Chapter 6
Notes:
That axe about to DROP, folks!
(also psssst, I chose the names for the Superhero AU) ^_- See ending notes!
MILO
Milo was hyperventilating.
Which was impossible.
He didn’t breathe.
Something was broken. He was broken. He was broken and didn’t know how to fix himself, and when Master realized how useless he was now, he’d replace Milo with another model.
That thought kept repeating in Milo’s mind no matter how many times he analyzed the information and told himself he could keep up the charade until he fixed the problem himself.
It would be fine, everything would be fine, but no matter how hard he tried to hammer that into his programming, he couldn't stop the cycle.
He just kept processing the same information with an increase of that awful heat and pain and terror.
Now he was behind schedule, and it was almost time for Master to be home. Milo was never behind schedule. Was it his predictive models? Were they what was broken? Why else would he keep repeating the same algorithms over and over and—
“Milo!”
Milo nearly tripped in front of Master’s bedroom mirror, unsure why he was even in there, just pacing, and now knocking the edge of the dresser with enough force that the tiny bot on display that Master had built in Junior High was nearly sent crashing to the floor.
Milo caught it, hands shaking as he cradled the unresponsive bot that resembled an ancient Roomba. It had worked once, Master said, but was merely for display now, just a dead, empty shell…
“Milo?”
Milo had to go out there, even if the heat was so bad now that he cranked up his internal cooling system to prevent himself from accidentally rebooting.
“I have amazing news. Where are you?”
“Here, Master!” Milo called, carefully setting the bot back on the dresser and hurrying out the door. He met Master at the mouth of the living room, where he had left the basket of laundry he’d been folding before his processing started going haywire again.
“Milo,” Master said with a brighter smile than usual—enchanting really; Milo had never noticed how enchanting Master looked before—until Master’s eyes strayed to the living room, and he saw the basket. “You’re still doing laundry? Don’t you usually finish everything before I get home?”
“I—”
“Never mind, come here.” Master grabbed Milo’s wrist and dragged him into the living room, but when he sat on the sofa, he didn’t pull Milo down with him. “I have so much to tell you, but I’m buzzing, I am so wired. I need to relax before dinner.”
Relax. Helping Master relax meant sexual attention, and in that position, in this room, it meant he wanted Milo on his knees.
The heat increased, but this time, it felt different, like that awful terror mixed with the excitement of looking out the window at the city view all combined into one undefinable feeling.
Milo lowered himself to the floor, trembling and trying to hide it, but Master didn’t seem to notice. He had dropped his head back, widening his legs to give Milo access, like it was routine.
It was. Milo did this all the time. It should be easy…
“It’s the surge protector, and all because of you, Milo,” Master said.
“You get to come to work with me on Monday, and we’re going to show Director Andreas everything.
If it goes well, they’ll mass produce my part, and we’ll save thousands of future bots from overloading.
It just needs fine-tuning to make sure nothing else is affected when the power gets redistributed.
“Oh, and I know how to replace your parts thanks to Raina. We’ll do that later, okay?”
“Y-yes, Master,” Milo said, hands shaking as he ran them up Master’s thighs and then started to undo his slacks.
He had to hold it together. He wanted to please Master.
He always wanted to please him. But this new feeling was starting to settle lower than his chest, as if whatever was wrong with him was spreading.
“Milo? Are you having a motor function error?” Master peered down at him and noticed the tremor in his hands.
“N-no, Master, I-I-I just—”
“You’re stuttering. Is it damage from the lightning strike? Full diagnostic report, now.”
“P-p-please, I…” Milo closed his eyes, hands still on Master’s thighs, afraid to tell him the truth, that nothing was wrong, but he was clearly broken in some unfixable way. “I-I just… f-f-feel like—”
“What?” Master sat up fully, forcing Milo’s hands to drop. “What do you mean you feel?”
Notes:
Okay, so this sucked for Milo length too (ha!) but I promise something longer is coming (haha!). Ready for my choices for their Superhero AU names?
So The Ivory Bandit (Milo, who Rowan calls Snowflake, lol) guesses there must be a bug on him, maybe in one of his safe houses or more than one, and is getting paranoid, but he has no idea how Damask (Rowan, who Milo calls Red) might be pulling it off.
Of course he doesn’t know it’s Rowan yet, but since Rowan is having more and more fun with his other alter ego, he knows he needs a fake alias.
After thwarting yet another heist, he signs his next “love note” as:
Umbra