A Little Lethal

| Chapter 5 |adoration|

And every time it gets too real
And every time I feel like sabotaging
I start running again
And every time I push away
I really wanna say that I'm sorry
But I say nothing
~~

When the man awoke, he found his arm captured by the prisoner sleeping in front of him. A warm feeling settled in his chest and he reached out to gently push the prisoner's hair out of his eyes.

He had large dark circles under them, reminding the man that he stayed up to take care of him before sleep and exhaustion set in and he succumbed to sleep.

The warmth intensified.

The prisoner stirred in his sleep, his head tilting just a little to get closer to his hand. The man felt his stomach rise and fall with his gentle breaths and wondered why he looked so pained while asleep.

He wanted to evaporate the pain.

He shook his head. These thoughts weren't going to get him anywhere. He was in the jail for acting on his impulses and trusting the wrong person.

Though he knew that the prisoner was not anything like any man he'd ever met, he also knew that he never wanted him to experience anything remotely close to what he had been through.

His choices had led him here. He wouldn't let anyone make the same choices as him and end up worse.

The prisoner, still asleep, entwined their fingers together, their palms now joint tightly. It felt oddly nice, setting the man's heart racing and he struggled to get his breathing in check.

The prisoner was dangerous.

The man's feelings were dangerous.

The world they lived in was dangerous.

There was no way out of the conundrum they had all set themselves up in and trying to get out would be fruitless. At least that's what he tried to convince himself to believe.

"Hello."

He was dragged out of his thoughts when Jasper's husky voice cut through the silence. He almost jumped and immediately tried to pry his hand away, but the prisoner was having none of it.

"Good morning." He whispered, fearing that speaking out loud would awaken the demons beneath the surface.

"How is your arm?"

He had almost forgotten about it. It still rested on Jasper's stomach and the prisoner took it in his own hands to examine it.

"Better than what it would have been had the nurse got to it."

Jasper blushed, "You remember?"

The man had to smile at this, of course he remembered how Jasper had taken care of him, going to the extent of shouting at an officer to get him the attention he needed. He had been genuinely concerned and worried for the man.

Concern and worry.

They were such foreign concepts for him, he had difficulty understanding that anyone would experience them for him.

No one had ever been concerned for him, or worried for his wellbeing, even when he was a child; to have that sort of attention now, felt nice.

He answered Jasper's question, "Yes and I have to thank you for saving me. It could have been much more serious had I lost more blood."

Jasper's heart clenched painfully, "You seem to know a lot about injures."

The man knew his answer would only hurt Jasper, so he settled with a shrug.