Author's Note:

Hi everyone; this can be read as a stand-alone story, or as a continuation of "Realisations", in which U-1146 and AE 3803 finally realised their feeling for each other, with a bit of help from the neutrophil squad, though the two are unaware of that. It also takes place around the same time as the first two chapters of "Hearts & Minds".

This took way longer to write than I had initially planned, so sorry for that.

Now then, let's begin.


Well Known Secret

Part 1

AE 3803 found herself entering an arteriole, humming cheerfully as she began her search for the right capillary. Their sheer number used to intimidate her, but by now she was slowly getting the hang of navigating them. Besides she'd never been one to just throw in the towel, no matter how frustrating a task got. But of course she had also always received support, even from unexpected sources.

U-1146 had been there for AE since her very first day at work, but she could have never expected the turn their relationship had recently taken.

Blushing she remembered her first time at the eye with him. Standing there in a capillary of the retina, before the colourfully reflected light of the outside, both of them had finally admitted to their feelings for each other. She would never forget the moment they'd first kissed, or later that day when they had held each other's hand without gloves.

Given that it had only been a few days since, made it still strange for her to think of them as a couple, but at the same time 3803 couldn't be happier. Even before they had managed to meet on a regular basis, but now both made an effort to seek each other out whenever they found the time. Usually this meant one of them would wait at the lungs or heart, usually 1146, places she had to go every circulation, and 3803 had a feeling that he sometimes asked his friends, if they had seen her. Considering the size of the body, as well as the number of cells inhabiting it, that was probably necessary, given that they had no means to directly communicate with each other over distance.

Speak of the devil.

Just down the road she saw a neutrophil sitting on a bench, and she recognized him easily, even from afar. Excited 3803 picked up her pace, her basket of nutrients swinging wildly back and forth on her arm.

"Hakkekkyū-san!" she called out, when she was closer, waving with her free hand.

Surprised 1146 looked up, but smiled when he spotted her. "Sekkekkyū," he greeted her. "Good to see you."

Her smile faltered a little. "Are you alright? You look tired."

"Nothing a small break won't cure," 1146 assured her. His clothing still seemed damp, as if he had only just finished up at a wash station, which was probably true.

It wasn't the first time she saw him like this; he had this worrying tendency to always be the first in battle. Thankfully, so far he'd also always made it out alive too. There were only a few things she could do for him, with her only being an erythrocyte and all, and so she grasped his wrist with her hands, giving him a gentle tug. "Then why don't we go get some tea," 3803 suggested.

The neutrophil chuckled and rose from the bench without offering any resistance. "If you insist." They began to walk side by side, as they had done so often, close to each other. "How was your day?"

"It was great; made all my deliveries, may have gotten lost once, but only briefly," she admitted, blushing a little. One day she wanted to be able to tell him that she could do her job without any troubles at all.

Nonetheless he smiled again. "Glad to hear." The neutrophil paused for a moment. "I've been thinking about something."

"About what?"

"Us," 1146 clearly noticed her confused expression. "You have to admit, we are a bit of an unusual…couple," he explained.

Bashfully she scratched her cheek. "Yeah, a bit." Couples were a rare enough thing as it was, but one made up of a red and a white blood cell? That had to be unique.

He nodded. "So, I think it might be for the best, if we were to keep things subtle. For now."

"Like a secret?" Frankly her senpai, AA 5100 probably already knew, given that she had encouraged AE to confess her feelings, but anyone else didn't really, though she wouldn't be entirely surprised if there were vague rumours about them.

"You could say that."

3803 thought about his proposition for a moment. "I guess that makes sense," she slowly conceded. "I have to admit some erythrocytes can be a bit judgemental. But what about your friends? Shouldn't they know?" The three neutrophils 1146 had grown up with had always been kind to her, and always seemed very accepting, even approving of her friendship with him, despite their initial surprise. 4989 had even unwittingly helped her realise her feelings for 1146 in the first place. It seemed wrong to keep this new development from them.

"True, but things between us are a little different now. Frankly I'm not sure what they will think of it, of us. At least for the time being I don't think they should know." Still, he seemed conflicted about this decision, probably not liking the idea of keeping secrets from them either. "I would like to address the subject, hopefully without them getting too suspicious, and find out what they think before we tell them properly."

She wasn't quite sure how he planned to do this, but he knew them best, so she was certain he knew what to do. They were not just friends, they were akin to brothers to him. "Alright. This is going to be difficult though," the erythrocyte pointed out; she had to admit that she wasn't exactly subtle when it came to expressing her emotions.

"When aren't things?" he noted with a somewhat wry smile on his lips. "Neither of us tends to take the easy way."

3803 giggled and grasped his hand, squeezing it gently. "We really don't."


U-2626 yawned, a tea in one hand, the other rubbing his neck. He had already done some fighting today, and his new clothes still felt a bit stiff; it would probably take all day to break them in. For now however he was looking for a nice, quiet spot to enjoy his break, rest a little and gather his strength, before he had to start his next round.

Yet when he left the busy main road he spotted someone he hadn't expected to see. AE 3803 was standing not far from him, apparently on break herself, given that she had nothing with her, neither box nor basket.

It appeared she was checking the marginating pools, searching, and he decided to approach her. "Good day, Red Blood Cell," he addressed her with a warm smile, showing up at her right.

She jumped in surprise, but quickly recovered, greeting him with her usual cheery demeanour. "Oh hello, U-2626. Nice to see you again."

"Likewise. Are you looking for someone?" Of course he already had a pretty good idea, who that someone was.

"What? No, no," the erythrocyte hastily claimed, but blushed. "I was just looking around a bit, try to memorize paths, you know."

The neutrophil raised an eyebrow behind his bangs, knowing that she wasn't entirely truthful with him. Still, he chose to humour her. "Worried about getting lost again?"

Bashfully she scratched her cheek with a finger. "A bit; it doesn't help that there are new roads every other day."

He nodded; old vessels closed and new were opened every day, which didn't make orientation particularly easy. Instincts were about as crucial as maps, when trying to find your way at times. "I can imagine that that can be a bit of a pain. Are you sure you're not looking for something?" She was looking around again, or at least her eyes were roaming.

AE 3803 almost snapped to attention at that. "Absolutely," she assured him, sounding even less convincing this time, but before he could ask anything else she lifted her hand to wave goodbye. "Well, gotta run, see ya!"

He returned the gesture as she walked off, re-entering the main road. "Yeah, see ya!" She disappeared between the other erythrocytes, leaving 2626 alone. Strange; why keep it a secret that she was looking for 1146? Even if she didn't want to reveal her now romantic relationship with him, this was just strange. Somewhat amused he eventually shrugged and picked a marginating pool; it was kinda cute how hard she tried.

2626 wasn't surprised when some time later, as he was resting in a marginating pool, he spotted his friend 1146, searching the area as well, scanning the passing erythrocytes. They probably had tried to arrange a meeting here, and he suddenly felt a little guilty for kind of shooing AE 3803 away earlier. Maybe he should tell him.

Nimbly he climbed down, waving with one hand as soon as his feet touched the ground. "Hi, 1146."

"Hey 2626, it's been a while," his friend noted.

Couple of days really. "Since the Neisseria. How is the shoulder?" He remembered the large amount of cytoplasm on 1146's uniform, the way he had angled his arm, but injuries were common for leucocytes, neutrophils especially, so they all knew how to take care of anything not too severe themselves.

"All healed up," 1146 confirmed, moving his left arm demonstratively.

2626 smiled contently. "Great. So, you're looking for someone?"

He could have sworn his friend's visible eye briefly twitched. "No, I'm just on patrol."

"Sure, sure." Really? He too wouldn't admit to anything? Seriously, even if he wasn't willing to tell him about his relationship with AE 3803 either, what would be so bad about admitted to looking for a friend. What was with those two?

Meanwhile his friend frowned, noticing that 2626 didn't exactly believe him. "What?"

"Just seemed like you were searching the crowd," he told him and shrugged nonchalantly.

"Isn't it part of our job to be vigilant?"

Behind his bangs 2626 rolled his eyes unseen, but nonetheless managed to reply with an otherwise straight face. "Of course; my mistake." He really wasn't much better than his girlfriend.


On a quiet day 4989 found himself alone on patrol, walking through one of the arm's arteries, close to the epidermis, or at least close enough that light from the outside managed to brighten the area. He could even sense warmth radiating from above. It was actually quite pleasant, considering that this area could get rather cool, especially when approaching the fingers.

It was somewhere at the elbow however that he noticed another neutrophil up ahead. This was nothing unusual, until he saw an erythrocyte with a distinctive hair-curl right next to him. Would you look at that…

Grinning to himself 4989 picked up the pace, doing his best to catch up without attracting attention. It had been a few days since 1146 and 3803's meeting at the eye, but strangely enough, neither of them had ever talk about it to the three neutrophils, who had secretly arranged it.

Were the two maybe waiting for the right moment to tell them? Or perhaps they hadn't even thought about mentioning it? Well, then today perhaps he could work on winkling it out of them.

"Hi guys!"

Recognizing his voice, both cell turned around. "Hey, 4989," 1146 greeted his friends.

AE 3803 meanwhile displayed her usual warm smile, which never failed to make him feel welcomed. "Hi, how have you been?"

"Great, thanks for asking," the fluffy haired neutrophil replied cheerily. "So, where are you two headed?"

"I got some oxygen for a muscle cell in the lower arm," the erythrocyte explained, patting the handle of her cart carrying the box.

"So, making sure she doesn't get lost?" he remarked with a teasing grin, winking at 1146.

"Hey!" 3803 exclaimed.

"Sorry."

But 1146 shook his head. "Not necessary; we just happened to meet." Riiight; as if 4989 would believe that.

"I didn't know you were on patrol here," the fluffy haired neutrophil merely noted however.

"Don't have a fixed route today, so I decided to tag along. Besides, arms and hands are a prime location for abrasions," his friend explained, shrugging nonchalantly.

"True enough; they seem to happen every other day." That was no hyperbole, though most were thankfully very small, and not deep enough to actually reach a blood vessel.

"Don't forget your L-Selectin next time."

4989 pulled a face, glaring at his friend a little. "You're never going to let this one go, are you?" he noted unhappily, though quite aware that the other neutrophil was genuinely concerned, even if he seemed aloof.

"Probably not," 1146 replied with a straight face.

His girlfriend seemed confused. "Why? What happened?"

"The L-Selectin allows us to stay attached to the endothelial cells of the blood vessels, preventing us from getting sucked out through a wound for example," 1146 explained to her. "4989 here forgot to activate it one time, and nearly got himself killed."

3803 gasped in horror, hands flying to her mouth. It was true, no one knew what it was like on the other side, outside of this world, but no one ever returned. Most likely you found a quick death. What little the cells inside did know made it pretty clear that no cell of the body could survive alone in outside conditions. Besides, it seemed to be a realm reigned by bacteria and roamed by viruses; frankly it seemed like hell.

"I managed to hold on to a pipe though, until the platelets had covered the opening with their fibrin net," the fluffy haired neutrophil expounded, bashfully rubbing the back of his head, suppressing a shiver at the recollection of his near-death experience. "It was still damn scary; after something like that I'm sure not gonna forget again."

"I'm glad you made it."

"Oh; thanks Red Blood Cell," he replied happily, hugging her tightly, which made the erythrocyte chuckle. It was so sweet she cared about him. Briefly 4989 glanced to 1146, a bit disappointed to see no reaction.

He as well as 2048 and 2626 had hoped that the two would have told them about their relationship by now, and frankly he was getting tired of pretending like he didn't know anything about it. They were friends after all, they had grown up together; keeping secrets like this just didn't feel right.

It was then, before the fluffy haired neutrophil could come up with something else that both 1146's and his receptor suddenly went off, the alarm ringing in their ears. "Ah, here we go again." Quickly 4989 released 3803 again and grinned at his friend. "Wanna bet it's another abrasion?"

"It probably is. Let's go." Before they ran off however he looked back one more time to AE 3803. "Watch yourself, Sekkekkyū," he told her, a smile tugging at his lips. This would be so much easier if they were just open about their relationship; he was there friend, what were they afraid of? Kiss her already.

Meanwhile the red blood cell smiled back, even if she couldn't help but look a little concerned as well, her lips and eyes disagreeing on what emotions to display. "I will. Good luck, Hakkekkyū-san, stay safe. You too, 4989," she added.

The fluffy-haired neutrophil chuckled. "We will, don't worry." Maybe he could get it out of them next time.


Daily thousands of cells started working in and for the body, replacing those who had gotten too old or injured, or those unfortunate souls, who had been violently taken from this world either by invaders or damages suffered by the organism.

U-2048 watched a group of young red blood cells, reticulocytes, who had just lost their nuclei, getting a guided tour by a mature erythrocyte. Many of them looked around curiously, having never left the bone marrow before, and kept close together, as to not get into anyone's way.

He couldn't help but notice that they were nervously eyeing passing leucocytes, which reminded him of an idea his friend 4989 was dallying with. The fluffy haired neutrophil had recently expressed the wish to make erythrocytes less frightened and more comfortable around white blood cells. Not that he really had much of a plan yet, so who knew what would come of that eventually. Maybe nothing, though 2048 would certainly welcome any success his friend had.

Soon the group of red blood cells moved on, the opposite direction 2048 and his partner were going, and disappeared from his view. Today he was patrolling with 1146, both currently checking the small arterioles and even smaller capillaries, making sure nothing hid in the corners and shadows.

His friend had just entered another side-road, 2048 just a few steps behind him, when they heard a familiar, upbeat voice from around the corner.

"Hakkek…" AE 3803 fell forward into the crossing, the nutrient basket nearly slipping from her arms, but his friend caught her at the shoulders.

"Careful, Sekkekkyū," 1146 told her, as help her stabilize, putting the redhead back on both feet.

"Oh, thanks Hakkekkyū-san." She replied, sounding a little confused, until she turned her head, and noticed that there was another neutrophil. "Hi, U-2048."

"Good day, miss Red Blood Cell," he greeted her, returning her smile. "In a bit of a hurry?"

She hesitated for a moment, mind clearly racing. "Yes…yes, I tried to make up a bit of time; got lost for a moment around the intestine." As so often her cheeks turned a soft red.

"Need help?" 2048 offered, curiously glancing at 1146 as well. Even though he had only seen it from the corner of his eye, the neutrophil knew that she hadn't stumbled; actually 3803 had run straight to her boyfriend. If 1146 hadn't sidestepped, 2048 could very well imagine that she would have hugged him or something along that line. Was his friend really trying that hard to hide their relationship?

"Oh no, I know where I am again. But thanks for the offer," AE 3803 hastily told him. "Well, I should get going; these nutrients aren't going to deliver themselves. Bye!" The erythrocyte waved and immediately headed back into the bloodstream, gone as quickly as she'd appeared.

"Bye, Sekkekkyū."

"Take care." Just how long were they planning to play this game?


Part 2 later this weekend.

Sorry, but a virus invading me is messing with my ability to write, so I'm a bit slow ^^'