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"They won't stop if you do, either," Zachary said softly. "It'll just make things worse." Zachary leaned forward and put his forehead against Cas's, the closest he could bring himself to a kiss.
"They won't stop if you do, either," Zachary said softly. "It'll just make things worse." Zachary leaned forward and put his forehead against Cas's, the closest he could bring himself to a kiss.
"How do we make it better, though? This'll continue if we don't do anything…"
"I don't know if we can… And I'm sorry for that. But we can make the best of this." Zachary rubbed Cas's cheek again, pulling his forehead away.
Cas sighed softly and closed his eyes. "Halm is a good guy… and Nix was always so sweet… surely there's some way I can convince them…"
Zachary watched Cas, lips pursed a little.
"But what of the cat? He… He has Halm wrapped around his finger. Halm would do anything for him."
"Nix was always such a sweet cat, and he was really obedient… I don't know what changed but maybe he'd would still listen to me…"
Zachary bit his lip a little.
"I'm not sure…"
"I feel like there's some way I can convince them… I don't yell unless I'm really angry, so maybe I can yell at them…?"
"But how would they take it? Would they feel ashamed? Or would they be even more angry at me? Cas, Nix was getting upset when you were the one cuddling up with me, and obviously in control of the situation." Zachary shook his head a little.
"I think they'd feel ashamed, yes… hopefully guilty. What they did to you is totally unacceptable. They're hurting me by hurting you, which doesn't make them much better than my ex boyfriends."
Zachary blinked at that.
"Oh, Cas…" He said gently. "Comparing them to your exes… It might actually work."
"I think it might, yeah… I mean, I'm furious. I can't believe they would do this to you over basically nothing."
Zachary looked at Cas a moment, smiling faintly.
"T-thank you, for caring so much…"
"Don't mention it. You deserve it, Zachary. You've been taking such good care of me…"
Zachary buried his head in Cas's shoulder, still smiling a little.
"You deserve it too," he mumbled.
Cas flushed a bit and hid his face as well, sighing quietly. "Thanks, Zachary…"
Zachary nuzzled Cas a little, keeping close.
"You're welcome," he mumbled, more caught up in just being like this with Cas.
Cas jumped when he heard the door open and looked up, noticing Halm and Nix. He glared at them and lay his head back down near Zachary.
Zachary still couldn't help being scared, squeezing his eyes shut. Halm was a bit confused by the glare, looking to Nix for advice.
Nix shrugged a bit and moved a bit closer to the bed. "Cas? What's wrong?" He asked softly. Cas sat up and glared at him again. "What's wrong? You hurt Zachary! What the fuck is wrong with you?! What the hell happened to the sweet cat I knew?! And you!" He turned his eyes to Halm. "I thought you were a good guy, but apparently I was wrong!"
Zachary curled up a bit, wincing as his ribs scratch against each other. He knew there would be retaliation. Halm was completely startled by this, and a bit hurt. He was a good guy. Zachary, the cretin, must have twisted what happened, must have painted himself the victim. Halm moved to stand with Nix.
"Cas, we-" "No! I'm not done yet! Zachary has done nothing wrong, and no, I'm not just going off of anything he told me. Everything we've done has been entirely consensual. I am choosing this for myself. I'm an adult, for fuck's sake!" "We were only trying to protect you! He was getting way too close, and he's going to hurt you!" "This is what I want, Nix! Zachary is innocent! And if you're hurting and terrorizing an innocent man, especially Zachary, you're hurting me too. You're hardly better than my ex boyfriends you're trying to protect me from."
Everything Cas said felt like blow to the gut for Halm. His eyes widened at the last statement.
"We're trying to keep you from ever experiencing anything like your exes!" He said quickly. "What if Zachary pushes too far? What if he wants to much from you?" Zachary let out a small sound, trembling.
"He won't! He's not going to do anything I'm not comfortable with, because we've already talked about that! I'm confident that he wouldn't hurt me, and I'm never confident!" Cas huffed a bit, his face flushed with rage. "The fact that you guys would actually do something like this is appalling to me! This is sick and twisted and horrible!" Nix seemed unsure what to say, only turning his ears back and looking afraid. Cas's opinion clearly meant a lot more to him than Gloria's.
Halm flinched at Cas's words, looking down at his feet. He stayed next to Nix. Shit. They'd fucked up, hadn't they? Sick. Twisted. Horrible. Those weren't words Halm wanted to describe himself with. Looking at the floor, Halm saw the sprawled out body of Gloria. He bent down, picking her up gently and holding her in his hand. Zachary dared open his eyes a little, peering around Cas to peak at Nix and Halm.
"If I ever find out that you guys have done something like this again, rest assured that I will raise hell!" Cas put himself between Zachary and the other two, still glaring at them furiously. Nix nodded shakily, moving a bit closer to Halm for protection.
Halm put his arm around Nix carefully.
"Alright then," he said quietly. "We… We won't touch him again." Halm truly was feeling ashamed. Zachary closed his eyes a moment, burying his head in Cas's back. He still didn't feel safe. He wasn't sure if he ever would.
"Look what you've done to him! He's terrified now! You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Cas huffed Zachary, being careful not to squeeze him too tight.
Zachary leaned into Cas's hug, sniffling a bit to keep himself under control. Halm looked away, at Cas's harsh words.
"Shh, it's okay…" Cas buried his face in Zachary's shoulder, sticking close to his side. "Halm, heal him, please… you can't just leave him like this."
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