Return to Sender: Quartz and Gold 0.5

4. Trillionaire Twins

For the first time in longer than she can remember, Proxy wakes up to the smell of breakfast cooking. Bacon and pancakes and sweet syrup float through the penthouse, making her mouth water. It makes a moment to remember. Right. Coder is visiting, and all that stuff they talked about last night. Actually going through with her ideas, and something about being a majority shareholder...? It feels distant, as if that was the dream rather than none at all.

Feeling much too asleep still, she gets up in a haze and gets dressed enough to go out into the living area. That area is as per usual, couches aligned and items placed as they were. Turning towards the kichen, of course, there's Code, cooking up a storm. Messy dishes made from pancake, batter splashed around the counters. The bacon sputters in its pan, piercingly screaming for freedom. Proxy takes a step forward, the floorboards creaking under her weight.

Code pauses for a second, then removes the food from the heat and turns to face her, grinning ear to ear. He found one of those stupid "kiss the cook" aprons somewhere, too. Where'd he find it, 1998? It looks ancient, and she definitely didn't own one of those herself. She stares blankly and blinks, confused.

"Mornin', sleepy."
"Food first, talk next."

Coder laughs, then nods to the counter and stools. His sister takes a seat, and he serves her a plate of beautiful pancakes and bacon, plus a bowl of fruits. Today, she doesn't bother to question if it's natural or lab grown fruit. They're practically the same, anyway. He sits down with a plate too, both eating in peaceful silence. There's a calmness that settles over them, familiarity that was once lost and has finally returned. The only person missing was their mother.

Proxy pipes up after a sip from her drink, glancing up from her almost empty plate.

"You know, we haven't had a morning like this since Mom was alive."

Coder winces. "I know."

Proxy lets out a soft sigh, glancing towards her brother. "I missed this"

"Me too, Roxy."

They give small smiles to each other and finish off their food. The siblings wash the plates and put away the extra– a habit they never could kick– and sit on the couches again. Neither of them seem to have plans for today, both content to relax on the couches. Indulging in each other's silence and presence, something neither of them can do normally. They turn on their visors though, for the first time today, both aiming for different purposes. Proxy for music, and Coder for news updates.

Coder gets the visor beep first. Something important thing came in; the notification is in red. And then dozens more flood in, filling his vision in a way that would make Proxy nauseous. His eyes glaze as he reads over the notification, then as more flood in, he panics and shuts it off, mumbling and trying to find the remote for the holo-TV.

Confused, Proxy takes hers out of "Do Not Disturb" mode to understand. She's also getting bombarded with notifications— hundreds of requests to interview her and her brother. A few news notifications. Is that why he wants the TV on? It doesn't make much sense; she was just interviewed, and nobody should've know that Code was there.

He finds the remote and clicks the hologram on, sitting back down and focusing intently. Proxy turns the visor back off and sets it aside, anxious now. What could be such a big deal that it's about both of them?

"Now for the breaking news," The anchor starts. "After a sudden rush to finish the deal, which we still have no details on, the networth of CoTech has suddenly skyrocketed! Owners and majority stakeholders of the tech giant, the Quartz twins, have not given a statement yet—"

Coder shuts off the holo.

They sit in silence for a moment, seconds feeling like hours at they stretch on. Coder tries to break the silence carefully. "Well, that wasn't supposed to happen yet."