DH shifted in their seat, “And you’re sure that you’re not upset that I kissed someone before you?”
“I’m not upset that you kissed anyone! No. I mean… You want to be my mate, right?”
“Yes!” DH said, but the word came out of their mouth so quickly. “I mean… I mean, yes, I do!”
“I’m just honestly curious… and-” TO frowned; felt a little upset, but not because DH had kissed someone. “I just don’t know why you hid it from me.”
“I just wanted to never speak of it again!” DH said, their wings puffing out slightly, “That’s all.” They sighed, “But… If you have to know-”
“I’d like to.”
“... It was GiDi.”
DH could have said that they had kissed the Commander, and TO would have been less surprised. “GiDi?”
“You’re never to bring it up again! You promised!”
TO pressed their lips together as they practically glared at DH. DH was right, of course, but looking back TO felt like DH had tricked them.
Still, they had promised; they’d never bring it up again.
DH watched TO for a few seconds, then sighed and looked away, “Fine. I’ll tell you what happened.” they grumbled, “Just stop pouting at me.”
“I do not pout!” TO protested, though even they had to admit that maybe the way their lips pressed together might have been mistaken for a pout.
“You do.” DH said in a deadpan voice, their ears parallel to the ground. Regardless, they were still lightly flushed, “It’s stupid though, so you can’t laugh.”
“I won’t!”
DH sighed again, “Do you remember that day when you got called to your Overseer’s office?”
“I do.” TO said. They had been so afraid that they were going to be corrected for pulling their claws on 55H75 -Hur-13. Of course, if they had actually hurt the other synth, the Overseer would have corrected TO.
“Right. Well. Do you remember how you came and found me in the showers later?”
“I do.” TO said again, “GiDi told me you were mad. I went to talk to you-”
“And…” They glanced away from TO, “You were really upset. You looked like you were about to cry and I…” their wings tightened around them, “And I just wanted to make you feel better. I wanted to hold you... Then I thought-” their ears flushed, “I thought I wanted to kiss you then.”
“THEN?” TO couldn’t help how loud they suddenly got. That had been so long ago! That had been well before TO themself had really felt any kind of romantic feelings for DH.
“I said I felt stuff a while ago!” DH said, their wings puffing up as their ears dropped, “I said that!”
“You did! You did, I just… I’m sorry go on.” TO leaned forward, resting their elbows on their knees as they made a show of paying attention. DH scoffed and looked away.
“Anyway.” DH muttered, “Yes, I wanted to kiss you then. It just came out of nowhere, and it bothered me.”
TO remembered the first time they had wanted DH to stroke their ears, and how thrown they had been by that desire. TO felt like they understood that, but they said nothing, they just nodded and listened.
“And you didn’t notice a thing!” DH said, “You didn’t! GiDi’s the one who noticed something was different. They got you away, and then they pulled me aside and asked me outright what was wrong… They can be a bit more blunt than you or me.”
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“They can be.” TO agreed, “I think they might have been the smart one.”
TO didn’t know if the sound that escaped DH’s mouth then was a stifled laugh or a chuckle.
“Anyway... They pushed me until I told them, but then I said that I thought maybe I was just obsessed with the whole idea. I mean-” they shook their head, “I watched so much romance in my spare time! I see so much of it, I thought that maybe the idea of kissing had gotten into my head and I was just distracted by it because it’s not something that synths do!” They gave TO a desperate look, “Does that make any sense?”
“Perfect sense.” TO muttered as they tried to ignore the burning in their ears, “It makes perfect sense.”
“Well… Then GiDi kissed me.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.” DH muttered. “Well. no, not just like that. First, they smacked their snout into mine, and then I asked what they were doing, and they said that if I was just obsessed with the idea, then clearly kissing another synth would fix the issue. The second time we tried we kept moving our heads in the wrong direction and our snouts got in the way.” they rubbed their arms under their wings, “And then we got it right… and nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing. I mean, it was a kiss. But… it didn’t feel like anything, you know? I figured I was just obsessed with the idea of kissing, and that it was all over now, and that I wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. Kissing GiDi had been weird, and I was.. Well, I didn’t want anyone to find out about that, so I made them swear not to tell anyone-”
“Not even me.”
“Especially not you!” DH said, “I had wanted to kiss YOU, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable!” They huffed. “Though maybe I should have told you. GiDi said I should have. They thought I should just try to kiss you.”
“Even though it was weird with GiDi.”
“It was very weird with GiDi. I didn’t like it. I thought I was over the whole thing then, but clearly I wasn’t.”
A thought crept into TO’s head, one that made their stomach churn. “And… and with me?” They asked, feeling their ears flick down, their wings tighten around them, “Was it weird with me?”
“NO!” DH turned around to face TO, “It wasn’t weird with you it was-” Their ears suddenly flushed; it seemed like they had just been composing themself, but suddenly the color came back to their ears. “It was… Different with you. I mean-” They gently chewed their lower lip as they thought, “It’s hard to explain. It was… It felt right, if that makes sense.”
“And… it was ok? You enjoyed it.”
“You clearly did too if you were coming over to try it again. Like always though-” They gave a teasing grin “-Your aim was off.”
“Clearly I haven’t had enough practice!” TO snapped. DH had spoken like they were in training, doing target practice. “Besides, I had a moving target from the start! That’s hardly fair!”
DH gave a little snort from repressed laughter, then laughed; softly at first, then dissolving into chuckles. TO felt their ears burn as they watched DH.
“Oh, so I had to promise not to laugh at you, but-”
“I’m sorry.” DH said as they calmed down, “It’s a little funny, isn’t it.”
TO huffed and looked away, “It’s not my fault I haven’t had practice.”
“You’re right.” DH said. “It’s not your fault.” They pivoted their body so that they were facing TO directly. They sat still and just looked at TO. “Go ahead.”
“Go ahead?”
DH’s ears twitched, “You said you didn’t have practice… well, here: A nearby, stationary target. Start there and then work up to more distant-” TO felt the burn to their ears spread almost to their cheeks as they looked away, “This isn’t actual target practice-”
“Keep your eyes on your target.”
Their tone was just like when they would practice, when DH was helping TO get better, and aim better, and shoot better. TO glanced black, glaring at DH.
“You’re teasing me.” they muttered. “You’re making fun of me.”
“I’m… maybe a little?” DH said with a grin “Sorry. I… It’s kinda nice when you’re flustered like this.”
TO took a deep breath and positioned themself in front of DH. With excessive seriousness, their ears flicking back in concentration, their eyes narrowing, they lined DH’s face up with their own, leaned in, turned their snout every so slightly to avoid hitting DH’s snout with their own, and gently kissed DH. They would have pulled away after a moment, but DH leaned in, putting their hand up and resting their palm against the back of TO’s neck.
DH’s hand was so close to their ears. They felt their ears twitch as they realized that. Panic and worry filled TO as they thought DH might see their ears twitching in that shivery way the edges seemed to vibrate, and the very tips of the ears twitched to signal their want to anyone who saw them. They felt like they had to push away from their friend, that they had to hide until they calmed down.
Then they remembered they didn't have to do that anymore. Still... There was something else. They pulled away slowly, falling silent as they tried to figure out how to ask what they wanted to ask.
“Is... are you ok? Was that weird? I-” DH was babbling, but then they saw TO’s ears, “Oh! Oh, your ears do that too-”
TO might have died on the spot. Without even thinking they reached up and covered their ears with their hands, “Leave them alone! It’s-”
“Sorry… Sorry, I was just surprised.” DH said, “I thought. Well, nevermind.” They cleared their throat, “Is everything ok though? You... you pulled away suddenly.”
“Yes… yes, everything’s fine.” TO muttered. They didn’t know if they could ask now that DH had pointed out their ears. They wanted to, but they also wanted to slink away for a while.
“Then why did you pull away?” DH asked.
TO slowly lowered their shaking hands, “I… I was wondering If.. well…” Their voice suddenly got very soft, “Would you mind… maybe… rubbing my ears while you kissed me?” Their voice was so soft at the end that TO hoped that maybe DH hadn’t heard them.
“... Rub your ears?” DH asked, their own ears flicking out in confusion. TO recalled how confused Avery had been when TO had mentioned it, and suddenly worried that it was indeed something inherently weird.
“I’m sorry!” TO said, laughing nervously as they backed away, “It was weird. I mean.” They turned away, “This is all new right.. And… And I didn’t say this before, but when I Saw C12 and Snout that time, well, they… It’s nothing, Sorry, it’s-”
DH cut off their excuses by pressing their lips once more to TO’s. Their hand rested first on their shoulder, then gently rested on their neck, trailing up wards slowly until DH finally took TO’s ear in their hand and rubbed the soft part of TO’s outer ear. TO relaxed, the feeling of DH’s hand on their ear calmed them suddenly. Their chest swelled and a pleasant warmth filled them up as DH’s featherlight kisses played over their lips. A strange sound between a chirp and a purr escaped from TO’s throat. And though they couldn’t really think about it at the moment, they knew they would be embarrassed by it later.
After several moments, DH pulled away just a little, then pressed their forehead to TO’s. They still kept their hand on TO’s ear, but they had stopped rubbing.
“Like that?” They asked, “Is that... What you wanted.”
TO hummed, and leaned into DH. Yes, it had been what they wanted. It had been more than they had hoped for.