#I have a one-shot I'll post hopefully within the next 2-4 weeks that takes place soon after this similar to Bright Horizons.

[giantroboticplatypusbutt218]

Oversight

This is Part 3 of the Magnetic Attraction series. 

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Content Warnings: Fantastic Racism, Internalized Homophobia, Suggestive Content, Mild Language, Canon-Typical Violence.

Summary: Rev receives some friendly advice from Tech after a mistake of his is brought to attention. Desperate to prove that he took Tech’s words to heart, he seeks the aid of his other friends to improve himself before the evening is over.

Unfortunately, he missed the most crucial piece of advice that Tech tried to convey.

Word Count: 27,277

Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (Link to Chapter on Ao3)

~

Chapter 5

Word Count: 4941

~

With a building as large as the Loonatics’ HQ on Blanc, one might expect it to take a while to find a person who has the ability to traverse anywhere in the base in an instant. Slam, however, had a guess as to where Rev might have gone and followed his gut. 

Sure enough, as soon as he turned the corner into the hallway connecting their rooms, he saw a pajama-clad roadrunner dash out of his room and toss a mound of feminine clothes in front of Ace’s door, before dashing right back. 

Taking a breath, Slam made his way over. 

Meanwhile, Rev simply let himself fall face-first onto his bed, not minding the confetti of post-its it kicked up or the ones still stuck to the sheets. The paper-riddled pillow swallowed up Rev’s anxious whine and following weary moan. 

A deep knock sounded at the door, forcing a groan to follow all of Rev’s displeased noises. 

Within a second he was at the door, opening it to see the person he knew was there. 

“Hey Slam,” he sighed. “Look I don’t know why you followed me here but whatever reason it is I’m sure it’s pointless. Every single thing I’ve done today was a failure and Tech is probably going to be looking down on me for the rest of our lives. So maybe you should just go because there’s nothing you can do that’ll have a single chance of fixing my monumental landslide of screw-ups before Tech chews me out for everything.” 

Grunting, Slam pointed sharply down the hall, back in the direction Rev was running from. 

“Are you seriously trying to get me to go talk to him?! Why? So I can expedite my one-way ticket to losing my best friend? Absolutely not! I’m just gonna lock myself in my room for as long as I can pretending like everything’s fine until an emergency or the threat of starvation pulls me out.” 

As Rev began pacing at the side of his bed, Slam let himself in. He grimaced at how many sticky notes coated every inch of the room. 

“I mean, maybe if I’m quick about it I can channel the security feed onto my personal computer to monitor Tech’s position in the base so I can sneak around to grab food every once in a while. That would require some rewiring which I’m not very good at but maybe if I quickly do some research I can learn how to do it and complete the installation before any sort of unavoidable circumstances forces me to come into contact with him.” 

Slam picked up a sticky note, his face shifting into a grimace as he read it. 

“But who knows how long I’ll actually be able to avoid him? Surely he wouldn’t cut off our friendship in the middle of a mission, right? So if I can just put off any conversations while on missions and channel the camera feeds into my room I’ll never have to acknowledge that I’ve screwed everything up. Yeah. That’s a plan. Right?” 

Flicking the note off his finger, Slam stared at him flatly. 

“What?! It’s not like I have any better options!” 

In three smooth steps and a swift swipe, Rev was under Slam’s arm being carried like luggage. 

“Hey! Let me go! What are you doing?! I need to stay locked in my room otherwise none of my plans will-…” 

Now in the hallway, Rev saw Lexi’s door closing. Meanwhile, Ace strained as he bent over to grab the clothes at his doorstep. “Ugh, come on Duck,” he uttered to himself. “You know this is dry clean only.” After picking up the clothes with a pained grunt, he stepped inside. 

Rev didn’t dare look in the direction of Tech’s room, instead, he continued his attempt at flailing out of Slam’s grasp. 

Effortlessly, Slam turned and took a few more steps toward the hall’s entrance.

While his efforts were futile, Rev wouldn’t stop. 

That was, until he heard Tech’s confused voice. 

“Uh… hi, Slam? And… Rev?” 

Slam used his free hand to grab Rev’s shirt collar like the scruff of a cat and set him in front of Tech. Instead of immediately letting go, he reached for Tech’s wrist and pulled it towards Rev’s, letting go once Tech got the memo to hold on. 

He nodded with finality before heading to his room. 

Rev’s first instinct, of course, was to run away. He twitched with the urge, but Tech’s firm grasp on his wrist meant he’d just be pulling the person he wanted to run from along for the ride. 

“Well, it seems like he wants us to talk,” Tech said, watching Slam’s door close. 

“Haha… Yeah…” 

Returning his focus, he looked Rev up and down. “Wou-”

“Tech I’m really sorry! You were really scared when I was in danger and you were shaking and I’ve never actually seen you so scared and it was all my fault so I’m really really sorry about forcing you through all that when you didn’t deserve it and…” He looked away. “I’m sorry…” 

Taking a deep breath, Tech ran his free hand over his ears. “Can we speak somewhere else? Preferably somewhere more private?” Tech looked past him, pursing his lips. “How about your room?” 

Rev laughed nervously. “W-Why there? I mean we’re closer to your room so it’d probably be more convenient to…” The insistent look Tech was giving him forced his reply. “Okay…” 

With a nod, Tech led him to the next door over. His door. 

Sighing, Rev let him in. 

It was at that moment Rev truly realized the terrible state of his room. He couldn’t bear to see what Tech thought, so he just stared off into a colorful corner. 

“Oh…” Tech said. “This is… worse than my lab. Much worse…” 

“I wasn’t expecting you to ever come in here…” 

“Yeah. I could’ve guessed.” 

Rev heard Tech take a step toward him and quickly stepped further into his room, stopping beside his bed. “If I knew you’d be visiting I’d have cleaned it up,” he said. “But you know, when it’s just you, why clean your room right? It’s not like you need to impress yourself.” 

The sigh Rev heard cut right through his chest. 

“Look, I talked to Lexi and Ace. I know you’ve been trying to improve your confidence since we talked earlier.” 

He covered his face.

“It feels like what I said didn’t really get through to you.”

His throat tightened. 

“Rev, I told you to have some confidence in yourself because you were already on the right track. I specifically wanted you to relax, and from what I’ve heard, you’ve been doing the exact opposite from the second our conversation ended.”

With a whine, Rev backed himself into his bed, stumbling onto it after which he quickly pulled his knees up and hugged them. 

“Sorry,” he meekly apologized. 

Tech sighed, bending down and picking a patch of sticky notes off of Rev’s bed until he could sit on it as well, more comfortably than Rev likely was.

“I also told you not to make things awkward, and hearing the lengths you went to in an effort to impress me after I told you to relax… is pretty unsettling.” 

“Oh…” Rev swallowed thickly, curling up a little tighter. “So everything I did… was pointless. I put myself through increasingly embarrassing and dangerous situations until you got involved and thought I got hurt…” 

“That’s a pretty negative way of looking at it, though, not entirely wrong…” 

Rev fell onto his side, letting out a shuddering breath. 

“I just wanted to prove that I cared about you and was listening to what you had to say, but obviously I wasn’t because if I just followed the incredibly easy advice you gave me, none of this would have happened…” 

“You didn’t have to go out of your way to prove anything, Rev. Just take a few more seconds to think about whatever advice I give you next time, okay?” 

He just turned onto his side, facing away from Tech. “Look, it’s late. Maybe-” His voice cracked, forcing him to clear his throat. “Maybe you should just go. I’ll probably just find another dumb way to hurt you again if you don’t.”

“It’s really not that big a deal.” 

“Just… Just go…” His voice came out forced. “I’ve been a pretty… awful friend today. Let alone a best friend or… anything else. You should just get some rest or something… take a break from… dealing with me…” 

“Seriously, it’s fine. I promise.” Tech waited a moment, but didn’t get a reply. “Rev?”

Silence followed, leaving Tech awkwardly sitting on Rev’s bed in his room plastered in sticky notes. 

Despite the uncomfortable atmosphere, he didn’t feel right just letting Rev stew in his own misery. He tried to think of some solution, looking around as though an answer would pop out at him among a sea of colorful paper. 

Actually…

Now that he was taking a moment, he noticed a few things weren’t covered. Rev’s PC monitor, of course, discounting the few notes stuck to the sides. Obviously the electrical outlets. And… the pictures on the walls and shelves. 

Tech focused on them, noting that some of the pictures had post-its on them… but they never covered the areas where Rev’s friends and family were. Rev himself was covered in them, though, leaving Tech to wonder if he should be concerned about that. Then, on Rev’s nightstand, he noticed a picture he was very familiar with. 

It was just him and Rev, standing side by side in front of a simulated podium and crowd, celebrating their joint effort in rebuilding the Virtual Trainer in Blanc HQ. Of course, right after the picture, Rev just had to make a joke about all the VR games he’d play in it. Normally, Tech would have gone on a big rant about it not being a toy and how misusing it was disrespectful and yadda yadda… but he didn’t. Rev had obviously made the joke to provoke him, as by that point, they’d gotten in the habit of arguing just for the thrill of it… but Tech just couldn’t muster the energy to even fake being mad at him. With how much help Rev had given on the project, cutting the time to completion in half, Tech was too happy to refuse any use Rev could think up for it. And the look Rev gave him when he replied to his joke with ‘have fun’, that surprise and excitement… it left him with a feeling that would only continue to bloom from then on. 

Warmth filled Tech as he recalled the memory, an experience he felt often thanks to a copy of the photo he had hanging above his work computer. Then, that warmth died out and curled dully in his gut, as Tech looked again at the photo and saw that Rev was covered in two sticky notes. 

It didn’t sit right with him to see such an important photo, at least to him, tainted like that. 

Tech got up from the bed, hearing the faintest shuttering gasp from his friend as he stood. There was no doubt Rev would brush off his concern, so Tech elected to continue toward the nightstand. He leaned down to better read whatever thing Rev thought was important enough to not only take note of, but cover such a wonderful moment with. 

‘For some reason, he doesn’t hate you,’ the first line said, a scribbled arrow pointing toward Tech in the picture beside it. ‘Don’t do anything that could make him change his mind.’

With concern growing, Tech continued onto the second note.

‘He gave you a second chance. Don’t waste it. Don’t screw up again.’

A twinge of unease hit Tech as he read the final, repeatedly underlined command. 

‘Don’t be a failure.’

Without a second thought, he plucked the two notes off of the picture. Looking over them again just left him with the same emotions, so he stepped over and sat on the bed. 

“Rev,” he spoke softly. “What are these?” 

Thankfully, Rev actually pulled up his head to look at whatever Tech had asked him about. Upon seeing what he had, however, he let out a gasp and rushed to snatch them away. 

Tech, of course, made sure that didn’t happen. 

Given that Rev couldn’t reach the notes without leaning over Tech or getting up from the bed, he simply whined and sat into a defeated slouch. 

“You weren’t supposed to see those…” Rev mumbled.

“I wasn’t supposed to see your entire room.” 

“…You really weren’t supposed to see those…”

Tech sighed. “Why did you write them?” 

Folding his arms, Rev turned away. “Just a reminder… to not ruin our friendship.” 

“You’re not going to ruin our friendship, Rev. Not by accident, at least. I’ve already told you that I can handle you making a few mistakes.”

Rev didn’t respond. 

“Speaking of mistakes,” Tech said, “earlier I told you to treat any accidental minor offense you cause me like any other mistake, and well…” He rubbed his neck. “Maybe that was a mistake on my part. Though, I don’t think I can be blamed for lacking the foresight on that one.” 

The strange admission caught Rev’s attention, making him glance at Tech briefly before averting his gaze and going quiet again. 

“As it turns out, you don’t really handle any mistakes very well. At least, not the ones you made today while taking advice from Lexi and Ace.” 

“I… I usually know enough before trying things that I don’t make any mistakes…” 

“And I’m guessing that this,” Tech gestured vaguely to the room, “isn’t a one-off thing you’ve done just for me.” 

“To this… extent… no. But… yeah. I usually keep it all on my PC… but when I really need to memorize things… this is how I do it…” 

“Hm.” Tech glanced down at the notes. “Look, I’m not an expert or anything, but this just… doesn’t seem right.”

Rev flinched, huddling into himself. 

“Clearly, you really don’t like to let people down, and that’s normal. But, freaking out over small mistakes, researching for days in an attempt to avoid them… it doesn’t take a genius to know that’s not healthy.” Looking around, his eyes landed on more photos, some showing Rev’s friends. His family. 

His father. 

The memory of Rev groveling at his feet, pleading for help in impressing Ralph Runner, flashed in his head. “A year ago, we weren’t all that close to each other. We’d break out into fights over who’s smarter, or who should lead projects, or who should’ve caught certain errors. Yet… when your dad came around…” 

Rev let out a faint whine. 

“…you still begged me for help. You cared more about getting his approval,” Tech glanced at the notes again, “about not being a failure… than you cared about being better than me.” 

“You-” his voice wavered. “You should just leave.” 

“Rev.” Tech tried to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but Rev shrugged it off. “Look, if there’s anything you wanna talk about, I’m still your best friend, alright?” 

“I’m fine,” he croaked.

Tech reached out again. “It’s just… I care about you, Rev… just like how you care about me. If you need anything, I’m here. Don’t be embarrassed to ask.” 

When Tech’s fingers brushed Rev’s shoulder again, he let out a gasping sob.

“Rev…” 

“This is pathetic! You told me not to cry and- ARGH!” He slammed his fists into the mattress. “I can’t even do that!” Wiping his eyes, he let out a broken sigh. “I tried so hard… at everything… and yet… I’m still a…” 

“Rev.” Tech gently rubbed his shoulder in what he hoped was a soothing fashion. “You didn’t fail at anything, and you aren’t and can’t be a failure, okay?” He sighed. “And I never even told you not to cry. I said I didn’t want you to feel like crying whenever I corrected you on something… because something that small shouldn’t make you so upset.” His hand traveled to Rev’s back, moving gently up and down. “And I’m assuming the reason you’re crying… isn’t related to that. It’s something more… personal.” 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Rev muttered, still wiping away tears. 

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting a little support.” 

"I don't need support."

"You can talk to me, Rev."

"No." 

"I won't judge. I promise."

“Stop!”

Tech flinched back, noticing the sharp anger and fear in Rev’s eyes. If Rev ever planned on explaining things, Tech figured that it certainly wouldn’t be any time tonight. 

“Sorry,” he said, placing both hands on his lap. “I shouldn’t have pried.” 

“It’s… You’re just trying to help me… even if I don’t need any help.” 

Tech strongly disagreed, but he didn’t want to argue. Besides, it was really late. Now probably wasn’t the best time to be having any sort of personal discussion anyway. 

He yawned, then looked around at the state of Rev’s room again.

“How about we hang out in the lounge for a little while? It’s a bit more… cheery than it is in here.” 

Rev sniffed. “I guess…” 

“We can just take a moment to relax before going to bed, alright?” 

With a shuddered breath, Rev nodded. “Okay.” 

Tech got up, frowning at the notes he was still holding before slipping them into a pocket on his shorts. It was then that he noticed the state of his shirt. 

Behind him, he could hear Rev slowly pulling himself off the bed. 

“Hey, I’m going to stop by my room to change into my pajamas. You can take a minute to cool off and meet me at the end of the sleeping quarters when you’re ready, alright?”

“Alright…” 

It felt strange to leave Rev alone, but the smell of ketchup and the cool air penetrating his torn shirt were starting to bother him. He had to trust that Rev would listen to him and not do something rash like lock himself away. 

“See you in a minute.” 

And with that, he made his way back into the hall. 

~

Tech sighed, looking down the hall toward Rev’s room. It had been a few minutes, and he was starting to worry that Rev might have decided not to show. 

Then, giving him some relief, Rev finally emerged from his room and walked over. 

“Hey Rev,” Tech greeted softly. 

“Hey Tech,” Rev wearily greeted back. 

After a brief moment of silence, Tech simply said, “let’s go.” 

They walked down the halls, not a word being spoken between them. It wasn’t quiet, however, as they could hear the TV around the corner. 

Sure enough, the flash of the TV screen at the other end of the moonlit hall became visible at the same time that the rest of the lounge did. 

“Guess nobody decided to turn off the TV,” Tech said. “I’ll handle that once we’re ready to go to bed.” 

Tech took the far corner of the couch opposite the TV. On the coffee table, he could see the burnt bulb from earlier and the TV remote, the latter of which he grabbed. 

As Rev slowly sat down on the middle cushion beside Tech, he noticed that the back of the remote was lying on the table at about the same time that Tech did. 

“Hm. I guess this is the remote Duck wanted the batteries for.” 

“They’re probably done charging by now so I could run over and grab them if you like. Alternatively, I could also get up and change the channel myself.”

“Well, we should probably check what’s on first.” 

They both looked at the TV, seeing zoomed-in footage of a sleeping tiger before a cut shot to a confused zookeeper being interviewed by a reporter. 

“I don’t know, I can’t explain that either. One second I was looking away, and then poof, the tiger is back the next.”

“Any theories or opinions on what might have happened?” 

“I have no ideas. I’m just happy she’s back, and I hope she doesn’t disappear like that again…” 

“And there you have it folks. It seems like this mystery may remain a mystery for quite some time. But, at the very least, we got a happy ending out of it. This is Channel 4 News, and this conveniently concludes our conservation special.”

Tech sighed, wiping a hand down his face. “I feel like Duck shouldn’t have gotten away with that so easily…” 

“I don’t even understand how he managed to pull it off in the first place. Maybe I’m just too tired to think up a list of possible scenarios…” 

“Just don’t bother. Kick back and relax; That’s what we came here for.” 

“Oh, um, yeah. Alright.” 

Rev leaned back on the couch, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table. Something was brushing up against his foot, so he craned his neck to see what it was. 

Turned out, it was a lightbulb. Likely the same one he had given Tech a little earlier. 

“Say… did you figure out the whole electricity thing?” 

Tech’s ears drooped, as well as the rest of his posture. “Well… no… You had a great suggestion… but maybe I should just throw in the towel. Surely I would have managed to produce some sort of power by now if I was capable of it… but I guess I’m just not…” 

“That’s not true! I saw you getting that lightbulb to glow at least twice today, and the second time even caused it to blow out!”

“It… Huh…” His brow scrunched in thought. “I think I can recall when the bulb blew… but you saw it glow before then?” 

“Yeah! Right after I flew into you and-” Rev faltered, pulling his legs off the table as his face heated up. “You know, we were talking, and it glowed after I mentioned dancing with you…” 

“Ah, um…” Tech’s cheeks were suddenly showing a hint of red as well. “Really? That’s… interesting.” Clearing his throat, he looked away. “I’ll have to compare what those two experiences have in common, and maybe that’ll bring me closer to achieving my goal.” 

The TV filled the air with sponsored praises for some random product they’d never use. Despite this, it played out completely before either of them spoke another word. 

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Rev said, voice assured but weary. “You’re the smartest person in the universe after all.”

Tech’s attention slowly turned to him, then down to his hand casually resting on the space between them.

“Thanks… it does mean a lot to know you at least think I can pull it off.” 

The light brush of something against his hand briefly jolted Rev’s mind away from the fog of sleep he was sinking into. He looked for an explanation and found that Tech had ‘casually’ left his hand, palm up, right next to his own. Of course, when Rev searched for Tech’s face, he was looking away again.

Surely, Rev thought, that this was an invitation to hold his hand… right? It was right there. It was like Tech was nudging him to just take hold. 

Though… at the moment… he didn’t really feel like he deserved it.

Rev looked at Tech again, noticing his stiff posture and the barest hint at a hopeful smile. 

…Maybe Rev didn’t exactly feel like he deserved to hold his hand, but Tech definitely deserved to have his hand held. 

“I know you can do it, Tech. You just have to keep trying.” 

After a bit of hesitation, he gingerly laid his hand on top of Tech’s. 

A delighted squeak filled the air, followed by a deeper, more manly cough. 

“I will… Uh, ‘keep trying,’ I mean.” 

Their fingers entwined, and Rev felt like the air was charged with emotion… or maybe he was just getting really tired. 

It took a second longer than it should have for Rev to remember that Tech had said something. 

“That’s good- great!” 

Tech chuckled, his posture loosening as he sat back on the couch. 

“Let’s just relax alright?” He yawned. “We can worry about whatever some other time. When we're more awake.” 

“Yeah… That’s probably a good idea…” 

Following his lead, Rev let himself kick back, feet up on the coffee table and back against the cushion. He would have started watching TV, but Tech was still occupying the last part of his mind that hadn’t drifted off. 

Though he’d blame the sleep taking over, Rev decided that Tech’s shoulder seemed like the perfect place to rest his head. As it turned out, he was completely right.

The soft weight against his side didn’t go unnoticed. Tech felt warmth swirling in his chest as he carefully looked down to see Rev sleeping peacefully. 

He didn’t intend for either of them to actually sleep out in the lounge, but he wasn’t about to complain to Rev about it. 

Letting out another yawn, Tech faintly questioned if he should carry Rev back to his room. Considering that his bed was littered with sticky notes, it didn’t seem like the best idea; He’d have to either wake Rev up or leave him on an uncomfortable bed. 

The room seemed to be getting darker, then Tech realized he was just closing his eyes. 

Somewhere in his head, he might’ve had reservations about letting himself fall asleep there, especially with Rev unwittingly falling asleep against him… But wherever those reservations were, they weren’t strong enough to push through the fog. 

Another sponsor played, something about apple juice, and Tech grabbed the remote to shut it off. It wasn’t until he was pointing it at the TV that he remembered it didn’t have batteries. 

A twinge of annoyance hit him. If only he had figured out the whole electricity thing already. Even if Rev knew he could do it, Tech still wasn’t sure what could trigger that power. 

Wait…

Tech smiled tiredly, wanting to laugh but not having the energy. 

Looking back, it was entirely too obvious to him what he was missing after sitting in his lab, failure after failure getting him down… and then gained when the person he cared for the most promised to share quality time with him once he succeeded. 

He let his lowermost fingers slide down the remote, slipping into the battery slot. The angle was awkward, but that didn’t matter. With his thumb he held down the power button, and did what Rev knew he could. 

And now, he knew he could too. 

“Thank you,” he whispered to Rev, before the soft blanket of darkness swept over the room and invited him to join his friend in sleep. 

~

Before Lexi had opened her bedroom door, it seemed like a regular morning. She had done her normal routine and was ready to bound over to the kitchen to get coffee started for the less morning-inclined teammates… when something sounded slightly off. 

The sun was barely up, so everyone else was likely in their room catching ‘Z’s, but she could hear two people breathing somewhere in HQ. Curious, she stepped down the hall. 

Her mind filled with questions of who it could be. Duck, Slam, and Tech were the first to be eliminated, as Duck could sleep through an earthquake, Slam would need one to wake him up, and Tech would probably yell at it for disturbing him before he could get some coffee. Ace was much more likely to be up this early, but given how badly he said his back ached after hitting the basement wall yesterday, Lexi bet he’d take a bit longer to get up than usual. 

Rev… was in the ‘definitely’ category on the ‘people who would be up right now’ list. It probably wasn’t great that this was the case, but Lexi couldn’t blame him for getting frustrated after the fourth or fifth time hitting the floor while trying to sleep. But, if he was up, then she should be able to smell coffee by now, as he’d normally get it brewing if she hadn’t already. 

Lexi listened in again, and noticed that the two people she heard had very relaxed heartbeats… and their breathing was pretty relaxed too. They were both definitely asleep, explaining the lack of coffee scent despite multiple people being out of their rooms. 

Now she was really curious. As far as she knew, nobody in HQ was particularly fond of sleeping anywhere but inside their custom-tailored rooms, so there must be an interesting story attached to whoever she finds napping out… in the lounge, she was now sure of. It wasn’t far off, so this wouldn’t stay a mystery for very long. 

She stepped around the corner and…

…slapped her hands over her mouth so she wouldn’t squeal at the adorable sight. 

Tucked into the center couch, Rev was laying on top of Tech, beak nuzzled against his shoulder. Tech, meanwhile, had his arms wrapped snugly around Rev’s back, keeping him locked firmly in his embrace. Both of them wore peaceful expressions in their sleep, really selling the cozy atmosphere. 

At that moment, Lexi questioned if she wanted to wait a bit before starting the coffee. Both of them seemed to be so comfortable, and she didn’t want anything to wake them up. 

Still, if Ace got up with a sore back and didn’t have coffee ready, he probably wouldn’t feel too great about it. 

Quietly, Lexi stepped away. The two of them could enjoy their moment of peace for now… but she was definitely teasing Rev about this later. 

~

Link to Magnetic Attraction Part 4 ->