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Titan Speakerman was dozing, with everything but the bare minimum of awareness powered down. They needed to rest, but were waiting. They didn’t know what they were waiting for, but they needed to know that the semititan had returned safely, and wondered if someone would let them know, or if they’d hear the base respond. If there was no sign in the next couple of hours, they’d wake up and check.
They didn’t need to. Quiet footsteps awoke them, then a slight weight against their side as the Executor sat down to rest on them. They heard the soft sigh of the Executor’s fans switching to a low, constant spin. The clunk of equipment being put down on the floor. Then a little fumbling and rustling, and the click of the semititan plugging themself in to the wall to charge. It was all very quiet, as if they didn’t want to be noticed.
Titan Speaker didn’t make any indication that they’d woken up. They waited to feel the Executor nuzzle against their chest and relax, then reached down to stroke the semititan’s arm.
That was accepted, the Executor tilted their head the other way, on to the titan’s hand. Titan Speaker petted them, starting with the sides of their head then working down to rub under their chin. Not yet confident about what kind of touches they liked most, Titan Speaker began very gently.
In the privacy of the dark hangar, with no one but the two of them, the Executor seemed to feel safe to explore pleasant sensations. They pushed their head against Titan Speaker’s fingers, leaning in harder. The right touch was, apparently, firm enough to move their head slightly. Titan Speaker could feel the rest of their body tense and relax, and hear their legs twining together.
Enjoying the moment, Titan Speaker let their mind drift to what it was like to receive petting from someone bigger and stronger. They thought about Titan TVman, and tried to bring back that familiar and comforting presence by imagining how the TV titan had felt petting them. Titan TV had called them little and cute a lot, and they became very aware that the Executor’s head was small enough to fit right into their palm. Titan Speaker replayed the TV titan’s words. “So cute.”
The Executor pulled away and made a little descending buzz of dissatisfaction. Titan Speaker remembered that they only seemed to incidentally accept affection, and stopped petting.
The Executor made another buzz, and changed position, leaning with their back on Titan Speaker’s arm. The titan could feel the protrusion of the socket where the Astro warp halo plugged in, and could feel how the semititan rocked it against the plating as they got comfortable.
When both robots were still again, Titan Speaker moved their arm slightly, smoothly replacing it with their hand and positioning their fingers to give the Executor a slightly bent knuckle to press the socket into. The Executor knew what they were doing, and experimentally pushed back, making a tiny squeak.
With no sound and no fuss, Titan Speaker moved their hand a little more, to position their thumb over the socket. They rubbed arrhythmically, carelessly, as if they were simply curious what it was, and let the Executor rock them into a slow rhythm.
The semititan’s fans picked up, they leaned their head back to press the side of it into the titan’s arm once more. “I am disturbing you,” they transmitted.
“No you’re not. I waited for you to come back.” Titan Speaker used transmitted communication too, because it seemed the Executor hadn’t wanted anyone to hear and so they could share emotion as well as informative data. They wanted to make it clear they were calm and content.
But the Executor patted their arm, then moved off of it. “I am taking advantage of your grief.”
“You’re not doing that either.” Titan Speaker tried massaging the socket again, but didn’t get the same reaction. The Executor’s body stiffened up, and they shuffled forward, even further away from the touch. So Titan Speaker just trilled sadly, and moved their hand away.
Slowly, the semititan uncoiled and rested against Titan Speaker’s arm again, but still stiff. Suddenly, the unyielding presence made the titan feel irrationally angry. “I’m not grieving,” they transmitted, more intent and emotion than words. “They’re not dead.”
Without any resistance, the semititan accepted and absorbed their titan’s anger, curling in on themself and trembling.
And Titan Speaker suddenly felt guilty and miserable. They hadn’t meant it to have that much intensity. And they hasn’t meant to take the lead when the semititan had been gradually experimenting with what felt safe. “Can I…” they began, but the Executor had already anticipated what they wanted and was open to receiving whatever other mental data the titan needed to share. The semititan may have been stoic, but was a speakerman through and through, intuitively understanding and embracing the complexity of their titan’s emotion. Neither of them needed to apologise, they knew why each other’s behaviour had been confusing.
“I love you,” transmitted Titan Speaker. “You really deserved your upgrade, and you’re using it well. Rewarding you with lots of fussing makes me happy.” They reached down, and this time, the Executor took their hand and pulled it closer.
Clinging tightly to Titan Speaker’s thumb and little finger, the Executor guided it to their head. They didn’t push the top of their head into the titan’s palm as firmly as they’d wanted the side rubbed, their masts must be sensitive. Inside that head - as well as the shyest purr that the titan had ever heard - was the data and memories of the sweet, brave large speakerman who’d sacrificed their life in the raid on Alpha Hills.
Attempting to reactivate the elites hadn’t been possible - both of them had been built using human minds as a basis for their consciousness, and a mind wasn’t a thing, it was a process. Unlike a neatly ordered robot mind, organic consciousness sprawled across all available space, building and rebuilding chaotic new connections constantly. They’d never shut down, they only reduced their conscious processing in sleep. Even if all the hardware was intact, it didn’t mean their software would reboot as it should. For regular units, a full recovery was still rare and the risk of horrible failure was usually too high. But now, everyone needed hope. The Executor was a symbol of hope, that if a large speakerman could be resurrected, so could a titan. But their memories of their first life were vague and they’d said it didn’t feel like them. Reborn with a mission, they were distant, solemn, and uncompromising.
After being released from the parasite, Titan Speaker had also needed time to grieve their old life and understand how to incorporate trauma that couldn’t be forgotten. The other titans had been eager providers for their needs - Titan Cameraman was endlessly patient and loving, Titan TVman had allowed them to play rough to relearn that they’d never hurt a friend.
Now it was Titan Speakerman’s turn to support the Executor’s healing process. “Does being fussed over make you happy though?” they asked, and tried lightly pulling on a mast because Titan Camera had enjoyed that.
Thoughtful-eagerness, the Executor sent back, pure nonverbal emotive data. They rubbed their antenna between the titan’s fingers. “This is good. And I liked back rubs.”
Suppressing a happy chirp so it only came out as a squeak, Titan Speaker turned to reposition the semititan against their side, freeing up their other arm to give a soft back rub - around the halo socket this time, not straight into it.
Silent in thought, except for the barely perceptible noises of their systems regulating, the Executor began to indicate, through movements, the firmness of touch they wanted. “I like quiet too. I feel so focused in battle that I need to unfocus afterwards. I want to be alone with you, or with my engineers.”
“You can come to me anytime. I’ll say we’ve gotta talk important strategy. Because caring for you is strategic. You’re an asset to the Union and you need to be kept in the best condition possible.”
Titan Speaker knew the Executor would love that, and they did, humming with pride and climbing into the titan’s lap. Their movements were lingering and almost worshipful as they lowered themself to lay belly-down along one of Titan Speaker’s legs. The charging cord stuck out of their back just under the halo socket like a high-set tail, and Titan Speaker couldn’t resist reaching for it. Leaning on their elbows to tilt their head up, their big central light glowing brightly, the semititan moved their hips a little give the cord a tempting wriggle. “I feel like I am where I should be,” they said. “Under my titan’s care.”
Titan Speaker took the cord and pulled it gently. They felt so much love for their semititan that it almost made their core achy. They desperately wanted to protect and care for the Executor in any way they could, and the perfect way seemed so natural. “Can I give you some of my energy?”
For a long moment, the Executor was silent and still, looking up in awe. They nodded. Titan Speaker tugged their cord a little harder, and they made a rumbly sound of contentment, draping over the titan’s leg and releasing the plug end so it could be pulled out of the wall. Titan Speaker examined the cord, gently curling it between their fingers, unsure what to do with it - the semititan-sized cord wouldn’t fit the small sockets hidden under their plating for maintenance tasks or the large sockets on their back primarily meant for their equipment. They knew where it felt like it should go - and the clicks of the Executor’s echolocation lapping curiously against their chest seemed to suggest that too - but they didn’t know how it would work.
They remembered when the TV titan had worn experimental solar panels, stress-testing them for use on bases. They’d sat together on a sunny hillside, and Titan TV had stretched out the panels and become quiet and still. Titan Speaker hadn’t considered it at the time, they’d thought solar power must feel nice and warm, but maybe it had felt wonderfully secure to be drawing energy from the sun, magnitudes more powerful than even the awesome Titan TVman. Titan Speaker realised that that might be how the Executor was feeling at the prospect of a charge from their core. “I think you can plug it in,” they transmitted, feeling all fluttery from the realisation of what it meant to their friend.
“I have studied your schematics,” the Executor replied, transmitting calm reassurance. Their stoicism now steady confidence, they knelt up and lovingly patted Titan Speaker’s smooth plating, under the chest-mounted speakers that were about the size of their own head. “May I?”
Titan Speaker knew the semititan would be able to feel the vibration of their fans picking up. The sun didn’t get shy about solar panels - would their excitement spoil the mood? “Can I keep hold of your cord too?”
The Executor nuzzled one of the chest-mounted speakers and kept stroking the plating. “Of course you can. Tug it if anything is wrong.” When Titan Speaker gently grasped the base of their cord, they took the other end.
They’d know that the plating surrounding and lining a titan’s core had a greater density of sensors than anywhere else, and they approached it very, very slowly. They rested one arm lightly on Titan Speaker’s chest, and reached inside with the other. Titan Speaker rolled their cord between two fingers, making sure not to tug it - they were both equally as vulnerable to each other, the semititan was half the titan’s size but shoulder-deep in vital anatomy and being so careful not to touch too much or too firmly. Finally, the Executor brushed their little fingers into one spot, warning the titan before they touched the end of the cord to it.
Immediately both felt intensely connected, warm and safe. The semititan curled up by their titan’s core, leaning on a chest speaker, and maybe for the first time since their activation they completely relaxed and forgot everything outside of this moment. Tomorrow, and the fighting, could wait. Definitely for the first time since their reactivation, they allowed themself to become attuned to all the special, meaningful sounds inside another speakerman’s body and enjoyed the cosy roar of their titan’s core generating power for both of them.
And Titan Speakerman had the satisfying sense of a nearly full circle completion, remembering the moment years ago when they’d first asked the cameramen’s titan for a recharge. Now they were able to share a charge, and give the lovely, secure feeling of being sustained by a friend’s energy.
The Executor’s shy purr had become a soothing rumble. “One day, you will care for them too.”