not your friend 🫀 corpse husband

IV

"Good morning!" Brooke greeted Giselle from her seat at the kitchen bar as Giselle stepped out from the door across from the kitchen. "How are you doing?"

Giselle rubbed her eyes, squinting at the time on the clock on the microwave. 11:54 am.

"A lot better than I was when I woke up at 6 am dying from dehydration. How about you?" She replied groggily, to which Brooke laughed a little.

"That always happens to me with wine! But I'm doing okay I guess, I haven't been up long." Brooke said. "Coffee?"

Giselle nodded eagerly and proceeded towards Brooke, taking a mug from the mug tree on the countertop before sitting on the stool to the right of her friend. They spoke about the previous night and compared it to old times, which triggered a long discussion reminiscing some of the crazy situations they had got themselves into in the past. It seemed that, like Giselle, Brooke's social life had lulled somewhat. That's what college was for though: to get it all out of your system before entering the real world and becoming an adult uncomfortably fast. Giselle was yet to hit that 'adult' mark and felt slightly inferior when she considered how much Brooke was able to achieve in comparison. She kept telling herself that her time would come, but it never seemed to and every week seemed further and further away.

Giselle, from her semi-hangover hunger, offered to make some pancakes for the two. Meanwhile, Brooke asked about her plans for her time in the city.

"I really don't know, you know. It was quite spontaneous. I'm only here to see you honestly." She replied.

"That's sweet." Brooke cooed. "Now you're down here though, we could go and visit some of our Among Us pals? That could be a fun thing to do."

Giselle thought about it for a second, pausing her batter pouring. She did get along with them and they all seemed like great people. She would have been lying to say she wasn't intrigued to know more about Corpse and see how he is in person. And Poki. And Sykkuno. And Rae. All of them. Obviously.

"That could be fun!" She replied happily.

Brooke smiled.

"We could go for a picnic or something like that! That would be really cute. I don't remember who you met on the game but maybe me, you, Poki, Rae, Janet, Lily, Leslie. I guess we'd have to see who's around at the moment." Brooke spoke, clearly very excited to have someone to give her the courage to message her friends for a social gathering. Sometimes she felt as though she wasn't as close with them as she'd like, so it made it awkward asking to meet up. It was all in her head, of course, but Giselle's presence was a good excuse.

It sounded fun to Giselle, too. She didn't have many girlfriends back in Sacramento, or at all anymore. As much as it would have been interesting to meet the boys too, a good foundation with a girl group would be a refreshing and very welcome change.

"That sounds like a really good time!" She agreed.

Giselle flipped the last pancake out of the pan and onto a plate. She rummaged around in the fridge and the cupboards to find some toppings she knew they both would like, ending up with a selection from blueberry jam, raspberries, strawberries and maple syrup.

"Breakfast is served, princess Brooke." She announced, presenting the plate.

"This looks so good! Thank you Gi!" Brooke exclaimed in genuine surprise.

They both loaded their pancakes with toppings and took a few pictures for some food envy before digging in. It was the perfect hangover cure.

Not long after, Giselle's phone buzzed.

"It's Corpse." She said quietly.

"Maybe it's about that tweet last night." Brooke suggested smirking. Giselle made a mental note to delete that after breakfast.

"Oh, no it's not. He just swiped up to the pancake picture. He said it looks good." Giselle replied. "That's nice."

"Yeah..." Brooke said, eyeing Giselle. She could read her like a book. "Just a nice guy."

"What? He is?" Giselle replied confused.

"No, no. I know." She taunted. "Just a nice guy until he calls you... baby?"

Brooke was laughing by this point at how wound up and defensive Giselle was getting. It was all just for fun, she knew that Giselle wasn't actually into him, but who wouldn't feel a little on edge thinking about him.

giselle
thanks! made them myself!

Giselle smiled down at her phone, zoning out of her current environment. He was nice. Everyone she met through Brooke was nice. But yet, he was the only one who swiped up to her stories. She brushed it off as not having spoken to the others as much, really just trying to convince herself that people didn't hate her.

"Hello? Miss Giselle?" Brooke laughed, noticing Giselle hadn't been listening to anything she had said.

"Oh... Yes? Sorry, I got a bit distracted. I think I'm still a bit tired." Giselle lied.

Brooke shook her head and smirked as if she could read Giselle's mind.

"It's all good." She said. "I was saying that I messaged the group and a few people are down to meet today. Sound good?"

This immediately piqued Giselle's interest; all of these people of whom she'd only heard voices or seen pictures she would finally get to meet. Hell, maybe even Corpse.

"Sounds great!" Giselle exclaimed. "Where? When? Who?"

"Well, go get ready because Rae said around one o'clock at this cute park kind of nearby. I think it might just be her and Poki, though." Brooke replied. "Maybe Toast would come, but also we'll get the chance to go over to his anyway at some point so we'll see."

Giselle couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment at the absence of Corpse's name, but she couldn't be surprised either.

The truth was, Corpse had seen Brooke's message on the group and wished he could go too. It would just be such a big step for him for a friend he'd hardly interacted with. It was a shame to always have to decline plans, but he told himself to stick to baby steps and that would get him there in the end.