Chapter 1
I sat on Keyop's bed, watching him pack for his trip. I still couldn't believe that for the first time since we had met, he was going to go on vacation without me.
And I was going to go on vacation without him.
I know Keyop isn't my real brother, but I feel like he is. I practically raised him, he lives with me, and I watch over him as much as I can. I know we have different interests, yet all the same, it hurt when he decided he'd rather go to Aquatica with Tiny rather than to Frozatica with me. I thought he loved skiing!
Apparently, he didn't love skiing as much as goofing off with Tiny. If I had become Keyop's big sister, Tiny had become his big brother. It was rare not to see them together when we were off duty.
So when Tiny asked if Keyop wanted to go to the Cosplay Convention on Aquatica, he'd jumped at the chance. Never mind that the dates conflicted with our skiing trip.
I sighed. I would miss him something fierce. But Keyop was growing up, developing his own interests. I needed to be able to let go. I was over-protective.
Giving my feelings a name didn't make them hurt any less.
"Brrrt… this is gonna be… doot… so much… fun!" Keyop cried with excitement. "Can't wait!"
"So… what's your costume going to be?" I asked, trying desperately to show some interest.
"Hee, hee, hee…" Keyop giggled. "This!" With a flourish he pulled a purple and red garment out of his bag.
"Zoltar?" I gasped, nearly choking in surprise.
"Yeah!" Keyop grinned. "No one will ever… beep… guess my identity!"
"And you made that all by yourself?" I asked. He nodded proudly.
"Wow… you did a terrific job!" I was impressed, in spite of myself.
"Awww… thanks…" Keyop glowed at my praise.
"Does Tiny know?" I asked.
"Nope!" He looked so proud of himself. He had worked so hard on his costume, and was so excited. I knew that I had made the right decision in letting him go.
If only it didn't bother me so much.
He looked over at me quizzically. While his speech often led others to think that Keyop wasn't very bright, he was much more clever and intuitive than most people realized. I knew he was sensitive to my feelings, so I gave him a big smile.
It didn't work.
"Brrrt… you'll have fun, too!" he said. "You… beep… love skiing!"
I slowly shook my head.
"I think I'm going to cancel, Keyop." I said. "It's just not going to be much fun going on my own."
Keyop's face took on a sly look.
"You could… doot… ask Mark… to go too…" he suggested.
"No…" I said, "I couldn't do that…"
I knew my cheeks were turning pink, and I hated it. Why did I always have to wear my heart on my sleeve? People could read me like a book just by looking at my face! It was a darn good thing that I wore a helmet and visor when working as part of G-Force.
"Beep… sure… you could!" Keyop prodded me.
I knew where he was coming from. He wanted me to be happy. And Keyop idolized Mark. Not in the same way he idolized Tiny… more like respect. Besides which, Keyop loved Mark to death.
And he knew that I loved Mark too.
Most of the time, it was a sisterly kind of love. We grew up together, after all, and had the same foster father. But every so often, he would look at me with those big blue eyes, or send a soft smile my way, and my heart just melted.
Problem was, Mark had never indicated that he loved me as anything other than a sister. I suspected that any interest I might have had was completely unreturned.
Which would have been okay… if Keyop hadn't kept throwing it in my face all of the time. He meant well, and he was an eternal optimist. He was convinced that if he could just throw the two of us together, that something would happen.
Oh, how I wished Keyop were right. But I'd been alone with Mark often enough to know that he was not.
I had to come up with something quickly… some reason why I couldn't ask Mark to go skiing with me… before Keyop decided to take that task upon himself.
"I think he said that he was going to Riga, to visit with some of his Space Academy buddies." I offered.
Keyop appeared to buy it.
"Doot… okay…" he said slowly. "But… brrrt… still think… you should go."