"Yuuri! YUURI!"

There were two Wolframs moving in circles above him, intersecting but never really connecting or coming into focus. Both looked paler than usual and their green eyes were bright with fear. Yuuri didn't know why. He couldn't make his eyes focus and his double vision seemed to be fading, anyway.

Wolfram looked away from him and screamed something as everything went dark.

Yuuri was being jostled and it made the back of his head throb. There were arms underneath him and a hurried breath somewhere above him. "Wolf…" Wolfram had been afraid, really afraid.

"It's alright, Your Majesty. I've got you."

Yuuri opened his eyes with far more effort than seemed warranted. Conrad. Conrad was running with him. Looking ahead, he could see one or two others running, but no blonde head. "Wolf…"

"He's alright, too, Yuuri." Conrad said, gentler this time.

Yuuri groaned and strained his neck to see over Conrad's shoulder, even though it made pain lance through his head. He wanted to see for himself. Conrad muttered something and shifted his hold but Yuuri didn't pay attention. Wolfram was there, running behind him and his eyes immediately locked onto Yuuri's like he'd just been waiting for him to look up. He still looked scared, and his hand wasn't on his sword. Wolfram wasn't even thinking of turning and facing whatever it was they were running from. It must be bad. "Wolf-" he said again, reaching out a hand toward him, but an even bigger pain shot through his head and everything went dark again.

"I've got him!"

"Wolfram-"

"He reached out to me! Not you!"

"... Alright."

There was a pressure around his head and a dull throbbing in the back. The pillow his cheek was resting on was warm, and the fabric a bit rough. He felt oddly cold, though, so he didn't mind the warmth too much. The part pressing against either side of his shoulder was strangely hard. Where was he? His thoughts felt murky, like he couldn't grab onto them. Wolfram. Wolfram had been afraid.

He opened his eyes and immediately winced at the bright light, trying to bury his face into the pillow but the movement made his head throb more.

"Stay still, idiot! You almost died!"

Wolfram. He was okay then. Yuuri felt himself relax a bit in relief. Wolfram got angry, it was rare for him to actually show fear. "What happened?" He tried opening his eyes again, slower this time and blinking as things almost came into focus. The fabric beneath his head was a familiar blue and he dimly realized his head was in Wolfram's lap. This seemed like it should be upsetting, but right now it was warm and moving didn't sound pleasant.

"I just said." Wolfram huffed. "You were an idiot!"

"Sounds like me." Yuuri said with a small laugh that made his head pulse with pain. There was grass, and what looked like trees further off. Were they in a clearing? Someone walked over and kneeled in his field of vision. Not Gisela, he didn't think she had come with them, but one of the people that worked under her.

"Are you awake now, Your Majesty?"

"I think so." Yuuri said with an attempt at a smile. "My head hurts too much for this to be a dream."

The healer gave him a smile, so he thought he must have managed his own. "Can you sit up for me?"

Wolfram made a sound of protest, but Yuuri just groaned as he pushed himself up off the other man's lap. His head throbbed like he'd just been hit by something and he squeezed his eyes shut as everything spun, reflexively reaching out for Wolfram's shoulder to steady himself.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?"

"Of course he's not alright!" Wolfram snapped. Yuuri squeezed his shoulder in reprimand, since he felt like he might throw up if he opened his mouth at this particular moment.

"My apologies." the healer relented. Yuuri felt like he should know her name but it wasn't coming to him. "You suffered a pretty severe head wound. I've managed to close the wound, so you aren't in any immediate danger, but you're likely to be uncomfortable for a bit."

Yuuri slowly opened his eyes again. He still felt dizzy, and he kept his grip on Wolfram's shoulder, but things didn't seem to be visually moving and the nausea was slowly subsiding. "... I think I have more sympathy for you on boats now, Wolf." He said, but wasn't willing to risk turning his head to look at the blonde. "Do I have a concussion?" he asked the healer instead. Lectures on concussions were common when starting baseball. That was why you wore helmets to bat, afterall.

"That's highly likely." the healer said, leaning closer to examine his eyes. "Are you having trouble with your vision, Your Majesty?"

"Everything is a little blurry." He kind of wished Murata was here so he could try his glasses. "It seems kinda bright, even for outside. And I'm kinda dizzy, even just sitting here." He admitted. "My brain feels fuzzy, too."

The healer nodded. "Those all sound like reasonable symptoms and should go away with time. Let me know if any of them get worse, alright?"

Yuuri nodded and winced right after, making Wolfram huff in annoyance. "Ow…"

The healer gave him a sympathetic look. "We'll let you rest here a bit more, Your Majesty, then continue back into town. We should be able to get you some more pain relief there."

"Thank you." He felt bad for not remembering her name, but it also seemed weird to ask for it when he was pretty sure he should know it. She didn't seem to mind not being addressed by name and stood. He finally risked slowly turning his head to look at Wolfram.

Green eyes were equal parts worried and annoyed. He'd reached up at some point to hold onto the arm Yuuri was using to brace on his shoulder. "You're an idiot."

"So you've said." Yuuri said with a sigh, slowly moving to sit more beside him than in front of him. Wolfram kept a hold on his arm even when he let his shoulder go, but Yuuri was too distracted by the pain in his head to care much. "Sorry, my memory isn't great right now. Er…. where are we? Why are we here?"

Wolfram gave a long-suffering sigh. "Do you remember the letter from Hilvera?"

"...No?"

This sigh was more annoyed than long-suffering. "We received a message from Hilvera saying that the river that their town survived on had suddenly dried up. You insisted on coming out here yourself to investigate."

"Sounds like me." Yuuri agreed with a smile, shifting a bit to get more comfortable. He was still a bit cold, and Wolfram was warm. He wasn't minding where their sides pressed against each other as he leaned against the other man.

"You just wanted to get out of doing your duties as King."

Yuuri gave him a sheepish smile. "Hey, I also just really like going on adventures with you guys. And restoring water to the people sounds like a very Kingly thing to do!"

Wolfram narrowed his eyes at him. "That's what you said before."

"Then it must be a very valid point!" Yuuri grinned. The skin along his temples pulled on something and he reached up to feel bandages. He started tracing them backwards but Wolfram caught his wrist.

"You'll hurt yourself if you touch it."

Yuuri accepted this without complaint and let Wolfram pull his hand away. "Did we figure out what happened to the water? Was it something really scary?"

"Scary? Not really. A bunch of raiders had damned up the river. They were going to try and hostage it to get resources from the town. A fight broke out because of course you failed to reason with them."

"Hey!"

"You didn't even get a chance to get angry and use your powers." Wolfram said, staring down at his lap. His hands that were still holding Yuuri's arm and wrist tightened, making Yuuri look down at them and wonder why he hadn't realized they were still being held. "I thought we had it under control. But their leader was coming up behind me and I didn't see. You got in the way and took the hit instead."

Yuuri looked back up at his face. It was nearly as pale as the strange, double image of Wolfram's terrified face he remembered. "That's why you were afraid?"

"There was a lot of blood." Wolfram whispered, his hands going even tighter but it wasn't anything compared to the throbbing that had started in the back of Yuuri's head again. "You weren't responding. I thought you were dead."

"Wolfram…"

Angry green eyes turned to him. "You're such an idiot! Why would you do that?!"

Yuuri straightened a bit, surprised by the sudden vitriol. "If I almost died, then you probably would have!" he defended, trying to ignore the stab of pain that seemed to erupt from the back of his head directly into his brain.

"That logic makes no sense!"

"I'm not going to let you die, Wolfram!" He tried to raise his hands to his head but Wolfram was still holding both tight so instead he dropped his head onto Wolfram's shoulder and squeezed his eyes shut against the pain shouting had caused. He wasn't sure if it was this or his words that silenced him, but Wolfram didn't say anything else. "I don't want to fight right now." he said through a pained groan, vaguely aware of Wolfram letting go of his arms. "My head hurts, I'm dizzy and I'm cold." he said, tucking his arms against his chest and snuggling closer to the warmth beside him even though they'd just been yelling at each other. "Can we save it for later? I'm sure I'll do something else to make you mad at me and we can argue about it then."

Wolfram shifted, and for a moment Yuuri was worried he'd actually made him angry enough to pull away. But he had apparently just been getting an arm behind him since it soon came up and wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him closer. "I can keep you warm, at least." Wolfram said softly and Yuuri felt him carefully rest his head against the top of his own, where it didn't feel like there were any bandages.

Part of him said something about this positioning should be troubling, but he was warmer, and he felt grounded from the dizziness, and sleep was calling him, offering him a respite from the pounding in his head.

The rest of the way back to Hilvera blurred together for Yuuri. He spent most of it riding piggy-back on Conrad's back since walking too much made him nauseous and he felt like he was moving too slow anyway. Wolfram seemed sulky about it, but since Yuuri couldn't get the image of his terrified face out of his head (it was like the only thing that wanted to stick in there right now) he directed his questions to him, even if Conrad ended up being the one to answer some of them.

Wolfram had called for Conrad after Yuuri passed out. The two of them and a couple soldiers ran Yuuri back to their base camp that had been set up halfway between the town and the raiders. Yozak and the remaining soldiers had 'cleaned up' (Yuuri decided he did not have the energy to dig into what that meant, exactly. He'd save that for when he could yell without passing out, in case yelling was warranted.) the rest of the raiders and had sent word that they were breaking the dam and would meet them back in Hilvera.

Yuuri insisted on being put down as they neared the town, wanting to walk in on his own two feet. Wolfram was instantly at his side, looking exasperated. He was thankful for him, though, since by the time they actually entered the town he was using Wolfram's shoulder to steady himself against the dizziness.

A girl with pastel purple hair was suddenly there, throwing her arms around him. "Your Majesty! You Did it! Thank you!"

Yuuri could hear Wolfram growl but was too worried about both staying upright and not throwing up on the poor girl. He clung to Wolfram's shoulder for dear life while awkwardly patting the girls back with his free hand. "Happy to help!" He thought he had a vague memory of her. Was she the mayor's daughter or something?

The girl hopped back with a gasp, eyes on the bandages wrapped around his head. "Oh! You're injured! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Yuuri replied quickly, not wanting Wolfram to snap at her like he had the healer (Vensa! He wasn't sure if he remembered or heard someone else say her name.) "Nothing to worry about, in the long run. I wouldn't mind sitting down, though?"

"Of course! Come, we'll make you the best dinner Hilvera has to offer!" She said, taking his arm and starting to pull him forward.

He practically fell a few steps before he was able to use his grip on Wolfram's shoulder to plant his feet. "Sorry," Yuuri said, nearly using the hand that had slipped from the girl's hold to rub the back of his head before he remembered that'd make it hurt more. "I'm moving a bit slow today. Go on ahead, I'll catch up."

The girl gave him a smile and ran ahead while Yuuri exhaled and leaned a bit more of his weight against Wolfram as he waited for the world to stop spinning again. "Er, what's her name again?"

"Oh, is that why you didn't let her drag you off? You're worried about not remembering her name?" Wolfram grumbled.

Yuuri frowned at him. "I was more worried about throwing up on her."

Wolfram whirled on him, nearly making Yuuri lose his grip on his shoulder and fall over. "So you DO want to run off with her!"

"What I want is to sit down. And probably go back to sleep." he said, braving his balance to put both hands on his hips. "You know, this weird jealousy thing can get really tiring."

"Thing?" Wolfram scowled, hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Maybe there wouldn't be a 'thing' if you didn't flirt with everyone you come across!"

"I do not!" They were arguing again, and it wasn't making his head feel any better than it had last time. "What, you want me to only be polite to you?"

"Yes!"

"That's ridiculous, Wolfram!"

"Well, it's not like you give me anything else!"

"What exactly is it you're wanting from me?!"

Yuuri wasn't sure what all the look he was receiving right now contained, but he was pretty sure both hurt and anger were mixed in there. Then the blonde was turning and stomping away.

"Wolfram…" He couldn't help but feel oddly hurt by the other man leaving. He should just let him go and cool off, lean on Conrad ( who he was just now realizing had been surprisingly quiet through all of this) and let Wolfram come back when he was ready. But he'd been relying on Wolfram so much since he woke up (was it that morning? He'd lost track of the timeline now, but it was apparently dinnertime) that it still stung to watch him leave like that.

Wolfram stomped several feet away before stopping and seeming to boil for a moment before whirling back around. Yuuri winced preemptively, expecting an eruption of shouting, probably of the words 'cheater' or something similar. Instead, Wolfram stomped back to him and snatched one of his hands that had fallen off of his hip. "Come on, idiot." he said, giving Yuuri's arm a tug in warning before starting to walk. "Let's get you sat down before you fall over."

Yuuri stared at him, bewildered. "You're mad at me." It wasn't really a question, Wolfram's eyes were still bright with anger and he was refusing to look at him.

"Yes." He growled in reply.

"Then why-?"

"Just shut up!"

Yuuri decided to obey. The shouting made his head throb, afterall. But he was still staring. Wolfram was going the same careful pace they had walked into town at and anytime Yuuri felt himself swaying, Wolfram would pull his arm to correct him. And that wasn't even in a way that hurt. And his hand was warm which, as the sun started to set, made Yuuri kind of want to wrap his other hand around his, too.

The dinner turned into a celebration, much to his headache's dismay. They were in a tavern or something and the loud talking and laughing made his head spin. He didn't have much of an appetite since it felt like anything he put in might come right back up. Still, he tried, because he knew he should eat and he didn't want to seem rude.

A couple times merry makers came by and patted him on the back. Yuuri was tempted to cut his own head off just to make the pain stop. Wolfram started growling beside him anytime anyone started coming up behind him. At least the growling didn't seem directed at him and, since the back patting stopped, he didn't bother reprimanding him for being rude.

"Here." Wolfram shoved some kind of soup in front of him and Yuuri looked up at him with eyes that didn't want to focus, trying to decide if he was still mad. "It should be easy enough to keep down." he said, looking a mix of worried and tired. Not mad anymore, at least. "And, if it does come back up… well, at least it's already liquid." Yuuri must have made a face at that because Wolfram sighed. "Look, just try and get some of it down and we'll go to bed, okay?"

Bed did sound like a very appealing bribe at the moment, so Yuuri diligently picked up his spoon. About half way through the bowl, the band that had gathered started up a song that had everyone stomping and clapping in rhythm. Yuuri dropped the spoon with a groan, hands pressing against his temples as agony drummed through his head with each beat.

"Come on," hands were guiding him out of his chair. He cracked an eye open just enough to make sure it was Wolfram guiding him before closing it again and trusting him fully to get him away from the sound. There was some discussion happening but he couldn't hear it over the pain in his head. Then there was cold night air and the sound dampened with the door closing. Yuuri sagged against Wolfram, both in relief and because he was now colder than he thought he had a right to be. There was an arm around his back and a hand pressed against his chest, which was fine because Yuuri couldn't be bothered to open his eyes. "Step up," Wolfram instructed in almost a whisper. Yuuri was grateful for the quiet and clumsily followed instructions. There was the sound of a door opening and then closing as they moved forward. It was mildly warmer wherever they were now, but Yuuri couldn't help but shiver anyway.

There was a pause before Wolfram said "Er, do you think you can handle stairs?"

Yuuri peaked an eye open again. Whatever house they were in was much dimmer than the tavern, so he braved opening both. There was a staircase going up to the second floor, but to Yuuri it might as well have been a mountain. And the thin rail going up one side looked entirely inadequate to his dizzy head. Yuuri managed to groan in the negative before burying his face in Wolfram's very warm neck.

Wolfram made a strange kind of gasping sound before clearing his throat. It vibrated through Yuuri's forehead but it didn't hurt more than he was already hurting. It almost felt nice. "There aren't any bedrooms on the ground floor, though."

"Don't care." Yuuri mumbled. "To much."

Wolfram huffed and Yuuri thought it was interesting how he could almost feel it rather than hear it. They started shuffling toward what Yuuri thought was a living room based on the short glance he'd taken. He was lowered slowly onto something soft with a back. A couch? But then Wolfram was pulling away, making him shiver and groan in protest.

"What? What's wrong?"

Yuuri opened an eye again and was surprised to find he was horizontal. Definitely a couch, then, "Cold."

Wolfram frowned at him. "It's really not. But I'll stoke the fire." Yuuri gave another displeased groan at that and closed his eye meant more light. "Do you think you'll throw up?"

Yuuri tried to consider this. Now that they weren't moving and it was quiet, the dizziness did feel better. "Maybe, if I sit up."

"I'll find a bucket." he said with a sigh. Yuuri reached out blindly when he heard Wolfram start to move, only opening his eyes when he actually grabbed fabric. Wolfram was looking down at him with a startled surprise.

"Just…" Why had he felt the need to grab him? It had been a sudden spike of panic that Yuuri wasn't sure of the source. "... don't leave?"

Something in Wolfram's face softened and he crouched down to be more eye level with him. "You're going to be okay, Yuuri." he said, and his voice was a tone of gentleness he'd only heard directed at Greta before. "Oh! Here. Vensa said it was safe for you to have this now that you'd eaten something." he said, fishing something out of his pocket. "She said to hold it under your tongue. Say 'ah'"

Yuuri obediently opened his mouth and Wolfram blinked in surprise, maybe at the lack of argument. But Yuuri was just too tired and in too much pain to really care at this point. And being fed the medicine meant he didn't have to move his other arm which meant less jostling of his head.

Wolfram moved slowly. Was he expecting Yuuri to bite him or something? He stopped just shy of his lips. "She said under your tongue, Yuuri." Wolfram breathed.

The way he said his name tickled something in the back of Yuuri's mind, but that was where the headache lived. So instead he just huffed and raised his tongue.

Wolfram delicately set the wad just behind Yuuri's bottom teeth. The tip of his tongue bumped his retreating fingertips as he lowered it to hold the medicine in place. It had a vaguely minty taste.

Wolfram kept staring at Yuuri's mouth, cheeks now pink in the firelight. When Yuuri raised a questioning eyebrow at him he cleared his throat and looked away.

"I'm going to go find a bucket." he said again as he stood. Yuuri made another sound of protest but Wolfram touched the top of his head, light enough that he only really knew it was there from the heat his hand gave off. "I'll be right back."

Yuuri sighed and let him go. He wasn't sure why it mattered, anyway. Maybe it was just because he didn't feel good. He'd been clingy as a kid, too, whenever he was sick. And his endurance to just plow through the pain was apparently spent. Still, he wasn't sure why it was Wolfram he was clinging to. This seemed more like the kind of thing he'd go to Conrad for.

The image of Wolfram's terrified face popped up again and he frowned, opening his eyes even though he didn't remember closing them again. There was a bucket on the floor by his head and Wolfram was by the fireplace, carefully raising the flames with a slow gesture of his hand. Yuuri's head felt fuzzy as his eyes traced up the line of his body. Somehow, even the way he held his arm out seemed elegant. The light of the flames made the side of Wolfram's face glow. It was strange, seeing him wear such a neutral expression. Wolf was always so intensely passionate about whatever he was feeling that it often made Yuuri feel overwhelmed. Watching him just neutrally doing chores (which, Wolfram doing any kind of chore seemed novel on its own) almost felt like Yuuri was spying.

Wolfram turned and blinked, clearly catching him staring. "I thought you fell asleep."

Yuuri gave a one shoulder shrug and he was thankful that it didn't send pain shooting through his head. You'd think that'd be a thing he would remember happened now. His eyes followed Wolfram as he walked back over and sat on the floor. That seemed bizarre. Wolfram von Bielefeld sitting on the floor in some random person's house, next to a bucket that may eventually have puke in it, while he, Yuuri, lays on a couch. He was honestly surprised (and maybe even disappointed…?) that he hadn't made Yuuri move his feet, or insist Yuuri put his head in his lap again. He was so busy with these thoughts, he totally missed Wolfram asking him a question. "Sorry, what?"

Wolfram rolled his eyes. "Is the medicine gone?"

Yuuri moved his tongue around his mouth and didn't feel the small mound of whatever it was that Wolfram had placed there earlier. "Seems to be."

"Good. Do you feel any better?"

"Mmm…. Pain doesn't seem as bad. That might just be because it's quiet and I'm not moving." he said before tucking his arms closer to himself. "Still kind of cold, though."

Wolfram frowned at that and pressed the back of his hand against Yuuri's forehead, just below where the bandages wrapped around. The warmth of it felt nice and made Yuuri close his eyes again in contentment. "You don't feel warm. Vensa said there shouldn't be a chance of infection but- are you asleep again?"

He had pulled his hand away and Yuuri groaned, opening his eyes again. "No. You're warm."

Wolfram huffed and it made Yuuri think of the now fuzzy memory of how he had felt that shoulder movement earlier. "Are you awake enough for me to ask you something?"

"Probably?" He wasn't sure 'awake' was the proper qualifier for being questioned at the moment.

Wolfram's eyes dropped to his lap and he fidgeted by trying to smooth out his pant leg. "You reached for me."

"Huh?" Cause Yuuri was pretty sure that wasn't a question, but maybe he was just that out of it.

Wolfram huffed again in annoyance and looked back up at him. "When we were running for camp. Conrad had you. But, but you reached for me. Why? Was- Was I the one you wanted or…"

Yuuri didn't fully hear the last part. His mind was back on that memory, somewhat clear despite how fuzzy all his memories seemed to become as soon as they were done happening. And the fact that he was pretty sure he couldn't see straight at the time. But still, the image of Wolfram running, hand not even on his sword, face still just as terrified as the last memory he had had of him…. "You were scared." Yuuri said, blinking because he hadn't meant to whisper it. Current Wolfram came back into focus and his expression shifted into something between a scowl and a pout.

"Oh, is that all?"

No. He wasn't getting something across. Something important. He reached out, fingers gripping the fabric of Wolfram's sleeve and making the other man look down at it. "You were really scared." he said, trying to find the words through his muddled thoughts and the memory still replaying in his head. "If you're that scared, there must be something to be scared of. So… So I was scared. And I didn't want you left behind. I was scared, and I wanted you with me."

Wolfram looked back up at him and Yuuri wasn't sure how to read his expression. Sleep was tugging at him, he could feel it now. But this felt important. He made his eyes stay open as Wolfram leaned in. He wasn't sure what was happening, his heart started to race the closer Wolfram's face got to his own. Then Wolfram's face was pressed against his neck.

"W-what…?"

"You did it to me." Wolfram mumbled. "Only fair."

Yuuri was confused, and he didn't think it was just from the concussion. But Wolfram was warm against his neck and his breath was sneaking under the collar of his shirt and making his whole body feel tingly. And, really, he didn't have the energy to fight this weirdness anyway. The hand holding Wolfram's sleeve slid up and over his shoulders, pulling the blonde even closer. "You're warm." he mumbled sleepily.

He was pretty sure Wolfram chuckled at that. "And you're cold?" Yuuri was too tired to respond and just tried to tug him closer. There was some shifting as hands carefully pushed him back against the couch and then there was glorious warmth all down the front of him. Yuuri sighed in contentment as he let sleep take him fully.