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Deus Ex's island had a lot of little discomforts like no real way to cook, a serious shortage of hot water, dungeon-like basement bedrooms for the newbies (he'd gotten lucky), but nothing had been really seriously detrimental to Kade so far. So far he'd been lucky enough to be bored. Standing at the foot of Nash's bed in the infirmary he wasn't feeling lucky or bored. He was feeling...guilty.

Guilty because he'd gotten the same message everyone else had to come out and help take care of the torrential downpours. Something about the big tree off the coast of the island, Atlantis (hey, he'd believe anything at this point), and returning an artifact. On a whole it had seemed way above his pay grade.

Nash had apparently not shared that sentiment and now he was lying here, more than a little ******** up, in this infirmary bed. When there was probably something Kade could've done to prevent it.

Battling the guilt the brunet moved over to grab a chair and sink down. "s**t, darling, you should've called me. I would've come and helped." Instead he'd been baking cookies with Peyton. Christ.

Contact of any kind was something that was often - by necessity of his own personal rules about Affection - relegated only to sex and the afterglow period. Having never really had to deal with visiting a lover in the hospital he wasn't completely sure what to do. He wanted to take Nash's hand, wanted to just hold on to it to reassure himself that everything was alright and he was here. Whole.

Reasons he did not visit lovers in the hospital were vast lists of excuses but it boiled down to the fact that it was too intimate. Too dangerous which meant that of course he was here to see November because for this idiot he'd break all kinds of his own rules just for Nash.

So he supposed it couldn't hurt to reach out, like he was, and lightly clasp Nash's hand, like he was. "Looks to me like something handled you, darling. And not at all in the fun way. What happened?"

He'd only seen Nash's weapon (ha-ha) once and while the whip had looked menacing Kade couldn't entirely agree that it would be an effective weapon. Plus his darling was a bit slow on his feet and it was a close-quarters weapon. already the baker was making mental notes on how they would have to work on that because this was not cool. He didn't enjoy having to worry about someone else.

Yeah, that was totally the reason!

An eyebrow cocked in the way he knew drew the other Hunter mad as he turned slightly to snag a pillow off the empty bed beside Nash. "No, I'm here to finish the job..." And he dropped the pillow a few inches down onto the brunet's face as if he were about to smother him, but he didn't add pressure. Instead he stayed seated, their fingers linked, as he sighed silently. "Didn't you know to stay out of trouble?"

The snort that echoed off the sterile floor of the infirmary was one that would have made a prize-winning hog proud. "I really need to brush up on my English," you know, that language he'd spoken since birth, "if that's what innocent means these days, darling." Kade could have told his sweetheart that mustering dignity was completely wasted on him; he could and would shatter it with a well-placed look or comment that often hit its mark.

It was easier than normal with Nash. Probably because he saw a lot of himself in the other man which was both a euphemism and completely literal. Though he liked to think he was a lot more affable than the surly Nash he could admit to himself that he had his own walls and his own ways of rejecting attachments.

Yet he found himself offering something completely intimate. "Do you want me to braid your hair?" It was almost blurted, like it took courage to ask something so simple. "Seems like it'd be more comfortable lyin' around all day like you are."

Nash's unguarded moment was rewarded with a look that was almost too young for Kade; it was a smile that was completely boyish as if he'd been given some kind of gift he'd been waiting for all year on Christmas morning. That pure joy, mixed with relief that Nash was in fact okay, was gone almost as quickly as it had come as Kade realized what it was he was showing to the world. He tucked it away, locked the shutters over it, and stood.

Untangling their fingers slowly he stretched a bit from where he'd been hunched over the side of the bed. "Don't go anywhere." His cocky facade was back in full force and effect as the Sun swaggered away back towards his room where he had come from.

Swaggering meant walking slowly which meant way too much time questioning your decisions and actions. Like why he'd offered to publicly braid Nash's hair. Why he was doing any of this. What that tight and yet fizzy feeling in his chest was all about and why it was making him happily miserable. And why did he feel like he was lying for the first time in too damn long?

Eventually he did return to find a dozing Nash and nudged him awake by slipping a hand beneath the sheets to tickle one socked foot. "Get up, Sleeping Beauty."

Because he was ridiculous and being ridiculous and annoying made him feel more like himself again, Kade bowed dramatically. Hair fell into his face for just a moment before he flipped it back again, the whole thing touched with a level of grace that was almost enviable. Cocky swaggers, long legs, flowing hair, all of this should have been just off and detracted from Kade's masculinity not added to it tenfold...but it did. It was just who he was.

"Highness. I come offering my meager services..." Okay, he couldn't hold it. The words ended on a snort as he rolled his eyes and dropped materials on the little stand next to the infirmary bed. "Okay princess, sit up." With almost exaggerated care Kade moved Nash just a little bit forward so that the pale man was sitting with his back flush against Kade's chest.

Unable to resist temptation fully he pressed a light kiss to the side of Nash's neck before beginning to trawl the brush lightly through tangled black-and-green hair. "I'll have it all fixed in no time."

Having dealt with both his own hair and his sister's over the years Kade was an old hand at casual styling. He could have french braided his own hair in the dark blindfolded with nothing more than a single hair tie and a brush, a fact he would have been proud of if he knew it was something to be proud of.

Kade was definitely trying very hard to remember that 1) they were in the middle of a packed infirmary 2) Nash was hurt and, most important of all, 3) Nash was drugged. In a club scene or something where he himself would've been high as a kite that would be no big deal at all but consent was weird and wonky when painkillers were involved. Kade was many, many unkind things but he would never be someone you could say took you against your will.

It didn't stop him from lightly stroking the edges of Nash's ears as he brushed though. He definitely was not a saint. "Hmmm? Good at what, darling?" His personal opinion was that he was pretty damn good at everything and so he was just a little put-out that there was something Nash would have considered him less than good at.