Work Text:
2B sighs to herself, the soles of her boots patting lightly against the wet sidewalk as she makes her way home through the ruined city, a sack containing all of their necessary groceries ranging from spare parts to a couple of cooking ingredients slung over her shoulder. Just a few basic things they needed for the week. 9S tried to insist on going with her, but he’s currently doing maintenance on her pod, so 2B opted to simply borrow his instead, assuring him that she wouldn’t take long anyway.
It rained a pretty good deal today, and although she’s thankful that the storm managed to come to a pause long enough for her to complete her errands, she wants nothing more than to just be home already. Especially knowing that 9S promised them both some sort of dinner date tonight. He wouldn’t elaborate on it any further than that, insisting that he had some sort of ‘surprise’ to go along with it. 2B can guess what it entails though—
“ Alert: we are being followed.”
The sudden alert chime from pod 153 puts a halt to her thoughts as 2B immediately spins around, her sword already materialized in her hand as she takes on a defensive stance without question.
“…”
There haven’t been nearly as many attacks from hostile machine lifeforms as there were in the past—not since the departure of the Ark, but one can never be too careful. Especially given the occasional appearance of hostile pods. Thanks to a chip installment from 9S that effectively blurs their black box signals from unregistered users, they’ve managed to remain under most of their radars…but still.
2B scans the area carefully, searching for any sign of an enemy lurking nearby.
…But there’s nothing.
Eventually, the android lowers her sword slightly and glances up at 153, frowning.
“…Are you malfunctioning or something? Does 9S need to take a look at you too when we get back?”
“Negative. Heat signature detected 4.5 meters to the left.”
2B tilts her head.
“Heat signature..?”
So then it’s definitely not a machine or pod.
The android turns her attention to the small bush in the direction the pod was gesturing to, sword still at the ready while she takes a few steps closer towards the supposed target. She assumes it to be some sort of animal most likely—probably just a deer or something. They’ve been slow on odd jobs lately, so being able to trade or sell game wouldn’t be too bad of an idea.
Regardless, 2B continues to stand where she is, her eyes firmly trained on the target’s hiding spot ahead, patiently waiting for whatever it is to make a move.
…After a few, long moments, the leaves begin to rustle slightly, and 2B watches as a tiny, dark-colored snout slowly protrudes from the darkness of the bush. It’s soon followed by a round, very fluffy, black and white head and body as it cautiously steps out of the bush and takes a careful glance at its surroundings. Its fluffy ears are pointed upright while its equally bushy tail sways ever so slightly.
2B can only look on in curious wonder as the small creature slowly makes its way towards her, its tiny, white paws patting lightly against the shallow puddles of the concrete before eventually coming to a stop at her feet where it looks up at her.
“ Mew… ”
2B blinks.
“Oh. It’s a lot smaller than I expected,” she says as she quietly puts her sword away. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this type of animal before, though.”
“Report: small animal has been identified as a young ‘cat,’ or kitten of approximately ten weeks of age.”
“A kitten…?”
The android simply stands there for a moment and stares at the creature, the latter of whom stares back up at her with its slowly blinking, bright green eyes.
“ Mew ..!”
It continues to make sounds at her while it paws gently at the tip of her boot.
It’s… kind of cute , she thinks.
“Hypothesis: the small kitten is hungry.”
2B tilts her head up at the pod. “Oh?”
“Proposal: unit 2B should attempt to feed the kitten using a portion of the fish obtained from the markets earlier.”
Ah right. The items she bought were supposed to be for cooking, but she supposes she could spare a bit. She seriously doubts 9S would mind.
Without a second thought, 2B then slides the hefty sack off of her shoulder and rummages around various bundles of spare parts and oils until pulling out a small parcel of already fileted salmon wrapped in white paper. Unfolding it and tearing off a sizeable piece, she crouches down and holds it out in front of the kitten expectantly.
“Here you go.”
The little one’s nose twitches at the sight, slowly sticking its neck out to further observe the morsel. 2B stills herself, careful not to frighten it. She then watches with wonder as it carefully leans closer to sniff at her hand, licking at the piece of fish a few times, before diving right in.
She can’t help but smile as she watches the little creature eagerly bite into the fish, its sharp, but tiny teeth gnawing at it without a care. Her chest grows warm at the sight. She always did have a soft spot for animals.
Eventually, it manages to finish the entire thing and 2B retracts her hand, folding the remaining filet back up and sticking it back in the bag before standing up.
“That should be enough, I suppose. Take care then.”
With that, 2B turns on her heel and continues her trek back home—
“…?!”
However, before she can even get very far, she nearly trips on her own two feet trying to avoid stepping on the kitten as it quickly runs up between her legs, repeatedly rubbing its face against her boots while purring.
“What? Are you still hungry? But I’ve already given you such a large piece…”
She attempts to take another step, but the kitten seems intent on remaining practically glued to her ankles.
“Hypothesis: the kitten has become attached to unit 2B and wishes to follow her home.”
2B stammers at that.
“Follow me home ?”
2B glances back and forth between the pod and kitten, hesitant.
“I…I don’t know—”
“Hypothesis: unit 2B also wishes to take the kitten home.”
2B says nothing, merely gazing down at the small, black and white bundle of fluff as it continues to eagerly rub its cheeks and tail against her boots. She can feel the vibrations from its gentle purrs against her legs as well…And the way that it keeps gazing back up at her with those bright, pupil enlarged eyes is seriously making her black box whir.
“….”
The front door to their little home creaks open slowly as the familiar sound of boots clicking against the wood floors echoes throughout the space, signifying 2B’s return.
9S immediately looks up from his work with an instinctive smile already pulling at his lips.
“Oh, 2B! Welcome home! You’re just in time! I just finished fixing up pod 042, so it should be ready to go now. If you’re ready, I can go ahead and get dinner started then—”
The scanner pauses though when he sees the small fluffy object bundled up in his partner’s arms.
“Oh…Whatcha got there? I don’t remember putting fur on the list.”
Without a word, 2B simply sets the sack of goods down and slowly walks over to his work table to give him a closer look.
Immediately, he figures out what it is, and his eyes widen as she approaches him.
She continues to stare down at the small animal as she unfolds her arms slightly to present the strange critter to him, careful not to move it too much. The small, black and white, very much alive ball of fur shifts a bit within her hold before lifting its head up to look at 9S with tired, slow-blinking eyes.
“I found a kitten on my way back,” she explains. “She was hungry and kept trying to follow me home, so I…”
9S stands up from his chair to get a closer look then, tilting his head as he looks the little animal up and down, his curiosity immediately making itself known.
“Interesting…Did you already feed her?”
“Pod told me to give her a bit of fish, so I did. I figured you wouldn’t mind.”
“Not at all!” he says with a smile. “I’m surprised though. It’s not common to see animals this young just roaming around without their mother. She’s not hurt or anything is she?”
“Not that I could tell. I looked all over for injuries, but there doesn’t appear to be anything.”
9S nods again with a hum, watching as the small kitten continues to glance between him and 2B.
“You know, I think that machine who acts as a caretaker for animals still lives around here. I remember seeing some enclosures with smaller animals last time we were there. Maybe that’d be a good place to take her?”
2B pauses, her expression suddenly turning sad. “Oh…”
The scanner blinks, catching that reaction immediately.
“…Wait…were you intending on keeping her, 2B?”
The other android says nothing as she curls her arms around the kitten, fidgeting a bit.
“Well, I…”
9S sighs, scratching the back of his head.
“That’s a pretty big responsibility, 2B.”
“I know, I just… I don’t know, I thought she was kind of cute. And she seems to like me for some reason.”
9S huffs, playful. “Well, to be fair, it’s not very hard to get someone to like you , 2B.”
He quietly observes the way 2B gently strokes the kitten’s fur with a gloved hand, the sound of barely suppressed purrs rumbling from its small body as it curls up against her. He looks back and forth between them both as he studies 2B’s face carefully. The way a small, but sad small pulls at her lips, her expression warm while she looks down at the tiny animal.
“…”
Without a word, 9S quickly steps out into the other room and rummages around one of the storage trunks containing some of their clothes, before coming back with one of his spare visors and a small blade in hand. 2B watches as he carefully lays the fabric over his work bench and positions it against a measuring tape, before cutting a straight line down against the fabric.
“What are you doing?” 2B asks.
“Well…she’ll need a collar, won’t she?” he says with a grin. “Do you have any names in mind?”
The smile that 2B gives him right then is enough to melt his heart into a damn puddle.
Of course he can’t say no to someone like her.
“But, are you really okay with keeping a baby animal in the house, Nines? Are you sure?” she asks, genuinely concerned.
“I mean sure, why not?” he says as he smiles back. “It’s just a little kitten, after all…How hard can it be?”
“ AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! ”
2B almost knocks over a couple of lamps trying to clamber into the bedroom at the loud scream from 9S, her sword already materialized and ready to destroy something.
“What’s wrong!?” she asks worriedly until she looks over to find the scanner on his hands and knees in a display of near despair.
She looks over to also find a certain feline sitting right in front of their closet, the kitten seated proudly atop a now ripped apart, decorative black tailcoat with a plethora of claw marks adorning the fabric. She looks quite pleased with herself too as one of her paws reach up to scratch at her ear, causing the little bell and metal tag with the name ‘SWORD’ engraved on it to clink together as it dangles from her black collar. All the while 9S simply stares at the tiny animal in a mixture of exhausted despair and horror.
2B sighs.
“You forgot to close the closet door, didn’t you?”
“I paid five thousand G for that coat…” 9S says flatly. “She tore apart my socks too.”
2B glances over to the rest of the room again to find, yup, a bunch of destroyed socks…And shoes, belts, pants…Geez.
And not just that either, it looks like Sword also managed to get into some of 9S’s personal projects as well. Multiple of his prototype inventions he had been working on using collected spare parts have been utterly destroyed. Wires ripped out of them, cords scattered all over the floor with many of them covered in tiny bite marks, several fragile objects knocked off from high-mounted shelves now lay shattered across the floor…
Holy shit.
She sighs as her weapon disappears from her hand, retreating momentarily into the kitchen to retrieve the broom before walking back in to help clean up the mess.
“…The research we did on kittens did mention that they have a need to teethe and scratch for health purposes. Maybe we could find some rope and put together a scratching post like the pods suggested?”
9S doesn’t say anything and merely groans, staring at the kitten as she gleefully rolls around on top of his ruined clothes.