>>"Don't push it. Doc didn't heal you up all the way and there are still a few good bruises I can jab if you make me angry."

"You can try." Gawain muttered as he walked towards the door. Hopefully DocProf would be satisfied with Eve walking him back to his room. He could take care of the rest himself. He had experience.

"Maybe I should just have Miss T lock ya in a room until the riots are over." he mused as they walked down the hallway "If I ever get my DR time back I can teach you how to not get killed in a fight. But until then, you should really stay out of trouble. Things suck enough outside already without you getting hurt anymore."

Uh-hum.

Evelyn crossed her arms firmly across her chest as she moved. It hurt to walk and she had to make the effort not to flinch in front of Gawain. Stubborn pain in the--

>>"Maybe I should just have Miss T lock ya in a room until the riots are over."

Her look went from fury to panic at this. "I'm already going out of my mind being stuck here in the school. You're going to lock me in my room too? I told you, I learned my lesson I'm not going anywhere. There is nothing to go back for anyway..." She emphasized the last part, both for herself and him. No Jensen, no art, no apartment, no work...

She suddenly felt very depressed.

"Doesn't seem like knowing how to fight has helped you not get injured..." She murmured back. She stared at the ground. The fiber makeup of the carpet seemed very important right now. Interwoven, 1 inch right? That was some really awesome carpet...

>>"I'm already going out of my mind being stuck here in the school. You're going to lock me in my room too? I told you, I learned my lesson I'm not going anywhere. There is nothing to go back for anyway..."

Oh damn, she was playing the sad puppy eyes card now. Gawain sighed and folded his arms too, which was quite painful in his current condition. Yeah, sure, it must have sucked to lose her apartment and her artwork... and Jensen... but still...

>>"Doesn't seem like knowing how to fight has helped you not get injured..."

Thank God for an excuse to go back from awkward to annoyed.

"Apples and oranges, Sherlock" he muttered "I was trained for a fight. If I weren't I'd be not hurt, I'd be dead. I fought some robbers, some mutants, a guy with burning hands, and another guy who shot at me with a freaking machine gun... At least half a dozen mirrors broke on me in the past 24 hours. Trust me, being alive is an accomplishment."

"'I was trained for a fight.'" She mimicked, and pushed her hair from her face. "Yeah, well, good for you. Why does it matter to you so much what happens to me? I'm not your problem, your not my babysitter anymore." Gosh, how much further was his room? She wasn't sure whether she was going to yell or cry at this point.

"You got your 'burn the city down' girl anyway. Shouldn't you be out saving her and all that?" Well, that slipped out. She bit her tongue to keep from saying more, expecting to taste blood. The echoes had focused back on Gawain, and she couldn't get them to move from anything else. They kept pointing out his injuries, facial features, emotions...shutupshutupshutup she thought to herself.

>>"'I was trained for a fight.' Yeah, well, good for you. Why does it matter to you so much what happens to me? I'm not your problem, your not my babysitter anymore. You got your 'burn the city down' girl anyway. Shouldn't you be out saving her and all that?"

Gawain, who was fishing around in his pockets for the key to his room, froze up at the last comment, then turned around to face her forgetting the damn door.

"That's it." he snapped, staring at her, his face under the blood and dirt matching the color of hers, out of sheer anger "What is it with you and my love life?! You think just because you can read me like a freaking book you have the right to say s*** like that? Well ya don't need me to save you and neither does she, and frankly I don't need your wisdom! You wanna know what? You are spoiled, annoying, childish, and I have absolutely no clue why everyone seems to think that we should have anything to do with each other!"

Okay, so maybe he got in her face on that last one. But seriously, what were Sam and DocProf thinking?!...

Evelyn wished she could forget.

She wished she could forget those moments when something she said hurt someone else. She wished she could forget the way anger swept across a face, color appeared like a burn on flesh and brows knitted together. She wished she could forget Gawain turning and facing her, and the words that came from his mouth. She wished the echoes weren't there. Pointing out every feature, every second, and driving them into her head.

She wished it wasn't true. And she wished she didn't care.

But she did. And it hurt. Worse than claws on her back, worse than falling into pavement, and worse than loosing her art. She felt tears spring to her eyes, rolling down her face, but she stood with lip quivering and stared right back at him. "You're right. I am spoiled, and annoying, and childish. And I don't have a clue either. At least we can agree on that." Then she spun around and started back for her room before he could make it worse. At least there she could cry in peace.

She hated being a mutant. Heck, she just hated being her.

>>"You're right. I am spoiled, and annoying, and childish. And I don't have a clue either. At least we can agree on that."

Dammit. Dammit all. Dammit to hell.

Gawain leaned back against the door and repeatedly banged his head on it. It didn't help. He had made a mistake, and now the blood loss and the yelling was making him dizzy. Not to mention how riled up he was. Why did they end up fighting every single time the sent more than five minutes in the same space? And why did that give anyone the idea to put them in the same space for more than five minutes?

The world was spinning. Gawain cursed and reached into his pocket again, but the key seemed to be especially elusive today. His vision started to fail and he felt his back sliding down the door. Somewhere a few feet from him he could still see Evelyn's figure moving away.

He'd rather fall and break his nose again than ask her for help. No way in hell.

So he fell.

Evelyn didn't get far before the echoes picked up on a noise behind her. It sounded like someone hitting their head on a wall, something being murmured then...

Shit.

Tears or no tears, she spun in time to see Gawain teeter forward and jumped forward in time to catch him... well... sort of.

"fu---"

Lacking the upper body strength to hold him up, her legs bucked and she fell backwards as well. At least he didn't bash his face in, but then there was one incredibly award moment where Gawain had landed on top of her.

She scrambled free and spat out a few unladylike words at the pain that spiked through her bruises. The red coloring her face had nothing to do with injury though. "Give me your damn key." She sniffled, glaring at him and holding out her hand.

There was a lot of confusion. Even if he had been fully conscious, which Gawain was not, it would have been hard to follow the progression of events from his knees failing to when he fell face first and landed on top of Evelyn.

For a few moments Gawain honestly thought he was going to pass out, then he managed to stay semi-conscious through sheer force of will. He was vaguely aware of Evelyn scrambling free from the tangle that was the two of them after they fell.

How did the girl always end up in the worst possible places at the worst possible time?...

>>"Give me your damn key."

Gawain made a pained sound and rolled onto his side. Well, this was awkward.

Well, there were two options she could try right now. Option one was to leave Gawain laying on the ground outside his door and run to her room pretending she had no idea he had fallen. Option two was to fish for his keys. In his pockets...

Option one seemed like the better option.

Taking a deep breathe and glancing at him, the echoes for once did the useful thing and pointed out the key shaped lump in his pocket. She scattered them before they could point out anything else. "Never mind, I'll get them..." Carefully, like playing a game of Operation, she retrieved the key and unlocked the door. Her face was still tear stained but she wasn't crying anymore. Now there was just the occasional sniffle and lots of blushing.

Reaching down, she managed to drape Gawain's arm across her shoulder and pull him to his feet with a light whimper. It hurt, but at least moving artwork and statues and other heavy objects had given her enough muscle to manage. If he had any idea what was happening he could try not to be dead weight. Otherwise, she would be half leading half dragging him into the room.

At least he was skinny even if he was tall...

Gawain was distantly aware that Evelyn was trying to get him back to his feet. He did what he could, but it seemed like once his body decided it was time for a break, there was not much he could do about it. A small part of his mind wondered if she was strong enough to hold him up, but apparently she was, because the next thing he knew was he was being half led, half dragged through his door and into his room.
Damn the girl was determined.
And he had been a jerk to her, and there was no excuse for it.

Angua leapt up when the door opened and was now running circles around the two of them. It was adorable in a puppy way, but not exactly ideal.

"Angua... down." Gawain muttered, aware that he was leaning heavily on Evelyn's shoulders even though he tried not to.

He decided he was just going to blame the whole thing on DocProf.

Gawain... was heavy.

At first she was making good progress getting him into the room. Once he was there, it seemed like mission accomplished. And then the dog started prancing around excitedly and that didn't make things easier. Her shoulders hurt, and the few cuts that were left were probably going to reopen. She could just dump him on the floor. Probably deserved it.

She struggled the last few feet and slipped him down to the mattress as gently as possible. Then her legs decided to give out and she flopped next to him, cringing and holding her sides. She tried to get up but she couldn't quite get herself to move for a moment.

"Gawww how come you couldn't have been Maya..." Not that he's probably be much lighter but it was still something she could complain about.

Being dropped on his back made Gawain cough, but at least the ordeal was over and he was in his own bed. He felt the mattress bounce as Evely flopped down next to him.
Evelyn in his bed. Awesome. Did she remember to close the door?...

Angua yipped and pushed her nose into Gawain's palm. She was not normally allowed on the bed, mostly because she was just too big, but she could smell the blood and the was worried. Poor puppy.

>>"Gawww how come you couldn't have been Maya..."

"I was *cough* Maya all yesterday" Gawain muttered, closing his eyes and enjoying the feeling of finally being horizontal "Enough *cough* for a week. People *cough* kept asking if I was Sam's *cough*"

Nice conversation.

Finally Evelyn managed to get to her feet, leaning against the wall and trying to get her strength back. Perhaps she would rest like DocProf instructed. If she made it back to her room now...

"Stop talking before you kill yourself. There's your key." She tossed it on the bed and tried to get herself to move towards the door. She was still upset and she still didn't want to deal with him. And now she hurt... but that was probably her fault too. If she had gotten him into the room first before leaving she wouldn't have had to stop him from falling.

>>"Stop talking before you kill yourself. There's your key."

From the way she was moving he could tell she was hurt too. Gawain sighed and closed his eyes again.

"I'm sorry Eve" he muttered while Angua was busy pacing back and forth between the two of them, trying to figure out what to do "Maxine is not your *cough* fault. And I'm not always a jerk."

He glanced up at her again, even though he could feel his body making the decision to SLEEP.

"Promise."