Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Walking.

At this point, that was all he knew. All he could really understand at that point. When he walked, he could momentarily forget that he was alone now, and that when he turned around the familiar silver robot wouldn’t be trailing along behind him, distracted by a flower or a interesting shaped cloud like he used to always do. Guy-Man couldn’t even really remember very well how he had even managed to survive the fire that had consumed his body.

He just remembered waking up in a hospital where he knew no one and no one really knew him. Someone had found him, and took him to the hospital and they made him as good as new, his helmet was replaced with a nice shiny version of his old one, and the person who had found him had also found his jacket, which had been fixed up. He hated looking at his jacket. It only reminded him a Thomas, and how he wasn’t even there anymore.

So as soon as he had gotten out of the hospital he had started to walk again. But it lost the charm that it had had before when it was just him and Thomas against the world, and relying on each other. They were best friends, after all. So suddenly being alone wasn’t exactly the most enjoyable thing on the planet. He wasn’t even sure what he felt now. Was he even feeling? He and Thomas were never even human. So maybe he just wished so much to be human that he was just making up emotions. Instead of dwelling on it he just walked.

And walked.

He never counted, but he was sure he was walking for years, which was really no issue for a robot. Who knows how long he was on his own.

Whenever the sun was particularly hot and beating down on the now dusty metal, sometimes he thought he saw Thomas again, standing way ahead of him, standing, and waiting for him to catch up. When he’d start running after him, he’d suddenly disappear, leaving Guy-Man to stand blankly alone in the middle of the desert. That’s when he really questioned the emotions that he felt. They couldn’t be real. He was a robot.

Feelings and emotions were only things that he’d read about humans. Humans had emotions, but they were all gone now. Robots dominated the world, and humans had been wiped away from existence after something happened to them. Some robots said it was from their own stupidity that they managed to end themselves, but Thomas always refused to believe that, and regaled Guy-Man in tales of his latest discoveries about humans that he had learned from somewhere.

Guy-Man stopped in his tracks. He had glanced at the ground and realized that his footprints weren’t the only ones in the sand. There were footprints everywhere. He turned around and saw his own trail of footprints along with many others. He hadn’t even noticed because Thomas was always the one who would look everywhere when they walked. From the ground, to the sky, to even spending a good hour once walking backwards so he could watch his footprints. But sure enough, Guy-Man was surrounded by footprints of people who had clearly walked around here often enough.

He glanced around him, hoping to find the source of what had caused the footprints. He immediately noticed where a path was being created. Footsteps were going back and forth in a rather straight looking line, leading off into the distance. Guy-Man wondered if he should go and investigate, but part of him wanted to just continue on to the next city like he had been planning on. But Thomas wouldn’t have done that. Oh no, Thomas wouldn’t have even bothered to notify Guy-Man that he was going to check something out. He would have followed down that path and Guy-Man wouldn’t have noticed until Thomas was a good few yards away, making Guy-Man retreat to go and follow his friend.

So he followed the path.

It was a lot longer than he had expected, winding occasionally and turning on occasion, but for the most part staying straight. He could just barely make out in the distance a small cluster of...things. He zoomed in his eyes slightly, and could just barely make out the fact that the clusters where little huts, and there was a smudge of blue and green indicating an oasis.

He trudged on, and the cluster grew bigger and bigger until they were at least a mile away. He stopped again, and briefly considered actually continuing on. He could hear voices now, some of them happily yelling at each other and other barking orders. Guy-Man tilted his head slightly, genuinely curious. Or at least as curious as robots could get. Those definitely weren’t robot voices. Not at all.

When he moved closer he realized there was fencing closing in the makeshift buildings from the rest of the world. It was much larger than he expected, and he stared in from a few feet away of the fence. Luckily he was unnoticed, because he was standing just behind a palm tree that was near the fence. They made their little settlement very close to the oasis that was there. Smart of them.

He heard loud excited shouting from inside of the fence, and he turned to watch. Standing there was a tall lanky man with curly brown hair, waving his arms and jumping up and down. Almost immediately he felt strange when he saw the man. He was grinning widely, still waving his arms to someone Guy-Man couldn’t see.

It all clicked suddenly, and Guy-Man still wasn’t quite sure how he even made the connection. Thomas. That was Thomas. There was just something in him that knew that was Thomas that was jumping and waving. Guy-Man took a sudden step forward, suddenly wanting to call out to him. Why wouldn’t he? Thomas had been his traveling companion for who knows how long. He was the one who made Guy-Man want to be human.

But he couldn’t. He was a robot, and this Thomas was...human.

Human.

There were still humans here. And Thomas was one of them, just like he wanted. He had no idea how the other humans would react to him being there. Humans must hate robots, if they hadn’t tried being around them and stayed in their own tiny little settlements. And Guy-Man knew first hand what the robots thought of something that looked different than them. Those memories still felt fresh in his memory drive. Being chased away, watching Thomas slowly break as the fake skin melted off his robotic face.

“Thomas! Christ you run fast!” He heard a voice call out.

Other voices were laughing too, at least three people. Guy-Man let his hand fall limply next to his body as this human Thomas was surrounded by other laughing humans. They all surrounded him, laughing and playfully tackling one and other as they suddenly started running in another direction. Guy-Man only briefly managed to see the three other boys that were with Thomas. One who was around the same height as Thomas, with shaggy black hair. A man with dark skin and a strange looking hat, and a plain shorter boy with brown hair and bright green eyes.

He heard Thomas yell, “Panda Bear you run so slow!” to the boy with green eyes.

Yes. That was definitely Thomas.

They ran back into his vision, and Thomas got tackled to the ground by the guy with shaggy hair, and they both laughed as they helped each other up. It was in that moment that Thomas just briefly turned and his gaze went over Guy-Man who wasn’t even attempting to hide behind the tree anymore. Thomas’s mouth gaped, but he was tackled to the ground again, this time by the man with the hat. Guy-Man turned and ran. He had to get out of there as soon as possible.

Thomas had seen him.

Chapter Text

Thomas coughed as the wind was knocked out of him, but he was quickly pulled back up to his feet by an apologetic looking Pharrell.

“Sorry man, didn’t think I’d tackle you that hard!”

Thomas nodded, and accepted the apology as he tried to catch his breath. He looked up to that spot that he looked at earlier, before Pharrell had tackled him to the ground during one of their silly games that they played to pass the time. The robot was gone. He was sure it was a robot, at least from what he’s heard from the adults. The first thing he felt when he saw the robot was his stomach falling and his body tensing in fear. With all the stories he got from adults, he knew that robots absolutely hated humans.

That’s what they tried to get rid of humans, right?

But he sensed a wave of familiarity for a split second before Pharrell tackled to the ground. Now the robot was gone, and who knows why he was there. Something in him told him he should immediately alert an adult. Having a robot know where their settlement is could end horribly. What if there were already robots on their way to completely obliterate them? But why would a robot even be all the way out here? They were quite a ways away from any sort of city, and finding them would be hard enough.

“Thomas? Thomas? You spaced off, bro.” Julian waved a hand in front of Thomas’s face. “I said that my mom made food for us. You coming?”

Thomas was snapped out of his internal monologue and nodded. “Oh, uh, yeah.”

Noah, (better known to them as Panda Bear) raised an eyebrow. “You were pretty far gone. Did Pharrell tackle you to hard? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Thomas shook his head. “No, no. I’m just…” He was grasping at straws. “Excited that pretty soon we’ll be able to go out of the settlement like all the other adults?”

His friends luckily ignored the fact that his sentence sounded a lot more like a question, because they all brightened up immediately, save perhaps Panda Bear who looked slightly scared.

“Hell yeah! Finally we get to be like all the cool big guys!” Julian grinned widely.

He ran ahead of them towards his own house with Pharrell following close behind them, both of them chattering about what they’d do when they finally got their chance to be sent out of the settlement. Panda Bear stayed close behind and walked with Thomas, who was still a bit winded. Thomas’s eyes gazed over all the open airy homes that looked like they could be collapsed at moments notice. Which they probably could, if they were ever invaded by anything. It’s the only place he’d ever known. He wouldn’t even know what to do if they ever actually had to pack up and move on, like he’d heard from other settlements.

But he and his friends were all sixteen now, which meant they were finally of the age to help actually taking care of the place. Because when a kid turned sixteen, that meant that they could travel out and discreetly ransack robot cities for food and other supplies to keep themselves alive. Then they’d also help with repairs around the settlement, making sure everything is in working condition. It could be pretty tough work, because they were in a hot desert-y climate. The sun was rarely forgiving in that matter.

Ever since he was little he remembered getting up early in the morning, still in his pajamas as he’d follow either his mother or father out to the very edge of the settlement where the entrance was to watch one of them go out. They’d put on shiny helmets and gloves and covered up every bit of skin that would expose them as humans, and they’d go out. Sometimes people wouldn’t come back, and Thomas never figured out if it was because of the heat, or because they were caught. No one really answered him either.

He wasn’t even sure what took his mother. Was it heat? Or was she found out?

But at least he still had his dad, even if that meant he often spent long stretches of time sleeping over at Julian’s house because otherwise he’d be alone.

He turned to look at Panda Bear and briefly considered telling him what he saw, but decided against it. Out of his small group of friends, Panda Bear was definitely the most skittish about robots and anything of the sort. He had good reason though, because unlike Thomas who still had his father, Panda Bear didn’t have his parents. He lived with his grandmother instead, who at this point was too old to actually go out into the field like the rest of the group’s parents were. No, this type of thing would be easiest to tell Julian probably.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Panda Bear asked. “You still look pale.”

Thomas shook his head. “I’m fine. Just hungry.”

“Do you miss your dad?” Panda Bear pressed.

His dad wasn’t in the settlement at the moment, he was out in field. “Yeah, I guess.”

Panda Bear nodded in understanding. He was probably the only one who could connect to Thomas on that level. “He’ll be back.”

When they both entered Julian’s home, he and Pharrell were already scarfing down food at ungodly speeds. Julian looked up and grinned at Thomas, with pasta sauce all over his face. “Hey! You guys finally managed to get over here. Congrats!”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “Ha, ha. Thanks Julian.”

Julian’s mother quickly served them food, and soon enough all four boys had piled up in Julian and Thomas’s shared bedroom. It was a bit cramped, and since Thomas only stayed while his dad was out, they shared a bed. They all sat on the floor and chatted about whatever came to mind. They even all tried playing the instruments that Julian had around his room. Near the end of it they managed to create something coherent enough to be called music, but that was when one of the neighbors yelled at them to shut up.

They were all playing cards now, and Thomas wasn’t even thinking about the game. He was thinking about the robot again, and how desperately he needed to tell someone. He had to wait until Pharrell and Panda Bear left though. He’d probably end up telling them eventually, but he decided that he was going to tell Julian first.

“Christ Thomas, you’re losing it today! You usually don’t even lose this badly at cards!” Pharrell laughed, as they were standing around the doorway to Julian's house.

“Yeah, I guess I just wasn’t really into it today.” Thomas joked back. “But at least I was still doing better than Julian!”

Julian pouted at that. “Well, whatever. You guys should be going anyways.” He muttered, changing the subject. “Curfew is pretty soon.”

The dark-skinned boy and green-eyed boy left them, still avidly discussing their rather intense game of cards that had ending with Panda Bear narrowly beating Pharrell. It was starting to get cold outside, so Julian and Thomas made quick work of getting back to Julian's room and putting on their pajamas and hiding under the covers of Julian’s small bed.

It was so much easier fitting under there when they were kids. It wasn’t too bad now, but there were still instances that one of them ended up elbowing or kicking the other.

“You’ve been spacy today.” Julian muttered, turning to Thomas. “And staring at me. So if you’re going to confess your love to me or something I think we could easily work something out.”

Thomas hit Julian with his pillow. “No, dumbass. It’s not that.”

“Not yet at least.”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “Well...It was something I saw today, before Pharrell tackled me.” Julian watched him, clearly waiting for him to continue. “Well, it was only for a few seconds. But by one of the palm trees...I saw a robot.”

Julian’s eyes widened and he sat up quickly, letting cold air under the blanket. “W-what? Seriously? Near here?” There was a slight hint of panic in his voice.

Thomas shushed him quickly, pressing his hand against Julian’s chest to make him lie down again. “Yes. Here. But...Not for very long. As soon as Pharrell helped me stand up he was gone. I don’t know what to do...I mean we should probably tell an adult...but…”

“You don’t think he was dangerous?” Julian finished for him. “I dunno man.” He pulled the blanket up closer to his chin.

Thomas sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “It was weird...I mean at first I felt scared, but then it felt like I recognized him from somewhere. But I’ve never even seen a real robot in my life.”

Julian snapped his fingers suddenly. “We could find him. Maybe there’s a connection!” He grinned at Thomas.

“A connection?”

“Yeah, you know, like in the books and stuff! There’s always all sorts of stories about two people who were destined to do something really cool. Maybe you and that robot are the ones who are going to...to do something!”

Thomas looked confused. “How would we even find him?”

“Well, it’s almost going to be time for us to go out for the first time. So maybe while we’re in the city to sneak away and see if we could find him.” Julian seemed excited. “We can tell Pharrell and Panda Bear tomorrow! I know they’ll be totally on board with it...Well it might take a bit to convince Panda, but it’s possible!”

Thomas shrugged. “I guess…”

“Great! Night then! Bright and early tomorrow we’ll go talk to them.” With that, Julian turned to go to sleep.

He nearly fell asleep immediately, but Thomas was left staring up at the ceiling. He couldn’t sleep, because every time he tried, he’d just think about that robot that he saw again. His gold helmet was like the one his mother used to disguise herself when she’d go out, Thomas noted. But that wasn’t the reason the robot felt familiar.

But why? Why was this robot so familiar, if not because of his mother?

Chapter Text

Thomas woke up to Julian shaking him. It was clear that Julian had just woken up as well, because his hair was standing on end and part of his cheek had dried up drool on it. Thomas groaned and tried to bury himself into his pillow again, but he could already feel the heat of the day setting in and he knew he wouldn’t be able to last long under the covers of the blankets. So he groaned and swatted Julian’s hands away as he sat up. Julian, being ever the morning person chirped that his mother had made pancakes.

“And don’t forget, we’re meeting up with Pharrell and Panda Bear to tell them about your robot thing.” Julian reminded him, as they changed out of their thick night time wear into more breezy shorts and t-shirts.

Thomas sighed. He had hoped Julian would have forgotten last night’s conversation, but of course he didn’t. “Yeah, yeah. I know.”

“Julian, Thomas! Your friends are here!” They heard Julian’s mother call up to them.

Julian’s room was situated in what could only be called an ‘attic’ type thing. It was extremely airy, and light could be let in through the cracks of the wood, and there was no glass on the windows. The only way to get up to his room was with a wooden ladder, which when you weren’t prepared you could easily fall down (which both Julian and Thomas had, multiple times before). They climbed down quickly to see Pharrell and Panda Bear already sitting at the table with food.

“Do you guys ever eat in your own homes?” Julian asked, taking a plate from his mother and sitting down.

“Well, yeah. But my mom is a crappy cook, and dad hasn’t come home yet.” Pharrell said through a mouthful of pancake.

Panda Bear just shrugged. He was understandable enough, because sometimes his grandma was forgetful, and Panda Bear himself was a horrible cook.

“Oh, I just remembered. I think the first group of people are due to be back today!” Julian’s mother said.

All four boys tensed. It was an exciting but terrifying thing when people finally started to arrive home. For a lot of people it was excitement because that meant more supplies coming in, especially when stuff starts running short. For others there was that fear that a loved one didn’t come back. Even Panda Bear who didn’t have any other relatives to wait for still felt tense, just because he didn’t want his friends to experience the same thing.

“It’ll be fine...It’ll...It’ll all be fine…” Julian muttered to himself, trying to keep his hopes up.

They finished their meal quickly, but Julian’s mother stopped them before they went running out the door. She gave them all ice cream, which made them widen their eyes with surprise. They thought they had run out ages ago.

“I saved some for the day people started to come back, since I knew that you guys would worry.”

Julian’s mother was clearly an angel. And their spirits were slightly raised as they walked towards the waters of the oasis that their settlement surrounded and dunked their feet into the cool water while eating their ice cream. It was refreshing, and for a moment they had all forgotten about what was going on today.

“Y’know I always wondered. Why do robots have food? I thought they couldn’t eat.” Panda Bear asks through bites of ice cream.

“I guess they can? Maybe they evolved or something.” Thomas shrugged. “They could just eat for fun.”

“Whatever it is, at least it’s helping us.” Julian added. “Oh yeah, Thomas! You were going to tell them about the thing, right?” He looked expectantly at Thomas.

“Did you finally confess your love to Julian in the night or something?” Pharrell raised an eyebrow.

“No! Why does everyone think that??” Thomas huffed. Well it was now or never. “No...what I told Julian was...I saw a robot. By the fence.”

The reactions went exactly how he’d expected. Pharrell choked, and Panda Bear just froze up with a terrified look on his face. Julian himself couldn’t contain his excitement and he was already grinning widely at the two, who couldn’t seem to comprehend why the hell Julian was smiling like a maniac.

“He made a connection! We’re gonna fuckin’ fulfill a prophecy!” Julian interjected before Thomas could finish.

“Shut up, Julian. There’s no prophecy. It was just weird. The robot didn’t seem dangerous at all. Maybe a bit confused. But after I was done feeling scared of it, I felt like I had seen him before. Not just how he looked, I mean, with the gold helmet and all. But like I actually really knew him. I only felt that for a split second though because Pharrell tackled me after that.”

Julian hit Pharrell upside the head. “Good job bro. You fucked up the prophecy.”

“How the hell was I supposed to know there was a prophecy?”

“Guys, be quiet! There isn’t a prophecy! It was just weird, okay?”
“Yeah, but we need to find out more, right?” Julian ignored Thomas’s outburst. “So when it’s finally our first time going out, we’re gonna see if we can sneak off to find the robot that Thomas saw!”

Panda Bear shook his head frantically. “No! I mean...We’ll get caught. And all those robots look the same, and how will we know which one it is? That’s a horrible idea.”

“No, but I feel like it could really be something! Maybe Thomas and that robo-guy are meant to be the ones to bridge the gap between humans and robots! Then we wouldn’t have to live in hiding, and...and…” He trailed off, still waving his hands trying to convey his message.

Pharrell shrugged. “I’m going with whatever Thomas decides. It’s his choice. He’s the one who saw the robot.”

Panda Bear was silent, looking away from all of them.

Julian turned to look at Thomas, hope in his eyes.

Hell, Thomas had no idea what he actually wanted to do. It was all so damn sudden, he really couldn’t even think about it. “I..I don’t know. Maybe we could wait until it’s actually time for us to go?”

Pharrell nodded, satisfied with the answer, but Julian looked pouty. “Fine, fine. But we’re gonna figure it out somehow!”

Panda Bear looked up at them. “Hey Julian, you know you still haven’t gotten revenge on Pharrell from that time he won that swimming race.”

Thomas raised his eyebrows at Panda Bear. He wasn’t usually one to remind people of their revenge plans, because he much preferred peace. But he understood the boy’s actions after Pharrell and Julian jumped into the water because as soon as they were out of earshot Panda Bear turned to him with a serious look in his eyes.

“You aren’t really considering looking for the robot, are you? It’s dangerous. You and I are ones to know.”

“I don’t know, Panda. I really don’t. I know it’d be dangerous, but there’s something about that robot that’s just weird...And I can’t really place my finger on why.”

“He’s the first robot you’ve seen! Of course it’s going to be weird. And…I don’t want any of us getting hurt.” He was silent. “You said that the robot’s helmet was gold. Are you sure it wasn’t...it wasn’t because of your mother that you felt like that?”

Thomas remembered his thoughts from last night, where he wondered if that’s why he got that sense of familiarity. “I don’t think so. I mean, I could tell that robot was male. It wasn’t the same sense of familiarity I got with my own mother.”

Panda Bear sighed. “Well, the idea is already in Julian’s head, and we aren’t going to be able to stop him from carrying out his crazy ideas. But I just hope that you won’t do something dumb.”

Thomas looked at him in slight shock. “Does this mean you’re in?”

Panda Bear shrugged. “I have no clue, you tell me Thomas.”

The conversation ended there, because Thomas didn’t know what to say. Instead they watched Pharrell and Julian swim around the oasis, shouting breathless insults at each other as they went. It was quite the spectacle to watch, and both Thomas and Panda Bear even managed to let out a few laughs watching their two friends swim around like idiots.

“Hey! You guys!” Thomas and Panda Bear turned to see another boy named Anthony running past them. “People are back!”

Thomas and Panda Bear looked at each other, and quickly called out to Julian and Pharrell.

All four ran towards the entrance of the settlement (Pharrell and Julian trailing water all the way) and they stood with the crowd, and they shoved their way to the front to see people standing around removing gloves and helmets revealing their sweaty red-faced occupants. Family members were reunited with cries of joy and relief, as others were unloading the supplies that was brought. Thomas stared around watching the people removing their helmets for any hint of his dad. There was a lump in his throat and tears threatening to fall as he continued to search with no luck.

He could hear Julian muttering ‘oh god, oh god, oh god...’ while Pharrell was muttering some sort of prayer of hope. Panda Bear was as silent as ever, watching people reunite.

“Pharrell? Pharrell!” Pharrell quickly let out a loud sigh of relief and a ‘thank you god’ as he heard his father’s voice calling out to him, and Pharrell disappeared into the crowd leaving his friends behind to give his dad a huge bear hug in excitement. Julian and Thomas were left behind to watch as the crowd began to disperse.

Thomas managed to let out a choked sob as he kept scanning the thinning crowd for his father, and Julian’s frantic ‘oh gods’ were growing more and more terrified. Panda Bear was staring at the ground, his body completely still.

“Thomas?”

Thomas let out a loud strangled cry as he saw his father pushing through the remains of the crowd, and he practically threw himself onto his dad in relief. His dad squeezed him tightly. “Don’t worry Thomas, I’m back in mostly one piece.” He chuckled. “Now you won’t be having to share a bed with Julian for awhile, right?”

Thomas nodded. “Yeah...That’ll be nice. He kicks a lot still.”

The smile on his dad’s face faded as he turned to Julian, and it was instead replaced with a look of great sadness that Thomas hadn’t seen since he had lost his mother, and the lump in his throat returned with full force as Julian looked up at his father with fear in his eyes.

Thomas’s father placed his hands on Julian’s shoulders and hung his head. “Julian...I’m...I’m so sorry, but…” He pulled a dark red bandanna out of his pocket, and handed it to Julian. “I’m so sorry…”

He didn’t even have to say what had happened.

Julian clutched the red bandanna in his hands, and Thomas recognized it as his dad’s bandanna that he always wore around his neck for ‘good luck’. Thomas’s own dad had to excuse himself to finish the unloading of the rest of the supply vans, leaving Thomas with Julian and Panda Bear again. He could see silent sobs racking through Julian’s body as he continued to clutch the bandanna.

Thomas felt tears running down his own face. Julian’s dad was a great man, always as happy go lucky as Julian was himself. He jumped slightly when he felt Panda Bear’s hand connect with his own, and he watched as Panda Bear leaned forward and brought Julian into a hug, motioning Thomas to do the same. All three of them clung onto each other as Julian continued to sob pitifully onto Thomas’s shoulder.

Julian huffed for breath for a few moments, and then whispered quietly. “We have...to go through with what I said. I-I want to. F-for my dad.” He looked up at Thomas with red puffy eyes. “W-we’re going to, right?”

Panda Bear looked solemnly at Thomas.

“I...I don’t know.” Was all he could say.

They stayed like that for awhile. Clinging onto each other like they did when they were kids. At some point Pharrell came back, with a sad look on his face. He had probably heard the news from his own dad. He quietly joined the hug, and none of them said anything as Julian continued to cry.

Chapter Text

How long had Guy-Man actually been walking? He never really thought about it before. He just walked. And suddenly he found a human settlement with a human that he was so sure was Thomas. This Thomas seemed very young, but of course for a robot most human age was very young. But definitely around 15-16 in human years, which meant for Guy-Man it had already been that long since that day when robot Thomas had decided to self-destruct himself.

Had it really been that long?

It felt like it had only been a few days ago, maybe a week or two max. It still hadn’t completely settled in Guy-Man’s mind that Thomas was actually back, and that he was living his dream of finally being human, and surrounded by humans who appreciated him and loved him. But Guy-Man had loved him too, but he could never give Thomas what he really wanted. He could just provide companionship for the short amount of time they spent together. And maybe he shouldn’t have spent so long humoring Thomas on his wishes.

Guy-Man liked the idea of being human, but never as much as Thomas did. The tall robot had constantly fantasized about it, always talking and learning as much as he could about the supposedly dead race of humans. Guy-Man played along, when in reality he wished they’d just do something else rather than talk about humans. Maybe if he had set Thomas straight then he wouldn’t be alone in this small town wondering whether or not he should go back to that small settlement just to see his best friend again.

But who knew if Thomas even wanted to see him again. Humans were settling in small groups well away from robots, and he knew personally what it was like to act different than everyone else, so he could understand why Thomas never wanted to see him again. Seeing a robot would probably strike fear into his heart, and they’d all be forced to uproot their home so they wouldn’t have to risk being caught again. Guy-Man couldn’t bear having to hurt Thomas again, so maybe for everyone it’d just be better if he’d do what he had been doing for the past 16 or so years.

Walking.

As soon as it was morning he high-tailed it out of the town and began walking away, with his shoes crunching against the gravelly pavement that was the empty highway. Traffic still hadn’t hit yet because it was still very early in the morning. His surroundings were dark, and he knew that in a mere hour cars were going to start spilling onto the highway as people made their way to work. The only lights that were on were the lights illuminating from his helmet, so there was only a chunk of light that he could see cast in front of him.

By the time that the sun was beginning to rise, Guy-Man had made it to a pit stop. He was actually familiar with it, because he had a vague memory of himself and Thomas stopping their once, he was positive of it. It was so long ago though, that the memory in his databanks was very messed up. But it had a sense of familiarity. He had considered briefly just taking a stop there and looking around for memory’s sake, but decided against it.

The only reason he stayed is because after walking up to it, he heard a noise. And it was nothing like any noise he had heard a robot made before. It was a small groan. Guy-Man froze, before turning his head to stare at the building. He looked around to see if anyone was around or looking at him before he quickly walked back behind the pit stop where he had heard the noise. Sure enough, when he turned the corner he saw the body of a man crumpled where wall met pavement. Not a robot. A man. A human man. He was clutching his side and he moaned again in pain.

Guy-Man could see red staining the man’s hand that was clutching his side. He approached carefully, unsure what to do. This is what would have happened if he and Thomas had gotten caught all those years ago. Left to die. He knew he should have just turned around and left, but he fell to his knees next to the man, and just looked at him, unsure what to do. He didn’t know how to take care of humans, not at all! He hadn’t even known they were alive until around 2 days ago. The man’s eyes were glasses, and they stared up at Guy-Man, but not with fear. With resignation.

“Have you come to finish me off?” The man asked, with a rasp in his voice.

Guy-Man shook his head.

He gave a weak chuckle. “It’s too bad. I would have--nrgh...I would have liked to at least been given the pleasure of a simple release. But they left me here. Left me to die alone. Leaving my wife and my son behind.”

Guy-Man felt a spark of recognition. The boy he had seen before, the one with the shaggy looking hair who had tackled Thomas to the ground the first time. His face looked exactly like that man’s. The man must have noticed Guy-Man’s sudden change in posture, because he stared at him with his eyes more widened.

“Y-you’ve seen my son. I can tell...I’ve been coming out here long enough to understand you robots…” He paused and had a coughing fit, and blood covered his lips. “Julian. My young boy Julian...Oh god, it was going to be his first time out soon.” He wheezed, clutching more tightly at the wound. “M-my name is John Casablancas...P-please. If you do know my son, if you see him...Just tell him that I love him, and that I...I…” His voice was growing weaker. “That I’ll miss him.”

Guy-Man watched the man go limp, and he stayed there sitting and staring at the body of the man for a good few minutes. To go send the message to the boy Julian...That would mean going back to the settlement and seeing Thomas again. No matter how much he wanted to see him again, he knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t. But the man had given Guy-Man his dying wish.

Guy-Man stood up and walked back around the pit stop, leaving the body behind and trying to wipe the memories from his data banks. He couldn’t go back. No matter what he couldn’t go back to that settlement no matter how much he wanted or needed. He didn’t want to think about Thomas or that Julian kid, or John, or the blood that had covered his body.

Guy-Man broke into a sprint, trying to get as far away as he possibly could.

Chapter Text

Thomas woke up to the sound of a loud crash that left his ears ringing. He clutched his head and buried his head into his pillow. His head ached painfully, and his mouth was extremely dry. His pillow also smelled strongly of beer, and Julian was half on top of him. Thomas shoved him to the side, and Julian groaned. The boy looked like a right mess, with his hair tangled up and his eyes still visibly puffy from crying. Despite the fact that Thomas’s father was now home, Thomas still spent quite a bit of time sleeping over at Julian’s house as a comfort. Pharrell and Panda Bear had also taken to sleeping over, and they usually ended up in a nest of blankets on the floor.

Thomas finally willed himself to sit up, grimacing at the dizziness he felt. It was still dark outside, and so the cold air hit Thomas’s chest and made him shiver. Julian instinctively curled the blankets closer to him. Pharrell and Panda Bear were just barely visible under the pile of blankets on the floor, and if the many, many beer cans were any indicator, they had all had a bit of a rough night. It had been around 3 weeks since Julian had gotten the news, and since then he hasn’t removed his dad’s bandanna from around his neck. That was fine, because Thomas thought he’d do the same if he had a possession from his father. What the real problem was is that as soon as the group that had brought supplies unpacked it, Julian had raided it and began guzzling down any alcohol that he could find.

His mother wasn’t oblivious to it, but hell, she was in a state too. She even offered some wine to the boys. But instead the three boys dutifully followed Julian up the ladder to his room and got absolutely sloshed from his stash of beer, and have been doing so nearly every other day since Julian got the news of his father. If Julian was going to destroy his mind, they might as well do it together.

Thomas sighed and rubbed his forehead, wincing as he heard another crash coming from down below. This time Julian also woke up and moaned. Pharrell and Panda Bear were starting to stir as well, with equal looks of contempt of being woken up by whoever was making so much noise. Julian sat up and looked questioningly down at himself and at Thomas.

“Why the hell are we naked?” He whined. “Shit, did we actually do something?” His eyes widened.

Panda Bear shook his head. “You guys fell asleep before us. You just kept whining about it being too hot and took off your clothes. And you made Thomas do the same. You both passed out before anything gross happened though.” He threw pants at Julian’s face. “I feel gross.”

“You look pretty gross, bro.” Pharrell pointed out. He seemed pretty okay compared to everyone else, so maybe he drank a lot less. Or he could hold it better than they could. “Why are we up so early though?”

Panda Bear crawled over to the cover that prevented them from falling down into the next floor of the house and opened it, peering down.

“Noah? Are all the boys up there?” They heard Julian’s mother ask, tiredness and sadness still etched in her voice.

“Yeah…” Panda Bear replied, ignoring the fact that she had called him Noah despite his constant insistence of being called anything BUT Noah.

“You boys have to get ready soon, something came up and another crowd of people are being sent out. It’s your turn this time…”

Panda Bear snapped the trap door shut and stared at the other three with his eyes wide open in shock. They had all frozen when they heard that. They always expected that they were going to go out eventually, but not so soon. Especially now that Julian lost his father. But going out isn’t really something you could refuse. Only if you were too young, too old, or injured enough. Thomas immediately looked at Julian, who was still staring at the pants that Panda Bear had thrown at him.

“Julian…?” He asked quietly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“We need to get ready.” He muttered. “We don’t want to be late.”

Thomas wanted to protest, but he nodded.

“Well, we should probably go get ready…” Pharrell sighed. “Let’s meet up at my house because we need to talk about you-know-what.”

Thomas groaned. He had forgotten. One good thing about the alcohol they had stolen was that he had actually managed to completely forget about the robot that had been plaguing his mind, but now he was going to be forced to not only be sober, but also finally make up his mind about whether or not they were going to look for that robot.

Pharrell and Panda Bear had already left, and Julian was still glaring at his pants. Thomas got up, and wrapped one of their many blankets around his waist so he could look around to find a clean change of clothes. Most of his clothing was already returned to his house, so he made do with taking some of Julian’s clothes. He had to throw more clothes at Julian to get him to respond, but at least he was now slowly getting dressed as well.

Thomas was still nursing a bit of a headache when he climbed down the ladder, but he had to make sure to catch Julian on his way down, because his hangover ended up being much stronger than intended. Julian’s mother didn’t say anything as they walked outside, but her eyes followed them sadly. Julian stumbled along behind Thomas the entire way to Pharrell’s house, and Thomas half wanted to turn him around and put him to bed again.

“You’re going to agree to it, right?” Julian asked suddenly. “Finding that robot.”
Thomas let out a small huff of breath. “I honestly don’t know. I really, really don’t.”

“You need to fuckin’ do it man. If you don’t, I will.” Julian said seriously.

Thomas’s eyes widened. “Why the hell would you even want to?”

Julian adjusted the bandanna around his neck. “Those damn robots killed my dad. I know the usual response to someone doing that would be that they’d want revenge, but I know that won’t fucking do anything. All it’s gonna do is make my mother be all fucking alone if I die. I really think that you and that robot are gonna be the key to maybe bridging the gap. So then our future kids won’t be living in fear in of robot’s ‘n shit.”

Thomas looked at Julian. “I...uhm…” What they were doing was stupid. So completely and utterly stupid. But the determined look on Julian’s face reminded Thomas that maybe the stupid ideas were the best ones.

They were going to be breaking so many rules, and hell, they might end up dying anyways. But at that point, that was the only thing they had going for them. That tiny sliver of hope that maybe they could make things okay. Julian was still looking at him expectantly.

“Yeah. Yes, okay. We’ll do it.”

For the first time in 3 weeks, Julian cracked a smile at him. He rested his head on Thomas’s shoulder. “Thank god, because I don’t think I would have been able to do it alone.”

When they met up with Pharrell and Panda Bear, the message was quickly told to them. Pharrell grinned and slapped Julian on the back, causing him to tumble forward onto the sand. Panda Bear just stared at Thomas with inquisitive eyes, but didn’t disagree with their decision at all.

The sun was just barely starting to come up as they walked back towards the entrance of the settlement, where Thomas’s dad was standing and waiting for them. By then all of the confidence that had momentarily flown through their veins had disappeared, and now they were very much just terrified looking sixteen year olds. Thomas greeted his dad with a small grin, that his father returned with a nod of the head.

“Are you coming out with us?” Thomas asked.

“Unfortunately not, but I thought it’d be better for me to show you a bit of the ropes at first before you leave to make you feel a bit more comfortable about it.” He looked at Julian. “How are you feelin’, kid?”

Julian looked up at him and shrugged. “Less shit than usual.”

His dad gave a small chuckle. “As long as it isn’t getting worse. Now follow me if you will…”

They were lead into one of the large sheds that flanked the exit of their settlement where there were other members already milling around and messing with the disguises that they wore whenever they went outside. Thomas’s dad picked up a silver helmet and handed it to Thomas.

“You guys already know this, but obviously these are your disguises. Not exactly the most comfortable thing, especially in the heat, but you need them. You have to keep your skin covered, or else the robots will be after you. Just take your pick at a helmet, and find your size of clothing.”

“Why are we going out so soon, anyways?” Pharrell asked, picking up another silver helmet.

“We had more shortages than expected. We ran out of some medical supplies that we desperately needed...Not to mention a lot of the alcohol seemed to disappear rather quickly…” Thomas’s dad added that last part with a raise of an eyebrow, and Julian’s face immediately went red, which he covered up quickly by putting a gold helmet on his head.

“Whoa...Shit’s dark.” He said in amazement.

“Yes, it’s a bit hard getting used to at first. You won’t have to wear the helmets immediately of course, there’s some time in between getting from here to the main road where you won’t have to wear it. But as soon as you’re on the main road you have to hide your faces with them.”

They all nodded as they started to pull on various articles of clothing. They were all given gloves with the right metal backing that matched their helmets. The fabric was a strange feeling, with it sticking tightly to their skin and still allowing them to properly feel things. Thomas’s helmet was under his arm as they were lead onto the other side of the fence.

“Whoa…” Julian breathed.

“It’s just sand.” Pharrell added, shrugging.

“Yeah, but it’s sand from the outside…”

“...It’s still sand.”

The two bickered on whether or not it was really different, and Panda Bear just laughed and looked over at Thomas. “Leave it to them to actually argue about sand.”

Thomas smiled. “They find anything to argue about.”

Panda Bear’s face fell slightly. “So we’re really doing this.” He said in a low voice. “Looking for your robot.”

“He’s not my robot. And yes.” Thomas said, as they climbed into a van.

“This is insane…” Panda Bear muttered as he sat down next to Pharrell and Julian, who seemed to have calmed down after some strong words from someone who was also going out.

“Yeah, it is. But it could be something.” Thomas shrugged, running his fingers across the smooth cool surface of his silver helmet. “Might as well try.”

Panda Bear sighed. “I won’t be able to talk you out of it now, so I guess I have no choice.”

Julian leaned over. “Don’t worry, Panda. It’ll all be fine.”

“That’s what they all say. Literally always. And then things get fucked up.”

Thomas playfully shoved Panda Bear with his shoulder. “But we have you. You make sure things don’t get fucked up, okay?”

“I didn’t realize I was the mother of the group…” He shoved back with a grin anyways, just as the van was pulled into gear and they slowly started to pull away from the settlement.

It was surreal, watching his home that he had never left get smaller and smaller as they went further and further away. He felt a pang of sadness, and he realized that things weren’t really going to be the same after this. Not at all.

Chapter Text

Thomas hiccuped suddenly and his eyes snapped open. He had fallen asleep in the cramped van with his head on Pharrell’s shoulder. Both Pharrell and Julian had both fallen asleep as well, and Julian’s helmet was slowly sliding out of his grip as they began moving slowly to grey asphalt that meant that they had arrived at the main road. Panda Bear was awake, and Thomas realized that he had been the one who had probably woken him up, since he motioned to wake up Pharrell and Julian. It was fairly easy, because Thomas wasn’t as gentle as Panda Bear probably was and just shoved them as hard as he could.

They both woke up immediately and Julian’s helmet clattered onto the floor of the van when he was suddenly shoved. He cursed as he picked it up and glared at Thomas. “The hell was that for?”

“We’re by the main road.” Thomas replied dryly, pointing out the window.

As soon at the van had trudged onto the road, the drivers stopped momentarily and pulled the stretchy fabric from under their clothing up over their head to cover their hair and slipped their helmets on. The four boys copied the movements (although Julian needed a bit of help with his longer hair) and Thomas’s vision was now significantly obscured. He moved his head around, trying to get used to it.

His vision was completely cut, and he could only see out of his visor, which was very tinted and a lot like wearing sunglasses, but much worse. It was even harder to breathe more freely, but he knew he’d have to deal with it. Panda Bear was also turning his head every direction he could, but Thomas was slightly envious because the green-eyed boy had chosen to wear the gold helmet. It had a significantly bigger visor which meant that even if it was hard to see, at least he had more of a range than Thomas had.

“Wow, this is fuckin’ weird…” Julian muttered. “How the hell are we gonna even see in these things?”

The man sitting in front of them turned around. It was strange, because Thomas was sure that he’d be smirking if he could see his face, but he could only see the blank expression of another silver helmet. “With practice you’ll be pretty good at it, but since you guys are newbies you’ve got pretty easy duty. You’ll be hanging out with me for almost all of the time.” Thomas recognized that voice immediately. He hadn’t even noticed the man join them in the van.

“Busy P?” He inquired.

“Yep, it’s me kid. Didn’t notice me come in?” Pedro, better known as Busy P, laughed. Thomas could practically imagine the huge grin on his face.

“No...I mean, I think I fell asleep pretty quickly after getting in.”

“Understandable. You guys aren’t used to waking up at such ungodly hours in the morning. But don’t worry, you’ll all be fine.”

Julian looked out the window. “Hey, where’s all the other vans and stuff? I swear there were more…”

“Yeah, we all disperse. It’ll look to suspicious if we all just come it at once. We go to different towns around the area, or come in at different times. We can’t draw attention to ourselves.” Busy P tapped his visor knowingly. “Which brings me to another matter. We’ll be staying in hotel rooms, and that is pretty much your free time. Which means you can take off your helmet and do whatever. Just make sure to stay inside and keep the curtains drawn.”

Thomas never really thought about how complicated this stuff could be. Well, obviously it had to be. He had heard the things that robots had done to people who had discovered humans. It was crazy. Hell, even if they weren’t actually humans. If there was some robot trying to pass off as a human they’d be chased down too. Thomas paused. What...the hell? The thought had just entered his mind, but now that he thought about it, how did he know that? He didn’t. He was sure he didn’t. He never heard of any stories of robots trying to be human. That would be insane. Why would a robot want to be human? Thomas let out a soft sigh. There was no time to be thinking of weird things.

“Uuugh...It’s so hot…” Julian whined, shaking Pharrell who was currently the closest one to Julian. “Make it stop.”

It was pretty hot. Thomas was already starting to feel the heat with his helmet on, and he felt beads of sweat starting to form. He wouldn’t be surprised if he fainted at some point. Although Busy P would probably just end up telling him that if he needed to faint, to try and faint in the hotel room to not attract attention. Could robots even faint? Well, not faint. They’d decharge. And then get taken to a hospital to get recharge.

“...Hey, Busy P? Do robots faint or do they decharge?” Thomas asked suddenly.

“Huh? Oh. They decharge. Which I guess in a way it’s like fainting. So try not to faint in public at least. Try fainting in the hotel room or something.”

Well, that was a bit creepy. Not Busy P’s response of him fainting in the hotel room. He had known the man long enough to know that that would be his obvious response. But the other bit. He knew fuck all about robots, besides bits and pieces that he heard from his dad. Usually most of the learning you got was on the job learning.

So Thomas suddenly knowing a few random facts about robots that he was positive he didn’t know before was a bit unnerving. He wish he could just talk privately with his friends about it, but they really couldn’t do that while cramped in a van. He’d have to wait until they were in a hotel room to even think about asking them about their plan of action. From the looks of it, Busy P was going to be around them a lot. And while he was a pretty nice guy, Thomas wasn’t sure if Busy P would allow them to even wander off on their own. That would make any sort of escape to investigate the whole robot thing a bit difficult.

“It’ll be a little while yet until we get there, so you guys are welcome to trying to catch a bit more sleep if you can with those helmets on.” Busy P told them, before turning around in his seat.

From the looks of it, Julian had already fallen asleep. He hadn’t actually said anything in a few minutes, which made it pretty obvious. Pharrell seemed out too, and Panda Bear was staring out the window.

“Panda?” He murmured to his friend.

A tilt of the helmet in his direction was the only thing alerting him that Panda Bear had heard him. “You should sleep Thomas. Don’t worry about anything just yet.” was what Panda Bear ended up telling him before staring out the window again.

Thomas let his head fall on Panda Bear’s shoulder, trying to get in a somewhat comfortable position. He knew that Panda Bear didn’t mind his head being on his shoulder, or else he would have shoved him off already. He didn’t think he’d actually manage to fall asleep, but soon he felt his eyes growing droopy as his mind began to wander. And soon he drifted off to sleep…

He was standing in an empty restroom. The lights were flickering on and off over and over again. Thomas felt a pain in his chest that he wasn’t really sure what it was. There was strange goop caked on his fingers, that he realized were the silver gloves that he had been wearing. But it didn’t feel like a tight layer of fabric over his skin. It just felt like...his skin.

He looked frantically around for a mirror, and when he walked up to it he was shocked. It was himself with the helmet that he was wearing on his head. There was a strange goop on his head that almost looked like he had torn his skin off to reveal a robot underneath. He could even see a shock of curly brown hair that matched his own. He stared at his own reflection, not being able to comprehend what he was seeing. It was like an intense sadness that he felt, as he began to realize that he was a robot. An actual robot.

He felt a tug on his sleeve, and he turned to see another robot in the small restroom with him. A gold helmet with a few sticky looking patches here and there. For a second he thought he was looking at Panda Bear, because that same small head tilt was something he’d always do. But Thomas quickly figured it wasn’t. Panda Bear was a human.

Guy-Manuel.

The name popped up in his mind suddenly. Guy-Manuel. Or Guy-Man for short. His best friend in the entire world. The only one who would listen to him when he told him he wanted to be human. They were so close that they didn’t even have to speak to communicate. But...That didn’t make sense. Thomas was human, wasn’t he? And he didn’t know a Guy-Manuel. His friends were Panda, Julian, and Pharrell. His head really hurt, as he started to remove the weird fake skin from his helmet.

Guy-Man just stood watching him as he removed it all and flush it down the toilet just like he had. There was an air of sympathy and pity in the way that he watched Thomas. And the pain in his chest was growing stronger and stronger. How he wanted to be human.

But wasn’t he already?

Wasn’t he already human?

Thomas woke up breathing heavily, and Panda Bear was rubbing circles on his back to calm him down.

“Thomas? Are you okay?” He asked, concern in his voice.

“I...I t-think.” Thomas stuttered.

“That’s good kid. We’ve made it to town.” Busy P told him, leaning back to pat him on the head in comfort.

When Thomas looked out the window, he could already see other robots roaming the streets.

Where was Guy-Man?

Chapter Text

They were like little baby chickens as soon as they drove into the limits of the town. The four boys in the back just immediately shrunk closer together as they looked out the windows in awe and fear. Thomas could barely see out the window anyways, with the combined fact that he was sitting in the middle with Pharrell and his tinted visor. Panda Bear just stared out the window without moving while Julian went back and forth from leaning forward and shrinking back, not being able to decide if he wanted to look out the window or if he wanted to fearfully move back and stay close to the group.

Thomas was uncomfortable. He felt sick to his stomach, and he was pretty much drowning in sweat. It didn’t help that he was still unsettled by that dream that he had had earlier that day. Thoughts were swirling around in his mind and he wasn’t entirely sure which ones were truly his own and which ones were the weird thoughts put into his head from that dream. But at least he knew the robot’s name. He was positive of it.

None of them moved when the van finally pulled into a parking spot and was turned off. The rest of the group (namely the experienced ones) just hopped out normally as if everything was totally fine. There were four experienced people including Busy P, and then Thomas and his friends. That made eight people. After not moving for a few seconds, Busy P stuck his head back in and motioned for them to follow along.

Thomas mouth was agape as they shuffled towards the hotel. He had never seen a building so big. Only in pictures had he ever seen anything like this. Cars were driving down the street and robots were milling and going about their business. As marvelous as he thought everything looked, he couldn’t help but feel like an outsider. Well, he was an outsider. One mistake could be very bad news. His stomach twisted again at the thought of Guy-Man. If he were caught then he’d pretty much be dead, him and all his friends.

“Come along, Thomas.” Busy P called to him.

Thomas went into a slight jog as he caught up with everyone one else and they entered the hotel. There was some slight relief from the heat when they entered, although it didn’t help much with the layers of clothes they were wearing. Busy P was up front along with a woman from their group, talking with the robot behind the desk. His voice sounded different. What was originally Busy P’s normal smooth human voice, was now slightly more digital sounding and robotic.

He turned around and handed the boys each a plastic card. “Your room keys. You’re all staying in the same room.” He went into a more hushed whisper. “We thought it’d be good because you’re close friends and this is your first time out here.”

They were lead up by another robot to their rooms, and as soon as the door was closed behind them and the curtains were drawn, they all took of their helmets. Julian let out a giant sigh of relief as he pulled down the fabric that covered his hair as well. His hair was soaked with sweat wand was clinging to his neck and cheeks. Thomas’s was a bit to curly to cling to his head, but Panda Bear definitely had all his hair flat and clinging to his face.

Pharrell was more or less fine, covered in sweat, but since he shaved his head he didn’t have to worry about hair.

“Oh god, it was hot as shit in these things!” Julian exclaimed, chucking his helmet on one of the beds as he began stripping off the layer of clothes he was wearing over the body suit.

The rest of them immediately followed suit, until they were all standing around in their boxers. Julian was exploring the room, and he actually dared sneak a peek through the curtains just to see what the town looked like. His eyes widened as he let out a quiet ‘wow...’ and motioned Thomas to come over.

When Thomas looked out, he was amazed. His dad and Busy P told him that it was a town, but it felt so much more giant than that. There were so many buildings and cars and just… everything! Seeing so many cars in general was surreal, or things having glass windows… Those robots really were living the life it seems.

“Dude...running water!”

Thomas turned around to see the lights on in another part of their hotel room. Julian had apparently located the bathroom, and was now entertaining himself by turning the water on and off. Thomas bent down to watch the water appear and disappear. They didn’t actually have any proper running water back at home. Just water pumps, wells, and the oasis. Julian winced after he stuck his finger under the running water.

“Its...hot.” He muttered.

“Temperature controlled, nice.” Panda Bear said, suddenly appearing with Pharrell in tow.

“Why are there bathrooms? I didn’t know robots needed it?” Pharrell asked, joining Julian in randomly turning the faucets in the sink.

“Strange isn’t it? How the robots ended up being so hellbent on getting rid of humans, but in the end they’re slowly becoming more and more like humans as the time goes on.”

“When the fuck did you get so deep?” Julian asked wonderingly.

Panda Bear just shrugged.

Thomas was quiet though, thinking back to his dream. Robots were becoming more and more like humans as time went on. They were eating food, taking showers, using the restrooms. Did they always do that? Who knows. Thomas wasn’t actually alive when the last humans disappeared into their own little colonies away from robots. He’s never actually even seen any other settlement. He knew they existed, and he had even met people passing through who lived in other settlements. But he had never seen one. He had heard of some around the globe that didn’t even need to invade robot cities. They were self-sufficient enough to survive on their own. But then again their spot of choice probably wasn’t the desert. It was probably somewhere much nicer with grass all around them.

“Thomas! Look!”

Thomas looked over to see Julian messing with the bath. He had a wide grin on his face as he messed with the hot or cold running water. Thomas noticed a little knob on top of the faucet where the bathwater was coming out, and he leaned over and pulled on it. immediately water began pouring onto Julian’s head from the shower. He let out a yelp, because it was burning hot. Thomas suppressed his giggles as Julian scrambled to change the temperature, spilling water onto the tiles of the bathroom.

“You look like a wet rat, Julian.” Thomas laughed.

“Fuck up, Thomas.” Julian pouted. “But it’s still pretty fucking great though, isn’t it?” He stuck his hand tentatively back under the water.

“Yeah...I mean if there wasn’t the risk of being caught by robots I’d like to live like this more often.” Thomas stuck his hand under the water as well.

“Well, since we’re supposedly going along with the crazy find the robot plan then we’re at a bigger ri--” Panda Bear started before Julian interrupted him.

“Thomas! Let’s take a bath!” Julian said quickly.

Julian then stood up and shoved Pharrell and Panda Bear out of the small bathroom before closing the door. Thomas raised an eyebrow at him, although he was inwardly thankful. He knew he already said yes to finding Guy-Man and risking his life for finding a robot that he didn’t actually know, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to think about it at the moment. Especially since he was still tired, hot, and sticky.

“What was that all about?” Thomas asked, turning off the shower.

“Well, as soon as Panda mentioned our whole robot plan, I saw you get all tense. I figured that right now wasn’t the best time to talk about it...So I just sorta said the first thing that came to mind?”

Thomas smiled. “Yeah, thanks. I’m really not in the mood to talk about Guy-Man anyways, so that is helpful. But I guess I can’t escape it tomorrow.”
“Guy-Man?”

Thomas covered his mouth. “Shit. Right...I...I don’t really know where it came from, but I’m pretty sure his name is Guy-Man. Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo.” He said suddenly.

Julian stared at him before bursting into laughter. “Haha, oh my god. Seriously??”

“What?”

“That’s really his name?” Julian pressed.

“Well...I’m not exactly sure. I just had these really weird dreams. He was there, I know it was him. And I just knew that’s what his name was.”

Julian nodded, still smiling. “Okay, so we’re going to save your man-man of man-jesus.”

“Man-man of...oh. Oh my god!” Thomas started to giggle. “I didn’t even think about that!”

They couldn’t even continue speaking because of how much they were laughing. Maybe it was the lack of proper sleep thanks to waking up early and alcohol, or the fact that the situation they were in was currently dangerous and all too new for them, or just because they were amused easily, but it took them a good few minutes to finally calm down.

“You weren’t serious about the bath, were you?” Thomas asked suddenly.

“Well, why not? We’ve done it before.” Julian shrugged.

“Yes, but we were also like six. It’s kind of a big difference of being six and being sixteen.” Thomas pointed out.

“Yeah, yeah. But we’re still all dirty and sweaty and I still smell strongly of alcohol. And we’re already in here.” Julian said while turning the water back on.

“That’s so gay.”

“Yeah, it is. But who cares? We get to shower! Ohhh shit look tiny shampoos!”

There was a knock on the door. “Thomas? Jules? Are you really taking a bath?” Panda Bear’s voice echoed through the bathroom.

“Nah, we’re making passionate love and didn’t want you to interrupt.” Julian called back, still looking intently at the small bottle of shampoo. “Of course we’re taking a bath, dumbass.”

“Christ, I was only asking. Whatever. Pharrell and I are going to take a nap so don’t sex each other up too loudly. I know Thomas is a screamer.”

“Dude what the hell??” Thomas exclaimed. “I’m not!”

Julian grinned wickedly. “I bet you are. You scream so easily.” He promptly shoved Thomas into the half-filled bath.

“I hate you all…” Thomas sputtered.

“Love you too!” Julian grinned. “And don’t worry, will find your dudebro soon enough. Let’s just enjoy this shit while we can, okay?” He looked serious for a moment.

“Yeah...Yeah okay.” Thomas agreed.

He definitely enjoyed the screech Julian let out when he yanked the boy into the bath head first.

Chapter Text

Guy-Man collapsed onto his knees, his internal fans were whirring extremely loudly. He had been sprinting for far too long, and his body couldn’t handle it. He leaned forward until his head was touching the dried up ground. He momentarily flashed back to the time when he had been oh so desperately trying to reach that switch on his back to destroy himself because he couldn’t continue living without his best friend.

It made him wonder. If he had succeeded, would he have been reborn again just like Thomas had? Perhaps he’d be running around that little settlement playing games with Thomas and his friends. Hell, he had tried pressing the damn button, and then setting himself on fire. Neither of those worked, and now he might as well suffer being alive. He heard a faint beeping, and he moved his sleeve to see a small red light pulsing on and off. He had over exerted himself a bit too much. He was running out of battery.

Really? Is that all it took?

He tried to self-destruct, he tried to set himself on fucking fire.

And his downfall is forgetting to charge.

Well, if that was how he was meant to go, so be it. He stayed on the ground, lying still and listening to the quiet beeping getting quicker and more frantic. It was yelling at him. ‘what the hell are you doing? you need to rest!’

Thomas would force him to start using the sun to charge, even if it was annoying and took forever to get charged by the sun. Whenever he’d walk with Thomas through the endless desert they’d keep their solar power on constantly so they wouldn’t have to rest. But it was okay then, because they walked, so even though the charge was slow it still lasted.

But Guy-Man was too far gone for solar charging to work. It would charge enough in time. So he just let the beeping get more and more frequent. His vision was beginning to distort now, and he was hearing strange sounds. Were those footsteps? Or was it the sound of him finally shutting down for good?

“..re…..o...kay?” He heard a faint voice speak to him. “....ou…..ne….elp…”

Guy-Man woke up suddenly. He was lying on a comfortable bed, and he sat up quickly. He had no idea where the hell he was. It was a small bedroom, filled with all sorts of old knick knacks and random assortments of items. They were all human items. Old movie posters, music, everything. There were a few things here and there that were clearly from current time, which meant more robotic. But this was definitely mostly human.

He made to stand up, but then he felt a tug on the back of his neck. He reached back and realized that he was plugged into a small generator. Someone had charged him. But where the hell was he?

“Ah...You’re awake. That’s good, I had thought I had almost lost you.” A man entered the tiny room.

He was clearly an older gentleman, with snow white hair and a bushy white mustache. Yes, he was a human. Instead of answering the man, he looked out the small window. Nothing, as far as the eye could see. Just dry ground for miles. He turned back to the man, who smiled kindly at him.

“You gave me quite a scare back there. You were lucky that I saw you on one of my walks or else you would have surely died.”

That was the plan, yes.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. You know that deep down inside there was something holding you back from truly dying. Your beeping grew so loud I was sure I wouldn’t be able to hear you by the time I came home.”

Guy-Man tilted his head. Who was this man? Why didn’t he recoil away from Guy-Man like he knew most humans would? Well, John Casablancas didn’t recoil from him, but he had been dying. And Thomas...He had looked scared, but confused. But he knew about humans. The things he had seen, especially with John. It was terrifying what his own kind would do to someone different. Yet this man was as calm as ever.

“My name is Giorgio Moroder. But you can call me Giorgio. What is your name?”

Guy-Man didn’t say anything. He just stared at Giorgio.

“Ah, don’t wish to speak do you?” He chuckled. “No problem. I will figure it out…”

Guy-Man doubted that. Well...perhaps not. This man seemed to easily be able to understand him despite the fact that he had not spoken a single word since waking up. He actually hadn’t spoken a word since Thomas had disappeared, which was nearly 16 years ago. He didn’t actually know if he could speak at this point.

“Guillaume. Your name is Guillaume.”

Wow. This guy was good.

“Now, Guillaume. I know there must be more about you than meets the eye. And I know you must have many questions for me as well. I think you are well-charged enough to join me in my kitchen, no?”
Guy-Man nodded, turning to unplug himself and followed the shuffling old gentlemen into a small kitchen. Giorgio fixed himself a small cup of coffee before sitting down across the table where Guy-Man had situated himself.

“You must be wondering why I can understand you so well, despite the fact that you have not uttered a single word in my presence?”

Guy-Man nodded.

“You see, I helped create you robots.”

Guy-Man froze.

“Yes, it was quite a long time ago. I was very young at the time, in my early twenties. I was the shining star of my city. I was bright, young, and clearly going places. I created robots with the intent of helping people in need, but as you can see this went slightly wrong.” He chuckled again. “I help create you, so it only makes sense that even now, I’d be able to understand you. Luckily you aren’t the only robot I’ve met who hasn’t been repulsed by me. The only reason that I can survive alone is because of kind robots who bring me food and drink.”

Of all people Guy-Man was expecting to meet (he already wasn’t expecting to meet anyone anyways) was the man who had helped create...him. Well, not him personally. But his people. Guy-Man never really thought about it before, but robots were a recent thing. In terms of the earth it hadn’t been so long ago that humans and robots coexisted peacefully. And despite all the shit that happened this man is still alive and sitting in front of him calmly and still optimistic about his own life.

While Guy-Man himself broke down after Thomas detonated himself. Giorgio lost probably all his family and friends yet continues to live life on his own with a calm smile on his face.

“You seem unsure of yourself. Did something happen?”

How was Guy-Man supposed to explain anything that happened to him without speaking? About Thomas, and how he wanted so badly to be human. How Guy-Man played along with it without taking him seriously. How they were chased away by their own people who hated them for trying to be different, and causing his own friend to kill himself. Then Guy-Man tried, and after he failed he ended up finding his best friend as a human.

Guy-Man just shrugged.

“Ah, but there is something. I know there is. You do not have to tell me now, but when you are ready. You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to.”

Guy-Man was grateful for that. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go back near that town he had left. He had watched a human die and watched his best friend be with people he didn’t know. Maybe staying here with Giorgio would be a good thing for him. He could learn from this old man and maybe finally be at peace for once in his life after Thomas.

Giorgio slid something over to him, and Guy-Man picked it up.

A pad of paper and a pen.

“You do not have to speak, and I’m fairly good at communication. But this may be easier in some instances. Especially with things rather more specific.”

Guy-Man nodded at him, and uncapped the pen.

Thank you.

Chapter Text

Thomas felt knots in his stomach as he quietly did something he had never done before in his entire life.

Wait in line in a supermarket.

It was all incredibly new to him. The long aisles completely full of food, the entirely too bright lights, and a bunch of numbers that he wasn’t entirely sure what they meant quite yet. At least Busy P was with him, even if he was a bit behind him. He looked so calm and collected, flipping through a magazine as he waited in line. Thomas on the other hand was sweating like crazy and constantly fingering the money that Busy P had given him in his pocket.

Thomas knew how to count currency at least, even if he had never actually had to use it. Since he learned it when he was around 13 it was just some random stuff that he knew. But now that he was out there he knew exactly why he had to know it. Robots sure liked using money for things. Well, he assumed that humans back then were also like that. But because their settlement was apparently very small compared to others, they had no need for currency. They just divided the food amongst themselves. No one could really hoard it because everyone knew each other too well for that.

So they were all pretty much shit at keeping secrets.

Busy P had at least been kind enough to let them sleep in quite a bit before knocking on their door that morning. When he removed his helmet, he had explained what they were going to be doing. Something simple, just getting food from the supermarket. They were being split up though. He and Panda Bear were with Busy P, while Julian and Pharrell were going to be with Uffie, another more experienced person like Busy P as well as the only female of their group.

The last two people (Gaspard and Xavier) were in charge of starting to go get the medication that they had needed.

Busy P had also shown them how to activate the voice changing...thing that was in their helmets. It just made their voices sound more robotic so if they had to speak, it would sound robotic. It was the strange thing about robots, none of them seemed to speak a lot. They only spoke when they needed to. Which was good for them, Thomas guessed. He wasn’t eloquent at the best of times, and stuttered a lot when he talked to people he didn’t really know.

But it was luckily simple enough, he just handed the money to the robot at the counter and got the bags of food that he had collected and walked out towards the van where Panda Bear was already standing outside of. He had finished first, so he was the one who got out first. Thomas couldn’t even sigh in relief, because they were still out there. Robots didn’t pay them any mind, and just walked right past them.

His mind couldn’t help but conjure up images of him not wearing his disguise and those robots that were ignoring him suddenly crowding around him. And for a split second he felt weird gloop running down the side of his face as he and Guy-Man ran from a crowd of robots who were chasing them away.

Then he hit himself in the face, immediately regretting it as the inside of the helmet dug into his skin. Panda Bear turned to look at him, but before he could ask anything, Thomas just waved his hand at him. By then Busy P had walked out with his own cart of food, and he packed it up quickly and signalled for the boys to get into the van with him.

“That wasn’t too hard, was it?” He asked them.

“It wasn’t...bad.” Thomas admitted. “Terrifying still, but not as bad as I thought it’d be.”

Panda Bear nodded. “I still want to get out of here as soon as possible though.”

Thomas had no idea if he meant going back home, or running during the night like they had planned.

They had arrived back at the hotel before Julian and Pharrell had gotten back, so they actually had time to chat themselves without Julian or Pharrell interrupting to say something strange or starting to argue about something. Julian was definitely Thomas’s best friend, but Panda Bear seemed to be the calmest one out of all four of them, so he was definitely very easy to talk to.

“Something’s been on your mind.” Was the first thing he said as soon as they had removed their helmets in their room. “You’re not exactly one to suddenly punch yourself in the face. That’s more Julian’s territory.”

Thomas shrugged. “I’ve just been feeling weird lately.”

Panda Bear leaned over and grabbed pillows, one for himself, and the other he threw at Thomas. “How so?”

“Just these weird dreams. And thoughts and memories. It’s like they’re not really my own, but they are...Y’know?” He was making absolutely no sense.

Panda Bear was silent for a moment. “So basically you feel like you’re having flashbacks to things you don’t actually remember? Can you be a bit more specific.” He hugged the pillow that he was holding, leaning forward slightly.

“Well...I had this dream…” Thomas launched into an explanation of all the dreams and strange memories that he had had so far.

Panda Bear was listening intently, nodding at all the right times and making comments where he could. Thomas knew he really was listening though, because that was just something Panda was good at.

“Maybe Julian was right.” Panda Bear finally said after Thomas finished his explanation.

“What? The prophecy thing?” Thomas was incredulous.

“Not exactly the prophecy thing, but you and this...Guy-Man was it? You guys are definitely more connected than I thought before. I’m pretty sure we’ll have to explain this to Julian and Pharrell when they get back, but you’ve probably already connected this together.”

Thomas was slightly confused. “Connected what?”

“I’m thinking that you used to be a robot.” Panda Bear hushed him before he could say anything. “I mean...You’re only sixteen, right? Maybe you used to be a robot, and you died for some reason or another. And you were reborn again. It seems to me that your robot-self really wanted to be human.”

Thomas nodded. “Yeah...But...Damn that’s really weird. I can’t really wrap my head around it even if it does make sense. But does that mean me reunited with Guy-Man will actually do something?”

Panda Bear shrugged. “Who knows. But you need to tell us when you have more of those dreams, or if you just think of something. I think it’d be able to help us find Guy-Man.”

They even did a pinky-promise to seal the deal, even if they hadn’t made pinky-promise in years.

A few minutes later Julian and Pharrell arrived in the room, and Panda Bear urged Thomas to recount what he had told him, and with at least a bit of Panda’s help, both Julian and Pharrell were quickly filled in on their conversation that they had had earlier.

Julian of course, became naturally extremely excited. Pharrell was more curious about the fact that Thomas was a reincarnated robot.

“So that might mean you’ll have the easiest time fooling the robots. I mean, you don’t exactly have full memory back, and who knows if you ever will. But those bits and pieces will probably help.”

Julian grinned widely. “You’re gonna change the world, Thomas! I know you will! Who knew I was gonna be best friends with someone who was going to do something so fucking awesome!”

Thomas grinned at Julian. “I’m not that great, you know that.”

Julian tackled Thomas onto the bed. “Hell yeah you are!” He rolled off of Thomas and looked around at all of them. “So when are we leaving?”

“Well, we decided on tonight right?” Panda Bear looked at Thomas.

It was now or never. “Yeah. We’re...we’re leaving tonight.”

“We just need to build up confidence to make sure we don’t look too scared while walking down the streets at night, right?” Pharrell asked, winking. “We’ll be too suspicious if we’re all crowded into a tiny clump.”

“Ooh, I’ve got just the solution for that!” Julian was still wearing the clothes from his time at the supermarket, and out from under his baggy jacket he pulled a bottle out.

“You managed to steal vodka?” Panda Bear’s eyes widened. “How the hell did you do that? You’re underaged!”

Julian grinned as he uncapped the vodka. “Uffie is really nice okay? It wasn’t too hard to convince her into buying vodka for me. I think she felt bad because my dad died.” Julian’s face fell slightly when he said that. “Y-yeah...Um.” He quickly swallowed a mouthful of vodka and made a face so he could avoid continuing on the topic he had accidentally put himself on.

Thomas found himself with the bottle of vodka in his hands. Julian looked at him expectantly. “Well. Might as well go into this completely hammered than completely scared.” He knocked back a mouthful and cringed as the strong liquid burned as it went down his throat.

He coughed as he passed it onto Panda Bear, who was a bit more reluctant to drink, but after a few well placed words by Julian, he managed to chug down more than Thomas and Julian had drank combined.

“Man, who knew Panda was a better drinker than all of us?” Pharrell laughed, poking Panda Bear on his side as he took a swig.

Panda Bear mumbled curses at Pharrell as the bottle continued to be passed around them. It was like they were back at home for a moment, sitting in Julian’s room as they chugged down beer after beer and laughing at the stupidest things imaginable. Thomas was feeling light-headed when Julian finally capped the vodka bottle again and stashed it under their bed. It was getting late in the evening by then.

“Welp, I think it’s now or never guys.” Julian clapped his hands together.

They quickly stumbled through getting their gear back on, Julian needing a bit of help because he kept trying to put on his helmet backwards. Thomas made sure to hide the hotel room cards somewhere where he wouldn’t lose them, along with a few other small items. It turns out that Julian and Pharrell hadn’t just stolen some vodka, because as soon as they gracefully stumbled outside, both boys had pulled out some backpacks from the van (Julian had carefully made sure to leave a door unlocked) that had food and water.

“I never thought I’d be going on my first adventure completely sloshed you know?” Thomas said suddenly, in his more robotic but still drunk sounding voice.

“I never thought I’d go on an adventure period…” Panda Bear mumbled in response, as he walked on ahead of them. Despite having drunk the most, Panda Bear seemed completely fine compared to the rest of them.

“Let’s gooooo!” Julian threw his arms in the air. “We’re gon’ go save man-dude!”

“Guy-Man.”

“Whatever!”

Chapter Text

It was strange, because for the first time in a long time, Guy-Man didn’t want to wander. Even before he lost Thomas, he had always had a urge to just wander around, and having Thomas as a companion just made it all the better. After Thomas left, Guy-Man wandered just to try and keep his mind off of things, even if it didn’t entirely work. But ever since he arrived at Giorgio’s small home, he hadn’t wanted to leave. The old man was incredibly kind to him, and let him do any sort of odd job around the house. He had only been there for two days and he never even wanted to leave.

The morning of his second day, he had taken note that on one of the walls of the little cottage, there was a map tapped to the wall. Guy-Man paused to stare at it, and noticed the black text stretched across the middle part.

Nevada.

Was he in Nevada? Well, yes, it made sense. He was in a desert area of the country, so there wasn’t exactly much choice to it. He remembered that he lost Thomas somewhere in California. He had been wandering for around sixteen years, and yet he somehow managed to find himself not entirely far from where it had all begun. He must have gotten around the entirety of the United States quite a few times.

He never really bothered thinking about it, until just now. But he did distinctly remember seeing different things while walking. Rolling hills of green, mountains, snow, rain. It had all become somewhat of a blur in his memory because in his mind everything was pointed to Thomas. Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. It’s like he was obsessed with him. But for nearly the entirety of his life, that’s who he spent it with. They had always seemed to be attached at the hip, never too far from one another.

Like brothers.

“Ah, found the map, have you?” Giorgio walked over to him, looking up at the map. “Yes, you’re in Nevada. Quite a nice place, even if it is hot.”

Guy-Man nodded. Definitely Nevada.

“I’ve lived here for most of my life, and even with what happened, I don’t quite think I could ever live anywhere else. Not that I’d be able to, with what has happened in recent times.”

That was true, as much as Guy-Man liked Giorgio, he was doubtful that others would feel the same way. But the man had at least been able to find more kind robots to help him out, or else he wouldn’t be able to survive at all. But he still wondered so much about the man who had essentially helped create him. He got a basic gist of what happened. Giorgio helped create robots because he wanted to help people, but something went wrong.

“Are you wondering more about my beginnings, Guillaume? Though perhaps, not my beginnings, but more of the beginnings of you robots.”

Guy-Man nodded his head.

Giorgio motioned for Guy-Man to follow him into the small sitting room, where Giorgio sat back on an armchair while Guy-Man settled himself onto a small couch just across from him. Giorgio sighed, and he seemed to be collecting his thoughts before he began to speak.

“I had always wanted to help people, you see. There were always people needing help, and I thought if I could help create a way to have people in need get their help, then I would be hailed a hero.” Giorgio laughed. “Even in my shining moments, I realized that perhaps I was a bit selfish in that fact. But I was able to create prototypes, and see ideas come to life.

“And that was all wonderful, but the happiness didn’t last quite as long as I had hoped. Making these robots were very expensive you see. They learned from their surroundings, and from the people that they helped. So they could be better formatted to the individual person or families that they would stay with. So some of the people who truly needed the help were never able to get them. It was all those rich folk who were getting them, and some of which didn’t even need it. I tried to argue against it, but we needed the money, and I knew that the rich folk were the ones to get it from.

“But alas, things started to change, and the project began to fall away from my grasp. It wasn’t bringing me the enjoyment that it used to, and I wasn’t getting as fabulous ideas as I used to. So I stepped out of the project, and it seems just in time. Because after I had left is when things began acting up, and strange things began to happen. I was still so young at the time, it was all very terrifying. I’m just glad that I was able to survive all this time.” Giorgio looked at Guy-Man. “And you? You always seem so sad, but I’m not quite sure why.”

Guy-Man looked down, and shrugged helplessly.

He couldn’t speak. No, couldn’t speak wasn’t the right word for it. More like, wouldn’t speak. Something in him wasn’t allowing him to speak at all. He just looked up at Giorgio hoping that he would at least somewhat understand that Guy-Man couldn’t just yet talk about what he was feeling at the moment. Maybe someday, but not now. Definitely not now, not when the wounds that he thought might have been healing were suddenly cut open again.

Heh...Look at him. Talking about wounds and healing as if he were a human himself. It was something that he knew he picked up from Thomas. Thomas always saying human things, all the time.

He almost wished that he hadn’t ran. The image of John Casablancas dying in front of him was still fresh, and the thought that he hadn’t even been brave enough to go back to at least pass on the message of a dying man to his son was something that he should have never done. But what’s been done is done, and maybe Guy-Man could calm himself by staying and helping Giorgio. That sounded nice to him. Actually staying in one place, and helping someone for once. Instead of running from every problem that he comes across. He can forget about John, Julian, and even Thomas. And maybe live happily for the rest of the time Giorgio was there. And that’s when he’d start walking again.

Yes...That’s what he was going to do. He was going to stay. Stay for as long as he was needed.

Chapter Text

They were still lightly buzzed as they were walking down the streets of the town. None of them were really sure where they should be looking at all, but Thomas was looking every way possible to see if he could find Guy-Man. It was quite the task, as it seems that every citizen of the town had either the silver or gold helmet. It was a bit weird, when he thought about it. Shouldn’t some of them look...at least a bit different? Besides clothes? It was actually a bit strange, and nearly put Thomas off the idea of being able to find Guy-Man.

How could he, when even Panda Bear and Julian looked near identical when wearing their own gold helmets? Well, maybe he’ll get that same strange sensation that he did before, when he first saw Guy-Man. It was a bit of a thin string of hope that he was clinging onto, but it was still something that he had. It didn’t help that his thinking was possibly a bit clouded thanks to the vodka he had drank.

“It’s weird…” Julian muttered in his ear. “They’re robots, but if you didn’t think about it you’d think they were human or something. Just as if they were wearing costumes…”

Thomas nodded as he watched the robots wandering around at the time. It still early enough in the night that they weren’t the only ones out and about. They didn’t actually look suspicious at all when they walked around like this. Although it was going to be more difficult the later it got, because they might end up being the only ones in the streets. That was when things were going to look even more suspicious, and Thomas could only hope that they’d either find Guy-Man or force themselves to actually…

“What if we have to leave town?” Pharrell voiced what Thomas had been thinking.

“I-I don’t know. Let’s just hope that it won’t come to that. I mean…” Thomas wasn’t sure how to continue his sentence.

“If we have to leave, then we’ll leave.” Julian said firmly. “We’re not just gonna chicken out half-way fuckin’ through! We gotta finish this!” He looked pleadingly at Thomas for agreement.

Thomas nodded. “Yeah, I guess…”

As they walked, Thomas wasn’t sure if he was looking more for Guy-Man or just watching the robots that were still walking around. He couldn’t help but imagine that was what humans were like when they went around town back before nearly all of them disappeared. Like those two robots who just went out of what looked like a club. One was clearly extremely drunk and had to be hoisted up and carried by their friend. Thomas had barely heard any conversation when he was in the market or even in the hotel, but there was chattering coming from nearly every robot.

The air was being filled with the sound of the synthetic voices as they all spoke to each other happily, or drunkenly. It was almost calming, but at the same time Thomas was weary as he continued to scan the streets in hope of being able to find Guy-Man. He didn’t feel anything when looking over the drunk party-goers. Nothing with the groups of female robots looking into shop windows. He groaned, and rubbed his helmet. He was starting to get a headache. He desperately just wanted to remove his helmet and scream as loudly as he could. The vodka was definitely not a good idea. He had to remember to punch Julian when he had the chance to. He even turned to tell this to Julian, but was distracted when Panda Bear suddenly broke off towards the group and walked directly towards a robot who was milling about alone. He looked like he was debating whether or not he should go into the club in front of him when Panda Bear tapped on his shoulder.

“What the fuck is he doing?” Pharrell whispered in shock.

“Of all the people I thought who would wander off…” Julian muttered. “It was not going to be fucking Noah Lennox. Fuck, maybe he had more vodka than I thought...He had the most out of all of us!”

Thomas said nothing as he watched Panda ask the somewhat startled robot about something. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the robot seemed to nod with recognition as he talked to Panda Bear, who was ever so slightly nodding to show that he was listening. For a guy who drank most of the vodka, you could barely even tell he was drunk. You could just barely see it in the slight shakiness of his body that someone wouldn’t even notice if they weren’t specifically looking for it.

When Panda Bear came back, he sounded excited but a bit worried. “That robot has seen Guy-Man.”

Thomas’s eyes widened. “R-really?”

Panda Bear nodded as he motioned for them to follow him down the street as he spoke. “The guy worked at the hotel that Guy-Man had been staying at. He said that the Guy-Man literally booked it out of town early in the morning. His hotel is right at the edge of town, so he could see that Guy-Man went off into the highway leading out of this place.”

“So we’ll…” Thomas started.

“We’ll have to leave town.” Julian finished. “Well, shit then. Come on guys, we’d better hurry up then.”

“The longer we stay in town, the easier it’ll be for Busy P and the rest to find us and cart us back home before we can find Guy-Man.” Panda Bear added in a lower voice. “And as soon as we’re out a ways we can take off these damn helmets.”

They were mostly quiet as they power-walked their way through the streets, with only a vague idea of where this robot’s hotel was. Panda Bear had asked for some directions, but the robot had given them to him in assumption that Panda Bear already knew where some areas were. So they got lost quite a few times before they finally made it to a modest hotel that was at the very outskirts of town. Thomas’s head was killing him at this point, and his legs were practically pulsing in pain from moving so much with this much clothing on his body. Way too many layers than he wanted.

It was still very late at night, and the highway leading away from town was completely empty. There weren’t even any lights illuminated the road. They were completely alone, standing shoulder to shoulder staring out into the abyss of the desert that they were about to walk into. Thomas gulped, feeling sweat run down his face and his back. His legs still hurt, and his head still ached from the alcohol. He let out an audible sigh.

“We can do this…” Panda Bear muttered, reaching over and grabbing Thomas’s hand, along with Pharrell’s who was on his other side.

Thomas felt another hand wrap around his own, and looked to see Julian had grabbed his hand and given it a small squeeze in reassurance. Thomas squeezed his hand back, and looked back down the road. It was now or never, and he knew that none of his friends were going to step forward until he did. He was the leader in all of this now. He was the one who knew Guy-Manuel the best, even if he didn’t even know him at all. He used to know Guy-Man...in a past life. If that’s what that was.

He took a deep breath, and started to step forward. Their footsteps almost began to create echoes as they started marching down the highway together, hand in hand.

“This is pretty much the stupidest thing we’ve ever done.” Thomas called out suddenly. “My head hurts, my legs hurt, and I know for a fact that Jules is about to puke really really soon. But fuck it. We really are doing it huh?”

Julian called back, as they all began to pick up the pace. “Hell yeah dude! If one of us does something stupid, we all gotta do it together y’know?” He squeezed Thomas’s hand again. “All or nothing. That’s what we are!”

Thomas grinned.

He was finally hopeful.

Chapter Text

Guy-Man had been living with Giorgio for nearly three weeks when he saw the first robots besides himself arrive. It was a bit of a shock, when there was knocking on the door breaking the calm silence. When Giorgio got up and opened the door, Guy-Man was greeted with the sight of three other robots. Two female, and one male. They seemed happy when they saw Giorgio, and the youngest of the group’s (the male) screen lit up with a smiley face. Guy-Man was curious about that. He had heard of the new fad for kids these days getting LEDs on their screens to be flashy, but he had never actually seen one before until now.

They were all carrying plastic bags with food, and they looked curiously at Guy-Man as they began to bring it in from the car that they had parked outside. The male’s screen flashed a question mark looking between Giorgio and Guy-Man.

“Ah yes, you three. This is Guillaume. He has been staying with me and keeping me company this past few weeks since you’ve been gone. Now you don’t have to worry about me being so lonely, eh?” He laughed at the enthusiastic nod that the older girl with the silver helmet gave him.

“Do you speak?” The boy asked curiously. “My name is Nick.” The question mark flashed on his screen again. “The taller girl is Fab. And the shorter one is Ella.”

Guy-Man quickly shook his head, and looked away from the boy named nick.

“Don’t be too much of a bother, Nicholas. Guillaume doesn’t speak. I know there’s a reason for it, but we can’t be too pushy. Now help me put this food away.”

Guy-Man was relieved when the old man lead the excitable young robot away from him. He was interesting enough though, with his flashy light up screen. It seemed like something that Thomas would have gotten when they were his age. Guy-Man quietly slipped into the kitchen to watch the three help Giorgio put away the food. Luckily the girls had the right mind to leave Guy-Man alone, although Ella kept glancing over at Guy-Man as if she wanted to talk to him. Neither she nor Fab had the LEDs in their helmet at least, so they seemed quite a bit calmer and more quiet than Nick, who would flash rainbows down the sides of his helmet every few seconds.

“Thank you so much you three. It’s nice to know that there are some kind souls on this earth still.” A few hours had passed now, and the three were leaving finally.

Nick had tried to hold a conversation with Guy-Man again, getting increasingly frustrated that Guy-Man wouldn’t respond, but he was calmed down by a swat on the head by Giorgio. They were all waving goodbye, and Nick bounced off and actually tripped and hit the car with a loud thud. He rubbed his helmet before shrugging and hopping into the car. Ella and Fab were giggling at the boy’s antics as they gave another goodbye to Giorgio, and finally he and Guy-Man were alone again.

“It’s fascinating you know, Guillaume.” Giorgio said as the car drove off in the hot summer’s day. “They’re robots, yet they’ve been becoming unmistakably more and more human each time they’ve come to visit me.” He chuckled. “I feel like something is changing in robots these days Guillaume. I’ve had many different robots help me. Ella and Nick’s parents are one I remember fondly. I remember when Ella and her friend Fab arrived for the first time. They were just as quiet as you were, and when they spoke it was much more robotic. Nick was much the same. But now their voices are more smooth, more human. Their movements as well, and yours too.”

Guy-Man stared down and flexed his own fingers when he said that. Was he becoming more human? He never really paid attention or thought about it, but watching Ella, Fab, and Nick move around the house and talking happily reminded Guy-Man of the boys he had seen when he went to the settlement of humans. He had even seen Nick run around the house a few times, and it was near identical smooth as when he saw human Thomas running around.

“Perhaps it’s true, isn’t it Guillaume? We need both humans and robots to come together, and keep each other balanced.”

Guy-Man walked back into the house and brought back his notepad to write out a few scribbled notes.

What about robots being reborn into humans?

He handed the piece of paper over to Giorgio, who read it carefully. “Ah...Some more insight on you, Guillaume?” He paused. “It could be possible. Robots are becoming more and more human, then perhaps the most human robots are being reborn into just that. Humans. It could be a sign that humans are becoming more and more populous as well.” He raised an eyebrow at Guy-Man. “Now I know, there must be someone close to you that has apparently become human?”

Guy-Man hesitated before nodding slightly.

“I see...That’s fascinating to know. I really must meet this human of yours to see if it’s true now--Oh my. What is that?” A phone was ringing. “That’s strange. Don’t get too many phone calls out here.” He shuffled back into the house with Guy-Man following close behind.

When he picked up the phone, Guy-Man immediately heard a panicked synthesized voice chattering quickly. He couldn’t make out any of the words being said, but he recognized that it sounded a bit like Ella. Or maybe Fab. Both girls sounded extremely similar.

Giorgio looked extremely concerned when he hung up the phone. “Quickly Guillaume, we need to fix up the guest bedroom. Something’s happened.”

Guy-Man tilted his head slightly to the side in confusion. The girls and Nick had left at least 10 minutes ago, what problems could there already be?
“They’ve found humans, down the road. One is very ill, passed out. And one has pretty much become delirious. From what Ella told me they seem very young too, at least sixteen..Four boys…” Giorgio was almost babbling as Guy-Man helped him fix up the bed and getting more sheets and blankets to make up some beds on the ground.

But as soon as the old man said four boys, four young boys, he tensed. Four boys? Four boys, four boys. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t actually be...But Guy-Man remembered John Casablancas. There had to be a reason for a human to be out this far...Yes. They lived in a desert settlement, yet they seemed to have pretty sturdy clothes and a food supply.

They had to go into town to get supplies, that was how John was out there. He probably wasn’t alone either. There must be other humans in town at this very moment. They wouldn’t just let teenage boys out on their own like that. They must have snuck off, maybe they wanted to explore. Or maybe...Could they be looking for him? As far as Guy-Man was aware, that was the only human settlement (not including Giorgio himself) around here. That means that it could really be Julian Casablancas. And the dark skinned boy, the boy with green eyes...And…

He clutched the fabric in his hands as he began to shake slightly. Giorgio paused and looked at him in concern. “Guillaume? Is something wrong?” He looked at Guy-Man who looked back in hopes that the old man would understand. “Is it...Is it the boys? Is one of them your boy? Could it be?”

For the first time in weeks, Guy-Man spoke. A quiet, almost choked whisper.

“Thomas…”

Chapter Text

“Fucking hell...Fucking, flipping, hell.” Busy P muttered as he slammed the hotel room behind him. “Shit...Fucking shit…”

Uffie looked at him with a worried look in her eye. “What’s wrong? Where are the boys? Pedro?”

“I wish I fucking knew Uffie. I came over to see if they were ready for another day and when I open the door I see that the hotel room is empty and their helmets and everything are gone.” He sighed heavily and put his helmeted head in his hands.

Uffie quickly lead Busy P back to his own hotel room and pulled his helmet off and sat him down. “They’re gone?” She sounded worried. “They’re definitely not with with Gaspard and Xavier...They just left. Should I call Todd?”

Busy P nodded mutely. It was only day two. How the fuck could they have already lost them when it’s only been two days? They had to be somewhere in town, maybe with the other groups...They can’t have gone far, just yesterday Thomas and Panda were saying that they were still a bit frightened about everything.

“Pedro? Todd said that they aren’t with him. He said he’s going to keep an eye out for them.” She sat down and put an arm around his shoulder. “We’ll keep an eye out today, okay? If they don’t show up tomorrow we’ll start looking. We can’t panic like this because it might draw attention to ourselves.”

Busy P sighed. “Fuck...I mean it seems so soon. Julian already lost his dad, Thomas lost his mother, and Panda Bear lost both his parents. Pharrell would rightly be scared shitless of losing his own parents now, I don’t see how they’d even think about going out!”

Uffie sighed. “It’s no use beating yourself up over it. Let’s just get done what we have to get done, and see how the day progresses. If worst comes to worst...then…” She didn’t finish her sentence.

He knew what they’d have to do. They’d have to break the news to the boys’ families. How would the entire settlement even handle that? This is the most they’d ever lost at once. And even worse, it was four boys going out for their first time. If the news ends up going out, then people will become very reluctant to go.

“Yeah. Let’s...Let’s just go.” Busy P grabbed his helmet and put it back over his head.

His chest felt tight as he walked out with Uffie into the parking lot, and he desperately wished that the boys would just show up in the middle of the store and sheepishly apologizing.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be happening.

Thomas wiped the sweat off of his forehead for possibly the millionth time that minute. The sun was rising up in the sky, and the heat was already beginning to beat down on them. They were far away enough from the town, and had moved far enough away from the highway (but still in sight) that they removed their helmets because of the sweltering heat.

“Ugh...I just wanna take off all my clothes!” Julian moaned. His bangs were sticking up oddly from him wiping away his forehead. “But then I’d get sunburned…” He sighed.

Panda Bear took another sip of his water as he continued trudging forward ahead of the rest of the group. He looked like a skinny wet dog with the way all the sweat was clinging to him. The layers of their clothes were not helping much at all, but they were all reluctant to take any off for fear that they might have only a moment’s notice to put their helmets back on.

Thomas was feeling a bit woozy. Nothing too bad, but he kept the bottle of water in his hand. Pharrell placed a hand his back when Thomas nearly tilted backward suddenly.

“You okay?”

“Ugh…” Thomas nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine. I think we over-estimated the sun a bit.”

“And we even live in a fucking desert.” Panda deadpanned. “Good work team.”

Pharrell shrugged. “We were drunk?”

“And look where we are. Chasing after Guy-Man with only the notion that he’s even in this direction.”

Julian was lagging slightly behind from the rest of the group, with a glazed look in his eyes. Thomas felt pretty much how Julian looked. He wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol that was making him feel like this or something else. Even during their time at home drinking the day away with Julian he didn’t react this badly. Was it the sun? His vision blurred slightly, and he stumbled a bit.

He saw a figure in front of him. Flashing in and out of existence. Guy-Man...Standing in front of him looking back at him, like he was waiting for him to catch up so they could continue watching. Thomas’s hand twitched slightly, like he wanted to reach out and call for Guy-Man. But before he could do it Guy-Man disappeared again. He groaned quietly, wiping the sweat off his forehead again. Pharrell put a hand on his shoulder and held up his water bottle to Thomas.

“Thanks…” He murmured, taking a sip. The cool water was heavenly going down his throat, bringing some temporarily relief.

Guy-Man flashed in and out of existence again, turning back to look at him. Waiting carefully for Thomas to catch up again. He was being kind. Thomas was still depressed about their human costumes not working...They hadn’t worked. They were chased by that entire town. Thomas rubbed his eyes, and Guy-Man disappeared once more, along with the memory.

“O-Oh, fuck.” Julian coughed behind them.

All three boys turned around to see Julian had collapsed on his knees heaving. He scrambled and dug his nails into the dry ground clawing a shallow hole before he began to puke the food he had eaten earlier. The boys recoiled slightly before rushing over to help Julian. Panda Bear was rubbing Julian’s back as he continued to convulse and moan in pain. Something had clearly not agreed with him at some point. He was pale and clammy, as he continued to heave nothing.

“I...fuck…” Julian managed to let out. “Oh god this is gross…” He wretched again.

Thomas meant to go over and help Julian, but when he took a step forward, he collapsed too. His head hurt painfully as he clutched it. Guy-Man was in his vision again, standing right in front of him. He could feel waves of emotion rolling over his body as he began unzipping his leather jacket and turning his back to Guy-Man. He felt a button be pressed on his back...And then he was walking forward, and Thomas knew that he was going to die. He was going to die because he couldn’t carry on living when he knew that he couldn’t be human.

His body exploded with pain as he writhed on the ground with Pharrell panicking over him and he was only vaguely aware of Panda Bear trying to calm a panicking Julian and Pharrell. Thomas was barely aware of what was going on around him. He kept getting flashes of Guy-Man being near him, and talking to him. A low quiet synthesized whisper. He wanted to understand what he was saying, but he couldn’t understand a word.

“Thomas, come on. Stay with us...Oh fuck...What’s going on?” Pharrell said, panicking. He sounded so far away, even though Thomas could see his face above him.

“Thomas! P-Panda! Noah! Let me fucking get over to Thomas, there’s something fucking wrong with him!” That was Julian. He still sounded weak and ill as well.

He couldn’t hear what Panda was saying, but he was trying to be calm Julian down. He could just barely get a “You’re still sick too Julian, we don’t want you to heave all over Thomas.”

“Hey...Is that a car? Shit...They’re stopping…” Pharrell again.

“Oh fuck. We’re fucked. “We’re fucking fucked.”

Thomas was getting out of it, and he could only assume that it was it. That was that. They failed what they were trying to do so horribly and utterly and they had barely even carried out their plan. He didn’t even register that the anxious voices of his friends had turned into relief and pleas for help, but he swore he could see strange flashes of rainbow dancing in his vision before he completely passed out.

Chapter Text

Guy-Man kept pacing, going back and forth from staring out the window and looking into the empty bedroom that Giorgio had just finished setting up. He kept muttering the entire time. ‘Thomas...Thomas, Thomas, Thomas…”

He froze when he looked out the window to see the car from earlier in the day speeding towards the tiny cottage. He and Giorgio rushed outside when the car came to a screeching halt. Nick and Ella both stumbled out of the passenger side of the car and quickly helped out two boys. Neither of them were Thomas. One was the boy with the dark skin, and the other was the boy with green eyes.

The green eyed boy was helping out Julian. The boy looked woozy and pale, and a bit shaky. He needed help walking up the steps to Giorgio’s cottage, and he clung onto the other boy tightly. The other boy was carrying Thomas in his arms. Thomas was deathly pale, and shivering slightly as he was brought into the cottage and into the bedroom where the other two were standing awkwardly around.

“Ah...Both of them would probably need the bed…” The dark-skinned boy mumbled.

“They sleep in the same bed half of the time anyways. I think they wouldn’t mind. Move Thomas over a bit so Julian can lie down too, Pharrell.” The green-eyed boy helped Julian lie back on the bed.

Guy-Man stood back from the commotion as the girls and Nick flitted around getting things like water to all the boys. Julian was comfortable enough to sit up, and happily accepted the water that Fab had brought him and made sure to drink it slowly after he was advised by the boy that was now identified as Panda (which he thought was a bit of a strange name for a boy.) Thomas was lying back on the bed with his eyes firmly shut. His breath was still shaky, but he was already starting to calm down now that he was clearly in a more comfortable area. Ella put a damp, cool cloth on his forehead, and Guy-Man was relieved at the tiny sigh of relief that Thomas let out.

Pharrell and Panda were stripping off the layers of the clothes that they were wearing, and were seemingly unaware of the sudden shyness exhibited by Fab and Ella as they blushingly looked away. Beside the fact that they were human, it was easy to tell that they were pretty much raised in a different type of society. They at least ended up putting on the shirt and boxers that they had underneath their clothes back on.

“Hello, boys. My name is Giorgio Moroder.” Giorgio said kindly. “You must need some proper food in you right now, so don’t you worry about having to think up proper stories as to why you four were wandering the desert so far from home where you could easily get caught by the not very kind robots.”

Panda nodded gratefully. “Yeah...Thank you.” He looked back at the two boys lying on the bed. “Are they…?”

“Don’t you worry. Your friends…?”

“Thomas and Julian.” Panda said.

“Yes. Thomas and Julian are in quite capable hands with Fab and Ella. Nick will most likely want to come with though, and Guillaume?” Giorgio looked over at Guy-Man.

Guy-Man shrugged and nodded. Panda and Pharrell both looked at him curiously. Did they recognize him at all? No, they can’t recognize him. Neither of them saw him that day that he saw Thomas for the first time. All they must know are descriptions from Thomas, which aren’t exactly helpful when the untrained eye can’t even tell the difference between two robots who have the same helmet. He followed the two human boys and Giorgio into the kitchen. Nick was behind them, still flashing an exclamation point on his LED screen.

Pharrell and Panda were eating some sandwiches that Giorgio had made them, practically inhaling them as if they hadn’t eaten in awhile.

“Well, it hasn’t been that long since we’ve eaten…” Pharrell said between bites. “But the fact that we drank quite a bit of vodka before heading out into the desert was probably not the best idea.”

Panda nodded. “But I guess we ended up figuring that the only way we’d be brave enough to actually go out would be if we were a bit drunk.”

Pharrell made a sound of agreement. “Oh yeah, my name is Pharrell Williams. This is Noah Lennox--”

“Panda Bear. Or Panda.” Panda interrupted. “Don’t call me Noah.”

Giorgio chuckled. “Alright then, Panda Bear. What were you in your friends doing looking out in the desert? I assume you arrived with a group of humans, and given your age I don’t think you would have exactly been let out not only drunk, but in the middle of the night to go into the desert.”

Panda Bear’s face went red. “Well...We...uh. We were looking for someone.” He coughed. “See, our friend Thomas. It’s, It’s stupid really. He just saw this robot, and we were crazy enough to think that we could find him. Really, it’s probably a lost cause. We just thought…” He trailed off.

“And, what was the name of this robot?” Giorgio raised an eyebrow at Guy-Man, who promptly looked away.

“Guy-Man. Um...What was the full name?” Panda Bear looked over at Pharrell.

“Guy-Manuel de Homem-something.” Pharrell responded.

“Ah...Guillaume...That sounds suspiciously close to your name, doesn’t it?”

Guy-Man tilted his head slightly. Thomas had been looking for him. He had actually been looking for him this entire time. He felt so stupid. If he hadn’t run like a scared little robot then perhaps he and Thomas would have been able to speak to each other. He and his friend wouldn’t be sick in bed in the middle of the desert. But at the same time...If it hadn’t happened, then he would have never met Giorgio. Or Nick, Ella, or Fab. He would have spent the rest of his years thinking that weren’t such a thing as robots helping humans.

“...Yes.” He muttered quietly. “It is my name. Guillaume-Emmanuel de Homem-Christo. And your friend is Thomas Bangalter.” He looked the shock in their eyes.

“You’re Guy-Man?!” Panda Bear nearly choked on the last part of his sandwich.

Guy-Man nodded. “Yes...I am Guy-Man.”

Pharrell stood up quickly and pulled up Panda Bear as well, and ran over to Guy-Man tugging on his arm. “Then we’ve got to get you to Thomas, right? He’s been looking for you. It’s been messing with his mind, man. Maybe you can help!” He didn’t wait for a proper response and ran with Panda Bear back to the bedroom assuming that Guy-Man would be following close behind.

“Guillaume?” Giorgio looked up at him. “I just thought...Perhaps you and Thomas are meant to do something. Robots were originally created to help people. And they were programmed to learn from their environment. You and Thomas may be just the thing that we need.” He smiled thoughtfully. “Now go. Your boy needs you.”

Guy-Man nodded, and walked into the bedroom. He paused, looking at the four friends crowded around each other, and Thomas who was lying still on the bed. His chest was going up and down rhythmically. Julian was still sitting in bed, and when he looked up and saw Guy-Man standing at the doorway, he beckoned for him to come over. Fab and Ella had bowed out of the room respectfully, leaving all five of them alone.

Guy-Man moved slowly up to the bedside, until he was right next to Thomas. It was strange, being so up close now. The features to him were so unfamiliar, yet familiar at the same time. This was Thomas, and although it was Thomas in a different body, it was still him. That was his best friend lying there. It was never going to be the same though. He had another life now, and Guy-Man was currently just a strange anomaly that they needed to fix something before continuing on his life.

Thomas’s eyes slowly opened, and he looked up at Guy-Man with dilated eyes. He smiled, just slightly. But he whispered. “Guy-Man…? Is that really y-you?”

Guy-Man bent down. “Yes...It’s me. Thomas…”

Thomas tried to sit up, but quickly laid his head back down and clutched his head, let out a sound of pain. He sharply took in a breath of air as he tried to calm himself down. Guy-Man panicked, and Panda Bear nearly shoved him aside as he tried to help Thomas calm down again. Giorgio had entered the room, and stood next to Guy-Man with a concerned look on his face, but there was the smallest hint of understanding.

“Has something like this happened before?” He asked Julian.

The boy shook his head. “Well, besides in the desert no. I mean the weirdest thing that’s been happening to him is that he kept getting weird memories of Guy-Man.” His eyes widened. “Does that have to do with anything?”

Giorgio was silent for a moment, mulling over Julian’s words. “Perhaps. He had been slowly regaining his memories from when he was Thomas the robot, that getting closer and closer to Guy-Man triggered it. Being so near him must have nearly caused Thomas to overload. But that should mean he’ll be fine soon.”

He put his wrinkled hand on Thomas’s forehead, who was already starting to calm down slightly. Guy-Man moved closer, and hesitated slightly. What should he do? This was his Thomas, he should know how to calm him down. But it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t exactly the same as it used to be. He could only watch from the sidelines as Thomas calmed down again, still clutching his forehead as he opened his eyes again and stared at Guy-Man. He tried to sit up, but Pharrell tried to push him back down.

“No, you probably shouldn’t be sitting up, dude.”

Thomas shook his head. “Come on, just let me see him again properly.” Thomas asked, still looking at Guy-Man.

So Panda Bear grabbed a pillow and helped set it behind Thomas’s back so he could sit up more properly, and Thomas gave Guy-Man another smile. “Guy-Man...I-I...I missed you? I don’t think that’s the right word for it. This is the first time I’ve properly met you.”

Guy-Man nodded his head. “I was...shocked. When I saw you in that settlement. I thought you had died when you self-destructed. But you attained your dream, didn’t you? You have your human life. And I don’t think I had ever seen you happier than that day.” He sighed. “But now we’ve met. We’ve met properly. What are we supposed to do?”

“Try to convince the other robots that humans are okay!” Julian leaned forward to them. “Prove to them that being different isn’t bad! It isn’t! Right?”

“But how are we meant to fix that?” Thomas cried out. “I mean. I found Guy-Man, and we used to know each other back when I w-was, I was a robot. But how is that meant to help anything! We can’t j-j-just walk into the town and say, hey! Humans are actually alright!” He clutched the blanket on his legs tightly.

Guy-Man turned to Giorgio. “What do you think?”

Giorgio gave a small shrug. “It could be possible. Who knows how, but all I know is that robots and humans were meant to coexist. That is how I built them. One cannot truly live without the other. They learn from each other. And robots have the ability to learn from you two. Maybe it will just be this town, or maybe you two aren’t the only cases of robots being reincarnated. But it’s all up to you two, and if you’re willing to go into that town.”

Guy-Man looked over at Thomas, who was staring down at the blanket. Neither of them said anything, but the rest of them seemed like they were waiting for an answer. What should they do? Just risk everything and walk into town in hopes that they’ll be able to just convince them that its okay? It seemed so farfetched of an idea. How could it possibly work?

“Thomas? Do you want to?” He asked quietly.

Tears were welling up in his eyes. “I...I don’t know! I-I can’t! How can I do it? How is it going to help? There’s only two of us…”

“Thomas, come on!” Panda nudged him. “After all this? After all we went through and you’re giving up now? You have to...For everyone!”

Thomas shrunk slightly, pulling the blanket up over his head. Panda Bear actually scowled a bit, moving back from the group. Guy-Man looked over at Julian and Pharrell, and both boys looked slightly deflated at Thomas’s response. There had been hope in their eyes. But Guy-Man understood Thomas. It was a hard thing to ask, for a sixteen year old boy to walk into a town with no mask and hope that they understand.

“Can we wait for an answer in the morning?” He asked, putting a hand on Thomas’s head. Thomas would do the same thing to him when they were both robots. Maybe the memory could be of slight comfort?

Thomas gave a tiny nod.

He looked at the rest of them. Panda Bear had retreated to the other side of the room, looking away from everyone as if he was dealing with some thoughts of his own in his mind. “Then we’ll see tomorrow.”

Giorgio clapped his hands at them. “Well then. We should leave these two boys to rest. They were both fairly ill, and they deserve it.” He shooed everyone out of the bedroom.

Guy-Man stopped and waited for Panda Bear, who lagged behind slightly. When closed the door behind him, Panda looked directly at him.

“I thought…I guess I thought things would be better if you and Thomas actually did something. He should know! He lost his mom...I lost both my parents to the shit that’s happened in this town! And at first I didn’t think it was a good idea...But the idea of knowing that maybe for once we could live without worrying about our family getting killed. That would have been nice.”

He furrowed his eyebrows and stalked passed Guy-Man.

Living in a world where you didn’t live in fear of your family being killed...That itself would be reason enough for someone to do this. It was a longshot, but maybe...It really was possible? He looked back at the closed door where he knew Thomas and Julian had probably finally passed out.

He had to be able to convince Thomas.

Chapter Text

“Those fucking dildos.” Busy P sighed.

He had gone back into their room as soon as he had gotten back from his own assignment hoping that they had returned safe and sound, but he already felt his stomach dropping as he approached the room and didn’t hear any sort of chatter like he probably normally would. Sure enough, when he opened the door it was just as empty as it had been before he had left.

He entered the room again, and closed the door behind him making sure it was locked before removing his helmet and setting it on the bed. The last time he had checked all that had been left was the extra clothing that had been brought. It was still there, sitting in the suitcases that they left in a corner of the room. There were towels still strewn on the ground in the bathroom from the day before. He rubbed his temples as he just stood and stared at the room trying to figure out why they were even gone in the first place.

It just didn’t add up to him. They would never be so reckless. He sat down on the bed and felt his foot hit something. That was what had caused him to call those idiots dildos. There had been a nearly empty bottle of vodka sitting innocently under their bed. He already knew that it was probably Uffie who had helped either Julian or Pharrell smuggle it. But then again, she probably didn’t expect them to just drink it all in one night and then wander off. But they were teenage fucking boys. They were meant to be dumbasses.

He let the bottle drop out of his grasp and land on the floor. It landed with a thud, and luckily didn’t shatter at all. This still wasn’t good. He had kept an eye out and as soon as he got back to the hotel he had called Todd again to see if his group had seen them. Nothing. Every corner he had passed he had hoped that he’d see the boys stumbling down the streets or being hopelessly lost because they had taken a wrong turn. But no such thing happened.

“Pedro? It’s me…” Uffie knocked softly on the door.

Busy P stood up and unlocked the door, moving with the door so he’d stay out of sight as he let Uffie in.

They both automatically went back and sat down on the bed as Uffie removed her own helmet and noticed the bottle of vodka on the floor. “I didn’t think they would do anything Pedro. I thought there was no harm done--”

“It’s fine, Uffie. It’s not your fault.” Busy P shook his head. “You didn’t know what they’d do. None of us knew...It just...It just fucking sucks. I can’t imagine how their families would react, y’know? Panda Bear...Hell, he already lost both his parents. His grandmother would be devastated. Thomas, he lost his mother. He and his dad only had each other. Pharrell...Shit, his family has been so lucky. Julian...Damn, we just lost his dad like a month ago. And we didn’t even have a body to bring back. And now it’s happening again!” He cursed, and picked up the bottle again and drained the contents before flinging it onto the other bed.

“They’ll find their way back, Pedro. I know they will.” Uffie murmured comfortingly. “They may be dumb teenage boys, but they’re not that dumb.” She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly. “Remember, we have Todd and his group looking out as well. If they’re not back tomorrow we’ll try to ask around with robots we know are nice.”

“Yeah...Fine.” Busy P rubbed his eyes as he sighed again.

“Shall I leave you alone or do you want my company? Do you want me to get Gaspard and Xavier? They’ll probably know a way to cheer you up.”

“No, no. I’m fine. Just go hang out with them, I just need some time...Y’know? I’ve always been really close to the kids, so I guess I’m just, I’m just not coping as well as I’d like.”

Uffie nodded, before standing up again and replacing her helmet. “Be safe at least.” Her voice was synthesized now, but still comforting.

“I will.”

Panda Bear was awake, and alone. Okay, he wasn’t completely alone, but he didn’t count the company of comatose robots. They were different. They didn’t sleep, they charged. Nothing would really wake them up unless they were purposely unplugged. It was a little unnerving just seeing the robots around the sitting room just completely limp because they were plugged into a generator. They were almost like corpses.

Which left him alone, because Giorgio was in his own room, and Pharrell had slipped back into the guest bedroom to go to sleep. He had asked Panda if he wanted to join, because it was probably more comfortable in there because Giorgio and some of the robots had put in an inflatable mattress, but Panda Bear had refused. So Pharrell just brought him a blanket and a pillow. Which is what left Panda Bear sitting alone at the kitchen table staring out the window at the clear night sky.

He couldn’t sleep. He had tried, but it had only resulted in nightmares. They were normal though. He had always had nightmares since his parents died. He sniffled at the thought of them. They were the only ones who ever called him Noah. His mother had adored the name. She always had, and he could still remember the way she would say it with a smile on her face and her arms open wide for little Noah to jump into her arms for a hug.

His dad had given him the nickname Panda Bear, because one day little solitary Noah had gotten into a fight with some of the other kids. Two boys had ganged up on him and pushed him around. It wasn’t until a third boy had come running towards them with Noah’s dad in tow that they stopped. He had ended up with two black eyes, and his dad had made him smile by telling him that he looked like a panda bear. Noah didn’t know what panda bears were, but after his dad showed him a picture in an old book, he had decided that he liked the name.

Incidentally, he became best friends with those boys who had beat him up. They were Pharrell and Julian, and they were only about four years old at the time. Thomas had been the one to alert his dad, and for that he was always extremely grateful for the boy. Even if right now he felt resentment towards him. And he hated himself, for even feeling the tiniest bit of ill-will towards Thomas. He completely understood the struggle that he must be feeling right now.

Suddenly the whole world was on his shoulders, and it was his decision that could mean changing their lives forever.

But he still felt it. That tiny bit of resentment, like a needle that had buried itself into his heart and causing him to feel it no matter how hard he tried to ignore it. Panda didn’t want to be scared anymore. He didn’t want to live in fear knowing that someone might not come home, or that they’ll be found out and all killed. Or if they starved. That’s what his parents had always wanted. They just wanted safety. If Thomas didn’t do anything then they’d just be sent back home where they’d continue to live in fear.

Panda Bear stood up, and let the blanket fall of his shoulders and let the pillow drop to the floor as he walked towards the front door of the cottage. He tried as quietly as he could to unlock the door and step out and down the steps. The hard, dry ground was still a bit warm under his bare feet as he stood outside staring up at the sky. Maybe his parents were watching him. Definitely wondering what the hell he was doing. But maybe they would also egg him on, and support him if they knew exactly what he was thinking.

He had decided.

He snuck back into the house and found the keys to the robots’ car before walking back out and towards the car. He set his hand on it, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach. He had never driven a car. Two days ago, he had never even seen a car before. He unlocked the door and slid into the driver’s set, tentatively putting his hands on the wheel. He had been watching one of the robots drive. He watched carefully. He had watched Gaspard drive too, and seen all the other cars.

He stuck the key in the ignition and started the car, wincing at the noise it made and hoped that no one would wake up and realize what he was doing. He fiddled with a few things, managing to turn on the windshield wipers before properly turning on the lights and putting the car in reverse and nearly hitting the house before he shot forward onto (and then off for a few moments) the road. He wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline, but there were tears streaming down his eyes as he pressed on the gas and the world was speeding past him.

His parents were gone. His grandmother was probably on her way out. He had nothing else.

If Thomas wasn’t going to do it, then he was.

Even if it killed him.

Chapter Text

Thomas had woken up by being violently shaken, and when he opened his eyes, not only was it dark, but he was met with an extremely panicked looking Pharrell who was standing over him. The rest of the bed was empty, and Julian was no where to be seen in the room.

“Pharrell? What’s wrong?” Thomas was getting worried. Pharrell wasn’t the type of person to just wake you up in the middle of the night without good reason.

“I-It’s Panda! He’s gone! And, and...The car is gone. Oh god, he had been really weird last night...but…” He trailed off, not very sure of what to say.

Thomas nearly flew out of the bed as he ran out to the sitting room, where Julian and Giorgio were both waking up the robots. Thomas immediately brushed past them and pulled the plug on Guy-Man, who sat up fairly quickly in a way that could only be described as confusion. The room was still dark, and only illuminated by the light of the moon outside and the flashing lights and colors from Nick.

“Thomas?” He asked, confusion now evident in his voice.

“Panda is gone. Panda is gone and its my fault!” Tears were pricking his eyes. “Oh my god. What if he’s going into the city? He wouldn’t go anywhere else!”

Guy-Man put his hands on Thomas’s shoulders before bringing him into a tight hug. Thomas froze for a moment, unsure what to do before he finally wrapped his arms around him and returned the hug. He pressed his face on the cool metal of Guy-Man’s helmet. It was strange how even though Guy-Man’s body was cold, the hug still felt warm and comforting. When they pulled away from each other, Thomas let out a half-hearted laugh and a partial sob when he noticed that he had left part of Guy-Man’s helmet fogged up and wet.

“We have to go after him.” Pharrell demanded. “He doesn’t have his helmet or even shoes! He left those here! He doesn’t even know how to drive a car! What if he’s crashed and dead or they already found him and killed him?”

“But, we don’t have a car or anything! How can we even think about catching up to him?” Nick whined, slumping his shoulders. “He’s probably speeding too…” He added.

“We can’t just give up! It’s my fault…After I said that I couldn’t do anything.” Thomas rubbed his eyes.

Giorgio coughed. “I don’t know how much it could help, but I have an old motorbike in my garage that a certain someone left here after getting in trouble for buying it.” He gave a pointed look at Nick, who immediately started flashing an X on his screen.

Pharrell looked at Thomas. “Dude, it’s gotta be you.”
Thomas knew it had to be him. It was his fault, and he and Guy-Man threw everyone into this mess. He started this entire mess more than sixteen years ago when he decided to self-destruct. He stood up and nodded at both Pharrell and Giorgio.

“Thomas! I’ll go with you!” Julian piped up, going to stand by Thomas.

Pharrell shook his head. “Jules, you can’t.”

“Can’t? Why can’t I?” Julian fumed at Pharrell. “Thomas and Panda are both my friends! And so are you! Neither of us can just let him go after Panda alone!”

“Jules, you just lost your dad. You can’t even drive a motorbike. You know full well it’s gotta be Thomas and Guy-Man.” Pharrell reasoned.

“Pharrell is right. You can’t go, Julian.” Thomas put a hand on his shoulder, and for a few seconds he let his other hand touch Julian’s cheek for a few moments. “I’ll be okay.”

“You’d better.” Julian gave Thomas a half-grin. “We’ll follow behind you. Just walking, so a lot more slowly.”

Thomas laughed. “Have fun doing that.” He glanced over to see Guy-Man already waiting by the door with the rest of the group.

They all walked outside while Giorgio went with Fab to the small shed and pulled out the bike and handed Guy-Man the keys. Thomas was nervous as he hung back from the motorbike. Guy-Man motioned for Thomas to get on. He went and sat behind him, and awkwardly placed his hands on Guy-Man’s sides. Before he could even start the bike, Julian suddenly walked over and leaned and kissed Thomas on the cheek.

“Dude, what the hell?” Thomas rubbed his cheek, feeling his face grow hot.

“Sorry! It was a spur of the moment thing!” Julian sputtered, turning to punch Pharrell on the shoulder who started cracking up behind him.

“Wow, that was so gay.” Thomas grinned at his friend, and stuck his tongue out at him as Guy-Man kicked the motorbike into gear.

They sped down and onto the road, but Thomas turned in time to hear Julian scream back. “YOU’RE SO GAY!”

Thomas flipped him off, but at that point he wasn’t sure if Julian managed to catch that. They were already speeding down the road. Thomas wrapped his arms around Guy-Man’s waist and closed his eyes against the wind. It felt like he was flying, and he was sure that under the right circumstances he would be having the time of his life speeding down the highway like this. Now wasn’t the time to be enjoying things like this, nor could he actually enjoy them. Just the thought of something happening to Panda Bear was terrifying him. Panda Bear was always the quieter and perhaps a bit more meek than the rest of them. They had become friends because Julian and Pharrell had beat him up, which was definitely a strange way to begin a friendship.

But they had still become close friends, and Thomas had dragged him into this mess that Panda had been against at first until he was goaded into it by his so called friends. Thomas was just one shame after another. And right now the rest of the people who had been in the group leaving the settlement must be in a huge panic because they had just disappeared in the middle of the night.

Thomas half hoped that they found Panda Bear before anyone else did, but those chances were slim.

“Pharrell told me that he woke up to the sound of a car revving, so there’s a chance that your friend might not be too far off.” Guy-Man called out suddenly. His voice was still clear and loud, as if they were just standing and conversing normally. “Even if he’s really close to the town, we could still potentially catch up!”

Panda Bear had gotten close to town, but he had driven himself off the road and nearly threw himself through the windshield with how hard he put the brake on the car. He had luckily had the thought to put on his seatbelt, so now his chest just really hurt from the belt constricting against him. He had stayed sitting there, with the city within his sight. He was here, he was doing this. But he was so scared. He was so fucking scared. But he didn’t want to be scared anymore. And whether he succeeded or failed he’d at least probably never be scared again.

So he finally unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the car. He shivered slightly from the cold air around him, before he slammed the door shut and started walking back towards the street. Who knows how long before cars started driving down it, and he’d be found and have who knows what done to him. The ground was hard against his feet, and he really wished he had at least stopped to get his shoes or something. The asphalt was cold, and he had to avoid some broken glass from a bottle that had gotten run over. He winced when he felt a sting on his foot, and saw that he had gotten a small cut.

“Fuck…” He looked up at the town. He didn’t see anyone yet, but he thought he heard something behind him. “Oh fuck…” Someone on a motorcycle.

It was coming from where he came from. It had to be someone he knew, one of the robots. Maybe Thomas or Julian too. And even though it wasn’t anything bad, his immediate reaction was to begin running, nearly sprinting towards the town. He ignored the pain that his feet were in from rocks and asphalt while he got closer and closer to the town. He wouldn’t dare look behind him to see if the motorcycle was still following him. It was still a ways off, but he was on foot, so it’d be able to catch up easily.

He let out a sound of pain when his own body collided suddenly with a much harder body. He fell backwards onto the pavement and winced at the pain that rippled through his head. He opened his eyes to see a robot staring straight at him, and he couldn’t tell what emotion it had. He scrambled backwards, breathing heavily. It stayed frozen in place, clearly he was just as shocked to suddenly see a human run into him as Panda had been when he just ran into a robot.

“I-I...I-I-I…” Panda Bear stuttered.

“Human?” Even though the robot sounded more confused than anything else, it still terrified Panda Bear with the way his voice sounded synthetic.

“R-Robot.” Was all he could stupidly think of saying.

His voice suddenly boomed louder. “Human!”

Panda Bear managed to drag himself back onto his feet and continued to back up, waving his hands trying to say something. He had been so loud, he was clearly attracting the attention of other robots.

“I’m sorry! Why the hell are you calling out like this just to get rid of me? I’ve done nothing wrong!” Panda Bear yelled at the robot. “Why do you guys do that?” He felt like crying again. “It’s the reason my parents are both dead! Because you guys get batshit crazy about people who are different!”

Robots were seemingly emerging out of no where, just out of buildings and alleys or something. Panda Bear was frozen where he was standing. The robot he had yelled at had stopped walking towards him, and was just standing and watching him. He wished he could tell what they were feeling, any emotion. Thomas and Giorgio seemed to be so good at that, but Panda Bear was completely useless. He just clenched his fist and held his ground, as he watched the robots get nearer and nearer.

“Please don’t…” He pleaded. “You wouldn’t be happy if we were doing the same to you…” He wondered. Did the humans do the same to them? Was that why they were resentful?

He wasn’t alive back then, so he wouldn’t know.

He shrieked when he was suddenly picked up from behind and slammed onto the ground. He felt pain tear across his body, and he whimpered as he felt a kick to his stomach. He had closed his eyes in pain, but he opened them to see the same robot who first saw him still just standing there. He just wanted to yell something at him. Do something! Don’t just stand there doing nothing…
He coughed when he felt a heel dig into his cheek. He was totally fucked and he knew it. Thomas and Guy-Man probably could have been able to reason. It was always Thomas that got him out of these situations...Since the beginning, really.”

“STOP!” A voice boomed loudly, and Panda Bear wished he could have covered his ears because it had been so loud and he was already in enough pain.

Thomas was lucky enough to have covered his ears up in time as Guy-Man came to a screeching halt in front of the crowd of robots that were on the street. His voice still sounded clear even if he covered his ears up. They both got off the motorbike quickly and shoved their way through the crowd. Guy-Man kept his arm around Thomas to insure that no one would grab him too. But he may have not even needed to, because the crowd had fallen silent and were not moving at all, and they stayed staring intently at both of them.

Thomas wanted to go and help Panda Bear up, but he was already beaten to the punch by another robot who immediately moved forward to help him up. Panda Bear seemed shocked by the gesture, and muttered. “You did something…” He coughed, spitting blood into his hand. “Eugh…”

Guy-Man turned and looked at the crowd. “What are you staring at? Humans? Yeah. They’re humans.”

“G-Guy-Man…” Thomas whispered.

Guy-Man just nudged Thomas back. “Go along with it, please.” He looked back up at them. “See? They’re not bad. Hell, they look more scared than anything else. You’d feel the same way if you were surrounded by a bunch of humans.”

Thomas cautiously spoke. “Uhm...We just wanted to be safe. We would never hurt you. We just want food and...and stuff.” He shrugged at Guy-Man.

He looked over and was surprised to see that Panda Bear was being aided by some other robots. They had crowded him, but instead of hurting him they were trying to patch up his scrapes and injuries. He seemed grateful but also extremely confused.

No one was saying anything, and it was actually pissing Thomas off quite a bit. “Well? Aren’t you going to say something? You just beat the shit out of my friend and now you’re standing here in fucking silence!” He yelled. “And you’re only a fraction of the robots in this town, so this was all so fucking pointless, trying to get robots and humans to be friends!”

“Human…” One of the robots murmured.

“Yes. Human. Good observational skills!” Thomas replied sarcastically. “Ugh...Why did we do this?”

“I knew a human…” The robot said quietly. “I don’t know what happened to him.”

A lot of the other robots nodded in agreement. They were all less tense, becoming more comfortable with what was happening. Thomas himself felt less tense, and less angry. He was happy that Panda Bear was at least being helped. He looked over in the boy’s direction and gave him a tiny smile, that he responded to with a bit of a wince from attempting to smile himself.

“Thomas! Thomas!” Thomas turned around to see Julian running towards him. He pushed some robots out of the way as he flung himself into his arms with Pharrell close behind him.

“How did you get here so quickly?” Thomas asked in confusion.

“Nick and Fab volunteered and pretty much sprinted over here with us on their backs!” Julian laughed.

“More humans…” Robots murmured.

Guy-Man put a hand on Thomas’s shoulder. “He used to be a robot too. But he died, and came back as a human. We’re not even sure how it happened, but it did. You guys are becoming more like humans too, and I know that you guys can tell too. So um...Man up and accept that humans exist or...yeah.” Guy-Man ended rather lamely.

Both Julian and Nick started laughing at that, unable to contain themselves.

Panda Bear looked up at them. “At least these guys seem kind of nice. I don’t know if it’ll ever spread out of this town, but...They’re helping me, aren’t they?”

Thomas nodded. “Are you guys even going to say anything?” He directed his question to the robot who had spoken before.

“You haven’t caused any harm. And if you’re telling the truth then there’s no point in doing anything else.”

Julian grinned. “Hey! We’re not dead! That’ll be good news to go tell Giorgio!”

“Giorgio? You know Giorgio? Giorgio Moroder?” The robot asked suddenly.

“...Yes?”

“I thought he was dead!” Someone from the back piped up. “Is he really still alive?”

“Yes, why?” Thomas asked.

The first robot spoke again. “He helped create me. I was one of the first made...He was well-known in this town, but he disappeared. We had thought he was killed by some of the more unsavory people in this town.”

“Well, he’s still alive.” Thomas smiled. “He lives in a small cottage down the highway and off the road a ways away. Robots were kind enough to be bringing him what he needed.”

The crowd was chattering even more loudly. They were excited, and some had even broken away from the group to either run into town or going off to the highway to probably try and find Giorgio. Thomas felt calmer. He at least knew that this group wasn’t going to harm him...Well, even though they already sort of beat up Panda, but he seemed pretty much fine.

“That was less exciting than I thought it would be!” Julian pointed out. “I mean I’m glad I didn’t get almost killed, but, we just chatted!”

“Speak for yourself…” Panda Bear mumbled. “They beat me up. But that seems to be how I make most of my friendships, so I won’t question it too much.

“Shit! We need get back to Busy P and the rest! They’re probably still freaking out!” Pharrell said.

The other three boys swore and realized that they needed to, and one of the robots offered to give them a ride to the hotel, so they wouldn’t be bothered by anyone who wasn’t aware of what went down. They even offered to help escort them back to their home, and that they should probably ask some adults for some help in negotiations with the town so they wouldn’t have to worry about being so secretive. They gratefully accepted, but Thomas turned to look at Guy-Man.

“Are you coming with us?” He asked.

“I need to go talk to Giorgio. But I will go with you, to your home. But you need to go back with your friends.”

Thomas smiled. “Yeah, okay.” He walked over and hugged Guy-Man. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Guy-Man asked, curious.

“Just for being my friend. Back then and now.” He let go and backed up. “Well, I’ll see you soon!”

He ran back to his friends, and followed the robots who offered them a ride. When they arrived at the hotel, they were practically tackled by Busy P and Uffie. Gaspard and Xavier hung back, but they were grinning. It seems that news began to spread already, because none of the four were wearing helmets. There was a bit of commotion though, in other places in town. But they were being dealt with.

“Thomas?” Panda Bear pulled him aside. “I forgot to say thank you...Without you, I’d probably be dead. I’m...I’m so sorry for what I did. I shouldn’t have gone by myself. Look at me. I’m so injured, and I probably deserved every bit of it. Even if they did end up being nice.”

Thomas reached over and grabbed Panda’s hands. “It’s not your fault, it’s mine. I got scared when I shouldn’t have. I should have been the one going out at night to try and solve things, not you. You deserve some peace for once.”

“As much peace as I can get, seeing as how you guys are my friends. I never get peace with you guys around.”

Thomas laughed, a real, genuine laugh. It felt like it had been so long. He had never felt so free.

Chapter Text

It felt great to actually be able to walk around properly without wearing a helmet to cover his face. Even if he only wore it for maybe a two days, it was an experience that he’d rather not repeat. Everything wasn’t perfect quite yet, no, he and the rest of his fellow humans still had to walk around with escorts to make sure they weren’t hurt by anyone. The day after the entire ordeal with the robots they had walked out to people protesting and demanding that they were killed immediately. But oddly enough, it didn’t bother Thomas as much as it probably should. Maybe because he knew that he would be safe with the robots who actually supported him.

They had made friends with Ella, Fab, and Nick. Nick and Fab especially loved flittering around Julian, constantly prodding and teasing him. Panda had started talking to the robot who he had originally run into (they now knew his name was Avery) and Pharrell was happily going in between groups and befriending anyone in sight. Thomas himself was content with talking with his friends and spending time with Guy-Man. It was still a bit strange, knowing that he had had an entire past life with Guy-Man that he remembered, but not exactly. There were still parts that were fuzzy, but he didn’t mind it that much.

The robots had been helping them get the supplies they needed much more easily, and they helped them get back home too. It was so different than when they were leaving. While Thomas’s adventures on the outside were definitely fun, they were also completely draining. It wouldn’t be exactly the same back home, but he was aching to see more familiar faces, especially his father. They were sitting in the bed of a truck speeding down the road, one of the robots had graciously let Busy P drive, and that meant that he was going to speed the hell because he finally could. It was so windy but so much fun.

“Jules, you’d better be careful! Panda’s gonna shove you out of the truck if you keep hanging out like that!” Pharrell said between chuckles, watching as Julian got down from sitting on the side of the truck and looking at Panda Bear in slight fear.

“Y-you won’t, right?” He asked uncertainly.

Panda Bear rolled his eyes. “Of course I won’t, dumbass. I think I hit my quota for being cool already, I can’t do anything else anymore.” He was still had a large purple bruise set on his cheek.

Thomas was staring at the car running behind him. Guy-Man had opted in going behind with the trio of robots they got to know and Giorgio, who said he might as well have a chance to be with other humans while he still had time left in the world. Thomas half wished Guy-Man was there with him, but he knew that he didn’t exactly fit in with his group of friends.

“Thomas, you’re being pensive again.” Julian tugged on his sleeve. “We’re going home! We get to see family again!” He adjusted the bandanna that he had tied around his neck, it was nice seeing him wear it properly now. He looked exactly like his dad when he wore it like that.

“Yeah, and we get to sleep in our own beds now.” Thomas gave Julian a sly grin. “Unless now YOU wanna admit your undying love for me?”

“Shaddup.” Julian gave Thomas a small shove.

When they arrived back to the settlement, the boys all but sprinted and ran to hug their parents. Julian, despite being pretty tall and heavy was picked up and spun around by his crying mother. Panda Bear’s grandma was fussing over his injuries while Pharrell and his parents were hugging tightly. Thomas gave his dad a quick one-armed hug before he held Thomas out at arms length to look him over.

“Still in one piece, and apparently our savior? You definitely did more than I did my first time out. Although I guess this time it won’t be too big of a thing, huh?”

“How did you find out?” Thomas asked in surprise.

“Words get out pretty quickly, even around here. One man from a group who went out with you guys practically ran all the way back here just to tell us what you and your friends did! Your mother would be proud of you, Thomas.” He smiled softly. “She would be so happy that you managed to do such a thing.”

“Thanks, dad.” Thomas smiled back at his dad and this time hugged him tight.

Guy-Man hung back from the entire ordeal, not really sure what he should be doing. The other robots were just talking with some of the humans, and it felt nice seeing them interacting politely. Both parties were even curious, asking questions about their lives and how things worked and they were all very genuine about it. When he saw the bandanna around Julian’s neck, he realized that he had never told him his father’s message.

“Julian.” He said, tapping the boy on the shoulder to get his attention away from his mother. “I need to speak to you in private.”

“Um...Okay.” He followed Guy-Man close to the fence.

“I met your father.”

“What?” Julian’s eyes widened. “Wh--how? How did you meet him?”

“The day that Thomas saw me, I ran. And I ended up walking passed a gas station, you know the one between here and Giorgio’s house. It was just a spur of the moment thing I did, walking back behind it because I heard a noise. And your father...he was there. He was dying, and he wasn’t afraid of me at all.”

Julian grinned, rubbing the fabric of his father’s bandanna. “Yeah, that sounds like him.”

“And he told me to tell you something.” Julian looked up at him. “Before he died, he told me to tell you that he loves you, and that he’ll miss you.”

Julian looked down away from Guy-Man, his breath a bit more ragged. He was clutching the bandanna just a bit harder, and he looked up at Guy-Man with shining eyes. “Thank you. Thank you for telling me...I still miss him a fuckton, but knowing that he thought of me before he died...I...Thank you…”

Guy-Man nodded. “I’m going to need you to take care of Thomas too.”

Julian tilted his head in confusion. “Why…? Aren’t you going to stay? I mean...After all this time?”

Guy-Man didn’t answer that, but continued. “Just promise me that you’ll take care of him.”

Julian mock saluted him. “I promise. He will never leave my sight.”

“Good.”

Thomas was curious when he saw Guy-Man walk off with Julian in tow, so when he saw Guy-Man walking back towards him he was going to ask what that was all about. He saw that Julian had left with tears trailing down his cheeks, so it must have been something emotional.

“Guy-Man, what was that all about? What did you tell Jules?”

“I gave him a message from his father.”

“His dad? You met him?”

Guy-Man nodded. “Yes. Just before he died.” He looked around at the people and robots mingling around them. “Thomas, I need to speak to you somewhere in private.”

“O-okay…”

Guy-Man lead them out past the fence surrounding their settlement until they were well away from the people and vehicles around them. This confused Thomas quite a bit, because he had no idea what could be so private that they shouldn’t be even anywhere near other people. Guy-Man was facing away from him, staring up at the sky. Thomas looked up too. Not a cloud in the sky. It was really a beautiful day.

“Thomas, I need you to do something for me.” He turned around to look at Thomas.

“W-what?”

Guy-Man messed with the clasps of his jacket, until he was able to zip it down and take it off entirely, flinging the jacket onto the ground and revealing the black mesh fabric that covered his inner workings. Thomas’s eyes were saucers when he realized what Guy-Man was getting at.

“N-no! Guy-Man I can’t do that! We’ve only just met, you can’t just leave like that!”

“That’s just it. I was able to meet you again. I was never really over your death in the first place, and seeing you living the way you wanted to makes it easier for me to be able to move on.”

“But, don’t you want to spend more time with me?” Thomas asked in a small voice.

“Thomas, your life is different now. I don’t fit into the equation as perfectly as we used to fit together. I’m happy now that I got to meet you again.” He looked up at the sky again. “And maybe we’ll meet each other again. Except this time I’ll be human too.” He laughed.

Thomas felt his lips twitch up in a small smile. “I won’t be able to say no, will I. I never could. But then again, you were the same to me.”

Guy-Man nodded before turning around. Thomas stared at the little case where he knew the self-destruct button was. He nearly felt it on his own back for a split second, as he reached over with shaking fingers and opened the lid that kept it covered. His fingers hovered over the little lever that would send Guy-Man to his impending death. He was hesitating. He knew why Guy-Man took so long to do it when he had wanted to self-destruct. It was just a really painful thing to do.

“Promise you’ll look for me.” Guy-Man whispered.

“As long as you promise to look for me too.” Thomas responded, just as he pulled down on the little lever. “I’ll miss you.”

Guy-Man inclined his head ever so slightly before he began walking off, taking large steps to make sure that he wouldn’t be too close to Thomas so he’d stay safe. Thomas watched from a distance, with tears rolling down his face as Guy-Man stopped suddenly. He felt the change happening in his mechanical body. Even though it was starting to feel like burning hot fire, just like the fire that he had tried to use to kill himself before, he felt happier. He was content, and actually ready to continue on. Not like those other times, where he said he wanted to go, but really he didn’t. He looked up at the sky, and felt the sun beating down on him just as he managed to utter one last word.

‘Thomas.’

Chapter Text

It had been awhile since the whole ordeal with the robots happened. It had been slow-going in the beginning, but the town of robots and the settlement of humans did end up uniting very well. The only real problems came by when the rest of the world needed to catch up. Giorgio was right about one thing though, Thomas and Guy-Man hadn’t been the only ones who had had the experience they had. There were still problems around the world and hate crimes against humans and robots alike, but they were better than they were before.

Thomas picked up a postcard and smiled softly. Panda Bear still sort of lived in the same town that they had always been in, but he recently went off to travel across the US, trying to help more humans get integrated back into life back with robots. He still sent them postcards regularly, along with constantly emailing and messaging each other through the internet. He even got Avery to go with him, and it made Thomas happy that the boy was managing to form friendships fairly well.

Pharrell was traveling as well, except he helped people by singing and making music. He’s definitely making people happy at least, and Thomas always laughs when he turns on the TV to see Pharrell running around in a tuxedo with shorts or something, singing to make people and robots alike happy and dancing.

Thomas and Julian had ended up moving out when they were finally able to go to college, and they both ended up liking the city where they had studied so much that they had decided to stay. It was a bit sad not being able to just go off and visit friends like they were always able to when they were younger, but they definitely wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Julian still wore that ridiculous bandanna that was his fathers, but he now had the added bonus of silly feathers and dyed hair to make him stand out from the crowd more than he already did. He, Nick, and Fab are also trying to start a band with two other humans they had met in college named Nikolai and Albert. They’re still arguing about a band name at this point and haven’t even started making music yet.

Giorgio had died peacefully a few years ago, and his funeral had so many humans and robots alike it had almost become like a huge party celebrating the life of a man who had helped make many of their lives a reality. Thomas was glad that he and his friends had been able to attend it, despite having to struggle in between college classes and traveling. Last he heard, Ella was still taking care of Giorgio’s cottage and taking in anyone who needed a place to stay for the night.

Thomas? Well, he was still pretty much the same. At least in his mind. Thanks to Julian he messed around with music here and there, and he was considering going back to school to become a music teacher or something. But he was still young, he had plenty of time to figure out what he was really going to do with his life.

“Oi, Thomas!” Thomas laughed as soon as he felt arms wrap around his shoulders and had his face repeatedly prodded by a manila envelope that Julian was using to poke him. “You’ve got mail.”

Thomas took the envelope from Julian’s hands and looked at it closely. “You already opened it.” He rolled his eyes. He couldn’t really judge because he did the same thing to Julian’s mail all the time.

“Yes. And the pictures are adorable.”

Thomas grinned. “Pictures? Finally...My dad says he’ll send pictures and it takes him three tries of sending me letters and finally remembering to send me pictures.”

He gently shook the envelope and let the pictures fall into his outstretched hand. Julian pulled up a chair and scooted in close so he could see the pictures again properly with Thomas’s own commentary about the pictures. When Thomas picked up the first photo, he couldn’t help but let out a small laughed.

“Man, they gave him a bowl haircut...I’m gonna hold that over him when he gets older for sure!”

“Aw, it makes him look cute. But he’s definitely gonna have resting bitch-face syndrome. I can just tell.” Julian picked up some of the pictures and let out a hoot of laughter. “I didn’t see these! He has pictures of you too! You’re adorable!”

Thomas mock hissed at Julian and reached over to grab the pictures out of his hands. Sure enough, there were pictures of tiny baby Thomas along with the pictures of his little brother. “We still need to go out back there to town to visit them y’know? You need to meet up with your mom again too.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’re gonna go after the mates and I finally figure out a band name.”

“So you’re saying you never want to see your mom again?” Thomas raised an eyebrow but grinned at the pouty face Julian was making.

“Shut up. No. We’re in between two. I’m sorta leaning towards the Strokes right now to be honest.” He said thoughtfully.

“What? Like a wank?”

“No, like having a stroke! Or a brush stroke!”

“Or a wank.”

Julian playfully shoved Thomas before his phone started ringing and he had to excuse himself. “We’ll argue about this later loverboy.” He said, mockingly making hand motions to say ‘I’ve got my eye on you, bitch.’

Thomas was left alone, quietly looking through the pictures that his father had sent him. He was happy for his dad, he really was. He had been able to remarry, and Thomas adored his stepmother, even if he knew she would never really be his real mom. But she was kind, and he knew she was good for his dad. And now he had a cute half-brother to boot.

And really, he was happy he would be able to find his old friend so easily.

He turned the last picture over, another one of his half-brother with his stoic face and ridiculous bowl haircut. In the margin of the pictures it was simply labeled.

‘Guy-Manuel, February 8th, on his second birthday’

Hopefully Julian and his bandmates would be able to figure out their name soon. Because Thomas definitely figured that it was high time to go visit his old friend again.

But of course, he was more of a brother now.

Julian had shouted at Thomas, telling him about a spur of the moment thing that he and Thomas needed to go out and watch a movie that he didn’t know had already come out. It was apparently urgent enough to force Thomas and Julian to get actually dressed nicely, so Thomas set down the photos to go pick out an outfit. But he took the time to take another look at the photos fondly.

Yeah, things were pretty alright now.