.wonderful error.

Chapter 3

Nero kept his hands tight at his sides. Grey was being much too quiet and it was unnerving him. Or maybe it was the fact that he didn't want to admit how weird he was starting to feel about the whole situation. He could tell Grey wasn't thrilled—he was never as good at hiding his emotions as Nero was. Some of the things that girl said were getting to him, though he tried to push those thoughts away.

Oddly enough, Grey never said a word as they walked back to the little bunk they shared. When they finally reached the dorm area of the base, he walked into the back of Nero, muttering an apology for not watching where he was going. Nero couldn't believe his friend was being thrown that much by what happened. He hoped the others would help boost his spirits.

The quarters he and his friends shared was a decently sized room with two bunks on either side of the room. One belonged to Grey and Nero—Grey taking the top—and the other to their closest friends, Garnet and Indigo. There was a single closet by each bunk that they had to share. Between the beds was a decent sized desk loaded down with various bits of technology: laptops, holophones, tablets, as well as Garnet's personal desktop computer that no one was even allowed to look at the wrong way. It was no surprise that was where she was sitting when the door slid open. Nero thought she might have broken her neck with how quickly she whipped around when he walked in.

"You pendejo! How many times have I told you not to close the comm link like that?!" Garnet yelled before slipping into Spanish, rambling off one sentence after another that he couldn't understand.  "I'm your support, how am I supposed to help you if you don't let me? What if something bad happened and I couldn't send help because I couldn't freakin' talk to you? And you!" Garnet turned on Grey who jumped a bit, as if suddenly realizing where he was. "I expect this from him, not you, Boo-Bear. Keep your comm links up at all times, not just when you want to speak!"

Twenty-year-old Garnet was a small girl with a round face, curvy figure, and cute little love handles that always poked over the back of her shorts. She grew up in Brooklyn near Prospect Park, and had only started attending high school when Zero Day happened. She had been on her way to becoming a Computer Engineer. Garnet had built her first computer when she was ten years old and was often considered a technical genius—so her Technopathy ability  hadn't been much of a surprise to anyone. She could build computers easily before, and now she could mentally control them. 

"Yes, mom." Grey grinned as he sat on the edge of Nero's bed.

"Don't patronize me!" Garnet yelled, smacking him upside the head

"Do you even know what that means?" Grey laughed.

Nero tried to ignore the glare she was giving him with those bright green eyes of hers. He didn't have to see her to know her arms were crossed over her chest, foot tapping impatiently. Sighing, he occupied himself by unstrapping the holsters that held his matching Desert Eagles from his thighs, taking off all the little bits of equipment he always carried. Kicking off his combat boots, Nero crawled into the bottom bunk behind where Grey was sitting. He rolled onto his stomach and felt the fatigue hit him like a ton of bricks.  

"So that's it? You just gonna roll over and go to sleep without so much as an apology?" Garnet asked. 

She never could let things go. Garnet was always very loud and could never walk away from an argument, always thinking she was right. It became annoying at times, but Nero had known her longer than anyone else there, and she did always look out for him. There were many occasions where he would have gotten himself killed if not for Garnet. But sometimes he needed to handle things on his own and wished she would understand that.

He finally turned back to look at her, her ruby red hair tied back in a messy bun, wearing nothing but a shirt and boxers. That was how he liked her best—that messy look that she only showed them.