i hope you are loved today. i hope someone treats you kindly. i hope life is gentle to you, i hope you know you are cared for, i hope you know you are loved. you are loved. you are so so loved. i hope you can feel the sun on your face today. i hope, for even the briefest moment, that it is easy. you are loved. i love you. i love you
Maintenance & Cuddles
Starlight - Billy Kid X Reader
He just loves his alone time with you; so much that he even considered general maintenance as a fun activity to do together.
-
"Man, you want some alone time with me so badly you forgot about my burgers." You said with a smile.
"Ah! Right! S-sorry~" He chuckled sheepishly.
"Don't worry, they're probably not back yet anyway, so I'm sure you'll have plenty of alone time with me back at yours, you sap."
tags~ fluff, established relationship, tickling, construct x human
y/n~ gender neutral, sniper by occupation, ether element, ler
w/c~ 4.9k
a/n~ work has been kicking my ass lately but i still managed to finish this fluffy lil number here 💜
"What do you mean I don't get to come with you for burgers?" You whined, throwing yourself onto the couch of the Cunning Hares' home.
"Cuz this commission calls for us to send our best, which would be you two." Nekomata told you while pointing to you and your partner Billy.
"Tsk, if Nicole were here…" You mumbled into the cushions.
"She would agree with me and send ya anyway! Billy just got a sick new upgrade, and you're one of the most dangerous snipers on the interknot." She countered.
"And why can't we send Anby??" Billy raised, trying to help you out a little.
You all turned to Anby to see her sitting quietly by the door, not paying any attention at all until she heard her name. "Mmm… Burger…" Was all she said in the softest voice imaginable, still absently staring around the room.
"Do you really want me to tear a soul like that away from her burgers?" Nekomata said pointedly.
"Ugh, fine." You groaned. "You tried babe; thank you for your efforts to try and get us out of this one."
"We're stuck with all the work once again." Billy sighed. "We're just too good."
"Apparently." You chuckled, sitting yourself upright on the couch. "Which hollow does this commission take place in again? You've got the file, I hope."
"It's in the Ballet Twins Hollow." She answered, simultaneously sending you a message with all the details.
"Oh lovely. Great memories there." You groaned. "And the commission type?"
"Resource recovery, so not the worst!" Nekomata said, tying to make it sound better than it was. "Just a couple ethereals got in the way of a transport and now they're guarding the abandoned resources… no biggie, right?"
You could see Billy light up a bit from where you sat, clearly loving the sudden title assigned to the two of you. His joy was your joy, a long sigh escaping you as you crossed your legs and looked over at Anby.
"You owe me two burgers when you guys come back." You then requested. "With a side of fries, untouched by the seagulls."
Anby smiled. "Easy enough. I've got you covered."
"Oh so all it takes to get you to agree is some sweet talk huh?" Nekomata huffed with crossed arms.
"Yeah, and you need to be good at it for it to work." You told her with a cheeky glance.
"Oooo." Billy gasped. "My baby has some sass today."
"Hey! Are you sayin' I'm bad at sweet talk?!"
"Well I didn't say you were good, silly~" You teased.
"Ugh! Go have fun in the hollow while we go get some burgers at the port." She huffed. "C'mon Anby, let's go!"
You waved the girls off as they left the room, leaving you alone with Billy once again. With another sigh and a bit of a chuckle, you looked back up at Billy and shook your head.
"It's business over burgers for us, it seems." You said with a shrug.
"It sucks, but duty calls. We are the best after all." He said confidently, posing coolly for a moment.
"Yes, yes we are, silly." You laughed. "Now help me up so we can get our guns and go. I still haven't seen you in action in the hollows since your upgrades."
"Ooo, you're right, you haven't." He said as he took your hands and pulled you to your feet. "You're gonna love the new gun I have."
"C'mon, show me!"
The two of you ran off to his room where he safely stored all this most precious belongings; you noticed a much newer case leaning against the wall at the foot of his bed. He walked towards that instead of the usual smaller case that contained his dual pistols, placing it across his bed and opening it. Inside was a beautiful, massive gun that you would damn well consider a cannon with how large it was. Billy effortlessly clipped it onto his left arm, connecting it to his internals as he carried it perched at his wrist with little to no effort despite the awkward positioning.
"What is that??" You asked as you approached him, placing a hand on the gun attachment and gently tracing it down to his wrist.
"That is my new baby~" He hummed, proudly flexing how easily he could maneuver it.
"Oh she's gorgeous." You said, entirely fascinated with how he wielded the weapon. "I can't wait to see you in action with her."
"Aw, c'mon, you're gonna make me blush if you keep staring at me with those starry eyes of yours~!" Billy hummed, rubbing the back of his head bashfully.
"Well how can I not?? My tall and handsome construct boyfriend just upgraded to a sick lookin' arm canon for fighting in hollows. You are the definition of attractive to me." You told him as you leaned into his chest.
"You cannot distract me with such sweet words if we're up against an ethereal. I will miss my shot, starlight." He hummed, sliding his red wrapped arm around your waist to pull you in closer to him.
"Don't worry, if you miss, I won't." You chuckled, resting your forearms on his shoulders. "I haven't missed a shot yet, sweetheart."
The two of you started laughing together, amused by your own silly banter. You really were made for each other; two absolute nerds made for shameless adoration.
"You guys are so in love it's sickening!" Nekomata's voice rang out across the hideout.
"Go get your damn burgers already!" You hollered back.
Still laughing, Billy gave you a little electric shock if a kiss to bring your attention back to him as your menacing companions finally left for those burgers. You snuck in a few extra smooches for yourself before you separated your body from his in order to gather your own things for the commission. Gun in hand, you clipped a bag of bullets to your hip while Billy grabbed one of his pistols to take care of situations that wouldn't require a literal cannon. All that was left was to grab your helmet that sat in the corner on his dresser so you could ride off to do some business.
"Ready to go, babe?" Billy asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be." You nodded with a smile.
"Perfect. Let's ride~"
~
The ride to the Ballet Twins Towers wasn't too long on Billy's new motorcycle, allowing you to get straight to work with the resource recovery missing you had been given. Your construct lover hid your helmet in a compartment at the back of his bike before parking in a secluded area just inside the perimeter of the hollow to keep it hidden from potential raiders— as if anyone could crack the advanced code before he was alerted and could put it into recall mode. That bike was more than just a bike, it was an extension of him.
"Okay. The target isn't too far away from our entry point according to the carrot data. Do you think we can make this a quick operation and be in and out?" You asked, looking up at hm expectantly.
"Hah, easy. I don't see too many ethereals, so we can probably find the supply location within half an hour." He nodded. "Are you gonna take the high ground again and be my eagle eyes?"
"You bet. Wanna give me a boost up the side of this building?" You asked with a grin.
Billy nodded and put his hands together to give you a place to step off of, boosting you up into the air and onto the roof of the building behind you. When you had your footing, you adjusted your communicator in your ear and gave him a thumbs up.
"Thanks babe~" You said, your voice coming through clear in his head.
"Anything for you~"" He hummed. "How's the sound? Am I coming through nice 'n clear for you?"
"It's like you're up here with me." You chuckled, "Do not abuse the comms this time. If you fluster me, I might actually miss my shot too." pointing at him from above.
"I promiiiise." He sighed, putting that thought out of his mind that he totally wasn't already thinking about. "I'll just do it later… or right now maybe, since there's nothing pressing going on at the moment."
"Billy…" You huffed, listening to how his tone had slowly gotten smoother and much more teasing as he spoke. "You are so lucky I love you so so much."
"Heheh, I love you too~" He hummed.
"Let's go. Lock in before I fall off this building and back into your arms." You told him, unable to hide your silly smile.
He blew you a cheeky kiss and made a heart with his hands at you, waiting for you to catch it and make a heart back at him before finally setting off into the hollow together. The two of you were the dangerously in love duo; any ethereal would be at risk with the two of you on the job. You may not look very imposing blowing kisses at each other on the battlefield, but you were just as lethal as that love. That supply run would be found and back on it's delivery route in no time.
Billy ran with excellent speed, and you kept pace as you leapt from rooftop to rooftop, neither of you falling more than a couple feet behind the other before you were caught up again. You directed him with confidence, informing him of shifts in the ether or of any approaching ethereals as you went, allowing him to blast their core's to bits with his pistol before they could get in his way or become a threat. Times like this where your proof of how perfect you were together really made it's point; the hollows were nothing but a playground to you.
After weaving through the hollow following your carrot data for a few minutes or so, you finally found the supply location. Between several fallen buildings was a fully loaded truck with crates full of resources stacked on the back of it, two massive ethereals guarding it where it had been abandoned in a corner. You saw it first from your higher vantage point and radioed in to Billy to get him to stop.
"Wait! It's just two of them." You said, slowly walking the edge of the fallen building. "Don't go in there just yet. I can take them out from up here in one shot. No mess, no alerting other ethereals."
Billy tip toed between the cracks in the fallen walls to get a look at the ethereal situation, making noise of discomfort when he saw them.
"Are you sure? It would take a few hits from me at least." He asked, just to make sure.
"Yeah. I'm hoping the one shot won't attract and nearby enemies. "You replied. "Gonna use the bigger bullets for this one, babe."
You crept a bit closer along the side of the fallen building, dropping down onto the side of a balcony where you could brace yourself and your beloved gun against the wall. Loading up one of your special ether rounds, you pressed yourself into the wall and dug into a crack in the side of the concrete balcony. Looking down your sight, you watched the two huge ethereals roam around quite close to each other. The damn things were gonna make this nice and easy for you.
"Come on you stupid things. Get a liiittle bit closer to each other." You mumbled to yourself. "… Perfect."
Billy chuckled to himself when he heard your mumblings over the comms, leaning into a crumbled wall to watch you. "Get 'em, babe."
His confident encouragement came in clear on your end, earning a smirk from you as you kept your cool for a stable shot. When the two ethereals were about to pass each other, you pulled the trigger and jolted back a bit, the concrete wall behind you cracking from the force of the bullet flying through the air, that glimmering trail of ether energy streaking behind it as it pierced right through the cores of both ethereals. The excess ether energy made them shriek and begin to disintegrate, the impact of your bullet's tuned explosion speeding up the process and wiping them out completely.
"Don't worry, I got 'em." You finally replied.
"… I forgot to mute myself, didn't I?"
"Mmhmm. You sure did." You chuckled. "It's all good babe. That was cute."
"O-oops~" He hummed with a sheepish chuckle. "Hey, at least the coast is clear now! You were right, that one shot didn't attract any—" As he spoke, a loud roar cut him off before he could finish. "… ethereals."
"Shit. They must've been nearby. I'm so sorry—"
"No no, don't worry. I've got it this time, starlight. I've been wanting to show off for ages." He told you with confidence as he stepped out into the small clearing between the buildings, readily awaiting the onslaught of ethereals.
"Show off??"
The question in your tone was answered quite quickly when the first wave of lower ranking ethereals came running at him. Billy waited until they were close enough before he spun and kicked with nimble ease, that massive gun of his having a hidden blade on either end of it that he would elbow or slash a stray ethereal with, easily keeping himself out of harms way. You watched him in awe, your jaw dropping when that huge gun attachment split open and blasted out a laser, wiping the ethereals out in seconds. You were entirely amazed, almost missing the incoming second wave of monsters running out from between the fallen buildings.
"Billy, another wave incoming!" You called.
"On it!"
As the second wave spilled in, you witnessed an incredible feature of his that wiped the battlefield clean. Billy whistled sharply, then the sound of a revving engine suddenly filled your ears. His bike skidded out from between the fallen buildings, having responded to him and locked onto his location. An absolutely insane maneuver of kicking his bike into the crowd of ethereals quickly followed it's arrival, Billy pointing his arm at them and unleashing a railgun grade blast when he recalled his bike again, bracing against it to counter the blast. He then hopped onto his bike and started to ride through the ethereals, ramming and slamming them from all directions until he decided to pop up on his front tire for a brief moment before slamming his bike back down into the ground, driving the back wheel into the gravel and doing a burnout so vicious the ethereals were hit with shrapnel and jet flames alike until they had all but disintegrated into dust of ether. Billy himself glowed a brilliant red with jets of flame firing from his back to release excess energy and cool down, long spikes shooting out from near the vents in the final moment for quite a showy effect. They retracted back inside when he dismounted his bike, settling down and losing some of the intense glow of combat that his body gave off.
"Oh. My. God." You finally spoke, staring at him in awe. He winked at you making a heart with his hands again. "You're officially way cooler than me now, that's not fair!"
Heheh, I've been wanting to show you that for a while now~" He laughed. "Now get down here so I can see that cute shocked expression of yours up close; and check the supply. We still have to finish the job."
"Mmm, you've got your priorities sorted I see." You huffed, already jumping down from balcony to balcony.
"And you've got yours. You can't stop staring at me again." He pointed out, failing to hide his chuckle.
"You wanted me to stare at you."
"Yeah~"
Laughing together, you approached him where he leaned against his bike and fit yourself right into his open arms, his ands settling on your waist as he held you close. Standing on your toes, you gave him a sweet kiss that made him swoon in an exaggerated manner before he leaned down and gave you many little shock kisses so gentle you couldn't help but giggle, his bike nearly tipping over from how foolish you were being.
"You were awesome; my brave Starlight Knight." You praised. "I had no idea how cool that attachment is. You're practically a walking railgun! Sexy, but deadly."
"Oh you were absolutely made for loving constructs. I'm so happy to be the lucky construct that gets your love~" He sighed.
"I'm just as lucky to have met you. Now, let me call the client before the ethereals start complaining that we get a room again." You joked, turning to lean your back against him.
Using a special frequency you called the channel link you were given and contacted the client, uploading your carrot data to them so they could return to their supplies. Turns out the commissioner had hidden near the edges of the hollow, so they made it over quite quick to retrieve the supplies they had once lost to ethereals, a small team in tow to help verify the inventory. The leader of the team approached you and Billy while his team hauled off the resources, transferring the commission fee to you with a tap of their phone.
"Please doin' business with ya." You nodded.
"Thank you. I've never seen ethereals that claim resources and guard them like that." They said, turning to go help the team. "I'll be sure to commission you in the future to protect our transports!"
You waved as they ran off, watching the pile of goods get driven off to where it should have gone in the first place. When you were alone again, you let out a deep sigh and turned to look up at Billy.
"You're still so damn cool. I need to up my cool factor." You mumbled.
"Oh shush. You're max level cool to me, babe!" He told you, giving you a tight hug. "Hey! Now that we're done, did you wanna go back to your place or mine? Both are equally as far away."
"Man, you want some alone time with me so badly you forgot about my burgers." You said with a smile.
"Ah! Right! S-sorry~" He chuckled sheepishly.
"Don't worry, they're probably not back yet anyway, so I'm sure you'll have plenty of alone time with me back at yours, you sap."
"You're right, you're right. I should do some cleaning and maintenance on my guns anyway! And on myself. Rust buildup be damned." He said.
"Sounds like we have a plan then. Shall we ride?" You encouraged, pulling your helmet out of the back compartment.
"We shall."
Hopping back on his bike, the two of you sped off out of the hollow and back to home base, happy to have finished the job as quickly as you did. When you returned, your prediction that the others weren't back yet was true, leaving the place all to yourselves. You could continue to have your moment alone in peace as well as get some much needed maintenance done.
"Mind if I use some of your cleaning gear? I should really do some tlc for my own gun too." You asked.
"Of course! What's mine is yours." he nodded.
"Hell yeah, thanks!"
Happy to have some downtime, the two of you went into his room and set up on his bed, both of you starting to clean and repair your respective guns with the surplus of care supplies Billy had. Luckily you didn't need to do too much work on your sniper rifle, only needing to brush off some residual ether dust and clean your scope; maybe a bit of lubricant for the trigger and other parts. Billy on the other hand had a much more complex cleaning job to do, and you couldn't help but start to watch him go about his routine.
He kept the gun attached, engaging it to split open and reveal the inner workings, this time without blasting an explosive beam at anything. The intricacies of it fascinated you, watching as he wiped off soot and ether dust from inside and around the barrel before he made sure all the moving parts were well lubed for easy movement and to prevent jamming. While he finished up cleaning around the base of the barrel, he noticed you staring again and turned to face you.
"You're staring again babe~" He teased, finally unlatching the gun from his arm and closing the casing around the barrel again.
"Sorry, sorry~. I can't help it, your upgrades are just so… so damn awesome. If you ever need help maintaining anything please let me know. It's gotta be annoying to do all on your own." You offered.
"You're the first one I'd go to, so of course." he laughed. "Actually, if you wanna help me out, you could help me clean the hard to reach rust on my back? You don't have to, but because you expressed interest…"
"An excuse to put my hands on you? Hell yeah~" You hummed, putting your gun down on the floor to free up your hands.
"Now who's being a cheeky little menace?" He chuckled, standing up to put his artillery back in their respective cases. Once locked away, he shrugged off his jacket and took off his scarf, tossing it over the back of a chair before turning back to see you gazing at him with a smirk.
"Now I'm definitely staring." You purred, looking him up and down with emphasis.
A bright blush flooded Billy's expression as all his lighting turned pink, giving his head a shake. "Yeah, you are a menace." He said, returning to the bed with a small rust cleaning kit in hand.
"What~? I can't be excited to help take care of my love?" You said innocently, accepting the kit from him.
"Sometimes I'm just amazed at how much love you have for me. I'd trust you with anything." He told you. "Just be careful. I'm still sensitive, even after the upgrades."
"Oh? You kept that feature hey?" You said with intrigue.
"Of course! I'd never get rid of or dull the one thing that makes me feel so close to you." He replied, sitting down on his bed with his back facing you.
"You are so sweet I'm going to melt." You sighed, scooting closer to him. "You sure you're gonna be able to tolerate this? I can see quite a bit of buildup on your neck and stuff."
"Pff, yeah."
"Okay mister, hold still then." You told him.
You took some of the rust gel in the kit and a small steel wool brush, standing on your knees to reach the back of his neck and start cleaning up the slight buildup of rust and ether dust that had gotten stuck. He twitched a bit, but kept quiet as you cleaned away the hard to reach rust. However, when you got a little closer to the sides and base of his neck, he let slip a snort, lifting his shoulders a bit.
"Billy, hun, if you do that I can't reach the rust." You chastised sweetly.
"S-sorry. It's starting to t-tickle a bit." He admitted.
"Mmm, is that so?" You mused, running the little brush down his neck and back until you reached his side, polishing away some more rust and earning a little yelp from him. "I thought you said you'd be fine, babe~"
"O-okahahay maybe I was wrohohong about that!"
"You don't say." You chuckled. "As adorable as you are right now, did you wanna turn the sensitivity down so you could be more comfortable?"
"A-actually, it's been permanently modified to be stuck on a relatively high setting whenever you're nearby and I'm not engaged in active combat. I couldn't turn it down if I wanted to."
You paused, leaning over his shoulder to look at him. "Are you for real?"
He nodded in response, almost shyly. A smile broke out on your face and kissed him on his cheek a couple times, starting to laugh a bit yourself.
"You're freakin' adorable, you know that right?" You chuckled. "Stuck with high sensitivity and you still asked me to be the one to clean off your rust. Who's the silly now~?"
"H-hey I thought it was a great idea! Don't tease m-mehehe, h-hey! You menace— ah!"
You started to gently brush his side again, catching him off guard enough to pull him down onto his bed with ease. Now you were able to throw your leg over him and straddle his hips, leaning over him as you started to scrub away at rust that was entirely reachable on his own, but he let you do so anyway. Now a giggling mess, Billy fought to not throw you off of him, covering his face as he squirmed about.
You had made a song of his laughter by the time you got him completely rust free, having scrubbed down the little crevices of his chest and torso until he shined. The poor bot began to sputter and stutter his laughter when you started to wipe off the residue of the rust cleaner with a microfiber cloth, all his energy going into controlling himself; so much that he actually slipped into low power mode, entirely unable to fight back now as he giggled and snorted at your mercy.
"O-okahay stahap– l-low power mode! N-not fair!" He managed to stutter out between giggles.
"Ah— shit I'm so sorry hun!" You apologized, lifting the rag from his body. "It's a good thing I got the last of the rust cleaner wiped ff. I got so lost in listening to your laughter that I forgot how tired and warn you might be after such a busy day. I'm sorry for teasing you so much my love~"
"Aha, heh… I did sorta ask for it…" He chuckled sheepishly, his lighting visibly dimming quite a bit.
"Billy, you silly fool. Where's your charger?" You asked, beginning to fret a bit as you put the cleaning kit down on the floor.
"Big cord next to bed. Probably under it." He told you, still recovering from the tingles that zapped his sensors.
You got off of him and crouched down on the floor by his bed, finding the thick cord he mentioned laying hidden under the bed, just as he said.
"Got it. Scoot up and lay on your side, silly." You said, gesturing for him to move up on his bed.
He nodded and used the last of his energy to scoot up on his bed, pointing to a spot on his back to slot the oddly shaped cord into. You noted the spot and wired him in, his joints and body finally relaxing now that he wasn't consuming power. He turned his head a bit to look at you, bright pink hearts taking up the center of his eye displays.
"Thanks for keeping me powered on~" He hummed. "A full reboot sucks."
"I can't believe I almost tickled you into shutting down. I'm sorry hunnnn." You sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed. "You really are so darn adorable though; having a permanently elevated sensitivity when in close proximity to me. You're the silliest Billy."
"Best personal feature I have by far." He said.
"If you say so, silly." You chuckled. "At least you're rust free now!"
"Yes, thank you my love~. Now c'mere, cuddling is the next step in the after battle routine." He said, reaching his arm back to loop around you and pull you over him into his arms, chest to chest. "I'll charge faster if you stay in my arms."
"Is that so? Well, wake me when you're fully charged then. I don't mind taking and afternoon nap." You hummed.
"How about I wake you up when the others get back with the burgers? You didn't forget now did you~?" He teased.
"Ah, I did." You admitted. "Your laughter just filled me so well I totally forgot."
"Oh shush you." He huffed, hugging you tightly. "Let's get some good rest and wake up to a well deserved meal."
"Heh, that I can do." You nodded, draping an arm over his side.
It didn't take long for both of you to drift off into a sweet afternoon nap, much deserved after everything that occurred today. You curled up against his chest, warmed by his core and the few blankets that had bunched up between you. What a comforting way to wind down with your incredible construct lover, wrapped in his arms that could feel every slight squeeze and shift from you.
By the time the others had returned from their little food trip, you were completely knocked out. Anby was the one to poke her head into Billy's room to let you know that they were back and the food was here, but when she saw you two sleeping so peacefully she simply couldn't bring herself to disturb you. You just looked so cute sleeping there together. The burger already needed to be reheated anyway, so what's a few extra hours more without being warmed?
You deserved that peace and quiet you had found with each other.
