Keeping Him Loved

Chapter 5

        Add winced and dropped his pen to hold the side of his head. His breathing even sounded a little off, not that (y/n) was paying that much attention to his breathing patterns. She looked up from her borrowed book detailing quantum mechanics to check on him. "Are you okay?" she asked, carefully putting down the gibberish that she hadn't understood much of.

        "Just fine." Add activated his dynamos and shot up from the carpet. The math wasn't making sense. He was tempted to remove his eyepatch and access the plethora of information stored in his head, but he had wanted to do this on his own. It wouldn't be his own strength if he relied on the modifications that his father made to him all those years ago.

        "Add, where are you going?"

        "Nowhere. Stay here." He paused. "Actually...come with me."

        "No, I think I'll just go home. You're obviously frustrated. Take a break, you need one." She started to gather the dishes left behind from their earlier meal. "Go on. Take your time. I'll just clean up here and get out of your way."

        "You're not in the way. Leave that. Let's go."

        "Where? If you can't tell me right now before we go, then I'm going home so that you can cool your head. You need to stop letting yourself get like this." Something about those words broke the lock that was holding back all of his discontentment.

       "Like what? What do you even know about what I need?!" Add yelled at her. "You don't know anything! Nothing about me!"

        "Then what do you want from me, Add?!" (y/n) shouted back. He was taken aback by the reciprocated outburst. She had never raised her voice at him. Not once. "I'm trying to help you! I don't have to know you to do that!" He watched her stand up and pull her hood over her head. In a quieter voice she spoke, "If you stopped letting your inflated ego blind you, then maybe you'd see that. Sometimes you're not going to know everything. And while we're on the topic of knowing things, I only know what you bother to tell me about yourself. Don't blame me for something that isn't my fault."

        Add lowered his head to avoid the side eyed stare that she threw at him from beneath her hood.
Neither of them spoke a word as she picked up the box she had arrived with. It was now only filled with dishes that lightly clicked as (y/n) made her way to the door. Even while angry, she had still been careful not to step on his notes.

        "(Y/n) wait." She slapped his hand away.

        "Don't touch me," she growled.

        Add stepped in front of the door to stop her. "Just listen to me." (Y/n) looked at him with slightly reddened eyes that watered with disappointment. "Dammit look, I'm sorry. Here, give me this. I want you to see something important." She let him take the box from her and set it aside. "I'll leave you alone afterwards. You can choose to never come back again if you want to." He hoped that she wouldn't choose that. He only said it because it might help convince her.

        "Alright. Lead the way. I'll follow."

        It was foggy outside. The afternoon hadn't fully rolled in, leaving the overall atmosphere dull and gloomy. Clouds that threatened rain loomed over them during their walk. Add kept glancing back at (y/n) to make sure that she was still behind him. He didn't actually think she'd turn back after coming this far, but emotions were not so constant that they could be calculated. Predicted, yes, but even that could turn out wrong.

        They ventured up a pathway that grew thinner with every step. Add came to a stop when the tangled vines and shrubs completely covered the path. He could see their destination a short distance ahead. The collapsed pillar that marked the location was mostly decorated in moss. Its cream color had dinged over time.

        "We'll need to cross over to there." Add pointed at the area where the vegetation cleared out. He stepped onto his dynamos and held a hand out to her.

        "I can get there myself." (Y/n) easily hopped off the ground and used a vine to hoist herself up into the tree that loomed over them. Add saw her effortlessly leap from one tree to the next until she landed directly onto the mossy pillar. "Since when could she do that??"

        Once he caught up, Add approached the stone path behind the broken pillar. It was overgrown with grass, but still fairly visible. It led them right to a dead end where rubble lay scattered across the land. Some of the rocks and pieces of a once extravagant building were blanketed by dirt and layers of plants. Right in front of the pile was a small grave and a rusted box. There was no gravestone to tell anyone who was laid to rest here, but Add preferred it that way. No one else truly needed to know.

        "Is this...?" (Y/n) was afraid to step any closer. Her tone of voice had lost all hostility upon seeing what was in front of her. "Add, is this your family?"

         He nodded. "How did you know?"

        "A lucky guess. You once told me that you were from a different era but never mentioned any family. I assumed something had happened to them. I'm sorry."

        "Don't be. At least, not for my father. I didn't make this for him." Add sat down atop his dynamos in front of the place where he had burried his old necklace and left flowers in his mother's honor. The lillies were still relatively fresh since it had only been a few days since his last visit. "That man doesn't deserve anyone's sympathy." (Y/n) sat next to him and offered a bow on his mother's behalf. "Dynamo is here too. He was a nasod assistant that helped me out when I first got here. I tried to bring him back, but nothing I did worked."

        "Dynamo? Then those are for him?" (Y/n) pointed at the weapons floating behind Add's back. He nodded.

        "I salvaged his chip and used it to create them. He bought me enough time to read what was left in the library." Add pointed ahead of them at the rubble. Most of the building was underground. He would have perished if he hadn't used his newly forged weapon to escape. "I was in there for years. Alone. Dynamo sacrificed the last of his energy to keep the library from collapsing for a few more years so that I could access the information left. He made the decision without even asking me, that idiot. He and my mother were the only ones I consider to be worth remembering. If I could just go back...back in time..."

        "This must be the place you go to when you're upset then. You were going to take a break, and I yelled at you. I didn't know. I'm so sorry."

        "No, don't apologize. You were right." Add leaned forward to rest his head on his hand. "I don't have an inflated ego though." (Y/n) stopped herself short of protesting against that comment. Instead she let them fall into a moment of peace and quiet. Short as it was, the moment eased all of Add's current worries allowing him to think more clearly. His goal had not changed. He refused to lose anyone else to the selfish tendencies of others. "Time to go. There's no use in staying here and dwelling on the past," Add muttered. He quickly stood and made sure he wasn't facing (y/n) when he wiped his eye.

        "Add, hold on. Before we go back..." (y/n) called to stop him.

        "What?" When she didn't say anything, he turned around in confusion. The moment he did, she trapped him in a hug. It surprised him. Add's dynamos froze and then slowly floated down to just barely hover around his legs. "I don't want your pity," he quietly spoke once he finally remembered to react.

        "It's not pity. The last time I saw my father, he asked for a hug. I refused because I was still angry with him after a fight we had just had. I never got to hug him again after that." She squeezed him tighter. "You're the closest I have to family now. I'm not making the same mistake again. I'm sorry for yelling at you."

        "Hmph." Add returned the gesture with one arm to pat (y/n)'s back. By that logic, they were in the same situation. No family left but one another. He saved her life and she returned the favor. They shared a bond thicker than blood now, and there was nothing Add could do about it even if he wanted to. "I'm sorry too. Now, let's go home. You can stay the night this time."
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Headcannon that Add's 4th path is led more by his emotions than logic?? Anyone else agree? Anyways, until next time you spectacular readers!