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Madame Gasket screamed as she was thrown into the fire. She was no more once the fire had consumed her completely. Her son Ratchet survived, but he now found himself stuck on the ceiling in chains with his father. Safe to say he would be up there for a long while and wouldn't be a problem anymore.
Fender brushed off his rainbow skirt and glanced around the Chop Shop. Out of all of his friends, he was surprisingly the least injured. This was quite a shock since Fender was usually the one to get hurt first and the most.
His eyes landed on his little sister Piper, who was struggling to get off the dirty floor. Fender threw off his silly Viking looking helmet and helped Piper up.
"You alright, sis?", Fender asked with a worried voice.
Piper coughed lightly, but she nodded with a tired smile. "I'm fine, yeah."
Fender saw the tiny scratches that were scattered around Piper's chest. He looked down and saw she had some scratches on her feet as well. Fender breathed a sigh of relief. He was just glad she hadn't been too injured.
"Can you stand on your own?", Fender asked, still letting Piper hold onto him for support just in case.
Piper slowly let Fender go and brushed herself off. "I'm all good. Thanks for helping me up, though."
Cappy walked to stand beside Piper and patted her shoulder. "That was some great fighting there. Piper, was it? You're pretty cool", Cappy said with a smile.
Piper flashed Cappy a grin. "You weren't so bad yourself. Um..."
Cappy chuckled softly. "Name's Cappy", she answered.
Fender smiled at Cappy and Piper. Looks like his sister made a new friend. But as he stared at Cappy, he remembered someone important to him.
"Rodney? Where is he?", Fender asked Cappy.
Cappy's eyes widened a bit from the mention of Rodney. "He went to save Bigweld... I saw them knock down the Sweepers and..."
She turned to the huge trash pile and pointed in that direction. "I think they landed in there", she finished in a small voice.
Fender didn't wait one second. He quickly rushed over to the trash pile and dug. Piper ran to his side and glanced around the trash pile in case Rodney or Bigweld popped their heads up.
"Rodney! Are you okay? Say something!", Fender called out desperately.
Suddenly, Bigweld popped his head out from the trash pile. The big bot reached down and helped Rodney up as well.
Piper smiled in relief. "There they are!", she exclaimed.
Fender looked up and smiled, only for his smile to falter when he saw the current state of Rodney. He was alive thank the stars, but he looked very injured. His head fin hung onto his head for dear life, his chest plate was damaged badly, one of his eyes were cracked. He looked awful. It made Fender's heart stutter with worry.
"Rodney. Are you okay, kid?", Bigweld asked, cradling Rodney's back.
Rodney grunted in pain as he tried to sit up. "I-I'm fine. Just a l-little... hurt is a-all", Rodney responded weakly.
Fender kneeled down to cup Rodney's face gently. "You'll be even better when I fix you", Fender vowed.
Rodney blinked weakly as he looked up at Fender. "No... you don't have to, Fender..."
But Fender wasn't going to listen to any arguments Rodney was trying to make. "Lug! Come carry Rodney! We're taking him back to Aunt Fan's", Fender called out to Lug.
Lug walked over and took Rodney away from Bigweld. He carefully cradled Rodney in his strong arms.
"I got your back, buddy", Lug told Rodney as comfort.
Rodney only groaned in pain as a response. As some more comfort, Lug patted his head gently as to not accidently knock his loose head fin off.
"But what will we tell his parents?", Bigweld asked.
"Tell them he's safe with us. He won't be able to go back home in his current state, but we'll help him recover", Fender explained.
Cappy went to help Bigweld off the ground. "They're Rodney's friends. They'll take care of him", Cappy assured.
Bigweld looked at Cappy slightly confused, but he trusted her word and nodded. He turned to Fender. "When Rodney feels more like himself, tell him he got the job."
Fender nodded. Then he told Bigweld and Cappy farewell and lead Piper, Lug, and the others back home. The whole way home, Fender would glance back at Lug and Rodney, though his eyes would watch Rodney carefully most times.
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Lug gently set Rodney down on his own bed. Fender told Lug to put him on the hammock he slept on, but Lug thought it would be better for Rodney if he was in a bigger and softer bed. Lug told Fender that Rodney could use his room for now, and that he would room with Crank for the time being.
As Lug left the two alone, Fender went to fetch Rodney's tool kit only after he made sure Rodney was asleep. Since Rodney's eyes were closed, Fender would work on his cracked eye last. So, for now, Fender fixed Rodney's head fin. It was only the front part that was loose, so it was easier to access. He may not know much about fixing other robots, but when he had watched Rodney fix up the other Outmodes, he did learn a thing or two. Well, either that, or he just liked watching Rodney do anything in general.
Fender used a screwdriver to screw Rodney's head fin tightly, but not too tight. After he was done, Fender wiggled the head fin, making sure it stayed in place. When it did, Fender mentally patted himself on the back as a job well done.
Next, Fender went to fix Rodney's chest plate. It was a bit harder to fix, but Fender wouldn't give up. He remembered the time Piper had fallen down the stairs and broke her chest plate. Fender had fixed it to the best of his ability that day. He worried that he did a horrible job, but Piper had thanked him and hugged him, so he guessed he did well. He kept that motivation to fix Rodney's chest.
But while he fixed his chest, Rodney had woken up. "F-Fender...", he whispered weakly.
Fender patted the side of Rodney's head. "Shh. Stay still for me, alright? I'm fixing up your chest plate right now", Fender said softly.
Rodney opened his eye and broken eye. "You r-really don't have t-to..."
Fender just tutted. "You fixed my neck, now I fix you. It's a fair trade. Think of it as a return of a favor."
Rodney let a weak chuckle escape his lips. "I suppose..."
He grunted in discomfort suddenly. Fender rubbed Rodney's chest slowly and softly as comfort.
"I'm nearly done now. Rest", Fender said simply.
Finally, after some more moments, Fender had fixed up Rodney's chest plate well and closed it back up. "How does that feel?", Fender checked.
Rodney gave Fender a smile. "It feels f-fine. T-thanks."
Fender hummed. "Now to fix that eye."
Fender got out some kind of glass concealer and applied some to Rodney's cracked eye. The concealer should help with the small cracks in his eye.
"This will help your eye. Can't have you half blind now, can we?", Fender muttered.
Rodney huffed out of his nose quietly. "At least I'd have one eye that worked if that were the case", he humored lightly.
Fender scoffed fondly. "Your eyes are too beautiful for that."
Rodney raised his eyebrows slightly at that simple comment. He was about to open his mouth to talk about what he said, but the concealer made his eye stung. He hissed in slight pain.
"I know. It will sting a bit, but it'll be alright", Fender assured him.
Finally, he was done fixing up Rodney's eye. Rodney blinked a couple times, just so the concealer could settle.
"How's that?", Fender asked.
"Feels fine", Rodney answered with a better voice.
Fender was glad that Rodney didn't sound as weak as he did before. He smiled warmly and let his hand cradle Rodney's face. The touch made Rodney shiver slightly, and Fender felt it.
Rodney swallowed quietly. "Um, Fender? What did you mean when you said my eyes are beautiful?"
Fender blinked once like a cat. "Well, they are beautiful. Is that weird to say?"
"No... it isn't, I guess. I just... didn't think that you thought that my eyes were..." Rodney paused.
"Well, they are. Everything about you is beautiful", Fender decided to say.
Rodney's heart flipped slightly. No one had ever called him... well beautiful before. It was a new feeling he felt then, and he decided to say it.
"You're beautiful too, Fender. I know we had a rocky start, but you mean so much to me", Rodney spoke slowly and softly.
Fender's face flushed a light pink then. "Really? You... think so?"
Rodney nodded. "I do. You've been wonderful help ever since. You comforted me when I had a bad day, you gave me a place to stay, you helped me break into the Bigweld Ball." Rodney chuckled at that. Then he took a deep breath. "I've never met someone like you, Fender. You're amazing and-"
Rodney was cut off when Fender suddenly pressed his lips against his own. Rodney made a muffled noise of surprise as Fender kissed him slow. For about six seconds, Rodney was dumbfounded. But soon, he fluttered his eyes closed and finally kissed Fender back. He let a soft moan escape his mouth, only for Fender to swallow the noise with his mouth. Soon, the two were making out slowly and sweetly. They found a perfect rhythm and were happy to stay in the beautiful music that they had created with just their lips. Rodney lifted a weak hand to grab the back of Fender's head and pulled him closer if that were even possible. Fender moaned softly as he allowed Rodney to deepen the kiss. Fender glided his lips against Rodney's, making the blue bot's body shiver lovingly.
Finally, they pulled back and gazed into each other's eyes. Fender smiled as he drank in the wonderful sight of Rodney. His blue eyes were blown and his mouth was wet.
Rodney panted with a lazy smile on his face. "Wow...", he whispered.
Fender huffed a laugh. "Yeah... wow."
Rodney found the strength to push himself off the bed, letting his elbows hold him up. He pressed his forehead against Fender's sweetly. For a long while, neither of them said nothing, and were more than happy to be together in perfect silence.
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Little did Rodney and Fender know, Piper and Lug were right outside the room, watching the event unfold.
"Dang. Guess Fender's got a boyfriend now?", Piper muttered with a grin.
Lug nodded. "Yep. Didn't think they'd kiss in my room, but hey I don't really mind."
Piper elbowed Lug's arm gently. "Imagine if Crank let Rodney rest in his room instead", she joked.
Lug chuckled quietly. "I'd rather not. He wouldn't take it kindly, that's for sure."
Piper and Lug both smiled softly at the new couple, happy for the both of them.