Private Finished Always gotta be the hero

Broen accepted the offer of shorts, and came back out of the bathroom a short while later with far more of his thighs showing than he had anticipated when he'd woken up this morning. But if he felt any shame, he certainly didn't show it. "Subtitles are fine. Let's fuckin go."

He didn't even know what this movie was, but he wasn't about to say no. And he knew - not a lot, but enough French that he didn't have to stare at the subtitles the entire time at least. But as he watched more of the movie, lounging on the couch and eating pizza next to Levina, he couldn't help but notice some... similar themes playing out on screen. Not one-to-one, but still.

Broen slipped his own arm around Levina as she fell asleep against him, shaking his head at her mumbled gratitude.

He briefly considered carrying her to her bed, but he didn't want to wake her.

It took Broen about half an hour to wiggle himself out from under her, letting her lie on the couch while he took the floor next to her. Nearby, but not invasive. She didn't need someone else pulling her in a different direction emotionally right now.

Broen fought sleep for as long as he could: he'd always had trouble sleeping in unfamiliar places. And he knew it was just a matter of time before he woke up in a cold sweat, heart racing from a dream he didn't want to deal with at the moment. But eventually, he did drift off.

All the hallways looked exactly the same. Smooth, gunmetal grey. His map wasn't helping him and his borrowed super strength wasn't quite enough to just smash through the walls faster than running around aimlessly was.

Twenty minutes later and he still hasn't found it. Only now he was also being chased by thirty armed soldiers, who were all taking pot shots at him. Aquatic bats, they looked like. Sort of. If you squinted. He didn't care what they were, just that they were trying to stop him.

An alarm blared over and over as he ran, trying to find cover. A place to hide. Blaring, blaring, blaring.

Broen startled awake with a scream, flailing out of his sleep and slamming his arm and head hard into the coffee table. The alarm was still going, only it wasn't a security breach... he smelled burnt eggs and felt carpet underneath him.

Levina. He was in Levina's apartment. And he needed to calm down and hope she hadn't seen his outburst. Hard not to when he looked like he'd been slapped with a bucket of water and shaking like a Chihuahua.

Okay. Calm down.

"I'll be fine," he said, not entirely sure that he beli bed himself. But she needed his help, so he got up and hoped that he didn't look like he'd just woken up from a nightmare. Or more accurately, he hoped that she didn't notice how pale he was or the cold sweat on him.

"The heat's up too high," he started, turning the stove down and grabbing the pan to scrape the burnt eggs into the trash. While it cooled he grabbed some more. "Eggs cook fast even on relatively low heat. You also don't want to put salt or pepper in them until they're finished and plated up. See this pan? It's non-stick. Salt will just scratch it up."

He was in the zone, feeling... not better exactly, but glad for the distraction from his own head as he cracked more eggs into the pan and started beating them into curds with a spoon. He grinned sideways at Levina, a forced expression as he teased her.

"Don't worry ma'am, I'm a professional."

"I appreciate it, really. Maybe sometime, I'll teach you the basics. You'll never eat a meal better than the first one you cook successfully for yourself, guaranteed."

The eggs cooked quickly, so while they were finishing up Broen grabbed some sliced bread and toasted it up in the pan alongside them. Nowhere near the fanciest breakfast he'd ever made, but passable.

Spreading the lightly scrambled, still a little moist eggs into the toast, he played them up and offered one to Levina with a smile. "Easier to eat on the go with toast. You look like you need to get going to work, so I didn't want to keep you."

Then he looked down and realized that he was still painfully exposed in the short shorts she had lent him. "I can wash these and return them to you later, if you want."