Apologies for the ending; I lost inspiration for this story, but I really wanted to finish it ono I hope you guys are happy enough with it.
The pairing is kind of Noisy Boy/Atom, but it's more about them caring about one another.
Disclaimer: Do not own Real Steel... I wish I did. :C
Atom watched quietly as Max rumaged through what was left of Noisy Boy in Bailey's back room. He knew he had borrowed Noisy Boy's voice command, and it was very advanced for his model, but still seeing the destroyed remains of a great robot saddened him. Before he was put into the scrap-yard he had seen Noisy Boy's first fight, and victory on one of his human's screens. His fighting style was new, different. He had never seen such advanced punches towards another bot.
All good things have to come to an end of course, he figured. Max and Charlie talked about the fight that Noisy Boy had with Midas a few times, often arguing or joking about it. Of course, he could see by the left overs from Noisy Boy that, at the time, it was no laughing matter at all. He turned his head while he was being controlled via remote and almost sighed.
Such a good champion gone to waste.
Max clocked the Generation 2 robot staring at the remains of Noisy Boy, at the back of the room. He squinted, then looked back up at Atom who was still staring. Max looked back towards the robot carcass, and heaved a sigh, kicking a small piece of shrapnal to the corner. He then looked back at Atom who had his attention on Max.
"Are you lonely, Atom? Is that why you were looking at Noisy Boy?" Max's voice was strained, as if it pained him to talk about Noisy Boy. Atom seemed surprised by the question. He wasn't lonely, he was just reflecting. He made a noise which made Max think otherwise.
The boy climbed behind the Sparring bot and placed him in shadow mode, moving to the next room where Charlie and Bailey were, Charlie using the punch bag and Bailey watching with a small, content smile on her face. Max stood in front of them both, a stubborn look on his face. Charlie noticed and stopped punching the bag, wiping the sweat from his brow.
He took a swig of his drink and raised his brow, "What's the matter with you, Max?" He asked, taking another long gulp of the drink. Max folded his arms, and Atom followed the gesture. "I want to build Noisy Boy again." The sentence alone almost made Bailey fall from her stance, and it made Charlie choke on his drink.
Charlie, once he'd stop choking, wiped his mouth and looked at Max, his face in disbelief. "You're not actually serious, are you? Do you have any idea how much that would cost? He's torn apart, scrap metal." Max frowned determindly. "We made more than enough to fix him three fights ago. Can't we just use the money to fix him up? We'll probably make more than enough to cover it next fight..."
Atom could see Charlie was inwardly debating.
After a long time of coaxing from Max, Charlie finally gave in, and Atom tried not to look worried with his posture. Noisy Boy was definately a better bot than he was, and even though Max was, without a question his best friend, nothing was to say that Noisy Boy might take away his chances of fighting in the rings instead of Atom.
It might turn out that, just like what was to happen with Zeus, Atom may turn into a practice bot for Noisy Boy, never getting into any real fights. This worried Atom, and he heaved a sigh when he was alone in the back room, looking over to the empty space where Noisy Boy's parts were, knowing he was getting rebuilt as his processor thought.
He puffed out his chest. If it was going to happen, it was going to happen. He was old enough to know that Noisy Boy was a younger and more agile model than he, and if he was replaced... Well, better for Max and Charlie. At least then they would have a bot that would be worth looking at, and was relatively new...
He heard a clank, and the door opened. Max stood in the door beaming with his remote, and Atom stood at his command, walking through to the room to see Noisy Boy's parts made up again, but he was offline. Two men stood before Noisy Boy, and behind them was Charlie. They were talking, and handed Charlie a very advanced remote and headset, another voice command.
The men left and Bailey circled Noisy Boy, and she turned a switch on his back, which made him power on. Atom looked at him intensely, worry in his blue optics of being replaced. Noisy Boy stared back at him curiously, tilting his head a little. Charlie and Max seemed very happy at the results, and switched his voice command to English.
Everyone seemed cheerful except the Generation 2 bot, who's shoulders sagged a little in realization. He didn't show it, but he was depressed that he might be replaced by this new bot, this better bot. Noisy Boy clocked his shoulder's sagging and looked directly at him, but non-threateningly. Max stood between them, smiling.
"Friends." He told them. Charlie commented on him talking to robots, to which Max replied by trying to tackle him. It didn't work the way he planned however, as Charlie lifted him up and ran away with him, much to Max's joy. Bailey laughed and joined them, power walking behind them, leaving the two robots alone.
Noisy Boy inspected him. Atom's head hung low in respect for the other. He had not won half as many battles as Noisy Boy had, despite being older. He was only built for taking blows, not giving them. The past few months were the only times he had fought back in his life time, and were the best fights of his life. The thought that he might not fight again depressed and scared him.
Noisy Boy tilted his head to the side, optics flashing as he approached the bot, sensing the humans were far away, too far to notice them moving. The purple bot offered his hand to Atom, who looked up at the gesture. His voice was rough and foreign sounding. "Ohio g- Ah... Good Morning, Atom-sama- Ah, Atom. I am... Noisy... Boy."
The words were twitched and forced, but Atom respected that he was trying. Kindly, he took the hand. "Good morning, Noisy Boy." Atom's voice sounded rough, as he had not spoken in a long time. Noisy Boy's shoulder's sagged as if a huge weight was lifted from them. "Friends?" The foreign bot inquired, a hopeful tone in his voice. Atom couldn't help but agree. "Friends."
The next few weeks flew by, and to Atom's joy nothing much had changed. If anything, Noisy Boy was his sparring bot, and they quietly enjoyed their battles without seriously damaging each other. One night, after Max had gone to his aunt's and Charlie went to sleep with Bailey, Atom was left online by accident. He looked around, and moved to Noisy Boy, whom he switched online. The purple bot seemed confused.
Atom nodded at him and snuck out of the back room, followed closely by Noisy Boy. The two bots headed out into the streets, and into an alleyway. Both looked up at the night sky, where there were no stars due to the air pollution in the city. One could just make out the moon's shape, which was crescent. It was a beautiful night, as there was hardly any wind.
Noisy Boy looked around, confused still. He then noticed Atom had stopped looking at the sky and was looking at himself in a puddle. The reflection bounced as he stepped closer, peering into the puddle where Atom was staring. He wondered what he was staring at, and put a hand on his shoulder. Atom jumped and spun around, looking at Noisy Boy in shock. The foreign bot stepped back and put his arms up defensively, not wanting to mean anything by it.
Atom, who was holding a defensive block position, relaxed, a soft sigh escaping. He motioned for them both to return to the gym, before Bailey or Charlie noticed they were missing. Noisy Boy nodded quietly, noting his odd behaviour and saving it in his data-banks for later. They returned to the gym silently.
The past few months, Noisy Boy watched Atom and Charlie shadow box and train with remote, and needless to say he was stunned. He had never expected a Generation 2 bot to come this far and have such champion moves. He watched from the sideless, sometimes with Max by his side, and would just stare. Watching both man and robot shadow each other's movements effortlessly.
Noisy Boy would say it was beautiful. The way Atom's body moved gracefully when executing an uppercut, the way he'd be on the tip of his feet when he went into his defensive mode. The way his curves looked as he'd jump and jab into the air. Of course, Noisy Boy knew those moves were Charlie's, but Atom had a way with it that Charlie didn't, in his optics.
After training, Atom, Charlie and Max would leave for a few hours, leaving Noisy Boy and Bailey to take care of the gym. He didn't mind that much, Bailey would put the television on and sometimes allowed him to watch the fights Atom was in. Other times he would just try and keep his own skills sharp, thanks to the programme Bailey had installed a few weeks ago.
This time the battle was rough. Twin Cities had been fully repaired and was giving Atom a hard time. Noisy Boy, though he was training, watched the television from the corner of his eye and almost faultered when Atom was backed into a corner, Twin Cities towering over him. Noisy Boy paid no attention to the narrator, and stopped training, watching with Bailey to see what Atom would do.
It looked brutal, the way Twin Cities was hammering his fists into Atom's small flame would, if Noisy Boy had any blood, make it boil. He wanted to shout for Atom to uppercut and jab, but remained silent. Of course, with the help of Charlie, Atom found Twin Cities' new blind spot and tackled it, literally. The amount of punches to the stomach that Twin Cities received was something Noisy Boy did not want to encounter, ever.
Finally, after what seemed forever, Atom laid the final uppercut, perfectly, and exited the ring. Noisy Boy relaxed. Atom was on his way home.
When Charlie, Max and Atom walked through the door, they all looked exhausted. Bailey welcomed them both back with a hug, aknowledging Atom and offering to fix him up in the morning. Max seem to slacken slightly, knowing he had to go to his aunt's house in the morning. Charlie seemingly cheered him up by telling him he had the next weekend. Noisy Boy didn't pay much more attention to the conversation, looking over at Atom.
He looked worn out. His armour was dented invertedly, there were some sparks on the right of his shoulder and his arm barely looked like an arm at all. Bailey had a lot of work in the morning, Noisy Boy would say, but if anyone could do it, she could. After all, who else put him back together? Certainly not any of his original owners or proffesional boxers he had been sold to.
The thought made him shudder. It felt like a long recharge since his fight with Midas, and his neck still didn't feel right. From what he could gather from Charlie and Bailey, it seemed that the robot had dislodged his head. He remembered his arm being ripped off, but after the last uppercut everything was black. His hands almost went to touch his neck, but stopped, remembering his place.
Atom made a whirring sound, catching everyone's attention. Everyone's eyes widened when the small robot fell to his knees, then to his side. Max ran up to him, shouting words Noisy Boy didn't understand, Bailey came soon after and reassured them all that he was just out of energy and needed to recharge. "It didn't help that the scrap was kicked out of him either." She added quietly, and had Noisy Boy help the small robot to the table where he could recharge peacefully.
After a while of worrying, everyone returned to bed, deeming it best to let Atom recharge and then check on him in the morning. After he was sure the humans were asleep, Noisy Boy walked over to the smaller 'bot, who was seemingly sleeping. Noisy Boy stepped forward a little, but failed to miss the piece of scrap metal on the floor and tripped, his circuits going haywire as he landed ontop of Atom, his arms boxing Atom's head in between them. Luckily he hadn't made too much noise.
Atom's optics fluttered online when he felt a weight upon his chest. He let out a soft whir, looking up at Noisy Boy confusedly. The other robot seemed embarrassed, and got off him immediately. Noisy Boy turned, his circuitry frying in his head. Atom noticed this and smiled mentally. His hand reached out and touched Noisy Boy's forearm, making the taller 'bot turn his head and looked down at Atom in surprise.
After a moment Noisy Boy's optics seemed to soften and he smiled mentally back at Atom.