Out of Sight (RQ AU)

The Tracker (13)

TW // blood, violence

For some background I'm naming the Red Leader Ruby for this (even tho he's only mentioned like once) lmao--

Also writing this quickly made me like the professor much more. Silly insane guy :D

•

“Professor…?”

The words felt so far away, yet the professor knew they couldn’t be far. He didn’t want to get up yet. He groggily reached out an arm and grabbed a salmon plush he had nearby, and chucked it at wherever the voice came from.

“You, uh, you missed.” Professor Red recognized it was M now, and groaned as he felt him place the plush next to him, “Good morning.”

M tried to smile despite the professor not seeing it, and when the professor only curled up further under the blankets, M sighed to himself and climbed onto the bed, wrapping his arms around Professor Red.

He wasn’t in his lab coat anymore, the Assistant had pulled him out of it. He still had traces of redstone on his skin though, and that only made it feel rough to the touch; a texture like the sand children would play with, but M didn’t care. Except he didn’t know what to say to him, so he just held him and held him tighter.

He hated the feeling of not knowing how to help, like he didn’t know how to help Sabre before. It dragged him down and made him feel less fit to be a leader- if he couldn’t help his own friends and family, how could he help his people?

Professor Red stared at M’s hands, then slowly leaned closer to him, letting him hold and silently comfort him. Yet Professor Red couldn’t bring himself to hold onto M back, despite how much he cared about him, so he held the salmon plush and squeezed it like a stress ball.

“We’ll get through this. Assistant made the tracker so… He’ll be found…”

The news of the tracker being finished made Professor Red want to spring up, but he still felt the familiar grogginess of just waking up after at least 12 hours of napping (well, sleeping considering how long he’d been out.). The world felt oddly comfortable, with M next to him, with the blankets on his bed being just soft enough to make him feel safe and concealed. It wasn’t warm, but the texture of everything felt smooth, slightly wrinkled, soft, and pleasant. A feeling of tranquility.

The professor wasn’t tired enough to drift off again unfortunately, so he let himself rest and daydream as M held him. It’d be okay to stay like this for a minute or two longer; they both needed a break anyways.

/

Sorin stared at the empty bowl momentarily before picking up the leftovers he had grabbed. He begrudgingly poured the leftovers into the bowl, the leftovers were still warm. It was just beef and potatoes, nothing special. Regardless, he had to make sure Sabre didn’t starve to death.

As he picked up the bowl with one hand, he opened the door with the other. He heard a small hum from Sabre as he opened it, acknowledging he’d noticed Sorin. Sorin didn’t care, he stared at Sabre while holding the soup bowl.

Sabre’s hopes rose a bit, was this food? He hadn’t really eaten anything since yesterday, and his body was aching from being held still. Sorin had come in and given him some water a few more times, but no food. It left his stomach growling and rumbling emptily. The water made his stomach feel thin, like he had something in there but it wasn’t enough at all.

“Here.” Sorin held the bowl to his lips, and Sabre knew it was food. It took a second for him to know it was soup, and slightly cold, but he wasn’t complaining in this situation. It also wasn’t the best soup either, the potatoes in it were completely soggy by now and mushy. Regardless, food was food.