A Knight w/ Shinning Eyes

46. You Came to Me

Edit/Re-Written: July 8, 2022

     A Knight W/ Shining Eyes: Chapter Forty-Six; You Came to Me

 Warnings: brief mentions of r-pe

Fluctuating 3rd POV

     Ian leads Neal into the house, helping him up the stairs and into the bathroom. His friend is drenched and dirty, but alongside that his skin is made of goosebumps and he's freezing to the touch. "We need to get you in the shower, let me help you take off your clothes."

     At that, Neal shakes his head, grasping his clothes tight to his body as he shudders. He's shaking, Ian notes, like the first night he had first found him; alone and covered and shaking. Ian remembers him then, remembers how the other had shuddered all throughout the night until the late evening of the following day.

     His mates watch from the doorframe of the room, clearly concerned but not knowing what to do. Whenever they'd seen Neal prior, the human had appeared nothing but confident - so seeing him. . .like this is new, unsettling. They welcome it nonetheless but hope to find the cause of such a shift because they're nosy as fuck.

     "D-Dirty," Neal stutters, teeth chattering together as his body tries to regain some of its warmth.

     Nodding at the statement, Ian takes his friends' appearance once more - noting the mud that covers the edges of his pants and — his shoeless feet. Where are his shoes? "Yes, we need to shower you so you can stop being dirty."

     There's a tense second and then Neal is shaking his head at the statement, fingers clawing at his own skin leaving crescent shapes in their wake. It's odd because Ian hasn't seen his friend act like this before. Not really, not unless it had to do with anxiety attacks concerning his past. Could it be-? "Can't clean!"

     Can't clean?

     Confusion fills Ian at the experated statement. Where had he heard that before? Stopping his actions to try and take in Neal's demeanor, noting his speech and the way his eyes refuse to meet his. Realization finally strikes him and he grips Neal's shoulders tightly, forcing his friend to meet his gaze as he says "You're not dirty, Neal. What happened, what you went through when you were younger was. Not. Your. Fault."

     "I saw him." Neal interrupts randomly, voice calm unlike the shaking tremors of his body. Internally he's fighting back the instinct that tells him to run, to get away and to stop Ian from touching him. But he knows that even though he has a flight instinct that Ian is one of the people he can trust, he can trust Ian. Ian is safety.

     A sound of distress escapes the Omega, "Saw who?"

     "Th-e man," He begins, voice finally faltering slightly and he has to gulp to regain himself. "That man. The one who raped me - the one that made others watch, that made my fath-him watch. I-"

     Behind him, Ian can feel his mates tense at the information - the atmosphere becoming rancid and cold at the new information. He knows that his mates were quick to (mis)judge his friend, and he didn't blame them because the entire world seemed to do it too. Neal usually came off as intimidating and confident that even with such a past, one would assume that he came out of it with no trauma. And stubborn as he is, Neal will agree with that perspective, but Ian and Eric know better. The stuttering words make Ian's jaw tick, anger consuming him. "You. . .you saw him?"

     With a hasty nod Neal's hands reach up to tangle in his hair before Ian can stop him. Redness covers his cheeks and eyes, specifically around the rim of his eyes - they're red, like the tips of his fingers, blood-covered from how deep they scratch into himself. "It was my first time, I was five, he was my first and everyone watched what he did to me. All I heard," He coughs suddenly, a consection of forceful weeping and crying before it's followed by soft and broken whimpers. It all works to make Ian frown, eyes burning with the want to cry alongside his friend. "All I heard was them laughing at me."