Chapter Text
epsilon was known to the world as many things. a coward, a bot (to some even a clanker,) a philanthropist, a hero… but to the children he rescued from persia, he would always be a father. even as some protested robots’ rights and denied their ability to parent human children, epsilon’s brood questioned neither his dedication nor his love for them.
eventually, some of his orphans found their ways to adoptive families. he continued to fund the orphanage and foster a community that would ensure the children’s safety and flourishing. one child, however, required special attention: wassily. and all of the attention he gave was worth it.
the poor boy was the sole survivor of his village, the witness to levels of destruction that no small child could dream of understanding. for years, the only words he uttered were the repetition of that demon’s name…. bora. bora. bora.
epsilon knew wassily needed his attention. day in and day out, he’d spend time with the boy. try to show him the world wasn’t out to get him—that he had a protector. and day by day, it was starting to work.
it was a warm, sunny morning in june. wassily was scribbling away at the dining table while epsilon flipped pancakes on the stove. epsilon turned to glance back at him with a warm smile.
“breakfast will be ready soon, dear. do you want syrup on your pancakes?” he asked.
wassily’s eyes immediately darted up to meet epsilon’s and the boy nodded eagerly. he chuckled and turned back to the pancakes, carefully lifting them off the pan and onto a plate before dressing them in a smiley face of maple syrup. he then walked over to where wassily was sitting and put the plate down in front of him.
“how are you doing this morning, wassily?”
the boy nodded as he dropped his crayons and started to chow down on his pancakes. good. epsilon only chuckled again. for all his anxiety, wassily was not a picky eater.
“we’re going to visit hercules today, remember?”
another nod from the ravenous wee beast.
“is that drawing for him? it looks lovely.”
wassily looked up from his pancakes, wiping his hands on the table cloth.
“it’s us! so he doesn’t get lonely,” the boy declared.
it was such a childish thing to say, and yet it tore his robotic heart into bits and pieces. what a sweetheart!
“you’re so thoughtful,” he praised. “he’ll love it.”
epsilon took a sip of coffee before glancing at the clock hanging on the wall.
“epsilon,” the young boy spoke up, looking down into his orange juice for any pulp.
“yes?”
wassily poked around in the juice for a moment as he mumbled, “do i have to go to school soon?”
he smiled warmly.
“you do, but don’t worry. i’ll make sure your teachers and classmates are kind to you.”
“but… what if they think i’m weird? school seems scary.”
“everything is weird and scary when you’re that little, wassily. you’ll likely think some of your classmates are odd, too.”
wassily seemed a bit pressed by this matter.
“then how will i make any friends?” he asked.
epsilon patted him on the head, “you’ll get used to the strangeness. the unknown and unfamiliar become less scary.”
wassily looked up at him as a fragile puppy gazes upon its mother.
“you’re sure?”
“i’m certain. now let’s get cleaned up and go see hercules.”
the boy nodded in agreement and climbed out of his seat to go change into fresh clothes. as he did so, epsilon stood and cleared the table, putting the dishes into the wash and putting wassily’s crayons back in their box on a low shelf.
what a darling he is, he thought. a darling indeed.
—
hercules opened the door with a warm smile as wassily ran up to him, lifting the boy off the ground with ease. the dear had become significantly more comfortable around hercules and epsilon in recent months.
“hello, hercules,” epsilon said. “how have things been here in greece?”
“just fine,” hercules replied, balancing wassily on his hip.
“i made you something, hercules!” the boy exclaimed.
epsilon chuckled, “yes, wassily has a gift for you.”
“i’d love to see it, then,” hercules smiled. “shall we go inside?”
“yeah!” wassily grinned.
the three headed inside the oikos cottage and hercules set wassily on the ground. he knelt to the boy’s level.
“so, what is it you wanted to show me?”
wassily excitedly bounced on his heels and pulled out the drawing he made—he, hercules, and epsilon were all standing by the shore on a sunny day. even with its amateur scribbles, it evoked a new emotion in hercules. it was one he hadn’t realized before, a sort of paternal fondness. he ruffled the boy’s hair, noticeably gentler than his fighter background would have suggested.
“this is just beautiful. i’ll have to put it on the fridge.”
wassily smiled proudly, “i made it so you wouldn’t get lonely, since me and epsilon don’t get to hang out so much.”
there it was again—that childhood innocence. even epsilon felt his heart ache at the casual display of care and thoughtfulness. hercules wrapped the boy in a warm hug.
“it’s wonderful. i’ll never feel alone again.”
wassily’s smile widened, tiny white teeth on display. though he didn’t have the maturity to understand, he felt that something his heart had long been missing was finally returned.
Notes:
hope this is good! last time i actually wrote a fanfiction, i was in like sixth grade writing about warriors with friends. big leap lol!
other note: oikos is a greek term for house/household (to my knowledge) and i’m just using it to refer to the house style. since i didn’t really describe it here, hercules’ house is a smaller villa—but i felt like calling it a villa made it sound too big!
Chapter 2: chapter two
Summary:
a conclusion of the first day in greece
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
dinner that evening was a family activity. hercules grilled kebabs while epsilon helped wassily make dog-shaped pastries. once done, they all sat around the dinner table. the scent of seasoned meats and vegetables mingled with that of freshly baked goods as wassily sat excited between epsilon and hercules.
“thank you for dinner!” he cheered.
“thank you for helping,” epsilon replied.
just across the room, wassily’s drawing was stuck to the fridge with a magnet from an old conference.
“it’s good to have you both back again,” hercules said.
“it’s good being back,” epsilon smiled. “honestly, if wassily spoke greek, i’d suggest we all just live here. you have a very beautiful house.”
“and it’s just a house… it’s only a home when there are people around.”
there was a certain fondness in the way that epsilon watched hercules, though wassily was too young to understand what it meant. the man had changed so much since the persian war. more and more, he could see the old bot’s compassion—compassion for children, for innocents, for the living. he’d taken a step back and looked at life through a new lens, and it made all the difference.
wassily smiled as he began to eat his food. kebabs were a safe choice with him. never a worry it might upset his stomach or have a texture he didn’t like. hercules chuckled.
“would ya look at that. do you like dinner, wassily?” he inquired.
the boy nodded, “tastes really good!”
epsilon cast a warm smile at hercules. with the darkening of the evening sky and the warm light flickering in through the windows, he recognized family for the first time. the hardened fighter next to him, the energetic child in front of them. they were a family. and immediately, epsilon knew there was nothing else in the world that would be more important to him.
to interrupt the moment, wassily stood from the table and held his plate proudly.
“done!” he declared.
epsilon chuckled and a warm smile spread on hercules’ face.
“well done, son,” he said. “why don’t you go change for bed? we can watch a movie and then say good night.”
wassily nodded and pranced up the stairs to the small children’s room while the adults stayed below. epsilon watched hercules in silent curiosity for a moment.
“so… you feel it, too?” he probed.
“yeah…” hercules trailed off as he watched the stairs that wassily had just climbed. “i wonder if humanity ever intended that we could become this advanced.”
“maybe… maybe not.”
there was a fond look in hercules’ eyes when he gazed back at epsilon, at the way the bot twirled his brilliant white hair around his index finger as he thought… the way he furrowed his brow, the contraction and dilation of his pupils. it was all so… human.
“you’re incredible,” he muttered, silent for a moment. his gaze flitted over the details of epsilon’s face, noting the subtle changes in his face and even the expressiveness of his posture. “a masterpiece of technology and art.”
the words surprised epsilon in their genuineness.
“the same is true of you, hercules,” he said quietly.
“no… not in the same way,” came the bot’s gruff response. “not the same.”
—
that evening, after sending wassily to sleep, epsilon and hercules ascended the stairs quietly and headed into the humble but comely bedroom. they lay together as sleep grew quickly on epsilon. hercules reached out hesitantly to stroke the other’s steely white hair.
“i just… i look at you, and it’s so difficult to remember you aren’t human.”
epsilon gazed back at him, murmuring: “why?”
“your… compassion. even montblanc wasn’t so kind… it almost reminds me of brando.”
a sadness set over the two.
“i… i draw many similarities between us.”
hercules gave a curt nod, “you and brando… you loved. with all your coding.”
epsilon sighed, “and look where that got him.. we were lucky to get away with missing limbs. what if someone else tries to destroy robotkind? someone stronger?”
“then…” herc cupped epsilon’s cheek, his grip reassuring. “we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. for now, we have wassily to worry about.”
epsilon nodded, “he’s getting so much better… so brave.”
“definitely. i can see why.”
epsilon and hercules locked eyes for a moment.
“you’re a great father,” said hercules. “you’ve made his world so much safer.”
epsilon smiled and dragged his body a little closer to hercules’ so that they could share a pillow.
“i’m so nervous for the autumn time,” he whispered. “we’ll have to send him to school.”
“yes… in australia, presumably?”
epsilon nodded. “i… i worry so much for him. i can hardly tell whether or not he’s gotten to a kindergarten level of english yet or not because my ai translates what he says to english anyways.”
“well, he certainly understands you. don’t worry so much for the linguistics. i’m sure he’ll have peers speaking english as a second language, too.”
“and… i guess my bigger worry is his trauma. what if he’s bullied? or—or what if he’s too scared of his teachers?”
hercules paused to think before ruffling epsilon’s hair in an almost teasing manner.
“get some sleep, epsilon. your battery’s running low.”
the other huffed, “don’t brush me off just because you don’t want to answer my question.”
“that’s not the case at all,” hercules replied.
“liar,” he grumbled.
“i am strictly forbidden from lying. we’re robots, remember?”
epsilon shot him a half-irritated look.
“really, dear,” hercules said. “it’s only the start of summer. he’ll have plenty of time to get adjusted.”
and epsilon went quiet, laying his head back down on the pillow. in part because hercules was right: there was no use stressing for something that would be resolved so soon. but also because it was the first time he’d heard the other bot possess such compassion as to use a nickname.
of course, some ten minutes later, wassily snuck in the room and crawled into bed with the pair, weaseling his way into epsilon’s arms. when the bot stirred, he made the excuse of having had a nightmare.
the truth was that he missed his father.
Notes:
had to check the wiki, apparently epsilon’s an aussie lol.
mc0998 on Chapter 1 Mon 29 Sep 2025 01:24AM UTC
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