#dah2020

Good Boy

Dum-E knew humans didn’t run on batteries or plug themselves in at night to charge.

They didn’t even need motor oil.

(He wasn’t entirely sure about this and kept adding it into smoothies. Just in case.)

.

Then Tony left the workshop for a long time.

When he came back he had a battery.

Just like Dum-E.

.

Dum-E didn’t quite know why Pepper would give Tony his old battery back in a glass box.

Or why Tony smiled when he unwrapped it.

But now Tony’s new battery is gone and his power is running out.

.

And Dum-E is a good boy.

—

for the @winterirondiscord Dum-E Appreciation Hebdomad - Words Day & Creation Day and for @tonystarkbingo (bingo info below the cut)

the cross-stitch pattern I used for this is a modification of one of @rebelmeg‘s adorable cross-stitch cuties designs ❤

Dum-E: Best Fire Safety Bot

Building Dum-E

late nights, grease-stained hands

coffee fueling complex code

welded, programmed - friend

---

for the @winterirondiscord Dum-E Appreciation Hebdomad - Poetry Day and for @tonystarkbingo (bingo info below the cut)

For: @winterirondiscord Dum-E Appreciation Hebdomad - day 4: word day @tonystarkbingo - 3096 - K5: [image of Dum-E] (fill details below the cut)

Also on AO3

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He never meant to get attached.

It was just supposed to be an experiment; useful if successful, but mostly to prove that he could. He fully expected that within a few months of the grand reveal, he would have lost interest and broken it down again to repurpose the parts. After all, that’s all the robot is really, a bit of programming (half of it written while near-blackout drunk) in a bundle of spare parts.

Tony talked to the bot, of course, during coding, construction, testing. But he talks to all his projects; whenever something goes wrong, whenever something goes right, it doesn’t mean anything. In fact, as anyone can tell you, the real challenge is getting him to shut up.

But then he fully activated the AI.

It was a simple test: a verbal command to pick the red cube out of a pile of blocks, then carry it through some basic obstacles and place it in the matching slot.

Everything was going well… until the bot had almost reached the delivery point, and dropped the cube. Tony frowned – was something wrong with the claw pressure sensitivity? – and started to turn to check the code, but a movement drew his attention back to the bot. He hadn’t given any further instructions, so what…?

The claw tilted down towards the block on the ground, then back up towards him and rotated 30 degrees to the right.

In that moment, Tony realised three things:

He’d never programmed that sequence of movements.

A metal claw on a strut and base shouldn’t be able to so perfectly convey such adorable puzzlement.

His experiment had just gotten a whole heap more interesting.

Tony grins at the bot, whose very failure is a sign of greater and unexpected success.

“You are such a dummy.”

The newly-dubbed DUM-E places the block in the slot, then turns back to face Tony. And his claw opens in what is most decidedly a returning grin.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18340895

I wrote a drabble for @bunny-feeties awesome art. Sharing for the @winterirondiscord DUM-E appreciation hebdomad!

For: @winterirondiscord​ Dum-E Appreciation Hebdomad 2020 - day 4: word day @tonystarkbingo​ - 3096 - T3: matchmaker (fill details below cut)

Also on AO3

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Something is wrong with TON-E.

TON-E is in the workshop, at his workbench, but he’s not working.

TON-E sighs and makes a frowny face. TON-E is sad?

Sad!Tony needs fixing. How?

STE-V makes sad!TON-E happy 60% of the time. 40% of the time, STE-V makes sad!TON-E angry… but still not sad.

Wait. TON-E is fiddling with STE-V’s damaged glove. Ahh, TON-E is not just sad, TON-E is pining.

TON-E needs STE-V!

 --

Something is wrong with STE-V

STE-V is in his drawing-room, with his drawing pad, but he’s not drawing.

STE-V sighs and makes a frowny face. STE-V is sad?

Sad!STE-V needs fixing. How?

Sad!TON-E and sad!STE-V makes not-sad 30% of the time. 70% of the time, they make angry and/or more-sad. Not acceptable.

Wait. STE-V is looking at sketch of TON-E. Ahh, STE-V is not just sad, STE-V is pining.

STE-V needs TON-E!

 --

Pining!TON-E and pining!STE-V can make more-sad, angry, embarrassed, frustrated, more-pining, not-sad, flustered, shy, happy, excited, enthusiastic, very-happy…

(Pining!TON-E and pining!STE-V can make spectators exasperated, fond, amused…)

Worth a try..

Hi Dum-e. I’m not really in the mood to play right no- hey! Dum-e, put me down! What… where are you taking me? Don’t you da-

Hey Dum-e I wondered where you’d gon- Steve?! What are you doing here?

I don’t know, ask him!

Deliver Pining!STE-V to pining!TON-E: success.

 --

Well, while you’re here… look, I didn’t mean to yell earlier. It was just… I know you were relying on me to shut down those robots, but you were in trouble and I almost didn’t get there in time.

Nono, you were right, I do trust you to know your abilities. And what I should have said was ‘thank you’. But when I saw you take the hit… and you took so long to get up again…

I guess that’s one of the risks of the job. One of the reasons why I run around in a reinforced gold-titanium suit of armour; not spangly lycra like some people.

Hey that’s a breaking-edge, precision formulated, armoured kevlar-lycra blend!

Yeah, thanks to yours truly. Without me, you’d still be running around in nothing more protective than tights and a onesie.

Ah, so you changed the fabric but not the fit?

Well you seem to enjoy showing off so much…

Fix sad!TON-E and sad!STE-V: success

Hey, the others ordered post-mission Thai but I wasn’t really interested, so… wanna go get pizza?

You know what? Sure.

Fix pining!TON-E and pining!STE-V: TBD

DUM-E and the other bots have developed their own language, like twins sometimes do, and Tony can understand them of course, but no one else can.

DUM-E puts motor oil in Tony's smoothies on purpose because the first time he did it, Tony laughed, so DUM-E thinks it makes him happy.