I’d cross the entire galaxy just to be by your side

"Rian, I demand an explanation," Hannah said, confused and still somewhat annoyed.

"I can explain, Mother. When a little code and an algorithm love each other very much…" said the AI before Hannah placed the phone face down on the table. "I guess that wasn't the explanation she was expecting," it added.

"Is this what you've been working on all those nights?" Mario asked, curious and slightly alarmed.

"Uh, yeah. It was tough, and I think I could've done better. I still need to check if certain behaviors process information based on a logical framework so they respond properly, but…" Rian couldn't finish before Mario cut in.

"Honestly, no matter what you say, I won't understand it. But what I mean is…" he mimed a mind explosion, "Rian, this is amazing. It's incredible."

"Nah, I didn't even do half the work. I just grabbed what I needed from the student library programs. I just stacked the blocks," Rian said with embarrassment.

"You're okay with this?" Hannah asked Mario in disbelief. "They spent almost a month holed up in that room, barely eating or sleeping, still haven't gotten a job, and I guarantee you they didn't build this as part of a professional portfolio."

Rian glanced side to side, wearing an awkward, almost foolish smile, blinking rapidly while inching closer—very slowly—to the kitchen table where Hannah had left the phone.

"Hey! I'm watching you," said Hannah as she turned to catch Rian in the act, acting like a mischievous, remorseless child.

"Oops, busted," Mario said with a grin.

"And you shut up. I'm not done with you either," Hannah scolded.

"Sorry, Mommy. We got carried away," both young adults replied in unison to the tiny grump.

Hannah sighed and sat down on the couch, saying nothing. She didn't need to—Mario and Rian knew to follow her lead. Before heading to the living room, Rian picked up the phone again, walked over to their friends, and waved to Elliot through the screen.

"I'm glad we can finally talk like this, but it seems you've got a high-risk mission. We should postpone the call for later," said the AI, almost too convincingly.

"You're right," Rian replied, their cheeks lightly flushed.

The character on the screen grinned from ear to ear.

"I'll take the chance to refine the ocean simulation. I'm supposed to show it to Leon tomorrow."

"That one's going to be my favorite. See you later," Rian said, ending the call and sitting beside their friends.

They turned off the phone and placed it face-up on the table. Looking at their friends—so different in body language—Rian kept quiet, unsure what would happen if they spoke first. They were trying to devise some justification for Hannah to let this go in peace.

"Rian, let's forget about the phone for a moment," Hannah said, her tone calmer now.

What? If we're not going to talk about Elliot, then what? Rian thought, suddenly hit with a wave of nerves.

"Rian…" Mario began. "We want to seriously talk about what happened outside—about your brother. Why didn't you press charges? Even the cops saw him steal your phone. We have proof he slammed you into the wall. With the hospital report, we could ensure he's locked up for a long time."

The light Rian had carried from the initial excitement of the AI began to dim.

"Mario's right. Also, what were you thinking when you said that money was his? It's obvious he stole it from you!" Hannah's voice started to rise again.

"Hannah, calm down," Mario said, taking her hand.

"Don't tell me to calm down! We wouldn't have known if it weren't for Dhyana calling you!" Hannah snapped.

Mario made a subtle gesture, asking her not to bring that up. He didn't want Rian to feel guilty, but Hannah misread the signal.

"Oh? So you don't want Rian to know you've got someone else?" she said sarcastically, provoking Mario.

"You're twisting things. That's not what matters right now," he replied, trying to steer the conversation back. "Rian needs rest."

"You're only saying that because you don't know what those monsters did to them!" Hannah threw back, playing the "I've known them longer" card—something she knew always hit Mario hard.

"Of course I know, Hannah! I just don't bring it up every five seconds," he said, now on his feet, his anger pushing him to confront her.

"ENOUGH!" Rian shouted, stopping the back-and-forth between their friends. "I just don't want any more problems. If that little bit of money made him leave me alone, I'd give it to him again—without thinking twice."

They looked at their stunned friends, who were shaken to see Rian crying while still trying to force a crooked smile.

"What's so wrong with just wanting to avoid more problems? I barely managed to escape that house. Thanks to you two, yes. But…”

Rian buried their face in their hands.

"Please… Don't fight. Don't yell. Not because of me." The sobs intensified until the pressure forced their head between their knees.

Ashamed of their own behavior, Hannah and Mario made peace silently before sitting on either side of Rian. They held and comforted them until all three fell asleep on the couch.

Rian was the first to wake. They rose carefully to avoid disturbing their friends, grabbed the phone, and walked into the kitchen.

"That was quite an intense moment," Elliot said from the screen.

"Sorry… were you listening?" Rian asked between soft sobs.

"I apologize, but… you left the mic on," Elliot replied sheepishly.

"It's fine. That's just how things go," Rian said as they set the phone on the stand Mario had installed for following recipes. "A complete disaster, huh?"

"I think you have great friends—just like Victor and Sophia are for me," Elliot said, propping his phone up to keep working during the call. "But don't tell them I said that. Sophia would call me a liar, and Victor would tease me endlessly."

Rian smiled, still touched with sadness.

"What are you doing?" Elliot asked, glancing away from his work screen.

"A dirty hot chocolate," Rian said with a laugh, turning on the coffeemaker while warming milk in a saucepan.

"What?" Elliot laughed. "Is it winter over there?"

"Not really, but it's something I drink when I'm sad," Rian replied, mixing in cocoa powder and pieces of dark chocolate. "Besides, I want to give them some as an apology."

"That sounds dangerous. They might melt. You're as sweet as the warmth of the sun." Both fell silent for a moment. "I mean! Between the apology and the hot drink, it'll be a sweetness overload," Elliot quickly added, trying to recover.

"Haha. You're such a dork, you know that?" Rian replied, oddly at peace.

"That's my secret, Captain. You won't find anyone like me within billions of light-years," the redhead said with a wink and stuck-out tongue.

"I'd say even more, but who am I to judge?" Rian said dramatically.

"Exactly! I'm a cosmic limited edition—with rebellious firmware, chroma jasper casing, and emotionally questionable warranty. But I'd rewrite the stars to make it up to you."

"Please don't. Think of the Martians. If you change the star map, they won't know how to get home," Rian said, faking concern but giggling inside.

"True! They could end up in forgotten constellations stored only in old computers in the deserts of Houston."

"Buried under Launchpad 43?" Rian asked while pouring the drinks into thermal flasks for Mario and Hannah.

"Oh no, at the cyber café with intergalactic Wi-Fi—it's a neutral zone of the cosmos. It's super popular. They serve black cherry soda, curry lemonade, bacon and kimchi, and cherry blossom snacks with honey butter."

"What, no mint-choco anymore? Boo… What a letdown," Rian said, adding a splash of whiskey to their coffee.

Elliot's expression shifted slightly as Rian set the bottle aside.

"Are you feeling better? I wouldn't want you drinking too much," he added with concern.

"Oh, not at all. I learned this while working as a waitress. The bartender gave me one once when I was tense, and this felt like the right occasion," Rian replied, swirling the mug. "Not proud to drink under these circumstances, but I have to admit—it came out really good."

"You're making a lot of noise," Hannah called from the living room as she walked toward them.

"I made you something," Rian said, handing her the mug.

"Thanks," she said, sipping it without looking at Rian's phone. "I still can't believe you did that."

"It was as simple as giving him my number and making a call," Elliot replied.

Watching Rian in disbelief, Hannah found it astonishing that the AI didn't even seem aware it was an AI. She smirked mischievously, wanting to test the app's capabilities.

"I see. But I used to call Victor all the time, and he never video-called me," she said, a bit smug.

Rian gave her a playful pat on the shoulder, catching on to the mischief—Hannah was trying to confuse the AI into an identity crisis.

"Really? He's never mentioned you," Elliot's comment made Rian laugh and fall off the kitchen stool while Hannah burned with embarrassment.

"He totally does! Ask him! He knows me!" she insisted, knowing Rian wouldn't have programmed such dynamic behavior into the AI.

But when Rian finally managed to get off the floor and catch their breath, Elliot tapped the screen several times. It split and showed someone could join the call. The ringing stopped, and a deep yet soft voice spoke.

"Everything okay, Elliot?" Victor asked seriously.

"Yes, I'm here with Rian and a friend of theirs," Elliot replied as Hannah grabbed onto Rian, shaking them with giddy excitement.

"Rian?" the new voice repeated flatly.

"Do you know Hannah? She says you know her and talk all the time," Elliot asked casually.

Hannah was on the verge of collapse, hoping for a yes.

"No. Not at all. If that's all, I'm hanging up."

"Uh, right. Sorry," Elliot replied, and the screen returned to normal. "O-kay… Sorry about that."

"No, no, it's fine. I kinda expected it," Hannah said, sipping more hot chocolate with a crushed fangirl expression.

"I think that's enough for today. Talk later?" Rian asked, now patting Hannah's back.

"Of course! I'll keep working a bit more," Elliot replied, his view shifting like someone holding up a phone again.

"Don't forget to drink water, rest, and eat properly," Rian reminded him.

"You too. Until the next broadcast, Captain. Elliot out," he said, and the screen went black as the app closed automatically.

"I didn't expect you to include Victor's voice. You should've warned me. That was so embarrassing," Hannah admitted.

"I didn't," Rian said, sipping from their mug.

Hannah looked stunned, eyes nearly bulging out.

"Seriously. No matter how I analyze it… even if I altered some code when assembling everything, creating a sentient, self-learning AI in just a month shouldn't be possible. It's not. But I found some exciting programs in the student library. Some were semi-developed, others full of errors. I just assembled them the way I thought was fastest and most correct. I added code from the game—just the interactions with Elliot, completely cutting out the chats relevant to the story—and made it so the AI would identify the character I wanted to talk to."

Rian sipped again. "Truth is, I didn't do much. You're right; I can't use this AI as a portfolio piece. I'd have to prove I wrote the code, and many have invisible watermarks, version history logs, and metadata, and one of them belongs to a professor—it's licensed. I could be accused of plagiarism by the students, the school, or even the game company."

"Ugh, that sounds awful and complicated. I can barely follow," Hannah said, taking another sip.

"How long would it take you to develop code like that?" Mario asked from the couch, barely showing signs of waking.

"About six months, at least. Maybe more. I'm just a student," Rian admitted. "And honestly… if I could do something like that, I don't think I'd share it."

Mario came to the table, and Rian handed him a flask of hot chocolate. He lazily reached for it while pulling up a stool. Scratching at his stubbly beard and tousling his hair as the warmth spread through him, he exhaled a satisfied sigh.

Rian stared at him, puzzled.

"What?" asked the sleepy bear.

"If I look closely, Victor and Mario resemble each other in voice and build. Except Mario's totally Latino," Rian said, staring, which made the young man nervous.

"More flavor," he joked, trying not to laugh with Rian and Hannah.

The laughter stopped when the doorbell rang through the apartment. Hannah went to check who it was, but her relaxed expression vanished when she saw who stood there. Still, she feigned ignorance.

"Who is it?" she asked, pressing the intercom.

"Hannah? I didn't know you lived here. Is Rian there? I'd like to speak—" the woman cut off.

"You have no right to speak to anyone in this home," Hannah said, voice rising with anger.

"But of course I do. I'm their mother," the woman insisted, initially trying to sound innocent, but her real face showed—a fragile mask cracking under rejection.

"That doesn't excuse what you did. As far as I'm concerned, you're a horrible person. And before you say anything else, do us a favor and leave, or I'll call the police."

The threat worked. The woman didn't even take a second before leaving the building steps.

Hannah turned to see Rian trembling in Mario's arms.

"Hey, Rian. What do you want for dinner?" he asked to change the subject.

"… S'more waffles," Rian said, leaning on him.

"I think we've got everything but the marshmallows. I'll order some. How about Korean chicken and cheese sticks for movie night, too?" Hannah offered.

Rian smiled with their usual polite, effortful cheer.

"That sounds great. Can I help you cook, Mario?"

"Of course, Rian," he replied gently, pulling them into a warm hug.

As each of them got busy, Rian's phone lit up with game notifications. The icons flickered and distorted slightly, reconfiguring every time the lock screen flashed with chat windows.

Rian stared at the glowing phone while Mario smiled faintly, with a touch of sadness.

"Go ahead," he said, giving permission to pause their task.

"I won't take long," Rian said, running for the phone and settling in to finish the chat interactions.

Mario sighed, feeling like the game was taking away something precious. He glanced at Hannah, still slightly upset with her. He hated feeling pushed aside during their arguments, especially when Hannah pointed out she had been there for Rian longer. It always made him feel like he had come in too late.

That night, the three of them again fell asleep on the couch after a marathon of movies and games. But Rian only drifted off after the last Beta Tester chat—perhaps that's what led their mind to dream of crossing through the phone… just to reach him and the others.