Yin Yue delivers a supply form to Fleet HQ.
Yin Yue was not supposed to be here.
He was supposed to drop the requisition form at the front desk of Fleet HQ and leave.
Not end up stuck in a supply closet with a Commander, six crates of nutrient paste, and a single blinking light panel that seemed to enjoy watching him die of embarrassment.
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
📦 LOCATION: Storage Unit C3
🧠 HOST STATUS: Claustrophobic. Flustered. Feral.
Lang Zhu stood precisely one arm's length away. Yin Yue refused to look directly at him.
"Door malfunction," AI 520 announced cheerfully. "Estimated release in… 47 seconds."
Yin Yue stared at the ceiling. "I can survive 47 seconds."
Lang Zhu didn't speak, didn't move and didn't breathe too loud.
Then, slowly, deliberately.. he reached forward. Fingers brushing Yin Yue's shoulder.. Then his collar...Then... a smooth finger press against his collarbone.
Yin Yue's entire system crashed.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
Lang Zhu blinked. "There was a tag."
"A what?"
Lang Zhu held up a small sticker that read 'INSPECTED BY DECK 3.'
"You walked around with this on."
Yin Yue grabbed it, face bright red. "You could've said something!"
Lang Zhu said, "I did."
"With your fingers?!"
Lang Zhu shrugged. "It was faster."
> 💘 ML TOUCH LOCATION: Collarbone
🫠 HOST STATUS: Terminally Flustered
🧠 INTERNAL MONOLOGUE: "Did he feel my heartbeat? I think he did. I think he—oh no—"
The door hissed open and Lang Zhu stepped out calmly.
Yin Yue remained behind for a moment, pressed his hands to his face.
And whispered, "I need to be sedated."
Yin Yue enters his private sanctuary,
Break Room B3 was sacred.
Small, quiet, half-broken vending unit and one working kettle.
No people. Yin Yue loved it and protected it.
Would've married it if it had opposable thumbs.
Which is why he stopped cold at the door because Lang Zhu was already inside.
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
☕ BREAK ROOM STATUS: VIOLATED
💘 ML LOCATION: Sitting in Host's Seat
🫠 HOST MOOD: Distress in Eight Languages
Lang Zhu sat calmly at the back table while drinking tea in Yin Yue's chair. Facing the door like he knew Yin Yue will come.
Yin Yue stood frozen. Contemplated whether to fleeing or staying. But too late.
Lang Zhu looked up. "You're late."
Yin Yue: "For what?"
Lang Zhu: "Tea."
Yin Yue: "This isn't a date! This is a break room!"
Lang Zhu: "Exactly."
> 💬 ML FLIRTATION METHOD: Non-negotiable Presence
🧠 HOST THOUGHTS: Scrambled
🫠 EMOTIONAL CORE: Melting
Yin Yue made tea and sat one table over. Sipped with unnecessary force.
Lang Zhu didn't look away. Not once.
After four minutes of silence, Yin Yue snapped.
"Do you need something?"
Lang Zhu answered, "Peace."
Yin Yue blinked. "You came here for peace?"
Lang Zhu nodded. "And you."
Silence completely.
Yin Yue stood up and left his tea. Marched out. Said nothing.
Then stopped in the hallway and whispered, "He said 'and you.'"
> 💥 HOST STATUS: Emotionally Wrecked
💘 ML STRATEGY: Say Little, Mean Everything
🫠 BREAK ROOM PRIVACY: Ruined Forever (Romantically)
Back at his desk, Yin Yue opened a new document titled:
> "Incidental Emotional Disturbance Form (Unfiled)"
He typed one line:
> "He stares too much but I don't hate it."
Then closed it without saving.
Yin Yue stared at the monitor.
Yin Yue processes routine forms, trying desperately to feel normal again. He was determined to feel normal.
Just a regular logistics clerk doing regular inventory validation.
One crate of station gaskets.
Two crates of antimatter toothpaste.
Three crates of—
> NEW MESSAGE: URGENT
He clicked it automatically, saw the sender and paused.
Read it and stopped breathing.
FROM: Commander Lang Zhu
SUBJECT: Inventory Confirmation – B9.CQ.74
NOTE:
> "You missed a decimal. Sleep more."
0
Yin Yue leaned back in his chair and covered his face.
"Why is he like this?"
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
💘 ML COMMUNICATION STYLE: Parental / Protective / Extremely Hot
🧠 HOST THOUGHTS: 'How does he know I didn't sleep?'
☕ TEA SPILLED: Almost
Yin Yue reread the message four times.
Then typed:
> "Noted. Thank you, Commander."
Then deleted it and then retyped:
> "Noted."
Then deleted that too. Then shut off the terminal and went to scream into his pillow.
AI 520 blinked helpfully.
"Shall I draft a flustered reply for you?"
Yin Yue glared at the ceiling.
"No."
,
.,
"Already done."
Yin Yue tapped his pen against the console. He was not obsessing. He just wanted data.
Clean. Objective.
"AI 520," he muttered, "run a proximity log."
"Of Commander Lang Zhu?" the system asked innocently.
"Just… check if he's been near me. Like, statistically."
"Processing," AI 520 chirped.
Silence.
Then:
> 💬 "IN THE LAST FOUR DAYS, COMMANDER LANG ZHU HAS ENTERED YOUR PROXIMITY RADIUS (≤ 10 METERS) A TOTAL OF 17 TIMES."
"AVERAGE DURATION PER ENCOUNTER: 3 MINUTES, 14 SECONDS."
"AVERAGE DISTANCE: 1.6 METERS."
"RECOMMENDATION: FLIRT BACK."
Yin Yue stared at the display.
Then whispered, "That can't be right."
"It is," said AI 520, smugly.
"I'm imagining it."
"You're not."
"He just… takes the same route. Maybe he's patrolling."
"He changed his route three days ago. After the soup."
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
💘 ML PATTERN: Statistically Significant
🫠 HOST STATUS: Spiraling with Receipts
💬 VILLAGE EQUIVALENT: Standing Outside His House Every Morning
Yin Yue buried his face in his arms.
Muffled: "I'm going to explode."
AI 520 beeped, "Romantic combustion is 87% likely."
He didn't deny it, didn't even argue.
He just smiled a little. Which was worse.
Because it meant maybe... just maybe... he wanted this.
Yin Yue had processed thousands of files.
Most of them were about water filters, oxygen converters, and on one unfortunate day. an entire shipment of synthetic pants mislabeled as ammunition.
Nothing serious until this morning.
When his terminal pinged with a high-priority summons:
> 🛑 ATTENTION: CLERK YIN YUE
🧾 YOU ARE REQUESTED TO APPEAR AT A DIPLOMATIC REVIEW PANEL REGARDING FILE: TRADE-422-BETA-9
🧑💼 SUBJECT: SENATORIAL REVIEW OF OFF-WORLD TRADE COMPLIANCE
📍 LOCATION: CENTRAL HALL, DECK 1
👔 DRESS CODE: FORMAL COURT
Yin Yue blinked, then slowly typed:
> "Is this a prank?"
AI 520 replied:
"Not unless you consider interplanetary hearings a comedy genre!"
Yin Yue grabbed his tea, chugged it.
And whispered, "I'm going to die in front of a senator."
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
👔 HOST STATUS: Involuntarily Formal
💘 ML LOCATION: Uninformed
🫠 HOST MORALE: 2%
He arrived at the central hall in a borrowed jacket and the same slightly wrinkled shirt he'd worn since breakfast.
The room was circular.
Tiered.
Full of people who definitely had higher security clearance than him.
And at the center: a tall, blue-scaled senator from the Xeyrix Council, holding a datapad like it contained Yin Yue's execution order.
Yin Yue took one breath, stepped forward and prayed.
The senator tears into Yin Yue for a paperwork mistake that wasn't his fault. The hall watches in silence.
"Clerk Yin Yue," the senator said, voice slow and cold, "do you understand the implications of document TRADE-422-BETA-9?"
Yin Yue stood behind the podium. Gripping the edge with white knuckles.
"I—I processed that form as part of the standard planetary trade index. I didn't draft it."
"And yet your name is on the authorization trail."
Yin Yue flinched. "Because I archived it. That's..normal procedure."
The senator leaned forward. The datapad snapped shut in his claws.
"The Xeyrix Council authorized shipments based on your filing. That resulted in a customs violation. And now, we are held liable."
A pause, everyone was watching.
Yin Yue swallowed. "I..I'm just logistics. I didn't mean.."
The senator smiled without humor.
"You are not qualified to mean anything."
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
💬 PUBLIC HUMILIATION DETECTED
🧠 HOST RESPONSE: Defensive Shutdown
💘 ML PRESENCE: Imminent
Yin Yue's shoulders tensed. His fingers tightened on the podium.
"I did my job," he whispered.
"Poorly," said the senator.
Then the doors opened. A breeze moved through the chamber.
A voice cut through the air:
"No, he didn't."
Yin Yue turned. Everyone turned. Lang Zhu stood at the entrance.
> 🛑 ML ENTERED THE CHAT
💘 ML STATUS: Actively Protective
🫠 HOST STATUS: Emotional Overload
He walked down the aisle without hesitation.
Black uniform. Cold eyes. Unreadable expression.
He stood behind Yin Yue. Said nothing at first.
Then—to the senator:
"If your staff doesn't understand a filing trail, perhaps you shouldn't blame a clerk."
A murmur rippled through the room. Then Lang Zhu continued, voice calm:
"This station runs because of people like him. Watch your tone."
Silence absolute, the senator blinked but said nothing.
Lang Zhu said nothing else. He didn't need to.
Yin Yue could still feel the senator's words burning under his skin.
Still hear the echo of that dismissive "You are not qualified to mean anything."
But now Lang Zhu stood behind him. Not saying more. Not drawing a weapon.
Just… being there commanding and entirely on his side.
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
🫶 ML SUPPORT MODE: Activated
💘 HOST STATUS: Silently Shattered, Silently Healing
🧠 ROOM STATUS: Utterly Still
The senator didn't speak again or didn't dare.
Yin Yue didn't look back, but he didn't need to. Lang Zhu's presence was enough as a shield, a statement and a warning.
After thirty long seconds, a panel official cleared his throat.
"This… hearing is dismissed, pending further investigation."
The senator turned and walked out with no apology, no retraction but also no more accusations.
Because Lang Zhu was still standing there and no one wanted to challenge that.
Outside the chamber, Yin Yue walked three paces before the adrenaline hit.
He grabbed a wall rail breathed hard while Lang Zhu followed didn't touch him.
Just asked, voice low:
"Did they scare you?"
Yin Yue looked up then said quietly:
"Not when you showed up."
Lang Zhu nodded didn't smile, didn't speak just stayed but that was more than enough.