Gears and Steam

Sick

Jules

Edmund fell asleep against my chest. His hand was curled around my shoulder, and I could feel his breath on the side of my neck. In the four days I had officially worked for Gears and Steam, I'd had three weird encounters with a sleeping Edmund. He got pretty loopy when he was tired. Today must have really worn him out.

Was I supposed to leave him here to rest? Or was I supposed to stay and hug him? He didn't like being touched...but he hugged me and he hadn't reacted badly earlier...I didn't know what was going on anymore. I shouldn't be letting him this close, but it was kind of...nice. Yeah, nice was the right word for it. How long had I been sitting here for? It felt like minutes, but I knew it had been a lot longer.

I didn't want to do anything that could wake Edmund up. From past experience, I knew he was a very heavy sleeper. I could probably throw him on the floor, and he wouldn't wake up. That meant that I could have easily gotten up without disturbing him. I didn't want to move though.

Someone knocked on the door, making me jump. Theo pushed the door open a few seconds later. "Hey, Edmund, have you seen Jules..."

Edmund's words flashed through my head. Tell Freddie or Theo and you're gone. It was a bit too late for that now. "He hugged me and fell asleep. I'm not quite sure what's going on," I said truthfully, though I decided to leave out the part about Edmund crying.

Theo looked shocked. "Well, he does tend to get pretty strange when he's tired. He looks kinda sick too. You, uh, you might want to like, not be in his room when he wakes up."

"Probably a good idea. What did you need me for?"

"Freddie saw you arguing with Edmund; she wanted to make sure Edmund didn't kill you or fire you. It sorta looks like he did just the opposite," Theo chuckled. "Okay, this is weird. I'm making dinner, it'll be ready in about ten minutes."

"I'll be out in a second," I said, subconsciously playing with one of Edmund's curls.

Theo slowly closed the door. I heard his footsteps travel down the hall. I really hoped he wouldn't mention anything to Edmund. The mechanic would hate me for letting him see anything. Edmund clearly didn't like people seeing him vulnerable. He had built up an armor over the years, but I had somehow managed to find the weak link. I didn't want to destroy his armor; people usually wore it for a reason, after all.

"You confuse me, Edmund," I whispered, even though I knew he couldn't understand me. "I should probably say this when you're awake, but I'm not going to hurt-" I stopped short. I was going to hurt him, eventually. I was nothing more than a spy. "I'm not going to intentionally hurt you. Maybe I can avoid it altogether." I could find a way to never let him know that I was an agent. He wouldn't get hurt in this, I would make sure of it.

"You deserve to be happy, you know. You're not happy now, for some reason. You're missing something. I hope you figure out what it is." I gently eased him off of me and onto his pillow. I made sure to wrap his blanket around him; it was freezing in his room.

I still didn't want to leave him. It was stupid, but he had been super messed up before he fell asleep. I didn't want him to be alone. Then again, watching Edmund while he slept was weird. Also, Theo was right, I definitely did not want to be here when he woke up.

I took one last look at him. The way his frizzy curls fell into his face...I felt the urge to brush them away. I reached out a shaking hand and brushed his hair away from his forehead. I let my hand linger on the side of his face for a few seconds before pulling it back. His head felt warm, probably because we were outside in the cold for so long. He was affecting me and he wasn't even awake.