8. Sour grapes

Hunter thought he died yet again, but luckily, Jack had only lost consciousness.

Remembering how long Jack said he was out before, Hunter hoped it wouldn't take as long this time. They were still on the top of the stairs, and it was a bit cold.

Hunter snuggled to Jack's chest, listening and making sure he wouldn't go back to Yama again. 

He woke up the next day when the light shone from the windows of the hospital corridor behind them because he had to pee. He was relieved that he could still hear Jack's heartbeat, much calmer and smoother than before. When he lifted his head from his chest, he met his eyes directly.

Jack looked at him sleepily, and Hunter thought, 

'So these are the famous bedroom eyes.'

"Morning." Jack said, and raised his hand to his forehead. He felt fabric... but no metal pole?

"Where's my rod?"

Hunter smirked but let that go, leaning to the other side, showing him the metal thing. Then he asked happily, 

"You remembered again?" . 

Jack stared blankly at the pole and couldn't believe it. 

"Yeah, I wanted to help you down and suddenly blacked out."

"Your fucking idiotic self wanted to help me down and put my arm over your shoulder while touching the other end of the thing in your brain." Hunter scolded incredulously.

Jack looked up blankly, then put his arm over his face and was silent before laughing until he had no more energy and was left to chuckle weakly to himself. What a dumb way to die.

Hunter himself had to grin but finally interrupted, 

"I have to go to the restroom."

"Yeah, me too." Jack raised himself very slowly, but saw that there was no problem. He put down the fabric that he had to press against his head and threw it on the floor, as the wound was not bleeding anymore. Closing one eye, as he was told, it wasn't that difficult to move around. Just like a dumbass winking at some girl and getting stuck in the middle of it.

He helped Hunter up and put his hand over his shoulder—this time without taking lives—and then walked back to the security door, in the direction Hunter had pointed him out. They entered and got to the pissoirs. Jack couldn't help but exclaim,

"Man, the world is much brighter when you haven't gotten something stuck in your head, I tell you. Thanks for taking it out."

Hunter looked over, and his face fell, 

"Jack, you were dead...for hours..."

"Yeah, I think something is not right with the whole situation here, do you think it's like in the Matrix? We are in some laboratory with, dunno, VR's on, and this isn't reality?" He thought for a moment,

"By the way, it didn't hurt the whole time with the metal pole stuck in my brain. At least not as much as it should have. How about you? Are you feeling pain?" He put his pants in place and took the disinfectant out of his red jogging pants, after Hunter followed suit, he gave him some too and helped him back to the staircase.

"No, I can feel pain accurately—not too much, not nothing. Maybe the others have other information. Ah, and don't be superstitious, Matrix is superstition."

Jack laughed and raised his eyebrows,

"How is Matrix superstition?"

"Don't know, it just is." He scoffed, 

"Didn't like the movie."

Jack chuckled, 

"Just cause you didn't like it, it's superstition? So is there a fruit you don't like?"

"Everything sour..." Hunter answered.

"So is, like, a sour grape superstition?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, sir, let's get out of here."

Jack wanted to help Hunter down, but the man instead sat himself in the wheelchair and pointed at Jack's head.

"We have to bandage it first."

"Right!" Jack turned around and went to the VIP ward, coming back with a bandage. There were no mirrors, so he kneeled before Hunter's wheelchair, letting him take over the lead.

Hunter took the bandage and asked for the disinfectant, then he said,

"Let's test your pain tolerance? Ah right, before that, look at me."

Jack looked up, and his nose almost touched Hunter's.

The other man was stunned for a moment but quickly regained his composure as he looked at Jack's left eye, telling him to open it again. He saw the pupil was in place, as small as it should be.

It was a strange feeling to have someone as attractive as Jack kneel, all bloody and full of vomit, with clear and devoted (?) eyes before oneself. With eyes, the upper half blue, the lower half a light brown, like the melting of sky and earth.

Hunter took a moment to observe him.

"All okay again, do you remember that you woke up before and talked about the smell of flowers?"

"Ha? No, don't remember."

"Okay, your pupil was huge, but now it's back to normal again. So, let's finally test your pain tolerance."