Toby!

I understand that some people who first read the tag may think that it’s just a tag for the character who, in the fic, chooses not to speak.

Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder. The character could very well want to speak, but unable to due to the disorder.

Her eye shone its yellow glow, spilling on both of their faces, so close together, almost touching, almost there. It was entrancing, she was a moth, and the woman’s eye was the ochre light of a worn bulb.

“Kiss me again.” The robotic voice asked.

The artificial eye beamed gold like a field of mature grain, spanning as far as the eye could see. The crops rolled with the wild wind.

A wheat field, my wheat field.

Their lips met again, it was nothing less than perfect.

She touched one of the beloved marks, as if it would disappear when confronted with reality. But no, it’s stuck to her face. She almost doesn't want to wash it off. She wants to cuddle up in bed and ride out the warm fuzzy feeling in her chest. But what if GLaDOS comes by again? Chell doesn’t want to make it weird.

She wants to take a long look at herself before wiping it off. Her heart flutters heavily at the absurdity of it all. The tester’s tongue ghosts over her lips, trying to taste whatever she had the privilege of experiencing last night. It was a stale flavor, mixed with waxy makeup.

Chell’s left hand reciprocated the affections, crawling its way to the older lady’s back. This earned a small jump at the sudden movement, yet was rewarded with her own hand cupping Chell’s cheek.

AU where GLaDOS is the artificial lifeform of both Cave and Caroline. She modifies Caroline’s corpse to use as her own body. With a human form, she begins her rightful place as Aperture’s CEO.

After everything that happened with the last CEO, no one wants anything to do with the company. By focusing on other products and technologies (and led by GLaDOS’s brilliant mind), Aperture is in an ok place—financially.

Chell (without many more options in life) becomes a test subject. She does extraordinarily well, which gets the attention of GLaDOS herself. This is what she’s been waiting for, a chance to show everyone that the testing initiative is miles better than it was before.

Being so interested in her investment, she has Chell around on her beck and call. It starts off cold, but GLaDOS starts to open up near the first human she personally knows.

Chell’s existence as an outlier becomes an obsession, something to be studied and tested. Then it becomes a comfort, and strangely human emotions begin to invade her programming.