#android v

"My programing tells me from the way you look, that you are either feeling the emotions of nervousness or fear. Why is that?" his voice was soft as he voiced his thoughts, not pressuring me into answering, but merely curious as to why I hesitated to take him there.

"I..." my voice died in my throat, red creeping its way across my cheeks, "I've never let anyone in my room before. I'm the only one that's ever been in there. I don't let the servants that help keep the place clean and straightened up in there. I do that myself. I never wanted anyone to go in there."

"If you don't want me to go in there, then I won't. I won't make you..." V started.

"V, it's okay. It's okay, I just...I needed to remind myself that you wouldn't judge me. You aren't like the others. My brother was the only person in my life that didn't care about all of the things that I was into and all of the things that I loved to keep in my room. All of my old friends, once they found out what I was into, they just up and abandoned me.

My parents thought I was obsessed with things and wanted to take stuff away. When the..." my voice wavered and faded away.

V gently took my hand and pulled me against his chest, his arms circling around my back. A squeak escaped my lips as I was pressed flush against him and felt his cheek press against the top of my head.

"Is this what you need?" he whispered above me, his arms tightening a little more.

I hugged him in return burring my face into his chest, nodding my head.

"This is comfort, right?" V asked, sliding a hand through my hair, "You need to be comforted right now?"

It felt kind of silly for him to be asking that, but seeing as V never had human contact and had never seen a humans emotions, it was only natural for him to question what was happening and how he needed to react.

"Yes to both..." my voice was soft and shaky as it slipped from my lips.

"Do you need me to do anything else?" his voice was warm, gentle, and soothing as it vibrated through his chest.

Pressing the side of my head to his chest, I shook my head then pressed my self further against him.

"Just let me stay here for a little bit longer, if that's alright." I whispered.

A small hum passed through him in reply and we simply stood there together within each others arms. I noticed that the sun was starting to go down and I squeezed V a little tighter.

"Ready to go see my room?" I questioned, starting to pull back.

V released me and gave me a soft smile. That smile was going to be the death of me. It made him look so adorable. It made his eyes sparkle ever so slightly and curled his pouty lips just so. Reaching my hand out, I took V's and gently lead him out of his room, closing the doors behind us.

Walking a little farther down the hall, we came to a set of royal purple shoji doors with a black Coeurl painted on it. The Coeurl was a creature from one of my favorite RPG games called Final Fantasy XV. I had always hated the creature, but I also had a lot of respect for it. The reason I hated it was because in the beginning of the game when I first started, I was often killed by it. But once I progressed through the game they weren't much of a bother.

But the reason I respected them was because they were so strong. I reached out and traced my hand along the Coeurl, a wistful smile coming to my face.

"Brother, you always supported me. You told me that I could do anything. That I could be friends with anyone. But when all my other friends found out about me liking anime and RPG games, they ran away and left me like I was a freak. Now, I've found some people that won't do that.

Thank you brother, for never letting me throw all of this out. For never letting my love of all this die. I don't think I would have forgiven myself if I had." I whispered softly, my hand falling to the center of the door.

Pushing the panels open, I stepped inside and offered to let V inside. Black plush carpet awaited him. As I flicked on a switch, purple and gold Japanese lanterns lit across the ceiling. A California king sized four poster bed with purple curtains sat against one wall. Gold sheer curtains hung from modest windows.

I had never wanted floor to ceilings. Ebony furniture was lined all over my room. Along with a large TV and a PlayStation 4 being near the bed. The PlayStation didn't have a very elaborate set up. Just enough to play the game with a pair of headphones and a couple extra controllers.

I had a feeling once the other SPARDA-Series got here, they would want to try playing it with me, so I had gotten other controllers. It was only a matter of time before I got new games. But the things that drew the most attention around my room were the amount of figures that I had. I had figures from a lot of animes as well as RPG games. As I expected V to do, he wandered over to the figures and started browsing through them.

The ones he stopped at happened to be the pride and joy parts of my collection. They were from Final Fantasy XV. I kept them right next to my bed so they were the last thing I saw at night and the first thing I saw in the morning.

"What are these?" he asked.

I giggled softly as I walked over to him quickly, curling my arms around one of his.

"Those would be my favorite figures out of my entire collection." I smiled down at them lovingly, remembering as I met each character as I played through the game and watched the movie.

"Ah, I see. Do they have names?" V's head was tilted to the side again, that cute look of contemplation on his face once more.

I nodded my head.

"The lady with blonde hair wearing a white dress and holding the trident is called Lady Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. She's a really nice woman. I'll let you be introduced to her through the game, seeing as I'll be playing the game she comes from a lot. The one with black hair and the black outfit with the shorter sword, that would be Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum. He's the main character of the game, I'll tell you that.

The blonde that has the red hat on and is crouched near the tool box, that's Cindy Aurum. She's really, really cool. She fixes up the car you end up driving around in the game. That car is bitchin if you customize it right...oh, um sorry. I kinda got into my fangirl mode." I blushed as my voice faded away.

V merely chuckled and placed his other hand over my head.

"It's quite alright, you were enjoying yourself. I found it quite entertaining and informative. And you yourself said this is something you love. How do I know if I will like it or not if I don't look at it myself?" V tilted his head down to look at me, his smile widening.

I ducked my head, my blush only deepening. Gods, what had I gotten myself into? V could end up liking anime and RPG just as much as I did.

"Come now, please continue. I'd like to learn more about these people before me." V's finger gently lifted my face up so he was gazing into my eyes.

I smiled and nodded my head. looking back down at the figures, I drew in a breath to continue my explanation.

"Okay, so the blonde guy with the black coat holding the gun, that's Prompto Argentum. He is just the cutest little choco-muffin when he starts singing 'I want to ride my chocobo all day!' and they others in his group groan at him singing it. Then he just cheerfully replies back, 'Can't get it out of my head!' Its just the most adorable thing ever! Prom is actually one of my three fave character in that whole game.

I could just hug the ever loving fluff out of him if I ever got the chance to meet him!" I ended up giving a small squeal of delight at the end of that sentence.

I really did love Prompto. He was so adorable with his chipper attitude despite all of the things that happened to him and the inner turmoil he felt all the time.

"Next to him, with the brownish-black hair and that huge broadsword propped on his shoulder, is Gladio. His full name is Gladiolus Amicitia, but no one in the game ever calls him that. I'm pretty glad they don't. I mean I get the fact that they wanted to make the names sound cool and all, but why did they name a big, buff, cool lookin' guy...after a flower? I mean, seriously developers?

But I would guess that you have a translator in your data base so you probably already know that the names that I've told you are Latin based no?" I glanced up at V as I continued explaining and saw him nod, "Oh good, I only know a few of the translations myself, and even those are loosely based. Now if you look at the man with white hair wearing a white coat with a silver and purple robotic arm standing next to Luna, that is Luna's brother Ravus Nox Fleuret. He's another fave of mine. Really tragic backstory not to mention a whole lot of other things happening to him. As well as he acts like an ass every time he is seen in the series.

I don't know why I think its adorable when he does that, but I just find him so cute and irresistible when he scowls or gets angry. Then there is one point in the game where he literally starts crying and I just want to hug him and tell him everything will be alright in the end. I know people say it's dumb to want to comfort a game character, but if you see what they've been through and you can try and put yourself in their shoes and try and understand what they are feeling, I would want someone to try and comfort me or at least to be there and tell me that in the end...even if things don't go back to normal, things will get better. They will eventually not hurt as bad as they do at that moment. To just hold me until I stop crying.

But moving on from that, The man behind Prince Noctis that is slightly crouched down that has a purplish scarf trailing from him, that's Nyx Ulric. He is a major boss character from the movie of Final Fantasy XV. The movie is called Kingsglave and could almost be considered a standalone. But I really loved Nyx.

He had a devil may care attitude and loved to have the Hero spotlight on him. At first I kinda thought he was just going to be a stupid, pompous windbag in the movie, but by they time the movie was over, I was in love with him. They way he took charge and just said, 'Fuck destiny, I'm doin' this live. This is my story, we're doin' it my way. Fuck everyone else, have a nice day yall!' I have to admit, I cried at the end of the movie, I won't lie.

It hit me in the feels, but I won't spoil the movie for you if you want to watch it. I mean you will absolutely catch me playing the game, the extra episodes that go with the game, and probably re-watching the movie because of how much I love it, so one way or another you'll see it. It's just a matter of 'Do you catch it in the middle and not understand what is going on?' or 'Do you watch and see it played properly and understand it?' It would be great if you joined in watching and playing from the beginning."

V squeezed my hand.

"I would love to watch the whole thing with you, it seems to make you very happy. Just listening to you describe what you have so far makes you seem so happy. Your voice sounds so vibrant and full of life, there is so much joy in it. I would love to take part in what gives you joy." his voice vibrated against my side.

I felt my heart fill with joy. I had been right in wanting to bring together the SPARDA-Series. I had known that they would not judge me for what I liked, unlike all the other people I had known before I locked myself away from the world except for scant few people that I still trusted to help me around the place I lived.

I pointed to a figure dressed in all black that had gold accents all about his outfit.  He had grey hair and a grey beard and was leaning slightly on a gold and black cane.

"That is King Regis Lucis Caelum. He's Noctis's father. He doesn't show up much in the main game but he does in Kingsglave. He's pretty cool. Next to Nyx with the long coat and hat and reddish hair, ugh he's one that I'm really not fond of but I just had to complete my collection so I still got him.

He's Ardyn Izunia, I absolutely hate him. I'm not going to tell you why, I'll let you pass your own judgement on him when the time comes. The woman with black hair and the unusual outfit standing near Luna as well, is Gentiana. She is really cool cause she helps Luna out a lot. Not to mention all the antics she causes with the pictures you take.

If a god ever decided to troll you and ruin your pictures, I'd say she'd be the one I want. At least she's pretty. On the other side of Gladio, the one holding the katana that's in a fighting stance, that's Cor Leonis. He's really neat. I love it when he shows up in the main game and helps you with one of the boss fights.

That was completely epic. The woman behind Cor is Aranea Highwind. She's an awesome lance user that if you do a certain glitch in the main game, you can keep her in your party forever. You have to give up doing a few things, but it is so worth it." by now I was just gushing out information as I had already hit my fangirl mode, and I was so happy that V was perfectly content to let me sit here and ramble on without bother.

All of my old friends would have told me to shut up by now or would have just scoffed and walked away while talking with each other about something else. My games were something I had grown to like due to the fact that I started out all alone until I hit junior-high. So I never had anyone to talk to accept my brother. But then when I finally met new people, they weren't interested in the console games anymore. Everything was Virtual Reality now.

The consoles were almost outdated and almost no one played on them anymore. So games and movies like FFXV and Kingsglave were old news and boring now. But I could never bring myself to let go of them. I let go of V's arm and walked over to the edge of my bed and sat down on it, reaching out and picking up the figure the was closest to me. Drawing it close to my chest, I hugged it against me, smiling as I did so.

"This figure here, is the reason I started playing XV. Out of all of them, he is the one I love the most." pulling the figure away from my chest, I lowered it down to my lap and gazed into the figures eyes.

Sea-foam green gazed back up unseeing at me, but I didn't care. It didn't matter to me that the figure wasn't real. For the longest time, I had actually told all of my darkest fears to this figure. Told him how much I wanted friends, family that wouldn't judge me. Or at the times I felt my lowest, begged the figure to somehow take me to the FFXV world, so that I could stay there with the royal retinue.

I thought I would be happy if I would be there in the XV world. But over time the more I thought about it, the more I understood, if I were to try and stay there with the royal retinue, I would have to know how to fight. If I didn't I would die. I would end up just dragging them down and they would leave me behind. So I stopped.

"Ignis Scientia. He's quite amazing to me at times in the game. I'm always surprised by him. Blazing Intelligence, the overall gist of the Latin translation of his name. He controls fire with an ease that astounds me.

And he is a master tactician, always able to find a solution to any problem. An inspiration to be sure, but I could never live up to it, to him. But whenever I see him, I always smile...He reminds me of my brother. Always pushing forwards despite all challenges in his way." I whispered.

A yawn drew itself from my chest and I turned to look out my windows. Night had truly fallen while I had gone into my fangirl spree, and I found myself truly embarrassed.

"Oh V, I'm sorry. I spent all this time talking your ear off about a silly game." I gasped, gently setting Ignis back on my nightstand before starting to get up.

V gently pushed me back down onto my bed with a hand on my shoulder, shaking his head he brushed some hair from in front of my face.

"It's not a silly game if it's what you enjoy. I saw the way your eyes lit up as you spoke. The way your smile widened when you looked at certain figures. The scowl and anger on your face when you looked at Ardyn. The sorrow on your features when you looked to Ravus.

The love and care you show when you look and touch Ignis. This is something that is very important to you. Something that is ingrained deeply into your heart, and if it is ingrained that deeply it must be special." his voice was gentle and firm as his hand cupped itself against my cheek.

My eyes closed as a few shuddered breaths made their way into my chest then out. No, I wasn't going to cry. I couldn't, not just because of a few gentle words. But it had been so long since someone had listened to me with such rapt attention. Eyes not straying away from what I was describing for one second until I moved onto another object.

It felt so good to be listened to, to be payed attention to, to be...to be...

Tears began to fall from my eyes without my permission, and I pulled myself away from V, turning away so he could not see my tears. But he would not allow me the reprieve I sought, turning me back around and pressing me back against him. I didn't want V to see this. I didn't want him to see me breaking down. For him to see me being so weak.

But it seemed like he didn't care. All he did was press me tighter against him.

As I felt the press of pouty lips to the top of my head, I felt and heard him murmur, "Someone hurt you didn't they? They shoved you away, left you alone, wouldn't look at you, wouldn't listen to you."

Somehow hearing the words from him, made them hurt worse then when I heard them echo in my own head and I cried even harder. But as his arms tightened around me, the pain started to lessen as I realized, he wasn't making fun of me as he said those words. They were statements, not jabs at my wounds to make them worse. He was offering to try and heal those wounds in his own way. Sure, he didn't understand a humans emotions.

So his methods of trying to heal me would probably be a little clumsy. Hell he might even hurt me a few times by accident in the process. But the thing was he still wanted to try. I had closed myself off from so many people cause I had been hurt so many times. I guess it was time to finally let someone back in, time to let someone try and heal the deep wounds people had left.

Even if the one that was trying to heal them...wasn't human...

"Yeah they did. They told me I was stupid for being into games that were so old and outdated. For caring about the characters so much. For being so obsessed with certain characters I might as well be in love with them. Then they all just walked away, and I never saw them again." I sobbed out.

"How cruel and blind. Only those who don't know how to care about others would say as such. Those who can care about ones without life are the beings truly blessed with the gift of selfless love." V soothed, hands running slowly over my back.

"V..." I whispered, tears and sobs starting to abate.

A hum was what I received in reply.

"I...I know I told you that room was yours. And...and also that normally no one is allowed in this room. But I...I've not...I don't want...Please..." I started.

"If you wish is for me to stay here by your side tonight, you do not even need to ask. I do not believe I could bring myself to leave your side at the moment. Not with you trembling with tears as you are. It would go against all of my programing, and even if it didn't your wish for me to stay would keep me by your side." his whisper by my ear made me shiver, but not in want.

My body had shivered because my brother had once said something similar. That my wish for him to stay would keep him by my side forever. But the fire that had rushed through our house one night had taken him from me and crushed that wish into oblivion. I didn't want the same thing to happen here. I nodded my head.

"Stay with me, V..."

"Of course, little Sparrow." I could feel the gentle smile spread across his lips as he pressed them to my forehead.

We sat there together for a few moments as I allowed my hiccupping sobs finally fade away. Then I pulled away from V, him allowing me to.

"I...I, uh need to go wash my face off and change my clothes for the night. You should go  change too, V. It'll be more comfortable for the both of us. You'll find some clothes in your room in the closet. I'll wait here once I'm changed and ready." I turned my face away as I blushed heavily.

I hadn't shared a bed with anyone since my brother and I were about 13 or 14 and one of us had a bad dream. V stood and walked back to the open shoji doors of my room. With one hand on the doorframe, he gave a very slight bow.

"I'll return in just a moment." the soft gentle smile on his face and warmth in his eyes soothed the embarrassment that I felt.

As soon as he left the doorway, I stood from my bed and walked to my closet. Sliding open the door, I slipped inside and shut it behind me. Walking to the back where I kept my night clothes, I pulled down a long nightgown that was spaghetti strap and went down to my ankles but had a split in the side of it that went up to just a little above my knee. It was satin and colored a royal purple and was of leopard print. It was the closest my brother could get to matching Ignis's Crownsguard shirt.

My brother had seen the fabric online at one point and as more of a gag gift one year, had ordered the nightgown for me. I wanted to beat him like a drum when I opened it cause I was so embarrassed that my brother of all people had gotten me negligee of all things. But once the embarrassment had died down, I did end up hugging him to death. I rarely wore the thing, but when I felt vulnerable, I wanted to remember my brother, or I just wanted to feel safe I would pull it out and slip it on. Pulling of my normal everyday clothes, I bundled them up and slipped them into a hamper that was next to me.

I would take them out and down to the laundry room tomorrow morning. I didn't feel like going down there right now, and I didn't feel like keeping V waiting if he had already retuned to my room. Slipping the nightgown over my head, I let it settle over my body, then smoothed my hands down over it to make sure it was sitting okay. Once I was happy with it, I gave a gentle nod and an internal pat on my back. Reaching up beside me, I pulled down a black, satin kimono robe that I had managed to get my hands on recently.

It had the Regalia Crest embroidered into the upper back. That was a tribute to my brother. He had loved the Regalia and had loved customizing it. Which was also the reason I loved customizing mine and coming up with new and expensive looks for the pricy car. Tying the robe closed I walked back to the front of my closet.

Slipping out of my closet, I walked into my ensuite and walked over to the sink. Pulling down a black washcloth, I turned on the water in the sink and waited for it to warm up to a comfortable temperature. Once it did, I wet the cloth and wrung it out. Sliding it over my face, I made sure to wipe away all traces of the tears that I had cried earlier. Gently rinsing the cloth out again, I wrung it out once more to get rid of the excess water, then hung it back up so it could dry.

Turning off the light to my ensuite, I walked out and closed the door before I looked over at my bed to find V already there waiting for me. He had decided to wear a set of emerald green sleep pants. But either he intentionally forwent a shirt seeing as the outfit he came with was hardly a shirt in the first place. Or that was just a sleep set that did not have a shirt to it, I couldn't recall. But I could have sworn getting matching shirts and pants sets for everything.

V hadn't taken up residence in it yet, which I wouldn't have minded if he had. I mean I had invited him to stay the night. But I guess he was waiting for me to invite him to join me in it. A smile crossed my face as I crossed my room to my bed. Glancing at my door, showed me that he had already closed it.

Once I was at the foot of my bed, I unhooked the curtains from either side and pulled them so that no light would be able to enter from there. As I walked to my preferred side of the bed, V took that as his cue to walk to the opposite. As I unhooked the curtains from the foot of my side, he copied my actions as well, pulling them up towards the head of the bed. I usually only bothered with the curtains at the foot of the bed and the curtains on the side of the bed the windows were on. But for some reason tonight, I wanted all of the curtains be used.

I wanted to have my entire world cut off, and for it to only exist inside those four walls that those curtains would create with V. Untying the curtains tied at the top of the bed, I pulled back the covers and waited for V to do the same. As I waited, I slowly untied the robe around my waist and hung it over the hook that the curtain had been hooked on. As he slid into the bed after doing so, I took a deep breath and took the metaphorical plunge. Pulling the curtain shut, cut off light from my side of the bed and as V shut his side it went almost entirely black.

"V?" I hesitantly reached out for him in the darkness, even though I knew he was there, my chest tightening in anxiety when I didn't find him immediately.

V's hand met mine in mid-air and the anxiety started to ebb away.

"I'm here, little Sparrow." his voice whispered.

We had both scooted into the center of the bed, each of us pressed against the others side.

"Are you ready to sleep now?" V's voice vibrated against the side of my chest.

It kinda tickled and I laughed a little.

"Yeah...yeah, I think I'm ready. Will...will you...hold me, while I sleep V?" my voice was soft, hesitant.

"I'll do anything you need me to, Bell. Whatever it is you need, just tell me. If it is within my power to give, it is yours little Sparrow. What is your wish?" V's voice had gone deep and even as he cupped my face in both hands and directed my gaze to his.

His emerald eyes were blazing so bright in the darkness it made my breath catch in my throat. He looked so beautiful, so ethereal, so haunting...But I couldn't stop looking at him.

"V..." my voice was barely just a breath of air.

"What is it that you desire Bell? Please, tell me. I can do nothing concerning human contact without a direct command from my owner. Tell me what you want me to do." though V was in a manner, asking a question, he was giving me a command.

I closed my eyes. V would listen to me. V wouldn't hurt me. He wouldn't take advantage of me. Opening my eyes, I met his gaze with my own.

"V, I want you to hold me as I sleep. Keep me close to you. Wake me if I have a nightmare, and quiet my cries and dry my tears. Be here for me tonight. Do not leave my side unless I tell you to.

Do you understand?" my voice was still just barely audible, but I knew V could hear it.

With a flash of those blazing emerald eyes, nodded his head.

"As you command." he whispered in return.

Turning, I laid back onto my side and pulled the covers over my body. Feeling V curl himself against my back, sliding one arm under my head and wrapping the other around my waist to pull me against his chest made me feel safer than I had in years.

"I'm here, little Sparrow. Now sleep, night will pass and morning will come but I will not leave this place. Rest." V whispered, his lips moving against the back of my head.

I smiled at V, it was so cute how polite he was.

"V, the reason I purchased you. No, wait. The reason I brought you to live with me, is not because I want you to change how you act to suit what I want. I know that is what your "programming" tells you to do." I smiled and reached up to cup the side of his face with my palm, rubbing small gentle circles with my thumb just under his eye, "But now that you are here, you can do anything that you want to. Yes, there are a few things that I will ask of you. But those will only be things that will keep you safe. Other than that, you are free to do as you please."

V's eyes briefly flashed an intense bright green, then he nodded his head.

"I understand." he whispered, a gentle smile curling his lips.

I returned his smile, then turned and picked up the book wrapped in black silk and plastic that was sitting on the table behind me. Unwrapping the plastic from around the silk, I held the book out to him.

"I believe that this is yours, no?" I questioned tilting my head as I held it out to him.

V's eyes widened as he caught sight of the book and he gently took it from me with both hands. Reverently, he unwrapped the black silk from around the book and smoothed his hand over the cover.

"My book..." he breathed out softly.

"So, I guess that book is important to you. What kind of book is it?" I asked, leaning close to press against his arm so I could get a better look.

There was no flinch or hitch of breath when I leaned against V, but I did feel him snap his head over so he could gaze down at me. Tilting my head back, I met his eyes with my own.

"Something wrong, V?" I questioned softly, aware of the fact that he might tell me to get away from him.

V's eyes flicked away in a manner that would have convinced me that he was nervous had he been human before resting themselves on me again.

"My programming says that humans do this when they want to show affection. Yet we do not know each other that well. Are you trying to show affection for me?" his voice is caught between questioning and vulnerable.

My heart nearly melts at his words.

"V, humans show affection in many ways. And yes, this is a way to show affection. But for right now, this is me trying to be a friend. Not to mention that I'd like to see what your book is like. Will you show me?" I explained gently, hand coming up to softly squeeze his forearm.

The muscles and tissue below the silicone skin on his arm felt real and if i didn't know any better, I could have fooled myself into thinking he was.

"My book is the fifth volume of William Blake's works. Poetry if you will." the words seemed like they could barely get themselves out of his mouth.

"Ah, I see. We have something in common then. I love poetry myself. Let me see...

'To see a world in a grain of sand

and heaven in a wild flower...'" I began.

"'Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

and eternity in an hour.'

Incredible, I've not heard of very many who know Blake's work by heart." he finished the quote for me with a smile.

"Oh trust me, I know quite a few more. It's just that one that I really like. My brother and I were well educated before..." my voice faded away as the night of the fire came to mind.

V noticed my silence and started to pull away, but I stopped him by wrapping my arms around his.

"It doesn't matter, come with me. I have a few things for you." I smiled wide, my voice chipper as I pulled him down a hall off the room we were in.

We passed three doors and ended up standing in front of a dark emerald set that had a golden panther painted on it. I had had the door created to match V's eyes. I had a thing for the Japanese style so the doors were shoji and parted in the center to open.

"V, this room is yours." I whispered, reaching out to slide the doors open.

Other than the doors being shoji style the room was normal. Beautiful black, plush carpet covered the floor. The walls were painted a beautiful gold. A king size four-poster bed sat against the middle of one wall, surrounded on all four sides by golden curtains that could be drawn to block out light. Flipping a switch next to the door, the room brightened a little further as golden Japanese lanterns that were hanging interspersed about the ceiling lit up.

The floor to ceiling windows were covered by black translucent curtains that allowed a fair amount of light through. On the bed, black and gold silk sheets were accented by black and gold pillows. Against another wall was a door that was slightly ajar, that a sliver of a finely furnished bathroom could be seen through. Another door nearby was open showing a fully stocked closet. Side tables made of ebony flanked each side of the bed, along with a desk in between one of the windows.

On a long waist-high ebony dresser that had a mirror spanning the length above it, there was a length of golden silk wrapped around something long and thin.

"Come V, there's something I want you to see." I kept my voice low and soft, considering the moment I had opened the doors to V's room he had gone still and silent.

Walking into the room, I made my way over to the ebony dresser and ran my hand over the object wrapped in gold silk. When I heard no movement behind me, I turned around and found V to still be standing at the entrance of the room. A smile crossed my face. I knew this would happen. I had planned for my family to be happy.

For the five of us to have nice things. I wanted to spoil all of them. And spoil them I had. For each one of them that I was going to buy, I had created an amazing room. Something that a rich human would adore.

And of course an android wouldn't know what to do with it. But I would show him that this was his sanctuary. His place to come when he needed quiet or he needed to be alone. Or if he wanted to read all the books that I had compiled in the huge library in my house. This was his place, his territory.

I just had to get him used to that idea.

"V, you're allowed to come in here. This is your room." I walked back over to him and held my hand out to him.

His eyes were still darting around the entire room, taking everything in before they settled themselves down onto me.

"This...is mine?" there was so much hesitancy in his voice it was adorable.

His hand reached out to mine and his fingers slowly curled around mine. He took a couple small steps into the room before stopping.

"But why would you give me this? I'm just an android, I don't need creature comforts like this." his voice was soft and self depreciating as he spoke those words.

"And right there is where I'm going to bring up one of my rules." my voice came out more firmly than I wanted it to, and as I realized this I ducked my head down and cleared my throat, "While you are here, and when you are with me, you are not just an android. You are my friend, V. I see you as an equal to me. As a person, not just wires and metal brought together to resemble a human. To me, you are human, you are family.

I don't want to hear you call yourself an android ever again. That is one of the very few rules I will give you V. Do you understand me?"

V stared down at me for a moment before his eyes flashed that vibrant green again and he nodded.

"I understand." he replied, voice shaking.

"Now, come here." I sighed, pulling him towards me, my arms slipping around his waist.

"What are you..." V started.

"Shhh..." I quieted him, before pulling away and taking his hand again.

Pulling him over to the ebony dresser, I picked up the object wrapped in gold.

"When I read up on your series, it talked about the accessories that could be purchased to complement each of the series. This was hard to track down. But for you V, for what will be all of our family eventually, I'll go to any lengths to make you happy." I smiled handing him the object.

V looked at the object then back up at me. It was obvious that he was puzzled by my words. But I shook my head and gestured to the silk. Slowly he unwrapped it. As the item was revealed, his lips parted in a gentle gasp.

A carved, pure silver cane was revealed as the rest of the gold silk slithered its way off of it. V's fingers traced all over the dips and curves in the cane. From the glint in his eyes, I knew I had made him happy. Not just the equivalent of faking the emotion, he really was happy. It had taken forever to find that cane, not to mention finding a way to have it made out of pure silver.

"Do you like it V?" my question was rhetorical, but I was genuinely curious.

V looked up at me after pulling the cane to his chest. His mouth parted slightly then slipped shut, his brow furrowing as if he were aggravated. He cast his gaze down at the floor, then made a noise that almost sounded like a growl.

"V, is something wrong?" now I was confused, I had thought that he had liked the cane.

"No, there is nothing wrong." his answer was quick and rushed, and he seemed to fumble for his next words, "I...I don't know how to reply to you. I want to tell you that I like everything that you've given me. But the words thank you don't seem like enough to me. I don't know what to say."

A laugh bubbled its way out of my throat as I shook my head.

"V, thank you is perfectly fine. Although there is one thing that you can add to it that will make it even better." I chuckled.

V tilted his head waiting for my answer.

"Lean down and give me a proper hug as you say thank you. That makes it mean even more." My smile widened as I held my arms out for him.

Slowly he leaned down, allowing me to wrap my arms around the back of his neck and pull myself close as his arms closed around the middle of my back.

A low, "Thank you..." was murmured into my ear and I smiled.

Pulling away from him was harder than I thought it was going to be. V's body was actually warm, not cold like I thought it would be.

"So if this is what my room looks like, what does your room look like?" V's voice made me blush.