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Lambert's holding his arm when he gets back to him, but he frowns and pulls away when Eskel reaches out to him. A reflex, he knows, but frustrating nonetheless. Cautious, he takes a step toward him, upturning one hand and meeting Lambert's eyes.
"Let me see it?"
Lambert grumbles but eventually relents, not without a scoff, and releases his arm for inspection. Eskel turns it carefully in his hands and he can feel the sticky wetness of blood, but he can't see anything through the fabric.
"Can I?" he asks, raising his hands to Lambert's collar. It earns him another grumbling fine, but he's had years to adjust to Lambert's attitude and it barely bothers him anymore. And for Lambert, especially while he's injured, this is practically submission.
Eskel gets him out of his armour, pushing up his shirt sleeve to reveal the twin gashes on his forearm. Eskel sighs and winces in sympathy at the wounds. It can't have been pleasant, but that's what you get when you wrestle with a ghoul - Lambert’s just lucky it's not infected.
"It's gonna need stitches," Lambert mutters, looking down to where Eskel's fingers wrap around his arm.
"Yeah. I can do it if you want." Lambert shrugs and that's as much of an assent as Eskel thinks he's going to get. "Sit down."
Lambert sits and Eskel grabs his pack before settling behind him. He digs through it to find the few supplies he needs and lays them out next to him in the grass. He sets to work quickly lest Lambert's patience runs out, but finds he's actually much calmer than he'd expected.
The last time Eskel did this for him, Lambert was barely twenty and barely sat still long enough to keep from pulling his stitches out again almost immediately. Clearly, the years have done him some good, if only to keep him still. Eskel works carefully, doing his best to keep from pinching too much, but Lambert just sits there and takes it, albeit with a lot of grumbling.
Once he's finished, Lambert snatches his arm back and Eskel rolls his eyes, and rises to his feet, keeping a hand on Lambert's shoulder.
"Better?" he asks and Lambert grumbles a distorted yes, pulling his shirt back over his head. He rises up and makes to head back to camp but Eskel reaches out and wraps a hand around his wrist, tugging him back. He tips his chin, pressing a kiss to the back of Lambert's head.
"Be careful," he says, "please. We've lost enough, I don't need to lose you too."
Lambert grumbles, but the flush rising in his face belies him.