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It’s in between the years of endless strung garlands and necessarily flashy lights that Zero had felt how much he had changed.
The first time he remembered being invited into the ventures alongside X he had assumed it had been another one of his recurring human experiments. There had been so many over the journey of time--moments where X had invited him deeper and deeper into the crevices of life that he had learned to take in the gifts and the decorations when Zero still struggled to be there in reality.
He never thought twice. Had seen it as just another one of the things that had made him who he was--odd, but human enough to be him who had done it to him. That’s what X was, a variable--something that was meant to be tested? So no, despite seeing decorated trees and lights as bizarre, in the experiment it all seemed perfectly normal to him. Zero just supposed he had worked as a constant.
Still, it’s strange seeing him attempt to carve vegetables and hang up garlands...
….
Was he stupid?
Considering how the world around him seemed to function, he probably is.
For all he knew his analysis subconsciously accessed all items based on primary efficiency: to which the red warrior comes to the realization simply by standing within 10 feet of X’s room that almost everything that humans make are not efficient. He had seen everything there was to offer--the vast amount of time consuming plants, the various colored clocks (didn’t X know that he had an internal one?) and the endless array of books upon books brushed away into high shelves. There were some comforts Zero had lived through and enjoyed like the soft comfort of his bed or the radio that slurred with century old music--indulgences, he would assume. But when it all comes down to it….
What did things serve when they weren’t being actively utilized?
It’s something that he had felt before, but to a repeated extent.
Yet even if those feelings were hindrances to his actions, for some indescribable reason each time when Zero is there doing them with X for some reason he can’t explain something just settles, and somehow by the end of it all he ends up hanging garlands or cutting hearts in his apartment as if being with him alone was some sort of answer to a question that he never needed to ask.
X is different, X is quite something else. It was still a surprise to Zero, what he had done--what he would leave left undone--to change his ability to embrace peace in its fullest when he himself hadn’t even comprehended the reason for a life that existed out of the destruction of war.
It’s because these things aren’t probably something his creator programmed him to understand that he’s confused.
Not that it’s something that’s new.
That must be some sort of a drawback to his cognitive function that relates with him being a war bot. When he thinks of human things the robot is admitted to be blind to the trail of blatant fascination that his partner falls victim to, but X himself is always a prevalent piece of his mind, coaxing him into his own wondrous world even when he knows that his own capacity could never withhold the compassion he fondly exhibits. He understands that nothing exists to counteract those instinctive measures that fill his coding to the brim with warnings and assessments—but for what reason would he fight them? Each argument with his own systems would leave him at the first square again, the answer not even needed to be repeated on his own lips.
It’s for X.
He’s traversed a journey long and intimate enough alongside his partner’s side to know X is the causation for changes in his processor activity, all of which were deemed to be overwhelmingly positive.
Zero still lives with a negative view on human cultures, but when his partner pleads for a break--whether it's a holiday or not—he can’t help but fall back in on him out of the goodness stirred in his heart..
Which leads to the striking realization that there has not been one of those days in a very, very long time.
He yearned for one of those days to be alone--to be in so far in love again that he forgets everything besides their own conjoined realm together where all was well. They had been so scarce lately: for a period in between war work had not ceased for seconds with the influxes of endless paperwork and rookies to be trained
He wants out of it for once.
Zero walks over to his display screen in his quarters and taps it to display his schedule and the interface lights up. Looking down slightly at the glaring screen, his fingers click on his schedule. Zero looks with eagerness at the dates.
Friday the 14th. That’s the only day not yet marked down for anything yet besides a scheduled training session--and if he doesn’t act soon the possibility of that date he’s planning would be slim. So far Zero knows that X has nothing scheduled for next weekend—he’d have gotten a call beforehand so another instructor could timely be arranged for rookie training sessions. Signas hasn’t put in a call either.
Satisfied with his choice, Zero leaves a message on his comm for him.
‘Signas-- I’m putting in an official request for a day-long off period for X and I Friday the 14th.’
A minute passes before the commander starkly replies. He can tell his focus lies on something other than himself.
‘...That should work, Zero. I haven’t really been able to give you guys one with the influx of new recruits…’’
The commander continues. ‘I’m surprised it’s you putting in a request this time though—usually X handles these things.’
Zero exhales sharply. ‘I think it’s time for the both of us to have a proper break. We haven’t gotten one in a couple of weeks.’
‘Well that’s fair, but I’m still fazed, Zero—for humans that’s Valentine’s Day. X always is the one requesting holidays.’
Amused, the commander adds: ‘Were you planning something?’
What?
‘What?! That day’s a... holiday?’
‘Yes.’
Zero’s mouth dangles, eyes still glazed with befuddlement. Had he lost track of time again? It felt like the day was just another day passed in the volumes of history..
‘Wow. I know nothing about that sorta stuff ...wonder why X wasn't the one to put in the first request..’
Zero furrows his brows from outside the screen before continuing to speak.. ‘What do you even do then?’
‘It’s up to you Zero--it’s not my concern. I’m putting it in my book now. I’ll contact X and let him know as well.’
‘Ahhhgg….’
He ends the conversation.
Valentine’s Day…….
Taking initiative almost immediately, his internal search systems start looking for definitions. He’s absolutely foreign when it comes to looking for these sorts of things. Figuratively speaking, he has no experience initiating or even looking up any information on holidays by himself--X always has done it for him.
:Valentines Day- a significant religious, cultural, and commercial celebration of romance or romantic love.
Love….
He skims through articles, his processor keeping track of phrases or information that pops out of him. Gifts. Relationships. Flowers. Consumables.
Love.
Zero never believed for even a minute he had the capacity for it.
With all that Zero has contemplated throughout this lifespan, the thing that hits the hardest is when he zooms out of the bigger picture and realizes through his flaws and his selfishness he can even be a being meant for a life outside of war. X’s persisting kindness fixed a person so broken—so infatuated with hating the very being he learned to love through his grace that he still looks back and questions his outlook. Flecks of guilt ignite in his stomach each time he thinks about how reckless he was without his guidance..
But X threw that all behind him in exchange for him--a changing variable amongst a vast sea of constants. Almost as if it were yesterday, he could hear the screams of a monster untamed piercing through a city in ruin and the pain he feels only spirals into mighty flames. The blood is frightfully traced in memory on his clean white gloves as he’d seen them before even though his past is hidden down in a shadowed truth. He had killed so many. Not only that, but subjected him to another side of himself so weathered away from that gracious humanity again in the fifth war, even when he had vowed to hide that individual part of himself away …
And yet X still healed him out of his persisting, overflowing love--chose to shower him through every smile, every part of his being even when he didn’t think any being could have the capacity of doing so.
Zero curses him for being so endearing, but inside he knows he’s weak. It’s the special habits of his like this one that makes him so utterly dumbfounded by his lover’s replenishing kindness, but even more frightfully magnetized through his endlessly forgiving actions.
He tries not to dwell on the subject again for the hundredth time. Zero’s now set himself on a mission--one that requires strict preparation and time and zenny to be able to pursue--and he assumes he’d have to act if he wanted to actually go through with it. Dumping his human findings into a small internal folder within his database, he’s already formulating a small plan and searching for the nearest floral shop that he could pick up a gift for him within the next few days.
The second Zero arrives at the flower shop in the nearest proximity to his location a few days later, he immediately realizes he should’ve done a little bit more research as to which plants X favors.
From his memory, X has an arrangement of them all--hanging planters, some bear paw cacti, one or two succulents, a houseplant, sunflowers (which were technically just some flowers he’d planted in front of HQ) and some aloe vera as he had shared a while back, Zero has it documented in his internal database accordingly. Most of those could be categorized as long lasting plants--and that’s about all Zero knows. The shop has everything.
Unfortunately, though, Zero is no plant connoisseur.
Frustrated Zero releases air through his vents and keeps X’s preferred plant selection in the back of his mind as he wafts through the shelves of the store.
The shop smells of moist earth and rainwater. Bouquets tied up in red and pink lash out at him from the entrance ( he had seen similar ones when he did research) but Zero passes them up. According to his database the specimen would die too quickly to be cherished. He’s specifically looking for something that would last here--X is serious about keeping his plants. They look much too commercial for Zero’s tastes anyway.
There’s some seeds on a turning rack towards the counter beside some pots--which Zero does swipe a couple of, specifically of sunflowers. X had always been fascinated by their habit to turn their stalk to absorb the sunlight, and had complained that some of them had gotten destroyed in a previous fight that teetered dangerously close to the base’s front.
And despite not being overly romantic the flower reminds him of the sun he knows--the sunflowers only being an affirmation of X’s undying loyalty to the earth even when he was all it could’ve had to its name.
The sun and the moon amongst a sea of fallen stars.
He can feel his vents rushing with air just recalling X’s poetic confession, skin smelting pink with tender warmth.
The shelf parallel to him is lined with an assortment of small potted specimens--ones that hang from the ceiling or are concealed in open glass spheres with small rock pebbles scattered loosely on their base. There are plants spreading themselves out of little pots with paintings plastered on their surface (the ones with little X’s and 0’s particularly catch his eye). They all have a variety of shapes, some with pointed edges like claws--like the bear paw cactus--and others with dainty, polished leaves.
He really would prefer something for X that’s fairly low maintenance. The warbot can confide in him to look after his plants with care, but the possibility of him being gone for up to weeks on global missions is a clearly inevitable situation. He personally didn’t care what happened to them, but already could calculate X’s clear reaction if even one of his plants were to die while he’s away--pure devastation. They’re the product of his cultivated passion.
These plants would be perfect for him. And along with that low maintenance and they had their initials tattooed on the pots. Maneuvering to the shelf, he slides almost all of them in his basket with a brief sweep of his palm. He’s got 14 succulents on hand along with the seed packets—far too many, but for all the gifts X has given him that’s plenty to cover for the ones he wasn’t able to reciprocate in the past. It’s Valentine’s Day. He’s sure it’ll be fine.
Satisfied, Zero moves toward the counter and slips his card to the registrar, who scans his purchases with a swipe and hands him his receipt. Handing him the bag, Zero takes it and exits. He hopes the purchases he’s made are sufficient gifts.
And even as he leaves beneath his ribs, Zero swears he can feel something tingling there knowing they’ll most likely be under X’s tender care in only a matter of a day.
Connecting to his database just after he locates the nearest supermarket, Zero finds and selects his folder full of pre-installed recipes, already sorting through for a suitable option as he walks to the store. Although it still primarily prioritizes combat knowledge, he wondered why he had such a large access to recipes in his bank. The war bot preferred the efficiency and immediate effect of energy tanks to that of human food anyway--he hardly has the tongue to process the taste of either.
Probably for his own self gain, Zero thinks with a tinge of disappointment. He’s not even alive to get to eat the damn food anyway.
It’s not even a shame if he’s being fair--he’d much rather have his partner being the one tasting his recipes before anyone else in the world.
FEBRUARY 14: 12:34 PM
Gloved hands tenderly press Zero’s waist to X’s own with quiet joy as the rise and fall of his sleeping breaths rumble barely audible enough to be heard through his ear port. X’s had his vivarecent eyes open for just enough time to take in the lengthy stillness of the moment playing out in front of him, barely moving any of his limbs enough to hear the brushing of his body against the bedspread. Minutes pass without another sound wafting through the air but a silence that feels perfectly earned.
Not long after X presses his nose just above his sharp bronze cheekbones, almost as if he’s melting it right into the crevasse there--the dauntness of his expression flushes away in the light drifting in between the window. He doesn’t dare move it from it’s spot, using each and every one of his optic processors to silently count every pore of his warbot, still slightly dazed in awe to see Zero’s uptight nature diluted into a calm vulnerability.
It’s been forever since it had been like this, just the two of them. The minutes could pass, fade away to dust while a silent war rages outside of them, but this is a home secure enough within itself, here in the thick fortress of Zero’s arms.
“Nngg….”
The bed sharply sinks under him as the red robot is stirred awake, and X, swept up in his daydreaming blinks sharply once, twice, and a final time, gaze set on Zero’s own softly fluttering eyelids. Before he can speak, Zero’s eyes are then slowly pried fully awake alongside his--and X soon feels something press quickly on and off his pink lips with tender care, a smile blooming thereafter.
“Morning,” he grunts. His vocal chords are just barely alive
“You too, Zero,” he chuckles softly, his voice ringing in Zero’s ears. “Happy Valentine’s Day..thanks for reserving the day off.”
“Ungh. It ruins the day a little, but Signas had to tell me what that was.. .I didn’t even know the day I booked was a holiday..”
“You don’t remember last year? The hearts and the flowers?”
“I thought it was another one of your obsessions…”
X doesn’t say anything, just simply looks down to his chest in thought before placing his head in the dip of his shoulder.
“It’s okay. I should have told you..now I feel bad that I didn’t...I-I got you a gift but I didn’t know if you knew how to reciprocate.”
“Oh.”
Zero stiffles, chuckling lightly at the irony.
“I did get you something though….”
He doesn’t think he’s seen X’s face change so fast.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ll give it to you later.”
“Oh..you’re the best.”
“All it takes is a little research.”
Zero moves his limbs gingerly and lets go of X’s hips before positioning himself up to look at one of the novelty clocks on X’s wall. Almost as if he expected the call of another alarm, he furrows his brows before dismissing it.
He still gets up.
X’s gaze follows him, almost surprised at the sudden switch. “Where are you going, Zero? You planned today off, right…”
Zero’s accesses his voice and turns his head back from across the room where the door is left slightly open, a fond smile traced along his lips.
“I have to finish up some paperwork, then I’m going to make some preparations for a special dinner. We can do whatever you want today, X. I know I’m not…..as good at holidays and stuff as you are but….I wanted to give something like this a try. I just want it to be a nice day for the two of us…”
“Thanks, Zero….”
It’s barely started, but waking up to being held in Zero’s arms is enough to confirm a million times how much X wishes days like these would last forever.
The aromatic scent of spices fills the apartment as the day goes on.
X can practically feel the waves of flavor from Zero’s curry drifting their way onto his tongue, excited to be trying something new from him again--anything, to be honest. It had been forever since Zero had cooked anything.
His programming is crafted so that every single one of his dishes are precisely rated 5-stars in their flavor, texture, and spice ratios (which his database was absolutely right, his cooking is delicious. ) But X knows it’s probably cooking the dish that’s a lot better for him. He barely has faux taste processors--which he installed only so that he could actually eat the meals with him and not look like a damn fool trying to pretend like he wanted to eat it. For a while, X could tell it was awkward for the red robot to force it down.
The day rolls on and the scents get stronger, the array of various spices practically intoxicating him with their entrancing aromas. It’s nice to have organic smells through the house besides that of dirt and artificial plumes of incense. The temptation of the food almost makes him more eager to continue work.
When it’s all said and done though, Zero takes his time.
“Come eat, X!”
The kitchen is dimly illuminated with oil candles and the hanging white light from the dinner table, the simmering plate of curry smelting hot on it’s plate alonside a bed of white sticky rice. Everything is in place for a wonderful meal, the colors and scents and fritzing spots of light making a wonderful backdrop.
He sits at the table at his place alongside Zero as he always has, eyes drifting between both sights contagiously, not sure of which one he wants his lips to meet first. Zero sees his eyes and lifts a spoonful, to his own mouth, convincing X to do the same.
It’s steaming hot, but X takes the biggest of bites, his tounge taking in every morsel delicately as he can to savor it.
Instant paradise.
“Zero….I……”
Mortified, the robot cocks his head in cofusion between his and X’s bites.
“If it’s not alright...I can fix it. I knew experimenting with the ratios would have caused some form of error, god I shouldn’t have-”
X can’t contain himself.
“I LOVE YOU! How did you get the spices to combine so well like that? It tastes so earthy and organic….everything’s spicy but enough that I can handle it too..”
And X provides a smile big enough that Zero does not spend a single moment regretting cooking. He can still hardly taste the food-- it being a ghost of flavor on his tounge that could easily be diluted.
It doesn’t matter. He has X, and his smile, and his attention.
And….
The plants.
“Oh! I know we’re eating dinner but I think it would be a good time to give you these.”
He moves to the front of the kitchen where a cloud of dark shrubs had been hidden under the scarce light, arms full of tiny little pots of succulents in every color--every size that X had ever owned and more. He has at least twice the amount X has on his own in his arms--every single pot spilling almost outwards towards his grasp.
“I got these for you,” he reveals, putting down each an every one of the little plants on the table. “I had figured I had missed out on some gifts. Sources told me I was supposed to get flowers but….I predicted they would die quickly…”
Tenderly X brings his gaze to the plants--Zero had truly picked out a large assortment. He sees the packets of sunflower seeds and the waxy leaves of succulents, the soft rounded tips of bear paw cacti and the tall spikes of stringy, leafy waves. He can’t spot any one that he hates, each beautiful and blooming and soft….
He loves then.
“You...really went all out Zero. The food, and these plants…..it’s...perfect.”
“Ah...my experiment must have succeeded…”
“Well, I have something of my own to give you,” he says, returning to the confines of his room to search for an object inside. Zero hears the soft rustling of papers being filtered before he finds his object of refrence.
“And what is this?”
The object of focus is a steel charm with a linked “Z” hanging off the end of the chain. Short but durable the ring is about the size of a bottlecap. It’s made with premium grade material--sure as hell must’ve taken effort (and money) to get done.
“Do I put it on my finger?”
X laughs. “No, it’s for your saber. Put it in one of the grooves when you have the time--I had it made formtted by a training one but it should still work…”
Zero holds the gift close to him as if it were a treasure (technically, anything correlating to X plausibly is) and silently garners stares at the figure in front of him--the magnet more like--with the fondness of ages, his tired old systems melting at the sight of the most dear piece of life that he could hold in his arms.
It had been forever since he had known peace, had been moments since there had been a time to be still, but surely hapiness must lie right here-- somewhere in the wonderful little journey he has taken through the years and years of knowing X.
He can’t help but utter the words with a sense of pride knowing that he had done this all for him.
“Happy Valentine’s day, X.”