[o k a y but like??? wanted to write mads :)]

callum flagg•CautionAdvised
isadora watson•parabellums

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H

e felt funny. It ran up his spine like an icy draft on his bare skin. He traced his own figure in the mirror. The sticky remnants of his own blood staining the glass as his red fingers made it squeak. Eyes roaming across himself, every red glint in the light catching his gaze as it wandered everywhere. Like it was the first time he'd even seen a mirror.

Like it was the first time he'd seen himself before.

He wondered why it felt so strange. That of all the things to happen, this was possibly the most foreign feeling of all. Not like being in that cursed and haunted house, not like waking up in hell, not like finding out who he was. No, those where all incomparable to this-

The silence in his thoughts felt the most surprising part of this all.

He didn't shake or panic after kissing Callem. He didn't scream or run when he looked at those broken birds. He didn't twist the doorknob three times before he walked into here. He didn't avoid his own gaze when he stood in front of the full length mirror. He didn't hear his own voice screeching at him at how he had to be anymore.

It was only him now. Quiet. And calm.

"You look so excited." Callem spoke sarcastically behind him. Gently walking into view from just over his shoulder, equally covered with as much dark scarlet as the other boy before him. Face barely showing the hint of curiosity that seemed to draw him to the Daniel's boy from the beginning. How much time had passed since then and now seemed odd. How fun it had been for him to actually be an object worth the attention he spared. Truly, worth the wait.

Stilled, he found himself watching him watch his own reflection, watching his gaze dance over the glass, peering at every mark on his skin, every dark patch of blood, every curve and line of his own figure. Quickly growing bored at how engrossed in his own thoughts he was to pay much mind to him gently leaning against his back.

"I never took you for the conceited type." His hands found their way around his torso, feeling him jolt slightly at the sudden touch, gently dancing up his skin until they found their place of interest. The healing scar center of his chest. Tracing it with the lightest touch that made him flinch.

"I'm not." Maddox said quietly. He never was before, sure, he cared about his appearance to an extent, to wear nice clothes and to look how he liked, and maybe just to joke with Isadora, but hardly more than that.

"You can be, there's a lot to admire... I wouldn't blame you..." He grinned. Hands drifting along. Playing with the topography of his body as he continued to peek at his curious expression. As unreadable as it could be for a boy who seemed to always wear distress on his sleeves. How strange it was to see such a normally frustrated and pain written face... So lifeless.

He listened to his breath. No longer looking at the mirror as he leaned his head against his back. Bored at how quiet he fell, only listening to the even steady breathing. He couldn't hear his heart. Not well. Maybe not at all.

"Did you know I would do that?" He was finally talking now. Gently Callum raised his head peaking back over to find Maddox just burning his gaze into where the hole in his chest sealed. In a moment, suddenly remembering what he said before he did it, when he said he trusted him. You shouldn't. He heard him echo.

"I had a feeling."

"But did you know?"

He frowned. To Callem, it already happened. Poking at the moment would only make it less interesting to look back on. If he ever did again. He wouldn't mind forgetting, he could probably do it if he tried. He hardly had to remember anything unpleasant if he didn't want to. And who the hell wanted to?

"No. I didn't." He had no idea why he was indulging him. "But look at what you've done. What we've done. Don't you like it?"

He didn't answer. It made the Flagg boy huff as he fell silent again. How moody. His hands dropped. Crossing over his chest as he began to unbutton his shirt. The dark stain over where he bleed for him revealing hardly a hint of a wound underneath. He dropped it working on his pants next.

While Maddox still failed to turn around at the loss of touch, Callum grabbed his wrist. Spinning him around as his eyes widened with surprise. Looking at what he was doing, then suddenly at anything else.

"I'm going to take a shower first. You should clean up as well, there's a bath in there too. If you'd like one." He almost offered to run it for him before realizing he didn't want to. What was left of his clothes falling to the floor. Eyes trying to meet the taller boy's to little success. Grabbing his chin to force him as he watched him swallow. Hard.

"Relax. We have a big day tommorow. And the blood is not making you sexy anymore. So wash it off." He pressed his lips to his briefly. Patting his cheek before he strode off to the bathroom, leaving him standing there, still slightly hunched forward in the position he pulled him in. Only snapping out of it as he heard the water start pattering against tile.

Maddox swallowed hard. Sparing another glance behind him. Looking into the mirror to catch his own eyes once again. Blinking slowly before following after Callem. Soaking off the remnants of his pain and suffering and wrapping himself in fluffy dark towels and silk sheets. Callem left him in his room before he finished. Not sparing another word for the night, thinking that now they where done. And as he dried himself. Still bare and draped in the steam of the near boiling bath he chose to wash in, he fell into the silky sheets. Soft sighs drifting out from under his breath. Shutting his eyes as he realized that now, as he closed his eyes and fell to the gentle pull of sleep, there wasn't much left.

Curling his fist in those sheets, drawing them closer as he slid them over himself. He couldn't help the smile that gently turned his lips.

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