Work Text:
“I think this could be the one, Blue.”
“I think you’re right.”
Blue smiled and clutched Red’s hand as she took in the small house standing before them, one of about twenty similar building in a sun bleached and graffitied ghost town on the outskirts of battery city. The town had been left uninhabited since the helium wars, avoided by zonerunners for years for fear of its close proximity to BLI. But now, miraculously and triumphantly, BLI was gone, and so the town was fair game for the droves of droids and humans alike that were freeing the city’s confines to start over in the zones.
Well, perhaps to say the house was standing was a bit generous. Its walls were cracked and faded to a dull, greyish beige, most of its windows boarded up or shattered. But it also had an adorable arched doorway and flower boxes in the windows and even the overgrown ghost of a yard in the back. It had potential. And most importantly, it was going to be theirs.
The two walked down the path to the door and Red pushed it open.
“Wait!” said Blue suddenly “Don’t go in yet.” Blue swept Red into a bridal carry and carried her over the threshold, both of them laughing as Blue put her down in the entry hall.
“What was that for?” Red asked, eyes twinkling.
“Its from that old movie we saw in the lobby a few years ago”
“The one Green stole from the s/c/a/r/e/c/r/o/w on a house call?”
“Yeah! The one where the guy carries his new wife into their house. I thought it’d be romantic.”
Red kissed Blue quickly, neither of them able to stop smiling for long.
They began wandering their new house. Like the exterior, the inside was run down and rambling, but certainly not beyond fixing. What little furniture remained in the house was in surprisingly good shape; the sofa in the living room was only slightly torn and the mattress in one of the small rooms down the hall was relatively clean. And at the very least, it was certainly far bigger than the tiny room the two shared in the Lobby.
Blue tried a light switch in what she guessed had been a kitchen at one point.
“Lights don’t work.”
“I did’t really expect them to” said Red from the hall, “Hey, maybe that little girl who brought my power back works on houses too.” Blue winced, the memory of Red’s lifeless, cracking body flashing across her mind.
“That’s not funny, Red.” Blue said curtly. Red headed back down the hall to where Blue was standing, staring at the counter.
“I know. I’m sorry darling. It just…helps me to joke about it sometimes, that’s all.” Blue smiled and wrapped her arms around Red’s shoulders, the brief moment of sadness melting away. She knew that they both had to come to terms with all that had happened in their own ways.
“I really hope that little girl is okay out there. She disappeared before I could even thank her for saving us.” Blue remembered watching in awe from Destroya’s hand as a kid with soft brown skin and a wild tuft of hair had gone supernova, bringing the salvation the city had yearned for decades. She remembered the same young girl finding blue collapsed in the sand, clinging to red’s limp form. She remembered the girl taking Red’s hand and miraculously breathing life back into her. The moment Red’s eyes had opened again had been the happiest moment of Blue’s life. She owed this girl so much and she barely even knew her face, let alone her name.
“I’m sure she is” said Red softly. “She saved the world. I doubt there’s anything in Bat City or beyond the furthest zones that could take her down.” Blue knew Red was right, as she often was. “This is a new beginning for us, Blue.” Blue smiled again, drawing her thumb across Red’s pale cheek. This was it. They were free. And they were going to start a new life, a life outside the lobby’s puke stained alleys crawling with off-duty scarecrows. A life where they only belonged to each other.
Blue pulled Red in for a kiss, relishing the feeling of her alive and close.
They started with paint.
They’d initially wanted to start by cleaning everything, but cleaning supplies weren’t exactly common in the zones and the meager amount of water they’d been able to smuggle from the city had to be saved for blue to drink. And besides, though the house was a bit worse for wear it seemed almost spotless in comparison to the Lobby’s cramped, sooty alleyways and grimy apartments.
Paint, on the other hand, was pretty easy to come by. Their neighbors, three droids they had vaguely known in the lobby, had connections with a gang from Zone 4 that they used to help smuggle supplies. So as a welcome-to-the-zones present, a couple motorbabies from that same gang screeched into their little ghost town one morning in a neon green car (engine and color both sinfully loud) with a trunk full of paint of every color.
“HEY NEW MOTHERFUCKERS,” one of the killjoys shouted (Blue supposed they were called killjoys, that’s what she’d always heard desert rebels called in snippets of news segments), “COME DECORATE YOUR UGLY-ASS HOUSES” Blue and Red watched the two killjoys jump out of their car, both clad in bright pink leather jackets and captivatingly colorful masks, and run to embrace the droids next door. Blue had always gathered that color was important to life in the zones, and now she felt like she truly understood why: these two, with their blinding car and dizzying jackets, were just about the furthest thing Blue had ever seen from BLI’s rigid, black and white idealism or the carefully chosen monotones assigned to the pornodroids.
“Well, what are we waiting for Blue? Let’s go decorate our ugly ass house!” Red grabbed Blue’s hand and pulled her down the hall out the door. They ran at the car, faster as more and more people started to realize what was happening and clamor out of their doors to get some paint.
“What color?” Blue asked, her eyes drinking up the dazzling array of bright pots and tubes bursting from the trunk. Red eagerly grabbed a huge pot of royal purple. “this One! It’s the color of the two of use together.”
Blue grinned. “You’re adorable, you know that?” Blue picked a small tube of glittery silver that made rainbows when it caught the sunlight, and then followed red back to the house.
There was one comically small brush taped haphazardly to the side of the purple can, but it was hardly fit to paint a wall, so they ended up just dipping their hands in the goopy purple liquid and giggling uncontrollably as they smeared it on the sun-bleached walls of their new home. They tried to make it as even as possible, but they didn’t really care; all that really mattered was that it was vibrant and unique and something they’d created together. Blue almost fell down laughing when they had to rescue a tiny lizard that had fallen into the pot. Red scooped him out and tired her best to wipe the purple off of him with her cover up and then set him down in the sand, his little feet still leaving slight purple spots where he ran away. “Now There’s something you don’t see in the city.” Gasped Blue. She was starting to love the desert.
One can of paint obviously wasn’t enough to finish the house, but they were able to cover the front and some of the sides. After they’d used up every drop, they sat side by side on the front step, discussing how they’d get their next bucket of paint and whether or not it was important if the colors matched as they waited for the paint to dry in the intense September sun. When it had, Red asked Blue for the little tube of silver glitter. “I have an idea” she said. Blue had nearly forgotten about it, what with the lizard adventures, but she produced the small tube from the pocket of her cover up and handed it to Red. She took it, along with the tiny brush that had come with the purple paint, and began to paint around the front door. After a few moments, Blue realized Red was painting a border of tiny, sparkling stars.
“We could never see the stars in the city” Red explained, “so I figure we should make up for that by having them around all the time.” Blue stepped back and took in the sight of their home, once dingy and dull, now deep purple with a tiny galaxy growing around the door with every stroke of Red’s brush. It was the prettiest thing she’d ever seen.
Blue and Red spent every day of the next few weeks building their old house into something beautiful. They would jump at any news of flea markets and swap meets, no matter how unreliable to source of the rumor. Sometimes they’d arrive to find nothing, or one lonely zonerunner selling garbage, but often they’d come across bustling gatherings where they’d find rugs, chairs, flowers, and blankets. They even found more purple paint that wasn’t quite the right color to match the front of their house but looked just fine, especially if you squinted. The fall of Battery City had lead to a huge increase in the amount of goods in the desert, since motorbabies were no longer risking being gunned down by dracs every time they made a supply run. And desert dwellers tended to be pretty generous to newcomers, knowing how hard starting life in the desert could be. Before long, the couple’s house was completely painted, and full of all the colorful furniture they could get their hands on. Blue’s favorite was the nauseatingly orange chair they’d put in the living room and red’s favorite was the crocheted rainbow blanket and pillows they’d found for their bed. And though water was scarce and neither of them knew a thing about gardening, they planted flowers in the boxes under the windowsills. Even if they didn’t survive long, they were pretty while they lasted.
And their little ghost town became less ghostly by the day. Neighbors would share supplies, trade advice about where to find water and food and plus. The house a few doors down even started throwing bonfires every week, or whenever they could find the fuel. It reminded Blue in some ways of the community that formed between droids in the lobby, a group of people forced by circumstance to navigate a difficult life together, but this time friendship and love and laughter didn’t have to be hidden behind closed doors.
The most shocking thing was the realization that they were now allowed to pick their own clothes.
On one surprisingly cold morning, Blue and Red were getting ready to head to a flea market they’d heard was popping up in zone three to try and find a kitchen table. Blue was wriggling in to the same skimpy black leotard she had put on every day of her life for as long as she could remember, dreading facing the chilly late October wind in nothing but her thin white cover up.
But then something occurred to her.
“Why the hell are we still wearing these things, Red?”
“What’s that, love?’ Red replied absentmindedly, also pulling on the same BLI sanctioned lingerie she’d probably had to wear her whole life.
“Why are we still wearing these? They’re so uncomfortable and impractical, and they were designed to make our bodies look like products. They don’t control us anymore. We should be wearing whatever we want.”
Red blinked, looking confused for a moment, but soon her face broke into a brilliant smile.
“You’re right,” she laughed incredulously, “I guess with everything that happened lately I haven’t even thought about it. And it’s been so long I just…” Red looked down, her smile becoming more melancholy, then back up at Blue. “I know I should be excited, but I’m almost afraid. This is all I’ve ever known.” Blue knew what she meant. Everything was so different lately it was overwhelming, even though the changes were good. As much as they both wanted to leave behind the horrible life they’d lived in the city, so much change at once was terrifying. Blue crossed the room to where Red stood and pulled her close, both still half-dressed.
“I know how you feel, but we’ll be alright.” Blue said into Red’s hair.
“I know we will.” Red pulled away just enough to look Blue in the eyes. “let’s look for new clothes today. Something colorful.”
“Maybe something weather appropriate”
Red laughed “Perhaps.”
“Now and forever, Red.”
“Until the end of time”.
The flea market was there as promised, a chaotic assembly of vendors in a parking lot for a long-abandoned strip mall. It was early in the morning, but there was already a fair amount of zonerunners milling around the assortment of old furniture and strange art. Some, clad in neon leather and glittery killjoy masks had clearly been in the zones for a while, while others, in now-raggedy BLI sanctioned slacks and button downs were likely newcomers.
“Did you remember the carbons?”
“Of course!” Red patted her pocket. Money was tight, but flea markets were cheap and they had a some extra carbons left over from the many vending machines they’d robbed before leaving the city. They began strolling down the market’s vaguely organized rows. Most of the wares were things they already had or simply didn’t need (no tables in sight) and they were about halfway through the market when something caught Blue’s eye.
“Red, look!” A few yards down the row was an old woman selling a what looked like a mismatched assortment of old clothes. They hurried down the aisle, trying their best not to run into other shoppers.
“Good morning, dolls.” Said the woman cheerfully, “Looking for anything in particular?” Red shook her head.
“We’re just looking around. It’s been…a long time since we’ve bought new clothes.” She glanced knowingly at Blue.
“Well take your time then” the woman replied, “but please, take some jackets. Those little white shirts ain’t gonna get you through these desert nights.” She gestured at a rack of jackets to her left. Red started leafing through them, then gasped slightly and pulled out a huge dark brown leather jacket with roses embroidered on the shoulders. She eagerly swung it around her shoulders and looked at Blue expectantly.
“You look…amazing.” Blue murmured. The roses looked incredible on her, they matched her eyes. Blue could feel herself blushing, just like she had been on the first night they’d met. Red grinned.
“You should try this one.” She said, handing blue a black leather jacket with spikes lining the arms. She put it on. It was certainly comfortable, and warmer than anything she’d ever worn. “Yeah. That’s the one.” Red said, and Blue swore she was blushing too.
Keeping the jackets on, they moved on to the other racks. Blue was drawn to a pair of ripped jeans and a faded pink shirt with a lizard design on it (lizards had quickly become Blue’s favorite animal). Red picked out a long, yellow floral dress. They did their best to guess their sizes, but even if the new clothes didn’t fit quite right they’d be far better than what they already had.
“How much?” Blue asked the old woman.
“Nine for the clothes. The jackets are on me. You two need them a hell of a lot more than anyone else I’ve seen today and certainly more than I do.” Blue was touched.
“Are you sure? its really not a problem for-“
“No, sunshine, I insist. You two look great” Red dug nine carbons out of her pocket and handed them over.
“Thank you so much. Have a lovely day” said Red, and the woman made a gesture that was somewhere between a wave and a salute.
They headed out of the market, chatting about their new outfits, the lack of table barely lamented. But just as they were reaching the end of the lot, Red grabbed Blue’s arm, stopping her in her tracks. Red pointed over Blue’s shoulder and Blue followed her finger curiously. Blue gasped. Sitting at the edge of the lot was an absolutely beautiful car. It’s body was sleek and graceful, and the paint, though faded, was a wonderful shade of lavender. As they stepped closer to it, Blue noticed a sign leaning against its wheel that read:
CAR FOR SALE
PRETTY PIECE OF SHIT
“Hey there!” Blue and Red both jumped as a killjoy in a blindingly gold sequined dress hopped up impossibly fast from behind the car. “You two interested in a shitty car? I’m giving it to anyone with 50 carbons and a knack for tools. I’ve got a shiny new ride and I need this sack of metal off my hands.”
50 carbons for a car? That was insanely cheap. Blue had a feeling that this killjoy probably didn’t need the money and just wanted to be generous to someone who seemed new to the desert. The truth was, Red and Blue did need a car. Walking everywhere was getting exhausting, especially since red wasn’t as strong as she once was. Blue had always been pretty good with fixing things, and she was sure someone in their neighbor would have tools she could borrow. But spending 50 carbons at once was still risky when they didn’t know where their next food or plus would come from, and Blue wasn’t even 100% certain she would be able to fix it.
Blue looked at Red and raised her eyebrows, trying to communicate silently. Red pursed her lips, and then smiled slightly. Blue smiled slightly in return. Red smiled wider. Blue smiled wider in return.
“We’ll take it!” Red exclaimed, digging into her pocket to find the money. The golden killjoy took it and wished them luck, then grabbed their sign and departed in a flash on a strangely shaped skateboard.
The ride home was equal parts hilarious and frustrating. The car did run, but only about 5 miles and hour tops and only for about 5 minutes at a time. Driving home took twice as long as walking over had, and excited as they had been about the car they were eager to escape its fumes and sputtering engine when they pulled into their driveway.
“I’m not riding in that thing again until you get it fixed up” Red decided as she slammed the car’s door.
Back in their bedroom, the couple laid out their new clothes. Blue threw off her jacket and then her flimsy coverup, almost certain she’d never wear it again.
“Let’s turn around while we change, so we can surprise each other” Blue suggested.
“If we must” Red replied with a smirk, but she turned around with her dress and Blue did the same with her new pants and shirt.
“Ready”
“Yep!” They both turned around.
Blue was speechless.
She always thought Red looked stunning, of course, but seeing her like this was breathtaking. Her dress was soft yellow patterned with blue roses; its fluid material hanging gracefully, perfectly, from her shoulders and hips. But the most amazing part was that for the first time ever, Blue seeing Red wearing something she had chosen for herself, something that made her happy and made her feel beautiful, not something that had been designed to make her look like a commodity. She was Red, and she was radiant.
And from the awestruck look on her face, she was thinking something similar about Blue.
“You’re beautiful” they said in unison. In silence, they joined hands and looked at themselves in the small mirror beside the bed. Blue was almost as taken aback by her own appearance as she was by Red’s. The pink shirt contrasted nicely with her eyes. The jeans were comfortable and a little baggy, a welcome change after being forced to wear skin tight clothing for years. I look good, she thought, and realized with a start that it was the first time she’d said that to herself and meant it. It was just a change of clothes, but it meant to much. It was a reflection of how far they’d come, an expression of their autonomy and their freedom from the horrible past that had threatened to destroy them. Red put her hand on Blue’s cheek, and gently turned Blue’s face to hers pulling her in for a kiss. Blue’s heart fluttered, like it always did. But something felt new. It was as if, after all this time, this kiss as the first one that was truly just theirs. They finally belonged only to themselves and each other.
As she expected, Blue had no trouble borrowing tools she could use to start working on the car. The droids next door even had an ancient, water stained automobile manual that they’d found crumpled in a drawer in their kitchen when they’d moved in and had fortunately forgotten to throw away. It was for a completely different model of car than the one Blue had adopted, but it at least helped her get some idea of what the different parts were and how they worked. And when those droids’ killjoy friends would come to visit, they’d always ask how Blue’s project (or, as they preferred to call it, hopeless cause) was going. And despite their cynicism, the killjoys taught Blue what they knew about cars and tried to help her figure out how to fix hers. The work was frustrating, tedious, and greasy, but over time Blue realized she was thoroughly enjoying it. It was like a puzzle, discovering how each piece of the car affected each other one and what she had to change to set off a chain reaction that would end in the result she wanted. It was beautiful, really how it all together.
While Blue worked on the car, Red worked on painting the house. By this point, there were several bright and shiny tubes and pots of paint being passed around the community, and Red put them to excellent use, covering the inside of the house with flowers, desert scenes, and lots of lizards for Blue. She seemed to have a natural talent for art, and she only got better with more and more practice. Blue loved coming home and being surprised by a new cactus in the kitchen or a golden sun on the ceiling.
After a while, Blue began to make small victories with the car, first getting it to run without sputtering to a stop every few minutes, then getting it to run ten miles an hour, then twenty. She began to get more and more familiar with its mechanics; it was certainly a learning curve. But her knack for fixing things didn’t go unnoticed by the neighborhood. Her neighbors started approaching her when they needed someone to fix up a bike or a radio, and Blue surprised herself with how easily the tasks came to her. In return, her neighbors would give her carbons, food, plus, or whatever little tidbits they had to spare. And Red had similar success. As word got around about her skills, her neighbors often traded supplies for her paintings.
A few lovely months passed, and Blue had the car running perfectly. The first time she was able to gun it down route guano at 100 miles an hour was absolutely exhilarating. It was just her, the road, the sun, and this incredible machine that had been a piece of junk only months before.
“We’re not sleeping tonight” she told Red excitedly the moment she got home. “We’re going for a drive.”
When the sun had set, and the stars were out in all their shimmering glory, Red and Blue got in their now-functioning lavender car and just drove, with no destination in mind, hands linked overtop of the stick shift.
“Stop here,” said Red softly, when they reached a spot far away from the lights of any form of civilization.
Blue flung open her door. “Let’s get up on the roof!”
Red pretended to pout. “It’s freezing cold, Blue. Lets just stay in here.”
“I brought a blanket! And I want to stargaze with you! C’mon, it’ll be so romantic.”
Red rolled her eyes, but Blue could tell by her smile that she didn’t mean it.
So they climbed up on the roof, Blue going first and then pulling Red up. They curled up together, intertwining their legs and wrapping their arms around each other.
“Its incredible. I can’t believe that was up there all those years we lived in the city and we never even knew.” Red was referring to the stars, particularly glittering belt of the milky way stretching from horizon to horizon. The first time Blue had seen it, her jaw had dropped, and she could do nothing other than stare upwards in silent amazement
“Its crazy to think we might have gone our whole lives without seeing it.” Blue replied, and Red muttered her agreement. They laid like that for a while, soaking in the beauty of the sky and one another, just breathing together. The desert was quiet at night in a way the city never was, a way that made you feel known and at peace. They lost track of time, it could have been an hour or just a few minutes before Red broke the silence.
“Blue?”
“Mmm?”
“Do you think droids have souls?” Blue was taken aback by the question, but she knew her answer with resounding certainty.
“Of course, Red. Why would you ever think otherwise?” Red shifted, so that her head was buried in Blue’s Shoulder.
“I guess I just worry some times. I mean BLI made me. I’m a product of thing we hate most. What if I’m never more than they programmed me to be?”
“I mean, they made me too Red. I have no idea who I was before they brainwashed me. But I don’t think that matters anymore. I think what matters is who we are now.”
“Its different for me though. You were someone else before, you were your own person, a human, even if you don’t remember. I was always just something they made to fulfill a purpose and make a profit.” Red spoke the words softly, like a confession, and they broke Blue’s heart. She pulled away from Red just enough to look her in the face. Red kept her eyes squeezed shut.
“Red, look at everything you’ve done. You are so much more than they programmed you to be. You’re the one who planned our escape. You helped me build the kind of life that BLI would never have let us have. You make amazing, colorful art for Destroya’s sake, which is pretty much the farthest possible thing from what BLI would want you to do.” Red’s eyes didn’t open. “And think about all the other droids who escaped from the city, and all the droids who said fuck you to BLI while we were still stuck there. Think about fucking Destroya. None of you are just your programming, none of you are just your wires. And Red, look at me.” Red’s eyes fluttered open. She looked upset, but a smile seemed to be toying with the corners of her mouth. “You love me, right”
“Of course. Always.”
“Then I know for sure you have a soul. Because our souls were made for each other”
Red kissed Blue, closing the space between them. When she pulled away, she was smiling broadly. It occurred to Blue that Red’s smile was probably her favorite thing in the world to look at.
“Thank you, Blue. I love you so much. If I could cry I think I’d be crying tears of joy.”
Blue laughed “You too. I can’t believe we made it, Red. These last few months have been better than everything I could have ever dreamed of.”
“Here’s to many, many more of them” Red murmured, and kissed Blue again.
“Do you want to keep driving?”
“Sure”
So they got in their purple car. And they drove. They drove until stars shifted in the sky and the sun cast its first rays over the distant mountains, dyeing the dawn rose gold. It didn’t matter how far they went, they had plenty of gas and a spare tire in the trunk.
And most importantly, not matter how far they strayed, they now had a home to return to.