Room 402; Friday Afternoon.

[by137]

That horrible, hacking, coughing sound coming through the door of room 402? Yeah. That would be the result of picking through trash in a junkyard in rainy, sleety cold weather. It was worth it, though, because it gave A.J. this really awesome cooling unit thing that he, feeling inspired after class, curled up with and idly painted while

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[misshargrove]

Annette had nothing to do. Thus she was bored. She wandered down a floor and decided to see how A.J. was. Just cause.

Knock. Knock.

[by137]

"Co--" A.J. barely got out the first syllable before a round of coughing cut him off, the hacking kind that, just when it sounded like there wasn't any possible way that his throat could be tortured more, it started all over again. Red faced with a slight gasp for air, he managed to overcome it and choke out, "Come in!"

[misshargrove]

Good Lord, that sounded terrible and Annette hesitated before she opened the door and peeked her head in. "A.J.? Oh, no... you're sick..."

[by137]

With another, much smaller cough that stuck in his throat, A.J. tilted his head back to look toward the door and gave Annette a small smile. "Ah, it's nothing," he said. "Just a cold."

His grin broadened a little as he added, "Hey, stranger."

[misshargrove]

Her worried expression definitely said she thought it was more than just a cold. "Hot tea with lemon and honey would do that cough wonders. I could fix you a cup if you like? My mother always adds whiskey to it; she says it will kick the tea into overdrive."

She stepped in, closing the door behind her, and offered him a genuinely, warm smile. "Hey, yourself."

[by137]

"Two questions," A.J. said, taking a second to reach for his paint rag to wipe of his brush, and then dipping it into a small jar of water/cleaner mix on the beside table for a moment. He shifted, in a more conversationally accommodating way. "One, do you actually have whiskey to add to it? If so, then, yes, please." He smirked, sniffling a bit. "And, two, how the hell have you been?"

[misshargrove]

"I might have a very small bottle of whiskey," Annette said grinning as she sat on the floor, pulling her legs up under her. "And I just got over being sick myself. Had I remembered the tea/whiskey combo, I would have fixed myself a cup the moment I first started in with the sneezing. My mother swears on it. But then she swears on a lot of stuff."

[by137]

"Hey," A.J. said, wrinkling his nose at Annette as she sat on the floor, before another, thankfully smaller bout of coughing interrupted him for a moment. Red faced again, though, he didn't let it distract him from his point. "Don't get too comfortable there, you said you'd make me tea!"

[misshargrove]

Smiling and chuckling a bit, she hopped up. "Okay! Give me a few minutes, I will be back before you know it!" And out the door she went.

HandwavilyStopping off in the common room, she'd put the water on, then quickly made her way upstairs to her room, where she pocketed the whiskey and headed back downstairs. It only took her a few minutes really to prepare his cup, adding the lemon and honey and whiskey in pretty much equal measures.

Carefully holding his hot cup, saucer underneath, Annette walked slowly back to his room and did a small rasping of her knuckles on his door before she opened it. "It's just me," she said as she stepped back in, closing the door with the heel of her shoe. "Now just sip it, okay? It's very hot." Moving towards him, she handed the cup over.

[by137]

Annette's departure to fix the tea gave A.J. a moment or two to clean up his project a little, setting some newspapers on the floor and setting the cooling unit on them to dry a bit. It was already starting to take on the ferocious face-like quality he was striving for, counteracted with a sort of border of light, sky-like blue. He smiled fondly at it for a moment before he had to turn away, fist to his hand to cough. The fit finished just around the time Annette came back. He grinned at her, shifting comfortably on his bed so that he was situated in a tea-sipping position as he reached for the offered cup. "Thank you very much, Miss Annette," he said, straightening and blowing into the cup a little before trying that sip.

Hooo, she wasn't kidding about the hot. He blew into it a little more before he was going to bother with another sip.

[misshargrove]

"Yeah, blow on it," she said, watching him. "I hate that you're getting sick," Annette added, sitting down on the floor once more and inhaling deeply. She loved the smell of his room. The paints, the paint cleaner; everything combined together. She was probably weird for liking it, but she did.

"What have you been working on lately? I've missed seeing you around... of course, I haven't been around much myself. Need some more whiskey?"

[by137]

"If didn't know any better," A.J. commented with a grin as he curled over his tea, "I'd think you were trying to get me liquored up. I think this is fine, but thanks. And don't feel too bad about the sick. I should have seen it coming...Today, I've been working on that," he nodded toward the painted cooling unit. "Found it yesterday during me and Andrew's scavenging. I also recently finished that," his nod went to some strange metal attachment to one of the dressers that seemed to be like snakes and ladders gone sculpture. "I should be working on an invention for class, but the muse just hasn't hit yet. Closest thing I've got is maybe something that makes riding a little more comfortable."

[misshargrove]

Annette grinned. "Why A.J., why would you ever think that? I'm a good girl," she said, her eyes teasing. "Sickness can sneak up on us sometimes and hit harder than we'd like it too. I've been buried under my covers for the last few days. Today I actually feel great. It's why I was browsing the halls, bored." She looked over at the cooling unit he indicated and raised her brows. "Oh. I... like the red. What's it going to be?" she asked before she looked over at the dresser. "A.J. that looks like snakes." Annette hated snakes. She shivered and ran her hands along her upper arms before she looked back at him. "Riding?"

[by137]

A.J. chuckled a little. "It's supposed to look like snakes," he told her, smirking at what a girly response that was. "And, yeah, riding. I mean, I dunno if I'll do anything with it, but it's all I got. I've been helping Andrew with his invention, riding and, uh, how, uh...uncomfortable it can be for, you know, us guys, came up when we were talking. But then, if I do invent something to help with that, then I lose one of my good excuses on not going riding more often, so I dunno."

[misshargrove]

"Riding what? A bike? A horse?" Annette gave him a lopsided grin. "Wouldn't those jock like cup things boys wear help?" She had no idea, really. She just knew they were hard.

[by137]

"A horse," A.J. said, glaring playfully over the rim of his cup of tea. "And, no, that would not help; that would totally only make it worse." His forehead frowned as he shifted slightly under thoughts of all kind of chafing and knocking. "Ow..."