#fun fact I stole the title from that one zendaya song but I changed it to better fit the narrative

[dancegender]

You guys, I wrote another fic. I had this idea while I was procrastinating in geometry. Hope you like it!

@astronic-fr (Not sure if you wanna be tagged, but you like the last one, so *shrug* just lmk if I should remove it)

I'll Be With You From Dawn Till Dusk (Baby I'm Right Here)

Thad trekked through the frozen terrain, kicking up chunks of snow as he went. He'd been free that Friday, so he decided to walk from the colony to the corpse spire, both to take some more resources to Uzi and to just hang out. At this point, he was used to the long commute, so he felt okay with leaving at night to make sure he arrived at a good time. He was being more cautious as of late, though; the new WDF had decided to start setting up traps surrounding the colony, and he didn't feel like getting caught in one.

He was coming up on a dilapidated building, one of the usual landmarks on his journey. As he approached, though, he thought he noticed an offputting sound, almost like a nervous mumbling. He thought his audio processors were faulty at first, but a quick scan of the area immediately proved otherwise. Spotting a hole in the street a few yards away, Thad approached, the mumbling getting louder. A dark shape sat next to the hole, sharply contrasting with the snow. Thad picked it up and sighed, turning the all-too-familiar pilot hat over in his hands.

"N and M's?" Thad peered into the hole, interrupting the babbling drone inside. N flinched with a yelp, frantically whipping his head upwards. He sighed upon seeing Thad, shoulders visibly relaxing.

"Thad! Oh, you have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

"Hey, man!" Thad tossed the hat down to N, who caught it and put it on. "You look a little stuck."

"Yeah, I'm not doing good." N chuckled nervously, banging the wall with his fist. "This pit's too deep for me to climb out, and too narrow for me to spread my wings and fly out. I've just been kinda stuck here."

"I could throw you a rope or something," Thad offered, scanning the area for some sort of anchor. His eyes snapped back to the hole when he heard N's voice, glitchy and distorted.

"Is-is there aNYTHing you-ou could USE?" N swayed, slumping over against the wall of the pit. A warning flashed on his visor, reading 'DANGER: High Temperature'.

Thad looked off to the horizon, swearing under his breath; the sun was coming up. He remembered Uzi telling him something about how easy it was for disassembly drones to overheat. Panic immediately started running through his processor. Without really thinking, Thad sprinted towards an abandoned car on the side of the road and popped the hood. Tearing the hood off its hinges, he sprinted back again and slammed the car hood down on top of the pit.

A few seconds passed, then a few minutes. Thad sat next to his makeshift shade, nervously listening for movement. Eventually, he could hear the faint sounds of a system reboot from underneath the tarnished metal.

"...Hello?" Thad loudly exhaled at the sound of N's voice, laughing weakly.

"Oh, thank Robo Jesus," Thad knocked on the car hood. "You feeling okay in there? Nearly lost you for a second."

"A little woozy... but I think I'm alright. That was some fast acting, Thad."

"Yeah, well I'm not a running back for nothing." Thad rummaged through his bag of supplies until he found what he was looking for: two of the canisters that N and V used to store extra oil. "Brace yourself, I'm gonna try something."

Thad used the canisters to prop the hood up in a ramp, opening facing away from the sun. He looked in, seeing N's face light up. He extended a hand toward Thad, and Thad took it, squeezing tightly.

"Looks like we'll have to wait until nightfall to get you outta there," Thad laid down on the snow facing N, propping himself up on his forearms. "Better get comfy."

They spent hours talking aimlessly about their respective lives. Uzi's new rail gun was coming along nicely; she was almost ready to start testing it out. Thad explained the basics of football strategy to N, who listened intently.

"That sounds pretty easy," he commented, studying the field plans Thad passed him.

"You'd probably be pretty good at it," Thad was tracing meaningless shapes into the snow with his fingers. "Strategy plays a huge role in football. You and V would have to be good at strategizing with the amount of hunting you do. Thad's eyes lit up.

"Ooh, that reminds me!" He rummaged through the supplies bag, pulling out a handheld device of some kind. He held it up to N. "Do you know what chess is?"

"Hm..." N brought his hand up to his chin, scratching it lightly. "I think I've heard of it before. No idea how to play, though."

"No problem, I can show you," Thad powered on the device, a perfectly set chessboard appearing on the screen. He handed it to N and began explaining the rules of chess.

They sat like that forever. Passing the chessboard back and forth, chatting - enjoying each other's company. It was nice; spending time with N was always nice. Thad wished he got to do it more often. That N wasn't so far away.

"Looks like the sun's setting," Thad squinted into the distance. "I should probably start looking for something we can use to get you out."

"I'll be looking forward to it," N paused for a second. "Hey... Thad?"

"Hm?" Thad looked at N through the gap between the oil canisters. N raised his hand, almost hesitantly, and held it slightly out. Thad moved to N's level, awkwardly interlocking their hands.

"Thank you for staying with me," There was a slight shake in N's voice as he spoke, eyes incredibly focused on the wall to his left.

"N, listen..." Thad mumbled, running his thumb over N's knuckles. "I don't think I could ever pass up a chance to hang out with you."

Getting N out of the hole was relatively easy; all it took was a sturdy anchor and some discarded cable. Once freed from confinement, N immediately wrapped Thad in the strongest hug he could muster. Thad felt himself shifting a little more of his weight into N than he normally would.

"C'mon, we should probably get to the spire," N released Thad, who staggered slightly at the loss of support. "I gotta let V know I'm still alive. D'you think you can make the walk, or should we fly over?"

Flying wasn't very high on Thad's transportation list. The last time he'd flown was when N brought him and Uzi back to the colony, and they'd had a pretty rough landing. Now, though, realizing just how tired he was starting to get, Thad was in no position to refuse.

The flight to the spire was actually pretty calming. It was easier when N wasn't trying to fly with two passengers. It definitely wasn't making Thad any less tired, though. Resting his head on top of N's, he felt a familiar jolt in his chin. He could tell what it was by the way N's breath hitched, but he was too drowsy to really care. He wasn't sure how much longer they'd be flying for, but he let himself drift off to sleep regardless.