After the Storm

[KOCHI-KOCHI]

Taxi was searching Quinns eyes for something that wasn't there. That flicker that made him distinctly Quinn. But he couldn't find it, something had happened to it, it had been stolen.

There was just so much he wanted to say but couldn't. He wanted to ask him what had happened, why had they let him go, why there had been tears rolling down his face. But Taxi couldn't bring himself to ask those questions, just like he couldn't bring himself to tell Quinn what he wanted to. To tell him that all of his bank accounts had been closed, that all the phone numbers had been changed, and most of all, that it had all been worth it. What the blonde most wanted was to kiss his lover. To just gently press their lips together, to see if that would make everything better. But he couldn't. It felt wrong to kiss somebody when they weren't... themselves. Besides. This wasn't some fairy tale. One lip lock couldn't solve his problems.

Whatever the hell Kefka did to him though, that man would pay for it. Somehow, Taxi would get his revenge. Things like these had happened before. It seemed whenever his father was left alone with love interests he didn't approve of, they turned to stone. Damn his fucking serpents tongue. He would, as the saying go, rue the day (or the night) he fucked with Quinn. There were ways other than violence to get this accomplished.

That wasn't important now, though. Revenge was best served cold, as the old cliche went. Right now he had a badly injured man in his hands. And even if he was all fucked up in the mind, probably from a combination of words, emotions, and being thrown into a wall, Taxi was still determined to help. For only a moment he let go of Quinn to drag the matress over and lay the taller man chest down on it. He had noticed the wood protruding from his back earlier and knew those, if nothing else, had to be attended to. Probably couldn't set any bones, but they would heal themselves. Darted to the bathroom to get a wet towel then crouched down next to him on the floor.

While taking out the shrapnel and wiping the blood away, he spoke as calmly and smoothly as he could despite being an emotional mess. It wasn't everyday something like this happened. "It doesn't matter what happened, ok? All that matters is that i'm here, and you're here, and we're together."

[Obelisk]

Quinn was so out of it, it was all he could to but to oblige to Taxi's gentle lead. He settled on the bed with a soft sigh, eyes instantly falling shut. His face was turned, one side pressing down into the softness of his pillow, the other obscured by his mess of hair. All of a sudden, like a deluge, the weight of what happened crashed down upon him. His body felt like lead, heavy and inflexible. Even the tiniest of movements became the most difficult of tasks, so Quinn resigned himself to staying in place.

He hadn't registered what Taxi was doing until pain flared in his back at random locations. Quinn could feel the wooden shrapnel slip out of his flesh. He didn't make a sound and stifled any that would dare come up by biting into his lower lip. Blood dripped from where fang pierced flesh and the liquid trailed down, falling onto the pillow cover and staining the fabric. It didn't matter. He wouldn't be there for long. Once Quinn was able, he would have to relocate.

Right now, though, relocating was the farthest thing from the younger man's mind.

Quinn's head shifted in the slightest movement as Taxi spoke. It didn't matter what happened? If Taxi only knew... but then again, would he really care?

"Not only would he become horribly bored with you in mere days..... But you'd never be able to provide for him with your revolting little dwelling."

Taxi, was any of this real? This concern, this tenderness? What are you distressed over, the fact that I'm fucked up, or that I look fucked up? You're just cleaning up your play-thing , aren't you?

He swallowed down blood and saliva , and expelled a shaky breath of air. These thoughts... were getting dangerous. He needed to stop them. He needed to forget about what Kefka had said.

Easier said than done.

Then came a sudden urge, one that drove Quinn to summon up enough energy and strength to move. He wanted to see Taxi. He needed to see him. With a hoarse groan, Quinn managed to roll himself over, bloodied back now pressed into the mattress. His eyes had screwed shut as the pain spiked, but as soon as it ebbed, he opened them, letting them fall to the German's face.

There they lingered, traveling over every nook and cranny, searching, reading.

What he saw was concern. What he saw pulled at his heartstrings. It didn't matter if it was false. It didn't matter if he had read into the other's expression wrong.

All that mattered was that he wanted to believe this... this thing they had between them was real -- despite what the serpent had said.

Quinn reached out, hand shaking and wavering a bit, then traced his middle and index finger down the side of the blonde's face. The hand then dropped to the mattress where it bounced once or twice. He smiled then, a sweet smile, teeth a little red from blood, but it was clear he still wasn't quite there.

"Whatever you say, babe." Came is muffled words. He swallowed again and the smile vanished, his expression replaced by a far-off look.

"Shit, I'm tired." Quinn mumbled out in a raspy whisper, his eyes left Taxi's face and moved to watch the ceiling. He stayed like that for a moment before his lids slipped shut and he sank into a deep, dreamless state of slumber.

[KOCHI-KOCHI]

Of course there was a look of concern on his face. Afterall, he had only just gotten the last major piece out before he rolled over without warning. Distressed thoughts thrashed around in his mind, he was going to get hurt again, break something else, bleed more. The blonde just wanted him to relax and heal so he would get better. Worry coated his often-angelic face, half wanting to tell him to not strain himself. A loosely fisted hand raised to his mouth, eyebrows dipped upwards. Before Taxi could insist on anything though, he saw something. Quinn was looking at him. Not just staring through him with that dead look on his face, but actually looking at him.

It nearly broke his little 'ol heart to, that mauldin motion, the gentle touch. The word sympathy seemed too light of a phrase to describe what Taxi was feeling, for it wasn't that at all.

That smile, though. That tender expression, it's meaning something Taxi could only ponder at. He would stand by that it didn't matter what it meant, nor did it matter what had happened. For the blonde had him, he had Quinn here infront of him, he had him and had absolutely no intention of ever letting him out of his sight again. Even if it meant eventually having to say those three little words.

Even though his lovers smile had run off for now, Taxi had renewed spirits enough to beam warmly. Fuck his father. And screw whatever life he had been living before. It was completely irrelevant. Those people he knew before, any former loves, they could all go to hell as well. Any doubts had been shaken by the experience of nearly losing Quinn. So if this nights events had filled the ex-pilots mind with suspicion, it had done the opposite for the blonde. And hopefully that would be enough.

When the injured man's eyes closed, Taxi decided not to disturb him. So he dropped what he was holding to pull the single chair over next to the bed and sit himself down in it. Arms rested on his knees and he leaned forward, hands clasping themselves as though in prayer, leaning forward. At first it was a very gentle slope, watching Quinn sleep, unable to do so himself, wanting to be sure he was fine. But the day had been too hectic and emotionally draining. He eventually leaned over more, more, and more, till his arms were crossed against his legs and his head nestled in his forearms.

The blondes sleep wasn't dreamless, though. It was filled with happy memories instead of sad ones.