Chapter 6: The Moment It Almost Cracked

The next few days felt like walking through a maze without a map. ___ kept his distance, focusing on tasks—anything to avoid thinking about the new, sharp feelings Sunspot had somehow created in him. They were still spending time together, of course, but something was different now.

It wasn’t obvious at first, but every time she laughed too loudly with someone else, or when another guy smiled at her, a sharp pang would stab at his chest. A sensation he couldn’t describe. It was as if someone was pulling at something deep inside of him.

One afternoon, the experiment took them outside, under the guise of “fieldwork.” They were supposed to be working on a simple assignment to observe social interactions. Naturally, Sunspot had turned it into a game.

“Alright, genius, here’s a real-world test for you,” she said as they sat on a bench, watching a group of students play volleyball nearby. “Pretend like we’re just regular teenagers. Do something normal.”

___ blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Just talk to me. Like, tell me about your day. Your real day.”

He stared at her. He wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t used to “normal” days. His routine, before she showed up, consisted of calculations, experiments, and more formulas than anyone should ever have to deal with.

“You want me to talk about my day?” he repeated slowly. “I… I solved a complicated equation and completed an analysis on a new quantum hypothesis. I also had lunch. That’s it.”

Sunspot burst out laughing, her voice high and melodic. “Well, that’s charming. You’re about as fun as a textbook, you know?”

“I’m not a textbook,” he said flatly. “I’m a—”

“A genius. Yeah, I get it.” She grinned at him, nudging his shoulder. “But that’s not the point. I’m trying to get you to see the world from more than just the perspective of your brain. Do you know what it feels like to just… be?”

___ didn’t answer immediately. He was still processing her words. What did it feel like to just be? To be a person instead of a machine that solved problems?

“No,” he finally said. “I don’t know.”

“That’s the point.” She leaned back on the bench, stretching her legs out in front of her. “Normal people don’t think about stuff that deeply. They just live.”

He couldn’t argue with that. It sounded… difficult. But she didn’t need him to solve it. She needed him to feel it.

For a few moments, they sat in silence. The wind rustled through the trees, the sun dipping lower in the sky.

But then, as if to break the silence, a voice called out from the volleyball court.

“Hey, ___! You coming over to play?”

It was the blonde guy from lunch, the one who’d been laughing with Sunspot. His tone was casual, but his gaze lingered a bit too long on Sunspot.

And that knot in ___’s chest tightened again.

He didn’t even know why it bothered him. Sunspot was… well, Sunspot. She could talk to anyone, laugh with anyone. She was the kind of person who made everyone around her feel alive, like the sun rising every morning.

But somehow, it still felt like he was losing something. Like the more she talked to everyone else, the less she was his.

“Do you want to?” Sunspot asked, breaking his spiraling thoughts. She was looking at him, her expression neutral, but there was something else there—something he couldn’t quite place.

“No,” he said, quickly, perhaps too quickly. “I don’t want to.”

She tilted her head, clearly surprised by his response. “You sure? It could be fun.”

“I’m not in the mood.”

She stared at him, and for a brief second, there was a flicker of something—concern? Confusion?

“I don’t understand you sometimes,” she said softly, but then quickly stood up. “Whatever. It’s your call. I’m going to grab a snack, though. You coming?”

___ watched her walk away, his thoughts still tangled. It wasn’t like he could explain what he was feeling. How could he? He didn’t even fully understand it himself.

But as he sat there, staring at his hands, the silence seemed to stretch, longer and longer, until he realized that maybe the experiment was working. Maybe he was starting to feel something.

And that scared him.