Why are you here?

Eyedroppers

Radlynn blinked wearily as she started to wake up. She screwed her eyes shut and stretched out on the couch, then finally took in her surroundings. Radley's living room, as per usual, greeted her. She yawned and pulled her blanket closer, closing her eyes again. She'd wait till Radley was awake. A few extra minutes of sleep couldn't hurt.

When she awoke the second time the house was still dead quiet. She frowned and sat up. Wouldn't Radley be awake by now? Radlynn grabbed her phone from the coffee table and checked the time. Eleven am. She squinted at the clock on one of the shelves. Eleven am, too. She guessed it was a lucky coincidence that MunchMore shared a time zone with home.

Radlynn stood up, putting her phone in the pocket of Radley's baggy hoodie and walked over to the door to Radley's bedroom. She pressed her ear against the door, trying to hear anything. She was pretty sure Radley didn't snore, but still.

Dead silent.

She frowned and looked around, stepping away from the door. She moved over to the bathroom and knocked on the door. No answer. Her eyes shifted over to the lab. Ohh, he must've gotten up early to work. That'd make sense. She stretched. Alright, maybe she'd go back to sleep or make breakfast. Wait, she could make breakfast for Radley! She grinned. "Oh I'm so smart." She murmured to herself as she padded into the kitchen.

×××××××××××××××

Radlynn rapped her knuckles on the door to Radley's lab. In her other hand she held a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. After standing there for a couple minutes without an answer she frowned. "Radley?" She called out. Still no answer. Her eyes shifted to the wooden sign on the door. 'Lab. Keep out.' it read. Radley wouldn't mind if she was just bringing him breakfast, right? Right.

She turned the handle and cautiously opened the door. Radlynn stepped inside and looked around. The lab was dimly lit, the only light being a lamp on a desk where she could see Radley, hunched over. Was he...asleep? That explained the lack of answer at the door. She glanced around. There were many shelves, full of various jars, and, strangely, food creatures. Still and lifeless. She assumed they were either taxidermied or statues of some kind. There were a lot of desks around the place, covered in various tools and bits of paper. She squinted. Was that a fridge in the back of the room?

Radlynn walked over to the desk where Radley slept. In front of it was a blueprint, pinned to the wall. She looked at it curiously. It was a diagram of a warp coin. She tilted her head at it, reading Radley's scratchy writing. She didn't understand half the things on it, but still. She placed the plate down, noticing that among the tools and bits of metal on the table was a pink liquid. She then realized it was coming from a conical flask that had fallen over. And Radley was sleeping right in it.

Radlynn shook him gently. "Radley?"

The foodian groaned and slowly sat up. Then suddenly hissed in pain. His hands flew to his left eye, displacing his glasses. He inhaled sharply through his teeth, cursing under his breath. Radlynn's eyes widened. "Radley?!"

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck-" Radley shakily stood to his feet. Radlynn stared at him in shock.

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

Radley turned to her, though she had a feeling that he wasn't actually looking at her. "W-why are you-" he swallowed, and inhaled sharply. "Fuck-"

"Can I help? W-what-" was she shaking? Maybe a little.

"Eyedropper. Second cabinet from the fridge." He took his hand off his eye, and pointed quickly towards the back of the room. Radlynn tried to ignore the pus on his hand. That probably wasn't good. At all.

She walked off quickly and opened the cabinet. She spotted the package of eye droppers and grabbed them quickly. "What do I do now?" She asked shakily as she walked back to Radley, who had managed to place his glasses down. Radlynn stared up at him in horror.

The skin on the side of his face looked whiter than it should've been. Like it had been bleached. Radley still had his hand pressed firmly over his eye, blocking her from seeing him. "F-fill one with water, there's no sink here so-" Radlynn had already run off before he could finish. She came back quickly, gently holding five eyedroppers full of tap water.

Radley was sat in his chair, wiping at his eye with a tissue and muttering quietly under his breath. She glanced at the pile of red stained tissues on the desk and really hoped that wasn't blood. "I got the water," she mumbled. He looked up at her. His right eye cracked open a little, which made him hiss in pain again. Radlynn flinched. "What do I do now?"

Radley shifted in the chair and sighed. "You'll have to- to apply the drops," he moved the tissue away and squinted at her with his one good eye. "You know how, right?"

"Yeah, yeah I do." Replied Radlynn worriedly. She stepped closer. "It won't hurt you, right?"

"Theoretically it shouldn't." Radley murmured back. Radlynn chuckled lightly despite her anxiety.

"That's not very reassuring..." She tilted his head back a bit and placed down the droppers, save for one, which she held up above his swollen eye. She forced herself not to gag. Radley's eye slowly opened, just a tiny bit. Radlynn squeezed the dropper. He hissed, making her step back. "are you alright?" She asked quickly. "Should I stop?"

"No, no," he managed to open his good eye a little wider. "Keep going."

Eventually, after half an hour of dropping, hissing, and wiping with tissues, Radley was able to open his eye properly. It had stopped oozing pus by now, thank god, and Radley could still see out of it, kinda. It was still extremely blurry. So now Radlynn was tending to the burn on the side of his face with an ice pack.

She stood in front of his chair, one hand dabbing his face with the ice while the other cupped his cheek. Radlynn glanced down, realising Radley was staring up at her. It suddenly occurred to her she'd never seen his eyes before. The right was a light sky blue. His iris was big too, and seemed to stare right into her. The left was just scarlet red, with the faintest dark circle in it. She guessed that was his iris and pupil.

"You feel any better?" She asked softly. He blinked.

"Huh?" His eyes were almost mesmerising to watch. "What?"

"I asked if you feel better." She tilted her head at him.

"Oh-!" Radley's eyes softened. "Yeah, a lot," he smiled sheepishly and glanced aside. "Thank you."

Radlynn pulled the ice pack away. "It's a good job I checked on you, huh? You could've gone blind there if you weren't careful."

Radley chuckled lightly. "Y-yeah I could've..." He wet his lips. "Sorry-"

"No need to apologize," she patted his shoulder lightly and looked over at the table at the plate of cold food she'd left for him. "I uh- made breakfast." She grabbed the plate. "It's probably cold now, though, sorry."

He looked at her in surprise. "You cooked?"

"Yep."

"On your own?" He almost couldn't believe it. Radlynn rolled her eyes under her bangs.

"Yes," she handed him the plate. "I'm learning "

Radley smiled and took the plate, picking up the fork she'd left on it. "...my kitchen better not be a mess when I get up."

Radlynn smirked and picked up the empty eyedroppers and tissues. "Shut up and eat your food."