Work Text:
The officers and detectives in the department had been wandering around with either an air of blissful or deathly haze. It was an obvious behavioral pattern that sparked around this time of year and Eclipse never thought to pay too much electricity to his servos about it. As long as his subordinates were doing their work and not letting the holidays get in the way, he doesn’t care what face they have while they do it. As long as…as long as they get it done.
*knock knock*
Eclipse glanced up from his paperwork. Smoothly, he hands eases off of their four pens, setting them down. He flexes his metal fingers and suppresses the urge to say no- “Come in.”
Not a second wasted, the large door opens and out walks in his newest little rookie. Everyone on his teams are ‘little’ to him, but you…you were just hard to spot. You were of average height, but you evaded his optics very easily. He kept disregarding you, even though you did so many things for the department. In just the first few months of him knowing you, you’ve cleaned a great deal of the moles planted around the building and did all your work on time. Which was already better than most here, much to his chagrin.
Without a word, you set down your finished documents on his desk, spreading them out in a way to where they didn’t impede on his own. It blatantly showed the completed work in all of the provided fields. At the rate you were going, Eclipse was half inclined to just let you go home early, but that probably won’t end well with everyone else. The chief glanced down at the completed fields and suddenly had a strikingly human feeling to sigh. You’re a great worker, phenomenal, even, it’s just…
“Detective, I’m this close to asking for a typewriter to be issued to you,” the synthetic sigh finally leaks into his voice.
You simply tilt your head. Why hasn’t he?
The celestial animatronic hadn’t been able to fully analyze your movements due to almost never seeing you, but catches your slight indication of confusion. He takes a shot at the dark and explains anyway. He didn’t have much of a mind to care, “The reason why I haven’t is because I do need to learn more styles of human handwriting. Wouldn’t do if we came across evidence we can’t decipher, wouldn’t it,” he meant to sound informative, but realized he sounded very sarcastic as he slowly scanned through your work.
Your head returns back to the center. You were certainly an odd duck, that’s for sure. In all the small handfuls of interactions with you, he hasn’t seen another expression on your face aside from the one you have right now. In fact, he was starting to think that it’s not just with him. You were very isolated from your other coworkers, much to his surprise. But, evidence showed that it made sense, since you probably got some of their friends fired after exposing them. Humans have a prideful habit of not admitting they were wrong, especially after knowing they were now associated with criminals.
There just wasn’t much wrong with you, aside from being eerily suspicious. Not that being suspicious hasn’t deterred him before, due to his slipping reverie, and obvious hires of suspicious people. But people ‘sneaking’ in are doing whatever they can to blend in, which means their work ethics are either really good or only looks really good, and he could go with either. But you were both, with only one flaw.
Your handwriting was absolutely atrocious.
“Not eager to get out of here, are you,” he murmurs to himself, glancing up at you with a furrowed gazed. He was running out of things to smile about.
You don’t say anything, but simply shrug.
Well, he doesn’t smile, but the corner of his silicon lips twitch. He tolerates you, he imagines, but he couldn’t deny that you were amusing. You had these…dead eyes that followed people around. It unnerved him for a good while, until he realized he was practically doing the same thing. But looking at it objectively, yours looks more like a lost child who doesn’t know how to interact in society. That mindset was easier to use with you, since Eclipse was partial to children.
Eclipse could actually remember the first time he’s heard you speak. It was around when he first met you, when he was absolutely convinced you were probably a spy from another syndicate. He told you not to kill. He bets electricity and blood that you’ve probably killed several people after he said that and that his words didn’t have any lasting effect. However, your diligence was lasting longer than all of the other spies, so that was something.
And since you’ve come, those moles have been dropping like flies. So forgetting you were here from time to time was actually kind of disrespectful, even if you’ve never brought it up to him. It was kind of sad, now that he thought about it. After Eclipse finished deciphering your work and filing it away, he tried to nonchalantly talk to you.
“Are you spending today with anyone?” he starts, picking up his pens again. He could multitask.
You tilt your head to the side more than you usually do. It was great that you did that, because your face literally doesn’t change. Eclipse wonders if it was a medical problem. Without a word, you give one shake of your head.
He quirks a brow, “You do realize what day it is, right.”
His mouth twitched again as he saw your eyes flicker to the calendar posted behind him. You nod immediately afterward.
“Valentine's Day? You don’t have anyone for Valentine's Day?” there was a small smirk on his face that he couldn’t completely get rid of.
You stare at him for a long second before slowly shaking your head. Basic human analysis from Eclipse’s protocols didn’t always work with you, but he could tell from that hesitation, whether you allowed it or not, told him something that amused him even more. His metal hands slowed, and he caught your eyes glancing at them.
“Detective,” he couldn’t keep the smile out of his voice, “Do you know what Valentine’s Day is?”
The stare you held this time bore into his core. Eclipse could imagine that you wanted to be anywhere but here. A workaholic perhaps? He let out a short laugh.
“Seeing as you don’t have anyone today, would you honor me with your presence this evening?” he didn’t mean for that last part to be sarcastic, but he’s said it to too many humans. And he had a good bet that the sarcasm probably flew past your head, looking at your blank eyes, “I’d like to reward you for your hard work.”
The look on your face started to change. Or at least he thought. It just sort of twitched, like you were trying to make an expression, but it wasn’t translating right on your face. Maybe it was a medical condition? Maybe the same reason why you didn’t talk much? He’s heard you say coherent sentences, but-
“Why,” you murmur, a bare whisper, even, something his receptors obviously caught, but he was still surprised nonetheless.
He regards you for a slow second before carefully speaking. Logically, he shouldn’t care much, but you were simply…fascinating. And he figures that doing this will ease the weight on his core for now. Your efforts deserve to be recognized. Hard work should be rewarded. He knows that better than anyone. Even though he got what he technically wanted, his efforts were seen as a threat, if anything. You didn’t even do anything wrong, as far as he knows.
“Why?” he echoes back with an amused lilt, “You’ve done so many things for this department, and furthermore, this city. This place was absolutely crawling with moles that them blending in was better work ethic than those who actually worked here,” the last sentence finished darkly, “Honestly, I was starting to lose hope in this place. And your hard work deserves to be awarded.”
~~~~~
“I need to give you some reason to keep doing what you’re doing.”
His words made sense. You knew that in this world, especially this city, good work that wasn’t rewarded was usually followed up with some angry debt. Eye for an eye. Dollar for a dollar. So you could understand why he’s doing this. But here you sat at your desk as the sun was starting to set and tried to think. You’ve…never heard of Valentine’s Day before, but now that you’re paying attention to your coworkers’ conversation, this holiday was apparently a big deal. You don’t remember Michael, Elizabeth, or Evan talking about the day, let alone even celebrating it. You tried not to dwell on it too hard, considering that the chief was going to ‘show you the ropes’, so to speak, and ‘if you don’t like it, at least you know’. If this goes south, as most interactions like this are, at least you’ll rid the police department of one more pest.
But would it render that seemingly branded deal that you two had worthless? He was a police chief, an animatronic one no less, so you could understand that his words had a significant weight to them. But no words were heavy enough to imprint lasting orders on yourself. Don’t kill, he says? But that’s so inefficient, you wanted to say back. But it struck you, curious. Sure, he was from law enforcement, but this was Naff City. And this was the Naff City police department where morals dipped into the basement as much as it did past its doors. Killing was quite the norm on both ends.
So the fact that he orders not to kill despite his definitely lethal physique and build was a surprise. You wanted to learn that. Memories of the events that lead to you traveling around this city alone, whispered its reminders. Yes. Your current goal was to clean up your home city. However, to do that, you have to learn how to love and take pride in your work, as promised. According to the excited murmurs of your coworkers, this holiday was all about the former.
Perhaps you could ask the chief about the concept.
“Detective.”
A large, leather gloved hand gently covered over your own, instantly stopping your writing. Slowly raising your head, you end up craning your neck and leaning back in your chair, out of your shrimp-like posture. Clad in his deep burgundy trench coat, the chief was carrying leftover paperwork in one set of arms, the upper set holding your hand and a set of keys.
“Staying late tonight?” his rays flex back and forth. Your eyes are easily caught by their movement. You don’t know why.
Unbeknownst to you, Eclipse had figured this out and used that to get your attention.
You allowed yourself to be guided up by his hand as he led you around your desk. It felt weird, like you were being led in a dance, but in walking form. He released your hand and started striding towards the door. Catching his significantly longer gait, you eased up next to him. There was a brief moment where you felt his gaze down on you, before it disappeared at the glass doors.
The celestial animatronic leads you to the parking lot and unlocks a very impressive looking car. You wondered how this robot got around since he had a very tall stature, but this was certainly not what you thought. Not only was this vehicle tailored to his size, but it looked insanely expensive, almost futuristic. Again, he was in a very important position, but was he truly this rich?
“Before you ask, this was a gift from the mayor,” he said lightheartedly, walking over to the passenger side. He opens the door, looking at you from the other side, “...Well? Are you coming?”
He wants you to go in the car. Would you even fit? You doubt you’ll get in a car accident with possibly the most law-abiding person in all the city, but…
You walked around to the passenger side and his hand was stuck out to you. You don’t know why his hand was out like that, but you glanced in at the seat, relieved that it looked normal. You helped yourself into the tall car, resisting the urge to look around the vehicle. You did see that the driver seat was back further and lower than the passenger’s, probably getting rid of one of the backseats. The pedals and steering wheel were also larger. It was certainly impressive. You wondered if the chief and the mayor were close. You knew that the mayor was an animatronic, too, and as far as you saw, he held a promising future in bringing a sort of peace between humans and animatronics.
The chief slides into the driver’s seat and you watch him do so. The car door on his side even matches the seat as he slides in effortlessly, buckling himself in. You mindlessly follow as he starts his car. It’s a cold February and the minute the car purrs to life, a small to steady stream of heat flooded the car. You’ve never experienced heating this quickly anywhere, let alone in a car. Your apartment doesn’t heat up this fast.
…Eclipse caught the muted and very faint twinkle in your eyes at the car. It’s around this time where he becomes…invested.
Throughout the rest of the car ride, you watched out the window in fascination at the city rushing past your eyes and police chief Eclipse talking about all the shiny and new things that he found you staring at. You’ve never willingly gotten into a vehicle and it’s been a long time since you’ve been in one, period. Eclipse hasn’t talked this much to humans, let alone willingly and…could he call it happily? Moreso amusedly. Whatever interaction they were experiencing, they were existing next to each other and the world shrunk around them.
You didn’t pay attention to your general surroundings or the very city you lived in, to the details that the chief was describing them as. It was ‘this location’ had ‘such and such targets/information/hideout’. To him, it was ‘this place has very good food’ or ‘this library has a darling nook’ and ‘this cafe has a great view’. Things you didn’t consider. It was refreshing.
Eclipse, although he definitely feels like he shouldn’t, treated your questioning gazes like a child would, seeing the world for the first time. It made him wonder if your head ever leaves work. He didn’t know where, exactly, you lived, but he thought you’d certainly know these places on the way back, seeing as you didn’t have a car. Did you go anywhere else besides work?
“Aren’t you curious about where we’re going?” the tall man chuckled as your head spins to face your new question. While the sparkle was still muted, it was certainly much brighter than anything he’s seen from you.
It made him wonder.
“Well, we’re going to this place called Skyline Restaurant. Was invited here once after I earned the position. Ever been there before?” he glances at you off of the road for a moment.
You gave him a small shake of the head, short and fast. He couldn’t help but see it childishly and he smiled. He’s been smiling a lot in this looping car ride. While he didn’t stray completely off of the main way to the restaurant on the other side of town, he did take a…scenic route there, wanting to elicit more stars in your eyes. Like he could make your eyes look less haunted. Haunted, that’s a word to call it. In this day and age, he wouldn’t be surprised. No, you were an accomplished detective, not to be looked down upon and babied.
However, as someone who was very lonely and very burdened, he wouldn’t be surprised if you did go through something that drove you to this work force. Not that it was something healthy to bond over, but he did want to be some sort of moral support. He hasn’t been able to be outside of a professional setting…and it wouldn’t hurt to have friends.
When they arrived, you watched the chief roll down his window with a button. A button. Telling the valet that he was going to park his own car, because the significantly smaller man wouldn’t be able to sit properly in his immovable seat. The valet squeaked out a fear-filled agreement and told him where to go, even though it was obvious that he knew where. You could see that the imposing-looking celestial animatronic was trying to appear polite and kind, but his stature was just too large. You’ve seen and dealt with plenty of celestial animatronics, but none of them are nearly as huge as the chief. You wondered if he was made for the job, and if so, that doesn’t explain why he’s so massive.
But as you tried to mimic unbuckling your seatbelt as he did it so naturally, he was already out of his seat. Before you had a split second decision to break the entrapping buckle so you could catch up with him, the passenger door opens and four hands smoothly enter, removes your struggling hands, and easily unbuckles you. Your body goes rigid and while it wasn’t that difficult, you catch yourself from elbowing his arms away and kicking him in the face. His arms were long enough for important parts of his body to not be in the vehicle, but animatronic joints were easy to ruin. But would it be the same for him…?
After you’re helped out, he tucks his hands behind himself as you two walk back to the entrance, “You looked like you were going to break it,” he half smiles to himself.
You don’t say anything and just stare forward. You’ve never been in such close quarters with someone that didn’t involve you knocking them out. And you’re glad that you didn’t go into normal protocol against him. You could tell that he means no harm, nothing lacing words or actions. Either that, or he was just good at hiding it. But seeing as the valet was a human and there are a lot of humans about, this would probably not be a wise idea to do anything violent. Or maybe that was it. You were probably being used as a relationship key. Like he was wanting to be seen with you to look less threatening? But as a police chief? Isn’t being threatening a trait that he’d want to have?
It confuses you further as you two go to a more discrete corner of the restaurant, even though some people, in this 80% human environment, had to do a double take at the pair of you. So, you’re not here to boost his reputation, make him look good, or anything like that.
“Apologies, I’d imagine that you don’t want to be found too out in the open with an animatronic,” his laugh was short and dark. A waiter was practically shaking at his side as the chief slid the chair out further, and sits practically cross-legged, just with his behind off of the ground, “Makes for better sitting room. What do you want to drink? You can point it out on the menu.”
While you didn’t like people looking down on you, you were internally thankful for him guiding you through these interactions, because you haven’t had a sit down at a restaurant where you actually ate something. If you were sitting at a restaurant it wasn’t as ritzy as this one and it’d be to spy at someone for information and, long ago, for assassination. You didn’t really order food, more rather than a drink. You watched the chief’s upper arms flip through and turn the drink section of the menu towards you as his lower arms deftly undos his coat and drape it over his lap.
He doesn’t order anything, but tells the waiter that they’ll take some time ordering, watching the poor guy scamper off, relieved to get out from underneath his gaze. You suppose it wasn’t doing him any favors to have black sclera optics with lightning yellow rings for irises. Your head slowly tilts to the side as you watch him remove his gloves, set them neatly in his pockets. No one tried to approach him to take his coat, though it looks like he expected as much. Your eyes stared at his own, as if you were willing to catch them staring back. As if you could take a closer look. It wasn’t hard, as you were looking up at him, even sitting down.
The yellow rings move minutely back and forth over the black space, before looking up and meeting your intense gaze. You were sure of it. They glowed. Like twin angel halos.
“Detective?” he smiled half-heartedly, “Did you pick out what you wanted to eat?”
You don’t know if there was an afterlife, let alone one for animatronics, but you did hear about it from the kids. How there was a glorious realm of no pain or suffering and how there was a burning hellscape with seas of torturous fire and brimstone. The latter being the place where you’ll probably end up. You didn’t know much about those, but you did know that the former had these creatures called angels. Many visual depictions have them looking demure and pure, but you’ve read descriptions of them from the texts of which they originate. With those descriptions they’re usually followed by a spoken line; “Be not afraid.”
Reading the descriptions, it made sense. They were supposed to be protective and holy beings, there to assist humans in their time on Earth. But they look nothing like what humans are used to. They look nothing like their murals and stained glass windows. The angels meant well, but were feared.
Your eyes focus back to the halos again.
He’s like an angel, isn’t he? Something humans didn’t expect to come out the way it did, several limbs, very tall and powerfully imposing, kind and protective. And has a halo. No, he has two. He may not have wings but he’s certainly closer to the sky than his fleshy counterparts.
“...Detective?” he quirks a metal brow, raising one of his hands. Your eyes smoothly follow them, inspecting another part of his body. Multicolored hands. Your head tilts back upright, “Are you alright?”
You nod once.
The rest of the night consists of the chief explaining what different items were on the menu, seeing as you didn’t know half of them, trying a new food, and him amusedly watching you.
“...And there’s nothing for me to eat here. I can drink oil, but I doubt they’d give me that,” he converses freely, gauging your small but attentive reactions. You don’t talk, but you wordlessly communicate in a way that made him one-siding this not awkward, “It must look weird on the outside, huh. And you’re supposed to be my valentine,” he says the last sentence with playful sarcasm and a mechanical huff.
You tilt your head. You’re his what? Wasn’t valentine a day? How are you his day? How are you today and how are you his? Is this his way of saying you’re his subordinate? You pass it off as there being another definition that you’re not aware of. You were learning a lot today, after all.
“Hm? There something I said that was confusing?” his rays do a little swish. They catch your thoughts immediately.
Glancing down at your now empty plate and second drink, you take your glass and take a contemplative sip. You did have a lot of questions that, despite him being an animatronic, the chief seems very qualified to answer, but…
You place the glass back down, “What’s a valentine.”
Eclipse’s hands still. The surprise was very evident on his face as his lips opened, then closed, trying to mask it all. You don’t mind it, as it was to be expected. His face gains control again and he starts with his confidence returned, “Well, Valentine was the name that two people shared, who were martyred on February 14, or at least around there. It wasn’t really a love-related holiday until the 14th century. Calling someone your ‘valentine’,” he pauses, hoping to choose his words carefully, “...means it’s someone who…well, it's the person you’re giving affection to on Valentine’s Day. The more encompassing term it’s a term of endearment for someone you love.”
You stare.
Eclipse fumbles, waving a pair of his hands, while the other squeezes closer to his body, “Okay, well, there are four different main umbrellas under the already large umbrella term ‘love’, alright? It doesn’t necessarily have to be romantic, there’s love between family members, friends, and the expressions of kindness, like holding a door open for someone,” another pause, “I wonder if fondness for inanimate objects count…like your favorite pen, or something like that.”
That was certainly new information. The chief seems to be filled with plenty of data that you could glean to complete your goals. You leaned forward at the words, hoping to learn from them fast and easy. Love was an umbrella term with several sub-versions that give it more definition. It appears to be abstract, as if even those more specific categories weren’t going to help you in identifying it in real time, let alone in yourself.
“What love do we have,” you ask, your voice a bit breathy from lack of use. He did call you his ‘valentine’, so apparently they had some kind of love. Talking usually got you in trouble, but you had to remind yourself that you needed to do so to look a semblance of normal. Normal people spoke all the time.
Eclipse, on the other hand, sputters, his rays jerking and his fingers fluttering, “I-Detective, you don’t need to say it like that,” he admonishes, “I…well, I think…” he sighs, leaning forward to rest one of his long arms on the table, trying to put his thoughts together in a way your childish expectancy could understand. It felt like that one time a child as him where babies came from, “We have a sort of camaraderie, I suppose. It’s like a vague form of the friendship category, but due to the business nature of it, it may be even more obscure…”
And yet, you’re still his valentine. So it doesn’t take a lot of love to become one. To have a whole holiday to revere a set of people who died for such a phenomenon, isn’t that setting the bar pretty low? Then again, it is certainly a long time ago.
You wander in your thoughts as the nervous waiter comes to collect your plate, glass, and silverware. As he shakily pulls out the receipt, the chief stops your hand from digging out your wallet.
“I got it covered,” another hand was holding up his own billfold, adroitly thumbing up exact change onto the rectangular plate, before you could attempt to refute. You couldn’t help but feel a dull pang in your heart that you were being rude. But it faded just as quickly as it arrived.
You watched the celestial animatronic slide on his black leather gloves with smooth dexterity, with internal marvel. He stands up and slides easily back into his coat and watches you curiously as you stand up next to him.
“...I’ve been meaning to ask you,” he starts and you strain your head back as he gazes back down with a nervous smile. Nervous? Could you call it nervous? It appeared crooked, “Do you have a coat?”
You stare.
His smile thins, “Detective, you do realize how cold it is outside, right?”
You continue to stare.
The chief emits a playful sigh with a slight shake of his faceplate, “Not to offend you, but your flesh is susceptible to the elements. It would be in your best interest to buy a coat.”
You start walking out of the restaurant with an amused chief easily catching up next to you. He holds open the door and you two walk back to the car as he lightly explains why you need a coat. You, on the other hand, wanted to tell him how hindering a coat was, if he was going to get anything like he’s wearing. Sure, it would be nice and insulated, but you moved around town more than he did. Your flesh was already heated, it didn’t need anymore. But you couldn’t tell him that. So you just gave minute shakes of the head.
“Not to alarm you, but I know where you live,” he says casually as they start driving home. He doesn’t know your address consciously, but it was in his hard drives from your application and resume, “It was in your files. I’m dropping you off,” Eclipse doesn’t mean to sound clipped, but he was running low on power and also needed to get home to charge.
You don’t know what to do with that information, yet. You had to provide a stable living address on your application, as provided why you’re now locked in one place. Something you learned is that one of the perks of having an animatronic chief is that the information of the officers could simply just be uploaded to his hard drive, instead of leaving them out in the open. While some files have been uploaded like that, most officers vehemently declined that offer. You don’t know if you have to update it in the future if your apartment becomes compromised, but you’ll find out.
It’s just him actively knowing it is what you have to watch out for now. Just something you’ll slot in the back of your mind. You shrug.
It doesn’t take long for Eclipse to find your apartment complex. Before you move, Eclipse swiftly places a hand on your seat belt buckle before you attempt to wrestle with it again, “I got it.”
You don’t let the twitch appear on your face. It wasn’t hard, but you weren’t exactly expecting to be in a car tonight.
“I saw you trying to break my car’s passenger buckle earlier,” he murmured, “Do you not know how to unbuckle a seat belt?”
You search his close angel eyes. If he was mocking or genuine, it wouldn’t matter to you. What did matter was that he was right and you didn’t know how to undo the buckle. You slowly nod.
“Here,” he gestures down to your buckle and you watch intensely as he shows where to curl your fingers under the latch, to pull up, and let the hook come out of the slot, “Do you need me to do it again?”
You shake your head. You’ve dedicated those few seconds to memorizing the simple motions. Although, you’re aware of the sort of childish treatment you were getting, again, the intentions didn’t matter to you. Even then, you could tell he was being patient and genuine. You knew where to apply these morals and how, but still needed more experience with it. So you soaked in this interaction like a sponge, sorting it away in your brain to record later.
“Good,” he smiles, sliding out of his already opened car door from his other pair of hands, since the top ones were dealing with your buckle.
In a couple of large strides around the vehicle, he was swift to open your passenger door and hold a hand out to you. As you awkwardly take his hand and allow him to let you down the tall edge of the car to the pavement, you hear him gently say, “Next time, instead of assuming that I won’t assist you in something you don’t know, just ask me. You’ve done nothing to warrant my distrust and I hope I haven’t, as well.”
~~~~~
You spend the rest of the night organizing the remaining documents for your next project. It idly occurs to you that one day the chief would be able to read your handwriting somewhere down the future. You should gauge whether or not you should remedy that or not. There’s apparently a lot of things about him if he’s to be a person of interest for your personal development. While you’re not capable of efficiently downloading data like the chief is, you did need to fill your husk of self with more protocols that dealt with more interactions. You were wandering into unknown territory letting him do what he did. But it was certainly a fascinating learning experience, and you needed all the experience that you could get.
Eclipse couldn’t remember a time where he felt naturally pleased, let alone interacting with a human adult. He knew he shouldn’t, but he saw you as a…child, almost. There was no way to adopt you, he knew that much. And he didn’t have it in him to see you as a younger sibling. He could try. Though, he knew it wouldn’t end well. That wasn’t something he should shove upon you. So, for now, he’ll work on the dutiful chief position in the relationship, like it should be. As analytical he’s supposed to be, learning to be more interactable with humanity is a sure trait to have. It looks like both of you will be learning together, won’t you?
So the two of you sort of grew up together. Unbeknownst to the other, it was like reliving a sort of childhood that neither of you had experienced. The relationship between you two had developed into a trusted close knit, even though the two barely knew anything about the other’s personal life. None of you had the mental capacities to allow anyone to devel into such…at least not then.
In the words of someone wise, until next time. Will they take that next time, well…
You already know the answer to that.