Chapter Text
It was approximately noon on the 7th of June, 2011 when the Portal opened in Living room 17. The Spine had been relaxing there, flipping through one of his favourite books, The Old Man and the Sea. The Portal opened with the sound of a guitar being strummed, not entirely unlike the opening to Automatonic Electronic Harmonics, blowing hot wind into the room and, subsequently, making The Spine lose his spot.
He frowned and looked up, ready to reprimand the offender, but what he saw made his voicebox sputter and fail. Out of the Portal stepped Rex Marksley in his full cowboy glory. The Spine couldn’t say anything, only gape as the portal closed with another faint strumming of a guitar.
Rex looked behind him and then at The Spine. He waved awkwardly and said, “Howdy..? The name’s Rex, Rex-”
“Rex Marksley?” The Spine cut him off, putting his head together enough to speak and send excited pings throughout the Walter Wi-Fi.
Rex gave him a funny look. “Yeah, that’s me. Is the portal thing a normal thing or..?”
Spine, ya dummins, what’s goin on? What’s got ya in a tizzy? Rabbit pinged The Spine over the Wi-Fi, an annoyed subtext to their message.
The Spine couldn’t talk, just stare. He managed to ping Rabbit with, Rex Marksley!!!
Yeah, ya bozo. What about him? Rabbit pinged back, some sense of intrigue embedded within the text.
What about Rex Marksley? The Jon pinged as well, just now tuning into the conversation.
The Spine just took a snapshot of what he was currently seeing and sent it to them, attempting to puzzle together just what he could say to the cowboy who was standing in front of him, who was looking wary and confused. HOLY SHIT THAT’S REX MARKSLEY!!! Rabbit screeched over the Wi-Fi, accompanied by The Jon’s, Who’s that? I like his hat.
“Uhh, hello? You in there?” Rex asked, waving his hand in front of The Spine’s face.
The Spine just blinked, still rendered speechless by one of his… idols standing in front of him. A heavy clanging came from down the hall, along with two voices bickering. “I’m tellin’ y-y-ya, Jon, it’s Living room 17, not 71!” Rabbit’s voice loudly insisted.
“Noo, I’m sure it was 71. Why are we running?”
Rex pulled his pistols just as Rabbit and The Jon rushed into the room, tripping over each other and landing on the floor with a loud crash. Said crash shook The Spine out of his stupor, bringing him back to the current day and to his siblings bickering about who tripped who, still on the floor. “Alright, get up you two. I’m not hammering out your faceplates again if you get into another fistfight,” He said, walking over to both aforementioned robots and pulling them apart from the other.
The Jon just pouted while Rabbit hissed, making arbitrary swipes at The Spine’s arm. The Jon then caught sight of Rex and grinned. “I like your hat,” He said, making finger guns to mimic Rex’s pistols.
“I… uh… thanks?” Rex replied, eyeing the three cautiously.
Rabbit stopped their attacks and just stared. “H-H-Holy shit, it really is him,” they said, staring at Rex intensely.
“How..?” Rex asked, an expression of slight anger and confusion on his face.
“Cracker Jones told us,” The Jon answered, pointing helpfully at The Spine.
The Spine looked away, opening his mouth slightly to let the hot steam inside filter out so he wouldn’t overheat. Thankfully, the steam hid his face from sight. Rex lowered his pistols slightly and asked, “What even are you?”
Rabbit grinned and managed to twist out of The Spine’s grip, landing on the floor with a clang and an ‘oof’. They then popped up and said, “My name’s Rabbit! I was built back in 1896, y-y-you know, back when it was still illegal for women to read and write, and all the men-n-n dressed like Mr. Peanut!”
The Jon said, “Hi, I’m The Jon!” while waving and smiling. Thankfully, his pants didn’t fall down.
The two waited for The Spine to introduce himself, expecting the same horrible pun as he had said many times before, but he said nothing. He was too busy being flustered. “A-And this is T-The Spine,” Rabbit said, gesturing towards the still steaming automaton.
“Alright. It seems kinda redundant to introduce myself, but it would be rude not to. I’m Rex Marksley, not as if you didn’t know…” Rex said, putting his pistols back in their holsters.
“I-I.. uh.. Hi?” The Spine finally said, the steam from his mouth lessening so they could see the embarrassed look on his face.
Rabbit grinned evilly. “Ooooh, The Spineeee, are yo-yo-you embarrassed?????” They mischievously asked in a sing-song voice.
The Spine shot them A Look and put The Jon down gently. The Jon grinned and stood up, his gears whirring and clicking. Rex rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. “Uh, sure, yeah, why not? Back to what I was saying, is this a... Normal thing? Do people just normally come out of portals in your living room?” He asked, gesturing to himself and then to the room.
“N-n-n-n-n-no, not really! It’s more often in the kitchen or the basement!” Rabbit helpfully answered.
Rex’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “A-anyways, we should probably get you to Peter. He’ll know how to get you back,” The Spine said, ignoring the teasing look Rabbit shot him when his voicebox stuck.
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“You liiiike him d-don’t you?” Rabbit cooed at The Spine, smiling devilishly.
The Spine flushed and turned away, not looking them in the eye. “N-No! I just… admire his bravery and resolve,” He answered, internally cringing at his voicebox sticking yet again.
The Jon was seated next to Rabbit, daydreaming. At least, that’s what The Spine thought before The Jon teasingly cooed in a sing-song voice, “The Spine’s got a crush on Rexxxxx!”
The Spine stammered and hid his face in his hands, venting steam out of his spine vents. “Shut uppppp,” He whined.
“Ohohohoho! Y-You admit it!” Rabbit cried victoriously, jumping up and planting their foot on the table. “You have a crush on the cowboy, c-c-cowboy!”
The Spine glared at them, still hiding his face behind his hands. “I hate you,” he deadpanned.
“Ooooh, n-no you don-don’t. That’s l-like saying The-The Jon dislikes quesadillas!” Rabbit cackled, throwing an arm around The Spine’s shoulders.
The Jon nodded somberly. “That is impossible,” he said.
The Spine ignored his sibling’s comments and focused on running checkups on various parts of his chassis; namely his photoreceptors. He had felt them brighten a bit after the portal had opened and he didn’t want any errors to go unchecked.
It came out clean. No viruses, no malfunctions, nothing. The Spine groaned and let his head fall to the table with a thunk. He heard Rabbit giggling and The Jon humming a tune, but ignored it.
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“So, that Peter Walter of yours says he’s gettin’ me home,” Rex said, entering and plopping himself onto a chair in Living room 37.
“Peter Walter VI. Peter Walter was Pappy,” The Jon corrected, still folding his paper in an attempt to make it a dragon.
The Spine did his best to ignore how Rex had chosen the chair closest to him to sit in. It was the chair closest to the door, it was the most logical seating available , he reasoned, trying to get his mind back to his book.
“S-S-So, Rex, what’s i-it like?” Rabbit asked from where they were draped across their own chair.
Rex raised an eyebrow. “What’s what like?” He questioned.
The Spine lowered his book quickly into his lap and shook his head vigorously at Rabbit, venting steam through his mouth and letting off some steam from his fins. Rabbit gave him a devilish smirk.
“O-Oh, I don’t know. H-H-Having a song written about-bout you with some hundreds of-f fans?” Rabbit replied nonchalantly, shining their hand with a part of their jacket.
Rex’s eyebrows shot up. “I’ve got a song written about me?!” He asked, sitting up.
Rabbit grinned a Cheshire cat grin and responded, to The Spine’s horror, with, “Y-yep! And it’s Th-Th-Th-The Spine’s favourite song!”
“That i-is not true!” The Spine squeaked, slamming his book closed and involuntarily filtering some steam out of his mouth.
“Is too,” The Jon said, letting his head roll back and his hat drop to the floor.
Rex chucked, shaking his head. “It’s fine, The Spine. I have to admit, my feats are incredibly impressive,” He said, shooting the metal musician a grin.
The Spine felt as if his blue matter core would explode if he got any more flustered. “W-W-Well, I-I,” The Spine stuttered, wishing that he could just go and hide in The Hall of Wires.
“Aww, la-lay off the poor guy! He-he’ll combust if you continue li-li-like this!” Rabbit said halfheartedly, shooting their taller sibling a cocky smile.
The Spine shut his book and stood up, venting a large amount of steam from his fins. “I just remembered I have to t-talk to Walter Worker Jack about something. Please excuse me,” He said, extremely conscious of his stutter.
Before anyone could say otherwise, The Spine took off down the corridor. The three sat in their chairs, The Jon making a happy sound as he finished his origami dragon. Rex looked at the other two, confusion written on his face. “Was it something I said?”
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The Spine stood beside Rabbit, wishing that he could shrink and actually hide behind his older sibling. They were in Library #17 again, this time to see Rex Marksley off. Peter managed to create a small blue matter reactor that would allow Rex to return to his own time and home. Spine was sad to see him go, but also wished this could be over sooner.
Rex sighed, looking at the robot lined up in a row. Rabbit was smiling their goofy smile, The Jon had a small, folded horse in his hands, and The Spine wasn’t looking him in the eyes. He sighed again and took his hat off, holding it over his chest as he spoke. “Yall have been kind to me, if not a little strange, while I was here. For that I thank you. Yall aren’t all that bad,” He said, smiling at The Spine and his siblings.
The Jon handed Rex the small horse, grinning. “Here’s a mini horse for if you ever meet a mini you!” The Jon said.
“Thank you, Jon,” Rex said, smiling and bowing his head. “Yall gave me something; I feel like I should give yall something in return.”
He put the Horse in one of his pockets carefully, so as to not squish the little thing. He then opened The Spine’s hand and put his hat in it. The Spine looked up, a flustered look on his face as steam started trailing from his mouth. “F-F-For me?” he asked shyly.
“Yep! Now I gotta get home. I don’t want to be even later to supper than I already am,” Rex replied, giving them all one last smile before stepping away, pulling the reactor from his pocket.
He gave them all a wave before pressing the button on the reactor, opening the portal with the sound of strumming guitars like earlier. He stepped through into the bright Midwest day, the portal closing after him.
The three robots stood there for approximately one minute before Rabbit crowed, “S-S-Spine!! Rex gave ya hi-his hat!”
The Spine would have responded, but he couldn’t through the steam emanating from his mouth. His fins slid out and let off a burst of steam. He stared at the hat, a look of awe on his face.
“His hat’s really cool,” The Jon said, leaning over and trailing his metallic fingers around the rim. The Spine jerked it back, clutching it protectively to his chest.
The Jon pouted, crossing his arms. Rabbit leaned over, their optics twinkling with glee, and cooed, “O-O-Oh, don’t be too sa-sad, Jon! He’s-He’s just being protective be-be-be-because Rexy Wexy gave it to him.”
The Jon and Rabbit fell over laughing, rolling on the floor as they howled with mirth. The Spine opened his mouth to voice his offence, but a burst of steam came forth and muted him yet again.
After a few minutes of this, finally, the steam subsided to the point where The Spine could talk again. The first thing out of his mouth was a flustered cry of “ You two are the worst !”