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Roving the island was really the only thing there was to do when you were bored and Kade was often bored. He wished he'd thought to take a pack of cards in a waterproof baggie so he could at least play a game or thousand while they were waiting to be rescued. He and Peyton were doing some kind of dance and there was always the chill pair of Zeke and Ever, but sometimes you just wanted to turn off the social and just be.

It was the sound of ragged breathing that drew his curiosity because it meant one of two things. One was that someone was about to pass out from an asthma attack. Two meant that two people were having a good time and he was going to peep. Just for a second.

Instead he found someone dressed in far too many layers and panting in the heat. Frowning, deeply, he reached out with a light touch. "Hey. You okay?"

Disapproval was not an emotion that Kade was ever really all that comfortable with but it flowed thick and rather harsh as he looked at the sweating, panting November. Stupidity was almost personally offensive for reasons he didn't quite grasp or care about. Reaching out he immediately tugged down Nash's mask. "I need you to not die of heat stroke. That'd be good. I don't know much about this runic s**t but I am pretty sure that those bandages can't help that."

And, because he was angry, he pulled back the hood as well. "You need to strip."

The desire to pick Nash up, throw the other man over his shoulder, and drag him somewhere darker. Cooler. There was a cave near the beach they were using as a kind of headquarters and a few enterprising sorts had created a makeshift shelter over the past few weeks. Only, Nash was almost as tall as Kade was, and he wasn't going to go easy.

Arms crossed across his tanned chest as eyebrows raised. "Yeah, I need you to chill out. Literally. What in the world made you think wearing all this on a humid island was going to be a good idea?"

Kade would be one of the first people to admit that he was not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination. But even he figured that he could come up with something better than sweating so hard that you could barely breathe or being crisped alive by the sun. "Aren't there palms down by the beach? You could steal a big frond or something, use it like an umbrella. You'll still burn but it'll be slower, give your skin time to heal, until you're a nut like me." He held out his brown arm.

Normally he would have been a bit more conscious of personal space and respecting 'the bubble' that other people seemed to want and need. But Nash looked like he was about to pass out and that panicked the brunet more than a little. His arm came to rest under one of the other man's armpits, supporting his weight somewhat. "C'mon. We need to get you some water. Can you walk with me?"

Relief came rather quickly as Nash gave in without a fight, concern turning into a cocky little grin. "Of course I win. I always win." Except he didn't but that was neither here nor there. You didn't get up to your balls in debt to an illegal gambling syndicate without being able to 1) lie to yourself and/or 2) being able to convince yourself you really did always win. Which was pretty much the same as 1 but there was a subtle difference.

He'd explain it to anyone who wanted to listen but, surprisingly, no one ever wanted to.

Kade's voice was kinder as the invalid beside him tried to get moving. "Take your time. We're just gonna go down to the little stream over here and you're gonna put your feet in. It'll help lower your body temp, and it's in the shade, so you won't burn."

It took time but they both made it over to the swift-running bit of water that was less than a foot deep in most places. It was cool though and would be enough to both hydrate Nash and cool him. "Now just strip down some and sit. Drink some water." He pulled a collapsible cup someone had given him out of his pocket and offered it to his companion. "It'll help."

Was he always this nice? "Only to cute boys like you, darling." He winked, because it was outrageous, and because it was completely expected. "I like plaid too. On other people." Or on the floor but that went without saying...didn't it?

It would not have been very true-to-self had Kade not watched the show. It wasn't meant to be sexy, and wasn't sexy, but it was at least interesting to see all that white skin come out. After a few weeks most people, with the exception being those who never came out of that dank-a** cave, were some variation of tanned or burnt. To be so pale was interesting.

Even more interesting was the ink following the line of vertebrae up Nash's spine that had the Chilean whistling under his breath. "Now that's hot." Ignoring the bubble of personal space he stroked one of the dark lines admiringly. "Whomever did that did good work."

The grumble about how Kade was surviving had him rolling his eyes. "I'm brown. We do the heat better than the cold but I was raised in the sunshine. It's just who I am."

Eyebrows raised at the testy comment and he couldn't help but shrug with a careless air. "Well it used to be a bi-annual event but it's happening to me more and more. Must be fate. But we have plenty of both food and water; you just can't be picky." And it went without saying that Kade was assuming his current companion was going to be the Grand High Overlord of Picky.

A hard snort came at the idea of 'respecting nature'. "Please. My dad is Native and even he would give this place the middle finger. You can respect nature and want to desperately get your hands on a bathtub and air conditioning." Two things he personally wanted more than he wanted to keep breathing. And a bed. Even the hardest, shittiest motel bed would've been better at this point.

Unable to resist Kade stepped into the cool-running water, scooped some in his hands, and let it drizzle onto Nash's forehead. "Chill out, darling. You'll feel better."