The Scrybe of Curiosities (Inscryption, P03 x Reader)

Chapter 3, Self care

-P03's point of view-

He awoke to the sound of a machine whirring.
Looking around, Y/N was nowhere to be found. They couldn't move, since there was no fuel in his body. All that was keeping them awake was a thick charging cable delivering power straight to them. They heard the familiar tapping of Y/N's footsteps along the tile floor. "Good morning, sunshine." Y/N mused. P03 glared at them, if looks could kill, he'd be stuck on that table forever. "How long was I out?" P03 asked, cold, as usual. "It's been about..." Y/N glanced at the digital clock on a nearby table. "five hours since you powered off. I took the time to fully drain your fuel, and run a couple tests on it. Turns out, there's a small amount of metal in this most recent batch. It's magnetic so as time went on, the particles stuck together, and the acidity of the fuel sort of, melted them into these clumps. I've been waiting for you to wake up and tell your workers to make a new batch, since they won't listen to me." As Y/N spoke, P03 saw that it's tubes were hooked up to a machine that pumped air through his system, from the access tube behind their head, and down to the exhaust at the very bottom of their base. "I already did a wash with water, just drying it out to prevent dilution." Y/N answered a question P03 had yet to ask. P03 send a signal to a smaller factory on the outskirts of their island, telling them to get a fresh batch, and check it this time. "You realize the bots here aren't in charge of that." P03 snarked, but Y/N seemed genuinely fascinated by that. "Cool! I guess it makes sense, this is the card factory after all."
P03 received a message saying "We tried to tell you earlier about the issue! You said you were busy. The new batch should be there by now, sorry, P03." "Ugh, the new batch is here, just hook me up to the fuel station and I can get back to work." "Ah, ah, ah," Y/N wagged their index finger. "you need to be repaired more. Your screen is cracked, you're covered in fuel, and I think you could use a day off. Plus, breaks make people-" "-more efficient. You've told me that 36 times now, and every time I've told you I'm a robot. I don't need breaks." P03 reminded Y/N. "Well at least let me take care of the rest of it!" "Once I have fuel I can take care of myself." P03 argued. "C'mon, please? Be my project for tonight?" Y/N's head tilted, their ears flopping to one side, tail swaying idly.
P03 paused
"Fine..."
"Woo!" Y/N cheered, picking him up and taking them over to the fueling station. They felt themself being hooked up by the tube on his head, and slowly, strength returned to their body. Some fuel spurted out the end at the base to make sure there was no air in the system, but it quickly closed, allowing a small amount of pressure to build, before being shut off. They noticed that Y/N had closed the incisions while he was out, it looked brand new.
Even though P03 had fuel, and could 'walk' again, they felt themself being hoisted into Y/N's arms again. He paused. "You know you don't have to do that right now.." P03 commented, but he was already being set onto another maintenance table, various tools lay on a tray beside it. "Eh, you're light enough." Y/N bragged, knowing full-well P03 was heavy.
They pulled up the latex gloves again, and added a fume mask, to keep them from inhaling anything toxic. "I'm gonna have to strap you down to make sure you don't move." Y/N said, P03 complied, moving their limbs into place to be restrained. Y/N strapped its neck into place, and P03 looked up at them, mere inches from their face that stared at them with focus. Y/N grabbed a metal tool that had been heating for awhile, and used the sharp tip of it to cut through P03's screen at the edges. Making their way around, little by little. 'Good thing my display is off...' P03 thought, worried that otherwise, their staring would distract Y/N.
Once the glass was fully removed, Y/N put in a replacement, using the still molten glass at the edges to attach it into the right place. "There you go!" Y/N said as P03's screen flickered to life. They already had a bottle of joint lubricant ready, and inserted it into their squeaky arm. The cold sensation dripped down, and P03 rolled and stretched their arm, 'finally, smooth and silent.' They thought.
After all this, Y/N took a slightly damp rag, and looked at P03, unstrapping their neck at last. "May I?" They said, "Just get it over with." P03 replied. Although this was always their favorite part, delicate touch on their outer shell, such close proximity to something that wasn't planning on attacking them, it was rare. Usually when something touched him, it ended badly. Memories of Leshy attacking 'it' for entering their house, Magnificus flinging them during meetings, beasts crossing into his island and crawling all over them... This, this was calm. The cool rag pressed against their warm, murky 'skin'. As Y/N reached the side of his screen, they leaned in, and Y/N rubbed the side of their screen. P03's eyes closed calmly, and their body relaxed.
P03 had long since removed their emotions, or, they tried. But moments like these, moments they both refused to acknowledge, were amazing. It was one of the few times P03 let anyone touch them on their own accord.
P03 opened their eyes, and looking right back, was Y/N. P03 felt self consciousness return. 'What if they think I'm just some... soft little creature like those organics... no. No no no.' "You can stop now." They barked, louder than he had intended. "Oh, sorry-" Y/N replied, quickly wiping off the remaining muck and backing away.
P03 was fully cleaned and maintained, after about six and a half hours. It was 4 in the morning, and P03 realized how tired Y/N must be, organics need to sleep every night, and they had been working for so long.. "Y/N, I know your home is a long way, would you prefer to... stay here? Just for the night of course." "That would be great!" They said, enthusiasm in their voice despite the bags under their eyes. "It's no problem. Take it as a... thank you." "Oh, it's really nothing. Fixing you up is a fun little project for me!" Y/N said. As P03 led them to a small storage room, it said "Not just for fixing me,-" 'for everything. For being so kind. For being so tender and patient "...-for the rest of it too."
The storage room had plenty of mechanical things, cards, etc, but among it all were a few pillows, blankets, and an old mattress. "I don't usually have visitors, so, yeah." P03 was a bit sad they couldn't provide better conditions. To his surprise, Y/N looked grateful, along with the all-too-familiar look of the touchy Scrybe definitely wanting to hug P03 for this. "...you may." P03 said. "What?" Y/N was genuinely confused, not realizing they were so easy to read. "You may... hug me." P03 grimaced, but couldn't help but enjoy the tall Scrybe's long arms wrapping around them, one hand resting gently on the back of their head, and the other where his abdomen would be. Their head rested on P03's shoulder and, although he refused to wrap their arm around them, he couldn't help but lean into them again. Y/N pulled away all too soon. "Thanks again for the room, goodnight." Y/N's smile was drowsy. "You too." P03 turned away and floated over to the main room, trying to get back to sorting cards. But something clouded their mind, something they couldn't ignore.

'I thought I got rid of these feelings...
so why do I feel like this?'