Texas walked into the Penguin Logistics storehouse expecting another dull, if what they do can be called dull, day at work, but it was not. Mostima and Lappland were there, despite Mostima having been gone for 17 months at this point and Lappland being in the middle of a treatment cycle at Rhodes Island. And everyone except Bison was standing in a circle looking at pictures.
“What are you guys looking at... Give me that!” She saw what they were admiring. It was a picture of her smiling. None of them relinquished the image. She sighed, “Who gave you that? Who even took the photo?”
Lappland accidentally broke the silence, “It was Re— a secret admirer of yours~.”
Texas immediately sprinted back to her motorcycle and rode back to Rhodes Island. She needed to know why and how Red has a picture of her smiling from the previous night.
“PRTS Activated. Operator Texas, welcome,” Closure said through her robot voice filter once Texas parked in the garage.
“Hey Closure, where’s Red? Need to talk to her.”
“She is in Hallway 2F on her way to cla— Hey I’m not Closure!” The robot filter stopped working because she slammed on the keyboard when she heard Texas say it.
“Thanks!” Texas rushed to the elevator and rode it up to floor 2. *30 seconds of elevator* She got out of the elevator and ran towards Hallway 2F.
“God I hope I get to class on time. I have a question for Da— Uwah?!” Red bumped into Texas and ended up under her.
The top propped herself up with her arms. Red blushed and looked to the side to avoid eye contact like the shy nerd she is. “Damn that’s kind of cute,” Texas muttered before she cleared her mind and started to question Red. Before Red could answer, however, Texas saw what she dropped: a notebook with several pictures of Texas in it and her phone that was turned on. The background, fittingly, was the same picture of Texas smiling but hearts were edited all around her in the shape of a bigger heart.
“Okay, that’s a little weird but you’re still pretty cute.”
“Texas-senpai... I have to get to class...” Red was acting way too shy; it was like an anime scene.
“Senpai? Ah, how the hell are you so goddamn cute?” Texas was wilding. She went for a kiss and grabbed Red’s wrists.
The Doctor was walking down the hall at the same time. “Red is never late for class. Where is she?” He saw the scene, turned around to leave and then Ifrit pointed back to divert his attention while she ran away from Silence and Saria.
Red was blushing wildly from the kiss. “ohmygod Texas-senpai kissed me…”
Texas picked herself up off the ground and went to pick up Red.
Red was overly flustered by this point. She has never really interacted with anyone besides Amiya and Frostleaf before this. She still took Texas’s hand despite her nerves.
“I wanna bring you somewhere. It’s a long drive but it’ll be only the two of us. Let’s go.” Texas started leading Red by her hand down to the garage.
“Where are we going? I-I really shouldn’t skip classes…” she replied.
“Yeah, sorry about class. This is just an instinct I’m trying to ride. I want to bring you to a place that’s been special to me. Somewhere I’ve never been able to get Exusiai and Lappland to enjoy, but I think you might… Think of it as a date, my little Red.” She normally wasn’t for cheesy nicknames, but she thought it was cute, like Red.
It was a long drive, even though Rhodes only undocked from the city a few days ago. The somewhere Texas praised was an old building in Siracusa nobody used. From the rooftop, the stars were closer than the streets; it was her escape from herself. But there was a certain problem…
“Damn, it’s locked,” Texas complained as she backed up to ram down the door. She started to prepare herself when Red casually threw aside a lockpick she tried to hide from Texas and replied,
“It’s open.”
“Opening the door for me… How cute…” That lockpicking is cool as hell too. She smiled at that thought and gave Red a peck on the cheek as she walked in.
It was a long way up the 89 floors, but it was completely silent besides the footsteps and the breathing. They reached the rooftop and it was stunning. The stars, the city, the world around them. It captivated Red.
“It was an escape from the city. I came here to think; it was always a better place than below for me. Somehow it was also less lonely than being suffocated by just the amount of people around me too… I never really could stand being around others much.”
“I hope… I can make it a little less lonely… because loneliness can hurt… but now we have each other… we could be alone together… Texas, look! A shooting star!” Red said as she pointed and a big grin filled her face. At that moment, Texas took a photo, not of the star, but of Red. And Texas knew what her wish on that star was… to stay with Red forever.
The Next Day
It was another chaotic day at Penguin Logistics. Lappland was there again too. Texas placed her phone on a table and started to tie back her hair and get ready for work.
“Sup Texas,” Exusiai greeted. “I can see a little red in your hair. Did you dye it?”
Then Lappland chimed in, “Oh I can see a little Red somewhere else too.” She was holding Texas’s phone and showing off the background.
“Ooh, Texas, you found yourself a cutie~” Sora giggled.
Texas was red with anger and embarrassment as she started to chase Lappland for her phone, and as she chased Lappland, she dropped that same picture of Red.
Exusiai picked it up and looked at it. “2/17 21:02… huh… There’s a little heart too.”