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For the Elliot family, the Christmas gala was one of their centrepieces. One of their achievements of a very, very long family. Aside from staying alive, of course. Therefore, for the yearly celebration, the gala had to be fancy, opulent, and a message that the Elliots were still as influential.
That didn’t mean they had to do the work, of course not! They just enlisted the worker drones to do the entire thing, to carry and to decorate.
Uzi grumbled, carrying one of the trays full of wine glasses. He moved through the corridors, muttering to himself.
“Neat, isn’t it! Stupid work, stupid humans.” He cursed aloud, waking to the bar. No one was there.
“Are you serious?! Gah! Where the devil is N?!” Uzi turned around, walked, and bumped right into N.
“What the-” The pyramid of glasses tumbled out, falling to the ground. N winced as he heard them shatter, littering the ground.
“Oh damn.” Uzi said, looking at the mess. “Help me, N! Unless you want to be thrown out!” N nodded, the two scrambling to collect the shards, stuffing them into their pockets. When they were collected, the two looked at each other.
“So, N. Where should we throw these?” N looked around.
“We could stuff one into the bottles?” Uzi sighed, pressing his hand in-between his optics.
“As much as I’d want those humans dead, aside from Tessa, I think they’d realize that we’d be the only ones who’d do such a thing.” N nodded, looking slightly glum.
“Then, where should we put these glasses?”
“I can help with that.” Uzi and N turned to face Cyn, who was standing in the corridor.
“Oh! Cyn! When’d you get here?” Uzi asked.
“Irrelevant, but you need my help. Grin.” Uzi rolled his eyes.
“Then enlighten me. Where should these glasses go?”
“Amused chuckle. I can put them inside the basement. No one checks up there.”
“Wait, what? Cyn? You’re stuck in the basement?” N asked, optics widening slightly. Cyn nodded.
“Sheepish nod. We were worried that you’d panic.” Cyn looked down at the ground at that statement, while Uzi gave N a small comfort pat.
“You’re a softie, N. We thought that you’d go to the Elliots to demand that Cyn doesn’t have to be locked up, and well… That wouldn’t end well.” N looked down at that, his face lighting up slightly.
“That’s fine then, but I want to still talk to Tessa about this.” N handed Cyn the glass shards. Uzi did so too. Cyn walked away.
“N. I do need to talk.” Uzi said, when Cyn was out of their hearing range. N turned to him.
“What is it, Uzi?”
Uzi paused, his face lighting up, while his eyes looked away from N, over to the far wall. His mouth remained closed. N frowned slightly, waving his hand over Uzi’s face.
“It’s nothing, N! Absolutely nothing!” N frowned.
“You’re very nervous, though. Are you sure it’s ok?”
“Oh, bite me! V likes you!”
“Wha-” N paused, thinking it through. Uzi didn’t let him get so far.
“And if you’re going to do nothing, then V will probably kiss you under the mistletoe!” Uzi shouted, turning away. N paused slightly, letting the words sink into him, his face blushing once he sorted it all out. Chasing down Uzi, however, was a much harder task. He could slip away very easily.
Cyn was humming to herself as she walked down to the basement, the glass shards in her pocket. Moving past the drones who ignored, or were too busy with their own troubles to look at Cyn here.
She walked to the basement, throwing open the door before descending down the stairs, walking over to her bed. Cyn sat down, frowning slightly. It was annoying, definitely with how Uzi was acting. He really was such an idiot.
“Annoyed Expression. Uzi is so stupid.” Cyn snapped, tossing the glass shards onto the floor, before stepping on them. Again. Again. Again.
Once they were nothing more than dust, she paused and took a breath. It was fine. She could still get through that big idiot’s head somehow. Plus, it was Christmas! Surely she’d get her present! Well, it was fine.
Patience. She was already used to it. Although, now was as good as a time as any. The passing line from Uzi did certainly nudge a few gears in the right direction.
“And if you’re going to do nothing, then V will probably kiss you under the mistletoe!”
Yes, if N did nothing, just as if Uzi would sit around, denying, perhaps she’d take a page out of V’s book. Maybe she’d use the Solver for this, too.
She extended her arm, watching as a book lifted up, and hovered above her head. Yes, that was good enough. Maybe a little more practice, though. She didn’t want any failures to happen, after all.
Gift-giving shouldn’t be messed up.
Uzi got up for another backbreaking day of work. Especially since today was Christmas Eve, and the Elliots were demanding complete perfection, and a massive review over all their decorated and displayed items. Uzi followed N to their working area. Stringing up lights and decorations. Joy.
He must’ve failed to get any sleep, and it was showing. He wasn’t able to make any comment when V rolled up, almost tripping over as she saw N. N also blushed, looking around sheepishly.
“Oh! Hey V! What are you doing?”
“I’m just helping with the decorations!” V said. N brightened up at that statement.
“Well, would you look at that! Me and Uzi are also going the same thing!” Uzi glared at N. No chance was he going to see those two all stupid and sappy! Count him out of that!
“Tch. Doesn’t matter. You two can work together, I’ll find someone else to hang up these decorations.” Uzi walked away. N hesitated, wanting to go follow Uzi, yet his words made him pause.
Perhaps he’d be fine by himself, so he let himself grab onto V’s hand, and let himself be dragged along with her. He gave a wave and wink back to Uzi, who just rolled his eyes, walking away.
Uzi went and hung some laurels on the tables, went and strung up a few Christmas lights and polished. There was, after all, a lot of polishing that had to be done. Or that’s what the Elliots said. Not that those two would do anything useful, other than look pretentious. Uzi scoffed again, grabbing the towel. He jumped onto a desk to clean the top part of the mirror.
Once he had finished cleaning the mirror, he walked through the hallway, avoiding all the other worker drones. At least, until one grabbed onto his arm.
“Who is it?” Uzi said, before pausing, seeing Cyn grip on his arm move to his hand. He blushed, trying to wrench his hand away. Cyn tightened her grip.
“Annoyance. Don’t fight me, please.” Her eyes pleading, but her grin wide. Uzi paused at that, sighing.
“Well, Cyn. What is it?” Cyn paused at that, also looking down on the ground.
“Embarrassment. I do not know how to say this.”
“Huh? What?” Uzi needed to tread carefully, one misstep could cause quite the bit of chaos, he would fall if he failed to balance himself.
He stepped down onto the tightrope.
“Cyn. If you don’t want to say it, don’t.”
“Shocked expression. No, I will say it.”
He didn’t topple over. Good. Time for the second step.
“Um, is the thing about N, or V?”
“No. This is about me. And maybe you. Gasp. Why did I say that?” Cyn pressed a hand to her face.
Balance yourself! Do not topple over!
“Cyn! It’s fine. Don’t worry, I won’t judge you on what you say!”
“Really?” Cyn stared at Uzi, her eyes wide. Uzi gave a nod.
“Thank you, Uzi!” She smiled.
He balanced himself, didn’t topple over. Time for the next step.
“Whatever you’re going to say will be safe with me, Cyn. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
“Grins. Oh, don’t worry about that, silly!”
Time to speed the pace up, then. Maybe he could cross the entire distance quickly enough if he ran.
“Then, is it about me?” Cyn gasped, stumbling and falling down onto the ground.
“Surprise. How did you know?”
“Lucky guess. Please, Cyn. If it’s about me, then I’ve got to know.”
He balanced himself before he could go too far. Without risking his own safety.
“Sigh. Yes, it’s about you. Well… um… um…” Uzi raised a digital eyebrow at Cyn, who huffed back.
“It’s not my fault you’re so stupid!”
Are we deadass? Dammit, balance! Don’t falter, don’t run! Just keep it as is!
“Me? Stupid? I am rash, but I can use the stuff inside here!” Uzi said, tapping the side of his head.”
“Eye roll. Not that type of stupid. Maybe more blind.” Cyn frowned slightly at that, humming before she grinned.
“If you’re blind, then perhaps you’ll have to respond to sound and touch!”
What. The. Fuck.
Screw it, just run the rest!
“And what will I responding to, Cyn? I’d love to see the surprise you’ve come up with.”
“Laugh. Uzi, do you remember your argument with N? The one you had a few hours ago?”
“Well, yes. I did say that N was an idiot, right?”
“Eye roll. Yes, you did. Especially about that part with V.”
“Oh, where I said that V would kiss him under the mistletoe?” Cyn gave a nod at that, before moving her hand behind her back. It lit up with the solver logo.
“Nod. Do you remember why you said it?”
“Well, because N was being an idiot, of course! He is clearly in love with her.” Uzi said.
“Wry expression. Then, I think you’re also an idiot.” Uzi paused at that, confused.
“Me? How am I an idiot?”
“Giggle. You’re just like N, Uzi! Such an idiot, even when the signs are so obvious!”
“Maybe, Uzi… I’ll take a page out of V’s book!”
“Wait, what-” Uzi spluttered out. He didn’t see the mistletoe hover above him. Cyn gave another grin.
“Pondering. Please look up, Uzi.” Uzi did. He saw the mistletoe hovering above him, suspended. His face lit up. His eyes hollowed out. He looked down at Cyn, who was grinning ear to ear.
“I think I’ll give you my gift!”
She placed both hands on Uzi’s cheeks, before she leaned in, eyes closed. She captured his open mouth, sealing it closed. He blinked, before closing his own eyes. He pressed back, resting his own hands on her back. Perhaps, if he opened his eyes, he could see their dual blushes. Two drones, trying out something new for the both of them.
Uzi decided to also move around. He rubbed his hands around her back. Cyn broke off to give a light giggle. Uzi gave a grin and laughed.
“My, my, Cyn. That was an excellent gift. Although, I haven’t given you one yet…”
So, before Cyn could respond, he leaned down to kiss her. He was just as inexperienced but still went at it. Maybe her mouth wasn’t the first thing to move to, he had time, after all. Her cheeks and neck were woefully barren, they needed attention.
He kissed her neck, light pecks before moving to another spot. His mouth pecked at her cheek, his eyes soaking up her bright yellow blush. Her mouth was closed, her eyes too. That wasn’t fair, he thought.
“Cyn. It’s not fair you don’t get to see my gift. It makes me sad.” Uzi whined, backing away slightly from Cyn. She opened her eyes slightly, her blush still extrodinary present.
“She looks like a lemon with that color… Why do I think it’s cute?!”
“Stutter. Y-you weren’t su-supposed to do that…”
“Well, who’s saying that? You? I don’t think so, with how yellow your face is.” Uzi chucked, seeing Cyn light up even more.
“Blushing. That’s not fair.”
“Not fair? You kissed me first, backed out of my gift, and are complaining about it? You’re the unfair one! Now I have to do it all over again!”
“Wait. What-”
This time, Uzi swallowed up the words with his mouth. He put more pressure on her mouth, his hands tracing circles on her back. Cyn kept her eyes open, as did Uzi. She grinned. He grinned back, before walking her to the wall.
Cyn felt the bump as she hit the wall, felt the increased pressure from Uzi once that happened, but she decided not to care. Really, all thoughts had been blown out of the water as soon as she started speaking. So for now, all that she wanted to do was to live through this moment before it ended, before it was over.
Uzi broke off from the kiss first, looking down at Cyn. She looked back up.
“That was smooth, Cyn. I appreciate it.”
“Smile. I wanted it special just for you.” Uzi grinned again. All that grinning was going to affect him in some way, he was sure. Though, he couldn’t care in the slightest. All that mattered for him was just the now. The moment. Perhaps he could even stretch it longer if he wished.
“Well, Cyn. Maybe we should find somewhere else to continue our gift giving. Your basement would work well, if you’d be fine with that.”
“Amusement. Of course I’d be fine with us going down there. You still have more gifts to show me?”
“Why, I do. Let’s go.” Uzi gripped her hand, and moved. She smiled at him. He smiled back.
“I really am an idiot. Maybe Cyn likes that. Or maybe she just got fed up with me.”