All Things End: Part 43

Chapter 43: That Awkward Conversation

Courage awoke to a pounding headache. He had a vague memory of being shaken awake and forced to choke down several pills without any water. He'd been so out of it at the time that he could hardly even remember it happening. He now found himself staring up at the dull, brown ceiling. His head was still spinning but he could at least keep his eyes open without feeling like the world was about to fall out from under him now. He slowly sat up, trying not to aggravate his dizziness any worse than it already was.

Computer was standing close to the window next to the bed. His chin was resting on the windowsill and to say that he looked terrible would have been an understatement. Despite his blue glow, one could easily see the dark shadows forming under his eyes. He was staring halfheartedly out the window, which was too dirty to really see anything out of anyway, and he was clearly trying to force himself to stay awake.

A pill bottle was laying on the floor next to their bag and that ancient book that Computer was always reading lay open on the floor too. Courage quickly began to wonder just how long he had been out. Rain was still drumming endlessly on glass of the window, but it was definitely light out now.

“Computer?” He asked. His voice was hoarse.

“Oh, you're awake?” The machine asked with a huge yawn.

“What time is it?”

“Not a clue.” He replied with a shrug. “Bah, I really do miss my internal clock. You organic creatures are just so inefficient at everything, aren't you?” He gave a quick glance out the window. “If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that it's nearly noon.”

“A-am I going to be okay?” Courage asked him, unable to hide the fear in his voice.

“You're certainly doing a lot better than you were before.” He replied. Courage could tell that he was relieved.

“I still feel pretty bad though.” He admitted to the machine.

“Give it a few hours.”

“We missed our bus, didn't we?”

“I wasn't about to drag you down to the bus stop in the condition that you were in. We'll just have to catch a different one later. It's not that big of a deal.”

Courage groaned and laid back down. Not only did he still feel sick, but he could also feel hunger slowly eating a hole into the pit of his stomach as well. He couldn't even remember the last time he had eaten anything.

“Listen.” He heard Computer say to him. “You almost died last night. You must take it easier from now on. I know that the last few days have been rather hectic for you, but this close call is a testament to what will happen if you aren't careful.”

“I can try, but half the stuff that's been happening to me lately hasn't been in my control. It was you who forced us to go into that forest last night. I probably got sick from being stuck in the rain for so long.”

“Don't remind me.” He groaned.

“Well, you should get some rest too.” Courage added in, trying to change the subject. Obviously the forest was still a sensitive subject for Computer. “I'm not going anywhere right now, and I don't think I could walk even if I tried.”

“I don't need any sleep.” Computer stubbornly replied. He had been forced to stifle a yawn as he said that.

“Yes, you do.” Courage chided him. “You look like you're about to drop dead even more than I do!”

“I'll live.” He grumbled out before adding in, “I never used to have to sleep like one of you organic creatures...”

“Seriously, Computer. You need some rest. Who knows what might happen to us next.”

The glowing dog waved a paw. “Fine, fine! I'll go to bed in a little bit! I wasn't sleeping so well before anyway and I didn't want to bother with it anymore if I could.”  

“Hey, what was it that you were trying to tell me before?” Courage asked him with a mischievous smile. It was always funny to see how flustered Computer got about it.

“You still remember that?” He asked, placing a paw onto his hip. “It was nothing! Nothing at all!”

“Come on, Computer. Tell me!” He pleaded, all while fighting back a laugh.

“Can we move onto something else, please?” The machine groaned. “It's not important!”

“Computer...”

Courage was starting to get a sense of what was going on here and he was having a hard time not laughing about it. This was so like Computer!

“Just drop it, you twit!” The machine snapped. “If I want to say something, I'll say it!”

“Aww, I love you too.” He joked, finally bursting out laughing as he did so. It was obvious that the machine had been trying to tell him that he cared in his own cynical, jerk-like way, but he hadn't been able to spit it out.

“W-What?” The machine stammered. “That is most certainly not what I was going to say!” He yelled, crossing his arms. “That would be the very last thing I'd ever say! Have you gone insane? Did that fever finally get to your head?”

“Wow, look how flustered you are!” He laughed. “Aww, Compute, you really do care!”

“I thought I told you to stop calling me that!” He yelled.

Now it was Courage's turn to cross his arms. “You said that so long as I lived through the night, I could keep calling you whatever nicknames I want!”

“I wish you would have forgotten that as well!” He griped. “I swear, you always joke about the worst possible things. You are quite literally the epitome of unfunny.”

“Are you kidding me?” He gasped out. “You're the one who'll sit there and insult me for ten minutes straight while a monster is munching on Muriel! You're the one who jokes about all the wrong things at  all the wrong times!”

The machine laughed. “At least I get the job done! What do you do? Pretend that I don't exist unless you need my help!”

“I know that I'm at fault for a few things.” Courage admitted, growing somber. “If I'm going to consider you family, once this is all over, I promise I'll visit you more often. I've been neglecting you all these years and I'm really, really sorry for it. We fight a lot but nobody deserves to be left alone like that, especially for as long as you have.”

Computer shrugged. “You don't have to do anything, it's fine. I am disagreeable after all.”

Courage couldn't help but smile. “It's the least I can do for you. I know that you don't like me very much, but-”

“Don't like you?” He asked, looking surprised. He waited a moment and then picked his words very carefully. “You are, ugh, amusing...”

That seemed to be the only praise that he could manage to choke out. He looked half angry and half annoyed with himself as he said it, but there was a sense of fondness in his tone.

Courage decided to jokingly prod the issue. “Amusing? That's it? After everything that just happened, you only think that I'm amusing?”

The machine seemed to be at a loss for words as he tried to rectify his statement. “Well, um-”

“I'm just one big amusing joke? Aww, come on!” Courage put on as much fake outrage as he could muster.

“You are, er, 'nice'?” The machine tried to say, only sounding half sure of himself as he did so. “You are a g-good owner, I guess, a-and-” He stumbled over his words as he tried to find something nice to say. “On a scale of one to ten, I'd say that you are an eight.”

“WHAT? I'm not a ten?” Courage yelped.

The machine looked absolutely aghast. “Well, there's that whole twit thing. That automatically knocks off two points at least. Normally that would knock off five, but your exceptional, er, 'niceness' has made me reconsider.” He started to nervously laugh.

“So, not only am I just 'amusing', my worth is being graded by numbers too?” He continued on with his fake outrage, but it was taking a lot of effort not to burst out laughing. Computer's genuine shock and disbelief was causing him to nearly collapse a lung. “I consider you a valuable friend, ally, and family member and yet I'm only an eight to you?”

“No, no, no! I-I just-” His responses were becoming even more fragmented as he grew more and more flustered. “I-I appreciate your company a-and you are my friend. You've treated me far better than any of my old owners, after all. I don't know much about friendship, family, or any of that other nonsense, b-but...” He shook his head in desperation. “You didn't judge me back there in that forest, not for anything that I said or did. We both know that if our rolls had been reversed, I would have never given you any slack for it.”

Courage crossed his arms. “Eight out of ten....” He growled.

The machine's expression became absolutely horror struck. He slowly bowed his head, as though giving up, and muttered, “Okay, okay. I get it. I'm obviously not cut out for this whole friendship thing. I'm just not good enough, am I? It's all just so confusing.”

There it was again. His absolute obsession with being 'good enough'. Friendship and affection, or rejection from failed attempts at such things seemed to be his biggest weakness and the biggest hole in his knowledge about people. Courage was quickly beginning to feel bad for egging him on like this. Didn't he realize that he was just joking around? He immediately gave up the charade.    

“Computer, I was just joking.” He said.

He craned his head to the side when the machine did not look up again. “You just saved my life last night.” He went on. “I'm not about to tell you that you aren't good enough after something like that. You don't give yourself enough credit! Come on, Compute!”

“It was my fault that you nearly died in the first place.” He grumbled.

“It was a combination of a lot of things.” Courage replied, placing a paw onto his shoulder.

“I doubt that I can be a very good friend in the first place.” He sighed. “I just don't know how any of that nonsense works anyway. I mean, outside of being annoyingly kind to everyone, like....like you!” He seemed disgusted at the prospect.  

“You're a perfectly fine friend.” Courage gently reaffirmed. “I was just joking, okay? I'm fine with being an eight.”

“If you say so.” He quietly replied.

“Come on, Compute! You're the one who's always telling me to lighten up! We watch each others backs! You wouldn't abandon me and I wouldn't abandon you! No matter how much we fight, no matter what might happen, we're still friends, okay?”

“I suppose so.” He sighed, completely unconvinced. “It is nice though, to know that I won't be sold off to a new owner or thrown away like any old piece of garbage. I'm going to have to find a way to repay you. I guess I can continue to try and be 'nice', but it's not very easy.” He allowed himself the weakest of smiles. “And it kind of hurts too.” He joked.

Courage laughed. “I think you're allergic to being nice. But that's alright, you don't have to repay me for anything.”

“I must! It's the right thing to do!” He exasperated, completely resolute in his belief. “And I promise that I won't go charging into danger anymore!” He then added in rather quietly, “However, this one is on you. I'm not the one who wanted to go into this house.”

“It's not the house's fault that I'm sick!” Courage yelled. “And I can't believe that you were actually afraid of a big, spooky house! What's happened to you?” He grinned again. “I think you're losing your touch!”

“I-I'm not afraid!” He yelled. “I was just exercising a healthy level of caution! After the forest, I just don't want to have to deal with anymore strangeness, alright? This whole stupid house should just be torn down! Look at the floor in this room alone! It's about to give out!” He crossed his arms. “I'm surprised that there hasn't been at least one halfway decent ghost who's moved in!”

“So,” Courage asked, changing the subject. “What was it that you were really going to say to me before?”

“This again? Look, I think I just said most of it anyway.” He grumbled. “I wasn't quite sure what exactly I wanted to say, but there were a lot of things. Your fake little 'show' back there unfortunately forced my hand.”

Courage grinned. “A cop out, huh?”

“What? No! I said what I wanted to say!”

“Well, I meant what I said before about  family and all of that.”

“So you weren't just trying to freak me out? Here I was thinking that you had finally lost your stupid, little mind.” He expression soften. “Well, thank you for that though. Thank you for everything. Nobody has ever wanted me around before, not really. You are a twit, but I'd rather have a twit around like you than somebody else entirely.”

“Aww, Compute! I knew you had it in you! Was that really so hard to say?” He laughed.

The machine's smile instantly turned back into a scowl. “Very...” He grumbled.

Courage sighed and collapsed backwards again. He was starting to feel ridiculously tired once more.

“We've spent far too much time talking. You should get some rest. Give it a few more hours and you should start to feel a little bit better.” Computer spoke.

“You need to get some rest too.” He reminded him.

“Yes, yes, I know.” The machine sighed. “I'll crash in a little bit.”

“Good night, Compute.” Courage replied with a chuckle.

“Good night, Cour.”

Courage shot back up off the pillow. “H-hey! Don't you start too!”

The machine laughed. “Two can play at this game, you know!”

Courage smiled again. “Thanks for helping me, Compute.” He said with a yawn.

“It's my job.”

“You'll stay here with me if it starts to get bad again, won't you?”

“Why wouldn't I?”

“I-I don't think that I could go through that again.” He whimpered. He couldn't stop his voice from trembling at the thought of it.

“I'll do whatever I can to help. It isn't much, but I won't leave you alone.”

“Thank you.”

“You don't have to thank me. It's like I said, this is just my job after all.” He chuckled.

“Please get some rest, Computer. I'd hate it if you got the same fever as me just because you've been pushing yourself so hard.”

“I'll be fine. Besides, getting your fever wouldn't be nearly as bad for me. That fever weakened you enough for your illness to start wreaking havoc.”

“Well, have you thought of a name while I was asleep?” He asked.

“Just one.” He admitted, practically puffing up his chest as he did so. “Cornelius! I kind of like it! I can't say that I'm dead set on it yet, but-”

Courage let out a snort. “Pfff! That's just pretentious enough of a name for you!” He laughed.

“What?” He gasped. “Oh, really? If you're so smart, why don't you figure out a name? You're useless, you twit!”

“Only because you're too picky!”

“Yet I find a name that I like and you go and say that it's too pretentious! Honestly! You must be trying to drive me insane on purpose!”  

“I only do it because I care!”

“If you actually cared, you'd worry more about my mental health!”

“Ha! You can't live in Nowhere and not be a little bit crazy!”

“A little?” He sighed. “Twits, I swear.”

End Of Chapter