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The atmosphere descended like a heavy cloud, Oliver didn't have to know the details to feel distinctly uncomfortable in the weighty silence. Finn might wear his scars out in the open, too open sometimes, but the casual emotionlessness Ripley possessed suddenly seemed less like a quirk than a well-practiced defence mechanism.

But Oliver said nothing. He couldn't bring himself to go after Ripley to see if he was okay, nor could he ask Finn what just happened. So he waited quietly, nervously, his fingers twined together for lack of anything better to stay busy with. But Ripley came back.

Maybe he had been imagining things, it was hard to tell when it came to the death trainee and his emotions... Or lack thereof...

It was like any words inside him were stuck in his throat, he didn't even protest at the nickname or anxiously harass Finn about removing bandages that were clearly put there for a reason. He was really gentle, but with the red, blistered skin underneath, he knew it had to hurt. It had to hurt a lot...

Finn had started to say 'burned alive', hadn't he?

Before Oliver could stop it, his eyes began to water and he was forced to rub at them hastily with his sleeve. Why did they have to face such horrible things as that? Would it leave even more scars on his friend's body? The kid took a step away from the bed, turning so the two emotionally-handicapped guys wouldn't see the dampness clinging to his eyelashes.

So word hadn't gotten around about his and Fini's break up yet, apparently, and Finn wasn't really sure what to think of that. He thought that the rumor mill on this island generally worked pretty fast and yet....the only person he had really told so far had been Ian, and he was pretty sure Fini wasn't running around scorning his name for deciding they were better off as just friends. In fact, the entire breakup had been incredibly amicable, a foreign experience for the moon intermediate who's past was riddled with terrible relationship endings.

For a moment, a steady silence seemed to stretch out among the three, an uncomfortable silence that reminded Finn why he hadn't wanted visitors to begin with, and an even bigger reminder came when Oliver began giving off tell-tale signs of one about to start blubbering, and he wasn't even the one lying in a hospital bed with blistered, cracked, and peeling raw, red skin!

"Oh jeeze, princess. Don't let Nurse Ripples fawning over me get you down. You're both just going to need to learn to share! As my other favorite husband, you get the honor of providing me with a sponge bath."

Would that stave off any tears from the young life trainee? Somehow, Finn doubted it.

But there was a chance it might scare him away.....