for Thomas

[goodfellow]

When Robin woke, his fingers immediately went to his neck. Not only was the blood gone, but there was no wound. He wondered for a moment if he was dead... but no, he felt too shitty to be dead, he decided. Even if it was mostly non-physical.

He registered vaguely that he was in Thomas' bed and didn't care, just rolled over onto his stomach, put the pillow over his head, and groaned.

Comments

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

"Then he came after me," Robin said flatly.

"So it was two bodies I left behind."

[raith_rogue]

Thomas sighed and gave a little shake of his head. "It was a long time ago," he murmured.

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

"Everything is a long time ago for me," Robin said bitterly.

[raith_rogue]

Thomas didn't know what to say to that, how to ease Robin's guilt. It was just two people, a long time ago. He wasn't sure why it weighed so heavily on Robin, but it clearly did.

"Robin..." He took a deep breath and sighed again.

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

Honestly Robin wasn't completely sure either, only that it did. And knowing that that specifically wasn't the reason that they'd come after him didn't help.

"I told you," he finally said, his voice still mostly flat. "That's the whole story... the truth. Just don't ask me to talk about it ever again."

[raith_rogue]

"I won't," Thomas promised softly. He paused, then asked, "Can I take care of your back, now?"

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

Robin nodded numbly. "Yes."

He shifted so that he was lying entirely on his stomach. Wincing. And wiped his hand across his eyes, hoping Thomas didn't notice.

[raith_rogue]

Thomas did notice, but he wasn't going to mention it. Not ever. "All right," he murmured, rising and quickly going to the bathroom for the first aid cream. He sat down on the bed with the jar in his hand, opening it and gently, carefully starting to rub the cream into the welts and lacerations on his back without a word.

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

Robin didn't say a word either, didn't complain, hardly even winced as Thomas rubbed the cream in. He made no indication that it was hurting him at all except that his eyes were squeezed tightly shut.

[raith_rogue]

Despite Robin's lack of reaction, Thomas continued to be careful--and caring, tending to the wounds he'd inflicted as gently as he could. When he finished he set the cream aside and stretched out next to him again.

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

"I think I'm going to be staying here tonight," Robin said, turning his head to the side to face Thomas, finally. He sounded slightly more himself.

[raith_rogue]

"Good idea," Thomas answered, brushing Robin's hair back from his face.

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

"You really thought I'd just taken off for good without a word?" Robin asked.

Honestly with everything else going on it was hard to even remember why he'd left in the first place.

[raith_rogue]

"...If I'd thought that, I wouldn't have been there when you needed me. I wouldn't have been trying so damn hard to find you," Thomas pointed out. Though there had been part of him that thought that might have been just what Robin had done.

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

"You have too much faith in me," Robin muttered. He moved, as if he were about to roll over onto his back, but then stopped himself just in time.

[raith_rogue]

"You haven't given me a reason not to." Thomas closed his eyes, but didn't move, staying curled close to Robin.

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

"I left you, I almost got you killed, and then I confessed one of the worst things I've ever done," Robin pointed out.

[raith_rogue]

"Were you going to come back?" Because Harry almost got him killed on a regular basis, and he didn't take that personally, and if being responsible for the death of two people because of sex was the worst he'd done...Thomas could top that one easily.

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

"I hadn't decided yet," said Robin.

Then added reluctantly, "... probably. I fucked a very mediocre bartender and bought an overpriced suit first though."

[raith_rogue]

Which was about what Thomas had expected him to do, that first night. He knew Robin better than the puck would like, probably.

He rolled onto his back, folding his arms behind his head. "How much do you know about me? About White Court vampires, I mean."

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

"A lot more since that little party the other night," Robin said.

And then scowled. "Etruscan. Honestly."

[raith_rogue]

Thomas smiled a little and shook his head. "Yes, yes. Etruscan. But that's not what I meant."

He stared at the ceiling for a moment and then started talking again. "We're born with our demon inside of us, but it's dormant. Until sometime around our mid- to late-teens." He thought of Inari and smiled fondly. "If we fall in love before that happens...the demon dies, and we can lead a normal life."

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

Robin snorted. "I bet I can guess how often that happens."

[raith_rogue]

"Yeah," Thomas agreed dryly. "Not very often. It happened for my baby sister, though." Which was a bigger relief than Thomas could ever hope to convey to anyone. Inari was even less suited to this life than he was, and any of his other sisters would be quick to point out what a less than stellar Raith he made in so many ways.

"For the rest of us, the first feeding...is always fatal," he continued.

[puckfellow.livejournal.com]

Suddenly, Robin tensed.

"I know what you're trying to do," he said stiffly. "I don't need camaraderie about unintended murders. Somehow I don't think killing people with sex is the kind of thing you start a club for."

He'd meant it when he said he didn't want to talk about it. And Thomas bringing this up now was doing nothing but making him think about a situation he wanted to forget.