killedwithlove | PSL: For kremdelacreme

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PSL: For kremdelacreme

Following this.

Cole had things to do during the night. There were nightmares to be soothed and dark spots to be softly lit. He banked the fires that needed tending and borrowed a cloak from Blackwall to tuck in a cold halla in his stall.

He went back to Krem's room for a little while, watching him sleep before slipping off to beg some food from the kitchens. The bread was softest and warmest from the ovens and he managed to convince the cook to give him a couple of fresh rolls with some butter and fruit preserve with the freshly arrived milk.

A brief detour to Cullen's room to make sure there was poppy juice and fresh, cool water when he came to and he headed off again.

He brought it all back to Krem's room and sat down on the chest in there to wait for Krem to wake up. He wasn't in a rush, Krem was peaceful asleep, it was nice to enjoy some quiet and the soft sounds of the castle waking.

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Krem stiffened as Cole reached for his side; one of the ribs was cracked, the one that was directly under the dent in his chestplate. As soon as the pain started to drain away, he slouched just a bit, murmuring his thanks then scooping the bat off of Cole's shirt, letting it hang from his fingers then huddle in his palm.

"Because you two get on well and at some point he'll come to talk to me at length about things involving you, I've no doubt."

Cole kept his hand there, gaze slightly distant as he worked on draining off the pain from all over. The lip ached, so he willed it to close over, trying to actually heal it.

"He's protective," Cole absently. He refocused on Krem, unable to do more without actually seeing and feeling the injuries. "You still shouldn't sleep in that. It'll make it worse."

"He'll have to learn eventually that a man shouldn't be coddled, no matter his origin."

His tongue passed over his lip when he felt the skin knitting together, a mild itch there after it was done. He laid his free hand over Cole's and lowered it away from his side, looking up at him with a stern little frown. "Don't worry about it. I'll see Stitches in the morning, when we've all had a chance to rest."

"He doesn't trust mortals with spirits. Especially not after what happened to me when I came through." He understood that Solas worried for him, because he felt Cole was alone and abandoned in this world.

Cole let his hand be guided away, but he wanted to keep helping, rocking forward and then back again. "I will worry. I know how much it hurts. I know what you know about it. I can feel it."

"In other words, he wouldn't trust me far as he could throw me." Krem snorted, rolling his eyes and settling back down on the edge of his bed. He refrained from crossing his arms to keep from aggravating his wounds, but everything about his stance was stubborn and grumpy.

"Look. I know you want to help- have to help- but all I want right now is to rest." And he couldn't do that very well when he was upright and Cole was determined to touch and feel and help him.

"He wouldn't throw you at all. You're too heavy, especially in all that armour." He took the bat back with gentle fingers, coaxing it up onto his own chest.

"If I leave, will you take off your vest before you sleep?" It genuinely worried him, he knew it would interfere with Krem's ability to breathe, even more than the damaged rib was already.

Krem's grimace made it obvious enough to tell that he probably wouldn't. He couldn't convincingly lie to Cole though, so he didn't say anything. Instead, he stuck his tongue out over Solas. "That was the point. He can't throw me, and he's even less likely to trust me. Especially not with you."

"He doesn't really trust most people with me. But he knows I can tell if anyone wants to cause hurt or harm. Even to me."

He rocked on his feet. "Please? Look after yourself? I won't touch you, or look, but I need you to look after your hurts, if you won't let me. Please?"

I just don't want him interfering with me and my affairs, he thought, a small pout on his face.

"Wouldn't've lived this long if I didn't know how to take care of myself. If you want to stay, you're welcome to. Just...don't fuss, alright? Hell, if I follow you to that hot spring you're still not allowed to fuss."

Cole knew something was niggling Krem, but not exactly what.

"I need to take the bat up to the top tower. Then I'll come back, and keep the pain off enough that you can sleep. But please, don't sleep in the leathers." He didn't know exactly what fussing was, but he couldn't help his worry.

"I don't want you to suffer more than you have to."

"Go on. I'm not really going very far like this," Krem sighed, then waited until Cole had gone before very carefully removing his leathers, but left his vest on, pulled tight so that it could act as a sort of brace for his damaged ribs. By the time he returned, Krem was trying to find a way to lay that didn't make his ribs ache any worse, gingerly propping a pillow in front of his torso to help him remain up on his side. He looked up at Cole when he finally managed it, then nodded back to the empty space on the bed with a soft frown and furrowed brow, the softest blush creeping up on him against his will.

"If you're staying, might as well get comfortable."

Cole scrambled back out the window. It was probably best not to think about how he was going to get where he wanted to release the bat.

When he came back, he actually took his hat off, setting it on a chest and coming and sitting on the edge of the bed. "Lie on your back. I can keep the pain off it, let you sleep."

He clearly didn't get the implication of being invited to lay down.

"I have a door that's perfectly fine for use," Krem pointed out, shaking his head some then very gingerly easing over onto his back. It hurt more to lay like this, made it harder to breathe, but he trusted the other knew what he was doing. Clearly Cole just wanted to help him. He'd let it go, at least for now.

"But I was already on the roof."

Cole moved so he sat next to the injured spot, resting his hand on it lightly and chasing down the pain. The little cracks that made it hurt, the aggravation through the muscles and tendons. He felt them in his own body instead, aching with the hurt and letting his body have it instead. He was a spirit, his flesh was easy to ignore and it would let Krem rest better.

"Sleep," he whispered. "I'll keep it away for the night."

While he allowed it, Krem was having a hard time getting to sleep in spite of the exhaustion, because of Cole's presence in the room actively siphoning away the pain. He laid his arm over his eyes to keep out the last of the light coming in. He let out a long, slow sigh, relishing that it didn't make the entirety of his ribcage ache.

"Should try to sleep. 's nice," he murmured to Cole, finally starting to doze off.

"Sleep," Cole encouraged. It wasn't like his ability to make people forget, but maybe he could echo that weariness so that Krem could...

Ah, there he went.

"Good night, Cremisius," he murmured softly.

He was prepared to stay there all night, working all night to keep Krem comfortable. Other people could be helped but...

This was important. To Cole.

While Krem slept, his dreams came and went in fits. There were patches of black, interspersed with images of fire, of blood and oil in water and of screams from a sinking ship. Deeper screaming from a far-off shore. It turned into screaming much closer, that he didn't realize was coming from him until he was facedown in the grass with his hands holding his insides in. Nightmares, old fears overlaid with new ones.

When he awoke just after sunrise, he was still groggy, limbs leaden when he tried to move them. He groaned deep in his chest, grimacing at a remaining ache in his core. He barely registered Cole's presence, until he finally opened an eye and spotted Cole sitting there at his side, had off and unmoving.

"Didn't lie down," he grumbled, before laying his arm back over his eyes.

Cole hushed him through nightmares as best he could, but it was a choice of keeping the ribs healing faster, the pain at bay, or turning his full attention to the nightmares.

When Krem woke, Cole straightened up, wincing slightly as his spine and collarbones cracked themselves out after a whole night of sitting still and silent. "I was working," he said, but his voice cracked with his silent night and he had to clear his throat.

"Should think of yourself a little more," Krem pointed out, making a face at him then sitting up, gritting his teeth hard but keeping himself from letting out any pained sounds. He shuffled around Cole's back, and before he could argue, he ran a hand down Cole's spine (too knobbly, too protruding, not healthy) then pressed his knuckles in, seized his shoulder and jinked him back just hard enough to get a chorus of pops from the length of his spine. That would help alleviate the ache some and make it easier to move, at least.

"Why?" His body looked after itself.

Krem moved. Cole didn't, completely trusting. He could get away with just a thought, but he stayed relaxed and trusting, even as Krem grabbed him and pulled and the noise...

"Oh. That... feels good."

"You sat there all night, back can't feel good after that," Krem replied with a shrug, then a yawn, rolling himself up and out of bed. He could use that hot spring right about now. "Stretch a bit and the blood should flow a little easier."

With his back turned to Cole, Krem took a moment to change out of yesterday's clothes, which desperately needed a wash, without removing his vest or smallclothes just yet. A pair of thick, comfortable pants and short-sleeved tunic later, and Krem was looking a good deal more relaxed than usual, even if he was still favoring his side, which was an ugly blue, green and grey mass of bruising still.

Cole stood and cracked some more, stretching himself out while Krem changed. He didn't watch, he didn't pay any attention, just enjoying the way his body felt with long stretches.

He was tired. It did happen, on occasion. He didn't sleep when it happened, but he did possibly need a couple of hours of not helping to recharge. "Are we going to the hot springs?"

"You're the one that knows how to get to them," Krem pointed out, then shooed Cole along with a drowsy little smile.

"After we get there, you're not going to just wander off on me, are you?"

"No. I'm worn, pulled thin." He could stay nearby while Krem soaked. "Unless you want me to go and find you food."

He started leading the way, heading first for the undercroft.

"You don't have to do anything else for me. Just...stay, alright?"

When the two of them passed through the undrecroft, they attracted a curious look from the little dwarven arcanist, but the old blacksmith didn't pay them any mind. It was easy enough to find the way down to the springs once you knew what to look for, and even as stiff and sore as he was, following Cole down wasn't much of a challenge.

When they emerged into the large, slightly foggy chamber and its deep, clear pools, Krem stopped to kneel at the edge and dip his hand in. Hot, but not too hot to stand, and clear all the way to the bottom, where it was dully lit through the layers of semi-opaque crystalline rock by the magma flowing under the mountain. It was also flowing, the ripples barely visible, Perfect.

"I think now would be a good time for us both to scrub," he said with a look back at Cole, in case he didn't like that idea.

PSL: For kremdelacreme

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