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In the beginning, Lukey had been confused why Pangi had chosen an ice biome for their shared base. After all, it was a well known fact that Lukey hated the cold. It reminded him too much of the eternal chill that had lingered in the Null. Even now, many years and worlds later, he hadn’t been able to shake the feeling.
Pangi had somewhat convinced him that he had his reasons, yet had evaded telling Lukey any specifics. “I hope you never have to find out”, he had dismissed Lukey’s insistent questions, not budging no matter how much Lukey pestered him.
It all became horribly clear on a random afternoon. Lukey had been in the base, working on a new gear set after having lost his last one to a death for what felt like the hundreth time. Pangi, meanwhile, had been out. Exploring, as far as Lukey was aware.
The quiet atmosphere of the base was suddenly interrupted by something heavy slamming against the front door. Lukey froze where he stood on the upper floor, enchanting his armour. Was this a base raid? Were they being attacked right now?
Help! Someone’s at the base, he quickly texted Pangi, mind racing. He couldn’t run and there were no viable hiding spots up here. Why had he never gotten around to brewing those invis pots? They were literally his best bet in a situation like this.
“Open the door! It’s me, you idiot”, a familiar voice called. It was undoubtedly Pangi, but Lukey had never heard him sound like this before. There was a strain to his voice, like he was talking through clenched teeth or something.
Lukey hurried down the ladder quickly. He briefly considered that this might be a trap, but dismissed the idea immediately. Why would anyone take on the better fighter between him and Pangi just to get to him? It made no sense at all.
Pangi stumbled inside the moment Lukey pulled open the door. He looked – he looked fine. There was no blood, no ripped clothing, none of the signs of a fight Lukey had grown painfully accustomed to. Though for some reason, his shirt was missing.
Yet, on a closer look, something was definitely wrong. There was sweat beading on Pangi’s forehead and his eyes looked glassy and unfocused. A feverish blush glowed on his cheeks.
“Pangi, what’s wrong? What happened?”, Lukey questioned urgently as he guided his teammate towards the bed so he could lay down.
“Shhh”, Pangi groaned. “My head’s killing me.”
“Sorry, sorry”, Lukey whispered. “What do you need?”
“Just grab some ice from outside. And do we have any healing pots?”
“I’ll check”, Lukey agreed, hurrying outside immediately.
Whatever it was Pangi had, was clearly not life threatening. He was way too calm for that. Still, he was obviously in pain and Lukey wanted to do whatever he could to help.
As fast as he could, he grabbed some ice from the frozen river, scooping up some cold water as well for good measure. Anything that could help against what Pangi was going through.
In the basement, he discovered that they were unfortunately out of potions. The murmuring of the villagers sounded accusatory, their eyes trained on him as he hurried past. What sort of teammate was he even? He spent so much time in the base, yet couldn’t even keep their potion supplies stocked? Why was Pangi even putting up with him?
Lukey shook off the intruding thoughts as he settled back down by Pangi’s side. Making Pangi feel better was far more important than his own self doubt right now.
“We’re all out of potions unfortunately. I’m going to brew some more in a minute, but first I got you some ice”, Lukey explained quietly, hoping not to aggravate Pangi’s headache.
Pangi hummed his assent, his eyes pressed closed against the bright sun light filtering into the room. Clearly he was going to be no help. Lukey would have to step up, to prove to Pangi why he had made the right choice when he had chosen Lukey as his teammate.
Scanning the room for a moment , Lukey found no better alternative, so he clumsily slid out of his lab coat, ignoring the slight shaking in his hands. Carefully, he bundled up some ice, making sure there were several layers of fabric between Pangi’s skin and the ice. The last thing he wanted was to shock Pangi’s system after all. Pangi sighed in relief as the cold bundle pressed against his feverishly hot forehead.
Sacrificing his sweater as well, Lukey wetted one of the sleeves in the cold water he had bought. With gentle, methodical motions, he wiped over Pangi’s arms, torso and face, renewing the cold water after every few strokes.
After just a few minutes of doing so, Pangi already looked far more lucid. He even managed to peel open his eyes, blinking up at Lukey pathetically. He had never looked more like a wet cat than in this moment.
“Is this better?”, Lukey checked anyway, relief flooding his veins at Pangi’s small nod, careful not to dislodge the ice pack. “Good, I’ll get some potions brewing for you then. I swear I even saw a ghast tear in one of the chests. We’re gonna have you back on your feet in no time.”
Lukey moved to stand up, but Pangi’s arm shooting up and grabbing him successfully stopped the movement. It was just unfair how despite whatever Pangi was going through, he was still the stronger one of them. “Stay”, Pangi demanded, voice raspy. “I’m already feeling much better. I don’t think I need the potions, I just need you.”
“Aww”, Lukey exclaimed, all his defenses melting away like the ice from the ice pack slowly seeping into Pangi’s hairline.
Obliging Pangi’s demand, Lukey laid down next to him. Pangi’s arm was curled around his shoulder in a familiar way, but otherwise he was keeping his distance. The last thing he wanted was Pangi growing too hot again after all. Pangi seemed to have other plans, pulling Lukey firmly against his side.
Lukey felt himself relaxing, his worries appeased for the moment. Just one thing was still bothering him. “So, what happened to you anyway?”
“Let’s just say, we’re not making an armadillo web farm”, Pangi groaned. “I was out all day in the heat of mesas and savannahs and when I finally found one of those little shits it somehow managed to die at no fault of my own. Apparently I overdid it a little bit with the sun and heat.”
“And you call me the stupid one”, Lukey tutted, exasperated. “Come on, let’s take a nap. You’ll feel better after some rest.”