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Shurik woke slowly, his mind a muddle of thoughts. Reyn's mocking laughter.. the pain of Reyn's blows.. Tavir's gentle tending of his wounds.. He clutched the teddy bear closer as the pain set in, clamouring at him. The top of his head, his jaw, his cheek, his shoulder, his ribs, his stomach, they all proclaimed themselves loudly and painfully. <Too bad I didn't dream it all.. why did Reyn do it? What set him off? It's been so long, I thought he'd forgotten us by now. I guess I underestimated him. Bad move.> He winced and opened his eyes.

All thoughts of Reyn, and of his pain, fled in an instant as he stared at Tavir's sleeping face, only a pillowlength away. <What the hell?> He was in Tavir's sofabed, too. <Did I...?> No, he hadn't done anything stupid, not that he remembered, anyway. He had fallen asleep in Tavir's bed, though. <Guess Tavir didn't feel up to moving me. But why'd he sleep next to me? He's so close.. damnit, I wish I could ->

He flinched as Tavir stirred, and those gorgeous blue-black eyes half-opened, peering at him.

"Morning, Shurik." Tavir stretched slowly, seemingly unaware of Shurik's intense gaze. "Guess you didn't need me last night after all. You sleep okay?"

"Yeah, I guess." Shurik closed his eyes again. <Is that why he slept next to me? I guess it makes sense, but..>

"How're you feeling?" Tavir asked him seriously, and his eyes snapped open again. Tavir's concerned gaze met his, and that beautiful face, so very close.. He sat up rather suddenly.

"I'm okay. I was thinking of getting a dog." He said the first thing that popped into his head as he busied himself with climbing out of bed. <Stupid, stupid! What are you thinking? He sleeps next to you and you're reduced to almost jumping him on the spot. And how do you think he'd react to that?>

"A dog?" Tavir sounded confused, his voice still sleepy.

"Yeah. Y'know, to walk me to work. It'd be much safer, don't you think? I guess it'd have to be a big dog though, if it was going to protect me." He babbled whatever came to mind as he walked into the bathroom for painkillers, then back out again. "I could train it or something." He paused to take a breath and swallow the pills he'd grabbed. <Slow down, Shurik. Get a grip on yourself.>

"Where are you going to fit a big dog in here?" Tavir gestured around the cramped apartment, looking very amused at the idea.

"Well, er..." He hadn't thought that far. He'd just been distracting himself -- and Tavir, he supposed -- from what he might've done otherwise. "I don't know. I guess it was a silly idea after all." He headed for the kitchen, and breakfast. Missing dinner the night before had left him starving, his stomach grumbling loudly for food.

"We could always get a bigger place." Tavir suggested casually, and Shurik froze, forgetting his poor stomach. <We?>

"We.. we could?" He turned around. Tavir had climbed out of bed and was stretching, his body lean and svelte in the dusky morning light. Shurik wanted to yell at him to put some clothes on; wearing just his boxers was indecent, not to mention gorgeously distracting.

"Sure. With a yard or something. If I got some work, we could afford it. I've been meaning to look for a job anyway. My knee is doing better, and I could do something with a lot of sitting down." He wandered into the kitchen, ruffling Shurik's hair as he went past. "And then maybe I could have my own room, instead of camping out in your loungeroom." He grinned at Shurik, who'd followed him into the kitchen and was trying to figure out if he could deal with a boxer-clad Tavir as a permanent thing.

"What d'you think, kid? We could move some place safer;" he gestured to Shurik's bruised face, "and get you your dog, too. We make pretty good roommates, I think."

"Sounds great, Tav." Shurik gave in, grinning back. How could he refuse? Tavir meant too much to him.

"Now, sit still and let me check your bandages." With breakfast eaten, Tavir turned his attention to Shurik. The kid had been in a daze all morning; maybe it was the bump on the head. He wondered if he should've taken him to the hospital after all. Well, he'd check the wounds and then decide.

"Ouch!" Shurik exclaimed as he tugged too hard on the tape holding the bandages on.

"Sorry." Too busy thinking again. He peeled back the gauze gently and peered at the furrows that marred Shurik's shoulder. They seemed okay. A little bit of dried blood, but nothing looked infected.

"Okay, now for the other." He pressed the bandage back into place and slowly uncovered the one on Shurik's cheek. It seemed okay as well, but it sure was deep.

"Shurik? Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?"

"No, it's okay." Shurik replied quickly. "I don't want to cause so much hassle."

"But.." he began. Shurik's eyes moved to meet his.

"Please, Tavir. It doesn't matter," he insisted. Tavir stared into those determined honeybrown eyes. Shurik didn't often become stubborn about things, but when he did, he was impossible to budge. <Like his crush on me. I wonder if he's over that yet.. for some reason I hope not..>

"Okay, but I think it's going to leave a nasty scar." He paid attention to putting the bandage back into place, distracting his mind from whatever it was thinking.

"I don't mind." Shurik offered him a wry grin. "Maybe it'll help stop me from looking cute and innocent."

"Cute? Innocent?" Tavir laughed, standing up. "Who on earth told you that?" He watched as Shurik hurriedly tugged his shirt over his head.

"Hey, don't knock it, Tav. Girls love that kind of look." Shurik grinned at him again, and he couldn't help but laugh harder. Shurik had never had a girlfriend, not even when Tavir had gotten caught up with Reyn and left him alone for so long. The simple fact of his crush on Tavir had always been there, getting in the way of things that others Shurik's age had no doubt been busy doing. And in some strange way, Tavir liked it like that. It meant Shurik was his, and always had been. No-one else had taken his Shurik, or gotten in the way of Shurik's infatuation with him. And he didn't think he'd like it if that changed, either. He felt guilty all of a sudden.

"C'mon, kid, let's start finding me a job, you a dog, and us a place to live." He'd save studying these strange possessive feelings until later. He wasn't sure he liked what they implied about him.