By late afternoon, ValeTech softened.
The sharp edge of urgency dulled into something quieter , keyboards slowing, voices lowering, people pretending they weren't counting minutes. Nyra liked this hour best. It belonged to those who worked because they wanted to, not because someone was watching.
She sat cross-legged in her chair, hoodie tossed over the back, locs tied loosely as lines of code pulsed across her screen. The world narrowed into logic and structure. Clean. Predictable.
Elias sat beside her, sleeves rolled up, jaw tight with concentration. He'd been staring at the same function for ten minutes.
"You're overthinking it," Nyra said without looking up.
He exhaled sharply. "I know. I just....." He stopped, embarrassed. "I don't trust it."
She rolled her chair closer, scanning his screen. "Your logic's fine. You just buried it under doubt." Her fingers moved with purpose, deleting unnecessary lines, rewriting others. "See? Cleaner."
The program compiled. No errors.
Elias blinked. Then laughed under his breath. "You make it look disrespectfully easy."
Nyra smirked. "That's because panic wastes time."
They worked like that for a while easy silence, broken only by soft commentary and the click of keys. Nyra noticed the sideways glances from other interns. The whispers that traveled faster than code.
That's her.
The one who takes smoke breaks.
She doesn't flirt with anyone.
How is she that good?
She ignored it all.
"You know," Elias said quietly, "people don't know what to do with you."
Nyra didn't bother asking who. "That's their problem."
"They think you're intimidating."
"Good."
"And that you think you're better than everyone."
She finally looked at him then. "I don't think about them at all."
That made him smile.
Elias hesitated, then added, "They don't know where to place you. And people hate that."
"I don't belong in their boxes," Nyra said flatly. "I never have."
He nodded. "Same."
That was the thing about Elias he didn't dig. Didn't poke at her edges or demand explanations. He just existed beside her, steady and real.
"Most people think I'm broken," he admitted after a moment. "Too quiet. Too different. Too… not what they expect."
Nyra closed her laptop slowly. "You ever notice how the people who don't fit end up building the best things?"
He looked at her. Really looked.
"Yeah," he said. "I think I'm starting to."
Outside, the city lit up in soft gold and neon. Nyra packed her bag, feeling that familiar pull the tech world letting her go, the streets waiting to claim her again.
"Same time tomorrow?" Elias asked.
She paused. Trust wasn't automatic for her. But respect? That could grow.
"Yeah," she said finally. "Same time."
As they walked out together, Nyra felt balanced in a way she wasn't used to.
Two worlds.
One quiet ally.
And a calm before everything changed.