Yohio looked up surprised as he picked up the teary undertone in Oliver's voice. He couldn't think of a reason for him to sound like he was about to cry, however, Yohio quickly noticed something was wrong when he turned around and saw the thick bandage over Oliver's eye. Yohio seemed to have stopped breathing for a second but composed himself soon enough to hurry to the boy, who just stood there shakily.

"What happened?" Yohio cried out startled with his gaze fixated on the white cloth that was already slightly stained with blood.

Oliver opened his mouth to say something, but his muttering and hesitating made Yohio slowly lose his patience. He dragged the boy to answers but Oliver just grabbed his shirt for support and bit his lip. He was too scared to answer right away and let his gaze remain on the floor to not have to look into Yohio's eyes.

"I got bitten by one of these...monsters, and I managed to escape...my eye is alright though," Oliver managed to croak out under all his snivels. Yohio kept quiet. He needed to process the information he just received. With a heavy gulp, the blond examined Oliver more throughfully. Aside the bandage, the boy seemed just fine. However, as much as it calmed Yohio's nerves, he knew to keep distance for longer still and didn't dare to touch the boy.

"And how exactly did you escape?"

The suspicious undertone in Yohio's voice hurt Oliver, even though he already expected it. Once again, Oliver gulped nervously and fidgeted with the cloth in his hands. The throbbing in his head worsened and dazzled him despite his attempt to blend out the sickening headache the best he could.

"Someone saved me, but he didn't..." Oliver's voice trailed off into more sobs and quickly afterwards into coughs to not show off too much of his fear. However, he couldn't hold back his tears eventually, and tried to wipe them off with his sleeve. Out of worry how Yohio would react, Oliver had trouble moving. The numbing feeling in his limbs broke off into rusted twitching, leaving the blond to accidently hit his wounded eye several times; Oliver burst out in even worse sobs. 

Once embarrassement faintly dwidled up, Oliver turned away from his counterpart, who frowned pained. Yohio hated to see Oliver this devastated, but he just couldn't risk his own life by trying to comfort the blond yet. Yohio tried to cover up his worry and waited for Oliver to calm down on his own again.

"Why are you crying now?"

Oliver bit his lip and blinked a few times to compose himself again. He didn't expect to burst out like that, and now, he felt like he was acting like a child.

"Because I'm so damn sorry—about everything! Our fight, and how stupid I was to go outside so early. If I hadn't been so stupid then none of this would've happened now," Oliver almost yelled out his frustration he had bottled up all this time and turned away. He knew Yohio wasn't about to come any closer anyway and tried to control the dwelling emotions on his own.

With a heavy sigh, Yohio looked down on Oliver's back and gulped. He had trouble appearing composed himself when he saw how much the boy regretted his actions. He moved on step closer to Oliver but reminded himself again he simply couldn't comfort him how he used to do anymore. Even though he heard of Oliver's eye being—onsidering the circumstances—well-off, Yohio hesitated and rather decided to see it by himself.

„Show me your eye."

Yohio lowered his voice in an attempt to sound as calm as he could be in such a situation, and sighed relieved once Oliver was willing to do so. Oliver untied the bandage on his face with shaky hands and bit his lip hard to reduce the following pain in his face. After he also removed the pad covering his eye, Yohio slowly stepped closer and inspected the wound; he continued to keep an eye on not touching the blond.

Oliver stood there trembling. He managed to control his hasty breathing eventually, but his worries would not pass. He was baffled to find Yohio this composed, given the fact that he usually exploded at the slightest trouble. Oliver decided not to mention it.

After a few more torturous minutes, Yohio leaned back again and sighed. Oliver caught the glimpse of worry relfecting in his brother's eyes, but it was gone in a matter of a blink and a weak smile replaced the stiffness.

"Your eye doesn't look infected, even though it's been a few hours by now. We can cross out that worry with caution, I guess. Can you still see something?"

"Only blurry," Oliver forced out and Yohio nodded reluctantly. The blond's eyes travelled back down on the ground at the disappointed sight of the older one. Another sigh echoed through the room and Oliver looked back up to find Yohio pulling him in his room.

„Alright, then let's stitch up the wounds."



The two had retrieved back on the dining table. Yohio had just rummaged through the emergency kit, and—even though they barely had any supplies to begin with—managed to cover the entire table in expired gels and plasters. Oliver's head swayed from one side to another while watching his counterpart prepare a syringe for a ration of stronger pain killers. 

Oliver knew that the pain killers from earlier still had an effect on him, but all he wanted at the moment was for the last bits of pain to disappear for a few hours at least. He was afraid he would just start crying again otherwise, and he didn't want to bother Yohio with that any longer.

A hand reached out for Oliver's arm and he followed the gesture, letting Yohio inject the liquid before the latter dedicated his attention all back on the emergency kit again. Yohio was fiddling with thread and needle for a while, and Oliver merely stroke over the hem of his bandage. Despite Yohio's calm behavior, the blond could tell that there was a peculiar tension in the air, and it manifested in his eye. He had a bit of understanding for it, considering that he might have also been killed by the infected person back then, but the rising pain bothered him either way. 

Yohio turned back to him and pulled his face closer with now glove-covered hands. Oliver didn't notice that his counterpart had also put on a face mask in time. Even though it was reasonable to go through these security measurements, the sight hurt him either way. Oliver's eyes followed the needle cautiosly, and he noticed his body to be trembling again. The pain killers did have an effect, but the mere thought of having his face pierced sent shivers down his spine.

"Didn't that hurt without pain killers?" Yohio asked to break the silence. His eyes were still fixated on the wound, so he didn't see Oliver's expression darkening.

"Of course, but you're hiding them."

"For a reason. I don't want any more stupid accidents to happen."

"Thanks," Oliver spat out and rolled his eyes, "I already told you that I'm sorry."

Yohio pulled a grimace and barely suppressed a sigh. "You don't have to feel sorry. That's your body, after all."

Oliver gulped at those cold words. "But you're the one that's mad."

"You can't really blame me. You're injured and all that only because of an argument. Why did it have to happen now?" Yohio barely held back a yell and took a brief moment to compose himself again before continuing his work on Oliver's face. The blond kept silent and merely gulped back the few complaints he had prepared for.

There was silence for a moment, and Oliver took the time to recall the event. The sequence remained vivid as if he lived through it every single time. His hands twitched.

"Do you think that it can still happen? That I'm going to turn into a monster too?" Oliver searched for an answer in Yohio's face, but it was blank. His counterpart's eyebrows twitched and furrowed for a nanosecond, but then there was nothing else and Yohio shook his head lightly.

"I'm sorry, Oliver. I don't really think so, but I can't make any promises. We'll have to wait and see."

Yohio ruffled his unoccupied hand through Oliver's hair in an attempt to cheer up the boy, but it showed no effect. Quite the contrary, tears started to travel back into the corner of his eyes, even after he has been trying to keep them away until now.

"And what happens if I'll really turn into an infected one..."

Yohio scanned the pained face for a moment and bit the inside of his cheek. "Let's just not think about this option for now."

Oliver spent the rest of the evening helping Yohio with small tasks. His hazy mind made matters difficult as the pain killers still showed effect, and Yohio would tell Oliver off several times to go and rest, but the boy would not give in so easily and preferred to tumble against various pieces of furniture. However, Yohio pushed him on the couch eventually and joined him a while later. His brother has calmed down by now, but insisted on keeping his distance nonetheless.

Oliver didn't mind the company but continued to sent empty stares out the window into the dark sky until he felt a pair eyes staring him down. He turned around and found Yohio eyeing him with an uncertain expression.

"Also, I want you to stay at home for the time being," Yohio responded to the confused look on Oliver's face, which turned into shock the moment the message got through his head.

"But you can't do everything on your own!"

"I will have to. I'll get by somehow, don't worry. It's important for you to recover for now. I don't want any more accidents to happen."

Oliver grumbled and crossed his arms, but stopped himself from forming any loud protests. He knew Yohio was right, and especially after the latter has not thrown him out yet, he probably owed him some sort of cooperation. Oliver nodded, albeit unwillingly, and looked back out the window.

"Thanks for not kicking me out."

"Who do you think I am?" Yohio huffed, and suppressed an amused smile, "You're my little brother. I can't abandon you just like that."

He leaned towards Oliver to teasingly ruffle through his hair again, and he managed to tickle out a small smile.

"It's bad this had to happen now, but we'll get through it somehow."

Oliver hummed and nodded, relieved to find Yohio in a better mood again. It had been a long and eventful evening Oliver could have gladly went without, but they had to accept things they were now. 

However, as soon as Oliver went to bed not much later, his mind would not calm down just yet. Pictures of the unknown person saving him wouldn't let him have his night's rest, and the more he thought about it, the more of a peculiar feeling of wariness travelled across his nerves. Maybe this was not the last time he would see his rescuer ever again.