“What…”

But before Addai could start talking, Mine let out a single muffled sob that shut his speech. It seemed painful to hold the tears, but his eyes were tired of holding them, so they started rolling down his cheeks and chin, dusting warm shades around his eyes and nose.

Mine swallowed a few sobs, his hands were shaking, and so was his chin, but he didn't let whatever he was painfully holding go. It was like watching someone fight his most basic instincts with a rope of thorns around the neck.

It was becoming unbearable. But neither of them had words to break that torture.

One touch and it felt like it burned. One look, but no actual seeing each other. Every teardrop that stained the sheets seemed to be made of acid. 

But after the acidic taste... oh... the bitterness came like a hurricane. Mine, taken by a sudden impulse, gave Addai a loud slap in the face, who didn't even move and just accepted another one.

They looked at each other, now attentively. One's agitated breathing contrasted with the other's strange serenity. But no words came. Nothing.

Mine averted his gaze and his chest faltered a couple of times, the hurricane inside becoming unberable to hold hostage. He covered his face, and his hair turned almost completely gray, as well as some parts of his skin, which were previously very pink.

Addai didn't dare to move. He watched Mine. Confused, upset, angry, sad. 

Still, he needed to do something, anything. So, he reached out, slowly, to Mine's head... but when he touched the first strands of hair, Mine pulled away from him. He tried again... and Mine dodged. Once again... and Mine continued to dodge, still not looking into his eyes.

Fed up with this dynamic, Addai huffed. "Why are you upset?” he asked, but, of course, there was no response back.

Silence treatment? Mine? Ah, c’mon.

“Mine,” Addai called, but Mine pretended to not hear it. “I need to hear from you to understand what’s going on, but I need for you to speak,” he said, trying to touch Mine’s hand.

Still no answer... 

...  but this time the outcome was different. 

Mine slowly looked at him, uncovering his face. His eyes were a mixture of red, pink, and blue hues. His face was damp such as his eyes, still dusted with reddish blush and sore spots. His smile… wasn't there; it seemed it couldn't be drawn on his lips for now. As an attempt to talk, Mine's lips trembled, but his hoarse voice made it impossible to distinguish the words and sentences, and everything sounded like a wet babble.

First, Addai slid his hands over Mine's cheeks and - feeling the texture a little slippery from his tears - tried to clean up some of that mess. Then, he lifted Mine's face and finally managed to look at him properly. So, he tried dragging him closer, but with every slight pull, Mine stiffened and became an immobile statue. Then, Addai moved closer to Mine and... slowly managed to wrap his arms around the stiffening body that was shrinking more and more.

Shame? Anger? Or just plain tantrums? He didn't know what was going through that little head - in fact, he never knew what was going through Mine's head.

“See? Don’t dissolve in tears and snot,” Addai patted Mine’s back and felt a thin cloak covering his shoulders.

Wait, since when was that there?

Addai’s vision was a little blurred, but Mine surely seemed to change his appearance from time to time as if he was "glitching" repeatedly. Sometimes his hair seemed to shine, but other times it was gray. Sometimes his eyes had golden lines, but other times he was in that strange mix of colors. Sometimes his skin was peach-colored, but other times it was adorned with luminous golden writings. Sometimes Mine was close, but other times he was... 

... far away?

Addai blinked once, twice, three times, and Mine seemed to move even further away, even though he still felt the warmth of his body in his arms.

“You were fading...” Mine said, his voice meek and low. “I had to…” and he touched Addai’s bare chest.

When Mine touched Addai's chest, his hand disappeared the instant Addai blinked, soon, he had vanished and seemed to have teleported two steps away from Addai. He was sitting down, and a luminous golden symbol appeared right below his neck, which also had the same patterns as the strange fading design on Addai's chest.

“What…?" Addai asked, tension starting to creep into his voice.

“I guided your soul back,” Mine replied, wiping his own tears. “But you were too far, so I had to dig deeper and use the Seraph's Tear petals extract to bring you back. I just… didn't know it could react so bad with you so…" and he showed his hands, completely black as if it was dead or burnt.

"!!" Addai gasped.

"That's why I didn't want you to touch me, and that’s why I used illusions to treat your wounds and… deceive you,” Mine said, looking at Addai. “I just need a little bit of time so I can decontaminate-”

Addai yanked Mine’s arms and forcefully held them.

Mine, of course, fought against it. He squirmed, kicked and tried to bite Addai's hand to release the fierce grip.

“STOP! ARE YOU STUPID?!” Mine shouted, trying to move, but that grip was too hard.

“STAY STILL!” Addai growled, immobilizing Mine even more.

A deadly trap. It didn’t matter how many times Mine shouted for Addai to let go, or how much he squirmed and growled, his friend still immobilized him and was adamant about that.

But it didn’t hurt. Actually, Mine felt relief in his arms, so he slowly stopped fighting.

“There,” Addai released Mine’s arms.

“… Thanks,” Mine nodded, a bit embarrassed. “I told you I could do it on my own. What if it didn't work and you got contaminated again?” he scolded Addai, whose eyes weren't actually focusing on Mine's.

“A little help doesn’t hurt, right?” Addai chuckled.

“It did hurt, you brute!” Mine fumed.

“Sorry, sorry,” his friend chuckled, hiding his trembling hands under the blankets.

That kind of contamination was dangerous. He did that. His nature, his damn nature, and essence did that. He doesn't remember what he had done while he was in that addictive frenzy. What if Mine had more bruises over his body? What if he was the one who caused them? What if-

"I saw something the moment I inserted the extract in your body," Mine voiced, and Addai felt his chest tighten.

Oh no.

“… what have you seen?” Addai’s heartbeat started to beat faster.

“Many things,” Mine replied vaguely. "But the clearest I saw... It was like I was a child because everything was so tall... and the place I was in resembled a mansion…”

Stop.

"...First, I saw a woman," and each word made Addai's heart drop. "She was stunning and sweet... I felt at ease around her..."

Stop. Stop.

“… Then, a gentleman touched my head," oh no... not him. "He smiled and showed me a bunny plushie…”

Stop. Stop. Stop

“… he smelled good," he indeed did, and Addai couldn't forget his smell. "His smile was comforting, and I could only feel happiness around him until…”

Stop. Stop. Stop

STOP.

“… until everything went dark, and I lost them,” Mine looked at Addai. “You… you never told me about your family but… Can I meet them someday?" he asked innocently.

“I…” Addai started, but a whole story can’t fit in a single sentence.

Not yet. Don’t say it.

"..." Addai thought for a second before speaking. “Sure,” he voiced, emotionless.

“Thank you,” Mine smiled, and (finally) his lips were curving upwards. "Now, you need to rest! You’re at my place if you’re asking where the hell you are,” he chuckled, and when Mine stood up, Addai held his hand.

"Can you… stay for a while?" Addai asked, and his tone was somehow different from the usual.

Mine crouched on the cold floor and brushed Addai's bangs, feeling the soft texture of his hair as it slipped through his fingers. The warmth of his friend's skin contrasted with the coldness of the floor.

The room was chilly, but Addai felt his face turn hotter and hotter, and so did his nose and eyes, but before he could rub his eyes, Mine slowly approached and wrapped his arms around him. Then, he gently rubbed Addai's back with one hand while resting his head on his shoulders.

Addai hugged him even more.

"I don't want to be alone," Addai confessed, burying his head on Mine's shoulders. "Please, stay," he asked, his voice sounded meek and low.

Mine tried to look at his face but gathered no success.

He had never seen that kind of behavior from Addai. He was always stoic, stubborn, grumpy, and a know-it-all. Of course, he had bad moments but...

... that was different. Far different from the usual.

"I will," Mine reassured. "So... don't wander away as well, ok?"

"..." Addai nodded.

"Then, let's make a pinky promise," Mine suggested. "Let's promise to don't things by ourselves if it's too much and..." Mine slowly loosened up their embrace, finally being able to, at least, hold one of Addai's hands. "... and rely on each other. We're not alone if we can count on each other."

Addai lifted his head, not too high, but enough for the deal to work, and he intertwined his pinky finger with Mine's.

A pinky promise.