Killing loneliness

Meryl Silverburgh X Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki: Hard Times Ahead

Johnny woke up to see that he was holding tight someone who is in same bed with him. After a while he cried in panic when he realized just who is the one he hugged probably all night. His commander who was looking at him and had something in her eyes that Johnny couldn't yet understand. He started to apologize his rudeness but Meryl told him to calm down and she hugged him gently.

Meryl was getting ready for the day and she thought about what she would do with Johnny. He is still in too poor condition to go on field missions. And she probably is only one who ever cares for him if he is alive or not and that made her visibly sad and upset.

Johnny saw that something was bothering his commander. He has never seen her in such weak state. Johnny decided to hold her hand and hope that she wouldn't punish him too hard for it, maybe locking him to separate booth in chains to keep him still and silent but no physical pain.

Meryl was glad that Johnny held her hand and she soon got over those feelings that bothered her. She hugged Johnny and thanked him for helping her to feel better. Johnny felt like he was luckiest man in the world when Meryl wasn't yelling at him that he ruined everything.

Meryl guided Johnny to the kitchen so she could feed him some breakfast. Ed and Jonathan would both wake up when they smell breakfast. Meryl ordered Johnny to sit down at the table so she could cook something. She made eggs, sausages, bacon and some pancakes. She shared it in equal portions and put all leftovers on Johnny's plate. He needed it the most at the moment.

She ate and also fed Johnny at the same time so they wouldn't have to wait each other that much. Johnny ate and felt a bit guilty when he was fed like a kid and someone actually took some of their time to see to it that he was fed, watered and he got the sleep he needed. Johnny looked down and thanked his commander for breakfast.

Ed and Jonathan arrived and saw something that thawed their hearts: Meryl, the one who had reputation as most strict commander was feeding neglected soldier. They figured it out when Johnny asked about the room and it was the reason they reached out to Meryl in the first place.

After having breakfast Meryl told that morning briefing would be in her room at 9.00 am sharp. She took Johnny away with her to show him where they would pass the time until briefing. Meryl had something special in mind and she decided that she'll wait until Johnny has stayed for at least one year.

Meryl taught Johnny some games and watched him fix computers and time flew by. It was time for briefing and Meryl went with Johnny to the briefing table where all briefing meetings were held. Unless mentioned otherwise.

Meryl saw that all of them were there so she began and said that they wouldn't take any missions untill their team is fully functional no matter how long it takes to make it so. Without telling more details she told that the meeting was over.

Ed and Jonathan decided to play some games and watch movies now that they had only their chores and Meryl understood if they wanted to have some fun before finishing chores they had on list.

When Johnny saw his list of chores he was surprised that it was relatably short list without another side he wouldn't notice untill spending whole day on one side of the tasklist. He checked and double-checked that it was just small portion of the list he used to have in other teams.

Meryl was boiling with anger when she saw how Johnny was in awe of a simple list of tasks. She told Johnny to start working on those. "Don't overwork yourself and remember to take some breaks. I'll go visit few places. I have to do some things out of here. If you start to feel like panicking, call for Ed or Jonathan, I'll tell them to help you to calm down."

After instructing Akiba she went to see Ed and Jonathan and told them to keep eye on Johnny and to help him if he starts to have anxiety. They promised to keep eye on him and they knew better than to disobey. They saw that Meryl had something in store for their new addition.