When love became an act of defiance

[prohibitions]

I hear your heart beating in your chest
The world slows 'till there's nothing left
Skyscrapers look on like great, unblinking giants

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Abel AU

[prohibitions]

[prohibitions]

Abel Emil Remington. He was a terribly successful man and at such a young age too. A successful businessman and has a certain talent in politics. A prodigy in magic. From his family to himself, no one can deny that the man is nothing but gifted, successful, and seems to have everything he could ever need or want.

A large file had been given to Jonathan detailing everything about the man from official documentation to medical files to his daily schedule and his agenda for the upcoming month. It wasn't so much a bodyguard job but more being a valet for a public figure with high ranking. It was a ridiculously well paying job where it really boiled down to making sure a "spoiled brat actually followed his schedule" or so it was worded.

Jonathan was lead to a lavish and spacious room that was connected to Abel's room. It was already furnished and basically had anything the other might need. It was mentioned a maid would be dropping off dinner at six and that there was a door with no locks that lead to Abel's own room.

If Jonathan settles down and decides to check on Abel, he'll find a simplistic room. It was a stark difference to the more antiquated look the estate had. It was more modern with a minimalist look (there also seemed to be far little in terms of personal belongings). The man in question was sitting at his desk with countless paper floating around him as he looked over documents.

There was a rather sad look to the man. Despite his young age, there was a certain age in his eyes that one shouldn't have and there didn't seem to be any life in them if one were being honest. He just looked tired and rather sad.

He doesn't even look up from his paper when the other enters. Doesn't greet the other in anyway. It seems like he doesn't bother to acknowledge Jonathan's presence at all.

[corcotta]

If Jonathan was being honest, he wasn't sure what to entirely expect when he accepted the role, thinking it was just another bodyguard role that he was accustom to. When a large file was handed over to him, he realized it was much more than that. He had never been given so much responsibly before but with the pay as high as it was and the stability of the position, he really couldn't complain.

Of course, he had kept certain aspects of his own nature hidden for the time being. Jonathan had experienced enough employers reactions to the mention of being a werehyena to be treated very differently from other members of staff and with a particular job like this, he didn't need that straight out of the gate. Even if his odd eye color was bound to cause suspicions.

As he was led to the room in which he would be calling home for as long as he was contracted for, the decor wasn't something he was used to at all. The room itself was bigger than most of the rooms back in his apartment and he's going to have to have his family house sit for him for the foreseeable future. He did think about bringing his birds along, it would be something to remind him of home without lugging unnecessary belongings.

After while, once he tried to make some decent headway on the file he was given, he does go to check on Abel and introduce himself. Giving the door a few knocks to announce his arrival before he poked his head and stepped fully inside. 'Spoiled brat' wasn't what he would use to describe Abel at all. Jonathan had seen 'spoiled brat', hell he's dealt with protecting truly spoiled people. This wasn't one.

Or at least, it didn't seem like it.

He can't help but linger by the door as he glanced around the room and to the man himself. Perhaps he stares at the other longer than he should of but his presence was never acknowledged so he steps closer, hands pulled behind his back until he was a couple feet away. The sad and tired look was more prominent once he stood closer, he almost gives the other a sympathetic look.

"Sorry to bother you while you're working, Sir, but I wanted to introduce myself since I'll be staying in the room next door to yours..."

[prohibitions]

Abel was a sharp dressed man. A nicely pressed dress shirt and a three piece suit, although his jacket was draped on the back of the armchair he was sitting in. It didn't seem like he cared much for accessorizing other than the two bracelets on his wrists. Closer inspection, if one could tell by the engravings, the bracelets were magic suppressors.

Things seemed quite off already if Jonathan could recognize them for what they are.

"I'll simply care more about your name and who you are if you happen to still be employed by the end of the month," he said without even bothering to look up from the papers in his hand. His voice was cold. Emotionally detached. Perhaps purposely meant to come off as someone who considered himself better than the other. "You've gone and made yourself known. You can simply leave now. I have better things to do than entertain you," Abel said curtly.

Well, the man certainly wasn't interested in playing friendly at all. Of course, he was sure that his father had painted some wonderfully awful picture of him. Abel was also someone who easily decided to be just that if that's how his father was going to portray him.

[corcotta]

Magic wasn't Jonathan's strong suit, compared to say his brother's knowledge on the subject, so while the engravings looked slightly familiar from what he was taught, he thought nothing of them. Magic itself wasn't an everyday occurrence for him and perhaps this warranted further investigation.

This is definitely not the first time someone has said that to him nor in such a tone, definitely wouldn't be the last but there's a hint of a smirk in the corner of his mouth before he reaches into his suit breast pocket to fetch a business card from within.

The card was very simple. All it had was his name, primary occupation and a number with what would appear as a strange family crest on the back.

He wasn't expecting the other to be friendly right off the bat, if what Abel's father's painted picture was anything to go by but that didn't sully what his first impressions nor his expectations were. If his father had difficulties keeping a valet for his son, there had to more factors at play here and if anything, Jonathan saw it as a challenge now.

He outlived others in most of his contracts anyway, this wouldn't be at all different. It was simply a waiting game and he had all the patience in the world for it or so it would seem and he felt confident in his ability to stay much longer than Abel's estimate of him.

Jonathan placed the card on Abel's desk, setting it on one of the documents he had laid out before he turned on his heel to leave, "I look forward to surprising you. I'll be checking on you in the evening, Sir."

He stuck to being as formal as possible, if the other didn't want to be bothered, he was going to do his best to respect that. As he made his way back to the door that separated their respective spaces, he glances back at the other before opening it, "Do remember to take a break at some point." He calls out before walking into his room and closing the door behind him, not bothering to wait and see if the other would reply.

Jonathan spent the time leading up to dinner reading Abel's file. By the time the maid had knocked on his door, papers were laid out across the floor and the bed as he went through them. He planned to leave that night to go pack up a few of his things to bring over including his birds but that could wait until after he had eaten. He found the contents of the file to be fascinating, making sense of Abel's father's ridiculous expectations of him if his schedule and filled agenda for the month was anything to go by. He lingered on Abel's medical files for the longest amount, you could find out a lot by those alone and he noted the other's psychic abilities as something to be relatively cautious around.

[prohibitions]

Abel pauses after the other leaves and glances at the card. Of course, he just tosses into the trash almost immediately. He had very little interest in playing friendly with whoever his father had hired this time to put him in line. Just because he was stuck in this certain hell doesn't mean he had any intention of being whatever bitch his father wanted him to be.

Abel's schedule seemed rather full, although there were plenty of activities the man simply never bothered to go to and were written in red. His medical records were mostly clean other than that single trip in his younger years. it seemed he was mostly healthy. That, or they probably had a doctor on the grounds and didn't regularly need to go to a hospital unless the situation asked for it.

There's a polite knock on Jonathan's door when dinner comes around. The maid is a gentle woman who brings Jonathan and Abel's meals. She greets the other and tells the other if there's anything in particular that he would ever like to eat to let them know and welcomes him into the household.

Today's meal is a stew and rice and she also had brought a pot of tea with an assortment of additions to go with it to fit anyone's fancy along with a flan for dessert. She smiles and earnestly asks him to try and convince the other to eat before pushing the cart off to the next rooms and leaving the other.

Very little has changed with Abel other than it looked like most of his paperwork had finally been dealt with for the night. He was, of course, still working though. The room smelled stronger of vanilla and there was currently a lit cigarette sitting in the ash tray on his desk. The only sounds was his pen scratching against paper as he wrote and the occasional sound of china as he sipped his cold tea.

He looked more like he needed rest than anything else, honestly.

[corcotta]

Jonathan had chimed in that the door was open, only to scramble to scooped up a lot of the papers he had laying on the floor as soon as he realizes who was at the door, clearing a path for the maid to place the dinner tray on the table, holding them close to his chest as he thanked her for welcoming him after he had introduced himself as well as promising that he'd try.

He does ask before she leaves if Abel always looked so... sad and tired all the time before watching her head further down the hall, closing the door behind him. Its probably embarrassing how fast he downs the stew, usually he constantly has to eat something throughout the day due to his ridiculous metabolism and today was a road bump in that part of his schedule. Definitely going to have to accommodate for it in the future.

With the pot of tea and Abel's food placed on the tray, he knocks again on the door between their rooms before immediately being hit with what felt like a cloud of vanilla as he opened the door. He remembers the other's room smelling as sweet but not to this degree that it was almost overpowering. Jonathan shakes his head before walking over and placing the tray on another table off to the side near the wall from Abel's desk where the man was still working and looking more tired than he had seen him earlier.

After what the maid had told him, he makes it a point to remain in the room until he watched the other eat something, anything.

"Dinner is served, sir." He says as polite as before while he leans himself up against the wall, crossing his arms. On the tray itself, he had left his portion of the flan because he wasn't much of a fan of it. Of course, he'll eat it if he has to but if he can avoid it, you would.

Jonathan had the sinking suspicion that the other hadn't eaten anything since he came into the room last. He hadn't heard anyone walking down the hall or so much as heard a knock on the other's door since he'd been staying in his own room. The behavior of the staff heavily contrasted his entire meeting with Abel's father.

Usually, if the employer was terrible, the staff reflected that in some way and this family didn't fit that mold which he found strange. He stands there, observing the other has he tried to make sense of this.

[prohibitions]

The man doesn't seem to acknowledge Jonathan right away, which is probably unsurprising. Instead, he continues to work; signing a few documents and lazily waving the paperwork he had gone through to join the neat stack of finished work. It's not until he puts his pen down and takes the half finished cigarette from the ash tray so he could take a drag that he turns his attention to the other.

He raises a brow as he regards the other before he speaks. "Asked you to make sure I eat, did she? Typical," he said with a click of his tongue. Irritating. The staff had always been sweet on him and it has always been this way. The difference was that he was a cute kid and now he's just a sullen adult.

Abel doesn't move from his seat and it doesn't look like he's all that interested in eating. Or at least, interested in eating with Jonathan's presence around. He does speak again though. "You know, most people usually attempt to try and mask their thoughts a bit better. No on really likes having their thoughts available to the other." Was that smile a haughty smirk or a self depreciating smile? "You think rather loudly and a lot and it's a tad irritating, you know."

He didn't have much love for being a psychic in all honesty. He hated the way that he couldn't keep other thoughts out of his head. He hated the taste of all the emotions that surrounded him mixing together. He absolutely abhorred not always knowing which thoughts were even his own. What was his and what belonged to others.

"Don't think too much, you know. You'll get yourself into trouble otherwise," he replies before tapping his cigarette over the ash tray and pulling another document to him with a lazy twirl of his hand.

He definitely seemed to have no intention of eating.

[corcotta]

He was expecting to go unacknowledged so when Abel finally chimes in, he perks up, "She did and I intend to do right by her." He tilts his head, looking over at the food before returning this gaze to the other.

On the first day, Jonathan usually knows where to point his loyalties but in the past few hours, he's found a slow growing shift in them and he's not quite sure where they lie, only that they don't belong to Abel's father despite him being his employer.

"You're the first I've worked for with an ability like this so I do apologize for that." He's not worried about his thoughts, at least, not yet anyway so really he doesn't mind that Abel can read them like an annoyingly open book. There's been a lot of information to digest and he can't exactly stop his thoughts when it comes to that.

He puts Abel's complaints into consideration as something to actively work on and he's sure he'll get better at it with time but for the moment the other is just going to have to deal with it for the small amount of time as he adjusts.

"You should invest in some soundproofing if it bothers you so much." He voices back, raising a brow at the suggestion because if he was as talented with magic as he was or his entire family from what his father boasted about, it should be relatively easy, right? Why suffer when you didn't have to?

It wasn't his place to make such remarks but perhaps its him testing the waters with how out of line he can be then just some obedient valet.

[prohibitions]

He's a bit surprised that Jonathan is still around. Weeks turn to months and the man hasn't gotten himself fired or gotten sick of the job. Or him for that matter.

Abel continues to be rather private about everything about himself though. He never gives Jonathan more information than necessary and he answers vaguely to certain things when asked. He was tightlipped and it was hard to say why exactly. No matter how genuine the other was, Abel can't say he completely trusts the other. He's never had any reason to trust anyone before and no one but his brother has ever done anything to not destroy what little of it he had.

It's too bad his brother was never around or perhaps his life would be marginally better. He can't fault him though because they had their own life and they were busy themselves from what correspondence they have with each other.

The most frustrating part about this all though is that Abel ever only sees his father alone when requested. He gives Jon a few days off whenever it happens. This wouldn't seem so peculiar, if Abel's attitude didn't change so much after those meetings. If Jonathan is around during those times, there's always the sound of the door slamming. The staff always recommends to wait and hour or so before checking on the man. If Jonathan is around, he'll come upon a completely destroyed bedroom and Abel putting everything back together. He's always bruised or burned or bleeding, but he never answers the other. Only ever tells him to leave. Comments that the other has the week off so why the hell is he still here.

It's easy to guess what might be happening, but Abel is particularly cagey about it. He's more irate for perhaps weeks or maybe a little more tolerant of whatever bullshit he had to do on his schedule.

Today is a bit different though. Everything is a little off. Instead of the usual door being opened and being slammed shut, Jonathan may hear the door being opened and that's it. Checking on the other, they'll find that the door to his room was opened, but left opened, which was very uncharacteristic of the other. The sound of the shower will be running, but he'll find the bathroom door was also left opened.

The most alarming part though was the bloody handprints and smears as though whoever it was had sluggishly made their way across the room and to the bathroom. Jonathan will probably have smelled it before he even sees the red against pale walls and on the doorknobs.

[corcotta]

Jonathan told the other when they first met that he'd stay longer than what the estimate was. They found a better routine. One that had more balance then the one his father had planned together. He may have suffered being reprimanded for the cutting of some of the things from the schedule or not reinforcing them but he stood his ground on the choices that he made.

Abel was the same as before about everything. He didn't mind, thinking that it'll pass in due time. That maybe he'd get around to actually trusting him at some point, if ever.

The first time Abel gives Jonathan time off before meeting with his father, he thought it strange but accepted it. He didn't leave the estate that time, using it to catch up on a few things before he heard the slam of the door. He waited. Meal time came rolling around and while he had asked the maid what might've happened, she doesn't tell him much. He hesitantly knocked on the door adjoining theirs, only to peek inside when he didn't get a reply.

The room would be a wreck and he's walk in in the middle of Abel repairing everything. The other's injuries never went unnoticed, though at the time, he just assumed they were made when he thrashed his room. He wanted to ask what had happened but Abel is quick to wish that he be alone.

He leaves him. Let's him have his space.

Then it happened again and again and sometimes when Jonathan wasn't around. After the first time, he was reluctant to leave the grounds because it always left him with the feeling of guilt that he should try to help, knowing that it would be a fruitless attempt if he tried. Yet, he does his errands or work planning for when the time off was up.

The days that followed the incidents were abnormal. Sometimes Abel would follow the schedules with little no complaint while others he'd be fuming and all he could really do was let the other go through the motions.

Today's incident, Jonathan wasn't here again. The only reason he was back at the estate was because he had forgotten something to bring with him since he was helping his family with a few things. He's in his room when he hears Abel's room open but there was no slam that followed. Odd. When he's about to leave again, he notices the other's door was open which was peculiar on it own. He leaves behind what he was taking with him just inside the room before shutting it and walking over to the other's.

The smell of blood hits him before the familiar vanilla. Jonathan hesitantly pushes the door open further before stepping inside and shutting it behind him.

"Abel?" He calls out, hearing no reply but the sound of the shower running and noticing the bathroom door was open as well. The closer he gets the more blood he seems to notice, hand prints smeared against the walls and knobs.

Pushing further in, he knocks on the door to the bathroom, unsure of what sort of sight he'd come across. "Abel...?"

[prohibitions]

Abel doesn't remember much. He just remembers that him and his father had gotten into an argument, but that wasn't new. It always ended up in an argument and it always escalated in ways. He knew that he was playing with fire by doing it. He couldn't use magic against his father because of the suppressors and he knew the other didn't like it when he was disobedient. Damn if he didn't find some enjoyment in pushing his father's buttons.

Most of the time, it just escalated into a bit of a physical altercation. Once in awhile though, he would either go too far or his father's patience was particularly thin and he would be thrown into a small room. It wasn't even tall enough to stand upright and Abel knew that he went too far.

His man wasn't a merciful man either. No amount of begging and apologizing would stop his father from throwing his severely claustrophobic son it the space and shut him in it for however long his father thinks he deserves it.

Abel can't really say how long because time stops being a concept. He can't say he remembers much other than how everything seemed to be pounding. His mind. His heart. He thinks he had been screaming for awhile. His throat burned and he thinks it's hoarse but he can't say. He's not even sure how he got back to his room. Abel doesn't remember his father letting out. Telling him he can leave. He doesn't recall opening the door to his room and entering.

He hasn't even quite realized that he's curled up on the shower floor with the shower running.

Abel only turns his head slightly when he hears his name. His eyes are unfocused though and it's unlikely he's hasn't even fully comprehended it. Like the man was trapped in his own mind.

His nails are worn down and the tips of his fingers were bleeding from where he had continuously scratched at the walls fruitlessly. His forearms were also scratched up and bleeding and his knuckles split from slamming them against the wall. He was bruised up from where he had banged at the walls or slammed his arm against it to try to escape. The man was banged up quite differently from the other times.

Abel's breathing was short and quick and it seems to only get worse when the other shows himself.

[corcotta]

Jonathan's heart sank at the sight he's met with. He's quick to make his way over to the other, not at all minding if he got wet from the shower water. He was wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans compared to his usual formal wear anyway. However, he does tug out his wallet, keys and his phone and set them on the sink counter before kneeling in front of Abel.

"H-Hey... you're gonna be okay..." He reaches out to gently run cup the other's cheek, his touch light and gentle with worry etched on his face, "It'll be okay... I'm here...you're safe."

Jonathan notes Abel's shallow breathing and his injuries, looking over his hands, his arms and the bruises. He knew first aid to a degree but he also didn't know what caused this sort of reaction in the first place.

He knows the other would probably hate for him to see him like this; that is if he'll even remember that this was even happening. If he does, well, he'll just add it to the secrets he's kept like how Abel was like when he was sleepy and not fully awake for instance. Never to be mentioned.

"What did he do to you...?" He mutters to himself, taking a wild guess that Abel's father was responsible for this like the other times. Abel was never hurt like this unless it was after meetings with that man. Jonathan moves to stand, somewhat a little drenched himself as he moves to the cabinets to look for a first aid kit. It took a bit of effort to find everything that he needed, he even had to run his own bathroom for the kit he had there.

Before he had left the bathroom for his own, he had grabbed his phone and called his mother. Apologizing that he wouldn't be able to make it back due to what had happened with Abel, though he does ask for advice on a few things while he shuffled around for clean towels and a dry set of clothes for the other.

She runs him through everything that he needed to know and wished him luck and to call again if he needed to. When he comes back into the bathroom, he sets the towels and clothes on the counter with the rest of his stuff before kneeling in front of the other again, "I'm gonna clean you up a bit, okay? Get you patched up..." He says softly as he held one of the washcloths in his hand, adding a bit of soap and lathering it up while he had the shower still running.

Jonathan takes one of Abel's hands, his hold gentle, "This is gonna hurt a bit..." He says as he tries to clean the cuts on his hands and his arms.

[prohibitions]

He flinches a bit when the presses a hand to his cheek. Abel goes completely still for a moment, as though his mind was trying to process whether or not the other was a threat to his already fragile being. Eventually, he seems to relax, although his reactions still seemed rather subdued.

Jonathan doesn't receive an answer to his question. Or anything he says for that matter. Just continues to lay there on the floor of the shower stall.

It takes a bit of time for Abel's breathing to even out and he seems heart rate seems to slow down. It takes even longer before the other seems to respond to the other. Jonathan is well into tending to his injuries when he finally speaks up. His voice is hoarse from screaming and he sounds weary. "You were supposed to be off," he says. "Why are you here?" There's no temper or bite to his words. He just seemed too exhausted to muster any amount of fight towards the other.

Abel doesn't get up from where he's laying. He's just looking at the other carefully. Almost suspiciously. Like a wounded animal.

[corcotta]

He almost pulls his hand away at the flinch, letting the touch linger a bit before he had pulled away. He also wasn't expecting the other to answer to another him right away, it just made him feel better to say what he was about to do to before he did it. There needed to patience on his part while he let Abel calm down and relax on his own.

The shower was turned off after he had gotten the other cleaned up, having grabbed a dry towel, he wiped down the other's hands and arms before he brought both kits closer and started to patch up the other wounds.

Jonathan looked completely focused in the task, humming a soft melody as he went as something it fill the quiet space with, besides the sound of water droplets. When Abel finally spoke, he glances up at the other for a moment before his gaze dropped.

"I forgot something and I came back to get it..." He pauses, grabbing some medical tape and more gauze, "... you didn't slam the door like you usually did and when I was about to leave, I noticed you left it open." He says as he finished wrapping the other's hands and arms in bandages.

"I... could smell the blood and I came to see if you we're okay..." Of course, the other was very much far from okay but he couldn't just leave without knowing the other's condition. He may be more of a valet than a bodyguard but habits and training were hard to break. He knows the beginning of that sounds strange but he's already accepted that today he might just reveal that part of himself to Abel. Its not something he's totally looking forward to because its not accepted by most and it very well might end this job for him if the other was scared by it.

After he got the other squared away and bandaged, he looked over his handiwork before he suggested the next step, "I am going to need to get you to sit up or on your feet though... to get you out of those soaked clothes and into some dryer ones. Otherwise, you might catch a cold."

[prohibitions]

"My door." He lifts his head a little to glance around him before letting it drop back against the tile. Right, he finally takes in his setting. He's in his bathroom looking like an absolute embarrassment on the floor. Wonderful. "I pushed a button too many." And he knows this never stops him from doing it again despite how awfully he takes this whenever it happens.

Abel doesn't seem to make any indication about questioning the other about smelling it. Honestly, it mattered very little to him what the other was, but he was used to the idea of others being supernatural in some way. His family line was old blood when it came to magic and it had been pure for awhile.

He sighs and struggles to push himself up into a sitting positions. His arms shake and there's a dull ache that was becoming more noticeable now that he was more conscious of everything. "Getting sick would probably be the least awful thing that happens today." Being sick is probably nothing to the amount of mental hell his mind was experiencing. "Damn did I put myself in the bloody wringer."

[corcotta]

"You left bloody marks on the way to your bathroom... which we'll have to clean later so they don't end up staining the walls." He adds softly, he's not about to reveal the worry he felt before he found him in the shower. "But also this has happened before... wouldn't it be easier not to push so much?" Jonathan asks honestly, if the consequences were this bad nearly every time, wouldn't one know when to be the higher man and stop before it went that far?

Though, if he was in Abel's shoes, he shouldn't be one to talk because he'd probably be the same. He was too emotional and that tended to get the best of him sometimes; especially in situations where he should be in control of himself.

As Abel tries to sit up, he quickly reaches out to help, hoping the other wouldn't push him away. He's seen plenty of proud people at their lowest, usually when no one was around to see them in such a way for personal reasons or for image's sake. This was no different. Others might see that as a chance to wrong a person or get further under their skin but Jonathan was raised to be better than that.

"Do you... want to talk about it?" He asks before he gets to his feet and grabs one of the larger towels and the stack of lounge clothes that he had to dig for in Abel's room. He kneels in front of the other, draping the towel over the other's head and lightly ruffles it to dry the other's hair somewhat.

[corcotta]

There's a soft tone ringing from the next room over and its enough to wake up Jonathan, though it takes him a bit to come too and realize that it was the alarm on his phone from the bedside table in his room. He remembered he didn't close the door when he had ran over to Abel's side when he heard his sobbing and pleading from the nightmare he was having...

Oh.

Then there was the kiss and he face flushes at the thought of his stupidity in the moment. Great job there, Jonathan. He also remembers holding the other's hand last night as well.

He learned a lot about the other yesterday, more than he's known the entire time he's been employed here. Letting out a slow, deep breath, he gets his thoughts in a straight line, turning his head to where he had last seen Abel before they went to sleep. Whether the other had drifted towards him in his sleep or on him, he didn't mind.

Jonathan offers a soft smile before he slips out of the other's bed, or attempts to, leaving Abel to sleep a bit longer while he got himself ready for the day and calling his parents about his plan to have the other stay with him for a few days to give him a taste test of life outside of the estate and out of his father's grasp. Preparing himself to take the consequences for it once they return.

[prohibitions]

Abel had fallen asleep curled up against the other; fingers curled around Jonathan's own. He can't say if it's specifically Jonathan or just the comfort of another person. The warmth of another body and the comforting weight against him. It was something he craved, yet would never admit. Would even deny himself.

There's a small noise of discontent when the other slips out of bed, but the man seems to not get up and just buries himself farther into his blankets.

By the time the other returns; the man is sitting up. Though, actually being awake was probably being too kind. He sits there in half a daze. Jonathan was used to how long it takes for the Brit to wake up, though he definitely looks like he could do with a bit more of shut eye.

[corcotta]

When Jonathan returns, he's dressed a bit more formal than yesterday's casual wear, thinking he could get away with this looking somewhat related to work, despite their schedule saying otherwise. Seeing Abel in his over-sized clothes almost made the other seem softer in comparison to always seeing him sleep in his day clothes.

As per their routine, he sits on the edge of the bed in front of Abel, gently brushing a hand thru his hair before he looks down at the other's hands that he had bandaged the night before. He's gentle as he undoes the bandages, knowing they'd have to change them out anyway or Abel would try to heal them over once he was more awake.

The wounds had had healed over a bit, making sure his touch was gentle as he looked them all over, in case it caused any pain due to tenderness. There's a pile of soiled bandages in his lab at the end of it and while it looked so much worse last night, he can't help but wonder if its ever been worse than this.

[prohibitions]

Abel's hands always had a lot of character to them. They were the only parts of him that were visibly marred. It was one of the real indications about Abel's more nervous nature. The way he fussed and fretted with his fingers. The burn marks on them were rarely ever because of his father, but because of his bad tendency to fuss with his cigarettes.

Still, they never looked this bad or at least Abel had never been injured in any capacity. The way his nails were chipped and broken and his skin raw if not scabbed over from where the skin hadn't been ripped and torn completely. Some deeper injuries might not have been completely scabbed either.

"I've broken them before," Abel replies. His expression is dazed; eyes unfocused. He's still waking up. Or perhaps his mind was elsewhere.

[corcotta]

After tagging along to so many meetings and elaborate functions with not much to do but observe the other, he's likely memorized Abel's hands. Old scars and now new, picked edges and otherwise. He can't fix the chipped and broken nails beside clip and file them as best that he could without going to short. But that was a task for later.

"Skin, nail or bone?" He asks, brows furrowed a little, hoping the other would say one of the formers rather than the latter but desperation and fear can lead to any sort of injury.

Jonathan keeps his palms facing up underneath Abel's wrists, he didn't want to get up just yet to fetch the first aid kit to clean and re-bandage the other's hands because he wanted to hear what the other had to say.

[prohibitions]

Abel chuckles a little at that. There's something sad and bitter about it. "Is that really a question you're asking?" His skin and nails are already pretty messed up right now. Surely the other knows it would be the latter. It's not really a question worth asking because Jonathan already knew the answer. Or perhaps he's too optimistic and doesn't want to accept the answer.

"It could be worse," he says quietly. Perhaps that's not very reassuring.

[corcotta]

Abel confirms his original thought and it was nothing short of heartbreaking. Jonathan couldn't possibly fathom how that would even come to be, he can imagine dislocated shoulders but somehow not broken fingers. He frowns as he gives Abel's wrists a soft, almost reassuring squeeze.

"Was I around for that one?" He asks softly after a moment, its not like it would have mattered now but some part of him wants to know. He remembers the slammed doors and the much quieter ones but he never sought out trying to help when he knew he should have.

Always figuring Abel wanted to be alone and now he understands why. The idea of it eats away at him all the same. Almost like he was rather useless, his bodyguard experience burns in the sense that he should've been there to protect Abel, despite the fact, he wasn't hired to be one and has to constantly tell himself that. His hands were tied and he didn't like it.

Jonathan gives a small shake of his head as if trying to clear his thoughts, change his mood, "Do you want me to bandage them again?"

[prohibitions]

"It usually doesn't get that bad," Abel replies. "Not anymore. I can't work if I'm incapacitated." He got into more trouble when he was younger, but not as much now. Either because Abel became less unruly or neither just had the time to get mad at each other. It does probably say a lot about his relationship with his father though. Or lackof, really. They obviously didn't interact all that regularly and it seemed like it never went well when they did.

Abel makes a bit of a scoff. "You shouldn't really take this so personally. I purposely arrange your days off around the times that he wants to see me. You were never supposed to be this deeply involved." He had been determined of it, honestly. He didn't want Jonathan's pity or sympathy, nor did he want the other so deeply involved.

Of course, that doesn't matter much now. "Just wrap them again. I'm too tired. Can you get my cigarettes after?" It isn't a demand, though it wasn't really something Jonathan could say no to. But it's still odd that Abel had asked instead of demanded all the same.