Chapter Text
Electroshocker was rewiring the base's air conditioning, recollecting the instructions he was taught in his high school HVAC classes. He nearly slipped off the ladder he was balancing on as the loudspeaker blared through the room, "All towers report to the cafeteria for supper."
The electrician audibly groaned in relief, a break was well needed. He not-so-carefully hopped off the ladder, rubbing his knee as an ache erupted inside it. "Dammit," he spoke to himself, limping slightly to the cafeteria. He lit up, injury gone as he recognized the look of the food. It was Pyromancer's cooking? What a lucky day!
His plans to wait for Mortar— and his other friends— were quickly abandoned as he grabbed enough food to feed a family. It was unusual for him to eat much outside of a few bites, so a couple towers gave him a confused look. He was smiling like he hadn't eaten in days.
Mortar entered the cafeteria not long after Electroshocker found a seat. He rolled his eyes at the sight of how much food Mortar was getting. "Fatass," he said to himself, a small smirk on his face. Mortar always ate a lot, it was almost a miracle on how he kept his slim physique.
Mortar looked around the cafeteria once he plated all of his food— two plates worth— to find somewhere to sit. The absurd amount of food was enough to make the electrician burst into laughter, the sound of it causing the other man to spot him. He immediately walked over, pulled an unoccupied chair over, and sat down in it.
The man placed the food onto the table, simultaneously saying "What's up?" Electroshocker took a moment to compose himself, before replying in between gasps for air, "Nothing. Why the hell do you eat so much though?"
Mortar laughed, smiling as he answered, "I'm just constantly hungry. Everyday I thank god for a fast metabolism." The electrician continued laughing, head thrown into his arms as he teared up. When he lifted his head, he felt someone staring at him.
Electroshocker looked around to check if it was just his overthinking tendencies, He turned to his right and found that Mortar was too busy chomping down his food, and everyone else he could spot was in conversation, or eating. He turned to his left and saw an angry Freezer death-staring him.
The electrician made eye contact, then turned his head to face Mortar and said his name to get his attention. "Mort," he spoke, before continuing quietly, "Look at Freezer."
Mortar perked up and whipped his head around to face the enraged man. Electro scolded this action disapprovingly, "You couldn't have been any more obvious with that?" in which Mortar quickly mustered up a "sorry" while grabbing another chicken drumstick. He took a bite out of it and swallowed as he made eye contact with Freezer.
—
Freezer embarrassingly looked away as he made eye contact with Electroshocker's friend. "Bastard.." the man whispered under his breath, staring down at his food in which he was barely picking at. He looked up at his sister, Cryomancer, who was occupied with the task of conversing with Hallow Punk, seated next to her.
Freezer couldn't help but let his guard down, kicking his legs subconsciously as he zoned out looking at the food. When Cryomancer looked over, she waved a hand in front of his face and snapped him out of his trance. "Are you alright?" His sister asked, in which Freezer nodded quickly, replying with an aura of slight annoyance.
He couldn't help but let his eyes fall back on Electroshocker, face roughening again as he gazed at the energetic man.
—
Electroshocker got that same old feeling that somebody was watching his every action as Freezer's eyes laid upon him. He looked over using his peripheral vision, then placing his focus on Mortar, who was rambling about something useless. ".. And then he HIT ME!! I was just doing my job, dammit!!-" The other man noticed Electro's serious look. "Did I do something?" Mortar asked, intimidated by the thought of unintentionally irritating his friend.
The electrician got out of his seat, pushing the cool chair in and returning the question with, "Not you. Give me a moment." He then walked over to where Freezer was sitting. Cryomancer noticed the approaching man and rubbed her forehead. "Don't do anything stupid, both of you," she anticipated, scolding them like a tired mother dealing with her two toddlers that refuse to get along.
Freezer turned his body around to face Electroshocker, speaking with a huff, "What do you want?" The taller man put his hands in his pocket, speaking firmly, "You know exactly what I want. Why are you death-staring me?"
Freezer rejoined in annoyance, getting off his chair and looking up at Electroshocker. "You won't leave me alone." The other man simply laughed, raising an eyebrow as he objected, "Me? You're the one getting all up in my business."
The shorter man placed his hands on his hips as he objected confidently, "You're the one that never leaves me alone! Every time I try to get away from you, I SOMEHOW end up right where I started!" He got on his tippy toes, getting up close and personal with Electroshocker's face.
Electroshocker pushed him away, speaking before he thought about his words, "Jeez, I'm sorry I work around the base! I'm sorry seeing you is INEVITABLE!" he apologized, backing up ever so slightly.
"Sorry?" Freezer followed him, moving his arms to point at the electrician. "You are FAR from sorry! If you were sorry, you woul-" Electroshocker interrupted the other with a shove. "I'm fucking SORRY!"
"No you aren't!"
As Freezer said this, other tower's heads turned to face the commotion. Some watched from their seats, some getting up and circling around the two. Electroshocker glanced around quickly, recognizing a few that were creating a makeshift barrier. Engineer, Sniper, Minigunner, and of course Mortar.
"Don't even think about recording this," he mouthed to Mortar, before returning his focus to Freezer. He ignored his listing of reasons why he wasn't sorry, and once Freezer was finished, the electrician got close to him.
"Listen. Calm the hell d-" Electroshocker tried to fix the situation, but was met with a slap by Freezer, who yelled something in a language he didn't understand. Electroshocker, having entered fight or flight, tackled him to the ground. A swarm of shouts from the circle rose, Mortar going against Electro's wishes and taking out his phone, pressing the pretty little record button.
Freezer struggled as he kicked and flailed underneath the taller man. He used all his strength to get out of Electroshocker's grip, eventually succeeding and getting on top of him. He grasped at Electroshocker's neck, depriving him of oxygen.
The electrician reached up and let out an asphyxiated yelp, scrambling to get Freezer's hands off of him. Screams echoed through the cafeteria as the spectating towers witnessed the brawl. As Electroshocker began to lose consciousness, the shorter man thankfully let go and simply kicked him in the balls, followed by him walking away from the scene like nothing had ever happened.
Electroshocker gasped for air, opening his eyes to see that Freezer was no longer present. He made eye contact with Mortar, who sneakily put his phone in his pocket and had a smug grin plastered on his face. The tight circle from watching towers loosened as one by one they each went off to gossip about the interaction.
The man eventually got off the ground, dusting his backside off before making his way over to the table, grabbing his phone in one hand and the now cold food in the other. He threw the meal away, placing the tray onto the dirty stack and walking to his room.
Once in his comfortable, yet messy room, Electroshocker checked his phone to see 200 unread messages from the TDS' group chat, well, excluding Commander. He groans in annoyance, wondering what he missed out on. Probably some new battle plan.. but boy was he wrong.
He scrolled up to the first message, noticing it was sent by Mortar, and then shortly after, realizing it was a video. His finger hovered over the play button, debating internally over the action yet reluctantly tapping it.
What played was a video of the fight, with front row seats, even after Mortar promised Electroshocker he wouldn't record. Electroshocker bit his cheek in agitation, reading what other towers had to say about it. Some replies had rudeness in its tone, others had a humorous tone. All that he knew was that he had 100% lost.
The final message was from Scout, where he was clearly upset. "Why cant we all just get along?" he typed with a teary eyed emoji at the end. Electroshocker skimmed over this, chuckling before thinking out loud, "Life doesn't work like that."
Shortly after, he got a notification from Commander in private messages. "Electroshocker. Come to my office tomorrow morning, 10 AM on the dot." it read, in which the electrician left him on read. He chucked his phone across the room, and shortly after, rubbing his temples. "God dammit Scout," he whispered, already knowing what was to come.