Koios wasn’t sure how much time passed, but the world came crashing back into focus with Ben yelling his name. His hands had moved to Koios’s cheeks and the blue glow in his eyes had disappeared.
“Koios!”
Koios sucked in a breath, suddenly in desperate need of oxygen. Ben gasped with him, but his eyes…his eyes were wild and a little scared. “I’m okay,” Koios said, even though his voice caught as he tried to remember how to breathe again.
“What….” Ben leaned over and put his forehead against Koios’s. “You just…vanished. Not literally, but you weren’t there. Your eyes…you weren’t there. What happened?”
“I…don’t know. Your eyes were blue and then?—”
“My eyes aren’t blue.”
“They aren’t now,” Koios clarified. “But they were.”
Ben frowned. “My eyes don’t turn blue.”
“I beg to differ.”
“Yours were silver and gold.” Ben whispered the words against Koios’s cheek. Then his hand crept down to Koios’s wrist, and he less than subtly checked Koios’s pulse.
Koios let him because the terror in Ben’s eyes needed to go away. He didn’t like it. And he still had to pee. He chuckled and Ben raised his head. His eyes had a distinct and familiar glare to them now.
“You’re laughing?”
“Yeah, ’cause I’ve really got to pee so….”
Ben closed his eyes and drew in a long breath. Then he opened them again. The doctor face returned. Another mask Koios didn’t like, but at least he could live with this one. Heh. Live with it. Yeah, he was alive and well. Maybe not kicking just yet but….
Koios snickered and rolled to the side.
Ben scowled. “Why are you laughing?”
“I don’t know. I’m giddy. Maybe a lack of oxygen is what I needed today?”
“Don’t say that.”
“Why? I can’t help it that you looked into my eyes and I forgot how to breathe. It’s your fault, really.”
Ben froze with his arm under Koios’s back. “My fault.”
“I said it. I meant it.”
“You’re…not yourself.”
“Giddy. Was there something else in that IV other than the sleepy time drugs? Because I feel flipping fantastic. And hey, my chest isn’t anywhere near as sore as it was. That’s weird. It hurt a minute ago. Did you heal me with your big baby blues? You’re my blue-eyed, brown-eyed boy. Man. Bear-man.”
Ben carefully lifted Koios until he sat on the edge of the bed. It put Koios’s face directly in front of Ben’s crotch. He’d not spent time thinking about what Ben had under his scrub pants before, but now seemed as good a time as any.
“Are you high?” Ben asked.
He sounded shocked. Appalled.
Maybe even a little horrified.
“Not unless you made me that way. Also, what do you mean your eyes don’t turn blue? Wait, don’t answer that. I really have to pee. How much fluid did you push into me while I was out?”
“Enough,” Ben grumbled.
He put his big hands under Koios’s elbows and helped him stand. Koios was surprisingly steady on his feet. He considering stumbling a tiny bit and falling into that great big expanse of chest and cuddling into it like…whoa, okay, maybe something was wrong with him after all.
