by Silas Vale
"You think I'm joking? Willow, you're the only person to ever show me any kindness. You know what that means? It means my idea of a good person is based around you. It's based around your hair that shimmers like the sun against the waves of the sea. It's based around the fact that you promised, under no obligation, to stay with me. To let me stay in your apartment. To stay in my apartment, even though you know it isn't in a good part of town. My idea of someone I would like to date is based around them not caring that I have cancer, and understanding that I won't let it get in the way."
Well. He had gone for it, he figured he might as well go all the way.
"My type has a name. It's Willow Grace."
"... I-" Willow opened her mouth to speak, but upon finding no words to say, shut it. Her beautiful green eyes studied his face, examining his expression to try and determine whether or not he was joking. Because she really wasn't sure. There had been guys who had professed their love to her before, but they had been nobodies who she’d never choose to date. She would be just arm-candy to them, and she didn't want that.
"... Are you being serious?" She asked quietly after a moment.
It was evident she wasn't really used to this kind of thing.
The easy smile on his face faded, as both of their faces took shapes of sincerity.
"I, uh... Yeah." He said quietly, putting a hand to the back of his neck and looking away from her. "I... I find you very attractive, and in this world, you're the only person that I would ever consider wanting to date."
Woah.
"But... I'm not going to ask you to tell me how you feel, because I'm dying. Willow, I won't be here for much longer, and I don't want to leave anyone too broken upon my departure. So yes, I would date you. You, and only you. But at the same time, I wouldn't."
She saddened somewhat at his words, and nodded slowly. After a moment, she smiled slightly. "It has been pretty fast, anyways." She laughed softly, looking up at him. "Probably a little soon for me to give an answer like that. It's only been a day or so since we officially met." She shrugged her shoulders, but went quiet.
"... I think you're a pretty good person, Nych." She looked across the table at him. "I would date you too."
That was... A very surprising response.
Nych's heart fluttered in his chest. Part of the reason he'd given the whole spiel was because he wholeheartedly believed that Willow would want someone else. Someone fiery like her, while still being brilliant. Someone who could go to parties with her, get drunk with her, and solve the world's hardest problems with her.
Instead... She'd date him?
He looked away, a slight tint rising to his own cheeks, before he spoke once more.
"You're really scared of moving fast? Honey, ever since cancer struck, fast has been all I’ve known."
"I guess that's true." She nodded, lightly tapping her fingers on the table as she looked down at them. She was a little bit unsure. She knew that the man across from her had cancer, and she knew that any day now... He would be gone. And there would be nothing bringing him back, despite how brilliant he was and despite how much she wanted him to be there. Death didn't discriminate, and she knew that.
Did she really want to start committing herself to something that would only end in heartbreak?
But when she looked up at him again, and met his gaze, there was no doubt in her mind. Every second that she spent with him seemed to be the only thing she wanted to do with her time. And she would not let this be the end of him. No way in hell. Whether they finished their cure, or whether he passed...
Determination lit up in her mind. She had an idea. She'd talk to him about it later.
"I mean..." That didn't mean she wasn’t still awkward and flustered about the whole thing, though. "... Are we serious about this?" Her brows furrowed. "Do... Do we actually want to try something like this?"
Nych's heart, once again, fluttered in his chest, and his breathing quickened. She was asking him if he wanted to date her, and truth be told... He did. He’d decided that the moment she'd opened up to him, but he'd kept it buried.
He never expected that he would actually have to choose whether or not to date her.
On one hand... She'd make every day he had left wonderful. She'd be his light in the darkness, helping him complete the cure to cancer and save millions.
On the other... When he died, she'd be heartbroken.
"I... I really can't choose that for you, Willow. If you want this to happen, you're going to have to ask me. Because I am going to die. So it's up to you, if you want to deal with the hurt afterwards."
Her gaze lowered towards the table once more, and her features saddened somewhat as she stared. It was a hard decision for her, and she knew that. She knew that she would fall hard for this man, and when he was gone, it would most likely tear her apart. She didn't want to lose him, to lose such a brilliant person so young. But here she was, and she knew she didn't have much time.
After a moment, she let out a big sigh, and looked back up at him.
"I think I would rather spend all of my time with you than none at all."
Nych's eyes softened considerably after she said that, and he reached across the table to take her hand.
"I'm going to keep fighting. You know that, right? I'll fight until there's no fight left within me. I'll cure this son of a bitch, and then we can really date. None of this countdown clock bullshit."
He looked at her with happy eyes, though he sobered up once their food arrived.
"I, uh... Don't think I should really go to too many parties like this. I'll go with you, but... I don't know."
He didn't want to see her anywhere near wasted, especially when all he wanted was a calm life and a cure to his pain. That shone through his words.
She perked up a little bit, and squeezed his hand tightly. She sent a thankful nod to the waitress, and glanced down at the plate of food in front of herself. "I know. But you know that if you ever wanted to go, I would take you. There's frat parties like, every other weekend. I'm pretty sure those guys are bombing all of their classes and loving every second of it. It's almost sad, but... Amusing to watch."
After a couple seconds, she released his hand. "Let's eat. Then we can go back to my apartment and relax for the night."
After that day, she really needed some downtime.
in loving grace
Nych was a bit nervous about meeting Blake in a different context than a classroom.
Usually, they didn't even look at each other. They had never spoken, never been partners, hell, he'd never even said the girl's name until that first day he spent talking to Willow.
But now, he'd be sleeping in the same apartment as her.
It was a bit odd.
They walked through the front doors of the building, and he turned to look at Willow. "What floor is it on?"
"The sixth floor." Willow glanced over at him, shrugging her shoulders as she walked towards the elevator. She stepped inside, waiting for Nych before she pressed the button for their floor and stood patiently as the doors closed and the elevator began its ascent upwards. She was somewhat dreading bringing Nych over, because she knew Blake would tease them both relentlessly, but she didn't care too much.
Anything to save him from the assholes that liked to beat the shit out of him every night.
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Willow walked a couple doors down, stopped in front of what was presumably her apartment, and unlocked the door with keys she pulled from her pocket. "Hey!" She called into the house. "You home?"
"Always, dearest." A voice from the back said. And then Blake, a being of shadow at that moment, for all the lights were off in the back room, stepped into the light.
… And she was completely naked.
Nych averted his eyes, but Blake made no motion to cover herself whatsoever. She simply evaluated him, looking him up and down before she looked back over to Willow.
"I think you're going to owe me a hundred bucks r
eal soon, missy." She said, glaring her down.
There wasn't any anger there, however. Merely something to tease Willow about later.
Willow stared at her blankly, and then rolled her eyes. "Oh my God. I swear, if you did this on purpose, I'm gonna beat you up." She walked over to the couch, grabbing the blanket and tossing it at her. "Put some clothes on, you slut." She stuck her tongue out at her, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "... Why are you even naked anyways?" She furrowed her brows. "Do you have a guy over? Is he at least cute?"
She had so much faith in her friend.
She was also kind of mad. This wasn't really the best way to introduce Nych to her roommate and her best friend.
"Well, if I'm a dude, I think I’ve got some explaining to do." Another voice said, as a woman walked out from the back room. She, at least, was clothed in a large t-shirt and a pair of panties. She was blonde-haired and had hazel eyes, the green shining through very prominently. Her skin was that of a very light caramel, though her heritage was one that Nych couldn't quite place.
She was, in all honesty, quite breathtaking. Blake never scored someone that pretty.
"I'm Emmaline. Please, call me Emma." She said, holding a hand out to Willow.
Even though she was barely dressed, she was still extremely polite, and obviously very kind.
"... Oh." Willow blinked, staring at her for a second before she relaxed slightly and held her hand out for Emma to shake. "Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Willow, but knowing Blake and her big mouth, you might already know that." She glanced towards Blake, and after a moment huffed and grabbed the blanket off the floor. "Put some clothes on, you bitch." She wrapped the blanket around her, trapping her, and heaved her into her arms as she started marching her back towards her bedroom.
They had... A very interesting dynamic.
That was exactly what Blake had been hoping for.
"I hope that all of the rumors turned out false, Willow. And I hope that this thing works out for you. I can see in your eyes that something's different between you two, and I've been your best friend for years, so don't even try to pull anything with me. I just..."
When Willow laid her on the bed, Blake sat up, and abruptly wrapped her arms around her.
"I hope this goes well for you. You're a stuck up little bitch and deserve someone to make you happy."
Willow was silent for a moment or two, and then she hugged Blake tightly.
She knew she needed to talk to someone. So...
She told her everything. And she knew Blake wouldn't say anything to anyone else when she told her this, because it was eating her away inside. She had to be the strong one for Nych, but that didn't mean that she had to be the strong one for Blake too.
"He has cancer." Willow whispered. "Terminal. He says he was supposed to be dead a day ago. Three months. It's been three months and one day." Her hands clutched her tighter, and she clenched her jaw tightly.
Blake didn't move. Her face didn't change. She simply stared at Willow with that same, dark, unreadable expression.
Then she spoke.
"That's what the rumors were about, then. He's sick, but not in the way everyone made him out to be. This is out of his control, but... Willow. Are you sure that you want to do this? Are you sure that you want to be with someone who won't last much longer?"
Coming from anyone else, those words would have been insensitive. But coming from Blake... They were just to make Willow reconsider.
"I will support you all the way. Hell, I’ll join a threesome if you want. But... Are you sure that this is what you want? Because I want you to be absolutely positive before jumping headstrong into a relationship that's focused so heavily around one thing."
"... I’m sure." She nodded slowly, looking down at the floor. "I just- God. He's so brilliant and amazing, and he's the smartest man I've ever met, but I..."
She gulped, swallowing down the lump in her throat and taking a deep breath to keep herself together. She didn't want to cry. She wanted her time with him to be a positive thing. Something that she was glad she enjoyed while it lasted, instead of dreading waking up every morning and finding him dead.
It would break her heart, she knew that.
"... It just hurts." She sighed heavily. "And everyone is so, so cruel to him. He has no family. No friends. He's black and blue from getting mugged outside of his apartment every night. I just- it isn't fair."
Blake nodded her head, listening sympathetically to what Willow had to say.
"You know... I'm fine if he moves in here. If you want him to live here until his time's up, I'm fine with that. He doesn't even have to pay rent, unless he really wants to chip in."
Oh, she would love finding out about his wonderful machine that made rent a thing of the past.
"I'm with you one-hundred percent, Willow." She said, standing and walking over to the dresser. She finally pulled on some clothes, getting dressed before turning back around to her.
"He's seen me naked, so I guess he's allowed to stay."
Willow smiled ever so slightly, and cast Blake a thankful glance. She was glad she had someone like Blake in her life. Someone who was there if she needed her to be, but wasn't overbearing about it. She could usually deal with things on her own, and she preferred doing it that way, but... It was nice to have a shoulder to cry on every once in a while. "... Thanks, Blake. I'll talk to him about it. We'll see."
With that, she took a deep breath, calming herself down, and opened the bedroom door again.
"... Alrighty." She walked out, and looked towards Nych. "That's dealt with. You wanna check out some of my projects I've got lying around here?"
After Willow walked out, Emma nodded at her and took her place, closing the door behind her. The click of the lock could be heard, and Nych smiled slightly.
"I think Blake should keep her. She seems nice."
He nodded to Willow's question, obviously ready to see her projects considering she'd been so willing to see his own. He was actually incredibly excited to see what kinds of things she'd done.
"Lead the way, my... Date."
The word felt foreign.
"Date?" She snickered, looking over at him and leading him into her room. "I think any other pet name would work better than that, Nych." She laughed softly, turning on the light and looking around her organized mess of a housing space.
"Give me a break, I've never done this before." He grumbled, following her into her room.
There were mechanical parts everywhere, blueprints tacked to the walls, and clothing scattered about on the ends of the bed and on the back of the chair at the large, oil-stained desk she had.
"Tadaaaaa." She waved her hands around with sarcastic excitement. "It's a mess."
She looked around for a few moments, before she walked over to her dresser and pulled something down that Nych had immediately noticed.
... A metal arm?
When he looked back at her to see her holding out a metal arm, well... He took it, and began to inspect it.
As he did so, a smile began to grow on his face.
"These wires... These are perfectly laid out like the tendons in the human arm. Are you saying...?"
"It's a perfectly functioning robotic arm." Willow nodded eagerly, looking down at the arm he was holding. "There's a lady a couple doors down who's an amputee that I used as a model." She bounced on the balls of her feet eagerly, and after a moment ran over to her desk to pull out the blueprints for the arm. "We tested it a couple days back. It works perfectly. I finally worked out all the bugs. And it's detachable, too."
She pulled the blueprints out, laying them flat on her desk. "... I plan on giving it to her." She said. "I just want to patent everything first. Then I have full control of the designs and what gets done with them."
She shrugged, and sighed. "I'm not letting some big corporation get a hold of it and charge so much no one can afford them. I want to handle it all myself, at least, for the time being."
&nb
sp; Nych looked down at the piece of machinery in awe, his eyes lighting up. "This... This is incredible, Willow! Wow... If we get our stuff out there, we could literally change the world. My cures, and your prosthetics... Hell, we could save the world."
He was right. Medicine was better, and prosthetics were better, but neither came anywhere close to the two young geniuses.
They could control the world.
It was in that moment that he put his hands on her shoulders, and said, "When I die, I want you to take everything I own. Everything. Hell, please take the lab. You could use the space."
He gestured around the room, the smile on his face growing ever wider.
"You could come to the lab now! That way, you won't have to keep your apartment so cluttered! And you could get a cat!"
She blinked, and after a moment smiled. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, and looked around at all of her equipment that laid scattered around the room. "Well... If you're okay with that, I'll certainly start moving some of my things down there. I'm sure Blake would be happy with less stuff lying around." She was saddened by the thought of him being gone, but... It was reassuring. She would let his legacy live on. They could make the world a better place.
Even if he wasn't there to see it.
"I'm working on blueprints for legs right now." She grinned. "I figured it'd be easier to perfect an arm first, considering how complicated they are. So a leg shouldn't be too much of a problem." She walked over, rifling through the multiple blueprints she had. She found a chocolate bar wrapper mixed in among them somewhere, and tossed it to the floor. There was a beep from under her bed, and after a second a tiny robot holding a trash can wheeled out to go retrieve it.
... What else did she have hiding around there?
Nych looked down at the robot, and a compulsive smile spread across his face.
"Are you working in the field of AI at all, by any chance?" He asked, looking down at the small robot. "I've been trying, but... Artificial intelligence is a bitch to program. Plus, we run into the filling problem. You can't build it on too large a hard drive, or it'll become too large of a file and corrupt itself. Either that, or... Go rogue."
