Tainted Balance

Help and Punishment

(( //SCREAMS AS I RISE FROM THE DEAD// HONEY IM HOOOOME and hOLY FUCK has it been a long time! You guys thought I was dead, right? H A H you're kind of right. I'll admit I didn't wanna finish this story mainly bc I'd lost my will to write. But I went through a few of the comments and I couldn't help but want to finish it! For you guys! Sorry about the long ass wait, but here it is! It may not be good but I'm trying my best! ))

Jordan groaned as he woke, feeling his head pound as he moved to sit up. Looking around, he found himself in a very familiar room. It was  a guest room in Tom's house. Well.. More Jordan's room than anything else. He'd stayed over by Tom's and stayed in this room enough to claim it as his own. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, wincing as a wave of dizziness washed over him from the sudden movement. He felt lighter, more flighty than usual. A quick peek behind him answered why: his wings and tail had seeming my vanished, leaving nothing but slight raises of skin and dark patches of Taint in their place. With a bit of concentration, he felt them begin to grow back out at his command but quickly stopped once the pain of the limbs pushing out his skin became too much.

He gazed around the room, looking for any sign of Tom. He found a pair of clothes (a plain black shirt and a pair of green shorts) resting on a table next to a plate with a bit of food on it with a glass of water. A slightly crumpled note rested next to the plate and Jordan stood up, feeling a wave of dizziness hit him before he slowly made his way to the desk.

The note was crumpled and had a lot of scratch outs, as if Tom (only he had such messy handwriting) tries to completely erase something he didn't want Jordan to see. The few bits that weren't scratched out read, 'Jordan, I don't know if you remember what happened, but you passed out a day ago in front of my house. I don't know what's wrong but I want to help you. I left some food for you in case you wake up with a change of clothes (not offense by the ones you're wearing are kinda really fucking gross. again, no offense.) Come out front when you read this, I guess. ~Tom.'

'Gross?', Jordan thought to himself, 'what did he mean by... Oh.'

His clothes were, as Tom said 'pretty fucking gross'. Random rips and tears in the fabric were everywhere, along with scorch marks and bits of dried blood and, obviously, Taint. He shuddered as he pried the grimy clothes from his person, feeling it practically peel off himself. He sighed with relief as the slipped on the simple but comfortable clothing Tom left for him. He himself was still rather dirty (as he was constantly reminded of this with the patches of Taint covering him), but this was certainly an upgrade regardless of that fact. He quickly wolfed down the food on the plate and downed the water like he was dying.

He sighed with relief as the headache and dizziness started to fade away with a (somewhat) full stomach. He looked over to the door with apprehension. He knew he should go out and talk to Tom, he was bound to be worried about him. He wasn't looking forward to it but he supposed he owed Tom that much (as, if his memory serves right, he wanted to kill him earlier). Taking a deep breath, he slowly walked over to the door and opened it, wincing as it creaked open.

The quiet creaking may as well have been an explosion, as the two had a remarkably similar effect. Tom froze in place, his head snapping to Jordan's direction so fast he was sure it gave him whiplash. Neither said a word, both of them simply staring at each other in shock. Jordan hesitantly stepped out of the room, slowly shutting the door behind him and gazed nervously at Tom. He smiled nervously at him, raising a hand and waving slightly hoping to carefully break the ice.

"JORDAN!!"

Well, so much for a calm quiet conversation (though it was Tom, so Jordan wasn't sure what he else he was expecting).

Jordan quickly found himself wrapped in an near suffocating hug, Tom clinging to him like he would disappear if he let go for a split second. Wiggling his arms from under Tom's own, Jordan wrapped his own around Tom's form, gently at first but it quickly turned into him clinging to Tom just as tightly, if not more so. They stayed like that for a good while, neither mentioning the wetness they felt forming on their shoulders, the quiet crying, or the shaking.