Part Eighty-Three. The Boyfriend
Claptrap continued to visit… well, quite a lot. Wheatley kind of lost track of how often it was, but nobody minded, really, because if Wheatley was occupied with Claptrap it meant that he wasn't pestering GLaDOS to entertain him. Though he was secretly confident she did miss that, at least a little, and bothered her about it at every available opportunity. Which she pretended to be annoyed about. Or maybe she really was annoyed, because she ended up kicking him out more frequently than he would've hoped.
Eventually someone – Wheatley couldn't remember who – decided they weren't going to split up for once, and they were all going to do something together. Probably GLaDOS'd thought that one up, but convinced someone else that they'd thought of it to remain impersonal. Sounded like something she'd do, honestly.
When Wheatley wasn't listening, they'd settled on playing poker, which he loved and so was quite pleased about. GLaDOS attempted to get Atlas and P-body to play separately, but as usual they wouldn't hear of it, and so all there was left for her to do was sigh and deal to them as one. Carrie kept shooting angry looks at Claptrap, who kept nattering on obliviously about everything under the sun. That was Wheatley's usual role, but since Claptrap had plenty of things to say about the outside that Wheatley didn't know, he was happy to stay quiet and listen, for once.
While he did learn quite a lot of new information, mostly about Hyperion and Vault Hunters, the usual, it did not bode well for his poker playing; he lost every hand. GLaDOS, of course, won most of the ones she didn't fold, while Claptrap won most of those. Neither Carrie nor the co-op bots seemed to be doing too well. He did his best to remember to keep an eye on Carrie. She was not a good sport when she lost, especially to GLaDOS.
"Alright, kiddo," Claptrap said suddenly, tossing his cards into the centre of the lopsided circle, "I think you've given me the death stare for long enough. What's up with you?"
Carrie said nothing, just continued glaring. GLaDOS sighed.
"Caroline. Must you."
"Yes," Carrie answered in a grim sort of voice.
"I just wanna know why," Claptrap said, shrugging dismissively. "You're not the first one to do that, hon, but I mean, most people at least have a reason to hate me. I don't think you do. Do you? Does she?" He turned to look at Wheatley, who could only shake his head in a general sort of refusal. Unless she was still about the whole 'not sharing' thing. Well, too bad. Claptrap was a nice guy and Wheatley intended to be friends for him for quite a lot longer.
"I don't hate you."
"Okay. Heavily dislike. I can work with that. We're getting somewhere! But I still don't know why, kiddo."
GLaDOS looked at Carrie, who said nothing for another minute or so.
"I'm observing you."
"Okay…" Claptrap picked up the next few cards GLaDOS dealt him, glancing at Atlas and P-body when they squealed excitedly over their hand. "Mind sharing why?"
"'cause I gotta make sure you're good enough for my mom."
All eyes, even those of the bots, turned to Carrie, who studiously regarded her card rack.
"… what," GLaDOS said finally.
"I second that." Claptrap put his cards down. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means," Carrie said, glowering at him, "that if you can't treat my mom like my dad does, you probably shouldn't be here."
"You don't set the rules, hon," Claptrap told her, folding his arms. "If your mom wants me around, that's none of your business, is it."
"You can't talk to me like that!"
"You started it!"
"My favourite part about all of this," GLaDOS cut in, her voice pure acid, "is that no one cares how I feel about being fought over like I'm not even here."
"I'm just trying to help you out, Momma!" Carrie protested, turning to face her. "I know he was your friend and all, but that was ten years ago! I wasn't even here ten years ago! Think of all the stuff that changed here in that time! Who knows who this guy is now!"
"Still the same," Claptrap and GLaDOS said, almost in unison.
"Carrie, I'm sure we all appreciate what you're uh, what you're trying to do. 's very touching," Wheatley said, taking on his role as mediator between Carrie and GLaDOS once again. "But um… not only can your mum pick her own friends, but… you're the only one who has a problem with him, princess. I mean… you're kind of the odd one out, here."
"If I did something, just tell me!" Claptrap declared, leaning forward. "I'm not a jerk on purpose. Usually."
"If you're not good for my mom, I don't want to like you," Carrie said reluctantly, looking away from all of them. "I'd rather not like you now and not care when you don't come back than try to be friends."
"Caroline," GLaDOS said, aghast. "Don't… go about it like that."
"Car, sometimes you just gotta roll with it and not worry about the future!" Claptrap told her. "Not your mom's style, I know, but that doesn't mean you can't do it. So what if I end up disappearing one day. That's later! You can't live for later, it never arrives!"
GLaDOS stared at him.
"That is… surprisingly sage advice, coming from you."
Claptrap bowed dramatically, fluttering his wrists as he did so. "I aim to please, sugar-RAM."
"All right," Carrie said grudgingly, poking at her cards.
"I'm not asking to be BFFs," Claptrap told her. "Though that's cool too. But I'm not gonna hurt anybody. Overall, I'm pretty harmless!"
"Only because you're a total coward," GLaDOS muttered.
"Babe." He laid a hand on the side of her core, and though she narrowed her optic she didn't move. "C'mon. No need to do that right now."
Wheatley was surprised when she nodded and went back to her cards. Seemed Claptrap was another person whose counsel she couldn't always resist. He was curious as to why. It was as if… as if Claptrap was so confounding to her, so contrary to all that she was used to from people, that she was almost baffled into listening. And if he thought about it… that was sort of what'd happened with Chell. Not totally, but a little bit.
He was so preoccupied with that thought he didn't even notice when GLaDOS dealt the next hand.
/
The next afternoon, Claptrap declared he was going to spend the day with Carrie, who did not agree with this plan at first but went along with it after a little cajoling. Wheatley was quite pleased with this arrangement, because he'd not gotten a day with GLaDOS in a bit. She did send him away for a few hours so she could work, which he didn't like, but then again… she did have to work.
When she allowed him to come back, he immediately asked her something that was urgently on his mind: "Luv, you and Claptrap, you get along so well… but if you do, I can't understand why you… why you kicked him out."
She contemplated the one monitor she'd said she needed to keep an eye on for a while, so her code could compile or something like that. "Claptrap needs… a lot of… emotional support. I was not prepared for that."
"What d'you mean?"
She sighed a little bit and looked at him. "Claptrap has nothing. He has no home, he has no possessions, he has no friends, and he has no family. All of his kind were destroyed in a rebellion that he led." She shrugged and moved away. "He has to live with that. And mostly alone. Eventually he… well. He didn't really change, but… he opened up, and… I had no idea what I was supposed to do with that."
"You didn't… expect anything like that, when you decided he was moving in?"
GLaDOS shook her core. "He didn't start acting differently until he was here. It fell apart fast after that. God, he wanted to get married. At that point I was concerned I was getting in over my head, but then... all of a sudden he wanted my attention constantly, to the point where I had to tell him I was working for him to let me be. And even that wasn't really enough."
"Why not?" Wheatley couldn't help but ask.
She hesitated.
"Because he started… he would come in here in the middle of the night, crying, and asking me to do something about… everything. He wanted me to fix him, and I suppose he thought that was something girlfriends did. And maybe it is, but… it wasn't something I did." She shook her core again, more gravely this time. "He became increasingly desperate, and I in turn tried harder to turn him away. It escalated to the point where we fought. Badly. At the end of it he walked out and didn't come back."
Wheatley waited, to make sure she was finished.
"And when he left…" GLaDOS continued, seeming to search the wall panels across from her for the memory. "I had such… hatred for him. I couldn't stand the thought of him anymore. And that wasn't even really his fault, it was that… I felt so bad for failing him at that point. I didn't come close to considering that when he was here, but… he had taken a chance, and tried to depend on me, and I came up overwhelmingly lacking. I know I wasn't to know what he really needed out of me, but at the same time… I should have at least had an idea of it. And I hated him so much for making me feel that way. Not only the guilt, but for… I felt as though he had tricked me into…" She glanced at him, very quickly, and said in a soft voice, "… into loving someone who didn't exist."
He decided the best thing to do was to stay quiet a little longer and did his best to remain still.
"I became so angry that I… well, he left all of his possessions here. I destroyed all of them. It was wrong, I know, but I knew he wasn't coming back and I was not going to keep them around for later. It wasn't too long after that I stopped dealing for the poker games. It wasn't fun anymore. Part of what kept me there was… he had no shame, when he spoke to me. I liked that. But it was all over. So I wanted no part of anything to do with him anymore."
"What'll you do now," Wheatley asked quietly. "That's sure to uh, to come up sooner or later, right?"
"I'm not really sure," she answered. "But… I won't have to do it myself, this time."
"You won't?"
She looked at him, optic narrowed. "You would be planning on offering your assistance, wouldn't you?"
"Oh." He should've thought of that. "Uh… yes. Yes, of course. My assistance. For sure."
She shook her core and returned to watching her monitor. "Why I put up with you, I'll never know."
"Because… you're fond of me?"
"I can't imagine why."
"Hey. I got something for you."
"Really."
"Yep." He nodded, even though she couldn't see him. She could probably hear it, at any rate. "It's something good, it's great, I promise! But you've got to look at me, first."
She did so dutifully, and he kissed her optic assembly, right above her lens. She moved back almost immediately, but then she giggled so of course he had to follow so he could nuzzle her for that.
"Told you it was uh, that you'd like it."
"You were right, for once. Congratulations. Savour it while you can."
He certainly intended to.
/
In the morning, by some fluke or another he was awake first, and he was about to go find Carrie when he thought of a little game he could play with GLaDOS. He calmed himself down and waited. He thought he might've moved over a bit from where he'd been originally, but it was alright. It would work just the same.
After a few minutes – how many, he wasn't quite sure – she did start to wake up, so he resolved to remain very still and very silent and wait for just the right opportunity. Not now, because she wasn't awake enough, but it had to be before she was fully awake…
"… Wheatley?"
Not yet, not yet…
"Wheatley. Hey. Moron."
One more second…
"… Wheatley."
"Boo!" Wheatley shouted, leaping up and making himself as spread as he could, and to his complete shock she screamed and jolted away from him, leaving him totally confused. It was only after he realised she was shaking that he came to terms with the fact that he'd just done something horribly, horribly wrong.
Oh God… wait… how could he have been so stupid? So insensitive? If ever a time proved he was a complete and total fool that she should never have given a moment's notice, it was this one.
"Shit," he whispered to himself. "Gladys, luv, I'm sorry. I didn't, I didn't mean, it was, it was just s'posed to be a joke, I… I didn't mean to, to frighten you, I just thought, thought that it'd just annoy you, I didn't realise, please, I'm sorry, honey, I – "
"Go away," she interrupted, so quietly he barely heard her, and he wanted to pretend he hadn't and keep trying to amend his idiotic mistake, but he had and so he did as he was asked.
/
"Dad," Carrie said in confusion when she came across him some time later, at his hole, where he'd gone and not moved from since he left GLaDOS's chamber. "What're you doing here? If… Claptrap's with Momma, you could've come and got me."
"He could be. I dunno."
"Why don't you know?"
"I did something incredibly stupid. She sent me away because of it."
"What did you do?" she asked, not sounding like she knew of a crime serious enough.
So he told her, reluctantly; he didn't really want to, but keeping it from her wasn't going to do any good. He didn't move still, continuing to look dully out onto the dust speckled with dry, browning grass. For some reason it refused to rain. Which was bad, because if it didn't rain the humans would come asking GLaDOS for help again, and that really wasn't fair to her.
"That was… not cool," Carrie said finally. "Just… give her some time, she'll be okay."
"It was a stupid thing to do."
"Yeah, but… you'll talk it over and you'll never do it again. It'll be okay."
"D'you think it's really that simple?" He wasn't sure, himself.
"She knows you'd never hurt her on purpose."
"I s'pose." He was in a mood where he'd really rather assume the worst, and Carrie wasn't helping at all.
Not until she left, that was.
/
He was still there after night fell and he started to get uncomfortably cold, but he didn't know what to do. Did he go to her? Did he wait for her to tell him it was alright? He truly had no idea. He'd spent the whole day trying to figure out what to do without thinking about what he'd done. It was exhausting, and if he was honest with himself, going back to her was all he wanted to do, because he felt awful and she was pretty much guaranteed to make him feel better.
"Wheats," said Claptrap, and Wheatley almost jumped out of his chassis. He turned around for the first time in… since he'd got there.
"What is it?" he gasped.
He shrugged. "You always sleep with her, don't you?"
"I…" He couldn't find a thought to finish that with.
"Wheats, she's practically your wife. You can't just hide from her."
"I really messed up," he mumbled.
Claptrap nodded. "You sure did! But never fear! It's all smoothed over now."
Wheatley frowned at him. "What?"
"I talked to her about it. Well, I was mostly doing the talking, but I know she was listening."
"You… you did?"
"Yeah."
"Why?" Wheatley asked, moving closer. "Why would you do that?"
Claptrap crossed his arms. "All of you guys are very suspicious, you know that? It's so weird! I told you, I'm not a jerk on purpose. You're my friends, I help you out. Geez."
"But… she didn't help you," Wheatley said dumbly, a moment later realising maybe he wasn't supposed to reveal he knew about any of that. "When… when you needed it."
Claptrap stared at him, arms still crossed.
"No," he said finally. "She didn't. And y'know, I was pretty mad about that, for a while there. But once I thought about it, I mean… she didn't sign up for that! And I didn't either. So…" He shrugged. "Like I said before, kinda. Can't live for the future and you can't live for the past either! We've started over. Whatever happened back then… it's done. Not gonna mope over it."
"Is that what you did?" Wheatley asked, hesitantly. "When you lost the… when the rebellion failed?"
Claptrap brought his hands into a triangular shape and tapped them together. "After a while, yeah. Because… well, you gotta live, man! The past isn't gonna change and you can't count on the future. Not the best way to go about stuff, but hey! Works for me."
"That's… not a bad idea," Wheatley said. Claptrap grabbed his lower handle.
"Then get going! Don't keep a lady waiting!"
Wheatley had to smile. "Thanks, Claptrap."
"No problem, buddy. Anytime."
Wheatley made his way back to GLaDOS's chamber, a little bolstered by Claptrap's words but still terribly uneasy. What if he was wrong, and GLaDOS was angry with him still? He didn't want to go in there and fight with her, not now. Not ever, really, though sometimes fighting was necessary.
He screwed up his nerve as he went in, saying cautiously, "'allo, luv."
She looked up slowly, possibly almost asleep. He'd forgotten to check. "Hello, Wheatley."
"Um… I just… I'm sorry, 'bout what… what I did. I was a twat, to, to forget um, to forget about – "
A single shake of her core was enough to silence him. "I wasn't angry with you."
He looked at her a bit sideways, confused. "You… you weren't?"
"No." She stretched backwards a little bit, not looking away. "I was being an idiot and I wanted to deal with it without taking it out on you."
Wheatley had to consciously hold his chassis together, he was so dumbfounded by that statement. Not to mention the stark frankness of it. The… well, the honesty of it. She wasn't beating about the bush this time, she'd just… up and said it.
"Well, I… I didn't think you were being an idiot, luv, I mean, you were, uh, it was justified, to – "
"No," she interrupted. "If I had done anything but tell you to leave, it would not have been justified. Yes, it was… a very unpleasant shock. However… none of that was a big deal to you. It was not memorable. There's no reason you should have thought your plan would have done anything other than annoy me. You weren't there, and it's not on your mind like it is mine. It's a personal issue, and not one you are to be blamed for. I told you to leave so I wouldn't start doing that."
Wheatley was speechless.
Almost.
"That was very… uh… well, not very… you don't usually… think like that," he managed.
She laughed softly. "I'm trying to do better, remember?"
"Annnnd… you're doing marvellously," Wheatley said, shaking himself, still not completely to terms with it. But that was what GLaDOS did. Complete and total about-faces, without warning. They never got any less startling, but in general it was… fantastic news.
"Thank you."
"So I'm uh, I'm free to just… sliiiiide over here," he said as suavely as he could and moving as smoothly as possible to his place next to her core… which was not all that smoothly, come to think of it. And even though he'd not quite accomplished – alright, not accomplished at all – what he'd been shooting for, she laughed and that made it all worth it.
"I won't do it again," he whispered.
She kissed the top of his chassis and said, "I would appreciate that."
And even though he knew it'd all been resolved, and she had not been upset with him for any of it, he still woke up that night with electricity coursing through his tense chassis as his fully open optic looked for solace in the floor, with the echo of her scream and the nearly tangible fear she'd had in that moment strong in his mind. He supposed that was a consequence of avoiding thinking about it earlier. God, he had actually scared her. He tried not to feel bad about it, because it hadn't been intentional and he couldn't've predicted her reaction, but… he still did.
"Go to sleep," GLaDOS muttered, and Wheatley squeaked and felt like he was going to jump out of his chassis for the second time that day.
"You're awake?" he whispered.
"Not really. A little."
She was so marvellous, being able to carry on a conversation whilst being only a little awake. She was a modern miracle, she really was. "I uh… don't worry, I'll… be asleep in a second."
"Good," was all she had to say to that, and he was a bit cross with himself for making a big deal over something that'd been solved, but he'd done it in his sleep so he wasn't really to blame. And besides. GLaDOS decided just then to position herself more snugly alongside Wheatley's chassis, and he had to admit that was quite lovely. He wasn't sure if it was worth accidentally waking her up for, but hey, he wasn't going to complain about it.
/
GLaDOS had work to do the next day and Claptrap apparently was not done with Carrie, so Wheatley decided to just wander around for a bit. He did not visit the hole. He'd had quite enough of it for the time being.
He made some cursory 'hellos' to several Cores, but as usual, they weren't very interested in chatting. He did his best to shrug it off, though he couldn't help being offended. He hadn't done anything, for God's sake. He was a nice person. They were so judgmental it was just… horribly sad.
Well. Until he bumped into that one that was… kind of in his way, honestly. Clearly he'd been heading in that direction. She should've paid attention to where she was going. At least, he thought it was a she. He was pretty sure all the white ones were pretty much girls.
"Oh, sorry," he said automatically, though he really wasn't.
"No, my mistake," the Core said, and yep, sounded like a girl too. Well, at least she had things straight.
"Don't worry about it," he told her, annoyance vanishing. "I don't always pay attention to where I'm uh, to where I'm going, myself."
"Are you… going to see her?" the Core ventured.
"Yeah," he answered. "Pretty bored. And Carrie's busy elsewhere so… might's well see if she's uh, if she's not busy. Anymore."
"It must be something… having the access to her that you do."
Wheatley frowned, something about that pricking his suspicions. He wasn't sure what, but… what an odd thing to say. "What's that s'posed to mean?"
She backed off a little. "Sorry, I… I just meant that you must… know her in a way no one else does."
"Oh." He supposed that made sense. "Well… yeah, 'course I do."
"You must be very special."
Wheatley laughed. "Me? Nah. Just a load of lucky breaks, 's all it was." Other than the part about him being the first intentional AI in Aperture, and built by GLaDOS to boot… but he really didn't want the other Cores to hate him even more, so she didn't need to know that.
"I don't know about that," she said, looking at the floor. "You're… different. We all know that."
Wheatley looked away.
"I just… been around a little longer, that's all."
Wheatley wasn't sure what to say after that, and neither was she, apparently, though Carrie and Claptrap appeared to save his figurative neck. "Hey Dad!" called Carrie, waving with her upper handle, and Claptrap made some sort of grand greeting gesture with his left hand and said, "Wheaters!"
"Hey," Wheatley greeted them both. "Done with your um, your day out already?"
Carrie shrugged. "I haven't learned anything from Momma in a bit. Kinda have to get on that."
"Not if you don't want to," Wheatley protested.
"I do want to," she told him. "But fooling around is a lot more interesting than work in the short term."
Wheatley had to concede the point there.
"Who's your friend?" Claptrap asked, unnecessarily loudly as usual, and Wheatley cringed a bit, since… were they friends? They hadn't really talked… and he didn't even know her name…
"Meghan," she supplied, offering her lower handle, which Claptrap shook vigorously. "I… I'll see you around?" she said to Wheatley.
"Uh… maybe," he said, not really sure why she was asking. He didn't recall ever having seen her before. See her again? He didn't even know where to find her.
She nodded and smiled a little before disappearing into the dark hallway, and when he noticed the other two staring at him he only shrugged and led the way to GLaDOS's chamber.
"Back, Momma!" Carrie called out.
"Wonderful," GLaDOS said dryly. "All three of you at once. That should provide a great deal of irritation."
"Ohhh, don't be like that!" Claptrap declared, accosting her core with his left arm and making an expansive gesture with the other. "You know you've been waiting for this moment."
"What moment? And what is with you and grabbing my core like this all the time?"
"The moment we all come to lavish our attention on you, of course, darling!" Claptrap elaborated, ignoring the question and patting her core with his free hand. "We know it doesn't bother you. C'mon, admit it! Nobody will judge you."
"Claptrap, you are the most annoying person I know," GLaDOS sighed, "but on occasion, you almost make sense. Now please let go of me."
"Certainly," Claptrap said amiably, and did so.
"I trust you kept your time with Caroline G-rated, as I requested?"
"On my honour!" Claptrap straightened up and saluted her quite dramatically. "Completely safe for work, babe! Though… I can't say the same about that other guy."
"What other guy?"
Claptrap shrugged. "How should I know who he was? Some robot with a green eye and a really heavy American accent, that's all I can tell you."
"No," GLaDOS said, aghast.
"You know him?"
"Unfortunately. Caroline, you are not to entertain him. Consort with anyone you want, but not him."
Carrie rolled her optic. "And the next person. And the next. Don't tell me I have a choice and then take it away."
"Caroline, he…" She narrowed her optic in frustration and pulled herself a few inches higher. Not very far, but Wheatley had to admit it helped cement her authority. "He's not going to care about you. He just wants what he wants, and that's all."
"Take it from me, Car," Claptrap added. "He's not really into you. He just likes hitting on girls."
"He does that to ev'ryone," Wheatley told her quietly, pretty sure at this point they were discussing Rick.
"You like hitting on girls," Carrie said, ignoring Wheatley. "And you met my mom by hitting on her, so what's the difference between you and this guy?"
"Caroline – "
"The difference," Claptrap said, "is that I back off. He's not a guy who'll do that."
"You don't know him, so how do you know that?"
"Caroline, I know him," GLaDOS said forcefully, her voice a little louder than before. "He was attached to me. I put up with him for months. I know all of those Cores. If you truly want to waste your time and effort, fine. Entertain him. But I warned you."
Wheatley was guessing Carrie had forgotten all about what the original purpose for the Cores had been. She was looking distinctly uncomfortable now.
"I guess… you might know what you're talking about," she admitted reluctantly.
"I meant it when you have freedom of choice. But… if you have to give your heart to someone, it should never be someone like him." She shook her core. "He's going to take it and not give you anything in return. If someone has to break your heart… at least let it be someone who has one."
The room fell silent.
"Well, that was depressing," Claptrap said, after a minute or so. "Oh, babe, you might wanna keep an eye on your man, if you know what I mean."
"What?" She was looking at him as though he had gone instantly corrupt.
"He might be getting a new girlfriend," Claptrap answered, folding his hand into an L-shape and pointing it at Wheatley. "Some girl was trying to chat him up in the hallway."
"I see."
"What're you talking about?" cried Wheatley, baffled. "I don't have another girlfriend."
"She was totally into you."
"She was not!"
"Dude. She bumped into you on purpose. She wanted to start a conversation!"
Wheatley couldn't believe it. "And that means she's, she's into me? Are you, you're out of your bloody mind, you really are."
"Wheats," Claptrap said sternly, crossing his arms, "she said you were special within the first five minutes. She really likes you."
Wheatley threw open his chassis in frustration. "What in the bloody hell are you on about? And why were you just, just sitting there, lurking, listening to something that was, quite frankly, none of your business!"
"Ooooh," Claptrap said in a hushed voice. "See? You just got upset about the conversation being overheard! You are obviously totes okay with seeing her again."
"That – he's making it up!" Wheatley protested, turning to Carrie, but she only shrugged.
"I gotta agree with him, Dad."
"Gladys!"
"What do you want me to do?"
"They're being completely ridiculous! Tell them!"
GLaDOS looked down at Claptrap, who spread his hands in response. "The explanation is as good as any."
"She's just a, a random Core I bumped into in the hallway! That's it! That's – "
"I don't know about that," GLaDOS mused. "There really isn't a whole lot of reasons for her to be there in the first place. Logically, it does seem the meeting was entirely intentional. Though… a little creepy, if you ask me. I wonder how long she was there waiting. Silently. In the dark."
"Sounds like something I'd do," Claptrap said, and GLaDOS laughed.
"If you could shut up for more than two minutes, perhaps."
"It doesn't matter," Wheatley ground out. "I'm not meeting her again."
"Why not?" GLaDOS asked.
"Because you're my fiancée!" Wheatley shouted.
"And..."
He supposed that wasn't the brightest reason, seeing as Claptrap was right there. "And… I…"
"We're not telling you to marry her," Carrie cut in. "But… I dunno, it couldn't hurt, could it?"
"It could end up hurting someone," he said pointedly, glaring at GLaDOS. She conveniently had to look for something someplace else.
"I said it was fine."
"Doesn't mean it will be, when it happens."
"See? You said when!" Claptrap declared triumphantly.
"Shut up!" Wheatley yelled. "I don't even know her!"
"Wheatley, I told you," GLaDOS said firmly. "Yes, I'm going to be jealous. You should be flattered about that. But I won't interfere. If you want to see what it's like… go ahead."
"I… I'll think about it," he said, conceding. He hated to admit it, but it did all seem to add up to… to what they were saying it did. "I guess I just… never expected such a thing."
"I did," GLaDOS said, surprising him. "I just… didn't know what I would do about it."
He went to her then, minor crisis averted, and whispered into her core, "No matter what. You are always… always number one."
She nodded minutely and murmured, "And you."
"You guys are too much," Claptrap interrupted, slapping the back of Wheatley's chassis with a loud ringing noise. Wheatley sighed and rolled his optic. God, Claptrap was annoying sometimes.
GLaDOS, however, found the whole thing quite amusing and started laughing, so it seemed Wheatley was alone in that thought for the time being. And it didn't last too long, honestly.
Claptrap was his friend, after all.
Guest reviews:
Elizabeth: Glad to hear that! Yeah, Wheatley is jealous of Dr Kleiner because he has intelligence Wheatley will never have, and so he feels like he can be replaced, in a way. He's not jealous of Claptrap because they complement each other.