Chapter Text
"no homo said the homo"
- probably some homo
"Goodnight everyone."
"Night, Jimmy!"
Exclaimed the men from their cozy bunks, all of them snuggling up to their blankets and preparing themselves for sleep. Bones held his newly fixed guitar close to him, Ricky tided up his sheets before getting comfortable, and Crash was already in a deep sleep.
The Commander watched them all fall asleep as he stayed awake in his bed, tossing and turning in an attempt to catch some Zs.
He felt tired after a long day of beating Silver Skull and his goons, or more so an entire month of that. Maybe longer? The man could barely tell how much time has passed— especially now that he’s getting proper rest.
He twirled his thumbs as he stared at the ceiling, reminiscing on those lonely nights he’d spent when he was the only member left. Completly letting himself rot in anguish at the loss of his friends— his family.
That was not very heroic of him, he thought.
And even now that things were back to normal, something still didn't feel right. The Commander laid there in a state of deep thought for quite a while, something he doesn't really do often! Who does this stuff anyways? Definitely not him! When does he ever have the time to ponder about these things? He frowned and groaned as he continued to ponder.
It was unusual for the Commander to think at all— it just wasn’t in his nature. He was known for just wingin’ it after all!
Yet it turned out, he was capable of making at least one thought per hour.
As much happy as he was to be back with his friends, something was missing.
Then it finally hit him, as he looked for something to hold.
Ever since Jimmy and his dismembered body parts were found, the Commander kept his buddy close at all times, to not leave the poor bot alone. They'd constantly argue, and he'd get pissed everytime Jimmy nagged him over his mistakes. He was trying his best, dangit!
But he wanted his robo-friend back more than anything. He vowed to never let him get torn apart ever again.
He sat back up and held his knees, full of guilt. Everything was resolved technically, but he didn't felt like this was okay.
Then, he heard the sound of a broom hitting the floor. Was the robot seriously doing work at this hour?
"...Okay fine, screw it!”
The Commander muttered to himself as he leapt out of bed. Clumsily, but determined to do something thoughtful for a change.
He removed his sheets and pillows as he tiptoed towards the door.
"Uhh...Commander...?"
He turned back around to see everyone had woken up. The youngest Aquabat jumped out of his bunk and stretched.
"Where are you going?"
"Uh, I have an important mission to attend to."
"Try to not clog anything this time." commented Eaglebones between yawns.
"NOT THAT KIND OF MISSION!”
He pouted at the avian.
"...I'm gonna go bunk at Jimmy's, it's very strange you guys, but Im sensing something...pretty bummer. And I don't like it!"
The other bats looked at each other. Crash rose up and rubbed his eye.
"Can we go with you too, Commander...?"
The boys crept into Jimmy's lab, cautiously relocating lab equipment to make space for a proper pillow fort.
"Hey, I can't find my bear anywhere!" Crash searched around frantically.
"Check under the table, maybe it fell down when we moved it." Commander was too focused on moving things around to help him search.
Eaglebones scratched his head in uncertainty.
"Commander you really think Jimmy's gonna be okay with us sleeping in here with all these chemicals lying around?”
"Don't be silly, Eaglebones! We've been through this science-y stuff before, nothing can burn us or debilitate our life expectancy!"
"Yeah Bones, maybe you should chill!"
Ricky held a large pillow over his head like a sledgehammer.
"Ricky, get that pillow away from me."
The Commander interrupted the potential quarrel as he raised his hand. "Wait, do you guys hear that? He's coming! Everyone be quiet!"
The lab door slid open, an agitated Jimmy stood behind it.
"Jimmy! Took you long enough!"
Jimmy's eyes widened at the sight of everyone gathered together on the floor. The Commander approached him with a smile.
"Jimmy! Welcome to the sleepover, baby!"
He threw finger guns at him before pulling him inside.
“A sleepover?"
Jimmy raised an eyebrow confusedly as he was pushed to sit down in the middle of the blanket mess, everyone sitting around him as well.
"Surprise! We're all sleeping together now!"
The Commander tossed his arms in the air as he dove into the pile of blankets.
"But isn't it past everyone's bedtimes?"
Jimmy blinked twice, his head going in all directions as everyone moved closer to him.
"We don't NEED bedtimes, Jimmy! We’re MEN!"
Commander exclaimed with a single fist pounding his chest, which also hurt so he stopped immediately.
"Yeah besides, the Commander insisted.”
Bones explained. He grabbed his guitar and started playing a gentle tune.
"We thought it wouldn’t be right to let you hang out here all by yourself tonight."
"Yeah! Especially since you were all broken and stuff!" Crash exclaimed.
Jimmy winced. "Well Crash, I wasn't exactly ‘broken.’ I just didn't have a body."
"Same thing, Jimmy! Maybe if we had your body back sooner we could’ve fled from Peru…" Ricky put a hand to his head dramatically.
"It was horrible! Everyone kept looking at me all funny— And they'd call me ‘El Pendejo de los Elotes!’ What did that even mean?!"
"Here we go again.." Bones rolled his eyes.
The Commander cleared his throat to get the robot's attention as the others discussed with Ricky's “traumatic” event while in Peru.
"I thought that you should have these, robot. It’s about time you do!"
He held over some poorly folded pajamas to Jimmy.
"They’re my old pair, but they'd probably fit you. Even if they're a bit big around the arms. Extra space for my awesome muscles y’know, hahaha!" He flexed his arms to show them off.
The robot was speechless, and he held the jammies close to him with the most grateful smile.
"Thank you, Commander."
"Don't sweat it bro-bot."
He smiled at how Jimmy’s bright blue eyes glowed gleefully. They were bluer than the ocean waves he loved to surf.
"Jimmy! You found my bear!"
Crash cheered, butting in the moment to grab the bear from Jimmy's grasp. Robot had almost forgotten that he was going to return it to him.
"Oh, right. You left it on the couch."
The Commander snapped out of his trance, covering his flustered cheeks with his hands.
"Oh hey! Nice pajamas you got there, Jimmy!" Crash commented whilst cuddling his little buddy.
"Thanks Crash. I'm gonna put them on right now!”
Robot then proceeded to remove his lab coat on the spot. His homies were quick to stop him.
"WOAH HEY— ROBOT! NOT IN HERE!"
The Commander threw a pillow at the robot, which Ricky saw as an opportunity for a—
"PILLOW FIIIIIGHT!"
"Nonono Ricky DON'T-"
Before anyone knew it, there was a storm of pillows flying all over the place. Commander got socked in the nose whilst caught in the crossfire.
"Oh it's ON!"
Everyone laughed as they went to town, pillows clashed everywhere!
Jimmy joined the brawl with a chuckle, not minding the feathers that flew around. He couldn’t care less, all that mattered was that they were all having fun.
As things simmered back down, was now sleeping soundly across the mess of blankets and pillows on the floor. Jimmy had his new pajamas on as he was preparing to plug into his charging booth for the night.
An exhausted Commander scooted closer to the booth, lying beside it with a yawn.
"Need anything, Commander?"
"Nono, just...I gotta say, robot..."
He got comfortable with the two pillows he stole from Ricky, and closed his eyes.
"I might’ve gotten too used to sleep next to your noisy robo-head noises...they’re..very...soothing..."
The mention of that made the robot chuckle as he stepped into his charging station.
"...I'm sorryyy..."
Jimmy beeped out of worry.
"Sorry? For what?"
He heard the Commander's snoring before he could ask again.
He stepped back out, perhaps the charging could wait just a little longer. It only took a few hours. The robot laid down next to his buddy, mimicking the cuddle he would do to his head back then. The Commander instinctively embraced the robot's head. Jimmy sighed happily at the feeling, he missed hearing his heartbeat and various other noises he made in his sleep.
Once again, Jimmy felt an odd fluttering feeling in his mechanical heart.
Robot wasn’t certain what it meant, but regardless, he enjoyed it.
Tomorrow called for an investigation, though.
THE END