Straight from my Gun Pt.2

Snake lay in his room after dark, waiting for the sound of Otacon’s tapping fingers to slowly stop and fade into a gentle snore. When he was sure Otacon was out, Snake crept into his room again. He didn’t like what he was doing, but he was too concerned for Otacon to let him continue wasting away. Without a sound he sneaked up behind Otacon. He looked between the screens trying to find something he understood, but a lot of the documents were written almost entirely in some kind of scientific shorthand that Snake couldn’t make head or tail of. He finally settled on one that appeared to be normal English. Careful not to disturb Otacon, Snake leaned over him, ignoring the dull pain in his eyes the bright screen caused as he read it. It took him a few readings before Snake could finally grasp the gist of it, and found himself both touched and deeply annoyed at what he discovered.
Apparently Otacon had sent some of Snake’s DNA to a Dr. Madnar for examination into his accelerated ageing. As far as he could tell, FOXDIE was not the cause, but he couldn’t pinpoint what was the cause either. Snake couldn’t believe that Otacon had shared that information with someone else. Was this why he hadn’t wanted to tell him? Had Otacon been afraid that he would stop him seeking the answers from this, Dr. Madnar? Most of all, was Otacon really this worried about him?
Finding himself with a lot to think about, Snake retreated to his own room to think things over.

The next morning Snake woke early, as usual. Stretching and yawning, Snake suddenly froze, his arms still dangling in mid-air. He smelled smoke.
“Hal? HAL?!” Snake leapt from the bed, rushing like a madman down the stairs to the source of the bitter smell that reminded him of so many battlefields. A hundred different scenarios flitted through Snake’s head, all of them terrible. He found dark tendrils of smoke seeping out from the kitchen and could hear coughing from within the smog.
“Hal!?” Snake charged into the fumes and found a window, fumbling to open it through streaming eyes. Finally he managed to grab hold of an arm and escape into the comparatively smokeless hall. A blackened Otacon was doubled over beside him coughing up a lung by the sound of it. Snake seized him by the shoulders, forcing Otacon to look at him over his smoked up glasses.
“What happened?!” Otacon could do nothing but cough despite Snake’s insistent shaking. “Otacon! What’d you do?” Shakily, Otacon managed to raise his hand, lifting a spatula into Snake’s, bewildered, line of sight.

When his coughing had subsided enough he tried to explain.
“I-… I just wanted … to make you breakfast.”
“O-Otacon…” Snake shook him again, gently, then pulled Otacon into a tight embrace.
“Don’t scare me! I thought the house was on fire!” Despite his shouting, Otacon could feel Snake trembling against him.
“Snake, I-”
“What happened?!” Snake cut in, holding Otacon by the shoulders again.
“I-I… th-the tea towel. I set it t-too close to the stove a-and it caught fire. I panicked a-and tried to beat it out but my sleeve caught and-”
“What?! Where?!” Otacon raised his other hand, showing Snake the charred sleeve hanging round his arm.
“Did you get hurt? Let me see!” Snake grasped Otacon’s arm and pulled it closer, inspecting it for burns.
“S-Snake, I’m fine.” Otacon blushed, trying to pull his arm back. “I-I dunked my arm and the flaming towel into the sink, but then the smoke started to fill the room. I was trying to find the window when-”
“You should have gotten straight out of there!” Snake scolded, releasing Otacon’s unharmed arm. “Who knows what could have happened if I hadn’t smelled the smoke?!”
“Snake-”
“You could’ve been killed!”
“Snake, I’m not a child! I can deal with my own problems!”
“Really? So well that you have to deal with other people’s too?” Snake immediately cursed himself.

Otacon took a minute to hear what Snake said.
“Wait, what? What are you talking about?” Snake considered for a moment whether or not to tell Otacon what he had read.
“I- … W-Well I meant that uh … Damn. Otacon I’m sorry I- … I saw the e-mail from that doctor guy.” Snake shrugged into his shoulders sheepishly, ashamed at admitting his spying.
“You … read my e-mail?”
“Well- I think I had a right to! I was the subject after all!”
“Snake!” When Otacon lifted his eyes to his friend, Snake had not expected to find tears in them. “I-I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to get our hopes up!”
“Well- I mean- it was just there and- … and-” Snake trailed off guiltily, but quickly turned to the offensive. “What’re you doing letting strangers in on my problems anyway!?”
“They’re not just your problems! Snake, as long as we’re together, these are our problems. You shouldn’t feel you have to face them alone.”

With a sad smile, Otacon shuffled back into the kitchen and dumped the spatula in the sink, passing Snake again on his way up the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Snake asked, tentatively.
“Look at me … I need a shower. If you want we can talk about this after.” Without waiting for an answer, Otacon continued up and into the bathroom. Snake heard the bathroom lock scrape, unnecessarily loudly in his opinion. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was so worked up. Otacon had just been looking out for him, so why was he so annoyed? Sighing deeply, Snake looked down at his heavily lined hands. It was getting harder to reload a gun every day because his fingers kept locking up or just feeling really stiff. He was sure he wouldn’t mind getting old if he actually was. Snake sank onto the edge of the sofa, his hand over his eyes. He groaned faintly as he realised why he was so aggravated. Otacon was taking care of him … thinking back on it, Snake could recognise that, bit by bit, Otacon had started doing lots of things for him, including now trying to diagnose him it seemed. Snake thumped one of the sofa cushions angrily. He was not about to let Otacon become his nurse maid! He had to do something …