Jaxon

Plans

     Hace hung up with his employer. He was mad because their computers had crashed and lost two days' worth of work! They needed him to come into the office and bring his back-up files from his own computer. He hated going into the office.

     "Of all the stupid..." Hace walked back into his room and almost screamed.

     Ardent was laying partially on the bedstand next to his scaler. Blood was all over his hand and running down his arm. Ardent was holding his finger crying in a way that was breaking Hace's heart.

     Hace ran to him and quickly took him to the bathroom. He tried to pull his hand away from his finger, but Ardent just kept screaming. And why wouldn't he? If he only touched it, then there shouldn't be more than a prick. But if he scraped it across... he'll be lucky to still have his finger!

     "Let me look. Come on, let me see how bad it is buddy." Hace was trying to stay calm. If he was calm, maybe he could calm down Ardent.

     Ardent stopped screaming and looked up at Hace with tears running down his face. His eyes were puffy and so full of pain. Hace started thinking it was going to be bad from how much pain he looked to be in.

     Finally, Ardent slowly let go of his hand and held the injured finger up to Hace. Hace gave a slight sigh of relief that the finger was still attached. He took a towel and carefully started to clean up the blood to see how bad the cut was. When he finally got enough blood cleared away, he saw it was just a deep prick.

     "It's not that bad. You're ok. Shhh. You need to be more careful buddy."

     Hace ran Ardent's hands under the water to clear away the rest of the blood and any germs he might have gotten before he applied some ointment. He stopped and looked at the container in his hand. He wondered if it was safe for Inchoates. He read the label... of course it didn't have anything that could help. Should he call the vet? He looked at the phone, it was lunchtime. No one would be there.

     He carefully dried the finger off the rest of the way and decided that since they were so close in biology... it should be safe to use, right? After he applied the ointment, he wrapped Ardent's finger in bandages.

     Ardent sniffed a few times and looked up at Hace. Hace smiled and hugged him. Ardent hugged him back. He was still sniffing a little and wiped his nose on Hace's shirt. Hace cringed a bit but didn't mind it too much... until he saw the huge stain on his shirt from Ardent's tears and nose. At least it wasn't the worst thing he'd put on his shirt.

     "Ok. I'm gonna get changed, then we're gonna figure out what to do with you tomorrow morning while I'm at work."

     Jaxon looked at his finger and thought how stupid he was. He saw it was sharp and still just had to touch it. He felt terrible. He'd cried himself dry. He was thirsty and tired. Hace set him back down on his bed and walked over to a door off to the side.

     He came back out and pulled off his shirt that now had a large wet spot, thanks to Jaxon. He felt terrible about doing that. But it was mostly tears. It should wash right out... right?

     "Hace. Ardent drink?" Jaxon asked as he wiped away a few remaining tears.

     Hace looked over at him and smiled.

     "Ok. Let's ~~~ you ~ drink. Good boy."

     Jaxon was feeling a little better since he could understand most of the words that Hace used.

     Hace picked him up and started heading downstairs. Now that his shirt was off, Jaxon could see that the scales did go up his arms and covered most of his chest and down his back as far as he could see. He dared to let himself touch Hace's upper arm and feel the scales with his un-injured hand.

     As he ran his hand down his arm, he could feel that they were a lot harder than his normal skin, but they still felt smooth to the touch. One of the scales came off in his fingers as he ran his hand back up the opposite way. Jaxon's eyes got huge, and he started to tremble.

     'What have I done!?' He started to panic. 'Did I just hurt him? Are they not as tuff as they looked? Why did it fall out??'

     Hace looked down at the scale in his hand and laughed. He took the scale and tossed it on the ground. He must have seen how scared Jaxon was, he gave him a hug and pet his head.

     'Is... is he ok then? Do the scales come out all the time? Maybe he molts like... um... what were they called...' Jaxon tried hard to remember what kind of animal he learned about that shed like that. 'Snakes! Maybe he's like a snake that sheds its skin? Is he more like a reptile than a mammal? That would make a lot more sense.'

     Hace took them into the kitchen and gave Jaxon a cup of water. While he was drinking, Hace pulled out his phone and put it to his head.

     "Iriie? Hey ~~~ you ~~~~~ Ardent ~~~~~~? Yeah, what? No... ~~~ ok. Bye."

     'Iriie? Does that mean I'm gonna be able to see Ash again?' Jaxon was really missing Ash. The two of them were like brothers. They grew up together and shared everything. Jaxon wished he could see Ash more often. After seeing someone everyday for eleven years, not seeing him was hard.

     Again, Hace put the phone up to his head and talked.

     "Jap? I ~~~~ you ~~ ~~~~~ Ardent. Can you ~~ ~~~~? Yes? Ok. ~~~ you ~~~~~~!"

     'Jap? Am I seeing both Ash and Ryan? I wonder how Ryan is doing.' Jaxon took another sip and accidentally hit his bad finger. He let out a cry and Hace quickly turned his attention back to him.

     Hace held him tight and shushed him a few times. Jaxon had no tears left to cry. Actually... his hand started to sting a little, then it started to burn. He held up his finger and sniffed a few times. The pain was different. It didn't feel like a puncture anymore... he really didn't have anything to compare the feeling to. It was so odd... his head started to feel funny.

     Ardent held up his finger for a moment before he took it back and looked at it with a funny face. He looked like he was drugged out. Hace wondered if it was the ointment. It was powerful stuff, the injury should be healed up nicely by tomorrow or the next day. He would feel better if Ardent was mostly healed before he went to Jap's place.

     "I think we'll just give you your medication now." Hace decided since Ardent was so out of it already.

     Ardent already looked like he was about to fall asleep. Hace washed off the dried tears and snot and set him in his chair. He held up a piece of fruit, Ardent looked at it for a moment before opening his mouth and leaning forward. Hace laughed, now he knew Ardent was tired. After he ate, Hace gave him the medication and put him to bed.

     With Ardent asleep, Hace took this time to get his work backed up. He had to have everything ready for tomorrow so he could get through the day as quickly as he could. He hated going into the actual office. He avoided it as much as possible. He wished he could just send everything in an email, but nooooo! That wasn't an option. Now he had to socialize.

     After an hour, he went in and checked on Ardent. He was still sound asleep, which was odd for him. Hace figured that it was just because he'd lost a bit too much blood and needed some extra sleep to build it back up.

     'He'll heal up that finger faster asleep anyway.' He thought as he lightly pet his sleeping boy.

     Ardent slept most of the rest of the day. Hace finished making his backups and started on dinner. He ended up just about force feeding Ardent. It was almost impossible to get him to wake up.

     'I'll just give him his meds and get his bath out of the way. I hope he wakes up tomorrow for his day with Twitch.'

     Hace took the bandage off and was pleasantly surprised to find it healed completely. He thought for sure it would take at least a day or two.