Chapter Warnings: PTSD, panic attack, violence, blood (and marrow), injuries, swearing

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Lotus jumped when he heard a slamming noise in the living room. Recognizing the sound as the door colliding with the wall, the skeleton clutched the knife he had been cutting up vegetables with and crept to the doorway. Rurik was due home soon, so the wide-open door would be enough to-

Any plans he had ground to a halt at the sight of his boyfriend standing in the living room with blood splattered across his company uniform and bag. The skeleton was clutching his phone and knife with a wild look in his eye lights as his headphones were dangled hapharzardly around his neck.

"Rurik?" The skeleton called out, a sinking feeling settling in his bones as he took a step toward his partner. He had no idea how aware Rurik was right now, but hiding wouldn't help him figure it out.

*bang*

Rurik whipped around to face him, brandished the knife and shouting, "Stay back! Identify yourself! Friend or foe?!"

Lotus stopped in his tracks, recognizing the behavior from past episodes. Rurik was likely having one of his flashbacks, so the best option was to make him feel safe until he could calm down. Taking a deep breath, the monster slowly crouched to set the kitchen knife on the ground; he kicked it away and turned his palms out while replying in the steadiest voice he could muster, "I'm a friend."

The knife shook in Rurik's hand as he pocketed his phone, "... Who are you? What battalion are you from? Who's your commander?" Lotus's mind went blank; those questions had never come up before and his boyfriend never really spoke about their stint in the military, so he had no clue about any battalions or commanders. What was he supposed to say; should he try to bluff and hope for the best or would that rile them up further?

The pause didn't go unnoticed, earning a frantic snarl, "Answer me!"

Putting his hands in front of him in a placating gesture, Lotus decided honesty would be the best choice, "I'm not part of a battalion, I'm a civilian... I'm Lo-"

*Crack*

Rurik's expression hardened, "There shouldn't be civilians here... you must be lying. You're an enemy... a spy or something."

Air caught in the smaller's throat as he countered, "I'm not an enemy! Lis-"

"LIES!" the skeleton screamed, shoving Lotus up against the wall of the living room and pressing the knife to his neck, "Where are my allies?!"

Lotus took ragged breaths as his mind raced. The bloodstains on the Rurik's clothing indicated he had already attacked someone, though the wince when he shoved the smaller against the wall suggested some of it belonged to him as well.

Closing his sockets to remove the shining metal from his peripheral vision, Lotus tried to assert as calmly as he could, "I am your ally; I'm your roommate and boyfriend. You're at home in the living room of the house we share together. You're hallucinating and hurt, but I can help you; all you have to do is-"

*Boom*

The knife pressed in and Lotus felt something trickle down his neck, "Stop lying and answer my question!"

"I'm not lying," Lotus gasped, failing to keep the tremors from his voice, "Let me help you, please."

Opening his sockets, he willed himself to stare into Rurik's glazed stars in a silent plea despite the tears welling up; the action seemed to garner some leniency as the taller monster drew their knife back slightly, but still kept it poised, "And how would you help me?"

"The headphones around your neck, put them on," Lotus quickly requested. The fireworks were fueling Rurik's panic; if he wanted to get through to his frenzied partner, he had to negate the sound of the fireworks first.

*Pop*

Rurik glanced down at the object hanging from his neck; muffled sounds drifting from the muffs. "Why?" he growled, though it was more in curiosity than anger.

"They'll help you," the smaller said, attempting to feign confidence with his tone, "I promise you'll understand if you put them on."

After a brief staring contest, Lotus watched Rurik reach for the headband with one hand while keeping him against the wall with the knife; he didn't move as his partner slipped the muffs on, only to become confused, "This isn't my radio."

"You're right, it's music," Lotus stated slowly, making sure Rurik could see his mouth move as he spoke, "In your pocket is your phone... you play music on it to help you calm down." He watched the taller monster pull the phone from their pocket, staring at the device before looking back at him. He took the opportunity to keep going, "Someone must have pulled your headphones off while the fireworks were going off outside."

*Boom*

Rurik's expression began to ease now that the fireworks couldn't affect him, muttering, "Fireworks..."

"Yeah, there's a holiday celebration going on outside, but you don't have to worry now; you're safe here," Lotus breathed, letting a nervous smile peek through at the promising reaction, "You're not in a warzone, you're at home with me; with Lotus. Please remember."

"Home... Lotus...," Rurik mumbled, his eye lights boring into the smaller in search of deception. Slowly, recognition dawned on his face as he lowered the knife, "Lotus?"

Lotus heaved a sigh of relief. "Welcome back," he murmured, sliding to the floor as his legs finally gave out from under him.

Rurik blinked in surprise, belatedly noticing the bloody knife resting in his hand as well as his clothes. Dropping the blade in horror, he quickly crouched to Lotus's level, "Shit! Are y-!"

"I'm alright," Lotus enunciated, grasping his partner's hand as it traced over the cut on his neck, "There's only one cut and it's shallow; what about you?"

After a moment of contemplation where Rurik rolled their right shoulder a bit, they replied, "I'm fine, which is more than I can say for you; you're shaking like a leaf." Before Lotus could even open his mouth to contest the statement, he felt himself being swept up into his boyfriend's arms and deposited onto the couch. Once he was comfortably seated, the monster gently commanded, "Stay here."

Watching Rurik jog up the stairs, probably to get the first aid kit, Lotus settled back into the cushions while silently cursing himself for letting his nerves get the better of him. This wasn't the first time his partner had gone through one of these episodes; it wasn't even one of the worst since they both came out relatively unscathed.

It had to be because of the knife; he was always uneasy around them... too many bad memories; even the ones they kept in the kitchen for cooking freaked him out if anyone other than him was holding them. Lotus stared at the aforementioned objects lying abandoned on the floor. He momentarily thought of at least putting away the kitchen knife since he didn't feel comfortable touching Rurik's, but he didn't really trust his legs to work right now; that combined with his partner's instructions kept him seated on the couch.

At least Rurik had his headphones on now, so he would likely pick the knives up himself once he had a chance to settle down.

Thudding on the stairs heralded the taller's return in a clean muted brown shirt, black pajama pants, and headphones. Making a detour to shut the open door then taking a seat on the couch next to Lotus, Rurik pulled out a familiar-looking bottle of disinfectant alongside a cotton ball and bandage. Pulling his scarf out of the way, the smaller silently grit his teeth as the damp swab was dabbed into the cut and a bandage sealed it off.

As he began readjusting his scarf, he stopped Rurik from closing the box, "Let me see your shoulder."

"It's fine," the taller grunted, glancing away.

Lotus wasn't having it, leaning forward to regain the skeleton's attention with a stern glare, "I saw you wincing earlier and you weren't up there nearly long enough to patch yourself up." Getting a dissenting rumble in response, he reasserted his request once more, "Let me see it; I won't stop asking until you do."

With an exhausted huff, Rurik slowly tugged his shirt off; Lotus reached out to help him when the last few inches proved to be too painful. The shirtless skeleton turned to reveal a gauze slapped into place on his right shoulder blade, relying on the marrow to keep it stuck in place; a reddish-brown spot was already leaking through, confirming the smaller's initial suspicions.

"Stars dammit...," he heard Rurik mumble when he reached for the disinfectant along with a cotton ball, two gauze pads, and the medical tape. Lotus removed the used gauze and made quick work of cleaning the stab wound despite his partner's hissing and griping, placing both gauze pads over the injury and securing them in place with the tape.

As Lotus reached for the discarded shirt, he felt himself being pulled flush against Rurik's bare chest. He let the taller skeleton curl up around him as he gave the arm around his sternum a comforting squeeze; after what happened, they both needed the comfort. Taking a slow breath, he listened in disdain to the noisy fireworks that had started this whole mess going off outside.

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Word Count: 1,559