For the first 3 months, Nos has gotten used to seeing and talking to XR at the shop at least three times a week and XR was trying to get any info he could about this mysterious tyrant Nos was on a hunt for. During those times, they got to be more acquainted with each other and went past the awkward phase. No more fearing the worst as it evaporates into something good. You can say they were becoming friends.

Though there were some bumps on the road.

Nos was in his organic disguise when he was at the office in the organization building. Well a shared office with Ryder, the other agents were being childish but it was part of the probation period and Nos still got 3 more months to go but Nos was starting to notice they were warming up to him.

"So Nos, we are going on a mission to keep watch on a peace treaty in a few days." Ryder walks over to show Nos the new assignment.

Nos looks over the assignment, "We can do that job-"

"It will be held on the planet Progana." Ryder stated and Nos looked at him as if he was insane. "You do know being out there for me is a bad idea, right?"

"Look Nos, you've gotten pretty good here but you've been getting eyes on you more than eyes on Buzz. They like your work, and how you don't be the main focus."

"So they won't need to ask Buzz if I accept? I feel so special." Nos stood up ready to clock out. "But I am a rookie, there are more agents for this field work." He hands the assignment to him but Ryder stops him.

"Bud, you need to get out more. Plus if you stay here, that fiend will find her sooner." Ryder knew this was a way to get him to say yes.

Nos groans. "Alright, but I want Vanet safe."

"Of course. Also I will be with you there." Ryder added.

"I am fine with that." Nos added. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow." Ryder stated.

"I'll ask Gravitina to come over." Nos was already messaging his friend.

"I gotta ask, are you and that babe a thing?" Ryder asked, he was curious about their relationship.

"You mean Gravitina? She's my friend." Nos answers bluntly.

"So you and her, late night fondue?" Ryder asked.

It took Nos a bit to process it and raise a brow. "I cannot burn organic food like you Ryder."

Ryder went quiet until he cleared his throat. "Nos, are you and miss tyrant cahooting in the sheets? Dancing the night tango?" He tried to make it a little clearer without insinuating, sensitive policies at the job. But Nos was more confused. "... are you and Gravitina having sex?"

Nos was then able to answer. "No. She is my friend and I do not find her attractive."

Ryder tilted his head. "What about other women?"

"No." Nos answers.

"Men?"

"Are you concerned about what I find to my liking?" Nos was getting irritated.

"Cool your vents, I am just curious in case I need someone to be on a double date with me."

Nos glares and annoyed already. "No thank you."

"Come on, there is got to be somewhere in your system you got a spark for." Ryder pointed out and Nos tenses a bit before ignoring him and leaves.

It was not long but Nos felt it was enough as it was 6pm but made his way to the shop and saw XR there waiting for him and he felt a bit of relief to see a familiar face. He opens the door, letting XR in and follows, changing the screen to dark so no one can see in and shifts to his robotic self but walking rather than floating.

"You look tired, something happened at the job?" XR was a bit alarmed to see a drained Nos that wasn't from hunger but it was interesting to see his friend in a different light. Being in his choice of words, natural. 'It fits him.'

"I will be traveling to Progana tomorrow." Nos answers but XR was already in front of him with both hands on Nos's arms from even moving. "What?! Why?! Is it involving that creepy tyrant?! You can't go!"

"No it is not that." Nos answers calmly but he feels his circuits a little shocking and gently pulls away. "It is for a request by an ambassador to have me there as a security guard."

"Really?" XR was relieved to hear but surprised. "That's pretty good though, will your dad be around with Vanet? I could help babysit her for you."

"That will not be necessary." Nos replies. "I had asked Gravitina-"

"You're gonna ask her when you can ask me who's got free time?" XR sees Nos was unamused and watches Nos checking his phone. "Ok you need to trust me at least once."

"XR it is not that I do not trust you, it is knowing Buzz will take his team to join the mission. You will be busy." Nos goes over to turn off his kelms but can see XR was not believing it. He reaches out to Gravitina but groans, hearing her voicemail and hangs up. He sees XR grinning. "So…. Can you trust me?"

Nos enters the ship with little Vanet by his side. "I'm sorry my dear, but with Bunicu very busy at the café and your auntie is out of reach, I would rather you come with me." He fixes her cloak and sees the new pattern they drew was of bats. He smiles to see his old cloak was fitting her nicely and sits her on a seat. He made sure she was safe as Ryder walked in.

"Gotta say, like the creepy vibe. Hey kiddo." He sits by and sees Nos already going to take off until he stops when he sees XR waving at them. Nos was alarmed but stopped the ship.

"Oh come on Nos! You can't trust me?!" XR fumes as Nos drives the ship.

"XR, should you not be with your team?" Nos was getting annoyed.

"I called off, I told them I can't join them so 42 is going with them. I was trying to be helpful." XR pouts.

"XR, this is not about distrusting you." Nos glared out as he drives. "I will not be causing you trouble since Buzz finds me somewhat of a threat." Nos grumbles away.

"Nos, that's between you guys. I just want to help." XR crosses his arms. "Plus I'm trying to prove you can count on me."

Ryder was sitting as Vanet was reading away in her book. The said tin giant watches Nos losing his patience with XR. "Hey kid, let's go check out the stars in the other room, mom and dad are gonna have a fuss." Ryder carries Vanet out but it seemed the two didn't hear him.

Nos felt a migraine on his motherboard. "XR you need to understand, Vanet is important to me-"

"I know but it's like you're scared I'll lose the kid-"

"Correction, Vanet ismydaughter. She is not justthekid. You are not close to me that way to trust you enough." Nos growls and glares.

"Then let me get closer than keeping me 50 ft away." XR treads up.

"I cannot do that." Nos hisses.

"Why is it that everyone can be close to you but I can't?" XR fumes.

"Because-"

"Because what?!"

"Because XR you are not going to stick around!" Nos massages his head, he reverts to his robotic self. "You are in a relationship XR, and you have a life outside of my own and Vanet as well." Nos points it out. "But you will not stay in our life forever and if I have my hopes too high," Nos sighs. "I need to trust someone who will stay in her life; someone who will be in mine and I know you enough I cannot count on you."

XR was quiet and frowned, "So you think I'll just up and leave? Buddy, I wouldn't do that to you- or to Vanet! I'm trying to show you I can be a good friend."

"XR, if you have to choose between going on a date with 42 or going to see Vanet, who would let say partake in a play, who would you choose?" Nos asked.

"Can't I just choose both?" XR asked. "Look 42 can be a difficult-"

"Then let me make this clearer, if you have to choose between me and 42, who would you believe the truth from?"

XR pauses and sees Nos glares. "... I see where you're getting at, but that's not fair! If it were between a date or Vanet-"

"I choose Vanet because she is my daughter, everyone in this galaxy, I choose my daughter over." Nos walks away and slams the door. XR was grumbling away.

"How can he ask me that- I mean- can't I choose both?!" He crosses his arms but the more he thought about it, the more he hated Nos being right. He can't stay in Vanet's life but he really wants to be a part of Nos's life- he stops, thinking what if Nos was with someone? That meant… Nos can't be in his life as much and since he himself is dating 42…. His focus has to be on his girlfriend.

He had to think about Vanet, Nos can't trust his friends forever unless he knows they can stick around longer than just enough like Gravitina not able to help. Then there was thatRyder, he noticed a lot of Nos relying on him for rides and hanging out. They look like a good couple- he stops his mind.

'Am I being jealous? I mean so what Ryder is great but he doesn't know Nos like I do!' He thought but then Nos doesn't need someone who knows his past, he needs someone who can be there when he needs it.

"He can't trust me forever too because of work…." He mumbles and sees they made it to Progana but his thoughts are now that Nos will find someone someday, even if it's not Ryder, and he can't be forcing Nos to choose who he shares his time with. 'Why does that make me feel so depressed?'

When Nos came back, XR was quiet. "Nos, about your question." He sees Nos pause and looks at him. "Look I see what you mean, and I want to say I'm sorry." XR spoke. "If I had to choose between you and 42… I would say it's…. It's both. I still choose both because you matter too. I know that if you were in the same position, you would choose what's best for Vanet. You would and will choose Vanet because you love her as a daughter- and you're her dad! I wouldn't blame you if you chose her over me, but I like to be in her life as much as I can be in yours. I really want to be the friend you can trust because let's face it we can't age exactly but I know I'm gonna last longer than Tina. So please give me a chance." XR frowns and sees Nos in front of him.

"I'm sorry I threw that at you. It was not fair on you. I do want you to be a part of her life and mine, but only because you want that." Nos looks at him and is startled by a hug from XR and hugs him back.

"Nos! Let's go!"

Nos pulls away and hands the keys to XR. "I am trusting you XR, please keep Vanet safe." Nos said sternly.

XR smiles and nods, only to frown when he sees Nos walking with Ryder out. He felt he was getting close, but not as close as he hoped.

XR was enjoying his time with Vanet who showed him all of her drawings of Nos. "Wow for an 8 year old, you're good! Can you draw me?" He asked.

Vanet was already drawing him out as he watched her. "So Vanet, what's it like living with your papa?"

"I like it, he reads me stories and lets me take pictures of spiders and wild animals. He kinda looks close to my first dad, but he had brown eyes and black hair."

XR was surprised but he watches her draw him, curious if that is what made her feel safe around Nos. "That's pretty good, does your papa have a special someone right now?" He asked.

"Like auntie Tina?" She asked.

"I wouldn't call herthatspecial. It's like… someone he really likes." XR figured it was a bit hard to answer- he saw her shake her head. "Oh ok." He smiles when she shows him her drawing. "Wow you got all of my looks!" He smiles until he gets a call from Nos. "XR's watch agency, we watch 24/7, may I ask who's calling?"

"How is Vanet?" Nos was on the side staying in the hall with Ryder taking a cigar break.

"She's doing good, drawing and I gotta give her 5 stars for the perfect art. And I also reheated her food." XR smiles. "How's it on your end?" He hears a pause before hearing laser shooting. He was worried so he tried to find somewhere on the panel to connect or see until he used those drones Nos had that scouts out the area.

He maneuvers to see his team was fighting bandits and hornets which he can tell were from Zurg. He saw 42 was ok but he was looking for Nos and saw him keeping the king safe but saw Buzz trying to intervene in the attacks. That was when Nos pushed the king down and used himself as a shield and shot down the hornet. He was worried until Ryder came and helped Nos out. He felt relief but there was that feeling again, how he felt weird when he saw Nos was with Ryder. 'It feels like a turmoil in my system.' he thought but he sees Buzz take the king away but Nos, covering for Buzz . When it was over, Nos and Ryder arrested the bandits and Buzz and his team took them away but 42 was walking over to Ryder who looked annoyed and left. He found Nos standing by the side ignoring the people around until he and Ryder left. He felt weird but ignored it.

When Nos and Ryder came in, Nos made his way to the coffin who was trying to look fine in front of Vanet. Ryder went to sit on the chair. XR sees Nos ready to stumble when he is already by his side.

"Great job!" He hugs Nos and wraps him up so he couldn't get out.

Nos was about to growl when he stopped seeing he was leaking fluid and can guess why XR is carrying him right now. "But you gotta let me do a scan on you right Van?"

"Please papa?"

Nos silently nodded and was carried off by XR. "Stay put! Be right back!"

Ryder who was watching noticed the small drips that were hardly noticed if you were ignorant. "Hey Vanet, how about we eat some of these cookies I snagged together, yeah?"

"How are you still standing with those wounds?" XR brings Nos to the mini lab on the ship. He looks for tools and grabs other things as he nearly stops when Nos takes off the suit.

"Do not give me that tone. As I have recalled, you got just as bad as this during your missions?" Nos unbuttons enough to show where he was hit.

"Yeah but at least I can repair myself. Wait, can you self repair?" XR was taken aback: he shouldn't be startled by his physical design, but he couldn't help staring at the small sight of inner detail.

"What does your scanner see?" Nos asked, not looking at XR but he was just tired after the whole attack and ignoring Buzz talking about his accomplishments. But the most irritating thing there was XR's girlfriend and her behavior. He can happily say he never met her, and made excuses to not meet her until today when he had to work with team Lightyear. She did try to talk to him, but this made him uncomfortable. He would purposely leave each time she tried to get near. He wondered just what was her problem staring at him like he was going to attack?

XR clears his throat, "Right! Seems like you don't have any serious issues. That antimatter you told me is still under control and not exposed but you need to fix a part. Looks like a damaged…. liver?" He stops seeing that Nos's chest cavity has his core in his heart. He knew a core when he saw one but he didn't know Nos had one.

"There is a nano regen in the case there." Nos pointed out. "I will do the rest-"

"No way!" XR pushes him down. "Just tell me what I need to do and I can help. You trusted me with Vanet, you can trust me with you." XR brings the case over. He sees Nos8 not wanting to fight and takes his dress shirt fully off and lies back down. The space ranger felt like he was now stepping into a whole new level. He listened as instructed when he opened the abdominal section. He was not exactly grossed out but he had to admit, it was amazing how Nos made himself appear even on the inside organic. Just as He injected the nanites into the damage part, he let it do its job. "So, how was partying?"

"I am not a party person XR…. But it was decent." Nos answers and feels his parts healing. Unlike XR who can self repair from blaster shots, he was not made to repair the same. 'Part of Zurgs way to control him but luckily the nanites will work.' "Thank you for protecting Vanet and helping me."

"No problem but you can't be doing this by yourself. I know Ryder probably does this for you alot." XR grumbles, just imagining it annoyed him and he doesn't know why!

"I do not have Ryder help me like this or be even this close. I do not trust him like that." Nos cuts him off. He continued to explain. "I only let my father do this when I get hurt."

XR was surprised and felt he was probably being pushy. "So I guess I shouldn't be doing this?"

"I am glad you push me to ask for help, I would not forgive myself if I fainted in front of Vanet or broke down. She is already scared enough of that fiend, I do not want to add more to her fears."

"Hey you are being too hard on yourself Nos and she kinda needs to see this vulnerability because imagine what if it was her and you alone and you needed help and she can't because she doesn't know what's going on. I'm not saying to put that responsibility on her, but at least tell her who to call."

Nos thinks and sighs. "Can you bring Vanet in?" He asked.

"Sure, Nosy." XR grins. "Just relax, be back in a click."

Nos hears him leave as he sits up and sighs, trying to ignore Ryder's comments about liking someone. He covers his face ignoring his feelings until Vanet comes and hurries to see him.

XR watches by the door, smiling a bit and feeling a vibration in him.

"Nice work bossman." Ryder walks up.

"Thanks…. I don't think we introduce ourselves right." XR spoke.

"I'm Ryder Stallone, a huge fan of yours. You're one of the first few bots that proved those space bees you got the work. Nos talks a lot about you." Ryder was trying to keep cool but it was finally a one on one talk with his inspirational hero.

"Really? Names XR and hope it's nothing bad." He was surprised Ryder was a fan of his! He feels bad thinking bad about the guy when he's been a nice guy. "I want to say thanks and sorry if 42 said something rude to you."

Ryder however stops. "What do you mean? I got annoyed by her flirting with me." He spoke but didn't see the look on XR's face. "I mean she tried to get close to Nos but he just kept away, being indifferent. She asked if I wanted to get drinks with her but I rejected her. Gotta say, your friend is pretty persistent."

"She's…. My girlfriend." XR spoke, he felt hurt but he also felt something else after saying that.

"Oh shoot, listen I didn't mean it like that." Ryder felt like he shouldn't have said that way. He might even look like a dipstick. "Maybe she was trying to be nice? It could be me reading it wrong."

"R-right." XR felt a sudden dread but he tried to pass it off. "I- I gotta make a call." He hurries off. He goes to call up 42 and she doesn't answer until near the last beep.

"XR! Hey sweety!"

XR tried to calm himself. "Hey, I wanted to check up on you. How's the mission so far?"

"Great but it was not so great! You know that friend you told me, Atu? you'll never guess what he did! He tried to flirt with me!"

XR was quiet, he felt like he was kicked hard. "I can't believe it." He couldn't believe she was lying to him about Nos.

"To think you knew a good guy! Listen I need to go but I'll call you when I get to star command."

"Definitely…" He hears her hang up but he feels hurt and looks to where Nos is. He knows Nos better or enough about Nos and the fact he heard from 42 her version of the truth, he thought about that question. He doesn't know whether 42 is just being nice or not but he knows for certain.

"I…. I trust Nos…"

On the way to Capital Planet, Nos was forced to be bedridden through the ride, giving XR time to spend with Vanet as she was practicing to dance.

"Hey uh Van, what's with the dance practice?"

"I wanna try to practice this ballet Bunicul showed me." Vanet answers. "And hoping to surprise papa when I sign up for a play."

"She's been hoping to surprise Nos before he goes on that big hunt." Ryder sits back.

"Right…." XR felt puzzled a bit hearing about this. "Is it that important for him to eliminate the creep?"

"I doubt it'll be easy to end DRAC but Nos feels he has to in order to keep Vanet safe."

"Because of her lineage right?" XR recalls Nos telling him about Vanet's immunity to antimatter, an impossible thing but he trusts his word. He also found it ironic that Nos, being an energy vampire, is protecting a monster hunter. "But he couldn't tell me why not reach out to star Command for help."

Ryder thinks about it and decides to let him in on it. "Because technically, DRAC owns the place as a sponsor." Ryder explains. "Didn't you find it odd no space rangers helped her and supposedly they were busy? She was lucky she came across Nos but imagine if he never did?"

XR was shocked and was quiet now. That's why Nos didn't tell him but more like he knew he wouldn't believe him. "I don't want to imagine her out of Nos's life. She changed him and if she wasn't here, Nos and I never would have this."

"And what isthis?" Ryder asked.

"A friendship." XR thinks. "If you told me he and I were gonna be friends two years ago, I would have thought you were joking. Now, I like this alot and I like Nos differently than before."

"You and me both but it annoys me that he gets hit on by girls more than me."

XR was alarmed and felt weird by that. "Well he's pretty cool and handsome looking…."

"Lucky me he doesn't fancy women." Ryder sits back. "I get to hit on them and Nos gets his chance to escape."

XR perked up. "He doesn't like women?" he didn't know why that caught his attention but maybe Ryder can help him in on this.

"Honestly I don't know what's his type but I do know he does, he just hides it better." Ryder added.

"Hey Ryder, can I ask you to help me with two things?" XR asks him

Ryder perked up and sat up. "I will team up."

"Sort of, I want to get close to Nos and he won't tell me everything; can you keep me updated when stuff like this happens?" He asked and Ryder gives him his call address. "Thanks, the second is gonna be a real bad idea-"

"Never a bad idea." Ryder stated, he was feeling excited to have a team up.

"I want to know if- if 42 is cheating on me." XR stated.

Ryder was suspicious of the lil dame but if this dame was pulling on his idol's heart, then as a fan, it is his duty to protect him. "Alright but we gotta be cautious. She'll probably suspect it if you change on her like that."

XR nodded but they heard the door open and Nos was stretching. "You're up!" he goes to see Nos was in his robotic self and floating to them. He sees Vanet run to him and he lowers down to hug her and he felt a bit relieved to see Nos was better, yet he couldn't help but take a shot of Nos hugging Vanet. He watches them talk and yet he keeps hoping either Nos doesn't leave, or that creep gives up on the-

Gives up on finding Vanet.