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[swordfucker]

Guren Ichinose | Red | #A5211F

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[passio]

[ dextera’s mind is faster than what his hands can say, and that’s probably for the best, because it forces him to slow down before he says something embarrassing. ]

Yes!

[ so THERE ]

[swordfucker]

[He's so cute...?! When he's being fierce?!]

Hahaha! [ow] What are you gonna do, hold me down if I try to get up? Come on, it's not that bad.

[passio]

[ it is extremely that bad, but the truth is, if guren is determined enough to get up, dextera won’t be able to stop him. he doesn’t have the strength of heart to stop him forever. ]

Be careful.

[ that’s all! he’s still being a little fierce about it, though, so it’s not as openly sentimental a request as it could be. ]

Go to bed.

[swordfucker]

I thought you didn't want me to sleep?

[But it's said with a chuckle, and he leans just enough to kiss Dextera's lips again. Maybe it's too much... but now that it's been allowed once, he doesn't want to forget it, or let go.]

I'm just messing with you. I'll stay put, so I'll tell you where the fruit is.

[Okay? Okay.] You get some sleep, too.

[passio]

[ all the tension immediately drains out of him when guren kisses him, and it’s impossible for him to be even a little bit mad—not that he really was, but it calms him perfectly when he’s kissed.

…he probably returns the kiss with a little more interest than is necessary, though. ]

I will.

[swordfucker]

[...Ah. His heart flutters, which is maybe actually dangerous when he has an open wound through his chest that's barely sealed over (even that is accelerated, but it's not Enough). This is... ridiculous. It's something he still thought he'd never really give in to feeling again, and yet... here he is. Unable to stop it.

And not wanting to, anyway.]

Good. [A softer voice, since now he's distracted thinking about what's going to happen from here. He keeps his hand at Dextera's cheek, and lets his eyes drift closed.]

Good night.

[passio]

[ dextera wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t watch guren until he fell asleep, but he at least tries to be subtle about it. he peeks with only one eye, and only once he’s sure guren is asleep does he watch with both eyes.

eventually, though, he too drifts off, and his color slowly returns to him overnight.

it’s a dreamless sleep, but a happy one—his body is still trying to recover from death, in a way that’s different from the way a clone could just file in to replace him, but he feels warm and safe here next to guren.

and loved. ]

[swordfucker]

[Guren sleeps a lot better than he would have if he was alone in this bed. The warmth of someone next to him reminds him that Dextera is here, alive, breathing, and he can push aside the bad feelings that come each time he wakes up from discomfort in the middle of the night. He doesn't stir much, not wanting to wake him in turn, and he always drifts off again shortly after.

There are no nightmares, so it's fine.

Finally, when it's a reasonable hour to be awake, he doesn't bother trying to fall back asleep. He blinks a few times, watching Dextera's face warmly, and brushes some of his hair out of his eyes, just to take a look. A peek!]

[passio]

[ dextera’s breath flutters, when guren moves his hair, but if that was enough to wake him then he probably wasn’t sleeping too deeply anyway. ]

Mm?

[ his fingers twitch, suggesting the beginning of consciousness. where…?

he remembers falling asleep safe and warm, but he doesn’t perfectly recognize this place. he’s in a bed, which is strange, and only once he actually remembers why does he blink himself awake.

his eyes are blue once again. ]

[swordfucker]

[Thank god. He's still here, thank god. Everything else could have been a dream, but as long as Dextera is still here, still alive... Guren lets out a quiet breath, amazed and drawn in by the restored color of Dextera's eyes. His fingers rest against his cheek, brushing there.]

Your eyes are back to normal.

[They look nice.] I never asked how you were feeling after coming back.

[passio]

[ how does he describe the feeling of coming back to life? it’s a lot for something so early in the morning, even if it’s not technically early. dextera places his hand over guren’s, with nothing to say immediately. he wants a moment to close his eyes just another few seconds, to collect his thoughts, and then he breathes out a soft sigh. ]

The same. [ not that that helps. ] As always.

[ his complicated relationships with death means a complicated one with life, too, and he’ll tell guren about the unique sketchiness and everything eventually… but it’s mostly that death is just so familiar. ]

[swordfucker]

[...Right. He's used to it, or as "used to it" as you can be. Guren watches him quietly at that answer, not wanting to push any further. Not wanting to make him relive it.]

Sorry. [He forgot. It's not normal, and it shouldn't be, and it was all his fault. But anyway... He pulls his hand back.]

Did you get enough sleep?

[passio]

[ dextera doesn’t want him to pull back, but there he goes, and his eyes are open again—half-lidded, this time, still sleepy and warm. it’s much different, being here, compared to tucking himself away in ryo’s room. ]

…

[ he nods, at least, and he finds that he wants to kiss guren again as if that will be enough to get rid of that look on his face. ]

Wounds?

[swordfucker]

I just have to change the bandages.

[He doesn't want to make Dextera do that, so he was just going to himself. He shifts, carefully, to try and sit up, and even that is probably faster than it should be.]

They don't really hurt.

[passio]

[ dextera wants to be able to help, but he doesn’t know how? he doesn’t know any first aid, and now he’s realizing that he should.

he sits up, too. ]

Show me.

[ before guren has the chance to answer, dextera touches his wrist, and leans in to capture his mouth in another kiss—chaste, as before, but a quiet reminder that their relationship has shifted ever so slightly. ]

Let me help.

[swordfucker]

[He was going to try to decline that, but then lips are against his, and as brief as it is, he's lost to it. He'd been wanting to do the same thing each time he woke up, but it was hard to think that it was really like this. No titles or families keeping them apart... but entire worlds. Still, in this place, it's relatively harmless. It's surreal.

He blinks out of it and then turns to look to the door to the bathroom.]

I keep everything in there. Let's head over there first. [He's shifting to get up, now. He can get up on his own, since it's mostly his upper body hurting, but he still goes slow.]

[passio]

[ dextera doesn’t know where to put his hands, since trying to assist guren in any way will absolutely put pressure on a gash or a bruise, and he feels a little useless—once he learns how to change those bandages, though, guren won’t be able to escape from his helping hands ever again. ]

…

[ he brushes his fingers against guren’s hand just long enough that he can feel the contact, and he lets himself into the bathroom since he can walk faster anyway.

he wants to kiss guren for a thousand reasons. because they’re awake. because guren is hurt. because he can. all of them feel like good reasons to bask in their affection, but then, there are a lot of things going on that are more important than kissing. ]

Mahiru?

[ signed with one hand, while the other is already going for clean bandages—everything is easy to get to, even if dextera didn’t know where they were before. ]

[swordfucker]

...The bogeyman screwed with her abilities, and it seems like it has lasting effects. It's getting better.

[Gradually, slowly. It's why, as he undoes his bandages now and reveals the mess beneath them, there's no longer a hole straight through his chest. But it's certainly not healed skin Dextera will be looking at, either. Sorry for the gore.]

When I was possessed at the end, my heart was able to stay beating, but that's about it. I went straight to Josuke after, and he was able to heal my heart, but Mahiru-no-yo's attempts that are being blocked are somehow making it difficult to receive help from others, too.

[passio]

…

[ to dextera’s credit, he doesn’t flinch when guren reveals his wound. if he’s a little paler at the sight, he hopes guren doesn’t say anything, but he manages not to show how much it bothers him, either.

guren was possessed? he should have expected that, but he’s so glad—deeply glad—that things are better now. if dextera came back to a broken guren, one he needed to kill, he would rather have just stayed dead.

he touches whatever part of guren’s chest seems unhurt, his fingers light against his skin, and stares quietly. ]

[swordfucker]

...Being hurt like this reminds me of school.

[He says it out of nowhere as he grabs a washcloth and dips it in a bucket of water that seems to be waiting just for this. He just needs to make sure they're clean enough, and he's limited on supplies, so.]

I hid my strength from the Hiiragis for as long as I could, but Shinya was always up my ass about me being stronger than I seemed. I was stubborn. He aimed a punch at me when we'd barely met, one that would kill me if I didn't dodge. I dodged just enough to survive it and passed out.

[Hope Dextera loves all these fun time stories Guren never gives anyone else.] It hurt like hell. He punctured an artery, that asshole.

[Says the asshole who could have dodged and didn't.]

[passio]

[ dextera listens, even if he doesn’t at all like this storytime!

guren’s past is fraught with terrible memories, and even the good ones, it seems, are tainted by the knowledge that he killed his friends. dextera isn’t grateful for his amnesia, but it does make some things easier. in a way.

he places his hand over guren’s, just enough to half-guide the washcloth over the wounds. he doesn’t know how to bandage someone, no, but he understands that things need to be cleaned. he’s not sure his purification would work here, even if it feasibly should.

it’s too much of a risk, anyway. ]

…

[ he glances up at guren’s face. ]

I’m glad you’re here.

[swordfucker]

[That memory, though he didn't mention it, also brought the first time Mahiru had spoken to him since they'd been separated. He remembers being such a jerk, congratulating her on her engagement to Shinya, causing her to storm off and leave him behind to deal with recovery alone. All because he thought pushing her away might be easier on her.

He'd been wrong all along. He's just thinking... that he has to be careful not to make the same mistakes now.

His eyes meet Dextera's after he registers those words, and holding the washcloth in place, he leans forward, stealing his own kiss for the morning. It lingers more than it should.]

That's my line. [And then pulling back just enough, he continues, with ease.] There's a spot on my back, too. Can you get it?

[Just... where he was stabbed through, but honestly, that end of it is better healed than anything else.]

[passio]

[ dextera would much rather stand here and be kissed than try to take care of guren’s wound, but the blood and the gore is a lot more pressing than dextera’s desire. once this is finished, they can go back to bed—and dextera can figure out how he wants to face everyone else, after disappearing like that.

the days spent with ryo feel hazy. he wasn’t himself at all.

he circles around to guren’s back, taking the washcloth with him. immediately, of course, he realizes that guren was skewered by the bogeyman, and that’s a sickening thought he didn’t want or need. ]

…

[ he holds the cloth against the wound, and then simply… leans forward, resting his forehead against the plane of guren’s back and shoulder. ]

[swordfucker]

Hey.

[Guren's voice is soft but firm, an attempt at reassurance even if he knows it's hard to see him injured.]

I told you I can take things like this, didn't I? I'm still breathing. [He kind of hates it, but it's also just... what he is, now. Working powers or not. He's always been one able to take things like ruptured arteries or stabs that should kill.]

Don't think about it too much.

[passio]

[ the archangel always did tell him he thinks too much. his thoughts spin out of control of someone doesn’t guide him to settle down, and so he takes a deep breath, nodding against guren’s back.

guren is alive. he’s not well, but he’s alive, and people have been taking care of him. how ironic, that dextera is the one who died and he’s attending to the survivor. ]

…

[ he does wipe away the blood eventually, but he doesn’t come out to face guren just yet.

instead, he slides his hand down guren’s arm, until he’s able to reach his palm and try to write something there. like before, when they first met. ]

Accident.

[ he didn’t mean to die. ]