Chapter Text
Wars stood in front of a mirror, dressed in old Black jeans that had unintentional bleach stains from the laundry with a classic T-Shirt from some overpriced hiking store he forgot the name of under a beige, khaki colored chore jacket in which each time he counted the amount of pockets sewn on, he found a new one.
With both hands, he held two safari hats. One the same color of his jacket but a shade slightly lighter and the other a cactus green color that matched his shoes. While it probably made more sense to wear the green one as it was the exact same color as the decals on his sneakers, the beige was iconic in its own way. With a sigh, he stood conflicted in front of the glass while exchanging each hat over his head for a few seconds before swapping to the other.
"How many do you think I should bring?" Hyrule held up a small, tattered, cardboard box of film capsules protected by a hard plastic casing that Hyrule always struggled to open.
"I dunno, how many pictures are there in each one?" Legend started his answer with shorter follow-up questions as he adjusted one of the camera straps before wearing it and taking it off once again to readjust it. Almost a week ago, he had asked Hyrule to borrow a camera as he wanted to dabble in a new hobby himself. Today was the perfect chance to take it out to take a few photos of himself.
"Well it says..." Hyrule muttered while he flipped the box around to find his answer. "...36 pictures per capsule. What do you think? I bring both?" He briefly asked.
"I mean just because you're bringing both, doesn't you have to use both. Y'know that they're not going anywhere or whatever." He answered honestly. "Holy crap- You're right!" The other opened one of the flaps of the box and shook it a few times to coax the stuck plastic case to fall out to his waiting grip. Once he got one out, he carelessly shoved the flaps back in place and tossed the other remaining capsule that still remained in the box to his backpack.
Warriors stared at his phone as he searched up various ways to style a safari hat in search of a solution to his current dilemma. So far, he found various results of outfits that consisted of both a green hat and a beige top and vice versa. Not exactly what he was looking for. Maybe ditch the jacket? He thought in desperation. No, you paid good money for that. The jacket stays. He shut down his previous notion.
Bring both hats? Wars was extra, but not that extra. He was going to have to come up with a solution at some point. It's either beige or green. In a time like this, Warriors would usually ask a friend or something of that sort for a second opinion, but seeing how Wild didn't have a single care for matching clothes, Twilight was a plaid connoisseur, Wind never wore anything besides pyjama pants, and Four almost always had a jacket on, no matter the season. Not to mention Times sudden change of style and according to Wind, he had started to "dress like a dad". So instead, Wars was left with his own conscious to make that decision for him.
"...Almost got it," Hyrule muttered while he fidgeted with the dark grey plastic cap. It said "Push and Twist", was he really about to be bested by a child safety lock?
"Are you good over there?" Legend peered over to where Hyrule was slightly hunching over himself while struggling to pull the cap from the rest of the body apart.
"...No," He whined. "Wait, let me try." Legend held out his hand and Hyrule tossed it over to him.
"You aren't gonna get it man, I'll just ask Time or something- He knows how." Hyrule defeatedly claims.
"Ah- Got it!" He proudly holds up the opened capsule in one and the cap in the other.
"Only 'cause I loosened it," Hyrule mutters as he looks away but still very gratefully, accepts the offering.
"CAN YOU ALL HURRY THE HELL UP?!" Wind cups his hands in front of his mouth and yells from the bottom of the stairs. "HELLO????" He hollers impatiently.
"CAN IT, WON'T YOU?" Legend yells back before looking at Hyrule for a split second before wrapping the last of their delayed preparations up. Instead of tying his laces, Legend just tucks them in his shoes and Hyrule zips up his backpack as he speedwalks out the room and down the stairs, just to show that he's really there, and to shut Wind up. But mostly to shut Wind up.
Warriors internally curse at himself as he still hasn't made his final choice yet, and in rushed thinking, he simply picks up the green hat from his bed as he runs out the room.
"We're here, we're here!" Legend quickly says before Wind yells yet again.
"About time," He haughtily says. "Time's been waitin' for y'all for like- forever." Winds job was done, so as before Legend was about to exchange a few petty words back, Wind turned on his heel and went back to inform Time about his job well done.
Wind sneaks up to the car window at the driver's seat, which is where Time resided and waited.
"Wind," Time greets again as he rolls down his window. "Did you get them?"
Wind fake solutes, "Sir, yes Sir!" From where Wind stood, Time spotted Legend, Hryule, and Wars walk together while conversing.
"Thank you. You can get in now, they're here." He rolls the window backup and after a brief nod, Wind runs back to his seat, next to Four and Sky.
After a few moments, he checks to make sure all the doors were properly closed, and adjusts the gear shift before reversing out of the driveway.
"Finally, we're here!" Wars grunts as he stretches while waiting for everyone else to get out the van.
"Damn, this trip really broke you?" Four sidles up to stand next to Wars.
"Ugh, yeah. I'm still sore from yesterday," He winces while flexing his shoulder a bit.
"I see..." Four stoically says while he gazes off to where Twilight has Wind in a chokehold while Time casually converses with Twilight.
"D'ya think it's gonna rain today?" Four looks up at the sky, muddled with clouds, leaving everything with a slight greyish hue.
"Lovely." Wars spat. "God, my hair is going to look horrendous today." He groans into his hands.
Four doesn't know much, but still makes an effort to show that he's listening by simply humming in agreement.
"Oh- They want us." Four tugs at Wars sleeve, who is still busy sulking over the loss of his styled hair all thanks to nature.
"Right." Wars returns back to the land of the living before following Four to the others, who had already begun their journey into the mouth of the forest.
Contrasting to the blazing heat from the sun's glare yesterday, the forest was damp, muddy, and had a small chilled breeze that had Wars pulling his jacket tighter over himself. It was kind of an interesting sight, to see how yesterday he had just been convincing Wind to put some sunscreen on. He looked up at the clouds in search of whether the weather had improved or not, but it was no good, as they were completely engulfed in leaves from the very tops of the trees, making it near impossible to figure out what was going on out there. Wild had found himself trying to not trip over all the rocks and over-ground tree roots and with the biggest smile on his face, Wind was sliding around the place without a single care if he fell face-first into a pile of mud. Four silently walked next to Time, who was struggling to not walk into a branch while Four was able to successfully avoid those threats as they were all way farther over his head. Being short has its perks.
Legend was aimlessly snapping photos away from the ground, the tree bark, those walking ahead of them, his shoes, and the covered sky that created a silhouette of the leaves, creating black splotches that contrasted with the grey background. Hyrule was also taking photos, but with much more thought than Legend. He didn't want to burn through all his film at the very beginning of the trip! So, he had to find the perfect picture to take.
They followed the damp wooden signs with chipped edges and fading paint that pointed to various directions. This was easier said than done though. Hyrule claimed that the sign had so much "story to convey" that he had to stop and take a few shots at it. Legend joined in, but just for the fun of it. Wind was diving behind trees and under branches to upscale his rock collection, and when he rubbed the mud off the stone, each one was prettier than the last. And so, before pocketing them all, he went over to Legend, who was more than happy to try out his micro-shot setting by capturing the details of each sediment of the rock. Four had grown quite impatient himself as he was done waiting with the others. Without second guessing himself, he went over to Time and muttered a few words of his departure before diving into the nearest escape opportunity he had.
"Bye." Was all he said, not caring whether Time had heard or not. But apparently he did, as Four was about to get eaten by the leaves, he heard Time reply with "See you later...?". Four waved without looking back and went wherever the wind took him. It wasn't easy to get lost either, there was a clear path of where people must have walked over it countless of times, as well as the signs that were all in sight of the next. So Four let himself get lost in nature.
He walked in one direction that was farthest away from everyone else, without a single idea of what may be waiting for him on the other side of the tree, under the rock, or even behind him. He stayed at a steady pace, really taking in the scenery of the woods just to up his descriptive language. Four found that it was much easier to write about somewhere he went, or saw rather than something he has never experienced before. He took in the buzzing of the cicadas, the rustling of the leaves in the wind, the crunching noise that was in time with his footsteps, the sibilanting of his windbreaker, and the hushed murmurs of flowing water, that grew louder as he searched for the source of it. It was a lot like when you were a kid, and you played this subgenre of hide-n-seek in which someone would describe something with the terms "hot" and "cold". Four felt as if he was getting warmer and warmer to the target. A certain point, Four was dangerously hot in this little game, as the cascading sound was just right there. He squinted his eyes, and barely, just barely, found the glistening descent of water.
He turned around to find that everyone else was taking the pathway there, and Four had just found a shortcut. And so, with the short-lived moments to himself he had, he simply came in peace and sat on one of the only dry rocks, as all the other ones were dripping wet from the waterfall. He fidgeted with his jacket drawstring while his eyes followed the others as they trailed the path, watching them disappear behind the wall of greenery for a split second before reappearing once again. Similar to a scratch in a vinyl, one second it's playing, the next, it skips ahead. The same way that Four can identify who everyone is, from the bright yellow, mud splotched, unzipped raincoat Wind had on, to the army-green colored hat Wars was wearing, all disappeared on the other side of the leaves, but once they had come out of the interval, Four was able to recognize them all again.
Four took in the ripples of the clear river water that beautifully unsheathed the view of the algae-covered rocks that changed the direction of its current from one clear path, to many smaller, streams that looked like bumps in the surface of the river.
"...And then, I was sick for a week! Can you believe that?!" Four heard Wind's voice in the background.
"I don't think any of us are surprised," He heard Sky laugh.
"Did you learn your lesson at least?" Hyrule asked.
"Nah." Wind shrugged.
"Hey guys," Four waved at the few who noticed him.
"Four!" Hyrule ran over to give him a small side hug. "Woah, what's up with the hug? You good, man?" Four slightly leaned into the hug. "I was wondering where you went, I even checked under the rocks for you!"
"Shut up," Four smiled, despite the vexed tone in his voice.
"I can't believe you left me out there with those idiots!" Legend feigned his betrayal, hand up to his heart and all.
"Oh come on, they aren't that bad." Four lightly pushed Legend.
"*GASP* -WATERFALL!!" Wind yelled out as soon as he noticed probably the largest thing in the entire pitstop they were taking.
"See what I mean?" Legend raised an eyebrow and pointed his thumb behind his back.
"Okay, maybe you're right." Four laughs briefly, that sounds more like an exhale.
"And check it out, even the Pretty Boy has lost his mind!" Legend announces that from the corner of Four's eye, he can see Sky holding Wars shoulders at arm's length, while he miserably speaks his mind about the climate while gesturing to his wet, messed up hair, sticking to his face while being hidden under his hat. Sky tried his best to comfort Wars in this time of need, but it was really hard to take him seriously with all that smudged eyeliner.
"Pssh, he looks like a reject from some emo band," Four snorts. Legend all but cackles while Hyrule muffles his laugh behind the back of his hand.
"Oh man," Legend wipes a tear from his eye before looking back at Wars, who is straight up pouting while adjusting his hat, and bursts into laughter once more.
"Anything else I miss?" Four attempts to break Legend out of his laughing fit.
"Oh yeah- Wild is lost in the sauce." Legend casually says.
"Whuh?"
"What he means is that Wild is completely lost in an audiobook" Hyrule translates to Four.
"That's- Huh?" Four suddenly feels drops of water on the side of his face. Is it raining? No, the others would find out first anyway.
He looks to the left to find that Twilight and Wind are knee-deep in the river that was once calming, with peaceful currents that were now obstructed by the two. They were splashing water on each other and to anyone else who was in the "splash zone". Which of course, was Four. They briefly stopped for a second which raised Four's hopes by the slightest. But it was just a pause on Wind's request who stripped his raincoat off and threw it, landing right on the side of Four's leg, causing it to get his jeans all wet and cold and muddy. Great.
"That's tragic, man." Legend watched the entirety of Four's chronicles. From the first few drops of water, to the entire coat.
"You just witnessed the epitome of my luck." Four said without any emotion. He was so desensitized to the slander that he didn't even care anymore.
"What the hell?!" Hyrule was loudly laughing. "This is like some sitcom! Like what's next- Legend says, 'Well that just happened'? This can't be real!"
"I wanna go home," Four jokingly whines. Hyrules laughter is just too contagious as it immediately coaxes Legend to lose his composure as well.
"Jokes aside though- How much longer are we going to stay here for?" Four genuinely wonders outloud.
"Beats me, you could ask Time though. Also, I kinda advise you to get out of here before you get soaked." Legend gestures to Time, who is sitting on a log with Sky and Wars, who is trying to help Sky console and cheer Wars up. "Alright. See ya!" Four hops off his makeshift seat and picks up Wind's coat - as it was tangling up with Fours boots - before carrying it with him. Legend observes Four strike up conversation while he shakes it dry a bit before holding it above his head, like a shawl or cloak and gestures it to Wars, who is still conflicted in coming to terms with his hair.
"So how's the picture taking going?" Hyrule makes a motion to also distance himself away from the now-soaked rock. "Hm, it's goin' alright I guess." Legend also takes heed to Hyrules actions and transpose away from the nature-made stool.
"Yeah? I bet you got some good shots in there," He vaguely compliments.
"You wanna bet on it?" Legend challenges.
While it was probably more logical for Hyrule to be Legends "mentor" in a way, he was also not one to back down from a challenge either.
"Sure." Hyrule huffs, and the verbal handshake settled it all.
"Okay- um... To begin our first competition! Yes!" Legend trips over his words for a bit, but picks himself back up. "We can take pictures of... Water!" He hits the side of his fist against the palm of his other hand.
"Okay, deal." Hyrule smirks. Of course he's going to win this one, he knows all about the right setting, shutter speed, and other tips and tricks that will surely put him at an advantage by a mile.
But then again, he was also at an extremely stark disadvantage, he mainly relied on film for this trip, meaning that his shots weren't disposable and he only had so many attempts. On the contrary, Legend was mainly using digital, which meant that he could take as many shots as he desired. Unsure if Legend noticed the logistics of their competition or not, Hyrule took a deep breath and hoped the odds were on his side. He'd probably never show his face again if he lost. On Legends' end, he was determined to win. "To hell with the odds!" He'd say. It only made his victory more satisfactory. Plus - Imagine how impressed Hyrule would be! Oh, he was so going to win this.
Wind and Twilight hadn't stopped once in their extremely fierce splash fight, neither of them a coward great enough to surrender, but not a fighter strong enough to win and settle it once and for all. And so, contrary to how cool they must have felt, everyone else was simply waiting for them to burn out their extra energy as they weakly sent a few drops of water to the other and flinched when they retaliated with a very pathetic "Eh!".
The two camera-wielding competitors stood on either side of the shore of the small lake with baited breath and as stationary as they could make themselves, they waited and watched for the perfect moment to click the shutter. Legend was going for a perfect shot of one of them mid-attack, as it sent droplets of water flying in different directions. Hyrule on the other hand, was taking a different approach, he instead eyed the ripples on the surface of the water, waiting for when the plethora of ripples clashed into one another, distorting the surface even further.
They separated themselves from their surroundings from how attentive they were staring at the moving water. Unbeknownst to them, Warriors wasn't the only one who was going through a tough time around these parts. And all it took was a muffled sneeze, and the saga began. For a reason beyond his greatest thought, he was one to get sick easily. Too easily. At first he had believed it were allergies, as the symptoms he felt were extremely namesake to them, but given as he was never diagnosed told him to think twice about that theory. For the benefit of doubt, he was also convinced that it didn't have much to do with his immune system either. There was seriously no way that he could get sick just from sitting outside. Either way, this was the time in which he all but prayed that - whatever it was - went away soon. Although he'd have to ask Wars for some Panadol as this was the recipe for disaster, otherwise known as a migraine.
"Are you good over there?" Time now had to look over Wars, who was still down in the dumps, and Four, who was in what he called "The Twilight Zone"; Not sick enough to call himself sick, but sick enough to know that whatever he's feeling - Can't be right.
"What? Oh yeah." Four sniffles.
"Well you don't look like it." Warriors slightly chides. Extremely rich coming from a guy with wet, sopping hair sticking to his face and smudged eye makeup.
"Wars, please tell me you got the "Cold 'n Flu" ones." Four all but begs.
"Hmm, can't say I have... Sorry," He slightly winces.
Four looks up at Time, with a slight pleading look on his eyes. "Fine- I'll go to the store," He deadpans. How many more times was he going to have to make a quick pitstop to the store because someone forgot something?!
Four smirks, but there's no sourness in his expression. Time takes it as an unsaid "Thank You" from him.
After a few miserable sneezes from Four against his own will, Wind and Twilight decided to end things on a truce while there was no hint of a ceasefire between Legend and Hyrule. Oh no, those two were only getting started. With wet and shivering hands, the two decide to shake on it, and both nearly trip while they trudge through the water and back to the others, like the best friends they were, who never fought whatsoever.
"You guys done?" Wars crossed his arms while he looked at the two up and down with a raised eyebrow.
"Yup!" Twilight gestures a thumbs up. "Hey Wars, you seemed a bit troubled... Want a hug?" Wind mischievously grins, sopping wet, and slightly smeared in mud. Oh hell no. As much as Wars loved Wind's lively personality, and attempts at comfort, he wasn't going to hesitate to roundhouse kick him in the face.
"Don't you dare, you little freak." He playfully warned.
"Oh Four~" Wind turned to Four, who was hoping that he blended with the surroundings, and went unnoticed from Wind's wrath.
Four stopped wiping his nose on his sleeves to look up at Wind with the most serious expression he could muster. "I'll kill you."
"How about we worry about this at home hm?" Time interferes for both Wars' and Four's sanity. As well as Wind's sake, as he was pretty confident that Wind was probably going to get sucker punched by either of the two. "Also- I'm sure this forest has more to offer. Don't you want to see it all?" He was gently tempted.
"Aye aye captain," Four slurred as the building headache drove into him. Time shot him a look of mixed worry and confusion.
"I got him- Don't worry." Warriors pulled both himself and Four up, wrapping his arm around the shorter one's shoulders, coaxing him to lean into the support a bit more.
Time nods in thanks before shortly leaving after to wrangle any wanderers. Legend was right- Wild was lost in the sauce. Supposedly his book was just too interesting that he found himself somewhere completely different. Had he wandered into another dimension? Not really- In reality, he was just behind a large tree, apparently babysitting Sky, who was crouched on himself, and snoring softly.
Without much trouble, Time was able to drag everyone back with the others. Similar to herding sheep, he once thought a while back. Either way, they all continued the path through the heart of the forest, without any knowledge on where they were headed for next. To his surprise, in this little trek they had, no one had made much detours. Four was leaning further and further in Wars' side, making it increasingly trickier for him to balance them both. But he could always manage. As for Wild, it seemed that he had either lost durrant interest for the book, or his headphones died, as he was at the very anchor of the group, chatting away to Sky while he tried to shake himself out of his fatigued state.
Time found himself lost in his thoughts for a while. From being focused on the natures sounds, to counting his footsteps at a steady tempo, to turning his head around occasionally for a headcount of the usual troublemakers. What pulled him out of his altered state of consciousness was a cut of shriek from one of the others. It was almost as if his body was running on autopilot, as he turned around at such an instant before his mind could even process what had just happened. Warriors' quickly stopped in his tracks, nearly letting go of Four from his embrace, which almost dropped him. To the left of Wars was probably the most horrifying sight he had ever seen. It was a spider the size of his face, eight thin legs that were inordinately long. It was simply resting on a huge web, interconnecting two trees. It seems that his nervous system had chosen the "flight" part of fight-or-flight as while holding on to Four, he sprang back a few spaces, cowering behind Four, who was too muddled to realize what was going on and just let it happen to him.
Time had also lightly jumped after seeing the size of that thing. Whatever Twilight had said about how beneficial spiders were for the environment, hadn't been thrown out the roof, but launched into orbit. Someone passed him the pesticide right now.
"Okay I'm out." Legend grabbed Hyrule by the arm and stormed off, trying his hardest to hide his fear of the comically sized insect. Sky followed the two, constantly looking back at the threat as if the spider was a weeping angel, and dared to move while he looked elsewhere. Wars was already far ahead with Four, walking slowly not just out of fear, but out of Four's hazy mind while Wind felt as if his soul left his body and sucked back down with a vacuum cleaner. "I think I saw God..." He gaped while still frozen in place.
Twilight seemed to be the only one who was bothered by this predator. Wild on the other hand was one more inconvenience like this from passing out. "Maybe if we move very, very quietly it won't notice us." Wild whispered while sidling further away from it, the others following his words and also moving away from the spider until someone had made a wrong move and stepped on a twig, snapping it in half in the process and alerting the creature. And in return, the only movement that no one had wanted to ever witness had just occurred. The spider jerked in the blink of an eye. "RUN!" Wild yelled and took off, followed by Twilight. At an instant, Time lifted Wind and held him under his arm and sprinted like never before. Sure they were faster than the spider, but it had more legs. And Time wasn't in any mood in testing out that theory.
Wars and Four were already at the end of the path, catching their breath for two very different reasons. Warriors' heart must have skipped a few beats, and Four was already out of breath from walking at a normal pace as his allergies crept further up his body. Wars turned around at the sound of many footsteps, hoping that it wasn't the scattering and scattering of the creatures' many legs on the forest floor. Instead, it was Legend and Hyrule who got beat in the non established race by Twilight and Wild, who were dashing at a synchronized speed with pure terror in their eyes who were anchored by Time, running in an extremely articulated fashion while he held Wind up like an explorer who had just stole a temple's treasure and set off maybe 50 traps.
"Woah woah woah what happened?" Wars asked as he identified the shell-shocked expression shared on all their faces. Wind made a soft noise of distress and Time returned him back to his feet, but he fell to his knees soon after.
Twilight was wheezing while leaning his back against a tree while Wild crouched over himself as he didn't want to even touch anything nature related. He's seen enough.
"It moved Wars. The spider moved." Wind whimpered with such horror tainted to his voice.
"I don't think I can ever recover from this." Wild was almost close to tears and was stoic as he tried to process their near-death experience.
Warriors simply laughed and hefted Four upwards once again, as he was melting in his arms. "Sounds like fun!" Warriors were on the expressway getting punched in the nose, but to be fair, the recent events were kind of funny. All it took was a resting, but terrifying insect to throw everyone off the charts. Even Time had lost his bearings. They all sheepishly laughed that held a slight undertone of what felt to be waning fear and crept unsettledness. Either way, adding humor to anything can lift the weight off it. Even Four was stifling a laugh on Wars coat, unaware of what was even so funny. "Alright time to take you home," Wars noticed the incoherence in Fours usual personality, and that look in his eyes that made it obvious that there wasn't a single thought going on in his mind.
"I agree." Time was still smiling, "The faster we get back, the faster I can get him medicine." Time gestured at Four, who was seemingly lost in a trance, and sliding the zipper tab up and down the zipper track on Wars' jacket.
Unlike just a few moments ago, they strolled along the route in tandem, mainly because unbeknownst to Four, he was the one who regulated their usual fast-paced tempo into slow, languid steps that rippled the crunches of leaves on the ground due to the fact that he was too drowsy to keep going, and if he was going to have to move, then he was going to move slow, so be it. The others didn't really mind either, especially since the majority had burnt all their stamina zooming past the forest in alarm. It didn't really matter, as long as that thing wasn't trailing them.
They searched for the van in the quickly darkening sky, which was still mostly grey as the sunset was hidden behind the clouds. Predecessor to how it had been shielded the whole day. The moment Wind pinpointed it's location, they all sped up their trail, even if it meant that Wars had to haul Four with him and still catch up with the others with all the extra added weight from Four snaking his arms around Warriors waist and latching on with no intention of letting go.
Due to their increased swiftness, they had reached the van in almost no time and Wars was finally going to free himself from the other who was quickly burning up. "Um guys... Is it just me or is it getting really toasty around here?" Warriors tugged the collar of his shirt a few times. With a furrowed brow, Time leaned in a bit closer to rest the back of his palm on Four's head, who with very delayed reaction, slightly flinched away.
A while ago, Four had informed Time of his inconvenient "allergies" and the usual sickness it has brought alongside it. So, he was no stranger to having to deal with Four. Although the fever was something he hadn't mentioned in the slightest. Allergies or not, Time wouldn't strike himself as the guy to pin it as "Not his problem". So it seems that he was going to have to first get Four home and properly rest - even if he was mostly comfortable on Warriors side - and some of the medication he mentioned before his mind completely got lost in the fog.
Speaking of which, Warriors was slightly struggling to untangle Four from him - so he could get them both in their seats - which to his dismay, only caused Four to tighten his grip, and show a little resistance to Wars' efforts. Luckily for him, Wild noticed and came to the rescue, whispering simple words to Four just to persuade him to let go of the other and drag himself into the car seat. Somehow though, it worked, and Wars took it as the green light to launch himself into the front seat, lock his door, and glue himself to the seat with the seatbelt, tugging on it a few times just to make sure he was fully secure.
For a few obvious reasons, today had completely tuckered everyone out to the point that they were too quiet to hold any conversations. Even Wind was dozing off while hiding under the hood of his coat that he stole back from Warriors. Warriors himself didn't fidget with the radio, which was truly seldom. Infact, he actually treasured the silence. Whether it meant no one had turned the radio, or all and any conversations were benched, the hushed tone was exactly what he needed.
Without announcement from Time or Warriors, they had made the usual final right turn into their driveway, and shifted their slow driving speed to a complete halt. The sudden pause of movement was more than enough to awaken any others who were attempting to succumb to their fatigue. Even getting Four back out of the car wasn't all that tricky, mostly considering that it was Wars who had volunteered to do it. Hence, Four floated back to him like a magnet while mumbling something that Wars wasn't quite sure meant. They were the last to get into the house, which meant that they had to walk around the house in complete silence for a bit while Warriors searched for the door. This of course lured Four into the promise of a deep sleep even further, which only made things trickier for Wars.
Without any sidetracks, he thankfully found the door and heaved them both in, immediately following up the stairs and into Wars' and Time's room rather than Four's. It looked like the two were in charge of taking care of him this evening. He also didn't want to bother Wild and Twilight as he saw himself regularly barging in to check with Four. Without much struggle as before, coaxing Four to rest in Wars' bed was a task that was done just as easily as it was said. Using the technique he saw Wild demonstrate earlier, he muttered sweet nothings and promises to the other, before hiking the blanket up to his waist, unsure of whether the added heat was beneficial or harmful to Four considering his rising fever.
He took this time to himself to shower so he could change into a more softer set of clothes, but it was mainly because he'd have trouble sleeping if he was aware that his hair wasn't laying right. This was also the only time of day in which Wars wasn't so hyper focused on fashion either. It was when he wore the classic matching set of cotton striped pants and button up. But before he could hit the hay and join Four, there was still quite a bit to do. Time shot him a text saying that he went to the pharmacy to get the cold medicine he had promised Four - and himself -.
After spending a few long minutes trying to convince Four out of the bed, he finally got the other to be awake enough to take a bath and change into something more appropriate, as it was more than obvious that jeans and a slightly damp windbreaker were not the most ideal choice for nightwear. Wars reached for the light switch and dimmed the lights before returning back to his seat on the bed. It was the type of lighting that was bright enough to see where they were going but still had its tranquil qualities that made the mood of the room ideal for resting. While Warriors listened to the telltale noise of the shower water running, he sat at the edge of his bed, answering a few texts he had slept on the night before while recalling that he quite literally passed out that day. As he answered the last of the texts, the room door cracked open, and Time greeted with a slight smile and held up the plastic bag that held Four's medication while slightly shaking it, as one would jiggle keys.
"Hey." Wars closed his phone and leaned over the bed, placing it on the side table.
"Hello Warriors, where's Four? I checked in with Wild and Twilight and they said he was with you." Time plucked the small box of pills and a water bottle from the plastic bag, crumpling it and tossing it into a miniature trash can that resided under a small table next to a chair that looked identical to the ones in the kitchen.
"Oh yeah, Four's stayin' with us today. Something tells me that he'd sleep easier on my bed rather than his." Warriors shrugged.
Time twisted open a small bottle of water and placed it next to Wars' phone, alongside the packaging of pills. "Hmm, that's nice of you." Time hummed before sliding his shoes off.
"Speaking of which- Where's Four?" Time looked down a bit, in case he completely missed the one in question.
Warriors answered. "Taking a shower-" And in comedic timing, Four slowly pulled the door open, hair slightly disheveled from the towel drying and clad in he softest pair of pants he owned, and a sweater that was worn well above its lifespan, but loved it too much to part ways with the top.
He greeted the two with a small wave and a sleepy smile, before dragging himself to Warriors' bed. Before he made any motion to wrap himself in the blanket, and allow himself to get cocooned and tangled up in it, Time gestured to the water and box on the table, which Four gratefully accepted by shifting on the bed sheet towards the items. Without leaving the comfort of the plush surface, he popped two pills out of the plastic casing and downed them with a swallow of water before shifting once more to lay back down and attempt to pull the blanket over him. He whined in failure as Warriors were sitting on one of the corners. Warriors cooed with an apologetic tone to his voice, and moved so that he laid next to Four, while the other regularly moved around, as no matter what fashion he was sprawled in, it was always uncomfortable in some way.
Warriors watched with a saddened look to his eyes before meeting his gaze to Fours, his expression lightened as he slightly lifted his arm up in invitation to the other, who all but dove into the waiting embrace. He pulled the blanket from behind his back up to his shoulders and rested his head on the crook of Wars' arm while hiking up his leg to the other's thigh. And all Wars could do was watch as his heart melted while Four made himself home on the other. In return, he marginally tightened his hold on Four, resting the arm on his back while vaguely pulling him closer and finally, leaning his head on the other, who was already far into sleep before his own breath slowed and he found the creeping exhaustion washing up further and further to the front of his mind like a advancing wave in the ocean.