For Your Eyes Only - by Tau Burn

From the Internet with Love

"Here, just get me the same thing you are. By the time you get through the line I'll have found a booth." Handing her some cash, he shuffled away. Though it was loud in the McWhatuwant there actually wasn't a line at the moment, so Lucy rushed to get a double order of Wcnuggets with fries and drinks. Taking the order marker to the booth he had found with surprising speed, she set her bag down on the table with a thud and the rustle of its fabric folding on itself.

"They'll bring the food here so I'll be back in a second. Here's the receipt," Lucy held it out and touched his hand with it.

"What are you, my mother? Don't fall in" Snak took the slip and then waved his hand to shoo her away. The classic teenager technique of the exaggerated eyeroll made it's debut, and when it failed to have an impact Lucy sighed in shame, and sulked off to the ladies room, leaving her bag on the table. Had she not just dove headfirst into that faux pas she would have noticed that leaving her bag with a blind man unannounced was also not the wisest decision, but it would be a full three weeks before she realized why.

"Good for you, Chat" he muttered to himself, "you can still find someone to play with if you try, even after all these years. Even if it's not the same, this has been good enough." Today's little adventure would only last a couple of hours at most, and yet in that time he felt he had laughed and had more fun than what felt like forever. He felt his heart had been moved, and that deserved some form of reward. Placing his hand on the table he reached to where he thought he had heard the sound of fabric, and sure enough that was a purse on the table. Tapping his earpiece and voicing the command "Cash - $200", he reached for his wallet which had pushed out some bills to that amount for him to grab. Modern conveniences were a sight to behold.Taking money in hand, in a swift movement he plunged his hand into her bag, pushing toward what felt like the bottom or a corner to bury the money under. Withdrawing his hand, he fiddled with the receipt for a moment when the food arrived.

Washing her hands in the restroom, Lucy absentmindedly wondered what her friends were up to without her. Since she never aged past 18, she couldn't blend in with people for too long in reality. Things were different online, but even then with the death of various platforms, or channels being too old to continue to upload without arousing suspicion would lead her to break things off and start all over. Before the modern era Lucy struggled with meeting her quotas for the underworld, but the world of content creation turned that all around for her.It's weird, she thought to herself, the way he acts is just like how Chat used to on.. Oh what was it? Glitch, or what..hev.. no. NO WAY! I just assumed, but he never said his friends were IRL..Up till now, she had been lost in their dynamic. It had been oddly comfortable to speak with him, but Lucy had the impression she was getting swept up in his bit and was too tired and hungry to not just give in and play along. But Lucy's Switch era of streaming WAS about 50 years or so ago, and she had gotten to a point where some of her fans were making their own swag, and a couple of lines of product were sold in her image, with her emblem of...Breathing on the mirror to fog it up, she wrote on it with her finger.

LPd7

The realization crashed upon Lucy like a tidal wave. It was all she could do to not cry on the spot. 50 years? I knew some people wouldn't forget me right away when I had to move on, but.. AAAAAH it's just a guess! I have to prove it! Drying her hands and summoning her courage, she left the restroom and joined Snak at the booth.

"Hold it.", Snak stopped, pointing across the table "Who are you?"

"Just your favorite maid. What, do you really think someone would just sit down with you?" Lucy asked

"I've had my share of people that try to pull one over on me, that's all. After going through this much it would be too sad for someone to steal your food." Snak pointed out.

"...Thank you."

Snak opened up his food while Lucy was lost in thought for a moment, imagining what kind of person would go out of their way to mess with someone like that. Shaking her head, she copied his actions and began to eat as well.

"You know," said Lucy, between a bit and a sip "This is kind of nice. I can actually eat these nuggets how I want without being judged.". The ritual of skinning the nuggets before the pool of ranch was underway.

"Who has time to judge someone's eating habits" Snak recounted, "Besides, there's no way you do anything worse than what I've seen back in the day. This one girl I used to know just chose to live her life all wrong. She'd skin a perfectly good nug, to dunk it in sauce and have at it." Lucy froze again when she heard that, ignoring the heat from the nugget in her hand getting too hot for comfort.

No shot, she thought. No one else she had ever met also ate how she did. Alright then, let's see how he takes the classics. Finishing her food, Lucy expressed her satisfaction with a huge, moaning stretch.

"Nya~ I feel alive again! That was so good!" Lucy exclaimed

"...for the redeem." came a hushed reply, having taken the bait.

"? What was that?" The smile on Lucy's face was growing ever wider, more than the best nuggets in the world could ever hope to achieve from her.

"Ah, it's nothing, just an old joke. It wouldn't be funny if I explained it, you can ignore me." Shaking his head and finishing his drink, Snak retreated into his memories yet again, before continuing. "Still, it's good to hear what a difference that made for you. Makes me feel like this was worth my time, you know?" a small smile on his face, Snak was reaffirming himself as much as he was speaking to Lucy. "That said, once we leave here I'll be making my way home. I know I give off Chad energy, but that vanishes in a heartbeat if I miss my medication routine. I take it you'll do the same, to stay out of that heat?"

"Yeah, by the time I get home my roommates should be getting back as well, and I can kill time with them if the power is still out." Standing up, Lucy gathered her things, with Snak doing the same shortly after. "Hey, Mr Snak?" Lucy approached and linked her arm with his, guiding him to the door.

"? What is it, Lucy?" slightly taken aback, he let her take the lead this time.

"Can I borrow your phone for a second? I wanna thank you for today so I'm gonna send you something."

I'll be damned, she can be wholesome when she wants to, Chat thought to himself. He didn't need anything in return, but it would be more rude to refuse whatever gesture she wanted to make. Holding out his phone, Lucy took it for a moment. She set an alarm for the next day, and saved a link to a note memo while they moved for the exit.

"I set an alarm for tomorrow. When that goes off, can you do me a favor and open that link I saved? It won't work before then, but it'll be worth it, I promise. You'll want to keep that earpiece charged too." Lucy's voice carried with it a range of positive vibes that were too sweet for the old man to resist.

"Yeah, sure thing. I won't be busy. Am I going to win a boat?" he asked.

"You might, Mr Snak. Bye bye" And with that, they parted ways, each returning to their homes. Lucy's power was back, and she could resume her standard routine, getting word out to her friends about a surprise event to make up for today. Chat got himself home, taking a seat and whiling away the time in much higher spirits than he would typically be in.

The next day.

The alarm goes off, surprising Chat, since time had a way of doing that to him these days. Voicing the command to view the last note and open the attachment, the greatest surprise of all was waiting for him. "Bwah~ I missed you, Chat! Thank you for joining me today, I know this was a last minute announcement, but after yesterday having to be canceled I really felt like I had to get back on today to make it up! All I could think about was how sweet the best of you are, and that means so much to me after all this time! Don't reverb check me, this is important! But yeah, Chat, from now on we'll be together forever!"

"..."

Chat's eyes began to water silently, his breath shaking as he listened to the broadcast. His heart was an ocean, stirred to motion by the only moon in his life. More than that, he realized just how special yesterday truly was, and that was now his greatest treasure.

"Chat love! Lucy Pyre love!"