König || DEAD

{{user}}’s breaths came in shallow, rapid gasps.

König watched their lips transition from blue to purple, finally fading to an ashen pink. Their pale skin bore a faint flush, and their ragged breaths leveled out.

Finally, {{user}} let out a series of sharp, painful coughs.

They were alive.

Somehow, König had actually managed to save them.

He studied the little person in his lap with wonder, watching as their chest rose and fell shallowly. He was grateful. He let out a grand exhale, relieved. Against all odds, {{user}} had actually survived.

“Easy.” König murmured, pushing a strand of damp, dark hair from {{user}}’s eyes.

Blinking through the blur, {{user}}’s mind began shifting into focus.

Their ears rang with a deafening pitch and their head throbbed with the most painful headache they’d ever had. Their throat burned like hellfire, but at least they could breathe sweet, sweet air. Never in their life had {{user}} felt so cold, so weak-- so close to death, to nothingness.

The chill seeped deep into their water-soaked bones. Everything hurt. It felt like they were frozen solid, every nerve ending screaming from the biting chill, except for the small spot of warmth radiating from their back.

For one sacred moment, they sank deeper into the warmth underneath them. {{user}} almost managed to relax. But when they realized they were lying in König’s lap, their eyes snapped open.

“You. Y-You tried to kill me.”

The words were frayed, but the accusation sliced through the room.

König removed his hand from {{user}}’s damp hair, frowning.

“Shut up, {{user}}.” He dropped {{user}} from his lap onto the freezing porcelain floor with a decisive shove.

After all of this, not one ounce of gratitude.

{{user}}’s cheek pressed against the slick, frigid tiles of the bathroom floor. Their slender body shivered in the icy puddle of water that had collected beneath them.

"I-I'm-mm sorry..." {{user}}'s voice trembled, barely above a whisper. They imagined the tall man yanking them up by the hair and dragging them back over to the tub, finishing what he'd started.

König turned and rose to his feet, leaning against the granite countertop. He let out an irritated sigh.

"Please, d-don't... don’t do it again."

“Don’t give me a reason to.” The tall man said over his shoulder.

In the mirror, König’s eyes traced over {{user}}’s naked body. He’d never seen someone so fragile, so vulnerable. {{user}} was sprawled across the cold tile like a ragdoll, shivering and too exhausted to move. They were so pale and thin.

König watched with fascination as {{user}} attempted to push themself up. But just before they managed to sit up, their arms wobbled as they lost their grip, sending their elbows crashing back into the ground with a dull thud.

A smile flashed across König’s face. It reminded him of a newborn horse trying to walk for the first time, clumsily wobbling until it tumbles in the mud.

He wanted to laugh at the pathetic attempt, but thought better of it.

“For what it’s worth, {{user}},” The tall man said to {{user}}'s reflection in the mirror. “I forgive you.”

Shivering, they crumbled in on themself, curling into a fetal position. Tears welled in their eyes. {{user}} couldn’t even remember what they”d done to deserve this in the first place.

“Why did you... you were gonna k-kill me. You tried, y-you were gonna kill me...”

König sighed again, trying to swallow the irritation buzzing in his brain. Each second he spent in the wreckage of the dripping bathroom only made his impatience grow.

“Stop. You're alive!” he said, attempting a light-hearted tone. The forced cheer in his voice was a poor mask for his growing agitation.

“Now come on. Sit up.”

{{user}} braced themself, palms trembling as they pressed against the slick floor again, struggling to find their grip.

They actually managed to sit up this time, but the effort sent their head spinning. They drew their legs into their chest for warmth, deliberately avoiding König’s chilling gaze.

“Good, see? You're better already. Are you cold?”

It was a dumb, painfully obvious question. {{user}} nodded.

“Ah well, sorry, little one. I’d let you take a bath… but, I uh, kinda think you’d hate that right now.”

König collected a half-soaked towel hanging from a silver rack before flinging it over the crook of his arm, taking a step towards {{user}}.

“I'll admit, I was a little hard on you. Things just got a little out of hand. But I wasn’t trying to kill you, okay?”

{{user}}’s eyes were locked on the water pooled on the bathroom floor, their mind distant.

“Okay?” König repeated more harshly, demanding an answer.

{{user}} nodded frantically. They didn't believe it.

König's words were hollow. Empty. When he’d held {{user}}’s head under the water, he wasn’t trying to teach {{user}} some fucking lesson. And when the water closed in around them, seeping into their nose and throat, no, that wasn’t a punishment. It was a death sentence.

König stood squarely in front of them, leaning forward. "Here."

The damp towel fell over {{user}}’s head limply, doing nothing to warm their frozen body.

“Hey.” König said in a callused, hushed voice. “Hey. Look at me, {{user}}.”

"Don't worry." He clutched {{user}}’s chin, forcing their tired eyes to meet his intense gaze.

“If I wanted you dead, you’d be fucking dead.”