Rawr, Bender so loves Fry, and that's what this fic is for. That's right, I'm here to infect your fandom with my robosexual filth. You might even get a chaptered fic for these two if the inspiration brick hits me hard enough.
There's just kissing in this, and some vaguely implied sex.
I APOGOLIZE FOR NOTHING.
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, just desecrating them.
I'm standing on top of an apartment building under the protection of a 20th-century umbrella, and all I can see for miles is sheets and sheets of rain. I'm afraid to move; afraid of the rain. Then I hear a roar of thunder, and suddenly he's there; kneeling next to me, whispering that everything will be okay. He pulls me out from under the umbrella, and carefully eases me into the rain.
We waltz together, and I don't rust. He smiles, and I find myself wanting to touch his face.
"See? I told you. There's nothing to be afraid of."
Then I wake up, and he's gone.
I've been having these dreams about him for exactly one year now. It's hard to imagine that it's been that long, but I know it has; I know the exact date, even: January 22nd, 3006.
On January 23rd, I started collecting flowers. I keep them in a wicker basket in the corner of my tiny apartment, wishing I could smell them.
By November 28th, I had a nice bed of flowers in my wicker basket. I spent the next week accumulating pictures of him, along with orange hair clippings and shreds of his clothing. I placed them on top of the flowers, and covered the whole arrangement with his jacket so no one would know I made him a little shrine.
Today is January 22nd, 3007. My floor is soaked with tears, and sprinkled lightly in dandelion seeds that I blew off the stalk in a desperate hope that the primitive belief of such an act granting a wish wasn't complete bull.
Before I met him, my life was just a sea of booze and bending. He was the one who showed me I could make my own decisions. He was the one who showed me things I thought that robots couldn't feel.
He was the one who showed me how to live.
I reach sadly into the wicker basket and pull out a brilliant orange flower with red-tinted edges. It reminds me of his wild orange hair, and the jacket that he left behind. I touch it delicately, and my vision blurs with tears. I wonder why I was built with the ability to cry, and then I'm glad I was. I hold the flower to my chest and cry.
I remember the opera he wrote for Leela. When I was watching it… I felt longing. If I had a heart, it would have hurt, and then I wished I did have one. I wished I could feel the things Fry feels. I wished I could be human.
That feeling never went away.
I close my eyes, and try to imagine what it must be like to be able to smell the flowers. I try to imagine what it's like to have a heart. I can almosthear his heart beating. I can almost hear his voice. See? I told you...
The orange flower is soaked in my tears now, and I cry even harder because the tears are artificial. I rip the flower to shreds and fall to my knees, sobbing. I stare at the dandelion seeds.
I wish… God, I wish…
I fiddle with my On/Off switch, trying to decide if I should deactive myself or not. I'm too artificial to be a human… but I feel too much to be a robot. He made me feel like I was worth something. He made me feel almost human…
I wish Fry was still alive…
I scramble forward, stumbling into the wicker basket. It tilts, and all the flowers spill out onto my floor next to the dandelion seeds and the shreds of orange leaves. The pictures fall out, too, and Fry's eyes stare into my own, smiling. It occurs to me that I can't smile, and I feel like ripping someone's heart out and shoving it in my chest.
I remember that I used to say "Kill all humans." I know now why I hated them so much… it's because they felt so many things I couldn't. Because I envied them, and wished I had a heart. Because I wished I was human.
I hear thunder somewhere outside, and the memory rushes back to me. Fry was picking flowers near a lake to impress Leela, and collecting them in a little wicker basket. His footing slipped, and he slid down in a swirl of dust and dirt, and fell into the water.
The water…
And they… never found his body.
I push myself to my feet, and storm outside. I stop when I see it's pouring rain. Lightning flashes again, and I see a wicker basket in my mind.
There's nothing to be afraid of
I rush forward again, out into the rain. A humanoid shape is hunched over, far away, two spikes jutting up from the front of it's hair. It's crawling forward slowly, then it just falls over, giving up. I push myself forward as fast as I can, and I feel myself starting to rust.
Soon the shape is closer, and I see that it's Fry. He's soaking wet from the rain, wearing nothing but tattered jeans that aren't even zipped. Something artifical pounds frantically inside me as I grab his arms and help him up. "B-Bender?" he chokes out, smiling. I pull him to across the street without answering, rusting more all the while. I think I'm going to die.
Somehow I manage to reach the apartment building, and collapse on my stomach when I get there. Fry flips me over and reaches into my chest compartment, pulling out a can of oil, and squirts it on my rusty joins. Within minutes, I'm able to stand up. To my surprise, he leaps forward and hugs me.
"Thanks, Bender."
I reach up and brush his wet hair out of his face, and I think he can tell I'm smiling inwardly. He leans in and presses his lips to my mouth. Something moves inside my chest again, and I feel human again. We stay like that for awhile, and when he pulls away, I ask him what it was.
"It's… a kiss." His skin turns a bright shade of pink when he says it. "Because… you're special, Bender."
"…I'm special? What about Leela? What about the flowers you picked for her?"
His skin turns an even deeper red. "Those flowers… were for you."
I would grin wildly if I could, and I grab his wrist and race off to my apartment with him, eager to show him the flowers. The door slides open, and I gesture frantically at the petals and seeds that litter the floor next to the fallen wicker basket. He leans down and touches the picture of him that's still intact and in plain sight on top of it all. I start to cry again, and make no effort to stop it. I'm not afraid to cry in front of him, anymore.
"I had it all arranged in a l-little shrine f-for you…"
He hugs me tightly and kisses me again, longer this time, working his tongue this time. I feel awkward without a tongue of my own, and instead of kissing back, all I can do is moan.
"Please don't cry, Bender."
"F-Fry… I love you… God I l-love you…"
He hastily throws off his jeans and his underwear, and pulls me into him, whispering into my ear. "I came back… just for you…"
He is the one who showed me how to love.