Work Text:
F3
E2
H7
C4
A1
Buddy winced as he crouched down and tossed the item in the lowest bin on the cart. He rocketed back up, clawing the next item out of Chase’s hands.
H7 again, he beamed the item into the bin, whipping back to the monitor the second he heard that tell tale thump of plexiglass.
E5, he was lucky Chase wasn’t tall, Rebinning with Wave was always a nightmare even if he was more coordinated than Chase.
G7, Chase let go of the item a bit too soon, sending it tumbling to the ground. Buddy grasped for the item as it threatened to roll under a cart.
When he stood back up, he found Chase frozen in place, one item in each hand, “Wait, which item do you have?” He sputtered.
Buddy turned his attention to the monitor, scanning down the history at the bottom of the page, “G7,” he barked, jamming the item, and his finger into the slot, “OW!”
“Are you ok?!” Chase worried, dropping both items in his hands back into the robocart as he turned around to reach for Buddy’s hand.
“YES! I’m fine, but,” Buddy tsked, “Chase the items!”
“Oh, fuck, wait I think I was holding this one!” Chase fished around in the robocart holding up a pack of black socks with a bewildered expression.
“No time, just keep going, we’ll figure it out at the end,” Buddy made a grabbing motion, “Come on next item.”
Chase wiped his brow, grabbing a pink shirt before scanning it and tossing it to Buddy, “Crap, where is Deacon?” He panted, “We’re almost done with this batch, it needs to go to Pack, like, yesterday.”
Buddy couldn’t help but roll his eyes, “It would have been there yesterday if you were actually checking Rodeo,” he scoffed.
“Transship was exploding!! I can’t be in two places at once!” Chase whirled around, “What did you want me to do? Let us gridlock?!” He waved his arms wildly towards the sorter.
“DELEGATE!!” Buddy shouted, “You should have— ugh, we don’t have time for this!” He reached around Chase, grabbing an item from the robocart and scanning it himself. “We’re running out of time, Deacon is gonna kill us,” he grumbled.
“I’m gonna kill you guys,” Deacon seethed, stomping over to their station. “We have 18 minutes to get this slammed, if you’re not done in 3, I’m pulling it.”
“I know, I know!” Chase fumed as he continued passing items to Buddy, “We’ve got like maybe three totes left, we’ll get it.”
Deacon exhaled a tension filled breath, clicking his radio button, “Prunella, send a waterspider to station eighteen, they’re almost done with those last three carts.”
“Aye aye, captain.” She crackled through Deacon’s radio, a little too loud for comfort.
Chase scowled, “Do you really have to loom over us like that?” He shot Deacon a grimace.
“Well, I wouldn’t if you had finished the batch on time,” Deacon huffed, gripping the black handle of the rebin cart and readying his foot near the wheel lock.
“Jesus,” Chase hissed. The two items from earlier were coming back to bite him. He fumbled with the mouse clicking on ‘see all locations’ to find the bin they missed earlier.
Wave bounded up, “Ready?” He chirped, the pep in his step cutting through the tension like a dull butter knife through stale bread.
“Almost, I almost have it… Buddy, is there one in B6?” Chase commanded over his shoulder.
Buddy ducked down to peer into the bin, jostling items out of the way, “No.”
“Here,” Chase chucked the item towards Buddy, who stuffed it into the bin.
“Ready?” Wave asked again, his bright demeanor slipping slightly with impatience.
Deacon hesitated for a moment, glancing at Chase as he researched the last item, “Pull it,” he settled.
The instant he spoke, Wave clicked the wheel lock, immediately whisking the cart towards Lane 2, into the hands of a waiting Packer. Deacon followed suit, rolling the cart off towards Lane 3, “Buddy! Bring the last one to the other side of 3!” He shouted as he scurried off.
Buddy did as he was instructed, stomping the wheel lock and gripping the shelf of the cart to wheel it around the ergomat.
“Crap!” Chase breathed, “Wait, wait! Buddy put this in F4!” He shouted, lobbing the item.
“What?” Buddy yelled back, turning to see a pair of jeans being hurdled directly into his face. “Fuck, Chase what the hell?!” He snarled.
Chase winced, “S— Sorry! Can you put it in F4!”
“Yeah,” Buddy responded, shoving the last item into the slot before wheeling it away.
Chase breathed a sigh of relief, standing at the now barren station save for the empty robo cart. He took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before speeding back towards the sort desk.
“Chase.” A sharp voice clipped through the radio.
He breathed a sigh of exasperation, “Go ahead.”
“Tranship is blue lighting, we’re about to gridlock.” Violet lectured through a crackle.
It was going to be a long shift.