Chapter Text
Lonnie woke up, with a feeling all too familiar. His head had hurt really bad, and all he wanted to do was to just sit there, and wait for the headache to pass. Bit, another thing had come to make the matter worse. The only thing he ate was Instant Noodles. He felt the waves of nausea coming in, and quickly rushed to the bathroom before throwing up. He hated the feeling, every part of it. He hated being sick, he hated feeling cold without a blanket, or hot with one. He hated the headache he had going on with him too. Lonnie slowly got off his knees, and flushed the toilet. He also had a leg cramp, from when he was running to the bathroom. He couldn't even walk without dealing with the pain that he felt. Once he had gotten to his room, he grabbed a small sip of coffee that has been there for a week, he grabbed a pillow, and wept.
Bentley had heard everything, from Lonnie running to the bathroom, to him "silently" crying. He didn't know what had happened, so he made Chicken Lemon Soup from whatever the tall boy had left in his kitchen. As he hummed a tune, he accidentally cut his finger.
"Ow, shoot!" He did feel the pain, but once he found a bandaid, the injury had already vanished. His face paled, completely forgetting that he was dead. He breathed in, and sighed. He must move on. He went back to cutting the chicken.
Lonnie had just woken up again, but not due to sickness, but it was the aroma of something that he smelt. It smelt delicious. He didn't want to come down, as he felt groggy, and he still felt fatigued. But, he went down anyway. He followed the smell, and was led to the kitchen, and the familiar boy from last night.
"What are you doing?" He slurred, he couldn't even see what was happening without his glasses that he barely wore.
"Making you soup?" Blently told him. He knew Lonnie was tired and sick, and as he just finished to put the ending flavors, he set it to the table, and pointed to it.
He requested, "Why don't you eat?" He looked at the cabniets, and tried to look for a spoon. He looked at all the cabinets, expect one. He tried to reach it, but it was too far up. Bentley moved to get a chair, and tried doing that, but it was just out of his reach. He looked over to look at Lonnie, but he wasn't there.
"Alonzo?" He called his name, he turned back to look at his right, and shrieked. "Dude!"
Lonnie was right next to him, their thighs touching. Bentley, was feeling the opposite of what Lonnie was feeling, he felt warm. He didn't know why that was happening, so he started to mentally panic about it and why he felt warm. Lonnie hated the cold, but it was the least of his own problems. He opened the top cabinet, and reached for the spoons. He made sure that he got the spoon that he wanted and grabbed it, and gave it to Bentley.
Just as he did that, he slipped trying to step away from the ghost, and fell. At the same time, Bentley passed the chair that he was on to make sure he didn't hit his head, and fell off the chair. Lonnie fell on to the chair, and hit his back. He was in pain after the contact, and stayed there.
"Ow," he groaned, "also, it's Lonnie. Don't call me by my first name, please."
"You have glasses?" Bentley pointed to his eyes. He thought it matched Lonnie's style of clothing. Even though his clothes stayed the same as last night.
"Yeah, I usually don't wear them." Lonnie shrugged as he got up.
"You bumped your head yesterday while trying to go upstairs after you gave that note to me." Bentley deadpanned "But, your glasses are cool!" He immediately switched back to being giddy. Lonnie got spooked by that, never had he met someone that would change emotions fast.
"I- Thank you?" He replied back. Lonnie was stunned. He never really gotten compliments before, expect from his mom. But this, this was new. His heart did a 360 flip, and he thought he was going to die by what he was feeling, but he just let it move on.
Bentley had completely forgotten that Lonnie needed to eat. So he changed the subject quickly. "How about you eat? You look hungry," he added, "But I didn't just made you food so you'd eat anyway, so how about you just eat?"
Lonnie sighed. He looked at the soup that Bentley made and was grossed out. He knew he was a picky eater, and wouldn't eat anything that he never tried or is made together, but seeing Bentley's synpathetic face, it was enough to convince him. He needed to try things anyway.
He grabbed a spoon, swirled the soup around to make sure the flavor is added, and took a sip. His eyes widened, he'd never tasted anything this good. He needed more, and he wanted more, so he quickly drank the bowl with the chicken.
"Woah, woah bud, slow down!" Bentley had to stop him from downing the whole soup, and put the bowl down. He wondered if Lonnie even ate at all. Lonnie had eyebags under his eyes, his hair looked greasy, and he felt bad. He thought he needed help with things, because he had a friend who had help with things even if it was easy, like combing their hair, even putting socks on, Unfortunately, they died when they were only 13. He frowned by thinking of them, and looked at Lonnie, and frowned even more.
Lonnie had an idea, and asked, "Can you eat?"
Bentley had never thought about that, "I'm not sure, we can test it out!" He smiled, he looked over to see the leftover chicken, and took a bite, or tried to. It only fell after he tried to eat the piece of chicken, and he pouted.
"Guess not." He took the last sip of the soup, and wiped his mouth with his hand. Bentley went to the fridge to see if there was any water, luckily there was. He took the water bottle, and passed it to Lonnie.
"Also, you need to drink. You seriously look thirsty, and you look weak." He worriedly walked back and forth, "Everything about you is looking weak, have you ate anything last night? Drank anything? Did you walk? Did you-"
"Dude, chill out!" Lonnie cut him off. He took a sip, and immediately felt nauseous. He felt like he was gonna throw up again, so he ran to the trash, and threw up. Some of the vomiting didn't make it, and it got on his clothes and the floor. Bentley hurriedly sat him down back to the chair, and went to look for the paper towels and wipes.
"Ugh, god damn it!" He croaked. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. And Lonnie really, really tried to hold it in, but he just couldn't. Bentley heard the wailing of the blondie, and almost cried with him.
"Lonnie?" He called "Do you need to rest, or take a shower?" He was in the living room, getting the paper towels, wipes and now, a box of tissues. He went back to the kitchen to a crying Lonnie, and more vomit to clean.
"I-I'm sorry," he sobbed, "I hate being sick." And wailed even more. Bentley, for whoever knows how many times, felt bad for him. He thought that Lonnie was just a lazy person when he first met him, but all he needed was a little help to get him back on track.
"Everything's my fault, they were right!" He whined, and this made Bentley mad. It wasn't his fault for being sick, it wasn't his fault that he forgets regular basis things, he needed to find who told him that, and to beat them up.
"Hey, hey, look at me." He whispered. "There we go, none of this is not your fault. Nothing, Whoever told you that is lying. You're so much better than them. All you need is a little help. They just don't listen, okay? That's what you need. Do you want to take a shower, if so, do you want help?" Bentley didn't know if that would work, as he just said what was at the top of his head. Well, mostly what the top of his head was him screaming at those little ugly people that told him that.
"Mhm" he sniffed, and hiccuped. He didn't want to cry anymore, or to anyone. He just wanted to go to bed, but he did need to take a shower, so he went to do the latter. He got up, but instantly almost fell back down, god he forgot about that cramp.
"Oh god, do you need help?" Bentley worriedly hovered over him, All he wanted was for him to feel better.
"No." Lonnie hissed. Then immediately taking back what he said, "Know what, yeah sure." Bentley smiled, and tried to wrap his arm around his shoulder, but all I did was go through. He forgot he was a ghost, again.
"How am I gonna help you?" Bentley grumbled. He hated this.
"I can just hop on one foot." Lonnie said, he's done this before plenty of times, just in different occasions but never his house.
"How are you going to get upstairs?" Bentley questioned. He definitely needed some help, but didn't know how. He got the paper towels, and started cleaning the floor as quick as he could. Then he grabbed the wipes on the table and instantly wiped off the vomit on Lonnie's shirt and pants.
Lonnie felt embarrassed letting someone do this to him. He knew he was old enough to do it on his own, but this is also the first time someone was atleast trying to help him, not even his friends would help him out with stuff, the only thing they actually did was to talk about how to get rid of habits like it was erasing something with a pencil, or just straight up forgetting him on "accident"
He stood back up, and took tiny steps to the bathroom upstairs. If he had a house like his mother, everything would've been a lot easier to do things. He stumbled a few times, but he never fell over. Bentley saw Lonnie's room for the first time, and almost screamed. He had never seen a mess. But he didn't want to scare Lonnie, so he kept quiet.
"I'll pass you the shampoo, conditioner and body wash, okay?" Bentley reassured Lonnie, Lonnie knew something was up with him, but didn't say anything about it.
"Can you turn around?" His tone had raised on accident. He didn't mean that, but Bentley turned around anyway, even if it was a little sharp even for him. When the water turned on, and he heard the curtain move, he knew it was when he turned back around. He grabbed the shampoo, and passed it to Lonnie, and waited until he could do the same with the conditioner and body wash. Once he passed the body wash, he snuck to his room to clean it, and pick some clean clothes. Once he did, Lonnie got out the shower, and Bentley threw in the clothes and towel.
"Thank you" Lonnie mumbled.
"Your welcome!" Bentley smiled for what seemed like the 17th time.
Lonnie got out of the bathroom, fully dressed. and he felt so much better, he thought Bentley did magic to him. He walked into his bedroom, and was shocked to find everything clean. The clothes on the ground were gone, the bed was made, Bentley let out a breath he didn't even know he held. He saw that Lonnie's hair was still wet, and he frowned.
"What? Is there something on my face?" Lonnie questioned.
"You need to dry your hair!" Bentley whined, "If you don't, that's how it'll get greasy!" He gestured him to go back to the bathroom to blow dry his hair.
"You're doing it?" Lonnie was getting guiltier by the moment, he just wanted to rest, but Bentley is doing everything for him. He just wants the man to take a break.
"Duh, clearly you seem like you keep forgetting, so I'm staying here until you get healthier physically, and mentally." Bentley stuck his tounge out, and started to dry Lonnie's hair. He has always done this to people, so he could be much like his father. His father was his idol, and nothing could beat him. He has always done everything with and for him, and has protected him many times from situations, so he wanted to do the same to Lonnie.
"You don't have to do that." Lonnie was never really cared for, he was used to being neglected, forgotten even before from his father. He only sees him on Father's Day, but his father never seems to see him outside of Father's Day. Now, it feels that everything is too much. He has a ghost living with him, helping him even. To get better. It's getting him overwhelmed. He'd never get this much attention, but now that he has it, Lonnie wants more of it, no, he needs it. He needs to feel accepted, he needs to feel validated. He-
"Done!" Bentley cheered, looking at the finished work that he has done. It's all fluffy, and it really looks good. Lonnie takes a look at his newly blown dried hair, he raises his hand to feel it, and it feels nice. It hasn't been like that for a long time. He smiled, genuinely. And that made Bentley's stomach do a flip. He'd never seen that before. He's only known him for a few hours, but if he was gone, he wouldn't have known what to do.
"It's really nice." Lonnie muttered, more to himself. "But why, why are you doing this?" Lonnie wondered. He wanted to know if he was gonna leave him, or not, or just do nothing else for the entire time that he was there until Lonnie was sick again so he could manipulate him and think that Bentley was the only one he actually cared for.
Bentley looked at him, and answered him. "You're in bad condition. And I can tell, if I wasn't there, you would've been dead in a few weeks forgetting to drink and eat. And plus, you're actually pretty cool, I don't mind being your roommate for a couple of weeks, or months, or maybe even years. Also, do you want to go on a walk? I'm dying because of that." He rambled about why he loves going outside and taking walks because he can see many different things that are strange but cool.
"I guess I could probably go for a walk." Lonnie relented. Bentley jumped up and down, and flew down the stairs, and waited for Lonnie, since he can't help because all he does is go through him. When he's at the bottom of the stairs, he already has his shoes on, and is holding Lonnie's shoes.
"Are you ready to take on the world?" Bentley joked.
"Your saying it like I haven't been outside before." Lonnie laughed, oh my god he laughed. Bentley needs to stop mentally exploding before he actually does.
He sets Lonnie's shoes down, and waits for him. Once he has his shoes on, they both walk out the door, locked it just in case someone would break in, and was ready to "take on the world."