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Wels was not being nearly as productive as he wanted to be, and for once it wasn’t Hels’ fault. He’d barely done anything today, but his bones still felt heavy. His thoughts were slow and confused, and it was hard to keep a train of thought for more than a few seconds. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but whatever it was was really annoying. He had stuff to do for goodness’ sake! He couldn’t keep putting things off because he was ‘tired’ or ‘didn’t feel right,’ where was the discipline in that? His old legion would be ashamed of him… Before he could get too far into that line of thought, he was distracted by his comm pinging. He’d assumed it was a mainchat, but was shocked when he saw it was a direct message.
Hels: Could you go get Xisuma? He’s exhausted and not feeling great, Ex has been out of commission for over a day now
Wels: Yeah, I’ve got it. Let me know if you need anything!
He groaned and fixed his attention on the door. At least this was sort-of productive, since he’d be doing something other than sitting on the couch. It took him several minutes to find the will to stand, but eventually he dragged himself up and set off for X’s base. Somehow he wandered his way down to X’s coding room, and was able to make his way into the room himself this time, the door having been cracked open a sliver. Wels stepped inside and was instantly put-off by Xisuma’s posture. His body was only held up by the way he was slumped against an armrest, and though he never had good posture, this was a major downgrade. If it wasn’t for the screen in front of him, Wels would’ve guessed he was asleep, but as he got closer he noticed X was controlling the lines of code scrolling across the screen. X, despite usually hearing people approach when not blasting metal, didn’t seem to notice him, and Wels observed the way his glazed-over eyes scanned the code for a minute before interrupting him.
“Xisuma.”
“AHH!” X screamed, pressing a hand over his heart and breathing heavily. “Jesus Wels, you scared me!”
“Sorry, but seeing you stare off into the distance is scaring me.”
X sighed.
“Please don’t tell me you’ve joined the ‘Xisuma taskforce.’ I have enough trouble when that’s just Ex and sometimes Hels, Cleo, and… the muppet- whatever it’s called.”
“...did you forget Joe’s name?”
“Oh, yes- Joe! That’s it!”
“...right. I think you’ve officially reached ‘too-tired-to-code’ status, X.”
“Oh come on- I can still work!” X protested.
“Ok, then tell me the coding thing that’s always the first to catastrophically bug-out, which you’ve been complaining about on-and-off since the first time we talked shop.”
“Uh… players?” Wels just stared at him. “Respawn? Ooo- The firewall!”
“It’s pointers, X. It’s always been pointers.”
“Agh, pointers. I hate those things! Except for when I love those things… but I mostly hate them!”
“Yeah, you’re going to bed.”
“Wels-”
“X, look me in the face and tell me you can code like this without either making more bugs, or just making zero progress and exhausting yourself.”
“I…”
“Come on.” Wels held out a hand to X, who slowly took it, attempting to stand and ultimately failing. Wels sighed and picked him up, beginning to carry him back into the building’s actual living quarters.
“Please no bed.” X mumbled.
“Hm?”
“It’s daytime. Don’t want to go to bed- ’ll be tired by sundown anyways.”
“...couch nap?” Wels offered.
X nodded slowly, and Wels redirected them to the living room, laying X down. Originally he planned to go sit on another piece of furniture, but when he tucked a strand of X’s hair out of his face he noticed how X relaxed at the touch.
“...do you want me to sit with you until you fall asleep?”
“...please.”
Wels shifted X’s head onto his lap, beginning to card through his hair. X practically melted into his touch, leading Wels to wonder just how long he’d spent in that basement alone. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep, and Wels waited for him to wake, idly carding through X’s hair. After a couple hours, which Wels spent brainstorming building ideas, X began to stir. Eventually he opened his eyes and sat up, yawning.
“Feeling better?” Wels asked.
“Yeah.” After a moment, X’s eyes widened and he pressed a hand over his mouth. “Oh- Gods I’m a derp! I was supposed to meet Keralis earlier!”
“Yikes. Gonna head out?”
“Yeah. Sorry-”
“Nothing to be sorry for.” Wels said.
“Right- I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah. See ya, X. Hopefully you won’t be so out of it then.”
“Yeah. Sor- Uh, yeah. See ya.”
X got up, darting around to grab things as he got ready to go. Wels watched him for a minute before heading out the door. He still wasn’t feeling the best, so he’d forgo building for now, but he wanted something to do… Hm. He bet Ex hadn’t recovered yet since X still wasn’t all there, meaning Hels was probably still with them- Maybe he’d go and see them, just to help out for a bit. He flew back to his base, grabbing some food as a bribe for Hels, before darting off to the Nether and flying to Hels’ house. When he got there he knocked on the door, and someone grumbled something as they came to open it. When it swung open, Hels was on the other side glaring, though he relaxed some when he noticed Wels, his big purple-black wings unfurling from where they’d been tucked against his back.
“Hey. Figured I’d come and see how you’re both doing.” Wels said. “Also I brought gifts.”
He held out the batch of cookies he made, and Hels quickly took them, stepping back from the door.
“Come on in.”
Wels hesitantly stepped inside. It wasn’t that he rarely saw the inside of Hels’ house, no, it was just that he rarely stopped by without Hels practically forcing him to. Showing up of his own accord was a pretty new experience. Hels immediately darted off to the kitchen, likely to set the cookies down, leaving Wels on his own. He made his way over to where Ex had sprawled themself across the low-backed couch, sitting down in an armchair. Ex’s eyes flicked over to him and they smiled. For a moment, they stopped tapping their fingers against the sofa.
“Hey Wels.” They said.
“Hi, Ex. Feeling any better?”
“Eh, somewhat. Won’t be 100% until X gets a full night's rest, which… isn’t guaranteed.”
“He said he was late to a meeting with Keralis and then left, so hopefully he will.”
“Oh.” Ex snorted. “If he actually sees Keralis, he will.”
Wels nodded.
“With Keralis’ reputation, I kinda figured.”
The conversation trailed off for just a second, before Ex yawned, glancing around.
“Huh, where did Hels go…?” They mumbled.
“I thought he was in the kitchen, but…” Wels shook his head.
Just as he said that, Hels strolled back into the room with a plate of cookies.
“Wels brought snacks.” He said, setting the plate on the table next to Ex.
Ex pulled himself up at that, immediately snagging a cookie and taking a big bite.
“Chocolate peanut butter cookies-” They groaned. “Wels, you’re my favorite now.”
Hels just shook his head, sitting down next to them. They practically shoveled the cookie into their mouth, but made no move to take another. Eventually they poked Hels in the side.
“I’m bored. Give.” He gestured at Hels’ unglamoured wings, and Wels tensed.
Hels glanced over at Wels before stretching out a wing in front of Ex. Wels watched carefully as Ex began tugging out bad feathers, looking for any sort of grimace from Hels. There wasn’t one. After a couple minutes of the three sitting there, Ex looked up at Wels.
“Wanna help?” They asked, and Wels blanched, looking over at Hels, who just shrugged.
“I don’t mind. And you need more practice doing this anyways, since you refuse to preen yourself.”
Wels slowly got up and sat down next to Hels, who casually offered him a wing. Wels, who barely ever touched his own wings, let alone someone else’s, froze. After a few moments Hels sighed.
“Here.” He said, flicking up a few gnarled feathers. “The ones that are broken need to come out. Just be gentle — if something doesn’t come out easily, you should leave it be. If it does come out then it needed to be removed, so it’s fine.”
Wels hesitantly pressed a feather between two of his fingers, pulling it lightly. It didn’t move. Beside him, Hels struggled to suppress a laugh.
“You need to be a little more forceful than that, Welsie.” He teased, and Wels frowned.
He tried a few different amounts of force, eventually determining that he’d have to be extremely careless to pull a good feather accidentally, which was both relieving and unnerving to learn. Wels began to move a little faster, pulling out bad feathers and picking out bits of debris. The longer he worked the more calm he felt, most of the anxiety draining out of him. Neither of them seemed to be able to hurt Hels on accident, which finally soothed Wels’ fear of messing up Hels’ wings. Wels fully relaxed, letting himself slump some as he worked. Eventually the two finished Hels’ wings, and Ex went back to fiddling with the strings of his sweatpants. After a minute, they peered up at Wels.
“Can I take a look at yours?”
“What?”
“Your wings.”
Shit. Shit-shit-shit-shit—
“Uh- Sure?”
Why had he said that, why- You know what, it was fine. He couldn’t back out now anyways, so- It was fine.
“If you’re not comfortable that’s ok-”
“No, it’s alright.”
And it was alright. Hels probably wouldn’t let them hurt him, even if they were his favorite person ever, and- They’d been so, so careful with Hels’ wings, and seemed to know what they were doing, so Wels was naively choosing to say it was fine. Either way, he really needed to stop being such a crybaby about this… Ex didn’t seem convinced by his reassurances, but still slowly got up to sit behind Wels. Wels pulled his shirt and binder off, allowing Ex access to his wings.
“Oof. Yikes.” Was the first thing they said, laying a hand against his feathers, and Wels shuddered involuntarily. “Now I see why you get so worked up about this, Hels.”
They started removing a few broken feathers, and despite how gentle they were being, Wels tensed. After a moment and a few more feathers, Hels laid a hand on his arm.
“They aren’t going to hurt you, Wels.” He said.
Wels didn’t relax.
“He’s right.” Ex said quietly. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I especially would never hurt someone while I was preening them. It’s just… wrong.” Wels hummed something noncommittal, which Ex didn’t seem to like. “You don’t understand that, do you…?” They sighed. “Wels, it’d be like stabbing someone in the back while hugging them. Preening is meant to be a show of trust, it’s supposed to be one of the few times you don’t have to be afraid, and ruining that for someone by hurting them would be… way more evil than I’ve ever been. And I’ve been pretty damn evil.”
Oh. Well, that did make sense… Somewhere deep in the back of his mind, some part of him was screaming. Still, Ex having such a strong opinion on this had made him feel strangely safe, and his body showed that, most of the tension gone. Ex began to hum as they worked, the trio sitting in content silence for a while. Eventually, they spoke again.
“So how’s X doing?” He asked as he picked at some rocks that were stuck in a crease between Wels’ wings and his shoulders.
Wels shrugged.
“He’s… X. Seems fine one moment, then completely gone a couple days later. At least, I think. Haven’t seen him so much this season.”
“Haven’t seen much of anyone.” Hels grumbled, and Wels glared at him.
“Yeah. Figures.” Ex said, completely ignoring Hels. “...would you mind keeping an eye on him for me? Only so much I can do, especially now…”
“Yeah.” Honestly, Wels could do with seeing him more often. It’d probably be good for them both. “Maybe if I’m around a little more he won’t spend so much time with the code.”
In the background Hels shook his head slowly, and was ignored again.
“It should help some.” Ex agreed. “Never fixes everything, but he usually stabilizes a bit with someone there.”
Wels nodded. Ex hummed again, fixing the last of the feathers around the base of his wings, before finally sitting back. Wels stretched his wings out, careful not to hit either of the people sitting next to him.
“Oh, hey- Wels, think you’d be up to scheming with us?” Ex suddenly asked, and Wels’ brows furrowed.
“Scheming?” He asked.
“Don’t worry- nothing bad. Just… Well, you know how X gets. We were thinking we might need some help when he gets code madness, since he no longer reacts well to us, and… I know things about him. If you manage to keep his trust while using some of the tips I’ve learned, it might make things easier. I mean, I doubt it was easy for you, handling his code madness alone for the first time…” Ex sighed, hiding some of their hair back behind their ear. “This might help.”
“I… I mean, if you think it’d be good for him…” Wels said tentatively.
“It will.” Ex said. “Sometimes he goes days before anyone can get through to him- I think we’d be able to help him faster with you there.”
“...alright. What do you need me to know?”
“Well there’s a few things- Hels, do you mind grabbing us some food? We’ll probably be here a while…”
Hels grumbled as he stood, but surprisingly gave in to Ex’s whims, leaving to shuffle around in the kitchen behind them. Wels shifted as Ex started to talk. …this wasn’t exactly what he’d planned to do today, but at the end of the day, it was probably more important than building.