Good Cop Bad Cop: Chapter One

One week. Asher has to be mean, Kay has to be nice. Whoever gives up first has to write a story for the winner. Should be... interesting.

Eugh, this bet was stupid. Kay had almost forgotten about it till the monday morning, when he walked into the medical room and suddenly realised... a whole week... being... nice?
what the hell had he gotten himself into?

Maybe nobody would hurt themselves for a whole week... right? maybe.. maybe they'd all NOT be idiots!
Yeah he wasn't buying that.
He counted down the minutes till Matt came in with some issue.

Asher was cheerfully organizing some medicines on a shelf. Not that they needed to be organized, of course, but he wanted an excuse to be in the med bay. So he could see Kay's face when he walked in and realized he had to be nice for a week. Ha!
He looked around at the sound of Kay's footsteps, forcing his face to be serious. Oh yes, Kay looked like he was already hating this. He nodded in greeting and tried to not look friendly. Easier said than done, hmm.

Kay narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Asher. He hoped he'd find this just as miserable. Being a jerk wasn't easy, and Asher was usually such a damn cheerful patient person.

He sat down at his desk and took out his tablet. [One week, only when on duty. And no taking time off to get out of it.] Yes, he could be as horrible as he liked when not working, this... this might be okay.

Asher nodded agreement. "Of course. It would be pointless if someone just ran away until this was over. Unless you want to admit defeat now and save us some time?"

Kay's eyes narrowed. [Oh no, you're not winning that easy. A whole week of seeing you be mean, i'm looking forward to it.] He smirked. Yeah that bit he was amused by, it was his end of the deal that was so awful.

"Good." Asher nodded. "It would be boring if you gave up that easily, although I am looking forward to reading your story when you do give up." He looked smug.

Kay frowned. [I write enough during my everyday thank you.] Yeah he had no intention of losing this. He'd grit his teeth and pat heads and be NICE damnit...
arghhhh.

this was going to suck.

Asher waved a hand dismissively, doing his best to be a bad cop. "Then a thousand more words should be no problem for you," he said brightly.

[better start working on your first draft now.] Kay replied, and tensed as Matt walked into the lab.
His first instinct was to demand snarkily what he'd done THIS time, but he couldn't do that. Instead he grit his teeth, forced a very awkward smile and asked [Good morning Matt, what can we do for you?]

Matt frowned, confused. "uh... " Yeah Kay being vaguely civil had thrown him. "painkillers... Thalia has a migraine again. I think it's all the tension on the ship or something." He still stared at his brother as if he'd sprouted an extra head.

Kay nodded and looked to Asher to see how he'd take this.

Asher shook his head, trying to look annoyed. "Never gets his own painkillers, does he? Always has to send you instead. Why can't he ever run his own errands?" Argh this was harder than it looked.

Matt looked confused. "you guys are being weird... "

Kay actually looked amused and went to get the painkillers. Okay, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Confusing Matt was oddly satisfying.
[I hope he feels better soon.] He handed the pills to his brother.

Matt looked suspicious. "really... REALLY weird... " he edged away from them both and out of the room.

Kay smirked at Asher.

Asher gave Matt a last disapproving look as he left. The confusion was amusing. And oh my, was it funny to watch Kay trying to be nice. "That's not so hard, you were exaggerating," he told Kay. "Anyone can be a bad cop."

Kay looked skeptical. [You'll blow it soon, just wait. That peaceable understanding will come out and you'll start sympathizing.] He looked amused though.

Asher leaned against the desk and watched Kay, amused. "All I have to do is wait until Matt punches himself in the face and comes stumbling in, and then your true colors will show," he said, "After that, I'll be free to be as nice and sympathetic as I want. This is going to be easy."

Kay looked amused at that idea. Matt punching himself... yeah he wouldn't put it past him. [Just wait, someone will come in genuinely injured and you'll have to be mean and judgemental. Or you'll have to give the sex ed talk. Oh Asher, THAT alone will make all this worthwhile.] He smirked horribly and took out a crossword.

Asher looked pleased with himself. "Oh don't worry, I'm good at the sex ed talks. I'm sure I can do just as well with those as you do. Pitiful injuries may be more difficult, but I'm sure I can do just fine with those too."

[and... the children?] Kay challenged. Oh dear, that was going to be hard for him too. Come on kids, no getting sick... or hurt... or any small object lodged into any ears or noses or something please.

"I'll look disapproving at the children. You don't normally act completely mean to small children, so presumably I don't have to either," Asher said.

Kay smiled softly and shrugged. [I dislike children immensely though.] He admitted. [They're small and unpredictable and seem constantly unwell and somewhat... sticky. ] He made a face.

Asher chuckled. "I'm not especially fond of children either, but I'm able to be nice to them usually. Maybe you'll find some reserve of kindness you didn't know you had." Well technically Asher liked children just fine but wasn't at all comfortable around them, but that was semantics. "Or maybe you'll just fail miserably," he said as an afterthought, in case he sounded too nice.

Kay smirked back. [Oh i'll get that story out of you, being nice can't be THAT hard.]

Hah, famous last words.

---


Meanwhile....

Matt had made Thalia comfortable, tucked him into bed and left him well alone as his presence and worry only made the headache worse. He ran into Esk.

"Thalia still sick?" Esk asked flatly.

"Yeah, it's everyone else. they're all stressed and worried and it's like.. empathy plus telepathy equals huge headache and a great deal of hatred for the world." Matt sighed. "I wish I could do more to help."

"Well you could always knock everyone on the ship out so they stopped screaming their worries." Esk shrugged.

Matt shook his head, amused. "Yeah I don't think that'll help much. "

Esk shrugged "suit yourself."

"Hey, do you know what's up with Kay and Asher?" Matt asked.

Esk frowned slightly. "What are they doing?"

"Being weird. Kay was like... almost decent when I went in for painkillers, didn't immediately assume I was there for some sex thing and even wished Thalia a speedy recovery. It's creepy and it's not right man."

Esk smirked. "Perhaps he's finally snapped."

"I think they're screwing with me." Matt huffed.

"Well there's always that option." Esk shrugged. "What's Asher doing that's weird?"

"Trying to be mean. " Matt told him.

"Now that... sounds like a show worth watching."

"mm well i'm gonna go find some food and water for Thalia when she wakes up. "

Esk grunted a vague response and continued off down the hall.
So, the medics were being weird huh?
He was curious.

Asher grinned. "Being nice is hard work. It doesn't come as naturally as you'd think."

Kay looked skeptical. [It's hard to believe you're really that mean when you grin so foolishly.] He smirked. Truth be told, he found Asher's goofy grin extremely adorable but that was because it was such a pure expression of the sort of person he was.

Asher attempted to look serious. "I can't help it if my face is friendly. Now I'm sad because you don't believe i can be mean." He didn't look sad though.