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A particularly loud rumble of thunder struck through the manor, making J jolt slightly in surprise, gripping the feather duster she was holding tighter.
Luckily for her the other drones in the room and Tessa hadn’t noticed J’s jitters, as Tessa was happily chatting away, perched on the top of one of the library’s reading desks and swinging her legs.
J attempted to focus on her dusting, trying to keep her attention on the sound of Tessa’s voice as she did so - the accented sound oddly soothing to the drone.
She continued like this for the next few minutes until there was another boom, making the drone jump fearfully. Instinctively, she reached out and clung onto the human in front of her, making Tessa blink and let out a squeak of surprise before looking down at the skittish worker drone.
J’s eyes had hollowed involuntarily, and her hands gripped the fabric of Tessa’s dress.
Tessa chuckled although concern was evident on her face “It’s just a bit of thunder Jaybird! No need to cling onto me girl.” She placed a gentle hand on J’s head.
Immediately J jumped away, flustered lines appearing on her visor “Ah! Sorry Boss - I didn’t mean to - uh -“ she looked down,embarrassed, trying to avoid not only Tessa’s line of sight but the strange look V was giving her .
Tessa brushed it off “It’s fine Jaybird, don’t worry ‘bout it!” Her face was full of worry this time as she leant closer to the worker drone, cupping her hands on J’s cheeks to check on her more closely “You sure you’re alright though?”
Out of the corner of J’s eye she saw V and N exchange a glance.
“Are you…” V started to question - it was too late for J’s dignity “Afraid of the thunder?”
J winced before shooting an annoyed scowl V’s way. She felt Tessa pull her face closer.
“D’awww! Jaybird! Why didn’t you tell me?” Tessa blinked down at her with big sparkling green eyes and J felt a hot flush grow on her face, not just from Tessa’s proximity to her but the light, fluttery feeling that had now formed in her core.
Tessa grinned a big toothy grin (one which made J swoop in a way which made her feel heavenly - no! Angry! Very Angry! Unprofessional!!!).
“You know what this calls for, eh J?”
J stood there confused “Uh… no…?”
Tessa’s eyes glinted with excitement “Cosy night in!!!!!~” she sung before spinning J around.
J blinked, even more colour creeping onto her visor, hair ruffled slightly “What?”
Tessa put her hand on her hips dramatically “You are going to get over your fear with help from yours truly!” She declared which made the other drones in the room giggle to themselves, even J couldn’t stifle a smile herself.
“V! N! Fetch all the pillows from the drawing room will ya?” She announced, a mischievous smile on her face “We’re making a fort!!!”
Before J could protest or even say another word, Tessa has whisked her away, laughing as she let the drone to her bedroom through the corridors of the manor, in a whirlwind of uncontainable energy.
Whisps of hair had fallen from her hairdo, framing her face in a spontaneous yet beautiful was that J couldn’t help but admire.
Before J knew it, they had arrived at Tessa’s bedroom and the human dragged a duvet and many blankets from her bead spread onto the carpet. She gestured for a confused J to sit, which the worker drone did, placing herself awkwardly on the blankets as Tessa searched around for as many comfy things as she could find in her room.
A grumble of thunder from outside ripped through the manor again making J’s body tense up, gripping the blanket beneath her.
Tessa noticed, eyes widening. She wrapped a blanket around J, kneeling to be close to her.
The girl gave her a sympathetic look “Sorry Jaybird, I should’ve been with you then,” she shuffled to sit beside the drone “I know you’re scared.”
J swallowed hard, hands trembling slightly with how hard she had held onto the blanket “I’m not scared.” Her usual confidence faltered for a second as she spoke and she tried to straighten herself in an attempt to prove herself.
Tessa’s eyes creased with concern and she reached out to the worker drone, asking carefully and hesitating before touching her “Can I give you a hug Jaybird?”
J didn’t say anything for a moment, focused solely on the girl’s face so close to hers. She bit her lip and nodded.
Slowly and tentatively but not without the softness she always had, Tessa wrapped her arms around the worker drone’s body, resting to be intertwined with her.
J felt frozen for a few seconds before letting her head rest in the crook of Tessa’s neck.
Tessa’s embrace was warm - strangely warm , unlike a worker drone (not like J had ever hugged any of the other drones at the manor though), but the sensation certainly wasn’t unwelcome.
The whole thing felt unusual, instead of a mechanical whir that sounded throughout the plastic casing of a drone, J could hear a rhythmic beating sound coming from Tessa’s body. Comforting.
And her hair… robo-god it felt sos silky and smooth. Was that weird to think about? It just wasn’t like the artificial plastic wigs the workers had.
J was practically going into overdrive trying to process this feeling - the way she didn’t want to leave this moment.
For the first time in J’s lifetime, she wanted to feel that it was wrong - to feel this human’s touch forever.
“I’m always here for you, Jaybird. You know that?” Tessa whispered, pulling her head away slightly to brush hair from J’s face but remain wrapped in the embrace “No matter what. Forever.”
J opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by V and N arriving, hands piled with cushions - N looking particularly proud with the load he’s gathered.
Tessa smiled, pulling away from the hug in a way J hated “There we go! Time to make a fort! That’ll take your mind off things J!”
J found herself scowling at V and N for interrupting- V waggling her eyebrows teasingly at J about the interaction she’d just walked into regarding J and Tessa. J narrowed her eyes at her.
She returned her focus to Tessa who took the drone’s hands in hers, helping her up.
Before they went off to start work on the fort, Tessa pulled J into another quick hug “Don’t worry girl, plenty of time for cuddling when we’re done, eh?” She whispered mischievously, giving J a wink after pulling back from the hug and going to help the others start construction.
J stood dumbfounded for a hot second before shaking herself out of it and returning to Tessa’s side to grab a cushion.
After a solid fifteen minutes of hard work, the pillow fort was completed and the group stood back to admire their work.
Now it was time to go inside - N was the first one to go inside with one of Tessa’s lamps and a book on dog species in hand, followed by V who had picked a book of her own to take in from the library. Lastly, Tessa held out her hand, helping J before crawling into the fort and getting settled herself.
The pair returned to their position similar to earlier, all cosied up in the castle of blankets and pillows they had created and J let herself relax, leaning into Tessa’s shoulder.
The sound of thunder was dampened in here and having Tessa so close made J feel safe no matter what.
The girl kept watch on the worker drone, running gentle hands through her silvery pigtails.
Not much was exchanged for a while and soon enough N and V drifted into sleep mode next to them - their visors glowing dimly in the dark.
Not J though. J couldn’t sleep. Not whilst being so close to Tessa. She wanted to savour every second of it.
The human girl had now closed her eyes and was humming comfortably, tracing soft circles of J’s back.
J’s core whirred wildly and the sound made Tessa’s eyelids flutter open.
“You okay Jaybird?” She asked softly, the optics of J’s visor reflecting in Tessa’s green,glossy eyes.
J nodded, opening her mouth before closing it again, deciding against speaking.
Tessa smiled, placing a gentle palm next to J’s core. She pressed her forehead against the worker drone’s who’s eyes were unmoving in awe.
She chuckled at the painfully obvious lovestruck expression on J’s face “I love you Jaybird - you know that?” The corners of her eyes crinkled as she smiled. Beautiful.
J’s breath caught in her throat and she stumbled over her words unable to speak with her usual professional confidence “I - I love you too Tessa.”
This made Tessa’s smile widen even more and what J wouldn’t give to see the split second her face lit up like that again.
J started slowly “Can I…” her voice trailed off, eyes falling to Tessa’s lips them back up to her eyes.
Tessa laughed again, quietly “Kiss me?” She brushed J’s cheek with the outside of her palm “Yes Jaybird. I’d love that.”
J’s core whirred uncontrollably now and she even heard Tessa’s heard beat speed up despite her coolness.
J accepted Tessa’s offer, slowly and cautiously closing the distance between them and letting herself get completely consumed by the sensation of Tessa’s soft lips on hers.
It was fair enough to say that the thunder was forgotten about that night as J slipped into sleep mode in her lover’s arms.
Perhaps she wouldn’t mind another stormy night if it meant she could be Tessa like this again.