Chapter Text
Morgan would never get what they wanted. Or maybe who they wanted was the better statement. As they watched Alex banter flirtatiously with Zeep Zorp, it was as if each word he said was stabbing them right in the heart. Alex had never been adverse to whatever species he dated. Morgan had seen Alex’s exes with their own eyes. From aliens to literal actual monsters, if you had gone back in time and told Alex that he may one day fuck a robot, Alex probably would have shrugged it off and told you he was looking forward to it.
It was Morgan’s own fault that Zeep Zorp was here really. They should’ve been more suspicious when their cybernetic fingers started glitching just a little while after Alex had shoved Zeep Zorp’s old body into the acid pit. Of course they were glad that Zeep Zorp was alive, they just wished she would stop flirting with Alex. It bothered Morgan for some strange reason that they couldn’t figure out. Of course they didn’t like Alex like that. They weren’t in love with their partner in crime. Of course not. Why would they be? It was just that they didn’t want Alex to date Zeep Zorp because if they broke up then she would probably die and Morgan didn’t want their friend to die.
Yeah.
That was definitely it.
Morgan walked into the kitchen to make themself some instant noodles for breakfast (Or, based on time of day it would technically be lunch) and cringed when they heard Alex and Zeep Zorp laughing in the other room. They had forgotten that after Zeep Zorp had connected to the supercomputer in Alex’s Artic Base, she had immediately hacked every computer in existence so she could be on any technology in the world. Currently, she had taken over the TV in Morgan’s living room. They could hear Alex’s distinctive loud bark of a laugh and then Zeep Zorp’s quieter, more robotic “HA. HA. HA.” coming from the computer. Every single endeared chuckle that Alex directed at whatever Zeep Zorp had said made Morgan want to light their own building on fire and lie down in the flames. The feeling was gone just as soon as Alex stopped laughing but the shadow of it remained in Morgan’s heart.
What the actual hell was that?
They gripped the plastic bowl of noodles tighter, peeling off part of the lid and pouring in water with more force than was necessary. Morgan threw the noodles in the microwave and focused on watching the cup of noodles spin around and around instead of listening to the sound of Alex and Zeep Zorp flirting. They grabbed the noodles out a second before the timer hit 0:00 and went back into the living room to eat. Normally, if Alex ever caught Morgan eating any form of instant noodles, he would call them disgusting garbage, throw out the noodles (against Morgan’s will), and cook up something himself. Now though, Alex barely even looked up from his phone where he was showing Zeep Zorp a funny video. Morgan ate the noodles sitting on the counter as emotions boiled in their gut. Every glance at Alex’s amused smirk that wasn’t directed at them but at a stupid AI computer made Morgan want to wipe Zeep Zorp’s code out of existence. Finally, they couldn’t take it anymore.
“I’m going out.” Morgan called, grabbing their shoes on the way to the door. Alex actually looked up, his expression changing from the self-confident smirk he had while bantering with Zeep Zorp, into the easy smile that he always wore around Morgan, a smile full of mischief, mirth, and… love? Nah, it was probably just Morgan imagining that last one.
“Where are you going?” He asked, his face akin to that of a disappointed puppy. “Can me and Zeep Zorp come?”
Alex looked hopeful for some reason. Morgan just shook their head.
“Nah, I’m just going over to Barnaby’s.” They said, already walking out the door as they tried to calm down their racing heart that only beat faster with each word that Alex spoke. Alex pouted, turning back towards Zeep Zorp and whining about how unfair it was that his partner was abandoning him.
Morgan shut the door behind themself and walked the ten steps it took to get to Barnaby’s apartment, not even knocking before they barged in. They were the landlord after all, their tenants didn’t need any rights to privacy.
Barnaby was sitting at his computer when Morgan barged in, not even giving a flinch when they flopped down on his couch and let out a primal scream, shoving their face into one of his couch pillows.
“Why h-hello, Morgan.” Barnaby greeted, turning off his computer with a sigh. His ghost dog, Kotetsu, came over to sympathetically lick Morgan’s face but all Morgan could think about was Alex and Zeep Zorp in their apartment and it filled their heart with something that not even a million doggy kisses could ever fix. Barnaby stood from his desk chair and walked over with slight concern on his face. “A-A-Are you alright?”
Morgan just let out another scream, their temples throbbing, the effects of drinking 8 cups of coffee mixed with an ungodly amount of redbull finally catching up to them in the form of a headache.
“Alex is in love with Zeep Zorp and I don’t know what to do,” they sat up on the couch, scooting over so that Barnaby could sit next to them but still hugging the couch pillow.
Barnaby stared at Morgan blankly, blinking once. Then twice. Then a third time.
“Who t-the fuck i-is Z-Zeep Zorp?”
Morgan realized now that they had forgotten to tell Barnaby anything about Zeep Zorp. They had only just gotten home from space the day before and at the time, Barnaby had been out doing hero work. This was the first they’d been able to talk since before Alex had dragged Morgan to space.
Morgan let out a sigh and began explaining the long story of them meeting Zeep Zorp, Zeep Zorps “death” that ended up not being permanent, and the subsequent reunion when they came back home. Barnaby listened intently, absentmindedly petting Kotetsu as he pondered the information being handed to him.
“W-Well, if A-A-Alex is talking t-to Zeep Zorp then at l-least he isn't out c-committing m-murder.” Morgan frowned at his words then shoved their face back into the couch pillow in their arms.
“I know but I still don’t like it. He’s… He’s just… ughh, I don’t know how to explain it.” Morgan , facing Barnaby while Kotetsu jumped up onto their lap for emotional support. “It’s just that I see them talking together and… He just looks so happy. He’s so happy talking to her and laughs at practically everything she says and I know I should be happy that he’s happy because he’s my friend and I lov- care about him but… Barnaby, I just feel fucking awful.”
Barnaby stayed quiet as they rambled, taking in his friend’s appearance. Morgan looked exhausted, more than usual even. Their breath smelled like a mix of enough coffee and energy drinks to kill 15 cows and they just seemed kind of deflated, so unlike the person who usually cackled as their evil villain monologue droned on for hours. The person who had disassembled more things in Barnaby’s apartment than anyone could count. The one person in the entire world who could break their fist on Alex’s face and not instantly get killed. Barnaby was torn. On one hand, he absolutely despised Alex – wished the guy would just die already and spare thousands of innocent people from an untimely death – and was glad that Alex had found something to do that wasn’t murder. On the other hand, he didn’t want his best friend feeling sad. Also, he had totally caught that slip up as though it wasn’t obvious already. Barnaby loved puzzles and he loved clues. Morgan’s feelings were the trickiest puzzle he had ever encountered but right now, all the clues were pointing to one singular fact. Morgan was head over heels in love with a serial mass murderer who just happened to be the greatest villain the world has ever seen.
“M-Morgan, are you f-feeling awful b-b-because Zeep Zorp and A-A-Alex are hanging out or b-because you o-obviously haven’t g-gotten a decent night r-rest in d-d-days?” Barnaby asked, knowing that the answer was definitely a mix of both but also that Morgan would be able to think more clearly and feel a lot better if they actually got some sleep for once.
Morgan yawned, realizing with a rush that they actually felt completely exhausted. Everything that had happened in the last few months was just too much and it had all come crashing down on them in that moment. They had been fighting for their life in some sort of alien- game- competition- thing- for the past week and then right when they got back their cybernetic fingers had been acting up and then they were unexpectedly reunited with Zeep Zorp and they had just gotten a call that their Saint Rio heist that they’d been planning for the past 7 months was starting to derail because they had just revamped the entire security system and if any of Morgan’s men went in now they’d be chopped up by lasers or shot at by armed guards and now Zeep Zorp and Alex were talking and they’d probably start dating and then they’d either have kids together or Alex would murder her for real this time or he’d murder those who had wronged her but no matter what he was definitely going to move out and leave Morgan all alone and their parents had released yet another teary eyed press conference message that was asking random heroes to fight against Alex and bring Morgan back to them which Morgan knew was going to get so many people hurt and killed and Morgan couldn’t stand their parent’s stupid, grating, fake voices but for some reason they just kept watching the stupid clip and now whenever they closed their eyes, they just saw that video playing over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and-
“M-Morgan? Morgan, c-can you hear m-me? Y-You’re safe, e-everything is fine. J-Just take a deep breath.” Barnaby was saying calmly. Morgan finally registered the hand on their shoulder and the dog nuzzling their cheek. When they looked down, their hands were shaking and when they reached their hand to their face it came back wet. Blood? No- Tears. When had they started crying?
Morgan mumbled their goodbyes to Barnaby and Kotetsu and hurried out the door, rushing back to their apartment. They quietly creaked open the door and to their relief, the apartment was quiet. Alex was probably out teaching his ethics class right now and Zeep Zorp seemed to be playing chess against the computer. Morgan went right to their room, flopped down on the bed, and sighed. They just felt so incredibly drained. Usually, they viewed sleep as an unnecessary human error that infringed on every project they were working on but right now, even though the sun was still up, it was the only thing they wanted to do.
They closed their eyes, waiting for sleep to come. Morgan felt much too awake to sleep but too exhausted to get up either. It was as though they were stuck in the middle. They tried to plan out the details of their next heist in their head, hoping that would help them get tired enough to actually sleep and as a plus, they’d get to work on their plan. At first, Morgan felt that all of the extra thinking was keeping them awake by making their brain work harder. After a while though, they could feel themself drifting off. The last semi coherent thought they had before falling asleep was remembering the other reason why they had the habit of putting off sleeping.
They hated the nightmares.