What Wouldn't I Give

[Nox]

Raffe's touch was electrifying, it washed the darkness away. It was just a simple kiss and a caress but Nox felt a million miles away. But he wasn't alone. And that was probably what made him float. Things hadn't been like this with Elyse. It had been different - the desire. And then the sex. This time there was no sex, just flirting and a cute boy. It wasn't that Nox didn't want more, his body ached for Raffe, but the thought of destroying what he had now stilled Nox's hand still tangled in Raffe's shirt his wounded arm hanging at his side more out of pain than not knowing what to do with it.

Nox heard Dorian's voice but beyond the fact that he was angry didn't make him pull away from the man he was kissing. But there were only moments before a rude man cleared his voice and then walked in. Nox felt his presence as his eyes were closed lost in the revelation that Raffe was more than just a friend but there were scars they both needed to heal he was certain of that. "Mr. Durante you should be in bed." The doctor shouted with concern.

There was a rustle of more people entering when Nox broke the kiss and pressed his forehead against Raffe's. "What I wouldn't give..." Nox whispered to Raffe, echoing his prior statement.

The doctor spoke without really breaking a beat. "We need to draw blood."

The movement around him finally made more sense and Nox tried to move away from Raffe and the doctor quickly. "You will do no fucking such thing. You will not get the fucking needle near me, and you will not take my blood. If you lost the fucking sample you took while I was out that's your fucking fault. I will not allow you to do it." As Nox spoke he reached into the sludge of his mind and grabbed the power, it raged inside of him like it had always done, but Nox felt unclean, dirty for having touched it but it was his life line. He quickly wove a thin slice of razor sharp fire and cut the cord to the IV so they couldn't inject any more drugs into his system with ease. The plastic tubing melted at each end sealing itself off from making a further mess.

Nox stood up, his body pressed against Raffe's "I'm going home."

[Dorian]

Dorian was on his third attempt at dialing Cruz's number when he heard Nox shouting down the hall. Fucking ....

He hung up the attempt and ran down towards the room. He watched as Nox split the IV line clean in half with an invisible wave and the doctors and everyone stood there staring at him like he was an alien. "Nox, what's going on?"

Nox declared his intentions. And the boy still held that power with in he was almost certain of it. Though Dorian couldn't tell one way or the other, but he knew Nox. "Domovoi will handle his care. Jivana will donate the facilities. Nox you might need to get Cruz to talk to me." Dorian knew that Cruz would talk to Nox, and all he wanted to do was help Nox. He'd never intended any harm to come to him, he'd made a bad judgement call in the name of his own family. He hadn't bargained for the ties they'd formed to Nox when Nox was angry. But Nox unlike his family was at least talking to him.

[Raffe]

Voices punctured their bubble, but Raffe did not listen. Even when Nox drew back he was slow to respond, seeking to recapture the kiss until the other man’s forehead pressed light against his own. His breathing remained deep, still lost in the twining words of that low whisper -- at least until panic erupted the last shades of his peace. Raffe’s eyes widened as Nox startled back. He hadn’t realised how many people were in the room now. Hadn’t wanted to. But it was the odd sensation that Nox’s fear appeared to have a presence of its own that burrowed something uncomfortable in his stomach. He flinched, unsure what he saw when the IV line suddenly severed, but never moved away. A frown swept the chaos as a hand swept his curls. The other wrapped light against Nox’s wrist; not to trap him, but to remind of his presence. He wasn’t a channeler. He wasn’t anything. But he would protect as best he could anyway.

Dorian took control before Raffe had to do anything more than brace Nox’s weight. An arm circled around, wondering how quickly the pain relief would gutter. A flash of unease took in the injury again, but only because he hated to think of the hurt. How could a hospital lose blood? Possibly infected blood? But the incredulity of that was distant to that one word. Home. He really shouldn’t let it lull him. But he knew he’d find the damn dog if he had to scour every street in Moscow, and he’d teach Nox not to kill the lotus plant, and he’d look forward to seeing that arrogant grin each morning. You’re an idiot, Raffe. 

His hand massaged where it rested. “Home,” he promised. The scratch of his voice never managed great volumes, but the words were pitched low for Nox alone. There was a soothe to them, the same way he sometimes spoke to the plants of his windowsill.

[Dorian]

The doctor and nurses stared at Nox still. The man who'd come to visit him was close, they seemed to share more than just a friendship. It made Dorian smile in a way he hadn't thought possible. Even in the darkness there was light.

Dorian stepped between the doctors and Nox. "Jivana has state of the art mobile facilities that can tend to the needs of the well done cauterized dismemberment, and his pain can be managed by himself and his friend." Dorian knew Nox was not going to abuse the pain meds, just like he never abused alcohol. "Nox get dressed, we'll get a uniform to drive the two of you home." Dorian put his arm around the doctor and navigated the stunned man out of the room.

"Let's get him discharged. I'll have officers by to look at the footage for the lost vial of blood. You need to file a report. And pray that the CDC doesn't come down on you."

"There is no record of the sample. No one has proof."

Dorian smiled. "Let's keep it that way. Why don't you fill out those discharge papers, and then you can take me to security and we'll look through the footage." Dorian led the doctor to the nurses station and they started the paperwork.

Dorian tapped the nurses desk to get the attention of the nurse. "Why don't you give him a little privacy while he gets dressed, he has all the help he needs." The woman looked up at him and pressed the buzzer and the remaining nurses fled the room leaving Nox and Raffe alone.

[Nox]

Nox's heart was racing. He hadn't gotten very far when he tried to escape the threat of a needle. But Raffe was there, comforting him. He whispered a single word that made him sink into the touch. Dorian spoke like a cop, but more importantly he took charge of the whole situation all before Nox could make a bigger mess of things. What the fuck was going on? How did blood samples disappear?

Raffe's hands on him steadied Nox and he wanted to go home even more now.

There was movement as the nurses eventually left, they'd been busy trying to clean up the mess. Though there was none. Nox ripped the tape and needle from the IV from his arm with a weave of air and pressed the puncture wound with air to stem the minor bleeding from the hole in his arms. Nox smirked at Raffe when the door closed behind the last nurse. "Seems I'm going home sooner than I expected." Nox leaned into Raffe's body. "I think I need some help getting dressed." Nox gave Raffe a playful smile before he split the weave of air around his arm and pulled the bag of his things towards him. His clothes were covered in grime. "Yeah I just didn't come from hunting in the tunnels."

Nox dumped the bag out of dirty clothes to the bed and sighed as he held up his jeans and pulled water and earth from them. It was a first, but the work was hard with so many flows split even if it was just simple weaves. Nox wiped the sweat from his brow with his good hand. Nox dropped the pair of jeans to the bed and let go of the weave holding them so he could work, and tied off the air around his arm. But Nox didn't want to let the power go, now that he had it it was glorious, but the process to get there was not so good. "I suppose that will do."

[Raffe]

Dorian took the reigns like he was used to control, issuing orders that the doctors and nurses did not protest. When the room quieted again, Raffe blinked at the whirlwind. “Bossy, isn’t he?” Raffe’s lips quirked into a lopsided smile as he indicated the door Dorian had left by. He could feel a faint flush in his cheeks, suddenly aware of how intimate that kiss had been, and maybe still a little enamoured of the memory. Nox was still close enough to be a distraction. “He said something about officers. He’s a cop?”

It wasn’t the sort of association Raffe would have expected, and he was wary of probing too deeply given how Nox had ended up at Kallisti in the first place. He tugged a hand through his hair again, stupidly aware of himself as he watched the bag slide of its own accord. Something like glimmers of light shivered oddly, like it was caught in glare, and Raffe looked away as if he’d accidentally stared too long at the sun. Once Nox dumped the clothes on the bed, his hands reached around to pluck the ties of the gown, grinning. He was overly aware of the searing heat in every skin contact, and his heart was still beating a little fast.

[Nox]

Nox chuckled at Raffe's assesment of Dorian. "Very." The touch of Raffe's fingers as he untied the gown made Nox close his eyes. If this were someplace else he'd definitely be taking advantage of the fact that Raffe was undressing him. Underneath was nothing, they'd been through when investigating his wounds. To his knowledge there was only the one. Not even a minor scrap, just the severed arm. Nox focused on his words and straitened out his clothes so they could move through the motions quickly. Though every brush of Raffe's fingers made him pause. "Dorian is a detective with the CCDPD, he joined the Police department to help cover up the Atharim's tracks. He makes sure our involvement wasn't noticed. He's got quite the record for 'strange' cases."

The power still flowed through him, the struggle was internal even though he had let the flows go. It was glorious in the darkness of his mind, seen through the murky puddle but still it felt warm, though his stomach churned if he tried to look at it too long. But the power enhanced everything, the breath Raffe breathed out casually, the sound of their hearts beating. It made Nox feel better knowing Raffe felt the same. The last tie done and Nox let the gown fall to the ground as he grabbed his jeans and turned to face Raffe. He could feel the blush creeping up his neck and ears. He wasn't shy, he'd been naked a billion times before, he could prance around naked and feel comfortable, but there was something about a first time. Though Raffe had seen him mostly naked, though covered in paint but still very close. Nox smirked. "Too bad there isn't a lot of room here, could have given you that private show."

Nox turned with a flourish, the jeans waved like a flag as he twirled around before leaning back against the bed to try to figure out how the fuck you put on pants with one arm. Nox looked at Raffe with helpless puppy dog eyes. it was more mock than anything, but the offer of help had been genuine, and the sooner they got home, the sooner they might both be naked. One could only hope.

[Raffe]

“Ah,” he said, like Dorian’s occupation made perfect sense, though of course this was a world Raffe barely comprehended -- and had not even known existed before Ascendancy turned everything on its head. Despite it he took it all in stride, unperturbed by the idea of agents within the police tasked with secretly covering these things up. Little ruffled him really. And maybe he was still willfully distracted by the hot brush of skin on skin as he helped with the gown.

A blush heated Nox’s neck when the ties fell. He was surprised by that, though not by the exhibitionist humour that followed. A warm grin greeted the silliness, quite content to play (and quite content to look). He was in no real rush to bring closure to the moment. Dorian carried the mantle of authority like he was used to being in charge, and the nurses would only stay away for so long before they’d come to at least see what the hold up was. They’d have to leave soon enough. “Hardly private,” he said, but he was laughing when he said it. 

Raffe reached to prise away the jeans, grinning a moment at whatever thought clearly flashed through his head, though instead of sharing he bunched the leg ready for a foot to poke through. “Probably easiest if you sit on the bed.”

[Nox]

There was a little thrill in getting caught but Nox let that go as Raffe clearly was taking his role as helper seriously. Nox frowned down at Raffe's hand and took a deep breath as he slid up on the bed. "Do you know the last time someone helped me get dressed was my Mom, and I was probably five getting into a pair of tights." The memory made Nox smile. It was to practice ballet, something his father had hated, it had also been the last time he'd done ballet in front of his father. That part didn't make him smile, it was a memory he hadn't exactly remembered until that moment. The trickles of lost memories still piling in.

Raffe helped Nox with his jeans. Both feet in and it was time to stand up to pull them on and when he did Nox was close enough to kiss Raffe again. Nox placed his hand on Raffe's hip. He whispered softly, "We keep getting this close I don't know if I can be responsible for what I do next." Nox couldn't take his eyes off Raffe's lips. He wanted to kiss him again, but the doorknob jiggled alerting to someone's entrance.

Though the movement didn't continue leaving them a few more seconds alone. "I should get dressed so we can go home and..." Nox let the words trail off not really knowing how to finish it. Yes, there was more he'd like to do, but he was happy just flirting with Raffe too. The kissing was great and made all parts of him sing, but there was more to life than sex, and Nox didn't want to scare Raffe away.

A nurse pushed opened the door and Nox grabbed his shirt and tugged it over his head with Raffe's help. The slight brush of his fingers against his skin sent shivers down Nox's body catching his breath in his throat as the Nurse handed him papers.

"You need to sign these papers saying you understand that you are leaving against medical recommendation. And your discharge papers." She didn't sound happy that he was leaving, or maybe she'd lost the sample. Who knew, Nox didn't really care as he signed the papers. He wasn't exactly sure how he'd pay for any of it, but that was for later, another problem for another day. Today he just wanted to get home.

Nox grabbed the hoodie he'd been wearing and slung the hood over his head without putting it on the rest of the way and hoped Ivan and Viktor had taken care of the rest of his gear That was a lot of waste if they didn't. Another problem for another day, Nox thought.

His wallet went into his back pocket then, he held out his hand to Raffe. "Ready to go home?" Nox pushed through the puddle of ooze in his head and grabed the power within and wove a net of air and carefully plucked the lotus flower from the table where Raffe put it and he grinned at Raffe. "Did I tell you how much I love this?" Nox hugged the pot close to his chest with the bandaged stump so it appeared he was balancing it, but it was held in place with a net of air carefully so the water didn't splash out on to him.

[Raffe]

He smiled at the quiet memory shared. Raffe had no real context in his own upbringing, but looking after others was intrinsic to his own nature, something he neither questioned or reflected on much. To be denied those ties -- of family, blood or otherwise, saddened him into melancholy. He didn’t comment, unsure what he might say that would not also betray the sleeping devils in his own past, but he was conscientious and gentle with the aid, and a natural smile caught his lips for every shiver of skin or meeting of eyes. Afterwards Nox lingered close, and Raffe was willfully distracted by it.

Home.

Raffe didn’t finish the trailing sentence, but he did chuckle, low and raspy. The corners of his eyes crinkled with the slow grin that followed, a little charmed by the reticence.

Nox signed the necessary paperwork. Raffe stuffed his hands in his pockets while he waited, but the discharge appeared to go smoothly despite the nurse’s clear disapproval. He offered a boyish grin, warm despite the woman’s cool efficiency. Half an eye observed Nox for any indication of pain, but mostly he just seemed eager to leave. Raffe took the hand. The air around them seemed suddenly oppressive, and the lotus sailed its way into the crook of Nox’s arm. He couldn’t help the brightness of his grin that the gift had not been forgotten; it lit him inside out, like petals reaching towards the sun. He scrubbed an awkward hand through the back of his hair. “Let’s go,” he agreed.