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 Posted: Sun May 08, 2022 8:23 pm
“What, alive? You’ve got nothing to apologize for. So you got a scrape fighting for something important. That’s something to be proud of, I think. No one gets out of every fight unscathed. This isn’t so bad, you’ll heal up in a little while and be good as new. The guy who gave you this has to go home and think about how he didn’t kill either of us. Tried, failed. Had the advantage for a little while and still lost. I learned a lot from tonight. It’ll help me the next time we run into them. I’m sorry you and Princess got hurt, though. That’s the only thing I’d change if I could. I’m thinking I might actually be a little sore tomorrow.”
He didn’t rub at his stomach, but now that his adrenaline was fading, it was a little more sore than he remembered, and when he drew in a deep breath he could feel a resounding ache.
“But a little bruise isn’t going to be anything like the one you’ll have, so if it’s between the two of us, I’m the one who needs less rest. But I don’t think I’ll be complaining. I was planning on studying, though. If something happens again, I want to be able to read what I’m pulling out of your first aid kit without having to ask you for all the details. Maybe you can help me tomorrow? I’ve made it through most of the first workbook, I want to try reading some things. I don’t know where to look, but I know you can find anything online. We can set something up in the living room, unless you don’t mind sharing your bed. I won’t even bring in any snacks.”
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Posted: Sun May 08, 2022 8:38 pm
Michael just looked up at Devyn for a few moments before finally nodding. Even given the opportunity, Devyn still hadn’t said or done anything to make him feel like he was worthless, or that he should have done more. It was… refreshing. Not that others told him that he could have done more, but they didn’t make him feel like Devyn did.
“We’ll figure something out,” Michael decided as he pressed his palm against the edge of the tub so he could push himself up. He sat on the edge for a moment so he could inspect the stitches and nodded approvingly.
“Definitely better than I could have managed. Thank you,” he said again, and then finally pushed himself up to stand. He would just put a bandage over it to make sure Devyn’s work didn’t get ruined, and he should be just fine for the time being.
“I don’t mind,” he said before he could think about it. He paused to press his lips together thoughtfully. Did he mind if Devyn sat in his bed with him while they read things? No… they were friends and they were helping each other out. Michael wouldn’t have been able to patch himself up, and he would have had a lot more trouble with both the General and those youma without Devyn’s help.
“You did good tonight. Maybe Soleiyu will finally give you back your powers now,” he half joked as he absently reached out to give Devyn’s arm a gentle squeeze.
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Posted: Sun May 08, 2022 8:45 pm
He smiled, and laughed, and shook his head. “Maybe. Would be nice.”
He doubted it was going to be as easy as that, but he’d have appreciated if he had his full power back so he had a better chance of holding his own. He didn’t want to say that it felt good to be fighting like that because–
Well, he wasn’t sure that it did. He felt off balance. His magic had worked, which was the first time in a long time. He was used to it backfiring, but Michael hadn’t said anything about it, and he hadn’t felt the familiar prickle of despair trying to swallow him up after he’d used it. Although, he wasn’t even completely sure if it had much of an effect on the General.
He probably needed to practice more, but Michael’s teasing and reassurance was well taken.
“Don’t pop out those stitches moving too much,” he warned. “I could have helped you up. Things like that make me think I should keep an eye on you tonight and make sure you don’t hurt yourself. I know you’re strong. Maybe stronger than my stitching. You going to kick and flop around in your sleep, do you need someone to wake you up if you start sleep walking?”
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 10:08 am
Michael paused and frowned at himself, but glanced up at Devyn a few moments later with a small nod. “Sorry. I’ll try to remember next time.”
It hadn’t occurred to him that he could ask for help getting up. Well, no, that wasn’t it. He knew he could have asked, but he was used to doing things on his own that it didn’t process as something he could burden Devyn with.
“I’m not sure if I sleep walk much, but I do kick and flop around when I can’t sleep,” he admitted with a breath of a laugh, which he winced after because it pulled at his wound a little bit. “I’m not used to someone keeping an eye on me. I’m sure you understand what that’s like,” he pointed out, seeing as how Devyn had been fending for himself for so long.
“But I’ll try to be careful,” he promised, paused again, and let out another sigh. “Maybe you could help me into a new shirt. If you don’t mind. Please.” Otherwise he could struggle with it, or just sleep without a shirt on.
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 10:37 am
“Don’t mind at all. I’m glad you asked. Come on, let’s go pick one out.” He held an arm out instinctively because he had his own experience with bleeding out and moving too quickly, and he didn’t want Michael’s body to think he’d gotten up too quickly and punish him for it.
He didn’t want to say he was proud of Michael for asking–was that tacky? But, he was. He knew he wasn’t used to it. Knew that somewhere in his life he’d been conditioned to think that it was wrong to ask for help. He recognized it in Michael because he’d been raised to think the same thing and had to unlearn all of that.
It was a difficult line to walk, between knowing who you could ask and who was going to weaponize a favor. He didn’t blame Michael for it, but he was proud to have received the request.
“Do you think you’ll be able to sleep tonight? It’s too bad Princess can’t come out here. She’d lay on your legs. I mean, I suppose I could lay on them and stop you from kicking and flopping around,” he teased, but then remembered that he didn’t want to make him laugh because the last time he had it looked like it had been a little uncomfortable.
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 4:24 pm
This time the laugh was followed by a small groan of discomfort, but Michael was still smiling as he hesitantly took hold of Devyn’s arm. It was difficult asking for help. And there were very few that he would reach out to for it. Not because he didn’t care about the others, but he knew they looked to him for strength and guidance. Or maybe that was the illusion he made for himself.
“That’s cute. Has anyone told you that you’ve got a good sense of humor? Because I think you do,” he hummed as he let Devyn help him from the bathroom to the bedroom. He would worry about cleaning up everything else later.
“In the middle drawer should be a plain teeshirt. I’ll just wear that,” Michael instructed as he nodded to the tall dresser with various books stacked on top, and a watch or two. A tie he hadn’t put away yet.
Other than the books on various surfaces, and filled bookshelves, his room was notably boring. Just a plain bed with plain sheets and blankets. Granted, it was a large bed, but he wasn’t exactly small. Nothing was hung from the walls, he had blackout curtains to keep out the light, and while there wasn’t any clothes piled onto the floor anywhere, there was a door to a closet that may have been used for a catch-all. The desk from the office had been moved into the corner of the room, but other than getting the computer plugged in, it hadn’t really been set up with any personal touches.
“I hope I can sleep tonight. I’ll take some medicine and maybe that will help.” But he doubted it.
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 4:47 pm
A smile tugged at the corner of his lips again but he was determined not to say anything cute or humorous.
“You can’t sleep in those pants. I mean, I suppose you can, but it’s just going to make a mess and be a pain to get out of in the morning.”
He held still while Michael used his arm and tugged open the middle drawer. He grabbed the first plain shirt he could find and unfolded it with one hand for inspection. He’d help him into it when he was ready but wasn’t going to rush him until then.
He took note of the room, and the lack of personalization. It wasn’t particularly odd to him, especially not if Michael just wanted to be in a room without distractions. It did make it a little difficult to infer much about him outside of what he was told, but he supposed Michael did seem a little reserved.
“Well, you know the rules. If you can’t sleep, I have to keep you company. And you’re not supposed to leave bed, so,” he clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth and gave him a look. Short lived, because he wasn’t supposed to be playful right now, he was supposed to make sure Michael was taken care of and could get some rest. “Your room is very clean. Very organized. Very different from mine. Back on Alastor, I mean. I’ll have to take pictures the next time I go up. Mine’s very colorful. Everything’s covered in something. Walls, surfaces. Parts of the floor. I have a lot of things. Can’t help but pick up anything that catches my eye.”
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 4:58 pm
Michael glanced down at the bloodstained jeans he was wearing and sighed. No, he supposed he shouldn’t be climbing into bed like that. Devyn was right about it going to make a mess and be a pain to get out of later.
In the meantime, he waited for Devyn to pull out the shirt, and then took it from him so he could pull it on as best he could without stretching too much. He needed Devyn’s help to get it pulled down once he had it over his head, and for that he mumbled a quiet thanks.
“It’s easier for me to not get overwhelmed if everything’s put away. For the most part. If I don’t see it out, I can’t confuse it for something else,” he admitted, once again finding it easy to talk to Devyn about things he normally would have kept to himself. Had he ever explained why he liked keeping things neat and organized to anyone else? Probably not. Peter probably just thought he liked things tidy. Caspian never understood, and Michael did his best to adapt.
“I wasn’t always this organized,” he again shared without thinking about it, but soon pressed his lips together to keep himself from saying more as he glanced around the rather boring room. “But I’d like to see your room sometime. It sounds like you have a lot of history brought to one place.”
After another moment he sighed and gestured to the bed. “I guess if you wouldn’t mind helping, I’ve got some lounge pants in that same drawer. The black ones,” he nodded. He didn’t usually need help getting dressed, but Devyn was right that he shouldn’t pull the stitches, but he gave him a skeptical look about not leaving the bed.
“Who says I’m not supposed to leave bed?”
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 5:08 pm
Again, a smile twitched onto his face. “Well, I’m saying it. But I suppose I could call your mother and you could hear it from her.”
He gave Michael’s arm a reassuring pat and then fished around until he found the lounge pants. Devyn wasn’t going to harass or threaten him to get his mother involved, he was only teasing. He wasn’t working so hard to earn Michael’s trust just to throw it away by tattling.
“I’ll take you up there to my room so you can see it. I haven’t let it get dark in there in–well, practically forever, I suppose. That’s smart, though. Keeping things put away so it’s not overwhelming. I’ve definitely panicked in those split seconds between a dream and waking up because I saw something else. One would think that would inspire me to move things around, but. I did not. Instead, I’ve just kept the lights on so my imagination can’t get the best of me. My room looks like,” he snorted, “someone decided to pluck all the shiny things they could find off the ground and try to arrange them nicely.”
Which was not untrue.
“You might get overwhelmed in my room. I get a little overwhelmed, sometimes. I’ll clean it up a little bit before I bring you up. It’s just safe in my room, so I wound up putting everything in there. I had a lot of projects, but that was my work room, too. Lot of sewing, lot of tinkering. Lot of things I wanted to fix. Lot of books. Lot of paintings. Lot of clothes, I think my closet’s bigger than your bathroom.”
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 5:28 pm
Michael clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth when Devyn had the audacity to tease about calling his mother. He knew Devyn was just joking, but that didn’t stop the jolt in his heart. He tried not to worry his mother, but in doing so he knew he tended to keep to himself more.
But Devyn describing not knowing what he saw in the split seconds between dream and waking was all too familiar to Michael. He didn’t comment, but he nodded in understanding.
“Sometimes it’s a comfort to have things around. If you know exactly what they are, I can imagine it being grounding. If you were to wake up and not immediately recognize where you were.”
He was working on his belt as Devyn fished out his clean pants. Again, he wasn’t shy, but he didn’t know how he felt about coming up with lies to tell Devyn, or how he was going to process telling him the truth if he asked about the various scars down his legs. Since Devyn hadn’t asked about any of his other scars or tattoos, he was going to hope the trend continued. At least for now.
Devyn had already dealt with having to patch him up physically. Michael didn’t want to dump his emotional baggage on him as well.
“Sorry, can you just… pull the leg or something, please?” he mumbled awkwardly when he couldn’t bend very far to get his jeans off. He supposed he could struggle with it more but… Devyn seemed eager to help.
“Maybe I’ll get a chance to borrow some of your clothes, sometime. I’d like to see what you’re working on. I’ll try not to be jealous of your closet size.” He was, a little.
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 5:41 pm
“Oh, you can absolutely borrow some of my clothes. I’m pretty sure anything I have, you’ll fit right into,” he said, positioning himself so he could easily tug at Michael’s pants. He didn’t seem uncomfortable or shy about it, and kept talking as if they were chatting over a cup of coffee.
He noticed the scars. Noticed the tattoos. Didn’t ask, not because he wasn’t curious but because it didn’t seem fair when he was only seeing them because Michael was hurt. Devyn wasn’t shy about any of his scars, but he’d already pieced together that Michael was private about a lot of things.
He wasn’t going to pry right now, no matter how curious he was.
“You’ll like them. It’s impossible not to, everything I own is very fashionable. Very comfortable, too. I have a lot of silk. It’ll drape on you nicely. I’ve brought some of my projects back with me, I’ll show you what I’m working on. I haven’t really pulled them out since I got here, but I’ve been thinking about it. I didn’t want to get distracted, I tend to get very invested in my projects. Oh, but I’ve got one I just can’t seem to fix. I’ve been trying for years. It’s my favorite, but I just can’t get this old music box to play anymore. Maybe you can help me.”
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 5:52 pm
Michael was grateful that Devyn didn’t ask. Maybe another time, but for now he was just tired and wanted to make sure Devyn was going to take care of himself once he was done fussing over him. It was nice, still. Being fussed over. Even if needing help was still a little embarrassing.
“Maybe we can look at clothes that will make you feel more comfortable on earth,” he mumbled off handedly as he patiently held up his feet for Devyn to help him into his pants. He would do it himself, but it would take a lot longer and be more painful.
“I wouldn’t mind helping,” he said easily. And maybe it was obvious in his voice that he was curious about whatever Devyn was working on. He felt a little guilty for making him study instead. No, he wasn’t making him study, but he did encourage it. And he was pretty sure Devyn was dedicated to learning how to read and write.
“Whenever you want, I’ll take a look. I don’t know how much help I’ll be… maybe Soleiyu could help if I can’t figure it out?”
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 6:02 pm
“I don’t want him touching it,” Devyn said, not quite sharply, but he seemed to realize how it might have come out. He met his eyes briefly but was dedicated to working the pant legs up for Michael until they were at a comfortable point where he could finish up. “What I mean is, it’s very important to me. Maybe he’d be able to fix it, but I would rather not ask him.”
Of course he was pleased with the idea of looking at clothes to be more comfortable on Earth, but he’d also come to understand that his style was quite a bit louder than what Earth approved of, and he was forced to walk a thin line between wanting to look good how he thought he should, and wanting to look good how others thought he should.
Besides, he didn’t mind borrowing Michael’s clothes, and Michael hadn’t fussed about it. He had a few of his own shirts that he could wear around the house, he only had to worry about how others saw him outside of it. And, once he knew how to read, he could immerse himself in study and figure out more of what he could get away with. Thankfully, he could always cheat and ask Michael.
“I’ve fixed it before. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong now. But you’re clever, maybe you can see something I’ve missed. It’s just–it plays this song and it’s special to me. I don’t want to share it. You’re the only person here that it wouldn’t bother me if you heard it.” He inhaled, and then explained, “I shared it with Percy, a long time ago. It was just something we listened to before bed sometimes. It just plays this nice little tune. It gave me a hard time before I fixed it, so I was really proud when I was able to. But I always liked when I could fix something. That’s what I wanted to be remembered for. Fixing things, not breaking them. Maybe that’s silly?” he asked, and then decided otherwise. “No, it’s not. It makes me happy. And it would make me very happy if I could hear that song again. You should hear it too, maybe it would help you sleep.”
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 6:16 pm
Michael wasn’t offended by the sharpness of Devyn’s comment. He understood all too well wanting to keep important things close. Especially if they had something to do with Percy.
Once Devyn helped him enough with his pants, Michael waited to let Devyn offer his arm or hand again so he could stand from the bed and pull them the rest of the way up. He winced just a little, and muttered under his breath about how the wound wasn’t even that bad. The worst he’d had in a while, probably, but not the worst he’d had.
“We’ll keep it to ourselves then. Thank you for trusting me with it,” he said quietly, because if it was something that was special to Devyn, then it was special to him, too.
He was glad that Devyn decided that fixing things instead of breaking them and wanting to be remembered for that wasn’t silly, because Michael was about to tell him just that.
“If it might help me sleep, then I should definitely take a look at it,” he said with a smile. “It’s going to be a pain having to carry it up and down every night so I can listen to it, too.” Since obviously Devyn would want to keep it with him in his room.
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 6:30 pm
Devyn just laughed and shook his head. “I doubt it. It’ll be worth it. There you go,” he said, because once his pants were up, that was the last thing they needed to do. “Last big move of the night unless you need to go do anything else. I’ll go get that drink I promised you. So if you’ve got anything else you want me to bring in, I’ll grab it so you can just rest.”
He looked around at all the books he could grab and tried to anticipate anything Michael might enjoy if he was going to rest in bed. He knew he was going to get him some orange juice and water and pain medicine, and probably some snacks. Just in case.
He could go make sure the house was locked up, put on his pajamas. A part of him thought he might leave Michael to rest, but–what if he did need something? What if he hurt himself getting up and down?
He’d offered to let Devyn wake him up if he couldn’t sleep–how was he supposed to sleep if he was just worrying about Michael all night?
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