Work Text:
“Mad.”
9S looked up from the papers he was organizing to see 2B sitting in the corner of their room and mashing buttons on her
emotion table.
She had her back turned to him so he couldn't see her expression but she looked tense.
“Mad.”
“Mad.”
“Mad.”
“Huh? What’s wrong?” Ever since their reawakening, 2B had been struggling to talk about her feelings, so 9S decided to get creative and find other ways for her to express herself.
“Mad.”
“2B why are you mad?” It worked well most of the time; 2B definitely was improving. But...
“Mad.”
“But why?” It had its problems.
“Mad.”
“2B, you have to use your words now.” He hadn't created a button for every emotion; he didn't want to overwhelm her. That sometimes created issues.
“Mad.”
9S pinched his forehead. He let out a sigh and evened out his breathing. “Do you need more buttons?”
2B nodded and slammed the mad button again.
“Okay, well first let’s figure this out.” He grabbed two buttons and slid them in front of 2B. “Are you mad at something or someone? ”
“ Someone .”
9S’ heart skipped a beat. “Y-you’re not mad at me are you?” Calm down, don’t discourage her.
2B shook her head and glared at the door.
“Someone at the Resistance?” 9S held his voice steady.
2B shook her head.
“YoRHa?”
2B nodded and let out a huff and hit the mad button again.
9S listed the names of all the surviving YoRHa in his mind. He hadn’t seen her interacting with any recently so he must have been asleep or working when it happened.
Probably 11S. He thought. The bastard was always snarky with everyone and tended to strike a nerve with people.
“Was it a Scanner?”
2B nodded.
“It was 11S, wasn’t it?”
“Not this time,” 2B finally said with her voice.
9S lit up and smiled but quickly switched back to a neutral face. He could celebrate his progress later; he didn't want her to feel patronized. “Can you tell me who?”
“801S.”
“Really? What did he do?”
2B hit the mad button again. 9S placed his hand over hers and looked her in the eyes.
2B grunted. “He was taking pictures of your ass, so I punched him.”
“ What!? ” 9S gasped and instinctively grabbed his behind.
“I had to!” 2B snapped. “He was being weird!”
“No. No. That was directed at him, not you,” he patted her hand. “Well, you probably shouldn’t have punched him anyway but…”
“ Mad .”
9S held back a sigh. “Thank you, 2B. You’re right to be mad.”
She nodded and pulled her hand away from the mad button.
As much as he wanted to run out and punch 801S too, he couldn’t waste the opportunity to get 2B to be more...verbose.
“Okay, how did that make you feel?” 9S pulled the mad button away before 2B had a chance to slam it again. He pointed to the twenty-odd buttons with other emotions and words on them. She glanced over the selection then back at the mad button. 9S hid it behind him and nodded to the others.
Finally, she punched the fight button. 9S’ lip twitched.
“Do you want the emotions chart?”
2B nodded. 9S turned and rummaged through his paperwork to acquire a colorful wheel with dozens of words written on it. He held it up so they could both see it. 2B’s eyes flicked across the paper until 9S placed a finger on the red “mad” portion in the center.
“Do you feel any of the other ones in the middle? Disgusted? Bad?”
2B looked at the center and pointed at “disgusted” and “fearful.”
“Oh, fearful?” 9S lowered the paper a bit. 2B shifted her gaze away. “Why? Er-well let’s check the chart.” He held it back up to her and she stared at it for a long time.
“Anxious, insecure, threatened,” she said out loud. 9S was about to speak but her finger moved to the outer layer of the chart. “I was nervous...and worried he would do something,” she paused. “Or try to take you from me.”
“Oh, 2B.” He took her hands in his. She lowered her head and he took the opportunity to kiss her hair. “2B he’s just an idiot. He’s probably doing that to all the Scanners.”
2B let out a small snort but 9S wasn’t sure if it was frustration or amusement. He debated asking her to clarify but he didn’t want to overwhelm her.
“I’m sorry he made you feel that way.”
“S’not your fault,” she mumbled.
"I know." He nuzzled into her hair. “Why were you worried he’d take me away?”
2B squeezed his hands hard. “Well, in the past...you two...did things.”
A chill ran down 9S’ spine. “Wait, we did? Like what?”
“You two were hugging sometimes. It made me feel…” she looked at the chart again. “J-jealous.”
9S frowned and lowered his gaze. Why the hell would he do that? Well, he couldn’t deny that 801S was attractive but not as attractive or kind or amazing as 2B… What caused his past self to get that close to him like that?
“Did--” he paused. “Were the two of us...you and me… Were we close then? I didn’t do that to--”
“No,” she sighed, cutting him off. “We had barely met at that time. He was just acting...weird...around that you . And then I saw you two hugging a lot and I got...mad--er--” she ran her finger along the edge of the chart and spoke slowly. “Jealous. Threatened. Excluded. Annoyed. And...embarrassed I guess.”
“Oh? Embarrassed?”
“Yeah, like...like I shouldn’t have felt that way. The you back then didn’t have any attachment to me yet...so…” she seemed to be struggling. Her voice started to change. “Why should I feel any of those bad emotions when you were just...I don't know...doing those things with him. It was just hugging after all...but it was starting to get...mmm...huggier.”
9S scooted closer to her. “It’s hard to control your emotions. I think we both know that very well.” Huggier. Cute.
2B nodded and leaned her head on his shoulder. She was very warm.
“I was afraid you would go for him that time,” she said quietly, fidgeting with a crack on the table.
9S had the urge to get up and say he would never. But that him was only sort of him . His past selves always seemed to surprise him and he didn't want to risk saying the wrong thing. “Well, what happened?”
2B sighed. “I got the order a few days later...before I saw you two together again.”
“Oh.”
“And I was--” she paused and gripped the table harder. The wood began to splinter and the crack grew. “I was almost…” She bit her lip and put her head down. “R-relieved. That it came so soon.” She let out a sharp exhale and groaned.
9S felt a mixture of emotions that even he couldn’t immediately name. He looked at the chart. Ashamed. Resentful. Shocked. Embarrassed. Fragile.
“It must have been hard,” 9S murmured, placing his hand on hers and pulling it away from the table. “To have all those emotions bottled up with nowhere to put them.”
2B nodded. She wrapped her arms around herself and put her head back on the table.
“Hey, 2B.”
“Hm?” She turned to look at him with tired eyes.
“Erm,” he paused, unsure if he should even be asking that. “How were we hugging? Maybe we could--oh!” he gasped as 2B immediately climbed into his lap and buried her face into his neck. She wrapped her arms around his torso and pulled him close.
“Like this,” she murmured. “He was holding you like this. And you seemed...happy. I didn’t know what to do.”
9S felt a little embarrassed at how close he and 801S were at that moment in time. And a little disturbed that he would think it was ok to just take pictures of his ass like that now. But he belonged to 2B, and only 2B, and that was all that mattered anymore.
9S placed a hand on 2B’s chest, right over her Black Box. “Thank you for telling me this.” He felt its hum grow slightly louder.
“Why?” She tilted her head and dug her fingers into his back.
“Because--” He kissed her on the forehead. “Well, I wanna know about our past. Even the not-so-great parts. And I’m happy you’re opening up more. It hurt seeing you so closed off in the past.”
2B nodded slowly. “It hurt being so closed off.”
“I bet. But it’s over and we don’t have to do that anymore. And you can tell me how you feel about anything. And you can tell 801S to fuck off if he does weird shit like that again.”
2B snorted. 9S tilted his head to see a small smile on her face.
“But maybe don’t punch him again.” He shook her lightly, chuckling.
“Aww, why not?” she pouted.
“So I can do it myself,” he smirked.
2B’s shoulders began to shake as laughter grew in her chest. 9S could feel her warmth radiating through him and it didn’t take long for him to join in and laugh with her. Life was always full of surprises and he was glad for that; they had a long future to look forward to and he’d hate for it to become stale. Though, when he was by 2B's side he doubted anything could become stale.
Their laughter faded and they held each other in silence for a long time. 9S rubbed circles on 2B’s back and she did the same for him.
“Hey, 2B?”
“Hmm?”
“What are you feeling now?”
“Love,” she responded without missing a beat.
9S’ chest fluttered. “Yeah, me too. I love you 2B. You, and only you.”
“You, and only you,” 2B repeated and placed a soft kiss on his neck.
“Now let’s go and find 801S, I have some choice words for him, and maybe a fist or two.”
2B burst into laughter and slid off 9S’ lap, pulling him up with her.
“This I gotta see.”