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It was a quiet night at the house. Dazzle was at Terra’s place for a girls' night out, Moon was probably with Jack and Tj looking for Atlantis or something, and Cosmos was… still out. That left only Solar and Sun home alone, both of them caught up with different projects.
Solar was glad to have some space. He sat at his desk with blueprints and sketches. Jack was long overdue for a new endoskeleton. Between the dark star mind control and near-death experiences, the boy's frame was full of rushed repairs. He planned to work through the night and get rough schematics and estimates before consulting Jack and designing the frame and features. However, Solar got interrupted only an hour into his work by a soft knock.
“Can I come in?”
It was Sun on the other side, done with whatever he did to keep himself busy. Cleaning, probably, Solar knew the other bot tended to do so when stressed. It had definitely been a stressful year, and they weren't even through February yet.
“Yeah.” Solar set down his pencil, ready for whatever Sun wanted to bother him about.
The door swung open quietly. Sun stood in the frame, not wanting to encroach on the others' space.
“Are you busy right now?” Solar glanced down at his papers.
“Nah, just a side project. What’s up?”
“Well, I, uh, couldn’t help but realize you haven’t cleaned your rays in a while.” Sun fidgeted with one of his own, shifting it up and down a bit. Solar noticed they shone, newly polished. Looks like Solar was right; Stress cleaning. Then again, he had walked in on Sun cleaning his rays pretty often, the bot was obsessed with keeping them in top condition.
“Is that why you were staring at me during dinner?”
“Yeah...” Sun looked to the ground for a moment, a bit embarrassed. Sun’s rays retracted by half an inch. It wasn’t something Solar usually noticed unless they were a topic of conversation, like now, for instance. “So… could I help clean them? It’ll take thirty minutes, tops.”
“Sure.” Solar pushed back his chair.
“I have all the supplies in my room, or I could bring them here?”
“Let’s head to your room.”
Sun nodded and turned, his rays swaying slightly in a response to emotion Solar couldn’t read. Solar followed, his own rays static. He didn’t often spare a thought for his own set of orange triangles that sprouted from his head. He didn't have the same internal mechanisms as Sun had. While Sun had delicate tracks and motors that allowed for a wide range of movement, Solar's internal mechanisms only supported the most basic movement. He could pull them in, flare them out, and that was it. The movement for him had to be intentional, but for Sun he knew it was all instinctual. Like a built-in mood ring, if anyone had the answer key, that was. Solar was pretty sure Moon was the only one who could actually interpret any of it. It made Solar look stiff compared to Sun’s animated movements. Still, Solar supposed cleaning them wouldn’t hurt.
Solar followed Sun to his room, then to the large bathroom connected to it. It was the largest one in the house, with both a shower and tub, and even a small closet. Sun's cleanliness habits meant it all got plenty of use. Sun gestured for Solar to sit at the edge of the tub. Solar inspected the water as Sun pulled out various different scrubs and bottles from the closet. It was already filled with a few inches of water, with soap bubbles that formed in clumps at the top.
“Ah, I, already cleaned my rays, the water might be a little dirty. I was starting to clean up when I thought I should ask. I knew I should have-“
“It's a fine Sun. I’m not a germaphobe like you.”
Sun sounded indignant.
“I’m not a germaphobe!”
“Right.” Solar couldn’t help the slight smile in his voice. Sun held up a screwdriver.
“Can you turn your head?” Solar nodded and did so, staying still as Sun used the tool to remove the rays from in between his faceplates. It was definitely an odd sensation, having part of your face unfastened. Solar blinked away the popups informing him his rays were being removed.
“Huh..” Sun made a noise as he pulled out the first one.
“What?”
“Your tracks, they’re different. I always wondered why you were so inexpressive.”
“Mine never really moved to begin with. Even when I did have the right parts for it I never had the right code for it. I’m sure that’s why Eclipse didn’t add anything fancy when he rebuilt me.”
Sun hummed in confusion.
“You don’t have the code for it?”
“Well, I have the bare minimum I copied over from my Sun, but I didn’t really feel like doing more than that.”
“Huh…” Sun worked for a bit in silence. He tightened Solar's face plate and placed the stack of rays on his lap. Solar started to count them idly as Sun laid out a towel on the ground and selected some cleaning materials from his small pile. He had nine rays in total, the same amount as Sun.
“I always assumed you were like Moon.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Sun grabbed one of the rays in Solar's hand knelt next to the tub. “I thought you had blocked off your emotions or something. Most people who have rays keep them pretty expressive. The only people I’ve really seen without it were you and Eclipse. Even Dark and KS’ were still dynamic.” Sun frowned as he spoke their names. “That's why I get so angry whenever KS appears. I can tell by how his rays move, he enjoys hurting people.”
“You can?” Solar watched as Sun held a bottle of blue soap and squirted a glob on the ray in his hand.
“You can’t?”
“No, I told you I don’t have the code.”
“I guess I never really thought of that. Everyone I’ve met so far who has rays been able to read them pretty well.” Sun grabbed a small brush with stuff bristles. He dipped it into the water and began scrubbing at the metal triangle. Solar looked at Sun's rays, inspecting them as they moved. They tilted downwards a few degrees and drew inwards a centimeter or two, but he wasn’t quite sure what that meant. Sun scrubbed a bit harder trying not to react and further to Solar's scrutiny.
“Is that why you were so pissy when Molten took them?”
“I-“ Sun stuttered for a few moments. “I wasn’t pissy! I was angry, it was, like, like, like if someone cut off your pinkies and threw neon yellow paint on you.”
“What?” Solar blinked.
“You wouldn’t like that would you. Sure you don’t need your pinkies, but you can still feel them missing, and I’m sure you would not feel good about your appearance if you were neon yellow, would you, Solar!”
“No, I suppose I wouldn’t.” Sun turned the ray in his hand, cleaning off the other side.
“It was awful, Solar. I guess for you it’s just decoration but for me,” Sun paused, his fans stuttered. “A part of me was stolen. I felt like I couldn’t communicate anything I was feeling. Then I had my fight with Moon and...” Sun shook his head, unable to complete the thought. Neither of them spoke for a bit, the sound of Sun’s scrubbing filling the room.
“I’m sorry.” Solar put a hand out to brush against Sun's rays. They extended a bit. Sun gave a hum.
“Thank you, Solar.” Sun placed the first clean ray on a towel to dry and grabbed a second one. Solar knelt next to him.
“Can I help?” Sun nodded and handed Solar a brush, placing a bottle of soap between them.
“There’s a lot of build up near the bottom, I guess since your tracks are so rudimentary they accumulated some dirt or something.” Solar grabbed one, seeing it was true.
He started working, copying how Sun did it. Soap, water, and small circles with the stiff bristled brush. The suds covered the rays, specks of dirt and oil picked up by the soap.
“Solar, can we have a serious conversation for a moment.” Sun dipped a ray into the water, washing off the soap.
“Depends.”
“It’s about Cosmos.”
Solar paused, in the middle of drying off a ray.
“What about him?”
“You need to apologize.”
“I did.” Solar grunted as he placed it on a dry towel.
“But did you mean it?” Sun started working on another ray, eyes focused on the object in his hands. “You heard what he said. He doesn’t feel seen by us. You didn’t even thank him for putting his life on the line.” Sun looked up from his work, waiting until Solar did the same.
“I’m scared, Solar, if something doesn’t change, he might,” Suns voice cracked. “He might do something he regrets.” Sun sat back from his kneeling position. “Did I ever tell you how I got everyone killed.”
“..no?”
“It was years ago. I was so angry, and I thought, maybe the best way to deal with our problems was to just end them. I had already killed Bloodmoon at that point, so why not finish off Eclipse?” Sun looked down at his hands. He gripped the still soapy ray in his hands, letting the edges poke his palms. “I snapped at Cosmos. I’m the reason he ran off, I’m the reason he was alone when Eclipse… got to him. And Moon tried everything to calm me down. But there was just so much anger that none of it worked. By the time I was, back to my senses, I had caused so much damage. Cosmos was dead. Moon couldn’t use his magic and had to sacrifice himself for KC and Nexus-“ Sun snorted. “And look how that turned out. The point is, nothing good happens to this family when we’re angry. And we know why Cosmos is angry now. I have to help him..” he looked at Solar in the eyes. “We have to help him. Before things go bad.” Sun smiled. A soft, painful thing. Moments that seemed so old still crisp in his memory banks. “I remember, way back when he first met you. Back when he was still little Lunar.” Back when you were just Eclipse, was left unspoken. “He had the biggest smile on his face. He was so happy to have a brother who cared for him.”
“A lot has changed since then.”
“I know.” There was a look of determination on his face. “But I’m not losing another brother.”
“Neither am I.”
Sun turned back to the tub.
“Good, now let’s finish cleaning your rays. I totally get what you mean now you called me a coin head.”
“Hey!” Sun snickered as he went back to scrubbing the ray in his hands. They worked in silence for a while. Solar never really got to hang out with Sun like this. Neither of them had hobbies in common. He remembered working with Nexus on the satellite. It was a bit like this. A hopeful silence. Solar never got to do this with his own Sun. He was glad to be able to do with this one.
After cleaning them, Sun worked on polishing them. Solar was touched by the care in which Sun rubbed the solution into the neglected metal.
“So,” Sun started as he finished up the first one. “What were you working on when I came in?”
“I’m working out schematics for a new body for Jack. This first one was rushed, and now that he’s sentient he probably doesn’t need all those knifes.”
“Did you talk to him about it?”
“A bit, once I get a rough mock up we’ll have a longer conversation.”
“Try to find a comprise, alright? I know how it feels to have people alter your body without any input.” Sun’s rays shuddered, making a small rattling sound.
“I think most of us do, Sun.” Solar chuckled. He followed Sun’s lead as they polished the metal. Solar enjoyed the motions of it all.
“Do you plan on making a new body for yourself? I know I’d want a new one as so as possible if I was in your shoes.” Solar shrugged. He knew what Sun meant. Eclipse being the one to rebuild Solar always rubbed him the wrong way, but they never had the time to do anything about it.
“Maybe, it would be nice to be able to put some more custom modifications in it.”
“Would you keep the rays?”
Solar paused at that. He looked at his reflection in the now shiny metal. He never really thought of his rays before. They weren’t apart of him the way Sun’s were but… they were a gift from his own Sun. Someone who was gone now. Considering what happened to his home dimension, Solar was probably the only being alive who still remembered his older brother. Without the rays in Solar’s silhouette, the reflection seemed wrong. He would keep it, Solar decided. Maybe it would finally bridge the gap between him and his new brother.
“Maybe, if you admit it’s not hair.” Sun let out an insulted gasp, clutching one of Solars rays to his chest.
“Well, I guess you’ll just be bald then!” Solar laughed, and they fell into easy conversation. Soon enough they were finished, and Solar couldn’t help but ask as Sun tightened the final screw.
“Could we do this again sometime?”
Sun beamed at Solar. That smile stayed the same throughout ever dimension. His rays wiggled slightly.
“Sure!”
Solar thought about asking for Sun’s code. Maybe his rays were meant to move like Sun’s did. But he could ask another day. Sun packed up his supplies and drained the water. Sun called out before Solar left the room.
“Remember what I said, alright? We need to be better, for Cosmos.”
“I will.”