Work Text:
A single thread of light slips through the fissures of the fog-veiled window, streaking thinly across the white tiled walls, two weary eyes glinting in the glow. Against the sink, shaking fingers splay out over the marbled rim as he rises to his feet, muttering something, voice cracked and raw in the hollow room.
“Look, I can–you don’t need to–“
She gives no reply—only hums gently as she reaches out to steady him, tethering their hands together, settling him against the tarnished silver of the mirror.
His head falls back, sigh piercing the air, as she starts to run a damp cloth over the rust-red blotting his skin. Sleet rolls in melting, ice grey lines down the length of his hair and over his forearms, blackening the water that coils down the sink with mud and moss and the salt of the sea.
Teeth worrying her bottom lip, the cloth in her hands trembles just slightly as she works it around the scrapes glistening on his jaw, then the velvet cords of his neck, livid, taut. Eyes fasten on hers, wide and sad—cautious fingers find their way through the stitches of her belt loops, tugging, stiffening around her waist as his face twists into a wince, chest swelling lightly with each shallow inhale.
Curving a finger under his chin, she traces her lips lightly over the delicate skin of his eyelids. “Let me take care of you for once,” she breathes, “okay?”
Face hallowed by chalky light, he unfurls her fingertips and kisses every one.