Under Pressure

Take a Break

I had been working for 2 days straight without any breaks whatsoever, but there I was, still working as hard as ever. It was exhausting and frustrating, I was starting to hate everything I was doing. If I could work on something I wanted to work on for once, then I might've had some motivation to keep going, but since everything was up to me to solve yet another problem with some random mutant causing chaos, I had no choice but to work on something to damage control while everyone else got to goof off and do nothing but put more pressure on me. If they weren't putting pressure on me, they were making random jokes or pulling pranks on me. If they noticed that I wasn't sleeping, eating, drinking water, or taking breaks, they didn't care. I didn't know which was worse, them not paying enough attention to me to notice or them not caring. Now that I thought about it, I did really need a break. I had a headache, my stomach ached from hunger, my throat was dry, and it felt like I was barely functioning. I hadn't checked on anyone or seen what was going on since my last break, but that was because Leo had gotten mad at me for "slacking off". I didn't know what time it was though, and they hadn't seen me out of my lab since then, so maybe he wasn't going to pressure me into going back to the lab. I stepped out of my lab quietly and made my way to the fridge, snatching a slice of pizza and a cold water bottle out of it, then had my meal right there. I was too hungry to care about things like where I was supposed to eat or getting caught eating right in front of the fridge by someone. 

"Hey Donnie!" A familiar voice, April's, spoke to me.

"Oh!" I jumped and looked at her, my mouth full of pizza. It was embarrassing to get caught like that by April of all people, but she just giggled. My heart fluttered when she did that, but then again, any little thing she did could do that to me. 

"Sorry, did I scare you?" She asked, tilting her head curiously. 

"No, no, you're all good!" I gave her a small, nervous laugh and sat down my food and water. "So, anything you need?"

"Just checking in on you." She leaned against the counter. 

"That's so sweet, April!" I smiled, it was very kind of her to check on me even though I basically disappeared without a trace. "I'm all good, thank you!"

"Are you sure?" I hoped she wasn't catching on, but it seemed like she was. "I haven't heard from you in two days, you didn't even answer my calls or texts."

"You called me and texted me?" I asked, surprised that she reached out first to me instead of me calling her, desperate for attention. "I'm sorry, my t-phone was on silent. I've just been working in my lab."

"Ohhhh, and when you weren't doing that, you were sleeping or eating or something, right?" She was too kind.

"Kinda?" I rubbed the back of my neck. "Technically yeah, but I didn't stop."

"At all?" Her brows furrowed together in concern.

"Yeah..." I took a deep breath. "I've just got some stuff I need to finish up is all, I've got a lot of responsibilities." 

"Donnie, you know that's not good for you, I know you do." April sighed. "How're you supposed to work when you're not taking care of yourself? Your brain needs food and water and rest to work right, you can't get anything done if you're halfway to death's door and dancing on his front lawn or something." I laughed at that, her jokes were always funny.

"Fair point." I cleared my throat, then drank a bit more water. "I did just stop for a break though, so that's good, right?"

"Yeah." April nodded. "Just... we need you, okay?" She kissed my cheek and it felt like my heart stopped, then soared into the sky. 

"Y-yeah, okay, th-thank you." I made a fool out of myself, I was a blushing and stuttering mess after that kiss. 

"No problem." She smiled, then walked off. I held my cheek where she'd kissed it and watched as she left me by myself. Was it possible she liked me back? No, that was ridiculous, but at least I could dream. I was satisfied with friendly kisses on the cheek, they made me extremely happy anyways. I finished up my food and right as I was about to go to bed to sleep for a while, Leo walked by me.