Title: Struck Dumb
Category: Lux-Pain
Characters: Atsuki Saijo, Liu Yee
Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort
Word Count: 1501
Warnings: slight yaoi; semi-fluff; some small-scale spoilers; Liu Yee x Atsuki
A/N: Wrote this over the weekend on a trip with my family. I lost my DS, and with it, my Lux-Pain game somewhere in the house before leaving… D:
nyoro~n.
Edit: no worries, I found it~
Enjoy!
∑---∑---∑---∑---∑---∑
"Memory says, I did that.
Pride says, I could not have done that.
Eventually, memory yields."
-Freidrich Nietzsche
∑---∑---∑---∑---∑---∑
It was a Wednesday.
Atsuki had skipped school to deal with finding the murderer cop, but afterwards he had been told to wait for orders. So he stood outside in the rain, eyes closed, face upturned, atop Rainbow Hill, not thinking. There was nothing wrong with thinking, but doing it all day, every day, what with the multi-layered personality and the Lux-Pain practically drilling a hole through his skull, he was tired of it.
And it was because he wasn't thinking, because he wasn't trying to sense anyone, that Liu Yee's voice behind him was a surprise.
(Well, more so than usual, anyway.)
"What are you doing?" came the needle-sharp inquiry.
Atsuki managed to keep his cool, a skill he had developed over years of practice working with the sneaky black-haired man. "Very little of anything."
Liu Yee scoffed. "You really are an idiot." He wrapped an arm around Atsuki's lower back and yanked him nearer, pulling him under the umbrella he was carrying.
Atsuki's eyes flew open, and his gaze snapped up to meet Yee's.
He raised an eyebrow delicately. "Your contact's out."
"Ah, I suppose it is." Atsuki tried to remain calm, but as he was more than slightly distracted by the other's arm around his waist, a touch of pink dusted his cheeks nevertheless as he fished around in his pocket for the contact lens case, popped it open, and slipped it onto his gold eye, blinking rapidly to clear his vision.
"You know, you look better without it."
The strange comment drew his attention and he had to concentrate not to frown slightly in confusion. He picked absently at the fingers attached to the arm holding him still, but all he managed to accomplish was a tighter grip.
Yee sighed. "I'm not letting go, you know. You're wet, and we can't have our primary field agent getting pneumonia in the middle of an investigation. Come on." He began walking, slowly at first so Atsuki wouldn't trip, but picking up speed as he got the message.
- - -
The pair stumbled into Atsuki's apartment, getting the welcome mat just this side of sopping wet, droplets of water spattered all around the entrance. Liu Yee relinquished his death grip on Atsuki, who tottered off to get a towel and dry himself off while his comrade closed the umbrella, leaning it against a nearby wall, and proceeded to take a call, presumably from FORT.
"Yes? Yes, I am. He was at Rainbow Hill. …Affirmative… Yes, Nöla. All right. Talk to you later." The snap of a closing cell phone was audible even in the bathroom, where Atsuki was standing motionless, listening to the call. After the sound of the phone closing, though, he didn't hear anything, and he was still listening for footsteps when someone stepped up behind him and began toweling his wet hair with relish. He tried to cringe out of range, but Yee snaked an arm under his armpits and held him up with a sigh of resignation. "Idiot. Is this how you spend all your time off? Acting like a witless moron?"
"N-no, Atsuki stammered, unable for once to repress his blush. "I- sometimes I go and visit YUZI, or Tohodo and--"
"Translation: I never really thought about it." There was a momentary silence as Liu Yee finished drying his hair and let go of him to hang the towel on the towel rack to the left of the mirrored cabinet. He shifted his weight to glance sidelong at Saijo, who hadn't moved. "I'm right, aren't I?" Atsuki wouldn't meet his eyes, so he took that as a concession of guilt. "Thought so. Take off your coat and hang it on the back of the door." He brushed past him and out of the bathroom.
"Why are you still here?" Atsuki probed, sounding slightly dismayed, as he complied, fishing his cell phone and contact lens case out of the long jacket before following Liu Yee.
"My flat is on the other side of town," came the short response, "and it's too dark to be worth walking to alone. So I'm staying the night." Yee removed his fancy embroidered vest and hung it on one of a series of coat hooks near the doorway Atsuki hadn't noticed before. He made a mental note to go over his apartment again and was thinking about that for a few seconds until he realized the meaning behind Liu Yee's words and nearly jumped a foot in the air in surprise.
"You what?!"
"I said, I'm staying the night. It's not safe to go out this late at night alone in this city."
"But… where'll you sleep?"
Liu Yee shrugged. "On the couch, I suppose."
Atsuki groaned internally, cursing his good manners. "No, you're not. You're the guest. You get the bed."
"I'm not going to force you out of your bed on such short notice, Saijo."
"As my guest, I refuse to let you sleep on the couch!"
Liu Yee threw up his hands and rolled his eyes. "Fine then, we'll both sleep in the bed!"
Initially, this struck Atsuki as a Bad Idea. However, after some thought he realized it was the only way to solve their problem, so with a tiny sigh he clambered into bed, yanking the blanket up to his chin. He could feel the bed dip behind him as his comrade climbed in too, and he squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to sense the smug but apprehensive Shinen radiating from Liu Yee, trying not to feel his eyes burning twin holes in the back of his neck as he stared incessantly at Saijo.
It came as a surprise to him when Liu Yee spoke up, using a voice so quiet it was almost a whisper. "It's all right, Saijo. I'm not going to bite you. Relax."
Reluctantly, he obeyed, opening his eyes slowly, allowing his tense muscles to unwind, allowing himself to begin to realize how tired he really was, how cold he felt.
The last thing he thought before he fell into a blissful sleep was it's been a long time.
Liu Yee felt Saijo unwind and fall asleep, and a half-smile crept onto his face. Poor kid. Must be exhausted. Stealthily, he moved across the bed slightly, tugged Saijo backwards before flipping him over so they were facing each other, and draped an arm loosely over the other's shoulders before falling asleep himself.
- - -
The black-haired teen woke with a jerk several hours later, a few minutes past midnight. As his disconcertion faded, he realized that Saijo was clinging to him, whimpering, eyes darting back and forth under his eyelids. According to the wet spot on his wrinkled shirt, he had been crying.
He was having a nightmare.
Liu Yee supposed that, seeing as it was the middle of the night, and there was nobody there but them, he could allow himself to be slightly out of character, so, with a groan, he slipped an arm under Atsuki and pulled him close, smoothing his hair gently as a mother might. "It's all right, Atsuki," he murmured, laying his cheek atop the other's head, closing his eyes. "You're not alone anymore."
- - -
Atsuki was dreaming.
In his dream, he was in the fire again, and his family dead. It was his fault this time, though- he hadn't been able to save them from Silent, even with ∑--
He tried to pull his dead mother toward the exit, but a flaming roof-beam fell on her body with a sickening crack, and she burst into flames--
He ran out the door and into the night, just in time as the whole building collapsed--
And now he had fallen to his knees in a clearing in the forest, his tears flowing freely as he watched the plume of smoke rise from what was once his home, his family, his life, and now was gone.
His wounds hurt almost as badly as his heart did, and the Lux-Pain from using ∑ under such strain hung over him like a hungry animal. He knew that soon it would get to the point where he would begin to hallucinate, so he thought that was what was happening when he felt someone wrap their arms around him in a comforting embrace.
"It's all right, Atsuki," came a voice from everywhere and nowhere at once. "You're not alone anymore."
And he awoke.
- - -
"What…?" came the gray-haired teen's tentative half-whisper. "What's going on?"
"Shh," he heard from above him. It was Liu Yee's voice.
"Was I dreaming?"
"Yes, but not anymore."
The older male sounded unsettlingly soft and kind, calm in a way he hadn't been for at least a few years. It brought back memories, good memories, and with a happy sigh Atsuki buried his face in Liu Yee's neck, pulling him closer. "You'll be here when I wake up."
"That's not a question. But yes, I will be."
"Good. That's good to know…"
"Good night, Saijo."
"Yeah," came his groggy reply. "It is a good night."