𝕷𝖚𝖉𝖔𝖘 - 𝑨𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒏 𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒓

𝟏𝟏.- 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

"With the exception of you I dislike everyone in the room."

𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚

My eyes snap open with a start. I've never been a heavy sleeper. I haven't slept for more than two hours this time.

I hear the door open.

I sit up quickly, the sheets tangling around my legs. The realization hits me like a punch to the gut: I've been sleeping in Warner's bed, wrapped in the same sheets that he slept in. The thought is both unsettling and strangely intimate, and I hate the way it makes me feel.

Warner is staring at me, standing near his own bed in a fresh suit and perfectly polished boots. Everything about him is immaculate, a stark contrast to my disheveled state. His presence is jarring, the reality of my situation crashing down on me with the force of a tidal wave.

"How are you feeling?" Warner asks, his voice smooth and controlled. He watches me with those piercing green eyes. I can't read him, can't fathom what he's thinking.

"I'm fine," I reply briefly, trying to untangle myself from the sheets with some semblance of dignity. My body protests with every movement, sore and aching from the ordeal I've been through. "Just... a little sore."

Warner nods, as if he expected this. "You should take it easy today," he advises, his tone surprisingly gentle. "Your body still needs time to recover."

I look away, avoiding his gaze. "I'm alright." I say, " It was just a moment of weakness that I could have avoided if I had taken care of my headaches sooner. It won't happen again."

"Have you been experiencing those headaches for a long time?" he says, and I'm guessing he's frowning but I wouldn't know because I can't bring myself to look at him. I can't. ̶T̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶.̶

"No," I quickly say. "Not really. And they haven't been this strong before, so I didn't give it a lot of thought." The last thing I need is to be 'fired' because of a headache, this world is too weird, I would totally expect it. I dare to look up at him, afraid of his reaction, like a kid waiting for a reprimand. "They must have been triggered more by something from outside, but whatever it is, I'm feeling perfectly fine now."

His eyes are scanning me, as if he could truly see my brain working. "You do look better," he says "and it is reassuring that you are not experiencing any symptoms from being exposed to radioactivity." He turns away so I'm staring at his profile. "But you should still be checked regularly, we don't know much about the effects yet."

Great. Just at the precise moment when the mission is most at risk, it turns out that he now considers me a possible contagion. Which obviously leads to him staying as far away from me as possible, precisely what should not be happening at this point at all.