Era of Madness

The mistakes you can't fix 2

As he did most of the time, John was quietly sat at his desk, typing energically on a digital board, when Clark entered his office with a plate:

"Hey, mister gorilla, guess who's bringing dinner" he saluted.

"Haha, just get inside, you idiot" John laughed.

"Huh? That's how you talk to your benefactor? I always promised you one dinner, but here I am again. Show a bit of respect for your breadwinner"

John rolled his eyes and scoffed:

"Sure, sure, now lets get in the living room, I'm not ending with ketchup all over my desk again"

"Sure" Clark replied.

They got in the living room, and talked a bit while eating:

"So, how was your last mission?" John casually asked.

"Oh, don't talk me about it, it was a nightmare" Clark sighed. "Not only these idiots under the Council were far more stubborn and skilled than usual - well of course nowhere near us, but still too much- but we also got attacked on our way to return by space pirates"

"Space pirates? Honestly, I didn't thought there were actually space pirates" John said. "From where I come from, we always thought these were just one or two bands of idiots floating through space with old rotten spaceships or spatial ships, and pissed themselves whenever them got slightly close to an armed ship"

"Oh, I can garantee you that these people are nothing like that, and they're actually a lot more organized and skilled that you can think: that's the bare minimum for people who keep commiting crimes under the noses of the official governements of the different Stellar Fields and got away with it until now" Clark replied. "On the other side, that makes me wonder once again..."

John sighed in his heart as he saw the question coming before Clark even asked:

"From which planet exactly do you come from?"

"I already told you" John replied. "You wouldn't have heard about it anyw-"

"Yeah, and you also told me you were below the average height there, that they were more homosexual than straight people and that it wasn't mapped or even known by any governement" Clark cut him. "You didn't tell me either what was this event that ended with your close ones dying and made you leave, nor why... Plus, from what you say, it isn't tied to any Stellar Field, yet it has complete access to Fefnir technology, and can form guys like you with both perfect on-field and digital skills. Either you're lying, either you're hiding something. Come on, at least give me a hint"

John furrowed his eyebrows:

"Yep, you're a hundred percents right, I do have a lot I keep hidden, because I have my reasons, my personal reasons" he said. "And I didn't tell you all these stories to play guess, I did because I thought you were my friend. Was I wrong?"

John finished eating, as clark quickly apologized:

"Sorry, I didn't realize it was that personal, I won't ask again" Clark sighed as they had both finished eating.

In fact, over the few months that had passed since John had joined Cifer, he and Clark had become good friends. Even though John never went on the field for missions while Clark did only that, they both were localized not only on the same planet, but also in the same base, so they had had many occasions to talk together, and thus it went naturally.

"Yeah, sorry too, I got a bit carried too" John said. "Anyway, did you hear about the last rumors? Apparently, we're in couple. I didn't even know it myself, amazing, isn't it?"