Work Text:
It was an entirely normal day up until Abolish came home from work. Legundo was sitting on the couch reading whenever Abolish came in through the front door; the Thornvale library was extensive, and had plenty of medical textbooks about all manner of supernatural creatures, some of which Legundo had never even heard of. In the past few weeks since he'd settled in a bit, Legundo had been determined to learn as much as he possibly could so he'd be able to help as many as possible.
Abolish's footsteps were even quieter than usual, which was Legundo's first indication that something was wrong. He glanced up from his book when he heard the door click shut, and by that point, Abolish had already crossed the room and settled himself on the couch. It wasn't entirely unusual for him to be quiet, so Legundo simply set his book aside and straightened up to talk to him.
"Good evening, Abolish. Was work alright?" His fledgling didn't look up at him, but he brushed it off as Abolish simply being tired, although admittedly the way Abolish was acting did seem a little worrying. Abolish's eyes were trained on his lap, where his pale hands were folded carefully. Was he shaking?
Legundo hesitated, then leaned forward slightly. Abolish was absolutely shaking, although he was completely still otherwise, not even breathing like he sometimes did when he was stressed. He reached over and held a hand near the young man's head, not quite close enough to touch him in case Abolish would react badly.
"Abolish?" he murmured, his brow furrowing as he tilted his head, trying to look Abolish in the eyes. "What's wrong?"
Finally, Abolish's gaze flicked up. His soft brown eyes were shiny with tears, and whenever he spoke his voice was even quieter than it usually was, immediately averting his eyes again. "I… don't want to talk about it."
Legundo paused for a few moments, taking note of just how weak Abolish sounded. Something had definitely happened to him since he'd left the house that morning. He hadn't slept that night, so it couldn't have been a nightmare like Legundo would've assumed back in Oakhurst. A soft sigh left him as he quickly realized it was pointless trying to guess based on the very minimal information he had. Pretty much anything could've happened.
He rested a hand against the side of Abolish's face, cupping his cheek, and thankfully his fledgling didn't flinch at all. "Abolish, I'm going to need you to tell me so I can help you. What happened?"
Abolish shifted slightly, intertwining his fingers. "It's not important, I'm-" He swallowed, throat bobbing, blinking rapidly as tears nearly spilled down his face. "'m fine, Legs."
Something sounded different about the way he was speaking. His voice was a little higher pitched almost, not quite the tone he had when he cried normally. Legundo let his own voice sound a little more firm as he continued, "It is important, Abolish. I'm a doctor, and I'm your sire. I need you to tell me why you're acting like this or else I can't do anything to help you."
Abolish's fangs pressed slightly against his lower lip, before he suddenly pulled himself back quickly, stumbling to his feet. Without another word, he was running out of the room. Legundo barely had time to process what was happening before he was jumping up as well, hurrying after his fledgling, who was already slipping down the hall and into his room.
"Abolish!" Abolish darted into his room, not even looking back at Legundo. "Abolish, I'm not going to hurt you, I just-"
The door slammed shut in his face, and he cut himself off. He felt frustration bubble up in his chest, clenching his jaw hard to keep himself silent, knowing Abolish was certainly standing behind the door listening for him. He crossed his arms over his chest as annoyance burned through him, trying to figure out what to do.
And then several different realizations hit him all at once, his anger immediately fading to the very back of his mind. He stared at the door in slight shock. That was what the tone of Abolish's voice was.
It was something Legundo had only seen Abolish experience a few times, and he'd experienced it much less after the two of them had left Oakhurst together. But whenever they were in Oakhurst, Abolish would at times feel… small, as he'd put it. Legundo had witnessed the same thing in a few other patients he'd had, mainly ones who had gone through significant trauma, where they would feel and act younger than they physically were.
He quickly realized he'd just snapped at what was practically a child, and he dug his fingers into his arms. He needed to do something to calm Abolish down. As annoying as it still was that asking him what was wrong didn't work, there were surely other things Legundo could do.
Legundo shook his head slightly and turned away from the door. Heading down the hallway, he decided to get something for Abolish to eat. He wasn't sure exactly how young Abolish was; the young man had been talking perfectly coherently, so he probably wasn't that young. Maybe it'd make him regress further if Legundo got him some sort of bottle, if he could find one. Or maybe Abolish would just get more upset.
Letting out a heavy sigh, he searched through the cabinets for something that would work. It only took a couple minutes before he found a small glass bottle tucked away in the back of one of the cabinets. He inspected it for a moment to make sure it wasn't damaged, then quickly rinsed it out.
As he cleaned and dried the bottle, he felt something stir in his chest. It wasn't anger this time - in fact, he realized with a start that he didn't feel angry at all anymore. There was something about Abolish that made it difficult for Legundo to stay mad at him for long, although he'd known that for a long time now.
This feeling was just as familiar as anger. He slowly set down the bottle, taking a moment to steady his breathing. The guilt washed over him, tightening in his chest until he felt sick to his stomach, before it passed and left him feeling exhausted and empty. He wasn't sure just how much time had passed by the time he finally filled the bottle with blood, barely managing not to trip as he headed back to Abolish's room.
He stopped just outside of the door, holding the bottle tightly in his hand. He couldn't hear anything from inside. It was entirely possible Abolish had already left the room in the time he'd been busy, or maybe Abolish just wouldn't want to see him. Who would, after all of that?
God, he really needed to keep his anger in check.
He forced himself to lift his free hand, gently knocking on the door. When there wasn't a response after a few seconds, he steeled his nerves, shutting his eyes before he spoke. "Abolish, I brought you something to eat. I'm not going to ask you anything else about… that, we don't have to talk at all if you don't want to."
It felt like an eternity, standing there in the complete silence of the hallway. There wasn't even the sound of movement coming from Abolish's room. His hands started to shake as he waited, his stomach swirling like he was going to throw up. In the back of his head, a voice scolded him for feeling so anxious when all of this was his fault - if he hadn't snapped at Abolish in the first place, none of this would've even happened, and Abolish probably would've told him what was wrong already.
A soft voice interrupted his thoughts. "You can… come in, Legs."
He slowly pushed open the door, noting that Abolish's words sounded a lot more forced than they had earlier, like it was taking a monumental effort for him to say anything at all. His gaze landed on where Abolish was laying and he quickly realized that was probably true.
Abolish was in bed, having pulled on one of Legundo's sweaters which he remembered accidentally leaving on the floor at some point, although he couldn't see most of his fledgling's body. Abolish was wrapped up in at least five blankets, all of them thick and heavy, several of them fluffy as well. An intricately patterned purple blanket hid most of his face, only the top half of his face was exposed, eyes slightly red and puffy from crying. When he shifted slightly, Legundo noticed that he was holding a bee plushie to his chest.
"Hey, Abolish." He slowly shut the door behind himself, chest tightening further at the way Abolish was just staring at him. "I… apologize, for getting upset at you earlier. I was just worried, and I… I didn't realize you were feeling this bad."
He paused for a few seconds to see if Abolish would respond. When he didn't, Legundo continued, "I brought you this as an apology. I don't know if you… want it? But if you do, you're welcome to keep it, and I can either stay here or I can leave if you want me to."
Abolish was silent for a bit longer, although his half-hidden expression seemed to relax slowly. Then, he pushed himself up slightly, sticking out an arm and mumbling, "Bottle…?"
"Yeah, I thought you might want a bottle, since you're feeling small," Legundo murmured, taking a few steps forward and pressing the bottle into Abolish's hand. Abolish shifted a bit and tried to grab it, slender fingers curling around the glass, although Legundo quickly realized it was going to be much more of a struggle than he'd thought it would be.
Abolish let out a little hmph as Legundo sat down on the bed, letting go of the bottle and quickly grabbing at the blankets. He fumbled to toss some of them across Legundo's lap, his legs both wrapping around two of Legundo's underneath the covers, brow furrowed slightly as he pressed as close to his sire as he could. Legundo leaned back against the headboard and hooked an arm around Abolish's back, dragging him up enough that he wouldn't choke trying to drink the blood.
Once Abolish's head was resting against his chest, he brought the bottle to his fledgling's lips, slowly rubbing circles into his arm. Hardly a second passed before Abolish was eagerly gulping down blood, seeming to relax more and more with every swallow. His hands came to rest on the bottle, loosely wrapping around it, his bee plushie squished between him and his sire.
Legundo didn't say anything until Abolish had finished about half of the bottle, before finally pulling it back out of Abolish's mouth and asking, "Do you feel better, Abolish?"
Instead of responding, Abolish scrunched his nose up slightly and pawed at the bottle again until Legundo let him put it back in his mouth. Legundo couldn't help but laugh quietly, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the top of his fledgling's head.
"Yeah, yeah," he murmured, squeezing Abolish against his chest a little tighter for a moment. The young man gave a short hum in response. "You can finish off your blood, then you can talk if you want. Good boy."
Abolish seemed to relax even more at his words, smiling softly as he continued to drink. Legundo remembered him commenting at some point that being called that felt nice, since people in the organization rarely told him he was doing well and being called a guy always felt comforting, even though Abolish had been very embarrassed about it and had immediately tried to pretend he'd never said anything at all. But he looked happy now; he was happier than earlier, at least.
About a minute later, Abolish was struggling to get the last drops of blood out of the bottle. Legundo gave him one more kiss into his dark curls before pulling the bottle back and murmuring, "I think it's all gone now, kid."
Abolish blinked a few times, leaning back to look up at him. He adjusted his position to climb on top of Legundo slightly, ending up sitting in Legundo's lap, curled up against his chest. He mumbled something Legundo couldn't quite hear.
"What was that, Abolish?" he hummed, going back to rubbing circles against his fledgling's arm. He set the bottle on the bedside table so he could wrap his other arm around Abolish as well.
"Love you." Abolish nuzzled his face into Legundo's chest, Legundo faintly hearing some sort of noise coming from him. It took a few seconds before he realized that Abolish was purring.
He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face, pulling Abolish even closer to himself. "Yeah? I love you too, Abolish. Do you feel any better?"
Abolish gave a little hum in response. "Mhm… lots better. Thank you…"
Resting his cheek against Abolish's soft, messy curls, he hummed, "How small are you right now, kid?"
"Small…" Abolish turned slightly to grab Legundo's shirt. "More than… uh, lots."
"Two or three, maybe? Around there?" Abolish pulled himself closer by Legundo's shirt, pressing his face further into his sire's chest.
"Think so…" Legundo felt something deep in his chest warm at the sound of Abolish's soft giggle. "We can talk later. 'm bed time."
"Yeah, you're tired?" Legundo carefully lowered himself down onto his back fully, Abolish purring a bit louder once he was laying against the mattress. "I think it's time for you to rest, kid. Goodnight."
"Night, Legs."
Vampires didn't need to sleep often, although Abolish had always slept more than most. Unfortunately, Legundo couldn't bring himself to rest at all, his thoughts still racing about what could possibly have made Abolish panic this badly. It wasn't like he could wake Abolish up and ask, though, so he waited until Abolish woke up again. Waiting only made everything far worse - he was completely alone with his thoughts now.
It was possibly the longest few hours of his life. Abolish didn't sleep so much as he took a quick nap, only two and a half hours, but it felt like a million years to Legundo. He kept glancing between the clock on the wall and the young man in his arms, waiting for Abolish to wake up again. His panic rose and fell over and over until he felt almost sick, hands trembling where he held Abolish, and it was difficult to remind himself that he needed to be gentle while Abolish was still this vulnerable.
When Abolish did eventually stir, Legundo's stomach did several flips before he managed to speak. "Are you awake, Abolish?"
The young man groaned softly before squinting up at Legundo, his expression quickly relaxing again. "Yeah… What- What happened…" His gaze strayed over to the bottle still sitting on the bedside table. "Oh. I was… hoping I'd dreamt that."
His cheeks tinted pink, and Legundo rushed to reassure him. "No, no, you're alright, Abolish. I didn't mind at all. Anything that helps you feel better."
Abolish was quiet for a few moments, throat bobbing as he swallowed audibly. He adjusted his legs to rest more comfortably on top of Legundo, hiding his face partially in one of the blankets again, which had somehow all stayed on the bed. Legundo clenched his jaw to keep himself from speaking up, no matter how difficult it was to not try to do something to fix things as quickly as he could. It hadn't gone well earlier and it probably wouldn't go well now either.
"Thank you, Legs," Abolish said finally, voice a bit muffled by the blanket he'd covered the lower half of his face with. "I- Earlier, at work, I uh… I saw someone. From the orphanage." His voice wavered on the word orphanage, and Legundo felt a sudden surge of rage bubble up in his chest. "I don't… I don't think I can do anything about it myself. I- That person was one of the people who, uh… I can't."
Legundo didn't want to even think about that. What Abolish had gone through in the orphanage was almost too much for him to imagine, and he couldn't bring himself to even wonder just how Abolish felt. He knew exactly how Abolish reacted when anything reminded him of that time period, even if it was just seeing a dress that looked a little bit similar to what he used to be forced to wear.
It was something no one should ever have to go through, much less still be haunted by now. Legundo wished he could wrap Abolish up in a blanket and make him feel safe for the rest of eternity.
"You don't need to say any more. I understand." Legundo squeezed him tighter, feeling him relax just barely when another kiss was pressed to the top of his head. "In the morning, I'll do something about it. You shouldn't have to deal with this, and- God, you definitely shouldn't be the one who has to fix it. I'll figure it out for you, dear."
He felt Abolish melt against him, going almost entirely limp. "Thanks, Legs…"
Legundo hadn't noticed the still slightly small tone in his voice until it got a bit more intense, and he couldnt help but smile slightly. "Still small?"
"A little." Abolish nodded slowly, and Legundo could see a bit more blush spread across his freckled cheeks just above his blanket. "Uh, maybe… I don't know. Ten, maybe."
That was one of the years he'd been in the orphanage, Legundo was pretty sure. He could only wonder just how it felt to feel younger, especially for someone like Abolish - it must be cathartic in some way if it kept happening when he was stressed. Was it different for him because he hadn't been seen as a man whenever he was that young? Legundo could of course guess that it must feel nice to have a sort of redo of being younger while having people treat him as a boy this time, although he hadn't ever asked. He doubted now would be the proper time.
Dragging himself out of his thoughts, he patted the kid's arm a couple times and asked, "Would you rather get up and do something to distract you or stay here?"
Abolish shifted slightly, and Legundo felt him yank the bee plushie out from between them, the blanket falling a couple inches as he brought the bee to his face. "I… I wanna stay here a few minutes. With you. Then we can… do other stuff, maybe."
"Of course, as long as you need." Legundo glanced over at the window, where the curtains were drawn mostly closed. It was still pitch black outside. He had plenty of time to help Abolish recover. "What do you want to do when you get up, Abolish?"
Abolish hummed, before his purring got a little louder again. "Can you… read to me? I think I have some books in here I like, I wanna stay in there…"
"Absolutely." His smile brightened all on its own as Abolish's purring got louder, vibrating against Legundo's chest. "Anything for my fledgling."