Chapter Text
Walter Girl P and Rabbit were always close. Not the “conjoined at the hip we must have been born together” kind of close, but a strange emotional close. As far as robots can get to emotional, that is. Rabbit would sit outside quietly humming with Squeezy strapped to his chest and Paige would stroll up next to him and leans on him, listening to the rhythmic pulsing of his boiler. He would listen to her breathing. They would sit there for hours, until they had a show or mosquitoes forced them inside.
It was an unspoken arrangement between the two. Every lazy afternoon they would be there. It was begrudgingly accepted by everyone in the Manor. (The Spine knew nothing good could come from it, but he let them be never the less.)
On the days where it would rain or be too hot for outside meetings, the two would sit together in the living room and watch childish Disney movies together. Rabbit’s favorite was always Lilo & Stitch while Paige loved Tangled. Whenever Paige was busy and couldn’t make it to their afternoons, Rabbit would make sure the next one they had was the best yet, writing silly love songs and making delicious food for his favorite human. Paige was always so happy with whatever Rabbit did for her, even when he insisted on teaching Paige to dance which resulted in several bruises and a sprained ankle.
It was after one night of sitting outside next to each other looking at stars, Rabbit quietly singing Honeybee with an arm thrown lazily over Paige’s shoulders, that Rabbit realized something incredibly important.
He was in love.
He didn’t understand it. Even though he sang love songs all the time, he was still robotic in nature, and, by definition, incapable of emotions like that. Rabbit ran his fingers through Paige’s hair, the fibers sometimes getting caught in the gaps between joints. It hurt, but instead of pulling his hand away, Paige took the jointed metal into her own hand, guiding his fingers to interlock with her own.
The metal was cold to the touch, but a welcomed change to the warm night. Rabbit reached the chorus of the song and Paige joined in as a harmony. “Oh honeybee-ee-ee. Honeybee-ee-ee.” The melody reached out into the night, and sounds of the Manor faded off into the background.
When they had finished the chorus, Paige stood up and helped Rabbit up after her. “Let’s not finish it tonight. I honestly don’t want that song to ever end.” She blushed lightly, the slightest bit of pink coloring her near white face. The both made their way inside, holding hands.
The next day, Rabbit decided to do something different. He told the other bots his plan and got Walter Girl Brianna to take Paige out of the manor that day. He wanted to make sure everything was extra special for what he had thought to do.
He had the humans help him make a cake, angel food was Paige’s favorite, and he got everything ready for him and Paige to watch her favorite movie, Tangled. He blew up a couple balloons and after popping some of them by accident, he was set for his date with Paige.
Two hours early.
In those two hours, he spent his time trying to find a way to tell her what he wanted to say. He practiced in front of the mirror, thought out scenarios, and recorded himself in his mind before he finally figured out how to make it happen. He would tell her during the scene where Rapunzel sees the lanterns, Him and Paige always sung the song they sing in the movie together. Rabbit was so nervous, but at the same time, his boiler was overheating with excitement.
He heard the door open and close. Rushing down the stairs, he hoped he hadn’t missed Paige’s arrival. He did manage to trip down the stairs on his way down, falling flat on his face. Paige was standing in the entryway, helpless as the mound of metal crashed down on top of her. Rabbit quickly pulled himself up, afraid that he hurt her. She stands up, brushes herself off, and laughs.
Rabbit attempts to stammer out some form of an apology, but Paige shushes him before he can get past the first syllable. The Spine, Hatchworth, Michael, and Matt were standing just outside the doorway into the living room, snickering to themselves. As Rabbit ushered her in, the others slowly retreated, not wanting to get in the way, but still invested.
Paige gasped as she saw the festivities Rabbit had planned for her. He dragged her around, showing her all the things he had done, much like a proud little boy. Paige was blown away.
“You did all of this for me, Rabbit? What’s the occasion?” Paige asked, confused, but excited. Rabbit grinned at her and dragged her to the couch. The cake sat in front of them on a coffee table.
“Well, I thought I’d d-d-d-do something special for my favorite human!” He replied, after sitting down with her on the couch. ”So, we’re gonna watch Tangled!”
Paige smiled awfully big at how excited Rabbit looked. He looked like a kid getting his first bike on a Christmas morning, so happy and content with himself. It was extremely adorable.
After getting situated, with Paige resting her head on Rabbit’s shoulder, Rabbit started the movie for him and gave her a slice of the cake he helped to make. After watching the opening story of how Rapunzel came to be, Paige whispered into Rabbit’s ear.
“This is the best night ever, thank you, my bunny Rabbit.” She cuddled closer to him as he put his arm around her. He was nervous as to what she would say when he told her during the song they would sing, but he knew he should not be afraid.
During the movie, Rabbit periodically stole glances at Paige. She sometimes would look back at him, but was mostly too engrossed with the movie and cake to do so. Rabbit was content will watching her; the flicker of her eyes, the movement of her jaw. When they finally reached Paige’s favorite scene, Rabbit gently guided her eyes to meet his own.
He took in a large amount of air and started singing along with the movie, his voice a little less steady than normal. “And at last I see the light” Paige joined in quickly, her own voice wavering a bit. “And it’s like the fog has lift-ed”
When the duet ended, Rabbit let a large plume of steam out, and quietly cleared his throat. “Paige, I… Paige I l-l-love you.”
She blushed deeply, and pulled him into a deep hug. It was whispered, tentative, almost like she was afraid to say it, “I love you too, Rabbit.”
Then, after hesitating a bit, Rabbit pulled Paige close and pressed his lips against the human’s. Paige was surprised at first, but kissed back the cold, metal lips. Breaking apart, they looked at each other and smiled their biggest smiles.
Little did they know that behind them, peering in through the kitchen was almost the whole manor. Steve sighed and handed Michael a 10$ bill, The Spine crossed his arms and smiled, Hatchworth grinned and silently clapped, and Brianna looked, instead of at Rabbit and Paige, at The Spine, sadly and wishfully.
After their little moment of triumph, the manor’s inhabitants, sans Rabbit and Paige, went back to their own rooms and powered down and went to sleep for the night. In the morning, they found Rabbit powered down on the couch cuddling Paige close while she grinned in her sleep. There never could have been a happier couple.