#aaaaaaa!!!!!

~

Your mouth hangs open as your eyes widen. “Holy…shit.”

Goodbye’s heart pounds. They were supposed to be careful. This is bad. This is really, really bad.

Hello is frozen in panic. How could he let this happen?! Now you know, and it’s all his fault! All his fault all his fault all his fault!!

June’s heart drops into his stomach, and breathing suddenly becomes a lot harder. “Please,” he looks at you desperately, trying to keep his voice steady. “Don’t freak out. We can explain-“

“Don’t freak out? How can you expect me to not freak out??” You interrupt June, and his blood runs cold. Shit. This is not going well so far-

“This is the coolest fucking thing ever!!” You give June a look that says you’re still in disbelief that you’re seeing what you’re seeing.

All three of them take a second to process what you said.

“What?” Is the only thing June can say at the moment, still feeling overwhelmed with cortisol.

You flap your hands excitedly, a grin quickly forming on your face. Hello’s body slowly unfreezes as he watches your reaction. He immediately thinks about the fact that he does the same thing when he’s excited.

“This is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me! I’m actually in the presence of a real, honest to gosh robot!!” You gesture to Hello giddily.

June looks around wildly and puts his index finger to his mouth in a shushing motion. “Ssh…! Please,” He rests his hand on your shoulder, speaking quietly and trying not to sound too harsh. “Don’t say that too loud, please. We have to be careful.”

You tense your body, looking mortified and guilty. “Oh, shit!” You whisper. “Shit, I’m so sorry. I should have realized. I just got super excited.”

“I noticed,” June chuckled, removing his hand from your shoulder and holding his head in both exasperation and relief. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t think there’s anyone else around here right now.”

June doesn’t want to think about what might have happened if there had been someone around.

You nod, still looking guilty for a few moments before your eyes widen a bit in realization of something. “Oh, wait!” You turn in the direction of Hello, who has since unfrozen and has been staring at you for the past half minute.

You look a little behind Hello at the tree branch his hat got stuck on. “Your head’s gonna get all cold!” You worriedly make your way to the tree branch and gently pull the hat off, making sure to not accidentally pull any threads.

“Here you go,” You smile up at Hello, holding his hat out to him.

Hello happily takes it back and pulls it over his head. “Thank you!” He beams. You’re unable to tell from under his goggles and face covering, but he is giddy with happiness.

Goodbye, on the other hand, is not having as great of a time. He is wary about this whole situation. He scrutinizes your every movement, every subtle change in facial expression, every different inflection in your voice when you speak. There are too many unknowns and he’s not taking any chances.

“Um…” You begin, looking shy more than anything else now. “What happens now? You said we need to ‘be careful’, do you…need to go home now?” You glance at June. “I-I want to mention that I’m happy to invite you two to my apartment to talk more if that’s an option! I don’t-” You turn back in Hello’s direction, glancing at him for a moment before looking at the ground. “…I hope I didn’t mess everything up.”

Goodbye notices the way your voice almost breaks when saying that, not to mention the way you slightly wince as if someone yelled at you or something. He begrudgingly admits that it seems like you care about their safety, but he can’t be too careful. He continues to watch closely.

Hello saddens at the way you visibly deflate. You sound so worried…

“You didn’t!” He blurts out, holding his hands up reassuringly. “It’s not your fault!”

You don’t look convinced, but you drop it. “Okay…” Looking at June again, you regard him with slightly sad eyes. “…are y’all going home?”

June makes eye contact with Hello, trying to gauge his feelings on the matter.

Hello bounces excitedly. “Junie, could we go to their apartment??”

June doesn’t dislike that idea per say, but they also told themselves they’d be safe on this trip, and look how that turned out. “I don’t know…” He also internally cringes at the inevitable conversation of the animatronic-human relationship thing, because there’s no doubt you’ll have questions.

“It’s really not a problem!” You add quickly. “But also please do whatever is most comfortable for you.”

June doesn’t need to hear it aloud to know that Goodbye would much rather go home. Hello seems excited to go, because of course he does, how could he not? As for himself, he really wants to make sure everything is clear on how much of a secret they need to stay. And it would be better to do that in a warm and private apartment instead of in the cold where someone could happen to walk by at any moment.

“We can come over for a little while,” June smiles at you and Hello. “Just for a bit.” Hopefully that’s an okay compromise for his boys. Hello gets to see your place and you get to know each other better, but they won’t stay too long, for Bye’s sake.

Your eyes light up, and Hello’s excited bouncing gets a little faster.

“Yippee!”

You look at Hello with a big smile, replying with a “yippee!” of your own, which causes June to smile as well. He nods his head to gesture towards where their car is parked.

“Need a ride?” June offers. “Or did you drive here too?”

You shake your head. “Nope, I walked. A ride would be lovely!”

“No problem.” June smiles softly.

And so the three (technically four but YOU don’t know that yet) of you pile into June’s car. He insisted you take the front seat, and after a few back and forths, you finally conceded and took shotgun with an exasperated chuckle.

“So Hayden,” You start, looking behind you at Hello sprawled out in the backseat adorably. “You haven’t hea-“ You stop yourself short, to June’s curiosity. “Wait. Nevermind. Um…how…are you doing back there?” You ask slightly awkwardly, obviously trying to ask some type of question after having cut yourself off.

“I’m good!!” Hello gives you a thumbs up. He and Goodbye wonder what you were going to ask. Bye doesn’t like that you cut yourself off. It’s suspicious. What were you going to-

“What were you going to ask before?” Hello inquires before Goodbye can even finish the thought.

~

You wince a little in embarrassment. Dangit. You had a feeling you wouldn’t get away with trying to move on from the dumb question you were about to ask.

“Uuuh…oh man, do I have to say it now?” You and your big mouth.

“You don’t HAVE to, but I’m DYING of curiosity!” Hayden puts a hand to his forehead dramatically and slumps further down into the car seats.

You chuckle at his theatrics before looking off to the side, feeling awkward looking at him when you ask this. You’re unable to come up with a different question to lie with on the spot, so you have to ask what you were going to ask.

“It’s dumb. Um. I just…remembered you mentioning when we first met that June had told you stuff about me. And I…” You chuckle awkwardly. “I suddenly got self-conscious and worried that maybe some of the stuff was embarrassing. I don’t know why now, all of a sudden, but anxiety will be anxiety, popping up at random times…” You still can’t look at him, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Oh!” Hayden sits up a bit, waving his hand dismissively. “You don’t have to worry about that! The stories we hear are very fun!”

June glances in your direction, chuckling lightly. “I promise we don’t judge you one bit. It’s not like I’ve never done embarrassing things around you!” He glances at Hayden in the rear-view mirror. “And I’ve done a million embarrassing things in front of you, right Honeybee?”

Hayden reaches his arms up and over the driver’s seat to squish June’s cheeks softly. “I think you mean a million adorable things!” June giggles and playfully swats Hadyen’s hands away so he can focus on driving.

You face forward in your seat again, sliding your hands down your face with a soft groan of embarrassment. “Oh god, so that means you have heard embarrassing things about me…what the heck did he tell you?” You ask with a smile, trying to keep your tone lighthearted despite your small amount of genuine anxiety.

You don’t want to say this out loud, but for some reason, the thought of a sentient Artificial Intelligence knowing embarrassing things about you without knowing you very well makes you cringe. You want to impress Hayden, not look like a fool in front of him!

You hear Hayden’s voice behind you and you can’t bear to look at him while he answers your question. “Oh you know, just fun little stories! Like how you were super duper nice and showed June around town when you first met him, and then how that container fell on your head the next time you saw him, and he’s showed us some of those silly pictures you send-”

June interrupts Hayden with an amused smile. “Memes, hon. They’re called memes, remember?”

You can’t help but chuckle, looking behind you at Hayden again.

“Right!” He taps his hands on his lap excitedly in remembrance. “Memes! He shows us some of those from time to time, and he told us about that time you two playfully fought over who should get the last fry for 10 minutes, and fun mall stories, and that time at the park when you and June said hi to a dog that was being walked and when you crouched down the dog knocked you over and June had to help you up because you were laughing too hard, and-”

“I think they get the idea!” June laughs, and you can’t tell if he’s laughing at Hayden or at the memories themselves. Perhaps both.

“Yeah,” you smile at Hayden, relieved. “I’m glad it’s more fun stories than embarrassing stories that you’ve heard.” You glance in his general direction and give him an apologetic look, still avoiding his gaze. “Sorry for being self-conscious and asking that silly question.”

Your shift in your seat awkwardly. “I know I’m in good company and that I shouldn’t worry about looking dumb in front of either of you.” They think you’re an awkward, bumbling idiot.

Hayden puts a hand to his heart. “Awe, it’s okay! But you’re right, you don’t need to worry about that at all!”

The more Hayden speaks, the more you enjoy being around him. You can’t help but think about how bubbly and adorable he is. You like to think you have a decent-ish read on people, and Hayden is giving off really friendly and non-judgemental vibes. You really hope you can be friends with him.

It isn’t a long drive to your apartment from here, and for the rest of the small amount of time you’re in the car together, you and Hayden count how many birds you see. You don’t notice June glancing in both your and Hayden’s direction, smiling fondly at the both of you.

~

Finally, you all arrive in the parking lot of your apartment building. While June makes sure the parking lot is safe to cross, you run ahead and make sure there isn’t anyone inside the halls or stairwell. As you hold the door open for June and Hayden, they scurry across the lot and into the building. You keep an eye out as you lead them up the stairs, thankful that your door isn’t too far from the stairwell. Luckily, no problems arise, and you all make it safely to your door. Even though Hayden is still in winter gear, you’d rather be safe than sorry.

You unlock your apartment and let June and Hayden inside, closing and relocking the door behind you. “Shoes on the mat please, and you’re welcome to hang your coats on the hooks there,” you point.

“Okay!” Hayden chirps and starts taking his boots off, while June nods and does the same.

Once all of you are de-winterized for the most part (although Hayden doesn’t remove the goggles or face covering yet), you migrate to the living room. “You two can sit on the couch there.” You decide to sit down in the armchair a few feet away from the couch, facing them.

Hayden immediately sits down and starts swiveling his head this way and that, taking in everything inhabiting your apartment. June does the same, albeit a bit less animatedly. You can’t help but smile at the sight, starting to feel excited again at the reality you have been put in. June is in your apartment, finally! It just hasn’t happened yet in the times you two have hung out. And you know who else is in your apartment, sitting on your couch?? A flipping robot! You’re over the moon right now, but you try to keep your cool.

“Hayden, no pressure of course…” you start, and he takes a break from looking around the room to acknowledge you as you speak. “But you’re welcome to take your goggles and face covering off. But if you’re not comfortable with that, I totally understand.” You softly smile at him.

He looks over at June, and they have a silent conversation just by looking at each other. You wonder if it’s something they can just do or if it’s a soulmate thing. Either way, you wait patiently for them to come to a decision.

They both turn to you, and June speaks. “Promise to keep this to yourself and not tell anybody?” His face is the most serious you’ve ever seen, and you can see the slight fear in his eyes.

Your face falls to one of seriousness as well, nodding. You quickly realize how important this is to him, and you’re not about to let him down. “I promise, June.”

He still looks slightly hesitant, but he looks at Hayden and nods.

Hayden grabs his goggles with one hand and his face covering with the other, ripping them off dramatically at the same time. On top of that, his limbs extend a bit, making him look taller than he was before. “Ta da!!” He exclaims.

Your first thought is “kinda looks like an emoji”, then “adorable blush and smile”, and then “expressive and pretty eyes” before you finally realize: Wait a minute. I’ve seen this robot before.

Your eyes widen and your mouth parts in shock. “You…hold on.” You squint and tilt your head, wondering if this is who you think it is. “Are you…Hello?” You ask hesitantly, hoping you’re not being rude.

He nods excitedly, holding his arms out happily. “That’s me!!”

Your mouth curls up into a thrilled grin. “Oh my gosh! Like from those WOW cartoons!” Your eyes practically have stars in them, and you don’t notice June grimacing just a little bit. “That’s amazing! How-” you turn your gaze to June. “How did you two-?”

June smiles and looks away, blushing a bit. “It’s a long story…we can come back around to that.” His eyes meet yours again, his face falling to one of seriousness once more. “For now, there is something I wanna get out of the way first.”

“Oh, okay. What is it?” You can’t help glancing at Hello every now and then, the excitement of having a robot on your couch not having worn off yet (not to mention the fact that the robot in question is the mascot of one of the biggest companies in the world). But you make sure to focus on what June is saying.

“As you know, we’re still relatively new here in Northvale.”

“Right…” you nod in acknowledgement.

June’s hand slinks right into Hello’s hand, and their fingers intertwine. “We came here to hide. From WOW.”

Your eyes widen, and you have a sinking feeling you know where this is going.

“If…if they knew where we were…” June’s eyes darken and he squeezes Hello’s hand. “Really bad things would happen.”

Your shoulders fall in disappointment. Of course a billion-dollar corporation wouldn’t do things nicely with people they have problems with. You wish June’s fears were unwarranted or unrealistic, you wish that the company that creates such wonderful products and experiences, the company that has brought joy to countless people, was a trustworthy company that would do no wrong. But you know better. You don’t know what specifically they might do to June and Hello (and maybe the third partner? Whoever that is), but you don’t want to be the one that causes that mystery to be solved.

June sighs and continues. “We’ve gone through so much to get to this point, and we…we just want to have the most normal life that we can, ya know? The stress of worrying about WOW finding us is constantly hanging over our heads, and the more people that know about Hello and Goodbye, the more risk we have of that happening. So that’s why we’re trying to keep it a secret. That’s why we had the reaction that we did. We don’t want to lose what we worked so hard to get.” June and Hello’s held hands squeeze together even more to comfort one another.

Wait a minute. Hello and Goodbye? Is Goodbye the third partner, maybe? Probably. I’ll have to confirm that later. For now…

You give June a determined nod, keeping your tone of voice serious. “I understand. I promise I won’t tell another soul, okay? I don’t want you or your partners getting hurt, or…or worse,” you shudder at the thought. “Thank you. For trusting me with this.” Your eyes grow somber. “And…I’m sorry. I’m sorry you have to deal with that constant stress of them finding you. And now you have the added worry of me knowing. But I swear to you, I only want you guys to be safe.”

Hello’s eyes squint in appreciation, and June’s body visibly relaxes in relief.

“Thank you…” He says your name softly. “Thank you so much.”

“Of course, June.” You smile reassuringly at him for a moment before clasping your hands together. “Now that we’ve gotten the safety thing cleared up, can I get you guys anything? Water? Tea? Snacks of some kind?” You’re pretty sure Hello can’t eat or drink, but you’d feel weird leaving him out of the offer.

June smiles and puts a hand up to respectfully decline. “Oh, no thanks! I’m alright.”

“Alrighty!” You rest your hands in your lap, feeling awkward from not knowing what’s coming next. “So, um…you definitely don’t have to give me any more details about everything that’s going on, because it’s none of my business and you’ve only known me for like, 2 months.” Your eyes fall to the floor. “If you want to head out now that you’ve explained the danger, I totally get it. Or we could talk about other stuff, I don’t know. Whatever is most comfortable for you guys.”

June chuckles softly. “Hey, it’s all good! I just needed to make sure we got that cleared up. We can stay for a little while longer!”

You look up again as your smile widens. “YES!! I’m so glad to hear that!” Your eyes shift over to Hello, who returns your smile. Well. Not that he can really do anything else with his mouth, but you can see it in his eyes. “This is so cool. I can’t believe Hello is sitting on my couch right now!!” You take a deep breath and try to compose yourself. “Sorry. Okay. Calming down now. I shouldn’t treat you like a spectacle.”

Hello giggles and waves his hand. “Your reaction is very understandable! I appreciate your excitement!”

“Still though,” you smile. “I gotta tone it down a bit. So! I have a million questions for both of you, but I don’t want to bombard you, so…” your brain suddenly comes up with an idea. “Maybe we could make a game out of it or something? Like, I ask you a question and you ask me a question?” You glance at June. “Would that be alright, or do you want to just avoid personal stuff and do something else?”

Hello’s eyes light up at the mention of a game. “OOOH let’s do the questions game! That sounds like fun!” He kicks his feet excitedly, and you find it quite cute.

June smiles adoringly at his partner before looking at you. “Sounds like we’re doing it!” He chuckles. “Ask away.”

“Awesome!” You smile gratefully at both of them. “So…” you suddenly feel nervous. You don’t wanna make things awkward…but you’re also really curious about so many things! “Um…I’m guessing Goodbye is your other partner, right?” You ask hesitantly, hoping you didn’t go too far right out of the gate.

Hello nods immediately, while June takes a moment before nodding slowly, looking slightly hesitant.

“Yep! Your guess is correct!” Hello chirps.

Your smile widens. “That’s so cool! I don’t know if he’s up for it or not, but I’d love to meet him.”

June rubs the back of his head, smiling in a somewhat apologetic manner. “We can let him know. I’ll try to convince him.”

Hello glances at June curiously for a moment before seeming to come to a realization. Of what, you have no idea. He then faces you once more, eyes shining. “My turn to ask a question!” He leans forward a little bit as he asks his question with lots of excitement. “What is your favorite color??”

Huh. You had assumed he might go a bit deeper than that, but oh well. “Rainbow. All of the colors are amazing and pretty in their own ways, I can’t choose just one! So I’m going with rainbow.” You shrug and smile.

“I know what you mean! I can’t choose just one, either! It changes all the time. Rainbow is a FANTASTIC choice!!” Hello’s eyes squint in happiness and he taps his free hand on the couch cushion in a fidget while still holding June’s hand with the other.

“Thank you!” You put a hand to your heart appreciatively, glad to know something you have in common with Hello. “So, next question for you guys-”

June and Hello stare at you expectantly, and you curse yourself for feeling nervous. Come on, it’s June and his partner! Nothing to worry about. Everything is fine. Why would you feel nervous??

“Is…um-” You shake your head and regain your composure. “Sorry. Right. Okay.”

“Are you alright over there?” Hello tilts his head worriedly at you.

Shit. “Yes!” You laugh nervously and try to give him a reassuring smile. “I’m good. I’d uh, I’d love to hear how you guys met!” Don’t make them worry about you. Don’t burden them with your anxiety.

As you listen to Hello happily tell you the story, you listen as best you can while trying to ignore the nagging intrusive thoughts telling you you’re a bad person and you’re just going to hurt someone important to June and you’re going to humiliate yourself in front of a super intelligent animatronic. You know, something-

Not something. Someone. You remind yourself. Someone you’ve wanted to interact with ever since you watched the movie iRobot when you were probably a little too young.

“So, Junie came into the Funzone sliding down the big slide while I was climbing up and we ran into each other and we tumbled into the foam pit and when he laughed it was such a wonderful laugh and became my favorite noise ever! And then I saw our string but he didn’t and-”

Your eyes widen when you hear that. Didn’t see the string? Does that mean…June is colorblind? I…probably shouldn’t ask about that. In order to not be rude, you recollect yourself and keep a poker face while listening to Hello. You hope June didn’t notice your reaction before you got it together.

“-he was only able to stay and talk for a few minutes before he had to leave but it’s okay because he kept coming back and spending time with us and now we’re here!” He looks at June happily.

“Aaaw, that’s so sweet!” You grin at both of them. “June’s laugh being one of your favorite sounds is adorable.”

June blushes a bit, avoiding eye contact for a moment as he smiles.

“Okayokayokaymyturnagain!!” Hello blurts out excitedly.

“Shoot.” You smile, amused at his eagerness and gesture for him to go ahead.

“What foods do you like?? I love jello!! Especially the orange kind!” He exclaims.

“OOOH orange jello is yummy! I love putting mandarin oranges in it when I make it. As for what foods are my favorite, hmm…” You rub your chin in thought, squinting your eyes dramatically and pursing your lips. “Well, in the summer, I eat so much watermelon. Sometimes I’ll finish a really big whole watermelon in 2 days with nobody else helping me eat it,” You chuckle.

“As for meals, it honestly switches around. I eat the same meals kind of on a rotation, I guess?” You shrug. “Like right now, my favorite would be tendies and onion rings. But if you asked me a month ago, it would be yellow curry with tofu.”

“Oh, Hello-” June looks up at his partner with a smile. “You liked that curry we had a couple weeks ago, right?”

“Yeah!! It was super yummy!” Hello nods in affirmation.

“And super spicy…” June mumbles, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “But you handle spice way better than me.”

“I sure do!” Hello beams in amusement.

June then turns to look at you and points a finger at you. “Also, hold up. Rewind. You ate a whole watermelon in 2 days? By yourself?” He asks with a playful grin.

“Well, yeah!” You start counting on your fingers. “Eating it at breakfast, as a snack in between breakfast and lunch, having it as a side at lunch, having it as a side at dinner, having it as a side with dessert…” You chuckle and shrug. “The watermelon disappears quite quickly.”

“Incredible.” June shakes his head, smiling widely. “You know what? I support you on that wholeheartedly.”

“Why, thank you, my good sir.” You close your eyes and nod jokingly and appreciatively at the same time before opening your eyes to regard June and Hello again.

“Alrighty, third question. This one is more for June, if that’s alright?”

Hello nods. “Of course!”

“Oh boy, here we go…” June chuckles. “What is it?” He asks with a smile, crossing his arms.

“Okay so definitely don’t go into detail since that’s probably way too personal-” You preface. “But I’m curious what everyday life is like as a human-robot couple?” You tilt your head curiously.

“Ah-” June nods and smiles wider, knowing this was coming. “It’s not that different, to be honest. We play games together, we lay in bed and talk, we fall asleep on the couch together, just like human couples do. I think the biggest difference is…” His face falls a bit and he squeezes Hello’s hand sadly. “We can’t go out in public together. At least not in the warm months. I wish I could take them so many places, show them what the world has to offer, but…we can’t.”

Your face falls as well, feeling your heart ache for them. “Yeah…” You murmur. “Fuck, dude. I’m sorry. Both of you.” Your eyes fall on Hello. “I wish things were different so that you guys could experience the world without risk or fear.”

A small flame of anger sparks inside of you. Anger at WOW. Anger at the world for not allowing your friend and his partner safety while out in public. Anger that there’s nothing you can do about it.

But…as it always does, as quickly as it came, the flame dies. Instead, a wave of sadness washes over you as you think about what it must be like for them. You so badly wish you could help them past saying “I’m sorry” and “That sounds so hard.”

The anger never lasts. Your brain won’t allow it to last. Anger is fire, it’s high energy, it’s draining and stressful. It’s not who you are. Sadness, though…it’s easier. Sadness through empathy is connection, despite how upsetting it can be. It’s water flowing between souls, it’s sharing a burden to make it lighter.

“I know there’s not much I can do.” You state simply. “But if there’s any way I can help, please let me know.” You give June and Hello a determined look.

June gives you a sad but thankful smile. “We appreciate that. Really.”

A somber and slightly uncomfortable silence ensues for a few moments before Hello cuts the tension in the air.

“W-well, enough worrying about that!” He desperately steers the conversation back to a happier note.

He says your name jovially while his eyes shine with curiosity. “Soooooo you know what my favorite animal is of course, but I don’t think you’ve said yours yet!”

You’re thankful for Hello lightening the mood. You don’t mind sad topics by any means, but they certainly aren’t pleasant. Given that your mood tends to mirror others’ moods and energies, you’ll gladly accept Hello trying to move on from the sad stuff.

Taking a moment to think about animals you like, you already start to feel the negativity lift.

“Hmm…” You rub your chin. “I think I’m going to go with Elk. I love fantasy and nature, and to me, Elk are a perfect fit for that. I mean, just their name alone! ‘Elk’. It sounds so cool, like a mythical creature. They’re so majestic and beautiful, I wish I could befriend one or like, have one as a mount or something! Not to mention the fact that their antlers are so pretty…” You ramble, not realizing that you’re smiling again and your voice has gone from serious to giddy just from talking about your favorite animal.

June snickers for a moment, causing you to look at him in amused confusion. “What? What are you giggling at over there, mister?”

June chuckles even more upon being called out for laughing and holds his hand to his mouth for a moment to compose himself. “It’s just that that sounded exactly like something your D&D character would say!” He chuckles. “That was some druid shit just now.”

You can’t help but laugh as well, realizing he’s right. “Yeeeeah, you got me there…” You glance at Hello for a moment before addressing June. “You’ve explained Dungeons & Dragons to Hello and Goodbye, right?”

“What do you take me for?” June smiles with a raised eyebrow. “Of course I have!”

“I just wanted to make sure!!” You hold your hands up in a surrendering gesture, still laughing a bit.

Returning your gaze to Hello, your voice fills with excitement as you explain. “Just to keep you in the loop, my D&D character is Aiwin Daedove, an elven druid. The fact that they grew up around Elk and other forest creatures in the Elven Forest would proooobably make them enjoy those animals as much as I do. Hence June’s very accurate statement about my elk ramble,” You chuckle.

“Oooh! They sound lovely!” Hello swings his legs idly, continuing to be a ball of energy. That also lightens your mood immensely.

“Thank you!” You put a hand to your heart gratefully before letting your hands fall to your lap once more. “So, next question for you…”

Hello perks up. “Yeah??”

You’ve asked pretty personal questions so far, so you decide to give them a break and go for something less intense. “So I know June likes How It’s Made, ‘cause we’ve watched some episodes together a couple times-”

For a moment, you think back to watching that show with June in his parked car during a few of your hangouts. It was an absolute delight, the way he watched so intensely and with such curiosity and fascination, wanting to know the ins and outs of the processes of various items and foods and such (even though he had already seen most of the episodes you ended up watching together). His appreciation for it made you appreciate it more than you ever thought you would.

It’s one of the many things you love about June. His appreciation for things that to others, might not be terribly important. But June appreciates the things that work together to make things function. He makes sure all of the pieces of the puzzle get the love and recognition they deserve. 

And gods, he cares. He puts so much care into what he does, it’s…inspiring. Being around June makes you feel like you can do more than you thought you could. Now that you think about it, you look up to him so much…

Your brain circles back around to the present. Oh, shit. Right. You’re supposed to be asking Hello a question right now. Focus!!

“-SO. Um. I’m curious!” You hope your face and voice are relatively normal and not revealing anything about your wandering thoughts. “Hello, what TV shows do you like?” You are genuinely curious, what kind of shows would a robot like Hello enjoy?

“Ooh! Ooh! Modern Family!” Hello blurts out excitedly.

You blink twice, slightly surprised. Huh. You weren’t expecting that. “Oh! That’s the one about…” You think for a moment, trying to remember anything about that show from the little snippets you’ve seen here and there when it was on the TV in the background.

…Nope. You got nothing. “…a family?”

June and Hello start laughing, and you can’t help but start laughing as well. It feels so nice to laugh with them.

“You could say that.” June chuckles.

“There are sort of three!” Hello begins explaining the Pritchetts, the Dunphys and the Tuckers within the show, thrilled to gush about it.

After a couple minutes, at a comfortable pause in Hello’s gushing, you jump in. “We’ll have to watch it together sometime, it sounds fun!” You offer.

“That sounds great!!” Hello beams.

“Awesome! I look forward to it.” You smile at Hello, feeling guilty that you stopped him from continuing his gushing. But you don’t know how much time you have left tonight with him and June, and you want to make sure you each get to ask five questions! However, you also feel excited at the prospect of bonding with Hello over watching his favorite show with him. You tell yourself to remember to let Hello fully gush about Modern Family the next time you hang out to make up for stopping him in the middle of his gushing.

Your brain conjures an image in your head of you and Hello sitting on your couch next to each other, watching it, and the thought of it makes you smile.

And you feel your cheeks warm slightly.

…what the hell?

You quickly shake the image from your mind, needing to unwrap your reaction to it later. “Well,” You drum your fingers on the arm of your chair to get your energy out. “I believe it’s your turn again to ask me a question, Hello?”

“Right!” He thinks for a couple moments, then regards you curiously. “What type of weather do you like? Because I’ve heard some humans say they can’t stand the cold, while others say they melt from the heat! Which type of human are you?”

“Oh, I definitely prefer the cold.” Your eyes flick over to the window, watching the trees sway in the wind you just know is crispy cool. “I hate sweating, heat makes me itchy, staying out in the sun too long is apparently bad for you, and my face starts to hurt if I squint too much from how bright it is outside and I’m caught without sunglasses.” You grimace just thinking about it.

“Wow.” June’s eyebrows raise in slight amusement. “You probably hate summer then, huh?”

You chuckle awkwardly and compose yourself. “Oh, for sure. To be fair, I suppose heat doesn’t always equal sun or summer. But when I think of heat I think of summer, and summer just makes me think of sweat and bugs and burns and brightness.”

June shrugs, still smiling. “That’s fair I guess. Personally, I love me a good sunny day. I don’t like it when it’s too hot, don’t get me wrong, but I just feel so much better when it’s a beautiful day outside, ya know?”

“I getcha, for sure.” You chuckle. “We can agree on spring, I think. Not too hot, but still sunny and beautiful.”

Hello’s eyes light up at the mention of spring. “I love spring!! The colorful flowers, rain that makes way for a rainbow, all the plants and animals come back, the sun starts warming everything up from the chill of winter…” He sighs and puts his chin in his hand dreamily. “I can’t wait to finally see it with my own eyes.”

Your face falls again. “Wait…what? You haven’t seen spring?”

Hello shakes his head. “Nope. We haven’t been out of the facility long enough yet to really experience it.” His eyes gravitate towards the ceiling, seeming to be in thought. “We had fake gardens in the Testing Fun Zone, and real flower beds around the park, but…it’s not the same. I’m not interested in gardening, really…but I want to see the flowers bloom in the garden back home when spring comes! And-and see all the baby animals outside the window!”

You smile softly at him, hoping that spring will bring him as much joy as possible when it rolls around. For a moment just now, you were SO close to offering Hello walks around the park in spring to see the beauty of the season, but…

He can’t. It would be quite odd to see someone in full snow gear during spring. You make a mental note to brainstorm ideas of how Hello could be in public when it’s not winter. You know it’s not your job to do such a thing, but you want to help! Hello seems so sweet and excited to see the world, you can’t help but want to see that happen for him!

“You’re gonna love it,” You grin. “It’s so pretty. I’m sure the flowers blooming in the garden at your house are going to be so colorful and beautiful! And you’ll see so many more birds, too!”

“Yeah, we can set up more bird feeders around the property!” June adds. “And you can make a list of which species and how many birds you see at each feeder.”

“Ooh, good idea!” You nod your head vigorously. “That sounds so fun. Maybe we could all sit together and birdwatch at your house sometime!” Immediately after you pitch the idea, your heart pangs in anxiety. Oops. Did you just kind of invite yourself over to June’s house? Was that rude of you to ask? Are they going to be mad at you??

“Yesyesyes!!” Hello responds, looking even more bouncy than before. “Ooh, I can’t wait for spring!”

June nods his head excitedly. “Yeah, that sounds nice! I think we could totally do that.”

Oh, thank the gods. They’re not mad. You always worry about upsetting people when you accidentally make a social faux pas. The social rules are so easy to forget sometimes.

Your grin turns into a relieved smile, then a genuine one. “I can’t wait, too.”

Your eyes idly glance around the room for a moment and land on your refrigerator for a second. Ideas of what to have for food once June and Hello leave start popping up in your head, when suddenly your brain circles around to something Hello said earlier. ‘I love jello!! Especially the orange kind!’

Wait a minute. Hello doesn’t really have a functioning mouth. How…?

“Hold up, I just thought of my last question,” Your eyes meet Hello’s again curiously.

“Yeah? What is it?” He asks eagerly.

“Earlier, you said your favorite food was orange jello, right?” You clarify to make sure you heard him right.

“Uh huh!” Hello nods. “And blue is my second favorite.”

“Huh. Alright…” You nod in acknowledgement, clasping your hands together. “And how um…may I ask, how do you…taste that? Can you eat?” Your head tilts inquisitively.

“Oh!” Hello pats his lap idly. “Yeah! Me and Bye can taste everything Junie can!”

Your mouth hangs open in shock. Normally you would have assumed you were being messed with, but Hello said it so sincerely; you know he’s not joking. Your head turns towards June, eyes desperate for an explanation.

“Ah, yeah…” June shifts slightly nervously on the couch. “We um…we waited a long time to confirm our soulmate bond. So…that’s a thing that happens, yep. They can taste and smell what I can. When I’m hungry, they feel that. It’s definitely taking some getting used to, that’s for sure!” He chuckles, glancing at his boyfriend lovingly.

“That…wha-huh?” You sit flabbergasted in your armchair. That’s not possible, right? You’ve never heard of such a thing.

“Right?” June looks at you knowingly. “We were a little shocked, too. But it’s getting easier to deal with. Hell, it gives me good motivation to eat breakfast and stuff. Sometimes I forget…” June rubs Hello’s knuckle with his thumb. “And I feel terrible for making Hello and Bye deal with that hunger.”

Hello looks down at June reassuringly. “Junie, it’s alright! Really!”

June shakes his head. “No, I need to be better about it. You and Bye don’t deserve to be uncomfortable all day because I forget to eat.”

“June…” Hello mumbles worriedly.

You don’t want to see either of them upset in any way. You want your friends (at least, you hope Hello is willing to view you as a friend either right now or in the near future) to be having a good time and healthy communication. “June…?” You ask softly. “I think they know you’re trying your best. You work so hard, dude. Don’t be so hard on yourself for something you can’t control.”

June looks back over at you with a conflicted expression on his face. “But I should remember stuff like that. It’s important.”

“Dude.” You look at him determinedly. “We get distracted sometimes. It happens to all of us. I know it feels way worse since it affects your partners like that, but I don’t think Hello and Goodbye are expecting you to be perfect and always remember. Just do your best, man. That’s all anyone can ask.”

“Yeah!” Hello nods. “Besides, we worry more about you not getting proper nutrition and energy throughout the day than we do about the hunger, anyway. We don’t want you passing out at work or getting sick!” He uses his free hand to pull June’s head to his chest protectively.

June chuckles exasperatedly. “I’m fine, hon. I’m used to feeling like this, you aren’t. You and Bye are still getting used to feeling human sensations, so it probably hurts me less than it hurts you.”

“Junie!” Hello huffs and crosses his arms, looking at his human scoldingly.

“That’s not the point, Mr. Deflector.” You cross your arms to mirror Hello’s scolding demeanor. “Bottom line is that you shouldn’t feel terrible for forgetting when that’s something out of your control. You can’t expect yourself to be perfect all the time. Do your best, know that you’ll mess up sometimes, and that’s okay.”

Hypocrite. You know damn well you criticize yourself harshly when you mess up, especially when it affects others. But right now, you just want June to not be so hard on himself. You don’t want him to feel shitty about himself like he’s feeling right now.

June stares thoughtfully at you for a few moments before finally shaking his head with a chuckle, giving in. “Alright, alright.”

You decide to pull the very same thing he did to you the second time you and June talked.

“Say it.” You smirk and cross your arms.

June’s eyes become a little confused. “What?”

“Say the words ‘I, June, am allowed to make mistakes.’”

Hello giggles a little bit, looking at him expectantly.

June catches on to what you’re doing and rolls his eyes, chuckling some more. “I, June…” He amusedly sighs and can’t help but smile. “…am allowed to make mistakes.”

“Exactly!” You praise and lean over to pat him on the back with a satisfied smile. “There ya go.”

As your hand makes contact with June’s back, you notice Hello tightening his grip on June’s hand as his eyes very subtly flash brighter for a moment.

You pretend not to notice.

After pulling your hand away (and making a mental note to maybe refrain from touching June in any capacity around Hello) and resting it on your lap, you address Hello and move on from the topic you brought up, for everyone’s sake.

“So, Hello. It is up to you to ask…the final question.” You make your voice low and dramatic for comedic effect, hoping to lighten the mood.

His posture straightens a bit as his demeanor becomes excited again, thankfully. “Final question! My gosh, the pressure!” He holds his head in his hands, thinking really hard about it. Finally, he snaps his fingers when he comes up with one. “I got it!”

“What do you like to do? Hobbies, and all that!” Hello leans the tiniest bit forward, looking excited to learn more about you, if you’re interpreting correctly.

You hum in thought for a moment before answering. “Well, I’m sure you have a somewhat already accurate guess if June has told you about some of the things we’ve done, so apologies if this is stuff you already know.” You tap your fingers on your thighs, thinking of the usual thing you say when people ask you this question. It’s easy and all-encompassing.

“Art.” You say simply, looking directly at Hello when you speak. “I love to make and consume art. I draw a little, and I make attempts at writing. But when it comes to partaking in others’ art, I love it so much.” Your voice fills with passion. “All kinds of art, like Animation. Movie-Making. YouTube Videos. Video Games. Books. Poetry. Fanfiction. Original Works. Painting. Theater. Music. Dance…” You tilt your head and smile at the smiley-faced animatronic sitting on your couch. “…Robotics.”

His eyebrows raise a bit at that, and June’s smile grows a little wider. “Robotics?” Hello asks with both excitement and hope in his voice.

“Robotics!” You re-emphasize happily. “So much planning and effort and building and modeling and creative techniques to achieve the look you want, just…so many moving parts. Oh my gosh.” You start gushing as much as you did about Elk earlier.

“I love watching videos on animatronics and the latest in robotics technology, and I just recently watched the behind the scenes for the t-rex animatronic in the original Jurassic Park movie, it’s incredible. The fact that people can just build things like that is so crazy to me. It’s so impressive, and- and jaw-dropping. Whoever can do that stuff are geniuses.”

June chimes in. “Why, thank you!” he puts his hand to his heart, adopting a very obviously joking smug demeanor as a silly bit.

“Hmm?” You smile at June curiously.

“Oh shoot, have I not told you yet??” June asks, surprised. “I built a little animatronic. I’ve been working on him for a long time.”

Your eyes widen and your mouth opens in shock. “Whaaattt??? Tell me everything right this second!!” You subconsciously lean forward in excitement.

He speaks casually as if it’s not that big of a deal. “His name’s Astro Cadet. I think I’ve been working on him for like…five years, now? Something like that. He’s a certified Little Guy!” He chuckles.

“I built him to be a kid’s medical assistance robot. He can defibrillate, do x-rays and injections, put on casts and bandages, that kind of thing! I’m pretty proud of him, honestly.” June smiles fondly, looking like he’s reminiscing. “I was so happy when he was able to x-ray my wrist and make a cast for it when-”

His eyes darken a bit as his smile falters just faintly. “…when it got hurt this one time.”

You sense some kind of tension in the air for a moment as Hello’s eyes also darken, seemingly recognizing whatever event caused June’s wrist to get hurt. You don’t want to make things awkward, so you don’t pry about it.

“June, that is insanely cool. Are you kidding me?? I’m friends with a fucking genius with a giant heart!!” You grin at him endearingly.

To your delight, June’s wonderful smile returns. “Awe, thanks…”. His tone of voice is bashful, to say the least.

”Like, dude.” You stare at him in awe. “I knew you had an engineering degree, but I didn’t know you could do that! Can I see a picture of the little guy??’ You ask excitedly, hoping to see the appearance of said animatronic.

”Oh, sure, yeah! One moment.” June pulls his phone out and starts swiping through his photos to try to find one of Astro Cadet. After a little under a minute of searching, he finds one and turns his phone around to show you.

On the screen is an adorable little white and light blue robot who very much looks like he’d have the name ‘Astro Cadet’ and you definitely now understand why June called him a Little Guy.

”Aaaaww!” You push your hands into your cheeks as you admire the cute little robot in the photo. Then it hits you again that June fucking built him. “Holy shit. He’s SO cute. And also super impressive!” Your eyes lift from the phone screen to look at June. “I’m glad you’re proud of creating him; you deserve to be.”

June puts his phone back in his pocket, shooting you an appreciative look. “Thank you. I…yeah. I worked really hard on him, and I am really proud. It’s awesome having him at the shop! He’s an adorable little helper,” he chuckles.

After June says that, you swear you see Hello’s eyes look off to the side in what you interpret as jealousy. But maybe you’re just seeing things? Or you’re just bad at reading Hello’s facial expressions since he has a bit more limited range than humans.

“I’ll bet!” You smile. “Man…AGH that’s so cool that you did that. I’m still not over it. But anyway! Mega insane cool genius June creations aside, I know you guys probably need to head home soon, right?” You don’t want to take up too much more of their time.

“Yeah…” June nods apologetically. “I think we’re gonna head out. But the questions game was fun! That was a good idea!” He smiles.

“Agreed!!” Hello grins.

You can’t help but smile as well. June and Hello’s smiles are absolutely contagious! And adorable.

…stop thinking like that.

“I’m glad to hear it!” You stand up and start leading June and Hello to the door, waiting for them to get their winter gear back on. “It was really awesome to learn more about y’all. Thank you so much for being willing to share and for trusting me. It means a lot.”

“Of course.” June gives you a sincere look and your anxiety spikes for a moment when you realize your heart skips a beat. WHY DID IT DO THAT. STOP THAT. You curse your wicked heart.

You just broke up with Marshmallow. You shouldn’t be feeling things like this so soon after a big event like that. Despicable. What is wrong with you?

“…you alright?” June’s question snaps you out of your quickly spiraling thoughts.

He did it again. He always manages to stop your racing brain before you fully fall into the rabbit hole of self-hatred.

“Y-yeah!” You hold your hands up reassuringly, putting on your most convincing smile. “Sorry, I spaced there for a second.” You see that June and Hello have gotten all of their gear on again and are set to go. “Here, I’ll get the door for you.”

You hold the door open for them and as they walk out, you have to hold yourself back from hugging June. You get the feeling it wouldn’t be a good idea right now, given Hello’s earlier reaction. You don’t want to make things awkward.

“Thank you for coming over and playing the questions game and everything, it was lovely to have you!” You wave goodbye.

They wave back. “Thank you for having us!” June replied. “And…thank you. For…you know.” His eyes glance over to Hello for a moment, then back to you.

You nod warmly. “Absolutely, man. It’s important.” Your eyes squint jovially as you wave them away. “Drive safe and have a good night, you two!”

And with a “you too!” and one more round of waving goodbye, June and Hello disappear down the hall while you close the door and sit alone in your apartment, left staring at the spot on your couch where they were just sitting. Your apartment feels a lot lonelier now.

Your heart aches more and more as June’s car grows further away, until finally the sound of his engine disappears in the distance.

~

A week later, you and June coordinate an official hangout at your apartment. An apartment visit that is planned, and not a spur-of-the-moment emergency meeting place to tell you to keep your friends a secret. Although, the questions game afterward was fun! And you appreciated the chance to get to know Hello better. With this hangout, hopefully you’ll get to learn even more about him! Or at the very least, just get more comfortable with each other.

Friday night is chosen since it’s the only evening that will work for everyone. As much as you sort of wish you could hang out in the day, it’s safer to do it at night. Oh well, that’s what lamps and closed curtains are for. You’re thankful you have a couple days to clean your apartment and make it look presentable, at least. Not that it wasn’t already presentable, but it doesn’t hurt to make it look even nicer than before!

…Do you actually take those couple of days to clean the apartment? Nope! You panic-clean hours before. Because that’s just how you roll. But you manage to do it, like you usually manage to do things after you procrastinate.

Not long before June and Hello arrive, you are satisfied with the state of your apartment. Clean bathroom, clean living room, clean kitchen, and everything is tidy and dusted for the most part. You keep your bedroom door closed because neither of them need to see your unhealthy amount of fandom shit scattered about your room.

It’s almost time for them to arrive, which is exciting! And slightly nerve-wracking. The only thing you can really do is pace and mindlessly scroll on your phone, not really paying attention to what’s on the screen. The “Waiting Mode”, as many people are afflicted with in situations like this, demands that all of your attention be focused on watching the window every 20 seconds to see if they’re here yet.

Finally, after what feels like a long time (but is really not), through the window you see June’s car pulling into the apartment’s parking lot down below.

You dash out your front door, rush down the stairs, and wait at the building entrance to let them in so they wouldn’t have to buzz your door and wait, risking their safety. Even with Hello’s winter gear, you still don’t want any of your neighbors seeing him and getting too close a look or something. You’re compromising Hello’s safety by inviting him here. Selfish.

Your heart drops into your stomach for a moment at that thought, but you try to push the anxiety down and focus on having a good time with your friends. The thoughts and doubts and worries saying you don’t deserve a good time get shoved into a box in your mind and set aside. Right now, smile. Make sure you look fine so that they don’t have to burden themselves with comforting you.

“Hey!” June waves as he and Hello approach the door, breaking you out of your negative thoughts as he always does.

Hello says your name happily, waving a bit more enthusiastically. “Hi hi hi!”

“Welcome welcome!” You smile and step aside to let them in before leading them to the staircase and up to your apartment.

You all do the drill again of de-winterizing yourselves at the entrance, putting shoes on the mat and hanging clothes items up on the hooks on your wall.

Once the 3 of you are in casual clothing and ready to hang out, there are thankfully no awkward conversations or heavy topics of discussion. Just good fun between friends, sharing laughs and growing ever closer.

For a couple hours, the 3 of you spend time together watching a couple of episodes of Modern Family, as well as getting your ass beat by both Hello and June at the Wii. In your own home!! You really need to practice more, it seems.

10PM finally rolls around, and you know it would probably be a good idea for June and Hello to head out soon; you want them to get home and be able to go to bed at a reasonable hour. You wish you would have been able to learn more things about Hello, but getting to spend any time with him at all is appreciated.

As June and Hello laugh and battle each other in MarioKart, you decide to look out the window just to see what things are looking like outside, and…

There’s a lot more snow on the ground now than when June and Hello first arrived.

“Oh boy…” You mumble, pulling your phone out.

June pauses the game, looking at you in slight concern. “What’s up?”

“Uuuuh…” You click your weather app. “It seems to have snowed while we were hanging out, and it’s still snowing kinda hard.” Your head lifts to meet June’s gaze. “I’m checking the weather now, hold on.”

“Ah…” June shifts on his feet and sets the Wii remote down while Hello waits with curious eyes to see what your weather app will say.

You suck in air through your teeth as you read the weather report, feeling anxiety forming in your stomach.

THE LOCAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE TOWN OF NORTHVALE HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM FRIDAY TO 7 AM PDT SATURDAY.

* HAZARD TYPES…SNOW

* ACCUMULATIONS…NEAR 7 INCHES TO NEAR 12 INCHES

* HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS.

* TIMING…SNOW WILL SPREAD ACROSS NORTHVALE FRIDAY EVENING AND THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING.

Your eyes skim past the temperature and wind report, searching for the paragraph that will seal Hello and June’s fate tonight. Within seconds, you find it:

* IMPACTS…ROADS AND BRIDGES WILL BECOME SLICK MAKING TRAVEL HAZARDOUS. SNOWFALL MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES. TRAVEL COULD QUICKLY BECOME DANGEROUS. EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION IF TRAVEL IS NECESSARY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. ONLY TRAVEL IN AN EMERGENCY. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL…KEEP AN EXTRA FLASHLIGHT…FOOD…AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE…WHICH WILL ALSO MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

Yep, you figured as much. Your head lifts from the screen of your phone, wincing in sympathy for them. “So…um.”

June chews his lip, looking like he already knows what you’re about to say. Hello waits with bated breath. Or…well, the robotic equivalent of breath.

“I would not recommend driving home tonight, if I’m being honest…” You rub the back of your head awkwardly. “It’s not worth the risk with how dangerous the roads are right now. It’s totally cool for you guys to stay here tonight to play it safe!” You offer, hoping they’ll make the smart decision.

Hello gasps. “Does that mean we’re having a SLEEPOVER?!”

You and June chuckle at Hello’s excitement, and he gives you a grateful look. “I would rather spend the night than drive out on those roads if they’re looking pretty bad. But…you’re sure it’s okay…?” He asks hesitantly. You assume he doesn’t want to be a bother to you.

You wave your hand dismissively with a reassuring smile. “Of course it’s okay! I’m happy to host, and I really want you guys to be safe.”

June glances at Hello and then back to you, smiling. “Well then, we’ll take you up on your offer! We really appreciate it.”

“Of course, June!” You smile right back at him.

Looks like you all are having a surprise sleepover tonight.

~

Notes:

HECK YEAH WE BACK BABY I haven’t forgotten about this story I swear!! Just took me longer cuz college and life and fear of writing dialogue/characters badly oop-

Also hehehehehe I was chuckling like an idiot while writing the line “I shouldn’t treat you like a spectacle”…I’ll let myself out lmao 🚶‍♂️🚪