𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 - 𝟎𝟎𝟏 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐂 ✔️

021

You sit there for what feels like hours, but you know it could have only been minutes at best. The two of you have recomposed yourselves, you think. Your dark thoughts of irreversible decisions had vanished and 001 was beginning to reassociate with reality.

"Come on," 001 murmurs only after the feverish glint in his eyes disappears. He kisses the tip of your nose, letting you know he was alright. "You should get dressed, I'll wait outside."

The action still leaves butterflies in your stomach, but a thought emerges in your mind. You tap him as he starts to rise. "Hey, wait," you say.

"Yeah?"

"We still don't have a title."

He raises his eyebrows as if the statement was absurd. "Are you kidding?" he says, chuckling to himself.

You cross your arms. "What do you mean?"

He kneels down in front of you, rustling your hair. "We've been dating for years, thought it was obvious."

"Obvious?!" you exclaim. "There's nothing obvious about your mixed signals."

"Hey, hey, hey," he teases, "watch your tone."

You scoff even though you were glad that he was still himself after everything. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

He stands and dusts himself off. "My girlfriend," he answers and walks out the door.

Your eyes widen before you break out into a smile, practically exploding on the inside. He'd finally said it. "It's about time!" you shout, knowing he heard you through the door.

Thankfully, there was a bathroom and after you take care of what's needed, you walk back into the room you've come to realize is a bedroom. The bedroom wasn't your own. The walls were plain, and there were no windows, but the bed was slightly bigger, as if for an adult and not a child. In the drawers of your dresser, were countless collared shirts perfectly ironed and free of stains. You pick out a shirt and a pair of pants, there was nothing else to wear but the uniform.

"Stylish," you mutter.

001's waiting for you outside the door. "Papa wants to see us in his office," he says, reaching for your hand. He always wanted to hold it. Whether it was an act of affection or an act of dominance wasn't clear, but you loved it.

You don't have to go through the large metal doors to get to Papa's office, meaning you were already on the staff's side of the laboratory. If your punishment was really becoming orderlies, you could already feel its effects.

You pass a few employees on your walk. The labratory was only so large, so you recognized a lot of the staff. In saying so, you also recognized this group. You assumed they recognized you as well, but they took suspicious glances in your direction. They stared like you two were foreigners and not the most popular children in the lab. That was strange, everyone knew you here.

001 doesn't take notice of the stares, he stops at Papa's door and knocks.

It opens immediately. "Just who I've been waiting to see," Papa grins, reavealing artificially whitened teeth. He leads you to the chairs across from his desk.

You'd been here many times before, but now it was different. Not once had you ever felt welcome in Papa's office, but never had you felt like an intruder. Though, the one thing that was the same was the jar of candy on his desk where the photo would be. That's when you realize it wasn't in your pocket.

Where'd it go? You think.

Without waiting for permission, you reach into the jar and grab two candies. A pink one for you, a yellow one for 001. He takes it without a word. His eyes were still trained on Papa's as he unwrapped the candy and popped the sucker into his mouth.