₊‧⁺ teddy's sea ⁺‧₊

You would never tell anybody this for fear of being called insane, but you swear on everything you love you can feel the moment Auron walks into the hospital. The energy shifts all the way up in your high hospital room and you can't help but look over at the nurse at your bedside writing something down, silently imploring her to save herself while there was time. Nervousness buzzes in your gut, building with each floor you can feel him passing on the elevator. By the time he comes to stand outside your door, you're seeing a cartoonishly giant shadow with horns and a tail peek out from under the gap, and it feels like an eternity before he actually opens it and enters.

Actually, Auron doesn't so much enter as he does rearrange planetary alignment with the force that he comes in with. Even knowing that not a drop of his anger is going to harm you, it's still a little terrifying to witness. Even the sight of you is barely enough for him to soften. But he does soften. His brow unfurls and his jaw unclenches and his eyes seem just slightly more gentle than murderous as he looks you over. He comes to your side with quick steps, and the nurse leaves while he presses a kiss into your crown. Your eyes flutter closed and open again when he rests his cheek against the top of your head and ever so carefully trails the tips of his fingers across the cast on your arm.

"I'll kill him"

You huff a breath. You should've known he wouldn't let it go.

"You won't"

"I'm going to"

"It was my fault"

It's flat out not true, and you think Auron can sense you're lying. You can hear it in his sarcastic "mhm". Somehow, though, you don't think it would've made a difference to him if you weren't . 

"I still can't believe you texted Trish and not me" he says, and if you didn't know any better you'd accuse him of whining. 

"We had a plan to do lunch together, I thought I should tell her I wouldn't be there"

He leans down to nip at your cheek and you squeal. 

"Plan or not, you text me. You call me. Understood?”

You nod hurriedly and he lets it go, instead taking your uninjured hand to his lips, pressing them into the center of your palm. Your knuckles are scratched, and you vaguely remember scraping them on the dashboard when you were jerked forward. Auron tsks quietly when he notices, examining, rubbing the pad of his thumb over them and stilling when you hiss lowly. He has the same eyes you've seen on his ruthless days in the office. 

When you're sitting on his desk, watching him work, and he suddenly finds a terribly unfortunate mistake and he raises his brow in that way he does, as if he can't really believe what he's seeing. And he looks over it. Again and again and again. Waiting for reality to bend to his will as it always does under the stress of his intense gaze. And when it doesn't, he looks some more. This time, he is not waiting. He is judging. Links his fingers in a bridge and rests his chin on them. And then he gets up and leaves his office without a word, and you swing your feet happily while he has his play time. Take a sip of your coffee. Maybe check your email on your phone. Kiss his cheek and run your fingers through his hair in that way he likes once he comes back. He calms under your touch and carries on as usual, a smug cat under his owner's hand, pleased with himself for catching the troublesome mouse.

This mouse, you worry, might be a more serious matter. It's not some employee that can be sorted out with a talking to or celebrity that can be cut off if proven to be difficult. This is someone who hurt you. And you haven't been in a situation close enough to this to know exactly what he'll do, but you think you have a pretty good idea. 

"Auron?" you whisper gently, and you see him come back to you. His eyes lift from the scrapes to those eyes of yours he loves so much and you know you have his complete attention. You take his hand in yours, squeezing gently and smile feeling his firm squeeze back. "It was just an accident, dear."

He doesn't like hearing that. You figured he wouldn't. 

"I'd certainly hope it wasn't on purpose" he quips dryly, and you can't help but laugh. The room goes silent except for the whirring and noise of the machines next to you, and then-

"It won't help him either way"

You slip your good hand out of his to smack his shoulder. "You are not killing him. You don't even know what room he's in."

He raises a brow and gives you a devious smile that would surely be charming in any other circumstance, but right now only makes your blood run cold. 

"No"

"Oh yes, darling"

He taps the underside of your chin.

"Money can do a great many things".

 And before you know it, he's slithered out of your reach and out of your room before you find the presence of mind to shout after him. You quiet after a minute, pondering what to do. He's a clever man, your clever man, he knows better than to do anything rash in a hospital of all places. And he wouldn't really harm him, would he? Over a traffic accident? No, he's just delivering some vicious threats that hurt your law-trained brain to even imagine. It'll all be fine, just fine. 

You're looking out the window when he comes back, your brave knight in shining velvet. He seems disgruntled and...flustered? You've only seen the particular expression he's wearing combined with the blush on a few rare occasions. He drops himself in the chair by your bed and runs a hand through his hair, messing it up. You're just able to catch the sound of him muttering under his breath. 

"Sorry?"

He raises his voice a few decibels, still nowhere near the volume you need to hear him properly, but you just barely make out the word 'driver'

"What about the driver? Did you hit him?"  For one insane moment, you think Auron lost the fight he started for your honor. "Did he hit you?"

"She. And there was no hitting involved. She's..." Auron hesitates for a moment, hanging his head, looking down at the floor in what you can only assume to be shame. "She's sixteen" he sighs. 

It takes a second for it to click, but then you're laughing and laughing and you can't stop yourself. It's the absurdity of the situation, the innocence of a teenager who probably just got her license meeting your insane personal bodyguard in a hospital room, combined with the embarrassment on your poor lover's face that sends you keeling over. Your cheeks are sore and you're starting to feel a stitch in your side but everytime you look at Auron's face you think of a kicked puppy and you burst all over again.

You hear him sigh again. "In any case, you're staying with me at my penthouse while you recover."

That's enough to sober you up, looking up at him with what you can only imagine are stars in your eyes. 

"Really?" 

He smiles a bit then, the redness in his cheeks starting to go down.

"Yes, really"

Authors note: I had abt 99% of this written before the poll was even over. I'm still disappointed at how little of you were riding for knight Auron. I, personally, ride knight Auron all the time. Ride for him*, I meant. Obviously.