The showers in the indebted facility was a single large, rectangular room. Near the main door, there were cubbies for people to put their clothes, to the side was a set of toilet stalls which - to TO, had doors on them, and then the rows of showers through the rest of the room. There was no tub which TO thought the authorities might have given the indebted since the indebted often had to do a lot of hard work, but no; just showers. There weren't even any benches for people to sit on when they were getting dressed again.

There were only two reasons for people to come here; to use the toilets, or to shower. That was why TO ended up hiding in a stall while Mira worked to disable Pearla’s in another. Again, much like in the training center the toilets lay built into the floor to save room; the biggest difference was the privacy allowed to each one. The privacy that allowed Mira to fix Pearla’s chip, and the privacy that allowed TO to use theirs. Leaning against the wall, they activated their chip to project an image before them as they called DH. A moment later, their mate's face appeared on screen once more.

“DH.” TO breathed, as though the sight of them had relieved a pain they had been struggling with.

“You’re ok!?” DH asked, a hand out as though they wanted to cup TO’s face. They pulled back as their ears colored slightly. “You’re using your chip though-”

“We got our communicators.” TO reassured DH, “But I want to save battery life just in case.”

Before DH could respond to that, Avery entered the view, “You’re ok!” They said, their ears relaxing, “I wasn’t around when you called first, so-”

“Yeah, we’re good.” TO said, their ears dipping only slightly. They had hoped for a moment to talk to DH alone; not that they had anything specific to say, just that it would have been nice to have DH all to themself for a few minutes. “How are things over there?”

Avery’s ears dropped, and they gave a heavy sigh, “Not great.” They said, “I can’t see Kei for now-”

“They’re still…” TO didn’t really know what word to use. Murderous was the first one to come to mind of course, but they didn’t think that Avery would appreciate that.

“Agitated, yes.” Avery said, “Though, Goretta got Flit to talk to them and that helped, so-”

“Flit? Really?” TO said, “I thought Kei would hate them more-”

“That’s what I thought too.” Avery said, “But they were a big authority figure, right? I suppose being a retiree still has some weight. Either that or Kei still has some kind of instinct to obey, because they calmed down when Flit demanded it.”

“They calmed down for a little.” DH said, “Then they started crying until they got enraged again.”

Kei was crying; TO couldn’t imagine it. Of course, they couldn’t imagine the rage that Kei had expressed either. If they were experiencing such a flood of emotions that they never had before, it made sense that feeling everything now would create havoc for them.

Still, for all the tears they had caused, TO couldn't bring themself to feel much sympathy.

“They are calming though.” Avery added, “Slowly. They’re a little less angry each time I see them. Goretta says they’re learning emotional control at an ‘exceptional’ rate, but she also said that’s because they have a mature mind, so this other aspect is rushing to catch up. Goretta’s also offering ‘emotional literacy’ training to speed things along.” 

“By the time I get back, maybe they won’t try to kill me.” TO said with a huff.

“Speaking of that.” DH said, “When will you be coming back?” Their ears dipped, “GiDi is spending the night with Avery and I. GiDi needs a distraction too, and Avery wants to distract us-”

“Can’t I just want to spend time with the two of you!?” Avery said from the side, their own ears tilting back.

“-but I miss you.” 

“.. Well, you knew we’d be here overnight at least.” TO said, “We hoped to have more done by this time, but without our communicators we couldn’t.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I guess we’ll spend tomorrow looking for people, and planning the escape. Mira is taking care of that-”

“Oh! Right!” DH perked up, “Vik was working on that earlier. Pholi gave him some password that he could use to login and request workers. It was less interesting than if he got in on his own, but it was faster.”

“Right.” TO said, a coolness overcoming them, “Once everyone we need to find is ready to go, they’ll get assigned special detail outside the center. We just have to get out ourselves.” They sighed, “I thought that’d be easy, but with the increased security… We weren't expecting this. It was supposed to be easy since we didn’t have chips, but I’m not sure now.”

“Right…” DH said, eying TO’s ears, watching the way their wings tightened around them. They turned to Avery, “Didn’t you say earlier that you helped Lake make some kind of snack for later?”

“What? I mean.. We were working on something but Lake will message me when-” They stopped, eyes flicking from DH the screen, their eyes widened and their ears lifted, “Oh! Yes. snacks. Yes, I’ll go check on them!” They turned and basically ran for the door. When the door closed behind them, DH looked back to TO with serious eyes and ears flicked down parallel to the ground.

“Alright.” They said, “What’s wrong? You don’t like Vik?” 

“It’s not that!” TO said, though their ears twitched as they spoke, “I don’t… I don’t really know Vik!” 

“But you don’t like me spending time with them?” DH asked. As TO’s ears dipped and they looked away, DH sighed, “I mean, you weren’t being subtle before either. At least, your ears weren’t. I said nothing before because Vik was right there-”

“It’s not Vik.” TO said, wishing that they didn’t have to have this conversation here, that they could have it in person. Or better still, that it was a conversation that could wait until after they were safe. “It’s just…” TO realized that their original issues with Vik, particularly that they were an insurgent hacker, had become irrelevant. How could TO have issues with Vik for that if they themself were now acting as insurgents, and going against the planetary authorities?

“Just…?” DH prompted.

“... He’s a bit glib? Flippant?” TO offered. “But… it’s not him.”

“Then what’s wrong?” DH asked, “Because every time I bring him up, you get so cold! When you see us working together, it’s like you just smelled something bad!”

“Well…” TO sighed, “It’s nothing to worry about-”

“Then you’re going to tell me what’s wrong if it’s nothing that’s a big deal!”

Another sigh; TO knew they were defeated and knew that DH could continue to press until TO admitted what was wrong.

“It’s not Vik.” They said again. “But…” They glanced back at DH, “I should be the one spending time with you. Not them. I should be with you, but I can’t do advanced programming like you, I don’t have medical training, so I can’t help you there. Everything I’m good at takes me away from you, and-” They felt tears stinging at the corners of their eyes, but they had spoken so much now, they could only continue, “And we don’t have a lot in common. All we’ve ever done is train and watch shows and sleep, and apparently we should have a hobby or something and I know that flit and Snout said it’s unnecessary, but we don’t spend enough time together-”

“TO.” DH reached out a hand, once again acting like they wanted to touch TO, but they couldn’t. “... I wish I was there with you. I wish I could hold you! Dammit…” Helplessly, they let their hand drop to their side, “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“When did we have time?” TO asked, “We’ve been so busy, and when we’ve been together, I didn’t want to waste that time talking about something so stupid.” It felt stupid now, at least, “And I don’t have a problem with Vik, but they get to spend more time with you than I do now and-” They stopped, not wanting to voice that small, very insecure part of them, the part that said that DH might become more interested in Vik than they were in TO, and might want to be their mate instead. It was a worry they knew was absolutely foolish, and yet one that had nested in their mind like some destructive insect.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like they had to say it.

“... Vik is my friend, I think.” They said, “I think He’s cool, and we have a lot of fun programming, but he’s not my mate. He’ll never be my mate, no matter how much we have in common.”

“I’m stupid for thinking it.” TO said.

“... Am I stupid for worrying about you getting involved with Marissa?”

TO’s ears flicked forward, confusion furrowing their brow as they struggled to understand what DH was saying. Marissa. Right, that was the octopus girl! The one who was looking for her brother who was likely in here with them!”

She was also the one that Avery claimed had a crush on them.

“I know her less than I know Vik!” TO said, “I’m not getting involved with her.”

“Is there a problem with her?”

“Not as far as I know?” TO said, “But that doesn’t matter, I don’t know her-”

“But if you got to know her, would you?” their ears dipped, “I mean.. GiDi is happy enough with Pearla. Maybe… I mean, we had little choice, much variety when we met, or when we became mates”

“That doesn’t matter!” TO said, “I love you, not some random-”

“But you thought the same thing!” DH said, “You thought that about Vik!”

They had, that was true. They considered how they felt about DH and wondered if they could ever just leave DH for anyone else. TO pushed themself, they even tried to imagine it; to imagine leaving DH for anyone else in the universe. The idea made their stomach sour and churn.

“... The idea of leaving you for any other person makes me feel physically sick.” They said, rubbing their stomach after a moment of consideration, “I don’t think I could, even if I wanted to. Which I don't!”

“... Really?”

“Really.” TO said, “I promise I don’t think I could ever love anyone else, not like I love you.” 

A knock suddenly came to the door of the stall, causing TO to yelp and jump.

“Hey, TO?” Mira said from the other side of the door, “I’m glad you and DH are having a chat and all, I really am. But we can hear you. Now there’s nobody else in here, but if there was, well, I’m less worried about your conversation being overheard and more worried about the fact that someone might find you with your chip!”

TO’s ears warmed as they suddenly realized how careless they were being, and as they considered that Pearla and Mira had overheard them. “Right.” They muttered.

“Now, there’s nobody else here. I fixed Pearla’s chip, so she and I are going to take a shower while we can risk some privacy. You can talk to your partner all you want while we’re in there, just keep quiet.” 

“... I will.” TO muttered.

They listened to Mira’s footsteps on the floor as they faded, and soon the sound of the low-pressure showers drowned even that out.
“No shower for you?” DH asked, their voice low and quiet once the showers started.

TO shook their head and spread one of their paint covered wings. “Just in case the paint runs.” They whispered, “If we might be here for a couple of days, I have to make sure this lasts.” 

DH smiled softly, “Well… I hope that keeps you from being identified.” They said, “Just be careful.”

“The wings are my most identifiable feature so if people are looking for me, they’re looking for my wings, not my face. It should be a good enough disguise so long as I keep quiet”

“I hope you’re right.” DH said.

“Enough about that.” TO said, “What’s happening down there?” they crouched down, positioning themself a little more comfortably. “Come on… get me out of this place for a minute and tell me how it’s going there.”

“Well, it’s been the same-”

“Then tell me about it.” TO said. DH could sit there and tell them all about the complex coding stuff that TO didn’t understand, and they’d be happy. All they wanted to do for a few minutes was listen to their mate, and pretend that they were sitting with them in their room instead of sneaking a chat with them in a bathroom stall of the indebted center. For a few minutes on this awful day, they might feel alright.