AAOOOSC!: Gulls' Adventures!

The interior of the Monarossabergie House is mainly intact: The furniture is still in the same place as always, the late afternoon sunlight is shining through the windows, and Nick is all alone, sitting on the bar stool by the countertop in the kitchen, reading the newspaper with a bowl of cereal and toast as his breakfast. The only difference is the newest edition of the furniture: scorch marks and water spots along with being disheveled.

"Wow…" Brandon runs his finger over the chalky black mark that scars the top of the red sofa nearby the window. "The fight really came out over here?" He peers up at his friend.

"Yeah…" Nick puts down the newspaper and turns to him. "Comics?" He holds the newspaper sheet filled with comics in the air.

Brandon strolls up to him. "No thanks." He halts next to him.

Nick places the paper on the countertop’s surface. He gazes at his friend, spotting the newest addition to his head. "What’s that?" He points to his forehead.

Brandon reaches up to his forehead and brushes his fingers against the gauze-texture of the bandage. "This?"

"Yeah."

"A bandage." He flicks his hand in the air. "I flew out the window— I must’ve gotten a bad cut to have this." He settles himself on the bar stool next to him.

Nick stretches over to him and grazes his fingers over his bandage. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess." He shrugs. "It doesn’t hurt that bad."

"Get better soon." Nick gives him an expression of sorrow.

He chuckles weakly. "Haha, thanks."

Nick then turns to his breakfast and picks up a slice of toast.

Brandon gazes around the surroundings of the main room with confusion. "Where’s Joey?" He lands his eyes on his friend.

"In his room." Nick takes a bite from his toast. "Where else?" he muffles.

"Oh, I thought maybe he’d run away." Brandon scratches his chin.

Nick swallows. "No…" He then turns to the other side to grab the jar of grape jam by the plate.

"Well, I’ll go find him." With that, Brandon steps down from the stool and ambles around the house to enter the hallway.

In the narrow, dimmed hallway, he halts in front of Joseph’s closed bedroom door.

"Joey?" he calls out to it.

There is no response from the other side.

"Joey?" He eyes it with curiosity. "Joey? Joseph?"

All that responds to him is silence.

Brandon shoots his hand to the doorknob and hastily pulls the door open.

He peers into the gloomy bedroom, immediately spotting Joseph lying on his back against his bed.

He quietly rushes into the room and halts by his bed’s side, examining him with just his sight to make sure he is okay. He spots his chest rising and falling steadily, notifying him he is breathing fine.

Brandon lets out a soft exhale of relief. He then soundlessly exits the room and closes the door behind him.


"He’s sleeping," Brandon announces as he sits next to Nick again.

Nick peers up from his jam-slathered toast. "See? He wouldn’t run away." He takes a massive bite of his breakfast.

"What did he do after I left though?" He folds his hands on the smooth surface of the countertop. "It’s not like him for him to be sleeping this late in the morning."

Nick swallows and turns to him. "We fought a lot more. I guess the powers took a toll on him because afterward, I didn’t hear anything after he retreated to his room. Unless he stayed up super late at night and finally went to bed." He shrugs. "Who knows?"

Brandon lets out a huff. "Well, he’s asleep."

Nick then holds out his half-eaten toast toward his friend. "Toast?"

"Uh, no thanks." He holds his hand out at him. "Just had breakfast."

Nick gives him an unamused face. "Oh." He then shoves the rest of the toast in his mouth.

Brandon stares at the countertop’s spotted design of granite, lost in thought. He then sighs heavily. "Can we try one more time?"

"Mm?" he hears Nick muffle out.

He peers up at him. "One more time, just try to get Joey to see again." He taps his fingers on the surface.

Nick swallows, then shoots him a flat expression. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, we have to do it in a different approach this time." He leans back against the backrest of the stool, becoming serious about planning to achieve his goal. "The last two times we did it the same way, and now with Joey having powers, he’s far more dangerous and unpredictable. We need a new approach!" He then freezes in place as his ideas divert his attention and hold him captive.

Nick just pulls his bowl of cereal to him and takes in a heaping spoonful of grains and milk.

Brandon points out slowly, "We need to do it without him knowing…" He then throws his hands in the air and blurts out, "But he’ll know since his blindness is literally a part of him!" He rubs his chin. "We just need to do it…secretly, quietly so that when he wakes up, he’ll see that he can see and then he’ll know that you healed him…" His eyes immediately light up. "That’s it!" He pounds his fist against the table.

The bowl lurches up due to the force of Brandon’s fist, causing the milk to splash Nick’s face. Nick pulls back quickly, eyeing the bowl with wide eyes and milk sprinkled on his face.

Brandon whirls to him excitedly, pointing to him with both fingers. "We do it right now!"

Nick grabs a napkin from the nearby pile and uses it to wipe his face. "But he’s sleeping…," he mumbles through the napkin.

"That’s the whole point!" Brandon holds his hands out from his sides in excitement. "He wouldn’t know that we’re healing him because HE’S SLEEPING. It didn’t work when he was awake— There’s a better chance it’d work when he’s sleeping!" He slams his fist against his other open hand. "And right now is perfect!"

Nick shrugs. "I guess. But if it backfires like last time, I’m not doing it again."

Brandon leans forward toward him. "I promise," he tells him meaningfully, "this HAS to work! It worked on me when Scott changed my bandage in the middle of the night!"

"Scott Conway?" Nick lightly gawks at him. "You went to the Conway Mansion?"

He leans back with a small smile. "I’ll bring you next time if you want."

"Huh, I don’t mind." He stirs his cereal. "Their food’s good."

Brandon lets out a chuckle. "Tell me about it."

"Yeah…" Nick lifts his eyes up as a dreamy expression takes over his face, including his tone of voice, "…he has the best roast beef…and rotisserie chicken…and salmon—"

"Okay, okay." Brandon waves his hands in front of him, ceasing Nick’s rambling about his food fantasy. He then drops his hands and says seriously, "Are you ready?"

Nick eyes him. "Ready?"

"To have Joey forgive you."

A smile forms on his face. "Yeah…!"

Brandon gives him the biggest grin he can pull off, which isn’t so big. "Let’s do this."

Notes

E.19 "Calculating The Aftermath"
Part 9/10
Episode 19/20