Glass Heart Casket [Kaede, Sora]

As Sora came back, Kaede had a little smug look on her face as she continued to munch on her last bit of wings. When Sora glanced at her and asked what she did, Kaede found herself sitting up a little bit straighter. She wasn't proud of much -- mainly because she wasn't good at much of anything -- but, when it came to tech, it was the one thing she took any semblance of pride in.

"I fixed it!"

Upon saying that, the smugness quickly faded, replaced with a big, wide smile, bouncing a little on the couch as well. She had already seen how much more responsive and less janky the movements with the sticks had been, and she wanted to hear what he thought.

Sora blinked, staring calmly at Kaede. She… was kind of cute when she had a tad show of confidence and pride. That was a good sign; she must have been feeling comfortable enough to show part of herself here. He smiled, “Thanks.”

Sora grabbed his slice of pizza and shoved three bites into his mouth and gamer-leaned back into the game. It was like he was using a brand new controller again. The drift was gone and a small smile relaxed on his features while he played. Soon enough, he finished the game and beat the boss, that stupid drift no longer causing him issues with aiming. He saved the game and set the controller down.

“You good at fixing things?”

Kaede finished her wings, a big, proud smile on her face as she savored the last bit of them, before quickly getting up and going to grab a slice of pizza herself. Sitting back down, she watched Sora continue the level with stars in her eyes, able to see the increased performance through something as small as cleaning and fixing the analog stick. Eventually, he beat the boss he had struggled with before, and she clapped in celebration, the end of a pizza crust sticking out of her mouth with a muffled "Hooray!" coming from her.

As she finished the slice, she looked at him, before looking down at the couch.

"...I wouldn't really say that. I'm not good at much of anything. It was a pretty easy fix, that's all. Just cleaned out the bearing and made sure it wasn't sticking."

Sora eyed Kaede, her excitement toward him finishing the game being expressed in such an adorable manner causing the man to freeze for a moment, his calm expression staying on her until she answered his question. Gesturing to the controller and shaking his head no, “Two minutes and that was fixed. That’s a skill.”

Sora picked up his slice and shoveled the rest in less than a minute. Since only half of the pizza was left, that wasn’t hard. He picked up the controller again and set it in her lap, gesturing her to play. “Start a new one for yourself,” he said, not wanting his own save destroyed. He got up, grabbed another beer, and sat back down.

She looked at the controller, offering a small shrug. It was a skill, by definition, but...it wasn't really all that impressive. It wasn't like she repaired a controller or console that was completely and entirely FUBAR -- in her head, it was a really simple fix, and, really, anyone could do it. As the now-fixed controller was set in her lap, she looked at Sora with stars in her eyes as he told her that she could start a new save.

Wiping her hands off, she was quick to pick it up and start working on a new save. It was difficult to get adjusted to the controls, since she was starting from scratch as opposed to Sora letting her play on his file, but, she eventually got the hang of it. She'd take occasional drinks of her water and soda until it ran out, taking her time in exploring the levels and beating enemies, until she finally got to the first boss. It took her a few attempts, and she got visibly upset with it, but, in time, she beat it.

In response, she leapt to her feet with a big smile.

"I beat it, I beat it!"

Sora relaxed while she enjoyed playing the game from start. His mind went elsewhere, usually his training with the Vandenreich in order to become a cop for the City of Lights. Occasionally, he took another drink of beer, refilled both of their drinks when they got low, and gave her a quick “nice job” when she got further on a level. Otherwise, the man was quiet and let his mind wander while she played.

When she finally completed the match against the first big boss, Sora was pulled from his thoughtful trance and looked to her with a small smile. He found her excitement cute as hell. Sora held up his beer like giving a toast, “Nicely done.”

Sora took checked the time. It wasn't that late, but it was around nine thirty. "When do you sleep?" he asked, knowing he had stuff to do in the morning.

While she didn't have a beer bottle to raise, she'd already finished it a bit ago, she lifted her cup of soda in response, a big smile on her face before she finished the rest of it and set the controller down next to her. As Sora asked that question though, Kaede was quick to check the time herself. It wasn't super late, but, the guy probably had work or something in the morning and needed to be up early.

"Um...whenever, really. I don't really have a consistent sleep schedule. Sometimes I'm up pretty late tinkering with stuff, but, I don't have anything on me right now. W-Well, unless you were all of a sudden fine with me dismantling random things around your place, but, you'd definitely lose your deposit if I did."

Kaede slowly started to reach for her bag, her voice lowering.

"If you've got somethin' to do in the morning, I-I can leave."

“On the bed, in my room… Think you can fix my old cell. Dropped the damn thing,” Sora asked, gesturing back to the door. Once Kaede got up, Sora spread his whole body over the couch and rolled to face the back. “Enjoy the bed.” Stuffing a pillow under his arm, Sora closed his eyes and immediately started trying to go to sleep. “I wake up and your on the floor, you’ll wake in an ice bath.”

Kaede could do her best to measure how serious he was in that moment. He sounded it, but he always sounded serious. However, he could never do that to someone, so he wouldn’t likely. He just hoped he made her use the bed he had already made up for her. His room was practically spotless.

She wanted him to try and fix his old phone? Well, depending on how old it was, she could at least give it a try. She gave a half-hearted nod and a shrug, then got up...only to turn around as she heard him shift position. That little...! Kaede's cheeks puffed out, and she grumbled in very clear irritation.

I oughta throw the phone at you, jerk!

Growling quietly, she folded her arms over her chest, before huffing as she turned around and walked to his bedroom. She couldn't deny it was nice, and it was really clean, not a speck of dirt or dust to be found. But, then she looked at the center of the bed...and saw an old phone. So, he wasn't lying about the phone. Still, the jerk tricked her into getting off the couch. Maybe she'd modify his phone so that it'd always make a really loud and annoying notification.

She didn't really think about it for long. The food, the adrenaline from her game session and earlier events in the night, and the overall night itself was finally catching up to her. She grumpily sat down on the bed, turning on the light, and quietly started to fuss with the device, taking it apart to clear out the charging port and speakers. She wanted to see if there were any problems with the volume buttons, but she didn't have the stuff needed to do something like that.

It took her longer than it had with the controller, but Kaede made sure that the phone was put back together before she eventually curled up in the bed. Instead of wrapping a blanket around herself, she rolled it up, and wrapped her arms and legs around it. Comfortable, and made her feel less alone. With everything that had happened, it didn't take her long to fall asleep. She had originally intended to try and sneak out while he slept, but, the bed was super comfy and warm right now...maybe just for a little bit...

When Sora woke up in the morning, it took him a minute to remember why he was on the couch. Once his groggy self recalled the previous night, he got up and walked to his bedroom door, cracking his back while he did. He peeked in to see if she was still there and saw her coiled around the pillows and blankets. He let out a quiet sigh of relief and wrote a note for her: ‘Keep the phone you fixed. I know the number, here’s mine: XXX-XXX-XXXX. Don’t sleep on the streets. Door’s open.’

Leaving that for her to find by taping it on her backpack, Sora quietly got himself ready and left his apartment to start his day at work. Even if the man had guests, the man had a job to do, training to complete, and exams to pass…