Work Text:
He was unsure of how much time had passed, God forbid it has been hours- but with that, a shot of small electrify suddenly turns the crimson machine back up from their temporary sleep mode. They make a quick analysis at how much time it took for them to recap their programming: Approximately one minute and thirty-four seconds. That’s still okay. When their optics flicker on, the first thing they notice is a familiar, blue figure digging in a tool box, humming approvingly when she found the thing needed. The clothes she wore today lazily hung over her upper frame, the lower part of her black shirt tucked into her shorts.
“Ah, that was faster than I expected.” She notes as she’s bringing her chair closer in front of V2, leaning closer.
“What? You thought I’d be over here updating my status for hours? I think we already discussed that I’m a better development than that asshole.” V2 sounds offended, shifting his arms to lay it on the metal table that’s right next to them.
“That’s an exaggeration, but sure.” She says, her optic eyelids shutting close for a second. A scoff escapes from V2, and turns his head away the slightest.
His chin, in response, is grabbed by Mirage’s fingers, shifting V2’s head back for her attention. Her pupil features flicker the slightest.
“I need you to focus on me.” She says gently.
The red machine stares. They’re frozen for the time being.
“Yeah, okay.”
She releases her soft grip, lowering her hands to place it on V2’s plating. As she’s about to screw the crimson plating off, Mirage pauses, her fingers rubbing on the surface softly. She glares up at V2.
“…Yeah?” V2 questions with genuine confusion.
“I don’t want you to electrify me.” She says, continuing to rub her fingers against them.
“Oh, right,” a quick response, and just like that, his processors dug up a file that contains the area of their chest. His HUD brings up several pop-ups of confirms and questions, and after buffering for a little, their upper body completely shuts off, except for his arms.
The sudden shut-down makes V2’s pupils go wide, and their hands scramble for Mirage’s shoulders for balance. She in response is quick at screwing off the red plating as fast as she can, and once it comes off, she practically throws it onto the floor with a loud clang, her screwdriver accompanying it.
“Okay, you can turn it back on.”
She holds V2 up, careful to not mess around with his exposed wires, and she watches V2’s pupils show a little loading icon until their eyes appear again. Her lower eyelids go up at that, and she leans back a little.
“Welcome back again.”
His upper eyelids go down, and their vocals hush in a way that can be guessed as a sigh. They glance around to spot their plating, only to see it on the floor, scrubs of paint of it scattered on the cement floor. Their eyes flash back onto Mirage, staring.
“…Wasn’t it scratchy enough? Now it’s- is that a crack on it? Mirage, you-“ he takes a deep breath, leaning their head back, and closing his eyes for the moment. They hear her stand up for the chair, and scatter with something again in the distance.
“I don’t even know why I agreed to your idea. Are you trying to repaint it? If so, why getting it off was such a step to do?” His voices raises a little, and upon hearing the pure silence of ignorance from the other part, his fans raise out of emotion.
“Are you even listening? Mirage I swear-“ They turn their head back to his mechanic, and his voicebox cuts off seeing what she holds in both of her hands.
She stares back, and then down at the metal part she’s holding, and then back at V2.
“Well, yeah. I painted an entirely new plating for you.”
V2 observes the completely new chestplate, baffled. Their pupils go smaller to zoom in as much as they can.
It’s paint job is absolutely immaculate, the crimson red almost completely matches his own color, and there’s a layer of glossiness on it. The shaping itself is quite literally the same, with every curve carefully made and put together.
His name- “V2”- is carved perfectly on the right side of it.
“C…Can you turn it around-“
The back side of the plating is just too nice to look at. Lots of the scraps used for it were noticeably an older type than what they have originally, but that’s not even an issue to mention. The wires are criss-crossed nicely, snaking against eachother smoothly unlike his plating. (It is true though that during his many combats, those wires have been disturbed and rearranged many times).
And, there has been just one or two new features that V2 doesn’t recognize, them not being there originally.
Mirage in continous silence sits in front of V2 again, and she helds the crimson plating in her arm. Her other hand gently caresses her red companions’ exposed wires, which sends electric shivers down V2’s spine almost immediatelly.
“I can still put the older plating back. You clearly don’t like this one…” there’s clear smugness in her voice, but it still makes V2 defend himself.
“No, I’m just kinda shocked, that’s it. I want this one- definitely.”
Mirage chuckles quietly, and her fingers stop at a wire that’s particularly sticking out. It’s pink-ish, with a tint of red.
“I’m not very convinced… But sure.”
With that, V2 electrifies Mirage’s finger just a little, earning a small gasp from her. In response, she hooks her finger under the small wire, and tugs onto it- also earning a sound from her companion. V2’s fans get louder, and his head turns away.
Mirage can’t help but admire the exposed chest more, though. The way their body is build up is simply immaculate, how the parts are put together, how blood runs through thicker cables, and just how V2’s mechanical heart glows faintly under a small layer of clear protection. She’s tempted to right then and there, just hook her fingers under more wires, and explore something that she doesn't get to see very often, and just-
“Come on now, I’m getting cold here.”
Her hands stop. “Surely…” She chuckles again, listening to the revved up fans that are much more clear now because of how it’s exposed.
After leaning down for her screwdriver, she becomes focused at what’s in front of her. Her head leans left and right to observe how exactly she’s going to put the new plating up, hoping that just by any chance, she did not mess up any measurements just the slightest.
She grabs the small screws from the metal table, and then after staring a bit more at the job she’s about to do, she hums.
“Lean back and turn off again for me.”
V2 without a word complies. Another set of popups come up in their screen again, and then they feel limp once more.
Mirage is quicker to act this time, and she’s being as precise as possible; gently placing the plating back on, grabbing a screw, and twisting it back on. Another screw, and after she has done three, she leans back to make sure everything is in place and perfect.
And, it is- after she completely puts it back on, she smooths the plating, and then pats V2’s shoulder. The message was clear; they buffer here and there, blinking once or twice, and then they turn their head down.
He brings both of his hands up, cupping their new plating softly, feeling up the nice, fresh material up, but stops as their HUD suddenly gets surrounded by an unusual warning they hadn’t seen since their time surrounded with scientists;
…
// cmds_prompt_administrator
[Allow “b00mb0x_player” to run at all times?]
…
…
// Y
Setting up new plugin…
…
[Plugin succesfully installed!]
“…What?”
“What?”
V2 squints at Mirage. “Boombox player?”
She giggles. “You mentioned once that you are fond of music and singing, so I thought about making a personal plugin for your voicebox which makes your vocal ranges change, depending on how, and what you sing.”
V2 glances down, then back at Mirage, eyes wide. “…So that’s why you needed that broken radio from the side of the road…”
She nods. “It was honestly a miracle that I get to make it work. The amount of time I spent on just turning it on made me experience sweating, I swear. And then I’d have to rearrange it’s insides so that it even connects to the entire system- I’m thankful we have a very similar body, otherwise I couldn’t have kept this a secre-“
Tight arms hug around Mirage’s frame, completely cutting her words off. The crimson machines’ head cranes to place it around his companions’ neck, with small, mechanical murmurs escaping from him.
Her fans hum, and she hugs V2 back, making small, slow circles on his back with her palms.
“Thanks, Mirage.”
“Don’t mention- this is only the beginning.”
V2 leans back at that, and his head tilts.
“What are you exactly planning?”
“Oh. Many things. If you allow, that is.” Her voice uplifted, hands landing on V2’s knees as she hets closer.
“As long as you don’t make me completely shut down and turn me blue, fine by me.”
“Can’t promise anything.” Her head leans closer to V2 leaving a little space between them- until there’s none, as V2 closes the space completely, and there’s a small, mechanical sting between them where their mouths would be.
Mirage leans backwards, her eyelids lowering.
“Okay, so, what, can you actually sing? Are you talented enough to do that?”
“Do you even deserve to hear me sing?”
“Well, I could make you sing if you really want me to.”
V2 freezes; the second time he does so in the span of ten minutes. His voice-box stutters, then clears ‘his throat’.
“Fine, just, give me a little. Let me admire myself first.” He mumbles a response,
“Alright…” She stands up from her chair, going over to her toolbox to put everything back in place. “Just don’t take too long- I’m actually curious now.”
V2 doesn’t answer, but if they could, he would be smiling right now as she doesn’t see him.