"Really? It… it isn't too much trouble?" He asked quietly, swaying a bit.
Looking for a O/O
"Not at all. My dad isn't home and he won't be for ages so yeah…" He noticed Cas's swaying. "You good? You need to lean on me or…" He stopped himself short. He was going to say be carried but he couldn't quite bring himself to say it. His ears flushed red.
"I'm fine… I'm just gonna… I'm just gonna sit down for a sec…" Cas slowly collapsed to his knees, sitting on the ground. His ears and tails were droopy and limp, and the flames now appeared with every breath.
"Oh shit- that's not- shit!" Ashley decided carrying Cas was the best option and went forward to lift him up again. "Listen, you're gonna have to be carried some more. Are you good with that?"
Cas held up a weak thumbs up and let his eyes flutter closed. He tried his best to wrap his tails around Ashley's arm again, still panting quietly.
Ashley started walking home, carrying Cas as comfortably as he could. When he got to his house, he struggled with holding keys and Cas but he managed to get the door open. He carried Cas into the spare bedroom and placed him gently down. Ashley tried to cool the room, turning on air conditioning and placing a cool, wet cloth on Cas's forehead.
Cas was hardly conscious by now, but he did still seem to be faintly aware that he was in Ashley's house. The wet cloth wasn't really helping much, although the stark difference in temperatures woke him up a bit.
Ashley was panicking. "I don't know what I'm doing." He said between gritted teeth as he searched the cupboards in the bathroom for something that might help.
"Mm…" Cas winced as he moved a bit, finally noticing the blood on his shoulder from where the whip had cut him. He wasn't really too concerned about this, of course, but it was interesting to note. He tried to take deep breaths, hoping the fresh air would help him cool down.
"Are you feeling better? Well enough to tell me your name?" Ashley said, placing a glass of water with ice on the bedside table. "I'm Ashley."
"Still feeling shitty, but I'm okay enough to tell you I'm Casper… I usually just go by Cas, though…" Cas curled up on his side, his tails flicking uncomfortably.
"Well, Cas, that is an improvement. Still don't know what I'm supposed to do to help though." He turned the air conditioning down further.
"Eh… it'll wind down eventually. This kind of thing happens more frequently when it's hot outside. You know, like it is now, in addition to being cooped up in a very hot, stuffy room." Cas weakly ran his fingers through his hair.
"That makes sense." Ashley said sitting on the bed. He draped his tails on his lap.
"I haven't discovered any surefire ways to cool down from these little episodes yet, so that's fun. I can't guarantee how long this'll last either."
Ashley sat still for a a few seconds before snapping back to reality. "Do you want something to eat?"
"Uh, sure, I guess… I'd ask what you have, but literally anything would be fine." Cas hugged his stomach to keep it from rumbling, knowing he hadn't eaten in a good few days.
"Right, food coming up!" Ashley grinned and darted into the kitchen. When he returned, he plonked a plate down with food from slivers of chicken to a large samwich. "You looked hungry."
"Oh! That's, um… that's a lot of food." Cas forced himself into a sitting position so he wouldn't make a mess.
"You don't have to eat all of it, we have a lot of food still." He gave the plate to Cas and stood awkwardly. "Should I leave or-?"
"You can stay if you want to." Cas shrugged. "You can have food and stuff. I mean, it's your food anyways, and there's no way I can eat all of it."
Ashley sat on the edge of the bed and took a few pieces of chicken from the plate and ate them slowly. "So, what happened? How'd you get caught?"
"Well, um…" Cas nibbled at a piece of bread. "I went in there and noticed how unbelievably hot they'd made it in there. I guess they know I overheat. Anyways, I didn't think too much of it at first, but the heat was slowly weakening me. They'd strategically placed guards that they knew I'd take down, but at the end of the hallway, once I was weak from the heat, they had about a dozen guys waiting. I tried my best to fight them off, but they managed to restrain me and put me in chains so I couldn't break free."
"How do you think they knew about you overheating?" He said, staring into the distance.
"Watched me on hot days?" He shrugged. "I dunno. Can't say for sure."
"Well, you're welcome to stay as long as you want! My dad is almost never home, but he wouldn't mind." He grinned.
"Thanks. Anyone else who hangs around other than you and your dad?" He asked, picking up more food.
"In this house? Nah." He picked at the fabric on the bed. "I'm alone most of the time."
Cas nodded. "I'm pretty sure my dad's dead. I don't really know, though."
(I didn't even see the message omg)
"Ah." He sat in awkward silence for a few moments. "So, are you gonna, you know, get revenge? On the guy that trapped you? Or you know, bring them to justice or whatever?"