Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The king himself walked home from a peaceful evening outing to the lake. It had been one of the few days he was able to relax on his own, and not overwhelm himself with work.
And now, it was raining. Abrahm walked quickly in the cool autumn air, trying to get home before it was completely dark. He pulled his black and dark pink rain jacket tighter around his shoulders, shivering as the cold wind nipped at his face.
The streetlights powered on, and Abrahm cursed. He wasn’t going to be home before dark, and the rain was only getting harder. He ducked his head, locked in on getting home soon. He wanted to change out of these stupid wet clothes.
Then he heard it. A small voice, weak and faint, from a nearby alley. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
“Someone there? Please help…”
Well, that’s the start of a horror movie if I’ve ever seen one. Abrahm thought to himself, as he crept closer to the alley. His hand immediately went to the gun at his hip. It was dark, and smelled like old cigarettes, weed, and rotten garbage. He nearly gagged at the smell, making a mental note to send cleaning crews to this part of the city. Maybe see if Jebodiah would be interested in planting some wildlife in the area.
“Please… please help me. It’s cold.”
There it was again. Abrahm paused, staring into the darkness in an attempt to see if whoever was calling out was a threat. His hand had just closed around the gun when he heard a low, pained whine.
Against his better judgement, Abrahm grabbed his phone from his pocket and powered on the flashlight, venturing into the dark alley. Sure, he could very likely be walking into a trap set to mug someone. But he couldn’t shake the “what if someone is actually hurt?” feeling, so he was going into the dark alley. At night, in the pouring rain. At least he had a weapon.
Abrahm nearly tripped, stopping just before he kicked the man laying on the ground. He shined his flashlight over him. The man on the ground was only wearing a t- shirt and some shorts, despite the freezing cold. He was barefoot and covered head to toe in bruises and marks. His dark hair was tangled, he had a busted lip, and one eye was swollen shut. On top of all this, he was incredibly thin. Abrahm could see his ribs through his soaking wet shirt. He could see the bones in his arms and legs. There was very little muscle on his body.
This man needed help. And fast.
Abrahm quickly pulled off his rain jacket, not caring about himself, and covered the man’s head with it.
“Hey there. I’m here, can you look at me?”
The man opened his good eye, looking up at Abrahm. He could see the relief in that single eye.
“Please help.”
“I’m going to help. I’ll get you out of here, okay?” Abrahm continued examining the man for injuries.
The man’s knee was crooked and swollen. There was no way he could walk. The rain poured down harder, the darkness bringing a deeper cold. He needed to get this man out of here. He knelt down beside him.
“Where do you live? I can take you home.” Or to a hospital.
The man shivered violently, teeth chattering so hard he could barely speak.
“D-don’t have a ho-home. Left.”
Well, that wasn’t good. No home? What on earth did he mean he left? Was this man in danger?
Abrahm sighed.
“Okay, then I’ll take you to a hospital.”
The man shook his head aggressively, squeezing his shirt in his hands.
“No, no please. No. No hospital.”
He sighed again, thinking for a second. He knew what he had to do.
“I can take you home with me. I can carry you if you are unable to walk.”
Abrahm noticed the way his expression brightened for a second. The hope that shined in his eye. Damn it. Now Abrahm couldn’t leave him. With another sigh, the king used his phone to bark a command at the kingdom’s AI assistant.
“Dovahcom, prepare the Medbay.”
“Understood, Sire. Medbay under preparation.”
Abrahm turned off the flashlight, putting his phone away. He tucked his jacket around the man’s body, trying to preserve as much of his body heat as he could. He reached out to the man, who tried his best to shift into a position that would make it easier to be lifted. Abrahm carefully hooked his right arm under the man’s knees, and his left just under his shoulders. He was extra careful with his swollen knee. He pulled him close to his torso, hoping some of his body heat would transfer and warm up the man.
Abrahm didn’t work out that much. He occasionally lifted weights, and he walked most places, but he wasn’t much for working out. Yet he held the man in his arms as if he was nothing. His bones dug into Abrahm’s body, causing him to wince. The man let out a soft whimper, biting his lip hard.
“I know, I know, shhh. I know it hurts, I’m getting you away from here.” Abrahm soothed, holding the man close to his body. He could feel his bones through the shirt. How was he still alive?? He was skinny as hell. Incredibly underweight, likely malnourished and dehydrated.
Abrahm started on his journey back to the Domeplex, nearly running in order to get this mysterious man to the Medbay.

“You know, I never got your name. I’m Abrahm, if you were unaware of that.” The king said to the man once they’d reached the Domeplex. People stared at them, jaws wide. They whispered quietly to one another, obviously not accustomed to this sort of situation. Abrahm glared at them, effectively shutting them up.
“I’m Xavier.”
The man whispered softly, resting his face against Abrahm’s neck.
“Xavier, huh? I like that. That’s a good name.”
Abrahm carried Xavier into the Medbay, setting him down on a bed. Xavier panicked, eyeing the robot that approached with great concern.
“Abrahm?!”
“Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay. I swear. It’s okay. Trust me. That robot is here to help you. It’s a MedBot. I coded it myself, you can trust it.”
Abrahm held onto Xavier’s arm as the MedBot approached. The man squeezed his arm tightly, hiding his face in the pillow.
Abrahm continued soothing Xavier as the MedBot scanned him for his vitals. Another MedBot came up, holding a medical gown. Abrahm took the thin cloth, holding it up to Xavier.
“Can I help you change?” He asked, waiting for Xavier’s permission. Once the dark haired man nodded and sat up, Abrahm began gently taking off Xavier’s shirt.
His torso was heavily bruised, and one rib looked like it could possibly be broken.
With a feather-light touch, Abrahm gently felt around the area. Xavier winced slightly, instinctively pulling away from the touch.
“Sorry. It looks like you might have a broken rib.”
Abrahm quickly moved his hands away.
“We do need to cut your shorts off though. I don’t want to mess with your knee. I can have the Bots do that, if you don’t feel comfortable with me doing that.”
Xavier nodded hesitantly, grabbing Abrahm’s rain jacket from where it was forgotten at the side of the bed.
“Robot.”
Abrahm nodded, heading to the supply closet while the MedBots took care of the clothing situation. He grabbed some extra blankets and pillows, as well as some water bottles and crackers.
He returned a few minutes later to see Xavier with the medical gown on. He was also wrapped in Abrahm’s rain jacket. He smiled a little, settling back down beside Xavier’s bed.
The other man looked utterly exhausted, yet he still jerked away when a robot approached him with a syringe. Xavier began hyperventilating, muttering something in a low voice. Abrahm jumped up, quickly reassuring him.
“Hey, hey. That right there is an IV. That’s all it is. It’ll give you some fluids and some pain relievers for now.”
“N-no, not- not again. No- I don’t want to go back to that! No!”
Abrahm quickly realized that Xavier was having a panic attack, likely from flashbacks. He signaled for the MedBot to back off, before crawling into the bed beside Xavier. He gently took the dark haired man’s arms, rubbing his thumbs across the cool skin.
“Shhhh. It’s okay. You’re not there. You’re not going back to that place.”
Xavier seemed to calm down, his good eye fixed on the thumbs that were rubbing his arms. Abrahm smiled softly, looking down as well. He gently shifted his hands, now tenderly moving his thumbs back and forth over his inner elbow, where the IV would go. Xavier closed his eye, relaxing slightly.
As he moved his thumbs, Abrahm noticed small, raised bumps in the area. Abrahm looked closer. Track marks.
“Hey, Xavier…?”
The dark haired man opened his eye again, looking at Abrahm. He glanced down at his arms, then back up at Abrahm. His eye widened and he quickly yanked his arms back, gasping in pain but still hugging them to his torso.
“Not what you think!!”
“Okay, okay! It’s okay! I’m not attacking you! You’re not in trouble!”
Abrahm said calmly, holding his hands up in surrender.
“I was just wondering if that’s why you don’t want the IV.”
“Don’t want any more medicine!!! No more!! No more medicine!!”
Something didn’t seem right. Xavier had marks that indicated drug use, but seemed to be scared of any medicine. And weirdly defensive about it not being what Abrahm would assume it to be.
“What did you mean by ‘not what you think’?” Abrahm asked softly, reaching for Xavier’s arm again. When he didn’t pull away, Abrahm gently grabbed it again.
“Gave me medicine a lot. Made me feel crazy.” The man said quietly, looking down at his lap.
“Who did, Xavier?”
“My group.” He shuddered, closing his eye again.
“Didn’t like it at all.”

Group? What the hell kind of group was this? Was it his family?
Abrahm frowned a little, taking a deep breath.
“This medicine won’t make you feel crazy. It’ll stop you from hurting. It might make you sleepy, but not crazy.”
Abrahm explained.
“It's a saline solution first. That, along with some electrolytes because you’re dehydrated. It’ll also give you morphine, which will stop the pain from your knee, ribs and all your other bruises and injuries.”
Xavier opened his eye, looking at Abrahm.
“There will also be an anesthetic to put you to sleep. That’s so the robots can fix up your knee and all your other littler injuries. I’ll be right by your side.”
Abrahm smiled tenderly, motioning for the MedBot to come close again. Xavier hesitantly gave out his arm, looking away.
“Good, you’re doing amazing.” He praised, climbing out of the bed. He helped Xavier lay down, holding his hand as the MedBot inserted the IV. Xavier let out a small whimper at that, squeezing Abrahm’s hand tight.
“Now you’re going to feel cold. I got you some extra blankets for that reason. It’ll feel really weird, but it’s to be expected, believe me.” Abrahm mentioned, spreading the extra blankets over Xavier’s thin form. “I’ve had my own IV many times before.”
“Mmh. Sleepy…” Xavier murmured, his grip on Abrahm’s arm relaxing.
“You can sleep. I encourage it.”
Xavier nodded, closing his eye and drifting off. Abrahm smiled down at him.
He found Xavier adorable. He seemed so innocent, and it was heartbreaking to see the state he was in. Who could be so cruel to someone so sweet?
As the MedBots worked, Abrahm paced back and forth. He was going to find whoever was responsible for this. And he was going to make them pay. Whoever these monsters were, Abrahm was going to find them and make them hurt just as much as they’d hurt Xavier. Maybe more, depending on his mood.
He sent a quick text to his brother, giving a summary of the evening he’d had. Abrahm received a very shocked “WHAT?!” In response, but he didn’t have the energy to elaborate. The robots were done working on Xavier. The man was all bandaged up, a cast over his knee. Abrahm was exhausted. He ended up dragging one of the extra beds over beside Xavier’s, and collapsing into it. He was fast asleep within a few minutes.

Chapter Text

Xavier woke up in a panic. It was five, he had work to do, he had to get up, he had to get up-! 

He sat up quickly, ignoring the searing pain that shot up his side. He blinked hard, trying to focus his vision. Something was covering his left eye. Was that his punishment? He didn’t think he’d slept in. Were they going to take away his eyes like they swore they would? 

“I’m up!! I’m up! I’m awake, I swear!!” Xavier cried out, desperately trying to pull off whatever was on his face.

He tried to move out of the bed, but his knee didn’t work. This wasn’t good!! He was going to be in so much trouble, he had to get out of bed!!!

Xavier was hyperventilating again, thrashing about in a panic when two hands firmly yet gently pressed down on his shoulders, forcing him to lay down. 

“Xavier, it’s okay. You’re okay. Lay down. You’re gonna hurt yourself again.” 

Again? He wondered. His whole body hurt. Everything was burning and aching. His heart was racing and he felt so dizzy. Xavier felt like he should panic at the hands, but something about how tenderly they held him made him pause. 

Right. He wasn’t there with them. Not anymore. He was somehow in the palace of Nadoria. He wasn’t sure how that happened. He remembered being beaten and thrown out to die, but then being rescued by Abrahm. The king rescued him.

Xavier looked up at the other man with his one good eye. Abrahm looked incredibly worried, his pink and white hair tousled all about his face. His breath was nearly as fast as Xavier’s own. 

“You… Are you okay now? Do you want to talk about what scared you so much?”

Xavier whimpered quietly, closing his eye. Everything hurt. Especially his ribs. Abrahm has told him one was broken? It was agony. That's all that he knew. 

He heard a small click, and the machine Abrahm had called an IV trickled cold fluid into his veins. For a moment, Xavier was terrified that it would cause him to lose his mind again, but that was quickly overshadowed by the immense relief he felt. His whole body was warm and fuzzy. Like all his nerves were being wrapped in a warm towel. The pain melted away. He was somewhat aware of making some kind of noise, but the relief he felt made him not care. 

“Wha..?” He mumbled quietly, opening his eye and looking up at Abrahm. The pink and white haired man smiled at him, reaching out to fix his blankets.

“Morphine again. It helps with the pain.”

Xavier cracked a small smile. 

“It’s nice. Fuzzy though.” 

Xavier felt around under the blankets, finding the jacket that Abrahm has wrapped around him. Okay. He was safe, he was warm. Xavier glanced around the room, his eye fixing on a clock. It read 5:06 am. He was still exhausted. And fuzzy. His heart was still racing. But he wasn’t sure his body would let him sleep again. Not after that wake up. He had to be up at five. Every day. 

“Can I ask what made you panic? If it was a nightmare, I have tactics that can help deal with those.” 

Xavier shook his head. He wished it was just nightmares. Those weren’t as bad. 

“No. Had to wake up really early. Every day. Else they’d be really really mad.” 

“Your group?” 

Xavier nodded solemnly, picking at his fingers. He needed something to fidget with, something to distract himself before he spiraled. 

He heard the sound of rubber wheels rolling across the ground and looked up. There was one of those robots that was also a doctor. It went up to Abrahm, and spoke in a monotone and static-y voice. 

“Sire. Diagnostic. Complete.”

The robot seemed to pause between each word, as if it had to think very hard about everything it said. 

Xavier watched through one eye as Abrahm got up to talk to the robot. He just. Couldn’t. Focus. He was fuzzy all over. His eyelid felt heavy and tired. Xavier just wanted to lay down and sleep. But he also wanted to see what his injuries were. He wanted to know what was going on with his body, why everything hurt. But his ears didn’t work, he could only watch as Abrahm talked to the robot. He wasn’t given permission to hear. So he couldn’t know yet. He just had to tune it all out. Even if he knew he consciously wanted to know. 

Xavier was aware of reality again when Abrahm gently touched his shoulder. He focused in again, looking up at Abrahm.

“Hey, did you hear any of that?” 

Xavier shook his head. 

“Okay, well, the MedBot’s diagnostic confirmed you have a broken rib, and broken knee. And you also have a minor orbital fracture, that’s what’s wrong with your eye. But the eye itself is okay.” 

“Orbital?” 

“The Orbital is the bones around your eye.”

“Oh.” 

He was picking at his fingers again. He wasn’t supposed to do that. He usually got in trouble for this at home. And it also usually stung, the pain stopping him from going too far. But with the warm, fuzzy feeling running through his body, it was more of a small, ignorable ache than anything. So he didn’t stop picking at the skin around his nails, even as his fingers began to bleed. He listened intently as Abrahm explained his extensive list of injuries.

“You had to have a couple wounds stitched up. And a lot more smaller ones bandaged. Multiple bruises were given a healing ointment, and your burns were wrapped with a different kind of healing ointment. Currently, the IV in your arm is giving you fluids because you’re severely dehydrated.” 

Abrahm leaned over, gently taking Xavier’s hand. He continued talking, but kept his hand in place. Xavier found himself unable to pick any more, his cold hands being warmed by Abrahms.

“You’re also incredibly malnourished, so the robots are planning out how to feed you and get your weight up.”

Xavier looked over at him quizzically. He didn’t think he was malnourished. He was fed like this as long as he could remember. A meal every other day. That was enough to sustain him, he’d been told. Never more. More food wouldn’t be good for him. He’d been fed before he… before the fight happened. And they got mad. 

“They said I’m fine like this, don’t need anymore food.” 

“Xavier… how much were they feeding you?” 

Abrahm’s eyebrows were furrowed, and he pulled his hand back to grab his phone. Xavier immediately went back to picking at his fingers. 

“Every other day. Right at midday. Serving of protein, serving of carbs, serving of fruit, and serving of vegetables. Grown in our garden, mostly.” 

“Xavier… Do you ever… get really dizzy as you stand up? Does your vision ever look like static and you can’t see anything?”

Xavier nodded softly. That did happen a lot, especially when he was going outside to help with the garden or animals.

His face brightened a little bit as he recalled a pleasant memory. 

“Used to help with the baby chicks!!! Fed them and held them!!” 

Abrahm looked up, a little startled, but he still smiled. 

“Oh? You got to take care of the chickens? Did you enjoy that?” 

Xavier nodded enthusiastically, wincing slightly but brushing it off. His small smile quickly faded as he recalled another, much less pleasant memory.

“They made my brother kill them though. To eat. He hated it at first. Then he turned off his emotions. Told me that himself.” 

Abrahm froze, looking up at him. 

“Brother? What do you mean? How many siblings do you have??” 

Xavier thought for a moment. 

“Have four. Two sisters and two brothers. But one sister isn’t really my sister. They keep saying they’re an alien. Not a girl or boy. Alien.” 

Xavier tried to smile again at the other man, hoping to make him smile too. But Abrahm just looked at him stunned. And a little angry. Angry. Abrahm was angry with him. Xavier didn’t understand it, or what he said wrong. But he was used to this! He could handle it! 

Xavier shut his mouth tight, laying his head back down against the pillow. He held his hands tightly together and stared at the ceiling. He could hear the tapping of Abrahm messaging someone on a small rectangle device. He remembered  his father used to do that occasionally. He would always use it to yell at other people. Normally when he was mad and needed to talk to someone. Or when he had to call for backup. Normally when Xavier was bad. 

He bit his lip, cowering down a little. He couldn’t make Abrahm mad, he’d only been here for a night! He couldn’t go back out on the streets. Abrahm had saved his life, he should be more grateful for that! He shouldn’t act this way, how dare he! He was just an ungrateful little brat, just like they’d always told him. They were right. He was worthless. 

Xavier spoke up again, in a tiny voice, just a little bit in order to maybe calm Abrahm down. He didn’t want to go back out in the cold.

“Sorry…”

Chapter Text

Abrahm was quickly snapped out of his seething rage by Xavier’s tiny voice. He looked up at him, heart breaking at the way the man was cowering into his bed. Abrahm didn’t mean to get angry. Dammit. The poor soul looked terrified. 

“Hey, hey. Xavier, I’m not mad at you. I promise. I was angry at the people who hurt you. But I’m not angry at you.” 

He reassured, smiling gently at Xavier. He watched the young man open his eye warily, scanning the room again. 

“I promise. You’re okay here. I’m not going to hurt you.” 

He noticed Xavier was picking at his fingers again. His one good eye was fixed on something across the room. Abrahm followed his gaze to the shelves of activities. Books, card games, board games, coloring books. Things that Jebodiah had put down here for the patients receiving treatment. 

“Did you want something from the shelves? I can bring it to you. They were put here for people like you.”

Xavier quickly shook his head, looking away. 

“No thank you.” He whispered, but Abrahm took notice of the way his hands moved. As if they were shuffling something. He quickly got up, retrieving a regular deck of cards from the shelves. Abrahm brought them back over to Xavier, whose eye lit up. 

“I’ll let you have these, but first I’m going to put some bandages on your fingers.” 

Xavier reluctantly nodded, holding his hands out. Abrahm grabbed a handful of small bandages from the table along the wall. They had shapes and patterns on them. Abrahm also grabbed a tube of antibiotic healing ointment. 

The king tenderly wrapped each of Xavier’s torn fingers with heavy amounts of the ointment, taking great care with where he placed the sticky side of each bandage. Xavier waited patiently as Abrahm wrapped his fingers. 

“This bandage has stars on it. I quite enjoy stars.” Abrahm said softly, pointing out the bandage as he wrapped it around Xavier’s finger.

When he finished, he stepped back to throw away the paper wrappers and passed the deck of cards to Xavier. 

The dark haired man eagerly opened the box, pulling out the cards and shuffling them. Abrahm’s jaw dropped a little. This man had talent. Abrahm watched in awe as Xavier effortlessly shuffled the cards from hand to hand. He could even do tricks with them. Abrahm smiled as he watched Xavier, the other man seemed so intently focused on shuffling the cards.

If it stops him from picking at his fingers, Abrahm thought. 

“You’re really good at that.” 

Xavier looked over at him, expression brightening slightly. 

“Thanks. Used to play cards with my siblings. Made me shuffle ‘cause it’s fun.” 

“Oh really?” 

“Mhm!” 

Abrahm glanced at the clock. It was almost six in the morning. 

“Hey Xavier?”

The other man looked up at him.

“You only slept for… maybe four hours. Do you think you could sleep more? Your body really needs it.” 

Xavier stopped shuffling the cards for a moment.

“You mean I… I can sleep more?” Xavier asked softly. His eye was full of hope, and it broke Abrahm’s heart. This man was so innocent. So scared. He’d been denied basic human decency for who knows how long. God…

“Yes, Xavier. You can sleep for as long as you want. No strings attached, no punishments. Your goal right now is to heal up your body. And to heal, you need plenty of rest.”

“You sure…?” 

Abrahm frowned, his heart aching. The other man had such hope in his one good eye, it tore him apart. He had dark circles under his eye, so dark they looked like bruises. 

“I am absolutely sure. Nobody but me is allowed near you right now. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Okay.” Xavier mumbled, setting his deck of cards to the side. 

The dark haired man laid back, pulling his blankets up over his body. Abrahm helped cover him, clearing away the unneeded items. He pulled something out from under the blankets. His rain jacket. 

“No!!” Xavier exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing onto the jacket. He seemed to realize his mistake, quickly dropping the jacket and apologizing profusely. 

“Sorry, sorry sorry!! Didn’t mean to-!” 

“Shhh, it's okay. You can keep my jacket. I don't mind, I have another.” Abrahm put the jacket back where it was underneath the blankets. That was probably the only item that Xavier had that brought him comfort after the rescue. Abrahm figured he associated it with being rescued. 

Once Xavier was comfortably settled, Abrahm crossed the Medbay to turn the lights down. He kept quiet in order to maintain a comfortable silence for the other man to sleep. 

He sat down at one of the desks, opening up the report the robot had given him. Now he could finally sit down and read the whole thing. He was a bit surprised that the robot had been able to find a full report on Xavier. 

Date of examination: November 3, 2028

Date of birth: November 11, 2005

Age: 23 

Height: 73 inches / 6’1” 

Weight: 122.43 pounds

First name: Xavier

Last name: Rotom

Known biological parents: Madden Rotom (father) 

“How the hell are you still alive…? You’re nearly just a skeleton.”

Abrahm squinted at the report. He couldn't help but wonder if Xavier’s father was the reason for the state of the young man. His brows furrowed, squinting at the numbers. He needed to get Xavier’s weight up. He was thin, and Abrahm again wondered how he was still alive. The poor boy was only twenty three. Despite being only five years older --well, four years, Xavier's birthday was coming up very soon-- Abrahm couldn’t help but think of him as just a baby. An innocent soul. Xavier was certainly mentally younger.  

Probably as a response to the trauma he’d endured. Abrahm shook his head, continuing reading.

Status: Living

Last Seen At: Unknown location

Injury Report: 

Patellar fracture-No surgery required

Minor rib fracture-No surgery required

Minor orbital fracture-No surgery required (Eye has very mild bruising, but overall uninjured.)

All fractures were treated and now require daily checkups. 

Multiple lacerations, contusions and small first and second degree burns. Seven lacerations required stitches, the rest of the injuries were treated with a simple healing ointment and gauze wrap. Stitches may be evaluated for removal in five days. 

Feeding schedule is currently under evaluation.

Abrahm squinted as he read the end of the report, jaw dropping at what was written. There was no way that was true. He'd never heard of this before. What was he getting himself into?

The patient seems to have an exposed patch of nerves at the base of his neck. It is approximately an inch and a half, in the shape of a square. It is covered by some form of permanent, but removable, rubber bandage material. This exposure seems to be intentional, though not by the patient. When questioned, he seemed confused, before beginning to panic. He repeatedly refused any treatment of the exposed patch. Further treatment and evaluation is needed. 

Abrahm scowled. So this wasn’t just a harsh environment. This was pure goddamn cruelty. This was intense, intentional harm. He would go as far as to say that Xavier had been horrifically abused wherever he’d been before. He made a mental reminder to ask about that when the man woke up again.  

He groaned, laying his head down on the desk. 

What is going on here? 

He had to figure out what had happened. He couldn’t let people like this run free in his country. Who knows who else has been harmed? How many innocent people had been harmed, or even killed? Xavier mentioned having younger siblings. He assumed he would need to rescue them. 

He groaned, sitting up and rubbing his face. He was exhausted. He wanted to sleep, but he couldn't. The sun was rising, it was a little past six in the morning. His brother was expecting him to be up and moving in an hour. But the desk was surprisingly comfortable. And the king was soon fast asleep. 

Abrahm’s nightmare was violent. He was running through the streets of Nadoria again, but this time he was being chased by the MedBots. Except they weren’t just the MedBots. They had sharp metal pincers, and were grabbing at anybody they could reach. The metal pincers pierced through the bodies of anybody they grabbed, spilling their gore all over the streets.

Abrahm turned to look in front of him, running faster. But he was stopped by Xavier, who was held around the throat by a metal pincer. 

Blood poured down the front of Xavier’s shirt as his head was cut off.

Abrahm screamed, turning around to run, only to be met with the robots again. They’d shoved the bodies of their victims inside of themselves, grabbing him with their sharp pincers. His arms and legs were bleeding. 

They mimicked the voices of people he cared about. 

Jebodiah. 

His mother. 

His father. 

His friends.

And now, Xavier. 

They were all taunting Abrahm. Telling him it was all his fault. That all the destruction had been his own fault. 

Abrahm screamed, trying to break away but the claws ended up tearing through his arm, bones and all. 

He woke up in a cold sweat to someone grabbing his arm. He sat up, shouting and flailing around. Abrahm found himself on the floor, suddenly very sore. 

Right. He was in the MedBay. And it was his brother who was shaking him. 

Abrahm looked up at Jebodiah, smiling weakly. 

“Mornin’.” He mumbled sheepishly, pulling himself to his feet.

“Morning? It’s literally almost ten AM.” 

Abrahm glanced at the clock. It was indeed almost ten. 9:47. 

“Sorry. It’s been a long night.”

“I can see that. Your patient is still asleep.”

Abrahm turned, looking at Xavier. 

The young man was fast asleep, even paler in the morning light streaming in from the glass windows. His skin was a soft grey, littered with bandages and bruises. 

His dark hair was thin and tangled, but Abrahm was sure it would be beautiful if he wasn’t malnourished. He was going to have to help him with that. Xavier’s expression was soft, peaceful even. Abrahm smiled gently. He’d never seen someone with lilac eyes. 

Abrahm felt a strange protective streak rising up. Nobody was going to hurt Xavier ever again. And the ones who already had? Abrahm was going to make them pay. 

“No. Way.” Jebodiah muttered. He was smiling when Abrahm turned to him. Abrahm raised an eyebrow, confused at the expression on his brother's face. Jeb smirked at him, raising an eyebrow.

“What??” Abrahm demanded, unsure of what his brother was getting at.

“Nothin’.” He chuckled, shaking his head and looking at him knowingly.

“What???”

He was about to press Jebodiah for more information on what he meant, but he was distracted by a soft murmuring from Xavier. Abrahm quickly rushed to his side, already preparing to calm him down again. 

Chapter Text

Voices. Xavier was hearing voices. He hovered in that soft phase where he wasn’t awake or asleep. He found this little in-between area peaceful, calm. A small pocket away from the chaos and pain of his daily life. Warm and fuzzy. 

Xavier was safe here. He was okay. Abrahm had told him that he was safe here. Nobody would be able to get in without permission. He was allowed to sleep. The jacket was tucked in at his side. His safety net. The jacket that kept him warm when he was on the verge of death.

Death was a strange thought. Like the chicks on the farm. Gone forever. That was almost him, Xavier thought. And his family just… didn’t care. That thought made his heart hurt. 

The voices were louder. There was a shout, but he just retreated further into his mind where it was safe and warm. And fuzzy. Everything was so fuzzy. Like when the towels came out of the dryer. Why was he so warm and fuzzy?

Because he had medicine! Xavier opened his eye, looking around the room. It was bright, sunlight streaming in. It wasn't raining anymore. He was safe and warm. 

Abrahm was right beside him, looking exhausted but still smiling. Xavier felt something in his stomach flip, but he didn’t quite understand it. He brushed it off as being hungry, as it was the day to eat. 

Xavier looked over, startled by the other person in the room. He had white hair like Abrahm, except it was his entire head. And it was a bit wavier. His eyes were also brown, and his skin was more tanned. The two had the same sharp features, but the other man had a bit more weight on his body. And he looked… softer, in a way. 

“Xavier, this is my brother. His name is Jebodiah.” 

The other man smiled, waving a little. “Hey, Xavier.” 

“...Hello.” Xavier said softly, looking back up at Abrahm.

The pink and white haired man smiled again, leaning back and going over to one of the robots. MedBots. They were called MedBots. He had to remember that. He watched the MedBot hand Abrahm a small bottle. The bottle had some sort of white, flowery design on it. Abrahm brought it over to Xavier, opening it up. 

“The MedBots have a plan to help slowly feed you and get you up to weight. Right now, they want you to drink these protein shakes. One every few hours.” 

Xavier shook his head. He couldn't. No. That wasn’t what he was allowed to eat. He had to comply with the rules. 

“No, get one plate of food. Not that.” 

“I understand, Xavier. But the way that they fed you? That isn’t a healthy eating pattern. A healthy person eats at least two good meals a day.” Abrahm said softly, pressing a button on the bed that turned it to a sitting position. Xavier looked at the bottle, frowning again and looking down at his hands. He reached for the deck of cards, starting to shuffle them.

“Can’t.” 

Abrahm sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. 

“Do you think you’d be able to maybe just try it? For me?”

Xavier looked up from shuffling his cards, trying to decipher the look on the other man’s face. He turned to Abrahm’s brother- Jebodiah, his name was Jebodiah- for guidance. The man smiled gently, urging him to try the drink. He looked back to Abrahm, who held out the bottle. 

Xavier sighed, before taking the bottle and opening it. It smelled sweet, really sweet. The appearance of the liquid reminded him of milk, though it was thicker and much richer. 

Xavier took a deep breath, bringing the bottle to his mouth and trying a sip. It was sweet, very sweet. Too sweet. He nearly gagged trying to get it down, coughing and sputtering. Abrahm quickly took the bottle back, letting Xavier take a break. 

“Good, you're doing really good. It’s okay. You're okay. Deep breaths.” 

“What is that?” 

“It’s a protein shake. It has nutrients.”

“Tastes sweet.” 

“Yeah. It’s vanilla flavor. Do you think you could drink maybe half of this?”

Xavier shook his head. He couldn't. No. It was so bad. He couldn't. It was too much, it was so bad. 

“Xavier, please. Just a little bit. Next time we’ll try another flavor. But please, one more drink. One more big drink.” 

He could feel tears threatening to form. He couldn't. But Abrahm was so gentle with him. He wasn’t making him drink it. He… He had a choice he could make. This was up to him.

And suddenly, Xavier wanted to make Abrahm proud. He wanted to make Abrahm proud of him. He wanted to see the pink and white haired man smile at him. Xavier was determined. 

Xavier reached out and grabbed the bottle again. He held his breath, taking a large drink of the protein shake. He almost couldn't keep it in, but he steeled his nerves and locked his jaw. He was not going to throw up. He refused. 

Xavier closed his eye, taking another deep breath and swallowing again. Breathe in. Breath out. He had it. It was down. He didn't need to drink any more of that awful drink. 

“Good, good job. I’m so proud of you, Xavier. You did really good.” Abrahm praised, smiling and handing the bottle off to a MedBot. 

“Thank you.”

Xavier’s eye widened when Abrahm put a hand on his back. He wasn’t expecting that. A strange warmth radiated from the hand, spreading through his body and pushing out the freezing cold. He subconsciously leaned into the touch, closing his eye. 

“We’ll try a different flavor next time, okay? I get it if you don’t like vanilla.” 

Xavier opened his eye, heart sinking as Abrahm pulled his hand back. Everything was still fuzzy, the morphine running through his body still. The cold chill settled deep into his bones again. He wanted Abrahm to hold him. 

Stop. Stop stop stop. You can’t think that. That’s bad. Stop it.

“Can we talk?” Abrahm asked, putting aside his computer. The day had gone by so slowly. Drinking another protein shake had gone horribly. Abrahm had Xavier try chocolate, and he had ended up spitting it out. Again, it was too sweet. Afterwards, Xavier had spent most of the day rambling about taking care of the farm animals or the garden, while Abrahm wrote it down.

Xavier nodded, putting away his cards. Abrahm sat down next to his bed in a spinny chair, slowly turning it as he skimmed through a small stack of papers. He pulled up one of the last papers, setting the others to the side and reading it. 

“The MedBots came up with a report of all your injuries and such. I read through it, and I was quite surprised to read something about you having an exposed patch of nerves on the back of your neck.” 

Xavier shuddered violently, immediately covering the spot on his neck. Memories immediately flooded his mind. He wasn’t quite sure what Abrahm had meant by exposed nerves, but he did know that it hurt like hell when it was touched. 

Wait. Wait no.

You can’t say that. Hell is a bad word. You’ll have to put bitter spray in your mouth.

Xavier almost gagged remembering the taste. It also hurt a lot when he was shocked or poked on the back of his neck. 

“Hey. It’s alright. We can treat it, it won’t hurt anymore.” 

“N-No, need it. It’s- it makes me behave- need- need it-” 

“Okay, okay. Okay. Breathe. Breathe with me.” 

“No-NO CAN’T-” 

“Xavier, it’s okay!” 

Xavier’s breath quickened as tears welled in his eyes. 

Nononononono don’t- don’t cry don’t cry- can’t cry- stop- stop it- 

Xavier choked on a sob, bringing his hands up to cover his mouth. A single tear streamed down from his good eye. 

“Xavier, shhhh. It’s okay. Shhhh. You’re okay. You’re safe.”

“NO, NO! STOP!” 

Xavier flailed his arm at Abrahm, just wanting him to GO AWAY! It hurt, his chest and side hurt, he jerked his knee, god it hurt- he felt his neck pressing up against the pillow and it hurt, everything was hurting and he wanted IT TO STOP!!!!! 

He couldn’t cry, not really. He was never allowed to. So Xavier just ended up making this strange sound that mixed choking and gasping. He felt like something was in his throat, squeezing up like it would cut off his breathing. 

Something cool and soft pressed against his face, wiping away the dampness from the tears. Xavier sniffled quietly, opening his eye and looking up at Abrahm. 

The other man was focused on wiping away the tears. He smiled softly once he noticed Xavier looking up at him. 

“It’s kind of like crossing a handkerchief and an extra absorbent washcloth. They’re also kept in a cooler so it feels nicer on your skin.” Abrahm explained, passing the cloth to Xavier.  

He took the cloth, using it to wipe the remaining tears off his face.

“Thank you.” 

Xavier stared down at his hands, once again reaching for his deck of cards. He was thoroughly embarrassed with himself, crying over something stupid. He was really that pathetic. 

But Abrahm wasn’t making fun of him like his father used to. The other man was still smiling at him. Smiling at him with that soft, concerned expression. Something in Xavier’s chest fluttered, feeling strangely tight. 

He wanted Abrahm to rest his hand on his back again. 

Stop stop stop stop. Stop it. You’re awful. 

Chapter Text

Abrahm leaned back in his chair, slowly spinning in a circle. Okay. So Xavier did NOT want the nerves messed with right now. Understood. 

But Abrahm just wanted to help the other man heal. 

“We can treat it. We can make it go away and stop hurting. Yes, it will require touching, but it won’t hurt. We can numb it before treatment.”

“No.” Xavier said softly, wiping his face again.

“No treatment. No touch. Leave alone. Please.”

With a small sigh, Abrahm decided to let it go for now. He could only fix so many problems at once. 

“Okay. I’ll leave it alone for now. Why don’t I help you with another protein shake? It’s a different flavor.”

Xavier groaned, shoving a pillow over his own face and immediately regretting it when it pressed into his eye. 

Abrahm couldn’t help but stifle a small chuckle. Xavier made his heart swell with a soft joy. He took the bottle the MedBot offered him. 

“This one is… orange flavored.”  Abrahm shuddered. He carried it over to Xavier, opening it up. 

“I personally am not fond of orange flavoring. But you might enjoy it.” 

Xavier looked nervous, but he still took the bottle. Xavier brought it up to his nose, sniffing it slightly. His eyes widened slightly, and he took a sip. Abrahm braced himself, preparing to step in to take it away. 

But Xavier seemed to… Enjoy this flavor. He took another sip, before humming softly.

“You like this one? Orange flavor?” 

Xavier nodded, grinning softly as he took another drink. 

“Love oranges. Ate them a whole lot.” 

Abrahm got up, beginning to tidy up the area as Xavier drank his protein shake. He threw away the garbage and put away extra equipment. 

“Yeah? You ate them a whole lot?”

“Mhm! Favorite.” 

Abrahm watched Xavier finish drinking his protein shake as he cleaned the area. This was a huge win. He found a flavor that Xavier liked. He could finally start getting his weight up now. Relief flooded his body, and something inside of him relaxed. 

“Great. Now that you’re drinking those, we’ll soon be able to introduce more solid foods.”

Abrahm took the empty plastic bottle that Xavier was chewing on, tossing it into the trash can. He immediately regretted that decision when Xavier frowned softly, looking longingly at the bottle he’d just thrown away.

“Oh sh- were you actually wanting to keep that?”

Xavier nodded softly, looking to the side.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.” 

“Like chewing.” 

“I see.” Abrahm said softly, running his fingers across the edge of his shirt.

“I could likely get you a chewing necklace. Do you know what that is?” 

Xavier shook his head, shuffling his cards back and forth again.

“It’s a piece of rubber or silicon on a necklace that is meant to be chewed on. What’s your favorite color?” 

Xavier thought for a minute. 

“Like red. Dark red. And…. like purple. Really like purple.” He looked to the side, picking at his fingers. Abrahm reached out, gently touching Xavier’s hands to stop him from tearing at the skin. The man’s breath caught slightly, and Abrahm quickly pulled back. 

Shit, you can’t just do that. He probably hates being touched. 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I just don’t want you to hurt your fingers.”

“S’okay.” The dark haired man mumbled. 

Abrahm cleared his throat, taking a small walk across the MedBay. He opened up one of the cabinets, digging through the supplies until he found the necklaces. 

He dug through the purple necklaces until he found the perfect one. It was shaped like a playing card, with the symbols engraved into the material. 

Perfect. 

Abrahm ran across the large room, holding the necklace as if it were a prize he won.

“Here!! I got you this!!”

Xavier perked up, eye wide and bright. He reached out nervously, taking the necklace carefully. He pulled it out of the package, grinning as he saw the shape. He immediately stuck it in his mouth. 

“There you go. Now you can stop tearing at your fingers.”

Xavier grinned sheepishly, looking at his fingers.

Abrahm grabbed the bandaids and antibiotic ointment, settling down next to Xavier. 

“Let me see your fingers. I’ll treat them again.” 

Xavier almost eagerly offered his hands to Abrahm, who grabbed a tissue to wipe away the blood from the torn fingers. He gently applied the ointment on all injuries, before wrapping them in bandages. He tried to use mainly red and purple bandages, now that he knew those were Xavier’s favorite colors. 

Once he finished bandaging the injuries, Abrahm sat back. 

“There you go. Also, how are you feeling pain wise?”

“Not bad.” 

“Are you feeling any pain at all?”

Xavier nodded, pointing at his ribs and his knee. 

“Okay. How bad? On a scale of one to ten?”

But Xavier didn’t seem to know how to answer that. 

“Uh… two?”

“Okay, wait. I have an idea.”

Abrahm again jumped up, running to a MedBot and dragging it over to Xavier’s bed. 

“MedBot 221, display a color bar from green, to yellow, to orange, to red, to black. Please and thank you.”

Abrahm pointed to the green end of the bar the MedBot projected.

“This is absolutely no pain. No soreness. Absolutely nothing, you could be super active, no headache, nothing.”

Abrahm pointed to the black end of the bar.

“This is absolute pain. You cannot move, it’s so bad. It’s so bad you can’t even scream.”

Xavier studied the bar for a few seconds. 

“Yellowy orange.”

“Okay, okay. Now that I know, I can help with that.”

He checked the schedule for medications. The MedBot would be over within the next few minutes to administer the next dose. After explaining that to Xavier, Abrahm yawned and sat back in his chair. His phone dinged, and he checked it. He held back a smile at the message.

“My brother wants to come in either tonight or tomorrow to ask you some questions. Nothing bad or anything, just stuff like your favorite colors and foods. That kind of thing. He wants to know when it would be better for you. Be honest.” 

Xavier seemed to think for a moment.

“Morning. Tired now.” 

Abrahm nodded, passing the message along to Jebodiah. 

“Okay. Do you want me to stay with you again tonight?”

The man in the bed nodded, pulling his blanket up over his body. Abrahm smiled softly, dragging an empty bed up next to Xavier’s. 

Xavier was already falling asleep. Abrahm smiled gently, laying in the bed beside Xavier’s. He closed his eyes, soon falling asleep as well. 

Screaming. That’s all Abrahm could hear. His brother, his friends, Xavier. They were all screaming. He was in the Domeplex, but the halls were endless. No matter where he ran, he couldn’t find where they were. 

He heard his brother screaming his name, the agony in his voice clear. 

Abrahm called out, running down a bloodstained hallway. Terror bubbled up in his chest. Somebody had broken in. He just knew it was the ones who had hurt Xavier. They’d come for him, they probably had a tracking chip on him. 

He was getting closer, he knew it. 

Finally, after pushing open a door, he found them. 

His friends were already dead, gutted and bloodied. 

Abrahm doubled over, covering his mouth. Bile rose in his throat, causing him to gag. 

“ABRAHM!!!” 

He whipped his head around, making eye contact with Jebodiah. 

His beloved younger brother. He was missing an eye, half of his face bloodied and torn. He was cradling Xavier, who was badly torn up and unconscious. 

Abrahm screamed, running towards the two. 

The gunshot rang out loudly, and Abrahm watched as the bullet went straight through his brother's head. He watched the blood trickle down into his eyes that glazed over as he fell backwards.

Abrahm woke up screaming in a cold sweat. He gasped for breath, tears streaming down his face. Xavier jolted awake in the bed beside him, sitting up quickly. 

“What happen?!?” The other man shouted.

Abrahm breathed heavily, struggling to catch his breath. His heart was still racing.

It was okay.

They were safe. 

They were okay. 

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a minute.

“Fuck, sorry. Just had a nightmare. Sorry I woke you up with that.”

Xavier took a deep breath, laying back down. 

“S’okay. Know how it feels. You okay..? ”

“Y… Yeah. I’m fine.” 

Abrahm laid back down, staring at the dark ceiling. They were safe. Nobody was going to hurt them. Xavier was okay. He grabbed his phone, checking the time. Four in the morning. 

“DovahCom. Status report on Jebodiah.”

The information displayed on the screen of his phone. 

Heart rate: 52 BPM. 

Blood Pressure: 118/75.

Temperature: 98.4 degrees F.

Jebodiah is currently located in his quarters. He seems to be sleeping soundly. 

Abrahm breathed a sigh of relief, putting his phone to the side. 

“What about?” Xavier asked, turning his head to face Abrahm. He just sighed again, turning to face Xavier. 

“I’m not sure you want to know. My nightmares get really… violent.” 

“Wanna help. Know it was about your brother. Seem very worried about him.” 

Abrahm sighed once again, smiling weakly at Xavier.

“Ugh. I just… keep having these awful nightmares about. Horrible horrible things happening to the people I care about. And in the nightmares, it’s usually my fault.”

“Oh. Know why?” 

“No. I don’t know why. But I just… I have this sinking gut feeling that something awful is happening. That somewhere… There's something horrible I’ve done and I don’t know about it.” 

He was terrified he was a bad person. 

“Well… you here. You here with me. You saved me. Not done anything wrong. You with me.” 

Huh. Abrahm had been so caught up in his head that he hadn’t stopped to think about where he was. Or to use logic. 

But his heart was still racing. He still had a heavy, sinking feeling in his chest. His body was freezing cold. 

He grabbed his phone again. 

“DovahCom. Status on Jebodiah.” 

Again, nearly identical information displayed on the small screen. But no matter what, he still couldn’t shake that feeling of dread. Something was wrong. 

Abrahm swallowed hard, fighting back tears. 

“Abrahm…? You okay?!”

No. No he wasn’t okay. Fuck, he couldn’t fucking BREATHE. 

Abrahm was crying now, breath catching in his throat. He curled up in his bed, hyperventilating as awful pictures flashed in his head. 

He needed Jebodiah down here with him. Needed to know his brother was okay.

Chapter Text

Xavier sat up, trying to pull Abrahm’s bed closer to his own. He was panicking, unsure of what to do. Abrahm was crying uncontrollably, gasping for breath and saying random, ineligible words. 

His fingers finally closed around the bars on the side of Abrahm’s bed. His arms trembled with the effort, his arms too weak to move the heavy bed. Finally, with a final giant heave, he managed to bring the pink and white haired man close. 

Xavier reached out, his hand hovering over Abrahm’s shoulder. Should he… truly? Do this? 

Another pained sob from Abrahm and he’d made up his mind. Xavier gently placed his hand on the trembling man’s shoulder. He flinched, but didn’t pull away. 

“Abrahm? Scaring me.” 

But he still didn’t respond. Abrahm tensed again, muttering out pleas for it to “just stop”. 

Xavier had no idea what to do. He closed his eyes, trying to think. What had he done in the past for his siblings when they had nightmares? 

Well. His sister had always wanted to be held. His youngest brother wanted the lights on. His youngest sibling wanted their plushies. And his other brother… it depended. Sometimes he wanted to be held. Sometimes he wanted Xavier to sit with him. Other times he just wanted to yell. 

Xavier took a deep breath. 

“How help? Abrahm. Listen. How help?”

Abrahm just sobbed loudly, squeezing his blankets. He mumbled something that Xavier could just barely make out as “Jeb”. 

His brother! That was it!! 

“Your brother??” 

Abrahm made a small whimpering noise that Xavier assumed was a confirmation. 

Okay. So how was he going to get Jebodiah down here? 

The phone. 

Xavier grabbed Abrahm’s phone. He had no idea how to work this thing. Its surface was smooth and slippery, nearly sliding from his hands. It was incredibly sensitive to touch. But he knew Abrahm made it work by commanding it. 

“DovahCom…?” 

The screen glowed a bright reddish pink. It had a small face made up of pink rings. 

“Unknown voice.” 

Xavier jumped at the voice that spoke out from the phone, not expecting it. He shook his head, taking a deep breath. He had to keep trying. 

“DovahCom, listen.” 

“Denied.”

Ugh, stupid robot!! Xavier felt tears well in his eyes. He had to help Abrahm. He had to. 

“Listen!!!” 

“Request. Denied.”

“DovahCom. Abrahm need help. Need Jebodiah.”

After a pause, the robot made some sort of noise that Xavier could only interpret as a sigh before speaking up again.

“Affirmative. Paging Jebodiah.” 

Xavier sighed in relief, returning the phone to its place. He continued gently rubbing Abrahm’s shoulder and arm, whispering soothing nonsense. 

Within the next few minutes, Jebodiah burst through the MedBay doors. He had terror written all over his pale face. 

“Abrahm?! Xavier, what’s going on?!” 

Jebodiah raced over to the beds, grabbing Abrahm’s shoulders and getting close. 

“Had nightmares and woke up screaming! Started crying and stuff! Tried to help, promise!!!!” 

Jebodiah nodded, pulling Abrahm close. The pink and white haired man seemed to realize who was holding him, quickly wrapping his arms around Jeb and burying his face in his brother’s shoulder.

“Shhh. I’m safe. I’m here. Everyone’s safe. Nothing is going to happen.” 

Xavier wished with every fiber of his being that he wasn’t there. This seemed to be a very private moment and he felt like an intruder. 

Jebodiah was hugging Abrahm tight, speaking in a low and soothing voice. The older brother slowly calmed down, his sobs turning into soft whimpers and sniffles. 

Xavier rolled over, trying to disappear into the bed. He began blocking everything out again, just like before. 

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Abrahm sniffled softly, whimpering in a broken cry.

“It was you, Jeb. It was you this time. You and Xavier.” 

“I know. I know. But you’re here. We’re both safe, I promise you. I promise you we’re okay.” 

“It was my fault. I don’t know how but it was my fault. It felt so real. I watched the bullet go through the back of your head and come out your forehead. It looked so realistic. It looked just like when-“ 

“Don’t. Don’t think about that, Abe. I’m okay. I swear.” 

“But-“ 

“Abrahm, you can’t keep thinking about that. That’s why you’re having such bad nightmares.”

Jebodiah pulled him close, resting his face against his hair, gently rubbing his back. 

“You’re my older brother. You’re gonna be okay. I’m not going to let either of us get hurt.” 

Abrahm opened his eyes, glancing around the room. 

Shit! Xavier!! 

He pulled back from the hug, turning around and scanning the room. His eyes landed on Xavier, who was staring away from them with his eyes glazed over. 

He’d probably scared the poor guy half to death. This wasn’t who he was supposed to be. He was one of the leaders of Nadoria. He was pathetic. Crying over nightmares. He was FINE. 

Inhaling deeply, Abrahm let go of his brother. He leaned back in bed, sitting normally. 

“Stay, please. At least for tonight.” Abrahm begged, looking up at his brother with exhausted eyes. 

Jebodiah nodded, dragging another bed over beside the two beds already pushed together. 

“In the morning, you are going to take a shower and eat a decent meal. You haven’t eaten since you rescued him.” 

“I’ve had protein shakes.”

“Those quite literally say ‘not meant to replace daily meals’ on the bottle.” 

“Nuh uh.”

“Abrahm, I swear to Vegala, I’m going to strangle you.” 

“… Nuh uh.”

Jebodiah sighed, laying down in bed. 

“Go back to sleep, okay? It’s gonna be alright.” 

Abrahm rolled over, checking on Xavier. He was still zoned out. Abrahm quickly tapped the bed frame, attempting to get his attention without scaring him. 

Xavier blinked a couple times, looking back to Abrahm and smiling softly. 

“Abrahm okay?” 

“Yeah Xavier. I’m okay. Thank you for helping.” 

Abrahm laid back, closing his eyes. He didn’t know if he’d be able to get back to sleep, but he could at least lay there and pretend so his brother wouldn’t worry. 

A cold hand gently grabbed onto his. Abrahm opened his eyes, looking down to see Xavier holding his hand. The other man squeezed his hand comfortingly. 

A small smile crept onto his face, and Abrahm closed his eyes again, gently squeezing the hand back. 

Chapter Text

In the morning, Xavier was left alone with Jebodiah. He tried his best to not complain, as it was in order for Abrahm to take care of himself. 

Xavier didn’t want his savior to neglect himself in order to take care of him. But he didn’t know Jebodiah well. And being around people he didn’t know made him scared.

He was currently chewing on his necklace, watching as the white haired man gathered some papers. Jebodiah grabbed a pen and sat in a spinning chair, scooting it over beside Xavier. 

Unexpected chills ran up Xavier’s arms. Jebodiah and Abrahm were so alike. They had the same smiles. The man reminded Xavier of his own brothers. 

“Okay, Xavier. I just had some questions for you. Nothing serious, I just want to learn more about you.” 

Xavier nodded, sitting up with a wince. 

“Favorite colors?” 

This was easy. He’d answered this before!

“Dark red. And purple. Royal purple. They hated that. Purple not a boy color. But I like purple!” 

Jebodiah smiled at that, writing a note on his papers.

“Favorite animal?” 

“STINGRAY!!” He exclaimed, clasping his hands together and kicking his feet. Well. One foot. His knee hurt. 

There was a scribbling noise, and Xavier looked up at the other man just in time to catch a glimpse of the wide smile he hid.

“You’re a lot like my brother. He gets excited about stuff like that too.” 

Xavier beamed, glad he wasn’t being mocked for his childish reactions. 

“Okay… favorite food?”

“Orange!”

“Anything in particular you really like?”

Xavier had to pause and consider that. He wasn’t allowed to watch much tv. Or play video games. Or have toys. 

“Like cards. Shuffling.”

To prove his point, Xavier reached out and grabbed his deck of cards and began shuffling them. 

“Woah. You’re really good at that.” 

Xavier smiled at the praise, feeling a bit awkward. 

“Abrahm mentioned to me that you have siblings. How old are they? Are you the oldest?”

Nodding softly, Xavier held up his fingers. 

“My oldest younger brother is sixteen. My younger sister is fourteen. My youngest younger brother is twelve, and my youngest sibling is ten.”

Jebodiah wrote this information down. He had a strange expression on his face that Xavier couldn’t quite decipher, no matter how hard he tried. 

“Do you have a favorite song? Or genre of music?” 

Xavier shook his head slowly. He was never able to listen to music back at home. His only opportunity was when it played on the radio in the rare chances he had to go out places. Or when he and his siblings would sing and bang on objects. 

“Wasn’t allowed.” 

“You weren’t allowed music? But music grows the soul!! I’ll have to fix this immediately.” 

He watched Jebodiah jump up and run across the large room, turning on what looked to be a tv. Within the next minute, a soft and happy song came from it. Xavier felt his fingers twitching softly to the beat, and he had the urge to get up and move around. The lyrics told a story while a raw instrument played in the background. 

Xavier nodded his head back and forth, smiling and just listening to the music. 

After the song had ended, Jebodiah sat back down beside the bed. 

“Once your eye bones are healed up, we’re gonna get you a pair of headphones and something to listen to music on. We have to fix this whole “not allowed music” thing.” Jebodiah said firmly, closing his eyes and crossing his arms. 

Xavier laughed softly, ignoring how the motion hurt his ribs. 

Jebodiah sighed, leaning back in his chair.

“So, Xavier, how are you liking it here? Are you enjoying your stay? Anything you want to talk about?”

Thinking about it, there was… something that Xavier was curious about, but was too nervous to actually bring it up before. He didn’t want to directly ask Abrahm, worried that it would be way too sensitive of a topic. 

“Have question.” 

“Yeah? What is it?” 

“Abrahm has scars. Big ones. What from?” 

His rescuer had a large scar covering his right cheek and part of his neck on the right side. It also spread down his right arm and hand. 

Jebodiah visibly tensed, causing Xavier to worry he’d crossed a boundary. He was about to apologize when the other man spoke up. 

“I’m not… supposed to talk about it. It’s not my story to tell. But I can tell you that there were just… some people that didn’t like him. That’s where they came from.”

Xavier felt his heart sink. That was worse than what he had been thinking. 

“Oh. Abrahm okay?” 

“Yeah. He’s… okay now. He still has nightmares, as you saw last night. And obviously he still has the scars.” 

“Abrahm… safe?”

“Yeah. He’s safe. He’s taken plenty of security measures to make sure of it.”

Xavier nodded, hugging himself softly. He assumed that the status report that Abrahm had asked for last night was a part of it.

“Who…? Hurt him?”

Jebodiah sighed, looking down at his clothing and picking at a loose thread.

“Some bad people. People who didn’t agree with what he was doing as a leader.”

“Oh.”

Well. That wasn’t what Xavier was expecting. Poor Abrahm. He wondered if he would be able to find out more about what had happened. He wanted to help protect the other man, even if deep down he knew he was nowhere near strong enough, mentally or physically, to be able to protect anybody. 

Xavier hadn't even been able to protect his younger siblings from their father. 

A fiery determination rose in his chest. One, he had to get his siblings out of his father’s hands. Second, nobody was ever going to hurt Abrahm again. He was way too kind to have that kind of pain. 

Chapter Text

Abrahm closed his eyes, letting the hot water from the shower run over his face. He sighed, trying to relax. His muscles were tight and painful from the restless night he’d had. Abrahm was no stranger to sleepless nights, but it was rare he had a panic attack that bad. He shivered, the hot water not quite warm enough to reach the chill that had settled deep in his bones.

The hot water was soothing nonetheless. He scrubbed his hair, rinsing out the strawberry scented soap that he used. He needed to get back down there to Xavier. He’d left him alone with Jebodiah for far too long. Abrahm was worried that he’d return to the MedBay and find Xavier uncomfortable. God, he was so selfish for coming up here.  

Abrahm stepped out of the shower onto a rug, grabbing his robe and pulling it around his body. He shivered again at the loss of warmth, but crossed the bathroom to look in the mirror. He had dark circles under his eyes from his sleepless nights. No matter. He was fine. 

“Sire. I implore you to rest.”

Abrahm rolled his eyes, glaring at the screen in the corner of the room.

“DovahCom, the rules are you stay out of the bathrooms unless you see a dangerous change in vitals.” 

“Apologies, sire. But my point still remains. You are running yourself into the ground, and it is very unsafe.”

“Get out of my bathroom.”

“Negative.” 

Asshole.

“Fine.”

Abrahm made sure his robe was tied before heading to his bedroom to get dressed. His room was absolutely freezing. He stepped into the large space, making his way to the closet. Of course, the AI Assistant had to follow him to the room. It appeared on Abrahm’s tv, making him jump.

“You cannot escape me by moving to another room.”

“Oh fuck off.” he growled, digging through his closet until he found a suitable outfit. A pink tank top, a darker pink jacket, and black pants. 

Abrahm had barely pulled his clothes on when he was harassed once again. 

“Sire. Rest is vital. You have duties to attend to. You are getting caught up with Xavier.” 

“I can handle myself, DovahCom.” 

“Is that why you had tracking chips installed in yours and Jebodiah’s neck?” 

Abrahm prickled, hairs on the back of his neck raising. Memories of pain, of fear, of helplessness crept into his mind. How dare he go there. 

“DovahCom, I will deactivate you if you so much as DARE to mention that again. You know very well my feelings on that event. You know VERY WELL to stay away from that.” 

“...My apologies, Sire.”

“You better be sorry.”

Pulling on his shoes, Abrahm looked up. The TV had flickered off, and he just rolled his eyes. He pulled his legs to his chest, resting his head against his knees. He had a headache forming behind his eyes. He wanted to go to bed, sort of. But he knew he couldn't do that. 

Abrahm pulled his phone out, opening it. Refusing to use DovahCom again, he simply typed his request for food before laying back and closing his eyes. 

He was nearly asleep on his bedroom floor when there was a knock at the door. Abrahm quickly sat up, running over to open it. There was a small robot on the ground, holding a bowl of instant noodles. He smiled, crouching down and opening up the case in order to get his food. 

“Thanks, little guy.” He smiled, taking the food. He patted the robot's head, grinning at the small beeping noise it made. The small screen on the front displayed hearts, before the robot turned to go back where it came from. 

Abrahm returned to his room, going to sit at the window and look out. Warm sun streamed through the glass, helping soothe the deep, aching chill that was in his bones. 

He slowly ate his noodles, savoring the taste. Maybe Jebodiah had been right, and he did need more than just protein shakes. The hot bowl warmed his frozen hands.

This always happened after bad nights, he was just so cold. Nothing would help. He could pile on layers, shower in the hottest water his skin could handle, and drink hot tea, but nothing could reach that aching chill. 

Abrahm finished eating, setting the bowl to the side to be collected later. He stood up and stretched, going to his dresser and opening the top drawer. He pulled on a pair of fingerless gloves that went all the way up his arms, hoping it would keep his hands warmer. He double checked to make sure he had his phone in his pocket. 

Before leaving the room, Abrahm caught sight of the bag of nail polish by the door. 

Right. He had planned to repaint his nails the night that he’d brought Xavier back. Well, no time like the present. He grabbed the bag, leaving his bedroom and making his way down to the MedBay.

Abrahm heard the music from down the hall, before he had even gotten to the MedBay. 

Opening the large doors, Abrahm was met with the best thing he had seen in a very long time. Jebodiah was playing his folklore music for Xavier, and explaining the story behind a current song. Xavier was sitting up, eye bright as he listened intently to the story that Jebodiah was telling. Xavier occasionally laughed–HE WAS LAUGHING!!–whenever the other man had mentioned something funny. 

Abrahm had never heard Xavier laugh. It was a wonderful, cheerful sound that echoed through the MedBay. It brought a genuine grin to Abrahm’s face as he made a break for the screen in the room. He knew his brother saw him, but it didn’t matter. He was in charge of the music now.

“Abrahm, don't you dare-”

“Too late!!” He called back, switching the music from the soft folklore that Jebodiah loved, to his own playlist of rock and heavy metal. 

As the drums started, Jebodiah raced over, lunging for the controller. 

“You're gonna scare the poor guy!”

“NUH UH!!” 

Abrahm grabbed the controller before his brother could, running over beside Xavier’s bed. The dark haired man was still laughing, cheering excitedly for Jebodiah. 

“Get it, get the controller!”

“Treason!” Abrahm laughed, darting underneath the bed. He heard Xavier squeal with excitement, fueling his adrenaline. Jebodiah dropped to his knees across from Abrahm, causing the older man to roll backwards. 

“You aren’t getting the controller!” 

“GET BACK HERE!!” 

Xavier reached out, trying to take the controller from Abrahm, who noticed and quickly jumped back.

Abrahm sang along to the loud music, dodging his brother's attacks. Xavier seemed to be enjoying the music and excitement. The dark haired man was nodding along to the beat, a wide smile on his face. 

Abrahm looked at his surroundings, making a split second decision before making a break for the shelves. He’d helped DovahCom install these, so he knew they were quite stable.

“ABRAHM, DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!!”

But it was too late. He had already gleefully scaled the shelves, and was now sitting on the top shelf with a cocky grin. Abrahm was easily seven or eight feet off the ground. He held the remote over his brother’s head, flipping him off. 

He knew his brother wouldn’t follow him up here. His music was safe to be played. 

Abrahm leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms.

“It’s quite comfortable up here. I might stay here for now.”

“Bastard.”

Abrahm grabbed a roll of gauze that was in a box beside him, sending it flying towards Jebodiah’s head. 

The white haired man sadly caught the gauze, sending it back at the same speed. It thunked against the wall by Abrahm’s head. 

“Missed me.” 

A small packet hit Abrahm’s stomach. Upon closer inspection, it was a packet of seeds. 

“Jeb. My dearest, beloved brother. Why. The fuck. Did you throw a packet of SEEDS at me? Even more so, why were you carrying it around in your pocket?!”

He flung the seeds back down at his brother. 

“I have more than just seeds in my pocket.”

“Jebodiah Dunford. I swear to Vegala, if you pull a fucking tree out of your pocket, I am going to disown you as my brother.”

It wasn’t a tree that was pulled out of his pocket, but Abrahm would rather that when Jebodiah held up a small hand shovel. 

“Okay, okay! You win! I’m coming down!”

Abrahm turned around, going down the shelves as if they were a ladder. He could still hear Xavier’s laughter, and it made the whole thing worth it. 

Jebodiah took the chance to snatch the controller from Abrahm’s hands. 

“Just so you know, I wasn’t actually gonna throw a hand shovel at you.”

“I knew that.” 

“Mhm. Sure.” 

Chapter Text

Xavier’s face was beginning to hurt with how much he was smiling. Watching Abrahm and Jebodiah felt a lot like watching his own siblings. He hoped they were okay back at home. 

Jebodiah turned on his music again. While Xavier liked it, he preferred the energy and noise Abrahm’s music had brought to the room. He could feel the drums in his heart and he liked it. It made a tingly energy in his body grow, and it felt like he had to get up and run, or dance.

Once Abrahm had climbed down from the shelves, he walked over and sat down in a chair beside Xavier’s bed. Despite the dark circles under his eyes, Abrahm looked happy. Every time he looked over at the pink and white haired man, his mind conjured up an image of him huddled in a basement, crying and hugging himself. 

Xavier shuddered, trying his best to push that thought out of his head. Abrahm was safe. Jebodiah had said so himself. He wouldn't be out and about like he was when he rescued him. 

Abrahm crossed the room, grabbing a bag he’d dropped before coming into the room. The pink and white haired man sat down in the familiar chair beside Xavier’s bed. 

“You good if I go take care of some work, Abrahm?” Jebodiah asked his brother. Abrahm nodded, but Jebodiah didn’t leave. 

“Abrahm. Look at me.” 

Abrahm looked up, frowning at Jebodiah. 

“Yes. I swear I am fine. I’m not going to freak out like I did last night. I’m fine.
I swear it.” 

Jebodiah stared at Abrahm for a few more seconds before sighing and walking out. 

A few moments passed before Abrahm shook his head.

“Anyway! How are you doing, Xavier?” 

He dug through his bag, pulling out a small bottle that Xavier realized was nail polish. His younger sister and sibling always painted their nails. He and his youngest brother had always wanted to paint their nails too, but their father had strictly forbidden it. They were boys. Boys didn’t paint their nails.

Yet Abrahm was sitting there, painting his nails black and pink. 

“You paint nails?” 

“Yeah. I like painting my nails.” 

Xavier wondered if Abrahm would be willing to paint his nails too. He didn’t see why not. Abrahm seemed to be very open about letting Xavier do what he wanted to do. 

After his morning protein shake and check up from the MedBots, Xavier decided to ask Abrahm if he would let him paint his nails. 

He took a deep breath, peeling the band aids off his fingers. 

“Abrahm?” 

“Hm?” The other man looked up from painting the finishing touches on his own nails.

“...Paint my nails?” 

“You want me to paint your nails for you?”

Xavier nodded vigorously, smiling a large grin that Abrahm mirrored.

“Yeah, sure. What color do you want?”

“Red!! Dark red!”

Abrahm pulled out a few different bottles of red nail polish. One was a shimmery color, like metal, one was shiny and bright, and the other was glittery. Xavier pointed to the glitter nail polish. 

“Great choice.” Abrahm reached out, gently grabbing Xavier’s hand.

“Now, you have to promise to stop picking at your fingers for me to do this. I can’t paint your nails if you’re going to bite them off.”

“Promise, promise!!”

Xavier tried his very best to sit still as Abrahm painted his nails. The brush tickled, and his hands kept twitching. Abrahm said nothing, though Xavier could see the small smile on his face. 

“Never let me paint nails.” 

“With all of the stuff you’ve told me about your family, I’m not surprised.” 

Abrahm’s hands were warm compared to Xavier’s. It made his heart race. Xavier wasn’t used to warmth. His hands and fingers were always freezing cold. 

Didn’t Abrahm say that gaining weight would put an end to that? Xavier hoped so. He hated being so cold. And now, it would just remind him of that night. The night they cast him out to die. 

Xavier closed his eyes, breathing slowly. He was tired. He just wanted to rest. It had been a long few days. He couldn't remember the last time he had been relaxed.

So when the MedBay doors swung open, followed by a loud “WHAT’S UP FUCKERS??” Xavier nearly jumped out of his skin. 

He felt Abrahm jump as well, before laughing.

“Fucking hell, Eclipse. Warn us before you just drop in like that.” 

Abrahm finished painting the last nail on Xavier’s hand. 

“We wanted to meet the little guy.” 

Xavier scowled, not appreciating the way he had been spoken about. As if he were just… something to display. Xavier turned his head to see who had barged in, eyes falling on a strange looking man. Well… Man? Xavier wasn’t quite sure they were even human. He had an odd appearance. He looked like two people stuck half and half in a body. The man’s right side was a dark grey. There was a purple, star shaped iris and pupil in his eye. His hair was a bright green color. The other half was a similar color to Abrahm’s skin, but he wasn't quite as pale. The left side had a regular green iris. The hair on this side was purple. 

The strange man laughed, showing fangs in his mouth. 

“That was Harley’s idea. Not mine. I wanted to call ahead.” 

“Sure you did, Fletcher.” 

The man’s tone shifted slightly, becoming slightly higher and softer, kind of like a purr.

“Fletcher was completely on board with scaring you.” His tone shifted again, back to that sharp tone before.

“Jerk. They didn’t have to know that, you know.”

Xavier stared at the man, very confused. Why was he… two people? Or was it three? Abrahm had used three different names when addressing them. He’d never seen this before in his life. Xavier hadn’t even heard of this happening ever before.

“Well. We had no warning that you guys would be showing up.” Abrahm said, shooting a glare at the tv. 

DovahCom appeared on the screen again.

“Sire, it appears Eclipse is stopping by for a visit.” 

“Oh fuck you, DovahCom. Stop being such a petty piece of junk and do your job.” 

“Unknown command.” 

Xavier covered his mouth to hide the small smile on his face. Abrahm scowled at the tv as the ringed, pink face disappeared.

“Think he being silly.” Xavier grinned, looking at his freshly painted nails.

The other man in the room was laughing uncontrollably, leaning carelessly against Xavier’s bed. He bristled slightly, uncomfortable with how close the stranger was to him. On top of how close he was in general, he was also very close to leaning against Xavier’s broken knee.

Xavier told himself he had to be polite though. This man was Abrahm’s friend, it seemed. He probably didn’t mean any harm, since Abrahm wasn’t in any real distress about him showing up. 

But he still felt uncomfortable. They were loud and a bit too wild for his liking. And he noticed the man staring at him with a look that made him feel like a cornered rabbit.

Thankfully, Abrahm seemed to pick up on the tension from Xavier. He got up, subtly putting himself a bit closer to both Xavier and the man.

“Xavier, this is one of my best friends, Eclipse. Eclipse, this is Xavier. Remember what I messaged you abou-”

“Oh, we heard all about him. He’s cute.” Eclipse cut Abrahm off and reached out to Xavier, causing the dark haired man to flinch and pull away. That didn’t stop Eclipse. He reached out further, grabbing a lock of Xavier’s hair. 

“You’ve got such pretty hair.”

“Harley-”

A small whimper escaped Xavier’s throat. He braced for pain, for punishment. He hated having his hair touched. Especially not by someone random.

“Stop…” Xavier whispered, giving Abrahm a panicked look when Eclipse didn't listen.

He heard Eclipse chuckle, before Abrahm grabbed his hand and pulled it away from Xavier. 

“Eclipse. A word.” Abrahm said firmly. Xavier opened his eyes to see Abrahm giving the stranger a warning glare. 

Xavier sighed in relief as Abrahm nearly dragged Eclipse out of the MedBay.

Chapter Text

Abrahm heard Eclipse complaining about the grip he had on his upper arm, but he didn’t care. He nearly dragged the man out of the MedBay, finally releasing him once the doors were closed.

He took a breath, not wanting to say something he didn’t mean. This was still his best friend. Lashing out in anger was not the solution to this issue. He needed to talk things out like the grown adult he was.

“I need to speak with both of you. Are you both present?” 

Eclipse nodded, glaring at Abrahm as he rubbed his arm. 

“Okay. Good. You both need to tone it down. You’re making Xavier uncomfortable.” 

The soft, airy voice that Abrahm had learned belonged to Harley spoke up. 

“Aw. I was just teasin’ him a little. He needs to learn'ta take a fuckin' joke.” 

“Teasing someone does not mean you can just grab onto their hair without permission. And just because it was a 'joke' doesn't give you an excuse to deliberately cause them discomfort.”

“You worry too much.” The man said, looking at his nails as though he were almost bored. Abrahm groaned internally, tired of the bullshit Harley was putting him through.

“Harley, knock it the fuck off. Xavier is new here. He’s been through hell. I don’t want you harassing him and making him uncomfortable.”

“Abe-”

“This is non-negotiable.” Abrahm snapped. 

“This is my home, Harley. You guys are my best friends. But you need to have respect for the people here.”

Abrahm watched the other man bristle, his fangs slightly bared. He didn’t back down, though. He knew Harley had emotional outbursts sometimes.

“So… You’re replacing us with a bitch from the streets? We’ve been your best friends for years and this is what happens?” He snapped, breathing heavily.

Guilt started to creep into Abrahm’s mind. It pissed him off that Harley was talking about Xavier like this without hearing the full story. But maybe Harley did have a point.

“I’m not replacing you. That’s not what this is-”

The other man growled, slamming his fist into the wall, cutting Abrahm off and making him jump back, hand reaching for where he usually kept his gun at his hip. He grabbed at nothing, before remembering he’d left it in his room way upstairs.

Fuck. 

“What, is he your new fuck toy or something? Is that why he’s replacing us? Is that how it is? Abe gets a boyfriend and suddenly we’re trash?!”

Harley backed Abrahm against the wall, growling and baring his fangs. The smaller man took a shallow breath, praying that DovahCom had sensed the shift in his heart rate and notified Jebodiah of it. Abrahm braced himself, half expecting the man’s fist to swing towards his face.

 “Well guess what!! How’s that little twig gonna save you the next time you get your pathetic ass kidnapped again?! Fucker is so tiny I bet they’d just take him too! Then you can watch as he gets tortured beside you!! You can watch him get sh- WOAH. STOP.” 

The man backed away from Abrahm, rubbing his face. His voice had deepened and calmed slightly, signalling to Abrahm that Fletcher had taken over. Abrahm was still on guard, watching Fletcher carefully in case Harley took over again.

“Shit… I’m so sorry, Abrahm. That was uncalled for. I’ll talk to him about it.” 

Abrahm breathed heavily, the words Harley had said still rattling around his skull and bringing the chill from earlier back into his bones. He knew what Harley was going to say. You can watch him get shot.

“Yeah. Yeah, that was... I think you guys should leave.” 

“Abrahm-”

“I said leave, Fletcher. I don’t want him here. Not after that outburst. Not after what he said to me.” 

Abrahm groaned, rubbing his face, hand running over the large scar and making himself flinch again.

“And for Harley’s information, I am not dating Xavier. That was incredibly inappropriate. I don't want that around Xavier.”

Fletcher nodded, a disappointed understanding on his face. 

“Goddammit. I was hoping to meet the guy.” 

“Harley made him really uncomfortable. I’ll have to explain the two of you to him, and we’ll see if he would be comfortable with you returning.”

Again, Fletcher nodded. 

“I’ll talk to Harley. Again, I’m so fucking sorry for that.” 

Abrahm sighed, looking his best friends of ten years in the face. He knew he couldn't take this out on both of them, but he also couldn't risk Harley lashing out at Xavier next.

“I’ll see you later, Fletch.”

Fletcher smiled weakly, stepping in for a hug but quickly backtracking.

“See ya, man.” 

Abrahm watched the man walk down the hall and disappear around the corner.

Xavier was on the verge of tears, covering his ears and trembling when Abrahm had returned. There was an obvious relief on his face when Fletcher didn’t follow him back in.

“You alright, Xavier? Did he hurt you at all?”

The man in bed shook his head, but was still in obvious distress. Poor guy…

“I’m really sorry about him, Xavier. Harley is a lot to handle, and I wasn’t made aware of him coming over beforehand.”

Xavier’s voice was soft and trembling slightly when he spoke up again.

“Three names. Why?” 

Abrahm thought of how to best explain that to Xavier.

“Well… the short answer is he’s two people in one. Harley and Fletcher. We call them Eclipse if we are unaware who is in main control of the body.” 

“Why two?”

“Well… that’s the harder part to describe, I guess. When they were little, it was only one of them. But he went through something so traumatic, that his brain made his personality split into two to survive it. And his body slowly changed over time to display that. He dyes his hair though.” 

Abrahm explained, slowly picking the paint that had missed his nails and settled in the tender skin beside them. 

Xavier nodded, as if accepting the explanation. 

“Harley has a lighter voice. He’s represented by the gray side of the body. He was the one who was… acting like that.” 

Abrahm closed his eyes, trying to block out the words Harley had said to him.

“Fletcher is the one you didn’t really get to meet. He’s nowhere near the same as Harley.” 

Abrahm opened his eyes again, glad to see that Xavier had calmed down.

“Does that make any sense to you, bud?” 

Xavier nodded, looking down at his painted nails.

“If you have anything you want to ask, you can go ahead and ask.” 

Later that evening, after Xavier had drank another protein shake and had been thoroughly inspected by the MedBots, Xavier asked Abrahm a question. But it wasn’t about Eclipse.

“Your scars. What happen? Why have them?”

Abrahm felt his hairs stand up and his scars began to sting. Not really, but the memories of the pain had been brought back. He did not want to answer that question. He sighed softly, sitting down at the foot of Xavier’s bed.

“I… I’m sorry, Xavier, but I really don’t want to talk about that right now. It has nothing to do with you, I promise, but… it’s just… painful to talk about them. It hurts both physically and mentally.” 

“Understand.” 

Xavier said softly, adjusting himself comfortably in bed.

“Stay again tonight?” Xavier asked hopefully, looking up at Abrahm. 

“Of course.”

Abrahm smiled, pushing the spare bed right up against Xavier’s. 

“Goodnight, Abrahm.” 

“Goodnight, Xavier. Sleep well.”

“No nightmares, Abrahm.”

He chuckled softly at Xavier’s comment, crawling into bed and pulling the thin blanket over his body. He kicked his shoes off, curling up and silently pleading for some warmth in his chilled body.

“I’ll try my very best.”

Abrahm heard what sounded like Harley’s voice outside the door. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and crawled out of bed, careful not to wake Xavier. Abrahm opened the door, but there was nobody outside. He grumbled softly, turning around to go back to bed. He must’ve been hearing things. 

What he wasn’t expecting for Xavier to scream as he was held in the air by a MedBot. He heard Harley laugh as he commanded the bot to kill Xavier. 

Abrahm screamed as he lunged forward in an attempt to free Xavier, only to have his hair grabbed by Harley. 

"NO!!” He shouted, watching sharp claws pierce Xavier’s body until it was limp and unmoving.

Abrahm sat up quickly, gasping and panting.

It was fine. He was fine.

He turned to look over at Xavier, who was sleeping peacefully. 

Just a nightmare, Abrahm told himself. It was only a nightmare. 

That didn’t stop the tears that welled in his eyes. He curled up, crying silently. Thankfully, it wasn’t a full blown panic attack. But he’d kicked his best friend out of the Domeplex and just had a nightmare that he fucking murdered Xavier. 

Abrahm wasn’t getting any more sleep tonight.

Chapter Text

Days passed slowly, and recovery was slower. Xavier wished he could get up and move around, he wanted to be able to get up and walk. His legs ached from the restricted movement. He was so incredibly bored. 

Abrahm tried his best to help, he really did. He sat with Xavier most of the time, even if he had to bring his work down. Xavier was curious about what Abrahm did, but he never really understood what it was when Abrahm explained it. 

Abrahm had told him that he would likely be on crutches for a while, even after weeks of healing. He showed Xavier the best way to use crutches without causing pain or more damage.

Bandages and stitches slowly came off his body, revealing ugly and painful scars and scabs.

Eventually, the wraps over his eye were able to come off. Xavier could finally see out of both eyes again! 

Even if the light was too bright and hurt his eye, he was still thankful for the freedom. 

Slowly, Abrahm helped Xavier to stand and take tiny, supported steps around the bed.

Xavier soon moved from drinking only protein shakes, to being able to eat a variety of different things, like applesauce and oatmeal. Sometimes Abrahm would sneak him something small and sweet from the area he called the food courts.

Finally, one day, it was time.

“Hey Xavier. I have a surprise for you.” Abrahm called out cheerfully, walking into the MedBay with a pair of crutches. Xavier looked up at him, eyes brightening. He smiled when Abrahm brought the crutches up to him. 

“Walk now!? Walk?!”

Abrahm chuckled warmly, helping Xavier get off the bed and place the crutches correctly.

“Yes. You can walk again. Remember to use the crutches like we practiced. And that also means we’ve gotten you a new room. You’re finally moving out of the MedBay!”

Xavier squealed excitedly, already making a beeline for the exit. He was wearing loose shorts, a t- shirt and Abrahm’s jacket, finally having ditched the medical gown a few days ago. Abrahm still hadn’t gotten him any new clothes of his own yet, hoping for the man to gain a bit more weight before that. 

“Woah, slow down bud. You don’t know where you’re going. Let me take you there.”

Xavier tried very hard to listen to Abrahm. He really did. But all he could think about was how he was getting out of the MedBay!! No more staring at the white walls, no more beeping noises, no more bright lights! He was getting his own room! It didn’t matter that he still had to have checkups. He was going to have his own space! 

Xavier stumbled and nearly fell when Abrahm stopped suddenly. Well, it wasn’t suddenly. Xavier just wasn’t paying attention. 

They were standing outside a door that had Abrahm’s name on it. 

“This your room?” 

Xavier asked curiously. Abrahm nodded

“I’m showing you my room and where to find me.”

Maybe he really should have paid attention. 

Abrahm opened the door, leading Xavier into the room. His jaw dropped as he took in the new space. 

The room was huge compared to what Xavier knew. The walls were painted a dark pinkish red. A door led to a large bathroom. One wall had a massive window looking out into the city. On the opposite wall, was a giant canopy bed. It had a space patterned bedspread. Around the frame, there were small twinkling lights strung up. Xavier stared at it in awe. On the wall at the head of the bed was a large cloth. It was in the shape of a flag? But it was a greenish color on top, and went to a blue color at the bottom. It was broken up into stripes of color with one white stripe in the middle. Something about it itched his brain. 

Xavier pointed to the flag. 

“What is that? What does it mean?”

Abrahm glanced at it. 

“Oh. That’s my Pride flag.” Abrahm explained, grinning. “It’s the gay man flag. Called MLM. Men loving men. You have no idea what I’m talking about do you?”

Xavier knew what being gay was. It was something his father specifically forbade. But he still talked with his siblings. One of his brothers had said he wanted to marry a boy. His other brother said that he had absolutely no interest in anything romantic. And there was his youngest… sibling. His father had told him it was wrong. That he would burn in hell for all of eternity if he turned out like “one of them.” 

“Xavier? You okay?” 

“Know what gay is. They said it was very bad.” 

“They wrong, right?” Xavier mumbled after a pause.

Abrahm frowned slightly, looking away for a quick second, before turning back to face Xavier. 

“Yeah. They’re very wrong. It’s not bad to be gay. It’s not bad to be transgender. It’s just something that some people are.” 

Xavier nodded. That opened up a whole realm of possibilities that he wasn’t sure he was ready for yet. 

“My room?” 

Abrahm laughed again.

“Yeah, okay. Fair. Come this way.”

Xavier slowly followed on his crutches. Abrahm crossed the hall to a plain door. 

This room wasn’t decorated like Abrahm’s. But there was still a door leading to a bathroom, a large window and a gigantic canopy bed. He’d never had a bed that big in his life!! The walls were all painted a deep red color. On his bed, the blankets were a royal purple. Sitting on top of the blankets was a giant sting ray plush. 

Xavier squealed again, rushing as fast as his crutches would let him to reach the bed. He crawled on top of it, immediately grabbing the plush sting ray. It was ginormous. It would’ve taken up most of his bed back home. But here, there was still plenty of room!! 

He laid back, pulling the sting ray on top of his body. Xavier was somewhat aware of the loud giggling that was escaping his mouth but he was too happy to care. 

HE HAD A STING RAY!!! A BIG ONE!

It was soft and heavy like a weighted blanket, and its fins were warm and fuzzy, and long enough to wrap around his body. He had a blanket that felt like this back at home.

Xavier was made aware of Abrahm as the other man cleared his throat. He looked over, quickly sitting up and moving the sting ray to the side. The other man was covering his mouth, but it was obvious he was laughing. Not mean spirited in any way, but Abrahm was laughing. 

Xavier cleared this throat, now acutely aware of the aching in his knee and ribs. He laid back against the pillows. They were incredibly soft, leaning back into them felt like what he imagined leaning back into a cloud felt like. And there were so many of them! 

Xavier was in the middle of digging through the pillows when there was a knock at the door. Not two seconds later, it burst open as a robot similar to the MedBot came through, charging at Abrahm. Its head was composed of projected rings, and its body was slim and humanoid.

Xavier might have shrieked a tiny bit, flinging a pillow at the unknown robot. It hit the robot, who surprisingly began speaking loudly. Xavier recognized the voice as the one he heard constantly from Abrahm’s phone and the large screens. 

“Ow. Sire. He hurt me. Help.” 

Abrahm burst out laughing, hugging himself and doubling over. Xavier just stared at the two in shock and confusion. 

“Sire. I implore you to help. This is no laughing matter.” 

This just seemed to make Abrahm laugh even harder. 

“DovahCom, you imbecile. That pillow didn’t do a damn thing to you.”

“Sire. This is critical. My systems are failing.” 

“I swear to all of Vegala if you don’t cut that out, I’m going to reset your hard drive.” 

“Apologies, sire.” 

Xavier sat there, staring at the two slack jawed. Abrahm seemed to find the behavior of the dramatic robot—DovahCom—to be quite normal. He was used to the usual attitude, but not… this. 

Odd. 

“DovahCom, what is it that you’ve come to tell me? Obviously it’s important if you’re in here.”

“You have duties that have not been fulfilled in three weeks, Sire. It would be greatly appreciated if you were to return to those.”

“DovahCom…”

“Sire.” 

Abrahm sighed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small box that he handed to Xavier. 

“This is your very own phone.” Abrahm told him. 

“You can contact me or Jebodiah with this if you need to. I’ve also downloaded some games and stuff for you too.” 

Xavier squealed again softly, taking the sleek rectangle from the box. It was cool to the touch, but responded when he tapped the screen. 

“Thank you thank you thank you!!” 

Abrahm smiled gently, leaning against the bed frame.

“You’re welcome. You can stay in contact with me anytime now. Even if it’s really late at night.” 

Xavier set the phone down beside him on the bed, looking at Abrahm. 

“Go work now. Don’t fall behind. Good here.”

“You sure? I can wait another day.”

Xavier shook his head. He didn’t want to hold Abrahm back any more than he already did. 

“Got this.” Xavier said determinedly, puffing out his chest slightly.

Abrahm chuckled, shaking his head. 

“Okay. Dovahcom, I want you to stay here as a company for Xavier. If he needs help or anything, you help him. Okay?”

“Understood, Sire. Current objective: babysitting.” 

Xavier rolled his eyes, but shrugged. 

Abrahm took one last glance at Xavier before turning and leaving the room, closing the door behind him. 

Xavier stared at the robot for a few moments, before tentatively speaking up. 

“Dovahcom… where Abrahm?” 

“You witnessed Abrahm exit the door less than three minutes ago.” 

“Okay. Where Jebodiah?” 

“Jebodiah is currently located in the Domeplex”

Xavier huffed a small sigh. This robot…

“Where.” 

“Within the palace walls.” 

“Oh my god.”

“Unknown command.”

Xavier groaned in exasperation, laying back in his bed. He grabbed his phone, opening it up and trying to message Abrahm. The screen was slippery and way too sensitive. 

He managed to pull up the messaging app, clicking on Abrahm’s name. He stared at the tiny keyboard of letters that popped up. Well, he had to give it a shot. 

[Abrahm . Dovacom bsing mesn.] 

[mean.]

[beingb.]

[beinf.]

[being.] 

Xavier sighed, rubbing the good side of his face. He noticed a few dots pop up at the bottom of the screen, before a message from Abrahm came through. 

[Already??? I told him to be nice. I swear, I’m going to have to check his coding. I don’t know why he’s like this.]

Xavier grinned, looking up at DovahCom. 

“Told Abrahm.” 

“Telling an employee’s boss about their displeasing behavior is a move frowned upon by most.” 

Rolling his eyes, Xavier looked back down at his phone to see another message from Abrahm. 

[Yknow you can edit your messages before sending, right? You don’t have to send a bunch of messages like that lol.]

[o. Sory .]

After sitting in the silence, Xavier slowly got to his feet, grabbing his crutches. He explored his room, looking at the empty shelves. He made his way to the large window, looking outside at the city. It was so pink. 

Across the room, Xavier wandered to the bathroom. Inside was a private space with a toilet, a sink with a large mirror and vanity, and a ton of supplies. On the other side of the bathroom was a massive bathtub. It had steps down into it, almost like a small pool. 

Xavier stared at it in awe, even back home he never had a bathtub this big. He wondered if he’d be allowed to take a bath. The MedBots had changed the cast on his knee to something like plastic. He’d been told it was waterproof. 

[can take bath? With knee?]

Xavier sat patiently on the edge of the bathtub, staring intently at his phone. 

Again, he saw the dots pop up. 

[yes, you can take a bath. The silicon cast won’t be damaged. Make sure DovahCom knows so that in case something goes wrong, like you pass out, he can help. Also you can’t take your phone into it. It’s not waterproof.]

[ok thsnk you] 

Xavier set his phone down on the bathroom sink. He called out from where he was sitting. 

“DovahCom! Taking bath! Abrahm said keep watch!” 

“Affirmative.” 

Xavier nodded, setting his crutches to the side. He used his arms to move around the edge of the bathtub until he reached the faucet. There were multiple different handles. He pulled the one with a red band around the middle. That was probably hot water. 

Water streamed from the faucet. Xavier leaned down to plug the drain, almost falling into the bathtub during the process. 

He watched the steam curl up above the slowly rising water. Figuring it would be too hot, he pulled the lever with a blue band. Xavier felt the water, nodding at the temperature. 

Studying the levers, he noticed one with a green handle. He hesitantly pulled it, curious of what it would do to his bath. 

A thin, green stream of liquid joined the flow of water. It immediately began foaming up. 

“Bubbles!!!” 

“Bubbles could cause stinging in your still recovering injuries.”

Xavier jumped at the robot’s voice. Of course it would sting. It was soap. He knew that. But Xavier didn’t care. He just wanted to soak in warm water. It had been so long since he’d been able to take a bath alone. 

Of course, he’d been able to wipe down with washcloths in the MedBay, but that was nowhere near the same as a hot bath. 

Once the bathtub was full, Xavier turned off the water. He carefully maneuvered his body in order to remove his clothing without causing harm to his wounds or knee. 

Afterwards, he gently lowered himself into the water. 

It was warm. So comfortably warm. Xavier was careful not to get the back of his neck wet, not wanting to hurt that spot. Maybe he could let Abrahm treat it. Then he’d be able to function comfortably. 

Xavier tilted his head over, rubbing the soapy water into his hair. It felt so good to be able to clean himself again. Especially in complete and total privacy. 

“Wellfare check.”

Well, mostly total privacy.

“I’m alive, DovahCom.”