Work Text:
The homeowner took a short while to realize that the AC had went caput in the middle of a blazing summer, leaving Hector to agonize over what their reaction would be, to curse himself a thousand times over for letting them down. He had loved this human since they had first moved in and had spent the following years to show them in cooling their summer sweat and enveloping them in a toasty embrace when coming in from the winter cold. But now, as he found himself unable to manage barely a gutter of air, hot or cold, he had to bear witness to the effects of this failure.
He watched the human in their office, idling in front of Mac, wondering aloud what was slowing their system so bad, why was the computer overheating, when they unconsciously swiped at the back of their legs. When their hand came away drenched, they made an affronted sound and went straight for the thermostat, where they made an even worse exasperated groan to find that fiddling with the settings made no difference. Hector wished he had gone out with the motor of his system so he did not have to behold with complete abjection the frustration of the human. They held their breath to listen for the muted hum of Hector's fan turning on or off, and when it didn't come despite flicking the associated switch, they also missed the barely-choked sobs that reached the rest of the house.
How cruel that all of the concerted efforts Hector put over the years to preempt and meet every possible desire of the human went unnoticed, uncommented upon, but the singular instance in which he fell short, albeit so catastrophically, was honed in on, became the only thing the human recognized about him. He had dedicated every lingering sigh of his system to their comfort so that they never wanted for a different environment, and now he was helpless to soothe the human's desperation for just a cool breeze. He was terrified that with their eyes finally on him, they would find him entirely lacking, would see him for the repulsive thing he was behind the mask of usefulness.
The human called a relative about it, who redirected them to another relative, an uncle who could come take a look. They were theatric in their complaining—"My HVAC hates me," wailed into the phone before devolving into exhausted giggles; little could they know what a blow it was for Hector that they could even entertain the idea that he had left them in this state willingly—and the uncle agreed to come through the next day to take a look.
In the meantime, the human took to sequestering themself to the living room, as heat rose and clouded the upstairs. They tried to make the best of it, and Hector felt pitiful to see them going to Freddy and standing an extra few seconds in the cool blast before grabbing a drink. They retrieved Fantina from the gym and brought her downstairs, tossed a damp rag over the back of her casing to get a cooler stream of air. Mateo and his blankets were replaced with Tyrell and a collection of towels to keep the human's sweat from soaking into Koa.
The human was not adverse to being naked in their home, though usually it was reserved for the in-between state of getting ready, in the time after a shower or bath and getting dressed when they might have come downstairs for a snack or to do a last minute load of laundry. But their current nakedness was utilitarian, as they remembered halfway through undressing in the living room to close the curtains. They laid splayed out in Fantina's reach, still as possible as sweat continued to drip across their body. They turned Telly on, but the heat stole their ability to focus, so he became background noise. Any chore that could have been done that day fell by the wayside: laundry would require Drysdale to add to the heat, no dishes for the steam of hand washing or Dishy's work. So they whiled the time away listlessly, sometimes losing themself in their phone until it overheated, sometimes just lying until brief sleep came.
Other objects in the house came to check on Hector, but he did not want to be seen then. It was bad enough that the human was suffering from his own malfunction; he couldn't bear to hear how Mac, Phoenicia, Connie, and a host of others were struggling in the heat, too, leaving the human with even less to rely on. At least Fantina was having the time of her life with such direct attention from the human.
The doorbell rang early the next morning, and the human scrambled for clothing before letting their uncle in. They followed him up into the attic after brief pleasantries and catching up, the heat making neither amenable to drivel, and Hector found himself burning worse in embarrassment at the idea of the human seeing this part of him before ever really seeing him. The human—his human—felt this suffocating difference upon entering the attic, grumbled wordlessly under the near-tangible, almost-visible warble of hot air as their uncle approached the metal body of Hector's functioning.
"Oh, I didn't realize that this was the AC thing," the human perked up immediately at the knowledge, "I guess I never thought about it beyond the grates throughout the house. How cool." Their uncle hissed at the scorching touch of the metal paneling from Hector's answering blush. "Shit, I think I have gloves in the toolbox."
"I have gloves," their uncle answered, fishing them from his own portable kit.
"Yeah, but I also wanna see what you're doing, see if I can fix it the next time it goes out." Hector wanted to cry out at the idea of the human becoming so acquainted with his inner workings, the idea of his human fixing him in a sweet reciprocity to all these years of him cradling them, but all he managed was a deeper heat that fogged what little moisture was still in the bathroom as the human trotted by.
"Switch off the breakers, too," their uncle called, just in time for the human to be rising from Tony with their gloves and open the breaker box. They scanned blindly for a second too long before Volt sent a mild spark over the correctly designated 'AC' breakers.
"Oh duh," the human muttered, hesitating only a second at the thought that sparks could mean something dangerous before flipping them regardless. "They're off," they holler back as they returned to the attic.
The human peered around their uncle and asked every question they could, their touch on Hector's parts achingly gentle as they prodded through a vocabulary of functions. He fought to keep the heat of his blush from worsening the stifling air the humans worked in, but there was only so much he could hold back when his human seemed to have skipped several milestones in the fantasies he had always imagined for them. Soon enough, their uncle was replacing parts and tools into his kit.
"Fixed the motor, though there could be more to the issue." The human cocked their head to listen to the thrum of air.
"It doesn't sound like it's back on." They patted a hand on Hector's casing, almost lovingly, and Hector's delighted sigh whooshed through the vents. "Or maybe it is?"
"Flip the breakers and go check the vents, feel if air's coming out." The human went, starting in their bedroom, jumping to reach a hand before each grate, and oh, how Hector wished he could reach out and grab their hand, to assure them that he hadn't left them to wallow in the sweltering heat of his own volition, that he had torn himself to pieces watching them suffer. Instead, he focused on pushing out the chilliest air he could at each point the human checked—feeling like it was still not up to his standard, what the human deserved.
"There's some cold air, yeah, though not as much as usual." They had noticed Hector's deficiency, too, and he was despairing all over again.
"Give it a day to see if it cools the house back down. If not, then there's also a refrigerant leak." There was, Hector was mortified to realize as he scanned his own workings now with the motor back in order.
"Can't we check that now?"
"I got an actual appointment in thirty, I gotta head out."
"Got it, thanks for coming out on such short notice."
"Go spend the day somewhere else, it's too hot to be in this house. Can't believe you spent last night sleeping in this."
"Hey, I have a fan! You saw it by the couch!"
"If the house isn't back to normal tomorrow morning, call me and I'll come back out."
"It's the weekend!"
"I'm not leaving you to bake in this until Monday."
Their uncle left, and the homeowner made a call to a friend to set up a sleepover like they had as children. Quickly throwing together an overnight bag and turning off everything but Hector, they said a little affirmation as they left, their fingers visible crossed on their way out.
Despite Hector's most earnest efforts, nearly driving his new motor to its limits, by the time to human came back the next day, the house was only about ten degrees cooler, and that was mostly due to the sun not yet beating down on the house's west-facing windows. Hector, as well as the rest of the house, watched their human try to convince themself that it was cooler, even after their face fell that first step inside. In short time, they turned Fantina back on and settled on Koa, not even chancing the rising heat upstairs.
Even as they tried to hide it—from no one, as the human had no inkling of the life of their household—Hector picked up on the tremble in their sigh, the way they scrubbed their face flushed from exhaustion.
"This fucking sucks." Any heat to the sentence was sucked out into the air, leaving them sounding small and tired. They hurled themself up from the couch and darted upstairs only to bring some of their body care products to the downstairs bathroom. They barked a laugh to find a body butter had melted to liquid, took a picture to send to their friends and left it on the edge of the sink before dipping into a cold shower. Any frustrated tears disappeared into the cooling stream, Johnny's slightest influence even coaxing a few lyrics from them. The bathroom's fan provided more relief than anywhere else in the house, so the human took their time with selfcare in and out of the shower. They eventually laid out a towel to lie on the bathroom floor, their feet firmly planted on the cool tile, where they eventually dozed like they used to after too wild a night out.
Suddenly, they jerked to their feet and went back to where Phoenicia was left in Fantina's scope, keeping her cool enough to charge. They had forgotten to call they uncle.
"Yeah, it's still hot as hell," they said instead of greeting, their uncle already knowing why they'd call. The human pattered back to the thermostat. "Still over ninety. This poor thing has been running nonstop. Does it need a break? Should I turn it off, since it isn't doing much right now anyway?" Hector didn't think he could be brought lower, but to have his direst of work be labeled so tenuous as to be next to nothing surmounted what little joy there was in the human recognizing his unending labor. Whatever answer their uncle gave kept them from switching it off. "You said it was a refrigerant leak." Hector wouldn't need Phoenicia to fill him in about the ensuing conversation, as the human became agitated in their responses:
"It's summer, everyone's is getting overworked and crapping out."
"I don't want a new one. I just learned how this one works."
"I'll work to keep the filters cleaner consistently."
The argument seemed to come to an end after, "Do you have the money to pay for a whole new one?"
To be replaced. That's what their uncle had been suggesting, to rid themself of Hector after dutifully serving every whim for years. It was one thing for Hector to know that without his practicality, he was the extreme of undesirable, but to have it confirmed by an external force showed him again the precarity of his devotion.
Yet, his human insisted against it.
"When can you come look at it again?…I got plans then, but I'll leave a key for you under the mat…I'll send you the money for that and the parts, now; how much?…Thank you, I really appreciate it." They ended the call and futzed around on their phone, supposedly sending the money. When done, they dropped their head back and huffed a sigh. "Another night of this." They looked back to the thermostat, the grate peering out over the room. "I'm not giving up on you, big guy." Laughing at their own supposed lunacy, they added, "But that means you can't give up on me, either. Please let it just be a coolant leak." They patted the thermostat this time, and for good measure, reached for the edge of the grate to do the same as they headed back to the living room.
Hector almost missed the physical affection for how wound up he was in the acknowledgement, however a joke it was to the human. Big guy. I'm not giving up on you. How steadfast, just like himself! Even if they had meant nothing, just idle chatter to themself, there was a part of their mind that could even imagine that Hector was fighting alongside them to get back to working order, that there was a solidarity, a camaraderie in this shared bout of suffering. They recognized his importance, the circumstances that had worn on him heavily, even thought to reach out and assure him with touch that he was appreciated, he was seen!
The human went about the same routine as the previous night: background noise to lying about until sleep came. The next morning, another cool shower and a sprint upstairs for clothes; they were out the door before they could start to sweat.
Their uncle came hours after the human left and headed straight to the breaker box, then the attic. His touch was fastidious and impersonal: a professional not ecstatic to be working on his day off, but ready to be of help to family. Nothing like the careful curiosity of the homeowner that led with brushing fingers before firmly grasping any given part. Hector inadvertently flushed at the memory, and the uncle cursed the piling heat. Quicker than before with the homeowner asking questions, their uncle finished and returned electricity to Hector, who delighted to thrum to life. Desperate to prove himself back in full working order, to prove that he hadn't given up on his human, the thrill of chill was akin to that of opening a freezer. Their uncle was leaving a voicemail on his way out, announcing the job finished successfully this time.
It was hours still until the human returned, giving Hector time to perfect the icy wonderland he had planned. The next time Dorian welcomed them in—
The human let loose a full-bodied sigh at the cold-front that hit them, and as if for a joke to themself, did it once more, leaning into the orgasmic bliss of feeling their skin prickle all over from the cold. Now, when they stripped to stand in front of the vent, it was not a show in futility but of actually cooling down from a scorching summer day. In short order, they were shivering in the current, to which they gave a brief, ecstatic noise, which only goaded Hector more to wrap them in breezy tendrils of an embrace. They remained half dressed as they set about righting the house: brought Fantina back to the gym, started a load of laundry for the towels stiff with sweat, took their bathroom products back upstairs. After the last couple of days, the whole house was overjoyed to have to AC back alongside the happy human.
That night, the human finally returned to their bed upstairs and their usual summer routine of sleeping nude above the sheets with a light throw blanket for if they got cold. But Hector was determined to not let that happen, to keep them at the perfect temperature, to let them know that he had them, for as long as they would have him.