in4apounding | All-Purpose CMO

No, I guess not.

[Cleo presses her lips together, but they part in a silent gasp when she feels Penny take her hand a moment later. Her voice lowers, almost to a whisper.]

Me, either. But I'm glad I met you, Penny. There's...something I need to tell you.

I'm glad I met you too. ...I mean, maybe not the parts where twenty people had to die. But. You know. Everything besides that.

[That last part sounds important, though. She looks up, dropping her voice to match Cleo's.]

Yes? ...A good thing or a bad thing.

Right. Everything else was...nice.

[She chews her lip for a moment. Now or never, now or never. It has to be now.]

I...like you, Penny.

Yes..? I like you too, I meant it when I said you've been a good friend.

[We're sorry. We're so sorry, Cleo. You're probably going to need to be a bit more literal to hit the mark here.]

Or- wait, do you mean- ....what do you mean.

[Sadly, even suspecting a secondary meaning here is progress.]

[ Oh, God. She's doing the thing. Cleo should've known, Penny is so literal all the time...she's Doing the Thing.

Except suddenly she's switching gears and asking for clarification and Cleo is so, so grateful for at least an opening. She squares her shoulders, turning in the cramped bus seat to take Penny's hand in both of hers. ]

Yeah, Penny. I mean I have a crush on you. A really, really big one. A lesbo one.

Thanks.

I mean. Um. Hm. Oh.

[That's. Kind of a lot? But probably not for the reasons Cleo expects.]

[Penny folds up in on herself a little; tensing physically, but not letting go of Cleo's hands? She's actually gripping a little harder, it might seem like kind of a weird mixed signal.]

That's. I mean, I like you a lot too? I didn't think. Um.

[She looks nervously over her shoulder, glancing over the rest of the bus.]

...There's something I should tell you too.

[Okay, this body language is confusing. Like, super confusing. Cleo's dark eyes are basically giant question marks, right now, but she doesn't let go of Penny's hands, either.]

...Oh, no. You don't like girls, do you?

What? No- no! I mean- yes? I think. It's not something I ever thought would be something I'd have to think about- I mean. Um.

[Nailed it.]

I'm not-

[Her voice is rapidly going upward in pitch.]

You. Um. You know how Mister Dinobot is a robot, but sometimes he looks like a dinosaur, but he's still a robot?

Oh! [Cleo's face relaxes a little, relieved. But then it's crinkling right back up again.]

...Wait, so you're actually a dinosaur?

[the point >

< cleo]

Wait, what? No. ...Would it be a bad thing if I were?

[At least she's sort of distracted from her deep-seated terror for a moment?]

No? I mean, kinda weird, but I'll try anything once...

Oh. Good? I think. But no, it's the other part.

[She doesn't flinch, exactly, but she squeezes her eyes shut.]

My father built me in his lab. I'm not- I'm a robot. A weapon.

[Cleo just stares at Penny while she says all this, and in her brain it's like the puzzle pieces are coming together. Slowly. Some of them she needs to rotate a few times. But they're coming together. Things are starting to make an awful lot of sense.]

...Oh. Why didn't you tell me?

[She doesn't sound mad, not at all. She mostly just sounds...confused. You know, her normal tone of voice.]

It doesn't bother you?

[There's a hopeful note in her voice. Still incredibly nervous, but hopeful.]

I'm the only one like me at home. My father and Mister Ironwood said it might scare people if they knew.

[Cleo smiles, and gives Penny's hands a comforting squeeze.]

Duh, of course not. I was made in a lab too, remember? You being a robot doesn't scare me.

Oh. Oh. Ooooooh.

[It's Penny's turn to rotate a couple puzzle pieces. Or mostly just one, labeled "clone", that hadn't quite seemed important enough to actually connect to anything until this moment.]

[She ducks her head a little, not quite smiling sheepishly.]

I hadn't- Guess I was being a little silly, huh. Thanks.

[God, Penny is so adorable. Always, but especially when she's being shy like that. Cleo gets a little distracted by it, but just for a second.]

So, like. If we ever see each other again...do you want to go on a date with me?

[Cleo's heart is thumping a hundred miles an hour, which is weird. Maybe because it's a question this time, and not a demand like usual.]

I'd like that. I think I'd like that a lot.

[She looks back up, beaming.]

And it will be 'when,' not 'if'. I promise. Again. ...More this time.

Really?

[Cleo feels her whole face brighten, and she has to calm herself down. Chill. She schools her expression.]

I mean, yeah, duh. [She snorts.] Whatever.

[But the smile is creeping back onto her face at Penny's promise. Cleo squeezes her hand.]

Good. I'd be, like, really mad if I never got to kiss you.

You're doing that thing where you act like you don't care but you really do care, right?

[Just. Just checking.]

[ oh god

does she do that

she does, doesn't she. ]

....Yeah.

Okay.

[She smiles, with zero judgment.]

Just checking.

[She doesn't get it. At all. But obviously it's important for some reason.]

...does. Um. Hm. Does it actually need to be a date? For that to happen. If you wanted.

[Cleo gives Penny's hand a squeeze, comforting, where their fingers are still laced together between them. And then Penny is asking if they need to be on a date for her to kiss her, and Cleo's dark eyes go wide, just for a second. Her mouth is dry, which is weird, and she can feel heat rising in her cheeks.

What is happening.]

...No way. I just didn't want to, like. Scare you off. [She cups Penny's cheek with her hand, slowly, looking uncharacteristically serious.]

Can I? Kiss you, I mean.

[Oh. Oh.]

[Oh.]

[That question suddenly seems a whole lot less hypothetical than it did a few seconds ago.]

[Penny should probably say something.]

Yes? I mean if you want to. I mean I'd like it too, but only I you want to, too. I don't want you to feel like you have to, which you don't if you don't want to, and I've never done it before but I never really thought I'd have a chance to but you asked and I really like you and even though I promised it wouldn't be I'm a little scared this might be our last chance and it'd be really nice anyway even if we get to do it again in the future so if you want to-

[She's talking very fast. Cleo suddenly seems very close. She's very close, and Penny has never done this before, and she can't stop talking.]

All-Purpose CMO

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