Chapter Text
"Don't... touch me!"
"Come on," You urged, easily overpowering the wide arc of his arm swing to keep you away. You yanked his arm over your shoulder to support his significantly taller body, guiding him down the street. The moment his weight rested on you, all the fight left his body.
It was late - you'd had to stay at your job later than usual, and your normally quiet walk had been interrupted spectacularly by this man stumbling out of the alley, one pupil dilated while the other looked wild.
You fully expected to be dead come morning for manhandling him like this, but you'd also be dead if you left him like this and someone found out you'd turned your head the other way. At least this would look good on your karma, right?
As good as helping the kingpin of Zaun could be, you supposed.
The building you lived in wasn't far, only a few blocks further down the road that felt like miles due to his uncooperative feet. With every step, he seemed to grow more and more sluggish. You urged him forward with quiet words, "Just a little further, Silco. Come on, up the stairs here. Take 'em one at a time. There we go."
Silco grumbled something as you leaned him against the wall, using your key to jimmy the lock of your apartment open - merely a formality, as practically any key could open it with the right movements. You heaved him up again, maneuvering through the doorway with no ease at all with your bedroom as a destination in mind.
"Alright, it's not the softest but at least you'll be able to sleep this off."
You tried your best to be careful as you put him on the bed, but it wasn't easy with all that suddenly-dead weight to deal with. With a grunt, you lifted his feet onto the mattress so he was prone, and finally swiped your hands together to admire your handiwork.
Great job, you chided yourself, you have the most dangerous man in the city sleeping in your bed, and not even in a fun and sexy way.
Judging by the dilation in his good eye and the pallor of his skin, you knew he hadn't been dosed with shimmer - something else had gotten to him. Perhaps another drug? As you shifted his head in the light, you could see a thin red slice along his cheek, the edges felt hot to the touch as you prodded it.
Likely the entry point. You had a small first aid kit, but nothing to handle whatever drug or poison he'd been given. All you could do was retrieve it and clean the cut as best as you could, confirming that it wouldn't need stitches while you taped the gauze to his face.
He'd need water, you decided. Hopefully it would help flush it quicker from his system. You didn't have the best filtration system, but it wouldn't hurt him any worse that he was already. When you returned with a filled cup, he was somewhat lucid again, eyes traveling over the room with sluggish movements.
You kneeled next to his head to slide a hand under it and lift him to a position where he could drink, "You'll need it to flush it out. There ya go, easy does it."
Silco didn't fight you, instead falling limp against your hand as you set the water on the floor nearby. When you leaned over him again, he pulled in a breath before speaking, "Are you an angel?"
You stared at him for a long moment before laughing at his expense, fingers unconsciously curling into the hair at the back of his head that you still supported, "Not quite. Maybe I will be when you wake up and think I kidnapped you."
Silco let out a hum, closing his blue eye as he settled back more comfortably against your hand, "I won't... You've been kind enough to me."
Likely the fever talking, you rationalized, because Silco wasn't particularly known for being kind and understanding to those he didn't know or care about - as a random civilian just living their life in the slums, you were very much unknown and uncared for.
"We'll see, I guess. You need anything before I leave?"
"Don't," His eye rolled open to look at you with a foreign kind of desperation, "Don't leave."
"I can't just stay here with you all night, Silco," You chided him just as frown traveled over his face.
"You can. I'm telling you to, it's an order."
"You don't pay me, so you can't order me around."
"Then I'm asking you."
He had to be delirious - his elevated heart rate and the heat coming off his skin was enough to convince you that it was the fever talking to you, not the formidable Eye of Zaun that you'd heard so much about.
Still, you rested your forehead against the side of the bed and settled in. And if his hand hovered over to slide his fingers into your hair, you decided not to mention it come morning.