#vagueandominousvibes

Red sat next to him on the bench, tear tracks drying on his face. Blue... Blue should probably be comforting him, but he wasn't—  Goddesses, Green was the one who was good at this, but Green was—

(He'd been so limp in Blue's arms. Eyes open and moving but not... present. Staring at Blue like he didn't recognize him.)

Across the room, Shadow wouldn't stop fidgeting. Switching between sitting, pacing, hovering upside-down. He was the reason the healers had kicked the three of them out of the room, Blue thought bitterly. It wasn't like the infirmary didn't have the space, but the constant movement probably annoyed the healers, and Blue couldn't blame them. He wanted to snap for Vio to go calm Shadow down, but Vio was the only one who'd been allowed to stay in there with—

The door opened, and Blue was on his feet before he even registered Vio's voice saying "He's going to make a full recovery."

Vio stood in the doorway, Green at his side. Green was leaning heavily on Vio's shoulder for support, but he was upright. He stared blearily around the room with a crease between his brows, as if the waiting area were a puzzle he was trying to solve.

"It seems he was hit with some variety of confusion spell," Vio continued, "but Blue caught him before he could hit his head, and the spell should wear off on its own within—"

"Blue! Red! Shadow!" Green shouted suddenly, face brightening as if he'd only just noticed they were there. Vio winced at the loud noise right by his ear.

"—within about twenty four hours," Vio finished.

"Blue!" Green repeated. "Could you hold me? Please."

He pushed himself away from Vio without waiting for an answer, swayed for a moment, and once again began to fall. For the second time in as many hours, Blue caught him.

"You give good hugs," Green mumbled into Blue's shoulder as Blue, grumbling, got them both mostly upright again. "You don't like to admit it, but we know—" He poked Blue's chest as if for emphasis. "—we know you're really a big softie."

"Yeah, well." Blue could feel his face burning. "Don't go telling everyone."

"Your secret's safe with me," Green replied, or at least that's probably what the slurred "yr s'rs sfwm" was supposed to be.

A click sound went off.

Blue jerked his head around to glare at Shadow, who was holding a pictobox and grinning. A few sparks of dark magic still drifted in the air around him, indicating he'd just teleported.

"Yeah Blue," he said, as he handed the device to Red. "It's just between the five of us. And anyone who ever looks at Red's scrapbook."