Lucas hung from the front couch cushions, the top of his head knocking against the hard floor with every head movement. He was always told he was hard-headed so he supposed they were right, it didn't even hurt. Might also be all the blood rushing to his head but who could say.

"Lucas?"

He tilted his head farther back, blinking through the tinted haze covering his vision to focus on the cyborg staring down at him. "Oh hey, Podrick. What's up?"

"Are you okay? I can't imagine that's good for any of your bones or organs."

"Problem not," Lucas said with a grunt, the knot forming in his back more prevalent now. He shoved himself up, Podrick quickly moving to help him not fall on his face. He muttered a 'thanks' and the cyborg merely smiled before taking a seat next to him.

"You need to talk?" Podrick asked. He shrugged with grating metal at Lucas' questioning look. "You seem distressed, not Michael-level distressed, but still."

"Were you a psychiatrist too, like Leo?" Lucas asked jokingly.

"Michael didn't implement me with counseling features so I guess that's from my human brain. So it is a possibility!" He smiled comfortingly and Lucas felt compelled to mirror it.

He took a deep breath, willing his hands to keep still and stop shaking. The two sat in silence for a few moments before he finally spoke. "I can't deal with this alone."

"What do you mean?"

Lucas gestured towards the tree, where they could hear snoring over the tranquil water stream. "This much of a drunk David alone. It was bad enough when he was high, but this is just annoying. Leo can handle himself, but if he's dead..." he groaned, dropping his head into his hands. "I don't want to think about it, but if he is then I'm stuck with David by myself. I think I'll go crazy if I have to do that."

Podrick hummed thoughtfully. "Have you guys talked about your lives before, you know, all this?"

"A bit. Leo's tried to psychoanalyze me on 'how I feel' multiple times. Sometimes I can't tell if it's because he's a psychiatrist or because he's belittling me on how much younger I am. Like I'm the one who's a chronic drunk!"

"Yeah I was wondering about that." Podrick snuck a glance towards the stuttering snoring, occasionally interrupted by wistful chokes of wishing for his axe. "He doesn't seem the most stable at the moment."

"He never is when he drinks. He can be pretty irresponsible at times but it's not like he listens when I try to tell him so. He couldn't even make it here without stumbling around the forest and nearly falling down the mountain. It would be so easy to just up and leave him behind-"

Lucas sucked in a breath. He stared down at his hands, resting open-palm up on his knees. Podrick grabbed a throw pillow and wordlessly offered it out. He took it with a grateful smirk and placed it on his legs, leaning forward on his elbows with his head in his hands.

"I was honestly surprised," he continued, "when he didn't leave me in a ditch the first time I hurt myself jumping a chain link fence and twisted my ankle. Leo had to help me back to the barn and David just made fun of me the whole way. Well so did Leo, but he at least had the decency to contain it to just my apparently two left feet."

"Sounds like Leo is pretty important to your group," Podrick pointed out, in a tone that reminded Lucas of said ex-student.

Lucas scoffed. "That's an understatement. I can't do this without him here. I'm just the idiot kid who tries to not get himself killed while the other two actually put their survival skills to use. I can cook and that's about it; I don't even know why they let me tag along after they saved me. I don't even know how I got David here without incident!

"And it doesn't help when he's down my neck the entire time about me being inept. Like his drunk ass could've made it to Michael without me keeping him going in the right direction. Even then it was a toss and turn that we did make it in one piece." Lucas winced at his word choosing but didn't take it back.

Podrick's synthetic eyebrows knitted together. Well, tried to anyway but the sentiment was there. "Well have you ever thought about, you know, leaving?" He said it so matter of factly, as if it were that simple that Lucas just laughed under his breath.

"I did once. After a long day of scavenging, we were all tired and just wanted to get back. But we were cut off by a horde with no easy way out. We fought hard, but there were so many we got split up. I couldn't focus on just one zombie being surrounded by them and somewhere in there I got scratched."

"What?!" Podrick jumped in his seat and placed a metallic hand on Lucas' forehead preemptively, as if he was still injured. "You did? How are you not a zombie?"

"Looking back, it was probably from the brick building we were cornered against." Lucas' smile faltered, a somber look coming over his face. "But we were all so sure I was infected. After the horde was done with, I stayed behind at first just laying on the ground, defeated."

"Were you scared?"

"I was terrified. I remember feeling hopeless, clutching my knife and wondering how long it would take for me to change. Every skipped heartbeat or cough was a sign to me. I thought David and Leo would either leave me behind to become rotten or take me out themselves before it started. For all the sharpening he does, David's axe does have a clean cut. Or did.

"But they didn't. They got me back and kept me awake all night, watching me for signs of turning. When I asked why they didn't just kill me to be sure, or even why they brought me back at all, they just called me an idiot and said they'd be down a cook if I died."

"Was that meant to be comforting?" Podrick asked, head tilted in confusion.

"In their own way, yeah it was. To me anyway. I knew then that we were in it together, all or nothing. There might be other groups out there like that but...this one's mine."

Podrick made a scruffy sniffling sound, like he would've cried if he could. "That's so sweet! I wish my family was like that, or I like to think we are. It's a wierd arrangement." He patted Lucas' shoulder with a metal clunk. "I'm glad you found your own family."

"Me too. Despite all their insults, the whole 'Ligma' thing, and general disregard for what I say 90% of the time-" Lucas cut himself off, pressing his lips together before giving Podrick a resigned look. "David's still been there for me so I have to be there for him. The ligma thing is beyond annoying but I have a feeling it's him trying to keep me safe. In his own odd, irritating way."

He straightened up with a newly rejuvenated purpose, popping multiple disjointed bones in his back. "Thanks for the help, Podrick," he said earnestly.

"Well I didn't really do anything from what I can tell." Podrick admitted in a still peaceful tone, eyes turning red when his face couldn't.

"You listened to me and that's honestly more than what most people have done. So I appreciate it."

"Aw, well it's no problem Lucas! I'm always happy to listen when the problem doesn't involve insane people," he said, slyly checking over his shoulder for any sign of his 'family'. "You do prefer Lucas right? Or would you rather I use your codename, Ligma, around others?"

Lucas chuckled. "My actual codename is Boat. I still don't really see the point in them, but if it appeases him then I don't care."

Under the waving tree, sprawled across the grass, David closed his barely cracked open eye. He settled down to finally sleep, a satisfying grin on his face.