“Did I say that? I don’t remember.” Okay, so he’s pretty sure he told Skyler that he was fine back in the crevice but after they crossed the pit of doom, Angelo was confident that he actually hadn’t answered her. So, it wasn’t like he was a big fat liar, more like just a little tiny one. He thought he had a good reason for keeping quiet, at least. After all, he hadn’t wanted to slow down or put a wrench in their adventure over something as stupid as a bruise or a pulled muscle and, perhaps more prominently, Angelo just hadn’t wanted Skyler to worry.

Yet he couldn’t help but feel a smidge guilty as realisation seemed to materialise in Skyler’s eyes, watching as she abruptly sat up and reached for the bottom of his shirt. His lips twist into a strained smile as his hand reaches to latch onto her wrist, his grip loose as if unsure whether to stop her or not, torn between whether to share in his silent vulnerability or resist her attention. It’s the former that wins out, although Angelo thinks she probably wouldn’t have taken no for an answer anyway, his fingers still softly holding onto her wrist as she pulled his shirt up to look at the damage. He can feel her pulse under his digits.

He knows he shouldn’t but as Skyler begins to live up to her reputation as a sailor, pouring out countless profanities and insults that would make others visibly recoil, Angelo lets out a laugh that’s perhaps a little too enthusiastic for his ribs to handle. It’s probably his punishment for being reduced to laughter at her reaction, his mirth punctuated by ‘ow’s’ and hisses, sharp pains shooting with every convulsion of amusement. His blue eyes water just the slightest from the hilarity and discomfort. He couldn’t help it though, it turned out Skyler hurling insults at him and looking like she wanted to beat him up out of obvious worry was just a little too funny; a little too endearing.

“I was okay but now… now you’ve gone and hurt my feelings.” He teases on heavy breathing, craning his neck to look at his ribcage painted in a quickly blooming rainbow of purples before returning back to recline on his side, fingers releasing her so he could arrange his shirt back in place. “But I think I’ll survive. I just landed wrong earlier, that’s all.” Smile taking on a softer, kinder edge as he reassures. Angelo rolls onto his back so that he’s staring up at the dust particles dancing in the air and listens as Skyler leaves him behind, closing his eyes as he tries to calm a muddle of painful prickles and softer aches warring in his torso.

A minute passes slowly and gradually Angelo begins to grow impatient; Skyler’s lack of enthusiasm troubling him. “Sky?” He calls out, having now regained his breath a little and not feeling quite so dizzy, only to push himself up to his feet when he doesn’t get an answer. “Sky? You okay?” Angelo ignores the complaint in his bones as he slowly walks over towards where Skyler is, standing still in front of the treasure like a statue and greatly out of character, hesitance crawling along his skin like a bug. Something was wrong.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, blue eyes peer down at the glittering coins laying innocently before them and, with a quiet groan of protest as he leans down, he picks one up between his fingers. His stomach sinks and as does his expression, eyes darkening and lips turning downcast as he twists the plastic over and over between his digits; a crudely engraved, stereotypical pirate smiling back at him on both sides.

“This better be a joke… Please tell me it's a fucking joke.” He barely registers the confetti falling like snow over them.

skyler dross