Unforgettable ~ A Jared Leto/MARS Fanfiction

14-Jared

The first streaks of morning sunlight cast a golden eldritch glow across Kristov's bed and my blanket-covered legs, which are propped up on the reclining chair footrest. Those sunbeams are what awakened me and I blink a few times, re-orienting myself to my surroundings.

I shift a little and my back groans loudly at the ill treatment it's suffered from hours in an awkward and unaligned position. My body aches, I have to piss, and my right hand is tingling almost to the point of numbness because Kristov's squeezing it so hard.

Kristov's squeezing my hand.

I turn quickly to look at him, so quickly my neck bones give a resounding pop. Kristov's head is turned toward me. He's wide awake and despite the amount of pain he must be in after having just gone through major surgery, his eyes are bright and so is his smile.

"Kris—" my voice is a feeble, gravelly croak. I attempt to drop the footrest to bring my chair upright by raising and dropping both legs against it, but the chair won't budge. "Shit," I mumble. Amazingly, Kristov chuckles, a soft low rumble in his chest, and he lets go of my hand.

I pull my arm back through the side rail and grasp the arms of the chair, giving the footrest another hard kick with both of my heels. The footrest finally gives way and I jerk up into a sitting position. My back screams as a flare of agony shoots through it.

Ignoring the pain in my lower lumbar, I leap to my feet and lean over Kristov's bed, taking his hand again and peering down at him, smoothing his hair back from his forehead. His skin is warmer than it was, and though he's still pale on a sickly level, he already looks so much better and healthier I can hardly believe it. "Are you in pain?" I ask, my voice clearer now. What a dumb thing to say—of course he's in pain. "Do you need anything?" That's a little better, I guess.

"I'm all right." His voice is weak and hoarse, as if he has a sore throat. "The nurse was just here." He glances at the chair behind me. "You stayed here all night."

"Yeah, I did." I continue stroking his hair.

Kristov's brow furrows slightly. "Why?"

I squeeze his hand. "Because I wasn't going anywhere until I knew you were going to be okay."

Kristov's throat bobs as he swallows, grimacing a little. "You didn't have to."

"Actually, yes I did. But more than that, I wanted to."

Kristov smiles again. It's a gentle smile. If he wasn't lying here in a hospital bed, tubes running in and out of him from various places, I'd be hard-pressed to believe anything had happened to him at all. His long dark hair is loose around his shoulders, framing his expressive, deep brown eyes that bore into me as he asks, "Didn't you worry that it would look suspicious?"

"Why would it look suspicious? I stayed all night at the hospital with a friend who'd been beaten nearly to death." 

Kristov's smile fades, and a shadow crosses over it. "Alex," he murmurs. "Has there been any word from him?"

My hand in Kristov's tightens involuntarily, and I grip the side rail with the other. "No."

Kristov closes his eyes briefly. With a sigh he murmurs, "I have to talk to him."

I stare down at him. "There's only one thing you need to talk to him about, and that's a divorce."

Kristov's eyes fly back to mine, wide and alarmed. "Jared—"

"How many times has this happened, Kris? How many times has he beaten you?" My teeth clench together tightly. "This time he almost killed you. If you—"