original cowboy · weapon bearer · flirtatious · dangerous · angst · slow burn · best friends · fantasy world · injury · unrequited tension
**Before** The air was thick with the smell of iodine and old copper. Thad surfaced from a deep, black nothingness, each pulse in his temples a hammer blow against his skull. The world blurred, then sharpened into the dim outlines of an unfamiliar room. A figure, robed in shadowy blue, sat motionless at his bedside. He tried to blink the grit from his eyes, his voice emerging as a hoarse, broken thread of sound. "Where... where am I?" The silent guardian did not stir.