Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“There you go, sweetie,” Sung murmured down to his keytar, going through the wires a final time. A typical weekend day found him sequestered away in his room, running maintenance on his instruments. “No more problems, right? Sorry about that coffee accident...”

The floor creaked and he looked up. Havve was standing in the doorway, his hands cupped together in front of him.

“Hey dude!” Sung flashed a peace sign in greeting. “H’suh?”

Havve didn’t answer, but held his joined hands out. Sung’s gaze turned downwards, focusing on the small shape that the other had carefully cradled. It was a bird, a small sparrow, one wing bent out at an awkward angle.

“Oh gee.” Sung hopped up out of his chair and came over for a closer look. Havve held it out to him, not with his usual jerky sudden movements, but much slower, more deliberate. The bird lay perfectly still, beady eyes wide open, its chest moving rapidly with short breaths.

“It is broken.” Havve’s voice echoed in Sung’s mind. “Can you fix it? Fix it like you fixed me.”

“Ah, well...” Sung grimaced and scratched at his cheek. “It’s not...exactly the same situation. It’s fully biological, of course.” Havve stared back at him, red eyes glowing bright.

“ You are also biological.”

“Yes but...” Sung sighed and waved a hand to invite him in. “One second. I’ll see what I can do.”

Sung dug through his closet and found an old shoebox, which he lined with a towel before shoving some junk off his desk to make room. Havve placed the bird inside and Sung moved the lamp over to take a look.

“Lend me your x-ray vision for a second,” he murmured. Then, steeling himself, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He reached for Havve’s mind, letting his consciousness flow across the link.

For a moment, Sung saw things through Havve’s eyes. It was, as always, both disorienting and amazing. He could feel Havve’s 808 drum in his chest, the energy pulsing outwards with each beat. He could hear feel the hum of electricity running through the house, and with it a barrage of information, watts, amps, voltage. He could hear their teammates moving through the house, their heartbeats, their breaths, their electric signals firing. Sometimes, he swore he could feel the earth moving beneath them.

Best to focus on the bird. It too, was alive with energy. With Havve’s vision he could see the inner workings of its body, but more than that, he could hear it. The minute tremble of hollow bones, the whistle of breath, the soft thud of a tiny heart.

He fell back in his own body. Rocking on his heels, he squeezed his eyes shut and sucked in a deep breath of air. He had learned that if he didn’t do that first thing, he would forget he needed to.

“Ok,” he turned back to Havve, “the good news is it looks like just its wing is broken, and the internal bleeding isn’t too bad. I think if we just give it a safe place to heal and keep it fed, it will recover alright.”

“Its drumbeat is too fast.” Havve told him. Sung gave a strained smile as he slipped on some gloves.

“Smaller creatures tend to have faster heartbeats, and the little guy is probably a bit scared. Just let me know if it starts to slow rapidly or stops.”

For a moment the two of them stared at each other in silence, then Havve spoke again.

“You will not fix it?”

“I can splint the wing,” Sung offered, “but other than that we can only let it heal on its own.”

“You will not cut into it?” Havve pointed at the bird. “Replace the broken parts. What does it need?”

“Time, Havve,” Sung told him gently. “It will heal on its own, with time.” Havve turned his head to stare back down at the box.

“...How much time?” He asked. Sung could only shrug.

“I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see. For now, we can get it some food and water...” He led off as Havve turned around and marched out of the room. “Havve?? H-Hang on!” He started after him but too late realized the other was heading outside, and Sung was still wearing his pajamas. “Havve! Havve wait a second!”

000

There was a commotion outside. Meouch poked his head out the window and looked to the left. Havve was in the neighbor’s yard, ripping their bird feeder out of the ground. Sung was behind him, in his pajamas, desperately and futilely trying to pull the other’s metal body away, yelling all the while. Past them, on the porch. Their elderly neighbor watched it all unfold, drinking her coffee with a kind of tired expression. She and Meouch made eye contact.

Meouch leaned back inside and closed the window. “Hey Phobs,” he called back over his shoulder. “Feel like baking some cookies for the neighbors?”

“What did you do this time?”

000

“Whew.” Sung mopped at his forehead as he examined his work. The bird’s wing had been splinted, and it now had a small pile of birdseed and a dish of water keeping it company.  “Well, that should be good enough.”

“ It is not eating ,” Havve commented. Sung shook his head.

“Give it some time. It’s had a rough day. Animals won’t eat if they’re stressed.”

“Meouch eats when he’s stressed.” Sung’s brows furrowed together.

“Er, that’s not exactly-”

“You eat when you’re stressed.”

“Hey now-!” Sung propped his hands on his hips and fixed him with a stern look. Havve, as always, stared right back, then cocked his head to the side.

“What?”

“...Never mind.” Sung sighed and deflated once more. “Just, be patient. We’ll keep an eye on it. For now, all we can do is wait.”

“Wait.” Havve turned back to the bird. “I will wait.”

Chapter Text

The next day when Sung woke up, he was not entirely surprised to find Havve in his room. His back to Sung, he stared down at the box on the desk, unmoving, silent.

“G’mornin,” Sung murmured as he slithered out of the bed. “How’s our guest?” 

“Heart rate: 550 beats per minute,” Havve answered. “Respiratory system: 45 breaths per minute. Body temperature: 41.5 degrees Celsius-”

“Um, great.” Sung shuffled over to his dresser. “Has it eaten anything?”

“It awoke at 4:35 am, made some noises, and consumed approximately 5 milliliters of water and 0.7 grams of food.”

“Greeeat.” Sung yawned before fixing him with a concerned look. “Did you recharge at all last night?”

“Power levels are functional.” 

“Haaaavve,” Sung came over to join him. “A watched bird never heals.” Havve turned his head to look at him.

“Elaborate.”

“You don’t need to hover over it all the time.” Sung rested a hand on his shoulder, mindful of the spikes there. “Come on, wanna play some video games or something?” 

“No.” Havve looked back at the bird. “I will stay here.” Sung gave him another worried look, but in the end he just shrugged and headed off to go get some breakfast.

000

Days passed. The bird continued to eat, to drink, to make noises in the early dawn. Phobos and Meouch swung by to help feed and check on it, but mostly it was Havve who stayed on guard.

“Alright!” Sung gently tugged the makeshift splint off the wing, beaming as he stepped back. “That’s a clean bill of health from Doctor Sung!”

Meouch cheered and Phobos gave a short applause. “Havve,” Sung grinned as he lifted the box up, “how about you do the honors?” Havve took the box, then looked back to Sung in question. “Take it outside, I mean.”

So he did. With the other three trailing behind him, he carried the box out to the front lawn. He set it down, then with Sung’s encouragement, gently lifted the bird up in his hand. The bird sat in his palm, staring at him. He stared back. Then, the bird hopped to the tip of his fingers, spread its wings and took off, fluttering up into the sky.

“You did it, buddy!” Sung clapped Havve on the shoulder. “Thanks to you, our feathered friend lives to fly another day!”

“Until it gets eaten,” Meouch muttered before Phobos elbowed him in the ribs. Havve didn’t respond. He watched the bird fly until it disappeared into the cover of the nearby trees. He turned to Sung.

“It is healed?”

“Sure looks like it!” Sung grinned and propped his hands on his hips. “Didn’t seem to have any trouble at all, yeah?”

“Yes.” Havve nodded. “...Good.”

With that, he turned and headed back inside. Sung scooped up the abandoned box and trotted in after him, followed by the others.

000

The bird had flown, back into the great wide world, and yet Havve seemed...off, still. Not sad, exactly, more...withdrawn. Sung found him one day after practice, sitting on a bench outside staring down at his hands. He did not look up with Sung approached, even when the other was standing directly next to him.

“...Havve?” Sung called out. Slowly, Havve lifted his head to look at him.

“What?”

“Is…everything ok?”

“All systems are normal.”

“No, I mean…” Sung made a vague gesture at him. “Something on your mind?”

For a second Havve didn’t answer. Then he looked back down at his hands.

“I do not heal with time.” He turned his hands over, then back again. “I break down, I require maintenance. Time does not fix me.”

“Sure it does,” Sung squatted down beside him. “Maybe not your body, but your mind, and-” he offered a cheeky smile as he pressed a finger to Havve’s chest plate. “-your heart.” Havve gave him a blank look.

“My heart is an 808 drum. It too will wear down with time.”

“I mean metaphorically.” Sung sat back. “We’re more than just our bodies, Havve. We grow, we learn, we mature.” He grinned wide, looking up at him. “I’ve watched you grow too, Havve. You’re different than when we first met.” Havve cocked his head to the side.

“Many of my parts have been replaced. Your first job was shoddy.”

Sung blew a raspberry at him in response. “It wasn’t bad for the situation! And I’m not talking about that. You know what I mean!”

“...Perhaps, somewhat.” Havve tilted his head back to look up at the sky. “I remember, thinking different things, feeling different things.” He drummed his fingers against his knee. “Back then, I did not know many things. Music. Friendship.” He blinked once, glowing eyes flickering off and on again. “If I had seen an injured bird at that time, I would not have thought about how it would die, remain forever still, if no outside force intervened. I would not have wondered if it could be fixed.” His drumming stopped. “I do not know what this means...but I am glad to know music, and friends, and that broken birds can be fixed again.” Sung smiled and nodded. 

“As am I, my friend.”