Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Broken ❯ Something for the pain ( Chapter 9 )

Broken

Something for the pain

 

 

 

 

The drive to the hotel was very quiet, Bren didn't seem awake enough to talk to him. The redhead was slouching next to him in the passenger's seat, watching the scenery go by through heavy-lidded eyes, his head leaning sleepily against the head-rest. Brad was watching him, glancing sideways at him time and again, frowning when the other didn't really acknowledge his obvious concern. Once Schu turned his head and smiled at him, a small, sad smile that had been gone almost as soon as he had seen it, then he had turned his head back to the window. This apparent lack of awareness of his surroundings was troubling him and he thought back to other times he had seen the telepath as lethargic. The only times he had seen him this oblivious to everything else was after he had taken enough painkillers to knock out an elephant because of one of his killer-migraines.

 

“Schu… Did you take anything?” He kept his voice low, warm and friendly, hoping to creep in under the other's mental defences by staying as inconspicuous as possible, eager to get him to talk.

 

Bren merely turned his head towards him, looking at him dully for a few moments, obviously fighting to keep his eyes open. He grinned then, the same small, tired smile as before. “No, Brad, I didn't.” His voice had sounded almost normal again, if a bit drowsy, and after a short pause he had added, “I haven't been sleeping well the last days, Brad, that's all…” His eyes slid close. “Only need… sleep a few `rs, backn track…” he mumbled indistinctly and a moment later his breathing evened out and he was fast asleep, efficiently cutting off all further attempts at a conversation. His arms he had wrapped around his middle slowly relaxed, falling to his side limply, and his head sagged, the only thing keeping him upright was the seatbelt strapped across his chest.

 

Brad shook his head slightly, sighing softly to himself. He needed to take him somewhere safe where he could sleep off whatever was responsible for this state. He pondered about their destination then, balancing the advantages and disadvantages of two possible save havens. His initial idea to take him back to Schwarz' new headquarters, where he knew they would be safe for some time, had the great disadvantage of their new resident telepath. While Farfarello and Nagi surely would not report anything about his latest findings back to Estet, would in fact be rather thrilled to learn that Schu was still around, he wasn't sure how their new team member would react. Also the fact that Schu had explicitly contacted him personally he interpreted as a sure sign that he did not want the others to know yet that he was alive. He desperately wanted to talk to him, needed more information to plan the further course of action, but apparently that would have to wait until Bren was well rested. He opted for a middle class hotel then and stopped the car next to a lonely telephone box, randomly picking one out of the phonebook. A short call from the phone box so that nobody would be able to trace him via his cell phone and he had booked one room for the two of them.

 

It didn't take him long to reach the hotel, but waking his companion was a more complicated matter, he had to repeatedly shake his shoulder and address him to get him to open his bleary eyes. The redhead apparently was more than just disoriented, he stared at him blankly for about half a minute before a small flash of recognition lit up his eyes a little and he smiled softly. “Brad… `s you…”

 

“Yes, Schu, it's me. Come on, get up, we're going to get you someplace more comfortable, okay?” It was a bit complicated to get the telepath out of the car -his limbs seemed to be still sound asleep and he was leaning heavily against the precog to keep his balance- but once he had got him moving he used that forward momentum to get them into the entrance hall of the hotel. Schuldig stayed on his somewhat wobbly feet while Brad checked them in, paying a generous tip to the curious receptionist and then they were finally in their room.

 

Brad closed and locked the door behind them, then turned to find Bren standing in the middle of the small living-room, looking strangely lost. He was blinking about the place sleepily, shoulders slumped and his arms twined about his middle as if he was feeling cold, looking utterly and completely miserable and vulnerable. His heart went out to his… lover - he was uncertain and completely unsure if the term still applied to them - immediately, but he didn't know how to react.

 

Until Bren turned and looked at him with eyes full of a unhappy mixture of uncertainty and longing, emotions that matched the chaos that were his own feelings. The next moment he found himself suddenly with his arms full of a thoroughly distressed and exhausted telepath who was clinging to him for all he was worth, pushing into his initially hesitant embrace, whispering something unintelligible under his breath. He told his self-control to go and **** itself then when it protested sharply against his reaction which was to simply pull him close, closing his arms around the familiar form and holding him near, taking a shaking breath. “Schu…” He knew he was acting uncharacteristically emotional at that point but frankly he didn't care, all that mattered to him was the simple fact that he could hold him once again. It was almost as if now, that he had finally got him back, he realized how much he had missed him.

 

“Schu… Bren, I… I've missed you so much…” His cheeks were burning, he was ashamed of showing his feelings, his weakness. Not that he didn't mean it or didn't want to tell him, but… Why did he fell so self-conscious whenever his feelings were concerned?

 

He looked down at the top of Schu's head when he didn't receive an answer after some time, curiously tipping the other's head back to get a look at his face. And grinned when he discovered, that said redhead had once again closed his eyes and was apparently sound asleep, leaning heavily against him. It was the first time he had seen anyone fall asleep while still standing on his feet and it was only another testimony of how exhausted the man had to be.

 

He put Schu's left arm over his shoulders and dragged him towards the bed in the adjoining room, slowly lowering the still form onto the mattress. He shrugged out of his own coat first, draping it neatly over the back of a chair, then went to undress the sleeping telepath, both to get him more comfortable and to be able to look him over for any signs of possible injuries. The black coat was the first thing to go and he frisked the pockets briefly, lining its contents on the small bed table: the lighter Bren had been toying with the whole time, a small hair-band, a packet of chewing gum which hadn't been opened yet, a small battery, a bunch of keys, a pager, Schu's beloved sun-glasses. None of the things provided any useful information and he put them back together into the pockets, then folded the coat neatly and placed it on top of the small chair in front of the equally small writing table.

 

Schu's black pants were next and as soon as he had freed the redhead's legs from them Bren shifted on the bed, rolling onto his side and curling up a bit, giving a small, relaxed sigh. He was wearing nothing but a black shirt and equally black briefs and socks and shivered slightly, until Brad freed the comforter from under him to cover him, watching for a moment as Bren seemed to melt into the mattress, slipping even deeper into sleep than before. Brad sighed softly, then searched the pants, lining up a packet of strong painkillers, a black wallet, a state-of-the-art mp3-player and some crumpled piece of paper, which turned out to be a photo, worn and a little torn around the edges, on the table. The wallet was empty except for some money and some change together with a few bills for chewing gum and batteries. The player was set to a very low volume, unlike Bren's preference for ear blasting, I'll-turn-it-up-at-loud-as-it-will-go-settings and he didn't know the songs the small machine was playing at all. He did know the painkillers though, they were the strongest he knew against basically any pain at all and they sure were drugs you wouldn't get without a prescription from your doctor and a damned good reason. A few of them had been taken already.

 

The photo was the oddest thing of all, it was in a really bad shape, as if it had been carried around in the pants for a long time and taken out over and over. A date had been scribbled across the back of it, the 13th of December, roughly half a year ago. It showed a famous sight-seeing object of the city, a small shrine, where a group of Japanese people, obviously tourists, had gathered in front of, smiling and waving happily into the camera. Brad didn't know any of these people and frowned, confused. He was about to slip the photo back into the pocket when something caught is attention and he abruptly sat down on the bed. In the background, on the right side to be exact, he could see a tall man coming out of a shop, glancing at the group. It was him, he could clearly make out his own features, recognized the long winter coat he had worn the previous winter. He was looking rather annoyed at the small crowd and was carrying a small paper bag in one hand.

 

He remembered then, dimly, the day he had been down to that district of town, fetching some Japanese herbs Nagi had asked him to bring along, on his way back home from a business meeting he couldn't remember. He tried for a moment to recall the scene, the people and most importantly, the photographer, but, to be honest, he couldn't even remember the day of the week. His gaze slowly wandered to the few red strands of hair he could see stick out from under the comforter and he sighed once again. “What did they do to you?”

 

Brad climbed on top of the bed and pulled the comforter to the side, sitting down next to Bren and began checking him over for any signs of injuries. The first thing he noticed was that Schu had gained a little weight. He was still thin and slender, almost too thin, but when he cautiously pushed the shirt up he found Schu's chest a little more muscled as he remembered - and he remembered every detail of that lithe body pretty clearly - and wherever Bren had been he had surely been working out. He liked that, liked it a lot actually. Smiling softly his finger ghosted across one muscled bicep, then he bent forward to place a soft kiss on the flat stomach that sported first signs of a well-developed six-pack.

 

And then he realized what he had just done and jerked back reflexively, feeling much too self-conscious again, his gaze flicking over to Bren's face, involuntarily checking if the redhead had noticed. But to his intense relief he hadn't, he was still sleeping peacefully. God, I'm blushing like a teenager. He groaned inwardly and continued to check him over, noting two rather long scars that hadn't been there when he had seen him last. One was on his back, across his right shoulder blade, about 15 cm long. It had healed nicely, leaving nothing more than pale line across pale skin, but he kept it in mind nevertheless to ask him about it later. Just like he would ask him about a smaller scar that ran slightly below his ribcage on the left side. It was still healing, a rather red, prominent line.

 

Schu shivered slightly and he smiled wistfully, then pulled the shirt back down, rearranging the comforter so that only his face could be seen, then added another blanket as he remembered that Bren had always loved a warm bed. He shrugged out of his own clothes rather quickly, changing into the pyjamas the hotel had provided according to his wishes and sat down on the bed, watching him for a long moment before he reached out and carefully rolled him over to the middle of the bed to make a little more room for himself. Just as he had thought Schu didn't react, only adjusted his position slightly and then went still again. He slipped under the covers and rolled onto his side, resting his head on his hand to watch him.

 

Time seemed to fly then as they lay there, him studying the peaceful and relaxed face he had missed so much and the redhead sleeping on, occasionally mumbling something under his breath. He still felt a little overwhelmed by everything, grinning slightly at the amusing thought that he of all people was surprised at what the future had brought him. He sighed wearily and took off his glasses, placing them on the pillows next to him, massaging his temples for a moment. Schu's hand started twitching then, groping around the covers as if he was looking for something and Brad reached out, placing his own hand on top of Bren's and gently brushed across the warm skin. The hand stilled a moment later and Brad grinned triumphantly to himself, reaching out to brush back a strand of fiery hair that had fallen across Schu's closed eyes.

 

And then he froze, his whole body tensing when the feeling of being watched slowly registered in his tired brain. He immediately knew who was watching them, his limited empathic awareness confirming the identity of their watcher only seconds after he had become aware of him. For just a moment he wondered how on earth Nagi had been able to find him, but then he shrugged, it was his job to discover secrets and find hidden things and given the training he had received at Rosenkreuz he wasn't surprised in the least that he had been able to locate their whereabouts. He felt both proud and kind of caught red handed considering his compromising position, and it was no wonder he could feel a wave of shock and disbelief roll off the Japanese boy. He slowly turned his head to look at him, gazing right into wide, disbelieving, midnight blue eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but then Nagi turned suddenly, rushing out of the apartment in a flash, leaving behind a stunned precog and a peacefully sleeping telepath.

 

Brad seriously considered following and talking to him, but… What was he going to say to the teen? He didn't really know how to comfort teenagers, he couldn't tell him anything about Schu's return as he himself didn't know anything at all. They had an agreement; Nagi would only come to him if he really couldn't deal with something and apart from that one, special evening where they had talked about how Schwarz would continue without Schuldig. Both of them had tried to keep their emotions in check then, occasionally falling silent when it became too hard to speak, the other waiting patiently until they had once again gained their composure. Both of them had been close to a nervous breakdown at one point, but had kept themselves together for the sake of the other.

 

A soft sound at the door broke his concentration and he looked back over his shoulder, once again gazing up in the familiar face of Schwarz' youngest member. Midnight blue eyes were once again carefully guarded, the pale face set into his regular impassive mask, but for just a moment Brad was able to look through this mask, could see the sixteen year old teenager who clearly couldn't believe his eyes.

 

Nagi kept his eyes on Bren as he cleared his throat slightly then asked, ever so softly, “Is it really him? Has he come back?” His voice carried an unfamiliar tone of hope and uncertainty that was so very unknown for this boy that Brad felt the urgent need to comfort him, though he still didn't know how. It didn't help much that he felt a grin appear on his face, a stupid, silly, completely out of character grin that felt alarmingly alien to him. He tried to fight it, calling on his self-control to keep this inappropriate emotional release off his face, but he was feeling so ridiculously happy right now that his self-control just didn't seem to care. He wasn't sure if Nagi had seen the slip, because the younger man had kept his eyes on the redhead as if he had been afraid Schu could once again vanish into thin air and disappear from their lives.

 

“Yes, he's back… He's alive…” he heard himself answer happily and Nagi nodded absentmindedly, then closed the door behind him with a small movement of his hand. He sneaked over to the small armchair beside the bed and pulled it to the foot of the bed without saying a word, climbing on top of it, his gaze never once leaving the resting telepath.

 

Brad watched him silently, only turning back to Schu when Nagi had got as comfortable as he could on the armchair, curling up on it and resting his head on his arms. He barely moved after that and didn't talk, obviously not feeling the need to say anything. Brad welcomed the peace, he was still feeling a little too confused himself and enjoyed the companionable silence that ensued.

 

 

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