LULUX

Sure, you coughed the next morning—so many times, and yeah perhaps your body temperature was worryingly high, but you pulled through by swallowing a crap ton of garlic.

You swore you were fine.

Your roommates didn't seem to think so.

So now you were here, strapped onto the mattress, a wet piece of folded fabric settled on your forehead.

"Tom, I'm fine." You croak out.

Tom cringed, "No. You aren't. Stop lying to yourself."

"I'm already lying against my will." You deadpan.

Tom laughed plainly, each 'ha' a flat staccato as he narrowed his eyes at you. "Wow. You are SO hilarious." He said sarcastically.

You huffed. "I know I am." You mused, unable to control a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, you stay there, I'll go get Matt." Tom said as he stood up, already heading for the door.

You hummed curtly. "Sure. Not like I can go anywhere else..." You grumbled as you turned to glare at the ceiling.

Great.

Maybe the others had finally went ahead and bought pills for you. You couldn't stand the sight of medicinal syrup. No. Ew. They all tasted horrible. Especially the vanilla ones.

...but knowing who your roommates were, you really couldn't rely on them…like at all.

And so for the first time in a long time, you started to pray to the one(s) above for patience and strength, and that you'll get this over with already. Goodness, you could already sense the footsteps of impending doom. May the lords spare you from your roommates' patronizing comments and that godforsaken syrup—!!

"Who's ready for a sticky mediiii???"

Oh god.

You gulped with dread as you watched Matt approach with a face that looked far too happy to see you in such a state. "Please no..."

"Nuh-uh-uh!" Matt tutted, clutching the syrup of despair right in front of your face, barely sparing you the terror. "Don't think we haven't noticed you wandering about so sluggishly these past few days, sister-mister. You've been worn down by that nasty job of yours no doubt."

You huffed, offended. "My job is NOT nasty, thank you."

“It so is nasty. I mean look at you!” He gestured to you—which—wow? Rude? You looked fine! Pale, perhaps, but fine.

“Hey, I look fantastic!” You retorted, “No one on earth could possibly pull off looking like a corpse like me…in a good, sexy way.”

Matt twirled the spoon. “Last I checked, you aren't Edward Collins,” he said, doubtfully.

“That's because he's not a corpse, he's a vampire.”

Matt blinked. “Oh yeah…well, nonetheless, your job sucks.”

You blew a raspberry in response.

As much as you appreciate Matt's concern, you really didn't appreciate the way he was low-key disrespecting you, or how he was waving the spoon at you like that.

Like ew.

The way it hovered over you like a slithering snake waiting to bite you. You could already imagine the syrup's rancid coppery taste, oh god. Oh god you weren't ready. OH GOD.

"Couldn't you have brought any pills with you instead—" You were immediately cut off by Matt's fingers clamping your lips closed.

"Tut-tut-tut. Shhhhhhh.. I'm helping."

You stared up at him incredulously, waiting for him to let go of your lips; but he began to open the bottle instead OH FUCK—OH GOD HE'S OPENING THE BOTTLE.

HELL NO. NO NO NONONONONONOONONONONONONONOONONO

"WAAH!! NO NO NO NO YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! RELEASE ME! NOW! HELPPP!" You began to thrash in your restraints, shrieking and screaming bloody murder. It was enough to get your other roommates to barge into your room, curious about the noise.

Edd peeked in, his expression of concern shifting into one of amusement upon realizing you weren't in any real danger.

You, on the other hand, were merged with a stress response between fight or flight. Flight and Fight…ffffff Flight (fl-ight haha).

"IT'S NOT EVEN THAT BAD!" You protested with all your might, pulling out all the strings for the slim chance of being spared from the cursed vanilla syrup. "I'M FINE! I'M TOTALLY FINE! IT'S JUST THE BLOODY NUCLEAR RADIATION FROM WORK! STOP STOP! GET THAT AWAY FROM ME!!! SCREAMS OF TERROR!!”

"AH-HAH!" Matt jabbed his finger onto your forehead, a triumphant grin settling on his features. "So it is that job of yours!"

"Wha—wait—" You paused. You blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. "Woah- Matt, wait, That's not what I—"

"AH-HAH!" Now it was Edd's turn to rejoice.

("The hell??? Since when did you get here???" You asked exasperatedly, you didn't even notice he was by the doorway.)

Edd bee-lined straight towards you, joining Matt on jabbing a finger onto your forehead which—owie? Ow. "I was right! It was the radiation!"

You frowned at them both. "Yeah, thanks Captain Obvious, but it wasn't mainly the radiation you know? It could've been a...bunch of other things! Maybe I contracted the fever from my coworker."

Edd arched his brow at you, a smug smile on his lips. "From work?"

You nodded automatically. "Yeah from work—wait NO! Not what I meant! Gah!" You couldn't believe this issue popped up again.

Your roommates, bless their irritating hearts, seriously did not know how to mind their business when it came to your job. Sure, you GET where their concerns were coming from considering you worked at a power plant, but they've gotten to a degree where they've just been actively sabotaging your routine to prevent you from going to work...when they have no reason for doing so!

Okay. You'll admit. You're over exaggerating here. They're not ACTIVELY sabotaging, but they sure were taking your attention.

Plus, It wasn't like you were all close.

You lot were just people living under the same roof. You were not part of their odd friend group whatsoever. All the shenanigans they've gotten themselves into? You weren't in any of it. At all. (Which hurts your ego a bit.)

The only time you've maybe gotten involved was when the zombie apocalypse came; even then, you didn't join, not even when Tord became the undead twice.

So imagine your surprise when they began butting in whenever you were getting ready for work…or even during work. They were spamming your phone like crazy for odd errands and questions.

Stuff like:

Can u buy me a cola 12 pack ASAP? Thx

Have you seen my underpants? 😔

can u do me a favor and steal something for me, ill give uuuu £10

Hey I know youre busy but can I use your car pretty pls

Hey [N/n] we are going to hell, wanna come lol???

Can I use your facial cream? I'll return it I swear it's for something urgent 🙏🙏

Can I borrow ur crisps? thx

Yo we used your bed for our movie hope you dont minddd if itll get scratches or smthn

[Name] come back edd fell off the roof and we don't know what to do! 😭😭

Yo dude can you pick us up from the museum its rainingg

And many. Many. More.

Obviously, being the decent roommate you were, you complied—at first. But the more and more they spammed you with texts, each one becoming more out of context and ridiculous by the next message, the more you were starting to think that they were doing this on purpose.

Old you wasn't far off on that guess.

And now here you were, strapped against your will, but at least the syrup wasn't open…yet.

“You see,” Edd began, lifting a finger like a freaking know-it-all, “this is exactly why you should quit that job of yours… before you grow a third arm and start naming it.”

Was Edd seriously going to lecture you about the cons of being employed right now? If so, wow, that's crazy.

“Edd, seriously, it's not that serious.” You sighed exasperatedly, “So what if I—totally hypothetically—lingered around nuclear waste for hours? It's just part of the job!...and I totally didn't do that! My job is completely irrelevant to the conversation!”

“Sounds convoluted.” Tom joined in the conversation, somehow. You had no idea when he got in also.

“Your mum’s convoluted.” You retorted back sharply, only to get ambushed via squeezing of the nose.

Uh-oh.

“Justice served.” Tom whispered to you, right to your ear, all with a smirk. Your eye twitched. The bastard.

…but DAMN IT! YOU LET YOUR GUARD DOWN!

You were forced to inhale through your mouth, a bad decision on your part since you were immediately force-fed (by Matt) with a spoon containing that DISGUSTING medicinal syrup. It wasn't like you could throw it up, not with your nose being blocked (by Edd).

You could only wrangle a nasally whine as you swallowed the slick, thick substance. Yuck.

Edd released your nose from its squeezed shackles, leaving a slight red hue on your flesh. You coughed, a few tears welling up in your eyes but you weren't gonna let them have the satisfaction of seeing you weak.

You cleared your throat, gagging slightly at the aftertaste. “That was terrible. Never do that again.” You seethed.

Edd flicked your forehead, “If you hate it so much, then don't get sick.” He scolded you.

“I can't help it if I get sick. It's not my fault that I've got the immune system of a goldfish.” Your lips tugged into a pout, your eyes squinted at his audacity to flick you.

Edd scoffed. “Obliviously. No one’s immune system can handle being exposed to nuclear waste.”

“Says you, green superman,” You grumbled, “—and again! My job isn't part of any of this! Why do you keep bringing it up??” You threw your head back against your pillow, as that was all you could do to express your frustration.

Edd sighed wearily. He loomed over you, his arms crossed, this time his face settled with a stern expression. “Because every time you get sick, you act like it's nothing.”

You rolled your eyes as you retorted. “Because it is nothing.”

“No it isn't.” Tom said quietly.

The room stilled.

You exhaled through your nose. You know, you would've appreciated the concern if not for the fact that you had been strapped to your bed against your will. And no, you aren't gonna stop mentioning that, they were stripping away your free will! (to lay in bed all day and rot until your sickness passes. Yes it's much worse but that's besides the point.)

Matt was the first to break the silence as he twisted the bottle cap back on with a concerned smile. “[Name], to be fair, you look like you're about two seconds away from collapsing half the time…and last week, you came home looking and smelling like a UKHSA violation.”

You blinked. You honestly didn't expect Matt (of all people) to notice your antics, let alone compare it to something like that. If you had your hands free right now, you would've applauded him.

But your pride overpowers your astonishment.

“Oh, c'mon. It wasn't that bad.” You shot back.

Tom blinked at you, unamused. “It is that bad when you come back coughing your lungs out,” Tom muttered, arms crossed. “Honestly, I'm with Edd and Matt on this one. Your job is basically a side quest designed to kill you.”

You groaned and glared at all three of them. “You're all so dramatic. I get sick one time and suddenly everyone's acting like I crawled out of a sewer.”

“One time?” Edd repeated, brows lifting. “You had a fever last month.”

“And before that, you lost your voice for three days,” Matt chimed in.

“And before that,” Tom added flatly, “you almost passed out because you forgot to eat.”

You opened your mouth.

Then closed it.

Damn it.

“That last one was unrelated,” You mumbled weakly, averting your eyes stubbornly.

Edd groaned, his hands waving and loosely gesturing at you. “See? Exactly my point.”

Edd really couldn't with you. He could hardly believe that someone was this stubborn, this hard-headed in the face of concern; but you just never cease to surprise him. Fuck, he just wants to grab and shake you back and forth to finally get you to see what you've been doing to yourself, but knowing you? You'd probably just brush him off, telling him to mind his beeswax.

He dragged his hand across his face before he went to flick your forehead again.

“Owie!” You yelped. “Stop that.”

“Be worried about yourself for once.” Edd said exasperatedly. “We're bringing it up and we're going to keep bringing it up because we're worried about you, idiot.”

For a split second there, Edd could've sworn he saw your eyes widen and soften; you immediately looked away before he could point it out though.

“You guys sure are bad at worrying.” Your glare lessened. Edd could count this as a win, no matter how tempting it is for him to bonk you on the head with a hammer to shatter your stubborn attitude.

“Well, sorry—” Matt cut through Edd's contemplation of violence with a light, joking tone, “Would you prefer if we held your hand and wept dramatically over your fragile little bird bones?”

You paused, shooting Matt a look. “Fragile little bird bones?”

“You do have bird vibes,” Matt shrugged. “Tiny—”

“—Am not!”

“—angry, always pecking at people.”

You frowned, baffled. “I do not peck at people.”

“You bit Tom once,” Edd said.

“Twice.” Tom corrected.

“That was self defense.” You quipped.

“Against what?” Tom asked. “Puns?”

“You don't do good puns, you do one-liners.”

“Excuse you, they're good one-liners.”

“Certainly not funny ones.”

“Ey!”

“Okay we're getting a little off topic here—” Edd butts in, sliding in between you and Tom, pushing both of your faces away from each other.

You laid your head back on your pillow, your face and temper seemed to be cooled down. But with frustration slowly fading away, a new feeling rose. Unease…and a migraine. You've never been in their presence for this long before...how long has it been since this started? A few minutes? Hours?

Either way, this was uncanny. Your weren't used to being stared at with that look of....gag...concern.

Your roommates watched as you awkwardly shuffled against the leather restraints into a more comfortable position.

Anyways, where were you? Oh right. Your job.

You looked back at them, your face looking firm. “But seriously…You guys can nag all you want, I can't just quit my job.”

The room was enveloped by silence once more. Tom and Matt shared a look of disappointment.

Edd clicked his tongue, clocking an eyebrow. “Why not?”

You could feel your nerves start to tingle with heat. Raging heat. Simmering. Was he seriously not going to give up?

“Uh? Because I need the money?” You stated the obvious—sharply, “That thing people enjoy having?”

“We have money!” Matt said almost immediately.

You stared at him.

Tom stared at him too.

Matt glanced at both of you with a pout. “What? We do!”

“You can't just say 'we have money' like you're a cartoon billionaire handing out sacks with pound signs on them,” You said in deadpan.

Matt perked up. “We could get sacks with pound signs on them!”

“Focus,” Edd snapped.

“Wow, you guys really aren't gonna stop biting my ass, huh?”

“Not until you give us a good reason why we shouldn't.” Edd huffed.

…Well fuck.

Your gaze shifted to your chest as you bit your cheek. “...I don't know. I just don't like depending on people.” You said quietly. You kind of hoped it went unnoticed, but luck clearly wasn't on your side seeing as the three shot up like meerkats.

You decided to find interest on the wall beside you as the trio glanced and murmured among themselves. Unfortunately, you weren't superhuman or mutated or possessed to have been blessed with super hearing to tell what they were saying.

It was probably something dumb and irrational.

And yeah, so what if you broke one of your walls down? You're sick for crying out loud! You can't control yourself.

Ugh! You hate this!

You hated laying here. You hated the medicine. You hated this godforsaken illness. And you hated the concern.

Tom was the first to break the silence. “There's a difference between depending on people and letting people help you, you know?”

You glanced up.

He looked as surprised as you when he said that, but he didn't back down. “... Nobody's saying you have to quit tomorrow—”

“—though that would be much preferred—” Edd piped in.

“—but you have to understand that your job is clearly the number one factor in…” Tom loosely gestured to your form, “...this. Hah. Look, all we're trying to say is that if your job's making you miserable and sick all the time, maybe you don't have to cling to it like it's the only thing keeping you afloat.”

You inhaled sharply.

Because the annoying thing was that he wasn't entirely wrong. (Oh you felt your ego cracking at the admission.)

Matt tilted his head, watching your face carefully. “Or just... let us help sometimes. You know we'd be there for you, right?” He hesitated for a second, his smile turning smaller around the edges. “I mean, we're always asking you for favors. Kinda feels unfair that you never ask for anything back.”

You physically had to reel back. Matt. Matt. Matt said THAT?! Narcissist Matt? The same Matt who'd shamelessly choose his own image over the well-being of others!? THAT MATT!?

You glanced at the others, relieved to see them share your shock.

Edd opened and closed his mouth, torn between showing his concern for you or commenting on Matt's concern for you.

Edd chose the former. He turned to you and placed a hand on your tied shoulder. “What Matt said. We’re always asking things from you, aren't we?” He chuckled, patting your shoulder. “Drives, errands, listening to us complain about stupid crap at two in the morning…You do a lot for us.”

“And you never ask for anything back.” Tom added with a huff.

Edd’s brows pulled together as he stared right at you. Those brown-eyes of his…caring as they may be, they never fail to intimidate you. You stayed silent as he clutched your shoulder.

“So maybe let us return the favor for once…instead of you know…acting like you've got your life sorted out? You and I both know you don't.” Edd chuckled lightly.

You blinked. You stayed silent, looking over all three of them. Their stares were like a weight on you, and like a beginner gym-rat, you couldn't hold it for too long.

“...Fine.” You said, begrudgingly.

The three cheered.

“But if I ever do get sick again, I do not want that bottle anywhere near me.”

“That's negotiable.”

That night, you managed to convince them to free you from the leather prison. You wanted to jump the moment you felt the fresh air embracing your skin as soon as you felt the clasps click open.

You weren't even gonna ask how they managed to strap you to the bed in the first place.

Freedom mattered more at the moment.

And for your first act of freedom? Laying on your bed with your phone of course! Like hell you were walking around with a migraine. Fuck no! You'd rather worsen it with blue light instead, the right way.

As you scrolled through your endless feed of content slop, a notification broke your trance. It was a…cash payment?

You opened the notification and was met with £100 to your bank account. It even came with a little note too.

Get well soon.

- T.

You stared at the screen for a full minute, trying to figure out who the hell even sent this gift. You only knew a couple of people with a name that started with a T, one of them being Tom. But you knew Tom enough to know that he wasn't the type to give people money outright. The opposite actually.

But going back to this sender, you wracked your already throbbing head because you just loved to torture yourself, trying to find out who this fella was.

It wasn't your coworkers (with whom had the initials of T), you don't even talk to them.

…So who else?

Tord?

…

…Nahhhh.

There's no way. You weren't even close to the guy. You barely got to speak with him face-to-face before he left…maybe a couple texts here and there, but that was it. Purely transactional, as all roommates should be.

Well, whatever. Whoever this mystery sender was, you mentally thanked them as you immediately went back to scroll. Oblivious to the red dot on the corner of the status bar.