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The next day did bring some positives for Zane. They absolutely aced that exam they were so worried about, as well as receiving some thought-provoking comments on an essay draft they were working on.
However, things quickly began to devolve. The first sign of things going awry popped up during a set of TA hours they had signed up for. Everything started well, with Zane being able to grade a set of Calculus midterms. They also started grading a set of overdue homework problems for said professor, or at the very least, getting the grades entered into the digital system.
“I don’t understand how the others have figured that system out. TAs like you are a godsend, Zane.”
Zane only nodded as acknowledgement, wanting to focus solely on getting the grades entered on time. However, as they focused on this task, the professor finally noticed how badly the student’s hands were shaking. He also picked up on their general pallor and look of exhaustion, sparking concern.
“Hey, I have a Keurig in the corner. Want me to make you a cup of tea or something?”
“Um… if you’re offering, I wouldn’t mind.”
He stood up and began to brew the mug of green tea, and Zane finished the task at hand. As they moved the chair back away from the computer, they noticed the cup of tea at their workstation and began to sip at it.
“...hey, kid. Are you holding up?”
“Just fine.”
As much as Zane wanted to finish the tea, their stomach just didn’t seem to let them. They just stood up, starting to shake more as they tried to keep themself stable. Luckily, they managed to catch themself on the chair, sitting back down in an instant. Their vision still swam, but they shook their head as if nothing happened.
“Is there anything else to grade?”
“No. Go home and get some sleep, ok?”
“If you insist…”
The professor handed Zane an envelope, and they just nodded and headed out. As they stashed away their pay from that TA gig, Zane couldn’t quite set their sights back on home.
“...maybe he’s right. I haven’t slept in my room yet, let alone in my own bed…”
But they couldn’t go home. Maybe Kai was right, they had to be useful. So it was off to work.
=====================================================================
By the time they got to the hibachi restaurant, it was chaos. The lunch rush had just finished up, and students from all over campus had left an absolute wreckage in the dining hall.
“Oh dear…”
Nevertheless, they clocked in and began to prepare the sashimi bar. Somehow, the crowd stayed constant, which kept them distracted from how tired they actually were beginning to feel. As they finished setting up, however, they were violently jerked aside by one of the newer managers.
“You’re needed on hibachi. Can you manage it?”
“I haven’t learned the hibachi grill yet.”
The manager rolled his eyes and shoved Zane over to the grill.
“Fine, I’ll train you.”
To his surprise, Zane managed to understand the grill almost right away. They got situated right as the dinner rush started up, which proved to be much more of a challenge than the sashimi bar usually was around the same time.
“Don’t slow down just because you’re comfortable, Zane!”
Zane shook their head, gritted their teeth, and braced themself for the chaos to come. Customers flooded the dining hall, and Zane rushed to try and keep up with the demands. Every protein available was thrown onto the grill and cooked exactly to order.
In the rush, Zane had almost forgotten about their physical state. However, a burst of flame from fresh cooking oil hitting the flat top soon brought everything back to the surface. And as much as they tried to hide it, the heat began triggering symptoms left and right. The second the heat hit their face, they could feel their blood pressure drop immediately. And from there, they were almost overtaken by a wave of nausea and accompanying dizziness.
“Don’t slow down…” They muttered to themself, barely able to stand behind the cooking surface.
In the wave of satisfied customers, management barely caught onto Zane. But as people started to file out, they were noticed almost immediately.
“Um… why the hell did you put the sashimi kid on hibachi?”
“Because we needed the extra hands. And I wasn’t about to pull the waitstaff.”
“...well, no fucking shit! But have you seen the kid since? Pull them off!”
“Absolutely not. They’re killing it over there. Hell, they’re better than the regular hibachi staff.”
“They missed their break.”
“...oh.”
The more senior manager walked over and motioned over to the exhausted droid.
“Zane? Have you had your break yet?”
“No. And I don’t think I can go now.”
“You were scheduled for your break 2 hours ago. And you’re about to miss the threshold for your meal.”
“...I am?”
“You are. Come with me, ok? You can take your meal now.”
Zane reluctantly nodded and stepped away from the hibachi grill. Their gait quickly proved a level of exhaustion that none of the other staff could have predicted, and their manager held out an arm to use as a crutch.
“You haven’t taken your breaks very often. The last time you did was about 2 days ago.”
“I had a matter to take care of.”
“The reaction from the perfume?”
“...yes.”
When they finally made it to the back room, everything was more clear. Zane’s non-existent energy dropped off almost immediately, and they leaned more into the grip of the manager’s arm.
“...kid? Are you ok?”
Zane tried to nod, but it just triggered another wave of dizziness. They ended up stumbling over their own feet, fainting in almost a millisecond. The manager panicked and hoisted them up.
“ZANE?”
With the lack of response, he laid them down on the floor. Here, he finally noticed how warm they had grown, more than likely triggered by the grill itself. In his continued panic state, the manager ran down the hall in search of a phone.
“SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE! We’ve got an employee down!”
=====================================================================
Nya almost didn’t want to be here, but something didn’t feel right. Upon finding the bargained-for apartment empty and seeing Zane nowhere else in the city, the university seemed to be the safest bet. However, as soon as she saw the ambulance by the sushi/hibachi grill, her senses spiked up tenfold.
“An ambulance on campus? This late? This just doesn’t make sense.”
She wheeled her bike through the growing crowd, soon finding herself at the front doors of the restaurant. Almost immediately, the senior manager spotted her and waved over to her.
“Do you know someone named Zane?”
“...of course I do. We’ve been best friends for like, 5 years now.”
“Good. Follow me.”
She set her bike at the door and nodded in agreement. The whole time, her stomach began to knot up with uncertainty and tension. Eventually, they made their way back over to the unconscious droid, and her heart dropped near to her feet in shock.
“...what the fuck happened?”
“We don’t know. An ambulance is on the way, so at least they’ll be treated.”
“...Cole told me something about them taking a 3rd job. I didn’t know how dire things had gotten. But to reach this point?”
She grabbed one of the spare ice packs and rested it under one of Zane’s armpits. To her surprise, the heat radiating from their skin seemed to be enough to fry an egg.
“FUCK!”
Despite the surprise, she moved to rest their head on her lap. Her hands shook with anxiety, as did theirs from the subconscious levels of pain leaking through. As the paramedics arrived with the ambulance, the gravity of everything seemed to hit so much harder. Zane was loaded into the stretcher and wheeled out of the restaurant, Nya not too far behind.
“How did it get to this?”
The door slammed shut, and Nya just seemed to fold in on herself. It all seemed to blur together in a chaotic mess…
=====================================================================
General Fam Chat
Nya: Hey, can someone tell me what the hell is going on?
Nya: Why am I being welcomed home to an empty apartment?
Cole: Kai wanted something fancier
Cole: I tried telling him it would kill us to earn the rent
Cole: He didn’t listen.
Nya: That ungrateful little-
Nya: I guess that explains the ambulance, then.
Jay: WOAH, WOAH, WOAH
Jay: PAUSE
Jay: WHAT DO YOU MEAN “ambulance”?
Cole: Don’t fucking tell me…
Cole: At the university?
Nya: Yep.
Nya: Zane and I are en route to the hospital rn.
Nya: Where the hell is Kai?
Jay: Fuck if I know
Jay: I haven’t told Lloyd yet, though
Cole: Yeah, as far as Lloyd knows, Zane just took a double shift
Nya: I’ll call him when things settle down
Nya: For now, I just need to focus on Zane… not dying
Nya: Y’know?
Cole: Give me 15 minutes to get my school shit, and I’ll meet you at the hospital.
Nya: Deal.
=====================================================================
“Let me get this str-”
Nya slammed her fist onto the hospital bed, focusing on hitting the mattress and not the metal railing.
“Let me get this straight, DUMBASS. You sacrificed an affordable apartment for something way too bougie for our budget?”
“There was only one bedroom! We couldn’t all fit!”
“Bullshit! You 4 shared a room on the Bounty!”
As Nya continued her argument with her older brother, Zane finally woke up. It was a slow process, and the look on their face told the story of a level of pain that had been masked for days up to that point. Every bone and muscle in Zane’s body screamed in pain, yet they subconsciously tried their hardest not to audibly cry.
“...I’ll call you back.”
Nya hung up in a hurry and flung herself on the bed, pressing the bright “Call Nurse” button right next to the bed. Here, Zane’s efforts to hold back their tears had begun to fail tremendously. She sighed and wiped away what tears had begun to fall.
“Don’t try to sit up, ok? You don’t have much energy.”
Zane complied, not as if they had a choice in the matter. But hearing her voice only brought confusion.
“You’re back? Already?” Their voice barely croaked above a whisper.
A nurse rushed in, setting up an IV bag filled with a fever reducing medication. With that set up and starting to drip, the nurse left the room.
“I had to come back. Cole told me about the fight between you and Kai, and then I saw you at the sushi place…”
“...oh.”
Zane no longer felt the urge to cry, but they still felt completely miserable. They turned their head slightly, finding Cole at their side working on some Civics questions.
“Hey, trooper. Feel like shit, don’t you?”
“I should have listened to you…”
“That’s not your fault. You weren’t the one who wanted the hero suite.”
Zane sighed and just turned back to stare at the ceiling. The medicine had started to take effect now, and they were growing fatigued all over again.
“You’re a wreck, Zane. Rest while you can, ok?”
Again, Zane didn’t have a choice. Their eyelids began to shut involuntarily, and they drifted back into a barely restful slumber. As they rested, Nya rested her cold drink on their burning forehead and stood back up.
“I’m gonna call Kai back. Can you sit with them?”
“Of course. Go curse your idiot brother out.”
Nya nodded and left, dialing her brother as she stepped out of the room. Cole just groaned and submitted the assignment they were working out, barely able to skim the chapter they were reading before looking back at their beloved.
“Told him it wasn’t worth it. Look what it fucking cost you.”
Cole laid his hand above Zane’s and turned on the room’s TV, allowing himself to be absorbed in the news stories of the evening as a distraction from all of the chaos.