When Felix turned around at the call of his name, only to feel his cheek crunch beneath a fist, and his shoulder twist painfully as he collapsed against the splintering doorway, and the dirt of Contigo fly up his broken nose when his chin hit the ground and rattled his teeth against bloodied gums, he realised that he'd been punched in the face by a loved one for a second time.
After that came the first time a loved one had pinned him to the ground with a knee to the sternum.
He stared up at the furious face, golden hair molten in the dying sunlight, and for the second time, a loved one snared him in their anguish, spilled over after being locked behind the door of time.
The first time he'd been assaulted in this way, Jenna had quickly turned to level her fists at the walls of their inn room instead, merely leaving the edge of his cloak singed. She spent the next few days throwing herself between him and the feral animals that attacked them—silent repentance, risking violation for violence's excision.
The second time, the hands remained within arm's distance above his head, trembling palms half open, on the precipice between a sign and a strike. Felix didn't know what the earth that held them thought of this.
He kept his mouth shut, and his hands down in the dirt, in honour.
Isaac's expression morphed as his hand fumbled between words for the start of a sentence. He ignored the gasps of horror that rang out behind him.
I.
You.
Never should have shown your face, Isaac settled for, emotion inhibiting the glide of his hand.
If you hit me again, Felix replied, you won't have to look at it any more.
The back of his skull sang as Isaac jerked his head back by the hair. Felix did nothing to resist.
Were we not true? Isaac pressed. His chest heaved as he blinked back tears. Did we really mean so little?
Felix snorted. Of course not, he thought. He knew that Isaac knew, too, and neither was sure which was worse.
Felix watched him swallow down his horror at his own actions. The knee left his chest, and Isaac slumped to the ground, head hanging forward, back to both Felix and the others.
Where he belongs. Felix still knew what he thought, after all this time.
Garet was the first to approach Isaac, unsure of the anger he wanted to channel towards him as he wrenched him to his feet, while Mia, after resting a hand on Jenna's shoulder, floated to Felix's side to repair his face.
The scorn in her scowl was split evenly between himself and Isaac. And, naturally, possibly the rest of the world, too, including herself.
Yes, the world cared nothing for their quarrel. Didn't stop it from feeling like the world had crashed down on his shoulders for the thousandth time.
.*.
The others were perturbed by the idea of monitoring Isaac's movements around the clock, so at night he was left to track Felix into the nearby scrub unimpeded, away from the Djinni and the buzz of civilisation and Psynergy of Ivan's home town.
Not that Ivan knew much more about it than the rest of them, his worldly attachments scarcely more tangible. Would the footprints they left here vanish from memory just as easily? Or would they outlive the world that cracked with each rattling breath?
He found him sitting on a rotting log, clothed for sleep but armed and cloaked, his blade winking up at him from the ground in the moonlight. One leg was drawn up to his chest.
Isaac shook his head. Felix made room for a bloom of rage regardless, though Isaac would beat himself up just as hard for raising his hand a second time.
There was something larger than themselves. Larger than their village and its oaths. This was all to save the world.
How could Isaac care about something so abstract, when his fists came flying all the way from home? But Felix had bound himself to the very same promise.
Was this obstinacy a trait of all children of Venus?
Felix's heart thumped to the crunch of leaves beneath Isaac's feet as he crossed the distance between them, and he kept his back straight as Isaac bent towards him. It took several seconds for Isaac to muster the courage to look him in the eye.
So, he was still shy like that. Had Felix ever ought to have forgotten?
Isaac raised his hands, obstructing Felix's view of his mouth.
Are you really here?
Felix held his breath as bare fingers, scarred by vines under the strain of Psynergy like his were, skirted over the edge of his cheek, just meeting the oil-streaked mane of hair. His skin tingled beneath the touch, spreading warmth across his face. He put his other foot on the ground.
No, I am not.
Don't.
The hand clasped his jaw, thumb nestled beneath his ear, clinging to something more solid. Tried not to stare at the spot the bruise would be, had he been able to see it in the darkness.
Do I know you?
Do you want to?
Don't you want to?
What I want... Felix's eyes fell towards his own lap, his sword resting just beyond it.
Your blade against the world, Isaac signed, his gestures protracted, reserved, now close to his chest. And mine can no longer stand against yours.
What are we? The finger slowed as it crossed Felix's collar in its curve.
He wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he leaned into Isaac anyway, clasping him by the shoulders before he could fall.
They melded together, their faces half hidden in the night. Felix felt cold hands slip behind his neck, where the dirt from the day still stuck. Gentle, but ready to act when the need arose.
He didn't wait for that time to come. He turned his head away, feeling Isaac's lips and a sudden exhale graze his cheek as he fell back. But a chin nudged his forehead as Isaac buried his nose in his hair with a sigh.
It was dirty. Real.
I'll ask next time, Felix signed.
Isaac shivered as a cutting wind tickled Felix's hair against his bare face and neck. Felix reached for his arm, but he pulled back.
Forgive me, Isaac signed. Felix reached for his cloak, but Isaac shook his head again. It's yours. Keep it.
That doesn't matter.
Isaac would make the return trip alone, if only to erode away his deed.
You haven't gotten angry until now, have you, Felix said. Not a question.
Isaac trembled at that, only half from the cold. And you?
I was angry from the beginning.
Fuck, Isaac mouthed under his breath. He gathered up Felix's cloak in his fists, ran the stains and tears and worn patches through his fingers. Blood of Mars. How are you here? his eyes said.
The same way that you are.
Isaac brought the fabric up to his nose, wrapping himself in the aura of this mirage of reality, against the cold that settled about their shoulders.
That's not true... Jenna had this. Had you. You owe me nothing.
Maybe that's enough for this crumbling world went unsaid. A flimsy gesture of solidarity from the descendants of a people who had thought themselves above Nature.
Felix brought his fingers up to the fabric bundled in Isaac's, and a glare was what he received for his sentiment.
I don't want that. Just. Stay with us. Don't cover your path.
Isaac's teeth chattered as he made his demands. Felix set his jaw and pressed his hands around Isaac's, enclosing them in his warmth. Just this once. An approximation.
Go back, Felix said. Don't stay out here.
Isaac resisted, waiting for the earth to punish him.
It stayed silent.
This was enough.
A/n: Welcome to 'Isaac Finally Snaps and Summons Cliché Shitstorm'. Sorry I'm new here
My repertoire expands... Thought I'd try posting relatively quickly, something I didn't really sit on. That's my excuse for (gestures noncommittally. Totally noncommittally). Idk how romance works man
I swear he's not like this all the time.