Tired
Sorry I haven't been uploading super consistently. I've been way too busy lately, and I've also been procrastinating like crazy. This chapter isn't as long as the previous one, but I just needed to get something out and I think it works for this specific chapter.
I keep meaning to work on my more serious stories but I'm playing Persona 5 Royal right now so I'm in the slice of life mood.
Also, Andor has taken the crown of the best Star Wars thing since Rogue One. It was already my most anticipated show for a while because of how much I liked Rogue One, but it completely blew my expectations away. I kind of want to write something for Star Wars now. Maybe since I'm writing a full fantasy AU for Xenoblade, I could write a full sci-fi space opera AU that's inspired by Star Wars. Gah! I've got so many ideas for stories, but I haven't even published all the ones I have written out.
Okay. So, I'm currently about ⅓-½ way done with the next chapter to "Fixing the Past and Falling in Love." After that, I plan on working on "Beneath the Aegis' Light" and getting the next chapter for that out. With the idea of a sci-fi space opera type story in my head, that brings the number of stories I haven't published yet up even more. So uh, I may need to work on those.
Mild Xenoblade 3 spoilers, but it's stuff you should know if you've either read chapter 1 or watched any of the trailers.
…
Nia sighed in exhaustion as she closed up her clinic for the night. Despite her Flesh Eater status, even she had limits to how much power she could use before her stamina ran out. She flipped off the last of the lights before flipping the sign in her glass window to show: 'Closed' as she locked up to head home.
She had definitely become way busier recently as people's suspicions towards Flesh Eaters slowly dissipated from both her actions and those of her friends. Admittedly mostly just within the Gormotti population, but that was still a lot of people. People would travel from every region just to get treatment from her. Even people from Eschell, which made things a bit awkward from time to time. While she didn't forgive those she formerly knew for not helping her, she also didn't want to refuse them treatment for a personal issue. Ugh.
And right now after hours of work, she just wanted to get home. She walked through the dimly lit streets of Torigoth, feeling the cool breeze lazily blow past her face as the sun was just peeking over the horizon. A smile grew on her face as she finally reached her house. She dug around in her bag for her card key, swiped it through the reader and entered her passcode to unlock the door.
She rolled her eyes, Brandon had good intentions, but crime, already, was fairly rare in Torigoth. They didn't need this over the top security when if someone really wanted to break in, they'd just break a window. Though apparently he had rigged an alarm system to go off if someone did.
"I'm home!" She called, slipping out of her high heel shoes before dismissing them into Ether.
"Welcome back!" Brandon called from the kitchen.
"Smells good," Nia said as she set her bag down and headed upstairs to change, "what is it?"
"Italli- uh, lasagne." He yelled.
"Sounds good!" She called back as she hastily went into their room to change. She quickly dismissed her Blade outfit and grabbed her pajamas: a yellow tank top and white sweatpants. She tossed on the tank top easily enough but she ended up hopping through the hallway as she tried to quickly shove a leg into her pants.
"Agh!" She yelped as she tripped and tumbled down the stairs.
"Ugh, bloody hell," she groaned in pain at the bottom, thanking the Architect that she was a Blade and any injuries she took healed fairly quickly.
"Oh shit, oh shit" Brandon rushed over to check on her, "are you okay?"
"What do you think?" Nia groaned, feeling too much pain to even feel embarrassed as Brandon pulled her pants up the rest of the way and picked her up delicately.
"I think if you can sass me, then you're fine." He said as he carried her over to the couch and laid her down.
"Mmh," she whined and latched onto Brandon harder.
He sighed, "Nia. Dinner's going to burn if you don't let go."
"Don't wanna."
"Oh for…" he grumbled, "how about this? I'll give you a massage after we finish eating dinner."
Nia narrowed her eyes as she considered the offer. "You make a compellin' offer. Fine." She said as she detached herself.
"Thank you," Brandon said as he walked back over to the kitchen. "Do you want to eat there?" He asked.
"Yes please."
"Alright, how much do you want?"
"Just bring the pan over."
"Uh, okay. Where are our oven mitts again?"
"Pantry."
"Thanks."
There was some clattering then some cursing from the kitchen before the smell of lasagne really hit the air as the oven was opened. She started salivating, and she had to quickly swipe at her mouth to stop herself from drooling. She hadn't realized how hungry she had been. Stupid human organs needing a constant stream of nutrients to function. Well technically she could survive without eating, but it would drain her energy needing to constantly heal herself.
"Oh that smells so good," Nia said as Brandon came out of the kitchen, placing down a pot mat before putting the pan of lasagne on top of it. He cut out a few pieces and piled them onto two plates and handed one to her as he sat down next to her.
Nia glanced down at her plate, then looked back up at Brandon expectantly. He looked back, fork still in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed, "no, I'm not feeding you."
"Eh," Nia shrugged as she dug in, "worth a shot."
"Really? You know I'm not your servant right? I'd only ever feed you if you were either sick, which is physically impossible, or if I was in a particularly romantic mood, which I'm not feeling since we're eating lasagne… sitting on a couch… in our pajamas."
"Touche."
Brandon smirked, "ever get Dromarch to feed you?"
Nia made a face, "first off, ew. Second off, what would that even look like?"
Brandon snorted, "good thing Dromarch's out exploring with Rex right now, or he'd be offended."
"I think he'll live."
"Harsh," Brandon said, "makes me wonder what you say about me behind my back."
"Nothin' you don't already know. Like how you're a bloody moron, and a dork, and a hopeless romantic, and how I've completely fallen for you."
"Wow, surprisingly sweet coming from you. I'd give you a kiss, but I'm pretty sure there's sauce on my mouth."
"Hm?" Nia glanced over and wiped at his mouth with a finger before bringing it up to her own mouth. She then grabbed the color of his shirt and yanked him down for a kiss.
"Buh?" He breathed as Nia broke away with a smirk.
"What?" Nia teased, "you wanted a kiss, I wanted a kiss. Win win."
"I… I love you."
"I know you do. Everyone loves me after all."
"I hope I'm the only one you actually love back romantically though."
"Of course," Nia gave him another kiss, "I'm head over heels."
"That's convincing," he chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close.
"I should hope so," Nia grinned, "or I'd have wasted a kiss."
"You can do that? How do you waste a kiss?"
"By givin' your sorry arse a kiss."
"My sorry ass? That's what you call your boyfriend?" He said as he poked her forehead.
"What? You can be a bit of a sorry arse sometimes."
"Wow. Such words milady. I may leave you at this rate." Brandon teased as he finished off the rest of his plate.
"I'm not worried," Nia shrugged, "I've got a collar on you and you know it."
"Well… you're not wrong." He sighed as he picked up the plates and attempted to stand up only to fall back down as Nia caught his shirt and pulled him back.
"Where do you think you're goin'?"
"To clean up?"
"Oh no you don't. I want my massage first."
"Ugh, you're really a slave driver. Fine," he set their plates down on the coffee table. "Lay down on your stomach."
Nia complied, flipping herself over with her arms crossed at her forehead so she could relax without having her face squished against the couch. A sigh slipped past her lips as she felt Brandon's hands on her back. It felt a bit weird because one of his hands was prosthetic and was metal, though since he had full articulation, it didn't feel harsh, though it was a bit cold. "Oh, that's nice."
"Yeah? How much have you been working recently? Not overworking yourself I hope."
"No," she said, thankful that she wasn't making eye contact, "I'm working as much as I need to while still bein' healthy."
"Mmh. I'm sensing a hint of dishonesty there," Brandon said. Despite facing away from him, she could picture the raised eyebrow on his face. "You may be a Blade but taxing yourself does damage you."
"I can heal it," Nia said, knowing what he was referring to.
"Yeah, but we don't know the long term effects," he tapped her shoulder with an arm… his prosthetic arm, "we know there are some limits."
Nia winced, "that's also partially-"
"Because I was hasty and did an operation before you could properly heal me. I know. But even Jin couldn't save himself from age. And your treatments weren't permanent."
"Jin was also workin' with centuries antiquated tech. We've already advanced so far by salvagin' Morythan stuff. Maybe, my powers won't be necessary soon."
"Mmh," he hummed as he moved further down her back, "the idea still stands. After you spent all those years lecturing me about taking care of myself, you should do the same."
"Yeah, no bein' a hypocrite. Got it. Though, you know I could still regrow you your missin' limbs."
"And I'm still refusing. Not looking to cut off what remains of my stump and have to get reused to something new. Especially since this thing comes with some stuff that would suck to give up at this point."
"That had better not be your way of tellin' me you want to replace the rest of your body with prosthetics."
"Huh? Oh no way. Not going through that again. Just saying that it's nice now after the fact. Obviously if I could have made it through with all my limbs intact, I'd have done that. Gadgets I can just equip through other means."
"And by that, you mean on your body right? Not implanted in?"
"Yes milady."
"And no overloadin' this machine," she tapped the metal arm, "got it?"
"Understood milady. I do have other prosthetic arms you know."
"I'm aware. Though you swap them around an awful lot for sayin' you don't want to get used to something new."
"They're basically the same. It's just that this," he tapped the back of her head lightly with his metallic arm, "is meant to be for utility. The other ones are either for utility or to feel realistic."
"Hm. You haven't even shown what extra stuff you've added to it."
"Well it's mostly combat and exploration stuff, and we're not actively involved in either of those at the moment."
"Hm, maybe we should go out adventurin' again."
"Maybe," Brandon said, his voice definitely leaning towards not wanting more adventure, "it's ultimately up to you. I'll follow you to the ends of the Earth milady."
"And I'd do the same," Nia said, "if you really don't want to, we don't."
"I appreciate the thought," Brandon chuckled, "but if the world ever calls, then we have to answer."
"Yeah. Always has to be us huh?"
"Yup. And I'll be here with you until the end."
"You're bein'... what's even the word here? It's not romantic."
"It's not?"
"No. It's more morbid frankly."
"What? I'm just saying, I'll always be by your side."
Nia snorted, "aren't you supposed to save that kind of vow until marriage?"
"Am I?"
"Ooh, does that mean you're finally goin' to propose?"
"Ha ha. No. I'm not even close to ready."
"Ready for a proposal?"
"No. Ready for marriage."
Nia rolled her eyes, "okay, how different is marriage from what we are already?"
"It's the mental aspect, okay?"
"Didn't you basically just commit yourself for life?"
"That's different."
"How?"
"It just is."
Nia giggled, "you're the emotional one today huh? Never thought I'd see the day."
He cleared his throat, "uh, do you want your back cracked by the way?"
"Huh?" Nia asked, confused by the sudden change in subject, "you know how to do that?"
"Well, technically? No. At least not actual chiropractic therapy. Just some basics for people who hurt themselves marching. We all learned some of it, since at the very minimum, it provides mental relief."
"Is it safe?"
"Technically?"
"Oi," Nia said, trying to turn her head around, "no jokin' about this."
"Sorry sorry," he laughed, "it's safe. This isn't your neck and I can't just snap a person's spine, much less that of an immortal Blade."
"Okay. Go for it I guess."
"Alright."
Nia shivered as she felt his hands move up to her upper back.
"Take a deep breath, then let it out slowly." Nia followed what he said and she let out a squeak as he pushed down and felt her back pop.
"Woah."
"I know right? There's not much research to say that this has more than a marginal effect, but it feels good. Plus the placebo effect is quite potent, and this could do a lot more than it would normally do because you think it does."
"I know how the placebo effect works. I'm literally a doctor… with all of humanity's former knowledge in the field," she tapped her Core Crystal.
"Yeah yeah. At any rate, do you feel any better?"
"Way better. Wow, you should charge money for this." She said as she got up.
"Eh, don't flatter me. I'm not that good. I think you're just turned on when I touch you," he cringed, "okay, that sounded better in my head."
"Yeah… maybe make it sound less creepy. Though you're not wrong." She leaned in close to whisper into his ear, "you do turn me on."
Brandon's face flushed a bright red, something Nia noticed and smirked at. "Can't take it huh?"
He held up his hands in surrender, "I give. I give." It was his turn to smirk, "all hail queen Nia."
"Low blow. I thought we weren't goin' to bring that up."
Brandon smiled apologetically, "I'll stop for now. But we do actually need to address that at some point."
"Ugh, Niall can go fuck himself with that bloody offer. It's too much to dump onto someone all of a sudden. Queen? Of Gormott? He's actually clinically insane."
"Yeah, don't let Morag hear you saying that about her brother," Brandon said as he picked up their plates, "you going to help by the way?"
"Oh yeah," Nia rushed over to help. The two walked over to their sink and started washing the dishes. Nia started humming, the ever familiar tune played in the main square of Torigoth. Brandon started whistling along. Nia grinned and bumped her hip against his. Brandon laughed and bumped back.
"I love you."
"I love you too." Brandon said as he leaned over and kissed the top of Nia's head.
Nia sighed. "Hey, aren't you tired from work as well?"
"Huh? Well, I guess. Not any more than anyone else though. I'm just a professor."
"An important one though," Nia said.
"Eh, not anymore. I was special before because I knew stuff no one else did," Brandon sighed, "but now? Everything I know is now publicly available if you were to look for it. Not that I have anything against that. We'll be able to do things again, but properly this time. But that does mean that at this point, I'm not unique anymore." He grinned, "that also means I don't have as much work as before."
Nia blinked, "okay, but aren't you still tired?"
He shrugged, "not really."
Nia groaned, "oh for cryin' out loud. Take the hint. I'm tryin' to do somethin' for you."
"Oh uh… yes? I'm tired?"
"Good. Do you want me to clean your ears?"
"Uh yeah, that sounds pretty nice actually."
"Okay. Do you mind finishin' up here then? I'll go up and take a shower and I'll meet you in bed."
"Sounds good."
Nia stepped out of the bathroom, hair still damp, only to see Brandon absolutely conked out on their bed. He was sprawled out, face down on the bed where he had clearly just jumped on.
"Not that tired my arse," Nia muttered, "what a load of shite." She sighed. She didn't really want to wake him up… but he had also fallen asleep without having changed or brushed his teeth. So screw it.
"Hey idiot," she nudged his head.
"Snrk… huh?"
"You fell asleep."
"Oh, uh, shit."
"Yeah. So up," Nia gestured as she grabbed a few ear picks. She waited for him to sit up before sitting down herself, getting onto her knees and patted them, indicating for Brandon to put his head there. Brandon complied, laying down onto his side.
"You know, I'm probably going to fall asleep again," Brandon said as Nia started.
"Well that's a compliment here," Nia pointed out, "feel free to fall asleep. I'll wake you up when I need you to turn around." She patted the side of his head.
Brandon chuckled, "alright."
"Mmhm," she hummed as she worked. "By the way, if you want to sleep, just tell me to shut up. But are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, first, you're obviously more tired than you let on." Nia said.
Brandon grunted, "we just have a comfortable mattress. Since you know, I spent a ton on it."
"More than you should have really. But it's not like that's enough for you to instantly fall asleep the moment your face touched the covers."
"Well obviously I'm tired after a day of work. I'm not exactly lazing around. I'm just as tired as any other person. But I don't exactly deserve special treatment."
Nia rolled her eyes and poked the side of his head, "yes you do. You deserve the world and more. Why does it matter if you don't think you deserve anything if I'm the one who wants to do shite for you. It's not like you're out here bein' a spoiled brat."
"Well I would be if I just accepted everything, no?"
"No. You would be if you asked for everything and got everything then acted smug about it."
"Well I'd still be spoiled then?"
"Oh for, why are you bein' so difficult. Let me spoil you for Architect's sake."
"Well… when you put it that way."
"Good. Now, second. Are you sure you're okay with how the world is now?" Nia asked.
"What do you mean?"
"What you were sayin' earlier," Nia said, "when you said you weren't special anymore."
Brandon shrugged his free shoulder, "it's not untrue. I'm not talking about the whole, oh everyone's special thing. Obviously I'm not saying something like I'm a nobody who doesn't have anything unique. I'm just saying that my knowledge isn't exclusive to me anymore. And that's a good thing."
"Which you think objectively. It's perfectly fine to be selfish and say that that upsets you."
"It doesn't though? I don't know. My brain works differently. I think it should upset me, even if I feel selfish for it. But I'm just not upset. If anything, I feel relieved. I'm not the one who has to carry humanity forwards. And don't get me wrong, I'm not letting my brain stagnate. I'm still an engineer after all. I'm just doing what I'd be doing if all of this had never happened."
"You're sure?" Nia raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sure. You don't have to worry about me that much. I may only be human, but I'm not that fragile…" he considered his words for a second, "mentally. Obviously any Blade would fold me in half physically."
"I kind of want to fold you in half sometimes." Nia muttered.
"What?"
"Nothin'."
"Like, literally? Or like, sexually."
"Wha- how would it even work sexually? And is that something you're into?"
He coughed. "Uh, no. Not a masochist. Just hypothetically."
"Uh, literally? Considerin' the conversation was just about how infuriatin' you are."
"Infuriating? Weren't we doing a therapy session or something?"
"Well yes. But you're weird."
He snorted, "well yeah I'm weird. You should know this considering how often you bring up the idea of a proposal."
"I just want to help."
"And you already do plenty."
Nia hummed, "I guess. Turn around by the way."
"Oh right," Brandon said as he did so.
"Maybe I'm still just overprotective from our adventurin' days." Nia sighed, "it took us a while for us to work through your PTSD and anxiety."
"Yeah, that's true," Brandon admitted, "but it's been a while since then. I'm better now… well not entirely better but still better. It helps that there's nothing actually traumatic happening now."
"That's true. I dunno. I keep forgettin' how logically built your brain is."
"I can be kind of Vulcan at times… you wouldn't get that reference. Uh…"
"I get it," Nia rolled her eyes, "overly logical. Don't need to get the reference."
"Fair enough. I just…"
"I may be kind of dumb," Nia said, "but I'm not that dumb. There were enough context clues. I'll thank you to not assume I'm a moron."
"B-"
"You'd better not say: 'but you are a moron' or you're goin' to find yourself ejected from this bed."
"I wasn't going to say that," Brandon protested.
"Then what were you goin' to say?" Nia raised an eyebrow.
"But you aren't a moron?" Brandon said uncertainly.
"Very convincin'," Nia deadpanned. She wrapped up cleaning his ear and poked his cheek. "Done. Now go take a shower."
"How do you know I haven't taken a shower? I don't smell at all."
"Because you haven't changed. Also yes you do."
"I could've just gotten back into the same clothes? That could be the smell."
Nia rolled her eyes, "stop bein' lazy and go take a shower."
"Yes ma'am."
"Ma'am?"
"Yeah."
Nia stared at him.
"What?" he asked.
"Don't call me ma'am."
He snorted, "what if I want to?"
Nia rolled her eyes, "go take a shower."
Nia sighed as she settled into bed as the sounds of the shower ceased. She smiled to herself, hearing slightly off key humming from the bathroom. It was kind of cute, now if only he could be cute without also being slightly grating. Him being slightly off key was worse than him being fully off key.
Thankfully the sound of his humming was soon drowned out by a hairdryer on full blast. Nia snorted in amusement. Brandon had let his hair grow out recently and had been taking care to make sure it was fully dry before going to sleep, apparently to avoid getting sick.
Though she'd be happiest when it was fully quiet. She waited a few more minutes before the hair dryer shut off and Brandon stepped out of the bathroom. He turned off the lights before walking over to the bed.
Nia pulled aside the blanket for Brandon to crawl into bed next to her.
"Thanks," he sighed, "I still can't get over the fact that I can actually see the stars at night now."
"Mmh. Must be an amazin' sight huh?" Nia said as she cuddled up behind him, wrapping an arm and a leg around him, acting as the big spoon.
"Um… Nia?"
"Yeah?" She asked, her eyes closed.
"It's kind of warm."
"Hm? Isn't that a good thing?"
"By kind of warm, I mean you're boiling me alive."
"That sounds like a you problem. I'm perfectly fine."
Brandon sighed, "weren't you the one lecturing me on being well rested? I can't sleep like this."
"Mmh. I'd prefer to sleep like this, but I suppose that's an issue for you." She hummed to herself, "how about I make it more tolerable for you?"
"And how would you do that?" Brandon asked incredulously.
Nia responded by leaning up and blowing into his ear. She smirked as she felt him shudder at the sudden feeling and could picture his face going red. She then proceeded to purr directly next to his ear before biting it gently. She felt him squirm a bit before settling down. "Looks like I win," she whispered before continuing to nibble his ear.
Brandon's response was a grumbled: "good night," but he made no other complaints. Nia continued on for a few more minutes until she could hear light snoring.
"Works every time," Nia grinned. She kissed the side of his head. "I love you," she whispered before closing her own eyes and drifting off to sleep.
…
I hope the chapter came off as cute like it was supposed to and not as lewd.
