Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After three years in space fighting alien robots, being stranded, getting lost, and growing up. Will was finally home. Everyone was home. 

Will sat at his desk, writing an essay for a class his mom never stopped reminding him about even if it wasn't due until next week. He was almost finished anyway. All he needed to do was research more into his alien biology texts to go over how different organisms' respiratory systems work on different planets. Simple enough. 

He had already stayed up well past midnight finishing it because his mother wanted to go over it with him after school and help “improve it”. That usually meant he would spend another day or two adjusting things that never needed to be adjusted and rewording things to be more than professional. 

Will was smart enough to turn in an essay that took thirty minutes to write and have top colleges blown away. His mother on the other hand was much scarier and harder to impress than even colleges like Harvard back on earth. 

A loud buzz from his phone startled him as he rushed to silence it so he didn’t wake up the whole house. He would definitely get in trouble for staying up this late. 

Will looked down to see who was calling him. He sighed when he read the contact name. “Keahi, why the hell are you calling me at two in the morning,” Will whispered into the phone. 

“Did you by chance do that essay that nobody has even thought about doing yet?” Keahi asked through the phone. 

Will let out a long sigh as he couldn’t but smile. “Yeah I’m almost done. What about it?” Will didn’t need to hear the answer. He already knew. 

“Well…you know just kinda feel like bragging to my parents that I got it my work done early. But I can’t do that because I have absolutely no clue what this essay is even about,” Keahi said with a clear chuckle through the phone. 

“Is it really about your parents, or are you trying to up your fifteen in Mrs. Rossera’s class after you turned in a five thousand word response with just ‘I don’t know’,” Even if Will couldn’t see it, practically felt Keahi roll his eyes with a guilty smile. 

“I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. That was the best essay she ever received. It's not my fault she can’t grade,” Keahi said with very evident sarcasm in his voice as Will heard a chuckle slip through the speaker. 

Will had to cover his mouth to stop a chuckle from escaping. Finally when he managed to swallow the bubbling laugh building in his chest Will responded, “Alright I’ll send you a copy when I’m finished.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Will Robinson,” Keahi said with a clear dramatic tone. 

“It’s a hard job with you,” Will sighed as he continued to type out the last of his essay. He held the phone between his shoulder and his ear, squinting his eyes to make out what he was typing on his dimmed computer in the pitch black room. 

“Don’t expect a raise,” Keahi let out a “yeah whatever” sigh as he spoke.

“I think I deserve it as I do most of your school work for free,” Will smiled as he let out a sarcastic shocked chuckle. 

Keahi huffed, “yeah exactly I’m overpaying you already.” 

The amount of sarcasm in Keahi’s natural tone almost made Will laugh. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Will smiled. “Alright I sent you the copy. You better change it this time so we don’t get half points taken off. My mom nearly tore my head off last time.”

“Don’t worry Will, it will be way better than even yours when I’m done with it,” Keahi said with an extraordinary amount of confidence in his voice for somebody who was failing. 

“I’m sure,” Will said as he finally shut off his computer and stretched upwards. 

“Night Keahi,” Will yawned. 

“Night Robinson,” Keahi responded before handing up. 

Will tossed his phone onto his bed as he rubbed his eyes, which were sore from staring at a screen for four hours straight. 

He noticed a blue light peeking in through his door and Will couldn’t help but smile.

“Do you have to look into my room Everytime you hear something?” Will said in an amused tone as he looked up at Robot. Starry lights looked back down at him, as loud quieted metal footsteps entered his room. 

“Alright I got the message. I’m going to sleep, you can stop being so pushy,” Will sighed as he looked up at Robot who was staring down at him intensely, and very slowly moving a hand over to nudge Will into bed. 

He patted Robot’s shoulder as he slipped under the covers. Robot helping pull them up over his shoulders and tucking him in quite too snuggly. A habit Will noticed Robot picked up from his mother. But it made them both happy. 

“Night Robot,” Will yawned as he turned onto his side and slipped a hand under his pillow. 

Robot didn’t respond verbally, something he learned not to do when his loud mechanical voice would wake everyone up. Instead his lights spun faster, as he walked back over to Will’s door. Standing guard for the night.

Will hardly ever dreamed since he finally arrived in Alpha-Centuri. But when he did they were usually horrible nightmares or depressing stories that played on repeat in his head. Some about the Robots, others about how the Adler children are after their fathers passing, but most about horrors of his heart failing and Robot disintegrating right in front of him. But he hadn’t had one of those in almost a month.  

Now he mostly sleeps peacefully without dreams. But tonight he smiled as he dreamt of those warm fluffy cakes him and Judy used to make. Will would always cover them in way too much powdered sugar. But cooking was the one science he was allowed to not be exact in. Besides the mountain of white powder is what made them so good anyway.

Chapter Text

Will always set his alarm for six in the morning. Sometimes, if he felt like sleeping in, he would sleep for fifteen extra minutes. 

Today, however, it wasn’t his alarm to wake him up, an agitating call for Keahi, the sun shining through his blinds, or his sister wanting to annoy him. 

It was Robot. 

Today was the first day that schools were allowing any of the robots onto campus. Before it was a safety procedure, but now the Robots have proven peaceful and safe enough to allow into schools. He even heard rumors of some applying to teach or become security. 

Robot hated that rule since that was eight hours he couldn’t be with Will, five days a week, one hundred eighty days a year. 

Will understood it practically drove Robot to near insanity since he would constantly feel Robot peeking through their bond every two or three hours. 

It wasn’t anywhere near the longest time they had been separated. They had been separated for over seven months before. But even then Will knew that Robot always watched over him. 

Will had told Robot three days ago when it was announced to students that Robots would be allowed on campus. He could practically feel Robot perk up at the news even if he didn’t show it in a very human way. 

Robots excitement was confirmed when Robot woke him up before his alarm even went off and almost dragged him out of bed. 

“Will Robinson,” Robot said as he pulled the covers off of Will.

“Alright I get it, I’m up.”

“You know you're probably the only person on this planet excited to go to school,”  Penny said to Robot from the doorway, her hair still wrapped in a hair towel.

 Will sighed. He slowly sat up in his bed and moved his arms up to stretch. 

“At least pretend you're excited for Robot’s first day of school,” Will said in an uncharacteristic sassy tone.

“Nobody’s ever excited for their first day of school,” Penny argued back as Will got out of bed. 

“I was,” Will pointed.

“That’s because you're my nerdy little brother who is obsessed with being weird.” 

“I’ll take school over an alien war any day thanks,”  Will argued and rolled his eyes in response. 

“I almost want to thank the robots for getting me out of school,” Penny mumbled and sighed. 

“Get out of my room Penny,” Will finally said, walking over to shut the door. 

“Alright geez.” Penny left with the same smug grin as when she walked in. 

Will exhaled as he walked over to put on a clean shirt since he slept in his other ones on accident from staying up writing that essay. 

“Will Robinson.” 

Will had almost forgotten that Robot was in the room with him. 

“Alright, okay I’m going.” Will couldn’t help but smile as he saw Robot growing more Impatient by the second.

“Come get breakfast Will, you have to leave early today!” Will heard his mother yell from down stairs.

Will nearly stumbled as he pulled his shirt over his head and ran out of his room. “Coming!”

He could already smell eggs and toast as he went down the stairs, Robot not far behind. 

“Love the hair Will. Everyone’s going to be so jealous of your bed head,” Penny mocked sarcastically as she shoved a piece of toast in her mouth. 

“Nobodies jealous of your taste in boys so I wouldn’t trust your opinion,” Will shot back with a grin on his face. 

John tried to hide his very visible chuckle. 

Just before Penny could start an argument Judy got in between them, giving Penny a look. “Don’t pick on him Penny , it's too early.”

“How about we all stop and enjoy our breakfast,” Maureen said as she slipped Will’s plate in front of him.

“Thought you were supposed to go on your morning run,” Penny looked at Judy with a salty glare for interrupting her earlier. 

“Maybe if you would have gotten out of bed sooner you would have seen me come back five minutes ahead of schedule,” Judy shot back with a smirk. 

“Okay wow, I really feel the love everyone, truly.” Penny tore off another piece of her toast as she leaned back in her chair. 

“I love you to penny,” Will smiled as he started to eat his own breakfast. 

“So is Robot excited for his first day at school,” Maureen asked from across the table. 

“If him getting me up fifteen minutes early counts, then yeah I say he’s excited,” Will chuckled as he looked up at Robot, who was standing behind him with an unapologetic look in his lights. 

“Technically, he’s just showing up to school, they're just allowing him on campus,” Penny added in. 

“Let Robot have his moment,” Will said in an almost sorry tone as he looked up at Robot, then to Penny.

“He’s lucky. He gets to just watch and doesn’t have to do any of the work,” Penny sighed. “I don't understand how any sentient creature with a will to live can willingly go there.”

“I respect your opinion,” Will said in a neutral tone as he whipped his mouth, going to put his dishes in the sink. 

“Alright you two hurry up before you're late,” John said, grabbing both of their backpacks and standing by the door waiting for them.

“Yes sir,” Penny groaned as she followed Will to put up her plate. 

Both of them, including Robot, walked over to the door. John handed them their backpacks as they walked out. 

“Have a good day you three,” Maureen shouted from inside the house before the door shut. 

The school wasn’t that far from their house, it was a few minutes walk through a path and into the main colony. It was one of the biggest buildings in the colony since education of the youth along with economic balance was one of the major priorities in the colony. 

There were robots everywhere just like they were normal colonists. 

Most walked alone, carrying heavy objects, constructing buildings, but some were taking morning walks with the colonists. 

Will even saw one in its root form playing with a young child, who seemed to not view the giant metal robot with four arms and spikes any different than a giant friend or playground. That made him happy. 

Surprisingly only half of the robots took more human-like forms. The other stayed how they originally looked before. It’s surprising it didn’t cause that many issues. 

Finally after three months everyone started getting used to the robots. Will guessed after staying on an alien world that actual aliens weren’t too far off the list of shocking things anymore to even the colonists who weren’t a part of the 24th colonist group.

It was almost weird seeing robots on the school campus however, for as long as he had been on Alpha-Centuri they were never allowed past the security gate. Robot always walked him to school, but would have to stop at the gate and wouldn’t leave until he saw Will walk inside.

Now there were at least seven robots he could see just now walking in. All of them were of course following a kid, some even carrying their bags. 

“So, how are you feeling about your first day in true prison?” Penny playfully elbowed Robots arm as they got to the security check. 

“Yes,” Robot said as Will was getting checked by a guard. 

“Can't wait to hear about it when we get out,” Penny smiled. She walked over to a farther gate to get into the higher grade levels of the building. 

Will waited at the other side of the security check, waiting for Robot with a smile. 

He saw Robot get visible tense as he reluctantly approached the check. 

Will’s family had gotten Robot a profile chip a week after they arrived, so Robot shouldn’t have any issue with security now. Though Will understood the hesitation.

The guard, thankfully, smiled up at Robot before clearing him for entrance. 

Robot’s shoulder relaxed as he moved through the gate, lights spinning in bright wild pulses as he looked down at Will. 

“Are you excited for your first day,” Will said, playfully patting Robot on the forearm. 

Robot looked back down at Will with a wildly happy expression. “Yes,” Robot replied. 

Will could tell if Robot had a bigger vocabulary and could shift his tone he would be going on about how he was excited. Penny wouldn’t agree.

“Alright there are a few things we need to go over so you’re not blindly thrown into one of the most chaotic places in the colony,” Will said, before stopping Robot. 

“One, the hallways are extremely crowded after the bell rings, so just be aware you might have trouble moving around without running someone over. Two, if you get bored in class I’m sure there are other robots around for you to talk to, just try to keep it down. “And three, some kids here can be absolute maniacs, especially my friend Ke- ,” Will was suddenly interrupted by somebody loudly yelling his name. 

“Speaking of my friend.” Will turned to almost be thrown to the ground by a very harsh hug. 

“There you are, I have been wandering the whole lobby looking for you,” Keahi complained with a smile before turning to Robot.

“Ah so this is the famous Robot Robinson?” Keahi smiled as he tilted his head to the side rather dramatically causing his long locks to spill over his shoulders and fall straight down. 

“In the metal,” Will chuckled. “Robot, Keahi. Keahi, Robot.” 

To Will’s surprise, Robot extended his left hand out to shake Keahi’s hand. He must've watched his dad or Don do it when he went to work.

“Damn, he already knows manners,” Keahi smiled wide as he shook Robot’s hand. “Mine hasn’t even acknowledged the fact that pulling somebody out of their bed randomly because they have an issue is extremely rude,” Keahi once again complained in his usual dramatic rants. 

“I didn’t know you were friends with one of the robots,” Will said, looking over at Keahi. 

“Well everyone knows your friend with one so I see why you wouldn’t know about mine Mr. Celebrity, ” Keahi pointed out. “But yeah I don’t know where that rusty bitch wanders off to. He keeps getting mad at me when he can’t come to school then the minute he comes in he goes off somewhere random.”

“Shit, the bell’s about to ring,” Keahi groaned. He grabbed the back on Will’s backpack and dragged him past the school doors, Robot again, following closely behind. 

“Alright, alright, see you in third,” Will waved as he started to run off to his own class. 

“See you in third,” Keahi said, running up the stairs and out of view. 

Will saw Robot examine the classroom as he entered and Will took his seat. 

Three other Robots were in the corner of the room, both in human-like forms. 

They seemed to call Robot over, and Robot just looked over at Will. 

Will nodded his head with a large smile, waving him off. “Go make friends, we’ll be in here for forty five minutes so go have fun,” Will smiled as he watched Robot smile and go over to the group. 

Now he just sat in his seat and sighed as the teacher started the lesson. He already had his text book out and started taking notes the teacher had on the board. Having German at eight in the morning never seemed quite right to his tired mind. Regardless he always had straight A’s anyway.

Finally in his second class he had a few friends. Noah and Miles. 

Both of them sat at the back of the class and waved Will over, who gladly ran over to take his seat. Robot, once again, wasn’t far at all. 

There was only one Robot in this class who still wore their original form, however, this one had a blue face and silver plates. So it wasn't that intimidating. They stood behind Miles, their silver metal almost a clean congrats to Miles’s puffy blonde hair.

“Morning Will,” Noah called out. 

“Morning,” Will smiled as he sat his bag down and sat down. 

“Robot decided to come huh,” Miles smiled. “Maybe him and Mercury will get along,” Miles smiled, staring back at the silver robot behind him, who stared back with an amused look before looking over to Robot with a friendly swirl of their lights. 

“I’m sure they will,” Will chuckled, looking at the massive silver robot.

“Miles Milestone,” Mercury said, tapping Mile’s shoulder but only using the knuckle of one of their claws so they didn’t poke Miles. 

“Yeah?” Miles looked over at Mercury as they handed him a pencil, which he had forgotten in his bag when the teacher already started writing things down. “Oh! Thanks Mercury,” Miles smiled as he took the pencil. 

Will smiled back up at Robot as he started to talk to Mercury in their native language. Will didn’t understand a word, but he was glad Robot had already made quite a bit of friends within only fifty minutes. 

Finally, Will turned to start writing the equations on the board down. 

Today was going surprisingly well.

Chapter Text

Normally when Will came to school it was always a neutral experience. 

He got to see his friends as well as help them by explaining the work  when they thought the teacher's explanation wasn't good enough. Will gladly explained it to them. 

But at the same time it was boring. His mother taught him most of it when he was in middle school or below. And when he did learn something, it came to him so easily it was boring within a few problems. 

It was weird doing equations that didn’t determine whether you lived or died. 

Today felt more refreshing than the others. Robot’s peace  was probably finally reflecting on Will.

Robot was still at the other side of the table talking to Mercury, who looked like they were explaining something from the constant pointing around the room. 

It made Will feel a lot better than Robot could finally have more friends other than Will who he could see on a regular basis. Robot always talked to the other robots around the colony of course, but they saw each other on a regular basis. 

Will had been zoned out for quite a while as he thought about it. That was until he was startled out of it from Noah tapping the table with a pencil, trying to get his attention.

“Hey Will,” Noah whispered across the table to Will. 

“Christ, Noah. Don’t.” Miles pleaded as he rubbed his eyes, very visible trying not to laugh.

“Can you explain to him what a-“ Noah was cut off. 

Will watched as Miles got progressively more red by the second, earning him small glances from Mercury who paused the conversation with Robot for a moment. 

“STOP, NOAH,” Miles protested, trying to cover his face with his hands as he laughed. 

Will now looked at them with amusement mixed with confusion as he waited for one of them to calm down enough to explain. With Noah practically heaving, he didn’t know when they might be exactly. 

Noah started laughing harder each time he tried to get the words out. Each failed attempt just kept adding to Will’s curiosity. 

Both Miles and Noah tried to keep at least somewhat quiet so the teacher didn’t get onto them.

“Wait, what’s going on,” Will asked, suddenly getting interested in whatever they were talking about. Will almost laughed simply because they were laughing, but he managed to keep it a confused smile. Even if whatever it is was most likely something ridiculous. 

Both of them continued to laugh, Miles a lot quieter than Noah, who’s laugh was so off that it made both Mercury and Robot look at him in mild concern. 

“Explain to Miles what an asteroid belt is,” Noah finally broke and started to laugh uncontrollably, slamming his head down on the desk in the process. He just barely managed to get those words out without straining his vocal cords, even then each word came out in one single very short and strained breath.

“Miles,” Will started, but couldn’t finish as he started to laugh too. He covered his face just the same as Miles. This was ridiculous. 

Mercury started to look concerned as Mile’s face turned bright red. 

“He thought it meant making asteroids into a belt.” Noah could barely get out a few words before he started to wheeze ,and the rest of the words came out as barely audible breaths that hardly made words.

Will was desperately covering his mouth at this point, and even biting down on the fabric of his sleeve to shush the circus of laughter trying to escape. The teacher was already giving them looks. 

“How did you even pass the test to get into the colony,” Noah wheezed, the words barely audible through his strained voice. 

“I knew what it was, it’s just.. I'm tired, okay!” Miles gave up trying to defend himself.

Will watched as Miles now cowered in his own jacket. Pulling his hoodie up to cover his head and using his sleeves to hide his face. At that point other kids started to take notice of the conversation and Miles practically melted into his chair. 

“Miles Milestone,” Mercury asked, tapping Miles on the shoulder with a knuckle, clearly concerned through their use of body language. 

Noah nearly died of laughter at that moment, falling off of his chair onto the floor. 

“You're not helping Mercury,” Miles groaned in his jacket, ignoring the metal tapping on his shoulder.

Will looked down, and it took every ounce of willpower he had to stop from joining Noah when he saw his friend clutching his stomach and nearly convulsing on the floor. 

Robot looked at Will and through their bond he could tell he was confused. 

Why did that have to make it funnier?

Will nearly snapped shut when the teacher started to walk over. Unfortunately for him, Miles and Noah didn’t get that message and continued laughing. 

“Is everything okay over here,” The teacher asked, seemingly unimpressed as she crossed her arms. 

Unfortunately, she looked at Will as the rest of the kids at the table were laughing uncontrollably or on the floor. The others were aliens who struggled with English.

Great.

“Yes, ma’am.” Will simply responded. 

That’s when an actual angel blessed Will. The bell. 

Will nearly fainted from relief as he grabbed his backpack and raced for the door along with the rest of the kids. 

Mercury and Robot had to wait for the mass of kids to exit before they had enough room to exit the room. 

“Where’s Keahi,” Noah asked. 

“I heard he got in a fight,” Miles answered. 

“How does he get in a fight, we haven’t even had lunch yet,” Will questioned with a very confused and exaggerated expression.

Noah simply shrugged as he pulled his back back up higher on his shoulder. 

“We’ll find out in third I guess,” Miles sighed as he turned back to Mercury, who along with Robot was having a hard time keeping up with the hordes of kids crowding the hall. 

This wasn’t a very robot-friendly environment. 

Will slowed down and let Robot catch up, getting some rude pushes from kids behind him trying to move. He didn’t mind them though. 

“Sorry about the crowds,” Will said as soon as Robot managed to get to his side.

Robot looked down at Will, brightening his lights as if to say he didn’t mind. 

“Will Robinson.” 

Will turned his head to look up at Robot, confused. He thought something was wrong with Robot when he heard it was very rough and guttural, instead of metallic and rocky. 

That’s when Will noticed it wasnt Robot but Mercury talking to him, very obviously trying to get his attention. 

Robot pointed to Mercury, who was pointing to one of the digital clocks on the wall. He was gonna be late for his class if he didn’t hurry.

Will sighed. But just as he was about to start picking up the pace, a wind blur of motion flashed in front of him, causing him to stop abruptly and step back. 

Before Will could even get a good look at what was happening a crowd had formed around them as a loud bang echoed in his ear. 

Finally Will got to see what was happening as Noah pulled out his phone. Two kids that Will didn’t know  were fighting right in front of him, one trying to choke the one pinned below them. 

No teachers were in the hall at the moment, and Will couldn’t move back to get away from the violence from the crowds of kids trying to see in front of him. 

Will could hear metal footsteps pushing through the crowd and the confused kids that were in their way. He looked back and could see both Robot’s and Mercury’s heads above the horde of kids in their way, trying to gently split the crowd to get to front of whatever was happening. 

Right when Robot got to where he could see what was happening, one of the kids got their head slammed into a locker, sending blood splattering all over the lockers and on Will’s clothes. He was so close to the conflict from the kids behind pushing him forward. 

Will unfortunately got pulled right into the middle of the conflict from the kid desperately trying to pull themselves away from the violent bashes against the locker. 

He did his best to block his face before he got hit, but that didn’t work as well as he would have hoped. They didn’t even seem to care he was there, they where to busy trying to murder each other they could care less about somebody innocent mistakenly getting between them.

Will got hit in the face twice by the kid before Robot came in and harshly tore Will away and behind him into the crowd. 

Robot walked up to the two kids and shoved them apart, picking one up and placing them on opposite sides of the hall. His face still a bright blue, but they smiled and twisted in jagged patterns as he stared down at the two he had to separate.

Teachers finally showed up to handle the rest of the situation, they should have been there ages ago. They shooed away the crowd as kids started to rush to their classes or talk about it with their friends.

After Robot was done giving them both glances, he walked over to Will and lifted him up until he had him very tightly, almost painfully, trapped in metallic arms. He said something to Mercury in their language Will couldn’t understand, and Mercury went to grab Miles, who was currently going over the footage on his phone. 

“Robot, put me down,” Will protested. He kicked and squirmed all he could but it was little use for the metal death grip he had around him. Robot didn’t seem very keen on negotiating right now either. 

Behind them, Will could hear Miles protest to Mercury as well. But it didn’t seem Mercury was hearing any of it either. 

Will gave up hope of making it to class early when the bell rang and he could guess Robot wasn’t in a hurry to get to class. 

He couldn’t do anything as Robot stomped down the hallway and toward the exit. Security wasn’t going to allow that however, and already started to move to block the two robots from exiting with students. 

“What do you think you're doing,” One of the security asked as they blocked the exit. 

The others surrounded the two robots as teachers and other staff started to come out to see what was going on. 

Miles was still trying, and failing to get out of Mercury’s grasp, but Will stopped wasting his time struggling long ago since it was no use. 

Robot’s grip didn’t loosen or tighten at all, not even when they were stopped. Robot kept his tense position, but never acted aggressive. He thankfully stopped for the security, and supposedly told Mercury to do the same.

“Please Robot, just put me down,” Will pleased, almost annoyed he’s missing class. “I can explain everything to them.”

“No,” Was all the Robot responded with.

“What do you think you're doing trying to take students out during school hours,” one of the security asked, moving up to them almost cautiously. 

That was when Robot started ignoring them, and started to walk right past them. That’s when they locked down the doors, and a reinforced barrier covered all of the exits. 

“Robot, if you keep this up they won’t let you come with me to school,” Will whispered to Robot, this time in a more demanding tone. 

Finally, Robot compiled, hesitantly set Will down. Robot turned to tell Mercury the same, but Mercury didn’t seem as keen on letting Miles down. 

“I'm so sorry for his behavior, he just got upset. I got caught up in the fight and he’s just concerned,” Will tried to justify Robots behavior, but when it didn’t seem to work he tried a different tactic. “It’s the first day either of them has ever been on campus, they don't know the protocols.” 

The security came up to Will, who had a black eye, and blood on his clothes. 

The lady was nice enough to nod. “Go to the nurse and have them call home.” 

“Thank you,” Will thanked, as he guided both Robot and Mercury to the nurse. The nurse gave him an ice pack in the meantime as she went to call his parents. He didn’t have to even look at himself, but his eye hurt pretty badly. Robot had never gone more than three feet from Will while they waited, and Mercury still has yet to let go of Miles. 

“Will, your mother's here to pick you up,” The nurse informed him, reaching over to take back the ice pack. 

“Alright, thank you.” Will gave back the ice pack, putting his chilled hand on his eye instead. He could tell his eye was swollen, but to what extent would have to be determined when he finally got to look in a mirror. 

“Miles, you're also being checked out. Mrs. Robinson sighed you both out so you're both free to go,” The nurse said at the last moment before escorting them both out of the office. 

Will looked at Miles with an excited smile as they made their way out of the office, both robots following hardly a foot behind. 

Maureen was waiting for them in the lobby, immediately getting up to check her son. 

“Will, I heard what happened, are you alright?” She asked, turning Will’s head to either side to examine his face. She seemed to get progressively more defensive when she saw the bruises on Will’s face and eye. 

“I’m fine mom, I just got pulled into the fight,” Will said to help calm her nerves, and defuse the living bomb that was his mother. 

“Well you shouldn’t have been anywhere near the fight,” Maureen said in a surprisingly calm tone for the situation. Everyone knew that calm tone wasn’t exactly what it sounded like. 

Will just sat down next to Miles and sighed. He knew there was a chance they would miss dinner at the rate things looked to be going. 

Will and Miles both practically burst out of the doors before his mother could come up with another way to critiqued their security system, or another policy the school was apparently violating. 

“Fuckin hell, the bell for sixth rang already,” Miles groaned as he stretched his arms forward. 

“I know, I thought we wouldn’t see the outside of the school again,” Will huffed dramatically as he made his way to the chariot.

Both Robot and Mercury walked behind them and kept pretty close, even more than usual. Robot let his stiff posture show again once they had passed security and Mercury let his plates Rise slightly while all four hands were tightly clenched. both clearly agitated.

Will’s house wasn’t far at all from the school so it would have been easy to just walk, but his mom didn’t want them out of her sight at the moment. The concept was slightly more forcefully and firmly reinforced by the two very unhappy robot’s that stalked uncomfortably close to both of them. 

“Aye Will, how are we gonna fit those two into the chariot? It’s a bit more of an oversized load if you asked for my opinion,” Miles whispered to Will. Not that it helped with said robots very intently listening to the depths of their minds. 

“I don’t know,” Will whispered back.  

Unfortunately, Will’s mom didn’t seem to think about that idea that much. Most of the chariots had been adjusted to fit and carry robot passengers, however, there was nothing said about carrying two robots, with one being a lot bigger than the average robot. That and the four arms, extra long spikes, needle fingertips, and double the size of Robot surely didn’t help Mercury’s case. 

Will saw a few of that model before. One when he and the 97 children were escaping the resolute, and Scarecrow had to stall for him. The other when he went to try and talk with SAR, two of those larger robots acting as guards. But there certainly weren't a lot of those particular robots roaming around. Most left for the stars the moment they were free and very few stayed. Unfortunately that made most things adjusted for robots still too small for Mercury’s specific build, and a hazard to travel within a chariot. 

“Goddammit,” Miles whispered. 

“Mom, can we just walk and meet you at the house? I don’t think Robot and Mercury can fit in the chariot,” Will turned to ask his mother. It was extremely uncomfortable with two giant robots and one very upset mother surrounding him, making it feel as if he was stuck in between stone walls and unable to move. 

“No, you and Miles are coming with me until Mile’s mother gets off work and picks him up,” Maureen said blankly as if it was some scientifically proven fact. She was very strict when it came to herding the two into the chariot.

Both Mercury and Robot got very tense when Will and Miles got into the back seat of the chariot. It gave the impression that both were visibly frustrated. 

Mercury said something to Robot that didn’t exactly sound friendly or accepting. They both looked at each other before Robot made a very quick movement to get into the chariot and nearly squashed both Will and Miles against the other side of the chariot to make more room for him.

Mercury gave a small hiss before making his superior hands twist and snap shut. The nebula that often danced in his face had turned into more of a fiery storm as it moved around chaotically in an organ hue instead of the normal calm blue. 

However Will didn’t really expect anything after that. Mercury was upset, so was Robot. But it was just more stressful when you're trying to figure out how to keep two gigantic people made of living metal from arguing. Luckily it never came down to that as Mercury, simply jumped on top of the chariot out of view, and stayed there. 

Will didn’t even notice his father was sitting in the front seat, arms crossed and with his usual stern face when he was serious. And yet Will didn’t hear so much as a breath from his father as his mom started to drive. 

“They're over here acting like we’re weak or something,” Miles mumbled quietly, as he was uncomfortably crammed up against Will. “I don’t remember needing a copper to watch me every second when like an ankle biter.” 

“Be quiet Miles,” Will quickly whispered to Miles so this ride could be mildly bearable. 

The rest of the ride was thankfully short and quiet, other than the occasional sound of metal scrapping at the roof from Mercury sliding around. Will and Miles both practically fell out of the door when it opened, both of them ending up in a pile in the driveway before they could untangle themselves. 

“Christ,” Miles groaned as he rose to his feet, holding a hand out to help Will off the rough concrete. He dusted himself off and watched as both of the Robinson parents excited the chariot, as well as Robot. 

When Mercury jumped off the top with a loud thud as he landed on the ground, nearly scared Miles half to death as he stumbled backwards. That caused Miles to almost shriek before he managed to calm down after taking a closer look at Mercury to realize he was scared for no reason. 

Mercury flattened his spines as held his arms closer to himself as he dipped his head down to Miles, presumably trying to apologize. 

The robots that remained on Alpha Centuri often had trouble with body language. It was pretty difficult to show emotions when you can hardly speak English and your native language didn’t have any need for body language, and the only movements they needed weren't really coming across to humans. Most had to adapt and create new gestures to communicate their feelings smoothly, and if one found a body language that worked particularly well they would all come together to share it so more could clearly communicate. But most still had completely unique ways to communicate with certain humans. 

Will often had hard times telling what most robots were trying to tell him. He knows pretty well what their lights tell him, but they couldn’t tell him everything. It’s hard to find out what another being is saying when your own language was over half body language and facial expressions, something the robots didn’t or couldn’t do the way a human could. 

“Will,” John called from the front door, holding it open and motioning for his son to hurry up. 

“Let’s get on with it,” Miles sighed, already aware of the lecture. 

“Yeah,” Will sighed. He walked into his house and sat down on the couch, waiting for the lecture. His  hands were on his knees while he started at the floor, seeing the shadow of his father in the corner of his eye approaching closer.  

“So.” Will’s father said in a surprisingly calm voice. “I heard uh.. I heard what happened today at school,” John looked at will with his hands clasped together. 

Will simply dipped his head lower as he nodded to his fathers words. 

“Can you tell me what happened,” John asked. 

“I thought you already knew,” Will mumbled and looked up at his father before shifting his eyes downward. 

“Yeah, but I’m asking you,” His father replied with a soft tone contrasting his normal guttural voice. 

Will looked directly at his dad for a second before moving back down again. “Some kids got into a sigh. I couldn’t get away from how many kids crowded behind me. That’s when one kid grabbed me to try and get away from the fight, but I ended up getting hit instead,” Will explained, moving his hand to cover his swollen eye with the ice pack.

“Huh.” John said in a scarily neutral tone. “Welp now I know, next time don’t let get a hold of you like that,” he stood up from his chair and walked over to Will. “Or I’ll have to take care of it,” John smiled and ruffled Will’s hair. 

Will smiled as the tension finally eased up from his shoulders and expected a long lecture from his dad judging from how silent the car ride was. He was pleasantly surprised by the not-so-harsh conversation. 

“Alright, you boys head up to Will’s room. Maureen’s making dinner,” John directed towards both Will and Miles. 

Will smiled as he started to make his way up to his room, but that smile faded into annoyance when he saw Penny eavesdropping on the stairs. 

They both tried to ignore her as they walked up the steps, but then Penny just had to add some commentary. 

“I like the eye,” Penny smirked. “Didn’t know you even had the ability to get in a fight, aren't you a pacifist?”  

“First off, I didn’t hit anyone,” Will defended himself with a dramatic tone. “Second, there’s a huge difference between getting into a fight, and getting dragged into one.” Will stated as if he was explaining to a first grader the difference between gabbro-basalt and granite-rhyolite.

“Mhm, yeah sure, whatever you say,” Penny smiled as she got up to head to her room. 

“Sorry about her,” Will apologized to Miles as he kept the door open for both Mercury and Robot to enter his room. Both him and Miles ended up staying on the bed so both robots could have enough room to move around comfortably within the small space. 

“Ah, don’t worry about it mate, I quite like your sister,” Miles smiled as he patted Will on the back. 

While Mercury made no comment on anything Miles said. Robot tilted his head in almost confusion and shock at Miles’s choice of words. He looked from Will to Miles, and Mercury looked at Robot as if questioning what was wrong. 

“Oh, sorry big fella, not that kind of mate,” Miles answered Robots seemingly unsaid question. 

Robot seemed confused, but eventually looked away and started a conversation with Mercury. Presumably to ask for more specific answers. 

“Well that was awkward,” Miles looked at Will, and they both started to laugh. 

Will was busy showing Miles a video he made when he was stuck on the shattered planet, when they were startled by a knock on the window. 

“Holy fuck!” Miles shouted as he nearly fell off the bed, and Mercury caught him. The robots spikes stood tall as he looked to the window. 

“Oh my god Keahi,” Will sighed heavily as he tried to calm his nerves. Keahi was outside his window and had a smugly-innocent face on as he motioned for will to open the window. 

Will sighed and moved to open the window and let Keahi in. He unlatched the lock and slid the window up, allowing Keahi to come in. 

“About time,” Keahi complained as he stepped onto the bed. 

“Bro we have a door, why didn’t you use it like a normal person you scared the hell out of us,” Will said in almost disbelief. 

“Yeah, arsehole what the fuck!” Miles shot as Mercury helped him back onto the bed. 

“Maybe I just didn't want to,” Keahi responded dramatically. 

Will Rubbed his eyes as the shock finally settled to only a mild tension in his ribs. “How did you even get up to the window?” 

“Hey Cable, get your ass up here.” Keahi yelled down at the copper robot that stood below. 

Will looked down as well as Miles to see the quite unfamiliar Robot. 

“Ohh so that’s your friend,” Will chuckled at himself. “I almost didn’t believe you had one other than us,” Will smiled smugly. 

“Firstly, that was rude. Second, you're forgetting Noah,” Keahi argued back with a sarcastic smile. 

“Alright, fair point.” Will admitted as he accepted defeat. 

Keahi turned his attention back to Cable, who was standing with an almost annoyed look below. 

“Oh he can’t fit through the window,” Keahi laughed as he started realizing the reason Cables hadn’t yet come up. 

“We’ll let him in through the door,” Will sighed as he hopped off the bed and all of the occupants of the room followed him out of the room and down the steps. Will unlocked the door, and let Cable in. 

Cable walked in and looked at Keahi, almost as if giving him a lecture through their minds. He benched forward slightly to better look at Keahi as he clicked and twisted his superior claws as if to make a point. 

“Hey, don’t blame me you have been putting in metal lately,” Keahi joked as he dismissed whatever Cable had said. 

Cable gave the robot equivalent of an “eye roll” by slightly rolling and twisting his head. 

“I don’t reckon your house has much more room for anyone else, does it Will,” Miles pointed out in a playful tone as he subtly gestures towards the three robots now crowding most of the living room. 

“Absolutely not, no,” Will sighed and then chuckled. All of the humans went to sit on the couch and talk while Cable went to join the two other robots in the corner. 

“Hey it’s getting pretty late. Is your mom picking you up or not?” Will asked as he looked over to Miles. 

Miles was busy watching TV with Mercury, who looked as into it as Miles explained everything Mercury questioned. However, Miles paused his education lesson when he heard Will’s question. “Oh yeah, she should have been here ages ago, it’s well past twilight.” 

As if this were some Television show, Maureen came out of her room. “Hey Miles, your mother and father are having to work late shifts at the construction site, so you’ll be staying the night if it's alright.” Maureen explained, before almost stumbling back from how many robot’s crowded her living room.

“Quite alright Mrs. Robinson,” Miles responded with a smile as he looked at Will who looked at Keahi. 

Both Will and Miles got very excited at the news. Will probably more than Miles since he had never really had anyone stay the night with him. Other than Dr. Smith but he didn’t think that counted since she was often locked on one of the Jupiter’s corridor.

“Hey can Keahi stay too?” Will asked, “Oh, and can I ask if Noah can stay as well,  mom?” Will asked. He looked at his mother with a smile with the hopes it would help his chances. 

“Of course,” Maureen smiled as she looked at her son, still happy he managed to make new friends at school that didn’t have four arms or came from another galaxy. She tried to reinforce that behavior as much as she could since her son wasn’t very social. “But that’s it, no more.” 

“Yes! Thanks mom,” Will smiled as sent a message to know that he could come over. Will never really got to have friends over, since until recently he was too shy to even talk to people. But he was thankful that one of his friends he knew from earth was already here, Keahi. Who was already super social and had friends already he could introduce to Will. So Will thankfully ended up with a close friend group instead of working on his own.

“I’m grabbing all of your blankets Will,” Keahi stated bluntly as he excitedly got up and ran upstairs to grab blankets at pillows. 

“Don’t mess up my room Keahi,” Will shouted, but he knew it was already too late. It was his first sleepover anyway. He could always clean his room to find better ways to arrange his geography books or collection of alien rocks into more organized categories.

“I’ll find us a horror movie to watch,” Miles smiled as he was already flipping through the selections. Mercury pointed out one’s he was curious about. 

Cable was apparently complaining or mocking Mercury for his questions, and Mercury got defensive every time Cable made a snarky remark in their langauge.

Robot was already over grabbing snacks and water, seemingly having ready Will’s mind. He walked up to Will with a prideful look on his face as he loved himself to his knees to show Will what he brought. 

“Save some of the work for me Robot,” Will chuckled as he took some of the food and water form Robot and placed it on the table. “What am I gonna do now?” 

“Ain’t obvious Will, you're in charge of the popcorn,” Miles added, taking a break from trying to flip through moves and stop the two robots from getting into arguments. 

“Oh right, obvious,” Will chuckled as he got up to head to the kitchen. 

There was a knock at the door the moment Will got into the kitchen and everyone else was too busy doing something to answer it. 

“Hey Robot, could you answer that please?” Will asked, opening the popcorn and putting it in the microwave. He set the timer and then began to set out four bowls for the four more popcorn he was going to have to pop. 

Robot did as asked immediately and walked over to the door to greet Noah, who stood outside with a bag of clothes and other essentials before Robot motioned for him to come in. 

“Hey there Noah, get in here. We’re watching horror movies!” Miles shouted as Mercury made the surprisingly human gesture of waving to Noah with his inferior hand. 

At that moment, Keahi walked down with an absurd amount of blankets that stacked higher than his line of sight, and pillows tucked beneath his arms and he struggled to walk down the stairs.

“I got you Keahi,” Noah laughed as he dropped his bag quickly and ran up to help take some of the load away from Keahi. 

Robot closed the door before and walked back into the kitchen where Will was currently popping his second bag of popcorn and pouring the first into the large bowl. Making sure to add enough butter to each. 

“Will Robinson,” Robot said to simply announce his presents in case the loud metal footsteps couldn’t be heard over the microwave. 

“Robot, could you open the other bags of popcorn please so I can microwave them,” Will asked as he turned his head to smile at the approaching robot. 

Robot turned his head to the three unopened bags of popcorn, and opened one of them as gently as he could before placing the small bag in his open hand. Then, instead of handing it to Will, he heated up his hands to an estimated temperature, and cooked the bag of popcorn in a matter of seconds. 

“Or you could do that,” Will smiled as he walked over to shake the bag of popcorn and pour it into the bowl. The steam rose up to Will’s nose, and he almost felt bad Robot could smell it. The smell was always nostalgic from the family movie nights from when he was a kid. “Thanks. You think you could do that with the other three please?”

Robot looked over at will with a smile in the seemingly endless nebula of lights that swirled in his face and nodded with his own version of a smile. “Yes, Will Robinson.” 

Will smiled as he watched Robot pop the remaining bags of popcorn. Will noticed that lately when he was answering “yes” or “no” questions, Robot had stopped saying his name at the end of the sentence. Now he only did it at random or would stop using his name for a long time unless he was trying to get his attention. He still continued to improve his language every day, with his vocabulary now including the words “sleep”, “bad”, “chicken”, “eat”, and surprisingly “bitch”. But Will was quick to have Robot remove that word. 

He still enjoyed it when his friend got to express himself and didn’t have to worry about somebody getting the wrong impression. 

That’s when Will realized this was Robot’s first sleepover too. He had Mercury and Cable over, just like he had Keahi, Miles, and Noah. Thankfully, it was quite obvious Robot was just as excited as Will was about all of it. 

“Will, hurry up with that popcorn,” Noah shouted from the living room. 

Will looked out into the room, and saw practically a tornado of blankets and pillows on the floor and couch that covered almost every inch in unorganized mess. For once Will couldn’t care. 

Mercury had practically created a nest of Blankets and pillows for him and Miles, who was sitting on the robot's lap with pillows in between him and the spiked metal. 

“Give me a minute, geez.” Will sighed as he filled the last bowl and Ronot helped him carry all five bowls into the living room. 

He handed the first bowl to Keahi, who was sitting on top of Cable for a better view, and the poor robot seemed used to it by now and even took the bowl form will to lift it up to Keahi. Who in turn, gave Cable a pat on one of his superior arms before leaning on the arm for support. 

After Will handed the rest of the popcorn out he set himself on the floor in front of the couch to avoid messing up Mercury’s construction of pillows and blankets that surrounded him and Miles. 

Robot sat on the floor as well, and practically lifted Will up to sit between his legs, and covered the bit with a blanket. 

“Thanks Robot,” Will smiled as the movie started.

Robot let out a happy sounding whir as he heated up his hands to keep Will warm, then turning his attention to the movie. 

Will couldn’t help but smile uncontrollably and feel overly excited for a movie. He hated horror movies, but for some reason he was so excited he could almost squeal with joy. 

Robot looked down at him and almost looked amused before returning to the movie and wrapping the blanket tighter around Will. 

So far. Today turned out great.