Title: A Good Friend
Status: Complete
Characters: Reed
Rating: SFW
Classification: One Shot
Author: Anonymous
Summary: Reed takes some time to show someone how important they are to him.
Reed leaned back, scrubbing the back of his across his eyes. He was tired, oh so very tired. His body yearned for a substance, any substance, to fight away the fatigue. He felt like a boxer entering the final round of a title fight, doing battle with an adversary as determined as he was.
Sighing, the pink raptor leaned forward once more, the acrid smoke of his soldering iron filling the small space. This was where Reed did most of his tinkering: Electronic repairs, metal welding, a little bit of glass blowing here and there: This small room had seen it all. As Reed adjusted his magnifying glass, the swivel mount creaking in protest, he was glad his parents had given him this room as his own. It was the perfect, most important place in the world to him right now.
Carefully, Reed adjusted his grip on the hot iron, making sure he didn’t drip any flux on his project. Normally, when the band needed something fixed or adjusted or mended, Reed was on it before they even knew it was in need of repair. This time, however, was a special case. For all his wisdom, Reed had not seen this repair job coming. Oh, the signs were there; but Reed had missed them, somehow.
That was unlike him.
It was unlike him to stay up this late into the night, as well. A digital clock in the shape of a silhouetted playboy, fished out of a dumpster a long time ago, cast a faint glow in the dark room, its dim readout fighting against the small pool of light illuminating the object of Reed’s focus. He paid little attention to those numbers on the clock, such was the strength of his singular focus. Had he glanced up, even for a moment, his brain may finally realize how late it was, how close to school it was approaching. His body may even succumb to his need to sleep, a need no substance could prevent. For what substance could sustain a regular user for nearly forty-eight hours straight?
No, if Reed was going to finish this project, he was going to have to finish it in one sitting. No breaks, not even a trip to the bathroom. Reed could feel this was too important to stop, too important to allowing for such insignificant things as his body’s natural urges get in the way. He was almost done now, anyways; just a few more hours, and he could present his prize to her.
Fang was going to be so happy, seeing this old bass again.
Reed wondered why it had been smashed in the first place.