The Mountain that is the Bump in the Road (Quinn, Flynn and Eamon)

[myeyesarehollow.livejournal.com]

Flynn missed Tristan. It was obvious in pretty much everything he did. He was happy about Quinn being back, but it was bittersweet because he'd lost something in all of this too. But it wouldn't have been fair on Quinn to lose his lover just because he was attacked. It wouldn't have been fair on Flynn to stay with Tristan, always wishing the attack hadn't happened so he adn Quinn were together. It wouldn't have been fair on Tristan either. Not that this was. Flynn was just happy that it had happened now and not years down the line when he had been absolutely steady with someone. He had no idea what he would have done were that the case.

Flynn knew Quinn was giving him time to deal. He had said as much. What he didn't realise, was that the time was as important to Quinn as it was to Flynn. Quinn had spent 3 months with someone else attending to his every need and even though he didn't remember it, that didn't make it any more pleasant to know. He just wanted to prove he could do it himself.

Quinn had made his way into the kitchen, where Eamon was making coffee. "You want some, Q?" Eamon asked, turning to face the young man he considered his brother.

"Oh, you'd be my hero, E." Quinn whispered.

Instead of looking pleased, Eamon's face crumpled. "Q...I have to tell you something. When you were...sick, Flynn was talking about a boy he liked and I told him to...I said he should go for it. I just wanted him to be happy, I didn't know-" He didn't know his little brother was going to wake up to his lover dating someone else that he himself had encouraged. "I'm so sorry!"

Quinn shook his head and then he hobbled across the kitchen to take Eamon's hands in his. "Eamon, it's okay! It's okay. Look, if I had stayed that way..." A shudder ran through Quinn as he realised that he very well might have were it not for Amaris and her big fucking mouth (though at the moment he wasn't going to knock that). "If I had stayed that way, then I couldn't think of a better person for Flynn than Tristan. I would want him to be happy. Mal has a way of...cutting himself off. And who could blame him? But he managed not to do that for the first time in...I was proud. I am proud. And thank you for looking out for him, honestly. How were you to know. How was anyone to know?!"

Eamon still looked guilty, but at least he seemed to believe that Quinn wasn't angry with him. "Do you remember it?" Eamon asked softly.

"Not a thing." Quinn admitted. "If you mean...no, the last thing I remember was putting roses on my bed because Mal was coming home. And then I realised I was probably going to have to sleep in the bed before Mal arrived, and I was going to go upstairs and put them on the nightstand and then there was a knock at the door...and then I woke up and Spectre and Mal were next to me and they looked funny because I have shite all depth perception."

Eamon still didn't understand how it was all possible. It sounded like Quinn didn't either, and thankfully for all those involved, Quinn's family was far too happy to have him back than to look a gifthorse in the mouth. They simply insisted that he see several doctors to make sure that he didn't relapse and they accepted that a medical miracle had occurred. Hell, if one was going to occur to anyone, it would be Quinn... "I'm sorry about your eye." Eamon said lamely. "Here's coffee...." As if that made up for it.

Quinn chuckled anyway, and he picked up the mug in his shaking hands. "Oh, coffee. Thou art truly a divine liquid." Quinn took a sip and then another, sighing in bliss as Flynn entered the kitchen.

Flynn stared at Quinn and his coffee and then he bit his lip. "I was looking for you." Flynn said quietly.

"Why?" Quinn asked, though he wasn't meaning to be short with Flynn. That was still how it came out.

"Er..." It hadn't ever occurred to Flynn that he would have to have a reason to look for Quinn, and he was quite at a loss for words. So instead, he concentrated on what he felt he should say. "I don't think you should be drinking that coffee. You can hardly keep anything down, coffee isn't going to help..."

Flynn was right. He was absolutely right, and Quinn didn't care. "I haven't had any in a long time, I just felt like a cup."

"Well I would have made you decaff." Flynn mumbled. Quinn's coldness was getting to him and he had no idea how to deal with it. It had neved happened before. He offered Eamon a weak smile to attempt to distract himself. "Hi, Eamon."

"Hey, F. Going alright?"

"Yeah." Flynn glanced back and forth between Eamon and Quinn and then he opened his mouth again. "Quinn, should you be resting?"

Quinn snapped. He'd had it. He was constantly bombarded by visions of the things Amaris had done to him, and he was sore and hungry and ill and Flynn was mourning for Tristan, which he understood, but things were very different now between them and he didn't have the knowledge of the intervening three months like Flynn did. Flynn had had time to absorb the change and for Quinn it had been abrupt and painful and while he was normally one of the calmest, happiest most passive people on the planet, it set him on edge. "Dammit, Malachy, I'm not your patient!" Quinn slammed the mug down on the counter, sloshing brown liquid everywhere. Eamon jumped back and then he very quickly left the room. This wasn't his business. He hurried to get out of earshot. He had seen Quinn and Flynn argue only once and that had made him sick to his stomach. They weren't supposed to fight, they were above it. He didn't want his illusions shattered.

"Quinn!" Flynn stepped forward, trying to take Quinn into his arms.

"No!" Quinn shouted, stepping back. "No, Mal! I don't want you to diagnose me, alright?! I want to be your boyfriend, not your fucking kept pet. I don't need you to take care of me!"

"But..." Flynn's mouth was hanging open slightly, and his heart felt like it might implode right then and there. "Quinn." Mal said, his voice earnest and full of pain. "I was just trying to help! I promised. I promised I'd always take care of you."

"Well you weren't around when I got attacked by a demon, were you!?" Quinn hissed, though it was irrational, hurtful and unfair. But he was someone who had had everything stripped away from him. Coming back to it, and a boyfriend who had moved on, with no warning was not easy or miraculous, it was shite.

Flynn's jaw went from slightly open to agape and he shook his head, his eyes flashing. He felt absolutely hollowed out. Quinn's words had struck him like a cold blade and he shook his head in disbelief. "If you knew..." Flynn started, his voice barely above a whisper because he was very close to losing his temper and when Flynn did that, he was dangerous. He had never even been close to it with Quinn, but he was now. "If you knew how much it hurt me when you weren't there at the airport. How scared I was. How heartbreaking it was to find you like that. How much pain I went through every day without you. Quinn, if you knew any of it, you wouldn't say shite like that."

"And if you knew half of what I felt right now you wouldn't follow me around like a shadow, commanding me to do every little thing so your conscience can feel better for leaving Tristan. If I need you, then you made the right decision, but dammit, Malachy, I don't!"

Tears formed in Flynn's eyes and he was shaking with anger and hurt. "Fine." He whispered, because it was that or do and say something he regretted. Much like Quinn was doing at the moment. "Then get out."

"What?!" Quinn asked, all of a sudden shocked.

"Get out. If you don't need me, just get out."

Quinn's mouth worked wordlessly for a moment and then he wrapped his arms around himself. He didn't have a home. He didn't have anywhere to go anymore. And all of a sudden he was more terrified than he'd been in years. Was Flynn honestly turning him out to be homeless again? Flynn?! "W...where will I go?"

"That's not my problem, you don't need me." Flynn hissed, and then he turned on his heel and he left Quinn standing there. Alone.