Jainan could only describe as exasperation, Ressid looked to Kiem. As for Kiem, he simply exchanged a smile with Bel, then leaned in and kissed Jainan’s temple. Blinking, Jainan looked at him.
“The—” Coughing, Jainan wrinkled his nose. Gairad shoved a spoon of ice chips in his face. Reeling back, Jainan stared at her for a moment, watched the sly grin on her face that didn’t match the worry in her eyes, and then willingly opened his mouth. Allowed Gairad to spoon some of the ice chips into his mouth for him. When he glanced back at Kiem, who looked tired but relieved, he just received a soft smile and a sigh.
“The embassy is okay. You were critically injured, but otherwise there were no major injuries that wouldn’t heal up. You’ve been unconscious for three weeks.” Nodding to Bel, Jainan reached up. Touched Kiem’s still-healing split lip. Rubbed a thumb over the scab. “Yeah, that was because Kiem decided to try and fight the person responsible.”
“I helped him!”
“You broke your arm, Gairad. Again, might I add.”
“It’s a different arm this time, that’s not my fault.”
In between Bel and Gairad, Ressid let out a long-suffering sigh. Turning to her, Jainan touched her hand. Sent her a smile. Then, he cleared his throat, which was feeling much better after the ice chips. “I would like to have some alone time? With Kiem? Please?”
“Of course. It is your room, after all.” Gairad shrugged, looking way too smug for what she had just implied. Reaching over, Bel poked her in the shoulder. Sent her an offended look. Then, Bel pushed herself up, and Ressid touched Jainan’s arm before rising herself. “Just make sure to—ow, okay!” Ressid sent an apologetic look Jainan and Kiem’s way as she pulled Gairad from her seat by the back of her shirt. The three women left the room, and Jainan turned to look at Kiem. Kiem was staring after them, eyes soft and cheeks dark as he flushed. Reaching up, Jainan grabbed at him.
“Kiem.” He murmured, trying to catch his attention. Looking over, Kiem smiled. Pulled himself onto the bed and then laid down beside Jainan. That’s not close enough, Jainan thought, grumpily. Grabbing Kiem’s shoulders, he yanked him over on top of him.
“Nope, no. I am not lying on you. You can be next to me, or you can lie on me , but I am not tearing those stitches.” Kiem rolled them over. Then, he gently kissed his cheek. Jainan let himself be moved, dropped his head down on Kiem’s chest and sighed softly. Shuttering his eyes closed, he curled his arms to his own chest, between them, as Kiem settled his hands in the small of his back. He rubbed at the small strip of skin right above Jainan’s belt, where it was exposed as his nightshirt rode up. Inhaling, Jainan pushed into the touch as Kiem found a particularly sore spot. His hands were nice, warm. Comforting.
“I missed you.”
“I didn’t go anywhere.” Kiem’s nose pressed into his hair.
“I did.” Fingers curling in Kiem’s shirt, Jainan exhaled shakily. Felt a bit of stretch in his diaphragm, his ribs and throat, somehow. As he did, he could smell Kiem (not entirely pleasant, he didn’t seem to have bathed in the time that Jainan was unconscious). “Do we have anything that we need to be up for?”
“If the Emperor wants to make us do something when you’re still recovering from being injured, I will willingly get myself exiled again. I don’t care if she is my grandmother, I’m going to punch her in front of everyone.” Kiem replied with full confidence.
Snorting, Jainan buried his face in Kiem’s chest, sighed softly.