Sophia snerked and then burst out laughing at Tim's sudden correction. With anyone else she would have overlooked it, but knowing Tim she was sure that he was utterly freaking out about the winking face. His awkwardness was just too adorable and it just made her want to hug him. _No problem. X3 Mistakes happen. Gotta get back to work. See you in a few hours!_ Sophia sent her last reply, finished off her lunch, and tossed the garbage in the dumpster. She then returned to work, humming happily to herself. The two hours seemed as if they couldn't go by quick enough, but soon Sophia was free. She sent him a text saying, _Freedom! Meet you outside!_, then made a coffee for herself and the usual for Tim. With the drinks in hand she head outside to wait for him in between the cafe and the bakery.

Tim made sure to lock his door behind him, double checking to make sure the door would stay. After he was sure that nobody would be breaking into his house, he started down the stairs, feeling happy, feeling like-- _You make me sick._ "Oh god, not now..." Tim said, stopping dead in his tracks about halfway down the stairs. " _Please_ don't do this. I wont let you do this." He turned around and marched up the stairs again, unlocking the door with his house key. _Worthless boy. Scaring your--_ "Shut the fuck up..." Tim mumbled to himself, pulling out his phone as he walked to the medicine cabinet in his kitchen. He sent a text to Sophia. _Got caught up in something. Meet me in my apartment._ Tim reached up into the cabinet, grabbing an orange bottle filled with small, orange pills. HE sighed, staring at it with his eyes glossed over, reading over the label again for the billionth time in his life.

Her phone's volume now on again, Sophia heard the text jingle go off. She set her coffee on the ground and checked it. Seeing Tim's message she frowned with worry. She remembered yesterday when he appeared to be having a panic attack and wondered if something similar was happening again. _Be right there._ She quickly texted him. _Stay calm._ She shoved her phone back into her pocket, picked up her coffee, and made her way up to Tim's apartment. Shoving her coffee into the crook of one arm Sophia used her free hand to knock on the door to Tim's apartment. "Tim?" She called out, worry apparent in her voice. "It's Sophia. I'm here. Are you alright?" She waited nervously for him to answer the door.

"I'm fine." He called out, dropping two of the pills from the bottle into his hand. He sat the bottle down on the counter next to the kitchen sink. "You can come in, it's open." And in one quick moment, he too the pills into his mouth and swallowed hard, forcing them down his throat and into his stomach. HE leaned over the kitchen sink, looking down into the drain as he heard his front door opening. "Tim?" Sophia called out, still sounding worried. "Are you okay? Where are you?" "Kitchen." He said, still staring down, giving his body a few moments to adjust, to take in the actions of the pills. To make him better.

Sophia closed the door behind her by backing into it, then followed Tim's voice into the kitchen. She instantly set the drinks down on the table when she saw him leaning over the kitchen sink. She noticed the same bottle of pills from yesterday on the counter beside him, but she said nothing about it. She didn't know what they were for but it would not be right of her to jump to conclusions. Even with his back to her Sophia was sure that Tim must have been extremely pale with a look of agony on his face similar to the one from yesterday. Part of her really wanted to go over there and hug him no matter what might be going on, but the other part of her rationalized not to. She didn't want to overwhelm him. So she stayed where she was and asked, "Is there anything I can do for you? Do you want to just stay here and relax?" Whatever Tim wanted to do she would do it so long as it made him comfortable and happy again--or as least as much as he could appear to be when they were together.

Tim sighed, waving his hand around in the air in some sort of random movement that signaled "forget about everything you are seeing." He turned around, leaning back against the sink now, his face slightly pale, a small, almost sad look transfixed on his face. He felt embarrassed for causing trouble again, and a little disappointed that he was. "No, I would still...um, I would like to go to the mall still. If you're willing to go too. I think...like, uh... I just don't think it's good for me to be alone right now." His voice trailed out at the end of his sentence, sort of masking the last part of it. "I-I'm fine, honestly, dont worry about me. I'm perfect."

Even if Sophia tried to she knew she wouldn't be able to forget seeing Tim like this. She tried to hide her worry, however, thinking it might make him feel a little more at ease. "Of course. We can still go to the mall, Tim," she said, trying to help soothe his nerves a bit. "Whatever you want to do is fine by me." Suddenly Sophia bit her lip. By nature she was an extremely caring person. She hated to see others upset or in distress and always tried to help out whenever she could. People usually found her easy to open up to, and Sophia was more than glad to lend them a shoulder to lean on and a friendly ear to listen. With Tim it was a bit harder to do this since he was so withdrawn from people in general. Still, Tim was her friend and she wanted to do whatever she could to make him feel better. "Do you... do you want a hug?" She found herself asking a little tentatively, unsure as to how Tim might react.

Tim made a noise. He didnt know what the noise was or how it came out of his mouth, but he made it. He bit his lip too, looking down at his feet and back up at her. He shrugged. He didnt want to hurt her feelings. He didnt want to hurt anything. If anything at all, he wanted to _stop_ hurting and be normal. So, he said the most normal thing he thought he could say. "Ah...um... y-yes? Okay, uh, sure. That um... yeah, okay." His eyes were wide, panicked, a twinge of fear coating them, but he spoke as calmly as he could, trying not to worry anyone. "Okay...yes, hugs."

Sophia waited for Tim to decide what he wanted. Finally he agreed to a hug and Sophia couldn't help but feel a little relieved. She didn't know what was going on with Tim, but she would do whatever she could to make her friend feel better. Taking care not approach him too quickly, Sophia wrapped her arms around Tim's shoulders and gave him a gently hug. "It'll be ok," she said, trying to reassure him. "Whatever it is will be ok."

Tim stood there stiffly for a moment, not knowing where to put his arms. After a few awkward moments, however, he eventually remembered how to work a hug and slowly let his arms wrap around her waist. His eyes were still darting back and fourth from what he could see of Sophia hen he looked down slightly--which as her neck and shoulder--and the wall opposite of them. "Um...t-thanks. Thank you." he replied, sighing heavily afterwards. He hoped she was right.

Eventually they broke the hug and Sophia managed to give Tim a smile. "Shall we head to the mall now?" She asked. Tim nodded his consent and grabbed his hoodie and house keys, taking his coffee when Sophia gave it to him. They left the apartment, making sure to lock it behind them, and then walked over to the cafe parking lot. They hopped into her car and were on their way. Sophia pulled the car into a parking spot and they got out. "Awesome!" She said excitedly. "I haven't been to the mall in a while. Let's go see what they have, shall we?"

It was your everyday, basic one story mall. Nothing fancy, but it did have some pretty nice stores in it. Tim and Sophia wandered around for about an hour, walking through the shops and large hallways. Sophia bought Tim a new coat, of course. A green military jacket of sorts from some old thrift shop that Tim had picked out. He thought it was a very good choice. So, the hours passed, and eventually, the two sat down on a bench for a rest. "Heh... this is, um, fun." Tim said, crossing his arms as he leaned back in the bench, his head lolling over the back edge. "Very...busy day, though. Bustling, even."

"It is," Sophia agreed. She felt positively giddy with excitement, this time mostly because her new jacket was a Legend of Zelda one she had found in one of the gaming stores. She was positively glowing with (nerdy) happiness at having found such a jacket. On sale too! She had bought a game as well, an older version of Mario Party thinking that she may be able to get Tim to play it with her one day, and just some dragon earrings she had thought looked pretty cool. All-in-all the entire trip had been excellent in her opinion, and she knew that Tim was at least enjoying himself and was better than he had been earlier--all things that made her happy. It was starting to get late in the evening now and her stomach was starting to grumble. "Want to get something to eat, Tim?" She asked. "We could eat here or stop somewhere else, or get take-out and stop by your place or mine."

Tim shifted in his seat a bit, shrugging a little. He mulled over the question a bit. He was hungry, that much was true, but eating out was a lot of work. But, the food court was so close... "Um... could eat. I dunno, I'm fine with anything, really. Food is just, y'know, good, generally. Anything works for me!"

"We'll get some carry out from the food court then," Sophia decided for them. So they headed to the food court and picked out what they wanted. Afterwards they head outside to Sophia's car, putting their purchases in the back seat, though the food stayed up front with Tim so he could keep an eye on it. "My place or yours?" She asked as she buckled her seat belt and started the car. He had not been to her place yet, but she was sure he would like it. It was clean, though some spots like her bookshelves looked pleasantly cluttered with action figures, books, and movies. But if Tim felt better going to his place they'd go there.

"Um... I... don't... decide things. You can choose." Tim had started checking around the pockets of his new coat, looking for anything that had been left behind by the previous owner, so he wasn't really paying complete attention to the questions he was being asked. Though, he would probably give the same answers, full attention. "I don't care, we can do either one, its fine with me."

"Alright then," Sophia agreed. "We'll head to my apartment." So she drove them to a nice little apartment complex where she had a flat on the second floor. It wasn't huge, but it had a living room and kitchen, a bedroom and full bathroom, and a balcony. "Here we go," she said, opening the door up and flicking on the lights. "It's not much, but it's home." Her apartment was clean and well kept with most of the clutter belonging to the book cases. There was a kitchen table with two chairs, a soft couch with a coffee table in front of it, bookshelves, and an entertainment stand with a decent sized tv on it. The entertainment stand was filled with various gaming consoles. Shrugging off her jacket she put it and her shoes in the closet. "Jacket and shoes in here, please," she informed Tim, motioning to the closet. She went and put her purchases away in her room--leaving the game on the coffee table--, then appeared again. Walking into the kitchen she asked, "Would you like something to drink? I have water, juice, soda, and tea."

Tim pushed his shoes against the wall, hanging his coat up along with Sophia's. He was nervous. This was all brand new to him, and he wasn't sure how he was going to handle it. He looked around the apartment, still standing in the main entrance as she walked away and into her bedroom, then the kitchen. He stumbled as he answered. "Ah, u-um, no, I'm fine! Uh, I don't need anything!" He said, his voice wavering a little. He had never been in another persons apartment before in his life, let alone one that looked so nice and easily damageable. HE didn't want to move, he didn't want to touch anything. He shoved his hands into his pockets, making his body smaller, avoiding contact with everything that his body would allow him to.

Coming back into the living room with a glass of water, Sophia saw Tim still standing. "Take a seat," she told him, smiling, taking a seat on the couch herself. "I promise you it's ok. 'M not gonna bite, and you don't have to worry about breaking anything." Finally Tim sat tentatively down on the couch. She opened the bag with their food and passed Tim his stuff. "Would you like to watch TV?" She asked. "Or play a video game after we eat?"

Tim was still keeping his body recoiled a bit, just trying not to touch too much of her stuff. He knew she didnt want him to do so, but he was just really uncomfortable in this place still He wasnt used to it, it was nothing like his apartment. "U-um... yeah, sorry, I just... dont...want to mess anything up...heh, I'm trying...um... I dont want to ruin anything. Uh, we could just watch TV thats... yeah, thats what we can do..u-um, sorry."