Nathan looked up when Rainie stood, and managed to suppress a pleased smile as he watched her walk away. His mind was deep in the gutter now, but after his slip up a moment ago, A.J.'s presence in the room couldn't have been more obtrusive if he suddenly turned into a dancing purple dinosaur. Still, it was impressive how the engineer's mind functioned when he was in work mode. He could  become completely absorbed in a project for hours at a time, almost like a machine, but as soon as something brought him back to reality, his mind snapped right back to where it had been when he started. It was almost as if he hit the pause button on the rest of his consciousness to come back to later.<br/><br/>He tried not to do that now. Too much was going on to afford tuning any of it out. The sounds of infected still floating up through the open window was evidence enough of that. So, once Rainie was out of sight, Nathan went back to his work, just with a little less focus. â€œSo, how long have you two been together?â€ he asked the boy without looking up. Might a well get some information, and maybe he could work on the kid's disposition at the same time.<br/><br/>When Rainie came back in her absurdly oversized outfit, Nathan couldn't help but grin, and when A.J. made his remark, eliciting a middle finger in return, Nate outright laughed. â€œHe's right,â€ he said between chuckles, â€œbut don't worry. You make it work.â€ And she did. The change in clothes was a shift from sexy to adorable and if Nathan had a weakness for sexy, cute was his Kryptonite. That was the reason he avoided sections of the mall where pet stores use to be; he just couldn't bare to see what was left behind. Back in the day, he couldn't go to the mall without spending an hour playing with an adorable puppy or kitten, but come the end of the world, nobody cared enough to open those cages. That thought and the flashes of memory that came with it put a sudden pain in Nathan's chest and he forced his mind back to the girl in front of him in hopes to forget once again and stop his mind from sliding down that sad path. Why was a person as softhearted as him still alive in this world, anyways?<br/><br/>â€œUm,â€œ he started, trying to bring his tone back to normal, â€œget some sleep if you want. I'll wake you if<span style="font-style: italic">they</span>make it to the second floor. I can whip up some warm food for when you wake, too. Though I can't promise anything for the taste. You'll just owe me the same in return.â€ Nate looked back and forth between the girl and boy as he talked, making sure they knew he was speaking to both of them. The broken instrument lay temporarily forgotten in his lap and he fidgeted slightly, wishing he'd allow himself the same luxury of a dry change of clothes.