*throws open the door to my cabin in the woods* Boom, two chapters in two days. I'm fucking rocking this.

Anyway, TW heat exhaustion, mentions of vomiting, swearing.

No beta, we die like men.

It was hot.

Like, Cora felt like her skin was gonna melt off and her head was gonna explode from the heat. It was hot and stuffy and the air itself felt like it was trying to smother her.

The fact that Astro was still chugging along with her on his back while she felt like she was legitimately dying was rather infuriating.

And humiliating.

How was this stupid, doe-eyed city kid holding up so well while she was boiling alive? His skin felt a little warm under her touch, but he wasn't so much as sweating. She had even caved and buried her face in his shoulder to try and shield her eyes from the blazing sun, both the light coming from above and the blasted beams reflecting off the metal littering the ground trying to cook them from all directions.

How was he not tired?

They hadn't rested for hours, not since he had demanded to carry her. What were they feeding the Metro kids? Raw titanium?

God she was hungry.

When was the last time she ate? 12 hours? 24? She thinks it's been over 24 hours since she left the circus at Hamegg's request. She couldn't remember what parts he had sent her and the other kids out for. Did the other guys make it back to the tent? She hopes they did. Apparently robots were attacking humans now.

God she was thirsty.

"Cora?" Astro had stopped walking. When did he stop walking? "Hey, are you ok?" Was she? She didn't feel like she was, but she wasn't gonna tell the city kid that. She nodded against his shoulder. There was no way in hell she was gonna look up and expose her throbbing head to the sun's daggers that it so insistently drove into her eye sockets. "Cora?"

Why was he still talking and not walking? They had places to be. She said she was ok, move Wonder Boy.

"We'll continue on in a bit, let's just rest for a bit, get out of the sun for a while." Astro commented as he hoisted her up a little higher. Her thighs ached with the movement, the pressure of his fingers feeling like claws digging into her muscles. She held back a whimper.

"Wonder Boy finally got tired?" She managed to croak out. She hoped he didn't notice the pain in her voice. It was embarrassing how weak she's been the last couple days, embarrassing how many times he's had to save her. She heard Astro chuckle, the sound buzzing oddly in his throat next to her ear.

"Erm yeah." It felt like he tripped slightly as he started moving forward again. He laughed again, this time high and nervous. It buzzed in his throat and she noticed that she didn't hear him breath back in. "It's pretty hot out here, heh, we should probably find some shade."

Ha! He was hot too!

…

That came out wrong.

Was he breathing?

Now that she noticed it, she couldn't tell. He had been walking for hours, in the heat, carrying her, he should at least be a little winded right? Her ear was pressed right against his neck, shouldn't she hear his heart pounding?

God her head hurt.

She clung to him a little tighter as she felt him jump down something, slip a little and then adjust her on his back. Next thing she knows is the blessed feeling of cool air. Well, not cool. It was still way too warm but it wasn't quite as hot as it was. Her skin also wasn't burning anymore. Astro made that lobster joke earlier, but she's sure she is thoroughly roasted at this point. She lifted her head ever so slightly, eyes squinting at the harsh light until they adjusted enough to let her look around the blessedly shadowy crevasse Astro seems to have stuffed them into. She glanced up only to do a double take at the good 15 foot walls on either side of them.

What the actual fuck.

She felt them jump. Did this absolute lunatic just jump 15 feet down while holding her? He didn't even roll with the landing? How does he still have knees?

She just pressed her face back into his shoulder, deciding that she was too dizzy to question it.

Unfortunately that didn't last long as Astro crouched down, gently unlocked her arms from around his neck and leaned back, dropping her down as she bonelessly flopped off his back. Rude. Though, she thinks she heard the buzzing again like he had been talking, so maybe he asked her to get off but she didn't hear him. Still, rude.

There was a hand on her head.

She forced her eyes open again, eyes stinging and head throbbing. Why was his hand on her head? Her hair was really greasy, and while she was by no means self conscious about her appearance, she didn't want him touching her greasy head. She was really sweaty. It was really hot. Why wasn't he hot?

He was frowning down at her, eyebrows furrowed in deep concern, eyes glowing a bright, artificial blue. He looked like a puppy. A pouty puppy. She would never tell him that though, as obviously puppies were cute and she didn't want to imply that he was cute. Even if he was. She really liked his big eyes, the soft brown made him look so innocent, like someone who had never seen the horrors of the world.

Wait. His eyes were glowing?

"Ar' your eyes glowin'?" Her tongue felt puffy. She was almost distracted enough by the sandpaper feeling in her mouth to miss how Astro pulled his hand away from her like he had been burned, eyes widening in panic and immediately losing the blue glow.

She almost thought she was imagining it.

"M-my-my eyes? G-glowing?" He quickly looked away, blinking a couple times before looking back to her, like he was trying to turn off a faulty flashlight. Then he chuckled nervously, hand rubbing the back of his neck in what she quickly realized was a nervous tick of his. He quickly sobered, face going back to that worried puppy look again, big brown eyes only enhancing the adorableness of the expression. "You're not looking great and I think you're overheating. How are you feeling? Dizzy? Nauseous?"

Oh yeah, one hundred percent to all of those. Her head throbbed and spun, and having her eyes open was making her wanna hurl. It was so hot. It was all she could do to close her eyes and make an affirmative sound in the back of her throat.

Huh, her throat kinda buzzed, too.

"Yeah definitely heat exhaustion. I don't have any water to help cool you down, but we will hang out here till it cools down, k?" She heard him shuffling around next to her, then there was a gentle hand lifting her head and something soft was placed under it, head gently lower back down.

For the love of… did he give her his jacket again? This boy is gonna be the end of her.

Or maybe her end will be from melting.

She heard Astro shuffle some more, sitting down by her feet, but she couldn't bring herself to care much. It was cooler here and her head hurt and she was tired and as much as she hated to admit it, having a pillow was comfy and her head was so heavy. She was really tired.

Why was she so tired? She hadn't even been the one walking all day.

She vaguely remembered that one time Widget got heatstroke when they were all younger. She had been playing really hard and forgot to drink water. The poor girl threw up for nearly an hour, bringing up any water or food they had managed to get down her. It was really scary and Hamegg wasn't home. They ended up taking her down to the basement of the building they were staying in, where the dirt walls made the room really cold. She was a bit better after she cooled down, but she was exhausted for a couple days afterward.

Cora felt like throwing up, too. She desperately swallowed against her dry throat, tongue sticking to her mouth and throat clicking with the motion. She just really wanted to sleep.

So she did, slipping away in the cool shadows to the sound of Astro shuffling.

Not gonna lie, I have no idea what this is. The characters kinda just did what they wanted this time. I didn't even plan for Cora to get heat exhaustion, she kinda just did. Disclaimer, I have done literally no research on this, it is just coming from the minimal experience I've had with heat exhaustion in the past. I literally don't know what I'm doing, and I'm mostly writing this as a way of procrastinating my final project that I haven't started and is due in less than 24 hours.