Chapter Text
Follo's envious of Rudo. The guy literally doesn't give a single shit what anyone thinks about him. He acts like an asshole and still somehow people like and even love him.
How? How does he get away with that? And on top of it all he can have any jinki he wants. He can activate anything. He is strong without trying and seems to never struggle.
It pisses him off that Rudo's a spherite who's utterly perfect and crashed into his life like this.
And yet.. why is he like this?
Follo went for a late night piss and found the spherite hunched over on the ground cradling his hands. It was dark and silent but despite that Rudo hadn't noticed him.
And Follo could see his scars and how he was trembling. This person he thought was perfect and had no flaws at all other than being angry was shaking with pain on the floor, unable to move.
He gets a warm rag and sits beside him, offering it to him. Follo can see him try to move his hands but it's like they are locked in place.
He runs the rag over them himself. Two parts inside of him are fighting one that is yelling, pissed, to leave him be and suffer because he deserves it. The other is empathetic and is saying something's really wrong. This isn't normal. There's more to him that he doesn’t know.
Rudo's trembling doesn't stop but it calms down slightly. His breathing is erratic, like he can't get enough air.
"Are you alright?"
The glare he gets can kill. "Yeah ok stupid question." Follo gets the rag warm again and sits beside him, running it over his hands.
He deserves this pain part of his brain says. Follo bats away that thought with a hammer. No one deserves this. Not even a spherite who has saved him a few times.
"Follo." Rudo says almost tiredly, his voice raw. "Cut my arms off."
What? What!? Follo looks at Rudo but he realizes the kid is in so much pain he's almost delirious. Shit, how bad is it?
Wait. His gloves. Where are his gloves? Follo looks around but doesn't see them. Oh fuck that was not good. "If you don't have arms you can't wear your gloves." Follo says as he gets up and checks around for them.
Shit. He's panicking now. Is Rudo in this much pain because he doesn't have them? "Rudo, where are your gloves?"
Rudo doesn't respond. He's pulled his arms close to his chest and is gritting his teeth. He’s breaking out in a cold sweat and his eyes are glassy.
Not good. Fuck. Follo checks the shower and his eyes snap down. Both gloves are there and are sopping wet with water, soap, and blood.
Follo wrings them out and goes back to Rudo. He doesn't see any blood on him which means it probably stopped.
The moment Rudo sees his gloves he tries to grab them and actually lets out a sob of pain.
All of Follo's hate for Rudo is completely gone. It shattered. All he sees is a tired kid fighting pain and anger all day every day to protect himself.
Follo helps Rudo put them on and leaves. He grabs a very specific pill that is to be used in emergencies. Eishia will be pissed but understand. He goes back to Rudo and makes him take it.
Rudos clinging to his gloves and looks pale. After he swallows the pill he leans against Follo. "Dont-- d.. leave--" Rudo sounds scared.
Shit, he had just left him alone after that, hadn't he? "I'm not going anywhere." Follo steadies him and waits. Slowly, like he is fighting it, Rudo falls asleep.
The pill forces someone to go unconscious but has some difficult side effects. Rudo really, really needed that even if Follo didn’t tell him what it did. He was sure if he told Rudo it would help him sleep, Rudo would have punched him.
Now he was going to take a piss like he wanted then continue to take care of Rudo.
Rudo wakes up warm. It hurts but everything is soft and feels safe. He can hear muted noises and buries his head into the heat to hide from them. He feels cocooned in a good way. Surrounded by a blanket.
It takes him a few minutes to really wake up. He nuzzles the warmth again and tiredly opens his eyes. It's someone's chest in a nice sweatshirt.
Rudo's head is blank. He can't think. He knows he needs to think but it's hard. They are talking to him but he can't make out the words. Rudo just accepts things are fine and he can sleep safely. So he closes his eyes and hides his face in the person's chest again, letting sleep take over.
Follo sighs as this is the third time Rudo's woken up but still looked out of it. He pets his hair gently as he watches Rudo doze off on him again.
Follo brought him to Eishia and she did what she could. She wasn't happy about the pill but knew Rudo needed it. And out of guilt.. stayed.
Thank fuck he did. The first time rudo woke up he was thrashing. Follo got a few bruises from it but when he hugged Rudo tight and kept him still instead of the opposite happening where Rudo would panic, instead Rudo relaxed and clung to him like a lifeline.
So Follo wrapped him up in a blanket and cuddled him. Rudo woke up a few hours later and looked absolutely out of it. Follo tried to talk to him to no avail. When Rudo nuzzled him, he fell asleep again.
And now this third time has happened. Rudo looked slightly more awake but repeated the second time.
It was like he'd wake up scared, then realize he was safe and fall asleep again. Follo didn't know how to feel about that.
So he held Rudo close and mindlessly watched Tv to pass the time. He didn't realize he fell asleep until Rudo's moving woke him. He tiredly looked at Rudo and sat up. "Ru?" Follo tried.
"S'hurts.." Rudo slurred out meekly. Almost like a child.
Follo knew Rudo was still really out of it. He reached up and brushed some hair out of his face. "How can I help?"
Rudo was trembling again. He shook his head. "M'fine.."
What a shit liar. Does he not want anyone to worry? "I don't mind. What do ya need?"
"Dad." Rudo said akin to a child on the verge of tears. "Wher's dad?"
Fuck. Follo was regretting giving Rudo that pill. It always made people delirious afterwards. But with how much pain he has been in... fuck. This was his fault.
"He's.. he's out. Went to get ya some food." Follo pulls Rudo close to him. "I'm not leaving your side okay? I got you."
He can feel Rudos shaking. It's not from pain. The kids terrified.
"N-no, no, off! Get o-ff." Rudo's voice cracks. "D-don't wanna curse you too."
Curse? Like, words? Follo wraps both arms around Rudo like a hug and big spoons him. "You're not gonna upset me Rudo. We are friends." He thinks. He hopes. Would Rudo even want to be his friend? Follo still resented Rudo in a way, but that lingering feeling is still fading.
Especially seeing how truly broken Rudo is.
"Don' have friends." Rudo mumbles out. "'M a disease.."
Follo hugs him tighter. Damnit. Wasn't spherite life like heaven? Why was Rudo sitting here spewing all of this like he was abused his whole life?
He had to have been his whole life. His brain helpfully supplies. This isn't normal trauma. It's built up over years.
Follo nuzzles into Rudo and closes his eyes. "Then I'll be sick with you. I don't care. I wanna be your friend."
Rudo’s quiet for a while. Follo can feel a wetness on the pillow but he doesn't dare move to look at the tears. "No.. 'm gonna kill you by accident too."
"No you're not."
Follo opens his eyes to see Rudos staring at his hands. His gloves. "Everythin' I touch dies."
He feels his heart plummet as a new realization smacks him in the face. Rudo.. can't activate every item like Follo let his rage said he could. It was just trash. Trash that was thrown out and only loved by Rudo. Of course Rudo gets upset by 'killing' items.
Follo reaches out and puts his hand on Rudo's glove, matching his fingers to Rudo's. "You do a lotta good things with these hands." Follo moves his behind the glove and guides it close to Rudo. When his arms are by his chest, Follo hugs him again.
"You protect all of us with them and fix so many things."
Follo can feel Rudo’s breathing slowly calm down just a bit, and his trembles are dying out. Not completely, but better. It’s progress.
"I'm not gonna leave you even if ya punch me. You deserve friends and love."
Rudo slowly rolls over and presses his face into Follo’s chest, curling into a small ball with his arms tucked close. "D.. don' leave again."
"'M not. I'll protect you, I promise." Follo rubs his back slowly. He feels Rudos breathing even out over minutes until it levels, slow and calm. Rudo’s asleep again, and most likely the next time he wakes up he will be fine.
"Don't be pissed at me." Follo mumbles as he keeps rubbing Rudo's back. That pill really should be used in emergencies for Rudo if it meant he reacted this way. He hoped Rudo wouldn’t be angry at him for that. Maybe he won’t.
Maybe they will be friends.
He’d like that.
For now he held Rudo and would protect his maybe-friend for the rest of his life just like the rest of their family.