Work Text:
Rudo was awakened by a loud knocking on his door
“RUDO!” He heard someone shout as the banging continued, “What?” He replied as he slipped out of bed. “We have a job, meet at the car in 30 minutes,” the voice replied, although he was pretty sure it was Zanka.
Rudo got dressed in his cleaner outfit, grabbed his mask, and put on his shoes. Before he left, he checked the time, 6:15 am. He decided that in the last 15 minutes he had, he was going to go to the mess hall and grab something small to eat. Once he got there, he settled on a single piece of toast. He sat down at the table and noticed a pair of eyes staring at his plate. He looked up to see Gris. “You know we’re gonna be out for a while, right? You should wear something more sustainable,” Gris told the boy as he took some hash browns off his own plate and scraped them onto Rudo’s. “ ‘M not too hungry,” Rudo replied. “We’ll eat,” Gris said sternly, but not angrily, more like a caring parent. Rudo nodded as he slowly ate the hash browns and the price of toast
They all piled into the car, Rudo was squished up against the door, and Follo.
The drive wasn’t long, about 45 minutes long. Normally, it would be an hour and a half, but with Enjin driving, it took them half as long.
In the car, Zanka was looking out the window, Follo was talking with Gris, Enjin was singing along to the new Too Lily song on the radio, Riyo was propped up on the back of the seat where the boys sat playing with Rudo’s hair, and Rudo had his head against the window as he fiddled with his gloves.
Once they arrived at the spot, Enjin told Zanka and Rudo to take in the two smaller trash beasts one on one, and the rest of them would take on the 2 larger ones.
They were both excited. Enjin was letting them do solo-ish work, and both rushed in after Enjin gave them the okay.
Rudo grabbed a metal pipe and activated 3R. The pipe was not black with glowing red accents. He swung the pipe at the trash beast’s left legs. The trash beast twisted, causing Rudo to fall and hit his head on a rock that was poking out of the ground
He hit the ground hard, his body flying back up into the air. He was down for a few seconds trying to catch his breath.
He saw Zanka had defeated the trash beast he was assigned to.
The trash beast that Rudo was assigned to heard the moment coming from Zanka and shifted and started moving rapidly toward him.
Realizing this, Rudo bolted up, causing his head to throb, and started running toward the trash beast.
“Get back here!” The boy yelled, which surprisingly worked as the trash beast turned around and started charging towards him.
After a few moments of fighting, Zanka heard the commotion and ran over to assist Rudo, because it didn’t look like this was going anywhere.
Zanka stuck the trash beast a couple of times right on the back. The trash beast began to fade away.
“Dude, are ya good?” Zanka questioned as he looked down at the boy
“Yeah,” he replied, and he attempted to stand, but his leg gave out, and he began to wobble. “Whoa, dude, are you sure you're good?” Zanka asked once more. “Yeah, I’m fine, just tired,” Rudo responded as he brushed off Zanka’s hand and made his way back to the car to meet with everybody else.
“What took you guys so long?” Enjin asked the boys
“Rudo’s straggler came my way,” Zanka replied as he buckled his seat belt and glanced at Rudo, who looked like sleep was pulling him closer.
“He said he was tired,” Zanka mumbled as the car took off this time, Gris was driving, so the ride back would be a bit longer.
“Well makes sense just look at him,” Enjin added, which made everybody stare at Rudo, who was fast asleep, his head resting against Follo’s shoulder.
They all stayed silent for a moment before Gris broke the silence, “damn he must be tired, did he hit his head or something?” the man joked.
It had been about an hour and fifteen minutes when they arrived, and everyone got out except for Follo and Rudo. “A little help over here,” Follo whispered, gesturing to Enjin, who was the closest adult.
“Well damn, he’s still asleep,” Enjin laughed as the sound of soft snores filled the silence between each laugh. “Rudooo.” Enjin sang playfully while poking the boys cheeks that wasn’t resting on Follo.
The only response the blond man got was a slight whine. “C’mon, wake up, Rudo.” No response, “man, he’s like dead to the world,” Enjin said, surprised.
Enjin pulled Rudo off of follow so he could get out of the car. “Alright, Rudo, time to wake up,” Enjin said a bit more sternly this time while shaking the boy.
“M’kay,” the kid said as he got up and unbuckled his seatbelt. “Wow, you sure slept well,” Enjin joked. “Let's go get some food, I’m starving,” Enjin shouted, and they walked back into HQ
As they walked towards the mess hall, Rudo wandered off to his room, or tried to, when he felt a hand on his shoulder the second he turned around to head for his room. Gris. “Where are you going?” the man questioned. “Bed,” answered the half-asleep Rudo, standing in front of him. “You should eat, we’re gonna have lunch,” the supporter added, trying to persuade the boy to come eat with them. “Not hungry,” he responded, which seemed to make the man worry.
“You barely ate anything at breakfast. Here’s the deal. You can sleep, but you’re gonna eat dinner. Got it?” The man stated, trying to compromise. “‘Kay”
The boy replied.
Rudo headed for his room, having to stop a couple of times on the way there to regain his balance.
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Once he reached his room, he opened the door and immediately went to his bed.
Without changing his clothes, he lay down on top of the blanket and fell right asleep.
Rudo was awoken by a loud banging on his door, much like this morning.
As he tried to ignore it, it only got louder. He tried to hide his head under his pillow, but a hand grabbed it out of his grasp. "Whatttt," Rudo whined as he grabbed his head.
"Time for dinner, Gris told me to come get you, so come on," Riyo said, dragging the boy out of bed and down the hall towards the mess hall. "Well, look who it is," Gris said, trying to lighten the mood./
Rudo sat down in a chair next to Enjin. Rudo slowly pushed around the food on his plate. "Stop playing with ya foot, nitwit." Zanka snarled at the boy. He got no response from Rudo.
Rudo's head throbbed with each flicker of the light. His head was pounding. He tried to get up and leave, but the second he even tried to get up, Gris shot him a look, so he stayed seated, picking at his food.
"Rudo, is everything okay?" Enjin asked, looking at the sperite who had his head low, trying to avoid the overhead light. Rudo looked up as tears streamed down his cheeks. "....it.. hurts." Rudo choked out. "What hurts? Your hands?" Enjin asked now on the floor, looking up at Rudo's face. "My head," he slurred. "Whoa, hey, stay with me now." Enjin said as he moved the hair off Rudo's forehead, revealing a massive goose egg and some dried blood in the left corner of the boy's forehead. "Follow my finger" Enjin told the boy. Enjin noticed that Rudo's right pupil was blown; you could barely see any of the red.
When Rudo tried to follow Enjin's finger, his eyes were unfocused, and they lagged behind by a few seconds.
"Rudo, I think you have a concussion." Enjin stated, looking the boy in the eyes, "Concussion, what's that?" Rudo asked as he unconsciously leaned onto Riyo, who was sitting opposite him on the right
"Basically, when you hit your head and bruise your brain." Enjin replied as he picked up the half-asleep kid, and with that, they were off to the infirmary.
Once they reached the Infirmary, Rudo was placed on the bed, and Enjin was informed that Rudo couldn't sleep for more than a few hours at a time.
Throughout the day, Rudo was woken up every two hours or so, which he was NOT happy about, but it was for the best. "Can you just leave me alone?" the boy asked, practically still asleep. "Nope!" Enjin replied, trying to get the kid to stay awake.
After a couple of days of this routine, Rudo was allowed to sleep for a full night without being disturbed. Although that did not last long, as he had a habit of staying up.