Solitude

[DrTrollinski]

“Yeah, I know.” He said, simply. “My little brother had heatstroke when he was about five. I’ve seen what it can do to you, and it ain’t pretty.” He chuckled weakly and then looked over at Levi again, smiling as he did so. “He threw up all night long, all night. He was so sick – He threw up all over me, all over my other brother, all over both my parents…” He sighed a little and then looked up at the ceiling. “It was funny, though, seeing him like that, but not in a bad way. He was healthy enough, but he acted really funny about it. He said the most random shit.” He laughed and shook his head. “I remember some of it, clear as the day itself.” He said, simply, then shook his head and laughed to himself.


“One thing he said, he said to me… ‘Alex, why don’t fish stop swimming?’” He grinned and then laughed a little to himself, shaking his head as he took a glance around the room. “This place is so weird, though, I know what you mean.” He said, simply. “I’m used to having my own room, at most, so this is a new experience to me, you know what I mean?” He asked, simply. “Ah, man.” He laughed and then chuckled to himself a little bit – He just generally had the giggles tonight, and he didn’t know why. He wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t feeling all there.


He slowly rose up into a sitting position and smiled a little bit. “You know, and there was something else he said to me, but I can’t remember what… I don’t know. Something about aliens.” He laughed. “All I remember is that… Shit, I don’t know. He woke me up because he felt sick, ran and threw up, and by the time I got there, he was standing there completely naked in front of me. I didn’t even know why he did it, he just did. He was hallucinating, I think.” He grinned, but then his smile quickly faded as he looked down at the floor and smacked his lips together twice. “Oh shit, karma for talking about it.” He said, simply, then quickly got up and sprinted to the bathroom, flying in through the door and dropping to his knees in front of the toilet.


He threw up immediately and had all the noises to accompany it. He was a fairly loud vomiter, but he didn’t scream when he did it, but he did gag and cough and all that, without a doubt. He wasn’t enjoying himself, not one bit. When he was done, he flushed the toilet and then rose up, quickly going to the sink and washing his mouth and hands. He felt like shit now – Levi had called it, because he wanted a bucket by his bed at the minute. He needed a bucket, of course. But he wasn’t going to get one just yet.


He went back into his bedroom and then over to his bed, dropping down onto it and pulling the covers over himself. “My brother sounded something like that.” He laughed weakly and closed his eyes over, shivering under the covers as he did so. “Ah, fuck me.” He said, shaking his head. “It’s all downhill from here, isn’t it?” He asked, sighing to himself.


--


“Hm, I see.” He said simply, then looked around the room. “I’m sorry to hear that, it must have been traumatizing.” He said, simply, then took a long deep breath and looked down at the floor with a sigh. “I don’t know. Intelligence and learning for me has always been…” He shrugged. “I don’t know.” He added, then shook his head again. “I’ve always used puzzles as a mean of comfort. When I was a kid, I did them all the time after nightmares, because I got them really when I was younger.” He said, simply.


“When I was seven, I could do most puzzles faster than most adults, and I could beat most adults at chess. I was a natural at it – Learning and being… Smarter, if you will, has always been a way of me… Coping, I suppose. The nightmares went on from when I was four, and didn’t really stop until I hit puberty when I was about thirteen or so.” He explained, then took a look around again and shrugged.


“That’s why, but… Let’s not talk about the nightmares, okay?” He asked, looking up at her and giving a sad smile. “Let’s think…” He sighed. “Do you like reading? Or movies?” He asked. “Any will do, I watch both.” He chuckled.

 

[Jupiter]

Levi grinned and was about to ask Alex what his brothers names were when he saw his smile fade, and he instantly knew what was wrong with him. Oh, god, please let him be a quiet vomiter or something... Nope, he wasn't he was loud and in your face with it, of course, Levi knew that he didn't mean to be so he wasn't exactly going to be cruel about it, was he? Still, though, not pleasant for anyone involved.


He watched as he came back into the room, and smiled slightly at him. "That's gross." He said simply, not sure what else to say. It wasn't like he didn't care for Alex, but you know, he just... Didn't really know how to comfort him. "If you want, I can go find you a bucket now, and you can just rest up for a bit, I don't mind." He smiled at him, and then stood up from his bed and adjusted his shirt slightly. He didn't bother putting on any jeans to leave the room, he reckoned everyone else was in bed. And it wasn't like he was naked anyway, he was wearing boxers.


Once he had the confirmation from Alex to go find a bucket, Levi exited the room and walked down the stairs. "Beta. Where could I find a bucket?" He called out, and from a speaker near him he got a quiet reply, just directions, and he followed them into the kitchen and to an area in there that had items such as hoovers, mops, and things like that. He took the bucket away from the mop and walked over to the kitchen sink. He should probably get him some water for in case he needed it during the night, but as he got a glass out from their cupboard, and looked down at the sink, he started having to take shaky breaths.


Oh, come on, Levi. It was just a glass of water, and your friend needed it. It was fine.


He ran the tap for a moment before shakily putting the glass underneath it, but he got water on his finger when he put it underneath the tap, and he grimaced and pulled his hand away from it, accidentally dropping the glass into the sink, but thankfully not breaking it. He picked it up and filled it up slowly, then turned the tap off and turned quickly, almost sprinting back up the stairs to his and Alex's room.


"Bucket and water." He blurted out when he got inside, and he instantly placed the glass down on Alex's bedside table before handing him the bucket and going over to his bed, wiping his hand on his shirt a few times, even though it was dry.


-


Lana listened to Mark, silent, as she rubbed the cream into her skin, and then put the bottle back on her bedside table. She looked at him again afterwards, and smiled. "Okay. We won't talk about the nightmares. And if being intelligent has been a coping mechanism to you, then so be it. You can probably do more with your life now than some people's coping mechanisms allow them. My coping mechanism for all of this has been to marathon all seasons of America's Next Top Model, and that's not healthy." She laughed slightly and shrugged her shoulders.


"I don't... I don't really like to read. It's not that I don't like the stories and I don't like people reading to me specifically, because I love that, I just find it really difficult to read, and it's annoying and really just a waste of my time because I can't read well." She raised her fist in the air and whistled before grinning. "Go dyslexia, I'm just full of problems. Movies I like, though, because they make a lot of books into movies so I can still talk about them with my friends and I'm not excluded." She shrugged her shoulders and then smiled.


"What's your guilty pleasure? Something that people would never think that you like, but you secretly can't get enough of."

 

[DrTrollinski]

When Levi came back with the bucket and water, he could only smile. “Thanks, dude. You’re awesome.” He said as he reached out and took hold of the glass of water on the nightstand, then lifted it to his lips after sitting up and taking a few small sips of it, but then lied back down to embrace the nice cold air that was blowing in from the air conditioning. He was loving that, I tell you. He couldn’t even explain in words how nice it was, and it was going to help him sleep a lot, too.


He reached down and grabbed the bucket down beside his bed and slid it along the floor so it was a little closer to his bed, then once it was on the floor beside his head, he was content with that. He didn’t want to have to lean over and end up vomiting on the floor, so he wanted it close by just in case that happened, you know? He had a feeling that he was going to be really ill during the night, and he felt a little bit guilty because… Well, let’s face it, Levi probably didn’t appreciate it, and seeing as he already said it was gross (unless you have a fetish for vomiting), I don’t think there’s anyone in the house that would have appreciated it.


“I’m sorry if I keep you awake at all tonight.” He said, simply. “I wish I wasn’t sick, but hey. I’ve always thrown up loudly ever since I was a baby, but my eldest brother is worst.” He laughed. “Honestly… He literally screams when he vomits. You could swear he’s bringing the house down when he does it, but I’ll spare you the details.” He laughed and rolled over onto his back.


“Anyway, dude, I’ll let you sleep now.” He said, taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes and relaxed himself a little, but remained covered up. He was still shivering and all. He wanted to just pass out, but he knew that he’d be waking up to vomit several times during the night. Nothing he could do about that, though, was there? Definitely not.


--


Mark grinned, “Guilty pleasures…” He said. “I have to say, I’m a very big fan of chocolate.” He said, laughing. “And you wouldn’t believe it from a guy like me, but I love all the bullshit you see in all those Reality-TV magazines. Watching celebrities like Charlie Sheen crumble is just fantastic, isn’t it?” He laughed a little bit and looked around. God, it was boiling in here. “I really think that some of them… Some of them do it because their careers are so bad, so they do it to get into the magazines for publicity.” He said.


“If you didn’t know already… Having so much attention corrupts you, so as soon as you lose it, you want more, so you do anything you can get to get it. Alcohol, crime, drugs, sex – Take Jessica for example.” He said, but then immediately started laughing. “I’m sorry, it was uncalled for but true, in my eyes.” He wiped his eyes and looked at the floor. “What are your guilty pleasures, then?” He asked.

 

[Jupiter]

Levi continued to try and dry his hand on his shirt while Alex sorted out his bucket, he just felt like he still had water all over him, and he didn't want that at all. He wanted there to be no such thing as water, but he knew that without it he would die, so, really, he just wanted to stop being scared of it. It was like when someone saw a spider, and they felt all itchy about it, Levi felt itchy when he saw water. If he got close to it, he felt like he was drowning. If it was a large pool of it, like a bath, a hot tub, or an actual swimming pool...


That was a different matter entirely.


He just hoped that he wouldn't have to go in the pool, I mean, he didn't imagine that anyone would force him in (wrong), and he didn't think that he would have to do anything in there anyway (wrong again), so he reckoned he would be fine. He'd finally stopped drying his hand and looked over at Alex with a small smile on his face. "You'll be glad to know that I'm a silent vomiter. It just kind of comes out and no noise happens." He laughed slightly, and then watched as Alex rolled onto his back.


"Yeah... G'night, mate, if you need anything during the night then just... I don't know. Throw something at me." He laughed slightly and then stood up and walked over to the main light switch, flicked it off, and then walked over to his bed again. He pulled his shirt off and abandoned it on the floor, deciding that ultimately his comfort tonight was more important than the social decency of remaining clothed. He'd continue to wear his boxers though, else that'd be too far. Levi climbed into his bed and pulled the covers up around him, and rolled onto his stomach, pulling one of his pillows down so that he had his arm wrapped around it and his head rested on it too.


Apparently you do that if you miss someone.


-


Lana laughed at him and nodded her head. "Chocolate and reality TV magazines. You got it, I'll make sure to remember that." She laughed at him and then cleared her throat before listening to him again. "I know what you mean. It wouldn't surprise me if all of these celebrities just do those shit things to get more publicity. Like Jessica, yeah. I don't mean to be judgemental, I hate that, but she's very... Well. She certainly likes attention, especially from a certain type of person." She laughed slightly and then shrugged. Mark wasn't the only one feeling the heat, though, but Lana didn't want to have to get up.


Well, she would have to put her leg on to get up and sort out the air conditioning, but...


Maybe she wouldn't?


She pulled herself to the edge of her bed and scanned her surroundings, looking for something that she could potentially lean on while she got to the panel, but she couldn't figure out a way to get there without falling over. She shuffled backwards again, and then looked at him. "My guilty pleasures... Like I said before, romance movies and things like that are things I love, but you know that, and it's not exactly something that I keep secret, is it? Hmm... Guilty pleasures. I suppose that I really like bad music that no one else likes. I also like... I don't know. That's difficult with me, because nothing is really a guilty pleasure if it's out in the open, I'm an open book." She shrugged her shoulders and gestured to the panel then.


"Before I let you go and shower, because I know you wanted to do that before bed, could you do me a favour and turn the air conditioning on or the temperature down or something? I would do it myself, but, well." She gestured to her leg, and then shrugged.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Alex rolled over onto his side so that he could look at his nightstand and smiled when he saw the pictures of his two brothers. Ah, his two wonderful little brothers that meant the absolute world to him. How could he ever leave them the way he did? He didn't understand how, but he wasn't happy about it. He wanted to go home and hug them both, but he knew that right now that wasn't exactly possible, so he settled into a little position in bed, curled up in a little ball, and lied there thinking about the pair of them. He started off thinking about when his first brother was born and how excited he was, and then how he was just as excited about his little brother, even though he was much more grown up by then. Still, they were nice memories.


And then he brought his head off of the bed and vomited again.


Lovely.


He quietly groaned and sipped on his water before rolling onto his back and looking up at the ceiling for a moment, but then began to drift off to sleep not too long after that, the images of his little brothers when they were so much younger on his mind. He loved them when they were just little kids. Obviously he still loved them, but you know, he thought they were just amazing little people when they were young.


Believe me, though, this night wasn't going to be easy, because he was going to be up about four or five times during the night to vomit, so he was going to be giving Levi a hell of a time, wasn't he? This wasn't exactly the best roommate experience, I know, but still... What could you do? It's not as simple as just ignoring it and going back to sleep, especially seeing as he wasn't exactly so far from him. Not only that, but the smell would linger, too.


--


"Oh, no, I expect you to hop there." He said, looking serious, but then chuckled and shook his head as he rose up and walked to her, then patted her on the shoulder. "Don't even consider trying to get to the air conditioner. I'm quite capable of doing you that favor over anything." He laughed and walked over to the panel by the door and pressed a few buttons, allowing the cold air to blast down onto them once it was done. God. He really wanted to shower now. He went and got some stuff from the dresser and slung them over his shoulder - It was just a pair of PJ pants and a t-shirt, but that was all.


He went and hopped in the shower and had it somewhat hot, because believe it or not, that would help stabilize him more. Body temperature is better adjusted if you do it gradually - Having a cold shower will be temporary. Playing it smart will leave your body stable instead of fluctuating too much - It's quite nice, really. Anyway, when he was done washing in the shower, he walked out and then joined Lana in the bedroom again, collapsing onto his bed as he did so, and smiled at her.


"Can I get you anything before we sleep? Water, or something?" He asked. He was wondering what their limit on milk would be. But hey, they could find that out.

 

[Jupiter]

It didn't matter about the noise or the smell specifically, because once Levi was out, he was out for good. Seriously, he could sleep through anything. He had slept through storms that destroyed houses and brought trees straight out of the ground before, and then woken up in the morning, gone about his business, and then randomly found that he needed to buy a new car because a tree had squished it in the middle of the night.


So Alex didn't need to worry about that. Besides, worst case scenario, Levi would just put his earphones in. And the smell didn't matter either, I mean, he didn't really register it. It may get bad at some point during the night, but if it did, he would probably not realise anything until the morning. Levi was the roommate sent from the gods with this kind of thing, he could literally sleep through anything.


It was great if you were throwing up a mess, but if you wanted to wake him up because he was going to miss something important, that was a slightly different story.


I mean, his laziness and 'log-like' sleeping was a good thing, and a bad thing. It had it's perks, but it had it's downfalls too.


-


Lana smiled and immediately felt the cold air to come over her like a comfort blanket. Oh, she needed that. She didn't exactly want to sleep in fully clothed pyjamas while she was in the middle of the dessert, but she was sharing a room with someone, a guy, so she was going to be fully clothed as she slept, so this air conditioning just made things a whole lot easier for her. As Mark went and showered, Lana shuffled around and found a comfortable position under the duvet, but then...


Mark came back, and she opened her eyes and looked at him with a faint smile on her face. "If you're going down to get yourself anything, then you could always get me a water, but if you're not going, I'm not fussed enough for you to go get me something." She smiled and then moved around so that she was laying on her side and looking at him with a smile on her face. She knew she had to sleep with the lamp on, and she knew that over the year she would become so used to it that when she went home she wouldn't be able to sleep without a lamp on, but still.


If it helped him, then she wouldn't deny him it.

 

[DrTrollinski]

It wasn't an easy first night for poor old Alex. He had to go downstairs to get four more glasses of water because of the amount he threw up - He woke up with an upset stomach at one point, woke up needing to throw up four more times between that moment, and eventually, he just sort of passed out for a few minutes, but woke up shortly after to throw up again, and then went downstairs to stand outside and get some fresh air (and more water from the kitchen) - He had to admit, the place was scary, and he didn't like it at all at night. When he was down in the back yard, though, Beta started to talk to him quietly, and what did he say?


You should be in bed, Alex.





Great. He had his own virtual parent while he was here. Wasn't that just fun? Yep. He went back to bed shortly after that, because he was too tired to deal with Beta's bullshit, so he got his water and went back up to bed. It was long before Alex had been downstairs, while Alex was asleep really, when Mark had gone downstairs, eaten a small block of cheese, and gone back up with two glasses of water - He gave one to Lana when he got back, and kept one on the nightstand for himself, too. He had to leave the lamp on, but he wished Lana a good night nonetheless and read that book for a little while longer before going to sleep.


--


The Next Morning - September 2nd, Wednesday.


8:02AM





'Wake up, Alex.'





"Uggggggggggh..." Alex groaned as he heard Beta's voice, then rolled over and buried his face in the pillow, pulling the sides of it up over his head and wrapping it around his ears. "Go wake the other rooms up." He demanded, then closed his eyes again and settled down right there and then. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to get up. He wanted to just... God, he wanted to keep things the way they were for now. He wanted to sleep. He hadn't had an easy night, but he felt better this morning.


'I wake the rooms in numerical order, Alex. Room 1 is first.'





"You suck..." He said, then slowly turned around and moved into a sitting position on the side of the bed. He looked down into the mess in the bucket and sighed, but Beta spoke for him almost immediately.


'You need to get rid of that, Alex. The germs may spread to other house members.'





"It wasn't my plan to sit on a boiling hot bus for 3 hours, either. Leave me alone." He said, picking up the bucket and slowly walking over to the bathroom where he emptied it into the toilet and flushed it - Following that, he walked out of the room and down the stairs so that he could get some bleach and wash the bucket out with that and boiled water from the kettle. He did it in the sink, but made sure that the bucket was fully cleaned, and also made sure that the sink was bleached once he was done. He washed it all, including the faucet and the handles on it, and once he was happy... He made himself something he needed. Coffee.


Meanwhile upstairs, Beta was attempting to wake Levi up.


'Levi. You need to wake up now. You're seven minutes past the wake up time.' He said. 'Room one needs to be up sharp at 8 o'clock - You're putting the other rooms behind their wake-up schedule.' He said, simply. Why didn't he just do a house announcement? The gradual waking was probably part of the experiment, wasn't it? That's all Alex could really think of, if I'm honest.


'Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi.'





Jesus, Beta was annoying.

 

[Jupiter]

Levi didn't wake up when Alex was spoken to, he just continued to hold onto the pillow that he had buried his head into during the night. He didn't snore, thankfully, he was just silent. One of those people that you might mistake for being dead considering they didn't move at all, didn't make any noise, and didn't wake up. He didn't wake up when his name was said either, or during the little lecture about how he was keeping him from following a schedule. He was a hell of a mess to wake up in a morning.


'Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi.'


Slowly, Levi rolled over and brought the pillow with him, covering his ears with it and shaking his head. "No." He grunted out, but the names continued, on and on and on, until eventually Levi sat bolt upright and threw his pillow over to the camera in the corner. "Shut up!"


'Good morning, Levi.'





"Yeah, yeah, save that bullshit for someone who cares, mate."


'Get out of bed, Levi.'





"What will you do if I don't, huh?! You gonna march in here with your spindly little robot body and shank me?"


Silence.


He groaned and laid back again, pulling the duvet up around him and covering himself again. He rolled over again, having lost his comfortable position and now lost his pillow, too.


'Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi.'


He swung his legs out of the bed and stood upright, glaring into the camera as he took a small bow and then flipped the camera off before walking into the bathroom and slamming the door behind him. So he was awake, well done, Beta. He wasn't very pleasant in the morning, though, but I mean... Well. Everyone has their flaws. Inside the bathroom, he walked over to the sink and glared at himself in the mirror before going to the toilet which, for everyone else was a normal process, but for Levi was slightly more complicated, mainly because he just really wasn't used to, well... Going stood up.


It had been long enough for him to get used to it, but he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to make it normal for him.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Hm... What could Alex do. He was thinking that maybe he could get breakfast started for him and Levi... But, he didn't know if that was a good idea. He may have been sick last night, but he was feeling much more perky now so he'd be able to cook for them. He'd make a decent breakfast - Toast, eggs, bacon. That was good, right? Slap some jam or something on the toast (you have the toast as like a side-dish), have a glass of OJ with that, and you're good to go. Or coffee. Alex preferred the latter. Anyway. He figured that he'd get at least somewhat of a start going. He got some eggs and a packet of bacon out of their section of the fridge, and a loaf of bread out of the cupboard. Hm. Bacon and eggs were always good - He looked at his watch and realized. They were still on the West coast, pretty much, so California and Arizona were no different (especially seeing as they were right next to each other) in terms of time.


He smiled, because he realized that his brothers would be getting ready for school right about now, and would also be leaving for school very soon, too. He was happy with that - He was wondering if they had the same sort of thing for breakfast, because mom was always great at making bacon and eggs for breakfast. They all had it in the mornings when they were growing up - Not every day, obviously, but always on Wednesdays and Fridays. Alex loved his parents, but he knew they understood that he primarily wanted to speak to his brothers, and they respected that.


Still, in the mornings, you'd never catch the parents moaning and groaning at the kids. They saved that for when they got home. Some parents didn't realize just how important it was to make sure your kids had a great start to their day. If they were pissed off and unstable and upset from their parents ordering them around, then they were going to have a shitty day overall, however, telling them that you simply loved them, making their lunch for them, leaving a joke in their lunch bag... It made their day a whole lot better, dude, which is why Alex did so well in school, he reckoned. His parents always made his day a little more enjoyable, inside school, and outside.


After five minutes of gulping down piping hot coffee (he was trying to preserve the milk they had, so he only had a small amount) he went back upstairs to find Levi, who was presumably outside the bathroom by now. "Hey, man. I'm gonna' make us both some breakfast." He said. "Do you like bacon and eggs?" He asked with a smile. "I was planning on making you that - I can make you that and some coffee if you want." He offered.


--


'Kit, Jessica, it's time for you to wake up now.' Beta said.


"Noooo..." Jessica whined like a tired child and pulled the cover over her head. Beta then directed his attention to Kit.


'Kit, please wake up and get Jessica out of bed. This is going to be a constant routine until you wake up yourselves at the set time - Your set time is 8:15AM. Please get out of bed. You have a busy day ahead of you.' Beta said. The whole household was going to learn that Beta could be an absolute pain in the ass in the mornings, and they were going to learn that quickly, unless they complied with him, if that made sense. He'd probably be a little more lenient with them if they made the effort, I'll say that now.


But I'll also say that Jessica was showing no signs of moving. She was like a child in the morning, but she wasn't angry. In fact, in the morning, that was probably the time you'll find that she's the nicest. From there on, she's just a bitch.

 

[Jupiter]

Levi brushed his teeth, sprayed deodorant, all of that kind of jazz, and then exited the bathroom. He was searching for something to wear from one of the drawers when Alex came back in, and Levi had only pulled out his boxers for the day, and his socks, which were odd. He didn't think he had a matching pair left. He didn't know what else he was actually going to wear, because he wasn't sure if he should wear shorts because it was so hot out, or if he should wear jeans because he felt more comfortable in those. Before he had time to decide, breakfast was being offered to him.


He turned and looked at Alex, frowning slightly. "Huh?" He wasn't angry at Alex, he wasn't the one who had woken him up, but he wouldn't be quite the same with everyone until around two hours of having been awake. "What? Oh. Oh, yeah, if you're makin' it. That'd go down nice, I reckon." He nodded at him once, remaining crouched down at the bottom drawer. "Uh... As for coffee... I don't want to use up all our milk, so I won't have that, but I will have a ridiculous amount of sugar. Unless that'll run out too... I don't want to go without sugar for two weeks. Uh..." He shrugged his shoulders.


"No milk, two sugars, yeah?" He nodded at him again, before mumbling a thank you and pulling out a pair of jeans with a lot of holes in them. Eh, they would do, he'd just find something to go with that. Levi wasn't really trying to be rude, he just wasn't very nice in the morning, that was all. He realised though that to someone who didn't know him, it might be a little mean, or have come across that way. So he looked over his shoulder at Alex and flashed him a smile. "Thank you."


With that, he rooted through his drawers again and pulled out a green vest top with black horizontal stripes down the front of it. It'd do. Most of his outfit choices were really an 'it'd do.' Anyway, he picked all his clothes up and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. He needed to get changed where (he thought) there were no cameras, so he shut himself in there and quickly got changed, having to adjust certain elements of his outfit to allow for comfort and for, well... He wanted to look good. For himself, mainly, he knew no one in here gave a shit what he wore, but that wasn't the point. He wore what he wore, and that was for himself to be happy with.


Levi wasn't quite done with the entire getting ready process yet. He always spent too long on this kind of thing, because if he left his hair like it was after he showered, then, as Alex had probably seen, he ended up with some kind of bowl cut thing. That wasn't for him. So he pushed his black hair out of his face and, using things that he had put in his side of the medicine cabinet, began to style his hair.


Fun.


-


Kit was okay with waking up early in the mornings, and so when the voice started in his room he opened his eyes and rolled over for a moment, signalling with a thumbs up that he would get up in a moment, and get Jessica up too. He just had a little bit of rolling around and stretching in bed to do...


And then he was up on his feet, stretching his arms, and he walked over to Jessica and pulled the cover away from her. "Jessica. Creepy robot voice demands you wake up now, come on. Got a busy day ahead apparently." He grinned widely and poked her stomach to try and make her move.


Oh, Kit. You're just... Sigh.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Alex went downstairs after that, at first he was a little offended by how Levi had acted - Alex was a morning person once he got out of bed, and he understood that Levi probably wasn't, but hey, a heads up definitely would have been nice about it, but hey, once he thanked him and smiled, he simply simply smiled back and walked out. He wasn't really in the mood for saying much after that- Could you blame him, though? He hadn't exactly had a good night, so waking up to shiny happy people in the morning (sarcasm) didn't exactly help him out much, right? Nah, but oh well, he could cheer them up with the bacon and eggs. Or at least cheer himself up.


Seeing as America only really had bacon rashes, he wanted to make those extra crispy. He saw a load of packs of bacon in the fridge, but he knew that they'd go quick, so he fixed up three strips of bacon each from that, and then threw the eggs into a separate pan, too - Sad thing was that they were going to have to share a stove. Thankfully, it was one of those big industrial ones, so there was enough room for two people there. I suppose Alex and Levi had the upper hands in the morning, seeing as they got to cook breakfast first instead of last, just as long as they got out of bed on time.


Once the bacon and eggs were being close to done (one egg each, sadly), he put... Bread went stale pretty quickly, so, he put four slices of toast in the toaster overall, and got out the spreadable butter they had from the fridge. Mmm. It might have had olive oil in it, but it was healthy, and it still tasted like butter. We all know how much of a pain in the ass non-spreadable butter is, too. You have to either wait for it to soften, or put it in the microwave and wait for it to get softer... God, it was just too much effort, so there was no point in it. Alex was so glad that they had two packs of this stuff. It was good, really, because they could easily just about make one pack of butter last two weeks. Thankfully, it was one of the cool packs - it had a lid and everything, so there was no fumbling around with the packaging or anything like that.


He made two more cups of coffee and decided that he could give them both at least a drop of milk. They had three of those huge bottles of milk for the month, so they could afford to enjoy it a little bit, but believe me, they could get through that much milk so easily between just the two of them.


Cooking.


Cereal.


Drinks.


You name it.


--


Jessica groaned and reached up and took hold of his arm, hugging it to stop him from poking her after he poked her stomach - that had caused her to laugh, obviously, so she was giggling like a sleepy idiot as she rolled onto her side (away from Kit) and essentially pulled him onto the bed with her, considering she was still hugging his arm when she did that, so that made things a little more difficult for Kit, didn't it? Ah well. She was having fun, and she was happy.


And in all honesty, didn't Kit like being that close to her?

 

[Jupiter]

It took Levi long enough to style his hair, I mean, first he had to actually decide what style he really even wanted it in, which was a pain in the ass, but eventually he decided on making sure it was off his face and gelled back, patterns shaved into the side of his head. Okay, that was easy enough, and though it took a while, he eventually had it done and dusted so he put his contacts in, put in his ear piercing (well, it wasn't on the ear lobe, it was a daith piercing) and then made sure that he at least looked presentable enough to go downstairs. And so he exited the bathroom and walked down the stairs and stood in the doorway of the kitchen, still not in a very good mood, still, but he was getting better as time went on.


He stood there for a moment, silent, but then turned his back and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and walked out to the front door instead. He had to have his morning cigarette, even if he made it a quick one, so he made sure that it was exactly that, quick. Obviously he didn't smoke it in a matter of seconds, and it was a longer smoke than he showered, but still, it was quick, and it was only one rather than two.


Once he was done with that, he put out his cigarette and disposed of it, and then walked into the kitchen once again, this time with a small smile on his face. He looked over at Alex, and, by this point, the coffees were made, so he walked over and picked up the one that was his and took a sip of it, actually grateful for it. He put the mug back down, and for a moment was silent, before he looked at Alex once again.


"I should have warned you, shouldn't I? I am a massive tosser in the morning, sadly. Lazy bludger, massive tosser, that's all there really is too it. I've never been good at waking up, especially if someone else wakes me up, and then I'm just awful, and rude, and I probably should apologise for that, and for the next year of mornings that you're gonna have to go through with me. I'm still in a foul mood, but I'm trying to be at least a little bit more pleasant than I usually would, mate." He smiled at him, picked up his coffee mug again, and then raised it. "Thank you for this, and the food, and, you know, not hitting me in the face."


-


When Kit was pulled onto the bed with her, he couldn't help but grin. Okay, he had a massive crush (I don't think it was really a crush, he was just very attracted to her, I mean, it was bound to happen) on her. He did indeed enjoy being that close to her, and he kind of didn't want to get up, but, you know, he had to. He had to get Jessica out of bed, that was his entire job for the morning, Beta had told him to do it.


"Ah, no, come on." He laughed and wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her up into a sitting position. "I would really love to let you sleep n' all, but sadly, higher authorities have given me one job." He was still sat with his arms around her, but still.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Alex was quite happily cooking the food when Levi rejoined him and simply nodded to what he had to say and shrugged. "I gave that up a while ago." He said, simply. "Don't worry about it, man. I understand." He smiled weakly and pulled out two plates from the cupboard before lifting them up onto the counter, then looked over at the frying pans that had the sizzling bacon and eggs in them. Sunny side up, so that meant no egg flipping. He splashed a bit more oil onto them, and then went over to the toaster after the toast popped up, and shoved the four slices onto two plates - Two on each, obviously, then smacked the butter open and stuck a butter knife in there. He didn't know about Levi, but he loved toast that had cooled down a bit, so that the butter didn't melt into it - It was great when it was like that, in his opinion.


Anyway, moving on from that, he moved the eggs and bacon onto a plate. One egg, three strips of bacon each, and then the two more small plates that had the toast on them. Seeing as they'd cooled down a fair bit, he spread the spreadable butter onto the toast and then looked down at them. Hm. Plain. He looked up into the cupboard and pulled out two jars - One was strawberry jam, and one was marmalade - He picked them both up and carried them over to where Levi was sat, placing them down in front of him. Then he went back and got the plates of toast and put them in front of him, and finally, he walked over and got the main plates of food and brought them over with a knife and fork for the both of them.


"There you go." He said, putting the plate down in front of him and walking around to sit next to him, placing his own plate down. "That's how my mom makes it, so I hope you like it - She's still failed to disappoint us at all, so." He laughed a little and picked up a bit of the bacon, dipping it into his egg and biting into it thereafter. He'd made it nice and crispy - He couldn't stand the fat on bacon, so crispy was the way to go for him.


"Anything planned for today?" He asked. "I mean, there's not much we can do around here, but hey..." He shrugged once. "May as well figure something out, right?" He asked, simply, then shrugged and sipped on his coffee.


--


She groaned as she was pulled up into a sitting position and then rose up from the bed with him, setting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes again. "I need the bathroom..." She yawned. ".. Wait for me, please..." She said tiredly, then wandered off to the bathroom in their room and locked the door behind her. She just needed to pee real quick, not too fussed by whether or not Kit decided that he wanted to listen - I know it sounds fucked up, but she was way too tired to even find the shits to give if he was stood right outside the door or not, but hey, there you go.

 

[Jupiter]

Levi didn't like toast when the butter hadn't melted on it, so he made sure that he went and buttered his toast while Alex prepared the eggs and the bacon, he buttered his own only, though, because he knew that he his preferences and Alex had his own too, and if he hadn't buttered his toast yet then he probably didn't want it buttered for a good while, probably one of those guys who was into just eating it and being able to taste cold butter. Ew.


He took his toast over to the kitchen counter with him, and waited for the rest of the stuff to be brought over while he chewed on his own toast. He didn't like jam or marmalade, he just liked his toast plain, so that was alright with him. When the rest of the stuff was brought over, Levi smiled and thanked Alex. He was becoming in a better mood now that he'd had his cigarette, some coffee, and some food. He needed those three things on a morning to feel vaguely human, even though he knew that it probably wasn't the healthiest thing. He was planning on quitting smoking, but, there you go. He needed it.


"I'm sure it's great. I can try make breakfast for us tomorrow, if you want?" He asked him, even though he didn't know if he would accept or not. "I mean, I can't cook impressively like this, but I can cook okay enough to give us energy until lunch time." He laughed slightly as he picked at his bacon and then decided to put it on top of his toast, then dip that in his egg and eat it like that.


"Plans... Uh. Nope, nothing for me. I'll probably check out some of the stuff in the gym room, and then maybe some of the painting stuff, see if they have any video games around, what they have on TV. Relaxed stuff. But... Wait. Hang on a minute. Beta, is there a set plan for today? Anything we gotta do?"


'There is no schedule for the day.'





"Thanks." He laughed slightly and then shrugged. "Yep, that's what I'm doing. Staying inside and looking at my options, what about you?"


-


He watched as she wandered off to the bathroom and then stood up, dusting himself down and then walking over to his bedside table and pulling open one of the drawers. He looked through it for something specific, realised he had it, and then smiled before standing back up and stretching his arms as he waited. He wasn't creepy, he didn't listen to Jessica pee (what kind of sick person would do that?), he just leaned against the wall and messed with the air conditioning buttons before setting it on what they had had it on the night before, waiting for her like she had asked.


He really wanted to end up having sex with her, if I'm being honest, but it wasn't the only thing on his mind. He wanted to have a good day too, and at the moment he was thinking about breakfast.


He'd probably just make cereal.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Ah, no schedule for today?" He smiled and shoved some more bacon into his mouth, chewing on it again. He looked around the kitchen for a moment and smiled, scooping a piece of egg up into his mouth and chewing on it. "You know what? I'm gonna' hop in the pool in a little while, maybe catch a bit of the sun, you know what I mean?" He chuckled. "I really hate to be that generic Californian, but honestly, I'm gonna' bust out my Ray-Bans and catch some light." He grinned and took a long deep breath, looking around as he did so. He quickly spread some marmalade onto his toast (of which was cold) and took a big bite into that, not bothering to cut it in half.


Not too long after that, Jessica and Kit came down the stairs together and Jessica sat down at the bar. "Could you get me some cereal, Kit?" She yawned, bowing her head and resting it in her arms. Alex raised an eyebrow. She seemed quite nice when she wasn't wide awake, and she actually seemed to be a lot more sociable than usual. It was funny, really. He didn't know what to think of that, so he just kept eating his breakfast. He was starving after all the vomiting he did last night, so he was just eating to his heart's content and not caring about anything for the time-being. He didn't need to worry about throwing up, not yet, just as long as he stayed cool and put some waterproof sunscreen, he'd be fine for today. He was wondering where everyone else was, actually.


That was being dealt with now, actually.


'Lana, Mark, your set wake-up time is 8:25. You are late. Please wake up immediately.' Beta said.


Mark rolled over in bed but was instantly out of it with a sigh, and immediately wandered off to the bathroom so that he could do what he needed to do really quick, brush his teeth and so on, and the exit. God, it was a hot morning, but he was glad that the air conditioning was still on, otherwise, he was sure he would have melted in his sleep and that was honestly the last thing that he needed. He went out and got changed into a polo shirt and some shorts, and just like that, he was done without a care in the world. He lied back down on his bed and then brushed himself down, but also turned off the lamp.


No nightmares that night, thankfully. He didn't always get to escape them - He'd said they hadn't really happened since he was younger, but truthfully, they just hadn't happened as frequently. He was okay, really, but you know, bedtime was never really a good topic for him growing up, including into his adult years. He hated to sleep with a lamp on, because it made him feel so pathetic, but there wasn't really much he could do about it. Anyway, moving on from that, he looked over at Lana and smiled


"Up ya' get, we can go and get some breakfast after." He smiled at her, then rose up and stretched his back with a long yawn. God, he wished he could go back to bed. It was a really long night, and he was more than certain that he heard Alex throwing up when he walked past their room, but hey, he wasn't going to question that. The heat could cause auditory hallucinations if you got too hot and got dehydrated. It could have been a whole lot worse of a night, though, I tell you that.