Valentino, as usual, is first awake. 

He quietly walked down through the stairs of the basement, clicking a switch, lighting up the room fully. He stooped down the last step and sighed, it felt cold, 

“Alright, let’s see what we can find to use from this dump. We’ve got one more day till we go out on this big heist.” He grunted, opening up some boxes and a bit of clumps of more boxes stacked on top of each other. During his search into the boxes, he saw something familiar, a book, 

“Hm? Is that what I think it is?” He whispered, pulling out the book filled with dust, blowing it away, carefully opening it, he saw the pages filled with Russian writings and even some English ones from practice,

it felt saddening to see what’s been written, but also happy in some way,

“*sigh* I never thought he would write so much in this.”

He flipped the page.

Enzo wrote into the pages, as foreign as they were, they all were clear of his emotions. However, not much of a good kind, silent tears dropped onto the bed sheets where his arms shook,

“...I don’t know if I’ll last any longer, ma and pa are too…” he stopped writing midway.

He then heard a familiar knock,

“Enzo!~” Valentino silently shouted. Enzo looked at the window where he had knocked and immediately wiped his tears away and closed the book, he was afraid to worry Valentino. However it didn’t really do much since Valentino already could see the puffiness of his eyes indicating that he was crying, he could sense his sorrow, 

“H-Hello…” Enzo spoke shakingly into his foreign language, tightly holding his book,

“Awh, Enzo…are you okay?” He could understand that it was a question, though nodded in a no motion, 

“Bad…” he sniffed, 

Valentino sighed, 

“Mhh…Come here. I think I have something that’ll cheer you up, they’ve been wanting to meet you!” 

Enzo felt a little nervous about what he meant and thought to himself,

“Meet me? I think that’s what he said…b-but who wants to meet me? I-Is it Co-“ he paused as Valentino picked Enzo out of his window and quickly hugged him, though, instantly heard him sniffling,

“Wh- Enzo?” He distanced the hug witnessing his sobbing, 

“Oh uhm! Hey hey it’s okay I’m sorry uHm….I uh…” Valentino panicked as Enzo kept crying longingly but soon enough. 

“W-Why am I crying so much…he was just wrapping his arms around me why am I crying…d-did I feel s-some type of comfort for once..? I can’t tell if this is a good or a bad feeling…” Enzo kept his thoughts running through his head and the more he was confused the more it made him cry. Valentino didn’t know what to do, so he trusted his instinct,

“Hey…”

Val sat Enzo down,

“Look at me.” 

He stared into Enzo’s eyes whom was filled with tears, 

“Shh…I’m sorry I didn't know. But I’m sure it’ll be better when we go back to my tent, okay?” 

Enzo stared into Valentino’s eyes, a little longingly, it felt as if they sparkled, instantly he got a little more quiet, then nodded his head in agreement. 

“Back…” Enzo whispered, looking down out of a little fluster from Valentino’s eyes,

“Back to the tent? Alright…let me know if you need anything okay?” Valentino stood up and gently stuck his hand out, helping Enzo up, running back to his tent.

“They’re right in here!” Valentino pointed at his tent, shadows in the inside were moving constantly, it looked as if there were a sort of monster in there, 

“No like….” Enzo shivered, hiding behind Valentino, 

“Oh! Does it scare you?”

He held his hand to comfort Enzo,

“Here, I’ll walk you with me. Together, okay? I promise it’ll be okay.” Enzo’s body started to calm down a little, trusting him. Slowly they walked towards the tent with the scary figure, the closer they got the louder the noises it made. It started to make Enzo cry a little, though he stood silent staying behind Valentino clenching onto his arm tighter,

“Are you ready?” 

Enzo shook his head, 

“N-No!- M-Me no like…” Valentino opened the flap of the tent, Enzo immediately shut his eyes closed, though, he heard meowing. Enzo slowly opening his eyes,

“W-Wha..?” 

“Kitties!!”

Valentino’s eyes glistened in joy, quickly shuffling into the tent.

Enzo was still visibly confused, 

“B-But….” 

“They are the ones who wanted to meet you! Did you think it was like a random person or monster or something?” 

“...” Enzo felt embarrassed, so he stood silent slowly crawling inside, immediately the cats started to surround him, purring and rubbing against him, his head was filled with thoughts,

“W-What is this? Why are they vibrating? Are they gonna blow up?! I-Is  this affection?” His breath started to shorten, panicking a little, Valentino noticed his panic similar from before,

“H-Hey hey it’s okay! They’re just purring, it means that they like you! Here.

 Clicking his tongue,

“C'mere guys, you’re overwhelming him!” 

The cats responded and waddled up to Valentino, giving Enzo some space to calm down, 

“Has he never been hugged or in any physical contact? Just the cats were enough to overwhelm him too...poor guy, maybe I can introduce him to my cats a little better by showing them one by one. So he slowly gets to know affection better.” Valentino thought, Enzo caught his breath a little more, he was glad another full panic attack didn’t occur, noticing the cats left and were with Valentino instead, 

“Here, I’ll show them one by one. Maybe you just have to get used to them a little.”

 Gently picking one up, showing it to Enzo,

“This is Vick! She’s very cuddly and the most clingy of them all hehe.” The cat purred as Enzo gently grabbed her from his hands and held her onto his lap, 

“Awww…” Enzo smiled a little, the cat looked into his eyes and purred louder as she walked around him rubbing their body against him, Enzo shut his eyes again, shaking a little, though, he felt a little comforted instead, opening his eyes, slowly landing his hand on top of her fuzzy little head, petting her, even started to snuggle her a little. 

“Woah! It’s working!” Valentino whispered, 

“Awww she really likes you!”

 Clicking his tongue once more,

 “Alright Buck you’re next!” Another cat walked up to Enzo and purred, Enzo placed him onto his lap and started to giggle a little bit, the other cats started to slowly swarm Enzo once more, this time he felt more comfortable.

“They’re so cute and fluffy! I didn’t know cats were so sweet…”

He then looked up at Val,

“ just..just like him.” Enzo thought. He even stared into Valentino’s eyes, it felt as if they sparked, his heart thumped heavily, his face turning a little red. However…

“WAH! EYES!”

 Enzo’s words quickly turned to gibberish,

“Y-YOUR EYES! HOW IT DO THAT?!” He shouted in a strong accent while violently pointing at him, he felt a little freaked out,

“Hm? Oh what, this? They kinda just..do it pFF.” He pointed at his own eyes, they had dilated back to normal,

“I can do it like this too!” His pupils reverted back sharply, 

“It’s totally normal, don't worry! It’s just something I can do, not sure how but it’s kinda cool.” He tried calming Enzo down, though it mostly left him visibly confused once more, not understanding too much altogether, it left him mumbling,

“Wh- But aren’t they usually—like…?” 

Valentino heard a shout in the distance, grunting, 

“Ugh, I gotta go now. Mom and dad are calling for me. But we can hang out again! Pspsspss Cmon babies we gotta go. Cmon out the tent now.” 

He opened the tent flap, allowing all the fuzzy cats to scatter outside.

Enzo stares, holding onto the book, then looking down at it, caressing the cover. Thinking to himself in his foreign language, 

“Maybe I don’t have to live in the way I did. I’ll write more…good stuff for a change…I think I found a reason why..” he gently smiled.

Valentino chuckled, feeling a sense of joy reading some of the writings that had a mix of English within, however, despite the main foreign language, he knew exactly what memory he wrote of. 

He then heard footsteps from above, that followed a pleasant aroma,

“Val~! I made some breakfast!” 

Enzo shouted, slowly walking down the basement where Valentino had been searching, whom was quickly putting the book away, 

“Here you go sweetie~” Enzo placed the plate on top of a box and sat next to Valentino,

“Looking for some stuff for our heist?” 

“Yeah, I even found your book that I gave you, remember it?” Valentino hesitantly picked it out and handed the book to Enzo as he continued to look into the boxes,

“Oh wow…it’s been so long since I’ve written in this. 8 years?”

He flipped through the pages. Smiling, feeling warm and nostalgic, but also sad, knowing the main purpose of the certain writings in there. Valentino then gasped,

“Enzo, Look! The lil ring bed! This was when we first got married, do you remember hun? I can’t believe it’s been 5-6 years since we got engaged.”

Caressing the the small bedding,

“It felt as if it were yesterday since we got married.” 

Enzo gasped and placed his half finished plate down and held onto the ring bed, 

“Heh, remember when I first proposed to you?” Enzo looked up, 

“How could I forget! It was the most special day of my life! Along with the day we got married, I will never forget!” Valentino shouted,

“We were only 19 years old when we first got married….time flies.”

Valentino smiled, his eyes dropped gently in a content way,

“Ahem…well..let’s not get too distracted hun. We should continue looking for gear to use tomorrow. Do you want to make the gadgets in the meantime I look into the boxes hun?” 

Enzo them jumped, 

“OF COURSE I DO! It’s my favorite-“ Enzo immediately scurried over to the little desk that sat in front of a bill board and a mini fridge on the side, already working with the gears and gadgets for the heist, he loved tampering with the weapons to make them a little more corrupt, only adjustments they call it, but it works out to help them escape and erase prints and making bigger booms and cracks as they’d flee. Valentino rolled his eyes as he continued to look throughout the boxes for extra weapons that would become useful for when the day comes. They don’t have too much time to waste afterall. 

“Mhh..Enzo, I hope that…that this deal could work.”

Enzo turned around from fidgeting on the gadgets, 

“Why so sweetie? Even if we didn't, we could just do it ourselves eventually.”

Valentino sighed,

“I know but…this might be our fastest best chance to get some of our records away to uhm, be able to adopt a child of our own, from what I mentioned last night.”

Enzo gently smiled and walked over to his worried beloved,

“I’m sure we can do it, we’ll be a family soon sweetie, okay? If we do make this heist successful, we’ll be able to have our own child, our own little family. Soon.” Enzo caressed Valentino’s back, trying to comfort him, leaning his head on his shoulder.

Back at the lab. 

“*Sigh* I don’t understand…” Esperanza mumbled, hearing Hokaze in the distance,

“Hey Es! What’s up? Is something bothering you?” She seated herself next to her, 

“Hrr kinda, I don’t understand what this device is for. I’m trying to find a way to see what we could do to harness it so that our boss can use it once it’s ready. But the calculations just don't make sense. He’s not being clear with his requests. Stubborn.” 

Esperanza takes her glasses off and sighs, feeling frustrated. Hokaze stares worriedly,

“Hmm..Maybe try not to worry too much, we’ve got plenty of time afterall. Plus you’re like, the smartest and most liked one here! I’m sure you’ll figure out a way Es. Okay?” She placed a hand on Esperanza’s shoulder to show comfort, 

“You need some sleep, you’ve been up all night since those two guys left. Let me know if you need anything else alright? I’ll make you some coffee after you sleep a little at least.”

Turning around,

“We wouldn’t want you going insane after-all pff.” Hokaze walked away mumbling while Esperanza lied her head down onto the table, slowly closing her eyes to rest, though, while her vision blurred, she noticed something, lifting up the papers, immediately she sat up,

“Hey Esperanza. Long day?” Elowynn scuffed, Esperanza sighed, 

“Yeah. Where’s your partner?” 

“Oh you mean Leioni? She’s at the boiler room doing a few repairs, she got bored.”

 Staring down at the papers, slightly refusing to make eye contact,

“Are you trying to harness the machine?” 

Esperanza lied her head back down, 

“Yeah, Co- I mean, the boss wants us to figure out how it works but, it doesn’t make it easy if the physical thing isn’t here, though he still wants me to figure it out so, I’m kinda just studying right now. A lot of the codings don’t make sense but *sigh* I dunno, I’ll figure it out tho.” 

Elowynn leans forward towards the pages, picking them up bit by bit,

“I see. Well, our job is to work with the physical thing once retrieved, if it could even be stolen by those two morons. Sorry I couldn’t help. Good luck ya nerd.” They walked off ending their conversation with Esperanza, leaving her at the desk where she lied. 

“Right. Those two. I’m sure they’ll get it. Tomorrow’s the day afterall.” She caressed her horns out of stress,

“Let’s just hope they don’t drown in this spiraling hell if they fail. Look where I ended up…but for now-“

She picked up the earpiece,

“I’ll prepare for when those two go out to get that damned thing.”