Too hot.

Ranger rolled around beneath the smooth, soft blankets covering him.

Too cold.

He felt like he was in an unending dream where the temperatures went up and down, but refused to stay at a tolerable level.

"I'm sorry to call you over here so abruptly, but he's just not getting better."

He recognized that voice, but couldn't quite piece together the words or picture their owner.

"Not a problem. I'm glad you called. I was worried when he didn't come down for breakfast," another, much more familiar voice replied as Ranger felt something damp press against his forehead, then wipe away sweat from his face and neck.

"He never handled getting sick well. His brother can just laugh off a cold, but they hit Ranger really hard," the newer voice, which he could now tell was female, replied.

There was a sound of understanding before the male voice responded. "He came over looking for his lasso that I had accidentally borrowed, but he wasn't dressed for the weather."

The woman chuckled quietly as Ranger felt a container holding some sort of warm liquid press against his lips.

"He's a sweetheart, but definitely not the brightest. He's snuck out on plenty of occasions just like this when he was little. If he wanted to get a few more pebbles from the pond for his little rock collection but didn't want to wait until morning when the temperature was higher, he'd jump out of his window at night and come home the next day half-frozen. Or like when he was in high school and discovered girls. Oh boy, he would be sneaking out at least once a week, sometimes just in a pair of shorts, even when there was ice on the ground," the woman's voice chastised, and that's when he realized that his mother was there. In Heian's house. In his bedroom. Taking care of him.

Kill me now.

"Do you mind if I use your kitchen, Mr. Li?" his mother asked with an enthusiasm that made Ranger want to groan, but he didn't have the energy.

"Of course not. Help yourself to whatever you need in the refrigerator and freezer, too," Heian replied as Ranger felt the side of the bed next to him depress.

He could hear his mother run out of the room in less than a second.

Don't leave me here with him!

Oh hush, you. Mr. Li has been treating you all night and all day. He hasn't even gone to sleep yet. You better thank him when you are feeling better!

Ranger bit his tongue on a response. What could he say? That the guy was after his ass and was probably just pretending to be nice?

The faint tug against his hair that he hadn't noticed previously stopped abruptly, drawing his attention to the words that he knew he hadn't thought.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell what you're thinking right now, but I can feel that I'm making you extremely uncomfortable. I'll excuse myself. I've got to get outside to take care of the morning chores," Heian said as the pressure on the bed beside him lifted away.

Ranger felt his heart fidget nervously as he heard the man's footsteps head toward the bedroom door. Right before he stepped out Ranger managed to force one of his eyes to crack open.

He changed his clothes but his hair is in a messy ponytail.

Even without brushing it out or any product, it was still nearly to the bottom of his back.

The light was switched off a moment later, leaving him in a darkness that swiftly stole his consciousness away again.





He awoke some time later, feeling a little better. It was obvious that he still had a fever, but he wasn't so hot that he was rolling around, struggling to escape the temperature, only to start shivering minutes later.

Pushing himself up against the stack of pillows on the bed, Ranger opened his tired eyes to look around the room. At first, it appeared to be night time, but when he looked toward the large floor-to-ceiling windows on the right, he realized that there were tiny flecks of light peeking in through miniscule spaces around the blackout curtains.

I need to get some of those.

So it was some time in the morning or afternoon, but he couldn't make his body want to wake up enough to actually go downstairs... especially if his mother was still there.

"She's not," came Heian's exhausted voice from his left.

Ranger quickly turned his head to look, then felt his upper body lean away abruptly, even though there was plenty of space between him and the other man, and the latter wasn't even facing him.

The urge to get the heck out of the massive bed pushed Ranger toward the edge, but when he stood up, another urge took over and he hurried toward the attached bathroom next to the huge window.

"Holy..." he rasped quietly as he turned on the dimming light in the room, grateful that it wasn't a simple glaringly-bright bulb.

As the soft glow illuminated the large area, Ranger couldn't believe his eyes. There was a two sink marble vanity to his left with a small white cup by the faucet that held a toothbrush. Two dark red hand towels were folded on the far end of it with another two clean washcloths folded beside them.

Three cabinets above the two sinks called to his cat's curiosity, but he knew better than to snoop. He'd gotten in enough trouble with that over the years already.

Everything was spotless as he walked farther inside, remembering to shut the door after a few moments. Not wanting to get distracted again when he definitely had to pee, he quickly got his business done, then washed his hands before drying them on one of the hand towels.

Once that set of tasks was complete, he returned his attention to examining the bathroom. There was a separate shower off to the side with enough room for two, if not three people, easily. The glass wasn't frosted, either, so if anyone wanted to see inside, it would be as easy as looking.

Rolling his eyes, Ranger looked at what had original caught his attention. A large, five-point hot tub sat in the opposite corner, taking up twice as much room as the shower.

If I didn't feel like I was boiling just standing here...

He expected some sort of comment from Heian about his thoughts on the room, but when the man remained silent, he calmly stepped out, then turned off the light behind himself.

"Heian?"

Did he actually fall asleep?

Quietly, Ranger inched his way closer to the bed. The soft pillows were calling to him, as well as the cool, crisp sheets... but he needed to get the hell home. He had his own bed and his own pillows.

His eyes wandered to Heian's form in the darkness. The man had one arm tucked up under his head with the other resting just beyond his pillow. He was facing away, his hair splayed over the other side of the pillow and draped along the bedsheet.

Slowly, quietly, Ranger took a step forward. He waited a few moments for any kind of reaction from the sleeping man, but he just continued to breathe steadily in and out.

He took another step. Then another. When he finally got back to the bed he leaned forward and climbed onto it silently, his eyes turning gold as his feline pressed itself closer to the surface, providing excellent night vision.

The bed dipped so slowly as he approached that it would be nearly impossible to sense while sleeping.

Shit! Don't do this. Not right now!

He'd lost control of his damn shift at the worst possible time!

Ranger fought to regain control, but he was barely only hanging on by a thread so that the cat wouldn't break free of his human skin.

"H-Hei..." he ground out between clenched teeth, trying to warn the man who still seemed blissfully unaware of the danger he was in.

Ranger blinked several times, trying to force his cat to the back of his mind again, but when he opened his eyes for a fifth time and everything was suddenly pitch black, he felt his heart jump into his throat.

I... lost all of my control. I can't do anything now.

He was normally able to see what his shift was doing, but for some reason, he couldn't feel the actual shift taking place. Which meant that it was controlling his human body and had decided not to change for some reason. It had happened before, but only twice from what he could remember.

Terrible time for a third go, but I guess it's better than me sprouting claws and massive incisors. Heian might be able to handle it.

Ranger paced in the darkness of his mind, waiting for his shift to finally release its control. It took what felt like ages, but eventually, his vision began to clear. He expected carnage, or at least a decent amount of blood, but when he was finally able to regain control of himself, he was nuzzling his face against something solid and warm.

Oh god. I killed him.

Feeling his entire body turn to ice, Ranger slowly pushed himself up to stare down at the bare chest beneath him. It was marred with a couple of bad scratches, but his full claws clearly hadn't come out.

He's not disemboweled...

Looking higher, he saw a few nip marks on his neck, but nothing too bad. The bleeding from those had already stopped.

It wasn't a throat bite that killed him.

Nervously, he looked higher, but took a moment to tilt his head slightly and rub the side of his face against the warm arm that still had its fingers softly moving within his hair. It had a couple nibbles on it, too, but—

Wait.

Wait a second.

His brain took a moment to catch up to what he just did before his eyes quickly lifted to a tired, yet smiling, face.

"Alive...?" Ranger rasped in disbelief as his arms gave out abruptly, no longer willing to hold his weight.

Heian caught him easily, then tugged him up a bit so that he could hold him in his arms. The man had moved to lean against the mound of pillows previously put together for Ranger.

"You have quite the animal inside of you, hmm?" Heian finally said as he carefully worked his way out from the beneath the remainder of the blankets his lower half had been under, then easily stood up with Ranger in his arms.

Being so on edge already, Ranger practically climbed nearly to the guy's shoulders, but was just-barely unsuccessful in perching there as he slid back down his chest to the sound of a quiet chuckle.

"It's alright. I'm not mad at you, and you didn't do anything that won't heal in a few days with some basic treatment," Heian said as he walked with him into the bathroom.

Ranger looked over the man's shoulder as they moved, noting that his pajama top had been shredded in several places.

I'm sorry, he thought after a few moments.

Heian remained silent until he set Ranger on the counter, then turned the dimmer light on just enough to see.

"It's alright, Ranger. Your shift just wanted attention. It simply acted like a normal cat, demanding affection, but also demanding that it be on its terms... and those terms changed quite abruptly on multiple occasions," he said with a light laugh as he reached up into one of the medicine cabinets and pulled out a few things.

Hunching his shoulders, Ranger shivered lightly as he watched the man tend to his own wounds. He wanted to help, but he couldn't keep from shaking, though most of it was now from stress instead of his sickness.

"Are you feeling alright now?" Heian asked as he placed a small bandage across a portion of his chest for the third time.

He really didn't know what to say. It was shocking to see Heian still whole once he'd regained control of himself, but he hated knowing that he'd cut the guy up a lot, too.

"It really is alright. Your cat is a sweetheart. It just didn't understand its own strength," Heian said as he looked up from applying the last bandage for his lower abdomen.

"H-hey," he stuttered awkwardly as he lifted a hand to gently wipe away the tears Ranger wasn't aware he'd been shedding.

He expected Heian to just go about his business, but he didn't move from where he stood as his eyes locked on his own.

"Were you afraid that your shift had transformed and killed me?"

Ranger slowly nodded, lowering his eyes to his lap.

"But it didn't. You were honestly adorable rubbing your face against my arms and chest," Heian said as he moved between Ranger's open legs, then lifted his arms, hands gently cupping either side of his face.

"Cry it out, then let's go back to bed and wake up tomorrow morning ready to make some steps forward?" Heian asked with a half-smirk that made Ranger feel like he should scowl in response, but he didn't have the heart, nor energy.

Instead, he simply reached forward with one hand and poked the man in the chest, nudging him backwards until he was just far enough away to allow him to slip from the countertop without rubbing their bodies together.

"Goin' to sleep," he grumbled out as he ducked around the man and hurried to bury himself beneath the blankets on the bed.

He expected the guy to try and play his injury cards while he had them, but Heian remained silent as he slid into his bed on the far side, then got comfortable.

Ranger waited and waited, but when at least five minutes had passed and the other man remained quiet, he curled up a little more, then mumbled out a near-silent "night."

He thought that Heian had gone to sleep, but right after he'd finished speaking, there was an immediate response of "Good night, Ranger. Wake me if you need anything at all."