Work Text:
MePhone stared absently at the floor, seated firmly on the examination table in the center of a room in Test Tube’s lab. He kicked his feet absently, his hand reaching back to scratch at his damaged camera. The lens had been cracked during an epic battle (MePhone fell down the stairs), and while Test Tube had repaired most of all else, she cast the camera repair onto none other than the resident jock.
“Did you seriously fall down the stairs?” Trophy asked as he shoved the door open with a dramatic air, a replacement lens in hand. MePhone cringed. While Test Tube could repair the damage, she'd figured it’d do better on her time to send someone else to handle it. And since she’d taught Trophy to repair his camera himself after he’d broken it about a thousand times, she called him up for this.
MePhone gave Trophy an annoyed glare, Trophy deadpanning him back before snorting. “You get dumber every day. What’s next, you accidentally delete your system?” Trophy stepped up to the examination table, jabbing a finger at MePhone’s screen.
The host responded by smacking his hand away. “I was in a rush, and those stairs aren’t carpeted.” MePhone defended, Trophy just rolling his eyes and grabbing the side of MePhone’s casing.
MePhone jolted slightly at the contact, only to be startled when Trophy spun him one-eighty on the seat, making him face away. “So what, you weren’t designed with grips on your feet? I could’ve sworn you were supposed to be a ‘superior model’.” Trophy bit back with a smug grin, setting the spare lens to the side. He grabbed a screwdriver and started undoing MePhone’s back panel.
MePhone squinted at the wall with a frown as Trophy popped off the metal plate, a red dusting his cheeks as Trophy let out a small ‘wow’. “You’ve got a lot of wires.” Trophy commented. MePhone just grumbled in displeasure. No matter how many times he got repaired, it was always embarrassing getting his wires exposed. I mean, seriously, they were his internals—kind of personal!
“That’s a really weird thing to say-” MePhone started, only to shiver when Trophy dragged his index finger down a wire. It was a two-cord black one, connecting to MePhone’s screen through the wire and an additional thin gold strip. The thin strip, inconveniently enough, was tucked behind a ton of other wires. If Trophy didn’t want to shut MePhone off for this (and frankly, he didn’t. He wanted to know exactly WHEN something went wrong if it DID, and MePhone shutting off would be a good indicator)—He’d have to dig out the wire without unplugging any of the others. Trophy unplugged the black wire first, then turned his focus to the gold strip.
Trophy tapped his cup thoughtfully, glaring at the wire. “You were designed by a moron who never hoped to replace any parts.” Trophy complained, trying to figure out the best course of action to get past all the cords and doohickeys without accidentally making MePhone explode or something.
“Could have just said ‘Cobs’ and I would have known exactly what you meant.” MePhone rolled his eyes, dragging another snort out of Trophy.
Trophy pushed on a tightly pulled wire, making MePhone unexpectedly shiver. Trophy raised an eyebrow, while MePhone’s eyes went wide, staring at the wall with a quivering grimace, properly embarrassed. Trophy got curious. “..Be careful-” MePhone started, before Trophy gave an experimental tug to a looser-looking wire. “hEY-!” MePhone jolted, Trophy flinching in response
“Uhhhhmmmm..?” Trophy hummed questionably. He’d just hoped to see which area had the loosest wires for him to fit his hand into, he hadn’t realized MePhone could actually feel this.
“..Shut up.” MePhone choked out in humiliation, screen now a pink to blue gradient as he gritted his teeth. Trophy stared.. blinked.. then a slow, evil smirk came to his face. Trophy gave another testing tug at a nearby wire, earning a similar response from MePhone, but he held it in the pulled position for a little bit, up until MePhone groaned in a mix of annoyance and something he’d probably get lit on fire for asking about. Yet, he asked anyways.
“What was that?” Trophy questioned in an almost casual tone, MePhone just digging his nails into the foam seating underneath him. This asshole was FUCKING WITH HIM!
“..Do your job.” MePhone gritted out, arms trembling ever so slightly. Trophy responded with an easy confidence, considering he was winning the game he designed on the spot.
“I am. I’m loosening the wires to the camera connection strip so I can fix you. That IS what you want, right?” Trophy prodded back. Before MePhone could snap at him for being full of it, Trophy hooked his finger around a tighter wound wire, and gave it a harsher pull. MePhone let out a choked hiss as he clenched his eyes shut, barely concealing an improper noise.
Trophy gave an unamused scowl. Well that wasn’t fun, was it? Might as well get to work, I’m sure MePhone would LOVE if he picked up the pace. “Fine, fine. I’ll hurry up.” Trophy added finally. MePhone paused to process the statement, his head feeling a bit fuzzy.. before realizing what nonsense Trophy was about to pull. “Hey, don’t you dare, you asshole-”
Trophy grabbed a fistful of wires and PULLED. Not hard enough to yank them out (he didn’t want to get skinned alive by Test Tube), but enough to loosen their connections just a bit. “Gha-GH-” Literary nonsense, but verbally nothing short of an entertaining noise to Trophy. MePhone had messed with them for years, might as well get a little bit of personal vengeance before he got a brick chucked at his skull.
MePhone, strangely enough, responded by leaning away from the pull. That was the first thing Trophy noticed. When it went from resistance because of the tightly pulled wires, to the weight of holding MePhone back. MePhone scraped at the foam seating, biting his digital lip harshly. Trophy let out a short ‘pfft’, before bursting into a laugh. He made sure MePhone was supporting his own weight again before letting go of the cords.
“What, does it feel good or something? I thought it hurt.” Trophy said between snickers, now soothing his actions by dragging his thumb down a thin wire. MePhone stared blankly into nothing for a minute, processing what on Cobs green earth was happening.
Uh, YEAH, it was SUPPOSED to hurt. It usually did. Another one of Cobs’s lovely cruelties… But it didn’t. God, why didn’t it? “..J-just hurry up.” MePhone muttered, bringing one hand up to scratch at the side of his casing.
Trophy squinted. Hurrying made tugging wires MORE likely, both of them knew that. Even MePhone wasn’t stupid enough to fumble on words that badly when something hurt him, especially not when working with someone like Trophy. Still, he found himself entertaining the request. Not out of understanding, but out of a desperate need to see what was really going on. He was nosey, can you blame him?
“Hey, Phony.” Trophy said conversationally, confusing MePhone.
“..What.” MePhone asked bitterly, sounding irritated. That told Trophy about all he needed to know, snickering before starting to idly tug at a wire. MePhone choked up, arms tensing. Trophy pushed on, as if he was just pulling at a sweater string, distracted. They both knew he knew what he was doing.
“I’ve always wondered… When you could generate anything, could you change yourself?”
MePhone seemed almost startled by the question. What on Cobs green earth is Trophy doing getting theoretical in a time like this!? “…I could- hH- alter and rem-remove memories- GHh-” MePhone stammered out, trailing into a whimper as Trophy started to test a different wire, as if trying to figure out which was more sensitive. Trophy let out a simple ‘ahuh’, now hooking his finger under three wires and pulling. MePhone sucked in air through his teeth.
“Right, right. Checks out. That whole cave challenge I heard of… Anyways. Have you ever gotten a virus?” Trophy inquired absently, rubbing his thumb thoughtlessly on the center wire as he pulled at them. MePhone paused to think for a moment. What was this guy getting at?
"O-once- ah- while I was at Mmmh..Meeple.” MePhone barely managed, eyes clenched tightly. “L-learned never- t-oooh- to click random links… A-after the lecture I- aH!” MePhone was cut off when Trophy grabbed a fourth into his grip, then a fifth.
“Right, right. You’re dumb enough to do that.” Trophy said dismissively, pulling on the wires a bit firmer now that he knew what they could handle. Trophy audibly fought back a laugh at MePhone’s earlier slipped moan. THAT’S what he’s doing! He’s getting a kick out of MePhone stumbling on his words like an idiot! MePhone cursed under his breath, clearly pissed off. Yet, he didn’t pull away. Wonder why…
“What’s your favorite color and why?” Trophy pried.
“I-I’m not answer-hhhing that.” MePhone refused. He leaned away from the tugging again, clearly encouraging it, going against his apparent display of irritation.
Trophy let out a knowing hum. “What about your favorite food?”
“Why wou-hould I tell you t-that. Every-oohne.. already kn-knows.” MePhone refused again. God, he was losing his mind here. Could Trophy stop putting so much tension on a specific point?
Trophy chuckled. “Yeah, dumb question. How about your favorite hobby?”
“WHY do you keep- NNGH- TRopHY-!” MePhone shouted in complaint suddenly when Trophy grabbed a fistful with his free hand, yanking the wires back. This. ASSHOLE.
Trophy froze up slightly at his name being called out, mingled in the tone of a moan. He held MePhone’s wires like reigns, knuckles white with his grip. He only got knocked out of his stupor when MePhone let out a quivering whine, when he realized he had started gradually pulling further and further. “..Goodness.” Trophy muttered under his breath, eyes wide. His face flushed red suddenly. Was MePhone seriously getting to him now? By being NOISY? This was stupid.
..Yet despite Trophy’s scowl and grumbled complaint, he didn’t stop. He managed to convince himself he was still doing it to piss off MePhone, but when he started to give the host exactly what he wanted by pulling back and up, just to push forward and loosen the tug again, it became very apparent to MePhone that this was nothing but self indulgence. And MePhone didn’t even mind it.
“Gha-ah-! Ffu-nnghh-” MePhone choked out incoherently, Trophy’s face burning up as he yanked the wires over each other, letting out a huff when MePhone groaned positively. This was stupid, all of this was insane. Trophy kept a firm hold of a fistful of wires in one hand, starting to dig for the golden strip in the back with the other. He had a job to do, he might as well finish it. He eventually plucked the strip out of place, hearing the connection click away.
Then, just like that, he pulled away, the friction stopping. MePhone slumped forward when Trophy’s pulling stopped supporting his weight, panting heavily as his screen gave a flicker. The vents on the sides of his casing let out a puff of steam, a rather dramatic expression of his fluster. He was quiet for a long moment, before finally piping up.
“Whh.. why’d you..?” MePhone wanted to ask why Trophy stopped, but that’d make it obvious he was enjoying it- and clearly he WASN’T. Business procedure, necessary repairs, and maybe a little bit of TLT (tender loving torture). MePhone made the conscious effort to forget that last part was a sentence he thought up, especially regarding the non-tender, non-loving Trophy.
Trophy dusted himself off with a dramatic air, acting far more above-all than he really was. Being hard was for the WEAK. “Why’d I what.” Trophy asked as if he didn’t already know, reaching up to start unscrewing MePhone’s current camera. He listened to MePhone closely, wondering if he could feel this too. Strangely enough, once he plucked off the lens and set it beside the replacement, he determined that it was only the wires that got him responding so strongly.
Trophy grabbed the replacement lens, slotting it into place and screwing it in almost impatiently. MePhone just seethed in silence, annoyed by having been cut off. And he was having fun, too! Lame. Trophy, on the other hand, was making a very difficult decision. Should he put the gold strip over the other wires for future convenience and ease, since there’s no real reason for it to be under… Or indulge a little more and put the gold strip behind the other wires for ‘consistency’?
MePhone jolted when Trophy started shoving wires ‘out of the way’, which largely just consisted of him pulling at them aimlessly. Consistency it was! Curiously, he plugged the black wire into the lens first, connecting it to MePhone. Was it strategical? Absolutely not! Did it help him in any way? Take a wild guess! all that mattered was when he pressed the flat gold strip between his hands and slid his palms up it curiously.
MePhone shivered harshly, letting out a weak moan at the motion. Okay, at least he knew they were both on the same page now. This was NOT a coincidence. He smacked one hand on his face and leaned into it, the other continuing to grip at the foam examination table. Trophy plastered on a proud grin, even though he very much so was doing as terrible as MePhone was.
“Relax, I’m just making sure it’s smooth! Don’t want it having any bends or twists.” Trophy defended, acting confident. MePhone would have half believed it if Trophy didn’t start using the connection point at the end as a grip to pull on it with one hand, moving away the other to start tugging at more wires. ‘To start moving them so he could put the wire where it belongs’, MePhone figured would be Trophy’s excuse for that one, too.
MePhone would have commented.. if he was faring any better than he currently was. In reality, though, he was a mess. He whimpered when Trophy tugged, sighed when he let loose, groaned when he yanked, he was being played like a harp! And he could hardly even say he minded. MePhone let out a strangled moan when Trophy let go of the gold strip to start pushing open a space in the wires to fit the gold one into. MePhone was one hundred percent going to burst a battery if Trophy kept this shit up.
Trophy held the gap open with one hand, pulling a big chunk out of place so he could use his other hand to position the strip. He was careful when sliding it into hiding under the others, right back to where it originally was. It was a bit easier now that a lot of the wires connections were loosened, though Trophy would make sure to check where all the wires were plugged into after so he could fix any loose points.
“Well that was easy.” Trophy said smugly as he plugged the gold strip in, returning use to MePhone’s back camera. MePhone’s only rebuttal consisted of a ‘fuck you’, mingled in with a choked breath when Trophy pulled his hands out from in the wires. MePhone was gonna hiss ‘are we done here?’ but he was oh-so-kindly cut off by Trophy starting to tug wires again. He gasped, screen flickering.
Trophy stared intently, all too effected by this. “Relax, I’m just checking for loose connections.” A half truth at best. He WAS checking which wires needed adjusting, that much was true, but he didn’t exactly say why he was TUGGING and not just fixing the connection points. Professionalism was an art, one he wasn’t mastered in. MePhone couldn’t say he minded.. actually, he could, he just couldn’t mean it.
“Y-you’re suuuhh-uch an assholeeee-” MePhone drawled in complaint, despite the way he pulled in the opposite direction of the tugging. It’s almost like they both were synced partners in this dance, even when they both refused to admit it. Trophy bit his lip as he used one hand to pull on wires, the other to actually WORK by pressing loose connections back into their places. He was especially careful to make sure the screen wires were all connected. He didn’t really want MePhone to go spontaneously blind for a day and it be his fault.
They kept this up for a little longer, Trophy dragging it out by tugging at wires he just reconnected before reconnecting them again. Trophy’s pulling gradually got rougher and rougher, clearly distracted and overestimating the connections, not even realizing when a wire got too loose…
MePhone let out noises he’d never dare name, Trophy fortunate enough to get a front seat show.. until the loose wire suddenly popped out of place. MePhone let out a loud moan of Trophy’s name, sounding almost mixed in with a sob (yeah, the Golden Boy is never going to forget that), before his screen flickered to static for just half a second, then going to black. Trophy let out a startled ‘eep!’ as he rushed to fix all the connections, including the unplugged wire.
MePhone let out a weak whimper as his screen flickered back to life, panting and disoriented. Trophy finally circled in front of him, looking a bit worried that he may have damaged something. Fortunately though, MePhone looked up at him with lidded eyes, his gradient screen tinted pink, looking dizzy. Trophy paused for a moment.. before snorting. He burst out into laughter, MePhone’s expression quickly shifting to indignation.
“Whuh- w-what’s so funny!?” MePhone shouted in humiliation, Trophy leaning forward in hysterics.
“HA– HAHA- I almost thought I’d KILLED YOU!” Trophy smacked a hand on his cup, the other wrapped around what was supposedly his abdomen as he stood upright again. “Turns out I just made you come! Didn’t know you short-circuiting is equivalent!” Trophy said between snickers, flicking away a non-existent tear from his eye.
MePhone just gritted his teeth, glaring up at Trophy. “Yeah yeah, laugh it up! God, you suck…” MePhone bitched, Trophy just smiling down at the seated phone like he was the purest form of comedy. Trophy let out an almost relieved sigh once he finished losing his shit in entertainment, walking back to being behind MePhone so he could quickly reattach his panel.
“Can’t believe you actually let me do that.” Trophy commented idly, his voice tinged with lingering amusement, screwing in the panel before stepping back. Trophy raised an eyebrow.
“What’d you think I’d do?” MePhone immediately questioned.
“Punch me probably.” Trophy said casually. MePhone shrugged. Fair point.
MePhone stood up off the seat.. just to fall forward and faceplant. Trophy let out a yelp, immediately assuming he broke something. He ran to MePhone’s side and dropped to his knees, offering MePhone a helping hand to lift his face off the tiles… Just to be met with the smuggest shit-eating grin he’d ever seen in his entire life. Trophy shoved MePhone’s face back into the floor, earning an offended ‘ow, prick!’ from the host.
“Can’t believe I almost thought I actually messed up! Don’t FUCK WITH ME like that!” Trophy said in embarrassment, MePhone sitting up and rubbing the top of his screen with a chuckle.
"You and I both know you deserved it.” MePhone poked back, standing up and offering Trophy a hand. Trophy shot him a middle finger before standing up without assistance. MePhone just laughed.
“We’ve been in here for an hour, we should probably go before Test Tube thinks you fumbled terribly and lit the lab on fire or something.” MePhone said as he checked his internal clock. Trophy was a dick, a notorious one at that, but MePhone had kinda just experienced the best thing ever to name, so… He didn’t want Test Tube to crucify him. Yet.
“Don’t go giving me ideas, Phony.” Trophy joked in response, though he confidently started to lead the way out of the room. MePhone rolled his eyes, but followed behind anyways, staring at the back of Trophy’s head. He chuckled slightly. He’d make sure to fall down the stairs a bit more often, from now on. ‘Just to give Trophy more work’… A little excuse of his own.