Chapter 55: Love (Is Not) In The Air
Courage found himself unable to stop crying. He was both happy, sad, and even a bit angry with Computer. The entire morning had already been traumatic for him and Computer's sudden desire to leave had wreaked him completely.
He had been looking for him everywhere and had all but given up hope just before the glowing dog suddenly reappeared like he hadn't been missing at all. Being told to go home had crushed him. He still couldn't believe that Computer would trick him in such an awful way and he was so glad that it wasn't the truth.
As much as he hated to admit it, he was surprised that Computer liked it here. He was glad that he wasn't actually staying though, but regardless, he was willing to accept whatever his friend wanted. If he wanted to return here after all of this was over, Courage would have to let him go. If this was what really made him happy then who was he to try and stop him? Computer deserved a chance to be happy for once in his life and if this was where he truly felt like he belonged, Courage knew that he would have to accept it. It didn't make him feel any better, but if Computer was happy then he would be happy for him too.
"For the last time, dog. It's going to be alright." The glowing dog spoke. There was an unusual amount of sympathy in his voice and it appeared that he really did feel bad over what he had done.
After a few more choked sobs, Courage finally managed to get himself under control. He kept sniffing, and it took a lot of effort not to break down sobbing again, but he somehow managed to get his emotions back under control.
"S-sorry..." He muttered out for what felt like the millionth time today.
"You haven't had any problems while I was gone?" Computer asked, clearly trying to change the subject. "Your fever hasn't acted up, has it? No attacks or blackouts? You haven't been hurting at all?"
"I-I'm fine."
"Good, good!" He sighed, sounding somewhat relieved. "We should go inside. I don't want to keep my friend waiting for us too much longer or else she might think that I've ditched her too."
"Alright." Courage agreed with a nod. He took a moment to rub his reddened eyes.
The machine gave him a surprisingly warm smile. "How long are you going to keep answering me like that?" He asked. "I know that you can speak more than a few words at a time."
"S-sorry, I'm still a little bit shaken up." He admitted.
"Well, cheer up, dog. I'm almost certain that you'll like my friend!" Computer assured him. Then, rushing somewhat, he grabbed Courage by the arm and took him over to the building.
They went through the lobby and the owner gave Computer a passive nod as they went by. Apparently the two knew each other now. They then went through a hallway that connected the main lobby to the kitchen. Once inside, they were met by a teenage, human-like, ferret girl in a pair of pajamas. Her body type reminded Courage of many of the other human sized animals that walked about Nowhere, and he also recognized her as the girl that he had talked to while he was still looking for Computer. She must have lied to him.
Her eyes lit up the moment she saw the two of them. Racing forward, she picked Courage up and he was almost crushed as she gave him an incredibly painful hug.
"Oh, you must be Courage!" She exclaimed. "You're so adorable!"
"Arbaru..." He choked out in his dog speak. It felt like his ribs were cracking...
She placed him back down onto the floor, much to his relief, but it was there that he noticed that she seemed to be eying him up with quite a bit of concern. It was then that he realized that he must have still looked like he had been crying.
Computer lightly elbowed him in his side. "Her name is Nina."
This Nina girl seemed to have forgotten to introduce herself. She dropped to her knees and got so close to Courage that their muzzles almost met at the nose. "Computer told me about you!" She exclaimed. "You've gotta tell me about everything you've seen! I want a first hand account!" Her eyes were practically ablaze with joy.
Courage took several wary steps back and gave her a confused look before glancing over at Computer. The machine shrugged as though this were no big deal.
"She likes the supernatural, so I told her about all the things you've been through." He said.
"And I want you to tell me about it yourself!" She added. "He only knows about the things you've directly told him. Well, aside from that one time he ran around in your owner's body. He could tell me everything about that one in detail."
Courage turned to Computer again and exclaimed, "You actually told her what you really are?"
"Well, yeah." He answered with another shrug. "I didn't see any reason not to. Although, I was certain that she wouldn't believe me at the time."
Courage blinked and turned away again. He couldn't help but be surprised that Computer had actually shared the fact that he was, well, a walking and talking computer with this girl. He was even more surprised that he had shared the story about his time as 'Mega Muriel', much less with a person he had only just met. Just what the heck had happened to him while he had been missing? Did he really trust Nina that much?
"Oh, and I'm sorry about lying to you before." Nina added. "He made me promise not to tell you where he was."
"It's alright." Courage replied with smile. "Just promise not to listen to him next time!"
"Well, Courage." The bubbly ferret girl went on. "I'm about to make some sandwiches if you want one."
He placed a paw to his stomach. All he'd eaten today were a few doughnuts so he was pretty hungry.
"Sure." He answered.
The next couple of minutes were almost surreal to him. The way Computer interacted and talked with Nina was so unlike how he normally was that Courage was left wondering if this truly was the Computer he thought he knew so well. He would speak to Nina without any of his usual bitterness or sarcasm, and sometimes he even laughed or went along with whatever jokes she made, and his expression was mostly devoid of the usual glumness that had once seemed like a permanent fixture.
All Courage could do was stand there with his mouth hanging open. Computer really 'was' happy here, and it left him in near disbelief at what he was seeing. Why did that machine never act like this around him? Was he really that much worse than Nina to Computer?
"What are you doing just standing there looking like an idiot?" Computer asked, startling him out of his thoughts. "At least sit down if you're going to stand there with your mouth hanging open. What's the problem anyway?"
Courage shook his head. "N-nothing! Nothing!"
He raised an eyebrow. "If you say so."
"Hey, I'm going to need some celery!" Nina called out to him from over by the counter.
"I, uh, I'm on it!" He answered, speaking somewhat reluctantly as though he hadn't quite known how to respond.
Courage followed him over to the fridge where he stood for a few moments, staring at all the food inside. He reached a paw in to grab something but then stopped half way. His expression turned to mild frustration, much to Courage's amusement. Figuring that he'd be nice, Courage reached in and grabbed the celery for him.
"This is celery." He told the befuddled glowing dog.
Computer's confusion quickly turned into annoyance. He gave Courage a surprisingly hateful glare and snapped, "Don't patronize me, you idiot! I know what I'm doing!"
"Why were reaching for the spinach then?" Courage asked, giving him a gentle, if somewhat smug smile.
"T-they're both green! As far as I'm concerned, all food looks the same to me! It's not my fault that you stupid flesh creatures need to learn how to color code your food better!"
"I was just trying to be helpful, you know."
"Well, you're not! So don't you dare make me look like a fool!"
"I wasn't!"
"Yes, you were!"
"No, I wasn't! Why do you always have to assume the worst in me?"
"Don't give me that! I know the way you are, you twi-"
"STOP FIGHTING!" Nina finally yelled, putting a foot down between the two of them. "You guys haven't even been in the same room for ten minutes yet and you're already arguing! Geez!"
"Hmph! You see what I meant?" Computer complained, turning up his nose.
"You're the one who started it." Courage grumbled.
"You were the one who was trying to make me look like an idiot!" He shot back.
"You're doing a pretty good job of that right now!"
"Don't you dare call me an idiot, you twit! You're the one who's stupid!"
"Oh, for goodness sake! Stop fighting!" Nina cried out for a second time. "You really weren't kidding about the whole fighting thing, huh?" She exasperated to Computer.
"It's his fault!" He snapped, pointing a finger at Courage. "He's trying to make me look bad in front of you!"
"Ugh! That's enough! Make up, right now!" She demanded.
Computer blinked. "What?"
"Make up with him, now!" She demanded a second time.
"Make up with him for what?" Computer drawled. "He's the reason why-"
She grabbed them both by the scruffs of their necks and hoisted them upwards.
"NOW!" She demanded, dangling them both in front of her face.
"Oh, fine! It'll do whatever you want, just let go!" Computer yelled. He was flailing around like a fish on a hook.
Still looking more than a little annoyed with the both of them, she lowered them back down onto the kitchen floor. "Now both of you make up like proper friends friends!"
"Sorry." They both said at the same time, but it was obvious that neither of them had meant it.
"Ugh, good enough." She sighed, slapping her face.
As soon as she turned around to get back to work on the sandwiches, Computer grabbed Courage by the ears and pulled him into the hallway.
"Ouch! Hey! Stop it!" He yelped, pulling himself free. They were about four or five steps into the hallway by the time he had managed to escape the glowing dog's grasp.
"Listen up!" Computer hissed, his voice just barely above a whisper. "Stop trying to make me look bad! I don't want her thinking that I'm not good enough!"
Courage winced. Not this again! Computer was still hung up on the whole 'not good enough' thing?
"What do you want me to do?" He huffed, ignoring Computer's severe expression. "Am I just supposed to sit there and act like I don't exist at all?"
"Of course not!" Computer argued. "Just...just don't do 'that' again!"
"I was only trying to help!"
The machine sighed and ran a paw down his face. "Let me figure things out on my own, okay? I was doing fine until you showed up. I don't want her to think that I'm just one big screw up. It can't be helped that I never bothered to learn all the nuances of daily flesh creature living. Please, dog. I don't think I would be able to bear it if she," His blue face almost seemed to drain of color. "if she..." He trailed off.
Courage couldn't help but grin. "Ha! I don't believe it! I leave you alone for half a day and you go and get yourself a girlfriend?"
Though he was only saying it to tease Computer, he really was surprised at how enamored he seemed to have become with Nina over such a short period of time. He wasn't sure if Computer was one to develop a crush, but this seemed pretty close to the real thing.
The machine gave him a startled glance. "G-girlfriend? Of course not! She's just a kid, and I'm old enough to be her grandfather!"
Courage stifled a laugh. "I don't know, it seems to me like you're trying to impress her."
"Absolutely not! All I am doing is-"
"Aww come on, Compute! You don't have to hide your feelings!" He laughed, patting the flustered machine on his shoulder.
Computer was practically fuming at this point. "'Great' grandpa!" He spat out between his clenched teeth.
"Maybe she's into, er, older computers?" Courage snickered, barely able to hold in another fit of laughter.
"And that's the other thing! I'm not one of you flesh creatures! I can't just-"
"I'm just joking!" He finally relented. "If you get to joke about that girl we met at the veterinarian office then I get to joke about this!"
Computer looked just about ready to strangle him. "Don't you ever joke about such things again! I do not partake in your flesh creature mating rituals, you got that?"
Courage chuckled. "I like how you call love, 'mating rituals'."
"Bah I don't understand the first thing about all this love nonsense! You've got romantic love, friendship love, family love, sibling love, and all sorts of other love that I don't know anything about! You can keep it all to yourself! I want nothing to do with it!"
"What? You don't want me to help you get a date?"
"Absolutely not!" He all but exploded.
Courage burst out laughing again. "Alright, alright! Fine! We'll drop the love thing, okay?"
Computer gave him a few choice insults, whipped around, and stomped back into the kitchen where Nina was waiting for them. Courage kept his distance, but as soon as he too returned to the kitchen, Nina presented the sandwiches to them. His stomach immediately began to growl.
"What were you two doing?" She asked, gesturing at them both to sit down at the table.
"Nothing much." Computer grumbled, briefly eying up Courage with a hateful expression.
"Oh, hey!" He quickly spoke up, stifling a giggling fit. "Computer just wants you to know that-"
The machine's face filled with horror and he nearly slid halfway across the table just to clamp Courage's mouth shut before he could finish his sentence.
"Don't...say...a...word." He growled.
"Well, you're not my type anyway." Nina said completely out of nowhere.
"H-huh..." He gasped in bewilderment. He turned his eyes off Courage to look at her.
"You two were being so loud that there was no way I couldn't hear what you were saying." She laughed. "So, yeah. Don't worry, I'm not into old, computer dogs."
All of the tension seemed to leave Computer and he flopped back down into his chair. "Oh, thank goodness." He sighed.
Courage grinned. "You're the only person around who would be happy to know that they just got rejected."
Computer angrily pointed a finger at him. "This is your fault, you twit! You're the one who had to go and say something stupid!"
"Hey! You were the one who was being loud!"
"I was not!"
"Yes, you were!"
"Don't start fighting again, you two!" Nina interjected.
End Of Chapter
