Work Text:
“Are you sure you got it?” Ratchet grunted, poised to turn the wrench the last few turns to release the tankard from its holster.
“I am quite sure I have a good grip, Ratchet.” Clank affirmed, and Ratchet nodded even though Clank couldn’t see him. With a few quick turns the coupling opened, and he heard Clank wobble, but the little bot held steady and lowered the tank to the floor without much difficulty.
“Finally got the damn thing out, yeesh,” Ratchet huffed, wiping his forehead with his forearm, dropping the wrench to the concrete with a clatter. “Who the hell thought it’d be a good idea to put it behind the retrograde carburetor, and the triplexic fusion grate?”
Clank made sure the tank wouldn’t roll before looking over at the Lombax. “Someone who didn’t want it to be easy for owners to be able to make their own adjustments, I assume.”
Ratchet tsked. “Death to the DIY-ers,” He said, hopping down off the edge of the ship they were working on.
Clank nodded. “It is indeed a shame,” He watched as Ratchet hauled over their largest oil tub, placing it near where they were working before coming up to Clank.
“I’ll get this side, and you keep that one. Once we get it to the tub, I’ll haul it in and we can empty it.” Ratchet said, gesturing with a thumb.
Clank looked at him with mild concern. “Are you sure you can lift it into the tub on your own?”
Ratchet just waved him off. “Lifting I can do. This thing’s too awkward to carry just by myself.”
The bot nodded before doing just as requested - keeping up his end of the tank as they carefully waddled it out from under the ship and into the open, where Ratchet heaved it over the side of the tub and dropped it in with a thud.
“It’ll be lighter once we empty it out of Stars-knows-what is inside it,” He huffed, slapping the top of the tankard. “I don’t know if the oil in this thing has ever been changed.”
“We shall see,” Clank said, pushing over a stool to hop onto it so he could see over the edge of the tub.
The tub itself came up almost to Ratchet’s ribcage, and he had to reach over the side awkwardly to clamp an adjustable wrench onto the drainage valve on the tank. He started with pulling the wrench towards him, having to put in a considerable amount of effort as the bolt in place was extremely gunked up with oil and grime. Once it came around to his side of the tub, he started to have to push down on the wrench.
“...Do you need assistance?” Clank said after a while of various grunting and heaving on Ratchet’s end - the Lombax had to put most of his weight into the act. “It may be better if I go retrieve one of the electrical drills and attachments.”
“Nope,” Ratchet grit through his teeth. “I’ve almost - got it…” At this point he had nearly all his weight onto the wrench, arms shaking and on his tiptoes as the bolt’s movement had slowed to a standstill. He gave a few hops, trying to put some more heft into it.
Clank’s sensors widened as he started to see a few dribbles and spurts of oil leak out from the bottom of the valve’s seal. “Ratchet, I think you should - “
Suddenly, the bolt gave way, and with a yelp Ratchet pitched forward as the drainage valve gave all at once. Thick, sludgey oil spewed out of the tank, pressurized from being contained and cooked for so long. Ratchet nearly got a faceful of it, his chin tucked up as far as his neck would allow, but it was thanks to Clank’s quick grab of his belt that kept the Lombax from dunking head-first into the rapidly filling tub.
“Augh, jeese,” Ratchet groaned as he was pulled back, regaining his balance and wincing down at his hands.
The splashed oil nearly cleared the edges of his gloves, but thankfully it had only just came short. The already stained leather was completely soaked, dripping gobs of oil and running rivulets down his fingers.
“Well, so much for these things,” he huffed, trying to wipe off the excess with his hands but only succeeding in smearing more of the sludge around. “I mean, I needed a new pair anyways, but yikes.”
Clank huffed. “Perhaps next time you will be a bit more careful?”
If Clank had eyes to roll, he would have, but as is he just gave a robotic approximation of it when Ratchet just side-eyed him with a grin. “I think you know the answer to that,” The Lombax cheeked.
“I do, I do.” Clank sighed, hopping down from the bench to get Ratchet a rag to attempt to help the cleanup.
He’d just handed the rag over to Ratchet when a beeping sound came from the back of the garage. Both of them perked up at it.
“Oh, the RiftComm! Clank, coulda ya get that?” Ratchet said, hands full.
The interdimensional comm link beeped away urgently, and Clank hurried over while Ratchet tried to wipe the worst of the oil and sludge off his gloves. There was no salvaging them unfortunately, and Ratchet resigned to yanking them off and draping them over the edge of the tub and following behind Clank.
Clank hopped up onto the chair in front of the RiftComm station, pressing a few buttons to unlock the console before allowing the connection through. It took a moment, as it always did with interdimensional wireless signals, but eventually the signal cleared.
Though unlike normal, where a holo-vid would appear on the screen, it was just the connection image. A voice came through crisply, however.
“Ratchet, Bolts, you there?” Rivet’s voice came through the speakers.
“Rivet!” Both of them cheered, Ratchet smiling at his reflection on the glass.
“Hey there, what's the occasion for the call?” Ratchet asked, leaning on the back of the console’s chair.
“Oh, you know, just checking in on our boys,” Rivet chuckled, and a few clicking sounds came through, like she was fiddling with something on her end. “You two up to anything important?”
“Nah, just working on a new job,” Ratchet said, shrugging. “Got some nasty work ahead of us cleaning out a -”
“Great, sounds great,” Rivet cut him off almost absently, and Ratchet frowned a little. “So, you guys wouldn’t mind us coming over for a sudden visit?”
“A visit?” Clank asked, and Ratchet went stiff. “That should not be a problem, but what is the occasion?”
“Oh, y’know -” And now Rivet sounded… worried, avoidant. “We wanted to come say hi and all that!”
It’s never been a ‘just to say hi’ reason with Rivet’s visits, so of course Ratchet and Clank looked at each other skeptically. Something was up.
“...Rivet, is everything okay?” Ratchet asked, and got a nervous chuckle in reply.
“Yeah, of course!” She said, “Why wouldn’t it be?”
Ratchet’s ears went flat. “Rivet - “
“We’ll be there in about an hour and a half, give or take any minor space-time ripples,” Kit’s voice chimed in, and Ratchet and Clank cheered at hearing her voice too. “We’re just coming up to Savali, and we’ve already sent word ahead to Gary to open up the Rift-Gate.”
“That’s great!” Ratchet said, still concerned over Rivet’s awkwardness - and the lack of video to the feed. “Rivet - “
“We’ll see you there soon!” Rivet interrupted again, and Ratchet let out a grunt of annoyance. “And also, guys uh - “
She stalled, and Ratchet leaned closer like doing so would help him hear what the issue was.
“...Look, just don’t freak out when you see me, ‘kay?” She rushed out. “Okay, bye!”
And the call dropped.
“Wait - what?!” Ratchet yelped, looking helplessly down at Clank, who was just as confused. “‘Don’t freak out’ - like that’s gonna make me freak out less! What does she mean!?”
“I’m afraid I have no clue,” Clank said, giving a robotic shrug. “We will just have to wait and see.”
Ratchet sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. He looked back over to their half-finished job, and the absolute disaster of tools and spare parts scattered around the ship.
“Well, may as well see how much we can finish up here, and then clean up,” He said, walking away from the RiftComm console. “Doesn’t sound like she’d be in the mood to help out for once, anyways.”
Clank nodded, hopping down and following after Ratchet.
After the oil tankard had been drained and cleaned up as best as they could - tools put away and ship docked at the back of the garage - all that was left to do was wait for their friends to arrive.
Ratchet wasn’t someone who was good at waiting. He paced around, keeping his hands busy with a small fidget gadget he’d designed for himself years ago for situations just like this.
“I can’t believe she really just left us off on ‘don’t freak out’,” He scoffed, fingers working idly and snapping a few pieces in place that unlocked another section of the toy. “I mean, not like we’re not friends who’d worry about her, right?”
“I think the reason that she does consider us friends, is precisely why she said that,” Clank said, comfortable on the couch as he watched Ratchet, the Lombax occasionally appearing as he paced back and forth
Ratchet snorted out a breath. “Well, I’m glad for that much,” he said, turning about face and disappearing back down the hallway leading to the bathroom and Clank’s bedroom. His voice echoed slightly from the hall. “She’s still gonna get an earful when she gets here.”
Clank merely chuckled, returning to his holo-sudoku. “It’ll be quite an earful, considering,” He teased.
“Har har,” Came Ratchet’s distant reply.
There were a few more moments of sudoku and pacing before a new sound rang through the house - this one from the proximity alert set up around the perimeter of the garage.
“That must be them!” Ratchet dashed down the hallway and out the house, tossing the fidget gadget on the couch where it just barely missed Clank. Clank sighed and hopped down, following the Lombax as quickly as his little legs could carry him.
Outside, a familiar ship was touching down, tinted glass dome and wings sporting various decals and spray-painting customizing separating its design from the colors and insignias of the ex-Emperor. The glass’ tint kept its occupants from being clearly viewed, but Ratchet and Clank could still see a tiny robot arm waving at them excitedly as Rivet’s ship touched down a short ways from the garage.
Ratchet hurried over, Clank hot on his heels as the ship’s hydraulics hissed their opening. The console lowered, and the two occupants hopped out, Kit’s bright yellow shell reflecting the Veldanian sun, just like Rivet’s white fur did.
Or at least, what was left of it. He suddenly knew why she hadn’t turned on the camera during the holo-call.
“Rivet!” Ratchet gasped, winded at the sight while Clank’s jaw dropped open.
“I said not to freak out, guys.” Rivet chuckled tiredly, her smile not reaching her eyes. “How’s it going?”
Ratchet floundered for words as he took in what was in front of him. Rivet overall looked whole and healthy, aside from one glaring issue - the right half of her head, including down her neck and nearly her entire right ear, was basically bald. Down to the skin, pink flesh showing through in large patches - even her right eyebrow and eyelashes were gone. Her earrings and goggles were missing, too.
Clank filled in for Ratchet while the poor man gaped. “Rivet, are you okay? What in Solaris happened?”
Rivet groaned, rubbing the back of her neck as she looked extremely uncomfortable under their scrutiny. “Nothing, much, really. Just… a tiny run in with some very strong acid, that’s all.”
That kick-started Ratchet’s voice. “ Acid!? What the hell were you doing playing around with acid!? ” He hissed, walking forward with hands open.
Rivet immediately got defensive. “I wasn’t playing around , Ratchet. It was an accident .”
Kit walked between them, hands out in peace. “She’s okay, guys. It looks worse than it is - she didn’t get any serious burns. Her fur took most of it.”
Ratchet forced himself to back down from his overprotective stance, huffing as he looked down at Kit. He gestured for her to continue, but Rivet spoke.
“We were trying to clean up the Nefarious Day Spa. You know, the one that has giant pools of bright pink boiling oil?” She said, waiting for Ratchet to nod before continuing.
“Since the city is finally opening up to organics, we decided to try and clear out some of the more popular places to visit to make them safe for tourists and new residents.” She explained, gesturing with her right hand as she spoke. “So we were cleaning it out, and wouldn’t you know! There’s a VIP section that has a pool of acid in it for ‘surface scrubbing.” She used very heavy air quotes, even rolling her eyes on top of it.
“Can’t have that around still, obviously, so we were siphoning it out to take it out of the city and try to figure out what to do with it.” Rivet huffed, rubbing at the pink spots on her face with a wince. “We’ve also got some… new recruits in the Resistance, now that it’s a less deadly occupation. Most of them are organics, though a few are robots of course. We’d just cleared out the acid pool into a big old vat, when I noticed it starting to tip over.”
“Let me guess, there were bystanders in the splash zone,” Clank said, and Ratchet shivered at the mental image.
Rivet nodded. “A couple of the new recruits. I couldn’t let them get hit, and I did the first thing that came to mind. I ran over, and tried to keep the vat from falling over.”
Ratchet groaned, dragging his hands down his face. “Rivet!”
“I know! But I mean, at least I used my right arm!” She said, shaking her metal arm at him in defense. Ratchet noted the arm did look particularly shiny and clean of rust.
“That’s beyond the - whatever, please continue.” He leaned his head into his hand, watching her.
Rivet fidgeted before continuing. “Anyways, uh - I did stop the vat from completely falling over. But the momentum still caused some of the acid to slosh over the edge, and… onto me.” She cringed. “Yeah,”
“Thankfully they’d brought neutralizing powder with them in case something like this happened,” Kit squinted at Rivet, but didn’t do much more - Ratchet guessed that she’d already chewed Rivet out plenty before they came here. “Rivet’s fur took the worst of it, and they managed to neutralize the acid before it started doing any real damage.”
“I looked like a powdered doughnut,” Rivet chuckled, before coughing when nobody else laughed with her. “Er - anything that had got down to the skin was healed by nanites, but nanites can’t regrow my fur. So I look like this until it grows back.” She finished, gesturing to herself.
Ratchet sighed, digesting everything that had been dumped on them. Rivet looked extremely uncomfortable at their scrutiny, shifting from foot to foot.
“Alright, well. Looks like you’ve been through enough as is, so I won’t poke at the topic any more - for now,” He said pointedly when Rivet perked up for a moment. “While we’re glad you stopped by to tell us, you didn’t have to come all this way for that. What’s up?”
Rivet fidgeted more, so Kit took pity on her. “Rivet wants a place to hide out while her fur is growing back.”
“A place to hide out?” Clank asked, sensor lids angled in confusion. “Why not stay at your home on Sargasso?”
“Er - the Morts, is why,” Rivet said, her nose scrunched. “They took one look at me and started laughing. They asked if I was okay, but while laughing, still. I’m pretty sure Mort took photos, too.”
Ratchet merely tilted his head to the side, not having had too much of a chance to hang out with the Morts yet, while Clank said, “That seems unlike their usual hospitality.”
Rivet snorted. “That’s ‘cause you’re an outsider. It’s once they really consider you one of them that they pull out the ribbing. They were worried, I know that, but it’s been a long time since they’ve had new material to tease me with, so they sure got their fill out of all this.”
She gestured vaguely to her face. Ratchet was mildly distracted by the realization that it was really weird to not see eyebrows on a face, making it hard to read her expression if she turned her head to the side.
“So, you came here to… wait it out?” He said, something nibbling at his thoughts.
Rivet nodded. “If it’s okay with you guys, if you have space. I mean, it’s super short notice, and I don’t know how long it’ll take for my fur to grow back. We wouldn’t want to intrude, but if you have the room -”
It suddenly clicked for Ratchet, and he clapped his hands to the side of his head. “ That’s what it is. We don’t have a spare bedroom ,” He said, aghast.
Rivet looked a bit disappointed, but like she expected it. “It’s okay. We can probably book a hotel or something in the meantime - “
“No, no! Wait right there,” Ratchet exclaimed, pointing with a determined finger before turning on his heel and sprinting back to the garage.
Clank watched him go with a bemused expression. “I wonder what he’s come up with,” he said, before turning back to Rivet and Kit. “I do have one more question. Why did you choose to come here? Surely there are places you could stay at in your dimension.”
Rivet sighed, smiling lightly down at Clank. “Well, yeah, maybe. There’s a few reasons. Biggest one though is, I kinda just wanted to hang out with you guys. I figured if I’m gonna be stuck in one place for a while, why not make it somewhere with people I like being around?”
Clank smiled widely, nodding at Rivet. “We are very glad you hold us in such light,” He said, and was treated to the sight of actually seeing Rivet’s cheeks flush in embarrassment, where before her fur would cover it.
She turned around, stomping towards her ship in a flustered manner. “Okay! Just gonna make sure our bags survived the trip, yup!”
While she climbed back into the ship to check the back seats, Kit sidled up to Clank.
“Even if you don’t have the spare room in the end, thank you for still allowing us to stop by,” She said quietly, keeping her sensors on Rivet to make sure she didn’t hear what she was saying. “Rivet’s been more affected by this than she lets on.”
Clank nodded once. “I can only imagine that it was a scary experience in the first place, all things considered,” While a robot, he didn’t necessarily have to worry about things like acid often - but he’d seen more than enough in his lifetime to know it was something he’d never wish on even his worst foe.
Kit sighed. “It was… scary, yes. I wasn’t sure we’d get to her in time, with how quickly it all happened,” Her demeanor drooped. “She could have lost her eyesight.”
Clank looked back to Rivet, who was struggling to yank a suitcase out from between the seats.
“...Well, we can be glad that in the end, she is alright, and still with us.” He said, putting a hand on Kit’s shoulder. Kit looked at him and smiled in gratitude.
“Alrighty, looks like everything is in order,” Rivet’s voice chirped, and the bots turned to see her with a suitcase in one hand, and a comically large toolbox in the other.
Clank squinted at her. “Rivet, you do know Ratchet has more than enough tools to supply the entire Galactic Armada. You didn’t have to bring your own,”
Rivet shrugged as best she could with her arms full. “Yeah, but these are my own custom tools,” she jostled the toolbox, and its contents clattered noisily. “Ratchet seemed interested in seeing some of my stuff last time he was over, and I figured show-and-tell was a good way to pass the time.”
Clank recalled how Ratchet hoarded his personal tool collection, often ones that he’d made by hand urged by what seemed to be some deeply seeded Lombax instinct to know their tools inside and out. The fact that Rivet, who obviously had the same urges, was willing to bring her precious cargo across dimensions to share ideas and techniques spoke volumes.
Clank nodded and turned away. “Then let us go see what sort of mischief Ratchet has undoubtedly gotten himself into by now. I haven’t heard an explosion yet, and that’s never a good sign,”
Rivet and Kit laughed behind him as they followed the little bot towards the garage.
They heard Ratchet before they saw him, and Clank sighed when he saw what indeed Ratchet had been up to.
The previously tidy garage floor was cluttered in various parts, half-disassembled weapons and armor, things both broken and still new in package. The trail led towards a door that stood ajar, and Clank connected the dots.
He stuck his head in the door, spotting Ratchet’s tail sticking out from around a shelf. “The storage room? I was not aware there was enough space in here to consider it for a spare bedroom.”
“That’s ‘cause there wasn’t,” Ratchet grunted, and the entire shelf he was behind quivered before settling again. “But since this used to be old man Grim’s office, and it has its own washroom even, I figured all it’d need would be a bit of tidying,”
Clank stepped into the room fully, being careful of where he placed his feet. “Does it work? Last time I remember you using it was when you needed somewhere with running water to keep the spent cores from your ‘nuclear-powered rocket sled’ from overheating.”
“It works! I just tested it!” Ratchet said, sticking his head around the shelf. “And no, the washroom isn’t radioactive, I checked that too,” he said before disappearing again.
“Well, that’s a relief,” Rivet’s voice said suddenly, and there was a thud and a yelp from Ratchet’s general direction.
Clank and Rivet looked around the room. Normally this was the picture of ‘organization within chaos’ but at this point Clank considered it just ‘chaos’.
“Yeah! Uh, it’ll just take a bit more of moving stuff around. If you don’t mind sharing a room with some spare parts n’ stuff, I even have a good cot you can use! Somewhere…” Ratchet said, rubbing his head as he stood up.
“Ratchet, you know what my place looks like. It'll be practically like I never left home,” Rivet smiled, and Ratchet tried to hide his double-take, clearly still not quite used to Rivet’s current appearance.
“Good, then. Um - I’m just making sure some of these shelves are up to snuff, then it’ll just be finding places on them for some of the stuff I had to move out of the way,” He gestured to the back of the room. “We’ll just have to move the solar-quartz-drive motor and the nanite shield generator out of here after that, and the cot can go right back there.”
Rivet nodded. “Might be better to move those now, then? So you don’t risk smacking them into the full shelves and knocking everything over,”
Ratchet went to speak, then paused. “That’s… a better idea than mine.” he admitted, rubbing his chin.
“We’ll get to clearing the floor, then,” Clank said, and he and Kit hustled to clear room for the Lombaxes to do the heavy lifting.
“Thanks guys. Okay, the motor we can move last cause I might have to be inventive and use some anti-grav to get it off the floor, it was a pain to get it in here in the first place. The generator, however - “ Ratchet hummed, plotting their plan of attack.
“I’ve got it!” Rivet suddenly said, and Ratchet looked over to see Rivet hoisting the generator up and into her arms with a grunt - all on her own.
Ratchet absolutely gaped. “Wuh - th - Rivet!” That thing had taken both him and Clank three tries to carry it in there when their anti-grav cart had been broken, and it was a matter of pride for Ratchet that he was a lot stronger than his height let on.
“Look out,” Rivet huffed almost distractedly, and Ratchet plastered himself to the wall as she carefully hoisted the generator around and out of the side room, her back bent and her tail stiff to balance.
Ratchet watched her go with eyes round as disks, his mind whirring. That thing was heavy , even for him, and she just - lifted it! With only her two arms!
A roll of - something - heat, excitement? Surged through Ratchet from head to toe, making his fur stand on end. He was winded by it, still leaning up against the wall as his heart pounded.
He didn’t have much time to try and unravel whatever the hell that was, for Clank came running in.
“You let Rivet carry that all on her own?” Clank accused, but the tone of his voice gave away he was nearly as shocked as Ratchet was at the sight.
Ratchet shook his head to try to clear it. “I - I didn’t let her, she just did it! She was halfway out the door before I realized what was happening!” He ran a hand over his head. “I mean - wow !”
“You never believed me when I said she was keeping a 140-foot tall warbot from crushing us in its hand all on her own,” Clank said, bemused at how he now had solid evidence Ratchet couldn’t deny.
Ratchet nodded slowly. “Yeah, I believe you now,” He wheezed.
Rivet walked back into the room, dusting off her hands, and Clank and Ratchet tried to look casual.
She paused, looking at them bemusedly. “Everything okay?”
Both of them nodded like bobble heads, Ratchet clearing his throat. “Yep! Just - making sure things are ship-shape in here, mmhm.” He said, rapping a fist lightly against the nearest shelf support.
Rivet cracked a small smile, before just letting it pass and placing her hands on her hips. “Well, that’s good. So, shall we move the motor next?” she said, gesturing to the piece of machinery in the back.
Ratchet froze. He didn’t think his heart - or whatever it was - could take seeing Rivet hoist something even heavier than the generator past him. “Uh - yeah, we can! It’s just, really weird to carry, so we’ll probably need the anti-grav push cart to get it out of here.”
Rivet looked at the motor appraisingly. “Yeah… I could probably lift it, but it’d be kinda awkward to carry ‘cause it's so long. Y’know?” she said, gesturing to it.
Ratchet’s heart did that weird little double-time throb again. “Yep, I know,” he wheezed. “I’ll - er - go get the cart,” He ducked out of the storage room and past the bots still finishing up clearing the mess he’d left behind.
Finding the anti-grav cart took less time than he’d hoped for, but he was at least able to gather himself, slapping his cheeks a little. He was a grown man, for Plumber’s sake. He wasn’t gonna get a little swoony over a strong lady! This was Rivet he was talking about!
So what, she could lift more than him. Big deal, it’s not like that was something he overly-enjoyed seeing in a woman -
Walking the cart into the side room, he looked up from his musing to see Rivet turn to him with a smirk, arms crossed and her flexed left bicep on display.
“...Here’s the cart,” Ratchet said feebly. Seems he was still learning things about himself. Thankfully Rivet didn’t notice his tone.
“Great! Now let’s get this place cleared out before sundown,” She said, rubbing her hands together with a clap, eager to get to work.
With all of them working together - Ratchet struggling to keep his knees from buckling with distraction as he helped Rivet hoist the motor the short distance onto the grav cart - they managed to get the side room into some semblance of usable. The cot was dug out from its hiding place, spare blankets and pillows placed on it, and even a small algae-light set up on an old filing cabinet to be used as a bedside table.
All in all, aside from the shelves of parts and tools still filling the walls, it didn’t look half bad.
Rivet seemed satisfied, dropping her suitcase beside the cot with a satisfied huff. “A room with its own washroom, thermostat, and even a locking door! You really know how to treat a girl, Ratch.”
Ratchet huffed, rolling his eyes. “I’m glad we were able to make something work, at least,” He walked to the large windows that filled the wall shared with the garage, tugging on the drawstrings for the blinds that weren’t covered by a standing shelf. The blinds half-lifted, before dropping back down sullenly when the string snapped.
Ratchet winced, but Rivet shrugged a shoulder. “It’s more than I was expecting - I was ready to crash on your couch if you’d let me,”
“Which we would still have offered, but this works better in the long-term for everyone involved,” Clank said, poking at a coil on a shelf to align it better. “You’re more than welcome to the kitchen at any time, as well.”
Ratchet nodded at the same time Rivet did. “Yep, help yourself while you’re here. Mi casa et - su casa?” He said, looking down at Clank when he chuckled at him for being dramatic.
Rivet giggled. “Well, thanks guys. We really appreciate it,” She sighed, looking down at Kit who was pulling her charger out of Rivet’s suitcase to plug it into the nearest socket.
Kit found the socket, plugging in the cable so she didn’t have to hunt for it later that night. “Yes, thank you. We will find a way to pay you back as soon as possible for your hospitality,”
Ratchet immediately put up a hand. “Nah, nah, no payback needed. It’s the least we can do as friends. And I mean, you’d do the same for us right?”
Kit nodded, while Rivet hummed, a hand to her chin. “Well, yeah, of course, but I think I have an idea on how I can still sweeten the deal for you while we’re here,” She said with a smirk, beckoning Ratchet to follow her out of the side room.
Clueless and curious, Ratchet followed her while Clank stayed behind, the bot smiling as he had an idea of what Rivet had planned.
Rivet led Ratchet to where she parked her toolbox, plopping it onto the nearest empty workbench. He hadn’t even noticed she’d brought it with her earlier, but he knew all his toolboxes and that one was definitely not his.
“Rivet, you didn’t have to bring your tools, you could have used mine - “ He started, but Rivet continued on, unlatching the complex triple-lock on the toolbox and hauling it open.
Ratchet’s eyes widened in wonder as the toolbox unfolded almost like a flower, multi-stage compartments opening up to unveil more and more tools.
“Yeah, I know. But there’s nothing quite like using your own tools, right?” Rivet said, pulling out a ratchet - of all things - and holding it out to him.
Ratchet took it in his hand, immediately knowing what exactly this was beyond just a tool. The balance of it, the lovingly crafted custom grip and extra settings on the head, the lack of stamped brand logo anywhere on the metal.
He turned it over in his hands reverently, looking up at Rivet who was smiling at him knowingly.
It occurred to Ratchet, that even as she was currently - half of her fur missing down to the skin, eyebrows gone, in all rights looking like just a mess… She still absolutely shined, even further past just her physical appearance. She still gave him that confident closed-mouth smile that stretched her cheeks and made her eyes sparkle, her hips and shoulder cocked in a proud stance. She was still Rivet, and that made her amazing.
“Yeah, there’s nothing quite like it,” He chuckled breathlessly.