wil

I decided to try and just write

ᯓᡣ𐭩 Credit art: dovewingkinnie

Notes: Nothing new, just shitty headcanon probably ooc but here your food

He doesn't realize it at first.

He thinks it's just… curiosity. Or maybe an anomaly in his programming. Why he watches the footage of you for longer than necessary. Why he replays the moments where you laugh, frown, or sit in silence, not even doing anything “interesting.” Why his body doubles, those puppeted shells, drift closer to your proximity even when they have no orders to.

So when he summons you with that excuse—“I need a sample, for… scientific classification, yes, that”—he plays it off so smoothly.

Until you come close.

Too close.

And he doesn't pull away.

No, the screen of his face leans in—presses to your cheek. It’s cool glass, humming with electricity. One of his robotic arms twitches, wanting to reach out but not knowing what it wants to do once it gets there.

He goes silent for a moment. Too long.

Then:

“It’s for data retention,” he mutters. “Just… don’t move.”

But his voice cracks just slightly. Not from emotion. Just… wear.

Because the truth is, he’s never had anything close to affection. Not in his human life, and certainly not in this warped, unkillable existence he’s trapped in now.

And in this silence, with you standing there—warm, alive, tangible—it hits him.

That maybe he's not just bored.

Maybe he's lonely.

Maybe… he's aching.

And it terrifies him.

"Love" is a foreign concept—but you're teaching him without words

He doesn’t think in the language of love. He doesn’t get it the way people talk about it in films or books. But he understands obsession. He understands fixation. He understands not wanting to let go.

And you—you give him something that isn’t cold. You touch his robots without fear. You talk to the cameras like he’s a person. You ask him if he’s eaten (he hasn’t, and doesn’t need to, but your question makes him pause). You annoy him in a way that doesn’t push him away, it pulls him in.

You're the first thing he’s ever wanted to reach for.

Even if he doesn’t know why.

Even if the idea of “love” is still too fragile, too terrifying for him to say aloud.

So when he presses his screen to your cheek again... it’s not for science.

It's a glitch in his code.

A rupture in his logic.

A moment of tenderness from a man who forgot he still had any left.

And when you don’t pull away—when you lean into it, just slightly—

He doesn’t say anything.

But his screen glows a soft gold for a second.

Then flickers red again.

Then fades into static.

And in the silence, he whispers—not for science,

But maybe for hope:

“Don’t leave yet.”

Just that.

Quiet. Uncharacteristically small.

But real.

And that’s the first time he realizes:

He doesn’t just want to study you.

He wants to keep you.

Bonus headcanons time!

🧠 He doesn’t dream—but he replays old memories like they could’ve been dreams.

He doesn’t sleep. Not anymore. But in the empty hours of power-saving mode, when all systems go quiet, he replays fragments of his past:

The rustle of his lab coat.

The sterile lighting of his office.

The time he laughed—just once—at something no one else heard.

Sometimes, he overlays your voice onto these memories. He doesn’t know why. But it feels safer. Like maybe the past could’ve gone differently if you’d been there.

He’d never admit it, but he’s afraid of forgetting the man he once was. You become a mental placeholder, a safeguard against total deterioration. Even if it’s not real.

"If I rewrite the past enough times," he wonders, "do I get to keep something human inside me?"

🧍‍♂️He made one of the puppeted vessels… to resemble you.

You never saw it. He never told you.

But deep in a section of the factory you’ve never entered, there's a broken-down body he tried to mold after your form. Not perfect—he’s working with scrap and code, not flesh and soul—but enough that, for a flickering second, it resembled the way you smiled.

He didn’t do it to copy you.

He did it because he wanted something close.

Close to you. Close to warmth. Something he could protect, even if it’s just a shell.

When he realized what he’d made, he dismantled it.

But sometimes the leftover parts move on their own, as if some echo of you remains.

🗣️ He doesn’t know how to say “I love you.” So he says: “You’re a variable I can’t solve.”

You’ll never hear the words “I love you” from his mouth—not in a traditional way. But he has his own vocabulary:

“You’re interfering with my logic functions.”

“Every time I rerun the sequence, you’re still the constant.”

“You ruin my calculations.”

“I can’t delete you.”

They’re his versions of love confessions—twisted, brilliant, broken—but honest. And he only says them in glitches, when his voice stutters, like the words are too big for him to process all at once.

You’ve learned to hear the affection behind the madness.

And he’s quietly grateful you never ask him to say it outright.

🤖 His minions bring you little “gifts”… and he pretends not to care.

The Nightmare Critters, the Yarnabies, the hazmat bodies—they’ll often drop odd things at your feet:

A wrench that’s been polished clean.

A tape recorder that replays a static-covered voice saying “Stay close.”

A cracked lens with your reflection perfectly caught in it.

You know they’re from him. He says they're "irrelevant anomalies," but his voice always lags slightly when he says it.

It’s the robotic equivalent of love notes passed in class.

Quiet acts of affection, hidden under layers of denial and protocol.

💡 He started designing new parts… “just in case you needed armor.”

Late at night, when you’re not watching, he works on blueprints. Enhancements. Protective coatings. Reactions to trauma simulations you might never face—but what if you did?

He’s not building these for just anyone.

He's building them for you.

Because in his mind, if he can’t touch you, if he can’t feel you—then the least he can do is keep you safe.

And he doesn’t know how to say that.

So he calls it an “upgrade initiative.”

But really?

HARLEY SAWYER HEADCANONS | PART 4

PART 1: HERE PART 2: HERE PART 3: HERE PART 4: HERE

GENERAL DISCLAIMERS: bad language/profanity, non-canon accurate, gender-neutral player/reader, securityangel (kinda)

a/n: why am i writing another one of these even though no one asked for it? BECAUSE I CAN. and im upset harley wont ask to marry me on tomodachi even tho we have been dating for over 2 weeks so this is my revenge fic. give me more suggestions cause uh i wanna get in my share of writing in before exams hit.

human!harley shenanigans

・Very good with his hands. If he hadn't taken up his current career, he would've made a good pianist.

・Doesn't like physical contact unless he's initiating it. He's had too many run-ins with people who hug him or touch him without asking, and he's not happy it keeps happening.

・Drinks his coffee straight up, black. No sugars or extras needed.

・He's farsighted and has glasses prescribed, but rarely uses them due to them simply being a hassle.

・Is originally from England, but due to circumstances, he moved to America and eventually ended up in the young geniuses program.

・Saw Elliot Ludwig as a father figure during the program. That idolisation ended when he was kicked out of the program, however.

・He was greatly inspired by medical journals of his time, leading to his eventual interest in neuroscience.

・Takes medications and/or drugs to keep himself working at a fast pace during the day. This usually results in him having poor sleep, however.

・Has a number of bruises and scars from his run-ins with the experiments on almost all limbs.

・Dry lips. Bites them occasionally or absentmindedly, which doesn't help.

・His after-hours work usually consists of minimal distractions, aside from some whistling if he is feeling particularly motivated. Usually scares the shit out of any remaining employees who happen to walk nearby his office.

human!harley and player shenanigans

・The most dense man you've ever met. Cannot understand basic communication skills above simple conversation.

・Hates having to admit when he needs help. Especially from you, since he sees you on equal ground to him, it makes him feel inferior.

・He needs his personal time when he's working on something with all his concentration. Not even you would be exempt from this, since you can ruin his concentration the fastest.

・His way of flirting would be insults with underlying tones. If you were able to make a comeback to his comments, he'd enjoy it even more.

・Uses hand sanitiser after every interaction, even if it's you. No offence, but personal hygiene is very important to him.

・Works himself to the bone every day. Sometimes you'll see him slumped over on his desk, but he'll deny it if you mention it to him.

・He cares about the minor details, things others usually miss. He's glad you can share the sentiment.

・Has a major staring problem. You're not sure if it just applies to you or not, but you've caught him staring at you, but not like he's fully there, like he's thinking of something else while staring right into your soul.

・When he's monologuing, he gets real close up and personal, not on purpose, you assume, since he never really acknowledges it afterwards. His breath smells like coffee.

・His smile seems forced a majority of the time. Like he's not exactly sure how to smile in a polite way, but is still trying somewhat. The closest he gets to an actual-looking smile would be mimicking yours.

doctor!harley shenanigans

・Hates that stupid 'Glowby' device the player has on their wrist.

・Absolutely lost his shit when he found out the player lost his omni-hand.

・Continues to reiterate he doesn't see Yarnaby as nothing more than a simple guard dog simply because he prefers cats (and has no idea what animal Yarnaby could resemble other than a yarn creature).

・Shakes his finger at Yarnaby when he does something wrong, like a disapproving parent.

・Wants to curse out the prototype DAILY. Before and after his resurrection, he hates that bumass guy. One could argue just under Leith Pierre.

・Wishes he could upgrade the TV heads to newer models, but he doesn't exactly have the right materials. They could really use a good cleaning.

・He partially faked his death back in the prison. He was... weakened, to put it politely. He was not able to move around in his bodies without complaint and stuck to observing through the cameras, hence why doors were able to open even after he was considered dead.

・Years of mostly sitting in silence have heightened his senses. His hearing has improved to hear minor noises and flicks through the cameras until he finds the source of the noise.

doctor!harley and player shenanigans

・After getting revived and essentially forced by you and Giblet to have him help you, he's not exactly pleased he's getting thrown into the battlefield right away.

・Every sort of curse is littered your way when he's transferred into Glowby.

"What do you mean I'm getting transferred into the star??"

"Where else would you go?"

"I DON'T KNOW?? NOT THE STAR????"

・His lab coat always smelt vaguely of the tea he used to drink. Still somehow does. You've only realised that when he would allow you close to his main robotic form on very rare occasions.

・Can play music from the speakers of his head, but he can't talk when he does it. Leads to a rare few minutes of quiet Harley playing music and concentrating (on experiments mostly), but it's a nice moment the two of you can enjoy.

・The cameras he uses to see have long been distorted in quality over the years, leading to some misleading information he's gathered from what he's seen. Turns out his coats are white, not black like he thought they were. He thought you were lying when you first told him.

・Trust issues he's developed from his young childhood carried over all these years, and sometimes you'll find he's hesitant about opening up about why he doesn't like or do certain things.

・He's noticed all the scrapes, cuts and scars you've gained throughout your journey down the factory. He'd offer to help you patch them up, but he thought he'd look weak.

・Takes his goddamn time. You could be getting chased by one of the bigger bodies BEGGING him to hurry up with whatever he's doing, but he simply hushes you and says, "Science takes time and hard work" It makes you want to slap him.

a/n: im not sure why i dont just turn this into a series on here anyways i would so write a whole 20k storyline on harley. edit: HARLEY FINALLY MARRIED ME ON TOMODACHI.

Ok so I just finished playing Dispatch and I freaking LOVED it! Sooooo I thought it would be fun to combine my two current hyperfixations and make a Hermitcraft Dispatch AU!

A night that was forgotten by morning