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subliminalwish · 20 days ago

Text

A Blooming Predicament

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Pairing: Sylus x Reader Summary: You chanced a glance on a dark alley on your way home, expecting to see a lost stray needing shelter from the rain but the one you ended up taking home is currently bleeding on your couch. Content: reader is not MC, reader is female, this is a slow burn, mentions of gunshot wounds, bleeding, and administering first aid, depictions of blood, wound care, implied crime & organised violence, mild language and dark humour, reference of alcohol, written under the influence of medication - some inconsistencies are possible. A/N: My apologies for the delay - I'd been incredibly sick. This chapter is much longer than the other two, and a lot of my time was spent trying to condense this while still keeping the pace. I hope it's not too much! Thank you so much for reading.

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You wish your hands would stop shaking so much.

His breath on your neck is warm but shallow, ghosting over your skin — faint, like sighs on velvet.

At least you can tell he’s still alive.

He hasn’t spoken since you dragged him out of that alley. Neither have you.

The intoxicating scent of charred spice burns into your lungs.

He’s so tall, doubled over you as you struggle to support him on your journey back to your apartment. Stark against the chill of the rain, the heat where his weight rests against you spreads — soaking your clothes, clinging to your skin, promising stains that might never wash off.

It’s fine, you tell yourself. You’re used to stains. The faint dusting of pollen. Fingerprints on glass. Smoke clinging to fabric. Streaks of green from crushed stems. The kind that lingers long after it should be gone.

You press on, stumbling through your building’s doors haphazardly. You’re a mess of aching muscles, trembling fingers, and the weight of him, draped over you like some exotic scarf.

Something grips you by the waist. Anchors you. You look down to see his large hand pressing you even closer to his body. Strong, despite the injury.

“What floor?” comes the sudden gravelly whisper fanning over your neck, your skin puckering in goosebumps on contact.

You tell him.

“Hold on tight.” That’s the only warning before the floor disappears beneath your feet, and for a split second, you think: this is a terrible way to die. The world vanishes in wisps of black and scarlet, weightless and soundless. The walls dissolve; there’s no sense of up or down — only him, warmth pressing against you, grounding you in this abyss like the only real thing left.

Solid footing returns as abruptly as it was stolen. Your knees buckle slightly at the sudden impact; the world reappears around you. You’re at your apartment level.

“How —” you start, but he’s already dragging you to move.

“Which door?” There’s a strain in his voice that wasn’t there before.

The stupid questions can wait.

——

He crashes onto the couch with a quiet groan, tipping his head back on the backrest as his eyes flutter shut.

Yours dart around your apartment until you find what you’re looking for. You’ve never had a half-dead man bleeding on your couch before, but you’re sure there’s at least something in your little first aid kit that can help. Gauze, antiseptic, an old roll of bandages. Ibuprofen, for the mild inconvenience of being shot.

You make your way back to his side, your attention now on the ruined fabric clinging to his skin, torn where the wound is worst, stained in deep red.

Your grip on the edges of the kit tightens, your heart pounding in your ears, your vision narrowing to the spreading blotch where skin meets couch.

A slow inhale, and then —

“Have you ever done this before?” His deep voice pulls you back, almost startles you — hoarse at the edges, tight with pain. Tempered with something softer. The sound catches at something in your chest, and you hate the way it makes your heart clench. His eyes are open by just a crack, a hint of red peeking through, locked on yours. His head is still tipped back as he takes measured breaths.

“Not at all.”

He shifts, a familiar smirk with a tinge of exhaustion on his lips as he moves to tear the tattered shirt off him.

“Follow my lead.”

Your hands move on autopilot, following his instructions without question. His voice is calm. Too steady for someone who’s bleeding out. You hold on to that low timbre for your life, the subtle shifts of his body, tilting into your touch when your fingers brush against exposed skin.

“You need to press harder.”

“You’re doing fine.”

“Use this next.”

“Breathe .”

Somewhere in between the stitching and the bandages being pulled taut, your heartbeat evens out, matching the smooth rumble of his voice, his mere presence keeping you from falling into the void.

Time blurs at the edges. You sit back after carefully securing the wrappings, your eyes scanning over his bare torso and its now-rhythmic rise and fall, to the rest of him for a final check.

“You catch on quick,” he says warmly, a tone of pleasant surprise with the undercurrent of something you choose to ignore. You don’t know what to say to that, lowering your gaze to your hands now resting on your lap, the tremors from earlier fading without a trace. You flex them before looking back at your handiwork, the gauze wound tight around him, keeping him from unraveling —

So why does it feel like he’s the one who’s holding you together?

——

“This… might fit,” you say, almost apologetic as you hand him your largest hoodie. He takes it with one hand, glancing at the wrappings around his torso before giving you a look.

“I don’t want to ruin your masterpiece,” he says smoothly, making you roll your eyes as you grab the hoodie back. He leans over expectantly.

By some miracle, you ease him into the hoodie. The fabric stretches just a little too much in places, snug against him. You try not to think about it.

He lets out a satisfied sigh and leans back, now far more relaxed than when he first staggered into your flat hours earlier. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to return it.”

“No, it’s fine,” you say a bit too quickly. “You can keep it.” It’s probably for the best.

Desperate for something to do, you head to the fridge. “Um. Do you want something to drink?”

“Some whiskey would be nice.”

“I’m not giving you any liquor.”

“Then forget it.”

You scowl at this strange stray you’ve taken in, his size dwarfing your couch as he claims his territory between your blood-stained throw pillows.

You grab a glass of water and set it on the coffee table with a pointed look. He doesn’t even glance at it.

“Is there someone you can call? Do you need to borrow a phone?” you ask as you move back to sit on the adjacent chair.

He’s already pulling his own device out and dialing on the cracked screen. “I’m sorted, but thank you.” There are bloodstains on the phone, too.

You fall silent as you hear the other line answer in one ring.

“Boss!” shouts the person on the other end. They sound relieved.

“The deal is off. Wrap it up. Now. Meet me at the usual place when you’re done.” He doesn’t wait for them to respond, ending the call and putting his phone away in one fluid motion.

You wish you moved to the other room — the less you hear about any of this, the better.

“Looks like I’m your problem for a little longer,” he says gently, looking at you now with a softened expression. He waits for you to react.

“Just until the sun fully sets,” he adds. “I don’t do well in the daylight.”

You automatically glance out your window at the gradually darkening cityscape. The rain has long stopped, the world outside shrouded in a light sheen from the drizzle.

You nod, unsure why it matters whether he leaves now or after the sun sets. But something about the way he says it — the way he looks at the sky — makes you think you don’t want to know. And the less you know, the better.

A minute passes. Then, his voice cuts through the quiet — low, almost lazy, but there’s something behind it.

“Why did you help me?”

You blink at him. You should probably give him a real answer.

“Did you want to bleed out in that alley? I can put the bullets back.”

That earns you a soft huff, something like amusement curling at the edges of his breath.

“I meant at the flower shop.”

You don’t reply right away. You could tell the truth — that you didn’t want to be collateral damage, that you like your life quiet and uncomplicated, and a shootout in a flower shop tends to disrupt that. But saying it outright feels too honest. Too callous.

So instead, you shrug, feigning nonchalance. “Seemed like the least messy option.”

A pause. Something amused flickers across his face, there and gone in an instant.

With nothing left to say, you both settle into silence, your guest occasionally humming an unknown tune.

There’s little need for words when the air between you is already thick with unspoken things.

You can still smell the sharp, metallic bite of blood underneath molten amber, settling at the back of your throat, refusing to let go.

As the sky outside finally deepens in hue, he gets up with purpose, his movement effortless, as if he hasn’t been close to death just hours before.

“Thank you for your hospitality. I won’t forget this.”

You hope he does.

He opens the window without offering an explanation. Sits at the edge on the sill and casually leans out to assess the view below before looking back at you with a long, measuring look.

“I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.”

You hope not.

He says it with so much certainty, as sure as the setting sun.

Something about the way he moves makes your stomach lurch, your instincts screaming before your brain catches up.

He’s leaning too far back. Too far into the gaping maw that is your window.

“Hey —”

You’re already on your feet before you even realize it.

“Can you not —”

He tilts backwards completely. Your window swallows him whole. He vanishes from your sight, rips your heart out of your chest and drags it with him.

“Hey, wait!”

You lunge forward, half your body slipping past the frame. The dizzying drop yawns beneath you. Your eyes follow the trail of hazy smoke and black feathers descending rapidly toward the empty street, and seconds later, he materializes onto the pavement, looking up at you with that same slow curve of his lips that makes your chest tighten.

You watch him walk away, his silhouette vanishing into the dark. The ruined couch, the lingering scent of iron mixed with warm spice, and the tattered afterthought of an expensive shirt are the only proof he was ever here.

You aren’t the type to get caught up in things that don’t concern you.

But if there’s anything worse than making a bad decision, it’s pretending you didn’t already make it.

You look around now at the aftermath of your choices decorating your living room, clean-up on your mind.

You’re used to stains. The rust-dark imprint of a thorn prick. The inescapable perfume of crushed petals. The faint, bitter tang of torn leaves. Blood and viscera are just different shades of the same thing. The kind that lingers long after it should be gone.

Some whiskey doesn’t sound so bad right now.

——

You didn’t wake up this morning expecting to get mugged by a bird.

One second, the shop keys are in your hand. The next, they aren’t.

A rush of black feathers, a flick of talons. The haunting, sharp echo of a triumphant caw. The weight of metal is stolen from your fingers before you can process the theft, before your breath can even catch up with the crime.

You blink up at the sky, dazed. The shop keys glint between its claws like a prize.

The city moves around you, indifferent. People pass by, eyes fixed forward, their worlds sealed off in invisible walls. A car horn blares in the distance. Someone laughs. The morning air is thick with damp concrete and yesterday’s regrets. You push past the early morning bustle, past people too preoccupied to notice you chasing after an airborne thief. A few glance up at the sound of ruffled feathers, but nobody in Linkon asks too many questions.

It swoops low, wings outstretched, dancing just out of reach before darting forward again. You swear you hear it cackle.

It winds through the city, taking you through twisting paths and narrow passages. Leads you down familiar streets, past shuttered cafés and flickering neon signs, past lampposts that hum with the last traces of their glow. It keeps ahead of you by mere feet, never quite out of reach, never close enough to catch.

Then, without warning, it folds its wings and drops.

You skid to a stop.

It lands right on the wooden sign hanging above Larkspur & Ivy, perching neatly on the edge. For a moment, it does nothing — just stares, head tilted, considering you. Flicks its tail with a self-satisfied ruffle of feathers.

Then, slow and deliberate, it unfurls its talons and lets your keys slip through.

They clatter onto the pavement.

The crow lets out a single caw, sharp and bright in the morning hush. Almost like laughter.

You crouch to pick up your keys, but your gaze snags on the bird.

Up close, its feathers are too smooth. Sleek, polished. A glint of metal. The light catches strange on its body, edges too sharp, movements too precise. And when it tilts its head, you hear it — a mechanical whir, the faintest click of shifting plates beneath the feathers.

Red rubies for eyes, like molten glass, glowing against the grey morning like a warning carved into the skyline.

You feel like you’ve seen that shade of red before.

You exhale, slow. Linkon has its ghosts. Some of them just wear different disguises.

The crow watches you expectantly. Lets out another raucous caw. Flaps its wings once, then takes off into the sky, vanishing into the city sprawl.

Your fingers tighten around the stolen thing, thumb tracing over it absently before you slip the key into its place. The sky is empty now. The shop’s door unlocks with a hollow click, and the scent of flowers greets you like a well-worn memory.

Behind you, two men walk past the shop. Eyes flicking your way, exchanging a look, quiet and knowing, as you busy yourself among the oleanders and poppies.

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