Part 17 - Camp fire

Y/n

You know that feeling when you first wake up, where it feels like you're still asleep, and you can hear everything around you perfectly. Like, being in a coma, but you know that you can open your eyes at any time.

You just choose not to.

That's the only way I could think of to describe how I'm feeling right now.

The surface beneath me was kind of uncomfortable if I'm being honest, like laying with a cement block digging into my back. But that wasn't what made me want to open my eyes.

I hear a small thud and an 'ouch' come from behind me, and I let my curiosity get the best of me, finally willing myself to take in the vision before me.

The plastic inner wall of a tent.

In that moment, a twinge of pain shot up from my leg.

Oh, right.

That.

I remember what happened now. The conversation with Ajax, the cadet that shot me, the unbelievable pain.

God I'm such an idiot, how could I let my guard down like that.

I also remember the feeling of Ajax carrying me back out of the woods, and then...

Another thud from behind me caused me to turn my head around, seeing who caused it.

Oh thank god.

"Pugsley?"

His body whips around at the sound of my voice, and his face immediately relaxes when we lock eyes. He rushes over to me and crouches next to what I'm assuming was the bed I was laying on.

"You're awake, how are you feeling?"

A soft smile crosses my lips at his concern.

This boy...

"Yeah, I think I'm okay, I mean it could've been worse I suppose, plus I think-"

Wait...

The glow from the lantern hanging inside the tent hit Pugsley's face, and I noticed something about his cheek.

It was red, like somebody had hit it. Hard.

I lift my upper body, now sitting up straight and looking down at Pugsley who was still crouching next to the bed. He stares up at me with a slight look of confusion on his face, the lantern still causing a glow against his skin.

He noticed my concern ridden face and matched it with his own.

"What's the matter? Are you okay?"

I don't say anything as I rase my hand up to his face, tentatively touching his cheek where the red mark was. He winces slightly and flinches away from me for a second before relaxing into my hand.

"What happened to you?"

His eyes glance down towards where my hand is, and he sighs.

"This? It's nothing, you should see the other guy."

The other guy?

"Pugsley, please don't tell me you got into a fight." 

A look of guilt crossed his face.

"I would, but then I'd be lying to you, and I don't wanna do that."

"Pugsley."

He leans back, taking his face away from my hand and his eyes look away from mine in guilt.

"Yes, I got into a fight. Ajax told me that one of the cadets shot you, so when he came out of the woods, I confronted him about it and then he started talking like an absolute sleaze bag, and I just got so angry."

He looks back at me, his expression now like a wounded puppy.

"I'm sorry."

I let my hand rest in my lap as I take in the information. I mean, I knew Pugsley could get a little irritated sometimes, but I never thought that he could fight somebody.

And he did it for me.

I felt bad because of that. He got hurt fighting for me and I couldn't do anything about it.

"Well what'd he say that was so bad?"

His expression morphed into one of slight annoyance as he thought for a second.

He shook his head

"It's not important. You don't want to know."

I decide not to push further on the matter, as it seemed it was pissing him off just thinking about it.

...

"Thank you, for doing that. You didn't have to."

He laughs a little.

"Trust me, if I were able to control myself, I wouldn't have done it. But he deserved it."

I shift myself on the bed and take the sheet off of my legs, carefully placing my feet down on the floor.

The sudden movement causes a wave of lightheadedness crash over me, my hands hold the edge of the bed as I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths.

Pugsley quickly moves back closer to me once he notices my dizziness, and he hesitantly hovers his hand next to my arms in case I needed them.

"Woah, easy there. Just breathe. You were out for a while, it's gonna take a bit for you to come back to normal. Maybe you should lie back down."

I shake his words off with my hand and take a final deep breath before opening my eyes again.

"No, I'm okay, just gimme a second."

He nodded, but his eyes still held a bit of concern behind them.

"Are you sure? You don't have to get up right now, really. I'll still stay with you if you just want to sleep."

I look up at him with a definite 'no' expression.

"Even if I wanted to sleep, I don't think I could."

I look down at my leg where the bandage was wrapped around my wound, and I decide to take a look at the damage. I carefully unwrap the piece of cloth, hesitantly peeking at the-

Wait.

What the fuck?

Where was it?

I stared at my thigh in complete disbelief. 

"Uhm...Pugsley? Where did the hole in my leg go."

The only thing left where I had been shot was two closed wounds on either side of my thigh, with small scars covering both of them.

He laughs nervously.

"Yeahhh, about that...I might have taken the opportunity when you woke up for like 3 minutes a couple of hours ago, to feed you some of the mystery meat that I packed for Slurp. You were like mostly asleep but you ate it pretty willingly, and apparently my theory was right. I thought if it was helping Slurp to heal quickly, that maybe it would help you too."

I felt like I should've been mad at him for feeding me poison meat, but honestly, I had no recollection of it happening, and I was grateful that my leg had actually healed. For the most part anyway.

"...Thank you. That was, actually a pretty smart idea."

He scoffs.

"Don't sound so surprised."

The two of us laugh it off, he knows what I meant.

"Well, shouldn't you have some too then? You know, for,"

I gesture towards his cheek.

He smiles and reaches for his bag.

"Yeah, I was just about to actually, but you woke up so I got a bit distracted."

He pulled out the other half of what I'm assuming he fed me, and he eats it.

I look at his cheek closely, and after merely 10 seconds, the red mark starts to fade, only leaving a slight bit of discoloration. But it was barely visible.

"Well? How does it look?" 

I smile.

"Not perfect, but that is genuinely awesome. I will never eat it while awake though, alright?"

The sound of laughter outside made my head turn towards the open door of the tent. And I could see an orange glow from what looked like a fire.

"What's going on out there?"

Pugsley follows my gaze and glances outside before turning back to me.

"Camp fire, remember? Everyone's gathered out there, pretty sure it's getting started soon."

Oh right, I did forget about that. Hmm..

"Ah, okay, cool..."

I look over at the door again, then return my eyes to Pugsley, who seemed to be studying my face with a fond smile.

"You wanna go out there don't you?"

I give him a small nod and a smile, and he returns in kind.

He sighs and stands up straight, putting out both his hands for me to take.

"Alright then, let's see if we can do this."

I smile up at him before lifting my hands up, placing them in his and using him as an anchor as I begin to pull myself up from the bed.

Another bit of a pain shot up from my leg, but it quickly dissipated into more of a faint ache as I managed to balance myself, with Pugsley's help.

He took a cautious step back, only a little one, and I stepped forward to match his movement.

As we continued to make way for the door, a limp formed as I walked, but I was still able to move rather quickly.

We stepped outside, and I now had a clear view of the fire in the center of the camp, and everyone was sitting around together laughing and talking.

There were fairy lights strung all the way up the tower, and along the edges of the buildings and poles stationed around the fire.

It was beautiful.

I was glad that I decided to come out here, I wouldn't miss this for just some extra sleep.

"It's gorgeous..."

I said to Pugsley, who just nodded gently.

"Yeah, it is."

But when I looked back at him, he wasn't looking at the lights.

He was looking at me.

"You're not even seeing them, dummy."

He blinks a couple of times before looking back at the lights.

"Yeah well, I uhm...I saw them earlier, so I know what you meant, is all."

Odd, but nothing out of the ordinary I suppose.

When we finally got close enough to the circle, my gaze locked on someone. Someone who I knew was waiting for me to wake up.

Especially with the way his face lit up when he saw me. That look alone almost made me forget about everything that had happened.

Ajax immediately shot up from where he was sitting, maneuvering himself out of the circle of people and walked around the outside of it until he made a straight line for me and Pugsley. We'd slowed to a stop about 20 feet away from the camp fire, and Ajax was pretty quick to get over here.

Once he was standing next to me, I could see more clearly now just how worried he must've been, he looks exhausted. He cleared his throat to say something, but I think he was nervous saying anything while Pugsley was right there.

Pugsley picked up on the uncertain vibe, and he gave my hands a gentle squeeze before he spoke.

"I'll leave you two to talk for a bit. But I'll wait for you over by the fire yeah?"

I give him a small nod, and he gives my hands over to Ajax, whose arms were out to hold onto me. Pugsley leaves us and walks over to everyone, taking a seat on a nearby log and glancing back at me with a smile before he let me focus on Ajax.

His hands were cold in comparison to the one's I'd just been holding, and it made me miss Pugsley's presence just a little more. I kept hold of Ajax as he looked directly into my eyes.

"You got shot."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

I smile up at him, and my sarcastic remark lightened the mood a bit as he smiled back. 

"Shut up, I'm being serious. I was really worried."

Oh.

I wasn't exactly prepared for him to sound so serious when he said it.

I open my mouth to say something, but he stops me.

"And before you say anything about 'it's not my fault' or 'there's nothing I could've done', don't. Because it was my fault. If I hadn't distracted you with my stupid teasing then you wouldn't have let your guard down, and maybe this wouldn't have happened. I'm so sorry."

"Hey."

If I didn't stop his rambling now, I'd never hear the end of it.

"I'm okay. We're okay."

I sigh.

"And it isn't your fault. Even if I had kept my guard up, I wouldn't have been able to stop that arrow. It was going to happen, whether you distracted me or not."

He takes in my words for a second before he nods. He knew it was no use arguing about it.

"Yeah that cadet was a total ass. Pugsley got into a fight with him because of it."

I smile and look over at where Pugsley was, laughing with Eugene and a couple of other people. It made me happy that he was finally talking to people without them running away, it made me proud of how far he's come in the last week. 

"Yeah, I know. He wouldn't tell me what the cadet said though, but I don't mind. I'm just glad that he's okay."

Ajax laughs a little bit at my words.

"Okay, okay, I can practically see the hearts in your eyes."

What.

My gaze flicks back to him, and he had a mischievous smirk on his face.

Oh this mother fu-

"That's not what this is. Pugsley and I are-"

I mean...were we best friends? I kind of thought we could've been. He is my roommate after all, and we've been spending all of our time together outside of classes.

Maybe I wasn't his best friend, but he was mine.

"We're friends. Okay?"

Ajax nods.

"Alright, whatever you say. Now come on birdy, let's get you back to your boy."

Why do people keep saying that? 

I shake my head as we begin to walk towards the camp fire.

"I hate you so much."

He snorts.

"No you don't."

Stuff like this made me remember why I liked him so much. He was just so...

I can't explain it, but if I didn't have Ajax in my life, I think I would go crazy. He gives me something I need, and I liked it so much.

I just wish he needed me as much as I did him.

As we reached the circle, next to where Pugsley was, a few people spotted me and cheered. Obviously because I was still alive.

It was a little embarrassing knowing people were looking at me, but at this point I was just glad I was alive too.

Pugsley moved to the side a bit to give me a spot to sit, and Ajax helps me down, making sure I was okay before going back to his own spot across the fire.

I moved a little closer to Pugsley, because while the fire was warm, 

He was warmer.

I let my gaze fall to him, and he just smiled.

He looked down at my legs in thought for a second.

"Here, let me just,"

He reached down and took my legs in his hands, lifting them and placing them across his lap.

"It's probably best if you keep them elevated."

Woah, this was...comfy.

"Thanks."

The both of us, along with everyone else, turned our heads when the strum of a guitar started to play, and Miss capri began to sing. This is what I was looking forward to the most, she's truly got a beautiful voice.

~I see the bad moon a-rising~

~I see trouble on the way~

I lean my head on Pugsley's shoulder, settling in as the tune continued, and Pugsley's thumb gently rubbed back and forth over my knee in a comforting matter.

~I see earthquakes and lightnin'~

~I see bad times today~

I turn my head up to look at him, his features glowed in the light of the fire as he focused on Miss Capri, and something about it, about being here, just felt right.

~Don't go 'round tonight~

~Well it's bound to take your life~

~There's a bad moon on the rise~

My gaze shifts when another voice joins in the song, and I look to see Mrs. Addams sitting there, singing along with Miss Capri. She too had quite a stunning voice, and it just added something special.

She saw me looking at her, and her eyes looked between me and Pugsley. A small smile formed on her lips as she gave me a single nod, and I smiled back in kind. I didn't know entirely what she meant by it, but it felt nice.

~I hear hurricanes a-blowing~

I let my eyes drift towards Ajax, who was still across the fire, but his gaze was fixed on someone else.

I didn't bother to look who, I knew it was her. His eyes dropped back down, and even though it hurt to see him like this,

I couldn't bring myself to feel sad about it.

~I know the end is coming soon~

~I fear the river's overflowing~

~I hear the voice of rage and ruin~

Everything about this moment, was perfect. I never wanted it to end, ever.

~Oh there's a bad moon on the rise~

Once the song came to an end, the sound of claps filled it's place. And this time I didn't mind it.

I saw Ajax get up out of the corner of my eye, probably to follow Enid and Bruno, who had only left a few seconds ago.

Maybe he was finally going to get closure. Wouldn't that be something.

I didn't want to think about it though, the only thing on my mind was how comfortable I was.

How nothing could ruin how I felt right now, not even Ajax.

Pugsley's thumb stopped it's movement, and his hand just rested on my leg.

Yeah, perfect.

--------------

Okay so either it's a really fucking weird coincidence- holy shit I spelled that right on the first try- anyway, either it's a coincidence, or this book is literally cursing me.

Because TELL ME WHY i wrote about Y/n getting shot like, 2 days ago, and then yesterday I wake up with a pain in my leg 

IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT WHERE SHE GOT FUCKING SHOT.

And if that wasn't crazy enough, I wrote about the limp yesterday,

You'll never guess what I woke up with this morning.

And no, unfortunately, it wasn't your mother,

IT WAS A FREAKING LIMP

maybe i just gotta write her leg getting completely better then I'll go back to normal

BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK YOU GUYS.