𝐃𝐄𝐉𝐀 𝐕𝐔

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐𝟎

Breakfast was dull, as usual. It was mainly stuff Brian and Tim had stolen from the convince store close by - chips, bagels, cookies with some drinks (Cody having scolded me for going for an energy drink before taking one himself). Most of it had consisted of small talk and teasing with Kate sitting in silence. The highlight, however, was finding out that Tim and Brian also thought me and Cody were dating (five, maybe six people, now), due to Nina coming over to us and apologising for our awkward conversation yesterday.

The words, 'you two have to have something going on though, fuck buddies?' had been exclaimed (unsupringly from Brian), which had caused the friendly enby to quickly disappear - not wanting to be pinned for the even more awkward conversation that followed.

My appreciation for Tim has significantly risen this morning - having gotten his (probably) boyfriend in check. To be fair, I wasn't much better than the hooded man, myself.

I was currently sat on one of the lab's countertops, swinging my legs so my heels were bashing against the cabinet door as I contently watched Cody, hunched over and working. I did have to admit, despite his posture, the green lighting did help emphasise the more toned aspect to his arms - seeing as I had successfully snagged another hoodie from him (refusing to go to breakfast with a pyjama shirt had obviously done wonders for me). But it also seemed to help soften his features, without taking away their more defined aspects; bringing out the shape of his cheekbones without taking away from the softness of his cheeks.

I looked to his shirt - seeing it was a band shirt. KISS. It didn't surprise me, he did like that sort of genre. I offered him a coy smile, tilting my head to the side. "Is that an invitation?" I teased - watching his head shoot up with a confused expression before looking down to where I was looking. His expression turned from curiosity to an almost fed up one - sending me a small glare.

"It's a band." Cody retorted, shaking his head as his eyes flickered back down to the living mouse in his hands. He held it with delicacy - allowing it room to wiggle around in his grip, and it clearly wasn't too distressed otherwise it'd be screaming. "This is why people think we're dating." He grumbled.

I snorted, my eyes leaving the rodent and instead looking to Cody as he glanced around his desk, as if looking for something. "I thought that they thought we were dating because of how you act around me." I hummed, in a matter-of-factly tone.

He looked back up to me as I slid off the counter, giving me a baffled look, "The way I act? What do I do around you that insinuates we're a couple?" Cody asked.

I walked over to his chair - hesitantly taking ahold of the small creature, to which he allowed me to. I watched the mouse scramble into my hands, my fingers quickly encasing it so it wouldn't flee - my other hand hesitantly beginning to pet the creature. I only used a finger, only doing brief glosses over the top of it's head - watching it flinch at the alien sensation before blinking as it relaxed, it's nose twitching. It's brown fur oddly felt soft - like it was meant to be a pet.

I nodded, with a small hum, finally tearing my eyes off of the mouse and back to Cody. "Yep, I mean - you act differently around me." I explained with a faint shrug, "Have you ever thought about training one of these to cook?" I asked, my eyes going back to the wriggling rodent.

Cody went to retort, but paused - a more, for a lack of a better term, 'are you serious?' expression filling his features. He squinted his eyes at me before pointing at the mouse. "Remy was a rat. And Ratatouille was an animated film." He began, before lowering his arm to grab what he'd finally manged to find (a syringe full of the green liquid he typically used). "And I don't act that much different around you!" The brunette sighed.

"You make me food - you give me your clothes!" I argued, tilting my head to the side with widened eyes - as if trying to tell him I was right, by egging on some sort of defence against my points.

"I'm not going to let you walk around the kitchen half naked! You had no shirt on!" He exclaimed, "And all the other times you've been soaking wet and if I didn't give you clothes, you'd get cold and you'd be sick. And I hate dealing with you when your sick. Constantly moaning about how you wanna get up and do things!" Cody rambled with a scowl - lifting his now free hand up to me, so I could pass him the mouse. I did, watching it squeak and try and escape his hands as the man continued to talk, "And I don't technically give you my clothes. I let you borrow them and you just don't give them back!"

"And yet you still give them to me-" I began, dramatically gasping, "That must mean you love me!" I teased, but stopped upon hearing the mouse screech, wriggling more as Cody placed the needle into it's side - the man grumbling under his breath as he pushed the handle - pushing the liquid inside the rodent. It continued to screech, louder, for a few seconds - thrashing around in Cody's grip before slowly coming to a stop. When all seemed calm, the mouse began to twitch, almost.

Cody placed the corpse and syringe down, looking up at me. "Toby." He began, but I quickly cut him off.

"Cody."

He sighed, rolling his eyes, "I'm just acting the way we used to act with each other in high school." Cody grumbled. I resisted the urge to point out that he said we'd almost begun dating during that time period.

"Just saying, a couple of dirty and flirty jokes is completely different to you acting like you have a soft spot purely for me." I mumbled with a shrug, beginning to head back to my perch - on top of a counter.

"Aye!" Cody exclaimed, pointing at me, giving me a playful glare as I spun around to face him. "You asked me if we were going to do some science. Sit your ass down next to me, you're helping."

I felt a grin tug at my face, enthusiastically rushing over (though tried to mask it by keeping a regular pace of walking). "Where do I sit?" I asked, which caused Cody to pause - he surprisingly had thought this far through.

"Uh-" He paused, pushing away from his desk - his green hues glancing around the lab. "Do you think you could go grab something to sit on from a different room first?" Cody hesitantly asked, looking back to me with an apologetic smile.

I let out a scoff, rolling my eyes. "I give you free labour and you can't even provide me with furniture!" I playfully exclaimed, throwing my arms into the air as I began to back away towards the door.

He chuckled, as he began to scribble something down onto his notepad, not looking up. He probably was writing down the results of the test. "I know, I'm terrible."

I let out a small laugh, walking out of his lab and instead walking to the opposing door at the other end of the hallway. The room of haunted or possessed object - perfect for  a stool or chair. I quickly headed through the luggage - my eyes landing on the teddy bear I'd tossed to the side during my last visit. I picked it up - observing the brown bear with a curious expression. I kept it in my hand, glancing around the mess spotting an old, rotting, wooden stool. I quickly leant over to it, grasping it as well.

I quickly returned - placing the stool next to Cody. Eagerly, I sat down next to him, only just being able to peer over the counter top. "So, what do you want me to do?" I asked, passing Cody the bear.

"Well - where? - You didn't take that from the haunted room, did you?" Cody grumbled, giving me a look. He took the bear and placed it on the surface of his desk.

I rolled my eyes, shrugging. "Maybe."

"You genuinely do love pissing ghosts off, don't you?" He sighed, shaking his head.

I sighed, resting my chin on top of the counter, "Well the ghosts aren't using it."