D:BH Drabbles & One Shots

Flashes//Reed900

Tags: Flashbacks, PTSD, Past Abuse, Graphic Descriptions of Violence, Past Injury
Universe Alterations: Gavin & Elijah are half-brothers (they have two different mothers and share a step-mother), Gavin is a veteran of WWIII, Tina Chen and Gavin meet in the war
Rating: Mature (for the abuse & violence)
Request: RK900 comforts Gavin through a thunderstorm which gives him PTSD flashbacks

Some people like thunderstorms. They like the putter of rain on their windows like a song. The silver and gold flashes of lightning streaming through the sky like paint slashes. The teeth rattling boom of thunder like drums or fireworks.

Gavin hates thunderstorms. The pattern of rain turns into his step-mother's sobs or the cries of the people he couldn't save. The flashes of lightning like gunshots from the enemy lines. The boom of thunder like the creaking, harsh steps of his father's heavy feet.

The first roll of thunder brought him back to when he was ten.

He remembers telling Eli to go in their room and hide as soon as he had walked through the door and caught the stench of alcohol all the way in the kitchen. He remembers making sure the door to their room had clicked shut before going to make sure Angelina was alright. She wasn't; she was cowering in the corner a bruise already coloring on her jaw, hands knitted in her long skirt as her body shook with sobs. Their father stood above her waving a bottle of jack around and shouting.

He always hated seeing her like that, after all she was more of a mother to him and Eli than theirs ever were... but he didn't blame his real mother or Eli's for walking out on them either. He remembers rushing forward to throw his backpack at the drunken man when he threw the bottle at her catching her in the shoulder with the butt of it and shattering the neck against the wall. He remembers being thrown across the room, temple catching on the end table by the sofa. He remembers the blood getting in his eyes.

In his head he feels Angelina shaking him, holding him. In his heart he knows it's Nines. In his heart he knows the two of them are sitting on the futon couch in his apartment with their cat, Duchess. He's in his head though.

The first flash of lightning that registers takes him to when he was twenty.

He'd only joined the marines to keep his older brother from the draft. His intelligent older brother who was going to do great things was way more important than himself. He still chose to go into the marines so Angelina and Elijah could get his body if he got killed.

He remembers the trenches, and he remembers thinking that in that day and age they should have had better ways to fight than in half-flooded holes in the ground where they had to use their fallen comrades as steps and shields. He remembers the gunshots, and he remembers wishing for his headphones so he could listen to the music Eli had illegally downloaded for him. He remembers the scent of iron and gunpowder in the air, and he remembers the taste of blood and ash heavy and putrid on his tongue.

The whiz of a shot chipping his ear makes him cry out. It's like he's really there again holding on to the little glowing, blue ring on the chain next to his dog tags and praying that he'll see Angelina and Elijah again. The butt of Tina's gun slams into his nose splitting it and cracking the cartilage as she tackles him into the muddy, bloody water to avoid another shot. His teeth sink into his bottom lip and his jaw clenched harshly in effort to dull the phantom pain, but it only amplifies the coppery taste sticking to the back of his teeth like tar.

A hand soothes his jaw. It's large and soft and cool. It's familiar. In any other circumstance he'd kiss the palm of it, the back of it, each individual finger and joint. A deep, soft voice croons into his ear. He can't hear what it says over the rain of billets showering their trench. He can't hear what it says over the sound of his team falling around him.

Another thunderous blow outside their window pulls him back to only four years ago.

The red ice bust he, Hank, Tina, and Charlie had been called in from had been certifiably huge. This, of course, meant it was 100% dangerous. He remembers hiding behind crates and over turned tables. He remembers dashing behind storage containers and sliding behind trucks. He remembers the sick and twisted gleeful familiarity of it all. He remembers Tina's out-of-breath exclamation that it was 'just like old times'.

He remembers hating that the statement got his adrenaline pumping. He remembers being ashamed that he found comfort int the dealers' gunshots after five years at war. He remembers almost laughing as he swung around the side of the cargo container to catch a smuggler in the knee with a well aimed shot before sliding into a new hiding place. He remembers feeling almost sick after that the taste of metal and airborne drugs like ash on his lips and blood on his tongue.

Now, he sobs and thumbs soothe away his tears and coax his eyes opened. The summer storms in Detroit never last long, and in the end he gets this. He gets Nines' arms wrapped tight around him. He gets Nines' voice whispering reassurances in his ears. He gets Duchess purring against his leg. He gets warmth and comfort. He gets the smell of vanilla candles and the taste of whatever soup Nines has made in the air—because Nines always makes soup when he knows it's going to storm.

He gets a call from his brother asking him if he's okay until the older man is absolutely sure and then he gets teased a little for falling for one of Elijah's creations. He gets to call Angelina's care facility and ask to speak to her while Nines dishes up soup for him, broth for their spoiled cat, and thirium dinners for himself. He gets to forget about the flashes for just a little bit, and really, that's all he ever wanted.