Tweetie

19

"Hey, Robin. How're- Jesus, what happened?"

Fox sat silently, leaning back and tired from too much exercise the previous day.

It was a new day. Tuesday. But, it already felt so long, like the morning dragged on and on to a point that forced him to wonder if he had imagined half of his waking moments. He hadn't. At least, he hoped he hadn't. If he had, he would have been worried about his mental state because to imagine Oscar blurting out quotes from movies for an hour straight would have been a sign of insanity. But, it was real. Oscar, the boy who never ran out of energy, did, in fact, spend a full hour at Fox's house quoting lines from Alvin and the Chipmunks 2.

God knows how he didn't run out of energy already.

They sat in the cafe as early as ever.

He liked waking early, he liked going to sleep early and he liked to be early to things. He was healthy, always on routine and always prepared for anything. But not the puffy-eyed girl who shuffled into the cafe with bags under her eyes so dark, Fox worried for a moment that she had two black eyes.

"I didn't have a very good night," Robin said to Stewart as she approached the counter.

"Why? What happened?"

Fox knew he was a nosy guy. He spent most of his life being silent, just listening to the world pass him while he rested. That typically meant he heard most conversations around him, even the ones he didn't necessarily want to hear. This was one that he did want to hear. And from the silence of Oscar who only moments ago was talking about music from the Romantic period, Fox assumed he wanted to hear too.

"So," Robin started, crouching to get her apron from under the counter. "I learned last night that my apartment isn't very secure."

It was already a bad start to the story.

"I really hope this isn't going in the direction I think it is," Stewart said, though, from the look on his face, he already knew the answer.

"It definitely is," she said, and while her words were drowsy, Fox heard the slight chirp in her voice that was a very Robin thing. She seemed to talk about any situation with a bit of a happy chirp, but it showed particularly well in the bad topics and it didn't take a genius to know that it was intentional and it was a way of coping with bad situations. Like icing on a cake could try to hide the burnt sponge, the bad taste would still be known eventually.

"I finally got some sleep last night," Robin continued, "but I woke up and heard some noises that just weren't right. Y'know, like, you know your own house and the usual noises. But I didn't recognise them, so I went to see what was going on. Turns out I was being robbed. I had the police at my house for the rest of the night and morning, Roderick is still there."

"Please tell me you're kidding."

Fox glanced over to see her head shake.

It was slow and sad, the exhaustion oozed from her and he wondered when she was going to get a break. She was still recovering from falling down the stairs.

"Were you hurt?" Stewart went on to ask the question Fox wondered too. She seemed unharmed, but it was difficult to tell.

She shook her head again and slouched forward, rubbing her face in her still healing palms. He wondered if she had any luck.

"I just have the world's worst headache."

He didn't doubt that.

"Take a seat," Stewart gestured to a table, "I'll bring you some coffee. Get some rest, nap if you need to."