"I can't believe this." Tamora muttered with her arms crossed and a frown on her red face.
Felix and she had gotten, as he called it, "cross" with each other. They didn't have many fights, but the very few they had usually consisted of Tamora yelling and Felix ranting. He learned very quickly, though, that she got the privilege of being the louder out of the two.
She didn't even remember what they were fighting about. All she remembered was that she had stormed out of her boyfriend's game with a homicidal air. All it took was one glare from her to send Ralph scurrying. She also vaguely remembering to tell Felix that she refused to see him until he apologized and got his act together.
And now she got this.
Her men were wise enough not to say anything, though very few were successfully holding back their smirks as they proceeded to their locker room to change to go out for the evening. And here she was, in her armor, being absolutely humiliated.
When she said get his act together, THIS IS NOT WHAT SHE MEANT!
Yet, here little Fix-it was, strumming his guitar and serenading her from the floor of her video game, hoping her room on the top of the tower would allow her to hear.
"Hey kid," she heard one of her men address him.
"I am not a child." He responded back respectfully, though with a slight tone of annoyance. "I have been plugged in much longer than you have."
"You're short enough to be one." Felix pouted, knowing that he had lost this round. "This doesn't work on the Sarge. Your hopes and dreams won't work for her. She's too cold. She doesn't have a loving bone in her body. What on earth that other character made her, I don't know, but it's not going to work for a little eight-bit construction worker."
Tamora's heart sank. She loved the little guy, she really did. But was she too harsh for him? Was he going to heed her man's advice and give up?
"Look." Felix started. "I love her more than anything. And you may be right." Her heart sank further. "Maybe she doesn't love me like I love her. Maybe the honeyglows that I get-" she can only imagine the soldier's confused expression. "-when I am around her are not requited. But until she tells me this herself, I wont give up. She deserves to be fought for. You may not see it, and that's perfectly fine with me. Because anyone who sees what I see will fall for her just as hard as I did." His voice dropped, and she had to strain to hear, "I don't know why I fell so hard for her. Your guess is as good as mine. But I love her more than anything. And I believe that when you can't pinpoint why you love someone- you just do- it was meant to be."
Tamora smiled against her better judgment. Leave it to pint-size to give an impassioned speech about some girl he fell head-over-heels for mere months ago.
The man grunted. "Have it your way. But don't get too upset when all you get for your warmth is ice." He turned away from the harsh glare of Felix and walked out of the game.
Felix looked back up to her room in the cellar. "Tammy, I know you can hear me. I'm sorry for my part of the fight. And here's to prove to you I got my act together."
Tamora groaned as he fell to the floor and continued strumming.
"Dude's whipped!" she heard some men say on their way out, but Felix ignored them. If they only knew what being whipped felt like...
Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you, tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart
And so the memories began:
"Fix-it...I...what is this?"
Felix smiled shyly at her. "It's a Valentines day card. I made reservations at Tapper's later. As much as I would like to take you someplace fancier, a restaurant like that doesn't..." his voice dropped and he looked down as he gave her the card, a small red card shaped like a heart, with the words "Be Mine" written on the top and a picture of the two of them below it. "...exist here."
Tell me your secrets, and ask me your questions
Oh let's go back to the start
Running in circles, coming up tails
Heads on a science apart
"Never have I ever gotten an A on a test in school." Tamora confided in Felix.
"Really?! But your so smart!" He exclaimed in surprise.
She smiled. "Never a good test-taker. What about you?"
"Never have I ever had a girlfriend before you." He said, climbing in her lap. She ruffled his hair.
Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start.
He grabbed the laffy taffy vine and pulled Calhoun out of the Nesquick sand, a smug look on his face as he could see that she was beginning to see the eight-bit little man in a brand new light. He was a savior to her- saved her life (though she'd never admit it). She found a new respect for him, and flung herself into denial that they-ugh-had a moment!
But she had to admit, the short-stack was kind of a cutie.
I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Don't speak as loud as my heart
"Tamora, I don't understand why you have such a problem with me calling you a dynamite gal!"
"It just brings back bad memories!"
"Like what?"
"You really don't want to know."
Felix laid a gloved hand on her waist. She smirked at him and his pink face- he was still getting used to the idea of being so much shorter than she was. "You can tell me."
She frowned and turned away. "Really, you don't."
"Why not?" He asked softly.
"It has to do with an ex that was eaten." She could feel him tense a little. Fun size was not really the jealous type- out loud.
He smiled. "How about 'My Sweet Sarge?'"
She gagged. "Absolutely not!"
"How about Tammy?" She looked at him. Even Brad- or her encoded memory of the man that had never existed- had never called her that. She nodded in approval, which caused his cheeks to flush with excitement.
And tell me you love me, come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing our tails
Coming back as we are
"I love you, Tammy." She immediately lept up from her place on his couch. "Tammy?" He asked, concerned. "Are you alright?"
"Fine, fine." She said, trying to control the pounding in her heart. 'AM I READY FOR THIS?!" Her mind screamed.
"No, you're not." He got off the couch and approached her.
She drew a few deep breaths. "No, no I'm fine. I've just...never done this before."
"What about the mysterious groom?"
"Brad? He is just an encoded memory. It never happened. My creators are a bunch of sadistic men, apparently."
"Hey!" Felix said, fake pouting to lighten the mood. She smiled. "I get it if you don't love me back. We'll take things slower." He reached up for her hand, and she plopped hers in his. "It'll be worth the wait."
Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start
"Way to go brother! You did it!" In a rush of adrenaline and confidence, Felix leaped up and gave Tamora a kiss. She gasped in surprise and threateningly tore him from the ground by his collar. When he started to explain, for reasons she could not explain to this day, she kissed him.
Ooooohhhhhh
"Hey Fix-it!" She called from her window. "You gonna come up here or what?!" He grinned, and ran up to the tower, waiting for the elevator that led to her room.
The last man to leave, the one who had been spying on them, smiled. He sure was a lucky guy. The lieutenant saw what Felix saw- a warm heart enmeshed in a lot of tough programming. Who says you can't be a compassionate, warm person and also be tough and strong?
And she was lucky, too, to have such a sweet and understanding guy like Felix.
He knew that their wedding day would be soon enough. He just hoped and prayed it wouldn't be like the last one. They deserved a lifetime of happiness.