Hoagie, Wally, and Nigel sat in the secret room in Nigel's bedroom discussing the girls, who were out shopping. Wally, although claiming he didn't care about any girls, seemed to know the most about them.
"Cruddy girls and their stupid makeup and magazines. Have you ever read one of those things?" he furiously shouted. "I mean, they have ads for that bloody boyfriend helmet that Kissy Lizzie put on you Numbah 1."
"You sound as if you've read one or two before Numbah 4. Been going through Numbah 3's room again?" Nigel questioned. Wally flushed, remembering the night a few weeks back.
Cue Flashback"Wally! What are you doing here?" Kuki asked while skipping to her bed. Wally sat up from behind the Rainbow Monkey pile and looked at her.
"Uh, just looking for mah, uh, quarter." Wally blushed. He dropped to the floor again and continued to search for the paper.
"But I don't have your quarter." He heard Kuki say from above.
"Got it!" he shouted happily, holding the parchment clenched in his fist. He got off the floor and headed for the door without looking back at Kuki.
"Bye Wally!" he heard from his companion.
"See you later, Kuks." He replied before stepping out the door, walking straight into Nigel.
"Numbah 4!" the boss shouted.
Cue end of Flashback"What were you really looking for?" Hoagie asked.
"Nuttin." Wally blushed, looking down.
"I could always check the surveillance video." Nigel muttered.
"You have surveillance in the girl's rooms?" Wally shouted, obviously disgusted.
"When the occupant of the room enters, the cameras turn off. It's standard KND Equipment, so get your mind out of the gutter, Numbah 4."
So what were you doing, Numbah 4?" Hoagie asked, trying to sound like Kuki.
"Nunya." Was Wally's reply.
"Nunya? What's that?" Hoagie inquired, very confused.
"Nunya business." Wally growled.
"Fine, do it the hard way." Nigel said, pulling a remote out of his back pocket. "Computer, scan video from last week of Numbah 3's room. Check for Numbah 4's presence." He ordered.
"DNA testing shows Numbah 4 has been in the room every morning of the previous week." The computer's monotone voice said as Hoagie and Nigel raised their eyebrows at Wally. "Video scanner found only one clip of Numbah 4."
"Good. Bring the clip up to secret room Numbah S-72." Nigel smugly commanded. Wally gasped as the wall suddenly turned into a TV.
"This ought to be good!" Hoagie said, munching on some popcorn. On the screen they heard Wally's urgent voice.
"Oi, I have to find that picture!"
"Picture?" Nigel and Hoagie said together, turning to look at Wally, but the panic-stricken boy had already run out of the room.
Meanwhile, Kuki and Abby were finishing their shopping up by stopping at the ice cream bar.
"This is great, but I kind of miss the guys." Kuki said, digging the cherry out of her sundae.
"It is much quieter without them." Abby nodded. "I bet they are sitting at home playing video games or something like that."
"Yeah, I bet Wally is secretly playing with my Rainbow Monkeys." Kuki giggled.
"Nigel's probably tapping his foot impatiently waiting for us to return, while Hoagie is in the kitchen inventing the first flying sandwich." Abby added, causing Kuki to choke on her ice cream.
"Heh, yeah!"
"Hey Kuki, ever wonder what happened to Lizzie?" Abby asked, out of the blue.
"She's going out with Numbah 65.3!"
"Who's that?" Abby asked while scooping the last drop of milky cream from the bottom of her dish.
"He's the guy that sends Numbah 1 the missions. I think his name is Herbie!" Kuki giggled.
"That girl certainly has a thing for power figures, but if I'm thinking of the right person, then I'm happy for her. Herbie, on the other hand, I wish the best of luck."
"He's going to need it, she's a piece of work." Kuki laughed.
"You said it." Abby agreed, taking hers and Kuki's bowls up to be washed. "Think we should go back now? We've let them chill long enough."
"Okie!" They left the mall and road the bus to Nigel's house. They jumped the fence when Nigel's dad wasn't looking, pausing only to say a prayer for Nigel's mom, who had died the previous year. Then Abby placed her hand on the bark of the entrance to the treehouse and let the DNA scanner admit them into their home. They located Nigel and Hoagie playing Wally's Butiki video game.
"Hey guys, miss us?" Abby teased.
"Yes." Nigel answered immediately. He blushed as Hoagie and Kuki gave him a funny looked.
"So..." Kuki whistled, breaking the silence. "Where's Wally?"
"Waldo," Hoagie joked. "Is sulking in his room because Nige and I were teasing him a bit."
"Uh, yeah so why don't you go talk to him?" Nigel suggested, hiding his grin. Abby sat down beside him and took his controller. Abby began to pummel Hoagie's character.
"Hey!" Hoagie shouted, grabbing for his controller. Kuki giggled and walked up to her room. She sat her bag down inside the door and went over to the large door with number 4 written on it.
"Wally?" she said softly, looking into the room.
"What?" she heard him say roughly. She saw him in his wrestling ring tearing apart a robot.
"I just wanted to ask how you are. I heard Nigel and Hoagie were being baka." Kuki replied, cautiously stepping inside.
"Baka?" Wally asked. He stopped beating up the machine and looked at her, panting slightly.
"Baka means idiot in my language. I believe you would call them, dingos?"
"Dingos, yeah." Wally noticed Kuki blushing slightly at him and it took him a minute to figure out it was because he had been exercising shirtless. He wrapped a towel around his neck and rested on the edge of his ring.
"Aren't you going to put your shirt on?" Kuki asked. He shook his head at her and she tried again. "Why not?"
"I'll put one on after my shower... does it bother you?"
"Uh, no." she replied. In her mind she was thinking that she honestly didn't mind, but she didn't voice the thought. Wally wiped his face on the towel and grinned again.
"So are you here to comfort me or mess with me Kuks?"
"I just wanted to make sure you're ok, that you didn't get too mad or anything. In case you didn't know it, you've got a little temper." Kuki replied, skipping over to the ring and flopping herself down.
"Me, a temper?" he said, faking shock. They laughed for a couple of minutes until Wally leaned back on the ring, laying his head on his pillow. He lay facing the ceiling until Kuki lay down next to him. "Kuks," he whispered seriously.
"Yeah?" she replied softly.
"After decommission, will we be able to tell we're friends? Like, we'll have this feeling we've known each other, right?"
"I believe so, especially if we're meant to be friends forever." Kuki wistfully said, turning over on her side to face him.
"I'd like to think so too." Wally said. Kuki got up to leave, but he stopped her. "Stay, please?"
"Alright, but I might fall asleep." She grinned. She lay down again next to Wally, but this time she turned into his body, laying a hand across his chest as she slowly fell asleep listening to his heart beat. Wally drifted off shortly afterwards, but if the cameras had been on they would have caught him kiss her head softly before falling asleep.
A/N: More will be coming soon... For the picture, check out: (link) Your writing extrodinaire, Signy