The Idea of You (Bdoc Royal AU)

Chapter Twenty-One: His Worries

[Day 21]

With a limited supply of healing magic, medics had wrapped Prince Bdubs' wounds. It was explained to Doc that he'll recover faster once the forest itself healed. He sat next to his bed, elbows propped up on his legs and fingers locked under his chin.

Bdubs was sleeping so still.

He could barely tell he was even breathing.

The prince looked almost dead.

Doc wanted to reach over and take his hand, but they too were covered in bandages and he didn't want to risk making any injuries worse.

He kept replaying the events of the day before in his mind.

Each could've played out differently. Each change in his mind he figured would've led to Bdubs being okay.

Not leaving his side in the forest, or having him warn the others with him.

Not going on the walk in the first place.

Not mentioning the disbanded military branch.

Why did he have to ramble about that, of all things?

Recalling the conversation, he realized he sounded like he was praising it. The prince didn't care for the branch, it was forcibly disbanded for a reason. He simply found the story interesting.

But Bdubs didn't know that.

That jacket.

When the prince held up the jacket Doc's stomach dropped. He knew Bdubs recognized the symbol from his description. And what's more, he could tell it was the prince's way to accuse him. Bdubs was suspicious of him. Did the kings also believe he had something to do with the attack?

He didn't. He was innocent. The last thing Doc wanted was to hurt Artise, especially the prince.

The hybrid covered his face as he leaned forward.

Bdubs will wake. He'll be alright. Everything will be alright.

He took a deep, shaking breath as he tried to calm himself.

No matter what it was going to take, he was going to sniff out the remains of the BSDC and obliterate them.

Slowly dragging his hands down his face, he sat back in his chair in time to see Beef step in with a tray of two meals.

"I was taking a break from helping with the forest and offered to bring lunch for the two of you," he softly explained, placing the tray on the bed. "How is he?"

Doc lifted the spoon to idly stir the stew. "He has yet to wake up," he whispered. He felt too anxious to eat.

Beef moved over to the head of the bed, to delicately move hair out of Bdubs' eyes. "The fire took so long to be put out. I suspect the culprits didn't leave until dawn. We're trying our best to help it heal, but most of us are running dangerously low on magical energy."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked, unable to stop the jealousy brewing in his gut. It was stupid to feel jealous of how Beef fixed his hair. They grew up together after all. Of course Beef would feel more comfortable with doing such things while Doc worried if it was okay to even touch his hand.

Much to his dismay, Beef shook his head. "I don't think so. Just, let someone know when he wakes up." He dipped his head before leaving the room.

Crossing his arms on the bed, Doc rested his cheek on his arms and stared at Bdubs. "Please wake up soon," he murmured.

Despite not wanting to eat, his stomach growled at him, demanding to eat the stew. So he reluctantly sat back up, and slowly began to eat. With each bite, he kept looking up at Bdubs, in hopes of catching him making even the slightest of movement.

But, he remained still.

It was so hard to even see how his chest rose and fell with each breath.

Paranoia and anxiety slowly consumed his mind until all Doc could think about were if he'd get thrown in jail under the suspicion of treason and if Bdubs would even wake up.

The hybrid moved the extra bowl to the small bedside table, in hopes maybe the smell of warm food would wake him. The sleeping prince had already missed two meals, but by the looks of things, he was going to miss a third.

In an attempt to think about anything else, Doc wondered if any of the medical equipment back in Oropolis would be of some kind of help. Perhaps if he had a healing spell, or something like the crystal the kings gave Bdubs to prevent him from passing out, he could use it to power some kind of contraption to constantly recycle the energy and heal Bdubs faster. But by the time he could get all the materials, not to mention the time needed to test and perfect such a contraption, by then Bdubs would probably have already woken up.

He hated waiting. He didn't want to sit around and do nothing. But he also didn't want to up and leave Bdubs. Even if the prince didn't trust him anymore they wanted to make sure he was going to be okay.

"Whether you think I had a part in this or not I don't care. Just please, wake up," Doc whispered, placing the tray of food on the floor next to his chair.

The prince hesitantly brushed his fingers over the back of Bdubs' hand.

Slowly, Prince Bdubs' hand turned over, weakly lacing their fingers together.

With his widened organic eye filled with tears, Doc looked up to find his betrothed sleepily smiling with half-lidded eyes.

"Doc?"