~Rhett~

Hero’s hands touch my ears and it takes me way too long to realize that what he put on them was my hearing aids. It makes me laugh, which makes him flinch a little as I rub at my eyes, taking in the fact that the blurriness was coming from tears. Weird. “You just happened upon my hearing aids? You’re so sweet,” The chuckle sounds so fake as it leaves my throat, but I don’t mean for it to. I meet his eyes and his whole face has gone a deeper shade from the red that reaches his pointed ears. Man, is he pretty. And those tall wings reaching the other side of the hallway and shimmering with their blues and greys and blacks and whites and--

“Anarchy, are you okay?” 

It's the first time I've ever heard his voice and the humming tenor of it just distracts me so much for a moment that I stare at him blankly until I remember he asked a question. 

Am I okay? I mean, I feel like someones pricking me with a thousand tiny needles but hey, I'm alive. I'm out of that torture chamber and I'm sitting on the floor before the man who saved me. Who I've spent years slowly falling for. Who I've spent years knowing I can't have. Wow, he's just… perfect. It's really a shame. "Me? I'm awesome! Slowly getting my head back and my legs feel like jelly but eh, it could be worse. Are you okay?" I smirk at him, putting my elbows on his shoulders and folding my hands together behind his head, our faces now barely apart. His whole face practically glows crimson and it's just as satisfying as the first time I made him blush. 

"Arch, you're delirious." He mumbles, which makes it hard to hear him, but the man has good articulation. A blessing, really. Hero stands, pulling me up with him, "you should probably get more rest…" his face is still crimson as he pushes my arms off of his shoulders and, as normal as the motion is, I was actually not prepared to have to balance myself and I start to collapse, falling directly into him and grabbing the sleeves of his jacket to keep myself up. My head is spinning again so the warmth of his arms wrapped around me doesn't process for an extra long moment. 

"Shit…" I groan, cursing the poison and that one guy whose name I don't even really know... but also thanking them because man is it nice to be in his arms. 

"How bad is it?" I don't want to look at him, because now my face is red. Now is the point where I feel the desperate need to cover this with a bad joke, but it's hard to think with the room spinning. Remind me never to let myself be poisoned again. "I tried to patch up all the bad wounds last night… but I couldn't get those cuffs off." I pull one of my hands in front of me, watching the shaky blur as the natural colour of my skin is further blighted by the stupid Light-Cuffs their Glowing girl made. 

I force myself to laugh, trying to sidestep how much it actually hurts, "oh please, I've felt worse cursed snail bites than these." The joke leaves my lips as I pull myself to a fully standing position and look up to find him staring down at me. Holy fucking stardust does this boy have the glare of a thousand suns. But then he softens, his hands moving to my elbows to steady me. 

"Well, at least they didn't hurt your sense of humour," I'm not sure why, but I can feel tears in my eyes now and I'm going to go ahead and blame the pain for that one. "Come on, you should get some rest. We'll figure out what to do about the cuffs in the morning." 

To my complete surprise, Hero suddenly leans down and wraps one of his arms under my legs, "what are you--" and then he's fully picking me up as if I'm a prince in need of saving and my head is now spinning in two different ways because Oh shit. Oh SHIT. But I can't even bask in the flustered fantasia of being picked up by this absolutely gorgeous man because instead there's a fuckton of pain and dizziness from the suddenness of the movement and I will curse those people til the end of time for this shit. "Ow" My stupid mouth says without the permission of my panicking brain. 

Hero says something but I can't focus enough to actually hear words as he carries me back into the room I woke up in and sets me gently onto the bed. Fuck, even sitting on a soft ass bed hurts. “Hey, look at me,” Hero’s hand is cupping my cheek when I look up to meet his eyes and it takes me waaaaayyy too long to realize that. How long was his hand there? “I’m serious this time, are you okay?” He’s so close to me that I can almost feel his breath against my face and sweet stars that feeling is blissful. 

Oh fuck, he asked a question. “Well, I’d be more okay if you’d lean just a liiiitttle bit closer” I smirk at him again, putting my hand over his and feeling really disappointed when he pulls away. 

“Anarchy.” He’s glaring at me now, and I remember how angry my brother used to get when I refused to take anything seriously. My foster parents hated it too but mainly it was Robby. Of course he’s upset, he has every right to be. I just… don’t know how to not deal with things in laughter. 

My next word comes out in an almost breathless laugh, my head still pounding its curse of poison against my skull “what?” Not the only curse I’ll bear, I guess. Even knowing I should be serious and I’m not serious. 

Stop it, Rhett. Just stop. 

"Just try and get some rest okay, you're obviously tired and you look like you've been through hell." He steps away from me and my heart shatters. I ruined it again, he looked like he was finally seeing past everything and I just had to turn it into a joke like I always do. 

“Hero--”

“It's Nikolai, most people just call me Niko.” He smiles at me, taking another step back. I’m too surprised to respond, “it’s okay, I know you. I know you’re hurt but you’re not going to tell me unless you’re joking about it. Just try to get some sleep, please.” His movements are so graceful and light, I’m almost jealous. I wish he didn’t have to understand me so well. I wish the tears in my eyes would stop. How can he see right through me? How can he be so gentle and perfect and sweet and understanding all at once? 

Hero-- Niko makes it to the door and my headache comes back with a vengeance. For once in my life, I realize truly and rationally that I need to stop. I need to stop pretending all of this is okay. I need to stop joking around and just… admit that maybe I really need help. I have to try. "Hey, Hero-- um.. Niko, I mean…" the pounding inside my head gets worse and the pain starts to make it hard to breath. 

"Yeah," he pauses, turning to face me, I almost miss it. His voice is so small that it's barely in my ears at all. He's such a soft speaker, but again, at least he articulates well. It was always something I liked about Hero, he always spoke calmly and his words were easy to read on his lips. I'd like to say I was only staring at his lips to understand what he was saying… but I'd be a liar.

"Can you um.. can I just have water?" I manage to say, watching him soften slightly and feeling more at ease with the small smile he gives me. 

“Yeah,” he answers before disappearing through the door. I wish beyond anything that he knew how much his understanding means to me. Somehow he knows I don't mean to always be outside of a serious situation. He knows somehow that I won’t hurt him, that I’m not really a threat to him. And he came back, somehow he found me and he got me out. That's more than I could've ever asked for.