Chapter Text
The night sky was peaceful for once on Copper-9. The constant snowfall never slowed to a stop completely but it had picked tonight to slow down as much as it was ever going to on average.
The wind had even died down to a gentle breeze, a far cry from the harsh gales and blizzard condition winds that sometimes plagued the surface of the frozen planet. The cloud cover of the planet’s infamous toxic storm had somewhat thinned down compared to the average as well, offering the still living inhabitants of the planet an unusually clear view of the glittering stars and planets above.
All was calm and still in the gentle night… until a bright streak of golden yellow and clashing neon shot above the cloud cover like a bullet, a boom following it soon afterwards as the sound barrier was forced to catch back up.
The flying streak of colors let out a loud and happy whoop as it twirled around in the air, its spin soon coming to a stop as a pair of shining metallic wings composed of bladed feathers snapped out to their full length at both sides. The disassembly drone the wings belonged to was wearing a bright set of neon colorful clothing, the force of the wind from his ascent causing his open shirt to whip around like streaks of clashing blurs of color.
He held both of his arms out at his sides as he flew, his fingers splaying as he left behind wispy trails in the clouds around him.
“Are you guys really gonna keep lagging behind like that? Almost like you dudes are handing the win straight to me!” The Disassembler proclaimed loudly enough for his voice to be heard over the wind and the whining ringing sound produced by his wings.
He did another twirl in the air as he continued to fly forward, swirling the bits of clouds around him that were caught up in the air flow.
Two more streaks of yellow burst up and out of the clouds only mere moments after the Disassembler had finished speaking, followed closely behind by another dual set of booms as the sound barrier protested the speed at which they were moving. Those golden yellow blurs were quick to zoom in his direction, quickly revealed to be two more disassembly drones as their wings hummed with energy and glinted in the direct glow of the moonlight.
“Who said we were just handing you the win?! You took off before you even finished telling us there was going to be a race!” One of the Disassemblers shouted in response as the blades of her wings rattled together with her frustration. She dipped through the air to pick up a bit more speed, skimming above the clouds.
“What’s that? I can’t hear you over the sound of me totally winning right now! I didn’t know you two were going to be major slowpokes! Need to surf the wind if you wanna catch up!” The male Disassembler called out again as he continued to fly forward, spreading his arms out again as he glanced down to see the female Disassembler attempting to pass several feet beneath him.
The third Disassembler that was lagging a bit before lazily dipped into the clouds as they angled their wings down to fly lower, causing the male Disassembler at the front to lose them as he tried to track them and the female Disassembler flying below him with his array of extra eyes. The male Disassembler spared a glance towards the section of clouds he had seen his squadmate disappear into, an eyebrow raising on his screen as he briefly wondered where they went.
He soon let out a yelp as the third Disassembler suddenly catapulted back out of the clouds much further ahead of where they had entered them, whipping some of the disturbed clouds back into their squadmates’ faces.
“Careful now, A. You wouldn’t want to get so lost in your beautiful daydreams that you miss the things that are happening around you, would you? And besides that… I think I’m the one that’s winning, darling,” The third Disassembler called back as they cast a glance over their shoulder, giving the male Disassembler a wink before they stuck their tongue out.
A sputtered as he watched his squadmate flying ahead of him, the bladed feathers of his wings briefly rattling together where they were currently angling to keep him flying at optimal speeds. He was vaguely aware of his other squadmate once again trying to get ahead of him by flying low below him and catching the draft, but his attention was far more focused on the one that had overtaken him.
He responded to the playful taunting by sticking his own tongue out in response and flexing his wings, soon propelling himself forward like a rocket again in an attempt to catch up to them.
“Nah, nah, nah- You’re not winning for long, O! I’m not missing anything that’s happening around me!” The male Disassembler exclaimed as he tried to catch up to his squadmate, swooping around their side as they twirled away from him with a self-satisfied giggle.
“Would you two stop with the back and forth bickering? It’s bad enough that you decided to rocket ahead without even telling us there was going to be a race and now I’m stuck listening to you both going back and forth like a pair of dronelings!” The female Disassembler called out again as she flew up higher to fly closer to her squadmates.
“Don’t be like that, Y, darling. We’re only having fun here and enjoying one another’s presence, are we not?” The Disassembler named O all but cooed as they banked to the side to fly closer to the female Disassembler. They reached an arm out for hers, their fingers ghosting against one another before she pulled her hand away with a frustrated glare.
“We are not having fun here. I’m too busy being annoyed by the antics coming out of you two,” Y grumbled back in response as she continued to shoot a glare at O. The other Disassembler reached for her arm and her hand again, but this time she didn’t pull away as they wrapped their hand around hers.
“Calm down, daring. Anger isn’t a good look on you,” O commented as they gently squeezed Y’s hand, gently rubbing their thumb against the back of her hand as they traced the yellow triangle there.
The female Disassembler shot them another bitter look but opted not to say anything as she instead focused her gaze forward.
“They’re right, you know! Sometimes we like to see that gorgeous and award winning smile!” A called out from somewhere behind the other two Disassemblers.
Y spared a glance behind her long enough to see the neon-wearing Disassembler flying up to her other side, already reaching his hand out to hold her free hand as well. The female Disassembler allowed both of her hands to be held, though she still didn’t look completely thrilled about it.
“What if I wanted to be angry, huh? A already took off and started a race without even asking the rest of us and I got forced to play catch-up before I lost both of you idiots,” She grumbled again as her wings flexed, rattling the bladed feathers together not terribly unlike some sort of grim wind chime. She still didn’t make any effort to pull her hands away.
“Aw, come on- If you lost us, you could just send us a message or keep racing and come catch up to us! Pretty easy solution if you ask me,” A boasted as he grinned and gently squeezed Y’s hand. His own feathers rattled, though his appeared to be more so with his excitement as opposed to a gesture of anger.
“There’s several problems with your plan there. One, I may or may not find you before the sun comes up depending on where you land yourselves if it’s not back at our home,” Y began as her eyelights narrowed into a sharp glare, “Two, I don’t want you two to go off and get yourselves hurt by doing something completely stupid while I’m not there to pull you away from whatever stupid thing you were about to do.”
“Now, now, darling, don’t say things like that. You know we wouldn’t go around and get ourselves hurt! Neither of us would want you to worry your beautiful little head about the two of us and our antics!” O assured as they gently squeezed Y’s other hand, brushing their thumb over the back of the light on her casing again.
“Really now? I have plenty of experience that proves exactly the opposite of that,” Y hissed as she narrowed her eyelights again. “How many times have I had to pull both of you out of a situation you both managed to somehow land yourselves in by now? And how many times now has it been where one or both of you were begging me to help you get out of said situation you managed to land yourselves in?”
“Hey, hey, hey, all those times don’t count. We’re not talking about the past. We’re talking about right now! And present day me right now says we totally won’t get ourselves in trouble any time soon,” A cut into the conversation, a wide and toothy grin quickly spreading its way across his faceplate.
The female Disassembler’s gaze whipped back over in A’s direction with enough intensity and force it got him to flinch with a pair of hollow eyelights. She returned the gaze with her own hollow eyelights, staring back at him before one of her eyelights started to slowly squint itself. She held that expression for several moments before the squinted eyelight finally twitched on her display.
“ Those other times don’t count?!” Y all but roared as her wings rattled again, this time much louder than before. A and O both startled slightly in response to the sudden volume of her voice, though neither one made an effort to move away from her or let go of her hands.
She still didn’t make an effort to pull away or let go either.
“Inside voice, darling. There’s no need for yelling,” O stated as they gently circled their thumb over the light on Y’s hand. She gave them a bit of a bitter and frustrated look in response to the statement.
“What do you mean indoor voice?! We’re outside right now!” Y pointed out as her tail lashed at the clouds behind them, angled away to prevent accidentally stinging one of the two in the legs or wings.
“Come on, Y. Chill pill time. Chill out and relax a little,” A encouraged as he gently squeezed the female Disassembler’s hand again. A dopey grin spread across his face, curling back far enough to reveal his fangs as he gave her his best attempt at a disarming smile.
Hi! Here! Love you! suddenly warbled out from the male Disassembler’s frame shortly afterwards. To anyone else, the noises he made would have sounded like just that; noises. To other Disassemblers such as himself and his squadmate, the clicks and warbles and whistles formed together to form a whole new language.
Y gave A a bitter stare in response to his pinging, still not looking the slightest bit pleased with the conversation or the situation at hand. She stared at him for a long moment of silence, the only sounds filling the gap being the sound of the winds whistling around them between their wings and the whisper-like ringing produced by said flying technology.
After a few more seconds of staring at the disarming and dorky grin he was giving her, she finally caved.
Here! Love you! Y whistled back in response, getting the male Disassembler to practically glow with joy as he happily sang back to her with the exact same set of pings.
A third set of identical trills quickly joined in as well as O also warbled out a happy response. For at least a moment, the three Disassemblers were at ease with one another and happy in each other’s presence.
The peaceful and tender moment managed to last for a few more minutes as the trio glided through the clouds together hand-in-hand… though it didn’t manage to last forever. They had continued gliding for some distance together before a mischievous glint had come over O’s eyes, matched by the wide smirk that quickly managed to tug its way across their faceplate. Y was the one who noticed the look due to being the one that was between the two Disassemblers, but she didn’t get a chance to ask what they were thinking before they gently squeezed her hand again and then let go.
O looked over at the female Disassembler, still wearing the wide grin on their faceplate before they gave her another playful wink. She opened her mouth to question what they were up to, and it was then the Disassembler flexed their wings and suddenly rocketed ahead of the group again.
They turned around backwards to face the duo for just a moment, sweeping their wings in such a way to blow back a collection of clouds into both of their faces before they laughed and dove back beneath the cloud cover like a bullet through thin sheet metal.
A let out a sound of surprise as he looked between Y and the punctured hole in the clouds that O had left behind in their wake. Y narrowed her eyelights at the hole as well, her surprise quickly giving way to frustrated competitiveness. As if sensing what was running through her mind, A finally let go of her other hand, and it was then both Disassemblers dove through the clouds as well.
Y popped out on the other side of the clouds slightly ahead of A, reaching up to rub her visor to get the cold residue off of the glass. Her optical array of five eyes atop her head was quick to zero in on the blurring yellow streak of light in the distance that told her where her squadmate was.
They had managed to get themselves a good distance ahead of the duo as they soared over some of the lower buildings pockmarked around the area, but she knew she could catch up.
A seemed intent on catching up as well if the way his wings flexed and whined was any indication of that fact. He spared one more glance at Y, out of curiosity to see how she was doing or concern for her she wasn’t sure, before he too shot ahead like a rocket racing to its destination in a bid to catch up to O.
The female Disassembler watched him go for a moment, debating on if she still felt like participating in the race or not before she looked forwards with a determined gaze and angled her wings to pick up speed as well.
O laughed as they glanced behind them long enough to figure out that A and Y had found them again and were already in the process of catching up to them. They twirled through the air as they stuck their arms out, merely showing off with a flourish as the maneuver did nothing to speed them up or slow them down.
“See, darlings? You haven’t lost me at all!” The Disassembler called back once they were sure their squadmates were close enough to be in hearing range, calling back to their prior conversation that the trio had just shared while they were up and above the hazy clouds.
“Are you even paying attention to where you’re flying right now??” Y called out as she completely ignored the other Disassembler’s statements, getting them to blink.
O turned their head in enough time to see an old and faded billboard rapidly coming up in their vision before them, forcing them to bank to the side as they narrowly avoided crashing headfirst into the obstacle.
The Disassembler recovered quickly once they cleared past the billboard, straightening out and angling their wings to help them right their flight course again. They cast their glance back yet again to meet the glare of a rather unamused Y and a concerned A, their mouth tugging into a wide and toothy grin again as they gave a slight shrug of their shoulders that was lost under the thick white coat they wore and the fluttering pink boa wrapped around them.
“That wasn’t a mistake, darling. That was entirely intentional for the flair,” O joked as their grin somehow managed to stretch even wider, getting Y to immediately shoot them a nasty glare with fuzzy and hollow eyelights.
“Intentional my tail! You nearly crashed face first through that thing and left an outline in it like some kind of over exaggerated cartoon character!” The female Disassembler borderline shouted again with her frustration, her tail lashing out at the air behind her as she dipped a bit lower to fly under the crane the trio passed.
“But I saved it just fine, did I not? I even executed the save with an absolutely fabulous amount of style!” O proudly explained as their wings spread wide again, rattling their moonlight-reflecting and shimmering feathers for emphasis on their show of style.
Y was clearly not impressed by the display. A was quick to shout out a cheer as he sailed forward to join the other Disassembler, twirling around and spreading out his own wings for a striking display. As if he needs an extra display with those neon-colored clothes, Y figured.
“They sure did! Come on, Y… Don’t tell me you don’t think style’s going out of fashion or something like that,” A playfully teased as he twirled around again at O’s side, stopping in his spin shortly afterwards so he could look back at the female Disassembler instead who was still flying several paces behind the two.
“I just don’t see what the point is with pulling off all of these little tricks and shows when it’s not like they change anything. You could accomplish the same amount of movement if not arguably more by flying like a normal drone,” Y argued as her eyelights narrowed into a grumpy pout, her tail lashing out at the air behind her again.
“Flying like a normal drone? Are you talking about us disassembly drones or the worker drones? Because uh… I don’t think I’ve ever seen a worker drone fly before unless you wanna count the times we’ve tossed one of them and they went flying through the air that way,” A pointed out as an eyebrow raised on his screen.
Y actually let out a frustrated growl at that, getting the male Disassembler to flinch at the sudden and hostile sound.
“ Fine, ” The female Disassembler hissed, the voice dripping with as much venom as she could clearly muster, “Like a normal disassembly drone then. There. Are you happy now? You wanted to ‘play guess the right word’?”
“Hey… You know I was just teasing you and messing with you a little. I was just trying to be funny,” A said as he slowed down his flying speed enough to be a bit closer to Y’s side.
O seemed to notice their squadmates were lagging behind before they slowed down their flying speed as well to join up with the duo.
Y continued to give the male Disassembler a bit of a sour stare, though as he stared back at her and gave her one of his lazy grins she finally let out a heavy sigh. A cloud of hot steam blew out of her mouth as she did so, though it was greedily consumed by the wind kicked up by the speed they were flying at before anyone had a real chance to look at it. Her tail once again lashed at the air behind her.
“Sorry. I guess I’m just feeling a little grouchy today,” The female Disassembler finally muttered in response, her tone at least somewhat sincere with her words. Her hand came up to run down her visor and hold it due to the fact she knew the gesture wouldn’t impede her vision, something she and others like her were uniquely capable of due to the five yellow orbs of optics that sat atop her head.
“You meaaan extra grouchy? You’re usually pretty grouchy most days,” A commented as an eyebrow raised on his screen again. Before the woman could shoot another glare in his direction, he attempted to placate her by reaching out to touch his fingertips to her arm again.
“I have a headache, I’m tired, and I feel like I could lie down and not move for the next several hours,” Y finally responded simply, opting to keep her hand resting over her visor as the eyelights closed behind her palm and fingers.
It did little to soothe the dull ache that was behind the glass and had been there since earlier that evening when she had first woken up to begin the night.
A let out a thoughtful hum as he held his fingers against her arm, soon shifting his hand to carefully wrap the fingers around the arm instead. He had grabbed her arm too far down the cone of her forearm and couldn’t completely wrap his fingers around it, but the attempt was clearly still there as his fingertips brushed against the casing on the inside of her arm. He held onto his thought for a moment as the trio banked around another one of the city’s large skyscrapers and changed their course of direction.
“You think you need to go on to bed when we get home? I can even tuck you in if you want. Or, y’know, stay and keep you company until you’re able to doze off,” The male Disassembler offered, his golden eyelights seeming to glow just a bit brighter as he regarded his squadmate.
Despite herself and her current frustrated mood that was at least partially brought on by both of her squadmates’ antics tonight, Y actually found herself contemplating that offer if just for a minute and no longer.
“I can take care of myself just fine, A. I don’t need someone tucking me in or telling me a bedtime story like a little droneling,” She finally settled on as a response, her hand on her visor balling into a loose fist as she continued to rest her knuckles against the glass screen.
One tiny part of her almost tried to convince her that pampering and special treatment did in fact sound nice, but the rest of her tried to stamp that stray thought out like an ember as soon as it entered her conscious processes.
“But it sounds nice, right? Can’t tell me it doesn’t sound nice and cozy. We could all even curl up in a nice soft blanket together and chat until we fall asleep in each others’ arms...” The male Disassembler practically purred as he allowed his thoughts to run wild and free over the course of his speaking.
Y once again resisted the urge to glare at the other Disassembler as she finally removed her hand from her visor and let her arm hang limply in the air below her instead. That tiny voice in the back of her head was once again trying to convince her to allow the special queen-like treatment and at this point the rest of her was rapidly growing too tired to care to argue with it.
Anything to get her either comfortably hanging from the ceiling or comfortably curled up in a soft mass of pillows and blankets faster.
“I don’t care right now. I’m too tired to care and have too much of a headache to think,” The female Disassembler responded neutrally, though that didn’t stop A’s toothy grin from stretching wide across his faceplate and glinting fangs under the hint of the moonlight.
Anyone that was well-versed in Y’s typical way of responding to things knew that ‘I don’t care right now’ tended to be code for ‘do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t break something or get you or me killed’. The male Disassembler’s bladed feathers rattled together with his excitement as his tail started to slowly sway back and forth behind him, or at least as much as it could sway with the constant assault of the wind.
“We’ll make sure you’re nice and comfy and taken care of, babe. You can count on us!” A happily exclaimed as he winked at the other Disassembler, giving her another trademark flash of his fanged grin as one of his hands came up into view to snap his fingers together and then make a fingergun.
Y waved her hand slightly at her squadmate in half-acknowledgement and half dismissal of his statement, deciding not to grace his form with another glance before she crossed her arms over her chest. The only thing dancing at the forefront of her processor right now besides keeping an eye out for obstacles was getting home to their base of operations and settling in for the night so she could get some much needed sleep.
Well, there was that and the ever present, constant urge for the hunt that also danced on her front-most wires.
She decided she didn’t feel like contemplating that at the moment. Her mouth disagreed by making her salivate more as the thought of food briefly crossed over her thought processes anyway despite her halfhearted best attempts to not think about it.
“Dawn will be arriving in the next few hours, I believe… It would be a lovely time to return home and begin winding down for the day,” O noted as they banked to the side to route around another building, followed closely behind by both of their squadmates.
“Yeah, I think that sounds like a pretty good idea,” A agreed before a wide grin spread over his faceplate again, getting him to reach over and lightly nudge Y’s arm with his elbow joint. “Guess that means we better haul our tails and get this tired pretty lady swaddled up in some comfy and soft blankets then.”
“Hmm… We had better hurry? Is that so?” O questioned as they raised an eyebrow on their screen and tilted their head slightly, casting their glance over their shoulder to look at the male Disassembler with a smile.
“Well, not like actually hurry because it’s not like the sun’s coming up in ten minutes or something. I meant like-” A started to respond to his squadmate’s questions, though he did not get a chance to finish his answer before they winked at him and dove straight down towards the ground.
Y blinked at both the sudden maneuver and the shouting that came out of A at her side before she directed her gaze downward, seeing the glittering yellow and silver streak that was O rapidly heading lower and then outwards from there. It took her an additional few moments to realize the other Disassembler had just shot ahead in the direction of the squad’s homebase.
“Wha- HEY! WAIT UP!” A shouted almost as quickly as O had taken off, getting the female Disassembler to flinch as she cast her glance over at him instead.
The male Disassembler rattled the blades of his wings together before he let go of Y’s arm, instead solely focused on the escaping streak of light. He flexed his wings above him before he suddenly dove straight down to the ground as well, zipping off in hot pursuit of their squadmate.
Y watched the two Disassemblers go, her eyelights narrowing as she angled her wings to begin the descent to join them. She zipped after them, eventually settling into a speed that left her lagging behind the two but close enough to them that she could hear A shouting something at O and the other Disassembler laughing in response.
The squad of three continued the rest of their flight closer to the ground now, weaving between buildings and passing overhead of the empty streets below as they set their sights on the abandoned apartment building they had claimed for themselves some time after landing on the planet. The apartment wasn’t the first place where they had made a base, but it was their current one chosen for comfort compared to the cramped landing pod that they had originally arrived in.
The twin streaks of silver and gold that represented A and O flew nearly neck and neck with each other in the race that had restarted between them, though one managed to get an edge after twirling in a circle around and above the other one to get them to fall back to avoid cutting the other with their wings. The one that gained the advantage did one final twirl in the air as if celebrating their victory before they dove straight towards the ground again, landing directly in the center of the courtyard that marked the area outside the apartment.
O giggled and smiled to themselves as they folded their wings away now that they had landed, straightening their legs out to stand up properly as their hands came up to smooth out their windswept coat. They fixed their gaze on the sky above, moving their hand up to flip the fluffy pink boa they wore up and over their shoulder again as they watched the second diving streak of silver and gold.
“That wasn’t fair, O!” A protested as he landed on the ground shortly afterwards, sending a spray of snow both up into the air and over him and his squadmate. He didn’t seem the slightest bit bothered by the frozen mixture now clinging to his casing and parts of his clothing, instead opting to let it melt and drip away on its own with small wisps of smoke.
“All’s fair in love and war, darling,” O responded simply as they turned to face A, giving him a wink as a smile stretched wide on their faceplate. The male Disassembler was quick to pout at that.
“We’re not at war right now! That doesn’t make any sense!” A insisted as his wings folded together and disappeared cleanly inside his back. His tail curled behind him, pointing the needle away from O as they began to approach him.
“But we are in love, are we not?” O cooed as they approached A, reaching one of their hands out to gently cup his cheek. Both Disassemblers stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, neither one seeming willing to break the gaze any time soon.
Love you! A finally whistled in response to both the other Disassembler’s touch and statement, letting his head tilt into their touch as his eyelights closed on his screen. O responded in turn with the same call before their other arm reached out to wrap around his waist and pull him into a close hug.
A low rumble started in A’s chest as he hugged O as well, a smile stretching across his faceplate as he happily purred with this situation.
Y landed moments later, having slowed down for a leisurely descent with a much softer landing. She swept her tail around the snow covered ground around her to move some of the snow mounds out of the way before she directed her attention at both of her hugging and purring squadmates.
She narrowed her eyelights at them before she turned her head towards the building standing on the edge of the courtyard, debating on if she should talk to both of them again or if she should go ahead and go make herself comfortable for the rest of the night.
A seemed to notice that Y was contemplating other plans judging by the way his tail started to slowly snake towards her. The female Disassembler noticed the brief blur of yellow movement long enough to get her to look at it before A’s tail wrapped around her waist, giving her a firm tug back towards the group of two.
She let out an audible sound of protest as she was yanked along and nearly tripped, but the male Disassembler only responded by giving her a wide grin and reaching an arm out to pull her into the hug too.
O’s purring only grew louder in volume as they moved one arm to pull Y into the hug as well. Their tail swept around both of their squadmates, holding them both closer as they looked between the two with a warm and happy smile.
“Hello, darling. How are you?” The Disassembler purred as they leaned down slightly to gently kiss Y’s forehead, getting her to growl as faint yellow blush marks appeared in the corners of her visor.
“Terrible,” The female Disassembler responded in a grumble, crossing her arms over her chest as the blush continued to faintly burn on her screen. Both A and O let out a laugh at her comment before the two of them focused their attention solely on her.
“Come on, pretty girl… Don’t be like that… Don’t be so grouchy…” A purred happily as he gently hugged Y closer. She met his gaze for a moment before he leaned in closer to her, gently nuzzling into one of her cheeks as his purring pitched louder just like O’s already had.
Y grumbled back in response again anyway despite his statement, though she didn’t make any effort to pull away as she let the other two Disassemblers hold her. One of their hands, she wasn’t quite sure whose, left her back to instead hold the back of her head, gently pulling her head inward with very little if any resistance from her as she allowed the movement.
Her head was then carefully tucked in between her two slightly taller squadmates, leaving her head resting in the hook between both of their chests. She got a face full of fabric and a lot of extra ambient body heat wrapping around her head in exchange for her troubles, but she once again didn’t make any effort to move or pull away.
“I can be grouchy all I want to. I already went over the parts about having a splitting headache and being tired,” The female Disassembler complained as her eyelights closed on her screen.
With her head this close to their chests, she could both feel the rumbles in their casing produced by their loud purrs and hear the steady beat of something that should not be beating hammering away on the inside of their bodies where their cores should be.
She fought the urge to bring her hand to her own beating chest, instead balling her hands into fists where they were currently resting. Her tail coiled into a tense knot behind her but finally settled back into a normal shape as she allowed herself to relax in the double hug.
“But being grouchy isn’t a good look on you, darling,” O noted as they leaned down slightly to gently kiss the top of Y’s head again. “I mean, you look absolutely stunning right now. Gorgeous even! However… You look positively glowing when you combine all of that loveliness of yours with a smile instead of a bit of grump.”
Y leaned into the feeling of the kiss as she continued to glare, attempting to fight the blush marks that had appeared on her screen out of her display. Despite her best efforts, the visual seemed stubbornly determined to remain on her visor for all of the world to see, or at least for both of her partners to see.
Also despite her best efforts, she was also starting to feel a low and vibrating rumble starting up in her own chassis as a purr threatened to escape her too. She lashed her tail at the snow behind her in frustration as she tried to fight down the feeling.
A and O, however, clearly seemed determined to get that purr out of her as they realized she was enjoying the cuddling. O shifted their arms to hold Y with both of them instead, freeing up A’s movement as they instead wrapped their arms around the female Disassembler’s waist.
A used his new movement to move around to be in front of Y, smiling down at her with a happy and loving stare as his tail started to wag back and forth behind him. The female Disassembler raised an eyebrow as if questioning what he was going to do before he slowly leaned down towards her.
Y narrowed her eyelights as she quickly realized what A’s intents were and once again debated shoving him, but as he got closer she decided that she was going to allow it. She tilted her head up to meet him, allowing him to gently catch her mouth for a soft kiss.
His hand moved from where he was hugging her, instead coming up to rest on her cheek as they both shared their kiss together. A’s purring had pitched even louder with his satisfaction, leaving a slight rumble against Y’s faceplate.
The female Disassembler wanted to be angry when she felt her own purr properly starting up and escaping her chassis, but she couldn’t exactly bring herself to care or verbally protest at the moment while she was still busy returning her squadmate’s kiss. O was purring just as loudly as they held onto her, soon leaning down to gently nuzzle into the top of her head with a happy smile.
The trio stayed like that for a little while as they enjoyed the affection and closeness with one another, only finally starting to shift again once the body heat being shared between their constantly overheating bodies was starting to become a bit too unbearable. A was the first one to slowly start pulling away as he slowly broke the kiss that he was sharing with his squad leader. He gave her a warm smile as he did so, a happy purr still rumbling around inside his own chassis.
“Feel any better now or are we still in super grump mode supreme?” The male Disassembler asked as he gently brushed his thumb against Y’s faceplate. His other hand came up to adjust the pair of sunglasses he wore on top of his head to make sure they wouldn’t come loose and fall off any time soon.
Y immediately frowned and puffed her cheeks out at that question, though that didn’t stop the steady and unrestrained purr that was still rattling out of her own body. A couldn’t help but laugh at that, once again reaching to pull her into a gentle hug. He held her for just a few moments before he finally let go to let her step back, moving his hands to rest on his hips instead.
“What do you think? Frown upside down time? I wanna see that beautiful award winning smile,” The male Disassembler said as his grin stretched wide on his faceplate.
“I agree, darling. You look gorgeous with one,” O noted as they gently kissed the top of Y’s head again, tightening their hug around her waist for a moment before they unwrapped their arms to let her move too.
“I know, I know. You already said that,” Y grumbled in response, finally pulling away from the other two once they had properly let her go and savoring the cold Copper-9 night wind against her face. She once again found herself trying to fight down the purr that was still rumbling out of her chassis and once again the noise continued even despite her efforts to try to hold it back.
“And? Why else would I be saying it if it were not true, darling?” O asked as they walked around Y’s side to enter the front of her field of view. She did not miss the way they deliberately brushed their tail against her leg as they walked by.
Y stuck her tongue out at the other Disassembler as they stepped in front of her, having to look up slightly to meet their gaze as she crossed her arms over her chest. O returned the stare with their own warm smile, fluttering their eyelights back at her and getting her to shrink slightly into her shoulders as she tried to fight off the blush that was threatening to appear on her visor again.
“You two are going to be the death of me one of these days...” The female Disassembler grumbled as she turned away from the taller drone with a frown in her eyelights. Her tail curled around her legs before it lowered to the ground to rest the canister in the snow, her energy to manage the thing starting to dwindle out of her by the second.
“I’d sure hope not- If you died we wouldn’t be able to hug you and love on and kiss you anymore!” A all but whined out his statement as he reached up to adjust the sunglasses that were sitting on top of his head again, giving the female Disassembler his best attempt at a puppy-eyed pout.
“I’m mouthing, you dork. O got their head cut off that one time and it regrew just fine without a scratch on them. They came back to life just fine which means I would too if you both did something. Unfortunately, ” Y hissed between her teeth as she rolled her eyelights on her screen.
“Yeah, but… I’d still be sad if it happened. And I’d be sad until you actually wake back up!” A insisted in a rather matter of fact tone.
“Don’t do something stupid and get me killed then and you won’t have to worry about it. I’d like to not get decapitated today by your screw up, thank you,” The female Disassembler grumbled out in response.
The impulse to yawn briefly fired through her systems which she quickly tried to fight down, but the impulse got the best of her servos anyway as her jaw fell open to let out a whistle of air and noise not terribly unlike a yawn.
“Now, now, give him and myself a bit more credit than that, darling. We learned not to set off explosions in close range like that afterwards!” O insisted as their tail settled into a slow sway behind them, the Disassembler looking at least vaguely proud of themselves.
“Only because you managed to get your head and arm cut off by flying pieces of shrapnel,” Y immediately pointed out before her jaw servos finally finished the yawn and let her mouth close again with a clack. Her glare found O shortly afterwards before her tone dropped into a hiss.
“Guess who had to go and dig up a bunch of reserve oil to help you regenerate after that stupid stunt?”
O managed to look at least partially apologetic in response to the story their squad leader was recounting, though their apologetic look did not last for long before they were once again leaning down to be more eye level with her and giving her a warm and loving smile. Their tail stopped its swaying to instead curl around the side of her leg, deliberately and delicately brushing against the dark colored casing.
“Awww… Thank you, darling. It makes me so happy to know you care enough to take such good care of me!” The taller Disassembler happily chirped as their tail slowly wound its way around Y’s leg, giving the reinforced casing a gentle squeeze.
“That wasn’t a compliment or a nice statement,” Y growled as she refused to meet O’s gaze, instead crossing her arms tighter as she shrank into her shoulders with a frustrated pout.
“Does it count as a nice statement if I choose to take it as a nice statement, darling? I love knowing you’re taking such good care of me and our sweetheart,” O purred as they kept their tail wound around their squad leader’s leg, giving the limb another gentle squeeze.
“You would have actually died if someone didn’t scrounge up enough oil to save you after the stupid stunt,” The female Disassembler grumbled as she reached up to rub her visor, attempting to fight down the creeping urge to yawn once more.
“And? I didn’t perish thanks to your quick thinking. Thank you, lovely,” O purred again as they leaned over Y, their arms dangling at their sides as they nuzzled into her hair with a happy smile on their faceplate. “I believe this may be a conversation for another night, though.”
“...Why’s it a conversation for another night? I miss somethin’?” A asked as he leaned down towards Y as well, wasting no time in burying his visor against her shoulder area before he happily purred into the casing.
“I declare it a conversation for another night because I believe our darling squad leader is tired and is nearing the need for her beauty rest!” O exclaimed, getting Y to flinch slightly from the loudness and their close proximity before they leaned back with a wide smile on their faceplate.
A blinked in response to O’s statement before his gaze drifted down to Y, the female Disassembler being quickly caught in another yawn she couldn’t properly suppress. The male Disassembler was quick to smirk in response before they bent over, giving Y little time to react before suddenly his arm had swept under her legs and pulled her up into his other and waiting arm.
She let out a yelp of surprise at the sudden movement, her tail lashing out and narrowly avoiding hitting A and O as it instead struck the snow.
“A, put me down,” Y hissed quietly as her tail curled up into a spiral beside her. The male Disassembler did not put her down and instead chuckled as he turned on his heels to face the apartment building.
“Nope, can’t do that. I’m whisking you away so you can get the rest and pampering you deserve. Come on, O,” A spoke up as he took a few steps towards the apartment building with Y in his arms, wasting no time in spreading his wings free from his back again.
Y opened her mouth to protest, but the words died in her throat as she instead quickly decided she was too tired to keep putting up an argument. She instead let out a huff and crossed her arms, letting A tuck her in against his torso before he launched himself into the air with a powerful boost from his wings. O followed shortly afterwards, sailing up towards the building with their squadmates.
A sailed upwards by a few floors before he landed gracefully on the failing of one of the balconies that was marked with a sliding door with a long and obvious scratch in the glass. He spared a glance behind him to see O following before he hopped down from the railing to give his squadmate room to perch too, his feet landing flat on the balcony floor with a solid thunk before his wings folded away into his back once more.
“I could have flown myself up here, you know. I’m not so tired I’m helpless,” Y grumbled again from her position in A’s arms, her eyelights glaring up at him as she allowed him to carry her across the balcony.
“But… What if I wanted to carry you and pamper you? I think you deserve to be carried and treated like a princess,” The male Disassembler replied with a wide grin as he approached the sliding glass door to the apartment unit.
Y let out another huff but didn’t verbally fight his statement, instead grumbling under her breath as the blush marks returned to her visor. A couldn’t help but laugh in response to the pout she was giving him as his tail curled out to wrap around the sliding door handle and pull it open for him.
“I’ll take your resounding silence as a yes,” A purred happily as he crossed into the room now that the door was out of the way, using his shoulder to push through the thick and heavy blackout curtains that hung in place over the doorway to help block out the light.
Love you , Y rumbled out quietly as her optics clicked and took a moment to recalibrate to the darkness of the room. Her night vision display flared itself over her full vision in the meantime, highlighting the comfortably sized and very dark apartment that her squad had claimed as their bedroom.
Love youuuu! A happily sang back in response as he carried Y further into the room, his purring pitching louder. A quick glance over his shoulder showed him that O had followed them into the room and was currently in the process of shutting the sliding door behind them and fixing the curtains back into place to completely block out the outside light.
“Will we be staying in the nest tonight or will it be the ceiling, darlings?” O asked as they walked up to join A and Y, their own night vision systems sweeping over the large circular mound in the center of the floor that was piled over with blankets, pillows, clothing, and other assorted trinkets.
“Ceiling,” Y responded without a moment’s hesitation, her tail curling and flicking at the air around her. “I’m way too hot to be cuddling with both of you in a bunch of even warmer blankets and pillows right now.”
“Ceiling it is then,” A agreed before he looked down at his squad leader in his arms with a happy grin. He shifted his arms to carefully allow her legs to lower to the floor, instead adjusting his grip so he was holding her around the waist instead.
The male Disassembler made sure he had a firm grip around Y’s waist with one arm before he swapped his free hand out for his talons and then directed his gaze up at the ceiling. His wings spread out behind him before he launched himself upwards, using the bladed feathers and his claws to hook onto the ceiling and hold himself and his squad leader there.
A looked from left to right as he kept his wings and claws firmly gripped into the ceiling, bringing his feet up to hook the ends of them into the surface as well to help afford himself slightly more grip. Y had moved her arms to grip onto the open sides of his neon shirt, helping keep herself in place alongside the help of his arm still firmly wrapped around her midsection.
The male Disassembler’s multiple optics landed on a set of suitable fixtures on the ceiling before he started to crawl along the ceiling towards them, continuing to use his talons and his wings to hold himself in place as he held Y to his chest. He inched close enough to the nearest fixture and started to reach his tail out for it before he looked down at the woman in his arm.
“Hang on tight again, okay?” He instructed as he wrapped his tail around the ceiling fixture, giving it a few sharp tugs to verify that it would hold before he took a deep vent.
Y tightened her grip on his shirt and wrapped her legs around his own legs in preparation of the maneuver he was about to make.
A gave the fixture one last tug to make absolutely sure of its sturdiness before he pulled his talons free from the ceiling, followed shortly afterwards by one wing and then his second wing. He swung downwards now that everything keeping him place was free, though he was stopped from falling as his tail remained firmly wrapped around his chosen object and left him comfortably dangling upside down.
The cooling sensation produced by all of the oil rushing to both Disassemblers’ heads and upper body components got a brief shiver to run through both of them
The male Disassembler was quick to direct his gaze down to Y again with a wide grin, a happy purr immediately starting up in his chest again as he shifted his arms to hold her better against him. Her head was tucked in against his chest for a moment, though she wasn’t resting there long before she was glancing up at him again.
“Hi there, gorgeous. Nice and comfy?” A asked over his purr as he looked down into Y’s optical array, straightening his legs out and wrapping them around his own tail for stability.
“I would be more comfortable if I wasn’t still hot. It’s too hot for too much cuddling,” Y complained as she stared up at A. One of her optics broke away from holding his gaze for a moment to instead scan the other nearest fixtures.
“Aww… Does that mean no more cuddles tonight?” A asked as he pouted, though it didn’t take long before the smile had returned to his faceplate once more alongside him gently hugging Y tighter against his torso.
“I can stay for a bit but after that I’m moving over to my own spot. You’re way too warm and it’s making me sweaty,” The female Disassembly grumbled quietly as she snaked her tail free and reached out to wrap it around the closest fixture that was in her reach.
O had been busy watching both of their squadmates on the ceiling before they launched themselves up to join the two, hooking their claws and wings into the surface much like A had done before they found their own nearby ceiling fixture to wrap their tail around. They wasted no time in swinging down to hang before they reached out towards A and Y, hanging close enough to be able to pull them both into a light hug.
“Will we be hunting again soon then, darling?” O asked as a soft purr started up again in their own chest, mingling with the purr that was still currently rumbling out of A’s chassis.
“We’re going to have to sooner rather than later. A serious hunt, too. We’re running warmer and we’re down on rations,” Y pointed out as she allowed the two to hug her, though she was already frowning at the sweat droplets that were forming on her visor screen.
“Mm… Tomorrow night then, perhaps?” O guessed as they gently pulled A and Y closer for a tighter hug, purring happily as they caused the trio to gently sway back and forth from the movement.
“More than likely. Either tomorrow or the night afterwards,” Y replied as she let out a slow and deep vent. She let herself be held for a few more minutes before she finally started to wiggle in an attempt to get her squadmates to let go of her, having decided that the heat was starting to bother her too much.
O was the first one to pull their arms away to allow Y to move, though they watched her carefully as one arm hovered near her back. A waited to make sure she had a good and proper grip on the ceiling fixture her tail was currently wrapped around before he let go of her, letting her swing away and into O’s waiting arm where they helped stop her momentum.
Y wrapped her legs around her own tail now that she was hanging properly upside down on her own, taking a moment to spare a glance at O to silently thank them for their help in getting her comfortably situated in her chosen sleeping position. The Disassembler returned her gaze with their own smile and a gentle pat on her back before they pulled their arm away completely.
“Everybody good and comfy now?” A asked as he crossed his arms over his chest, comfortably resting his hands over his shoulders as his wings stretched out behind him again.
“I would say so, darling. I’m finding myself quite luxuriously comfortable at least,” O replied happily as they stretched their own wings, soon wrapping the limbs around themselves and angling the blades away to prevent cutting into their clothing or casing.
“I’m comfortable now, ” Y replied in response to A’s question as she let out another unrestrained yawn, her eyelights closing on her screen as she too wrapped herself up in her wings like a sort of comforting blanket.
“Are you feeling too sleepy yet or do you wanna stay up and chat for a little while?” The male Disassembler asked as he wrapped his wings around himself as well and comfortably relaxed with a happy purr.
Y contemplated that question for a moment as she kept her eyelights closed, listening to the quiet and peaceful sounds of the wind whistling outside the apartment room as well as the soft and steady beat of her own core in her audios. She finally cracked an eyelight open again to glance in A’s direction even though everyone present was well aware the movement was out of habit rather than necessity.
“You can talk if you really want to but I can’t guarantee how long I’ll be awake to listen to it,” The female Disassembler settled on, her eyelight slipping closed again shortly afterwards as she shifted her arms into a comfortable resting position under her wings.
“Any special requests, m’lady?” A questioned as he raised an eyebrow, getting Y’s eyelights to snap open before she looked at him and growled in response to the compliment. He couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him in response to the look on her face.
“Not saying that again would be a great place to start,” Y immediately and loudly complained as her tail tensed. She was not ready to admit that the rush of energy from having her ego stroked by the comment was enjoyable.
“Okay, okay, I won’t do it again. Promise I won’t,” The male Disassembler responded with a wide grin, looking thoroughly amused by her reaction as he continued to happily purr.
Y was almost sure his tail would have been wagging right now if it wasn’t currently the only thing keeping him from falling and landing on his head below.
“Good. You had better not,” The female Disassembler grumbled quietly as she shrank into her shoulders, attempting to will away the golden blush marks that had appeared in the corners of her visor again.
“I am still actually curious about the special requests part though. You got anything on your mind you wanna talk about before you drift off to dreamland for the day?”
“None that I can think of right now unless we just want to start going ahead and planning out the hunting grounds for tomorrow,” Y replied as she shifted her wings, causing the blades to quietly rattle together. “The real request I have is keeping the volume down if you and O stay up talking so I won’t get woken up by it.”
“You don’t want us to wake you up from your much needed and deserved beauty sleep to regale you with a lovely tale about our latest discussion?” O playfully joked with a smile and a wink, earning a rather nasty scowl from Y as a quiet hiss rattled out of her chassis.
“I think someone’s a little grumpy and needs her nap now,” A purred as he used his tail to carefully swing towards Y, gently kissing her on the cheek before he rocked back and away from her again with the momentum.
“I’ve been saying that since earlier,” Y responded flatly as the blush marks brightened on her visor in response to the light kiss on her cheek, getting her to sink further into her shoulders as her head was left just barely peeking over her wings.
“It won’t hurt either of our feelings if you need to rest now, lovely,” O purred at her other side, their wings rattling quietly as they shifted into a comfortable position.
Y huffed in response to O as she snuggled down further into her wings and made herself comfortable, letting her optics turn off as the yellow bulbs on her head flickered and then went dark to indicate that they were now off.
“I said I don’t mind listening to either of you telling a story or something like that. Just don’t talk too loud so you don’t wake me up,” The female Disassembler mumbled as she snuggled her chin down into her wings and rested it comfortably against the soft gray fuzz of her oversized sweater-like gown.
“Can do, gorgeous. Promise you won’t hear a peep out of us once you doze off,” A stated as he looked over at his squad leader and smiled, though he was well aware of the fact she was unable to see either him or O now that she had flipped her optics off.
“I will say… I do believe we’re in need of hunting sometime soon as well. I’ve noticed it’s quite warm even while hanging upside down like this,” O observed as their wings rattled together quietly.
“Yeah… It’s pretty warm, isn’t it? That’s why our amazing and lovely lady had the great idea of us going hunting soon!” A exclaimed as he lightly swung back and forth in place from his tail, though he managed to keep the volume down to a somewhat acceptable level despite nearly shouting.
Y let out a quiet grumble and hiss all the same in response to the noise, getting the male Disassembler to let out a nervous and apologetic chuckle. O swung forward slightly to give the female Disassembler a quick kiss on the flat side of one of her bladed feathers before they settled back into place.
“Mm… Do we have any idea where we’ll be going to look for food tomorrow evening then?” O questioned as they kept their voice soft to avoid disturbing Y now that she had settled deep inside her wings, clearly intent on falling asleep sooner rather than later.
“Doooon’t think so? Sounds like we’re all kind of hot so we might have to try to find some stragglers and a camp of them or something...” A started musing, though he let his voice trail off after a moment of speaking which left those in the room to guess he was gathering his thoughts.
The male Disassembler started up after a few moments of pause, but Y was starting to get too tired to make out what the words were. The female Disassembler was aware of the fact her squadmates were still conversing, though their voices were starting to sound further and further away in her audios as her systems started to dull in preparation of entering sleep and recharge mode for the night.
After a final bit of shifting to make sure she was completely comfortable and still properly secured to the ceiling, Y finally started to slip away and drift into a deep and peaceful sleep with a small smile present on her faceplate.