A Bun As Messy As My Life feat. The Hiccups

(A/N): double-posting today because these chapters are short and because i can ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We were a pair of glow sticks in the dark, popsicles by the time we reached the edge of town. The sun was barely kissing the horizon, streaks of golden orange brazing across the sky as my feet hit the cracked streets of Austerlitz.

What a strange name for a town.

Eli had fallen asleep with his face in my collar at some point, the saliva that had dripped from his mouth now frozen to my neck. It wasn't easy to ignore the sensation but I managed.

Austerlitz was a remarkably small town, almost hilariously so. There were almost no people to run from as I wound my way behind the brick buildings. And those who were out in the early morning weren't paying much attention outside their routine. This is a town where nothing happens. Where no one suspects.

Good.

The diner was the first building I saw with an open window. Not to mention the smell wafting out of it was almost too much to resist.

My legs were burning as I reached the back of the brick restaurant, trembling with exhaustion as I lowered Eli to the snow-covered ground. His eyes fluttered as he shifted, watching me lower myself onto one knee in front of him.

He took a deep breath through his nose. "You okay?" He mumbled.

"Fine," I panted. "Can you get up on your own?"

He stretched as he nodded, digging his fingers into the bricks to pry himself up. He was a little wobbly, but I kept him upright.

Heaving him by his legs, I managed to shove him through the back window, wincing at the small crash that followed him. After a few moments he reappeared in the opening and managed to tug me in after him.

I landed on the counter - and all the dishes covering it. I'd barely twisted out of the way before my weight tipped along with Eli's, knocking us both across the tiles and a whole pile of silver bowls clanging beside us.

My gut dropped at the sound. It was next to ear splitting in the quiet.

There were footsteps approaching the kitchen door within ten seconds of the sound.

Eli and I locked eyes for a split second before I leapt to my feet and bolted behind the door, listening to the sound of heels clicking down the hall. The door swung towards my face, a woman with dark curls and darker skin peering into the room. Eli met her eyes with a pallid face, still sprawled out among the scattered dishes.

The woman choked on her words. "You're - wait, what are you - you're one of those -"

I whirled out from behind the door, grabbing at her bare neck before she could even see me. Her mind poured into mine, my invisible fingers forcing her river of memories to part as I watched her pupils blow wide.

"Do you own this establishment?" I asked.

"No." Her voice was flat, almost numb. "My dad does."

I looked down at the black dress she wore - looking more like a waitress than a manager. She couldn't have been any older than twenty-five. "Do you work here?"

"Yes."

"Where do you live?"

"On the second floor."

I glanced back at Eli, his face still pale and his chest still heaving. "Is anyone there?"

"No."

"Then take us there," I said. "And don't let anyone see us."

She stepped away from me almost robotically, letting us follow her out a second door of the kitchen. It emptied us out on a rough set of stairs, dried leaves and dead cockroaches lining the corners as we followed her up. The door it lead us to had two deadbolts, the key she produced sticking in each of the locks for a moment before she could pull it out again.

"Must be having a theft problem," I muttered.

Eli shifted beside me. "Or a gnome problem."

The space inside wasn't much. A small, but refined kitchen. A sparse living room with an old TV and a ratted, plaid couch. A bathroom. A bedroom. And a loft leading to the master bedroom.

It was simple but clean. What little they had was neatly organized in its own place. It was still a home. Warm and comforting - though, the sudden change in temperature was lighting my cheeks and ears on fire.

I turned back towards the woman. "Go back to your work and tell no one that we are here," I said. "If anyone asks about the sound, tell them it was raccoons. When you are done with your shift, bring whatever leftover food you have to us, but let no one else up here. Do you understand?"

She gave a steady nod, her pupils hauntingly dilated. Then she turned and disappeared down the stairwell, leaving me to lock the door behind her.

Behind me, Eli let out a strangled laugh. "That's a good trick."

I slid the last bolt into place. "Let's just hope it lasts."

Eli let me shower first, seeing that I was the one far more soaked between the two of us. I nearly collapsed on the bathroom floor trying to undress myself. My clothes were freezing and sticky against my skin, wrinkling and tugging as I yanked them over my head. I was completely out of breath just getting my shirt off.

By the time I'd peeled off my socks, my feet were pulsing with pain. It was almost numbing, almost stinging, almost throbbing, and yet none of them at all. The skin was bright red under the dim bathroom lights, and the ends of my toes were hinting at white.

Frostbite.

Fantastic.

It looked to be fairly moderate case so I figured a long hot shower would do me well enough for now. As much as it hurt to stand.

I knew Eli was going to want some hot water as well, so I tried my very best not to lose track of time. But sitting under the warm water, letting it gradually soak around my aching toes, it was hard not to fall asleep standing up.

Climbing out, I wrapped myself in a towel and found a bundle of oversized pajamas Eli had left for me, probably pulled from the owner of this place's drawers. So I suppose it's not oversized for them.

The sweatshirt felt warm and soft against me, the velvety pajama pants complimenting it perfectly. I just stood there for a moment hugging myself. I couldn't remember the last time I felt so comfortable.

Dumping my sopping clothes into the washing machine, along with Eli's now that he was showering, I raked my fingers through my hair and tied it back on the messiest bun to date. I spent a solid ten seconds examining it, wondering if it could be messier than my life.

If anything could be messier than my life.

I rubbed my hands over my face as I sunk onto the couch. My limbs felt hollowed out with exhaustion, the soft warmth of the cushions coaxing my eyelids down. But I fought to keep them open. I had to keep watch - at least until Eli got out of the shower.

Forcing myself up again, I went through the drawers in the bedroom to find a pair of pajamas for Eli once he got out. The clothes made him look like he was being swallowed when he walked out of the bathroom wearing them.

I had to bite my lip to keep in the snicker.

"Not a word, Aja," He stabbed a finger in my direction, his spare hand holding up the waistband of his pants. "Not. A. Word."

I smirked as he waddled past me. "Guess we're even, then."

Grabbing the remote off the TV stand, Eli flipped it on to some infomercial channel promoting a new way to get rid of wrinkles. "You can sleep if you want," He said, his eyes not leaving the screen. "You look about ready to pass out."

"I am," I sighed, sinking into the corner of the couch again.

"Go ahead," He began flipping through the different channels. "I've got this for now."

I fell asleep to a woman gushing over an "antique" jewelry set.

It felt like almost no time at all had passed before I woke up to the sound of the door being unlocked.

I bolted off the couch, exhaustion replaced with adrenaline as I swung my head around looking for Eli. The TV was still on, some cartoon rerun from when I was still in grade school, but Eli was nowhere to be found.

The last bolt came undone and I went rigid.

The woman from before stepped through the doorway, three styrofoam to-go boxes in her arms. Her face was still blank. Pupils dilated. Hands steady and sure as she laid the boxes out on the table.

I exhaled a breath so deep it was painful. We were safe. But it still took several minutes to get my breathing under control.

With the boxes on the table, the woman stood to the side, watching me with an eerily calm disposition. But the scent of the food won over my attention. Scrambled eggs. French toast. Freshly diced fruits. Bacon.

My hands dove forward before I told them to, grabbing at the plastic fork that had come with the box and shoveling the food into my mouth. I was practically drooling as I ate, a thousand flavors exploding in my mouth at once and God it was good. I didn't even notice when the door to the bedroom opened.

"Please tell me I smell what I think I smell."

I turned at the sound of Eli's voice, watching him in the doorway of the room, hands still bunched around the waistband of his pants.

I sighed through a mouthful of french toast. "There you are, you had me worried."

"Yeah," He glanced up and down at my form hunching over the table. "I can see that."

I shrugged. "I got distracted."

"Well," He approached the table with hungry eyes. "It's not a bad thing to be distracted over."

Sitting beside me and grabbing the spare fork, he dove into the eggs and sausages, while I grabbed at the diced fruit with my fingers.

"Yeesh, Aja," Eli snickered at me. "Slow down, you're gonna give yourself the hiccups."

I stuffed half a pancake into my mouth. "You can't tell me what to do."

"Oh, by the way," Eli said through another bite. "I found a computer in the other room, it's busted but I managed to get it fixed enough for the internet to run on it again."

The woman let out a small gasp, barely even a breath. I almost didn't catch it, but her eyes gave it away. The blankness was slowly peeling back, revealing a kind of sympathy hiding in her eyes. But the second she saw I was watching, it vanished.

She swallowed.

Dropping the fork, I locked my hand around her wrist, diving into her mind to see what she'd done in the last few hours. Who she had talked to. If she had said anything about us. If she had called -

She hadn't.

I could feel my control over her, the invisible hands still gripping tight. I hardened it anyway, watching her pupils blow out even more. The blank facade returned. And I released her hand.

By the time the to-go boxes were completely cleared out, my stomach felt happily and heartily full. I couldn't remember the last time I'd eaten enough comfort food to feel that way.

Dumping the boxes into the garbage, Eli lead me back into the bedroom to a small desktop perched on a desk in the corner. It looked old and beat, but the screen was still blinking with life.

"How did you fix it?" I asked, leaning over Eli's shoulder as he sat in the desk chair.

"Just messed with it until the right wires crossed," He shrugged. "Figured it was the least we could do, you know, squatting in their house and all."

Hiccup.

I clapped a hand over my mouth, Eli lowering his eyebrows at me over his shoulder. "Hm," He deadpanned. "I wonder who could've predicted that."

I kicked his chair, hiccuping a second time. "Just tell me what you found."

Clicking through the browser, he brought up a map of the town and the surrounding train stations. Even a few bus routes. "If we take this line, it'll take just under two days to get to Philadelphia, but if we -"

Hiccup.

"Try holding your breath for thirty seconds," Eli said. "Or no, actually, try drinking water upside down -"

"Eli." Hiccup. "Focus."

"Right," He turned back to the screen. "Anyway, there's this other line that will take a whole day off our trip -"

"Lively." Hiccup.

"But," He glanced at me over his shoulder. "It comes with a risk. The line is more frequently traveled, meaning more people to notice us. Not to mention it passes through a lot of creep territory."

"But if it -" Hiccup. "- takes a whole day off our journey, that's worth it. The sooner we get to Krel the better."

Eli cringed. "I don't know, Aja. We can't help Krel if we get killed by creeps. Or if we're caught and shipped into a camp."

Hiccup. "So let's not get caught."

"We can afford another day -"

"But Krel might not," I said. "He is carrying the most valuable information in the country - maybe even the world - as we speak, Eli. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

He sighed, leaning back in the chair. For a moment, he didn't say anything. Just squinting as he studied the screen.

Hiccup.

"Fine," He finally said. "We'll do it your way."

I smiled. "Fantastic."

"But," He swerved around in the chair, stabbing a finger at me. "After this, we're not taking any more risks, got it? Once we get to Philly, we're doing things my way."

"Sure, Peppers," I ruffled his hair. "Whatever you say."