Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After a decade with his prosthesis, Fit was used to the flaws and drawbacks of the metal limb. It wasn’t a Better Living prosthesis, he’d been all the way out in Zone 7 of when he lost the arm, far enough out that Dracs didn’t even patrol out there, let alone send out BL/ind supply trucks. Fit barely remembers when he got the metal arm, so out of it because of the pain. Fit was sure the prosthesis he had was worse than whatever BL/ind could cook up in their labs, but at least his was desert made, and had a ‘joy like him in mind in its construction.

That didn’t mean it didn’t suck though. Despite it seemingly being designed for the desert, it couldn’t take sand for shit. Fit had to clean it out at least every night if he wanted the thing to move in the morning, and there was no way to remove it. A benefit when he was out in Zone 6, constantly needing to look over his shoulder for a stab in the back, needing to be prepared for fights out of nowhere, but now that he was part of a crew .

Ramón had added some modifications over the years, a leather guard to protect the joints a bit better, some spray paint on the larger panels to add some color to the otherwise dull metal.

In the past few days though, Fit’s arm had started to have some issues. The elbow joint was on the fritz, working about half the time, the other half of the time not responding, or worse, flinging out or bending with way too much force. It was also pinching around his residual limb more than usual, causing discomfort no matter how he stretched and tried to shift the socket around on his arm.

The biggest issue was when Fit was helping Ramón and Gears with some explosives, which are notorious for needing precise, careful hand movements to not set them off. Usually Fit was perfect for the job, his prosthesis was not prone to shaking like flesh hands were, and it could be moved very precisely. That was not the case today.

Lets just say, the three were lucky the bombs were unarmed.

“Destroya Fit! You could’ve dusted us all, left a crater bigger than the fucking Pig Bombs did.”

“Well good thing someone told y’all to assemble them before arming the explosive. And please, there’s no scenario where your bombs are anything close to the Pig Bombs.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re Mr. Always-Prepared.” Gears pushed Fit towards the door as Ramón gathered the ruined bomb, ignoring Fit’s comment about their explosives. “Just get outta here until you fix that thing.” He gestured pointedly at Fit’s arm.

Fit rolled his eyes and left, walking out of the building and heading over to the overhang area by the front door where Corvid was helping Chayanne cook over a campfire, Tallulah playing with Sunny in the sand nearby.

“Hey Fit, thought you were helping the gearheads with their explosives.”

Fit sat down next to Corvid, “Nah, unfortunately, my arm is going haywire, might have sand caught up in it, and it fritzed out on the bomb I was trying to help assemble.”

Corvid laughed a little, nodding, “And they want to keep all of their limbs, so they kicked you out?”

“Right on the carbons,” Fit shook his head and fell silent, moving his arm to try and stop the discomfort he felt around his residual limb.

Corvid leaned over to help Chayanne lift a pot onto the little grate over the flames. Chayanne huffed as he poured a few cans of Power-Pup into the pot. Fit leaned over and ruffled the boy’s hair, “Not a fan of dog food little man?”

Chayanne shook his head, “No, this stew would have been so great, but we didn’t have enough stuff to put in it, so I need to add Power-Pup to make it enough for everyone.”

The boy pouted and Corvid smiled a bit, “Don’t worry Chay, the Favela is coming through tomorrow, and we’ll be all restocked and ready to open up again!” He gestured at the service window on the wall behind them, closed up after they’d run out of supply a week earlier, a sandstorm delaying their usual deliveries. Corvid perked up at the thought, “Wait! That's it,” he turned to Fit, “Favela’s got these two guys, Tazer and Craft, and I saw them helping out a ‘joy with their prosthetic leg last time they came through! You should ask them to take a look at it tomorrow.”

Fit nodded, he’d never met Tazer or Craft, only Cellbit, though he knew there were others that made up the group of runners. While their crew had a close relationship with the Favela, Corvid was always the one who picked up their deliveries in the settlement about a 10 minute drive from their restaurant, food and medical supplies in exchange for bombs and whatever tricky explosives and weapons Ramon and Gears managed to cook up. The relationship worked pretty well, they needed the food to keep making carbons, and Favela needed the explosives to keep stealing their supplies, hitting BL/ind’s convoys down Route Guano to keep their delivery service running.

“That’s actually a good idea Corvid,”

Corvid scoffed and shifted as Sunny came over to help Chayanne with the meal, “Seriously? You say that like I don’t have good ideas.”

Fit would have responded with similar sass, but he felt a pull on his flesh arm, looking down to see Tallulah pointing in the sand next to him, where she had drawn a three by three grid, a circle drawn in the middle. Fit drew an x in the top left, indulging the girl in her game.

——

The next day, Fit rode down to the town with Corvid, accompanied by Tallulah, Tubbo staying back at the restaurant to watch Sunny and Ramón.

Fit had never been to the settlement during a scheduled supply drop, so the hectic atmosphere of the center was unexpected, something he hadn’t seen since visiting the markets in the larger settlements in Zones 2 and 3. Killjoys were everywhere. It was obvious that they were not the only ones to come from outside of the town. Fit supposed the fact that the delivery was delayed could be a part of the reason why it was so crowded as well.

Because they had an established deal with the Favela, Fit and Corvid didn’t have to worry about getting to the center as early as possible so they could get the best picking of supplies. In fact, it seemed that the sales were coming towards a close as the majority of the crowd was lingering in the center, talking with each other, rather than waiting in the line next to two of Favela’s trucks.

Fit followed Corvid through the crowd, Tallulah’s hand clasped with her dad’s, the other hand holding tightly to the cloth of his pants so she wouldn’t get lost in the crowd.

Even though Fit knew they were safe in the confines of the settlement, he kept his hands firmly on the handle of the guns holstered to his hips. He only had only the bullets left in the cylinders, the shipment being delayed affected more than just their food supplies. It was one downside of staying acoustic as opposed to using a ray gun, but after all his years in the far reaches of the Zones, far away from BL/ind.’s ray guns and their batteries, he had grown used to the heft of the metal body, and the weapons had become almost an extension of his body.

Fit fiddled with the leather of the holsters, scanning the crowd as he followed Corvid and Tallulah towards the line. Fit thought they were going to wait in the line, but as they approached, Corvid took them right past the end of the line and around towards the side of the truck closest to them, where the shadow of the wall it was parked next to created a shaded area.

Corvid waved to one of the Favela members who was selling to the line of killjoys, a man with glasses and bright pink hair, streaked through with green, and a paint splattered lab coat that was surely white at one point, but the sand had long since turned it to a dusty beige. Fit got only a glimpse of the other man with him, dark curly hair and what looked to be a dark leather jacket as he ducked into the truck to grab supplies for someone.

As they rounded the corner they were met with a man rummaging through a few BL/ind. branded boxes, shifting their contents and scribbling on a clipboard in his hand as he muttered to himself.

He spun around as Fit, Corvid and Tallulah approached, smiling as he recognized them, “Corvid! Long time no see!”

Fit recognized him too, Cellbit, the only member of Favela he’d met before. He had a knee length coat that was pushed up around his elbows and brown hair, white streaked through the front, and a pair of goggles settled on top of his head that reminded him of Gears’ and his son’s.

His clothes were all in shades of neutrals, something that appeared to be mirrored by most of the Favela, and made them stick out a bit in a desert full of bright colors and neons. Fit had heard from Corvid that the group were former Juvies, and he supposed that was likely the reason for their more subtle attire.

“Hey Cellbit!” Corvid gave Cellbit a quick hug, releasing and turning to gesture at Fit, “This is Fit, I think you’ve met him before.”

Cellbit turned to him, “Hi! Yeah it's been a while but I think we’ve met before, I’ve at least heard about you from Corvid,” he smiled and noticed Tallulah holding onto Corvid’s jacket still, “Oh, hi Tallulah!”

The girl smiled, waving at him before looking around the area, then back at Cellbit with a questioning look on her face.

Cellbit seemed to recognize the look, “Oh Empanada and Richas aren’t here today Tallulah, sorry, they’re with my sister and her girlfriend.”

Tallulah pouted while nodding, letting go of Corvid’s jacket to peer into the box that Cellbit had been packing when they walked up. Cellbit smiled at the girl, gesturing for Corvid to come closer.

“Here, this is one of the boxes for you, I was getting it all packed up. We got a ton of stock, for soup and things.” Cellbit gestured to the box below it, “That one has some fruit and your usual burger stuff is in the one under that.”

Tallulah bounced up and down at the mention of fruit. It had been a while since they’d gotten fruit, apparently BL/ind. wasn’t too concerned with their desert Dracs’ fruit intakes, so it was a special treat when something fresh came through.

“That sounds great, thanks! Chayanne is going to be happy about this stock though, he was sad he had to add PowerPup to our stew last night.”

Cellbit laughed a little at that, “Well I’m sure Chayanne will be able to make something up to his standards today!” He closed the box before turning back to Corvid, “Oh! Also, Tazer has the bullets you asked for.”

Corvid gestured to Fit, “Those are for him. He actually wanted to talk to Tazer about something too.”

Cellbit turned to look at Fit, who lifted his arm, “I’ve been having issues with my arm.”

“Ah,” Cellbit nodded, “well you came to the right place, Tazercraft are the best there is.”

“Tazercraft?”

“Tazer e Craft.” Cellbit answered, “They're our guys for all things mechanical.”

Fit nodded, “Ah, yeah we’ve all got a couple gearheads we keep around.”

Cellbit smiled, “Tazer is probably up in the front of the other truck if you want to go talk to him.” He pointed to the truck parked in front of the one they were standing next to.

“Thanks,” Fit turned to Corvid, “you coming too?”

Corvid shook his head, “Nah, I think you’ve got it handled, I’ll bring the supplies to the van and you can meet me back there?”

“Sounds good.” Fit headed around to the front of the other truck. It wasn’t as big as the trucks that BL/ind. used to ship things throughout the desert, the ones that the Favela robbed, but Fit knew they had a fleet of the trucks that they used to steal and sell food and supplies across the zones.

As he approached the open door on the driver’s side, he was surprised to see no seat in front of the steering wheel. He could hear the sounds of things being moved around inside of the front area, so Fit knocked lightly on the outside of the truck before peeking his head in. He was met with an interesting space for the front of a truck.

Along the back wall, behind the seats, was a long desk with boxes and things strewn across them. More of the same things littered the floor, tools hung up on the wall above the desk. He saw where the seat went, it was on runners, and had been slid back and spun around to serve as a desk chair for the killjoy working with his back turned. Fit couldn’t see much of him, but he assumed he was Tazer, and judging by the way he was muttering under his breath, still focused on whatever was in front of him on the desk, he hadn’t heard Fit.

“Hello?” Fit called.

The man spun around, “O que? Oh! Hi!” He was wearing a welding mask, so Fit couldn’t see much of his features. He was more colorful than the rest of the Favela that Fit had seen, wearing a blue bomber jacket with several patches on the sleeves and a yellow shirt. Still, it was fairly muted, the blue was dark, and the yellow was closer to the pale color of the sand below Fit’s feet. He wore dark pants and leather boots.

Fit didn’t see much about him that stood out. Until he took off the mask.

“Hi, sorry,” he pulled the welding mask off, setting it on the table next to whatever he was working on, “I’m Tazer.”

The first thought that went through his mind when he saw Tazer’s face was that he was pretty. The second thought was that he definitely shouldn’t be thinking that about a runner he just met.

It was true though, he had dark eyes that shone in the light that came through the windshield, his skin tanned from the desert sun. His dark hair was streaked through with blue that matched his jacket, and then he smiled, eyes crinkling, and Fit couldn’t help but stare.

He cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure as he introduced himself, feeling his cheeks heat up, “Hello, I was told that you’re good with prosthetics?”

Tazer nodded, gesturing for Fit to step into the cab. “Yes, I’m pretty good if I say so myself.” He reached down and lifted up his right pant leg, revealing the metal of a prosthesis of his own, “I made this one myself, well, with Craft’s help, but it’s had pretty much no issues.” Tazer smiled.

“Oh wow,” Fit looked down at the limb, not realizing that Tazer had a prosthetic limb as well, “you made it from scratch?”

Tazer nodded, smiling, “Yes! This one is version number nine I think? I’m not sure, it's hard to keep track of when one version becomes another, but there's been many years of testing and redesign to make the most desert-ready prosthetics.”

Fit stepped into the truck, lifting up his metal arm, “I’ve been having some issues with mine recently, it’s been fritzing out, not responding when I need it to, and it's been hurting a lot more than usual.” He brought his hand up to where the metal met the skin of his shoulder.

“Okay!” Tazer walked a little closer, “Could you take it off so I can take a look?”

Fit’s brow furrowed, “It- uh- it doesn’t really come off.”

“No?” Tazer’s eyes widened with surprise, “How long have you had it? No wonder it is causing pain.”

Fit hummed, trying to do the math in his head, “It's got to be almost ten years now? Since I lost my arm.”

When Fit looked back at Tazer, a look of horror was painted across his face, “You have never taken off the prosthesis in ten years?”

“Well it doesn't really come off. It’s kind of implanted into my shoulder I think. I can take off the arm part, but not where the socket is, and it takes a long time to unhook everything.” Fit shrugged.

“Can I look?” Tazer gestured at Fit’s arm, and Fit turned to give the man better access. He wasn’t sure what Tazer was looking for, but after a few minutes poking around at the socket, the metal of the elbow joint, removing the leather guard that he and Ramón had made, “Here, can you sit?” he gestured to the chair he had been sitting in when Fit entered, before turning to rifle through the tools scattered across the desk.

He turned around holding a few wrenches and screwdrivers, looking quizzically at Fit’s arm, “Okay, do you think you can help me get it off? I’m going to be honest, I don’t think I can fix it, you would be much better off with a whole new everything. The main reason for your pain is definitely the socket. It is not a breathable or flexible material, so it is a wonder how you have gone this long without being in horrible pain. Your arm swells and shrinks day to day, so you need something that will be able to accommodate that, and the socket you have right now definitely does not do that.”

“Huh.” Fit looked down at his prosthesis, sighing. He hated taking it off, the dozens of little wires that he had to un-attach and make sure didn't snag. And don’t even get him started on putting the arm back on.

The two got started, Fit twisting to separate the prosthesis, him and Tazer managing to make quick work of it, the other’s nimble hands able to detach the wires much quicker than he usually was, and then the arm was on the desk, discarded for the time being as Tazer looked over the connection point of the arm and socket. Fit looked away, he hated how the warped and scarred skin stretched around metal and wire. He hated how raw it felt to have the skin exposed to the elements, almost as if the wound was fresh, and it hadn’t been damn near a decade since the thing was blown off.

Tazer frowned, bringing his hands up before pausing, “Can I touch?” Fit nodded, and then there were hands on him, one holding his shirt sleeve, the other on his skin. They were gentle, barely there brushes of fingertips over where metal met skin, and despite the fact that the thick scar tissue made it hard to have any real feeling in the area, each touch of Tazer sent tiny sparks zinging through him.

It seemed fitting. Little shocks of electricity from Tazer. Fit’s face heated up a little at the thought.

Eventually Tazer pulled his hands away, the look on his face still as perplexed as ever, “One second,” he muttered, walking over to the door and sticking his head out, “Craft!” he shouted, “Venha aqui! Eu preciso de você!”

A few seconds later, Tazer was stepping back into the truck followed by the man Fit had seen earlier, with bright pink hair and the paint splattered lab coat. Craft, judging by Tazer’s calls.

Craft took in the scene, Fit’s prosthesis carefully balanced atop of the piles of metal and tools scattered across the desk, the exposed wire and metal melded in with the scarred skin of Fit’s stump.

“Meu deus?! What is that?”

Fit snorted out a laugh as Tazer smacked his friend’s shoulder, the pink haired man not taking his eyes off of Fit’s stump.

Tazer spoke up, dragging Craft closer, “This is, uh-” he paused, “actually I did not get his name, but his prosthesis was causing him a lot of pain, and was malfunctioning,”

“I can believe that,” Craft gestured at the irritated skin.

Fit nodded, “Yup. I’m Fit by the way.”

Tazer and Craft’s eyes lit up in realization. “Oh!” Tazer exclaimed, “You are a part of Corvid’s crew! I have heard about you!”

Fit nodded, “Yeah, I came here with him and Tallulah, he talks about me?”

“Sometimes, not as much as he talks about Chayanne and Tallulah.”

Fit nodded and Craft’s eyes widened behind his glasses, “Oh! You are the one who he needs metal bullets for!”

“Yeah,” Fit shrugged, “Corvid gives me so much shit for staying acoustic, but that's what I’m used to, ray guns just feel wrong to me,” His hand ghosted over the handle of the revolver on his hip.

Craft sighed, “That’s what Tazer always says, he could make the shiniest blasta anyone’s seen, true Tazercraft quality, but no, he has to stay ‘old school’” He did air quotes at the last two words.

“You’re acoustic too?” Fit turned to Tazer in surprise.

He nodded, “Yeah, I even modified my revolvers to take the same bullets you needed, I didn’t want to have to make two different kinds.” he laughed, “Oh! Speaking of bullets, I have yours here,” he ducked under the desk to pull out a small cardboard box, setting it on the desk next to Fit’s arm, seemingly remembering why they were there.

“Oh! Your arm, yes,” he turned to Craft and Fit laughed a little, “what do you think moço, I don’t think we can salvage this.”

Craft nodded, “I agree, it looks like we need to take all of this out too,” he gestured at the metal and wires embedded into Fit’s arm, coming closer to get a better look, “Can I touch? If it doesn’t hurt too much.”

Fit nodded, scooting to the edge of the seat, reaching over with his flesh hand to pull his shirt sleeve further up.

Craft poked around just as gently as Tazer, and Fit was relieved that the odd electricity that had accompanied the other’s touch seemed to have faded.

“Do you know how this is attached to you?” Craft asked, gently running his fingers over the metal melded with his skin.

Fit shrugged, “I was asleep when they put it in me, but it’s attached to my nerves I think? Pretty sure that’s what makes it move and shit.”

“That makes sense. How long after the amputation was the metal and stuff put in?”

“Uh, not sure on specifics but when I woke up after it was already there. I was asleep for a few days though, so probably around three or four days.”

Tazer’s eyes widened, “Oh. Wow, so you wore the arm right after?”

“I waited for the skin to heal up a bit, but I didn’t have much of a choice at the time, we had to keep moving, and I was more trouble than help with a missing arm.”

Tazer and Craft glanced at each other, and if Fit didn’t know better, he’d say that the two were having a whole silent conversation between themselves.

Finally, Tazer looked back at Fit, “The best solution I have right now is to take out everything inside there,” he gestured to Fit’s stump, “and then start from scratch. The only problem with that is we need to surgically take everything out. I’m pretty confident in mine and Craft’s surgical abilities, we’ve done this stuff more than we can count, but that was always back in the Underground, where there was, y'know, sterile places, and surgical equipment, and I really would not feel good about cutting you open in this truck.”

Fit thought about it, sure he’d only just met the two guys, but his gang had been working with the Favela for years, and Fit felt like he could trust the two, especially with Corvid’s vouch of trust.

“Well, I don’t know if it is particularly sterile, but the restaurant has a back room where Gears and Ramón work on their explosives and shit. It’s probably not the best, but Ramón is strict about keepin’ the static out of there and making sure it stays clean.”

Tazer and Craft looked at each other, silently communicating again before Craft turned back, nodding, “Okay, we should be able to make it work, we have some scalpels and stuff around here somewhere.” He moved to rifle through the desk drawers.

“Do you think we could come see today?” Tazer asked, “After we close up of course, but If you are willing we may be able to do the surgery as soon as tomorrow.”

Fit’s eyes widened. Sooner would be best, Witch knows how long it would take for him to heal, and the quicker he could get the surgery done, the quicker he could have a functioning arm again.

He nodded, “Yeah, I’ll let Corvid know, and we’ll stick around so we can lead you back.” Fit started to get up, reaching for his arm that still laid on the desk. He really was not looking forward to putting the thing back on.

“Wait,” Tazer said and Fit paused with the prosthesis in his hand, “it would probably be best if you didn’t put that back on. Let the inflammation go down before the surgery.”

Fit nodded, looking down at the angry red skin of his stump. He set the arm back down, shifting his cloak to cover his left side, wincing a bit when the green cloth rubbed against the sensitive skin. He picked his prosthesis back up, tucked it under his arm and picked up the box of bullets, turning to leave, “I’ll let you guys get back to your work, come find me and Corvid when you’re ready to leave.”

Tazer and Craft nodded, the latter opening his mouth to speak, “Hey if you see Cellbit, let him know about this?”

“Will do,” Fit gave the two a nod and turned to leave, stepping out of the truck and back into the sun’s oppressive gaze.

He walked back to where he and Corvid first saw Cellbit, and found that they had returned from delivering the boxes to their van, the two sitting and chatting in the shade of the truck, Tallulah next to them drawing doodles in the sand with her finger.

Corvid looked up as Fit sat down next to Tallulah, across from Corvid and Cellbit, staring confused at Fit’s prosthesis as he set it and the box beside him. Usually he would keep the thing as far away from the static as possible, but if things went to plan, he wouldn’t be needing the thing anymore anyways.

“Hey, Tazer and Craft are going to come back to the restaurant with us. They’re going to try and use the gearheads’ room for a quick surgery and get all the metal shit out of me.”

Cellbit looked over in concern, but Corvid just nodded, “That wouldn’t be a terrible place, Ramón is very particular about keeping the place clean.”

“You’re going to let them cut you open in the back of your restaurant?” Cellbit asked, sounding a bit concerned.

Fit shrugged, “Well they told me they’ve done shit like this before.” He pulled back his cloak, revealing the metal and wire embedded in his skin, “And besides, they’re just removing this stuff, I don’t think they’re is going to be much cutting me open.”

Cellbit nodded, face curling a little at the sight of his stump, “I guess they’re right, they’ve done more serious surgeries before, like actual amputations, but that was always in more hospital-like locations.”

Fit shrugged again, pulling his cloak back over his shoulder, “Well, it’s the best we’re going to get out here, and it’s miles better than the soggy place where I had the amputation in the first place.”

Corvid scoffed off a laugh at that, and they returned to their earlier conversation, something about Chayanne’s newest culinary experiments.

––

It wasn’t much later that Craft, Tazer, and the third Favela member (Felps if he heard correctly) came over, letting Cellbit know that all the supplies had been sold, and they were ready to pack up.

The whole Favela decided to come back to the restaurant with them, Corvid offering them dinner and a place to sleep for the night as the sun was creeping closer to the horizon.

Corvid drove, leading the Favela’s trucks as Fit radioed to Gears that they were on their way, and that they should be ready for a few extra guests. Gears and Chayanne (who had been informed of the larger group of people to cook for) seemed excited, and they turned off the radio with mention of a surprise when they returned home.

Soon enough they were rolling up to the restaurant, Corvid pulling the van under the front covering while Mike and Cellbit parked their trucks around the side.

It wasn’t until they were getting out of the van that Fit noticed the bike parked near the door. Black chrome shone in the late-afternoon sun, accents of sparkling purple and a small skull on the front standing out.

Fit smiled and called to Corvid, who was opening the back of the van with Tallulah, “Hey Corvid,” he pointed at the bike, “look who’s home.”

Corvid’s head flew up and his eyes widened. As soon as Tallulah saw the motorcycle she leaped up, setting the box she had been holding on the floor, racing inside with a shout of “Papa!”

Corvid smiled, setting down his own box with a look at Fit.

Fit returned the grin, “Head inside we’ll take care of it,” he gestured to where the Favela was walking over.

Corvid nodded, following his daughter inside.

“I think that is the loudest I have ever heard her.” Cellbit laughed as he came over, picking up the box that COrvid set down.

Fit laughed at that, “Well, her dad’s back, so she’s excited.”

Craft picked up the box Tallulah left, “I thought Corvid was her dad?”

“He is, but Missa is her dad too.” Fit picked up the box of bullets and his prosthesis, trying to balance them to carry inside with only one arm.

Tazer pulled another box from the back, looking warily at Fit’s poorly balanced stack, “Do you need any help?”

“Nah, I’ve got it,” Fit walked through the doorway, setting the bullets and his arm on the kitchen counter. The Favela followed him, carrying in the rest of the boxes.

“Fit!”

Fit spun around smiling, making eye contact with Missa, who was carrying a very happy Tallulah in his arms.

“Missa! Nice to see you man! We listened to your race, good job,” Fit gave Missa a side hug, “this was a surprise, I didn’t know you’d be back this soon.”

Missa nodded, “I did radio you guys, but the van didn’t answer.”

Corvid spoke up, “Well we were a bit busy picking up supplies,” he gestured at Fat, “and getting our arms removed.”

Missa seemed concerned, before looking at Fit’s left side, where an arm decidedly was not, “Que? Why- do-”

Fit pointed over his shoulder at where the Favela were stacking supply boxes, “My prosthesis has been messed up for the past few weeks, so they’re going to cut me open and fix me up.”

“Cut you open?”

Fit pulled his cloak back again, revealing the metal in his stump, “Not really, they just have to take this metal and shit out.”

“And they’re doing it here?” Tallulah squirmed in her dad’s arms, and Missa set her down as Ramón came over to say hi to Fit.

He ruffled his son’s hair as he answered, “No, they’re going to do it in the back room.” Fit pointed at the door behind Missa that led to the room where Ramón and Gears worked on all of their projects.

Ramón looked up at his dad, mouth dropping open, “You’re going to get blood all over my stuff!”

Fit tried to come up with a response that would satisfy the ten year old, but luckily Tazer stepped in, “You don’t have to worry about that, me and Craft are experts at this, we know how to keep everything squeaky clean, and if we don’t we promise not to leave until its back how it started.”

Ramón paused, and Fit could tell by the look on his face that his son was not buying it, “Okay.” he reluctantly agreed though, and Fit headed into the kitchen.’

While Fit helped Chayanne and Corvid cook up their meals, Tazer and Craft checked out the back room, Ramón and Gears accompanying them to show them what tools they had and how they could set up the room properly.

They were making stew again, but instead of Power Pup, it was beef stock and canned vegetables and potatoes, just as filling, and way better tasting.

Chayanne pulled out all the stops, using the good spices and everything. Fit muffled a laugh as the boy pushed Corvid out of the way to stir the pot himself, muttering something about it ”needing to be perfect.’

Corvid didn’t hold back though, laughing loudly at his son’s antics, ruffling his hair before stepping back to stand with Fit.

Corvid leaned close, his breath low as he spoke, “He wants everything to be perfect for Missa.”

Fit smiled at that, looking at Chayanne fondly as he ran around the kitchen, stirring the soup and bossing around Tallulah and Sunny, making the two younger kids pull out the bowls and spoons as he called to everyone for dinner.

Chapter Text

“So, we’ve got zoneweed or whiskey.”

Fit grimaced from where he stood outside of the backroom-turned-operating-room. At dinner the night before, Tazer and Craft had announced to the table that they would be ready to do Fit’s surgery the next day, and now, that morning, he was facing the reality of getting his residual limb sliced into without actual sedation.

Sure they had the sedative that Ramón and Gears were developing for their sleeper darts, but the stuff was unreliable, and Fit wasn’t counting on it for the procedure.

“Whiskey I guess.”

Craft smiled, “Smart choice,” and walked back towards the kitchen, leaving Fit alone outside of the room with Ramón, Tazer already inside, working on sterilizing it as best as he could.

His son looked up at him, “I’ve got a cherry pit about this Fit. I don’t know what to think.”

Fit crouched down, “Ramón, my boy, everything is going to be fine. They’re just taking out a bit of metal, and then they’ll stitch me back up,” he placed a hand on Ramón’s shoulder, “Besides, Tazer and Craft aren’t some chilly ‘joys we picked up off the side of Route Guano, ready to stab us in the back for a couple’a carbons. We’ve been getting supplies from them for ages,”

“I guess so,” Ramón shrugged.

Fit pulled his son into a hug, “Trust me, I’m going to be fine, and at the end of this I’ll have the shiniest arm in all the Zones,” he pulled back to look into Ramón’s eyes as Craft walked back over, a bottle of amber liquid in one hand, “Te quiero mucho Ramón.”

His son gave him another quick hug, and then Fit was standing up, glancing back at Craft, “So, how much of that do I need to drink?”

Craft shrugged, “I’m not sure, how’s your alcohol tolerance? I’d say we start with a couple swigs and go from there.”

“Oh Witch,” Fit groaned, “I am so fucked.”

“Don’t worry, we’re experts, you should wake up in a few hours just a little raindead maybe, but good as new!” Craft grinned widely, trying to instill some confidence in the killjoy.

Fit raised an eyebrow at the choice of words.

“Well, maybe not new, but on your way to it!” He shoved the whiskey into Fit’s hands, and then opened the door, leading Fit inside. He waved to Ramón one last time, before turning and crossing the threshold.

Tazer was fiddling with something Fit couldn’t see. He had a lab coat on over his yellow shirt, matching Craft, his jacket discarded somewhere that Fit couldn’t see. Fit forced himself to not look at the scalpels and instruments on the table near Tazer, choosing instead to hop onto the other table, which had been cleared off and placed in the middle of the room as a makeshift operating table.

Craft gestured at the bottle in his hand as Tazer came over, “Start drinking, we want you as drunk as we can get you before we start.”

Fit scoffed, but held the bottle between his legs as he twisted off the cap and took a swig.

While Fit grimaced, Tazer pulled up Fit’s sleeve to take measurements of Fit’s stump. He’d done the same thing the night before, and Fit’s eyebrows furrowed, “Again?”

“I want to see if the size changed after you slept, if swelling went up or down.” Fit nodded as Tazer wrote the measurements into a little notebook, “I am already working on some ideas for the prosthesis, and I’ll start building it once we’re done here.”

Fit nodded as Tazer pulled away, quickly replaced by Craft, who was holding Gears’ sedative in a syringe.

Fit took another long drink of the whiskey, setting it down on the table and looking up at Craft.

“Do you think you can take your shirt off? It’ll make it easier for us to do everything.”

“Oh, yeah.” Fit pulled his brown shirt up and over his head, handing it off to Craft’s open hand, then laying back on the table, the metal cold against the bare skin of his back. He forced his gaze away from Tazer and Craft, the two surely looking at the messed up skin of his torso, scars stretched across the planes of his chest and stomach, bullet wounds and burn scars that tore across his skin, stretching and warping it. It couldn’t be the most lovely thing for them to look at. Fit almost wanted to cover it up again, but before he could think about moving to grab his shirt back, Tazer spoke.

“Okay, are you ready?” Tazer questioned, adjusting the desk lamp so it pointed at his residual limb.

Fit nodded, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

A few seconds passed and Fit opened his eyes again, “Do you think the alcohol will affect the sedative?” No one answered, and Fit turned to look at Craft, who had the syringe ready to poke into his arm, the other ‘joy giving him an unimpressed look, “I mean like people always say mixing drugs and alcohol is bad. A sedative is basically drugs right?”

“Look, do you want to do this or not?”

Fit sighed, “Just inject me.” He closed his eyes again, feeling the pinch of the needle piercing his skin.

––

Everything was dark. It almost felt like the nights back in Zone 6, except out there, the stars were bright enough to allow you to see the dark outlines of the things around you. Maybe it didn’t look like it did out in 6, but Fit felt like he used to. He was wired, on edge and freaked out, and his stump was hurting. He tried to move it, but the dark fog in his mind was suddenly a bright white, and he flinched groaning out.

“Fit? Fit are you awake?”

Fit could hear a voice. He blinked his eyes open, seeing that he was on his mattress in the restaurant, Phil standing above him.

He pressed a hand over his eyes, the bright light making his head pound.

“Hey Tazer! Sleeping beauty’s up!” Phil’s yell set the pounding even harder, and he whined.

“Shut up,” he slurred out, opening his eyes again, “I feel fucking raindead what’s going on?” He finally looked down at his left shoulder, seeing that it was wrapped in white gauze. Huh. So that was why it hurt. Did he get shot or something?

Fit sat up, realizing that he didn’t have a shirt on either.

“Tazer and Craft took all that metal shit out of your arm remember?”

Fit’s eyes widened with realization as Tazer walked into the room, “Oh! Yeah! I remember now.” He’d been in surgery. And he’d drunk about three shots of whiskey beforehand. It seemed like the sedative had worked at least, if he’d woken up while they were still working on his stump, he didn’t remember it.

It must’ve been the combination hangover and residual loopiness from the sedative but Fit couldn’t take his eyes off of the man by the door. He had taken off the lab coat from earlier, and was only wearing what Fit had thought was a yellow t-shirt, but was actually a yellow cut off, and it’s lack of sleeves did not hide the slim muscle of Tazer’s tanned arms. He wondered what it would be like to touch his arms. He wondered if his torso was toned in the same lithe way under the tank-top.

“Hi,” he said kind of dumbly, but based on the thoughts racing through his head it wasn’t the worst thing he could have said.

Tazer smiled, and Fit couldn’t help but smile back, “Hi Fit, how are you feeling?”

Fit snapped back to himself, pulling his gaze away from Tazer’s lips.

“I’m fine I think? Beamless as fuck, my mind’s all foggy and I feel like I’m drunk and hungover at the same time.”

Tazer snorted out a laugh. In the back of his mind Fit hoped he could hear it again.

“Well that’s probably not too far off from the truth, more like high and hungover but, well,” he shrugged, “I meant your arm though, is it hurting or anything?”

“Oh,” Fit shrugged, “A bit? It feels more numb and achy than anything.” He yawned, suddenly feeling more tired.

Tazer nodded, “Okay good, that means the painkillers are working.”

Corvid perked up from where he’d been standing silently, “How about you get a bit more rest Fit? It’ll help with the healing.”

Fit nodded, turning to Tazer, “If you leave when I’m asleep, bye,” he waved at the other man.

He laughed turning to Corvid, “I’m actually going to stay a little while, Ramón wanted to help with your prosthesis, and it would be nice to use all the tools you guys have in there,” he pointed over his shoulder towards where Fit knew the backroom was.

“Oh, so is all of Favela staying?” Fit asked, his eyes beginning to droop.

Tazer shook his head, “Nah, just me, they have to meet up with the others and get ready for the next convoy interception.”

Fit nodded, his eyes back on Tazer, admiring the way the light from the hallway backlit him, lighting his hair like he had a halo, “Okay. Mega.” Fit really needed to get sober, he was going to say something stupid and embarrassing if he had to look at Tazer any longer. Fit laid back down on the mattress, “Goodnight,” he called out, waving at the door, and the two people standing near it.

Fit closed his eyes as he heard the door closing, a muffled laugh being the last sound he heard before he was pulled back into unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

Craft stepped back from Fit’s arm, cutting off the last bit of suture material as Tazer stepped in to cover the residual limb in gauze and bandages. He and Craft had been surprised at the placement of the metal they had pulled out of Fit’s stump. It had obviously been placed quite hastily, the only thing that seemed to have been thought out was the alignment of the connection port for the socket, where it would connect to the arm. Even the wires that had been connected to nerves were bent oddly within Fit’s flesh, and it had taken a thorough search to know that they’d found everything.

As Tazer finished wrapping the bandage, he forced himself to keep his eyes focused solely on his task, despite their desire to wander over to the planes of Fit’s chest, and the thick muscle that covered it, the ridges and bumps of scars only adding to his desire to touch.

Tazer shook off the thought, stepping back and looking over at Craft, who was looking at him with a small smirk.

“What?” He asked, glancing down at his lab coat to see if he’d gotten anything on it.

Craft just shook his head, “I can’t believe you crushing on a man who asked you to cut him open.”

Tazer felt his face grow hot, “Wait- what- no- I-” he stuttered out, trying to defend himself, “I’m not thirteen, I don't have a crush,”

“Well you’re blushing and stuttering like a thirteen year old.”

Tazer just shoved Craft, walking to the door and sticking his head out to call for help moving Fit to his room.

Once Corvid and Cellbit moved Fit to his bed, Craft and Tazer joined the rest of the killjoys outside, under the concrete cover that blocked the sun. The surgery hadn’t taken as long as Tazer thought it would, so it was only just past half-day, the sun high in the sky and ready to burn unsuspecting wanderers into a crisp.

Tazer closed his eyes and let his mind wander, the murmuring of the conversations around him almost lulling to sleep.

Then he felt a nudge on his shoulder, and he opened his eyes to look at Craft, “What?”

“I said, we thought that the backroom was really nice and has so many good tools.”

“Oh!” Tazer sat up, “Definitely, you guys are decked out, and it’s super well organized.”

“I’m glad you liked it!” Ramón smiled from where he sat next to Sunny, “Me and Gears wanted to make it a gearhead’s paradise, the shiniest workshop in all the Zones!”

Tazer smiled, “Well you guys did a good job, it’s way better than our truck,”

“Well that's because Tazer can’t put his shit away,” Craft cut in.

Tazer smacked his hand against his friend’s shoulder, “Hey! You’re just as bad and you know it.”

Craft just shrugged, not denying Tazer’s statement.

“Well, if you want to, you could use our workshop for making Fit’s arm.” Ramón said, looking towards Corvid for approval.

Corvid nodded, “Yeah, we’ve got space for a few extras if you want to use the stuff back there.

Tazer’s eyes widened, “Oh wow, that is very kind of you, but we have a schedule we need to keep on,” he gestured to Craft, Cellbit, and Felps.

Corvid nodded, “That makes sense, but if you want to stop by in the future, feel free.”

Gears nodded too, “Yeah, we’d love to work on a project with you guys,” he gestured between him and Ramón.

“Actually,” Cellbit chimed in, “One of you could stay and work on the prosthesis, the next convoy we’re going to hit has you both staying on surveillance, and we only really need one.”

Craft smiled, “That's a good idea!” He turned to Tazer, “I think you should stay, you’ve got more experience with prosthetics anyways,” he gestured down at his leg.

Tazer turned, not missing the sparkle of mischief in his best friend’s eyes, “You’ve made just as many prosthetic limbs as I have,”

Craft shook his head, “Shhhh, you are the best person for this job.” He gave Tazer a pat on the back and a smile that said you’re going to thank me later. Curse how well he and Craft knew each other.

Tazer turned towards Corvid, “Are you sure I won’t take up too much space?”

Corvid shook his head, “Nah, don’t worry about it, we’ve got plenty of room.”

“Alright then, I’ll stay and work on Fit’s prosthesis.”

The group fell back into their earlier conversation, and Tazer zoned out again, tired from all the focus it took for the surgery. He had just closed his eyes again when he heard someone sit on the ground next to him.

He looked over and saw Ramón fixing the brown leather hat on his head, “Do you think I could help with my dad’s arm?”

Tazer smiled, “Oh! Yeah of course, I’d love your help, I’ve heard you’re very good with machines.”

“Yup,” Ramón puffed his chest out, “And if I know how it works, I can help him fix it in the future.”

Tazer nodded, “That’s true, you’re very smart Ramón.”

Ramón smiled at the praise and launched into a bunch of questions about how the prosthesis would work, and what it’d be made out of, and how long it would take to make.

Tazer was happy to answer all of his questions and more, and eventually the conversation turned to what Ramón had been working on, and what new explosives he was thinking up.

––

If Tazer thought Fit was hard to look away from while asleep, this had to be worse.

The rest of Favela had left just after lunch, getting a radio from Bagi asking when they would be back, saying Richas was getting antsy.

In the time since they left, Tazer had been in the backroom with Ramón, the boy showing off his newest inventions and current projects, until Corvid called for him, saying that Fit was awake.

Fit was sat up on the bed, his eyes squinting in the light as his eyes met Tazer’s. His shirt was still off, and Tazer felt his cheeks warm a little as he forced himself to drag his eyes up from the muscle and scars and smooth skin spread across Fit’s bare chest.

Fit was staring at him, and that made his cheeks warm even more. His eyes were wide, no longer squinting in the sudden brightness, instead tracing along Tazer’s frame.

Tazer forced himself to remain calm under the other’s gaze, hoping that his blush wasn’t too obvious.

“Hi.” Fit said, and Tazer couldn’t help but smile despite himself, his grin widening when Fit smiled back

“Hi Fit, how are you feeling?”

The other man groaned a bit, “I’m fine I think? Beamless as fuck, my mind’s all foggy and I feel like I’m drunk and hungover at the same time.”

Tazer snorted a laugh at the answer. It wasn’t too far off, the combination whiskey and sedative was probably making his mind run in circles, “Well that’s probably not too far off from the truth, more like high and hungover but, well,” Tazer shrugged, “I meant your arm though, is it hurting or anything?”

“Oh,” Fit shrugged, “A bit? It feels more numb and achy than anything.” Fit yawned and Tazer couldn’t help but think of how soft he looked. Tazer wondered if this was what the other always looked like when he woke up, or if this was the sedative and whiskey working together to soften his tough exterior.

Tazer nodded, glad that the pain wasn’t too bad, “Okay good, that means the painkillers are working.” Fit’s eyes drifted across Pac’s face, and he couldn’t help how weirdly nice it felt to be scrutinized under the other’s gaze.

Pac was drawn out of his admiration of Fit when Corvid spoke up, “How about you get a bit more rest Fit? It’ll help with the healing.”

Fit nodded, looking back up to make eye contact with Tazer, “If you leave when I’m asleep, bye,” he waved, and Pac couldn’t help but laugh at the gesture, it was obvious that Fit wasn’t thinking quite straight.

Tazer glanced over towards Corvid, “I’m actually going to stay a little while, Ramón wanted to help with your prosthesis, and it would be nice to use all the tools you guys have in there,” he pointed over his shoulder towards the backroom.

Fit’s eyes widened, “Oh, so is all of Favela staying?” His eyelids started to flutter, and Pac had never thought that the Fit he’d heard stories of would ever be cute, but the way he squinted in the light, and yawned softly was definitely cute.

Tazer shook his head, “Nah, just me, they have to meet up with the others and get ready for the next convoy interception.”

Fit nodded, eyes fixed on Tazer in a way that he’d almost call awe, but was surely just leftover loopiness from the sedative, “Okay. Mega.” Fit pulled his eyes away from Tazer, and it almost made him sad, as he laid back down on the mattress.

“Goodnight,” he muttered out in a small voice, and both Corvid and Tazer let out a little laugh as they left the room, closing the door. Tazer had almost forgotten that the other man was in the room, too focused on the way Fit’s eyes hadn’t left him, the way he had been scrutinized by the other in the best way.

Corvid’s eyes slid towards him as the two made their way down the hallway, “Maybe I should have introduced the two of you sooner.”

Tazer’s brow furrowed as he paused, Craft seemingly paying him no mind as he walked back towards the kitchen, where Chayanne could be heard giving instructions for whatever they were eating that night. Maybe I should have introduced you sooner. Him and Fit? Had he been that obvious with his staring? To be fair, it was the other who had started it, though he supposed he was a little more at fault considering he was the one who was completely sober.

Tazer stood frozen in the hallway for a while, before he heard Corvid calling for him, “Tazer! Favela’s on the radio they’re asking for you.”

“I’m coming!” Tazer called back, sighing, and preparing himself for the inevitable teasing that was to come from his friends, Craft especially.

Chapter Text

When Fit finally woke up again it was morning, and the last of the fog from the sedative and alcohol had thankfully faded. He was left instead with a grumbling stomach and a sharp ache radiating through his residual limb and up his arm.

Fit groaned, pushing himself up off of his mattress and looking around. His room was sparse, a few piles of his and Ramón’s clothes in the corners, and a few scattered machine parts littering the floor near the foot of the mattress. Speaking of his son, Ramón wasn’t in bed, which was surely a sign that he had slept a lot longer than usual. It wasn’t that Ramón was a particularly late riser, just that Fit woke with the sun, often being the first in the restaurant up, a leftover habit from his days in the far reaches of the Zones.

Fit teetered himself to his feet, searching through the clothes to find a shirt that was clean-ish. He finally found one that didn’t belong to Ramón and pulled it over his head, wincing when his fingers brushed against the bandages on his stump, sending a throb of pain up his shoulder.

Walking to the door was harder than he expected. He’d noticed feeling a little unbalanced yesterday (or was it the day before?) after he took off the prosthesis, but it seemed that as he tried to shake off the remnants of sleep the unsteadiness made itself a little more pronounced.

By the time he reached the end of the hallway, he had regained his balance, his body overcorrecting for the lack of weight on the left side.

As he walked into the kitchen, he was surprised to see that everyone was awake, including all the kids, which was surprising seeing as Sunny liked to sleep in more than anyone else in their gang. Wow, he really must have knocked out.

As Corvid saw him enter he grinned, “He has awoken!”

The rest of the group turned to look at him, and Fit waved tiredly, “Good morning, I think?”

Missa smiled, “Yeah, still morning, but a lot later than usual for you huh,”

Fit walked over to ruffle Ramón’s hair, nodding, “Turns out your sedative worked a little better than we expected.”

His son smiled, and Gears perked up, “Yeah, if only we could figure out what made that dose make you pass out for a whole day, but the last one only knocked me out for five minutes.”

“I did not realize your results were that inconsistent,” Tazer frowned and Fit finally noticed him sitting on the kitchen counter by the coffee maker, a cup in his hand.

Gears shrugged, “Well we’ve only been working on it in the background for a couple weeks or so, so once we focus on it more we should get it figured out.”

Fit wandered over to the coffee machine as Ramón turned to Gears, discussing a few of the issues he thought the sedative might have, though Fit’s technical and chemical knowledge wasn’t nearly enough to follow the conversation.

Tazer smiled at him as he pulled a mug from the cabinet and filled it from the coffee pot, before looking down to rifle through his pockets for something, coming up with a small white bottle. He shook out two small pills and handed them to Fit, “Here, for the pain.”

Fit took the pills but didn’t swallow them, just looking at the two white capsules in his hand. The bottle was Better Living white, and while Fit didn’t think Tazer was one to go around drugging ‘joys on battery acid, he was still a little suspicious.

Tazer seemed to recognize his hesitancy, and reassured him, “They’re just painkillers. I gave the same ones to you when you woke up just after the surgery, they’re safe.”

Fit didn’t remember waking up right after the surgery, but he guessed that made sense with the sedative and whiskey double teaming his brain. Fit decided to trust it, swallowing down the pills with a swig of coffee. Tazer had plenty of opportunities to drug or kill him while he was knocked out or loopy and hadn’t taken them, so he gave the runner the benefit of the doubt. He really hoped they’d kick in soon though, the ache in Fit’s shoulder was starting to turn into a sharper pain the longer he was up.

Tazer turned to him after he swallowed the painkillers, “I don’t know if you remember, but Ramón and Gears wanted to help on your prosthesis, so if you’re up for it I was thinking we could get started today, just looking over designs and stuff.”

Fit’s eyes widened, “Yeah that sounds good. I think I remember you mentioning that, but to be honest I don’t remember much about yesterday.” Fit tried to think back, but everything after walking into the workshop with Craft was fuzzy and blurred together.

“That makes sense,” Tazer hopped off of the counter as Fit took a sip of his coffee. As he lowered the mug he realized how close the two were. They just stared at each other for a second, and Fit noticed the unnatural golden yellow of Tazer’s eyes. Odd things like that weren’t as uncommon as one would think in the desert. The lingering radiation throughout the Zones from the Pig Bombs had led to some strange traits in desert born kids, and while most were harmless, some were painful, inconvenient, or straight up deadly. Fit had initially brushed off the bright irises as a product of that, though now that he was making prolonged eye contact, he realized how much stranger it was to see it on Tazer. If what Corvid said about all of the Favela being former Juvies was true, that meant that Tazer was city born, and Fit knew from Juvies and former Batt Rats that BL/ind. was quick to nip genetic mutations in the bud, eager to stamp out any color or uniqueness that appeared, to erase the individuality of everyone under their oppressive rule. And that was if the radiation that caused them even managed to leak through Battery City’s defenses and protections in the first place.

It was pretty though, eyes the color of sunshine in a way that screamed rebellion so loud that it made Fit want to scream along. Tazer smiled, and Fit couldn’t look away from the way his eyes crinkled, then he stepped back, breaking the fragile bubble that they had found themselves in.

“Let me know when you want to start working on your arm, I have some stuff drawn up already, but I want to know what you think before starting anything.”

Fit nodded, and then Tazer was walking away, setting his cup in the sink as he moved to join in Chayanne and Missa’s conversation.

Fit continued sipping the coffee, feeling himself wake up a little more. He turned and leaned back against the counter, looking up and making eye contact with Corvid.

The man had a sly smile on his face, flicking his eyes between Fit and Tazer pointedly, and Fit felt his face heat up. He sent a glare back, and ducked his head to take a sip of his coffee and definitely not to hide what he was sure was a bright blush across his cheeks.

––

After he finished his coffee and chatting with Corvid, Ramón was quick to drag him and Tazer into the workshop, excited to show Fit what Tazer had drawn up.

Fit leaned against the desk Tazer was sat at, Ramón flitting around, looking over Tazer’s shoulders every so often, bouncing back and forth between Tazer’s designs and projects of his own.

“So obviously I can’t begin on the socket until after everything has healed and the swelling goes down, so I’ve been working on more of the nerve electrode bits and the joints.” He flicked open a notebook, several pages of detailed sketches of elbow joints, wrists, even carefully diagramed fingers.

“Oh wow,” Fit leaned closer as Tazer stopped on a page with a full arm sketched out, and ran his finger over the thin pencil lines.

Tazer handed the sketchbook to Fit and leaned back in his chair, “I’ve made only one other arm and hand prosthesis, and that one was for someone with a below the elbow amputation, so your arm will be a bit more complicated than that, but I should be able to use a lot of the same design and components,” He reached over to flip back to the front of the book, leaving it open on a below the elbow prosthesis that was carefully labeled with measurements, and scribbled instructions for the connections of components that Fit could barely understand, “Does everything look good?”

Fit nodded, “Yeah, this is mega man, it’s better than I could’ve imagined.”

“That's good! We might have to make some changes to joints and stuff based on the materials, and what feels right for you, but this should be a good starting point.”

Fit was so busy looking over the details and scribbled notes about the finger movement that he didn’t realize Tazer had moved away from the chair until he was coming back, the noise of metal clinking against the desk’s surface startling him.

He looked up to see Tazer setting down Fit’s old prosthesis, or the parts of his old prosthesis. It was taken apart, bits of metal and wire strewn about as Tazer picked the thing apart. Fit’s brows furrowed in confusion as Tazer dissected the metal arm.

He seemed to feel the eyes on him, and he looked up, meeting Fit’s eyes, “I figured you didn’t need this anymore, is this okay?” He paused his fiddling with the prosthesis.

Fit nodded, his head tilting a bit, “Yeah, it's fine, but uh- what are you doing with it?” He was a little confused as to why the other man was taking the thing apart.

“Oh!” Tazer smiled, “I’m disassembling it so I can see what stuff in it I can use for the new one.” He gestured at the metal strewn about, “A lot of the metal can be repurposed, and I might be able to use parts of the joints to make the new ones which would save a lot of time,” he paused, “and material.”

“Ah,” Fit nodded, “that makes sense.” Tazer smiled and turned back to the arm, continuing to carefully separate the pieces.

Ramón walked over, seemingly drawn by the conversation and peered over the desk, “Is this your old arm?”

“Yup, Tazer’s taking it apart to use the pieces for my new one.” Fit gently grabbed his son’s face, wiping off the grease on his face. It was easier for Ramón to squirm away without Fit’s second hand holding him still, and he pulled away scrubbing at his own cheek with a quick glare at Fit.

Ramón leaned closer to Tazer as Fit stifled a laugh, “Mega! You think I could use some of the scrap he doesn’t need?”

Fit shrugged, “I don’t see why not,” turning to Tazer.

Tazer nodded, grinning widely, “Yeah, I definitely won’t be needing all of it.” Fit couldn’t help but smile in return, the motion almost automatic in response to the other’s happiness.

Fit shook himself out of his stupor and hopped off of the desk, placing his hand on Ramón’s shoulder, “How about you show me what you’ve been working on? We can let Tazer keep working.”

Ramón smiled and grabbed onto Fit’s wrist, pulling him across the room where several vials and a ton of wires were scattered across a desk, babbling on about the new design that came to him late the night before, and how he thought it would improve the device. Fit loved seeing the way his boy lit up in front of his machines, the way his tongue would stick out and his brow furrowed when he was concentrating hard. He could watch Ramón work for hours, indulging the boy’s curiosity as he explained the way each piece worked, and how he figured out how to put them together, and then explaining it over again as Fit asked questions about the parts he didn’t understand.

It might have been the lingering sedative or his tiredness, but he couldn’t help but drop a quick kiss onto Ramón’s head, basking in the crooked grin his baby boy gave him before he turned back to the device on the desk, explaining the wire connections as he soldered them together.

Witch, he loved that boy.

Chapter Text

After a quick break for lunch, Fit, Tazer, and Ramón returned to the back room, this time accompanied by Gears as well.

It was almost identical to the day before Fit met Tazer, just this time with the runner there too. Gears and Ramón were trying to piece together some bombs, sharing the secrets behind their assembly with Tazer as he helped them connect wires and sort explosives. Fit had been pushed to the side, though he didn’t mind it all that much, he wasn’t much use with only one arm anyways.

Somehow, the chattering of voices and the hum of whatever tools they were using managed to make Fit drift off. It was odd, he wasn’t one to nap, even falling asleep at night was hard for him most days, leftover instincts and nerves from the far reaches of the desert.

He awoke quickly though, with a loud ‘oof’ as a heavy weight dropped into his lap, his eyes flinging open to be met with giggles, and a lapful of a ten year old gearhead snickering at his misfortune.

Fit groaned, wrapping his arms around Ramòn and swaying him side to side, “Ramón, Ramón how could you!” his voice was gravely from sleep and he cleared his throat before continuing, “I’ve been attacked, betrayed by my own son!”

Ramón’s giggles grew louder as Fit continued to shake his son back and forth. Fit didn’t realize Tazer was still in the room until he heard the other man’s snort of laughter, making him pause his swinging and turn to look around the room.

Sure enough, Tazer was sitting over by Ramón’s desk, accompanied by Gears still, looking over what appeared to be some of his usual explosives.

Fit’s gaze locked with Tazer, and the other man smiled, a brush of pink spreading across his cheekbones. It must be warm in the room, Fit could feel his own face heat up too.

Fit was dragged away from his staring by Ramón squirming away from his grasp.

“Fit look, we’re showing Tazer our bombs.” He tugged on his dad’s arm, getting him up out of the chair and heading towards the other two.

Tazer smiled, nodding as Ramón and Fit approached the table, “Yeah, I’ve always been curious how they work, it is a unique design and I haven’t seen many that combine chemical explosives with BLI battery explosives so well.”

Gears nodded, “Yeah, we’ve been showing him the different chemicals we use for ignition, and,” he pointed at what looked like a BL/ind. battery pack that had been taken apart and reassembled, “we’ve been showing him how we attach the ignition and the actual explosive bit,”

“And what is the likelihood that we all get blown up if that thing falls?” Fit pointed at the precariously balanced semi-assembled explosive that was sitting atop a stack of papers and metal.

Gears rolled his eyes, “It’s not armed Fit, the only way it’d explode is if something else near it exploded first.”

Tazer smiled, “Don’t worry Fit, I won’t let them blow up your house.”

“At least you’re here for adult supervision,” Fit smirked.

“Hey!” Gears called out, Ramón laughing, “I’m an adult!”

Fit glanced at Ramón, who let out another round of giggles before saying, “Sure. Whatever you say Gears. I think Chay is more responsible than you sometimes.”

“Wow! Now I’m being attacked by a child too!”

Fit and Tazer joined in with laughter, unable to resist with the exaggerated pout on Gears’ face, and the shit-eating grin on Ramón’s.

They were interrupted by the door creaking open, Sunny walking into the room, pausing when she saw Gears’ dramatics.

“Pa! What are you doing?” She giggled, running over to launch herself onto Gears’ lap, her cardboard crown slipping down a little her head.

Gears adjusted the crown, “I’m just getting bullied, nothing to worry about poppet.”

“Fit said he’s not an adult,” Ramón chimed in, explaining to the younger girl.

Sunny giggled, sliding back down to the floor, “You do act like us kids sometimes Pa, I don’t think he’s wrong.”

Tubbo leaned back dramatically, a hand flinging across his forehead, “Ah! How could I be wronged like this! My own child is turning against me!”

Sunny laughed again, “Stop being so dramatic, it’s time for dinner!” They pointed towards the door, “Chayanne made soup!”

The mention of food got all four of them up, following Sunny eagerly as she led them to the table.

——

After dinner, Tazer volunteered to help Fit with the dishes, and the two retreated into the kitchen to wash up from the meal.

Fit ended up not being much help with the one arm, and resorted to drying and putting away the dishes while Tazer washed.

They cleaned together in silence for a few minutes before Tazer spoke up, “Is Sunny really Gears’ kid? He seems kind of young to have a daughter that old.”

Fit laughed, “No, well, she isn’t his actual daughter, they’re siblings, but their parents were dusted when Sunny was fairly young, and he’s raised her as long as she can remember.”

“Ah that makes sense,” The two fell back into an awkward silence.

After a minute, Fit spoke up, “All of the kids are adopted in some way actually, Gears and Sunny are the only ones who are blood related.”

“Really? That’s like Richas actually, Cellbit found him alone right after he escaped to the desert, and he’s been with us ever since.”

Fit smiled, “Sounds like we aren’t the only ones who’ve adopted some desert orphans.”

Tazer laughed, “I suppose so, Bagi’s girlfriend did the same thing, found Empanada all alone when she was very tiny, her mother had been ghosted when she was still a baby.”

“Man,” Fit breathed out. It was sad, but maybe easier for Empanada that way, she didn’t have any memories to follow her. Maybe it was easier for Gears to survive without his parents when they were dusted when he was sixteen, he had the skills to make a living, but he had the weight of losing his family on his shoulders the whole while. Empanada had new moms now, and wouldn’t have to know the pain of losing someone, at least not yet.

Fit continued drying bowls, setting them on the counter, wiping them, flipping them, wiping the bottom, then stacking them back on the shelves in the cabinets. The silence wasn’t awkward this time, but it was solemn, the two too wary to break the quiet out of respect for those gone. Fit thought out a soft prayer to the Witch. He wasn’t particularly religious, growing up in the far wastes of the Zones didn’t offer much for spirituality, but he hoped that if She was listening, She’d protect those that the people Fit loved had lost.

Eventually, Fit put the last bowl away, and Tazer turned the water off.

Closing the cabinet seemingly broke the silence between the two, and Tazer spoke up, “Were you born out here? In the desert I mean.”

Fit nodded, “Yup, I’m a sand pup all the way through. All of us here are actually,”

“So you have known each other for a long time?”

Fit paused, trying to figure out how to word it, “I think Corvid and Missa have known each other for like a million years, but I only met them about five years ago, and Gears maybe three years back?” He hung the towel up before turning back to Tazer, “Missa was racing back then too, so for most of the time it was just me and Corvid, taking care of the kids. It was only Ramón and Chayanne at that point though, Corvid found Tallulah after we met.”

“Where was she?” Tazer dried his hands on the towel that Fit hung up, turning and leaning back against the counter.

“He just found her wandering in the desert, she was five I think, and her dad had fucked off, left her with only a nearly dead Blasta’ and half a canteen of water.” He walked over to the cabinet where the beer was stored, smiling, “If you ask me, I think Corvid just has a soft spot for desert orphans, Chay and Tallulah, Gears and Sunny, hell even me and Ramón. Shit, from what Corvid’s said Missa was apparently a ‘wet cat’ when they met,” he huffed out a laugh and grabbed two beers, looking over his shoulder at Tazer, “Want one?” he asked, holding out the bottles.

Tazer walked forward, stretching out his hand as Fit opened the bottles, “Sure!”

As he took the beer from him their fingers brushed, and Fit could feel a tingle run up his hand at the contact.

“So did you find Gears and Sunny wandering the desert too?” Tazer took a sip of the beer, and Fit forced himself to look away from his lips as he did so. He hadn’t noticed how soft they looked before.

Clearing his throat, Fit answered, “Yeah pretty much. Y’know, it's been a while by this point, I’m sure we’re going to stumble into taking care of another one sooner or later.” He smiled, sipping his own beer.

Tazer hummed, “And what about Ramón? Did you meet him before or after Corvid?”

Fit sighed, taking a long drink of his beer, trying to figure out how to broach the topic. Tazer wasn’t desert born, but surely he had been a Runner for long enough to have heard the stories of Reapers in the far reaches of Zone 6. Of the shameless brutality, of the bloodshed, the violence, the hatred. The people out there weren’t Killjoys, but in some ways they represented their anarchy in the purest sense. They were anti-control of any kind, whether it be Better Living, the loose web of alliances and leadership among ‘Joys or Juvies, or even the shaky authority of Reaper gang leadership.

2b2t had gone through half a dozen leader changes (assassinations) in the last year Fit had been with the gang alone, and while he had gained some notoriety within the group for his record keeping, he had purposely shied away from the few leadership roles he was offered, for fear of someone sneaking up to stab him in the back, and take his position.

Fit cleared his throat, refocusing on the man in front of him and the question he had just asked.

“Um,” he turned , gesturing to Tazer to follow as he led the man towards the door, “follow me.”

Tazer followed Fit out of the restaurant and back around the side of the building, towards where a metal ladder led up to the roof.

Fit let Tazer go first, trying to figure out how to get up with his one arm, which was currently holding his beer bottle. Tazer struggled himself with his own bottle in one hand, and as he made it to the top, Fit resigned to just holding the bottle between his teeth as he grabbed onto the ladder with his hand, stepping up, then quickly jumping his hand to the next rung. He continued the process up the metal ladder until he was at the top, pushing himself up to his feet and grabbing the bottle from his mouth. He led Tazer over to the edge of the roof, where they overlooked the beginning to set in front of him.

The two were silent for a few moments as Fit tried to figure out how to start, “Have you ever heard of the Reapers out in Zone 6?”

Tazer’s eyes widened, though whether it was fear or surprise, Fit couldn’t tell, “Yeah, a bit, I don’t know much, but I’ve heard that they are very violent and ruthless, and believe in pure anarchy, no leaders or anything, it's everyone for themself.”

Fit nodded, trying to figure out how to say it delicately, but decided that it was better to just get it out quickly, “I used to be a Reaper.” He paused, taking a sip of his beer, avoiding Tazer’s gaze, and when he didn’t say anything he continued, “I was born out there I think, or at least found my way out there when I was really young, I don’t remember anything before that at least. 2b2t took me in, they’re one of the gangs out there, and they’re big.

“It’s kind of different than it is here, their gangs aren’t small, and they don’t really stick together. It's like you said, every person for themself, and just because you’re in a gang with someone doesn’t mean you’re friends, or even really safe from them. And that was the whole violence and brutality thing, if someone had something you wanted, there was no one stopping you from taking it.

“Some people broke up into groups of two or three, but I was always on my own, I never really trusted anyone out there.” Fit paused sipping his beer and turning to face Tazer, trying to gauge his reaction. The other man was nodding, and the look in his eyes was kind, non-judgemental and made Fit want to continue, “One day I was wandering way out, tracking down some other Reapers, when there was a huge sandstorm. We get sandstorms here of course, but further out, closer to Death Valley they’re different. In Zone 6 they can last days, and it’s hard to find anywhere to shelter out there, and it's too risky to stay in one place, so usually you just keep moving, goggles on and cloth covering your face to protect you from the static.” He set down his beer to gesture at the cowl of his cloak, where the bunched up extra fabric could be pulled over his head and face at a moment's notice.

“It must have been easy to get lost then.” Tazer remarked, Fit looking over in time to make eye contact as the man sipped from his bottle.

Fit nodded, tearing his gaze away to look back at the sun, which was beginning to dip below the horizon, “Yeah, I got lost actually, found myself somewhere in Zone 5 once it stopped, and because I was the luckiest man ever, an acid rain storm came through hardly a few hours after the static stopped blowing.”

“What did you do? You said there wasn’t much shelter out there.”

“Yeah,” Fit nodded, “Zone 5 is a little better, but I was lucky that there was an abandoned factory near me that I could shelter in.”

Tazer huffed out a breath, “Well that’s lucky.”

“Yeah,” Fit smiled, “Guess I was deity indecisive that day, Witch didn’t know if She wanted to screw me over or help me out.” He took another drink of beer before continuing, “As soon as I got in the factory I could tell there had been a firefight, there were bodies everywhere, some were Dracs, most were Killjoys.

“I’d never really seen Killjoys before, but I had heard stories. No one really liked them out in 2b2t, we all brushed them off as weak, and overly trusting, and it was obvious that the Dracs had won that fight, there were hardly any of their bodies there, and the ‘Joys all had their masks and nametags, if even one of them’d survived they would’ve taken the masks to Witch’s Mailbox, buried the jackets.

“I was looting their bodies when I heard a weird noise from this side room in the factory. When I went in there was this crying kid, maybe three at the oldest? He was tiny though, and had definitely been there a while,”

“Ramón?”

Fit nodded, smiling, “Yeah, I wasn’t so keen on him at first, was about to-” he cut himself off, debating whether or not to continue. It wasn’t something he’d ever told anyone, about his first reaction to the crying, hungry toddler who’s family's bodies he’d just finished looting for food and carbons.

“I- um-” he took a deep breath and turned to look at Tazer, “I almost shot him. I figured it’d be easier, I didn’t even consider any other option. I had my gun pointed at him and everything,” his voice began to shake a little as he continued, “and then he noticed me, and he stopped crying and just looked at me.”

Fit took a shaky breath, “And I couldn’t do it. I put my gun away, and we just looked at each other for a while. I gave him some food, and we spent the rest of the acid rain storm in that room together, and by the end of it, I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I had to stay with him, and, well, it's been seven years now.” Fit stared out into the sunset and the sky as it was painted orange and pink, and he and Tazer were quiet for a while.

Fit felt Tazer’s hand rest softly above his knee, and he glanced down at where it sat against the stained fabric of his pants, the warmth of his skin seeping through and into his own, warming his whole body in the chilling evening air.

“Fit, you are a good dad.” Fit’s head snapped over to Tazer’s, meeting his soft eyes, smiling gently at Fit before turning back to the sunset, “Ramón loves you so much, I can see it in how he talks to you, how he talks about you,” Tazer smiled, and Fit couldn’t help the smile that creeped across his own face, “The way he gets so excited to tell me about how amazing you are and all the cool things you can do shows how important you are to him.

“Being a dad is hard, and nobody feels like they are doing it right, especially at first, but Ramón is happy, and healthy, and he acts like you hung the moon and all the stars,” Tazer squeezed Fit’s knee then pulled away, leaning back on his hands against the roof, “That is the most important thing, that Ramón feels safe and cared for with you.”

Fit kept his eyes trained firmly on the sky in front of them as the sun began to dip below the horizon, trying to will the tears he could feel pricking in the back of his eyes not to fall.

Fit cleared his throat, taking another swig of his beer, “Thanks Tazer.”

He glanced back and was met with a soft smile, and Fit felt that warmth flood through him again, his insides melting all gooey as he turned back to face the sunset in front of them.

Tazer sat back up again, “The sunset is beautiful, almost makes you forget about the thousands of nasty ways nature finds to try and kill us,”

Fit smiled, “Yeah, it's pretty spectacular, I come up here a lot to just watch it, but this doesn’t even come close to sunsets on the Bifrost, that's probably the shiniest thing I’ve ever seen.” He turned towards Tazer again, “You ever been?”

Tazer’s eyebrows furrowed, “The Bifrost? I don’t think so, what is it?”

“You’ve never heard of the Bifrost?” Fit’s eyes widened as Tazer shook his head, “Well they’re these areas where Better Living’s bombs hit so strong that the sand got all glassed out. Most are a bit further out, but there’s one real close to here, over near the picket fence with Zone 5, and sunsets there are…” he trailed off, “it's hard to find a way to describe it. The way the sun shines off the glass sends rainbows beamin’ through the air, everything turns all golden and it’s like you’re on another planet.”

“Wow.” Tazer breathed, and Fit turned to face him. With Tazer leaning forward again, his face felt a lot closer to Fit’s own than earlier, “I’ve got to see one of those,” he smiled and Fit couldn’t help the quirk of his lips, “maybe you could take me, show me the best spot.”

It almost felt like Tazer was getting closer, though if it was because of him or the other man, Fit couldn’t tell, “Maybe,” Fit breathed out, his eyes flicking down Tazer’s face, making his cheeks heat up. He turned back to the sunset, feeling the warmth spread across his face and down his neck.

The two were quiet a bit longer, though this time it didn’t feel awkward like it had in the kitchen, as they just watched the sunset before them.

Tazer didn’t speak up until the sun had finally crept below the horizon, the golden light no longer beaming across the roof or his and Fit’s faces.

“So did you lose your arm back out in Zone 6?” He paused for a second, before rushing out, “If you don’t mind me asking of course.”

“No, I don't mind,” Fit nodded, “It was during some fight with another gang, some guy was gettin’ away, and I guess I waited too long to throw the grenade, and it blew up right after I tossed it.

“I don’t know if the other guy survived, I passed out from the pain pretty quick, but from what I heard afterwards, it was blown clean off from the elbow down,” he gestured at his bandaged stump, “and what was left above the elbow was too burned and mangled to be worth trying to save, especially so far out there.”

Tazer nodded, “I figured it was an explosion, or at least fire related in some way from the scars.”

Fit shrugged, “Yeah, I’ve got a lot of ‘em, but the ones from that explosion are probably my worst.” He ghosted a finger over the raised and scarred flesh on his neck, and where it creeped up the side of his cheek.

Fit turned to Tazer, gesturing at the other man’s prosthesis, “Can I ask how you lost that?”

“I suppose it’s fair,” Tazer grinned, turning to look Fit in the eye, “I was City born, if you didn’t know, and Craft and I have known each other since we were really small. We grew up in an orphanage near the Lobby, Batt City’s artificial slums. We didn’t have money, didn’t have a family, and it wasn’t our fault, just the way Better Living had programmed and planned out our lives.” Fit could feel the poison dripping from his words as he talked about BL/ind. “So me and Craft started stealing shit, at first it was just in the Lobby, but then we got riskier and riskier, until we were hitting a vault in the City Proper. We got caught, and we were sent to this prison called Alcatraz, highest security, no one got out. If you’re sent to Alcatraz, it’s for life.

“That also makes it the perfect place for Better Living to test out their new ideas, experiment with people who can’t fight back, people who are expendable, who they can get rid of if there’s complications.”

Fit’s eyes widened, “They took your leg?” he was shocked, he’d heard about the atrocious thing BL/ind. did to their citizens, but amputating someone’s leg? That was a whole other level of evil.

Tazer shook his head, “No, it was another inmate.” He paused, but Fit let him continue, “They gave him this drug. I’m not sure what it was supposed to do exactly, but because of what I overheard a few guards saying, I think it was supposed to make him less violent. He was in there for murder in the first place, and not just some spur-of-the-moment crime of passion thing, he killed people just for the fun of it. He scared me a lot before they gave him their weird drug, but after that he just got worse.

“He killed two guards and got thrown into solitary, ripped out their throats with his teeth. For some reason they kept giving him more of the medication, maybe they thought more doses would make it work eventually, but it didn’t.

“One day, after he was out of solitary, me and Craft were trying to make our escape. We didn’t get very far before he found us, and he knew what we were doing. He wanted to come with us I think, but Craft didn’t want that to happen, and he got really angry, and because I was the closest to him, he grabbed me.”

Tazer paused for a second, taking a drink of his beer, “I don’t really remember how it all went exactly, it all happened so fast, but one second he was tackling me to the ground and we were fighting, and the next he was biting into my leg.

“I remember screaming, and it hurting really bad, then I passed out, and when I woke up half of my leg was gone.”

“Wow,” Fit breathed, “You managed to escape in the end though.”

Tazer nodded, “I’m here aren’t I?” He smiled, “Once I was healed and they gave me some shitty BLI prosthetic we went through with our plan, managed to flee to the Outskirts, and found some Juvies.”

Fit nodded, “Do you know what happened to the inmate who did it? Did they ever stop giving him the drugs?”

Tazer got a weird look on his face, and was quiet for a few moments, “He escaped actually, while I was recovering from the amputation, but I think that’s a story for another time.”

Fit nodded, smiling, and turned the conversation back towards something more comfortable, asking Tazer about Richarlyson, the two trading stories back and forth about their sons and the other children they cared for long after the last light from the sun faded and the sky darkened, the stars twinkling above as they finally made their way back down the ladder (which was just as challenging if not even harder to get down than up) and back inside of the restaurant, where they joined Corvid, Missa, and Gears around the table, where they were talking after sending the kids to bed.

Chapter Text

When Fit woke up the next morning, his shoulder was aching, a dull throbbing pain radiating up from under the white bandages. He rolled over, noticing that the sun was much lower than it had been the morning before, a lot closer to his regular wake up time and his regular morning.

Ramón wasn’t there again, but he’d slept in Chayanne and Tallulah’s room with the other kids, something the four had started doing more and more often recently.

Fit stretched his arm over his head before settling back on the bed, he didn’t have anything particularly important to do today, so what was the harm in lazing around in bed for a few more minutes?

Just after Fit felt his eyes close again they flew open at the sound of a soft knock on the door.

“Fit?” Tazer’s voice called through the door quietly, “Are you awake?”

Fit pushed himself up off the bed, blinking tiredly as he made his way to the door, “Yeah, one second,” his shoulder ached as he got upright, and he winced as he opened the door, greeted by Tazer smiling up at him.

“Hi! It's about time to change your bandages do-” he cut himself off as he took in Fit’s appearance, the sleep still heavy in his eyes, and the grimace of pain across his face, “Sorry, did I wake you up?” he frowned, “Are you okay?”

Fit nodded, shifting his weight, “Yeah I’m fine, and don’t worry, I was already awake, just didn’t want to get out of bed yet. You said something about bandages?”

“Yeah,” Tazer nodded, “It’s been two days so it’s time to change them.” He looked down to shuffle through the pocket on his work belt, and pulled out the same white bottle from the morning before, “Here, sorry I forgot to give you more last night, I’m sure it doesn’t feel very great.”

Fit nodded, “Yeah, it’s a little sore, but nothing I can’t handle.”

“Nonsense, have some,” Tazer placed two pills into Fit’s hands before turning and heading back to the workshop, “Grab some coffee or something if you want, I’ll wait for you in here!’ he called over his shoulder, smiling as he pushed into the room.

Fit blinked a few times at the door as it swung shut behind Tazer, then started towards the kitchen, popping the painkillers into his mouth and swallowing them dry.

He was on autopilot as he made a cup of coffee, Corvid being the only one left in the kitchen.

“Where is everyone else?” Fit asked. It was a little odd for there to be nobody around, especially in the kitchen this early in the morning.

Corvid turned from where he was wiping the counter below the window that opened to the outside of the restaurant where they took orders.

“They’re getting out the tables and everything so we can open for lunch later.” He gestured at the big flat top grill along the back wall -that usually stayed turned off unless they were open- which was heating up.

Fit’s eyes widened, “We’re opening today? Do you need any help setting up or anything?”

“Don’t worry mate,” Corvid laughed a bit, “I radioed Foolish last night to put it on his station that we’re back open. And don’t worry about helping out, Tazer said you still need to rest with your surgery.”

Fit huffed, “My stump is fine, and I’ve got a perfectly good other arm that can help you guys out,”

“We’re fine Fit, really, I don’t think too many people will be showing up today because it’s our first day back open.” Corvid rolled his eyes and continued wiping down the counter, setting the box of napkins up on the ledge of the window.

Fit just turned to grab his coffee, heading out of the kitchen, “Well, I’ll be in the workshop with Tazer then, he needs to change my bandages. If you need help though, ask!”

Corvid just laughed, “Calm down, you forget Missa is here to help me too! Relax and recover Fit!” he called over his shoulder as Fit made his way down the hall.

He huffed out a laugh as he took a sip of his coffee, pushing open the door to the workshop with his hip to find it was empty save for Tazer, the other man hunched over Fit’s prosthesis at one of the desks along the far wall.

“Tazer?” Fit asked, and Pac whirled around in his seat looking a bit startled.

“Oh, hi Fit!” Tazer smiled as he saw him, popping up from his chair and striding across the room. He pulled some gauze and bandages from a bag, gesturing for Fit to sit on an empty desk.

Tazer set the gauze and bandage on the desk as Fit set down his coffee and hopped up, “I’m going to take off these bandages, clean it, and maybe take out the stitches then I’ll wrap you back up okay?”

Fit nodded, “Sounds good,” He rolled the sleeve of his shirt up, not having to fiddle with his cloak as he’d left it off this morning.

Tazer brought his hands up gently to Fit’s shoulder, and began unwrapping the bandages, starting at the top. Fit kept his eyes focused on the scarred skin that slowly appeared as the bandages were removed. Tazer’s fingers brushed his skin every few passes, and while the scarred skin may not have had the most sensation anymore, every touch from the man sent electricity sparking up his nerves, making him shiver slightly.

Tazer pulled his hands back, “Sorry, are my hands cold?”

Fit glanced up to look at Tazer’s face, not realizing how close the other had gotten, their faces less than half a meter apart. His yellow eyes were sparkling with concern as Fit blinked up at him.

He tried to focus on the question instead of the tiny flecks of gold in Tazer’s irises, “I um- no you’re not cold, just- uh, y’know” he could feel his face heating up as he continued talking, “You can, uh, keep going.”

Tazer nodded and his eyes pulled away from Fit’s own, refocusing on his stump as he carefully continued to unwind the criss-crossing bandages. Fit couldn’t look away, his eyes still gazing into Tazer’s, his yellow irises shining golden from the morning sun that peeked in through the blinds at the window behind him.

Fit’s gaze dropped from Tazer’s eyes to trace over his face, dragging across the tanned skin of his cheeks, the line of a scar across his cheekbone, the skin slightly raised there, and down towards the curve of his lips. They were pressed together, the pink of his tongue poking out from between them. Fit’s eyes flicked back towards the top of Tazer’s face as his brows furrowed in concentration. He had to suppress the urge to swipe a finger over the skin between his eyes, to smooth out the crease that appeared there.

Tazer unwound the last of the bandage and pulled back, shocking Fit out of his staring as he stepped back to set aside the bandage.

When Tazer came back Fit turned his attention back to his stump, now fully uncovered save for the few flat pads of gauze over the surgical sites. Tazer’s hands came to hover over the gauze, his eyes meeting Fit’s in a silent question. Fit nodded slowly, entranced again by the shine of Tazer’s eyes, giving the other man the affirmative.

Tazer gave him a small smile before refocusing on Fit’s residual limb, oh-so-gently peeling off the gauze before pulling close to examine the stitches. Fit closed his eyes as he felt Tazer come closer, close enough that he could feel the soft puff of the other man’s breath on his skin, the warm air sending another shiver through his body.

Tazer glanced back up at him, but didn’t pull away for another few seconds, reaching towards the new gauze and rubbing alcohol as he spoke, “I think we should leave the stitches in another few days before taking them out, we should let them heal up a bit more.”

Fit nodded, “If that’s what the doctor says,” Tazer laughed and a dopey grin spread across Fit’s face at the knowledge that he had been the one to make his eyes crinkle and lips curl, that he’d been the one to make the melodic sound of his laugh echo around the workshop.

“This might sting a little.”

Fit was so lost in his head that he didn’t even realize Tazer had dipped a cotton swab in the rubbing alcohol, hand poised over he wounds to clean them.

Fit nodded, “It’s fine, just go for it.”

Tazer nodded, giving Fit a quick pat on the knee before leaning closer again and gently rubbing the antiseptic along the sutures to clean them. Fit winced at the sting but tried his best to keep still as Tazer worked. After a few more passes and another dip in the rubbing alcohol, he was done, pressing the fresh gauze to the surgical site gently, and setting the cotton swab on top of the old gauze.

“Here, do you think you can hold this here for a second?” Gesturing to where he held the gauze against Fit’s limb.

Fit nodded, grabbing onto the gauze as Tazer took out the new bandage, wrapping it over the gauze then up to the top of his arm, circling the limb a few times before crossing over the gauze again, then wrapping criss-crossed in a figure eight up the rest of his residual limb before securing it with some tape.

Tazer pulled back and smiled, “Alright! Does it feel okay?”

“Yeah,” Fit moved his arm up and down carefully, “It feels fine, I think the painkillers finally kicked in.” In the time since he stepped into the workshop, the dull ache in his arm had stopped, though whether it was from the medication or his distraction, Fit couldn’t tell.

Tazer smiled, “Oh that’s good!” He gathered up the old gauze and the cotton swab, putting them in the garbage bin before walking towards the desk he’d been working at earlier, “Here, do you want to see your new arm? I’ve been working a bit on it.”

Fit’s eyes widened, “Yeah, of course.” He slid off the desk, grabbing his now lukewarm coffee from where it laid forgotten on the desk and taking a sip. He grimaced a bit at the temperature, but moved towards where Tazer was leaning against the desk, tinkering with a few things.

Fit gasped as he looked over Tazer’s shoulder, “Woah!” The arm was still fairly bare bones, only a metal skeleton, and though it still lacked the socket it looked like an arm, elbow, hand, fingers, and all, “You’ve done this in like three days?” His eyes widened as he set his coffee cup down and reached his hand out to gently brush the metal of a knuckle.

Tazer shrugged sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, “I mean, sort of? I used a lot of the base of your old prosthesis to build this one, so I had a bit of a head start.”

“This is still amazing though,” he stared in awe at the limb.

“I’m going to work on attaching some of the wires, if you could help hold pieces that would be helpful.”

Fit nodded, “Of course, I’ll be your assistant! Whatever you need Tazer, I’m here.”

Tazer smiled, grabbing the soldering iron as Fit pulled up a chair, the two ducking their heads together over the prosthesis, ready to continue on the project.

Chapter Text

The next couple of weeks passed much the same. Fit was waking up with the sun like he used to, but he still spent every morning in the workshop, getting his bandages changed before helping Tazer some more on his arm. After about a week since the surgery, Tazer removed the stitches, something he expected to hurt much more than it did, and only a few days after that he didn’t need the gauze and bandages on anymore.

It was only after that, and after Tazer gave his “Doctor’s approval” that Corvid let him help with the restaurant that was now up and running like usual, ‘joys coming in from around the Zones, some just stopping by for a warm meal, others spending a night or two camped out in their cars in the sand, a small place of refuge until they moved on with their gangs.

Even then his helping was fairly limited, practically shoved out of the kitchen any time he came in to try and help, relegated to helping the kids clean tables and restock napkins when he did offer assistance.

Everyone was happy though, especially with Missa’s long awaited return, and the days passed quickly, the evenings spent around a firepit out front, meeting and chatting with the Killjoys who were on their way through, trading stories of firefights and vandalisms, close escapes and near misses.

He and Tazer were getting closer too. Their hours spent working closely in the workshop had been filled with long conversations, sharing stories about their crews, or their kids, whatever mischief they’d come up with recently. Once they ran out of recent stories, they started talking about them when they were younger. The story of Ramón’s first (accidental) bomb construction had amused Tazer a lot, and Fit found himself laughing late into the night with the other man about Richarlyson’s endless pranks.

They stayed up long past the time when they put the soldering irons and pliers down, often whispering softly into the morning, until the two would finally part to sleep, Fit going back to his room, and Tazer going to the mattress that lay in the corner of the workshop.

And speaking of Tazer, Corvid had cornered him during dinner the other night to ask about the former Juvie, when Fit’d been sitting a bit further out from the fire, picking at the plate balanced on his lap.

“So are the painkillers still leaving you beamless because I’ve got some things to say,”

Fit looked up from his plate, “Uh, what?”

“I mean,” Corvid grinned as he sat down, lips turning in a way Fit knew only meant mischief, “are you still high on pain meds or can I make fun of you now?”

Fit groaned, “What is it this time, did I forget to clean my dish, didn’t tell Ramón not to show off his bombs to strangers? In my defense, I only have one arm right now, and also, you try telling that kid to put down the explosives, the guy’s a powderman, I’d like you to try taking those from him.”

Corvid shook his head grinning, “No, I’m not talking about that, Ramón hasn’t shown anyone any bombs -that I’ve heard of- and Tazer’s been doing your dishes for you.”

Fit blushed a bit at the reminder. He normally hated people trying to help him, it always felt condescending and pitying, like they thought he was a little kid, but Tazer had been different. Not prying in with a loud, ‘let me help.’ and yanking whatever it was Fit was holding out of his hand, instead gently butting in with a quiet, “do you want help?” always holding out a hand, but never grabbing unless Fit offered. It had gotten to the point where Tazer would brush past him, Fit already holding his plate out for the other man to grab. It made sense he supposed, Tazer was surely used to the same condescending pity and sympathy with his leg, and it was so-

Fit was pulled out of his thoughts by Corvid’s voice, “That. I want to talk about that.”

Fit’s brows furrowed, “What do you mean ‘that?’”

“I mean I want to talk about Tazer.” He grinned, “I just mentioned the dude’s name and you were blushing like a sand pup talking to her debut.”

Fit protested, “He's not my-” he huffed.

“Not your what, not your debut record? So you’re telling me that you went and got yourself a first love since the last time we talked about this?” Corvid raised an eyebrow.

“No,” Fit rolled his eyes, “we’re not together, so he's not my first anything.”

Corvid shrugged, “Just because you don’t think it’s reciprocated doesn’t mean it isn’t love.”

Fit’s eyes widened, “Woah, woah, woah, I think love might be a bit of a strong word. I’ve known the guy for a week.” Corvid shrugged again, in a move that was becoming increasingly insufferable, “And besides, you aren’t one to talk, what about you and Missa?”

Fit could see Corvid’s cheeks turn a little pinker, but if the man was embarrassed, he didn’t show it in his body language or his voice, “I’ve told you before, we’re just drifting, and I’m not afraid to admit that I love him.”

“But are you in love with him?”

Corvid rolled his eyes again, “That’s not something I’m all that bothered about right now. I am, however, interested in your new infatuation with a certain Favela member who’s been staying with us,” his cheeky grin returned.

Fit groaned, “I’m not getting out of this, am I?”

“Nope!” Corvid grinned wider.

“So did you just come here to make fun of me?”

Shrugging, Corvid spoke, “Sure, I have plenty of material for that. Did you know you’re not subtle? Because it’d be funny how much you stare at him if it wasn’t so pathetic.”

Fit scoffed, “Pathetic?”

“Yes!” Corvid continued, “I swear anytime you’re in a room with him you can't look away -it's getting embarrassing at this point- and don’t even get me started on when you woke up from the surgery.”

“What happened when I woke up from surgery?” Fit didn’t remember much from when he woke up, the memories fuzzed over by the haze of the sedative. He does remember thinking Tazer looked particularly nice standing in the door of his room though.

Corvid raised an eyebrow, “You looked at Tazer like you were seeing the Phoenix Witch herself,” he grinned, “I’ve never seen bigger heart eyes on someone in my life. You’re lucky Gears wasn’t there to see it.”

“Gears?” Fit’s brow furrowed, “What do you mean?”

Corvid’s eyebrows raised, “You haven’t heard Gears? The guy has been praying on you and Tazer’s downfall since like day one. You seriously haven’t heard him? He doesn’t shut up about how ‘disgusting and gross’ you are. Which I won’t necessarily disagree with, it’s pathetic as fuck, but he’s very vocal about his dislike.” He laughed.

Fit tried to think back, remembering the night before, when Tazer carried his beer out to the fire for him, setting it in front of him before sitting next to Fit, close enough that their shoulders brushed every time they lifted their bottles to drink or their forks to eat. Gears had caught his eye as he laughed at some joke someone had made, leaning his shoulder into Tazer’s and had made an exaggerated puking gesture at Fit.

Fit’s eyes widened, “Oh! I thought he was just being weird.”

Corvid laughed, “I guess it could’ve looked like that.” The two were silent for a few minutes before Corvid spoke again, “I didn’t come here to make fun of you by the way, I think it’s great you and Tazer are whatever you are.”

Fit felt his cheeks heat up again, “Me and Tazer aren’t anything Corvid.”

“But do you want to be something?”

Fit was quiet for a minute. He hadn’t really thought about it. Sure, he’d have to be an absolute idiot to not realize the way he’d been acting with Tazer wasn’t the way he acted around anyone else, but he hadn’t really thought about the possibility of it turning into something more than smiles and glances from across the kitchen, brushing shoulders in the workshop. The thought of something more sent a strange warmth through his gut, settling oddly -but not unpleasantly- in his stomach, warming his whole body. He didn’t know a whole lot of people in relationships like that, there was Phil and Missa sure, but as Phil said earlier, they were drifting, straddling the line between platonic and romantic happily, and Fit didn’t think that was what he wanted with Tazer. And Six and 2b2t hadn’t really been great places to find a romantic partner too, sexual maybe, and only ever for one night, but that had never been Fit’s style either.

No, the more Fit thought about it, the more he wanted that dumb teenage fantasy, he wanted to hold Tazer’s hand, he wanted to make him laugh and he wanted to be able to reach up and smooth the crease between his eyebrows that appeared every time something went a little wrong.

He wanted to- Oh.

He let out a puff of air, “Oh Witch.” He wanted to be with Tazer. What he felt after the realization wasn’t something he could ever remember feeling, but it was … nice. The warmth that spread through his gut and across his cheeks every time the other man smiled felt good and, huh. Maybe Corvid wasn’t so off with the debut record comment.

Corvid laughed a little at his realization, “Well, I guess that's my answer,” he stood up from the sand and dusted himself off before heading back closer to the firepit and the other ‘joys, throwing a smirk over his shoulder as he left.

It took another few days after that for Fit to calm down after the realization, trying to tame his emotions enough that he wasn’t staring starry-eyed at Tazer everytime they were in the same room together.

(If Tubbo’s glares and Corvid’s knowing smirks were anything to go by, Fit still wasn’t doing the best job at that.)

Luckily though, a distraction came in the form of one of Missa’s races. The other man was a real motorbaby, and a damn good one too. The prize money he won from the races was often as much as they made from the restaurant in a month. It was rare that the whole Morning Crew would go and see a race though, most were far away, over in Zone 3, but Missa’s next race was fairly close by, just on the other side of Route Guano, in Zone 4, and was easy to get there and back in a day. When Missa suggested that they all go to the race the kids had immediately agreed, they hadn’t gone to a race in ages, and Tallulah especially was excited to see her dad compete.

(Between her and her brother, Tallulah seemed like the one most likely to take after Missa’s love of racing. Fit loved the girl, don’t get him wrong, but it was hard to drive anywhere with the kid, she’d always demand to go faster, no matter if they were offroad in the sand in the middle of the night or trying to sneak past a group of Dracs.)

Tazer seemed especially excited as well, and it was even harder for Fit to not smile like a goof at the other man when he was grinning excitedly in the days leading up to the race.

(He tried to ignore the Corvid voice in his head telling him to talk about it. Screw the other man and his ability to be emotionally competent. Fit was doing just fine.)

––

“Have you ever been to a race before?” Fit asked, watching as Tazer loaded a cooler of drinks and snacks into the back of the van. Corvid had left earlier with Missa, taking the truck to transport his bike, so he could help his partner set up and get ready. Unfortunately that meant it was up to Tazer and Fit to get all the kids into the van and at the racetrack in time. And sure they had Gears, but he was basically a kid himself.

Tazer shook his head as he closed the trunk, “No, never got around to it, I’ve always wanted to though, I listen to the commentary on the radio sometimes and it sounds like a lot of fun. Very high energy.” The two started walking back towards the front door.

“Yeah,” Fit grinned, “high energy is definitely a good word for it.” Once Fit reached the door, he ducked his head inside, calling out to the kids, “Hey! Sand pups! We’re leaving in two minutes, get your asses out here!”

Shouts could be heard from inside the restaurant as the kids ran out towards the car, Fit counting their heads as they crossed the threshold. One blond boy with a skeleton mask to match his dad, check, a girl with yellow dyed hair in two puffs, check, a brunet boy with scratched up goggles and grease smeared on his face, check, a girl with a purple beanie covering up dark hair, check. All that was missing was-

“Gears!” Fit called, “Get in the van or we’re leaving without you!” He turned to start heading back to the van, Tazer following, laughing slightly.

Fit walked over to the drivers side, hopping in and starting the engine as everyone filed into the backseat. It had taken a bit of convincing to get Tazer to agree to let Fit drive, but once he brought up the fact that he knew the way to the racetrack, Tazer had folded pretty easily. And besides, he’d done way more reckless things in a car than driving one-handed.

Fit grinned at Tazer as the runner buckled his seatbelt before turning to the back where Tubbo was scrambling into his seat, sliding the door shut as he untangled his hair from his goggles, “Seatbelts everyone! And before you protest I know Tallulah is going to make me go way too fucking fast, so get this over with now and I won’t yell at you while we’re speeding down Route Guano.”

The kids groaned, but Fit heard the click of the seatbelt buckles and smiled, taking his hand off of the steering wheel to shift the van into first gear.

“Why do we have to have you as the substitute-babysitter?” Ramón grumbled.

Fit laughed, “What, do you want Gears in charge?” He eased up on the clutch as he returned his hand to the wheel, realizing that it was a bit harder to drive with one hand than he thought. At least his left hand was the one that was gone, he didn’t think he’d be able to drive if he had to cross his arm over his body to get to the gear shift.

Gears grumbled to himself, “I’ll have you know that I took care of Sunny for ages before I found you guys and they’re just fine.”

“Yeah!” Sunny giggled, “My Pa is the best babysitter!”

Fit laughed as the car started moving, rolling onto the road as he took his hand off of the wheel again to shift to a higher gear.

Ramón spoke up again, “Why is Fit driving? He doesn’t even have his hand on the wheel.”

“Hush,” Fit shifted up another gear, speeding up as they headed away from the restaurant, “Your only other option is Tazer, and he doesn’t know where he’s going,”

Ramón just huffed, “If we crash it’s your fault.”

“Hey can we turn on the radio?” Gears asked, butting into the conversation.

“Sure,” Fit didn’t take his eyes off of the road, “Tazer you have to do it since I apparently have to keep my hand on the wheel.”

Tazer laughed, “Alright,” he said, leaning forward to switch the radio on, turning it to Foolish’s station.

“Hell yeah! Foolish!” Gears cheered as his friend’s voice came on over the radio as the song ended.

”Look alive tumbleweeds, I’ve got some messages for ya. Don’t fret Lemons, a blue sky is on its way. Hurry up Storm, the desert waits for no one. Spacey, get your head out of the clouds, Tread is looking for ya.

“In other news, there’s some races happening down in Four, if you’ve got the time to spare head on down, maybe you can win yourself a few credits. Winner’s prize is up to 300 credits, and I’m sure a crash queen like you can find a betting pool that goes higher.

“I’m gettin news of a firefight out in Two, no word on if we lost any of ours, but may The Witch watch over ‘em all.

“That’s it for now tumbleweeds, make sure to keep your Blastas close and your spraypaint closer, and remember that the desert sun takes pity on no one. Here’s the traffic.”

Foolish’s voice faded out as the song started, loud drums stomping out the beat before the guitars came in.

The rest of the drive was fairly quiet, the radio playing Foolish’s lineup of pre-Helium Wars relics and the sounds of the Zones’ own string kings. The kids chattered away in the back, and Fit didn’t hit anyone on the way to the racetrack despite Gears and Ramón’s jeering everytime he took his hand off the wheel to change gears.

––

Fit didn’t know Tazer could get more enrapturing, but the pure awe on Tazer’s face as he walked into the racetrack, taking in the hustle and bustle of ‘joys running around, shouting and cheering, the bright colors and loud music that bursted from every stall.

The kids skipped happily along, following Gears as the five of them made a beeline straight for the racers, searching for Missa’s stall.

Fit stayed back with Tazer (to make sure the runner didn’t get lost of course), and couldn’t help but grin at the excitement painted across his face.

Before he could react, Tazer was grabbing onto his wrist, tugging him towards a stall selling all sorts of paints. Tazer let go to lean closer to the merchandise, and Fit tried not to mourn the loss of the warm hand on his wrist too much. Fit adjusted his cloak as Tazer examined the paints, covering the still-healing skin of his stump with the fabric. It was odd to have the limb exposed to the air. For nearly a decade it had been covered by the metal of his prosthesis, and up until a week ago -when Tazer deemed him healed enough to forgo the bandages- he’d never really had the area exposed, and the feeling of the wind on the sensitive skin, especially after the surgery, felt wrong.

“Fit!” Tazer called, making Fit look up from his shoulder, “I might get this for Richas, he doesn’t have these colors.”

Fit walked over and saw that Tazer was holding a small box of spray paints, in various colors, all of them bright neon. Fit smiled, remembering that Richas loved graffiti, “Oh, yeah those colors are pretty shiny,”

“I don’t know if I want to carry them around all day though,” Tazer frowned, debating as he looked down at the spraypaint.

“We can come back and buy them on our way out. Don’t worry, these vendors’ll be here long after the last race ends.”

Tazer tilted his head as he set the paint back down, “Really?”

Fit nodded, “Oh yeah, people are going to be out here and partying ‘till tomorrow morning at the earliest. Something like this is the perfect excuse for all the screwheads to crack open some cordial and party the night away.”

Tazer nodded, linking arms with Fit as he tugged him away from the booth and towards the race track, where Tubbo and the kids had headed, “So do you know where everyone went?”

Fit smiled, unlinking their arms to clasp his hand in Tazer’s, “This way, I’m not sure which stall is his, but he’s back here somewhere.” He tugged the other man down behind the aisle of vendors, towards the stalls where the racers waited. Fit led Tazer down, glancing at the motorbabies as they passed. Some were tuning up their bikes, some were eating, and others were napping in the shade of the cloth strung up above them. About halfway down the row, Fit spotted them. They were kind of hard to miss, a group of seven packed into a space that was only really meant for one or two.

Corvid noticed them first, waving them over as Missa zipped up his leather jacket, taking his gloves from Tallulah. He smirked knowingly at them, eyes flicking down to Fit and Tazer’s hands -which Fit hadn’t realized were still clasped- but he didn’t say anything, turning back to give Missa the hug he offered.

“I have to take my bike to the waiting area, the race should be starting in about twenty minutes.” Missa pulled back and dropped a kiss onto the top of Tallulah’s hair, ruffling Chayanne’s hair.

Corvid smiled, “Good luck, we’ll all be screaming our heads off for you.”

Tallulah nodded, practically vibrating with the way she bounced on her feet, “Good luck Papa! You better win!”

“Of course,” Missa grinned, putting on his helmet, “I’ll win just for you.” He grabbed his bike, starting to wheel it out of the stall, giving Tazer and Fit a wave.

Tazer waved back, “Good luck Missa!”

Fit couldn’t really return the gesture with his hand still clasped in Tazer’s but he gave him a nod, “I’d say good luck, but you’ve won what, your last six races?”

Fit couldn’t see the man smile, but he heard his huff of laughter, “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” With one last wave, he was off, walking his bike towards the waiting area near the entrance to the track.

Fit let go of Tazer’s hand then, eyeing Gears as the man finished waving to Missa and turned back to the rest of the group. It was bad enough having Corvid’s knowing smirks and stares on him all the time, Gears teasing him out loud would be even worse.

“Alright! To the stands then!” Corvid clapped his hands together, “Unless anyone needs to use the bathroom?” Tallulah raised her hand, “Do you need to go Llulah?”

The girl nodded, and Sunny spoke up too, “I need to go too.”

“I’ll take them,” Gears offered, raising his hand, “I also need to go.”

Corvid nodded, “Alright, we’ll be in our usual spot then, just come find us when you’re done.”

Gears nodded, and gestured to the girls to follow him before pausing, “Oh here, take this,” he slung the bag of snacks and drinks off of his shoulder and handed it to Corvid.

“Ah, thanks,” Corvid replied, and the two groups parted ways, one headed towards the bathrooms, and the other headed towards the stands.

––

Fit had been to about a million races over the years. With Missa gone almost every week to compete, he had lots of opportunities to sit out under the sun and scream for his friend, letting the excitement of the crowd invigorate him and leave his body thrumming with energy.

He knew what the environment of a race could do, especially when it was his first time, so the excited buzzing of Tazer next to him didn’t surprise him. It was cute, if anything, especially when his eyes shone with awe before the green flag even dropped.

As soon as it did though, the racers were off in a puff of exhaust, the rev of their engines echoing throughout the stands. Fit could hear Tazer gasp next to him, and he smiled, leaning a little closer so he could nudge his shoulder against the other man’s.

The race passed in a whirlwind, Fit keeping his eyes trained on the purple bike that spent the entirety of the race in the front. Fit had seen Missa race enough times to know his strategy, sticking close to the number one, tailing them the first half of the race, getting a feel for their strengths and weaknesses before speeding ahead around the three quarters mark, making sure to keep it up long enough to pass the finish line first. This time was much the same, though Missa had a close call with only nine laps left to go. Fit wasn’t sure what happened, he must’ve run over something on the track, but his bike teetered, front wheel twisting before the bike skidded a bit. Missa was able to get the bike back under control, but their whole group was biting their nails as Missa slowly caught up in the next few laps, trying to regain the first place position that he had held for almost half of the race.

They were all holding their breath as they watched Missa on the final lap. He was neck in neck with the first place racer, the two trading the spot back and forth until, in a surge of speed at the end, Missa passed him, winning the race.

Tallulah was the first one out of her seat, cheering loudly as she shook her brother back and forth.

They all shouted Missa’s name, clapping and cheering for the man as the rest of the racers crossed the finish line.

By the time the group had made their way back down from the stands and to Missa’s booth, the other man was already out of his helmet and gloves, leather jacket in the process of being shucked off for some relief from the heat.

“Papa!” Tallulah exclaimed. As soon as Missa’s jacket was off, his daughter was leaping into his arms, giggling excitedly, “Good job!”

Missa pressed a kiss to the side of her head before setting her down, “Thank you! I hope you had fun mija.”

Tallulah smiled, moving back for Chayanne to crash into his dad with a hug of his own, “It was lots of fun!”

Fit turned to Tazer, the two a bit further back from the others, “Did you have fun?”

Tazer nodded rapidly, “Oh yes! It was so fast and exciting! I am going to have to convince the Favela to come to one, I am sure Richas would love it, he loves the chaos and excitement of things like this.”

“Do you want to go get the paint for him now? We can meet the rest of them back by the van,” Fit suggested, remembering what Tazer had wanted to buy earlier.

Tazer’s eyes widened, “Oh yeah, if they aren’t bothered by it, let's go.”

Fit turned to Gears, “Hey, we’re going to go buy these paints Tazer wants to get for Richarlyson, we’ll meet you guys back at the van in a few okay?”

Gears grimaced, “If you take too long I will leave you behind, just so you know, so, you better shag quick.”

“I- what?” Fit’s eyes widened, “What the fuck? We’re- Gears-”

Gears responded with some fake heaving, gagging comically as he turned away from Fit and Tazer.

Fit just turned back towards the walkway, his face feeling red hot, “Well then,” he muttered, “lets go.”

––

It only took about fifteen minutes for them to buy the paint and get back to the van, the two wandering a bit on the way back to take in the atmosphere a little more. As they approached, Corvid pulled up the truck next to the van, the back loaded up with Missa’s motorbike.

Once the rest of them made it back from the stall, they split up into two groups again, this time with Tallulah going with her dads in the truck, and they began to make their way back to the restaurant. Fit was banned from driving, apparently ‘it was dark’ and ‘there were too many other cars he might hit’ and ‘Tazer could just follow Corvid.’

It ended up working out fine though, Tazer didn’t get lost, following Corvid easily during the drive back, and Fit didn’t have to get harshly bullied by the three people in the backseat again.

When they got back to the restaurant, Gears quickly ran inside, shouting something about a revelation he’d had on the car ride, needing to get it on paper before he forgot about it, while the rest of the sand pups retreated into Tallulah and Chayanne’s bedroom, giggling about their ‘sleepover plans,’ which Fit found endearing given the fact that most of them slept in that room every night, and if they didn’t they slept either through a door, or just down the hall. Still, it was cute, the way Sunny bragged about how she could braid hair the best, Ramón trying to step in and defend his own skills.

Fit and Tazer made their way into the kitchen, Fit reaching into the drink bag they had brought in to grab out a juice pouch, holding another out in a silent offer for the other man.

Tazer took it, and the two sipped them quietly in the kitchen as they chatted aimlessly, deciding that the race had been loud and exciting enough for the day, not really wanting to go out and talk with the Killjoys that were gathered around the fire pit like Missa and Corvid had. He was sure that they were congratulating Missa on his win, most likely having been listening to the race commentary on the radio.

Tazer yawned loudly, dragging Fit from his thoughts and making him laugh softly.

“Sorry, I think I’m a bit tired.”

Fit grinned, “Maybe a little.” He set his empty juice on the counter, “Wanna head to bed? It is getting kinda late.”

Tazer nodded and they began to make their way down the hall, “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Maybe we can get an early start working tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.”

The two parted, Fit going in the door of his room, and Tazer heading into the workshop, where he’d been sleeping on the mattress they had on the floor in there.

Fit had only gotten so far as to take his cloak and shirt off when he heard a soft knock on his door. He opened it, surprised to see Tazer standing there, holding a bundle of clothes in his hands. Fit’s brows furrowed a bit, confused.

“Sorry, Gears is asleep in there,” he gestured over his shoulder to the workshop.

“Like at the desk?” Fit asked, “Do you want my help moving him? Because I know he’s going to be an asshole if he wakes up tomorrow with a sore neck and back.”

Tazer shook his head, “No, he’s on the bed. I tried waking him up but he didn’t do anything.”

Fit smiled, sighing, “Yeah, he’s a heavy sleeper, it's pretty much impossible to get him to wake up once he’s out.” Fit tried to not let his voice waver as he continued, “Do you want to sleep with me?” His face grew hot as he realized what he said. “I mean- uh, I’ve got room if you want to sleep here, um- Ramón’s down with the other sand pups tonight.” He gestured to the door over Tazer’s shoulder that led to where the kids were sleeping.

“Oh, thank you,” Tazer smiled, “I appreciate that, I probably would have just slept on the booths or something.” He laughed a bit as he stepped into Fit’s room, Fit closing the door behind him.

“Nonsense, there’s a perfectly fine mattress right here that you can sleep on.”

Tazer smiled, “Obrigrado,” turning and setting the clothes in his arms onto the floor, taking off his jacket before his hands moved to the hem of his shirt.

Fit quickly turned away, focusing back on what he was changing into earlier, slipping the sleep shirt on and his pants off. He hesitated for a second, debating whether or not he should put pants on again before deciding it wasn’t worth it. It was hot as balls tonight, and he did not want to deal with sweating his ass off next to Tazer, as awkward as it might be to sleep in just his boxers next to him.

After folding his pants he climbed into bed, keeping his eyes away from the corner where Tazer was still changing in.

Tazer finished folding his own clothes and sat on the bed, wearing sleep shorts but no shirt, turning more towards Fit as he began to take off his prosthesis, pressing in a button on the side before sliding the socket off, leaving him left with just the sleeve on, a small rod of metal sticking out on the end of his leg.

Fit raised an eyebrow as Tazer started rolling the sleeve down his leg, “I’ve never seen a socket like that before.” He focused on the prosthesis rather than the toned planes of Tazer’s chest. Turns out his earlier assumptions about the other man’s build had been accurate. He could see the dark of ink along his ribcage and down his side, but he didn’t look long enough to see what the tattoo was.

Tazer looked up, “Oh,” he glanced down at his prosthesis, “yeah, it's called a pinlock system, it makes it easy to switch between different legs.” He smiled, stretching out his leg and massaging the skin of his stump below his knee.

“That’s really cool.” Fit pulled back the blanket and slid under it, laying down.

Tazer nodded, “Yeah, it's nice when sand gets in there and you don't have to roll the whole sleeve off your sweaty leg.” He laughed, leaning over to put his sleeve and leg on the ground next to the mattress.

Tazer got under the covers himself, Fit was staring at the ceiling so he only saw the movement out of the corner of his eye. He realized that the light was still on, the bare bulb on the ceiling still casting a glow around the room despite how shitty it may be. He sat up, walking over to the switch, flicking it and plunging the room into darkness. When he turned back, he couldn’t really see Tazer anymore, just making out the form of his body under the sheets casted in the glow of the moon coming from the window above.

They didn’t speak as Fit made his way back to the bed, settling under the covers on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He could hear shuffling next to him as Tazer got comfortable, and he turned his head, making eye contact with the runner as he settled on his side, facing Fit.

Tazer smiled, his face barely visible to Fit in the low light, though Fit’s eyes had started to adjust, “Good night Fit, boa noite.”

Fit smiled back, “Good night Tazer,” as the other closed his eyes. Fit let his gaze linger on the man next to him for a bit longer, the light of the moon casting highlights along his cheekbones before he closed his eyes as well.

Sleep rarely came easy to Fit, but somehow, with the warmth of another body less than a foot away, and the steady breathing that filled the room as Tazer fell asleep, it wasn’t long the darkness tugged him under gently, his lips still curved in a soft smile as sleep grabbed hold.

Chapter Text

Fit was warm. He felt soft and fuzzy, filled to the brim with syrupy golden sunlight, a pleasant haze over his brain as he was pulled from sleep.

It wasn’t very late, the sun barely high enough to peek in from between the blinds and fall across the bedsheets in lines. Fit tried to blink the haze of sleep off, slowly opening his eyes.

As he woke up a little more, he noticed the arm draped across his waist and the night before came crashing back to him. Tazer was in his bed. Asleep. Holding him.

Fit was facing away from Tazer, the other man’s hand draped across his middle, his face buried in between Fit’s back and the bed, and Fit could feel each puff of his breath even through the cloth of his shirt.

It was warm. Not the unpleasant warmth that the desert sun usually brought, but a warmth that felt soft and safe. Fit pushed a bit closer to the warmth behind him, and closed his eyes again. At the movement, Tazer unconsciously shuffled closer until the two were pressed together, Tazer’s front against Fit’s back.

Fit let the warmth overwhelm him again, and sleep pulled him back under, a syrupy haze flooding his brain as he drifted off once more.

––

The next time Fit woke up, the sun was high enough in the sky that its rays shone right into his face from the window, and his bed was empty. Turning, he splayed his hand over the empty side of his bed, where the sheets were cold. Tazer had left a while ago it seemed, and as Fit sat up, he noticed that both Tazer’s prosthesis and the pile of his clothes that he had left on the ground were both gone.

He drug his hand across his face, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes as he got up and changed into his clothes.

As he walked into the kitchen and saw Corvid smirking he groaned, grabbing the coffee the other ‘joy was holding out for him and taking a long drink.

Corvid’s smirk grew wider, “Your boyfriend is waiting in the workshop for you.”

Fit sputtered, “My- what? I told you me and Tazer aren’t like that, no, no, no, no, no.”

“Really? I thought something might have changed last night,” Corvid raised an eyebrow, “Because, correct me if I’m wrong, I think he slept in your room.”

Fit groaned, “It’s just because Tubbo fell asleep on the mattress in the workshop.”

Corvid smiled, “I’m sure it was just because of that.”

“It was!” Fit exclaimed, “We’re, we’re just-” suddenly an idea appeared to him, “We’re roommates. Sharing a room. Platonically.”

Oh Fit really wanted to wipe that mischievous, knowing smile off of Corvid’s face, “If you say so Fit,” and then Corvid was walking out of the kitchen and towards the front door before slipping outside and leaving Fit alone with his cup of coffee.

And Fit hated to admit it, but the thought of calling Tazer his boyfriend sent a warmth through his gut and across his cheeks.

Fit took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as he sipped his coffee. So much had happened in the past two weeks that it was almost overwhelming to think about. It was only 14 days ago that Fit met Tazer, and it felt like going against his nature completely to be so close with someone so fast. He was so used to his brain forcing him to keep everyone he met at arm's length, his brain hesitant to trust even after months of knowing someone. It had taken Fit nearly six months to be able to easily sleep in the same building as Corvid and Missa, his brain forcing himself to keep watch over Ramón as the small child slept.

That's how it worked in 2b2t and Zone Six. Nobody got closer than an acquaintance. Ally and friend weren’t often used as synonyms, and hell, a ‘friend’ was really only someone you had been weak enough to let know your secrets, someone who could easily take advantage of you.

So the way he’d immediately let Tazer in, the way he’d slept like a baby the night before, wrapped up in the other man’s arms, was odd. Not necessarily bad, but odd.

Before he knew it, he was drinking the last of his coffee and he set the mug next to the sink. Fit scrubbed his hand down his face, turning to head back to the workshop before Corvid, or worse Gears came back inside to tease him.

He pushed open the door gently, padding over to where Tazer was hunched over a desk. The other man looked up as he approached, grinning widely as he slid his chair to the side to make room for Fit to pull up the chair of his own. Heat sparked up Fit’s shoulder where it brushed up against Tazer’s as he held out a pair of pliers, guiding Fit’s hand to where he needed them held.

(If Fit shifted his hand a bit, asking “Here?” it wasn’t because he wanted to feel Tazer’s callused fingers against his wrist again. Nope, not at all.)

Tazer picked up the soldering iron, carefully and neatly attaching the wire that Fit held in the pliers. That was another thing that had happened in the two weeks that Tazer had been staying with the Morning Crew. With help from Fit, Gears, and Ramón, the prosthesis was nearly finished. They hadn’t started on the socket quite yet, Tazer was still waiting for the last of the swelling in Fit’s stump to go down, but other than that, and the few wires that connected to the electrodes that still needed to be soldered, Fit’s arm was nearly done.

“After we get these two wires soldered I’m going to take a look at your stump and take some more measurements if that's okay?” Tazer asked, gesturing to the next wire for Fit to gently hold with the pliers.

Fit nodded, moving the pliers to grab the wire, “Yeah that sounds good, uh-” he cut himself off as Tazer slowly moved his hand to where it needed to go. Fit’s mind couldn’t think about anything but the five points where Tazer’s fingertips met the skin of his wrist. As soon as they appeared though, they were gone, and Tazer’s deft fingers were grabbing the soldering iron in one hand, the other still holding the coil of silver solder.

Fit’s eyes didn’t leave the Runner’s hands as he held the iron against the connection point, warming the metal, setting down the coil of solder to move Fit’s hand so the wire pressed against the now-hot connection point. Fit was sure his cheeks were burning as hot as the iron as Tazer picked up the solder again, pressing the straightened end of the coil to the connection point, removing the iron as he let the hot metal melt around the wire. As he pulled back, he left a perfect teardrop shape behind, perfectly smooth, with no solder spilling out over the edges. Fit had learned a lot more about circuits and wiring in the past two weeks, and though he was far from an expert, one thing Fit did know was that he had yet to see Tazer mess up a solder joint. Every time he did it, the cooled metal was left smooth and exactly where it needed to be, unlike the messy joints Fit made every time he attempted to solder even the easiest of circuit components.

The process repeated two more times, Fit blushing red every time Tazer grabbed his wrist to move it, Tazer soldering yet another perfect joint, before he leaned back, setting the soldering iron back in the stand, and unplugging it.

Tazer pushed back his chair, smiling widely, “Alright, you ready to get poked?”

Fit grinned at that, turning around his chair and rolling up his sleeve as Tazer stood up, “Oh yeah, let's get to that, I love being poked.”

Tazer moved closer, gently brushing his hands over the scarred skin of Fit’s stump, taking care to avoid directly touching the healing incisions. Every brush still sent shivers up Git’s shoulder, and he kept his eyes trained firmly on where Tazer’s fingers were pressing into his upper arm, forcing himself to not focus on the heat of the other man pressed in close to him. Even that became too much though, and Fit closed his eyes as Tazer switched from simply touching, to gently pressing into the flesh of his arm, feeling for swelling. It brought him back to that morning, to the warmth of Tazer pressed along his back, only this time Tazer was in front of him. Tazer must’ve stepped closer because Fit felt the other’s leg brush up against his own, the hot puff of his breath against the skin of Fit’s shoulder closer, warmer.

Instead of trying to push away the sensations like he usually does, he leaned into them, letting the warmth and comfort flood into him like it did that morning. He felt his muscles start to relax, first in his back, then his shoulders, and he had to catch himself before he fell forward off of his chair.

Tazer giggled a little, and Fit finally opened his eyes. Tazer’s hands moved up to his shoulders, squeezing lightly to steady him. Fit felt head spread across his cheeks rapidly, embarrassed at his reaction.

Tazer moved one of his hands up from Fit’s shoulders, sliding it up along his neck, then his jaw, before finally cupping his cheek, thumb brushing gently over his cheekbone.

It took all of Fit’s strength not to bury his face in Tazer’s hand. He felt himself twitch minutely into the touch though, and his cheeks only got hotter. He was sure his face was bright red by now, and he squeezed his eyes shut to try and escape the embarrassment.

Tazer tutted softly at the action though, his other hand coming up to cradle Fit’s other cheek, tilting Fit’s face up, “Don’t hide,” he breathed out, so quiet that Fit would not have been able to hear it if it weren’t for how close the two were.

Fit opened his eyes, and found himself staring straight into Tazer’s eyes, the other man’s golden irises seemingly glittering as they bore into Fit.

Fit felt scrutinized, but somehow, he couldn’t look away, entranced by the minute movements of the skin beside Tazer’s eyes as he smiled down at him.

Tazer’s eyes flicked downward, then back up, and it seemed like he was moving even closer. Fit’s hand came up to gently circle Tazer’s wrist as he stroked over the raised, textured skin of a burn scar along his jaw. Tazer opened his mouth to say something-

“Fit! Tazer! We need your help!” Missa’s voice rang out loud even through the door of the workshop.

Fit slumped, mourning the loss as Tazer pulled back, putting a healthy distance between the two of them again.

“We’re coming!” Fit yelled back, rolling the sleeve of his shirt back down and standing up.

His face was still blooming with heat as Tazer turned back to him, smiling, “I think I can start working on your socket now, pretty much all of the swelling has gone down by now,”

Fit smiled, nodding and croaked out a quick, “Awesome,” before the two headed out of the room to see what Missa needed.

––

It turned out that while Tazer was needed for actual help, taking orders while Chayanne took a break from cooking, Fit was relegated to helping Ramón refill the napkin holders.

Now don’t get him wrong, Fit loved hanging out with his son, it was just that refilling napkins was a tedious job, unnecessarily complicated with one hand, and the fact that it seemed like the little gearhead had been spending too much time with Corvid.

It had taken all of three seconds of the two sitting on the floor of the garage with a box of napkins in front of them for Ramón to bring up Tazer.

“So, you and Tazer are getting along it seems.”

Fit scoffed, “What are you Corvid? Mind your business sand pup,” He reached for a stack of napkins, pushing them into the holder that he set flat on the floor.

Ramón sighed, “I’m your son, I think your boyfriend is some of my business.” He pushed a stack of napkins into the holder, turning it over and grabbing another stack to repeat the process.

Fit sputtered, “I- you- what? Who have you been talking to, Tazer- Tazer is not my boyfriend. You need to spend less time with Corvid.” He grumbled the last bit under his breath, feeling his cheeks heat up as he forced himself to look down at the napkin holder braced between his legs, shoving in the stack of napkins a little harder than was necessary.

Giggling, Ramón kept talking, “Corvid didn’t say anything, I just have eyes Fit.” He rolled his eyes playfully, “You get all smiley and your face turns pink when you talk to him,” he leaned forward to poke at Fit’s cheek, “and when you talk about him too!” Fit swatted his hand away and Ramón giggled loudly.

“Hush, restock your napkins,” Fit tried to change the subject, lightheartedly scolding the boy as he gestured at the napkin holder in his son’s lap.

Ramón rolled his eyes, but went back to his job and the two were silent for a little while.

After a few minutes, and two more napkin holders that Fit had restocked, Ramón spoke up again, “You two should go on a date.”

Fit’s eyes widened almost comically as he sputtered, “I- wha- excuse me?!”

Ramón just shrugged, “Why not? You like him, and he likes you, why shouldn’t you go on a date?”

“Ramón,” Fit sighed, unsure how to explain himself, “Tazer isn’t going to be here forever, when he goes back to the Favela, who knows how often I’ll be able to see him.”

“Phil goes to pick up supplies from Favela like every other week,” he shrugged again, “I’m sure if you wanted to you could see him even more often than that, it’s not like you do much around here, we wouldn’t miss you too bad.” Ramón tried to keep a straight face, but couldn’t hide the way his lips twitched at the corners.

Fit scoffed, “I don’t do much around here?” He threw a napkin at his son, the boy finally letting out the giggles he’d been trying so hard to hold in, “If I was gone who would hold all your little machine bits still for you, huh?”

“Well, you aren’t doing that right now,” Ramón said through his giggles, pointing at the blatant lack of a prosthesis on Fit’s left side.

“Wow, wow. I’m being bullied by my own son, this is the soggiest napkin-refilling I’ve ever had in my life.” He shook his head and the two continued to refill the napkins, trading teasing insults back and forth for the few minutes it took to finish.

Fit thought the whole Tazer thing was done for the moment, but as Fit headed toward the door, helping Ramón carry the napkin holders back after putting the box away, his son stopped him with a hand on the wrist.

He turned to his son, looking down at his eyes, which were already deep with pleading.

“Just promise that you’ll ask him on a date before he leaves, please?”

Fit sighed, trying to look away from his son’s puppy eyes and the pout of his bottom lip. And look, Fit might have been strong enough to survive in Zone 6 surrounded by reapers all his life, but disappointing his baby boy was another type of strength altogether. And one that he certainly did not possess. Fit sighed, turning back to the door, “Fine. But this is the last time you bring this up okay?”

“Okay, Fit!” Fit didn’t even have to turn around to see the grin across his son’s face, hearing the smile clearly in his words.

Fit didn’t mention it though, not wanting to give Ramón the satisfaction of answering him, and he stayed quiet as they returned the napkin holders to the tables outside.

——

Now, in hindsight, maybe asking Tazer out the same day he decided he would be asking Tazer out wasn’t the best idea. Surely some contemplation on the right way to ask, the right place to go would have been the better plan, however, as soon as Ramón had mentioned the date, the only thing Fit could think about was taking Tazer to the Bifrost.

And what better time than tonight? The moon had been barely a sliver the night before, and meant that it would be perfect conditions for stargazing, and it was barely lunchtime, they had plenty of time to get out there before the sun set.

So here Fit was, nodding for Tazer to follow him around the side of the restaurant, heart beating out of his chest as the other man followed him into the shade.

“What is it Fit?” Tazer asked, smiling, and Fit looked up into his eyes, trying to take a deep breath to calm down.

“I, uh- I, do you remember when I talked about the Bifrost? And you said how you wanted to see it?”

Tazer’s eyes widened, “Oh, yeah! You said that sunsets are really pretty there.”

Fit nodded, “Yeah, was wondering if you wanted to go tonight, with me,” he paused a second, working up the courage to continue, “It would be like a date, if you were okay with that.”

Tazer was silent for a few seconds before he grinned widely, “Oh! I’d love that Fit! What time do you think we should leave?”

“Oh, uh,” Fit felt his cheeks heat up as he grinned back, “I was thinking in a few hours? Sun should set around eight, so probably right after dinner.”

Tazer just grinned wider, “Sounds good!” As he spoke, Sunny called for him from around the corner. Tazer just shouted a quick, “I’m coming,” before toning back to Fit, “Just let me know when it’s time to go!” He leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on Fit’s cheek before whirling around and walking off to find Sunny.

Fit just stood there, around the side of the building, mouth wide. He was sure his face was bright red, and he brought his hand up to let the fingers trace softly over the skin of his cheek. He could feel the heat of his skin on his fingertips, and he forced himself to take a deep breath. He scrubbed his hand over his face, trying to stop the blush that was surely spreading everywhere across his face. Pushing off the embarrassment though, he realized something. He had asked Tazer out on a date. And Tazer had said yes. Fit couldn’t help the giggle that burst out of him as he realized, something that only made him blush deeper. He snapped his mouth shut and forced himself to take a few more deep breaths before walking back to where everyone was, silently giddy and way more excited than he should have been.

——

“So how much farther did you say it was?” Tazer was looking out the windshield, craning his head to try and see further, trying to catch a glimpse of the Bifrost as Fit drove them.

They had been in the truck for about a half hour at that point, and they were getting close. Fit had convinced Tazer to let him drive that under the condition that Tazer would be driving the two back when it was dark. Fit had kept up his dance from the day before, moving his hand off of the wheel to change gears everytime, but because they were on a rarely traveled road, it wasn’t like Fit was going to hit anyone.

“We’re getting close,” Fit grinned, pulling his eyes away from the excitement obvious in Tazer’s eyes and looking back at the road in front of him, “trust me, you’ll know when you see it.”

It was another two minutes before the edges of the Bifrost became visible along the horizon. There was still a little less than a half hour before the sun set, but with the sun in front of them as well, you could see the glittering reflections in the glassed-out sand.

Tazer gasped, and Fit knew he‘d seen it too, “Fit! Oh my god.”

Fit smiled, nodding, “Yeah, just you wait until the sun really starts to set.” A few minutes later the road was ending, and Fit was driving over the bumpy slick surface of the glass. It would be a bit of a stretch to call what they had been on a road, more of a well traveled path in the sand, but Fit still felt the slight bump as the surface changed.

Fit drove for a few more minutes before he turned the truck around and put it in park, shutting the engine off. Fit turned to Tazer who was looking around outside the windows with pure awe painted across his face.

“Fit, wow, this really is incredible.”

Fit grinned, “Well you can get out you know.” Fit didn’t know if he’d ever seen someone move that fast before. Before Fit had even finished the sentence, Tazer was pushing open the door and leaping out of the cab. Fit laughed a bit as he grabbed the blankets that had been sitting between him and Tazer on the seat and got out of the truck himself. He stepped onto the ground and used the toe of his boot to brush some of the sand away, enough that the thick layer of glass could be seen. For the most part, the Bifrost didn’t look too different to the rest of the desert, especially around the edges. The sand had blown in, covering the glass in a thin layer that let it blend in pretty well with the desert surrounding it. It was when the sun hit it though that you realized you were somewhere else, somewhere different. The glittering reflections peeked up from beneath the static and sent rainbows throughout the air. Fit walked around the back and pulled the tailgate down, setting the blankets in the bed of the truck before ducking his head around the other side of the truck to look at Tazer, who is alternating between gazing at the sunset and the surface of the Bifrost.

Fit smiled softly, “C’mere, we’ve got the best view back here.” He gestured for Tazer to follow him to the tailgate, hopping up in the bed of the truck. Tazer hopped up on his right side, leaning back on both hands as he stared at the sun that was beginning to set.

The Bifrost was at its most beautiful at sunset, at least in Fit’s opinion. Some liked to see it mid-day, the harsh sun for once creating something other than dead, dried out husks, but Fit loved to see the oranges and pinks and reds painted through the air like watercolors.

Fit moved his leg over slightly, enough to brush against Tazer’s for a second. Fit pulled away quickly, but after a second Tazer pressed back, scooting a tiny bit closer and pressing his knee against Fit’s.

Fit smiled, turning his head to look at Tazer. He was met with Tazer already looking at him, and Fit felt his face heat a little bit. Tazer leaned a bit closer, bringing a hand up to brush his thumb over Fit’s cheek, reminiscent of that morning in the workshop.

“You look so pretty when you blush.” Tazer brushed his hand over Fit’s cheek again, and he felt his mouth open a little, speechless. He could feel his face getting warmer, surely turning even pinker as Tazer continued to caress the skin, “I wanted to tell you that this morning when I looked at your arm.”

Fit couldn’t help but let his eyes drift down to Tazer’s lips. He wondered what it would be like to have those lips against his skin again, for longer. He hadn’t had much time to appreciate it that afternoon, the peck on his cheek had been so fast. He wondered what it would be like to have those lips against his own lips.

Fit forced himself to look back up to Tazer’s eyes, not missing the crinkle around them as the other man smiled. Tazer leaned forward, moving his hand down to grip Fit’s jaw and pressing a lingering kiss to the arch of his cheekbone. This time, Fit got to savor what the touch felt like. He got to feel the soft skin of Tazer’s lips against his cheek, the soft puff of air from his nose, the warmth of his hand cupping Fit’s jaw. Then, all too soon, he was pulling away, dropping his hand from Fit’s jaw to his knee, then turning back to face the sunset.

It was getting close now, the sky starting to turn those shades of orange and pink and red that were reminiscent of the bombs that were dropped to make the Bifrost what it was. Fit brought his hand up to cup over Tazer’s on his knee.

“If the Bifrost looks like this every day, why is there nobody else here?” Tazer asked, not taking his eyes away from the sun’s rays that were casted across the Bifrost, the glass sparkling in the light.

“There’s no one else here because we’re pretty far from main roads and settlements. There’s patches of Bifrost all over the desert, and the ones closer to Guano and the settlements are more visited. There’s one off of Route Guano that’s almost always got somebody there.” Fit smiled, “I like it here though, it feels more special when you’re the only one here.”

Tazer nodded, “It’s more romantic,” he commented, still looking at the sunset.

Fit blushed a little, and Tazer moved his hand. Fit got scared for a second, thinking he was pulling away, but he just flipped his hand, lacing his fingers with Fit’s as he continued to look at the sunset.

Fit stared at their interlocked hands on his thigh and nodded, “Yeah,” he breathed out, giving Tazer’s hand a small squeeze that the other man returned.

They were quiet a bit longer, gazing at the sunset and admiring the way the warm light casted through the Bifrost created a glow around them, sending little rainbows through the air.

The silence that surrounded them wasn’t awkward though, it felt like a comforting blanket settled over the two as they watched the last sliver of the sun finally dip below the horizon.

They were quiet for a good while after, long enough that the pink and red and orange had mostly faded from the sky as it darkened, Tazer turning to smile excitedly at Fit, “Fit that was amazing,” he squeezed Fit’s hand, “I can’t believe that I’ve never been here before, all of the colors and the way they shine through the glass,” he gestured towards the ground, “I have to get Favela to come, Richas would love this so much.” He sighed, turning back to look out into the Bifrost, slumping his body against Fit’s a little more.

His excitement was infectious and Fit could feel his own grin widening as he listened to Tazer talk, “I think every Zone dweller’s gotta see the Bifrost at least once in their life, there’s nothin’ quite like it.”

Tazer hummed in agreement and sat up, no longer leaning back on the hand that wasn’t in Fit’s. The sky was darkening quickly with the sun no longer above the horizon, and when Fit glanced over his shoulder he could see the stars that had just begun to come out in the darker areas of the sky.

Fit had to let go of Tazer’s hand to grab the blankets regrettably, “Here, scoot up on the bed,” Fit placed the blankets on his lap and slid himself further back, enough that his feet were fully on the bed of the truck before laying down. Tazer looked at him a bit confused, still perched on the end of the tailgate. Fit patted the bed of the truck next to him, “C’mere, it's time for the second best part.”

Tazer scooted his way over, a grin curving the side of his lips, “Second best?”

Fit nodded, “Depends on who you ask of course, whether the sunset or the stargazing is more fun.”

“What do you think?” Tazer asked, laying down next to Fit, rolling his head over to look at him.

Fit hummed, grabbing one of the blankets and laying it down as a pillow under his and Tazer’s heads, “That’s a hard question, I think both of them are beautiful, but in a different way.” He grabbed the second blanket, throwing it over him and Tazer before snuggling a little closer to the other man. Just to conserve warmth of course. “It’ll take a little bit before it gets fully dark, but we can still see some stars already,” Fit pointed to the few stars he could see above him before tucking his arm back under the blanket, Tazer immediately relacing their fingers as soon as his hand stopped moving.

Fit smiled, turning to look at Tazer who was looking over at him too. They just smiled at each other for a while, and Fit felt a warmth flow through him, pooling in his gut pleasantly before they looked back up at the stars.

“Ramón loves stargazing, we found an old astronomy book from before the Helium Wars back when we were still tumbleweeding our way through the desert. Did you know that they all have names?”

“What does?” Tazer asked.

“The stars,” Fit smiled, “The book named thousands of them, some had number codes, like HR1410 or something, but most of them have names that are thousands of years old or something.”

Tazer’s eyes widened, “Thousands of years old? That has to be impossible.”

“Top left, I swear,” Fit exclaimed, “It's true, apparently things lasted a lot longer before the Wars.” He was quiet for a second before he turned back to the stars, “Anyways, I don’t know all of them, Ramón is a lot better at that but,” Fit nodded with his head at a star just above the horizon, “do you see the really bright star right there? Right in front of us?” Tazer nodded, “That's Sirius, it’s the brightest star in the night sky, but it’s only out in the winter.”

“That’s the brightest star ever?” Tazer breathed out.

Fit shook his head, “Not really, but it looks the brightest from here. The stars are all really far away, so there's some that are huge and really bright but they’re super far away so they look smaller and dimmer.

Tazer nodded, “That makes sense. Did you learn any other cool things?”

“Yeah, like, stars can explode, when they’re old and about to die they explode in this giant burst of energy and light and color called a supernova.”

“Is that why Ramón’s shock grenade is called ‘The Supernova’?” Tazer laughed.

“Yeah,” Fit laughed a bit too, “That kid loves that astronomy book almost as much as he loves machines.”

The two fell silent and Fit scooted himself a little closer to Tazer under the blanket, pressing his arm against the other man’s, trying to savor the closeness. Tazer shuffled closer himself, dropping his head against Fit’s shoulder as the two continued to gaze up at the stars.

Fit could feel Tazer’s hair brush against the skin of his neck and he shivered a little. When he finally spoke again, his voice was hushed, feeling like speaking aloud would break the peaceful atmosphere around them, “Hey Tazer,” he whispered, turning to look at the other man before pausing. Tazer was already staring at him, a soft look in his eyes.

They just looked at each other for a while, and Fit realized just how close they were, faces just inches apart. Tazer shifted around, pulling away for just a second to roll onto his side, facing Fit with his body. He pulled his right arm from under the blanket, bringing it up to cradle Fit’s face. All the while his left hand stayed firmly entwined with Fit’s hand. Fit leaned his head into Tazer’s grasp slightly, squeezing the other man’s hand a little tighter as his eyes flicked down Tazer’s face.

If he wondered what it was like to kiss the Runner before, he was practically dying to know now, and judging from the way Tazer’s own eyes kept drifting down to Fit’s lips, he was wondering the same thing.

Tazer’s mouth opened, and Fit’s gaze was immediately on the pink of his tongue as it darted out to wet his lips. Tazer spoke in the same hushed tone that Fit had earlier, and even that felt like too loud for the careful stillness, “Fit, can- can I kiss you?”

The words were barely out of Tazer’s mouth before Fit was responding, “Yes. Please.” His head drifted towards Tazer, his body shifting to face him more, half rolling over as Tazer leaned in to meet him in the middle.

Soft was the first word that came to mind after Fit felt Tazer’s lips on his. It wasn’t that the skin was particularly soft. No, Tazer’s lips were just as chapped as Fit’s -albeit less cracked- from the dry desert air, but there was no other word Fit could think to use to describe the gentle tenderness that Tazer had as he kissed. Fit leaned closer, pressing further into Tazer’s lips as his hand gripped the Runner’s tighter. The kiss stayed chaste and close-mouthed, but that didn’t stop the pure flood of emotion it was filled with, almost overwhelming Fit as he tried to get more of it.

All too soon though Tazer was pulling back, Fit chasing him embarrassingly for a second before opening his eyes.

Tazer smiled at him, something soft sparkling in his eyes, “Was that okay?”

Fit’s mouth opened and closed, trying to get his mind to catch up with what was happening, still thinking about the kiss just a few moments earlier, “Um- I- uh,” he just settled for nodding feeling his face start to heat up.

Tazer laughed, and Fit brought their joined hands up to knock playfully against Tazer’s chest.

“Don’t laugh,” Fit grumbled, his face warming further. Tazer just shook his head, leaning in to press a quick peck to Fit’s lips before pulling back again. This time, Fit didn’t chase his lips, instead gaping again, opening and closing his mouth as he tried to get the words to come out in the right order. “I- uh- you- um-” Tazer just snickered again, thumb rubbing gently over Fit’s cheek that was achingly soft but also furiously maddening as he tried to think, “You’re so mean!” Fit leaned forward to shove his quickly reddening face into Tazer’s chest, “I’m trying to recover from the first kiss I’ve ever gotten and you’re laughing at me!” Fit’s voice was a little muffled in the fabric of Tazer’s shirt, but judging from the slight shake of his shoulders he heard it.

Tazer moved his hand back to cradle the back of Fit’s head, “Was that seriously your first kiss?”

Fit pulled his head back quickly, jostling Tazer’s hand as he did so, “What, do you think I was kissing Reapers out in Six?”

Tazer laughed, nudging Fit’s shoulder, “I’m not being mean! It was a genuine question!”

Fit just shook his head, looking back up into Tazer’s eyes instead of responding. The playful glitter in Tazer’s eyes drew him back in and he sighed, his eyes flicking back down to his lips. He squeezed his hand that was still in Tazer’s, looking back up to his eyes, “Can- can I kiss you again?”

Tazer smiled, not even responding before leaning in to press his lips against Fit’s again, hand coming up to rest along the side of his neck. This kiss was different than the first one, still full of all the emotion and affection, but it was rougher. The press of lips on lips was harder, their mouths moving faster, and Fit felt wholly overwhelmed in a way that was entirely different than the first kiss, but engulfed him just as completely.

And then the hand on Fit’s neck slid to his shoulder, and he was being rolled onto his back, Tazer pulling away as he let go of Fit’s hand, using it to brace himself above Fit as he rolled his upper body on top of him, “Is this okay?” Tazer asked, dragging his hand back up to cup Fit’s cheek, looking down at him.

Fit nodded, bringing his now free hand up to gently grip Tazer’s waist, “This is more than okay.”

Tazer smiled back, leaning down to continue kissing Fit. It wasn’t as intense as the last kiss, but not quite as soft and slow as the first one. Tazer kept finding new ways to kiss him, and if he was being honest, there was no place he’d rather be right now than under the stars, the two kissing each other breathless. Fit pulled Tazer a little closer with the arm around his waist, the blanket bunching up a bit under his arm. The world narrowed down to every point of contact between the two of them, the outside of Tazer’s leg pressed to Fit’s own, the line of warmth along Fit’s chest and side where Tazer’s body rested against it, Tazer’s hand on his cheek, thumb rubbing back and forth against the skin there, finally narrowing in to their lips pressed firmly together, moving against each other slowly. Tazer deepened the kiss slowly, pushing his bottom lip between Fit’s, sucking softly in a way that was dizzying before he pulled back.

Tazer smiled down at Fit, lips red and shiny as he waited for Fit’s brain to catch up with what was happening. “I think my favorite part is the kiss,” Fit squinted his eyes a bit, confused, and Tazer continued, “Out of the stars and the sunset. I think my favorite part is the kissing,” he grinned down and Fit smiled back, not fighting the urge to kiss the Runner again as he leaned up to press a soft peck against his lips, Tazer letting out a soft giggle at the contact.

When they finally pulled apart, Tazer shifted around, moving back to laying on his side on the bed of the truck, getting more comfortable, but still keeping his hand over Fit’s chest. Fit moved his arm up from where it was under Tazer’s chest giving him a pillow as the man rested his head on his bicep, curling his arm around to stroke gently up and down Fit’s back.

Tazer closed his eyes, and Fit could feel the other man’s muscles untensing as he relaxed into Fit. His eyes flew open and he laughed a bit, “You were going to tell me something weren’t you, before I asked to kiss you.”

Fit furrowed his eyebrows, trying to think back to what felt like hours ago. He blinked up at the sky, which was now fully dark, and his eyes landed on the line of cloudy colors and sparkling stars that spread across the sky, “Oh, yeah,” he pointed with his head above them, “I was going to talk about how you can see the galaxy after your eyes adjust, and well, it's been long enough.”

Tazer rolled over onto his back, looking up at the sky as he turned. Fit could see the moment that the other man saw the milky stretch of stars and space dust that spread across the sky, “Oh wow, Fit, this is incredible,”

Fit nodded, “Yeah, it's surprising how many people don’t realize what the sky looks like when they wait 20 minutes for their eyes to adjust to the dark.”

“Is that why I’ve never seen this before?” Tazer gestured to the sky with his left hand before bringing it up to hold Fit’s hand.

Fit nodded, tangling his fingers with Tazer’s, “Yeah, when your eyes aren’t adjusted you can’t see, or if there’s a lot of bright lights around it’s also hard to see as many stars. I think anywhere in Zone 2 and closer to Batt City can’t see with the light pollution, or close to Guano because of the streetlights.”

The two laid in the comfortable silence for a little while longer, admiring the wide expanse of the universe before them, before it started to get too cold for just the thin blanket on top of them, and they started to pack up. They folded the two blankets and got back into the truck, Tazer turning the ignition and starting to pull away from the Bifrost, Fit pointing out the directions for the way home.

Tazer slept in Fit’s bed again that night, even if this time there was no Tubbo sleeping on Tazer’s mattress.

Fit fell asleep that night feeling safer than he had in a long while, his head pressing into Tazer’s chest, arms wrapped around his torso as the other man gently stroked his fingers up and down the back of his head, the repetitive motion enough to lull him quickly to sleep.

Chapter Text

Fit adjusted his cloak for the thousandth time, looking into the long since cracked mirror on the inside of the sun visor, the image blurry.

“Fit, calm down, you’ll be fine I swear, you’ve met them before, and they liked you then,” Tazer pulled him out of his panicking, tapping out the beat of the song on the radio against the steering wheel as he drove down Route Guano. They were in Tazer and Craft’s truck, though Craft wasn’t with them, instead in The Underground with the rest of the Favela, their destination.

Fit groaned, flipping the visor back up and slouching in his seat, “It's not the same though, then I was just some random ‘joy they were selling to, now I’m your boyfriend!” Fit couldn’t help the slight warmth that the phrase brought to his cheeks, even though it had been nearly six months since their first date to the Bifrost.

They were on their way to The Underground, Fit would stay a few nights with Tazer before heading out with the Favela on their trade route, hitting a BL/ind. convoy or two with them before meeting back up with Phil in the settlement near the Morning Crew’s diner and heading home.

It was also the first time he’d be seeing them since the day he met Tazer, minus when Craft stopped by the diner to pick him up when he’d finished Fit’s arm.

——

It was nearly a week after Fit and Tazer’s date that the Runner had fixed Fit’s arm enough for him to try it on. There were still a few things to add, mainly protective paneling on the joints, but once the electrodes had contact, and the strap was fastened across his chest, Fit was able to fully move his arm again.

He felt a smile spread across his face as he opened and closed the hand, bending the elbow, then straightening it out. None of the movements were met with that tingling electric pain up his shoulder and across his chest. The weeks his skin had to recover from the surgery meant that he didn’t even feel a raw rubbing of the metal on his skin.

Ramón leaned forward, resting his hand on his dad’s leg, “Does it work Fit? Do you like it?”

Fit nodded, reaching forward with his prosthesis to ruffle his son’s hair, “Works perfectly Ramón, you, Tazer, and Gears did a great job on it.” In the latter part of the construction of his arm, Ramón and Gears had helped Tazer out, Gears because he’d never worked on something like a prosthesis before, and was curious about the way it worked, and Ramón because as he said, if Fit’s arm ever broke, someone in the Morning Crew would need to know how to fix it.

Tazer came over, marking little things down on his notebook, glancing over at the prosthesis. He finally turned back to Fit, grinning, “Everything is working as it should! I should have it finished by the end of the week now!”

Fit’s smile never left his face, “Thank you Tazer, for everything, I really appreciate it, you’re too good to me.”

“Nah,” Tazer shook his head, “you deserve it Fit.”

The two stared at each other for a long while after that, until Ramón broke the silence by teasing, “So are you two about to kiss?”

The two had scrambled to defend themselves, stuttered sentences, and hasty excuses overlapping each other as the sand pup laughed his head off.

——

Fit was a little stressed, no matter how much Tazer or Ramón reassured him, there was something big about being reintroduced to the Favela as Tazer’s partner; this was his family, and he had to make a good first impression.

A hand settled on his leg, startling him out of his thoughts, “Just take a deep breath Fit, I promise nothing bad is going to happen. They’re going to love you, I know it.”

Fit gave his boyfriend a weak smile, tangling his fingers with the hand on his lap. The metal appendages moved smoothly and gently, a product of Tazer’s hard work and careful craftsmanship. Tazer was right, he was overreacting, and when he pushed off the lingering worry about meeting the Favela, he was just happy to be reunited with his boyfriend again. Sure they’d chatted through radio almost every day, but with one of them helping to run a diner, and the other running through the Zones and the Underground hitting BL/ind. Convoys and then selling their goods, it was hard to see each other in person all that much.

Over the past half-year, Fit had made more journeys to Zone 2 than ever before, as close to Batt City as he was comfortable getting without the expertise of Runners like Tazer.

There was a gas station out there, run by a couple of Neutrals that kept their heads down enough when the Dracs came by to avoid any problems. The lot behind that place had seen more of Fit and Tazer’s growing relationship than anywhere else in the Zones, save maybe for the Bifrost. They tried to make it out every so often, usually to the patches closer to the Underground, and while they were busier there, they were no less breathtaking, especially with Tazer sat beside him, the fading light of the sun casting a warm glow over the Runner’s face.

That same glow was there when Fit looked to his left. It was approaching sunset -it was better to enter the Underground under the shield of night, easier to avoid BL/ind. watch ‘droids and Dracs under the cover of darkness- and the oranges and pinks of the sky were painting the planes of Tazer’s face in the soft light.

Tazer turned to catch Fit’s eyes, grinning as he noticed the staring. Fit didn’t rush to look away like he might have earlier in their relationship, but he felt his cheeks heat up anyways.

“Take a picture, it might last longer,” Tazer remarked as his gaze returned to the road.

Fit groaned, “You’re insufferable,”

“Maybe I’m just romantic, Fit, ever think about that?”

Fit rolled his eyes, “I’ll show you romantic,” he muttered out, looking back out the passenger’s window, and the static of the desert that passed by.

“Oh?” Tazer said after a beat, “I’d love to hear some of your romanticness Fitch.”

“Oh yeah? Well you look beautiful in the sunset light Tazer, you sparkle like the Bifrost.”

Tazer giggled, “Oh? Is that true? Tell me more, tell me more.”

Fit snorted, “Oh now I know you’re just fishing for compliments.”

“Is that so bad though?” Tazer smiled widely, and Fit couldn’t help but crack a grin as well, his boyfriend’s joy infectious.

——

The conversation in the truck had helped a fair bit with Fit’s nerves, but now that they were pulling into the tunnels, through the winding labyrinth of service tunnels and crumbling subway lines that led to the depths of the Underground, Fit was starting to get nervous again.

Tazer pulled the truck around into a corner of the tunnel they were in, where Fit could just barely make out the outlines of more trucks and cars in the periphery of the truck’s headlights. Tazer shut off the engine, and once they got out of the cab, the headlights turned off, and the tunnel fell dark.

“Wait where you are at Fit, okay?”

Fit nodded, Closing the door as he called back, “Got it!”

Fit saw a faint light appear behind the truck, getting steadily brighter until Tazer rounded the corner, flashlight in hand, “Okay, it’s a bit of a walk from here, but it shouldn’t take too long.” He smiled, holding a hand out in front of him for Fit to grab.

Fit took Tazer’s hand, letting the Runner lead him through the aisles of trucks and cars and motorbikes, then through a hole in a rusted out chain link fence, and down a smaller tunnel. Fit’s hand was growing sweatier the further they walked, and he hoped Tazer didn’t notice.

“Alright, so where we’re coming in at is kind of a community area, there is a lot of stores and shops and stuff there, and it’ll probably be pretty crowded so,” he squeezed Fit’s hand, “stay close, I don’t want you to get lost.”

Fit smiled, “I’ll be right by your side don’t worry.”

Less than a minute later, they were squeezing through another gap in fencing, then through into a larger tunnel. This one looked like it had been one of the tunnels that trains had gone through before the Helium Wars, while the tunnel they had just emerged from seemed to be an access tunnel. Tazer led Fit a little further down the tunnel, and Fit could see where train tracks had once lain on the gravel ground, only divots remaining where they had long since been dug up for the scrap metal.

“Here!” Tazer paused, grinning, opening a corroded, metal door, leading Fit down one last access tunnel, and through into a large room.

It was concrete all around them, though it went so far back that Fit couldn’t make out a back wall.

“Woah,” Fit breathed, looking around in awe as he took in the bustle around them. There were stalls set up on either side of the alley they stood in, selling Blastas, food, clothes, and near anything else imaginable. On the far side of the alley, concrete buildings and metal staircases rose up two and three stories, looking almost like pillars for the cavernous space, covered in spray paint murals and dirt, a type of grime that was uncommon in the sandy desert.

Tazer tugged him down the alley, then between two buildings, weaving his way through alleys and between shops.

“I don’t think I could find my way back out of here, this place is a fuckin’ maze Tazer!”

Tazer laughed at that, “Well Fit, how do you know that is not all part of my plan, maybe I was lying about meeting the Favela and I’m just kidnapping you!” He grinned widely.

Fit laughed as well, “Hmmm, I think I’d have to let ya take me I guess, there’s no way I’ll be able to escape.” He paused for a second, “Won’t complain though, the guy who’s kidnapping me‘s a real fuckin’ stunner.” His eyes slid to Tazer’s face, which was quickly turning bright red as he processed Fit’s words

“Fi-Fit!” he sputtered, “I-I you cannot catch me off guard like that, you’re gonna make me get lost!”

Fit just smiled innocently, “Haven’t got a clue what you’re talkin’ about!”

Tazer just huffed, face still red with a wide grin painted across it, “Just follow me, we’re almost there.”

——

Fit didn’t know what he was expecting from a dinner in the Underground with the Favela. Sure he knew that the Juvies had better access to real food, proximity to Batt City and all of that, not to mention they were the Morning Crew’s main source of food that wasn’t dog kibble.

He wasn’t prepared for the smell that lingered in the air as soon as he stepped through the door. Sure Chayanne’s cooking was nothing to be scoffed at, but it seemed the Favela had a few more resources available to them than the sand pup did.

The room they had entered into was small, definitely not built for the amount of Juvies in there. A cot was pushed into one corner, a beat up couch next to it against the wall, and a variety of other mis-matched chairs facing them in a circle. Fit recognized Richas and Felps, the older sitting on the couch as the boy showed off a piece of paper in his hands. On the other side of the room was a small kitchen set-up, a long board along the wall, and a stove with a large pot on top of it, the source of the delicious smell. In the kitchen area, Cellbit stood talking to a woman Fit didn’t recognize, her hair almost an opposite of his, mainly white except for a section of brown in the front.

In front of the stove, stirring the pot slowly, was another woman. Fit couldn’t tell if he recognized her until she turned around, and he realized it was Wrath, Empanada’s mother.

Fit looked around, trying to see if the girl was around, scanning the rest of the room. There were two doors along the back wall, and just as he was about to turn back to Tazer, one of them opened, Craft leading Empanada out of the room.

He was the one to notice Fit and Tazer first, smiling and waving at the two, “Oi, you guys made it!”

Fit smiled, “Yeah I’m glad Tazer picked me up because I would be lost somewhere in those tunnels if it weren’t for him”

Craft smiled, “Yeah, those tunnels are a real maze at first, I think it took like a year of me and Tazer being here that we finally were confident enough to go to the tunnels on our own.”

“Alright! The curry is finished!” Wrath called out, setting a stack of bowls onto the counter. Richas and Empanada ran over instantly, scrambling to be first in line for food.

Wrath giggled, handing two bowls full of steaming rice and curry to the kids. The rest of them grabbed their food, then made their way to the couch and chairs in the corner. Bagi and Felps sat on the cot, Craft and Cellbit on the chairs across from the couch, and the two kids sitting on the rug in the middle, chattering about something Fit couldn’t quite hear as he and Tazer settled on the couch. He felt a little awkward as he sat, the group was obviously close, just as much family as Morning Crew was, and he felt like an outsider sitting in their circle.

Tazer seemed to notice his hesitation, and gave him a nudge and smiled, reassuring him wordlessly. He kept his thigh pressed to Fit’s as he turned back to his food, remaining quiet with Fit, the two almost in their own little bubble of safety.

“Is Roier going to be joining us?” Wrath asked as she made her way over to the cot, sitting next to Bagi.

Cellbit nodded around the food in his mouth, “He said he’d be around later, had some stuff he needed to finish up at the shop.”

Wrath nodded, and they fell quiet, all eating their food with little more than quiet chatter from the kids.

Fit was about halfway through his curry and rice when Richarlyson turned to him, setting his bowl down on the floor, “So, Fit, how did you and Pai Tazer get together?”

Fit was unsure how to respond, turning to Tazer with panic flooding his brain. He didn’t want to say the wrong thing and make a bad impression on Tazer’s family, “I’ve told you nenê, we got together when I was away fixing his arm,”

Richarlyson sighed, rolling his eyes, “Well I know that, but Pai Tazer, that’s boring, tell me the full story!”

Empanada nodded, pitching in as well, “Yes, please, I want the fofoca Tio!”

Tazer turned to Fit, giving him an exasperated look. Fit just smiled at his boyfriend, “Come on Tazer, you can’t deny the kids their fofoca,”

“Yes! I need the fofoca too!” Bagi chimed in in agreement.

“Fine!” Tazer rolled his eyes, but Fit could see the smile behind him, “It’s not very interesting, Fit asked if I wanted to go on a date with him to the Bifrost, and then we got together. There isn’t much more than that, right Fit?” He turned back to Fit.

Fit nodded, “Yeah, sorry kids, it isn’t super exciting,” he scooped another mouthful of curry into his mouth.

The kids turned to each other, shaking their heads, “Okay Pai, I don’t think I believe you, but don’t worry, I’ll get the truth out of you one of these days,” Richarlyson grinned toothily up at his dad, only to get a playful swat to the back of his head from Cellbit.

“Leave your Pai and his boyfriend alone, he’s not here to get scared off,” Cellbit laughed, “Destroya knows you all tried the same when I first brought Roier around,” he turned to face Fit, “So, is this your first time in the Underground?”

Fit nodded, “Yeah, it's kinda crazy down here, I’ve never been closer to Batt City than Two before this, no offense, but I like to keep clear of the Dracs and ‘Crows that hang ‘round here.”

“Understandable, I assume you’re desert born then?”

“About as desert born as you can get,” Fit nodded, considering if he should bring up where he’d grown up. He eventually decided to say it, figuring it was something that they might have heard anyway after years trading with Corvid, “I grew up out in Six, met Corvid a while back after I left, and now we’ve got the diner,”

Bagi’s eyes widened, “Oh wow! I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone from Zone Six before, is it really as bad as they say it is out there? I’ve never been out further than Zone 4.”

Fit nodded, “Oh yeah, honestly, the stories don’t capture how terrible it was, Reapers everywhere, can’t trust anyone, have to be ready for someone to stab you in the back, or blow you up,” he lifted his prosthesis, “I never realized how terrible it was until I left.”

Bagi nodded, and Cellbit joined in the conversation, “Yeah prison was similar to that,”

“Oh you were in prison?” Fit questioned, barely noticing Tazer stiffening next to him.

Craft pitched in, “He was in while me and Tazer were.”

Fit raised his eyebrows, turning to his boyfriend, “Is that where you met? In prison?” Fit couldn’t remember Tazer bringing up Cellbit being in prison with him and Craft in any of the times he’d spoken about his time locked up.

Tazer shrugged, “In a way, we only got to know each other after meeting again in the Underground.” He was tense, his words careful and measured.

Fit nodded, and they fell back into less tense conversation as they finished eating.

——

Just after the plates were cleared, a knock rang from the door. Cellbit answered, and Fit saw a man with dark hair accompanied by a boy around Empanada and Richarlyson’s age. The three kids ran off into the back room while the man came in, kissing Cellbit quickly, then waving to the rest of the room.

His eyes latched onto Fit and he smiled, “Oh, hi, I’m Roier! I’m Cellbit’s partner!”

Fit nodded, smiling, “Nice to meet ya, I’m Fit, Tazer’s my favorite record,” he gestured at his partner, “You a ‘runner like the rest of this crew?”

Roier shook his head, “No, I’m just a mechanic, I’ve only been out in the Zones a couple of times, you’re a Killjoy then?” Fit nodded and Roier continued talking, “I thought you guys were known for the bright colors and shit,” he gestured at Fit’s clothes, mostly in shades of sandy neutrals, save for the faded green cloak he wore.

Fit shrugged, “I’m not quite a ‘joy in the traditional sense, grew up out in Zone Six, felt about as connected to the label back then as you guys do down here. But I’m in Four now, a lot more connected to the Killjoy network. You said you’re a mechanic?”

Roier nodded, “Yeah, I work on the trucks, and cars, and bikes down here, keep everything running smoothly, it’s how I met this crew.”

“Nice, we’ve got a couple gearheads of our own, but they’re more into the explosives side of things. I swear they come up with a new way to accidentally kill themselves every week.” Fit snorted, and Tazer grinned, chiming in.

“They’re brilliant though, they’re the reason that Favela can keep hitting BLI’s convoys successfully.”

Roier’s eyes widened, “Oh! You’re part of the Morning Crew then?” Fit nodded, “So you own the diner then, how is your business doing? I always wondered about places like that in the Desert.”

They dissolved into a conversation about the Zones, and Killjoys, and moved back to sit on the couch as Roier ate his own dinner.

——

Bagi brought out some home brewed beer after Roier finished eating, and the time passed easily as they each drank a few bottles. Eventually, the artificial lighting of the Underground began to dim, and the kids had long since fallen asleep, Empanada tucked between her moms, and Richarlyson on Tazer’s lap, clinging to his dad’s jacket.

The last bottles were drained and they all began to file into the back rooms, Wrath and Bagi leaving with Em first, then Cellbit and Roier to the kitchen to finish cleaning up.

Tazer slowly stood, cradling Richarlyson gently as he did so, gesturing with his head for Fit to follow him.

Tazer led Fit down into one of the doors on the back wall slowly pushing the door open into a small room with three cots in it, pressed against the wall. Wrath and Bagi were crowded over one, presumably tucking Em in. Tazer laid Richarlyson on one, pulling the blanket up over his son, then turned to Fit, “The third cot is for when Pepito sleeps here.”

Fit nodded, and let Tazer lead him back into the main room, and then down a staircase he hadn’t noticed before.

“Roier and Cellit sleep in the other room upstairs, and Felps is on the cot in the main room, but the rest of us are down here.” He pointed to a door at the bottom of the stairs, “That’s mine and Craft’s lab, he’s probably down there working, he had a breakthrough on a project we were working on earlier, he’ll probably be there all night, he said we could take our room.”

“Are you sure?” Fit questioned, “I don’t want to take his bed from him,”

Tazer shook his head, “Craft is basically nocturnal this week, and he sleeps in the lab half of the time anyways,”

Fit was hesitant, but he followed Tazer down the hall anyway. His boyfriend pushed open the door and he took in the room. It was fairly plain, obvious that neither Tazer nor Craft spent much time in the room other than to sleep, but there were a few sketches taped to the concrete wall opposite the bed.

Tazer moved to the small chest of drawers, pulling out some clothes, and tossing Fit a pair of sleep pants and a shirt, before taking a shirt and pair of shorts for himself.

Fit stood frozen for a second, watching Tazer as he pulled off his jacket, revealing the lithe muscle of his arms. Tazer turned, smirking as he noticed his boyfriend’s staring.

Fit felt his face heat up, surely turning bright red as he moved to change into his own sleep clothes. The pants were a little long, though Tazer only had about an inch of height on Fit, his legs were much longer, and always left Fit’s pants looking a little short on his boyfriend. He decided to forgo his shirt, and pulled off his arm easily now that Tazer had replaced it.

When he turned back, Tazer was sitting on the bed, in his sleep shorts and shirt, and taking off the liner for his leg, the prosthesis already resting against the wall next to the bed. Fit slid under the covers after setting his prosthesis by the bed as well.

Tazer smiled as Fit settled onto the mattress, “You know, I don’t really mind if you watch me change, it was just my shirt and shorts.” Fit felt his face heat up again, unable to get out a defense for himself. Tazer laughed, “It’s okay, you’re allowed to think I’m hot, it’s kind of required.”

Fit groaned, “Oh so now you’re fishing for compliments?”

“I don’t think it's fishing when you were staring at my arms when I took off my jacket,” he laughed again, “I wouldn’t have to fish though, you’d call me handsome if I asked you too.”

Fit huffed out a laugh, shaking his head, “Can’t help that my boyfriend is strong and beautiful and nice to look at.”

It was Tazer’s turn to blush now, face turning red as he set his liner next to his lec, shuffling under the covers and rolling to face Fit, “You’re cute,” he smiled. Fit couldn’t help the heat in his cheeks, rolling over to face Tazer, groaning. Tazer laughed, “You’re so easy to fluster,” he brought his hand up to cradle Fit’s cheek.

Fit felt himself relax, his eyes drifting shut as he leaned into Tazer’s hand, “You’re so mean,” he muttered out, eyes still shut as he turned his head to kiss Tazer’s palm.

Tazer laughed again, rubbing his thumb along Fit’s cheek, “How is me complimenting you mean?”

Fit shook his head, leaning closer to Tazer, “I don’t know, you just are,”

Tazer smiled and met Fit halfway, their lips meeting in a soft kiss. Fit’s hand came up to run through Tazer’s hair, smiles wide on each of their faces as they pulled away.

Tazer pressed one last kiss to Fit’s mouth before pulling back, relaxing into his pillow, “Did you have a good time tonight?”

Fit nodded, tucking his arm under his head, almost a mirror of his boyfriend, “Do you think I made a good impression?”

Tazer nodded rapidly, “I know they loved you, you’re hard not to love, Fit.”

Fit smiled, scooting forward to get a little closer to Tazer and took his boyfriend’s hand, “I dunno about that Tazer.”

Tazer reached over, pulling Fit to his chest, “Bullshit, there's so many reasons for people to love you.”

Fit settled into Tazer’s embrace, letting go of his hand to wrap around the other man’s body, shrugging, “If you say so,”

“That’s my life mission,” Fit hummed, questioning, and Tazer continued, “To make sure that you know you are loved,”

Fit snorted, “I think Ramón would happily join you in that mission,”

Tazer kissed the top of Fit’s head, “Good. Someday I’ll recruit the whole desert to make sure you know,”

Fit felt warmth flood throughout him, comforted and safe in his boyfriend’s embrace.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”