No, he couldn't. He knew he couldn't. At the start, when he'd been strong, when he'd been whole, he could have pulled these bars apart with all his strength. But he didn't have all his strength anymore, he was exhausted and worn just from trying to hold on.
And yet, as impossible as he knew it was, it was suddenly unthinkable not to try when the other man asked him. For this impossibly familiar stranger, he would try anything. So he nodded, and pulled away just a little. "Yeah."
Just enough to properly take hold of the bars, one in each hand. He braced his knees against the cold, unforgivingly hard floor. And he pulled, he strained and he pried until his muscles stood out starkly against his skin, until it felt like his tendons would snap from his bones.
Yet if he could do this, they could be together. They cold hold fast to one another properly, even in this harsh, cold world, and maybe in one another they could find something of what had been taken from them. These were the thoughts he clung to as he hadn't been able to cling to anything else, these were the thoughts that fueled his efforts.
The steel separating the two men gave a warning screech.
And then, it was like flipping a switch. The door at the top of the stairs was flung open. Lights came on. Voices raised, footsteps hurrying over to them. Guards, too many guards, and some scientists trailing along behind at a safe distance. He fell back, gasping, panting, hurting, yet even then trying to ready himself to fight. He knew why they were here. He knew the only reason they could be here - to take the other man away again, and everything he represented.
no subject
And yet, as impossible as he knew it was, it was suddenly unthinkable not to try when the other man asked him. For this impossibly familiar stranger, he would try anything. So he nodded, and pulled away just a little. "Yeah."
Just enough to properly take hold of the bars, one in each hand. He braced his knees against the cold, unforgivingly hard floor. And he pulled, he strained and he pried until his muscles stood out starkly against his skin, until it felt like his tendons would snap from his bones.
Yet if he could do this, they could be together. They cold hold fast to one another properly, even in this harsh, cold world, and maybe in one another they could find something of what had been taken from them. These were the thoughts he clung to as he hadn't been able to cling to anything else, these were the thoughts that fueled his efforts.
The steel separating the two men gave a warning screech.
And then, it was like flipping a switch. The door at the top of the stairs was flung open. Lights came on. Voices raised, footsteps hurrying over to them. Guards, too many guards, and some scientists trailing along behind at a safe distance. He fell back, gasping, panting, hurting, yet even then trying to ready himself to fight. He knew why they were here. He knew the only reason they could be here - to take the other man away again, and everything he represented.
He couldn't just let that happen.