Work Text:
Uzi stumbled into a closet, forcefully pushed in. As soon as she stepped over the doorway, the door was slammed shut behind her. Her heart sank as the click of the lock echoed in her mind. In shock, her eyes wide, she turned her gaze onto the only other drone in the confined space — V. The silver haired, yellow eyed disassembly drone who had done nothing but get under Uzi's skin since they met about four months ago. Uzi fully expected her to be staring back with a smug look on her face, ready to dish out some stupid remarks.
Much to Uzi's surprise, however, it was quiet the opposite. V seemed just as shocked as Uzi was, staring at the locked door in disbelief. Her eyes were just as wide as Uzi's. It seemed neither of them were able to believe what just happened, though V got over the initial shock of it fairly quickly. With a brief blink of her eyes, she hardly regarded Uzi as she brushed by her and approached the door. Uzi involuntarily flinched when V slammed her fists onto the door and let out a soft hiss.
"N, open the door," She lowly growled, speaking to the boy who stood on the other side of the door.
When no response was given, when the heavy silence slowly began to wash over the two, V broke it. She slammed her fist into the door again and began gritting her teeth.
"N this isn't funny. Open the damn door."
The tough act she put on slipped for a moment — or did Uzi just imagine that? It sounded like her voice had cracked, a hint of desperation leaking from it.
V brought her fists down onto the door again, harder this time around. "N!" she snarled.
Uzi crossed her arms as V began pounding on the door, as if that would wind up causing it to budge. It wasn't. The only movement it had was the slight vibrations from each impact. It was hardly enough to break the door off its hinges. V may be strong, but she was far from capable of busting down the steel slab that kept them locked in. Not without blowing the both of them up. But she was desperate, like an animal trapped in a cage. Uzi didn't understand why, and didn't care to figure out why.
Still... For one reason or another, Uzi found herself flinching with each blow. Not because of the impact itself, while mildly grating, it didn't bother Uzi. It was the fact that V made a pained expression when her hands made contact. She was hurting herself trying to get out, and it was going no where. They may not exactly enjoy each other's presence, but— damn it, it's not like seeing V hurt herself made Uzi happy.
It made her feel ill.
Uzi let out a sharp sigh and shook her head. It was against her better judgement to draw V's attention onto her, she shouldn't bother. Why should she? After everything V did to her? She should be relishing in this, to see her "enemy" — though they were more so rivals — at such a low point.
But she couldn't do it.
"Knock it off!" she shouted, her tone coming off more aggressively than she'd intended.
The banging on the door ceased, V froze. She rested her fists against the door as silence flooded the space. Silence that didn't last long. In one swift movement, V growled as she turned back, swinging her claws. Uzi instinctively ducked, though V wasn't aiming for her. The steely, knife-like blades easily sliced through a shelf behind Uzi, causing it to topple over and spill its contents onto the ground with a crash. Once everything settled, Uzi shot upright and stared at the marks on the wall left behind by V's claws. A sigh of relief escaped her.
V let out another growl as she pressed her back against the wall opposite to Uzi. She slid down it, gripping at her silver locks.
"I'm gonna kill that idiot when we get out of here," she grumbled, eventually finding her way onto the floor, knees up to her chest.
Uzi glanced at V, then at the door. For once, her and V could agree on something, but, "N probably has something in mind. You know how he is," Uzi said with a shrug of her shoulders.
V's gaze snapped upwards, her piercing yellow eyes glaring daggers into Uzi. "I don't care if he 'has something in mind'," She bitterly retorted, "I'm going to kill him for locking me in–" She paused, her mouth partially agape.
When V didn't finish, Uzi cocked an eyebrow. "In?" she curiously echoed.
Another pause. V was silent, gripping at her hair with an unreadable expression. Uzi swore she was acting nervous, based on her body language alone. But why? Why was she so nervous? If she was nervous at all, that is.
Uzi opened her mouth to speak, to pry an answer from V, but V caught onto her quickly. Her expression became something Uzi was more familiar with: defensive anger.
"Locked in here with you!" was her response. Delayed, but a response nonetheless.
That seemed normal, enough to earn an eye roll from Uzi anyway. "Fine, I'll just stay over here there, does that make you happy?" Uzi replied, gesturing toward the opposite side of the closet.
V narrowed her eyes, "No," She blankly stated.
Uzi groaned and threw her head back, "Look, I'm not happy about being locked in here with you either."
Silence. Awkward and heavy. It stayed that way for what felt like hours, though in reality it'd only been a few minutes since they were trapped. Time simply felt as though it had slowed to a painful, sluggish crawl, slowly inching away. The lack of anything to do in the closet didn't exactly help. Uzi was bored, and V flat out seemed disinterested in conversation. She was simply sitting with her back against the wall, her tail sitting idly by her side as she mindlessly chewed on the tip of her thumb.
With nothing else to do, Uzi sat down on the opposite side of the closet as she promised, bringing her knees up to her chest. Being the only other drone present, she found herself occasionally stealing glances over at V. She watched V slowly break down. Her yellow eyes were empty, her mindless chewing became more violent, and on top of all that, her breathing became heavier, more noticeable as her body jerked.
Fear? Was V afraid? The incident at the camp was only a week ago, could that be fresh in V's mind? No, that wouldn't make sense. There'd been plenty of occasions after said incident where the two were alone, and V certainly didn't act this way. This had to have been something else entirely.
Uzi watched as V bit down on her thumb, particularly hard. The tip split and cracked, making Uzi recoil. Oil dribbled from the wound, into and down V's mouth. The black liquid glimmered in the dim light. The wound healed almost instantly, though the blackened stains remained. Not as though it mattered. V soon bit down again, another crack and the tip of her thumb split open again. Uzi flinched again, her eyes narrowing in disgust — or was that discomfort? Sympathy?
Whatever. She wasn't about to sit around and let it happen. The third time was more than enough.
Uzi quickly, and wordlessly, sat upright and rushed to V, gripping her wrist and yanking it away from her mouth. The disassembly drones expression darkened almost immediately as she glared up at Uzi, who defiantly stared back.
"Don't touch me," V lowly growled before yanking her arm out of Uzi's grip.
"Look, I know we don't get along or whatever, but I'm not gonna let you hurt yourself like that," Uzi firmly replied.
"It doesn't hurt," V mumbled, bringing her hand up and staring at her oil stained thumb.
"So what? You're like— draining your oil reserves when you do that, dude."
V flexed her fingers for a moment before letting her hand fall by her side. She looked up at Uzi, narrowing her eyes.
"Why does it concern you? Wouldn't that make you happy?"
Uzi met V's gaze for a brief second, eventually turning off to the side. She folded her arms and let out a heavy sigh.
"No," She admitted. "It wouldn't."
V's eyes widened, though Uzi couldn't see with the angle that her head was at. The fact that Uzi bothered to admit that fact at all caught V off guard and left her speechless.
"We don't get along, great," Uzi paused and let out a huff, "That doesn't mean I'm gonna let you, y'know, do that to yourself. I don't know what's going on with you or why you're so afraid, but hurting yourself isn't gonna fix it."
V's shock wore off, the expression on her face eventually morphing into something more neutral looking. She furrowed her brows and turned her head downward.
"I'm not afraid." Though her words were hostile, the defensive edge in her voice had worn off slightly. "What would you know, anyway?"
Uzi hesitated, a contemplative expression plastered across her face. Seconds passed before she eventually did something, silently moving to stand besides V, and eventually sit down next to her. V looked up and leaned away from Uzi, curling her lips and revealing her fangs like a cornered animal. Uzi did not react. There was a lack of trust. That was fine.
With V's attention on her, Uzi held her arm out and rolled her sleeve back slightly, revealing the metal plating beneath. V flinched, watching Uzi's arm as if she'd just pulled a knife out. Uzi stayed still, keeping her arm steady. It wasn't long before V realized Uzi wasn't going to do anything violent and settled down. Her shoulders slouched slightly as she continued to eye Uzi's arm, gazing upon the dulled metal plating. It was only then she realized Uzi's lower arm was covered in marks, consistent and deep. Scars.
"I've been there," Uzi regretfully responded.
Her scars were old, years at the very least. Some fresher than others, though none of them had faded, even after awakening her solver abilities. It was a part of her, permanently.
V didn't respond as she continued to stare at Uzi's arm, tracing the various marks along the plating. She only stopped when Uzi retracted her arm and pulled her sleeve back down, seemingly snapping V out of her trancelike state. Her eyes trailed up to Uzi's face, meeting Uzi's purple. She made a swallowing motion, bringing her hand up to her knee and tapping her finger upon it at a steady, rhythmic pace. Uzi listened to the noise it created as she pressed her back against the wall and rested her arms on her knees.
The soft hum of the light above them, combine with the sound of V's finger against her knee, seemingly became louder as the two silently sat side by side. Uzi wasn't really sure what else to say, if she should say anything at all. This was perhaps the longest they've gone without bickering with each other. Something within Uzi wanted to simply enjoy that fact, let it last for as long as it possibly could. She feared that if she spoke up, she'd wind up saying the wrong thing and set V off again, effectively ruining the moment.
After a few minutes, V let out a soft sigh, her tail shifting and coiling around the base of her leg.
"You know N would never leave you alone if he found out."
Uzi gave V a curt nod. "He'd be the only one who'd care," She replied. "I haven't like– done it in a while, though, so I think it'll be okay."
V looked down at the purple haired drone besides her, who was mindlessly picking at a loose string on her jacket. Something to keep her hands and processor busy. She looked back up, facing the wall ahead of her.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Uzi briefly shrugged her shoulders, "I guess it just helps to– like– have someone who understands your struggle?"
V rested her head down on her knees as she paused for a moment. "I'm afraid of tight spaces," She mumbled under her breath, a barely audible whisper.
Uzi turned to V, "What?"
V sucked in air through her teeth and turned to Uzi, her face dead serious. Their eyes met, they maintained eye contact. "I'm afraid of tight spaces."
It took a moment for what V had said to click in Uzi's processor. Intitally she simply mouthed an "oh", but that quickly turned into an audible "Oh."
V looked away, Uzi swore she sunk in on herself.
"Dude– N locked y–"
V cut Uzi off, "N doesn't know. Nobody knows, except you."
V couldn't be serious, could she? Uzi almost didn't believe it, but V's confession suddenly made a lot of her behavior make sense. She wasn't afraid of Uzi, she was afraid of being trapped. The closet wasn't very big and there was only one exit. Just thinking about that fact made Uzi herself feel claustrophobic. A weird thing for a drone to feel, but Uzi didn't question it. Not that she would've, now wasn't the time to be questioning her internal programming.
"You– didn't have to tell me y'know?"
"And you didn't have to tell me about your scars," V blankly retorted.
"That's– true. I guess," Uzi reluctantly agreed.
"If you tell anybody else, I'll kill you," V grumbled.
Uzi rolled her eyes. That was the V she knew. Kinda.
"Wasn't planning on it, you dork."
V pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, Uzi could see it despite the fact that V was facing forwards. For just a moment, Uzi thought that maybe she overstepped her boundary, ruined the moment. That is, until V playfully scoffed.
"That coming from you is gold."
"I– what's that supposed to mean?" Uzi replied as she cocked an eyebrow.
"It means you're the biggest dork I've ever seen," V unapologetically answered.
"I see how it's gonna be," Uzi grumbled, "If I'm the biggest dork ever, then that just means I know what a dork looks like."
V smirked and let out an airy chuckle. "That's what a dork would say."
"That's because I am a dork, and so are you!" Uzi playfully replied.
"Congrats," V deadpanned as she began slow clapping, "Acceptance is usually the first step to recovery. Although I really don't think you'll be recovering any time soon."
Uzi nudged V with her elbow, the two of them giggled with each other.
"You think N's ever gonna let us out?" V asked, switching the subject between giggles.
Uzi let herself settle slightly before responding, "No doubt about it. He'd probably be worried about us tearing each other apart."
"Shouldn't have locked us in together then!" V hummed.
Uzi snorted and rested head back against the wall, "Yeah."
As their giggles faded, so too did the conversation. Silence joined them once again, though it wasn't heavy or awkward as it was before. There was a sense of comfort, most likely because Uzi knew V wasn't about to attempt to tear her apart. Based on V's calmer demeanor, she felt — similar. Truthfully, Uzi had a hard time reading her. She always did. N wore his emotions on his sleeve, it was always easy to tell what he was thinking, but V? V was an entirely different beast, she was frustratingly good at masking her emotions under a layer of sadism and coldness. It's why her actually opening up came as a shock to Uzi.
Without realizing it, Uzi had slowly begin drifting close to V. It was only until she began leaning against her, prompting V to recoil out of surprise, that she realized she was doing it. V settled fairly quickly, though she continued to stare at Uzi. Uzi awkwardly turned her head down, staring at her own hands.
Much to her surprise?
There was a sudden weight against her, a warmth connecting with her synthetic skin. Not the uncomfortable warmth of her core overheating though. A quick glance up and she realized V was leaning on her. She was facing ahead, staring at nothing in particular.
V reciprocated.
A moment of softness from the otherwise crazed drone. Uzi could feel her own body warm up in a strange way. Was she overheating? Her diagnostics said everything was fine, her temperature was perfectly normal.
Then, what was this warmth?
Uzi leaned closer to V, resting her head on her shoulder. Her arms remained folded over her knees, her gaze fixated upon them as she fell into thought. Being so close together, she could hear V's core softly humming. She could hear each vent, the soft and gentle intake of air intended to cool her internals. She could smell the faint scent of oil emanating off of V. It made Uzi's mouth water — or, would have, if she had that capability. She glanced up at V's face, noting the oil smudged across her mouth.
Maybe she was overheating, because as Uzi sat there staring, she got the great idea to–
Get a taste.
And despite her attempts to swat those thoughts away, they seemed to flutter back. At first she thought it was the weird changes in her programming acting up again. Things weren't quite the same after the camp, after all. Uzi found herself having thoughts, and doing things, she wouldn't have done before. But, those were never accompanied by the strange feeling slowly developing in her stomach cavity.
Uzi glanced away and began to chew on her lower lip, running her sharp fangs across it without actually breaking the skin. She silently fiddled with her thumbs, trying — and failing — to suppress the growing urge within her. Seconds melting into minutes, ticking away. There was no telling when N would come back and let them out of this makeshift prison. It could be within a few minutes, it could be hours. The longer time passed, the harder it became to bury the thoughts, and eventually? Uzi couldn't do it anymore.
She inhaled as she turned to face V, hesitating for just a moment before opening her mouth.
"Hey, V?"
Time somehow felt as though it slowed to an even slower crawl. It was as though V was moving in slow motion, turning to Uzi before cocking an eyebrow. An acknowledging hum escape her throat, her piercing yellow eyes cutting right through Uzi.
Uzi stared at the black stains around V's mouth, on her lips. She met V's eyes, silently locked in an impromptu staring contest. V furrowed her brows, a confused expression washing across her face. Just as she went to question Uzi, the short drone made her move. She leaned forwards, reaching up just enough to allow her lips to collide with V's. In the short moment that their lips were together, Uzi got a good taste of V's lips — V's oil, along with whoever V drank from last.
The sudden action and collision made V's eyes widen. She quickly brought her hands up, putting them on Uzi's shoulders and pushing her back. Uzi fell back, catching herself with one hand. There was purple blush marks lining her visor. That was her first kiss. Like, a real, actual kiss, not one given on the cheek or forehead. And it was with V, of all drones.
"What– the fuck–" V grumbled with a rightfully confused tone.
Uzi brought her hand up to her mouth before her purple eyes flicked up to meet V's. She was staring at Uzi with a judgemental gaze. Uzi's eyes hollowed out to thin outlines. Did she just mess up? Was their brief moment together ruined because she just couldn't control herself? With a quick, fairly unsubtle snap of her gaze, Uzi turned away and furrowed her brows.
"Just– forget it."
"Forget it?" V echoed. "What was that?"
"You– had oil on your face?" Uzi replied, sounding unsure of herself.
V fell silent for a minute at most. It felt longer to Uzi, who was sinking in on herself, wishing she would just disappear.
"Did you get it off?"
Uzi looked up at the taller drone, somewhat stunned by V's response. She shook her head in a daze, which wasn't a lie. Their kiss didn't last nearly long enough to actually get all the oil off of V's face.
V hummed, cocking her head to the side. "What a shame. I guess you'll have to do it again."
"Huh–" Was all Uzi could get out before her lips met V's again.
Uzi felt her face heat up as the blush on her visor worsened. She was drowning in V's taste, in her scent. It was overwhelming and yet, Uzi didn't mind at all. She rolled to the side, placing herself into V's lap before closing her eyes and going along with the ride. V took the lead, biting down on Uzi's lower lip. Uzi let out a surprised, albeit muffled, noise into V's mouth. V used the opportunity to deepen the kiss, snaking her tongue into Uzi's mouth. She brought one hand up to the back of Uzi's head, taking her beanie off and revealing her purple hair. She began to caress her hair, stroking it with her large hands.
This wasn't exactly what Uzi thought she'd be doing. The night took a sharp turn, to say the least, leaving Uzi with a strong sense of whiplash. She was almost having a hard time comprehending what was even happening. The question of whether this was even real or not began to float around in her head. V's scent and taste seemed awfully real for this to be a dream. The way she stroked her head, the feeling it gave Uzi, that was real too. Her dreams, her memories, they may feel real, but they've never felt this real.
That's completely ignoring the fact that this would be a really fucking weird dream. Making out with your rival, who would've thought. Not Uzi, that's for sure.
V soon pulled away, leaving behind a bridge of saliva that connected the two. Uzi briefly cringed at it before it collapsed. She turned her attention onto V, their complementary eyes meeting.
"Did that get it?" V asked.
Uzi titled her head to the side and hummed softly. After briefly scanning V's face, she turned her head upright and shook it once. "Nuh-uh, I missed a spot. I'll get it."
The two met in the middle, with Uzi leaning further into the kiss, placing her hands onto V's shoulders. V's tail began gently thumping against the metal flooring, the glass canister clinking with each impact. V, the big scary murder drone, acting like a hopeless puppy. Uzi couldn't help but let out a giggle into their kiss at the thought of it. V didn't take to kindly to it, using one of her peg-like feet to stomp onto the cable and pin her tail to the ground. It still attempted to wag, as if it had a mind of its own, though it wasn't as obvious as it was before.
They stayed locked that way for a few minutes, and could've stayed there longer. But the closet door suddenly came open, bringing a flood of light into the dark, cramped space. The moment was ruined, Uzi and V broke away from their kiss and turned to the closet doorway, their eyes hollowed. Unsurprisingly, N was standing there, looking shocked by what he'd just stumbled into.
"N–" Uzi muttered.
N fidgeted with his hands for a moment before inhaling sharply, "What–"
V pushed Uzi off her, interrupting N and causing Uzi to hiss as she fell back and landed on the ground. V stood up and approached N, pointing one finger at him.
"Just so you know, you suck," V said as she jammed her finger into N's chest.
Without allowing either of the other drones present to say another word, V slipped past N and disappeared down the hall. That just left N and Uzi, who had just now gotten onto her feet. N turned back to her, looking confused. Uzi didn't look him in the eyes, staring at the area around him instead.
"Well– that's– not what I was expecting–" N stammered.
"It's not what you think!" Uzi defensively replied.
N brought his hand up to the back of his head, gently running his fingers through his silver hair. "It's okay Uzi! I– won't judge you, as long as you're happy. I just wasn't expecting that is all."
"N! It's not like that!" Uzi growled.
"Oh gosh– I didn't ruin your moment, did I?" N continued to ramble. "I didn't mean to!"
Uzi huffed, storming over to N and punching the upper half of his arm. "Would you listen to me, you dork?"
"Ow–!" he winced, rubbing the area Uzi had punched. It wasn't even that hard, the action had just startled him. "Okay– okay! I'll stop!"
Uzi crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Anyway, did you have to lock us in there?" she asked as she gestured toward the closet.
"I saw it in a TV show once," N replied with a shrug.
"You do realize TV is, like, staged, right?" Uzi deadpanned.
"It worked, didn't it?"
"N!" Uzi hissed as her visor lit up a bright purple.
"Sorry! Sorry!" N cried, raising his hands up defensively.
Uzi pouted, her eyes going half lidded. She hated to admit it, what with her whole persona to keep up, but N was right. Being locked in there with V had some — interesting consequences.
Maybe it wasn't so bad.