Tim woke up.

This was strange in and of itself, considering he didn't really have an official "sleep" function - just the ability to close his eyes and enjoy Jay's steady breathing while they lay side by side, often in each others arms. But this time, he woke up with a panicky feeling bubbling up in his chest. His eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright. The other side of the bed was empty, the sheets seemingly undisturbed.

"Jay?" He listened for a response, any sounds of movement or signs of life. "Jay, come on. This isn't funny." A cruel silence greeted him.

Tim began his frantic search, cursing loudly all the while. The workshop was devoid of life. A new order form lay on the counter, but other than that nothing had been moved. The kitchen was empty as well. The bathroom, the living room, everything. Quiet, still, dead. He was, at this point, assuming the worst and was fully prepared to end Alex's life if his assumptions were correct.

Alex nearly choked on his coffee. At first he thought multiple gunshots had been fired into a sheet of metal. It took him a few moments to realize that someone was at the door. The door shook violently on its hinges as he approached it, accompanied by more thunderous banging.

Who the hell is here this early and why the hell are they being this loud?

"Alex, if you don't open this door so help me god I'll rip all of your limbs off slowly and painfully."

He froze. It was that wretched bot Jay had built. Looking down at his new arm he felt a surge of anger. That thing had some nerve, showing up at his house this early in the morning and making more threats. And where exactly was Jay? Why wasn't he keeping a leash on it?

"Alex you have five seconds before I break this door down myself."
"What do you want?" He called through the thick wood. He threw the bolt, unwilling to look danger in the face again.
"I want Jay back you ass!"
Alex hesitated. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about! Open the damn door!"
"No, actually." He threw the door open, jaw clenched and eyes full of pure hate. "I don't know what you're talking about. What did you do to Jay? Where is he?"
"I didn't do anything to Jay! I don't know where he is. That's why I'm asking you. I wouldn't put it past you to kidnap him out of sheer spite." Steam began to gush from Tim's back and his voice had become heavily distorted. Alex's eyes went wide. He'd never seen anything like this before.
"Well, I didn't. And I wouldn't either."
"I don't believe you."

Tim shoved his way past Alex, throwing him to the floor. He began to tear through the house, going room from room and leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Alex was actually rather shocked. From the expression on Tim's face he might have cried if he had been capable of doing so. He looked furious, yes, but there was also a deep concern in his eyes. His mouth was set into an anxious frown. As if he cared about what fate Jay might have befallen. It occurred to him after a few minutes of gawking that his house was being completely decimated.

"Hey, whoa, calm down! Put that down, I doubt he'd fit in a dresser drawer you idiot."
"Where is he? What did you do?"
"I don't know where he is and I didn't do anything, I already told you that! When did you see him last? Was he acting strange? Did he seem sick?"

Tim was surprised to say the least. He had expected Alex to give him some sly smile and make some horrible accusation, but instead he was trying to help. It didn't ease his suspicion, really. Alex seemed like someone who was not only willing to lie, but did so quite often.

"We were in bed. He was tired from being over here all day, but he didn't seem sick at all."
"Did he say anything strange? Was he being really aggressive or really skittish?"
"No. Why? What are you getting at?"
Alex sighed impatiently and walked past him, shouldering him roughly on his way past. Tim bit his tongue. Now was probably not the time to get violent. It sounded like Alex might be able to help him.
"In this business, if you're getting sick you're getting fired. Permanently."
"You mean killed?" Alex was digging through a pile of papers in search of something.
"Obviously. It doesn't sound like Jay was getting sick. You'd know if he was about to be fired. Coughing, which gets worse until you start coughing up blood. Headaches, time loss, confusion, that kind of thing. Sometimes it means seizures. Did you experience anything strange? Blackouts, glitches, sparking? Things like that?"
"Y-Yeah."
"Okay? You wanna be a little more specific there? What exactly has been going on?"

Tim took a deep breath. He was afraid he was about to find out that Jay's disappearance was his fault somehow. Jay had been completely fine and well, it was him who had experienced the blackout. It was him who had neglected to tell Jay about the random moments where his vision turned to static and then snapped back to normal. It was him who often experienced strange twitches in his fingers and wrists. As he explained these things to Alex, he could almost hear Jay's voice telling him that if he noticed anything weird about the way he was functioning he had to tell him so that he could repair it. A look of realization and disbelief spread over the man's face and Tim actually cringed.

"You fucking idiot."
"I should have told him, I know. Just tell me what it means, okay? Spare me the lecture."
"It means that he's being stalked and you completely failed to notice. And now, because you failed to warn Jay, he's missing."
"Don't you dare pin this on me!" Tim had him by the shirt, pinned to the wall. A familiar scene. One he promised Jay he would never have to see or hear about happening ever again.
"Well he told you to tell him if anything weird was going on! Why the hell wouldn't you tell him about stuff like that? Don't you think those are pretty important pieces of information?"
"They started happening after I ripped your arm off. He wouldn't even look at me for those three weeks, what makes you think he would have even listened to me during that time?"

The glare Alex gave him said the words for them both: And who's fault was that, Tim? Who's fault was that? Alex seized Tim's wrist with his metal hand and pried himself free of Tim's grip. It bothered him that Jay had built Alex such a strong and durable arm. He'd put as much effort into that arm as he had put into Tim's own arms. He drew in a sharp breath. Oh he'd give anything not to have to say this...

"Help me find him."
"You're kidding, right?" Alex scoffed.
"He's your friend, isn't he?"
"Well he was, until he built himself a metallic maniac that ripped my goddamn arm off!" Alex was shouting now, waving his false arm in Tim's face.

"Ok! Fine! I fucked it up! I got angry and I lost my temper! And now you're going to do the same damn thing! You're going to lose your temper and refuse to help me find him and in the end when I do finally find him and he's either dead or severely wounded, which one of us hurt Jay the worst, huh?" His chest was heaving with anger and Alex's glasses were starting to fog from the sudden increase in steam. But it made both men pause. It was true, wasn't it? Alex was staring blankly at him. His mouth was open slightly as if he were trying to say something but the words wouldn't quite come.

"That's the whole problem, isn't it?" Tim began to stalk closer to Alex. His voice rose steadily with each word he spoke. "Both of us are just - just children. Children with bad tempers. We're not that different. You're stubborn and biased, so am I. You're rude and cold, and under certain circumstances, so am I. The only difference is that you're made of flesh and bone and I'm made of metal. But if you don't help me, if you leave me to try and do this on my own, then that'll make me more human than you could ever hope to be."

Alex had by now been backed up against the wall and was cowering under the intense volume of Tim's voice. Tim loomed over him. The distortion in his voice had gotten so bad that his words were almost unintelligible.

"Now are you going to help me or not?"
"Fine." He hissed, taking hold of the hand that was offered to him. "But I'm not doing this for you, understand? I'm doing this for Jay."
"I don't care why you're doing it, as long as you're doing it."
"You do realize he might be dead, right?"
Tim closed his eyes and took a long, slow breath. He fixed Alex with a defiant glare.
"He isn't dead."

Alex simply scoffed and shouldered past him again. This time his temper almost got the better of him and he had to clench his fists to keep himself from attack Alex. He reminded himself over and over in his head that this was temporary. Once he found Jay he would take care of this little issue. Tim could tell this wasn't going to be a pleasant journey, but he was willing to make it.

He was willing to make it if it meant having Jay back. Alive. Unharmed. Safe.