Chapter Text
It was just like any other night in the Bunker, folks in the WDF were already getting ready for a long shift, sleepy-eyed residents shuffled like zombies into their homes ready for the warm embrace of their beds and many a teen stayed up late to play video games together on a quiet Friday night, their homework already dumpstered and forgotten about in its entirety.
All-in-all, a normal night, and a normal teen would've done something productive like going to bed at such an hour.
Nathan was... not a normal teen, his cheer and demeanor hadn't exactly won over much folks, that and coupled with a handful of uh... explosive accidents involving his railgun design (which was super cool when it worked), plus his pipe-dream of retaking the surface from the Murder Drones and-
Welp, he was alone. All by himself, with nobody but his mom, Nori to support him.
But that just meant he had to work extra hard to make friends! And he did!
Well granted, blowing their head off, panicking that they somehow didn't die, accidentally slapping them with a severed arm and sort of maybe kinda telling them that their entire reason for existing was all a big lie might not have been his best introduction, but Nathan made a friend!
Z was... well, she was prickly and had a whole lot of angst in her proverbial heart, but when Nathan managed to see the girl underneath all of that edge?
He... might have fallen for her.
Hard.
Honestly? He had NO idea what he was really doing, he never really had a crush before he met Z, none of the other classmates really made him feel the same way that the taller Disassembly Drone did, even when he saw someone like Doll or Lizzy (both voted the 'Hottest Chicks In The Bunker' according to some of the guys he eavesdropped on) he never really swooned over them.
Granted, being picked on by them didn't really help, and it definitely didn't help when he found out Doll had been cannibalising their classmates and was planning on murdering V.
But Z was different, just being next to her was enough to fill his oil-tank with butterflies, hearing her laugh at his corny jokes was like breathing for the first time in his life.
And at the prom? With her billowing black dress that accentuated her almost ethereal beauty? That drew his eyes to her slender, lean chassis and all the way down to the pegs of her feet?
Nathan fell for her even harder.
It was then, just shortly after the prom and Doll's escape from the Bunker, that he may or may not have accidentally... asked Z if they could hang out (more like he blurted it out the moment V was out of earshot).
Together.
Alone.
It was only after Z had left and the oil returned to his head (don't ask where it went) that Nathan had realised what he had done in his moment of stupidity.
He pretty much asked a girl out on a date.
He asked Z out on a date.
"Ohhh, no V's gonna kill me!" Nathan hissed through clenched teeth as he frantically tried to brush his mop of blonde hair, pacing a divot into the metal of his room as he gnawed on his fingers.
He was so thankful that his mom had took the late-shift at the mechanics tonight, otherwise it would've been a race between V and Nori on who got to kill him first!
As he briefly contemplated his odds of fleeing the Bunker and living as some kind of snow hermit, Nathan placed his hair brush in a nighstand next to his bed and tried to calm himself down with some good 'ol checklists.
Clothes?
Check.
Breath not smelling weird?
Check.
Award-winning smile and sunshine-demeanour?
Nathan stepped in front of a mirror and gave it the warmest, most friendly smile he could manage.
CRASH!
...Only for it to shatter as one of his pink-coloured eyes flickered to that weird symbol thing, leaving him with one less mirror than he started.
...Check.
As he gave a frustrated and nervous groan at the new mess on his floor and moved to clean it up, he heard a trio of knocks coming from the front door of his house.
"...Biscuits."
...
"BISCUITS! Z's here!"
Hurriedly, Nathan scooped up the remaining shards of glass and dumped it in the nearest drawer of his desk and slammed it closed, already forgetting about it as he bolted out of his room.
'Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap-'
Coming to a stop just outside his front door, Nathan made sure that his clothes and hair were nice and neat (although bereft of the stickers he usually liked putting on) before he pushed the button to open the door.
...
Only to find nothing in front of his door, not a single speck of Z anywhere to be found.
Sticking his head out and peering from left, to right, Nathan was left totally unprepared when he felt a sickle-clawed hand resting itself on his shoulder, followed by warm air brushing past his ear.
"Boo."
In an instant, Nathan, heroically and with all the bravery of the WDF coursing through his oil, squealed like a wimp, twisted his body around, stumbled and then fell onto his face, a harsh crack and the feeling of warmth pooling in his visor followed suit.
As soon as he fell onto his face, a beautiful, sweet laugh bubbled from the person who spooked him.
"You really gotta stop doing that, Z." Nathan spoke in a muffled voice, opting to let the floor staunch the bleeding of his cracked visor as he felt a dull throb.
Yup, cracked visor, oil on the floor, aaaand his pride forever brusied.
"And miss out on you screaming like a girl? Nope." Z replied with a wolfish grin in her voice as the sound of peg-legs tapped closer to his crumpled body.
Without any fanfare, a hand gripped onto Nathan's T-shirt and effortlessly hoisted him into the air, revealing the fuzzy silhouette of his saviour.
"A-Ah, right, no uh... no healing stuff, Worker Drone, heh." Z noted, the fuzzy yellow lights of her eyes widening making itself known to Nathan's blurry vision as he tried to squint through the oil.
"I-I'm okay, I'm okay! Just a crack is oil- all!" Nathan stammered, giving an awkward smile all the while.
'NATHAN IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN 5 MINUTES YOU'RE FUMBLING THIS!' Nathan mentally screamed at himself as he felt something other than oil warming up his face.
A small groan made itself known from the formless, fuzzy blob that was Z.
"A crack, he says... c'mon, let's get that schmutz off your face."
Without warning, Nathan felt a warm and wet digit rubbing over the crack of his visor, followed shortly by the tingling of Z's healing spit as he felt all of the oil in his head rush down south.
"Z~! I'm fine, I promise!" Nathan closed his eyes and tucked his knees into his chest to try and preserve his innocence, only for Z to click her tongue in disagreement and rub his visor harder.
"Nuh uh, you're not walking that off, cracks like that don't heal on their own for Worker Drones, almost finished anywho." Z replied, leaving Nathan to dangle impotently as she continued to seal the crack in his visor.
Once his damaged sensors were no longer screaming at him, Nathan re-opened his eyes.
Towering above him was Z in all her ethereal magnificence, a head of brilliant platinum-white hair broken up by five bulbous yellow sensors (her real eyes, according to her), her golden eyes radiating with mirth as a wolfish grin split her fanged mouth.
She was wearing a black hoodie with a white skull spray-painted onto it and a matching pair of shorts, beneath her hoodie, a pink undershirt covered her modesty.
Nathan felt his core stop, start and crash all in the span of a single second and his oil-tank full of butterflies, and for a moment, he almost let a pink-hued blush appear on his visor.
"H-Hey, Z." Nathan felt his mouth drying up as he tried to keep his cool in front of his crush.
"Heya, Nat." Z glanced down at her oil-stained thumb, before shrugging and popping it in her mouth (and briefly stopping Nathan's core all over again).
Ever since Z first learned of his name after killing J (before she went holo-spooky-snake-crab of course), she had given him the nickname of 'Nat' instead of calling him Nathan (apparently it was some kind of small, buzzing insect from Earth?) But lately, she had started to say it a little less like an insult and a little more endearing.
In a way, it matched with her softening up and being less prickly around him as their friendship grew, and boy, didn't thinking about that make him feel all warm and fuzzy.
"Sooo, what kinda cool stuff are we gonna do tonight, Nat?" Z asked as she gently lowered Nathan back onto his feet, only accentuating the height difference between them as she did so.
He only reached up to her chest.
Her very well-defined chest.
A chest bigger than Lizzy's.
Focusing his eyes back onto Z's face and trying to will the oil to stay inside his head (where it belonged), Nathan cleared his throat with a squeak and clasped his clammy hands together.
"I managed to get a copy of that manga you wanted, maaaybe we can... read it together? Or I can try brushing your hair again?" Nathan offered as he motioned for Z to follow him.
"Know any braids that'd make me look cool?" Z asked as she followed behind him.
"But you're already cool! You're the coolest Drone I've ever met!" Nathan exclaimed as he already thought up the perfect braid for Z's hair.
"Pft! N-Nah I'm- I-I'm not that cool, just like... a step below that is all." Z tried to wave Nathan off, only for the shorter boy to come to a stop just outside the door to his room and turn to face the Disassembly Drone.
'Self-deprecation? Not on MY watch!'
"Well I think you deserve to be the coolest Drone ever." Nathan gave an easy smile, feeling his core beat a little faster when Z brushed a lock of her platinum hair out of her face, her tail wagging behind her as she did so.
"C-Cool uh- thanks, Nat, you're not too bad either, ya'know?" Z replied as she playfully punched Nathan's shoulder, only for it to push him back a step.
"D'aaaaw, thanks, Z!" Nathan giggled as he brushed his own golden-blonde hair off of his face and moved to open his door, ignoring the quiet 'b-bite me' coming from behind him. "I think I got an idea for what I can do with your hair, plus I also got some more stickers yesterday!" Nathan explained as he stepped inside his room and noticed the way that Z's eyes widened upon seeing the inside of it.
Hanging from the walls were a neat row of pink string lights that cast their light down upon the posters and pinned up doodles that he made, vibrant pink, yellow and green sticky-notes filled with reminders, passwords and daily schedules lined every surface that could concievably fit them, right next to his bed was a table with a computer and a space large enough to tinker with anything he had found or made.
Resting on the table with its proverbial guts spilled across the surface was the remains of his railgun, a glowing, half-melted scrap that consisted only of the power-cell, barrel and stock was all that remained after the explosion in the Human cryo-wing, but he was slowly working on piecing it together again.
"Woah." Z noted as she stepped into the room and greedily drank in the sights. "It's a whole lot more colorful than the corpse-spire."
"I like it when things are colorful, it makes them stand out a whole lot more." Nathan smiled as he reached into his drawer, pulling out his trusty brush, a pack of stickers (BRAND NEW!!!) And a hairtie he might have... borrowed from his mom.
As he opened his packet of stickers with a giddy, excited grin, he briefly felt the nervousness of the night bleed away as he indulged in his favourite activity.
Nathan loved stickers, he'd always put them on his clothes, on things he liked and things he thought were cool, it was just something he loved doing, and standing right next to him was the coolest girl of all.
But it was also a little dorky, and while he knew that Z was fine with it, he still felt a little embarrassed about it.
And so, with a smile that was equally nervous and excited, N placed a skull sticker on his hand and looked up at Z.
"Do you... want a sticker? This one's scented." Nathan offered with a hopeful expression, causing Z to glance down at the offered sticker in his hands, before she smiled.
"Alright, put iiit... here." Z pointed towards her prodigious chest and made a little 'x' with her fingers on top of her core.
He felt like he was gonna explode.
Thinking nothing but innocent thoughts about puppies and rainbows, Nathan swallowed and shuffled a little closer, standing on the tips of his boots as his hands hovered over Z's chest.
He couldn't fight his visor any longer, a small, pink-blush quickly flickering onto the plexiglass display as he placed the skull sticker over her core, running his thumb over it to smooth it out.
As he did so, he felt Z's core thumping in her chest like the mass of meat and circuitry that was J's core, but more than that, the sticker was thin enough that the warmth of her body bled into his thumb.
Her whole body felt warm, even standing right next to her like this was enough for him to feel warmth radiating from her chassis-
"Y-You can uh... I-I think it's stuck now, you can... stop rubbing."
The sudden sound of Z's voice was enough to derail Nathan's trail of thought, causing him to panic and hurriedly retract his hands as if he had been burnt.
"AHEH, HEH! S-Sorry, Z! Just wanted to make sure it wouldn't come off!" Nathan stammered apologetically as he gave Z some space to marvel at his handiwork.
The skull sticker was a good choice, and if he was remembering it right, that particular type smelled like grapes, which felt like it matched Z strangely enough.
But before he could ponder on his choice of sticker, he was interrupted by the sight of Z pridefully sticking out her chest, a small smile on her face as her tail wagged behind her.
She was beautiful.
She was so beautiful.
Once he recovered from his bluescreen and managed to keep thinking innocent thoughts again, Nathan cleared his throat.
"So! What do you think? I can get a new sticker if you don't like that one?"
"N-Nah, it looks cool! Thanks Nat." Z replied as she gave him a smile, one that threatened to make the butterflies in his oil-tank escape.
"I'm glad you like it!" Nathan beamed, before he picked up his brush and hair-tie again.
"So! You ready to get a cool as heck braid?"
"Oh you better believe I'm ready, I was built ready!" Z replied as she stepped past Nathan, letting the sweet smell of grapes wafting into his nose as he felt his knees pressing together.
Innocent thoughts. Innocent thoughts...
Hopping up on Nathan's bed (heedless of the way that he bluescreened all the while), Z patted the edge of the bed and gave him an eager smile as her tail swayed side-to-side slowly.
A girl was on his bed.
Z. His crush. Was on his bed.
He was going to fricking melt.
Feeling his composure cracking, Nathan hid behind his smile and moved to join Z up on his bed, his core threatening to crawl out of his throat in a wave of cowardice as he tried to maintain some personal space.
"Whenever you're ready, dude."
Swallowing, Nathan scooted a little closer as Z turned around, giving him full access to her platinum-white hair as her halo of sensors dimmed.
As he began to brush through Z's hair, a soft sigh spilled out from her mouth as her tail draped itself on top of his knee.
He didn't know what to say, he had no idea what to do with the Disassembly Drone who's hair he was braiding, he didn't even know HOW to confess-
"You're still scared... aren't you?" Z asked with a softer voice, causing Nathan to blink as his hands slowed.
"H-Huh?"
"The cryo-wing, the Absolute Solver, J, you're still scared of me, aren't you?" Z elaborated, causing Nathan's eyes to widen.
"N-No! I'm not scared of you, I'm just... I'm just nervous, and it's not because of you- well I mean it involves you b-but it's not your fault it's just um-" Nathan stammered as he felt his worries growing stronger.
He was ruining this. As he always did.
Without warning, Z leaned back until her head rested against his chest, before she glanced up at him with naked concern in her eyes.
"So tell me..." Z whisperered in a pleading voice.
"I..."
"...I never had any friends before I met you, Z, folks my age never really appreciated the same things I did and I'd either get picked on or ignored whenever I tried to talk to people, aaaand my mom? I love her a lot, but she's not always around, so I've always been a lonely kid." Nathan began, his hands moving on autopilot as he brushed and braided Z's sinfully soft hair.
"But... then I met you, you had the same hobbies as me, you laughed at my corny jokes and let me brush your hair and give you stickers, you're my first real friend, Z."
Here it comes, he was about to spill his guts out to Z.
"But lately... I've been feeling different whenever I'm around you, a-and- g-gosh I don't know what to say!" Nathan chuckled nervously, trying to buy time for his brain to cough up the words he needed.
"I think... I-I think I've got a crush on you."
There it was.
The cat was well and truly out the bag.
"Wh-What?" Z asked, only for Nathan to continue rambling, brushing and braiding as he felt the need to explain himself.
"I-I was worried I was just crushing on you because you're my first friend, b-but it's more than that, this feels real and I only figured it out in the prom. I-I like everything about you, Z, your hair, your voice, you're beautiful, Z.
And I'm just... me." Nathan gestured to himself morosely.
"I... I-I don't have half the things you do, Z, I don't have knife-wings or missiles for hands or a punch that could break a shuttle in half, I just have these noodle arms and a love for stickers.
You're incredible, Z, and that's... why I like you, l-like... as more than a friend."
As Nathan closed his eyes and awaited the sting of rejection, he heard the sound of Z's breath hitching, before the sound of the bed-springs creaking made itself known as she readjusted her weight.
She was going to reject him, wasn't she? Was she going to let him down gently, with velvet-soft words? Or would he open his eyes and see her lips curled upwards in disgust?
Who was he kidding, he was being so, so pathetic about this confession, about blurting out that he wanted to hang out with her, about even daring to think that he ever had a chance with someone like her.
Maybe he should just leave? Excuse himself from his own home and find a way to make himself scarce? Take his chances out on the surface and hope that Doll didn't find him-
Without warning, a hand much warmer and much larger than his gently clasped itself around his hand, taking care to not squeeze him too hard as if he would shatter like glass at even the smallest amount of pressure, causing him to open his eyes.
Z was looking down at their interlocked hands, a vibrant yellow blush flickering onto her visor as she gently ran her thumb across the back of Nathan's hand, a small shiver following suit.
"When I first met you, I only really had J to order me around and hurl insults at me for everything I did, V was... well I love her like a sister and she's the same way, but she's... she's overprotective, pretty sure she'd explode if she heard you saying this." Z explained slowly, as if trying to pick out the right words to say, but Nathan understood what she was trying to do with him.
She was trying to open up.
"So, in between J's 'I hate your guts and I hope you go sunbathing' and V's 'It involves you, therefore it is my responsibility', plus the whole... killing Worker Drones thing, I... didn't really have any friends either." Z continued, trying to avoid eye-contact with Nathan by rubbing her thumb across the pink lights on the back of his hands.
"But, then I met you, you blew my head off, you slapped me with an arm you found in the trash, you told me everything I was doing was all a big lie and... well, you were right.
I'll be totally honest for a second, I was a real jerk at first, but you... you've grown on me, and it wasn't long until I started thinking of you as a friend.
Then with that Solver thing, seeing you look so shaken after that whole mess was like getting shot, and by the time I learned from V that there was a prom going on, I wanted to try and... make myself look nice for you, ya'know?
And then I saw the fight with Doll, and the way you saved V, how you tried to talk her down, how you beat her in the fight?" Z's blush had grown brighter since she started talking, and by now it had almost occupied the entirety of her visor as her tail twitched behind her.
"Yeah, you don't have knives-for-wings, a sensor array that could track a moving target from miles away or guns that could hit that moving target, but you've got something else."
Z had shuffled closer, taking Nathan's free hand in hers and squeezed it gently, the warmth of her entire body seeping into his cold metal as she looked into his eyes with sincerity.
"You're cute, you're brave, you're talented and passionate and so, so smart, dude. You killed a Disassembly Drone, no-one's ever done that before."
"Th-That's... that's why I think you're..." Z leaned even closer until her face was only a few inches away from Nathan's, her eyes half-lidded.
He forgot how to breathe in that moment, feeling her breath tickling against his face, his core felt like it was about to spin out of his chest and he felt like he was about to faint.
"I-I'm...?"
Nathan wouldn't find out the answer to what Z had been trying to say.
Because the moment he voiced his question, Z had closed the distance between them, pressing her lips against his as he locked up in surprise at the sudden contact, before he closed his eyes and melted into it.
Her lips were warm and deceptively soft as they pressed themselves against his lips, making him feel tingly and warm as he tried to match her movements.
It was a terrible kiss, but to Nathan?
It was amazing.
When Z finally pulled back to end the kiss with a quiet 'smek' noise, Nathan found himself short of breath as he stared into her eyes, his hand squeezing hers as if at any moment he might wake up.
Z was in a similar state, her breaths heavy as her tail wagged to-and-fro behind her, one hand rubbing at her lips as if to burn the feeling into her memory for the rest of her life.
It was their first kiss.
"H-Holy... woah, hah." Nathan breathed out, his eyes drawn to the Disassembly Drone's lips like the inexorable pull of a singularity.
"Is... it weird that I want more?" Z asked with a hesitant, yet excited tone, causing Nathan to gulp and nod a little more excitedly than intended.
"Oh uh- n-no it's okay! I kinda also wanna do that again? But also... like..." Nathan swallowed, feeling embarrassed over what he would say next.
But fortunately for him, Z spoke first.
"Th-The animes and movies I watched had them using their tongues, r-right? Think we could maybe... try that, too?"
Feeling himself growing warmer, Nathan nodded.
With that, Z placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled him into another kiss, this time, instead of moving their lips, Z began to gentlty nibble on Nathan's lip, grazing her teeth against them as if trying to request entry.
Naturally, he opened his mouth, just wide enough for something hot and wet and soft to slide past his lips.
The moment Z's tongue met Nathan's, his whole body jolted as a new kind of pleasure bubbled up from his chest, the Disassembly Drone making a quiet noise that made his ears burn as she entwined her tongue with his.
As they made out, Nathan finally lost the battle to keep all of his oil in his head, and quickly, it began to flow down south to his crotch, an uncomfortable tightness making itself known in his shorts as he felt himself getting erect.
A quiet, aroused moan frothed out of his throat and was quickly swallowed up by Z's kiss, the taller girl getting more bold as she gently guided his hands to her hips.
When he gripped onto her hips through the hoodie, Z let out a shuddery breath as she moved to straddle Nathan's hips.
...Which ended up with her rear resting directly on top of his crotch.
Nathan gasped, his hips reflexively bucked into Z's ass as his hands began to knead and grip her waist, causing her breath to hitch as she began panting.
"Nat..." Z breathed out as she continued swirling her tongue inside Nathan's mouth, grinding her ass on his crotch as he whined, a damp patch soaking into his shorts as he screwed his eyes shut.
She was everywhere, all-encompassing, every part of his body was being stimulated and he knew wouldn't last long like this, his member throbbing as she grinded against him.
"A-Ah~! Z-Z! Biscuits!" Nathan mewled pathetically as he squirmed underneath the excited Disassembly Drone, her grinding movements moving faster until she was practically humping him.
It was too much, his head was spinning, his breaths were shuddery and full of pathetic little moans and his hips bucked upwards into Z's shorts as he felt his impending climax growing closer with each thrust from the Disassembly Drone.
"Z! Z~!" Nathan whined, feeling his cock growing hotter and harder as he desperately held himself back from finishing too early as Z pulled back from the kiss, nuzzling her face in the crook of his neck and panting as if trying to take in as much of his smell as she could.
"Y-You.... ah~! F-Frick this feels so good!" Z moaned lustfully as her grinding sped up and her hands wandered down to Nathan's chest, palming his sensitive plating as he whimpered, teetering over the edge of his climax.
One more thrust from the horny girl on top of Nathan was finally too much for him handle, his moans becoming more shrill and urgent as reason abandoned him and fireworks popped and crackled behind his screwed-shut eyes.
When the first ropes of white-hot cum spurted out of his perilously hot member and stained his underwear, Nathan let out a ragged, whimpering mewl as his whole world shrank down to Z straddling him and humping him, his whole body tensing up and squeezing her hips as he bucked his hips in a pathetic display.
"Z~!" Nathan arched himself into Z's body as he rode out his orgasm, a dark patch quickly forming on his shorts as the taller girl stopped moving.
As the last drops of his climax finally dribbled out of his cock with a moan, Nathan panted and opened his half-lidded eyes, already trying to will himself into apologising for ruining the moment.
But Z wasn't angry, no. Her eyes were wide open, her mouth agape and her whole visor lit up in a bright yellow blush as she kept her hands on his shoulders for support.
"W-W-Woah." Z breathed out, before she made eye contact with the stunned, still-recovering Nathan she had just been grinding herself on.
"Z..." Nathan sucked in shaky breaths of air as he turned his head to kiss her arm.
Without warning, Z's eyes widened as she hurriedly scooted off of Nathan's crotch, and already he felt colder without her warmth.
"I-I-I gotta go I think V's- excuse... BYE NOW!" Z suddenly blurted out as she hurriedly scrambled off of the bed in her embarrassment, but not before hesitating.
Turning back around to plant a small kiss on Nathan's cheek, Z then proceeded to hurriedly scamper out of his room, leaving Nathan in a mess of his own fluids and panting in a fatigued daze.
But before unconsciousness claimed him, a single thought bubbled up to the forefront of his mind:
'I need to change my underwear...'
Z crept into the corpse spire as quietly as she could manage, her eyes on the lookout for any kind of disturbance in the ceiling or the sound of wings flapping, her thighs uncomfortably cold and moist after...
After Nathan.
Her core thumped a little harder upon remembering the sights and sounds of her friend - turned boyfriend! - mewling and whimpering her name, and she pressed her thighs together in an attempt to distract herself from the embarrassment that followed her hasty escape.
"Aaaand where have you been, Z?"
The sound of V's voice coming from directly behind her was enough for Z to yelp and spin around to face her (self-appointed) sister, her arms folded and her face in a picture-perfect scolding expression.
"N-None of your business, V." Z grumbled as the Disassembly Drone circled around her.
She was gonna say her favourite little phrase any second now-
"It involves you, therefore it is my business, Z, so come on, confess your crimes, you know that Doll freak is still hanging around here." V retorted with a stern voice, placing her hands on her hips as she tilted her head.
"Ugh, fine! I was hanging out with Nathan!" Z threw her hands up in the air and willed herself to not blush.
Any amount of weakness might be enough to trigger her 'Overprotective Helicopter V' instincts, after all.
"Ugh, figures, you've got his smell all over you, and the sticker, too; that's pretty much his calling card." V pointed her claw at the sticker situated on Z's hoodie as she rubbed her arm.
"That little twerp didn't do anything to you, right?" V all-but demanded as she looked Z in her eyes suspiciously.
"Nope! We just read manga and listened to my nightcore playlist together!"
V's eyes narrowed.
"And nothing else?"
"Yup!"
For a moment, V held the stare.
And Z stared back.
"...And your hair?" V raised an eyebrow and pointed her tail at Z's hair, causing her to freeze as she reached for her head.
Sure enough, Nathan had styled her hair into a small wolf-tail, having been completely forgotten about during her time with the shorter Worker boy.
"Nat just wanted to try braiding my hair, figured he wouldn't shut up about it until I let him."
As V narrowed her eyes suspiciously, Z was fully expecting to see her taller sister marching over to the exit ready to turn Nathan's status from alive, to dead, having not bought the sloppy lie she had just cooked up.
Which was why it was surprising when V finally relented and eased up a little.
"Great, great, just lemme know if he does try anything shifty with you and we can both practice some balloon animal shapes with him. I've been practicing." V flexed a claw menacingly for emphasis as Z rolled her eyes.
V. She loved her, but holy hell she needed to relax.
"Here, saved some oil for you, kept it fresh too." V pulled out a plastic bag of oil that sloshed in her hands, before handing it over to Z as she mumbled out a quiet 'Thanks'.
As she chewed a hole into the still-warm bag and sipped from it, V gently patted Z on the shoulder and gave her a tired smile, before she yawned.
"Gotta get back to keeping an eye out for that Doll creep, you go get some shuteye, 'kay?"
Mumbling out a quiet 'Kay' and watching V take off into the air to roost in the ceiling, Z made her way to the landing pod occupying the center of the spire and crawled inside.
Since J had died and that Doll freak tried to kill V, her sister insisted that Z took the landing pod as her own little private room (or in V's words 'The safest place in the spire').
As she crawled into bed and finished drinking her oil, she blushed as she remembered the sweet sounds of Nathan's voice, or the way his crotch grew so hot and wet as he bucked his hips into hers.
She planted her head on her pillow and groaned in embarrassment, feeling her stomach growing warm and fluttery.
"Why did I chicken out like thaaat?!" Z groaned again as she sat up, hugging her pillow and rubbing her thighs together as she did so.
She knew the reason why, she was still hesitant about opening up to Nathan even despite him reciprocating her feelings (He confessed first!), she was just...
She didn't know what to do in that moment, aaaand she panicked.
But next time...
Z laid her head back down on her mattress, tucking her knees into her chest in a fetal position and closing her eyes one-by-one.
Next time, she'd like to stay a little longer.