I’m not sure if this is what you had in mind but I’m watching/reading a LOT of sci-fi stuff and I was listening to Janelle Monae and well, this happened. I might turn it into a full verse one day, if I finish any other WIP first.
//
Peter snarls, using his attacker’s momentum against her, forcing her to the ground. His attacker, one of Deucalion’s heavily modded lackeys, groans as she smacks into the concrete. Whatever squishy human parts of her that were left will be bruised by this evening. Peter turns her head to one side, keeping his hand on her throat. Deucalion’s symbol is embossed behind her ear in bright neon red.
“Deucalion will dissemble you,” she hisses, her voice modification program malfunctioning so that she sounds like she’s speaking from another room. Peter doesn’t reply instead just keeps pressing on her throat until she passes out. He then drags her further into the alley until he finds a dumpster.
He leaves her for the street cleaners to find, slipping back onto the street. He tries to walk calmly, hiding the fact that she managed to fry some of the wires in his arm. Luckily it’s not sparking, but it’s not online either and he has to hold himself awkwardly to make it look normal. He needs to get to the tech district, back to Sparks & Gears and Stiles healing hands.
Peter manages to catch a bus without attracting new attention. He knew when he stole those plans from Deucalion he would be painting a big target on his back, but he was tired of Deucalion hoarding designs for better, more efficient mods. He’s tired of his outdated tech, the inability to feel anything in his left arm, in the inability to touch.
He slips through the tech bazaar. Down here the world is all neon lights and angle grinder sparks. Spilling wires, oil slick and the smell of sweat and metal. All kinds of cybernetics, from the legitimate to the highly illegal all in one space. Stiles’s stall is obvious due to its cartoony metal sign above the entrance. Peter pauses outside, double checking that he hasn’t been followed before entering.
Inside is a mess, as usual. Tools, schematics, food wrappers, three different types of computer and all sorts of other things thrown together into organised chaos. Stiles is slumped over a table, a spanner in one hand and his protective glasses still on top of his head. He has an oil smear across his forehead. Peter walks up quietly behind him, reaching forward with his human hand to drift his fingers through Stiles hair. Stiles snuffles a bit before waking up, peering up at Peter with bleary eyes.
“Mmm.. ‘Lo, when did you get here?”
“Just now,” Peter replies, pulling up a chair beside Stiles. “I need you to take a look at my arm.”
Stiles sits up properly, blinking. He rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands as Peter strips out of his coat.
“What happened?”
“One of Deucalion’s minions, she had an electro-dagger and fucking fried me. I left her for the street cleaners to find.”
“Won’t they be happy?” Stiles says, sliding his glasses onto his face. “All that fancy tech. Wasn’t very street smart of her to fight you near one of their pickup zones, considering how much she must have been modded.”
Stiles opens Peter’s arm up with care and delicacy. Peter can’t feel it, but he knows how gentle Stiles is with cybernetics. Always careful and considerate, even though most can’t feel it. Most of the people that have repaired Peter haven’t been kind, viewing him as simply an extension of the machine. Stiles is the only one to view the machine as an extension of Peter.
“She really did a number on you,” Stiles murmurs. “This might take a little while, do you want to order something to eat first?”
“No, just do it. I’ll be ok.”
Stiles raises an eyebrow. He turns his chair back to his desk, pulling open a drawer to search for the right tools. He slides a cherry blossom kitkat along the table until Peter picks it up and begins to eat it. Stiles begins working, stripping back the fraying wires.
“I think I’ve worked out how to make Deucalion’s tech work,” Stiles says, poking one of the wires aside to check a loose gear in Peter’s elbow. “It’s going to require a much better coder than me though, I might try and get ahold of Danny. Might also slip it to Lydia on the sly, Deucalion can’t sell it at a premium if it’s already on the mainstream market.”
“As long as I’m the first,” Peter replies, “I don’t mind.”
Stiles looks up at him, whiskey eyes big and bright in the stark overhead lighting.
“I’ll make sure of it.”
Peter leans down, coaxing Stiles into a sweet kiss. Stiles lips taste like strawberry lip balm and motor oil. Stiles leans back before the kiss can deepen.
“Don’t distract me or you’ll end up with faulty wires.”
Peter smirks, kissing Stiles on the cheek before allowing him to get back to work.
//
Hi, if your still doing prompts can you do Steter for the prompt “STREET SMARTS!”? Thank you!!! (*´ω｀*)
Published
Brie 