Chapter Text
2B scrolled through her phone. Monday mornings were always like this. She spent too much time on her computer yesterday and forgot to set the timer on her fan. Waking up from your warm nest while a fan is blowing cold air is hard. Her toes curled a little bit at every piece of bad news she read. The morning doomscroll wasn't fun, but it was informative. A gradual sigh as she stared at the time.
4:59 AM
…
4:59 AM
…
4:59 AM
…
5:00 AM
Finally, her alarm clock went off. Screaming at 2B to wake up like she was still in a coma. She tapped it off and got up. Shakily walking to drum her desktop's spacebar, the computer tower roaring to life as the LEDs lit up the clean intestines of metal and wire.
2B passed by the stairs of family portraits. Arranged to match the steps she walked down. The pictures went from oldest to youngest. 2B focused intently at her phone as she walked past her own image. Waiting for him to come online and wish her a good morning like usual.
Sometimes he'd wake up at the same time as her. Other times she'd wake up to his message. But either way, it was usually some part of her morning.
She poured cereal into a mug and ate in the living room big enough to be a dining hall. The sunroof automatically opened at the perfect time to ruin her phone's low brightness settings. She turned it up and kept eating, wondering if sending a message would wake him up. He sometimes woke up much later than her.
After breakfast, she headed to the basement. Walking through the halls before they opened up to a mirrored studio. Reflections on every wall stared at 2B, but she didn't look at them. The reflections had nothing to say. She read off a nearby clipboard to figure out her workout program for today. Everything was specifically designed to be easy for her so she would never have any objections or be unfit to make it to school. She had to maintain her image. Everyone did…
2B wondered how he was getting ready for school. If he was doing it right now. He mentioned last night he was finally going to his transfer school. She knew he was moving to the same city, but the Toronto school board had over a hundred secondary schools. 2B asked him which school it was and he gave the same teasing response whenever she asked something she really wanted to know. She established early on that they would only be online friends. For 2B the thought of meeting him in real life changed that but it didn't for him. He wanted them to have the same dynamic if or when they met in real life.
She cried the night he said that.
He said that around two years ago, but nothing really changed. Nothing needed to. So until they did meet, 2B bothered him with personal questions non-stop. Including where he was going for…
He grew up in America, so he called them high schools. 2B wasn't sure if it was just the movies or the fact that he called them that, but she liked the phrase more than "secondary school."
She worked up a faint sweat and felt her body give mild screams of misery during the final stretches. Arms, legs and abs were the focus every day alongside a short run. Every morning being like this offset her daily record by around 200 calories. The mug cereal helped the headaches stop but it meant she would have to starve until lunch and dinner.
2B walked out and the lights turned off automatically in the basement home gym. Her reflections waved her goodbye.
She didn't wave back.
The shower was bad. Her parents recently got one of those ceiling shower systems. The type that just drops water straight vertically down on you. She hated it with every fiber of her being. The way the water just dropped down meant you were either fully wet at all times with water blasting your head or standing right outside the rain shower, freezing your ass off. Maybe this was how A2 had to shower at that camp…
Either way, the change certainly wasn't something she had a say in. In fact, she suspected it was to get rid of her favourite handheld showerhead. A documentary about early female sexuality got nominated for her family's award. Her parents probably watched it and (correctly) assumed the worst about their second daughter.
Her phone buzzed on the wireless charging pad built into the shelf just outside the shower. She almost tripped on the soapy shower pad below as she grabbed the phone and opened the notification with wet fingers.
"Add new friends now on ThisCord!"
She frowned. Swiping the notification away and opening the app. She opened the chat logs she had with him and scrolled around. Looking at the pictures he sent. He only ever sent extreme closeups. She knew intimately about his eyes, his lips, his elbow, and his hair, wet after a shower. 2B wondered why he never asked to see her. She wondered how he imagined her looking. To him, she was just "ErisOnline." She opened her profile and looked at her teary anime girl profile picture.
Now it was water time. If that sounds stupid, it's because it is. 2B had to dedicate thirty minutes of time to drinking around three cups of water every ten minutes. When the team of nutritionists explained her morning routine, she didn't pay attention. So she sort of made up her own reason for why it had to be this way; if it was before exercise, she would have water sloshing around inside, bloating her. It couldn't be drunk all at once because it impacts when she has to use the bathroom at school. One of the real reasons she had to drink big cups like this was that being dehydrated made her body look wrong. That's what mom said at least.
Of course, during the breaks in between drinking, she spent the time ignoring advice to also meditate. She stuck to her rules and routine hard but hated meditation. As long as her parents were on their press tour, she would never choose to stay alone and quiet with her own thoughts.
Also, using her computer was more fun than meditation. She browsed through every chatroom channel and every server to find out what she missed. Finding his messages…
Looks like he had a long conversation with one of the mods about a movie. 2B found herself reading through his explanation for why it was good and agreeing (despite never having seen the film) she'd bring it up next time he came online. Maybe they could watch it togeth—
His profile flashed green for a moment in the corner of her eye. She blinked a few times, thinking about it before convincing herself she was just seeing things. He'd always message her after waking up.
Always
2B walked into her first closet and looked over everything there. It was the middle of the school year so she didn't need to stand out. Even so, a part of her sort of cried to have a little fun just in case he would show up. To match her real-life clothing with the persona she showed online. Of course, logic stamped out that voice easily and she reached for a black shirt with sets of thin white stripes. If someone raised a blacklight to the outfit in the dark, it would look like a wireframe 3D model of her body. But for now, it was just cute and modest and didn't rock the boat. Pretty much the same as yesterday.
She opted for her usual blue jeans again. Wondering how he imagined her as she made the choice not to open the closet inside in her much bigger walk-in closet.
'Maybe another time,' she lied to herself.
2B thought about the conversation she had with her parents. Well, she had a lot of them but the one in her head was very specific. It was about the question of where she would go for high school. It was a war in the house between her mother's desire to send her to a catholic private school, continuing her advanced standing from middle school or her dad's desire to send her to the nearby public school. Her mother was strict in her beliefs, but her dad quickly came to hate the system of the catholic schools and the types of students they attracted. The way they treated his daughter wasn't right in his mind. Because students paid money, they could say anything they wanted about her condition and get away scot-free. He also considered his daughter too sheltered from the world and said she needed the experience, a fresh start. 2B sided with her dad in the argument despite not exactly being excited about either.
She hated private school and every single rule and regulation it forced onto her. She hated the people and everything they said. She wasn't the type to break the rules, but everything at that catholic school was genuinely going to strain her to the end. She had no choice.
And so she put away the thoughts of questionable parenting to walk through the doors into school. 2B had been here for a few months now, and it was much better.
She was early as usual, so she headed into the cafeteria. Walking through the space to the opposite door that spat her out much closer to her lockers —waiting nearby as she opened her phone to see if he messaged her back yet.
Nothing. So she sat, waiting for her phone to ring, vibrate, or whatever it was going to do. 2B closed her eyes, sitting on the floor in the corner just like usual. A cute little spot she got by kicking away a garbage can to another nearby corner. It hid a wall outlet and was very close to the door so sitting here and hanging out with 6O was how her lunches usually went—
Bzzt Bzzt
2B grabbed the phone with a death grip unlike any other. Heart racing as she was getting ready to type a faux angry message about him taking so long. Only for:
You have a new message from: SixthOpal
2B! SCHOOL INSTALED A CAMERA OUTSIDE THE FUCKNIGNNGING BATGHROOM I NEED A NEW SPOT
2B imagined throwing her phone so hard it flew out a window and cracked his skull for taking so long to message her. Actually no, she wanted to throw her phone so hard it shattered a row of jello weed shooters 6O was about to do. 2B wanted to make 6O regret texting her for something so trivial while she was still waiting for her morning message from him.
Instead, 2B slightly tensed her fingers and wrapped the anger and disappointment into a nice little box. Tucking it away in a mental shelf. As long as he messaged soon, everything would be fine.
So…
So a funny thing with routines.
Sometimes if you miss a crucial part of your routine, your brain doesn't deal with it very well. Morning math was a blank blur. Her mind was still in that foggy morning haze even though her body went through the usual wake-up. She was still waiting, almost desperate now. She couldn't pay attention in class; she couldn't help 6O find a new spot to smoke, she couldn't even use the quadratic formula.
Instead, she felt like an android—
—No, she felt like a cyborg, and her phone was an extra limb. She didn't know how much she depended on his morning message to get her awake. It was scary almost, putting that much sway into the hands of another person. Someone she hadn't seen the face of yet.
But 2B knows if she was given a choice she would never change a thing. She knew so much about him. He talked about his day, and she listened, unsure of how to even show him the real side of her. Nothing about the way she acted online was real. If he asked about her day in real life, she would answer with any four-letter word. Online she… well, she'd do the same but with a lot more exclamation marks and emojis. She longed for more but was too scared to lose what they had—not wanting to ruin a good thing.
In a never-ending spiral of mundanity, he woke her up every day.
She wondered if maybe this was the day it ended. That her incessant pretend excited texts pushed him away. Was this the day their relationship—
Don't think about it.
Just squeeze the pencil a little harder and pretend to pay attention. Just don't think about it. Just don't think about it. Just don't think about it. Just don't think about it. Just don't think about it. Just don't think about it. Just don't think about it. Just don't think about it. Just don't think about it. Just don't think about it.
Just don't think about him.
She thought about him.
Drained of all energy with a "good morning" shaped hole in her heart all the way to homeroom class. The teacher was going off about some class news, but 2B could only stare between her watch and phone. Every millisecond denying the anxieties worming their way into her brain. At moments like these, she was glad she didn't have someone to sit beside. The class was arranged with pairs of 2 tables together, and the seats beside and behind her were empty. She was glad nobody could see her blinking as fast as she could, trying to scatter the tears building up at the thought of being ghosted by him.
And then it happened.
Her phone buzzed.
Niner99: mornin
sorry i woke up late
im going to class
She grabbed her phone so fast the air itself almost caught on fire from the speed. Her heartbeat slammed fast and her fingers faster, typing the first thing that came to her mind. The instant wash of relief and comfort straight into her brain sobered her up entirely. His writings pulled her out of the haze to just catch her homeroom teacher's last announcement.
She was so in the fog of his absence she didn't even notice the boy who had just walked into class late. Her eyes turned to look at the figure and instantly she knew his eye colour, she knew his lips curled in a smile, she knew his hair even when it was dry and fluffy. He had a face she knew was going to change her life forever. He stood with a phone in his hand, just finished texting someone with a sad anime profile picture as his voice brought her brain on the brink of collapse.
"I'm 9S, but my friends call me Nines,"