Work Text:
Medkit was cleaning some of the wine glasses in front of him at his counter, using a cloth to polish each and every one of them. Meticulously, he placed each one of the glasses back on the shelf with care. He was really, really careful about it. And yet, like all of his other jobs (except engineering), he hated every aspect of it.
There was a lot of shouting coming from the seats past the counter, he could clearly see Slingshot in front of him, along with his equally annoying friend Skateboard in a drunken haze arguing. It was something about Banlands; the rest of the Phighters like Shuriken chiming in occasionally, but honestly, Medkit couldn’t care to listen. All he was there for was his job, nothing more and nothing less.
All the Phighters had come over to a bar to celebrate something, Medkit didn’t know what, but it was unfortunately at the bar he worked part-time at. Great.
Everybody was rather calm, actually. Only a few phights had broken out, which was kind of astounding for a bunch of people who kill each other over and over again in battles. Medkit was trying to relax and drown out the noise, until..
“Hiya Medkit!”
Oh good lord.
“…Boombox.” Medkit said with the fakest grin he could muster.
Medkit wasn’t the fondest of Boombox. Sure, he was a nice guy who had good intentions, had no friends and was consistently lonely, but Medkit took no interest in someone like him. He was way too chaotic for his liking. Even though Boombox pretends to be his friend.
“Can I ask why you’re not sitting here with us?” Boombox asked, with genuine curiosity blinking through his visor.
“I work here. I can’t leave the job.” Medkit responded with a slight matter-of-factness in his tone.
“Oh, is it a part-time job?” Questioned Boombox.
Medkit nodded slightly and continued to polish the glasses. He really wasn’t in the mood for this.
“Do you.. particularly enjoy it?” Boombox said, leaving the last of his sentence with a small grin. He was genuinely hoping Medkit would at least enjoy the job a little bit.
“No. Not one bit.” Medkit sighed, putting the newly cleaned glasses on the counter, slumping into a position where his head was only held up by his arm. “It’s just for extra cash.”
Boombox’s face turned from vaguely hopeful to a little concerned. He tried to not show or voice his worry, and Medkit knew why.
Boombox was mostly teased by the rest of the Phighters for not picking up on basic social cues, as well as their other teasing when it came to their short coworker. As a result, Medkit noticed Boombox would regularly look kind of calm or unphased during conversation as a means to combat his constant teasing. Boombox really never said he was uncomfortable with being insulted like that, but it was probably because he still wanted to make friends with the rest of them… Even though he was kind of hopeless in hindsight.
“Oh, that’s unfortunate.” Boombox exhaled woefully. “Any reason why you don’t enjoy it?”
Medkit replied with slight frustration in his tone. “Yes. Definitely yes. It’s because I have to deal with all these drunks all the time trying to talk with me when I’m doing something I don’t enjoy.”
Medkit, under normal circumstances, would’ve told Boombox to go fuck off. He had bothered him enough already. But he knew that that would just end up in Boombox pestering him even more. So, since he decided he was tired of talking about himself, he asked Boombox a nice question for the first time.
“Well, Boombox, can I ask why you aren’t talking to the rest of the group? Why are you spending your time talking with someone like me?” He asked with a puzzled look.
Boombox’s visor perked up. “Ah, right. I forgot. I wanted to talk to you about something, Medkit.”
Medkit watched Boombox’s posture go from friendly and inviting to serious rather quickly, letting himself lean forwards and his hands clasping together as they laid in front of him.. He felt himself feeling a little threatened, not in the sense that Boombox was going to hurt him, but he knew he wasn’t playing around. He lifted himself off of the counter and picked up his handkerchief, slowly starting to resume his process.
“Medkit, seriously now, I know you can’t stand me.” Boombox said in a lower tone of voice, not as if he was trying to be scary, but he was trying to clarify his tone.
Medkit looked at his coworker. What? Was he pulling some kind of prank? Did somebody steal Boombox’s outfit and start pretending to be him? This isn’t what the Boombox he knew would say.
Boombox followed up his shocking statement. “..And I know the others can’t stand me either. I know that everyone practically despises me and my personality. Don’t take me for an idiot. I can tell when others are only around me to use me as a puppet.”
In response, Medkit almost dropped the wine glass he was cleaning.
“But that isn’t why I’m talking to you. I’m talking to you because I just don’t get you.”
..Okay, now Boombox was somehow being even more vague. What the hell was he talking about? First he prefaces that he knows everybody finds him an annoying punching bag, and now he’s talking about how he doesn’t understand Medkit. Truly, Medkit was more interested in what Boombox had to say than any other time Boombox attempted to converse with him. It almost made Medkit look stupid with how surprised he looked.
Boombox’s tone continues to be formal, however he still makes slight gestures with his hands occasionally to portray his feelings more effectively.
“I don’t get it. You push everyone away and make it super clear you don’t like anyone around you, going so far as to tell them to leave you alone when they’re just checking up on you,” he started.
“and they’re still open to being your friend. And yet, when I try and talk with everyone else, I get shut down or I get my hopes up, only for them to be crushed realizing that they’re just using me as a way to laugh.”
“I genuinely try my hardest to change myself and work myself into something that will make at least someone, not even my coworkers like me. I’d gladly change who I am in a heartbeat if it means I get to finally have someone to talk to.”
“But you.. you just push it all away. I don’t understand. You live a life you despise and you hate all those around you even if they’re able to help with that. Everyone here, besides Subspace probably would support you in improving as a person-“
Medkit interrupted Boombox with a slightly flustered look. “Well, ever since Subspace-“
Boombox snapped and slammed the counter. “DAMMIT MEDKIT! THIS, THIS is what I MEAN! I’ve been through shit as well, without ANYBODY to fall back on and I still TRY. I TRY to make meaningful relationships. I TRY to improve myself. I TRY to keep a smile even when others are pulling me down.
But you, you just dwell on the past and don’t let yourself do ANYTHING about it. You sit and dwell on your corner rejecting any sort of help or change, yet people still give a shit about you. You know what I’d do to get similar treatment? To be handed all the support in the world? I’d chop my left arm and leg off to have the same situation as you.
I’m not saying your struggles aren’t valid, far from it, but do you realize how lucky you are to be in this scenario?”
Boombox sighed and started to get up and walk away.
“Look, all I’m trying to say is that just try to make a friend or two. It doesn’t even need to be me, I can’t force you to consider me a pal. Just, all I want you to do is realize your situation is lucky, and try to improve yourself. Please, that’d be the one thing that’d make my pitiful existence even somewhat happy.” Boombox spat at Medkit, with a hint of sadness in his voice.
Medkit stared in disbelief. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
He looked around to see if anybody else had heard Boombox’s rant, except everybody was too drunk to hear his outrage. Shurkien, the closest person to them, had fully passed out on the counter after throwing up. The rest of the Phighters were already in their own drunken wonderland, and Medkit swore he could see Skateboard hold Slingshot up by the collar of his shirt, but it was hard to tell if they were about to kiss or Skateboard was going to make him merge with the floor.
But he wasn’t really paying attention to that.
He was paying attention to Boombox’s words.
Honestly, Medkit knew that he was a cynical asshole, but he tried to at least do something for others. Or, well, he thought he did. He always thought that he wasn’t worth anyone’s time; that's why he pushed himself away from others’ kindness. He felt like he didn’t deserve it, he was only doing the bare minimum for his teammates after all. And as Medkit puts it,
“All he was there for was his job, nothing more and nothing less.”.
But is that how he truly wanted to live his life? Forever haunted by his passion? Unable to move on, causing himself to keep falling down into a pit of self-loathing and hatred for the world? Would he ever forgive himself?
As Medkit was overrun with so many new ideas he had never considered, Boombox was about to leave. Medkit pulled himself together and called out to him.
“Wait, Boombox!” he said without thinking, raising his hand in the air.
Boombox turned slightly as his hand touched the doorknob. “What?”
Medkit tried composing himself as best as he could, realizing he didn’t know what to say, until he had remembered something Boombox had mentioned to him only a couple of days ago.
“Isn’t.. Isn’t your Boombox’s fan broken? You said your shoulders were getting burns because of it, right?” He asked, a little shaky after what had just occurred.
It was now Boombox’s turn to be confused. “..Yeah?”
“Would you like me to come over to Playground sometime and show you how to fix it?” Medkit asked, regaining his composure again.
“..You know how to fix that kind of stuff?” Boombox questioned, turning around fully and tilting his head a bit.
“Well of course, Boombox. I’m an engineer for crying out loud!” Medkit laughed.
Boombox’s face turned from a frown to a small but genuine smile. “You know what? Sure. Meet me tomorrow at Crossroads.”
“Deal.” Medkit returned the smile.
Boombox waved and closed the door behind him.
And while Medkit worked, instead of singing the blues, he hummed an old melody from home.