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Zero stood on the cabin’s porch, quivering in the freezing cold, clutching their bouquet of roses like it was the only thing they had left.
They’d somehow mustered up the courage to FINALLY talk to Fifteen, the number of their dreams. She was so strong, and beautiful (or handsome?), and badass, and—not gonna lie—REALLY hot. They didn’t talk much, but from what they’ve seen and heard about the red algebralien, she was probably the coolest one out of all of them (sorry, Nine). But come ON. Fifteen had a flamethrower. She was covered in a bunch of scars she probably got from fights—all of which she most likely won, could chop down an entire tree with just one swing, AND could sustain herself all alone in a cabin on the top of a mountain. Zero had wondered if she ever got lonely up there—well, she went to pretty extreme lengths just for others to leave her alone, but that’s different—so they decided to pay her a visit.
One small problem, though.
Zero hadn’t taken it into account that there was a BLIZZARD up in the mountains. They’d trudged all the way up to the peak, narrowly dodging multiple booby traps and almost getting their foot caught in a bear trap, leaving them tired and practically freezing to death. Their apparel didn’t help much either. They usually wore a big, chunky blue cardigan on top of a white long-sleeve dress shirt with a yellow tie, which USUALLY would be enough to keep them warm. On the other hand, they REALLY should have worn actual boots and pants—shorts and leg warmers with sneakers just weren’t enough to keep out the cold, which was gnawing at their legs and feet. They had a light grey bob, but their cap—Euler’s identity printed on the front—barely did anything to keep their head warm.
The short gray algebralien glanced down at the bouquet of roses they’d bought for Fifteen, which were now frozen over and covered in snow due to being dropped in a river by accident on the way to the lone cabin. They frowned down at the gift, teeth chattering profusely. “ Would she even like these? ” they thought to themselves. “ Fifteen doesn’t really seem like a flower person, but I don’t think the drugstore sells machine guns or chainsaws… ” They clutched the ruined bouquet even harder. “ Oh, god. What if she sees how fucked-up the roses are?! A gift she doesn’t even like, AND they’re completely ruined on top of that?!? She’s gonna get my ass… ”
Zero dreaded the thought of getting clocked in the face by Fifteen, but also… kind of liked it. They imagined themselves being pushed down onto the snow by that red heartthrob, who would probably crush them under her huge combat boots. She’d probably pound them to a pulp and leave them there bleeding in the snow, all beat-up with some broken bones, probably, and Zero would STILL apologize. Those big, bulging arms… those wide shoulders… She could–
W H O O O O O O O O S H .
“GAH! WHAT THE–”
The gray algebralien was torn from their thoughts by a sudden gust of wind, which sent their hat careening off the porch, headed straight for one of the many warning signs that surrounded Fifteen’s cabin. They dropped their roses and rushed after the cap, tumbling off of the porch’s side railing, sneakers crunching in the snow.
“H-HEY!!”
Zero finally caught their favorite hat in their hands, but not until–
SNAP!
“ ACK! ”
They’d fortunately—but EXTREMELY narrowly—dodged yet another bear trap. Their untied sneaker, on the other hand, fell off during the process and was lodged between the trap’s steel jaws. Zero stared at the trap, then sighed, shakily trudging through the blizzard to the front of Fifteen’s porch again and adjusting their cap.
It was a short, but very painful experience. Their feet were killing them, and by the time they’d reached the front porch again, they could barely feel their right foot, sock drenched in the freezing cold. Zero stared at the bouquet on the floor for a moment, let out a trembling sigh, then picked it up, holding it with both of their arms.
They turned their eyes towards Fifteen’s door, disregarding the “Leave Me ALONE” sign plastered onto it. If it weren’t practically below zero—ha—outside, they would be sweating bullets. “ Fuuuuuuck, what’s she gonna think when she sees me like this? ” they said to themselves in their mind. “ She’s probably going to think I’m so pathetic. And not even in the way Six thinks Nine’s pathetic—she’s going to THROW ME OFF OF HER PORCH. ” Zero clutched the bouquet even tighter. “ Oh, god. She’s going to feel SO insulted. Not only is someone trespassing, but they’re trespassing with a RUINED GIFT. If I don’t die on the way back home, everyone’s going to laugh at me. And if I DO die, nobody will even think of recovering me, and– ”
“ Oh my fucking god, Zero, SHUT UP, ” they reminded themselves. They couldn’t be having themselves going down another spiral—they were TALKING TO THEIR CRUSH FOR THE FIRST TIME, DAMMIT. They pinched themselves under their cardigan, which hurt… way less than it should have. Damn, the cold was REALLY getting to them–okay, okay let’s just GET TO THE FUCKING POINT.
The short gray algebralien turned towards Fifteen’s front door, kind of bracing themselves for impact. Shaky deep breath in, shaky deep breath out. They switched their bouquet to their trembling right hand, which they hid behind their back.
Now it was time for the moment of truth.
Zero held the front of their fist up to Fifteen’s front door, hovering for a moment. Shakier deep breath in, even shakier deep breath out.
knockknockknock
“H-hello? Are you, uh… there?”
They stepped a pace away from the door, just in case the red algebralien decided to slam it open. Didn’t want a splinter or a bruise. Then they waited for a few minutes.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
…No answer.
Zero slouched a little, then let out a shaky sigh. “ Of course she’s not answering, ” they told themselves in their mind. “ I’m trespassing on her property. She’s probably gonna be so pissed off. I’m never going back here again. ”
Just as they turned away from the door, another thought crossed their mind. “ Wait. I hiked all the way up here in shorts and sneakers. I dodged all those booby traps. I saved this bouquet from the river, and I MADE IT TO HER FRONT DOOR. ” They straightened up, bouquet in hand, then slightly turned their head back towards the door. “ I CAN’T let all that go to waste! ”
They ran towards the door. Knocked on it again. Shakily called out that red heartthrob’s name.
…
…Still no answer.
Zero frowned, then pulled their cap over their face, placing the bouquet on the porch floor and stuffing their hands in their pockets. “ You know what? ” they thought to themselves again. “ This really IS stupid. Come on, Zero, you KNEW she wasn’t going to answer. She’s so much cooler than you, AND stronger than you, AND smarter—and on top of that, she doesn’t like other people trespassing on her property. ”
“ Might as well go home and suck it up. You don’t deserve someone like Fifteen, anyway. ”
After trudging through the snow and reaching the front of Fifteen’s porch—just in front of the steps, Zero sat down on the ground and hugged their freezing knees, pulling them up close to their chest and letting themselves be coated head to toe in snow. They hid their face behind their knees, face burning despite the cold. The gray algebralien shook a little, feeling tears build up in their eyes. They hugged their knees even harder now, slightly digging their nails into their pudgy legs.
They were too drowned in their own thoughts to hear the shuffling coming through the cabin.
The front door slammed open, followed by the pungent stench of sweat, ashes and cigarettes, which startled Zero out of their depression. They whipped their head around to look behind them, and ohhhhh my god .
“Okay, WHO IS IT THIS TIME?! I swear, if it’s that blue fuck and that annoying pale twig she has for a–”
Fifteen cut herself off as she locked eyes with the pudgy gray algebralien huddled in front of her doorstep. The red algebralien’s shoulders relaxed a little, and the other’s face seemed to turn a bright pink, once again sweating nonexistent bullets.
Gulp .
The two exchanged a few minutes in silence until Zero sheepishly waved at the number of their affection, still trembling.
“Hhhh… hi.”
Three more minutes of deafening silence.
Fifteen blinked.
“...Oh. Just you.”
The hulking red algebralien approached Zero. She was wearing a dark red parka with pale brown fur lining the hood on top of cargo pants of an even darker red, covering boots that were a similar shade to her jacket. Her hood covered her head, which was half-shaved—the rest of her hair reaching her cheek—and had bull-like horns of a similar color to her hair. Her bushy eyebrows rested on top of heavily scarred—but still functional—eyes, one of which had a dark bruise under it. Zero examined the bruise, wondering how their crush even got it in the first place, but ended up getting lost in her eyes. Fifteen must have been saying something, since the short gray algebralien was once again torn from their amorous thoughts, this time by the bigger algebralien lightly kicking their back—just enough for it to kind of hurt, but not enough for it to actually hurt Zero.
“HEY.”
“G-GAH–! Y-yes, ma’am– I mean–”
Fifteen frowned at the relatively smaller algebralien, who scrambled to fix their hat and cardigan. They continued to stutter and fidget—occasionally sneezing—while avoiding eye contact with the number they had a crush on, who so happened to be towering above them.
“Well, I– you know, uh– I–”
Fifteen crossed her arms. She had a half-finished cigarette in her mouth, and Zero couldn’t help but notice that she held the frozen-over bouquet in one of her gloved hands. “What the hell are you even doing outside?” she asked the trembling algebralien, gesturing at them. “It’s freezing out here. You don’t even have the right clothes.”
Zero glanced down at their clothes, then to the bouquet, then back up at Fifteen. Pink-faced, they cleared their throat and tried to straighten their tie, although their shaky hands didn’t do them any good.
“Uh… I-I decided to, um… come up here to, uh… y-you know, like– h-HEY!”
The smaller algebralien was cut off by their crush suddenly picking them up and hoisting them over her left shoulder in a fireman's carry. Flustered out of their mind, they didn’t say a word as Fifteen brought them into her one-room cabin and tossed them onto her couch, shutting the door behind her. Taking her jacket off and tossing it to the side, she pointed at the still-shaking algebralien, who hugged their knees in one corner of the wooden couch.
“You stay right there, you hear me?”
The neutral integer briefly glanced towards the fireplace in front of them, then back at Fifteen. They nodded.
“Good.”
Zero watched as Fifteen—the cigarette now gone from her mouth—grabbed the fur blanket off of her bed—also wooden—and lay it over them. As she smoothed the blanket out, the shorter algebralien wondered if it was real fur or not—but was almost instantly distracted by their crush’s arms, exposed by her off-white tank top along with some hair under them. Fifteen’s arms were bulky, muscular and covered in scars and bandages. Zero didn’t say a word, but their face, tinted pink, and their widened eyes simply said “Wow.”
The smaller was torn from their fantasies as Fifteen left them to retrieve a kettle from her stove—if you could even call it that—then waited for it to cool for a little and proceeded to pour the contents into a mug. While their crush prepared something for herself, Zero was once again left with their own thoughts.
“ Wow, ” they once again said to themselves in their mind. “ She just… let me in like that. Not even telling me to get off her property. She just threw me in her cabin. Poof. Like that. ” They looked back at the red algebralien.
“ But why? ”
Taking a swig from the mug, Fifteen sat herself down on the couch next to Zero, manspreading and causing the couch to dip slightly. As she drank, the algebralien next to her returned their attention to her arms. Zero pulled their blanket (well, it was Fifteen’s blanket, but still) over their mouth to hide how red their face had turned from being so close to someone like her. Zero’s thoughts turned to how Fifteen must have gotten so big—she’d probably built this whole thing by herself. They imagined her carrying an axe to chop down trees, carrying lumber to put an entire house together. She must have been so tired, and probably really sweaty. REALLY damn sweaty. Zero’s face grew even redder, imagining a drenched Fifteen carrying a bunch of logs in one muscular arm, using her free hand to wipe the sweat off of her brow. “ FUUUHUHUUUUCK, THAT’S HOT, ” they thought to themselves, pulling the blanket even higher.
Fifteen, seemingly finished with half her drink, set the mug down on the table next to the couch. She then turned to the neutral integer, whose face was nearly as red as her own hair.
“Still cold?” she asked, dusting her cargos off.
The smaller didn’t answer. Their eyes, staring at her arms, were practically as big as dinner plates. Fifteen scowled a little.
“Hey. I asked you a question.”
Still no answer. Just them staring at her arms.
Fifteen frowned, then turned her whole body to the number next to her and snapped her fingers loudly, seemingly startling them out of their fantasies.
“ HEY. ”
“ EYES ARE UP HERE, ZERO. ”
“GAH!”
The bigger algebralien turned her body back towards the fireplace, but she still faced Zero. She ran her fingers through her short red hair, rolling her eyes and exhaling, then made eye contact with the smaller algebralien.
“Are you still cold, Zero?” Fifteen asked, now resting her arms on her knees. Zero stared for a moment, then cleared their throat and shifted their blanket so that it only reached up to their pudgy stomach. They fidgeted with their tie and straightened their cap.
“Uuuuhhhh, no! N-no, not at all, um… no! I’m, uh, not cold, haha…”
Zero frantically glanced off to the side, vigintillions of thoughts running through their head. Most of them said “ SHE KNOWS MY NAME OH GOD SHE KNOWS MY NAME I MEAN I SHARE THE EXACT SAME NAME WITH AT LEAST FOUR OTHER PEOPLE BUT HOLY SHIT SHE KNOWS MY NAME. ”
Fifteen gave Zero a slightly puzzled look, then responded with a simple “hm” and picked her mug back up again, taking another swig from it. Zero eyed the mug, then opened their mouth to speak.
“So, uh, what’s that?”
“What?”
“The– the thing you’re drinking. The– you know, uh,” Zero gestured towards Fifteen’s drink, “the mug. What’s in there?”
Fifteen finished her drink, wiped her mouth, then set the mug down. “Hot cider,” she replied. “It’s all gone, though. Why, you wanted some?”
Zero cleared their throat again. “Uuuuuuhhh, no. I’m pretty good, thanks.”
The bigger algebralien shrugged, then got up off of the couch to go get something. A minute later, she came back with a lighter and a box of cigarettes, sticking one in her mouth and setting it ablaze. She stuffed the lighter in one of her pockets. As she sat back down on the couch, once again manspreading, Zero’s face turned a slight pink.
“ FUCK, she’s hot, ” they thought to themselves, staring at Fifteen. They didn’t dare say their thoughts out loud. After a little while, the red algebralien once again caught the gray algebralien staring. She took the cig out of her mouth, blowing smoke, then turned to face a relatively flustered Zero.
“The hell are you staring at?” she asked the gawking integer, who promptly tried to regain their composition.
They cleared their throat again, eying Fifteen’s cigarette.
“ Okay Zero, do NOT do anything stupid, ” the gray algebralien thought to themselves, staring at the cig in their crush’s mouth.
A few seconds of deafening silence passed, but it felt like at least a millennia before Zero spoke.
“Can I have one?”
“ FUCK. ” The smaller cursed themselves in their head. Really? Well, they were old enough—their 247,000th birthday was a couple of months ago—but were they REALLY just going to ask their extremely attractive and badass butch of a crush for a cig like that? Plus, they’d never even smoked before. They saw Six and Nine do so in front of them, but those two had been doing that for YEARS. They were both at least 30,000 years older than them.
Fifteen took the cig out of her mouth and glared at Zero, puzzled at what the other had just blurted out of theirs. Something like that—all nerdy, bookish, awkward and actually kind of cute—wanted to SMOKE? Weird. It was like giving alcohol to a rabbit. Did they even know how to light a cigarette? She looked off to the side, scratched the back of her neck, then exhaled. She pulled a cig out of the box next to her, then handed it to Zero.
“Fine,” she scoffed. “Knock yourself out.”
Zero stared for a little, then gently snatched the cigarette from Fifteen’s hand, fingers lightly grazing against each other. They stared at the cig for a little, positioning it between two of their fingers like they’d seen Six and Nine do. The neutral integer pursed their lips, then just stared at the orange stick. They stuck it in their mouth, then briefly took it out again, making eye contact with their crush. Fifteen scowled at Zero, causing them to avert their eyes and slightly tilt their cap over their face in embarrassment.
“Uh…”
“Let me guess,” Fifteen replied, reclining her muscular arms behind her head. Zero noticed that she had a bit of a tummy, but averted their eyes again. “Never smoked before, have you.”
The shorter number gulped, then stayed quiet for a little while. They shook their head no, ever-so-slightly blushing. Fifteen scoffed, repressing a chuckle, then moved closer to Zero, who gawked up at her like she was some kind of angry bear or a wolf about to attack. The taller number pulled her lighter out of her pocket, flipped it open, then held it close to the other’s cigarette. She looked Zero dead in the eyes, making the latter’s face turn bright red.
“You have to breathe in to light it,” said Fifteen. The algebralien in front of her simply nodded.
Zero inhaled through the cig, attempting to light it. Unfortunately for them, the pressure of being so close to the number of their dreams had kind of gotten to them. They took a sharp breath in and-
COUGHCOUGHCOUGH HACK *SPUTTER* COUGH ACK COUGHCOUGH HACK.
The gray algebralien started coughing profusely, cap and cig falling onto the rough wooden floor, still unlit. They caught themselves on one arm of Fifteen’s couch, the larger number staring at them. She shrugged, stuffed the lighter in her pocket, then rested her head on her fist, watching Zero’s coughing fit in front of her. Surprisingly enough, she didn’t dig or snub at them, not saying anything at all.
When Zero FINALLY stopped sputtering, they wiped their mouth and awkwardly picked their hat up off the ground. As they adjusted it onto their head, they noticed Fifteen staring at them. The neutral integer’s face turned redder than it was before, flopping their body back onto the wooden couch. They pulled their cap completely over their face in shame, groaning. The taller number gave them a look.
“What?”
Zero peeked at her from under their cap, then pulled it back over their face, redder than ever. “Nothing,” they lied, teeth gritting, “just— UUUUUURRRRRRRRRRGGGGH .” To be completely honest, they felt like burning up into a pile of ashes right on the spot. They’d COMPLETELY fucked up literally just inhaling—and RIGHT IN FRONT OF FIFTEEN. FIFTEEN! The gray algebralien felt awful. She’d probably laugh at them and tell them they were useless and it’s not like they’d complain but still–
The larger number scoffed, but not exactly in a condescending way. She got back to her own cigarette, taking a puff. She turned her eyes to Zero, who looked like they were about to blow her cabin up, and smiled—wait, smiled?
“Hey. Happened to me the first time I tried one.”
The number next to her pulled their cap slightly above her face, eyes still wide as dinner plates. They sheepishly looked off to the side, eventually repositioning their cap back on the top of their head, revealing their somewhat-less-reddened face.
“Um. Okay.”
For about the last time, Fifteen and Zero exchanged a few more minutes of deafening silence, the former managing to finish up her cigarette. She got it up to flick it out in the fireplace, then returned to where she was sitting, resting one arm behind her and one on the couch’s armrest—manspreading yet again. Zero fidgeted with their tie.
“Uh, so…”
The red algebralien eyed the shorter one next to her, raising an eyebrow.
“What?”
Zero cleared their throat again, refusing to make eye contact. Fifteen didn’t mind, though. “W-why did you… you know, just, uh… let me in like that?” they asked, still fidgeting with their necktie. “From– well, from what I know, you hate having other people around a-and, um…” They got quiet. “Yeah.”
Fifteen ran her fingers through her hair again. “Well, you looked… how do I put this… uh, sad. And cold.” She turned towards Zero. “You might as well have frozen over like that lake nearby. And, uh…”
A few seconds of silence.
“I felt bad,” she added, staring into the fireplace.
The shorter one blinked. Hold on. Fifteen felt… bad for them? And she knew their name? AND she didn’t make fun of them for completely fucking up that cigarette? What was going on? Was this some kind of weird fever dream? Were they entirely sure that Six and Nine didn’t just add themselves together and– you know what, fuck it. They stared into the campfire as well, hugging themselves, legs close together.
“ Come on, Zero, ” they told themselves in their mind, “ she’s probably just trying to be nice. You were practically freezing to death out there, and she’d probably hate having a corpse on her property. Don’t hype yourself up. ” They stopped themselves. “ But then again, she wouldn’t have done this if it were Six or Nine instead… and ESPECIALLY not Fourteen. God, that guy’s fucking awful. But there’s clearly something going on here! She hasn’t even told you to get out, and you’ve been here for at least an hour or a half. That’s clearly longer than Nine’s been here trying to get her sunglasses back. ”
They continued to stare into the fire for a little while, then turned their eyes to Fifteen, whose mind seemed to be somewhere else. She was suddenly torn from her thoughts—whatever she was thinking—by Zero hugging her around her waist, lying themselves down on the couch, eyes closed and smiling from ear to nonexistent ear. She looked down on the number hugging her, puzzled.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Zero’s eyes shot open, the sudden realization of what they were doing bursting into their mind like Fourteen into Ten’s house. They quickly pulled themselves away from Fifteen, sitting up on the couch and gripping their knees. They once again gulped.
“Um. Uh. Well, uh– um. Uuuuuhhhhhh, well, I was cold, and, uh–”
The larger algebralien simply smiled at them. “I’ll give it a pass,” she remarked, staring back into the fireplace.
Zero blinked, bedazzled by what she just said, then smiled back at Fifteen. “Thanks,” they replied, rubbing the back of their neck.
The latter looked back at Zero, smile fading.
“You still didn’t answer my question earlier, though.”
“H-huh? What question?”
“What are you even doing up here, and why were you so close to my house?”
Zero flinched, beginning to sweat bullets. Their eyes darted across Fifteen’s cabin, hands turning clammy. Their face turned nearly as red as the fire in front of them.
“UM. WELL. UHH, YOU KNOW, I– UH– UUUUUUURRRRRGHHH. ”
They buried their burning face in their hands. “ Fuuuuuck, how am I even going to TELL her?! ” they panicked. “ She’s so badass, and extremely hot– I MEAN BEAUTIFUL, and she could never be with anyone like me, and she could NEVER know about the pillow. NEVER. N E V E R . ”
After a little while, Zero raised their still-burning face above their trembling hands, slightly pulling their cap over their face again. They fumbled with their tie, anxiously bouncing their leg, then took a few deep breaths in, then a few deep breaths out. “ Okay, Zero, ” they thought to themselves. “ Do NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT , fuck this up. ”
Zero forced themselves to make eye contact with that red heartthrob, hands still fumbling with their tie.
“I-I-I, well, um… well, uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” they started, face slowly growing pinker, then redder, “well, I… think you’re really cool, and, uh… ithinkyou’resupercoolandprettyandithoughtyou’dgetlonelyuphereandsoiwantedtocomesayhianduh–”
Fifteen gave them a look. “Get to the point.”
Zero began shaking like they did outside, hands turning clammy, sweating bullets. They dug their fingers into the brim of their cap, tore it off their head, and held it in front of their face like a shield.
“ I LIKE YOU, OKAY?! THERE!! NOW YOU HAVE IT!!! ”
Fifteen simply blinked at Zero, who’d dropped their hat and covered their mouth with both of their hands. They bent down to pick it up, repositioned it into their head, and pulled it over their face again.
“O-ohhhhhh, my god. I– uh, well, I’m so sorry I yelled like that, and, uh–”
The taller one got up off of her seat and put one big hand on Zero’s shoulder, earning a squeak from the gray algebralien. “Hey,” she said. Her voice was lower than it usually was. “It’s fine.”
Zero gulped again. From their time on the couch, they’d forgotten just how huge Fifteen was—how she towered over them like the apartment building they and multiple other algebraliens lived in. “Umm… so, uh…”
“I’ll consider it,” Fifteen added with a smile.
The shorter one stared for a while, but couldn’t repress the grin forming on their face. They felt like a trillion pounds had been lifted off their shoulders.
For the second time, they threw their arms around Fifteen.
And she returned the favor.
— one week later —
Zero finished the last of their coffee, discarding the paper cup in a nearby trash can with a slight spring in their step. They headed over to the swings in the Equation Playground, slightly pulling their cap over their eyes so as to, well, not go blind. The sun was high in the sky today, and there wasn’t a single cloud in sight. It was pretty hot, too—Zero had taken their cardigan off but was STILL sweating. They slowly swung themselves on the swing, but noticed something light blue in the corner of their eye. The neutral integer’s face lit up, realizing it was their friend Six. Surprisingly enough, her stupid idiot loser girlfriend partner Nine wasn’t tagging along.
“Oh! Hey, Six!” Zero exclaimed, hopping off the swings to give their friend a high-five.
“Hey,” she replied, stuffing one of her hands in one of her cargo pants’ many pockets. She gave her beaming friend a questioning look, which they returned.
“What?”
The blue algebralien shrugged and scratched the back of her neck. “Nothing, just… you seem WAY happier than usual today.” She gave them that look again, stuffing both her hands in her pockets. “Also, where the fuck were you last week? Seven thought you were dead.”
Zero’s smile disappeared, their face turning a slight pink. “Oh.”
“Uuuuuhhhhhh, I was… on a hike?”
Six blinked. “A hike? ”
“Well, uh, I figured I needed some, uh… fresh air! Yeah, uh, fresh air.”
“What were you doing at the drugstore, then? I saw you walk out with a shit-ton of flowers while getting Nine’s meds.”
Zero froze. Six stared at them for a little while.
“...Those were for Fifteen, weren’t they.”
“...Y-yeah.”
“She didn’t kick you out or anything?”
“What? Uh, no– no, uh…”
The blue algebralien squinted at her friend, then shrugged.
“Okay,” she noted, “good for you. See you later.”
Zero fiddled with their tie as Six left the swings to probably go smoke with Nine.
“Uh… yeah! See ya!” they added, beaming—kind of.
That was when they remembered. A look of realization grew on their face.
“ FUCK, THE FLOWERS, ” they said to themselves in their mind. At this point, it was becoming a habit of theirs. “ How could I forget?! They’re probably rotting somewhere near Fifteen’s cabin or being used as fuel for the fire or bait for– okay, okay, SHUT UP. ”
Zero sat themselves down on the ground near the swingset, hugging their knees again. They frowned, but they didn’t feel nearly as awful as they did before Fifteen let them into her cabin. They remembered her letting them have a place to stay and—surprisingly enough—hugging them back with her big, muscular, sweaty arms okay Zero SNAP OUT OF IT.
They rested their chin on their hand, thinking about how the number of their dreams had smiled at them.
“I’ll consider it,” Fifteen added with a smile.
How was she now?
—
Meanwhile, up in her cabin, Fifteen took a puff out of another cigarette. She really had to stop doing this. As she blew the smoke out of her mouth, she glanced at the soggy roses she’d put in a makeshift vase—a boot that no longer fit her.
She thought about Zero, how nerdy and bookish they were and how they were admittedly kind of cute confessing their love to her, hat in front of their reddened face.
Putting the cigarette back in her mouth, she chuckled a bit to herself
and smiled.