What was she doing? This was such a stupid idea. Just because he had been acting nicer to her than usual, meant nothing. He was a bad guy, no matter how he had made her feel last night, but she had to figure out if he was being genuine or not. He was probably the same old Tobey he had always been. Obnoxious and narcissistic...
For a moment she sat watching him tinker on some sort of mechanical mess through the light of his window. He wore a bulky handmade helmet accompanied with a pair of goggles, each lense a different color. Immediately she thought he was building a new type of robot, but as she continued watching she could now see that he was actually taking it apart.
She also couldn't help but notice how happy he looked while working on and around the hunk of metal. She had never considered how robotics was more than just a cruel outlet for him when things didn't go his way.
"I should leave..." She thought again, drifting away slowly, before once again remembering why she was there.
Last night was so odd. For the first time in forever she actually felt like someone understood her, and she wanted to talk more about how they weren't so different after all... as long as it wasn't a trick. Becky knew deep down that both Violet and Scoops had a point, but she didn't want to believe it. If she really was alone, she didn't know what she would do.
Awkwardly she knocked on his window, preparing herself to face his regular annoying attitude.
The boy haphazardly glanced over, before making a double take. He stumbled in shock over to the window, tripping over his toolbox as he walked.
"Wordgirl?!" He asked, fumbling with the locks on his window, before opening it up.
"Sorry for dropping by unexpectedly." Becky smiled meekly. "I was bored..."
Tobey was frozen, looking at her with wide eyes and a completely enamored expression. "What a pleasant surprise." He breathed.
"Mind if I come in?"
For a second the boy panicked . "B-By all means." He hastily opened his window, giving the girl space to float into his room. She landed softly on the carpeted floor.
Becky had been to Tobey's house on multiple occasions, but never once had she gotten a good look at his room.
It was moderately sized but cluttered with scraps of both paper and metal scattered all over the space. A large drawing board sat on one side, covered with elaborate blueprints of all kinds. One had an expertly drawn figure of a classic giant robot, but the others were unfamiliar. One in particular was different from the rest, it was covered in long protrusions of spikes, and was much much bigger than anything she had ever faced before. She suddenly hoped that she would never have to fight this new design.
"So what exactly are you doing?" She asked playfully, looking over the giant hunk of metal on his floor. She nudged it gently with her boot.
Tobey blushed, trying to pretend like he hadn't been staring at her. "Just changing an old design." He explained, slapping the metal hull affectionately. "It was supposed to..." he paused. He couldn't tell her it used to be for trying to expose her secret identity.
"A... cleaning robot." He blurted out, biting his lip nervously.
"Really?" Becky asked, narrowing her eyes.
"...Yes..."
She giggled, noting that he was still in fact acting differently.
Tobey couldn't believe it. Wordgirl was in his room, and she just wanted to hang out, as if they were friends. He never would have guessed that she had been serious about hanging out again.
"Why did you come to see me?" He asked, his desire for an answer taking over
Becky shrugged, sitting criss-crossed in the air. "I was curious..."
"Why?"
"Because you were acting so differently yesterday. '' she explained, pointing a finger. "And you weren't at school today, so I figured I would come check on you."
Suddenly Tobey's face turned into a look of confusion. "I wasn't at school?" Did she just reveal herself as his classmate? She seemed to have not noticed her mistake, and a guilty feeling spread across the boy. The slip of knowledge felt forbidden, and he knew immediately that he would be tempted to try and figure out who she really was. He felt even worse when a single name popped into his mind. Quickly he tried to forget about it. "Poison." He thought to himself. "I can't hurt her."
"I had a previous arrangement." He excused, wiping his oil covered hands against his apron. He didn't want to say that it was because his mother felt bad about their fight.
Becky smiled before continuing to admire the large piece of machinery that was currently littered all across his floor. "How do you build these?" She asked, looking over the complex machinery.
"It's actually pretty simple." He blushed, amazed that she took an interest in what he was doing. Swiftly he took a wrench and ducked inside the metal hull. After a few moments he came back out holding a large green chip. "This is the motherboard. " he smiled, tracing parts of it with his grease covered finger. "I programmed it to have a built-in tracking device, but..." the boy frowned. "Mistakes were apparently made..." He then carelessly tossed the green slab onto his desk. "It never worked..."
Becky raised an eyebrow. "Why did you need a tracking device for a cleaning robot?"
Tobey froze, realizing his mistake. "It was for... tracking the mess..." He panicked, hoping she wouldn't realize how stupid that sounded.
She definitely noticed.
"Oh really." The girl smirked, seeing right through his fib. "What was this robot really for?"
Tobey wiped his hands on his apron before stuffing them into his pockets and looking away. "Exposing your secret identity. " he mumbled quietly.
"And... you're dismantling it?" Becky blushed, realizing what was happening.
Tobey nodded.
Becky couldn't think of what to say. Now she was completely convinced that this wasn't some elaborate trick. He was doing something specifically for her when she wasn't even there for him to gloat about it.
"You're actually trying to change..." She exclaimed, completely dumbfounded.
He crossed his arms. "Am not..."
She took a step closer. "Yes you are!"
He gave an arrogant smile before arguing once more. "No I'm not."
"For someone who's tried destroying the city countless times, you're a pretty bad liar," Becky teased, rolling her eyes.
"And for a hero, you're pretty annoying!"
"But that's never stopped you from liking me."
Tobey immediately turned beet red, his eyes widening in embarrassment. "wHAT." He coughed. "No.... I don't... LIKE you..." He tapped his index fingers together, nervously.
Becky giggled, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. "It's okay," She smiled, looking sweetly into his eyes.
Tobey stopped fumbling for words, and smiled back, his blush evening out and resting lightly on his cheeks.
"Hey, would you like to... I don't know... go out and talk again?" Becky asked nervously, averting her gaze.
"Like a date?"
"No! Not like a date!!" She assured, waving her hands in front of her face.
Tobey looked a little disappointed, but shrugged, still happy to spend time with her. "I don't see why not." Swiftly he pulled out his remote control, ready to call a robot to take them away, but Becky quickly placed a hand on the box, lowering it in his hand.
"You gave me a lift last night," She smiled, thinking of the note he had dropped the day before. "Now it's my turn to return the favor."
Tobey's eyes widened as Becky offered him a hand. He looked at it before taking it softly, lacing their fingers together carefully.
Slowly, she led him to the window and stepped out, floating effortlessly in the night sky.
He took a deep breath, before crawling out feet first so that he could sit safely on the window ledge.
"Ready?" The girl asked, letting go of his hand.
"I suppose," He smirked, trustingly, looking up into her sparkling eyes.