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"Cause later when I become addicted to life
Honestly the medication I eat when I'm sick has no effect
But I'll go up, I'll fly
I'll head upwards, yeah"
-Mixtape #1, Stray Kids
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April had been having a fairly normal morning.
Which, let's not forget, was a stroke of luck for her.
She'd woken up, not a trace of unwanted or uncommon fear in her mind. She'd actually managed to digest breakfast (she'd been so unsettled for the past couple days that she hadn't been able to), and then she'd walked to school and even Jisung said she looked "brighter than normal."
Her and Jisung had even gotten to homeroom early, and she hadn't immediately flopped over to sleep on her desk. In fact, her homeroom teacher gave her baffled look when she cheerily greeted her as she walked in.
But how fast that was all ruined.
When Chenle walked in the room, she'd fiercely told herself that she wasn't going to let him get on her nerves. No amount of shin kicking or teasing would spoil her day.
Except that for when he sat down, he looked off. His cheeks were definitely tinged red, and his eyelids drooped down, a dazed look coming from deep in his pupils. After a closer look, April realized that his hands were even shaking slightly.
"Man, what is wrong with you?" she asked, the usual playfulness that she talked to him with in her voice.
He didn't respond, and he didn't move at all. At first, April got pissed thinking he was ignoring her and turned her head away stubbornly. It took a minute before she realized he genuinely didn't hear her.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice a bit concerned as she stared at him for a second longer.
This time he seemed to hear her, jumping up a bit in her seat. His head slowly turned to her, his drowsy eyes locking onto her for a minute. It was long enough to make goosebumps prickle up her arms, and he seemed to be staring at her so deeply that she felt like he wasn't really looking at her, but something else entirely.
"No," he finally said, so softly April barely heard it.
The next second passed by in a flash, so fast that April didn't actually see it happening. However, she looked down and saw Chenle unconscious and leaning against her shoulder.
She started a bit, surprised. After she came out of her shock she realized that his face felt really hot against her shoulder, and when she nervously gave his head a timid pat, it was burning up.
"Idiot!" she gasped, "You're going to get me sick!"
She stood up, pulling him up with her and slinging his arm over her own shoulder to support his weight. Didn't matter that he was pretty much dragging her down, she was a strong girl.
Yes, a strong girl and strong girls don't get sick.
"April," her homeroom teacher said, "Is Chenle...okay? Are you okay? You look a little..."
"I'm fine!" April shouted, then cleared her throat, "But Chenle suddenly passed out and he didn't look so good, can I take him to the nurse?"
"Yes, please do," her teacher said.
April then dragged him out of the classroom, her entire back hurting. Chenle had a good figure, even she could admit that, but compared to her small frame, he was a lot bigger.
Nope, I'm a strong girl, she thought.
Jisung gave her a strange look as she left the classroom, but he shrugged it off and let her go. None of his business if she fell down in the hallway because Chenle was taller than her by a lot.
April reached the nurse's office, pulling open the door and looking into the office. Of course, the nurse wasn't there at the moment, so she stumbled over to one of the beds, and pretty much threw Chenle onto the closest one. Even then his feet still hung over the edge, so she picked them up and put it on the bed in line with his torso.
Altogether, he didn't look very comfortable, but April really couldn't care less.
"Seriously," she muttered, "I had such a good morning...I swear to god, if you got me sick, Zhong Chenle..."
She pulled over a chair, sitting on it to wait until the nurse came. She didn't really need to, but something about the way he looked at her earlier made her want to stay.
She leaned her head on her hands, taking the chance to look at him properly now that he was asleep.
"You stared at me first," she muttered, making excuses. "So now it's my turn."
His face was still flushed and his eyebrows were turned down, his lips forming into a small frown. April pursed her lips, he really didn't seem okay. This didn't look like just a small cold.
She reached forward, laying her hand on his forehead. Whenever she was sick, her mother would do this to her. All she was doing was checking her temperature, but the gesture always gave her comfort for as long as she could remember.
April winced a bit as soon as she touched his forehead, he really was burning up.
Why did he even come to school? April thought.
He seemed to calm down a bit at her touch, so April let her hand rest there. She rolled her eyes in annoyance, but she didn't make any move to stop.
"Sorry," he said, his voice so soft and dragging the word out.
April started a bit, thinking he'd woken up, but then realized he was sleep talking.
"I look...like her," he said, "Sorry I...bring you pain."
April could hardly hear his words, he was talking so slowly and his voice was barely above a whisper. But she managed to make out what he was saying and the words made an unrecognizable feeling fly up her chest.
She remembered every single time her mother had apologized to her, had said sorry for bringing her into an unideal world, sorry for not being home, sorry for not being enough, sorry for having to skip meals when money was tight, sorry for being foolish enough to fall in love with a god.
Her hand moved off his forehead and instead went to stroke his hair. She didn't even think of the movement, just did it like it was natural.
"It's okay," she said, "It's not your fault."
The two sat there for a few more minutes, neither of them moving. Chenle seemed to have forced those words out of his delirious sleep state, but he didn't talk anymore, and his face even seemed relieved after getting that sentence out.
April sighed, turning to look out the small window that was right next to Chenle's bird. A couple harpies hopped around outside, their wide eyes fixed tightly on the two of them, but April had long since learned to ignore them.
"Ew," a small voice said from below her, April snapping her head down to see Chenle's eyes open. "Why are you here?"
His words were soft and weak, but April could still hear the disdain in his voice.
"You're so mean," she huffed, lightly whacking the top of his forehead where her hand had been resting. "I take care of you, and that's the first thing you say?"
"Well," he continued, despite the fact that April could visibly see how much effort he had to put into each word. "You're the one that took care of me, so it's understandable that I'm upset."
"Asshole," April said, drawing out the word to make it as long as possible. "Please shut up, the sound of your voice is going to make me get sick."
"I think the thing that will get you sick is that you took care of me," he observed, the simple sentence taking at least a minute to get out.
"Nah, I'm too cool to get sick."
"Oh," he said, "if that's a factor of whether or not you get sick, then you might have to go to a hospital."
"It also explains why you're sick," April said, standing up and dusting herself off. "Because you decided that you wanted to be a bitch, you now have to wait here for the nurse alone. Goodbye."
She moved to leave, even moving to close to the curtains around his bed because it seemed right, but he suddenly called out to her, stopping her movement with nothing but his voice.
"Wait," he said, "Uhm April, wait. Could you...stay?"
April stood as still as she could, just looking at him. His eyes were clear and pure, maybe even a little bit scared. His feverish state made him look more vulnerable than he usually would, and April felt something tug at her heart.
"I could," she said, managing to get her voice out steadily, "but what would you give me in return?"
"Money," Chenle said immediately, seeming bewildered at himself, but not stopping.
April concluded that he wasn't really in control of what he was doing, and was probably a bit delirious, so she decided that she wouldn't take money out of him. He came from the rich neighborhood, but she didn't know how rich he was, and she knew very well how important money could be.
"Not that," she said, "I know it's not your money anyway, so it doesn't actually fulfill the goal of bullying you. What else could you offer me, Zhong Chenle?"
He thought for a minute, and April had to hold in a laugh at how furrowed his brows were. Then he seemed to get an idea, snapping his head over.
"I could come with you on your quest."
April was sure the surprise showed on her face. If she was being completely truthful, despite Prometheus' earlier words, she'd had no intention of bringing him along. But hearing him offer himself made it seem entirely different.
"It's very handy to have someone like that with you on a quest. It's pretty much a necessity, actually."
April knew she couldn't just go on the quest without proper preparations, since the entire purpose of it was to kill her off. Prometheus had said having someone like Chenle would be a necessity, and it wasn't like April knew anybody else like him.
"Okay," she said, slowly at first. "Okay, that works. The dream team has been started. You and me on a life threatening quest. And in return I will stay with you for a couple minutes. A perfectly fair deal, just don't think about it too much."
Relief seemed to show on Chenle's face as soon as April walked over. She sat back down on the chair, unsure of her every single gesture and movement.
"I'm here," she said, "I won't leave you alone."
The words had been meant as a casual reassurance, but they sounded different when she said them out loud, a tiny blush spreading over her nose.
Chenle smiled softly and finally closed his eyes again, his complexion even clearing the smallest bit.
April sighed, letting her face fall into her hands and feeling incredibly frustrated for some unknown reason.
I think I'm delirious too, she thought.