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Zero walked through the woods, annoyedly kicking rocks around as he strolled.
He was taking a much needed break from everything after the other Zeroes bullied him about his embarrassing tapes again.
He looked up from the ground, and realized he had ended up walking all the way to Fifteen’s cabin.
He hadn’t seen her in a while. He used to visit her pretty frequently, but somewhere along the way they started drifting apart.
Zero had asked her to be his partner, but nothing really changed after that. He didn’t know if Fifteen even reciprocated his feelings, and felt like he was the only one putting in any effort, which put a bit of a strain on their relationship, but he felt the need to check on her, he had a weird gut feeling he should.
He nervously walked over, and stepped up onto the porch, but when he made it over to the door, he heard what sounded like heavy, pained breathing coming from the other side.
His concern grew slightly as he knocked on the door cautiously.
No answer.
He knocked again, and waited a few seconds.
No answer.
He sighed heavily, before trying to knock one last time.
Still, no answer.
“Fifteen.. I know you’re there. Please, can we just talk?” Zero asked, trying to hide the worry in his voice.
He finally heard footsteps come up to the door, and the sound of a large, heavy object scrape against it, which startled him a bit.
The door creaked open slowly, until the chain of the door lock klinked, and he saw half of Fifteen’s face appear out of the darkness of the cabin.
He couldn’t really see anything other than her eye, but it still shook him to his core. She looked like she was in pain, and her breathing was unsteady.
“What do you want?” She asked, her voice shaky, and strained.
“I.. I wanted to check on you.. I haven’t seen you in a long time, and I wanted to see if you were okay.” Zero explained.
“Just go away. I don’t care.” She hissed as she disappeared into the darkness of the cabin, accidentally leaving the door ajar.
Zero heard her cuss to herself in pain from inside, and decided he wasn’t going to just let her leave like that, he could tell there was something wrong, so he took a deep breath, and unlatched the lock, before slowly opening the door.
“Fifteen.. Are you.. Oka-” Zero cut himself off as he walked through the door, seeing the cabin practically trashed. Broken glass littering the floor, the couch entirely flipped over, and the dining table on the other side of the door, which was probably the cause of the scraping noise Zero heard, as it was most likely blocking the door.
The cabin smelled like beer and sadness that had been marinating for a thousand years. The scent stung Zero’s nose a bit.
His eyes flicked around the room. He couldn’t see much, since it was quite dark, but eventually his eyes adjusted, and he saw Fifteen’s silhouette sitting in the centre of the room, surrounded by all the mess.
She weakly stood up, and tiredly looked Zero in the eyes.
“I told you to leave.. Just go.” She hissed as she covered the side of her face with one of her hands.
As she stood there, Zero looked her up and down, analyzing her. Her hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in weeks, her eyes had dark bags under them, her legs were trembling from just standing, and her black shorts, which she always wore around her cabin, seemed to have dark blotches on the front of them.
Her pained expression worried Zero greatly. He had no idea what was going on, but it was definitely something bad.
“Fifteen..” He said softly, trying to find the words to say.
“Please.. Just go..” Fifteen winced as she sat herself down on the wooden floor.
Zero stepped further into the cabin, and closed the door behind him. He cautiously made his way towards Fifteen, and slowly sat himself down next to her.
He tried to say something, anything, but he couldn’t. He’d never been the best with words, so he just decided to go for it in a desperate attempt that he’d be able to come up with something.
“Fifteen.. I want to help you. I know you won’t want it, but I really need you to tell me what’s going on, please?” He spoke softly, tripping over his words once or twice, but getting his point across nonetheless.
Fifteen sighed heavily, and attempted to run her fingers through her hair, but it was incredibly matted from her not brushing it for infinity knows how long, causing her fingers to get stuck, so she gave up, and put her hand on her lap instead.
“I really don’t want to talk about it, Zero.” She said in the least shaky voice she could muster.
“I know. I don’t like talking about this kind of stuff either, but you need to let me help you, please. I’m worried about you.” He let out a long exhale as he looked around the dilapidated cabin again.
Fifteen got more agitated the more he pressed her about it. Without thinking, she tried to bring her knees up to her chest, before sharply sucking in air through her teeth in pain.
“Kss!”
Zero quickly looked over at her.
“W-What happened? Are you hurt?” He turned himself a little more towards her in an attempt to see what was wrong.
Fifteen grunted in frustration before snapping at him.
“FINE! You wanna know what’s wrong!?”
“I relapsed okay! And my depression got worse again! There’s your big FRICKEN answer!” She felt tears beginning to form in her eyes, which she attempted to wipe away before he noticed.
Zero, who had flinched away from her after she yelled at him, looked over at her, with an expression that was a mix of fear, concern, and worry.
“O-On what?” He asked. He knew she used to have a couple of things she was clean from for a long time, so what she said didn’t narrow down much for him.
“.. all of it.” She reluctantly answered as she let out a small sob. Her eyes darted around the cabin as she tried to avoid making eye contact with the very worried number who was sitting next to her.
“All of it?” Zero repeated, mostly to himself, not wanting to believe what she said.
“Y-Yeah.. The drinking, the not eating or sleeping properly.. and the cut-..” Fifteen cut herself off. She didn’t want to finish her sentence. Tears began streaming down her face as she stared at the floor.
Zero’s eyes widened. He knew what she was about to say and struggled on what to say next. It broke his heart to see her like that.
“Did you.. bandag-
“Yes.. I bandaged them…” Fifteen answered him before he could finish.
“Okay..”
Zero tapped his index finger against the floorboards as he thought of other questions to ask.
“Is it still bleeding?” He asked.
“Yeah.. I did it around.. Twenty minutes ago, just before you got here.. But that was the most recent time I did it today...” She sniffed as she wiped a tear off her cheek.
“Today? As in, did you did it multiple times today?” He asked, his concern growing even more.
“Yeah like once an hour so what?! Stop interrogating me!” She snapped at him, before trying to hide her face behind a section of her matted hair.
“Math I feel so stupid right now.. I worked so hard and I was clean for so long just to screw it all up over some stupid depressive episode! I-I don’t even know what the hell happened.. I-It just felt like it was my fault you stopped visiting me, and I was already a bit messed up during it so i-it got out of control!” She began sobbing uncontrollably and tried desperately to stop herself.
The only thing she hated more than trespassers was feeling weak and vulnerable in front of someone, or even feeling weak and vulnerable at all. She hated how much it felt like her self-assured attitude and confidence had disappeared because of her depression those past few weeks, and she absolutely despised crying in front of Zero. She wanted to just die at that moment.
“Hey hey hey, you’re not stupid.. It’s going to be okay.” Zero comforted her as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace.
Fifteen stubbornly tried to act like she was annoyed by it, but returned it anyway, and rested her chin on his head, letting her tears run onto him, which he didn’t mind at all.
“It’s not your fault.. I got caught up with my own stuff, and I’m sorry..” He spoke softly.
“I-I’m sorry t-too.. I wasn’t b-being as i-involved as I should’ve b-been.. In the relationship, I-I mean…” Fifteen stammered, speaking in between sobs.
“It’s okay, just try to breathe.. I love you.” He said calmly.
“I love you too..” She mumbled.
Fifteen pulled away a few minutes later once she calmed down a bit, and Zero kept his arm around her waist. He rested his head on her shoulder, and gazed up at her.
“It’s going to be okay. I’ll try my best to be here for you.” He murmured as he moved his hand from her waist to her hand, and intertwined his fingers with hers.
“I really don’t deserve you…” She let out a weak chuckle, before leaning her head onto his.
“Is there anything I can do to make you feel a little better right now?” He asked softly.
“I.. don’t know…” She sniffed.
Without thinking, Zero re-positioned his head, and pressed his lips against her neck.
Fifteen froze. She was caught incredibly off guard by it, and it even caused her to get a little flustered.
“Oh gosh.. I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean-” Zero stuttered.
“No.. It’s alright.” Fifteen assured him, before letting out a deep sigh.
“Could you um.. Kiss me?” She mumbled. She couldn’t believe she actually asked that, but it was too late to take it back.
“Oh uh.. S-Sure!”
Zero awkwardly turned himself to face her, and cupped her cheek with his hand. He brought his face to hers, and closed his eyes as he pressed his lips against hers.
He could tell it was helping her calm down. Her shoulders weren’t tensed up anymore, and her breathing was more steady.
He started to pull away, but Fifteen grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back in.
They ended up just making out, which Zero would claim was to help her feel better, but he definitely enjoyed it.
They pulled away from each other, and neither of them really knew what to say afterwards, they both just kind of awkwardly stared at each other for a few moments.
“Y-You uh.. Feeling a bit better?” Zero mumbled, as he very noticeably started to blush.
“Uh.. Yeah… That was.. Wow.” Fifteen chuckled nervously.
They both sat in silence for a few moments smiling to themselves about what happened, before Zero finally said something.
“W-Would you like me to help clean up a bit? We can sit here a little longer if you want to, though, no rush.” He asked awkwardly as his eyes flicked around the cabin looking for a place to start.
“Nah it’s alright we can start cleaning, besides, I doubt you want to be near me anymore, I smell like a dead body.” Fifteen chuckled.
Zero laughed nervously. She did smell really bad, but of course he wasn’t going to tell her that.
- - -
It took them a few hours, but everything had been put mostly back to normal, and Zero made sure to put anything sharp in a place where Fifteen wouldn’t be able to get to it.
Then it was time for step two, dealing with Fifteen’s hair.
Zero got Fifteen to sit on a pillow on the floor while he sat on the couch. He put on a movie for her to watch on the crt tv she had, and started getting to work on her matted hair. He had soaked her hair in olive oil before they started cleaning, so it would have time to soften. He used his fingers to pull apart the knots, and afterwards, he used the wooden wide toothed comb she had to detangle her hair from the ends to the roots.
It took him around seven hours to finish, but he didn’t care, he was happy to see Fifteen’s hair in good shape again.
“I think I’m done.” Zero said, running his fingers through her hair one more time to make sure he didn’t miss any knots.
Fifteen ran her fingers through her hair as well. It was the silkiest it had been in weeks. She was surprised he was able to pull it off, her hair was in really bad condition.
“Thank you..” She murmured as she smiled slightly.
“You should go shower, sweety. Your hair is still covered in olive oil.” Zero told her.
“Mhm.” She hummed in agreement. She stood herself up, and weakly made her way over to her bedside table, making sure to move slowly to avoid irritating the cuts on her thighs.
She opened the drawer to her bedside table, and picked out a black tank top and matching shorts, which was the outfit she was already wearing.
She sewed all her own clothes, so she made copies of the same tank top and shorts to wear all the time.
She walked through the garage to get to the bathroom that was connected to it, and draped the clothes on the side of the sink.
When she turned her head towards the doorway, she was a little startled to see Zero standing there.
“O-Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He awkwardly fidgeted with his hands.
“It’s fine. Could you fill that bucket with water from the well outside?” She asked, gesturing towards a wooden bucket that was near the corner of the room.
“Sure, but can you come with me?” He asked. He had been hovering around her the entire evening, and didn’t want to leave her alone, even for a second, worried she might hurt herself if he did.
“I guess.” She mumbled.
Fifteen grabbed the bucket from the corner, and tiredly followed Zero outside.
It had been a really long time since Fifteen went outside, and even though they were only going out there for a few minutes, she felt uncomfortable leaving her cabin, but she sucked it up while they were there.
They both walked over to the well that was about twenty feet away from the cabin, and Zero lowered the bucket into it, while Fifteen sat on the ground. He pulled the bucket back up to grab it once it was filled with water, and they both went back to the bathroom.
Fifteen took the bucket from his hands and placed it on the floor where it was previously.
“Can I stay in here with you? I know that sounds weird, but I just want to make sure you don’t try to hurt yourself. There’s quite a few sharp things in here that I can’t exactly get rid of..” Zero requested as his eyes flicked around the room nervously, looking at the sharp edges of the walls and furniture.
Fifteen reluctantly agreed, though she did appreciate the concern.
Zero sat on the floor next to the sink that was near the makeshift shower she had. It was really just a section of the bathroom that had a drain, and was closed off by a curtain. Fifteen didn’t bother trying to figure out how to make a shower, so she just used a bucket and sponge.
Fifteen walked into the “Shower” and closed the curtain behind her. She removed her dirty, bloodstained clothes and bandages, and hung them on the curtain rod, while Zero sat quietly.
All algebralians are genderless, so it’s not like there was anything to see, but it still felt kind of awkward for Fifteen to have someone in the bathroom with her while she showered. It was necessary, though, since she did catch herself staring at the broken piece of wood that was sticking out of the wall a couple times. It wasn’t that sharp, but it could definitely cut if she tried hard enough, and she knew that, but knowing Zero was in the room stopped her from trying.
She finished cleaning herself up, and got Zero to pass her the clean clothes, and some clean bandages.
She put on the new bandages, got dressed, and opened the shower curtain.
“Done?” Zero asked as he stood up using the sink as support.
“Yeah.. and we’re never speaking of this again, got it?” Fifteen said threateningly.
“Y-Yep! It’s already repressed..” He chuckled nervously.
“By the way, have you eaten today?” Zero asked, mostly out of actual concern, but also because he wanted to change the subject, since he could tell Fifteen was a little uncomfortable with the awkward situation.
“Well.. No.” She reluctantly answered.
“When’s the last time you ate something?” Zero asked, getting a little more concerned.
Fifteen stayed silent. She hadn’t really eaten much at all since her depression got worse, she only really drank beer and ate dry cereal, among other things that definitely weren’t enough to fully sustain someone.
Zero sighed. He wasn’t mad at Fifteen, of course, but he was upset that she wasn’t taking good care of herself. He wasn’t going to lecture her about it, though, since he struggled with depression many times before and would do pretty much the exact same things she was doing, so he couldn’t really blame her.
Zero walked into the kitchen, and grabbed some canned fruit from her food storage, since she didn’t have any fresh fruit. He put some canned peaches into a bowl for her to eat, and brought it over to her.
“Here, eat as much as you can but don’t try to force yourself to finish it, you’ll make yourself sick.” He instructed her as he placed the bowl, a spoon, and a glass of water in front of her.
Fifteen took a few bites, but she started feeling a bit queasy afterwards, so she decided to just count her losses, and pushed the bowl away. She would’ve tried to be stubborn and finish it, but she already cried in front of Zero, and she was NOT going to throw up in front of him too.
“You done?” Zero asked as he reached for the bowl.
“Mhm..” Fifteen hummed in response.
Zero grabbed her dishes and cleaned them up for her, before walking back to the dining table.
He sat in the chair across from her, and held her hand.
“How are you doing?” He asked as he gazed at her softly.
“Good.. You can head home now if you want. It’s pretty late.” Fifteen mumbled as she avoided eye contact with him.
“Nuh uh. I’m not leaving you alone out here. I know you won’t want me to stay, but I’m worried you’re going to try to hurt yourself again.” He said in a stern tone that he only really used when he was very serious about something.
Fifteen groaned. She knew she would try to hurt herself again if she was left alone. She wanted to hurt herself, but she still didn’t want Zero to live with her. However, deep down she knew she wasn’t thinking straight, and him being there would be best for her.
“I want you to be safe, Fifteen. I went through stuff like this too, so I want to be here to help you through it the best I can.” Zero said solemnly.
Fifteen nodded. She didn’t want to speak anymore, because if she did she would most likely start crying, and she really didn’t want to do that again.
“You should get some rest. It’s been a long day.” Zero said softly as he traced his thumb over the back of her hand.
She nodded again in response, before letting go of his hand, and getting up from her chair to go to bed.
She got into bed and laid down on the side closest to the wall, before turning onto her side to face Zero, who was still sitting at the dining table, texting the others in the grasslands that he was going to be staying with Fifteen for a few months.
“Will you be going to bed soon?” She asked as she fidgeted with the blanket.
“Yeah, I’ll go sleep on the couch if that’s alright.” Zero said mid stretch, before standing up to head to the living room.
“No.” Fifteen said bluntly as she sat herself up in bed.
Zero paused, and looked over at her with a confused expression.
“No? What do you mean ‘No.’?” He asked.
“You can’t sleep on the couch.” She said blankly as she fidgeted with the blanket more.
“..Why not? Do you want me to sleep on the floor? There’s no other place to sleep.” He asked, now very puzzled.
“Yeah there is.” Her eyes flicked off to the side, and back to him a few times.
“I mean.. There’s the dining table, but like, I doubt that would be comfortable, besides, why don’t you want me on the couch?” He said, getting slightly upset at whatever Fifteen was on about.
“There’s definitely a more comfortable place to sleep.. It’s probably way more comfortable than the couch, even!” She passive-aggressively hinted.
Fifteen had a habit of hinting towards things she was too embarrassed to ask for directly, which doesn’t pair well with someone who is incredibly bad at recognizing social cues.
Zero stared at her in pure confusion, noticing her irritated expression.
Suddenly, it finally clicked for him.
“O-Oh! Geez, I-I’m sorry- heh..! I just uh-” He stammered.
“Oh just shut up and get over here, dumbass.” She scoffed as she patted the space next to her, signaling for Zero to lay there, before laying down and pulling the blanket over her shoulder.
He took off his hoodie and cap, and hung them on one of the dining chairs. He would’ve worn them to bed, but they were dirty.
He got into Fifteen’s bed and rolled onto his side to face her. She pulled Zero towards her, and he tightly wrapped his arms around her waist, not letting any air pass between them.
“Thanks for everything today.. I don’t think I said that yet.” Fifteen said softly as she ran her fingers through Zero’s hair.
“It’s no problem.. I would’ve done more if I could.” He responded.
“You’re too humble, Zero. You did plenty.. I’m sorry you had to deal with me today…” Fifteen mumbled as she felt her eyes starting to burn. She tried to stop herself from crying, but a few tears escaped her eyes and dripped onto the pillow below her.
“Hey, come on.. I wasn’t ‘dealing with you’. I wanted to help. Your mental health is really important to me, Fifteen. I know how hard it can be to go through this kind of stuff alone.” He comforted her.
“You had to practically child proof the whole damn house because I can’t go an hour without slicing my own skin open!” She couldn’t stop herself from crying any longer, and just tried to keep her breathing steady at the very least, since Zero’s head was against her chest.
“I know.. I know.. Addiction is hard, but I’m here for you…” He tried his best to make her feel better, to no avail.
It hurt Zero to hear her crying. Listening to her quiet sobs made him start to tear up.
He re-positioned himself so he would be at eye level with her, and cupped her face in his hands.
He wiped the tears out of her eyes with his thumbs, and leaned a bit closer to her.
“Do you want me to kiss you again?” He smiled warmly at her.
“Mhm…” She hummed as she nodded her head.
Zero brought his face towards her, and softly kissed her on the lips, which helped calm her down a bit.
He pulled back and kissed her on her forehead, before moving back to where he was previously.
Fifteen wrapped her arms around him, and she was noticeably squeezing him a lot tighter than before, but he didn’t mind.
“Try to get some rest, honey.. You had a long day.” He murmured.
“Honey’s a new one..” Fifteen chuckled softly. Zero liked to use a lot of petnames, and she really liked it whenever he would use new ones.
Soon after, they both drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms, and had the best night’s rest either of them had ever had.
- - -
It had been around six months since Zero moved in, and Fifteen had improved a lot. She was happier, and she was clean from drinking and self-harm again. The urge to hurt herself had numbed, but her relationship with sharp objects was still a little iffy. Zero kept her in check, though.
She felt her self-confidence had finally gone back to normal, but she still allowed herself to be a bit more emotional around Zero, instead of acting so tough all the time.
Her relationship with him had gotten a lot stronger as well. She spent a lot of time teaching him how to survive out in the woods, and they had gotten to know each other a lot better. They both made sure to try their best to talk through things, so they wouldn’t have another miscommunication, and even though they fought a few times, they were always able to come back from it.
Even if Fifteen was unsure about Zero staying with her at first, she was really happy to have him around. She was thankful she had someone to help her, so she wouldn’t have to go through her mental health issues alone, and even though he was planning to go back home in a few more months, she was glad to have had that time with him.