It was a late, quiet, cold night. Ronnie was the only one awake in the colony, working on a project of his. He looked over at the preserved remains of his instructions- a guide to build a mini robot, from before Copper-9’s human life was extinguished. The instructions probably came from a kit for children, but Ronnie had to build all the pieces from scratch, so the difficulty balanced out. Out of nowhere, the vent cover rattled, causing Ronnie to look up from his project and at the vent on the floor. He heard scraping, and against better judgement, decided to investigate. He grabbed a wrench off his desk and approached the vent. Ronnie bent down, and was immediately hit square in the face by the vent cover as it flew off. He fell on his back with a thud. After assessing that he wasn’t damaged, Ronnie sat back up, only to see N’s head poking out of the vent. “Hi Ronnie!” N chirped, smiling innocently. Ronnie’s deep blue optics hollowed briefly in shock. N crawled out of the vent, withdrawing his blades and exchanging them for regular hands. He brushes himself off and waves at Ronnie. Ronnie decided to ignore the dust now on the carpet. He whisper-shouted at N, his words hissing through his teeth. “What are you doing here?!” “I got bored and wanted to see you!” “You couldn’t, I dunno, send me a message? I fixed up that phone for you for a reason!” N suddenly looked pitiful. He clasped his hands together and looked down at the ground, attempting to wipe the dust off the carpet with his feet. “My hands are too big to use it. I kept pressing the wrong buttons.” Ronnie sighed, exasperated. His hands tense as he had to restrain them from pulling at his shaggy brown hair. “I can probably fix it, but that’s not the point. What if my parents find out you’re here???” “I’m nice!” “They don’t know that!” Ronnie shouts, all too loudly. “They don’t know you like I do. They wouldn't see past all the murder you’ve done.” “Oh, yeah. That.” N gives an awkward chuckle, a finger pressing into his cheek. He sits down next to Ronnie, looking at the worker drone with anticipation. “Soooo, whatcha wanna do? The sun’s gonna rise soon, so I can’t leave!” Jeez, has Ronnie seriously been up that long? He instinctively rubs his screen, exhaustion weighing heavy on his optics. “I dunno. I’m tired.” “Then we can go to sleep. I brought an extra cord!” Ronnie shook his head. “No, we can’t. I have school on Monday- tomorrow, and I can’t mess up my sleep schedule any more than it already is.” “Just a little nap? Pleeeeease?” Ronnie sat, contemplating. “...Fine. JUST a little nap.” “Yaaaay!!” Ronnie stood up from the floor and sat down on his bed. N tried to crawl his way inside the bed, but Ronnie pushed him away. “Uhh, Take off your coat first. It’ll be more comfortable. Also you're really dusty.” He asked as he plugged himself in via a cable on the back of his neck. N stepped back and saluted. “Okay!” He then removed his parka, showing that he wore a white JcJenson branded t-shirt underneath and nothing else. The shirt was faintly splotched with oil around the chest area, like he tried to wash the stains out after a messy feeding session. Ronnie nods slowly, his eyes without a thought behind them. “That works. Get in here.” He pulls up the blanket and N crawls inside. Ronnie can hear a faint mechanical whirring coming from the larger, almost like… “Seriously? You guys purr?” Ronnie had to suppress a snicker. “Yup! Isn’t it swell?” N inserted his charger into the back of his neck, and then into outlet in the wall. Ronnie felt his mind begin melting to mush upon feeling the low vibrations rack his body. It wasn’t the ideal time to regress in his eyes, but N wouldn’t mind. In fact, he’d probably be glad. “...Yeah.” Was all Ronnie managed to say to that. Exhaustion was right about to take him out. N beamed. His tail that was hanging off the bed softly wagged. Slowly, Ronnie wrapped his arms around N’s torso, which made N hum happily. He turns to face Ronnie, and the small bump that met between his screen and the rest of the bottom half of his face bumped Ronnie’s, making the smaller giggle. “Hehe, you’re warm..” Ronnie’s voice sounded more youthful than before, his usual sarcastic manner melting away as sleep- and something else- threatened to take over. N uncontrollably smiled. Even if N was the most oblivious robot alive, he could detect Ronnie’s regression like he was programmed to. “Yup! I produce a lot of heat when I’m operating! It makes me super toasty.” “Oooh..” Ronnie traced the perimeter of N’s back panel through his shirt. He sounded inquisitive. “I wanna know how the murdery drones operate… Can I look inside? Please?” “No, sorry. Not now. You need your beauty sleep, bot.” One of N’s hands let go of Ronnie and pet his propeller hat, before removing it and dropping it to the ground. Ronnie would make sure to lecture him about leaving it on the ground once he woke up, but that was a bridge they could cross when they got there. "Okaaaay..." Ronnie reluctantly agreed. N took Ronnie in his arms on more, petting his hair. N's own optics began to fall, and he slowly succumbed to sleep. "Sweet dreams, bot." The two fell asleep intertwined with each other, their CPUs gently humming as the sun rose outside, casting light on Ronnie's desk. Just gotta hope Ronnie's parents don't walk in..