It was agreed that no one was in any condition to try and make it to medical on their own. Nearly half their party couldn't even walk right now. Sy had fallen asleep standing upright and leaning on Jim's shoulder. Braxton was still holding Matt in his arms, though occasionally Matt would offer a protest that everyone knew would do nothing to change the situation. Zephyr was still standing through sheer force of will alone. 628 and Mellow seemed to be fairing the best, though Mellow cradled one of his legs close to him in a way that made Jim suspect he'd injured it while prying the door open.

"You should sit." Braxton was the first to break their exhausted silence. Weirdly, he seemed to be speaking to Zephyr. At least, that was who he was looking at.

Zephyr glanced around at the other boys, checking to be certain they also thought Braxton was talking to him. "Thank you, but I'm fine."

"You're swaying on your feet. Sit down before you collapse. I can't carry two of you safely." Braxton answered firmly.

"I'm not going to collapse."

"That's an order, De Châteaupers."

Zephyr raised an eyebrow. "You don't have the rank to give me orders."

"'Assuming command when no officer is available: In times of distress, the highest ranking individual has full command of a situation until an officer is able to take control of the situation. In instances where all individuals are of the same rank, any one soldier may assume control in so long as they have majority support.'" Braxton quoted. "Unless anyone here objects, I'm taking command. Therefore, it is an order that you sit down."

Zephyr glanced at the other youth there. Jim shrugged. Mellow avoided eye contact. 628 grinned and clapped his hands. "Braxton in charge!"

Zephyr frowned. "I don't think that's an actual regulation."

"You got a way to prove it's not?" Braxton challenged.

Zephyr wordlessly held up his tablet.

"Fine." Braxton shrugged. "You find proof that I'm lying. But until then, sit."

Zephyr sighed heavily, but conceded. He crossed the hall and sat down in the only chair. "You should be the one sitting. Or at least you should put Matt in the chair."

Braxton shrugged awkwardly around his friend. "I'm fine. I can hold him. We'll be moving soon, and it will be more inconvenient to put him down and pick him up again."

"I'm fine, Braxton." Matt insisted from his arms.

"You overworked yourself and nearly fell off a roof for it. If you think I'm trusting you to do literally anything until after you've slept for a day and a half, you are wrong."

"I'm fine."

"I'm ignoring you." Braxton smiled all the same. But he did not put Matt down.

Zephyr closed his eyes and leaned back into the wall. The boys lapsed into silence again. It was a few minutes before anyone said anything again. This time the silence was broken by Zephyr. "Thank you."

Braxton nodded once. "Sure."

Jim held Sy a little tighter to him. He didn't want to even think about what could have happened if they hadn't found the two young men when they did. Gray - and Jim was positive it had been Gray - had been too close to being successful.

Absently, Jim ran his fingers through Sy's hair. It was as soft and as dark as ever. The deep black strands only highlighted how red his face and hands had gotten during his time out on the roof. Jim had never really thought too much about how much sun protection Sy must require. Fair as he was, though, he had to be used to something very strong.

Jim rarely used it himself, despite his mother's insistence. He never burned, just darkened to a richer skin tone. His mother, from what she'd told him, used to get darker in the sun as well when she was younger. Now she so rarely left the inn that he couldn't remember her ever looking anything other than how she did now.

Absently, Jim's gaze drifted to his friends. He'd never thought about the differences between their skin, their hair before. Most of them were human. Braxton, himself, Sy, Zephyr. Even Varian and Hogarth, though they weren't back yet.

Matt was humanoid, but distinctly not. Did his skin change in the sun? He looked shallow and dull right now, not his usual, glossy, deep black that Jim associated him with, but was that just from the exertion?

And what about 628? Or Mellow? Jim didn't even know what categories of aliens they fit in. He'd asked 628 what he was once, but all he got back was just "experiment". Which didn't particularly help, considering Jim already knew that about him.

Mellow appeared to be a crustacean or an arachnid of some sort. Did his skin dry out? Did it get hard like a shell? More like a shell, he supposed. Or did it flake? Sy's skin would be peeling before very long.

Across the hall, Zephyr shifted slightly. He reached up to run his fingers through his hair, then frowned as he got caught in the curls. He disentangled before immediately making the exact same mistake. A heavily frustrated sigh betrayed how tired and irritable he was.

628 hesitantly crawled forward, his body crouched low to the ground. Ears and antennae plastered to his skull, the small alien sniffed at Zephyr's boots. He climbed cautiously up the young man's legs and nestled into his lap.

"Why are you so heavy?"

"628 dense!"

Zephyr snorted in amusement. "Perhaps, but that doesn't necessarily answer my question."

"Actually, it does!" From around the corner Varian's upbeat voice answered. He stepped into view, continuing to explain. "Weight is determined, in part, by the density of the object as well as its size. More importantly, however, our perception of weight is heavily tied into an object's density. The classic example of a Zollpfund of feathers weighing less than a Zollpfund of stone comes to mind. Hello, by the way."

Only second behind Varian, a whole team of nurses and medical professionals swarmed into the already cramped alcove. Two moved straight to Zephyr, and three joined Sy and Jim by the wall. One of them focused their attention on Jim and the other two set to taking Sy's vitals. The other boys had at least one person each to harass them with care and attention. In the swirl of voices, hands, and bodies, it was hard to tell what was even happening.

"Hey, back off!" Braxton snarled at someone with a thermometer gun in hand. "Give him some room to breathe! He's overly tired, not dying!"

Jim could feel Sy stiffening in his arms as he awoke to the chaos. Jim wrapped his arms a bit tighter around his boyfriend and pivoted his body to shelter Sy against the wall. "Can we save this for in the medical center?"

Doctor Sweet crossed his arms and frowned at his overly enthusiastic crew. "Alright everyone. All our young men look stable enough. Get the stretchers for these three, at least, and we'll finish our assessments in the medical center."

"I am not getting in a stretcher," Zephyr immediately protested.

"You either ride in the stretcher or I carry you," Braxton countered.

Zephyr narrowed his eyes at Braxton, but seemingly decided he was serious enough to not take those risks. "Fine."

Jim helped Sy up onto the gurney as gently as he could. "I'll stay right here with you. I promise." He laced their fingers together and squeezed Sy's hand. "I'll walk right beside you. Try to sleep a little more."

It wasn't long before Zephyr, Sy, and Matt were settled on their temporary beds. 628 jumped up on Matt's bed and curled up between his legs. The other boys were set to walk amongst the team of medical professionals.

Doctor Sweet nodded in satisfaction. He lifted his walkie and started relaying instructions to the team awaiting them back in the med bay. "We're going to need several bags of saline. Multiple dehydrations. I want three beds ready immediately, the rest of them don't look like they need more than a quick checkup."

"Sir?" Jim interrupted him. "Mellow injured his leg."

Doctor Sweet glanced back over his shoulder at the multi-limbed alien trailing in the back. For a moment he studied the way Mellow walked, counting how many times each leg touched the ground. He nodded. "Thank you." Into the walkie he amended, "Make that four beds."

Sy squeezed Jim's fingers gently. Jim glanced down to be met by a grateful smile.

"Thank you."

Jim shrugged. "He's our friend. I can't let him suffer."

The way Sy beamed up at him made Jim blush and refocus his attention forward. He hadn't been lying, though. Mellow had proved him wrong. And he was glad for it.