Two Months

Confrontation & Comfort

Floyd makes an attempt at getting back out of bed and to find at least one of his brothers.

——

Maybe this wasn't the best idea, but he had been left with no other option. It was clear that the pain wasn't going away, so the only was to even try to get rid of it was to get one of the other trolls in the bunker to help.

He wasn't particularly picky as to which one he found. Obviously he wouldn't be able to find John Dory unless he left the bunker and walked all the way to Rhonda, but he still had three brothers left.

Now if only the world would stop spinning. That'd definitely help move things along.

Floyd stumbled through the halls of the bunker, leaning heavily on the walls to make sure he didn't just collapse on the spot. It was proving to be much more difficult than he thought it would be. He'd already come close to hitting the floor face first multiple times, and standing back up after each time got harder and harder. It would be so much easier to just sit down and stay there, but he knew that he needed help, so he kept moving.

After wandering aimlessly for quite some time, he was able to hear the sound of two trolls talking to each other. About what, he couldn't tell you, but he could hear their voices clearly enough to know that it was Clay and Bruce.

Walking in the general direction of their voices, Floyd began to see that they had a light on in whatever room they were in. It seemed bigger than the others, so he assumed that they were in the main living area, which was weird because they had said they were going to bed. Maybe they had changed their minds. Or maybe Floyd was delirious and he had imagined them saying that. Either way, he was beyond happy that someone could finally help him.

The pain was getting really bad, and Floyd swore that if he took another step, he'd pass out right then and there.

Which is exactly what happened.

"Floyd. Floyd, wake up!"

Groaning, the troll in question slowly opened his eyes, allowing them to adjust to the dim lighting of the room he was in.

Wait a minute. The room he was in? Floyd (almost) clearly recalled being in the hallway not too long ago, so why was he all of a sudden back in bed?

"Clay, shut up. Can't you see that he's asleep?"

"He is not asleep, Bruce. He passed out in the middle of the hallway!"

"Well, shh either way. He needs to rest and you're making it anything but easy."

"But he's awake, man. So why can't I be loud?"

"He's what?"

"Awake. I just said that."

"Oh, I guess he is. I'll go get Branch and JD. You stay here and do not disturb him any further. I bet you're the reason he woke up in the first place."

Floyd heard both the sound of footsteps slowly getting quieter as Bruce left the room, and the sound of someone else walking closer to him.

Clay sat down on the bed right by Floyd's feet, causing it to sink slightly at the added weight. The two sat in silence for a little bit as Floyd continues to wake up and move around until he was relatively comfortable.

Surprisingly he wasn't in a ton of pain. Well, isn't that a nice change. The only question now is what exactly happened, and why did he feel immensely better?

As if reading his mind, Clay spoke up. "We heard a thud come from the general direction of your room. At first we thought nothing of it, but Branch being the paranoid troll that he is insisted that one of us check it out. After a quick match of rock paper scissors, Bruce went to go investigate and found you lying there, face down on the floor. We called JD, and he came as quickly as he could."

"You scared us there, Floyd," said Bruce as he re-entered the room with Branch and John Dory in tow. "Now, would you mind explaining what happened leading up to your little stunt?"

"'My little stunt?' You think I wanted for that to happen?" said Floyd, finally able to get himself into a half sitting position. The four other trolls in the room just stared at him blankly, making it clear that none of them would say a thing until Floyd explained himself. He sighed, already dreading what was to follow.

"Well, I was going to head to bed and all, but I was in so much pain that I could barely get ready at all, and it was too much for me to handle. Getting into bed was an immense struggle, but it all hurt so much that I had to find one of you guys and hope that you could help me," he explained.

"I guess I wasn't able to get to any of you in time." He looked down, feeling ashamed that he couldn't take care of himself. "I'm sorry."

More silence followed Floyd's words as his brothers tried to collect their thoughts and think of what to say. They had no idea that Floyd had been hurting so much. When they were out on their puffalo adventure, they all figured it was mostly exhaustion and him being a bit sore from all the physical activity. If they had only known that that wasn't the case at all; or at least not completely.

All of them had their heads down, continuing to think about their next words, and so none of them noticed that Floyd had begun to cry until they heard soft little sniffles coming from the direction of the bed. Immediately they all looked up and saw that the second youngest of them seemed extremely upset about the whole situation. None of them except Clay did anything.

Taking on his 'serious boy' persona, Clay told everyone to leave him and Floyd alone for the next little bit, saying that they'd be okay and he'd call out if they needed anything, but to not disturb them otherwise. Unable to come up with any protests, John Dory, Bruce, and Branch all left Floyd's room and headed towards the living area.

Now that it was just the two of them, Clay moved so he was sitting right next to his little brother instead of at his feet, and quickly offered Floyd a hug. He was almost immediately tackled as Floyd gratefully accepted the hug before he began to cry even harder.

This was going to be a long night, but Clay refused to leave his brother alone. Not again.

——

So...I've learned that I really like the idea of Clay being the one to comfort Floyd every time he's upset, and that might be because he's protective over his little brother.