Hey folks!
Here’s another story that I’ve been working on. (Members of PEEL
may recall that I first posted there about this, looking for
beta-readers, something like four(!) years ago. So that should really
read ‘another story that I’ve been working on since the
Day Before Forever. Anywhoo.) My thanks to newhook_1, Zoidyzoid,
SpaceCase, Boingo2000, Nurdbot, Kryten, bender&fry, DrJohnZ, and
anyone I might’ve forgotten. Short but sweet (something
familiar about that combo... ;) ), and I think you’ll like it.
Enjoy!
The
characters here are not owned by me (I’m just borrowing them),
so please don’t sue me/hurt me/kick me/make me vote Republican.
I’m only posting this to a small number of sites; anyone that
wants to post it elsewhere should ask my permission and credit me
accordingly. No hablo espaneol. (sic) Should not be taken internally.
Stays crunchy even in Mom’s Friendly Robot Oil.
"And in This Corner..."
Fry
It hurt.
I've been
watching the stars for like, a whole day as we fly back to Earth, and
that's the only thing I can think about.
The stuff
that happened. The things she said. How she never saw the most
important thing of all. And how lousy I feel.
We're far
enough away from what used to be the Tempis Nebula that you can't see
that stupid black hole anymore. Stupid professor and his stupid
doomsday devices. Man, it figures that the one whole time in my
stupid life I manage to do something big and showy and romantic for a
girl I like, it gets blown up before she can see it and remember she
saw it. It's just not fair. I mean, what the hell else can I do? I
stick up for her with that whole extra-eye thing (even when nobody
else did), I help her dump that awful Alcazar guy; I even learn how
to drive the ship, and use STARS to tell her how I feel, and what do
I get? Nothing; maybe a kiss on the cheek, but c'mon, she's kissed
Bender on the cheek before. How much can something like that
mean, if she does it to someone she spends most of her time yelling
at?
Of course,
she yells at me a lot, too; I guess that means that I'm not any
better than some alcoholic, foul-mouthed, klepto robot. (And that's
coming from his best friend!) She probably would've been happier if
I'd let those worms stay in my body – hell, we'd probably
already be married by now; we'd be living together in her
apartment, or a house even, and we'd travel through space together.
And at night we'd come home and I'd cook dinner for her and play the
holophoner for her, and she'd eat and listen and laugh and be happy.
Only problem is, it wouldn't be me she'd be in love with - it'd be
the worms. I'd just be along for the ride. I thought that was painful
when she turned me down then; this is a million times worse. Maybe I
should've given up then, instead of pretending; it's not like I've
done any better since. I'd probably be a lot happier right now.
I guess.
Leela
It hurt.
That's the
one idea that's been going in and out of my head all damn day. Up
'till now, I haven't had time to think about what's happened; and the
more I do, the madder I get. Whatever trick he pulled to get me to
the altar has to be the lowest, most irresponsible...and most painful
thing he's ever done. From a guy that does stupid, irresponsible
things on a daily basis, that's a real achievement. I don't think
I've ever been so humiliated in my entire life - me, ol'
"One-Eye", the original 31st century Terminally Dateless
Girl. Serves him right what happened; idiot deserves it, after the
way he treated me. He just had to marry me in a cathedral,
right? Probably convinced me that it'd be more 'romantic' that way;
two people 'joining their hearts' before the maximum number of people
possible - you know, for more witnesses, so nobody could say they
missed Philip J. Fry's ultimate prank.
Jerk; I
bet he even got Bender to grab the crowd at the damn bus station
again, the lazy, stupid, thieving little -
Whoops;
guess I didn't see that meteor coming. Great, I'm so annoyed I can't
fly straight. Dammit; I swear, this is just like that whole fiasco
with the worms - he changes for the better, and all that happens is I
end up feeling like a moron. Well, maybe not exactly like the worms;
at least then he was acting like a gentleman for awhile! Honestly,
with all the stuff he does, it's a wonder I don't smack him so hard,
he wakes up in another thousand years!
I think
I'll just drive for awhile; it helps me to relax, and I've got to
calm down. Professor Farnsworth would be mad if we ended up crashing
- again.
I watch
the stars as they stream past, and, slowly at first, I can feel
myself unwinding. I mean, things could be a lot worse; we
could still be married. And even though it was a nasty trick, there
are worse guys I know than Fry who could've done it - a certain fat,
velour-covered gasbag comes to mind, and I shudder. And he did
apologise; I know for a fact that Zapp would never have apologised.
And he wouldn't have argued against me getting that extra eye,
either; he would've loved me to become 'normal'; that way, he could
say he'd 'conquered' me twice.
Fry did
oppose it, though; and he defends me, even if he isn't smart enough
to do it right. Then there's the thing with that sleaze Alcazar.
Nobody else saw how miserable I was when I was with him; nobody else
tried to talk me out of marrying him. And when he burst into the
ceremony on the back of that lizard...I'm repeating myself, I know,
but nobody else could've gone to such lengths to stop the wedding –
nobody else would have.
Then
there's the worms. I know that they were parasites, and that the only
reason he got them in the first place is that he was dumb enough to
eat a sandwich from a truck-stop bathroom vending machine, but
still...he was so much better then. He wasn't whiny or lazy or stupid
or inconsiderate then; in the space of a few hours, he became a
perfect gentleman - and he looked damn good, too. Part of me
misses that Fry, even now; well, especially now. The Fry with worms
would never have pulled a stunt like that; he wouldn't have had to
trick me into marrying him - I'd have said yes at the drop of a hat.
But he was
right in the end, the stupid jerk; if it'd been me in his place I
would've wanted to check, too - whether I was loved for who I was, or
what some parasites had turned me into.
Maybe we
could've made it work; I guess I'd have been amenable to it, if
whatever he'd done hadn't been a trick. If he'd have done something
wonderful, like save my life or something, that would've made a big
impression. Less than that, even; if he'd just grown up a bit. Hell,
if he grew up a bit, he'd at least get a date. And while I'm on the
subject, there's that thing he had with Amy; you couldn't call it a
relationship - neither of them acted like they were old enough to
have one! And the minute she asks for an iota of commitment, whoosh!;
he's gone.
But then I
bailed him out at Elzar's. I could've left him to suffer, but I
didn't. I know part of the reason; despite all his faults, he's my
friend, and even if he been acting like a pig throughout that whole
Amy fiasco, having to be a third wheel at the end of her Valentine's
Day date was too much. The other part...
The other
part...I don't know.
Or maybe I
do.
Fry
Two days.
I didn't know that two whole days could go so slowly. Two days since
the time slips were fixed. Two days since my message was destroyed.
Two days since things went back to 'normal' - well, normal for here,
anyway. Planet Express is still here, still delivering stuff, so life
goes on, I guess. If you looked at us, you'd think the whole stupid
thing had never happened.
Leela and
I haven't said two words to each other in two days; that's different.
I mean, she still orders me and Bender around, but that's not the
same thing; we always did kinda talk now and then, even if she did
end up telling me to shut up at the end. And with the ordering; she
still bosses me around, but it's like she's distracted or something -
her heart isn't in it. I kinda hope that that means she's thinking
about all the stuff that went on, but I doubt it; she made it pretty
clear how she feels. I guess it was always one-sided, you know?
That's
what I'd been thinking for most of the last couple of days; then I
talked to Dr. Zoidberg. He's a pretty cool guy, even if he does say
goofy stuff sometimes, and cuts stuff off that doesn't need to be and
all. (Although we did forgive each other for that whole Edna thing -
I mean, it's kind of hard for two guys to be mad at each other over a
chick, when the chick in question is dead!) We were talking about
junk and whatever in his office while he was poking around in my
intestines (man, I *have* to stop eating weird stuff outta vending
machines), and I thought I'd ask him - he's a guy, right? I knew he
knew something about women - I'd taught him everything I knew, after
all. Plus, Amy'd got him a book called, "Women for Complete
Morons", so...
But we
were talking about women and stuff, y'know, and in the middle of
that, what does he come out with? Not much...just that Leela does
kinda like me! At least that's what she told him. Something about she
doesn't want to push me away, and some other junk. When I heard that,
I was like, "All right! She likes me!", an' stuff. "My
chances with her aren't totally boned after all!"
Then
again, maybe they are; see, there was this thing she said when she
said that other stuff. If I did it, maybe we could get together. But
it's tough, though, this thing I gotta do. I've got to Grow Up. Be
more, y'know, Responsible. And Mature. More like an Adult, less like
a kid; take my life more seriously.
And I'm
not sure I want to; I mean, life's pretty cool the way it
is...bumming around with Bender, cruisin' for chicks, blasting around
the Universe and having adventures. Why do I wanna mess with that?
It's not like my life's gonna get any better; I'm stuck as a delivery
boy, forever. But then, I think about Leela, and then...I dunno. It's
like this new thought comes into my head; if I can't have what I want
most in the whole world, what's so great about my life anyway?
And
there's something else. I'm not sure what it means,or even if it
means anything at all. I'm not an expert at deep meanings from people
and stuff like that. And it did happen pretty fast, too, so maybe I
made a mistake. It was the end of the day, yesterday; we'd got back
to the office, and were getting the equipment and stuff put away. I
came back from putting something back, and that's when I saw it.
Leela was on the cargo lift, checking something with Hermes. I'd been
looking at my feet most of the way over, but when I looked up, there
she was, looking back. I dunno if she'd been watching me the whole
time or not, but she was looking at me now.
I've had a
whole day to think about it, and I'm still kinda not sure what the
look on her face was. It was kinda sad, like she missed something.
But it was more than that; there was something else, I think - like
hope, too. She looked away really quickly, but I'm sure I saw it. It
was like she was saying, "Maybe", you know, but not using
words or anything.
So I'm
gonna try - to grow up some, be a better guy. It's not gonna be easy,
and maybe I'll screw it up. But I'm gonna try anyway; 'cause if that
look means what I think it does, then...maybe.
Maybe I do
have a chance, after all.
FINIS.
Thank you,
and goodnight.
