Still aching from the previous night's beating, Major sighed into his coffee. He swore things used to make sense - real sense, two plus two equals four, that sort of thing. Liv plus Major equals happiness. Major plus helping teenagers equals fulfillment. Conspiracy theories plus incarceration equals serious identity crisis? Not so much.
It seemed these days, all he saw on the other side of his life equation were a series of never-ending question marks. He wasn't sure which was worse - that the world had gone mad, or that he was increasingly sure he had.
A fragment of his former self surfaced and gave him a hard, if metaphorical smack to the back of the head. Stop sulking! You don't like your life, fine. Go change it!
How? he shot back at Old Major, ignoring the fact that having a conversation, let alone an argument, with another version of yourself was definitely a symptom of insanity.
Well, how about you start by getting out of those sweats and taking a walk? Birds, neighbors, fresh air, you remember the kind of thing? Major was pretty sure he hadn't been this sarcastic, but otherwise Old Major had a point.
Groaning and grumbling, he wrenched himself from his seat at the kitchen table and limped upstairs to get dressed. It was, to say the least, a humbling experience. Note to future self: jeans and broken ribs don't mix. Should write that one down somewhere.
After a lot of tugging and a little screaming, Major managed the supreme accomplishment of getting dressed. He avoided discussing the subject with Old Major and headed out the door to avoid changing his mind.
The sweet spring air hit him all at once, and Major contemplated the last time he'd stopped to smell the roses - real or metaphorical. A week? A month? Six months? Maybe he didn't want to know.
His spirits were actually beginning to feel lighter, when he heard the scream...and realized, to his horror, that it was somehow coming from Ravi.
Major hurtled toward the sound, ignoring the ache in his abdomen, until he stumbled upon a strange and frightening tableau: Ravi, in an alley, clutching a rat in one hand and his bloodied nose in the other, inches away from a caricature of a mugger...with a gun in his hand. Major would have been almost amused if he weren't so terrified.
"Please, we can talk about this," Ravi pleaded - at least that's what it sounded like. The injured nose rather hampered his enunciation abilities. "You seem like a reasonable...um, neanderthal?"
"Neanderthal?! You calling me stupid?" the man demanded, lunging toward Ravi once more. "I ain't the one who's gonna get himself shot over a sewer rat, mister."
"I told you," Ravi explained, his voice shaking, "Hope's n-not a sewer rat, she happens to be a highly trained -."
Both the mugger and Major were deprived of the end of this sentence by Major's shoulder making contact with the man's solar plexus with a sickening thud.
"Like beating up helpless scientists, do you?" Major yelled. In seconds, he was straddling the assailant, raining punches down with bruised fingers without even a sketch of a plan. "Make you feel like a big man?"
A voice in the back of his head timidly suggested he should take it easy, but the roar of rage in his ears drowned it out immediately. "How about...picking on someone...your own...size?"
He gave the man's head one final slam against the ground and leaned back, panting. The hand on his shoulder had him swinging round, primed for another fight, only to meet the gaze of a pale, bloodied Ravi. "I...I think you got him."
The adrenaline coursing like a heavy metal song through his bloodstream hauled Major to his feet. His hands roamed frantically over Ravi, sliding over his shoulders, then up his neck, cradling his face, brushing blood from his cheeks.
"Are you...okay?" he panted. Ravi avoided his gaze, focusing instead on running his fingers over Major's injured ones.
"It was so stupid." Ravi laughed a little to himself, as if he'd forgotten Major was there. "I was checking Hope's vitals - ignoring the protocols like some damn first year resident - when she bolts, poor thing, and scampers over here. That's when h-he showed up."
Major gingerly skimmed a finger along the side of Ravi's nose - relieved he didn't pull away, concerned he barely seemed to notice. "He kept telling me to put down the rat and hand him my wallet. But Hope's important! Much more important than my silly old wallet, but when I tried telling him that, he grabbed me and...and..."
Major tugged Ravi into a fierce hug, more roughly than originally intended. "It's over," he exhaled into Ravi's hair, ultimately unsure which of them he was comforting. "You're safe now."
Ravi stiffened, shook...and finally broke. Hot tears were soon dripping down Major's neck, fingers digging into his shirt, a warm body pressing full up against his.
The minutes slid by. Major had no interest in counting them. Finally, it was Ravi who muttered, "This is absurd, isn't it? Pretty sure it's bloody mad."
"Don't know what you're talking about." Major laughed. Too hysterically? Likely. "Just a day in the life for me. Why, just yesterday..."
He was interrupted by a scream of pain...his own. With the adrenaline flooding out as quickly as it had flowed in, Major's body suddenly remembered precisely why tackling a mugger to the ground might have been a bad idea. His brain intoned a merciless, I told you so, I told you so, I told you so, idiot, I told you so.
"Major?!" Instantly a doctor once more, Ravi's hands roamed mercilessly over his body, inciting another, "Owwww," not of his own volition.
"Sorry, sorry!" Ravi threw his hands up and resumed his inspection visually. "God, I'm such an imbecile! I just stood there like a bloody stick and let you go charging in, half-cocked and wounded!"
"From where I was standing, it didn't seem like you had a choice." He reached out a hand for Ravi's shoulder, overbalanced, and ended up clinging to him for support.
"That's it, we're getting you home. Now." Ravi slung Major's arm over his shoulders, while wrapping his own around Major's waist. Hope, in her cage once more, was in the custody of his other hand. "Can you walk?"
"For your sake, I think I'd better." Major took a couple test steps, and was relieved to affirm that, as long as he leaned on Ravi, he could manage a limping gait. "Don't think giving me a piggyback ride would go well for either of us."
"Oh, I don't know." Ravi's tone was all forced levity. Major was touched. "I was quite known for my piggyback rides back in primary school."
"Well, when we're both healed up, I'll let you give me a turn around the house." He tried not to groan from the increased contact against his ribs and settled for gritting his teeth.
They walked in silence until they reached the house, when the clear worry on Ravi's face had Major speaking up again.
"I'm thinking of coining an ancient proverb," he grunted. "Something to the tune of, 'He who has taken a beating should not give one.' "
"I think you're a millennium or so off for 'ancient'," Ravi commented, helping Major up the porch steps. "But I can't deny it has wisdom. Perhaps I'll cross-stitch it on a pillow, so you can look at it the next time you even think about doing something this rash."
"I didn't think," Major replied quietly. "I heard you scream, so I ran. Then I saw the blood, saw that he'd hurt you, and something in me...it just snapped, I -"
Ravi's lips were on his before Major could finish the thought. As kisses went, it was certainly not the most impassioned he'd ever received - which was, all things considered, just as well - nor the longest, but nonetheless left his head spinning when Ravi leaned back.
Cheeks flushing crimson, Ravi dragged a hand over the back of his neck and mumbled, "Um...thanks. What I meant to say was 'thanks'."
Still leaning against Ravi for support, Major had to stare. The kiss had left his lips tingling, blood humming...and mind whirling. It was as if he was looking at Ravi for the first time.
Had he always been so attractive? Major's gaze was drawn from the warm, brown eyes (pointedly avoiding him), to the appealingly flushed cheeks, to stop on Ravi's lips, which were absently being traced by his index finger.
The rational portion of his brain shot out a barrage of reasons to stop thinking about Ravi's lips: He's your roommate! He works with your ex! He's a he! Is that what you're into now?
Perfectly reasonable excuses. Sensible. Rational. And pointless. Compared to the chemical fireworks show going on in his body, absolutely pointless.
It might be a mistake - probably was - but Major knew he'd regret it if he backed down now. After all, in the past twenty-four hours, he'd risked his life twice. What was a kiss compared with that?
That didn't stop his fingers from trembling as he laid them gently on Ravi's cheek. "Ravi?" He adjusted the tilt of Ravi's head few inches to the right before murmuring, "You're welcome," and diving straight into the deep end of the pool.
Just take it slow. Major idly stroked his fingers through Ravi's beard, taking care to stay clear of his injured nose. That's it, no need to rush. He savored the feel of arms winding around his torso, fingers drumming nervously against his shoulders. For the first time in months, he simply...let go.
When the haze finally dispersed, it was to Ravi pronouncing, "We should probably, um, get you into bed." At the look Major gave him - a mix of shock and intrigue - he added quickly, "Medically speaking! I mean not that we couldn't - of course not today! - but someday - er, assuming that is, we both wanted to..."
Major took pity on him with a light kiss, stemming the stream of stammering quite effectively. "All things considered, I think both of us could do with lying down for awhile. Medically speaking."
Ravi nodded gratefully and began the process of helping him inside. "You know," Major mused, "I still haven't watched that box set of Godfather movies Liv got me for Christmas."
"Well, I do have a perverse love of your 'American mafia movies'. Although-" Ravi stopped cold, a panicked look spreading over his face.
"Hey, you okay?" Major was about to usher Ravi toward the couch, when he explained in a whisper: "Liv."
Major sighed. He supposed it had been naive of him to think they could leave her out of the conversation.
"I can't believe I didn't think of her earlier! What are we going to do?" Ravi moaned.
"I have no idea." Major pivoted and rested his arms on Ravi's shoulders. "No, make that one - that you've been through enough today. This'll keep until tomorrow."
Ravi sighed and rested his forehead against Major's. "I think I'm too tired to argue. And I know I'm too tired to turn down an afternoon with you and Marlon Brando."
Major grinned. "That's what I like to hear. Although you may change your mind when you have to drag me up those stairs..."
The warmth of Ravi's lips glancing against his cheekbone took Major by surprise. "Don't you bet on it."
Tangled up in Ravi as they maneuvered up the stairs, Major meditated idly on the panicking he should be doing. After all, in a matter of hours, so much had changed. Shouldn't he be worried? Mildly concerned, at least?
The verdict he arrived at was: probably. Instead, it felt like in turning his life upside down, Major had somehow shaken it free from the fog that had imprisoned him the last few months.
Finally, finally, he had something, someone, to hold onto - and, what was almost better, someone to hold onto him. Major plus Ravi - he wasn't sure what lay on the other side of that equation, but one thing was for sure: he couldn't wait to find out.