Getting Harlow away from that possible danger had been his only thought at the time. But he really wouldn’t call it saving his life. Foxx could have just as easily ended up pushing him toward the bomb, as he hadn’t really had time to figure out where it had been. It was a brief spur of the moment decision without too much thought behind it and in his mind hardly worth being thanked over.
Foxx looked around the room, the sight of the cuffs and chains had him stiffening. And before he was able to pull his eyes away, he found himself tumbling into a pit of fear.
“Shit, Foxx,” he heard Harlow swear.
He flinched, whimpering as the human got onto the bed and pulled him into his arms. Foxx clung to Harlow, his tears breaking free again.
“Ah, fuck.” Harlow ran his hand down Foxx’s back. “I’m not really good at this shit, you know? Comforting is not really…in my vocabulary. I’m more of a ‘shoot the problem’ type of person,” Harlow mumbled, sounding out of sorts. “All I can say is I won’t let them hurt you.”
Harlow…meant that, Foxx could tell. As long as Harlow was there, he wouldn’t let them touch him… Safe, he was safe.
Laying sideways against the human hurt like hell— but he didn’t care. Foxx wanted to be as close to the man as possible. So, he ignored the pain and tried to bury himself closer.
Harlow was safe for him. Harlow would make things safe, because the human would protect him. The chains still clear in his mind, Foxx used the somewhat irrational thoughts to keep him from losing his shit more than he already was.
When the human pulled him closer, Foxx pressed his face into Harlow’s chest, and just let himself feel everything. The pain, the fear. Sobbing, he clung to the human.
“Ah, fuck, Foxx…”
Foxx knew he needed to stop crying. For one, he hated doing it, and two, it seemed to make Harlow extremely uncomfortable. To add on, the position he was currently in was starting to become excruciatingly painful.
Scrunching his nose, he squeezed his eyes shut really hard, trying to stop the tears by thinking of happy thoughts—like murder. Yes, murder! Oh, or torture! He tried to conjure up visions of cutting off little piggies. Slowly, the tears stopped.
“Could you—” Foxx did that stupid, involuntary stuttered breath sniffle thing people did when they were crying. “—could you turn me onto my back? This…hurts.”
“Ah,” Harlow rasped, before helping him lay flat on his back, his head resting against Harlow’s chest, the man’s arm wrapping around his waist. “Is this fine?”
“Much better.”
“Does this reaction have…” Harlow cleared his throat for what had to be the tenth time since Foxx had snapped out of his freak out. “…something to do with your time in the convent?”
Foxx laughed bitterly. “It has everything to do with it. There…was a bit more going on than what I said.”
“Do you…ugh…” Harlow huffed.
Foxx giggled, wincing as he did, but his tears finally dried up. “Do I want to talk about it?”
“Yes…that,” Harlow murmured awkwardly.
“Considering I just lost my ever-loving shit, I suppose you deserve the full truth.”
“Look, Foxx. You don’t owe anyone a motherfucking thing. No one deserves anything from anyone. If you don’t want to tell me, don’t. You could keep freaking out, and still not owe me a damn thing. No explanation, nothing.”
Foxx smiled. “I think…I want to tell you.”
“Okay…just don’t expect me to say the right thing…”
“I’d never,” Foxx sassed. “Where to…start… Maybe the beginning?”
For the first time in a long while, he purposely let the memories come.
“Edmund,”Foxx called out, stumbling forward weakly. He felt strange. But would one not, after having been reborn? More importantly, where was…Edmund? He should have been there. Foxx remembered entering the forest clearing, prepared to be changed with Edmund… However, he couldn’t recall much of what happened after that.
The one thing Foxx did know was that Edmund hadn’t been there when he’d first arrived. He hadn’t been there when Foxx awoke either. No one had. Foxx had been alone.
But Edmund had come, hadn’t he? He had to have… Surely, it was just that the man had come later. Edmund was notoriously late to most events…
Well, it didn’t matter when, as long as he had still come. And they’d reunite soon enough. On being warned about how disorienting the change would be, they’d set into place ways to make sure they’d make it back to each other. Which is why they decided to meet here at their hidden stretch of beach, if they happened to get separated during the change. It was their safe haven. Kept hidden by large boulders on three sides that seemed impossible to pass. They had always come here to make love.
