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The last 24 hours had been a whirlwind for Levi. If it hadn't been for Jade, he knew he would have been a lot worse off than he was - or at least how he felt. Though he hadn't eaten another starseed, the first had done its job well enough that he could sit up in bed. A mix of energy orbs and ibuprofen kept the worst of the pain at bay when he wasn't sleeping (though he still was, most of the time).

It was a brief period of consciousness that found him leaned back into a pillow braced against Jade's headboard with his phone in his hand. It was nothing important, except that he didn't want to forget.

[To James: Thanks for helping her. I owe you one.]

Then the phone dropped back to the bed beside him. Levi sighed and leaned his head down just a bit, ruffling the thick hair at his crown that stood askew. Then a voice he hadn't been expecting called out to him and every muscle went tense, like he'd been frozen in place.

"Back here," he called, though his tone was weaker than he would have liked. Raising his voice made it ring in his ears and that, he found, was nearly as unpleasant as trying to stand and walk on his own. He reclined back into the pillow again and simply waited for his General to find his way to Jade's room, though he did cast around briefly for any sign of a shirt.

None. Probably on purpose, knowing Jade.

Levi watched Chase through a fringe of dark hair that slanted across his eyes, thankful suddenly for his tussled bedhead when an all-too-familiar grin pulled at the other man's lips. Despite his usual begrudging attitude, Levi felt himself echo the smile even as he dropped his eyes, avoiding direct contact when Chase's eyes began to roam his exposed skin.

Damn it, Jade. Shirt.

"Yeah, who knew ballerinas were so dangerous.." It was a half-hearted joke, weak as he felt.

He caught Chase's movements from the corner of his eyes and had just opened his lips for an objection when the comforters were pulled back and away so abruptly. Yes, he could ******** sit up. Thanks for the warning. Despite the heat to his skin, he felt frigid when exposed to so much air, especially considering he was only wearing a pair of navy briefs. What reason did he have for wearing pants when he was sleeping?

Annoyed, Levi pushed himself up slowly and swung both legs over the side of the bed. The motion made him a touch woozy, so that he put a hand to his forehead, but overall he was feeling much better.

"There's no reason to spend money on an MRI so they can tell me I have a concussion," he mumbled, rejecting the notion, "and the rest of me is as fine as ever. I don't.. need to go to your house, Chase."

The man slouched over, hunching and hiding most of his chest, and exposing the flat plane of his back instead. The bright eyes refused to rise under the other man's gaze, and not just because of the scarlet creeping into his cheeks.

Just like a switch, Chase became the General effortlessly, shining like a backlight through the civilian skin Levi had been more at ease with only moments before. The playful air he'd adopted, the joking words, ceased abruptly. Instead, he stared at the floor, glowering.

There was no reason to speak as Chase went about his examinations and Levi simply accepted that. Even as the other man's chilled fingers pressed into his sternum, forcing Levi to tilt his head away from the arm in his personal space, he held his words - and his breath. The body beneath Chase's examinations went uncomfortably stiff as his hand slid from sternum, to back, and finally up to his tender head. It was true that his heart was beating a little faster, that he had to stop himself from leaning into a touch that was less personal than he'd have liked, but he was also conflicted over the notion that he didn't want to be examined. He didn't want to be assessed for damage. He didn't want Labyrinthite's hands on him, even if they looked like someone else's.

He blew out a breath on a wince, pulling away a little from both the exploring fingers and the sudden snap.

Rank pulled, noted, General.

"Heard."

Levi's own wide hand reached up and pushed back the hair from his eyes, though he did finally manage to raise his gaze from the floor. It didn't raise to Chase's, but swept out instead, until he saw his pants draped over the back of a chair.

"Would you grab those?" A shaky hand raised an even weaker arm, but he held the pointed finger until Chase looked. If nothing was up for debate, he wasn't going to bother. The stormy set of his face said as much.

Levi didn't want to hear gentle words from Chase's lips, but knew without question that he would remember them. Hell, he'd probably magnify how much concern he heard in the tone at some weak point during his miserable recovery because that was how unsquashable feelings altered common sense. Recognizing it didn't completely eradicate a stupid emotion.

He did manage to finally meet Chase's skeptical look with his bright eyes once he reached for the pants the other man held out to him. The offer made him smile weakly, perhaps just from his own complete and utter disbelief of the situation, but it at least eased some of the outright tension that poured off of him in waves.

"I think I've got this, I'm not a vegetable." He frowned over the words as he realized how grouchy they sounded and paused halfway through raising a leg to put through the first pant leg. "Sorry, I just feel like s**t."

Dealing with Chase felt exhausting. He would be glad when they finally got to Chase's place and he could simply go to sleep. At least in his dreams he didn't have to deal with this - or expend the energy. Almost as an afterthought, he remembered the jar of energy medley that Porsha had been kind enough to leave behind. Chase obviously didn't want him to use it but he felt a small bit of disappointment and not being able to keep his pain at bay so easily as they did. He definitely needed to be back in bed before his last one wore off.

Not that he was going to say that.

It was a slow process, but Levi managed to get both legs into the pants and stood (very slowly) so that he could pull them up and fasten them with clumsy fingers. The rest of his stuff he was sure Jade wouldn't mind bringing, so he only grabbed his cellphone where it was on the nightstand and shoved it into his front pocket.

Standing up was no easier now than it had been earlier in the morning during Porsha's visit - he could manage short walks alone but needed support. Grudgingly, he knew he couldn't withstand the teleport on his own feet. There was no way his head was going to tolerate such an unnatural shift. He swallowed down the nausea that hit him from the shift in position, but leveled his eyes on the golden ones staring back at him.

"I can probably walk with a little help." He wanted to try and retain a little dignity, at least.

It had been a surprise that Chase wanted him to take a starseed at all, but Levi couldn't pass up the opportunity to stave off the true pounding ache of his head beneath the fuzzy, dulled nerves. He had pried off the lid and just slipped his fingers in to grasp the jar when he heard Chase's words. A quick glance shot from the corner of his eyes but couldn't save him - in a split second, his world was turning and his feet were swept out from under him.

If his head hadn't been spinning so badly already, he probably would have yelled out his frustration at Chase inviting himself so brazenly into his personal space. In the end, all he could do was lean his weight into the other man's chest and hold the starseed a little tighter in his hand, careful not to drop it.

"You could've asked first," he mumbled awkwardly, staring anywhere but at the other man's face, especially as he became too aware of the way the strong chest rumbled against his arm with every word Chase spoke.

What in the ******** world slowed down a little and he shifted just a bit in Chase's arms, trying to decide what the most comfortable way to be toted was. He didn't have much experience, at least not while he was conscious. Levi wasn't the sort of man that just let other people carry him around willing and his frustration was only compounded by his general attempts at completely avoiding getting close to Chase at all.


"Ready when you are, General." The faster they left, the faster he got out of Chase's arms.

Nuxaz

"You seem particularly grouchy today," said the man that was always particularly grouchy. There was an obvious stiffness in him as he felt the muscles in the General's chest shift beneath his weight, and he dropped his eyes from how intense the gaze was staring back at him. The words were a little more personal than he tended to get with the General who, for the most part, he only spoke to when prompted for an answer. The less he said, the less Labyrinthite had to say back.

Instant relief rushed through him once he was placed, with unexpected gentleness, on the bed. A little part of him mourned the arms releasing him but a more sensible, annoyed part of Levi squashed it down with the knowledge that he had felt absolutely foolish the few brief minutes. The bright eyes swung out at the room around him as the other man spoke. It was more familiar than Jade's room but much less comforting.

"No, nothing else hurts." He snapped his bright gaze back to the General, at last as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed to sit up. When he wasn't staring at Chase it was a little easier to remember his place - even if he was still annoyed by it. "She basically just focused on making sure I was braindead."

It took a moment for what Chase had said to sink in and Levi was halfway through protesting when he stopped himself and first his mouth closed around the complaint. Not only did Chase expect him to stay in this house until he was released, but he wanted him to sleep in this bed?

Levi could have laughed if he thought it wouldn't make his head start pounding worse than it already was. What a ******** cruel joke he didn't even know he was playing. Both of his hands curled, one around the starseed and one into the sheets beneath his hand. Bright, acidic eyes lowered both out of his own frustration and the way Chase's tone of voice made his skin crawl. There was no way he could argue about anything - his stupidity had already been addressed by Jade. His need to hurt himself, or maybe just escape for a while, was foolish.

A small flush crept along his cheeks and tainted the tips of his ears scarlet. Shame, for once, instead of awkward feelings.

"Roger that," came the words in a defeated tone. The man scooted back on the bed and pulled the sheets free from the neat fold, until he could drape them around himself. His eyes never raised to meet Chase's again but instead closed as he relaxed into the mattress without a fight, letting his head fall to rest on a pillow that smelled too much like the other man.

At least he was getting peace and quiet.