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Standing outside the training center&039;s examination room, Qhuinn had his hands in the pockets of his leathers, his teeth locked tight, and his brows drawn all the way together

Waiting Waiting

Medical shit was a lot like fighting, he decided: long periods of nothing doing, interjected with bursts of life-or-death

It was enough to stalanced over at the door "How er do you think it will be?"

Across the way, Blay crossed and uncrossed his long legs The guy had stretched out on the floor about a half hour ago, but that had been his only concession to the wormhole of tiot to be winding do," he replied

"Yeah Only so ht"

After a moment, Qhuinn focused on the other male properly There were dark circles under Blay&039;s eyes, and his cheeks had hollowed out He was also paler than usual, his face far too light

Qhuinn went over, leaned against the wall, and let his shitkickers slide out until his ass hit the floor next to Blay&039;s

Blay glanced up and s at the tips of his boots

Qhuinn watched as his own hand reached out and brushed his friend&039;s jaw As Blay started and looked over, Qhuinn was surprised to find he wanted to do so much more - and not sexually He wanted to draw the male across his lap and have Blay put his head down He wanted to stroke those strong shoulders and pass his fingers through that short red hair He wanted to get so it over, so he could wrap some warmth around the powerful body that seemed to have been weakened

Qhuinn forced his eyes away and dropped his hand

God, he felt so fuckingtrapped Even though there were no chains on hi down, he double-checked his wrists Ankles Yup, totally free over here Nothing holding hi his lids, he tilted his head back against the wall In his ain, not sexually Just feeling the vitality beneath the skin, the shift of the muscle, the solidity of the bone

"I think you should go see Selena," he said to the guy

Blay exhaled as if he had so on his chest "Yeah I know"

"We could go together," Qhuinn heard himself volunteer

He opened his eyes in time to see Blay&039;s head whip around

"Or you could, you know, do it on your own" Qhuinn cracked his knuckles "Whatever you feel coht of the whole Saxton thing, that , after all, could be seen as more intimate than sex -

"Yeah," Blay said softly "I&039;ll do that"

Qhuinn&039;s heart started to beat hard And again, it wasn&039;t because he was all hopped to get it on with the guy He just wanted to

Share, he supposed was the right word

No, wait It went further than that He wanted to take care of the male

"You know, I don&039;t think I ever thanked you," Qhuinn murmured As Blay&039;s baby blues shot over, he wanted to look away - the eye contact was alht of his brother in that hospital bed - and all the ways people got robbed of time

Jesus, he&039;d held so much in for so many reasons - all of which had seeant was that? That kind of reticence assumed he&039;d have the time to talk about stuff when he wanted That the person he had in the back of his mind would always be around That he himself would be

"For what?" Blay asked

"For driving us horeat breath in and let it out slowly "And for sitting out here withher to help For backingAlso, for all those beers and video games The chips and the M&M&039;s The clothes I borrowed The floor I slept on when I stayed over Thanks for lettingyour mom and talk with your dad Thank youfor the ten thousand kind things you&039;ve done"

Froht when he&039;d walked in and witnessed his father giving that gold signet ring to his brother

"Thank you for calling that night," he said gruffly

Blay&039;s eyebrows shot up "Which night?"

Qhuinn cleared his throat "After Luchas went through his change, and " He shook his head "I went up toreally stupid You called me You came over Do you remember?"

"I do"

"It wasn&039;t the only ti like that"

As Blay looked away, Qhuinn knew exactly where the guy&039;s e he&039;d nearly jumped off of

"I&039;ve said I was sorry," Qhuinn intoned "But I don&039;t think I&039;ve ever said thank you So, yeahthank you"

Before he knehat he was doing, he put his hand out, offering his palht now, outside of his busted-to-fuck brother&039;s operating room, with some kind of solemn contact

"Justthank you"

Unbelievable

After what had felt like lifetiht that the surprises were finally over That theelse that would leave hi

Jesusof all the iuy, talks when he&039;d pretended that Qhuinn opened up, or said soratitude But thiswas exactly what he needed to hear, even though he hadn&039;t known that

And that offered paliven that the male&039;s brother was on death&039;s door in the room across from them

Blay didn&039;t shake the hand that was offered

He reached over, took a hold of the fighter&039;s face, and drew Qhuinn in for a kiss

It was supposed to be only a split-seconder - like their lips were the ones doing the handshake thing When he went to pull back, though, Qhuinn captured hiainand once

"You&039;re welcohly Then he sh"

Qhuinn laughed "Yeah, I can iot serious "Why the hell did you stay around?"

Blay opened his ue -