cjauswrites

[cjauswrites]

kinda dialogue-heavy clausten hurt/comfort fic i scrawled onto the walls of my mossy cave with a sharp rock at like 9pm (PART ONE)

Ninten squinted through the dim candlelight, forest-green eyes attempting to focus in on the dark silhouette of the injured wing he cradled in his gentle, loving grasp. The air around the two lovers was thick with an uncomfortable silence, the kind that they shared only under a mutual acknowledgement of their own impending doom.

"Does it-" Ninten would begin in an uncertain tone, voice faltering before he swallowed the anxiety stuck in his throat; "does it hurt? Claus?"

The commander would fold his arms over his chest, with his metallic hand slowly brushing up and down his scrawny, clothed bicep. "Not as much as an hour ago." The words fell from his lips in a voice as quiet as ever.

A hum escaped Ninten's lips as he swiped a cottonball from the first-aid kit in his lap, dabbing it in disinfectant before he'd transfer it to Claus's wing. It tensed up instinctively the second the fluid came into contact with the bulletwound, only soothed by Ninten's calloused thumb as it glided back-and-forth over the black, scaly surface. It perplexed the soldier how such a jittery mess of a man could grow to be such a comforter in the presence of one who needed it.

Or perhaps he simply found Ninten comforting.

He was shaken from his thoughts as another sting branched out from the wound, and Claus attempted to hold in the resulting pained gasp, to no avail. He was self-conscious now that-- without the AC running-- the two could hear every sound from the other. Each rustle of fabric and sigh from the nostrils.

"... Why's your power out anyway, Nint? Paychecks not coming in?"

The baseball player clicked his tongue a few times as he cautiously moved the ball of cotton over his partner's injury. "Nah, that's not it. A storm came through and the porkheads that fix my lights are taking their sweet time." He let out a dry chuckle, "gotta take care of the rich first, right?"

The man could catch a glimpse of Claus's smile through the flickering, orangeish lighting as it caught his soft features. Ninten loved how his lower eyelids always crinkled up when he smiled, making him seem full of life for fleeting moments. "You can say that again."

"Hah! I would, but I'm half-certain they'd arrest me."

Claus's amused smile widened, tuning his head to raise an eyebrow at his partner. "Oh? Not such a daredevil now, are you?"

"Oh, please. I'm plenty daring!"

"I told you I shoplifted the oreos I brought to our picnic last week and you cried."

"Well that was one ti-"

"Loudly cried."

"I..."

"Into my shoulder."

Ninten fell silent for a long second, staring at his partner like a deer caught in headlights. He hated when Claus was right. Oh, what he'd do to wipe that obnoxious smirk off his dumb, gorgeous face. He hated him.

"Shh. Shut up," Ninten muttered, resisting the urge to shove the injured man in the shoulder; just this once.