Disclaimer- characters and show not mine.
"Kiss me" his Latino friend said innocently, sweet and simple like she would ask for the salt at dinner. His confusion came from several years of her finding him repulsive as well as a partner in crime but a romantic interest had never been one of them. It had never crossed his mind and up until her request he was sure it had never crossed hers, it wasn't that he had never kissed anyone either; he had had his share of girlfriends, maybe not as publicly as the rest of the team but they had existed. It wasn't that he was repulsed by the newly occurred idea, in truth he found Trish Della Rosa quite attractive. She certainly held an appeal in the eyes of most other men, he had noticed she could hardly walk through the mall without being watched, approached or flattered in some form, she was scarce left looking for dates to dances and there seemed no end to the list of names that lined up to offer their arms. So yes, in truth he found her attractive. But he knew she didn't think the same, which left several options- drugs, mental breakdown, or some form of unidentifiable insanity. Maybe she was sick he mused silently, taking several confident steps forwards where she remained smiling impishly, waiting for him to react to her request. He stopped just in front of her and pressed his hand against her forehead; no fever. Not sick, but there was something in her eyes…something not quite present, awake but unconscious, then it hit him.
"Trish, when did you last sleep?" he moved his hand back and took a step back, instantly angry at himself for not seeing it quicker, annoyed that nobody else did, infuriated at how selfish they had all been with her and how careless and oblivious they had been to all of her hard work.
Trish shrugged slightly, the old leopard print top that had once been tight against her shoulder seemed loose and relaxed, and he cursed inwardly for not having seen the side effects of how hard she had been working. "A week, maybe two…Why?" he closed his eyes and smiled tightly, knowing she was too tired to see the falseness of it. "Go home, get some sleep. Take the day off" he told her, it was barely ten am, the team didn't have a meeting today anyway, but he knew somehow when they were all hanging out later work would end up occurring. She scowled and he knew she wanted to argue, but he knew she recognised the tone…a steely, commanding tone that refused to be argued with, he used it rarely and she knew when it was he meant business and wouldn't change his mind. So instead, the fight went out as quick as it came in, she didn't question her being needed later or when she should come back…she simply nodded and started walking out.
Turning at the door to look back a small, curious smile over her golden face. "What about the kiss?" her voice was gentle and sweet, a rare sound in her voice and it made him sad to deny her what she wanted in this current moment, but despite his own variant brand of smart he knew kissing her would be a violation, she wasn't properly here and it wasn't really her asking. Saying yes would be like sleeping with a drunk girl he told himself, she might want it now, but later when she came to she would realise what happened and hate him for it. So despite the small hurt it caused naïve, tired Trish now to be rejected; he shook his head and smiled tightly, a tightness she in her state failed to see. He noticed a small spark of sadness in her eyes and an idea of how to make up for it came to mind "Another time, maybe. If that's what you want, but not right now." But as he spoke he crossed over placed a small kiss on her forehead, stepping back as she nodded; "I'll get some rest, even though I don't feel tired" the she turned and left.
He turned to the stairs and went to hang out in the sonic boom training room. Austin and ally should have been here at nine to meet up for breakfast, but both had cancelled; Austin having overslept and Ally rushing to a cloud watchers club emergency, she had promised him the store was unlocked but closed as they were not opening to eleven today and that Trish would be there as well…probably. Walking in he smiled, it was clean, the food from last nights dinner cleared away and everything in order; but for the giant stack of reward presents Trish had won as a reward a while back that sat in the corner, a light bulb shooting off in his head as he thought of the presents. Digging through the stack until his fingers closed around the envelope. The gold letters of 'travel Inc. - luxury holiday' glinting in the morning light. Dez's phone was already in hand as he called the number listed.