The day was well past noon, but Stella was at home, lying on her bed and scrolling on her phone. Her bandaged left hand rested on her stomach. In the evening her hand had felt sore thanks to the fall from the ladder, but Stella hadn’t thought much of it. She had held ice on it before going to bed, but in the morning, her wrist was swollen and trying to move it hurt. Stella’s mother had panicked and driven her to the ER, where the nurse had calmed Marisa down and instructed them to visit their personal doctor instead.

The doctor had assured the sprained wrist wasn’t a serious injury and that Stella would survive. He told Stella to rest and stay home for the day. It annoyed her. She had so much to do! They needed to paint the second time, and now Justin would have to be in charge alone. He had already started stressing after Mathilda told that Stella had to go to a doctor. He had sent several messages throughout the day checking on her, and then reproached Stella when she replied because she was supposed to be resting.

Stella sighed and tossed her phone on the bed. She was so bored. Justin was still in class, there was nothing good on any one of the two hundred TV channels they had. She didn’t feel like studying either. She was already on top of most of her classes;  she could take a day off.

She got out of bed, fixed her hair a bit and moved to the computer. She would need two hands to play, but maybe some people were in Argent Night’s chat room. It’d be nice to talk with someone for a bit. Mathilda was working downstairs. The housekeeper was good company, but her stories were sometimes quite boring, especially since Stella had heard most of them dozens of times.

No one Stella knew was online. Stella sighed. The public chats were full of kids and weird people, so she didn’t care about going there to talk. Was she doomed to spend all day watching the shopping channel? Just before she logged out, a message popped up on her screen.

[GeminiWarrior]: You’re not skipping school are you :o

A happy grin spread on Stella’s face. She hurried to type a reply.

[Spica]: I could ask the same thing from you.

[Spica]: But, no. I’m sick.

[GeminiWarrior]: What a coincidence. So am I :D What’s wrong with you?

[Spica]: I sprained my wrist. You?

[GeminiWarrior]: I fell and my back kinda hurts

[Spica]: Ouch. I hope you’re alright.

[GeminiWarrior]: Yeah. But I’m not complaining. One extra day to the weekend :D

[Spica]: -.- Some of us are in great pain and you’re cheering about the day off.

[GeminiWarrior]: You can’t be in *that* much pain if you’re here. 

[GeminiWarrior]: Or am I such good company that you fight through pain to talk with me

[Spica]: Now that you mention it, I don’t really hurt much anymore…

[GeminiWarrior]: You’re just saying. But what have you done on this beautiful free day?

[Spica]: Trying to not die of boredom. Suffering from loneliness. How about you?

[GeminiWarrior]: I started rewatching the MCU

[Spica]: The what?

[GeminiWarrior]: MCU. Marvel cinematic universe. Have you not heard about it?

[Spica]: No

[GeminiWarrior]: What??? 

[GeminiWarrior]: How’s that possible? 

[GeminiWarrior]: You don’t know Captain America or Iron-man or the Guardians of the Galaxy?

[Spica]: Well maybe I’ve heard their names, but I have no idea what they are.

[GeminiWarrior]: I can’t believe this. You must be the only person in the world who doesn’t know

[Spica]: Are they really that big of a deal?

[GeminiWarrior]: My friend, MCU is one of the most successful media franchises in the past decade

[Spica]: Wow. I had no idea.

[GeminiWarrior]: I’m still in shock. You must live under a rock

[Spica]: I don’t really care about superhero stuff :<

[GeminiWarrior]: I bet you like romance movies instead.

[Spica]: Why? Because I’m a girl? So I automatically have to like romance movies?

[GeminiWarrior]: No, that’s not what I meant. I just… you know… Sorry

[Spica]: Haha, it’s fine. I’m just messing with you :p

[Spica]: But yeah I watch mainly romance movies. 

[GeminiWarrior]: Do you like the Darcy guy then?

[Spica]: He’s cool. Why? Are you a fan too?

[GeminiWarrior]: Wh- no! My mom’s crazy about him. She has a picture of him on our fridge door

[Spica]: Ah, a hardcore fan. But I can understand. The actor is pretty hot.

[GeminiWarrior]: ….

[Spica]: What ‘...’? He is

[GeminiWarrior]: If we’re talking about hot, it’s Black Widow

[Spica]: Who’s that? Another superhero?

[GeminiWarrior]: You haven’t heard of her either?

[Spica]: I think we already established that I don’t know any superheroes.

[GeminiWarrior]: You’re missing out on all the fun. I clearly need to teach you

[Spica]: Well, I am free all day :)

*

Quinn had thought he’d die of boredom when he had to stay home. He loved the day off, but he ran out of things to do pretty quickly. He didn’t feel like playing games because he had finished most of them, and most of his online friends weren’t available. He hadn’t held much hope when he logged in on Argent Night, but seeing a green dot next to Spica’s name had filled him with an unexpected amount of excitement. It was quite a coincidence that they were both sick, but Quinn wasn’t about to complain. Spica’s company had cheered him up a considerable amount because she listened to him talking about superheroes and comics and movies. Most of Quinn’s friends already knew all the stuff, so he didn’t have chances to talk about the topic in similar depth. Now he was educating someone and showing them a whole new world they hadn’t known existed before. They talked for almost two hours and Quinn introduced Spica all his favourite superheroes and most of their backstories too.

[Spica]: Doctor Strange sounds really cool.

Quinn smiled. He had got Spica hooked on superheroes fast.

[GeminiWarrior]: He is. One of my favourites. He has one movie and the second is coming out next year.

[Spica]: Really?

[GeminiWarrior]: Yeah. I’d go watch it but it’s pretty boring to go alone

[Spica]: You have to ask a friend to come with you.

[GeminiWarrior]: I don’t have many irl friends. And my brother doesn’t care about this stuff

[Spica]: :(

[GeminiWarrior]: But you could come with me ;)

Quinn sent the message and in the split second after he pressed enter, a panic filled him. Oh god. What had he done? Why did he suggest that? They didn’t know each other! And he had added a wink emoji! His life was over.

[GeminiWarrior]: Sorry. I didn’t mean to say that, but it’d be cool to meet one day.

[GeminiWarrior]: Like, theoretically

[GeminiWarrior]: We haven’t known for long, and I don’t know your name or where you live. So it’d probably be weird

[GeminiWarrior]: And you don’t need to tell me! I don’t want you to think I’m a creep. I’m not, I promise

Quinn was pulling his hair out. He dug a deeper hole for himself with every message. Spica was probably looking for the block button and that was why she didn’t say anything. Why was there no delete button? Maybe he should turn off his computer and never go back to Argent Night again.

[Spica]: Hey, no need to panic :)

[Spica]: I know you aren’t a creep.

Quinn let out a shaky breath.

[GeminiWarrior]: Good. I really didn’t mean anything weird by it. It just came out, you know

[Spica]: Yeah, yeah. All good :)

Quinn slumped in his chair in relief. He had genuinely feared he had made Spica uncomfortable. Although, it was possible that she said everything was ok, but then she would block Quinn later. It was a distressing thought. He enjoyed talking with Spica. They had talked for hours, and even though they didn’t know anything personal about each other, it was easy and comfortable to talk with her. Quinn was excited every time he saw her online, and found himself hoping that she would be there when he logged in. Today he hadn’t played a single minute of Argent Night and had only talked with Spica, and it felt nice.

A knock at Quinn’s door distracted him before he could reply to Spica’s message. Mom opened the door.

“How are you?” she asked. “Does your back still hurt?”

“I’m good. Maybe a bit sore, but not too bad.”

“That’s good. Remember to move around a bit and not just stay in one spot.”

“Yeah, I will soon. I’m a bit busy right now.”

“Oh, what are you doing?”

“Talking with a friend.”

For some reason, the pitch of Quinn’s voice rose, and a soft blush crept on his cheeks. This didn’t escape Joanna’s sharp eyes.

“Is it some girl?” she asked immediately.

“N-no,” Quinn muttered.

“Sure.... I have to go to work, and Jamie said he’s coming home later too. Dad should be back at normal time. Take it easy and call if something happens, okay?”

“Okay. Bye.”

Joanna smiled and closed the door. Quinn turned his attention back to the computer screen, where the little dot next to Spica’s name blinked from grey to green.

[Spica]: Sorry about disappearing. My cat closed the browser.

[GeminiWarrior]: No worries. My mom came to check on me so I didn’t even notice

[GeminiWarrior]: And how did the cat even close your browser? :D

[Spica]: I don’t know. She just walked across my keyboard.

[GeminiWarrior]: Maybe she thinks it’s time to do something else xD

[Spica]: Probably time to give her attention.

[Spica]: Do you have any pets?

[GeminiWarrior]: Yeah, I have a ferret. Winnie. 

[Spica]: Oh, like Winnie the Pooh?

[GeminiWarrior]: Winthorp. He’s a character from Sly Cooper. But Winnie is easier to say ^^’

[Spica]: Oh, okay. Winnie is a cute name anyway.

[Spica]: And ferrets are really cute. Aren’t they difficult to take care of?

[GeminiWarrior]: Not super difficult. He has his demands of course.

[GeminiWarrior]: Teaching him to use a litter box was a pain. But he’s super smart when he wants to be

[GeminiWarrior]: He has a big cage in the corner of my room and he can be free in my room most of the time

[GeminiWarrior]: and I take him outside on the lawn in a harness

[GeminiWarrior]: I’d like to get him a friend but my parents want to make sure that I can take care of one first

[Spica]: Yeah, aren't they really social and live in groups usually?

[GeminiWarrior]: Yeah, they can manage alone too if they have enough company and things to do. And I try my best

[GeminiWarrior]: I play with him a lot and he has a lot of toys. He’s very social

[Spica]: I’m sure you take good care of him :)

[Spica]: Mila is really affectionate too when she wants to be.

[Spica]: I’m convinced she thinks she’s royalty. Only does things she wants to and  struts around the house.

[Spica]: Like, she didn’t care about me for hours and now she sits on my lap and lk-------jl-jklo’’p

[Spica]: That was Mila.

[GeminiWarrior]: xD maybe she wanted to say hi

[Spica]: Maybe. But I should probably give her some attention. And my hand hurts a bit from all the  writing.

[GeminiWarrior]: Oh, right. I hope your hands will be fine.

[Spica]: I’m sure they will. Just need some rest. It was nice to talk :)

[GeminiWarrior]: Yeah, it was.

[Spica]: Bye :)

[GeminiWarrior]: Bye o/

*

Stella signed out of Argent Night and closed her computer. She carefully rolled her wrist while scratching Mila behind one ear with her other hand. A soft smile stayed on her lips. It was nice to talk with GeminiWarrior again. Stella knew it was important to be careful with people online, but for some reason she had a good feeling about GeminiWarrior. Her pulse had jumped a bit when Gemini had suggested meeting up, but she was sure there weren’t any bad intentions behind it since he apologized and didn’t push the topic. Maybe it’d be nice to meet up at some point if they continued talking. Right now it would’ve been way too early for it though.

Sound of a car on the gravel driveway got Stella to hurry to the window. Her dad’s car was parked in front of the house. An excited smile rose to Stella’s face. She scooped Mila from the desk she had jumped on.

“Let’s go say hi to dad.”

Her dad, Gideon, had been on a business trip in London for two weeks. They had talked on the phone, but Stella had still missed her dad a lot. She was in an almost constant state of at least slightly missing her parents.

“Stella, darling. Come here!” Gideon said when he noticed his daughter running down the stairs.

Stella put Mila on the floor and jumped to hug her dad. Stella had a closer relationship with her mother, but she was definitely dad’s little girl through and through. She had inherited most of her looks from her dad, along with the somewhat stubborn streaks of her personality. Or so his dad claimed, and Stella believed it. They had a lot in common.

“What happened to your hand?” dad asked when she noticed the bandage on Stella’s wrist.

“Just a small accident.”

Gideon’s brows furrowed, but before he could interrogate Stella further, Stella’s mother appeared in the hall too. The commotion had pulled Marisa from her office to see what was happening.

“Honey, welcome back,” she said and walked to kiss her husband.

Stella didn’t want to watch her parents kissing and headed to the kitchen to check if Mathilda needed help with the food. She could be assigned to cut vegetables or stir pasta.

When the dinner was ready, the family spent a long time at the table eating, and talking about London, gifts, Stella’s school success, her accident, and the lunch invitation to Justin’s home.

“We should go if you are feeling up to it Stella. How is your wrist?”

“It’s good. It’s sprained, not broken. I can function normally.”

“Of course you can. I’ll inform Linette that we’re coming,” Stella’s mother said.

Stella nodded. She was burning to know more about the renovation progress. She had decided to not call Justin. He was probably tired from all the work when he got home, so Stella wanted to give him a chance to rest. She felt bad about skipping when others worked hard all day, but maybe she could take care of all the furniture picking and decorating herself. She owed them that much at least.