Chapter 7: Bells and Kisses

At twelve hours, a bell rang throughout the Reploid Education Center, marking the mid day break, and for humans it was lunchtime. Roll lifted up her head at the bell and looked around, wondering what was going on. "It's just the mid day bell" X said and pulled her head back down. The two of them had been like that for a long while, embracing each on other on the couch, kissing. It was both of their first times experiencing this and they weren't about to slow down. Roll smiled at X and locked her lips over his. X reached up and stroked her face as they kissed for the umpteenth time. This is heaven, thought X to himself, she's not a reploid she's an angel. Roll shifted herself on him and the friction of her body was pleasing to him.

Then the moment was broken as somebody started knocking on the door. Damnit, X thought to himself, he should have figured that the bell signaled that somebody or other would want in on this room. The voice murmering on the other side of the door was confused as they jiggled the door. These doors were hardly ever locked, and it looked like whoever was trying to get in wasn't going to stop trying at any minute. X looked up at Roll and they both laughed quietly to themselves. As they got up and separated, his hand brushed lightly against her leg and he thought he would die from the feeling that rushed through his body. X thought to himself he had better either calm down or learn to cope with this otherwise his systems were going to just fry the next time he touched her. And judging from the way she looked at him with her eyes gleaming and wry smile, it couldn't be too long.

X got up and dusted himself off with his hands, then darted over to the door but stopped halfway. Whoever was on the other side was damned persistent, they sure liked to jiggle the door and mutter curses under their breath. X quickly turned back to Roll. "How do I look?" Roll clasped her hands over her mouth and giggled. "You look pretty good to me X", she said "Maybe your hair is a little messed up, that's all." X quickly ran his fingers through his hair, trying to make sure everything was straight. His hair, of course, wasn't really messed up, but Roll couldn't help but tell him the innocent lie, she simply loved to see him do that. Roll sighed to herself as he ran his fingers through his hair, wishing that she had thought to do that when they were kissing on the couch. X opened the door and found the person to be Zero. X looked at Zero, who seemed quite surprised to see him open the door and smirked, "Are you usually that foul mouthed Zero, or are you just having a bad day?"

Zero seemed embarrassed. Good, thought X, that will teach him to intrude on us like that. Of course X wasn't really angry with Zero, just sort of irritated. Zero looked around the room and saw Roll and whispered to X "...is that her?" X, in no mood for Zero's gawking or his questions, pushed his friend out of the door frame with his hand. Zero stumbled backwards, a bit surprised at X's irritation with him. "Not now Zero, we'll talk later okay? Okay. Bye." X turned around swiftly and jumped when he saw Roll right behind him. "Oh! You startled me there Roll," he said. Roll smiled and pushed him against the door, pressing her lips into his, interrupting his next sentence. "Maybe we should go to th---mmmmmm." X wrapped his arms around her and stroked her wings. Now Roll had plenty of time to run her fingers through his hair.

At 1.5 hours, another bell sounded, signaling the end of the mid day break. Humans got up and cleaned up the remains of their lunches and reploids stopped whatever they were doing and milled back into classrooms. Two reploids, deeply engaged in the throes of first love, did not pay attention to the bell at all. Zero, on his way back to the class where he was teaching future Maverick Hunters how to use a buster arm, faltered as he passed the door X had rushed him out of earlier. He quietly snuck over close to the door and tried the handle, attempting to see if it was locked without making much noise. It was. Zero's curiosity got the better of him, he knew that X had a special interest in whatever she had to say, and vice versa, but he thought it couldn't hurt to listen in a bit. Zero pressed his ear against the door and opened the controls on his arm, raising his auditory levels. He couldn't hear any talking. Zero's frowned to himself, they must not be talking, he thought. Zero wondered if perhaps they had left and accidentally closed the door while it was locked. He reminded himself to check later and bring a key if he saw X or Roll outside the room.

At 3 hours, classes let out, and Zero remained behind to talk to a few reploids who had questions. After answering them, he wondered what he should do, usually he and X would go somewhere together and relax, but X was also usually very easy to find. Zero wandered towards the Hunters section and found X, down a hall with Roll next to him. X was talking to the small screen under the flap of his arm, probably a direct call from Dr. Cain. More interestingly, Zero noticed, Roll was leaning her head against his shoulder and grasping his other hand with her two. She looked very comfortable with him. So that's it, thought Zero, no wonder he was in such a hurry to get me out of there, that lech. Zero couldn't help but smile to himself, he had had girlfriends, not all of them were even reploids, some human women had no qualms with "going out" with a prominent male reploid like Zero. But X...X was always either too busy or to shy to deal with girls. Now he had with him, practically hanging off of his arm, certainly the most attractive female reploid Zero had ever seen. Zero whispered to himself out loud before walking back in the other direction. "Good for you X, you deserve it." Zero walked off towards his quarters "Thanks Dr. Light" he said.