I'd Give Up The World For You

Rukelion wanted to ask Daisy what she meant but didn't get the chance because a doctor came in to check on him, asking a ton of questions about his medical history and the symptoms he had experienced during his reaction. His hands shook answering that because his wife had been forced to go through the same thing but hadn't survived it.

He swiveled his head to look at her and saw that she still had tear tracks glistening on her cheeks as she sat there quietly listening to their conversation. She hadn't let go of his hand except when the doctor needed to examine him. 

After what seemed like forever the doctor let him go, gave him discharge instructions and told him to come back if he experienced certain symptoms, and gave him a prescription for what had been injected into his leg. Apparently, he needed to carry one of those on him at all times now in case he encountered peanuts again. 

It was ridiculous. All those battles—with actual magic involved—and he was fine but he was nearly taken out by a nut!

They had to take a rideshare back to Daisy's car parked outside the restaurant and the ride was completely silent. Neither of them spoke when they were back at the apartment either. She sat on the couch with her arms around her knees, looking very scared and vulnerable.

Rukelion sat down next to her and leaned his head on her shoulder. He wanted to do more but was afraid of getting snapped at again. She was already upset at him for being careless.

"I'm sorry for scaring you…and for freaking out on you afterwards," he said penitently. 

"Why?" Daisy asked in a hoarse whisper. "Why did you freak out like that? You nearly gave me a heart attack on top of the one I already had when you went into shock! What happened to you, Leo?"

He sighed. He really, really didn't want to talk about it. Even if she didn't remember it she had been involved. 

"I…I lost someone very important to me to a bee allergy. I watched them die and there was nothing I could do about it because they didn't have an epi-pen. I was freaking out because I was thinking of what they must have felt as it happened."

She lifted her head off her knees and stared at him in shock before bursting into tears again and throwing her arms around him. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" 

Of course she didn't know. Why should she be sorry? She was the victim in this scenario.

Rukelion hugged her back tightly, desperately needing to feel the reassuring rise and fall of her chest as she breathed and hear her heartbeat. Daisy was alive. She wasn't dead anymore. They were both fine. 

He couldn't say anything. He simply held her tighter and repeatedly kissed the side of her face. Right now all he truly needed was her closeness. It was the only thing that could make him feel better. 

She trembled in his arms and her hands clutched the back of his shirt. "You need to be more careful."

"I will."

"That isn't good enough! Make the most serious promise you can."

"…but you don't like promises."

"Leo!" 

"Alright," Rukelion said seriously. "I swear on the fire within me that I'll be more careful. That's the most serious promise I can make."

Daisy pulled away and looked at him in confusion. "On the fire within you?"

"You wouldn't understand but it's very important where I come from. People don't break promises made like that. So don't worry about me, okay? I'm going to be fine." Physically at least. Emotionally…not so much. 

"Oh, okay. Good. You better or I'll hunt you down. I know where you live," she mock threatened. 

Rukelion cracked a smile. "You certainly do." 

He knew she was kidding but there truly was no need to hunt him down. He was hers. All she had to do was call his name and he would come running to see what she wanted. 

Daisy slumped against his chest. "You really scared me, you know. I thought you weren't going to make it."

Why would that matter? She didn't even like him. He didn't realize he had said that aloud until after a rather incensed looked appeared on her face and she immediately denied it. He hadn't seen her so angry since she told him he should sue Juliet. 

"Excuse me? If I didn't like you I wouldn't let you stay in my apartment! What planet are you living on?! And even if I didn't like you I still wouldn't want you to die. What do you take me for?" 

Rukelion blinked at her. "So you do like me?"

"More accurately I'd say that I've gotten used to you but yes, Leo, I like you. I would have been devastated if you died, especially knowing it would have been my fault, so I'm very glad you're okay. Don't do anything like that again. I can't lose anyone else." Her eyes were filled with tears again by the time she finished talking. 

He recalled what she said earlier about not being able to handle any more broken promises. That had to mean she was depending on his presence at least a little. Even if he was emotionally unstable right now.

"You really want me to stay?" Rukelion asked quietly. 

"Yes. As I said, I've gotten used to having you around. It would be weird if you left," Daisy sniffed. 

He wasn't sure what to make of that. She definitely wanted him to stay but had such a strange way of showing it. Was this some sort of protective mechanism because she was used to being alone?

"I'm not going to," he told her as he reached out to stroke her face. "You're not getting rid of me so easily. I'm yours."

Her eyes widened before she glared at him. "You can't just say stuff like that!" 

"Why not? It's true."

Rukelion was hers. He had been for far longer than she knew. Ever since he first fell in love with her despite knowing it was a bad idea and that his darkness was too much for someone with her light to handle.

He was hers before they were even fake engaged. If he had to pick one moment in particular looking back, he was hers from the time he found out her real first name and she found out he was a fire mage. She had said she would always have his back no matter what and even losing all her memories of him hadn't changed that. 

"How can you trust me like that when you hardly know me? Aren't you at all concerned I'll hurt you?" Daisy demanded. 

She was already hurting him but it wasn't her fault. She didn't know how unintentionally cruel she was being by not loving him back the way she used to. But that paled in comparison to how much more it had hurt when he wasn't with her at all. 

And he did know her. He knew she would never do anything to hurt him on purpose. It went against her nature. Whatever she was concerned about would never happen. 

"No," Rukelion said simply. "You're a good person, Daisy. The best I know."

Daisy groaned and buried her face in her hands. "What am I supposed to do with you? You need serious help and I can't give it to you. I can't give you what you want either. All I can do is let you stay here for the time being to help with your nightmares and that doesn't seem like nearly enough."

"For the time being?"

He had zeroed in on that particular phrase and begun to panic. She couldn't kick him out! She was wrong; she could give him both what he wanted and what he needed. She had before and she could do it again. 

"Well, you can't stay here forever!" she protested. 

"Why?" Rukelion asked in a higher-pitched tone than he meant to. "You said you were going to think it over, weren't you? And you said it would be weird if I left!"

"Yeah but I can't rely on that permanently! Everyone always leaves! There isn't a single person in my life who has ever stayed and, no offense, they were all way more stable than you. How can I trust someone so mentally fragile?

"I can't take advantage of you like that just because I don't want to be lonely, Leo. And someday when you're better you might want different things. I don't know what I'm supposed to do because I don't want to get attached but I already am at least somewhat because seeing you go into anaphylactic shock really freaked me out." 

"I won't. I swear I won't. I'll only ever want to live peacefully with you."

Daisy looked at him in exasperation. "You don't know that."

"Yes I do!" 

"How?"

"Because I love you!" Rukelion blurted, immediately wishing he could take that back. He had done so well not saying it all this time but in the heat of the moment it came out without his permission.

She stared at him blankly. "You…love me? Seriously?"

"Why would I joke about that?!"

"No one has ever told me that and meant it before. But if anyone could I suppose it would be you. You're kind of intense, you know that?"

Rukelion had heard that before, primarily from Conrad. He felt a twinge of guilt thinking of his friend and the mess he left behind for him before the thought was buried. He had more important things to worry about right now. 

"So I've heard," he said neutrally.