Out , Out, damned spot...

[purplerhino]

Who: Dave, Greg?
When: January 19th, 2 am
Where: Married section, guard ward

What: Dave has a minor breakdown

Dave kicked away the clothing he’d worn for the last day.  The smell of filth and blood soaked into the very fibers.

Dave was an efficient and accomplished killer.  He could kill a man with a pinky thick stick shoved into an

Comments

[guard_of_az]

Greg returned to the guard ward of the Palace, for the first time since the morning of the seventeenth. Very few of the guards had gotten any sleep the night the rescue party was out searching for the Princesses, and he had not been among them. Instead he had attempted to create some sort of structure among the chaos for the guards, as a guard with some power and seniority he was able to make sure the guard shifts ran on schedule, that security was kept up while the Captain and his Second were in the Realm. While his lifemate was in the Realm

[purplerhino]

Dave only became aware of his husband when the other man took his scrub-brush away. It was rather rude, really. Next thing you knew he'd start borrowing his toothbrush

[guard_of_az]

Setting the scrub brush out of reach of Dave, Greg knelt down beside his lifemate, unheeding of the water pounding on them both. Of the fact that his pants were getting soaked both from the shower's spray and from being in contact with wet tile

[purplerhino]

"Oh baby, you get to play top tonight." It came out sounding as hollow as it felt.

"I think... I think I might be a monster. The things you tell kids hide under the beds and grab their feet if they try to sneak out before morning." Dave moved along woodenly to the shared room of the married wing.

They got a bigger room, with a fireplace and a sitting area, due to Dave's rank.

"It was supposed to be over. Not the death. You sign up for this and you know death is gonna follow, maybe even catch up." Dave reached out to run shaking fingers over the place Greg had been shot. But the rest. The good guys won. So why don't I feel like a good guy? Why did.... there were things Longcoats did. We were supposed to be above that. I never was."

Dave poured himself a generous glass of whiskey. Not the best idea on an empty stomach right now, but he felt the need in his shaking hand.

He gave a brittle laugh. "Here's to feeling satisfaction for a job well done."

[guard_of_az]

Greg was a man considered more muscle than words, even though he was far from stupid. He just felt that there was not much for him to say aloud. Dave was vastly different, in many respects but this one especially, a man who enjoyed playing with words. Flirting, threatening, joking, he seemed to take pure enjoyment out of using the English language to fit whatever his purpose at the moment was. Distracting, many times, his current target from seeing exactly what he really was doing

[purplerhino]

"I knew I loved you for more than you ability to haul my shot up ass outta a foxhole without pulling a muscle." Dave took a moment to lay his head against Greg's shoulder.

"Problem with all those shades of gray is when you can't tell when a line's been crossed. I don't ever want to have to do that again. But I know I will. This is a monarchy of law and order, as Wyatt idolizes it. Yet yesterday he slit a throat without compunction. No arrest, no trial. And that means sometimes this right and just government is going to need somethings done that aren't so right and just."

Dave ran his fingers through his wet hair. Compulsive finger combing was one of his signs of worry.

"And just how right and just does that make the government in the end?" He looked at his empty tumbler. "And I am WAY to sober for this kind of philosophy after 48 hours without sleep. So either pout me another drink or just hold me, lie to me and say it'll be okay come morning and maybe my psyche will believe you for a while."

[guard_of_az]

With a nod, Greg set his hand on the back of his husband's neck for a moment, his fingers skating over the other man's spine from the base of his skull to the middle of his shoulders, pressing a slight amount of pressure there. Moving his fingers in small circles. Before his lifemate moved away again to continue speaking.

He knew Dave's question had been rhetorical, and even if Greg had been able to answer it in the first place, he knew that the words would have seemed hollow. So instead he just stayed silent, listening rather than butting in with unnecessary input.

His clothes were still wet, and uncomfortable against his skin. Bending slightly, setting one hand on the wall for balance, he unlaced his boots and pulled them off. As well as his socks. Greg unbuckled and removed his pants, before taking the glass out of Dave's hand and setting it on a nearby tabletop. His arms came around his husband, holding him close.

It was not about sex at the moment, it was about being there for him when he needed it.