Just Like You, Only Different

[Ginrei]

I am very saddened that this board has died. =( It used to be one of my favorite reasons to browse the internet!
I don’t really write… like, at all… but I’ve always wanted to post something here. And, erm, it took me three years to do it. =) Haha, seriously, I’ve had bits and pieces of this story done for AGES, but only now have a sizable chunk of the beginning ready to post.
I am not confident with my writing, but I always figured this would be a friendly and small place to test the waters, rather than go straight to somewhere like fanfiction.net. I hope that somebody will see this and want to read it, and if they’re super nice they will tell me where it sucks? I would be most appreciative, even if you’re super-scathing about it!
Aaaand… onwards!!

---------------

I would like to warn you all that this story is pure FLUFF, and is thus mostly pointless. Because of this, I am using the English game-version of names and am not doing my usual “CRAZY EDITOR!” routine, so there might be a few mistakes/ugly names. I’m also aware that this kind of story has been done a million times before... but never EXE style, so I’m going to give it a try!
This is meant, at the very least, just to be a cute story. It’s a little stupid, but I enjoy it. I hope you will too!

Oh, and nothing Megaman.EXE-related belongs to me. Thank Capcom for that.

---------------

Time never changed things much.

“Have faith in your dreams… and someday… rainbow… come shining through…”

Roll smiled fondly at her operator. It was a Tuesday, and that meant it was “Kitchen Cleaning Day”. Every Tuesday for the last sixteen years had been that way.

When Lan Hikari turned five years old, his father gave him his own Net Navi as a birthday gift. Being five, Lan couldn’t help but show off and make all of his friends super jealous. It took Mayl two and a half years of pestering her parents before they relented and bought her Roll. Even though Roll had also been a birthday gift like Megaman, she was one of the most expensive gifts Mayl had ever received. Mayl wanted a fully customizable Navi like Lan had, and, in exchange for getting the more pricy model, she agreed to do more chores and not get extra allowance for doing them.

Roll felt bad about this at first. Mayl told her not to worry; even at the age of seven, Mayl was pretty tidy person, so there were rarely any big messes to clean up. The only chore Mayl did not like was sweeping, because at the time she was too short to hold the broom properly. The only way she could sweep the floor was on her hands and knees with a dustpan and a small brush, which took about four times longer than a broom would have. Because of this, Mayl grew to hate cleaning the kitchen. When it came time to do chores, she always saved that room (and its large linoleum floor) for last.

Roll, wanting to be helpful, suggested that they make the cleaning a game. Mayl’s favorite movie at the time was Cinderella, so Roll told Mayl to pretend she was Cinderella. Mayl was the beautiful heroine, her least favorite cousins were the evil stepsisters, and Roll was her Fairy Godmother. They dedicated Tuesdays solely to cleaning the kitchen, and Roll would play a Cinderella song from her PET so they could sing together as Mayl swept.

Now… It was hard to believe almost sixteen years had passed. Roll closed her eyes and could perfectly picture the slightly chubby seven-year-old cleaning on her knees. The Mayl that was currently sweeping the kitchen was twenty-two years old, 5’4”, and had long red hair that fell about halfway down her back. Looking around the new kitchen, Roll decided that maybe things had—

“Gah! This cabinet still won’t stay shut! I told him when he put it together that it was missing a screw, but would he listen? No!”

No, time didn’t change things much.

Almost two years ago, Mayl married her childhood sweetheart, Lan. After growing up a bit and getting over his obliviousness (and a brief period of shyness), Lan had proved to be quite a dedicated boyfriend. Not wanting to wait until after college, he proposed to Mayl in their sophomore year. That following summer they had a small, happy, and very lavish (thanks to Yai’s insistence that she be both decorator and benefactor) wedding.

After the ceremony, both husband and wife agreed that a small apartment would be best. What they eventually settled on was impossibly small, but it was dirt cheap. They saved as much as they could for a year and a half with the intention of moving somewhere nicer after graduation.

When they finished college, Lan got a full-time job at SciLabs which doubled as his doctorate research, and Mayl became an assistant teacher until she could find a school district that would hire her full-time. Figuring that they were more income-stable and wanting to move closer to SciLabs to avoid the commute, they took the plunge and bought a small home.

Now, they were regretting this decision a little. Roll secretly agreed with them; who knew that moving into a house was so much work? Shaking her head out of memory lane, Roll decided that she should be optimistic about the situation.

“It’s a new house,” she smiled, “of course there’s going to be a few things that need fixing, but think how nice it will look when it’s finished!”

“I know,” moaned Mayl, “but it just seems like we’ve gotten nothing done, and we’ve already been here for two weeks!”

“Do you want me to ask Mega Man to remind him?”

“No. He’ll just get annoyed that I keep pestering him,” Mayl frowned.

“Well…” said Roll pensively, wanting to be helpful, “try “accidentally” banging into that door tonight after dinner. If it slams against the broken frame loudly enough, it will remind him that it’s still broken and you won’t have to say a thing!”

Mayl laughed.

“Clever, but you know he’ll figure it out and blame me. He never believes me when I tell him that you’re the real mastermind behind all these plots.”

Finished sweeping, Mayl crouched down to brush the dust pile that had accumulated into a dustpan.

“Whew. That’s one less thing to do,” she commented, standing back up. “This room looks so much nicer without boxes all… nngh.”

She swayed suddenly, and dropped the dustpan.

“Mayl!” Roll gasped. “Are you alright?”

Mayl blinked a few times.

“Yes, I— oh darn.”

When the dustpan fell, it twisted and fell top down, spilling its contents back onto the floor. With an irritated grunt, Mayl knelt back down to scoop it up again.

“Mayl?”

“I’m fine. Just stood up too quickly.”

Roll bit her lower lip. That would actually be a good excuse if this was Mayl’s only recent dizzy spell. But it wasn’t. This was… what, the fourth? This week? Roll mentally kicked herself for not being more observant.

“Mayl,” she began timidly, “are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“I just said I was fine.”

She was lying. Roll knew Mayl better than any other person in the world, and even though she sounded sincere, she had responded a little too quickly to the question.

“Mayl…”

Mayl gave her the cold shoulder as she again (and more cautiously) stood up. After knocking out the dustpan in the trash and putting away the broom, she sighed and surveyed the room.

“What’s next on our list?”

Roll shook her head. Mayl was probably just tired from the stress of buying and moving into a new house. That had to be it. Mayl was a very motivated person, and nothing, not even sickness, could stand in her way if she had a goal to accomplish.

Nonetheless…

“We’re ahead of schedule,” Roll lied. “Why don’t you plop down on the couch and rest for a minute? You’ve been running around all day.”

Mayl gave her a suspicious look.

“Really! We’re ahead! Well… technically, we’re supposed to unpack your wedding china next, but the chairs for the dining room haven’t arrived yet and I don’t want you standing on a five-dollar-piece-of-unsafe-junk folding chair trying to put fine china into a cabinet. It’s not safe for you or the china.”

That part at least was not a lie.

“Oh. Alright then,” Mayl conceded. “Anything good on TV?”

“Dunno. Let’s see.”

After Mayl was settled on the couch and sufficiently distracted by daytime soap operas, Roll pulled up a small internet window. Very quietly, she searched the word “vertigo”.

---

Two days, three dizzy spells, one shouting match, and one failed threat to tattle to husband later, Roll paced her PET angrily. Mayl had left over an hour ago to pick up a few things from the hardware store, and she had conveniently “forgotten” to take Roll along.

Roll smiled smugly at the grumbling sound of the garage door opening. Two could play at this game…

---

The next day, the phone rang.

“Ack, Roll? Can you get that?”

Surrounded by a sea of boxes and discarded newspaper wrappings, Mayl was trapped. Despite that and the fact that Roll happily agreed to answer the phone, she still made a valiant effort to extricate herself from the mess.

Just as Roll expected, Mayl reached the phone right as she hung up with the caller.

“Shoot. Who was it?”

“Dr. Kawashima.”

“What?” said Mayl, sounding alarmed. “Why? What did she want?”

Roll tried her best not to fidget or display any other of her nervous behaviors. Looking back, what had seemed like a good idea yesterday had only seemed good because she was mad. Now that they had apologized to one another, Roll didn’t want to be responsible for starting another fight.

She took a deep breath. It was too late to go back now.

“It was an automated call confirming your appointment with her at one o’clock tomorrow afternoon.”

“Appoint…? I don’t remember…” Mayl suddenly gave Roll a distrustful stare. “Since when have I had a doctor’s appointment tomorrow?”

“…Since yesterday?”

There was a moment of stunned silence, which unfortunately only lasted a total of ten seconds.

“Roooll!!” cried Mayl. “Why… why would you do something like this without telling me?!”

Roll bit her lower lip and looked away from the screen.

“I was worried,” she said in a small voice.

“Worried about what?” asked Mayl. “I keep telling you it’s nothi—”

“No,” Roll interrupted suddenly.

“What?”

“No!” she repeated, stomping a pink boot down for emphasis. “It’s not nothing! It is something, and I want to find out what it is! If you’re not going to do something about it, I will! I care about you, and I don’t like it when you hide things like this from me! What do you think Lan would say if I told him how long you’ve been hiding a potentially serious problem from him?”

Mayl looked stunned. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

“He would be upset,” Roll continued, now much softer, “like I am. Refusing to acknowledge this problem won’t make it go away, Mayl. We both love you and just want what’s best for you. Please. Even it if it’s nothing, I want to hear a doctor tell us that.

Mayl turned sideways, and hugged her right arm across her chest.

“I just confirmed over the phone with the doctor’s that you were coming tomorrow. Can I please keep that appointment on our schedule?” Roll asked gently.

Mayl gripped the fabric of her shirt so tight that her knuckles began to turn white.

“Yes… yes that’s probably for the best,” she said in a wavering voice. “I…”

Her left hand shot up to hover over her mouth, and Roll noted with alarm that she looked ready to cry.

“Roll, I think I’m pregnant.”

----------

I don't remember if you can edit posts, so I really hope all this doesn't get squished together and I can't edit it to put in spaces between liiines... =(
Also, one last thing: I need a name for this. Does "You Plus Me Equals Three" sound too stupid?

[Midnight]

Editing is fine, I believe.

Let's see, I haven't reviewed a good story of this type in ages. The concept is certainly one that has been done many times already, so I suppose I cannot comment on that. As for your writing, I do not know why you were so apprehensive about posting something here--I felt that you had a strong command of the language in your work. When it came to grammar and spelling, it was equally as good. The spacing was a little annoying at times, since it disrupted the continuity of some of the paragraphs, but that's more of an aesthetic matter than a matter of syntax or content.

As for your title...I would try to go for something more subtle. To an experienced and savvy reader, a title like that would tip them off to the eventual revelation that she is indeed pregnant, so you should try to stay away from that. Something that also would signal to the presence of a third soul, but done more subtly, may be more appropriate.

Hope this helps.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[ElecGuts]

Wow, just wow.

Very good start. I've not been too active since Lan and Lyne (fanfic) seemed to have died, but this was a good read. Thought how you wrote the two of them was good, somewhat better than a lot of authors that I've read work from on here.

Hope to see some more of this.

[Robin.exe]

Very well written I have to say. I haven't really read any stories like these, but very good.

As for the space like Midnight said. Does kinda throw off the paragraph, But does make it easier for some who have trouble reading long paragraphs.

As for title. I..can't really say much that will help..the only three things popping up in my head (Depending whos story is being told, Roll or Maylu.) But seems like its Roll whos telling the story so.

The only thing I have is. "How Times change for you" is the only title I have in mind.

[Ginrei]

Huzzaaaaaaaah! Really the only reason I posted here was to see if I could get it past you, Midnight. =)
I've got about fifty pages of this story done, but none of it is in chronological order, so I haven't been able to put up the next chapter... But I am hoping that things will go a bit faster after this?
Also, new name yay! Thank you everyone for your ideas! =)

---

“What?!” Even though it was rude and didn’t help the situation at all, Roll couldn’t help but stare.

“I-I wasn’t… didn’t go…” Mayl choked, “I didn’t go to the hardware store yesterday. I want to the pharmacy. I wandered around for an entire hour, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy… to buy a test….”

“Oh Mayl…” Roll exhaled, copying her Operator and putting a hand to her mouth.

“But I k-kept going by that isle, and the guy at the counter g-gave me this funny look like he knew what I wanted… I just… just couldn’t do it, Roll.”

“Shh, shh,” Roll shushed gently. “It’s alright.”

“No, no it’s not,” gasped Mayl, starting to succumb to her tears. “I don’t have a real job, Lan’s killing himself working a full-time job and doing PhD research, and we just spent every penny we’ve saved these last two years to buy this stupid house. This is the worst time to get... to g-get pregnant…”

Roll moved her hand from her mouth and clenched it into a fist over her Navi icon, trying her best not to bite her lower lip. Even though she whole-heartedly agreed that this was terrible timing, reaffirming the obvious truth would only upset Mayl further. She hated to see Mayl cry. “Don’t say that, don’t. We don’t know if you’re pregnant; it could be something totally unrelated!”

Mayl began to cry in earnest, so Roll pressed on. “Think about it Mayl. When you said you didn’t want to take birth control, you and I researched a bunch of other options, remember? I looked up all the statistics for you, Mayl, and I checked all of that math. If you’ve been… erm, using everything correctly, there’s like a zero chance that you’re pregnant.”

“Yeah… “like” zero…” Mayl sniffed. She still seemed cheered by that fact, though, and began to clumsily wipe her face clean.

“And… uh… oh!” Struck by a sudden thought, Roll dug through her achieve of financial data for grocery receipts. “Didn’t we buy tampons recently? You haven’t missed a period, have you?”

“I thought of that too,” Mayl hiccupped. “No, I haven’t missed one. My last one was really light, though… I didn’t think much of it at the time, but…” Her face clouded up again.

“But you still had it, right?” Roll interjected, trying to prevent more tears. “That’s got to count for… for something, right?”

Roll knew she was grasping at straws, now. When she was researching Mayl’s obvious symptoms, pregnancy had come up, but she’d thrown it out almost immediately because she knew Mayl was taking precautions against that. Now she was wishing that she hadn’t been so quick to dismiss the idea; the only things she knew about pregnancy were what she’d seen in cliché movies, and that basically amounted to nothing. Roll decided that she should stop talking before she put her foot in her mouth.

“You know what Mayl?” she admitted, trying to be realistic but gentle about it, “I’m not going to lie; you could be pregnant. There’s a definite chance, but you have to remember there’s an even better chance that you’re not. Why don’t you go to Dr. Kawashima tomorrow? She can find out if you are and… well, we’ll deal with the results when we get them, okay?”

Mayl choked on a silent sob and coughed.

“Shh, there’s no reason to freak out until we know for sure. I’ll go with you, you’ll be fine… we can do this…” Roll repeated reassurances over and over like a mantra. After her tenth repetition, she wondered who it was she was trying to reassure.

---

Roll stared absent-mindedly at a poster. It was a full-size illustration of the human circulatory system, with all the major arteries and veins labeled. Roll started at the heart, and began to the read down, focusing mainly on the red arteries. She quickly committed the names of them to memory, but only because she felt a need to do something besides sit quietly. She wondered vaguely what blood vessel it was that pregnant women were supposed to have trouble with. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered Mayl’s mother complaining that she wasn’t allowed to lay on her… well, one of her sides when she was pregnant.

Feeling nervous again, Roll quit staring at the poster. People could complain all they wanted about waiting for hours and hours outside in a waiting room, but it was the ten minutes spent in a small, cold examination room surrounded by strange medical equipment that was truly unpleasant. Roll was suddenly glad she was not the one waiting for the doctor, but instantly regretted the thought; poor Mayl looked so small sitting on the paper-covered recliner.

The heavy wooden door clicked open, and Roll saw Mayl flinch at the noise.

“Hello!” Dr. Kawashima said with a bright smile, striding through the door and shutting it behind her. “It’s been a while since I saw you last. I suppose that’s a good thing, hm?” She laughed, but all Mayl could do was give her a weak smile in return.

Roll thought it was funny: they’d spent ten minutes waiting for the doctor to show up, and now that she was here neither of them wanted her to be here. Roll was very glad that she’d come with Mayl; things like this were always more scary alone.

“So I have a pretty good idea why you’re here—”

“You do?” Mayl asked, furrowing her brow.

“Yes,” the doctor smiled, “you have a very caring and very thorough Navi. When she stopped by yesterday to make an appointment, she gave us a full list of your symptoms.”

Mayl gave her PET an exasperated look. “Oh.”

Roll laughed sheepishly. “I was worried!” she said simply.

“So I’ve got a few ideas what could be going on, and I have a few questions. First, and don’t mind me asking, do you and you husband practice any sort of birth control?”

Roll saw May’s face tinge pink. “W-we do… but…”

Dr. Kawashima nodded her head understandingly. “These things can happen, yes. Well, I think we should test for that first; it seems like the most obvious explanation.”

If possible, Mayl shrank into an even smaller ball on the recliner.

Dr. Kawashima seemed to recognize this type of reaction. Without warning she hopped up on the recliner next to Mayl. The paper crinkled like mad as she got settled and threw an arm around her patient. “Listen,” she said softly, “I’ve seen this a million times, and it’s not as bad as you think. If you are pregnant, I’ve got books and books of things for you to read, advice to give you, people to refer you to… If you’re not, I’ve got a few other things we can look at. One way or another, I promise I’ll do my best to help.”

Roll felt like crying. She had wanted to give Mayl a hug all day long and was overjoyed that someone else had not only noticed that Mayl needed a hug, but actually given her one. It was hard, sometimes, trying to calm someone down when all you had was words.

Dr. Kawashima slid off the recliner with another barrage of crinkling, and motioned for Mayl to do the same. She went to the door, reopened it, and stood aside for Mayl to walk through first. “Don’t worry,” she smiled, “you’ll be fine.”

Mayl nodded mutely, which caused Roll to feel both resentful and relieved. She had said those exact words about fifty times in the last two days, but each time it had gone in one ear and out the other.

Oh well, Roll thought, maybe Mayl is finally listening.

---

It would be cruel, Mayl had said. I’m not too young; I’m happily married; what right do I have to say no to this baby?

Personal feelings on the subject aside, Roll had to agree wither her Net-Op’s reasoning. There was no “if”, only a “when”. A when which, as it turned out, was scheduled for October third.

How do they decide these things? Roll wondered. She wished she had saved a recording of the heartbeat; that was the only thing that had seemed real about today. The tests with their various colors and printouts had meant nothing, and even when the perky young ultrasound technician exclaimed “There it is! There’s your baby!”, all Roll saw was a small white oval on a black triangular background.

Roll marveled at how fast the heartbeat was. It was a soft “wish-wish-wish” kind of sound, but it had also seemed... persistent, somehow. It was as though this little being clinging to life inside of Mayl was trying to say, “I am here!” The sound carried a finality to it that no other piece of proof could. The feeling was further cemented by the sudden proclamation of “The baby is set to be due October third”.

And so, the world had decided Mayl was going to have a baby on October third.

“..ey… Hey! Roll! Roll!”

A hand grabbed Roll by the shoulder and shook her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

She jumped at the sudden touch, but relaxed when she saw that it was just Mega Man, home from work. “Oh. Welcome home. I did not hear you…”

Mega Man stood over her, his face pale and his mouth drawn into a thin line. “Roll, what’s wrong?”

“Huh?” she said absently. She didn’t understand why he looked so worried.

“You only play with your antennae like that when something’s wrong.”

Looking down, Roll noticed for the first time that she was twisting the end of her right antenna in her hands. “Oh.” She wondered why she hadn’t realized earlier; her antenna was really starting to hurt.

Mega Man switched his weight from one foot to the other, a sign that Roll recognized as impatience. “Roll, did something happen? Are you alright?”

Roll went back to staring morosely at the floor. What had happened today didn’t concern him. “Nothing happened. I’m fine.” Without thinking, she reached for her antenna again.

"Roll!” Mega Man grabbed her forearm, pulling it away from her helmet. “You’re not being very convincing!”

“I told you nothing’s wrong,” Roll said, trying to take her arm back.

“And I think you’re lying to me,” Mega Man countered, tightening his grip.

Roll knew she was being uncooperative, but Mega Man’s actions were beginning to scare her. He was never this rough with her. “You’re hurting me. Let go!”

“Tell me what happened first,” he said sternly.

“I told you we’re fine!” Roll shouted, feeling close to tears. She wasn’t some small child he could scold; he had no right to pry into her business.

“We?” Mega Man asked, his eyes widening. “Where is Mayl? Did something happen to Mayl?”

Roll was finding it increasingly hard not to panic. “L-let me go!”

“Tell me first!”

“I promised I wouldn’t!” Roll shouted. She tried to catch Mega Man off guard and twist her arm free, but his grip remained firm.

Mega Man breathed a huff of annoyance. “Well now I definitely know you’re hiding something. Come on Roll, what’s wrong?”

Roll had been expressly forbidden from saying anything to Mega Man, because it was a proven fact that he could not keep secrets from Lan. It was a bit unfair; Roll knew he was just concerned about Mayl, like she’d been all week. Still, she had promised she wouldn’t tell, and Mega Man’s unwillingness to let the matter drop was hurting more than her arm.

Roll shook her head and shut her eyes tightly, as though that could stave off the emotions threatening to overwhelm her. “I can’t… I promised…”

“Just… on a scale from one to ten, how bad it is?” Mega Man sounded as though he was trying very hard to keep his frustration in check. “Or should I go find Mayl and ask her myself?”

“No!” Roll snapped. “Let me go!” She brought up her other hand to help pry the trapped one free, but Mega Man intercepted it on the way. Roll surprised herself by fighting back; she had never hit Mega Man before (intentionally at least), and now she wanted nothing more than to slap him across the face.

Unfortunately, he had quicker reflexes than she did. Before she could even raise her hand, he seized her wrist and brought it down in a crushing grip. “I just want to help! Why can’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

“We don’t need your help!” Roll snarled, her panic turning into anger. “You just love to play the hero, don’t you? Whenever there’s a hint of danger, you and Lan always rush in to save the day because obviously Mayl and I are too weak and pathetic to do anything on our own.”

Mega Man was taken aback. “I never said that,” he exhaled, forgetting to shut his mouth when he was done.

“But it’s what you’re doing! What you always do,” she shouted directly into his face. “I know that sometimes we’re not as strong as you and Lan, and… and we can’t win every fight… but that doesn’t mean we’re weak! We don’t need to be saved from every little thing; we can handle our problems on our own, even if we lose.”

Mega Man said nothing to this, but stared at her, hurt. Roll felt her anger seep away. She had wanted to tell Mega Man that for years… It was the truth, even if it hurt, but now that she had admitted it to him (and to herself), all she wanted to do was cry. She had no idea why, and it infuriated her; crying would go against everything she was trying to prove. Roll lowered her eyes to the floor, trying to blink away the prickle of tears.

Mega Man let out a long, even breath, another sign which Roll knew to mean “thinking”. After a moment he mumbled, “I’m sorry. I know you can take care of yourself. You’re a very strong Navi, often in ways I am not. It’s just…” He chuckled and tilted his head back. “Lan says I nag too much, but really I just worry about people too much. And when I worry, I get over protective. I can’t help it.”

Roll kept her eyes glued to the floor. “You can’t protect me from everything.”

“That doesn’t mean I won’t try.”

Roll could perfectly envision the kind, gentle smile she knew Mega Man was giving her right now. On any normal day it would have made her heart skip a beat, but today it made her want to slap him again. He had just made a 180° switch from “stronger-than-you-and-angry” to his normal shy and quiet self in a matter of seconds; was she supposed to pretend that the former hadn’t happened? Even if he was just trying to protect her, how did crushing her arms accomplish that?

“Roll?”

Again without looking, she could picture his sympathetic eyes. “I don’t want your pity. I t-told you… I’m not weak,” she said, trying her best to keep her voice steady. It wasn’t working; her resolve was crumbling. Frantically trying to think of something else, Roll was suddenly aware how numb her hands had gone. Feeling stupid, she nudged her arms towards Mega Man and mumbled, “Hurts.”

He dropped her wrists and whipped his hands up in surrender, like a thief caught red-handed. “I’m sorry! I-I didn’t mean…”

Roll shook her head. “No. It’s alright.” She wasn’t sure how to respond, and had a bad feeling any response would end up with her in tears. Mega Man was never very aware of how strong he was; he had a talent for missing details, like Lan.

Both Navis turned at the sound of a bang. It was followed by a low grumble, which identified the noise as the garage door opening. Mega Man glanced back at Roll, and she knew his eyes were asking if he could go watch the impending drama.

Roll was conflicted. “I’m not even sure if I want to watch this train wreck of a conversation. I don’t know… if Mayl wants me there.”

“When Lan is upset,” Mega Man said softly, “I usually walk in and where he can see me, and then let him decide if he wants me there or not.”

At the mention of the word “upset”, Roll wondered if Mayl was still curled up on the couch pretending not to cry; it was that thought that spurred her forward towards the computer monitor in the living room. “Come on,” she said, beckoning with a wave for Mega Man to follow, “let’s go find out.”

----


Hhm, hhhhm, a few things might get changed before I post this anywhere else...