Derlik froze at that.
"He… h-he did?" Derlik said softly, completely shocked. Derlik and Halm weren't the best at getting along- okay, so they might have hated each other. But the one thing they had always agreed on was not doing that.
"Oh, Nix… You've been hurt so much…" Derlik held Nix close, his head tilting down a bit.
Nix nodded weakly and held tighter to Derlik. "And… a-and we tried to have me date somebody else, but as soon as he found out my ears were real, he got weird and he invited his friends over and they all tried to do things to me… he had lots of weird pictures of girls and he wanted me to call him senpai and he said we were gonna watch something called hentai with 'people like me' in it, which I can only assume was bad…"
Derlik picked Nix up in his arms, holding the man close to him.
"Oh, Nix," he said softly. "I'm, I'm so sorry you had to go through those things." Derlik gently ran his fingers through Nix's hair.
Nix buried his face in Derlik's shoulder and wrapped his legs around the other's waist, crying softly. His ears were flattened back against his head and his tail was now curled around Derlik's arm instead of Serna's.
Serna was still shocked, about the whole situation. The pancakes were burning, which seemed to snap her out of it. She hurried over, flipping them quickly.
"I've got you, now," Derlik said gently. "And I'm not gonna let you get hurt like that ever again, okay?" Derlik lightly placed his head on Nix's.
"Ain't no one ever gonna be able to lay a finger on you."
Nix sniffled a bit and nodded, still trembling in Derlik's arms. "I-I just… it h-hurt— b… b-because I trusted Halm so much— a-and he… h-he was so nice, and— h-he still— did that to m-me…" He sobbed, his voice a bit muffled.
Derlik held Nix close, sitting down on one of the kitchen chairs. He let Nix talk about what happened as much as Nix needed to.
"I… what he did was horrible," Derlik said softly.
"A-And he— knew how I feel about sex— b-because Cas got raped a while back…" Nix sobbed weakly. "S-So he knew that I didn't wanna do it… and I didn't know what he was doing, s-so he— took advantage of me…"
Derlik held Nix close as he cried, patting his back gently.
"Oh, baby," Derlik said gently, resting his head against the boy's.
Nix quickly delved into incoherent sobs in Derlik's arms, weak and helpless and trembling so hard the the other man was shaking a bit as well. He tried to apologize, but he couldn't quite get the words out.
Derlik just quietly rubbed Nix's back, holding him close as he cried.
"I've got you," Derlik said softly, keeping his voice soft and kind.
"He's not going to be able to lay another finger on you."
Nix nodded weakly and clung tighter to Derlik, hiccuping a couple of times as he tried to catch his breath. His tail was puffed up by now and he still seemed to be pretty upset.
Derlik continued to gently rub Nix's back, rocking him a bit.
"You're safe here," he said gently. He tucked Nix's head under his chin, keeping him close.
Nix purred weakly and nuzzled against Derlik, still struggling to calm down. After several minutes, his sobs finally subsided and he just lay quietly trembling the the other's arms.
Derlik looked down when Nix stopped sobbing, gently holding his head.
"I'm sorry for upsetting you," he said again softly.
"It's okay…" Nix whispered, his voice broken and a bit hoarse. He leaned into Derlik's hand with a shaky sigh.
Derlik rubbed Nix's back with his other hand, keeping him tucked away in his hold.
Serna slipped out of the kitchen, knocking on Cas's door.
"Zachary," she called out, glancing back at the kitchen.
Cas looked up when Serna knocked on the door, stretching and yawning."Mm… what do you need from him, miss Serna?"
Serna opened the door, a bit of a shocked look on her face.
"I need to talk to him," she said softly. "Someone's here that… dear goodness, I have absolutely no idea what's going on…"
"Is something wrong?" Cas asked nervously, shaking Zachary to wake him. "Love? Miss Serna wants to talk to you…"
"I… I don't know," Serna admitted. Zachary woke up when Cas shook him, sitting up a bit.
"Yes..?" He asked, humming faintly.
"Derlik is here," Serna said. Zachary stiffened, freezing a moment.
"Who's Derlik?" Cas asked, confused. "Is he bad? Is he hurting Nix? Is there anything I can do??" He seemed very worried.
"He… he usually is, but he isn't right now? He's comforting Nix right now, and I have no idea what's going on. He said he was sorry?? Several times, too." Zachary's eyes widened a bit.
"What the fush… He doesn't do that."
"I know, sugar! That's what has me so confused!"
Cas still seemed bewildered and concerned. "W-Why does Nix need to be comforted in the first place? What happened to him? Should I go check on him?"
"Derlik called Nix an animal, and when Nix got upset Derlik started apologizing?? You can check on him if you want, but he's in the kitchen with Derlik right now and I-" Serna shook her head. Zachary frowned deeply.
"When did he start worrying about other people's feelings?" Serna shrugged.