707: I'm really anxious. I keep watching your hallway constantly. Peek your head out sometimes ok?
MC: Yes, Captain Seven!
707: Ah! Good then!
707: Well, back to work!
\707 has left the chat\
Mi-Cha sighed heavily and dropped her arms. The one with the phone sprawled on her bed, the other fell over her face.
'I'm so worried about this guy… I don't even know any of them. But I feel like we're friends.'
She scrolled back through the chatroom. 707 had some kind of dangerous, secret job and now had to worry about a hacker too and everyone's safety. And just maybe… his feelings for her?
That's what everyone else seemed to think. Even Jumin agreed when she couldn't help asking him. It fit in with all the calls he'd been making to her, saying over and over that he wanted to hear her voice. That it made him feel better and tortured him more. And he was harping on the CCTV. Finally he made her that robot dog! Didn't it mean /that/? Love? Although he clearly said it WASN'T like that.
Either way, her Sevenny–oops. She winced. Ever since she made up those cutesy nicknames for a joke in the chat, she'd been wanting to use them. But it was a little… So she corrected herself–SEVEN was flipping out from the strain. His words stared back at her, making her anxious all over again.
707: I can't focus!
707: Seriously… what is wrong with me?
707: I feel like my brain is malfunctioning.
707: I wanna explode!
She scrolled back to the bottom. If only there was a way to help… Was letting him glimpse her on the CCTV and call her sometimes really enough? She wanted to do more to support him. Okay… she thought, and opened her eyes.
She sat up and looked around the studio apartment. Since Rika had evacuated it, Mi-Cha had changed very little. It felt taboo and besides there was all kind of secret stuff? But lately she'd started taking over the space. She felt bad and tried to be respectful by making a special box of Rika's stuff. She even printed a photo of Rika from the app and put it over the box like a shrine or something. She tried not to snoop, but since she was taking over the job she had to make sure if something was related to it or not before putting it in the box. So that was how she ended up with the Rika box, files of RFA docs on the desk, and finally room to put her own things.
Her eyes fell on a chip bag and she quickly got up to throw it away. Unusually messy of her! They weren't honey buddha chips, she wasn't that resourceful to get those rare things. But she wanted to try themmmm~~ gah! That brought her back to Sevenny. Sevv. Lovely Seven! She went to the desk and opened drawers. One of them contained craft supplies. Interesting… She drummed her fingers on the desk and then she smiled. She knew just what she could do to cheer 7 up! She put the drawer on the floor and then grabbed a stack of paper. She didn't have a poster board so this would have to do. She taped the papers together well and then flipped them over. First, she drew a big chat bubble then she put hearts around it like the ones Seven sometimes sent her. That was a little embarrassing though so she almost started over… But she summoned up her courage. She picked a color at first and then realized this needed to show up in black and white. For a while she stared, biting on the black marker cap, thinking.
After a moment she wrote her message, smiling in satisfaction.
But then she left it there because she had to go get ready for her little debut.
"It's not a date," she kept telling herself. But it still took a couple of hours to decide what to wear. Seven was going to see her after all. And that… Vanderwood of his. Gah, she was going to see this embarrassing stuff too. So Mi-Cha really had to look her best.
Finally, it was time. She said a little prayer for help and then she peeked outside…
Seven's eyes were focused on the computer for once, not looking away every 2.35 seconds. He was finally making progress with the hacker, if not his real job. But his finger's started typing "Mi-Cha" again. In fact they'd been doing it long before he realized it. So he quickly ran back through the text and obsessively erased it. He was going to endanger her this way, dammit! This was not good. When he'd rechecked it a million times he finally closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair weakly. His whole body ached. Right, that wasn't his heart aching, it was just his whole body cursing this chair!
Finally his eyes strayed back to the CCTV. It was just an empty hallway. Nothing ever happened. He wanted it to stay that way. But he also wanted her to appear. No, he wanted her to stay inside safe. But still, maybe if she just peeked out once and while to say 'hello'?
When she finally did peek out, he thought he was dreaming. No, he was definitely dreaming, right? She looked like an angel!
First her head appeared, looking until it found the camera. She smiled when she found it and his heart jumped. Then she ducked back inside. That was it?! Come back! His heart gave another lurch when she did. This time she stepped out. She made sure the hallway was empty again and then she raised her eyebrows at the camera.
This… this was a challenge? What was her plannn?
She held up a finger and reached back inside. He waited impatiently. This time she brought out a blank poster.
'OMG! A message!' Seven felt like his heart would burst!
At first, she covered the bottom half of her face with it. So cute! Getting her nerve up? Then she turned it around–Ta-da!–revealing the message.
Inside a hearts chat bubble: Keep Fighting! God 707. Mrow!
The huge smile on her face that accompanied these words had Seven feeling like he was going to die! He gaped at the girl on the screen. This girl… their special communications over the past few days… it was all there on the poster, even the hearts. She hadn't even once used that bubble herself, but he had a tendency to, he knew. Was that why everyone thought he was in love with her?
Mi-Cha turned around and applied the poster to her door. There must have been tape already on the back. She paused to peek out at him one more time before shutting the door. She left a sheepish smile burned on his retinas and a… love declaration staring him in the face.
Oh, God…
He actually clutched his shirt above his chest and slammed his head on the keyboard, groaning. This pain… couldn't be anything… except love.
Seven zero Seven, defender of justice, god seven, hacker extraordinaire clenched his eyes shut.
For the first time in his life, he knew what romantic love was.
Dammit to hell.