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“Adol Christin. I leave the rest.. To you.”
Adol opened his eyes, having woken up in one of the Dandelion basement’s beds. His entire body and head ached. It felt like he’d been hit by a giant boulder; even breathing sent waves of pain all throughout his upper half. Not brave enough to sit up just yet, the young adventurer simply stared at the ceiling, thinking back on the events before he lost consciousness. His mentor’s last words rang through his brain. Aprilis… He couldn’t believe she was gone. He couldn’t save her…
A voice could be heard to the left of Adol.
“So you’re finally awake.”
Wincing through the pain, he slowly sat up and turned to face the person who had spoken. Leaning against the wall was Credo watching, his sharp eyes piercing through Adol’s. Before he could respond, the off-duty knight stood up straight and walked over to the bed.
“Out of all the reckless things you could’ve done.. And you decide to hide being sick ,” His voice seethed through his teeth. Credo was very obviously angry with his choice to keep quiet about his health. Adol couldn’t blame him.
“I didn’t want to worry any of you. It wasn’t that bad.”
“ Wasn’t that bad? You’ve been out cold for days, you had a damn fever Adol! ” the knight’s hands formed into fists, eyeing Adol up and down repeatedly before saying another word.
“It was bad enough on everyone that we lost Aprilis. If I-.. If we lost you at the same time,” his voice cracked ever so slightly as he spoke.
“Do you know how worried you’ve made everyone? Krysha has been panicking and crying constantly. Chante hasn’t gotten an ounce of sleep. Oh but it’s fine because you were only hiding it to protect us.”
“Credo…” Adol had a million things he wanted to say, but none of them left his mouth. Instead, he watched his companion begin to pace back and forth.
“You didn’t bother saying anything to even Saradhi. You better be fucking glad she was able to stabilize you.” Credo stilled, closing his eyes as silence echoed in the room for a moment. He knew Adol wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. He wasn’t sure what he was more upset over; Adol’s recklessness and lack of self preservation or that he nearly lost someone dear to him once again. The knight took in a silent deep breath and sat down on the edge of the bed, facing the adventurer.
“You cannot keep doing this, Adol. You are going to get yourself killed.”
Adol's gaze drifted to his blanket, Credo was right. If he was being honest, he never said anything because of everything else they’d been dealing with. The constant prison shenanigans, managing the Dandelion, dealing with Monstrum work.. He couldn’t justify taking a few days of doing nothing when there was so much to be done. When everyone else had their plates full already. He didn’t want to worry anyone with his problems. He didn’t want to worry the man in front of him.
Ignoring the jolt of pain, Adol held Credo’s hand with his own, squeezing it, and looked into his eyes. Despite the walls the knight would constantly put up, he could always see straight through them. “I’m sorry I worried you, Credo. For hurting you.”
“Tch. You owe an apology to Krysha and Chante, not me.” Credo rolled his eyes, trying to brush off any sign of readable emotion on his face.
His hand in tow, Adol pulled him in close to give him a small kiss on the cheek. “I owed one to you, too.”
Without a response Credo used his free hand to stop Adol’s head from withdrawing, placing his lips on the swordsman’s to reciprocate with an actual kiss. Both of their eyes closed and bodies relaxed as it lasted much longer than anticipated.
Adol was the one to pull away due to the waves of pain returning with a vengeance, Credo lingered on his lips as long as he could.
Eyes opened, Credo cleared his throat and stood up, patting down a few wrinkles on his pants. The adventurer laid back down, wincing from the movement.
“I’ll... go let Saradhi know you need more medicine for the pain,” He turned to leave the room but stopped short at the door frame, glancing ever so slightly at Adol laying down- whose eyes were still closed. A small smile appeared on his face as he left the room.