I'll Be The One

Chapter 26:

=Normal POV=
[Friday, 2/15/2019-8:45 am]
[Archipelago; Arc Isle]
[Dreki Apartment; A1]

Hunter despised being sick because when it happened; he got it as bad as it could be. Hunter ended up missing Thursday's class and work due to being so sick that he could barely leave his bed. Hunter never got the chance to talk to Gregory, but thankfully; he'd started to feel better around 1 am this morning and decided to pray that he'd be well enough to do handle Friday. The friends hadn't been over because Flynn told them Hunter was still sick; they didn't want to bother Hunter if he was trying to rest. Flynn did get the shopping done; he even picked up some light stuff for Hunter to have while not feeling good. Hunter managed to get his missed assignments, and catch up on everything; he would get it by e-mail from his teachers, do the work if he was awake and then send it back. Currently, Hunter was still sleeping because he stayed up late to finish the last of the make-up work. Also, Flynn had the friends over because they were doing breakfast together while they had the morning off.

"How is he doing?" Tallon inquired.

"As far as I know, still sick," Flynn replied. "I haven't gotten to speak with him since I went shopping,"

"Did he say what was making him sick?" Harper wondered.

"No, but I think he mentioned having a fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, no appetite, fatigue, stomachache," Flynn shrugged.

"That sucks, must have been a bug or something? This is…Day three, isn't it?" Avery said.

"Well, four if he's still sick. I haven't seen him this morning, so I'm wondering if he isn't going to class again. He missed Wednesday and Thursday, plus called out of work on Thursday," Flynn stated.

"Fuck!" yelled Hunter's voice.

"Sounds like he's mad…" Trevor mentioned. Not more than two minutes later, Hunter rushed out of the bedroom, stuffing his keys, wallet, and phone into his pocket and making sure his bag had everything in it.

"Hunter? Are you alright?" Tallon asked.

"Nope. I'm still sick; I forgot to set the alarm, and I have class in literally five minutes…" Hunter zipped his bag, throwing on his coat, and heading for the door. "See you guys later!" he headed out.

"Poor guy," Madison frowned. "Seems like his mood towards us is a little better,"

"Perhaps, but best we don't test the waters and let him come to us," Drew offered. "We don't want to take that chance and ruin what minimal progress we might have made,"

"That's right. Hunter told us that he'd let us know when he was ready," Elijah nodded. The group sat there relaxing and talking while Flynn and Harper made breakfast. After ten minutes, the door to the apartment opened and Hunter walked back in looking annoyed.

"Did you…Forget something?" Flynn asked.

"Yeah…It's fucking Friday and I don't have class until 2 pm…I thought it was Thursday…Where I have class at 9 am…" Hunter mumbled.

"You…Feel up to eating?" Harper wondered.

"Still don't have much of an appetite, but I haven't thrown up yet this morning and would prefer to keep it that way. I'll pass, thanks," Hunter said.

"You've barely eaten anything since Tuesday, Hunter…" Flynn mentioned, not wanting to upset him.

"Flynn…I'm fine. Okay? I'll be fine. If I can get through the rest of the morning without throwing up at the smell or sight of food; I'll eat lunch. But for now; I don't want to push it," Hunter informed. "It's just how my body works when I'm sick. My immune system sucks, so when I get sick, whether it be a cold, bug, or the flu…I get it as bad as it can possibly get. I'm talking all symptoms. If I try to push something before I know if I can do it; it gets worse and I've been hospitalized in the past for it. I'd really prefer not to pass out and have to go back…"

"You've been hospitalized for being sick?" Tallon questioned.

"When I was younger, as a kid, and into my teens. Around sixteen or so, with some help from Jay; I found out how to avoid the hospital as long as I don't push myself. I have some of my appetite back, but not enough to eat; it'll just put me back at square one with puking again," Hunter explained. "I'll get too weak to move, I'll be in pain, the throwing up becomes constant, the fever gets worse, I won't be able to keep anything down, and at some point; I'll black out,"

"Odin above…That sucks, Hunter," Seth said.

"I know…But if I take it easy; I'll be fine. I haven't thrown up since yesterday around 12:30…If I can make it to that today; I'll be alright. Everything is basically gone except some fatigue and a bit of nausea. Since I don't have class until 2 pm; I'm gonna crawl back into bed for another couple hours, and hopefully wake up feeling normal," Hunter moved to his room. "Flynn…Why is the temp of the apartment at forty degrees?" Hunter asked.

"I…Don't know. I usually keep it at sixty-five, at least. We only turn it up if it's gonna be really cold," Hunter moved into his room and came back out.

"Yeah, my room is about forty, maybe a bit under," Hunter went to raise the temperature, but found it wasn't working. "I'd contact the landlords, or maintenance, Flynn. Heater isn't responding, and it's supposed to get really cold tonight; we've got a storm warning," he advised. "Scratch that…Storm should be starting in an hour. Classes just got cancelled at the university for today," he checked his phone after it dinged. "And we're in state of emergency, ordered by my father. Best to stay indoors, check on elderly neighbors; the works,"

"On it," Flynn grabbed his phone. After a few minutes, Flynn sighed.

"It's out all over the building; workers are already trying to fix it before tonight," Flynn reported. "What do we do?"

"Shut all the doors, blinds, and curtains," Hunter informed as he grabbed something from his bedroom and brought it out.

"What the heck is that?" TJ asked.

"Seriously?" Hunter arched a brow. "You've never seen a space heater before?" Hunter asked.

"That's what that is. It looks like a radiator, old-timey ones," Avery said. Hunter gave a bored look as he plugged it in and turned it on.

"Something I live by is expect the unexpected. On the off chance the heat stops working…I made sure to have a space heater that uses electricity. It won't cover the entire apartment, but it should be fine for these two spaces," Hunter enlightened. "And if we happen to lose power…I have a generator out that window that runs on gas. There's a full tank in already, and two spares,"

"Won't they get buried by the storm?" Roxanne questioned.

"No, because I keep it all in an outside storage box. All I have to do is open the window and wipe the snow off the top to access it," Hunter rolled his eyes. "You guys are all welcome to stay here where it's warm…" he added to the others.

"Thanks, Hunter…" Trevor said gratefully. The group knew that Hunter didn't have to be this nice; he could have told them to get out, but he let then stay and stay warm.

"Besides…More people means more bodies in the room, which can help keep things warm…" Hunter added. "And you're welcome. Like I said…Despite what happened; I'm not an asshole…And I don't let people I care about suffer…" Hunter heard his phone ringing. "What, Dad?" he answered.

"It's Greg, laddie. My phone broke; your father knows not to bother you right now…" Gregory informed.

"Oh. What did you do to your phone?" Hunter asked.

"I dropped it by accident, and then ran it over…" Gregory sighed.

"Ouch. Sorry, Uncle Greg. Anyway…What did you call for?" Hunter inquired.

"Did you receive the weather alert that went out?" Gregory said.

"I did," Hunter replied.

"Heard reports you're sick. Your dad is worried," Gregory mentioned.

"Well, tell him to relax. It's just a bug that I'm basically over. I'm just kind'a tired now," Hunter stated.

"I'll pass the message along to him," Gregory assured.

"He's sitting right next to you and I'm on speakerphone…Right?" Hunter questioned. Silence. "Greg…" Hunter said.

"Sorry, Sal. Come on, you knew he'd figure it out…" Gregory sighed.

"Excuse me for caring," Salvatore mumbled. "Hunter, this storm is supposed to be bad. A lot of snow and wind, expected outages. Why don't you come home before it starts?"

"I'll tough it out in my apartment, thanks," Hunter remarked. "I know storm protocol, Dad. Come on, this is the Barbaric Archipelago; it snows nine months of the year and hails the other three. I've lived here all my life, so it's not my first rodeo dealing with a freak storm," Hunter rolled his eyes.

"I'd feel better if you came home," Salvatore stated.

"And I'd feel better if you hadn't lied to me about reducing my security, and doing so only by illusion where you really had me being protected me undercover! But hey…We don't all get what we want, do we?" Hunter scoffed. "It's cool, Dad. Don't even worry about it; I know now that I can't ask you for anything because you'll in some way find a way to go behind my back to suit your wants because you don't trust me. I'm staying put, thank you very much. I have space heaters, a generator, fully stocked house on food and drinks, first aid shit, medicine, and blankets. I'm good,"

"I told you it was a stupid decision two weeks ago when it happened, Sal. What do you expect? How do you expect him to respond to you?" Gregory sighed heavily. "All he asked for was some freedom, for you to trust him. He's right; you gave him the illusion of what he wanted while you also made sure what you wanted was met. I warned you to be careful with what you chose to do on the matter. You made your choice, and now, you have to live with it,"

"Well, why isn't he mad at you then. You were there the day I chose it!" Salvatore huffed.

"I was there when you decided to reduce security to two guards per shift, maintained at a distance. I left to take a call when you clearly made the other one while you spoke with Director Raseri…I had no idea," Gregory retorted. "I was just as shocked as him,"

"Hunter! I'm sorry!" Salvatore tried.

"Yeah…Me too," Hunter ended the call and groaned. "And before someone says or suggests it; you're fine. I'm not mad at you, and you're okay to stay," he added. "And the headache is back…"

"Here," Tallon got up off the love seat. "Come lay down and rest, Hunter. You said you wanted to get a bit more sleep anyway,"

"I can sleep in my room," Hunter said.

"It's cold in there; you don't need to get sicker…Lay down," Madison told him. "We can keep it down for you,"

"I actually have a harder time falling asleep if it's dead quiet, so I don't mind the background noise," Hunter informed.

"Come on," Tallon patted the couch. Hunter did still feel like shit and he should rest. Sighing, he moved to his room to change into something comfortable before coming back out with a blanket over his arm. Hunter laid down on the couch and draped the blanket over himself. It didn't take more than twenty minutes for Hunter appeared to be sleeping.

"Seems like he's madder at his dad," Trevor mentioned.

"He's hurt, which can be displayed as anger or sadness. And sometimes both," Tallon told them. "It's only been a couple of weeks since things happened,"

"Well, we're off the job now, aren't we?" Avery asked as Trevor nodded. "Despite the work, we all became friends with him. Still doing our job of protecting him, but all those hangouts at the hideout…The nights of talking, joking, drinking casually…That wasn't fake. Those weren't planned to keep an eye on him; they just happened. Hunter was never supposed to know about Odin's Dragons…We were told specifically not to include him in that…"

"And we did anyway," Drew nodded.

"Tallon, it was you who let him in. Calling him a friend…We put both jobs at risk to be Hunter's friend…" Elijah informed.

"Doesn't matter what we did if two weeks ago Hunter saw me call in that he was safe, and all of you were there standing with the others to protect him. Even if we did become friends, we betrayed him by not telling him the truth of how we ended up in his life and for what reason we were put there…" Tallon reminded.

"But Tallon, you're not listening…Hunter considered us friends before the job was put in place. When he helped us in that fight…We had met Hunter long before that night, and he helped us of his own accord…We were in his life before the mission was given…" Avery stated.

"Avery is right…Our paths technically crossed the night before, and he considered us friends before the he found out about Odin's Dragons. The mission only made it so we were around him more…" Seth agreed.

"I have to agree. All those things we did together at the hideout…That was friends, not mission. We were told to keep an eye on him, but not intervene unless it was an emergency," Trevor told Tallon.

"We chose to be his friends," Drew said. "Us doing so wasn't part of our objective regarding him,"

"Our friendship was real; we just…Need the chance to show Hunter that," Elijah mentioned.

"Regardless of all this, guys…Hunter still felt betrayed that we didn't tell him the truth…And to be honest; I planned to. The night of the inauguration…I asked Hunter if we could talk, and he said sure…But then everything happened…" Tallon replied. "And if we push the issue before he's ready to talk to us about it; we could lose him for good. So, you will shush up and leave it alone. Hunter will come to us,"

"We know," the others nodded. Of course, unknown to them; Hunter hadn't been totally asleep when they started talking about the subject. Hunter stayed quiet, pretending to be asleep. Perhaps it was wrong to eavesdrop, but this kind of had to do with him and the situation two weeks ago, so Hunter didn't feel wrong about it. Hearing everything, Hunter considered the idea of talking to them and hearing their side. It seemed like he should give them a chance to explain; he'd calmed down a bit from things. Hunter needed to wait until he was better first and still talk to Gregory. Once that was taken care of; he would speak with the others and get their side. Maybe they were really his friends, but he still wanted to know why they didn't tell him the truth; he could have accepted that.

Unfortunately; Hunter knew he couldn't do much right this moment because he was sick and feeling a bit like before when he had a fever, headache, and moderate nausea. Hunter would deal with everything when he finally felt better. It was more than talking about what happened, Hunter needed tackle his feelings for Tallon too and it would be a separate, more private conversation between just the two of them. For now; he had to focus on getting better. Shifting slightly; Hunter turned a bit and finally let sleep take him away.