Chapter 5

Rambling Reunion

Rivet groaned with an icepack strapped to her head. It was six am on Sargasso and the female lombax was in total pain from an unforgiving hangover. Kit was washing her clothes in a nearby washer as Rivet wore her typical flannel black nightgown that was a little too big for her. She tried to lie down on her bed that lied in the far-right corner of her garage, next to a few treasured picture frames. Water streamed from the sink as the mini bot finished the pre-soak and disposed of them in a drying unit. Hands dinking loudly together as Kit brushed the water off her.

"Rivet, maybe you should try and finish sleeping?"

The female lombax rolled her blue eyes to her friend's overly obvious question. "Normally I would, but my headache is just giving me the middle finger." She hoisted her head down on the firm bed, wiggling around until she found a more comfortable position. Like she had been trying to do all night.

"Just…" she gripped her forehead, "underestimated how much I had to drink last night."

"You were hitting it pretty rough," Kit answered while drying her hands with a towel. "Maybe let this be a lesson for next time you wish to 'binge drink' as you called it."

"I just wanted to have a little fun," the rebel awkwardly shrugged before tightening her grip on her head. Dang, any sudden movement just set another shockwave of pain through her pain. "But yea, you're right, next time I'm counting my drinks carefully."

Kit looked over to the corner, her eyes pinging wide open as she tossed the towel onto the cabinet. "I… will be right back," she giggled. "Don't go anywhere," she pointed to Rivet, gesturing the lombax to stay in place as she quickly darted off.

Blinking in confusion, Riv sighed and sat back up. Fingers pressed against her temples as she tried to massage the headache away again.

"Man, this is murder…"

"Try this," came a voice.

Rivet didn't even look up as she felt a cold glass of water pressed against her shoulder. "Oh, thanks," she gratefully took the water and chugged it down in one gulp. "Man, I needed that."

"Welcome."

Rivet suddenly paused, mind scanning over the strange voice she thought was Kit for a second. Turning around, she saw deep green irises smiling down at her, the eyes' owner covered in yellow striped fur and a familiar happy grin.

"Hey Rivet," Ratchet coolly said while leaning against the wall. Wearing a white tank top, black leather jacket, and matching dark sweats. His shoes also black boots with a high-standing heel. "Missed me?" he chuckled a bit.

Clank rolled his eyes from behind Ratchet, "I told you we should've knocked." The small robot quickly looked at Rivet's shocked expression, "Are you okay?" He pressed his hands together in an apologetic manner. "When I asked Kit if we could come, she didn't mention you weren't feeling good."

"Hang on," Rivet quickly stood up, eyes still wider than dinner plates as her entire focus was on the nicely dressed male lombax. Darting to the kitchen, she shut the door and shot her friend a harsh look.

Kit, who held a can of oil in her grip, smiled a big giddy grin up to her taller friend. "I bet you feel better now, huh?"

"Kit!" she gawked in a hushed panic tone. "Why didn't you tell me they were coming?" Rivet started to walk automatically in circles, hands ringing together, eyes scanning around the floor. Her foot hit a discarded piece of metal, which she quickly picked up and proceeded to fix it.

Her little friend titled her head, extremely confused at this suddenly panicked behavior. "I… wanted it to be a surprise. You… didn't want them to come?"

"No no no no," Rivet said a million miles per hour as her robotic hand struggled to fix the small contraption she picked up. "It's just I'm not used to unannounced visits, I feel like crap, and pretty sure I look it too!"

"Rivet, calm down." Kit rolled her eyes at the sudden anxious behavior. "In my defense, they asked to come to visit just last night, before you got drunk. I had figured the invitation was mutual?"

"It is, I just wish you could've given me a heads up!" Rivet growled and tossed the piece away. Rushing up to a dirty mirror, she desperately smoothed her fur down. Followed by a cough to clear her throat, she straightened up and went back out to greet the males.

"Hey, um…" Ratchet raised a brow at Rivet's sudden tense look. "Everything okay?"

She grabbed his shoulders, grip tight enough to probably leave a small bruise. "Why on earth did you not answer my messages?" Rivet flattened her ears in rising frustration, "you have any idea how worried I was?"

Ratchet winced at the grip but didn't try to escape like he usually did. "S—sorry, I really didn't…"

"Well, you're in trouble for never answering." Then she suddenly wrapped her arms around his body, robotic hand pressing his head into her shoulder. "But this is for coming over."

The male lombax stood frozen, feeling her tense muscles relax when making direct contact with him. Like the tension in a cargo spring slowly unwinding when set on the ground, away from any pressure. Her grip remained tight, her arms hugging his upper body that prevented him from lifting his own arms. Rivet sighed into his fur, so happy to at least feel his presence. Like an empty bleeding void was finally touched with warm healing medicine that rid itself of the pain.

"Though I wish you would've given me a heads up so I could make myself a bit more presentable," she laughed while quickly disengaging the hug. Her back turned to him after she gave him an easy shoulder punch. The soft intimate moment quickly replaced by her typical buddy/buddy behavior. This making Ratchet lower his ears a bit, pressing his arm into his side, missing the powerful hug that no doubt could leave a bruise or two.

"Gotta admit, your reunions are always rough," he forced a laugh to hide the sadness his eyes gave away. Rubbing his shoulder from where she gently socked him.

"Well, that's what you get for making me worry," she lightly snapped, eyes gazing at him with a mix of relief and frustration. "But you're here… that's all I care about now," she flopped onto her bed and gestured for the male to join her by patting the empty space next to her. Ratchet awkwardly rubbed his neck and flopped down next to her.

"So," the female lombax started while leaning back, propping herself up with one arm. "What bring you by so quickly?"

"Well…" Ratchet looked to Clank, eyes begging for help.

"It's just things have been so busy," Clank came to his friend's indirect rescue. "I honestly had made plans to do this for a while, but just recently Ratchet and I managed to nab some free time. So, there was no trouble coming." His answer leaving out some major key points. This seeming to be picked up by the rebel as she raised a single eyebrow.

"Well… glad you guys managed to get some free time; wish I could say I was as busy. But with the emperor gone, our dimension has just been quiet." She looked off to the side, looking at the only two photos hung up in her entire home. One was out of place as she repositioned the photo till it hung neatly straight. "Part of me misses the explosions, but the other half enjoys silence."

Ratchet looked at the female lombax, listening to her words carefully, but unable to take his eyes off her mechanical arm. He slowly lost track of all outside noises, all going in slow motion as Rivet moved her mechanical arm in different directions. Something she usually did when telling a story or explaining a point. This made him smile, he loved how expressive he was. Till observing where the mechanical limb connected to her body made his ears flatten. Those scars where her arm had to be amputated, he wondered… how badly did it hurt?

"So how long are you two staying?" Rivet suddenly asked, snapping Ratchet out of his observational trance.

Clank and Ratchet glanced at each other, waiting for one to speak, only to get confused shrugs.

"Well, maybe just a few days?" Ratchet started till Rivet immediately sat up.

"That short?" she paused when they looked at her funny. Shrugging it off with a fun smile, she jabbed a thumb behind her to point to her living space. "You guys can stay as long as you want! How about a few weeks?" she twiddled her thumbs a bit, tail swishing nervously. "Mainly because we haven't seen you two in so long… a—and Kit's really missed ya!"

Ratchet struggled to contain a small smile but noticed how close her organic hand got to his leg. Immediately he pulled back, droplets of sweat dripping down his cheeks. Thankful his female companion didn't seem to notice the pull-away as continued to ramble for reasons why they could stay longer.

"So… how does that sound?" Rivet asked sheepishly. Hoping she made her point well enough to sway them.

"That sounds possible," Clank added when noticing Ratchet seemed lost in la-la land. "I think a longer stay would be better, as long as we are not inconveniencing you."

"There's a lot of things you two are," she pointed two play fingers at the duo. "But THAT word is not one of them," Rivet hopped off her bed and rushed to the side door, whipping it open and began digging through it like a mad dog in dirt. All sorts of metal pieces and tools flung around as Ratchet barely had time to dodge a wrench. Clank snickered at the sloppy dodge with a large bolt bounced off his head.

Ratchet returned the karma with a laugh of his own till Rivet's happy yodel redirected his attention back to her. The rebel rushed up to him with a box firmly in hand, a big smile spread across her face.

"This is a pop-out portable bed," she showed Ratchet the little red activation button on top of the bronze square. "Made this a little while back, because I was…" Ratchet raised an eyebrow at her awkward pause till she caught her words and laughed. "I was just bored, ya know, with less hero work to do. Decided to finish some projects."

Ratchet gingerly took the device from her, green eyes studying every nook and cranny. He couldn't help but wonder what would posses her to make a portable bed, as she was not one to have visitors OR go camping. Rivet was a true-blue grease monkey and never left the confines of her garage unless forced to.

"Pretty creative, good thinking." He complimented while tossing the device up and down like a set of car keys.

"You're welcome to sleep anywhere, even um… in here to." She awkwardly nudged her shoulder to point his attention to an empty space by her bed. "So, yea, don't feel like you have to follow any kind of rules or stuff."

He noticed where she was looking, next to her bed… why would she want him there? The big-time hero sighed, eyes shut in rising sadness. The dreams of the rebel roughly sucking snouts with him made guilt bubble of his stomach. How could he think about his best friend like that? He tossed the box up to catch it once more, trying to casually distract himself. Friends, that's all they ever were… right?

"I'll… sleep outside," Ratchet quickly spoke out before Rivet could offer a different, and possibly more uncomfortable, alternative.

"Outside?" She dropped her hands to her side, completely dumbstruck at his words. "Are you nuts? With all the critters big enough out there to make a meal of you? I don't think so." Rivet caught Ratchet and drug him to the empty space next to her bed. When they both stood silently, staring at each other, Rivet sighed in annoyance.

"You can sleep anywhere, again… you're not being a pain." She looked to the green glowing neon clock right above her workbench. "It's not even close to seven am yet. Just find any spot you'd like that's NOT stupid, like outside. Sleep for a bit longer, I know I really need some more shut-eye."

Before Ratchet could object, Kit intervened and caught his wrist. "Perhaps you'd like to take office for now?" She pointed a black digit to a nearby set of stairs. "Just until you have time to regain your bearings of this place, then you could choose a more suitable spot."

"Thanks, Kit, think that sounds like a good idea." Ratchet padded her head before grabbing Clank and looped him onto his shoulder. "You guys rest up, wake us up if you'd like to go anywhere at any time." Waving his hand, he wished them a good morning and went up the stairs. Rivet's invention clutched to his chest.

Rivet watched as Ratchet walked out of her line of sight. Immediately there was pull inside her chest, a sort of instinct. A hidden desire to follow the male lombax, to watch over him while he slept. She sighed and forced herself to lay back down on her bed.

Kit poked her head up by the female lombax, bouncing eagerly on her little feet.

"Are you feeling better?" She asked hopefully.

"Actually… yes," Rivet rewarded her with a tender smile. "I do feel a lot better. Even though I still wish you would've given me a heads up," she playfully flicked her friend's shoulder. "But this one is defiantly forgivable. Thank you."

"You are most welcome!" Kit hopped down to her feet and plugged into her charger on the wall. "Try and get some sleep, later today we should go do something fun."

"That sounds heavenly," Rivs nodded as she clicked the light off. "Night Kit."

"Night Rivet."