TW: Blood mention/Injury, Hurt/Comfort, RPF

It seemed like a good idea, it always did at first. Always up until the point that things inevitably begin to go wrong. And yet after each and every plan of theirs crumbled around them by stupid mistakes, they still continue, never learning. They still continued with these crazy plans and schemes. But never once did they consider it would, could even go this terribly. They never expected it all to end with them all inside an ambulance...

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With purplish marks lying underneath his tired eyes, Alex couldn't muster enough energy to even attempt to cover the yawn that escaped from his mouth. He had been like this for the past few days, the lack of sleep and quantity of work finally catching up on him, leaving him in a permanently tired state. And he wasn't the only one. As he glanced around the room, he could see the same exhaustion mirrored in the hunched figure of the ebony haired man and again in the eyes hidden by black framed glasses. It was a problem, one with very few solutions. While they were all clearly overworked and physically drained, they still had to continue working. Their job was one that demanded huge amounts of time to film a video, to edit it and to finally upload it before repeating enough times to fill a minimum of the seven days of the week. It was a continuous cycle, wake up early, work all day, and go to bed late before repeating. It wasn't healthy for them, evident by the fact Smith couldn't stop yawning or how Trott's eyes appeared to have difficulty staying open for much longer. And as the latter stopped what he was doing, placing his arms on the desk before resting his head against them with his eyes closed, desperately seeking relief from his tiredness, Smith knew something had to change. It had been an idea floating around his head for a while now, he'd just never found the perfect time to suggest it to anyone else. Except from now. He rose from his chair, moving slightly to the centre of the room to ensure that he had the attention of the two men before speaking,

"Guys, this is stupid, we're not coping with this workload between the three of us."

"So? There's not really anything we can do is there?" Ross asked.

"Well I was thinking, maybe we should take a break. Nothing long, maybe just a few days and do something fun and exciting, catch up on some sleep. We could take a camera and use it to film a vlog. What do you think?"

"Depends on what you have in mind."

"I was thinking camping."

At the mention of the word camping, Trott lifted his head from the desk, suddenly appearing slightly more alert, "Camping? You know I hate camping!"

"It'll be fun Trotty, trust me love. I'll make sure you have a great time."

"But what about the bears and things?" Trott asked, worry evident in his voice as it wobbled slightly.

"Love, there's no bears in England but even if there was, I'm sure your amazingly strong boyfriend can protect you from them."

"Who's that?" Trott asked, smirking, the worry clearly disappeared as he stuck his tongue out.

"Does that mean you're both up for it?" Alex paused momentarily, awaiting a response from the other two men who both nodded a simple yes, "Right, I know the perfect spot, somewhere I used to go camping as a kid not too far from here. I'm just going to see if there's anyone else who wants to join us!" Almost skipping with excitement, Alex turned and headed in the direction of the door, glad that they had both said yes. Before he left, he glanced back at them and saw they had both returned to their previous positions, Ross hunched over the computer, Chris head resting against the table and Alex couldn't help but feel sympathy for the latter, almost feel responsible for the lack of sleep that his boyfriend had received over the last few days. It was him, Alex's inadequacies and inability to edit things correctly that had shovelled extra work onto the smaller man. But this weekend, he was going to make up for it. He was going to make sure that Chris had a brilliant time, that he caught up with sleep and that he was no longer stressed by the time they came home...

~Chapter 2

Standing in a clearing in the middle of the woods, the seven members of the Yogscast admired the location Alex had brought them to. It wasn't very large, just a small open space surrounded by thick trees, secluding it from the outside world. In the centre was a stone circle, the ground beside it blackened clearly by previous flames, making it evident it was to be used as a fire pit. The area surrounding it was bare although not for long as the seven of them worked together to put up the few tents they'd brought along. The plan was for Chris and Alex to share, Lewis and Ross, Kim and Hannah, and Duncan in his own. The latter of which had cleverly had decided to bring along the same tent used when he participated in the 'Don't Starve Challenge' with Lewis and Simon and so simply had to open his pop up tent for the flowered shelter to be standing. The rest however, were not so clever. Between seven of them, they had just three tents to stand upright which should have been easy, right? The only problem was that very few actually knew how to erect a tent. That combined with the lack instructions provided with each tent meant that it took longer than necessary to stand just one. So they decided to split up into two teams to become more efficient.

Dressed in his khaki shirt and trousers, Lewis had surprisingly good knowledge on tents from his days as a cadet and so with a bit of team work, Lewis, Alex and Ross were able to put up the remaining two tents while the others worked elsewhere. The remaining four had been tasked with collecting enough firewood to last for the three days they were camping and to ensure it was stored somewhere secure and dry. It took a while but eventually everything was set, the tents erected, the firewood positioned under some trees and so they decided it was time to light the first fire of the trip, giving responsibility to their very own pyromaniac. But as soon as this was decided, huge, fat droplets of rain fell from the blackened sky. It was unpredicted, unplanned but it didn't stop them from scattering onto the floor, soaking everything in contact. While the trees protected a vast majority of the forest, the clearing they'd chosen for camping was sheltered by nothing other than large, grey rain clouds. In a panicked frenzy, the seven of them desperately moved everything necessary out of the rain and into the start of the forest.

With his fringe plastered against his forehead forcing his hair to fall into his eyes, his clothes sticking to his skin as the rain clung to his jean and with tiny spots of rain littering the fronts of his glasses, obscuring his vision , it was safe to say Chris was unhappy. He had been reluctant to join this camping adventure to begin with but now as the damp clothing brought chills to his skin, he knew it had been a mistake coming.

"Couldn't have chosen a dryer day could you Smith?" The annoyance Chris was feeling became evident in his voice as with bitterness, he complained, directing it towards his boyfriend. But as soon as the words escaped from his wet lips, he regretted them. He could see how much this had meant to Alex and so instead, he swallowed his bitterness and headed in the direction of his car, seeking the supplies they had brought with them. Alex couldn't exactly control the weather so why should he be blamed for it?

A few minutes later, he returned, arms laden with bags of clothes and boxes of snacks but one thing was missing, "Smith, where are the sleeping bags?"

"Aren't they in the boot of your car?" Alex shouted from inside their shared tent.

"No, looked everywhere. Have you brought them out already?"

"Nah mate, haven't touched them. Might have forgot them then."

"Well that's just fucking perfect! We're gonna fucking freeze tonight then, lying on uncomfortable ground. That's just bloody brilliant!"

Alex emerged from the tent, an apologetic look on his face as he walked over to where Chris was standing,

"It was an accident Trott, it's alright."

"It's not fucking alright Smith. You make me come camping even though you know I hate it, you choose the only day this week that's chucking it down with rain and to make it even more perfect, you forget our sleeping bags! How is it going to be alright?"

"Look, we'll figure something out. It's not that bad camping without a sleeping bag you know."

"No I don't know, I know what it's like to be sleeping in a warm bed, to wake up to coffee from a machine and to be able to take a warm shower. And that's exactly where I want to be!"

Alex took a step forwards, moving towards the soaked frame of his boyfriend but he found that for every step forwards, Chris took one backwards.

"Chris listen to me, it's not that big of a deal!"

"But it is Smith, you fucked up. But it's not a surprise, everything you seem to do, you make mistakes, you mess up. And I've had enough! You can't edit properly, you can't pack properly you can't even plan properly and whose here to solve everything? Me! But now I've had enough..."

Hearing the argument between his two friends, unable to miss it as their voices rose to loud volumes in just a small space, Ross decided now would be a good time to interject his opinion. He hated them fighting, they were supposed to be in love with each other, not at the other's throat,

"Trott mate, that's a bit of an overreaction, Smith didn't mean to forget it."

"He never does that's the problem, look just leave me alone, I'm going to get some more firewood."

"Mate we've got more than enough to last and it's getting late."

"I'm an adult Ross, I can handle myself."

Ross held his hands up in defeat, there was no point in trying to convince a determined Trott, once he had an idea in his head, there was no stopping him. Instead, Ross watched as the brunette stormed off away from the circle of tents, heading into the depths of the now darkening forest and all he could was hope Chris would come to his senses soon enough. In the meantime, he turned to his other friend who had sat on the dampened ground, his head in hands but even though the view was obscured, Ross could see the beginning of shiny tear tracks forming on Alex's face. He leant down next to his friend, one of his hands extending to place on Alex's back,

"It's not your fault mate, he'll be back soon, I'm sure of it..." And with nothing else to do, he desperately wished that it would be true.

~Chapter 3

Thrusting his hands into the depths of his pockets, Chris couldn't help the way his fingers curled tightly in a fist, to the point where his fingernails began to leave small indentations on the smooth skin of his palm. He was trying desperately to calm himself down, to expel the anger from his body but so far it was mostly unsuccessful. He had started wandering, not really caring about where he was going or from which direction he had left the campsite, his mind had been filled with other things that he hoped would disappear with a few moments away from everyone else. But now, as the sky around him began to darken into night, he realised it had taken more than just a few moments.

Breaking his thoughts and the noise of the sound of leaves crunching under each step Chris took, suddenly there was a series of three beeps that came from his jacket. Extracting one hand from his jeans pocket, he used it to delve into the one belonging to his jacket, searching for his phone. Once his fingers were in contact with the cool metal, Chris unlocked it, seeing the previous noise had been a text from Alex

I'm really sorry Chris, please come back to the campsite or at least tell me where you are, we're all worried about you. - A x

He sighed to himself, why did Alex have to be so nice? Now he just felt guilty for walking off, for staying away for so long. Not once breaking his stride, Chris began to expertly type a reply, his fingers working quickly against the familiar buttons.

Don't be stupid, it's not your fault, I overrea

But before he could finish, Chris found himself stumbling over an unexpectedly raised branch on the ground. His left foot caught the side of it, causing him to fall forwards, his phone leaving the tight grasp of his fingers as it crashed against the floor, followed by the owner.

As soon as his body impacted against the hard ground, Chris felt something clutch tightly around his leg. At the grasp, a searing pain ran up the side of his leg, his left leg as a cry of agony escaped from his mouth. Something was grabbing him but when he tried to move, to kick it off, it just made the pain worse. He was stuck, unable to move. It got to the point that Chris felt his head grow fuzzy from the unbearable pain. And taking a minute to catch his breath and grow accustomed to the new bout of pain, Chris, in defeat laid still on the ground of auburn, autumn leaves before slowly moving his hand down his leg. His fingers moved carefully, heading towards to the central point of pain where beneath them, he could feel the cold sensation of metal. There was metal gripping around his leg, shaped regularly into pointed spikes that pierced through the skin, a bear trap he thought. Moving his hand inwards from the metal to the flesh of his thigh, Chris yelped as his fingers came in contact with an open wound. When he removed his hand, he wasn't surprised to feel them covered by a warm sticky liquid. Blood...

He was trapped in the middle of the forest, leg caught in the middle of a spiked trap with nothing but trees either side. Unable to move, Chris felt around the surrounding area, desperately seeking his phone but it wasn't in reach, it must have gone flying when he tripped over the branch. So instead, he settled into a mostly comfortable position, the throbbing sensation in his leg and the blood he was losing leaving his head growing fuzzier and fuzzier as he began to lose unconsciousness. He knew there was nothing he could do, calling out would be useless, he wasn't sure how far he had wandered into the forest but there was no way he was within hearing of the others. All he could do was wish, hope someone would find him before it was too late. Because as time continued to pass to the point where the sun disappeared completely from view, the temperature suddenly dropping causing Chris to shiver in coldness, he couldn't help but to think,

I'm going to die here. I'm going to die lying in a forest in a pool of my own blood where no one's going to find me. They don't know where I am and it's all my fault because I was the one who walked away. And now I'm having to pay for it...

And with that final thought in his head, Chris felt blackness take over his vision as he slipped in unconsciousness...

~Chapter 4

As the sun disappeared behind the last of the clouds, it cast eerily elongated shadows filling the darkness of both the campsite and the forest around. Instantly, it turned somewhere quite fun and exciting into a place of uncertainty and mystery, a place of potential danger.

With Chris still absent, Alex found his mind conjuring up graphic images as he thought of the worst possible scenarios, What if Chris got lost and can't find the way back? What if he hurt himself? What if someone else hurt him? The woods wasn't a safe place once the sky grew dark, it would impossible to see anything around you or if anyone was there. His fingers instantly grabbed his phone, checking for possible notifications, he had messaged Chris about thirty minutes ago but still had no response which was unusual. Even in the worst mood, Chris would always text Alex to inform the redhead of his whereabouts or what was happening. So, as his fingers unlocked an empty screen, he knew something wasn't right. It was a gut feeling, an instinct that Chris might be in danger so he rose from his position on the cold floor and went in search of Ross.

The ebony haired man was lying in tent he was sharing with Lewis although not asleep. He was slightly panicked for the welfare of his friend and even though the hour was growing later by the second, he found himself unable to close his eyes. So when Alex stepped into his tent, he couldn't help the hope that gleamed in his eyes, wanting it to be good news,

"Heard anything yet mate?"

But the solemn expression that rested on Alex's face told him otherwise.

"I can't sit here anymore and wait, I need to be doing something, finding him. What if he's hurt and needs me? Will you help me find him?" The redhead asked, he had had enough of sitting around and feeling helpless and decided it was now time to take action. Luckily for him, Ross nodded, threw his black superdry coat over his hoody and exited his tent. They informed the rest of the campers of the situation who instantly agreed to help look for their fellow friend and colleague. After a few moments of discussion, it was decided that Lewis would stay at the campsite in case Chris managed to make his way back to it while the others would scan the forest. They each donned their coats and scarves to protect themselves from the harsh autumn weather before splitting into different directions.

Alex and Ross had chosen to head in the direction that Chris left the forest, walking in a straight line while ringing Chris' phone in the hope that it would lead them to the brunette. They walked in silence, worried that they might not hear Chris or his phone. Alex was glad of this, as time continued to pass and there was still no sign of the brunette, he began to feel sick with worry. Even though he desperately tried not to, his brain wandered back to the worst case scenarios although this time, he began imagining what would happen if they never found Chris or if they found him but he was lying cold, lifeless and pale. He imagined what life would be like if Chris was no longer around, the knowledge that it was his fault Chris had walked off, always living in the back of his mind and just the idea made him feel physically sick.

"Mate do you hear that?" Ross asked, dragging Alex much to the redhead's relief away from his thoughts.

"Hear what?"

"The music."

Alex strained his ears, listening hard to the sounds of the forest. He could hear the wind howling behind them, the sound of animals living in their natural habitat but as he listened harder, he realised that in the distance was the sound of Chris' ringtone, one he had heard on numerous accounts.

"CHRIS?" He shouted, desperately hoping to alert the brunette to his existence but when there was no response, he panicked and began to run in the same direction, quickly followed by Ross.

As the two of them neared the source of the noise, they saw the glow of Chris' phone lying to the right of a flat figure, a human figure. There was a man lying face up in a pile of leaves that as Alex stepped closer realised was Chris and it looked like he was unconscious, possibly dead. Everything he'd imagined had come true; Chris was hurt, Chris needed him, Chris might be dead. He knelt down beside the man, one of his hand resting against Chris' neck as he sought a pulse while the other gently ran through the brown mess he called hair. Much to his relief, there was regular beating beneath his fingers although it was considerably weaker than usual. He turned, talking to Ross,

"It's alright, he's alive, and you need to call an ambulance." Ross nodded, his phone already clutched between his fingers as he stepped to one side, calling the emergency number.

Alex glanced across Chris' body, assessing the man for obvious injuries, perhaps the reason he was lying on the floor unconscious, his eyes instantly falling on the metal trap clutching at Chris' leg. He had missed it previously, the darkness clouding it like a cloak making it difficult to see. But now he could see it, his eyes couldn't leave it. Carefully, his fingers ghosted across the contraption, not surprised at how it pierced deeply into the skin of Chris, not surprised at how barely touching the metal left his fingers sticky with drying blood.

"D-Don't, it hurts." A small voice croaked, breaking the silence of the forest.

Instantly Alex whipped his head around, eyes landing straight on Chris' face who this time, had his eyes partially open. "You're awake?"

"Of course I am, what happened?"

"What do you remember?"

"Falling. Pain. Cold. Tiredness, I just want to sleep Smith to make it stop."

Alex felt sympathetic towards his boyfriend lying on the ground, he was clearly in terrible pain but there wasn't anything Alex could do. He couldn't solve it, stop it, he couldn't do anything but sit and watch, feeling guilty that he was the one that caused the pain. Instead though, he slipped the coat from his shoulders and gently laid it across Chris before explaining,

"I made you angry at me and you walked away from the campsite, you were gone for ages so we came to find you. Ross is calling an ambulance, they'll be here soon and then the pain can stop."

Chris' eyes fluttered shut, seeking the sleep he so desperately wanted, "I'm tired though Smith..."

Alex thought back to his compulsory first aid lessons at school, why hadn't he paid attention? He had been too interested in having fun, distracted by the handsome brunette sitting beside him and so as the teacher spoke at the front of the room, his eyes had been elsewhere. But he did remember though that letting an injured person sleep was bad, he had no idea why but he knew that he shouldn't let Chris slip back into unconsciousness. He placed a hand either side of Chris' face, gently cupping it between his rough fingers as he spoke softly,

"Don't sleep Trottie, stay with me."

"Why?" Chris mumbled.

"I need you to, I need you to open your eyes and stay awake." Alex instructed and Chris listened, slowly he opened his eyes, his gaze fixating on Alex,

"Sing to me." The brunette commanded.

"What would you like me to sing?"

"Anything, I just want to hear your voice."

Alex smiled, running through the repertoire of songs permanently fixed into his mind before choosing one that he knew Chris liked,

Oh, won't you stay with me?

'Cause you're all I need

This ain't love it's clear to see

But darling, stay with me

He softly sung the chorus to one of Chris' favourite songs. As soon as he had finished the last word, the two men could hear the familiar sounds of a siren followed by the blinding blue lights that flashed colours into the dark. Alex glanced down, noticing the look of panic that had suddenly spread across Chris' features,

"It's going to be alright Chris, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay with you wherever you go, okay?"

Chris nodded, his hand reaching out to seek Alex's where he entwined their fingers together, seeming to seek comfort from the warmth of the other's hand,

"Thank you." He whispered, his voice barely heard by the sound of the sirens that drew nearer.

"You're going to be fine, I promise." Alex leant down to press a gentle kiss to Chris' forehead, hoping it was going to be true.

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It seemed like a good idea, it always did at first. Always up until the point that things inevitably begin to go wrong. And yet, after each and every plan of theirs crumbled around them by stupid mistakes, they still continue, never learning. They still continued with these crazy plans and schemes. But never once did they consider it would, could even go this terribly. They never expected it all to end with them all inside an ambulance...

But at least with some antibiotics, antiseptic and some stitches, none of them were fighting for their lives. As bad as it had turned out, it could have been worse. It had taken a while, some immense pain but eventually Chris' leg had been extracted from the monstrous contraption and now, dosed with painkillers, he was fine. He had however, learnt his lesson this time. He knew now that sometimes Alex's plans didn't always end up how the redhead wanted but Chris also knew that it wasn't just his fault. Chris was the one who walked out of the campsite, he was the one who got angry and stayed away, he was the one who fell over the branch and into the trap. What he definitely knew though was that camping was not his style...

Credit to Daisyith on Ao3