Chapter Text
Pac had to admit that this was boring. Being a knight itself was already boring but standing at the gate and watching for anyone trying to enter under false pretenses or just breaking in was worse. Roier was with him at least but they were within earshot of one of the cronies that actually liked Cucurucho and reported things to him. So they couldn't even talk. It was just boring as hell. He hated it.
His hands itched to do something, to build and work on something. That sounded like a fun thing to do right now but no, the heist was still happening and so Pac needed to play along. As long as he didn't get found out then everything would be fine. It would all go well. It was still boring. Roier hadn't said anything about what was in the notebook. If he'd noticed the things inbetween the lines then Roier wasn't saying anything about it. That was good. He was glad that they could trust Roier.
Eventually, they saw the cronie that would report to Cucurucho be replaced by some other person. It looked like Jaiden, because she waved at Roier and Roier waved back. She wouldn't say anything though so the two of them could finally talk.
“Shit man, I hate gate duty.” Roier huffed almost immediately.
“I know, it's so boring.” Pac complained. “Nothing ever happens.”
“Yeah, and you can't even talk to people sometimes. It's just stand menacingly at the top of the gate. Make sure no evil people show up.” Roier said. “I like talking to people.”
“Yeah, I like to help Mike with his stuff but it's difficult to do that all the way over here. Well, it's not like he even has a place to work right now anyways, I guess.” Pac said, sighing.
“Yeah, that's true. Y'know, why were the flames blue?” Roier asked.
“There's still people who can hear us.” Pac reminded him. Even if it seemed like it was only Jaiden in earshot they still had to be careful about what was said in public.
“Ah, I see.” Roier said, catching onto what Pac meant. Roier was good at catching on to what some of them meant. It was part of what made him a good knight.
“So, how's that situation going?” Pac asked. He could ask about Cellbit as long as he never directly stated what he was talking about. It was easier that way.
Roier got a grin on his face, the same soft smile that he always got. He knew that Roier was so hopelessly in love with Cellbit.
“Oh it's going great, y’know? Jaiden doesn't really think that it's a good idea but I'm happy. I think I might leave. Not like the castle, but like y'know.” Roier was still grinning softly as he stared off into the distance, no doubt thinking of Cellbit.
“Seriously?” Pac asked.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously someone will know eventually and tell them. I'll leave anyway. I'd rather it be on my terms, y'know? Go find a place to live but still work here since I don't wanna ditch you guys and just be. Maybe, I don't know, get something official.” Roier said, mumbling the last part.
Pac took a moment to try and figure out what Roier was saying, the dots connecting after a few moments. Either make it clear that the two were dating or get married. Honestly knowing how bat shit crazy they both could be, Pac wouldn't be surprised with either outcome. Even if one was extremely sudden. He actually wouldn't be surprised if the two of them just got married like that.
“With no other talks?” Pac asked. That was the best way to ask if Roier wanted to court Cellbit or something. It seemed like they would skip the courting part and go to dating, which was fair. They'd basically already been doing the courting part.
“We've already been doing that.” Roier reminded him.
“Fair, but you'd leave for that?” Pac asked.
“I'd leave for a lot of different reasons. This was part of why I stayed though. Just so I could talk but he wants to move on. I want to move on with him.” Roier admitted.
They all had their fair share of reasons to stay and to leave.
“What about the kids? Richarylson, Pepito.” He mentioned. There was a weirdo walking up to the gate but one harsh, pointed glare made them turn around. He knew that Roier didn't want to leave the graveyard behind either where Bobby laid.
“It's why we aren't sure what to do. We might stay because of them. I just don't want to hide y'know?” Roier said.
“You don't have to be a knight to stay.” Pac reminded him. It was only the knights who were sworn to not enter relationships. Which Roier seemed to have forgotten. Pac wasn't sure how he could forget.
“I know, but that's how I stay in the castle. The chances of me getting a different job here while not a knight is next to nothing. I can't cook for the life of me. I'm not a diplomat. I'm not good at solving things like Cellbit. I'm just not good at anything here other than being a knight.” Roier complained.
“Give yourself some credit, you're smart. Only the knights who make it through training are smart.” Pac said, getting a small snort out of Roier.
“That's true.” Roier agreed.
“Besides, I'm sure that Cellbit needs an assistant. Richas can't help him all the time as much as the kid tries to.” Pac said. They both knew this.
“I mean, it doesn't have to be Cellbit. I'm sure other people need help.” Roier said, a little defensively. Almost like he was still trying to keep a secret of who it was.
“Yeah, you'd probably enjoy working with him the most though.” Pac said, glancing at Roier. His friend's face was a little pink as he stared out into the abyss, pretending that he was doing his job and avoiding Pac's look.
“When did you figure it out?” Roier asked, a defeated tone and sigh falling out of his mouth.
“Weeks ago. I'm not stupid.” Pac said, chuckling.
“Did anyone else?”
“Don't know.”
“This is a little embarrassing.” Roier commented.
“It's fine. It's funny.” Pac said. “It's not really obvious but if you pay attention to the little things then it is.”
“Damn.” Roier huffed. “I'm gonna ignore that you figured this out.”
“Alright. Not like I'm gonna say anything.” Pac chuckled.
Roier groaned anyways, apparently very miffed about the fact that Pac had figured it out and just hadn't told him anything. He found it funny.
“You'll be fine. Don't worry.” Pac said, patting Roiers shoulder. The metal on Roiers shoulder clanged as the metal on his hand hit it but neither of them minded.
Roier would be fine, Pac was sure of it.
xxx
Pac was moved back into his normal position a week after the incident. His burns had healed and Mike's were on the way to being healed while the laboratory was being restocked. Luckily, nothing had been destroyed room wise and there were only some things that needed to be fixed. The fire hadn't taken out too much. As he reached his post with Mike, talking with him as he went, he caught sight of the new guy that would be stationed with him.
Etoiles had warned that it probably wouldn't be anyone that he knew so that they wouldn't be tempted to let Pac in to mess with Mike's stuff. Which was why Pac wasn't surprised when he didn't really recognize who it was when they walked up and Mike went inside to start building again. Pac wished he could join him but their parts had to be played, and right now Pac was a Knight in charge of guarding his scientist friend with another Knight.
He stood still, getting antsy quickly. Normally Mike would open the door and talk to him and ask him his opinion on things. Or ask him to remind him how he was supposed to attach this one thing, but since there were two of them out here, they couldn't. It made it so much more boring than usual. He almost wished that Mike didn't care about all of this but they did want the heist to go well. So they just had to pretend. That was easy enough.
“So, what's your name?” Pac asked. He probably shouldn't have been talking to this random guard who could and probably would tell Cucurucho that he'd tried to talk to him. He wanted to get to know the guard he'd be with for the next several hours.
“Fit.” Fit answered, not looking away from where he was staring ahead. So he was a dedicated Knight. That was a weird name but Pac also had a stupid name to be honest.
“Interesting. I'm Gabriel.” Pac said, introducing himself. He had no reason to tell this guy his real name yet. That's how this guy would know him anyways.
“I'm aware.” Fit said, cutting off the conversation before Pac could say anything. Damn, this guy wasn't going to be any fun.
They slipped into silence again. He hated this. Why couldn't he be talking to Roier or something? Or Mike. He'd love to talk to Mike about all the inventions they were gonna make when they got the money or the things that Mike was making for the king while making things for themselves. Roier at least could keep him updated on the Fofoca that Richas didn't tell him within the castle with his connections to Cellbit.
He heard a small knock on the door and turned back to look at Mike. Fit just glanced.
“I need you to hold something while I solder it, do you mind?” Mike asked.
Pac glanced at the other man standing next to him and then slipped in with Mike. Fit didn't stop him and if he was gonna report him then Pac could see what would happen. Hopefully, nothing bad. He really did need him to hold something steady while he soldered it, so Pac held it, talking quietly to Mike while he soldered the metal together. Soldering was a mix between legal and illegal. It could be done without magic but for better potency, Mike preferred to use magic.
“I'm hoping that this guy doesn't rat you out.” Mike whispered, half focused on the metal and half focused on the conversation he was having with Pac.
“I hope so too. He didn't stop me from coming in here so I don't think he's gonna do anything.” Pac answered.
“That's true but if he says anything, we're done. We'll probably get fired. Well, at least you will, but this won't work without you. You won't be able to get hired under a false name again. It only worked this time because Cucurucho didn't give a shit about us when we got arrested. He didn't remember what we looked like, but a Knight with a prosthetic leg is not hard to forget.” Mike said.
“I know, but he seems new. If I tell him not to say anything, he might not.” Pac said, hissing as a spark made it through a hole in his gloves and hit his skin.
“You alright?” Mike asked, glancing up at him in concern.
“Fine, don't worry.” Pac said, and Mike continued to solder the metal.
“Yeah, he seems fine. Seems quiet. I'm tempted to ask him if he's got any issues. He seems off.” Mike said.
“Seriously? You just met him. I'm sure he's fine. He's not gonna say anything.” Pac said.
“You also just met him.” Mike pointed out.
“True, but I've been watching him. He seems interesting.” Pac said, defending Fit. Well, he was boring but there was something else about the guy. Something that Pac couldn't place. “I tried to talk to him but he shut it down pretty quickly. His name is Fit though.”
“He's interesting? Based off learning his name? Pac, this better not be another Gabriel situation-” Pac tried to smack Mike's head. “Hey!”
“Shut up. It's not like that. I literally just met him.” Pac huffed. He knew the guy's name and that was literally it. Mike knew his type though so maybe that's why he was joking about it. Either way, he was pretty sure it'd be a miracle to get them to be friends first.
“Yeah, well, alright. If you think we can trust him, I will.” Mike said, finishing up the soldering that he needed Pac for.
He stared at it, “You could’ve done that yourself.”
“Yeah, I know, but I wanted to get your opinion on the new guy here. They'll probably keep him with you, so I need to know if we can trust him.” Mike said.
“If he doesn't say anything tonight, then we'll know.” Pac said, shrugging.
“That we will.” Mike smiled.
Pac left the room and stood back where he had. He didn't attempt to talk to Fit but he could feel the glances on occasion from the other. As if trying to figure him out the same way that Pac had done for him.
“Where are you from?” Fit asked, suddenly.
“Why?” Pac asked back, glancing at the other. Fit had his brow furrowed as if he'd been trying to figure it out.
“Lorenzo didn't ask you to come into the room in English. I can't figure out what language it was.” Fit said.
“I'm from Brazil. It was Portuguese.” Pac answered.
“Oh, Cool.” Fit said.
“Yeah.” Pac said, letting the conversation die down again. It was pretty obvious that Fit just spoke English, at least to him, but he may have been wrong.
Almost no one was actually from the country that they worked in now. The entire place was built of people from other countries. The higher ups that ran this place though may have been the only ones who were from here. He wasn't sure though. He was only here to rob them. Then they'd leave and everything would be great. Everything would be fine. They'd be rich and He and Mike would be comfortable for the rest of their lives, alongside Richas if they could get the kid to join them.
Light footsteps echoed down the hallway a little while later. Normally, guards wouldn't catch this with how quiet it was but Pac had rather keen hearing and looked down the hallway to see Ramon sneaking his way down here. Normally the kid was supposed to be in the kitchen helping out there but whenever he could, the kid found his way down here to watch Mike work and learn about the machines he was making. Sometimes he went to Tubbo who built much larger machines than Mike did, but it was all the same to the kid. He just wanted to learn about creating things.
Ramon bounded into view but froze once he was near the door. He was going to just let the kid in but someone else spoke first.
“Ramon? What are you doing down here, kid?” Fit asked, almost like he knew the kid. That was certainly interesting.
Ramon gave a sheepish smile and pointed towards the door.
“He likes to watch Lorenzo work.” Pac said for Ramon, looking at Fit. He didn't know exactly what Fits expressions looked like just yet but there was an air of confusion coming from him. Almost like he hadn't known that Ramon was coming down here. Pac wasn't exactly sure why it mattered unless Fit was taking care of the kid. Which was entirely possible.
“Do you?” Fit asked.
“Yeah.” Ramon said quietly, displaying hesitancy to Fit. The two knew each other. That much Pac could tell, and Fit seemed to care for the kid. That was good to know. He was learning about the guy, slowly but surely.
“Just don't get hurt, alright?” Fit said, and Pac opened the door to let Ramon scurry in to watch what Mike was doing.
He shut the door behind Ramon and the moment the door was shut, Fit asked him a question, once again breaking the internal pact he seemed to have to not talk to Pac.
“Does he come here a lot?”
“Ramon?” Pac asked for clarification.
“Yes, Ramon.”
“Sometimes, other times he goes to Tubbo and watches him work. He likes to watch them both work.” Pac explained. There was something that wasn't being answered here. Something connected these two but he wasn't sure what. They clearly knew each other.
“Yeah, just as long as he doesn't get hurt. He doesn't, does he?” Fit asked. He was protective over Ramon. Almost like a father would be. Which was odd. None of them were supposed to be fathers. Then again, that didn't stop any of them from pseudo adopting many of the castle kids.
“No, he's fine. Lorenzo won't let him get hurt.” Pac said, hopefully dissolving Fits concerns. He almost slipped up and called him Mike instead of their fake names.
They probably wouldn't get rid of all of them, but it was good to know that Fit cared for Ramon. Maybe that could be the gap that got them to talk on the off chance that Fit was stationed here permanently and they didn't do a rotation. He also had a kid that he cared for that he wasn't supposed to have. At least that's if he was right in assuming that Fit did parent the kid.
The rest of the shift passed in silence between them and Pac didn't ask any more questions, respecting Fits' want to not talk about anything. That would make the job a whole lot more boring so hopefully he could get him to talk eventually. Maybe if he initiated a conversation tomorrow then Fit wouldn't shut him down. He didn't want to not be friends with this guy. Fit seemed like a fun guy to be friends with even if it would be a challenge. It would be something for him to do, so he wouldn't be bored.
Pac stretched and began to slowly take off his leg. It was time to sleep. Dinner had been okay but he'd deal. He placed the leg next to his bed and slid underneath the covers within a few seconds so as to not have his stump feel any colder than it already did. Mike hung his head over the side of his bed and looked at him. Seems they were gonna talk.
“So, opinions on New guy?” Mike asked. He'd already asked him this.
“He seems fine. I think he takes care of Ramon, kinda like we take care of Richas. He's not very talkative. I can't tell if that's because of the fact that he just doesn't want to or if he's doing it because he has to.” Pac answered.
“Who was with you? I never got to see.” Etoiles asked, lifting himself up onto his bed and laying down. Roier was already asleep, and would be for a while.
“His name is Fit.” Pac said.
Etoiles nodded, “Yeah, I've heard some things about him. He's doing that on purpose. He's loosened up a lot but he still doesn't talk much to people. He's from 2b2t. It's a lawless place over there, so he doesn't reveal much about himself.”
Pac nodded, taking in this information. That made sense. Fit didn't seem to want to talk to him at all. Only getting information on him rather than talking about himself.
“Makes sense that Cucurucho put you on guard with him. He doesn't really make friends. Well, he kinda does I guess. He's on half-decent terms with a friend of mine but he keeps to himself mostly. He's not gonna willingly talk to you though.” Etoiles explained. So there was no making a new friend or talking to someone when he was bored now. It would be difficult if he wanted to make Fit his friend.
“Damn. I was hoping if I couldn't bother Mike, I could bother this new guy.” Pac huffed, pulling the covers over his shoulder.
“You still can, but you don't think he'll rat you out if he sees you go in?” Mike asked, slipping into Portuguese.
“No, I really don't. Something would've happened by now.” Pac said, thinking for a moment. “Ramon deciding to visit today definitely saved that though. Otherwise he might've told them, but if it keeps Ramon happy then he'll do it, hopefully. We can trust him, I think.”
Mike nodded, “Good to know. You going to sleep?”
“You know I am. Long day of doing nothing.” Pac muttered, turning over in his bed.
Mike snorted, “I'd be working longer if I could. The king forces me to take breaks. I have mixed opinions on him. Maybe we can get the apothecary fired and hire you in their place.”
“As wonderful as that sounds, I think we should stick with this Mike. It works well. Boa Noite.” Pac said. If Etoiles found their exchange odd, he didn't say anything. Then again, speaking in a language the Frenchman didn't understand to each other certainly helped.
Mike rolled his eyes and lifted himself back up into his bed, the frame creaking as he moved around to something comfortable. As nice as it would've been for them both to be working to their heart's content for hours on end, that simply wasn't possible. Still, this was the nicest they've had it in years. Yeah, it was a heist mission but they had food, shelter, and money. Alongside a bit of free range in creating things. Mike did at least. If Pac could sneak in he had the same. It was actually kinda nice.
They didn't have very high standards but after living in prison, and then the streets and so many other places on their wacky ass adventures that this was nice.
Even if they had to share a room with two other people. Even if they had to work for the government. Even if they had to report to a stupid ass boss who didn't understand what the word helping actually meant. Despite all of that it was still nice.
Pac couldn't sleep fairly often, so he wasn't sure why he told Mike he was going to sleep. It wasn't uncommon for someone to find him up a few hours after he said he was going to sleep. That's how it was most nights. He always fell asleep eventually after a few hours of tossing and turning, finding himself in dreamless sleep. Usually at least. Tonight he was not as lucky.
He had nightmares again. The same ones that had plagued him for years. They'd gone away for quite some time before returning, slowly becoming more and more frequent with the knowledge that Cellbit was so close to him. Pac knew logically that people could change and he found that Cellbit truly had, becoming some sort of acquaintances with him. He was happy for Cellbit and how much he'd grown but he never forgot.
He never forgot what happened in prison. He never got over it either. No matter how much he lied to Mike. It was prevalent in his dreams after all. The nightmares of Prison and everything Cell had done. He lied to Mike often and said it was simply about their past life on the streets. Maybe Mike had believed him at some point but he probably didn't at this point. When he woke up gasping yet again, hands clawing at his chest, trying to get the hand holding his mouth shut off of him, he wasn't really surprised. The hand wasn't really there. It felt like it was.
There was no one near him, no one next to him and yet he felt as if he was dying again, phantom pains pulsating through his leg. A leg that didn't exist anymore. Still, he blinked rapidly in the darkness, hands reaching towards the stump on his leg as if he could do anything. The sound of the bed creaking sounded above them while his breath kept growing raggedy and panic was crawling up his throat, making him grab at it, trying to get himself to calm down. This wasn't the first time he'd had a nightmare.
“Moço? Pac?” Mike whispered from the ladder that they'd made for him and Etoiles to reach their bunk.
Pac didn't respond, and after a few moments he felt Mike's hand touch his shoulder, and made him move as he sat down on Pac's bed. He blinked half a dozen times and Mike moved his shoulder to hug him gently. He wrapped his arms around Mike, clutching his shirt, trying to breathe again. It was difficult.
“Pac, it's alright.” Mike murmured, rubbing his back.
He tried to get his breathing to even out but it was working and he just stayed clutching Mike while panic ran through his veins and his breath was just gasps of trying to get in air with his heart hammering. It was horrid. He hated this.
“Maybe- Maybe we give this up.” Pac whispered, squeezing his eyes shut. This heist wasn't worth it. Not really. The nightmares weren't worth it. He'd said that before and Mike had talked to him about it before Pac decided that the money outweighed the nightmares.
“The heist?” Mike asked, whispering in his ear.
“Yes.” He whispered. This was just from knowing Cellbit was in the same building as him. He couldn't deal with this.
“Okay, we can talk about that tomorrow.” Mike said, hugging him tighter.
Pac never really fell out of his hysterics, continuing to have sharp breaths despite Mike whispering in his ear, trying to guide his breathing. At some point Pac fell back asleep, panic turning into exhaustion, laying down still clinging to Mike. This heist was going to need extra help or Pac was going to crumble under the stress.