Summary: Bender, Fry, and Leela answer a mysterious distress call.
[A/N] Halloween drabble! Happy Halloween!
~
“Isn’t answering strange distress calls how most horror movies in space start?” Fry asked when they were about five minutes off from the signal’s source.
Bender had been thinking that too. Probably something to do with the fact he and Fry had stayed up late last night watching horror movies. It was Halloween season after all. Some of them had indeed taken place in space and most of those had opened with one ship answering another’s distress call and finding bad stuff on board. How likely was that to actually happen though?
“Nah, that shit’s just in the movies.” Bender put more confidence into his voice than he really felt. Some of the movies had been a little scary, though he would never admit it out loud. “They probably just ran outta fuel or something. But this means we get to take their stuff.” Which made it worth the risk, assuming they had anything of value anyway; the distress call didn’t say what kind of ship it was, commercial or private or whatever other type there was out there.
“We’re not gonna take their stuff.” Of course Leela had to be a spoil sport. “They need help and we’re the closest ship so we’re helping them. But I suppose, depending on the exact situation, asking for payment for our help might not be entirely unwarranted.” Still not great but better; Bender would take what he could get.
Upon getting in sight of the vessel, nothing was obviously wrong with it. No visible damage or anything to indicate it was in distress other than the fact that it was floating aimlessly through space. It didn’t look particularly expensive though. Which didn’t mean expensive stuff wasn’t on board but that did probably lower those chances.
“I’m calling them up now,” Leela said as she typed into the command console. A moment later, the iconic phone sound filled the cockpit; she’d put it on speaker.
That was the only sound for several minutes before Fry cut in with, “I don’t think they’re gonna pick up.”
“The monsters might’ve got them.” Bender wasn’t actually worried about that but it did make Fry grimace slightly which was the goal.
“Maybe we should just leave,” Fry suggested. “I mean, we’re gonna be in trouble for returning late, right?”
Leela turned off the call and got their ship moving again. Not turning it around but heading towards the distressed vessel. “No. We’re good people and they need help so we’re gonna help them.”
“Speak for yourself, sister. Me and Fry ain’t good people.”
“Hey! I’m a good person… sometimes. I try to be anyway.”
“Okay. I ain’t a good person and I don’t try to be. That being said, if they are all dead, it’s not stealing anymore, right? We can just take their stuff since they don’t need it anymore.” Profit could be made here. “It could be a trap though. They could be pirates, trying to lure us in so they can take our stuff.” Now that he’d thought of it, if he ever got a chance to be a proper space pirate, Bender was totally going to pull a move like that.
“We don’t have stuff worth taking,” Fry said.
Before Bender could respond, Leela cut in. “Could you guys shut up for a bit. Docking to another ship in space is kind of hard. I need to focus.”
It was tempting to argue but if she messed up their ship could easily end up floating through space in need of assistance too. Or worse, a hull breach would kill them. Fry and Leela anyway, Bender would probably be fine. It’d get boring being stuck floating through space by himself rather quickly though. So he shut up and stayed that way until Leela announced that their airlock was securely attached to the other ship’s.
Leela and Fry suited up anyway in case the distressed ship had a hull breach on the far side they hadn’t seen. It was boring waiting for them but somehow Bender got through it, though he made sure to complain so they knew he was annoyed by their fragile human bodies and the things needed to keep them intact.
When the two of them were finally ready to go, Bender led the way into the airlock. It cycled, allowing them to go across and enter the distressed ship. Their air lock was working too, meaning the suits had been a waste of time. Damn it. Whatever was on this ship better be worth something.
Upon finally properly entering the distressed ship, they walked three steps in before stopping. The lights were off, meaning it was pitch black. Or that it should’ve been pitch black because while it was far from well lit, there was some light.
A blue glowing something hung down from the ceiling in front of them. Further down were more glowing blue bits. None of it was enough to really see by.
“Bender,” Leela said, “light please.”
“I’m not your robotic assistant to boss around.” Despite his protest and only because she’d said ‘please’, Bender turned on his lights. One in each eye, his gaze basically became a big beam of light that lit up the hallway in front of them.
At first, it was hard to tell what was going on. The walls, floor and much of the ceiling were covered with a thick mat of something. Whatever it as moved slightly, almost as if it were breathing. It ballooned out into bulbous growths in places. The source of the luminescence grew out of it as long tendrils that swayed in a phantom breeze.
“Guys,” Fry whispered, “I think we might be at the start of a horror movie. We should leave.”
“It’s just alien plants or something.” Despite her words, Leela spoke in a fearful whisper too. “It looks kinda… fungal, actually, I think. Which isn’t great but we’re suited up and Bender’s a robot so it can’t hurt us. Or uh… if it can grow in a space ship, it might be able to grow on Bender too so maybe he’s not fine. Regardless, it might’ve… I don’t know, gotten into their engines, leaving them stranded and thus in need of our help to get them back home. We should at least check to make sure.”
‘Might be able to grow on Bender’!? That was impossible, wasn’t it? … But it was indeed growing just fine on the metal of the ship’s interior and who knew when it came to alien stuff. Damn it. And if it could potentially fuck up a whole ship’s engines what might it be able to do to Bender’s systems? He didn’t have a firewall for freaky alien fungi that could apparently thrive on metal.
“Nope,” he said, backpedaling from the worst of it. There was no getting all the way away from it without going back through to the other side of airlock because upon closer inspection, a thin, almost translucent, layer of it coated the floor. The beginning of it growing thicker no doubt. “They’re all dead. Let’s leave.” Before they did find out for sure if it could do anything to him.
“We should make sure though, shouldn’t we?”
“This is how horror movies start.” Fry backed up with Bender. “So let’s do the thing we always wanna tell the the characters on screen to do and get the fuck outta here before it infects one of us and whoever it is tries to kill the others.”
“Yeah, Leela,” Bender said. “If we stay, only one of us is making it back to our ship. That’s how these things go.”
“And whoever it is might bring whatever this is back to Earth and possibly end it,” Fry added.
“That’s ridiculous. But… well…” She looked down the hall again before taking a step back. “Fine. Maybe it’s better not to risk it. Let’s go.” Finally she stepped back into the airlock with them, allowing Fry to press the button that would close the doors and set it to cycling once more. Horror movie protagonist adventure avoided. Bender was going to take a shower as soon as they were back on board their ship.
Summary: maybe fry having to deal with some internalized homophobia after bender says he likes him?
[A/N] It says in the prompt but a clear extra warning can't hurt so: Content Warning for internalized homophobia.
~
It had been a drunken confession. … Or the robot version of a drunken confession anyway. Were those called sober confessions since it was a lack of alcohol that lead to inebriation for them? Maybe it was called something else entirely. Either way didn’t matter because Bender had been inebriated when he’d said it and now didn’t remember having said it. Fry had been sober for it though and thus unfortunately remembered.
Guys weren’t supposed to like each other like that. It went against nature. … Bender was a robot though and thus not from nature, so maybe it was okay for him to like other men like that. Not Fry though. He was a human man and human men didn’t like other men that way. But if Bender was a robot and thus not from nature was it okay to like him like that? Or was it doubly not okay because it went against nature on two fronts?
Not that Fry even maybe liked Bender like that. He liked Leela as was proper because he was a man and she a woman and they were both single. Single men and women couldn’t just be friends, could they? So he had to like her like that. Also, she was cool and smart. But in theory would it be okay if he did like Bender? Just a thought experiment because he was still somewhat new to the whole living next to sentient robots thing so he didn’t know yet all the ways it was okay to interact with them.
Naturally with all these thoughts swirling in his head, he eventually brought them to Dr. Farnsworth. He was a man and thus it was appropriate to talk to him about such things and he was old. Old people were supposed to be wise in the ways of the world.
Dr. Farnsworth grimaced at him halfway though, looking as if he were assaulted by a foul smell. He let Fry finish before speaking though. “I forgot you came from an unenlightened era.”
“What does that mean?” Fry had heard other people mention his old time period as such before but back then the ‘unenlightened era’ had meant the Dark Ages, right? What exactly the Dark Ages were, he’d never paid enough attention in history class to know, but they were a long time ago for sure, further back from his old time than his old time was from today… probably.
“Back when folk were a bunch of bigots. You racist too?”
“What? No, of course not. My uncle was but like… who doesn’t have a racist uncle, right? What does racism have to do with anything I just asked?”
“It’s got lots to do with it. Or maybe not lots but its related. The way I heard it is everyone was all kinds of bigoted and… and… ooh it’s been a long time since I last took a history class. What about transphobic?”
“Uh… I don’t even know what that means so I don’t see how I could be.” Maybe Fry should’ve gone to Hermes instead because this was so far getting him nowhere.
“Hmm… I’ll take that as a ‘probably’. We need to get you caught up to the modern day before you say something that embarrasses the company. We’re not homophobic anymore. Men loving other men is perfectly natural.”
Fry took a breath to argue, insist that it wasn’t natural but… let out it in a sigh instead. That thought had just been compared to racism. They were different, of course they were different. One was about hating people for things they couldn’t change and didn’t affect who they were as people. The other was about men choosing to be attracted to other men … or being confused and thinking they were attracted to other men when they couldn’t be because things weren’t supposed to work like that.
“Go get back to work,” Dr. Farnsworth lifted a hand to make a shooing gesture towards Fry. “I’ll send you a history book about it… or I’ll have Hermes do it ‘cause I’ll probably forget.”
Fry hesitated but… left. More of that wanting to argue but also not wanting to try to defend himself. He wasn’t going to read any history book though, too boring. Instead he’d find someone else to ask hopefully for a better answer.
'Summay' It’d be cute if there was a fluff halloween party thing!! Kinda like bender and fry having matching costumes
[A/N] I tried to get to this during the Halloween season but was so swamped with all my other Halloween stuff, I didn't get around to it. Here it is now though. And in the interest of helping myself catch up on requests (because I have a lot across multiple request fics) at least a little bit, this is just a sketch.
Summary: i'd like to see bender acting like a depressed widow, like he always does when fry is even a little bit angry at him. or maybe leela acting as their message transmitter when they're angry at eachother 'n don't want to communicate in person, so she gets fed up and forces them to reconcile.
~
“I don’t even know what they’re fucking fighting about anymore.” And now that she thought about it, Leela wasn’t sure they’d ever bothered to tell her. “They literally live together but when they want to say something to other they text me, telling me to relay the message. It’s driving me crazy.”
Sitting at the bar next to her, Amy patted her on the shoulder. “Have you tried not playing their games?”
“Well… yes but then they don’t talk to each other at all and that’s only gonna make it worse, right?” Leela wanted them to make up, both for their sakes because usually their friendship brought them happiness but also for her own sake because then they could stop bothering her as much.
“Girl, you need to stop being such a people-pleaser. Let them sink or swim on their own for once.”
“I don’t know, that doesn’t feel right but… maybe you’re right.” Playing their games certainly didn’t seem to be helping them reconcile. “Maybe it’s finally time to start putting my foot down.”
As if testing her, her phone pinged. It was Fry. She took a long drink from her rum and coke before opening it. Just to read in case it was actually important.
‘could you tell bender to turn his emo music donw its making it hard ot sleep thks’
It took more effort than it should’ve to close the chat window, turn off the screen, and pocket the phone but Leela did it. They could figure their own shit out for once. She was done with their bullshit. … “Or perhaps maybe, instead of playing their games, I could force them to play my game… metaphorically anyway.”
Amy raised an eyebrow. “Like force them to talk?”
“Yeah. I mean, the ship’s pretty small and Fry’s a good enough polite by now that he probably won’t crash it if it’s just him and Bender aboard.” They’d gone on delivery mission without her before and been fine. Granted those times had been when they’d been on good terms, them fighting might change things.
“Ooh, and if it’s a long enough mission, they’d for sure either kill each other or come back as friends. Either way they’ll finally be out of your hair.”
“Or they might crash because they’re distracted by fighting.” Which would be a good reason not to do it. “Though, the auto-polite just got updated again so it should be even better at preventing crashes so… it’d probably be fine as long the space around them isn’t too populated.”
“So it’s decided then, next delivery mission you’re gonna get seriously suddenly very sick right before boarding, leaving them to go alone and hopefully finally sort their shit out?”
“I guess so, yeah.”
“Cool, if you need a good fake vomit recipe I know several. How good’s your fake retching?”
“Uh… not great.” Leela had never had to fake being sick before.
“That’s okay you can practice when we’re sober. I’ll show you how it’s done.”
“It’s a plan then!” Leela raised her glass to clink against Amy’s before downing the rest of it in one go. They’d come here to have a good time so by golly she was gonna have a good time.
Hiding from Santa meant the Christmas party had to be quiet which was lame and contributed to the dismal feeling Fry now associated with the holiday. He wasn’t going to let it drag him down too hard though. With his plans for tonight and after how much time effort and energy he’d put into getting everyone at Planet Express good gifts this year, he was determined to make sure he had as good a time as possible.
Halfway through the night, just after midnight hit, making it officially Christmas day, he went around and handed everyone their gifts one by one. They’d even been wrapped nicely… sort of anyway. He’d done his best to to make them look as pretty as possible. An effect that was ruined by the fact that the recipient had to rip it open to get to the gift so what was the point again? Why put in so much effort if it was meant to be destroyed? Whatever though, this year was special so he’d put in a little more effort.
With Bender’s gift being the reason for that specialness, Fry saved him for last. He’d sat on the couch, watching as Fry went around to everyone, tapping his fingers on the arm rest with barely disguised eagerness and maybe a bit of impatience too.
“I notice the bag is empty,” Bender said as Fry stepped up to him. Unsurprisingly he’d kept an eye on the bag of gifts Fry had brought. He’d been eyeing it ever since Fry had finished putting everything inside, necessitating Fry keep a close eye on him to make sure he didn’t try to open or steal any of it. Which was half the reason Fry hadn’t put Bender’s gift in the bag, the other half being it was small enough to fit in his jean pocket.
He pulled it out now to hand to Bender. “That’s ‘cause yours is right here.”
Bender frowned slightly as he took it. “It’s tiny. Everyone else got a big gift.”
“Just open it. You’ll like it… I think.” More like he hoped. He’d been thinking about this for a long time and Christmas had seemed the perfect time it do it. Now he wasn’t so sure with all of the Planet Express crew not necessarily watching but in the room and thus would be aware of it and Bender’s answer as it happened.
It was too late to change his mind about it now though as Bender began ripping the pretty wrapping paper off. “Oh,” he said as he tossed it to the side, revealing the ring box. He eagerly flipped it open, his eyes widening at the sight of the ring inside. “This real diamond?” He looked back up at Fry as he pointed at it with his other hand.
“Of course.” Or at least Fry had been told it was and he’d certainly paid a lot for it – he’d had to save up more than a year since he’d had the thought to do this last year but hadn’t been able to afford a good ring yet – so it had better be real. He lowered himself to one knee as he took a deep breath, about to pop the question. Before he could get out a single syllable though…
“Then, yes.” Bender pulled it out and slid it onto his finger. Luckily, Fry’s measuring of it seemed to have been accurate. “Hey Leela, come look at what Fry got me.”
“You’re not even gonna let me ask the question?”
“Oh uh, sure go ahead and say the words.”
Fry had had a small speech planned about how much Bender meant to him but Leela was already on her way over and he’d forgotten it. So… “I love you. Will you marry me?”
“Yes. Now come on, get off the floor and sit with me.”
Well that hadn’t been as grand as he’d hoped and planed it to be but he had gotten an enthusiast ‘yes’. So he straightened and sat next to Bender on the couch. He put an arm around Fry’s shoulders and pulled him close, not something he normally did a whole lot of when everyone everyone else was present. He liked to seem tough in front of the others and PDA wasn’t tough.
“Did I hear that right?” Leela said as she reached them. “You guys are getting married.”
“Yep!” Bender lifted his hand to show her the ring, stretching it towards her.
She leaned in to examine it. “Ooh. I’m surprised Fry, I wouldn’t have thought you could afford a ring like this.”
“I saved up for it.” And he’d bought it secondhand at a pawn shop, making it less expensive. That shouldn’t matter though, it was still pretty.
“He’s the best fiance.” Bender said it with almost as much conviction as when he called himself the best, making it quite the compliment indeed.
Even if this wasn’t now he’d planned it to go, Fry would happily take it. Not that getting married would change much when they already lived together but it should be fun anyway and would be an excuse to throw a party. And then Fry could call Bender his husband instead of his boyfriend, that was going to be fun.
Prompt: Remember Jurassic Bark? I kind of want to see a Frender fic where Seymour gets to come back, I would love to see the couple with their precious doggo.
Content Warning for suicidal thoughts, actions, and an interrupted (and thus unsuccessful) suicide attempt.
Summary: The second writing, I want it to be from angst. Sometimes I see Bender as if everything he does is just for temporary pleasure, and he knows it, just to hide the fact that he was broken inside and takes the laid back and indifferent attitude towards everyone, as he doesn't want to look weak. before anyone. In all the suicide attempts he's made, it was mostly for attention. But one of those days, he just couldn't take it anymore. To the point that he didn't even see his useful existence in a world in which he was a clear nuisance, his creation was based on building a machinery that served death, and seeing himself seeking happiness in such banal things. .. pushes it to the limit. That's where Fry truly cares for his best friend and crush, stopping him from further cutting the wires in his wrist and system in an attempt to kill himself.
Also this was another request that was originally in Spanish so here is the original: "El segundo escrito, quiero que sea de angst. A veces veo a Bender como si todo lo que hace es por simple placer temporal, y él los sabe, sólo para ocultar el hecho de que se encontraba roto por dentro y toma la actitud relajada e indiferente ante todos, ya que no quiere verse débil ante nadie. En todos los intentos de suicidio que ha hecho, fué mayormente para llamar la atención. Pero un día de esos, simplemente no podía soportarlo más. Al punto de que ni siquiera veía su existencia útil en un mundo en el que él era una clara molestia, su creación se basó para construir una maquinaria que sirviera a la muerte, y verse a sí mismo en buscar la felicidad en cosas tan banales… lo lleva al límite. Ahí es donde Fry, verdaderamente se preocupa por su mejor amigo y amor platónico, evitando que se siguiera cortando los cables de la muñeca y de su sistema en un intento de matarse."
~
Bender hadn’t made a real attempt since the one he’d been making when meeting Fry, when Fry had inadvertently stopped him and somehow convinced him not to go back to it. The thoughts and temptation hadn’t gone away though, grown less powerful at times sure, but still always in the back of his mind somewhere.
Fry’s argument that Bender was his only friend no longer applied, making the list of reasons not to a bit shorter. Other reasons like, wanting to watch the next episode of ‘All My Circuits’ with Fry, enjoying getting away with stealing stuff, and other similar things were all so… lame. What kind of reason to live was sitting and watching TV or playing video games or finding new ways to slack off at work?
Shouldn’t one’s reason to live be something deep and meaningful like wanting to make the world a better place through finding a cure for cancer, ending world hunger, etc.? But while Bender would like if the world were a better place, he didn’t really care if it was, certainly not enough to want to bother to do anything about it. Or there were the folk who’s reason to live was devoting themselves to serving their god of choice. Silly nonsense in Bender’s personal opinion but whatever, if it worked for them he didn’t exactly have a lot of ground to stand on. Or there were the people who’s purpose in life was great scientific or artistic achievement. The only thing Bender wanted to achieve was being rich and famous but he’d failed at that at every turn and he was too lazy to really put the required amount of effort in to achieve that. Leaving him with zero good reasons to stay alive, only a bunch of dumb ones.
He’d been built to build machines that delivered death. That was his big purpose in life. The shittiest reason of all to live which was why he’d abandoned it. But even so it’s why he’d been built, the reason he existed in the first place. He couldn’t make that not reality even if he could sometimes forget it for a little while.
And so he was going to kill himself. It had to be big and dramatic, something that would make his friends feel sad and sorry even if that wasn’t likely to last for very long. But it also had to be done in a way that it wasn’t obvious he was trying to make them feel bad because then they most certainly wouldn’t. They’d just be mad and annoyed instead which was already how they felt about him a lot of the time while he was alive.
A suicide note would be nice. But as kept staring at the blank page, tapping the pencil’s eraser against the side of his head, nothing good continued to come to him. All his prior attempts – now scrunched up balls of paper in the trash bin – had come off sounding too melodramatic and whiny, too angry, or not serious enough. He didn’t have a good strong reason to kill himself, he just might as well because he was steadily unhappy and lacked good reasons to stay alive. Finding a way to explain that in a way that would make sense and would make his friends feel bad was hard.
He could lie and say he had a deep and dark troubled past that he’d been hiding that he just couldn’t bear to live with any longer. But… lying on a suicide note felt wrong in a way that even he was uncomfortable with.
A glance at the clock revealed that he was running out of time. Fry was due to return to the apartment in a couple hours. Bender needed to be done killing himself before then because doing it with Fry in the house would just be awkward.
He needed to put something down though so… ‘I killed myself because I wanted to. I guess you can have my stuff Fry because I don’t need it anymore. Love Bending Bender Rodriquez’ He stared at it for a few seconds before erasing the ‘love’ and replacing it with a dash. There. It wasn’t good and probably wouldn’t make anyone feel particularly bad for him like he’d wanted but it delivered the news and let Fry know he could he have his stuff. … What about Leela though and Amy?
‘P.S. Leela and Amy can have some of my stuff too if they want it. But NO ONE else!!’ There, much better.
He stood and attached the note to the fridge with a magnet, making sure to place it on the corner so it’d be easy to tell upon walking in that it was a note of sorts. Fry at least should feel a little bad when he read it, he was sensitive like that. He might even cry at the funeral. … Bender felt bad about that but feeling bad about making people sad by dying wasn’t much of a reason to keep living. Fry would get over it, probably rather quickly too.
Turning to leave, Bender headed for the bathroom. In all the murder mystery shows whenever the murderer wanted to frame their crime as a suicide they often poisoned the victim, slit their wrists and put them in a bathtub filled with water. Of course the detectives always figured out the truth but they always had to fight with people about it initially, indicating that this was a surefire way to kill oneself.
Mostly it was humans and other biological beings but a few had been robots too. Supposedly cutting the power lines in one’s wrists and submerging them would electrify the water enough to fry one’s systems beyond repair. It was supposed to be fast, effective, and dramatic but not obnoxiously so, making it perfect.
He plugged the tub and started water running. While he waited he pulled the knife out of his chest compartment to fiddle with. He’d sharpened it last night but he checked its edge anyway, scratching part of the tubing that made up his arm. It would take some pressure to get it to cut through to the wires but he was a bending bot, by design he could supply more than enough force and pressure to get the job done.
It took a while, way too long, but eventually the tub was full. Bender turned off the faucet and climbed in. Water sloshed out over the side to the floor. Oops, he’d overfilled the tub. Not his mess to clean up though because he was going to be dead really soon.
He lifted the knife, placing its tip to his wrist and pressed down. … Far too gently though, only making another scratch. Part of him was still hesitant to go through with it. He needed to get his act together and just…
The bathroom door burst open.
“Oh thank god you’re still in the house,” Fry said, panting as he stepped in. “I was worried that you’d gone off and that I wouldn’t be able to find you in time.”
This was the exact kind of awkward thing Bender had wanted to avoid. The frantic worry and relief in Fry’s face and tone as he stepped closer made Bender feel bad. Enough so that he lowered the knife. “You’re home early.”
“Uh… yeah, guess so. You’ve been acting weird lately and you didn’t want to come with us to the bar so… I was a bit worried. So I wanted to come home early to see if you were all right and stuff. And uh… apparently you’re not.”
Fry had noticed and worried about him. Bender wouldn’t have thought him observant enough to.
“Don’t do it,” Fry continued. “Please don’t do it.”
“I don’t have any good reasons to live and life is varying degrees of miserable so why bother with it anymore?”
“I… I don’t know. But we can get you help, a therapist or something. Aren’t they supposed to help?”
“I don’t wanna go see some quake doctor that’s gonna poke around in my brain before telling me to go back to my job at the factory. Because that’s apparently gonna make me happy and give me purpose, building death machines. It’s what I was built for after all, the reason I exist.”
Seemingly uncaring of the water pooling on the floor, Fry lowered himself to his knees by the tub. “They can’t all be like that, can they?”
Bender shrugged. “I’ve only ever been to two so I don’t know, maybe not.”
Fry’s worried frown deepened as he clasped his hands into an almost begging gesture. “Is there something I can do to convince you not to?”
“Why do you care so much?” Bender hadn’t seen him this distraught since finding out about his nephew.
“You’re my friend.”
“I’m not you’re only friend anymore so you can’t use that to convince me this time.”
“But… but… you’re my best friend. And I don’t know what to say, I’m with bad emotions and words and stuff but if you need someone, I’m here. I wanna help if I can and just… please don’t do it.”
“Fine.” It’s not like Bender could do it in front of Fry anyway.
Hope dawned on Fry’s face. “Really?”
“Yeah, yeah. I wasn’t that invested in it anyway.” A lie. He’d been thinking about it on and off for years, most of his life in fact. It’s part of why he’d decided to just go ahead and do it. But he couldn’t do it with Fry looking at him like that.
Water streamed from him as he stood up. He unplugged the drain and put the knife back in his chest compartment. Fry stood and stepped aside, allowing him to exit the tub, dripping even more water onto the tile floor. As soon as he was all the way out though Fry hugged him.
It wasn’t the first time they’d hugged, far from it, but it had been a while since they’d last done so. Just by pure happenstance, not a decision either of them had made. Bender hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed it until now. Fry was warm and soft in his arms and he cared. He cared more about Bender not dying than Bender did.
“Don’t do this again, please,” Fry whispered before stepping back.
“I won’t.” Maybe Bender would even keep that promise. Doubtful but technically it was possible he’d find a good reason to live before his feeling bad about making Fry sad faded enough to allow him to try again.
Frender Drabbles: Same as all the Other Meatbags, Right?
Summary: I would like a writing set in a pirate AU. I don't know why I see Bender so fucking good as a pirate, really. The plot, centered on Bender as captain, I would like the Planet Express crew and the main characters of Futurama to participate, occupying the respective roles that would correspond to this AU. At first, he believed that being one of the most famous and feared pirates was what he really wanted, all the treasures he wanted for himself. But, in one of his adventures and battles, he met a mermaid (Fry). And secretly, from that moment on, he never stops thinking about whether he would ever see him again. I would like you to have a memorable encounter in one of his battles, where Bender ended up injured and far from his ship, I leave it to your imagination <3.
Prompt was given to me in Spanish so here is the original before I ran it through google translate in order to understand it. "Quisiera un escrito ambientado en un AU pirata. No sé porque veo a Bender jodidamente bien como pirata, en verdad. La trama, centrada en Bender como capitán, me gustaría que la tripulación de Planet Express y los personajes principales de Futurama fueran partícipes, ocupando los respectivos roles que se les corresponderían a este AU. Él al principio, creía que ser uno de los piratas más famoso y temidos era lo que en verdad deseaba, todos los tesoros que quería para él. Pero, en una de sus aventuras y batallas, conoció a una sirena (Fry). Y en secreto, desde ese momento, no deja de pensar en sí alguna vez lo volvería a ver. Quisiera que hicieras un memorable encuentro en alguna de sus batallas, en donde Bender terminara herido y lejos de su barco, lo dejo a tu imaginación <3."
~
Lucky for Bender, when he’d been washed overboard it had been with a keg of ale. Fuel and something to hold onto to stop himself from sinking into the crushing depths of the ocean. Unlucky for Bender was that the gale had combined with the roar of canon fire had drowned out his calls for help. And now, his ship was well on its way to disappearing over the horizon.
But hey, at least the gale had finally cleared up. Leaving him bobbing up and down on the barrel as he watched his ship, leave. They’d won the battle naturally, the other ship now a floating wreck. So why hadn’t they turned around yet? Surely they’d noticed their captain was missing by now. They owed everything to him! He’d led them to far more success than they ever could’ve hoped for without him. So why wasn’t Leela turning the damn ship back around to come look for him?
He’d had swam towards them but the canon ball that had hit him had taken out one of his legs. A minor injury but how was he supposed to swim with one leg? He wasn’t designed to swim in the first place, very few robots were because the whole, metal sinks thing.
The barrel was already riding higher in the water with how much he’d drank from it. When he ran out of fuel would he be able to attach himself to it to stay afloat? Getting saved from such a state would be a long shot but far better than his chances of surviving the ocean’s depths. … What would it feel like to get crushed like a tin can by metric fuckton of water? His body could endure a lot of damage but probably not that, right? Meaning he was pretty damn screwed if he couldn’t keep hold of the barrel somehow. Which also meant he was pretty damn screwed in general.
“Come back, assholes!” He shouted after the ship, loud as he could. There was no way they heard but it made him feel a bit better anyway. “Turn around or I’m gonna be real mad.”
“I don’t think they can hear from all the way over here.”
Bender barely held back a flinch. Instead he turned to look at where the sudden voice had come from. A red-headed human floating in the water next to him, looking out towards the ship. “Where the heck did you come from?”
The human turned their head to look at him. “I swam up. Are you real robot?”
“What the hell else would I be?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen a real robot before. I thought the water was supposed to be bad for them.”
Bender scoffed. “As if mere water could hurt the likes of me. I’ll have you know that I’m Bender Bending Rodriguez, the world’s most famous and feared pirate captain.” He would be one anyway.
“I’m Philip J. Fry but you can just call me Fry. I’m uh… just a merman, nothing special.”
Ah, that explains where he’d come from then. “A merman, huh? I’ve never met a merman before. Can’t say I’ve ever cared to though. You’re basically the same as all the other meatbags, right? Except you live in the ocean.”
Fry shrugged. “I guess so. Anyway, you need help getting back to your ship? I can push your barrel.”
If most of him weren’t under the water, Bender would’ve looked him up and down, trying to find what he was hiding. Trusting him would be foolish but well, Bender wouldn’t be getting himself back to the ship any time soon and Leela didn’t seem to want to turn it around to come back for him. So he didn’t have many other options here. “What’s the catch?”
“Uh… no catch. I just think robots are cool and have always wanted to meet and talk to one about land and robot stuff.”
“So you wanna help me back to my ship as an excuse to hang out?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
Bender wasn’t sure he believed that but who wouldn’t want to hang out with him? And what other choice did he have? “Sure. You may help me get back to my ship. Not that I can’t get back to it myself of course, just I’m too lazy too.”
“Okay.” Fry dove under the water. He came back up a moment later, right next to Bender. Close enough that his arms brushed up against Bender’s as he put his hands on the barrel and started to swim, his powerful tail propelling them forward at a pace that was fairly quick but… even with the ship slowed by the damage it had taken from the battle, it would still be a long while before they reached it. And likely Fry, as was the case with all biological beings would have to stop to rest and eat every so often, making the journey take even longer. But at least Bender was finally properly moving towards his ship. He’d just have to get used to his new companion.
Apparently the reboot is out now! I thought it was still a ways away. I still haven't watched the last few episodes of before the reboot. I only have a few left and I was planning on watching them back to back but in part because of that I keep not getting around to it. Maybe now that there's more pressure to catch up, I finally will, or it'll just make me less likely to. But whatever, I'll watch the last few episodes and then the reboot eventually. Maybe during December whilst on my break after I finish my Xmas stuff.
Summary: I’d love it if there was one about All My Circuits introducing a trans character, sort of how real life shows have topical episodes sometimes. I think it’d be a massive comfort to Fry to see it as well, also maybe how Calculon fought to get the episode aired as he believes it to be important too.
~
The first season of All My Circuits was rougher around the edges, more stilted in the writing and acting but still fun and charming in its own way. It was shorter too, making binge watching the whole thing in a single sitting easy.
“So what happens Wanda?” Fry asked, turning his head to look at Bender sitting on the couch next to him as the season finale credits rolled. “I’m guessing she dies but why does she never get mentioned in the later seasons?” She’d played a pretty major role as Calculon’s sister but none of the more current seasons ever even so much as suggested Calculon had ever had anything other than a brother.
“Nah, he’s still in the show. He’s just a man now.”
“Wait, really?”
“Yep. The actor found out he was trans so they decided to make the character transition at the same time he was. It’s one of the major plot threads of season five. It was pretty controversial at the time. The studio execs wanted to write off the character or cast another actor but then Calculon threatened to quit if they did.”
That would certainly explain some of things said to, about, or by Calculon’s brother in the current seasons that hadn’t made much sense before. Fry wouldn’t have ever thought any of it actually meant anything because that’s just not the kind of thing one found on mainstream television. Or if one did, it was never so blatant.
“He really threatened to quit over that?” Calculon was the reason the show existed in the first place so him quitting was a big deal. He’d have been throwing away the entire thing despite being clearly very passionate about it in addition to disappointing his fans and making a lot of people upset with him.
“Yep. Almost did to. It was big, big news at the time. Everyone was losing their minds.”
“Well, uh… that’s interesting. We should watch season two now.” Though really, the season Fry wanted to watch the most was the fifth one. How was the show going to handle and portray the topic of transitioning? Especially when there was so much pressure on the outside surrounding the whole thing.
Bender shrugged. “I thought we were gonna take a break between seasons but whatever, I don’t care. I got nothing better to do.”
[A/N] Oops, comfort didn't exactly happen in this one. Fry decides he'd rather emotionally run away from addressing the fact that he might have some unresolved trauma and Bender is Bender. Together they have the combined emotional intelligence of a sack of potatoes.
~
This was why Fry never liked to talk about his childhood or parents, everyone always gave him the kind of look Bender was giving him now. The kind of look one gave to those who just confessed to something horrible having been done to them. But nothing horrible had been done to Fry. He was the younger less achieving brother so of course his parents didn’t pay much attention to him. That’s just how it was for everyone, right? Or at least everyone from his home time.
“You ran away for three whole days and nobody noticed?” Bender asked, sounding almost like he didn’t believe it.
“Uh… yeah.” And it was supposed to be a funny story because his parents had certainly always told it as if it were funny story so it had to be. Though the way they’d always told it was that he’d ‘claimed’ to have run away for three days because they seriously hadn’t known until he’d asked them if they’d noticed. How big a deal he’d made of it when learning that was apparently the funny part. “I was fourteen so they assumed I was in my room all day.”
“That’s fucked up. Even I’d noticed if you disappeared for that long and I don’t have time to pay attention to all your silly organic fickleness.” As if he didn’t notice when Fry left unexpectedly for even just an hour or two. “But if this is an attempt at making me feel bad for taking all your money so I start going easy on you, it failed. Read ‘em and weep.” He threw down his cards on the table between them. His hand was certainly better than the one Fry had just laid down by a long shot.
“I’m starting to think you’re cheating.” Or he was just really lucky in addition to being good at poker.
Bender made a sound like he was trying to imitate an offended gasp. “Me, cheat? I would never.” With a chuckle, he pulled the pile of bottle caps they were using in place of poker chips to his side of the table. “That’s twenty more bucks you owe me. You wanna go another round to try to win it back?”
With how little luck Fry was having he should probably decline and insist they leave the kitchen to watch TV in the living room instead. But… “All right. I’m shuffling this time though.” He gathered up the cards and pulled him towards himself.
“Seriously though,” Bender said as Fry split the deck, “you should see a meatbag therapist, or whatever Leela was talking about the other day, about your paternal issues. They’re almost as bad as hers and she didn’t have parents growing up.”
“I don’t have paternal issues.” He’d had a perfectly normal childhood with perfectly normal parents… probably. Of the few friends he’d had back then he hadn’t been close enough to any of them to go to their houses and thus meet their parents. So he didn’t have much to compare his parents to that weren’t fiction or Leela’s parents and they didn’t count because they hadn’t raised her, not really anyway.
“Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that.” Bender didn’t sound the least bit convinced.
“I will because it’s true.” Probably anyway. … But if even Bender believed something was wrong with the way Fry’s parents had raised him then… maybe something was wrong? If so, it was too late to do anything about it now though other than to complain and that wouldn’t get him anywhere so why bother? Fry would much rather go back to chatting and trying to win at least a single game of poker. He’d get lucky eventually, maybe even this next hand, wouldn’t that be neat?
Summary: maybe they’re delivering a package and fry and bender are kinda just messing around and since they’re not paying attention, some ‘bad guys’ sneak up and fry subsequently gets hurt and bender very much blames himself for how this went down. Fry assures him though it was his own stupidity that caused it. :)
~
Fry couldn’t be dead, he justcouldn’t be. Because he was Fry and because if he was then it would be Bender’s fault. Bender couldn’t have that on his conscious, it would make him feel bad for forever. And so Fry couldn’t be dead.
How bad was getting shot in the chest five or so times anyway? Even for a meatbag that couldn’t be that bad, could it? Fry had survived pretty bad injuries in the past after all. Yeah, this was the worst – so far anyway – but so what? He’d be fine… hopefully.
Bender paused in his pacing to look towards the hospital doors. They’d kicked him out into the waiting room like a bunch of assholes. He could’ve tried to force the issue but then they might’ve decided to let Fry die and then it would be Bender’s fault even more. And so he’d let himself get pushed around by a couple of scrawny humans. Luckily, only two other people – both bored looking humans – were here so there hadn’t been many witnesses to his so easily given acquiescence.
Maybe he should call Leela, let her know why he and Fry hadn’t returned with the ship yet. She’d already texted him three times and called twice, all of which he’d ignored because he wasn’t in the mood to talk to her. … And, he wanted to be sure Fry was going to make it before giving her any news. Which, he was of course, Bender knew that but… still, she might worry and he didn’t want to do that to her. So, since no one seemed to be likely to come through the doors any time soon, he resumed pacing.
A few hours later
“You’re alive,” was what Bender stupidly blurted out as soon as he saw Fry, sitting up, clearly alive. He was hooked up to a lot of machines, some of which were beeping. But other than that and the unusual pallor to his skin he seemed perfectly fine.
“Yep, still alive.” His voice was weaker than normal as well. “You were worried about me?”
Reaching his bedside, Bender scoffed. “As if. I knew you’d be fine.”
“He was pacing around in the waiting room the whole time we were working on you,” the nurse who had escorted Bender back here said before Fry could respond.
“Ha, knew it. But, uh… sorry. I’ll try to be less stupid in future.” As if Fry’s stupidity were to blame. No, Bender would be more careful in the future to make sure nothing even almost bad would happen to Fry again.
Summary: Fry intends to throw a proper Christmas party this year.
~
Evil killer Robo-Santa be damned, this year Fry was going to throw the best Christmas party the world had ever seen. Or if not the world – because he wasn’t delusional enough to believe himself anywhere even close to capable enough to be able to pull that off – then at least in recent Planet Express history. Like since he’d started working with them kind of recent. That he could do because none of those parties had been all that great so surely he could do better… maybe. He was going to try at any rate.
To deal with the whole Santa wanting to kill people problem, he’d hold it in the Planet Express basement. Not the most spacious or comfortable of places but he and Bender hung out down there all the time to avoid work and in the process had already largely cleared it out of useless junk that kept getting in their way. He’d probably have to ask Bender for help moving a few more things but probably, hopefully, nothing too bad.
First came the music, the most important part of a party. All the modern Christmas music was about the evil Santa killing people and whatnot; not the vibe he was looking for. So since he had to use old music anyway, why not he stuff he grew up with? He pirated it of course, using what Bender had taught him about modern digital piracy, because he couldn’t afford to purchase as much as he’d have wanted. And why should he have to buy songs he’d used to own anyway?
Next came the lights, tinsel, wreath, and even a Christmas tree, not a real one unfortunately but it would do nonetheless. All easily acquired through the internet. The special Christmas punch was also easy as this was far from Fry’s first time getting ready to make spiked punch for a party. He just had to make sure it was Christmasy by adding nutmeg or something to it too.
The hard part came when it was time to prepare the Christmas sugar cookies. He’d never been much of a baker and while he could do store brought that would be sacrilege. So, the morning of Christmas Eve, he set to trying his best. How hard could it really be? He’d used to help with this all the time as a kid. Yeah, with adult supervision, but he was an adult now too so surely he could do this just fine by himself.
Bender poked his head into the kitchen only a few seconds after the fire alarm starting blaring. “What’cha burning?”
A bit to distracted by the fire on the tray of ‘cookies’ he was currently holding, Fry didn’t answer as he hurriedly – but still carefully as possible lest this disaster grow any worse – put it on the stove top. At least he’d remember to wear oven mitts before picking it up. But now what? How did he put it out? Water! … He should douse it with water from the sink!
Before he could even grab a pot to start filling, Bender stepped forward and sprayed whit foam over it with his hand. “Lucky for you, I just got my fire extinguisher tank refilled a couple days ago.”
“Thanks.” Fry’s heart was hammering still. This was why he didn’t try to bake often. Things were so easy to forget once hidden away in the oven.
To put off having to explain things for a bit, he jogged over and turned off the fire alarm. With that done though there was nothing left to do but to return to the stove and frown down at what was supposed to have been sugar cookies. But hey, at least when covered with fire extinguisher foam, they were hidden from view.
“I’m trying to make Christmas cookies,” he said before Bender could ask again. He’d intended to keep this idea a surprise for as long as he could but he’d basically been caught red handed. “I’m going to throw a Christmas party in Planet Express’ basement tomorrow instead of the dark and quiet one we normally have.”
Bender scoffed. “You throw a party, huh? I can’t imagine that turning out good.”
“No. I’m trying really hard and it’s going to be great, you’ll see. Except for, uh…” He glanced back the foam covered baking tray. “I’ll just get some store brought cookies instead, I guess.” Those weren’t as good but he wasn’t sure he was up for another attempt at it after how badly this one failed.
“Hmm…” Bender stepped forward to look down at the tray too. “Nah, you’re in luck Fry because I’m bored and there’s nothing on TV so I’ll help you make your cookies or whatever.”
“Wait, really? I thought you only liked to cook.”
Bender raised a hand to a dismissive gesture. “Cooking and baking are basically the same thing.”
“Sort of, I think, maybe.” Fry wasn’t sure he wanted Bender’s help though, given how Bender’s food usually turned out. But then again, maybe working together they could combine the good parts of their food making skills – if it could even be said they had any skill in that area whatsoever – and make something halfway decent or maybe even good. That or they’d make something inedible and set it on fire. Well, it was probably worth the risk, what more could go wrong that hadn’t already? “All right, sure. Let’s try again.”
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