Etho squinted at the tiny piece of metal in front of him. Wires crossed his desk and he tried to make sense of Doc's task. "This doesn't make sense.." he grumbled as he carefully adjusted a red wire.

"Etho!!" Grian's voice appeared out of nowhere and scared him half to death, making him drop the red wire onto his electricity curcuit.

"Snap.." he breathed out and looked up, scanning the bland white room for Grian. "I'm over here!!" He hesitantly called out, hoping to not scare the hell out of his co-workers.

"Over here where?" Grian's voice echoed out of a mob of co-workers.

Etho frowned trying to spot his friend among the unfamiliar faces. He stood up, towering above most of his colleagues and smiled as he spotted his winged friend.

He walked out from behind his desk laughed slightly as he saw his friend frantically turning around, apologizing profusely to Etho's co-workers.

"I'm here." Etho spoke and grabbed Grian's arm, who shrieked as he got dragged out of the colleague mob. "Hey."

"Oh, Etho! Thanks for saving me." Grian laughed lightly and looked up at his android friend.

"No worries. So uh, what's up?" Etho leaned on his desk and awkwardly scratched his neck.

"'s gonna ask where doc is." Grian shrugged and silently bit his nail, only his face showing signs of him wanting to continue talking. "but I think you can help me as well."

Etho frowned, but stayed silent. As Grian only looked up at him and didn't continue, Etho sighed and led him to the break room. He hoped Doc wouldn't be mad that he took his break early. Welp. He's done it now, so there's only consequences ahead.

"What's up?" Etho started as they sat down at one of the empty tables. The factory was big, Grian was obviously nervous, but Etho couldn't leave during work hours. He would if he could to calm his winged friend down. "Do you seek the knowledge of the redstone?" he joked and Grian blinked up at him.

"N-no, not today. Tomorrow maybe, but not today. I'm here for.." He stopped and adjusted the ring on his finger. "let's call it advice."

Etho's breathing spiked and he looked around. His colleagues went on with their routine driven life. No one heard. Etho forcefully tore his mind away from unreasonably anxious thoughts and took a sharp breath. He smiled. He hoped it looked genuine. "What's up?"

"You know a thing or two about uh.." Grian stopped and chuckled to himself. "two things actually." he looked up at Etho and swallowed. "the first topic is easy. Model 00-12 hands don't leave fingerprints, right?" he asked, flexing the metal joints of his right hand.

"Yes. They indeed don't leave fingerprints." Etho eyed Grian's metal hand. As if he has such an old model! "How'd you hijack this one?" he laughed.

"Got it when I was like, 7. It's old and I refused to get it changed when they forced us to. Police never realized!" Grian smiled, his eyes sparkling mischievously, but his smile spoke of innocence.

Etho felt terribly confused. He didn't know what to think of this story, so he left it uncommented and lightly shook his head. "And what's the second one?" he asked carefully, regretting his words and hoping that it wouldn't be as incriminating. A large stone formed in his stomach.

"You know a thing or two about uh.." Grian stopped mid sentence and tucked a strand of dirty blond hair behind his ear. "About uh, love,,, right??" he asked sheepishly.

Etho did not expect that. Etho definitely didn't expect that. He opened his mouth and closed it again right after a few times. He raised his finger. He put it down again. His mind was blank. "I guess???" were the only words he could muster up the courage for.

Grian smiled. The winged hybrid looked down, his eyes shimmering lovestruck. Etho blinked a few times and then smiled gently, the stone in his stomach disappeared and a strange feeling of nostalgia appeared in its place. His feelings suddenly felt a lot more heavy and he chuckled. "Maybe I do." he breathed out.

"Could you help me out?" Grian shook his head and looked up at Etho again. "I'm not sure if I love a certain someone or not..." his voice trailed off and his smile told of the most human feeling you will ever feel, love.

Etho looked up, the white ceiling suddenly full of colour and memories. He didn't know where to begin. "When you catch yourself thinking of them instead of doing your tasks, when, suddenly, all your favorite songs only remind you of them." He took a small breath. "When you feel like they're the personified feeling of gentleness or perfection. When they're prettier than anyone you've ever seen, when.." his voice trailed off as he saw Grian look up at him with wide eyes.

"I guess..." Grian smiled gently. "I guess this'll give me some outline." he stood up, gripping the edge of the table with his hands. "Thanks, Etho. You're a real friend, man."

"It's nothing." Etho waved it off and grinned. "I'll see you on Friday, G."

"Oh! Yeah, for sure! Say hi to Doc for me, will ya?" He smiled and waved as he disappeared into a mass of coworkers, leaving behind a few feathers.

Etho stared after him and remained in the break room a little bit longer, the lingering feeling of nostalgia and gentleness taking up all the space his mind had to offer.