"Farking-!" R2 growled, feet hitting the ground in unnecessarily loud thumps. "How the hell do you do that?"

3PO's hands diligently wove the hair between his fingers, the appendages easily slipping in and out, tightening the plait to pristine form as the walked towards the meeting room.

"It's a practiced motion, inlayed in my function. A preparation in the case that I may have a master that needs such a service from me."

"'Kay, but, I can manipulate a complex multi-binary, quadra-facet, septi-holo board of mechanisms, but I can't manage to do a plait."

The taller shook his head, fingers pinching the base of the plait tightly as he began wrapping the band around the base to secure the style.

"It's a different skill R2. Is it so hard to believe that there are some things that you cannot do?"

R2 snickered, purposefully veering off of his straight path to bump into 3PO's side.

"Whatever."

"Anyhow, what was that "bet" business earlier?"

The astromech hummed, a slight smile turning up his lips at the image of Finn cantering away, tail tucked between his legs as a small astromech followed obliviously on his heels. His shoulders lifted up.

"I saw Poe and Finn exchange some credits, took a wild guess on what it was about. I was right."

"What was-"

"You don't want to know." He snickered, allowing himself to gently bump into 3PO once again, enjoying how the other droid staggered as though in his old body. Uncoordinated and with limited movement, he would teeter before remembering that he had significantly more mobility than before.

"Whatever it was, I would kindly request that you leave me out of it. Was it really so necessary to cling to me as you did?"

"You minded it?" His eyes shot to the side, peeking over at the other droid.

"I-Well, master Finn seemed bothered by it…"

"That's not what I asked."

"I'm fully aware of what you asked, thank you."

R2 dropped it. It wasn't worth the convoluted 3PO logic he would get in response to further argument. Anyway, the large mechanical door to the meeting room sat less than a yard ahead of them, and a short trill went through his systems as he picked up on the pitch of a familiar voice...more than one actually.

It was hardly a second after the door opened that he was enveloped in a warm hug. "They told me. I guess we have to deal with all of your sass in basic now."

He smirked into the girl's shoulder, lips pressing into the rough jedi robes.

"It's nice to see you again master Rey."

The girl pulled back, a smile twitching up the corner of her lips. "You as well 3PO." Was that a hint of insincerity he detected there? "You both…" She hummed softly. "It's very different."

R2 sauntered over to the large table at the centre of the room, casually plopping down into one of the chairs and lifting up his legs to prop his feet on the table. "Yeah, well. How do you think we feel?"

"R2-D2!" In a quick movement, which he would admit felt terribly strange, C-3PO had begun pushing at his feet, which remained stubbornly on the table. "Don't be so rude and unsanitary!"

Leia swept into the room, her presence a wave of power. "You two will never change." She let out a soft sigh. "R2, please?"

He removed his feet almost immediately, tugging purposely downward on one of 3PO's hands. The room was filled with quiet snickers as the droid teetered on his toes, overcompensating for the tip forward by leaning backwards until losing balance on that side as falling less than gracefully into the chair to the side of R2.

"Oof!"

"Alright, if everyone's quite done messing around, then I'd like to talk very seriously about this institution that you two were in."

Despite the fact that the general had been addressing all of them, her eyes never once left the two droids.

3PO turned slightly in his seat, as though the mention of the hospital somehow made him uncomfortable. "General?"

Leia didn't say anything, simply gliding over to a seat and lowering herself until she was sitting adjacent to the droids, everyone slowly followed suit, a serious silence falling over the group.

"Ah, don't be so bum guys. If it was really that bad we wouldn't have gotten away. Especially not this thing." He jabbed a thumb in 3PO's direction. There were a few poorly hidden smiles at that, but it didn't ease the thick tension snaking it's way through the spaces in between each of them, wrapping around organic and synthetic alike.

"I think you were lucky."

Rey leaned over towards the General, her similar brown hair spilling out of the three messy buns falling down the back of her head. The woman had pulled up a holograph, shining a blue tint up onto the brunette's faces.

R2 pushed up a bit in his seat, tilting his head as though it might help him get a glimpse of the image. He was restrained by a lithe hand, and he cut odd coloured eyes over to the side.

"What?" He hissed quietly.

3PO simply gave him a look conveying that he was "being disrespectful".

"Shut up."

All eyes shifted over to them. Damn, that was louder than it was meant to be.

"I apologise."

"Shut up." He repeated, this time purposefully louder, pushing gently at 3PO's shoulder. For some reason his hand wouldn't come back to his side, instead it slid across the blonde's shoulders until his shoulder was tilted up a bit awkwardly, his large hand draping limply over the taller droid's opposite shoulder. At some point he had maneuvered their chairs closer.

What...what's wrong with me?

Had this contact happened at any other time he was sure that it wouldn't have effected either of them in the slightest, but now the gentle brush of his fingers had 3PO's cheeks that flattering shade of pink. They didn't move away from one another, and the group had already disregarded their actions as normal. It was almost like...maybe everyone else knew something that they did not?

Something popped into his mind just then, as an image of the hospital illuminated the space just above the centre of the table. It was soft, distant, laced with a gentle blue glow that momentarily obscured his vision. He was vaguely aware that Leia was walking them through the specs of the hospital, trying to figure where their rooms had been...what they had been, but-

"No, I don't think he likes you at all."

"No, I don't like you either."

She was pointing out a small corridor now, and one of his hands came up of it's own accord, pushing through the weak binary to cup a little room, his little-

"...I'm sure it must be your fault."

"This is all your fault!"

"This is all your fault."

Something felt strange, his hand tightened on 3PO's shoulder. Hand grasping awkwardly at the room. He could see prying eyes, white coats, electric currents. And that...that pile of garbled metal. His…

"R2, Why do you have to be so brave?"

Body….

R2 choked, somehow his feet began shifting, his arm snaking back to his side just before he kicked himself back, landing with a hollow thud on his back, head slammed against the floor. He felt that, but just barely. Did it hurt?

"R2?"

"R2-D2!"

"Quick-!"

"What?"

"3-3PO!"

"No no no no no. Hurry!"

Was that real, or was that...foggy?

Dr. Valurien leaned over him, gentle concern washing over his features. R2 tried to talk, all that came out was a rush of harsh static, bent binary.

Sorry for the late update guys.

Hope you're still enjoying!

~Castor