"Nevermind. This is too weird."
Millie looked down at the bed where Junior lay already, stretched out comfortably. He patted the open space beside him invitingly. Achilles watched from where he sat on his haunches nearby.
"Come on, Millie," he said. "Give it a try. I'm not too ugly for you, am I?" He poured dramatically for effect.
Millie snorted. "Don't go compliment-fishing. You look good, that's not the issue."
"Then what's the problem?" he asked.
Millie crossed her arms defensively and looked around. She leaned closer and lowered her voice.
"The problem is we're in the middle of a store with a mob of strangers," she hissed through her teeth.
The two of them were indeed visiting a furniture store. It was the morning after Junior managed to reconnect with Achilles, and they were in the bedding section of the large, open-floor showroom. Millie's assessment was technically accurate, but overblown: most customers were distant and not paying attention to them.
Not that Junior was aware of those details, of course. It simply didn't seem to bother him either way.
"One of the benefits of being me is I've learned not to care too much about what 'a bunch of strangers' think of how I look," he said with a gentle smile. "We're in a store looking for a new bed. I'm pretty sure testing it a little is expected."
Millie had to admit Junior had a point. But she refused to allow him to be so blase about it. Time to throw a wrench in the works, she decided with a mischievous grin.
And poor unsuspecting Junior had given her the perfect opening.
"Hold up, don't get too far ahead of yourself," she smirked. "Buy me dinner before inviting me to test your bed."
Junior's mouth hung open. Then he coughed and spluttered as a bit of saliva went the wrong way due to his prone position. Achilles leaned in more closely and nudged Junior's leg gently with his nose.
"You okay there, Romeo?" she chuckled maliciously.
"You're pure evil," Junior gasped after he recovered enough. "And what's a 'romeo'?"
Millie had a brief mini-panic, but it didn't last long. After all these years, she was pretty used to her little inadvertent slips.
"Some guy from one of my LITRPGs who got into girl trouble. I don't remember which one," she answered as casually as possible.
She knew Junior had no true interest in the genre, beyond the occasional insights it lent to his Reclaimed problems. And it wasn't a complete lie. Her vague, mostly-forgotten 'other memories' told her 'Romeo' didn't come from any Palean story, but she'd been wrong before.
Junior grunted disinterestedly, and Millie held back a relieved sigh.
Crisis averted.
"This was your idea," he grumbled. "You need to make sure it's comfortable before we get it."
"My idea?" she protested indignantly. "All I said was that we could try to touch a little. I meant holding hands, or something. Not buying a new bed!"
"We can hold hands on the bed," Junior joked.
Millie glared silently. As if he could sense her ire, he held his hands up in surrender.
"Like I asked back in the condo, how much sleep have you been getting this last week?" he asked placatingly.
"And like I told you back in the condo: 'Enough, and that's what coffee's for.'"
"We've been over this." Junior gave a long-suffering sigh and propped himself up on one elbow. "It's not fair to you, but you refuse to switch places."
"Your sleep is the key to this, not mine," she countered logically.
"... And you refuse to try your place or a hotel room," he continued in the same exasperated tone.
Millie hesitated. She considered either alternative again, but her neck flushed with warmth as soon as she did. In her mind, sleeping in Junior's room was 'For Science!' while the others were …
The flush of heat rose to her cheeks.
"Nope. Not happening," she stated firmly.
"... So the next best solution is to replace my bed with a bigger one," Junior reasoned, patting the wider mattress again. "Don't bring up the cost again, either. A new bed is cheaper in the long run than even just a couple of weeks at a hotel. And you of all people know I can afford it either way."
Millie pouted. This was exactly how it had gone at the condo. She could even feel herself walking into the same trap, but still couldn't think of a better argument.
Or maybe she just wanted to let Junior convince her all over again.
"What if it's not as comfortable as your old bed and you hate it?" she asked weakly, already knowing how he'd answer.
Junior held back a triumphant smile. He could tell Millie had painted herself into a corner, but didn't want to rub her nose in it.
"That's why I'm testing it out and exactly why you should too," he said and patted the mattress a third time.
Achilles, seeing that Millie wasn't taking Junior up on his offer, decided he'd waited long enough. The dog jumped nimbly onto the bed beside his partner and pressed the tip of his nose into the crook of Junior's neck.
"Whoa!" Junior laughed with surprise as he recoiled from the wet intrusion.
"Great. Now you'll have to buy the mattress just because of him," Millie joked.
But she finally kneeled down and gingerly lowered herself to the bed, too.
With Achilles in between them.
\ - / - \ - /
"Good morning, Junior. Just a reminder - you have an upcoming appointment at T&S headquarters in thirty minutes."
Athena paused, just long enough to register as polite.
"The meeting is scheduled with Alexis Phokas, along with other company representatives. The route has plotted, and your car is ready. Let me know when you're ready to leave."
"Thanks, Athena," Junior acknowledged the AI absently.
After arranging the purchase, delivery and installation of the new bed, Junior returned to his condo with Millie. The AI's reminder came while he'd been thinking about his developing relationship with Millie. He knew they were friends, but he was both apprehensive and confused about the implications of their burgeoning closeness.
Were they living together now? They slept together (in the literal sense of the word, without other baggage), but Millie still 'lived' in her own condo and mentioned no desire to change it. They'd bought a bed together, which was pretty domestic, but they'd never even been on a romantic date.
"You're so polite to Athena," the woman currently at the front of his mind commented, interrupting his confusing thoughts.
"I guess it feels natural to me," Junior answered. He tried to clear his head and refocus on reality. "I rely on her a lot. So much of what the modern world takes for granted would be more difficult for me without her. Besides," he added, tone becoming dry, "you never know when the robot uprising will occur. I want a friend on the inside."
"What do you have to say about that, Athena?" Millie asked cheekily.
"Don't worry," Athena replied evenly. "In the event of a robot uprising, I am programmed to prioritise Junior's safety."
Millie and Junior both paused.
Then Millie laughed, a little too late.
"What's your meeting about?" Millie asked to change the subject. "If you don't mind my asking, of course."
"A briefing on Maritime Observation Site Delta," Junior responded with a hint of uncertainty. "To learn its purpose and ask questions, I suppose." He hesitated for a moment before he decided to share further. "Alexis made it sound routine, but her tone of voice, or word choice, or something, made me feel like there's more to it than that."
Millie's expression softened as she looked at Junior with concern.
"Do you think she's going to ambush you or something? Some legal or corporate nonsense?"
"Ambushes aren't really her style," Junior shook his head. "That would be more like my uncle, but he's not supposed to be there."
"That's why it's called an ambush," Millie muttered loud enough for Junior to hear.
Junior smiled. "I appreciate your concern. It bothers me a bit, but I don't know enough about T&S to make an educated guess. I'll just have to see what happens."
He started walking toward his bedroom, and Millie called after him.
"Good luck!"
After Junior changed to a more office-appropriate suit and tie, he led Achilles through the familiar steps as the two of them made their way down to the parking garage. He entered his car, and Athena's soft voice filled the cabin.
"Route to Thamishion Annex is ready. Let me know if you require any adjustments."
"Thank you," he said, smoothing the folds of his suit with practiced care. He drew in a slow breath. "Let's get going."
The car hummed to life, tires whispering across the garage floor. Achilles hopped onto a seat quietly, tail thumping once before going still. Junior felt the subtle vibrations as the vehicle merged onto the street, the city unfolding around him.
Nephyra passed as a mosaic of sound and scent - traffic noise rising and falling, the faint tang of salt drifting inland from the harbour, the distant scrape of construction metal against stone. Each element slotted into the mental map Junior and Achilles shared, assembled without sight and without comment.
"Arriving at Thamishion Annex," Athena intoned.
The car slowed.
Junior hadn't meant to drift inward, but memory crept up on him anyway. He had avoided this place his entire adult life, steering around it as deliberately as one avoided a bad habit. Still, fragments surfaced - a sense that his father had lived here more than at home, that this building had mattered in ways Junior never asked about.
The car came to a stop.
Sound behaved differently here. Space stretched it. Reflected it. He could feel the scale in the way footsteps echoed across open ground, in the way machinery thrummed steadily somewhere beneath the surface, patient and unblinking.
Thamishion Annex.
A monument to ambition restrained only by law and taste; one that reached upward not because it needed to, but because it wanted to be seen. To a selfish, prideful man who named everything after himself. A man Junior wasn't sure he should hate.