13. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, you’re safe with me.” 35. “You make me feel safe.”
Host groans miserably from his mound of blankets, and Dark hums sympathetically. They lapse back into silence for a while, but eventually Host’s voice (raspy as it may be) breaks the silence. “Dark will not let any harm come to the Host while he is ill, yes?” “I won’t let anyone hurt you,” Dark quietly assures, “you’re safe with me.”
Host hums, quiet again until he shifts to face Dark. Dark watches him silently, waiting for the Host to find the words in his feverish state. “Dark makes the Host feel safe.” Host whispers, and Dark smiles softly. “What kind of brother would I be if I didn’t?”
17. “I can’t sleep, can I stay here?” 16. “I’ve got you.”
Dark is reading late into the night when his door cracks open. He hears muffled coughing, a miserable wheeze, a sniffle, and then, “May the Host come in?” Dark marks his page and sets his book aside, rising with less elegance than he would usually prefer. Before he can ask anything, or even answer Host’s original question, the other ego shuffles in and shuts the door behind him. “The Host can’t sleep, may he stay here?” He asks, sniffling miserably. Dark takes in the sight before him slowly before nodding mutely. When the Host doesn’t seem to pick up on it like usual, Dark clears his throat.
“Of course you can.” He says, watching Host’s unsure steps. Dark realizes that perhaps the sickness is interfering with Host’s narrations and overall sense of everything, which would make navigating anywhere difficult. “I’ve got you,” Dark says as he reaches out and wraps an arm around Host to support and guide him. Host hums both tiredly and gratefully, leaning into Dark unapologetically as the other man leads him to the bed. Dark gets him into bed, tucks him in, and then heaves a long and weary sigh. Another sleepless night it is, then.
31. “I missed you.” 67. “I didn’t do it on purpose.” 26. “Please don’t go.” “Couldn’t find you.”
Dark has been watching over Host for a while now, and he’s already finished the first batch of paperwork he brought in with him to work on. Stranded without anything to do, he napped for a while but eventually he knows he needs to go and get more paperwork. He can’t slack off, not at the busiest time of the year. He stands with a soft grunt, hissing as his joints all complain rather noisily as he goes. He’s smoothing out his suit when a frail hand grabs onto his sleeve and pulls his attention to the ill ego on the bed beside him. “Host?” “Please don’t go…”
Dark sighs, gently detaching Host’s hand from his sleeve and taking it in his own hand. “I’m not going to be gone long, Host, I just need to grab a few things. Alright?” Host seems to consider his words, narrating softly in a rasped whisper. Finally, he nods his head in agreement and his hand goes slack in Dark’s. Dark smiles, reaching out to gently sweep some of the hair off of Host’s forehead. Host hums at the cool touch, tilting his head up and forward as if trying to forcibly cool himself down with the chill of Dark’s hand. Dark chuckles at the thought, shaking his head and pulling his hand away. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
Grabbing everything is taking longer than he expected thanks to some interruptions from the likes of the Jims and Bing. He’s just getting all of the papers neatly stacked together when Host appears in the corner of his eye, He frowns, turning to face the wobbling figure of the man he’s truly coming to call his younger brother at a worrying frequency. “What are you doing out of bed?” Dark demands gently as he helps Host sit down in the chair behind Dark’s desk. Host pauses for a moment, swallowing before shrugging a bit meekly. “I missed you and couldn’t find you,” he mutters out eventually. “I didn’t do it on purpose,” he adds after a moment, vaguely motioning to where he’d been standing moments ago. Dark sighs heavily, dropping his head into his hands for a moment to rub his face.
“Cecil Judas Tacet, what am I going to do with you?” “Feed me soup?” Host’s suggestion seems completely and seriously genuine, and that alone is enough to make Dark laugh. Host, fever-ridden and confused, doesn’t seem to understand what’s so funny.
Dark will explain it to him later, for now he’s focused on getting his brother back to bed.
Host leans against Dark as he runs his hands over the pages of his book, reading a rather good story. Dark makes a sound in the back of his throat, shifting a bit to readjust and get comfortable.
“Have you ever heard of personal space?” Dark grouches, but Host knows he’s not genuinely upset so he grins cheekily back at Dark. “The Host has no idea what that is.”
Dark rolls his eyes with an amused snort and Host returns to his book. Two brothers and two stories, one happy afternoon.
emptynarration 