Chapter Text
"What are we even looking for again?" Ze huffed as he dragged his feet through the desert sand. Moe and Ze were both forcefully lugged out of their air conditioned house during a massive heatwave to go look for the the treasure that Regect was convinced was real. Knowing Regect, it probably wasn't.
"Dude, we've been over this like a million times, the treasure! I found a map of this desert and there should be treasure somewhere like really close to us." Regect buried his face into the map, slowly mumbling to himself and mouthing out words. He was tracing his finger over the map, likely looking for more specific directions than what the musty old map had to offer.
Moe was fairing decently well and didn't seem to take any sort of issue with the intense heat, as she eagerly bounced through the desert, enthusiastic to find whatever treasure they might find, real or not.
Regect was also unaffected the scorching heat of the desert, as he was engulfed in the map and what it contained, and he didn't seem to aware of anything else.
Ze on the other hand, was embarrassed to admit he didn't exactly do well in the heat. He had no clue how his friends were able to withstand it so easily without struggle or even any hint of discomfort. While it certainly puzzled Ze, he was more focused on himself — he was more disoriented than he probably should be. His vision was blended and as he walked, he staggered, almost tripping over his on feet on multiple occasions. His body felt heavier then it usually did, and if he didn't have company he would have just collapsed onto the hot sand, ready to face defeat. His heart beat was racing and he could practically feel it in his ears and even his fingertips.
Ze clutched his chest near his heart, desperate to slow his heart rate down.
"How are guys not over-heating..?" Ze groaned, pausing to catch his breath. Moe only honked, and Regect just laughed.
"Haha dude, there's no way you're actually affected by this heat," Regect giggled to himself. "That sounds like a massive skill issue." Regect turned his head back to his beloved map, burying his face in it once more. Ze glanced at Moe, who was still happily skipping over the sand, honking a quiet tune to herself. Ze looked straight ahead, wheezing now. His feet felt heavier than they did before, and his brain felt like it was being flushed down the toilet. It was a weird analogy, but it was the closest thing Ze could think of at the moment.
Ze was getting dizzier now, his head was spinning and the world around him seemed to tilt.
"Uhm… guys… I don't-" Before Ze could finish his sentence, his body gave in and he slammed to the sandy ground. The last thing he felt was the boiling sand before his vision went dark.
Ze's conscious felt like a slow, muddy river. He could kind of hear the world around him, but barely. For example : he could register that Moe was repeatedly honking, and Regect was yelling, but what they were saying, Ze wasn't sure. He couldn't make it out. Their voices seemed so distant — far away.
Ze groaned, shifting around where he was laying — it felt like a bed. A bed? He slowly cracked his eyes open, wincing when a florecent light met his eyes, seeping in through the window. What time was it? He slowly sat up, clutching his head. It felt like it had caved in, like it had imploded.
"Ze?! What happened man? What was that?!" Regect's booming voice struck Ze's ears like a semi truck going full speed, it almost sounded worried. Ze winced as he tilted his head up to lock eyes with Regect and Moe, who were standing on the other side of the room. Moe scurried over to Ze and threw herself onto him, honking over and over. If she had a tail, she would probably be wagging it. Regect just let out a long sigh, but he stayed unmoving, maintaining his standing position across the room.
Ze sniffled, and he flopped back onto his pillow as Moe pulled away.
"I feel like shit."
"And you look like shit too," Regect spit before adding, "loser.". Ze just groaned, shifting in the bed.
He sniffled again, staring at the ceiling. Ze wheezed before rolling onto his side. He didn't care of his friends saw him in such a vanurable state, he just wanted to sleep. Ze let his eyes drop and he let the voiced of his friends drown back out again into the muddy river that was his mind.
When he awoke once more, it was the middle of the night. The faint glow of the moon softly shone through a small window on the other side of Ze's room, illuminating the space. Ze could feel a cold towel on his forehead, and bandages wrapping around his arms and and stuck to parts of his face. He carefully reached over to his arm, gently grazing his fingers over it. He winced, quickly pulling back. Ze could feel his skin peeling underneath all those bandages. He must have one gnarly sunburn that would for sure be a pain in the ass to deal with later.
Ze shifted his body — or tried to. There was some sort of weight at the bottom of his bed, weighing his feet down. Ze groggily sat up to get a good luck on what was pinning his legs to the bed, only to find… Regect? Regect was curled up a the foot of the bed, resting ontop of Ze's feet. Ze would probably be more weirded out if he didn't notice how peacful Regect looked resting ontop of him. Ze carefully lifted the bottom of the blanket up with his free hand, drapping it over Regect's sleeping figure. He would need to make a note to harrass Regect about this in the morning.