A/N: Trigger Warning for this chapter.
It mentions depression, possibly anxiety and stress, and an attempt of suicide.

Henkou knew something was off the first time he noticed Aaron running his finger down the blade of a knife. It wasn't even that sharp, but the younger boys' expression had worried him. He seemed oddly fascinated by the knife and had been startled when Henkou spoke to him, like he had been snapped out of a dream.

That was how Henkou started noticing that Aaron was occasionally strangely quiet. He would never talk about himself and the few times he did, it was always a self-deprecating comment that left his mouth. Whenever Henkou tried to compliment him, he waved it off with a very small, short laugh. He hid it well, but Henkou could tell that Aaron didn't believe him.

The older boy didn't know what to do. He made sure to let Aaron know that he was always there for him and that he could always talk to him, but it didn't seem like it was enough. What other choices did Henkou have, though? He couldn't just sit down with the younger Eve sibling and bring up all the things he had noticed. What if it was all his own paranoia? What if Aaron was completely fine on his own and Henkou's attempt to 'intervene' scared him away?

Henkou should have listened to himself.

Here he was now, trying to open the door standing between him and Aaron. Just seconds ago, he could hear the younger boy crying if he pressed his ear to the door. He had tried to coax him into opening the door, but the younger boy hadn't answered. Now, no matter how hard Henkou tried, he couldn't hear anything and he was panicking. What if he had actually done something? What if he had finally reached his breaking point?

After a little more pushing, the god forbidden door finally yielded and Henkou saw a chair upturned on the floor as he rushed inside, trying to find Aaron. He hadn't locked the door to the room. Had he wanted someone to come save him?

Henkou looked around worriedly. Aaron wasn't at the desk and he wasn't on the bed. He checked behind the door and he checked the closet. There was no sign of Aaron. He checked the bathroom and his heart immediately stopped. There was a bottle lying open on the floor, a few white pills scattered around it. Henkou bent down to check the bottle. In total, there were 7 pills left from a bottle of at least 25 and he cursed silently. It could be normal prescribed medication, but then again, it could've been Aaron's way out.

Henkou ran back out into the room, wondering what to do. Had Aaron jumped out the window? Had he ended up running away? He had to be in the room because he had blocked the door… but where was he? What had he done? Henkou went to the window, trying to think clearly.

It was most definitely lucky that he had.

In his panicked state, he had forgotten to check the other side of the bed. A soft sound made him turn away from the window and his gaze landed upon a figure huddled up next to the bed. There was a knife lying next to Aaron, the rest of the pills from the bottle gathered next to it. A glass was lying broken on the floor with water spilling from the cracks and Henkou swallowed as he realized the glass also had a small red stain on it.

He quietly turned to Aaron and slowly walked over, his movements nearly turtle-like. He nudged the glass out of the way and pushed it away from Aaron before he knelt down in front of the younger boy, who could definitely hear him, but didn't react.

"Aaron…?"

Henkou didn't think that the younger boy would answer, but he heard a small, muffled voice.

"You should go…"

Henkou let out a very soft sigh. As if he would ever leave Aaron alone, especially when he was in a state like this. He crawled next to the younger Exceed and sat down, leaning against the bed. He put an arm around Aaron's shoulders and gently pulled him in, tucking his head under his chin.

"I'm not going anywhere."

The clock ticked the seconds passing as he sat there, listening to Aaron's quiet breathing. Gradually, the younger boy relaxed against him. Henkou didn't know how much time had passed when Aaron finally spoke.

"I'm sorry."

Henkou was startled. The breaking of the silence was sudden, but he was more surprised by what Aaron was saying. Why was he apologizing?

Aaron buried his face in Henkou's shoulder and the older boy held him tighter as he explained everything. The feeling of worthlessness, the belief that he couldn't do anything, the loneliness, the bad dreams, the sleepless nights, the constant, constant stream of problems, everything. Everything he had been bottling up came spilling out and all Henkou could do was hold him and make sure that the younger boy knew he was there.

Slowly, Aaron's shaking became less violent and his sniffs became quieter as his tensed shoulders loosened, and he finally looked up. Henkou took the younger boys' face in his hands and gently wiped the tear tracks away before hugging him tightly, rubbing his back to help him relax.

As Henkou did that, he told Aaron everything he should've said before. He told the younger boy how important he was to him, he told him how much people cared about him, he told him everything he was admired for, he told him about all the things people liked about him. Henkou reminded Aaron of all the reasons he had to live.

"… And how do you think I'm supposed to live if you decide to pull something like this?"

That pulled a weak laugh from Aaron and Henkou smiled ever so softly down at the younger boy. Aaron looked back up at him with a worried expression on his face. Henkou held his hand and gently wiped the traces of blood from the cut on his palm. The glass hadn't cut too deep and the wound had even stopped bleeding.

"You don't have to worry, Aaron. It's all okay now."

"Henkou…? Do you think… you could stay?"

Henkou smiled more and stood up, helping Aaron up as well before sitting down on the bed, pulling Aaron down next to him. He put his arms around him and made sure that he was comfortable before kissing his forehead.

"I'll stay as long as you want me to, Aaron. I'll always be here."