Twenty Over Thirty || manxman

X - Love & Regret

The moment the question was asked, Kurt watched as Dimitri broke down in front of him. His arms were wrapped around himself, cheeks glistening with tears that were still falling, and his entire body was shivering as though he'd been standing in the freezing cold for hours. "Dimitri," Kurt said, his voice the softest it's ever been in his life, "Come here."

At that, the man took a step forward and pressed himself into Kurt's chest. Sedative arms wrapped around his figure, making sure to be gentle in his delicate state. Dimitri cried his heart out into the side of Kurt's neck, breaking down his once sturdy walls as he was held tenderly.

Kurt didn't need a full explanation about everything that occurred while with Kellen. He already knew the dreadful look in someone's eyes after they have lived through something so tormenting, and that's exactly the kind of murkiness Dimitri had in his eyes. "It's okay," he said into the man's golden-brown hair, "You're safe now."

This state the Dimitri was in right now, it hit way too close to home for Kurt. The physical anguish the man was in, the horrid glaze in his crying eyes, Kurt knew all too well, and the longer he held Dimitri against him to at least settle his trembling nerves, the angrier Kurt got at himself. This was Kellen, he just knew it! "You're safe now, love," he said to Dimitri, "Let's get you inside and cleaned up."

Heading to Dimitri's apartment instead, Kurt closed his door behind them and took the older man's key. He unlocked the apartment and guided him inside. "Let's get you into a nice hot bath," Kurt said, "How about that?"

Dimitri just nodded.

They went back into bathroom in the hallway and the light was turned on. Carefully, Kurt undressed Dimitri from his already torn clothes. The green and black lined shirt having been ripped almost completely down the middle. Instantly he laid eyes on the many wounds that were not made by himself. They were gruesome to look upon, perfect teeth imprints punctured into Dimitri's ribcage and upper chest, blood stained around each marking to show just how brutal the bites had been. He hated looking at them next to the ones he'd left behind, the ones Dimitri had come to like over their time together, and now his body was defiled by an act so devious and cruel.

Having Dimitri sit down on the closed toilet beside the tub when all of his clothes were off, Kurt kissed his forehead and cheeks, and said, "Let me get the water ready, okay?"

"Kurt," the name was spoken so softly, in such a low whisper that it barely went acknowledged. "It hurts so much. So much."

"I know, I know," Kurt kissed the man's lips this time, pressing their foreheads together and cupped his face lovingly. "We're gonna get you in this here bath and I'll fix you right up, okay?"

When Dimitri gave another nod, Kurt helped him into the warm tub, sitting him down and took a seat of his own on the low rim of it. From where he sat he could see more deep wounds bitten into the back of the man's shoulders. He cursed in his mind and took a washcloth from a tall towel stand beside the tub. Dousing it in water, he ran the cloth about Dimitri's body, cleaning away the dried blood around each mark.

Just looking at Dimitri brought back so many memories for Kurt, the pain of the past he'd been able to escape from here in American, and seeing someone he was growing so attached to so traumatized as he used to be flipped a switch in him. Dimitri was just about the sweetest, most kindhearted person Kurt has ever met, and to just know there was someone out there willing to hurt such a wonderful man ticked him off. This wouldn't go forgotten, forgiven, or unpunished, and he wanted to be the one to let Kellen know that.

Remembering back to the time when he felt the same as Dimitri at the moment, Kurt thought of all the pain he endured back then, how disgusting he used to feel during that time in his life, and...admittedly, he would rather himself be put through everything all over again than to see Dimitri in this current state. When he was a student at Castleton University, Kurt thought so lowly of himself, hatred almost everything about the kind of person he was, the choices he made, the things he was willing to do for what he thought was love. All of it made him feel like filth, and he'd been okay with it until a light had finally shined itself in his eyes, giving him the ability to see how fucked up his situation was when he was a little younger. Seeing that same torture in Dimitri, it killed Kurt from the inside.