Work Text:
N slumped slightly forward, angling himself so that his lanky form shrank down enough to allow his optics to get a better view of the luminous screen ahead of him and Uzi.
Eyelights flicking over to him, she self-consciously shuffled to make more room, hoping he wasn’t too cramped. Shit, does he hate it when I show him this stuff? Is he just .. like .. pretending to enjoy it? Robojesus I’m such a loser—
N’s tail swished with content behind him, and his worker companion bashfully cut off her thoughts of insecurity. From what she had picked up, it was pretty hard to fake a tail wag.
Uzi relaxed her posture, eyelights half-lidding as her nervousness faded and she felt exhaustion creep back in.
It was always nice that N would watch things with her—let alone anime. No one had ever entertained her hobbies, and to have someone both there and invested was one hell of a blessing. Because of that history, however, Uzi tended to think he was faking it most of the time.
N wasn’t that type of guy, but that didn’t mean she could just shake years of bullying, ridicule, and fake friendship off.
She sighed, N not noticing the quiet vent, but having wrapped his arm around her waist in an act of comfort. Her visor lit up, and she struggled not to let out some sort of strangulated squeal. Uzi had really thought she’d be a little bit less mushy when she started dating somebody—but who knew she’d fold immediately to anything? She didn’t really mind, besides the fact that it killed the edge she tried to maintain. So much for being a lone wolf.
N’s tail swished again, and he let out a quiet giggle. “Ohhh, I love this guy!” he’d comment, a character that he seemed to like having popped up in the scene.
A dopey grin that Uzi couldn’t stop covered her face. “Yeah?”
“Uh-huh, he’s cool! And his outfit is so pretty looking! These artists did a great job, ‘Zi,” he’d continue.
Uzi let out a small laugh. “I like him too. I won’t spoil it, but he does some really cool stuff in later seasons.”
N nodded, eyes sparkling with slight intrigue at her words before he turned back to the screen.
Damn, this dork had really infiltrated her heart.
Well, that exchange also had her thinking. He was paying a decent attention to detail … not in the way that Khan might’ve tried to entertain her when she was younger, barely able to memorize the names or main idea of what Uzi was most interested in for years at a time (they were on her frickin’ shirts, how the hell did he miss that?)
No, N was getting excited all on his own.
...Huh.
“Say, N, you do actually like this stuff, right?”
“Wha? Oh—uh, yeah!”
———————————————————
OK, perfect. Now she had a frie—boyfriend .. rather—hooked on anime.
Not only that, but an uber cool disassembly drone boyfriend who was hooked on anime. And like, he talked to her about it, he’d watch it with her and pay attention, and now she was sure that he wasn’t even doing it just for her sake. He seemed to be having a pretty damn good time!
Uzi wanted to make it up to him—or at least pleasantly surprise him. She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but it meant more to her than words could say that he was so enthusiastic about her passions. She probably would’ve been just as excited (well, slightly less) if he had simply just been accepting of it.
Man, she probably shouldn’t be so happy about the bare minimum, but bite her, she sure as hell wasn’t used to it.
..It was pretty cool to be loved.
Next time she saw him, Uzi wanted to show him something that she thought would really be his type of thing.
They’d already watched Air Bud god knows how many times (she was god, and it was arguably too many, but she’d deal with it for him) when Uzi was trying to gauge whether or not he liked movies in general. Luckily, that was a success, and led to her trying to see whether or not he’d like anime at all. Maybe she didn’t need to be so extensive in testing if N liked watching things enough to not make fun of her, but she had been so paranoid about actually sitting him down to watch anime that she’d psychoanalyzed his expressions and behavior every single movie night.
Overkill? Maybe.
She wasn’t going to risk exposing her core and its most personal tastes on a silver platter just for him to retch and awkwardly cringe away.
Ohhh, she shouldn’t have even felt like she had to be doing that—fuck you Lizzy.
Whatever. That was besides the point. She’d been fixing a couple of things in her workshop, thinking along with it, as always, and had a great idea.
N would LOVE Pokémon.
Like, what the hell is more fitting for him than a feel-good (well … generally) coming-of-age where some kid screwed around with little creatures he’d befriended? She was sure he’d love the games, too, but she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get her hands on any … though maybe one day that’d be a possibility.
Nonetheless, she was excited for tonight and the escapade that would come from her introduction of the series to the disassembler.
She was 98% sure it would be a hit, but she still crossed her fingers in hopes that it would be.
A sharp knock to her unit door made her pop up with a start. “Coming!” she’d bellow, though not with the snarkiness she would’ve channeled into her voice for anyone other than him. Rather giddily, she trotted over to let her visitor in.
She swung the door open, shifting slightly to the left so as to let N in as he walked forward, sending her a quick wave before scooping her up in a hug. She let out a squawk of protest, lashing her tail behind her as it popped out from her sudden shock, but she wasn’t truly upset—just surprised.
Her very chipper captor loosened his hold, and she slipped out from under his arms, though didn’t move far away enough to break the contact between their touching plating.
Uzi tilted her head upward, meeting his gaze, but paused halfway through. Faded graphic stretched over his chassis, a t-shirt with a gengar splayed across its middle was N’s article of choice for that day.
Rather ironic, Uzi thought.
N noticed her staring, a sheepish expression overtaking his visor. “Oh! Hope you don’t mind I’m wearing your stuff,” he apologized, having taken the clothing the last time he was over. Smelled like her, after all .. shit, is that weird? He further justified, “I, uh, wanted to wear it when I found it.” N’s brows furrowed slightly, and a small grin formed on his face.
Uzi couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with adoration. “You’re fine, dude. I was going to show you something, and actually, I think you’d like it a lot.”
N’s smile widened, and he cocked his head. It was sweet of Uzi to be thinking of him, and it meant a lot that she’d watch something for him when he knew their tastes sometimes varied a little bit.
He’d supposed he’d always loved when drones were so considerate, though. Something like a love language.
N sat down in their usual spot, Uzi following shortly after as she began to set up her laptop.
She started the first episode, the announcer starting to rattle off a description of the fight between a nidoran and gengar as soon as the intro was over. However, before Ash himself could begin his spiel, Uzi realized the narrator’s voice was echoed by the drone beside her—word for word.
She sputtered, pausing the episode as she turned to him and raised an eyebrow, though she was too surprised to say anything.
“I love Indigo League! I’ve seen the other ones, too, though I haven’t seen all of the movies yet..” N briefed, providing a little bit of context for the worker after he noticed her flabbergasted look.
“But—I thought—you watch anime?” Uzi responded, confused.
“Well, technically, now I do. Right now, just Pokémon and Yokai Watch. I uhh … like the little critters. Some of them remind me of sentinels, or the animals back on Earth. I liked the shirt and ended up searching around, and watched them all on a busted up little laptop in the pod once I’d found out what a gengar was. I don’t mind watching it a second time, but—“
“NONONO! It’s fine!! I thought this was—uh—going to be your first viewing. Hold on, we need to talk about this,” excitement crept into Uzi’s tone, and she gingerly shut her computer.
N intercepted before Uzi could start the discussion, much to her delight. “Do you have a favorite generation—OR, least favorite? What do you think about the new stuff compared to earlier?”
“Ohhhh Robogod, I’m definitely not a Genwunner, but I do like the first things … good game, too, and one of the few I was able to actually run for myself. Nothing frickin’ works anymore! But, uhh, besides that … Hoenn is pretty cool.”
N nodded, chiming, “I’d have to go with Unova! I just like all of ‘em.”
Uzi smirked. “Or are you just saying that because of N? Narcissism, how shallow of you!” she remarked, though she was curious if that was part of it.
N tried to respond, but his voice was split up by giggles until he broke down into laughter. It took a little bit for him to bounce back.
“Oh, actually, hey, what’s your favorite Pokémon?” Uzi raised, just realizing she hasn’t thought to ask that yet. She had a general guess, it was probably a dog or something that was cool by N standards, like a flygon, or something. However, she wouldn’t know what it was exactly until he told her.
“Growlithe! Or dusk lycanroc. Both. Both are very cool.”
Uzi nodded. “Yeaaaah, that checks. I like lycanroc. The midnight form is so damn sick.”
“What about you?”
The conversation faltered, and if N didn’t know better, he’d have thought that a flash of discomfort had flushed Uzi’s face for a second.
A minute went by, and the silence that stretched only served to make the worker’s case worse.
Finally, she spoke. “Uhh …”
“Sylveon,” she whispered, avoiding N’s gaze.
Immediately, he let out an endeared giggle, cooing an “Aww, really? The one that’s all pretty and pink?”
“Gahhhh—shuddup! It’s actually vicious and kills dragons and is SUPER metal, seriously, just—“
Uzi would pause, watching as the dopey smile on N’s face grew. She let out a sigh. “You’re lucky you’re one pretty boy, N.”
His visor sparkled with a small blush, and he quickly shot back “You’re pretty! In a dark, scary witch way.”
Uzi huffed, barely stifling a laugh.
“Dork.”