I'd Rather Be Me (With You)

Out Of It

He looked down at the wooden tiles, staring into his reflection through the puddle of soapy water from his bucket. He'd never been so quiet while mopping before, usually, he'd hum some song or chat it up with Mei. But he couldn't for some reason. He felt off. It was like there was a looming anxiety pitted in his stomach but he had no idea what it was. He'd delivered all his noodles for the day, was mopping the floor already, and was positive he didn't need to run any other errands. But despite own his affirmation, the feeling didn't go away. He didn't feel complete, whole, like some part of him had been removed without his knowledge.

But somehow, the only time his thoughts felt truly clear is when he thought of you. He remembered how he felt when he forgot his headphones at your place, how his neck felt more bare than what was comfortable without them. Yet now, with the knowledge that he was letting you borrow them felt nice. Like the thought of you wearing something that he owned made him feel warm and fuzzy. He still had the image of you wearing his headphones after the street race, how he could see you become more calm in an instant. He never thought about it much before, but now he wanted nothing more than to feel that again.

"Hey MK, you should check out this puppy video!" Mei grinned, pointing to her phone. When she didn't get a response her expression softened. "Uh, MK? Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." He stopped mopping for a second, trying to shake the strange murky feeling in his head. "I just feel a little tired, that's all."

"Are you sure? You seem sick." She quipped, noting his sluggish behavior.

"I don't know, I've been feeling like this ever since we got that cheese tea."

"I told you two it was a bad idea to give money to the enemy!" Pigsy snapped as he kept working on an order.

"Uh, it was a cheese tea stall."

"Doesn't matter, Mei." He carped, "After that whole beefball fiasco that nearly broke the entire shop, I think you'd know better than getting food from strange figures. You could be poisoned right now for all we know!"

"If there was some sort of mystic poison in them they would've taken effect by now," Tang explained, looking up from his bowl of noodles. "But this might not be any normal poison. How do you feel right now MK?"

"Um, tired mostly." MK mumbled, "I'm a little hot too, and I feel like I have a dumb brain." That was an understatement, he could feel his ability to think clearly fleeting away by the second. It was taking more effort to stand straight.

"You should probably lie down then." The scholar said, "You shouldn't work yourself too much, especially since we don't know what's in your system."

"Yeah kid, you look like a zombie."

That was probably right. His shirt was disheveled, his hair was a mess, and he had slight eye bags forming as though he hadn't slept in days. It didn't help that his whole body was slack and shaking.

"What? Pfft, I'll be fine." MK chimed, "I feel perfectly, perfectly fine..." He trailed off as his eyes seem to space out. His grip on his mop loosened and as though he were a cut-down tree he fell over. He didn't even flinch from the impact like he was a ragdoll, unmoving and inanimate. He barely registered Mei pulling him up and throwing his arm along her shoulder. His head felt heavy like it was filled to the brim with bricks.

"Alright, this is too much." Pigsy sighed, "You need to take some rest kid. You can't keep going on like this."

"Noo..." The hero whined, "Who's gonna do all the deliveries?"

"I'll do them, if I can ride a sick motorcycle I'm pretty sure I'm capable of using the delivery truck." Mei affirmed, "I'm not gonna let my best friend work himself to death."