#it for a good few days usually hdgklhfd

[ichorblossoms]

wip wednesday- uh oh spaghetti-os

i was going to try and maintain a pattern of sharing these with going p1, p2, then p3 but i've decided to not do that bc i've been writing a lot of p2/p3 lately

as usual, mind some of the clunkiness as this is first draft writing and i'm not quite satisfied with how some of this stuff flows but! i'm being so brave and not editing this over and over and ov sharing it anyways yeeeehaw

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[P3- Yarrow POV, they/them for Yarrow, it/its for Grimm, ]

Yarrow woke up hurting. It wasn’t the sort of pain that originated from a specific point but it was present. After the past few days, they had no pause for alarm and, with the comfort of Grimm beside them, fell back asleep.

A few hours later, still before the sun was up, Yarrow woke again, still hurting. Nothing felt different than it had however many hours before, but a single thought appeared: something is wrong. More accurately, something is beginning to go wrong. This wasn’t going to get better.

In the dark, they tried to take stock of their body: something in their chest was tight—not in the emotional way (God knows they had felt that enough in this lifetime), but as if something was inflamed, or not sitting correctly. The twinge in his left arm he could never quite get rid of for good was back too. Above and alongside all that was the feeling that something in their body was off with each swallow, every breath.

Shit.

They had a theory and a solution. If they were right, this could fuck them both over.

It was far too dark in the makeshift house for Yarrow to actually see Grimm, but their senses—new and old—traced the outline of it as it slept, pressed against them and breathing softly. Familiar affection welled up in their chest alongside that new, unwelcome pain; this beautiful creature was their lover, and they knew it loved them back just the same. Two odd creatures, who managed to find each other again and again.

They wanted to protect Grimm, the thing the two of them had made together. If either of them was truly capable of it, it would be Grimm, but Yarrow knew without a doubt that he would take as many bullets for Grimm as he needed to allow it to live.

Yarrow thought of home too, and the people back in Rappock. They wanted to protect them all, for all they had done for them. They wanted to go back, to the checkups and fix-ups, the people they knew and loved. They left everything they knew behind once already, they didn’t want to do it all over again. 

Deep down, they knew they could, Grimm was there the last time, after all, but for all they never quite fit in, nowhere else felt like home.

—

“What’s wrong?”

Damn it, Yarrow hadn’t even said anything, wasn’t planning on doing so until they had eaten breakfast at the least.

There was no point in keeping it a secret, Yarrow word-vomited to Grimm about them waking up in the middle of the night, how after two days their chest was beginning to feel like things were shifting out of place, how their body, no longer what it once was, was beginning to tear itself apart, and would if they couldn’t get the proper treatment. 

Grimm listened, not saying a word.

“I’m sorry,” Yarrow didn’t know what else to say after they finished speaking.

The creases in Grimm’s brow were deep, “Don’t be, you shouldn’t be sorry for anything,” they heard the unspoken I should.

“No, and I can’t control any of this,” Wrong thing to say. Grimm curled tightly in on itself for a moment before letting out a breath and running a hand across its face. “I’m not in any pain right now,” they reassured Grimm. It was true, there was only an easily ignorable discomfort for now. But it would slowly get worse. On the bright side, you have a few weeks. Don’t say that to Grimm.

It inhaled and exhaled a shaky breath, “I need to go back there, don’t I?”

“I’m going with you.”

“Absolutely not.”

Yarrow huffed, “No, I’m not leaving you.” They almost said I’m not letting you leave me, but that could only come out wrong.

Grimm might have heard what they almost said regardless; it looked at them for a long time before speaking quietly, “I can’t let you get hurt again.”

“And if you’re hurt?”

[Grimm looks at its hands]

“I’m going with you, from now on,” they were not going to argue, they wanted in on the action sure, but more importantly, “I want to be by your side.”

“Yarrow, I know what I’m doing,” Its nose crinkled into the beginnings of a snarl despite its level voice.

“And I’ll follow you. I’m not saying I have to be your shadow, and I know I don’t have your skills but,” I can’t do nothing while you risk your life for me, “I’m just as angry as you are. I want to fight back.”

“You can’t fight back if you get killed,” Grimm was playing all it had.

But they held the winning hand, “You wouldn’t let that happen.”

It went silent again, staring right into their eyes—silver boring into gold. Yarrow won, they both knew it.