Fic: Breaking the World (1/1 Criminal Minds)
Title: Breaking the World
Series: Of Innocence and Empathy
Author: Frogg
Beta: None
Rating: FRT-13
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Damnit.
Challenge: 50episodes - Criminal Minds, Morgan/Reid
Table: 2
Prompt: 40. Otherworld
Word Count: 281
Author's Note: The Timeline has been updated.
Derek stared upward into the gloom, wondering what had woken him. The ceiling was black, save the pools of soft orange light to either side of the bed. Spencer lay heavily beside him, the walking cast on his foot bulky and awkward.
Spencer's breathing changed, his head turning on the pillow restlessly. "Raph..." His voice trailed off.
That was why. Not a screaming nightmare. Not one of the warped-reality flashbacks that had driven them together in the beginning, or one of the near-panic attacks that had triggered the use of nightlights, but a quiet reliving of Spencer's suffering at Hankel's hands.
"...can't...God's image," Spencer whispered.
Derek listened, straining to understand half mumbled words.
"...stop...commission..."
Hoped that what Spencer's sleeping mind was internalizing was a drug-induced hallucination and not truth.
"...pretend..."
Spencer never spoke of Raphael, even though he'd indirectly, at least, mentioned Tobias and Charles during his recovery.
Inhaling sharply, Spencer tensed, head turning toward the far wall so hard Derek felt his own neck and shoulders ache with sympathy.
Unable to let even subconscious torment continue, Derek carefully rolled over, hooking his chin over a bony shoulder as his bodyweight pressed Spencer into the mattress. Spencer's nose rubbed his scalp, and a gust of moist air warmed his ear a moment later.
Finding comfort in the familiar, the scent and weight and feel of home, Spencer slowly relaxed, his hands rising up to pat mindlessly at Derek's arms and torso only to fall back to the sheet.
Derek lay awake, breathing in the fading copper tang of fear, the sickly smell of drugged sleep and the stronger, underlying sweetness of Spencer's skin as a helpless rage roiled in his gut.
~~~the end~~~
Previous: Trusting Logic
Next: An Innocent Inquisition
Series: Of Innocence and Empathy
Author: Frogg
Beta: None
Rating: FRT-13
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Damnit.
Challenge: 50episodes - Criminal Minds, Morgan/Reid
Table: 2
Prompt: 40. Otherworld
Word Count: 281
Author's Note: The Timeline has been updated.
Derek stared upward into the gloom, wondering what had woken him. The ceiling was black, save the pools of soft orange light to either side of the bed. Spencer lay heavily beside him, the walking cast on his foot bulky and awkward.
Spencer's breathing changed, his head turning on the pillow restlessly. "Raph..." His voice trailed off.
That was why. Not a screaming nightmare. Not one of the warped-reality flashbacks that had driven them together in the beginning, or one of the near-panic attacks that had triggered the use of nightlights, but a quiet reliving of Spencer's suffering at Hankel's hands.
"...can't...God's image," Spencer whispered.
Derek listened, straining to understand half mumbled words.
"...stop...commission..."
Hoped that what Spencer's sleeping mind was internalizing was a drug-induced hallucination and not truth.
"...pretend..."
Spencer never spoke of Raphael, even though he'd indirectly, at least, mentioned Tobias and Charles during his recovery.
Inhaling sharply, Spencer tensed, head turning toward the far wall so hard Derek felt his own neck and shoulders ache with sympathy.
Unable to let even subconscious torment continue, Derek carefully rolled over, hooking his chin over a bony shoulder as his bodyweight pressed Spencer into the mattress. Spencer's nose rubbed his scalp, and a gust of moist air warmed his ear a moment later.
Finding comfort in the familiar, the scent and weight and feel of home, Spencer slowly relaxed, his hands rising up to pat mindlessly at Derek's arms and torso only to fall back to the sheet.
Derek lay awake, breathing in the fading copper tang of fear, the sickly smell of drugged sleep and the stronger, underlying sweetness of Spencer's skin as a helpless rage roiled in his gut.
~~~the end~~~
Previous: Trusting Logic
Next: An Innocent Inquisition