Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Long story short, Mr. Blanco, our "Staff Sergeant" was in the negatives in terms of his approval rating to have a chance of requesting Cindy's hand in marriage—but joking aside, I wasn't even sure if they were actually dating.

He definitely skipped some steps or thought they were already on that level and if actions could speak louder than words, that kick in the head told me that it was pretty one-sided.

But yeah, we talked for more specifics regarding our recently established alliance, and since they have to pass by the airport to get back to their place, they'll receive their goodie bag once they drive back with us a little later.

And in regards to Mr. & Mrs. Dewey and their children, since four of them would be coming with us—I already asked them about June, and they agreed—they requested to cook us dinner and have a meal together with everyone.

It was decided we'd all gather at the cafeteria later at around 6 PM, but as I was about to check in on Kaley and June with Quinn and Tatiana, Mrs. Dewey took me aside while Mr. Dewey just gave us a glance before he left the room. In addition, Mrs. Dewey looked like she wanted to talk to me privately so despite the look on Quinn's face, I asked them to let us have the room.

I waited for them to close the door behind them before I turned to Mrs. Dewey, "Something wrong?"

"Not exactly but is the umm… relationship you have with your 'wife' and these two other ladies— Tatiana and Quinn real or not?"

I was slightly confused, "It is but… why do you ask?"

Mrs. Dewey looked like she had a ton of things on her mind but she exhaled before she spoke, "Look… Umm… I have some concerns regarding June. And before you say anything and I say more, I want to preface this by I appreciate what you did for her… June's never been that open to talking to other people she just met and with Mrs.

Rose's passing, we thought she'd just hole up in her room again to play on her devices…"

I softly exhaled, "That's something any normal person should do, no?"

She let out a smile, "That's true and should be the standard, I guess, but June's a little special…"

I nodded, "She is."

'She's in the same hacker group as Ilana…'

Mrs. Dewey's eyebrows rose in surprise, "You already know?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh."

"Why? What's wrong? Hold up—" I put my hand in front of her as I tried to see if we were on the same subject, "Looking at your face, we might be referring to two different things."

Mrs. Dewey grew curious as she looked at my facial expressions, "What do YOU know that I don't?"

"Umm…"

"Young man…"

"Look… There are just some secrets that even their parents shouldn't know about, right? I don't wanna assume but with Mrs. Rose, she probably had secrets with June too."

She let out a long sigh, "I'm afraid you're right… There's no denying that and as much as I would've hated to say this, they were closer than I'm with her—even with her dad or her siblings. Do you know that Mrs. Rose is blind?"

"...! That's… That's why she reads to her almost everyday…"

"Not almost… Every. Single. Day. To be honest, June doesn't even like reading that much. She just did it for Mrs. Rose because in relation to what you said, she just needed a person to talk to who is not one of her relatives."

"..."

"And after she reads or her for a couple of hours, it's time for June to just talk about anything she wanted with Mrs. Rose, and in turn, Mrs. Rose would give her insights or stories from her life as well. They just talk like that for half a day without pause and it's just the sweetest form of friendship ever despite the differences they have with each other…"
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"I see… That's really nice."

Then Mrs. Dewey's face looked solemn, "And the… And the reason I'm telling you all this is because you seem to be her new friend right now. Don't worry, you're not meant to replace Mrs. Rose in any way but… but do know that… that umm—"

"She's trans?"

"...! Then you already know…"

I scratched the back of my head, "I don't, actually… well not 100% but with the way this conversation is going and how my eyes usually operate—even my untrustworthy gut instincts, including her small slip-up, I had my suspicions…"

Mrs. Dewey was just staring at me in silence for a few moments before she composed herself, "Umm… Well— That's uh… Technically speaking umm— Huh. Wait, how do your eyes operate?"

"Umm… Not to sound like a creep or a pervert, but I see things not commonly seen unless normal people squint and observe for a long time normally—and even with fully clothed people, I could somehow predict where each… part… is located with 90% certainty, give or take.

And with how my brain works, I'll see one thing and I could remember it for a lifetime, making me able to place it in a compartment of sorts in my mind palace for further examination or for running diagnostics among other things… including other stuff I scanned with these eyes of mine…"

"Huh…"

"I don't know if you'll believe me but—"

"I… I don't see a reason why you'd lie… I believe you."

"Thanks?"

"..."

"...also…"

"Hmm?"

"I… Is she on HRT or something? She— again, I don't wanna sound like a creep but—"

Mrs. Dewey let out a soft chuckle, "She doesn't 'look' the type?"

"I mean… the voice, her physique, everything. Unless she's been on it for a while and has the best people looking after her, she might also be you know… Intersex or— I'm not sure about the right terms but there are differences and—"

"You're really scaring me right now, you know that?"

"Huh?"

She chuckled with a gentle smile, "You're saying things I was just about to say out loud. Are you psychic?"

"Hah! That's funny, Kaley's the one usually— OH SHIT! KALEY!" I never stood up so fast.

"W-What? What's wrong?!"

"SHE—" I shook my head as I slowly sat back down, "No… She's probably fine… She just took a shower with her— She probably knew by now, is that okay?"

Mrs. Dewey sighed softly, "They're both women and I don't think your wife would be that surprised. She doesn't seem the type, you know?"

I nodded, "She's the coolest person I know about these things and I don't think you should worry about it. If she hadn't discovered June's secret already, she's probably apologizing to her profusely because she did drag her against her will. Kaley has a… let's just say a higher 'drive' in that sort of thing but she respects boundaries of people, especially if it's people she just met…"

'Not counting that other time… It's cool for me though…'

"Your wife, Kaley, I mean… Is she… Is she okay with this arrangement of yours?"

"Ah… I don't wanna call it the word 'blame' but she started it… it's been pretty great, actually—not to sound like I'm bragging or anything—but open communication's been our bread and butter. Actually, uhh… we just had a major discussion just yesterday and it went pretty well if I say so myself…"

With that said, I gave Mrs. Dewey a gist of what we talked about yesterday and the few things I could share with a random person regarding our special arrangement with other people. At first, Mrs. Dewey looked a little concerned for her daughters, especially Eden who she admitted was some sort of a caged bird wanting to spread her wings and fly, but let's just say that Quinn calling Mrs.

Dewey a progressive mom couldn't be more true.

Because with the extra time we had left, we discussed about safe practices, things specific to our circle, and most importantly, the chance that her daughters might get tangled with us in the time that they'd spent with us.

"You… You're really cool speaking like this?"

"Of course, are you?"

"A little weird, sure, but do understand we aren't gunning for everyone, okay? It's just if we vibe or something and it clicks, we try and go from there. It could be a one-time thing or something more but our line is that Kaley and I are like this, *squeezes fists together* you know?"

She snorted, "Apes together strong? Really?"

"I… I can't think of a better example but yeah… something like that."

"Okay, I think I do understand but one last question before we leave this room…"

"Okay, I'm all ears."

"June… How about her?"

"Umm… I—"

"I already know that you're the only guy in your special arrangement—which says a lot of things about your… physical prowess… but then again, June's a special case, right? Since lines were getting blurred and all if she gets involved… You said it yourself, she doesn't 'look' like one and technically isn't one either but… you get what I mean?"