Spider was known to be stupid.

It was the reason why he ended up getting dragged by Kiri and Lo'ak back to camp for a "small" scratch. He thrashed in their grip, but they still brought him to the lab. Specifically the lab Venus occupied.

Venus looked up from her work and furrowed her brows at the hiss of the door. Nobody really came in and out during the day. It was either during morning or night. Her eyes widened at the sight of Spider at the hands of the two Sully kids.

"Guys?" She asked, concern on her face and in her voice. There was a slight panic in her eyes. "What's going on?"

Kiri answered first. "Spider's been hurt and he refuses to get help."

Spider twisted and turned at her words. "It's fine! It's just a scratch! I'm fine!"

Venus walked over to the boy and grazed her fingertips over his chest, where the injury was. It was a clean slice and bleeding. She looked up to his eyes and frowned. "Spider, this isn't just a scratch, you need stitches."

The boy felt a little flustered under her gaze. He held his head lower. "I could have delt with it myself."

Kiri pushed him forward. "Go with Vee, she can patch you up the human way." She pointed to the girl. Spider rolled his eyes and continued to thrash around, despite knowing he could never get away.

Venus had a concerned look take over her face. She took his hand and pulled him toward her desk. "Come." For some reason, she looked mad.

He jumped up to sit, like he always did. Still, he held annoyance for the fact that he was dragged into this mess. "I'm fine," he persisted. The wince he gave when she swiped an antibiotic wipe over the cut said otherwise. "It doesn't hurt."

"Do you know what would have happened if you didn't get this checked out?" She asked. Of course he didn't know. He didn't read books all the time like she did. Her eyes met his. "You could die from an infection. Do you want to die?"

"Do you want me to?" He blurted out. Anything to get the attention off of him. He wished he could go back to the moment he got scratched and never let it happen. He felt vulnerable under her gaze, her touch. He tried to turn his head away.

Venus pursed her lips and gave him a harsh glare. "Sometimes, when you don't listen!"

"So like, now?"

She pursed her lips and looked away. "A little bit." She looked up again. "But that's because you don't care enough!" She pushed the wipe into his cut, making him hiss in pain. His cut now throbbed.

Spider didn't care, though. Now, Venus was closer to him than ever, with her brows furrowed and her lips parted in worry. He wanted to pull her by the back of her neck and smash his lips into hers. "...And you care too much," he managed to mumble.

To his disappointment, she backed her face away and continued to clean around his cut. She was gentle and precise, the polar opposite of the reckless Spider. "I thought we agreed to never talk about that."

Right. The first time Venus ventured far into the forest with Spider, she twisted her ankle. After all these years, she still held a deep fear of what lied beyond. After the incident, Venus made Spider swear to never bring it up. Ever. She was still embarrassed by it.

"Sorry." He muttered, looking only at the girl. Her fascination was one of the many things he found beautiful about her.

"It's fine." Venus bit her lip and examined his cut, clean from blood. "You're gonna need stitches. Is that okay?" When she looked up, she found his awestruck gaze. For an instant, she felt flustered.

His head was tilted slightly as he leaned on his hands behind him. Venus thought she had hallucinated the way he glanced at her lips. A moment was shared of beating hearts and shallow breaths. 

"Yeah," Spider whispered. 

That was enough for the girl to refocus and grab a suture kit from a drawer below. She opened it and began to prepare. "This won't be medical grade, but I'm the only person available to do this." 

She swabbed some numbing gel and glazed it over the area. Then, she threaded the needle and furrowed her brows, looking back up into his eyes. "This is gonna hurt, okay?"

Spider nodded.

And she wasn't lying. The moment the needle pierced his skin, it stung. He flinched back. Venus closed her eyes and paused for a moment. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. She felt responsible for his pain.

He let out a pained breath. "It's not your fault," Spider couldn't keep his eyes off the focused expression on her face. She was dedicated, perfect in his eyes.

She bit the inside of her cheek and finished the rest of the stiches. Spider took the rest of them in an okay manner. He could feel the uncomfortable stab once the numbing was in full effect. 

As he sat on her desk, stitches finished, Venus shoved his shoulder with a frown. "You wanna tell me what happened? How do you get a cut that big?" She was angry and worried, the opposite of what she normally felt.

Spider looked down shamefully. "I was playing around. I was fine anyway. Lo'ak and Kiri were just scared-"

"-Yeah, well, when you came through that door, I was too!" She interrupted him and pointed to the door he came through. She felt a shock run through her body when she saw the blood on his chest. Her brows furrowed up. "I was scared, Spider,"

His gaze softened as he watched her. Venus was worried about him. He opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out. "It was just a scratch," he managed to whisper. For a moment, he believed she hadn't heard him, until she sighed and took his hands in hers.

"I need you to be more careful." The furrow in her brows had begun to look cuter. The corners of her lips perked up. "If you die, who else am I supposed to talk to? Everyone else is too old and I don't get along with the Na'vi children like you do. I have a hard time talking to people."

"I know," he assured.

He knew Venus more than she knew herself. It was a perk to having a small crush on the girl for years. She was kind and sweet, unexposed to the wrath of mankind after being holed up in a lab every day. She hadn't seen battle and she didn't plan to.

Spider liked that about Venus.

The girl pushed his shoulder again. "Now get off of my desk, I need to study." She nodded toward the door. "You can go outside again, but don't rip your stitches. I don't wanna redo them."

He turned to leave, just grabbing the door when she spoke again.

"And Spider?" He turned around instantly with a hopeful glint in his eyes. She bit the inside of her cheek again, fingers fiddling in front of her. She was nervous as she thought about the possibility he could have been more injured. "Be more careful, okay?"

He nodded and gave her a small smile.

omg this was such a delayed chapter, i had no motivation to write at all and i didn't know where to go with this other than future events, this is like the interlude between events. pls bear with me i'm getting writers block