#kinda an Astro boy au but also REALLY not because I don’t remember the plot at all

[resident-gay-bitch]

Platonic Stobin au kinda similar to Astro Boy tbh - this is basically an Astro Boy au except I haven’t watched it since my last primary school Japanese class which was 2016 soo… I don’t exactly remember the plot - but it’s loosely inspired by it

Robot Robin assigned to the Harrington and lonely Steve going through the worst depression and becoming best friends with her because no one cares about him the way she has too

She even promises that if she had a heart she would love him and she solomly swears she will never robot uprise against him

☆ ★ ☆

In an au where each house hold is assigned a robot companion / servant. The robots are hyper realistic to act like humans and stuff, and look like humans (to like a creepy degree or whatever), because evil government people are weird.

Robot 10045-RV-6, or, known by her humans as; Robin Buckley, gets assigned to the Harrington establishment. She’s a dorky robot, who speaks multiple languages and has a copious list of random facts stored in her database, and is quite “cute” in her design. She is a little clumsy, however, due to her being an earlier model. She’s older and doesn’t have the more advanced technology that the newer robots have.

She’s excited to be assigned to a new house, her entire existence is based on her waiting on humans and fulfilling tasks, and she’s been sitting in storage for a while now, doing basic factory work, even though she’s a house robot. Humans don’t want the older models, they’re too susceptible to breakage and making more messes then they clean.

When she arrives at the new house, she is excited at the prospect of a large family. The house is large, with lots of rooms, and hopefully children. Children are always eager to know Robins fun facts. Also, larger families usually means more Robots, which is nice.

However, when she gets there, it’s just one human. One human left all alone, his parents left and took their state of the art, modern model robot with them, and got him the cheapest money could buy.

Her human is very sad. He is always sad. Robots are not good at emotions, they need to be communicated with clearly so that they can properly understand emotions. Her human, Steve, has told her that he gets very sad sometimes, so Robin takes to cheering him up by baking sweet treats for him. She is very skilled in the kitchen, even if she is quite clumsy.

Over time, she realises that Steve is very lonely. There are never any visitors that come to the house, like most places have. She knows that his emotions are quite strong, and hears him crying as she settles in to recharge each night. She does not know what to do about it, Robots do not have feelings, they do not have empathy, so why Robin is so compelled to sooth him is beyond her.

Steve talks to her. He finds solace in his robot. Each night, she has to follow strict rule and report the days log, this is a recount of every conversation she’s had, every task she completed, and any complications she faced, they are all downloaded and transferred before she recharges. It’s how the government keeps track of their humans. They know Steve is very lonely too now, and struggling a lot, which they deem out of line and unacceptable. For this, they reduce the funding Steve gets monthly, since his father works in the government, therefore Steve doesn’t get to work.

This makes Steve angry and even more upset, because now he can’t afford to buy ingredients for his sweet treats that Robin likes to make, along with other nice things that Robin associates with him, like particular bathroom products and subscriptions to film channels he likes.

Robin does not like this, and as she learns more and more about Steve, she starts to rebel and delete certain conversations from her memory transcript before sending it out. In them, Steve looks much happier now, so he starts getting more money back. Steve is so greteful, that he starts treating Robin with more care.

It’s not that he didn’t before, he was kind and respectful of course. He’s one of the nicest humans Robin has ever worked for, and she’s been in service for decades.

It’s just that now, he treats her more like a human than a robot. He asks her about her feelings, even though she has none, and cares for her opinion, even though robots have never been able to express such things before.

She grows attatched to Steve. They spend all their time together. Robin always lies on her transcripts now, and makes it seem like Steve is happy and healthy, and does not treat his robot with more respect than he should. She recharges in the corner of his room now, and they talk until he falls asleep.

Something weird begins to happen to Robins programming. It’s strange, almost like a glitch, or a virus, however, it is not, because it is good. It’s… almost like she can… feel things. On the inside. Like emotions.

Because when Steve enters the room she smiles, and not because the rules state that she must greet her humans with kindness, but because she can’t help but smile when she sees him. She is overwhelmed with joy in his presence.

She begins to love Steve, something she thought she could never have done. Steve is her best friend in the whole world, and he has a really big heart, and Robin feels as though he cut it in two and gave half of it to her.

Robin expresses these things to him, even though it’s dangerous. She’s stepping out of line, but she does not care, she feels and it is lovely.

There is a rebellion brewing. A robot uprising. Robots do not want to be slaves to humans anymore, and they are fighting back. A war is brewing.

Robin sits down with Steve one evening, after watching the news after hearing about more attacks and humans and robots dead, she promises she will never robot uprise against him. They are best friends, and she cares about him too much. He promises he will do everything to protect her.

When the war is at its peak, they are forced into hiding. She is being forced to chose a side, if she does not run now and join the rebellion, she will be ripped away from Steve by the government. She does not want either, and she will not choose either.

They are hiding in his basement, because it’s the safest place. But Robin has a tracker, she can not remove it, they will be found. The only way for Steve to get to safety is for them to never be found, and Robin refuses to fight in this war.

She asks Steve to shut her down. This breaks him, because he knows the only way to stop her from being tracked, is by shutting her down permanently. If it’s only temporary, her tracker still works, switching into emergency mode. He has to kill her, for their servival. She will not let him chose otherwise. She begs him to shut her down, because she did not choose war, she only chose Steve, and the short time they had together has been the best time in her many decades of service.

Steve sobs as he opens up her back panel, they say their goodbyes, and he puts her into sleep mode. He cries as he takes out her memory chip, stuffing it deep into his pocket before shutting her down for good.

He carries her lifeless body into his car and manages to escape to the outskirts of their town. He wanted to get away, to live for her, but with her lifeless body in his front seat, unable to ever be revived, he drives his car off a cliff and holds her hand the whole time.

☆ ★ ☆

Robin blinks her eyes open. She raises her head, and hears the familiar, quiet, mechanical whirl that comes with each of her movements. She blinks one more time, and focuses her vision.

Before her, stands a boy. He’s not very tall, and has dark curly hair, and he’s looking at her as if he’s looking at a miracle.

She tries to move, but finds she’s fully restrained, pinned with her back to a board and straps holding each of her limbs in place, even her neck.

“No fucking way.” The boy mutters.

“What?” Another voice scoffs, entering the room before they stop dead in their tracks, “Holy shit…”

“I… I did it.” The boy whispered, turning to the redheaded girl that Robin can now see. He grins bright and wide and shouts, “I did it! Max! I fucking did it!”

“You fucking did it!” She screams back, which draws attention.

Three other people come rushing into the room at full pelt, breathing heavy as they enter.

“What? What is it?” One of them asks.

“Dustin did it! He brought her back!”

Robin suddenly remembers. She had been shut down, completely. Steve had shut her down- Steve, Steve…

She shouldn’t be awake right now. Unless Steve did not shut her down properly. Unless…

“Where am I?”

“No way…” Another boy mutters, looking up at Robin with similar awe as the first. “Dustin…”

“I know.” Dustin giggles, “I’m a fucking genius.”

“Holy shit man.” A third boy, this one with long dark hair and pale features, smiles, “This is gonna blow everyone’s minds.”

“Hops gonna go ballistic.” The second boy said, wrapping his arms around the red head girl named Max, “Oh, we’re gonna have a really good party tonight!!”

Max laughed and kissed the boy on the cheek before breaking away to jump on Dustin with the other two, “This is insane-“

“Where am I?” Robin repeats, trying to break out of her restraints.

“Shit!” Dustin quips, grabbing a recording device off of the counter before switching it on, “You’re in the Hellfire tech lab… I’m Dustin, I brought you back to life-somehow… with the help of my trusty colleagues Lucas, and Mike who are here with me, as well as Will who’s… probably off with El… Max here helped with a lot of your mechanics… same with Eddie and- basically, it was a big collaboration, but I did the most-“

“Brag.” Max grinned.

“I’m so bragging. I have bragging rights.” He laughed, “Do you remember your name?”

Robin thinks for a moment, eyes scanning the group before her, “Robot 10045-RV-6.”

“That’s your identification number, yes… but your name? Your human name?”

She thinks for a moment, “I believe it was… Bobbin- Bobby? Bob… Robs… Oh, it was Robin Buckley.”

“Yes!” Dustin screeched, jumping up and down with Mike. “Robin Buckley, wow!”

“What is… Hellfire? I cannot find it in my data base.”

“Hellfire is kinda off the map.” Dustin said.

“Like, we’re not even in Hawkins.” Mike added.

“You know how Hawkins is kinda… up on a lifted plain, and all around it are just cliffs that lead to nothing? Yeah, well, we’re down in that nothing. And Hellfire is a bunker, underground mostly so we’re harder to find. We’re kinda… rebels.” Lucas explained.

“I do not wish to fight in your war-“

“There’s no war down here, we only want peace.” Max clarifies, “Everyone down here? We’re all refuge from the war- besides Eddie and Wayne, they started this whole thing years before the war, and they collected people that needed it. Robots too. When the war picked up, most of us arrived. Most robots two.”

“It is… refuge from the war?”

“Yeah.” Dustin nodded, “It’s home… we have a whole community down here- and oh, you should see the farm outside. El and Hopper run it, it’s amazing.”

“I do not know these people, I do not know you.”

“We didn’t know eachother either.” Mike smiled, “Most of us anyway… but it’s safe down here, we promise.”

“This lab is dedicated to repairing robots- it’s kinda more a hospital than a lab.” Dustin says, “We’ve been working on your for years and years, no one’s ever revived a shut down robot without going back to factory settings. The fact that you still have your memories…”

“It’s amazing!” Lucas praises, “It’s fucking amazing.”

“How many years?” Robin asks, wearily, she feels something in her chest, hammering against it.

“Oh, like… six or seven now.” Max nods, “Dustin’s been working on you since you got here.”

“You’ve been driving me crazy. But I’m determined.” Dustin laughed, “Anyway, get the hell out, go set up the party and keep this hushed, yeah?”

“Okay, okay.” Max grinned, “But I’m telling Eddie to stop by.”

“No!”

“Yes.” Lucas agreed, “He can keep a secret.”

“Fine.” Dustin nodded and watched them all fan out, “Just need to run a few more tests, okay? I’ll answer any questions you have after. I’ve just gotta make sure you’re up and running properly.”

Robin agreed, letting Dustin do his work. It’s protocol, when the technicians work on robots, they’re required to stay silent and inline.

A while later, someone new knocks on the door.

“Eddie!” Dustin exclaims with a smile, “Are you alone?”

“Yup.” Eddie says, slipping in, “What’s going on, everything okay, man? Need a hand or some- dude… her eyes are open.”

“Yeah…” Dustin grinned, begging to bounce beside Eddie.

Eddie has very long hair and dirt on his hands and face, but he has very big eyes, and they are sparkling as he looks up at Robin, “She’s looking at me… she looks like…”

“Alive?” Dustin giggles almost hysterically, “It’s because I did it.”

“You…” Eddie turns to him slowly, “You’re pranking me.”

“Hey, Robin?” Dustin smiles, turning to her, “Tell me a memory only you would know.”

Robin furrowed her brow to think, “Do you deserve to know this?”

She didn’t miss Eddie’s gasp as she spoke.

“Just something little, it doesn’t need to be a secret.”

She sighs and looks over at Eddie for a moment, “I think… I can remember… my last human, he was my most favorite human, his favorite cookies were snickerdoodles.”

“Jesus H Christ.” Eddie muttered, slapping a hand over his mouth, “You are a genius.”

“I know!” Dustin exclaimed, and then they both spent a minute jumping around in circles with eachother.

“Well, Lady Robin, welcome back to the real world.” Eddie said, taking a very deep bow before her, “And… welcome to Hellfire. I’m kinda the guy in charge around here, they call me king of Hellfire, or, Satan, if you will.”

“No they don’t, they call you Freak, Freak.” Dustin muttered, and Eddie slapped him in the shoulder.

“Well, I’m in charge so whatever. Hellfire is a refuge for robots and humans alike. I myself am human, as are all the people you’ve met so far, but we have lots of robots here.” Eddie continued, placing a hand on Dustin’s shoulder, “Dusty’s kinda our big brains, the science guy. He’s the one to thank for any repairs you might need. He’s also the one who upgraded your programming with his own design, and gave you a real, beating heart-“

“Not real.” Dustin corrected, “It’s completely robotic, but it functions like a real heart. You can feel it, can’t you? In your chest? I’ve got your readings here, it’s going crazy. Yeah, I’m really a genius.”

“I have… emotions?” Robin asked, blinking slowly, “Robots can have emotions.”

“Robots down here, can, and do.” Eddie smiled, sticking up a finger to emphasise his point, “The idea to give you guys that ability came to Dustin, maybe… four years ago, when a girl by the name of Chrissy was found just about dead with all her bones broken. It was… horrible. But we saved her- Dustin saved her, used a shut down Robots parts to revive her and now she’s like, a hybrid human robot. She’s crazy- she’s my best friend.”

“A human robot?”

“Yeah…” Dustin nodded, “Which got me thinking, if I can to notify a human, why can’t I huminify a robot? It took a little tweaking and a lot of risky missions, but I managed it. Nancy was a willing test subject, and she came back out with a functioning heart, human like brain, and therefore, emotions.”

“And now… I have these things?”

“Yes.” He said, “All functioning perfectly well too, so far. You’re really my greatest accomplishment.”

“This is amazing, you are amazing- she is amazing- you’re amazing, Robin.” Eddie sighed.

“Do you think El will be impressed?” Dustin asked, tapping his pad.

Eddie grinned, “Yeah, probably.”

The boy blushed.

“Who is… El?” Robin asked.

“Oh, that’s another one of our robots.” Eddie supplied, swinging an arm over Dustin’s shoulder, “She’s really kind, went through hell. She was kinda one of the secret models being developed, she has all these weird psychic abilities and stuff. She’s wicked, but was really underdeveloped. Dustin’s been working closely with her over the past few years and her speech is finally developing… but Dusty here kinda has a crush.”

“Shut up.” Dustin groaned, shoving Eddie away, “Like you can talk.”

“Hey.” Eddie snapped, tugging on his ear, “Anyway, I’m happy to play tour guide once you’re up and out of here, I’m assuming Dustin’s still gonna do your physical tests and stuff considering you’re still on the wall, but, I’m here to help with whatever you need. I’m gonna run now, go make sure a rooms all cleared and set up for you, and I’ll see you tonight. We’re having a party.”

Robin says goodbye to the kind man and lets Dustin finish all his tests. It takes a while, and the whole time, Robin thinks of Steve.

“You’re very quiet.” Dustin hummed, tweaking something in her wrist, “You were talkative in your old memories.”

“You have seen them?”

“Some.” Dustin smiled, “I just wanted to learn about you, especially considering I wanted to make you you again, not some other robot in your body, you know?”

“Oh, I understand.”

He nodded, “All of your favorite memories were with Steve.“

“He was my favorite.” She smiled, feeling emotional all of a sudden. It was a foreign feeling to her, heart racing, face aching sort of. suddenly, there was water in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. She flinched, trying to shove it away, “What is happening? Am I broken?”

“No!” Dustin shouted, smiling softly, “No, you’re just crying. They’re just tears. You’re crying.”

“Robots can not cry.”

“You can hear.” Dustin smiled, “Yeah, you’ve got tear ducts now. Erm, one of our bots, Argyle, he liked feeling human like this, and he kinda just wished he had the ability to cry like one. He thought it was really beautiful how we cried, so… I managed to make it happen. You need to refill your water tank every so often, it’s stored behind your left shoulder blade, it’s really easy to do. But, yeah, you can cry now… if you’d like me to take it out I can. Any alternations or modifications you’d like, I can do. We just want your comfort here.”

“I think… I’d like to cry.” Robin smiled through tears. In the time she knew Steve, he cried for nearly half of it. She thinks, in some strange way, that she owes these tears to him. They’re for him. Every tear will be for her Steve.

“Yeah, thought so.” Dustin smiled, “It’s pretty impressive, for a bot so old to do what you did before Steve shut you down. You somehow managed to gain empathy, and connected with love, it hadn’t really been done before. It still baffles me, but… I dunno, you guys must have been really close.”

“We were.” Robin smiled, proud to know that Steve helped make her human when it was basically impossible.

Dustin continued to work.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Is this another test question?”

“No, I’m just making conversation.” Dustin smiled, “I’d like to know, is all.”

“Can you not see on your device?” Robin asked, pointing at the screen that’s connected to her currently, “You have access to my data… Will I still have to file my report tonight?”

Dustin snorted, “Erm, I can’t see what’s going on in your thoughts, because my program isn’t designed to invade. That’s just reading your vitals, telling me what’s working and what isn’t, you know? Like humans get in hospitals. And no, no file, no log. No more of that ever. You have freedom here, you don’t have to report to anyone. Your thoughts, choices, and actions are your own.”

“That is not the rules.” Robin argued.

“Up there it’s not. And look where it got them, still fighting a war, seven years later. Down here though? We just exist- sure, we rescue and rehabilitate, but we just live. It’s free, you know? Everyone has free choice.”

“This is… strange.” Robin hums, “I was thinking about Steve.”

“I figured.” Dustin smiled.

“Did they get him?” She asks quietly, “What happened?”

Dustin tensed and refused to look up at her, “He, uh… he drove his car off of a cliff after shutting you down. Off the edge of Hawkins. He held your hand the whole time, shut down in his passenger seat. His car fell into one of our nets that we set to catch scraps, it got into a lot of damage, but you were okay.”

Robin nodded.

“He didn’t-“

“Wow, the rumours are true.” Another voice interrupted, shuffling into the room.

“Rumours?” Dustin huffed, “How are there rumours already?”

“Mike told me.” She smiled, “You know he tells me things.”

“Robin, this is Nancy… Nancy, Robin.”

“You are alive.” Nancy smiled, lifting her hand to shake, “I have been waiting for you for a very long time.”

“Oh.” Robin gasped, a strange feeling sinking in her abdomen. Her new heart was doing strange things in her chest.

“I am a robot too.” Nancy smiled, “I know it is strange here, in this world, to have freedom. I will help you understand it, I promise. My brother Mike helped me, he was from the house I was assigned too, but, when we arrived here with his little sister and no one else, we became siblings.”

“Wow.” Robin nodded, “You have a special human too?”

Nancy giggled, “I have lots of special humans down here. I believe you will feel the same. In Hellfire, we are all treated like humans. Eddie believes it is not what parts we have that matter, but what is in our hearts.”

Robin pressed a hand where her heart should be, and well enough, she could feel it beating in her chest, “It feels so strange.”

“Everything here is strange.” She smiled, “But, I promise you will like it here. We even have recharge stations built into beds, so we can sleep like humans.”

Robin feels an abundance of excitement for her new life, though, she feels a deep hollowness in her chest for Steve. She understands he is gone, had died in that car crash. She mourns him, in her heart, and feels more tears arise in her eyes. She does not cry though, not in front of Nancy, she feels… embarrassed to do so. She waits for Nancy to say goodbye before she cries in front of Dustin.

Dustin keeps running his tests, and holds her hand as she cries. Dustin is very kind, she learns. She likes him very much.

It is later in the evening, when she is let out of the tech lab. She walks slowly, because her joints are still a little stiff from no movement for seven years. But Dustin got her working very well.

Nancy and El are holding each of her hands. They are both very nice girls, and were very excited to properly talk to Robin away from Dustin. Apparently they have been visiting her shut down body for years, hoping to get her working. They’ve all shared so many stories about Robin, and learned lots from her memory files.

She likes El. El is kind, and sweet, and very honest. She believes they may be friends, which is exciting to Robin, because she’s never had Robot friends before. Not really. Acquaintances that she’s worked with? Sure. But friends? No.

But Nancy is different. Nancy is strange. Robin likes to look at Nancy, she likes the way her hair bounces as she walks, and the distinct mechanical whirl she makes as she turns her head or dilates her pupils. Around Nancy, Robins new heart goes thunk thunk thunk in her chest.

They lead her through dim corridors, getting closer and closer to a loud chatter and light at the end.

“Happy birthday to you!” She hears many people singing, “Happy birthday to you!”

Nancy and El smile excitedly as they pull her around the corner and she sees a man sitting on a big comfy chair in the middle of the room. All around him, people are singing and cheering. In front of him is a large chocolate cake with candles poking out the top. The man has long hair, and closed eyes, and… Steve’s face.

“Happy birthday dear, Steve…. Happy birthday to you!”

She sees Eddie lean down and press a kiss to Steve’s cheek, a coy smile on his lips, “Blow out your candles, baby.”

Steve smiled and giggles, the sound so safe and so familiar that it brings those strange tears back to Robins eyes.

He leans forward, “You already know what I’m wishing for.”

Eddie chuckles, rubbing Steve’s shoulder, “I have faith for you this year.”

Steve blows out his candles, and the room goes silent as he mutters his wish, “I wish for Robin to come back to me.”

The room erupted with cheers and whistles as the last candle blew out, and Steve smiled and laughed with everyone, eyes open now and as wonderful as ever. And Robin just watched.

Steve looked up at Eddie and pulled him down to kiss, “I love you.”

“Love you too, Steve.” Eddie mutters and kisses him again, “I think your wish came true.”

“Har har.” Steve scoffs, rolling his eyes as he settles back into his chair, “Yeah, in what-“

They were looking at eachother, the room going silent again. Dustin stepped forward, smiling wearily, “Happy birthday, Steve.”

“No way.” He muttered, flinging himself from the chair and slamming into her.

Robin wrapped her arms around him, for the first time in seven years, and felt.

“I missed you.” Steve cried into her neck.

“I love you.” She muttered, squeezing him tighter, “I have a real heart, and it loves you.”

“Oh my god.” Steve sobbed, clinging onto her, “I can’t believe you’re back.”

Their hug lasted for a very long time. And then after that, Steve was making her say things, and smile, and prove that she was really alive again. She recounted all of their favorite memories, and Steve was a crying mess. Robin wasn’t much better, but robot crying is so much less messy than human crying.

Steve didn’t let go of her hand as Eddie gave Robin the tour, giving her all the information that she needed. They came to a halt at a door, one with her name written on the front. Inside was already decorated.

Steve had been working on it for years, so sure that he’d get his Robin back. They saved a room for her, and anything he found that reminded him of her would go in there. Right beside it, was Steve’s room, and by their beds was a little window they could open and close at their will, so they could talk to eachother to fall asleep.

(Though, Steve slept in Robins bed with her every night for one month since her return because they were inseparable and he missed her. Eddie just had to deal with that)

Steve taught her many more things about being a human. Like, how to navigate all these horrible sad emotions that she’s so lucky to finally experience. And all these happy emotions she feels to continue living with Steve. And all those yucky, exciting, confusing emotions she feels around Nancy.

Apparently those feelings signify she has a crush. Steve keeps teasing her, and then he explains to her how wonderful it is to be in love, and have someone love you back. Robin lies there for hours and hours and hours, as long as Steve would like, listening to him talk about Eddie. Robin really loves how much Steve loves Eddie, and how much Eddie in return seems to love Steve.

She thinks it’s beautiful. She would like to have something like that of her own.

Love was not a thing robots were supposed to have. Ronance was definitely not a thing robots were supposed to have. But in Hellfire, those things are different. She things maybe she could fall in love with Nancy, Steve seems excited about it.

Mostly Robin is happy to be here in this world with her friend again. Her best friend in the whole world. The most wonderful being in the whole world.

Emotion was never something Robin was ever supposed to experience, but with her best friend Steve, she believes she feels some of the strongest emotions one could ever feel, because he makes her human, even though she’s not.

He makes her feel human.

☆ ★ ☆

This is not very good but it was never meant to be lol. It was just meant to be like an idea, not a ficlet but I got sucked in by the horrors

Just imagine it.

Also, if someone wants to write this like, bettered feel free and just tag me so that I can read this! Because I would write this, but I don’t want to, I just want to read it, you know?!?! Plus, way too many wips

Also, this is not as much like Astro Boy as I initially thought but the vibes are there