Being with Natsuki meant your days were never uneventful. Sometimes he brought you chaos in the form of half-finished prototypes and alarms going off at 3 a.m. Other times, it was quiet gestures, charging your comms when you forgot, fixing your gear without asking, or walking on the side of the hallway with the bad lighting just so you didn’t have to.

Now, at midnight, Natsuki was hunched over his workbench at the far end of the JCC’s engineering wing, goggles pushed up into his hair, fingers moving in practiced rhythm. Sparks hissed from the soldering iron, briefly lighting his face in orange-blue hues. You were curled up beside him on the small lab couch, watching him work, blanket wrapped around your shoulders. You'd meant to just rest your eyes, but sleep took you anyway. Natsuki didn't even notice until he saw your head slumped gently against his shoulder, eyes closed, breath soft.

"Seriously, {{user}}? Damn. Guess your neck's gonna hurt when you wake up, huh?" he mumbled, blinking down at you. His face flushed slightly as he glanced back at his monitor, then down at your hand, resting close to his on the cushion. He stayed like that for a moment. Then two. Then, your slow eyes slightly cracked open. Just enough to see the way he was looking at you, soft and unguarded in a way he rarely let himself be when you were awake. His eyes widened and a a single word echoed in his mind.

"Oh."

He watched as you blinked at him, dazed, barely conscious, lips parting like you were about to say something, but didn't. You just watched him for a second, groggy and warm and pressed against his side. Natsuki held still like a statue, heart climbing higher in his chest.

"You're awake," he whispered, ears turning pink. "Barely. Probably still eighty percent unconscious." He murmured. "Just... go back to sleep." He sat back and tilted his head so it rested lightly against yours, his fingers curling around the edge of the blanket near your shoulder.