for god_of_hellfire

[that_cost]

Charlie'd rather ignore being sick, but she can only do that for so long. Her cold hit her early Monday morning. Like, four AM early. A metaphorical punch to her sinuses that kept her up all night sneezing and coughing. By morning, it felt like it had worked itself out of her system, so she tried classes. Socialization. Being around the scant handful of people she liked being around. But she wasn't her usual sarcastic self. She was quiet, reserved, not at all in the mood.

By Tuesday, she'd given up on socialization after class and just went right to her room, the excuse being she had homework and since Charlie was the type to actually happily get her homework done? No one questioned it.

But on Wednesday, she just didn't have it in her to actually leave her room. So the first thing she did, since Wednesday was the day where most of her classes were with John, was to text him and let him know she wouldn't be heading to class and had the Okay from Jean to stay in her room and she'd see him later when she was sure she was done dying from Dorm Plague.

Now, knowing John as well as she did? She expected him to show up sooner or later, so she was quick to take a shower and get dressed before putting on watch_dogs 2 to play as she waited.

And it's a funny story about the PS4 and how she got it involving one of the adults asking what would make her stay more comfortable and her jokingly saying a PlayStation 4, but that's not what matters. What matters is she's busy doing side missions as Marcus Holloway, not really able to focus on the main story, and when she hears the familiar knock of John? She kind of sighs and smiles, calling out and telekinetically unlocking her door as she did so.

"If you catch this shit, I'm not hanging out with you while you recover." This is a lie with a capital L and both of them know it.

Now, if you don't mind? She's gonna have Marcus walk through the games setting, stealing money from unsuspecting NPCs as she sits cross legged on her bed, in her usual t-shirt and jeans combo, her hair a tangled braid down her back.

Comments

[feellikeshowingoff]

John had caught on to Charlie being under the weather a little bit earlier than everyone else, but he figured she'd shrug it off. The perk of the higher body temperature that went with abilities like theirs was that they didn't get as sick as everyone else nearly as often. By the time she'd quarantining herself, he's starting to get a little worried.

Skiving off classes isn't much of a task for John. He does better than most people assume, but he hates sitting in class, hates the rigid order of it all. Instead, he decides to skip English, head to the kitchen, and whip up what he could of emergency rations. He nicked the electric tea pot, a handful of teas, cups, sugar, all the necessities. He traded Jubilee part of his arcade token stash for two chocolate bars, heated up some soup and made a few grilled cheese sandwiches. With his back pack on one shoulder and a tray full of food, he let himself through the opened door.

"You're all heart, firefly."

[that_cost]

"Oh, my God. Such lies." She has a reputation as a vaguely snobby (where people got that idea she has no clue), kind of bitchy (she will give them that one!) girl to keep, you know.

"Tell no one. That can't get out. It'd be bad for everyone." She turns to look at John, letting Marcus idle on a street corner while people around him walk by. Noting the armful of stuff he's carrying, she looks at her desk and with a small wave of her hand, the few books she has on it stack themselves. There's now space for the tray and the electric tea kettle.

"Seriously, though. You want none of this cold. It's terrible. But I do appreciate you coming by." She doesn't quite do as well with solitude as she did before.

[feellikeshowingoff]

"I'm willing to risk it," he says nonchalantly. "Besides, this is mutually assured destruction. I tell anyone that you worried I'd get sick, too, and you'll tell people that I snuck off to take care of you. I can't take that sort of hit, firefly. People might not think I'm a charming asshole anymore." He winks at her, letting himself through to the bathroom to fill up the kettle.

[that_cost]

"They'd be right, because you're absolutely not one." They'd be wrong because he absolutely is, but she keeps that information to herself. While John fills up the kettle, he may hear her trying to play quietly, but whatever she's up to is just as frustrating as it is amusing, and she's doing a lot of talking despite the fact that a good three-quarters of her voice is gone.

"Who the fuck---? OH, MY GOD! STOP HACKING ME! I JUST WANT TO PLAY! I'm gonna find you and you're dea---THERE YOU ARE!"

This is typical Charlie playing video games. She doesn't actually get mad. She just gets goofy, and a bit petty. So by the time John comes back out, he may get a glimpse of Charlie using the games character to steal a car and run down whoever it was that was hacking her characters phone, knocking the other player off a cliff and into a lake.

"Asshole."