Trinkets

Roxy put down some boxes on the entrance of the old building, walking with an older women with a shoulder brace.

"Thank you kid, your a life saver."

"You sure that's far enough?"

"Yeah, the volunteers will be here soon and help with the move."

"Take your time to heal and happy moving!"

"Thank you sweetie."

She picked up her bag of bread and went back to the building, walking toward a door in the middle. Many buttons displaying each apartment numbers next to it. She pushed a button of her apartment '29' and swiped her hexagonal shaped gadget near the door, which opened to a tiny room, bearly fitting two people, she entered.

'Dude, my morning was nuked today, missed the stretching and the morning run.' She thought while stretching her back, almost doing a backbend.

'Ryuyu should be in a better mood now. Though having a mean volcano blow up in his face before the auction must be too much. Humans can be sensitive to such events.' She analyzed the situation. The door opened on its own. She's inside her apartment now.

'Well, with the secret element, the bread! He will be back to normal.' She grinned confidently, taking her jelly sandals off.

His side of the room looks suspiciously organized. The window glass was shining brightly, the sink was spotless and all of her three pots and his baking pas where all out, polished on the tiny kitchen counter, reflecting every photon of light.

'The order of my kitchenware!' She yelled internally.

She pat one of her plants, getting told something.

'He scrubbed everything? ..I just went to fetch some bread. He and his weird stress response.'

He came out of the bathroom, drying his wet black hair.

"Bread?" She offered when he walked into the tiny kitchen.

"Thank you." He said, voice lower than usual, taking the warm loaf then cutting a slice and eating it with some cheese, dozing off while chewing.

'B-bread isn't doing the trick?' She tilted her head in confusion.

She went out while he took a nap. Except he doesn't, after a while of restlessly turning around he got up, looking around for a cleaning possibility.

'She must be mad I sneaked in yesterday.' He thought to himself.

'I don't understand, we checked and the artwork is back. He doesn't have any injuries in his human body and his other body has regenerated. Well, humans do need more time to recover from mental anguish. The thing is...He's isn't a full human. He shouldn't have a one hundred percent human psyche like this, or is he?'

She pondered, walking aimlessly in the flea market, until something awakened her buying instinct.

'I smell a cool find.'

A stand filled with pots and pans called her, looking through the items she found it! A pretzel shaped baking pan.

'Hehe~that will cure his sadness for sure!' She walked out of the market with the rare find, proud of herself. Then it dawned on her.

'This might not be enough to make a dude happy right? I can't tell, I don't understand boys too!'

'What else does he like?'

In his way back home, Oliver saw a girl looking at something in the bushes on the side walk.

"Excuse me, have you lost something miss?"

Roxy spawned out of the pushes with a serious pout.

"You're a boy right?" She asked.

"Former boy, inspiring man. Currently battling the agony of teenagerhood. How can I help you?"

She stood up before handing him a rock, big, fits the palm and really smooth. Rhombus shaped.

"Is that what you people consider a cool rock?"

"Absolutely."

"So if you were sad and someone gave it to you, it'll make you happy?"

"Well, I would be happy that someone cared about me enough to look for it and give it to me."

She nodded like she understood. Gave him a piece of candy and walked away.

"Thank you for your wisdom."

"No biggie."

'Must be nice, I wanna get married soon.' He thought, unwrapping the candy and eating it.

'Not understanding humans will nuke me one day~~' She thought while skipping with joy.

She put the rare finds on the small dinner table before entering the bathroom to freshen up. In the sparkling scrubbed bathroom Roxy looked at the shower shelf.

'He ruined the order of my products with his cleaning..!' She pouted, brows curled.

One ray of the harsh noon sunlight hit his eyes, causing him to wake up from his nap. He looked around, something feels off in the room, in his side to be exact.

Clothes color coordinated, books stacked neatly in the corner. Rocks collection in a box, pens collection in another.

"How does it feel?" She whispered in a low angry voice, fuming.

"What?" He said, sleep in his voice.

"How does it feel when someone moves your stuff?"

"Um... I don't mind? Oh got it. I'm sorry."

She laid down, letting out a relived sound. Not angry anymore. He looked at the drastic change, it gets him to laugh.

"What's so funny?" She sets back up, confused and lightly annoyed.

"Nothing, I just never saw you pissed off before." He says while chuckling.

As much as she didn't understand humans, she was confusing an equal amount.

"Your pans, left cabinet, my pot, right cabinet!"

"Come on, look how shiny they are." He said, moving his head to the pots on the counter.

"Ooooh yeah that's shiny." She whistled.

He served lunch while she obsessively reorganized her bottles in the bathroom. When he put the plate of dumpling on the kotatsu he saw the cool finds on it, he looked at them with the intrigue of a collator and the joy of a young boy at the same time. Also realizing that these weren't things his roommate's would buy to herself.

"These are for you." She informed, washing her hand in the sink of the open bathroom.

"Really?"

"Well, I guess abusing my system is more fun than these trinkets." She said playfully, setting on the table and grabbing her plate. 

He took the rock in his hand and lift it up to get a better look. 

"Thank you."

After minutes of eating in silence he looked at her.

"You know, I know we made a deal but, you don't need to go too far for me."

She continue eating like he said nothing, he took no offence in that knowing she doesn't do any talking while she eat. He just needed to say that.

"Well, you gonna give me a hefty favor, it's only natural to repay you well." 

Although he knew it is all a mutually beneficial relationship, a mutualism at its clearest. He couldn't help but sense the appreciation for the person or rather the creature at the other end of the tiny table. He looked at how close their plates were, edges touching.

"But seriously, don't go on your own in the orange zone, or even the end parts of the yellow zone. It could have gone way worse than last night."

"Really?" He said with a hint of disbelieve that things could actually get worse. 

"Yeah, especially since your human side can not regenerate, one wrong blow and it's over."

"Yeah." He looked at the small burns in his hand, realizing his own mortality. 

"Why did you throw the pack of matches there to begin with?" He asked, some worry in his eyes, they didn't understand or know each other equally, and there is stability in that, stability he feared shaking with the wrong questions.

She drank her water, taking a moment to reply.

"Back in the day those pack of matches got misused and caused forest fires, so since I was the only plant who can move the elder trees asked me to eliminate them." 

She paused, wiping the left dumpling sauce with a piece of bread in deep concentration while eating it.

"The pack of matches of last night, let's just say it was a desperate last minute plan." 

He listened to her carefully, his eyes moving with her moves.

"I wish you told me that before."

"You should've asked, you know I don't take things the wrong way like you humans do sometimes. Although I should've realized you were stressed about your artwork and the blond dude with the mole under his eyes."

He scrunched his nose at the mention of certain somebody like he heard a vile slur.

"Listen, I can't preserve or decode the complexity of you people's emotion so you have to say stuff from time to time."

He thought about what she said, he leaned backward, hands on the floor supporting him.

"Well yesterday... I thought that we will not make it if we went in the morning. The auction management will find out that my piece is missing and will cancel my spot or something, that's why a part of me assumed that.. you didn't care much about what happened and it's my own problem to deal with, like it was just another human homework that could be submitted late." 

He drank some water, slowly looking at her again, she was thinking hard, like she was doing calculus in her head. 

"Too much humans emotions huh?" He joked lightly, smiling in a thin relief after saying what's in his chest.

She finally looks at him, face a little stunned. 

"You should've said that you dingus... I would've figured something out."

He was the one with a stunned face now, after a moment he could not hold himself from laughing at himself, his own stupidity, and at how desperation makes humans act. 

"Oh laugh! It's funny! After you ruined the order of all my things!" She exclaimed.

He laid on the ground laughing, barely catching a breath.

"Sorry, I- I will bake-- you- cookies." He managed to say between laughers.

She pouted with crossed eyebrows.

"Come on, Huge chocolate chips cookies in a pretzel pan!" He said, wiping a tear and sitting down. She thought about the offer.

"Put raspberries in the batter!"