The Altered.

Chapter L.

It did sting.

Miles didn't complain, though. He bit his lip - hard - and let Aaron press the antiseptic pad to the open wound on his cheek.

"I'm sorry," Aaron said sincerely. "I really should have rinsed it with water first, but we don't have any running water here and I don't think it would be great to waste our drinking water."

Miles was too busy chewing his bottom lip in order to contain his yelps and vulgar language to reply. Aaron hadn't seemed to expect a reply, anyway.

The blond readjusted his position so that he was facing Miles, a small, concentrated frown drawing his brows together as he proceeded to disinfect the wound with what materials they had. "At least it's a clean cut. It might scar, though."

Miles groaned. "That'll look digusting."

"What?" Aaron exclaimed. "No way! It'll look totally badass."

Miles blinked and considered Aaron's point momentarily. "I'm always badass anyway."

"Then a cool scar will suit you," Aaron decided, tossing the antiseptic pads he'd used onto the floor to clean up later. At this point, Miles' eyes were beginning to water because of how much the wound was stinging, but he was furiously blinking back the tears. While Aaron fished through the kit in search of something, he said all of a sudden, "Thanks, by the way."

"... what for?"

Aaron pulled a bandage patch from the first aid kit. "If you hadn't stopped that Altered guy, I'd probably have been done for."

Miles wanted to be amused, but he was actually sort of thrilled that his stupid decision to latch onto the Altered's back during the fight was appreciated by the person he'd done it to save. "Oh. That's okay."

The topic changed almost immediately. "I need to make sure there's nothing in the wound," Aaron said.

Miles said suspiciously, "Shouldn't you have done that before disinfecting it?"

"Yup," said Aaron, "but I'm doing it now."

Miles fell quiet and let Aaron lean in to inspect the wound close up. Their faces were close and Aaron's cold fingertips brushed his cheek lightly. Miles wrinkled his nose, trying to ignore the pain that came from that along with the unwelcome butterflies in his stomach. He hadn't seen the wound yet, but with Aaron doing all of the healing work for him, he really saw no need to.

"Okay," said Aaron, pulling away again to tear the plastic off the bandage patch. "I think it's fine." He very gently brushed Miles' hair out of the way to ensure it didn't get stuck on the underside of the patch, then he pressed the patch over the clean wound. The bleeding had now stemmed, thankfully. Miles clenched his teeth to refrain from spitting out any kind of complaint, for the pressure on the wound was painful. Aaron finished quickly.

Aaron gave Miles an affectionate, playful pat on the head. "Okay, you can sleep now."

Miles cringed away from the touch and immediately went to smooth out his hair. He had to wait until Aaron had moved to get his spot back for lying down, but the blond seemed to notice this and pack up as fast as he could, standing up. Miles contentedly flopped back down so he could lie on his side, ignoring the ringing in his head as it hit the couch. Miles mumbled, "Thanks," and Aaron responded with a smile.

Miles slept for a long time. He was quick to fall asleep once Aaron left and had a thankfully dreamless rest. Though it was only just prior to noon when he fell asleep, nobody woke him, and with the amount of sleep he'd been losing lately, he slept for longer than he probably ever had.

When Miles did wake up, it was nearly midnight, and Lia was on shift. Lia had the third shift; Miles had the second and Aaron had the first. That meant Miles had slept right through his own.

Groggily pushing himself into a sitting position, Miles examined his surroundings to confirm the time of day. Everybody was sleeping, and through the tall, stained-glass windows, Miles could see the moon at its peak.

He swivelled his head, rubbing his eyes, and let his eyes settle on Lia, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, a book in her lap. She lifted her head when Miles muttered her name.

"What time is it?" he whispered to her, hoping not to wake anybody else.

Lia's gaze flicked to the window. "Late."

"I missed my shift."

Lia's eyes lowered from the window to settle on Aaron, who was sprawled comfortably on one of the leather lounges, snoring softly. "Aaron took it. I think he knew you needed the sleep."

This information surprised Miles, but he was relieved that he hadn't been woken. Lia added, "You should thank him in the morning."

Miles glanced at the blond. "Yeah," he said, leaning back, "I will."

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+820 Words

Woo! Chapter 50! I hope the roman numerals aren't too confusing haha.

I'm sorry about how considerably shorter this chapter is in comparison to the others, but I felt like there kind of needed to be this short interlude. Also there wasn't much more to write and I didn't want to force it.

The next chapters are definitely something to anticipate, y'all. Big things are coming.

- Reb <3