Archive of Our Own ^beta

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In red ink, a date had been circled on Test Tube’s calendar. April 21.

Sighing, she looked back down to her clipboard. Today was one of Bot’s ‘update days’. As much as she loved to help them, she also dreaded how long it takes to go through all their components.

Putting the clipboard down, she lifted herself up from her chair, “OH GOLLY” She yelled as she faceplanted onto her white-tiled floor. Well this is great.. She thought as she picked herself back up, adjusting dusting her coat.

She hastily put her hair up in a bun before picking up her phone.

Test tube smiled as she looked at her wallpaper. It was a picture of her, Fan and Bot; taken from the finale of ‘III’. I’m so glad to have them.. She thought while smiling giddily. Her fingers traced over Fan as she imagined how her life would be without him. No yapping, no blogging, no II season 4, and most importantly, no Bot.

Her mood had suddenly shifted, her back slightly curving as her pupils dilated. ‘It’s probably not the best time to think about this’. Her right hand gripping the phone harder and her left scratching her beloved chair. Slowly but surely, she dialed Fan’s number. He had always been a great help throughout all of Bot’s updates.

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Fan’s phone buzzed with a small vibration, the name of a certain scientist’s name glowing on the screen. He quickly paused his blogging session and snatched it up.

“Hello?” There was a brief pause before Test Tube’s voice came through. “Fan. Update day.”

Fan blinked, adjusting his glasses as if that would stop his brain from short-circuiting. “Oh… oh! Update day. Right, right. Uhh,, how- how bad is it this time? Like full system reboot bad or- or y’know, ‘turn them off and on again’ bad?” He stumbled through his words. On the other side, Test Tube let out a sharp sigh. “Full system. And you know how long those take.”

Fan grimaced, sinking into his chair. He remembered the last time. 2.763 hours of wires, error messages, and Test Tube stress-drinking three cups of FULL BLACK coffee in a row. “I’ll come over. I mean—you probably need the extra hands, right?”

“You always read my mind,” she said softly. Fan smiled despite Test Tube not being able to see it, amidst rubbing the back of his neck. “Or maybe you just say it out loud every time. Either way, I’ll be there in a few.”

The call ended, leaving Fan staring at his phone screen for a second too long. “Yeah, easier said than done,” Fan muttered to himself, already grabbing his bag.

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The lab was cold and sterile as Test Tube prepped for the task ahead of her. The luminescent lights flickered above her as if they were trying to create an eerie scene.

Bot had positioned themself in a chair, kicking their feet as they drew on a piece of paper while waiting for Fan to arrive.

‘Where is he??’ Test Tube muttered under her breath, impatiently already starting to get all her tools ready.

As if on queue, Fan burst through the lab doors, almost knocking some beakers over. “SORRY I CAME LATE!” he huffed between pants as he tried to regain balance. “I REALISED I HAD FORGOTTEN MY PHONE BACK AT THE HOTEL ON THE WAY HERE” He smiled sheepishly.

Test Tube crossed her arms skeptically and sighed. She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Alright Fan.. now that you’re here, could you help remove Poppy’s ‘leaf’ from their head?” She asked.

Fan tilted his head as his eyes flicked from Test Tube to the huge leaf covering the left side of Bot’s face.

“UHH yeah- uh no pressure or anything, right?” He laughed nervously while walking closer to bot, who had now been turned off by Test Tube. Wait, when did she do that?

His shaky hands hovered over the loose leaf. With a soft rip the knot came off as he removed the leaf, revealing the damaged plating underneath. Hey that wasn’t as hard as I expected! He thought to himself, grinning proudly.

Test Tube was already by his side, taking the leaf carefully and placing it on a tray.

Her brows furrowed as she put on her gloves. “I thought handling this with the update would be bad, but I didn’t think it would be this bad” she muttered, clearly stressed.

Fan hovered right behind her, patting her back as an attempt to make her feel better - (caused a small smile!)

Test Tube leaned closer with a small flashlight, carefully inspecting the inner wiring. Her voice softened as she spoke. “You know, sometimes I wonder how we managed to pull off creating them.”

“Me too! But even if it seemed impossible at the time, we did it and they’re the best creation we could have ever created” Fan added, earning a small nod of agreement from Test Tube.

The light buzzed faintly as she pushed her glasses up. “Still, I can’t help but think - what if one day we can’t fix them? What if something goes wrong?” Her words hung in the air longer than she had intended them to, doubt creeping into her voice.

Fan quickly jumped in and waved his arms “N-Nope nope don’t say that! You’ll always find a way, Test Tube! You’re like- the queen of fixing impossible things!” He gave her an exaggerated thumbs up, his goofy grin earning a small chuckle from her.

“Queen of fixing impossible things” She repeated, shaking her head jokingly as she untangled a clump of wires. “Not a title I’ve heard before”

“Well, now you have!” Fan said proudly, right before tripping over a stool and falling over. “See! This is why I’m not the queen of fixing impossible things” Test tube rolled her eyes but her soft smile still lingered.

“They trust us. We can’t let them down again”

“And we won’t. Not today, not ever”

For a while, the lab was quiet. It was just the two of them and their creation under a flickering glow. Someone tell Test Tube to fix that light.

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HEYYY sorry for the chapter 3 release being a bit late 😢😢 i've been having the highest fever of my entire life (39.6°C/103.28°F) 💔💔 anyways for the meantime have some doodles of last chapter 11  🥹🥹 (please TRUST me my drawing skills are better tjan this my hands are just super shaky right now and i'm really sick 😔😔)

the second one is a joke (i think 😭😭)