The Most Important Gear

special 02

"hey kunikuz-"

you opened the door to his new office, being met with his head laid down on his desk, papers piled high on both sides of him. he was peacefully asleep, a graceful expression on his face rather than his sarcastic gaze. you walked over to where he sat, seeing messily written notes on his paper that his head was on top of. 

i guess he's taking a break from working... and i thought he didn't need to sleep

you got curious, wanting to see what he had been working on for the past 7 hours, waking up at 5am to start. when you peeked at the writing that was on it, the whole paper was filled with multiple cross-outs and corrections. it was clear that this was his rough draft, and he'd probably have to re-write it so it was comprehensible. you frowned at this, well... his arms don't really get tired. but i bet it's such tedious work that he finds boring.

after thinking for a moment, you had an idea and excitedly closed the door to his room, going to the tinkering room and grabbing some supplies from your shed as well as purchasing a few. when you got back, you drew up a blueprint and smiled at the finished product. i should theoretically be able to finish this by the time he gets up.

you worked at nearly superhuman pace, focused on nothing except this project. and besides, when it's the daytime or when he's at home, you can't exactly work on that project. after around 4 hours, it was completely finished. you checked the time, seeing that it was around 5pm now. hopefully by now he'd be awake so you could show him your new product. it wasn't by any means a ground-breaking discovery, but one that would make both of your lives a lot easier. in fact, it was modeled after the printing press.

when you walked back to his room, you knocked on the door gently. you heard some shuffling behind the door and then a small "come in."

you opened the door, holding the new invention behind your back with a grin on your face. "kuni! i made you a little something."

"oh? what is it," he asked you, curious by the item that you carried behind your back. you showed it to him, holding it front of you with a grin. his eyes lit up. "is that a miniature printing press?"

"not quite," you said. "this is a typewriter. you can just click on the corresponding keys and type out any words on some paper. you use this lever to indent your paper, and this one to move lines."

"this is quite handy," he said, rubbing his eyes as you brought it over and placed it in front of him.

you leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek, and he gave you one on the forehead in response. "i'm glad you like it!"

"wait," he said after placing paper inside of it. "did we have this already?!"

"no we didn't," you responded to his offended and dismayed expression. "i just made it. no need to worry."

he sighed, then looked at the typewriter. you got sad, "what's wrong?"

"i just... i feel bad that i took time out of your day to make this," he said with a blush, coughing and turning his head away so you couldn't fully see the flustered expression on his face. "i'm sure this took you a decent amount of work and effort... i'm thankful for it, of course, but i feel bad."

"it was my own choice," you smiled. "just don't piss me off. if you do, you'll be writing all your essays by hand again."

"noted," he said. "i won't take up any more of your time, so you can go back to whatever you were doing before. at this rate, it'll only take me a few minutes to finish."

"alright! oh yeah i almost forgot," you tossed over a small vile which contained water mixed with white dye. "correction ink. i got it from liyue. they have a lot of this over there!"

"thank you," he said again. "i'll focus on my work now."

"alright! i need to step out to the docks. i'm expecting a shipment."

"i should be finished by then," he said, already beginning to type with a concentrated expression on his face.

"i love you," you sweetly said, walking to the door.

"are you forgetting something?"

"oh right," you remembered. you playfully rolled your eyes as you walked back, leaned down, and kissed him on the lips. he reached a hand up and pressed the back of your head closer to him, deepening the kiss before you broke it. "oh come on, i can't fool around with you right now. i need to go, and you have work."

"fine," he grumbled, wanting to burn the essay that was being typed in front of him. "love you too."

you giggled, walking out and making your trip to the docks to pick up the shipment of some bitter inazuman tea as well as some few ores and metals for yourself. when you got back, you smelled the aroma of some fragrant soaps.

"kuni?"

"i'm in the bathroom," he called back. you walked over, seeing a neat bath waiting inside. he was inside, holding some fragrant glaze lily soap. "i decided to take the time and make this for you. you need some relaxing time yourself."

"oh you didn't have to," you said happily. "thank you so much!"

he took off your coat and grabbed your bag from you, "have fun."

"w-wait what about my clothes," you asked. "i can't just walk out of here undressed! and what about your paper?"

"just check the cabinets dumbass," he rolled his eyes, pecking your lips. "the essay only took me 10 minutes to finish thanks to your typewriter. i'm simply repaying you for your invention."

he didn't say anything more, closing the door so you could unwind in the bath, which was exactly what you needed.