Chapter 19: The Beach

"So, anyone have plans for today?"

It'd been a while since Fudgy had last said that, and it felt good to be back to doing so on the regular. Everyone else seemed to feel the same; she was greeted by a large chorus of shouting from them about their plans for the day.

Among them, she could hear a soft, but nasally voice say "Reading" and smiled, chuckling at everyone's renewed enthusiasm, "Okay, okay! So everyone has a full schedule then-that's good to see."

"It is isn't it?!" Angel exclaimed, "I'm gonna go off and see Stitch ASAP today-I wanna go and see what Lilo's hula class is like, so I'm gonna head out as soon as Gantu leaves!"

Fudgy snorted, "By this point, you can just leave whenever you want. He's really laid off after Hammerface came back to us."

The gray experiment flushed, only for Angel to nod in agreement, "It's true Hammerface-ever since you got back, Gantu's relaxed a ton of his rules for us."

"Well, that's good where you're concerned...my end I can't even unclog the sink without him yanking me away from it…" Hammerface sighed and tore up a piece of toast in his hands, shaking his head in exasperation, "It's good to know you guys got a break at least, you needed one yourselves with what was going on."

"I'd take the inability to unclog sinks as a blessing if I were you." Plasmoid said, wrinkling his nose, "625 puts all his crap down there and it gets real nasty if you don't-"

"Plasmoid…" Hammerface grimaced at him, causing the scorpion experiment to immediately change the subject, "Anyways, I'm gonna be in the clearing with Zap, so…" He looked up to the laser experiment, who grinned and nodded, "We took that up a bit after you left. It's nice to not have Gantu on our backs anymore, so we're taking advantage while we can."

Hammerface smiled, "That's nice; you two enjoy yourselves out there."

Both nodded, bounding away from the table and calling out a thanks as Felix took their plates. Hammerface watched them go before casting a glance at Heat; he'd been quiet throughout breakfast, and he was a little concerned given the stress he'd recently been through.

However, said concerns were dashed when Heat caught his gaze, his eyes darting off to the side at Fudgy's initial question. Even with his absence, he'd learned to recognize the signs of the heat experiment's growing crush on Kixx-at least, some signs-notably, the shyness whenever the subject came up.

It reminded him of Clip honestly. Not really her, but how she described his initial behavior around her; shy, and unable to speak when he was normally more confident around everyone else.

At the same time, given Heat's reaction to his return, he hoped that was the only thing that made himself and the 6-series similar…

Heat slowed down with his food, starting to turn pink, "So, I'm gonna go out today-like, out to the beach-"

Angel grinned and signed, "To see 1, right?"

"Yep, so I'm gonna leave, like, right now."

Heat placed his dish in the sink and sprinted out the door, face now completely magenta. Hammerface watched him go before raising an eyebrow at Fudgy. She shrugged, "We found a way to get around the gerbil; they just call him 1 right now, and Fib taught 'em some signing on top of it. It's funny-there's so few 6-series they can get away with calling each other by their last digits."

"Huh-wait-what do you mean, found a way to get around him?"

She deflated slightly, "He started calling us more. Sensed weakness I guess. We fooled him, but, you know…"

Hammerface grimaced, "Oh-that's bad. Did he notice anything or…?"

"Nah, but we've been talking outside more often. That and signing like I said before, right Fib?"

The smaller experiment nodded, "It's a little difficult, but they're getting the hang of it. I'm looking up other stuff for Thresher and Plasmoid since they don't have fingers. It's working fine since Hamsterviel never tried to learn any, but we're still being careful."

"Ah."

"Anyways," Fudgy stood up from the table and took Hammerface's now empty plate from him, "Felix and I'll be taking care of this, but you can help with lunch if you want."

Hammerface tilted his head at the 1-series, "Are you sure?"

"Hammer. We survived a month. A whole month." Felix said, holding up his hands, "We got this, you can do whatever, 'kay?"

"Well, okay…"

A sudden scream of "SHOOTA!" caused the 0 and 1 series to jump, Nosy dodging an orange blur as it shot through the kitchen amid protests from the others.

"I forgot-I was gonna take my sketchbook-sorry!" Heat exclaimed, dashing back down the hall and towards the door.

Nosy shook his head, "Oh boy. Wanna see him off with me Hammerface? I don't know if Gantu's left yet."

"Sure."

The orange experiment was easy to catch up to, the reason being just as Nosy suspected; yet another argument between their captor and his companion could be heard by the entrance. Plasmoid and Zap were waiting with him, the former rolling his eyes at the ongoing bickering.

"Hey guys, how long 'til that leaves?" Nosy jabbed his thumb towards the main entrance, "Speaking of which, what's it about this time?"

Heat shrugged, "I dunno, something about tape recorders? It's dumb whatever it is…"

"Not to me it isn't." Nosy said, "Don't worry, I'll sneak around and find out on my own later on."

Heat nodded, hugging his sketchbook closer to him; it'd grown a little weathered in the months since he'd gotten it, and Hammerface could see...burnt pages?

There were a few pages in the book that were singed a dark brown and black, their edges curled up like dead leaves...and from yet another point onward they seemed to change to something else; maybe paint?

He blinked in surprise. Had he...really been isolating that long? He felt he should know this…

Hammerface's thoughts were interrupted by the end of the argument, signaled by Gantu shouting at 625 and stomping out the ship's entrance. He guessed this was in part due to the arrival of Angel, who sped right past them with a quick "bye" and dashed out the door.

Nosy shook his head at the abrupt end before turning to the others, "Welp, that ended fast-you guys make sure to hang back from Gantu when you head out, alright?"

"We know-thanks though." Zap said, making his way down to the entrance with Plasmoid. Heat however flushed and remained silent, evidently waiting for Gantu to cover some distance from the ship.

"And how about you? Gonna show off your new stuff to the others?" Nosy asked, turning his attention back to Heat, "You've been gettin' back into pens and pencils I think, right?"

Heat perked up at the question, "Oh-uh-yeah! My energy's almost back up, so I'm not shorting out so much; it's not happening all the time like back in September."

September? It was that long ago?

Hammerface nodded, hoping his confusion wasn't showing. "That's great to hear Heat; tell the others we said hi, alright?"

Heat smiled, "Sure! And uh-Hammerface, when I come back, I wanna show you some of what I drew while you were gone. You don't have to do that."

...Clearly he'd failed. But, then again, that was probably a good thing-he had promised to be more open with the three after all.

He smiled, "Well, okay Heat, thanks for catching that. Have a nice time out there."

Heat nodded and repositioned his book, making his way to the front entrance after Plasmoid and Zap. Hammerface felt Nosy's hand go to his shoulder as he left, turning to see a reassuring smile from his friend.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll catch up in no time."

Hammerface sighed, "It just feels wrong to me; I should've been there and yet…"

"Well…" Nosy frowned and glanced towards the hallway, "You're here now, right? And you had your talk with 'em. Best thing you can do now is be there for them in the present."

Hammerface nodded, "Yeah, you're right. But...I wanna ask something."

"Yeah?"

"Did you and Felix take over when I was...like that?"

"Are you gonna be…"

"Upset? No, I just want to know."

Nosy glanced off to the side, taking a breath, "Then yeah-we did. Gantu recognized something was happening with you as well, but you were isolating yourself, and we couldn't reach you. So we took over as support for a while."

Hammerface stood quietly, crossing his arms and squeezing his eyes closed in thought. Nosy then suddenly found himself wrapped in a hug by the tool experiment, which caused him to start in surprise, "You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad? I was in the wrong and I-I'm really happy you were there for them-that they didn't have to go through that alone..."

"Aw." Nosy returned the hug, "I'm just glad you're back Hammerface. You were affected as well, program or not. We wanted to help you too, even though ya wouldn't let us at first."

Hammerface nodded, "Just...thanks Nosy."

"You're welcome-which reminds me," Nosy pulled out of the hug and glanced towards the kitchen, "The other three and Angel got wind of some weird holiday coming up from Hunkahunka. I think it's called Valentines' Day? It sounds like something that'd apply to you and Clip from what I found on it. I already told the others, but want me to fill you in?"

"Sure, just try and stay on topic."

"Awesome."

Heat flipped through the sketchbook in his hands as he made his way through the forest and onto the main road leading to town. It'd been a while since he'd bought it, and the reason he'd been slow with filling it up was...not the greatest.

He'd abandoned it for a while, ever since his tests came back and his treatments left him too exhausted to draw. He'd also ruined some of the pages, both through shorting out and frustration that'd resulted in several becoming tearstained…

Heat sighed and shook his head at the thought of said burnt pages. He didn't want to dwell on that time. October was a blank to him, both literally and figuratively; its sole highlight was Angel and Nosy celebrating Halloween for the three, but it was otherwise a harsh month. Same with November...and December.

December especially.

He didn't notice the ground beneath him change from dirt to asphalt and jumped, nearly dropping the book in the process; his energy sense was back to normal, so the changes were a little shocking to get back into…

"Hey, isn't that...?" A gruff voice came from down the road. It wasn't human, in fact it belonged to someone he'd met before, during that time.

The owner of the voice soon sidled up, followed by her twin. Yin gave Heat a smile and a wave, her normally cold demeanor melting-as usual, just for him, Lilo, Stitch, and Thresher.

Maybe some others, but he hadn't been outside in a bit.

"Oh-hey Yin and Yang!" Heat quickly returned the wave, running up to greet them, "How're things?"

She shrugged, "Ah-the same; we finally got some plants on our island though, so that's been cool. Yang also entered in a sculpting contest for the fair, so he's been practicing in our yard."

The lava experiment crossed his arms at the last point, flushing slightly, "It's a month or so off, but I got started early-I'm usin' my lava for it."

Heat grinned, "Oh-that's really cool Yang, I'm sure your entry's gonna be great."

"Thanks." Yang returned the grin, relaxing a little, "How're things your end? Better?"

"Yeah, I'm almost back to normal actually! Except you kind of surprised me just now."

"To be fair, you kind of surprised me-it's the asphalt. Makes things a little fuzzy." Yang kicked at a loose stone on the road, watching it bounce into the bushes, "But that's good to hear, way better than when we first met ya."

"I take it you're going to see Kixx, right?" He added, gesturing to the sketchbook, "We can walk you to the beach if you want, we're headed near there anyways. There's a new experiment around-he's got his own food stand right now, but I'm sure that'll change soon given his function."

"Huh." Heat mused, "Sure! I just ate, but I'll have a look around when we get there."

"Okay, this is where we're partin'." Yin said, the three coming to a stop outside the food stall, "The beach isn't far from here, so we'll leave you to it-unless you wanna drop in for a moment."

Heat nodded, "I'll come in, thanks for walking with me though."

"Eh, don't mention it, we just happened to be around."

It was at that moment when a gray and white head poked its way out of the stall, gazing down at the three-mostly him in the center of their little group.

The experiment squinted down at him in confusion before raising a curious eyebrow at their group, "Ah-you're Heat right? From Fishface's ship?"

"Um..yeah?"

"Oh, nice-I'm 062, called Frenchfry now, but I knew 033 back in the lab. He used to help me out before I was deactivated."

"Deactivated?"

"Yep. Faulty programming, what're you gonna do. Big thing with us 0-series if you couldn't tell."

"Oh…"

The experiment shrugged, "Ah, don't be like that-I got it taken care of when I was activated on here. Speaking of which-hold on a moment,"

"You two'll be gettin' the usual?" He asked Yin and Yang, who nodded, "We'll wait at one of the tables if you want."

"I won't be long, but you can do that-"

"Hi."

Frenchfry's eyebrows raised and he let out an irritated sigh. "Nevermind."

Two newcomers peered at Heat from the depths of the stall-one of which being very familiar.

344 stepped back, evidently awkward given their last interaction, but the other, an icy blue experiment, grinned and waved, "Hey 609! It's good to see you on Earth!"

"Weird situation aside, but still." He added, shrugging, "I can come out right? I heard about the whole energy thing, so I wanna make sure."

Heat nodded, "Um...sure, but...who are you exactly?"

"He's 523-Slushy now. 344's Dupe by the way." Yin explained from the table, "Slushy wanted to see ya, but couldn't-was afraid of taking your energy away and of melting, so he couldn't visit."

Slushy nodded, Frenchfry gesturing for him to step out. "You too," He pointed to Dupe, "make up with him."

Dupe started, but did as the 0-series said, carefully stepping outside the stall after Slushy. He remained awkward, glancing at the ground as he made his way up to the heat experiment.

Heat frowned; he hadn't seen Dupe ever since he was merged, and to see him still so...down about it was a little sad.

"Uhh...Dupe now?" He asked as the yellow experiment came up, "It's okay, Gantu's just horrible, right?"

The cloning experiment sighed, "Well...you guys shouldn't have to have gone through that at all…it's...I guess it's because I didn't have to use my power, I was just panicking and did it anyways..."

Heat frowned, glancing down at the ground, "Well...I'm almost back to normal now, and I'm not gonna blame you for being scared; I don't think the other three would either." He offered a reassuring smile to the 3-series, "It's fine-I'm just happy to see you got a one true place."

Dupe returned the smile, "Well, if you think that Heat, then I'll trust you on it."

"You could help him out with a place when they escape, you know." Slushy said, shrugging, "If you still feel like you wanna make it up to them."

"Hey, yeah! Only if you want though…" Heat tilted his head at Dupe, watching as the 3-series perked up, "Huh-well, I'll try…"

"You two take me up on that when you get out, okay? I'm a little forgetful." He explained, "It can get pretty complicated, so I can help with finding homes and stuff like that."

"See? It's not that big a deal." Frenchfry cut in, carrying several plates and a to-go box-the latter turning out to be Heat's, as he handed it off to him on his way to Yin and Yang's table, "It's not lunchtime yet, but I made you some stuff. Used a bit of my power for it, but I don't think it's gonna be a problem for you given your function."

"Oh," Heat took the box and peered inside, seeing a large assortment of fried fish, well...french fries, and sauce packets nestled up against each other, complete with a small, separate package containing a cookie. "Thanks Frenchfry, I'll tell Hammerface you said hello."

"You're welcome Heat, and thanks." Frenchfry said, "Best get going though, there'll be humans here soon for the lunch rush."

"Oh-right! I've gotta go, it was nice seeing you guys!" Heat said, repositioning his book back under his arm, "And thanks for walking me again."

Yin raised her glass of water from the table, "Anytime."

He ran most of the way to the beach after his encounter, feeling much more optimistic now that he'd met up with so many other cousins. He slowed down upon coming up on the beach, scanning the area for any sign of the purple experiment.

It'd been a while since he'd seen Kixx, about a month.

Actually, he hadn't seen him ever since Hammerface had gone to live with the Pelekais.

He was almost done glancing around the beach when he felt a presence behind him, followed by a poke on his shoulder.

"You gonna share that?"

Heat laughed and craned his neck up at Kixx's face, "Hey! How've you been?"

"Good. You don't hafta mention why you weren't around by the way, Sparky told me."

"Ah."

"I'm just glad you're fine after all that, it sounded rough."

"It kind of was…"

It was then that another person came up on them-or rather, two people, one of which overtaking her companion and almost crashing into him.

"HOLY-609?! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" She exclaimed, taking him by the shoulders, "I didn't think I'd get to see you! How are you?!"

"Uhhhhh…."

"Oh-right!" She said, "I have a new form...hold on a moment!"

She disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, reappearing in front of him and causing him to almost drop his things in shock.

"610?"

She sniffed, a tear starting in the corner of her eye, "It's "Witch" now, but yeah...it's me 9."

"I-um-"

"I can take those for a moment." Witch's taller companion offered, "618, Crystallene by the way, even if we knew each other in the lab."

Heat promptly dropped everything, enveloping Witch in a tight hug, "I...I can't believe it…"

It'd been years since he'd seen 610. They hadn't had many interactions in the lab, but to him, every one had counted. It seemed it had to her as well, as she was now crying into his fur, "I thought-after I heard-"

"I'm just glad you didn't get caught." Heat wiped his eyes and sniffed, smiling at Witch as she pulled away from him and transformed back into her prior form, "What're you doing around here? Or-or thinking of doing?"

She grinned, "I'm staying with Kixx right now; I'm so powerful there's actually too many options for me."

"Yep, I've been taking her around the island so she can get an idea of what she wants to do." Kixx explained, "It's hard due to her powers though, so we've been looking for a couple weeks by now."

"Oh, cool! That's awesome of you."

Kixx shrugged, "You guys are twins, so it was the least I could do. I know you were worried about her and Lilo agreed the house wasn't safe, so she ended up at my place."

Heat felt his cheeks flush at the comment; it was offhand, but it was also so genuine...

Evidently, it hadn't gone unnoticed, as he felt eyes on him and turned to give Witch a flat look. She was smirking, but he could see it was a light-hearted one.

She glanced between the two and smiled, "I'm gonna go and head down the beach with Crystal for a bit, okay? Just to the end of it."

Kixx raised an eyebrow, "You literally just saw the person made six hours before you for the first time in five years and that's what you want to do?"

"Well, no, but I get the feeling he wants to talk with you. Like. Just you. So, I'm gonna give him room to do that." Witch placed her hands behind her head and smiled, making her way back over to Crystallene as the two set off down the beach.

Kixx shook his head at the two, "I hate when they have super intelligence like that. They notice everything. Wanna find a spot for your lunch or…?"

"Oh! Right…" Heat glanced back at the box, "Is there anywhere we can sit?"

"There's a bench by the walkway."

"Geez, that's a lot to take in…" Kixx's ears flattened as he gazed out at the ocean, watching the waves break against the shoreline, "He's fine now though, but man…"

Heat sighed, crumpling up the remains of his food and placing it back in the box, "I'm just glad he's back and not all messed up like before. Nosy's keeping an eye on him since they're friends. And probably 'cause of his powers."

"Well, that's good at least. Still sucks he dragged you three into his problems like that. Seems to be an early series thing."

"It's weird. I think they feel responsible for us, so they overcompensate or something. Just in Hammer's case he went too far." Heat kicked at the sand beneath the two in thought, "It's nice they're trying to help, but...I don't know."

Kixx shrugged, "You guys have a bad situation over there; I think they just don't know what to do about it."

"Yeah."

Heat felt for the sketchbook and pulled it to him, casting a glance towards the ocean. He'd never gotten a proper look until now, but with the two seated next to each other, he could see the entire bay. It was a beautiful sight, the cerulean of the shallows fading into a deep, dark blue signaling the deeper waters.

He hoped it was warm water-it'd mean he'd be comfortable in it since he could swim…

"Soooo…" Kixx began, "I noticed you carrying that around all day. Your sketchbook I mean. And you've been pink ever since I tapped ya on the shoulder."

"And now too." He peered at Heat's now bright magenta face, "...It's cool if you don't wanna say about the latter-"

"I uh."

Heat coughed, feeling a knot grow in his throat. Why did he feel like this? Sure, Hamsterviel was terrible, but he hadn't called that much over the past month-Gantu would always come in and distract him…

"I...do you...do you…"

He trailed off and paused, now frustrated at shutting down.

"I think I know the last two words, you don't have to finish."

Heat cast a glance towards the ground; Kixx's voice was soft and quiet, far removed from the normally louder and raspier tone he used.

It sounded nice.

"I'm...kind of glad you asked. To be honest."

He glanced back up at the fighting experiment, who gave him a gentle smile. Heat blinked as he realized Kixx was also flushing.

"I like you too."

Despite the atmosphere, Heat couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion, causing Kixx to chuckle, "And that's one of the things I like you for by the way, but...yeah."

"We haven't seen each other much, but I can tell you really care about people, like you wanna make sure everyone's okay. And you're not afraid to stand up to people either-Sparky looked super embarrassed when he said how you told him off for hiding things. And there's how you look after Angel, even if she's the most annoying 6-series we have next to 625."

"I just...when you get out of there, I want to keep getting to know you, you know?"

Kixx heard a sniff and turned to see Heat; he was crying, but he could see a smile through the tears.

"I-I'm sorry I couldn't say it…a-after what happened with both me and-and...I just..."

Kixx placed an arm around Heat's shoulder, himself feeling a lump grow in his throat. "Aw, Heat…don't be sorry, this kind of stuff is pretty big...and Earth's weird about it too. It's fine."

Heat nodded, wiping his eyes. "Didn't realize I'd be doing this so much today…"

"Maybe it's just your way of processing stuff. Me? I shut down when I'm in public, but I'll cry in private."

"Is that…"

"Good for me? Dunno, it's how I've always been."

"Huh."

Heat sniffed and opened the to-go box, taking out one of the remaining napkins. He blew his nose with it and tossed it back in, turning his gaze back to the ocean and noticing how the light reflected off the water. It was beautiful, the waves sparkling in the sun as they crashed.

...That was before he realized he'd forgotten the sketchbook.

He blinked and picked it up, Kixx glancing at it in interest, "Oh yeah, you brought that to show your art off, right?"

"I did…" Heat laughed, "I guess I forgot with all the waterworks."

"Good time to open it up then. I think Witch and Crystal reached the end of the beach."

Heat smiled, turning to the first page. His smile turned to a grin as he saw the subject.

Kixx peered over and raised his eyebrows.

"Startin' with the best, huh?"

Heat chuckled, "Maybe…"

The first page held a pencil sketch of well...himself, face grinning, small ears perky, the upper pair of arms crossed. Kixx squinted; it looked familiar, almost like Heat had just paused the TV to draw it-because it was clearly from his infomercial.

He looked to Heat, whose face was pink. Kixx could tell this picture meant something to him beyond being the first sketch of his book. He'd loved him for a while, it seemed…

He blinked, catching Heat's gaze. The thermal experiment was watching him with a shy smile, as though waiting for him to say something.

He smiled back, "You got everything perfect Heat."

Heat's face flushed even further, the shyness starting to return. "...Thanks…"

"Soooo...wanna show off the next one?"

"Oh-yeah, sure!" Heat flipped to the next page, this one showing a sketch of Nosy and Hammerface. "I made this a little while after Nosy joined us-got permission for it and everything."

"That's pretty cool."

They'd gotten through a quarter of the book before Witch returned, leading Crystallene by the hand. It almost seemed like she'd appeared at random given the only way they noticed her return was her hand sliding over one of the pages.

Kixx was unamused, "Aaaannnnd now I have to leave, otherwise I'm probably going to get possessed."

Witch withdrew her hand, crossing her arms, "Seriously?!"

"Oh come on, you can't even do anything to me."

She snorted, "So it seems…"

Heat raised an eyebrow and looked between them, "...And what does that mean?"

Kixx grinned, "She tried to possess me when she was activated and failed big time. Turns out having immunity to pretty much everything minus Angel's song really messes with that kind of power. Dunno why."

Heat turned back to Witch, who gave him a sheepish smile and shrugged, "I was evil okay? Or amoral or whatever. Didn't expect to run into other experiments here."

He laughed, "I'm guessing you were shocked?"

"Well yeah, I'm actually lucky since Gantu would've found me for sure if I did it to anyone else."

"Huh. Ironic."

"Yep."

"Anyways, sorry we didn't get to talk much, but I'm sure we'll get other chances, right?" Crystallene asked, "It's good to see you're doing okay, all things considered."

Heat nodded, "I'm sure we will; the only rules for me are that I have to be back by sundown, so I can stay out until then."

"But...yeah, I'm gonna head back then. It was nice seeing you again." He took his things and stood up, almost instinctively glancing at the ground.

This meant that he didn't see what came next.

It was a small peck, almost nonexistent, but his face burned up immediately and he put his book over it in shock. "Oh-"

It was a moment before he lowered it to see Kixx's face. He was smiling softly, but Heat could see he was blushing as well.

"I-uh-good-goodbye then." His voice came out as a whisper against the waves.

"Until next time, huh?"

"Yeah..."

Heat turned and began to walk back up the beach. He could hear the three behind him, but their words were drowned out by the sound of his heart beating in his chest.

When he was far enough away, he held his hand to his cheek. It still burned, and burned even more as he remembered the kiss.

Just like that song on one of Lilo's records he supposed…

A step into the experiments' room alerted everyone to the heat experiment's arrival. Or rather, just Hammerface and Nosy, who were bent over at one of the tables over some papers. At the sight of him, they looked up, exchanged glances, and then walked over to greet him.

Nosy wasted no time; he overtook Hammerface and reached him first, clearly eager to know what exactly had happened. "Holy-did what I think happened happen?!"

Heat, still pink, could only nod, confirming Nosy's question and causing him to pump both fists in the air in triumph, "YES! HOLY CRAP YES!"

Hammerface smiled to the 6-series at the news as his friend continued to celebrate in the background, "Ah, I'm happy for you Heat. You told?"

Heat nodded and pointed to his cheek, Hammerface tilting his head before he realized what exactly he meant.

"Aw."

The memories of Clip started to come back at seeing this; their sixth or so meeting to be exact. They'd been assigned to a mission, and well...she'd ended up pecking him on the cheek on the way home. To see this was almost a sort of parallel...

"Well," He glanced back to Nosy, "Felix is in charge of dinner tonight and not me, so you can take all the time you want before telling us more, okay?"

"And only if. You don't have to if you don't want."

Heat nodded, "I...I'm gonna tell. Or sign."

"You do that then."

Heat nodded and sped off, leaving both older series to exchange smiles between each other...