Work Text:
You were talking to costumers like you usually did, helping them around the store and pointing out furniture that you thought they wanted, based on what they described to you, you were decent at doing that no matter how awkward you felt afterwards, and that's mostly how you stayed employed.
As you were pacing the mattresses idly, you spotted your Coworker, He was wearing the same yellow uniform you were as he stood off to the side, trying to avoid the gaze of the customers who frequently called to him for help.
He was tall and had a good posture, you could see the robotic silver of his neck and arms from the bright dress-shirt he was wearing, and then you looked up at his eyes that were adorned on his head-face-lamp?
You weren't sure if he'd call it a face at all... He turned to look at you and then the neutral look he always had on his face dropped. You had clearly been staring more than you should've, you thought it'd be weird to look away all of a sudden, so you waved and he gave you a small smile, clearly just trying to be polite, and then he immediately looked away. He had been avoiding his duties today, and the customers in general.
You wondered "Why even come to work?" You thought he might've been down in the dumps, so much so that he barely glanced at you at all during the 3 hours you'd been working together today.
You didn't have a good or bad relationship with Lampert, the two of you would always eat lunch together (quietly) and you even picked up his pen for him that one time!
And that was about it, even so his behavior seemed a bit distant today and more weirder than your usual interactions. You decided you'd just try to ask him about it later, you also wondered if you might have accidentally offended him somehow so it'd be best to talk to him about it... maybe?
You were unsure, and thought it might be too personal, but you didn't want to have a bad relationship with your coworker and needed to set things straight!
What would you even say to him anyways? "Sorry?" For what though? "Are you okay?" Too much getting in his business. But you'd probably figure it out once he was in front of you.
So durning lunch you'd corner him! (Politely) and ask why he's been so distant. During lunch you grabbed your container from your locker and went into the break room and washed your hands, you then looked behind you at the tables and saw he wasn't there, it didn't even look like the other chair was pulled out.
This was odd to see, Lampert always went to the break room immediately during lunch, you raised a brow and huffed, looking around the room.
You wondered where he could be right now and only one thing came to mind, the storage room. You knew he would make sure things inside the storage room were in place and in order, the boss liked him for that, and would always ask him to go inside to check the boxes and cargo, so he was probably still doing that now.
As you placed your lunch on the table you opened the break rooms door and left to go to the staff only area where the storage room was located. You opened it up and walked inside, it was dark, and you knew Lampert never bothered to turn the light on in here cause well... he never needed it. "Ugh.." You flinched at the noise that was coming from your right side, behind the tall shelves, it sounded like frustration and maybe even a little weak.
"L...Lampert?" You called out for your Coworker, hoping it was him making the noise and not some stranger in here to scare you.
You heard a loud clatter and a small gasp from the other person, and when you finally walked far enough you turned the corner of a shelf and saw Lampert sitting on a stool near the unusually tidy workbench with his uniform unbuttoned and his... front opened.
He apparently had dropped a welding iron when he heard your voice, he looked like a deer in headlights. He stuttered out your name, sounding a bit uneasy "Uhm, This is..." He muttered out, his voice trailing off. You smiled in a sympathetic manner as you went to pick up the welding iron for him and handed it to him. "Oh! Uh thanks— could you wipe that off please with the rag...?" You knew how particular he was around things he thought were dirty and so you nodded and walked over to the table to wipe the handle.
"Careful, It's still on." You paused and made an 'Oh' sound and flicked the switch off and finished rubbing the 'dirt' off with the rag. "If you... don't mind me asking uh, what are you doing exactly...?" You say pointing slightly to his exposed wires and the metal of his chest plate hanging open "Oh, my wires just feel funny so I'm just straightening them out... It's kind of hard to do so i just..." Your eyes widen a bit. "Wait should you be cutting it like that??" The other man's mouth gapes a bit and he smiles nervously, looking away from you.
"Y-yeah! I mean— No, but it's– it's fine don't worry about that." You eyed him suspiciously as you sighed with worry and gave him back the welding iron.
"Isn't there a better way? Other than cutting your wires and putting them where you want them, and just melting it together afterwards?? like untangling them for instance?" He grit his teeth and sighed, looking away from you again. "I tried but I can't really... see what I'm doing? Haha.." he chuckled dryly "My back doesn't really bend that way." He said with a small hint of humor and demonstrated trying to look at his innards. "Oh... uhm, should I... Can I help? I'm good with stuff like that, I think..." Lampert stared at you for a moment and blinked.
You had some experience with untangling your computer wires but you didn't want to say that part out loud. "I mean... Sure, why the hell not." Lampert says with a sigh as he plops his metal palms down onto his knees. He points over to another stool in the corner and you walk over to grab it and place it down in front of him and take a seat.
"Oh and could you finish wielding this wire together for me? Didn't get a chance to... do that." You nod your head, understandingly You knew that you spooked him earlier and it caused him to drop the iron before he could do it himself. As he hands you the Welding iron his cold metal fingers brush against your skin. "Are your... hands clean?" he asks before you could put your hand in his chest. "Yup, I was gonna eat lunch before I came in here and had I washed them." Seeing as how Lampert eased up on you, you decided he was fine with you touching his wires.
You looked inside and saw the metal pole like mechanical frame inside with the assortment of cables, they were all different colors, you lightly grabbed the one he had cut in half and put it together with its other.
You noticed he shifted a bit and you looked up at him. "Are you okay?" You asked with less concern and more like you were just wondering what was up with the small flinch he just did. "N...nothing it's just the fact that I'm not really used to someone other than myself touching there, it just felt weird is all..." Weird? It felt weird, okay. You shook your head and smiled, trying to brush off what Lampert just said, this suddenly felt intimate and... inappropriate...
You had only touched the wires a little and it caused him to flinch, did it hurt? Tickle? "Oh, I see! Do you feel pain here? Like should I be more careful with them? Cause I have to use the iron to melt them together so..." Lampert chuckles softly at your question. "No it doesn't hurt, it just feels like... imagine if someone was gliding their fingers on your ribcage!" You wince and shudder at the thought. "And the iron doesn't really hurt or anything, it's like a quick zap." You bite your lip, still looking a bit worried "Hmm... well okay, I'm gonna turn on the iron now okay?"
You flick the switch on and hold it to the copper of the wires, you feel Lampert shudder as you put your focus back on holding the wires steady with your fingers.
Since the other half was connected from the top of Lambert's frame all you had to do was hold the other piece still underneath it, you brought the iron closer and -spark- It welded it together, Lampert let out a huffing sound. "Thanks..." He said smiling a little, it made you feel good whenever people thanked you but with Lampert it felt like a major accomplishment.
"Well, Im not done yet, Gotta untangle the rest..." You look inside his chest and put your hand on your chin. "Hey Lampert?" He makes a small sound to respond to you. "These holes with no screws in them, do Cable Staples go here?" He thinks about it for a moment. "Probably, I don't know."
You smiled to yourself, you were certain thats what they were. You got up and went to the work bench and opened up the draw to get some, you pulled out a few and kept looking at the screw holes in Lampers chest to see if it were the same size, when you found the right ones you sat back down and put them on the table beside you for when you did untangled them and you could just organize them for him properly afterwards.
You put your hands in and began to trace your finger from the visible white of one of the thin cords, you wanted to see where you could untangle it from and dragged your finger to where the white and blue cord entangled together.
Lampert's finger twitched from where it was resting on his knee and he shuddered. You looked up at him with a quirked brow and he isn't meeting your gaze, then the light from his bulb starts turning a slight red color.
You decide to ignore it and brought your focus back to his wires, you use your other hand as you work the cord free, pushing and prodding your finger through where it tied itself together. Lamperts hand jumped up suddenly and grabbed your wrist, accidentally with a bit more force than he wanted. "I— sorry, I know I said... it was nothing but... it's— could you go slower..."
Your jaw damn near fell to the floor. Your own face started to flush a deep red at how he worded it, you cleared your throat before you spoke. "Sorry, I'm touching as lightly as I can Lampert, I didn't mean to hurt you—" But Lampert shakes his head and gives you a crooked smile.
"it doesn't hurt! It just..." He trailed off as his bulb grew redder, almost making the room take a small hot pink hue "They're just sensitive is all, okay?" You eyed him suspiciously as you started to fiddle with his wires again, you worked the wire free and started on the next one.
You repeated the process as you trailed your fingers all over his wires, and kept untangling them. you reached a bit farther into the back near his metal frame to untangle the cords behind it. Your wrist brushed against the mechanical looking pole that was in the center of Lamperts innards, this made him gasp and grab both your arms this time.
He says your name shakily, with almost a breathy lilt to it. "W– uhh... sorry." he quickly pulled away. "That really, tickles... Alot..." You sigh and pull your hands out of him "Lampert...." Your gaze is accusatory "Does it tickle or... Is it turning you on...?"
As you squint, Lamperts expression drops immediately "I-I'm sorry, I should've... fuck, I just... needed the help and I didn't want to say... that... Y'know..!" He puts his hand on his face to cover the tint growing on his Lampshade. You can't help but blush yourself, "No it's okay! I kinda... Guessed that was the case..." Lampert sighs again, bringing his hand down to meet your gaze "Sorry for... Making this weird..."
You smile at him and shake your head. "No no! Don't worry, I'm still gonna like, Fix your wires for you." He goes red in the face again, and puts his hands up slightly. "Are— are you sure??" You nod your head at him and put your hands back inside his chest, you do it a little too eagerly which causes Lampert to become a little more audible as he huffs. "Sorry, bare with me.." You smile awkwardly as you try to reassure him.
He nods at you and sighs, his brow twitches at you a bit, making you sweat. "I'll be more careful next time..." You say mostly to yourself, making a quick mental note as you go back to untangling the wires behind Lampert's mechanical frame. His legs shake a bit as your wrists brush against the metal inside him, you can't help it so you try to be as careful as possible. You finally untangle them and move them more to the front so you don't tangle them with the others.
You still had a few left to do though, you were putting them aside before since they looked more difficult to handle but now you had to do them. "Lampert, These are gonna be a bit more difficult so... I don't know, just hold onto my shoulders if you want..."
You look up at him and see his bright red face, his metal body is sweating a bit, you cant help but notice it looks like oil seeping out of his metal skin "Yeah– okay, sure.." He gritted his teeth as he looked away and hesitantly put his hands on your shoulders as you looked inside him once more, you put your fingers in and began touching the wires that were tangled together.
You pressed your fingers into the gaps to see where you could unravel them, dragging your digits up and down the colorful assortments of cords. Lampert's strong metal fingers struggled not to squeeze into the muscle of your shoulders as you did so.
As you tugged one of the wires your other hand worked it loose completely, that was one down. You heard Lampert stifle a small trembling groan as you continued to fiddle with his cords. You tried to ignore the fact that this indeed was getting a reaction out of him (and you). You did your best to just help him cause he needed you to. But you couldn't deny the heat that was simmering in your gut, you had to pay it no mind.
You couldn't promise that you wouldn't try to ask Lampert out for dinner later after all this though, how could you not?
You grabbed the other wires and rolled them between your fingers, they slowly start came undone somewhat, and you slip a finger in between them and unravel. Lampert leans his head back as you continue these ministrations, a small sharp inhale resounds from his mouth and you see his legs tremble even more than they already were before.
You look up at him, eying the pull chain connected to the neck of his bulb, it dangled as he shook and his body mimicked breathing, it didn't take long to notice that Lampert didn't make any movements when he breathed like everyone else, and the sound only came from his mouth like a clear speaker of some sort, it was sort of bizarre.
"You good?" You asked in a knowing tone, with a slight touch of humor in your voice as it causes Lampert to chuckle. "Ah, yeah. It's good— I mean, you're doing good— w-with the wires..." You nodded slowly, trying not to laugh at the embarrassing stammer of your Coworker.
As you finally finished up with untangling the copper threads you patted his knee and looked up at him with a smile, he gave you an uncertain nervous one back. "Wow, Are you finished?" You shook your head as you hovered over your stool. "Nope, gotta screw in the cable staples." Your voices strained as you reached over to the work bench an grabbed the electric screwdriver.
You plopped down with a huff and looked over the tool, it was long and fit perfectly in your hand as you gave it a squeeze. Lampert looked over you curiously, he also looked very grateful. But his lips would almost ghost out words like he wanted to say something else but chose not to.
You tried to pay it no mind though as you grabbed the screws and angled up Lampert's cords with your hands and began holding them in place.
As you held them under the white plastic you pressed the button to the screw driver and the screw easily spun inside, locking the wires beside it in place.
You noticed Lampert make a throaty groan as the Electrical screwdriver turned on and you whispered out a 'Sooryy..' and all he could do was sigh and nod.
Only a few minutes had passed but you finished up quite smoothly, his cords were neatly organized and you felt proud, you nodded your head with a smile on your face and your arms folded in a satisfied manner. Lampert saw you smirking to yourself and gave you a kind smile, his brows curling upwards.
"I don't know how to thank you enough! To think I still would've been here snipping and melting my cords..." His smile falters a bit as he rubs the back of his lampshade. "Yeah... I'm glad I came in here, I mean of all the things you could've been doing instead... Like doesn't your functions cut off as well when you do that?" You ask, tilting your head to the side.
"Ah, yes... Only sometimes, but thats why I make sure to weld the copper quickly after cutting it!" he tells this to you with a smile on his face but all you can do is stare back with a look of concern. "Lampert..." the corners of his mouth fall a bit into a crooked smile, he feels your worry and pats you on the shoulder.
"Hey, theres no need to worry anymore... I mean– You did a fantastic job. I feel like a brand new lamp!" It was rare to see him this cheery but you returned his smile. The two of you stood up after Lampert checked his watch, the painted seal in the middle of the see through hard plastic was pointing to the time.
"Ah, we should... get to work soon, I feel bad... Plus you didn't get to eat your lunch..." He frowns at you, you can't help but smile back from how low the corners of his mouth got. You rubbed his cool to the touch back to soothe him, your finger running over the fabric of his shirt. "No worries! You can just... treat me to dinner later maybe?" Lampert's eyes widened and his light grew a faint red as he nodded. "Ah, yeah! Yeah that sounds... good, it's the most I could do..."
And then the two of you walked out of the storage room, and you had a bit of a pep in your step after successfully acquiring a date.