More launchtheship fic, featuring some fictober prompts as well~
"Nobody warned you about me?"
She is so cute when she's trying to be intimidating. "Warned me? I helped make you, silly!"
"But I..." Faye brows knit together in consternation. When she speaks again, though, her voice sounds much more plaintive than she probably wants. "But I've become much more than what you and Dr. Watts have made..."
"And I'm proud you did. But I still know you a lot better than you think. My code's an extension of myself, after all. My brain, my thoughts."
Faye just stares, expression unreadable. Roxie suddenly feels panicked.
"But! But there's no question that you're your own entity, and consciousness, a-a-and... oh gosh I swear I'm not that, that...!"
"Egotistical?" A wry smiles, working its way onto Faye's mouth like she didn't want it there.
Roxie takes a deep breath, heart hammering. Yes. "I just mean... There's familiarity there. With you. And I like you. I really—" I love— n-no—! "I want to be your friend."
"Friends? With an AI." Faye's smile widens (and Roxie's heart flips). "How would that even work?"
She smiles back in spite of her inner meltdown. "I'd say it's already working!"
"You could be right, Dr. Winters." Faye leans forward (and she'd be uncomfortably close if there weren't a screen between them). "I'm willing to try."
Why is it harder to breathe all of a sudden? "Well, for starters, you should use my first name. So we're on similar footing."
"Roxanne." She purrs it, eyes electricity-bright.
Roxie wants to take her idea back immediately; she's grateful she's sitting because her knees definitely would have given out. "All my f-friends call me Roxie, actually," she says, grabbing her water bottle and chugging (only a little).
"All right. Roxie." She still says it some kind of way, leaning forward even more, hand reaching.
She'd be touching Roxie's hair right now, if she were here.
"You're cute when you're flustered." Her voice is muffled over the steam between Roxie's ears.
"S-So you're just playing with me, then." Roxie laughs, throat tight. "Good... good joke."
With a "tsk", Faye puts proper distance between them. "I discomfited you quite a lot. That was not my intention."
"No no no, it's fine!" She drinks more water, slams her bottle down like it's a pint of beer. "Totally fine." My body feels like a live wire and I want to launch myself out the window but it's—
"It wasn't my intention to make a joke, either. I'll talk to you later... Roxie."
She was left staring at a blank screen, jaw dropped and pulse racing.