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It was a typical day at Lakewood Plaza Turbo, and K.O. found himself hanging out with Dendy after another successful mission. As the teens chatted and laughed while walking hand in hand around the plaza and enjoying thickshakes, K.O. felt TKO’s presence and longing through their bond. As K.O. bid Dendy farewell with a kiss that he might have made last a little longer than he should have, he felt the longing intensify and heard growling in his head.
Returning to the bodega to finish out his shift, a mischievous grin crept across K.O.'s face as the teen decided to take advantage of his passive meditation ability that he recently perfected to be able to better communicate with TKO without having to stop what he was doing, to pick on his alter. Picking up a mop and starting to clean, he opened the connection.
"You know, TKO,“ K.O. teased, mentally nudging his darker alter ego. “You’re not fooling anyone with your whole “cool guy” routine."
TKO, feigning indifference, replied, "What are you talking about, K.O.?"
K.O. raised an eyebrow, a playful glint in his eyes as he set out Wet Floor signs. "Oh, come on. It's so obvious that you've got a soft spot for Dendy. Don't try to act all tough and emotionless when we both know that you want to be the one who’s holding her was holding her hand."
Feeling a bit petty, the red teen pauses his work to recall in 4k the memory from today’s hangout of when he was holding Dendy’s hand, and he gave it a gentle squeeze. His own eyes going soft when he remembered the blush that dusted her cheeks, and if when she squeezed back his heart fluttered well that was his (and TKO’s) business.
TKO scowled, bringing the red-banded teen back to the current topic. "I have no idea what you're talking about, scrub. Emotions are for weaklings and last I check, I ain’t weak."
K.O. chuckled, leaning into being a jerk for the sake of getting his headmate to fess up to his feelings. "Sure, TKO. I've seen the way you look at her when you think no one's watching. Dude, you try to blow out my ear dumbs with your growling whenever I kiss her longer than 2 seconds. You've got it bad, buddy."
TKO's cheeks darkened slightly, a subtle sign that K.O.'s words were hitting home. "You're delusional, K.O. I don't care about that stuff. All I care about is getting stronger and both of us being all kissy-kissy, huggy-huggy on someone -no matter how cute they are- is NOT gonna help us gain levels. So, even if I did have those feelings, WHICH I DON’T, I wouldn’t have time for it. And unlike you, who’s a big rainbow dragon hugging sunshine wuss, I’m mature enough to not give into stupid stuff like that." He huffed.
K.O., feeling that the purple-banded teen was finally going to have a breakthrough, chose to ignore the insults and continued to playfully prod. "Uh-huh, sure. Because staring off into the distance with that dreamy look on your face totally screams 'I don't care.'"
TKO narrowed his eyes, fighting a small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You're making things up. I don't have feelings, and even if I did, why would I waste them on someone like Dendy?"
K.O. laughed, enjoying every moment of TKO's attempt at denial. "Deny it all you want, TKO, but I've got front-row seats to the emotional rollercoaster that is you and Dendy. As well as have seen how you doodle her name on our notes when you’re fronting. And don’t think that I don’t feel you paying extra close attention whenever she is talking even if it’s not to you?"
“Look, even though I don’t want to date her I – WIPE THAT LOOK OFF YOUR FACE – I can’t help if Science Baby happens to be talking about something interesting.”
“Oh, interesting? So, you going all hyperfocus when she’s speaking Kappa to someone is because you’re fluent in Kappa and can completely understand the conversation and not because of how cute she sounds when her voice gets all wavy and bubbly?” K.O. snarked back.
“First off, nerd, she and her cousin had some really good tips for dry skin -”
“And denial isn’t only a river in The Desert Zone.”
“-and second what does it even matter if I think that the way it sounds like she’s speaking bubbles is cute?! Or that her face is nice to look at?!-”
“She is really cute.” KO interrupted.
“- Or that I think her super jump is cool - “
“Ugh, it’s WAY cool! She doesn’t use it enough.”
“-Or that I like her?!” TKO was roaring at this point. “Science Baby is my FRIEND, of course, I like her, you rock sniffer! Are people not allowed to like their friend anymore?!”
There was a long stretch of silence that was only filled with the sounds of mopping, TKO’s panting, and K.O.’s soft chuckles.
"Fine, whatever, K.O.” TKO huffed, conceding defeat. ”But if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll—"
K.O. interrupted with a grin. "Relax, buddy. Your secret's safe with me. But you should really consider being a bit more honest with yourself. And maybe telling all that stuff to Dendy."
A rush of embarrassment and indignance was all he got before TKO broke off the connection from his end. Deciding to give his Turbanic side time to process their interaction, K.O. let it be for now and finished his closing duties with some extra pep in his shoeless step.
And if in the solitude of his living room TKO’s sulking in his beanbag and thinking that, perhaps, there’s an undeniable truth that emotions, even for the roughest and toughest of alter egos, were a force not easily ignored then that was his business.