The very first time Gus Grav realized he was in love with Spectra Phantom was when the two of them were stuck on Earth together in that warehouse. That was also the first time he had seen Spectra without his mask. He had been asleep, his face bearing that strange look of innocence everyone seemed to have while sleeping. It was freezing cold and damp from the constant raining, so Spectra was shivering, his skin pale and bluish. It had made him seem more real somehow, less like the Phantom he always portrayed.

Hesitantly, as though afraid he might wake, Gus removed his coat and laid it over his master, tucking it around like a blanket. Spectra made a noise and turned his face to one side, so it was only a few inches from Gus' own face as he knelt over him. Gus' breath caught as his heart sped up. Spectra's breath were coming out in puffs of steam as they hit the cold air, mingling with Gus' own. He slowly stood up and started to back away from his master before he pushed his luck too far. He started to turn when he heard Spectra mumble something behind him. Gus looked back and saw that Spectra had pulled the coat tighter around his body. He muttered something again, only slightly clearer this time, but Gus still heard it. His name.

That was when Gus realized he was in love with Spectra Phantom.

-x-

Gus felt the air rushing in his ears as the floor rose up to meet him. He heard people around him shouting but they seemed far away from him. He hit the ground hard, hard enough to make his teeth rattle and the pain from his various cuts and bruises and who knew what else flare up. A painful moan escaped him. Hands were on him, rolling him over onto his back. A voice.

"Gus? Gus! What's wrong? Look at me! Gus!"

Gus struggled to look up. People were crowded around him, once his enemies but now his friends, and the face closest to Gus, the one who had always been a friend. As all the other faces faded into the black that was quickly taking over his vision, that was the one face he held on to.

"Master Spectra?" Gus whispered. Then he blacked out.

-x-

He was in a dark room, sitting in a chair with his arms tied behind his back. His ribs were throbbing from the beating he had just took and his lip stung from where it was slip. His mouth tasted coppery from blood. His normally soft blue hair hung matted and tangled, dirty. He glared up at the man standing a few feet from him with his arms crossed, his blood on the man's knuckles.

"I'm going to ask you one more time. Where is the Resistance hiding?" the man snarled at him.

"I told you, I don't know anything about the Resistance." he said brokenly. He was in so much pain. He just wanted to go back to his cell and sleep. Or rather, try to sleep.

The guard spat at him and moved forward, fists raised. "Wrong answer."

Gus woke up choking and gasping, his chest tight. An erratic beeping noise came from somewhere on his left. Something pinched at the crease in his left arm. A sharp, antiseptic smell surrounded him, and he was clothed it what felt like paper. He was lying in a small bed wrapped in a thin blanket. The bed had rails on the sides, like one you'd find in the hospital.

Wait, hospital?

"Oh great." Gus groaned, his head falling back and smacking against the wall. He winced.

"Gus?' a little brown ball lying in the creases of his blanket twitched and opened. "You're awake!"

"Vulcan?" Gus rasped. He scooped up his partner in one hand and held him up. "What's going on? What am I doing here? The last thing I remember is battling with Master Spectra and the Brawlers to destroy the Alternative. And I think I blacked out…"

"Well, we won of course. Dan and the other two humans returned to Earth. And yes you did black out. You've been here in the hospital on Vestal for almost four days."

"Almost four days?! Why?!"

"Well...a lot of things actually. For starters, you have cuts and bruises all over your body. Not to mention five cracked ribs and you've also suffered malnutrition. Two days ago you had a raging fever that finally went down and now the doctors are saying you might have PTSD."

Gus groaned again. "What about everyone else? Are they okay?" Is Master Spectra okay?

"They're here. Mira and Keith at least. Ace and Baron stopped by but they had to get back home. Keith wouldn't leave until Mira forced him to, and even then only because his stomach was so loud it was shaking the room. They're coming back though."

"Keith?" Gus asked, confused.

"Spectra. At least, that's what he wants to be called now."

Gus was confused by all this. Yes, he knew Keith was Master Spectra's real name, but why was he choosing to go by it now?

Gus shuddered as a sudden unpleasant flashback rolled through heart monitor to his left sped up again.

"Gus? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, it's nothing." said Gus. "But that thing is starting to irritate me." He reached over and ripped the needle and wires out of his arm, which made the monitor flatline and a dot of bright blood well up in the crease of his left elbow.

"Gus! Put that back in! You don't know wh-," Vulcan cut off as the door to Gus' room burst open and Master Spectra came in. Only he wasn't wearing his mask, nor his coat and uniform. Instead he had on a simple black t-shirt and jeans, with a tan corduroy jacket on. He looked rumpled and un-put together, with shadows under his eyes, made more prominent by the fact that he was deathly pale, like something had scared him.

But that was impossible. Master Spectra isn't scared of anything.

Spectra's eyes flicked to Gus, then to the monitor, then to the needles and wires hanging from it. Relief washed over his face, but was instantly replaced by anger.

"Gus, what are you doing?" he snapped, storming over to him. "You're not supposed take these out! What they hell were you thinking?" Gus cringed away from Master Spectra, from his anger. Even though Spectra had never hurt him, in the past month a lot of other people had.

"I-I'm sorry Master. I was just- I mean-," Gus stuttered out, afraid to make him angrier.

Spectra's expression softened somewhat. "I'm sorry Gus. I didn't mean to yell, it's just...I heard the monitor flatline and thought…" he heaved a shuddering sigh and ran one hand through his hair.

He thought...what? That I was dead? Gus swallowed as the concept appeared to him. I almost did die though, didn't I? If Hydron hadn't been there, I would've been killed during the fight, if the torture didn't first. "I'm sorry Master, I didn't mean to scare you or worry you." He hung his head, expecting to be reprimanded or yelled at again.

Instead, he just laugh. It was a short, tired, relieved sound. "It's okay Gus. As long as you're alright, nothing else matters."

Nothing?

"And Gus, you don't have to call me 'Master Spectra' anymore. Just call me Keith, please."

Please?

Gus had a feeling something else had changed as well, but he didn't know what.

-x-

Gus lay curled up in his bed, wrapped in about five different blankets. It was freezing and the fact that he had lost a lot of weight while imprisoned wasn't helping. He had gotten some of it back in the last three weeks but Gus could still easily count his ribs. He had been released from the hospital th day he had woken up. According to the doctor, he could be discharged but only under the condition that he had someone living with him. So, that was how he came to stay with Keith. And Mira too, of course, because now that brother and sister were together again, there was no separating them. The doctor had taped up his ribs nice and tight so all he had to do was not overexert himself, which was easy since Keith and Mira hardly let him do anything more than stand up and walk. Gus had also had all the cuts and gashes treated for infection. They would all heal, but some might scar the doctor had warned, mainly the one on his stomach, one slantwise one in the middle of his back, and a small round one on his thigh. Most of his bruises were fading to a greenish-yellow color, except for the ones on his ribs, which were still a purplish color, except around the edges.

The other thing he had to do was visit the hospital once a month for the next three months to make sure he was healing properly. He was also offered therapy for any PTSD but Gus refused, hating the very idea of it.

Lying there in his bed huddled to keep warm Gus realized he had to take a piss, but he really didn't want to get up. It was so hard for him to get comfortable these days that, in the rare moments where he actually was comfortable, he hated having to give it up for anything. He wondered whether or not he could hold it for a little while. But then he probably would be really uncomfortable then.

Sighing in resignation, he got up from his comfy bed, opened his bedroom door, and went down the hall to the bathroom. He made sure to close the bathroom door all the way before turning on the light. He quickly pissed, flushed, and washed his hands. Gus' mouth felt dry and tasted funny. The idea of drinking from the bathroom faucet with his hand wasn't very appealing to him, which would mean another trip to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

He turned the bathroom light off and then quietly crept down the hall to the kitchen. He opened the cabinet where the glasses were kept, wincing as the hinges squeaked. He took down a glass, closed the cabinet, then filled the glass from the kitchen sink. He sucked the water down in a matter of seconds, then refilled it. This one he drank slower, and he had drained it half-way when he heard a voice behind him "Gus? What're you doing up?"

Gus choked on his water and coughed, setting his glass down and turning around to see Keith standing in the kitchen entryway shirtless, wearing sweatpants, hair messy, and rubbing his face with one hand. Gus tore his eyes from his bare chest and swallowed. "Nothing Ma-, I mean, Keith. I just wanted some water. That's all." He still had some difficulty calling his old Master by his real name. Old habits die hard

"You could've woken me up. Or Mira. One of us could've gotten it for you."

"I didn't want to wake you up, you do enough for me already." he mumbled. Gus shivered suddenly and hugged his arms to his chest. How Keith could stand there wearing only sweatpants and not be cold, while Gus was freezing and he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and flannel pajama bottoms, was a mystery to Gus. "How're you not cold like that?" Gus wondered aloud.

"What, you mean like this?" Keith gestured to his bare chest and shrugged. Gus struggled not to stare. "I feel fine. Comfortable really, but if you're cold I can cut the heat up."

Gus shook his head "No, I'll be fine. Just as soon as I get back to my bed, that is." His bed and his massive mound of blankets. He started to exit the kitchen when he remembered his glass of water sitting on the counter. He turned back for it but Keith brushed past him saying "I'll get it." He was extremely warm, and Gus leaned towards him as he passed.

"Did you want more, or were you done?" Keith questioned.

"Maybe a little more." Gus admitted, then added, because his ribs hurt a little. "And some pain killers too, please?"

Keith nodded. "Go ahead back to your room and I'll bring it to you."

Gus nodded and crept back down the hall to his room. He crawled back into his bed and was trying to straighten his covers back to the way he had them when Keith came in, holding a glass of water in one hand and a small palmful of pills in the other.

"Here." Gus sat up a little straighter and took the pills, draining the water from the glass. "Thank-you." he said, then noticed that one of his blankets had fallen on the floor. "Could you please hand me that?" he asked.

Keith picked it up but didn't put it in Gus' outstretched hand. Instead, he draped it over Gus and tucked it around him. Gus was extremely conscious of his nearness.

"There. Comfortable now?" Keith asked.

"Yes." Gus breathed.

Keith grunted and took the glass back from him. "Call me if you need anything." he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Gus still did need something though.

I need him.

This story will have a second chapter. Yes, I am still doing Rebirthing, no I will not have a new chapter up by the end of this week.