Home Sweet Home (mxm)

Chapter 9: Lullaby

"It's c-cold in here, T-Taylor," Adon stuttered as shivers wracked his body. 

Taylor tried to stand up after removing Adon's arm from around his shoulders, but his own damaged body refused to move. Panting, he held himself up on shaky arms and carefully started backing away from Adon. 

The man had fallen over and was taking quick, shallow breaths, seemingly staring at nothing. 

"T-too c-cold." 

Shaking the shock from his mind, Taylor looked around the room for Caleb. Surprisingly, he was standing at the chalkboard, his back to them as his fingers moved over the dark green surface. When he vanished suddenly, Taylor narrowed his eyes and read the message. 

TAKKE O TSIDDE

Looking back toward Adon, he felt himself hesitate. The guy was clearly freezing, his lips already turning blue, but the reason why kept him back several feet. 

"He can't go outside. There was a barrier."

Looking around for Caleb again, Taylor continued; "You need to tell your brother to leave his body. He's making him too cold. He could die."

Caleb reappeared a moment later by the chalkboard, his attention on the letters he'd previously written. When he simply remained there without giving any actual response to what he'd said, Taylor inched his way back toward Adon.

By the time he got close to him again, the man had already passed out. 

"Shit. Okay, he's too cold, so maybe I can warm him up." 

He thought about grabbing the blankets from his bed, but those required body heat, and even if he added his own, he doubted that it would be enough. 

The sound of the bathtub spigot turning on drew his attention toward the bathroom connected to his bedroom. 

Ah, hot water. 

Using the front doorjamb to force himself back to his feet, Taylor tried to lift Adon's body, but his injured foot dropped them both back to the floor before he could even more then an inch. Hissing from the pain, he rolled over and wiped a few tears from his left eye. As he was blinking away the blurriness afterward, he heard something beside him and looked just in time to see Caleb slowly standing with Adon's body in his arms. 

Adon was definitely bigger than the wraith, but Caleb didn't seem to be putting much effort into his weight. 

He's clearly having to focus on something, though. He looks so tired, like just picking up Adon is draining his energy quickly. 

It was an odd thought once he considered it. He'd never really seen an emotion on the young man's face. Of course, he'd communicated through the chalkboard and text messages, but to be able to see his facial expression actually change to the point of showing some sort of emotion? It had never happened. 

Until now. 

He tried his best to get back up and follow Caleb's extremely slow steps, but he eventually gave up and simply pulled himself along the floor, dragging his bad foot on the tile. thankfully, he got into the bathroom right as the water started getting a bit too high. 

Caleb had just finished setting Adon in the tub so Taylor dragged himself past him and reached over to turn off the water. With that taken care of, he gave out an exhausted sigh and leaned back against the wall, needed to rest. 

The room was beginning to steam up a bit, making him wonder just how hot Caleb had set it, but since Adon didn't look distressed and had finally stopped shivering for the most part, he figured that it was okay. Of course, he was still going to watch him. With Nicolai somehow partially possessing him, he was on edge to the point of being hyper aware.