impitoyable

Lean On Me // Nithan

Nico snorted, thoroughly distracted from the pain by this conversation turn at least. “The only way I’m having a kid is I get with someone who already has one. I am shit with babies.” Not to mention that he would just be a terrible choice to help raise a kid. Adrien was cool though. He was basically already a person, kind of, and Nico could usually get a few smiles out of him.

“Yeah, but so does everyone else here.” No one would be here if they didn’t have shitty luck, including himself. He was bad at basically everything, barring only a few things that mostly related to terrible things. He yelped when Nathan upended him, although this was marginally better when it came to the pain. “Give a guy some warning! And it’s not TV. It’s a YouTube series, we’re going to watch it.” He paused, then bit his lip as he let his hand drift downwards, until he was gripping Nathan’s ass. “Damn, just as perfect as I thought.”

“Guess I can stop worrying that you’re going to kidnap my kid, then.” Nathan said dryly. It wasn’t entirely a lie. Other than Nathan, Nico was the only person Adrien would happily go with without fussing. It was his biggest problem with Nico. Until him, he had been the only person Adrien trusted and he had sort of liked that feeling. Then the fae had gone and ruined it for him. He’d started to worry somewhere in the back of his mind that there was some truth to faeries kidnapping children.

“Yes, but if I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.” He pointed out. Nathan took a few experimental steps forward, and while it wasn’t easy, he was pretty sure he was going to be able to get Nico back to the ranch like this. Besides, he enjoyed Nico’s surprise, until the table were turned on him and he gave a long-suffering sigh. “At least with you around I won’t feel homesick. You would fit in well in France.”

Lean On Me // Nithan

If it was anyone else, Nico would be punching them. Or at least trying to put some sort of curse on them for that. He was terrible at most magic other than glamours though, so it rarely worked out. He liked Nathan though, and the man did come and find him. Plus, he had the note in his voice that said he actually did like Nico, and his flirting. “You know it, babe.” He finally responded, too tired to think of anything else.

Nico kind of hopped along with Nathan, gritting his teeth against the pain. It was easier to focus on Nathan. “I think they day you take a walk in the woods alone is the day half of us die on the ranch.” He said, less humor in his voice than he meant for there to be. “Ever watched Hellsing Abridged?” He had, with Ella providing dry commentary on what was actually happening. Although to be fair, Nathan was definitely more Pip than Alucard.

Apparently he had found a sore spot, as it took a moment for Nico to reply. He filed that information away for future reference. He didn’t think it was that far off, but maybe that was the cause of the pause. “Just wait till you have a kid, knock that shit right out.” He knew that a little better than he would like. Of course, he didn’t think Nico was straight enough to have a kid without expressly trying.

He was really dragging Nico more than he was helping him, and he was beginning to debate if he could carry him or not. “You assume that I would go to the effort of killing you people. I have shitty enough luck, I would never succeed.” He finally stopped walking. They were never going to make it back to the ranch at this pace. He bent and wrapped his arms around Nico’s legs, standing abruptly again and leaving Nico laying over his shoulder. “I don’t watch American TV.”

Lux wasn’t sure what to say. He couldn’t tell if the guy hated himself or hated other nephilim or some combination of all the above. He was spitting out more waves of bitterness than Lux cared to swallow. His brows knitted together as he turned away from his task to look at the brunette. “No, I’m not,” he answered, “I wouldn’t have called you on to begin with.” For Lux he didn’t care how much angel blood a nephilim had, just so long as they had it. Though he’d never trust anyone, he was more inclined to trust his own kind than a human.

Once more Lux was left speechless. He couldn’t relate. Not in the slightest. He knew it was much easier for the nephilim before him to die, judging by the size of his wings, than it was for him to. He also knew that if he wanted Lux could live forever, or well as close to forever as a nephilim could come. Which kind of left him in a place where he was torn on the longevity of his existence. With a strong will to live imprinted on him at such a young age, the idea of dying always seemed horrible. It was that thought that had him finally questioning, “Did you really?” He turned back to his task.

“Sure.” His tone was sharp, but then it was always sharp. The most noteable thing was easily how clear his disbelief was. Nathan didn’t go to the effort of trusting species that had no past of trying to harm him or his son, he wasn’t about to put the effort in for a species that did. “You may think I’m stupid enough to trust you just because we have some of the same blood, but I’ve made that mistake before and it’s almost cost me my life on more than one occasion. Maybe you’re not a racist shitbag, but I’m not going to put my ass on the line to find out.”

It fell silent for a long moment, and Nathan started to hope that was the end of the conversation. Adrenaline was pumping through him, the taste of metal overwhelming his mouth. He played at the handle of the knife, then chose to leave it for the time being. “I’m still alive, aren’t I?” He knew that wasn’t what the nephilim had meant but the question, but he didn’t care. Survival was a matter of opinion, after all.

#c:lux

Lean On Me // Nithan

“Be hitting on you if I was dying.” That much was true. Nathan was more interesting than anyone he’d met in a long time, even if he was a Nephilim. Nico actually enjoyed being around him, and actually felt safe around him. That didn’t happen often, especially when he was as engrossed in the supernatural world. Humans were easy, he was stronger than them. Others were not.

“What’re you doing out here, anyways?” Nico asked, brow furrowing in what he was naming confusion, not pain. His knee definitely didn’t feel like it was coming apart at the seams, nope. He was ignoring that, at least until he tried to take a step, and ended up leaning on Nathan far more than he intended, sparks bursting in his brain. “Fuck.” He groaned. They had to be a mile from the ranch house, there was no way he was making it that far. He already felt like he was about to throw up. The only reason he hadn’t already was the amount of pain he’d already gone through in his life; it made this seem easier.

“Whore.” Still, Nathan allowed himself a brief smile. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or the thought that Nico could have died out here if nobody had found him, but he couldn’t help a touch of affection leaking into his tone. Just as quickly, he schooled his face. The last thing he needed was another Adrien, another weakness. It already cut him down a little inside when he realized that Adrien had somehow become more important than himself; something he hadn’t thought possible of another being.

Nathan shifted to accommodate the weight, gritting his teeth and throwing himself into the motion of walking, trying to ignore the pain he heard in Nico’s voice. “What, you don’t think I’m a walk in the woods kind of guy?” He just had to keep this up until they got back, it wasn’t that bad. Then he would be putting distance, for sure. The flirting had been fun for a while, but somewhere a line had been crossed and Nathan had to put a stop to whatever the hell was happening.

Lean On Me // Nithan

“You’re a dirty liar.” Nico slurred. Okay, maybe the blood loss was worse than he thought. He didn’t appreciate the fact that he had the chance to feel up Nathan right now, if he moved fast enough, but he couldn’t quite get his hand to move.

“Bet your ass I would.” Nico agreed. That much was obvious, he had never been a subtle person, especially when it came to flirting. God, his leg hurt. It burned, but at least he was pretty sure the iron had cauterized the wound so it wasn’t bleeding as much. Or maybe it was just that he had lost feeling in his legs now. Technically that was better, since he couldn’t feel how much it hurt.

He let out another yelp when he was pulled into a sitting position, pain radiating up from his leg. Apparently it wasn’t totally numb just yet. That was just amazing. “Aw, never knew you cared like that.” He grunted, doing his best to help Nathan in the standing endeavor. He did manage to get to his feet, mostly stumbling into Nathan, hands braced on the other man’s chest. “Not concave.” He muttered.

“Better than a clean one.” His mouth was on autopilot now, spitting out the first thing that came to mind so he didn’t have to actually think about what he was saying. He wasn’t worried, no he didn’t worry about anyone besides his own self and Adrien. The rest of the world could go fuck itself for all he cared, but he might as well help Nico if he was right there. He just had to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach, and the flashes of friends in the FFL dying like this in his arms.

Nathan huffed. “You can’t be feeling that bad if you’re still hitting on me.” He wasn’t stupid. He’d since practically their first meeting that Nico was interested, and a few years earlier he probably would have taken him up on it. But those had been the days when he was able to move on the next day or week and not have to deal with the consequences of a possible relationship and all the mess that came with it.

He flinched unintentionally when Nico yelped. He didn’t like that sound. It made his stomach turn and the blood on his hands seemed to multiply. “I don’t, I just don’t want to lug your deadweight ass back to the ranch without any help.” He snapped, voice sharp with something that was definitely not fear. He rolled his eyes when Nico’s hands slid across his chest. He definitely couldn’t be that bad. Nathan pulled Nico’s arm over his shoulders, supporting him on the side of his bad knee. “Just fucking walk.”

“Is it too early to start decorating the Ranch for Christmas?” She asked the other curiously.

“If I had it my way, we would skip over the holidays entirely, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

#c:mira

Lean On Me // Nithan

Nico knew his luck was shitty, he just didn’t assume it was this shitty. It was definitely something iron in his leg, and he knew that dizzy feeling was blood loss. He’d grown familiar with it long ago, and it wasn’t much of a stranger now, same as the pain that was still radiating from his leg. It felt like it was being pulled apart slowly, while being stabbed with hot pokers.

He did wince when he heard the sound of fabric ripping. “Finally got you shirtless and can’t enjoy it.” He croaked out. Why did his throat hurt? He hadn’t been stabbed there. He’d been stabbed in the leg, and he sucked in a breath as the tie went around his leg. It rubbed the iron against his skin again, and he swore he could hear it sizzling against his skin.

“Fuck you.” He muttered in return, hands digging into the dirt as he braced for the next movement. He knew what was coming, and he tensed as soon as Nathan’s hands wrapped around his leg. A yell pulled from his throat as soon as the tool started pulling out of him, and black spots swam in his vision. “Fuck you, I’ll pass out if want to.” He gasped out, fighting against it nevertheless.

“You’re blind and my chest is concave anyway.” It wasn’t really that bad. He had a thin frame, but over a hundred years of fighting had left him with a well toned body. It was simply somewhat pathetic compared to the rest of his race. He didn’t know why he was putting so much thought into this anyway. He had a few more pressing concerns at the moment.

“Wouldn’t you like to?” He started wrapping the other strips around the wound and tying them off, moving as quickly as he could. There was no point in being nice about it, it was going to hurt no matter what and speed was of the essence. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do to get Nico back to the ranch, but he was taking this all one step at a time.

This wasn’t looking good. Nico was turning paler and his voice was getting weaker and Nathan tied off the last of his shirt around Nico’s knee. He pulled Nico into a sitting position. “No you won’t. You pass out, I’ll dump Adrien on you and leave the ranch, we clear? Now get the fuck up.” There was a little shake in his hands and he didn’t like it. He tried to ignore it pulling at Nico more, trying to get them both standing.

Lean On Me // Nithan

Nico didn’t usually go riding. But it wasn’t impossible, he had a connection with nature that helped to direct the horse. Almost see through it, and it was as close to actually seeing as he ever got these days. He only did it on the days he was sober, though. It made him feel as if he was flying, like he was on a mount from the Hunt instead of a mortal horse, a sensation that was even better than drinking.

It was less good when the horse panicked. He only got a flash of fear and confusion before the horse was rearing back, and he was sliding off it’s back. Immediately, a searing pain shot through his knee, a burning sensation that was far too familiar, and he let out a groan. It was only in one spot, so he should be able to deal with it. Maybe if he could get whatever it was that had stabbed him in the knee out, he could get on the horse…

Those were definitely hoofbeats fading out. This was a betrayal of the highest order, and he leaned back with another groan, then grimaced at the new pain in his leg. It was the flashing kind, that was quickly moving upwards into the rest of his body, and he really didn’t want to move any more. He needed to though, and he sat up slowly, stopping to breathe once he was mostly upright. Okay. He could do this. He gritted his teeth and leaned over. He could do this. He could do this.

He blacked out.

He woke up to warmth, and the sound of someone yelling, and flinched instinctively, grimacing again when pain shot up his leg. “I went for a ride. Can you get this fucking thing out of my leg?” It was really starting to hurt even more now, like it was being ripped off.

From what Nathan could tell, it was an old mining tool. These mountains held plenty of opportunity for things to get lost, and apparently Nico shared a bit of Nathan’s bad luck in his miraculous discovery of the tool. It wasn’t quite in the knee, now that he was looking closer. Rather it had pierced Nico’s skin just below the knee, his bluish skin turning a pallid gray that couldn’t be good, even for a fae.

He didn’t bother to go through the complicated process of pulling his shirt off over his wings to save it, he just pulled it hard enough that it would tear along the back and proceeded to rip it into strips. He was no doctor, but he had spent enough time around people getting hurt to pick up some battlefield medicine. First thing he did was tie off a strip just above Nico’s knee, hoping it would suffice for a tourniquet. He didn’t think it was bleeding too badly, but with a faerie’s weakness to iron, he figured better safe than sorry.

“The fuck is a blind guy doing out riding.” The mutter wasn’t so much directed at Nico as it was a rhetorical question to nobody in particular. “Now for the fun part.” He said in a falsely cheery voice, gripping Nico’s leg and pulling upwards in a swift movement. It made a sick sound as it came free from the tool and fresh blood began to flow. Nathan started tying the rest of the strips of his shirt around the open wound. “Don’t you dare fucking pass out on me,” he ordered.

Lean On Me // Nithan

Nathan didn’t typically spend a lot of time out in the stables. Still, anywhere there was a building, there were things to be fixed and he was doing his best to take care of everything outside before it got any colder. He also didn’t usually pay much attention to the people or animals around him, though the riderless horse that came galloping up to the stables managed to snag a little of his attention as he worked on the roof. Of course there were people actually working the stable to come out and take care of it, clearly worried over the encounter and shouting back and forth. Nathan was more or less amused by the spectacle until he heard something about that blind fae.

He wasn’t worried. But Adrien would be upset if Nico wound up getting himself killed somehow, and as much as he told himself to let it go, he found himself climbing down the ladder and saying something about a smoke break before heading in the direction the horse had come from on foot. It wasn’t hard to follow the trail, the horse had left a clear path of destruction in its wake. He picked through the foliage, uncomfortable in how much this reminded him of his previous work. The feathers of his wings ruffled in the late afternoon breeze, feeling more raised than they usually did. He had a bad feeling in the bottom of his stomach.

He spent what had to be about half an hour picking his way through the path, finally breaking into a clearing. At first glance, it was empty. At second glance, he saw red and then he saw Nico. He wasn’t moving as far as Nathan could tell, and he actually broke into a run to get across the grassy open area. There was blood on the grass and there was blood on Nico, but Nathan could see that he was breathing once he got close enough. “Goddammit, you stupid piece of shit, the fuck did you do?” It all seemed be concentrated around the right knee, so that was where Nathan focused.

“I am very self aware. It’s better than lying to yourself.” Well, other than the good lies, at least. He was okay with those. The ones that said nothing actually mattered. “I assume because I’m adorable. Also, I make her laugh.”

“Don’t knock it till’ you’ve tried it.” He smiled sharply. He was, after all, well versed in hating himself. He had boiled it down to an art and now it came as naturally as breathing. “You should go do that now. I have a kid to feed.”

“I don’t either. Probably because drunk me is very dumb.” Drunk him was an idiot and not to be believed. “What, me, work? That’s hilarious. I don’t actually work. I do card tricks and occasionally give tours or something.”

“Well at least you’re self aware.” He was somewhat curious now, to see this drunk version of Nico. He couldn’t imagine a version of him that was even more reckless and lacking a filter. “Why does Ella even allow you to live here?”

“I think it is. I mean, some people also say I’m dumb, but I ignore them.” Most of them were idiots anyways. He wasn’t dumb, he just didn’t always think things through. “Avoiding questions makes me think it’s for a reason. Mostly to avoid admitting that you think I’m amazingly hot.”

“I can’t imagine why they would say that.” He swept a hand through his hair. “Don’t you have shit to be doing? You’re supposed to have work at this shithole, I would assume you occasionally do it.”

“Oddly, yes. Because I’m adorable, and also love to cuddle.” Nico said with a grin. He’d actually been compared to one several times, and thought it was great each time. “That’s not an answer, and it’s not my fault I have more fun than you.”

“I don’t think that’s it.” He got the feeling that was an invitation, but his bed was full enough with the wriggly five year old who liked to invade it on a regular basis. “Yes, it’s called avoiding a question. Deal with it.”

hbosopranosgifs

#nathan #muse

“It is spectacular, yes. Awe-inspiring, even.” Nico said, tone equally dry. He leaned forward, a grin on his face. “So would you say you’re….hard?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you remind them of a Labrador puppy?” He needed to remember that the self-gloating always backfired when it came to Nico, because he always backed it up. “How the fuck are you older than me?”