Chapter 9

"Good morning..."

I woke up later than Panam and she was already cooking a simple breakfast in my kitchen. So when I got out of bed, I savored the smell of brewed coffee and scrambled eggs and bacon. And that's one of the beauties of being solo, since ordinary people can't afford real food, limiting themselves to eating at diners, buying food from vending machines, or nutritional bars.

"...smells good..."

I sniffed once more and didn't expect her to put away her spatula and turn around and put her hands on my waist.

"You know, I had a little test in mind yesterday when I accepted your offer..."

The smile on Panam's lips became very soft and different, not the way she usually smiled at me.

"...and deliberately provoked you into action. If you gave in, despite my "reluctance" which I expressed only verbally, we would have passionate sex and then I would simply disappear from your life."

I raised my eyebrow questioningly, but when Panam moved a little closer and kissed me tenderly I was extremely surprised.

"If you heed my words and hold back no matter what, I'll give you a chance. A chance to be more than just a partner to me."

Another tender kiss.

"That means you're giving the okay to, uh."

There was an insistent knock on the apartment door, but I decided to ignore it and continued looking intently into Panam's eyes.

"...on courtship, a little molestation and promiscuity?"

"Yeah..."

Panam grinned and reached for my lips again when there was another knock on the door.

"Okay, go open the door while I finish breakfast..."

I sadly let go of Panam, whom I had already managed to hug, and headed for the door, behind which I found, well, who would doubt it, Becca.

"Hey, Rebecca."

"I already told you Dev, we can just call it Becca, and for you we can make something cute to emphasize our relationship..."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes! (Laughs)"

There was hope in the eyes of a girl who didn't look her age.

"Then what about the Breadwinner?"

"Hey!"

"So you're back here again, since your brother spent all his money on chrome again, aren't you?"

"Yeah..."

She lowered her gaze.

"And as always you want me to give you some food?"

"Yeah..."

I sighed.

"Okay, hold on, I'm gonna get you a couple burritos from the vending machine. You want the usual mega spicy ones?"

"Yeah, and the cretin brother can get vegan ones."

I grinned. In the time I've lived next door to this gun maniac, I've learned that her brother hates anything that doesn't have meat in it. The only thing he hates more is anything spicy. So Becca's using this as a way to get back at him.

"Wait, what's that delicious smell you're wearing?"

"My girlfriend makes breakfast..."

"Cooking?"

Becca grasped the word she heard, and her eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.

"Did you say cooking? It doesn't heat? Cooking? And your girlfriend?"

"Yeah, his girlfriend."

This was answered by Panam, who appeared over my shoulder and gave Becca a slightly mocking but still friendly look. She knew she was visiting me too often and making rather transparent hints about sex.

Even though Becca herself, despite her diminutive size, was quite attractive, and Panam always doubted that I'd been able to resist sticking it to her. With the neighbor's persistence.

"Oh, man."

Becca kicked the doorjamb.

"It's because of my height, isn't it?"

She looked up at me with a slight scowl.

"More like overreaching. Well, it's also because I don't want anything to do with your boss. I didn't like him when I saw him. Too chrome-plated, too dangerous to do business with. He's too chrome-plated to be dangerous to do business with.

"Are you serious right now?"

"Uh-huh...

"What about you?"

I was given a suspicious look.

"Standard kit in the form of optics and deck, well, also a sandi that I foolishly installed. I don't have anything else, although lately I've been thinking about a string or mantis... However, I'm doing fine without them for now."

"Do you want to have breakfast with us?"

"А?"

Becca looked at Panam in surprise, but I expected something like that from her and just stepped aside to let the little one into the apartment.

"Uh... yeah. thanks for the offer..."

It was the first time I'd ever seen her so confused.

She went into the apartment and the door closed with a quiet hiss, after which we went to the large table on which Panam began to set out a simple but hearty breakfast.

"Are these, like, real groceries?"

"Yeah..."

I shrugged.

"Panam and I are solo, teamwork... And not for the last fixer in town..."

"And? I'm solo too... We have a good team, we often work even on orders from Bestia, but real products..."

Becca greedily inhaled the smell of scrambled eggs.

"...I can't afford it..."

"Well, you're the one who curses at your chrome brother a lot. It's probably eating up the lion's share of the profits. Not even the lion's share, considering you don't even have enough money for a burrito."

"And David also often has allowances from Regina."

"Overheads?"

"Well, Regina prefers to work quietly, come and go, and no one around her realizes anything. And that's how David works. Quiet, quiet, you've heard of Tycho, right?"

Becca nodded with a look of surprise as she shifted her gaze to me.

"Wait... you're Tycho?!"

"Uh-huh...

I nodded and began to cut the egg and bacon with a knife.

"...and like Panam said, Regina really appreciates that I don't make too much noise in my work. And with Panam on my team, I've also become very mobile, so sometimes I can do three jobs a day."

"Three of each?!"

"Yeah, why?"

I looked at Becca in surprise.

"When's vacation time?!"

"Weekends, and not every time we work like this... if we feel tired, we take a break for a day or two."

"Mm-hmm, or rather if David feels tired, since I don't usually exert myself. And as a break we sometimes take assignments from another fixer to deliver goods from point to point. There are shootings there, of course, but not often, so...

Panam shrugged her shoulders.

We had already eaten half of our portions when Becca took the first bite and gulped with pleasure.

"It's good. these machine-gun burritos are nothing compared to this food of the gods...

"Thanks for the compliment..."

Panam grinned.

"...but David is a better cook."

"He cooks, too?!"

"Yeah. (chuckles)"

"Look, uh."

Becca shifted her gaze from me to Panam and while when she looked at me it was rapturous, after she looked at my girlfriend it became pleading.

"Do you want a dog or a kitty to come home to?"

"Uh..."

Panam looked at Becca with great doubt about the girl's mental capacity, then shifted her gaze to me.

"Knowing her..."

I sighed heavily.

"...she's completely serious. She'll even act like a cat or a dog."

"Meow! Gough!"

To confirm my words, Becca portrayed first a kitty cat, even folding her hands in the semblance of paws put them out in front of her, and then she portrayed a doggie.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose.

"Except it doesn't take into account a little detail..."

"And what detail am I leaving out?"

"Good owners do not feed dogs and cats from their table. At least not always, it is harmful to the pets' health. In most cases, a bowl is purchased and placed somewhere near the door, and special food is bought."

"Kha..."

Becca grabbed her right breast.

"...in the heart!"

"Heart left..."

Seeing me confirming Panam's words with a nod, Becca grabs her left breast.

"And not in the boob, but underneath it."

This time my words are confirmed by a nod from Panam. And when Becca sees this, she pouts.

"Buckeye!"

"You just don't want to open your mouth on someone else's pie."

Panam grins looking at Becca, who is very happily finishing her breakfast throwing playfully bemused glances at us.

"Okay, I get it, you're possessive..."

"Uh, no..."

Panam shrugs his shoulders.

"I just don't know you at all, and sharing my boyfriend."

She looked Becca over carefully.

"...There would have to be very good reasons for that."

I shook my head.

"What a crazy town. Just got an agreement from one girl to agree to be my lady of the heart, and she's already considering options to share me with another girl..."

"Oh, come on."

Becca waved her hand.

"...all you guys are perverts. Tell you that instead of one girl you can have more than one and you start thinking Mr. Pepper."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"You know, Becca, if I ever decide to put chrome where my dick used to be, it's not gonna be Mr. Pepper. Because that kind of crap is, uh."

I shook my head.

"After it only to cut everything to zero and well if any other chrome can be put."

"If you put chrome in there, I'll leave you..."

"What?"

Becca looked at Panam, who had stated such a thing and was clearly not joking.

"It's simple, I have to install sex chrome too, and I don't want to turn into a sex doll. So there's only one choice, and that's to break up."

"Don't worry, at this point I'm not even thinking about installing that kind of chrome."

Panam nodded her head contentedly.

"Ugh...how delicious it was..."

Becca leaned back on the couch.

"...what are your plans for today?"

"Well..."

I shrugged.

"...I'd like to go out with Panam, but I promised Regina I'd contact her at ten o'clock. So we'll probably do one or two tasks from our fixer, and then sit here in front of the TV and watch a movie with another parody of Smussle Tullis."

"Uh-huh...

Panam stretched in her chair.

"...and you?"

"Me?"

She shifted her gaze from me to Panam and back again.

"I gotta feed my degenerate brother, and call a couple of fixers, maybe someone will have a job..."

"Why so hesitant?"

"Well, there's always a job for the team, but for me."

Becca shook her head.

"...there goes my hangups that I can't fulfill every order."

"Paddocks?"

The Pans were interested.

"Most likely she just doesn't know how to work quietly, so if she is sent only for high-profile cases, and such cases don't really attract really good fixers. After all, after such cases it is still necessary to cover the tracks, so that the corporations would not follow the trail...

"Uh-huh. All right, I'm outta here.