Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The night was quiet, as everyone had gone up to bed early- after all, the Jon was due to arrive from Kazooland for a visit in the morning, as such, Peter VI had vetoed the suggestion of staying up late for movies and games; they didn’t know when he’d arrive in the morning, and considering how much energy the Jon had... It was probably best if everyone was well-rested. None of the bots tried to argue, they were simply exited to see their brother after such a long time, and after quite a bit of planning (The Jon, after all, was mayor, he couldn't just leave! Luckily it was agreed upon that Peter V, Annie, Norman and Wanda would travel to Kazooland for an Anniversary trip/vacation, and keep an eye on things). In his own room, the Spine looked at his internal clock, and made his decision, pulling a kit from under his bed. After all, it was still technically early, and he did not need as much rest as the humans did, or even his siblings, given the upgrades he'd received over his long life.

After changing into his ‘human’ outfit (sans top, so the makeup wouldn’t land on it), he walked over to his closet, where he had hung an old mirror years before. Placing the kit on a shelf, he opened it gently, and pulled out a jar of latex. While doing so, he unlocked some of the protocols from his 1955 upgrade- though he wasn’t fond of most of those upgrades (too many of them were based on making him a better killer, a thought he abhorred), some of them were useful, such as the one that slid his photoreceptors back in his head, and slid fake glass eyes in place, so he’d be better at blending in with humanity. It had taken him years after being rescued from Vietnam to start using his upgrades for his own purposes, having so long associated them with wars and destruction, but he had to admit, they came in handy.

Painting strips of latex over the cracks where his facial plates met, the Spine was careful to blend the edges out so that the lines were hidden. Waiting for the latex to dry, the Spine opened up the other jars, getting his brushes ready.

Only once the latex was dry, did he actually dip his brush into one of the jars, and started to paint, adding human pinks and tans where he was usually silver and robotic, using different shades as necessary to competently mimic the human form. Thanks to the number of times he had practiced the look, he got it done in  a reasonable amount of time, noting that he'd completed it faster than the previous time with a satisfied grin.

After washing his brushes, he put on the black hoodie and leather gloves that completed the look. Turning a critical eye towards the overall result he tried to smile the way a human did. It still needed some practice, he noted with a critical eye, before he flipped the hood up over his head, and left his room.

If asked, the Spine would never admit that he thought it was kind of fun to sneak out of the Manor; after all, being asked that was contingent upon someone finding out that he did so, but nonetheless he did find it amusing in it’s own fashion. Sometimes when he was feeling exceptionally frivolous, he would even play various spy themes through his mind as he left! Though he made sure to play them only in his head; he didn’t anything to give him away.

Though he had only started sneaking out of the Manor at some point in the last year, the Spine was confident that he'd get out without any trouble. He had made it through the sitting room with it’s giant couch, and was just at the front room, about to make it out, when a shadow shifted, and he was illuminated in the dual-colored lights of Rabbit’s photoreceptors. Cursing his overconfidence, the Spine was about the make an excuse when Rabbit spoke first;

"Are you s-s-s-sneaking out?" She asked, standing up, photoreceptors sharp.  

The Spine gaped at Rabbit, how did Rabbit know?  

Before he could ask, though, Rabbit continued, "The only t-t-t-times I see you in that get up-p is when you're sneaking around the M-manor, and I always manage to l-l-l-l-lose you, and I never s-s-s-see you walk around in it, so why do ya? Then I r-r-realized that you’re never on the wifi when you’re in this outfit, not ever. I thought m-m-maybe you just wanted your privacy, but I caught you sneaking in last time. What is it about this that you like so much, anyway? What, d-d-d-do you think all it takes is a hood to hide that you're a robot? There's a reason we onl-l-ly joke about mustache disguises!"

As Rabbit was speaking, she was getting closer and close to the Spine, until she was close enough to see the Spine's face properly, even though it was shadowed. At Rabbit's gasp, the Spine bit out "no, I don't think a hoodie is all it takes."

"What the..." Rabbit said, disgusted, reaching up to touch the Spine's face, but the Spine shied away, and Rabbit dropped her hand. "This is just c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c" she stopped with a huff of steam, and started over- slowly to keep her stutter at a minimum; "this is crazy" she said, photoreceptors darting around the room as she looked everywhere but at the Spine. Then she shook his head, “we n-n-n-need to get that washed off of you, you don’t look like yourself.”

“I don’t care.” The Spine whispered, stepping away from Rabbit, and towards the doorway that would set him free to the outside world.

“I c-c-care. You always looks s-s-s-s-so miserable when I see you in this.”

The Spine froze in the doorway, “you’re mistaken” he said, forcing as much cheer as he could into that. It fell flat, and he could tell that Rabbit heard it too.

“Why d-do you even bother, an-n-n-nyway…” Rabbit asked, voice trailing off.

“It’s nice to pretend, once in a while” the Spine admitted, still at the empty doorframe.

“You know that’s all it is, r-right? You d-d-d-don’t fit in with humans. You’re n-not one. You’re hurting yourself.”

The Spine stared out into the night, then turned to his sister. “Don’t” he said, firmly, photoreceptors sparking behind the glass, “just don’t. Please. And don’t bother staying up. Or following me.” With that, he walked out of the Manor, and to the city.

Chapter Text

The Spine didn’t go to the same bar twice when he could help it; there was too much of a chance of something going wrong, someone getting suspicious, or people asking questions. Instead he frequented the closest bars in a pattern, making sure to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. Occasionally he imbibed, usually at least one drink so that the bartender would not be tempted to throw him out for loitering, and sometimes he’ bought drinks for others, when he could.

Mostly, though, he went for the dancing. Sometimes the beat was just right that he was able to pull a girl into a modified ballroom dance, sometimes he’d just watch, and try and commit how they moved to memory, hoping to someday get the patterns down correctly, hoping that he’d one day be able to join them without looking stiff, and, well robotic, and sometimes, the rarest of all, he even managed to truly enjoy himself.

In the bar, he ordered a drink, sliding into a booth at the back once he'd received it, grateful that the atmosphere leaned more towards the pseudo club/"dark lights except on the dance floor” look, making it easier for him to blend in. He still had to be careful with how much he drank, though; alcohol, while not the worst thing for his systems, was not actually good for them either, and as he sipped on his glass, he waved down a passing waitress, and asked for a glass of water, to make sure that his boiler would stay running with no problems.

As he stared into his glass, Rabbit’s parting words swirled and echoed through his circuits, mocking him. Rabbit was right, after all; the Spine wasn’t human, would never be. It wasn’t cruel, it was just… It was just the truth- though sometimes truth was it’s own form of cruelty. Ordering another drink, he decided to sit maudlin in the bar for a spell; it was a human thing to do was it not?

He sat there for a time, just sitting, and switching between water and small alcoholic beverages (nothing too strong, so there would be no confusion from any onlookers as to why he was not drunk yet), just people watching. Finally he shook his head, determined to put Rabbit’s words out of his mind. Working up his courage, he scanned the bar, looking to see if there was anyone he could spend his time with. Deciding to ignore all the ladies who were there with a partner (the Spine didn’t want there to be any miscommunication that could potentially start a fight; his cover would be blown to pieces in such an occasion), he decided to introduce himself to a dark-haired lady in the corner, and see what would happen.

And yet, despite his determination to forget what Rabbit had said, still Rabbit’s words rang in his ears, cautioning him- taunting him. If they had been said with malice, the Spine could have let them go, ignored them as just Rabbit being angry, but they had been said with worry, and that scared him. Frowning slightly, the Spine focused intently on his behaviors, making sure to step just right, and move just so, (ignorant of the fact that his extreme effort made him look more inhuman than when he wasn’t focusing on his actions.)

“You okay there?” the woman asked. She had an empty cup, as was befitting someone at a bar, and was grinning at him, giggling. “You walk funny.”

The Spine panicked, his boiler working overtime to keep up with the stress. Grateful that one of his updates had included a way for the Steam to be rerouted, so it didn’t force it’s way out of his cheek vents, the Spine just said “I’m fine”, voice low, his best human grin on his face. The woman shrank back, and the Spine hoped he hadn’t accidentally showed too much teeth.

Humans didn’t tend to like that, he had found.

“You look like you have a sunburn” the woman said, leaning forward again, reaching her hand out to touch his face. “You’re peeling!” She giggled, “you wearing makeup or something? You look shiny.”

The Spine blinked at her, before reaching up to see what she meant. To his horror, the pads on his fingertips met a strip of latex that was detaching from his cheek vent; he had forgotten to initialize that upgrade, and he had forgotten to do his last checks before he left the house thanks to his run-in with Rabbit. Panicking, he forced his processors to keep working through sheer force, apologizing as he moved away from the woman, dropping a pile of bills to pay for his tab on his table, and leaving the bar. As he left, he could feel his boiler working overtime to keep up with his emotional outburst, and as a result, more steam began to flow out of his cheek vents, further weakening the latex, and causing it to dislodge. Catching his reflection in a window on the way home, the Spine was sickened.

Though he had the right coloring for a human being, the metal panels that made up his face had become visible, and gleams of silver shone through where the Latex had been, making it obvious that he was nothing organic. “Stupid stupid stupid!” he muttered as he hurried home.

Who had he been kidding?

Rabbit was right.

Chapter Text

The Spine got home shortly after the Jon had gotten home. The Jon deciding to just sit down and go into stasis in the middle of one of the hallways. He wanted to be in the action as soon as he got up, wanted the first person awake to stumble upon him, with a smile and a “nice to see you again!”

So the Jon “slept” on, a darker passenger watching, frustrated with his plight.   

The demon was bored, bored and hungry. Though he was hoarding enough power that he could make one deal, (and thus feed), if allowed, the people he was trapped with were far too vigilant. Nobody ever touched the suspenders, so he never got a chance to make any deals or collect any souls. Having heard that there was a new human in the Walter Manor, he hoped that would mean that he’d finally get to feed again, but knowing the Manor’s inhabitants, the new human was probably just as well informed as the others about the consequences of getting too close to the Jon's red suspenders.

Grumbling to himself with the Jon’s voice box, the suspender demon was cursing his immobility when a new human being walked through the empty doorframe. The suspender demon watched him with interest; the man was dark-haired, tall, and slim, a combination that matched none of the other humans in the manor, and matched none of the info about new people that had come in the letters the Jon was in the habit of reading out loud.

“Would you care to make a deal with me?” He asked with the Jon’s voice, sinking into the voice box effortlessly; he couldn’t possess the robots, their lack of souls made that impossible, but he could borrow their voices when they weren’t paying attention; a useful skill- or it would have been had the Jon not so thoroughly warned everyone of the suspender demons tricks.

The man turned and looked at him, green eyes flashing. “Why, so you can reap the soul I don’t have?” He asked, voice bitter, and flesh toned makeup peeling and smearing to show the metal underneath.

The suspender demon would have smiled if he could. “Interesting” he said, “very interesting.”

Chapter Text

“Why, so you can reap the soul I don’t have?” The words were out before The Spine could stop them, and he looked away as soon as he realized what had come out, mouth set in a thin line.

The Jon was home- The Spine had been expecting him- but he was early, and he was in stasis, allowing the demon that lived in the suspenders free reign of the Jon’s voice. Normally The Spine ignored him, but he had had a stressful night, and he let his anger get the better of him.    

“The soul I don’t have” continued to ring through his mind, as he pulled off one of his gloves, and looked at his hand contemplatively, before pulling off the other glove, and shoving them in his pocket.

The demon had said something, but The Spine had ignored it; tuning the demon out was hard, given whose voice it was borrowing, but The Spine did his best, and began to leave the room- he still needed to clean the rest of makeup off, change his clothing, and refill his boiler (he was almost out of power, and while he had made sure to drink some water at the bar, his boiler hadn't been particularly full before he had left) before he went into stasis.  

“Don’t just walk away” the demon hissed angrily, even as The Spine continued to do just that. The demon’s tone changed, and it was kind, sympathetic even; “I can give you what you want, you know. I can make you human.”          

The Spine froze, before turning his head to send a glare towards the suspender demon. “At what cost” he said, voice low and harsh.

“Well that depends on how long, of course” the suspender demon’s voice oozed with charm as he said “do you want to be human only on full moons? How about only when you’re wearing a certain charm? There’s also from sunrise to sunset or vice versa, and the ever popular three days. Oh- and forever, of course.”

The Spine stood there in thought, running the idea through his circuits. “And what would the catch be?”

“No catch, not when it comes to this.”

The Spine found the idea tempting, so, so tempting, and he found himself asking “what’s the price for three days?” They had no concerts in that span of time, after all, and he wouldn’t have to worry about changing unexpectedly- in either direction. A flare of hope spiked in his blue matter core, even as he tried to squash it down, and tried to be practical. Chances were that the price would be too high, and anyway, making a deal with a demon had to have consequences.  

Even if it meant being human for three days.

Even if it meant being able to feel and taste and to have a heartbeat. To see what sleep- real sleep was like, to see what warmth was like.

Even if.

“The price would be your voice, of course.”

And there it was: the catch. Without his voice, he wouldn’t be able to sing with his brothers. Their band was quite popular, and their popularity was growing by the day. He’d still be able to play the instruments, of course, but the harmonies would need to be reworked, as would their skits. It was doable, but it wouldn’t be fair, not to his brothers, not to the Walters, and not to the humans who helped the band out.

“No thank you.” The words came out in a rush, as The Spine fought to get them out before he changed his mind. Turning, he began to walk away once more when the suspender demon spoke up.

“Oh come on, it’d only be temporary. You could get one of your mechanics to get you a new voice box when you go back to being a robot.”

The Spine spun on his heel, and faced the suspender demon once more. “And there would be no interference on your end?” He asked, “No missing blue prints? No part that just won’t fit right no matter what anyone does? My voice boxes wouldn’t mysteriously break whenever they’re installed?"

“Our contract would only be in place from midnight of day one- tonight, if you make up your mind in time- to midnight of day three. I won’t be interfering with anything that happens after that. I can’t.”

"And the humans wouldn't suddenly, magically forget how to install it?”

"The deal is between you and me, no one else." 

It all sounded so reasonable, so logical, and yet The Spine still couldn’t answer; still couldn’t force the words past silicone lips. He knew what he had to say, of course, knew that all logic dictated that he turn the suspender demon down, and not take the deal. All of the lines of code The Spine relied on for making decisions said that it was a bad idea, and there had to be something The Spine was missing when it came to what the demon was offering. Hope ebbed and flowed in his blue matter core, as he yearned to say yes, but knew he should say no.

And yet, he said nothing.

“You need to make up your mind soon,” the suspender demon cautioned; “magic like this works best at times of change; midnight is the best of those times.”

The Spine checked his internal clock; almost midnight. “Could I have a day to think about it?” he asked, ashamed of the fact that he was weak enough to ask for that.

“What makes you think you’ll have the time tomorrow?” the suspender demon hissed, “what makes you think that I’ll have the inclination to help you out tomorrow? I’m not a machine that can be set aside while you dither.” The suspender demon stopped for the briefest of moments; not long enough for The Spine to completely process what the suspender demon was saying, but long enough that he was thrown off balance when the suspender demon went back to speaking in a knowing, kind tone; “and besides” he said, sincerity oozing from his voice, “you know that your siblings will notice something’s up with you, and they won’t stop pestering you until they find out what it is. That’s the way they always treated you in the past, isn’t it? Even when you wanted to keep something hidden?”

The fact that the words the demon spoke were coming from the Jon’s voicebox threw The Spine off-kilter, but he managed to start “they do it because they care-” before he was interrupted.

“They’ve done it in the past, and they’ll do it again, and what do you think they’ll do when they find out what you want? Do you think that they’ll sit by, and let you make your choice? Will they listen to what you want, and let you make the bargain? Or will they pester you, and try and make you change your mind? What if they take choice away from you by taking me away, by making sure it’s not even possible for me to grant your wish- if you want me to?”  

It made a kind of sense to The Spine; Rabbit was in the habit of noticing when The Spine was feeling a bit pensive about something; she always had been, and she was good at weaseling answers of The Spine- even when The Spine wanted to keep his secrets. Sometimes it was a good thing- he had a habit of getting into spirals of negative emotions, and his siblings noticing and pulling him out of it, was a blessing.

There were other times, though, when he wanted his privacy, when his siblings wouldn’t take no for an answer... Then it was more like a curse.

And if his siblings managed to get the answers out of him, well, the suspender demon was right; they would do everything in their power to stop him, because, when it came down to it, they wouldn’t understand. What was the saying again, better to ask forgiveness than permission?

Taking a deep (and unnecessary) breath, The Spine noted the time- only moments until midnight- he had to make his choice fast. Taking another (still unnecessary) breath, he said: “do it. I. I accept your deal.”     

The suspender demons only answer was to let forth the power he had been saving, ghostly hands ripping into The Spine’s throat, and tearing his voice away, even as the “pain” they caused made The Spine want to scream in agony. Falling to his knees, The Spine started burning, metal becoming hot and malleable as it changed to skin and flesh, wires catching fire as they became nerves, inner parts melting into human organs, glass shards growing hot and so bright that it hurt him to keep his photoreceptors open, even as they changed to eyes. Silent screams tore from his throat, as sweat dripped from his skin and tears dripped from his eyes. Toppling over, he passed out, dreams filled with pain.

Chapter Text

The Jon woke up the next morning fully intent on passing on the letter from Sam (who had stayed behind in Kazooland to give Norman and Wanda a tour while they visited) first thing, (so he wouldn’t forget), when he saw a human being collapsed on the floor. Crawling gently over the person, the Jon poked him once on the shoulder, then once again, harder.

No response.

He poked a third time, but the person still didn’t respond. That was scary for the Jon; normally people responded to him, unless they were sick. Or d-

He didn’t let himself finish that thought, instead moving back to his place by the wall, and curling up into a little ball as he yelled “OH MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICHAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEL”, sending a similar distress call to his siblings over the wifi, “I NEEEEEED YOOOOOOOU.”

The human stirred at the Jon’s yell, and tried to push himself up, but he was trembling, and he just collapsed on the ground once more. The human kept trying, though, making his way over to a couch, and pulling himself up with unsteady hands. It was a struggle for him, as he was wearing pants that were far too long and a sweatshirt with sleeves that hung past his fingertips.The hood was up, and it too was disproportionately sized, covering the humans face. Even still, The Jon could hear him breathe, short raspy breaths that sounded dry and pained.

Michael, Hatchworth, and Rabbit came at a dead run, (though The Spine was nowhere to be seen), and stared at the person. After them came Steve, and someone the Jon didn’t know; though they hadn’t been called, the urgency with which the robots and Michael had run to check on the Jon had had them worried.

“You’re back early, you okay the Jon?” Michael asked, breaking the silence.

The Jon stood up, standing next to his friends and brothers “We-ell the guy was collapsed there” the Jon pointed “and he wouldn’t respond when I poked him like this” he demonstrated on Michael, “but he wouldn’t wake up, so I thought he was dead, so I yelled for you, but then he woke up, and he’s not, I don’t think. Is he the new drummer?”

“No, Matt is” Michael said, waving in the direction of the new drummer while still keeping his eye on the new human. Strange humans in the Walter Manor tended not to be good news, not with their history. The person was fumbling, trying to pull his long sleeves up with one hand while pushing his hood of off his face with the other. Not surprisingly, he was having a hard time of it, his limbs shaking just enough to be noticeable.

Rabbit made the first move, walking up the person by the couch, staring at him, a confused look on her copper face.  Clockwork ticking, she pushed the hood down, off of the person’s head, and studied their face, photoreceptors widening as she grabbed the person by the chin, and moving their head one way, then another.

“N-no way” she said, thumb moving across the man’s face, as if to wipe away tears. “N-no freak-king way.”

“Let me see” Michael said, and Rabbit moved out of the way obligingly. Looking at the intruder, Michael noted that he looked vaguely familiar, the high cheekbones and bright green eyes triggering something in his memory- but that was impossible..  

The man opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out, and he grinned a shy half grin instead, ducking his head a little, and studying his hands.

“S-spine what the hell d-did you do?” Rabbit whispered, staring in horrified fascination at the human in front of him. At her words, the man flinched, and he tucked his hands back into his pocket as he began studying the floor.

He wasn’t the only one who reacted; Michael had suspected, but hearing it confirmed caused him to intake a sharp breath, eyes widening. The man had dried sweat and what looked like dried tear tracks running down his face; knowing that that was The Spine hit him hard. Steve’s reaction was quite the opposite, as he began to mutter things under his breath, things like “what” and “how”. Matt was the only human who didn’t react audibly; as the newest member of the band, he was not quite sure how to react to the tableau in front of him.

The robots reacted in their own way as well. The Jon did not react audibly, choosing instead to close his eyes, and search for something- anything- that would mean what he was seeing wasn’t an elaborate prank; searching for The Spine through the Walter Manor’s wifi, looking for some hint that The Spine was still there somewhere in robotic form. Hatchworth’s reaction was to move until he was behind Rabbit, practically trying to hide behind his sister, and he peeked at The Spine over Rabbit’s shoulder, frowning. “I do not understand this” he said, reaching over with one hand to poke The Spine’s cheek. “Please explain?”

“Yeah, explain th-this” Rabbit added, arms crossed, and glaring at The Spine. “We are all-l-l ears.”

The Spine opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out, and he reached up to rub at his throat, annoyed.

“W-what was that, I couldn’t-t-t hear you.”

The Spine glared at Rabbit, trying to inform the copper robot that he didn’t have a voice anymore, but without his voice, it was kind of frustrating.

“C-cat got your tongue?”

The Spine just sighed, began to rub his temples before noting with a grimace the texture that drying sweat had left on his skin, and putting his hands back into his pockets.

“G-great just great, you’re h-h-h-human and you can’t speak. P-perfect.”

With every word The Spine’s frown deepened, and he shrank into himself some more, trying his best to become one with the couch. Rabbit opened her mouth for more recriminations, when The Jon, finishing his search of the house, looked at The Spine with wide eyes and said “you’re not in the wifi anymore” before shuffling close to The Spine, and poking him to see if he was real, and rocking on his heels nervously.

The Spine shrugged a yes, still silent.

“Why not?”

The Spine sighed again, but before he had to try and explain that he couldn’t talk to the Jon, Michael decided to interrupt. “Come on guys, whatever happened, he can’t talk right now.” The Spine threw him a grateful look, and Michael continued, “we should probably get you cleaned up” he added, noting the dried sweat, and The Spine’s generally unkempt appearance, “and probably some new clothes.”

The Spine snorted at that; he was swimming in the clothes he normally wore. Luckily his pants were staying up, but just barely, and if he tried to walk, he’d definitely need to hold them up.

“I hope we can find some clothes to fit you” Michael muttered, walking over to The Spine to try and gauge his height “stand up straight for a sec.” The Spine stood upright, and Michael’s eyes widened. “I’m taller than you.”

“No way!” Steve exclaimed, walking over to confirm it. The Spine was still tall; taller than Steve and Matt easily, and while they had expected some height difference based on the amount of fabric pooling on the floor and going past The Spine’s hands, they hadn’t expected him to be shorter than any of the humans. Jokingly Steve added “you couldn’t have been shorter than the rest of us too?”

The Spine rolled his eyes, but with a grin.

“Okay, here’s what we need to do” Michael said, turning to the assembled people (and robots), “someone needs to go tell Peter VI; he’ll probably want to run some tests or something to make sure that The Spine is in good condition. I’ll lend The Spine some of my clothes. The rest of you do… Whatever.”

“Not it” Steve said gleefully, looking at Matt, “looks like you get to tell Peter.”

“Where do I start looking for his lab again?”

“…Never mind, I’ll help.” And with that, Matt and Steve took off to find Peter VI.

Once they were gone, the three robots moved away from The Spine so he could follow Michael. The Spine took a deep breath, and stepped away from the couch, promptly tripping over the hem of his pants. He almost fell flat on his face, just barely catching himself on the couch at the last minute.

“What’s w-wrong, first day with your n-n-n-new legs?”  

If glares could kill, Rabbit would have been dead.

Instead of walking, The Spine tried to do an awkward slide/shuffle step, so he wouldn’t trip, but the speed at which he was moving was incredibly slow and awkward and Rabbit just rolled her eyes.

H-hold on a sec” she said, before kneeling down, and rolling up the hems on The Spine’s pants so he’d be able to walk properly. “T-there.”

The Spine’s glare shifted to a genuinely thankful smile as he held his pants up by the belt loop and walked unencumbered to follow Michael.

Once they were gone, Rabbit turned to her other younger brothers. Hatchworth was shifting back and forth nervously, and the Jon was rocking on his heels, and both looked like they had questions. Well, so did she. They’d have time to ask them, and if they didn’t get good enough answers…

“The Jon, c-can you take Hatchworth and find some p-paper and p-pens so The Spine can answer our questions?”

The Jon perked up at being given a job, and grabbed Hatchworth’s hand to leave. [I don’t like this] he admitted over the wifi as they started their search, [he’s not on the wifi, it’s like he’s not even here.]

[I k-know.]

[I wonder why it happened? …Do you think he wanted to leave us?]

The Jon’s question startled Rabbit, and she turned it over in his processors, worried. Finally she decided to answer it the only way she could think; [NO!]

[I hope you are right Rabbit.]

[I am.] Rabbit made sure to throw all her conviction behind that reply, but even as she did so, she could still feel her brother’s unease, and she knew thats he was transmitting her own fear through the wifi. Closing herself off, Rabbit grumbled uneasily, and went to go make sure that Steve and Matt were finding Peter VI alright, rather than ending up grievously injured.   

Chapter Text

Following Michael was an interesting experience for The Spine; for so long he had been the one that others had to hurry to keep up to, due to his long limbs. Now, though he had limbs that were approximately the same length as Michael’s, he was walking as a human being for the first time, and it was a lot harder than it looked.

“How much about showering do I need to explain to you?” Michael said, looking back, and slowing down.

The Spine just raised one eyebrow.

“How much do you know about other…Bathroom activities?”

The Spine just raised that eyebrow higher, before he mimed holding a baby with one hand (still holding his pants up with the other.)

Michael nodded seriously. “Glad we had this talk. Ask someone else if you have any more questions.”

Once in the bathroom, Michael handed The Spine a towel and a clean rag, and pointed out which soaps and shampoos he could use, and which ones he probably shouldn’t unless he wanted someone to eviscerate him. (Metaphorically speaking.) “I’ll put some new clothes on the counter once I hear the shower running.” He added, before turning to leave and give The Spine some privacy.

The Spine stopped him, and Michael looked back in surprise. Thank you The Spine mouthed, hoping that Michael would be able to figure out what he was saying.

Michael grinned, said “you’re welcome”, and left for real.

Once alone, The Spine stripped down, and shivered in the coolness of the bathroom. Turning on the water, he flinched; the water was too hot. Way too hot. Hoping that the red mark on his skin would go away, and soon, he manipulated the dials until he could tolerate the temperature and flipped the level to make it into a shower. Stepping inside, he moved gingerly; he could remember warning generations of Walters to move slowly in the shower, and be careful not to slip… It would have been very embarrassing if he hadn’t followed his own advice.

Having learned the basics of human anatomy through his years of fighting in wars and caring for Walters, The Spine washed up without too many distractions. Remembering the way that young Walters cried if they got soap in their eyes, he did his best to avoid it, even as he scrubbed away the dried sweat (and tears) from his face.

Once he was done, he stepped out of the shower, and wrapped himself up in the towel, noting that there was a pile of clothing on the counter; a shirt, a pair of shorts, and a brand new package of underwear.

Drying off quickly, The Spine got dressed, mouth quirking into a half smile when he put the shirt on; it was purple, bright purple. Not his normal color, but it was the one Michael was lending to him, and he put it on gratefully, before trying to smooth his hair down with his hands. It didn’t work, and eventually he just shrugged, and left the bathroom, opened underwear package and old clothing in hand.

“Keep it” Michael said when The Spine found him. “Until we know how long this is going to be.” The Spine grinned in thanks, and Michael continued, “Peter want to run some tests on you to make sure you’re okay, so I’m going to be joining Steve and Matt in the lab, and we’re going to be trying to get everything set up. Also he wanted me to give this to you,” he held out a small phone, “it’s already programmed with all of our numbers. It only works when it has access to wifi, but that shouldn’t be a problem here. It will let you send messages directly to your siblings through the wifi, so you can still talk.”

The Spine’s smile grew even wider, and he took the phone gratefully.

“They're all in the kitchen, and they have some questions. We’ll swing by there to grab you when we’re ready.”

The Spine nodded, running to his room to drop off his old clothing and the package that Michael had given him before going to the kitchen. It was quiet in there, and when he texted his family, the Jon and Hatchworth just looked at each other, downcast.

“I guess we won’t need these anymore” the Jon murmured, taking a pile of paper and crayons off the table. (He hadn’t found any pens.) The silence was an awkward one, and steam pouring out of Rabbit’s cheek vents at a rate that The Spine found to be alarming. The bots looked at each other, and The Spine knew that they were talking over the wifi.

The fact that he couldn’t hear was... Lonely.

“So why are you human now anyway?” The Jon asked, fiddling with his hat, and looking at the table.

The Spine couldn’t blame him; he had started fiddling with the phone that he had been given, and looking at the table as well. Pursing his lips, he carefully typed [I made a wish].

It wasn’t quite the truth, but it was close enough that he didn’t feel bad lying.

The steam flowing out of Rabbit’s vents was really starting to worry The Spine, and with a sigh, he stood up from the table, typing a quick [be right back], before walking into the kitchen. Once there, he grabbed one cup, then he stopped- his stomach ached, just a little, and he was feeling low on energy. The other bots were probably feeling the same way, and anyway, drinking water couldn’t hurt, so he grabbed three more, filling them with water at the sink gingerly. He wasn’t quite sure how much pressure to put on the glass, especially when filled with water, and he was afraid of hurting himself- taking care of as many generations of Walters as he had had taught him to fear what glass could do to an unwary bystander.

The Jon shuffled into the kitchen, looking everywhere but at The Spine, his hat left at the kitchen table. He had his arms wrapped around him like he was hugging himself, and he looked close to tears.  

“The Spine” he said, his voice cracking a bit, “I was wondering, did you wish to become a human being because you were sick of being our brother?”

The Spine froze momentarily, before spinning around wide-eyed, mouthing a stream of “no’s” to The Jon, though he knew he wouldn’t be heard. Reaching forward, he wanted to give The Jon a hug, but his hand froze.

The Jon was wearing the suspenders, and he was a human being (even if only temporarily). The Jon saw his hesitation, and looked down, before his eyes widened, and he took them off, shoving them into his pocket. “S-sorry” he bawled, oil leaking out in an approximation of tears.

The Spine shook his head, he wasn’t angry at The Jon. He reached up, trying to hug his brother, but the height difference made it awkward to comfort him, especially since The Jon couldn’t bend over too much, or his void would be... Unhappy.   

Pulling himself out of the hug, The Spine’s eyes flickered around the room as he tried to figure out what he was going to do. Then he grinned. The counter. He had always been too heavy to sit up on top of the counter like he saw the humans do, but as a human being, he’d be able to sit on top of there with no problems.

The Jon was whimpering, face in his hands, having taken The Spine’s actions as a rejection, and it broke The Spine’s heart. Murmuring curse words he knew no one would hear, he grabbed The Jon’s hand and tried to pull him over to the counter, but The Jon was too heavy, and too caught up in his sadness to notice The Spine’s weak pull.

Biting his lip, The Spine jumped up on the counter, and pulled his phone out. [Come here] he sent to The Jon, and waited, tense and worried that The Jon would ignore him.

The Jon’s head snapped up, and he looked over at The Spine sitting on the counter. At The Spine’s nod, The Jon shuffled forward, until he was close enough for The Spine to pull him into a one handed armed hug, keeping his other hand out to text The Jon.

[I would NEVER wish for taht] he sent, grimacing at the typo he only noticed once he had hit send. Then he put the phone away, slipping it into his pants pocket. Rubbing the back of The Jon’s chassis soothingly, he waited for the Jon’s tears to slow, and mentally worked on how to apologize to Michael for the fact that the shirt he had just borrowed was probably already ruined by oil.

“Promise?” The Jon asked, looking up at him.

The Spine said yes, but no words came out, and he frowned slightly before nodded as hard as he could. Yes he said again, silently. He cupped The Jon’s face in his hands, and made sure to look his younger brother in the eye, trying to convey what he could, though he could not articulate his feelings.

A shy smile started on The Jon’s face. “Reaaaally?”

Really he mouthed, before kissing Jon on the forehead. The Jon squeaked, before pulling out of the hug “we need to get back to the others! They’re wondering why we’re taking so long” he said, rocking back and forth, hands behind his back.

The Spine grinned, and rolled his eyes, before jumping off the counter. The stinging sensation in his feet was a new one, and while it wasn’t painful exactly, the sensation was new, and unpleasant. Grabbing some paper towels, The Spine carefully wiped the oil off of The Jon’s face. Unfortunately, Michael’s shirt was a goner. Shoving cups at The Jon, The Spine reached up, and grabbed a pitcher, filling it with water. With his brother’s help, he wouldn’t have to take two trips.

Chapter Text

The Jon put the cups in front of the other bots with the same flair as a magician revealing his next trick. He even gave a little “ta da!” with every cup he put down. The Spine just shook his head with a wry grin, and put a pitcher down on the table with far less fanfare.

“I take it ya got it all s-sorted out?” Rabbit asked the Jon. She had been worried about the younger robot; especially after they had received the text that The Spine had sent out explaining why he was a human being. Almost immediately after, the Jon had accidentally sent out a large amount of fear and sorrow through the wifi, before following The Spine into the kitchen. Rabbit had wanted to follow, but experience held her back; the Jon had cut off the emotions as soon as he realized they were broadcasting, and had left the room with one of his rare serious faces and a message over the wifi [I want to talk to him myself], so Rabbit had let him deal with it on his own. She had been worried, but by the looks of it, it had all worked out- though some crying had been involved, going by the oil stains on The Spine’s shirt.  

“Yes!” The Jon said, bouncing back on his heels, “Come on Hatchy! We need to find a place to keep the suspenders so that The Spine doesn’t get snatched!”

“Snatched?” Hatchworth asked, confused.

“Oh, you don’t know about the suspenders! Come on, I’ll tell you!” And grabbing Hatchworth, he bounded away.

Rabbit’s eyes widened as she thought about the possible outcomes of the suspenders meeting up with a very human Spine. [Good thinking] she sent over the wifi, helping herself to the water that The Spine had brought, and wasn’t that just like him? Even when he was turned human and nothing made sense anymore; he still looked out for his family.

…It was kind of annoying.

The Spine was thinking about something, head on his fist, and staring out the door, and the look on his face was something between ‘amused’ and ‘horrified’, so of course Rabbit poked him gently to find out what he was thinking about. “What’s rattling ar-round in that head of y-yours?”  

[I’m just glad that the others aren’t here for this] he admitted over the wifi, [I’m trying to imagine how they would take it]

Rabbit blinked, turning the idea around in her mind, before nodding. “I’m n-not trying to say that they’d take it b-badly, but maybe it’s a g-good thing that they’re all on vacation right n-now.”

They sat in silence, though it was a more comfortable one than the last time. Finally The Jon skipped back into the dining room, Hatchy still in tow, and suspenders gone.

“I am very glad we hid those” Hatchworth said, frowning. “The Spine, you cannot go into any of the guest bedrooms while you are human, understand?”

Rabbit watched as The Spine nodded, straight faced, before adding “w-we need to go get you a n-new shirt, though, this one’s a mess. What will M-michael say?”

The Spine was about to respond when they heard Michael say “It hasn’t even been twenty minutes and you already ruined my shirt?’” He had walked into the kitchen at their last words, and had been waiting for a good moment to jump into the conversation. At The Spine’s stricken expression he added “I’m just kidding, it’s really okay; I had to learn how to get oil out of shirts early on, or else my paycheck would have been destroyed. Come on, we’re done setting up the machines Peter VI wanted, and we’re ready to start running tests on you” he nodded at The Spine “to make sure that, besides this whole “being human” thing, you’re okay.”  

The Spine raised one eyebrow at the finger quotes Michael had included, but he stood up, picking at the shirt in dismay, and following Michael, the other bots in tow.

Once in the basement, Peter VI took down The Spine’s new weight and height before motioning for The Spine to jump up onto an old medical bed that they had found in the basement. The other robots watched in fascination as Peter VI checked The Spine’s reflexes, the Jon giggling at the look on The Spine’s face when his leg kicked out without him telling it to.

“I didn’t realize he's also medical doctor” Matt whispered to Michael, hoping for an explanation.

“He's not, technically, but with everything that goes on in here, the Walters have always made sure that one of them, at least, knows the basics of medical training, and after the... Incident... Peter VI took it further than most” Michael whispered back, as they sat back to watch, and make sure everything went smoothly.   

And everything did go smoothly, at least until Peter motioned for The Spine to take off the shirt he was borrowing. He did so willingly, handing it to Michael to be washed, and shivering in the sudden chill.

He didn’t like feeling cold, he had noticed it earlier in the bathroom, and the repeat of the sensation was uncomfortable. The only good thing about it were the goosebumps popping up on his skin; it was weird, having goosebumps, and watching the tiny hairs (and he had hair wasn’t that a funny thought?) on his arms stand up straight.

Flinching at the cold steel of the stethoscope that Peter placed on his chest, The Spine watched as the other man listened to his breathing. His lungs were fine- as best as Peter VI could tell (though he wasn’t actually a doctor, he had made sure to learn how to tell if a Walter Worker was breathing properly), but when Peter IV got to The Spine’s heart, his countenance changed, and it stepped back, puzzled, an act that filled The Spine with apprehension.

“QWERTY, turn off the lights” he said, and Qwerty obliged, plunging the room into a darkness that was only lit up by the faint glow of the other robot’s photoreceptors and…

The Spine looked down at his chest, confused. There was a faint blue glow coming out of him, too faint to see in the light, but still there, glowing steadily.

“What” Steve asked. When no one responded, he added “no seriously, what.”

“I can hear a heartbeat” Peter replied, stethoscope back on, “but at the same time he seems to have blue matter running through him, we’ll need to do more tests to determine if it’s a blue matter heart, or if he has both a blue matter core, and a heart.”

What happened next was a whirl of tests, The Spine had his blood drawn so they could see if blue matter was running through his veins. Pictures were taken with various cameras, and imaging machines as they tried to look inside of him without actually opening his chest up.

Rabbit had gone into a thirty minute glitch attack at the very idea, and work had had to be stopped to get the glitching under control, and make sure that she didn’t accidentally set the place on fire.

Taking a break, Peter VI flipped through his notes as The Spine sat on the medical bed and kicked his feet against the edge and answered questions the Jon was asking him (using the phone, of course). “This doesn’t make any sense” he said, and if he had had a face, he would have been frowning. Nothing about The Spine was making sense, but it was still familiar, somehow. Rubbing his mask, and wishing he still had a temple he could rub, he was about to ask the Jon to stop asking The Spine questions when he stopped.

After the accident, he had assumed his face had been destroyed, replaced with blue matter. Yet he could eat, breath, and speak. It was as though his face was there, but at the same time, so was the portal. The two things existed in different planes of existence, but still both existed, and interacted with each other in ways he still hadn’t discovered.

He still had the machines that he had jury-rigged to run scans of his face in the aftermath of the incident, he just hadn’t gotten them set up where they were. Sighing at the second interruption to his experiments, he called for silence, and let them know what he needed, and why.    

Chapter Text

Finally done with the last set of test (though Peter wouldn’t actually have the data from those tests completely analyzed until later), The Spine stood up from the medical bed gingerly, wobbling a bit. He was sick and tired of the poking, prodding, and general annoyance that had gone with a medical exam, but he was glad to find that he was probably completely physically okay, aside from the whole “being a human and not a robot” thing, and having a blue matter core in his body… Somehow. He did have a mild headache, but that would go away soon, or so he assumed. Spots of light flared up in his vision, as he tried to get off the bed, and stand up.

Cries of “Spine!” and “are you okay!” filled the air as he started to collapse, Rabbit rushing forward to grab her younger brother, and get him back to sitting on the bed.  

I’m fine he wanted to say, but no words came out.

It was Matt Smith who broke the silence, working something out in his head, and checking his watch before speaking. “Hey, the Spine, have you had anything to eat today?”

Silence reigned as The Spine blushed crimson and hid his face in his hands. He had honestly forgotten that aspect of humanity, having been so used to subsisting off of water that the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind, and going by the red faces and general unease by the others, it hadn’t crossed their minds either.

“Should have thought of that while we were eating lunch” Steve admittedly sheepishly before pulling an energy bar out of the pocket of his jumpsuit and throwing it at The Spine. “Here, this should hold you over until we get more food- that was the last edible thing in the entire Manor... We kind of ate the last bits earlier.”

“I thought today was shopping day?” Michael asked.

“It was, but then we got distracted by all this” Steve replied, waving at The Spine. The Spine wasn’t paying attention, he was looking the energy bar over, nervous.  It would be the first thing he had ever eaten. His siblings were watching him, and waiting to see his reaction when he finally tasted it. They were not disappointed. It wasn’t even that the energy bar was bad, not exactly; but that it tasted new. He finished the whole thing in three bites, and had to admit, he was definitely hungry.

“So we go now” Michael said with a shrug. “There’s and open air market pretty close to here, and while some booths are closing, I know that there are others that are open for another hour. We can either grab him something to eat at one of those, or we can get some stuff to make a quick dinner with, and one of us can go shopping for the rest in the morning.”

The Spine stared at them all, wide-eyed. He wanted to go with them- he wanted to experience life outside of the manor as a human being, and he was also very hungry. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, and sent out a text [can i go please?] he said, ignoring the grammatical inaccuracies in his haste.

The humans looked at each other, then at the other bots, at him, then back at the bots- specifically, at Rabbit, Michael tapping his chin in thought as he said “that might be a good idea, that way he can just grab something to eat from one of the booths, while the rest of us shop.”

Rabbit ran that idea through her neural circuit, and decided it was a bad one- you never knew what could happen, after all. About to open her mouth to say ‘no’, she heard a loud rumble coming from The Spine’s stomach, and closed her mouth again. Seeing The Spine look like he was going to collapse once that day had been enough. Steve had given him the energy bar, but Rabbit had no idea how long that was going to last, and she didn’t want to see that happen again if she could do something to prevent it.

“Petey” she started, “y-you said that the c-core probably won’t glow any b-brighter?”

“I don’t think so, no. For one thing, it’s completely contained inside of him, no leaks, and for another, I’m been checking the glow, and it’s staying at a steady level. As long as he wears a shirt, a dark one would be best, he should be fine.”

“A-and he’s otherwise f-f-f-fine?”

“He’s a little underweight, according to the charts, but that might be his “normal”; we’ll just have to keep an eye on him and make sure that he stays healthy at this weight, or starts to gain some, but other than that, and I’m going to guess low blood sugar, he’s totally fine.”

Rabbit sighed, a habit she had picked up from The Spine, “fine then, but only as long as you stick with one of us so that we always know that your phone works” she said, crossing her arms. The Spine was vulnerable in his human form; he could be hurt or taken and they wouldn’t even know because The Spine couldn’t say a word.

“A shopping adventure!” The Jon said, with a whoop of joy. “We’re going on a shopping adventure Hatchworth!”

“That does indeed sound like fun” Hatchworth said, with a grin of his own. “And I will not even have to wear my mustache disguise.”

After Michael grabbed one of his darker shirts (a dark purple, still not exactly what The Spine would have picked to wear for himself, but Michael thought it was funny, so he went with it), they loaded into their van, the only vehicle on premises that would actually hold all the robots and all the people without breaking.

Once they were at the market, the humans split up to grab the essentials; fruits, veggies and the like, leaving The Spine with the bots to pick out foods he was willing to eat, and to grab dinner of some sort.

Though the bots managed to stick together for a little while before splitting up, they slowly began to drift, with The Jon being the first to leave. They ran into Michael at a booth that sold carrots in colors beyond the usual orange, and he had left, wanting to have a carrot sword fight with his friend. He had missed having carrot sword fights with Michael Reed while he had left to travel. Not one of his brothers could really blame the Jon for leaving; he and Michael had had a special friendship, and The Jon leaving had affected them both.

Hatchworth left second, lost in all the different colors, and all the things he was seeing. Truth be told, he was finding it a little overwhelming after 70 years in a vault. He whimpered quietly, and hid his face in the back of Rabbit’s jacket when things got to be too much. It was all just too much. Too much chaotic noise, too much color, too many options… It was a relief when Matt Smith met up with the two bots and The Spine, noticed Hatchworth’s distress, and offered to take Hatchworth somewhere quieter.

That left The Spine and Rabbit, and Rabbit was a little glad of it; she didn’t like having to be the responsible one and keep track of her younger brothers; as much as she complained that she was the oldest, she liked that The Spine was willing to take on that responsibility. Most of the crowds parted for the Rabbit and The Spine, something Rabbit was grateful for as it made it less likely for The Spine to be bumped into or broken. Occasionally they’d come upon a small crowd of people blocking traffic (most jobs having just ended across the city) and have to pull through it, but those weren’t… Too bad.

“S-see anything you’d like to t-try?” Shee asked, poking her younger brother.

The Spine nodded, then stopped. [...Did you remember to grab money from Mr. Reed?] He sent, [because I just realized that I forgot, and my wallet was in my old pants.]

Rabbit stopped, and gaped at the Spine. The Spine never forgot things like that, his memory was sharp, and he was good and keeping track of things. But as a human being, he no longer had a silicon memory chip to encode data on, and human brains were fallible… “I forgot t-too” Rabbit huffed, “s-s-s-s-so used to you handling these th-things.”

The Spine pouted, then shrugged, and typed [so we go and find Mr. Reed and we grab the money and get back here. it’s fine. :)]

Rabbit grinned wryly, and she and her brother walked back through the crowd of people. Noting it, Rabbit shook her head grumpily, the crowd had grown since they had first walked through it, and it was larger than she liked, though, to be fair, her preferred size would have been “nonexistent”.

Keeping an eye on her brother’s head, she followed The Spine through the dense crowd, only looking away for a brief moment when someone ran into her. Exiting the crowd was a relief, and Rabbit almost felt a smile come to her lips as she turned to ask The Spine which booth he wanted to go to first, once they had the money.

The question froze in her throat when she realized that she had followed that wrong black-haired man through the crowd, and The Spine was nowhere in sight. Time froze as she looked back at the crowd, searching frantically for a tall silver man in a black fedora and no, that wasn’t right that wasn’t right at all The Spine was a human being and he was way too pale and not silver and he was short and he was vulnerable-

-And he had a blue matter core tucked inside his body.

Images flashed through her head as Rabbit’s photoreceptors widened and she started trembling hard enough she thought she was going to shatter. The Spine, torn to pieces, blue matter core gone.

The Spine, ripped apart by Becile’s, to extract the secrets of The Spine’s creation.

The Spine in the same position as Rabbit had been, once upon a time, but as a human being.

And human beings were much more fragile; if they took out his blue matter core, there wouldn’t be any way to fix him.

Rabbit stood there, shaking in fear, and glitching, as puffs of steam left her cheek vents erratically, as she tried to send The Spine a message, realizing to her horror that, wherever The Spine was, he didn’t have access to any sort of wifi that’d let him receive a text. Instead she sent a message her other brothers and the humans, her fear causing glitches in the text:

[th-th-the Spin-n-n-e is missi-si-sing].

The response was immediate; [we’ll start looking for him] from Michael, the sentiment repeated from the others. Shaking her head, she started walking jerkily back towards where she had last seen The Spine, hoping that someone would have seen him- before it was too late

Chapter Text

The Spine was freaking out; oh, the night had started out as a fun night, and he had enjoyed tremendously the fact that he could walk around without too many people batting an eyelash. Granted, he had still gotten a couple of second looks, but those had had more to do with his company and lack of voice. Other than that, it had been fun, really.

But then he had been walking through a crowd, and he must have gotten separated from Rabbit, and he was panicking. Trying to reach someone with his phone was useless, as there were no wifi signals in the area- not for lack of trying; he tried to send over a dozen texts to various bots or people, begging them to go through- and he couldn’t just ask people because he couldn’t speak.

Trying to keep calm, he went from booth to booth, typing into his phone [have you seen a robot?] and showing it to people. Some people didn’t even acknowledge him, as if he wasn’t even there, as if he wasn’t even human. Some looked at the phone, and shook their heads, but that was just as unhelpful as the people who ignored him, some were closing their booth for the night, and didn’t have time to be bothered.  

The Spine knew that the panic he was feeling was an overreaction; he had gotten separated from the other bots loads of times! But… Usually he was made of steel, and could defend himself. Usually he had his intimidating height, and he was a lot stronger, and in case of a super dire emergency, he had his tesla coil.

As a human being, he had none of that.

Ducking into another booth, he looked around to see if there was anyone who was not busy. There was a woman running the cash register, but she had a customer. Maybe if he got in line and offered to buy something in exchange for her assistance...? But no, he had no wallet on him; that was what started the problem in the first place...

His thought process was cut off by a gentle voice asking him “do you need any help?” turning to look, he saw a young woman, with black hair and dark eyes. She had been smiling, until he turned to face her fully, at which point her countenance changed to one of concern. “You don’t look so good” she chided.

He opened his mouth to speak, before stopping, and typing up a message on his phone.

“Lost your voice?” She asked him, and he shrugged in a gesture he hoped came off as “something like that”.

[I ggot seprated from my griup… & this is my 1st tiem here] he typed, quickly, cursing at his inability to stop shaking, and type properly before holding it out to her to read. She nodded thoughtfully.

“Why can’t you just call- no- text them?” She asked, raising one eyebrow.

[phone is brokn, can only text w/ wifi, none here] The Spine replied, fingers moving across the keys.  

“I see” She said, “I’d lend you my phone, but my Dad’s borrowing it right now, and judging by the conversation, he’ll be a while. Wifi is probably going to be spotty this time of night…” She tapped her chin, thinking for a moment before continuing, “There’s a coffee shop a couple of blocks over on 3rd that’s still open, and they have free wifi. Do you know where I’m talking about?” The Spine thought for a moment, then shook his head. He was so used to having a map in his neural circuits that he didn’t really know his way around the city without it.

[sory, no, idont know where thatis, but you say theres wifi?]

“Yeah, and you don’t even have to buy anything to get the password. Now, I’m going to need you to sit down for a minute, I’m going to get you something to drink- you look like you’re about to fall over. Then after I’ve let my Mom know where I’ll be, I’ll take you to the coffee shop, and if we see your friends on the way, well, we see them.” She gestured to a chair that was out, and he sat down gratefully. It wasn’t that he was tired, not exactly, but he was scared, and fear was turning out to be oddly draining.

The woman spoke with her mother in a language that The Spine only vaguely recognized before returning with a glass of water, that he drank greedily; he hadn’t realized how thirsty he was. She took the cup, throwing it away in a nearby trash bin. “My name is Alejandra, by the way. What’s yours?”

The Spine froze. He hadn’t actually thought about that.  

[Walter. Walter Peters] he texted after a moment’s hesitation, mentally facepalming at the stupidity of the name, but that was the first thing to pop into his head. Shaking his head, he continued [Alejandra is a pretty name. Thank you for the water. And I would appreciate your help finding them- or wifi.] , grateful that he had had the time to calm down, and text legibly again.

“It was- and is- no problem. Okay then Walter, let’s go." Pulling The Spine out of the chair, she grabbed two peaches from the stall, handing one to him. The Spine inspected the peach as he walked, hands moving curiously along the fuzzy skin. He hadn’t realized just how soft they were.

“You’re supposed to eat it” Alejandra said with a smile, biting into her own peach. The Spine followed suit, grimacing when juice ran down both his arm and his chin, and Alejandra giggled. He was about to glare at her, when he noticed that juice was running down her arm as well.  

“Don’t worry” she said, “there are places we can clean up at when we’re done”, and that did mollify The Spine somewhat.  

They walked through the crowd, finishing off their peaches, and throwing away the pits next to a water feature where they rinsed the juice off their hands, and continued walking.

“So tell me about yourself” Alejandra said as they walked before stopping, and hitting her face with her hands “no, wait, that was stupid, sorry.”

The Spine shrugged. It was okay- he himself had tried to speak several times before remembering that he couldn’t. [You could ask me yes or no questions?] he typed, showing it to her.

“That’s true” she said with a grin. “okay, first question, are you older than twenty?”

He nodded.

“Younger than thirty?”

He hesitated, then nodded again. Telling her he was over 100 wouldn’t really go over well.

“Older than twenty-five?” She asked, and he nodded a third time. “I just turned 23 myself” she continued, “but I still live at home, so I help out with my parent’s booth when I can. What’s your favorite color? I know that’s not yes or no, but I figure you can point to something with that color as we’re walking?”

The Spine didn’t even have to think about it, and instead he just waved at the rapidly darkening sky.

“Just that shade of blue?” And he shook his head no. “All of them, then?” And he shook his head yes. He liked shades of blue, and though admittedly he had a favorite unless he saw Rabbit soon, he wouldn’t be able to point out his favorite shade of blue.

They continued walking through the closing market, Alejandra asking him questions, and The Spine answering them as best as he could, using his phone when he couldn’t make himself understood with hand motions or miming.

They were close to the coffee shop (according to Alejandra) when The Spine heard a familiar clattering of gears and hiss of steam. Turning, he saw Rabbit, and felt a grin stretch over his face before his eyes widened, and froze.

Rabbit was furious.

He hadn’t seen Rabbit like since the last war they had been in, when The Spine had been taken down with a shot to the chest, and Rabbit had been trying to save him. Then, he had just seen Rabbit’s countenance, and hoped that Rabbit wouldn’t do anything she’d hate herself for later; he hadn’t really taken the time to figure out what it looked like to other people; he had had other things to worry about. Now, though….  

Alejandra behind him gave a little scream of fear, and ran off, and frankly, The Spine couldn’t blame her. He wanted to run too, and Rabbit was his sister. But with steam pouring out of various vents, and her eyes glowing fiercely, she looked like some sort of demon.   

“I’ve b-b-b-been looking all ov-v-v-ver for ya! We’ve al-l-l b-b-been worried s-s-sick trying to f-f-f-find you!” Rabbit started, voice getting louder and louder as she spoke. People around them were scattering, and leaving the two of them alone, a fact that both siblings noticed, Rabbit grabbing The Spine’s upper arm, and walking them both away at a quick march.

The Spine flinched a little; Rabbit was hurting him. Not intentionally; The Spine knew that Rabbit would never ever, ever do that, but Rabbit’s grip was strong, and The Spine was hurrying at too fast a rate to try and text Rabbit without fear of tripping. Instead he bit his lip, and tried to ignore the pain in his arm, and instead keep up with the copper robot.

“S-s-s-so imagine m-m-my surprise when I t-turn a c-c-orner and see you flirt-t-ting it up with some d-dame like the you had n-n-no care in the world!” Rabbit continued, not looking back.

That’s not what that was The Spine wanted to scream. He had been terrified; but Alejandra had done her best to calm him down, and she was trying to help him get back to his brothers. He wanted to yell at Rabbit to stop because Rabbit was hurting him and that was not what had happened. The words echoed in his mind, his feelings of anger and fear twisting themselves into whirlpool of emotion that he wasn’t honestly sure how to deal with.

Finally they stopped, standing next to the van that they had arrived in, and Rabbit let go of The Spine’s arm. “N-n-now I need to t-t-tell everyone they can stop-p-p freakin-g-g out and looking for you” Rabbit said acidly. “You were just-t-t off flirting with some dame, nothing to be worried about.”

Under normal circumstances, The Spine would have been glad that Rabbit was calming down enough that the stutter was getting under control, but these were not normal circumstances, and his only thought was that’s not fair.

Stepping back, he pressed his lips into a thin line, and leaned against the van, carefully not looking at Rabbit, and rubbing the arm Rabbit had been holding onto gently. He was sore, cold, hungry, and he felt simultaneously wound up like a spring and too tired to function-

-and he wanted to get away from Rabbit, but that wasn’t going to happen until they were home. Tears pricked at the edges of his eyes, but he wiped them away, as he slide down the side of the van into a little ball curling up on the ground to get warm in the spring’s night air as Rabbit stood a silent vigil and refused to look at him.

The others were there shortly, Michael taking off his sweatshirt, and tossing it around The Spine’s shoulders, before offering him a hand up. Silently, the group loaded into the van, and drove home, the only sounds coming from the hiss of pistons, the whirring of gears, and the occasionally tapping of Michael texting.

When they got home, Peter VI was standing in the entrance hall. “I heard what happened” he said, “give me your phone, we don’t know how long you’re going to be stuck like that, so I’m going to make it so this never happens again. Also it probably needs to charge.”

The Spine pulled the phone out, tapping out a quick [I’m going to go to bed] before handing the phone over.

“Night” Peter VI said absently, as The Spine left and the others started to take the food to the kitchen to put it all away. Accidentally hitting the ‘scroll up’ function instead of the ‘close’ function, he was going to put the phone away, when a message caught his eye. [Alejandra is a pretty name. Thank you for the water. And I would appreciate your help finding them- or wifi.]      

Reading some of the other messages that The Spine had sent, Peter VI sighed. Michael had given him regular updates starting when Rabbit and The Spine had gotten separated, including how Rabbit had described finding The Spine, and while part of him had been glad that The Spine was safe, another part of him had been very upset that The Spine was off flirting with some random girl while everyone had been panicking, and he had been stuck at home.

Reading the messages again, though, it turned out that it wasn’t quite that simple.

Debating on how to handle things, he decided to just go and let the others read the unsent messages that were still saved as drafts on The Spine’s phone- starting with the ones that The Spine had tried to send to his brother’s that had never gone through.

Chapter Text

Luckily the others were in the kitchen when Peter VI walked in. The humans had finished putting away the food, and had made themselves dinner; quesidillas, in an attempt to cheer the Jon up. It wasn’t working, though, and the golden bot was sitting at the table looking very downcast. He looked up when Peter VI entered the room, as did the others, but he looked down again once he saw who it was. Peter tried not to take it personally. 

“Peter, there’s one for you on the counter” Michael said with the wave of his hand. It was getting a little cold, but Peter took it gladly; he too hadn’t eaten much that day, but unlike the Spine, his body was used to the extremes (or, as his mother liked to call it, the stupidity) he forced upon it in the name of science.

“Thank you” he said, sitting down at the table. There was an awkward silence, as Peter VI tried to think up the best way to start things. Finally sighing, he just handed the phone over to Michael, and said, “I think you should start reading just after he asked if he could go out with you guys.”

Taking the phone from Peter VI, Michael scrolled up through the drafted messages to the where he had suggested. Watching out of the corner of his eye to make sure that Peter was actually eating, he began to read the messages, frowning as he did so. Several had not gone through, messages that included [can anyone hear me?] and [where r u guys??], each with the red “error” notification that said to tap it to try and send the message again.

Looking up from the phone, Michael swallowed hard; “I think we may have screwed up a little” he said.

“Sh-show me” Rabbit demanded, reaching for the phone. Michael handed it over willingly, and Rabbit began to scroll through the messages, photoreceptors widening as she did so. Steam puffed out of her vents rapidly, as she read through the calls for help his younger brother had tried to send.

Then she got to Alejandra.

Though the texts were one sided, from what Rabbit could tell, after Spine ran into Alejandra, he began to calm down; his texts were less frantic and filled with spelling errors. Rabbit did smile briefly at the mention of “Walter Peters” but overall as she read, the texts were sobering. “M-mikey, I th-think you’re right-t-t” she whispered, handing the phone to Steve (who was making grabby hands for it).

“What happened?” The Jon whimpered, as he and Hatchworth sat next to each other, two peas in a pod when it came to the worried looks on their faces.

“The Spine wasn’t just off flirting with someone” Steve muttered, skimming the texts, “she was helping him out; helping him find wifi, so he could ask for help.”

“Oh” the Jon replied, sniffing, and close to tears, “and then we said mean things about him over our wifi!”

“We will need to apologize.” Hatchworth interjected quietly. “But I am uncertain how.”

“H-he’s probably be hungry” Rabbit said slowly, “all that-t, we never did g-get him d-d-d-dinner.”

“Well, we could try to apologize now, but that might make things worse, given that we're all a little on edge still..." Michael started, thinking.

"He said he was going to bed; if he's asleep, he might end up more upset about the fact that we're waking him up." Matt added. "I mean, I know it's early, but he kind of had a long day."

"Alright, so tomorrow morning we make him breakfast, apologize for everything, and hope he’s not too angry with us, that’s all we can hope for.” Steve said with a faux-apathetic shrug, as troubled as the rest.

“Pancakes?” The Jon asked, perking up, “with chocolate chips and whip cream?”

“...Sure, why not.”

“And coffee, the Spine always drinks coffee in the mornings” Matt added.

“You noticed!”

“...Yeah?”

“Cool!”

“Y-you guys g-go ahead and p-plan all that, I’m g-going to go check on him” Rabbit said, guilt eating away at her core. “M-make sure, if he's awake, h-he’s not going hungry up th-there because he thinks w-we’re mad at him.”

“Good idea” Peter said, as Rabbit got up, and walked out of the kitchen, leaving the others to their plans. As she walked away, all she could hear was “...is a little early for him to be asleep.”

Walking through the hallways until she was at the Spine’s door, Rabbit halted, feeling awkward. She didn’t want to just walk in, but she didn’t want to knock on the doorframe, and potentially wake the Spine up, if he was asleep (though Peter VI was right, it was early). Running the pros and cons through her head, she decided to just peek through the open doorway, and hope the Spine wouldn’t mind.

Inside, the Spine was on his bed, using the infamous AEH coat as a blanket, and, shivering slightly. Rabbit wanted to curse her forgetfulness; while the Spine had a bed, and had outfitted it with soft sheets, that was all; just sheets, as he liked the facade, but didn’t need the warmth, being a robot and all, and while the night wasn’t freezing, there was a mild chill in the air.

Backing out of the Spine’s room, Rabbit began to search through the manor for a spare room with extra blankets. Grabbing what she could, she snuck into the Spine’s room. While the Spine shivered, she carefully pulled the coat off of him; she knew the Spine would be grumpy about the wrinkles in the morning if she didn’t, and started tucking blankets around her younger brother. Once the Spine’s shivering stopped, Rabbit added one more for luck, and piled the rest on the floor next to the bed. She was about to turn and leave, when something stopped her. Dried tear tracks, same as that morning. She had hated them then, and she hated them now, hating herself for helping to put them there.

“Oh Spine” she whispered, crouching down on the floor in misery. “Your first day of being a human and it was a g-g-giant mess.”

The Spine shifted in his sleep, and Rabbit tensed, ready to leave, but her younger brother was just burrowing deeper into the covers.  

Tempted to leave, Rabbit found she couldn’t bear to; her younger brother looked so fragile there, his skin so pale it was almost luminous.

He looked like he would shatter.

Crossing her legs, and sitting back, Rabbit just watched The Spine’s steady breathing, keeping vigil. Thoughts echoed through her processors as she watched, silent save for faint clicking and whirring. “I always kn-new you were a little different” Rabbit muttered to herself. “Always trying t-ta dress up fancy and act like the human beings.” She stopped and let out a puff of steam equivalent to a sigh, “you could have t-told us, you know. And n-now we’re here. D-don’t worry though, we’ll take care of ya until all this is sorted. Tomorrow will be a g-g-g-good day, promise.”

Chapter Text

The next morning, Steve got up early to run to the store for things that they hadn’t been able to get at the market. The list was mostly staples, things like flour, sugar, and butter, though there were also some things that the market didn’t carry, like whip cream (per The Jon's request). He returned to a house where everyone (save the Spine, who was asleep still, and Peter VI, who was in his lab, doing science things) was awake- or, at least, conscious- and in the kitchen. Putting the bags down on the counter, he started assigning tasks to both the humans and robots. Once breakfast prep was done, Rabbit put down her task, and left the kitchen with a grin and a “I’ll go wake the Spine up!” The others let her go; pancakes still needed to be cooked, but those could wait until the Spine was up.

Rushing up the stairs, Rabbit slowed down as she got closer to the Spine’s door, knocking gently when she got there. Hearing nothing save for the gentle sounds of sleep she peeked inside, and made up her mind. Walking over to where the Spine was still in bed, and still sleeping, she poked her younger brother gently. The only response was for the Spine to burrow into his blankets, until only the very tip of his head was showing.

“Time to wake up!” Rabbit said in a sing-song voice, but she got no reply, and the rhythm of the breathing never changed.

Debating on what to do, Rabbit decided to play it nice for one morning, scooping up her younger brother and all the blankets. He still didn't still, and she ended up carrying him back to everyone else dropping the Spine on a couch, and going back to the kitchen to help out.

In the pile of blankets, the Spine shifted as he heard noise, and though he tried to block it out, the noise was a constant hum, and he couldn’t make it go away. Frowning, he reached up out of the blanket for his pillow, so he could cover his ears and drown out the noise, but he did not find it. Instead, delicious smells wafted in through the hole he had made in his blanket cocoon, and he find himself poking his head out, curious as to why those smells were in his room. Blinking sleepily, he realized that he was no longer in his room, and as he stared at the hustle and bustle in the kitchen and dining room, he had to wonder; was he still dreaming?

Deciding that there was one way to find out, he shifted, trying to get out of the blankets that encircled him, thrashing a bit as he realized he was rather tangled up. With a silent shriek, he accidentally kicked his way off the sofa, landing on the floor with a muffled thump. Frown deepening, he curled up under the covers again, and was about to refuse to get up, when a hand held out a beverage with a familiar smell. Before the Spine could take it, however, Matt was putting the cup of coffee on the dining room table, and was helping the Spine to get untangled, pulling off blankets, and throwing them on the couch in a pile. He did not take all the blankets, however; the Spine was still a little chilly, and he made sure to keep one wrapped around him when he walked over to the table with all the grace of an upset cat.

“Morning the Spine!” the Jon said, bouncing happily, “Petey still has your phone, so we brought you paper and some crayons!”

The Spine took the offered objects from the Jon, and stared at them blankly, still bleary-eyed and not quite awake yet. Picking up a green crayon he scrawled ‘morning’ on the paper, and held it up, reaching for the cup of coffee at the same time.

“Careful- that’s just coffee, there’s nothing else in it” Matt cautioned. The Spine shrugged. He knew that humans added things to their coffee, but he had never understood it.

Taking a sip, he slammed the cup down on the table, and jerked back, remembering too late that he had never understood it because he had never had taste buds before.

“I take it you didn’t l-l-l-ike it?” Rabbit asked with a smirk. The smirk faded when the Spine turned to her. With his wide green eyes, and hurt expression, Rabbit felt like she had just kicked a puppy, only the puppy was her younger brother, and the kick was just a metaphor. “That’s just n-n-n-n-not fair” she muttered, turning away with a pout.

“What’s not fair?” Michael asked, bringing over a larger cup, a small container of milk and a small pot of sugar (with a spoon).

“The Spine.”

“What about hi- ohhhh” Michael said, as the Spine turned the full force of his sad puppy dog eyes towards Michael. “Don’t be sad, I brought you some stuff to add to your coffee, if you want?”

Dipping the spoon into the sugar, the Spine put a tiny bit on his tongue. Face changing from sadness to surprise to delight, he poured the coffee into the larger cup, and started pouring in the sugar, stirring it and tasting it with the spoon as he did so.

Once he was done with the sugar, he took the milk, and began pouring it in, repeating the process that he had with the sugar.

“You gonna want some coffee with your milk and sugar” Rabbit asked sardonically, watching bemused.

The Spine ignored her, drinking his concoction with a grin of delight. His grin faded as he put it down, though, and he stared at the table with a frown, pulling out a black crayon, and starting to write on a new piece of paper.

‘I’m sorry about last night’ he wrote, biting his lip, and nervous. Passing the paper to Rabbit, he tapped his fingers against his leg to the rhythm of Ju Ju Magic and waited, scared to look up, even as Rabbit held the paper up so that the others could see what he had written.  

The room was silent, save for the steady sounds of Steve flipping pancakes so they didn't burn. It was he that broke the silence once all the pancakes were safe, crossing his arms, and glaring at the Spine. "Are you seriously apologizing?"

The Spine just nodded, still looking down at the table.

"Oh for the l-l-love of" Rabbit said, standing up and walking over to the Spine. Pushing the chair at an angle so she could look the Spine in the face, and ignoring the screeching sounds that came from it, she grabbed the Spine's wrist gently. She intended just to get the Spine to stop tapping, and instead look at her, but instead The Spine flinched, memory of the night before still running through his mind. "S-s-s-sorry" Rabbit muttered, letting go. "And n-n-n-not just for that."

Looking up at her brother, the Spine just stared at Rabbit, one eyebrow raised in confusion.

"We're all sorry" the Jon said, looking down at the table, "we got really scared, and we forgot that you were probably scared too."

Silence fell, as the Spine stared at them all, wide eyes.

No one broke the silence at first, letting it grow, and leaving them all feeling uncomfortable.

Finally breaking it, Steve said “okay, awkward emotional time’s over. We made you apology pancakes” as he shoved a plate in front of the Spine. Holding up a squirt can of whip cream, “I’d say ‘say when’ but…”

Rabbit hadn’t thought that the Spine’s eyes could get any wider, but she was mistaken, as the Spine blinked up at Steve in confusion. “...Just hit me or something when you don’t want anymore.”

The Spine declined to hit him, instead just making a “stop” motion with his hand when Steve had added enough. Keeping an eye on his siblings, the Spine noted that the Jon was leaning forward in his chair in anticipation, and decided to have a little fun, making sure to move as slowly as possible when it came to cutting the pancakes, and putting them in his mouth. The longer he took, the more the Jon leaned forward, until he was almost falling out of his chair as he watched. The Spine couldn’t help it, and it cracked a grin at the Jon, who blinked, then pouted when he realized what the Spine was doing.

“That’s not very nice” he grouched, sitting back in his chair. He didn’t pout for very long, though, as the Spine decided to play nice, and took a bite.

“Do you like it?” Hatchworth asked, utter seriousness in his tone.

The Spine didn’t reply at first, staring at his plate, confusion etched on his features. Finally he wrote down ‘I think so?’ He stopped for a moment, tapping the crayon on the table as he tried to get his thoughts in order. Finally he added, ‘I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but I think I do. I’m not sure how to describe it, though?’

“Probably “sweet” Matt offered, “the coffee was bitter, the sugar you added was sweet, and this is salty” he sprinkled a little bit of salt at the end of the Spine plate, and the Spine tasted it dutifully. “There’s also sour and savory too” he added, “but you haven’t tried those yet.” Everyone stared at Matt, blinking, and Matt just stared back at them. “What?” He asked finally, before shrugging, “I did other things before joining the band, you know.”

Shrugging, the Spine wrote ‘Sweet, I like sweet’ on the paper, then added ‘I like these. Thanks Steve.’  

“You’re welcome.” Steve said with a grin. “Who else wants some?”  

“Me!” The Jon said, “and Hatchworth wants some, don’t you Hatchworth?”

“We do not eat, though?”

“But- but- but pancakes.”

“...Alright. Is that alright Mister Reed?”

“Sure” Michael said, before he turned to the Spine and added, “look, please don’t take this the wrong way, but do you know how long you’re going to be a human being?” Michael asked, “because I feel kind of bad that you have to keep borrowing my clothes, don’t have any of your own that fit you.”

The Spine stopped eating, and wrote down carefully, ‘just three days’

“Three days as a human being but with no talking?” Steve asked, eyebrow raised, “you’re the friggen little mermaid!”

“...You don’t have to kiss anyone, do you?” Michael added, “because, if you do, we should probably get started on that.” He stopped, cleared his throat, and continued, “you would tell us if it was one of us, right? You know we wouldn’t judge.”

Ignoring the slight burning in his cheeks, the Spine calmly wrote down ‘as far as i know kissing wasn’t part of the deal’

“Too bad, I could have done some sweet lighting” Steve said with a grin as he made more pancakes.

“And we could have sang!” The Jon exclaimed, bouncing in his seat.

‘not going to happen’ the Spine scrawled, ‘anyway, she only had until sunset on the third day, i have until midnight, so there’s that difference too’

“I KNEW IT” Rabbit shouted, making everyone jump, “I kn-new someone was watching that m-m-m-movie, but you claimed it wasn’t you! I b-b-b-bet you have the songs memorized, d-don’t lie!”

‘says the robot who can quote the entire Brave Little Toaster movie’

“That’s a c-c-classic!”

‘so you say’

“Why I oughta-” Rabbit started, before she stopped, snapping ers mouth shut with a clang. “N-never mind” she muttered. “You’re a human b-b-b-being right now, wouldn’t be a f-f-f-f-fair fight.”

‘only until tomorrow at midnight’ the Spine wrote hoping to pull Rabbit’s mind of off wherever it had wandered. At Rabbit’s smile, he added ‘can I have some more pancakes?’

“YEAH, more pancakes!” Rabbit agreed, “Steve, I w-w-want one shaped like a toaster!”

“You too?” Steve asked, but his tone belied his facial expressions, and he started trying to form a toaster out of batter.

The rest of breakfast was loud and unruly as the other bots asked for more and more complicatedly shaped pancakes. Steve tried his best, at first, to fulfill their requests, but finally he just threw his hands in the air, and started making round ones again, claiming that they were (whatever had been asked for) but squashed by an dragon.

“Are you the ones making the pancakes?” He asked, holding the spatula menacingly, “no? Then stop arguing with me and enjoy your “eiffel tower that was squashed by a dragon” pancake.”

Leaning back, the Spine stared at his plate, surprised at the feeling in his chassi- abdomen. Stomach. One of those human body parts.

“You full?” Matt asked, hand hovering to take the Spine’s plate.

‘I think so’

“I’m going to take a plate down to Peter VI while they’re cleaning, what do you want to do?” Michael asked, balancing cups in his hands.

‘take a shower’

“I’ll bring new clothes by, and trade them out if the shower is running? You can probably keep the sweatshirt, though.”

‘i would appreciate that, thanks’ the Spine wrote, and with that, the meal was over, people splitting up to clean (the humans), shower (the Spine), clean until they got told off for making a larger mess and then color (the Jon and Hatchworth), and try and talk Bebop or Qwerty into letting her know how often The Little Mermaid had played in the Walter Manor (Rabbit).

As the Spine walked away, he had to admit, it had been a nice morning. A bit hectic, but nice. All the same, he’d be glad for a little bit of quiet in the early afternoon.   

Chapter Text

Stepping out of the shower, the Spine found his phone on top of the pile of clothing, and smiled to himself gratefully. After all, though the clamor at breakfast was not unwelcome, and had, in fact, been quite fun, he was still tired. All that the Spine wanted to do was sit somewhere quiet and read, but he didn’t want to just vanish on people, not after the night before, and not in Walter manor.

Dismissing the message from Peter VI that was on it, he decided to find a place to relax, and have some quiet time with a book- and he had just the book in mind. Going to his room, he grabbed an old and much-loved copy of The Wizard of Oz off the shelf, and headed towards the library to read it (having no comfortable chairs in his room). The book was old, as he'd gotten it for Christmas the first year it had been published. It was still one of his most prized possessions, battered and worn as it was. Technically, he didn’t need it while he was a robot; he had memorized the book the first time he had read it (something that had got him through multiple wars; he could ‘read’ the book in his head, or even recite it to his fellow soldiers, or civilians), but he still liked holding the physical copy in his hands. It made him feel less like a machine, and more like, well, a human being. 

Sitting in the recliner that he normally sat in, the Spine turned up the volume on his phone, and tried to get comfortable, but try as he might, it wasn’t working. The chair had been custom made for a robot’s proportions and weight, and as a human, it just didn't work. His proportions were all wrong and he wasn’t able to keep the recliner reclined with his human body. It kept inching back into a ninety degree angle, and the Spine kept huffing in frustration before he finally just got out of the chair, and headed towards the couch, pile of blankets from that morning still there. The couch had also been custom made, but those alterations had been focused on reinforcing it to withstand the weight of two robots and some humans, and adding some length so that it would hold more than the typical three. As such, the Spine was still comfortable as sat on the couch, legs thrown over the cushions, back against the armrest, and a blanket thrown over him for good measure.

He put the phone on the end table behind his head, hoping that the sounds and vibration of the phone would be loud enough to pierce his reading-induced haze, (rather than being mildly muffled inside Michael’s sweatshirt pocket), and carefully opened the book. Though the chapters were short, the Spine made sure to take his time reading them, making sure to savor the smell of the paper, and the way the pages felt between his fingers. This was going to be his only chance, he was going to savor everything he could.

Dorothy had just met the Scarecrow and they had started the road into the forest when the Spine’s phone went off. Carefully putting the book down, the Spine reached behind his back for the phone and grabbed it, opening the message that had just arrived, and scanning it quickly. It was from Hatchworth, wondering where he was.

[In the library] the Spine sent back, before going back to his book. In its pages, the Scarecrow was saying “It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh, for you must sleep, and eat and drink.” The Spine snorted at that; while those were inconvenient, it was a mild inconvenience at most, and the fun of trying new things when he ate, and properly dreaming for the first time had  more than made up for it.  

When Hatchworth eventually showed up, he surprised the Spine by standing in the doorway fidgeting, rather than entering.

[Well, come on in] the Spine sent.

“Thank you the Spine” Hatchworth said as he entered the room, and made a beeline straight for his older brother. He stood there, staring down at the Spine, and unreadable expression on his face. The Spine was confused, and he was just about to send a text, asking what was happening, when Hatchworth carefully reached down, and poked his cheek.

[What.]

Hatchworth jerked back at that, but he refused to leave, standing there still, like some sort of guardian. “I was just checking to make sure you were still here.”

[And you had to poke me?]

“You are not on the wifi anymore; I have no way of telling if you are really here or if my processors or playing tricks on me.”

It was a genuine fear for Hatchworth, the Spine knew, and he winced at that. He and Rabbit were just starting to hear some of what happened to Hatchworth in the vault, and stories of seeing things that weren’t actually there were common. With that in mind he made sure to smile gently as he sent [well, I’m still here], so that Hatchworth would know that his response was meant to comfort, and not to tease.

“Indeed you are.”

Opening his book back up so he could memorize what page he had been on, and put it away to focus on Hatchworth, the Spine noted that Hatchworth’s attention was drawn to it, and he held it out carefully.

Hatchworth took it, just as gentle as the Spine, and looked at it intently, fingers tracing the typography of the title. “You used to read to me, do you remember?” He asked- something that the Spine could not quite identify in his voice.

The Spine nodded, and typed [I remember.]

“You didn’t stop when I was put in the vault. I missed it when you had to stop.”

[I’m sorry.]

“Do not be. You were sent to wars, and I could not go, that was not your fault.”

It wasn’t, but that didn’t stop the Spine from feeling awful about it. [I’m glad you didn’t join us] he typed, hoping that his thought process would make sense, and wishing he could speak his thoughts. It had, in it’s own way, been the one good thing about Hatchworth being in the vault; at least one of his siblings was home and safe throughout all the hell they saw during the wars.

Going by the way that Hatchworth’s face was falling, the Spine knew he had screwed up. [i wish none of you had been in the wars] he typed as quickly as he could, biting his lip as he pressed send. [I’m happy you’re out of the vault now, though]

Hatchworth received the texts, and tilted his head to the left, then to the right as he thought on what the Spine said. Finally, shaking his head in exasperation, he added “The Spine, let me be frank with you, you are very ridiculous.”

[It's my job as your older brother.]

“Do not let Rabbit hear you say that. You know that she likes being the oldest.”

[I won’t.]

Hatchworth opened his mouth to reply, but then stopped, thinking.

[What is it?] the Spine asked, worried a little, and hoping that the sudden silence was not due to an emergency elsewhere in the manor- or Rabbit listening in on them. According to a message that Peter VI had sent, Rabbit was supposed to be down in the lab, getting looked over after the previous day’s stress, but she didn’t always do what she was supposed to. The Spine hoped that VI had found Rabbit; he didn’t want her hurt from the night before.

“I do not want to leave just yet, so I was going to ask if you could read the book to me” Hatchworth started, “like you used to, and then I remembered.”

The Spine opened his mouth to apologize, before he cringed, realizing he had just forgotten the exact same thing.

Hatchworth continued before the Spine could let him know that it was okay. In a nervous rush he added, “Then I started thinking, what if I read it to you, instead?”

From the way that Hatchworth was standing, the Spine knew that his youngest brother was expecting a no, but when it came right down to it, the Spine didn’t even have to turn the idea over in his head, grinning and nodding immediately. It would be nice to spend some time with Hatchworth; he had been sorely missed whilst in the vault, and he hoped that it would help to assuage some of Hatchworth’s fears over the Spine’s existence. [I was here] he sent, opening the book to the proper page, [but we can start over if you want to].

“I will catch up to you” Hatchworth declared, opening the book delicately, and reading the pages as swiftly as he dared. The Spine really wasn’t too far in, so Hatchworth had it done in a flash.

[Do you want to sit down somewhere?] the Spine asked once Hatchworth was done. Hatchworth looked around the room for a place to sit, and the Spine fully expected him to make himself comfortable in the recliner that the Spine had found so uncomfortable. Instead, Hatchworth motioned for the Spine to move, so he could sit on the couch by the armrest. With a mental shrug, the Spine moved. He had no particular attachment to that spot; he could easily move if Hatchworth wanted him to.

Sitting down next to his brother, he bumped into Hatchworth’s shoulder, and moved away apologetically; it was not his intent to invade anyone’s personal space. It happened a second time, and the Spine blinked in confusion; he thought he had moved away? Scooting over just a little bit more, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, Hatchworth scooting sneakily closer so that they were bumping into each other once more.

[still worried that I’m not really here?] he sent, cursing the lack of tone that came with the device. He hoped that his facial expressions would help him come across as understanding, rather than patronizing.

“Will you be angry with me if I say yes?”

[no!]

“Yes.”

[I’m sorry]

“Do not be. You had no way of knowing that this would be my reaction.”

[I should have guessed]

Hatchworth paused, trying to work his words out before speaking. “I am glad you did not” he started, fidgeting, “because then you would not have made your wish, and while I am worried sometimes, you looked really happy yesterday while we were shopping, and today at breakfast, and I am happy that you are enjoying yourself.”

The Spine’s jaw dropped; he hadn’t been expecting that. [thank you] he sent, grinning wide, and scooping his younger brother into a side hug, ignoring both the prickling sensation at the corner of his eyes, and the way that Hatchworth’s gears and metal rivets were a little bit painful against his non-robot body. Pulling out of the hug, he sent a quick message [is that why you wanted to sit by the armrest, so i would lean on you and not it? :3]

“You have found me out, colon capital-letter-D” Hatchworth responded, a bit sheepishly.

[it’s fine] the Spine responded, eyes flitting around the room. He had found during the hug that leaning on Hatchworth’s shoulder wasn’t very comfortable, but he still wanted to be there for his younger brother. Grinning at the pillow on one of the chairs, he got up to grab it, and returned, putting it in Hatchworth’s lap, and laying down on the couch with his head upon it. [Does this work?]

“I believe that the weight of your head will be sufficient to help me know you are really here.”

[r u saying i have a big head? :P]

“Well…” Hatchworth trailed off, before grinning down at his older brother, “if the hat fits?”

[You are a cruel, cruel younger brother :D] the Spine sent.

Hatchworth looked at him, confused. “Do you really think I am cruel?”

[No! sorry, that’s what the :D means, it’s a joke :3]

“Oh, I see.” There was a buzzing on the Spine’s phone, and he opened it to reveal a text that said [:)] from Hatchworth. “Now, I will start reading, if that is alright?.”

[go ahead]

Hatchworth opened his mouth and began reading aloud, the Spine settling into the couch. Halfway through one of the pages, Hatchworth stopped. “I am glad they are helping the poor Tin Woodsman” he said, sniffing a little. “He was stuck only a year, but I am still glad.”

The Spine just patted his shoulder in commiseration.

They had barely gotten five pages in before, Hatchworth got to the Tin Woodman’s backstory, and though he managed to read it until the Tinman’s torso was sliced in half, and replaced by metal, he stopped there, utterly appalled. “We will not have to chop your body up and replace it with electronics for you to go back to being a robot?” He asked the Spine, staring at the book in dismay.

The Spine hit his hand to his face, cursing at his lack of foresight when it came to the book. He should have double checked the plot points, and thought about about some of the implications in it, before letting Hatchworth read it; his brother was surprising him with the connections he was making, and it was troubling him.

[no you won’t] he sent, sitting up again, and turning Hatchworth’s face so that Hatchworth was focusing on him, rather than the book. [the tinman was a munchkin in the beginning, i wasn’t. so there’s that]

“That is true.”

[i wouldn’t do that to you guys]

“No. No you wouldn’t. Thank you for the reassurance.” Hatchworth smiled shakily, but before he started reading, the Spine sent him a message.

[do you want to keep reading? because we can stop, if you want to]

“Would you like me to stop?”

[only if this is making you sad, and you want to]

“Thank you for thinking of me, but I am good.”

The Spine sunk back down so his head was on Hatchworth’s lap, and sighed, grateful that the next bits were all about meeting the lion, and getting into Oz; nothing that would unsettle Hatchworth.

Hatchworth and the Spine spent the next hour that way, sitting together in the Library, with Hatchworth reading. The Spine did get up a couple of times, once to go and get some water for Hatchworth, just so he would stay topped off, and once to use the restroom, but that really took no time at all.

Shortly after the hour mark, Hatchworth began to notice the Spine nodding off, his eyes blinking rapidly, as he tried to hide yawns. [srry] he sent, [nt sure wy trd]

“It is alright” Hatchworth replied, even as the Spine’s eyes fluttered closed. He was tempted to wake him, but humans needed sleep, didn’t they? Sending a call to the Jon, he began to read ahead, curious about the plot of the tiny tome he was holding, vaguely remembering bits and pieces, but so much of it had been lost while he was in the vault. He remembered that Dorothy and the others had to go and kill the Wicked Witch, and he frowned at that.

Continuing on, he was at the chapter entitled The Search for the Wicked Witch, frowning in concentration, when he read it: “Some of the Monkeys seized the Tin Woodman and carried him through the air until they were over a country thickly covered with sharp rocks. Here they dropped the poor Woodman, who fell a great distance to the rocks, where he lay so battered and dented that he could neither move nor groan.”

“Oh” Hatchworth whispered, voice shaky. Carefully closing the book, and putting it down, he decided that he did not want to read any more of it until the Spine could read it to him; the mental images were unpleasant otherwise. Not wishing to disturb his brother, he instead sent a message to the Jon; he had called for him earlier, but the Jon had been busy with Michael.

Hoping that the Jon would be willing to join him, Hatchworth sent out the call, hands carefully placed over the Spines heart and blue matter core, making sure that the Spine was still there.

Chapter Text

When the Spine woke up again, he frowned, puzzled; it was, after all, far too early for him to have fallen asleep, and yet he had. Sitting up, he stretched, mimicking what he had seen the other humans do almost unconsciously. Blinking a bit, he noticed that, at some point during his nap, the Jon had entered the room, and was coloring on the table next to Hatchworth while telling him stories.

“Oh good, you’re awake!” the Jon said, as the Spine swung his legs around so he he was sitting on the edge of the couch. The Spine nodded, rubbing his eyes. “We were thinking of having a horse adventure, can we pleeeeeeease?” the Jon continued, bouncing up and down.

Blinking the sleep from his eyes, the Spine replied with the first thing that popped into his mind, [i dont think i can carry you right now].

The Jon giggled, “well, I knew that! I wanted to know if I could try carrying you for once!”

The Spine froze. Oh- oh- that… That made more sense, though he did have a question for the Jon; [what will I do if I need for you to stop, or slow down] he typed, stifling a yawn.

“That’s what these are for” the Jon replied, pointing to three pieces of paper that had been messily taped to his shoulders. On one was a red shape that the Spine thought was supposed to be a an octagon, and next to it, a yellow star. On his other shoulder was a green… He thought it was a maybe a shamrock, but he wasn’t completely sure. It might have also been a cat, and while green cats were weird, they were hardly the weirdest thing the Spine had ever seen from the feline family.

Shaking his head,and focusing on the Jon, he raised one eyebrow, waiting for an explanation- he had an idea for what the Jon meant, but at the same time, it was the Jon, and it was always good to make sure that everyone was actually on the same page.

“They’re stop-n-go buttons!” The Jon said, grinning, “see, we figured, you can tell me if you want to go fast, slow down, or stop” he pointed to the grin, yellow, and red slips of paper respectively “even though you can’t talk!”

The Spine nodded, it was a good plan, as long as… [Three things (1)if the paper falls off, you stop to go and get it, (2) we do it outside so we don’t accidentally break something (3) you *have* to stop if I ask you to]

“Yessir!” The Jon practically pulled the Spine off the couch, and he stumbled a bit, sliding the phone in his pocket, and hoping it would stay. Stopping only briefly to grab a pair of shoes for the Spine, they ran out the back door.

Outside was warm, and the Spine pushed his sleeves up to his elbows, not entirely sure if he wanted to take the sweatshirt all the way off or not. Hatchworth had followed, and when they got to the grassy area that the Spine figured was the safest place, he sat down, waving off their concerns with a smile, and a “I would just like to watch for now”.

The Jon sent Hatchworth a thumbs up, then said “well, come on the Spine!” as he hoisted the Spine onto his back. The Spine held on for dear life, eyes wide as the Jon… Sedately walked across the grass.

He was, admittedly, overly worried, but he had never gotten to do a horse adventure either, and the lack of control was weird.

“I’m going to go faster now!” The Jon said, as he broke into a sprint, and the Spine blanched, holding on tighter, but refusing to hit the ‘stop’ or ‘slow down’ buttons so soon. It was… Fun. The Spine decided, as they looped around the grass, Rabbit would have a field day if she found out, of course, but it was fun, and he found himself annoyed that there was no ‘faster’ button, even as he tightened his grip on the Jon, and tried to keep breathing.

The Jon flew over the grass, spinning, and jumping a couple of times- once over Hatchworth!, which the Spine thought was a bit much. The speed was exhilarating, though, as was the feeling of moving without having to expend any energy.

It was almost like flying, (or what the Spine presumed that flying was like, he’d never flown before when not in a crate).

When the stopped, the Spine was torn between relief and disappointment, hands shaking from how tightly he had held onto the Jon to avoid falling off. Flopping onto his back next to Hatchworth, he stared up at the cloudless sky, and let himself just enjoy the sunlight, and the smell and feel of the lush grass beneath him.

“Now what do you want to do?” The Jon asked, sitting down next to the Spine.

The Spine tilted his head as he thought, before typing [I dont know, butI don’t want to go inside right now]

The Jon nodded, “how about hide and seek? What do you say Hatchy?”

Hatchworth frowned, “wouldn’t that be cheating, given what Mr. Walter did to the Spine’s phone?”

The Spine blinked at that, he had known that Six had changed his phone so that he could hook into any sort of communication signal, but that was it. Seeing the question on this face, Hatchworth said “he added a GPS so that we can find you in an emergency.”

[That was a good idea] the Spine acknowledge, mildly miffed that he hadn’t been told about it, but at the same time, relieved that it had happened.

“We can turn off the signal on our end temporarily” the Jon aid with an airy wave of his hand. “Come on let’s play!” He said, bounding up, and helping the Spine up off the grass.

Despite his words, the game was postponed for the briefest of moments as his two brothers shut down the GPS locator. At Hatchworth’s request, he was made “it” first, and the other two left him to count to 100 with his photoreceptors momentarily shut off. 

Running towards the forest that bordered one edge of the Manor’s property, the Spine had at first thought he would just duck behind a tree, but as he got further into the woods, he got an idea- some of the trees had branches low enough and thick enough that he would be able to climb into the branches, something he’d always been too heavy for as a robot.

Grinning, he first tried while still wearing the borrowed flip flops, but they slid against the bark of the tree he had picked, so he slipped them off, nestling them into the tree’s roots. Once that was sorted, he began to climb gingerly through the branches, trying to copy what he had seen generations of Walters do when it came to the fine art of tree climbing.

Stopping at a branch that was wide enough for him to sit on, he did so, looking down only briefly. He had climbed a bit higher than he had meant to, curiosity driving him higher than planned. Sitting carefully on the branch, he tried not to run through his brain the various things he had told the young Walters throughout the years, about why climbing trees was dangerous.

He didn’t hear Hatchworth finish counting, but he did receive a quick text saying [finished], and the Spine jumped, before turning down his notification tone, and hoping that that wouldn’t pinpoint his direction right away.

Noise didn’t travel very easily in the forest, not to human ears, the Spine found, as he strained to hear anything from Hatchworth or the Jon. Hearing nothing, he instead leaned against the tree, marveling at the nuances in the textures. He could feel as a robot, but not to the extent that a human could. Running his hands over the bark, he blinked, as the light hit the sap pooling in the cracks just right, and for a moment… For a brief moment…

The sap ran red like blood.

He shook his head, and the sap was the color it was supposed to be. It was just a trick of the light.

Shuddering briefly, he closed his eyes for a moment, before he heard the crack of a stick on the ground, and he opened his eyes back up to see if it was one of his brothers.

On the forest floor stepped a badger, and he relaxed, as it sniffed at the air, and went hopping away. Watching it go, his eyes dropped back down to the ground, and he heard a rushing noise in his ears.

The ground was so far away.

He tried to swallow, but found his throat was dry. He wanted to look away, but he couldn’t. The rational part of his mind pointed out that he wasn’t actually that far off the ground, not really, but the other part of his mind, the louder part, was reminding him that he was a human being, and if he fell, or if the branch was rotten, or if there was an earthquake or something… Images flew into his head of the various injuries he had seen over the years, from the Walters’ to warzones. Darkness spiraled at the edge of his vision, and he fought to shake it off, frowning in consternation when he realized that he was starting to list to the side, almost falling off the branch. Wrenching his gaze away from the ground, and grabbing desperately, he sat up straight again, looking firmly at the bough ahead of him. He wished that that would stop the sweat from pooling on his forehead, and the pit in his stomach, and he almost thought about climbing down, but at that moment he saw the glint of metal, and his two brothers coming through the forest calling out for the Spine, and decided he could stay for a little bit longer.

[ur getting warmer] he sent, as they hurried through the forest. He could see the exact moment that they got the message, as they redoubled their way through the trees. When they turned at an angle that would have sent them right past him, he sent them a text that read [colder] and waited until they were once more on the right path.

They actually ran right past the tree, and the Spine giggled quietly, part glee, and part nerves as he told them repeatedly they they were going the wrong direction. Finally, Hatchworth spotted his sandals, and stopped, confused. “Did you turn into a tree” he asked, head tilted.  

[nope] the Spine replied, swinging his legs. Hatchworth stared for a moment, before picking up the shoes, and walking around the tree. FInally he stopped where he had started, and looked up.

The Spine waved at him.

“Found you.” Hatchworth said, smiling in triumph.

“You’re up in a tree!” The Jon said, staring wide-eyed. “That is so cool!”

The Spine shrugged at that, before sliding his phone away, and carefully starting the arduous process of climbing down the tree. Halfway to the ground, the bottom fell away, and his breath hitched, as he stared at the streams of sap in the cracks of the bark. Taking deep breaths, he tried to ignore his dizziness, and the dark at the edges of his eyes, and keep climbing. Limbs shaking, he made it to the bottom, and he smiled at his brothers, pale in the shadowed forest.

“I think it’s lunch time” the Jon said, looking the Spine over critically.

“I agree” Hatchworth said,his presence comforting and solid to the Spine’s side. They had noticed him freezing up, they had to have, but hadn’t said anything, something the Spine was grateful for.  

[already?] the Spine sent, looking at the time, [huh, that late already?]

“Yep!” The Jon said, grinning, “horse adventure back to the house?”

[...yes. :3]