Chương 94: Book 2 Chapter 18: Love is Deaf

"We're being routed," one of the giants shouted.

"Take as many as you can carry and flee!" The horde of massive monstrosities shouldered their stolen captives and took to the skies. Somehow, a clan of giants had not only found themselves in the modern age, they had found themselves a set of jetpacks. Now capable of flight, the jetpack giants had begun abducting humans to eat. Unfortunately, they had started at the Einstein-Odinson College. A half dozen cracks of gunfire took six giants out of the sky as Vell sniped their jetpacks right off their backs.

A few more simply fell out of the sky as Harley disrupted their technology. Those who even managed to take flight soon found themselves plummeting back to earth in prisons of ice, with their unfortunate prisoners in tow. Adele had not been happy about being clutched in the grubby hand of a giant that intended to eat her, but she also disliked plummeting out of the sky. The same power that had sent her falling also bore her safely to the ground, as Lee formed an icy ramp to slide her back to terra firma.

Adele nearly lost her footing due to the strange descent, but Lee caught her by the waist and kept her upright.

"Watch yourself, Adele," Lee cautioned.

"Falling over is my thing." Adele looked up at the sky, watched the last of the jetpack giants plummet, and then looked back to the ground, to Lee.

"You saved my life," Adele signed.

"Well, giants are notoriously messy eaters," Lee said.

"I wouldn't want anyone to be their dinner guest, much less their dinner. Especially not someone I'm fond of." Lee had a quiet chuckle at her own joke. Adele barely noticed it. She was too caught up in the adrenaline of the rescue, in the chiming sound of Lee's laugh, her sparkling smile, and the scintillating emerald depths of her green eyes…

"You're-" Adele began, before pausing for a moment to allow her hands to tremble.

"Fond of me?"

"Of course, dear." Adele took a moment to nervously tug on her scarlet curls of hair before continuing. She had nearly been abducted by giants and eaten, and she was still riding high on adrenaline. She didn't want to say something she'd regret. Or maybe she wanted to say something really badly and the adrenaline was just giving her the courage to say it.

"I love you," Adele signed, as fast as her fingers would allow. Lee's head tilted to the side and froze there, her green eyes snapped open wide.

"Sorry! Sorry, that was too much, sorry, just caught up in the moment, sorry," Adele signed.

"That was -sorry, again, that came on way stronger than I wanted." Adele nervously flexed her fingers as Lee continued to stare wide-eyed in her direction.

"But, it's true, I mean, I guess, to a lesser extent," Adele said. A bright crimson blush rose up to her freckled cheeks.

"You're really brave, and generous, and smart, and funny, and really pretty, and I- I like you a lot." Lee managed to blink once, but made no other motions.

"Lee?" The sound of her chosen name shocked Lee back into being a person. Unfortunately it could never shock her back into being a well-adjusted person. Lee took stock of the situation she was in. It was, fortunately for her, the first loop, which expanded her options slightly. She decided to take option A: run. Lacking any other coping mechanism, Lee turned on her heels and fled at top speed in the opposite direction.

The idea was made slightly better by the fact that Adele would not remember watching her panic, but it was still quite bad.

"Whoof, that is rough," Harley said. She walked up next to Adele and put a hand on her sagging shoulder.

"I'd say don't take it personally, but you're not going to remember this anyway."

"What?"

"Don't even worry about it," Harley said.

"You want to ride a jetpack?" After a moment of sad contemplation, Adele nodded yes. No one was ever too sad for jetpacks. On the second loop, while Kim and Hawke diverted the jetpack giants, Harley and Vell tackled the real problem of the day: Lee. She had not been present at the morning meeting, an incredible oddity for the looper's usually punctual leader. Harley could only assume she was still reeling from Adele's confession on the previous loop.

"What do you think we should do?" Vell started.

"Probably give her some space," Harley said.

"If I know Lee, she did all her unhealthy coping mechanisms on the first loop, and she's going to do her hardcore thinking today. She could use a bit of breathing room."

"Sounds about right, but it's been a couple hours already," Vell said.

"Is that not enough?"

"You underestimate Lee's ability to overthink, but you might be right," Harley said.

"If you want to go talk to her I'm not going to stop you. I'll save my speech for later."

"Fine by me. Is there anything I should know about before I go?" While rational and level-headed in her academic and leadership roles, Lee had the occasional odd quirk in her interpersonal relationships. Vell liked to be mindful where he stepped in the minefield of Lee's anxieties.

"Honestly, I don't know. This is kind of uncharted territory," Harley admitted.

"Lee's had the occasional confession from some folks who were only after her for her money or connections, but nothing like this. Adele actually, genuinely likes her. That's going to be a new concept for Lee." The crush had been obvious to everyone but Lee for quite some time now.

Adele had been head over heels since their first meeting (which had, coincidentally, involved her being literally head over heels due to Lee's clumsiness), and that infatuation had grown into genuine affection as they'd gotten to know each other better -on Adele's part, at least. Lee had been completely clueless until the previous loop.

"I'm going to at least go check in on her," Vell said.

"I'll report back if it gets weird."

"Just be cool, Vell," Harley said.

"She's a messed up adult, but she's an adult. She can handle this." A cork board with red string never ended well for anyone involved, least of all the one making it. Vell took the spool of red string and surreptitiously placed it in his pocket before he continued further into the room. The corkboard had several pictures of Noel Burrows, Lee's father, connected loosely to other figures onto the island, and then to a large, crudely drawn question mark which connected to Adele.

"Lee. Where are you?"

"Shush, Vell. I'm trying to keep an eye on things." Following the sound of her voice, Vell tracked Lee to her bedroom, finding her crouched by her windowsill and peeking out at the campus. She had a fearful, wide-eyed look on her face, and her hair was a tangled mess. She toyed with the split ends of her black locks even as she spoke to Vell, nervously wrapping them around her fingers and tugging at every strand.

"Uh-huh. And what kind of 'things' are you keeping an eye on?"

"I don't know. Yet," Lee whispered.

"But I have to be vigilant. Clearly my father is stepping up his efforts to keep an eye on me."

"Is he though?"

"Of course he is," Lee hissed. She turned away from the window to face Vell, and pressed her back against the wall.

"This wouldn't the first time he's tried to send someone to spy on me under the auspices of romance."

"Remind me, Lee, you still haven't come out to your dad, correct?"

"Correct."

"Then why would he send a woman as a spy?" A synapse in Lee's anxiety-ridden brain snapped into place. Vell could actually watch in real time as the electric revelation gradually sank into Lee's face.

"Huh. Well. That does not at all rule out the possibility that Adele is only interested in me for my money. She might not be in my father's pocket yet, but she wants to be."

"Does she though?" Vell took a seat on the floor next to Lee, positioning himself between her and the window.

"Lee, Adele didn't even know who your dad was until she'd known you for a couple months," Vell reminded her.

"So what was she doing for those first few months she knew you?"

"Well, I-""Have you stopped to consider, Lee, that maybe, uh, Adele just likes you? Like, a lot?" Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! Lee paused and considered it for a moment. Her face scrunched up in a look of intense concentration.

"No. That doesn't make any sense," she said. Vell sighed.

"Do you think we missed something with that psychic wave generator last week? She might have-""Lee!"

"I'm considering all possibilities!"

"You don't need to," Vell said.

"We have the facts. Adele has a crush on you. She has for a while."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well, a lot of- actually, hold on." Vell could point to an entire mountain of failed attempts at flirtation from Adele, but Lee had missed or misinterpreted those the first time. Vell would need more concrete evidence if he wanted to convince her. Thankfully he knew where to find it. He pulled out his phone, opened up his chatlogs, and started scrolling. And continued scrolling. For quite a while.

"Is there a point to this, dear, or are you just browsing?"

"Sorry, this is taking longer than I thought," Vell admitted.

"Adele and I had this big long argument about tapioca pudding."

"Tapioca?"

"Yeah, apparently it's like her favorite dessert, which is weird, right?"

"Well, maybe. It's not my thing, but I can see why someone might like it."

"It's objectively worse than any other flavor of pudding, and it's- you know what, I'm not doing this with you," Vell said.

"Here we go. Read this." Vell handed over his phone, starting at the most relevant messages from a few weeks back. adelentruly: Hey Vell Can I ask you something? vharlan03: go ahead adelentruly: It's a super dumb question. Actually nvm. Forget it. vharlan03: is it about lee adelentruly: Yeah… It's that obvious huh? >_< vharlan03: little bit adelentruly: Guess that kind of answers my question then. vharlan03: nah what's up? adelentruly: I kind of wanted to know if she ever talks about me.

Like all the times I've tried to get to know her she has something else going on or tries to get other people involved. I thought maybe I was just being too subtle. But if it's that obvious I guess she's just not interested: (vharlan03: oh no not at all it's obvious to everyone BUT lee is the thing adelentruly: rly? vharlan03: ya she's kind of oblivious completely clueless really it's not about you she just has absolutely no idea what she's doing At this point in her reading, Lee looked up and glared at Vell. He smiled weakly and pointed back at the phone to get her reading again. adelentruly: ok... so you think I have a chance? vharlan03: yeah! in your case i think it's just like getting there is going to be the hardest part you just gotta ask her really directly i think adelentruly: What if I scare her off? I don't want to do too much. But I'm also not doing enough: / vharlan03: i don't think there's any harm in just asking her out adelentruly: I guess I'm just nervous. I really like Lee. She's so smart and funny and nice. And PRETTY <3 vharlan03: yes yes yes and yes so whatre you waiting for? adelentruly: I am very small. I am very gay. And I am very nervous. vharlan03: well I cant do anything about those first two but you'll get less nervous just give it time adelentruly: I think you're right. I just gotta get psyched! tyvm Vell <3 After this point, the chat concluded, and picked up the next day with a seemingly innocuous message about tapioca which, somehow, had sprawled into a thread comprised of eight-hundred and fifty-two messages in the course of a single hour. Lee pocketed her concern over that for later." Adele... likes me." Vell nodded." Adele likes me?"" Yes."" But what if-""No!" Vell interrupted." No buts. She likes you. That is fact." Lee tried to speak up and Vell shushed her again. She sighed and tried to keep her faint smile hidden. Years spent under her parents thumb, with all of her social interactions poisoned by their influence, had left Lee with little understanding of friendship, much less romance. Though she could not trust her own instincts, she could certainly trust Vell's." Okay. Adele likes me."" There we go. Now, question two, do you like Adele?" He had his own suspicions about that, but Vell kept them to himself. Even Lee wouldn't panic this much if there weren't at least some feelings involved, but Lee had to figure that part out for herself." She is... rather charming," Lee said." I'm sorry, that's not an answer is it?"" You don't need to answer right away," Vell assured her." Take some time and think about how you feel. There's no hurry." The phone in Lee's hands started to ring. She flipped the screen back into view and saw it was Kim calling. At a nod from Vell, Lee answered his phone for him and put it on speaker." Hey Vell, do you remember how you trusted the new guys to stop the jetpack giant invasion all on their own?"" Aww fuck," Vell sighed." What went wrong?"" Nothing, we actually killed it with the giants," Kim said." Banished them all back from whence they came."" Surprisingly flawless execution," Hawke said, from somewhere behind Kim." Then why did you bring it up?"" To soften the blow for the second thing we absolutely did fuck up," Kim said." We didn't hide the jetpacks very well." At that exact moment, the sound of joyous screaming and a rocket engine roared past the nearest window. A trail of smoke lingered in the air for a moment." I see," Vell said." Well, uh, you kind of messed that up, yeah, but it's not a big deal. The problem was more, you know, the giants than the jetpacks."" Vell, dear, loops tend to repeat themselves, and the last day ended with people falling out of the sky," Lee said." Perhaps we should keep an eye on things." For the sake of safety, and giving Lee a moment to breathe, Vell agreed. He stood first and helped Lee to her feet before they headed out to the quad together. The students who had found and claimed the jetpacks were roaring through the sky, filling it with trails of smoke and their excited shouts. Vell felt a moment of jealousy before wandering over to Kim and Hawke, who were also keeping an eye on the situation." So. How'd you guys handle the giants?"" Giant repellent," Kim said. She showed him an aerosol can, displaying a logo of a cartoon giant with X's over his eyes. Vell nodded as if that made sense, and then Kim threw the can away." The jetpack thing is going surprisingly well," Hawke noted. He'd been pleasantly surprised by the entire second loop. The students who had misappropriated the jetpacks at least seemed to know what they were doing, and while they made occasionally haphazard swoops and dives, the jetpacks were loud enough that every other student knew to stay out of the way. Except, of course, for the only deaf student on campus. Adele paused mid-step to wonder why her glasses were subtitling the world with "AAAAAA" and then it hit her." It" being the jetpack-riding student who couldn't swerve away from Adele in time. She was struck in the back and then born skyward by a combination of panicked over-steering and the sudden change in the jetpack's weight load. With her back to the flying student, Adele couldn't even hold on for dear life, and as soon as the veering flight leveled out, she slipped free. For the second time in as many loops, Lee watched Adele plummet out of the sky. It never got any easier to watch, but the nature of practice did make it easier to prevent. Lee formed an icy ramp to slide Adele back to terra firma. She nearly lost her footing due to the strange descent, but Lee caught her by the waist and kept her upright. This time, she didn't make a comment upon landing. Having been sent skyrocketing upwards and careening down in the span of a few seconds, Adele took a much-needed moment to breath. After that, she looked up at Lee, and history began to repeat itself." You saved my life," Adele signed." Well, yes," Lee said, blushing profusely." I am... very fond of you. And I would hate to see anything happen to you." Just as Adele got caught up in the adrenaline of the moment, Lee found herself getting caught up in the repetition. Having a chance to view this moment with a more informed perspective made her see all the little details she had missed before. The way Adele's fingers twitched as if she was about to sign a dozen different words, the nervous shuffling of her feet, and most of all, the sparkling eyes looking up at Lee. It was the eyes that did Lee in, in the end. No one else had ever looked at her like that before." I-""Uh, Adele, if I may," Lee said. She grabbed on to Adele's hand to keep her from frantically signing something that would only embarrass them both, then held it." I think you should probably see a medic. You took quite a hit there." At that point the adrenaline (and libido) wore off, and Adele became keenly aware of how much her back hurt. She stooped forward and leaned heavily on Lee for support as she hobbled towards the medical facilities. Kim and Hawke almost offered to help, but Vell held them back." So, uh, as I was about to say," Adele signed, before continuing to not say what she had been about to say." Thanks for saving me."" Of course. As I said, I'm…" Lee trailed off, uncertain of where to go next. The fact that Adele was physically clinging to her made this more awkward than it would have been even under ideal circumstances." Uh, well, Adele, dear, I think you should know, Vell and I did have a conversation about a chat you two had the other day," Lee began. Adele shook her head." Lee, I really don't want to rehash that tapioca thing again."" What? Oh. No, not the one about tapioca," Lee said." Earlier." Adele took on a thoughtful expression for two seconds before her eyes snapped open wide in panic." About you?"" About me." Adele resolved to slap Vell Harlan in the face next time she saw him." And it made me realize that I have been utterly oblivious to the way you feel about me." Adele resolved to do nothing to Vell Harlan next time she saw him." And, also, made me think about how I might feel about you. And how much I like you." Adele resolved to kiss Vell Harlan next time she saw him." So... how much do you like me?"" Enough to ask if you would possibly consider having dinner with me. Privately. Sometime. When it's convenient for you. If that sounds good?" Adele nodded furiously. She and Lee both thought their faces were turning the brightest possible shade of red, and they were both right. While the odd couple (?) hobbled forward, distant spectators speculated on what exactly was transpiring in their far-off conversation." They both seem to be blushing," Kim said." Is that good? I thought that only one person usually blushes at once."" I remember us both blushing a lot of times," Vell said. Kim's face flashed with discomfort for a half second before she carried on unphased." We were a psychomagical anomaly and have been excluded from the sample size," Kim said flatly. Vell shrugged. He'd dismissed research data for less significant variables than the intervention of a secret god." To your question: I'm pretty sure that's a good sign," Vell said." They're both a bit... messy, sometimes, but I think they're a good pair."" I think it's sweet," Hawke said. He was glad to have a day that involved some wholesome moments alongside the screaming and death." Good job getting them together, Vell."" Yeah, weird, Harley usually handles this sort of stuff," Vell said. He jumped as he remembered he should text Harley and update her on the situation. At the work desk in her dorm, Harley finished sketching up blueprints for a new machined limb. She reviewed the structural integrity of her materials. Botley sat next to her work, gazing down at the sketches with the same wide-eyed, impassive stare as ever. They both jumped as the phone buzzed with Vell's message. Harley immediately set her pencil down and grabbed her purse." Alright, Botley, time to play matchmake- huh," Harley said. After actually reading the message, Harley saw her intervention wasn't needed. She kept her mouth shut about that, though. Botley stared up at her expectantly." What are you looking at?" Botley pointed a tiny finger at the phone." Ugh, fine," Harley said." Vell got them together all on his own." Harley reached into her purse and reluctantly handed over ten dollars. The tiny android grabbed the paper bill and spread it over his metallic shoulders like a shawl." Little shit," Harley grumbled, before returning to her work." You don't even know how money works."