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“Ren,” Doc said, lowering himself to the ground to sit in front of him.
Ren didn't react at all. It was as if he wasn't there.
“Ren,” he said again, softer this time, reaching out and gently touching his shoulder.
This time, he got a response. Ren flinched hard, scrambling back into the wall.
“Hey, hey. Ren. Ren, can you look at me please?”
Ren’s eyes snapped up to meet his and he felt his heart breaking. He was gonna kill whoever did this to Ren.
“It's me. It's Doc,” he whispered, and finally, there was a spark of recognition.
“Doc?” he asked hesitantly, the word barely discernible, muffled by the muzzle over his face.
“Yeah, yeah it's me. Can I touch you? I wanna get you out of those restraints and get that damn thing off your face.”
Ren nodded so hard that he started to feel his head spin a bit.
Doc leaned forward and reached out to undo the cuffs on his wrists and ankles, and immediately he began to scrape at the muzzle, looking for the release mechanism but scratching his face up with his claws in the process.
“Woah, woah, hey!” Doc said urgently, grabbing hold of Rens's wrists and gently shushing him when he let out a whine. He didn’t want Ren clawing his own face. “I'll get it.”
He waited a few seconds for Ren to stop pulling before letting go of his wrists.
“Okay, I'm gonna take that off your face, now,” he warned, reaching up to Rens's face.
Ren shuddered at the feeling of someone touching that godforsaken muzzle, but didn't move as Doc found the release and pulled it from his face.
Immediately Ren's hands went back to his face, gently this time though.
The muzzle was thrown aside and Ren lunged forward and crashed into him, burying his face in Doc's shirt as he wrapped his arms around the other.
As soon as he registered what had happened, his arms were around Ren.
“I've got you,” Doc reassured him, pulling him tightly against him. “You're safe, now.”
Ren didn’t reply, but after a few seconds, Doc felt tears soaking through his shirt.
“Are you hurt?” he asked softly.
Ren shook his head. “No, I’m- I‘m okay. Can we go?”
“Yeah, of course,” Doc said.
It took a bit of maneuvering, but he managed to stand them both up without letting go of Ren. Before he can protest, he picks him up.
He was exhausted, and as Doc started walking, he found himself drifting off.
The next thing he knew, there was the odd feeling that came from switching servers, and then there was an abundance of voices, too many, too loud.
His ears laid flat against his head and he turned his head further into Doc, who noticed immediately that he was uncomfortable.
“Hey!” he said, drawing everyone’s attention. “I know you’re worried, but please be quiet. He’s okay, I promise.”
A few people tried to say something but he cut them off.
“I’ll update you guys later, right now I’m taking him to go rest,” he said, before turning and heading towards his starter base.
“Thanks,” Ren mumbled.
And he let himself rest, and the feeling of safety from being back on Hermitcraft combined with the fact that someone he trusted was holding him sent him back to sleep even quicker than he’d fallen asleep before.