Chapter Text
Khan placed his fists to his sides, satisfied with his work. He stared at the scraps of painted green metal poking out in a cone shape. Strings of bulbs lit it up at random intervals, reflecting off the shiny red spheres. A bright yellow rectangle, sculpted to look like a door shone proudly at the top of the scrap metal tree. He grabbed the cardboard box, pulling out some dull tinsel. He lamely tossed it along some of the walls, letting it dangle. He reached again into the box, pulling out a small mass of green metal with a few small white orbs, all connected to a length of string.
*”Eh, it looks Christmassy enough I guess.”* he thought, stringing it from the ceiling lazily. He chucked the now empty cardboard box to the corner, before readjusting his denim jacket, grabbing his pack of cards, and leaving for work.
-
V’s visor flashed from the “[SLEEP MODE]” message instantly back to her eyes. She blinked a couple of times. Where was she? This wasn’t Uzi’s house, or the landing pod. She felt like she could remember it though. She looked around, staring at the patterned pink curtains, and the matching bedsheets. Oh! She was at Lizzy’s. She attempted to sit up, but a slight weight around her torso stopped her in her tracks. She looked down slowly. Her core pulsed faster. She peeled back the covers, just to confirm…
Oh.
My.
Robo.
God.
Lizzy? Holding on to her? But they were just friends right? Oh that’s what this was! They were just cuddling as besties! Because that’s what besties do of course? Shut up, she wasn’t blushing at her pretty, no, stupid sleeping face. Shut up!
-
N was awoken by Uzi twitching and… whimpering? His eyes instantly flicked hollow, worried. He soon clumped back to the pillow, realising she was completely calm. It reminded him of the behaviour he had heard dogs do when they have a good dream. He pulled her closer to him, rubbing his face into her fluffy purple hair. She soon awoke, a grumpy expression lit on her screen. It soon disappeared, the initial ennui of first awaking being replaced with the silly happiness of N’s embrace.
They took a while, but they eventually got up. The pyjama cladded couple drearily climbed out of bed. Uzi opened the door and blinked slowly at the decorations. She walked forwards followed by N.
“Woah. Your dad’s good at decorating.” N commented as he stared around, gazing at the various lights and decorations. His optics twinkled as the miscellaneous bulbs reflected at him. Uzi made a quiet noise of agreement as she pulled out a stool in the small kitchenette. She grabbed a box, pouring some of the contents into a bowl. She started scooping them up with a tin spoon, crunching them in her mouth. N watched curiously, his head cocked.
“Can I try some?” He asked, ever eager to try anything.
“What, batteries? Sure.”
N grabbed a spoon, comparatively small compared to his hands. He plunged it in, placing it in his mouth. His visor instantly lit up, in both meanings of the word. He quickly took another spoonful, smiling chipperly at the taste.
“What’re they called? Batty Reese’s? They’re really good!”
Uzi giggled at his guess, unwilling to correct him.
“I guess it’s probably the closest tasting thing we workers have for body parts. As food, I mean.”
N nodded in general agreement before taking another spoonful. His gaze moved from the batteries to the drone in front of him. She was currently in a baggy pink pyjama shirt, her hair flowing free out of her lack of beanie.
*”Cute.”*
Uzi noticed his eyes locked onto her, causing her to ever so slightly blush. *”I’m so lucky to have this idiot.”*
-
After they had finished Uzi’s breakfast, they made their way back to Uzi’s room. She sat down on the fabric, wheeled chair, tugging herself to her desk. She grabbed a stack of paper and a pen.
“Do you wanna, like, draw the pictures on the fronts?” She asked, craning her neck to him. He quickly nodded, his tail wagging. He snatched the box of crayons from the corner of the desk, and began his masterpiece.
Uzi patiently waited, fiddling with the pen. She looked over to N’s face. He was completely focused on his drawing. He suddenly sat up, smiling.
“Finished!”
He slid it along the desk to Uzi. A smile was plastered on her face the instant she saw it. In N’s usual drawing style, it depicted her and N holding hands next to a Christmas tree, a pink love heart scribbled in between their sketched heads. Text scrawled along the bottom reading “pls come to mine and uzi’s party”.
Uzi turned her head, giving him a quick, blushy kiss to the cheek. She then silently flipped the page over, and began to write on the back. N noticed she constantly left occasional gaps in between words. She clicked the button on the back of the pen, rolling it along the desk.
“Now we just need to photocopy it and I can fill in these gaps. But… we have to go out to do that and my pyjamas are *soooo* comfy…”
-
Okay, V, breathe. Now stop blushing. Stop blushing. Stop blushing! There we go. Remember, you’re just cuddling as besties, even if you wouldn’t mind-
V’s thoughts got cut off when the drone in her arms began to fidget side to side. V thought fast, closing her eyes and flipping back to the bed. She watched carefully through her optic orbs atop her head. She sighed in relief, seeing her still in sleep mode.
She felt conflicted. She knew that they were just friends (totally), even if she wouldn’t be opposed to something more. Wait no, don’t think like that! She looked closer at her resting body, at her dim pink visor. What was she supposed to do? She didn’t want to let go of the moment, but she didn’t want to face the awkwardness of the concept of cuddling.
-
N and Uzi did eventually get changed and were now making their way to the living sector in the colony. They walked out of the printing office, both of them carrying multiple clones of the invite.
“Okay, who comes to mind first to invite?”
N thought for a moment before replying.
“Thad.”
Uzi nodded, leading ahead to Thad’s dwelling. She slipped out one copy of the invite, sliding it through a thin slot on the door. A touchscreen lit up to the side. Uzi tapped some buttons, before slapping the biggest button. It made a few loud whirring sounds, before being accepted, dropping to the floor on the other side. As they walked away, Uzi suddenly gained a mischievous expression.
“We *have* to invite Lizzy. Cus V will probably just go, and then I can make my ship canon!”
N looked bewildered at the last few words, but roughly understood her intentions.
-
Just as V had finally got Lizzy completely comfortable and seemingly out cold, a resounding humming screeched from the front door. She quickly pretended to go to sleep, her arms falling limply around her back.
Lizzy blinked drearily, confused at the hot tightness that surrounded her. She looked up. Oh yeah, V came over last night. She felt V’s core speed up its pumping oil, before slowly peeling herself out of her arms. Stupid mail, making her stop her cuddles. Couldn’t they have just e-mailed it anyway? She picked the paper off the floor, silently glossing over the words on the back. She shrugged to herself.
*”V will probably be there so I may as well go.”*
When she got back to her room, she noticed something. Or rather, she didn’t see anything. V was gone, a chill breeze leaking in from the now ajar window.
-
“Pfft. This is way more boring than I thought it’d be. I can’t think of anyone else to invite. How ‘bout you?”
N shook his head.
“Eh, guess we don’t need to invite the whole colony. Let’s just go home, I want cuddles.” She said, mock-demandingly.
They arrived to the Doorman household, slipping through the door briskly. Uzi was the first to spot V sat in the couch, lost in thought.
“How was Lizzy?” Uzi asked, her voice mischievous.”
“Y-yeah… she- it was good.” She replied, turning her face away to hide her faint golden blush. Uzi stifled a giggle, before reaching out for N’s hand. He soon surrounded her smaller hand with his, being quickly led back to Uzi’s bedroom. V sighed in relief as the sound of the door sealing shut resonated through the rest of the house, into her audio-detectors.
As they walked back into the purple room, Uzi grabbed some blue putty-like wad from her desk, sticking it to the back of one of the invites. She then stuck it on the wall, next N’s old drawing from years back. Had it really been that long since they met? She looked over to him, her mouth resting on two arcs, together to form a “w”.
“So, uh, are you, like, okay? You just suddenly wanted cuddles, which I’m never against, but I just wanna make sure you’re completely fine.”
Uzi’s smile broadened. It felt endearingly warm to have N care so much about her.
“I’m fine N, I just… I don’t know, I just had this sudden urge for *you*.” She said, her visor dimly lit with purple fluster. See, she was getting better at this whole “flirt-with-your-boyfriend-you-love-him-idiot” stuff.
N’s own visor lit up in a dull, warm, sandy light. He then, quite literally, threw himself at her, the two of them flopping onto Uzi’s bed.
*”Woah, tackle hugs area new one.”*
N rhythmically, rapidly brang his lips all over her face, making Uzi uncontrollably giggle. He began to speak, a single word in between each kiss.
“I.” And a kiss to the cheek.
“Love.” And a kiss to the middle of her visor.
“You!” And a final longer kiss, both their mouths interlocking. N eventually pulled away, a string of nanite-neutraliser bridging their lips, and stared lovingly back at Uzi’s blushing giggling face.
Uzi loved being with just N, no one else. She could drop the whole edgy angsty facade then, and just let herself flow free to the drone she called her boyfriend. Her hands soon reclaimed his, gripping tight.
“I-I love you too, you great lovable idiot.”
She soon found herself with N atop her, his head against her chest. He closed his eyes, focusing solely on the sound of her core.
“We’ll go shopping for presents tomorrow, yeah?”
N just nodded, seemingly lost in thought. Uzi smiled again.
“Then after that it’s just the party.”