Chapter Text
Pursuer didn't really sleep, they couldn't sleep. It was more like it. But it was way better when there was actually some sort of peace and quiet.
He grumbled as another sound of some weird glitching came from Badwares room. He grabbed his pillow and basically slammed it down on the top of his head, hoping it might drown out the noises from ‘gracing’ his ears.
It hoped maybe one of the other residents in the place might go deal with it, but he really doubted that. If he really thought about it Harken would probably just go tear Badware to shreds until they quieted down, he wasn't sure if she could hear them from across the place even with headphones on. But he hoped not. Artful? No he wasn't going to wake up. Despite both Artful and Pursuer sharing sleeping problems caused by the government, he slept like a truck if he actually managed to sleep.
Pursuer could definitely hear his snores. So yeah, not him. And for Killdroid, they were probably shut down. Nope. Nobody was going to deal with it.
He closed his eyes, grabbing the thin string of hope that maybe just maybe. Badware would figure out their stupid circuits.
There was a solid minute of silence, then it came again. Pursuer threw their blanket over their head. It rang out again. Again . Again . Agai-
That was it.
Pursuer leapt up from his mattress, spinning around to the door to his room and yanked it open, storming out of it and down the hall. The moon was at its peak in the sky, its light proudly flooding the halls through the uncurtained windows that lined it. He glanced up at it for a moment, stopping to study the moon as if it were the most interesting thing at the moment.
They were snapped out of it when it heard the noise again. They actually let out an audible groan at it, now trotting to Badware's room. They first passed by Killdroids room which was right next to Badwares. He didn't bother knocking as he swung the door open. Badware perked as light busted into the room, along with the menacing shadow of Pursuer’s skinny frame tattooed itself into the floor and the room itself.
“ Pursuer ..!” Badware turned themself around, a blanket was wrapped around them as if it might help the glitching.
Pursuer blinked drowsiness out of their eyes as he studied Badware. Nothing looked.. Wrong..?
Badware suddenly glitched out, their screen flickered, the c: face blinking out of view as it gave out to a mixture of a blackout screen with a tv static screen. That same noise that he was hearing tolled out louder than the previous ones.
Pursuer flinched a bit, a deep frown rooting itself onto his face. He closed the door behind him, wanting the littlest chance of Harken waking up and rampaging across the base to them as possible. He then slowly padded over to Badware, who had stopped glitching out a few moments ago.
“Bad..ware.” It grunted out slowly, its voice was deep and husky, unfamiliar with the language the others spoke. Badware looked up to Pursuer who now loomed over them.
“Did.. I wake you?” Badwares text to speech voice had a twinge of worry in it, as if the robot was actually concerned! Pursuer internally rolled his eyes.
He shook his head in response, he took the conversation as an invitation to sit himself down in front of the other. He crossed his legs together, settling his hands into his lap.
“Thats good.” Badware played an mp.4 of some person laughing, a nervous laugh. “I don't really know where this.. Came from? I’ve checked my code about 5 times, and my storage to see if anything is corrupted.. Nothing.. I even checked my cables! None are damaged and my circuits seem fine. I know you dont really.. Understand technology as well as some of us do but-”
Pursuer’s pupils were unfocused, their mouth hung up, eyes squinted as if Badware had just told him rocket science was as easy as tying a shoe.
“ OKAY WELL -” Badware glitched out again a few times, taking a moment to recollect themself from the latest assault of glitching. They played a sigh sound effect. “Okay well.. I don't think explaining basic robotic parts is that difficult to understand.”
Pursuer snapped out of the unfocused state and shrugged in response.
Badware facepalmed. “Well then who’s going to help me! I dont want this to keep happening.. It feels like my motherboard is tearing itself apart!”
Pursuer tapped his claw on his cheek, sticking his tongue out as if deep in thought. “Tell me… uh.. What.. do.” Pursuer offered.
“Tell you what to do? I don't really..” Badware thought for a moment, they did just say their motherboard felt like it was being torn apart. And they hadn't checked that yet.
“Okay okay, I think I know. I need you to check my motherboard.. I can help you! Just.. be careful.” Badware leaned forward towards Pursuer. “Can you do that for me?”
Pursuer leaned back, an unsure look on his face. What if its claw grazed a wire and snapped it? What if they damaged something and Badware never turned on again? A million dilemmas and thoughts rushed in its head about something horrible happening.
Badware tilted their head to the side, prompting Pursuer for an answer. Pursuer took a moment to take in a deep breath, pushing all of those worries away. He nodded.
“Great!” Badware clapped their metal hands together, making a loud CLANK ! Noise. Pursuer jumped, somehow landing in the position of a scared cat on all fours. Eyes wide. Badware flinched as well, forgetting it was still night time despite the dark atmosphere of the room.
“ Oops ..” The two listened for a moment, seeing as Artful or Harken might’ve awoken from it. Artfuls snoring had ceased which was a bad sign, but moments later it resumed. They didn't hear any stomps or anything else so Harken must’ve either ignored it or somehow slept through a noise for once.
“All clear..?” Pursuer nodded, slowly crawling back over to Badware. Badware pushed the blanket off their shoulders, pulling their legs out from under them to sit criss crossed like Pursuer had earlier. Pursuer invited himself into their lap, plopping themself down which made the larger being a little surprised. Pursuer stared up expectantly, their turquoise eyes filled with a hint of annoyance still.
“Yep yep, give me a moment. I would like to wait for another glitch- I dont want to randomly jump around with your claws in my wires.” Badware rested their hands on their thighs, their tail absent mindedly waving behind them as the dreaded glitching may come back again.
Pursuer glanced around picking at their teeth with its claws, getting a few chunks of meat and other things the government knows what out of their teeth. He jumped a bit when they glitched out again. A few pained words came from Badware, but they were way too glitched out for Pursuer to understand. When it ended they put a hand on their chest, taking in a few artificial breaths.
“You ready?” They suddenly asked. Pursuer put a hesitant thumbs up.
Badware clicked a button that was on the bottom of their monitor, their chestplate opened up to a maze of wires and complex circuitry that made Pursuer regret saying yes . They clicked another button that turned on a mini light somewhere within them that made it easier to see everything in the dark.
Badware looked down, studying their own insides casually. “My motherboard is where the heart would be in something like a biological creature. So.. around here. It's like the root of everything.” Badware pointed just slightly to their left of the cavity in their chest.
“Hurry, I don't want to glitch out again.” Badware watched as Pursuer shakily lifted his clawed hands, being as gently as possible as he pushed some wires to the side, softly moving circuits, and collecting them to the side as if opening curtains to a show. The wires felt tingly, electricity running through them like mechanical veins. “You should be close, I can't see where your fingers are but I can kind of feel it.” Pursuer took a second to register the words. They can feel this..?? They shuddered at the thought.
Soon enough they did find the motherboard for Badware, it was much larger than the other circuits with odd switches and compartments attached to it. It reached in to graze their finger against the motherboard, other to yelp as it burned his finger.
“HOT.” Pursuer whined out, pulling the hand out to wave it in the air, attempting to cool it down.
“Hot? HOT ?? Thats- thats not good.. Wait- Pursuer are my fans on? They should be near my motherboard.” Pursuer pushed the cables to the side more to glance in. The fans that Badware spoke of were not on. There were three of them around the motherboard, all on each side except for the side that Pursuer was on, checking on the motherboard.
“..no.” Pursuer mumbled.
Badware played a cricket sound effect before shooing Pursuer hand out of them, they reached in and clicked a button inside that turned their fans on, the soft hum coming to life showing they still worked. Badware raised their hands into the air, shaking them happily as they let out a triumphant noise.
“Yes! You figured it out Pursuer! I must’ve accidentally turned them off and my motherboard was overheating.. Oops..” Their hands fell back down, one of them went to close their chestplate to let the air inside cool and actually let their systems work again, they then clicked a button once again to turn the lights inside off. The room was once again dark aside from the moon's light still trickling in from underneath the door, and the soft light emitting from Badwares screen.
Pursuer grinned, making a smug face up at Badware as if he were the smartest being in the world, his smaller tail wagged in sync with Badwares which conveyed both their happiness.
An awkward silence started to fill the room as they didn't know what to say to each other. Badware glanced away, breaking the stare the two had shared for a little bit.
“Actually- do you mind getting me an icepack? It might help with the cooling process. I would really appreciate it.” Pursuer perked, responding with a hum of acceptance before getting up to get the item Badware had requested.
He padded out of the room, closing the door behind him again before he took off down the hall, his feet made soft yet firm noises against the hard wood of the floor, he didn't bother to slow down when he passed Artfuls room, it would be kind of funny to wake him up now. He swerved when the stairs came up, stepping down quickly until he made it to the living room area, then turned to the right to where the kitchen lay a bit of a mess from the last time Artful cooked.
The man could cook well but he whined like a damsel in distress when told to clean. Pursuer sighed as he stepped over a pot that had somehow planted itself into the floor, then made his way over to the fridge. He opened it up looking around for any icepacks before remembering they were probably in the freezer which was in the compartment above. He closed the fridge with a creak, then opened up the freezer which had some weird flavoured icecream, and then the multiple icepacks for Badware and Killdroid.
He snatched two of them, slammed the freezer shut and ran back upstairs to Badwares room, hopping over the pot once again, and running up the stairs then the hall like this was a marathon.
Badware was surprised when Pursuer returned with their breathing more deep and erratic. But they didn't mind. Pursuer shut the door behind them once again, walking over then dumping the icepacks into Badwares hands.
“Thank you.” Badware set one near their neck where some hot air was emanating from while they put the other on their chest near the motherboard's area.
Pursuer nodded back, sitting himself back down in Badware's lap. He hesitantly laid himself down, he was feeling more tired now, it was probably 2 am at this point. He rested his chin on the other thigh, curling his body up into a ball in the dip of their lap.
Badware flinched in surprise, their free hand lifted in surprise before drifting down to dare pet Pursuer’s head. Pursuer looked up, a glare in his eye that made Badware pause, before they closed their eyes and let out a deep sigh of content.
He felt safe for once. He didn't feel like the government was going to come kill him while he slept. He had somebody to protect him in his slumber. Somebody he could trust and rely on.
It would be okay.
Pursuer drifted off, their breaths becoming slow and deep as he embraced sleep for once without a worry. Badware continued to run their metallic fingers along its head and down its rigid spine, careful to not be too aggressive with it.
“Sleep tight.” They lowered their voice volume as they said it, their hand came to a halt in the middle of the others back, turning on a sort of sleep mode to keep their hands in place. Their monitor went black but their arms and body stayed in place.
And the base finally ceased any noise and movement.
