Almost Normal

I woke up quickly, sensing Zack was already awake. I yawned and rolled to my feet. With this many people in the apartment, I was going to get to the shower before any of the others could. I hurried out the door and down the hall towards the bathroom.

I stopped and stared at the scene in front of me.

"You stole all the covers. I was freezing!" Syl growled, smacking Krit hard with

a pillow.

"I only stole them because I knew you would if you had the chance. Besides, you're smaller, you need less." Krit replied, ducking a second swing of the pillow.

"And you snore!" Syl accused.

"Do not! That was you!"

"Liar!"

"You wish."

I coughed and they both froze, their gazes snapping over to me. Krit grinned sheepishly.

"Morning, Cade."

"Morning." I replied, "Little sibling rivalry?"

"You could say that." Syl agreed.

"Snored." Krit said quickly.

"Cover hog." Syl snapped back, elbowing him.

They both continued to smile at me until I shook my head and continued on to the bathroom. My shower time is sacred. Krit and Syl's antics would not cut in on that time.

***

I hated dreaming I decided as I woke up from another heat-induced dream. But there was an incredible upside. I was starting to feel normal again. I could think about stupid things like the colors in my room instead of only thinking about Krit. I still couldn't really think about Krit without my blood going hot, but hopefully that would wear off in a little while. Not that I ever could really think about Krit without feeling funny.

I got up and changed my clothes. I must be getting better. I could actually think about putting on clean clothes.

Still had the handcuffs on. That was getting annoying really quickly. But I didn't have the key and I wasn't about to try and get them off the hard way.

I was feeling so much better now. I really wanted to be let out of this room.

Ever since I got out of Manticore, I've always been a little edgy about enclosed spaces. I don't like to be isolated. I don't mind being alone as long as it's my choice to be so. And it wasn't right now.

"Max! Cade! Syl!" I yelled, pounding on the door, "Let me out!"

No one was answering. I found my watch and saw that it was still pretty early.

They were probably asleep. Well, Max didn't sleep, but she might not even be here.

"Wake up!" I yelled, throwing a shoe against the wall that connected with Syl's room.

I heard a bang in response and smiled.

"Will you knock it off, Ty!" I heard Max's voice.

"Max! Please! I want to talk!" I yelled back.

I knew she wouldn't automatically believe me if I told her "I'm all better". I had tried that too many times already just to see what they would do.

Ten minutes later I heard the sound of something heavy being dragged away from my door. Then, the door opened and Max walked in.

"What?" she demanded.

"I know you probably won't believe me, but I really think I'm out of it." I said.

Max frowned and looked at me skeptically.

"Alright." she said slowly, "Say the first thing that comes to mind."

"Okay." I nodded.

"Night."

"Time."

"Zack."

"Jerk."

"Handcuffs."

"Wrist." I said, holding up mine.

"Hot."

"Desert."

"Krit."

"Spit."

"Ewww." Max said, looking at me weird.

"Long story." I said quickly.

Max frowned again. I could tell she was thinking over whether or not I was totally back to normal. She suddenly got a look on her face that made me think she was going to do something that she didn't want to.

"Stay here." she said and slipped out the door.

She reappeared a minute later with Krit.

"Max?" Krit asked, confused.

Max wasn't paying attention to him, but was watching me intently to see what I did. I still had an intense desire to walk over and kiss Krit, but that could be counted as normal. At least, I was still standing in the same spot. I hadn't tackled him to the floor the minute I saw him.

Max smiled.

"I think you check out, Ty." she said.

I smiled, glad she believed me.

"No offense, but I still don't want to leave you two alone." she said, gesturing towards the door. I nodded in understanding and exited. Today was starting off very well.

***

Again, I stopped and stared when I walked out of the bathroom and saw Ty sitting at the kitchen counter, drinking milk.

"I'm assuming your better since you're not rolling around on the floor with Krit." I deadpanned.

Ty smiled and nodded. She was obviously very happy to have gotten that over with. I would be, too, if I was in her position.

I was expecting some smart remark from Krit, but he was surprisingly silent. And he was sitting on the couch, some distance from Ty. He wasn't even looking at her. He actually seemed...shy? Nervous? Almost like he didn't know how to behave around Ty anymore. Understandable, I supposed.

"Syl's making bacon sandwiches." Ty said, "Zack really likes those, if I remember correctly. You might want to go wake him up."

I nodded and went to go get Zack. I should probably warn him about Ty, too, before he walked in and freaked out. Would probably deck Krit before he noticed that they weren't anywhere near each other. He'd actually probably be pretty happy with how they were acting now.

I slipped into the room to find Zack climbing out the window.

"Honey, what are you doing?"

I think if it had been anyone, but him they would have fallen. Seeing as it was Zack, he just sighed and stepped fully back into the room.

"You were supposed to take a longer shower."

"Sorry to disappoint." I replied, "Where were you going?"

"Take out that guy named Royce." Zack said, without looking at me, "I didn't want you or Max to start again about coming with me."

"Zack."

He looked at me questioningly.

"You're an idiot."

Zack just looked at me.

"You're not going to let me talk you out of this very easily are you?" I pressed.

Zack shook his head.

"Well, before you go I have some things I should tell you. Ty's better, she's in the living room. DayTechCore sent men after us yesterday, the retreated once they confirmed that we were Manticore. At least, that's what it looked like. They shot their own men to keep them from being interrogated. I only knew it was DayTechCore because I saw it on the van." I said.

"You should have told me that before." Zack replied, frowning.

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, well. But I just want you to know that these guys are serious. I don't think it'll be very easy to get to Royce. I think we should check out that McCallen guy first."

Zack paused, seeing the sense in what I was saying. At least, I hoped he did. If he didn't, I might have to beat it into him.

"And I'm coming with you." I added.

Suddenly the door opened and Syl, Max, Krit, Logan and Ty fell to the floor. Zack and I both glared at them. They had obviously been listening in through the door and the door had collapsed in under their weight.

"Oh, Max! There's your earring!" Logan said.

"Max doesn't wear earrings." Zack said.

"He meant Syl!" Krit said quickly.

"Neither does Syl." I said, my voice just as stiff as Zack's.

"Logan?" Krit offered.

Zack and I both shook our heads.

"Oh, screw it. We're coming to." Max said, getting up.

"No, you're not." Zack said.

"Yes, we are." Max said firmly, matching his gaze, "You couldn't take us all on last time, what makes you think you can now?"

"That was different. This time, you could get killed."

"None of us are going to get killed. We're not going into Manticore. We're just going to check up on some old ex-military guy." Syl said.

"You're not thinking of all the possibilities, the worst case scenario." Zack replied.

"Sure, I am. And I know we can handle it." Syl replied.

Krit, Ty and Max nodded in agreement. Zack shook his head.

"No."

"Don't be an asshole. Just nod and act pouty." Max instructed.

Zack glared at her.

"Don't push me, Max."

"Don't threaten her, Zack." Logan said.

We all stared at Logan. How stupid was he?

"Not today, Wonder Boy. Not today." Zack said, turning his back on them, "Alright. You can come. But only if you all agree to follow any and all of my orders on the mission."

"Yes, sir!" they all chorused.

They wisely chose not to push their luck and got out of the room quickly.

"I suppose you're disappointed that we're not being good, little soldiers." I said.

"Actually, I've come to expect it." Zack said, catching me by surprise. I felt him come up behind me and wrap his arms around my waist.

"Especially from you." he continued.

"Well, you should." I said, finding myself no longer mad at him. Zack didn't reply for what seemed like a long time. Finally, he stepped back and I turned to look at him.

"Suit up, soldier. We've got a mission." he informed me.

I gave him a crisp, mock-salute and went with him to go to the place where we had stashed our things.

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I'm not so sure about the title of this chapter, but whatever. I think the next chapter will really be great from the ideas that Cade and I have been sharing. I think you'll enjoy it. Thanks for reading!

Ty