Chapter Text
The job had to be done, grueling as it may be.
Wifies dragged himself up the stairs in the lighthouse for his morning coffee, peering into the foggy, rocky shore that was surrounding the coast of the island.
He found the water quite cold, too cold for his own liking, so he never went in.
Plus, he was sure he’d accidentally hurt himself on the rather sharp-looking rocks that scattered across the shoreline. He was clumsy, he had concluded over the many times he’d drop his mugs,
fall down the stairs,
or quite literally just fall out of bed onto the hardwood floor of the lighthouse’s lowest level.
Yeah, he didn’t trust himself enough to not crack his skull open while walking by the rocks. So he stayed in the lighthouse.
Turning the lights on every time it got dark.
And then he went to bed.
Woke up, grabbed a coffee, wrote a bit in a journal.
repeating the cycle.
Over, and over, and over, and over.
It had been over two years,
two years that he lived in the lighthouse. He would clean off algae and mold growing on the windows, or he would work on any loose wires that ran throughout the structure.
And most importantly, he would keep the lights on.
It was a simple job. Boring, yes, but Wifies would kill for the sunrise.
He loved peering out into the sun's early lights from atop the lighthouse,
but he would only ever wake up early enough to see it about two times a week.
Still, it kept him on his feet.
It was on one of these fateful mornings that he woke up at the ripe hour of 4:00 AM.
He woke up at his alarm and immediately shut it off, burrowing his head into his pillow before convincing himself to sit up,
stretching his arms over his head and cracking his back as he turned from left to right.
He threw on some long jorts, a short sleeved hoodie, and his favorite purple bandanna with the feather sewn into it.
Parrots feather.
That’s besides the point.
He hung his cross-body bag on his shoulder, an accessory that carried his spyglass, his journal, and a freshly brewed coffee in the pocket of the bag.
His footsteps were heavy against the steps of the stairs, his boots rather loud on the wood.
He climbed to the top of the stairs, walking onto the deck around the top of the lighthouse, sitting down on the small chair that sat facing the sunrise.
And as the light from the sun came shining down onto the rocks, Wifies spotted something.. strange on the jagged rocks.
It looked as if it were made of wires, or something like that.
He ran his hands down his face, sighing heavily as he bound down the stairs and outside, making his way to the rocks.
He promised he wouldn’t go,
he was sure he’d hurt himself,
but curiosity kills the cat, I guess.
As he got closer to the object, he had realized it looked more human than he imagined it.
He quickened his pace as he realized it may actually be human, and that both made him excited and nervous.
He had been lonely for a couple of years, and seeing another human-like object on his shore made his heart skip a beat.
When he got to the object, he kneeled down and turned the shape over, only to realize it was some type of robot.
it’s head was a TV.
Its wires were sprawled out and its screen was cracked.
on top of its head sat a pair of goggles, and the antenna you would find on an old 1990s television— Which was what Wifies assumed this robot was.
A 1990’s TV.
A bit strange, but alright.
Wifies took a breath in as he lifted the robot by its underarms,
before more comfortably shifting the cold metal in his arms to be carried bridal style.
He would say he was fit, muscular at the best, but dear god was this thing HEAVY.
It took him only 2 minutes to haul the weight back to the lighthouse. He still didn’t know how this thing even got here, but based on the observations he had made, this robot would either be some sort of explorer, or..
yeah, no, he didn’t really have any other guess than the robot being some sort of explorer, specifically a sea voyager at his best guess.
He sat the robot against the wall as he reached into his chest and pulled out a tool box.
Even though the day had already begun, he knew that the repair process was going to take a long time.
Wifies sighed as he unbuttoned the robot's green vest and white undershirt, unscrewing a panel on the robots chest, the compartment full of waterlogged wires that sparked when Wifies reached out to inspect.
This was gonna take a while.
——————————————-
It had been at least an hour before Wifies dried the last wire, pulling out the electrical tape and wrapping it around any wires he had cut, screwing the metal panel back on.
It was now 6 in the morning.
His back practically begged for him to sit up, go back to sleep even, but he persisted with his repair and decided to work on the robot’s TV head.
there was water behind the screen, a crack along the glass, and corrosion visible on the dial and power button.
He turned the robot around to unscrew the back of the machine’s head, shining a light on the circuit boards and wires.
After a second of looking, he realized that most of the wires and inter-workings of the TV were practically soaked with water.
Easy process; He just needed to replace the wires and not get electrocuted. That was the hard part — don’t get electrocuted.
but he could.. manage. Maybe.
He cut out the water-soaked wires, ending up replacing almost all of the wires that were inside this robot’s head.
Wifies didn’t know why he was even doing this, spending 3+ hours repairing a random piece of junk that washed up on his shore.
Maybe it was because Wifies was lonely.
Maybe he was just doing it for the love of the game.
Who knows; Wifies is a strange man.
Repairing a random machine at 8 in the morning. totally normal thing to do.
He screwed the last few screws and made sure there wasn’t any more water anywhere.
He sure as hell couldn’t fix that big crack in the screen, but too bad.
He set down his tools as he hesitantly pressed the power button on the robot's head, waiting silently before the screen flickered on once, twice, fell black for a moment, then back on.
“W-What- Holy fuck-“ The Robot spoke, putting a hand to its cracked screen with a groan of discomfort. “What the hell..” the bot said, using his other hand to push him back against the wall, before looking at Wifies- freezing before looking down at the tools and electrical tape and back at Wifies, slowly piecing it together.
“… Did you.. repair me?” The robot asked, placing his hands in his lap.
“Uhh, y-yeah, I.. I did,” Wifies replied, clearing his throat before continuing.
“I mean, you washed up on my shore, I don’t think I would want to just leave you there.”
The robot thought for a moment, before speaking up again.
“Well.. Thank you.” The robot said, chuckling softly. “‘The name Hummer, by the way.” He said, extending his robotic hand towards the other.
“Wifies.” Wifies responded, taking Hummer's hand and shaking it before standing up and pulling Hummer up with him.
“I would give you a tour of the lighthouse, but my stuff's all over the place- could I offer you something to eat or..” Wifies trailed off, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. “Sorry, I’m talking a lot. I haven't had someone to talk to in two years.”
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Hummer said, leaning on a wall, still a bit dizzy from being out for so long. “I haven't heard another person talk in god knows how long,” Hummer explained. “It’s nice to hear someone fill the silence.”
Wifies smiled slightly at Hummer's tone, still looking a bit concerned at Hummer's physical state.
Are you alright? you seem a bit wobbly..” Wifies said, taking a step forward.
“I’m fine, It’s probably just the lack of.. anything, these last few days.” Hummer laughed out. a dry, painful laugh playing out of what Wifies could only assume was a voicebox.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Wifies questioned, the look of concern only growing by the second.
“Uhm, I haven't slept in.. Levi knows how long. I've been running off of coffee for food, and only my research keeps me awake.” Hummer confessed, nervously turning his head away as Wifies let out a low whistle.
“Yeah, maybe you should sit down before you short circuit, or something.” Wifie’s suggested,
taking a step closer to Hummer as the robot tried to push himself off the wall towards the table,
instead almost falling over before Wifies easily caught him and helped him stand up properly.
“Sorry- bad idea to try and walk too fast.” Hummer breathed out, leaning on Wifies instead of the wall as he walked to a chair, sitting down as Wifies sat next to him on a chair to the left of him.
“So.. mind tellin’ me what happened for you to wash up on my shore?” Wifie’s questioned Hummer.
“Better question; why do you keep calling it ‘your shore’?” Hummer retaliated, avoiding Wifies's question.
“Uhm, well, I'm the only one in this lighthouse except for you,” Wifies snickered. “Therefore being the only one on the coastline.” Wifies concluded, watching Hummer's reaction; even though all his ‘face’ was, was a glitched out TV screen.
Hummer let out a hum of acknowledgment, before he painfully doubled over for an unknown reason.
Wifies rushed over to his side, placing a hand on Hummer's shoulder to steady him.
“Woah, you alright?” Wifies said, worry lacing his words.
“Y-yeah, I’m fine..” Hummer said, still clutching his arm with his hand. “Faulty wire, I think.” Hummer muttered, looking up at Wifies after a second.
Wifies was already halfway across the room, grabbing the tool box he used earlier, setting it down on the table in front of Hummer.
“Let me see,” Wifies said, holding out his hand palm up, expecting Hummer to hand him his arm.
And that’s what Hummer did, slowly extending his arm into Wifies’ cold hand.
Wifies takes the metal, grabbing a screwdriver and efficiently yet slowly taking out the screws that hold a panel of wires on Hummer's arm.
Wifies takes off the panel and inspects the wires, before finding the faulty wire and replacing the screwdriver in his hands with a pair of wire cutters.
He reaches into the panel and tries to cut the wire, but the only thing Hummer does is yank his arm back with a yelp.
“Don’t-! Don’t cut my wires.” Hummer said, holding his arm defensively.
Wifies was rightfully confused,
tilting his head to the side as he put the tool down, crossing his arms in annoyance.
“Hummer, I need to repair you. Plus, I've cut your wires before when I was fixing your waterlogged cables.” Wifies said with a shrug,
unraveling his arms as he reached for the wire cutters, taking them in his hands as he extended his hand once again; Asking Hummer to give him his arm.
“Give me your arm. I promise, I’ll try not to hurt you,” Wifies urged, still holding his hand out palm-side up.
“You’re cutting my insides apart! How could that not hurt?!” Hummer exclaimed, hesitating before pulling his arm further away from Wifies. “In addition to that, I just met you, like, 20 minutes ago.” Hummer reasoned.
Wifies sighed heavily, setting the tool down once again and dragging his hands down his face in frustration.
“Hummer, I spent two hours from 4 AM ‘till 6 AM fixing you.” Wifies said,
looking back at Hummer before resuming.
“Why would I spend so much time on someone I want to hurt?” He said, extending his hand once more.
“Give me your arm. You need to be fixed.”
Hummer reluctantly handed him his arm, nodding slowly before looking away, not wanting to watch whatever Wifies was doing.
He heard Wifies cut the wire in half, and if a switch had been flipped, pain flooded his arm.
A hot, burning pain that covered his entire arm.
He let out a groan of pain as he almost pulled his arm away, gripping the chair with his other hand so hard the wood might’ve been carved into.
“F-fuck, that hurts..” Hummer said with a brittle tone, he sounded as if he were talking through gritted teeth. if he had a mouth.
Wifies furrowed his brows sympathetically,
quickly pulling out the electrical tape and wrapping the wire in said tape.
“Aaaand, finished.” Wifies said as he set the tape down. “How does it feel?” He questioned, letting go of Hummer's arm.
Hummer flexed his hand open and closed a few times, twisting his arm around just for good measure, before looking up at Wifies and giving an approving nod.
“Feels good,” Hummer said, a faint smile playing on his screen through the broken screen.
“Thank you, Wifies.” he added, setting his hands back in his lap.
“Yeah, no problem. I know a thing or two about fixing mechanical things,” Wifies returned, standing up to go put the tool box back in the cabinet.
That might’ve explained ‘how’ Wifies fixed Hummer, but the ‘why’ didn’t sit right with him.
Hummer was skeptical; loneliness didn’t make you want to try and befriend a random robot you found on the beach.
It wasn’t clear why, but Hummer was going to find out.