Hydrogen Peroxide

He gets a text at 3AM. It's from Athena. He sighs.

Simon Blackquill repositions himself in his bed to open his phone. His eyes glaze over the run-on sentences of text that his friend has sent him. It vaguely reads:

"Hey Simon! So here's to hoping you're still an insomniac ^_^; but uhh I'm really really worried…so long story short I woke up cause I heard my elderly next door neighbor fall, so I had to do some first-aid and got some of the peroxide all over the place. It's starting to itch really bad and I'm not sure if you can get a chemical burn or just skin irritation from peroxide. Gratzi in advance!"

He read it a second time to make sure he responded in a calm and collected manner. Leave it to Athena to gloss over a possibly traumatic experience. Was the elderly neighbor okay? Was she okay? He replies:

"No, but luckily I am a light sleeper. I haven't heard of anyone sustaining burns from peroxide, it is most likely a form of skin irritation."

He places his phone back on his nightstand and settles himself back down into his pillow. However, Simon's mind is now racing. What happened to the elderly neighbor? It has been a few minutes with no reply. He decides to add to his text.

"Your elderly neighbor fell and you're worried of a skin irritation?"

Simon surmises that the burn must truly be worrying her to text him at such an hour. Then again, the situation might be worse than she's making it out to be through text. He decides to rise from his bed to put on some light clothing; that's when he hears a buzz from his phone. He opens it to check the new message.

"Okay…so I washed it thoroughly. It looks like it bleached my skin a bit...if that were possible lol."

He decides to be direct since she's still not answered his question.

"What happened?"

Simon turns on his computer to consult the almighty knowledge of the internet. He normally doesn't second guess himself, but Athena seems so off right now he wonders if it is possible to get a chemical burn from hydrogen peroxide.

Then, a burst of buzzes come from his phone. He takes a moment to query about 'Peroxide skin irritation' before checking to see how she's responded.

"OH! She's fine, I heard her as soon as she fell and rushed over. Had to kick the door in, but she just has a scrape on her knee and hand. I told her she's probably really gonna feel it in a few hours, but I'm staying at her apartment for a bit to make sure she's alright.

"Then I went a little crazy with the peroxide and bandages, so it got on me.

"I also had to pick her up to set her on the chair, but everyone knows I can suplex a fully grown man."

"Then I had to clean up the stuff that fell, the stuff on one of her small shelves…and by that time it was burning pretty badly."

"But I feel much better knowing it's just skin irritation!"

Oh, Athena. Now he was certain she was downplaying the whole affair. He could even imagine the Cheshire grin on her face as she related her experience of 'just helping' her elderly neighbor. He scrolled through his search results looking for the most reliable advice to give her.

Simon texted her the step by step advice of treating the irritation and also related what not to do. He ended the wall of text by adding:

"…Will this be sufficient?"

She responded almost instantly.

"Magnifico! I think that's what I did. I'll go wash it again just to be sure."

Simon let out a breath of relief. He turned off his computer and settled back into his bed once more. He smirked to himself imagining Athena's thought process through the whole ordeal. He saw that the time on his phone read 4 AM. Had it really been an hour going back and forth with Athena?

He texted:

"You're lucky that I find you endearing, Cykes-dono. Otherwise, I would have just told you to burn in silence. May I sleep in peace, now that it's 4 AM?"

He could imagine a fully awake Athena snipping back at him or asking him if he was really that rude. A minute later he got a reply.

"Thank you, Simon! ^_^ and thanks for getting up. You may go to sleep now."

He assumed that both she and the elderly woman were fine now. So he texted back:

"Wasn't a problem, Ms. Chickadee. Take care of yourself and sleep well. Good night."

Another instantaneous response:

"LOL. Good night, Simey!"

And with that, Simon truly settled himself back into bed and drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.

So...this is going to be a jumping timeline drabble fic to get me to start writing again. I loved these two interactions in the newest game, so much so it reminded me of how a friend and I speak to each other so...not sure if it will get romantic or stay platonic, but it's gonna be platonic for now.

Hope you enjoy!

~Nyanora