Glitch (boyxboy/android)

Chapter 28: Show me

"Umm...is this us stepping out of the friend zone?"

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"Enzo...Enzo...LORENZO!" 

"WHAT?" Enzo eventually hears his mother calling him from down stairs. He pulls off his head set and hoists himself up from his beanbag. "What is it?" He questions, now stood at the top of the stairs. 

"Jojo is here." She says, moving out of the way a little to reveal Jojo standing nervously, just shy of the lady. 

Enzo looks at his estranged friend standing at the bottom of the stairs, fiddling with a memory stick in his hands. "What do you want?" He asks coldly.

"I...I uh...I have this. A new game." Jojo replies, lifting up the memory stick a little to show Enzo, but he sensed that there was a little more to it than that. 

"Come up." He says and Jojo hurries past Enzo's mother and is soon on the landing outside the bedrooms. Enzo waits for his mother to be out of view before he asks. "What's on that?" He points to the memory stick in Jojo's hand.

"A code...for the tutor we can fix it, like now." 

"Now?" Enzo questions, he deliberates for a moment, wanting to ask more. To ask why Jojo had ignored his texts, why he hadn't been over, regardless of what was happening between them, but decides it will all have to wait. 
"Ok, come on."

Jojo follows Enzo into Leo's room. With Jojo noticing his absence. "Where is Leo?" He questions. 

"He's at the prom." Enzo replies, "Does it matter?" 

Jojo sighs. "Kind of." He looks again at the memory stick. "I can at least make a start I guess."

Enzo now turns his attention again to the memory stick. "So...what exactly is this code?" 

"A code, which was staring me...well both of us in the face." Jojo replies, sitting on the edge of the bed. 

"You need to explain a bit more." Enzo replies, now joining Jojo. 

"Well, when I was patching up The PT, there were multiple numbers and letters and symbols in the codes, which I had to tap in, but I noticed a couple of letters which kept on reoccurring, side by side, the letters 'L' and 'Y'. It was like a clue, an easter egg if you like."

"L' and 'Y' " what do they stand for? Enzo asks, furrowing his brow. 

"I wasn't sure to start with, but then I got it. Even The PT told us, ''Love Yourself."

"Love yourself?" Enzo repeats.

"Love yourself." Jojo says again. "Anyways, using those two words, I managed to create a fresh set of codes, a new download, which if fed into The PT will allow the user to access this other person inside, the one Leo wants, permanently, not switching from one to the other.

"You mean Cameron?" Enzo questions, and Jojo nods. 

"How will he do that?" He asks.

"That may be the hard part." Jojo continues. "Leo has to love himself and let it show, the tutor needs to see it.

"I see..." Enzo says, looking down at his own hands.

"I can at least put the LY download on." Jojo says, getting off the bed and pushing the memory stick in the port in the lower back of the spine. 

Enzo watches for a moment as Jojo sits back on his heels, before standing up and looking at The PT's eyes, which are an orange colour. "Now we wait." He says, once again sitting back on the bed next to Enzo.

The air between the two suddenly becomes very tense. Enzo is eventually not able to take it anymore and finally breaks the silence. "When I told you how I felt, the other day...why did you run?"

Jojo swallows hard, taking in the words. "I...I was scared." Enzo can clearly see Jojo's shoulders slump forward with the confession, making him want to put an arm around him, but he resists and holds back.

"What are you scared of Jojo?...Did what I say scare you?" Enzo now feels worried, the last thing he wanted was to scare his friend away.

"Yes...and no." Jojo replies, looking at Enzo a little sheepishly. "When I let you cuddle me on the bed that night, I kind of knew that there was more to it than just you needing someone to comfort you, but I ignored it." Jojo now turns a little more to face Enzo. "I think I feel scared because I liked what we did, but I never saw it coming and I think I want more and..."
Jojo is suddenly silenced by two soft lips pressing against his own. The contact is chaste and innocent and leaves both Jojo and Enzo as red as berries.

"Um...is this us stepping out of the friend zone?" Jojo questions, a little hesitation in his words, as if that small gesture wasn't indication enough.

"Do you want me to answer that?" Enzo replies, his voice low, as a smile slowly spreads across his face. Jojo just nods.

Enzo now adjusts himself on the bed a little and places a hand on Jojo's shoulder, he slowly leans in once again, this time, the anticipation more electric, as if their lips contained actual volts. Their eyes flutter closed as the warmth of their lips connect once again. 

Jojo reaches a hand out to place on Enzo's jaw as the soft kiss continues. They soon become so lost in the experience, that they don't hear the bedroom door being pushed open...

"What on earth are you both doing?" 

Enzo's mother enters Leo's room at lighting speed, pulling Enzo back by the scruff of his tshirt. Jojo hurriedly stands up a little panicked as he watches Enzo's mother repeatedly smack her younger son across his back with her hand. 

"No, no, no. You don't do that. Not in my house!" 

Enzo tries to protect himself as he curls up on the bed on his side, arms shrouding his head. "Mum stop, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." 

Then the hitting stops all of a sudden. Enzo takes a minute to realise and slowly lets his hands down and gazes over his shoulder. 

He sees a hand, not Jojo's, but another hand, gripping tightly around his mother's wrist. There, The PT stood, eyes a deep set brown, staring at his mother. "Do not touch him."