Futurama

More Than Us
By Nasteve

Bumped another title from Travis, but they won’t mind. This title comes from the biggest single off their debut album, Good Feeling. Expect a few more songs to get mentioned throughout. This is another (groan!) short love story with a general direction to it, but nothing concrete yet. I just need to write something, and I’ve been sick of just sitting, waiting for a big idea to pop into my head, so please humour me.

Dedicated to Sian.

Part 1

“…And so, with no objections, I hereby recommend that we don’t wake the professor, and take the rest of the day off.”

“Agreed," came the hushed, but enthusiastic, response from Fry, Leela, Bender and Zoidberg.

“Snooze,” from the professor.

“Very well, see you all later,” finished Hermes, as everyone left the meeting table and then the building.

Outside, Bender, Fry and Leela paused for a moment to decide what to do. Amy was away for a couple of days with Kif, and Hermes had plans for an anniversary surprise for his wife, so the three of them had been gifted some time off.

“Hey, you guys, wanna go get drunk?” suggested Bender.

“It’s 9.30 in the morning, Bender!” Leela replied.

“I know, but I missed breakfast.”

“I think I’ll pass,” Leela said dryly.

“Suit yourself; just you and me then, pal,” Bender said to Fry, giving him a playful sock on the shoulder.

“Actually, Bender, I think maybe I’ll just hang with Leela for a while.”

“What a couple of losers! Fine! I’ll just go get drunk by myself first thing in the morning!” Bender yelled, and walked off muttering to himself.

“Heh, robots.”

“Well, Fry. Now that we’re ‘hanging’ what do you want to do?” Leela asked, her arms were folded and she didn’t seem to be breaking her neck with excitement at the concept of spending a day with Fry.

“Well… maybe we could…” Fry started rubbing the back of his neck trying to come up with something, “go to the movies or something?”

“Okay, but don’t get any ideas or anything, Fry, we’re just going as friends,” Leela stated, making sure Fry still knew exactly how Leela felt about the two of them becoming an item.

“Relax, Leela,” Fry responded. “I didn’t ask you to marry me or anything.”

“Okay, let’s go then.”

On board the Nimbus, Kif was had just finished work for the day and begun his 3 day leave. He had gone back to get changed, and was now on his way to the officers' dining room to meet Amy.

“Hey, Kif!” called Amy when she saw him enter. She waved her arm to try and flag him over.

Kif saw her face light up when she saw him and that made him feel great inside.

The room was very romantic looking and Kif was thrilled to finally have the chance to share a meal with someone here who wasn’t big or loud or annoying. It was situated on the very lowest deck on the ship and had a pitch-black floor and ceiling, with round tables dotted around the place. Lighting came from small lamps at each table and along the walls that gave a faint glow that was enough for you to see where you were going, but not to provide much distraction. You see, the floor and ceiling were black for a reason: the floor was actually just glass, and you could see all the stars and planets as the ship flew past. The ceiling was just a giant mirror which reflected everything. It was kinda nerve-racking crossing the floor sometimes, but once you got used to it, it was a great place to relax in.

Kif made his way over to the table Amy was at and they kissed before sitting down.

“I hope I haven’t been keeping you long, Amy,” Kif said.

“Nah, I’ve just been admiring the view,” Amy replied. “I can’t wait ‘till tomorrow, it’s been so long since I’ve got the chance to be with you.” Bursting with excitement.

“I know, but we’ve got some time together now.”

“Yeh, we’re gonna have a great time tomorrow at our picnic, and a very fun time tonight,” Amy said with a smile.

“Heh, yeh, hehe, hmm.”

“Well, the movie sucked,” Leela blandly commented.

“What are you talking about? It had explosions and sexy women and strange gadgets and a confusing plot and everything!”

“Uhh,” Leela sighed. The movie had been rotten for her, but at least Fry hadn’t been too big a pain. She probably would have enjoyed herself in his company if the movie had been to her taste.

“So, what now?” Fry asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe we could have some lunch in the park?”

“Okay,” Fry agreed. Lunch in Central Park with Leela sounded pretty cool.

The two of them got something to eat and sat down next to the lagoon near Central Park south.

Leela felt so lonesome. She really wished sometimes that her and Fry were an item, but she could never actually bear to think of them together either. Sometimes he could be so sweet she just wanted to hold him, but other times he was so childish that she wished he would just vanish. Sometimes, Leela had to take a deep breath and just ask herself if she was being to hard on him, not giving him a real chance with her. Mind you, he had been quite fun to be around today…

“Hey, Leela!” Fry spoke suddenly.

“What?” Leela replied, slightly stunned out of thought.

“You wanna go for a walk, maybe?”

“Sure,” Leela smiled, she was starting to warm up to his attitude today.

Fry and Leela took a stroll through Central Park, walking side by side. There was a nice cooling breeze that combed their hair, and it was a great day to be in the park. Eventually, after talking about nothing in particular for a while and just walking, enjoying the casual conversation, Leela started to glance at her watch periodically and eventually interrupted Fry,

“Look, Fry, it's been nice hanging out with you today, but I should get going. I’ve got a bunch of stuff to do.”

“Oh, need any help?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, are you busy tonight?” Fry asked.

“Why?” Leela answered.

“Maybe we could have dinner?” Fry asked, his face smiling, but not too hopefully.

“C’mon, Fry, I already told you I’m not interested.”

“Give me a chance, Leela. You just told me you had a nice time today, you like being around with me…” Fry pleaded.

Leela let him linger for a bit, then said, “I don’t know, Fry…” Leela wasn’t too sure. She had had a nice time with him, and if he didn’t act like a jerk at dinner, then maybe it could be OK. But then again, maybe today had just been a fluke. ”Sorry, Fry, but I just don’t think you and I are right for each other. I mean, I did have fun with you today, but you’re still not...” Fry looked at her with a crushed look in his eyes, “... you still aren’t my type. I’m sorry.”

“Leela…” Fry began.

“Just forget it, Fry,” Leela interrupted him. She walked away right then without saying anything else. She kinda hated him for making her do that to him. They had been having a pretty nice time up until then.

Inside the officers' dinning room on the Nimbus, Amy and Kif had just finished their meal. Kif was poking at a bit of food left on his plate with his fork and looking like he was trying to say something.

“Uh, Amy, I was thinking,” Kif stuttered.

“Whenever sang my songs…” a soft voice sang across the room.

“Oh, Kif! I love this song! We have to dance!” Amy enthusiastically ordered, grabbing Kif’s hand and jumping out of her seat.

“Oh, alright,” Kif agreed as Amy dragged him across the room to a space in the floor where a few couples were dancing. Amy took Kif right to the middle of the floor and they adopted a waltz stance. “Amy, I’m not a very good dancer.”

“That’s okay, me neither.” Amy reassuringly smiled back.

“..same old songs, just once more...”

“I really love this song,” Amy repeated.

They started dancing slowly around the floor, dancing between the stars. Kif started loosening up, and they flowed freely to the peaceful beat of the song.

“Kif, were you about to aks me something?” Amy asked.

“Oh? No, it was nothing,” Kif replied.

The two of them danced the rest of the song out in silence, enjoying the moment together among the stars. Once the song had finished, they kissed.

That night in the Robot Arms apartments, Fry was pacing around with his hands behind his head just thinking. It was very late, and all of a sudden Bender burst into the apartment, startling Fry senseless.

“Hey meatbag!” Bender announced his arrival.

“Bender, you scared the life out of me. Where the hell where you?” Fry asked.

“Having breakfast, I told you,” Bender replied.

“Oh.”

“What’s up with you?” Bender asked.

“Nothing, I was just thinking about stuff.”

“Well knock yourself out, I just came to polish my antenna before I head out to dinner with some lady friends I met at breakfast,” Bender said, real suave. “You wanna come along?”

“No thanks,” Fry responded, as Bender finished getting ready.

“Okay, skintube, have fun ‘thinking’ heh, heh, heh,” Bender laughed as he headed out again.

"I got to figure out how to get Leela to love me," Fry thought to himself. "What did I do the last times? When I had the worms and was really smart and strong she liked me, and when I wrote her the love note in the sky she liked me, and when I saved her life she liked me. There’s gotta be some kind of hidden pattern here to her ‘liking me’." Fry rolled this over in his mind for a while before reaching the god obvious conclusion: "I got it! Leela likes me when I’m really smart and thoughtful and nice to her. So I just need to be thoughtful and nice around her and she’ll love me! It’s all so obvious now!"

End part 1

Okay, pretty lame so far, I’ll admit. No cliff-hanger, not much at all has happened, if you’re still reading, you have way too much time on your hands. But stay with me, 'cause I’m just setting the scene and it’s gonna get a helluva lot better after now. Part 2 will be along in no time at all.