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Zer0 skittered across the roof of the Vault Hunters shared housing. They always seemed to have the most energy at at night. They usually went to sleep later than everyone else but also awoke earlier. At least it helped with their occupation as an assassin and, later, Vault Hunter. Their dark suit hid them well in the darkness, and their single eye was able to see better in the dark than a humans. They were better than humans in a lot of ways, they thought.
Soon they noticed someone looking out from the balcony, a lit cigarette in hand. They clicked their mandibles in an irritated manner. They hated cigarettes. It always smelt disgusting and they didn't even know why humans enjoyed it. They couldn't see who it was at this angle, so they silently crawled closer to the ledge of the roof to see who it was.
Well. That answered that. Axton looked down at the city below him, with an emotion they couldn't place painting his features in almost the same fashion as the glow from his cigarette. They started climbing down onto the balcony.
Axton whipped around and started reaching for his gun but stopped when he noticed it was Zer0. "Shit, Zer0, nearly gave me a heart attack!" He let out a large sigh. "Uh... don't tell Maya I've been smoking. I uh... probably wouldn't hear the end of it from her."
Zer0 tilted their head. "I won't." Axton turned back around to the balcony. He put out the cigarette and tossed it in the ash tray.
"What are you doing up this late anyway? Don't you get up super early?" He asked.
Zer0 shrugged. "You need not worry / I don't sleep for very long" Axton gave them a slightly confused look. "Plus you are up too."
"I'm not exactly the greatest role model." He said.
They walked closed to where he was and looked out at Sanctuary below. They weren't very far up, but the night sky and the view of Elpis were still nice. "Maybe I just want / to stay up with you. Is that / so bad? I think not."
Axton seemed surprised at their answer but brushed it off with, "Hah, your choice. Don't blame me when you finally wake up as late as me."
It was nice. To stare up at the sky with him and take it all in. Even if he smelled like cigarettes and they were all too aware of why he couldn't sleep. After everything that's happened, well, their teammates were still struggling to pick up the pieces. Jack was dead, but he left pain and death and suffering in his wake. None of their teammates seemed to want to admit that the war took more out of them than they thought it would. Even though their grasp on human emotions wasn't the greatest, they could see how stressed everyone was. There was more drinking, smoking, and other numbing activities inside the base than ever.
"...I haven't been able to sleep lately." Axton said. Zer0 nodded.
"I understand." They said. They kept their hands at their sides, but felt like maybe they should do something to comfort him. They weren't good at this. They were better at killing humans than comforting them.
"I used to smoke a lot but Sarah, she got me to stop. After... after everything I guess it became too much... and I started again." Axton said before heaving a sigh.
"You could always quit again." They offered, breaking their usual haiku.
"Hah, guess you're right." He replied. "Hard as hell to get these things down here on Pandora anyway."
"Hm..." Zer0 turned to look at him. "How did you procure them?"
"Stole them off some guy when he wasn't looking. He left to go check on his bandit buddies and left them unattended." Axton replied. "Snatched 'em up right there."
Zer0 let out a small laugh.
"What?" Axton asked.
"I suppose that I / think its funny that you stole / human poison. Lol." They replied.
Axton raised an eyebrow at their use of the word human but didn't say anything at first. When he finally spoke he said, "I think that's the first time I ever heard you laugh other than you laughing after landing a headshot."
They clicked their mandibles together, inaudible through their mask, before saying, "Laughing doesn't come / easy for me... Nor displays / of most emotion."
"Huh. Guess I should consider myself lucky I saw you like that, then..." Axton replied casually.
A weird feeling sprung up in Zer0's chest at his words. They really have started letting their guard down around the others, it seemed. They looked away. They've known that for a while now, actually.
Sometimes they'd have their suit partially undone for longer than they'd like, torn between hoping they didn't see and hoping maybe they would.
"...I guess I've always had my guard up until recently." Zer0 replied. When did they started becoming more open with the others...?
"Hey, considering what this galaxy is like I don't really blame you. Hell, it took all of us a while to warm up to eachother at first. Now we're like one big messed up family. You took a little longer than the others to get closer but that's not a bad thing, everyone is different."
Zer0 stifled an inhuman noise of affection and instead flashed a heart on their visor.
Axton checked his echo. "Shit, it's getting late. I ought to head to bed soon." He said.
Zer0 tried to hide the disappointment at his words. They wanted to stay up with him longer. They wanted his company. They hadn't realized how much they had changed until now. They typically didn't like humans and socializing. They would spend years at a time alone, save for the dying words of their assassination targets, and yet...
"Talk to you tomorrow, okay?" Axton said, patting their shoulder. The spot where he touched still felt warm compared to their cold exoskeleton. They flashed a blushing emoticon on their visor as they watched him walk away.