Rotten - The Cursed, The Curse And The Prophecy (MxM)

Betrayal

Three days had passed since Adrian managed to appear in the middle of the living room, nearly trashing the entire place as he did so.
Now the windows were patched with thick plastic sheets that covered most natural light, drenching the room in a perpetual dusk during the day and absolute darkness during the night.

Most electrical equipment in the house short circuited and burned with the power surge. The computer was useless, most of the food in the fridge spoiled, luckily there was still warm water since the boiler didn't rely solely on electricity.

Hannah had done her best lighting up the place, a mixture of candles enchanted to always keep burning and small orbs of varying degrees of light littered the place.

Richard had been silent for most of the time, worry and weariness burnt through him intensely as he shuffled around the house deep in thought.
Hannah had explained to him that the stunt Adrian had pulled pushed the limits of his body past the point of breaking, his rib cage has been crushed in several places, severe internal bleedings, head trauma and muscle tear yet somehow he was stable and healing quickly now. Those words didn't ease his nerves in the slightest, however... Adrian kept moving painfully in his sleep, silent screams and spasms took place quite often, it was gut wrenching to watch but Richard couldn't stop, he needed to be there for him.

The realisation that in the weeks that had past he had developed deeper feelings towards Adrian became very real to him, the way he moved, talked, and how he could see past the cracks in Adrian's armour tugged at his heart strings. He never felt like that before...
Sure every once in a while he had found himself attracted to someone but not this deeply, it went beyond a simple infatuation.

He paced around the house, purposefully ignoring the still presence of Michael staring out of one of the remaining windows in silence. He had been doing that for hours at a time since he was brought back, not once had he touched the food that had been placed in front of him or spoke a word. There was a darkness and sorrow around him that was suffocating, Richard knew it was best to avoid the mercenary altogether. Hannah kept running errands, taking turns with him to fetch supplies, either more bandages or painkillers even though those seemed to not be doing much to Adrian.

The entire situation felt off.

It had indeed been a trap as they had concluded. Whomever was behind this was intelligent, cunning and deeply malevolent. Characteristics those that sent shivers down Richards spine.

But he was glad that Adrian had came back alive.

Richard shuffled silently slipping inside into the main bedroom where Adrian was silently tossing and turning, taking a seat next to him and grabbing a towel he got to work wiping the sickly sweat on his forehead and chest, avoiding the bandages as best he could.

His eyes rolled around hidden behind his pale eyelids, long curly lashes trembled with the violence of his jerks, his mismatched hair was a tanged mess splayed around the pillow, some strands clinging to the temples and forehead. But what hit the most was the stench of blood, sulfur and death that clung to him ever since he came back. Unfortunately neither Hannah or him were able to give Adrian a proper bath, all they could do was to clean the wounds and bandage them, and in the process he got to fully see the extent of what lies beneath Adrian's normal clothing, all the wounds and scars that dressed his skin like an oil painting.

So many layers of them.

Many criss crossed in such erratic ways that all that was left were patches of skin completely marred by them, leaving only thick calloused tissue in its place. No wonder he was so reserved with touch or careful with what he wore as so to cover most of it.

But right now his body was laid bare with the exception of underwear Richard hadn't had the courage to remove or replace. His upper torso and shoulders were tightly wrapped in fresh bandages, leaving the arms free with only a few new cuts and scrapes among the rest of the older ones.