Fatigue was all Linx could feel, with his limbs chaining him to the bed and eyelids weighed down by a brick. He didn't want to wake up and deal with the world because he already deals with it on a daily basis and he just wants a small break from it all.

From the boys intruding into his private life to everybody seemingly wanting to 'help' him with some unknown issue of his and Rooster probably shutting down of the Police. Yes, the world can stay on pause for him just for a few more days.

He knew he was in the hospital by the steady beeping next to his ear and stale air that's always tinted with some faint disinfectant. Soft murmurs would appear every so often, but he wasn't curious enough to wake up figure out what they were saying. No, he was fine sleeping and drifting in his mind's silent void.

Yet, his body seemed to be ready to greet his problems far before he was and before he could stop himself, he was already groaning.

All at once the volume in the room increased and both his hands were held simultaneously, with the door faintly shutting in the background. The soft murmurs became more clear and it was impossible for him to go back to sleep now.

"-water in case he's thirsty and maybe some more pillows? Is he awake yet, is he okay?" No response was spoken but Linx's hands were squeezed more tightly as if the added force would make him want to awake up.

Surprisingly, that got an involuntary groan out of Linx, which then triggered a coughing fit. His body jerked back and forth, it hitting different bruises and not helping his body to calm down. With his eyes still closed and crushing whoever's hands his holding, a glass of water soon reached his mouth, and ripping his hand out of the person's hold, Linx chugged it down.

He coughed some more, drinking it a bit too quickly, but his throat didn't feel like a desert no more. He tried to pretend that the coughing fit made him terribly tired again, but he could feel all the eyes looking at him and urging him to open his eyes.

Usually, waking up in a hospital wouldn't have been a problem for Linx. He's wound up here more times than he can count already, and the moment he wakes up, Linx is already trying to test his physical limits to see how damaged he was. Sometimes Ma or Rose would be there when he wakes up, and even then he wasn't hesitant to wake up at all.

But the boys? Linx really doesn't want to deal with this scenario so soon.

Yet here he is, reluctantly opening his eyes to meet three pairs of eyes.

Another two extra pair of eyes got added when a doctor and Austin stepped into the room. Linx still wasn't quite in the right mind to pay attention to what was going on, but he nodded and shook his head to answer some simple questions from the doctor.

Apparently, his fever spiked up again, both of his wrists are sprained, and he's going to need a lot of ice packs for his bruises. There were some other comments, but they were directed to the boys on how they'll take care of Linx once he's discharged. Linx wasn't too keen on the 'taking care' part, but he figured right now wasn't the time the voice that out.

While the doctor was talking, Linx looked down at himself to see how bad the damage actually was. To his surprise, it wasn't the worst. Both of his wrists were in some weird looking cast, expect it wasn't blue and it looked very easy to take off. The slight swelling on his face obstructed his vision a little, but not too much.

To be honest, he thought he would at least have something broken or get some frostbite. So these injuries were a win to Linx at least.

Soon, the doctor was gone and it was just him and the boys. It didn't take long for someone to talk with Finn being in the room.

"Soooooooo," Finn prompted his hands on the edge of the bed, a blank smile on him, "why'd you go to Rooster? Walking in the cold weather, with a fever and the flu, almost risking your life if none of us found you laying in the snow. You know there were better options to achieve whatever goal you had to do, right? But since what's done is done, how about you explain why you went to Rooster, will you?"

There was a strange edge to the way Finn spoke, his typically light words were coated in some frost. The usual smile he showed didn't have it's shine to it, it was dull and tight.

Linx looked around the room for Trev, maybe get him to explain this absurd circumstances, but he was nowhere to be found. And neither was Kade, only four of the boys were present.

So Linx just shrugged, feeling like his actions were pretty straight forward. He had a match, so he had to go to Rooster, what else was there to explain?

Shrugging didn't seem to be the right decision because all of their expressions fell a little, but it seemed like they were expecting this response by the way their determination didn't waver.

"Why did you only bring Trev along and nobody else?" With another self-explanatory question came another shrug from Linx. Trev offered to come along, plus Linx could easily overpower him if he tried to stop Linx from going to Rooster.

"How come you didn't go to the police when they arrived, they would've kept you safe." Linx shrugged again, since why would he want to be questioned by the police on why he was fighting at Rooster and have a slight chance of being arrested. Ma already deals with Linx going to the hospital every few months, he doesn't want to burden her more by being arrested.

"Why didn't you call for us when you- wait nevermind. You don't use phones." Finn rubbed his temples and no smile was found on him, only a strained frown.

Orion stepped up behind Finn, resting his hand on Finn's shoulder. Finn turned towards it, nuzzling it a bit. Remi grabbed Linx's attention from the other side of the bed by speaking up, his face just a little more optimistic than Finn's.

"Linx, we know that you didn't exactly want us to know about you fighting at Rooster or getting to know Rose. But since we can't change the past, we can at least try to understand the present, can't we? And to do that Linx, we need to communicate with you because we can't read your mind. So please, can you just try to make us understand, even if it's just a little bit?" Remi looked at him with pleading eyes, hoping to get through him.

Linx on the other hand, spaced out half way through Remi's speech because he really didn't want to deal with the boys right now. So when Remi looked at him with those eyes, he just-

"Can I get some more water?" Deflected whatever Remi asked him with another question. Though a silent sigh was passed around the room, Linx's goal was accomplished with Remi taking his cup and stepping out of the room.

The other three seemed to want to say something more, but Linx tried to shut them down by closing his eyes. It didn't work though as Orion started to speak.

"The doctor said you can be discharged in two days, as long as your fever doesn't go up. You'll also have to wear a wrist compressor at home, but you can take it off when you shower. As well..." Orion kept rambling, probably to make everyone forget about the past five minutes.

With the fever burning his energy down and the quiet background noise, Linx soon fell asleep.

_______

Back at home, there was no quiet background noise to lessen the silence. Kade and Trev were sitting in the living room, both at the opposite side of the room. The two didn't want to be home, alone with each other, but everyone forced them to stay back to settle their disputes before Linx returned home.

Trev certainly didn't want to speak up first, but the way Kade was glaring at the floor, there wasn't any choice but to talk first.

"I uh, hope Linx gets home soon..." Smooth Trev, not only did that sound awkward but it made Kade glare at him now. Trev shrunk in the couch and the only eye contact he was making was with the carpet underneath his feet.

"He would've been home if he never left in the first place." Irritation seeped in Kade's voice, his words spoken in a slow and low manner. Trev couldn't rebuke that, so his feet started to play with the carpet instead. Some more silence passed, and while Trev could've continued to play with the carpet, Kade was fed up.

But what he was fed up wasn't that Linx was hurt again or that neither Austin nor Finn woke him up when Trev called them for help, no he understood everything about that. What he couldn't figure out though, is why Trev is still so reluctant to speak up and voice his concerns.

Trev clearly knew about Linx's plans, yet he didn't tell anyone because of what? The fear of not letting them go to Rooster, maybe making Linx lose some trust from Trev, or was it from the possibility that none of the boys would understand what Trev was doing? Kade didn't know and that was pissing him off because love is made out of trust and communication, something that Trev seems to have forgotten recently.

"Okay, no no no no no, we are not doing this. We aren't in Highschool anymore, nobody is cheating on anyone, there's no reason to be reluctant when we've all been dating for six years already," Kade got up, walked over to Trev, and straddled him, "so please start talking about why you stopped trusting us recently or I might have to call my anger management counselor again."

Trev squirmed, but his movements were stopped by Kade's heavy body. Trev's attempts to get out of his hold ceased and he wasn't sure in what to do now. On one hand he could tell him why his self-esteem has been so low and let Kade do all the work in fixing his issues. While on the other hand his self-esteem was stopping Trev from speaking up to tell him what was wrong.

But it didn't seem like Kade was getting up until his question was answered, and Trev's butt was starting to get a bit numb. Maybe he could kiss his way out of this? He considered it for a second but shut down the idea when he saw Kade's piercing gaze. His tongue would probably be bite off if he tried it anyways...

So onto plan C, since plan A's of staying quiet didn't work, he might as well tell Kade the truth in a very confusing manner and hope Kade doesn't understand anything. It should work, right? Well, no time to second guess with Kade looking like he's about to flatten him to death.

"So you see, it's not really you guys who are the problem, well actually yes you are but not really, and it's mostly my fault that I'm not telling you anything. Like, you guys do everything and anything for me but I don't do anything. I just kinda sit around, don't really have a job, and that doesn't really help my self-esteem, you know? So I didn't think you guys would enjoy to deal with more of my problems, like me taking weird side-jobs or uh, other stuff. Plus, I don't have any good ideas to give and you guys have to take care of Linx, so why even bother telling you anything?"

That's when Trev learned he wasn't very good at making believable nonsense on the spot. Instead of rambling gibberish, he was rambling about the truth! His face went on flames when he realized and he wished he was strong enough to push Kade off him and hide in some blankets.

Yet, Trev didn't have to do any of that because soon his face was hidden in Kade's chest, with two toned arms embracing him from behind. He wasn't sure why he was being hugged, however he wasn't complaining.

"I wish I could punch the nonsense out of your mind right now," Trev wasn't sure if he liked his position anymore, "but I know smacking you with some truth will be more efficient. So how about this." Kade stopped his embrace, forced Trev to make direct eye-contact by grabbing his cheeks with his hands, and leaned forward.

"We'll talk with the rest of the boys about his and help you get a decent job, not one of your weird side jobs, which we'll also talk about. Until then, know that you are not a problem, it's your actions that are causing us to worry about you. Because you can be jobless for the rest of your life and we'll still love you, we don't care if you mooch off us, okay?"

Kade proceeded to nod Trev's head vigorously, making his wavy hair to flop all over. A light, sweet laugh came out of Trev and he rested his hand on Kade's arm to stop his shaking. Trev still didn't quite believe Kade's words, but his head didn't feel as crowded with all his worries. His chest didn't feel lighter though nor could he breathe a little easier now, nonetheless it was nice to know Kade at least listened to him.

His self-esteem grew at that thought, as did the smile on his face.

"Yeah yeah, I got it. Let's get dinner ready now or else we'll have to hear Finn's whining." Trev, in a rare case of confidence, pecked Kade on the lips and wiggled his way to the kitchen.

_______