"One room please. Just for tonight."
The woman behind the motel counter nodded and handed over the room keys to the man with the sunken eyes and dark red hair, watching him take the keys and hand over the fee for the night. Heading upstairs, Pycal unlocked his room and shed his jacket and tie as he entered, tossing himself onto the cheap bed and just laying there face down.
He felt exhausted both mentally and physically, having to haul himself from the coastline all the way to a roadside motel in the coast of Italy. He hadn't even had time to eat, let alone take much care of himself… apart from the bandages wrapped around his arm over his tattered shirt sleeve.
He'd barely survived the plunge into the icy water, his last thoughts damning the bastard who'd lead him to be in such a situation.
Lupin.
Just the thought of the man's monkey-like face had him gritting his teeth and glaring behind closed eyelids. He rolled over onto his back but winced at the brief pressure on his arm wound, having been tossed into some sharp rocks by the unforgiving waves of the ocean.
He had managed to make it to a general store in time, slamming down money and buying bandages before he bled out. He was fine though at that moment, as fine as you could be after everything you'd worked hard to achieve had come crumbling down around you.
Pycal sat up, looking to the door and tracing his gaze over the chipped paint here and there and the slight wear on the dressing table too. Clearly a place that was looked after but didn't get many customers, at least not in a long while.
He didn't mind it, honestly, it was a place to stay and it was better than staying out in the street. A knock on the door alerted him, sitting up. "Come in," he said, cautious, itching to aim and send forth a plume of flames upon his would be attacker… if there was one.
The woman running the motel opened the door, peeking in with a plate of food.
Raising a brow, Pycal was surprised.
"Sorry to bother you, young man, but I made too much food tonight and I didn't want it to go to waste. Would you care for some? It's just pork sausage and some mashed potatoes," the woman smiled, offering the plate to him.
Not one to rudely reject hospitality, he accepted the plate and gave a thankyou to the woman before she left the room. The food smelt good, he wouldn't lie. Taking the fork provided he began to dig in, not having had a home cooked meal in quite some time. It'd been all travel and quick meals that didn't tie him down to any one place for too long, lest he run into Lupin.
The returning thought almost soured his food for him, but he kept eating and soon finished the plate. Setting it on the bedside table, he kicked off his shoes and figured he'd rest up for the night. Exhaustion was already starting to set in after all, the bags under his eyes not just for decoration.
Laying on the bed, he pulled the soft yet slightly too thin blankets over himself, wishing for heavier ones to at least feel weightier on him. It at least simulated the feeling of somebody in bed with him, cuddling him and pressing down on him the slightest bit with their weight.
When was the last time he was ever in the same bed as somebody? He couldn't recall.
His eyes grew heavy, closing as he looked to the window and swore he saw something there. He had already slipped off to sleep before his mind could process anything, dozed off asleep as peaceful as he could be.
The window opening, gazing over at Pycal, the figure strode in and sat at the end of the bed. 'He'd really come all this way, huh? Guess he survived all that… that's twice now,' the thief thought, stroking his dexterous fingers against the sleeping magician's cheek and tilting his head a tad.
The way he slept was the way an exhausted, solitary man would sleep. He looked as if a hug would melt him into a million little shards of sadness and loneliness. Lupin felt tempted to bring about those little sad shards, kicking off his shoes and placing his tie on the end of the bed, his jacket shed as he lay on it beside Pycal.
He shimmied under the sheets, putting an arm over Pycal and snuggling into him, finding he was rather warm and also injured. Lupin felt a pang of regret strike him, knowing that in some way this was his fault even if not directly. He really had wandered into Pycal's life and ruined everything, and yet he sat there wondering why the magician wanted said revenge.
Pycal stirred awake and looked over, his eyes glazed over with tiredness but still catching sight of Lupin there beside him. Lupin. Lupin!
He snapped out of his tiredness and tossed the blanket off of him, rolling out of bed and aiming a finger at Lupin. A fierce glare in his eyes, he had Lupin pinned against the wall as he knelt on the bed, hands up to show he was unarmed. "Explain yourself immediately before I torch you alive," he said, a flame already flickering at his fingertip and heat encased within his eyes.
Lupin could tell Pycal was on a hair trigger; one wrong move would send the modest motel up in flames, and him with it. As much as he would find it entertaining to escape a burning building, he wasn't quite here for that. He was here for Pycal.
"Alright alright, lower the finger and I'll talk…" Lupin said, watching as the magician hesitantly lowered his finger, eyes trained on him like a hawk watching a mouse. Lupin let out a breath of relief, looking to Pycal and clearing his throat. "I wasn't following you… more like… looking for you. I was worried."
Pycal's eyes widened a little, perplexed as he looked at Lupin and resumed his glare immediately, finger aimed at Lupin. "Woah woah wait! I never said I was going to hurt you, just hear me out!"
"Go on…" Pycal growled, getting a little bit fed up and anxious. He wasn't in the mood for games, especially not monkey business. "But you better hurry up. I'm tired and exhausted and a burning building is the least of my concerns right now."
"I was just wanting to find you because I was afraid you were dead."
Afraid? Why would be he afraid? Surely he'd set out to kill Pycal… which is what the magician assumed.
"But with me dead you'd have one less problem, wouldn't you? Why on earth would you make sure I was alive? To finish me off?" Pycal interrogated, stepping closer and pressing the finger against Lupin's throat, thoughts flooding his mind and making him doubt himself. That in turn only made him madder, his mind a battlefield of doubt and hate and paranoia, Lupin practically dancing through that battlefield and avoiding all the mines.
Lupin cracked a small smile and chuckled "I mean… you got in the way sometimes but… after the first time we met I was simply glad to see you again. Things… didn't end up how I wanted them to at all. I never wanted you dead… if I did would I really come after a dead man?" he asked, lowering his hand and making Pycal flinch, softly holding his wrist and feeling heat against his neck yet no pain or flame.
He was practically testing his luck with Pycal as he locked eyes with the magician and slowly moved his hand up to entwine their fingers. Pycal's heart was thumping against his chest, confused and flustered as Lupin held his hand and gave him a smirk. His other hand was soon captured in Lupin's grasp, fingers entwined and palms pressed.
He went to object but was pulled closer and into Lupin's arms, face first into his chest and being met with the familiar expensive scent of cologne, bodywash and a long since gone cigarette most likely from riding around with Jigen all day.
"What are you-" the magician stammered, cut off by the soft graze of Lupin's touch against the small of his back. He could feel the heat of Lupin's hand soak through his thin shirt's fabric and into his touch starved skin, goosebumps rising up wherever Lupin touched. The warmth of human contact, gentle contact at that, felt like he'd experienced it for the first time in his entire life.
His mind told him to struggle, to get away… and yet… he felt happy.
As much as his paranoia told him to run, he sunk into Lupin's arms and closed his eyes. He was tired, much too exhausted to put up any kind of fight. His eyelids grew heavy again and he looked up at Lupin, letting out a soft exhale. He wanted to say so many things, he wanted to hold a conversation with Lupin but felt he was going to be unconscious within minutes.
Lupin felt so warm and smelt so good, it'd been too long since he last had been hugged like this. His breath caught in his throat as he felt Lupin's lips brush against his forehead, that simple soft kiss being the catalyst to send him off to sleep. He practically did shatter into a million little shards, but as he lay there he gave a soft smile.
Lupin, letting out a sigh of relief, laid beside Pycal and drew the slightly too thin blankets over them. "Goodnight," Lupin softly spoke, eyes focused on Pycal for a few more heartbeats. Then… he too succumbed to unconsciousness, asleep beside Pycal as he knew he'd get the best sleep he'd had in years.
Beside his sleeping magician.
His source of comfort.