Arken POV

Surprisingly is wasn't hard to calm Cayde down. It took five minutes for me to try to process what the hell was going on, five minutes of him trying to explain it through his breakdown, to no avail. About half an hour to try to persuade him to have a shower, which I had recently found out was a relaxation thing for EXO's, and so far it had been about 15 minutes of waiting for him to finish up in there. Just a day ago he was the cockiest hunter and/or EXO that you could find, but something had happened. And I wasn't sure that I wanted to know what was going on, but if I wasn't there for him, who would be?

I had taken Cayde into shower-room in the tower that had been closed for maintenance, yet there it was completely abandoned, which was good because privacy was just what he needed. I heard the shower finally stop and a little while later Cayde walked out, nothing on him except for a loose towel weaved effortlessly around his waist, he was whistling a tune I couldn't recognise, yet that was the least of my attention. My optics widened at the sight of him, as they explored every curve and crevice of his muscular body. I was unsure if he was built like that or it was somehow gained from physical activity, but either way it was pure eye candy. The longer I stared the faster my robotic heart pounded, and the harder it was to look away. He turned to face me, giving me his usual grin which showed that he was back to normal. He had abs, extremely defined against his torso, which was coloured as if a metal-blue paint bomb exploded right in front of him. But there was something else, something that my optics instantly shot down to the second I noticed it. Amongst the smooth fabric of his towel.

"You have junk?!" I exclaimed, hands covering my mouth as I realised that my thoughts had become words. He began to laugh, which relieved my embarrassment almost entirely.

Cayde placed his hands on his hips, as if he was teasing me about how attractive he was. Although he wouldn't know how I felt about him, there was no way right?

"Of course I do! All EXO's do." He chuckled, slumping down next to me in the changing rooms, which was filled with steam from his long shower.

He was sitting close to me. Well, closer then he usually had in the past few days... maybe he thought that we had broken some kind of wall between us? Like we had progressed to the next stage in our friendship from the hug that we had? Our shoulders were pretty much touching, and trust me I'm not complaining about that. We still had to talk about what was going on with him though, I decided it was best to just get it over with.

"So, do you want to..." I began, waiting for him to finish so that we were talking about the same thing. He looked at me for a few seconds, trying to process what I meant.

"You're right." He said bluntly. "We should compare sizes." He said happily and reached down under his towel. I grabbed his arms before he went any further, our faces barely inches away from one another. It would be so easy to just lean in and.... No, not now. My face was already burning just from the thought.

"Nonononono. I mean talk about why you were upset earlier." I corrected him. He stared into my optics for a little while, almost lovingly. Before he snapped out of it and nodded his head slightly.

I sat back, though still resting one hand on his knee. Luckily he didn't mind, he sat back as well, manspreading with one of his muscular arms laying across my shoulders. I swear to the traveller he is trying to tease me. Either that or he is just a very, very open guardian.

His smile faded more and more as he explained to me what was going on. As he told me everything I needed to know. And what Zavala had said to him, at that part I needed to rub his leg so that he wouldn't have another breakdown, and I could tell that he was on the verge of one.

"I'm really sorry." I said to comfort him, as he stared down the wall, lost in his own thought.

"You don't need to be sorry Ark, I'm just happy you're here with me." He said, his voice deep and calming. He shifted his gaze back onto me, giving me the hint of a smile to show that he was ok.

"I'm sorry for whatever I did as well. I would say I didn't mean to, but, well, it's kind of my persona." He said with a smile, looking away guiltily.

"What do you mean? You didn't do anything." I said, digging my mind to recall the few yet memorable memories I had shared with the hunter-vanguard.

"But you chose to be a Warlock..." He said, slightly confused on how I didn't understand.

"Cayde, I didn't choose Warlock because of you. You're awesome! Any guardian would be lucky to have you as their vanguard." I said with a smile. He looked back at me, smiling as well as the guilt washed away from him. He really thought that I hated him for being himself. The vanguard was just too hard on himself.

"Heh," he chuckled lightly. "thanks, really, I appreciate it."

"No problemo." I said with a laugh, trying to match his natural slur and charm. He laughed back.

We sat silent for a little while after that, content with each other's company. I could feel the heat radiating off of his exposed body, as his heart whirled at a steady rhythm almost opposite to mine. I turned and looked him in the his optics, pulsing with a clairvoyant light.

I needed to tell him how I felt, there would be no better time to do this.

"Cayde." I began. Rendering all the courage I could to look him in the optics.

"Hmm?" He responded, neck cocking slightly to give me his attention.

"I... I... uh..." I tried to say. I have feelings for you, just say it!

"You.... What?" He asked softly.

I closed my eyes, maybe it would be easier that way. I have feelings for you, I have feelings for you. I repeated frantically in my head. I sucked in a breath of air and forced myself to calm down.

"I have f-" I began but something was stopping me from speaking, but it wasn't me. I opened my optics and saw Cayde's face pressed against mine, shushing me with a deep kiss. I kissed back, savouring the taste of his metal mouth as I felt his arms wrap around my back, as mine gently stroked his sides. It seemed like an eternity that was gone in an instant, like I was locked away in a world of comfort, with only me and Cayde inside.

"C-Cayde." I muttered quietly as I ended the kiss, feeling my face burn red at what had just happened.

"I have feelings for you too Ark." He said simply, voice deep and inviting. Before I could say anything more his strong arms wrapped around me and held me over his shoulder as he began to walk out of the changing rooms and back out into the tower.

Dusk had taken over the sky and Cayde carried me out to his ship. The tower was completely baron of guardians because they were all or in their ships by now. Cayde effortlessly carried me up into the bedroom of his ship, which was a white double bed, inside the cosy bedroom that belonged to him.

He lay me onto the bed, as he undid the towel wrapped around his waist. He had dived on top of me before I could catch a peek of his manhood.

He nudged at the fabric of my pants. Sending me an unmistakable signal.

I shook my head lightly, and he smiled, happy to just cuddle because he was even more tired than I was. He lay beside me and I snuggled into his chest, letting his muscular arms hold me closer to him. His metal heart was making a series of clicks and whirrs, undeniably happy, not unlike mine.

"Goodnight Ark." He whispered to me, which sent a tingle of satisfaction coursing through my body like a surge of electricity.

"Goodnight Cayde." I whispered back. Letting the scent of his natural cologne and bodily heat drift me away to sleep.

Twitch had been roaming randomly around the tower the entire night, trying to find his guardian. Every now and then he would scan, call, whistle, anything. Yet he found nothing. And in sheer panic, he had found himself asking Ikora.

"So you're telling me, that you lost Arken?" She said, obviously amused by Twitch's mistake.

He thought for a little bit, trying to string some words together that wouldn't embarrass him in front of vanguard, but he found none.

"Yes." He admitted, as Ikora tried not to smile.

"And you've checked all around the tower?" She asked, letting humour take a hold of her as she laughed openly.

Twitch thought for a little while again.

"Everywhere except for the vanguards personal areas." He chirped, whirling his parts around in embarrassment. It was quite frowned upon to lose your guardian.

Ikora opened her mouth to respond but then her smile widened completely and she held her hands up to her mouth in realisation.

"Oh my god."

"What is it?" Twitch asked quietly.

"Arcade is real." She replied, she looked like she had just figured out the universes greatest mystery.

"Arcade? What?" He chirped in confusion.

"Nothing." She had to pinch herself to stop laughing. "Just check Cayde's ship, but try not to mess anything up."

He followed Ikora's suggestion as he went full speed to Cayde's ship, constantly muttering to himself, trying to cipher what she had meant.

He materialised through the bedroom door and if he had a jaw it would have dropped.

There Ark was, cuddled in the vanguard's arms. The covers pulled loosely over both of them as they both slept. Though Cayde was snoring slightly.

"What the-"

"Shh!" Cayde's ghost whispered to him, which made him shut up. He hovered over to the ghost.

"What are they doing? Why is your guardian wrapped around my guardian?" Twitch demanded, as quiet as he could manage to be.

"I don't know, I think it's an emotional thing. For some reason whenever they are in contact my sensors always picking up-"

"Oxytocin? Yeah, same here." Twitch chuckled quietly.

They hovered for a while, both trying to figure out what Cayde and Ark were doing? And why?

"It's quite interesting isn't it. That weird thing called 'love'." Ghost said, he seemed happy about it.

"Are you alright?" Twitch asked, turning to face the other ghost.

"Yeah, I'm good." Ghost sniffled. "They just grow up so fast you know? I remember all those times I would revive Cayde when he blew himself up somehow, heh, those were good times." He mumbled happily.

"Don't worry, he'll be blown up plenty more times." Twitch said reassuringly.

"You mean that?" Ghost sniffled, looking up to face him.

"Of course! If he engages in any 'Oxytocin activities' with Arken I promise you he'll get blown up more than enough times." Twitch chuckled, unsure whether he was joking or not.

"Thank you, Twitch. I mean it." Ghost said with appreciation.

It went silent once more, Cayde's grip on Arken tightened slightly, almost protectively.

"You want to wake them up?"

"Sure let's do it."

"Nice, I'll get a bucket of water."

"I'll get the firecrackers."