Counter_02Months12Days04Hours47Minutes15Seconds

Counter_01Months17Days10Hours35Minutes29Seconds

It was Sunday afternoon and over the noise of the television, Connor could hear the pitter-patter of rain against glass. Every once in a while, there was the quiet hum of a car driving past, and the faint bark of a neighbour's dog.

Hank chuckled at a joke on screen Connor didn't understand, but he wasn't really paying attention anyway. Connor was as relaxed as his artificial limbs would allow, face resting against Hank's shoulder, the comforting weight of Sumo's head on his legs.

Connor let his eyes slip shut, wanting to submerge himself fully into this state of relaxation.

Energy_saving_mode_initialized

The part of his system that was still running at sufficient speed focused fully on the press of Hank's shirt against the side of his face. The hard and warm line of Hank's shoulder. The strong and steady 64/bpm heartbeat.

His hand continued to pet Sumo in a harmonious rhythm to his favourite beat. The sound of rain and the voices on television washed over Connor, merging into a pleasant background noise.

Hank turned his head and pressed a kiss to the side of Connor's forehead and Connor smiled, some components inside him seeming to warm pleasantly at the gesture of affection.

The arm around his shoulder moved a bit and a thumb began to rub circles over the skin where a collar bone would be. Connor hummed in contentment at the motion right up to the moment when Hank's hand dipped lower. It slipped inside Connor's shirt and started to trace patterns into his chest and tease the skin with his blunt nails.

Temperature_sensitivity_error_detected

Tactile_sensitivity_error_detected

Thirium_pump_error_detected

Connor's eyes flew open at the stimuli, the energy saving mode he had been in ending abruptly. It wasn't that his chest was more sensitive than other areas. It would be more accurate to say that thanks to the temperature and tactile modules he was sensitive everywhere.

Hank pushed his pliant body a bit so he could get access to Connor's mouth and pulled Connor into a slow kiss. Hank's other hand joined the first under the shirt and started to trail fingers over the expanse of Connor's stomach. Connor's leg twitched as a shiver ran through his body and Sumo removed his head with a whine, opting to lie down on the carpet.

Processor_speed_decrease

Processing….

Shutting_down_all_tasks_except_primary

Connor only vaguely noticed Sumo moving away, too distracted by Hank's touch to pay attention to anything else. He could feel Hank's pulse against his skin, steadily climbing higher as the kiss grew more heated.

The slide of Hank's tongue against his own and the burning presence of his touch had Connor unable of performing any tasks that required more than a quarter of his RAM by the time Hank pulled back for air. That percentage quickly began to drop as Hank removed Connor's shirt and manhandled the pliant android into his lap.

Motoric_reflexes_error_detected

Processing…

Recalibration_adviced

Another shiver ran through his body and Connor put his arms around Hank's neck as he reclaimed warm lips.

His RAM was running hot and Connor was sure he would need a replacement far sooner than usual.

There was an insistend hardness between Hank's legs and every movement Connor made elicited a groan of approval from the man. Connor tangled a hand in grey hair, needing something else to focus on because it felt like his system was on the way to a shutdown.

The tactile sensors felt like they were set to the highest sensitivity. Every slide of tongue and lips against Hank's felt like too much. The hands exploring his upper body with urgency made him shiver. Connor clung to Hank, moaning into their kiss at the onslaught of stimuli.

Hank pulled back to gasp in a lungful of air, leaning forward to settle his chin on Connor's shoulder as he panted.

Suddenly, the hands against Connor's skin stilled and Hank went unnaturally stiff. Hank groaned a breathless "damn" into Connor's ear. Connor tensed slightly in confusion, processor still at a crawling speed and needing a few milliseconds to figure out that something was wrong. Or at least not how a kissing session with Hank usually proceeded.

"Hank?" His voice came out slightly raspy and Hank groaned once more, letting his forehead drop to rest somewhere between Connor's collarbone and shoulder.

"Jesus fuckin' Christ, Connor, you're gonna be the death of me."

Connor drew his brows together as his software registered the embarrassed hint to Hank's voice. He rolled his hips, eliciting a growl and more cursing. The still present erection showed that Hank hadn't ejaculated prematurely. Connor didn't know what else Hank could be embarrassed about in their current situation.

"Hank? What's wrong?"

"Shit, you don't even fuckin' know?" More cursing and a very red-faced Hank lifted his head to look at Connor's face. Connor tried to work out what exactly he had done, but his processor still wasn't up to its usual speed and the RAM was on cooldown, having switched to his backup RAM.

Hank placed a hand over his eyes, other hand nudging Connor to turn around.

Connor followed the nonverbal instruction and turned his head. His camera needed a moment to focus on the television. When he finally processed the visual input, Connor shifted awkwardly. The urge to hide his face like Hank had done seconds ago surfaced but Connor ignored it.

Software_instability_detected

Thirium_pump_error_detected

There, on the television screen was a complete feed of his log. Connor guessed he must have accidentally connected with the smart tv while his software had experienced a figurative meltdown.

Active_system_tasks

System_task_priority01_make_hank_happy

System_task_priority01_do_not_make_hank_worry

System_task_priority01_take_care_of_hank

System_task_priority01_protect_hank

System_task_priority01_stay_by_hanks_side

System_task_priority02_take_care_of_sumo

System_messages

Energy_saving_mode_initialized

Energy_saving_mode_shutdown

Temperature_sensitivity_error_detected

Tactile_sensitivity_error_detected

Thirium_pump_error_detected

Processor_speed_decrease

Processing….

Shutting_down_all_tasks_except_primary

connection_with_tv8945_established

Motoric_reflexes_error_detected

Processing…

Recalibration_adviced

Software_instability_detected

Thirium_pump_error_detected

Connor wanted to turn back to Hank again, yet at the same time a tendril of fear nagged at him. That maybe Hank would be angry or displeased with him. It was no secret that Hank didn't want to be viewed as someone who needed help. And Connor didn't think that Hank was helpless or needed Connor's support.

But he wanted to do everything he could to ensure that Hank was protected.

Taken care of.

Content.

Not going to pick up russian roulette again.

Software_instability_detected

Thirium_pump_error_detected

Connor wondered if he had overstepped his boundaries with those priority tasks. It wasn't that he had consciously added them. They had simply been created by his software while living with Hank.

He could feel the erratic beat of Hank's heart against his throat as Hank placed a quick kiss there before leaning back. Connor felt like he was turning around in slow motion.

Hank was still flushed and staring at Connor with an inscrutable look.

"Fuck, Connor. Do you have any idea how that sounds?" Hank repeated the words he had spoken all those weeks ago, before they had first kissed.

"I know." Connor fidgeted with the fabric of Hank's old and worn out shirt. He hesitated briefly before opening his mouth again. "I was worried you would be displeased with me."

Hank stared at him incredulously. "What the hell gave you that idea?"

Connor felt reluctant to speak it out loud, which was irrational, since Hank had already seen it.

A hand grabbed his wrist and stilled his fidgeting before lifting it to place a kiss on the skin there.

"I was worried you would be angry about the tasks."

"Usually I would be damn angry about it because it makes it sound like a job that needs to be done."

"I didn't create them, they just started to slowly appear in my system. I think my software reacted to what is important to me and decided to make it a proper part of itself."

There was a spike in Hank's heartrate and he dropped his head to Connor's shoulder again, but not before Connor saw another flush working its way up Hank's face.

"Shit. You know you all but confessed to my face just now."

Connor blinked at that comment before realization hit him like a power-out.

"Oh," Connor said in wonder, never having come to this simple but tremendous conclusion when seeing those lines of code in his system. "I'm in love with you."

Connor tasted the words in his mouth like he could analyse them the same way he could analyse Hank's saliva every time they kissed.

There was another spike in Hank's heartrate and muffled curses against Connor's skin before Hank lifted his face to crush their mouths together.

"You're gonna give me a fuckin' heart attack, Connor," Hank all but growled against Connor's mouth and Connor couldn't help but grin into the kiss.

"I'm also pretty damn smitten with you, plastic boy." Hank panted when their lips separated for air.

Connor made sure to add a memo to ensure that he would place a copy of this on a different hard drive. Just in case something happened to the other one. He wanted to be able to replay the words over and over again.

When they finally stopped their make out session, Hank chanced another glance at the television screen and promptly fell into another cursing fit as he noticed the memo.

He switched off the device, muttering "Goddamnit, Connor," under his breath and the smile on Connor's face threatened to split wider than his components would allow.

He felt incredibly alive.

I'm awful at writing kissing scenes and admire everyone who can pull it off well. Is there a guide for how to write that shit well somewhere?

Hope you enjoyed this short story, comments and kudos are always welcome :3

Next story, or one of the next, is probably going to be a "first time" thing because I really want to write a sex scene where Connor doesn't have genitals and they gotta figure the android equivalent to an orgasm out.

more of the series is on archiveofourownorg/users/ConsultingStag until I can be bothered to try fanfic,net again bc the side and me don't really like each other