After All This Time

Chapter 43

Maddie found herself standing in front of Mikeys door, she was in fact not fine. She stood in front of the door for what felt like hours, 'what if he's upset I woke him? Or doesn't even have any extra blankets?' she thought as she messed with her hands. 'Should I knock? Would that wake everyone?' more thoughts raced through her mind. 'Okay I'll go in and see if he wakes up, if he's asleep asleep I'll just go back to the cushion idea...' she took a deep breath and placed her hand on the doorknob. She paused for a moment before slowly turning it, to her surprise it was unlocked. Hesitantly she opened the door enough to poke her head in. "Maddie?" she jolted and came to a halt; her eyes went wide, and a small gasp escaped her lips. She shot her attention to the desk. There sat Mikey at his desk, pen in hand with a sketch book open. His gear hanging on the chair, he wore his arm and leg wraps. His bandana tied around his neck. "Uh, Maddie?" she snapped out of her thoughts and looked toward Mikey once more. His cheeks slightly flushed dark green. "Oh sorry, I uh- I was cold and I wanted to see if maybe you had an extra blanket? I just didn't expect you to be awake..." she messed with her fingers as a light blush crept to her cheeks. "Ah well I don't have any extra besides the one I gave you, and all our extras went to Don's lab, he likes to horde them in there. The only problem is he literally locks himself in there at night, why we will never know." Mikey explained. "Ah- okay don't worry about it, I'll just head back to the couch, I'll fall asleep soon enough." She said in a low tone. Mikey thought for a second before he hesitantly spoke "you can stay in here if you would like?" Maddie's cheeks went a deeper red "oh no I don't want to bother you-" Mikey gave a quite chuckle "I don't mind really, besides it's a lot colder out in the living room than in the rooms." he said with a small grin. She thought for a second, messing with her fingers. Mikey turned back to his sketch book and let out a low chuckle "Ya know I don't bite... much." Maddie let out a quiet giggle. She walked into the room and shut the door. She made her way to his bed and laid down. She was engulfed with the sweet scents of lavender, citrus, and a hint of warm vanilla. She inhaled the scent, her body instantly relaxed. A soft sketching sound filled the room. She opened her eyes to see Mikey sketching away, she shifted slightly "what are you working on?" she asked in a soft whisper. "Well, I had this idea for my bike, I want to repaint it." "Really? What's your idea? Can I see?" she said getting up a bit. Mikey smiled "sure, the paint job I have now is orange and blue. I wanted to go for a black base and graffiti like art on it." He spun his chair to the bed and handed her his sketch book. She looked to see a black bike with neon colors all over, some words, paint splatters. And designs. One that stuck out the most to her was two almost identical smiley faces on both sides of the rear fender. One had two open almost bean shaped eyes, the left slightly bigger, and a closed low smile from one eye to the other. The other had two X eyes and a zig zag frown. "Woahthis looks sick" Mikey smiled proudly "why thank you." she continued to examine the art. Mikey thought for a second "hey Maddie?" "hm" he rubbed the back of his neck "would you like to help me install some new parts and paint my bike?..." her attention shot to him; her eyes blown wide. Mikeys cheeks flushed a dark green "I can teach you along the way if you would like... I just thought maybe you would enjoy it since your kinda stuck with us... and I wouldn't mind your company..." he mumbled the last part as he messed with his hands. A wide smile spread across Maddie's face "really, you wouldn't mind? I don't really know much ► about builds, and I'm not as talented at art like you are." "that's fine with me, like I said ill teach you. And I'm not going to criticize your artwork, I'm sure it will look bad ass." Maddie smiled and gave a soft sigh "then I would be honored to help you Mikey." Mikey gave a small laugh "by the time we finish my bike you'll be a pro mechanic." she gave a small snort. "After its done I'll have to let you drive it."

"Wait what-"