Chapter Text
Ever since the whole robot invasion ended, the Mitchells took in the two robot boys. They have been very accepting of the actions and questions that came from them. Both Eric and Deborah have begun to adapt to the environment, which is the home of the Mitchells. You have to admit that it can be very hectic on various days. To their luck, today was one of the calmest days. Aaron stood at the front door with his backpack on, “c’mon mom, I don’t want to be late for school!”
Linda finished packing his lunch, “in a second, I’m going to say goodbye to Eric and Deborah.”
She handed him his lunch box and went to Katie’s room, which is now a room the robots share. Currently, they were in their room, laying on the floor while coloring in kids’ coloring books. Linda knocked on the door, “bots, may I come in please?”
They both beeped in unison, “come right in!”
She kneeled and looked at the page they were coloring in, “it looks like you two are having fun.”
Eric nodded and said in a monotonous tone, “indeed we are.”
Linda gave a smooch on Eric and Deborah, “I’m dropping Aaron off at school and then I’m heading to work.”
Rick stood at the door frame of the room, “and speaking of work, I got a new carpentry job to handle so I’m going to come back a bit later.”
“We will keep that in our memory,” Deborah piped up.
Before leaving, Linda gave one smooch to both of the robots, “you two behave, ok?”
“We will, Mother,” they both said in unison once more.
Rick leaned in, “and make sure Monchi doesn’t get into any trouble.”
Monchi, who just so happens to be sitting in between Eric and Deborah, barked out in response.
The Mitchells then left, leaving them alone in the house. Since there wasn’t much these two robots could do. So, they continued coloring in the book while talking to each other.
“Eric, what should we do today?” Deborah looked over to him.
Eric paused and he recalled something he read previously from a book,
“I have an idea, you want to hear it?”
Deborah nodded and then sat up into criss-cross applesauce, he was excited to listen to what he had to say.
“I read that maybe we could go to a nature preserve and be ourselves!”
“But… we can’t go out, humans will despise seeing us!”
Eric put a hand to his chin, “that is exactly why I said that we should go to a nature preserve!”
“Ooh!” Deborah squealed, “can we bring Monchi along with us?”
He smiled and scratched the dog’s head, “yes, of course, we can bring him along!”
The two looked for whatever they needed for what they would need for their “trip”. They decided to bring a string bag to carry a camera and dog food for Monchi. To be honest, they didn’t even need a camera. They were robots, they could analyze anything and keep it in their memory. But they wanted to feel more human so they thought bringing a camera would add a human vibe between them. Eric was slightly hesitant about going, but what could go wrong for them? He chose a nature preserve for a specific reason, humans rarely ever roam those parts. It was the first time since… the invasion, that they have been out of the house. So it was nice to experience what the humans called, “a breath of fresh air”. Deborah made his way to the living room and picked up a bow tie and tied it around his neck. He often saw in human shows that one would wear a tie when they would go out with another person. Eric found Monchi’s leash and hooked it to Monchi’s collar. He wore the string on his bag and held on the slip of the leash with a tough grasp.
“Deborah, are you ready?”
Deborah clapped with enthusiasm, he could barely keep it to himself.
“We should go by the back door,” his energy level dwindled, “so the humans don’t attack us…”
Eric walked next to him and put his hand on his shoulder, “don’t worry, it’ll just be us.”
Monchi barked cheerfully and rubbed himself against Deborah’s legs. He gave what would be a sigh of relief and set his hand on Eric’s. The silence between them was deafening and a bit awkward, though it was a sweet moment that was shared between them. Neither of them could find a word to define this situation, there wasn’t one in their program or memory to find one. Perhaps calming or soothing could be used, whatever it was, they both loved this atmosphere. Eric shook his head to not fall into sleep mode, he then snapped back into reality, he almost felt that the gravity that was keeping him down was non-existent., “uh, I think we should get going now.”
Deborah nodded, “yes, yes we should.”
The trio went through the back door and stood in the middle of the backyard, they both calculated the best route to arrive at the nature preserve.
Deborah spoke up, “the best route will take about thirty minutes walking.”
“Perfect,” Eric continued to grip Monchi’s leash, “but first we have to go through the Poseys without getting seen.”
The Poseys and the Mitchells have a questionable relationship, not exactly friends nor enemies. One thing for sure is that the Poseys loathed the robots passionately, though they have never expressed it physically. The bots didn't want to be the first to find out how they show their hatred physically. Eric analyzed the area from the backyard, “how about we go behind the house?”
Before either of them could add on to that Monchi began running out of the yard, dragging Eric along with him. Deborah ran behind them both, he grabbed the other bot’s hand. Now he was being dragged along by Monchi, to his surprise, his tie was still in great condition.
To their surprise, Monchi was going the right way for the nature preserve. Throughout the running they went through thanks to Monchi, they didn’t see many humans outside which was pretty strange. Maybe it was like that because they were sprinting behind the backyards of houses and making clunking noises as they ran. Whatever it was, it did help them not get seen by anyone.
“Eric, do something about Monchi,” Deborah put his free hand over his drawn mouth, “I think I might throw up the oil in my system.”
Eric tugged on the leash and almost instantly, Monchi instantly parked his but on the grass. They both stood in place and took a break, neither of them noticed that they were still holding hands. Deborah left his hand over his mouth just in case,
“Whew, thank you, I honestly thought I was going to vomit.”
Eric realized he was holding his hand and squeezed it to comfort him. Deborah responded by putting his freehand down and cocked his head to the side,
“this is… comforting…”
They analyzed how much time they had left until they arrived, to their surprise they had fifteen minutes left to go. They continued walking (and holding hands), the bots leaned on each other. Monchi walked ahead of them, this also had a unique sensation to it. Again, neither of them could find a proper word to describe this feeling.
“I am going through an indescribable emotion, what about you Eric?”
Eric thought for a moment, “I am as well, how strange isn’t it?”
“Hm, why is that?”
“We are experiencing the same unnameable moment but neither of us can describe it accurately.”
“Ah, just like when we held hands when we were saving the world with the Mitchells!” Deborah squealed while hopping.
Eric laughed, “not exactly, this has a different feeling.”
The trio soon arrived at the park and they ran into the grass, Eric definitely didn't let go of Monchi’s leash. The two bots still didn't let go of their hands, they laughed and we’re extremely content being together. Monchi unexpectedly stopped running and settled on the ground, causing Eric and Deborah to fall. Eric fell flat on his back on the grass, Deborah tumbled prostrate right next to him. They both chuckled about it, they felt so… so free (for the lack of the better word). Eric rubbed his hand on the other bot’s back to comfort this (he often saw Linda do this to Aaron).
“I sense joy that we have been able to come all the way here.”
A light bulb lit over Eric’s head which caused him to take the string bag off his bag and pull out the camera. He prepared the camera and aimed it to Deborah,
“Hey Deborah, look at the camera and say something!”
He waved to the camera, “Hello, world!”
Monchi walked into the view of the camera and waved a paw, his tail wagged behind him. Deborah snatched the camera from his clasp and pointed to Eric,
“Give Monchi his food, I think he deserves it now.”
Eric pulled out the dog food, opened it, and placed it in front of Monchi so he could chew down on it. Deborah recorded it and giggled for no absolute reason, he felt that he had butterflies in his chest. He then turned the camera off and placed it back into the bag and schooched closer to Eric. They occasionally had to shift around so that they wouldn’t fall into sleep mode, Monchi was a big help too by licking their legs.
When they left home it was about seven-thirty in the morning, now it is about eight in the morning. The breeze felt cool against the plate on their body, even though they couldn’t physically feel anything. Monchi began to calm down and laid down between Eric and Deborah, who were both about a few inches away from each other. Oh how Deborah wanted to stay here, in this exact moment, with Eric forever.
Unfortunately, it was ruined by a pesky human child.
“Mom, there are two robots laying in the grass!”
The child walked their way to the robots with a surprisingly high speed, this caused the trio to get on their feet. Before they could make their getaway, they saw it was her. The daughter of the Poseys, pointing right at them. Which was strange, she should have been in school at this hour. That didn’t matter, they had to get away. Monchi was their guide and led them back home. They stumbled through the back door, once they were inside, Eric immediately shut and locked the door.
“My processor almost overheated the second I saw her.”
Deborah unhooked Monchi’s leash and let him roam around the house, “yeah, but it was a strange encounter if I do say so myself.”
Eric untied the other bot’s bow tie and plucked all the grass from it, “why did you wear this?”
Deborah shrugged, “I see people do it in human shows sometimes.”
They sat and leaned next to each other on the living room couch, they also accidently fell into sleep mode. Monchi was off in Aaron’s room doing whatever a dog does.
Mr. Posey saw from outside the Mitchells’ front lawn that the bots were in good condition and living with the Mitchells.
“So the rumors are true,” he rubbed his chin, “that family do have robots in their home.”
He, and his family, were going to take care of those awful robots for once and for all...