SPIDER! {Melissa}

[MELISSA HEWITT]

Melissa wondered briefly what time it was. It had been four when he called. How long had she been over? If it was after five, she’d make breakfast. Melissa looked up at Oliver and thought for a moment. Would he like to join her? She’d love to have him over for breakfast. He probably had more important things to do, all of those inventions. She smiled and looked back down, going back to work. It wasn’t really a time to be distracted. “You sound like you’re busy all the time,” Melissa pondered. If he wasn’t coming up with his own brilliant ideas, he was working and if he wasn’t working, he was building those brilliant ideas.

“That sounds fascinating.” For a second, she let her mind wander, imagining all of the impressive things he must be building. It sounded so much more exciting than her boring day job at a school. “It makes being a guidance counselor sound so dull,” she laughed a bit. It wasn’t that she disliked her job. In fact, she loved helping students through a rough time. Just compared to building rockets and Mars rovers? Mhm. “I’d brag to everybody I know. ‘I know the man who designed that rover. Absolute genius.” He really was, though. Conversation with Oliver was always interesting. She really did love talking with him.

“Really?” Why did she sound so surprised? Melissa smiled, nodding for a bit too long before she caught herself. “Wonderful!” If he had time to bake with her, then surely he’d have time for breakfast, right? Perhaps that was why she’d sounded so surprised. Melissa expected him to be busy. “Oh, building rockets is much better than making an omelet.” If Melissa had to choose, she’d pick cooking any day. Still, it’d be fascinating to see what went into building rockets.

“Alright. So… uhm, if you have time, that is. Would you care to join me back at my apartment for breakfast after this?” Melissa bit down on her tongue and scolded herself for sounded so insecure. “I was planning on the whole shebang.” Checking her handiwork on the cut, Melissa nodded her approval and brought her lips to the skin just above where she’d bandaged and kissed it very gently. Smiling sheepishly, Melissa let him have his hand back, “sorry. I always do that. Habit, I suppose.”

Melissa shook her head, returning the supplies to the first aid kit. “I could be wrong, of course.” His posture was making her heart sink and she kicked herself for what she’d said. “Even so, I’m sure you could do something to improve them.” With that mind of his? Absolutely.

[OLIVER QUINN]

”Busy? Me?” Oliver laughed a little bit, rubbing the back of his neck with his uninjured hand. “Ha, well, I mean...I’ve never really thought of it that way. What I do, I mean. I guess because it doesn’t seem like work. Anything that gets my brain occupied is fun – I spent so much time in my life feeling like I wasn’t using it...um.” He blushed, wondering if it was at all necessary to say that. Melissa probably didn’t care about his boring childhood, and besides, it kind of sounded like he was bragging. Bragging was definitely not in good taste around a woman like Melissa. Well, it was never in good taste. Well. Usually, anyway.

His eyes widened a little bit and he shook his head. “Are you kidding? Being a counselor’s not boring at all! I mean, sure, you’re not building anything to send to the moon, but I could never do what you do. I’m awful with people. It takes a real talent to be able to talk to them...you know, in a productive way, I mean, everyone can talk to people, unless you’re mute, and that’s really unfortunate...” He was rambling again. He really had to start learning when to shut up; he was undoubtedly making a fool of himself. Clearing his throat, he couldn’t help but blush a little bit again at her comment on bragging, the very thing he had been trying to avoid doing just a moment before. “Well, I mean, nobody really cares about the scientists, they just like looking at the rovers. Which is sad, really. Guess only Edison and Bell get to be household names, and the rest of us just have to sorta stand back and admit that we’ll never be that famous!” To regain his composure, he mustered a laugh. It didn’t seem to bother him that he would probably never be famous, which spoke volumes about the level of devotion he felt towards his work.

She smiled, sounding almost surprised that he agreed to bake with her. Well, what else would he say? As if he could refuse something like that! “Well, if everybody made rockets instead of omelets, we’d all starve to death,” he noted with just a hint of wit. He was capable of clever humor sometimes, but it usually got lost in his bumbling personality.

And then she was asking him over for breakfast! Could this get any more lovely? What had he done to deserve so much attention from Melissa? He couldn’t think of anything. “I-I’d love to!” he stammered out, his eyes lighting up. “Yeah, I’d really...love to, that’d be—”

Wait what what was she doing oh God she was kissing his wrist those were her lips and they were on his skin and what was air, he’d definitely just forgotten what air was.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times in shock, his cheeks turning a brilliant pink. “U-uh, n-no, that’s, uh, that’s fine, totally fine, yeah.” A forced laugh rang from between his lips. “Yeah, no, I don’t mind.”

She turned away from him, and he brought his wrist to his lips, gently brushing his own against the spot where she had placed the kiss. A little thrill ran down his spine.

What on earth was wrong with him?

“Uh, yeah,” he continued, tuning back into the real world and bringing his wrist back down. “Not to worry, I’m sure I can think of something else. I’ve got notebooks full of ideas, just got to pick one and get down to work and I’m set.” He flashed her one of his slightly silly smiles to reassure her that he was alright.

[MELISSA HEWITT]

Work that doesn’t seem like work… Melissa smiled, imagining that that would be wonderful. Though… if she really thought about it, if one enjoyed going into work, it wouldn’t seem so bad at all. Melissa figured most people weren’t lucky enough to get into a career they really liked. It was unfortunate. At least she’d managed to get where she wanted to be. Now that she was a guidance counselor, Melissa couldn’t imagine any other job for her. “What do you do for fun?” She asked simply, glancing up at him for a second before back down so she could focus.

Melissa laughed quietly, trying not to appear as pleased as she was. Somebody like Oliver – designing rovers and inventing everyday – thought being a counselor wasn’t dull and for some reason, that made her both very happy and quite reassured. By the way most students reacted to their appointments, it seemed like most thought it was a tedious job. “Well, thank you…” She murmured, much too grateful for what he’d said to not show her gratitude. “And I don’t think you are.” Melissa said before adding, “horrible with people, that is.” She wasn’t sure if her comment had made sense before. “Not with me, anyway.”

Melissa shrugged, “that’s their loss. I know I’ll always think about the scientists. Especially after this conversation.” She smiled at him, wanting to make it clear that she thought what he did was marvelous and amazing and that even if everybody else only cared about the rovers, she didn’t. Melissa gave Oliver a stern look. “Don’t say that. You’ll be famous one day.” She couldn’t look serious for long as the next thing he said made her laugh. “Yes, you’re right.” Melissa shook her head, smiling still. “Wonderful! Are you up for learning how to make an omelet?” She asked, teasing.

For a moment, Melissa very much regretted the motherly action of kissing where he’d been hurt. It was so stupid of her to do so – Oliver was an adult and now he would surely find her weird and childish. With the first aid kit put back together, she stood and headed back towards the bathroom. “I’m just going to put this away…” Once sure she was out of sight, Melissa dragged a hand through her hair and quietly groaned. “What were you thinking?” She muttered to herself, returning the first aid kit to the cabinet. Pulling her hair over one shoulder, Melissa made her way back to the kitchen.

“Right, exactly.” Melissa smiled and nodded. “Not to mention all the other notebooks you’re bound to fill with more ideas as they come to you.” It was almost like she was with recipes. It wasn’t notebooks that she filled, though. It was pretty boxes found at dollar stores. And once those were full, she put together cookbooks. It was a system that had worked out for her for quite awhile now. “Do you want to come over now?” Melissa asked, “for breakfast?” She’d understand if he wanted to wait a couple of hours. It still seemed so early.

[OLIVER QUINN]

The question seemed a bit odd to Oliver. What did he do for fun? Well, what didn't he do for fun? He was almost always trying to do something fun, and when he wasn't having fun, he usually tried to make whatever he was doing fun. He was just that kind of person. "Um," he hummed, looking thoughtful. "W-well, I invent things, obviously. That's fun. And my job is fun. I...I don't really do much besides that. I mean, sometimes I read books or...well, I mean, I don't have a TV, I kind of...repurposed it."

That was a good story, that one. The repurposing of his television. He'd made good use of it, too, although the machine into which he'd placed the salvaged parts had ended up exploding. Back to the drawing board!

"You're welcome!" he chirped brightly, finding that a slight pink tint came to his cheeks as she assured him he was not, in fact, horrible with people. Of course, she was wrong, but that wasn't a big deal. She was allowed to be wrong about him. He just hoped she wasn't getting any bad ideas about him. "Oh, no, I really...I really am. That's why it's better I stay inside most of the time and work," he said, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck with his hand. "I get my words all tangled up and mixed around. I have, um, this...this thing, nominal...nominal aphasia, I mean...you know that, but, um, it keeps me from remembering nouns and things, and so I get even more boggled up..." He shook his head and sighed, looking a bit forlorn. "I wish it could be different sometimes, y'know? I wish I wouldn't lose my words when I need them the most. It's always when I need them the most, when I'm nervous or...scared..."

He cleared his throat.

"But anyway!" His cheery mood was back quick as a whip, as usual. "I'd love to learn how to make an omelet! I mean, I've absolutely not the slightest idea how. I can make scrambled eggs, and I figure maybe it isn't that different, but I'm sure if I tried to make it, it would just end up scrambled eggs again. That usually happens when I cook eggs." He laughed. "In fact, it's really one of the only things I can make." He looked up at her with bright eyes.

Nodding absently as she went to put away the first aid kit, he stared at the spot on his wrist where she had kissed him.

Then he raised his wrist to his mouth and pressed his lips against where hers had been, his eyes momentarily flickering shut. He wondered what her lips really felt like. They looked so nice and--

Oh, God, no no no, not while she's here, you can't fantasize about her while she's in your house! Stupid!

As she reentered the kitchen, Oliver sat abruptly upright and immediately dropped both hands into his lap. Then he grinned. "O-oh, yeah, no problem! Totally fine. Good. Yeah. I can come now!" He hastily got out of his chair -- a little too hastily, as he managed to trip over his own feet and practically stagger into her, catching himself just in time. He pulled himself upright inches from her and turned an alarming shade of red. "Oops, that was a close one," he mumbled shyly, taking a step back and grinning sheepishly.