“Uhm…”

“Hello…”

“Wake up…”

Zeel awakened to the gentle nudging of Henry…

He wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but the lack of any dreams was a welcomed experience…

Recently, every time he attempted to sleep, Zeel would be dragged into his mindscape with the cute monster known as Lorien…

And talking to Lorien felt like walking on Planetary Cores, or as the humans would call it – walking on eggshells…

“Hey… wake up!” Henry shook Zeel a couple more times, and the mentally exhausted Homo-Superior examined Henry from head to toe…

‘She’s a bit thinner but otherwise fine…’ He thought, irritably so…

“What do you want?” Zeel groaned, swaying side to side as Henry shook him without pause…

“Do you know where my phone is?” Henry questioned, brushing her hands all over the hospital bed to find something that clearly wasn’t there…

And it wasn’t on the bedside table either…

Neither the ground…

Zeel snorted, not in a particularly good mood since he lost Nara the previous night “And why would I know that?”

Henry directed a deadpanned look at Zeel as if expecting him to answer his own question, and when he didn’t, she decided to answer it for him…

Henry pointed at Zeel’s attire, and rolled her eyes “Aren’t you the doctor?”

Zeel glanced at his shoulders and noted the white coat he grabbed and used as a covering the previous night…

It was just a covering so the nurses wouldn’t notice he was in the room, but it backfired…

This could indeed cause a misunderstanding, but Zeel was never someone to admit when he was wrong…

Zeel shrugged and decided to continue his half-truths “I am knowledgeable and competent enough to give you my medical diagnosis…”

“Then can you medically divine the location of my phone?” Henry asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice…

She was rapidly growing annoyed with Zeel’s presence in the room…

As a patient that only recently awakened from a seizure, Henry had to wonder if the hospital was trying to ensure she underwent another seizure due to Zeel’s presence in the room…

“Can’t you just ping the device?” Zeel questioned, wondering if Henry was illiterate or something close to it…

“I would need my phone to ping my phone…” Henry explained “It’s the only thing I have…”

“Then that’s pretty dumb…” Zeel replied, “And I have to question your sanity for purchasing a device that when lost, you need the device to find the device…”

“I could use another computer or something…” Henry scratched her head, squinting her eyes as a session of critical thinking was activated…

Zeel sighed and worried that Henry would pop a couple of blood vessels, so he decided to help “Your mom has your phone…”

“Fuck…” Henry muttered, concerned if Cleo would check the pictures and find proof of all the Graffiti she left all over the place “I have sensitive information on that shit…”

“Then…” Zeel paused for dramatic effect and rubbed his hands together in front of Henry’s face, stopping only when a phone materialized in his palm “… it’s a good thing I stole the phone from your mom before she left…”

Zeel handed the phone to Henry and she carefully retrieved the device from his hands, all the while eyeing Zeel suspiciously…

“I think…” Henry paused, flicked on her phone, and did a cursory examination “No… I definitely know we can hang out sometimes…”

“I don’t ‘hang out’…” Zeel explained, rising from the chair to stretch his body before resuming his seated position “I have enemies and people who haven’t become my enemies as yet…”

“Well…” Henry shifted her body in the bed, pushing her hands into her gown until she retrieved a bundle of green shrubs “I will be your first friend… and as a personal rule, we smoke a blunt together to become friends…”

Zeel frowned, examining Henry even more thoroughly “You’re naked under that gown… where did you get the cannabis?”

“No comment…” Henry replied, looking everywhere for a lighter and wrapper, but she paused suddenly and turned to Zeel “How do you know I was naked under this gown…”

Zeel tilted his head to avoid eye contact “No comment…”

Henry nodded “Touché…”

“Peace offering…” Zeel asked, offering Henry her lighter and wrapper that had somehow magically appeared in his hands “I stole these from your mother first, then I stole the phone…”

Henry picked the twigs from the cannabis in her dime bag, then she rubbed her fingers together and broke the shrubs into finer grains…

After she was finished with the grinding, Henry grabbed the wrapper from Zeel’s hand and carefully placed the cannabis inside, licking the edge of the paper as she rolled the wrapper into the perfect joint…

“I accept the peace offering…” Henry stated, bending her body in a mock bowing gesture “Your royal highness…”

Then, Henry placed the joint between her lips and leaned closer to Zeel’s hands, all the while wiggling her brows to convey what she wanted him to do…

Understanding what Henry wanted, Zeel lit the tip of her joint and sat down once more…

Henry took three puffs, and then passed the joint to Zeel who took three puffs as well, and passed the joint back to Henry…

The cannabis didn’t have any effect on Zeel, but he smoked alongside Henry anyway since the ritual of sharing a smoke with his future Mbeamer was stress-relieving…

“So…” Henry started the conversation “I was hoping you’d be high enough to tell me why you’re being a fake doctor…”

“So, this was an interrogation?” Zeel questioned, wiggling his brows out of mere giddiness…

Apparently, the weed was affecting Zeel a bit more than he realized…

Henry laughed, attempting to wiggle her brows as Zeel did, but she didn’t have the complex facial control necessary for such an action…

Though one could argue that Henry’s jovial mood was not because of Zeel’s joking actions, instead, it was because her blood was saturated with THC – the psychoactive constituent of cannabis…

“How did you do that…” Henry shouted, puffing smoke with each word…

Zeel wiggled his brows again, this time much slower “Takes a lot of practice… and you have to master control of your body…”

Zeel allowed his cheek to twitch a bit to prove his point…

“Control of my body, huh?” Henry muttered, taking another puff of her joint and passing it to Zeel as she slowly exhaled the smoke “If I could control my body, I would stop period cramps…”

Zeel took the joint and drew a couple breaths, deciding not to comment on the human female condition…

This was something Alice drilled into him a long time ago…

After taking a deep puff, Zeel passed the joint back to Henry and carefully shaped the smoke in his mouth for a couple of seconds, exhaling the smoke in the figure of a three-dimensional shape…

“Now that’s just fucked up…” Henry sighed, trying her best, but unable to mold anything other than some circular rings “How do you do these things?”

“Practice…” Zeel shrugged “It’s a matter of knowing your body…”

“The only thing I know is you’re avoiding my first question…” Henry stated, ready to get back to the main conversation since her joint was now pitifully low “I was hoping you’d be high enough to tell me why you’re being a fake doctor…”

“Because…” Zeel paused and stared at Henry semi-interestingly “I saw your naked body, and decided to take responsibility for you…”

“Ha!” Henry mocked, sarcasm dripping from her voice “If every boy who saw my body decided to take responsibility, I would have a harem… so, what’s your real reason?”

“I just—” Zeel paused, considering his words carefully, but when he heard footsteps gathering in front of Henry’s door, he knew the discussion was over “I guess you have to wait next time to hear my answer…”

“What do you mea—”

---CLICK---

The door was opened…

“Henry…” Cleo peeped into the room from behind the door, instantly recognizing Henry was awake and sitting on the bed…

Henry froze when her mother peeked through the door, and she wanted to hurriedly brush away the cannabis smoke that lingered in the air, but the contaminated air was already gone…

And so was Zeel…

“Oh, my baby!” Cleo yelled and dashed into the room, tossing herself into Henry’s arms…

Thomas and Jenna entered the room behind Cleo…

They appeared to be lacking sleep if the bags under their eyes were any indication…

Clearly, Cleo had been keeping them awake…

Thomas stood behind Cleo and placed his arms around her shoulders, while also placing a hand on Henry’s shoulder…

This was done to reinforce the notion that they were a family, regardless of anything…

Thomas knew Cleo had her doubts, so maybe showing he would be there for Henry as a father would put her mind at ease…

Jenna stood a couple feet away from her embracing family, and smelled the air “Weed?” she questioned, and rolled her eyes at Henry’s antics…

-----------------

The air twisted and Zeel appeared in the janitor’s room on the second floor of the hospital…

Along with Zeel, a rich, thick mist of cannabis smoke saturated the small storage room, ensuring that if anyone other than Zeel were to enter the room, they would be higher than the clouds…

Cough

Cough

Cough

Zeel coughed constantly until he forced open the door and rushed outside…

“Fuck…” Zeel cursed, attempting to brush the smoke out of his borrowed clothing “I need somewhere to live…”

Ultimately, Zeel sighed and walked to the locker room, cracking open a locker and stealing everything inside, including some much-needed change of clothing…

Then, he made his way up the stairs to Henry’s room…