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Crow and Teuta are sick.
Shu supposes that should have been expected. The two of them had spent an awful long time stuck under the Atlantic. According to Mozu they’d actually gotten extremely lucky. Apparently Teuta’s supposed efforts of underwater CPR (or whatever Teuta had said she’d done, the jist he’d gotten was that she’d kissed Crow a few times to give him air) had saved Crow’s life. Shu… can’t lie and say he’s not relieved by that.
The incident hadn’t come without repricutions though. Teuta and Crow had both gotten hypothermia and while Teuta’s is mild enough that there's no reason to be overly concerned, Crow's case is… far more concerning. Particularly the fact that he keeps waking up with no idea what's going on or where he is. At one point he’d choked Teuta out and- well, to put it shortly things weren’t going well in regards to Crow.
Being the only one strong enough to fight Crow off (the hacker was shockingly powerful when he was really trying) Shu was relegated to Crow’s caretaker while the others juggled other tasks and caring for Teuta. At first, Shu had been frustrated about taking the job all by himself but now he’s… sort of glad. He doesn’t want the others getting hurt and he’s positive Crow feels the same way. Plus the guy’s pride is easily hurt as-is. The less people who see him as messy and vulnerable as he is now the better.
After the incident with Teuta they had opted to move Crow into his room, giving Shu all the supplies he’d need and a basic run-down of what he’d need to do. It seemed simple enough. Keep the guy warm, check his pulse and breathing every now and again and don’t let him do anything but rest. Of course though, Mozu had failed to prepare him for Crow waking up from time to time and not just becoming violent but basically rambling nonsense or just being overall confused. Shu would rather Crow try to choke him out then be forced to watch the hacker beg not to be killed for another ten minutes.
Shu wasn’t an idiot, he knew this all had something to do with Crow’s past trauma. They’d mostly glossed over it because it clearly wasn’t something Crow wanted (or was able) to get into specifics about but no one goes through seemingly years of torture without coming out a little fucked up after. In all honesty Shu is kinda shocked they hadn’t figured out Crow’s issues earlier, they seem obvious now in hindsight. The adamant refusal to even touch the pool, the way he choked down food as if someone were about to take it from him, the frankly excessive amounts of security around the house…
It all made a terrifying amount of sense now.
The two of them have never been particularly close. If anything, Crow had actually gotten on Shu’s nerves quite a bit before Teuta showed up. The guy had been fun to tease and he made himself useful when it came to work but Crow was also just… well, a bit childish. He was trusting and a bit eager to please and had a tendency to go into things without thinking them through first. They were all traits that had Shu seeing the guy as… well, a dunce.
And yes, Crow was a dunce but he was also far more perceptive and loyal then Shu had realized at first.
Now that Teuta is here and bringing them all together, Shu can see all the good traits in Crow that he’d previously ignored. While he’s never been the type to pay attention to little things it’s clear the supposed ‘boss of the underworld’ is. If he was asked, Crow could likely rattle off all kinds of things about each of them from their favorite food to what they liked to do in their free time just because one of them mentioned it off-handedly at some point. He was observant and Shu begrudgingly admired it.
A hand hitting him snaps Shu out of his train of thought as he tenses, preparing himself as he glanced over at Crow. The hacker doesn’t seem to be in an aggressive state though. In fact, Shu would almost say he seems cognitive. Reaching a hand up to rub his eye, Crow turned his gaze up to look at Shu. “...Shu? What's going on?”
Oh, so he is cognitive then. He should probably get Mozu… but Shu isn’t sure how long this will last and Crow deserves an explanation. If he was in the hacker’s shoes Shu knows he’d hate to be kept in the dark.
Pulling the lollipop out of his mouth (he figured smoking around a sick guy would be a dick move), Shu decides to give it to him straight. “You’re pretty sick, hypothermia. You kept getting violent so the guy’s made me look after you.”
“Violent?”
“Cool it, everyone’s fine. It’s only happened once or twice so for the most part it’s fine. You’ve spent most of your time sleeping, which Mozu said was a good thing.”
“I am pretty exhausted,” Crow admits, looking significantly more relaxed now. Shu is positive at this point Crow doesn’t remember choking Teuta and eventually they’re going to have to bring it up but… well, the guy’s sick as hell right now; it’s probably better if he doesn’t become more stressed then strictly necessary. “How’s Teuta?”
Not even shocked he asked, Shu leaned back in the chair he’d pulled up to sit beside Crow’s bed. “She’s sick too but less than you are, she’s just really exhausted so she’s been sleeping it off. How much do you remember? The last time I saw you responsive was early this afternoon and it’s almost midnight.”
Crow’s expression darkens considerably, gaze traveling up to the ceiling as he thinks. Between the sickness and the hacker’s seemingly recurring memory issues Shu wouldn’t fault him if he was feeling pretty awful. The underwater facility blowing up freaked him out and by all means he had it the easiest. He can’t help but wonder if things would have done differently if he’d been the one to stay and help Crow instead of Teuta…
Not that it matters now, what's done is done.
“I remember showing up,” Crow mutters eventually, sounding more subdued now. It reminds Shu eerily of Christmas night and he winces internally, Limbo had not been happy with him about that. “Dad is alive and… I don’t know, everything is sort of fuzzy after that? I know the place blew up and I got stuck underwater and Teuta kis- helped me but… well, I don’t really remember it.”
“Mozu has a running theory,” Shu says, “I had a hard time making heads or tails of it- you know how he talks. I think he was basically saying that your brain’s go-to response is to just block out traumatic shit but then it goes even further and starts blocking out whatever reminds you of that shit or even just stresses you out more than normal. Think he said you might have a water phobia too.”
“Well I could have told you that…” Crow sighs deeply, eyes drooping. He must be exhausted but something tells Shu that he’ll try staying up as long as he can, especially since they don’t know if he’ll be this aware the next time he wakes up. “I’m sorry for getting you wrapped up in all this…”
“Save it, we’re family or whatever, right? It’s like Teuta says, family helps family or… something like that. Point is we knew what we signed up for when we took this job so don’t worry so damn much.”
“...Thanks, Shu.”
“Sure.”