Starting his third year of grade school, Darwin was presented with a new quarry in the form of a boy like no one he’d ever seen. When the bell rang to begin the day, everybody flooded into their new classroom, scrambling to get to the good seats next to the windows. The pale walls were bare, ready to be filled with projects and assignments, and the only noise that pierced through the chatter was the class pet, a fat hamster running in a colorful wheel. Darwin greeted everyone he knew, excited to see the classmates he hadn’t gotten together with over the summer, all the while scanning the crowd for the rumored new kid. Word had traveled fast even before the bell: the student joining their class had been brought to school by an EVE Probe, likely his mother, and anyone could tell by looking at him that his other half was alien. No Earthling robot was ever built with a mouth, such an odd shape, or a full coat vibrant colors. Darwin finally spotted him at a seat in the back row. The boy didn’t speak to anyone or look around as he made a show of organizing his materials on his desk so nobody would approach him. Darwin stopped unpacking to watch him. This wasn’t someone he’d be able to make friends with just by starting a conversation. Darwin deliberated for a moment before he started to put his things back in his bag. For the first time in his school career, Darwin was going to take a seat at the back of the class. Once he had a secure spot next to the new boy, Darwin settled in for the hunt. The following couple of weeks were a waiting game: for a while, the only information he gathered was that the boy’s name was Fletcher. Darwin made sure that he didn’t push Fletcher’s boundaries, only spoke to him under the guise of asking for help with classwork, and absorbed all the information he could just through observation. It was quickly apparent that Fletcher was smart. He scribbled on his assignments more than he actually worked on them, but whenever Darwin asked questions, Fletcher had answers ready. He didn’t talk much, so when he did, Darwin took the opportunity to look at Fletcher’s fangs ‒ fangs. Darwin wanted little more than to ask about them, but it seemed too rude. Still, when it came to rudeness, Darwin was a saint compared to the rest of their classmates. While there was something about Fletcher that kept most people away ‒ especially the other robots ‒ nobody seemed to mind if Fletcher overheard them talking about him. Darwin was embarrassed by his friends’ behavior and did what he could to stop them, but Fletcher didn’t help matters. His disposition lead others to believe he would be disagreeable, and he never proved them wrong. This was a boy who wasn’t going out of his way to make friends. After a whole month of deliberation, Darwin thought Fletcher might be comfortable enough for him to try something. Darwin made sure to pack up his things before the bell rang so he’d be able to follow Fletcher out of class ‒ he was always one of the first to leave even if he sat farthest from the door. Darwin was prepared to keep up, though, and made sure not to let Fletcher out of his sight while he took his bike off the rack and steered it out of the yard. Fletcher was just outside the school grounds, taking his backpack off to extend his wings (yet another bit of peculiar build that Darwin was achingly curious about). Darwin grabbed his handlebars and jogged to catch up. “Fletcher, wait!” Darwin half expected him to take off anyway, but the other boy stopped and turned around with an appraising look in his eyeforms. A strange feeling swept over Darwin, almost as if his mind were being searched. He’d felt flashes of it before, but something about this felt deliberate. It only lasted a moment, but it made him think twice about coming any closer. “...What is it?” Fletcher asked after a stretch of silence. “Oh, sorry, I was wondering if you, uh. If you wanna walk home together?” Fletcher looked back and forth between the sky and Darwin’s bike. “Why? It would be much slower for both of us to walk... not that I can walk in the first place. I’d just have to hover slow.” Darwin couldn’t help laughing a little, hoping he came off good-natured. “It’s not about speed. I just thought we could talk, and we usually go in the same direction anyway, so...” “Talk about what?” Fletcher sounded skeptical, but he was already putting his backpack on again. Darwin took this as consent and began to lead his bike along the sidewalk. Fletcher floated along at his side. “Well, I don’t really know anything about you. You’re new here, right?” Darwin only asked to break the ice. Fletcher didn’t look at him, his gaze sweeping lazily around the street, the trees, the buildings. “I’m only new at this school. I’ve lived here my whole life, but I’ve been homeschooled.” “Why’d you start going to school?” Fletcher scowled. “My mom thought I stayed in the house too much.” “Well, uh... do you like coming to school?” “No.” His answer was so quick that Darwin craned his neck around to look at him. Fletcher was sneering, but in a resigned sort of way, like it was only to be expected. “Geeze, what’s so bad about it?” “I won’t bore you with a list. For someone like you with so many friends, I don’t think you’d really get it anyway. It’s just not fun,” Fletcher shrugged. They shifted to walk single file to let some other people pass them on the sidewalk. “You haven’t really tried to make friends, though. You probably would enjoy yourself more if you did.” Fletcher shook his head. “Nobody wants to make friends with me. People see me and just want to know what I am, like... they think I’m not just a kid.” “Come on, not everyone ‒ ” “Fine. Not you, but everyone else.” “Well how can you know that if you don’t ever bother talking to anyone?” “I know,” Fletcher sighed in the same resigned way. What a dramatic kid. “It’s what everyone would rather talk about behind my back. I know how they feel because of what I am. But... it sounds stupid, and I’m sure if anyone found out, they’d condemn me for good.” He didn’t talk for a while, but Darwin didn’t know what to say. Fletcher glanced at him from the corner of his visor. “I’ve also known that even though you think I’m weird, you’ve never held it against me. Thanks for that, I guess.” Darwin didn’t keep himself from staring at this point, as Fletcher’s gaze was locked straight ahead. They were leaving the town center and passing through the apartment buildings, following the road to a long, empty stretch that lead toward the suburbs. Green hills could be seen rolling away in the gaps between the buildings, dipping into thickets of oak trees. Fletcher finally glanced at Darwin. “Well? Aren’t you going to ask?” “I-I... what? Sorry, I didn’t think you ‒ ” Darwin stopped short when Fletcher let out an odd laugh, the two tones of his voice clashing in an almost unsettling way. “Sorry, you’re making it easy to mess with you. I’ve just never told anyone who doesn’t already know and I’m kinda nervous, you know? I really don’t think you’ll make fun of me, though. The kind of robot I am ‒ we’re called Energy Vampires.” Darwin’s yellow eyeforms opened as wide as they could. I can’t blow this. He really trusts me. “That’s cool. So... do Energy Vampires read minds or something?” “Nah, just feelings, and only with robots. Not that it’s really necessary. Even the humans in class make it perfectly clear that I’m odd.” “I’m sorry about that, they’re really not bad. If you all got to know each other, I’m sure they’d all like you!” “Thanks, but you don’t have to stick up for them. If I’m being completely honest, I don’t want to be friends with anyone who would judge me before talking to me, either. I’ve seen the way people are around my dad, I knew I could only expect them to be like that. You, though...” Fletcher smirked, “you’re the real freak. What made you so determined to like me? I was never nice to you.” Darwin frowned. “You weren’t mean, either! Even if you had been, I wouldn’t give up. Nobody’s mean for no reason, and nobody’s ever so different that you can’t get to know them.” The strange, sweeping feeling passed over Darwin again. “...You really mean that, don’t you?” Fletcher’s voice was a bit softer. Darwin nodded, steering his bike around a crack in the sidewalk. “‘Course I do.” Silence settled over their walk as they came to the open road. Fletcher bent down to pick up a stick and run it along the fence between them and the street, letting it rattle against the steel railing. The only streets that branched off the main road now led into neighborhoods, twisting and winding, lined with houses and ornamental trees. After a while, Darwin looked from Fletcher to the passing houses. Before long, there was only one neighborhood left ‒ Darwin’s neighborhood. “Hey, do we live on the same street?” “Nope,” Fletcher shook his head and pointed farther along the road with his stick. “But... that’s the highway! There are only, like, farms that way until you reach the next city.” “Well... farms and a couple private roads. We’re kinda in the middle of nowhere. Wanna come over and see?” Darwin blinked in surprise. He did not expect he’d be making so much progress with Fletcher his first time having a real conversation with him. What a strange robot... “Sorry, you don’t have to. You always seemed so interested, I just thought you might like too ‒ ” “I’d love to!” Darwin sputtered, “Well, I mean, my mom doesn’t expect me home until five. Thanks for inviting me.” Fletcher gave him a real, genuine smile, showing all of his silver fangs. He stuck out his hand. “I like you, Darwin.” Darwin smiled back, reaching over to clasp Fletcher’s hand. “I like you, too!” “I don’t think anyone’s going to believe I’m bringing a friend home. My dad’ll be the only one home now, besides Quinn, but they’re our home system.” “So does your dad work at home?” “Yeah. He’s an electrical engineer. He experiments with power cells and stuff, and he’s really good at it. That’s an Energy Vampire thing, too, and since he’s an alien, there’s a lot of cool stuff he knows that people pay a lot for in their batteries.” “Oh. Where’s he from?” “I dunno. I’ve asked, but he doesn’t like to talk about it. The rest of my family’s from Earth, but my mom met him when she was traveling.” “Huh, and your mom’s one of the EVE Probes, right?” “Yeah, I think that’s generally my most likeable quality,” Fletcher laughed. “She’s Probe Two, so that makes One and Wall.E my aunt and uncle and Willow my cousin.” “Man, I hate to say it, but if you ever decide you want to make friends, you might want to lead with that.” “It don’t think it’ll make a difference to people who are worth knowing, but I have to admit... they are kind of the greatest. So what about you?” “What about me?” “What’s your family like?” Darwin thought for a moment, taken off guard. Now Fletcher was asking questions? It was amazing how much he opened up with a little one-on-one interaction. “Well, my family’s actually all humans, but one of their friends ‒ we call her Auntie Gem ‒ helped them have my older brother, Theodore. She got sick, though, and she couldn’t have another baby, so they made me instead! I didn’t even really realize I was different until they took me in for upgrades and I asked why Theodore never had to get any.” “That’s awesome,” Fletcher laughed, “I think humans are really interesting that way. I don’t really know that many.” He led Darwin off the sidewalk and onto a narrow street, the pavement turning to gravel beneath them. “My family’d be happy to meet you, I’m sure of it! You can come over to my place next time, my mom always loves having friends over.” “Yeah, I’ll have to talk to my parents first though. They always expect me home right after school, since, I mean. I’ve never had any reason to be late before.” The path curved around a hill before sloping down through a thick knot of trees. “Heh, maybe I can give you a reason! I never go home straight after school, there’s too much to do around town.” “Seriously? That sounds exhausting. I love being home. When people give me funny looks there, it’s because I actually deserve it.” “Well, by the end of this school year, I’ll have shown you the wonders of being social! You’ll never want to stay in.” Fletcher gave Darwin a deadpan look. “That’s not just unrealistic, it’s insane. I think it’s time someone showed you the joys of shutting all the curtains and playing video games for twelve hours.” “Hah, I guess that doesn’t sound... too...” the words died in Darwin’s speakers as they broke through the trees. Before them sprawled acres of meticulously manicured gardens surrounding a mansion with glistening white walls and glittering black roofs. “Dude... I thought you said you lived around farms!” “What? This isn’t a farm. My mom has spent years making this place, and she says she isn’t close to being finished.” Darwin stood still for a while, trying to absorb what he was seeing. Everything was thick, green, and dappled with light falling through the leaves of extravagant trees. Even going into fall, a plethora of flowers burst from the greenery, accented by the warm colors of the changing leaves. He hardly noticed that Fletcher was waiting, holding open a wrought-iron gate. “You coming?” “Oh, sorry!” Darwin started forward again, pushing his bike through the gate. “My mom works at a nursery, and sometimes she helps out at their landscaping firm. It’s her favorite thing to do, so it’s basically all she does when she’s home. She’s planted everything here herself. I help too sometimes, but Dad’s basically useless when it comes to plants. He’s a real black thumb.” “Seriously? How could two people take care of all of this?” “Well, we do have a gardening crew who comes in twice a week. We see them so often they’re practically part of the family. I’d show you around, but we don’t really have that much time.” “Do I hear a fountain?” “Yeah, there are a few. There’s also a stream and a couple ponds, too. One of them has koi in it! I named all of them.” Darwin was so busy craning his neck around that he hardly noticed they had come up to the front stoop of the mansion. “You can leave your bike against the wall. Come inside!” Fletcher hummed as he punched a code into a panel next to the door. Darwin leaned his bike down before bounding up the front step, sliding his pack off his arm. The door swung open just as Fletcher began to reach for the handle, revealing a towering, angular robot bearing an unmistakable resemblance to Darwin’s newest friend. “Oh, Fletcher! Thank the stars!” the tall robot crumpled down to scoop Fletcher into a hug. “I was worried sick! Why weren’t you answering your messages? What took you so long? I was just coming out to look for you!” “D-Dad, stop, I’m fine. I guess I forgot to turn my mobile on after school, I was walking home with my new friend,” Fletcher pried himself out of his father’s arms. Darwin stood up a little straighter. Fletcher had called him his friend. “Walking?” The tall robot looked absolutely perplexed. “Oh, excuse me, I’m sorry, you’re... you’re Fletcher’s friend?” He practically had to lean back to look Fletcher’s dad in the face, but he held his hand out all the same. “Hello, sir. My name is Darwin Harley.” The lanky robot blinked, almost looking confused before smiling and shaking the boy’s hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, Darwin. My name is Nos-4-a2. Please, er... come in.” Nos held Fletcher back for a moment as Darwin stepped inside, raising his eyebrow meaningfully at his son. “Come on, Dad, I’m sorry I left my mobile off, I’ll message you next time...” “No, it’s not that, just... I didn’t know you had made any friends. He seems really nice.” Fletcher laughed a little, feeling static rise to his cheeks. “He is. Is it okay if he hangs out for a while?” “Oh, sure thing! Just... let me know if you need anything. I’ll be in my study.” “Thanks, Dad.” Nos-4-a2 stood straight and turned toward the courtyard. “Well, Darwin, Fletcher will show you around... er, are you alright?” Darwin caught himself gawking, scrambling to gather his composure. “Yeah, sorry, it’s just, um... your house is beautiful. Thank you for having me.” Nos grinned and pet Fletcher’s shoulder, leaning towards Darwin on his way out of the hall. “Something tells me I should be thanking you. Have fun, boys.” “We will!” Fletcher smiled, “Now what do you want to see first, the theater or the observatory?” “You have an observatory?” “The observatory it is!”