Chapter Text
Cor came back from circling the perimeter of the ruined building, satisfied that they had lost the MTs, for now. What was supposed to be a simple recon mission went sideways when a fuckton of MTs had just dropped out of the sky. Cor had managed to take care of the ones after him while remaining relatively unscathed, but Nyx had not been so lucky. Cor found Nyx unconscious, with an MT about to shoot him in the head. It looked like one of the MTs had self-destructed before Nyx could get out of the blast radius. Cor took care of the surrounding MTs with extreme prejudice before checking to make sure Nyx was still breathing. He dragged Nyx to a nearby abandoned building for shelter, to wait out the circling dropships, before Cor could call for assistance.
“How bad is it?”
Nyx looked at him, from where he was propped up against the wall. He was conscious now, mostly.
“Not as bad as you look.”
“Cute.” Nyx snorted, then winced.
Nyx had a severe head wound, and broken arm, and probable broken ribs. Nyx wasn’t going anywhere fast, but it was the head wound that worried Cor the most. Head wounds tended to bleed a lot, which obscure the extent of the injury.
“Drop ships are still circling, it’ll be a little while before we can call for a pick up. I think we should be good to hole up here until then.”
“You could leave, get some back up.”
“Don’t be an idiot. Now hold still while I look at your injuries.” Cor kneeled down next to Nyx and gently pulled his jacket aside to get a better look. Definitely some broken ribs.
“You know I can take care of myself.”
Cor just looked at Nyx and poked his side. Nyx winced.
“Evidence suggests otherwise. How many fingers am I holding up?”
Nyx rolled his eyes at Cor.
“Two.”
“Well, it doesn’t seem like a concussion. Let me get a better look.”
Cor grabbed Nyx’s chin with one hand to tilt his head forward, and ran his fingers through Nyx’s hair, feeling for injuries. Nyx winced when Cor reached the large cut on the back of his head, but Cor didn’t stop until he checked the rest of the area. Just one nasty gash on the back of Nyx’s head as the source of all the blood matting Nyx’s hair and clothes.
“It doesn’t look too bad, but we should clean it so it doesn’t get infected.”
“And how do you propose to do that?”
Cor pulled out a couple of bottles of water from the armiger, and looked at Nyx.
“I’m going to need to take out your braids.”
Nyx looked at Cor before nodding.
“Are you sure?” Cor knew Nyx was particular about his hair, and that there were some cultural things he was unaware of.
“Yeah..it’s not like I can do it,” Nyx glanced at his arm in the makeshift sling, “and…I trust you.”
Cor moved closer and reached for the first braid. After a brief hesitation, he removed the tie at the bottom and started unraveling it.
“You’ll have to talk me through it, I’ve never braided anything before.”
“Something the great Immortal can’t do? Alert the press.”
Cor snorted as he continued taking down the braids.
“You’d be surprised how little it comes up in battle. The Crownsguard doesn’t consider it a necessary skill.”
“They should. It is in Galahd. There’s a whole ceremony and everything, when you first get your clan braid. And another one when you finish your first hunt.”
Cor was surprised, Nyx so rarely spoke of his home. Nyx must be feeling worse than he let on.
“Close your eyes.”
Cor titled Nyx’s head back and poured water to wash the worst of the blood away.
“Mother was so proud when I finished my first hunt, I was the youngest on the island.”
“Of course you were.”
Cor ran his fingers through Nyx’s hair to clear out most of the mats, and make sure the water cleaned out the cut.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.”
Nyx opened his eyes, but didn’t look like he was really seeing Cor.
“Start on the left, the one with the leather cord.”
Cor did his best to follow Nyx’s instructions, slowly replacing the braids he had taken down. As he finished, Cor noticed that Nyx was humming softly.
“What is that? It’s nice.”
Nyx started, as if he hadn’t realized he was doing it.
“It’s an old Galahdan lullaby. Mother used to hum it when braiding our hair, it was the only thing that could convince Selena to sit still long enough.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
Nyx turned to look at Cor, and it was the first time since Cor started tending to Nyx that it seemed that Nyx was actually looking at him.
“I’m going to see if it’s safe to call for back up yet.”
Cor stood up and walked to the entrance, Nyx keeping eye contact until Cor turned the corner.
A few hours later, when Libertus and Crowe arrived to pick them up, Cor learned exactly what it meant to do Nyx’s braids.
“You know, you could have told me that only family and partners are allowed to do another’s braids.”
Cor stared at Nyx from the back of the glaive van.
“Well, you are my partner, right?”
Nyx reached out to grab Cor’s hand.
“Yes, but that’s not exactly how I envisioned letting everyone know.”
Cor tangled their fingers together and squeezed gently.
“If you had done a better job, they wouldn’t have found out.”
The corners of Cor’s mouth lifted.
“I guess I’ll just have to practice.”
Nyx laughed.
“I guess you will.”