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Nox has no idea what's come over Chase these days. After the initial awe of having him in his immediate vicinity following a daring rescue from Sugar Spring's library's lost and found room, Chase has been an absolute menace.
He's stolen an entire doll house from the child (Prunella, part of his brain reminds him) to fashion it into a home suitable for him. He's 'borrowed' anything shiny he could find inside the house and gave it all to Nox. It's nice, being fawned upon on and spoiled on by Chase. Nox would never admit that though, but it doesn't stop the warmth in his chest from growing into an all-consuming inferno.
All his previous worries about his size have been washed away by Chase's obvious adoration, and Nox wants to hold his stupid giant face and pepper him with kisses for it. (He doesn't do that, of course. He has an image to maintain.)
Adoration aside, Chase is a menace, and he's a silly menace (he's also Nox's menace but he tries not to think too deeply about that). Just a few days ago, when Nox was happily minding his business exploring Chase's desk, the unsettling feeling of being watched consumed him. It took him a good few minutes to notice Chase's giant brown eyes peering over the ledge of the desk and staring at him with honey in his gaze. Nox doesn't melt at all from the intensity of his gaze, no, not at all. (His knees buckle a little, but that's no one's business.)
"What is it?" Nox had asked with an injured little sniff to hide the affection threatening to burst out from him. He had to cross his arms in the hopes that his heart wouldn't burst from his chest and fly straight over to Chase.
Chase giggled. "Nothing," he said, but Nox narrowed his eyes. Now that he was so small and Chase was so big, the mischievous twinkle in his eyes was magnified ten-fold.
Nox didn't think it was nothing then and he still doesn't think it's nothing now.
Which is why, when he hears the door creak open and Chase slipping in mysteriously, his first reaction is to run the other way.
He tries to be as quiet as possible, but the time in the deserted lost and found room has erased the fact he's made of metal from his mind. It's only when he hears clonk, clonk, clonk that he realises with a sinking heart he's given himself away.
"Buddy…" Chase sings and Nox curses under his breath as he goes to hide behind the pencil pots dotted around the desk. "I know you're there!"
Chase's words don't stop Buddy from trying to hide but his endeavours don't last him even one short minute.
Chase strides over to the desk and scoops Nox up with his hands. He brings Nox closer to his face and gives him a smooch on the head. "Good morning," he says, his voice light and airy with the joy of seeing Nox.
Nox's apprehension fades a little at the sight. He's so so weak to Chase, it's embarrassing. He crosses his arms. "It's the afternoon."
Chase laughs. He sees through the barbs on Nox's words immediately. "It is, so good afternoon to you too, Buddy. I just wanted to say 'good morning' to you as well."
Chase's logic sometimes takes Nox for a spin, like it's doing now. "So, you should say that in the morning."
Chase hums in thought, and, distracted by Chase's everything, Nox doesn't notice the finger that comes up to pet him. He folds immediately under the gentle ministrations and settles into a sitting position in the centre of Chase's hand. Somewhere distantly in his mind, he notes how he's right in the palm of Chase's hand and he has to fight the smile that appears on his face. How fitting. He bets Chase has got him wrapped around his little finger too.
He's broken out of his reverie by Chase's next sentence, which dooms him to an instant living-death as a red-hot blush explodes across his face. (Can metal blush? Nox doesn't know, but this is Chase and Chase tends to break all the established rules of physics anyways.)
"I want to say 'good morning' to you every morning," Chase says. There's a small pout on his lips that Nox wants to kiss away. He roots himself and takes a few deep breaths. Chase is going to be the death of him. He's glad he doesn't have a human heart. That wouldn't have lasted a moment with Chase around.
"I… I see."
"I want to say 'good afternoon' to you too, and 'good night' every night when we go to sleep," Chase continues without a care in the world. He doesn't seem to notice the rapidly melting puddle of metal in his palms. Or maybe he does and he pretends not to notice. The menace.
It's too much. Nox covers his face when he catches sight of Chase's pleased smile. "Stop…" he whispers. It's a hollow word. Nox loves it. He wants Chase to continue muttering sweet nothings to him for the rest of time.
Chase seems to take pity on him and sets him back down on the table. His fingers give Nox a last pet before they withdraw and Chase follows it up with one last kiss on Nox's cheek.
"I—" Nox stammers and tries to funnel some heat into the glare he's sending Chase. Chase is unaffected and Nox has to admit defeat. Clonk, clonk, clonk, his footsteps sound as he retreats back into the relative safety of the pencil pots.
The loaded interaction untethers Nox to his usual alertness, and a few hours later, metaphorical heart still wrapped in the warm fuzziness that came with Chase's kisses, Nox is out in the open again. He's lazing around, staring out the window in front of Chase's desk.
There must be a tree nearby that he can't see, because birds are flying back and forth, back and forth. Nox is mesmerised by the outside he can see. Back in the lost and found room, he could only see slits of the blue sky from the thin rectangular windows at the top of the room. He couldn't see much else. The only outside he could see were those in the storybooks Chase pulled him into but he was always so aware of its fabricated nature then too.
This— this outside that he's able to drink in is all real. The sun is real, the wind is real, the birds are real. Chase is real, and Nox's heart swells at the thought.
His guard is completely dismantled by Chase earlier and it takes him a moment to notice the strange horseshoe-shaped item hovering just inches above him. He sees Chase's hand holding the thing and he immediately makes the connection that Chase must be behind him. But before he can open his mouth to ask Chase what it is or what he thinks he's doing, he feels a strange, potent pull that drags him from his lazy position on the desk and into the air.
"What—!"
Clank! he hears when his back hits the thing. A magnet, he realises belatedly. Shock and indignance courses through his body. He wrenches his gaze away from the magnet and fixes it onto the culprit.
"Chase!"
Chase's eyes are wide with shock too, like he isn't the one to pull Nox away from his idle musings. "Holy—! I can't believe it worked!"
Nox's eyes narrow, unimpressed, and he tries to cross his arms to show Chase just that but it's a little hard when the magnet is pulling on all of him. He struggles a little to fight the pull but it's useless.
A stream of giggles bubble out of Chase and it cools his annoyance just a little. "Chase…" Nox says. There's a warning in the low timbre of his voice and Chase quickly adjusts his hold on the magnet so that Nox is at least upright and not hovering face-down towards the desk.
"Hehe… hi… I didn't know that it would work."
Nox harrumphs. It does nothing to wipe the dopey smile off Chase's face though. "Right, but you didn't have to test it like that."
Chase laughs again and Nox wishes he doesn't. He's trying to be mad at him, and Chase laughing is very counterproductive to his anger.
"Sorry," he says but Nox can tell he's not one teeny bit sorry, "but I can't help it if you're that attracted to me!"
Nox's face falls slack at the pun and it takes his brain several turns to compute the joke. He struggles against the magnet renew with a fresh vigour. "You— urgh!"
Like before, his struggles get him nowhere. He's completely helpless, stuck on the magnet and bewitched by Chase's magnetic smile. His anger dies completely when Chase plants another kiss on him and Nox rolls his eyes as he surrenders himself to his fate.
Oh well. This fate isn't too bad, he can live with it.