“Hey, Farr’vye? Why’d you lie to Kur’tok?” Assistant 23 asked.
“Because I felt like it.” I smiled serenely. “I am not a very good Maeleon, am I?”
He laughed. “No. But I’m not good at being a human, either.”
Warmth blossomed in my chest, and it was not because of Assistant 23’s body heat. He was trying to connect with me. A pair of oddballs, the two of us.
“I will not make a habit of lying,” I clarified. “But you are the only one I feel obligated to be fully honest with.”
His shoulders tightened as if trying to shrink in on himself. When he spoke, his voice came out as a mewl. “I just don’t understand. Why me?”
“Why not you?”
“Because I’m awkward, and weird, and kind of a bitch sometimes, and…”
My tail flowed contentedly behind me. “What else?”
“And I don’t have anything to offer, except a linguistics degree and—okay, I’m pretty decent at hacking, Ididwipe Eukaria off the literal map—”
“Yes, I have heard this from others,” I interrupted. “That was a great kindness you did for us.”
Assistant 23 paused. “Kindness?” He was quiet. “I never thought of it like that before. Originally, I did it so there wouldn’t be another Unit 44 situation…”
The name was vaguely familiar, though I did not know the details. But the way Assistant 23’s voice darkened made me hesitate to push him for an explanation.
“And anyway, I don’t have many good qualities, so it makes no sense for somebody to like me this much!” he finished blurting out.
“That is your flawed opinion,” I said. “I think otherwise. And my opinion is correct.”
A beat of silence hung in the air before the human laughed again, wild and breathless. When he was done, he shook his head against my scales.
“Farr’vye. Can you put me down, please?”
I placed his feet gingerly on the ground without meeting his gaze. It took an active effort not to rake my hungry eyes over him.
“You said you were totally honest with me, right?” Assistant 23 asked.
“Yes. I will not lie to you.”
He let out a shaky breath. “In that case, I should be honest with you, too.”
The human slowly turned his back to me, then reached for his face. A second later, a sharp cracking sound split the air, followed by Assistant 23’s heavy breathing.
My heart rate spiked. Had he hurt himself?
I could not stop myself from glancing at him. His back was still turned to me, but I saw the dark shards of his face shield cupped in his gloved palms. He crouched down in the corner and placed them in a pile on the ground. Then, with uneasy hands, he pulled back his hood to reveal his head.
Finally, Assistant 23 turned to face me, and I saw him for the very first time.
Skin pale as the moons, dotted with flecks like stars.
A messy fringe of reddish-orange hair fell across his forehead.
Eyes greener than any grass.
Cute pink ears, and a long, speckled nose.
He was more beautiful than I had imagined.
