Chapter Text
Danhausen took a slow, deep breath, and marveled at how he could do it. The past several hours– days, weeks– had been an out of control rollercoaster of emotions. When he first realized he was sick, he never thought he’d end up here, tucked up in his bed next to a sleeping Hook, who inexplicably did love him back. Loved Danhausen so much that he knowingly and willingly sacrificed a sacred, intrinsic part of himself to save Danhausen’s life. It was beyond comprehension. Danhausen didn’t understand; it wasn’t a fair trade in his mind and never would be, but he had felt the truth of Hook’s love during the binding and it felt as endless as his for Hook. As impossible as it should be, it was undeniable.
Part of him was devastated at what Hook had done, and another part was angry, but whenever they surfaced the rest of him that was basking in that love smothered them down again. He had already forgiven him. Eventually the anger would fade as well, but never the sorrow at what Hook had given up.
The man in question stirred, blinking sleepily and yawning. He stretched out his whole body, then snuggled up closer to Danhausen, who was unable to resist wrapping an arm around him. It was adorable, and his heart fluttered at the sight.
“Morning,” Hook murmured.
“Morning,” Danhausen replied. He started to stroke Hook’s untameable hair, causing the man to hum in delight. A few seconds later Hook abruptly shot up, startling Danhausen.
“Oh, shit,” he said, “Cassidy!”
“Danhausen texted him last night.” Hook breathed a sigh of relief and flopped back down.
“Good. He was probably losing his mind wondering what happened.” He took Danhausen’s hand and put it back in his hair. Danhausen obliged and started stroking again. “What did he say?”
“Danhausen doesn’t know, he didn’t wait for a reply.”
“Think you should check? I mean, I get that maybe you’re a little mad at him, but he only wanted to help you.”
“And sacrifice Hook–”
“D,” Hook said with faint exasperation, “I told you, he probably did tell me about it but I wasn’t really listening, okay? I listened to you, though, I made my choice, and I’d make it again a thousand times over.”
“Hook shouldn’t have had to,” grumbled Danhausen. He was still a little irritated at Cassidy, though he rationally knew that he should be grateful. And he was, honestly, but irrational annoyance was still making its presence known in his mind.
“Well I did, and I would again, so would you just check to see what he said?”
Danhausen grimaced but sat up enough to reach his phone on the nightstand. He brought up the text thread and saw that Cassidy had in fact responded.
Danhausen is upset. Cassidy broke his promise.
But thank you.
Danhausen will live.
oh thank god
hate me if u want but he knew the flowers and i could see how much he loved u
it had to be him
i don’t regret it
Hours later, he had sent another round of texts.
btw i looked up those flowers
they’re a kind of primrose
did u know flowers have meanings?
guess what primrose means
A screenshot of a site followed, centered on the primrose meaning. Danhausen stared blankly at it for a moment, then blew out a short laugh. He caught Hook looking at him with a raised eyebrow, so he handed his phone over. He knew when Hook got to the screenshot based on the widening of his eyes. He looked over to Danhausen with a growing smile.
“Well, I’d say that’s a good sign for us.”
“Danhausen hopes so.”
“Hook knows so,” he said, dropping the phone on the bed to reach out and pull Danhausen in closer for a kiss.
Danhausen smiled into it. He didn’t know what the future would hold for them. He was still scared of the risks and could only hope that their soul bonded love for each other would be enough.
Something told him it would be.