Chapter Text
V had spent the last few weeks thinking about her past. She often found herself alone in her room thinking about N, the sweet boy she had cared for back during her days as a Worker Drone. He had cared for her too, a spark in their cores when they were together. After the events at the Gala all those years ago, and landing on the cold, harsh planet of Copper-9, things had changed. V grew increasingly distant from N. She would pretend not to know him, purposely avoid him, and never bothered talking to him. N never gave up though. He would try his damned hardest just to be around her. He would take rejection after rejection if it meant he could even have a chance with her. While she would never have admitted this to anyone, V secretly admired N’s persistence. Looking back at things now, she wished she could’ve handled the situation differently. Instead of bottling up her worst fears and secrets, she wished she could’ve shared them with N, though that would have put him in great danger, a risk she couldn’t have afforded to take. If anyone else knew what she knew, The Solver would have lobotomized them again.
Instead of facing her fears with the help of her friends, she faced them alone and lost. She lost N, and any potential future with him. She lost the only other person on this planet who genuinely cared for her. He’s probably better off with Uzi anyways, V told herself. She was still trying to come to terms with the fact that N had chosen Uzi over her, though it’s not much of a surprise as to why. Truthfully, she wasn’t mad. She didn’t hate Uzi for stealing her chance with N, and if anything, she was happy for them. Happy that N got the ending she never would have. She would give anything to still be with N, even if that meant it had to include the emo purple grape, too.
But no, that wasn’t going to happen. She knew N and Uzi would never accept her in that way. They were just friends at best. She had given N the cold-shoulder for too long, and she didn’t know Uzi all that well on a personal level. Instead, she was doomed to be lonely for the rest of her life.
Her self-wallowing was interrupted abruptly by the sound of two drones coming up to her door, one of which had heavier footsteps than the other. She already knew who they were.
N and Uzi barged through the door bursting with excitement, N smiling ear to ear while Uzi had to hold him down to prevent him from getting too rowdy.
“V! Did you hear? There’s gonna be another prom night!” N could barely contain his excitement as he shared the news with his disassembly drone friend.
“Yeah, the committee felt bad about how shitty things went last year,” Uzi added, “So they decided to throw another one this year to make up for it.”
“Is that so?” V asked monotonal. The idea of going to prom again didn’t interest her, she didn’t exactly have anyone to go with this year, and she couldn’t imagine anyone would willingly go to prom with a disassembly drone.
“Mm-hm!” N nodded his head giddily. “Are you gonna go this year? Do you have anyone to go with?”
“No, N, I will not be going,” V replied.
You could almost hear his core thump at the bottom of his chest as it fell. “Why not?” he whined.
“Because, N, unlike you I don’t have a special someone. No one would want to go to prom with the girl who probably ate their families and most likely almost killed them too,” V responded flatly.
“How about Lizzy?” Uzi suggested, “You two seem to be getting along nicely, why not ask her?”
“I…” V hadn’t thought about the idea that Lizzy might be willing to go with her. If it wasn’t too late, she might still be open to the idea. “Alright fine, I’ll ask Lizzy.”
You could see the delight rapidly rush to N’s face at those words. His girlfriend had to hold him down again to prevent him from bouncing off the walls in joy.
“I promise you won’t regret this!” N exclaimed.
N and Uzi left the room, and N’s cheers of joy could still be heard. The two laughed together as they walked father and farther down the hall.
“I better not,” V mumbled to herself.
V made her way to Lizzy’s room. She was fumbling nervously with her hands at the thought of asking Lizzy out to prom. She slowly composed herself, intaking and exhaling air to cool down her overheating core.
You can do this, she thought to herself. It’s just Lizzy, of course she’ll say yes, why wouldn’t she? I’m a disassembly drone for fucks sake, I shouldn’t be nervous about this. Digital sweat began to run down her visor. She was shaking again. Calm yourself, V. Just walk up to the door… and knock.
The doubt began to creep back into her mind. What if Lizzy said no? Or worse, what if she started making fun of her? Laughing at her? She quickly put those thoughts away. Ever so slowly, she began to inch herself closer to the door. Hesitantly, she knocked twice.
Mere seconds had passed by. This was a bad idea. It might not be too late to turn around now… V began to move to turn away before the door opened.
“Hey, V. Wassup?” Lizzy asked her, optics glued to her phone.
“Oh! H-Hey, Lizzy…” V nervously began, “Y-You know what, never mind. I’m just going to go now.”
V quickly spun around to make her escape, but before she could step one foot away, Lizzy grabbed her arm and spun her back around.
“C’mon girl, you’re here for a reason. What is it?” Lizzy put her phone away this time, her full undivided attention towards V.
A hundred thoughts rushed through her head. Just run. You don’t need this. Turn around now before things get worse. Instead of succumbing to her negative self-talk, she stood her ground and forced the words out, “Lizzy… w-would you like t-to… go to prom? With me?” Her voice shrinking audibly as she talked.
Lizzy stood in the doorframe, looking at V with the most blank, almost dumbfounded expression on her face. Oh my god why did I say that? V’s thoughts came flooding back again. She hates me now, doesn’t she? I’ve ruined our friendship. Why did I have to say that?
Finally, Lizzy spoke, “Well, can’t say I’m not surprised you asked. Thanks for the offer, but unfortunately Thad already asked me out so…” she responded awkwardly.
“Oh! No that’s totally fine! Don’t worry about it!” V had to hide a blush creeping up on her visor.
“Yeah, sorry about that. Anyways see you later girl,” Lizzy waved and closed the door.
“See ya,” V said, tone slightly saddened. She was back to square one. With no one to go to prom with her, she almost considered not going at all. That was until she remembered N’s face and how excited he was at the idea of her going. She couldn’t do that to N, to rip up his happiness like it was nothing more than wasted paper. Ultimately, she would go, and hope that she could find something to do while she was there.
Back in her room, V was hoping to wallow in more self-despair alone. It had been a couple days since she asked Lizzy to prom and got politely rejected. She couldn’t lie; it hurt quite a bit. The only other person in the entirety of Outpost-3 that she even had a remote chance of going with had rejected her. It stung, but she had to move on. Reluctantly, V got out of bed to go on a walk or flight or something to take her mind off things, but fate had other plans for her. When she opened the door, standing in front of her were N and Uzi. N was beaming with excitement again, and Uzi looked like she was also excited, but not nearly as much as N.
“Oh god, what is it you two want now?” V asked melodramatically with a sigh.
“We’re going clothes shopping for prom! Uzi’s idea,” N replied enthusiastically.
“Yeah, gotta look good for prom, right V?” Uzi added.
“Sure, whatever. What does this have to do with me?” V was not impressed with the idea of going shopping.
“Just wondering if you wanted to come with?” Uzi asked, a little taken aback by V’s tone.
V thought about it for a couple seconds. On one hand she would look good for prom, which was very important. On the other hand, she didn’t feel like doing much of anything right now, she would rather go on her walk or flight or whatever it was she was going to do.
“Ugh, fine. I’ll go,” V reluctantly replied with a groan.
“YAY! We’re gonna look so dapper!” N flew over at her and gave her a hug. V was immediately overwhelmed with emotions at this sudden action. She tried her best to wriggle free of the hug, but N’s iron grip was there to lock her in. After some struggling she finally gave in and let N hug her. She didn’t reciprocate.
The idea of going clothes shopping with her crush best friend started sounding more and more appealing. She would need to pick out a new dress for herself if she was going to prom. Maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t completely hate it.