Sage sat outside for as long as he possibly could, and watched the people slowly trickle back onto the bus as they emerged from the restaurant, laughing with their buddies. He let out a sort of scoff at the sight, puffing lazily on the smoke as he watched them. When he couldn't stay sitting there any longer, he sighed and took one last long drawl on the smoke, holding his breath as long as he could while he snuffed it out and tossed the nub into the ash tray, letting his breath out before climbing back into the bus.

He noticed the quick change in Jackson's eyes when he neared the other man, and he had to admit he was somewhat curious about it. He could probably smell the smoke, but he could ignore it easily. He was probably just judging him for the bad habit, same as everyone else. The thing was, he didn't exactly like these habit. This particular one was used to help keep warm during the cold nights out during a battle. Things like that. And he couldn't just .. stop. Not anymore. They'd become essential to him, he'd freak out way more without them. Well, let him judge him. He didn't care. Some part of himself scolded him for that, telling him he did care. He pushed the thought away and sat down, popping his earbuds in with a sort of heavy breath.

He didn't look at Jackson when the ither man spoke up, but lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "you didn't either," he pointed out quietly before putting his other earbud into his ear, drowning out anything else he might have said. He doubted he'd respond but he couldn't help but feel slightly relieved. At least he'd said something...maybe he didn't hate him all that much then. Maybe they could at least be civil to each other for the trip.

He'd zoned out the rest of the ride, and a few hours later they'd stopped again, now at their destination. He opened his eyes and popped out and earbud as the chaperone started giving instructions. He really only half paid attention. ..it was a lot of the usual rules. Don't sleep with your significant other, don't make stupid decisions like getting drunk or wasted or stuff like that. Don't wander off alone. He figured it he could handle a fucking war, he could survive this damn cave. Or there was the option to purposely get lost somewhere and never come back out, but that wasn't exactly what everyone else would appreciate.

Sage was the last one off the bus, since he was honestly just procrastinating having to share a room with his old friend. Ex friend. However you'd say that. It was clear the other boy remembered him, and still hated him. Wonderful. As much as he'd like to move on and forget it never happened, he just couldn't. He still felt really guilty about pushing Jackson away all those years ago, and knowing it was all his fault.

He eventually did have to go to the cabin, and let out a breath of relief when he noticed Jackson was in the bathroom. Good, he didn't need to make all this awkward. Well...more awkward than it already was. He changed quickly into a more comfortable set of black sweatpants and a T-shirt with a skull on it. Then he put his earplugs back in and opened all the windows in the room before moving to prop the door open and sit down on the front steps of their cabin, lighting a smoke with a sigh.

Sage stayed outside for as long as he could, though eventually it was dark and cold enough to make him shiver. And they'd be up decently early the next day, so he did need to try and sleep at least a couple hours. So, he eventually did come in, having finished the smoke a while ago and was now just ready to pass out. Hopefully, he wouldn't wake from nightmares and make a complete fool of himself. Especially in front of Jackson, who no doubt would judge him for it. He was already judging him for smoking, and he didn't know the half of it. If he knew everything that had happened the guy would hate him even more. He was honestly surprised he hadn't asked to switch partners by now.

He cast a quick glance at him as he came into the room, then ducked his head and slid onto his bed, sitting up against the wall and not quite going to sleep yet. He just was nervous about it... If he waited long enough he'd crash and the nightmares wouldnt be so bad. Sure it meant he was always sleeping deprived but that was nothing new. At least there were no bombs.

Sage had stayed sitting up against the wall for a while, until around one in the morning. By then he'd quite literally just slumped down further and further until he'd passed out, unable to stay awake any longer. That was ok ...it meant he was in a deep enough sleep that the nightmares didn't bother him so much. At least one thing was going right for him on this trip.

His alarm woke him, at the very last second, dragging him out of a deep enough sleep his eyes burned when he opened then. He sort of let out a groan as he woke, forcing himself to sit up and lean against the wall with a sigh. He was glad Jackson was no longer there....the bathroom door was closed so he figured he was in there. Good, he took a while to get his brain working and he didn't trust himself not to make a fool of himself. Jackson was still in the bathroom, so after a careful glance to make sure he wouldn't come out anytime soon, sage grabbed the medicine bottles out of his backpack and grabbed a few pills, popping them in his mouth. They were mostly pain meds, since he still hurt from getting his hand blown off and such, but they were working less and less as time went on, so he'd have to double the dosage or more to get them to work now. It probably wasn't good or healthy, but it really did hurt. He couldn't just stop.

Once He was done, he swallowed them, chuckling to himself. There was his breakfast. He hid the bottle down in the depths of his backpack, letting the pills do their work as he woke up and moved to get dressed quickly, so jackson wouldn't see the prostetic. No one knew about that. He didn't want them to.

(it's all good lol)

Sage could feel the meds taking hold of his mind and body after a few minutes, so once he got up and got dressed, then it was just actually taking care of himself, which seemed like a lot more work than what he wanted to do. Oh well, he would just have to force himself to do it. If course, Jackson was still in the bathroom, and he'd have to go in there to wash his arm where they prosthetic attached to it and all that.

He sort of sighed after a moment and moved to rummage around in his bag for his hairbrush and rip it through the knots in his hair quickly, trying it back up with the twine he used to keep it in the bun. When he straightened, the prosthetic hit the edge of the bed, causing a shot of pain to travel up his arm as it pushed against the still healing stump. "MoTHErFucKER," he sort of yelled, yanking his arm back and he continued letting loose a long string of curses. He'd picked up a rather nasty mouth in the army ....that shouldn't be a surprise, of course, but he bit his lip after a moment, not wanting to bother Jackson at all. He'd never been the time to be loud like this. He sort of chewed on his lower lip nervously. What if he asked what was wrong? What would he say? He used his teeth to twirl his lip ring around his lip, a nervous habit he'd picked up a few years back and he calmed himself down a bit.