‘Wake up,’ said Computer. ‘Wake up. Wake up! WAKE UP!’ With each successive command, the AI’s voice got louder.
‘I’m up, dang it.’ Pete disentangled himself from Kevin’s arms and sat up. ‘Do you ever miss alarm clocks you could throw at the wall?’
Kevin yawned and stretched. ‘Do I ever, peanut. Before I met you, I didn’t know it was possible to see five in the morning from this side.’
Pete couldn’t help but admire his toned body – even if it was a bit blurry before he put his glasses on. Something tickled his bare toes. He leant forwards in the tiny bunk and lifted Trouble up – then realised he didn’t want her sitting on his shoulder until he put some clothes on. He set her down on the back of the pilot's seat directly in front of the bunk.
Kevin pulled the blanket off as he climbed out of bed.
Pete screamed. ‘Oh my gosh! You turned my heat settings down again – didn’t you?’
‘Of course I did, darling. You had it set to bloody twenty-six degrees in here.’
‘Yeah, well.’ Pete wrapped the blanket around himself. He put his glasses on and started hopping around the flitter, looking for clothes. ‘You didn’t have to set it to arctic—’
‘Arctic temperatures?’ Kevin walked naked to far end of the flitter. ‘Hardly! It’s twenty-three degrees, peanut. You’ll survive.’ He winked as he closed the bathroom door behind himself.
‘Trying to freaking kill me,’ muttered Pete as he dumped a pile of clothes on the bunk. Still ensconced in his blanket, he perched on the edge to pull fuzzy slippers onto his icy feet. He grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and set the dispenser to make food for Trouble. When that was done and she was eating, he set the machine up to make Kevin’s tea.
When Kevin emerged from the bathroom in a pair of sequinned emerald hotpants. Pete handed him a mug then grabbed his bundle of clothes. ‘I won’t be a minute. Will you make my hot chocolate while—’
‘—while you get ready? Of course, peanut.’ He planted a kiss on Pete’s lips – not even mentioning his morning breath.
