Learn how to knock! [Dom & Gwyn]

Where are they?

After Gwyn had moved out from Dominic’s room that morning and back to the couch she was sure she had left nothing behind, since there wasn’t anything to leave behind but still she somehow had managed to misplace her painkillers. Her migraine was nothing more than a mere dull ache - yet annoying enough that she’d want to take a painkiller with all the sounds around her. Her cramps had subdued, thankfully and Gwyn guessed that her period would be finished in a couple of days. Either two or three before she could switch out her period undies and go back to thongs. Some people might have disagreed with her but to Gwyn, thongs were the most comfortable unless you gave yourself a wedgie.

The first thing she had done that morning was taking a good warm shower where she had triple washed every inch of her body so she could rid herself of the feeling of days worth of bodily filth. Her hair had desperately needed a washing too. After having that shower and finally being able to also wear another set of clothes she had felt more human, even with her period still ongoing.
Turning back to what she was actually doing, Gwyn had spent the past 10 minutes roaming the living area and kitchen in search of her painkillers while trying not to disturb the refugees with her searching. They weren’t on any of the kitchen counters because if they were she would definitely have seen them laying on the surface. Neither had she found the box laying somewhere in or around the couch.

She started to doubt herself a little bit. Had she taken them with her this morning or not? She was pretty sure that she did take them but where in the world had she placed them? Grumbling under her breath, Gwyn took her untied hair into her hands and made it into a bun with the scrunchie she had around her wrist. All the searching had caused her to get a little warm, and the thick mane on her neck did not help matters. Taking one more careful look around her, Gwyn had to conclude that the box of painkillers wasn’t in the living area and most likely still in Dominic’s room. Let’s take a look there then.

Turning on her heel towards the door that led through the hallway, Gwyn opted to herself that Dominic was likely somewhere else. She hadn’t seen him that morning when she sneaked out of his room and back to the living room, thankfully without seeing any of the refugees and when she had come back from her shower he hadn’t been in the living room either. So he had to be out. Walking quickly to the door of his room, she took a hold of the doorknob and turned it around.

The first thing she saw when Gwyn opened the door fully wasn’t her painkillers laying around. What she saw was far from a box of painkillers. Her jaw might have dropped a little, her cheeks suddenly felt warmer and her eyes might have widened. Before her stood a half clothed Dominic. Wearing only his jeans, his upper body was showcased for anyone to behold now that Gwyn had opened the door. Her eyes roamed over the muscular planes of his upper body for a few seconds, lingering on the trail of dark hair that led towards his nether region and she saw the waistband of his underwear peak above his unbuttoned jeans before her sense kicked in, hard. Firstly, she was bluntly staring at him, his muscles and almost at his crotch. Secondly she had just walked into him changing. Thank fuck that he wasn’t naked!

‘’Shit!’’ Gwyn exclaimed, quickly averting her gaze and it landed – by some miracle – on her box of painkillers placed on his nightstand.  Found them! She hurried towards Dominic’s nightstand, doing her very best to not look at him or accidentally touch him. When she grabbed the box, Gwyn turned around and was very much ready to dash out of his room, saying a quick ‘sorry, bye’ before she started to speed walk her way back to the living room so she could pretend this whole thing had never happened.

Dominic had been out all morning. As early as possible, before the sun was fully up, he had sneaked out of the HQ and out of Erast. Last night had shook him to his core. Cassius' terrifying news, the stranger who had been able to find their hidden home and the name she so carelessly had used against him. Alexandria...
Dominic hadn't done this for several years. Gone back to the past like this. But with Alexandria suddenly so present in his life, with him actually saying her name out loud like that, he had to go back. Just for a brief moment and maybe for the last time. He knew he was going to be cooped up in his room for a long time after this and who knew what would happen after the interview, they last night agreed to do? No, before thinking of all of that, he had to disappear just this one time.
Dominic had been gone all morning up til noon. On his way home, which took him extra long, since he was even more careful than before as to not take any monitored streets, he had started to regret going back. It didn't do anything else but remind him what he no longer was a part of. And as he got back into Erast, the smell from the dirty alleys hit him harder than he was used to. Making him nauseous, not just because of the smell but because of himself.

Of course, he made sure to shake that feeling off before entering the HQ. When entering, he simply looked tired and impassive, a usual look for him, which was a sign that he wanted to be left alone. He did manage to say hi to the refugees who were out in the main area and in that brief interaction he was told that Gwyn had moved out of his bedroom. Thank Iosta. He needed his room more than ever right now.
Apparently Gwyn was in the shower right now, which postponed Dominic's own shower plans. Instead he simply went into his room. He closed the door behind him to then rest his forehead against it, shutting his eyes and releasing a trembling breath.

He wasn't sure how long he ended up standing there, leaning against his door with his eyes pressed shut. His mind had travelled back to where he had just been an hour ago and even further back than that. It was only when he heard himself sniffle that he got back into his body, back into his room and back into this life he had tried to run from.
"Fuck," he whispered, tired and irritated, as if he was scolding himself. He took a step backwards, away from the door, more into the center of his room. He made sure to rub his eyes before opening them, quickly and with swear words drying his hands off in his shirt afterwards. He then shook his head.
"What am I doing?" he mumbled to himself because, really, he had no clue. He wasn't even sure what the question was in regards to.
He had to pull himself together. Enough with feeling sorry for himself. He had more work to do than ever before and finally a room to work in. But first he had to get out of this clothes. Not that there was anything wrong or even special about it. But it smelled of Erast, even worse than his other clothes. Probably because for a brief period of time today it smelled of something else, something better.
Dominic took of the clothes, actually making sure to put it in the hamper, because he didn't feel like looking at it right now. He still wanted that shower but he would just have to change first and then check if Gwyn was done. So he just fished out some jeans and a t-shirt from his dresser to put on, putting away his sorry feelings whilst doing so.

He had only managed to put on his jeans, when the door to his room suddenly opened. Of course Dominic was surprised by this, as he was not used to people just entering his room, but that surprise really only lasted the second it took for the person to open the door. Dominic wasn't shy about his body - however, he was never shirtless out in the main room to make sure that the refugees would never feel uncomfortable about it - and if someone entered his room unannounced, it was their on fault what they would walk into. So he simply turned to face the door, already putting on a face of leader, thinking it was someone who was in need of his immediate attention.
What surprised him even more though was that it was Gwyn who had opened the door, now standing in the doorway. He hadn't even considered that it could be her who was walking in on him changing. She seemed just as surprised as him, actually even more so, as her eyes widened by the sight of him. Dominic didn't even consider asking her to leave or shut the door. Instead, in the few seconds she stood there, he simply watched her eyeing him, her cheeks turning red and her eyes traveling across his upper body. Clearly checking him out. Now, Dominic wasn't unaware about how his body looked, but it was different when seeing how someone like Gwyn apparently reacted to it. Did it make him feel better? Yes, but he told himself that of course it made him feel better that a woman was checking him out and an attractive woman at that. It had nothing to do with that attractive woman being Gwyn.

All of this only lasted a second or two. Dominic barely realizing what had happened before Gwyn cursed out loud and hurried inside his room.
"Wow, hey!" he exclaimed since she was just barging into his room. He took a step to the side while turning to face her, as she walked past him, "What are you doing?"
What she was doing was clear right after he had asked the question - she was there for her painkillers. Which made sense and was understandable - though she could have knocked - but then she hurried out of the room. Out into the main room. Where painkillers weren't allowed.
He really couldn't catch a break with this girl, could he.
"Gwyn, wait!" he yelled out at her, even though she was already out of the room. Then he quickly grabbed his t-shirt, putting it on as he hurried out of his room himself.
He caught up to Gwyn at the end of the hallway, right before the main area. He reached out his hand with his palm up gesturing with his fingers that she should give him the pills.
"Hand them over," he just said. In all of the quick chaos, he didn't think of explaining why she had to hand them over. Also, he had explained that before, when her migraine started. Apparently she had already forgotten it but hey she had also forgotten how to knock so he couldn't be too surprised about that.

She had ignored his question about what she was doing, because answering might just lead into being in his presence longer than required. When had he even returned? Because he wasn’t there when I went to get a shower. It was like he had appeared out of thin air. He had just stood there when Gwyn had opened the door, making no effort to put on a shirt as if he wanted her to see him. And oh boy, did she. The vision of him half dressed, jeans yet to be zipped up was one that she would probably see more often in her mind’s eye than she’d like to admit. Her dreams would surely be plagued by the sculpted pectorals, wide shoulders that went down to the slight narrowing of his hips, abs on which one could wash their laundry on, the trail of dark hair that went downward from his navel and those arms… The veins that led from his forearms to his hands made her heartbeat speed up a little. Gwyn, stop it! Chasiting herself for conjuring up images of Dominic as she tried to get away from his half naked form, she felt her face heat up again and maybe even more so than just before. This was not the time, nor the right person, to start drooling over. No matter how good looking he was.

Slightly surprising herself how quick she could walk if she really wanted to, she was nearing the corner with rapt strides when she heard him yelling from behind her that she had to wait. Whatever for should she have to wait? To be met with his naked upper body again, up close? When she was a few feet from the door, her hand already started reaching out for the doorknob but Dominic had caught up to her already. Stupidly stupid tall boy scout. Cursing him and his taller legs in her mind, she turned towards him and his own outstretched hand and he told her to hand ‘them’ over.

Gwyn eyed his torso, noticing that he had thankfully put on a shirt, before she looked at his hand. Feeling like a child that had been caught taking a cookie from the jar while they weren’t allowed to do so, she cast her gaze towards the box of painkillers instead of to the man who towered over her. The painkillers were the only thing he could mean with ‘them’. She had little clue what else he could mean by it.

‘’They’re mine, and my headache hasn’t fully subdued.’’ It sounded like a weak excuse to not hand them over but she couldn’t think of a reason why she wouldn’t be allowed to keep them close. It wasn’t like she was planning to just lay them on the coffee table. They were to be put into her suitcase so she could take one when she needed it. The contrast between Dominic’s quiet room and the living room which housed most people during the day was big, and enough so that the ache in her head hadn’t left her yet. Daring to meet his gaze and opening her mouth so that he could see and hear her resolve, Gwyn noticed that his eyes looked a bit red. It made her temporarily forget that she wanted to tell him that she was going to put them away. Instead, she felt a wave of slight guilt and concern wash over. Had his nights on the couch really caused him that bad of a night's rest? Sure, the lumpy couch was anything but ideal for sleeping but where Gwyn fit fine on the couch Dominic might just have to dangle his feet over the armrest with his length. Or was there another reason that had him looking so haggard? Paying more attention to the details, she saw that his hair looked a bit wet as if he had been caught in the rain with a hood on. His stubble accentuated his facial bone structure and somehow made him even more good looking, reddish eyes and all. Unwillingly she thought about how that stubble would feel against her skin. For fucks sake! Woman, get laid! Jokes on her that she probably wasn’t allowed to go out and there was also zero chance she’d be getting laid any time soon. Nor would she be able to take care of any itch by her own hand, it was just too awkward knowing there were ten people who could walk in the living room any time. It’s just been a while, that’s why you’re acting like this. A good enough explanation, it had been a long time since she had broken up with Emmett after she found him pounding another girl. At first she had been too heartbroken to want intimacy, but when she had gotten over it a bit she was thrown into the situation of her apparently being a warlock. She had been kept busy, and also been avoided so even in the months that she had been at ICU had been just her and her favourite toys. While they did just fine, she might just miss the physical contact of a warm body moving against hers.

Ordering herself to tell Dominic that she was going to store the painkillers in her suitcase, her brain made her blurt out something else. ‘’Are you okay?’’ Frowning and hoping that she hadn't said those words too loudly for him to hear, Gwyn zeroed her gaze in on his baby blue and green eyes. That wasn’t what she was supposed to say! Blinking quickly, she forced out the words that needed to be said while hoping he hadn't catched her asking him if he was okay.

‘’I’m not going to leave them out in the open, I was planning to take one now and then put them in my suitcase for safekeeping until my period will hit next.’’ There, that was what she meant to say in the first place, not asking him if he was okay just because he looked how she felt an hour ago. Like shit. ‘’Also the suitcase has a lock on it, so I think it’s okay?’’ Because to her, it sounded okay. Gwyn also didn’t plan on handing them out like candies if someone was in need of a painkiller so she saw no evil in the fact that she was going to store them away.

Of course Gwyn wouldn't just hand over the painkillers. Because nothing could ever be easy with this girl. Nothing could be easy in Dominic's life, really. Yesterday he couldn't even watch a fucking football game without everything turning out worse than before. Now he couldn't even get changed in his room without getting interrupted in his moment of peace. Dominic really was tired of it all. Which could be seen on his fed up expression. He kept his arm stretched out and his palm towards her so she could place the painkillers in it.
"Doesn't matter," he simply said to her argument, not having the energy or wish to expand on his own argument. Because it really shouldn't matter. He was the leader and the host and although he right in this moment hated that he was those two things, Gwyn still had to do what he said.

But Gwyn still didn't hand over the pills. Instead she seemed to be examining him, as if she had noticed something about his looks. Dominic didn't think anything on his face showed the private moment he had just had, actually he had already forgotten about it. He was more focused on the present, on Gwyn still not listening to him.
"Gwyn," he pushed, bending his fingers towards him in a movement that showed that he was losing his patience and that he still wanted her to give him what he told her to give him.
Then she asked him - to Dominic's surprise and displeasure - if he was okay. Immediately Dominic pulled his arm back from her.
"What?" he couldn't help but sounding offended. Actually, he felt offended. Why would she ask him if he was okay? His comfort shouldn't concern her. Dominic did worry if she could see that he had shed a tear earlier, but he pushed that fear aside. So what if his eyes were red? That didn't matter in this situation. And that certainly didn't make it Gwyn's job to ask him if he was okay. Really, that question only made his mood worse, going from just stern to actually angry.

He glared at her as she argued against his demand, his body tense and his chest slowly raising and lowering in tact with his irked breath, he pushed through his nose. As soon as she was done speaking, he shook his head.
"No," he said and then, as a scolding added: "Don't forget, that I'm only allowing you to stay here because Idés has vouched for you - that doesn't mean you can live by other rules than everyone else."
He knew that what he said was mean, but really he didn't care - or at least not enough to change his behavior. He was sick and tired of things not going his way. He also knew that what he said was a lie - it wasn't true anymore, that Gwyn was just here out of Idés' wish. Which made this even worse and made Dominic even more angry, mostly at himself.
"No painkillers at the HQ other than in my room," he said, citing the rules in a stern 'no discussion' tone, "You can ask me for them when you need them."
The rules weren't just about other refugees finding the pills. The rules were also there because Dominic and Cadmus couldn't make sure that the person with the pills had it under control. Unfortunately it had happened before, that a person, whom they thought had it under control, one day took all the pills, that they had been allowed to store, on the same time, resulting in another refugee finding their body a few hours later. Therefor the rule was strict and there would be no exception. Dominic didn't tell this to Gwyn though. He wasn't in a headspace where he was able to talk about a death of a refugee. A death he still blamed himself for, as he did with all the deaths under this roof and in regards to the EFA.
"Now, stop acting so spoiled and do as I say." He reached out his hand again.

Her still suffering from a headache might not matter to him, but to Gwyn it did. Dominic didn’t have to sit in the living area all day, unlike her. He could just retreat to his room and enjoy the slight silence four walls could bring. Dominic had the authority to hush people down if they got too loud. Gwyn couldn’t go anywhere, not even outside to get some fresh air and hogging the bathroom to escape the noise wasn’t an option nor did she have any right to hush people. She still had the earplugs that Idés got for her but it was quite rude to put those in while others were around, since they didn’t look like the earbuds you’d wear to listen to music.

Dominic’s arm was still stretched out, maybe a bit impatiently waiting for her to hand over the box of painkillers. Which she didn’t do just yet. Gwyn kept on holding onto the box and let the hand in which she was holding them hang next to her body, ready to hide them behind her back if she needed to do so. Flexing the fingers of his awaiting hand inwards, his wearing patience became even thinner than it already had been. Gwyn had ignored him saying her name, because the tone in which he said it only had room for her handing the painkillers over. Opening her mouth to reason with him again, she snapped it shut when Dominic exclaimed in such an offended way that it made Gwyn question if she had said anything that might have insulted him. As far as she was aware of, she hadn’t anything that could be considered offensive. Leaving her feeling a bit confused. Gwyn frowned as she took in his expression, the sour and impatient look he had morphed into something more thunderous and angry. All because she hadn’t given him the painkillers? Sheesh.

Being on the verge of asking him what his problem was, she wisely held her tongue as Dominic reminded her again that she was only at the EFA courtesy of Idés’ goodwill and some miracle that made Dominic agree to her staying after the verbal fight they had. She hadn’t forgotten that little fact but Dominic rubbing it in her face didn’t make her feel any better about the whole thing. If it weren’t for Idés, she’d probably be in some holding cell awaiting her turn for another interrogation, or worse. The thought of what her situation could be made her shudder, goosebumps appearing on her skin wherever it was exposed.

The frown of annoyance kept on marring her face as Dominic resumed speaking, nearly mirroring the one he had sported before though hers was laced with a sparkle of hurt. She couldn’t really explain why she felt it, but it was there and she felt ridiculous for it. Gwyn had no reason to feel hurt over anything Dominic might throw in her face.

The stern way in which he finally somewhat explained his reasoning for not allowing her to keep the painkillers in her locked suitcase almost made her smooth out her expression and  hand the painkillers over, until he accused her of acting spoiled. That irked her, a lot. Instead of handing over the box, she gave him a dirty look and did just what he was accusing her of. In her opinion she hadn’t at all acted like a spoiled person, but if he was calling her that she’d show him how spoiled she could act.

‘’You know,’’ Gwyn began,  lacing her voice with as much annoyance as she could, ‘’if you just said so immediately I would have handed them over. But since I am acting so spoiled, I guess I will hold onto them a little longer and not do as you say.’’ Defiance, that what she had started feeling the second the words had Dominic’s mouth. It was his own fault though, instead of arguing in the hallway with her over a box of freaking painkillers he could have just walked up to her and told her that it was against policy to keep them in the living area, suitcase with lock or no. If it had been like that, she would have likely handed them over with no problem but he had flatout demanded her just to hand them over without an explanation.

Out of spite, since she was spoiled after all, she hid her hand behind her back. Looking down her nose and Dominic straight in the eye, Gwyn leaned against the door for good measure but she didn’t reach for the doorknob, making it harder for Dominic to grab the box if he was to try to reach behind her.

Dominic knew that it had been a mistake to call Gwyn ‘spoiled’ the second she shot him a dirty look. In his anger he had forgotten just how stubborn Gwyn seemed to be capable of being. Him pushing her buttons and offending her wouldn’t help the situation.
Still, he wasn’t going to take back what he had said. That would only make him loose credibility. And he did in all honesty think of her behavior as spoiled. Everyone in here had had to give up the smaller luxuries in life, so why did she just assume that she didn’t have to? This wasn’t a pick-and-choose situation, which Dominic had gotten the expression that Gwyn thought of it to be.
And her question before still irked him. Her asking him if he was okay. If he were to admit that he had overreacted by calling her spoiled, he would have to admit that he was in fact not okay. No way, he was going to admit that to Gwyn. To anyone really.

Still, a mistake had been made, and now he had to deal with the consequences. Gwyn spoke words of defiance, making sure he knew, that it was his own fault, that she would now do the very opposite of what he had told her to do – as if she didn’t already have a habit of doing that. Then she hid the painkillers behind her back, leaning against the door and looking him straight in the eye.
That brat.
Dominic stared at her in disbelief – and in full-on annoyance.
“Really?” he said to her, “What are you, twelve?”
Still, he didn’t give her time to answer him before stepping towards her. He was frankly done. Better to just get this over with. Gwyn could act like this all she wanted, but Dominic was stronger and bigger than her. It would be easy for him to get the pills from her physically and he was impatience enough to try to do so now.
He didn’t hesitate to place his body right in front of her. It was only when he had wrapped his arms around her to both trap her from suddenly running away with the pills – he didn’t expect her to be above doing so – and to get the pills from behind her back, that he realized how close they actually were. Close enough for Gwyn’s body to slightly press up against his. His heart beat faster, skipping a beat by that realization. But he managed to blame that on his anger and focused on getting the pills from her.

And get them, he did. His hand found hers, grabbing the edge of the box. Trying to get her to open her grip around it, his fingers grabbed around hers.
As soon as his skin touched hers, it hit him. This feeling. But not just a feeling, no, the shocking thing about it, the thing that sent Dominic’s heart down into a pit in his stomach, was that this feeling wasn’t his own. It was a feeling that couldn’t be described as anything else than just off, a feeling deeply connected to Gwyn. To her Spirit.
Dominic always tried his very best to never use his Nachon powers. In fact he hadn’t been in touch with them for a long time, not in a way where he connected to other’s Spirit. And now, out of nowhere, just by a simple touch, Gwyn’s spirit was in his hands even though all he had reached for was the pain killers.
For this short moment, he had lost control of his powers. Felt something he shouldn’t have. The fear over this realization hit him just as much as the offness, that didn’t belong to him.
All of this only lasted a second. Outwardly Dominic only reacted by momentarily stopping his movements, his anger completely vanishing. Then, in a swift and firm move, he got hold of the pain killers and tore them out of her hands. Instantly he removed his arms from her and backed away from her. His anger was still there, but not as present or explosive. He had become quiet, distant, not looking at Gwyn but down at the painkillers. Quickly, as he wanted to just get away from here, he took one pill out of the box and handed it to her.
“Here,” he said, his voice dull and quieted, “You can have one now, and then ask me later, if you need another.”
He still wasn’t looking at her but at his hand, he had reached out with the pill. He had his hand held out in a way where, if Gwyn where to accept the pill, he would simply drop it down in her palm, not having to touch her again. Because he couldn’t make himself touch her again.
The offness still lingered in his fingertips. His heart still beat fast, but now it made him feel sick.

They say that a donkey only bumps its head against the same stone once. If Gwyn had been a donkey, she might have been a very stupid one. Somehow she kept on doing things that made Dominic even more annoyed and angry with her, whether it was unintentionally or on purpose. Point in case, doing what he accused her of and hiding the pills behind her body. It had taken her some effort not to smirk smugly at him when she’d done so. While she felt good being defiant for once, she knew that feeling couldn’t last too long.

His disbelief at her actions gave her some sort of satisfaction, but she also felt a small pit of stupidity because his disbelief was short lived and quickly replaced with the same good ol’ annoyance that often was visible on his face whenever she was around.
‘’Yes, really.’’ Gwyn said, shrugging. Opening her mouth to tell him ‘actually I am twenty three but who’s counting?’ the words quickly died when Dominic stepped up to her. Suddenly he was so close, suddenly she felt his chest brush against her own, suddenly he was in her space and overwhelming her with his scent in which she had lain in the previous two days. Her heart started to beat faster, reaching its limit when his arms started to wrap around her. Gwyn was sure her heart may have skipped a beat or two, so had her breath. Hopefully he hadn’t noticed. Not daring to look at his face for the first few seconds, she instead stared at his chest as she felt his hands skim her own. That featherlight touch alone was enough for a tingle to rush through Gwyn’s body. That rush was enough for her mind to start conjuring up a series of scenarios that brought her even more tingly feelings. How it would be like if Dominic embraced her. Gwyn standing on her tippy toes to brush her mouth against his, only to draw him out so that he would kiss her. The feeling of Dominic’s fingertips mapping out her naked skin. Only when Dominic grabbed her hand did she look up at his face. The pills she was holding were forgotten, her sole focus on Dominic and the feeling of him holding her hand.

She didn’t know what she’d expect to see on his face but one second his face was close enough that she could study all the finer details if she wanted to, the next he was an arms length away again. The pills were taken from her and so was the moment. She mourned the latter the most out of the two. Just a few seconds ago Dominic had stared at her in annoyance and anger, now he seemed to refuse to look at her. She watched silently as Dominic got one of the painkillers from the box and held his hand out to her. Still he didn’t look at her as he offered her the pill in an enclosed fist. Gwyn let her own gaze focus on Dominic’s face for a few seconds –foolishly trying to get some eye contact– before she let it lower to his hand. The triumphant and defiant feeling she had started to eb away, instead leaving her feeling a bit down. What had happened that all of a sudden it turned out like this? One thing was sure, she wouldn't get anything out of Dominic.

‘’Fine.’’ She muttered, holding out her own hand towards him with her palm up. Once the pill was in her hand, she quickly popped it into her mouth. Not bothering with a glass of water to help, she swallowed the painkiller and tried not to cringe at the way she felt the capsule stick to her oesophagus. ‘’Thanks I guess.’’
Turning herself around, she grabbed and turned the handle of the door, trying to manoeuvre herself through the door without opening it too much. The living room was exactly as she had left it before she went scouring for the painkillers.

Somehow, she didn’t know what to do or what to exactly feel. Because honestly, she felt hurt by the way Dominic had suddenly changed towards her. Sure, his anger still had been there but something else had changed. Something that made him refuse to look at her and actually made her feel like a pariah again. The way he’d stepped away from her so suddenly, as if touching her had somehow burned him. She would prefer to have his anger on her than having Dominic avoid her glance, even though she didn’t like him all that much. At least she told herself that she didn’t like Dominic all too well.

Mindlessly she walked over to one of the free fauteuils and sat down. It would take a bit for the painkiller to do its work on her headache, and she really hadn’t much to do in general. Pulling her knees up to her chest, Gwyn simply started to stare out of the window without seeing much. Blinds still covered the windows and blocked out most of the view but it was better than to just stare ahead.

Dominic didn’t look at Gwyn, as she accepted the pill, but he could hear her cold tone towards him. He didn’t know if this was due to him forcing the pills out of her hands, his angry remarks or how he now averted his gaze, but he knew that no matter what it was because of him. All he could hope was that it at least wasn’t because of the off feeling, that he deeply hoped that he had been the only one to notice.
Still, he didn’t look at her, he didn’t even respond, just waiting for her to get away from him, out of reach, away from the risk of him touching her again.

It was only when the door to the living room was closed and Gwyn was gone, that he dared to look up again. A part of him wanted to go after her. But that part was foolish. What would he even do once he reached her? She was feeling bad because of him after-all. Though only for a brief moment, before he retreated to his room. The door closed with a soft thud, shutting off the outside world. He leaned against it again, this time with his back and the back of his head up against it, as he exhaled.

The exhale didn’t make his chest any less heavy. He tried to gather his thoughts but the moment with Gwyn was stuck in his mind, replaying like a broken record.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to be able to use his powers like that. Not even by accident. But it happened, and he could still feel the faint traces of Gwyn’s Spirit on his fingers as they trembled in his clenched fists. He felt nauseous, not in his stomach or throat, but deep inside of him, in his core. He felt hate, towards the only person that was standing in his room.

And because there was nothing more to do with a day like this where every event was no more than a reminder of why he was even standing here in the first place, Dominic just walked to his bed and sank onto the edge of the bed, burying his face in his hands.
Allowing himself just a minute to wallow in the reality of his losses, before he yet again could walk out of his room as if he had everything under control. As if he had ever had a choice.