You Can Call Me Thomas - A Valkyrae x Sykkuno story - TEMPORARY COVER

Chapter 4: Valkyrae - Are you two... together?

     I felt two things: fear and happiness.

     Fear because I almost just freaking drowned.

     Happiness because I was kissing Sykkuno.

     It felt so... right, as if my entire life I'd been missing something, and now I had it.

     I grabbed him tighter, pushing his body closer to mine. He fell backwards onto the sand, probably exhausted, and for the second time today, I was on him.

     And I don't know what would have happened if Poki hadn't reappeared at that moment.

     "Hey, Rae, you'd better... oh..."

     Her face morphed from confused to embarrassed to excited. I thought I detected a spark of an emotion I couldn't positively identify - triumph, maybe, although that seemed impossible.

     "You two are dating? Is that why you were -"

     "Imane! It's not like that! We just, um -" What could I do?

     "Don't worry," Poki said in a tone that made me want to worry. "I'll... keep it quiet."

     That didn't sound good.

     "Also... your chat will be pleased."

     Did I mention I hated my friends sometimes?

     The OTV group had two cars, a minivan and a sedan. Sykkuno settled into the passenger of the sedan, extremely tired. Edison and Leslie has already passed out in the back. The other six were in the minivan, Michael and Lily getting separated after a heated debate about the meaning of art.

     "It's pointless... I'm serious. It doesn't do anything in life."

     "YOUR FREAKING ROBOTS DON'T DO ANYTHING."

     "SHUT ABOUT ABOUT MY ROBOTS I LOVE THEM."

     "YOU LOVE YOUR ROBOTS MORE THAN ME."

     Then they would hug each other and apologize.

     I jumped into the driver's seat of the sedan and started the engine.

     Sykkuno glanced back. "Are they asleep?"

     "I dunno, boop them on the head or something."

     True to my word, Sykkuno reached out and bumped both of them on the head. "They're asleep."

     We sat together for a while.

     "I'm sorry for... kissing you..." I blurted out, my face turning a little red.

     "It was adrenaline from just almost dying..." God, what was I saying?

     "It's... fine, I understand," Sykkuno said, looking out the window. He looked almost... disappointed.

     Wait.

     That can't be right... could it?

     I glanced at him again. Could Sykkuno love me?

     I got to Edison's house, dropping him and Leslie off there, then drove to the OTV house. Poki and Corpse were yelling at each other (what was it with those two), and Scarra and Toast were chatting about League of Legends. Michael and Lily had fallen asleep and were being hoisted on a stretcher especially made for that purpose.

     "See you later," Sykkuno said. He kept his mouth open, as if to say something else, then decided against it and jumped out.

     I waved goodbye to the rest of the crew and drove back to my house, exhausted.

     Poki and Janet were going out late-night clothes shopping (seriously, what the heck) so I had the whole house to myself.

     Being alone with my thoughts. Maybe not a good thing.

     I remembered a bottle of wine I'd bought a few days ago.

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AAAAH DID I LAST POST 6 DAYS AGO I'M SO SORRY I'LL TRY TO UPDATE AGAIN TODAY