#steambot squared

xXxXx

He’s walking down the stairs. That’s all. It’s nothing that should cause alarm.

Onciebot was never as practiced with walking as Greedlerbot, and sometimes he would wobble because of the weight needing to be countered from the tank on his back, but it was usually fine. He could walk, jump, go up and down stairs, and even run. He can’t skip; Greed can, but only because he cheats a little and uses his rocket-shoes to give his heavy metal body the boost, but that’s fine. Oncie didn’t need to skip.

So it doesn’t make sense. Greedlerbot keeps trying to help Steam-ler calculate what could have gone wrong, over and over, and they are coming up short.

They only know that something glitched. Something, mid-step near the top of the stairs, malfunctioned inside the younger bot, and caused Onciebot to tumble down the flight and go into automatic shutdown mode. He lost his balance, or he briefly forgot how to move his legs; something, whatever it was, caused the fall.

But that doesn’t matter now. Figuring out the cause isn’t entirely going to solve the effect, because the damage has already been done.

“…His memory is shot,” Steam-ler murmurs sadly. “He can’t remember a thing. It’s like having a blank, new computer. Basic operating systems only. The data… is corrupt.”

No, that can’t be! There has to be a way to get it back. Can’t you transfer some of my memory to him? Greedlerbot writes out frantically on his chalkboard.

Steam’s eyes are clouding with tears as Onciebot hardly looks between them, emotionless, eyes half-lidded and sitting perfectly, eerily still. Steam shakes his head. “No. It’s not the same. Both of you have memories structures like a human’s, not a comptuer’s. So if I transfer them over… he will believe he is you. All his memories will be in your point of view, and it will corrupt what data might be left even further. So I… I can’t,” Steam whispers.

But I miss him. I don’t want him to stay like this. There has to be a way. Please, Greed-ler writes back, face sorrowful even with his goggles obscuring his eyes.

“I-I don’t know what to do,” Steam frets, trembling, and Greed sets down his board and chalk, walking over to his master and wrapping his arms securely around him. Steam sobs into Greed’s clothes, inhaling the familiar, metallic, crude oil scent that always lingers on the bot. He heaves a few breathes and says brokenly, “We’ll have to start fresh. There’s no other way.”

Greedlerbot doesn’t have a heart, but he still feels the heartbreak. They have so many memories already built with Onciebot; and now, to lose them all… To have so many moments suddenly one-sided…

Greed feels like crying, too. Instead, he kisses Steam’s cheek and holds him a bit tighter, but mindful of his own strength. He looks at Oncie over Steam’s shoulder and feels a rush of anger and pain surge through him.

Tearing away from Steam-ler, Greedlerbot marches up to where Oncie sits on the worktable and slaps him across the face.

Oncie hardly reacts. His antennae slide up and down for a moment on his ears, and his eyes glow momentarily brighter. And then he’s back to staring at nothing.

Greed-ler hisses loudly and clenches his hands into fists until the scraping of metal on metal is heard, and he starts to overheat, oil dripping down from his eyes beneath his googles.

“Greed! Please, calm down!” Steam tries to soothe the bot, but Greed-ler can’t stand it. He loves Oncie. He loves him as much as he loves Steam, and it hurts more than anything he’s ever felt before, and it’s making him resentful and angry.

He wishes he had words. He wishes to Seuss above that he could scream at Onciebot, How dare you do this to us! To me! How dare you be so careless that you fall down the stairs and fuck up your hardware! How dare you forget me and Steam and not even realize it or care! That isn’t fair! That isn’t how things should work! You won’t be the same again and I hate you for it! I hate you, and you can’t even care that I do, and it makes me hate you even more!

  “RrrEEAAAAGHH!” Greed-ler’s roar breaks from his throat, all grinding gears and screeching metal, and he turns and runs for the door. He said he wouldn’t try really flying with his rockets again after he crashed so badly the first time and worried Steam-ler so much, but he’s too hurt already to care if he gets hurt a little more. He feels reckless and abandoned.

So he leaves.

“Greedlerbot!” Steam calls out, yelling into the wind, but if his first creation hears him, he ignores him.

He flies and flies, spiraling out of control every so often, and he doesn’t even care.

He finds a quiet place and stays there until his joints are stiff, in need of oil. He stays there a bit longer, even after the point where he might not function properly himself unless he moves. And to reach this point, it takes at least a week.

Steam searches for him every day. Gets Crud-ler to help. Shows a picture to Onciebot so he can scan the area, but Oncie looks unlike the others do: with no feelings attached.

When they find Greed’s hiding place, Crud’s the one who stumbles across him. He lifts the heavy bot over his shoulder with a grunt and carries him back to where Steam and Oncie are searching and waiting.

They oil him up, polish off the minimal rust, and ask him things.

He doesn’t bother to write down any of his answers, not do so much as shake or nod his head. Steam tries time and time again, even getting angry, raising his voice (a rare occasion unless he’s getting someone’s attention from afar), and shaking Greedlerbot, pleading with tears streaming down his face, “Don’t you break down on me, too!”

And that seems to jar Greed, finally, and he lifts his gaze and glares. His glare makes Steam shrink back and sigh heavily. He pinches between his eyes and walks away.

Crud-ler watches Steam go, and then peers back at the bot. “You aren’t being fair to him. I know you’re upset about Onciebot losing his memories, but he’s done everything he can do. In between looking for you, he’s been working on Oncie every day. And some of the data’s been recovered, you know.”

Greed-ler perks up at this. “Recovered?” he echoes.

Crud nods. “Yeah. Oncie still doesn’t remember anything sentimental about either of you, but he still knows both of you. Just ask him.”

Pointedly, Greed makes a move to stand and walk over to Onciebot, and he sits down in front of him. He kisses Oncie on the mouth, like he did at Christmas with the mistletoe, and then pulls away. “Remember?” he plays back in Crud’s voice, and Oncie blinks slowly, and very slightly tilts his head.

“Do you… mean… Christmas, Mr. Greedlerbot? You did the same action then. I… still do not understand it.”

A/N: So Steph1007 and I agree that there needs to be more romantic OT3 shipping of the Steamfamily, so we have decided that this romantic ship of Steam-ler, Greedlerbot, and Onciebot shall be deemed 'steambot squared' because it's Steam plus his two bots. And to start up this new trackable OT3 tag, I'm writing one fluff drabble, one angst drabble, and one smutfic, as well as drawing some stuff in between.