One-hundred moments, one life
8. Innocence
There wasn't much doubt Carmen had a sense of child-like innocence to her. Upon first encounter, she would more than likely be classed a naive, childish and maybe a little to kind for her own good. However, she was still grown up, and knew when too much was too much and knew her bouneries.
So Hank knew that when she refused the sweets he had offered, he knew there was a reason, but questioned, "Why not, Carmen?"
She gave a small sigh, running a hand through her messy, curly hair. "Well, ever since I was a kid, I've had this sugar problem... I'd have a bit, then I wouldn't stop, then I'd go on a sugar high. Chaos would then ensue and then I'd wake up somewhere un-aware of all the trouble I caused."
It was hard for Hank to hide his amused smirk as he simply enquired, "Sugar high?"
Carmen rolled her eyes gently as she slumped depper into her space on the sofa with a long sigh. She gave a nod. "Yes, hank. Sugar high. Followed by a hour of chaos followed by a crash and a long nap."
Hank raised his brow at her as she sat up. "Have you not thought that you can prevent this other than not having any sweets at all?" Carmen pouted her lips in thought before shaking her head.
"That would surely mean having to have some sweets. Once i've had three then I won't stop until I blank out..." Hank leaned back, folding his arms as he thought.
"Hmm... Well from what I gather, it's more a sense of self control. You simply need to be able to tell yourself when enough is enough, and I'm certain that if we work together, we can help you with this."
A look of fear crossed Carmen's face when she caught onto what he was possibly proposing. "But-" She began to cry out.
"No buts." Hank silenced her by gently tapping her nose with his finger, smiling at her gently. "I assure you, my dear, that we will have a break through on your sugar proplem."
Carmen blinked a few times, looking at Hank. She trusted him, with all her heart no doubt. It was herself she didn't trust. Nonetheless, how could she say 'no' to Hank?
Finally, she smiled and sighed in defeat. "Right. Alright then." She then locked a playful glare onto him. "BUT." She began. "If this goes wrong, you got the blame, right Hankie?"
He smiled, raising a finger to his chest and making a cross sign. "Cross my heart that should it go wrong, it will be on my head." She giggled at him.
Hank then reached over to the bowl of sweets set on the table. Carmen allowed herself to gaze at them. Her tounge gently licked across her lips as she felt a small desire claw at the back of her mind. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably.
"Okay." Hank began, "Firstly, around how many sweets do you feel you have to cinsume before your sugar highs ensue?" Carmen sighed slightly.
"it's hard to remember, but..." She bit her lip, looking at the sweets in Hank's hand, wrapped up in rainbow colours. "About... Eight?"
Hank nodded. "Okay... How many do you believe you can have before you start to feel as though you may not be able to stop?"
"I'm not sure." Carmen replied. Hank nodded.
"Okay..." He reached into the bowl and pulled out a sweet at random. "You have no allergies, am I correct?" Carmen nodded,reaching out a hand to recieve the sweet. Hank handed it to her and she looked at it.
She tugged off the wrapping and stared at the sweet in her palm. A huge wave of insecurity washed over her and she bit her lip. She looked up at Hank uncertainly. He smiled at her warmly.
"My dear, If you feel as though you don't want to do this-" She shook her head.
"Oh, No, no, no! It's not that at all." She then glanced at the sweet as though it were a stain. "it's just these have caused me so much humiliation in the past."
He rested a hand on her shoulder, looking her in the eye.
"Remember, Carmen." He began. "It's on my head." She smiled at him sympathetically. "I love you." She sighed. He smiled.
"I love you too, Carmen."
She glanced down at the sweet one last time before popping it into her mouth.
It was four sweets later that Carmen felt a burn surging through her head. She knew it very well and was scared as memorys of moments and emotions before sugar high's in the past came back to her. Throughout eating, she and Hank had been engaging in casual conversation while checking on How Carmen was feeling and how many she had eaten. She knew she needed to tell him. But then he would have her stop. She didn't want to stop. They tasted so good, each flavour danced on her tounge, all of them were different and she wanted to know each taste.
She was just about to eat another... But something stopped her.
Hank trusted her to be truthfull, and not telling him would be wrong.
She closed her hand gently and looked at him. "Hank, I'm starting to feel weird." She confirmed to him, feeling a painful pulling in her chest as though she was attempting to shut herself up. Hank looked over and nodded at her.
"Would you like to stop?" He asked
NO! "She flinched before nodded, masking over a smile. Hank then stood with Carmen who was still clutching at the sweet in her hand as though letting it go would mean death. "Okay." He nodded. "So can have aproximally four sweets before you start to feel odd." Carmen nodded.
"So if I ever want to have sweets, I should limit myself to four only." He smiled.
"Yes. Do you feel better now that it has been cleared." She nodded, bouncing on the spot excitedly.
"Oh, definatly! Much better!"
He smiled warmly. Camrne then stretched her arms up and yawned. "Wow, I'm kind of tired. I might go nap for a little bit."
Hank nodded gently. "Very well. I have erands I need to tend to myself." He leaned over, wraping an arm around her shoulder and gently kissed her on the lips, recieving a kiss back from her.
He pulled away with a chuckle. "I will see you later for dinner."
Carmen nodded and giggled. "Until then, hankie." They parted ways out of the living room. The room was still for a good minute or two, the sweet bowl remained on the table in front of the sofa.
Carmen suddenly came scampering back into the room, pratically tripping over her own feet as she reached for the sweet bowl with her now empty hands.
With both hands she scooped up large hand fulls of sweets before stuffing them into her jacket pockets before scooping up another hand full, leaving only a few sweets behind in the bowl as she left in a hasty fashion, looking about at each object in the room as though they were judging her.
A few sweets trailed behind her as she dashed out the room, her eyes wild and dialated and animalistic.
Carmen let out a soft moan as a burst of pain erupted in her mind. She reached up one hand to sooth her temple, her vision nothing but darkness.
Her finger tips only just brushed her skin before she felt somthing soothingly damp and cold gently press against her aching temple.
Her mind soothed itself enough to lay out questions, but not awnser them. Where was she? What happened? What was going on?
"Good afternood, sleeping beauty." Hank's voice was a melody to her ears and her eyes fluttered open almost instinctively, wanting to see him face to face.
He smiled at her warmly when her eyes opened. Carmen shifted in her position of lying down to being sat up a little more. She caught sight of the bed being the one she sharec with Hank, as well as the room they shared. From what she could tell by looking at the curtains draped ove rthe winow and the room being lit only by two lamps was that it was late, and she gulped as a realisation hit her.
She let out a whine of dissapointment, slumping down into the bed further.
"How bad was I...?" She asked, hesitant to know.
"It was a mirical I could get you to calm down." Her head droped slightly and the ice pack on her head slid forward. Hank gently proped it back into place as Carmen moaned.
"Oh... I am so sorry..."
Hank smiled, shifting his chair closer to the bed as he rested the back of his furry knuckle against her cheek, causing her to blush and reach up to hold his hand.
"Do not apolagise." He smiled. "After all, we both agreed that it was on my head." She shooked her head gently.
"Hank, this is in no form your fault. If I hadn't let myself do that-"
Hank cut her off as he kissed her hand. "If I hadn't suggested the idea, then you wouldn't have given way to the sweets. Therefor, I believe we both have a part of blame on our heads."
She smiled as he leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, then her nose.
"I love you very much, Carmen Merrin."
"I love you too, Hank McCoy..."