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Chapter Text

Beryl had lived in this apartment for two weeks now, and she still hadn't met her roommate.

She was prepared for the worst when she answered a vague ad online from someone looking for a roommate in a furnished apartment with cheap rent, and they replied the next day telling her she could move in and that her keys would be under the doormat. It all seemed a bit too good to be true, and part of her was expecting to get murdered the moment she stepped foot in this place. But here she was, two weeks later, un-murdered, and still having no clue who her new roommate was.

All she had was a name: Remeny. That didn't really tell her much, she wasn't sure if it was a man or a woman's name, or how old this person could be, but it was her only piece of information. The apartment itself didn't help, it was undecorated and lacking any personal touch that would lead her to make assumptions about this Remeny person. She figured she would meet them eventually.

She had other things to focus on anyway. After changing her major four different times, Beryl had finally settled on accounting, but that indecision meant she still hadn't graduated college, despite all her peers having done so the year before. This was the final semester before her senior year, and midterms were coming up, which meant long hours spent studying and doing homework and powering through it with probably unhealthy amounts of coffee. She usually ended up studying until very late in the night, eventually conking out and waking up in the morning with her glasses still on her face and a textbook in her hands, her body sore from the uncomfortable position.

This night was no different. The young woman sat on her bed, her tired eyes struggling to stay open while she stared at a textbook, barely processing the words on the pages. It was three-thirty AM, and she knew she should probably sleep, but she 𝘩𝘢𝘥 to study, she couldn't afford to fail after she'd wasted years switching majors.

As she was pondering the idea of going to bed, she heard a key in the lock of the front door.

Beryl froze.

A voice she didn't recognize seemed to mutter something, and she heard unsteady footsteps make their way to what seemed like the bathroom, judging by where the sound was heading. She wondered if she should go check it out, in case this person needed help. It took a few minutes for her to make up her mind, and by then she realized the apartment had fallen into silence.

As quietly as possible, Beryl made her way out of her bedroom and into the bathroom. The light was still on, allowing her to see the person she'd heard earlier.

Face down on the floor, her cheek pressed against the cold tiles, was a young woman, probably in her early to mid twenties, unconscious; Beryl hoped to whatever was out there that she was still alive. The woman looked rather tall and well-built, with a sleeveless top - Beryl could only hope she was wearing a coat outside, it was March, for the gods' sake - showing off her broad shoulders and muscular arms, and a mane of dark red curls falling down to the middle of her back. Her eye makeup was smudged and so was her lipstick, some of it smeared on her hand.

Beryl carefully walked up to her, gently shaking her shoulder to wake her. The woman stirred slightly - "oh good, she's not dead", Beryl thought - but she stayed asleep. She tried again, with a bit more force this time.

"Hello? You gotta wake up, there's no way this floor is comfortable."

The woman simply responded with a grunt.

"Come on, wake up..."

There was no answer. Beryl sighed and got up, coming back to the bathroom with a glass of water she splashed on the woman's face.

As expected, she let out a surprised scream and opened her eyes, staring at Beryl in bewilderement.

"Who the hell are you?" Her words were somewhat slurred.

"I'm your roommate... At least, I think. Are you Remeny?"

She hesitated before replying:

"Yes..."

"I'm Beryl. Sorry for waking you up like that, I just didn't know how else to do it."

Remeny groaned and rubbed her eyes.

"S'fine... I'm just gonna go to bed..."

"Do you need any help? You seem... Pretty drunk."

Remeny glared, her piercing blue eyes boring into Beryl's soul.

"I am 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦."

"Okay. Go ahead then."

The redhead shakily got up, using the vanity for stability, and only took one step before her legs failed her and she fell forward, Beryl catching her before she could hit her head on something.

"Shit, be careful there!"

Remeny simply grumbled in response, her tired eyes fluttering open as she attempted to wriggle herself out of her roommate's arms. She couldn't stand all the way - Beryl noticed that she was an entire 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵 taller than her - and gave up on trying to stand, choosing to slump onto her knees, dragging the shorter woman down with her until Beryl was sitting and supporting her.

"What are you do-"

Beryl's sentence was cut off as she realized Remeny's face was now less than an inch from hers, close enough to notice the smattering of tiny freckles on her nose and her currently very flushed cheeks, as well as the small specks of green in her otherwise clear blue eyes. She also had a small slit running through her left eyebrow - or was it a scar? Despite her better judgement, Beryl didn't move away. Maybe the lack of sleep was catching up to her, but she didn't mind the proximity. She froze when Remeny's hand found itself on her face and she stared into her eyes again, a dazed smile forming on her lips.

"Your eyes are different colors."

"They are."

"That's really cool."

"Thank you?"

"Mhm..."

Her eyes started closing again as her hand slid off of Beryl's face, her head falling forward onto Beryl's shoulder.

"Stay awake, please."

"I'm... very awake." She muttered sleepily. "I've never been more awake."

Beryl couldn't help but smile a little.

"Sure."

Throughout college, she'd been the designated driver and the sober friend many times, so stupid drunk people were nothing new for her. Remeny was thankfully much calmer than a lot of the ones she'd handled, but Beryl suspected she wouldn't have said the same thing had she seen her roommate a few hours earlier. Said roommate was now half-awake in her arms, her breathing steady and peaceful; it was hard to imagine her being rowdy, but given how strong she looked, it wouldn't be that much of a surprise.

Remeny, waking up once more, moved her body so her head was resting against Beryl's chest.

"Hi..." She whispered, staring up at her. "You're really pretty..."

Trying her hardest to fight the rush of heat flooding to her cheeks at the sudden compliment, Beryl blinked, taken aback. She took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure. She could deal with drunk friends and acquaintances, but she wasn't expecting her very drunk and surprisingly clingy roommate she had met ten minutes ago to start 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳. She never knew how to respond to flirting.

"You know we just met, right? I could be a serial killer, and you're using me as a bed."

She wasn't sure why this was the strategy she went with, though the fact that it was three in the morning and she'd been awake for far too long didn't help, but regardless, Remeny was unfazed.

"I don't care. You make a good bed."

"You know what would make an even better bed?"

"Hm?"

"An actual bed."

If she was being honest, Beryl was dangerously close to being lulled to sleep by Remeny's steady breathing and how *warm* she was, and she would much rather sleep on her own bed rather than on a bathroom floor with a human weighted blanket over her.

Remeny groaned, sitting up with Beryl's help, and let herself be assisted in standing up all the way. Beryl looked up at her with a smile.

"Let's get you to bed, alright?"

Chapter Text

Remeny didn't remember going to bed. The previous night was a blur, full of fuzzy memories of the end of her shift at the bar and her coworker paying everyone shots and the whole thing quickly turning into a drinking contest - whether she'd won or not, her current prize was a pretty bad hangover.

She turned over in her bed, wincing as the motion worsened her already painful headache, and reached over for the phone on her nightstand. Instead of it, she found a glass of water and an aspirin with a note next to them. Straining her eyes in the dim light of her room, she managed to read:

𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱

- 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘭

Right. Her roommate. The one with the dark hair and the glasses and the mismatched eyes she couldn't stop staring at last night. One brown, one green. She vaguely remembered how 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 she got to Beryl, and cringed at the memory of her sloppy attempts at flirting. She could only hope her roommate wouldn't mention it when they saw each other again.

Remeny wriggled out of the blankets she'd tangled herself into in her sleep and sat up slowly, drinking from her glass and taking deep breaths. She wasn't sure what time it was, but judging by the sunlight filtering through her blinds, it must've been around the middle of the day. With a pained groan, she got up, noticing she'd gone to bed in the clothes she was wearing the previous day. But the fact that she'd managed to actually get in her bed was impressive, given the number of times she'd woken up from a night out on the floor next to it, or just in front of the door when she wasn't able to get there.

It was probably all her roommate's doing, though. It was a bit weird; this girl had no reason to help her, and yet, she did. Remeny's mind was still stuck on that encounter, on that unexpected kindness that made her want to abandon society and go live in the woods. She couldn't 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 it. Couldn't stand the idea of somebody being nice to her simply because they 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥. It was ridiculous.

With a huff, Remeny started looking around for her phone, which she eventually found on the kitchen table. It was dead, so she let it charge while she got ready for the day, starting with a much-needed shower, trying to put that annoyingly caring roommate of hers out of her mind.

She'd gotten quite good at getting rid of unwanted thoughts over the years. She realized that if she kept herself busy enough, they wouldn't bother her, and it usually worked. Usually. It didn't work today, however, and she figured she was just too hungover for that. Or maybe she just wasn't busy enough. She needed to go take out that anger and annoyance on something, or she'd end up punching a customer at work; it had happened before. Thankfully, she kept a punching bag in her room, and though it was a bit old and on the verge of breaking open, it did the job. Not using boxing gloves was probably not the smartest move, but she'd grown up getting into fistfights on a daily basis, so bruised and bloodied knuckles were far from a big deal to her. Remeny kept hitting the bag until her hands hurt and the anger was gone, all thoughts of her late-night meeting gone from her mind.

So she headed to work. Remeny had been working nights at a shitty dive bar for a few months now, and was surprised to find she actually enjoyed it. The management was pretty lax, so she was able to tell patrons to go to Hell whenever she wanted to, plus she got to drink for free. The hours were a bit weird, she worked from 6PM until closing, but the pay was alright and it hadn't bored her yet. She even got to throw somebody out once, since they didn't have a bouncer.

She didn't exactly lead the most stable life, but she was content. Remeny would take job-hopping and looking for a new place every few months over boredom and routine any day. Most people looked down on this sort of lifestyle, pity and disdain distorting their faces when they talked to her. But to Hell with all of them. This was 𝘩𝘦𝘳 life. She called the shots. And she wouldn't change it for anything.

...

"Guess what happened last night?"

Beryl sat down at a rickety table at a local café, taking a seat across from her friend.

"You finally got a decent amount of sleep?"

"Ha! Right. I'll sleep when I'm dead, Kix."

She'd met Kix a few years back, and they got along pretty much immediately. He was always trying to create little trinkets to solve everyday problems - though most of them ended up exploding - and had an adventurous spirit Beryl admired. They were a few years older, and were always there to offer weird life stories or slightly cryptic advice.

"So, what happened then?"

"I finally met my roommate."

"It was about time! So, how did it go?"

"Well, uh, she's kind of... How do I put this... A trainwreck?"

Kix laughed.

"That bad?"

"I mean, she seemed... Nice, I guess? But... I found her passed out drunk on our bathroom floor at three in the morning, and she was just... Kind of a mess."

"Oh wow."

"Yeah. Wow indeed."

"Was she cute?"

"Kix!"

"What? I'm just asking!"

"Stop trying to get me to date every idiot that stumbles into my life!"

"Idiot? That's a really mean thing to say about your future girlfriend."

Beryl smacked them with a notebook.

"You need to put yourself out there, Beryl."

"You need to stay out of my love life."

"You don't 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 a love life."

"Exactly, stop trying to make me have one."

"I'm just saying, it wouldn't kill you to-"

"Kix."

"Alright," they raised their hands in surrender. "Got it."

"Good."

"So what's her name?"

"Remeny. I didn't get her last name, though."

"Maybe she can have yours," Kix teased.

"Don't make me hit you again."

"Oh, come on, you walked right into that one!"

Beryl rolled her eyes, choosing not to mention how... 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 her roommate got the night before. He would never let her live it down.

"Can I know what she looks like, at least?"

"She's pretty tall, looks... Strong, I guess? Uh, red hair, curly-"

"Ooh, that's your type!"

"What? I don't have a type, what are you talking about?"

"I thought you had a thing for redheads. I mean, your last boyfriend-"

"Ugh, can we not talk about him? He was so 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, I don't even know why I dated him..."

"Well, you know who's 𝘯𝘰𝘵 boring?"

He narrowly dodged the second attempted notebook hit.

"I'm just kidding!"

They both knew he wasn't.

"Maybe she can get you to finally have fun, you know."

"I have fun! We play D&D on Sundays together, that's fun!"

"I think that's the 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 fun thing you do."

"That's because I don't have time for anything else."

"Maybe you should make time."

"Yeah..." She sighed, slowly sipping from her coffee. "Maybe... Maybe I will."

...

It was late when Remeny got home, and Beryl seemed to be asleep. She made her way to the kitchen, not paying much attention to the amount of noise she might've made - it wasn't her problem if her roommate was a light sleeper - and went to open the fridge, when she noticed a note taped to it. What was it with this girl and notes?

𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘨𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳.

- 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘭.

"Just throw it out yourself if it bothers you so much", she muttered to herself as she crumpled the note, rolling her eyes.

They'd only met a day ago, and this 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 was already trying to tell her what to do. This didn't bode well. 

Chapter Text

Well, it was official: Beryl did not like her roommate. It had been a few weeks since their first meeting, and she was puzzled as to how she'd managed to ignore the woman living with her for so long, because she was finding it impossible to ignore her now. Remeny was just... A 𝘭𝘰𝘵. That was the best way Beryl could describe it. She would be in her room, trying to study, and she would hear her roommate walking around the apartment, humming to herself, opening the fridge and cupboards seemingly at random, turning on the TV and switching through channels, then going back to her own room and repeating the cycle ten minutes later. Could she not stay 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭? Could she not sit down and keep herself focused on one thing so Beryl wouldn't have to hear her all the time?

Beryl wouldn't even have had that much of a problem with her if that had been all it was. Because even when Remeny was not physically present, Beryl could not escape her. She was always leaving things around, plates and bowls of half-eaten food in the living room, articles of clothing all over the place, one time she even forgot her keys 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 when she'd left the apartment. She never even did dishes, Beryl was always stuck doing it.

She'd had enough, and that day had been the last straw. Sunday was the only day they were both home, so that meant putting up with her for an extended period of time, and an opportunity for Beryl to finally get some things off her chest.

"Remeny!" She banged on her roommate's door, to no response. Tired of waiting, she opened it, finding it unlocked.

Remeny seemed to be watching something on her phone, not paying attention to her. Beryl sighed and flicked the lightswitch on and off a few times to get her attention.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Remeny... Can you explain to me why I just found the TV remote in the freezer?"

Her face lit up in genuine surprise.

"Oh... So 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 where it went! I was looking for it everywhere the other day and I couldn't find it, I swear, I thought I was going mad, I mean-"

"Remeny." She repeated with more insistance. "Why was it in the 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦𝘳?"

"I don't know", she shrugged nonchalantly. "Why is anything anywhere?"

"You can't be serious. It's not that hard to put things back in their place."

"Well, then, put it back in the living room." She waved a hand dismissively. "Problem solved. I don't see why that's an issue."

Beryl took a deep breath.

"You can always leave if you don't like it," Remeny added.

"That's not the point."

"What is, then?"

"The point is that I don't want to live in a dump, Remeny. And you're making that difficult."

"Sorry", she snarked back, "I didn't realize I was living with my 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 again."

"I don't think I'm being irrational here. Keep the mess in your room. Everywhere else is a shared space."

"Understood." She said curtly, and Beryl knew she had no intention of actually heeding her request. "Anything else you want to criticize me on?"

"I'm not- whatever. Could you be more quiet when I'm trying to study? If you wanna walk around and be loud, you can do that outside."

"Yes, well, I'm not going to stop 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨."

"That's not what I'm asking. Just... Be respectful, okay?"

Remeny stood up abruptly, looking down at Beryl defiantly. She'd been around enough tall people trying to use their height to get the upper hand in arguments that it left her unfazed. Beryl took a step forward, closing some of the distance between them, and scoffed.

"Is this supposed to be intimidating?"

"No... I'm just 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. Am I not allowed to stand, now, 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘭?"

It was Beryl's turn to glare. Remeny continued:

"And, you know, it's not like you're perfect as a roommate either."

"I never said I was. But if you have a problem with me, go ahead, say it."

"Stop putting passive-agressive little notes everywhere, it's infuriating."

"Passive-agressive? It's passive-agressive to ask someone not to put containers back in the fridge when they're empty or expired?"

"The way you do it, yes."

"How else am I supposed to do it?"

"I don't know. I'm sure you and your big giant brain can figure it out."

"Very helpful."

"Why are you here anyway? Don't you have your little nerd thing on Sundays?"

Beryl blinked in confusion.

"Sorry", she laughed, "you forgot your keys here three times in the past week but you remember my schedule?"

Remeny froze for a moment, scrambling to defend herself.

"Well, my, my keys don't 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘸𝘭 at me every time I'm in the same room as them!"

"Right."

"And I'm not done! I don't want to hear you vaccuming or using the blender or, or turning on the uh, the garbage disposal while I'm trying to sleep."

"In your words, I'm not going to stop living. Maybe if you didn't come home in the middle of the night every day, you wouldn't need to sleep until the afternoon."

"I work night shifts! When else am I supposed to sleep? Sorry we can't all live off of three goddamn hours of sleep a night!"

"Maybe you should've mentionned that in the ad 𝘺𝘰𝘶 made that said you were looking for a roommate."

Remeny clenched her jaw and let out an annoyed huff.

"Alright, is that all? Or do you have anything else you want to berate me on?"

"I'm not berating you, I'm 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 you pretty simple things, and you're throwing a hissy fit. Maybe your little act works on other people, but it doesn't work on me. You need to pull your weight around here."

One of Remeny's hands was balled up into a fist, but the other one was shaking. Not hard, not so much that it was a concern, but enough for Beryl to notice.

"I-I was here first." Her voice wavered. "You... you don't get to make the rules."

"I'm here now. Get used to it."

"Well, I could care less."

"Couldn't."

"What?"

"It's 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 care less."

The taller woman crossed her arms, glaring harder.

"Get out. Now."

Beryl took another step towards her, and for a moment, she could've sworn she saw her flinch.

"I don't know how you've made it to your twenties without learning to handle criticism, but you better catch up, because I'm not backing down."

"Good", Remeny said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Neither am I."

Beryl didn't move, even when Remeny tried to shove her out of the way and leave.

"Where are you going?"

"None of your business!"

She began gathering her things and putting her boots on.

"Put on a jacket, it's raining outside."

Without turning back, she flipped her off, slamming the door behind her as she left.

Beryl sighed. Why was she even still trying?

Chapter Text

Remeny wasn't sure where she was walking to, but she had to keep going because it was the only thing keeping her sane at the moment. If she stopped moving, even for a second, she would start 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 and 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 again and that wasn't an option. She needed to get the upper hand somehow. She needed to 𝘸𝘪𝘯.

But more urgently, she needed to get out of this rain. Beryl, as annoying as she was, had been correct about the weather, and Remeny was finding the lack of a jacket harder and harder to ignore. This kind of downpour was pretty typical for April, but that knowledge didn't make the rain soaking through her clothes any more bearable.

Slumping into a booth at some diner, cup of mediocre coffee in hand, Remeny tried desperately to keep her thoughts away from her annoying, know-it-all, bossy roommate who seemed to think she knew better than her. She'd barely read the sign out front, she caught a glimpse of the words "rose" and "thorn" but didn't pay it much mind, eager to be indoors and out of the rain. She hadn't really calmed down, but at least the anger was now directed at the fact that she was cold and wet instead of at her roommate. And she knew that before formulating a revenge plot against her newfound nemesis, she should probably get something to eat.

After ordering, Remeny took a long sip of her coffee, waiting for it to kick in. Caffeine typically made people jittery and more awake, but in her case, it had the opposite effect; it seemed to be the only thing - aside from alcohol - able to quiet the constant noise in her mind. And it had the benefit of being socially acceptable to drink in the middle of the day and not causing hangovers. It didn't completely drown the noise, though, it seemed to channel it into actual coherent thoughts. And that was exactly what she needed at this moment.

Now that Remeny had her food, she started thinking. How would she go about ruining someone's day when that person's day could be ruined by her mere presence? Maybe she could spend more time at the apartment. The only downside was that she 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 hated her roommate's presence, and spending more time around her sounded about as appealing as sticking her face in a hornet's nest. Or she could start leaving all the faucets opened before she left home for work. But that would mean an increase in the water bill she also had to pay. And a very long lecture about wasting water. Another option was bringing people home for some evening fun and being obnoxiously loud; it sure annoyed her when previous roommates of hers had particularly noisy lovemaking sessions.

Remeny smiled, taking another bite of her food. Yes. That was it. She should find one of Beryl's friends- maybe not friends, she probably didn't have any, unpleasant as she was. She should find somebody Beryl knew and bring them home, just to see the look on her stupid, smug little face. Perfect. She could already picture it, her arms crossed over her chest, her lips slightly pursed, her dark brows furrowed, her mismatched eyes narrowed in annoyance, making that weird little dimple appear under her left eye, the one that formed when she was squinting. 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵.

Where to find someone Beryl knew, that was the question. Remeny wasn't a student, so she probably wouldn't be allowed in the university Beryl attended - the fact that she didn't even know its name didn't help. She could start by finding that out. Then she could find what her roommate was studying, and figure out which classes she was in, and find the names of her classmates and-

She paused mid-thought. Stalking. That was stalking. Something Remeny was not exactly eager to add to the list of crimes she'd already committed, especially since she'd been pretty good at 𝘯𝘰𝘵 committing any in the last few years. She'd done the occasional shoplifting, but aside from that, she was basically a law-abiding citizen. Plus, stalking would be way too much effort. She could just pick up a random patron at the bar - although she didn't love the idea of them knowing where she lived, especially given how 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥 some of them could be at times. Remeny had almost gotten herself fired on her second day working there for nearly breaking a guy's fingers when she saw him creeping on some poor girl. A shame, too, that hand was probably the only action he was going to get that night.

Glancing outside, Remeny sighed. The rain wasn't showing any signs of stopping, so she would have to go trudging through it a second time to get home. And she'd only just started drying off, too. Maybe she could leave her wet clothes in a pile on Beryl's floor. That would certainely piss her off. Remeny smiled at the thought, now less bothered by the horrible weather. She should take a very long shower and hog all the hot water. And not even turn on the bathroom fan so the mirror would get foggy. Her roommate was going to be so 𝘮𝘢𝘥.

Beryl wasn't there when she got home. She was probably at her stupid nerd thing - of course Remeny had remembered, it was basically the only thing her roommate did aside from going to school. It wasn't weird that she remembered. Beryl was the weird one. Not her.

...

For all its flaws, the Filthy Oyster had one thing going for it: it definitely lived up to its name. It was a tiny, cramped placed, shoved between two other businesses in the middle of some dingy shopping district, and the inside was just as un-glamorous as the outside.

The worst part, at least in Remeny's opinion, was the owner. He was loud and obnoxious, and not even in a fun way, always bringing his "boys" around to hang out and waste the employees' time. They didn't even 𝘵𝘪𝘱, for Pelor's sake! From what she'd heard, he came from a rich family that bought him this bar so he would feel like he had something going on with his life. The thought made Remeny scoff. She couldn't imagine having everything handed to her on a silver platter. Fighting for everything felt good. It felt rewarding. And, if she was being honest with herself, - which she rarely was - it was all she knew.

Remeny leaned against the wall behind the bar, slowly sipping from a rather generous glass of whiskey. There weren't many patrons, and the few that came in were soaked from the rain that hadn't stopped pouring down over the past week. Beryl had told her to use an umbrella at some point during the week, and just for that reason, she wasn't going to use one.

Having lost her driver's license years ago, Remeny had no choice but to walk to work, and the rain made it so that she had to start bringing a change of clothes so she wouldn't spend her entire shift damp, as well as a towel to hopefully save her hair from becoming a horrible frizzy mess after drying on its own. Alas, her attempts were fruitless, and she had to reluctantly tie it into a ponytail so it wouldn't look like there was a bird's nest on top of her head.

She sighed. This was going to be a long night. She wasn't thrilled about going back home, either, as things had been even more tense between her and Beryl. As she expected, her roommate wasn't a fan of Remeny trying to make her life worse. She'd given up on her initial revenge plan, having realized that she didn't even have to 𝘵𝘳𝘺 to make her angry, she could just do that by being herself. The fights and arguments were now a daily occurence, and Beryl was actually starting to retaliate. Just the day before, Remeny came home from work to find her roommate had put all the dirty dishes in her bedroom, with a note saying "wash them next time". She wanted to strangle her. How 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘦 she? Who did she think she 𝘸𝘢𝘴? Remeny wanted to scream just thinking about it.

To make matters worse, Remeny had to train a new hire that day. She usually liked telling people what to do, but she was running on barely any sleep from the previous night and had absolutely no patience - not that she usually did. The new girl thankfully didn't seem too annoying, though she asked a lot of questions as Remeny went through the motions of explaining to her the basics of bartending.

"Wait, who's that guy?" The girl - Remeny didn't remember her name - asked.

"The owner, Richard. He's the worst."

With his usual goofy grin, he waved at them from afar when he saw them looking at him. Remeny responded with a half-hearted wave, seeing the newbie's face light up as she gave him a wink.

"Why do you ask?"

"He's kinda hot."

"Him?" Remeny questionned, grimacing. "You can't be serious."

"Not into men?"

"Well, I... I am, sometimes, I guess, just not... 𝘩𝘪𝘮."

"Hm. You're missing out."

"I promise you, I am not. You'll agree once you talk to him for more than thirty seconds. Well, once 𝘩𝘦 talks to you for more than thirty seconds. I swear, he will not shut up! And he's so 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘣, too!"

"I like 'em kinda dumb. Easier to swindle."

Remeny stared at her for a moment, trying to decipher if she was serious or not. If she was, she had instantly made herself a million times cooler. She did seem cool to begin with, sporting a cropped leather jacket that showed off her toned midriff, a small golden piercing in her eyebrow, and a short undercut going from a dark auburn to a light blonde, making her hair almost look like a flame. Remeny cracked a smile.

"I respect that. I can show you who gives the best tips, if you want to take advantage of more dumb men's wallets."

"It's my passion in life." She smirked.

"Gods, you have no idea how good it feels to talk to someone actually 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 for once! I've been living with this girl for like a month, and she's the most boring and stuck-up bitch I've ever met."

That was more than Remeny usually liked revealing to people she'd just met, but it felt good to rant about her awful roommate. Maybe this girl could help her in her revenge plot. Maybe she should get her name first, before implicating her in a revenge plot.

"Hey, what's your name, by the way?"

"Ash," she said, holding out her hand for a handshake.

"Remeny," she replied, giving her a very firm handshake.

"That's a weird-ass name."

"I know."

"Well, it's nice to meet ya."

She smiled. This was good. This Ash girl clearly knew how to mess with people. Beryl had no idea what was coming. 

Chapter Text

Beryl was just about at her limit. She couldn't recall anyone ever testing her patience the way her roommate did, and she seemed to be doing it on purpose now. Sure, Remeny may have been a bit disorganized, but Beryl had met stressed-out college students running on a week of no sleep and enough coffee to cause a heart attack with less messy dorm rooms. Hell, she'd 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 that student in her first year, when she was living on campus, and her dorm was pretty much spotless. It wasn't that hard to just 𝘵𝘳𝘺. And judging by the fact that the general messiness of the apartment had been getting gradually worse, she was convinced Remeny was trying to get a rise out of her. Well, she wouldn't get what she wanted. Beryl was dead-set on not stooping down to her level.

But gods, she was 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦.

"Kix, I swear to every god in existence, I'm about to lose my shit."

"More roommate problems?"

"𝘠𝘦𝘴."

"Oh boy... What did she do this time?"

"Yesterday, I told her to stop leaving hair everywhere because, you know, it's 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴, and she had the 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 to tell me it wasn't hers. As if we don't have completely different hair colors and textures? Does she really think I'm that dumb?"

Kix blinked a few times.

"You're that upset over your roommate leaving a bit of hair around?"

"No, I'm upset because of 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 she does! She's just so... Infuriating! And I can't even lay into her the way I want to because then I'll just be giving her what she wants! Gods, she's like a petulant spoiled child, throwing a fit every time I even 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 she help around the apartment, and I... I don't know what to do anymore."

Beryl let out a long, frustrated breath, feeling the tension release from her body. She set her glasses down on the table, burying her face in her hands with a groan.

"I think I need to look for a new place..."

"Beryl... I know you're not the type to overreact, but... Don't you think you're being a bit dramatic?"

She lifted her head, glaring at her friend across their table.

"If you met her, you would understand. If you 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 with her, you would go insane."

"What does she do, exactly?"

"At first, it was just the mess, she's always leaving stuff around, clothes, hair ties, jewelry, random trinkets, wet towels in a pile on our bathroom floor that stay there for hours until they start smelling like old mildew, dirty plates that end up with permanent crust, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨! I can't fathom how a single person can cause that much 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘰𝘴!"

"Oh wow."

"And now, it feels like she's going out of her way to piss me off. Just a few days ago, I came home to find a tangled mess of necklaces and bracelets on the dining room table, and normally, I wouldn't care, I'd just dump that in her room, but one of 𝘮𝘺 things was in there."

Beryl took a small beaded bracelet out of her bag; it had green and blue beads and a little dangling ghost-shaped charm. The thread was fraying between two of the beads, threatening to tear at any moment.

"It kinda broke when I tried to get it out..."

"Can I see that?"

"Be careful!"

"I will be, don't worry."

"And I know she doesn't know how special it is, but it just felt like a slap in the face. I'm sure Lottie doesn't even remember making it, I mean, she was ten, but... It was her gift when I left for college, and I don't get to visit that often, so it means a lot to me and-"

"Here."

Kix handed her the bracelet; it looked as if nothing had happened.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. If you need me to kick her ass, I will."

Beryl laughed.

"You couldn't, she's definitely a lot stronger than you, she's pretty buff. All brawn and no brains. She could definitely use some brains, though. Ugh... Sorry, I'm being such a buzzkill today..."

"Aw, don't say that... You're always a buzzkill."

She laughed again, rolling her eyes fondly.

"Alright, I gotta head out. I'm gonna try to not strangle her when I get home, but no promises."

...

It had been two weeks of nonstop rain, and Beryl was growing more irritable. It was unlike her, she knew it, she had become a professional at keeping a cool head, but the combined stress of school, the awful weather, and the even 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 awful person she had to live with had made staying calm very challenging.

She was exhausted coming home that day, and she could only hope her roommate wasn't there. Alas, whatever deity was out there didn't listen.

The first thing Beryl noticed as she opened the door was how 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 the apartment was. The second thing was that her roommate was, in fact, there.

Remeny was standing in the kitchen, eating cereal directly out of the box, seemingly unaware of Beryl's presence. A pair of bulky headphones covered her ears, and Beryl could hear the heavy metal music coming from them even from where she stood twenty feet away. She couldn't help but notice that Remeny was wearing a tank top, completely oblivious to the temperature of the place.

Right as Beryl was about to try and head to her room, she met her roommate's eyes. Remeny's expression soured, as if she wasn't the one being a constant problem, and she began retreating away from the kitchen.

Before she could really realize what she was doing, Beryl walked up to her and grabbed her wrist - her skin felt very warm - to get her attention.

"What is it, this time?" Remeny asked as she turned around, pulling off her headphones. Her voice sounded a bit raspier than usual.

"Most people would say 'hello'. It's called manners, you should give it a try."

"Maybe 𝘺𝘰𝘶 should try not being a pain in my ass! Is that all? Can I go?"

"No, I was going to ask you why it's freezing in here."

"It's not freezing. Maybe you're just cold because you were outside."

"You're in a tank top, how are you 𝘯𝘰𝘵 cold?"

"I'm built different."

Beryl laughed.

"Right. Of course."

"If you 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 know," Remeny continued, her tone dripping with sarcasm, "I opened some windows because it was hot."

"Could you close them?"

"You have hands, don't you?"

Beryl sighed. This was why she avoided her.

"Why do you always have to be so difficult? I am 𝘴𝘰 tired, I would just like to have one conversation with you where I don't feel like I'm talking to a five-year-old."

"Hm, well, 𝘐 would like to not have any conversations with you, so... I guess neither of us are going to get what we want."

"Remeny... Please... I am 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 you, just... Just cooperate, for once."

Her roommate's expression changed to a smirk, her eyebrows going up as she let out a chuckle.

"Oh wow... You're 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 me? That's a bit desperate, isn't it?"

The amusement in her tone was frustrating.

"Remeny..."

"No, keep begging. Groveling looks great on you."

"Excuse me?"

"Did you not hear me?" She lowered herself so they were face to face, her annoying little smirk on full display. "Or is this better?"

Now that her face was closer, Beryl could see that Remeny looked a bit pale and haggard, as if she hadn't been sleeping. Beryl pushed her roommate's face away with her hand, unwilling to participate in whatever nonsense she was trying to pull.

"I don't know what you think you're doing, but it's not working."

"How do you know it's not working if you don't even know what I'm doing? Hm?"

She had a point, for once. But there was no way in hell Beryl would give her the satisfaction of being right.

"Is something wrong?" Remeny asked in her same taunting voice.

Beryl rolled her eyes. She had to find a way to change the subject before her roommate got to gloat too much.

"Put the cereal back in the cupboard."

She knew from the smirk that appeared on Remeny's face that she would soon come to regret asking her this.

"Oh, of 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, dearest."

Remeny grabbed the box, and, without even closing the damned thing, proceeded to put it on the highest shelf of the highest cupboard, way too high for Beryl to reach it. She turned back to her and smiled.

"What?" She said, seeing the annoyance on Beryl's face. "I did what you asked, didn't I?"

One of these days, she was going to punch her. She almost preferred Remeny's usual agression , this... 𝘴𝘮𝘶𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 was infuriating.

"Aw, you can't reach it?" Her mouth curled into a mocking pout. "How sad..."

"Remeny..." She sighed. "Please... Can you just not be a problem for five seconds?"

"I don't know, can I?"

"Okay, seriously, what is your problem? Why can't you just-"

"You wanna know what my problem is?" She cut her off, her tone much more agressive. "You. You're my fucking problem."

"Well, I can't stop existing."

"I wish you could."

"And I wish you would stop being so 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵."

Remeny scoffed.

"Oh, real mature, making up words to make me feel like an idiot."

"It's a real word, so, maybe your feelings are justified."

Beryl would be lying if she said she didn't feel a bit of satisfaction from watching her roommate's face scrunch up in frustration.

"It means hostile and agressive. I think that describes you pretty well!"

Remeny glared at her, crossing her arms.

"Well, you know what word 𝘐 would use to describe you?"

"Something vulgar, I assume?"

"A 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩. An annoying, bossy, controlling 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩."

"Just as I expected. Real classy!"

Remeny growled, her eyes narrowed, fingers tightening into a fist, face turning red.

"Oh, you think you're better than me?"

"I never said that. Stop putting words in my mouth."

"Oh my gods, will you shut 𝘶𝘱?" She yelled, her voice cracking on the last word.

"You need to calm down," Beryl said sternly, trying her best to diffuse the situation. "Just take a deep breath and-"

"No, I will not fucking calm down!"

Beryl's efforts had made the situation worse, apparently.

"Shut up! Shut! Up! Who do you think you 𝘢𝘳𝘦? Seriously-"

"Hey! Will you stop throwing a tantrum every time you don't get your way? You can't always get what you wish for. Am I the first person to ever stand up to you? Is that why you're always so insufferable? Because you've never been told no before? Did mommy and daddy always give you everything you've ever wanted?"

The anger on Remeny's face quickly turned into white-hot 𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦, her entire body tensing up even more.

"Go fuck yourself," she growled, storming into her room and slamming the door.

A few seconds later, Beryl heard the same loud metal music playing on a speaker. She sighed. If the neighbours came with a noise complaint, she would direct them to her roommate. She was done trying to be nice. 

Chapter Text

The alarm blaring into Remeny's ears felt like a drill piercing through her skull. She turned it off with a groan, curling into herself under her blankets and wondering why she was so cold, why she couldn't stop shivering. She also realized how much her head hurt. And how exhausted she was, way more exhausted than she usually was when she woke up.

But it was probably fine, right?

That's what Remeny thought to herself as she got up out of bed, noticing how sore and aching her limbs were. She threw on the warmest thing she could find - this ugly woolen turtleneck she wasn't sure why she'd kept - and headed out of her room to go get ready for the day, coughing and shivering the whole time.

Everyone seemed to be getting sick lately. Patrons came in coughing and sneezing, and Remeny's coworkers avoided getting any closer than a few feet from them. But 𝘴𝘩𝘦 wasn't afraid of getting sick. She 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 got sick. Even though the constant rain was starting to wear on her and make her feel weaker than usual, and she'd been feeling a bit off the previous day. And she hadn't been sleeping well, either. And the fighting with her roommate was just making things worse; just the day before, they'd argued until she left for her room and slammed the door, breaking down away from her ever-watchful eyes. This was bad. She usually 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 cried. This was all Beryl's fault, that was the 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 explanation. Because she wasn't sick. This would pass. She knew it.

Too queasy to eat anything before leaving, she figured she'd just do it at work; she'd probably feel better by then. She headed to the gym, as she usually did, and began regretting her choice of clothing halfway through her walk there. She was glad it wasn't raining that day, but she didn't exactly love the heat rushing to her face and the sweat dripping down her back as she felt dizzy and short of breath. But it was fine. She'd take off the sweater once she got to the gym, and she'd feel normal again.

Despite having changed into lighter clothing, Remeny hadn't managed to cool down. It only got worse as her usual workout felt like an insurmountable task and she could feel her muscles straining against the effort. Her spotter had to catch the weight bar she was using so she wouldn't drop it on herself when her strength wavered and she sunk to her knees, too dizzy to stand.

"You alright there?"

She took a deep breath, trying to fight off the sudden wave of nausea that had just hit her.

"Mhm... Just.... Just give me a minute..."

"Don't push yourself too hard, okay?"

"O-okay..."

After a few minutes, once the room stopped spinning around her, Remeny got up and headed to the showers, where she turned the water on the coldest setting. The icy water felt good against her burning skin, and her headache eased slightly. Unfortunately, she started shivering again pretty soon after stepping out of the shower, so the turtleneck was back on.

But it was fine. Everything was fine. Nothing was wrong.

...

The first hour of her shift was... Fine. Remeny got through it mostly on autopilot, trying her best to ignore her growing headache and crushing exhaustion. Her shirt was soaked with sweat and she desperately wanted to take it off, but hadn't thought to pack a change of clothes other than the ones she wore to the gym - and those were also drenched in sweat. She wasn't as hot anymore; instead, her damp clothes had cooled her down too much and she was shivering even more than when she woke up.

After the first hour, things took a turn for the worse. There were more customers now, and Remeny couldn't seem to remember their orders, or who ordered what, and after about ten mistakes in a row, she felt like she was about to cry. What was 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 with her today? Why couldn't her brain just 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬?

Remeny was moments away from punching a wall in frustration, pacing back and forth behind the bar and trying her hardest not to break down in tears, when a voice from behind her interrupted her thoughts.

"Are you alright, Ma'am?"

The voice was soft and low, and not one she recognized. Remeny spun around, startled; the movement was too fast and made her dizzy, and she caught herself on the bar so she wouldn't fall over. Her hazy mind couldn't quite make out who had just spoken to her, and her vision was too blurry to really see this person. She closed her eyes, trying to ease the throbbing migraine behind them. She was too hot again, way too hot, and incredibly nauseous. Remeny opened her mouth to try and respond, but all that came out was a weak whimper as nausea overcame her once more.

𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰.

Ungracefully dropping to her knees, she managed to grab a trash can before heaving into it, her entire body shaking as she was doubled over in pain. She took a few short, shaky breaths, barely registering the tears rolling down her face with how 𝘩𝘰𝘵 her skin was. Why was this 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨?

Remeny heard voices around her, some she recognized, some she didn't.

"Drunk already? Wow, that's sad..."

"No, look at her, she's 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 sick!"

"I thought she said she never got sick?"

"Well, she was wrong, clearly."

Coughing weakly, Remeny lifted her head, ignoring how 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 it felt, and saw the looks everyone was giving her.

"It's fine..." Her voice was weak and strained. "It's... It's probably just... F-food... Poisoning... Or s-someth-"

She couldn't even get the word out before the nausea came back with a vengeance, overpowering all of her other senses, and she was vomiting a second time. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨?

When she raised her head again, something cool was placed against her cheek. A hand. She leaned into it, desperate for some relief from how hot she was.

"Can you hear me?" It was the voice from earlier.

She hummed weakly.

"Good. You feel very warm, you're probably sick, it is best you go home. I will tell your boss you're not feeling well, and then I will call you a cab. Alright?"

She nodded.

"Can you walk?"

Remeny took a deep breath. 𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬, she felt like death. She couldn't even deny it anymore. She cleared her throat, before speaking with some difficulty:

"I... I think so? Maybe give me a moment..."

"Of course. I will stay right here."

She slowly opened her eyes, trying to see who had been speaking to her. She saw dark skin peeking from a light blue coat, long dreads, and warm golden brown eyes. She wasn't sure if she'd seen this person before. All she knew was that she needed to get home.

...

The walk up the stairs to their second floor apartment was difficult, to say the least, but Remeny powered through, gritting her teeth and telling herself she'd sit down when she entered the place. As she put her key in the lock, her vision was almost too blurry to see what she was doing and the suffocating heat that clung to her only worsened. She breathed out a sigh of relief when she pushed the door open, even though it felt heavier than usual, and stepped inside.

She wasn't sure what happened, really. One moment, she was entering her apartment, hand still on the doorknob, and the next, she was on the floor with her head ringing and a voice speaking above her.

"Well, that's a record. Usually it's at least two or three in the morning when I find you passed out drunk somewhere."

Remeny didn't move, still unsure if this was real or not.

"Ugh, and why are you 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 in sweat? Did you run a marathon before you got here?"

She heard the door close.

"Alright, get up, I'm not dragging your ass across the apartment again."

There was a hand on her arm, a hand that went immediately still. Remeny felt her head being lifted slightly, her hair being moved out of her face, then something pressing against her forehead. She heard someone mutter "shit", heard hurried footsteps going away and coming back, and felt herself moved into a seated position, her back rested against the wall. She groaned in protest, weakly tried to move away, but she couldn't.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, don't... Don't move."

She slowly blinked her eyes open, only to be met with her roommate's face.

"Oh... You're awake," she said softly. "Hi. I think you... Fainted?"

"Mmm... Mhm?"

"Could you just open your mouth for me? I'm gonna take your temperature."

Remeny complied, feeling the cold metal tip of the thermometer under her tongue as she started coming back to herself. It eventually beeped, and Beryl pulled it out, her eyes going wide as she stared at the numbers.

"Okay... Well, 𝘸𝘰𝘸, you... Definitely have a fever..."

"How..." She croaked. "How bad... Is it?"

"Pretty bad... Um, it's at 103.5, currently. That's... That's really high, so we should try to bring it down a bit."

"Mhm..."

"I'll go get some stuff, I'll be right back."

"Why?"

"Because I can't teleport? I have to leave and go get the stuff, and then come back."

"No, why... Why are you.... Doing this?"

Beryl squinted her eyes in confusion, as if Remeny had just said something utterly ridiculous.

"Are you serious? You're sick and half-passed out on our floor with a fever, I can't just do nothing."

"But you don't... Like me."

"And? Just 'cause I don't like you doesn't mean I want you to die."

"I'm..." she coughed. "I'm not gonna... 𝘥𝘪𝘦."

"No, you're not, and I'll make sure of it."

She hummed, closing her eyes as her headache was worsening and scrambling her thoughts.

"Can I... Go, now?"

"Go where, exactly? No way I'm letting you leave the apartment."

Anger swelled in Remeny's chest. Not 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 her leave? She wasn't even planning on leaving the apartment, she just wanted to go to her room and sleep, but she certainely wasn't going to let this slide. She huffed, clumsily standing up, using the wall for support and leaning against it heavily as even that small amount of movement was enough to make her dizzy.

"I don't recall you having the authority to order me around," she rasped, her voice too hoarse to sound as intimidating as she wanted it to.

"I'll stop ordering you around when you stop looking like a walking corpse. The only place you're going in this state is the hospital, and I promise you, they won't have my patience."

With a small growl, Remeny put a hand on the door handle, but Beryl was faster and put her own hand over hers before she could turn it. Her skin was soft and cool to the touch, and in any other situation, Remeny would have made fun of how much smaller her hand was, but here, all she could do was glare.

"Go ahead," Beryl said with a defiant smile. "Try to turn it."

Remeny did so, finding it harder than she thought. Beryl's vice-like grip on her hand wouldn't budge, and neither would the handle; either her roommate was stronger than she looked, or she was weaker than usual. Remeny let go, resisting the urge to kick or punch the wall in anger - because she 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥, easily, no matter how "sick" she 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 was.

"Are you going to listen to me, now?"

Remeny glared one last time, steadying herself against the wall. Instead of answering, she turned her back on her roommate and walked - stumbled, really - off to her room, where she collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. 

Chapter Text

The apartment was quiet. That was a rare occurence, considering who Beryl lived with, and she savored those calm moments every time they came, knowing they wouldn't last, but she couldn't bring herself to enjoy this one. Remeny had been home for a few hours now, and she hadn't come out of her room. At least she was resting, Beryl thought, but it was hard not to worry, as every once in a while, the silence would be broken by fits of coughing that made her heart clench and her hands grip whatever she was holding even tighter. Then the silence would come back, as her roommate most likely went back to sleep.

Part of her thought she should just leave Remeny to her own devices. She clearly didn't want to be taken care of, and she was even more of a nightmare than usual, something Beryl hadn't thought possible. But Remeny was obviously in no state to take care of herself, and if nobody helped her, it would only get worse. Beryl may not have liked her, but she didn't take any pleasure in her suffering, far from it. She could put her feelings aside for a few days until she got better, and hopefully, Remeny would be a bit more tolerable by the end of it.

Beryl had only left the apartment for a little while, to go buy some medicine at the local drugstore. Thankfully, it was open 24/7, so she was able to get what she needed despite it being one in the morning. When she came back, everything was quiet, but she noticed Remeny's bedroom door was open. Beryl quietly made her way towards it, hoping her roommate had calmed down but knowing it was probably unlikely. To her surprise, the room was empty. She nearly jumped in shock when she turned around and saw Remeny standing just a few feet behind her.

"Wow, I didn't realize I looked 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 bad."

Beryl blinked in confusion. Was that a... Joke? It was hard to tell, with how hoarse and tired her voice sounded. In the dim light of the apartment, Remeny still looked quite pale and tired, an expression of discomfort settled on her face.

"No, sorry, I just wasn't expecting you to be standing right behind me."

There was a small beat of silence.

"You're back."

"You're... Awake."

"I couldn't sleep."

"How long have you been awake?"

"An hour or so. I came out of my room when you left, I was getting bored of doing nothing."

"Are you feeling any better?"

Remeny shrugged.

"Well, I suppose I'm still conscious, so... It's not worse."

"Okay, that's good, that's progress."

It hit Beryl that this was the longest conversation they'd ever had - not counting their first meeting - without any rudeness coming from either side. Maybe Remeny 𝘩𝘢𝘥 seen reason after all.

"I guess."

"So... Why haven't you been able to sleep?"

"I... I don't know... I just... I get too hot, and then thirty seconds later, I get cold, and I can't find a good position to sleep in, and everything 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴 and I keep feeling like I'm going to 𝘷𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘵 and sometimes everything starts spinning and it's just... Awful."

She seemed out of breath after that, swaying slightly where she stood. Worried about another fainting spell, Beryl gestured towards the kitchen table.

"Do you... Want to sit down for a bit?"

Wordlessly, Remeny followed her, sitting awkwardly on a chair, looking as though she was searching for a comfortable position. Beryl sat down as well, leaving a good enough distance between the two of them. She wasn't sure what to say, not wanting to break this fragile sort of peace that seemed to have settled in between them.

"So... how long have you been feeling under the weather?"

"Since I woke up today... Or, not today, I guess, since it's... One AM, now, so... That would be yesterday... But I guess I... I felt kinda weird the day before, so... I don't know. About a day? Something like that."

The day before? That was when they had their last altercation. Beryl thought back on it, realizing she probably should've noticed some early signs of sickness.

"And aside from what you said, do you have any other symptoms?"

"My head hurts like hell. And... I keep coughing."

"Judging by what you described, you probably have the flu."

"Wonderful. Just what I needed."

"You said everything was spinning while you were trying to sleep... Do you get dizzy spells a lot, or is that new?"

"Well... One time, I, I had spent the whole day outside, and it was really hot and I didn't realize I forgot to eat all day, or, or drink water- well, I didn't have any on me, and at one point I... I just felt 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥 and sort of... Passed out on a sidewalk, and some guy took me into a store and I sat down until I felt better..."

"That sounds like heat exhaustion..."

"Yes, that's what they called it."

"Wait, hold on, you said you'd forgotten to eat or drink water? Did you... Have you eaten anything, or had any water since you woke up?"

"I've... Had 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 water."

"No food?"

"I..." She grimaced in disgust. "I... 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵. I... Earlier at work... I got... Sick..."

"Okay, I get that, that can happen, but... You need to eat something."

"Ugh... Why?" She whined.

"So you don't start fainting again. And more importantly, so you 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦."

"I'll live. I've been through worse."

"That doesn't mean this isn't bad on its own. You're sick, you need to take care of yourself."

"I'm not 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 sick. I'll be fine."

"Will you?"

"Yes."

"Good. You better."

"What's that supposed to mean? Don't tell me what to do!"

Beryl smiled, suddenly hit with an idea.

"I'm not telling you what to do. I'm giving you a challenge."

Remeny's expression changed into one of curiosity.

"A challenge?"

"Yes! To beat the sickness. Unless you're not up to the task?"

"Of course I am! This is 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, I mean, what do I even have to do to fight this thing?"

"Rest, drinking enough fluids, eating 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥, taking medicine if needed, not overworking yourself-"

"I don't need to do any of that. I'll be fine without it."

"Then prove it. Prove you're fine without doing any of that. I'll bet you that you can't do all your household chores without vomiting, fainting, or sweating through your clothes, and if you're right, I'll let it go. But if I'm right, and you can't do that, we're doing it my way."

"You're making me do chores when I'm sick?"

"I thought you said you weren't that sick."

Remeny growled, and Beryl had to repress a smile.

"I'll leave you alone if you're as fine as you say you are. I promise."

"Ugh... Fine, I 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴. Only so you get off my ass about it."

"Great. And, just in case you're really not feeling well..."

Beryl pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen, taking out two and placing them in a small container. She poured a glass of water and handed both things to her roommate, who sneered at the sight.

"You can always take these. You don't even have to talk to me."

Remeny rolled her eyes, immediately wincing in pain, and raised the glass of water as if for a toast, begrudgingly taking the pills.

"Happy now?"

Beryl smiled.

"Yes."

"Good. Do you want me to do your fucking chores, now?"

"No. Get some rest, first."

"𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘦."

Beryl walked over to where her roommate was sitting and patted her on the head in a half-condescending manner, noticing an angry flush creep into her cheeks. She seemed so stunned that she didn't appear to see Beryl walking away and going into her own room.

"Don't forget to eat something," she said as she left, and she didn't even have to turn around to know Remeny was staring daggers at her.

It wasn't a lot, but they'd gotten through an entire conversation without too much bickering. It was progress.

...

When she came home from her classes the next day, the apartment was quiet once more. Her roommate's bedroom door was open again, and all Beryl could see on her bed was a vaguely person-shaped pile of blankets from which small snores escaped. Not wanting to disturb her, she opted to refill her glass of water and placing two more caplets next to it. She'd just check on her when she was awake.

It was when Beryl was leaving the room that the blanket pile began moving, a confused groan coming from it. Eventually, Remeny's head emerged, somehow looking even worse than the previous day. She blinked slowly, making a small sound of acknowledgement at her roommate.

"Sorry I woke you up..." Beryl whispered.

"Mmm... What... What time is it?" She muttered groggily, sounding just as hoarse as before.

"Six PM."

"Hm... Okay..." She rubbed her eyes with a yawn, clearly barely awake.

Beryl sat down on the bed, gently brushing damp curls out of Remeny's face; even without direct contact, she could feel the feverish heat of her skin. She pressed the inside of her wrist to her forehead, prompting a puzzled look from her roommate.

"Why... Why are you doing it like that? You're, you're using your wrist, and not your hand."

"It's more accurate, our wrists are always at 98.6 degrees, but our hands can vary wildly in temperature."

Remeny smiled.

"Nerd."

Beryl was surprised by how... 𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 Remeny was being. She thought back on their first meeting, realizing that was the only time Remeny had actually been nice to her in the month they'd known each other. Maybe this was similar; she didn't have as many walls up when she couldn't think as clearly, and wasn't as unpleasant as usual. Shaking the thought away, Beryl returned the smile.

"You're still really warm, but I'm not sure if that's from the fever or from being under blankets all day."

Remeny simply shrugged in response.

"Are you feeling a bit better?"

"No..."

Beryl gave her a sad smile.

"The first couple days are usually the worst, you'll feel better soon. I brought you some water, do you mind sitting up for a bit?"

Remeny did as told, and, to Beryl's surprise, leaned on her, resting her head on her shoulder. As she slowly sipped from her glass and took her meds, Beryl found herself absentmindedly stroking her hair, trying to provide a little bit of comfort. Now that Remeny was out of the blanket pile - she only had one blanket draped over her shoulders - Beryl was able to see what she was wearing, and squinted in confusion.

"Wait, is this mine?"

A look of guilt Beryl had never seen before on her crossed her face.

"I... I don't have any hoodies... And I was cold... I just found it lying around."

The sleeves were too short, but other than that, it seemed to fit her, even hanging a bit loose on her more athletic frame.

"It's okay, I don't mind."

"Mm... Good. It's comfy."

Remeny closed her eyes with a small sigh, running a finger along the rim of her glass. From where she was, Beryl could see the bruises and split skin on her knuckles, and her eyes darted over to the punching bag in the corner. She assumed Remeny used gloves, but it wasn't a total surprise that she didn't. She didn't seem like safety was her biggest concern.

They stayed there for a few minutes, unmoving, until Remeny suddenly tensed up when a shiver ran through her. She coughed weakly, cursing under her breath.

"I hate being sick..."

Beryl rubbed her arm, pulling her in a bit closer.

"I know, it sucks."

"I feel like I'm dying..."

Thinking she was joking, Beryl laughed, but immediately stopped when she saw the hurt expression on her roommate's face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought..."

Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around the other woman, who returned the embrace after a few seconds.

"You... You give really good hugs..." Her muffled voice came from where her face was buried into Beryl's shoulder.

"Thank you. I have a lot of practice."

Remeny pulled away and ran a hand through her hair, seemingly a bit more awake.

"Why... Why are you being nice to me?"

"Because you're sick. Don't worry, as soon as you get better, I'll go back to being a bossy, controlling bitch."

The guilty expression was back, and Remeny looked away, muttering something quietly.

"What did you say?"

"I... I'm sorry I called you a bitch," she repeated, slightly louder.

"Good. That's a start. Thank you."

"I don't... Actually think you're a bitch, you know."

"You don't?"

"No."

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I'm too tired to hate you anymore."

That wasn't exactly the answer Beryl hoped for, but it was better than nothing.

"Well, I appreciate the apology, but words are one thing, and actions are another. You're gonna need to do more than just apologize if you want me to like you."

"Who says I want you to like me?"

"I don't know, but I'm also tired of hating you. We don't have to be friends, but can we at least not fight all the time? I'd love for us to just tolerate each other."

Remeny pondered the question for a bit.

"I... I kind of liked the fighting," she admitted with a smile.

"Really? You always seemed upset at the end."

"Yeah, 'cause you kept 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨! Ugh, why did I say that? You weren't supposed to know... Damn it... Sorry... I don't really have a filter right now..."

"Do you ever?"

"Shut up."

Beryl smiled, giving her a nudge. Remeny sighed, slumping against her again.

"Ugh... this sucks... Doing nothing all day is so boring... But I... I don't have the energy to do anything..."

"Yeah, that's usually how it goes."

"All I did today was... Take a shower... And... Sleep... And... That's it, actually."

"I know you probably think I'm being really annoying about this, but did you-"

"Yes, I 𝘥𝘪𝘥 eat something, and it didn't... Go well."

"Oh... I'm sorry..."

"It's fine..."

"It's not, though. You don't have to be fine all the time. It's okay to need help."

"Hm. I guess. I'm surprised you're not gloating about it."

"Why would I do that?"

"'cause you were right, you said this would happen. I could barely even get out of bed today, let alone do 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴. You win."

Her voice was so tired and weak, her tone so defeated that Beryl wanted to hug her again.

"Remeny... Just 'cause I knew it would happen doesn't mean I 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 it to happen. And I wasn't actually expecting you to do chores, you haven't done any in the time I've been living here."

Remeny stayed quiet, staring intently at her glass of water to avoid looking at Beryl.

"And, you know, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of yours, but... You don't deserve this. No one does."

"I can think of a few people who do."

"You should go cough on them."

Remeny laughed, the first genuine laugh Beryl had heard from her.

"Wait... You'll get sick too, if you're near me, right?"

Beryl shrugged.

"We live together, I'm bound to catch this no matter what I do. Might as well try to help you be less miserable about the whole thing."

She gave Remeny another slight nudge, prompting a tired smile from her.

"Plus, I kinda missed having someone to take care of."

"What do you mean?"

"When I still lived with my family, I took care of my younger sister a lot. She gets sick easily, and our mom worked a lot, so, I was the one to take care of her. She was a bit less... stubborn about it, though."

Remeny huffed in annoyance.

"I have my reasons."

"Care to share them?"

"Not a chance."

"Fair enough."

"What's... What's her name? Your, your sister..."

Beryl smiled.

"Lottie. Well, her name is Charlotte, but we've always called her Lottie."

"That's cute."

"Yeah... I miss her..."

She sighed.

"Sorry... Living this far from home is kinda hard sometimes."

"Really? We, we have very different lives, then."

"What do you mean?"

"I, um..." Remeny wrung her hands nervously, eyes darting around. "I... I don't exactly have the best relationship with my family. Haven't spoken to them since I left home."

Oh. That explained her reaction to Beryl's comment about being given everything she wanted by her parents. If Remeny had a very strict upbringing, it would make sense for her to act the way she did now.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Remeny shrugged.

"I'm used to it. Who needs family, right? You don't need anyone else but yourself." Her voice sounded more strained, her tone hollow, like she didn't fully believe her own words.

"Remeny, that's... That's really sad."

"No it's not! Ugh... Can- can we talk about something else?"

"Sure. Sorry. What... Do you want to talk about?"

"I don't even know, honestly... We... We don't have to talk. This is nice. You're... Warm..."

Beryl gently placed the back of her hand against Remeny's cheek, feeling the same heat as before.

"So are you, you're burning up..."

"We have a thermometer..." Remeny muttered, smiling. "Are you just looking for excuses to touch me?"

Beryl laughed.

"How did you know I had a thing for weak, sickly women?"

Remeny narrowed her eyes at her.

"I'll have you know I'm very strong."

"I know. But right now, you're sick, and you're not exactly at your peak."

"Ugh... Yeah... I feel like shit."

Beryl hugged her again, feeling the shivers running through her body. She decided that if her fever had gotten any worse, she'd take her to the ER, no matter what she said. The only reason she hadn't done it the previous day was because Remeny would not have let her and probably would've locked herself in her room and never spoken to her again if Beryl even brought up the idea. But now, while the relationship was still a bit rocky, Beryl felt like she was getting through to her.

"I was gonna go make dinner, if you wanted to follow me... You can bring your blanket pile."

She was getting a bit worried about Remeny overheating under all the blankets and making her condition worse, but she decided to pick her battles. And the one she was currently picking was trying to get her to eat, which she knew would be a trying task. Hopefully, watching her make dinner, she'd agree more easily. But Beryl had learned in the short time she'd known her roommate to not get her hopes up too much, as she was impossibly stubborn.

"Hm... Sure."

Grabbing as many blankets as she could, Remeny followed her, sitting down awkwardly like she'd done the previous day. She complied to having her temperature taken - it had gone down but not by much, now at 102.9 - and stayed silent as Beryl began cooking, even falling asleep at some point. Beryl felt a bit guilty waking her - the poor girl looked 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 - but it thankfully wasn't too difficult.

"I know you don't want to, but 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 just try it, okay?"

Remeny's eyes opened, and her features hardened when she saw what was in front of her.

"No."

"It's chicken noodle soup, you should be able to get it down without too much of a problem. It's the perfect sick person food."

"I'm not worried about getting it down, I'm worried about it coming back 𝘶𝘱."

"I understand. And I won't force you. I 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 force you. I'm just asking you to try. Just give yourself a chance."

Remeny glared at her. Beryl was getting so used to it that it didn't even faze her.

"It's my mom's recipe. You have to try it, or else you'll disappoint her." She said the last part jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm very familiar with mothers being disappointed in me, thank you." Remeny's tone was harsh, reminding Beryl of the shared hatred she thought had gone away.

"Come on. I know you feel awful right now, but you 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 to give your body something to fight with. Your immune system can't run on empty."

With an annoyed sigh, Remeny grabbed her spoon, her gaze sharp and hateful.

"You're really fucking annoying."

But, despite that, she did try the soup.

"So?"

"It's... Good..."

"Told you."

"Shut up."

Beryl smiled, enjoying her small victory. They ate together in silence, letting the quiet atmosphere wash over them. Remeny seemed a bit more relaxed, not shivering nearly as much, and Beryl was surprised to find she was actually starting to enjoy her company. Maybe they weren't quite friends yet, but they were getting there. It was a start.

...

Over the next few days, the constant sniping and bickering gave way to something approaching friendly banter. Remeny was still reluctant to have someone else take care of her, but she was at least doing it herself, and she seemed to be doing better. Beryl had forbidden her from going back to work, as she was still sick and definitely very contagious, and surprisingly, she'd complied. All was going well.

𝘈𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 all was going well.

It didn't take long for Beryl to start feeling under the weather as well. When she woke up with a headache and a bad cough, she knew what was coming, and after a full day of classes, she was on the verge of collapsing from sheer exhaustion.

"Well, you look like shit." Remeny greeted her from where she sat on the couch.

"Shut up." Beryl said as she sunk into the cushions, tightly shutting her eyes. "This is your fault."

"Excuse me? How is this my fault? I didn't ask you to be around me all the time while I was sick!"

Beryl opened her eyes again, glaring.

"I wasn't gonna sit there and do nothing while you were stuck in bed, writhing in agony."

Remeny rolled her eyes.

"Oh, how very 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦 of you." She gestured dramatically to emphasize her point. "Do you want a medal?"

"No, but I'd appreciate a 'thank you'."

"Fine. Thank you, or whatever."

"Could you say that with 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 conviction?"

"I'm not saying it again."

Beryl sighed. "Could you go be a problem somewhere else? I'm exhausted."

"If I recall correctly, you do have a bedroom."

"So do you."

"Well, I'm not moving."

"Neither am I."

They both stayed at their separate ends of the couch, neither wanting to move. Remeny eventually broke the silence:

"So... I take it you're also sick?"

"Seems like it."

"I guess we're gonna be miserable together..."

"Really? I thought you were feeling better."

Remeny shrugged.

"I took out the trash today, and I had to take a 𝘯𝘢𝘱 afterwards. I'm not... Writhing in agony, like you said, but I can barely do anything. I hate it."

"You're recovering, of course you're tired."

"Yes, well, it sucks and I want to do things. Do you have any idea how boring it is to be stuck inside all day with nothing to do?"

"Yes, Remeny, believe it or not, you're not the first person in the world to experience boredom."

"You know what I mean. At least now I can have someone to talk to."

"You're choosing to spend time with me? You must be getting desperate."

"I am. And I... I don't 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 being around you."

"Wow, that's basically a declaration of love, coming from you."

Remeny tried to look angry, but Beryl could see the small hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"I don't hate being around you either."

"Good." Remeny's tone was quieter than usual. "I-I'm glad."

Beryl smiled softly at her, blinking tiredly. Now that the bickering had ended and the adrenaline of the day's stress had worn off, she realized just how tired she was. It felt as if her limbs were made of lead, as if she was glued to the couch. Maybe she could take a small nap there, just for a few minutes. It wasn't the best position, sure, her back and neck would probably hurt after she woke up, but she'd fallen asleep at tables and desks more times than she would care to admit, so she was used to it. Her entire body was already starting to ache, what difference would this make?

Just as she was starting to fall asleep, Beryl felt a weight shift in the couch as her roommate got up, and a blanket being clumsily thrown over her. She heard Remeny's voice, very quiet and hesitant, say:

"Have a..." She cleared her throat. "Have a good nap."

Beryl had to hold back a laugh when she felt Remeny pat her on the head and subsequently mutter as she walked away:

"Why did I do that..."

She smiled, letting sleep finally take her. The war was over. She'd won.