”I hate,” said Caspian, “hospitals.”

The nurse, to whom he was speaking - a tall lady with black braids twisted up in a messy bun on the back of her head - didn’t look up from her watch where she was checking his blood pressure, her other hand still holding the cuff she’d wrapped around his arm.

“No one likes hospitals,” she said airily. “But we gotta have them. Hold still.”

He did not like holding still either, but the faster he could get out of here, the better. So he shut his mouth and glanced sideways at Michael’s sleeping form in the couch against the wall, focusing on him instead of the tightening of the blood pressure cuff and the little hisses of air as it was loosened a few minutes later.

The nurse, whose name was Angelica, said, “That’s all for now, sugar, I’ll be back in two hours.”

He resisted the urge to sarcastically say I can’t wait as she whisked out, Caspian slumping back onto his pillows and sighing.

It hadn’t even been a day since he’d been admitted, but something Michael had done had gotten him a better room, and it was the first time Caspian had really been lucid since waking up a few hours earlier with Michael. At some point, Michael had been shooed from the cramped bed and was now stretched out on the uncomfortable looking couch, dozing on and off.

Caspian planned on letting him sleep as long as he could, absently fiddling with his blanket and wondering where Peter and Sedna - whose civilian name, he realized, he didn’t know - were.


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Olga would always pride herself on being the awesome friend---or try to be, anyways. In this case, in her mind, the good friend would bring hospital bound friends a rare treat---or treats. MickeyDs cheeseburgers...because after all, it was always better than hospital food, right!? So she heard from countless movies, novels, and tropes, anyways. Surely those had some basis in real life! Unlike Caspian, who hadn’t sussed out her civilian identity yet, Olga had no problem finding his. It was hard not to, in the midst of getting both him and Michael settled once they had arrived at the hospital that evening.

Just was Angelica went out, it was Olga who waltzed in, her messenger bag clutched between her hands (where she was stashing the goods), bright eyed and bushy tailed. She took quick inventory of the room, and upon seeing Michael apparently dozing on the couch, did not raise her voice. Instead, she raised a hand in silent greeting to Caspian, approaching his bed side. She gave him a fox eyed grin, and her voice was knocked down to a cheerful whisper. “How’s it going, fellow mannequin marauder?”


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As Angelica disappeared, a new figure swaggered in, oddly familiar and yet unfamiliar all at once. Caspian squinted at her with some confusion -

-at least until she spoke, and then a lightbulb dinged on in his head.

“You must be Olga,” he said, smiling up at her, pulling the name from his hazy memories of what Michael had told him. “Needless to say, I’ve been better. You’re definitely a sight for sore eyes,” he added, eyeing the McDonald’s bag with a certain amount of interest.

Caspian patted the side of his bed; the plastic railings on either side prevented anyone from sitting up close to his face, unless they lowered the stupid things, but there was space at the foot for her to sit i she didn’t want to fiddle with the bed controls.

“How are you? Is that a gift you’ve brought me?”


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Her grin widened. “Yup!” She chirped softly, and when given the invitation, she blinked for a moment before accepting it. Despite her tall frame, she gingerly sat on the offered spot, very much having the mentality that Caspian was still fragile right now. She lowered her messenger bag to the floor, and then placed the McDonald’s bag between the two of them on the bed. “Yeah! Well, for everyone---I hope you like cheeseburgers!”

There were twenty of them. That way everyone could eat a lot. Olga sure knew she could.

“I dunno about hospital food---but hopefully this is a nice treat!” She glanced over at Michael, and then cocked her head in his direction, looking back at Caspian. “How’s Sail-Senpai doing?”


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”Cheeseburgers are food of the gods,” said Caspian sincerely. “You’re the best, here, pass me one of those.”

The smell of them was almost divine, especially after a restless past several hours and food that tasted somewhat like cardboard. Caspian’s head still felt as though he was underwater; a combination of medication and exhaustion that was somewhat unpleasant, but he would never say no to a good cheeseburger.

Especially considering how many Olga had brought.

He didn’t quite know what sail-senpai meant, but Caspian disregarded this for the time being, glancing over at Michael as well, his expression softening as he unwrapped a burger.

“Tired,” he said, sounding a little ashamed at this. Caspian took a bite of his food and closed his eyes for a second, practically breathing in the taste of it before he opened them again. “He refuses to leave. Can’t say I really want him to, though,” he added.

His eyes flickered to Olga.

“You didn’t get hurt, did you?”


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Olga took one for herself, unwrapping it, but kept her head cocked in Caspian’s direction as he spoke. She took a bite of her own, chewing it silently as she looked at him, nodding a bit, and shipping it so hard. Awww. Not wanting to leave his side. Awww. Awwwwwww. “It’s okay---” She assured him, speaking once she swallowed, and then shook her head. “Oh, no! I’m good---more than good, actually, I’m great! The two left pretty much as soon as Peter and I showed up---always nice to have those numbers, yeah? Even if we all weren’t the highest level!”

That feeling of accomplishment had come back though. It had gotten scary at some points, but everyone was still alive and kicking, so it was really the best.


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He was relieved to hear that Olga hadn’t been injured, guilt welling in Caspian’s stomach as he watched her. She was just as bubbly and cheerful like this as she was as Sedna, which was somewhat reassuring. He had only met her once, it was true, but he’d liked her spunky personality - and besides, they’d had similar mindsets from the start.

“I, uh,” said Caspian, looking down at his half eaten burger. “I...don’t know if we could have gotten out of there without you two, so um...thanks.”

The fingers of his bandaged hand curled and uncurled on the blanket, Caspian’s face flushing with shame.

“You guys saved our skins.”


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Instinctively she reached out and placed her hand on top of his bandaged one, and gave him a gentle but warm and reassuring squeeze. “It’s what friends and fellow magical people do!” She assured him quietly, and smiled. Similar mindsets indeed. He didn’t even need to say it---she could feel that shame. She’d been there---minus the whole needing to be hospitalized thing. She’d been there, though.

“I’ve had to be bailed out of sticky situations, too.” Olga assured him, and gave a quiet laugh. She immediately followed that up with a grin though. “My Mister GrumpyPants had to.”

She then gave a knowing look about Caspian’s GrumpyPants and waggled her brows.


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He felt himself relax a little at her encouragement, Caspian giving her a small nod. He’d have to make it up to Olga somehow - and Peter as well, he supposed, somewhat grudgingly, although there was no denying that Peter had been instrumental in their escape from the two Negaverse agents.

”Your Mr. Grumpypants, eh,” Caspian said, in some amusement, as he reached for a second cheeseburger. “I still haven’t met him yet.”

He feigned innocence at Olga’s knowing look, Caspian taking a bite and chewing slowly, just raising an eyebrow at her in silence.


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Olga’s face couldn’t help but burst into a brilliant bright red. She spluttered for a moment, her half eaten-cheeseburger in hand. “Wh-what?” She choked. “I’m---I was---just---differentiating between the GrumpyPants you claim and the one I do!” She stared off to the side, realized Michael was in her line of sight now, and then immediately stared off in the opposite direction.

“W-well we’re out patrolling four days---er---nights out of the week so---you just say the word when you’re feeling better and you can---meet him---” She paused for a moment, and then immediately straightened, her embarrassment temporarily forgotten.

“Oh---do you patrol with Sail-Senpai? Because I wanted my partner to meet him! They’re both Navy---and Sergei needs more friends.” Olga gave a sage nod of her head, having taken it upon herself to arrange the Russian’s social calendar for him.


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Now he’d made Olga flustered just mentioning her Grumpypants.

Oh boy.

“Uh huh,” said Caspian, sounding unconvinced as he dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. “That’s what they all say. Just admit it, you have a Grumpypants that you can call your own.”

He did find the idea of someone similar to Michael meeting him - and he did kind of want to meet whoever Olga was talking about, Caspian chewing slowly.

“What’s a ‘sail-senpai,’ by the way?” he asked thickly, his mouth full of cheeseburger. “You keep saying that. What does it mean?”


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Olga just spluttered, and turned more red, pressing her hands against her cheeks---which was hard with one hand, since she had a half-eaten cheeseburger in it.

Luckily, Caspian had asked her a question that didn’t have to do with Sergei in an owning capacity, so she readily clutched onto the distraction. “Oh! It’s a form of addressing---a senpai is like an upperclassman, or someone older than you who is your mentor! Michael’s giving me sail lessons, since I’m the senshi of ships, but don’t really know how to sail one! My planet is covered in them, too, shocking, right?” She laughed. “So yeah! He’s my sail-senpai! It just rolls off the tongue so nice.” Olga grinned at him.