That's What You Get

Upon walking into this particular room of the tower, one would be surprised to discover that it was a bedroom.

This was mostly due to the fact that it lacked an actual bed. Indeed, it lacked most homely objects; a bedside table, shelves, curtains, a chest of drawers, maybe a nice rug.

The only pieces of everyday furniture it contained were a small cupboard (covered in books and assorted papers, with its doors open and a small array of clothes hanging haphazardly out of it), a desk (indistinguishable by the vast display of mechanical titbits that overtook its surface) and a large, comfortable-looking desk chair. There wasn't much light.

The only window was covered by a blanket whose corners were screwed to the window frame and whose sides were duct taped in-between.

This description might give one the image of a very bare room. It was, however, far from bare. Because surrounding the desk and the cupboard, on each and every wall, were numerous computer monitors of different sizes. 47 in total.

Most were wall-mounted, but some sat on the occasional box, miniature table or patch of floor. And every last one of them were displaying something of some sort. Some showed news transmissions from different countries. Some showed downloading bars which monitored the progress of information being stored either legally or illegally. Some just showed the occasional web forum or technology site. Most, however, displayed live footage obtained from security cameras around not only the tower itself, but the whole of Acmetropolis. And sitting in front of one particular makeshift CCTV screen, situated in the comfy desk chair, was an exceptionally jittery-looking avian.

Matthais Duck, known to all as Matty D., watched the main entrance of the tower's first floor in anticipation. Though one couldn't be certain of this, due to the large helmet he wore, whose visor covered his wild and unsettling eyes. Various wires linked the helmet to other screens and hard disk drives. No matter what was happening, he always needed to be connected to something. Anything... It was his life source. Sometimes quite literally.

A few days without electricity could very well kill him. It was his weakness, his Achilles heel.

There! Someone was at the main entrance. This was what he was waiting for. Within a second, the room was suddenly very empty, the helmet hanging dejectedly from it's multiple wires.

~~~~

The woman fished in her pockets for an ID card to swipe into the appointed slot, allowing her the access she needed to deliver the package resting on her hovering hand trolley. But she didn't even get a chance to pull it out.

A bright blue flash blinded her momentarily, and when the white spots disappeared from her vision, she saw that the package was gone and that her electronic pad had been signed 'MD'.

~~~~

Matty D. returned to his room through the tower's electrical currents and excitedly placed the box on the floor.

Pulling a knife seemingly out of nowhere, he sliced open the cardboard and dug through the packing peanuts. He then dragged from the depths of the box some polystyrene packaging surrounding an unknown object. Madly, he giggled to himself as he unwrapped...

A new computer monitor.

"I shall name you Hans IX!" He announced, hugging it as though it were a new puppy.

The avian then set about attaching it to a blank space on his wall, giggling like it was some big secret he wished to share but couldn't. Once it was firmly fixed, he stepped back and admired his handiwork. However, something distracted him momentarily.

He glanced at the display screen to the right of the one he had just mounted, which showed the entirety of the tower's once shared kitchen. A familiar figure had stormed through the doors and seated herself silently at the table. A quick glimpse at a different monitor told him that she must have just finished school, an activity he was liable to skip from time to time. Especially today.

He had waited for approximately 16.3 hours for the delivery person to arrive. It was important. Life threatening, actually. His father didn't think so, but didn't bother to stop him. His grades were good enough to miss a few days. And it wasn't like he could keep him indoors anyway.

Matty D. watched the she-coyote slouch forward in her chair and rest her chin on her forearms.

She was particularly close to his older brother, and as a result was particularly well known to him. And aside from the fact that he had spent most of his childhood with her through Pierce, more or less stalked her father constantly and was generally in her presence most of the time at school, he had also shared something with her. Something that no one before him had ever experienced with her.

Something that no one else knew about. But according to Cale, it was for learning purposes only. Nothing else.

But that didn't stop her current disposition from touching a soft spot within him. She just looked so upset and cranky. He needed to go to her. And possibly annoy her. No, definitely annoy her.

With a fizzle and a crack, he was once again gone.

A heavy sigh passed between Cale's lips as she sat there, glaring at a wall. Although many others who knew the young she-coyote well would just assume that Cale was being Cale, there were a few people that could see right through it all and know EXACTLY how she was feeling. Something that annoyed her very often.

And unfortunately, one of those people was in the very same room at that moment.

"Rosebud?" A very familiar voice reached her pinned-back ears. "Are you alright, sweetheart?"

Reluctantly, Cale sat up, turning around in her chair to face that person. Cassidy's soft brown eyes met Cale's green ones and stared at her in worry. Although her mother had changed very much in the past several years - her voice was rougher, she had shrunk a few inches in height, and long whisps of grey hair had mixed in with her normally wake-me-up-in-the-morning-bright red hair - Cale still saw her as the mother she knew when she was younger; brave, invincible, the pair of arms she ran to when she was scared or upset. In a way, Cale felt like doing that right now, just throwing her arms around her mother and hugging her tightly.

But no. Not now. She was almost 19. She was a big girl now.

"No, Mom, I'm fine." Cale muttered, although she attempted a forced smile at the older she-coyote.

Cassidy couldn't help but giggle softly at her eldest daughter. She had, so many times, tried to pull that line over on her freinds. Very few times had it worked. She sat in the chair beside Cale. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's really nothing, Mom... just... the usual school stuff." Cale twirled a little piece of her hair - the same bright red hue as her mother's, only with dark purple streaks in it - between two of her fingers, hoping that Cassidy wouldn't try to guess exactly what was wrong.

But, Cale's hopes were dashed upon the rocks as Cassidy sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Oh, Cale. You didn't get another one, did you?"

With a huff, the younger girl reached into her backpack and pulled out a slip of paper. Cassidy took it and read the words scribbled across the paper's surface, the explaination why her daughter had ended up in detention once again. She rubbed her right temple with her hand and sighed again. "Well, I guess I should show this to your father so we can decide what to do about this." Standing up slowly, Cassidy placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Cale.... this really needs to stop. This is the fourth one you've recieved this month just purely for injuries to other students. This-"

"It wasn't my fault. He had it coming."

"That's what you said LAST time. Enough is enough, Cale Elizabeth. I didn't even mention ones for homework not done and being disrespectful to the teachers. You need to straighten up if you want to go to college, like you said." Although her words had a stern tone to them, Cassidy couldn't help but stroke the top of Cale's head as she walked out of the kitchen, headed for her husband's laboratory.

'I feel sorry for her, though... She's so much like me...'

Matty D. watched the scene unfold from his lofty position in the lighting above. Amidst his ever-present madman grin, he couldn't help but frown. So, Cale had been in another fight. His thoughts mirrored her mother's own words. She won't get into college with that on her record. He shook the concern off and grinned once more.

"You know, I'd let you hit me as often as you'd like-" Cale sighed as the familiar prickling of the air tickled the back of her neck, and a bolt of electricity from the light socket overhead materialised into a person. A smug looking person. "If you could catch me." He finished pompously, an untamed gleam in his eyes.

Her expression at his rather rude entrance - which had made the fact that he had been spying on her yet again blaringly obvious - was one of rage. Eyebrows furrowed, ears pinned back, a warning growl growing in her throat, she even showed off her sharp canine teeth, including one that was slightly larger than the rest - something she had inherited from her father. "Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to disappear whenever I like or to eavesdrop on other people's private conversations." The last half of her sentence was just a little bit more than a hint that she was really mad.

"Ah, but if you could, you know you would." He giggled, picking some fruit up off the table and juggling them nonchalantly. He wasn't going to admit that this time he had eavesdropped by accident.

"Only on people that annoy me." Cale retorted. Her previously aggressive demeanor slowly relaxed as she leaned back against the chair. Her green eyes quickly swept over Matty, taking in the all-too-familiar dark blue turtleneck and the neon green and orange bandana he had on his forehead, not that his crazy hairstyle needed help staying the way it was; his powers took care of that. She wondered for a moment why he wore that same bandana every single day. Did he ever take it off? Did he ever wash it?

Quite honestly, she really didn't want to find out. Incase if her suspicions were proven correct. For once, she didn't want to be right.

"Well," the avian began, dropping the fruit back into their bowl. "Now you know why I do it to you." He sat on the edge of the table and tried to giver her a charming smile. It came off as a little creepy, though. Oh well.

"Oh." Cale raised a questioning eyebrow at his comment. "So, I annoy you, is that it?" She couldn't help but give a slightly playful smirk, no matter how hard she tried to keep a straight, serious face.

"Well, not so much you as a whole. It's more your face that bothers me." He mentally patted himself on the back for that witty comment. 'Oh, Matthias, you're so funny', he thought to himself.

Straightening up, she stared him straight in the eyes, which was a difficult challenge, considering this was Matty D. we are talking about. "Well, I have to admit..." Cale stood up, inching closer to the avian. "YOUR face is pretty annoying." Her playful smirk quickly overtook her lips as she pressed closer. She knew being this close to someone bothered him, and that's precisely why she was doing so.

He tried to brush away the discomfort and stood up to the challenge by staying exactly where he was. That's all this was: a challenge. "Bravo, Cale. You're incredibly sharp today. I wish I could think of comebacks as clever as that." he then proceeded to applaud, the slow sarcasm of his actions matching the tone of his voice.

It was at that moment that Cale felt something she'd only felt a couple of times before in her life. Her body temperature suddenly spiked, making her slightly dizzy. She managed to keep herself from toppling over by bracing her left arm on the counter, right beside Matty D's body, so close they almost touched. The girl struggled to regain a regular breathing pattern as she spoke, "Hey, look. I'm close enough to hit you. I think I just might."

Normally at the merest sign of a threat, he would evaporate into the electrical system. Sometimes he didn't even wait for the threat to occur. He'd have his fun, then disappear before people realised that they wanted to hurt him. Badly. With sharp objects. Like broken bottles. This time, however, the faltering in Cale's voice and stumbling of her form suppressed this basic survival instinct.

In fact, he actually reached forward and took hold of her shoulder, steadying her, thankful that he had remembered to put his rubber gloves on this morning and thus wasn't able to shock her accidentally. "You 'right?" he asked, a caring in his voice that she had only heard once before. A year ago, to be exact. In her own bedroom.

For one fleeting moment, Cale found that she couldn't breathe at all. His voice, the voice she'd heard so long ago and adored every second of it, reached her ears. She stared up at him in silence. If only Matty knew how much those two simple words meant to her, how him holding her shoulder made her face heat up. Well, he might just figure that out, since a soft pink hue was showing through the light brown fur on her cheeks. "Uhh.... Yeah... I'm okay... Thanks." Her answer was whispered, hesitant. She sounded almost - it was hard to tell - scared?

Matty couldn't help but grin in spite of himself. Memories of those sappy romance comedies his mother used to make him and his brothers watch floated through his mind. It was so conventional, so predictable. And yet he still held onto her.

This realisation forced him to draw his hand back. He looked away, ignoring the flush on her face and the adrenaline that made him feel as if butterflies were hurling themselves at the lining of his stomach. What was he doing here again? Wasn't he supposed to be annoying her to get her out of that sulky mood? Why was she in that sulky mood in the first place? Oh yeah...

"So, you were fisticuffing today, huh?" He folded his arms and this time managed a genuinely charming grin.

"Y-yeah." Cale stumbled on her words a little, still slightly dizzy. "Some guy was making a 'comment' on my hair." With this in mind, she lifted a hand and ran her hand through the red and purple locks, pulling some of the longer strands that had been hanging in her face earlier away and completing her normal 'messy, but stylish' hairstyle. Something her father, for some odd reason, disapproved of.

"What'd they say?"

"Eh." Cale huffed, looking away from him and down at the counter. "Said I looked like some emo/goth girl. Stupid freshman boys think they can waltz in and take over the school." Her cheeks were returning to their normal colour. "Of course, as a Senior, it's my duty to put them in their place." She grinned almost sadistically.

He couldn't help but note how much more attractive she was when she smiled like that. Of course, that was probably because he often grinned in much the same manner. "Emo-goth girl? Nah, I'd say you look more like a feral than anything else. YOU'RE a feral, your face is a feral, your MUM'S a feral. Why do I DO that?" He asked himself out loud, reminding Cale that he was, in fact, slightly insane.

Cale wanted to react to this, to snap back at him like she would normally do, but for some odd reason, she just couldn't. She felt like her energy had suddenly been drained. "I wouldn't let my mom hear that, if I were you. She'd drop-kick you before you could disappear." She kept her slightly sadistic smile, now directing it at Matty D.

"I'd prefer it if it were you belting me up. I love a woman who can kick my arse." He laughed before he realised what he'd just said. What he'd just admitted to. He suddenly found the toaster very interesting indeed.

Cale quickly caught on to Matty D's silent, almost undetectable embarrassment. Her right eyebrow arched questioningly. "Oh, is that so?" She was praying in her mind that Matty couldn't hear her heart pounding in her chest, nor that her cheeks would light up in pink again. Gawd, she hated pink.

"Maybe. Then again, maybe not." The fact that she hadn't smacked him, ever though she was well within range to do so, was enough to tell him that she felt the same. But he wasn't going to be the first to say it. Just in case.

Cale didn't want to be the first to say what was on her mind, either. She was stubborn that way, remembering all of the Disney movies she had - and occasionally, still does - watched with her Aunt Mairi. She didn't want this turning into one of those romantic fairytales. Wait, then why was she waiting for him to say it first?

Cale almost facepalmed at herself. Taking in a deep breath, she tried to completely relax herself before continuing. "Matt..." Her voice was unusually soft. "I have to.... tell you something...."

He remained silent, obviously giving her the room she needed to speak.

"I... I never thought I'd ever say this to anyone and mean it," She paused, giving a slight giggle. "Let alone YOU. But, it's just something I've had on my mind for.... quite a long time." Cale reached up and scratched her right ear, hand shaking. She was obviously nervous. Only a moment of silence passed between the she-coyote and the male avian, but it felt like an hour to the both of them.

Finally, Cale mustered the courage to look up at Matty D. as she blurted out at a whisper. "I love you."

"WOAH WOAH WOAH! Tiiiiiime out!" Matty leapt away from her, flailing his arms about wildly. "You... You WHAT?" He asked, seemingly distressed.

Taken completely and TOTALLY off-gaurd by Matty's reaction, Cale jumped backwards, as well, now plastered against the edge of the counter. Her chest heaved as she tried - for the third time within the last half an hour, mind you - to regain a normal breathing pace. "Uh.... I...." She stared at him with wide, innocent eyes, something so unlike her. Something he'd only seen once, that one night, almost a year ago. She gulped. "I..... love you?" She tried again to make what she was saying clear to Matty, biting her lip nervously.

He stared at her blankly for a moment. "For reals?" he asked, the distressed expression once again upon his face. "Well, snap. I was expecting you to ask if we could do it again. Didn't think you would confess your deepest, darkest emotions to me." He admitted rather bluntly.

Cale stared back with a similar expression. Her mouth opened, as if she was going to say something, but then quickly closed as she turned away. "Uh, yeah... me neither..." She whispered, her ears drooping a little bit. She couldn't believe it, she'd done the one thing she swore to herself that she'd never do, let someone see her vulnerable side, admit to her true feelings. She faced her back to him, grabbing her own arms as she struggled to keep her emotions at bay. Oh, how she hated the week after her period and how screwed up her emotions were.

"Dude. Your emotions are upsetting me. Which is kinda ironic when you think about it." He readjusted the position of his bandana. "It was nice and all, but... I don't think I'm cut out for relationships and stuff. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit..." he thought for a moment. "Odd... IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME!" He decided to add as an afterthought for purely comical effects.

Cale couldn't help but laugh at his final statement. "I know... I remember you saying that.... that night..." She slowly turned to face him. "I'm sorry, Matt... I had to say it. One of us had to." Cale said pointedly, hoping he'd get the hint.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I still think you're a loser." He smiled warmly at her. "I also think that I might feel the same way."

She smiled back, closing her eyes and sighing softly. "Thanks, Matt..." Whether she was being sarcastic towards his first sentence, or being sincere towards the second was something that she left Matty to figure out on his own. She took a hesitant step towards him, unsure of what to do or say.

But he instantly held his hands out in front of him. "That doesn't mean that this-" he motioned to himself then to Cale several times before continuing, "-is going to happen. Like I said, I'm not one for relationships... Whatever happened to that Mark guy, anyway?? I thought you said you loved HIM, not me."

Cale bit her lip as she thought about her previous boyfreind, actually, one of her many. "Mark..... Mark and I didn't... work out.." She was afraid of admitting the real reason why she had dumped him several months ago... and rather harshly, mind you. She didn't want to feel more disappointment than she already was.

"Man, if it hadn't BEEN for Mark, this-" once again, he waved his arm between him and her, "-wouldn't have even happened. What did you do? Punch him in the face?" He already knew the answer to this question. That was one time he hadn't accidentally eavesdropped on her conversation. But she didn't need to know that he was following her everywhere. Even though she sort of did.

"Uuuhhh...." Cale hesitated. "I.... I kinda did." She admitted, the blush from earlier returning to her cheeks.

He grinned at her, enjoying the fact that she had finally told him. He didn't understand why at the time of her attack on Mark he'd felt so happy. But now he did. "I thought it was supposed to be a one-time thing, this-" Point, point, point, point.

"I know... but it isn't... not to me." She let her eyes drop to the floor as she stared at her shoes for a moment.

She seemed so dejected. Had her feelings for him really hit her so hard? Did she really love him that badly? He sighed. Seeing her look so deflated, so far from her usual self, made him feel awkward. Almost upset. What could he do to bring her back? Well, he knew the answer to that question. He could take their relationship further.

But what would be the point? She would eventually get sick of him and drop him like the many guys preceding Mark. And HE was meant to be her one true love. But if she was happy for the time being, and realised that she REALLY didn't want to be with him in her own time, perhaps she'd have more closure?

His head was beginning to hurt. What does he normally do when things get hard? Pick the easiest option and go with it. What was the easiest option? To zap away into the electrical system and giggle wildly. That wouldn't accomplish anything. What was the second easiest option?

He took a step forward and hugged her to his chest. "Wanna go see a movie Saturday?"

Her eyes shot open in surprise at the feeling of his thick, warm arms wrapping around her small body and pulling her close. It took a couple of minutes for this to all sink into her mind. Then, she put her arms around his waist, returning the embrace, leaning into him gently. "Yeah... that would be great." She replied quietly, a smile playing on her lips.
Everything seemed so perfect at that moment. Finally, Cale had managed to admit her feelings, to open up a little; and now she was being hugged by the person that she wanted to hug for the longest time but never had the guts. She really couldn't think of a way that anything could mess this up.

And, of course, it's they way that she couldn't think of that just happened.

"Yo, CALE! I've been waiting at the park for the past HOUR! Where the hell have you- WHOA!" Screech. Halt. A pair of wide green eyes stared at the pair in each other's arms. Avril managed a shakey laugh. "Hehe, please tell me that Cale just slipped on something and you decided to be a gentleman for once, Matt.... please?"

The avian's eyes grew wide. "Well, DUH!" He blurted, as if it should be obvious.

Avril sighed with relief.

"She slipped and fell... IN LOVE WITH ME." He said matter-of-factly.

"Matt!" Oh, how relieved Matty D felt when he heard her ever-so-familiar voice shouting his name angrily.

Avril looked at Matty, and then at Cale, who was still in Matty's arms, snuggled close to his chest. Then she looked back to Matty, and then to Cale once more before snorting and bursting out in laughter. "YOU TWO? TOGETHER??!!" The roadrunner/fox doubled over, soon laying on the floor holding her sides as she continued to display her amusement at the situation.

"Yeah, and we thought you could be the best man at the wedding." Matty D. grinned.

Avril quickly sat up, eyes narrowed into a glare and she pointed her index finger at him. "That. Was not. Funny."

He giggled wildly, almost psychotically, before merging with a nearby power-point and disappearing from view. Cale glared after him for the fact that he'd left her alone to explain the situation to their friend. She turned back to the hybrid teenager, who was giving her amused grin.

"Of all the people in all the world-"

"Shut up."