~~~~Max~~~~
'Did he.... he couldn't have . . . Could he?'  That was my first thought after coming out of my shock.

I'm not sure if I'm hearing things, but I'm pretty sure I just heard him say that. 

Steel just said he loved me. 

I waited until I felt his side of our link drop off into unconsciousness; if that's what you want to call his sleep mode or whatever, for a while before carefully getting up and going into the kitchen. I never actually had dinner. 

Still, I didn't feel like making something, so I poured myself a bowl of cereal and stood at the counter, eating my food quietly. 

I'm not entirely sure what to think about this, what's worse is that I'm not sure if I can return Steel's affection. I mean, it's hard! If you look at the physical aspects, we don't have anything we can do aside from hugs and maybe kisses. And the mental side of it, I've always liked girls, not boys, and I'm almost positive that Steel is a boy.

'I guess for now I'll just keep quiet about hearing that, make it easier on both of us, especially with the current problem we're going through right now.'

I finish my cereal, put the bowl & spoon in the sink, and walk back into my room, quietly closing the door behind me. I Sit down on my bed slowly and I looked over at my alarm clock. It says 10:38,
'I should try and get back to sleep, don't need to feel dead more than I already do.' 

With that, I carefully lay down and pull the blanket up to my chest before closing my eyes.

~~~~Steel~~~~

I start to wake up, not knowing where I am, and look around my location. It takes a bit for me to remember, but I recall yesterday's events,

'oh yeah, Berto shrunk me. . .' I think to myself, remembering that I'm still in a safety pod stuck to the side of my partner's head. 

I groan before pressing the button to open the safety pod and flying out. Thankfully, Max is sleeping on his front, so I don't have any issues getting out. I look at the alarm clock sitting on the side table; it said 6:45 am.
I look back over at Max's massive sleeping form on the bed, just watching him as he sleeps obliviously. 

Suddenly, I get a call from N-Tek. I think about waking Max but decide otherwise. Why wake him if he's not needed? So I answer the incoming call, and to no surprise, it's Commander Forge Ferrus.

"Steel, is that you?" He asked,

'Yes, sir! what can I do for you?'  I say in my mock soldier voice.

"I need you and Max to be here in an hour," he demands.

'What for, is there a new mission? Or are we playing lab rats again?' I ask, being genuinely curious and annoyed.

"No, Berto wants to talk to you both about your . . . Situation. Says it's crucial," he answers.

'Alright, I'll get Max up, and we'll be there within the hour.'  I reply before hanging up.

"Now then, how in the world am I supposed to wake up the human who could sleep through the apocalypse? Especially when I'm the size of an ant?"

I fly over, so I'm hovering right above Max's head. I decide the best way to wake the massive sleeping human was to go through our link.

<Hey, Max, time to get up.> He doesn't even flinch, "of course. You're going to make things difficult!" I mutter,
<come on Max, wakey, wakey.> He still doesn't respond, 'guess I'll have to try another approach. He must be out of it if talking over the link didn't even make him flinch,' I think to myself.

I fly closer to Max's forehead and start poking it, it does cause him to stir, but he doesn't wake up. Instead, he rolls away, so his back is facing me.

"Ok, that does it!" I say, "No more Mr. nice link!" I fly back a bit so I won't get swatted or crushed, then fire a zap at the back of Max's head.

He's up in an instant!

"Huh?! What's happening?" Max asked, startled, looking around for his attacker.

"Over here sleeping beauty," I call out amused.

Seeming to relax a bit, Max turns to face me. "Steel? What's going on, why'd you zap me?" He asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

"Commander Forge called, apparently Berto wants to talk to us. We need to be over at N-Tek in 50 minutes, so hurry up and get ready to go out. Also, sorry about zapping you, you weren't getting up."

"Oh, ok. Well, let's get going," Max says.

Max gets up, walks out of his room with me following behind, heads to the kitchen, turns on an element and preps to cook eggs as well as puts some bread in the toaster. 

After quickly scarfing down his breakfast, he heads into the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he finishes that, I link up and switch to his street clothes before he walks out the door.

We get into his truck, and I detach as he goes for the seatbelt. I decided to settle on the dash for the moment, looking up at Max as he starts the truck and pulls out into traffic. 

He's unusually quiet, but I don't question it. Instead, I turn to watch the scenery out of the windshield. 

We get to N-Tek in about 10 minutes. I link back up to Max, and we walk inside. Max takes us to Berto's lab, and we find him, Forge and Molly.

"Hola, harmono, hey Steel, glad you made it." Berto greeted, looking at a screen once more before turning to face us.

"Hey, Berto, so why'd you want to talk with Steel and me?" Max asked, walking closer to the group.

"Well, Max, to fix Steel's current... situation, I'll need a scan of him, and probably you as well, both linked up and unlinked. So that I can see if there could be any malfunctions and to see if this is something that will wear off or we have to come up with a solution." Berto explains, picking up a device that I assume is a scanner.

"Oh, ok, well, we're linked up right now, so we might as well get that scan done first. Unless they need to be done in a specific order." Max says, not caring how we do it.

"Nope, no order, just stand still and arms away from where Steel is." Berto orders, well more like suggests.

Max does so, and it's not until I'm paying attention to my surroundings that I noticed that the others left. 'Huh, guess they have more important things to do.'

<Hey Steel, how you doin'?> Max asked,

<Well, I'm still teeny, and I'm being scanned. What do you think?> I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

<Ok, sorry for asking Mr. grumpy bot. I was just concerned for my best buddy, guess I'll leave you to your thoughts.> Max replies, something in his voice seeming a tad off.

I sigh <Sorry, Max. I'm just still getting over the shock of this whole situation. Yes, it's weird for you, but imagine how I feel. Everything that used to be familiar to me is now like how an ant looks at the world. Everything is absolutely massive to me. I do appreciate that you are concerned about me, but do try to see this from my perspective when I snap like that.> I explain, feeling slightly guilty for being snippy with him. After all, it's not his fault that I'm like this.

He doesn't respond verbally, but I can feel the understanding and forgiveness through our link. As well as something else I can't quite pinpoint, but feels familiar.

Suddenly, I remember that it is a weekday and that Max has school in about 30 minutes.
"Um hate to hurry you, Berto, but Max and I need to head out like now, or we'll be late for school!!"

"Right, I'll quickly finish these scans, and then you can head out. Shouldn't take me more than 5 minutes to do these scans." He says, quickly getting all of his scans.

True to his word, roughly 5 minutes later, Berto finishes his scans and shoos us out so he can go over the data, and we could get to school on time.

"I'll get back to you with the results of the scans ASAP. For now, go to school and don't get separated. Like at all!" Bento explained

<"I don't think we'll have a problem with that,> I mutter over the link.

We head out of the base to where Max parked the truck, and he jumps in. 

I detach from Max again and move to rest on the dashboard, but a leathery wall, a hand, stops me from going any further. I turn to look at the owner of the offending appendage, amusement & annoyance clear in my eye.
<Um, what are you doing?>

<Steel, I think we need to talk.>

<What about? Whatever it is, can't it wait till later? You're going to be late for school if you don't hurry up!> I say through the link, trying to make him drop his current train of thought.

It seems like he's going to press further, but he lets out a sigh and lowers his hand. 

Max goes for his seatbelt and buckles himself in, not saying a word. I move over to the dashboard, avoiding eye contact with my partner, and settle down. The truck starts up with a rumbling purr and Max pulls out onto the main road, en route home so he can get his backpack and head to school.

Sorry for such the delay, writers block hit me really hard and I haveńt felt inspiration in a long time. So here's a new chapter. I can't promise when the next part will be up, but i will try to work on it.
Squirt Out 🤠