Chapter Text
For 20 minutes they stayed like that, with K hiding himself under his cloak and periodically peeking his snout out from under the blanket to smell the stew before going back into the safety of the cloak. Daniel was still by his side, periodically moving the bowl closer to the bed so K wouldn't have to each out so far.
Eventually Daniel started to hear the sound of ice cracking under the blankets, the wet crunches filling the silence that plagued the room as he started regenerating his broken body. After another few minutes K's once broken arm slowly reached out for the bowl, clasping the edge of it and dragging it right up against the bed.
He slowly peaked his draconic head from under the cloak and peered at Daniel, his left eye had already reeled back into its socket and the eyelid was slowly forming over the eye.
Daniel smiled, gesturing for him to take the food.
"It's yours... go on, it's for you"
K hesitated for a moment before lunging at the stew, quickly devouring it like a dog eating from its bowl. Daniel tried to make him slow down but K let another terrified yelp as he came closer, snapping at him before reeling back into the safety of his bed.
"Ok fair, I don't like people touching my food ether"
Daniel backed up to where he was and K went back to scarfing down the stew, licking the bowl clean in under a minute. He looked over to the drinking horn and grabbed it, uttering something under his breath before pressing it to his lips and starting to drink from it.
Daniel watched closely and in slight horror, making sure he didn't start choking on the hot cocoa that he was chugging like he hadn't had anything to drink in days.
Eventually he stopped drinking from it and dropped it to his side, gasping for air as he hadn't stopped to go for air. He grabbed the cloak again and properly put it on, sliding the hood over his head and covering his entire body in the dark fabric.
Daniel saw his sudden change and position, taking his chance to check on K.
"...you... you feeling any better, big man?"
K's eye moved to Glance at him for a moment, nodding ever so slightly at Daniel. He smiled, thinking to himself that K was finally starting to get better.
Daniel shuffled a little closer in order to get a better look at him but it caused K to immediately try and shuffle away from him. Pure fear in his eyes as he let out a draconic Whimper at Daniel, a desperate plea in his tone for him to stay away.
"Ok OK... don't want me to get closer... I understand..."
He shuffled back to his spot and K shuffled back a bit, still afraid but something told him that he needed to be close to Daniel. though he understood that Daniel was a good person and would never hurt him he was still afraid. After a good 20 more minutes of silence K started to speak, his voice brittle and shaky, filled to the brim with guilt and shattered pride, Barely holding himself back from falling apart.
"...tha-...t-thank you... Daniel"
"... you think I would leave you back there?"
"..."
"... just focus on your recovery... alright... if you want me to leave then i'll-"
K's head shot up from his cloak, the pain in his screams staring against his injured lungs as he begged for him to stay.
"N-NO- *cough cough*...-don't.... Don't leave me...i-... i need you"
"...ok... I won't leave..."
Daniel looked forward before shuffling a little closer to K, this time he wasn't met with his whimpers of terror. K reached for the drinking horn again and uttered "Vulsh" under his breath. The cup then magically filled back up with his drink as he pressed it against the end of his snout and drank. He continued to take sips from his cup of comfort, every few moments he would utter the word "vulsh" under his shallow breaths to fill his cup with more hot cocoa. Daniel's worry started to slowly lessen as he felt K's fear slowly melt away and be replaced by the comfort of his best friend. He watched as K opened his mouth to try and say something but stopped himself at the last moment before any noise could leave his throat. After another 5 or so minutes K finally says something but it wasn't what Daniel was expecting.
"...I'm sorry" K muttered out, his voice filled with even more shattered pride as he spoke.
"..Excuse me? Daniel responded, sounded confused as he didn't know if he heard what he said properly... did he say sorry?
"I'm sorry D-Daniel... I'm sorry for being such a fuck up and-"
"W-... K, your not a fuck up. Your anything but a fuck up"
K looked up in confusion, like he expected Daniel to agree with him and say he is a fuck up.
"...you're... you're not gonna b-belittle me?"
"What- no why the fuck would i-..."
Daniel leans back against the wall, taking a moment to think to himself about K and where he came from. it makes sense really, K was from a time where mental health was the last thing on someone like his mind, even less on the mind of the people who he would have traveled with. He was taught the only way forward was to be strong and never show weakness to others, to be a unbreakable beacon to the world and to never stop moving.
"...you know... it's ok-... it's ok to cry"
K looked at him fully now, confusion spread across his face like he's never heard those words said to him, sure he said those words to others but it felt off being told that.
"...Daniel what the f-fuck are you on about?"
"It's ok to cry... I'm not the bastards you used to travel with. Whether you cry or not doesn't matter to me... you're still my friend... your still a big man"
K looked at Daniel again as he heard the words "big man", his blue eyes piercing through the dark as he tried to find any sort of mockery or lying or deception on his face, expecting Daniel to just laugh it off... yet he found nothing but kindness upon his fluffy face.
K stared at him for a while, both eyes locked onto him as he before started to hyperventilate, his eyes slowly filling with tears as for the first time in years he cried. It wasn't a normal cry, it was one that was filled with exhaustion and fear, mostly gasps and shaky breaths like he had already been crying for hours.
Daniel slowly wraps his arms around K's half naked body, his warm body temperature embracing K's cold body like a small stuffed animal. Daniel held K in his arms while he cried, it reminded him of the countless times he's held an ice pack to his own stomach but this time instead of the ice pack shielding him from pain, he's comforting the ice pack. Daniel opened his mouth, speaking in a soft and comforting tone Marshall always used when he cried.
"There we are... go on... let it out big man... your in a safe place now"
K continued to ugly cry, his claws digging deep into Daniel's sides as he clung on for dear life. Even with air in his lungs it sounded like he didn't know how to cry at all, like it had been so long that forgot how he was supposed to sound... But what mattered now was he was crying and that's ok, it's always been ok and always will be.
lets hope he remembers that.