Servitude [BoyxBoy]

Chapter 21

It wasn't a decision I wanted to make, but perhaps I would need to soon. Is staying with Silvian healthy for him? If all he does is put himself down and obsess over changing himself, is it worth my own happiness? But if I left, would that make it worse?

"Soli," Grimm growled, opening one eye as if to prove he was still awake. "I don't want you in here if you're going to flood the room with your negative energy.  Leave." I stopped massaging my head to look at him.

"But-"

"Go!"  He shouted in the loudest voice he could manage, and I got up from my seat, nodding along to the thoughts swimming through my head.  As I walked through the door, I hesitated, hand still on the door frame.  My eyes flashed back to Grimm, lying motionless on the bed.  Other people wouldn't have noticed, but a vein on his neck was throbbing, and his eyes had become red-rimmed.

He was about to cry.

"Thank you..." I muttered, then walked through the door.

•••

"You idiot! Fool! Dizzard! Kleppkaa!"  With each insult, my hand slammed into Silvian's shoulder, pulling him out of his dazed state as he finally came around. He stared at me incredulously.

"Did you just... swear at me in elfish?" His mouth was comically wide with shock, and I snorted at the look on his face, flashing him a glare.

"Elfinn, you dullard." Again, his face flushed red with anger and embarrassment. He went to pull the sheet off of him so that he could get up, but I grabbed them from him and pulled them all the way up to his chest, in turn pushing him down onto the bed. "You're not allowed to get up."

"Has anyone ever told you that your bedside manner is terrible?" Silvian joked, smirking at how flustered I was.

"Silvian!" I pleaded, finally feeling tears brew behind my eyes. I reached up and pretended to rub the sleep from the inner corners of my eye in an attempt to dab them away. "I thought you were going to die, hell, you could have!"

"Yet here I am." He fired back, his voice eerily calm despite the ice in his eyes.  Perhaps he didn't like it when I undermined how strong he is, or treated him like he was fragile, but I couldn't help it.  It didn't matter how many people he had slain in battle, or how incredibly clever he is. I would always worry for him, it was my duty as his loyal servant.

And my duty as the man who gave Silvian his heart.

The vampire sighed, all anger leaving him in one exhale.  Then he turned to me and smiled sleepily, reaching out a hand to place it on top of my head.  He ran his hand through the strands there for a moment, then moved it down to rest his palm against my cheek.  My own hand placed itself on top of his, almost out of habit, and I shifted my head slightly to kiss his fingers.

"I'm sorry." He apologised, and I felt a weight lift from my chest.  Nausea that had settled in my stomach the moment Silvian's body hit the snow fleeted, and I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.  "On another note, we need to stop meeting like this."  The vampire said with cheek, his silver eyes flashing daringly as colour finally came back to his face.

I laughed along with him, remembering all of the times we had tended each other's bedsides like fretful nurses. 

"Really?  I quite like seeing you frail and curled up like this."  I lied, laying Silvian's hand back on his bed and patting it before letting go.  "There's a sick thrill to it - maybe I like it when you show weakness."  Silvian laughed croakily, his throat scratchy as if he had screamed for hours.  Obviously, he gave my words no serious thought.