Essence of Quinn Parts 3 & 4 (MxM)

Have Faith

“Quinn,” Air whispered. 

He opened his eyes and met Air’s, giving a languid stretch and then turning to face the other ghoul. 

“You okay?” Quinn whispered back. 

The room was dark, and the lair beyond it was quiet. A glance at the clock told him it was just after five a.m.  

He felt it then. Sadness. 

“No,” Air said simply. 

Quinn pulled him closer and kissed his hair. Air snuggled further into him and Quinn rubbed his hand down his back. He still wore the top from yesterday, and the thin fabric felt smooth under his palm. Maybe it was even from the day before? It was what they’d been wearing on the mission, the same as Quinn’s, so it must have been the day before. He realised that he was still wearing his clothes, even after the night’s events. 

He rearranged the covers around them and resumed stroking his palm up and down Air’s back. The other ghoul had stopped shaking now, and Quinn could tell he’d come down again, but he was suffering. The stress of the last couple of days and losing Amaya had caught up with him, too. When combined with coming back down from his high and dealing with Quinn's meltdown a few hours previously, it felt like too much. 

“Just lean on me,” Quinn murmured. 

Air huffed a laugh and reached up to stroke his cheek. He shifted a little and looked up at him. His skin was paler than usual and his eyes were watery and rimmed with red. He had strands of black hair sticking out where they’d been yanked on, and Quinn thought he was just perfect.

“I’m the one who’s supposed to be looking out for you in all this.” 

Quinn kissed his forehead and nuzzled into him. 

“You did. We look out for each other, though.” 

Air smiled sadly up at him and sighed. 

“She’s amazing.” Quinn frowned at the sudden change of topic. “Amaya,” Air clarified, and his smile faltered. “It hurts so much, the unfairness of all this.” 

His voice broke and tears fell from those beautiful purple eyes. As the sting burned his own eyes, Quinn closed them and finally let the tears he had been holding back since Amaya had been discovered fall. 

They lay there for a while, quietly crying, tangled together body and soul, sharing the sadness and the grief and the anger at the situation. 

Quinn lost track of time, but he sensed it was still relatively early. He realised they needed to get back to the chapel. He presumed their pack and Calista had stayed with Amaya, and the familiar guilt stabbed at his heart when he realised that he’d failed both of them. Again.  

He sighed. He and Air should get moving.

“You hungry?” Quinn asked, knowing that Air was. He ate a lot anyway, but after what had just happened, he usually liked to have something comforting. Toast would usually do it. Air nodded. “I’ll get you something. What do you want?” 

Air pulled back from him and stretched out, letting out a long groan. 

“We can grab something from the kitchen before we go back. Maybe some toast?” Quinn smirked, giving himself a pat on the back for being right. “We should get cleaned up first, though.” He reached up and swiped his thumb along Quinn’s chin, smirking. “You have blood on your face.” 

Quinn gave him a lopsided smile. 

“Yeah. Sorry about that.” Air grinned and a warm feeling settled in Quinn’s stomach at the love he felt from him. “You shouldn’t have done that, though.”