Today was (Y/N)'s day off.
It wasn't something that he necessarily considered significant, as he had many days off during winter, spring, and summer, but to have one when a major crisis was happening, at least according to Schicksal, was surprising. However, despite him not minding the fact that he was given some free time to spend, probably with Sentience, he felt kind of bad that he wasn't doing as much work as everyone else was. Theresa was, as usual, getting clogged up with presumably thousands and thousands of documents, Bronya, Mei, and the other Valkyries who were with them were fighting off the creatures in St. Fountain, and he... he was doing paperwork just like Theresa, just not nearly as much as her.
The reason for this? Well, (Y/N) recently had found out, less than two weeks ago, that the Hyperion had "broken down" due to "unknown circumstances." Therefore, he couldn't do his usual bridge duties, nor could he go on recon missions due to the fact that his means of transportation to do those things was the Hyperion.
Therefore, his ability to do work had been severely limited, and he resorted to helping out Theresa while the Hyperion was being fixed to try to at least do something. If the Hyperion was still up and running, he'd probably be with Mei and Bronya right now; nevertheless, that was not what had happened, and this was the only thing he could really do that was within his skill set. He didn't mind it, however, and he liked spending more time with Sentience than he already did, anyway.
Nevertheless, being given a break when his work was already so easy? That was too much to him, at least in his opinion. Sentience seemed happy about it, though, and seemed to want to spend the entire day with him, and, putting his thoughts and slight guilt aside, he agreed to her proposal.
Thus, the day was filled with hours and hours of playing games, cooking food, hugging, cuddling, and several other things, and by the end of it, (Y/N) and Sentience were sufficiently knocked out, both sitting on the couch while the TV flickered softly, the screen projecting the words "no signal" constantly as they had both turned off the console minutes before. However, they never turned off the TV, as the both of them were too tired to, despite the fact that they were still, in some sense, awake.
"Ugh..." (Y/N) groaned, shifting on the couch while Sentience sat on his lap, her eyes opening and closing slowly as she stared up at (Y/N), "I'm so... so tired..."
"You're... you're tired...?" Sentience mocked lightly, her voice hushed and movements fatigued, "I'm... I'm not even close to tired..."
"Are... are you sure about that? You seem pretty out of it... to me..." (Y/N) stared back at Sentience, who, in a desperate attempt to seem resilient, opened her eyes as large as she could at the moment, barely being able to show off her irises, "I have... I have no idea what you're talking about..."
"Gah... how what time is it...?" (Y/N) grabbed his phone sloppily, his hand moving like that of a fish on land as he picked it up with as much force as he could at the moment, "1:00 AM? We really were playing for that long...?"
"Yeah... we did play for a long time, huh?" Sentience recalled as they had been playing with each other since 10:AM.
"I guess so... We should probably get to bed, though..." (Y/N) said, only for Sentience to hold him tighter.
"No... I think I'm fine sleeping here..." Sentience replied, nuzzling into (Y/N)'s shirt with a peaceful and relaxed expression, with her face adorned with a smile.
"But... wouldn't the bed be more comfortable?"
"No... you're more comfortable than that..." Sentience replied back, her voice as mellow as the waves on a summer's day and as calm as a zephyr as she sunk deeper into (Y/N)'s chest, "Ahh... so.... soft..." Slowly, Sentience closed her eyes as she felt at peace with everything around her, the soft breath of (Y/N) hitting her head as her own breaths began to soften. To (Y/N), it looked like she was about to fall asleep, and she was, but she still had strength left in her before she fell asleep.
"Hey... (Y/N)..." Sentience spoke lightly, with (Y/N) opening his eyes gently to see Sentience's own looking back up at him, her eyes shining slightly as the TV screen brightened the room slightly.
"Yes, Senti?"
"It's... It's gonna be a while before we see each other again after this week... won't it?" Sentience spoke, her voice still dimmed, but the sorrow in her voice still quite evident, and what she was saying was true. After this week, Sentience was going to be sent off to St. Fountain for an unknown amount of time, and it might be weeks before they'd see each other again.
Nevertheless, despite (Y/N) himself also being rather sad at the fact that they wouldn't see each other physical for so long, (Y/N) sought to lighten her mood, even if only slightly.
"It... It will, but we can always see each other and contact each other through our phones, so we won't be with each other for too long, right?"
"I... I know that," Sentience muttered slowly, stopping for a second to keep herself awake, "but... it just won't be the same."
"How so?"
"(Y/N)... I want to see you, not through a screen, but like this... I want to hear your voice, I want to feel your touch, and I want to be with you," Sentience's voice was marked with sincerity, one that (Y/N) had seen several times before, mainly when they were told that they'd be away from each other.
"But... more than that, I'm... I'm slightly scared..." Sentience admitted, her hands gripping onto (Y/N)'s back even tighter than they already had been, as (Y/N) was shocked that Sentience was actually scared of something.
"Why are you scared?"
"I... I'm scared of someone taking you away from me... or harming you... or trying to do something to you... I just... I just know that there might be a possibility of it happening and... I just..." Sentience spoke her worries and fears to (Y/N) as she stopped to admit her greatest one, "I just don't want to lose you..."
And Sentience's fears were justified. Ever since the Great Eruption, some parts of the world had turned into one of disarray, with several cities, once prosperous and full of citizens, falling and turning into only a mirage of what had once been there. Schicksal had done their best to help the world and society in general recover, but not every place was safe, even the one that (Y/N) and Sentience lived in. Despite the fact that the both of them lived in a zone that was protected by Schicksal and had improved much more than others around the world, there were still things that were dangerous and arguably life-threatening there, even with the amount of improvement.
(Y/N) himself had been attacked by damaged, malfunctioning robots in his recon missions, and he had gotten injured several times by them. There was also the potential that he could get infected by the Honkai, as some places were still potent with Honkai energy despite their leave from this world.
(Y/N) knew all of these things and also knew how threatening they were. However, he also knew that he'd be fine thanks to the training given to him by his friends and his own Honkai resistance, and he resolved to tell her that.
"I... I'm worried about losing you too, you know?" (Y/N) said, tilting Sentience's face to look at his more clearly. "However, as long as I know that you're by my side, no matter where you are, I'm going to try my best to stay alive... for you..." He spoke, moving his face to give Sentience a kiss, which she gratefully accepted. It was soft, gentle, and wonderful, with them splitting after a few minutes, breathing heavily as they stared into each other's eyes.
"Yeah... I guess that's true..." Sentience spoke, her voice lightening up, "after all that training I gave you, you better stay alive..." She said with a soft chuckle, as she laid her head back on (Y/N)'s chest once more.
"Haha... Yeah, you did train me pretty hard..." (Y/N) reminisced, thinking back to when Sentience forced him to learn how to use a sword in order to protect himself.
"(Y/N)..."
"Yeah?" (Y/N) responded back.
"I love you..." Sentience declared, nuzzling into his chest.
"I love you, Senti," (Y/N) declared right back, holding her in a gentle embrace.
And then, the both of them fell asleep, locked in a hug that showed their care for each other.
The night was silent, the TV screen shined brightly, and the wind was soft.
But most of all, both Sentience and (Y/N) were at peace, cuddling each other like nothing else mattered.
And to Sentience and (Y/N)...
Their love for each other was all that mattered, eternal and strong for this moment and forever.
Nothing else, nothing more.
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That's all for this one.