#pt11

He already knew. How could he not? That was another detail they wouldn’t keep their big mouth closed about. So he just muttered under his breath a half-bitter, “Thanks.”

The arm around his shoulder pulled back. Then, in a totally surprising move, Snail started getting grabby. Light touches to his sides, his hips, his thighs. Just enough to get him physically worked up, but definitely not enough to stop him from being pissed off.

“How about you give me a little live show?” they asked huskily, breath ghosting over his ear. “I wanna see how my little pornstar will be in person.”

“Not much different than the video,” he said as he crossed one leg over the other. “You’ll just get to actually touch me.”

“Well, I like touchin’ you.” To prove their point, they slid their hands under his clothes to feel around his bare stomach. “You make such pretty noises for me.”

A shiver went through him. Keep it together.

“Then it wouldn’t be much different from when we actually fuck, so there wouldn’t be much of a point,” he pointed out. Maybe a little snidely. All he wanted was for Snail to shut up about the damn video. If they kept this up, he might consider just going the fuck home.

“It’ll be different because you’ll be a good little bottom bitch for me this time.”

Oh, fuck no!

Daniel’s jaw clenched real tight. But he had to remind himself that they didn’t know. They were still being an ass, but not a huge one. So after a deep breath, he explained relatively calmly, “I came over to spend quality time with you, and I’d rather not have your libido get in the way of that.”

“It’ll be real quality with my dick in your ass,” they teased, on hand firmly grabbing his thigh and not-so-subtly signaling for him to open up. “You know how much you love being a good boy for me.”

He made it a point to shift a bit and close himself off even further. “I love being your boyfriend. You know, doing things that actual couples do, like hang out and get to know each other. Maybe bond a little over a common interest.”

Snail began to kiss and nip along the crook of his neck and said, “Yeah, we can bond over our common interest in you bouncing on my dick and moaning like a whore. Besides, we haven’t fucked here yet.”

“And we’re not going to!” he snapped as he pulled himself away. “So just drop it!”

They finally seemed to get it through their thick skull. “Just what the hell is your deal?” they asked with a scowl on their face. “Is my apartment just too much of a shithole for you? Can't even get it up in this dump, is that it?”

“Your apartment’s fine, thanks to me,” he hissed, returning their glare with his own. “I just don't want to have sex right now, is that so hard to understand?”

“Uh, yeah, maybe it is,” they shot back. “You're usually down to fuck. And I always go out of my way to help you get off when you need it, so…”

Every fiber of his being lit up like a flame. He stood to get some of that energy out, but it hardly worked. Staring down at them hard, his hands flew up and all over as he said, “Oh, you go out of your fucking way, is that right? And you don't rile me up on purpose because you can't control your damn urges? Okay, good to know.”

Snail got to their feet too, but they had no height advantage to work with, much to Daniel's sadistic delight. “You get yourself riled up! I know you don't like to admit it because you've got your bullshit pride and oh-so classy image to keep, but you're as much of a fucking horndog as I am! That video you gave me is proof!”

“No, it's not!” he insisted as he put his hands on his hips. “I made that video because I felt bad after our last fight! You're the fucking nymphomaniac here, so I thought you'd appreciate it! But of course you have to like it a little too much, huh!?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean!?”

“It means that I'm sick of you talking about it!” Words just spilled out of his mouth, and with each one he felt more and more like a volcano about to erupt. “Yes, I made that video! Yes, I'm glad you like it! Now just shut the fuck up about it and keep your dick in your pants for once in your goddamn life!”

They had the fucking gall to point a finger at him. “You told me to tell you what I thought! So don't fucking get on my case!”

“Yeah, I wanted to hear your opinion once,” he said, voice low as he held up one finger for emphasis. “Not fifty million times! Not so much that it's the only thing you want to talk about!”

They threw their hands up in defeat. “I just can't fucking win with you! If I don't listen to you, I get railed, but if I do, you fucking explode at me! What do you want, Daniel!?”

“I want to spend quality time with my boyfriend, Snail!” he snapped. “Time without sex being the only thing on your mind!”

“Okay, fine,” Snail growled out and plopped back down on the couch. “We can just watch TV for a little while, okay? That should be tame enough for you, your highness.”

He carefully took a seat at arm's length and muttered, “I don't like your tone.”

“Well, you got pissy first!” they countered, before huffing and investing themselves into whatever bullshit show that had on.

The sound of canned in laughter filled the tense silence. Actual audiences didn’t sound like that. He almost wanted to make a comment, maybe start up some kind of conversation. Or would it come out bitter? Bragging? Either way, he was too pissed to open his mouth. If he did, things wouldn’t go well. But wasn’t that always the case?

As soon as the credits rolled up the screen, Snail stiffly asked him, “Anything you wanna watch?”

“Nope,” he answered curtly. Bile rose up in his throat. Scream, yell, curse, just let them know you’re still pissed!

“Are you gonna get that stick out of your ass anytime soon?” they said out of the blue, shooting him a hard look. “Or are you just gonna be pissy the whole time you’re here?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, dipshit,” Daniel spat with a sneer, “it’s a little hard for me to cool down once you piss me off. So forgive me if there aren’t any rainbows coming out of my ass anytime soon.”

They huffed. “I just didn't think you were gonna be this much of a bitch about it.”

Always so selfish, Daniel. This is how things are. How they have to be. So stop being a fucking bitch, and just get over it! Nobody will love you if you keep acting this way!

Daniel got to his feet, wanting to throw up. “I'm going home.”

Through the haze he just barely made out Snail standing up, scowling, one hand snagging his wrist before he could even think to pull back. “You can't just leave!”

“Let. Go,”  Daniel said through clenched teeth. It was useless to free himself, he knew that. If anything, he'd just end up with bruises.

Snail released him, body tense. The look on their face was mostly anger, and a little something else that he didn't care enough to decipher. It didn't matter. They were in the wrong.

So he left, slamming the door behind him and not even stopping to think for a single moment until he was back inside the safety of his house. And as soon as his brain settled down, a bitter sob escaped him.

What the fuck was wrong with him?

“I said green tea with mint, not lemon, you cotton-eared piece of shit! Go make it again before I fucking string you up under the catwalk by your tacky thrift-store bow tie!”

Daniel couldn't take the incompetence of his interns. Not today, at least. A migraine pounded behind his eyes and he honestly just wanted to curl up in a hole and die. But he had to keep going. If only to spite whatever force so clearly wanted to knock him down.

While he was trying to rub away the pounding in his head, Daniyal slowly approached, looking nervous. It took a whole minute of him standing there, opening and closing his mouth like a brain-dead fish before Daniel snapped.

“What?”

“A-Andy’s coming over today,” Daniyal finally sputtered out, fingers laced in front of himself.

“Yes, and?” That was already something that had been decided already, and he really couldn't see the damn point in bringing it up again.

“Well, I might've…” Daniyal looked off to the side. “Lied about what they were coming over for.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes. “If you’re kicking me out of my own house so you two can fuck-”

Daniyal’s eyes grew comically wide, and he waved his hands in front of himself while frantically whispering, “No, no, no, no! We haven’t- that’s not…!”

“You have ten seconds.”

“They're coming over to take you out for tea!”

Daniel blinked, too stunned to keep being pissed. “What?”

“I asked them to come over and take you out for a bit,” he explained with a hopeful smile on his face. “It might do you some good to leave the house for something other than work, you know? And… I figured since you respect Andy a lot more than you respect me…”

Something stirred in Daniel. After a moment of struggling, he managed to say, “Look, I… Respect you. A lot, actually. So stop the fucking pity party.”

Not even a second later, Daniyal pulled him into a tight hug, almost lifting him up as he babbled, “That's so sweet, by the goddesses!”

“Put me down,” Daniel whispered harshly. Holy fuck, how the hell could Daniyal pick him up? “I don't want anyone getting ideas!”

Daniyal’s face went pink and he carefully set Daniel down. “Right, right. Sorry. Anyway, I'm sure Andy will be able to help you out with your problem too. They're really smart, you know!”

All those sappy feeling he had took off like a bunch scared interns who knew they fucked up. He muttered, eyes boring into Daniyal, “My problem?”

“With Snail?” Daniyal suddenly sounded unsure of himself. “After that falling out and all, I figured… Getting it off your chest would help? I know I can't help much, but Andy can! They can do anything!”

Just then, an intern skittered up to Daniel and handed over one of his future scripts and began to ramble on, “Sir, I don't what went wrong, I-”

He held a hand up to silence her before he got too fed up. “I'll deal with it. Go.”

“O-Okay…”

After giving the script a quick once over, he bit out a curse and turned his attention back to Daniyal. “I don't have time to fucking argue with you right now. I'll have tea with Andy, but they better not expect me to talk about Snail with them. They don't need to know my business, and I don't need their help. Got it?”

Daniyal swallowed thickly, and nodded. Good.

The air was tense. At least, to Daniel it was. He didn’t want to ask if Andy could feel it too, being an android and all. Not because it would be rude, hell no. He just didn’t want to open any sort of discussion. The longer this silence persisted, the better.

Though the way Andy watched him with those metallic blue eyes made him a little easy. They were friendly, but… Something about this whole situation made him feel like a kid being made to talk about why he threw a temper tantrum. With Andy being the way too understanding mom.

“So,” they began after he had finished off his tea, “I heard that you and your boyfriend had a bit of a fight?”

Damn it, Daniyal.

“Yeah,” he admitted, but that would be the only thing he’d say about the whole situation. “We sure did.”

Another quiet moment passed. Daniel tapped his fingers against the table and glared at anyone who passed by. Andy watched him. Not blinking. Or moving, really. It was a little unnerving. Were they doing this on purpose?

“Yes?” he asked with a scowl.

“What happened between the two of you?” they asked, head tilted to one side as a concerned frown took over their face. “Daniyal only made mention of a lack of communication.”

Of course he did. Well, at least Daniel could say that he wasn’t a fucking blabbermouth.

“Well,” he muttered, glaring down into his empty cup, “Snail forgot to communicate that they were a huge asshole. That’s it.”

“Would you care to elaborate?”

“Is this fucking twenty questions?” Daniel snapped, grip tight on his cup. Like it was a lifeline. “Why the hell are you so interested? It’s none of your business.”

“Daniyal asked me to talk to you,” they answered bluntly as they reached over and placed a hand on his. “Seeing you in such a bad mood makes him upset. It would make everyone happier if you would just talk, Daniel.”

“Talking doesn’t do shit!” A buzz started up in his mind. Like a swarm of angry hornets. He wanted to sting everyone. “It’s best to just keep feelings locked away! They’re useless! Besides, what the fuck would you know about happiness? You’re a goddamn robot. You can’t feel.”

They only hummed, as if they expected this to happen, and said calmly, “I will agree that I am artificial, yes. But I can feel. I feel care for Daniyal. And for you because you’re so important to him.” A soft smile appeared on their face. “So it is in your best interest to trust me when I say that opening up will help you in the long run.”

He wanted to explode. A part of him worried that his cup would shatter in his hands. Another part of him wanted it to. “Fine. Just give me a moment.”

They gave him an understanding nod and pulled their hand back. Thank god. He needed a moment of space to clear his head. Or else he’d just be spitting poison out everywhere.

“Okay,” he breathed out after a long moment. “So Snail has a way of… Getting on my nerves. And sometimes, they push it really far.”

“Can you give an example?”

Oh, he could give many. But it would probably be best to talk about the biggest thing. “For one, they have no consideration for me. I’ll ask them to not say something to me, and they make it a point of fucking still saying it! Over and over again! It’s infuriating!”

Andy frowned, eyebrows furrowing together. “Is it really so important that they don’t say it? Why does it bother you so much?”

Fuck.

“It just brings up bad memories,” he answered in a hurry. They weren’t going to get him to talk about that, not on their artificial life.

“Does Snail know this?”

“...No.”

“Then why don’t you tell them?”

“Because they should damn well stop calling me a fucking bitch when they know it pisses me off!” he yelled, garnering the attention of several nearby people. Like he cared, he was too fired up now. “I shouldn’t have to give them more of an explanation!”

“I agree, you should not have to,” they said, and he loved how validated that made him feel. “But it seems that they need to understand how much it affects you before they will stop saying it. And in the future they will be more aware that these things that make you angry are actually a lot more than they seem.”

“Well,” he began, but found himself floundering in the next second. There was nothing he could say to counter that. Damn it.

“I am sure that there are more things that bother you in your relationship.” Andy looked him right in the eye, with a lot more care and understanding than he could handle. “Perhaps, instead of talking to me about it, you could talk to them.”

After a tense stare down, he huffed and pulled out his phone.

Hey, can you come over tomorrow?

The answer was instantaneous, which honestly almost made his heart stop.