chaos

“It sounds great. What do you know? I can figure it out if it’s something I’ve heard; just gimme a name - or a tune, or whatever you think of,” he said, starting up the steps. There was a certain unsteadiness to his gait that he hadn’t felt in a long time, and he wished to grip the railing, but his free hand was his broken one.

Moving to accommodate him, Elias turned his hips, leaning  to be sure that Nik was comfortable. His hands tangled in the other’s hair, and he folded over on himself, kissing his forehead. “I’m here. I’m here, mi amore.”

It was a bit before Nik managed to calm, but he wiped at his eyes all the same, slowly sitting up. "If I-- you know what, just . . come with me." The hunter stood, grabbing Elias' hand and giving it a light tug - Lord knew he hadn't eaten, so he didn't even try to pull him up, fairly sure he'd fail to do so. "I want to play guitar."

“Oh, mio poverino.” Careful, Elias moved, his stitches pulling, to sit with Hnikarr on the sofa. His fingers swept across the other’s cheeks, trying to drive away his tears. It hurt something awful to see him cry like this, when Nik was supposed to be so strong for him. “Piccolo principe. Breathe for me. Deep breaths, c’mon.”

He stuck close to him as he moved, terrified that he might disappear again if the distance between them became too great. "I'm breathing," he whispered, drawing his legs to his chest. Within a few seconds, his head was in Elias' lap, and his eyes were squeezed shut. "Please don't leave again."

"Sit down, yeah, let's," he whispered, though he made no move to do so, his chest heaving from his sobs. "There's nothing to take care of; I'm fine. Now that you're here, I'm fine. I promise I'm fine." And yet, he continued to cry, unable to stop himself; now that the tears had begun to flow, he didn't think he could return to being dry-eyed until none were left to escape.

Taking his hand in both palms despite the grip the other had on him, Elias’s brow furrowed deeply. He couldn’t give a true answer, not with the phone call he had had with Soo. “I don’t want to see you hurt again,” he whispered, one hand going out to cup Hnikarr’s face. “Everything is fine, si, it’s okay.”

“Is it okay?” he questioned, unsure. “You were gone for-- for so long, and I couldn’t come get you. I wanted to! I would’ve come if I could’ve, but there was-- there were earthquakes and fires and you wouldn’t tell me where you were--” The feelings he’d tried to drown when Elias had returned quickly rose back up, a hiccuping sob interrupting his words and damning him to silence for a moment. It was only another second or two before the tears started to fall again, and Hnikarr hugged the hybrid close, burying his face in his shoulder.

“Did you break it? Dio, Nik, is it broken?” Soft, careful, Elias pulled away just far enough to observe the other’s hand. He felt sick. He had let Nik do this. He was the cause of this. “Oh, god…Yes it is, yes! It’s important!”

“Eli-- Eli, yes, it’s broken. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to . . I was upset! Remember our-- our phone call? I hit the wall, and it didn’t . . it didn’t go well. I’m fine, I swear; I just-- I missed you. I missed you, but you’re back now; everything’s fine. You’re not leaving again, are you?” His good hand gripped Elias’ shoulder, both possessively and fearfully, as though that contact could keep him from running off again.

“Nothing-- It’s nothing,” he said quickly, wincing at the touch despite the gentle nature of it. “Nothing to worry about, I promise. It’s not important.” Were his eyes still red from crying? They must have been, for he could have sworn tears had been flowing just a few minutes before Elias’ arrival. Worried for a moment over his appearance, he wiped at the dried tracks of tears on his cheeks, though it didn’t do much overall - he was unkempt and disheveled, not to mention barely keeping steady on his feet. A meal a day was not enough for him, but Asmodeus could not do more than that. 

Nik had been curled up on the couch for quite a while, doing nothing but staring across the room. It was only the sound of a voice that drew him from his reverie - not in joy, but rather in panic. “Elias?” The hunter scrambled to his feet, practically diving for him and hugging him tightly. “I’ve missed you-- where’ve you been? Pl--” No sense of composure left, his voice broke, but he made an attempt to recover. “Please, don’t leave again.”