Chapter Text
Chai wakes up with the sun in his eyes and a weight on his chest. He scowls, tilting his head away from the light. His fingers curl against the thing on his chest. It’s soft. Sorta. There’s some sort of hard material beneath the thin layer of fluff. Something about that seems…familiar. His eyes narrow. He tilts his head forward so he can see what it is.
The cat is curled up on him, seemingly asleep.
He huffs. He can’t believe he forgot he let it in last night.
Its ears twitch suddenly, its eyes opening a beat later. It stares at him for another few beats, before it hops off, landing on the bed next to him. It stretches, making a strange little noise as it does.
Sitting up, Chai smiles as he watches it. “Oh, big stretch!”
Its ears perk up. It moves to rub against his side, purring. He gives it a few pats.
Turning away from it, he gets out of bed. Stretching his arm over his head, he yawns. As his arm falls back to his side, he shakes himself, taking a step forward—only to trip over the duffel bag full of CNMN’s parts.
He hits the floor with a dull thud and groans. The cat mewls, landing near him almost silently and nudging his head. It’s accompanied by the muffled sound of footsteps approaching his room.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Chai? You alright?” Peony asks, her voice just as muffled as her footfalls were.
He sighs as he sits up. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
He turns his head to glare at CNMN’s, which stares blankly back at him.
Grimacing after a beat, Chai pulls the bag closer and zips it up.
“Good. Oh! I made breakfast burritos, if you want one!”
“Uhh, yeah, sure. Just lemme get changed and stuff…”
As he stares at the bag, a thought pops into his head. He looks back towards the door, only to get distracted by the cat staring at him, its ears folded back a bit and eyes looking…bluer than before. His brow furrows. He shakes his head after a beat and stands up.
“Of course, of course! I’ll leave you to—”
Chai interrupts her by opening the door and asking, “Is Frappe at work?”
Peony jumps, eyes wide and a hand on her chest. She relaxes after a beat.
“No, brew’s in the living room. Affo’s at work today.”
“Cool, cool…” He smirks, leaning on the door frame. “Affo, huh? That’s a new one.”
“Oh, no, I’ve been calling them that for a bit now.”
He quirks a brow, his smirk growing wider.
She raises a brow of her own.
Two beats later, her face turns red. “Oh, dear, I, um—I think the left the oven on, haha, silly me!” She hurries off.
Chai snorts. After a beat, though, he wonders if she really did leave the oven on.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, he ducks back into his room. When he looks at the cat, it’s eyes are back to their regular appearance. He tilts his head. It tilts its own.
Must’ve just been a trick of the light or something. He shrugs it off, then goes to put his arm on. Once he’s got it connected, he spins it around a couple of times. Flexing his fingers, he pops his wrist open and shut. Satisfied, his focus shifts towards figuring out what to wear.
Considering Chai’ll be trying on clothes, he figures he can dress comfortably, instead of wearing his work outfit. Not that it’s particularly uncomfy, but still.
Pulling on a bue short-sleeved button-up over his t-shirt, he hums along to the familiar song playing. He tugs on a pair of navy trackpants, then grabs a pair of socks. He looks at his scarf hanging up. Absentmindedly, he scratches his neck. His brow furrows. After a few beats, he shakes his head, his arm falling to his side as he backs away from the closet a bit.
Looking in the mirror that is his closet door, he squints at himself. He frowns at the bags under his eyes. Sticking his tongue out, he runs his fingers through his hair. Once he’s satisfied with it, he makes his way out of the room, grabbing the duffel as he goes and noting that the cat left.
Chai stops just outside of his room. After a beat, he goes back in to put on his scarf. Then, he finally makes his way into the living room.
Frappe is on the couch. Brew’s petting the cat, who is curled up on brews lap. Brews laptop is next to brew and open to show that brew’s got about 50 tabs open.
Chai huffs and says, “I will never understand why you think you need that many tabs open at once.”
Both the cat and Frappe look over at him. Brew’s got a small smile on brews face. The cat’s ear twitches.
“Morning, Chai,” brew says. “I see you took in our fuzzy little friend after all.”
“Huh? Oh! Nah. I just let it stay the night. Showed up randomly at my window.”
Brew’s expression falls, leaving behind a deadpan stare. “Right. Sure.”
He huffs again. Making his way around the couch, he drops the bag on the coffee table. Then, he plops down next to brew. The cat leaps onto his shoulder, rubbing up against the back of his neck and purring. His eyes go wide, tensing up. After a beat, he reaches back to pat it on the head.
The sound of Frappe unzipping the bag catches his attention. Brew’s expression goes from confused, to…horrified? Concerned? Still confused? All three?
“Why do you have a corpse stashed in a bag?”
“Well…um…actually, about that… ” He smiles sheepishly.
“...If you’re going to ask me to help you hide it—”
“ What?! No! I was gonna ask if you could fix them!”
“...Oh. Well…”
“What are we talking about?” Peony asks, interrupting brew.
Chai leaps practically a foot in the air. The cat tumbles off of him, landing on the couch, its fur standing on end. Frappe simply looks over at her, unphased.
“I’m going to help Chai bring a dead person back to life.”
Her eyes go as wides as saucers. “ What? ”
At the same time, Chai shouts, “Can you not phrase it that way?!”
The cat makes a strange noise. Its tail flicks.
Frappe turns to him. “Sorry.” Brew looks back at Peony. “I’m going to help Chai rebuild a robot.”
She relaxes a bit. “Oh!” She quirks a brow. “Why do you need to rebuild a robot?”
“Uh…”
Because I feel bad. And I don’t know why. Because every time I look at them a part of me feels like it just got punched in the gut. And it’s freaking me the fuck out. Because I can’t bring myself to throw them out. Because I told Macaron that they’d be fine. And I figured that if I can get them fixed, they can tell me how to take them back to him. All of those problems solved at once.
“...’cause,” Chai replies, not meeting her eyes.
They all squint at him. Even the cat. He tugs on his scarf.
“Look, I just wanna fix them, okay?”
Peony frowns. She opens her mouth to reply. She shuts it when Frappe looks at her.
After a beat, she says, “Alright,” with a sigh.
“Are all of the parts in there?” Frappe asks, pointing at the duffel.
“Oh, uh…most of them. Couldn’t bring the torso with. It was too big to fit in the bag.”
“Hm…” Brew shuts brews eyes. After a beat, brew opens them and says, “I’ll see what I can do.”
He smiles. “Thanks, dude.”
“Sure. It’s…not a big deal,” brew says. There’s a faint blush on brews face.
Chai quirks a brow, but shrugs it off as he stands up. The cat leaps after him, landing on his shoulder which it hangs off of. Just as he’s about to pat it on the head, he notices its ears twitching. A beat later, Peony suddenly gasps.
“O h my God! When did you get a cat?!” she exclaims.
“It’s…been here the whole morning. Did you only just now…?”
“Pardon me for being caught up in the robot business!”
“...You’ve been pardoned. Also, it’s not mine.”
“It’s…it’s not? Then why is it here?”
“I dunno. It showed up at my window last night, so I let it in.”
“Oh. That’s…odd. Doesn’t it have an owner?”
“Probably. No clue who, though.”
“Why don’t you let it stay for the time being, then?” Frappe suggests.
Chai frowns. “I…I can’t.”
“Why not?”
He looks over at the cat. It’s staring at him. It tilts its head. The neon blue in its eyes seems…bigger and brighter than before. His brow furrows. Then, he shakes his head, looking away from it.
“Don’t really have the time to take care of a cat. And don’t say that you would for me, you have work and stuff, too. Besides, I’m sure it wants to go home. It wouldn’t be cool to keep it trapped here like that,” he explains. “When I leave, I’ll let it out of the building.”
Frappe shrugs, nodding. “Fair enough.”
Peony, on the other hand, seems shocked.
“Since when are both of you just fine with letting a cat roam around outside by itself?!”
“We aren’t. This one’s just got robot-cat privileges,” brew replies.
“Oh. That…makes a lot of sense.” She chuckles, rubbing the back of her neck.
“I was wondering if you were going to ask why it has LEDs,” brew comments.
“Would you believe me if I told you that I was so shocked to see it here that I didn’t even notice…?”
“Yeah. I would.”
While they talk, Chai heads into the kitchen to grab one of the breakfast burritos she made. The cat doesn’t move from its position on his shoulder. It makes it a little awkward to move his arm, but at least it’s not heavy.
As he takes a bite, he glances over at it. It’s still just…staring at him. Its gold and blue eyes glint in the bright kitchen light. Its gaze feels like it’s burning holes into the side of his face. He tenses up, looking away from it.
“It’s, uh, rude to stare,” he says.
Many beats pass. He eats in the quiet. The only sounds are the music and Peony talking, with Frappe chiming in every once in a while. His foot taps along to the beat. He can feel the cat’s tail brushing up against his back as it slowly moves back and forth.
Chai’s not sure why he’s waiting for it to respond. It may be a robot, but it is still a cat. It can’t talk.
Shaking his head, he finishes off the burrito. Then, he goes to finish getting ready.
When Chai left his apartment, the cat riding on his shoulder, he had figured it was going to leave at some point. Head back home. Chase some pigeons. Something.
Now, he’s a block away from Charlie’s, and it’s still there. Well, it’s not on his shoulder anymore. It did hop off eventually—but then it just started following him. When he started going his usual route—which involves a lot of running, jumping, climbing, and magnetting—it turned into a ball. It scared the shit out of him at first. But for whatever reason, he found himself getting used to it pretty quickly. Something about the whole thing felt sort of…familiar.
Thinking about it too much makes the static crackle in the back of his head. So, he lets it go. It’s probably just déjà vu or something.
The cat floats along next to him. Its LEDs pulse in time with the chipper song playing. Every once in a while, people will stop and stare. A few take out their phones, probably taking pictures. Chai can’t exactly blame them. Besides, it’s far from a bad thing—with people posting photos of it, the owner will probably reveal themself. Then, he can get in contact with them and help them out.
If he could even find the time to do that. And if anything is still wrong at all. It’s been…what, two weeks since he first saw it? Its owner has probably sorted stuff out by now. If something were wrong, it would have tried to lead him to them. Unless things just got worse…and now it’s too late…which would explain why it randomly showed up at his apartment last night, because it didn’t have anywhere else to—
The cat bumps into his shoulder, interrupting his thoughts. It swirls around his head. It looks…worried? It makes a soft, questioning mrrrp sound.
Offering it a smile, Chai gives it a pat.
I gotta stop worrying about this. Like Frappe said however long ago: it’ll be fine. It’s fine.
As they approach Charlie’s, the song changes. The cat does, too; it turns back into its cat form, landing on his shoulder. Its landing is perfectly timed with the drumbeat as it fades in.
“You’re…coming in with me?” he asks it.
It nods. Then, it nuzzles the side of his face.
He chuckles. “Alright, just don’t mess with anything.”
It nods again, very seriously this time.
Chai pushes open the door. The bell attached to it at the top rings, adding an interesting sound to the familiar future bass song that always plays when he comes by.
“I’ll be just a moment!” Charlie calls from the back.
“No rush!” Chai replies.
“No rush? I’m always in a hurry ‘cause of you!”
He huffs. “You say that like you haven’t already picked out the perfect outfit.”
“No thanks to you! You’re lucky I’m the best in the biz!”
“Yeah, yeah...” He rolls his eyes, a smile on his face.
As they talk, the cat hops off his shoulder and pads a little ways away. He keeps an eye on it while he waits for them. Charlie doesn’t mind cats, but they’ll be pissed if it messes with any of their things.
His gaze winds up wandering after a few beats. There doesn’t seem to be anyone else in the store. His brow furrows. Chai had figured Vesper would already be here. Must’ve gotten caught up in preparations or something.
The LEDs at the tip of the cat’s tail catches his attention from the corner of his eye as it flicks back and forth. He turns his head to see what it’s up to. It’s pawing at the edge of a dress hanging from one of the clothing racks. His eyes widen.
Right as he goes to snatch it up, Charlie comes out of the back. They grab the end of his scarf, tugging Chai away. He gags, choking. A sense of panic washes over him for a beat. He shakes it off as he turns to follow them. Despite him doing so, they keep a hold on the end of his scarf, leading him towards the changing rooms.
“What’s with you using my scarf as a leash?” he asks.
They huff. “I don’t need you wandering off when we’re here for business. You can wear my wares some other time.”
“But…isn’t that what I’m gonna be doing now…?”
They shoot him an annoyed look from over their shoulder. “Shut up.”
Before he can say anything else, Charlie shoves him into the changing room, slamming the door shut behind him. A couple of beats later, clothes start being hung over the top of the door. They’re followed by a pair of boots getting pushed under the door.
“Hurry up and get those clothes on! I wanna make sure everything fits right.”
“I just got here, and this is how you treat me?” Chai sighs dramatically.
“It’s only ‘cause I love you! And I’m a busy motherfucker. But mostly the first thing.”
Shaking his head fondly, Chai takes off his scarf and shirt, then goes to put on the one Charlie provided. Upon realizing that it’s actually a t-shirt dress, he kicks his pants off. Then, he pulls it on. He smoothes it down. It’s a dress version of the red Project Armstrong shirt he wears for work. The bottom is torn and frayed a bit, a few stray strings dangling. He quirks a brow at its short length.
“Uh…what’s with the mini dress…?”
“It’s cute and on-brand. What? You don’t like it?”
“Nah, it’s nice. Just…y’know… short. ”
“Try on the shorts and socks.”
“Uh…”
He looks over at them. After a beat, he pulls them on. The shorts are black, and just short enough that they aren’t visible, but long enough to give him a bit more coverage. The socks go almost all the way up to the edge of the dress. There’s a few holes in them near the top. Their guitar pattern is a nice touch. Glancing at himself in the mirror on the wall, he smiles.
“Okay, I get it.”
“I knew you would.”
After pulling on the studded leather jacket and boots that complete the outfit, Chai looks at himself in the mirror again. He grins at his reflection. Then, he turns and opens the door, stepping out.
Charlie looks up from their phone. They smirk.
“Damn, I’m good.”
He snorts. He opens his mouth to reply, but is interrupted by the sound of the bell ringing. Vesper is in the doorway, waving at them stiffly.
“Hey, V! Was wondering where you were,” Charlie says.
“I would have arrived sooner, but the meeting I had with Kale lasted longer than anticipated.”
“Meeting with Kale, huh? Anything convention-related I need to know?” Chai asks.
“Yes. Which I see you have already worked out the outfit for. Excellent work as always, Charlotte.”
They wave their hand, smirk still on their face. “Oh, you’re makin’ me blush , V.”
“As for what I need to inform you of, Chai, your performance has been rescheduled—”
His eyes widen. “Wait, what? Why?”
Vesper blinks at him. After a beat, continuing. “As I was saying, your performance time has been rescheduled. It’s been moved back a few hours. You need to be onstage at 6 o’clock sharp. You are also to be attended by your personal LEO-031 at all times during the convention.”
His brow furrows at that last bit. “... What? ”
“Are you asking me to repeat or are you just saying that out of some other sense of confusion?”
“Since when do I have a LEO-031?”
“Y’know, I was just thinkin’ the same thing,” Charlie comments.
Tilting to the right, Vesper says, “I thought you were aware. After all, it is yours.”
“Wh—no! Because I don’t have one! If I did, I’m pretty sure I’d know.”
“That is odd. Kale informed me that Sunny had made one especially for you, alongside the ones for us.”
“I…”
Chai scowls, his hands clenching into fists. I don’t need his fucking protection.
“Whatever,” he mutters. Then, louder, he asks, “Why? Is it for some…promo thing? Is everybody elses gonna be with them?”
“No, it is not. It is for security. Ours will be on the premises, but they will not be with us for the entire event.”
“Wh…that doesn’t make any sense! How is it for ‘security’ if yours aren’t gonna be constantly by your sides?!”
“I do not know. That is simply what Kale informed me of. You will have to ask either him or Star for clarification.”
Star. Has to be. There’s no reason for Kale to. He knows I can handle myself. But so should Star. His fingers on his right hand are twitching, wrist partially open. Sunny put light up to this, didn’t he? Fucking…goddammit…stupid…thinking he knows what's fucking best for me...should learn to mind his own business! Should fucking know better! But what was I expecting from Mr. Secret Keeper?! And since when did he start up that bullshit?!?
He lets out a frustrated noise. The song ends, the next one quickly filling the silence with a synth-rock sound. The metal clothing racks nearby tremble slightly, slowly starting to roll in his direction. The handles on the changing room doors rattle. Vesper starts shaking, eyes slightly widening. Charlie frowns as their arms and legs start quivering too.
“Chai, honey…”
First he starts being weird about…I don’t even know! Now he went and made me a bodyguard behind my back? Why?! I can take care of myself! He should fucking know that! He—I can’t—
A sudden yowl and clatter breaks through his thoughts. The layers of percussion he was adding to the song come to a halt. They all turn towards the clothing rack that fell over—and the cat trapped underneath it.
“Oh. How unfortunate.”
Shit. “Sorry, Charlie…”
“It’s fine, honey,” they say softly.
He looks down to see his grabber in his hand. It couldn’t form the guitar, though. Charlie keeps their shop clean. He swallows the lump forming in his throat as he slides it back into his arm, his wrist shutting after it with a click.
“I’ll—uh, I’ll put that back up—”
Before they can protest, Chai hurries over and lifts up the rack, setting it upright. The cat shakes itself as it stands. It looks up at him, making a mrrrow sort of sound.
“Sorry, kitty,” he says as he reaches down, patting it on the head.
“...You got a cat,” Charlie states.
“Huh?” He looks up at them. “No! No, it’s not mine…it’s, uh, kind of a long story—well, no, not really—”
“You don’t have to explain. It’s alright. But, uh…you do know cats aren’t allowed in here, right?”
“...Uh…I…wasn’t thinking about it…”
Chai sighs, his head falling forward. The cat nudges him, its ears folded back a bit. He bites his tongue.
“I apologize for upsetting you, Chai,” Vesper says.
“S’fine,” he replies after a beat. “Not your fault.”
“Hm.” Another beat passes. “I am afraid I must get going. I have another meeting soon. I will see you both around.”
“Seeya, V,” Charlie replies.
He doesn’t respond until the bell on the door rings, simply saying, “Bye.”
The cat rubs against his legs. It makes a strange half-purring noise. Like it doesn’t know what to do. Its gold eyes glint. The blue isn’t as noticeable as it was earlier—in fact, the LEDs seem dimmer. Chai sighs, looking away from it.
Charlie is staring at him. They open their mouth to say something, reaching towards him but not touching. He flinches away regardless. Their fingers curl up and they take a step back. Their mouth shuts. They look upset. He can’t figure out in what way, though.
So, he hurries past them, into the changing room. He changes back into the clothes he arrived in. Chai doesn’t so much as glance at his reflection.
“I’m not mad,” Charlie says while he’s pulling on his shirt. When he doesn’t respond, they continue. “Seriously, I’m not. It’s not a big deal. But, for the future, try to remember the ‘no pets allowed unless they’re service animals’ policy, ‘kay?”
He wraps the scarf around his neck differently than he normally does. He bundles the fabric up, so that only a little bit is left dangling.
They sigh. “Look, I dunno what’s up with you, but maybe…take a break for a few days.”
“Can’t really do that,” he replies as he opens the door.
The cat is sitting right in front of him, staring up at him. It chirps.
“Then take the rest of today off.”
“Don’t have anything else scheduled anyways.”
It turns into its ball form then back again so that it can hang off his shoulder.
“Good. Now go home and take a nap.”
He chuckles as he heads for the door. “Yeah. Okay.”
Its tail flicks, rubbing against his back.
Before Charlie can say anything else, he leaves, the door slamming shut behind him. The cat jolts slightly at the loud sound. A couple of passerby look over. His gaze falls to the ground.
After walking a little ways away from the boutique, then ducking into an alley, Chai grabs the cat. It makes an odd noise, its eyes widening. They stare at one another for a few beats.
Its LEDs are definitely dimmer. Which means that it’s running low on power. Hard to say how much it has left, though—and it can’t exactly tell him.
He shifts his hold on it, so that he’s holding it in his left arm. Placing his right hand on its back, he shuts his eyes, concentrating.
The song ends. It’s quiet. He takes a deep breath.
His player pulses with the steady beat. The energy around it, inside of it crackles. It flows into his arm, thrumming . Strings from the core, through chest, into arm, down to fingertips. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Duh, dum, duh, dum.
The cat’s core pulses in time. He can feel it pounding through him. Its LEDs flicker. Thump, thump, thump, thump. Tss tss, tss tss.
The energy seeps from his fingertips into its body. Its fur stands on end. It makes a noise that starts quiet, questioning; it crescendos into a loud, confused sound.
The strings are tense. The electricity hisses. Chai breathes slowly. His brow furrows, his arm starting to tremble.
A new song starts up, invading the silence with punk rock sound. The flow cuts off half a beat later, power sitting in his fingertips before dispersing. He lets his arm go limp. It slowly falls off of the cat, which he sets down. It stares blankly ahead, its fur still on end and eyes wide. After a beat, it shakes itself and looks up at him. Its LEDs are brighter now.
He rubs his eyes, exhaling shakily. The cat meows, tilting its head.
“I just gave you enough for you to get back home,” he tells it. “So…go.”
Its ears fold back. It takes a step toward him, its tail flicking back and forth.
“You can’t come with me. I don’t have the charging stuff for you.”
It steps back, its tail drooping.
As he does a shooing motion with his hand, he says, “Go back to your owner.”
Four beats pass. It turns tail and races off, into the dark of the alley. Chai stares after it. Maybe he should have gone with it. Check on its owner like he was thinking about earlier.
Another beat passes. With a sigh, he leaves the alley and starts making his way back to his apartment.
‘Take a nap.’ He huffs. Maybe after a beer or two. I need something to take my mind off of all this bullshit…