good on paper, picture perfect

truth

It was a normal morning, a selective amount of bots was gathered together in Swerve's Bar, enjoying what time of day the ship could afford. Rung sat by himself on his usual bar stool, staring into space while drinking his coffee. Skids approached him from behind him placing a hand on his shoulder making him nearly spill his drink.

"Gah! S-Skids. Why did you scare me like that?!" Rung asked, adjusting his glasses properly.

"Sorry Glasses. I just, came to sit next to you." Skids said, he wanted to check up with Rung. He was worried about him lately, after all the events he had experienced aboard ship. Skids sat next to him and ordered a drink, Rung took a sip and sighed.

Rung debated on weither or not to tell Skids about his ever growing feelings towards Rose as Skids was both of their friends.

But, he chose not to. It was better left unsaid.

He turned his head to look at him, still watching him as if waiting for something. "Is something wrong Glasses? You seem distracted."

Skids asked, he didn't know why but Rung seemed off today.

"I'm fine Skids." Rung said.

Skids placed his hands on top of Rung's and looked at him.

"You're lying Rung." Rung tried to protest but stopped when he noticed how much harder he was trying to hide it.

Rung took a deep breath and exhaled.

"I... I think I might have a small crush on Rose." Rung admits, Skids looked at him.

"You MIGHT?" Skids questioned again.

"Okay, so maybe not MIGHT, but I do most certainly have feelings for Rose, I just... I don't know if I should go for it..." Rung was trying to dance around the subject and context on why he was feeling this way.

"What caused these emotions?" Skids pried, Rung sighs, knowing that he couldn't dance around it for much longer as he wanted.

So, with a heavy spark, Rung decided to come clean. "Alright, if I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone?" Rung asked, Skids nodded.

"Alright, so. I'm assuming the locked room code was heard by everyone, right?" Rung asked.

"Mhm." Skids said, intrigued on how this would go.

"So, me and Rose decided to hang out before I got a little bit of work left to do. So we walked around Navis, right?"

Skids nodded along to the story.

"We walked in an empty room to chat for a bit, when Whirl and Swerve played a nasty prank and locked us in there. We unfortunately couldn't get the door opened. Navis couldn't open it either... So, I'm guessing as the result of panic, Rose and I interfaced..." Rubg explains.

"And... Since then I've been thinking about Rose, romantically and I don't know what to do Skids." Rung finally says.

Skids stared at him, taking a few moments to process everything. This was huge information to absorb, he had no idea how Rung managed to keep it a secret for so long.

"Well," Skids says after a moment of silence.

"Well, first of all, you shouldn't rush things." Skids advised. "I'm not a licensed therapist like you, but even I know that rushing into these things is bad." Skids said.

Rung nodded along to it, rushing wasn't a good idea. "Take it easy, and try and take it slow, first take some time off before you talk to her again, you always said, don't speak when your processor is full, it can lead to impulsive decisions, most importantly; tell her how you feel at any chance you get." Skids advised

Rung thought about it. Was this really the right thing to do? What would Rose say? Would she accept his feelings or reject them? What would happen then? He knew he couldn't live without Rose in his life.
Rung sighed once again.

Maybe it was best not to say anything for now. Maybe, just maybe, everything would be alright in time.

"Thanks Skids, I'll think about it." Rung said, standing to leave.

"Don't forget to take care of yourself." Skids reminded him, following suit.

"Of course, thank you Skids." Rung smiled.

"Just call if you need anything okay?" Skids insisted.

"Oh, alright, alright." Rung laughs lightly. "I'll be sure to call you if it gets serious!" Rung promised.

"Right, I'll hold you to that." Skids smirks.

The pair said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.  Rung began to make his way to Rose's quarters. He took a deep breath and knocked gently at the doors. After several minutes pass, he knocked again.

No answer.

He felt his nerves begin to settle. She could have forgotten to lock the door from the inside, or simply hadn't woken up yet.

He then gave up, he didn't want to rush into this, so he walked back to his quarters and laid down on his berth.

He looked up at the ceiling.

He'd rather face Rose now than wait forever.