callmenines | INBOX [DUPLICITY]

9S.

Are you currently at home?

_{[For some reason he's dreading this message and he's Not Sure why.]}

Yeah, I am. What's up, 2B?

[Her next text will not make it better.]

Is A2 there with you?

She's not, no. She's out for the day. Did you need her for something?

No.

[Knock knock. Immediately.]

_{[The sudden unexpected knock has him startling, so much so that he finds himself tumbling off the sofa in the main room at the sound, hitting the floor with an audible thud. If 2B's auditory sensors are set sensitive enough, she'll probably hear it through the door.

Pushing himself up on his feet he moves to open the door, dread filling him with each step. He knows it's 2B out there once he gets closer - he can sense her behind the barrier. Oh God...she was going to be pissed at him too, wasn't she? Swallowing without needing to, he unlocks the door and swings it open, icy blue eyes meeting the cool black of her visor.

He'd be wearing his, but more and more A2 gets salty when he does, so he's got it off since yesterday.]}

Hey 2B.

She has had enough. Enough lies and enough secrets to be caught out, enough of the chance that she might lose someone simply because she is so used to keeping the truth bottled up tight. 9S has said himself there's no point and every time she had neatly sidestepped the topic, believing it better to let the lie protect him.

This business with Ezio and whether or not her feelings of love are real has taught her that that is dangerous, too dangerous to allow to get to the point where she loses the one who is most important to her.

The one who opens the door, who she steps forward and wraps her arms around at once. She hugs him close like she's afraid to lose him and doesn't waste any time.

Not anymore, not when the risks are too glaring and awful.

"I'm sorry, Nines."

When she reaches out for him part of him can't help but suddenly tense up, if only from past experiences. She doesn't reach for his throat though, instead moving past the threshold to embrace him. It's...unexpected. So much so he's left frozen in place.

It's when she apologizes however, using his nickname, the thing he always so desperately wants her to call him, that he finds himself biting his lip. His processors are whirring about inside, as he tries to make sense of what's going on. This isn't usual, standard 2B behaviour...and he can't help but feel like it's his fault.

"Sorry...? What for?"

Gingerly he reaches up with his hands, still gloved, to rest against her back. Something like this should make him happy, to be held like this...but it's confusing more than anything else.

It isn't unusual behavior at all, but he would only know that if he had been alive for the moments that she let go and allowed her emotions to come through. He hasn't seen her break down because there was no need as long as he was alive and safe by her side.

"I've been afraid, and I've been myself distant from you because of it. I've been too afraid that one day this will end and I'll be rebooted on the Bunker and everything will have been a lie."

That has been her great fear and longing all at once, that the Bunker might still somehow exist in some reality, some awful, wonderful place where it could call them back home.

"I don't want to keep myself apart from you anymore," she whispers to him, the shaky breath out ruffling his pale hair. "I'm tired of losing you and I know that I will if I keep refusing to let you in."

She's...not entirely wrong, he realizes; her fear is aptly justified...he just didn't know it existed in the first place. Why would it? She always presented herself as so collected, admonishing him for stepping out of line - something he realized eventually was done out of warning. If he let too much slip, if he mistepped it'd be the end of him and she'd be the one to deliver that judgement.

Here though? Everything's been turned on its head. Some days he thinks he knows where the two of them stand. Other days he's left wondering whether or not he's a nuisance. Doubt is a powerful thing, and once the seeds have been sown they create cracks as they grow and push things aside. It's hard to go from spending months together at the side of the person you love, to experiencing everything new together to...not having that. Consistency is something 9S craves and things have been one hell of a rollercoaster since the two of them were reactivated here.

It's funny, what she's telling him in a way, even though he never thought he'd ever hear her say anything remotely to what she's admitting to him right now, the implications of her unspeakable transgressions against him. Fingers grip tighter at that, on instinct, his pulse racing. He's not sure what triggered this but he feels it's his fault. Somehow. It's always his fault.

"Hey, hey...it's okay, 2B. I'm here, aren't I?"

But that's probably not good enough. Not when it was her who was the deciding factor whether or not he was around in the first place.

"Why don't you come in...we can talk, okay?"

Clearly this requires a sit down.

Edited 2018-12-06 20:54 (UTC)

It isn't until he shushes her, tries to soothe her, that she realizes just how close to a panic she was allowing herself to get. With a wordless nod she pulls back, lets go of him to give him the space it will require to move and sit without tripping over each other.

But she closes the door before she steps inside more, closes it and locks the world out. Locks them in together, and in her effort to do as she said she wants to she reaches a hand out to take his, to let him take her wherever he thinks they need to go.

It's more submissive than he's ever seen her, but they've both been through more than their fair share of emotional ups and downs in the last 24 hours. This is 2B shaken, demoralized, and afraid. The side of her he doesn't see because she's able to pull it back together by the time he's reactivated, briefed on their mission, and sent back to her.

It's a sight he'll never forget. They may not be connected fully by a mutual network at the moment but 9S doesn't have to be synced to her to realize she's truly...hurting. Unstable. That's really the only word he has for it as she reaches for his hand and waits for him to take the lead.

He doesn't like it.

It's even worse because with every second that passes, he knows this has to be his fault. She's this way because of him. Has she always been this way? Did he just not notice? Or was she just that good at hiding it?

Giving her hand a small squeeze he gently leads her back to the sitting room, gesturing for her to sit down beside him, not daring to let their hands part. Just for good measure he laces their fingers together. Sure, there are gloves in the way, but he'll worry about the barrier later. The cushions of thee sofa sink a bit under their combined weight, but 9S takes no notice of it. Shifting where he sits he glances her way, worry reflected in the lenses of his eyes. There's no hiding how he feels - everything shows, after all.

"I feel like I should be the one apologizing here, not you."

She frowns at once, shaking her head as her fingers tighten around his almost protectively.

"You've been telling me from the beginning that you needed me to give you more than I have been, but I've been refusing to be open with you." She tells him, voice firm despite how tenuous her grip on her emotions seems to be at the moment. She sounds sure, positive that her truth is the one that's correct, and it will take far more than 9S is capable of to change her mind. "You can't be blamed for what I've held back."

How much pain has she put him through here? Her selfish desire to keep things from changing means they've only gotten worse and the only one here that can be blamed is her.

She sure sounds certain of herself, even if he can tell just from the way she grips his hand that her mind is in utter turmoil. Without realizing it his thumb begins to rub circles onto the back of her hand, in an attempt to soothe. Just...how was he supposed to navigate this?

There are a lot of things he could tell her right now, spill the beans so to speak about knowing her true designation and about YoRHa itself. He doesn't dare to though, even if the temptation is there for a hot second, urging his tongue to move. Instead he focuses on what she's just said to him and digests it.

Had she just reached a threshold and this was the damn breaking?

"Okay...that's true, I can't control how you act or react 2B...but maybe it was wrong of me to demand it in the first place."

Even if he wanted the attention and craved it, more than anyone else's.

It feels a little like neither of them are really listening to the other still, but it's a kind of stubborn refusal to listen that doesn't feel dangerous this time. She knows her truth and she knows how she plans to fix what she's done, so arguing with him over who is more to blame here will get them nowhere.

"I just want us to hold onto our time together here, Nines. I want to see you smile and buy a t-shirt with you." She says, a little softer now as she settles into this new attempt at being open with him. There's still so much he can never know but at least her feelings, how deeply she feels them, can be revealed to him.

Slowly, of course, because it's easy to give her body to a human for their pleasure but another thing entirely to let them have a part of her heart the way 9S does.

She thinks sometimes that might be because he has most of it already.

"I'll do better from now on. I promise."

He...listens. At least now, when she says that special little bit. When she admits she wants to seem him smile and uses his nickname. That she still wants to go on their date, to spend time with him.

How could he not smile at that?

2B may reveal her feelings to him slowly but 9S' have been on full display from the start, despite the crude attempts at masking them. Here he's given up on doing so, but that had only opened him up to further heartache, stress and anxiety. If only he knew just how much of her heart he had he could probably have his cake and eat it too.

As far as he's concerned, she's already devoured his whole.

"I'll hold you to it then, 2B."

His other hand reaches for her, but not before he's tugging his glove off with his teeth, letting it drop onto the floor, warm fingers finding her cheek as he cups it. The tip of a finger hooks beneath her visor and tugs it down, just enough so he can see her eyes. Of course it's still stuck on her face thanks to her nose and so it looks a bit silly...which makes him laugh just a bit.

"You know I treasure every second I get to spend with you, right? I want to see your smile too...and I want to see you wear a t-shirt I pick out for you. I'd spend every moment I had with you if I could...buuut I think you'd really get sick of me if that were the case."

She lifts her hands to take the visor the rest of the way off, setting it carefully to the side before she lifts her head to meet his eyes. There's something cagey to them, something almost afraid, but she shifts so that she's closer to him, knees almost touching his, and covers his hand with hers so that it will stay pressed to her cheek.

"I wouldn't get sick of you," she promises him, earnest enough to be easy to believe. She's being open with him, letting him see that she really does mean it. "I don't think that's possible."

"Hmm...wouldn't be so sure about that 2B. You might catch a nasty virus from me."

He's kidding of course, and it shows on his face as he continues to gaze at her, his expression becoming more and more relaxed as he does. There's a tenderness reflected in his eyes as he takes note of all her features without her visor in the way. Sure, their eyes might technically be made up of the same components and have the same striking blue to them, hers he thinks are far prettier than his own.

"That was a joke, by the way." Daring, he gives her cheek a little pinch before cupping its pair with his other hand. "Although sometimes I think I've come down with something."

"9S," she says softly, but she trails off as she stares back at him, feeling perfectly at home with his hands touching her the way they are.

There's so much she wants to say, so much she wants to be sure he knows, but getting there, finding the road to that point, it feels impossible. She doesn't know what she's doing when it comes to her emotions, she's a battle type, she understands action better than anything else.

That's why she takes his hands and pulls them away, but instead of any sort of rejection she's leaning in, curling her hand around the back of his neck, and pulling him gently forward to close the already small space between them.

Very, very gently she presses her lips to his, still unsure how much of this he's done, what he's comfortable with, if it's even okay to kiss him. She doesn't know if he likes kissing, if he likes to be touched by the humans he may have let in. She knows he likes to be near her and she knows, deep down, that he loves her.

She loves him too, and there has been too much lying, too much hidden. This, at the very least, she needs to be honest about.

It's amazing, how one little action can completely halt every single process currently running, every program whirring and compiling in the background grinding to a total stop. It's like he's suddenly run into an error he can't seem to make any sense of, it's a BSOD moment for him, if you will.

2B is kissing him, of her own volition.
2B is kissing him, without any outside influence.
2B is kissing him, because, he realizes, almost shocking himself (literally), because she wants to.

There's a surge of coolant that rushes immediately to his cheeks and around the rest of his body, in a desperate attempt to keep his internal temperature level. It's just spiked dangerously, the highest it's ever been as his pulse races, his eyes wide and fixated on her. She's too close though for them to properly focus and so it only adds to the dizzying sensation having her lips on his gives him. A little jolt of electricity runs through every inch of his frame, bringing him back to reality...and yep. She's still kissing him.

Lucrezia had to be right - God was real - and this? This moment right now? This very instance that he'll never forget in his entire life because he's going to back it up twice and thrice? This has to be Heaven, or the closest he'll ever get to it.

Once the lag on his processors seems to cease he's immediately leaning into the contact, returning the gesture eagerly and just as gentle, lips pliant and welcoming. Surely she can feel the smile he's got as he kisses her back, the corners of his lips pulled up in delight. He wasn't expecting this but he doesn't care. He could care about anything less right now and for once he's not going to question it.

To do so would mean to break the kiss and he sure as hell isn't going to do that.

Edited 2018-12-12 01:53 (UTC)

The lack of response for those first few seconds makes her doubt, but he's quick to cycle through his power failure and she can almost feel his face heat up as he flushes like a human would, a mechanical reaction just like the ones she's experienced herself, so she knows he's got to be feeling warm and light, fuzzy and happy.

It makes her happy, beyond pleased to have been able to give this to him when she knows she probably should have beaten down these walls long before they even woke up here together.

She should have told him something, anything, to make him understand that no matter what happened they would always have each other. All she has now is a kiss, her hand at his neck to soothe and keep him close instead of to hurt him, and when he finally starts to kiss her back and she can feel him smiling the feeling of intense love in her chest only swells, grows hotter and brighter all because of him.

It's the reciprocation she was craving, a sign that this is okay, and once he gives it her other hand lifts up to cup his cheek. Her gloves are still on, she's not touching him skin to skin like she'd like, but just like he won't break the kiss to ask questions she isn't going to stop kissing him so she can take her gloves off.

Gloves can be removed at a later point, for now the focus is 2B's mouth, something he's been thinking about a lot. It's always been a point of focus for him, quite literally, what with how the two of them have always sported their YoRHa visors. He could never focus on her eyes because they were hidden - he had to learn how to look to her mouth to get a read on whatever emotions she'd be trying to hide from him.

But oh what a mouth it is. Her lips are soft, pliant and feel like a dream what with how warm they are against his own. Sure, this isn't technically the first time they've kissed before, but it is the first time she's ever willingly initiated such contact. With her hand on his cheek he feels as if he's swooning, dizzy by just how strong the sensation is. It's as if someone's kicked him in the head, damaging his balance sensors in his ears, leaving him to spin out of control. Who would've thought a kiss could have such a potent effect on him? None of the other kisses had him feeling like this, or at least not anywhere near this extent.

Again, thank humans for their crafty design, that he doesn't really have to breathe, and although hot air vents its way from between his lips as he parts them to deepen the contact, there's no need for intake of fresh, no need to pull away and 'catch' his breath, so to speak. He'd been feeling low still, even though things had been more or less sorted out, but now? None of that matters now. Nothing in this very moment matters except her and the feel of her kissing him. His hands slip away from her cheeks, only to ghost down her neck as he leans even closer, sliding his arms over her shoulders to link them together. There's no hiding his affection for her - it's been a moot point and lost cause since the two of them were reactivated here. It's fine though. This is fine. Everything is fine.

Right now? He could die happy.

Even though he'd rather not.

There's a hum that travels up his throat, the vibration reaching his lips as he more or less sighs into the kiss. Love is one hell of a drug, far more potent than any E-Drug could ever hope to be. He can't help but wonder if Jackass is aware of that.

Edited 2018-12-12 06:39 (UTC)

Eventually, though, 2B does pull away. She has to, wants to see his face, and she eases him back just enough to get a good look at him.

Cheeks flushed, that silly, happy smile on his face. He always looks young thanks to how he was designed, but now he looks young and alive, fresh and perfect, and there's a new welling up of affection for him that has her thumbs stroking his cheeks when she cradles his face again, eyes roaming over his face with the kind of slow, careful tracking that can only mean she's making a recording of this.

Something to play back, that she'll never be able to forget. One of many precious memories made with 9S that only she will ever know. She wants to tell him to remember that they're a team, that she is his partner no matter who else might come into the picture, no matter which humans he may spend his time with or share his heart with, but it isn't hard to tell from the look on his face that being reminded that other people exist won't be helpful, not right now. That won't be what he wants.

So she kisses him again, but this time she leans backwards, pulling him with her as she reclines along the length of the couch. It'll make him lay on top of her, but she wants that. She wants to feel him that close, the warmth of his body up against her own, and she wants him to feel that he has her there, just for him, trapped only for him by her own choice.

He wouldn't consider himself perfect - not by a long shot, especially here. 2B is attractive and beautiful, more so than anyone else he's laid eyes on. If someone had to choose between the two of them, they'd certainly pick her over him. None of that matters though, because it's clear he's her pick, at least right now, and that leaves him feeling over the moon. He's all smiles as he holds her gaze, committing every second of the experience to memory.

Being reminded that others exist won't be helpful, no, because right now? He doesn't care about anyone else. He doesn't care about other androids, he doesn't care about humans or otherwise. No other existence matters to him, no other being means as much to him. He leans into her touch, unable to hold back the sigh in his chest as she strokes his face. If he had to die right now, he'd die happy. Truly, utterly happy.

She's kissing him again and he's finding himself drawn toward her once more, pulled atop her to settle against her front. It's comfortable, laying like this, and he fits nicely against her. They're two peas in a pod, two pieces that make a whole. He's warm and so is she, the heat between their bodies pleasant and inviting. He kisses her back sweetly, lips pliant and soft as he wraps his arms around her, elbows settling either side of her. If he could keep her like this, forever, on this couch, he would.

In coming here, 2B knew what she was going to do. She knew that she was going to find a way to show 9S how she felt, that it would mean showing him, physically, that she wanted him. That he was special to her in a way that went beyond partnership or even a friendship, as much as she prizes that.

She knew she would kiss him, and before coming to this place she thinks she wouldn't have ever considered anything more. She hasn't asked him how far he's gotten with humans because she hasn't wanted the question turned around on her considering his less than positive feelings about her changes, but she's been in this position before. Someone she cared for deeply settling their body over hers, legs tangled, hands lingering.

But this is 9S, and she knows his reluctance to modify his body and it hadn't been hard for her to assume that he would never accept her the way she is now. She'd changed for the humans, put herself at risk. He hates it.

She can't see him wanting anything more than a kiss, so her hands settle on his waist, drifting no lower. She's content just like this, lips moving against his gently, never parting to deepen it but never stopping any longer than it takes to find a new angle to press her lips to his.

The day after androidgate

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