Chapter Text
Eric sniffled softly as he walked along the empty London streets, ready for his last reap of the day. He was not normally an emotional person, no, not at all. But tonight was different. Tonight, he had had an argument with Alan.
Oh, Alan. He was the only person who could bring out emotion in Eric. Most of the time, that emotion would be love, but tonight, it was anger. The ridiculous thing was, Eric couldn't even remember what they were fighting about. It was most likely something silly.
Nevertheless, Eric tried to keep the tears from rolling down his face, but he couldn't. He cursed quietly. He just wanted to go home, back to Alan. He would apologize and the smaller reaper would most likely forgive him. He hoped.
Name: Simon Tilden
Time of Death: 11:03
Manner of Death: Sudden heart attack
Age: 23
It was almost 11:00 and Eric picked up his pace. He hated taking young lives, but it was all part of the job. He always tried to work emotionlessly, it was easier that way. But at the moment, it was proving difficult.
Eric watched from the shadows of a tall building as he saw a young man collapse onto his knees, gasping for air and coughing up blood. He grimaced and readied his death scythe. Just as the light left the young man's brown eyes, Eric raised his scythe. But before he could make the blow, Simon's cinematic record began spewing out of him. It was vengeful, angry at being taken so young, so violently. The record was fighting back.
Eric barely let out a gasp when he felt the cinema strips go through him, piercing his chest. The records could sense Eric's emotion and they used it to their advantage, wrapping themselves around his limbs. He began to wheeze and cough, flailing his scythe around until he eventually cut one of the strips. The cinematic record reacted by tightening itself more around Eric. He knew he had to act quickly, or he was going to die. He raised his scythe once more and he could see only one way out.
He cut the middle strip, the main one holding him in place. However, this strip was very tight, so to free himself, he ended up having to slash a part of his chest as well. He fell roughly to the floor, wincing on impact. Before the record had a chance to strike again, he quickly cut the remaining strips before leaning heavily against the wall.
Well, that sucked. He thought bitterly to himself.
He looked down to his chest to see it slowly oozing blood. There was a horizontal gash going right across his ribcage and he knew he needed to get it treated before it became life threatening. There was a dull ache in his chest. Shrugging it off as his wound, he began to stumble into an alleyway so he could port back to the Shinigami Realm.
~*~
Alan was sat in his shared apartment reading in the living room as he had received no overtime that night. He was trying to take his mind off the argument he had with Eric earlier, before he went on his last soul collection for the day. It was a stupid argument, something that Grell said if he remembered rightly.
He sighed, absent mindedly flicking through the pages of his book, until he heard the front door open. He really wasn't in the mood for talking right now.
"Go away, Eric." He muttered. The door closed behind him.
"Nice ta' see ye' too." Came a gruff reply. Eric's voice came out quite... strained.
Furrowing his brow, Alan looked up from the book he was reading. His eyes widened. "Eric, you're injured! What happened?"
Eric looked down at his chest. His white shirt had been stained red and Alan could see the blood still pulsing out through the fabric. "How very observant of ye'." Eric muttered sarcastically. "M'fine."
"You're certainly not fine!" Alan protested, then sighed. "Go to the bathroom, I'll get the first aid kit."
Begrudgingly, Eric stumbled over to the bathroom and sat on the toilet seat. If truth be told, Eric's chest was beginning to sting a bit. His eyes began to get heavy and Eric had trouble keeping them open.
Alan then appeared in the doorway, holding a little bag full of medical supplies. He made his way over to Eric, kneeling down in front of him. "I need you to keep your eyes open for me, okay?" Eric nodded sleepily. "I'm going to clean your wound, but there's no point stitching it, you will have healed by tomorrow with bed rest." Eric nodded again, his head drooping.
Alan took out the antiseptic wipes and began to dab lightly on Eric's skin. Eric hissed slightly at the contact and Alan apologized softly. Once he had cleaned away the blood, he got out bandages, wrapping them tightly around Eric's wound so they would heal properly. Eric was almost asleep now, slumping more and more on the toilet seat.
"There." Alan said as he finished. "Can you stand?"
Eric nodded drowsily and stood up, swaying violently.
"Whoa!" Alan called in alarm, steadying him. Eric looked at him, confusion in his eyes. He was clearly out of it. "Oh baby..." Alan tutted softly before wrapping one of Eric's arms around his shoulder and guiding him towards the bedroom they shared. He placed Eric in bed, taking off his shoes and shirt. He was running a slight temperature and Alan tried to keep the look of concern off his face. Alan then got undressed into his night clothes before getting under the covers beside Eric.
Alan snuggled closer to him, minding his injuries. Eric was already asleep and snoring softly and Alan felt a small smile creep up on his face.
Yes, Alan thought. Everything will be alright in the morning.
But little did he know, the worst was far from over.