The Thermostat Duo

Chapter 6

"You know, for a house that used to be used by a fairly large group, I thought it would be bigger than this." Mercury says, looking at the safe house. "And in better shape."

"The house is perfectly safe. It's just made to look in bad shape so people won't use it to camp out in." Celsius says, pulling the garage door up. She gets back in the car, drives it in, then turns it off. "Hit that light switch for me please." Celsius says to Mercury as he gets out of the car.

"On it." He says, flicking the switch as Celsius closes the garage door. "Won't people be able to see that there is a light on?"

"Unless a door or window is open, no. The windows are coated so that no light gets out, but light can come in." Celsius says.

"Oh, sweet." Mercury says.

"Hey, carry this for me." Celsius says, grabbing a small sized crate from the back of the truck.

"Got it." He says, grabbing it.

Celsius grabs a larger crate, then walks toward the door connecting the house to the garage.

"Why did you get the bigger one? I could have gotten it." Mercury says.

"I can handle it. Besides, we don't want pretty boy to get hurt, do we?" Celsius says, opening the door and walking inside the house.

Mercury smiles. "She called me pretty." He says as he skips into the house.

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"Dinner is served." Celsius says, walking into the living room/bedroom with two plates of food. Mashed potatoes, a chicken leg, and an apple are on each plate. She sets them down on the coffee table in front of Mercury, who is watching tv.

"I can't believe this thing still works. And it gets great channels." He says. "Are you sure it's okay for me to be watching this? People could hear it."

"You're good. The windows and doors are sound proof. Plus there is a lot of sound proof foam in the walls. We could yell and someone on the other side of the wall wouldn't hear us." Celsius says, sitting down next to him, taking a bite of her apple.

Mercury and Celsius only talk during the commercials, mostly to make fun of them. After they finish eating, Celsius washes the plates and puts them in the crate. Then she walks back out to the living/bedroom.

"Ready to go repair some booby traps?" She asks.

"Hell yeah." Mercury says, turning off the tv and following Celsius out to the garage.

Celsius grabs a small crate of spare traps from the back of the truck and hands it to Mercury. They go outside and Celsius walks to the first trap-a wire trap connected to an explosive. She find the right materials needed out of the crate and sets to work, finishing it in only a few minutes. She does this with the rest of the set off booby traps, showing Mercury how to set them as she goes along. By the time she's done, the sun is about to set.

"Let's get back inside." She says. Mercury nods and they walk back to the house. They put the crate back into the truck and enter the house.

Mercury flops down onto the couch. "Today has been an interesting day." He says, looking at Celsius.

Celsius grabs the large crate she carried in and gets out the sleeping bag, pillows, and blankets.

"Catch." She says, tossing him a pillow and blanket.

He catches them easily. "Here, let me set up the sleeping bag. You need to rest a bit. You've been doing everything all day." He says, putting the pillow and blanket onto the couch and going over to help Celsius.

"I'm good, but thank you." She says, trying to get the sleeping bag out of the crate. It seems it's stuck to it. "Damn it." She says, pulling at it.

"Here, let me hel-" Mercury says before he puts his hand on Celsius's. He pulls away quickly, slightly blushing. Celsius moves her hand away, and Mercury gets the sleeping bag unstuck.

"Sorry about that." Mercury says.

"It's okay. Happens more than you think." Celsius says, laying out the sleeping bag on the ground.

"Really?" Mercury asks.

"Yeah. A lot of guys 'accidentally' touch my hand, waist, etc. Most of the time they are flirting with me, but other times it's genuinely an accident." She says.

"Oh, well what I just did was an accident." Mercury lies.

"Okay." Celsius says, placing the pillow at the top of the sleeping bag.

"I can beat those guys up-the ones who are flirting with you-if you want. I mean, you are my partner, if someone is bothering you I'll mess them up." Mercury says.

This makes Celsius laugh.

"Thanks, Mercury."