As Louise flipped through the channels while laying on the couch she couldn't help but catch Miguel’s attention as he walked by. A day or so had passed and it was now the middle of the week. And the only things she had left for, were food and liquor.

Which left him with a burning question on his mind. But knowing her personality he wasn't anywhere stupid enough to ask her about. So he walked back to his room and decided the most pedestrian game he could think of to pass the time.

(“Sigh And I just dropped like $80 on a bunch of ero games last week. I guess I'll have to wait until she leaves until I'm clear to play those.”)

But just as he was about to sit down an email came up on his phone. He picked it up and glanced at it. He quickly got up and rushed to the front door as fast as humanly possible.

Louise noticed him zoom by and looked on in mild interest. Whatever he was doing was probably better than watching the schizos on her TV talk about Jesus being an alien.

He opened the door and a man stood outside, covered in sweat with a big box that went up to his hip in height, beside him.

“Are you, huff phew, the fuc- guy that ordered this?” He asked as he caught his breath.

“Uh, yeah? Aren't you supposed to leave downstairs in the lobby?” He asked as he walked towards the box.

“Hey, asshole, the least you can do is give me a thank you for bringing this shit up here. No, I don't care about that, just give me a tip.”

The ragged-looking man asked as he leaned against a nearby wall.

“A tip for a delivery?” He said as he started pulling the box inside.

“Sir, please I can barely afford rent as is, and you know, not just anyone lives here. Is a tip so much to ask for?” He asked as he got closer.

“I mean…” Miguel hesitantly responded. He wasn't against going for his wallet but it seemed he was too slow to answer.

“You can't be fucking serious dude. I bring this shit up here and you're gonna stiff me?” The man said in a raised tone.

“No, no, I was just-” Tibaut held his arms up trying to defuse the situation but the man had no problems escalating further.

The man grabbed his collar. “Listen here rich boy, I'm too broke to worry about a lawsuit if you get my drift, so if you don't want me kicking what's in that big ass box, your ass betta give me a tip.” The man said as he dragged Tibaut outside.

Before it could go any further Louise went behind the man and tapped his shoulder.

“Hmm?” The belligerent man turned around. “Fuck you want, bit-”

She grabbed his arm and twisted it around, sending him to the floor.

“Aghh, damn what's your problem?”

“Ugh, I'm off duty and I have to deal with guys like you trying to throw your weight around.”

“Off duty? Shit, are you a cop?”

“Nah, just security. But if you don't leave soon, I'll be sure to call them.”

She let go of his hand and the man quickly ran without so much as a word leaving his mouth.

“You good?” She asked Miguel.

“Y-yeah.” He responded as he tried to calm himself down. While he was ready to swing, getting into a fight with some random person he wasn't sure had a knife or not wasn't something he was thrilled about.

“The fuck was that guy's problem?” He said he sat on the box.

“People nowadays are ready to risk it all over nothing,” Louise responded, shaking her head.

With his blood still pumping from the most dangerous encounter he'd had in a year he walked over to her, gave her a hug and patted her back.

“Thanks for that.” He said as he slowly cooled.

“Were you scared?”

“I mean, he just suddenly got up in my face and-”

He quickly pushed her off and cleared his throat. He wasn't usually one to care about appearances but rushing into the arms of someone after an encounter of that level, made him feel like… kind of a… you know… he felt like a pussy. He was no Macho Man but even he realised how badly this made him seem.

“Obviously not!” He responded. “If that dude tried something, I would hit him with the left, right, goodnight you know? He should honestly thank you otherwise I would have-”

“Heh.”

With that soft giggle, he felt remnants of an ego he didn't know he had left, shatter like tempered glass.

She continued giggling at his bravado and started pushing his box inside. “Come on man, don't look like that.” She said as she tried to stop herself.

He walked to the box but she didn't look to be having any problems pushing it inside and got it into the living with no effort.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

He closed the door behind them and sighed as he walked over.

“You think a guy would feel good having a chick bail him out?” He said as he looked around the room for something.

“Chill out, you're not a fighter. There's no shame in being a pussy pacifist sometimes.”

“...”

He remained silent as he searched the room and she walked over and placed her hands over his eyes.

“Stop acting like you're twelve. Not everything can be solved with a fight. I'm sure if you remained calm, the guy would have fucked off eventually, I just sped up the process.”

“I'm not sulking. I'm just… listen thanks for helping me out back there but…”

“Miguel, I'm your friend, you don't gotta act like I'm some nameless witness. Did you think I'd laugh at you or something?”

“You did though…”

He continued walking around the room with Louise unsure of his reason. Was he trying to hide from her?

“Because you were acting tough. That's the only part I was laughing about, bro.”

His face softened and he pulled something out of a drawer in a nearby cabinet. It was a box cutter.

“Whatever, I was acting cringe-”

“Cringe?”

(“Did I just say that unironically!? God, I don't care, please just strike down, I don't want to live in this world anymore!!!!”)

She wore a cruel-looking smile on her face after hearing that and opened her mouth.

“I actually think, low-key, you weren't that bad.”

“...”

“See, I can use some slang too.” She said with a smug expression.

“You're only two years older than me so it's kinda impressive.”

“What is?”

“With one sentence, you managed to sound twice my age.”

She punched his shoulder and the two headed back to the box.

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

“So what's in the box?” She asked.

As he opened it up with a box cutter, he looked towards her.

“Oh, uh, a mattress.”

“Why a mattress?” she asked.

“Currently we both sleep on the same bed.” He bluntly answered.

“So?”

“I mean, a day or two is fine but…”

“It's a big ass bed, besides I'm not gonna stay here permanently.”

“Yeah, but…”

“What, you like spending money on women or something?” She sarcastically asked.

“S-screw off, it doesn't hurt to have a mattress in that spare room. Stop acting like it's weird for me to want to sleep on my own dam- dang bed.”

“(He's finally warming up to me.) Whatever, most guys would kill to have a bad bitch like me sleep next to them.” She pulled up one of the legs of her black jeans all the way up and stroked her thigh. It was pale white with no blemishes or scars in sight and it had a pleasant amount of weight on it.

“I even have some nice thighs for ya,”

Miguel blushed slightly and pulled the mattress tightly sealed in plastic out of the box.

“Come on, you have to admit it's pretty weird.” He softly answered.

“What's weird about sleeping with Big Sis?”

Like a flashbang, both of them recoiled after she said. Not from any sort of embarrassment, but from the rush of nostalgia that took over both of them.

“I did call you that back then, didn't I? I remember thinking you and Micheal would get marr-”

She placed a finger over his mouth.

“There's no need to talk about that. But man that really took me back for a moment. Aw, you used to be so cute back then despite the mouth you had on you…”

She looked at him more closely as he held the wrapped mattress and nodded her head.

“(Actually he still looks kinda cute even now. I thought he'd grow some shitty facial hair like his brother but I guess he wasn't blessed or rather cursed with anything like that.) But you're a grown man, so I guess I shouldn't expect that sorta stuff anymore. (26? He doesn't look more than 20).”

For being a shut-in, his skin was surprisingly healthy other than the bags under his eyes.

“Yeah I guess calling you big sis would be a bit much… (I-is she where I got my love of big sisters from? N-no there's enough of that stuff in anime that it's probably coincidental.)”

She crouched beside him and lifted up part of the mattress.

“Anyway, it seems pretty small.”

“It's supposed to expand when you take it out.”

“Really?” She ripped the plastic with her bare hands and the mattress expanded on top of Tibaut.

With the mattress on top of him, he blankly looked towards her.

“Damn, you learn something new every day.”

“I wanted to open it in the room…”

“Stop bitching, it's not that hard to drag it there.”

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

With his room back in possession, he could finally sleep when he wanted without feeling like a pervert for watching Louise as he tried to fall asleep. And he quickly fell back into old habits, waking at around six o'clock.

P.M.

As he got up, he noticed his door was left open.

(“I must have been so tired I forgot to lock the door.”) He thought as he left his room looking for breakfast.

Just like the past two days, the TV was blaring, so that meant she was probably up.

She heard the footsteps and quickly turned around.

“So you're still alive.” She bluntly stated.

“Did you poison me or something?” He answered as he shook off his grogginess.

She smirked. “Killing you with a pillow would be way easier. I've been on a few benders before but I don't think I've ever seen someone wake up at these times, much less without some hard liquor.”

Turned around on the couch, he realised she wasn't wearing her jacket.

“Have you adjusted to the AC?” He asked as he walked over, stretching his arms out.

“Hmm? Oh no, I just took it off to put it in the wash. Actually, I was wondering if you had any spares.”

She got out from the couch and the smell of liquor nearly knocked him to the floor. But what he saw kept him standing.

It seemed the jacket wasn't the only thing she put in the wash.

She walked towards in only two pieces of clothing as Tibaut forced his eyes to keep to her face.

She looked down and smirked. “You like it?”