Song Listened To : Earth by Imogen Heap
*Chapter 155*
Tessa finally felt an excited jolt pulse through her coding, though she eyed Zed. The way he stood, shirtless, his strong body only draped in his comfortable cotton pants, which were tattered just below the knees. His dim room was just barely illuminated by the sunrise that attempted to peek through midnight clouds. Tessa cocked an eyebrow and, as if to bury all of her issues, she inhaled a deep, cleansing breath and at least attempted to think about the possibility of letting Zed into the depths of her heart, once more.
"S-So uh," Zed faltered as they heard Lickity leave his loft, once and for all. He swallowed and nervously rubbed the back of his head, "What... What do you wanna do?"
"I thought maybe a nice game of sudoku would really get us in the mood," Tessa snapped, her girly charm shone through a simple glint of her teeth and a bashful shrug of her shoulders, "Whew... Nothing gets me hotter!"
Zed slumped his shoulders and let his bashful smirk slope to a dull, annoyed look of mild stupor.
"We could sit and think about all the problems we're currently drowning in?" Tessa suggested plainly as she took a soft step outwards, to begin to circle Zed. He furrowed his eyebrows, beamed her a challenging smile and followed her gentle lead.
"Y'really gunna get snarky with me in such a detrimental time?" Zed prod with a sly demeanor.
"It's not like time is of the essence," Tessa said innocently, though Zed could see right through her naive front; a girlish, seductive charm she masked so well underneath an aggressive, tomboy exterior.
"So, then, I guess maybe a game or two of simple board games would be alright, then?" Zed sighed, he scratched the center of his chest lazily and stopped his footwork, which cued Tessa to fall underneath his sly spell and stop her lazy circling as well, "We have an eternity, here. We could essentially live here, for the rest of time, swap codes, have billions of children... And but maybe 10 minutes would pass in the real world."
"Cool, so you're okay with me walking away, then, yeah?" Tessa suddenly barked as she pointed to his bedroom door; Zed raised his eyebrows and suddenly felt as if she had lost him.
"Y-You're leaving?" Zed naively wondered, he suddenly was scared that she was being serious this whole time, and he could've potentially hurt her feelings. He flinched once Tessa turned heel and stepped closer to his bedroom door, "...You're leaving."
"Wow, wouldja lookit that!" Tessa giggled in a mean, sarcastic way as she suddenly slipped out of Zed's room. Zed froze and felt his skin wash cold, as if he was completely and wholly uncertain with what was going on, and just what to do in this moment.
Zed slumped his shoulders and, even though the receptors in his brain and circuits so badly told him to immediately be offended, he knew he had no room. As long as it took him to inhale one long, refreshing deep breath and let negativity leave his body, he budged into the replica of his loft. The kitchen was the first thing he slunk into, and across the massive, lovely lit space, Tessa stood near his wall of windows. With tightly crossed arms and a strict posture, she peered out to The Flip Side's land in stiff agitation. Zed let his retinas gloss over the entirety of the situation at hand. He knew he had no problem getting excited over the raw fact of swapping, though the task at hand proved to have more negative side-effects than anything. He dared to approach her, after a moment or two of soaking in the weird, frozen like feeling the game gave off. As if pushing through circuits that hung in the air, like dust particles that had little to no give, he began to feel the weird side effects of being paused for longer than he's used to.
"How'd we find ourselves in this mess?" Zed wondered, his deep voice was as quiet and tender as could be. He knew he was in for it the second Tessa's dominant gaze pierced his.
"We dipped to temptation and let Radex loose in Sugar Rush," Tessa blurted angrily, "Easy as that, Zed. 4-year old me coulda told you THAT."
"Alright, let's just... Take it easy," Zed planned every single letter of his sentences as carefully as deactivating a bomb. He put his hands up in defense as Tessa's spine stiffened.
"How does one 'take it easy' during this mess, hmm?" Tessa inquired in sarcastic sass as she crossed her arms a little more nonchalant and fingered her lip, "Right in the act of something so awesome and unifying, we have to keep the thought of death at the front of our minds?"
"I said 'take it easy', not... 'This will be easy'," Zed muttered darkly in defense.
"And not just the death of me," Tessa's louder voice glossed over the conclusion of his statement, "The death of our very first unborn child... We're going to have a CHILD Zed. I know you said you always wanted a family, but I can't imagine you'd want one right now!"
"Either way, it's not something we can reverse," Zed dared, as if his heart was being tested, "Even if I COULD reverse it, right here, right now... I wouldn't."
"You wouldn't?" Tessa gawked in defense, she pushed back the feeling of comfort that Zed's calm voice provided her.
"...NO?" Zed waved his hands about in disbelief, "Why would you think I'd want to reverse or delete the coding of our very first child, Tessa? I love you! I vowed to marry you. Children comes with the territory!"
"We skipped like... Four steps!" Tessa urged through an incredulous laugh of annoyance.
"What does it matter? The past forty-eight hours have been nothing but skipping steps and reeking havoc!" Zed's voice finally gained dominance over Tessa's; the scale tipped to his favor, with his true and honest words, "What matters is I've gained so many things... All my hopes and dreams, I've gained through you. I owe you my life, Tess..."
"Yeah, well now I guess WE owe you ours," Tessa meanly snapped, though she largely flinched once Zed whirled around, threw out his arm and caught a lamp.
It wildly crashed to the ground with a shatter, though not before he clenched his fists, raised them above his head and inhaled a deep, sharp breath. Tessa's eyes bulged as he properly threw his fists down to the kitchen island he was near; with a hard grunt, and a loud crackling shatter of his marble counters, it largely split down the middle under his rush of adrenaline, and bout of wrecking abilities Tessa was unsure how it came about. He slid his hands from the crackles of shards and largely panted, he glared down the counter and scrunched his shoulders in growing anger. Tessa suddenly felt her skin prickle. She knew Zed had an extraordinarily long fuse, though she often wondered just what kind of a firework he was, once he was set off. She suddenly felt guilt rush her system, she knew she should knock off the selfishness; her heart throbbed in the growing realization that, because of Zed's impending action, said benefit or destruction, of the looming code swap, was entirely on his shoulders.
"Zed," Tessa stated calmly, though she held up her larger hands in defense as he wildly whirled around. His fists were clenched, a proper wrecking form he wasn't even programmed for.
"Y'think this is only hard for YOU?" Zed bellowed, Tessa froze at the sight of the blood trickling down his wrists and shakily clenched hands, "I understand that you were kicked out of your home, and the people you thought were friends and family betrayed you... Betrayed US."
Tessa felt a shiver go up her spine as Zed respectively kept his shaking distance, his hands bled where the counter had erupted on his skin. He inhaled a shaky breath and continued on, in shrunken-pupil panic.
"But you have to understand... I have to PHYSICALLY visit cloud nine, give you my interior coding, with its intent of killing you, and... And..." Zed's eyes welled with tears, and as quickly as he could try and gasp for air, they trickled down his cheeks to the scruff on his chin and face. His voice finally crackled and softened as he continued on in a broken stupor, "Our... Our baby!"
"Zed," Tessa uttered nervously, her eyes glanced to his fists, though she felt herself becoming choked up as well.
"I would do anything for your safety," Zed uttered through a hard sniffle and a shake of his head, "Even if it means risking your guys' lives... I, legitimately, have no choice... And that's what's screwing with me, right now."
"W-we'll be fine," Tessa uttered, she knew the voice of reason was now largely handed over to her. Brought back down to reality, she understood wholly now that she wasn't the only one in this massive dilemma, "Just... Over-communicate and we should be alright. I'll let you know when I'm about to... Yknow."
"You get that cute, nervous... Look in your eye," Zed uttered through a whimper as he finally un-clenched his fists and looked down at the bloodied mess. Tessa scoffed a small, embarrassed laugh, crossed her arms and looked to Zed's glorious, white tiles.
"H-how... How'd you do that?" Tessa wondered nervously as she peered back to Zed's shattered counter island; flawless, white marble cracked down the middle. Zed finally began to seem as if he had come out of the numbing rush of adrenaline, his hands shook as more blood spilled down his fingers.
"I have no clue," Zed muttered as he finally began to inspect his wounds, "We don't share codes, but I just... Needed to wreck something."
"Maybe we DO share codes, even if it is minuscule," Tessa quietly wondered as she lifted her shirt and further inspected her loading bar.
She bit her bottom lip and, with a gentle push, she dug her pointer finger into the paused, frozen bar on her lower stomach. It beveled, with her pushed in skin, and finally ripped a few flits of silver colors across the wording. She furrowed her eyebrows, dropped her shirt and peered back to Zed.
"Do you think swapping would be okay untimed, then?" Zed innocently and quietly wondered, though his voice trembled as he began to look as if he finally needed to clean up his hands.
"I don't think we should risk it," Tessa urged quietly as she let her palm glow with her circuit lines and pixel cubes that blobbed about; it shined a confident purple, "Either way, we should play by the rules this time... I know we have a knack for avoiding such things."
Zed scoffed a noise of agreement and began to move his way into the kitchen. With no regard for cleanliness of his temporary loft-illusion, his bloody hands opened a few cabinets before he stopped and found what he needed. He moved to his marvelous kitchen sink, splayed with the sleekest stainless steel, though he easily dropped blood in his line of direction. He grimaced a hard noise of pain as he began to wash his hands under the faucet. Tessa nervously made her way over to him and noticed he had grabbed some bandage wraps as well. The tight wrappers, bloodied with faint fingerprints, lay in chaos next to him and the sink. Tessa made her love known by reaching for the bandages and unwrapping them. Once Zed had finished cleaning his wounds, in a silent act of love they both fell into rhythm with, he moved his clean hands closer to Tessa, who had readied the first bandage. Tessa methodically began to wrap his wrists and palms in the thick, white bandages. She peered down at her craft in concentration while Zed softly gazed to her in light question.
"I don't want to have sex with you in these conditions," Zed uttered under his breath, as if it were a secret, "It... It doesn't seem fair to you."
"We don't have a choice," Tessa sighed as she continued to wrap his hands, he winced a little as she carried on, "Either we fight for our lives, or... Leave and forget each other ever existed."
"Either way," Zed started as his eyes finally glossed the tiles underneath them, "I don't think my brothers would allow us to come out of that portal without even trying... Either us three come out alive, or... I come out the only survivor."
"Sounds like some sort of sick game-show," Tessa snipped with a smile. She knew she somehow had to find humor in this dark and desolate time.
"Where the key to winning is to somehow become aroused right before killing someone," Zed stated in a deep, game show-like phony voice with a cocked eyebrow, "Getting hard is hard and putting out has a whole 'nother meaning!"
Tessa immediately burst out laughing, she finished wrapping Zed's wrists, albeit clumsily.
"Grand prize is a helpless infant, y'lose and you find out where delete code goes," Zed continued on through Tessa's laughter, though he chuckled a bit as well as he inspected his hands. He finally dropped the playful front and gave her a grateful glance, "Thank you... Sorry I... Sort of exploded like that."
"That was nothing," Tessa muttered as she slumped her shoulders and idly assessed the room, "Try growing up with my dad and Oliver."
Zed froze and nervously peered to her in curious wait, as if even mentioning her family was poisonous to the very air they breathed. He softly scanned her strong arms before his tired gaze hit the glossy, though slightly bloody, white tiles underneath their feet.
"C'mon. Let's sit and, well..." Zed trailed off as he gestured towards his fully, beckoning couch a little, "Maybe try and come up with a game plan."
"Game plan?" Tessa eased, she finally fell victim to his calm demeanor, which strangely held onto the dominant, strong dregs of his outburst; she knew he was the master at charm and wit, though she almost side-eyed him with the plain fact that getting her to succumb to him didn't take too much.
"Yeah, uh," Zed shrugged in a boyish way, his strong bare shoulders peeked his collar bones from his skin. He heaved a hard sigh and, after a moment or two of stepping down into his flawless living room and approaching his glorious, white couch, he slumped to the fluffy cushions and groaned a sigh of relief; he continued on in a raspy, deep whine of seduction he only was mildly aware of, "Y'know... Dos and don'ts. Maybe a key word that's said in case of an emergency?"
"Emergency? Like, 'ow this position hurts' word, or 'if you code-bomb now we're done for' word?" Tessa bluntly stated, strangely with a straight face. She plopped down one cushion away from Zed and crossed her arms in a relaxed position; Zed easily heaved an enthusiastic, boyish laugh and felt his face grow hot.
"The latter, hun," Zed whispered through his teeth as he lulled his eyes closed and, through beet red cheeks, he grinned, "Though I guess it'd help if you spoke up about everything."
"I'm breathing in! I'm breathing out!" Tessa playfully gasped in a dramatic moan as she held her fingers taut and tilted her head back in a show of energy, "Blink, blink, blink!"
"Hopefully there's a smile somewhere in there, no?" Zed wondered with a side-eye and a cheeky smirk, "Maybe a beg or two?"
"I don't know, guess that's up to you," Tessa finally dropped her act, raised her eyebrows and looked away. After a moment, she grinned and gave Zed her full, eager, nervous attention.
"I know I just probably looked so attractive showing my kitchen island what for," Zed muttered through a bashful, embarrassed smile as he finally relaxed his strong core, sunk further into the couch and assessed his tender, wrapped hands. After a moment he cocked an eyebrow and, without moving his head, his shy eyes slid to Tessa's, "But hopefully you'll give this bad guy one more chance."
Tessa softly squinted and, through a gentle smile, she looked over Zed's bare chest, his strong, alluring figure. She cocked an eyebrow and dug her stare into his cheeky, gentlemanly side eye, though she glanced down his body once more and bit her bottom lip a little.
"Maybe," Tessa eased, a girly breath of quiet luring.
"Well, since I seem to be the murderer in this mystery, it just would be too easy to getcha out in the open, like this," Zed stated in a matter-of-fact tone as he politely folded his hands across his lap and tilted his head in her direction, his adorable stare hooked into hers, "I guess I'll just wait until you wander off... Catch'yah off guard. Be easier to take you down, then, huh?"
"Potentially," Tessa shrugged, "What if you're really the victim in this? I am a coded wrecker, after all... Coding to be reckoned with."
"There's your saving grace, huh," Zed quipped with a charming smirk as he finally closed his eyes and tilted his head back to the couch; his adam's apple bulged from his throat, the veins showed his gentle pulse, "What a twist. The hunter becomes the hunted. Would be a shame if I was, I don't know... Jumped while I wasn't looking."
Tessa cocked an eyebrow and froze; she knew said notion was a wild invitation, though she wondered where she could muster the courage, just how her shaking fingers could potentially scrape the bottom of the barrel. Through the heightened tension of everything weighing on their world, she finally pressed pause on the entirety of it and swallowed her pride. She patiently allowed herself time, a coy display of waiting for the head-start boost at the very beginning of a race; wheels burning out, smoke billowing from the chaos. Once the light turned green, her heart jolted with the rush of energy to her circuits. She knew they were sitting ducks; minus well make it interesting.