#morganaawrites

He stood up straight and walked towards you before gently tapping your shoulder causing you to turn around, your (E/C) eyes stared at him before giving him a smile. "Hello" you said quietly, P nodded his own way of a hello. "Are you also staying at this hotel?" your voice soft and a little scratchy as if you didn't want to disturb the silence of the library. P nodded, he pointed to your ears making you blinked in confusion before realising what he meant, "Ah, yes. I can't hear, haven't been able to since I was 8" you explained to the puppet who watched you intently. "Are you...P? I've been told there was a special puppet around and I'm assuming you're him?" you asked, P as usual gave a silent nod, still looking at your ears. A voice called out for P, it was Eugenies. P bowed to you before making his way to his legion arm upgrader, you smiled as you faced back to the book in your hand.

Sometime passed and P made his way to the piano room again but found you with Miss Antonia, he watched as you were moving your hands in certain ways without opening your mouth and speaking while Antonia was chatting with you.

This interested P, you were moving your hands and fingers in certain ways towards your face and outwards. He walked towards you making you turn your head, you waved and noticed him staring at your hands, "I'm using sign language, it helps me communicate more easily without having to speak" you said, your voice hoarse which indicated that you didn't speak very often yet made the effort to explain it to him which stirred something in him. You, forcing yourself to use your voice in order for him to understand your movements made him feel a bit bad (though how is that possible? He was just a puppet after all). His eyebrows furrowed as he scooted closer to you and pointed to your hands then at him to then you, you blinked as Antonia chuckled "I think he wants to learn from you" she stated as you let out a small 'oh!'.

You smiled at him and excused yourself from Antonia and sat on the couch and waving your hand for P to come sit with you which he did. "I'll teach you some simple conversations" you said as you began to teach him things like 'Hello', 'How are you?', 'I'm feeling...', etc... It took him a while to move his hands in certain ways (especially his legion arm) he made a few mistakes but that only made you smile before correcting him. 'There you go! You did really well!' you signed and clapped, he hung his head a little as if getting embarrased and also feeling something stir in him more. 'Thank you...' he signed back, he enjoyed this and wanted to learn more but he saw the time and pointed at the clock making you turn your head, 'ah...probably should go to bed. Thank you for taking the time to learn with me P, stuff like this...means a lot' you signed and stood up along with P, 'Goodnight P' you signed before gently touching his arm making the cogs in his chest turn even more. With that, you walked off to bed. P watched you before putting his head down, he felt determined to learn more as he enjoyed speaking that way and with you no doubt.

He walked to Antonia on anything about sign language, she located him to a section of books that would help him and he set off to learn. At times through the days you would catch him reading intently, "P? What are you reading?" you said as he then quickly hid the book at his side and signed 'Nothing important. Also you don't need to talk, it's okay', you blinked 'oh? Have you been practising?' you chuckled as he stared at you, he WAS practising and he was doing it for you so you didn't feel obliged to use your voice and hurt your throat more.

As the days passed, you were still staying at the hotel and was sitting next to the fire with the hotels cat in your arms. During the days, you would converse with P via sign language and you noticed him getting better and better which made you have a sense of pride as you thought it was really sweet of him trying. Staring into the orange wisps of the fire you heard footsteps approach, turning your head you saw your puppet friend approach you as he sat next to you. 'Busy day?' you signed, 'Yes, many puppets, I can smell the oil...it stinks' he said, his face scrunching up. You could see him changing more and more every time he came back and with the biggest change of them all- was his hair. You really liked it like that and wanted to play with it, would P be okay with that? 'Hey, P...' he tilted his head at you, 'can I...play with your hair?' you signed to him making him sit up straight- he nodded a bit too enthusiastically for his liking but he liked all the little touches from you, despite not being able to hear you, you would sit next to him as he tried to play the piano with your hand on top of the instrument and feeling the vibrations with your eyes closed and your shoulder touching his. He loved moments like that.

You smiled and sat in front of him, his legs opened with you between them with your own legs at the side of his waist as you ran your fingers through his silky brown/blackish hair. His eyes immediatly closed as he felt his ergo stir inside him, he leaned closer to you pulling you closer by your waist making you blush, his head now into the crook your neck as you played with his hair. With becoming more human he could now smell so him being able to smell a soft almost flowery scent from you made him move closer into you, he pulled back after a few minutes and looked directly into your eyes for signing, 'You smell nice', ah... bless this puppet he was so direct that he forgot humans get a bit flustered at stuff like that- you included. Your face heated up more, 'Antonia was kind enough to lend me a perfume-', 'It suits you' he replied back as he went back to the position you two were in previously. You had a feeling he knew what he was doing sometimes. Cheeky thing.

With more days passing you and P would have fully fledged conversation in sign language, the only person who really understood was Antonia but she didn't take notice of your private conversations...sort of. She would catch phrases here and there. She smiled as she glanced at the two of you sitting on the floor signing away with a smile while P would stare, his gaze looking more lovingly as the more you delved into your story. P would glance at your hands and at the one that was closest to him, the more time he spent with you the more he wanted to be close to you and with this language you were speaking with just the two of you he felt so close to you. It was just him and you, conversing in your own little world and he enjoyed that.

Later one night you were looking out the window, getting to the Krat hotel was dangerous you remember almost being hit as you didn't hear puppets and it frustrated you. You can fight but you're no where near as good as P or even a stalker. You sighed but any feeling of despair was quickly washed away as you felt a familiar presence next you and knowing who it was you didn't bother to turn around and smiled as you felt a head on your shoulders. 'Hello you' you signed as P leaned closer to you, 'You aren't asleep yet? Are you okay?' he asked and you shook your head 'I'm...doing okay. The city has become so...isolating and depressing it's hard not to think about it how many lives have been lost and how lucky- or unlucky- I am to have to surived for so long.' You faced P, 'P...I know it's only been a few days but...I really care for you. I'd even call you a dear friend and even a...ahem, well, You've done a lot for the people of Krat and I just hope you know that you have my support no matter what. P, I...' you couldn't say it. The three words you wanted to say, they wouldn't come out, as if your fingers were frozen and refused to budge. You sighed, 'I should probably head to bed now...would you like to join me?' you asked shyly as P nodded not a moment after.

You were already in pj's and watched as P took his coat and shoes off now only in a plain shirt and pants (which were thankfully clean) and headed into the bed with you, laying next to you he gently moved his legion hand towards your face the cold finger tips grazing your ear making you shiver slightly as you close your eyes and lean closer into him, you could feel...beating? You could feel his heart beat making you smile as if it was like music to your touch. It wasn't long before you drifted off to sleep knowing P would alert you if anything were to happen.

Without your knowledge, P signed you something that you wouldn't be able to see but he meant every word of it. The three words that wouldn't come out of you either.

'I love you'

You felt a tap on your shoulder and turned around to see P, you greeted him with a smile "Hello, P! How are you?" He shrugged before pointing at the flowers in your hand, "oh? Ah, these are for Antonia as it's her brithday today and I wanted to give her a gift!" you explained causing P to tilted his head in confusion, you blinked before realising that he may not know what a birthday even was. "Right, so when humans are born it's whats known as their 'Birthday', y'know? Birth-Day? The day they were born. So every year, on the same day you were born on usually you get wished "Happy brithday!" or get gifts for that person and even a card! But even just wishing them a happy birthday is good enough, especially those who can't afford gifts, although making handmade gifts is just as nice!" you explained with a smile. P listened intently before looking down, "Do...puppets have birthdays?" you blinked, "well, sure! I don't see why not! Do you know when your birthday is?" you asked and got a headshake in response. You bit your lip and furrowed your eyebrows, "Hmm...well...how about this-" P's head looked up at you, "-since the day you walked into the hotel is now your birthday!" P frowned at this, that meant his 'birthday' had already passed and he wouldn't get gifts, especially from you.

You caught onto this and softly smiled, "Technically it has passed buuuuut...we can still celebrate it, it'll just be a few days late thats all!" you said as Polendina got back to you with rippons and a card before setting off back to the front desk.

P watched as you delicately put the flowers together within the ribbon and tightened it in a neat bow, you then wrote in the card and glanced at P before looking back at the card before writting in it again. You stepped back and let P read what you wrote, 'Happy birthday, Antonia! May you have a good day today and thank you for everything! Love from (Y/N) and P.' P glanced at you with a raise eyebrow making you giggle, "Thought it would be nice to involve you too" and with that you placed the card within the bouquet and took P's hand before making your way to Antonia.

"Hello you two" Antonia greeted with a smile, despite trying to keep a calm attitude you could clearly see Antonia getting weaker but you didn't say anything although it was sad to see.

"Morning, Antonia. Happy birthday to you! Me and P, with the help of Polendina, made you this!" you said, P glancing at you in slight confusion as he had nothing to do with it, you subtly winked at him before handing the bouquet to the lady who sheltered you all from the dangers of Krat. With a small chuckle she took the flowers from you and gazed softly at them, "Thank you, dearie. these are lovely." she said as she softly touched the petals, seeing this P felt something stir in him as it made him feel...warm. He liked seeing Antonia smile and loved it even more seeing you happy with what you made her. He wanted to do the same for you too, afterall you, like Antonia, immediately greeted him with open arms as soon as he entered the hotel.

You stayed with Antonia for a few more minutes before heading into the garden again with P, "see? Something as small as that can make someone feel special" you said as you smiled at the unpicked flowers, P looked at you as he wanted that for you too. He took a hold of your sleeve making you look at him in questions. "When is...your birthday?" he asked softly looking at you, you blinked "mine? Ah, its passed. It was a month ago but that's okay!" you played it off but P wasn't having it. If it was okay for him to have a belate birthday it was okay for you to have one too, he simply nodded as you two stayed in the garden a while longer.

P was heading out as he needed to head towards the Opera House and walked towards you to say his farewells, you were at the front desk writing something up and turned to P once he was close.

"Leaving now?" you asked softly, "Do be careful, I...hate that you need to do this but I get it" you sighed as P gently touched your arm comforting you, you smiled and wished him goodluck.

He WAS going to the Opera house but instead was looking for a gift for you, he knew you liked trinkets and even paints so thats what he was going to try and get you. It took him a while but he found what he thought was the perfect gifts for you: some paints as he noticed you loved to paint a few times and a locket that he found outside one of the shops (which was thankfully clean and not damaged). He felt something stir in him as he also felt a sense of pride in getting you something for your belate birthday and in all honesty, he didn't really care about getting a gift from you. He just wanted to see you smile.

Stepping into the hotel lobby he noticed you in one of the chairs reading a book, he stepped forward and gently tugged on your sleeve causing you to look up and greeted him with a smile. "P! You're back! But...you weren't out for long. Is everything okay?" you asked worryingly, P nodded as he took your hand and gently pulled you up the stairs and into one of the hotel rooms. Once in a room he sat you down on the bed and sat next you, you tilted your head to him "is everything okay, P?" you asked again before he shielded your eyes, "oh?" you felt something be placed in your hand, feeling his hand pull away you glanced at what he placed in your palm. It was a wrapped up box. "A gift? Oh you shouldn't have P" you smiled before undoing the ribbon. You gasped as you saw the objects within the box, "Oh, P...is this my birthday gift?" you asked as you looked at him softly, he put his head down a little feeling a bit shy.

The name felt so foreign to you now you were surprised that you remembered it but then again...how could you forget the boy who first approached you and wanted to be your friend when you were a child yourself along with his other friend who's name you can no longer remember.

But the boy you did remember was the boy you had fell in love with as you grew older in the Monad House, "Romeo..." you whispered to yourself as you walked into the burning streets, you turned your head and saw a few puppets with some setting things alight and some just walking. Taking a deep breath you scanned the area, you wanted to avoid as much conflict as you could, which wasn't good as a stalker but you were really running low on medical supplies so it was best for you to avoid any fights at the moment.

"I'll be there soon, Romeo. Please be there..." you muttered to yourself, you really went on a whim to try and find an old friend with just some rumour about how The King of Puppets was actually controlled by someone on the inside. You shook your head, knowing what type of person Romeo was you had a feeling that when things went down with puppets he would've helped those in need, afterall he was so interested on becoming a Stalker you weren't surpised by his heroics, especially since the death of his friend he was determind more than ever to help those in need...but you then remembered that he took ill from the disease that was spreading and after that you don't know what happened to him as you since you graduated from the Monad House you were immediately taken in by other, older Stalkers and went to do jobs as they were impressed with your skills, but you wondered if your skills were even worth it by then. Afterall, you could've protected and helped your friend who was sick instead of fighting puppets and you regretted that.

With a huff you managed to make it towards the Opera House, however Krat had a different plan for you as you walked near the fountain in the front garden you heard thumps and vibrations, you turned your head behind you and saw what seemed to be a clown Puppet. 'where the hell did that come from?!' you thought to yourself, you hated the look of that thing and tried to make a run for it but this damn thing decided it was a good idea to literally throw a punch at you, its arm extending as it give you a good thwack causing your body to go flying into one of the pillars of the Opera house. You groaned as you slowly got up, "Uugh...you piece of-" you gasped as it went for another punch, its stupid face grinning at you as you just managed to dodge the fist of this puppet before it broke even more of your damn bones. With your back hurting you tried to think quick, would it better to run into the Opera House or try to fight this thing? "Ah, fuck this..." you hissed and ran towards the doors of the building, stumbling on the wet pathway as it began to rain, you heard it wind up its arm again and pelted across the yard. 'Shit, shit, shit-!' was all you could think of as you grabbed the handles on the door and swung it open before quickly shutting it, you jumped back as you heard the door being punched. You panted as you waited for it to try and bust the door open and yet...nothing.

You let out a low sigh before turning around and seeing how big this place actually was, "How am i going to find you..." you mumbled, not looking forward to having to fight whatevers in this place. You groaned as you were feeling yourself become more exhausted but you had to do it...for him. If he was even alive.

Going up the stairs in the main hallway you were interested in the door in front of you, you could see golden doors at the end of the room with almost all the floor gone apart from a wooden plank. "That looks important maybe-" you were cut off by a sudden pain in your side, you quickly turned and saw a female puppet jump back as it had gave you a good slash wound. Blood dripped as you walked backwards to the room with the golden doors, the female puppet walking closer along with the same looking ones crawling down the pillars, you felt truly fucked. Looking at the puppets closing in on you, you realised you were outmatched especially in your state with a now opened wound you decided it was best to run and hope to God there wasn't more of these things in the room with the golden doors. You carefully walked across the plank and once that was over you ran towards the door and opened them before slamming them shut, you slid to the ground all you wanted to do was find your friend, a good friend that you cherished.

"Tch, all this on hoping to find the guy I like...he might not even recognise me at all or even be here!" you sighed before standing up and looking around the area, it was huge and it must've been a theater or a dance hall. Your footsteps echoing through the empty room as you looked around, having your back turned you grumbled "Nothing...but at least theres no puppets-", a loud thud happend with the ground shaking causing you to almost fall. Oh, how irony likes to show itself at the most convenient times.

You gulped as you slowly turned around and almost fell back as - what you assumed - was a giant fucking puppet and not only just any puppet...was THIS the King of Puppets? It crouched to your level as it tilted it's head staring at you making you gulp, "H-hey... I'm just passing through-" you tried to speak but it come out quieter and shaky than you intended, you had to play your cards right otherwise you'll end up swatted on the ground like a fly from a fly swatter. "I don't want trouble...I'm looking for a friend and i heard that he might be here and-" you rambled, "-and...I just really need to find him..." you frowned. The giant puppet tilted its head as it adjusted its crown, you heard the sound of cogs working before seeing the chest of thing open. Smoke poured out and as it cleared up your eyes widened, it couldn't be could it? What was in the giant puppet was another puppet except it looked like your friend...Romeo.

"I..Romeo? Is that you...?" you asked the puppet who was entangled in the chest of the bigger puppet its head slowly lifted up as its eyes looked up at you, they were dull but you could see a small tint green in them and you noticed his hair was also a faded blonde but no doubt, that was him. The one you've been looking for. There was a thud as you fell to your knees, eyes watering up as you finally found your friend the one you've been searching for for years. The puppet tilted it's head as it then began to pull its arms out of the sockets - to which you assumed is how it could take control of the bigger puppet.

You watched as it- or rather he- jumped out of the bigger puppet and made his way towards you your heart pounding, anything could happen even if it was really Romeo he was still a puppet and so far a lot of puppets have attacked you but to be honest...you didn't care. Even if you died by this puppets hand at least you got to see his face one more time, "what- what happened, Romeo? H-How did you get like this?" you asked, "I...I thought you died!" you shouted with tears filling up more in your eyes. Romeo looked down at you before crouching to your level, "...(Y/N)" he spoke, his voice almost robot like but it sounded like him. Your eyes widened, "y-you remember me? But it's been so long and with you being like this I was sure you would've forgotten about me..." you said earning a head shake from the puppet, "You and Carlo...were not forgotten. I wouldn't have forgotten you two with Carlo being my best friend and you.." he paused as he looked at your tear stained cheeks before slowly moving his hand to your cheek and carefully wiped away the trail of tears from your face which caused your lip to quiver. You couldn't help it as you threw yourself to his chest and sobbed, you felt cold hands wrap around you.

"I'm here, (Y/N)...I'm trying to fix things please help me do so...I can protect you and make sure you're safe too." Romeo said as he gently stroked your hair, "fix things? Can't you just stop all this since you have power over the puppets?" you asked, wiping your checks dry. Romeo shook his head, "There's something- or should I say someone- in the way, I have to try and talk to them but if they don't listen then...I'll have to kill them." he said looking at you in the eyes, "You're here now...at least let us talk about things, I've- I've missed you which shouldn't be possible as, you know...but I kept thinking about you especially at the times when I felt alone..." he admitted, making you blush a little from embarresment "ah...Romeo. Yes, I'm here and I won't leave you...not after all this time." You looked at him as he placed his cold hand against your cheek causing you to lean into his touch, despite what's happened to him he's still the friend you loved and you would be damned to let him out of your grasp now.

Trying to dodge the puppets and even people who tried to pull a fast one on you, you managed to finally get to the hotel that was supposedly a safe place. Upon entering you were enriched with how big this place was and even how clean it was despite the random luggage bags that were sprawled out in certain places within the hotel, probably from the sudden panic everyone would've been in during the attacks, poor sods.

Walking in you were greeted by an elegant looking lady in blue, she smiled and approached you "Hello, are you here for refuge?" she spoke, her voice as soft as she looked. You nodded,

"Y-yes...I heard that this was pretty much the only safe place in Krat, I hope I'm not barging in on anything I can leave if it-", she shook her head, "No, no! Please stay, Miss Antonia kept this hotel open so people could stay in. You're more than welcome" she gave a small smile. You softly chuckled and thanked her before taking a seat near what appeared to be the library, you noticed a woman in a wheelchair gazing at the painting in front of her, you greeted her as she did to and turns out that was thee Miss Antonia that Sophia mentioned.

With the greetings done you decided to take a look at the books which you weren't really invested in but it was something to pass the time with, you also noticed the piano, you yourself never learned how to play but you do remember your mother playing one a few times when she had the time.

About to sit down you heard the door at the back of the hotel open and footsteps approach, you heard the soft voice of Sophia talking with the person who just arrived, you peeked out from the library and noticed a person that was in blue attire and what you noticed mostly was the metal arm they had, 'A prosthethic?' you wondered before looking up at the back of the head of this person. Their hair was between black and brown you couldn't tell but the person turned around you swore your heart stopped a second, they were beautiful and certainly looked out of place wihtin the broken city of Krat. Upon seeing the two finish their conversation you saw Sophia point her head towards the library with a smile, the person, assuming they were a guy, looked towards the library making you jump and rush back inside the room, your face heating up out of embarassment and you went to sit down with the book you had picked.

Hearing foot steps come in you slowly peeked at the new person in the room, he looked at you and his stare was almost...puppet like? He was a bit twitchy and he just seemed odd. The boy approached you silently and tilted his head at you, was he greeting you? Was he mute? You decided to start the conversation, "Ah...hi? I'm (Y/N), I've just arrived and your name is?", he blinked silently before quietly saying "...P" "P? Thats...an unusual name, is it a nickname?" you asked as he just shrugged, "Wait...don't tell me you've been going out there?!" you exclaimed suddenly as you noticed the sword he had that was hooked to his belt, he nodded "Need...to do...a job", his monotone voice replied, "help...Krat" he said and became silent after. You blinked, "then you're extremely brave P, it's scary out there...everywhere you turn it's just violence and death..." you frowned as you spoke, "I can't even say 'I want to go home' because I don't really have a home to go to" you

continued, P just stayed quiet but you could tell he was listening very intently as he slowly sat down next you on the couch, "Home...what is home?" he asked softly, looking directly at you.

You frowned, what was home? Some people say home is where the heart is but for you your heart is just...lost. You never really had a stable life as you only had your mother who passed away when you were young and thus having you be moved around to different boarding schools which wasn't fun because being the constant newcomer had made you out to be an easy target. So no, you had no idea what the true meaning of 'home' is.

Hearing P tilted his head again, you turned to him and softly smiled before quietly saying, "I don't know...I wish i did but I don't, sorry P" you gave an apologetic smile as the boy next you blinked as you continued, "People say home is with the people you're surrounded with could be a family member, a friend or even a lover, thats one definition of home for some and for others it can be a physical building ha ha..." you chuckled dryly before going quiet. "There's...no need to be scared. I'm...going to fix this." you heard the boy next you speak up, "then maybe...you can find a place...or person to call home." he contiued making you softly smile, that was sweet of him even if you didn't fully believe him at least he was trying to make you feel better. "Thank you, P. But please be careful when you go out there...you seem like a good person and it would be a shame for you to get hurt", you said as he nodded. You two went silent as you looked through your book, noticing P moving closer and by closer it was his upper half while his lower half was still planted in the same spot, you snickered as you patted the side next you inviting him to sit next you. He took the invite and sat next you, you noticed his body felt firm and slightly cold but deciding not to comment you smiled at him. "Do you enjoy reading? I'm not really a big fan but it's a nice thing to pass the time with" you spoke, as P shook his head "I don't understand a lot of it...", "Oh? like you can't read?" you asked, "I can but...some words I don't understand..." he muttered, you gave a small smile "well...maybe I can help? Teach you the words you're not familiar with?" you offered, P looked down before looking up at you and gave you a small smile,

Yet he should be angry at you for reviving him but he wasn't...in fact he felt lonely? He was feeling all sorts of things, he looked up at you the man who revived him and with now more strength in him he moved his hand towards your face. Your skin was soft despite the few blemishes you had, his thumb moved over your lips smudging them a little with soot and that was when your face grew hot.

"Ah...Romeo?" you looked at him your own hand on his wrist, "everything okay?" you gave him such soft eyes and he felt something in him stir. "I am...unsure of what to do..." he decided to tell you all that had happened a year ago. He felt safe enough to do so.

You blinked with your mouth open a little in awe, "Holy shit...so that big guy-" you pointed to the giant runned down puppet next to you two, "-is also you?" Romeo nodded. "I tried...to protect people... tried to give warning to...Carlo..." he spoke, looking down and despite not being able to show emotion due to the limits of his puppet face you could clearly tell he was saddened at failed plan. "Oh, Romeo... that was your friend, yeah? And the puppet who had his face was the one who killed you?" you recollected and frowned, "You found peace and...I brought you back to this mess. I'm sorry Romeo. I-I can take the ergo and-" you were cut off by cold fingers pressed against your lips, "No...you didn't know and did you say it has been a year? What does Krat look like now?" He asked. "It's...sad. Almost abandoned apart from a few puppets." you replied and Romeo nodded, "Can I...stay with you? Until I feel ready to leave again?" he looked up at you and you nodded, "Yeah, of course..." you smiled as you helped him up. He leaned against you, despite being a guy yourself Romeo was so much taller than you and as he leaned on you with his arm around you as your face heated up. You two walked out of the back of the stage, Romeo looked up at the sky it was grey and slightly raining, he looked down at you a mere human helping him navigate through Krat a year later.

-Timeskip-

"Huh...so if I turn it like this then I can..." you mumbled to yourself as you screwed a piece of puppet closed, you had been working on this one for a while and it was stubborn to get fixed. You felt a tug and looked up to see your friend, Romeo. "Are you finished?" he asked, he had a lot more energy due to absorbing more ergo and you managed to clean him up and place a new face on him- the exact one but now complete.

"I might stop now, this one isn't behaving..." you chuckled before standing up and wrapping your arms around your companion, "heat please!" you asked as Romeo chuckled before running his gears and heating himself up on low heat. "I feel like you keep me around just for my heat" "I do not! It's just that my workshop gets so cold!", "and whos idea was it to set up one near the isle?" you went quiet and pouted your lips, "well...shaddup!" you pulled away but were pulled back into the puppets arm and laughed. It had been a good while since you two were together and you've been developing some feelings for the puppet for some time now and unknown to you...so did Romeo.

He felt more alive with you as if he was human, if only he could be like the puppet that had Carlos face- being able to become human so he could really feel you instead of using his heat source within him to warm you up. He wanted to be human for you.

He looked down at you and you up at him, "You're handsome..." he compliment making you blink in surprise, face immediatly heating, "Shhh, stop teasing-" "what if I wasn't?" you pulled away as you got flustered, "Tch wouldn't you prefer a Juliet, Romeo?" you joked as he shook his head, "a Juliet? Doesn't matter, you've made me feel free again and I..." he trailed off as you stared at him before gaining the courage to lean up and giving him a soft kiss on the cheek,

"I'll leave you to your thoughts, Romeo. You might want to go cool off before you overheat!" you laughed and sat back at your desk not noticing the soft gaze that your puppet companion was giving you. And your thoughts raced, 'holy shit, can't believe I did that' your face reddened as you stared at the puppet on the desk to avoid your face being seen.

You didn't want to get your hopes up of him liking you, he was still getting adjusted to his new way of living and you didn't want him to rush into anything. You had been working on the broken puppet that was sprawled out on the table in front of you for hours and Romeo was getting impatient, he walked over to you "Stop working, it's late now" he said as you hummed in response "in a sec...". he narrowed his eyes at you before suddenly picking you up causing you to yelp. "R-Romeo! God, I hate when you do that-" "Bed. now." he interrupted and walked out of your workshop and went to your bedroom, you shared a bed as you didn't feel the need for separate rooms and although he didn't need to sleep he felt better watching over you just in case. You huffed as he placed you on the soft matteress and joined you, "You're a nightmare, y'know?" "I know" his voice had a hint of teasing, "But I'm not letting you pull another full night awake again. You almost chewed my head off due to the lack of sleep one time" he said making you huff and fall back onto the pillows, "it was one time AND I said I was sorry! Geez..." you closed your eyes and felt the weight next you deepen, you opened your eyes and found the blonde puppet looking down at you with a look you couldn't decipher.

"Everything okay, tin-man?" you asked jokingly, he was quiet before speaking up "(Y/N)...would it be wrong to..." he suddenly felt shy, "to...kiss you?" This caused you to widen your eyes a bit and face heat up, "O-oh? W-Where did this come from?" you stuttered as the puppet didn't stop staring at you. "I...there's a sudden urge within me and...it shouldn't be possible and yet I'm not surprised at this at all. I feel very strongly about you (Y/N)...I'm...sorry-" he got up to leave but you jumped up and grabbed his arm, "hey now...you didn't hear my answer..." you said shyly, the blonde puppet turned to you and waited for your response, "and to answer you: no, it wouldn't be wrong to kiss me...I'd like that but fair warning I've never kissed anyone before" you admitted feeling even more shy. This caused the man next to you to chuckle and sit closer, "so I'm your first?" he asked, hinting a bit of cockiness in his tone making you roll your eyes "Yes, yes you are and don't let that get to your head sir" "No promises!" you snorted before going quiet. You felt cold fingers gently touch your skin and pull your head up making you close your eyes, you felt way to flustered for this but then it melted away as you felt colf lips against yours. Despite not being able to move you could tell Romeo was trying to be soft and gentle with you, you leaned in and deepened the kiss the best you could before pulling away and hiding your face into his chest making the taller male chuckle and wrap his arms around you, using one to stroke your hair "well look at you! Kissing puppets now!" he teased making you gently punch him in the chest. "Shush otherwise your'e sleeping on the floor" you joked.

You gulped as you saw a swinging chandelier, "Are you fucking kidding me? One hit and I'm screwed..." you cursed to yourself as you watched the giant fire basket swing side to side, you took a deep breath before getting ready and once it swung to the left you bolted just in time but as you did the one wooden pole that helped you cross snapped in half and broke into the hole. You stared at it, "Well...no going back." you said as you turned to the double doors in front of you plated with gold. You walked towards it pushed the heavy doors and you were met with...a sad disaster.

What would've been a beautiful ballroom of somesort was instead a burnt down ruined stage, you frowned at this something clearly went on long ago judging by how rotten the wooden had gotten but what you also noticed was a body propped up against a giant rundown puppet- or you hoped it was runned down. It had been a year or so when the puppet frenzied calmed down but that didn't stop the few puppets around Krat from attempting to hurt anything that passed them just like yourself.

With very careful steps, at first you throught you were approaching a dead human but no...it was a puppet. It looked badly burnt with half it's face broken off, it had blonde hair and despite the state it was in you could tell it- or he you should say- was quite a handsome puppet. Almost prince like. You shook your head, now was not the time to admire the puppet, you saw his head down and eye closed and crouched to his level. "You look like you went through hell..." you mumbled to yourself, now despite knowing how dangerous these things can be you couldn't help but feel sorry for them as you did stumble upon a few puppets that were friendly and even helped repair a few. This one really interested you but it was a gamble- was this puppet friendly or mad crazed like so many others? You decided to take the risk.

You walked around the puppet and analyzed it, didn't seem TOO bad...yeah he was burnt to shit but none of his internal scraps had been broken. Now you had a power that not many people knew about, you could give ergo to puppets and understand them, you can't remember much but it started to develope later in your teens- it was probably why you felt so intune with puppets you could LITERALLY feel their 'souls' give or take.

Using your handkerchief that was tied around your belt you dusted the soot off the puppet and began to rummaged through your bag, you only had a few tools with you and tighened some lose parts on the puppet next to you. You kneeled in front of him and moved some of his hair away from his face, he really was a handsome fellow but it made you sad at the state of his face maybe you could repair it? If he hasn't killed you yet.

With a deep breath you placed your hand where your heart was, ergo began to twist around your hand before you placed it against the chest of the puppet. You waited. and waited. and waited.

Nothing. You furrowed your eyebrows as usually this would work within seconds, guess the poor thing really was damaged. You began to tinker around him a little longer.

Romeos P.O.V

Something in you had awaken, how? Gepettos puppet had freed you so why did you feel you had awaken from a deep slumber? You heard ruffling and breathing...? You opened your good eye, it was blurry at first but you noticed a moving figure in front of you, talking to itself...a human? Your eyesight cleared up as you were faced into a chest, the person you saw the chest of was bent a little over you looking at your back as you felt a few tugs. You didn't dare to move. What if it was that bastard Gepetto again?Wasn't being brought back to life in a puppet not good enough? He had to be brought back again? No...he can't go through with that...the responsiblitlies...the pain...the desperation. If he could cry he would, he couldn't go back to that. He watched as the person in front of him moved back to look into their bag, Romeo took note of a soft looking man in front of him. It was a human but thankfully not the one he hated but how did you bring him back? He lost his ergo so how could you...were you special? Maybe. He watched you in curiosity as you mumbled to yourself about him not working. The young man in front of you had soft (H/C) and piercing (E/C) eyes, and despite looking like a cat that ran through a hedge head first you were pretty nice looking to him.

The man in front of you turned his gaze to you before jumping following up with a little yelp, "You're...awake? It worked!" you watched the man puff in pride, "Ah...My names (Y/N). Do you have one...?" he asked, you slowly lifted your head a little but it immediately went back down- you had little to no energy in you right now apart from your eye. "I-I-I....R-R-" you tried to speak but it came out so statically and robotic, the guy in front of you smiled softly with encouragement, "You don't have to tell me now, I'm guessing you went through a lot judging by how burnt you are" the man spoke, were you really that damaged? "R-R...Rom..eo" You managed to get out, the person smiled at that. "Well, Romeo. It's nice to meet you, I've only given you enough ergo to start up hence why you're only able to move barely. Of course I can take it out if you no longer wish to live" the man gave you a choice, something you didn't get at first.

You glanced at the one in front of you before trying to lift your arm towards the persons face- you struggled and before your arm fell, the stranger- who himself called (Y/N)- grabbed it in time. He felt soft and warm...you hadn't felt that in a really long time. It was nice.

Your P.O.V

You took a hold of the puppets- now named Romeo- hand into yours, You felt pity and it was clear as day he was conflicted on whether staying alive or not. "How about this- You stay here and I'll gather more ergo which hopefully will give you more strength with it and you can decide later, hm? Of course you can ask me to piss off" you laughed dryly. The puppet stared at you making you feel a little flustered, you weren't used to such things and what made it worse was how Romeo had a hold of your fingers and was staring at them, "Ahem, well...I should be off to get some more ergo, yes? Don't worry, I'll come back" you whispered but felt the tightened grip on your fingers, "N-NO...no...fragile..." Romeo spoke, you frowned. Fragile? Was he scared for you? "Romeo, If you want to even lift your head up I'll have to give you more ergo and I can only give you so much from myself" you tried to reason with the puppet. Romeo was confliced but softly nodded. He let go and you stood up, "as to show my promise I'll leave this with you!" you then gave him a necklace, "it belonged to a dear friend of mine...it means a lot and I'm putting it in your possession till I come back!" You looked down at him. "I'll come back...promise" and with that you walked off to hopefully find enough ergo for your new friend.