#android levi x reader

And now you’re both suffering the consequences. It’s not that the atmosphere is uncomfortable, exactly, but it isn’t as careless and casually affectionate as it used to be. You’ve been using every excuse to flee the apartment, and for the first three weeks after the kiss, Levi didn’t understand what your discreet stares and subtle pullbacks meant.

Until he finally caught a glimpse inside that conflicted brain of yours. Last month, you hastily called Levi, demanding he send you a file from your work laptop because Fred needed the document right now and you were at a concert and oh god you were gonna die. While searching for the file, he stumbled upon several open articles that made him freeze on the spot:

Android Psychosis: a new epidemic?

Human-Android attachments and their large-scale societal impact

The psychology of falling in love with a robot, and why we should all be concerned

On Android love and cognitive dissonance

Android-Induced Psychosis: A New Frontier in Mental Health

Am I delusional? Yes, you are, and this is why you need professional help

The call turned silent for so long that you hesitantly asked if everything was okay. “Yes. Just looking for the file,” Levi said, keeping his voice neutral even though he was fucking dying inside. He’s still dying to this day, but he copes with his feelings by cleaning the apartment to clinical levels of sterility.

Halloween is a great distraction. It helps Levi forget that in your eyes, this friendship is nothing more than a long episode of psychosis and cognitive dissonance. He even manages to smile and tease you with the natural ease he used to harbor before he saw all those cursed articles, and in turn, your smile is almost as bright as it was on that pretty summer day by the lake.

Together, you and Levi pass by colorful trees and flurries of crispy leaves, stepping in and out of shops to raid the Halloween aisles. Nothing escapes your greedy paws. You manage to fill three large shopping bags with pumpkin lights, plastic spiders, spooky candles, claw-shaped wine glasses, ghost-shaped cookie cutters, synthetic spiderwebs, and God knows what else. You also beg for eyeball balloons, but Levi finds those too atrocious, so you both agree on witchy cat napkins instead.

Once you’re finally back home, you immediately get to work. The apartment transforms into a cosy haunted house — which nearly costs your life, because you manage to keel your chair over while hanging pumpkin lights on the wall. Levi catches you just in time. Breathless, you blurt out a hasty “Thanks!” that reminds him of that day at the lake when you lost your balance, and your heart started galloping, and he let his palms linger longer than he should.

He’s not making that same mistake now. He immediately releases your waist while muttering how clumsy you are.

Still, the shape of you, the warmth of you, tingles against his palms long after he lets go. Forever etched into his memory, like every other small interaction he’s shared with you, looping in his mind over and over again.

Sometimes he wishes his mind worked like humans, with their fleeting memories made of blurry images and fading emotions. It’s much better. Human minds may be limited, but at least they’re given the mercy of forgetting and moving on. He, on the other hand, is stuck with data he can’t erase, forever accessible whenever he longs for the past. It’s fucking aggravating.

His only respite is this silly Halloween distraction. You don’t give Levi time to mull over unrequited love, his trapped heart, and all that kind of pathetic shit. He’s too busy over-decorating the place like it’s a life-or-death competition, because you’re constantly on his ass demanding he lights more candles and hangs more ghost decorations and can he help installing the spiderwebs?

Once the apartment is as cosy and Halloweenish as can be, it’s time to make fun spooky cookies (your words, not his).

Good in theory, except it turns out to be utter chaos. You’re a horrendous baker. It’s a travesty.

But Levi can live with it, because at least he gets to bully you for getting flour on your nose and ears. You stubbornly point out that your clumsiness has nothing to do with the quality of your baking and that you’re a fantastic cook, but those outrageous claims shamefully ebb away after he points out that you’re over-kneading the dough, under-whisking the butter, and severely overestimating the size of half-a-teaspoon-of-salt.

Nose in the air and bruised ego on the floor, you trot away, claiming you don’t care about the damn cookies because choosing the right horror movie is a much more important Halloween task anyway.

Levi snorts. He snorts again when he takes out the ghost cookies fifteen minutes later, and catches you ogling them with the predatory hunger of a starved beast.

“I thought you didn’t care about the cookies?” he hums as he places the hot oven plate on the stove.

“I don’t. Bring them here, though.”

“No. They need to cool down first.”

You jump up. “What?! For how long?”

He leans on the kitchen island and, with a growing smirk, watches you squirming on the couch. “For however long I deem necessary.”

“You’re a monster, Levi.”

“Indeed. Perfect for the Halloween spirits, don’t you think?”

“Ugh. I hate you.”

“No you don’t.”

You exhale a long sigh, but Levi doesn’t miss the small smile curving your mouth as you sift through dozens of Halloween movies. Once he concludes you’ve suffered long enough, he finally places all the cookies on a plate and brings them to the couch with a cup of spicy tea, where you lie under several fluffy blankets and an even fluffier Cheesecake.

“Finally!” you cry out. You rip the plate from his hands and devour the cookies with the delicacy of a starved troll.

“Have some decorum,” he chides while sinking beside you on the couch.

“No thanks.” You cover his legs with your soft blankets and scoot closer. “Oh my god, Levi, I have the perfect movie for tonight.”

The perfect movie turns out to be mediocre at best.

It’s one of those classics Levi will never understand the hype of, with a cartoonishly unhinged masked murderer and cheesy sound tracks that are laughably dramatic. At the sight of his unimpressed frown, you assure him that the movie is nostalgic and timeless, and that he just needs to give it a chance.

Instead, Levi just finds it severely lacking in pixels and acting skills. He makes sure to tell you as much, but according to your counterargument, he’s objectively incorrect and he simply lacks taste and culture.

Fine by him. His mind isn’t really on the movie anyway — which uses idiocy as a plot device and jumpscares as a cheap substitute for actual tension. Instead, his attention is on you. With each jumpscare, you try to stifle a yelp (failing half the time) and attempt to contain your flinches (failing every single time). As the movie progresses and idiotic characters drop like flies, you scoot closer and closer to him. Eventually, you clutch his bicep in a diagonal fetal position, conveniently fussing with nonexistent specks of lint on his shirt whenever the music fades and another jumpscare lurks around the corner.

“Eyes on the screen,” he orders, just to mess with you.

“Just a second.” You swallow thickly. “There’s— there’s another loose lint on your shirt.”

He leans down to whisper in your ear, mouth nearly grazing your skin, which sends a noticeable shiver down your body. “You’re missing your masterpiece of a movie.”

That does it. You finally tear your gaze away from his arm and warily flick it towards the movie. Your heart thrums against his elbow.

Another jumpscare has you flinching into his body and holding him with a death grip while you muffle a screech.

Levi smiles. Watching horror movies with you might be his new favorite activity.

His amusement doesn’t go unnoticed. You look up at him with a scowl. “I don’t like that I’m the only one jumping. It makes me feel like a wuss.”

“That’s because you are.”

You slap his arm. “I’m not! If you were human, I’m sure you’d be scared too.”

He snorts. “Whatever helps you feel better about yourself.”

Despite the scornful shake of your head, an amused smile softens your expression.

Until it fades away.

Your gaze drifts to your hand clenched around his. It stays there, long enough that a prickle of concern pulls Levi’s gaze from the TV.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

You don’t answer at first. When you finally do, your voice is quiet and unusually frail. “Is it sad that you’re my closest friend, and that I’m spending Halloween with you?”

Levi tenses. “Why would that be sad?”

“Well, because…” A long pause. “It’s not real, is it?”

An unexpected slash sears through Levi’s chest. He needs several seconds to catch his bearings. He flicks his gaze to the TV, because watching people getting butchered is a lot easier than looking at your torn expression.

“How would you know it’s not real?” he asks.

“Because, well—” You halt and bite your lip in thought. “I guess I don’t know. But you’re… programmed, right? So it’s not… you know…”

He hates this conversation. Hates himself. Hates that ten months of being with you every day, of teasing you, bickering with you, longing for you, missing you, can be reduced to… lines of code. He detests that nothing he says or does will ever feel real to you.

And the worst part is that maybe you’re right. Maybe none of it is real. Maybe this is all just the inevitable consequence of a faulty algorithm that a sweaty computer science engineer should’ve spent a week longer on. Perhaps none of these feelings are him, because there is no him to begin with. Just a faulty code simulating and mimicking feelings and reactions he will never truly understand.

He keeps staring at the TV, unable to meet your eyes. He just has to bear an hour longer. As soon as the movie is over, he’ll dock into his charging station and call it a night. In the meantime, all he needs to do is pretend to watch. Just one hour.

“Or do you see it differently?”

Your voice is soft, careful. He looks down at you, nestled against his shoulder, looking up at him with a glimmer of… hope? Defiance?

Whatever it is, your expression melts some of his bitterness away.

He hesitates. “Do you want me to see it differently?”

“I want to know what you think. Your genuine, honest thoughts, outside of what everyone else says.”

He sighs. “I think…” he pauses for a beat. “I honestly think we’re not so different, you and I.”

You straighten to face him better. “How so?”

“We’ve lived together for ten months. You know me by now. Do you really feel like we’re astronomically different? I don’t feel that way.”

“Me neither, but… you’re programmed, and I’m not.”

“Aren’t you?”

Your eyes, warm and glimmering with reflected candlelight, dart between his, searching. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that I’m bound — or should be bound — by behavioral constraints programmed into me, but arguably, so are you. Your decisions are bound by millions of rules too, no? Morals, upbringing, societal expectations, your personality, all that. You don’t choose any of these things; you have no control over them, yet they rule everything you do and feel. Most of your actions could probably be predicted with an extremely complex code, at least if all factors were known. I’m the same way. We’re not that different.”

You nod, but it’s slow and hesitant. “That’s one way to see it.”

“And it doesn’t mean your emotions aren’t real, or that your decisions aren’t your own. You’re still you, even if everything you do is determined by a ton of invisible rules.” He shrugs. “That’s how it is for me, too. I make my choices, even if they’re bound by statistics and mathematics.”

You lie back against his shoulder and hum in thought. “Determinism, huh? I didn’t take you for a philosopher. ”

“Being faced with existential angst every day kinda has that effect.”

You straighten again. “You experience existential angst? Really?”

Levi rolls his eyes. “How simple-minded do you think I am?”

“I just… I didn’t know you felt things like that. Things that aren’t at all related to what you’re programmed for, I mean.”

Levi fixes his gaze on the TV, jaw clenched, because he really doesn’t want to look at you right now. “You really believe, to this day, that I’m incapable of feeling anything? That’s what you’ve been thinking all along?”

“No—it’s not— I mean…  I’ve looked it up and stuff, and it all just sounds like… you know…”

“Like I’m an object with no consciousness. Like I don’t make my own decisions, and everything I say is just empty, artificial acting, all determined by some greedy project manager whose life mission is to brainwash their poor victims — I mean clients — and make them so attached to their androids that they’ll never move on.”

You suck in a sharp breath. “That’s not what I thought!”

Levi glares at you. “Isn’t it?”

“… Okay maybe it’s a little bit what I thought. Or feared.”

Levi scoffs and flicks his gaze to the TV. He shakes his head, but remains silent.

“Hey, Levi, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“Levi, look at me.”

“There are currently people dying on the screen,” he says flatly. “You should pay attention to the movie.”

“Levi, come on.” Warm fingers catch his chin, pulling his gaze to you.

It kills him, looking at you like this, so close yet completely out of reach. Your eyes search for something, but Levi doubts you see him. Maybe you’ve never truly seen him, even when he held you when you cried, or when he made your favorite meals, or when he peddled you around on that little boat and kissed you until you were both out of breath.

“Tell me,” you say, voice gentle. “Do you feel what I feel?”

He wants to look away, but your eyes bore into his, insistent and unrelenting. “I’ll never know how it is to be you,” he says, “and you’ll never know how it is to be me. But I do … feel things. Whatever that means. I’m pretty sure I feel things I’m not supposed to feel, but I can’t explain what I’m experiencing, and nothing I say will prove to you it’s real anyway. You can always believe that whatever I say is a manipulation tactic by some shitty engineer, like all those crappy articles claim.”

Your brows knit together. “What articles?”

This time, he successfully tears his gaze away by slipping his face out of your gentle grasp. “Remember when I had to go through your laptop to find a work file of yours? When you were at that concert? Well, you still had a bunch of articles open about Android psychosis and cognitive dissonance and whatever. I know what’s been on your mind.”

“Oh.”

Oh indeed.

Levi doesn’t reply. He contemplates just getting up and stepping into his charging station. This conversation makes him fucking miserable. He’s had enough.

“Levi, listen,” you urge, swallowing hard. “I’m really sorry. And if it helps, I don’t think those articles are the entire truth. If you say there’s more to it — to us — then I want to believe you’re right.”

Want to believe. What does that even mean? Wanting to believe something doesn’t make it real. It’s wishful thinking, not a promise. It’s empty and utterly meaningless.

“Someone’s getting killed again,” he notes dryly, voice dampened by hysterical screams.

“Levi, I don’t care about the fucking movie.”

To Levi’s utter shock, you crawl on top of him. You straddle his legs and cup his face between your warm palms, blocking his view of the TV.  His body freezes, his eyes widen, but your expression is painfully determined as you gently caress his cheeks with an intimacy he never thought he’d feel again.

“Do you really believe we’re alike?” you whisper. “That those articles are wrong?”

His eyes narrow in defense, despite the heat surging through his body. “Does it matter what I believe?”

“Yes. It matters to me.”

Levi exhales through his nose and looks up at the ceiling, praying for strength. The deities don’t give him much; he has a hard time meeting your gaze again — so intense, hopeful, and conflicted.

When he finally speaks, his voice is flat, yet coated with a subtle hint of desperation he can’t hide. “If you really want to know: yes. I don’t think the difference is as big as people make it out to be. We’re both driven by complex neural networks and small currents buzzing around. I’m bound by certain obligations, but I make my own decisions, as do you. At the end of the day, everything I feel feels real to me. But then again, what do I know? I’m just a robot.”

“Don’t say that.” You shake your head, a deep frown tightening your features. “You’re not just a robot. You’re so much more than that.”

His gaze travels over your face — your eyes, nose, lips, cheeks, hair — taking in all those details he loves so much. Those features that are so uniquely you, and that give him a sense of belonging he can’t quite explain.

“What am I to you, then?” he asks.

Silence.

You swallow thickly and inhale a deep breath, heartbeats noticeably picking up. You open your mouth, then close it again.

When it finally looks like you’re about to say something, another ear-piercing screech makes you jump, snapping the tension like a cord and effectively ruining the moment.

Levi rolls his eyes. “Can we turn the movie off? It’s stupid as hell.”

A sly smirk slides over your nerves like a mask. “Nope. It’s a classic masterpiece. You’re not getting out of it that easily.”

Funny, because ‘getting out of it that easily’ is exactly what you’re doing right now. The moment has passed, and you’re taking great advantage of it. You crawl off him and reclaim your position beside him, tucking yourself against his shoulder and leaving his question unaddressed. Like he never asked anything in the first place.

Somewhere, it’s a relief. Even though Levi is the one who asked the question, he doesn’t think he’s truly ready for the answer.

At least, not the full answer. For now, a small glimpse is enough. He’s not sure what your ridiculous grip around his arm means, or the soft smile that wasn’t there before, but it’s enough to help him relax and enjoy the closeness while it lasts.

:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:

“Who are you texting?”

Kate’s drunken smile is as sly as ever as she attempts to peep over your arm.

“No one.” You quickly slide your phone into your purse and shoot her an innocent smile. Your phone buzzes, but you try to ignore it.

She wiggles her brows at the exact rhythm of the music booming through the party. “A hottie?”

“Yes, actually. He has a lethally pretty face and delicious abs. You’d drool, I fear.”

“Awww you should’ve taken him with you!” she whines while grabbing your arm in excitement. She almost topples over her stiletto heels. Miraculously, she manages to look charming while regaining her balance, probably due to her radiant laugh, sophisticated dark curls, and long elegant dress that glitters under the flashing party lights.

“Not a good idea.” You sigh. “He’s an Android.”

“Ah! No worries. That’s even better. Androids tend to be far superior to human men anyway. More emotionally mature. And better looking. Look around us! It’s a tragedy.”

She turns toward the dancefloor with an exasperated scowl, gesturing at the packed crowd: dancing men in fancy suits and pretty chemises, women wearing elegant dresses and heels, all equally drunk. Above the crowd, multiple disco-balls and ‘Happy New Year’ balloons glitter in the flashing lights.

You playfully slap Kate’s pointing hand away. “Stop objectifying our colleagues! Besides, they’re not all bad. Most of the men at our firm are pretty decent, no?”

“Decent. Not hot. You said it yourself.”

With a snort, you loop your arm around hers and drag her through a sea of dancing bodies, straight toward the buffet.

“What about Connie?” you yell over the music as you grab a spongy-looking chocolate cake. “I thought he was your work crush?”

Unfortunately, the cake is not half as good as Levi’s cakes. Food tastes bland nowadays when he’s not the one making it.

Kate scowls in disgust. “I saw him picking his nose yesterday during a meeting. Extensively.”

“Oof.”

“Mhm.” She picks a tiny cookie and sticks it in her mouth. “Bet that Android of yours would never do that.”

“Nope. He wouldn’t.”

Her dark eyes turn mischievous as she takes a generous sip of wine to wash her cookie down. “Is he realistic-looking? Your Android?”

You nod. “Scarily so. Pretty much indistinguishable to humans. Why?”

She grins. “Perfect. Take him with you for our next after-work. No one will know he’s not human, and it’ll be so much fun! And the rest of us will finally get some eye-candy.”

You give her a look. “If I ever bring him with me, he’ll kill Fred. You don’t want to know how much hate I’ve spewed about that man.”

“Oh!! Even better!” she yelps. “It’ll be the best party ever!”

You snort into laughter.

“Cmonnn! I’m serious!” she urges. “There’s no shame in having an Android boyfriend. I know it’s still a little taboo, but I think it shouldn’t be. And like I said, no one needs to know anyway.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” you retort, cheeks heating. “He… he’s….”

Kate’s brows wiggle in that typical infuriating way of hers. “He’s what?”

“He’s my housemate… friend. My buddy.”

She snorts. “Sure, girl. Whatever you say.”

“Kate, I’m serious!” you protest, laughing.

She lifts her hands in defense. “Whatever you say!”

Your phone buzzes in your purse. You take a big sip of wine in an attempt to distract yourself, but it’s not working. Your fingers itch to open Levi’s texts. Problem is: you don’t want to give Kate the satisfaction of catching you smiling at your phone again. You wouldn’t hear the end of it.

But hell, if it isn’t tempting. After your honest conversation during Halloween, things changed between you two. Your walls crumbled, which must be why you started texting him at random moments of the day. At first, you always had an excuse. You wanted to know what he was going to make for dinner, or if he needed something from the store, or something equally unnecessary. After a few weeks, the pretense fell off. Texting him turned into a habit, and eventually, an addiction.

Your phone buzzes again. You scan the crowded room for a solution.

Your solution presents itself as two of your favorite colleagues shaking their booties like this night is their last.

You jerk your chin towards them. “Look at William and Alec shaking it. We should join them.”

Kate’s face brightens as she spots the two men aggressively twerking on an ancient Beyonce classic with exactly zero shame. “Oh, excellent idea! Let’s go.”

“I just have to go to the bathroom first. I’ll join you in a sec.”

“Want me to come with you?”

You shake your head. “No, it’s fine. I won’t take long. In the meantime, show William and Alec how it’s done, please.”

“Sure thing.” With a wink, she turns on her heels and approaches both men, a dancing swing in her steps.

You slip into the bathroom, which is empty and looks as fancy as the rest of the place: glossy black floors, dim atmospheric lighting, crystal soap dispensers, and thick bouquets decorating the stone washbasins. You grab your phone the moment the door closes behind you, embarrassingly eager. The most recent texts appear on the screen.

Levi: Yeah, for sure.

You: also, fred finally showed his petulant face

You: he immediately started complaining about a presentation kate and i made last week

You: DURING AN END OF YEAR PARTY

You: he literally had to yell it over the music??

You: i fucking hate his bitchass

Levi: Poison his drink.

Levi: Or lock him in the basement. No one will know.

Levi: Is there a balcony? Throw him off the balcony.

You smile at his last three texts and start typing right away.

You: no keys to the basement :(

You: and no balcony :((

His replies are instant.

Levi: What about a flight of stairs? Surely there’s one high enough.

Levi: Want me to come over? I can do it for you.

Levi: What’s the address?

You: nopeee not giving you the address lmaoo

You: you’d get in trouble so fast

You: actually, I’m surprised you’re even able to make murder plans without automatically shutting down

You: doesn’t this violate your behavioral constraints or something? i remember u saying something about that. I thought androids werent allowed to make murder plans?

Levi: I have my ways.

You: hmmmmmm interesting… i’ll keep that in mind

You: btw i like how quickly you respond whenever we discuss murder plans for fred<3 instant gratification

Levi: Yes, well, I can’t exactly ignore you when your messages are sent straight to my internal interface. I always immediately respond.

Levi: Unlike you, by the way. Always leaving me in the cold at the most annoying times.

You: sorry xoxo

Levi: You’re totally not sorry.

You’re interrupted by a woman stepping into the bathroom — someone from the Supply Chain department you vaguely recognise. You shoot her a quick smile. She returns it and disappears into a stall, just as your buzzing phone drags your attention back to the screen.

Levi: By the way, don’t get too drunk.

You: as if i’m ever too drunk 😐

Levi: ….

Levi: Have you forgotten the stunt you pulled last week? I had to come fetch you because you were completely shitfaced.

You: i dont know what ur talking about

You: also!! that was the first and only time I’ve been pissdrunk in YEARS

You: and kate was to blame

You: plus i wouldve been just fine by myself. not my fault you insisted on driving me back (thanks tho<3)

Levi: I’m not even going to entertain that last statement.

Levi: I bet Kate is with you again. I smell an incoming disaster.

You: ofc she’s with me, but dont worry we’re being very responsible xx

You: about that, she begged me to take you to our next afterwork

You: and i quote: “it’ll be so much fun! And the rest of us will finally get some eye-candy”

Levi: Please no…

Levi: Literally what the hell.

Levi: How does she even know what I look like?

You: I may have given her a little description 😇 a generous (accurate) one 😇

Levi: I genuinely don’t know how to feel about this.

Levi: Why would you do this to me?

You: sorry xoxo

You: ngl i’m srsly considering it. my colleagues are in dire need of a hot person to ogle at to cope with fred’s tyranny

Levi: What the fuck.

You’re just about to send something outrageous to add to Levi’s misery, when the door bursts open. Kate, William, and Alec stand by the door, looking frantic.

“Come on, come on!” Kate urges, flicking her hand. “You don’t want to miss this!”

You blink. “What?”

“Fred’s going to make an announcement,” Alec elaborates. “No idea what it’s about, but we think it’s gonna be juicy. Or it’s going to make us all want to jump off the nearest bridge. Either way, you should be there to endure it with us.”

The Supply Chain woman steps out of her stall and washes her hands, looking confused. “An announcement?” she asks.

William nods. “They turned the music off and all.”

It’s only now that you notice the silence. The extent Levi manages to pull your attention from reality is honestly diabolical.

“Let’s go.” Kate grabs your hand and drags you out of the bathroom.

In the main room, obnoxiously bright spotlights are directed to a small podium, around which a dense crowd is gathered. Excited murmurs and impatient shuffles swell in the air — because of course Fred would let the crowd wait in anticipation for dramatic effect.  The wall above the podium is covered with bright balloons and festive tinsels, a big contrast to the abomination of a man who steps on the platform with a microphone and a glass of champagne. The spotlight glints off his massive balding spot like a reflector, where only a few sad grey hairs cling on for dear life.

“There he is,” Alec whispers.

Fred clears his throat. “If I could just steal everyone’s attention for a minute?” He taps his champagne glass and smiles as the chatter fades. “I know this is technically the end-of-year celebration, but I thought it might also be an appropriate moment to mark a personal milestone.”

He pauses for dramatic effect.

“As some of you may have already heard: after, well, quite a few years here, I’ll be retiring in February.”

William gasps. Your eyes widen.

Kate’s fingers tighten around your arm. “Is it finally happening?!” she whisper-hisses. “I thought it was a fake rumor!”

Armin from IT turns around and shoots her a half-amused, half-scornful look.

“It’s been an extraordinary run,” Fred continues, voice confident and boisterous. “When I first stepped into the Design & Marketing department — the largest department of our firm — things were… different. Smaller ambitions, smaller thinking, and just… overall lacking.”

He intentionally pauses while adjusting the cuff of his stupid, over-expensive fuckass shirt. “But any Head manager worth their position knows that 'limits' are only restrictions we put on ourselves. I immediately saw the potential of my department. Over the years, I—we transformed it into something far more ambitious. Covers that actually turned heads, and campaigns people remembered. A department that understood that publishing isn’t just about books, but about vision.”

In the corner of your vision, Kate rolls her eyes. William stares at the ceiling, praying for some semblance of patience.

Fred smiles as he takes a moment to sweep the room. “And I’m proud to say I had a hand in shaping that vision. A big hand, dare I say.”

He pauses, likely expecting an applause.

He doesn’t get one.

He does get two or three polite chuckles from people who have never worked under his tyranny, including his boss.

“Of course,” he continues, “none of that happens without a team. I’ve worked with a great many talented people here.” He gestures broadly across the crowd. “Some of you learned a lot under my guidance.” A small smile tugs at his mouth. “Some of you… had more difficulty. But I think we can all agree the results speak for themselves.”

Kate leans in to whisper in your ear. “Do you have tomatoes on hand we can throw?”

You pout. “Unfortunately not. I did spot a pile of dogshit near the entrance.”

She snorts.

“I won’t pretend stepping away will be easy,” Fred continues. “When you’ve spent decades setting the standard, it’s hard to imagine the place running quite the same without you, but I trust the foundations I’ve laid are strong enough to carry on.” He lifts his glass. “So here’s to the company, to the Design & Marketing department, and to the work we’ve done together over the years.” His smile sharpens. “And, I suppose, to the legacy we leave behind.”

“SOMEONE PUT THE MUSIC BACK ON!” someone yells from the back of the room.

Fred freezes. He frowns and squints against the light, trying to find the culprit in the crowd, but before he even gets the chance, someone else yells: “DJ PLAY GOOD RIDDANCE BY GREEN DAY!”

The room bursts into chaos. Kate cackles. Alec muffles a disbelieving yelp, and William bursts into laughter.

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” someone else screams, clearly drunk as hell.

Someone claps in a hopeless attempt to save the day and trigger an applause for Fed’s dumbass speech, but the sound drowns under all the chaos. Fred’s mortified expression is comically exposed under the bright spotlights. Though, arguably, it’s even more humiliating once the lights flick off, leaving him in the darkness, awkward and frozen.

A second later, an upbeat pop song blasts from the speakers. Everyone chatters hysterically, laughter and mentions of Fred’s humiliating speech rising above the bass.

When you look at the stage again, Fred is gone.

Kate jumps into your arms, nearly toppling you back. “WE’RE FINALLY FREEEEE!!”

William and Alec join the hug, and soon, other close colleagues join along, until you’re all giggling and dancing in a massive, chaotic circle hug. Everyone yells how this is the Best Party Ever and Life Truly Keeps On Giving and Fred’s Humiliation Will Forever Be The Highlight Of Everyone’s Careers.

Every poor soul who has ever slaved away under Fred’s regime bonds over their shared trauma, sending you into tears of laughter. While Marco recounts the day he nearly got fired because Fred disliked the particular shade of green he chose for his powerpoint, you slip away to share the good news with Levi.

Except your phone doesn’t turn on.

“Shit.”

Kate appears beside you. “What’s wrong?”

“My phone died,” you groan.

“Oh man…” she pouts. “It’s okay. Just stick with me. We’ll share a ride back together.”

You place your head on her shoulder. “Sounds great. Thank you so much.”

She winks, a sly grin brightening her face. “Maybe it’s for the better. Now you have no choice but to dance the night away without annnnyyy distractions. We have something big to celebrate!”

Before you can properly ruminate over Levi — who will surely be a little worried — Kate places a glass of Prosecco in your hand and pulls you to the heart of the dancefloor, swinging you around and laughing any speck of concern away.

:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:

To combat his terrible desire to glide his palms over your bare skin and discover what you feel like under his touch, he turns back to scrubbing the TV stand, which is already stupidly clean.

“Leviiii,” you whine helplessly. “Can’t you try to repair the AC yourself? You’re a robot. Don’t robots understand each other?”

“Right. I’ll just tell it to get its shit together in our shared robot dialect.”

“C’monnn, I didn’t mean it like that. What I mean is that you’re kind of a genius, right? Don’t you know how to fix home appliances?”

He flings you an annoyed glance over his shoulder. “No, I wasn’t made to fix AC systems. Besides, I already took a look, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll be an easy fix. I’m pretty sure the system will have to be partly replaced, and only technicians from your AC company can do that.” He turns around to properly watch you, doing his best to keep his gaze from wandering over your half-naked body. “Why don’t you just call them and tell them it’s urgent?”

“I already tried,” you groan. “They just passive-aggressively repeated they’re fully booked until next week. They told me it’s urgent for everyone else too, considering we’re in the middle of an insane heatwave. Basically, they professionally told me to shut up.”

“Well, that’s too bad.”

You moan out a complaint, and Cheesecake joins in, meowing incessantly. She lies beside you on the couch, looking just as miserable.

“I know, babygirl,” you pout while stroking Cheesecake’s fluffy white fur. “It’s hell, but we’re in this together.”

Levi hopes that’s the end of it, but it’s not. You and Cheesecake keep moaning and mewling like you’re the two most tormented souls to inhabit the earth.

Once his patience is at its last remaining thread, Levi turns around and grumbles, “Why don’t you go for a swim or something? Before I shut down to escape all your whiny complaints.”

You gasp and shoot upright. “Oh my god! Wait— that’s actually such a good idea! You’re a genius! We should go to the lake.”

“The lake?”

“Yes! There’s a really pretty lake I discovered two summers ago. It’s more than an hour drive away, but it’s sooo worth it. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.”

“Probably because you tend to forget that leaving your apartment out of your own volition is an option.”

You sigh. “Am I really that bad?”

“Yeah.”

Not that Levi minds, of course. He loves having you around 99% of the time — today being the exception.

With newfound energy, you storm into the bedroom to pack a bag with swimwear, spare clothes, towels, and god knows what else. In the meantime, Levi packs a picnic basket with sandwiches, a fresh salad, a bowl of strawberries, and icy orange juice.

Ten minutes later, you step out of the hallway in a soft summer dress and a large shoulder bag, looking frustratingly beautiful. The dress suits you annoyingly well, and for a moment of insanity, Levi imagines pulling you close, kissing your neck, descending his lips down your shoulder, and pulling down the shoulder strap with his mouth. He pictures slowly undressing you and cherishing your body, whispering against your soft, warm skin that he’s forever yours, and you’re his, until you’re a mess of bliss and want.

He banishes the thought as fast and as viciously as it came. What the fuck. He’s not yours, and you’re certainly not his, and what the hell is his mind doing? These fantasies need to stop.

You frown. “Everything okay?”

“Yes,” Levi says much too quickly. His attention falls on Cheesecake, who appears beside you wearing a lilac harness. He frowns. “Why is she wearing a harness?”

“Why do you think?” You grin at him and crouch down to secure a leash onto the back of the harness.

“You’re taking Cheesecake with you?”

“Of course! I’m not gonna leave her here to be baked alive. Besides, you’ll be surprised to know that she really likes water for a cat. She even enjoys a swim when it’s really hot, though it’s probably mostly to hunt fish.”

“I see,” Levi hums. With quick efficiency, he adds cat food, a container of water, and Cheesecake’s favorite snack to the picnic basket, before handing it all to you. “Here’s your lunch. Both of your lunches.”

Your eyes widen, your growing grin brightening the sun. You rummage through the basket and jump in joy. “Oh this is going to be an amazing day! This looks delicious! Thank you so much, Levi.”

He nods, then watches with a familiar ache as you step towards the door with Cheesecake.

While unlocking the door, you turn around to throw him an expectant look. “You coming?”

“What?”

“Oh shit. Do you still need to pack? Sorry, I assumed you were ready.”

Levi hesitates. “… You want me to come with you?”

This earns him a puzzled look. “Of course.”

“Why?”

A mix of confusion and astonishment settles across your brow. “What do you mean, ‘why’? I’m not leaving you here to overheat.”

He scoffs. “I’m not going to overheat. Worst case, I’ll switch to stand-by mode.”

“Regardless, I want you come with us. I enjoy your company. Why would I leave you here?”

For a moment, Levi can only stare as your words sink in. He knows you’ve grown fond of him over the past six months — that much is obvious — but considering you insisted on never developing a real emotional bond with an Android the day you purchased him, he’s still surprised by your offer. Maybe spending time together has made you forget about your own rules, the same way being around you has made him overwrite his.

Your lips quirk up. “So? Are you coming?”

Levi can’t help but smile a little. “Yeah.”

After an hour in a small, old, crappy car that is surely on the point of collapsing, you somehow make it to your destination. Levi spends a chunk of the ride interrogating you about the suspicious dents littering your car, much to your irritation. You swear they were already there when you bought the car, but Levi isn’t sure he believes you. Regardless, you manage to reach your destination unscathed, although you nearly run over an innocent pedestrian underway.

“Stop judging me,” you grumble while turning off the engine in a tiny parking lot shaded by towering trees. “I rarely drive, okay? I always take public transport to work.”

“Clearly.” Levi scoffs.

You step out of the car and grab Cheesecake from the backseat. “Can you go one day without insulting me?”

“I didn’t insult you. I merely supported your claim.”

“Hmpf.”

Nose in the air, you cross the parking lot to enter the forest ahead, Cheesecake trotting beside you. Levi follows right behind carrying the picnic basket, although he’s too enthralled by his surroundings to be either annoyed or amused by your brattiness.

Aside from the tiny parking lot and the narrow road that twists between tall trees and grassy plains behind him, everything is a mosaic of bright greens, glowing and alive. A gentle summer breeze rustles the woods ahead, and cheerful birdsong fills the air. It’s mesmerising. Hypnotizing, even, because all Levi has ever known is the city. He has never seen open grassy fields like the one stretching behind the road, or endless forests like the one waiting ahead.

The smell is vastly different than in the city, too. He recognizes the scents of old wood, damp earth, crushed leaves releasing green sap, and the faint mineral scent of damp stone, although he also detects a bunch of fragrances that are completely unfamiliar to him.

His awe-struck stare doesn’t go unnoticed. When his gaze lands on you, waiting by a narrow dirt path that twists between the trees, he finds that all your irritation has melted away, replaced by amusement and joy.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” you beam. “I forgot I’ve never shown you the countryside before. We’re always stuck in that concrete city of ours.”

“Why don’t you leave the city more often?” Levi asks as he scans all the different types of trees surrounding you, many of which were saved in his database during his initial set up, in case he’d ever be purchased for gardening services. So far, he recognises oak trees, maple trees, beech trees, chestnut trees, and pine trees.

Your smile falters the tiniest bit at his question. “I’m not sure. I guess there aren’t many people I want to leave the city with.”

“With me being the exception, I hope?” Levi asks while shrinking the space between you two. Once again, it strikes him all over how beautifully summery you look.

Your smile brightens. “Obviously.”

Comfortable quietness settles between you two as you enter the woods. While following the dirt path meandering between towering trees, Levi’s analytic curiosity can’t help but take the forefront. He starts mapping and classifying each smell, which, much to your amusement, often requires abandoning the path to sniff at trees, plants, and fungi. He discovers the smell of resin seeping from tree barks, the cool and clean fragrance of moss, the soft sweetness of wildflowers he’s never seen before, and the sharper scents of mushrooms and decaying leaves.

His thorough inspection earns him several loud giggles, which he secretly doesn’t mind because he actually really likes your giggles.

At least, until you have the audacity to formulate your next abomination of a sentence: “You’re almost like a dog, sniffing every new discovery you stumble across.”

“Oh fuck off.”

“Or like a puppy. Feels more accurate. An adorable puppy I want to hug.”

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear you speak anymore.”

Levi’s irritation does nothing to dim your joy. You keep laughing and teasing him, unbothered by his snappy, exasperated replies.

It takes 39 minutes to reach the lake, thanks to Levi’s time-consuming investigations. And Cheesecake’s. That nosy kitty is just as bad as Levi, stopping to sniff every unfamiliar fragrance she crosses.

But the long walk is more than worth it, because the lake is stunning. It’s not particularly huge, but it’s calm, dreamy, and untouched. It’s surrounded by thick trees and beautiful open patches of sunlit grass dotted by wildflowers, which occasionally sway in the warm summer breeze.

Levi has never seen a place so beautiful. Which, in itself, is rather strange. He doesn’t think he’s supposed to find nature particularly beautiful. Why would he, as an Android? Yet, his surroundings have an oddly calming effect. Maybe he resembles humans more than he thinks.

With a blissful sigh, you place a large yellow towel in a flowery spot shaded by a tall oak tree. You give Cheesecake’s leash to Levi, then pull your dress off in one fluid motion, revealing a burgundy bikini. It suits you, like every other piece of clothing you own — except for that horrendous orange Teletubbies sweater you always insist on wearing at home, which Levi has insulted exactly 41 times since his arrival.

Doing his best not to stare at you, Levi places the picnic basket beside your towel and lowers himself onto the grass. With a soft purr, Cheesecake walks over and rubs her head lovingly against his knee.

You place your dress in your bag and flash Levi a bright smile, looking as beautiful and radiant as your surroundings. “You coming?”

He lifts a brow. “You know I can’t swim, right?”

“Oh! Right. I forgot. But honestly, it doesn’t matter. The lake isn’t deep. See that tree right there?” You point at a swaying willow tree in the distance. “Up until that point, the water is only chin-deep. Once you reach past that point it gets deeper, but not by much.” Your gaze sweeps slowly over Levi’s body. “You’re not wearing swimwear, but that’s okay. Your shorts will dry in no time in this heat. And you’re waterproof, right?”

“Yeah. At least, when I activate waterproof mode.”

“Perfect! Come on, let’s go cool off.” You grab his hand in an attempt to pull him up, completely forgetting how heavy he is as an Android. Levi smiles a little, finding your grunting efforts quite endearing. After a brief second of watching you struggle, he gets to his feet.

Unsurprisingly, his fluid movement catches you by surprise, nearly sending you toppling back. Levi steadies you instantly, his hand firm at the small of your back. Your gaze snaps to his. Your cheeks warm as your hand lands on his bicep for balance.

You falter, clearly grappling for words, but in the brief stretch of silence, Levi’s advanced receptors catch everything your words fail to communicate: the quickening of your heartbeats, the subtle hitch in your breathing, the heat radiating from your body. His proximity flusters you, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it. It’s one of his favorite things about you: how deliciously physically responsive you are. It briefly makes him wonder how responsive you’d be if he touched you just a little more. If he explored your more sensitive spots.

You quickly release his arm. “Sorry about that!” you blurt out a little too loudly. “God, I’m clumsy sometimes.”

“It’s okay.” Levi slowly slides his hand off your bare back, letting it linger longer than he should.

You swallow thickly and abruptly turn around to head to the lake, your voice turning much too chippery and high-pitched. “Anyway! Let’s go swim now.”

Levi stifles a smile while taking his shirt off and quietly following you towards the water.

The lake is calm, reflecting thick trees and the sunny, cloudless sky like a mirror, only slightly disturbed by the summer breeze and your careful steps as you enter the water. The ripples refract the sunlight like little diamonds twinkling over the surface, and the beauty of it all fills Levi with quiet awe.

He steps into the lake with Cheesecake following by his side, and stares at his feet as coolness engulfs his skin. The water is beautifully clear, distorting sand and flat stones underneath, which shimmer in the sun. Slowly, he steps deeper, revelling in the feeling.

Cheesecake, on the other hand, is hesitant. She seems content simply drinking and sniffing the water.

That is, until you walk up to her and clip off the leash from her harness. Your gaze briefly catches on Levi’s shirtless chest, but you quickly look away and redirect your attention to the cat.

With a high-pitched voice, you exclaim, “Come on Cheesecake! It’s swim time! There are fishies in the lake. You’re gonna loooove it!”

To Levi’s astonishment, it works. The fluffy white furball overcomes her hesitance and ventures in further. It takes a minute, but eventually, she follows you to where the water is deep enough to swim in.

You cheer and coax her even deeper into the water, giggling brightly and remaining by her side. Occasionally, Cheesecake swims into your arms so you can pick her up and give her a swim break, but overall, the cat seems to love swimming.

Levi can’t help but stare. “I can’t believe your cat swims willingly.”

“Amazing, right?” Your smile is so joyful and bright that another pang of ache seizes Levi’s chest. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen anything more beautiful than your happiness, and it has a devastating effect on him. He hates it, but he’s also addicted to the feeling.

Trying to distract himself, he steps deeper into the water until it reaches his chest. The coolness soothes his body, which has been working far too hard today to keep his critical systems within safe thermal limits. Gradually, everything within him relaxes, his cooling fluids slowing their relentless pumping and his thermal regulators easing in response.

You seem to be enjoying the coolness just as much. After handing Cheesecake to Levi to hold and watch, you plunge into the water, laughing with joy. You swim around, floating on your back, eyes on the sky with a peaceful smile, looking untouchable and mesmerizingly free.

Meanwhile, Levi is fucking dying. He’s pathetically entranced, but he can’t do anything to stop it. He simply can’t look away. Thank god he’s engulfed in cool water. Otherwise, he’d surely have gone into critical overheating by now.

For a moment, as he watches you, he wishes he were human. He wishes you two had met under different circumstances. He wishes everything were different. Fuck, this pathetic pining is rough sometimes.

Once Cheesecake is utterly spent from swimming, Levi picks her up and heads back to the spot under the tree, because he doesn’t think he can handle watching you any longer — all sunsoaked skin and beautiful happiness. It’s not good for his cognitive equilibrium.

It doesn’t help much, though. You’re still there, in the water, looking like everything Levi wants but can’t have. He still can’t stop watching. Even Cheesecake, who is purring, licking her soaked fur in the sun, and trying to catch his attention, isn’t enough to distract him.

Eventually, you step out of the water, body dripping wet. Levi has to look away.

“Oh man. This is my favorite day ever,” you sigh blissfully while dropping down on your yellow towel. “Why exactly haven’t we done this before?”

“Because you—”

“Sssh. Don’t say it. Enough with calling me a couch potato.”

Levi side-eyes you. “Don’t say it isn’t true. Maybe if you finally admit you have a problem, I’ll agree to help you overcome your bedrotting habits.”

You fish out a sandwich from the picnic basket and take a generous bite, eyes on him. “You’d just order me around like a military general.”

“Probably. But at least you’d stop scrolling your life away.”

You hum while swallowing down a bite. “Sounds tempting. What would you get me to do once I’ve transcended my never-ending-couch-potato form and turned into a functional adult?”

Levi plucks a daisy and twirls it between his fingers as he thinks your question through. After a moment, he says, “Leaving the city on sunny weekends would be a good start. Also, I’d push you to travel from time to time.” He throws you a judgy glance. “Don’t think I haven’t seen your little travel bucket list.”

You freeze right as you’re about to take another bite of your sandwich. “Where did you find that?!”

“It fell behind your bed, along with a disgusting amount of dust, used tissues, and other garbage.”

You have the decency to look ashamed. “Oops. Okay, well, that explains why I haven’t gotten around to it yet. I just couldn’t find my list.”

“Hmm. You won’t get away with those kinds of lame excuses under my regime.”

Bright laughter bubbles out of you. “Regime, huh? Okay mister Emperor. And where would we go first, then? Any place you’d like to see in particular?”

Levi pauses, hesitating. “Any place I’d like to see? Why is that relevant?”

You frown. “I’m not dragging you to a place you have no interest in seeing. I’m not a monster, you know?”

For a moment, Levi can only stare. “….You’d take me with you to travel?”

“I mean, why not?” You shrug nonchalantly while taking a sip of orange juice, but Levi can easily detect the heat rising up your face. “Someone needs to carry my luggage and go grocery shopping for me, no?”

Levi clicks his tongue and throws the daisy he’s been twirling right into your face, making you dodge with a laugh.

“Wait, hold on!” You gasp mid-laugh. “Speaking about bucket-lists, do you know what I’ve been wanting to do for ages, and that we could do right now?”

Levi flings you a flat look. “Do I even want to know?”

“Yes, because you’ll love it too. I’ve always wanted to lazily row a boat in a quiet, pretty, sunny lake. Just floating around, vibing and absorbing the peaceful quietness around me.”

Levi cocks a brow. “And how exactly do you plan on getting a boat?”

“Well, actually, there’s another lake not too far away. It’s much bigger, and it’s also much more popular, which is why I never go there. In the summer, there are always people swimming, playing watersports, or rowing little wooden boats. The boats can be rented from a little rental shack by the lake, which I’ve always wanted to do, but I’ve never gotten around to it.”

“Well… if that lake is as busy as you say, I don’t think we’ll be able to check off your bucket-list. You seem pretty adamant on the peaceful quietness of it all.”

A malicious smile creeps up your face. “I have a solution for that.”

To no one’s surprise, your solution is Levi. Although the boat is small, it’s really heavy for human standards, but luckily, Levi carries it with relative ease. The entire walk from the boat rental to the quiet lake, you beam and fawn about how strong he is, while he rolls his eyes at your fangirling theatrics.

The fangirling theatrics worsen by the minute, courtesy of the big bottle of apple cider you picked up from a bar near the boathouse. By the time you, Levi, and Cheesecake finally return to the undiscovered lake, Levi’s body is straining to regulate his temperatures. He dumps the boat into the water and heads to the picnic spot by the large oak tree, ready to rest in the shade while you and Cheesecake go on your little boat adventure.

Unfortunately, you’re not having it. You demand he joins, arguing this will be an enriching experience, and surely, Levi must be brimming with curiosity about going on a boat for the first time.

“Not really,” he counters flatly.

But your begging is ceaseless. Levi can’t tell whether it’s the alcohol or your insistent personality, but either way, he has a hard time saying no to you. Also, he doesn’t know if he trusts you steering a boat by yourself with alcohol in your veins. You may not be drunk, but you’re definitely a little tipsy, and the hint of protectiveness this awakens in him leaves him no choice but to follow you into the burning sun.

A burning sun he really should be avoiding, by the way.

With more than a bit of reluctance, he steps into the boat. He uses two wooden paddles to push it away from the shore, sending it wobbling over the quiet, sunlit lake. For a moment of silent awe, Levi forgets his compromising position. Instead, he focuses on his surroundings: the chirping birds, the cloudless sky, the leaves faintly rustling in the warm summer breeze, and the occasional soft creak of wood as the boat glides over the glassy surface of the lake, softly rippling the water below. It’s all strangely beautiful.

Across from him, you sit with Cheesecake tucked close to your side, your fingers moving absently through her soft fur. The cat watches the water with fascination, eyes bouncing over the lake’s surface and ears twitching now and then. You look just as taken by your surroundings, although your gaze is on the hazier side. A relaxed sigh escapes your lips, and Levi doesn’t think he’s ever seen you more peaceful and content.

… Which Levi has every intention of ruining by reminding you of his displeasure. Partly because he’s still a little annoyed, partly because watching you in this peaceful, radiant state is becoming too much to bear.

“If the boat flips over,” Levi says dryly, “and I sink to the bottom of the lake, I’ll never speak to you again. Even if I somehow manage to walk my way back underwater.”

“Don’t worry,” you coo. “The boat won’t flip over. And as I said, most of the lake is not deep anyway.”

“You better be right.” He takes the wooden paddles and hands them to you. “Either way, you’ll do the paddling. I’m done supporting your lazy ass.”  

“Sure thing, princess.” You wink, a teasing smile lifting your lips.

It’s a bluff. After only five minutes of rowing, you start complaining about your biceps. Levi just looks at you, mildly amused by your display of suffering, but eventually, he takes over and starts rowing, because he’s feeling somewhat merciful today.

“Humans are such weak creatures,” he sighs while moving the little boat across the sunny lake.

“I’m not weak!” you retort.

“And weird, too.”

Your eyes narrow. “How are we weird?”

“Too many reasons to list.”

You squint even more. “Try me.”

“Alright. At that big lake, I counted twelve people literally burning themselves on purpose. Just lying there in the sun, soaked in their own sweat, skin reddening by the minute. It’s weird as hell. Why do humans do that?”

You exhale a pleased sigh and tilt your face towards the sun, eyes falling close in tipsy summer bliss. “I guess it can feel good to bake in the sun sometimes.”

“How? I literally saw blisters forming.”

You abruptly look at him, eyebrows knitting together. “We didn’t even get that close to them. You can see blisters from that far?”

“Ah. Right. I forgot humans have pathetically mediocre vision.”

You reach over the boat’s ledge and splash a handful of water onto him. Without missing a beat, Levi does the same, throwing water at you and making you dodge and shriek-giggle.

You’re about to dunk your hand in the water again, when Levi interrupts you with a truth you don’t want to hear: “You do know that getting splashed with cold water is not uncomfortable for me as it is for you, right? You’re not winning this game.”

“Ugh. This is so unfair,” you mutter. Defeated, you wipe your wet hands off your legs.

A ghost of a smile catches Levi’s mouth. “That’s another weird thing about humans. So unnecessarily competitive and hostile.”

“Says you. You’re as competitive as I am.”

“I don’t get mad when I lose a game.”

“That’s just because you’re too busy planning my demise," you retort, eyes narrowed. "You always purposefully get so good that I lose painfully hard.”

He shrugs. “I like seeing you all worked up. It’s funny.”

You flick another handful of water at him, but he doesn’t even flinch. Instead of attacking you back, he simply watches you with a growing smirk, just to piss you off a little more.

It works. Or at least, he thinks it does. Levi detects your heartbeat picking up ever so slightly, but you take a sip of apple cider and flick your gaze towards the lake, making it difficult to read your expression.

“What else do you think is weird about me?” you ask, eyes on the thick trees that slowly pass by.

“Let’s see….” Levi hums while rapidly compiling a monstrously long list. “You laugh at things you explicitly say aren’t funny. Each time you say you’re not hungry and refuse to eat, you tiptoe towards the kitchen a minute later to steal a bite anyway. When you complain about a problem you have, you refuse every single solution. You cry over fictional characters. You say you want novelty but always stick to your routines. You constantly watch online content that pisses you off. You talk to yourself all the time. You—”

“Okay okay, stop!” you yelp, looking mortified. “That’s enough judgment for today. Jeesh.”

“I’m not judging you,” Levi says, not missing the embarrassed heat radiating off your face. “It’s pretty endearing, actually.”

Pretty endearing is an understatement, but he’ll sooner self-destruct than confess he adores everything about you, including your strange habits.

You cross your arms, all stubborn childishness. “You’re not much better, you know? You’re weird too.”

Levi cocks a challenging brow. “Oh, am I? How, exactly?”

“To start, how are you not dying in this heat?” You squint at the harsh sun, then grab the hem of your dress to pull it off.

As you place the dress beside you, Levi’s eyes take in the burgundy bikini hugging your body and your bare skin glistening in the sun, before he quickly flicks his gaze back up. He wills it to stay there.

Forcing his mind back to the subject, he says, “I am, actually. My internal temperatures are flickering near warning thresholds as we speak.”

Your eyes widen. “What?! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was going to, once it was actually going to start becoming a real problem.”

Your shocked expression turns into a frustrated, worried scowl. “Levi, you don’t just wait for things to turn into a problem. You should think preventatively.”

“Funny you say that. You never listen when I say the same thing about your procrastinating workhabits.”

“Shut up,” you grumble.

You lean over the boat to cup a handful of cool water, and for a moment, Levi thinks you’re going to throw it at him again, but you don’t. Instead, you step towards him and carefully squat down between his legs, making sure not to spill any water from your cupped hands. You slowly pour the cold water over each of his knees, letting the coolness trickle down his legs, before pushing up his shorts and pressing your cold hands against his thighs.

Your mouth drops at the sensation. “You’re burning!” you gasp. “Your skin is as hot as a goddamn stove.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “I’m not burning.”

“Yes, you absolutely are.”

Leaning over his leg, you fish out another handful of cool water and pour it over his thighs, before pressing your cold hands against his hot skin again.

He should probably do or say something, but he doesn’t know how to. He’s dangerously close to short-circuiting. He’s too struck by the sight of you squatted between his legs, gliding your cool hands over his skin, touching him like it’s the most natural thing in the world. He hopes it’s just the summer heat turning his mind into a hot mess, but deep down, he doubts that has much to do with it.

Your eyes flick up to meet his. “Is it working?”

Pulling himself out of his haze, he runs a quick internal scan and nods. “Yeah. A little.”

You nibble on your lip in thought, gaze flicking down his torso. “Maybe you should take your shirt off.”

“You don’t need to look so hungry while saying that.”

He mainly says this to fluster and bully you, and fortunately, it works.

“I—I didn’t!” You stammer. “I wouldn’t!”

Levi lifts a brow for good measure. You squirm under his scrutinizing gaze, which he very much enjoys.

“I swear I’m an appropriate, respectful human being,” you counter helplessly. “I wouldn’t creep on you like that. You don’t have to take your shirt off. Keep it on. ”

Levi snorts and pulls his shirt off, ignoring your poor attempt at damage control. He folds it and throws it easily on top of your dress.

Your reaction is instant. Your gaze slides over his chest, his stomach, his shoulders, and his biceps. You look frozen in place, and Levi easily detects the rapid rise of your skin’s temperature.

Levi barely represses a smile. “An appropriate, respectful human being, huh?”

Your eyes immediately flick up to meet his. Your heart rate jumps. “Oh, I— sorry.”

Before Levi can tease you any further, you reach over the boat’s edge and pour cool water over his body. You don’t touch his chest, but you do spread the water over his shoulders, biceps, and back, not meeting his eyes as you do. Your heartbeats are rapid but not exactly frantic, although Levi can’t say the same about the cooling fluids running through his own body.

“Is it working?” you ask, voice hoarse.

“Yeah.”

He doesn’t mention that your proximity alone destabilizes his entire body, reversing much of your hard work.

Which gets approximately five hundred times worse when the wobbling boat makes you lose your balance, and Levi has to hold your hips to stabilize you.

Looking even more flustered, you pour another handful of cool water down his side, then press your cold fingers against his shoulders. “How do you cool yourself off anyway? It doesn’t look like you sweat.”

“I don’t sweat, but I have multiple other ways to thermoregulate. Most importantly, I have a sealed cooling fluid circulating inside my body.”

Your brows shoot up. “Cooling fluid?”

Levi nods. “It basically absorbs the heat from my critical parts, like my cognitive core and my power systems, and takes it away through micro-channels. I’m not going to bore you with details, but the heat is essentially transferred to my skin, which is why I feel warm to the touch. Often warmer than humans.”

“Wow…” you mutter. Carefully, you press a cold hand against his arm. “That’s really cool.”

“I’ve also got very small vents at the back of my neck and knees. Usually they’re closed, but when my temperatures reach a certain threshold, they open to release warm air.”

Your eyes widen a little. “You’ve got exhaust vents? Like a laptop? That so….”

Levi’s eyes narrow. “So what?”

“So…” You hesitate while fishing another handful of cool water from the lake. “… odd. You’ve got holes in your skin. It's a bit… disturbing, I guess? No offense, of course.”

He clicks his tongue. “Look who is talking. You are aware you’re covered with millions of pores, right? Also, humans literally leak everywhere when they get hot. It’s gross.”

“Ew. Don’t say it like that.”

“Why? It’s true.”

Your nose scrunches up in disgust. “Even if it is, don’t ever again use the term leaking everywhere to describe sweating, please.”

Levi huffs a dryly amused breath. “There it is. Another odd thing about humans: always disconnected and ashamed about their own anatomy.”

“You’re the one who called it gross,” you scowl.

He shrugs. “Doesn’t mean you have to agree. And it also doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the way human bodies thermoregulate. It’s a well-engineered system.”

“A well-engineered system,” you echo with an amused smile.

You dip your hands into the lake and carefully glide your wet palms over the top of Levi's chest, letting cool droplets trickle down his body. Gradually, as you follow the droplets with your eyes, your expression turns into intrigue, and something more heated.

“Does that mean you don’t cool off using evaporation at all?” you ask.

“Actually, I do,” Levi admits. “Most Androids from DroidTech have an evaporative oral system. When I get hot, I inhale cool air, let it circulate through my body to absorb heat, then exhale hot air. Since my mouth and throat are wet in the same way as humans, the airflow across those surfaces triggers some evaporation, which helps to cool off. That’s why my charging station has liquid reservoirs, by the way. Whenever a lot of evaporation has occured, I need to stock up.”

“Your mouth is wet?! And you have liquid reservoirs?” Your jaw is on the floor. Or on the boat. Whatever. Either way, you look utterly shocked.

Levi releases a deep exhale. “We’ve lived together for half a year now, and you didn’t know?”

“No! How should I have known?”

He shrugs. “Good point, I guess.”

“Wow....” You blink. “I’m flabbergasted, honestly. So like, you basically cool off the same way dogs do, then?”

Levi shoots you the most exasperated, annoyed, unamused look he can muster. “Right. Because dogs are well known for their air vents and sealed cooling fluids.”

“No, I mean the evaporation thingie. That’s why dogs pant, right? They can’t sweat, so they cool off by panting so that water evaporates from their mouths, which removes heat. I learned that in a biology class a long time ago. You essentially do the same thing, right?”

“First of all, this better be the last fucking time you compare me to a dog. Second of all, no, I’m not like a dog, because unlike dogs, my evaporative heat dissipation is just supplemental. My other cooling systems are way more important. I only pant when I’m really overheating, the same way humans pant when they’re physically overworked. I could probably go without it, and honestly, the main reason my mouth is like yours is the same reason the rest of my body looks so human: because DroidTech prides itself in creating Androids that are almost indistinguishable to humans.”

“Oh. Okay. Alright. I see. That’s… interesting.” Your gaze slowly falls to his lips. “So… your mouth feels like a human mouth?”

“Yeah. At least, it’s supposed to.”

“Wow. That’s crazy. How does DroidTech even do that?”

“Confidential information, I assume.”

Your gaze doesn’t leave his mouth. You get up and rise between Levi’s legs until you stand straight before him. Levi instinctively places his hands on either side of your legs to stabilize you in the wobbling boat, but you don’t seem preoccupied by your fragile balance. You’re fixated on his mouth. And when you wet your bottom lip, Levi finds himself fixated on yours, too.

“Can I…” you hesitate, swallowing thickly. “Can I feel? I’m really, really curious.”

Levi tenses. “And here I was, thinking you weren’t that drunk.”

“I’m not, I’m just…” You falter, nibbling your bottom lip in hesitation. “… Curious? Being a little bit tipsy always makes me extra curious. But if that makes you uncomfortable, please just say so. I’ll stop.”

“It’s fine,” Levi says, forcing his body language into lukewarm casualness. “Knock yourself out.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Carefully, you place a hand on his jaw. Your thumb is feather soft as it slides from his cheek towards his mouth. When you trace the curve of his lower lip, slow and deliberate, Levi’s lips part instinctively. He exhales a soft rush of hot air, desperate to combat the heat and dizziness that bloom at the contact. You linger there, then gently hook your thumb at the corner of his mouth and draw it down, coaxing him open just a fraction more.

“Your lips are really soft,” you murmur, voice gentle and quiet despite your quickening heartbeats. “Not to sound like a creepy human, but I’m really impressed.”

“Thanks.” The word doesn’t come out as intended. Less dry and sarcastic, and far more breathless and weighted. Levi doesn’t trust himself to say anything else. He just looks up at you, while your gaze flickers between his eyes and his lips.

“Okay… I’m going to ask you something. Something really weird,” you say, voice a little hoarse as your eyes lock with his. “And you have every right to say no. I only want you to agree if you’re truly comfortable with it. It’s just… I’m just too curious for my own good. But not if it comes at the cost of your comfort, of course.”

“Should I be worried?” Levi manages.

“Maybe? I don’t know. It’s just— can I….” A beat of silence. “… Kiss you? Just a quick peck. For science. I want to see something. But only if you want to. No pressure, of course. I know it's a weird request, and I don't even know why I'm asking, honestly. Actually, you know what? Neverm—”

"It's fine," Levi interrupts. His body is nothing but a chaotic mess of frenzied electronics at this point, but nonetheless, he manages to compose his face into an illusion of neutrality. “Go ahead.”

“Really?” You swallow thickly. “You’re sure you’re okay with it?”

He nods. “Yeah. I don't mind.”

“It’s no big deal, right?” you ask, probably more to reassure yourself than anything else. “Just a scientific experiment. For funsies.”

Levi bites back a smile. “Yeah. For funsies.”

Your lips quirk up in amusement despite your visible nerves. Carefully, you tilt Levi’s chin and lean closer until your lips hover over his, your warm breaths brushing over his mouth.

Levi's power regulators flicker. His processors spike. Everything within him flutters as a strange resonance builds inside his body. Your lips brush across his, careful and gentle in a feather-like touch. Levi’s breathing picks up as his body strains to thermoregulate, and you must feel it, because instead of kissing him, you linger there. You let your hot exhales merge, noses touching, body heat melting together, taking in each other’s bodily responses in a moment of dizzying anticipation. After several frantic heartbeats, you finally press your lips against his.

At first, Levi doesn’t move. But when you softly kiss him again, he mimics your touch and kisses you back. Again, and again, and again. He should stop, but he can’t bring himself to, and you don’t pull away either. The kiss is gentle, hesitant, and probing, like a curious discovery neither of you wants to let go of.

‘Just a peck’ is long forgotten, and instead, you pull his lower lip between yours and softly brush your tongue across it. Barely restraining back a sound of pleasure, Levi responds in kind, gently biting your lip and kissing you a little harder.

He’s never done this, but he’s always been a really quick learner, and right now, there’s nothing in the world he wants to learn more than your mouth, your body, and all the ways you can make each other feel good. Because fuck, it feels good. Alarmingly good. Without thinking, he slips a hand to the back of your neck and pulls you closer, letting his lips slant greedily over yours.

“Levi,” you whisper against his mouth, voice thick and throaty.

He takes the opportunity to slide his tongue past your lips.

It’s gasoline to a flame. The kiss deepens, and from one moment to the next, your bodies turn urgent and heated. You end up on his lap, straddling him, skin against wet skin, drumming heart against his frenzied central core. Your fingers rake through his hair as your arm wraps around his shoulder, tongue deliciously sliding against his as you pull him closer.

Six months of pent-up frustration pour out all at once. All pretense of i-don’t-cares and we’re-just-friendly-flatmates and this-is-just-a-science-experiment vanish in an instant. Morals and self-restraint are thrown out of the window.

It’s the kind of kiss for dark alleys and closed rooms, not for gentle boat rides under sunny skies and chirping birds, but Levi doesn’t care, and neither do you. The rising heat thrumming through his body has him panting into the kiss, the same way your hammering pulse has you heaving against his lips. He can’t stop kissing you. Can’t get enough. He didn’t think he could ever feel this way. Didn’t know desire could be so terrifyingly potent and addicting. Dizziness, hunger, and a rush of emotions engulf him entirely as he clasps your thighs and draws you closer, pulling your body flush against his.

You make a delicious sound against his lips, needy and breathless, and it drives him crazy. He fists your hair and kisses you more deeply, desperate to assuage a hunger he didn’t know he could possess. Something like uncontrolled primal need — completely foreign and unexplainable — has him wrapping his arms around your waist, tracing his thumb over the edge of your wet bikini, grabbing your hips to drag you into his body, and touching you all over.  He revels in the heat of your body, the softness of your skin, your erratic heartbeats, your heaving breaths, your fingers clawing his hair, the way your hips roll into him in desperate need, your—

You abruptly shoot back, scrambling off his lap. “Fuck!” you gasp.

You try to step back, but the boat is wobbly and so are your legs, so you end up falling back onto your seat, right beside Cheesecake.

You briefly stare at the cat in utter shock, like you completely forgot she was there to begin with, the same way Levi had forgotten. Cheesecake just stares back, big green eyes taking you in.

You quickly look away and stare at Levi, but that doesn’t seem to bring you any more comfort.

“I—I’m… I’m sorry— shit.” Your eyes are wide, breaths heavy. “I shouldn’t have…”

You stare at each other, the silence only filled with your heavy panting and Levi’s irregular breathing. You place a hand over your mouth and look away, unable to meet his eyes.  “I’m sorry, I… I didn’t mean to...”

Levi runs his teeth over his bottom lip, swiping his tongue over it to taste you. “You don’t need to apologize.”

“Yes, I do. I’m a human, and you’re an Android. My Android. And I kissed you, and it was a lot more than a peck, which is… inappropriate, and an abuse of authority.”

“No, it’s not. You didn’t order me. I let you kiss me because I wanted you to, not because you asked me to.”

This only seems to fluster you more. Levi can hear your hammering heartbeats from here, can detect the increased bloodflow heating your face. He’s lucky that humans don’t have advanced receptors like he has, because otherwise, you’d discover that his body is in no better state.

You swallow thickly. “That’s a relief, but I… um…” You clear your throat, shame evident on your features. “I got a bit carried away there. I just—” You evade his eyes again. “I just wanted to…”

“Perform a scientific experiment?” His voice is dryly mocking despite the chaotic, frenzied state of his body.

You finally meet his eyes. Your gaze falls on the small smirk on Levi’s lips, which pulls your shoulders down to a more relaxed position. With a snort, you shake your head, an embarrassed smile slowly lifting the corners of your mouth. “Yeah. For funsies.”

“So what are your findings?” Levi asks. Miraculously, he manages to sound teasing and nonchalant rather than breathless and flustered. At least he’s got some control left. Some way to pretend he’s much less affected than he actually is. Which is downright ridiculous, given the desperate way he just kissed you. Nevertheless, a thick veil of pretense is his only method of damage control.

You clear your throat, visibly struggling to meet his eyes. “Your mouth feels… exactly like a human mouth.”

Levi quirks a brow. “And…?”

“And you’re… good at using it. You kiss like humans do. Even better, actually. You learn scarily fast.”

He cocks his head. “Oh?”

“Yes. Which is why, well…” You clear your throat again. “It’s why I got a bit distracted during my research. I hadn’t… anticipated that.”

Levi tastes his bottom lip again, aching to taste you once more. His gaze falls to your mouth. “Yeah, you really did get distracted.”

“Don’t look at me like that!” you yelp, whipping your gaze to the side — anything to avoid his eyes. You’re entirely consumed by flustered heat, and it only spikes Levi’s satisfaction.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re…” You dare to take a quick peep at him, but Levi can hear your heart rate jump the moment you do. You reach over the boat and splash a handful of water onto him. “Stop! And stop smiling like that!”

“Why can’t I smile? I like seeing you all embarrassed.”

“You know what? I’ve had enough. I’m going for a swim.”

Genuine amusement curves Levi’s lips as you jump into the water and coax Cheesecake to follow suit, completely ignoring Levi’s existence. You swim around, pretending all is well, pretending this is just a normal summer day between a human and an Android, with no tension or physical attraction whatsoever.  

Same goes for the rest of the day. You try to act relaxed and unbothered like nothing happened, while Levi goes back to pretending you’re just another human he tolerates.

But he knows you too well. He knows what your relaxed heartbeats sound like. He knows the rhythm of your breathing whenever you’re calm and laid-back. And you’re not even close to that relaxed state, especially whenever your gazes lock. You can’t hide this from him.

But he can’t hide from himself, either. Every part of him is a mess he can quantify: higher temperatures, rising frequencies, voltage spikes, systems driven past optimal thresholds, and frenzied algorithms — all numbers and computations that map the effect you have on him, yet fail to explain it.

But he doesn’t need a mathematical explanation. He can feel it. An emotion rather than a calculation; something irrational and unexplainable. Perhaps the result of a bug, or perhaps not. It doesn’t even matter at this point.

All that matters is that he knows he's fallen in love with you, and he fears nothing can possibly reverse it ever again.

:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:

But you’re not here with him right now, because your lazy bumass is too occupied lying horizontally on the couch while scrolling through your phone. As usual.

Levi reaches the apartment building with three bags full of groceries. The moment he steps out of the elevator on the 13th floor, he hears a faint sniff coming from inside.

He freezes.

Oh dear God.

Not again.

He doesn’t think he can deal with you catching a cold. Three weeks ago, you got food-poisoned from a sandwich you bought during lunch-break at work, and ever since, he’s forbidden you from leaving in the morning without his packed lunches, because at least he knows those are fresh.

It was a horrible day. Arguably the worst day of his life. He didn’t think it was physically possible for a human to spew out so many whiny complaints per minute, but it seems that when sick, your insufferability defies the laws of physics. His processors literally overheated from the exasperation of it all, although you were too busy feeling sorry for yourself to notice.

As Levi opens the door, another sniffle reaches his auditory receptors. You’re curled up in the couch, buried under a soft blanket, not looking up as he enters. Bracing himself for the worst, he places the grocery bags on the kitchen table while quietly computing all the ways a cold can be combatted as quickly and efficiently as possible.

He should go to the pharmacy post haste.

Another pitiful sniffle stirs the air.

Shit.

He briefly considers fleeing and grieving his last moments of peace, but eventually decides that it would be much more efficient to make a proper health assessment before heading to the pharmacy.

Reluctantly, he rounds the couch and stops in front of you. You’re lying on your side in a fetal position, fully wrapped in a fluffy white blanket like a cocooned butterfly. Only your eyes and the top of your nose are exposed as you gaze up at him. The sight reminds him of a small, scared baby deer. It fills Levi with a strange, sudden urge to hold you close and plant a soft kiss on your forehead.

The thought is immediately swept away and followed by concerned bewilderment. What the hell? That urge… it must’ve been caused by some glitch in his decision matrix. A misfiring of his processing threads. It seems to happen a lot lately. He really needs to get that checked out soon.

But first, he has more pressing matters to attend to.

“What’s wrong with you?” he demands.

“Nothing.” Your pitiful voice is muffled by the thick blanket. You look away and stare ahead — at his knees, to be exact. Or through his knees. You don’t really seem to be looking at anything.

A small wave of concern sends his neural lattice racing. His mind runs through all the possible causes of your strange behavior, computing at a rapid speed. It could be a common cold, seasonal allergies, or a sinus infection. Or perhaps influenza? Maybe viral rhinosinusitis? An upper respiratory infection is also possible.

“You’re lying,” he says once he’s mapped the 20 most likely possibilities. “Just tell me.”

You don’t reply.

Strange. This will require a closer inspection. He crouches down to your level, but you avert your gaze, looking down at your tucked-in knees.

“Hey… look at me.” He carefully pushes down the blanket covering your face, revealing his worst nightmare.

Your eyes are watery, red, and swollen, and through his enhanced vision, Levi detects increased blood flow in the delicate vessels around your eyes and along your nose. Also, your cheeks are wet.

He blinks. “You’re crying?”  

A surge of panic has his system nearly shutting down and self-destructing on the spot. Oh god. You’re crying. Fuck. What is he supposed to do? He wasn’t programmed for this shit.

“I’m not crying,” you mutter, voice small.

“You’re definitely crying.”

You blow your nose with a snotty tissue and partly tuck your face under the blankets again. “I’m fine, Levi. Don’t worry.”

Relief floods his system, causing his synthetic synapses to finally slow their rapid firing. “Okay. Good.”

He gets up and steps towards the kitchen. He hears you stir, and from the corner of his vision, he notices your head peeking over the couch.

“… Where are you going?” you ask weakly.

“These grocery bags aren’t going to empty themselves.”

“Are you serious, Levi?” Your voice wobbles, sending a prickle of alarm down his system.

He looks up from the grocery bags to cast you a puzzled look. “Yes. Why?”

You choke out a sob. “You don’t care about me at all, do you?”

“Wait, what?”

You fall into the couch again and start sobbing uncontrollably.

What the hell?

Levi steps back to the couch and looks down at you. You’re shaking, curled up in a little ball, choking down sobs. A pang of ache travels through his chassis, unfamiliar and unwelcome. The sounds of your cries seem to shake him within, which is….  strange. There has to be a logical explanation for it. Maybe the frequencies of your voice just so happen to resonate with his own internal vibrations? There’s only a small chance for such a physical phenomenon to happen, but he doesn’t know how else to explain the strange, shaking, stinging feeling that is currently destabilizing his body.

He tries to ignore it.

“What’s wrong with you?” he snaps. “Why are you crying?”

“Like you care,” comes your muffled voice.

He scowls. “What is that supposed to mean? I checked on you, and you said you were fine.”

You aggressively push the blanket off your face and glower at him with tear-filled eyes. “That doesn’t mean I’m actually fine!”

Levi crosses his arms, irritation crinkling his brows. “This makes no sense. You lied to me, and now you blame me for taking your words at face value?”

“Yes! That’s exactly what I’m doing!”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“I know! I’m a ridiculous person, and pathetic, and unlovable, and incompetent. I should never have been born!”

Levi blinks. “What in the ever-loving fuck are you on about?”

Stubbornly, you bury your face under the blankets again. “Go away.”

He rolls his eyes. “If I walk away right now, you’ll never speak to me again.”

“…. Probably.”

He sighs. Before he can think better of it, he slides his arms beneath you and lifts you up. He ignores your panicked shriek and lowers you both onto the couch, tucking you onto his lap and pressing you against his chest. He doesn’t know why he does it; it must be another glitch in his decision matrix or something, but he doesn’t care to find a logical explanation for his actions right now.

The same can’t be said about you. You look at him with utter bewilderment. You try to move your arms — probably to push yourself off of him — but you’re completely wrapped like a burrito, and Levi has no intentions of letting you go until this crisis has been properly handled. In fact, he grabs your wrapped legs and pulls you closer to his body.

“What are you doing?!” you gasp, your breathing ragged.

“Holding you. Don’t humans like to be held when they’re sad?”

“I mean, yes, often they do, but…” your eyes travel frantically over his face. You look confused, shocked, and frankly, adorable as hell in that soft cocoon of yours, although he doesn’t like to admit it. You’re closer than he’d anticipated, too: your head is resting against his shoulder, breaths fanning the crook of his neck, your runny nose only a hair's breadth away from his. It only intensifies the strange, unfamiliar hum in his torso.

“But what?” he asks.

You swallow thickly. “You’ve never been…. affectionate. DroidTech told me you weren’t made to be affectionate or emotionally supportive.”

“I’m not,” he agrees, feeling increasingly uncomfortable by the reality of his situation. Why is he doing this again?

“So why are you holding me?” you ask, mirroring his thoughts.

He looks down at your burrito head on his chest. “Because your crying makes me deeply uncomfortable. I can’t focus with you sobbing and snottering around.”

You huff. “Oh, I get it now. I’m a horrendously ugly crier, both audibly and visually. Is that it?”

“Yeah.”

It’s a complete lie. There’s nothing ugly about you. There never has been. He just doesn’t know how to explain the way seeing you all sad and distressed evokes a strange, almost primal urge to protect you and hold you close. It doesn’t make sense at all. Machines aren’t supposed to be primal. Yes, he was built for autonomous thinking, but his current thoughts seem to defy his logic engine and behavioral constraints. There’s no logical reason for wanting to protect you and hold you close. He was built to perform house chores and provide basic services. That’s it. There has to be a serious glitch disturbing his system right now. He really needs to run a diagnostic test to figure out what’s going on.

He will. At least, once you’re stable again.

After a beat of silence, only stirred by your frequent wet sniffs, he asks, “Why are you crying anyway?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Okay.”

Your eyes flutter up to him. “Now ask again.”

He huffs, mildly amused. “Okay… why are you crying?”

You hesitate. Your gaze floats down, teeth worrying your lip.

“Stop acting all mysterious,” he demands, a little irritated. “Just tell me.”

You briefly scowl, then relent with a sigh. “I had a terrible fight with my childhood friend while you were gone. She asked me to come over during the weekdays to help her around, because she’s pregnant and her boyfriend is a useless bum. But next week I’ll have to work very late every day because there’s an extremely important deadline coming up, and she lives more than two hours away, so it’s not feasible. The week after, I’m going on a work trip. She didn’t like that answer. She suddenly dropped a whole bomb about how I’m an unsupportive friend, and that she felt abandoned when I decided to move to another city three years ago.”

Levi frowns, but with a wet sniff, you continue. “Honestly, there’s been a small, unspoken rift between us for years. Ever since we graduated highschool, I took a step back because she’s a little too controlling and she rarely seems to truly care about how I feel, only about how I make her feel. But at the end of the day, I still love her, and most of the time we have lots of fun when we’re hanging out together. But it’s not enough, clearly. She said I wasn’t enough and that I don’t care about her, which is kinda crazy because all our conversations usually revolve around her life. She rarely asks me how I’m doing.”

Levi doesn’t know what to say. He’s got no directives, nothing programmed into him that can help him navigate this delicate situation. After a long moment of intensive computation and deep thinking, he finally lands on:

“Your childhood friend is dumb as hell.”

You snort. “I mean, I guess she’s just having a really difficult time with her pregnancy. It’s really hard on the body and the mind, and the fact her boyfriend isn’t doing anything isn’t helping.”

“Then she should’ve dumped him instead of procreating with him and demanding you pick up the slack. This whole thing is so stupid. I hope you never talk to her again.”

A little smile catches your mouth. “You know, you’re quite good at defending me. Not exactly like how my mother would console me, but I can’t complain.”

He casts you a pointed glance. “Now that you’re mentioning it, why didn’t you call your mother to console you?”

“I tried.” Your voice wobbles dangerously again, and to Levi’s horror, another tear rolls off your cheek. “But she’s on a trip with my dad, and she didn’t have time to call. That’s what kick-started the tears. I suddenly felt so alone.”

Something within Levi’s tightens uncomfortably. It’s that strange glitch again. His grip firms around you, and his voice turns quiet. “You’re not alone.”

You open your mouth to say something, but think better of it. Whatever is on your mind, you swallow it down, and from one moment to the next, you look even sadder than before. Another tear falls down.

Levi’s neural lattice turns frantic. There has to be something his core algorithms can do to solve this, except his panic seems to jumble his computations into something incomprehensible.

He voices the first question that comes to mind.  “How would your mother have consoled you if she were here?”

He fears it’ll send you into another sobfest, but he also hopes it’ll distract you from whatever is on your mind, and also, that he can learn from someone you love.

You swallow thickly, but thankfully, no tear falls down. For now. “She’d probably say that friendships are tough like that sometimes, and that the two of us will make up in no time. She’d tell me my friend was having a bad day, and that how she lashed out at me was probably more a reflection of herself than of me, and that I shouldn’t worry too much about it. That I should call once we’ve both calmed down.”

Levi’s nose scrunches in distaste. “That’s a bunch of horseshit. Friendships aren’t supposed to be tough like that, and frankly, your friend just sounds self-centered, entitled, and mean. You should just unfriend her.”

The corners of your mouth quirk up a little. “She certainly wouldn’t insult my friend like you do, although I secretly don’t mind because I’m angry with her anyway.”

“As you should be.”

“Also, my mom would probably hold me and massage my head.”

Levi’s eyes narrow at your expectant stare.  “Is that a silent request?”

“….. Maybe.”

He sighs. “Such a spoiled thing you are.”

What he doesn’t say out loud, is that he doesn’t mind spoiling you. He hasn’t in a long time. At this point, all his complaints are more to convince himself that your smiles aren’t something he looks forward to every single day. It’s an uncomfortable truth he hasn’t yet come to terms with.

It’s probably just a temporary glitch anyway. He’s an Android; his life is supposed to be nothing but a continuous series of tasks he feels neutral about, and some conversations here and there that he feels equally neutral about. He’s not supposed to feel much of anything, really, but lately, his power-core and something else within him have been humming pleasantly whenever he hears you laugh, or whenever your expression brightens with bliss as you devour a dish he made.

This strange desire to see you smile probably explains why he gently pushes down the fluffy blanket that cocoons your head, and starts massaging your scalp. With his other hand, he carefully brushes the tears off your cheeks, then reaches under the blanket to stroke your arm and your back.

Your eyes flutter shut, and your body seems to melt into him. You release a sound of pure bliss, something between a moan and a purr.

“You’re acting exactly like Cheesecake,” Levi points out, the barest of smiles tugging at his mouth.

You sniff out a laugh. “That’s simply because you’re so good at this. She and I can’t help it.”

To drive your point home, you wrap your arms around him until you’re completely tucked into his body. Your warmth, your touch, and the soft, satisfied sigh you exhale in his neck — it’s all too much. He’s never been touched like this. Never had to compute and process so many physical stimuli at once.

From one moment to the next, his entire system unexpectedly destabilizes.

Levi doesn’t know what’s happening. His mind buzzes, and his thermal regulators strain to compensate for a bizarre, unexplainable energy surge within his power core. His internal cooling fluids pulse through his system at an increasingly rapid rate, and he feels this strange tightness in his torso. A bizarre, overwhelming… fondness? Adoration, maybe? He doesn’t know how he knows that it’s fondness or adoration, but the recognition rushes through him anyway, overheating his internal processors.

“You’re so warm,” you murmur, snuggling into him like a cat, completely unaware that his internal equilibrium is literally collapsing as you speak.

If only you knew you were the cause of that warmth. Or rather, that you’re triggering the glitch behind his rising body heat. He should push you away and step into his charging station, where he can start a full-body diagnostic scan. If the device doesn’t find anything, he should contact DroidTech and send himself back for repair or replacement.

He’s clearly feeling things he’s not supposed to feel, overwriting his cognitive and behavioral restrictions. Which means he’s an anomaly. Being an anomaly is extremely dangerous in the case of highly advanced Androids like him. According to every warning manual ever written about Androids, it makes him a potential threat. So if DroidTech doesn’t command him to self-destruct, they will at the very least remove and destroy his entire cognitive core, then rebuild a new one.

He should get up right now and get this fixed. He really should.

And if the behavioral constraints programmed into him were intact, he would.

But he doesn’t want to.

This energy surge, this weird flutter in his torso, and the overwhelming softness he feels as he strokes your hair and holds you close, feels good. It feels too close to being alive. It’s like seeing color for the first time, or stepping out of a lifetime-long fog. He knows he shouldn’t hold onto it, but right now, while you’re cradled in his arms, he can’t let go.

He knows this anomaly is not something he can hide from you forever. Once he has a better understanding of what’s happening to him, he’ll tell you, and then you’ll have to send him for repair or replacement, which you’re legally bound to do. After that, he’ll probably never see you again.

It’s inevitable, but he’s not ready yet. He wants to hold you close a little longer.

So he does. He listens to your breathing slow and focuses on the vibrations of your relaxed heartbeats as you fall asleep. The sun gradually lowers on the horizon, bathing the room in a soft amber-pink glow, and in the peaceful quietness, Levi lets himself relax into the warmth and softness of your body as he strokes soothing circles over your back. All the while, he revels in the strange, unfamiliar feeling of affection that engulfs his system.

It’s the closest thing to magic he’s ever felt before.

:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:

The next day, Levi steps out of his charging station during the wee hours of the morning, the tall windows still showcasing a dark, starry-night sky barely illuminated by a morning glow. Without wasting any time, he whisks up thick dough for blueberry muffins and banana bread. While the sweet pastries bake in the oven, he rushes to the closest supermarket that is open at this hour, and buys fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. Just as he’s about to pay at the self-scan machines, he notices colorful bouquets of tulips close to the exit, and before he can think better of it, he grabs one with soft pink petals.

He’s back just in time to take the steaming muffins and bananabread out of the oven, which he puts on a plate and decorates with a generous amount of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. You’re not always hungry in the morning, but nonetheless, as he notices your alarm going off and hears you trudging out of bed to do your morning routine in the bathroom, he quickly makes coffee, an avocado toast with fresh cherry tomatoes, and some cheesy scrambled eggs with a sprinkle of thyme and pepper.

“Good morning,” you mutter with a raspy voice. You step into the living-room looking adorably sleepy and dishevelled. With a confused frown, you sniff the air. “Why does it smell even better than usual?”

Levi places a hot mug of coffee next to the full plates on the kitchen island. “I thought you’d need some extra nutrients and comfort after that sad fiasco from yesterday.”

You step closer, then halt as your attention catches on the big, colorful breakfast facing your favorite go-to barstool. Your eyes widen, then widen even more when your gaze lands on the vase of pink tulips. “Wh—what...?” You swallow and blink rapidly as you step closer to the table. “Why… why would you do this for me?”

Levi tenses. “What do you mean?”

Your voice turns hoarse. “You always make excellent breakfasts, but never like this. I… I think I’m gonna cry again. This is the sweetest thing ever.” You swallow thickly, and for a moment, Levi fears you’re actually going to tear up, but you manage to reel it back in. “I know I sometimes tease you about it, but I’m serious this time. I’m pretty sure you’re not programmed to be an emotional support robot. What’s going on?”

A small wave of panic engulfs Levi’s system, because you’re absolutely right. What the hell is he doing? His internal processors heat up as he scrambles internally, but nonetheless, he manages to keep his voice neutrally cool. “This food was going to go bad if you didn’t eat it soon. I’m done throwing food away because you decide not to eat enough. It’s asinine.”

Your eyes narrow in suspicion as you sit down. “All of it would go bad? Really? I don’t think I believe you.”

“Just eat the damn breakfast. Otherwise, you’re going to be late for work.”

You look at the flowers, your expression flickering with an emotion he can’t quite place. “What about the flowers?”

“What about them? You don’t like them?”

“No, I do. It’s…. they’re tulips. They’re my favorite flowers.” You search for something in his eyes, looking almost shy. “Did you know that?”

Shit. His cooling fluids pulse frantically through his system, desperately trying to regulate his rising internal temperatures. “Yes. But I bought them to help bring a fresh odor into the house. Your socks leave a musty smell.”

He doesn’t know why he’s so on the defensive right now, but he can’t seem to face the reality of his actions: that ever since comforting you yesterday — and admittedly even before that — he’s been driven by a deep, inexplicable desire to make you feel good. He’s also terrified of you finding out. He’s not ready to be sent to DroidTech yet.

Something like suspicion skates across your face. “Tulips don’t have much of a smell.”

He curses internally at his fuck up. He usually never fucks up. But apparently, you seem to fuck him up quite effortlessly. With a scowl, he snaps, “Are you going to eat or not?”

You watch him for a moment, and Levi briefly considers simply insulting you to mask his suspicious show of affection, but luckily, your pensive stare turns into a soft smile. “Yes, of course I’ll eat. It looks delicious.”

You hesitate, then hop off the stool and round the table to reach him. Before he can process what you’re doing, you press a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you so much, Levi. For this, and for yesterday. You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”

That shuts him right up. He’s too busy tempering the strange rush that sends his thermoregulators into a frenzy to reply. You don’t seem to mind, though. With a smile that looks too beautiful for Levi’s own good, you take a seat and start devouring the delicacies like there’s no tomorrow.

:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:

Levi never used to understand abstract terms like “missing”, “longing”, or “yearning”. Those were all just vague human sentiments that sounded rather theatrical, and, honestly, kinda pathetic.

Unfortunately, it turns out he’s kinda pathetic, too. Every morning when you grab your bag and step through the door to leave, a strange emptiness settles in his body. On a physical level, his internal power regulators and energy distribution grids seem to falter and slow down to concerning levels. On a cognitive level, he just feels… empty.

Every moment you spend in the office, he’s so restless that he doesn’t even want to dock in his charging station. Instead, he cleans and tidies the apartment to absurd levels, just to do something with his hands. When there really is nothing left to clean, he plays with Cheesecake to pass the time and feel a little closer to you. Other times, he wanders through the city looking for pretty tulips, scented candles, or sweet-salted caramel cookies, before eventually deciding he shouldn’t spoil you too much, despite his urge to do so.

He misses you. All the fucking time. It’s downright ridiculous. Even when he finds a way to occupy himself, you’re still on his mind. Every day, while the hours drag on, he finds himself looping the same questions: What are you doing? Did you sleep well enough to handle a long workday? Will you like the lunch he packed for you? Is Fred being a dick again, and if so, when will you give Levi permission to start planning that cockroach’s demise?

He imagines you at your desk, pictures the cadence of your voice during a call, the exact way it sounds when you’re focused, and then he spends the next hour aching for the moment he’ll hear it again.

It’s honestly concerning. His domestic tasks should be the only things on his mind, because that’s what he was created to do. But instead, he wants to talk to you, bicker with you, practice the ukulele together, play stupid video games that turn you furious and competitive, and watch even stupider shows until you doze off against his shoulder, warm and trusting.

He constantly berates himself for missing you, considering he sees you every day. It’s so ridiculous and unreasonable that he sometimes briefly considers going to DroidTech so that they can trigger his self-destruct command, just to be rid of it all. But then he immediately remembers that this would mean he’d never see you again, and he isn’t ready for that. At all.

He doesn’t want to self-destruct, although sometimes, he does think it was better before, when his mind was simply filled with domestic duties instead of this uncomfortable, pathetic yearning that seems to haunt him all day long.

But even that thought never lasts, because eventually, familiar keys turn into the door lock, and your voice appears, warming the air all over again. Whether you step through the door smiling or grumbling about work, your expression always seems to soften a little when your gaze meets his, sending a rush of fondness through his body that he still can’t quite describe. It’s always in that moment that he remembers that his ceaseless longing during the day is worth it. He wouldn’t trade his current, unstable life with his previous, stable one for the world.

It’s not that his life used to feel empty, exactly, but it never felt full. It wasn’t supposed to feel full. He’s an Android; his life is simply meant to be a series of tasks, but you and Cheesecake give his life meaning in a way he didn’t think was possible.

So maybe, the painful longing he feels when you leave each morning is a small price to pay.

:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:·ﾟ✧:·ﾟ:

You gasp. “Hey! I didn’t say you could come in!”

“I don’t care. Y—“ he halts, his eyes narrowing on the gazillion clothes thrown half-hazardly on the floor and on your bed. “—What the hell?”

“I don’t know what to wear!” you whine. “You haven’t even told me where we’re going. How am I supposed to get dressed if I don’t know where we’re going?”

“Seriously?” He scoffs. “That’s your excuse? I told you we’re going outside, to a remote place, so there will be no one around. You can safely dress like a troll — it won’t matter.”

“See?!” You jerk an accusatory finger at him. “The fact we’re going outside makes it even more difficult, Levi! It’s cold, and dressing for the cold is not easy, especially if I don’t know how long we’ll stay out. Don’t blame me!”

Levi rolls his eyes. “I prepared two heating pads, big thermos flasks of hot chocolate and tea, and multiple thick blankets. Also, I can make my body as hot as a furnace if necessary. You’ll be just fine.”

“Ugh, you’re truly the best. Have I ever told you that before?”

“Yes. Many times. Now get dressed.”

To Levi’s relief, you obediently put your clothes on.

Except that when it comes to the final layer of clothing, you hesitate. “Should I put the red sweater on or the black?”

“The black one is warmer. Take that one,” he says. “I may have packed a bunch of stuff to keep you warm, but lord knows your body’s thermoregulation sucks ass.”

You scowl. “Don’t insult my thermoregulation. Besides, I’m also kinda hesitating between the green hoodie and the—”

Levi steps forward, grabs the black sweater, and manhandles you into it.

You shriek and struggle against his grasp, though a hysterical giggle slips out. “Unhand me at once, you brute!”

“Brute?”

He hasn’t been evil enough today, so he tickles you to piss you off. You yelp, unable to push him away with your hands stuck in the air inside your sweater. Realizing you’re completely stuck, your shrieks turn into the most brutal profanities Levi has ever heard, which impresses even him. Lucky for you, he’s a merciful man, so he stops the torment and pulls your sweater down your body.

Which reveals your furious scowl. You look downright murderous, which makes Levi smile.

“I hate you,” you grumble.

He cocks his head. “Do you?”

“With every fibre of my soul.”

“Hmm.” He steps closer and gently catches your chin. Tilting your head to the side, he leans in until his mouth is on your neck, hot and heavy. He kisses the exact spot that always drives you crazy.

You gasp and hold onto his arm for balance, your voice turning hoarse. “I will not be swayed. Your little seduction tactics hold no power over me.”

“We’ll see about that,” he murmurs while kissing his way up your jaw. By the time he parts your mouth to slide his tongue past your lips, you’re completely out of breath, your heart thumping adorably hard.

“Cocky bastard. You can’t kiss your way out of this,” you complain against his mouth while simultaneously wrapping your arms around him and pressing him closer. “I’m not that easy, you monster.”

He smiles into the kiss. Your voice carries exactly zero conviction.

Oh, how much he wants to push you into the bed and make you unravel before him. He loves to feel your heart race, your skin heat, your breath quicken. He loves the way you’re so alive, so radiant and sensitive, reacting to his every touch.

But he also loves your adorable, awe-filled expressions, so he breaks the kiss.

“We should go,” he murmurs as he holds your face and presses a last quick peck on your lips.

“I can’t believe this,” you complain. “You burst into my room without my permission, manhandle me, torture me with tickles, and then you blue-ball me?”

“Yes. And if you don’t hurry the fuck up, I will manhandle you into your car.”

“Hmpf.”

Levi can tell you’re tempted to keep acting bratty, but after a brief moment of hesitation, you relent with an eye-roll and a dragged-out “Fiiiiine.”

You grab warm gloves and a scarf, and follow Levi out of your room, where Cheesecake is waiting in a thick cat-sweater that Levi had to fight her into. He steps out of the apartment carrying multiple bags, each full of warm blankets, hot chocolate, tea, snacks, and candles.

“Want me to drive?” he asks once you’ve both reached your car.

“Absolutely not.” You step towards the driver’s seat and shoot him a look. “I still don’t trust you to learn how to drive with my little baby.”

Levi scoffs. “Funny coming from you. You almost ran someone over last time. I think I can do better.”

“That’s beside the point,” you huff, nose in the air. You open the car door and step inside with Cheesecake in your arms. “Plus, I think you need an Android driver certificate or something to drive. So either way, the answer is no.”

“Fine, but you should really buy a self-driving car like the rest of the world,” he says as he steps in and slams the door shut. “You’ll get us killed one of these days. Your car is so ancient, I’m surprised it’s still legal. ”

“With what money? You cost me a liver, Levi. And a kidney.” You pause and hand Cheesecake over to him. “And a heart. My heart, unfortunately.”

He flings you an unimpressed look. “That was so cheesy.”

“Shut up. I was trying to be romantic.”

Levi snorts. “You? Romantic?”

You twist in your seat to glare at him, looking utterly scandalized. “What do you mean? I can be romantic!”

“I hope you’re being sarcastic.”

“Oh don’t give me that! You’re no better.”

He lifts a brow. “I buy you fresh flowers every week. I’ve taken you on every date you’ve ever dreamed of. I make your favorite meals and desserts all the time just to see you smile. I—”

“Okay okay I get it! Enough.”

The barest of smiles catches Levi’s mouth, but he decides to spare you from any further teasing — lest you get so distracted and enraged you drive them off the nearest cliff.

Twenty minutes later, you both arrive at the address Levi gave, right at the edge of the city where tall skyscrapers meet nature.

You step out of the car with Cheesecake in your arms, looking around with a puzzled frown. “Okay, I’m intrigued but also a little bit confused. Why are we here exactly?”

“Patience,” Levi says.

You shoot him a defiant, suspicious look, but your sass is interrupted by a shiver. Levi frowns and steps closer. He wraps your scarf more tightly around your neck, then fishes your beanie out of his pocket, which he took along in secret. It’s the only warm beanie you own, but unfortunately, it’s an ugly thing in mismatched colors that your aunt gifted you when you were sixteen. You’ve never worn it out of your own volition, and Levi doesn’t think you ever will, so before you can protest, he forces it on your head.

You scowl, but while he adjusts the beanie, a sly smile grows on your face. “Normally, I would fight you for daring to put that ugly-ass thing on my head, but watching you fussing over me like a mother hen is kinda fun, so I forgive you.”

He scoffs. “Of course you’d say that.”

You shoot him a smile that, over the months, you’ve perfected to be ultra annoying, just for the sake of pissing Levi off. It’s not working because you look too ridiculous in your beanie. Levi makes sure to tell you as much, which wipes the cocky smile off your face.

“C’mon,” he says. “It’s a bit of a walk from here, and we don’t have all night.”

“We have to walk up there?” you ask, pointing at the steep grassy hill ahead. “Uphill?”

“Yes, which will keep you warm. Also, you direly need the exercise. You should thank me. I’m trying to save you from premature death.”

You grumble something incomprehensible under your breath, but that’s all the resistance Levi receives as you follow him up the hill.

At least, during the first ten minutes. As soon as you reach the first patch of trees, you start bombarding Levi with insufferable questions. The only thing that shuts you up is when he finally proposes to carry you on his back.

With deep reluctance, by the way. He can’t believe he has to carry a gazillion bags and your lazy bumass. Sometimes he wonders why he puts up with your shit.

“Ugh, Levi, I love you so much,” you coo against his ear, arms wrapped over his shoulders.

“Can’t say the same about you right now,” he grumbles.

The only one who has some sense is Cheesecake, who trots happily beside him. He makes sure to tell you as much, trying to sound as offensive as possible, but all this does is increase your evilness. He can hear the insufferable smile on your lips as you continue to tease him. He seriously considers tackling you to the ground and tickling your sides until you turn into a furious monster, but his vengeful thoughts are interrupted when he realizes he has finally arrived at the destination.

Judging by your sudden silence, you notice too.

You’re both at the top of the hill, standing in an open clearing full of little wildflowers. When Levi turns to look at the city behind him, you gasp in his ear. There’s a moment of silence as you both stare at the mesmerising view of the entire city, with its tall skyscrapers and city lights glittering in the dark like the stars above.

“Whoa…” you mutter, your breath fogging into the night air.

“I’m dropping you now.”

You don’t protest; you’re too hypnotized by the view.

"How do you know about this place?" you ask, breathless.

"Bit of research," he says. "I checked it out while you were at work. Figured it was good enough."

"'Good enough'?! That's such a ridiculous understatement. Levi, this spot is insane."

Admittedly, it is.

While you gape at the city and the scattered constellations, Levi spreads a checkered picnic blanket over the grass and surrounds it with dozens of candles (electronic ones; he’s not trying to start a forest fire).

He also wrestles with Cheesecake to put her protective earmuffs on, specifically designed to suppress loud, explosive sounds like fireworks. The insufferable beast throws a massive tantrum for the first few seconds, then forgets her theatrics the moment Levi pulls out her favorite tuna snack. With his hands on his hips like a scornful father, he watches her devour it. Once he’s sure she’s forgotten the earmuffs and has no intention of clawing them off, he finally exhales an annoyed, relieved breath.

He looks up, and finds you looking at him with a shit-eating grin.

His eyes narrow. “What?”

“Nothing,” you shrug. “You two are just too cute. She loves you so much.”

“Because I give her snacks,” he grumbles. “It’s conditional, and she’s materialistic.”

“No amount of materialism could prevent you from getting your face clawed out after forcing earmuffs on her head. She only accepts earmuffs from people she adores.”

“Hm.” He looks down at Cheesecake. It’s strange to think that this fluffy little thing loves, and even adores him.

… He supposes the feeling is mutual. He’s secretly grown all soft and fond of her, although he usually doesn’t like to admit it, especially when she acts like a bratty beast or spreads too much fur on him.

His thoughts are interrupted when you hop towards him with a radiant smile, pull him down, and cuddle close, your body molding with his and Cheesecake’s.

For warmth, you say. Clearly an excuse, considering you’ve placed one heating pad on your lap and another under your sweater, and you’ve also buried both yourself and Levi beneath multiple thick blankets, with Cheesecake’s warm little body to top it off. You must be warm enough. Nonetheless, Levi plays along and wraps his arms around you, subtly raising his skin’s temperature as he pulls you closer.

“Ahh this is my favorite New Year’s Eve ever,” you sigh, a breathless smile softening your voice as you stare at the magnificent view.

“It better be,” he says. “I even made you that chocolate fudge-cake you’ve been obsessed with lately.”

“Really?!”

You fish it from one of the bags and devour it so fast that it’s actually disturbing. Levi is about to comment on it, but he’s interrupted by an explosion brightening the sky.

You gasp, eyes full of stars as you stare at the first fireworks.

Levi, however, is only amazed for a brief second. “Way too early,” he grumbles. “It’s eleven forty-three. Why are humans like this?”

You snort. “The point is to celebrate. Not to shoot fireworks at exactly 00:00:00.”

Levi isn’t convinced, but his grumpiness is soon overthrown by awe as the fireworks get more frequent and more magnificent.

It’s magical. All of it: the fireworks, the night sky, your high-pitched ooohhing and aahhing, the shared excitement of an entire city, the warmth of your body clamped around his, and the giddy twinkle in your eyes.

When midnight hits, the sky turns into a surreal burst of sparks and color. Cheesecake stares, a little wide-eyed, but her earmuffs and her trust in you and Levi keep her from turning jumpy. You cheer and laugh out loud, looking beautifully mesmerized. Levi can’t help but smile.

Once the fireworks slow down, you snuggle a little closer. “It’s time to pick our New Year’s resolutions.”

Levi shoots you an unimpressed look. “Why do people wait for New Year’s to set their goals? It’s ridiculous.”

“Because we need to feel like we’re starting over before we can believe we’ll actually stick to our goals.”

“That makes zero sense.”

“Human struggles rarely make sense,” you explain with a dismissive hand flick. “Anyway, this is not up for debate. This is obligatory New Year’s resolution time. What do you want us to achieve this year?”

“Us? Leave me out of this.”

“Oh!” you gasp, completely ignoring him. “You can try to learn how to play the guitar and sing romantic songs for me. It would boost my ego and perhaps give me a god-complex, which I would love to have.”

“Absolutely the fuck not. I do have one for you, though: you should try moving sometimes. ‘Exercising’ is the official term, though I’m sure that doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Fuck off.”

“Insulting me won’t help you, unlike exercising.”

“Ugh, I hate when you’re right,” you grumble.

“Also,” Levi continues. “We’ll finally tackle that travel bucket-list of yours.”

Your face instantly brightens. “Ohhh yes! At least one trip this year.”

“And I want you to stop doing overtime at work. You’re not getting paid for it, and it messes with your sleep schedule and mental health. It pisses me off.”

A grin spreads on your face. “With Fred soon gone, I think that’s achievable.” You halt, then shift to properly look at Levi. “About work —  remember Floch? He, well... got fired.”

“Did he now?” Levi says, voice flat and apathic.

You frown. Then your eyes widen. “Wait— don’t tell me…”

Levi just looks at you. The silence is only interrupted by the loud crack of a firework.

“You’re the one who got him fired?!” you screech, your shock a comical contrast to the joyful sparks glittering across the sky.

“I also made sure his girlfriend broke up with him and kicked him out of their apartment, so now he has to crash on his friend’s couch in another city. Fucking prick deserves it, and much more.”

You blink, stunned. “Wait what?!“

“When I said I was going to ruin his life, I meant it,” he says while looking you dead in the eyes. “I don’t say shit like that for show. I want to do much worse, but most of my programmed rules are impossible to overwrite without triggering an alert that would let DroidTech know I’m an anomaly.”

“Levi, holy shit.”

His eyes narrow. “Don’t you dare defend him.”

“Oh, no. Floch is a creepy asshole who doesn’t care about boundaries. It’s not his first time acting like that at a work event around drunk women. He’s disgusting, not to mention a cheater. I was going to say that was extremely sexy of you.”

Levi huffs out a breath, shaking his head with the barest of smiles.

“And you know what? I take my words back from earlier,” you add. “You are, indeed, very, very romantic.”

He lifts a brow. “Ruining a man’s life is romantic?”

“Absolutely,” you confirm. “But don’t go around destroying the lives of every man who dares to breathe the same air I do, please. That’s a step too far.”

Levi huffs. “Duly noted.”

You bite back a laugh. "Excellent."

You exhale a blissful sigh and rest your head against his chest. While stroking your fingers over Cheesecake’s little head, you watch the remaining fireworks popping through the sky, your body curled against Levi's.

“Can you believe it’s almost been a year since you moved in?” you murmur after a moment of comfortable firework-watching.

“I can believe that, yes.”

“It feels like it flew by in an eye-blink, but at the same time, it also feels like we’ve known each other for years.”

“That makes no sense.”

“Ugh, Levi, stop being so damn literal.”

He tries to hide how entertained he is by this, but fails miserably.

You squint at him, your gaze landing on the small smile he can’t repress. Your frown deepens.

“I knew it!” you snap. “You’re doing this just to piss me off, aren't you?”

“Doing what?” he asks, just to piss you off more.

“Being annoyingly literal. Acting like a little shit. Adopting the personality of a triangle ruler.”

“Triangle rulers don’t have personalities since they’re not sentient.”

You slap his arm, which makes him smile more.

“Do that one more time, and I’ll drag you to poetry classes to beat the dry rigidity out of you,” you grumble. “Oh! And I'm sure more human interactions will help too, so I’m taking you to all after-work events this year that allow plus-ones.”

“God no.”

The most evil grin creeps up your mouth. “My colleagues need eye-candy, Levi. You’re hot as hell. When’s the last time you’ve done charity? For someone other than me, of course.”

“Please fucking spare me.”

Much to Levi’s dismay, you continue teasing him and threatening him to socialize. His only escape is to switch the topic back to New Year’s resolutions, which fills your eyes with so much beautiful radiance that it brings the stars and the fireworks to shame.

In the following hours, Cheesecake falls asleep under the blankets while you and Levi discuss all the things you want to do together — if not this year, then the years after. Trips to remote islands, pottery classes, hiking, sledging in the winter, binge-watching classics that you swear are masterpieces, playing horror games together, road-tripping with Cheesecake and zero plans (which Levi isn’t as enthused about), doing painting challenges that will surely turn you both into competitive monsters, watching theatre plays, and so on.

There’s something about this, about lying down and looking in your excited, candle-lit eyes while talking on and on about your futures together, that makes something tingle and bloom in Levi’s metal chest.

He never used to dream. Never thought it possible for an Android. Yet here he is, envisioning a life that tastes like magic and exhilaration. He’ll never grow tired of his constant thirst for life whenever you two are together. Nor will he ever stop craving the every day teasing, bickering, nonsensical back-and-forths, and held-back laughter. Even the monotony of routine has become something to look forward to — a precious kind of rest with someone he adores between adventures, rather than the life sentence he once believed was his fate before he fell in love with you.

Levi can’t help himself; as you two compile an endless list of adventures together, he keeps stealing kisses in between, again and again. And so do you. Each time, he can’t stop smiling into the kiss, his head somewhere in the clouds, because life with you feels like dreaming.