Chad couldn't sleep.
How could he— no, how could anyone sleep when there was an injured and most likely extremely ticked off murder drone hunting them!?
Aiden could, apparently.
As Chad stared out of the partially-boarded up window, watching snow whip by, he wondered how he ended up friends with such a psychopath. Probably because Aiden didn't care about his popularity.
Unlike a lot of his friends, Aiden would've stuck with him even if he killed someone! Which he would never do, obviously, but his point still stood. The only other friend he had like that was...
As Chad promptly shoved the image of a certain green-eyed drone out of his head with a blush, he noticed something outside.
He leaned closer to the crack in the boards, staring out into the blizzard.
At first, all he saw was the blurry whiteness of ice flying by. He almost brushed it off as his imagination, or even a skeleton collapsing from the weight of the ever-accumulating ice, until he saw that familiar radioactive yellow glint.
He shot down, back against the wall.
It couldn't have seen him. He barely saw it.
But if Chad saw it...
Something was audibly torn above him. His hand shot to his mouth to muffle the fearful yelp he let out. Shakily, he moved toward Aiden's unmoving form, trying not to make too much noise.
More scraping of claws against metal sounded out, and he could feel himself start to hyperventilate.
"Hey, Neeeeerd," Chad tried to keep his voice quiet as he shook his friend's shoulder, "wake uuuuup..."
They responded with a small groan, swatting at him. He retorted by shaking them harder.
"Aiden, I do not care about your damn beauty sleep," he hissed quietly, watching as dust started falling from the roof, "we are about to die and I'd rather not do it alone, you hear me?!"
"Shut your toxic mouth, man," Aiden mumbled, finally sitting up and rubbing their eyes, "I'm up already, so lay off me, will—..."
Aiden trailed off as a part of the roof collapsed, a large claw shooting out from the new hole. A head followed, visor glowing with that same yellow X.
"...you."
"I told you!" Chad cried, voice cracking as the murder drone dropped down onto the ground. Aiden simply whimpered and tried to pull him as they slowly crawled away.
It crept toward them on all fours, claws clicking against the floor and wings spread almost threateningly. Its mouth was wide open, showing off a maw of terribly sharp teeth. The two worker drones covered their eyes as it moved to pounce.
This was it. Aiden wasn't going to save him by throwing another chair. They were both going to die here. Chad would never get to see Thad again.
But then, nothing happened.
A few moments of silence passed before Chad heard... sniffing? Timidly, he opened his eyes.
He was met with the sight of the murder suddenly way too close for comfort, crouched down just below his height and sniffing at his midsection. Its wings and even its claws were missing, and when it looked up at him, the X across its face was a vibrant pink.
"U-Um..." Chad tried not to move too much as he felt himself tremble at the proximity, "...hi?"
The larger drone chirped strangely, suddenly butting its head against his chest. He yelped softly, stumbling back. It stared at him curiously, cocking its head to the side as it stood back at its full intimidating height.
"N-Nerd?"
Aiden only squeaked in response.
"I th-think your program w-worked."
"Irealizethis," Aiden peeped out.
The murder drone let out its own strange noise, a mix between a purr and a growl, and Chad flinched as it leaned down and...
Licked him.
It was a tiny, barely noticeable kitten lick, but— what?
"What was even in that program?" Chad hissed quietly as the drone carded a not-so-sharp hand through his hair, picking out all the little knots he'd purposefully forgotten about.
Aiden perked up slightly, very slightly scooting toward the drone. It turned to them and softly chuffed, patting their head.
"Organic instincts..." Aiden mumbled, taking its hand into both of theirs. It let them. "..I was researching.. organic maternal instincts..."
Chad tried to push the larger drone away as it started to lick his hair, "So it's trying to mother us?"
Aiden giggled almost breathlessly, "Basically."
"I hate it," Chad frowned, turning away, "I think I'd rather get eaten."
"I think it's fascinating— oh!"
Aiden yelped as they were suddenly picked up and thrown over the murder drone's shoulder. Before Chad could even think to escape, he was then pulled to its chest like a little kid— which he practically was when compared to its size.
"W-Wait, w-w-what is it doing—"
Before Aiden could respond, the drone suddenly unfurled its wings and shot back through the hole it made in the roof.
Chad practically screamed as the ground became farther and farther, clinging to the drone's sweater, who in turn held him tighter, shifting to hold his friend like it was holding him.
The mentioned friend, however, simply stared in awe, gaze consistently looking back and forth between the murder drone's wings and ground, probably trying to comprehend how it was able to fly. Again, Aiden was such a nerdy freaking psychopath.
After a while, things started to calm. The occasional flapping of wings was almost soothing to Chad, not that he consciously thought that. He dared not to lessen his hold, though, because holy crap was that a long way down.
He just wondered where it was taking them.