Simon walked around the grocery store, getting his weekly necessities. He finds it honestly surprising how little grocery stores have changed over a thousand years. It’s just like how he remembers it. He’s just moved into his own house. It’s still pretty empty but Marcy, Finn, and Bonnie are helping him move. It’s honestly…a nice reminder that people care about him.
Simon sees his favorite cereal on the shelf, it’s the last one. He reaches for it and puts it in the cart. “Simon?” Simon turns around to see Minerva Campbell, Finn’s mom and Simon’s therapist.
“M-Ms. Campbell! Greetings!” Simon stuttered out, extending his hand for her to shake. She chuckles.
“No need to be so formal outside of our sessions.” She gently pushes his hand down. “You can call me Minerva.” Simon nodded with a blush, rubbing the back of his neck..
“Of course, M-Minerva.” Simon says. They’ve been doing therapy sessions for a few months now, even though she’s not that kind of doctor. Still, she felt like the only person he could talk to…relate to. Simon notices her clothes, very unlike her doctor’s garb, she wore a pink sweater and jeans. “Wait, am I talking to you, or a Minerva-Bot?” She gives an awkward chuckle.
“I’ve been trying to be more…human. So I took control of one specific Minerva-Bot, that I call Minerva Prime! So you know…I won’t be a whole supercomputer that watches the city. You’ll still see all the other Minerva-Bots, but if you see me, don’t be afraid to say hi!.” She gives him a smile.
Simon gives her a smile. “That’s so great! Might I ask why you wanted to do this.” She shrugs and relaxes.
“Same as you, Simon. A want to move forward.” She looks at his cart and smiles. “Are those Coco Puffs?” Simon looks inside his cart.
“Oh, yes! It’s my favorite cereal.”
“I never saw the brand in your old home?”
“Yeah,” Simon says while he avoids eye contact, remembering the old ‘home’ he lived in, “The museum never let me have it, apparently ‘Nice Puffs’ gives a more 20th century feel.” Minerva laughs.
“I always used to love those,” She said in a somber tone, “before everything…” She stares off into empty space. Simon looks at the box in the cart. He takes it and hands it to her.
“Here.”
“Oh, no,” She waves her hand and blushes. “I can’t. I-I can’t even eat.” She looks away. Simon takes her hand and places the box in her grip.
“You wanted to be more human, to move forward. Take this as a starting point.” He gently pushes her hand back to her. She tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear and holds the box close to her chest.
“Thank you, Simon.” She says with a shy blush.
“No problem, Ms Camp-” Simon stops himself, “-Minerva.” She chuckles.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simon arrives back to his new apartment, it was a small studio apartment, and places his keys in the key tray. He sees as Marcy and Bonnie take his things out of the boxes and organizes them. Simon smiles. “You know you guys don’t have to do this right? I just asked you guys to help me bring this stuff here, not organize it.” Simon chuckles. He watches as Bonnie arranges his phone collection on the shelf.
“Pshh, Simon! It’s fine! Besides, I love doing stuff like this!” Bonnie says. Marcy smiles at him.
“Yeah, what Bonnie said. Besides,” She flies closer to him and places her hands on his shoulders, “it’s the least we could do for not being there for you.” She looks sympathetic. Simon holds her hands and gives her a smile.
“No, no, it’s fine, really.” He lets go of her hands and lays on his new couch. “Where’s Finn?”
“Oh, he went to get you a new bed frame.” Bonnie says. Simon perks up.
“What happened to my old one?!” Marcy gives an awkward smile.
“Yeah…he accidentally broke it.” Simon stays silent for a second, then laughs.
Marcy smiles at him. She never noticed before, and she hates herself for not noticing, but this is the first time in months that she’s seen Simon truly…happy. Truly laugh…Simon’s phone dings, well one of his phones. He stops laughing and checks. It was Fionna, she sent a picture of her and Hunter on a date. Simon smiles and sends back a heart emoji.
Before he could lay back, another notification pops, from his main phone this time. He checks the message from a woman named ‘Layla’. “Hope you’re ready ;)” Simon gets up off the couch with a bounce and yells. “Crap!”
“What? What is it?!” Marcy says. Simon goes to his closet and picks out a suit.
“I’ve got a date!” Simon says, hurriedly picking a suit and moving to the bathroom. Bonnie walks next to Marcy.
“Aww, that’s great for you, Simon! What’s her name?”
Simon yells from the bathroom. “Her name’s ‘Layla’! I met her on an app!” Bonnie rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.
“Oh…an app.” Bonnie says. Marcy snickers at her.
Simon steps out of the bathroom with a brown suit jacket, black tie, and black pant-suits. “Simon, you look great.” Marcy says, smoothing out his clothes. “Now get out there and get that girl!” She lightly pushes him towards the door.
“I will, Marcy! Don’t worry.” He gives her a little kiss on the cheek, which she joyfully wipes off, and leaves through the door…a few seconds later, Finn opens the door, carrying a boxed bed frame in one hand.
“Hey! Simon looked nice.”
“He has a date.” Marcy tells him.
“That’s amazing!”
“He found her on an app…” Bonnie says.
“Oh…an app.” He replies, disappointed.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simon sat at the restaurant with a bouquet of flowers on the table. He checks his vintage watch, she’s late. He impatiently taps on the table. His foot jitters. A notification on his phone dings once again. “I’m sorry, I can’t make it today. Maybe some other time though?” From Layla. Simon sighs and stuffs the phone in his pocket. All this work for a reservation and for what?
Simon leans on the table, it’s a good thing he hasn’t ordered yet. Simon looks up from his plate and sees a man walking out of the restaurant. When Simon tracks the table the man was from, his eyes land on…Minerva…drinking some wine. Simon stays still for a moment, questioning what to do, before standing up and walking to her table.
“Ms. Campbell?” She looks at him, her gaze leaving the wine glass.
“Oh, Simon! Didn’t expect to see you here. And please, it’s Minerva.”
“R-Right, of course.” Simon hesitantly takes a seat in front of her. She doesn’t object, just drinks more wine.
“Can you even get drunk?”
“Nope!” She smiles awkwardly. “It’s one of the few things I miss about being human…”
Simon taps at the table, avoiding eye contact. “So…who was that guy who just left?” He points to the door. She looks down at her drink.
“That…was my date.” She purses her lips. “It was going well…until I told him I was a digitized version of myself who runs the whole city and has a bunch of Minerva bots…so, yeah.” Simon scoffs.
“Sounds like a jerk.” She waves her hand.
“No! No, it’s understandable really. I’m sure he’s a nice guy. Just…kind of hard to go on a date like…this.” She gestures to her body. Simon stares in contemplation.
“Where did you meet him?’
“On an app.”
“Oh…” They both become silent. They just stay there, in a quiet restaurant, while she drinks her wine.
“Hey,” Simon says. “Wanna get out of here?”
“What, why?” Simon shrugs.
“Neither of us are doing anything. I know a park that I love going to to relax.” He watches her contemplate, rubbing her chin. “Hey, it sure beats wallowing here over our failed dates.” She rolls her eyes with a smile. She huffs out a quiet laugh, once again tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
“You know what? You’re right.” She grabs her bag and stands. “Let’s get out of here.” She extends a hand for him to hold. He stares at it for a second before taking it and leading them out of the restaurant.
“Come on, this way.” They walk to the park.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simon holds her hand as they walk through the quiet park. There were a few people, enough to make it not feel lonely. He takes a breath of the fresh air. The walkway of the park were illuminated by street lamps. He looks at her, she seems more…relaxed. He can see her take a breath as if she needed one. She looks at a small flower beside the walkway. It had a bee feeding from its nectar. She takes a step closer to examine it. Simon watches her, it’s as if she’s a child watching something happen for the first time…When the bee finally leaves, she turns to him.
“You know, I’ve never had the chance to appreciate the park in a long time.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” She looks back at the flower and picks it. “Ever since I’ve been given the responsibility of running the last of us humans, I never had the chance to relax and stroll through the park…with someone I care about.” He blushes and looks away. She giggles. She looks towards the nearest bench and sits on it, patting the space beside her. Simon took hesitant steps towards her and sits down. She lays her head on his shoulder, his face turns somehow more red than before. He can feel her physically relaxing, leaning into him for support. He looks at her and smiles. Their fingers naturally seemed to slip into each other, clasping their hands together.
“Do you want to know why I truly decided to become more human, Simon?” She asks. He moves his head, only slightly, to look at her.
“Why?” He sees her smile and lean into him more.
“It was because of you…” She says. His eyes widen. “You…inspired me to move forward. The effort you put in, to stop letting your past define you…I wanted that.” She stays silent for a second. “I thought I finally got that when I met Finn again…but I didn’t.”
A few seconds of comfortable silence pass as Simon tried to find the words to say. “Minerva.” She gets off his shoulder to look at his face. “If you need someone to talk to…or cry to…I’m here.” She’s shocked for a moment, before laughing.
“Oh come on, Simon. I’m supposed to be your therapist.” He gives her a cheeky smirk.
“You’re a medical doctor, I’m an antiquarian. Neither of us are licensed therapists!” He jokes. That makes her laugh more. She laughs so much that she leans into him, into his shoulder. He starts laughing too, as he wraps an arm around her, pulling her closer. They aren’t even laughing because of the joke anymore, only because the other is laughing too.
After a minute of laughter, they finally calm down. She pulls away again. “Thank you, Simon.” She gives a genuine smile “I’ll take you up on your offer for a talk.”
He nods. “Good.” They stare into each other’s eyes before he snaps out of it and checks his watch. “Crap, it’s getting late.” That shocks her.
“Huh, that’s weird, I didn’t notice.” She looks up and at the sky. He smiles.
“Guess that means you really are becoming more human.” She laughs once more. He likes it when she laughs. “Hey, I could walk you to your place?” She shakes her head and gives a shy smile.
“I don’t…have a place yet.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I haven’t found one available.” Simon stays silent for a second to contemplate.
“Why don’t you move in with me?” Simon immediately noticed the connotation of his words as soon as he spoke them. “I-I mean temporarily of course!” He gives an awkward chuckle. “J-Just until you find your footing.” She giggles at his awkwardness.
“Sure, Simon’ She places her free hand on top of their two clasped ones. They sit there for a second, neither really sure what to do next. “So…care to take me to your home?” His eyes widen as he scrambles.
“Y-Yes, Absolutely!” He stands, smoothing out his pants and jacket. He gives her his hand once more. She once again giggles at his awkwardness and takes it.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simon and Minerva enter his home, hands still holding on to each other. He immediately notices how the apartment has been completely furnished. Bonnie and Marcie were on their phones, laying on opposite ends of the couch, their legs tied together. While, Finn was sat on a large chair. The 3 finally notice Simon’s entrance.
“Woah, Simon. I thought you said your date tonight was ‘Layla’” Marcy pointed finger guns at him, causing Simon to blush with shyness from his adoptive daughter.
“Mom?! What are you doing here?” Minerva gave an awkward chuckle and blushed
“Umm, well. I had a date tonight that…didn’t go well. But Simon was there, thankfully.” She looks at Simon, giving a relaxed smile.
“Ha, nice.” Finn gave Simon a wink and a finger gun.
“Minerva is going to be staying here for the time being…J-Just until she can find her own apartment!”
“Oh, really?” Marceline said in a teasing tone.
“Really? Cool! I’ll go set up the spare bed frame I got in case I broke another bed frame!”
“Or, maybe, we can leave these two alone for a while.” Bonnie said, winking.
“You’re absolutely right, Bonnibel!” Marcy says, over-dramatic.
Simon sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose while Minerval laughs. “That would be much appreciated, you three.” He says. The three laugh as they exit the apartment, trying their best not to say inappropriate comments. Once they all leave, Simon closes the door behind them and leans on it, hand to his forehead. “Those kids are gonna be the death of me.” Minerva snickers. Afterwards, she looks around the apartment.
“You have a nice apartment, Simon.” He smiles and pushes himself off the door.
“Thank you, I’ve been saving money at my job. It was one of the few perks I miss,” He sighs, “No living expenses.” She laughs once more. He looks towards her. “I’ll get to setting up your bed tomorrow. Meanwhile, I can sleep on the couch.” She shakes her head.
“No, Simon. I can’t do that. I-I don’t even need sleep.” He gives an audible and sarcastic ‘Hmph.’ He has a cheeky smile.
“Doesn’t sound very human of you.” He says sarcastically. He makes her laugh. She sighs with a smile on her face.
“Fine, Simon. If you wish.” He smiles at her. He reaches for his closet and gives her spare PJ’s. She takes them and heads to the bathroom. As he waits for his turn in the bathroom he sits in his newly furnished house, staring at all the work Bonnie and…let’s be honest, mostly Bonnie put into it. He stares at a picture of him and Betty on the wall. He smiles.
“Betty, I think…” He walks closer to the framed photo. “I think I’m finally moving forward…thank you.”
