Keeping Him Loved

Chapter 6

        She woke up to find Add already awake and working. Well no, he probably hadn't even gone to sleep last night. They had returned to his house and continued the rest of their day just as they had started it by coexisting in relative silence. There had been small talk here and there, but Add had gotten immersed in his work thanks to the break he took. (Y/n) had passed the time by looking through his old prototype sketches and handing Add anything he asked for in between. It was the part where she fell asleep that she didn't quite remember.

        (Y/n) sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Good morning, Add." A layer of two blankets fell down from her shoulders.

        "Took you long enough to wake up," Add said without looking up from his book. "Here, take a look at this." He passed her a new sketch.

        "You want me to use my brain this early in the morning?" she complained.

        "It's almost nine." Add met her gaze with narrowed eyes. "Just look at it. It's a new model. I figured out all of the math for the improvements last night."

        (Y/n) accepted the draft of the new weapon and scanned over the intricately drawn details on the paper. "Looks great. Uh, but why show it to me? I don't really understand anything other than that it's kind of pretty," she spoke with an awkward laugh.

        "You were looking at the old ones yesterday." Add's brows furrowed. "I thought you'd want to see this one too. Guess I was wrong." The disappointment in his voice had (y/n) immediately shaking her head.

        "No, no you were right! I did want to see it! I just thought you wanted me to help. I can, but I wouldn't even know where to start. I barely got past the first three pages of that quantum mechanics book yesterday, and this looks far more complicated than that." Add stiffled a laugh. "What? I'm not a genius. That's your job. You're the smartest person I know too." She smiled at the smirk he attempted to hide. "I don't know what I'm going to do today, but I do know about you. I have a feeling that you're going to just be bored all day."

        "Bored? What brought you to that outrageous conclusion?"

        (Y/n) held the new draft out and pointed at the tiny cat drawing that she spotted in the bottom corner hidden in the many notes scribbled around the page.

        "G-Give me that!" Add took the sketch back and put it aside. "I am not bored. I'm conducting the research necessary to make sure that my dynamos' remodeling goes smoothly. It has nothing to do with drawings or being bored," he insisted. (Y/n) fought hard not to giggle at him, but her efforts failed. Add's ears were tinted in a rosey color to contrast with the scowl that he wore on his face while looking down into his book.

        "Right, well I'm about to go out for a run. Want to come? The weather is supposed to be nice even though it's been getting colder again lately."

        "No way. I'm not getting myself sweaty just to satisfy your urge for entertainment," Add replied.

        "Okay, stay inside all day. Fine with me. It really is fun if you change your mind."

        "I won't. You'll never find me and running in the same sentence. What do you even find so fun about it?"

        "I was a mail carrier back when I lived in my village." (Y/n) fondly remembered how fun it had been to parkour through the neighborhood and time her deliveries. The people themselves didn't care for her too much, but it had never been about them. "Nothing felt better than the wind whipping past when you get up to a high enough speed. It took me a while to get used to going so fast without tripping or hitting anything." Even now she remembered the first time she hit her head on a branch and cried the whole day. She grimaced at the thought. "Whenever I came back home, my father would teach me whatever combat skills I asked about. I wasn't very good at using a bow though. Still can't."