trans_9 | Dreaming, Dreaming

"Miku...?"

Steve had his face pressed against the inside of the bubble, reaching down to tap on it as best he could. "Miku? Wake up!"

Miku groaned and turned her back to Steve. "Loud...!"

He choked down whatever he was going to yell next, and regarded her curiously. "Uh..."

"Are you okay?" he asked, trying to be a little quieter.

"Shh." Miku shushed him and drew her legs up. "Sleepy, Steve. I'm sleepy. Shh." Still the more her urged at her, the more the dull ache in her head was beginning to make itself known.

She noted to never take anything from Cargn that wasn't tea ever again.

And with that, he panicked.

"Holy shit. What happened to you?" He sat up on his knees, debating whether or not he should page one of the docs to come in here and check on her.

"Nothing," Miku mumbled and turned back to Steve. If he wasn't going to let her sleep, then she might as well wake up. She gave him the biggest, most pitiful eyes she'd ever given anyway, even if they were still a bit drowsy.

"I drank something, and it was very strong." Too strong, too, too strong. She laid there and stared at him. Her nose still felt a bit numb, was she still drunk? Miku tapped her nose curiously.

Steve eyed her for a moment, seemingly trying to process all that.

"You're drunk?" he finally asked, in utter disbelief. "Seriously?"

"...Maybe." Well, probably. Something told her Cargn-sensei was probably having a good chuckle at her expense again. Miku tried to think of just what had led her to Steve's bubble instead of her room, but it was a bit fuzzy and muddled. "I saw Cargn-sensei on the Obs deck and..."

Well, darn. All she could think of was the Catapata. "And I don't remember much after that."

"Well... are you okay?" he asked worriedly. "I thought Cargn was into tea, not booze." It was actually kind of concerning... if you looked past the part where it was funny.

"I have a headache and my nose is-" she hiccuped. "Is numb." Her mouth also felt a little randomly dry. "He doesn't drink it very often, he said. It was... Theo... Theo... Theosophist's Catapata." No, that wasn't it. "Er. Philtre. Not Catapata." That was in his head. She sat up and rested her chin on her knees, her hands smoothed over the fabric of her nightgown.

Steve looked at her sympathetically, though he wasn't sure if she was listing real types of liquor or if she was just making up words.

"You should take something for the headache," he advised. "And... probably go to bed, even though it's nice to see you. The floor can't be that comfortable."

"It wasn't so bad." She wiggled her toes and felt a little silly. "Can I stay a little bit longer? I think there was something creepy in my room, which is why I ended up out late, anyway."

"Yeah, of course," he assured her, and scooted over to sit a little more comfortably by the bubble. "What do you mean, something creepy? Are you okay?"

"Just something creepy. I don't know if I dreamt it or not, though." She held out her arms for his inspection, "But I'm fine. Nothing got me." It was primarily a symbolic gesture for him, as Miku knew he couldn't see curse marks, anyway.

"I just thought it would be better to not be in my room." She scooted closer to the bubble and tucked her nightgown under her knees.

"Oh." He sounded sympathetic again, cracking a tiny smile as best he could. "I'd let you in if I could. Oh, or you could go sleep in my room."

Miku nodded. Her head throbbed with the movement. "I know you would. Ah... I might head to your room in a bit, then. If whatever might be in mine is still there." She hoped it wasn't something bad.

"You're looking much better, will they let you out soon?"

"It's clean and everything, so make yourself at home, really," Steve assured her. The last thing he wanted was for his girlfriend to get possessed when he was locked up and couldn't play Ghostbusters on whatever it was.

"Yeah! Actually they said probably another day or two. All that's left is these," he said, holding up his arms. He pulled one of the bandages out of the way to reveal one of those icky green rashes, oozing just slightly. "They're almost healed up and once they are I'm outta here."

"I know it is, I put your things away from the shore leave." Except for his underwear, which were still in his suitcase. It was too embarrassing to handle a man's underwear, especially one not related to her. "I'll get started on your cake, then, I think."

See, Steve? She didn't forget.

"You didn't have to do all that," he insisted, and she might have detected the worry in his expression. He had underwear in that suitcase! No guy wanted a girl poking around in his underwear!

Besides, he had her present concealed in there. Since, you know, he'd figured that she wouldn't ever be handling his underwear.

He was enthusiastic to change the subject from his underwear. "What kind of cake?"

"I think a chocolate one. I don't know what I'll do to it yet, but I've been reading recipe books in the media library again." She really needed more hobbies that didn't make her look like a housewife, didn't she?

"There were a lot of neat ideas, but some of them are impossible, even with the new supplies. But I'll do my best." She ran her fingers through her hair and smoothed out the worst of the half-curls and waves with her fingers as best as she could. It at least made her head feel better.

"I'm sure whatever you do, it'll be awesome." His eyes looked just a bit glazed over at the idea of cake.

"If it means I get your cooking, I'll really try to get out of here quick." Tomorrow, hopefully!

"Are you saying my food is a curative?" Miku smiled and raised her eyebrows. She picked at the hem of her nightgown. "Because maybe I should've just made you a cake to begin with."

"Boy, wouldn't that be a nice surprise," Steve joked. "Let's try it next time, if it means I get another cake."

"Alright. But hopefully there won't be a next time." Boy, there was nothing more earnestly hoped than that. She'd make him a hundred cakes if it meant he'd never have to be in this stupid bubble again.

Miku tapped her nose with a finger. It felt less numb, but her headache still hadn't gone away. "Oh, my nose feels a little less itchy-tingly," she murmured, mostly to herself.

"Maybe you're sobering up," he offered. "You gotta be careful what you drink around here, Miku. I somehow don't think you're much of a big drinker."

"It was my very first legal drink," Miku noted. It was probably the worst thing ever for her very first legal drink. "I think you're right, maybe I shouldn't drink any thing like that again." Probably for the better, since she didn't remember falling asleep on the floor.

"You're legal already? Man..." Steve was still three years off by his count. But since he was old enough to be counted as an adult now, like hell he was going to listen to the drinking age if nobody was going to enforce it.

He suddenly pictured Dr. Sera in his head warning him about losing inhibitions and activating the virus and blah blah blah... Damn.

"Well, it's okay as long as you're careful. Just... crazy alien liquor that Cargn drinks is probably a bad idea."

"In Japan, the legal age is twenty, for both cigarettes and alcohol," Miku explained, and rubbed her face against her knees. Despite sobering up, she still felt sleepy. She propped her chin on her knees and put her arms under her legs. "It would've been rude for me to deny him, though, Steve. He's my elder, so."

What old people said went, basically.

"It's not rude if you don't want any," Steve reasoned. "You can just say 'No, thank you.' You don't have to say 'yes' to everything all the time." He worried that that kind of thinking could turn her into a doormat. And from a stubborn ass like his' perspective, a doormat was the worst thing possible.

"You have to accept at least one," Miku replied. "That's what my mother always said. Deny three times and accept one." But not from an elder. Always accept and respect one's elders.

"And you always have to respect your elders, always." She wagged a finger at him.

This... was strange. Steve had been raised in a "just say no" society and never thought it was considered good manners to take something you really didn't want.

He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Well yeah, respect your elders. But it's... not disrespectful to refuse something if you don't want any," he said. "As long as you're not stupid about it."

"Of course. But, it's different." She shrugged. It was hard to explain to someone who just wouldn't understand, really. "It just... it is."

Steve eyed her curiously. "... okay," he finally relented, and turned back around to lean against the side of the cell, so he could look out the bubble. "Just... don't make yourself sick, okay?"

Using the bubble, Miku pulled herself up and stood on slightly unsteady feet. "I think I'm going to go lie down now, Steve."

She smoothed her nightgown out over her knees and looked back at him, then pushed her hair off her shoulders. "Is it really okay if I use your room?" Even though he offered, she'd just wanted to be perfectly sure.

"Feel better," he said worriedly. "And yeah, you can use my room anytime you want to. You don't even have to ask."

Miku smiled at him, "Thank you again." She padded off from the room, sticking her head out of the quarantine room to check for late-night wanderers. "Good night!"

You never knew on this ship, after all.

Dreaming, Dreaming

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