Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The commission turned out to be more complicated than they had planned.

It was supposed to be a simple retrieval mission, as in, get back some previously stolen goods from a gang of hollow raiders and then return them to the original owner. That was it. Nicole and the hares had deal with such missions before, and they all more or less followed the same pattern: The thieves would deny stealing in the first place, they would get rowdy, in a moment's distraction they would snatch back whatever they were supposed to get and then triumphantly run away with the entire crew of raiders following them to make them pay.

It was the same as always this time. Nicole tried to negotiate with them at least this time, but for some reason, the leader of the bunch instead of focusing his attention on her, he chose to focus on her coworker and old friend, Billy, by her side.

The head honcho spoke of a trade. They would get the old parts they had stolen, in exchange for the more interesting piece of ancient tech they currently had working in their hands…

That meant that the deals were off and they had to start running away as fast as they could.

Charging against them, Nicole had the opportunity to take in her arms the bag full of what she could tell were a bunch of metallic parts, judging by the rustling, and she sprinted away, followed by the rest of the Cunning Hares keeping the raiders at bay.

Everything was going as it was supposed to go. Phaethon with his newly downloaded carrot was pointing towards the direction they were supposed to keep going in order to find a fissure to the outside.

It had been too easy! It even scared Nicole how standard it all resulted!

And then tragedy struck.

She heard a loud bang of static crack in the air around them, followed by the loud yell of a familiar voice and a heavy thud. Eous display froze for a second and it made her tumble to catch herself mid-run.

“Billy is down!” Nekomata cried out from behind, not even having time to react. Nicole and Anby looked around, towards the scaffolding meters away from them, and indeed, Billy was laying limply near one of the edges as if he had collapsed before he could even make the jump towards his crew mates on the other side.

The crack of the EMP disruptor gun subsided and the scrap raiders celebrated their new catch.

With bated breath, the Hares looked helplessly from the distance as the leader of the raiders picked up the now lifeless body of the android with difficulty and hauled him over his shoulder, walking away and not even sparing a single glance back at them.

“Billy!! Shit, shit! What do we do!?” Nicole asked looking towards Eous who finally seemed to reboot the connection. 

“The fissure is about to appear! If we miss it, we might need to reroute! And I don't know how long that might take or how far it might appear from where they're taking Billy!” The frantic voice of Belle said through the speaker and Nicole took a look at her companions.

Anby looked at her with her unbeatable poker face, her eyes shone and she gave her a thumbs up, signaling that she was willing to take the risk if it meant going after their friend. Nekomata meanwhile seemed ready to follow her instruction, making fists with her hands and wiping her tails furiously. Of them, she was the one who knew Billy for the least time, but that didn't mean she didn't consider him important for their family to be complete.

“It might be challenging, but the Cunning Hares never back down from a fight! Come on girls, we have to catch up to those rotten kidnappers and make them pay!” 

“Yes!” Both girls replied together and swiftly, they began to make their way back with Phaethon providing them with coordinates where the nearest biosignals were located.

It took them a few frantic hours of intense anxious searching. The readings from Fairy now become inexact thanks to the EMP disruptors the gang had apparently installed around their turf, and just as Nicole felt a pang of despair take hold of her, they saw something in the distance.

Billy's signature red jacket. Anby was the first one to notice and shout at her team to come back.

Right at the foot of a mountain of debris lay Billy face down and as lifeless as they had last seen him.

“Those jerks! Did they just deliberately drop him there? Is it a trap?” Nicole asked.

“I don't think so… I can't sense any kind of signal from his core…” Wise interjected, being aided by riding on the shoulders of Nekomata as they made their way down towards the dilapidated building.

Once at the bottom, the Hares ran straight to their friend after making sure no biosignals were detected.

“Dammit Billy, we thought we had lost you completely! I'm so glad you are still in one–...” Nicole was interrupted harshly as the others made sure to turn the android around to face them. His inoperative body was too heavy for just one person to hold.

It was obvious he had been tampered with, as the chest plaque that protected the location of his logic core now hung open as the key had been forced and the cavity where it fit was now completely empty.

Those bastards.

They had stolen Billy's logic core.

Nicole dropped to her knees, as the rest of the hares and Phaethon remained completely silent, paralyzed at the frightening and shocking realization that maybe, their friend was totally gone now.

“We… We have to chase them down! It can't just end like this!!” Nekomata was the first one to get up, her crimson eyes already glassy.

“... We don't have much time left, we need to get out as soon as possible from the hollow!” Belle managed to strain her voice. Seemingly as affected as the Hares. 

“My sister is right, you guys don't have enough sedatives to keep searching without suffering from corruption poisoning anymore, we need to retrieve…” Wise’s voice added.

“I don't give a damn! Th-they stole someone important from us! Our friend!! Are we supposed to just accept it and, and go home!?” Nekomata yelled indignantly at the idea of just going home with her tails between her legs.

“Phaethon is right. What good will it be for Billy if we end up turning into Ethereals searching for his core? We need to find an exit and plan our next move.” Anby said plainly as always, but with eyes full of turmoil.

“Nicole!!” Nekomata called for their boss but all the pink-haired woman could do was stare at the now inert body of their dear teammate, their brother, lying face up without his heart in front of them, like discarded trash. 

How dare they…

“They're right, Nekomata… We need to get out of here now…”

“B-but…!”

“I won't just stand losing any more of you!! We'll come back and find Billy's core, but for now, I need you two to be safe too, okay?” Nicole finally said, getting up, fastening the bag of scrap metal to her back and wondering if truly, it was worth the life of their friend to keep clinging to it still. “Anby, give me a hand with Billy, his body is too heavy…”

“Understood.”

“Phaethon, lead the way out. We need to go home.” Nicole commanded, hooking Billy's arm on her shoulder as Anby did the same on the other side. 
Right now, Nicole wished to be taller and stronger, so she could just gather them all up in her arms and protect them from any more harm.

“Right now! Don't worry, Fairy detected an exit not too far from here.” 

Following the small bangboo with the body of their friend resting on their shoulders felt wrong, but Anby was right. They couldn't afford any of them succumbing to Ether corruption. They needed to think of their next move away from the Hollow and leave Billy resting in a place where he could be safe.

“We're close! It's just beyond this corner!” Wise said through the speaker.

The air around them shifted, and Nicole felt her body light for a second as the space around them bent to take them back. It felt like waking up from a dream, but then, the presence of Billy's heavy body reminded her that she hadn't just had a nightmare and that it all had been quite real. 

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Chapter Text

Once back at Random Play, the siblings offered the Hares their couch to leave Billy's body.

It felt wrong to see the android so quiet and still. It was hard to accept that that same afternoon they all had seen him being his cheery and enthusiastic self and now here he was back, a literal empty shelf…

“I wonder why they took only his logic core but discarded the rest…” Wise thought aloud, taking a long look at the empty port in his chest, which somehow looked familiar. He didn't want to say it out loud, as to not accidentally create a false parallel, but it would be like stealing a phone but only taking away the battery and throwing away the device, it had been a really weird move from the raiders…

“Scrappers are not the most brilliant type of raiders out there, maybe they just thought he was too heavy to take along whole...” Nekomata commented, arms crossed.

“Maybe, the worth of his core pales in comparison to his body and that was what they were after the entire time.” Anby commented, sitting by the edge of the armrest of the sofa.

“Those bastards…!! I'll make them regret ever having messed with MY crew.” Nicole said, lifting her fists in rage. “Is there any way to find info about those guys?”

“I'm sure Fairy is already gathering info on that band, don't worry, Billy was our friend too, so we'll capture those guys for sure!” The blue-haired proxy said with a sincere smile and a confident nod.

“What will happen to Billy meanwhile?” Nekomata asked, her ears low against her head as she walked closer to the couch. Wise scooted aside to allow her some space by Billy’s side.

“He should rest here for now, though, now that I'm examining him… I wonder if we can connect a provisional core in his system and see if we can reboot him somehow…”

“C-could that be possible?” Nicole asked, turning to now look at Wise straight in the eye.

“I mean, we can try… His inner system seems very similar to how bangboo are structured, and if I'm correct, his CPU was located up in his brain so his memory module is definitely still intact.”

“Should it be okay to keep tampering with his body?” Belle asked cautiously but the hares wanted to at least give it a try it seemed, eager to see their teammate wake up again by any means necessary.

“I'm sure that if it doesn't work, it just won't work, Billy is made of some highly durable stuff. If this fails, we'll just leave him to rest for now.” Nicolle assured the girl, feeling his heart pick up the pace of her running thoughts.

Wise got down to work, in the same way he would do maintenance to his bangboo; putting on some gloves, grabbing a toolkit from a nearby shell,f and producing a core from one of the many cabinets in the office.

Like most known cores this one resembled a sphere, not much bigger than an apple, its surroundings full of thick wire connectors, like the vessels on a heart. They were supposed to feed the entire body with energy so the resemblance was maybe deliberate.

Carefully, Wise made sure to connect each cable to its respective port and settled the small motor into the empty slot where it was supposed to fit. On a bangboo the logic core was their everything, their source of power, battery storage, and memory module, get rid of it and your bangboo might as well be completely unsalvageable unless you made a security data duplicate and uploaded it to the cloud. He always wondered how Billy worked. Being so human-like in how he carried himself, surely he must've worked in some unique way, but he never expected his core to resemble a Bangboo’s.

He made sure to find some new screws to fix the forced-open chest plate and finally, he wiped some sweat off his brow with a sigh.

“Okay, that should be it. It was easier than I thought, but in appearance and installation it's pretty much just like a bangboo…”

“Will it work?” Nekomata asked anxiously, idly digging her claws into the backrest of the couch.

“We'll see about that, do you guys know of some form of switch in him?”

The hares each looked at one another, and Nicole felt embarrassed of not having asked Billy about this sort of stuff before. What kind of Boss was she?

“In his nape. There has to be a button there, right at the base.” Anby instructed, surprising Nicole and Nekomata. “While we were sparring one day he told me that I couldn't kick him behind his head because I could accidentally shut him down… I assume that's the reason. Or maybe, he just didn't want to be kicked in the back of the head…”

Wise as he could, lifted Billy's heavy head off the cushion it had been resting on and with quick fingers, he threaded through his white hair. Indeed, hidden right in the curve of his nape he felt a small flat button. He pressed hard and held for a second, thinking about how similar it felt to turn on a computer.

To the joy of everyone in the room, they heard a few mechanical clicks and whirrs as slowly, Billy Kid awakened once more.

“Oh, thank God!” Nicole exclaimed, falling on her knees beside the couch. Nekomata meanwhile wiped a few stray tears off her face with Anby letting out a deep breath and looking upon both Phaethon siblings with gratitude and a tiny smile on her face.

Finally, Billy's booting sequence finished, and his LED eyes opened in that unmistakable yellow shine.

“Billy, can you hear us? Did everything start correctly?” Belle asked, now lined up with the others beside the android who blinked a few times, staring at the ceiling.

He seemed a bit dazed but at least he was awake and his body had not suffered any other notable damage which brought them all much relief. But something was… odd.

It had been around a full minute and Billy still didn't utter a sound. Now this would've been understandable if it had been any other robot, but this was Billy, he never shut up! Especially after such a dramatic experience.

“Billy? It's there something wrong?” Nicole asked, visibly nervous. “Y-you, remember us, right? You know who we are still, right?”

The android then simply turned to look at her for a long while and squinted his eyes for a second before visibly smiling wide.

“Enah-enah!” He said, and for a second everyone had to resist the need to fall backwards like in some bad cartoon.

“WHAT!?” Everyone exclaimed.

This was going to be a long day…

Chapter Text

The tone completely shifted in the room and suddenly, everyone felt as if they had skipped from a nightmare to a very strange dream.

What the hell was going on!?

“Enha?” Billy pronounced once again, tilting his head to the side innocently, obviously confused by the reaction of everyone around him.

“Um… Phaethon… care to explain?” Nicole said, turning her face to the gray-haired proxy, startling him with the intensity of her glare.

“Well… the core I installed on him was of a bangboo, wasn't it?” Wise rushed to answer, feeling his brain working overtime to make sense of their very bizarre situation too.

“Yes, I know that! But did that really mean he was going to turn into a bangboo too!?”  

“Nicole, calm down…” Nekomata begged by her side, as concerned for the situation as everyone else.

“Well, at least we know that he wasn't majorly damaged during the skirmish,” Anby commented, arms crossed over her chest.

“Y-yes but…!” 

“Anby is right, this means that there's still hope that by retrieving the core from the thieves might fully bring Billy back!” Belle said, trying to defuse the tense situation. “Also bangboo logic core or not, maybe Billy can now recall something about his kidnappers and give us a clue.”

“Hey, that's right!” Nekomata exclaimed more calmly than seconds ago. “Billy, do you remember anything from before you shut down?”

Everyone turned to look at the android who sat quietly on the couch as confused as everyone else. He visually tensed up at the sudden attention.

“Nna…” he mumbled and toyed with his index fingers.

“Hmm, maybe his memory module is still a bit jumbled?” Belle suggested. “You do remember who we are, right, Billy?”

“Enah-nnah!” He nodded and then in the same language a bangboo would use, he listed off everyone's names around him. Much like how Eous would do, he then waited patiently for some praise after completing his task, which came as a pat on the head from Wise's part as he recognized the bright-eyed expression on his face. He did have one of Eous' old cores after all…

“Okay, so he recalls that much at least…”

“Let's not lose hope, maybe after his systems settle he'll be able to recall some more!” The cat thiren said, trying to keep optimistic, seeing as everyone else was too taken aback by the strange development of their predicament.

“Yes, it might be too soon to doubt his faculties yet.” Anby added.

“He's just a bangboo in a different chassis now…” Nicole whined some more. Disappointed and concerned about everything at the moment. “But no matter! We got THE legendary Phaethon by our side! We'll pay a visit to all the scrappers known within the hollows and beat them up one by one if it means they'll have a clue of who would have stolen our Billy away!”

The hares got up from their seats, now even more motivated to start their quest.

“We'll help you guys as much as we can from here! Right, bro?”

“Of course, Billy was our friend too, you guys got our complete support.” 

“That's great because we have to ask for a favor first…”

“And what would that be?”

“Well, you see, it's obvious that in his state, Billy can't really stay alone at our office, and since we're all going to be too busy to check on him, perhaps we could reach an arrangement…?” Nicole rubbed her hands together, as she usually did when it was time to talk about business. The proxies rolled their eyes simultaneously.

“He should stay here until we successfully retrieve his core.” Anby cut through the crap and then sent an impassioned look at Nicole. “What? That was what you were trying to tell them, wasn't it?”

“I was trying to ease it into them first, but thanks, Anby…” 

Phaethon looked at one another and then at the hares who, for lack of a better word, had no one else to turn to for such a favor.

Yes, they were right. With Billy in such a defenseless state they couldn't bring him along to battle, much less just leave him on his own at home, and it is not like them to go out that often due to their work as proxies… but really??

Wise looked down towards the android who remained obediently still on the couch, back straight and hands resting on both his knees. This one looked back at him and smiled big, by the look of his LEDs.

Huh, maybe it wouldn't be so hard with him being in this state, right? It was maybe the first time he saw Billy being so silent.

“I mean, I guess we can lend you guys a hand…” 

“Bro, are you sure?”

“Hey, we got three bangboos already, one more won't make much of a difference, and just look at him; he's very polite.”

Billy upon being acknowledged squirmed in place flattered, holding his cheeks seemingly flustered by the attention. Stuff like that made it feel like he was still Billy beyond everything else.

“Hm, I guess you're right,” Belle said and then directed her attention back to the girls. “We'll try to keep him out of trouble, but you also try to rest a little, we'll ask Fairy to research about raiders selling any kind of tech out there.”

“Thanks, Phaethon! I knew we could count on you!” Nicole exclaimed. “Billy, be nice and don't run into any trouble, we promise to bring back your logic core in one piece.” She said as if talking to a child, even kneeling to meet the sitting android's eyes. This one nodded, understanding the order, and then received a hug from his boss. Nekomata and Anby soon joined.

It was such a sweet scene Belle felt like tearing up a little. You would never guess at first glance the Cunning Hares would care so dearly for a fallen comrade, considering their philosophy and track record, but here they were, this entire ordeal had proven to them just how much each member loved one another.

“Alright, we're off now, we still have a client to meet… Thanks again for your help, Phaeton, we owe you, well, more than we already owe you.”

“Don't worry about it, we'll contact you as soon as Fairy gathers the info we need.”

After the Cunning Hares were out of the store, Billy remained seated on the sofa of the back room, unsure what to do.

Something in his head told him that the possibilities within himself were infinite and that really, he could do as he pleased if he so wanted, but something, a nagging feeling deep deep down told him that maybe that was a bad idea and that following commands was the safest option right now. He heard about his former logic core being stolen, so maybe once he got it back it all would make sense again. He had a vague recollection in his memory bank about who he was supposed to be, but it was like looking at something through a foggy lens, it somehow felt detached from himself, the more memories he examined the more distant they felt.

“It's so weird to see him so quiet…” Belle commented to her brother from the door to their office, looking at the robot now lost in thought.

“Maybe his logic core did more than just keep him awake.” Wise pondered aloud and walked closer to his friend, who turned to look at him.

Billy blinked twice and tilted his head. This was Wise. He was the one responsible for waking him up and fixing his core engine situation. If he read the data log from his current core, he could see that its former owner was a Bangboo named Eous which belonged to Wise and Belle, the girl now standing by the entrance of the room.

He had a lot to be grateful for right now, but he didn't know where to begin.

“N-nah-enah…” he pronounced in vain. But luckily for him, Wise seemed to understand him.

“You're welcome, though you should thank the Hares once they're back too. They risked their lives to retrieve your body and will do it again to get the rest of you back.”

“En-nah?”

“The hares… you recall the Cunning Hares, right? Gentle House?”

Billy felt a bit bad shaking his head at the question, especially safer seeing Wise look so down. He knew the people who surrounded him earlier by name but wasn't entirely sure why. Some parts of his memory module were restricted and unless he had the credentials he wouldn't recall everything anytime soon.

“Hmm… it seems your logic core had more functions than just being an engine for your body.”

“So, what should we do now?”  Asked Belle, crossing her arms.

“Take care of him until the Hares come back, honestly, there's not much that can be done.”

Sensing the conversation in front of him, Billy lowered his head. He didn't want to be such a burden! Especially because he didn't know why. He had woken up to the situation already developing and suddenly a lot of people were upset, he wasn't sure if it was his fault or not and it made him feel increasingly uneasy. 

“Eh-nah…” He muttered, toying with his fingers like a small kid and Wise felt a pang of guilt drop in his stomach.

“It's not your fault, Billy, no need to apologize… I just hope you're at least doing fine without an engine that belongs to you.”

The android tilted his head. He did feel fine so far, his energy levels were steady, but something about his motor functions were still a bit laggy. He could detect how heavily modified his body was and his current core wasn't built to run so many functionalities at the same time…

At least, his sensory module was doing fine. He could feel how warm the gray-haired man's hand felt over his shoulder so that was something.

He did feel very sleepy though, lightheaded almost. He let out an involuntary yawn and allowed his eyes to close for a second, it was weird he could tell by his activity logs that he wasn't used to getting tired so quickly after booting up.

“It's late, I think we all should turn up for the night,” Belle suggested, stretching her back after an entire afternoon of sitting stiffly in front of the HDD. “Wise, I think you should take him to your room to rest.”

“What!? Why my room!?”

“Because we got tasked with caring for him, and who knows what he would do if we left him alone without supervision downstairs…”

“In that case why can't you do it too?”

“Sure, I'll bunk with Billy no problem, I'll even lend him one of my bunny pajamas and braid each other's hair...”

“Okay, okay, I get it… You know? sometimes you can be very annoying...” Wise added, exhausted.

“It's what siblings are for, big bro!”

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Chapter Text

Not having any other option, Wise invited Billy to follow him, soon discovering that the android was so tired he couldn't walk in a straight line, not to mention that he must be experiencing some heavy input lag trying to make his core understand how his body was supposed to move. Before he could run into another wall or roll downstairs, Wise pushed the disoriented Billy inside his room and closed the door behind him.

Thinking about it, this was the first time he allowed the android to be in his room. Weird considering he wasn't particularly protective of his personal space, regardless, something felt strangely intimate now that Billy was there.

The android politely remained in one corner for some minutes unsure of what to do next, holding both hands in front of himself and giving Eous’ dangling body in his charge station a few glances.

Charging actually sounded good right now, but he was unsure about how to proceed without causing much trouble.

“Hold on, I think I remember you mentioning you used a cable to charge before…” the gray-haired proxy said suddenly, startling him a little as he quickly rummaged through his desk in search of something. “You can take a seat, it's fine.”

Billy obeyed, now seated on the small couch in the room, hands balled over his knees and eyes big and curious. He didn't recall ever being in this room so it felt like an important accomplishment at the moment. He made a record of that, just to be sure.

“Okay, I found it” Wise announced, holding a rather lengthy charging cable and an adaptor.

Connecting it to the plug beside the couch was easy, the challenge now was finding where exactly Billy was supposed to be connected.

“Huh, Billy, can you run a search and point where I should connect this?”

“Eh-nah!” yes of course he could do that. Somehow now that his mind felt slightly perturbed by his own perceived freedom of choice, receiving orders felt really comforting. He ran a scan of his components, which luckily he could still do, and in a few seconds, he found it. “Nnah!” He pointed towards his right auditory, the white and red earphone-like device on each side of his head.

Wise then directed his fingers there and blindly he sought that little micro USB slot, earning a small squirm from the robot who narrowed his eyes and giggled. Was Billy really that ticklish? Is not like he had ever reached to touch him before so he wasn't aware of this at all. Not that he minded, with how simple he was acting now it was almost cute of him.

But he wasn't about to admit that out loud, no no, he would die of embarrassment first.

“There it is.” He announced curtly before simply connecting the cable and watching Billy sigh as if relieved. His body language did tell him he was quite tired, maybe his current core wasn't made to provide so much power for his type of body.

The android relaxed and threw his head back against the backrest, eyes closed making wise notice how dusty his body and clothes really were.

“Hmm… should I change your clothes…?” He wondered aloud, picking at some of the tattered leather of his jacket, probably due to roughhousing or thanks to the fall he took. Poor Billy had gone through a lot today, so probably he did need some maintenance…

Well, it is not like he would do it himself.

Wise moved around his room, searching for the necessary stuff to begin his new task; clean clothes and some robot-friendly supplies he used on his bangboo when they needed maintenance.

He tried to push the idea that maybe he was stepping into dangerous territory, considering he was supposed to undress the android but he took it one step at a time.

First, he asked for permission and stripped him off his jacket, Which Billy tilted his head at, simply looking at him with tired half lidded eyes. He put it away to take into the wash the next morning. Then, he began to wipe down some of the dirt and debris that had collected between his joints with a towel. Wise wondered if he was being too intrusive. Considering he was guiding the android to not obstruct his work while he worked, but decided that he was actually doing the android a big favor. Billy would probably do this himself but right now as indisposed as he was, he needed the assistance.

As he brushed the towel near his abdominal plaques he noticed a small dent in there, and couldn't help but let his fingers linger, wondering if this was old or if it had been made during the struggle today. Regardless, the android whined as he touched him, seemingly in pain and he immediately stopped.

“Alright, everything is clean here. Good boy.” Wise said aloud without thinking, as he usually said the same to Eous when he stood still during maintenance. He flinched feeling a bit embarrassed but Billy seemed to not mind it one bit. In fact, he apparently liked it a lot.

The tall robot smiled lazily at him and allowed the proxy to put a shirt on him.

Then came the pants and Wise felt weak. He could get rid of the big studded belt the android wore for aesthetics, and loosen up the garter of his leg pouch, but somehow he couldn't make himself remove his pants. The android looked at him with such innocence in his eyes… So, looking elsewhere, he simply pulled from them and quickly helped him to change into some of his old slacks, trusting that he wasn't that dirty on his legs in comparison to his torso. He threw his pants to the pile of laundry and sighed deeply. This would be hard to repeat…

Billy meanwhile didn't seem to mind, even a little. The android curled up over the couch and relaxed his body at the sensation of being clean and in a safe place alongside a person he knew cared for him and that was just enough in his book.

Taking into account that Billy would probably sleep on the couch that night, Wise went out to fetch some extra pillows and blankets for him to settle in the two-body couch in his room, worrying that maybe he would be too tall to fit comfortably if he decided to stretch.

He would've let him stay in the backroom downstairs where the couch was bigger, but he had the responsibility to keep an eye on him and if anything happened during the night and he wasn't there to check him out it would probably turn fatal. He wasn't sure exactly how durable the android was, considering he had already survived a traumatic experience on his body, so if anything, he had to treat him as delicate as the antique he was from now on.

When he returned to his room with the rest of the stuff he needed, he was surprised by the sight of Billy curled up in a ball on his bed.

The charge cable somehow was the perfect length for that to happen without it disconnecting or even yanking.

“B-Billy! Come on, go back to the couch.”

The android simply ignored him, in the same way Eous was doing, hanging on his charge station, not even a twitch came from him.

Wise pinched the bridge of his nose. He was way too exhausted to be getting mad, and he wasn't about to sleep on the couch either and wake up with his back killing him, so…

“... Okay, just this once… he's a bangboo now, have some patience.” The proxy thought aloud.

Going to the bathroom to change into his nightwear, he came back again, discovering Billy had moved while he wasn't looking and now was snuggled under the covers, still curled up like a cat and sleeping like a log.

Slapping his forehead again, Wise decided that he wouldn't worry about this so hard anymore.

Tugging at the blanket, he decided to lay down and let himself in the future worry excessively about the implications of sharing the bed with an android man, he was an adult, dammit! He had to be mature about the circumstances surrounding this very awkward situation and look at it with logic! Luckily, there was enough space for both of them on the mattress. But for now, he was tired, and his body was done asking for some rest.

For some reason, the bed felt warmer than usual, and he subtly directed a look at the sleeping android. The constant soft buzz of his internals told him he was the one responsible for such change, and he couldn't complain at least.

“Good night, Billy…” he said once the lights were turned off, and snuggled down on his bed, feeling as his limbs finally relaxed and his eyes began closing, wishing for tomorrow to be better for him and his friends.

...

Maybe not five minutes had gone by before he felt the soft brush of warm metal rubbing against one of his arms, and his eyes shot open. Looking beside himself he was surprised with the fact Billy had moved considerably closer to him, stretching his body from his curled up position and now boldly reaching towards him sleepily.

“Nnhgg…” he heard him mumble sleepily, and to keep the android away, he rolled on his side and faced away from him.

To his dismay, more heat made itself present against his back and he shuddered.  

Was Billy spooning him??

He tried to twist back to confront the android but a pair of strong metal arms found their way around his waist and held him still.

“B-billy…! Billy, no, stop.” He scolded him like one would scold a pet but to no avail. Billy just rubbed his glass faceplate against Wise's shoulder blades and continued sleeping. Thighs matching the position Wise’s legs were resting in, effectively welcoming him into his lap.

Wise was more awake than ever now, feeling every inch of the robot against his back, not to mention the discomforting heat this one produced mixed in with his utter embarrassment.

God, what had he gotten himself into?

Was this a punishment of sorts?

Why him!?

“Mmmh… ma… m-manager…” he heard the android mutter softly against his back, fluffy white hair tickling the nape of his neck.

Wise felt a pang of something in his chest. It was the first actual word he had said all day, probably a residual left in his memory bank that decided to bubble up now, regardless, it was said in such a small and weak voice, vulnerable, that it made the proxy feel a bit guilty.

It wasn't Billy's fault what had happened to him. He was probably as scared as everyone else deep down. And right as he desperately clung to him, he knew that. He wanted some comfort in such a scary situation, just like how Eous would jump into bed with him during thunderstorms.

Wise touched Billy's hands holding his waist and gave them a tiny squeeze. This one sighed weakly in dreams and felt him nuzzle closer.

“Hnngh…” he heard him hum again and this time, it made him smile and relax.

Soon after he was feeling his eyes heavy once again, the heat on his back slowly becoming pleasant.

--------------------------

Chapter Text

Belle stretched big as she made her way downstairs, wondering about what she would prepare for breakfast, but first, she needed to check on Fairy's progress with her search.

Entering the backroom, she greeted her bangboos resting on the couch and then Fairy, who quickly made herself present on the HDD monitor.

“Since last night, my search has resulted in 382 matches. Narrowing the number down to those who're currently in search of  buyers to 259, using the keywords “ancient tech” resulted in 60 results, and using the keywords “core engine”, resulted in 15 possible matches.”

“Fairy, that's amazing! Thank you so much, I bet the Hares will be happy to know this!” The blue-haired proxy exclaimed, ready to text Nicole with the breakthrough.

But first, she would tell Wise and Billy about the results.

Skipping steps on the stairs animatedly, she wondered if her brother had slept at all last night. Considering his insomnia problems, he must've probably had a hard time sleeping with a guest in his room. Knowingly, he would have a short temper all day now so that would be funny.

“Big bro! Wake up! Fairy has some good news!” She announced by knocking on the door, and since no response came from the other side, she reserved permission to enter anyway, assuming they were still asleep. “Wise?” She called out peeking inside and the sight she came face to face with made her giggle.

Wise and Billy were still pretty much asleep. But she never thought they both would be in Wise's bed, with Billy practically throwing a leg over his hips and an arm over his shoulder to cling to him, or that Wise would be facing him, pressing his face against the android's collarbone and tangling said legs with him.

She resisted the uncontrollable need to giggle and simply took her cellphone to snap a picture. This would make for great blackmail material in the future, she was sure! So, looking as her beloved brother and dearest friend were still resting, she came out of the room and closed the door,  proceeding to tell Nicole about the news, in higher spirits than ever.

--------

Wise sipped on his morning coffee awkwardly as Belle looked at him across the small table in their backroom with a shit-eating grin on her face. Billy was sitting right beside him, head over his shoulder and arm hooked on his elbow, eyes closed as if he was still sleepy after an entire night’s rest and charge.

“So… did you sleep well last night?” Belle asked and Wise hit the table with his mug, startling the android clinging to him.

“You saw something, didn't you!?” He asked, no, demanded Belle to tell him, already fearing for the worst…

“I don't know what you're talking about, dear brother…”

“You know exactly what I'm talking about!” He said and subtly sent Billy a side glance as this one leaned even closer to him to keep him in place, snuggling him.

“Hmm... Nope! I can't imagine what you could possibly mean by that!” 

Wise was about to retort once again when the sudden sound of the overhead bell in the front door rang alongside multiple heavy steps.

“Billy!” Nicole yelled, opening the backroom so suddenly bangboo 06 was kicked out of his post. She walked closer to the android and checked on him the same way a parent would do to their child as if checking he was still in one piece. “You’re still fine? The core didn’t malfunction during the night, right? You still remember us??”The pink-haired girl asked the robot in quick succession greatly confusing him.

“Slow down, his core is making his processing lag.” Wise advised, and now it was Nicole the one clinging to Billy desperately.

“Good morning, girls! Wanna join us?” Belle greeted and subtly snickered at Wise trying to unstuck Billy and now, Nicole from his side.

“Forget about that, you said Fairy had news about the bastards that took Billy's core!”

“Sure she had come in, let's go over the results.” Belle stood from her place on the couch and approached the HDD. Leaving Wise stuck into place with a very clingy Billy who right now was being fussed about by the two remaining Hares.

“He didn't give you too much trouble, right?” Nekomata asked, swatting both her tails together and observing the unnaturally calm android cuddling with the proxy. Wise tried with all his might to create some distance between them while maintaining his professional salesman's smile.

“N-no! No. Not at all!”

“You remembered to wipe the ether dust off his joints.” Anby stated flatly, examining Billy with sharp eyes.”

“Y-yeah, now that he's having trouble moving, I thought that this would at least make it easier for him.”

“We bought him some clean clothes! Also, some of his stuff to feel more at home…” Nekomata said with a sad smile, holding a duffel bag that Wise had noticed they had brought with them. It seemed that his absence at the Cunning Hares household was being dearly missed.

“Also, don't forget to change his oil, and lubricate his joints, he does that every night.” The white-haired swordswoman said and took out a small piece of paper from her pocket. “These are the supplies you'll need, he specifically uses that brand of robot lubricant, he doesn't like the oily one because it stains his bedsheets, so always go for the dry kind.”

“Excuse me, lubricant?” Wise asked, feeling his stomach drop at the wording but was soon interrupted by Nicole shouting:

“Anby, Nekomata! We need to get moving, our first target is close by on a companion hollow!” Nicole said animatedly and both girls nodded, understanding their next mission.

“Take Eous with you, we'll guide you to their headquarters,” Belle said, picking up the little bangboo and handing it to Nekomata.

Nicole once again stepped close to Billy, still clinging almost desperately to Wise's arms, and unpromptedly, hugged the android.

“Don't worry, we'll take care of the guys who did this to you alright?”

“Uh-nah!”

“Be good while we're out, yes? Alright girls, let's get going.”

“Send me a call when you guys are near the outskirts!” Belle advises before taking a seat at the desk in front of the hulking tower of monitors that was the HDD. “Let's hope we find a clue soon, or you'll have to dedicate yourself to lubricating Billy for what's left of the month…” Belle said with yet another shit-eating grin on her round face.

“Ugh, you were listening to our conversation? Great…”

“Hey, come on, I'll be nice and let you off this mission for now, after all, you got your hands full already, hahaha!” 

“Hah-hah… hilarious.”

“U-Unah?” The android mumbled lowly, pointing at himself.

“No Billy, I'm not mad at you… A-Aw come on, don't look at me like that!” The android shot the proxy, the most shimmering wide-eyed look he had ever seen in his life. He knew Billy wasn't able to cry actually, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try. “You've been good until now, alright? Sorry, I'm just a bit stressed…”

“Nah-nnah?”

“Yes, you’re being a good boy…”

Belle openly giggled to herself sitting at the desk and Wise sent her a scandalized look.

“Ugh, I’m going to my room..!”

“Oh, you go ahead, I wouldn't want to interrupt you guys' little moment.”

“Belle!”

------------

When Wise entered his room, he practically had to drag Billy's body inside. His battery had already reached a critical low despite being around 4 hours since his last charge cycle.

“C-come on Billy, another step!” the proxy exclaimed through gritted teeth as he supported the ridiculously heavy body of the android who shuffled his feet pathetically to keep himself standing.

“Ehnaaah…”

“I know, just take a nap and it'll all be resolved soon.”

Helping Bully to lay down with his incredibly rigid and heavy body proved to be as much of a challenge as getting him upstairs, but once he was set, and connected to the electrical socket, it was as if his entire body instantly relaxed and this one let out an alleviated sigh.

“Alright, rest for a while and I'll come back to check in on you later.”

“Nnaaah!” Billy complained and with a hand, he reached to the back of Wise's coat stopping him dead in his tracks.

“I-I can't, I got stuff to do now and–”

“N-nnah-nah…” The android whined again with wide shiny eyes and Wise felt a sting of guilt in his chest. God, was he really so heartless as to leave him all alone right now when he so desperately wanted him to stay? 

“A-alright… I'll stay until you fall asleep, okay?”

Billy smiled happily at this and soon welcomed the man beside him in bed.

Wise tried with all his might to stop Billy from clinging to him like a koala with legs and arms, but the robot proved to be stronger, and also, more emotionally manipulative than he thought. His shiny, innocent eyes full of rejection every time he tried to keep his distance made him feel like he had just kicked a puppy.

“Just… Don't squeeze so hard. I won't leave.”

Billy nodded happily and then simply let his arm fall across Wise's chest holding him warmly in a hug as he hid his face in the crook of his neck.

God, this was embarrassing, Wise thought, but it was strangely relaxing too, and soon he was also feeling a bit faint, resisting the need to close his eyes so he decided to focus his attention on something else. Like wondering how the Hares were doing that exact moment, or if they were any closer to retrieve Billy's core. He wondered if any of their efforts would result in Billy returning to normal or if the android would remain an overgrown bangboo forever. The thought scared him. Poor Billy, it was obvious he didn't have a very easy life before arriving at Gentle House. But maybe having it all wiped for now was what kept him positive despite his circumstances. 

He glanced to his side and saw that Billy was already soundly sleeping. His chest emulated the soft up and down a human would do upon breathing. 

Thinking how that had been surprisingly quick, he attempted to get up, only to be held firmly into place by a hand balling his shirt tightly, not even taking off his jacket would allow him to slip away Billy's literal iron grip.

Wise tried to pry Billy's fingers to loosen up but it seemed all it did was make his fist even harder and his chances of getting up smaller and smaller.

“God, what did I do to deserve this…” He groaned out loud and just stared at the ceiling.

Wise looked at the hour on his phone.

It was around 1pm, way too early for him to be doing nothing, generally if it wasn't his turn to be Phaethon, he would take care of opening and managing the store, restocking shelves, unloading new tapes, and making some accounting if Bangboo 18 was at the counter, but how was he supposed to be up and productive with Billy grounding him to his bed.

What's worse, his chronic lack of sleep was slowly creeping up on him, making him yawn and slowly flutter his eyes closed.

When had been the last time he took a nap just for the hell of it?

Maybe back in his academy days, back at home. Years ago when he was still a child.

On days like this one after school, he would go right to his room, play some video games, lie down on the carpet in his room, and doze off.

Back when he felt that the world went much slower, and he didn't have any more responsibilities besides attending his classes and obeying his guardian…

Back when he didn't have to stay glued to a chair to make a living, sustaining himself with more caffeine that was recommended for human consumption and putting his life on the line, running errands for all kinds of unsavory people for some Denies.

Life used to be so much easier…

Wise shook himself away from his thoughts and decided that maybe, introspection was not the best idea to pass the time at the moment.

He sent Billy another glance.

His face rested close to his shoulder now and occasionally would mumble something in his sleep, twitching ever so slightly.

His angular faceplate is the definition of serenity.

Letting out a deep sigh, Wise decided that maybe, it wouldn't be so bad to catch up on some sleep now that the opportunity was right there. This was working too, technically speaking, he had to keep an eye on Billy, so it is not like he would be doing nothing. He was still doing his job.

The soft buzzing of Billy's systems lulled him to sleep, just as it did last night.