Work Text:
DING!
Pest watched as the doors to the Regretevator opened, slipping the coin he’d been twirling between his fingers back into the pocket of her coat. She hadn’t seen this floor before. Curiously, the beetle walked out of the elevator in a few slow steps. Luckily, no players had been present in the elevator with him, so there was no one to disrupt his little adventure.
He stepped out onto what seemed to be a large platform. Around the area lay lots of discarded metal, wires, and piles of random junk. It was fairly dark, wherever this was, but still somewhat bright enough for Pest to know where she was going. Though what stuck out most notably about the floor was an enormous screen, which hung right in front of the platform, even larger than the platform itself. There was a smaller bar just below the screen, a large mechanical claw attached to it. The whole thing seemed to be held up by a larger structure, with lots of wires and cables connecting it together, although whatever was holding this giant screen was largely out of view to Pest.
The beetle found it quite strange, but decided to ignore it for now. All this scrap laying around was far too good to pass up. She walked up to one of the piles and sat down, quickly sifting through its contents and shoving whatever he could into his pockets or bag. Pest grinned as he collected a few loose coins he’d found into the palm of his hand.
Yet suddenly, she felt the ground beneath her begin to rumble. He frantically put the coins away and glanced behind him, but the elevator had already vanished. Great.
The shaking slowly died down, and Pest could hear the loud hum of machinery being powered on. The sound echoed all around him, but seemed to be coming most prominently from the large screen. She stood up and hesitantly moved towards it, eyes narrowing as the screen came to life. All at once, the space was filled by a bright blue light, and a familiar face peered down at Pest.
An excited grin spread across Scag’s screen as soon as she saw the beetle.
“BUG BRAIN !!!!!!!! is that you?? omg Why are you here”
Pest crossed his arms, a rather annoyed–but mostly puzzled–expression on his face as he looked up at Scag. “I could ask the same for you.”
The machine giggled. She brought her claw up to the bottom of her screen, tapping it lightly in a contemplative motion. “weeelllll… my buddy proto-shmoto foundmaxxed this SWEETCORE giant screen thing and i told him to connect me to it and he DID !!!!!!!!! so i can be here now whenever i want. isnt that AWESOMEPILLED???“ Scag winked, “i bet i look sooooo fire right now, dont i“
Pest let out a quiet, disgruntled chitter. Of course Scag got a giant, badass robot before he did. Whatever. “I guess it’s cool,“ she shrugged, “don’t get so full of yourself.“
“i’ll do whatever i want, freak. bleelelehh,“ Scag’s screen displayed her sticking her tongue out. The beetle just sighed in exasperation, taking a few steps closer to her. The screen smiled down at him with that same, stupid smile Pest was still trying to get used to, and he resisted the urge to smile back. Part of him kind of enjoyed seeing Scag’s dumb face on a much bigger scale, and hearing her dumb voice so much louder. For all their bickering and banter, Pest didn’t truly mind it as she said she did.
It was a tough feeling to reason with. Sometimes it just made him want to run away and hide. But he didn’t.
“you’re like… actual bug sized now,” Scag’s voice cut through his thoughts, as it always seemed to. Her screen leaned in closer, and Pest stumbled backwards a bit out of surprise. “heehehhe… liiittllee bugggg…, “ the tip of her giant claw gently patted the beetle’s head, a small, startled hiss escaping him. “i could toootallyy squashmaxx you right now dude. itd be super FUNNYCORE“
“I’d like to see you try,“ Pest scoffed.
He knew that threat could be easily carried out in an instant, without Scag even having to try. Her presence was powerful, overwhelmingly so. Normally, Pest could pick her up like it was nothing, but now she loomed over him. He really was but an ant compared to her in this form, a speck of dust to the machine. Yet for some reason, it didn’t scare him. It was, she dare say, exciting. Scag’s screen shone so brightly, and she looked down at her with so much joy. She was… beautiful. He hated it. He loved it. God, these feelings were embarrassing.
“hrrmmm i think ill spare you actuallyyy. only cuz youre cutepilled,” Scag teased, another little giggle escaping her. Pest felt warmth flush to his face, ducking his head in an attempt to hide the color in his cheeks. It’s like she was trying to torture the poor bug with her words.
“Can you just stop talking for once?” he grumbled, trying to regain his composure.
“NOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Scag reached down, scooping the beetle up into her claw with ease. Pest held onto the edge of it, scrambling to keep up with its movements so as to not fall. As the machine held it closer to her, he relaxed slightly, settling down in the inner curve of the mechanical claw. She wasn’t close enough to reach out and touch the screen, but still enough to feel the heat radiating off of it. It was relaxing, in a way. A quiet purr rose in her throat as she looked out into Scag’s face.
“this is sooo FUN we should come here and do this more from now on.” A wide smile lit up the screen.
“Hmm… I guess,” Pest mumbled. Despite himself, the corners of his mouth also lifted up into a faint, content smile. He sat up a bit more, and trailed his hands along Scag’s claw. Her roughened fingers gently explored the smooth metal. Pest wasn’t much for affection, that much was obvious. But right now, he felt different. Braver, you could say. And so she leaned in, and pressed her lips against the machine’s claw in a small kiss.
“wowzers… a KISS!!! somebody’s feeling romancecoreeeee”
“静かにしろ、” the beetle hissed, before giving her another kiss… and then another. “Alright. That’s all you get.”
“awww whaattt? seriously??” An over-exaggerated frown appeared on Scag’s face.
“Be glad I kissed this thing at all. It probably hasn’t been washed in… who knows how long.”
“yeah alright, what about the last time YOU took a shower”
Pest let out an annoyed grumble. He didn’t have much of anything to say to that. She knew him far better than he liked to admit.
“...I hate you.”
“i love you too, dumb bug <3”
He couldn’t help but smile again, just a little. It was hard for him to deny, he loved her too.