Mason wouldn't, and hasn't, considered himself partial to anything resembling structures or building. He would've been fine with a small box with a couple of beds, a small kitchen, and a rug and lamp. What they got was more akin to an actual living room, kitchen, and bedroom.
He would've thought that since they were, technically, in a government agency, they would have close together bunk beds, military style and all. But no, they got what looked like an actual house. Granted, it had no windows nor electronics, but it was something.
B-64 also admired the way that Mason's home planet created homes. His "home", if one could even call it that, was a small circular building with a bed, water supplier, and a so-called resortment tank, where he could quickly restabilize his Boson Levels.
The floor was carpeted brown, though the kitchen area was tiled white and black. The walls matched the floor in color, but felt like steel. The ceiling was the same, and appeared slightly slanted. The whole thing was brightly lit up, despite not having any lights that they could see.
Marissa took Axel to the kitchen to see if it had anything, and to their surprise, it did. A few sandwiches, a couple bottles of water, and a small bar of chocolate. Axel was skeptical as to why they had given them a room that was so... Normal.
Hannah had quickly discovered the beds and was proceeding to jump up and down like a feral dog, and Mason did not attempt to stop her. She was a kid after all, and he doubted that she would sleep if she didn't run around like that.
Once everyone died down and got accustomed to the blank rooms, they all started to try and entertain themselves. Mason mostly thought about what was happening then.
Why would the scientists delay the experiments? Surely if the earth being taken over was true, then they'd want to attempt to get answers as soon as possible. He shared his thoughts with Axel after he raided the fridge.
"I don't know. He said that they were fighting them, and you saw what happened to that red guy. Maybe despite us being a good chance at, you know, beating these guys, they can cover for us. We're just the cheaper, less murder-y of our own kind, kind of solution."
Mason guessed that he was right, but he was still feeling slightly perturbed. However much Axel might be correct, what had they given them a good room? Out of the goodness of their hearts? Mason highly doubted that.
It might be due to them wanting him and his friends on their side. Mason, again, wondered if that was the case then why did they expect them to decline? Of course they'd accept, people are getting massacred!
But then again... No, they'd accept. Mason wasn't going to say no when he had seen what happened to the towns, what might've happened to his parents. If they could be of any use to this place, then they'd do it.
And by the looks of Marissa and Axel, they'd do it to.
B-64 placed a comforting hand on mason's shoulder, cooing lightly as he brought Mason in for a hug. Mason smiled into the hug, accepting it. B-64 was another thing...
Mason could accept everything that was happening. The blood, the tears, the death. He knew they happened by the hands of the Protogen, if not directly. But B-64 seemed different.
Granted, he had no other experiences with others of B-64's kind, but if the videos that Lied had shown them were anything to go off on...
He couldn't deny it any longer. He liked B-64, quite a bit. And although before he would've brushed it off as a comforting friendship thing, or something akin to liking him as a friend, but now? No, he liked B-64. A lot.
He could guess why. He had always, always liked cute things. Plushies, the little pink globs of glue that looked like slime with little adorable eyes, feral rabbits. All the things that he found cute.
B-64 was most of those things. He was fluffy and soft, had an adorable coo that was nearly lethal to his heart, a metric ton of cute faces created by his vider face thing, and the way that he interacted with him.
However inappropriate the situation it was, he couldn't help it, and it was during a very inappropriate situation, there was no denying it. They were in a government facility, with a ton of what could only be described as sci-fi weapons, being the ones that could save the world while the surface was being ravaged.
But there he was, thinking about how cute and adorable B-64 was.
Mason never really would've thought that anything like this could happen. And not just the pending doom,no, but who he liked.
Normally, he would decline to comment. However non judgmental his parents or his sister were, he doubted that they would accept him easily. Not to mention that even if they did, he had literally no one to choose.
He never liked labels, but he never hated them.The idea that his predilection towards one gender or another was not as comforting to him as it might be to others. He never really thought about it, nor talked about it to other people.
Not even his friends. Marissa had an idea, being who she was. Axel, well, he was different. He did not really care, but that might just be the fact that he hadn't caught on yet. Mason cringed as Hannah talked him in the back, causing him to jump onto B-64.
They tumbled to the ground. Hannah giggled loudly, her cheeks red and her entire little body coated in sweat. Mason quickly picked himself up, helping B-64 up as well. He quickly turned his head to hide his almost-not-noticeable blush.
Why was he so worked up? He asked himself, though he knew the answer. Judging by the knowing look and the nodding by Marissa, as well as her sneaky thumbs up underneath the table, Mason knew she knew as well.
Mason quickly chased after his sister, who was thoroughly destroying the bed's springs and decimating the blankets' perfect orientation. There was not a single thing that Mason did not like about B-64. Or nothing that he could tell at least.
He thought that he should no better, that he should focus on the much more important issue of saving the earth, or thinking about the death of his parents, or the fact that the surface was being destroyed. But his mind did not want to think about that.
He wasn't sure what to think. Should he actually be fine with himself thinking about this, when they had more important issues? He knew from his parents that bottling up feelings wasn't that good of a thing, but that mostly described rage or anger. Something like that.
Not... Well, Mason wouldn't call it Love. He did not love B-64, yet. He liked him, a lot, but he doubted that he could call it love.
Mason finally caught Hannah after she somehow hid from him, and let her go again so that she could get rid of all her energy. Mason quickly fell onto one of the beds, staring up at the ceiling.
Was he overthinking this, he thought. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. He was sure that he liked B-64 a bit more than mere friendship, but there was a main hurdle of that. Could he accept that?
Feelings and liking someone were a fickle thing, he had once heard his father say after a long night. He had told Mason that he had always liked his mother, and that it was almost like love at first sight.
Was this that? Was love at first sight possible? Mason did not have the answers, and he was afraid to know them. Why was this happening, what was happening? All these questions bubbled up inside Mason, threatening to burst out.
He quickly glanced to his side to find B-64 there, his head titled in a confused manner. It was extremely cute, his little visor having a curious expression on, a small thin line appearing almost like an eyebrow over his right eye and the little zig-zagging line that was a mouth curved into a curious bumped line.
Mason chuckled patting the side of the bed. Mason found that, for the first time, he was actually really tired. It was like all the energy inside his body was spent, and he was hanging on a thread. B-64 quickly got onto the bed beside hmi, the bed squeaking slightly as he did so.
B-64 was cautious at first, not knowing what was acceptable or not. He draped one hand over mason's chest, and with no object, slowly slid closer to Mason until they were right next to each other.
Mason softly muttered something, though it was too qutie for even B-64's ears to pick up. In an almost sleep-like daze, Mason gave a small, light peck to B-64's Visor, before snuggling into the pillow and closing his eyes.
B-64 paused for a moment, processing what had happened. He quickly heard a slight giggle, and swiveled his head in the direction of the noise. Marissa was smirking broadly, giving B-64 a thumbs up.
B-64 had no idea what that meant. Was this good? Was this bad? Was this neutral? He had no idea, but judging by her almost-smile, he decided that it was most likely a good thing. He glanced at Axel, who was currently entertaining Hannah with a shoelace.
With a small shrug, B-64 returned the favor, giving Mason a small peck on the check as well. Curling him closer, B-64 slowly began to power down.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hello!
Don't worry, the reason why he got so tired will (most likely) be explained. I think anyways...
I hope that I can do this kind of thing justice, as I am not the most talented when it comes to romance... Or really anything romantic related thing. I just hope that it came off cute rather than creepy, because I know that it can come off as that...
I'll be updating much more frequently, too. And this time it's a promise.
On the other hand, I will say this. I will nor pretend that everything is fine in the world, or everything is all peachy with sunshine and rainbows. It's not. I will try not to say anything, because I joined this site to try and get better writing wise, and I hope that I can and have improved.
But, my heart does go out to both sides.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for reading.
~ Candle