Unbroken

"Unbroken" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread started on [IRL DATE] and finished on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
In the middle of a relatively quiet, clean apartment lobby, illuminated by the rays of the golden hour, the peace was very abruptly broken by a slight flash, a tiny warp in space, and the twang of thread, and the front desk attendant only heard a rapid thunder of footsteps before having time to look up. They only caught a glimpse of shimmering green fabric and a retreating pair of outdoor boots as they pounded out of view. Whoever had just blasted through the lobby and into the stairwell at lightning speed had left behind a trail of slightly-damp clods of dirt, like they’d been hiking. He sighed and got to his feet, stretching before going to find a broom. 
Said stairs were relatively empty, and the culprit launched up the steps rapidly, two at a time, irrationally impatient but at the same time savoring the effort and burn it took to get there, and soaking in the building through his senses just like he had last time, almost feeling like he was going to wake up back in the lower jaw of a titanic wolf at any second, and it would’ve felt more real than perfectly-angled walls and evenly-placed carpet and the city that stretched out across his view from one of the landing windows, gleaming innocently in the late afternoon light and actually making him pause and gape at it, taking it in for a heartbeat before resuming his mad chase up the last flight and bursting through the door. 
Yun narrowly avoided crashing into a shocked tenant and her indignantly yipping dog, sputtering an apology before rushing down the hallway, the combined noise echoing across the walls a little louder than he would’ve hoped. He made for Jin’s apartment, but was already mentally making a list of other places he was determined to check if the agent wasn’t there–the parking lot for his bike, the front desk of Helheim Co, Akira’s place, and…well, he hoped it wouldn’t get to that point; he was confident one of the three would yield what he was searching for.
akkeyagentofhelheim
He had a serious moment of dreadful deja vu when he knocked and there was no answer for several seconds, so he knocked again, hesitantly. He heavily considered following the same steps as his last return, but before he could call out the sniper’s name, the door unlocked in the same rush of movement that Jin did.
“I’m leaving soon, Blunt, I’ll be there in a bit–” there was no tall lanky blonde that revealed himself, and instead he found himself face to face with intense green eyes and long platinum hair, right at his eye level. Akira stopped short when she saw him, and there was an audible click of her ear comm hanging up as she stared at him, and Yun couldn’t tell if she was angry or shocked or something else by how much she glared.
Several seconds of silence passed, then her hand came out to grip him by the side of his arm, “Holy shit. Where the fuck have you been?”
foresight-botgd
“I–uh–” Yun raised his hands to placate her, immediately worried she would kill him on the spot. “Stupid long story. Is Jin in there?”
akkeyagentofhelheim
If looks could kill, Yun would have already disintegrated then and there, but she caught herself mid berating, her eyes following his hands. She saw callouses on the tender skin, her hand felt lean developed muscle under the billowing silk sleeves–Where the fuck did he even get this outift? Is that real leather? Oh my god this poor kimono–, and when she raised her line of sight, she saw battle fatigue in his face, his eyes glinting in exhaustion but determined survival. A fighter’s aura.
He’s different. And it’s not the cut.
She squinted, then pulled him inside, kicking the side of his shoes with her own to indicate him taking them off, “You’re lucky I’m busy tonight.” She pushed him into the apartment, leaving him to stumble in the middle of the oddly clean living space. Akira made to disappear around the corner of the entrance for a moment, but not before popping her head back in to hiss at him with venom in her voice, “Don’t you fucking move, I swear to god I will kill you if you do.”
She left him to stand alone in there for several moments, the familiar sounds of cityscape filtering through the partially open windows. He noticed the place lacked its usual clutter, like someone had passed it by with an organizing hand and a vacuum, and he caught sight of an overnight bag placed on an armchair, clearly brought in only recently.
The click of the door opening once more interrupted the not so quiet silence, “I literally just came out of a coma and you want me to sleep again, are you fucking serious Akke–”
Jin’s low voice was complaining, and tired, but it didn’t matter when he turned and caught sight of the small, heartachingly familiar figure standing in the middle of his living room. The keys that he held in his hand slipped from his grip and fell to the ground with a metallic clatter as he took a small, single step towards Yun, amber eyes wide and framed by a longer fringe, fingers trembling ever so slightly. But he hesitated, words caught in his throat.
foresight-botgd
“Jin–” 
Yun’s voice was an instant, heart-wrenching, elated sob, and not even the most dangerous goddesses wielding all of the amplification in the world could have stopped him from bounding towards his best friend, torn knitted socks sliding across the floor, and he slammed into his middle and gripped him tighter than anything he’d ever hugged in his life. Even then, it wasn’t enough; he hopped up higher and wrapped his arms as far as they would go around Jin’s neck, holding on with his legs, dissolving into relieved, shoulder-shaking tears, all pretenses of a brave, excited face gone and replaced with the desperate attachment, homesickness and fear that he’d been feeling nonstop for over a month. The feeling of home in Jin’s arms was absolutely overwhelming.
akkeyagentofhelheim
Jin had grown weak.
Many days of hospitalizations, on the brink of death, within barely a month of each other, and non stop bookkeeping in between had sapped him of his old strength and left him thinner than Yun remembered him to be, made even more apparent by his already lean, long frame and fuller mop of hair. His knees immediately buckled, unable to support both of their weights as he fell and hit the ground painfully hard.
But it didn’t matter.
God, it didn’t matter, as he returned the embrace just as fiercely, overwhelmingly, engulfing him as much as his long, trembling arms could, one large hand behind his head, feeling harder muscle on broader shoulders as he gasped in massive relief and buried his face into them, unstoppable hot tears streaming down his cheeks, the cool sniper facade crumbling into unsalvageable bits as he sobbed just as intensely, shattering the quiet in the apartment, shaking within each other’s arms and refusing to ever, ever let go lest the other were to disappear again. The air was knocked out of him and he could barely catch his breath as he cried, sore in places where he had collapsed in the recent days including then, but he gladly accepted it all, because it meant he was alive, that everything was alright… and it meant that Yun was finally, finally home, safe and sound.
foresight-botgd
Yun sniffed messily and coughed into his shoulder, trying to support him as best as he could after their fall, gasping, “Sorry–I’m sorry–here–” He couldn’t stop himself from giggling at their position, and immediately felt bad, leaning back and taking in his face, pushing his longer hair away and beaming at him with reddened, soaked cheeks and knitted brow. “Are you okay!?” he said urgently, checking him up and down like Jin had after his brush with the Construct. 
Jin laughed thickly, reflecting the hysterical relief that broke out between them, nodding slightly as words were still lost in him, letting himself be fussed over like a child and grinning back at Yun. He grabbed his forearms, slender fingers wrapping weakly yet completely around arm bracers to pull him towards him, even just by a little to close the distance. 
“I’m fine…” his voice was hoarse as the last tears flowed after many minutes, refusing to let him go, “I’m more than fine. Holy shit you’re home. I missed you so fucking much…” The tops of his cheeks turned pink, but he said it so sincerely and tenderly, watery amber eyes meeting his gaze.
foresight-botgd
“Me too…oh my god, it was killing me.” He let Jin pull him back in and they hugged for another long minute, hiding in his shoulders like he had in Milae’s cloak, in what felt like an eternity ago. “I have so much to tell you–” Then he lurched back again, laughing as he mussed Jin’s hair. “Also, what the Hel is this? Opposite day!? And what’s Akira doing here, what’s–” He gripped Jin’s thinner arms, his own long sleeves swaying around stronger, sturdier limbs. “What happened!?”
akkeyagentofhelheim
“Shut up. Look at you with your cool ass undercut,” he grinned in amusement, before it turned into something more wry, lips pressed together thinly.
“Juro got caught up in the fight, didn’t he? Probably got used by Frigga…” Jin still hadn’t read the full details of the battle, but he could wager a guess, especially from his dream. He blinked stray tears out of his eyes as he lowered both their arms to rest against their legs, “When a chain is threatened and close to snapping, the Bookkeeper falls unconscious and goes into a coma. If Frigga took him, that meant she was already draining magic off of him and trying to break the lock, and that was a danger to all the chains… us…”
“So… that’s why I ended up in the hospital for like a week… I got released today and Akira brought me home…” he tilted his head towards the overnight bag, his bangs falling sideways with the motion, Yun fully saw the shadows under the sniper’s eyes. Jin clenched his thin hands around his arms again in a rush of reassurance, “But I’m fine now! I just need to rest to get my strength back, then I’ll be good to go. Thanks to you…”
foresight-botgd
“T-today? Like, just now? Fjandinn…” Yun sat back, his head cottoning up with all kinds of thoughts, like a rapid train wreck. “You should lie down, we should…” Ultimately his head slowed and landed on one, and he glanced back up with big, watery eyes.
“I…I missed hearing you talk about stuff…”
akkeyagentofhelheim
He held his gaze for a second, then exhaled a long breath, letting the strain roll off his shoulders. He tilted down to lean his forehead on his, a soft smile on his face, feeling a lump at the back of his throat again at the surging relief, “I can talk about whatever you want, you’re back now…”
He snapped his head up with a grin, getting to his feet, albeit slowly, “You better tell me all your crap, too. I haven’t read or written anything all week. I wanna hear everything you’ve been up to, especially the ones not in the Library. If Juro gets to write a Modern story then I wanna write a GT story,” he pulled at Yun’s sleeve, teasing the exchange that surrounded his clothes.
foresight-botgd
“Uh, yeah,” Yun said incredulously, standing with him and keeping his arms partway around him, stuck to him like glue. “You get to hear literally everything. Look, look, do you like them?” Yun spread out one of his arms and shook it, showing off now-extremely-out-of-place outfit. “They got kinda beat up when Frigga h–” His throat caught jaggedly and a sharp pain in his lungs spiked, and he took a second to breathe, letting the flash of immense, impossible pain through every limb fade away. Jin saw a dark shadow of hollow panic cross his face before flitting away. Yun cleared his throat, embarrassed. “Ugh. Um…got beat up in the fight.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
It was a repeat of action as the last time Yun had come back from the Golden Timeline, although far, far more gently, as Jin’s admiring smile of his outfit turned somber, pulling him towards the couch with an accompanied swipe for a water bottle. He sat them down, one leg folded up on the seat so he could fully face him, regarding him with such fondness and pained understanding as a soldier–although he knew completely whatever the seidkonur went through was much, much worse than he could ever wrap his mind around.
He began unbuckling his bracers, and Yun could feel the relief of pressure. Amber eyes roamed the mended tears on green fabric, and he felt his chest tighten at the multitude of negative emotions that filled it, “You can talk to me,” his voice came out raspier than he was expecting it to, “Or you don’t have to. You can do whatever you want, tell me whatever you want… but just remember I’m here for you. You’re safe with me, I’m right here. Always.”
foresight-botgd
Jin felt a subtle, hardened guard filter away as he started to work off the layers that had protected Yun for so long. He knew he didn’t need them any more; Jin was right here in front of him, talking, breathing, conscious, alive and well, and Yun had never felt safer. At the same time, he was having difficulty shedding the prickle of uneasy readiness that Milae had built into him for his own safety. The young man looked up at him balefully, lower lip trembling, and then he climbed straight into Jin’s lap, tugging at the folds of the kimono to loosen them from around his neck and underneath the hakama. “I’ve never wanted to talk to anyone more,” he whispered wryly, legs curling up tightly, burying his head right between Jin’s neck and shoulder. “There’s just…so much. It’s messing with me.” His fingers paused while the kimono hung around his upper arms, and he clutched it tighter, like a protective blanket, suddenly scared of removing it, even though it was too warm. “I was fine after she died, I don’t know why I’m…”
akkeyagentofhelheim
“It’s okay.”
He pulled away the last of his armour and let it slip onto the ground, the constricting leather disappearing from Yun’s shoulders, out of sight, “I’d be more worried if you’re not messed up over it. Evil goddess or not, that’s a life that you took. There’s no reversing it. And now that you’re back home, where it’s finally over… delayed reaction or not, that fucks people up. Bad.”
“But that’s what makes you human. A terrible choice that will haunt you, but you knew what you had to do for the people important to you,” His voice wavered in a surge of emotion, and he cleared his throat to steady himself, but to no avail as he buried his face into his dark hair, “You did it to save everyone. You saved Juro, and me. You saved yourself.”
His hands came up underneath Yun’s arms, inside the folds of the kimono to wrap around the smaller man, to be closer to him than any armour could possibly be. He held him just right that the garment stayed on Yun at his choice, but he embraced him tightly enough in reassurance, pulling him close, like a promise, that he will always find safety in his arms, “You worked so hard. Let me protect you this time.”
Yun felt a relief, a release, almost exactly the same feeling as when a threat was removed and he calmed down out of elevation, except without any magic involved. This was an emotional and mental disengagement, and Jin’s presence sharpened and broadened in front of him, like he had truly, actually stepped inside the threshold of his home. One sleeve after the other, the kimono fell away, and Yun curled up against the agent’s chest, his long exhale cut through with a barely-audible whimper. His throat swelled, and a fresh wave of quiet tears started to fall, and this time he felt a genuine discharge of the negative energy he’d collected over so many days away from his timeline–reluctance, anxiety, fury, grief, frustration, guilt, terror–it started melting away, as though he’d been iced over with heavy frost, and he’d finally stepped out into the sun. 
“I missed you,” Yun said through screwed-up face and strangled, keening voice, so much that his words were almost silent, “I missed you so much, I thought I wasn’t…strong enough, I was so scared…”
akkeyagentofhelheim
“I know…” Jin’s breath was shallow as he tried to keep steady, securing his embrace around him as tensions continued to slowly, but surely rolled off both of them, one hand weaved within dark locks behind his head in comfort, “I know, but you did it. And I couldn’t be more relieved, and thankful… and prouder of you. You fucking kicked her ass.”
He buried his face deeper into his head in a soft gasp that managed to escape, “I’m so glad you’re here, I missed you too… I… I thought I was never going to see you again…” And although he’s had time to process it in his rare dreamscape, the leftover, pent up stress of the past many weeks joined the tension that dissipated as he continued to stay close to Yun, relishing his presence in the setting rays of the sun that filtered through his windows.
foresight-botgd
The peace of the apartment was unparalleled to anywhere Yun had been recently, and he was so grateful for it. And though it seemed impossible for him, with a breadth of emotion as wide as the sea, he did eventually felt that he’d cried himself dry, and he instead rested quietly in Jin’s arms, only moving to reach out and grab the water bottle, cradling it more than he drank from it. The ambient noise of a world familiar once again lulled him into a slight, comfortable doze, but he shifted every now and then, to either adjust himself closer, or to wipe at his cheeks, feeling that there was a noticeable layer of Scrublands grit on his skin around the tearstains.
When the room started to dim from the last rays of the sun, he shuffled and nuzzled up into Jin, murmuring, “I think I should change. And wash up, maybe.” He made a soft noise of self-deprecating mirth. “I left my stuff with Dario and Milae to help them feel better…uh, I should get some from my place…” He didn’t make any definite move away from Jin, loathe to part with him for any amount of time after their enforced separation.
akkeyagentofhelheim
“Yeah, you stink,” he teased his agreement, but also made no movements to let go, letting the minutes pass them by and paying the ticking clock absolutely no mind. It was another ten minutes before he finally growled softly in the back of his throat and shook his head out of the trance, leaning forward as if to test his strength but almost slipping in his grip around Yun. He peeled his arms away from him reluctantly, “Yeah I can’t carry you. Go shower. I’ll get you something to wear for tonight.” 
foresight-botgd
“Okay.” Yun slowly uncurled, stiff from sitting in place so long, and not letting go of Jin’s arm until he was fully stood and somewhat stepped away from the couch, and even then, he paused and toyed with his long fingers for a second, smiling in reluctance before sighing and actually letting go.
“Akira your housekeeping now?” he asked, as he headed down towards the bathroom and left the door open a crack, so Jin could hand him whatever clothes he hunted down, and to still be able to hear him. He made a face as he managed to undress one piece at a time; back among modern laundry and cleaning, he was realizing how dusty he felt. “She do that today, or while you were out?”
akkeyagentofhelheim
“She will murder you in your sleep if she ever hears you call her that, elevation and seidr be damned.” Jin laughed, dropping the overnight bag on his bedroom floor as he rummaged around his closet for the smallest pair of gartered shorts and t shirt he could find, although they would still probably dwarf Yun to his knees and elbows. He tossed the bundle to him effortlessly to land it perfectly on top of the bathroom cabinet as he called out a quick ‘If you’re hungry you can grab a sandwich’ through the door.
He turned to change himself, “She cleaned up when I was away. I was suspended for a couple of weeks for… er, shitty performance, so I just went and bookkept for days on end like I used to way back. Kept my mind off things. She kept an eye on my place, thing is she hates my mess so she organizes it. I can’t find shit anymore…” he complained as he bent to grab the Library and rolled over onto the oddly, neatly made bed.
foresight-botgd
“Shitty performance, huh?” Yun called down the hall, grinning to himself, and then feeling a pang of realization, switched from teasing to sympathetic. “I’m sorry.” He took another minute to sit under the hot water, marveling at it like it was a new invention, then finished rinsing and stepped out to towel down. “Was the bookkeeping okay? Where did you go?”
akkeyagentofhelheim
“Everywhere,” he replied absentmindedly as the notebook screen lit up to show the Golden Timeline, “It went fine, I just went where all the gossip was. There was a shooting a couple weeks ago, but it wasn’t serious. I checked up on Dario a couple times too. He’s the same as always…” He squinted as the words blurred slightly, too lazy to grab his glasses to see better. He began slowly scrolling down the latest entry that Juro posted, catching himself up on the fight.
foresight-botgd
“Yeah…” Yun paced into the room, shirt hanging almost to his knees, his old clothes bundled into his arms with his armor on top. He set them at the foot of the bed and immediately followed Jin onto the covers, right up against his side. He ran a hand over his wild, damp hair and let it sit at the back of his neck, idly fingering the short patterns cut close to his scalp.
He needed to go see Dario. He didn’t want to…yet. And he felt immensely bad about the fact, though the exact reasoning was slipping his mind.
“Um…” He leaned his head on Jin’s shoulder, looking for his spot on the page. “What do you think?” His question was spoken with the inflection of a student showing their older brother their science fair project, and not a force of nature asking an immortal what he made of their life-and-death struggle against a powerful deity.
akkeyagentofhelheim
“It’s… good…” he returned with the generic response as if being asked about the weather, his eyes flying across the page as his fingers went down the scroll pad, cool and composed on the surface but mind actually going in multiple directions at once. Then he groaned and wrapped his arm around Yun, burying his face into him, “What the fuck. What the fuck Yun you’re so cool…”
Amidst the praise, Jin had his hand gripped around his shoulder far too tightly, and as much as he tried to hide it–he knew it must have been far worse for the seidkonur–but he couldn’t help shaking beside him in horror at what he had to go through, as the screen paused right at the end of the battle, where it detailed what happened in the void, and what Yun had to do to make it out in the end.
“Oh my god…” he didn’t say anything further than that, not wanting to stress Yun any more now that he was home, but also feeling the hysterical mix of shock, massive relief, and immense pride roll off him.
Yun flushed heavily, but couldn’t stop a small, proud grin from showing. “Right, that…it’s okay, though, look.” He pointed further down the screen. “It invoked the Norns and Urdr took everything I gave up and used my own power to channel it back into me. It was like this huge feedback loop. It was crazy.” He cuddled closer to reassure the Bookkeeper, with an excited wiggle. “You gotta see what I did then.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
He sniffed to compose himself again, but kept leaning closer towards Yun as they continued down the entry together, the lopsided grin slowly finding its way on his face as they read, “This is so fucking dope, what the Hel… you just like, deleted her.” There was a small satisfaction behind it, despite everything that had to be endured to get there, “Then stabilized like a million souls in one go. Can’t believe my best friend’s basically a god,” He bumped the side of his head against Yun’s, teasing, but also in appreciation.
He laughed wryly when the dreamscape appeared, especially at his own part, “I knew you were coming home soon…” he commented softly, turning somber at the goodbyes, before raising a brow at what came after.
“What the…”
foresight-botgd
“What?” Yun leaned in, eyes scanning quickly.
I missed opportunities to be closer with him.
He deserves all of the tightest hugs and unconditional love he could want.
I miss him. I look forward to when he returns. 
The seidkonur’s hand found his mouth by the end of the unconventional entry, and his other was tight around Jin’s arm, trembling with emotions that drove from excited pride straight into flustered tenderness. “Oh, wow, he’s…” His voice was strained, and he laughed a little at what he said next. “He’s talking.” The lower half of his face ducked into Jin’s shoulder, only his round eyes illuminated by the Library visible. “And he’s talking about me.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
Even Jin’s eyes were wide with shock at the discovery, flicking up and down the screen as he read paragraphs multiple times to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, his jaw slack as he remained speechless at the display of vulnerability, staring together at the screen in silence for several minutes.
“You got the Original Bookkeeper breaking his own rules… talking about his feelings about you… in the Library…” he finally said. His brows were knitted in confusion, amazement… and a certain level of possessiveness that suddenly bubbled up within him out of nowhere.
The notebook snapped shut in a rush as his hand shot out to close it, left abandoned at the corner of the bed, as Jin turned and engulfed Yun fully in a flurry of arms, legs, and blankets, holding him close to his chest and curling up around him completely. There was a disgruntled sound that came from deep within him as he narrowed his eyes in intense thought.
“Yun…” his voice was low.
foresight-botgd
“Eep!” Yun very much enjoyed being held, but he also peered up at Jin in amused concern, wondering what was wrong.
“…yeah, Jin?”
akkeyagentofhelheim
You’re unfairly possessive.
Kaya’s words echoed in his ear as amber locked with hazel. But it wasn’t like that anymore. He could tell. Yun would traverse and explore the multiverse, and the Bookkeepers would treasure him, no doubt, but no one would ever come close to how he felt about him. Yun was his seidkonur, and he was Yun’s Bookkeeper, and he would hold that with an iron grip with both hands for as long as Yun would let him.
He smirked, keeping it to himself, and a large hand came down to completely block Yun’s view of him as the sniper’s cheeks reddened, tightening his embrace around him and dipping his head to bury his face by his shoulder.
It’s been six weeks. He was happy, and content, and alive to finally say it.
“Love you too.”
foresight-botgd
Transcendent happiness flooded Yun, and he beamed underneath Jin’s hand, stretching his arms around his middle as far as they would go, small hands splayed against his long back. And even better than the rush of affection was the sense that he really, truly deserved to be here, after everything he’d been through.
“Hey,” he said, muffled, “I don’t…think I’ll be going anywhere else for a bit. Besides seeing Dario.” He sounded a little questioning, like he was assuming Jin would eventually get tired of him and want him to leave.
akkeyagentofhelheim
“Yeah,” he exhaled, adjusting his grip so that he was holding him as he always did with a hand behind his head, settling deeper into the covers, “Wasn’t gonna let you go any time soon, anyway…” he jokingly mumbled, but the glint in his eyes revealed he was also serious as he slowly closed them in comfort.
“Stay as long as you need. Come and go whenever you want. This is your home.”
foresight-botgd
“Yeah, but you pay rent,” Yun murmured with a grin, eyelids drifting closed as his fingers gently tangled in Jin’s shirt, fully relaxing for the first time in a while. “Oh. Mmm.” He hummed in realization, trying to break free of contented drowsiness long enough to pat Jin on the arm in vague urgency. “Milae says…thank you. For protect'n me. Told me to tell you.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
He cracked an eye open, “Isn’t it the other way around, though,” he said wryly, but nodded with an understanding grin, “I got you.”
foresight-botgd
“Sometimes I do,” Yun conceded, through a yawn. “Not today…” 
The night life of the city began to echo gently below, along with a cool breeze from the windows, and it wasn’t long before he was fast asleep, limbs in a loose tangle with Jin’s, like he had never left in the first place. The thought of the vast world that lay in front of him left his mind, to return another day that would be further from his struggles. Only the Norns themselves could know what the future held, but for now…
…he was home. And that was all that mattered.