` * - [ @ruinborn ] - - you knew there were no winners when it came to keeping score of who owed who. granted, you knew even more that he would never keep score of anything that he's ever done for you - including the times that he's saved your life. but there was still some part of you that felt that you did because rarely had you received any good treatment through your life that didn't come with a price tag? a price tag. something that night had came with. someone you had trusted or thought you knew had betrayed you. passed judgement onto you just as you regularly passed on yourself. condemned you for your nature just as you would condemn yourself. they knew how to get you where they wanted and how they wanted. what they hadn't expected was the manner in which you'd fight back. how you'd soon turn up home to adopted father in blood stained clothes, injured and crying softly.
it'd been days since that day that he'd been extra cautious, kept an watchful eye. you could sense his feelings and worries despite the fact he hadn't voiced them to you - it was all in his body language. his fingers tapped restlessly at his side, you reach out with a gentle hand to take his, fingers wound around his and squeezing tenderly before lifting his hand to your cheek -- reassurance. your eyes look to his face, expression soft. as if to say. look, i'm alive. i'm safe.