Closure

It was nighttime again, as it always was when they met up. They agreed that the spire was the last place either of them wanted to hang out at, and opted for an alley nearby. Uzi was glad to be outside the colony again, the walls of it starting to feel cramped and confining. It showed in her actions as they spent this moment together. N could clearly notice it - the odd avoidance of entering buildings, how her gaze lingered on the stars above.

...How his own lingered on her.

He too felt confined, but not in the same way. The neat little box he'd felt comfortable in for so long no longer felt right for him. This was something eating and tearing at him more and more lately. Since meeting her, his life had completely changed. At the moment, he was considering reevaluating how much that was exactly.

"N?", she asked from a small distance away, her hand dropping some metal object, "you alright?".

His head shook trying to free himself from his thoughts, "yeah? What's up?".

"You were staring at me for a while there. I don't have anything on me, do I?".

"Nope! You look great as always, Uzi!", he chirped and gave the female drone a thumbs-up. She looked away as her screen lit up.

Uzi laughed nervously while fidgeting with her hair, "you're... always so nice, N... N-Not that I... maybe... want that more! But, uh...". Her face peeked at him, revealing her fluster and awkward smile, "t-thanks".

Oh, he'd done it again. Sure, he meant what he said, but she...

She began to walk over to him. He froze as she took a seat next to him, "N?", she asked.

"Y-Yeah?".

"You sure you're good?".

His eyes met hers, "don't worry about it. I'm fine". So much for honesty...

She smiled and leaned against him. It was like his processor hung up for a second as he registered what happened before going into overdrive. What should he do, the same thing he did a few days ago when she last did that?

He shot up like a rocket, Uzi slipping off him. "Oh, did you want to see this building I found?", he blurted out.

"N?", Uzi asked him as he put a little distance between them. She got up and walked behind him, "hey, talk to me. What's up?".

He couldn't bear to look at her, but knew he had to. With another thumbs-up, he gave her a smile, "all good! Come on, got something to show you!".

He walked on ahead, but he knew she didn't buy what he told her from the look on her face.

It was like that almost every meeting. N hated it. More specifically, he hated himself for how he was acting. Today she tried holding his hand again and he blundered his way out of that. The look of hurt on her face was still etched into his mind.

She was just... so attached to him.

He wasn't sure if he could handle that.

In one such instance, he'd cut himself on a saw while out on a trip with her. It'd been a complete accident on his part, but Uzi took out her anger on the rusting machine anyway. She'd already been stressed, and seeing him hurt must have set her over the edge.

As she punched and kicked it, her expression turned to one of glee. A wicked, toothy smile crossed her face as she cackled between hits. He had to calm her down before she overheated.

That wasn't the Uzi he knew. That more closely reminded him of his real problem - V.

Deep down he knew he was being dumb. He'd learned by now he wasn't -Uzi had undone that damage- but this was definitely on him. She wasn't V, but he still felt haunted by her in their interactions and he knew he was being stupid about it, but. But...