Knives For Hands || John Connor

vi. Finally Normal

(y/n) was more than happy to indulge in her new relationship with john. she'd been watching him with those lovesick eyes for what seemed like forever. lovesick eyes that trailed over each of his features; lovesick eyes that were reciprocated.

she'd also played around with her other change in status. being half machine. turns out she can form other objects with her hands other than knifes, like hooks and flat surfaces akin to putty knives. she can also turn into the floor or walls, and go through them, too. john was always excited let her learn by turning into him.

despite the loving touches and metal shapeshifting, her life remained the same. as if she never got shot, as if she was human. she still spent most of her time with john in his garage, working on bikes or listening to music.

now, however, (y/n) found herself on a sidewalk on a muggy morning, not quite on her way to john's. rain threatened to fall on the world below, yet the warm summer air led many people out of their houses. she'd gotten many side glances, either because of her dark circular glasses or her lit cigarette.

she finally began to walk towards john's. it had started to drizzle, the light marks of rain beginning to appear on her clothes. her converse softly padded through puddles and occasionally skipped across the sidewalk. her cigarette didn't last long in the now pouring rain, so she tossed it on the ground.

upon reaching john's house, she let herself into the garage as she had many times before. she made herself known and was soon met by a beaming john connor.

"you walked in the rain?" he asked. he helped her out of her jacket and threw it on top of his radio. "this baby just got fixed up." he said, motioning to his bike, "after the rain quits, i was thinkin' we could call tim over and we could go to the mall."

(y/n) laughed a bit, the last time she heard something about the mall she'd got shot. the idea made her uneasy, but she pushed it to the back of her mind. tim was a good buddy of theirs. he was a little strange, sure, but he was fun to hang out with. at least john thought so. "sure, johnny."

she took out another cigarette and lit it. she looked back at john for a minute, "what? you're not gonna tell me they'll kill me?" she teased. she looked over at her own bike and frowned. it needs to be touched up itself.

he took the cig from her, blew a smoke ring, and smashed it on the ground. "no, no, i think you have it under control." he grinned and leaned towards her. "can i get a kiss?"

"you don't have to ask," she said and softly placed her lips on his. she'd never get used to this, but that's not a bad thing. she thinks she'll always have that first kiss excitement every time he touched her.

after about an hour of the rain pummeling into the roof of the garage, it stopped and tim was on his way over. despite her excitement, a weird feeling dampened her good mood.

tim insisted on riding with john. (y/n) was riding her own bike over to the mall, which didn't shock her. there is no way she would ever let tim on her's. she sat perched on her bike waiting for tim to stop talking so much.

"alright, ladies, we ready to go?" (y/n) called over to the boys by john's Honda XR. her bike was of a similar model, it's black exterior contrasting the red and white of john's.

"yeah, yeah, we're comin', smokes." john yelled back. he was still standing there, leaning against his bike while tim rambled about wanting a bike of his own.

she began revving up her bike, probably gaining attention from a few neighbors. "race you there," she teased, and with that, she pulled out of his garage. she went an unusually slow speed, waiting for him to gain on her.

she could practically hear john scrambling to get tim to shut up and get on the bike. after she heard the familiar sound of his bike, she gave him a grin and floored it.

ꫛ

"that was super unfair," john whispered to his girlfriend once they fell out of earshot from tim.

(y/n) hummed with a grin. "pretty fair to me." she shrugged and started towards the atm. "are you ever gonna teach me that thing you do with the money?"

"mm, maybe." he laughed and he caught up to her. "enter stolen card now."

he placed a card, a stolen card, apparently, into the slot and pressed some buttons. a bunch of numbers came up on the screen.

"can you hurry up? this is taking too long," tim whined. (y/n) looked at him in irritation for a moment, but then turned her focus back to what john was doing. "where'd you learn this stuff from anyway?"

"my mom; my real mom, i mean." he responded. tim stayed behind him, pacing back and forth. (y/n)'s features turned cold as she glared at the back of tim's head. with a internal sigh, she stood next to john. she just watched him. she didn't really ingest what he was doing, just watched the concentrated look in his eyes as he thought.

"withdraw three-zero-zero.. bucks." he mumbled things of encouragement to the atm machine.

she grinned as he smiled to himself in pride when the money came out of the machine. "easy money," he said to her waving his money, still with a large grin on his face. "comes in handy, doesn't it?"

the two bumped shoulders and laughed amongst themselves. they made their way back to their bikes while tim joined in on their laughter.

the three fell into their natural behaviors, as if they'd never spent a second apart. john and (y/n) still stood too close for tim to really believe their relationship stopped at friends and tim was still as nosy as ever.

tim dug around in john's backpack. after shuffling around, he pulled out a stack of polaroids. on top was a picture of a woman. (y/n) knew who the woman was: sarah connor. she'd never met her, but she seemed like a decent enough mom. better than janelle.

"is that her? your mom?" tim asked.

"yes." john took the picture and shoved it back into his bag.

"so, she's pretty cool, huh?" tim questioned. he seems to never run out of questions, always curious.

"she's a complete psycho," john snapped. his mom was up in some type of mental hospital, (y/n) recalled. "she tried to blow up a computer factory but she got shot and arrested."

"oh shit."

"she's a total loser," he said, shrugging on his backpack. "come on," he said, his eyes flicking to hers again, and she'd realized she hasn't said anything for a while. "let's go spend some money."

~

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