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Jonny d’Ville rests a hand on his chest, feeling the metallic beating of his everlasting heart there, just beneath the skin and the bone. he can’t say how many times he's tried to rip it out of his chest. He looks over his crew, eyes narrowing for no other reason besides the drama of it, if you'd like though, he can make something up. He looks over his crew eyes narrowing when he sees... hm this is harder than he thought it would be... that someone forgot his rule about not feeding the octokittens? Y'know it was probably Marius, and he probably didn't forget, he likely just chose to ignore the rules made for their safety in favor of feeding those pests. Jonny sighs and returns his sight to the window, he gazes out at the vast expanse of space. He feels a hand on his shoulder. Turning around he sees Brian, bronze face lit up by the light of the stars right outside.
"Hey." He smiles at him, it feels plastic on his travel-worn face, but he means it all the same. Brian doesn't say anything for a while, he just stares out into the void stretched before him. Jonny can read him like a book though and knows exactly how he feels, he's felt it himself before, the metal body part out of place, too tight on a still-growing soul. But for Brian that's just who he is, when they brought him back he was metal, everything except his heart, the other mechs aren’t even sure if the bronze and brass face they know resembles the man he remembers. Jonny knows though and in his heart, he knows that Brian is the same kind, adventurous man he met and fell in love with all those years ago.
He doesn't say that though, he just stares with him, leaning his head on his shoulder.
"I miss mortality sometimes," Jonny says. the words weigh heavy on him as if just saying it adds more onto that old tin heart that beats insistently in his hollow chest. Brian looks down at him, arm cold around his shoulders bit eyes kind and warm.
"I have nothing to miss. Do you want to tell me how it felt?" It’s a game they play sometimes. tell me how it feels, Brian will say, and Jonny will answer. He's no poet but the picture ends up coming out fine enough. Jonny will never know how little Brian feels, trapped in his cold metal form.
"It’s terrifying," he begins, "you only get one chance before the death sticks."
"That sounds like nothing to envy."
Jonny sighs, pulling his partner's arm tighter around him "most of the time it's not." he thinks for a second before adding, "but you also feel more. when you think you could lose it all at any moment you appreciate the time you have. you feel everything a little bit more."
Brian hums and Jonny can feel it echo through his hollow form.
"Even pain?"
"Yeah, even pain."
They sit for a while in silence, staring out as they hurtle into the void.
"Was it worth it? Being mortal?"
"I think it was." and they watch again, stars flying past, second by second worlds flash by, each with billions of people, billions of lives that will someday come to an end.
"Hey weren't you supposed to be flying this thing?"
"..." Brian looks panicked "Oh fuck."