Reap the Earth at Which you Stand [boyxboy]

Chapter XXXIV

~Friday 12th January 2018~

"Your bruises look good," Loral commented as he poked and prodded at Dakota's face, only making the boy grimace at the firmer touches, rather than make any sort of exclamation, "is the pain as bad as it was?" He was only helping, Dakota told himself over and over to refrain from snapping at Loral. Most of the time, the boy had a gentle touch. Apparently, he had lost that over the past few days, Joshua tended to have that kind of effect on people.

"Nowhere near," Dakota had been in agony for over a day, unable to settle even with sedatives administered. Thankfully, there had been no internal bleeding, Loral had been sitting with him for hours at a time just to make sure he didn't miss any signs, but he did have a few cracked ribs. Then there was his fractured jaw and eye socket, however, they weren't even registering pain anymore, which Dakota hoped was a good sign. He knew he would heal faster than before, which was why Loral was checking on him so often, scolding him when he didn't limp correctly or applying makeup to bruises that should have still remained dark. It was difficult, yet, doable, and no one seemed to be suspicious as of that evening.

"How's your face?" Dakota asked, reaching out to brush his thumb down his brother's cheek, feeling the heat under the mottled flesh. Klave had apparently held back, on the both of them even, Dakota didn't like to think of the damage he could have caused had he used his full strength.

"Swelling's gone down so I'll be alright," Loral was always a shitty liar, Dakota could see it in his eyes, no matter the expression the boy pulled. Still, he didn't seem to be stretching the truth too much, the bruising really did look better. It had faded from an angry purple to a greenish-yellow shade, that meant it was healing. And there were no fractures to his cheekbone, which was good. Dakota didn't like to think of his brothers being in such pain because of him, first it had been Torin and Easton, now Loral. Dakota didn't want the cycle to continue.

"Does Pete know about it?" Although Pete was always so gracious about the lengths at which Loral would go to aid his brother in hiding his secret, Dakota wasn't sure he would remain so passive when made aware of such physical harm to his lover. Dakota imagined the witch could be rather frightening when he wanted to be, and he wasn't very keen to see that side of him. Vasile had told him enough about the rare times that Pete had lost his temper, apparently the natural order had punished him enough because of that. A pity that witches had a give and take with mother nature, although that did seem to be what kept them in line. Their power would be unstoppable if they weren't so limited.

"No, it'll be gone completely by the time we get back. I don't need him to worry unnecessarily," Dakota couldn't be sure that was the truth. He couldn't tell whether Loral was really sparing his boyfriend the pain, or protecting his brother. Either way, it was his choice, and Dakota certainly wasn't one to complain about the path his brother had taken.

"Have you been able to speak to him much?" Dakota knew how difficult it was for himself to be away from Vasile, but he actually believed that it was even harder for Loral. Pete was a crutch to him, a safe space that Loral could be himself, it would be hard to be ripped away from that. It always was whenever Pete had to disappear for a few weeks to travel to another state and deal with witch affairs, or Loral was hauled on a longer-term hunt with their father and siblings. He kept a brave face, however, Dakota could see it was faltering already, and that maybe wouldn't lead to the best of consequences.

"We text. Strangely, the cell service around here gets a little stronger around three in the morning, so we tend to talk then. I thought about going into the forest for a few hours, making up some excuse so that I could find somewhere better where I could call him, but I doubt I'd be allowed now because of..." Loral trailed off, even though Dakota knew exactly what he was referring to. He wasn't holding it against his little brother, simply stating the facts, Loral was like that. Honest, yet kind. In the end, Loral wouldn't be able to go out into the forest by himself, not with his autophobia. He might be able to convince Easton to go with him, but it would be just as suspicious if Joshua or the triplets caught onto what they were doing. At least he seemed to be coping with what little he had.