As he opens his eyes, Eddie looks scared, followed by confused, then worried. His eyes flash widely as he sits up, his entire demeanor different from it ever has been.
"Wh-what-what happened? What's going on?"
Strangely enough, his words sounded hostile; as if he was trying to mask his fear like he didn't like not knowing. Before he even gave you a chance to respond, he holds a halting hand up and focuses on nothing.
"Why is it so quiet?"
"Woah, steady, chill," I say with a bit of a chuckle, "You're fine, Eddie. Chillax, bro." I move back to give him room. "We just rebooted you. And other stuff, I don't really know, but it's quiet because androids are a weird sight."
Eddie didn't seem to be listening to anything you were saying. However, when you finished speaking, he shook his head in response.
"No, I mean…there was always some sort of noise in my program…I can't describe it, but it…it was so annoying. It was constant, and sometimes there were other noises accompanying it, but now…"
Eddie blinked slowly, his face relaxing again, but this time he was conscious.
"Thank you, Jenny. And you too, Anubis."
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeee," I exclaim, blushing slightly. "It was definitely all Anubis." Sitting up in relief, I move to the fridge to grab a drink. All of these events made me drastically thorsty. I chug a lot of water, waiting for Eddie to continue.
"No," Eddie furrows his brow, lifting himself off the ground. "I wouldn't have had the desire to return to humanity if it weren't for you."
He gives a friendly smile as he holds a hand up to you.
"I owe you my life."
babey,, ;*
I take his hand and firmly shake it. "No, you owe me dinner and a movie, haha, joke, anyway, are you thirsty?" I quickly let go because my palms are sweaty now. "After all, you've been through so much pain." I take a glass and fill it with water, handing it to Eddie.
Eddie hesitantly accepts the water and takes a sip, nearly choking on it as he nods. Anubis rolls his eyes.
"Well, I'm going to my room." He utters as he exits the scene. The action causes Eddie to realize how much time had passed.
"What time is it?"
"Asexual bastard…" I mutter under my breath, sticking my tongue out at Anubis. As if on cue, I yawn widely. The stove clock read one. "One a.m. Are you going to head back to your house?" I bring my glass to the sink and rinse it. Then, I place it carefully onto the dishrack.
Eddie's eyes jump back and forth as he starts to nod, only to realize…
"Oh, I actually…I don't have a house. I stayed at the ELife building. They had bunks for us."
Eddie looks down to the ground, drawing circles with his foot. "I might just find a hotel or something…"
As he finishes his sentence, his eyes trail upwards to you, big and wondrous, as if he knew what he was doing.
I squint at him suspiciously. I trust Anubis to fix up Eddie, but to be honest, I still didn't know he was. A friend of Roger's, yes, but does that mean anything?
Nonetheless, he stands there helplessly, despite his height. Using the counter to stretch, I shrug. "It's not exactly my house. Nor is there a place for you to sleep, since I'm on the couch. If you wanna sleep on the ground or like in a chair, that'd be cool. I have to leave in the morning though so unless you're sticking with me, you're gonna need a plan after tonight."
Eddie looks down and sighs, nodding.
"Don't worry about me, I'll find a place to stay."
As you get comfortable on the couch, drowsiness already overtakes you. It has been quite a day; you nearly participated in a revolution, and you befriended a previously hostile cyborg. What could possibly happen now?
You stand up. It's dark, but it usually is at this hour. What time is it? You creep through the hallway. It's cold, wet, and quiet. You come across two doorways.
i run into the wall
I take the left doorway. Everyone always chooses right.
As you walk through the door, the cool air doesn't change, but, somehow, you still feel comforted by it. Almost as if you know that the absence of the cold would only make you feel lonely. Are you even alone? Someone places their hand in yours, but…it's small. Definitely too small to be any of the boys you've met along your journey. Even though you don't know who is walking alongside you, you almost don't want to look, so instead, you hold your head forward.
"Jenny! Jen!"
With the faint voice echoing in the hall, you strangely feel like running. You feel like running away from whoever has your hand, you feel like running away from the voice, you feel like running away from everything.
Your feet move without second thought as you hear them hit the ground like a rock skipping on the water. Then you were running through puddles, stirring up water with each impact. Your breath increases, but your heart remains at the same speed, almost as if you left it with the person holding your hand earlier.
The sound of people in the kitchen wakes you up. You can smell coffee from where you lay.
The dream almost slips away from me when I gain consciousness, but a tiny sliver stays long enough for me to grab the tag and pull open the entire dream. Weird.
I groan as I wake up, stretching my limbs and flipping over to the other side. Drowsiness tried so hard to overtake me, but the clear voices kept my mind awake. I sit up and stretch some more. Move out time already, huh?
I turn towards Anubis specifically. "Is there any breakfast foods?"
Anubis turns to you with toast in his mouth. "Egg." He uttered, unable to say a full sentence as he returns to his coffee. Though Jean remained in his own half-drunk world, Prince strides up to you and rubs on your legs, somehow aware of the inevitable.
I snicker at Anubis's response. The feeling of fur on my leg shocks me. I look down and pet Prince sadly. Strolling to the kitchen, I take some bread and place it in the toaster, grabbing also two eggs and use the pan left out on the stove. Tension is high in the room. I badly want to leave without breakfast, but for some reason I know that I need food.
Jean steals a look at you as you pet Prince. His eyes were heavy, almost bloodshot from a dangerous lack of sleep, but he hides it under his hair, which, weirdly enough, was down. Had you ever seen it down? Why does he always have it up? Why is it down right now? Anubis didn't take much note of it, but something about his hair not tightly wrapped in a bun, finally loose and over his face, held a certain weight to his composure. It wasn't down last night, when he joined the Eddie incident.
Jean could be rather hot right now, if he didn't look like he just blacked out on cocaine. Anyway,
I finish my breakfast as fast as I can. As I stand at the sink, staring at my plates, I contemplate the situation. Eventually, I turn around and get right in Jean's face.
"I won't argue leaving and never coming here ever again. But is it so bad to leave on a better note?"
Jean stares at you for a long moment, then shifts his gaze at Anubis. Understanding the look, Anubis stands up and walks out without a word. Jean leans back and crosses his arms after running a hand through his hair.
"There's nothing wrong with leaving on a better note. But when it comes to someone like me, I-"
Jean pauses, rethinking his words.
"I've made the mistake of getting attached to someone before. And because they even associated with me, they suffered and they didn't deserve it."
Jean's gaze drops to the ground.
"I can't keep you close to me. Even though I want to. I want you to be safe, and the best way I can ensure that is by making sure everyone thinks that I don't care about you."
I sigh at his response. After he runs his hand through his hair, a loop suddenly forms. Don't you fucking dare, Jenny. I suppress the urge to fix it.
"I think you make things too complicated. If you really did care, maybe you'd do something about it. Instead of being a pussy. You know I have nowhere to go. You know I'm already in deep shit whether I'm in this house or outside it." I get heated, though I didn't mean to. But, for some reason, things just didn't make sense to me here. I can't remember what happened in the past, but I'm sick of people trying to push me away or make my decisions for me.
"You don't care at all. And you can't choose for people whether they're with you or not. Maybe I want to stay. Maybe it hurts to leave. God, if loving someone is a mistake, then I should've died a long time ago because everything I've ever done was a mistake."
Jean avoids eye contact as he listens. He knows you're right, but he doesn't like it. He's quiet for a little bit after you finish talking, eyes shifting back and forth as he looks for the words. You could tell he was suppressing a lot, even still.
"The thing is, I'm scared. I didn't care that my family died. Even when they were alive, I didn't care what happened to them. But I care what happens to you, and it scares me."
Jean then does something weird. Exhausted and vulnerable, Jean places his elbows on the table and holds his face in his hands, covering a majority of his features.
My face softens, the anger dissipating. I reach towards the loop and brush it out apprehensively. "You're not special, Jean," I say with a hint of playfulness in my tone. "It's scary to everyone. No doubt. The point is that you go through with it anyway. Leap of faith, yaknow? Because maybe, just maybe, it turns into something really really amazing."
Jean doesn't move as he