Troy’s eyes came open in an instant. He needed to move! He would freeze to death in minutes if he continued where he was. His body was at its limits, yes, but that was no reason to silently accept his demise. No! He needed to-

“Don't overexert yourself. If you become weaker, I will not be able to guarantee that you will be standing in the next couple of days,” Charlie said, pushing Troy down on the bed… wait, what? Bed? Where was he again?

Looking around, the snowy landscape had disappeared into nothingness, replaced with the interior of their stolen lodge. Just when had he gotten there? Troy could certainly not remember walking the last kilometre. Had he… had he blacked out? His body had been at the point of collapse, so there might have been a chance of it.

Not feeling like immediately disobeying, Troy gotta feel the consequences of his last adventure. His skin felt hot as if it was going to melt off. His nerves had become extremely sensitive, making every burst of air feel like a thousand paper cuts. The skin between his fingers screamed, and he could only clench his jaw as a reaction. Slowly, he returned his head to the bedding. His eyes felt heavy, and it was hard to get a look at how he was doing.

“Any injuries I should be worried about?” Troy asked, already preparing himself for the worst. He would have to lie low for a while and leave some of the daily tasks to Charlie. The man was already overworked as it was. Could he take some painkillers and run it off? That had worked before, even if he had gained quite the resistance for the drug.

“Nothing really serious,” Charlie said, pricking Troy’s toes with a needle. The young man attempted to pull away, but the larger one was quick to hold him down. There was only a need for a small reaction, after all. Anything more would only complicate things.

And be incredibly painful as well, of course. God, his legs hated him. The soreness was barely noticed, his outer layers of flesh damning Troy for all eternity. Any movement was akin to a burning iron forced on his skin.

“If you had continued to lie in the snow, you would have had an acute dose of frostbite. There was some of it developing on your feet, but I got that taken off quickly,” Charlie continued, pricking each of Troy’s digits in a quick fashion. Having realised the pattern, the younger one just moved the touched toe or finger when he felt something. Nothing more was needed nor was it desired. “If it had been ten minutes more outside, you would have likely succumbed to the weather. Not the greatest death to have. Be glad that I found you in time.”

Ten minutes had been the difference between living in pain and oblivion… huh. That was not a fact Troy wanted to know. The small amount his head had been raised was retracted, the young man pushing his head a bit deeper into the thin pillow. He felt the need for it.

‘I personally saw it as closer to five minutes, which is why I will again reiterate the need for you to handle yourself better in the future,’ Adam supplied, being the helpful little twat he was. There was no desire to know the details, yet the AI had no qualms about giving it out nonetheless. Truly a saint for masochists. Maybe the guy would enjoy getting a gift basket for his actions.

Wait… no, that did not make sense. Something said had been wrong. Troy didn't notice it instantly due to his still-addled mind, but it was becoming more clear that something was not as it seemed.

Looking over to the sofa, Dr Hale was fast asleep. She looked peaceful in her slumber as if not a single thing was wrong with her. The bucket half-filled with the blood to the side ruined that illusion quickly, but that snippet of time was a great joy. It almost made Troy forget an important fact.

“Why were you outside?” Troy asked Charlie. The man was still tending to him, doing whatever to the undersides of his feet. It was impossible to really ignore, but the young man did his best to stay still. He knew the precision needed, and the consequences if any of it was messed up. “I would have expected you to be tending to Dr Hale all day around.”

Charlie slowed his movements when her name was mentioned. He did not stop, though, the man becoming more careful at the mere mention of her. Troy could see he cared for her deeply when his body had grown to instinctually be more careful around her. What would happen if she fell? It was best not to think about it.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Mara has been needing more fluids, and most of the water you had brought last time had been used for other activities,” Charlie said, now wiping at Troy’s feet with disinfectant. It stung badly. Did he have blisters? If so, he had not noticed them. Maybe a high pain tolerance did have some drawbacks. “I had to choose between waiting for you to get back and getting some, or going out by myself and hoping that everything would be alright.”

Troy had wondered how he had been found by a man so careful in his gaze. There was not a minute where Dr Hale would not be checked upon, to make sure her breathing was alright, and that she wasn't freezing. The young man could still remember Charlie fuzzing around with multiple blankets, trying to get the woman to the perfect temperature. He had practically built her a cocoon back then. It had been funny at the time, even if the reasons behind the coldness had been… unwelcome.

“I initially chose to stay behind, but Mara convinced me to go out by myself… or, whatever you can call it. She was passive-aggressive about it until I walked five meters away,” Charlie ended it off with. It was clear that he had not been happy about leaving her, but that woman had control over everybody. If she wanted something to happen, it would happen. If an immovable object was to take five meters away from her, it damn well would. She was a force not conquered by near-total organ failure. “She was very persistent.”

There was a stifled chuckle. Troy felt the need for it, but he likewise felt that the situation required a bit more… calm. Charlie was clearly doing his best at that emotion. And, he neither looked cold and nor did he seem to show indifference to Troy. If anything, the current atmosphere has the most positive one which there had been for a long time now. It might not have seemed that away, since they had hardly spoken, but the emotion in it was more than enough to convey a message of common ground.

“I guess I should thank her for that,” Troy said, again looking over at the woman. Even when sleeping, she looked ready to slap somebody senseless for their transgressions against her personally. She was somebody who was always ready for anything if that anything meant looking down on those around her. It sounded like such a bad trait, but it had more than grown on them both. “Without it, I would have more than frozen over. Wet clothes really are terrible to wear out there.”

His skin shiver even more at the thought of it. Charlie had apparently gotten them off him while he was asleep, which he was eternally grateful for, but there was no way he could have done it himself. They had stuck to his body with a suction force equal to a true vacuum. They would have been his doom without help, and that help had come in an overworked buddy of his.

“I was wondering about that,” Charlie said, starting to put pressure on the lower end of Troy’s legs. What was he doing? The older man seemed to be pressing at specific places on the muscles, making them flex in response. A quick bop on the knee made it jump slightly. That hurt, making Troy hiss in displeasure. Somehow, that did nothing to make Charlie stop, even if he was a bit more gentle about it all. “How did you end up drenched while scavenging in an extremely dry city? Last I checked, there was no need to test out showers while inside the buildings.”

How fun. The older man thought he had started out with hot water. It was almost akin to sweet innocence, if not for it being the most logical path that could have been taken. Honestly, Troy would have likely never guessed the truth himself.

“There were no showers, unfortunately,” Troy said, wrinkling his nose slightly. Showers were a rare pleasure nowadays. There were no real chances for them, forcing them to more or less just do wipe-downs. At least it helped them use less water. “All this came from the river we all know and love. It was not the greatest experience if I'm being honest. Way too cold for comfort.”

Really, Troy had no love for those who liked bathing in the winter. It was supposed to be good for the skin, yes, but was the cost really worth it? That water was cold enough to hyperventilate in. It was a life-threatening danger if one was in it too long. What was there to like? Beauty products could do the job fine enough.

“Why did you jump in the river exactly?” Charlie asked with mild curiosity. The man did not sound entirely pleased by Troy’s actions. Oh boy… he had not yet heard it all, yet he was already disapproving of it? Would the next minute be fun or terrifying? Only one way to know!

“It was an accident, really,” Troy started out, doing his best to keep a smile from his face. It was easy since Charlie was doing a few things subtly. Points on his body were being pressed, and it was not as enjoyable as he had hoped. His skin was definitely alive. That much was known. “A chance can end in many ways, and one of them is that I end up on a cliff beside a river, and left with no chance but to slowly back over to an edge that I don't really know when I’ll reach. A scary experience overall, but I guess it could have gone worse. I'm alive, and that's what matters most for me.”

This time, Charlie just stopped entirely. There was only so much that could be said before the mind needed some time to itself. Charlie certainly looked a little stumped for the first second. Then, he looked at the young man with quite a high level of intensity.

“You jumped off a cliff.” There was no question. Just an outright statement. Charlie seemed to have caught on. Troy couldn't help but smile at that expression.

“Yup. A full thirty meters. Hurt like hell. Might explain some of the red spots,” Troy said. He remembered having landed with his palms hitting the surface at a weird angle. Without even looking at them, he could tell it would be an annoying endeavour to handle anything for the next couple of days. Not many things could heal a red mark made from sudden pressure. It was a matter of repairing way too much skin.

Charlie just stared at him. The man clearly believed him. There was no reason not to. His bruised body was more than enough proof that something had occurred. While asleep, some padding had been put on Troy’s side, making sure that nothing would happen to the wound on it. His arm grazed it when he shuffled a little. Not the most annoying thing in the world, but it would be better than nothing

“... You are going to explain what you did today.”

Troy had no problems with that. In fact, he felt like he would enjoy it a lot.