Chapter Text
It was late in the evening, the stars bright in the sky and the moon’s light washed over the town. In the front yard of their house, Tesla sat beside Armstrong on the porch.
“Beautiful night, isn't it?” He signed.
“Yes it is. I don't come out to look at the stars a lot.”
“I spent a lot of my time up there, ethereal really.”
Tesla spent a while watching the stars. The soft twinkle against the void sky, it was hard not to think back to the soft glow from the lights of machinery. It wasn't the same, though, this had its own beauty. It was hard to place what, but it reminded them of something.
“Do you ever miss it? The stars, that is.” They turned to Armstrong, the moonlight reflecting on their helmet.
“Sometimes I think I do. But, it never compares to what I have down here.”
They were grateful for everything they had here too. Never once were they judged for anything they found their passion in, and everyday it was the same welcoming embrace of knowing that they're surrounded by people they trust.
There weren't many people like that in the world anymore.
In their moment of silent thoughts, the creaking of the metal front gate to their yard rang through the air. Walking up the walk, Doc paused to look at the two on the porch.
“Was my arrival poorly timed?” He walked up the steps and stood beside where Tesla was sitting.
“Not at all. However, I should clean up after dinner.” Armstrong stood, carefully maneuvering around the two to reach the door.
“Of course, thank you for all of your efforts, Armstrong.”
As the front door shut, Tesla went back to admiring the stars.
Some part of them always wondered what it would be like to be among the stars.
The cold, crisp autumn air was slowly shadowed out as Doc sat beside them. Their shared warmth bubbled around the both of them.
“I do not see you out here often. Change of plans?”
“No, not necessarily. I have nothing to do as of right now. I finished my machine a little while ago, and I will be sending it out tomorrow evening.”
“Well, congratulations. I am happy you completed it, now you’ll have time to take a break.”
“I guess, there isn't much negotiation with you four anymore anyways.”
There was a long silence between them. Tesla had not a clue where Doc had been all day, but they didn't want to overstep and ask. It reminded them of when they had first met.
Long before the rest, they had each other.
That was it.
It was beyond Tesla then to care too much about what Doc did. They took care of each other, and by definition they were friends. But, it felt much, much different than how they were now.
“You look troubled. Why would that be?”
Tesla snapped to their senses when Doc spoke up, turning to see him already looking at them.
“Nothing.” A lie, not abnormal of them. “...Do you remember how we met, Doc?”
“Well, how could I forget? We were the first to meet out of the five, of course I do.” He fiddled with the handle of his cane, which laid in his lap.
“I don't know, I was just thinking about it. I was a bit of an asshole then, wasn't I?” They couldn't shake off a grudge of guilt. Sure, they were nowhere near the nicest, but at least they had some more sense of humility now.
“Surely not. Troubled? Perhaps. But I would not claim anything you did with such profanity. I never minded it, and I do not mind how you are now.”
Tesla couldn't help but smile, knowing they didn't trouble Doc as much as he had thought.
Turning to him, they noticed how Doc shuddered where he sat, having scooted closer to them during their time talking. And then, they realized that they were dressed in much warmer clothing than Doc, who adorned a sleeveless jacket with nothing underneath to shield his arms.
“Let's go inside, it will be warmer” Doc was quick to agree and the made their way inside, to which Armstrong was washing the day’s dishes.
-
The next evening, Tesla sat in the yard preparing their newly finished product for its first official run.
Rust stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame while watching them. It was a wonder to him how they could come up with stuff like this all of the time.
“Okay, as soon as the sun is completely down, as I would wait for when doing these runs myself, I will run the machine. If it doesn't work I might go insane.” They stood up, walking to the door where Rust was.
“I don't blame you, if I had to do all that work just for it to not work, I’d go crazy too.” He spoke as the both entered the house.
“Crazy..?” Zero_One spoke up from the couch. “I was crazy on- OW!”
Tesla smacked the back of Zero’s head before they could continue anymore.
“No more with that, I thought I was going to die when that was a trend and Doc genuinely thought you were going insane.” Zero only shrugged it off before continuing to scroll through their phone.
It wouldn't be long before they could focus on getting their machine on track for its intended purpose.
-
Useless, just useless.
Halfway through the scrapping session, the machine broke down in the middle of the junkyard, and Tesla had to fetch it themselves.
They shouldn't have gone through all the trouble of making this, they were perfectly fine getting in trouble for parts.
They made their way out of their room after putting on their coat, heading to the living room. They would be right back, no need to have more than just their phone.
Right as Tesla made it half way to the front door, the sound of someone clearing their throat was behind them.
“Apologies, I was going to ask for something, but I see now that you are busy.”
“It's okay, what do you need?” They just couldn't be impatient with him, could they?
“I was going to ask if- Well if I could speak with you for a moment.”
Tesla looked at him, then the door. Surely fetching the machine wont take much time.
“Could we after I retrieve my project? It broke down in the junkyard and I would rather it not be broken down into scrap.”
“Oh, yes, of course. I can wait.” He gave them a light smile, almost unsure if he truly meant what came out of his mouth.
Tesla felt bad, they were sure that's what they were feeling, but words can be saved, hours of their time couldn't. They left quickly, as if they would be back quicker if they left sooner.
-
“Is Tesla still not home?” Zero asked, walking into the living room where Armstrong and Doc sat. Armstrong shook their head in response, the atmosphere in the room thickened increasingly every minute that passed.
It had been three hours since Tesla left for their project. Not once had they said they would continue looking for scrap, and surely it didn’t take that long to find it. His leg bobbed up and down as he sat, trying to think about where they could be.
They hadn't caught on and wanted to avoid him, right? Surely not. But, then again..
“We need to go find them.” Doc found himself blurting out, standing and taking grasp of his cane.
“I agree with Doc, let's head out, we already know where they went anyways. If something happened, we can’t just sit around waiting for an update we're never going to get. Lets head out.”
The other two nodded and it wouldn't be long before they were off to find what happened to Tesla.
Doc couldn't help but move a little faster than the others.
Nothing.
Complete silence in the junkyard.
They all looked around until they finally found Tesla’s machine.
That, and their ushanka, which was on the ground beside it.