Sorry for taking so long to update with another chapter! I wanted to make it longer, but couldn't figure out a way to do so without making it feel unnatural, so I declared this chapter finished but didn't post it because of things going on.
Chapter 2 Summary: Clockwork vacation begins and there's some uncertainty about it but luckily for her, she can always rely on Jazz.
disclaimer: nuhuh.
Clockwork wakes up when the sunlight hits her face. She slowly sits up and attempts to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes, only to be unsuccessful. Clockwork begins to stand up but a hand catches her wrist and gently pulls her back down into the pillowy mattress.
"Go back to sleep," Dan whispers sleepily as he drapes his arm over her stomach and pulls her closer to him. "It's too early."
Clockwork buries herself in his side, pulls the blanket back over them and goes back to sleep.
When she truly wakes up, she wakes up to the smell of pancakes and eggs wafting throughout the small hotel room and Dan's content humming while he cooks. Stretching out in the bed, she rolls in the blankets, wrapping herself in the blanket's warmth before it seeps out and becomes a cold lump of sadness.
She feels a hand rest on her arm, gently shaking her. Clockwork turns her head to see Dan sitting next to her holding two plates of food.
"I can't eat all of this by myself," Dan says.
"Sure you can." Clockwork teases as she sits up, still huddled in the blankets. She grabs the bottle of syrup, pouring it over her pancakes and eggs, and began eating.
After a few bites, "This is really good!"
Dan waves her off dismissively, "All I did was follow a recipe, anyone can do that."
"Not everyone. Where'd you get the food?"
"There was a grocery store a few blocks away," Dan answers, shoveling eggs into his mouth. "Went in, got some stuff, walked out and no one saw me."
"You mean you stole it." Clockwork says with a glower.
"Being the harbinger of the apocalypse doesn't really bring in an income, you know." Dan snarks, waving his fork around emphatically. "It's not like you're drowning in money either."
"Correction, I am 'drowning in money.'" She says.
"How much?"
"Quite a bit."
"Cheesehead rich?"
"...Richer. I could essentially crush capitalism and make the US dollar absolutely worthless if I felt like it." She says, ruthlessly stabbing some of her pancakes. "I could have given you a debit card to pay for it."
"You don't have one."
"Didn't." Clockwork corrects, "I got one after our midnight talk about NASA. I've been thinking about doing this since that night."
"I just wanted to be nice and surprise you with breakfast." Dan grumbles, deep frown lines creasing on his forehead. "It wasn't supposed to end with you lecturing me about my morals."
Gently, Clockwork puts her fork down and leans in to hug Dan. "It was great and I liked it. Thanks."
The sudden skin on skin contact causes Dan's cheeks to flush a dark green, and he awkwardly returns the hug before pushing Clockwork off of him. "It's whatever." He grouses, attempting to fight the pride and embarrassment that was stirring in his chest. "What do you want to do today nerd?"
"Watch cartoons?" Clockwork suggests, fishing around in her backpack to pull out her laptop.
"Amazing World of Gumball?"
"As if we would watch anything else!" Clockwork says with a smile, pulling hulu up and starting the episode. She leans back against the headboard and pats the empty spot beside her. Dan scoots back, leaning his body into hers, allowing himself to relax as he watches the episode.
They're currently out in the downtown area, venturing through the Square, exploring the small shops scattered throughout the downtown area.
Right now, she's out in the downtown area, venturing through the Square, three footsteps behind Dan as they explore the city and venture through the small shops scattered throughout the downtown. The two ghosts first stopped at an ice cream, each buying a pint of ice cream to slurp down on as they made way. No one mentions how Dan started a war on toppings when he 'accidentally' threw a handful of sprinkles at another customer and the eventual chaos that ensues afterwards. Surprisingly, they weren't banned from the ice cream shop(the workers wouldn't stop giggling at how two grown men wouldn't stop throwing sprinkles at each other) and got another helping of ice cream.
Dan vehemently denies that he started 'The Topping Wars', as civilians called it, just to get Clockwork smiling as that is absolutely absurd and he doesn't need to make people happy...but it did make his day when she starts spiraling into a raucous laughter with other customers.
With two generous helpings of ice cream, they end up at the local park full of small children playing with their parents. Dan and Clockwork end up under a secluded tree away from the families and he pulls out a small picnic blanket with food. He sets it up in relative silence, upon finishing, he smirks smugly as he presents the Time Master her surprise picnic.
"Is this what I had to do to be pampered?" Clockwork teases, a coy smile stretching across her face as she reaches out for some grapes and pops one in her mouth.
"Don't read too much into it," Dan grouses, fixing himself a salad. "It's a nice day outside,, can't we just enjoy our picnic without you making it weird?"
"I'm not the one who's making it weird," Clockwork snarks, grabbing some whip cream laying next to a pie, spraying it into her hand and smacks Dan's cheek, giggling when the whip splatters everywhere. "Enjoy the picnic, you idiot."
His heart flutters when he hears her giggle, he hides the smile that was about to bloom, licks the whip cream off his face and digs into his salad.
There's something gnawing at Clockwork's stomach for the past few days and she can't really figure out what it is exactly that's causing it. She tries to pass it off as jitters, hunger, getting a proper sleep schedule, everything that was in the realm of blaming but it didn't make the crippling uneasiness and hollowness go away.
She would ask Dan how to make it go away but knowing him, he'd tell her to get a nerf gun and shoot her feelings away. She knows that's a censored version of what he really wants to do, it still wouldn't make this feeling go away.
Pandora and Nocturne didn't know about this so they were out.
At some point, she really did consider asking Danny and his friends but she writes it off since it would be weird to ask fourteen year olds how to deal with your problems.
Jazz, on the other hand, is perfect to talk about these things with. With great hesitation, Clockwork sends out a quick text 'i need advice'
Seconds later, *okay. send a portal?*
Without thinking Clockwork opens a portal and Jazz Fenton steps through the portal.
"Hey," Jazz says, noticing the room, "Where are we?"
"Hotel," Clockwork answers nonchalantly. "It was the first place Dan and I lucked upon."
"Speaking of Dan, where is he?" Jazz says, sitting down on the bed.
"He's out, wouldn't tell me where." Clockwork says, sitting next to Jazz.
Straight to the point, "What's eating you Clockwork?" Jazz rests a hand on Clockwork's shoulder to ease the Time Master's anxieties.
"I work too much."
"Obviously," Jazz says, "Everyone's who ever known you has been telling you to take a vacation for forever."
Ignoring the sarcasm in her voice, Clockwork continues on, "So I take a vacation, I drop everything and leave my citadel behind. I'm sleeping more, i'm eating more, I'm actually taking care of myself but nothing still feels right. I thought this vacation was suppose to fix things, so why don't I feel better? Why am I still feeling empty?"
Jazz was quiet for a few minutes, mulling over what the Time Master just told her. "You're having an existential crisis." She explains, "Millenia of overworking yourself and not taking proper care of yourself really wears you down. This sudden, impulsive decision of deciding to take a vacation is proof of that. Like most people, you think doing simple 'self care' things like getting proper sleep, proper eating habits will automatically fix your problems and make you feel better but it's not going to."
"How long is it going to take for this feeling to go away?"
"I can't exactly say," Jazz starts off, "Since your issues are more deeply rooted with several traumatic events, it's going to take a longer time for you. Things like this aren't linear, and you shouldn't get angry with yourself for not being 'recovered' as quickly as you think you should be."
"What-"
Jazz holds a finger to quiet Clockwork, "In the meantime, learn how to relax. Learn to just be in the moment, and just be yourself. It's difficult, I know but if you want to have a good time on this vacation of yours, you have to do those things, understand?"
Slowly, Clockwork nods.
"Good." Jazz gives Clockwork a tight, warm hug before the Time Master opens a portal for the teen to go home.
"Think about what I said, it'll go a long way." Jazz says as she steps into the portal, the portal closing behind her.
Seconds after the portal closes, the door to the room opens and Dan steps through the door, holding up two ticket passes. "There's an indoor kart racing in the Metro. Wanna go?"
Jazz's word's echo in Clockwork's head, 'Learn how to relax. Learn to just be in the moment, and just be yourself' and with a smile, "Yea, I just have to get dressed."
"Dress comfortably, we're doing quite a bit of walking," Dan warns, "Bring water too, it's pretty warm out."
As Clockwork goes to get dressed, she thinks that she's finally starting to learn how to relax.
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