I Fell For My Nemesis

Keith worried about Joss all throughout work the next day. He texted her on his breaks and felt oddly bereft not bringing her lunch as usual.

She claimed she was fine but when he arrived with her dinner he noticed she looked like she had her soul sucked out of her. He set the food down on the nearest available surface (honestly, there weren't many in an apartment this size) and frowned.

"Have you taken your pain meds recently?"

"No. I'm only supposed to take them every four to six hours and I'm waiting until right before I go to bed so I can get some sleep," Joss told him with exhaustion running through her voice.

Ah. That made sense.

"What have you been doing today?" he asked as he began taking the food out.

"Playing phone games and watching YouTube videos. I really need something better to do."

He handed her the takeout container and she shot him a wan but grateful smile before digging in. Phone games and YouTube videos didn't sound like the best way to spend an entire day. Had she really not done anything else?

Keith figured someone as smart as Joss would want to read a book or learn a new skill while she was laid up. Maybe she didn't have any books lying around. It wasn't like she could make it to the library easily with her leg. Or get any sort of materials for anything else.

He could potentially help with that. When a person suddenly went from busy to having nothing to do they could get bored easily.

There wasn't anywhere for him to sit since she was using the desk chair to prop her leg up so he leaned against a tiny spare bit of wall. He wanted to be as helpful as possible to her. That way she would be more likely to want to keep him around long-term.

"Now that you're laid up is there anything you've wanted to do but haven't had the time for? I can get you whatever you need and bring it by tomorrow," Keith offered.

Joss frowned. "I…no. I could use some ideas, honestly."

"Books you want to read? Crafts you want to try? Puzzles? The sky's the limit as long as it's an indoor sitting down type of activity."

"If you could go to the library and bring me some recommended books that would be great. I'm not picky. Get me a stack and that should last me a while. Thanks. I appreciate it."

Keith raised an eyebrow. Was she picky about anything? She didn't seem to have a favorite ANYTHING. Everyone had at least some things they preferred over others. He wasn't much of a reader himself but he liked comics better than novels. He had been a big Calvin and Hobbes fan when he was a kid.

"You don't have any preferences at all? What sort of books do you normally read?"

"I haven't read a book for fun since before college. Back then I read whatever was readily available at the school library," Joss admitted.

Okay, that gave him something to work with. High school libraries usually carried YA novels. He would just have to find some of those to start with. Maybe he could get her some mysteries and nonfiction too since she said she wasn't picky.

"I'll get you a variety then," Keith reassured her. "Don't worry about it. Anything else?"

"No, not that I can think of. Thanks though."

Joss went back to eating her food and he figured he should eat his before it got cold even if he had to do it standing. This apartment definitely wasn't meant for entertaining people.

And here he thought living in a three-bedroom apartment with five other guys was bad! At least he had a living room and a kitchen even if he did have to share them. All she had was a tiny fridge, toaster oven, and microwave.

She must live mostly on takeout. He did too but that was more of a situational thing because he was always out and about. He knew how to make a few things he had picked up in various foster homes. Mostly he had cereal in the morning but sometimes he shook it up with eggs and toast.

Joss couldn't even make eggs. Unless there was some way to do it in the microwave? That seemed unnatural though.

How busy was she that she could stand to live in a place like this? She must hardly ever be home. What would keep someone out of the house that often though? This was nothing more than a place to sleep.

Keith was hardly home but that was because of all the time he spent on hero work. The odds of both of them being heroes was impossibly small even if she did occasionally remind him of Frostine. Who would probably be wondering if he vanished off the face of the earth because he had sort of given up hero work to take care of Joss lately. Oops.

How could he go gallivanting about the city when the one person who truly mattered to him needed help? Helping generic strangers didn't mean nearly as much as helping someone who cared about him.

He needed to be readily available to help her out during his off hours. That meant no hero work for the foreseeable future.

Honestly, he minded a lot less than he thought he would. This was practice for when he retired for real. He was taking a break to deal with personal matters. The city would carry on without him. Heroes were very replaceable, after all.

Keith hoped Frostine didn't worry about him too much and assumed he had stuff going on that had to do with his impending retirement. This would be a lot easier if he had a way to get a hold of her.

"What sort of games have you been playing today?" he asked, shaking those thoughts free.

He was here with Joss now and needed to have his focus entirely on her. Especially with how bored she had been today. She needed the company.

She shrugged. "I switched back and forth between things when I got stuck or it got too repetitive. I played this colored water sorting game, one where you have to connect colored dots, and solitaire."

Keith had only heard of solitaire of those three and that was plenty hard. He was willing to bet the others were too since she was good at puzzles. She mentioned that she used to create her own when they went to the arcade.

"Were they any fun?" he asked.

"Somewhat. I did it more to pass the time than anything. And ended up watching a bunch of bizarre videos like how to make a swimming pool full of Jell-O and whether or not you can swim in it."

He blinked. That was pretty random. "…can you?"

"If it's sufficiently diluted to act like a liquid. Otherwise you would have to dig your way through," Joss informed him.

"How do people even come up with this stuff? Let alone get the money for it!"

"Who knows?"

"Would you even want to swim in a pool full of Jell-O?" Keith asked, pulling a face. "I feel like that would be all sticky and gross."

She nodded her agreement. "Probably. Some of the things people do are quite perplexing. I think they do them simply to see if they can without stopping to think about whether or not they should."

He laughed. That sounded like a Jurassic Park quote. "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

"Huh?"

"It's a movie quote. Don't tell me you've never seen Jurassic Park!"

"I'm afraid I haven't."

"It's so good! And it's based on a book. I'll see if I can check it out for you at the library when I go. You have plenty of time to watch movies now; you should see if you can find it on any streaming services."

"I don't have any," Joss confessed.

That made sense if she was always busy. Who wanted to pay for something they didn't have time for?  On the rare occasions Keith had time to watch TV he mooched off one of his roommates' accounts since it was hooked up to the TV in the living room.

"Try some free trials then. Most of them have the option. If you like a show on there you can always get the subscription when it runs out," he suggested. "Bingeing shows can take up a good chunk of time and keep your mind off things."

"I might have to look into that. Thanks. Do you have any other suggestions?"

Keith had to think about it. Streaming services were a pretty cheap way to keep busy if you had a lot of time on your hands but other hobbies could get pricey from what he had heard. He didn't know how much she had to spare, especially with whatever medical bills she had been hit with after having knee surgery.

"I'll look into that and get back to you," he promised.