[All characters and properties belong to Marvel.]
"Druig," Sersi's voice called, his eyes far from being focused on her.
"Druig." She repeated, but his eyes continued looking to the front.
Makkari was laughing at something that Eros was currently showing her. In the palm of his hand, light danced from it in shapes. Stars, comets, planets, all beamed and moved as he willed them. One particular shape was of a beam of light running in fast circles around his hand. He assumed he meant that to be Makkari.
Her smile was brighter than any light that pantomime could make and it was currently for the pantomime. Druig didn't like him; he could sense the cockiness in him that Ikaris had, except this one had... charm. It wasn't the physical charm that Ikaris had, he didn't think, it was something else. It was Makkari's hand half-covering her face, though her smile still peeked through her fingers.
A thousand suns wouldn't burn brighter than she did. So why was she doing that for him?
"Druig!" Sersi called one more time, in a shout, before he turned his head to her in silence. "What?" He snapped, not wanting to be taken away from the scene in front of him. Sersi knew this, too.
"I'm sorry, but." She didn't need to finish, he knew what she wanted to say. His eyes impatiently went back to the scene in front of him, though different this time, as Makkari was now meeting his gaze with soft questioning. His eyes stared into hers, questioning, but also despersate. He wanted to tell her so many things that he didn't know where to start. Why didn't you come with me? Why did I ache for you every second? Why is it that I yearn for your touch more than anything in this universe? Why are you smiling at him?
"You're very bad at hiding it."
Druig let his arm drop as his body jolted, startled by the sudden voice in his head that was not his own.
"You're not the only one who can get inside people's minds."
It almost felt like he was living in slow motion. The way his eyes knew immediately where to look, the dawning of this new power, Eros's knowing smile, and his hand on Makkari's shoulder. It all went by so painfully slow. His hand was still on Makkari's shoulder. Why was his hand there? But more importantly, why didn't she shrug it off?
"Get out of my head." He whispered at first, his anger starting to boil by his ankles.
"She's very beautiful. She brings something out of you, doesn't she? I can feel it in the way she does with me."
"Get out of my head." He started again, this time a bit more audible, with his anger reaching the balls of his fists as they stayed by his side firmly. Druig always pride himself in his cool composed nature even in the face of absolute mayhem and chaos or high-pressure situations. So why was he reacting like this to their latest guest? His spirit knew why. He knew why, deep down, and maybe not so deep down.
"I understand, being afraid, but if you're so inclined I would like to take Makkari to--"
The thought wasn't done before his body was slammed into Eros's. How he moved that fast he did not know, but he did know his fingers were gripping their new companions' throat. "I don't need a reason to," Druig whispered, ignoring the tugs from Makkari and Sersi. Pip was on Druig's back slamming it, but when Thena came into the picture, he shoved Eros away with one good shove and lifted his arms up in surrender. He could pick fights with Ikaris but he knew better than to shove Thena.
Eros laughed so hard he could barely stand and Druig's body shook with such anger that he felt he could burst. Not even a second later, Makkari sped to him, her hands on his chest. His eyes looked to her own, almost feverish, rabid, but when they locked eyes, the shaking started to go down.
"You need a time out," Thena remarked to Eros, the Titan still laughing and brushing off his uniform. "It was a noble effort, but the only person who had a one-up on me had an Infinity Gauntlet to do so, and he's dead now." Eros opened his eyes wide mockingly and shook his head in the same fashion. "Little Druig."
Even with Makkari's gentle touch, he left before he could hear more of Eros taunting, his laughter still echoing in the background, wanting nothing more than to squeeze his fingers around his throat until it was satisfying to stop. He walked, that's what he needed, just some damn air and a moment away from the Domo and away from that clown. He didn't care if he was a Titan or Eternal or immortal. He was a fool; a last idiotic resort while they traveled to find their friends and save them from Arishem's judgment.
"Fuck!" Druig shouted in a prolonged matter as he reached a silent part of the Domo, a part he didn't know he walked towards. It was Makkari's room. At the realization of this, he held in a breath as his eyes closed, then exhaled it. He didn't want to bring negativity here; anywhere but this sacred space. He shouldn't have walked away from Makkari like that, but he had to. Showing her the less pleasant sides of him wasn't always his strongest suit, even if she never walked away from it.
"She's very beautiful."
Yes, she is. She always was. From the second his eyes glazed from gold to normal and he could feel senses, she was beautiful. From the first sign, from the first smile, the first touch, she was beautiful.
"How long will you let this go on?" A voice came from the distance and his thoughts were interrupted. He looked to the blonde warrior and then away again. "Leave," He told her simply, not wanting anyone in here that didn't belong and as far as he could tell she wasn't Makkari.
"I would give anything to have the one I love in front of me just so I could say it, even if it was one last time. To hear it." She never minded his rudeness, it was just his design; she knew his heart underneath it all. They all did. "Don't wait until it's too late, Druig."
She did as he willed and left him be as he stared at the wall of the Domo that had one of Makkari's many paintings.
