some things you shouldn't get too good at

[acahellyeah]

WHO: ANDY BERNARD and KATURIAN KATURIAN
WHERE: At their hotel room.
WHEN: Yesterday!
WARNINGS: Just... sadness...
SUMMARY: Andy comes home. :C
FORMAT: Whatever!


Andy's head was throbbing, his chest a tight coil of nerves and spent adrenaline. He wanted to sleep some more, maybe forever, he was terrified and panicked and nothing made sense, anymore. He already missed Harley, and thinking that just made him more exhausted. He was pale, sweaty, bruised and bleeding, but at least in one piece, at least alive.

Hostage scenarios seemed way more fun when you were a kid.

He fumbled with the key to his and Katurian's room, missing twice before he could get the door open.

Comments

[goryteller]

Katurian was up from the bed from the moment he heard the footsteps drawing closer, before Andy even opened the door. All day, he had been pacing around the room. He had been diving towards the peephole with every sound he heard from the hallway, at every shift in the lighting, at every nudge in the corner of his mind that said yes, yes Andy will be here, this time he'll be here, he'll have some good news.

This wasn't good news.

When he saw the bruises, he gasped through lips he couldn't remember to close. For a moment, he was immobile, and then he stepped forward. They were timid steps, like approaching the edge of a precipice.

"Andy." Quiet. Louder than the gasp, but practically an exhale. Feelings instead of words. "Oh my God."

[acahellyeah]

Andy blinked fish-like at Katurian, unable to speak for a moment. He only breathed, closing the door behind him and locking it. He fumbled the lock as he did the key, then turned to double-check that it was bolted. He moved the hotel's armchair in front of the door.

"Sorry," he said finally, looking at Katurian. His voice was unsteady. "I know I'm supposed to call if I'm not coming straight home. I--" It was his father's rule, not Katurian's, but Andy couldn't think straight.

"Something came up..."

[goryteller]

Katurian watched Andy move the armchair with wide, frightened eyes (oh, he knew just what that meant) before losing every ounce of his hesitation. He swallowed the distance between them and grabbed Andy's arm, firm and gentle and desperate. He held him like an anchor. Then he pulled him, almost pleadingly, towards the closest bed.

"You're going to sit down." He was guiding himself through the motions as much as Andy. "You're going to sit down, and you're going to rest, and-- and I'm going to get a wash cloth from the bathroom and a glass of water, too, all right?"

He was trembling, but he hoped Andy wouldn't notice.

[acahellyeah]

"Right," Andy said automatically, his knees doing the work for his brain by buckling and sitting him down on the bed. He pulled his coat off, shivering, clutching Katurian's arm back with a sweaty hand.

"I mean, I'm okay," he said with an exhale, not wanting Katurian to leave. "I'm sitting down, I'm okay. Great. Phenomenal, really."

[goryteller]

As Andy sat on the bed, Katurian crouched down with him, his joints giving and bending as automatically as the other man's. It was as though they were caught up in a dance, the situation so large around them that they couldn't help moving like puppets. When Andy gripped his arm, Katurian found that he didn't want to leave either.

"Phenomenal," he echoed. There was a bitter smile in his voice, the beginning of an incomplete joke, but there was nothing to laugh about and the words died on his lips. He brought a hand to touch Andy's face instead, his fingers brushing the bruises, surveying the damage.

And then he got up from the ground and hugged him. Hard.

[acahellyeah]

"Yeah," Andy said, his voice louder this time. When Katurian hugged him he flinched for a moment, then leaned his head against Katurian's shoulder. He sighed.

"It's really not as bad as it looks. Promise."

[goryteller]

"You scared the shit out of me." His voice threatened tears, but he didn't let go. This summer had left Katurian tired and frail. He felt it in his bones while he hugged Andy, while his mind slugged and churned to piece together what had happened. But he wasn't sure if the specifics mattered. He knew that this was what happened these days. Kidnappings and beatings and hope that could be extinguished within just one night.

Why did it have to happen to Andy?

[acahellyeah]

"Sorry," Andy said again, face still pressed. "Notice next time, at least twenty-four hours. Two weeks, preferably." He was dimly aware he wasn't making much sense, but he was going for blithe reassurance. He was alive, wasn't he, and barely injured at that. Thank goodness someone had interrupted--

"Are you all right?"

[goryteller]

The sound he made in response was something like a hiccup. A laugh. A cry. Even Katurian didn't know which one it was supposed to be, but he did recognize the absurdity of it, Andy asking him if he was all right. The sound was all he can manage. No gentle jokes. No teasing. No comment on his own hand, bandaged and sore.

Finally, he allowed himself to pull back. He wiped his face with the back of his palm.

"We should get you out of the City." He swallowed. Sniffled. "Somewhere safe."

[acahellyeah]

"I'm okay," Andy insisted. "I can't leave, what about you, and Pam and Jim, and Michael, and Erin, and--"

He hesitated, just for a moment. "And Harley," he finished, dropping his gaze. "If I leave I'll just be right where I started again when I first got here."