(...This ship arises again...)

Xylobear took a deep bow and gestured to the steel door in front of them. "Lady and gentlemen, humans and bear, welcome to the next floor."

Mario rolled his eyes. "Xylo, you don't have to do that everytime we get to a new floor."

"Yeah, well, who else is gonna do it?"

"Anyone could," said Kaylabear. 

"Yeah, well, I am the highest in the ranks here, I'm a Level Four scientist, even if I'm a bear, so I have the most right to."

"Xylo, you realize that, despite everything we've seen so far, it still is ridiculous to see a bear bowing and announcing every floor we got to?"

"It is ridiculous, that's why I want to be human again! Do you know how hard it is to find a SCP scientist suit small enough for a bear?"

Mario glanced at the human scientist in the room. Bryan glanced back. He nodded and tugged the door open.

For the first time, the floor looked normal. No gun holes, no blood stains, no structural damage, not even any floor marks. The place looked spotless. 

"Finally, maybe we got a safe floor?" Kaylabear asked hopefully.

"Well, if we are on a safe floor, then Bryan? Can we talk?" said Mario.

"Uh, sure."

The unkillable man and the idiotic scientist went down a few corridors before stopping outside an incinerator room.

"Do they have one of these on every floor?" asked Mario.

"Yeah, we just can't take any chances, in case an SCP escapes or we have an experiment do to," Bryan explained. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Two things. First, do you think Xylo's ever gonna be human again?"

Bryan shook his head no. "We tried SCP 500, we tried the magic lamp. I'm losing hope we're ever gonna get him back to being a human. Although, are you sure he was ever a human in the first place?"

"Of course, he's been experimenting with me for months! Of course he used to be human!"

"Sorry, when I met you guys, he was already a bear, so...yeah. What's the other thing you wanted to talk to me about?"

To the scientist's surprise, Mario blushed. "Well, uh...this is kinda personal. But, uh...Bryan, how do you feel about SCPs?"

"Well, most of them terrify me, like 682, 096, 079, you get the picture. Some of them I love, like 999, 500, and 131. Why do you ask?"

"No, I mean the humanoid, like 343 or I don't know...me?"

"Almost all of the human ones scare me. There is only one human SCP that I actually like."

"That is?"

Bryan blushed slightly. "You. As annoying as you can be, you're a pretty cool guy to be around. Again, why do you wanna know?"

Mario looked away from him. "Well, I, uh, I was, uh..."

"Mario?"

Mario didn't answer. "Remember that beer SCP?"

"The one where you took a sip, got drunk instantly and yelled about me being as 'hot as heck'?"

"Yeah, that one."

Bryan laughed. "I loved that SCP. Why are you bringing it up?"

Mario looked at his feet and mumbled, "Well...maybe drunk me was right..."

Bryan blinked. "What?" Then his eyes widened.

"Mario?" He whispered under his breath.

"I - You - Your eyes are amazing -" Mario stuttered. 

Bryan took a step back. "What about my eyes?"

"Bryan, I, uh, I-"

Bryan placed a hand over Mario's mouth. "For once, I think I get it Mario. We can talk about this later, ok? I have a confession of my own to make. But we've been away from Xylo and Kayla for a bit, they might think we're dead if we don't go back. But...know I don't reject this. Ok?"

Mario nodded silently. Then they started back for their cuddly friends.