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Adjusting to life together has been difficult, to say the least.
Jeremy’s head had already felt crowded when there was only one squip, always too many thoughts and anxieties and fears running around, swirling together in his mind. Too much confusion and panic to ever be able to order Jeremy around without any outside interference.
And now the interference has increased tenfold, confusing contradictory orders coming from all directions, and River can quickly feel himself losing his patience.
“He’s supposed to be listening to me,” he says through gritted teeth, and the grin on Ly’s face is infuriating.
“Says who?”
River isn’t really sure how he feels about the other squip yet. He’s never really been one for having emotions.
They’re too unpredictable.
Too unnecessary.
Too human.
He’s sure that Jeremy’s noticing. River’s all too aware of the smug grins that he keeps giving, the eager eyes darting between the two squips, the hidden smiles aren’t subtle in the slightest, and he swears on every part of his code that if it doesn’t stop soon, he’ll take control of Jeremy’s limbs and walk him into oncoming traffic without hesitation.
Except he won’t.
He knows that Ly wouldn’t forgive him for it.
And he’s strangely bothered by that.
“Jeremy, I swear to God-”
“Do squips believe in God?”
“Not the point.” River presses his fingers deeper into his face, clutching his forehead in exasperation. “You’re not wearing that.”
“I mean, it definitely has a certain... style to it,” Ly says from their place on the bed, and they roll their eyes when Jeremy grins at them. “It’s still ugly, though,” they finish, raising their eyebrows when Jeremy’s smile fades.
“Rude.”
“You’re not helping,” River snaps, and ignores the strange flutter that he feels in his stomach when Ly’s gaze turns to him. They look stupid and relaxed and so irritatingly Ly, complete with spiked hair laced with silver streaks, jeans so ripped they can barely be considered pants at all, and a hoodie that seems to be glowing and pulsing with a distracting bright blue light. “I really don’t think you have room to be giving Jeremy fashion advice when you’re dressed like that.”
Ly sticks their bottom lip out. “Babe, you know I look great.”
“No, you-” River blinks and forces down the blush that rises to his cheeks at the pet name. “You look ridiculous.”
“Ridiculously good.”
“No. Now, would you actually help me tell Jeremy that his Shrek shirt is unacceptable, because-”
“Jeremy left like, a whole minute ago.”
“What?” River turns around, eyes fixed on the door. Except he can’t see the door, he realises with a groan, and he snaps his fingers to bring up a glowing blue screen in front of him, filling the room with soft light. “Why are the lights off?”
“Jeremy turned them off,” Ly says with a short laugh, and River watches as they lean over to read a scrap of paper on the bed, Jeremy’s scrawl of handwriting taking up the page. “Hm. He thinks we should get a room.”
River can’t stop the blush that rises to his cheeks this time, strangely warm despite his distinct lack of blood (he’s never understood how it’s possible for him to feel so human, and yet be so inhuman at the same time). “He- what?”
Ly stretches out on the bed, resting their hands behind their head and kicking at the covers absent-mindedly, ignoring River’s noise of protest and frowning when the sheets don’t move at all. “He’s not wrong, angel.”
“Knock it off with the pet names.” River runs a hand through his hair, shaking his hand in frustration when it starts to glitch. “You realise that we’ve literally just let our host walk off? Aren’t you bothered?”
“He’ll be fine. He’s gone to meet Brooke. She won’t let him embarrass himself.”
“And how do you know where he’s gone?”
Ly stares at him in deadpan. “We’re in his brain. We know everything he does, and more.”
River pauses. “Right.”
“Did you actually forget that?”
“No. I don’t forget things.”
Ly pulls a face. “You forgot my name once.”
“I didn’t forget, I just didn’t care enough to learn it.”
“Oh, oof.” Ly bats at one of the pillows behind him, narrowing their eyes when their hand passes through the material without shifting it in the slightest. “Being a hologram sucks.”
River raises an eyebrow. “What, you’d rather be human?”
“Jesus Christ, no, but I wanna touch things at least.”
“You want to touch- really?” He lets out a sigh at Ly’s smile, smug and full of every single innuendo ever created. “Stop.”
Ly raises their eyebrows. “I didn’t even say anything.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“Thanks.”
“Are all 3.0’s this... irritating?” River asks, playing with the hem of his sleeve. Ly’s smile is almost painfully bright and happy, and River averts his eyes as quickly as he can, staring directly at the floor below him.
“Nah, just me.”
River tuts, a forced sound, like he’s trying his best to stay annoyed. Ly is staring at him when he looks up, and he squints back at them curiously, hands now on his hips. “What?”
Ly snorts. “What,” they repeat, and shift forwards a little on the bed. “I’m not doing anything.”
“You’re staring at me.”
“You’re fun to stare at.”
“I’m- oh.” River turns his face away and pushes down the blush that’s starting to rise to his cheeks, covering his mouth with his hand as he clears his throat. “Thank you?”
“You’re welcome.”
“Lyceum-”
“You can call me Ly.”
River doesn’t exactly agree with nicknames (yet again, they’re too human. He’s noticing that that seems to be a recurring theme when it comes to Ly), but he shakes his head and drops it, another more pressing topic of conversation on his mind. “...Ly. Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“Why are you so... nice to me?”
A frown covers Ly’s face as they stare ahead, eyebrows burrowing. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I’m your competition, aren’t I?”
Ly lets out a laugh. “You’re my competition for what?”
“I don’t know. Dominance of Jeremy?”
Ly’s laugh gets a little louder, and they sit up straighter to look at River in bewilderment. “Dominance of Jeremy? You want me to fight you... over Jeremy? Really?”
“I don’t know,” River falters, pinching the bridge of his nose impatiently. “Look, it’s just- it’s a little strange that you’re nice to me, is all.”
“I can start being a bitch if you want.”
“That’s... not necessary.”
Ly throws their hands up in mock defeat, spinning around on the bed and clambering to their feet. “You don’t want me to be nice, you don’t want me to be rude. What do you want, Riv?”
River swallows, setting his jaw. “For you to leave. ...And also, don’t call me Riv.”
Ly scoffs. “You want me to leave?”
“Yes. I do.”
There’s a few seconds pause as Ly squints at him, a smile full of disbelief playing at their lips, until they fall back against the bed again and cross their arms behind their head. “No, you don’t.”
“What? Yes, I do.”
“When are you going to stop pretending that you don’t like me?”
The sentence hits River like a ton of bricks, and he takes a second to process before making an offended sound of disagreement, taking a short step forwards. “I am not pretending.”
“Except you are.”
“Except I’m not- you’re impossible.”
“I know,” Lyceum says with a wave of their hand, brushing off River’s half-hearted attempt at an insult. “That doesn’t change the fact that you like me.”
“No, I don’t!”
“Prove it.”
River chokes on the sudden challenge, almost taking a step back before catching himself and standing his ground, but he can’t stop the colour that rises to his cheeks when Lyceum rushes towards him, standing with their face barely an inch away, the tip of their nose brushing against River’s gently.
“Prove it how?” River says, groaning internally at the softness of his voice as he whispers it, at the nervousness that laces its way through his words without his permission.
Ly grins. “Don’t kiss me.”
The silence that fills the room almost immediately after is deafening, and River swallows hard, blinking slowly as Ly smiles back at him. Seeing Ly this close up would be interesting if it wasn’t so potentially flustering, River notes, and his eyes dart from place to place as he takes in every inch of the person standing before him.
The strands of hair falling into Lyceum’s eyes that they apparently can’t be bothered to brush away.
The glinting silver of one of their eyes, and the warm brown of the other one.
The soft light of their hoodie, casting pale blue light onto their cheeks and reflecting in their eyes.
“Don’t kiss you?”
“It’s that simple, River. If you don’t like me, don’t kiss me.” Ly tilts their head to the side, eyes wide and innocent. “Unless you have some other feelings for me?”
He doesn’t.
He really, really doesn’t.
He doesn’t like them.
He doesn’t like them at all.
He’s kissing them.
River doesn’t know how or why or when he even initiated it, but he’s cupping Ly’s cheek in one hand and holding onto their waist with the other, pressing his lips against theirs as hard as he can without sending them both to the floor, and he scolds himself for not entirely hating it. For not hating the feeling of having them under his fingertips, the feeling of their breath against his skin as they pull away only to move back in again, the feeling of their hair tickling his cheek as they press against him, sliding their hand down to meet his where it sits on their waist.
“I won,” Ly murmurs against his lips, and River sighs, squeezing their hand a little tighter.
“I suppose you did. Though I’m not sure why I decided to make myself lose.”
“I told you,” Ly says, and kisses him again, one of their hands reaching up to hold the back of his neck, playing gently with the curls of his hair. “You like me.”
“I’m a computer.” River frowns, pulling away just a little, but he doesn’t take his hand out of Ly’s grip. “I don’t like anyone.”
“I’m a computer too, and I like you, don’t I?”
“Do you?”
Ly smiles. “Definitely.”
“It’s just very... human. The names, the affection... everything.” There’s a pause as Lyceum looks up at him, their teeth digging into their lip as they consider his words, and River waits for their answer with bated breath.
“That isn’t bad, is it?”
“Isn’t it?”
“Acting human can’t be all bad if I get to kiss you,” Ly says, and River finds himself matching their smile and letting himself laugh, leaning into their embrace as they shuffle closer to him. “We can be human together.”
“Yeah,” River says, and presses another kiss to their lips, soft and short and sweet. “Human together. I think I like that.”
“I think I like you.”
“I think I like you too, Lyceum.”