The door creeked open and Emil slowly opened his eyes, looking at Lalli. He must have somehow disabled the warning system when he fell asleep next to it. He got up, took a hold of Lalli's shoulders and looked the other boy in his eyes.
"I was starting to worry. How was it out there? Any trolls or giants?"
Lalli blinked, confusion clearly written in his eyes and Emil let out a sigh.
"You still don't understand a word of what I'm saying, are you? Well, I guess nothing too bad happened out there, you supposedly know what you're doing. You're a scout after all, and Tuuri said you're a good one. Stay here while I get Mikkel. Danskjäveln still hasn't shown me how to work the decontamination thingie."
Emil was just about to leave Lalli, when Lalli lowered his eyes and Emil caught sight of something red on his cheek. He gasped, pulled down Lalli's collar and grabbed the Finn's chin.
"Lalli, is that a claw mark?! Was it a troll? Does it hurt? What happened? Thank the genes that you're immune! You're immune right? Tuuri! Is your brother immune?! Lalli, you're bleeding!"
He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket, pressing it against Lalli's wound. Lalli's eyes shifted, looking for an escape from the motherly Swede, but Emil took hold of his arm as well and they could hear the others shifting around in their beds, awakened by Emil's voice. Sigrun peeked out from the door first, grinning when she noticed the scout.
"You're back! Found anything out there? Mikkel, time to decontaminate our little scout here!"
The big, bear-like man pushed Sigrun aside, grabbing something from a shelf next to the door. Emil stared at him.
"Mikkel, he's hurt. You have to help him. What if he gets face cancer? Or something worse?"
Mikkel looked at Emil before taking a deep breath. It was always a bother talking with the Swede. The rude brute could only understand him if he talked unnaturally slow and it was frustrating having to talk that way for long periods of time. He much preferred Sigrun, she was well-versed in the danish language. He just assumed all Swedes were naturally stupid.
"Emil, there is no such thing as face cancer. I just pulled a joke on you, I told you that. Let me decontaminate him now."
"But he's hurt. Why aren't you listening to me?"
Emil pulled Lalli's face to the side and removed the handkerchief so Mikkel and Sigrun could see the red mark. Tuuri peeked out from under Mikkel's arm, her eyes locked on Emil with a resigned glow in them.
"He's my cousin, how many times do I have to tell you? And yes, he's immune. What's all this shouting about?"
Her voice sounded a bit disorted through the face mask, but the lack of her normal cheerfulness was still fully noticeable. Tuuri's gaze shifted over to Lalli and she pushed the Dane aside, causing the much larger man to fall over and rushed the three steps to Lalli's side, quickly releasing her cousin from the Swede's grip, taking hold of his chin herself in order to pull Lalli's face closer.
"Lalli, you're hurt! What happened out there?"
"...Nothing."
"Don't nothing me, mister, there's blood on your collar and on your cheek and that's not nothing. Will you tell me yourself or do I have to force it out of you?"
Sigrun clapped her hands, claiming everyone's attention except for the scout who still couldn't understand her.
"Alright people, no more fussying over the scout until our medic has decontaminated him. Better decontaminate Tuuri and Emil while you're at it since they've been fussying all over him."
Mikkel got back up on his feet, with a gracefulness the others had gotten used to but still never expected, before going out into the room and somehow managing to grab all three with one hand and starting the decontamination process. When it was done he cleaned up Lalli's wound and dressed it and Emil finally found the time to relax, once again leaning back in the chair while Lalli told them what he had seen outside. After Lalli had finished briefing them Sigrun yawned.
"Alright everyone, there's still a couple hours left 'til dawn. Let's get some more shut-eye before we go out."
Everyone agreed and quickly made their way to the beds.
Emil awoke because something had brushed against his hand. He yawned, not ready to open his eyes and felt around to make sure Lalli slept softly. Only, Lalli wasn't there. Emil's eyes snapped open and he looked at the bed below him before shifting his gaze to the partly opened door. He settled up carefully, not wanting to disturb the others, and made his way out.
Lalli looked at him as he exited the room and diverted his eyes immediately, scratching at the band-aid Mikkel had put on his cheek. Emil smiled and settled down on a chair next to Lalli.
"Uncomfortable?"
Lalli stared at him again end Emil poked at the band-aid.
"Does it hurt?"
Lalli tilted his head, but Emil didn't really care about Lalli's inability to understand for the moment.
"You made me worry. Good thing it wasn't as bad as I believed."
He looked at Lalli a while, watching as the slender man once again started scratching at the band-aid.
"You know, my mother had a perfect cure for owwies. Here, let me..."
Emil got up from his chair, grabbed Lalli's hand and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
"Hope it feels better soon."
Lalli watched as Emil turned around and went back into the bedroom, slowly raising his hand to touch his cheek as a small blush made its way over it. Maybe the messy Swede wasn't just loud and obnoxious.
