#Executor and Tspeak sibling vibes

[thephonemenarentreal]

Mysterious Fathoms Below

CHAPTER THREE IS OUT! Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three <<Current Chapter>>

Having a blast writing this fic <3 I just like hurt/comfort bonding and slow burns and friendships and found family things <3

Title: Mysterious Fathoms Below

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Bonding; Hurt/comfort over trauma; awkward small talk, hand holding

Featured Characters: Titan Speakerman, Charybdis (Sea Camera OC), Executor hanging out as baby semi-titan

Guest Starring: Whistle (@tabieeee awesome chief engineer of the speaker faction! Go give them some love!!) Summary: A chance encounter leads to something a little more, a little complicated, and a house divided as surely as Romeo and Juliet, with a touch of tragedy and yearning that comes under the terror of a war. Feelings of any kind though tend to grow in the strangest of places, starting with the simplest of playful meetings. CHAPTER SUMMARY: Maybe it is something about the sea that makes it easy to get things off one's core...and find someone who sees at you that you haven't seen yourself.

The patrol Titan Speakerman flew today was not the most ideal of weather conditions. High winds had picked up, driving the ocean upwards into a heaving mass of white tipped waves that rose and fell in larger and larger swells. Even for someone of the titan’s size and power, flying was made a bit more tricky in the face of such wild winds, which is why the patrol that day had been modified to allow him to be flying in the same direction of the wind to avoid having to battle a headwind.

When the winds picked up, it also meant the chance for bad weather to develop was a greater risk, thus he kept to a higher altitude above the clouds to avoid the worse of the sea-born squalls and rain showers. Usually having to fly higher up was not a big deal. He had plenty of communication arrays and sensors jammed packed along his frame, including an expansive GPS that easily helped him to tell what was going on beneath him. He had a near complete 360 degree view of his surroundings at all times to detect threats, something the other titans lacked. When it came to threat detection, the Titan Speakerman was good at being the first to be alerted to any sort of changes.

However, that was not entirely useful out here, at least not for hunting down the quarry he wanted to encounter. The shy sea camera’s electrical field could mess with his arrays, only giving him a vague idea that they were in the region, not necessarily where they were.

For that, visuals were best as the shadow of the mysterious sea unit’s outline was a dead giveaway, but harder to see among the waves and cloud cover from so high up.

The Titan Speakerman knew that it wouldn’t be easy to spot them and so far there had been no reports incoming of strange electrical incidents save for one naval ship’s navigation shorting out for a brief moment. The engineer on that ship had reported it as an incident of misadventure, not necessarily some electrical anomaly.

Things had been quiet for the last three days. Three days where the titan had not seen frame nor wire of the sea-based semi-titan of the Conglomerate.

With every missed sighting, every day returning to base empty handed with nothing to report but a few skibidi encounters from time time, the Titan Speakerman was beginning to think he wouldn’t ever see them again at all. The disappointment and acceptance of that fact was finally starting to settle in. Today more than others as he neared the end of his patrol, only an hour out from making his ETA and landing for the day. Not a single sighting of that mysterious semi-titan.

“Weather looks like it is clearing up ahead,” Whistle commented, “Will at least be a nice and breezy end of the patrol,”

“mm,”

“Thought that would make you a bit more upbeat rather than being as broody as Executor,”

“I’m not that broody, Whistle,”

“Getting there!”

The Titan Speakerman gave a low growl of his speakers as he started to coast down closer to the ocean, holding out one hand to listlessly trail over the white tipped waves, “Just disappointed is all. No sighting of that sea camera whatsoever,”

“Maybe the Pleasure Cruise moved on. They probably keep close to it,” Whistle reasoned, “May be back another time,”

“I guess,”

The ocean was starting to calm itself as the wind started to die down at last. Being so close to land, the usual change of the sea breeze would soon start to kick as the heat from the land rolled off and back out to sea. With the weather clearing up, maybe it would be a nice sunset over the ocean. At least that might be something to look forward to. Just as he was starting to resign himself back to base after a rather boring patrol, a slight tingle started to be picked up in his sensors and then along his form. The Titan Speakerman drew his hand away from the water as he felt almost like a small prickle of electricity jolt through his fingers. The titan paused, giving a soft warble and cutting his jets to rise up a bit, hovering over the water.

There was nothing at first, just the white-tipped waves rising and falling on the wide expanse of the ocean. Then slowly, a large shadow began to become more clear, slowly moving below in a lazy circle beneath the titan. There was the bright lights of the front of the face, peering up through the water at him, hesitant, guarded, but there.

Excitement was not an emotion that the Titan Speakerman could hold back too well. Before he could think, as natural as it was for a speaker to dance when pleased, there was a rumbling building up in his speakers, filled with eager noises that finally came out in a loud rancorous roar down at the figure below the water. Such a noise was one of excitement, easy for any speaker to tell, but such a loud noise clearly spooked the semi-titan in the water as they shrank deeper into the depths of the water until the light was barely able to be parsed in the fading light of the evening. That cut off the happy cry of the titan quickly and he quickly raised both hands as he dared to draw a bit closer to the water.

“W-wait! It wasn’t aggressive! I swear! I just was saying hi…!”

The sea cam didn’t come up to the surface, but at least wasn’t continuing to back away. That was progress. The titan hovered there, hands still up to appear as non-threatening as possible. He was excited and thus it was hard to keep his voice down or the want to make noise.

“So uh. Hi there,”

Three days to plan on what even to say to the unknown sea cam and he still couldn’t think of how to start a conversation. Nerves were starting to creep up and one hand inched up to rub at his lower speaker lightly in a bit of a nervous habit as he looked away, “Do you uh, have a name? I don’t think I caught it last time,”

The sea cam remained beneath the water a moment longer before slowly starting to come up to the surface. Only their head breached it, the lens, glowing a bright teal fixing on him quietly for a long moment before tilting away.

“Charybdis,”

Again with the soft voice that didn’t seem to match how large they were. So shy it was almost painfully cute.

“Charybdis,” the titan repeated, “Well, I’m Titan Speakerman, T-speak to my friends, but, uh, I guess you already knew that,”

“Maybe. A little,” Charybdis murmured with maybe a hint of a small laugh.

There was movement along their head as two small robotic arms just beneath began to cling at each other, wringing them in nerves. The titan gave another rub at the lower speaker, head tilted away. “So uh, you come here often?” Even to his own auditory sensors, the question was painfully awkward and sounded like something written for a horrible romance on the Hallmark channel. It had him internally cringing, mentally kicking himself for not trying to come up with something a little bit smoother to ask about.

“No. These are Alliance waters. I don’t usually come in at all,” they said softly, “Does that...upset you?”

“Huh? No! I mean, well, it would upset the Alliance I guess, but not me personally,” the titan stammered out, “I uh, was kind of, maybe, sort of looking for you?”

The sea cam just sunk down a bit, their voice somehow getting even softer, strained to a squeak of a mouse, “You were looking for me?”

The titan paused before holding up both hands, “Not looking! More hoping to run into you again? I wasn’t being like a stalker or something! Just sort of, last time was nice and well, didn’t get your name and it was bugging me!”

“Oh,” Charybdis sunk in the water more, just the lens peaking out, “Well, you have my name,”

“Yeah,”

The conversation was so awkwardly shy, the titan was wondering if it was too late to just dunk himself in the ocean out of embarrassment. Honestly how Whistle made this look easy was beyond the titan. Still he forged forward, giving a loud rumble of his speakers like the clearing of a throat and tried to look more suave, arms crossed, leaning against an invisible wall as he hovered in the air.

The very picture of trying to look cool as hell and looking like the greatest dork to grace the skies.

“What has you in Alliance waters then? Just you know, an official question there for reasons,” The titan said, “Since I am all official in the Alliance. As a faction leader titan leader guy and stuff,”

Whistle save him, he was sounding more and more like the most awkward bastard in the Alliance. His nerves were starting to creep up all the more, causing his fans to start to rev from the sheer heat of his embarrassment.

“Well, I wanted to see you...again. Maybe...do something like we did last time,” Charybdis said softly, although their words were muffled some as they ducked a little more down in the water, “It was nice...doing the chasing game with you,”

The titan perked up, giving another eager rumble that was edging towards another shriek that he was keeping down for now, “Yeah? Well, I liked it too!”

“Really?”

This time he couldn’t help the excited shriek of confirmation, although the titan quickly stiffed it when the sea camera ducked away again and a small crackle of electricity was in the air. A tingly thing that made his com array complain, but nothing serious.

“Sorry,” he said, holding both hands up again, fans giving a rev of nerves, “I uh, tend to get excited and get loud,”

Charybdis circled a bit before once more poking their head out, “...its okay. Sometimes I...shock things when I get excited or startled,”

“Guess we have something in common then, huh?”

“Maybe,” Charybids shyly dipped down in the water a bit, “...You...want to play a game again?”

It took so much self control not to just yell as loudly as possible. The most he got these days was sparring matches with titan Cameraman, and although those were fun, there wasn’t much time to just do something silly. Least of all given his size making it hard to play most simple games. He opted for a more controlled yelling and vigorous nod of the head instead as not to chase the sea camera away, “Yes! The chase game?”

“If you want. Or there are some mines down here the skibidis set in the deep waters,” Charybdis murmured, “With my sibling, sometimes I throw them in the air for him to shoot down, if you want to do that…”

The titan paused, thinking on the offer. Target practice was always fun but it was harder to do at base. Mostly because finding good targets for the size of his guns was hard to begin with. Add to that, him firing his guns around the speaker base tended to invoke a lot of trauma in other units. That thought had him wincing and that kernel of misery twisted just a little deeper. It had been a long time since he had been able to put his guns to work without being told off by the higher ups.

“I would like that,” he finally said, voice a bit soft, “I don’t get to do that much,”

“You sure? You seem sad,”

the titan speakerman gave a rev of his jets rising up over the water some, both hands out as he did a little turn in the air, “Not sad! Just it isn’t something I do at base a lot. You know, too loud and stuff, might make people think we are under attack or something!”

Or think he was going to kill them, the horrid voice sneered at the back of his mind. Just like he did before under the influence of that parasite. Quickly he pushed that thought away, not wanting to come across as dreary around what could be a new friend. Instead he gave a louder warble, revving his jets up to hype himself up more.

“Hit me with your best mine! I’m ready!” he slammed his two fists together and gave another loud cry.

Charybdis gave a nod starting to move about in the water with an eager rumble, “All right. Then get ready!”

The sea camera dove quickly, soon out of sight below the water. The Titan Speakerman hovered over the water before darting back as suddenly there was an eruption of water and a large deep sea mine erupted upwards. He was startled only a moment before he was lifting both arms, locking and loading to unleash a shot on it as he zoomed backwards. The mine went off with a loud satisfying boom, fire and sizzling shrapnel whizzing every which way. The titan couldn’t help a pleased shriek at that, darting away as suddenly several more were shot up out of the water in rapid succession.

The Titan Speakerman let out a loud eager shriek then, locked in and eager as he unleashed a volley and perhaps coasting just out of the reach of the explosions, enough to feel the heat against his heels, but be ready to swoop in for more of the mines being thrown up. Charybdis was moving below, the water parting as they gave a somewhat loud trill of their own as the jumped out of the water briefly like a dolphin, tossing up a few more before diving back down just as the titan dove, more than ready to get to each target. There was no telling where Charybdis was throwing them, keeping them both moving in the water in their dangerous game. If high command knew he was doing this, they would be besides themselves with anger and be ready with a lecture about the dangers of using live, dangerous ammunition as target practice, let alone having a unit of the Conglomerate be the one tossing them up.

One wrong move and he could end up blowing up a mine in his face which would leave him with some damages to fix. Still the thrill outweighed the risks sand he was more than confident in his ability to hit targets and get out of the way in time.

It was exciting to get to use his canons without worrying about hitting someone accidentally or being told off for it. The exhilaration had him pushing himself into rather acrobatic aerial maneuvers, up, down, barrel roles, backwards flying, upside down and in quick twirls, all while he was eagerly shouting and shrieking to try and be louder than each thundering boom of the mines as they went off.

“Oi! You okay out there?! I’m detecting multiple explosions!”

The Titan paused a moment at the worried sound of his chief engineer. No doubt Whistle had started to pick up on the explosions on his comm array and had grown concerned when he wasn’t reporting anything. Titan Speakerman titled his head as he mentally ticked on the com, his attention brought back to the ocean as another series of mines were tossed up, “I’m good! Target practice on mines!”

“Mines!?”

“Charybdis is tossing them out of the water!”

“Now hold up-”

“Can’t talk, shooting now!”

He didn’t want to miss a single target in the air, weaving about and shooting, letting out loud shrieks all the while. It was fun. It was loud. It was so much better than patrols or sitting around quietly in the base while everyone else got to make as much noise as they wanted.

The last mine went up in smoke as he dove down towards the water where Charybdis peered up, giving a happy little clap and louder sound, like a whale mixed with some sort of deep sea monstrosity. He responded in kind with another loud roar back, feeling a pleased little trill rumble up as he noted this time the sea cam didn’t pull back. Instead Charybdis seemed to rise up a little more, making a louder cry right back.

“So you can get loud!” he teased, crossing his legs, hovering in mid-air as he regarded the semi-titan.

“When I feel like it,” Charybdis murmured, growing shy a touch, voice still soft, “You fly so elegantly,”

“Yeah?”

“I like how you fly,”

A touch of warmth rose right into his core at that and he gave a small buzz of his jets, “Well, you are super strong yourself. You could really lob those mines up and out of the water,”

Charybdis ducked down with a warble of embarrassment, “...I have to pull ships and go to the bottom of the ocean. Have to be strong to do that I guess,”

“I can’t get in the ocean, so you have me beat there,” The titan paused, drumming his fingers a bit against his leg before he glanced over his shoulder, “You want to...find somewhere to sit and uh, maybe talk?”

“Talk?” Charybdis squeaked out.

The titan speakerman raised a hand to scratch at the side of his bottom speaker lightly, a low nervous hum escaping, “I would like to get to know you better. Like, your favorite things. Not just like...always playing around, although today was really fun,”

The sea cam sunk lower in the water, back with only their lens out of the water, “No one wants to know that about me,”

“I do and kind of hard to hover and talk. I mean, you can stay in the water, just...somewhere to sit and spare my jets,”

Charybdis gave a nervous warble before ducking down under the water a moment, swimming a few little circles before coming up, “There are some rocks along the shore with deep water pools in the direction you were heading,”

“Sounds good!” The titan shifted, lifting into to the air more, “Race you!”

And then he was off like a shot, laughing all the while. Within moments though, Charybdis was below him, keeping pace with him as they hurtled forward. As they did, the titan clicked back on his com.

“What the hell is going on-”

“Was playing a game with that deep sea cam. Their name is Charybdis!”

“Throwing mines!?”

“Shooting them from a safe distance,” the titan corrected, although that was a half truth. He had taken some risks in making them explode maybe a little closer than his chief engineer would approve of, but that wasn’t something Whistle needed to know, “It was nice to be able to actually do target practice,”

He could hear Whistle let out an exasperated sound, falling to silent for a bit, “Well, as long as you are safe and doing okay,”

“Doing fine. We are going to sit and talk a bit so uh, I’ll be late,”

“Don’t trip over yourself,”

“Trust me, my foot is already in one speaker already at this point,” the titan looked down at the shadow, giving a pleased sound and wave as Charybdis looked up at him before jetting forward, “They don’t seem to mind,”

“Well, just check in when your done and don’t stay out too long, got it?”

“Yes mom,” the titan drawled sarcastically, “I’ll be in bed before eleven,”

“Holding you to that,” Whistle returned, her voice amused.

The titan clicked off his comm again, a bit more aware of when it was on and off after an unfortunate accident where some things should not have been heard. He especially didn’t want Whistle listening in to his attempts at small talk less he need to try and bury himself in the field behind the hangar again.

It was not long to the shore, but it felt so much longer or maybe he was just that eager to get the chance to actually have a normal conversation. A voice in the back of his head grumbled how he was trusting too much in a Conglomerate, but at the same time, Charybdis had never done anything to harm him, never asked about the Alliance or trying to get at secrets. They felt safe. They also were someone who didn’t know him or what he had done.

A clean slate that wouldn’t judge him or bring up the past.

The titan speakerman settled himself on one of the taller rocks pocking out of the water, getting comfortable with his feet dipped in the water. He let out a louder ping of the area, looking around to see if there was any threat before allowing himself to relax some. Charybdis surfaced at the edge, daring to bring part of their upper body out of the water as they rested their head on their folded arms.

“I think you won,” the shy cam said softly.

“Hard to tell. Guess we will have to do it again another time,”

Charybdis gave a soft hum, glancing to the side, “so what is it you wanted to talk about?”

He gave a small shrug, draping his arms over his knees as he sat there, only giving a small glance downward, “Well, what are you into? Like...hobbies I guess?” he sighed, rubbing at the back of his head, “Or uh favorite things in general. Small talk I guess,”

“Oh,”

The titan shifted, letting out a quiet laugh, “Seems a polite place to start. I…” the titan speakerman paused, squirming a bit where he at, “Before like, asking personal questions and all that. There is a lot I want to ask you that is probably not really small talk?”

“Like what?”

“I think it would be kind of rude,” the titan let out a hiss of his speakers, shaking his head, “It is fine! I can ask-”

“You can ask. I don’t mind,” Charybdis tilted their head, “I’m not...good at small talk anyways,”

The titan looked down at the sea semi-titan before looking up and towards the horizon. The sun was starting to set now, casting a golden aura over the waves. The white caps glittered like they were covered in jewels washed up from the depths to be shown to the world for a brief moment.

“How do people see you? At your home base I mean. Like, do they see you as...just one of them or like uh,” he glanced away quickly, speakers crackling with his nerves and fans revving all over again, “a monster or something?”

The question had Charybdis pulling back some, some of the lights around their head winking on and off like a blink. The titan looked away quickly, “Uh, sorry that sounds kind of rude. Could go back to hobbies or something like that,”

“No. It is fine. It really doesn’t bother me,” Charybdis said softly, looking down into the water, the little hands under their head fidgeting again, “I’m a monster to those that have heard of me. Most don’t know I exist actually as I don’t reveal myself to many people,” they traced one hand idly against the rock the titan sat on, “Only my family sees me as just Charybdis,”

The sea cam glanced up, head tilted, “...why do you ask?”

He couldn’t help a laugh at that, tired as he leaned forward, resting his elbows against his thighs, hands held together, “People see me as a monster these days. After what I did,” he could feel the tension rising into his shoulders, his speakers rumbling low, “Wanted to know if it was different for you, outside the Alliance that is,”

Charybdis did the blink of lights before tentatively reaching out, hesitating before putting a hand on the foot dangled into the water, “I don’t think you are a monster. You are very kind,”

“Would you say that if I told you I killed people that I saw as my own family?”

The semi-titan hesitated, but didn’t pull back, “Did you mean to do it?”

“Does it matter if I did or not?” the titan let out a low growl, curling in on himself a bit, “It was a parasite. I lost control of everything, like being forced to shut off for days, not knowing what was going on for days in the dark. It felt like, knowing your body was moving, hearing the world, and all it felt like was pain, screams…”

His hands inched up to clutch at his head, one hand going to back of his neck as if he could curl his fingers around the parasite that was no longer there, digging into his mind, “Then suddenly waking up, not knowing where I was, seeing how many were dead, feeling every ache and those upgrades digging into me. I don’t know. I should’ve done something,”

Charybdis let out a soft sound, giving a small rub to his foot, “That sounds so awful, but it doesn’t sound like it was your fault,”

The titan shook his head, “I get many won’t forgive me. I wouldn’t,” he let out a sigh, both hands moving now to cover over the front speaker that served as his face, “Look at me, trauma dumping when we just met,”

“I don’t mind,” the sea cam, looked down at the water, “If anything, I can relate to that. Hurting others without meaning to,”

Their hand continue to rub over the foot, the small tickles of electricity sending a rather pleasant, slow sensation up his leg that had him squirming a bit but not pulling away, “yeah?”

“I’ve hurt people accidentally too. Killed others because I was told that was my purpose. I felt so bad about it and just...just stopped talking to anyone. Stopped interacting with anyone other than my siblings. If I just kept myself deep enough in the water and never spoke again, then I wouldn’t have to be the monster that my engineer made me to be,”

The sea cam sunk into the water some, now up to their neck as the leaned against the rock, “It is very lonely to live like that,”

The titan leaned forward, raising a hand, hesitant before brushing fingers against the shoulder struts of the sea cam, “Sounds like it, but I understand that feeling. Without my chief engineer, I think I would try to do the same thing,” he gave a small laugh, “But she doesn’t let anyone wallow on her watch, so she gets me outside as much as possible,”

Charybdis let out a warble at the touch, tensing, before slowly relaxing, leaning into it as if they had never had someone give them that barest bit of touch before, “I don’t think you deserve to be isolated,” they murmured softly, “You are very kind and I think there are plenty of people in your faction and beyond who still adore you. You fight so well, fly like an eagle in the sky and,”

The sea cam paused as they sunk in the water some, their voice growing soft again, “And even talk to a sea monster like me,”

There was a whir of the titan’s fans at those words, a spark of embarrassment and warmth. Titan Speakerman looked down at the semi-titan, letting out a soft laugh, “I guess it is easy to say those things about me when we just met a few days ago,”

The titan hesitated a moment before he extended a hand, nervously, down to the sea camera, “But I don’t think you deserve to be isolated either. You seem nice too, if super shy,”

Charybdis stared at the offered hand, almost as if confused what to do with the gesture as they looked from it and up to the titan speakerman, “Huh?”

“I don’t want you to be alone either,” he felt the nerves come up as he leaned forward, hand still offered, “So, uh, maybe we can just be alone together yeah? A pair of outcasts from our own factions, a pair of monsters to everyone else,”

Charybdis shook their head, “You aren’t a monster though,”

“And neither are you,”

The sea cam let out a squeak, sinking into the water. The titan just gave a little chuckle, “So. uh...do you...want to hold hands about it?”

“Hold hands?”

“What usually happens when someone holds out a hand to you like this,”

The sea cam did the blink of lights about their head, looking now to his outstretched hand and with some hesitance they reached over. It was awkward, more as it seemed Charybdis was not sure what to do with the small act of offered comfort. They brushed fingers against his own, then the palm, resting it some there, jumping when he moved to thread their fingers together. There was a shock, small, not painful and perhaps a tad pleasant.

Charybdis looked down at their held hands, the water churning around them as their fans kicked up the water in an obvious show of embarrassment. Not that the titan speakerman had much room to talk either with how his own were kicking up a tick more as they sat there, holding hands.

“Your hand is warm,” Charybdis stammered out softly.

“Yeah? Well you got a nice hand too. Really strong feeling, but delicate,” the titan offered back with an awkward laugh.

Truly his flirting game was unmatched, but the shy sea cam still gave a flustered warble, sinking in the water regardless.

“It is nice to hold your hand,”

“Well, can hold both of them if you want,”

The titan offered the other one, leaning a touch down towards the water, “No pressure,”

Charybdis let out a laugh, shyly putting their other hand in his until they were sitting there, holding hands. The sun was lower on the horizon, casting final warm rays up against the clouds and highlighting everything with rich colors of violet, red, and orange. Charybdis tilted their head, looking up at him as they let their fingers curl more into the hold, allowing it to be a big tighter, as if enjoying the touch.

“I’ve never held hands with someone before,”

The admittance had the titan letting out a disbelieving huff of his speakers,“Never?”

The sea cam shook their head, “I’m always...worried I’ll hurt them. Shock them by accident since I can’t control it at all,”

The titan gave a hum before giving a tug, making the semi-titan squeak as they were pulled out of the water some and feeling another jolt of their shock through his frame. A few warnings went off, but the feeling wasn’t painful. An obvious tingle and a hint of pleasure, but nothing he couldn’t easily handle.

“Well,” he began, now with the semi-titan now halfway out of the water, “I haven’t noticed any of your shocks yet. Right now, I felt a tingle,”

“Oh,”

They were leaned in closer now, enough to feel the heat coming off both of them, the loud hum of fans more than obvious. Neither one of them was speaking now. It wouldn’t take much to just lean in a bit closer at this point and leave only inches between them. Maybe less than that. Some wild thought at the back of his processors wanted to do just that. Let one hand trail up under the head to press against sensitive wires there while letting heads knock together and finally give a unit version of a kiss. An innocent little brush of fingers, but if it was returned, then maybe-

The loud bang of a far off explosion had both of them startling, Charybdis squeaking and trying to duck into the water while still holding hands, nearly tugging the titan off his seat. That prompted the sea cam to let go and duck in the water while the titan let go to keep from going headfirst into the brink, clutching at his perched like a spooked cat, on the alert.

He only began to relax when his sensors picked up one of the Alliance ships in the distance doing some sort of evening training game. The titan hissed out a sigh, noting he should have remembered about that happening nearby.

“nothing to worry about,” Titan Speakerman murmured out, “Not any sort of enemy,”

“Alliance technically are my enemy,” Charybdis murmured from where they had ducked down, hiding away again, “You and Circuit are the only ones that don’t...shoot at me on sight,”

Those words had the titan giving a low rumble of distaste. Rationally, there was no reason to be upset. Charybdis was part of the Conglomerate, a neutral, but not entirely well liked faction. There were treaties in place and technically, Charybdis was skirting those by being here.

At the same time, the thought of someone just shooting at another unit that wasn’t doing anything wrong had the titan bristling just a bit. Especially as he was considering Charybdis a friend. A friend who actually understood the mixed up feelings in his head. It was easy to share how he felt weirdly enough. Enough so he had just spilled it all out awkwardly the first time they talked.

If Whistle heard about that, she was going to sigh something awful and smack him with something for being so dense.

But then, Charybdis has shared right back and left him...seen for the first time in a while.

Like finally he could start unpacking all the guilt.

“I would never shoot you on sight. I might make a lot of noise, but that isn’t the same as shooting most of the times,”

“You are very loud,”

The titan ducked his head sheepishly, “Is that a bad thing?”

Charybdis shook their head, the little hands under their head fidgeting again, “No. I think it is...cute how loud you get when happy,”

The words had a warmth rising up in the titan’s core and he couldn’t help a louder thrum that started to peak up into a small screech. He was trying to hold it back, causing the sound to be more like a squeal as he leaned forward, arched like a cat all but ready to pounce, “You think I’m cute?! I think you are cute too! In that shy way!”

Charybdis let out a warbled then, ducking under the water deep enough that only the lights of their head could be seen. The titan startled at that before sinking back, “Sorry! Was that coming on too strong?”

The response back was a series of bubbles up to the surface of the water that had the titan letting out another sound caught between concern and also how cute that was. If he was more water-tight, he might just dive in after them. Instead, he laid out flat on his perch, reaching both hands down into the water, holding them out to the shy sea camera. There was a moment of pause before Charybdis moved to hold them against, giving a gentle squeeze that had the titan speaker warbling all the louder and give another tug to lightly pull them back up to the surface.

“I don’t mean to offend you,”

Charybdis shook their head, “I’m not offended just… you think I’m cute?”

“Yeah,” the titan looked away, feeling his fans creep up a notch, “And fun to be around. And the color teal is a nice color on you,”

“Oh...red is nice on you too,”

They hadn’t let go of where they were holding hands. There was something to be said about being able to hold hands of someone that was more akin to his own size. He certainly didn’t have to painfully aware of being as gentle as possible or risk harm.

He let his grip tighten a bit and give a small pull closer. Charybdis let out a warble, still so shy, but didn’t pull away this time. Their gaze fell down to the held hands, before giving a shy glance up.

“It is...nice to talk to you. I don’t feel like I’m…” their voice dropped to a soft whisper, “Inadequate, if that makes sense. Like, I’m not just a thing,”

“Yeah?”

“You said I wasn’t a monster. You are the first one to really say that. Even my siblings believe that, as surely as they believe themselves monsters,” Charybdis gave a squeeze to the titan’s hands, “It means a lot. Probably more than I can possibly say,”

The Titan Speakerman could feel his fans humming again and words once more becoming so hard to grasp. Tongue-tied was the human term for it. That inability to focus and find the right words to say. He was stumbling, but he didn’t let go of their hands, that touch was grounding.

A sure sign of the trust being shared.

“I don’t know if I’m the best person to judge on that, given what I did,” he managed out at last, “I can’t take back what I did. I nearly killed a fellow titan, wiped out so many of my own faction,”

There was a crackle in his speakers as he looked down at their held hands, “I know they keep saying it wasn’t my fault. The therapist says it. The engineers say it. The high command says it, but what does their words matter when I can’t see myself as anything but one? That I’m the one who can’t ever say it wasn’t my fault?”

“Its hard,” Charybdis said softly, one hand letting go then, tentatively reaching up to touch the side of one speaker comfortingly, “And I can’t say I have answers. I hid away from everyone and became afraid to be seen,”

The sea camera let out a quiet laugh, “Which I think makes you so much braver than you think, because you still let others see you and I didn’t see a monster when I first saw you. I saw someone who was free, a bit loud and overly eager, but someone with a very kind core who inspires even someone like me to maybe have a little hope,”

His fans were revving hard and his head was tilted, leaned into that comforting touch against the side of his head. There was a thrum of a purr deep in his bass speakers that he wasn’t even aware of as his free hand rose up to trace larger fingers carefully against the side of Charybdis’s head.

“I must be a good actor, as I didn’t really have much hope in anything,” he leaned in a touch, feeling embarrassed and warm all at once, “until I met you. Just even playing a little chase, I felt...normal again. For a moment. Like the whole world finally decided to let me be me again,”

There was an embarrassed squeak from the sea camera, another little noises that the speaker couldn’t help but chuckle over, but again, they didn’t sink away.

Maybe just lightly leaned into his touch, the lights around their head glowing a touch brighter in the low light of the nearly vanished sun, “I think you are wonderful...when you are allowed to be yourself,”

“Loud and all?”

“Loud and all,” Charybdis said with a small laugh.

They both fell to a gentle silence with only the rush of the ocean against rocks creating any sort of din. The world felt peaceful for once, like the war was a thousand light years away on some other planet and the two of them were granted their own little place of peace. The Titan Speakerman couldn’t stop purring, letting fingers trail over Charybdis’s head, being mindful to avoid sensitive wires. More as he didn’t want to rush anything, even if a part of him wanted to do just that.

The longing for far more touch and to explore that new burning in his core that was familiar, and yet also becoming something unfamiliar all at once.

“I should get back home,” Charybdis said softly, “I’m expected back soon,”

He couldn’t help the disappointed rumble in his speakers as the sea camera pulled away, but he knew well how tight schedules could be. Like the fact he was overdue and had turned off his communications and no doubt the whole engineer staff was worried, let along the chief engineer since last he spoke to her, he had admitted to playing with explosive mines.

“Could we meet up again?” he blurted out the question as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

Charybdis shifted, considering the question before nodding shyly, “I would like that,”

“Maybe find a place to meet? Like, here seems nice,”

“We could meet her again,” Charybdis shifted in the water, “But might be a few days,”

He bit back the disappointed noise, but knew that was also wise to do so. They still were a part of different factions. No doubt high command would raise the alarm about him sitting around talking with the enemy. Not like they were sharing secrets.

Other than the personal ones they had both kept to their cores but now confided to each other. Their little shared isolation of feeling adrift.

“three days then?” the titan speaker put forth.

“That should be fine. Near evening,” Charybdis said, starting to push out from the rock, drifting gracefully out into the froth of the ocean more, “Maybe after your patrol so you don’t get in trouble for not reporting back,”

“What are they going to do? Fire me?” The titan gave a small chuckle, “Really there is little the Alliance can do if a titan decides they want to go out,”

Charybdis looked almost confused at his words as they tilted their head, “You just...do what you want?”

“Kind of. I still care about my faction and doing my part for the war and being their defender,” he said as he hopped up to his feet, starting to rev his jets, “But I am still able to make my own choices,”

“Oh,”

The sea camera fidgeted a bit, “You really are free as a bird,”

“Maybe. If I was really free, I would want to see you tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that,” he admitted with an embarrassed rumble.

“You would get bored seeing me so often though…”

He shook his head, “No, I don’t think I would,”

Mostly because his core was already aching at the thought of not seeing his new friend and he was not a patient titan. Not to mention something felt different. It felt like the first time he had been around Titan Cameraman to actually talk to him outside of combat. That warm buzzing feeling all warm in his chest that his chief engineer had teased was him having a crush.

It felt like that, but different. A stronger sort of buzz.

“Well, I’ll see you again,” Charybdis said, starting to duck into the water, “in three days, at this point,”

“Yeah. I look forward to it!”

He couldn’t help a loud shriek then of goodbye, excited as ever, although this time Charybdis made their own loud noise back, although it was still a touch softer than what the speaker titan was use to. He jumped into the air, hovering there a moment until he lost sight of Charybdis into the depths of the ocean, far below the waves and into parts of the world only they knew.

He felt light and heavy all at once as he headed finally back to base. The sun had set fully by the time he touched down and knowing full well he was...five hours past his ETA time to report. Already he could see a member of high command stalking towards him in a bluster with Whistle having to jog just to keep up with the long strides of the larger speaker.

“Titan! Report! And there better be a reason your com was turned off and you weren’t broadcasting your location nor responding!” the large speaker barked.

“Hard to talk to someone when you have someone else talking in your auditory receptor,” The titan said with a shrug, “And then forgot to turn it on while I was tracking something,”

The lie came easier than it probably should have as he stood there, arms crossed, looking for all purposes aloof and without a care.

The larger speaker for high command gave a dissatisfied rumble before looking at Whistle, “Does this match with the communication you had before he cut off?”

Whistle shoved her hands into her pockets and gave a shrug, “Sounds about right,”

She gave a pointed look to the titan and in return, the titan gave a subtle nod that had her posture easing more, “I maybe was talking his auditory receptor off about something when he had to go radio silent a bit. Nothing out of the ordinary,”

The High Commander let out a low growl before pointing a finger back at the titan, “I expect a full detailed report as soon as possible,”

“Of course,”

The high command gave one last growl of the speakers before he was turning on his heels and stalking away. The titan watched him go, giving a huff before moving to lower a hand to his chief engineer, “What crawled up his aft?”

“I don’t know. Our titan being late without any word?” Whistle drawled as she stepped onto his palm, “Am I going to get the full story then?”

“I don’t know, you going to tell high command if I do?”

Whistle snorted as she was lifted up to the titan’s shoulder, taking her usual seat as he headed towards the hangar, “I just covered you. I think it shows well enough where I stand on the issue,”

The Titan Speakerman gave a hum in response, “Then maybe I will once there are no prying speakers about. My official report is tracking possible skibidi naval units and it turned out to be some scramble signal we should probably make note of,”

“Of course. Just a little nothing burger,” Whistle said as she took out her tablet to start looking over his systems, “Nothing to do with the mines?”

The titan gave a small huff as he ducked down just a bit to step into the hangar and move to the bay for check in and debrief as well as system reviews before detox and cleanup, “Was just playing a game there,”

The titan gave a glance around, pausing just a moment as he saw the Executor off to the side, zoned out, although the semi-titan gave a small glance there way. It was still something to get use to having company in the large hangar, especially with Executor being a rather quiet speaker, unusual in that regard, and far too serious. The joke was Whistle had been too locked in while he had been under the influence of the parasite and it resulted in Executor’s more serious nature.

The semi-titan was not armed yet, still in his infancy as an actual unit with training well underway, but he also was not someone the titan speakerman trusted entirely. Not personally at least. Executor was more beholden to the higher ups still, more likely to side with high command over himself or the chief engineer. A kiss-ass is what titan speakerman would call him although Whistle would tell him it was more just Executor was a new unit still feeling things out.

Being a new unit was complicated enough. Being one of the first semi-titans and larger unit born of an AI getting a grasp on everything meant there was a lot for them to take in, consider, and make their opinions known. In their own, quiet, serious, somewhat blunt sort of way.

The Executor watched them for a moment before returning to the book he was reading, giving a faint grumble, “You’re back late,”

“Thanks for noticing,”

“I suppose you are going to give a report on why?”

“In progress,” Whistle said, moving to slide off the Titan’s shoulder and with a hop, jump to her station, “Doing the usual checks for a returning titan. Diagnosis first, check all systems, assess damages, then with permission, download memory banks to confirm details of already given report,”

The Executor gave a small, disinterested shrug at the explanation,“Ah,”

“Would you mind doing me a favor though and going to get some materials from the warehouse? Think I might have to do some hardcore buffering and replacing of some plating,” Whistle said casually.

The Executor was silent before giving a nod and rising to his feet, “of course Chief Engineer,”

The titan watched him leave the hangar before letting out a snort, looking down at her, “One way to get rid of the emo speaker,”

“Oh be nice. He’s practically your sibling given I had to use your code as the basis for his AI,” Whistle tutted, “I would rather you two get along than not,”

“He’s a-”

“I know you don’t like how he goes over our heads to report things to high command, but technically that is what a lot of units are suppose to do and I recall you used to be eager to yap about everything to high command if you got the chance to get praised,” Whistle swiped a finger over the screen of her tablet, “Give him time and he’ll start seeing the higher ups as having their own thumbs up their afts. He isn’t processor-dead and picks up on things quickly,”

The titan speakermand grumbled, shaking his head as he stared off, trying to be patient for the usual checks before he was free to go to recharge, “Sure,”

“So, while he’s away, mind telling me what was really happening out there? I really don’t want to be putting my codes in your memory disk to see,” Whistle said, setting aside her tablet.

The Titan Speakerman shifted, his fans giving a faint rev before he sighed, leaning in, “Met that sea camera again. Their name is Charybdis and...we kind of became friends,”

“Kind of?”

“Well, I mean, okay, we are very much friends, but, you know,” the titan waved his hand a bit, “friends who you kind of want to, sit a little closer with?”

“So like you and Titan Cameraman?” Whistle asked with a snicker.

The Titan Speakerman gave a loud huff, although his speakers kicked up, “I had a crush for all of two weeks!”

“Uh huh,”

“This is different!”

Whistle tilted her head slowly, “Oh really now?”

the Titan Speakerman gave a glance to the hangar door, making sure the Executor wasn’t going to wander in before he leaned in closer, voice as low as he could make it, “I really like them. Talking to them makes me feel...normal again,”

That had Whistle pausing a moment at her desk, her hand pausing on the blueprints she was double checking, “You don’t say,”

“They get me and they don’t care I’m awkward or don’t know what to say sometimes,” the titan fidgeted, “and unlike Titan Cameraman, I don’t know, it feels like they need me too? Like… me being me, is what they need too,”

The chief engineer looked up, silent before letting out a sigh and coming over to pat at one of his hands, “Sounds like you got the love bug bad,”

“...I didn’t open any emails that said I love you,”

Whistle snorted, “not that love bug,” she moved to jab a finger at his core, “Looks like your crush might be a touch serious this time,”

“Oh. Right,” the titan drummed his fingers against the causeway lightly, “Maybe. Yeah. I am..going to see them again. In three days. You know to catch up and hang out,”

Whistle was quiet, just giving a rub over one of his fingers with that sort of silent concern, “High command isn’t going to like you hanging out with a Conglomerate and I can’t say I’m one-hundred percent sold on all of this. Nice or not, those units have their own concerning features and quirks,”

The Titan Speakerman tensed just a touch, “Whistle-”

“I am not going to tell you what to do, going to set the record straight there,” she said firmly, “I see you as my overgrown yappie son, but you also are more than capable of making your own choices and,” the chief engineer let out a sigh, “I can tell this is good for you. Has been a while since I’ve seen you in good spirits,”

“I don’t want to worry you,”

“Being a chief engineer means accepting you worry a lot,” she gave a small laugh, “But I would rather see you happy than miserable, so guess on record, I don’t know a thing about you and your puppy love for a sea camera,”

The titan felt a hum of embarrassment again, his fans whirring a bit as he looked away, “Not a puppy crush. I just want to make them happy too. Like they make me happy,”

“Fine then. I don’t know anything about you falling hard and fast for a mermaid,” Whistle corrected, “And you are clear to go clean up and get to recharge and I mean recharge,”

The chief engineer pointed to her neck as she gave him a look, “I better see you plugged in proper or I’m having Executor put it in and be your emotional support speaker,”

“No,”

“You already share a hangar now,”

“And I don’t need him being a judgmental body pillow,” the titan drawled, “Bad enough you gave him the top bunk,”

“He’s lighter and that bed was built quickly so rather not risk your weight breaking it and crushing down on the new semi-titan. Pretty sure high command would throw a fit if he got damaged so soon after his online date,”

“I’m sure you got warranty on him,”

Whistle snorted, “Ha. Didn’t know you were getting a sense of humor like Optical,” she gave a shooing motion, “now get going off to recharge. You got a long day tomorrow running training simulations with the other titans,”

“Right,”

He slid out of the diagnosis seat and headed into the decontamination room, painstakingly getting undressed. With all the hardware and offensive weaponry strapped to him, it was always a hassle to get stripped down. However, it was required before every recharge, just to make sure all the ports were blown out of debris and everything cleaned up. Being a titan meant it was rather easy to get dirty from just stepping outside for a minute and with all the delicate circuitry and systems that went into a titan’s body, cleanliness was a top priority.

The hot spray of water was nice, followed by the automatic buffers moving into action to get scratches out and apply wax to maintain the finish from rust. He still hated when the air machines started off, always giving an unhappy rubble as they blasted out his ports and making him jump. If it was just warm water and soap with the massaging pressure of the larger spinning washers, he would have been fine.

The air was always the worse, especially at his neck ports. Without fail it had him making noises and trying to reach back to cover it as it felt too much like a parasite trying to get in.

Eventually the decontamination dinged and he was permitted to leave, grabbing the titan size towel to dry off her and there before getting into the recharge clothes. More simple clothing, less thick and more lose to allow more comfortable ventilation while at rest.

He flopped into his berth, once more pausing before letting out a sigh and picking up the recharge cord. He stared at it for a long minute before rolling over and tentatively raising one hand to feel about at the ports near his neck and resisting the urge to flinch away as he put the recharge cord in. the feeling of the cord going in had him writhing a bit, nearly ripping it back out with a sound of panic before forcing himself to calm down and just roll over, arms crossed over his chest, and try to get some sleep and ignore the feeling.

If he was recharged, he would perform better tomorrow in the training and the higher ups would be more pleased. That would keep them off his back during the long patrols.

Which meant more time to spend with Charybdis without anyone really noting oddities in his return times.

Three days for from now he could see them again. He just had to be patient.

He let himself start to power down, even as hie let out a loud wistful sigh.

Three days was going to feel like years, of that he was more than certain.