The drive back to his house was one done in silence. Craig couldn't rightly say if it was comfortably or not; Tweak just curled up on the passenger's seat and passed out within a few minutes of the heat being twisted onto high. It gave him a clear view of just how thin the other's legs seemed, and the cuts on the bottoms of his feet. Jesus Tweak… What the hell happened to him? Craig really couldn't decide what question he wanted an answer to more: where Tweak had been for the past six years, why he was here now, why he was here in just a hospital gown looking like he had crawled out of a cave in, or why he seemed so terrified of the prospect of going back to a hospital.
It didn't seem to matter which question he wanted answered, though. Tweak seemed very adamant over not going and there had been something about his refusal that had made Craig inclined to agree. He didn't have to, and he was fully capable of changing directions and heading Hells Pass instead of home. But even someone as emotionally blind as the dark-haired male could tell that this was something that Tweak had been absolutely terrified of. Doing that to him would have been a major dick move.
Craig would have really been the dick then.
Aside from the burgeoning hypothermia and the cuts on his feet, it didn't seem like Tweak had any major wounds either. Nothing that Craig couldn't handle with a warm bath and some antiseptic gel. Maybe. First step would be googling how to treat stage one hypothermia to see if the idea of a bath even was a good idea before he actually went for it. Step two would be following the instructions of whatever step one said.
It was only a fifteen minute car ride back to his home and yet Tweak was out by the time they arrived. Craig actually felt a twinge of guilt as he parked the car, killing the engine (and, in turn, cutting off the heat supply that had helped lull the other into such a deep sleep). Without the rumble Tweak started to stir on his own. Without much thought Craig reached over, hand resting on the other's shoulder to help shake him awake.
"Hey we're-"
He barely got the words out before Tweak sat bolt upright, scrambling to wedge himself into the corner of the car door and car seat. His eyes were wide and the panic that had been laced in them earlier was back as they rolled, whites showing as his nostrils flared. Craig leaned back as well, hands held up in a defensive gesture to make it clear that he hadn't meant to scare him, or mean him any harm in general.
"Hey, hey. It's just me." He waited a beat as Tweak seemed to slowly relax, the fear in his gaze fading as his position unclenched. Craig smiled weakly as he let his hand hover above the other's shoulder before deciding against actually touching him. "We're here. Are you gonna be okay walking inside?"
For a moment Tweak was silent as his gaze shifted from Craig to stare out the windshield at the house, and Craig did the same. It was dark with the exception of one room - Tricia's. His mom was either asleep or at work or gone… somewhere, and with his dad not living here anymore it meant that they were basically going to have the house to themselves. Yes, Tricia, but his fourteen-year-old sister wasn't about to drag herself away from whatever youtube makeup tutorial she was watching.
"I haven't been here in years." His voice sounded weak and scratchy, not at all like the bombastic Tweak from Craig's memories. "... doesn't look any different from what I remember."
"Heh." The dark-haired male grinned as he slipped out from the driver's side of the car. He eased his way over to the passenger side, pulling the door open. Craig hovered there as he watched Tweak slowly ease himself out. He winced sympathetically as he watched his cut feet touch the cold driveway, but Tweak hardly seemed to even notice. The other just hugged Craig's pilfered coat tighter around his body as he shivered in the cold air. "I guess it wouldn't look any different from the outside, but it's not exactly the same inside."
Judging from Tweak's scrunched up expression, this wasn't really the response he was hoping for.
The two limped - well, one of them limped as the other just watched nervously - into the dark house. Craig flicked on the lights before calling out- "Tricia?" As expected, there was no response, just the dull thump of bass from the direction of her room. On any other night it would have irritated him but tonight it was perfect.
"C'mon, follow me." The words were likely unnecessary judging from the way that Tweak was obediently following behind him, but that didn't stop Craig from talking. It just felt… better? To fill the air with something instead of just silence. Quiet wasn't something he minded but… he couldn't really say it was quiet when so many thoughts were swirling in his head.
Plus it kept him from saying anything about the bloodied footprints that Tweak was leaving behind. They didn't seem to be that bad and Craig guessed he'd be able to clean them up easily enough. No reason to make any sort of fuss about them now.
He led the blond back to his bathroom and gestured for him to take a seat on the toilet. Craig peeled his gloves and hat off, dropping them in an unceremonious pile on the floor as his shoes were toed off as well. "Okay. Let's take care of those cut up feet first…" And a low hum as he started to rummage through the cabinet beneath his sink, pulling out bandages, wipes, and antiseptic solution. Add tweezers to the mix and success!- he was all set to play doctor.
More like triage nurse but. Same thing currently.
Craig flashed Tweak a smile as he gathered up his supplies. A warm damp washcloth was added to the mix before he took a seat on the floor in front of the toilet. "Hey, so I can't say I've really done this before, though I'm pretty sure most of it is just common sense. It just might hurt a little, though." It didn't matter how gentle he was; Craig was positive it was going to sting when he wiped the dirt and blood away from the wounds, or when he tried to dig the worst of the rocks out from the open cuts when the tweezers.
A light laugh escaped Craig before he looked down at his hands. Blood and grime covered from working on patching up Tweak… "So… do you think you can tell me what you were doing out in the woods now?"
He didn't think that Tweak was answering at first. It wasn't until Craig looked up and saw that his mouth was moving that he saw that yes, he was talking. His voice was just so faint that it was barely audible.
"... running… bad men…"
Craig frowned, brow crinkling at the sound of that. "You were running from bad men?"
A long pause and then- a nod as Tweak looked away, clearly uncomfortable with this line of questioning.
Craig wanted to keep on pushing it, but he wasn't sure he would even get anything more from Tweak if he did. Not at this moment at least. Even if he did, would it be worth it? The blond was clearly still borderline terrified and Craig could guess that it wouldn't take much to break his trust, fragile as it clearly was. Better to just try to take care of him first and deal with anything (and everything) else later.
With the worst of the debris removed from Tweak's feet, Craig liberally coated the wounds with antiseptic before loosely covering them with gauze and bandages. The blond needed to shower but his skin still felt cool to the touch, and a few searches on his phone made it clear that hopping into a hot shower while under the influences of hypothermia was a bad idea. Showering could wait until morning, then.
"I- hold on." He held a finger up to gesture for Tweak to stay in his seat for a moment (and not that finger either) before Craig hurried off to his room. A few moments later he returned with sweats, old t-shirt, and socks in hand. "Nothing fancy but it's better than what you have on now, right?"
The smile he got from Tweak was the first sign of anything other than pure panic from the blond. It was weak and barely more than a slight shift of his lips, but it had the effect of causing Craig's heart to thump oddly in his chest in response to the sight of it.
The dirty hospital gown was left on the floor alongside Craig's outerwear. With a mental note to come back to clean everything up, the dark-haired male helped Tweak into his room- and into his bed.
From the way Tweak seemed to collapse onto the mattress and curl up under the covers, Craig could guess he was exhausted.
"Sleep tight buddy, okay?" Craig patted his shoulder and offered the other a small smile before pulling away, brow furrowing slightly as he started to head out of his room. He had a few messes to clean up now… not to mention a few things he had to start looking into...