Joseph’s bedroom door slowly swings open, revealing Brandon and Nick on the other side. The two friends creep into his room quietly, approaching the owner of the room, who is still snoozing on his back.

Brandon and Nick halt by his bedside and loom over him with scrutinizing eyes.

Joseph breathes steadily as his closed eyes stay still, not showing any disturbance in his slumber.

Brandon turns to Nick with a hint of worry in his stern expression. He gives him a firm nod as a green light to continue on with the plan.

Nick proceeds to bring up his right hand to sight. His hand is engulfed with the familiar flickering flame of bright warm colours. He then lowers his hand toward Joseph’s closed eyes and gently places it on them.

He stays still for a few moments with stern eyes on his fiery hand against Joseph’s face. He then slowly raises his hand back to himself, revealing Joseph’s unharmed eyes.

Joseph’s eyebrows twitch together for a split second; he relaxes and continues his slumber.

Brandon tears his eyes from his sleeping roommate and peers up at his other roommate. "Did it work?" he whispers to him.

Nick responds by gazing down at his blazing hand and examining it.

Then, the two of them hear Joseph muttering, "Whoa…"

Brandon and Nick exchange each other expressions of happy surprise.

"Ritch?" they hear him murmur. "Monty?"

Brandon and Nick whirl to Joseph with excited expressions.

Joseph has his eyes open, locked on both of them. His black iris’ colour has now returned to his natural green mint colour.

"Joey!" Brandon exclaims, holds out at him. "You can see!!!"

Joseph lifts his hands up to his sight, examining them in awe. “I have my sight back.” He lifts his eyes back on the two. “I know I’d get it back.”

Brandon presses his fist against his mouth and clears his throat. “Ahem.”

He narrows his eyes at him. “What?”

Brandon lowers his fist down. “Do you know how you got your sight back?”

His stare grows harder, keeping his eyes on him.

Brandon nods to Nick coolly. "This guy did it."

Joseph turns to Nick with lowered eyebrows and a flat line as his mouth.

Nick turns to him a blank stare.

"You healed me?" Joseph asks in a lackluster tone.

Nick holds up his hand wrapped with lively flames. "Yeah."

Joseph darts his eyes around his surroundings, taking in the sight of dim his bedroom. He then lands them back on Nick.

He clears his throat and says solemnly, "Thank you, Ritch."

Nick extends his arms out from his side with an infantile grin. "Hug?"

Joseph rolls his eyes with a small smirk. "Fine." He then slips from his bed, onto his feet, and gives his roommate a tight hug.

Nick wraps his arms around him with his head on his shoulder, appearing like a young child who just received a lifetime supply of teddy bears.

From next to them, Brandon is grinning at them. "Finally! You guys get along well!"

Joseph shoots him a glare from behind his shoulder.

"Well, back to your normal terms," Brandon adds in anxiously.

Nick then pulls away from Joseph; he peers down at him with regret. "Do you forgive me, Joey?"

Joseph gives him a hard stare with narrowed eyes as he contemplates the question: The betrayer, the one who traded his best friend to another country across the continent, the one who threatened to trade the rest of his teammates, the one who bestowed curses on him, is asking him for forgiveness. Yet he is also the one who restored his sight, a necessity to his career.

Joseph glances at Brandon, catching him giving him a pleading expression.

He steps back, peering at the two rooms. He then orders firmly, "Get out of my house."

Brandon gawks at him with horror. "What the—?"

Nick gazes at him with dejection.

Joseph crosses his arms with narrowed eyes. "You’ll see. Get out my house."

---

Brandon and Nick are now outside in the front of the house, sitting on the top steps of the porch.

Nick is sitting on the step below his friend, staring ahead with a lowered eyebrows and a frown. His fists are holding up his jaw with his elbows against his thighs.

"I heal Joey and he kicks us outta the house," he mutters dully.

Brandon peers down at him with his arms propping him up from behind. "Either he wants to tour the house on his own after not seeing it for so long or he’s still mad at you."

He lets out a sigh. "I’m hungry."

"But you just had breakfast!" Brandon cries out.

He looks behind his shoulder to face him. "I’m still hungry."

Then the black front door opens revealing Joseph standing in the doorway.

"Come in," he orders them. He spins around and strides into the house.

Exchanging awkward expressions, Brandon and Nick get on their feet and follow in after their other roommate. They amble into the living room; their eyes widen with awe-filled gasps.

The living room has been cleaned up, rid of every scorch mark and water spot with the broken furniture such as the lamps and paintings fixed. In the dining room, there are three gyro platters containing gyro meat, salad, and rice displayed, ready to be consumed.

Nick’s eyes light up at the sight of food. "Just what I wanted…!" He shuffles into the dining room.

Brandon stares at the pristine living room in awe. "Wow!" He turns to his right, where Joseph is standing next to him. "You did all this?"

Joseph shrugs. "Yeah."

"Gyros…gyros…," Nick is heard mumbling from the dining room.

Brandon spots the plates of gyros in the dining room. "You made gyros?"

"What else did you want?" Joseph rolls his eyes. "Lobster?" He then struts into the dining room.

Brandon follows him into the dining room, where Nick has already begun consuming a plate. He sits next to him, in front of another plate, and begins eating. Joseph settles next to Brandon and munches on his favourite plate.

Brandon stabs his fork into the feta cheese-sprinkled salad. "Thanks, Joey."

Joseph gives him a shrug before stuffing a piece of pita bread with Tzatziki sauce in his mouth.

Nick then leans forward, peering across Brandon at Joseph. "Joey?"

Joseph flicks his eyes on him while chewing. "Hm?"

"Do you forgive me?" He makes a pleading expression.

Joseph swallows, then leans back, looking ahead. "Sure," he remarks dully. He then responds more meaningfully. "Yeah." He straightens up, reverting his eyes back on his roommate. "I thought you weren’t done with your trading plan, knowing what you were doing. But you gave me back my sight, so I guess I should forgive you." He holds his hand out at the plates. "I forgive you."

A bright grin appears on Brandon’s face.

A big, closed smile forms on Nick’s face. "Awww, thank you, Joey!" He then gets up, shuffles over to him, and pulls him into a behind hug.

Joseph stays still with, uncomfortableness evident in his face. "Yeah."

"Finally, you guys are on your regular terms!" Brandon exclaims, gazing at them. "In fact, better terms!"

Joseph peers up at his hugging roommate. "Sure."

Nick has closed eyes now with his chin rested upon Joseph’s head. "I’m happy now."

"Good," Joseph snaps. He then pauses, waiting to be let go, yet Nick stays in place. "Let go of me now."

Nick opens his eyes to look down at him. "Aw, alright." He then pulls away from him.

Brandon cannot wipe the smile from his face as he observed the two reconciled teammates. "I think we should celebrate…!"

Nick and Joseph eye him in union with bewilderment.

Brandon throws his hands in the air. "No, seriously, we should!" He slams them back against the table. "You don’t know how many headaches I got over this!"

Joseph nods toward the bandage wrapped around Brandon’s head. "Yeah, I see."

Brandon peers up to catch the best glimpse of his bandage. "Oh, this?" He brushes his fingers against it. "Yeah, this was a result of the fight."

Joseph casts his eyes down. "Sorry," he mumbles.

"How do we celebrate?" Nick asks excitedly with one hand on Brandon’s chair’s backrest and another on Joseph’s chair’s backrest. "I wanna celebrate!"

Brandon peers up at him. "We can—"

"Maybe I can help with that," a familiar, calm, sinister voice cuts in.

Everyone whirls to their right, landing their eyes on the living room.

Standing next to the entrance of the foyer is Dustin Tokarski in Icemare’s suit, minus the helmet. He has a placid, yet grave expression.

"I’ll be more than happy to," he finishes up with a sick smirk.


To Be Continued.

Notes

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