Keeping Him Loved

Chapter 4

        Add considered himself someone who didn't like to be around others. They rarely understood him, and his intellect often went right over their heads. He would much rather spend his time with a book or in front of a computer screen. Technology was not stupid and books could not talk back. Because of his awareness of these facts, Add could not come up with a logical reason for why he sought out (y/n)'s presence so often.

        After they had met approximately seven months ago, he didn't see her for a while. After nearly a month of not knowing of the girl's fate, he had gone into the city to search for her. Add found out back then that (y/n) had gotten a job as a merchant's errand runner. It was surely just a mere coincidence that he had run into her during his search. Ever since then, she came by his home to bring him gifts of food or rare plants that she obtained during her time on the job. Add sometimes even ventured into the city to see her on purpose always making an excuse each time. (Y/n) never believed any of them, and he still never admitted the truth.

        Today wasn't any different. Currently, he was making progress in his studies, yet he couldn't quite understand why his hypothesis was still incorrect. All of the knowledge he needed was avaliable to him. There was no excuse for this unexplainable variable that somehow kept being unaccounted for. No matter how he wrote the equation and performed the test, the results weren't making sense.

        "Add?" (Y/n) could be heard knocking on his door. Hearing her melted away all of Add's anger. He associated her voice with pleasant things from his past. "Are you home? I know it's early but I brought um, I guess you could call this breakfast," she spoke through the door. Add got up from the carpet and stepped onto his dynamos that carried him over the papers scattered across his floor. Every single one contained notes or a design plan for modifications to his personal weapon. (Y/n) saw the mess of materials laid out across the floor and paused. "Oh, bad time? I can come back another day."

        Add shook his head. Without a word, he gestured for her to come in. She wasn't sure where to stand at first, bringing an expression of amusement to his face. "Don't you have to work today?" he asked while (y/n) carefully stepped across the room while carrying a box that fit perfectly in her arms.

        "Haha...about that. I need to talk to you. There's no one else that I can tell who'll listen. Well, other than my boss, but she already knows." (Y/n) walked to the kitchen and unpacked their meal. Add made his way back to the clear spot on his carpet and began to make room for her to sit nearby. "You drink tea right?" she called. "I hope you drink tea. I didn't think to ask you before now. You seem like you would be a tea drinker."

        "You're lucky that it's become a recent habit," he replied. He accepted the warm cup from her and went right back to scanning over the document in front of him. The drink tasted a bit nostalgic to him despite how much he actually disliked tea. He drank it anyway knowing that it would serve its purpose to make him stronger. Somehow. (Y/n) sat a plate between them and made herself at home by taking her hood off her head.

        "They're pastries. Free of charge as a parting gift from my boss."

        "Parting gift?" Add's voice rose in pitch. "You're leaving?"

        (Y/n) rapidly shook her head. "No of course not!" she assured him. "I wouldn't know where I'd even go. It's kind of hard to survive in a place where you don't know anyone. You're the only person I truly know here, so Elder is where I'll stay." Sorrow filled her eyes. "But if things get worse, I might have to figure something out. Just a few days ago, a new group of traveling merchants started showing up. Not long after, two girls that worked jobs similar to mine vanished. I met the leader of the group. He had a certain look in his eyes. I could tell he was responsible."

        Add watched her unconsciously grip the edges of her cloak. It sparked a fire of rage within him. "What did he do to you?" he said, demanding an answer from her.

        (Y/n) flashed him a smile. "Nothing you need to worry about. I already handled the situation. He just saw my ears and followed me around when I was working. My boss was understanding and told me not to come to work today."

        "You didn't tell me." This must be what it felt like to want to kill a man.

        "I knew you'd get mad. See, you're doing it right now. That thing where your dynamos raise up like the hair on a cat's back. You have that terrifying look in your eye." (Y/n) picked up a pastry and held it out to him. "Come on, cheer up. I thought you were probably busy yesterday. Besides, I'm here telling you about it now."

        "Hmph." For what reasons did he keep making exceptions for her? Add leaned forward and bit the treat to satisfy (y/n)'s wish. He then focused his attention back on the document in front of him.

        "My boss is the one leaving. She offered me the chance to go with her, but I declined. I'll have to find a new job soon." Add merely nodded and wrote down three different possible equations that he could use to adjust the voltage control in his dynamos. "I've learned enough to figure out how to run my own business if I wanted to. I just don't have anything to sell," (y/n) continued. "I may not understand any of this stuff that you work on, but I'm more than willing to help out if you want. At least, until I find another job."

        "Fine with me. Pass me that book with the sketches stacked on top of it." He flipped through its pages until he found what he was looking for. "Tch, it's wrong. All of it. Wrong." He immediately erased what he had written down.

        "Something on your mind?" (Y/n) picked up one of his old dynamo sketches as she spoke. "Your dynamos are spinning behind you like a loading screen. I've never seen that happen before." Sure enough, Add glanced back to find them circling around behind him. He huffed in frustration and deactivated the devices with a simple hand signal. "It's amazing how you have so much control over them. They even reflect your mood. I like that about you."

        Add looked at her completely dumbstruck by what he had heard. He hadn't paid attention to the words "that" or "about" only hearing everything around them. Part of him was glad that he had just turned off his dynamos. With the way they were just acting in response to his stress, there was no telling what they would have done just then.

        "No, I didn't mean anything weird by that. I'm sorry," (y/n) apologized, mistaking his expression as a display of discomfort. "I thought you might feel better if you got a compliment. Not that you'd need any confidence boosting anyway."

        He let that last comment slide. "I just have a goal to reach, and this is hindering my progress. That's all. I don't feel like going into any details about it."

        (Y/n) put the sketch down still smiling at it. Add was unaware of the cat drawing she had seen in the corner of the paper she had looked over.

        "Then, I'll see you tomorrow. Sounds like you need some time to yourself."

        "If you just be quiet, then you can stay as long as you want. I just need to focus," Add quickly spoke. "I want you to stay. You're distracting me from the things I don't want to think about." Then he accidentally mumbled aloud, "I don't know why, but it's working." He didn't realize it, and (y/n) just guessed that he was talking about his equations again. It would have been nice if things were really just that simple.
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Until next time you epic readers!