The Bars Between (MxM)

9

Adren laughed loudly as he quickly pressed himself to the bars, gripping them tightly. "Come on, you can do it!"

Ryion laughed lightly with him, never really being a big laugher himself, as he supported himself against the wall.

It had started two days ago when Adren made a comment about how Ryion was on the floor. The man never had a reason to try and stand again until Adren started to encourage him. Now, two days later, Ryion tried to hold himself up on shaky legs as Adren urged him to walk over.

"Come on, it's just a few steps!"

"Easy for you to say, you haven't been laying on a hard floor for the past decade!" Ryion called back, speaking louder than he had his entire time down there.

Adren reached his arm in through the bars, stretching it as far in as it would go, still laughing at Ryion's struggle, gesturing for him to come. "Come on, we've been working on it for three days now, you can do it!"

Ryion tried to push himself off the wall a little back, cursing as his legs started to shake and putting his weight back on the wall, making Adren burst out in another laughing fit. "I used to be able to bend in ways you can't even imagine and now I'm relearning how to walk, this is humiliating." He mumbled, the laughter gone from his eyes in a matter of seconds. Adren sobered up from it quickly too, sensing the mood change, arms dropping, but still in the bars so held up in the air. "I could fight better than most of the guards that freaking caught me and could run for hours, I can't even stand up properly."

"You'll get back there again, you just have to push yourself."

"No, you don't understand! This is like a complete reset, I can never get everything back!" Ryion banged his hand against the rock wall in frustration.

Adren was at a loss for words. He stood there, listening to Ryion's harsh breathing and mumbled curses, arms burning from the cold of the metal, trying to think of a way to get Ryion back on the task of getting better.

"You're right, you can never get anything back." The man became dead silent, his breathing the only sound filling the air. "Your old life and self is gone, they left the moment you got caught and you're never going to be able to get it back." Ryion half-turned around, still heavily supporting himself, eyes meeting Adren's. They held a combination of fear and sadness. It hurt the young prince to look at him, but he kept pushing. "Maybe that's a good thing though, you weren't a good person. I can't even imagine how an interaction between me and the old you would go."

"I'd most likely only come into contact with you if it was in my best interest to kill or kidnap you." Ryion muttered.

Even though it hurt to think about, he was right. "Would old you have went through with it?" The man slowly nodded, sending a jolt of pain through Adren, yet he pushed it down. "Well you wouldn't now, right?" He shook his head a lot faster than his previous response. "Perhaps to become a better person, one must be completely torn down and rebuilt. And I think that it's absolutely worth it." Adren internally cringed at what he just said, knowing all the torture that Ryion had endured and knowing that was absolutely not worth it, but the moment felt too intense to break the mood and he had a feeling that Ryion agreed with what he said. "Now would you please try to walk over to me?" He pleaded as hard as he could with his eyes, hoping the man would agree.

Ryion looked much sadder than before, but still pushed himself against the wall, hard. So hard that his "walk" was more like a half-fall as he stumbled closer, but Adren was sure that was on purpose as it was a lot easier for him to move this way.

Ryion collapsed against the bars, Adren immediately wrapping his still-extended arms around him.

Ryion clung to the bars, holding up most of his weight as Adren held him tightly, their faces close.

Adren had to tilt his head up slightly to look at Ryion, even though neither were fully standing up, but they were nearly on the same level, breaths mingling.

Adren felt that strange feeling in his stomach again as he held Ryion's eyes and body. "You did it." He breathed, not able to get his voice any louder.

Ryion seemed to be getting closer, or maybe that was Adren himself, leaning in to be as close as possible to the man, the gap between their faces getting smaller and smaller...

Somehow, both of their faces touched the bars at the same time, Adren's chin and Ryion's nose, the freezing cold on delicate skin shocking both out of the trance they were in, both leaning further away, but still holding onto each other, for support that is.

Adren looked away nervously, what had been about to happen?

"I've been on my feet for a while, can I sit down now?" Normally Adren would have refused, he needed all the strength and practice he could get, but with what had just happened, Adren nodded, and together they managed to work their way to the floor.

Once there, Adren reluctantly pulled his arms away, but Ryion grabbed a hand before it completely slipped behind the bars. He pulled it closer and pressed his face to the warmth. "I'm sorry to have made this weird." He mumbled against Adren's palm.

The sight of Ryion's face, specifically his lips, pressed up against his hand made his stomach tie in knots. He didn't trust himself to speak, so he just gave a tight-lipped smile.

"I promise I'll work on my leg strength, I'll be able to walk to you normally in no time."

This time Adren's smile was much more genuine. "I look forward to it."