catchacold | ICy Inbox for Entranceway

"I ain't exactly Van Helsing here, but yeah, it's more complicated." From what he gathered from Kate, anyway. He'd definitely have to follow up on that, but right now he didn't want to worry Mick more than him coming to his room with a bloody shoulder already had. Leonard reached out and put a hand on Mick's leg, mostly just brushing his knuckles against him. "This will be over soon. Least the water's gone."

"It ruined all my stuff. I like my stuff." Mick growled as he looked at every item he owned, now damp and useless. It'd be days before anything was good again. He looked at Leonard and then back at his shoulder, wondering how they'd bandage that without anything dry. Did the closet work yet or what? "How much does it hurt? Do you need painkillers or would you settle for a strong whiskey?" Cause one he could offer, at least.

Leonard pulled his hand back again and since he didn't feel like getting up and getting something he could actually wear that might be dry, he simply tugged his discarded shirt back over himself, at least partly covering the wound. Felt weird to lie around half-naked and bleeding. "Whiskey's good." He wasn't sure whether he really should have told Mick and come here, but he was done lying to him and hiding, for the most part. As much as he could bring himself to, anyway. Partners. However strained a partnership it was right now.

Mick slowly got to his feet and grabbed the whiskey, it had somehow managed to survive the chaos and it was still sealed, ready to drink. He came back out and offered it out to Leonard, standing on his feet as he squinted at the damage. "You gotta sot that out or it's gonna get infected. I ain't got nothing dry though." He crouched down and reached out, very gently touching the skin around the wound. "It's pretty deep."

Leonard took the whiskey from him and sat it down beside him so he could unscrew it. He took a sip before he stopped when Mick's fingers came close to his shoulder, pressing his lips together to keep from wincing or showing any other sign of pain. Force of habit. "Yeah, he went feral. Vicious. Guess that happens when you starve one of them."

"Shit. That's real nasty." Mick huffed a sigh and made his decision. He pulled his shirt over his head and started to rip off strips of it. He couldn't trust the closet right now and hell, he quite literally had shirts everywhere so it wasn't like this was his last one. They'd done this kind of thing on the job before, a fresh wound from a dodgy escape or some unexpected barbed wired. Mick used the strips and slowly started to bandage up Leonard with the only dry material he had. "The shirts clean, just put it on, I can always get another." Of course he just spend ages drying it but never mind that.

"You don't have to." He didn't protest loudly, just enough to make clear that he wasn't expecting this, not because he actually minded. Still such a fragile damn thing between them and he hated that, but he didn't really have much room to talk. So he simply sat up enough to make it easier for Mick to reach. "Closets are gonna start working again soon." At least if the pattern was as it had always been so far. He was looking forward to being dry again. He was also looking forward to passing out.

"Before this started, I talked to Lisa. About things."

"I hope so. I need to get some new clothes, booze and whatever else." Mick slowly bandaged around the wound, careful not to upset anything as he was gentle with what he was doing, carefully working the bandages into a nice position and tying them off. Years of practise and avoiding the doctor finally paid off. He looked at Leonard as he was working, raising an eyebrow slowly. He was sure how to respond to that. Like so many things with Leonard lately, he had a lot of doubt.

"You did? What things?"

"Future. The stuff I told you. Didn't want someone else that matters have to end up hearing it from a kid." Not that he'd wanted to tell Lisa, not that he wanted to burden her with any of this, but evidently this place wasn't big on giving him any choice in the matter. Leonard finally sat up, careful not to move his shoulder too much.

"Thanks." For the bandaging, that is. He looked at his shoulder, less to control how well Mick had done and more because these days it was sometimes easier not to look at Mick.

"We gotta start talking, I guess. Good time as any. May as well tell her you bite it and I get brainwashed." Mick shrugged, acting like it was nothing and not the think he'd been trying to drink himself to death over for the past week. Mick finished his handiwork and tightened it just a bit, just to help stop the bleeding. "No problem, I got you."

Mick sat back again and looked at Leonard for a moment before he huffed a laugh and shook his head. "It's weird. I want it to be less weird." Wait. Context. "Not here. Though that would help. I mean us. I hate it. It's all weird."

Leonard said nothing. He just forced himself to finally look at Mick again and then he reached up with one hand and cupped the back of Mick's hand, pulling him close so he could lean their foreheads together. He breathed out quietly, but Mick was close enough that he would be able to tell that it was a shaky breath. Too many pent up emotions and there was no way out of it. There was no way to help any of it, because it was inevitable, had already happened and would happen again.

They ought to be over and instead they were stuck here. A second chance, but living on borrowed time under precarious circumstances and with Mick and him having so much to work through was a mixed blessing at best.

"I take it you get what I mean." Given the reaction, it wasn't a shock. He leaned into the tough and sighed, closing his eyes as he reached out and ran his fingers idly through Leonard's short hair, resisting the urge to do much more because this whole thing was awkward. They didn't do talking well and physical contact was always dicey. This whole routine? It was tricky.

"It's gonna be fine. I know it. I just don't like it right now. And it's hard to make everything feel right when it isn't." Mick explained the best he could because that's all he could do. It was awkward, he hated it a lot. All he wanted was to have his friend back and instead, they were trapped in this cycle.

"I don't expect you to forgive me." Not period and especially not right away. It was part of why he had held back with telling Mick more, because the last thing they'd needed was for things to be even more complicated. Yet here they were and there was no taking it back.

Leonard was dead and somewhere inside him was fear of that reality and closer to the surface, always, guilt over what and whom he left behind. "It ain't right."

"Too fucking bad, I'm gonna forgive you. Just takes a few and it's hard cause now I gotta feel both pissed at you and sad over you and it's just ... It's giving me a headache." He pulled back from Leonard and growled dangerously, or it would have been to most people, Leonard knew his growled by now. He knew what they meant. It was just frustration and annoyance coming out. "You gave me a headache! And all these f-f-feelings!"

Mick finally spat out because he hated it. He hated having feelings. "I'm pissed but I'm getting there. I want it to be less weird. It's gonna be."

"Yeah." Maybe. Didn't really seem like it would be, but no one had asked for his pessimism here and it definitely wouldn't help matters. Leonard got up, refusing to use a hand to steady himself, instead simply wrapping the uninjured arm around his waist. "I'll go get a jacket from my room, check on people."

It was true enough and it was also true that he wanted space, that they probably both needed space, but Leonard chose not to voice that part out loud. Not as if they didn't know it. "Hit me up if you need something."

"I never need anything." Mick didn't get up, he just stayed on the ground and stole the whiskey he had given to Leonard, taking a swig from the bottle. "Hit me up if you want me. I'll do the same." And, because this was going a direction that would lead to more awkwardness and Mick was trying to avoid that, he just decided to add on a little extra.

"Get a fresh deck, we can play cards. Tomorrow. Bring food."

Leonard probably should have said something else as well, but at least he knew when it was better to shut up. So he simply gave a slight nod that could mean just about anything and left the room, closing the door behind himself. He walked over to his own room quickly, before he could decide whether he felt empty or hurt.

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