He was dressed in a thin blue and cream-colored gown with a white sheet tossed over his bottom half. It was clear he needed to be there, that there was in fact something wrong with his body, but he couldn’t for the life of him recall how he’d ended up lying in bed in the first place.
The last thing he remembered—
“Move.” Sila shoved at Rin and tossed his legs over the side of the bed, attempting to stand. He stumbled and his brother caught him, but he still tried to free himself of his hold, stubborn as per usual. “Let go. Now.”
“You’re sick,” Rin snapped back. “Stop it.”
He grabbed onto the front of his brother’s shirt and hauled him close, almost falling over a second time for his efforts. “Whereis he?” he snarled, the achy and dark, molasses like thing sticking up his gut, causing the control on his emotions to slip. His mask cracked and the look he set on Rin was anything but caring or brotherly.
But the last thing Sila recalled was him and Kelevra showing up at the secret house Sila had purchased and a blaster and—
A wounded sound slipped past his lips and both he and Rin froze as though it’d been a gunshot instead. While the two of them were busy staring at one another, the door to the room slid open and two people stepped inside, pausing just within the entranceway.
Sila registered Bay’s surprised look, scanning him to check for any serious injuries or bullet holes. As soon as he processed everything was fine with the professor, all of the energy drained out of him. He let go of Rin and dropped back down onto the bed, clutching at the sheets as a wave of dizziness swept over him.
“I believe I told you not to let him get up,” a familiar voice he was pretty sure belonged to Berga scolded, followed by a grunt from his brother.
“Yeah, well, he’s not exactly the type to listen to others,” Rin drawled, sounding every bit annoyed as the future Butcher of the Brumal Mafia did.
“Come here.” Sila didn’t want to listen to the two of them squabble. He’d seen his kitten, but he needed more than that to soothe the tumultuous thing clawing at his chest. He held out a hand, palm up and waited, not bothering to open his eyes.
Sure enough, a moment later he felt the warm press of Bay’s hand settling in his own and he tugged, pulling the older man into a hug. He buried his face against Bay’s chest and breathed him in, that smell of bergamot and tea leaves, the smell of Bay, oddly comforting. Sila didn’t even care about the audience, clinging to him while his heartrate finally started to even out and return to normal.
When he’d realized Bay wasn’t there, he’d panicked. The sensation had been visceral and all consuming, foreign, yet familiar. He’d felt something similar when he’d arrived at the bridge and spotted Bay leaning over the railing.
He was decidedly not a fan of the feeling.
“Where were you?” Sila asked, voice muffled by the soft material of Bay’s clothing, which he noted was also a hospital gown.
“Berga and I stepped out to grab some coffee,” Bay explained, running his long fingers through the sides of Sila’s hair as he spoke. “We’ve been here for over a day and Rin hasn’t had anything either, so we were grabbing him something.”
“If you leave again—”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he reassured, not put off by the beginnings of what had been a threat. “You need to lay back down. The doctor said you shouldn’t be moving around yet.”
Sila shook his head.
“Don’t be like that,” Bay told him. “Behave, that way you get better soon, and we can—”
“Go home.” Sila didn’t like it, but it made sense. With a grumble he released Bay, keeping a hold on the material of his shirt by Bay’s left hip though to ensure he couldn’t go anywhere. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he had to admit there was some instant relief in his achy joints and muscles.
“Are you okay?” Berga asked, and Sila was about to reply when he turned and caught the man staring at his brother instead of him.
Rin’s mouth was hanging open and his eyes were wider than Sila had ever seen them before. He was also looking back at him as though Sila had turned green and sprouted a second head or a tail.
“Areyouokay?” he demanded. “Did you hit your head when you passed out earlier, before we got there?” He shot that incredulous gaze to Bay. “Did he?”
“I don’t believe so,” Bay answered, nibbling on his bottom lip in contemplation. “No.”
“You’re being dramatic,” Sila said.
“You’re beingclingy!” his brother shot back before pointing to where Sila still held onto Bay’s shirt. “What is that?!”
Berga glanced between the two of them and then leaned toward Bay and said in a voice not nearly low enough not to be heard by everyone in the room, “Isn’t Sila Varun known as a flirt?”
“He’s also his student,” the door whooshed open and Kelevra strolled in as if he owned the place.
Probably because he did.
