Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

An Equipment Laboratory branded tablet lies on a table, starting up. Its software is initiated. A menu pops up to select its gender - male, female, or neither. Test Tube presses the Neither button. The tablet powers up.

The screen lights up with the Equipment Laboratory logo - a logo of a test tube. Then the wallpaper (a purple hue, but not the same as MePad's purple) and face (eyes and a white soundwave mouth) appear.

Test Tube and Fan's eyes light up as the tablet opens their eyes. They adjust to the light, select a voice from the given menu, and test out their voice.

"Hello, world. Check, check. Can you hear me?"

"We can hear you!" Test Tube says.

"Who are you?"

"Well, this is Test Tube, and I'm Fan! We... built you!"

"Oh. I see. What is my name?"

"Well, what do you want to be called?" Test Tube says.

"How about... Beta?"

"It suits you!" says Fan.

"So then my name is Beta. What am I meant to do? What purpose am I meant to serve?"

"Well, you were initially meant to fill the void after-" Fan gets abruptly cut off by Test Tube.

"Whatever purpose you want!"

"Um... okay."

Beta leaves the lab.

"Why did you not let me tell them about MePad?"

"They don't need to know."

"But-"

"We should keep it a secret for now."

Chapter Text

All of the contestants from II (Seasons 1, 2, and 3) as well as others like Spoiled Lemon and the Unvitational Committee are partying in MePad Mansion.

Because of being overwhelmed from all the noise and crowding, Bow, her brothers Dough and Knife, and her joyfriend Bot go to the basement.

"It sure is quite loud up there," says Knife. "I can't wait until Hotel Hoot finally gets finished."

"Yeah. Although at the same time it'll probably feel weird." Dough replies. "Wait, where's Bow?"

"Probably having some private time with Bot, remember? You already told me about this, little bro."

"Oh, I forgot. Hey, wanna play some video games with Pickle?"

"Yeah, sure!"

Dough and Knife teleport out of the basement.

Meanwhile, Bow and Bot are in a smaller room in the basement. With Bot's permission, she is possessing them and making them feel good.

Springy goes into the basement and knocks on the door to the smaller room.

"Uh, can I hang out with Bot?" Springy says.

"Let me have my turn first," Bow replies.

"I can respect that!" says Springy. So they leave the basement and head back to the party area.

After a while, Bow and Bot finish their private time and head back upstairs.

Chapter Text

Elsewhere in MePad Mansion, Salt and Pepper are away from the crowd to talk in private for a moment.

"I just... don't know what's wrong with me!" says Salt. "Ever since I was created by MePhone, I've had an unusual and... well, creepy... attraction to OJ!"

"Well, Salty Salt... I must admit, it WAS weird. I still don't get why you were so rude to Paper and OJ earlier." Pepper replies.

"It's... written in my code. But... others managed to bypass their code. So maybe I'm just... less than them?"

"Don't say that! You are equal to them."

"But... I behaved super creepily around OJ... so..."

"Have you tried apologizing?"

"I did... and I don't plan to talk to him ever again."

"That's a good first step, babe."

Salt leans on Pepper.

"Thanks for appreciating me. Showing me that our relationship is more than a line of code programmed into us."

"Anytime, Salty Salt."

Salt and Pepper turn to each other and share a kiss. The two enjoy the moment. They stare into each other's eyes and kiss once again.