Portal ONE-SHOTZ \\ READER INSERT

002 :: SMALL FIX | Atlas

CO OP ROBOTS MY BELOVED!!
They *spark* joy hehe

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1.1k Words | 21-08-21 | — 002
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Here you are, working in a spare office, who were you kidding? All of them were spare at this point, ahem. anyways. You worked where the lights were always flickering, the fans, they never worked. There had been holes in the wall where mice lived within.

They would continuously chew through the wires, causing you to have fewer working monitors each month. Sometimes you would hear little taps in the wall if you were quiet enough.

It was nearly next door to the Collaborative-Artificial-Intelligence Center, although more commonly known as where the Cooperative Testing Initiative takes place.

You'd often keep watch over the two AI-s that would be performing in the latest test chambers. Although it was more often than not that one or both of them would come in for minor repairs, as many machines in this facility need.

Unfortunately not having alot of tools or experience at your disposal has proven difficult for these very situations. You're forced to find things around the place to use, such as scrap metals that have fallen from the ceiling, or an old roll of duct tape found in a drawer.

Although it's a struggle, you make do with what you have because you aren't even supposed to be here, really.
Months ago you had awoken from what was considered a cryogenic rest. You were immediately assigned a job and to stick with it. Any signs of resistance would have resulted in death, quoted directly from GLaDOS herself.

You assumed you were the last 'subject' known to be alive, and it just so happened GLaDOS had a position for you, so she simply woke you up and put you to work.

You were relentlessly tired, constantly drifting. You weren't allowed to sleep either, or at least being caught doing so. You would rest between chamber inspections.

And that would be right now, actually. You'd desperately over-worked the last few days, so when you had finally sat down to catch your breath, it caused your brain to officially shut down for a few hours, and you collapsed onto the desk.
You had been slumped over it, head in between your arms. Your worries felt so small while drifting to sleep.

...

However, you were to wake again. You felt a few soft taps on your shoulder, you put your head up, quietly groaning.

"Err-Y-Yes?", You'd forgotten any of the following circumstances until you took notice of who was trying to get your attention.

It was one of the bots.

You shook your head, beginning to feel a slight jolt of fear. You got out of the chair and looked frantically about for the clock on the wall. Then faced the monitors that laid in front of you.

"What the? ..Hell?"

Your voice strained.

"Oh, Oh my god- How long have I been out? How long was I-"

The AI, Atlas, lumbered directly in front of you, holding up seven of his fingers. You dropped back into the chair, a feeling of pure distress shot right through you. "H-Hold on. I'm sorry." You were instantly alarmed.

"A-Are you saying seven ... hours ? Seven whole hours, you're kidding, yeah?"

Atlas shook his head, he wasn't joking.

"..No! I'm done for, she must know! Wouldn't she? Agh! I can't believe this I- I'm such an idiot!"

Atlas waved his arms a bit, as if he was signifying not to worry. Then quickly pointed to his unhinged, busted up leg then to you.

"Y-Yes," You rubbed your face. "I see you came in for more repairment. Just give me a moment, please."

He waited patiently for a few moments, before you took another look at him, putting your hands down.

"Well alright, but how-how did you know I've been asleep for, what did you say? Seven hours?"

He perked up again, gesturing at his injuries once more, this time in a more annoyed manner.

"Yeah, okay. You're right, it doesn't really matter, does it? Come here, I'll help you."

He merely rolled his eye and hobbled over.

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"Some of these bearings are really loose, you must've waited a while before coming up here, huh?"

You began fidgeting with the bolts on his leg, as one fell off and rolled underneath the table. You glanced at Atlas.

"My bad- er, how long have you been waiting?"

He, yet again, gave you seven.

"Hours again? Okay uh, it's been a while then. How come you waited?" You asked, getting up from your seat to look for the bolt.

As you scrounged around, you noticed him gesturing at you. "Huh- You were waiting on me?- oh ..."

You sat up from the floor,
"You couldn't have been waiting for me to wake up-hah, right?" Had he really been here this whole time? You didn't think he was necessarily considerate enough for that, simply due to the fact that generosity wasn't programed within the two of them.

But maybe it was learnt.

Any other doubts you had were purely related to paranoia. What if this was all a behavioral test? What if GLaDOS was behind this? After being here for so long you began living through irrational fear.
Although, maybe for once you were shown fellow compassion. It's just been a while.

Atlas nodded, synthesizing a noise of what could be considered contentment.

You felt admiration, you felt appreciated. And nothing but relief. You couldn't help but smile a little, laugh even.

"Oh, Oh man that's- I bet GLaDOS is assuming I've just been doing repairment all day, like usual I guess." You sighed in a relieved manner. You were beyond thankful.

You got up off the floor, sitting back at the desk again. You leaned back in your chair

"Thank you, Atlas."

He nodded again.

Both him and P-body had always lacked emotion, or perhaps they just didn't know how to portray it, regardless, it was only natural. After all, they weren't human. However, only recently had they learned small forms of compassion through you. Possibly because that's all you've ever shown them both, even in tougher times.

To say the least, it seemed to bother GLaDOS the most. She didn't like that they mimicked human traits, although, you found it endearing, they were like curious children, constantly wanting to learn.

You shook out of your thoughts, quickly reaching for a drawer, pulling it out to grab tools such as a wrench and a few others.

You also tossed up a few spare bolts and screws you had found. They hit the table with a 'tink!'.

"Sorry for the wait, bud. Let me see what I can do,"