Work Text:
"None of these stupid videos show me where to put the… The little happy guy back." Crispin groans and tosses his phone aside. He puts a palm to each eye and digs his fingers into his scalp. Nothing has helped, nothing is working. It's been hours. He can't give up, but he's running out of ideas.
The cartoony little man that fell out of Bee's gut is sitting on a frilly little cushion. He looks over at the phone then back up at Crispin. He smiles and waves, oblivious to the obvious problem. Despite his frustration, Crispin waves back. He doesn't want the tiny man to get upset and run off or hide. He doesn't think 'little guy' would be an easy part to pick up at the hardware store.
Crispin crawls back over to the couch to check on Bee. Her eyes flash between simple shapes in neon pinks and blues. He's not sure she can see him. She doesn't respond when he waves his hand in front of her face. Nothing happens when he shakes her shoulders. But she's definitely not dead. The whirring of fans in her chest, the beating of her weird robot heart, the babbling of the other two guys sitting where her stomach should be. All this proves definitely, for sure, that she's still going.
She's fine, she just fell off of a cliff and landed on a big rock. He just ran down in a panic, forgetting about calling an ambulance. He just found her with an open wound, sparks flying from her gut and wires poking out all wrong. He just had to gather all of her weird robot parts and then he just had to roll her onto their picnic blanket to drag her back to her house feeling like none of this could be real.
Crispin picks up his phone again and starts up a video on toaster repair. Toasters would definitely have a little guy in there to hold the toast, right? So this should be the same thing. As he's listening to the tutorial play and dodging the sparks popping out of his girlfriend's open torso, he notices Bee's mouth slowly pull into a slight smile.
"You're worried about me," she says. At least he thinks she says it, her mouth doesn't move. "It's okay, Crispin. I just need a piece of candy. Then I'll be all better." Her lips part with an expectant, "Aah." He sets his phone down, the cheery background music of the toaster tutorial still playing.
"I don't think- I don't know if it'll fix you but…" He sifts around in his pockets anyway and wipes the lint off of a gumball as best he can before setting it on her tongue and waiting. She doesn't make a move or any more sound.
Crispin buries his face in his hands and lets out a frustrated groan. He can't take her to the hospital without real guts to work on. When he called the repair shop they thought he was pulling a prank. Whoever put Bee together is nowhere to be found. And Crispin certainly can't do shit about it even though he's been through enough tutorials now that he could make a functioning car out of balloon animals.
He feels a tug at his sleeve and for a moment there's a wave of relief. She's back up and healed and fine. And then he opens his eyes and sees that it's just the little man from her guts. It points over at a pile of clothes next to the window.
Crispin lets the tiny man climb onto his palm before getting up and walking over. He uses his free hand to toss sock after sweater after bra, only blushing a little at the delicates. Once it's cleared away he finds a big crystal box that he sets the man on before inspecting. It's smooth and cold to the touch, but feels almost metallic instead of like a real gemstone or glass.
"It's one of Bee's weird… Thingies." He sighs and gives a pleading look to the man, who is just calmly walking along the top of the box. "Does it… Will it help," he asks. The man just looks at him, smiling. Crispin sighs. "C'mon, you live inside Bee, you have to know how to fix her."
Just as Crispin is about to give up on the box he feels a panel sink in at his touch. The box chimes and starts to glow and Crispin quickly backs away, stumbling onto his ass. A beam of glimmery light shoots out at the floor. It travels up to Bee on the couch and slowly passes along her body. Scanning her, he's pretty sure.
The light moves over to Crispin and he feels what it wants. It's weird, but everything about his life is weird, and this is more normal than toilet food, so he just accepts it. He moves over to the couch and carefully hefts Bee up bridal style (so no more of her guts can fall out). He strains with her weight, it hurts his arms and makes his legs feel weak. He carries her over to the window anyway.
Once he's gotten her leaned against the box it makes a cheery chime. He sits cross legged beside Bee and the box, cross-legged on the floor below the nook. The little man climbs over Bee's shoulder and down into her guts. Crispin watches intently as several similar creatures emerge from the box and start putting Bee back in order. He doesn't understand what they're doing but he wants to learn. Wants to be able to fix her himself if she breaks again.
He focuses on her guts so hard he doesn't realize he's making a weird, constant grunt until he hears Bee laugh at the sound of it. He coughs awkwardly and then barely manages a chuckle in return. He's still watching the box creatures work on her. He doesn't want to miss anything important.
"This is good gum," Bee remarks. She starts loudly chewing it up. "Did you leave it in my mouth as a surprise?"
"You said you needed candy to get better, but it didn't work."
"Oh!" Bee pats the top of the box. "I meant a candy from my Dad box. I usually only get them on my birthday, but I was thinking if I was hurt it might give me an extra." She nervously laughs. "But it probably wouldn't have fixed me, I think. I just wanted one."
Crispin doesn't really process what Bee is saying. He's still intently focused on her guts. She seems to get the message and just tries to quietly rest there until the box creatures are done. She even switches to chewing slower, so it isn't as distracting.
Eventually her stomach is stitched fully back together. It looks good as new, no scar. "Were you ever going to tell me," he asks, finally turning his eyes up to her face. Bee doesn't meet his gaze, staring forlorn out the window. His chest hurts seeing her like that, she's always been so cheerful.
"Maybe? My dad told me it was important to keep it a secret. For my safety."
"For your safety..?"
"Yeah, like… If people found out then they might get scared of me and try to hurt me."
"Do you think I'd hurt you?"
Bee turns her face to him. She smiles, soft and sad. "No, I don't. I guess I was just used to keeping it to myself. Or… I dunno when the right time to tell you would be." She holds her arms out, mime-ing carrying a sack, "Hey, Crispin! I found a bag of expired jawbreakers in a dumpster. By the way, I'm actually a robot." She sighs and flops her hands down into her lap, defeated.
Crispin stands up and squeezes himself onto the nook with Bee and the box. He pulls her over into his lap with a grunt of effort. She lets it happen. When he settles his arms around her waist she puts a hand over one of his.
"Does it make you feel different about me?"
He doesn't have to think about his answer.
"Nah. It explains some stuff, actually. I just wish I knew I had a cool robot girlfriend earlier. Then I would've learned how to put you back together."
"I don't think you can. Too many tiny wires and weird junk in here." She pats her stomach with her free hand. "But… It's nice to think about."
"Yeah. Hey, you know how you said you want a scooter?"
"Yeah?"
"I think I can make that happen."