Stay [Kodi] [Trigger]

[Deleted]

What Gryphon said made sense, and Kodi knew it. Who was he, really, to say what Gryph did and didn't need? Even if the dentokinetic still felt like it wasn't right... He was finding it harder and harder to argue. ".... No, I g-guess you wouldn't, so soon after..." Now Kodi felt sick. He'd gone out and found a warm body to hold while he wallowed in self-pity, hadn't he? Granted, it hadn't been love he'd been looking for, but... ".... There's really no one else for me either, no one that..." No one that meant anything to him, at least. The thing he had with Damon was entirely physical (and emotionally abusive). "I-I would never... Be able t'find another you..." That much he'd known even at the time he'd forced them apart. And he'd been okay with it, if Gryph would be happy...

But he obviously wasn't. Kodi sure could be stupid sometimes.

He wiped at his eyes, which he knew were probably starting to smear his eyeliner like it always did. Fuck, he was such a crybaby... "I-if you say so," he mumbled, picking at a wrinkle in Gryph's shirt. "Y-ou're not selfish f-for wantin' me.... 'Cause you're the only one that does..." And Kodi didn't think he'd ever understand why.

The lingering hold on his hand finally made the Chinese boy smile a little, but it was sad, thinking about all that he'd missed during the nearly three weeks they'd been apart. "A picture? Oh, uh, yeah...." Kodi pulled out his phone and flipped through until he found an image of the guy to show Gryph. "I-I think if goes t'Greenview, so you sh-shouldn't run into him unless you look for him," he mumbled, putting away his phone. "... Thank you..." He let out a heavy sigh. "Just... Somethin' else I don't want you t'get hurt from because of my stupidity..." And now he had to go and tell Damon... Something. At least he didn't know where either of them lived. He could just... Disappear after this, and block him. Would that work? "I-I should probably go," he mumbled. "He knows where I am now. I wouldn't p-put it past him t'come lookin' for me, and if he sees us..."

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

A few things Gryph felt he needed do to before Kodi left began compiling in his mind. To keep him as safe as possible, lower suspicion. Stuff he wasn't gonna do... right now. "I could go into detail with how I've been, but I don't wanna upset you." Hopefully, that spoke volumes enough for Kodi to believe him. Crying to comfort the second part was difficult. Because... it was kind of true. Due to his past personality, a lot of people weren't a fan of him. But... "...all the more reason for me to stick around then." Was that good? He didn't know.

He caught the smile and Gryph's own, soft one graced his lips, rubbing circles on his lover's hand (just.... just because they possibly weren't together, Gryphon still loved him, so... ha, lovers, bitch). The winged man studied the picture, ignoring the whole muscle thing; he needed to get his image locked down in his memory, and Gryph was a forgetful guy. "If I ever get hurt, it'll most likely be my own fault." That thought was, sadly, true. Very true.

He nodded, but didn't let go of Kodi. And then he went into mother mode, rapidly. Gently, after letting go of Kodi's hand, he cupped the back of his neck in his hand and used his long sleeve to carefully, carefully, carefully wipe the residue from the other boy's liner off his cheeks. And then he smiled as much as he could muster, taking his hand from behind Kodi's neck and looking into his eyes instead, "Smile. Just... just before you go." He pecked his forehead, "And be safe. You know where I'll be if... when..." Gryphon wasn't certain how to finish that sentence. "...just be careful."

[Deleted]

Kodi's heart sank a little more at Gryph's vague admittance to how he'd been doing. "... I'm so sorry..." he mumbled, fidgeting with a nearby book. "I-I really though I was doin' the right thing..." Otherwise he would never have even considered it. He was trying to be selfless for once. And well, he'd just fucked things up, hadn't he? "... Yeah, I guess so," he said quietly. "... At least as long as I don't get too stressful t'be around..."

Kodi really didn't have that many pictures of the guy, because sure, he was pretty hot and wanted to make sure the dentokinetic had some sort of reminders of him, but... He was nowhere even remotely close to Gryph at his lowest. Muscles didn't do much apart from intimate times, and he didn't use them in the way most decent people would. "Well, let's try to avoid that," he said, quietly but firmly. "I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you anymore, even yourself." He supposed he couldn't promise he wouldn't somehow accidentally hurting him, but...

He blinked and felt the sticky residue of the liner plus his stupid tears and knew he probably looked a mess. So when Gryphon's hand wrapped around the back of his neck, Kodi instinctively looked down, feeling self-conscious and embarrassed. When he started wiping at his cheeks, though... "... I really gotta invest in some more waterproof stuff, since I've been such a fuckin' crybaby lately," he joked weakly. When Gryph was done, Kodi looked up at him and mustered up something that resembled the smiles he'd worn when he was around Gryphon before. "Okay," he murmured, hesitantly reaching a shaky hand up to hold against the older boy's cheek. "... I'll probably... Come find you after... If you'll have me..." Was that too much to assume after what had happened between them?

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryph almost waved off his apology, but he realised... he deserved some apologies. Even if Kodi was in such a crap situation, he himself still needed it. "I get that." He still wasn't showing how stressed out he was (this interaction was both helping and hindering that), and he was still determined not to burden anyone else. He thought it was the right thing to do. He still thought that now. "I think... we can talk about stuff... like that... at another time." Not right now.

The Korean man raised his eyebrows, "Do you know how many times I've broken my own bones?" Bad time, bad time, "...forget that." That was not a good thing to say at all. "...thank you."

Gryphon gave a half hearted laugh at the liner comment. "Or maybe... you could stop wearing it." He suggested. Kodi wouldn't agree, he was almost certain of that, but it was still something he would prefer. When he smiled, it seemed semi-genuine, which was good enough, so he smiled back, "You're so attractive when you smile." He was saying bad shit - now was not exactly the right time to flirt. He looked down into Kodi's eyes and put his hand over the one on his cheek, "Of course I'll have you. If... if you can get to my apartment, I'll be there... okay?" It was then that he felt that fuzziness, the recognisable one, from before. It made him smile even more, if he ignored the bruises.

[Deleted]

Of course Gryph deserved apologies - that was why Kodi was giving them to him. At least Gryph seemed... Willing to move past that and move on to... Something. "Okay... Yeah, that sounds good," he mumbled, thinking about back when Gryph had told him about his stresses before. "I... I just wanna help you."

He rose an eyebrow right back at the older guy at the question. "... Do I wanna know?" he asked slowly. "Are you... Secretly a daredevil or somethin', m-moron?" Kodi remembered Gryph mentioning his osteoporosis, though, so that was probably why... "I'll just wrap you up in ten layers of bubble wrap and never let you leave your apartment," he determined.

Kodi gave Gryph a look of near-horror. "Nu-uh," he rejected the idea, shaking his head. "You... You're the only person that gets t'see me like that." Not even Damon had that privilege (like he deserved any kind of privilege). Kodi was far too self-conscious of his heritage clear in his features. At the compliment, however, his smile faltered and his face fell while his cheeks turned red. "..... Nothin' like your smile though," he mumbled, scraping his shoe on the floor. Still... The flirting made his heart skip. ".... I'll be there," he murmured, tucking a stray strand of hair behind the winged man's hair. "... And we can just... Talk some more." Figure out where they were now, after Kodi's big mess-up. "... I'm gonna go," he murmured, taking a last, lingering look on his lover's face before dropping his hand. "It's... It'll all be alright. I'll come up with... Some excuse." Damon did not need to, and would not, find out about Gryph. ".... Love you. I'll see you soon."

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

"I know you do." Gryph replied, nodding a little, "But I think... yeah, I think we should talk about this later." Putting things off was something Gryphon seemed to be fairly good at. He just wanted time to mull over his words so he could say the right thing and not... start worrying Kodi too much, again.

It was probably then that he realised... if they were going to try again, which he hoped they would, he was seriously going to have to be more honest. Because this was... ridiculous.

The avian man hummed, "...let's just say I've been to hospital more times than I would care for." Another thing he would probably go into detail more later on, "Not unless crash landings count as daredevil work." Maybe they did. Flying was fairly precarious as it was. He gave a short laugh, "I'd probably still manage to hurt myself, even then." At least the conversation had become... slightly lighter.

"Well..." He tilted his head a little, his head whirring about possibly saying how much more beautiful he was without the makeup - because it was true - but... he left it, for now. "...I'm glad you trust me with something so amazing." His reaction to the compliment was adorable though, "People see my smile all the time, it gets boring. Yours is gorgeous and you hardly show it." He tilted his head the other way, "It's a shame." But... enough getting distracted. Abusive relationships were difficult, and Gryphon knew how this 'Damon' might react if Kodi were to turn up late. He nodded, agreeing with the idea. They needed to suss everything out. And, "Okay." Gryph didn't know how Kodi would do it... this could so easily go pear-shaped, he was still so worried for him. The dentokinetic looked like he was about to leave but... the winged man quickly stepped forward and took his face in his hands, kissing him softly, slowly, gently. He got a funny sense of nostalgia from it, but he only let it last a few moments. He pulled away, and bowed his head slightly, "I love you too. Please be careful." He didn't want to see anymore damage by the time he saw the younger boy again.

[Deleted]

Kodi shuddered at the mention of hospitals. "Eesh.... I hope my bones don't get like that, I hate hospitals," he mumbled. He never wanted to be in one ever, they absolutely terrified him. ".... I thought you were s'posed t'have perfected your ability so that don't happen," he said with a raised eyebrow. "... Fine, I'll just have t'keep you in my arms all the time so you can't do nothin'." Simple answer.

A faint smile touched the corners of his lips as Gryph spoke, and he shook his head, but stayed quiet about his own... Face. "You kiddin'? I'll never get tired of your smile," he murmured, brushing his thumb over where the older man's dimple usually was. Kodi felt his cheeks warm up more at the continued compliments; he just... Didn't know what to say, not after... Everything... He slowly began to slip his fingers away from Gryph's, but then the winged meta was pulling him in and pressing his soft lips against Kodi's own, and the dentokinetic felt like he was falling all over again. It was over in the blink of an eye, and Kodi looked up almost drowsily; he'd forgotten what... Love from another person felt like. "I will," he promised, even though he wasn't sure how he'd manage what Gryph asked. "... Bye." And before he could be sucked in and risk staying away from the abusive Damon anymore, he forced himself to leave the place, feeling lighter than he had in weeks despite where he was going.