𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐀 - TMR, Gally ¹

𝟢𝟤𝟧，𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞

CH. TWENTY - FIVE
┗━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━┛

"Add that to the way Gally was also a bit confused, and we can both forget about it and happily continue living," she finishes.

Fry tilts his head. Hums. "Well, you're both pretty... marked by it. You sure—"

"Half of the time, I can't even stand him!" Joan slams a hand against her forehead. "So I don't know why I kissed him while I also could've... pressed my hand on his mouth to make him stop breathing!"

"Now that's why you shouldn't deny your feelings."

"I'm not denying them," she says. "I'm... ignoring any tingles I ever get. Which are, by the way, none. Barely any butterflies around him."

He chuckles. "Both of you are stubborn, perhaps got some anger issues, got stung, and you're constantly forced to feel each other's feelings. Of course that doesn't match the greatest of all."

"See!" She nods heavily. "If he would've been a sunshine—"

"That's not what I was trying to say, but alright."

"Why would I kiss a guy I can't stand?" She continues. "Like, I've beaten him up! He has beaten me up! And then why kind of talked it out, but our talks and interactions still go way differently than my talks with Camil or you or Newt."

"Oh, let's see. Hm, maybe that's because unlike you and Gally, we're not in love... or attracted to each other... or anything close to that." A grin grows on Fry's face as he takes a bite off his sandwich.

"But I'm not in love with him," she says.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Well, not him! He keeps having nightmares that wake me up, too."

"Perhaps making out for a while will solve your problems."

A grunt leaves her mouth. "You're not helping."

"Alright. Fine. Then ignore it and continue living. Tell him it was meant to stop his panic attack."

"It was to stop his panic attack. It was the first thing I could think of to make him stop breathing! But obviously, kissing someone is not nothing so now we can't pretend it was just to stop the panic attack."

"You can, though." He shrugs. "Besides, if you can't stand him, why bother it so much? I assume that if you dislike him, you won't hang out with him all the time."

"Alby keeps giving tasks that force me to work with him," she groans. "But sure. I'll keep that in mind."

❀

"Good news!" Her father comes walking in her room with a big smile.

The girl looks up. She's sitting on the wooden floor, tubes spread in front of her. Her hair's messy from attempting to make a serum, and beads of sweat drop down her forehead.

Her room isn't that special. It's a square, with a bed and a desk, the walls old. Mold might've gotten between the wood by now, but she can't help it. This building looks abandoned, so it's a good place to stay hidden from outside dangers.

Perhaps kind of hard to hide with more than forty people, but hey, they're all surviving.

"Mom is coming back," he announces, cheeks bright from happiness. "She no longer wants to work at WCKD. She's coming home soon, honey!"

Her mouth drops open. "Oh my god!" And she jumps up, attacking her father with a hug.

It's been years since she had seen her mother. At first, she was free in the weekends and sometimes took days off work, but the company soon started taking all her time in, to the point where she lived in the building and no longer saw her family.