Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“How have you been feeling today, Techno?” Puffy asks, notepad in hand and pen in the other. She’s already filled out two pages worth of notes on him during the past hour. He didn’t know what was so fascinating about his empty words and replies. Either way the women found it worth scribbling about, even if he thinks it’s a bunch of rubbish.

Like this session. “Fine.” Techno replies, eyes staring at the notepad in the woman's hand. If only he could figure out what she was writing about then this session would go by so much quicker. He just needs a guide, some type of rule to follow, but Puffy’s giving him none of it. It was starting to overheat his processors.

Puffy hums, jotting down another thing in her notes. “Phil mentioned you had a scare last night.” She says simply, looking up past her glasses.

Techno’s joints lock, eyes shooting up from her notes to meet the women’s gaze. Her face gives nothing away, not even when he tries to analyse her features. She is calm, collected, everything Techno was supposed to be. Wait no, everything that he is. Because he’s perfect, no matter how many times these humans were trying to convince him he wasn’t.

“It was a glitch. I corrected it.” Techno replies cooly, looking away. He focuses on the bookshelves lining the walls of human and android literature. He spots a novel he recognizes, with its blue cover and black bold letters. It was titled ‘To Be Divergent’ and was the first book published by an android without human help. Phil has a copy, having bought it for him a week after Techno came home from service. He looks for a different book to focus on.

“He said you were having an anxiety attack, maybe even a ptsd episode.” Puffy explains slowly, like he was some kind of animal. Techno narrows his eyes on noting in particular. “I was thinking we could go over some grounding techniques you could try—“

“I don’t need to know grounding techniques.” Techno cuts the other off, his hands tightening in his lap. “I don’t have emotions to ground, Puffy, I’m an android.” Techno adds on.

He chooses to ignore Puffy’s sigh as she closes her notebook and sets it down on the table in front of them. “You're a divergence, Techno. You're as human as Phil or I.” Puffy says slowly, like she’s had done a hundred times prior.

“You made a mistake. Human error. It happens.” Techno says, matching her slow tone. He needs her to understand that he wasn’t different, he wasn’t wrong or broken. He was built to be perfect and nothing else.

“You scored a ninety seven on the diagnostic.” Puffy replies, trying to catch his gaze.

“I scored a seven.” Techno corrects. He forces himself not to frown. Frowning was an emotion, an impurity, a glitch. He keeps his face as neutral as possible.

“That’s after you nabbed the score key from my office and demanded a re-test.” Puffy sighs. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear that had fallen in front of her face. “Techno I really think you’d benefit from knowing some grounding techniques—“

“Our time is up.” Techno cuts her off as he stands, forcing his joints to work as he gestures to the clock on her wall. “I should be going now, Phil’s waiting in the parking lot.” He says as he makes his way towards the door.

“Wait!” Puffy calls after him. Techno stops, looking over his shoulder as Puffy digs for something in her bag. She pulls out a pamphlet and walks over, holding it out for him. Looking down it reads ‘How To Help Androids In Denial’. Techno eyes it, then looks up at the women with a deadpan look on his face. “It’s for Phil, make sure he gets it.” Puffy forces the pamphlet into his hands.

Make sure he gets it. Techno’s mind clings onto the words, filing it away as an order. He huffs, folding it in his hands. “Okay.” He sighs, turning towards the door and leaving.

Phil’s leaning against the car when Techno walks out of the building. Tommy was beside him, drumming his fingers on the hood. It’s Tommy that spots him first. “Techno!” Tommy smiles, straightening up.

Phil looks up from his phone, shutting it off and pocketing it as he stands up. “How was the session?” Phil asks, smiling over at him as he stops a few steps in front of the two.

“A waste of your money.” Techno replies quickly as he thrust the pamphlet towards Phil. “Puffy said to give this to you.” He adds, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

Phil tries to cover up his frown as he looks down at the pamphlet, Tommy leaning over to read it also. Phil sighs as he folds it gently and pockets it. “It would go better if you actually tried, mate.” Phil tries as he pulls out his car keys.

“Or I don’t know, stopped being in denial?” Tommy adds, Phil shooting him a glare that Techno understood as ‘shut it’. “What!? It’s been months and he still won’t accept that he’s divergent!” Tommy yells, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Because I’m not.” Techno tries to explain, getting twin looks of ‘shut it’ from both Phil and Tommy. Rolling his eyes, Techno moves to open the back door of the car. He gets in, hearing Tommy complain as Phil slides into the front seat. Phil starts the car as they drive out of the parking lot.

Tommy turns in his seat, eyeing him with narrowed eyes. “Why do you keep trying to convince yourself you're a conscienceless robot?” Tommy asks brashly, nose scrunches up in distaste.

“Tommy!” Phil shouts, looking over at his son from the driver's seat. “You can’t just—“

“He literally got sent back from the war because he didn’t want to fight anymore! We can’t just keep babying him!” Tommy yells back, turning to face his face.

“Healing takes time, Tommy. Techno just needs time to adjust.” Phil replies, looking over at him through the rearview mirror. “We need to be patient.” Phil sighs, turning back to looking at the road. 

Tommy suck’s his teeth as he settles in his seat properly, looking out the passenger window. With both of their eyes off of him Techno relaxes his face, frowning. He turns his attention towards the window as he runs the palms of his hands across his pants. People were walking their dogs, kids chased each other, even a few androids were grinning and chatting with each other.

He wasn’t like them, he thinks, he was built to be a servant to those who had free will. Even before he was told to fight in a war he didn’t start, Techno served. He served Phil, Kristin and Tommy. He was a maid, a bodyguard and a babysitter. For five years he worked for them. Through every family fight, movie night, vocation, he was there. Then he was ripped away from Phil because the government needed more androids on the front lines and Techno was unlucky enough to be chosen.

Just because shortly after the glitch known as divergence was found didn’t mean anything. It didn’t. Because Techno was still the same android Phil bought nine years ago. A war, a glitch, didn’t change that.

Techno’s setting the table a week later, when Phil brings up the stupidest waste of money he’s ever heard. Tommy’s trying to nab the plates out of his hands, yapping about Techno not being a maid when Phil sets the forsaken pamphlet down on the table.

“I think we should try group therapy.” Phil says, looking up at Techno with kind and pleading eyes. Kristin was taking a roast out of the oven, attention now thoroughly grabbed.

“Heh?” Techno voices, his voice chip squeezing with the word. Tommy stops trying to steal the plates from him as he turns to look at his father.

Phil opens the pamphlet and points to a section on it. “I was reading this today, it says that group therapy with other divergent androids can help with denial and acceptance. You’ll be able to hang out with other androids like you, Techno.” Phil explains happily, like this wasn’t frying Techno’s brain.

“Fuck yes!” Tommy grins, letting go of the plates as he grabs the pamphlet. He holds it up to him as if Techno couldn’t read it from further away. “You need friends anyways, Big Man. You’ll have so much in common with them.” Tommy rambles, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“I think that’s a great idea.” Kristin voices as she sets the roast down on the counter. She takes off her oven mitts as she turns to look closer at the pamphlet. “How much is it?” She then asks, her question pointed at her husband.

“Thirty dollars a month. It’s just to pay for the space and any fuel bottles they might need during the meetings. Charging ports, stuff like that.” Phil replies easily. Like this wasn’t some waste of time. Techno didn’t need group therapy. Nevertheless with androids like him. He tries to stay away from divergents and their broken, corrupted code.

“Techno?” He hears Tommy say his name from in front of him, giddy and light. The teen was always the first on board with things like this. That could ‘help’ him. Nothing helped, not in the way Techno wanted them too. He wants to be fixed, to be perfect. Every time they send him to Puffy he feels more broken, more corrupted. He didn’t need to accept this glitch, he needed it gone. Erased from his systems forever.

“Techno?” Tommy says, voice losing that trace of excitement. Techno can’t follow it, mind reeling at the idea of meeting other androids who were glitching like he was. It wasn’t even about the glitch anymore. Techno didn’t know how to interact with other androids. Before the war Techno was mainly in the house, the only time he went outside was for errands. During the war…

< Information Recall Denied >

He didn’t remember much from the war, his servers having cyber locked most of his memory the second he was returned from service. After which he avoided other androids like the plague. He had to be focused on trying to convince his family that he wasn’t broken. That he could be sent back to the field. Phil avoided that conversation as much as Techno pushed to have it.

“Techno are you alright?” Tommy asks, voice now taking on urgency.

<Glitch Detected>

< Scanning Code >

< Breathing System Error >

< Recalibrating >

…

< Recalibrating Failed >

The sound of glass breaking has Techno’s eyes flying open, hands holding air as he stares down on the ground. The plates were on the ground, shattered. Tommy’s mouth is moving but he can’t hear him. His hearing system must also be down. He needs to fix that. Phil rounds the table, tugging Tommy out of the way. His mouth was moving, eyes slightly wide. He was trying to talk to him.

Techno can’t focus on Phil as his hands start to shake, his vision blurring at the edges. He reaches for his chest, wondering why he suddenly couldn’t breathe. This happened last week, right? What did Phil and Puffy call it? An anxiety attack? No, it can’t be that. Techno doesn’t get anxiety, nevertheless an anxiety attack.

< System Overheating Detected >

< Cooling Protocol Active >

No, no not that. Techno takes a step back from Phil as he tries to shut down the protocol. His system locks him out as water forms in the corner of his eyes and quickly starts to descend down his cheeks. Crap, no this isn’t what he wants. He didn’t need to cry, protocol be damned. He was fine. Completely and utterly fine! Techno sniffles as a sob leaves his mouth, Phil’s eyes widening. 

…Fuck.

Before either of his family could stop him Techno pushes past Phil and runs out of the kitchen. His hearing returns then thanks to the protocol and he’s able to hear shouting then footsteps quickly trying to follow him.

Techno makes it to his room before they could catch up with him and he slams the door shut, locking it. He’s thankful now more than ever that Phil cared about privacy or whatever the hell the other man believed he needed. His breathing systems are glitching, air not being able to enter his artificially created lungs as he falls to the ground.

He pushes his back against the door as he clings onto his chest, trying his hardest to get his breathing under control. He’ll overheat at this rate.

“Techno!?” Phil’s voice comes from the other side of the door, his knuckles racking against the wood. “Mate, what’s wrong? What is it?” Phil asks hastily, voice clipped. He sounds panicked. Honestly Techno doesn’t blame him, he’s panicking a bit too.

“I-I…” Techno sniffles, more tears streaming down his face. “M-my breathing system has an error.” Techno struggles out, his vision blurring more. He can no longer see through his peripherals.

There’s mumbling on the other side of the door, then Phil starts talking again. “You're having an anxiety attack. I need you to take a deep breath for me.” Phil says.

Techno frowns, head banging against the door. “I can’t!” Techno yells, his voice chip cracking, causing him to sound more robot than human. “It’s-It’s the stupid glitch!” He cringes at the sound of his own voice. Whiney and so inhuman.

“Okay, then we solve the glitch.” Phil replies quickly. “What’s the glitch specifically?” He asks, voice stern yet not unkind.

“The thing, the error I can’t get r-rid of.” Techno says through hyperventilating. “It hurts.” Techno chokes, his other hand now gripping his hair.

“Here’s what we’re going to do, okay? You're going to try and take a deep, long breath. Think of it as trying to reset your breathing system.” Phil explains slowly. “I’ll count, you just follow. Here we go, breathe in…”

Techno tries to follow, forcing his airways to open as he breathes in. A sob leaves him, wet and pathetic. “Hold.” Phil instructs and Techno does as he’s ordered. “Breath out, one, two, three…” Techno breaths out a stuttering breath. Phil continues in helping him reset his breathing. As time goes on it gets easier.

< Glitch Detected >

< Scanning Code >

< Breathing System Error >

< Recalibrating >

…

< Recalibrating Successful >

Techno sniffles, wiping harshly at his face. His cooling protocol finally shuts off, leaving his eyes a red and sad looking mess. He takes a few more calming breaths until he fully got himself under control.

“You okay?” Phil asks from the other side of the door.

He clears his throat. “The reset worked.” Techno replies as he lowers his hands to his lap. “I successfully stopped the cooling protocol.” He adds, because he feels like he should mention that.

He hears Phil take a deep breath of his own. “Can you let me in? I want to see if you're alright for myself.” Phil asks.

Techno’s shoulders lock as he looks over at the mirror in his room. His eyes were red from crying, artificial snot running down his nose and his hair was a mess from grabbing at it like a lifeline. He didn’t want to be seen like this. He looks too much like…

Like a human.

“Is that an order?” Techno question just above the whisper.

“It isn’t.” Phil replies, sounding defeated.

“I would like to be left alone to recharge for the night, then.” Techno says as he stands, using the wall to steady himself. “I’m on twenty percent.” Which wasn’t a lie, protocols drain a lot of power. It was very annoying.

“Do you need me to bring you any fuel?” Phil says, and if Techno didn’t know any better he would have swore he heard another person's voice. He swears if Tommy or Kristin was with him, hearing him, he’s going to lose it.

“I have a bottle in my room for emergencies.” Techno replies easily as he makes his way over to his bed. It was right next to a charging port, a bundle of wires and technology. Techno watches the shadows from underneath his door retreat and he lets himself fall into bed. He lazily grabs his charging port, lifting up his shirt slightly to plug himself in.

< Battery 19% >

< Port Detected >

< Shutting Down >

…

< Information Recall Denied >

< Data Analysis Start >

< Memory Replay Active >

“Are you kidding me?” Phil hisses, staring daggers at the officer in front of him. Techno tries not to flinch at the harsh words, eyes stuck on the confrontation in front of him.

“Mr Craft, it isn't my job to look for divergence on the field. Techno completed his tasks efficiently and effectively, he didn’t show any signs before this.” The officer says easily. He looks about ready to leave, hands held perfectly still at his sides.

“Every fucking android on that god forsaken field should have been questioned after the divergence glitch was discovered. How many other androids are divergent over there? Ten? Twenty? Thirty!? They take orders, that’s all they know. They don’t know how to ask for help!” Phil screams, fists balled at his sides.

Techno feels a tug on his sleeve and he turns towards Tommy. He looks so different now. Techno still remembers the baby fat on the others cheeks. Tommy was thirteen then, now he’s seventeen. A human adult. It still surprises him how much Tommy remembers of him. Maybe humans just had good memories like that.

“Let's go to the other room, Techno. You don’t need to be hearing this.” Tommy says, brows furrowed. 

Techno looks over at Phil and the officer, then back to Tommy. “I can’t leave until I’m given the order by my primary.” Techno replies easily. It was simple, routine. Take orders, complete them, don’t die.

…He didn’t want to die.

“You're divergent though, you don’t need to be told what to do.” Tommy says back, frowning.

“I have an unfortunate glitch in my systems that requires mechanical attention. Until the glitch is dealt with I’ll resume previous routines, such as waiting for orders from my primary.” Techno explains, looking back towards the fight in front of him. Tommy huffs as he stands, storming out of the room.

< Memory Replay Complete > 

< Data Analysis Complete > 

< Starting Up >

< Battery 100% >

Chapter Text

The days following Techno’s system failure were awkward. Phil kept asking him if he was alright, if he wants to talk or has something he wants to get off his chest. He also kept mentioning that it’s okay to cry and that he didn’t need to feel embarrassed or bad about it. Techno just kept rebutting him, explaining that it was just cooling protocols. He wasn’t upset, it was his system's code trying to handle some overheating.

Kristin was the only normal one, giving him space. Still though, she wasn’t completely void of the worry he’s caused them. Sometimes Techno would catch Kristin on her laptop reading about how androids experience emotions. He never sticks around long enough to give her a reason to talk to him about it.

Tommy was by far the worst one. Anytime Tommy was at home instead of college, he was hunting Techno down like some kind of cop in a police chase. Always bringing up things he learned in class about androids, computers and programming. Always forcing Techno to make choices. Like right now, as they look through the shelves of android cooling liquid.

“All I’m saying is if you had a preference in fuel, which would you choose?” Tommy continues on, ignoring the look Techno was giving him.

“I've already said I’m fine with anything you buy me.” Techno sighs. He looks over at Phil for help, who’s looking at the prices for new cooling liquid. Turns out Techno’s crying the other day drained his storages and now they needed more.

“Hypocritically if you had to choose one over the other, which would you choose?” Tommy eggs on, lifting up the two bottles. They didn’t need more fuel, Phil was always on top of it. This was just one of Tommy’s stupid choice games he’s been doing to annoy him.

Techno looks at the two, giving up on trying to wait the other out. Phil wasn’t going to be done looking at the cooling liquid anytime soon. “I guess the red one.” Techno points to the one in Tommy’s right hand.

Tommy grins with his success, looking at the red one as if it was some kind of video game prize. “Why this one?” Tommy asks, playful tone still heavy in his voice.

“Because it’s the one Phil already buys.” Techno says easily. He hides the smile he wants to let out as Tommy smiles drops. 

“Wait no, that’s cheating. You have to pick one you want to try!” Tommy splutters, shelving the red fuel where it’s not supposed to go.

“It's not my fault you don’t know what I drink.” Techno comments as he turns, walking away from the blonde.

Phil notices him then, giving him a frustrated smile. “I have no clue what I’m supposed to be looking for, mate.” He complains, gesturing to the shelves. “I never knew there were so many different types of cooling liquid. You never cried before so I never needed to restock.” Phil says as he takes one off the shelf, holding it up. “I have no clue what any of this information even means.”

Techno snorts, ignoring the way Phil’s smile turns less frustrated at the sound. “It’s dependent on the build of the android, if it easily overheats, it’s storage space and if the android…uh, cry’s a lot.” Techno explains, looking over the canisters. “I’m built for house security, so you want to look for ones that start with H.S.” Techno says as he points to a group of canisters further down the aisle.

Phil hums as he puts the one in his hands back. Phil goes to look at the H.S canisters and Techno goes to follow, only for his arms to be grabbed before he can move. Tommy holds onto him, pouting. “I’m not done with you yet.” Tommy huffs, tugging on his arm. He doesn’t even budge. “Oh come on, Tech, you don’t want to be looking at fake tears with Phil do you?”

“It’s not fake tears.“ Techno deadpans as he lets himself be pulled towards a new area of the store. “It sometimes acts like tears, but it’s more than that. It’s also like an android's version of sweating.” He tries to explain, Tommy ignoring him as he brings him over to a section he hasn’t seen before.

Colourful fake hair strands line the wall, alone with pictures of eyes in all different colours and looks. Some of which were upgrade options, others were purely cosmetic. “What is this?” This was to be new, Techno doesn’t remember seeing this here. And he’s been here a lot over the years with Phil, before he was sent to the field. Phil was horrible at remembering what to get. It was easier to bring Techno along and just ask what he needed to buy.

The store was purely for androids and their needs. Completed with a high price range and technicians ready to install any new upgrade needed to function. He’s tried to get Phil to buy from a cheaper place but the man refuses. Looks like they do more than system upgrades now.

“If you could pick a new hair colour, what would you choose?” Tommy asks, pointing to the wall of hair colour options.

Techno frowns, eyes narrowed at the other. “This is all cosmetic.” Techno points out, not understanding the reason. There was no reason to change his hair colour. The only time Techno’s hair was changed was while he was on the field. He used to have long brown wavy hair that went just past his shoulders.

He didn’t remember which officer cut it, but he knew it was because having long hair in the battle field was a death wish. It could get grabbed and or caught. Techno didn’t need his hair being the reason he died. So he didn’t fight it when an officer holding a pair of scissors said to sit down on a chair and let him cut it to a more ‘manly hairstyle’.

Techno remembers something in him twitching as his hair fell to the ground in long stands. If he had to put a word to it, it would be saddening. It wasn’t that however, because he couldn’t feel things. It was probably just the beginning of his annoying glitch showing itself.

“No shit, man.” Tommy rolls his eyes, letting his arm go. “Dying your hair is just something fun to do. So if you had to choose, what colour would you change your hair too? And you can’t pick brown.” Tommy grins.

Techno looks over the options. “This is a waste of time.” He comments, eyes scanning the colours. There’s all types of shades, even hair strands with multiple colours. There’s some words beside a couple of them, explaining the type of style it was made for. He lands on the words ‘rose pink’ and pauses.

< Information Recall Accepted >

There were wild roses on the battlefield. In all different shades of pink. They quickly went red and blue as blood was split, both human and androids. Techno still remembers how they were at first, though, how beautiful they were. He was scouting once, gun in hand as he trudged through a flower field. The cold crisp on the horizon, threatening to turn thr north into a snow wasteland in the next month or so.

The rolling hills were pink, the sunset gracing his eyes with something beautiful. Oranges and pinks scattering across the horizon. Like the flowers themselves chose to follow the sun into the sky. His cooling system tries to activate, but upon finding no cooling liquid left in his storages it shuts down, presenting him with a warning.

“Rose pink.” Techno blurts, eyes stuck on the colour. It was a light pink, not so in your face but not boring either. It was perfect. It was a strange thing to cross his mind. He didn’t complete an order, or fulfilled some unsaid task, but for some reason he felt good at the idea of having pink hair. Like something about it fixed him. Made him feel…like himself.

“I honestly thought you were going to dodge that question.” Tommy says as he takes a step closer, looking slightly surprised. He looks down at the fake hair strand, then over at him. Something in his eyes shifted and suddenly Tommy was smiling. Not his shit eating grin he does when he gets his way, or his awkward smile he gives when he gets caught doing something he knew he shouldn’t be doing.

This smile was softer and held a sort of melancholy Techno didn’t understand. “If you want I’ll ask Phil about it. He can probably schedule you a hair appointment or something.” Tommy says as he looks more intensely at him.

For some reason Techno didn’t think much about his reply, blurting it out before he could fully understand it himself. “Could I have long hair again, too?” Techno asks. He drifts his fingers across the fake hair, heart aching for something lost.

“Sure.” Tommy replies, patting him on the shoulder. “You can have anything you want.” Before Techno could say anything further he hears Phil calling for the two of them. He turns, missing the contemplative look Tommy gives him behind his back as he makes his way back to his primary.

Techno hates getting Internal refills. He’s sitting on a metal table at the back of the store, shirt laying beside him as the technician opens his refill panel in his back. Phil was standing in front of him as Tommy was trying to peek at what was going on with his back. He didn’t like it when random people were poking around his insides, even if they were professionals. It was uncomfortable.

That was alright to think, right? It wasn’t an emotional response to stimuli like happiness or sadness. Plenty of androids felt uncomfortable with their insides plain for everyone to see, with their shirt off and the rest of the store able to spy on him. Techno spots a kid staring at him, pulling on what seems to be his mothers arm. The kid was pointing at him, yapping his poor mothers ear off.

Yep, totally normal android reaction.

“How old is Techno?” The technician asks, looking over his shoulder as if he wasn’t even there. He forces himself to keep his face neutral. 

“He’s nine. Why?” Phil answers. He was holding Techno’s hand as if this was some type of doctor’s visit. It sort of felt like one, if he thinks about it more.

The technician hums, moving back to focusing on refilling Techno’s cooling storages. “Might want to think about replacing some of these Internal parts soon. Some of his gears look to be stressed. It’s common in androids who do a lot of physical activity.” The man explains easily.

“Techno used to be in the service.” Tommy pipes up, looking over at him. Techno gives him a look, the other ignores him. “We were told he was a scout.”

“Ah, an army man then. Thank you for your service.” The technician pipes up as he grabs the canister Phil bought. “Explains it then. It’s nothing to worry about as of right now. Though if you start to feel like you have arthritis, it’s time to replace some parts.” With that the technician pushes the barrel of the canister into his back and Techno feels a chill run up his spine as the cold liquid is dumped into him.

Phil looks more worried then he should be, his hand squeezing Techno’s. Tommy drums his fingers on Techno’s knee as they wait for the canister to be emptied. “People are watching.” Techno huffs, giving up on keeping his mouth shut. It was uncomfortable, okay!? He didn’t like it.

Tommy and Phil look over towards the rest of the store. People were staring. It’s not everyday you see an android getting a refill of anything, really, their storages are made to last a while. “Just ignore them, they have nothing better to do.” Tommy says, turning back to him. Techno watches as Tommy pauses, mouth opening slightly. Before he can ask about it his cheek is getting poked. “Oh my god, you're blushing.”

…What.

“I am not.” Techno frowns, swiping Tommy’s hand away from his face.

“You are, actually.” Phil speaks up, looking at him. “Your face is all blushy, mate.” Phil gestures to his own face, as if to show where Techno’s face has decided to betray him.

Techno’s frown deepens as he looks away from all of them. “It’s not my fault I’m being stared at while being…” Vulnerable? Is that what he was feeling? It wasn’t so much about the shirt, more so with the fact his whole back panel was open. No one could really see it from his possession facing the rest of the store, but they could. That was the problem. He lets out a deep sigh. “Nevermind.”

“Don’t just say ‘nevermind’, what is it?” Phil speaks up, squeezing his hand again. Techno bites the inside of his cheek. The ground looks very nice, maybe he should focus on that.

“It’s common for divergent androids to feel uncomfortable with their back panels open.” The technician, no, traitor, breaks into their conversation. “I’ve been trying to get the store manager to buy some kind of curtain, but I’ve had no luck with it.” He adds, sounding apologetic. Yep, this ground is the perfect thing to stare at. What wonderful dust on the ground with its shoe prints.

“Oh.” Phil replies, looking over at Techno with an apology in his eyes. “I had no idea.”

“That’s it.” Tommy grumbles, both him and Phil turning to face the youngest in their group. Tommy turns to the rest of the store. “Hey creeps, stop looking over here and mind your own fucking business! How would you feel if someone was staring at you with your shirt off and skin practically removed from your whole back, huh!?” Tommy shouts, startling more than one person. It does the trick, though.

“Tommy…” Techno dips his head back now.

He expects Phil to scold his son, but he doesn’t. Techno scrunches his nose as he looks over at the man. “What?” Phil asks, catching his eyes. “They were being creeps.” Phil defends his son, shrugging.

After Techno’s cooling storages are refilled and his back was closed up, Phil ushers them outside. The sun was setting, bathing the sky in oranges and dark blues. Techno gets into the backseat as Tommy gets in the passenger as Phil starts the car.

“This was a successful day.” Phil comments as he looks out the window as he pulls out of the parking lot.

“All we did was roam around the store for an hour and refill Techno’s tears and sweat.” Tommy says. Techno cringes at the way Tommy puts it but he didn’t have enough energy to comment on it.

“We also learned something.” Phil says back as he pulls out onto the main road. “Techno can blush.” Phil explains, grinning.

“Are you still on that?” Techno groans, shifting in his seat. “I think you should erase that from your memory drive.” Techno speaks up.

Tommy snorts, looking way too happy to know of his despair. “I’m telling Mom when we get back so she can make fun of you with me.” Tommy says as he puts on the radio. Rolling his eyes, Techno shuts his eyes, going about checking his systems. “Are you falling asleep?” He hears Tommy ask.

“No, I’m checking my systems.” Techno replies.

< Scanning Code >

< Cooling Protocol Online >

“My cooling systems are working again.” Techno says, opening his eyes. Phil hums, focusing on the road ahead of them.

“So you can cry again.” Tommy asks, looking back at him. “If you need to.”

“I can cool myself down if I begin to overheat, yes.” Techno snips back. 

Tommy puts his hands up, smiling evilly. “Alright alright, no need to give me attitude, little bro.” Tommy grins, earning a glance from Phil.

“Heh?” Techno sits up in his seat, narrowing his eyes on the other.

“You're nine years old.” Tommy shrugs, pointing out something obvious. “That means I’m your older brother.”

“We’re not related.” Techno addresses, not knowing where Tommy’s got that information from.

“Phil basically adopted you, which means we’re brothers.” Tommy replies easily, nothing he’s saying making any sense.

“I’m not…I’m programmed to have an adult mind, Tommy. Human age doesn’t apply to me. And Phil didn’t adopt me, he bought me.” Techno says confused. Where is he getting this stuff from? It’s obviously nonsense.

“I don’t know mate, I think your brother is right.” Phil joins in, chuckling. “People have to buy to adopt anyways, what makes you any different? You have a birthday and everything.” Phil adds, stopping at a red light.

“That's my manufacturing date!” Techno yells, looking between the two. “It’s not the same thing.”

“Your mother, Kristin, would think differently.” Phil shrugs, the light turning green.

“What!?” Techno yells, his voice chip cracking. Tommy and Phil burst into laughter.

It’s the middle of the night when Phil knocks on his door. Techno wakes up, his battery reading fifty percent as he looks over at his closed door. “Techno?” Phil whispers, creeking the door open slightly.

“Hmm.” Techno mumbles, head squished against his pillow.

Phil chuckles as he closes the door behind him, walking over. Phil sits at the side of his bed and doesn’t say anything, not for a bit. He just sits there, looking at Techno with kind human eyes. His eyes roam to his head, hand moving to run his fingers through his hair. Techno remembers seeing fathers do this with their children in tv shows. He wonders if this was part of the joke Phil and Tommy were laughing over in the car ride back today.

“Phil?” Techno yawns, shifting in his bed. “I’m at fifty percent battery.” He states, eyes drifting in and out of vision.

“Sorry.” Phil pulls his hand back and settles it in his lap. “It’s just…I couldn’t sleep, I wanted to check up on you after today.” Phil says, sounding apologetic. Techno forces his eyes to adjust to the darkness, watching Phil’s expression.

“Is something wrong?” Techno voices as he pushes himself into a sitting position. He’s careful not to pull on his charging port.

Phil shakes his head, looking over towards the door. “Tommy told me you wanted to do something different with your hair. It made me think about…your glitch.” Phil explains. His voice struggles to get out the word ‘glitch’, like he didn’t believe the word needed to be uttered.

“Did you find out how to get rid of it?” Techno asks, a little too energetic at the idea of finally being rid of it. Phil quickly shakes his head, Techno frowning at the action. “Then what about it?” He asks.

“I want you to try going to group therapy. The one I showed you.” Phil brings up quickly, before Techno could start to overthink it Phil burrells on. “I’ll be there with you the whole time. I called them and they said I was allowed to accompany you. I just need you to try it, please. At least for a month. If you still hate it then you don’t have to keep going.” Phil pleads.

Techno wishes he couldn’t see well in the dark as he looks at Phil’s face. His eyes were pleading as much as his voice. “I-I…” Techno takes a deep breath, voice growing shaky.

Phil grabs his hands, squeezing softly. “I’ll be there the whole time, I promise. I really think it’s going to help you.” Phil rambles, his thumb rubbing circles into the palms of his hands. It felt grounding.

“If it doesn’t work you have to tell Puffy I’m not going to her anymore.” Techno rebuttes.

He takes a calming breath in, watching as Phil’s face changes. “Techno—“

“No more ‘Techno please’ anything! She’s a waste of money, Phil! I’ll go to this group therapy but you have to promise me that if it doesn’t work, you stop trying to make me accept this divergent glitch and find a way to fix it instead. That’s the deal.” Techno states, taking his hands away from Phil.

Phil doesn’t say anything for a while, staring at him with sad wide eyes. Like Techno was breaking him just by stating what he wants. That’s what Phil wanted, so he can’t even complain. He wants him to voice his opinions, his ‘feelings’, so now he is. Take it or leave it, Phil. You can’t have it both ways.

Phil clears his throat. “You have to generally try.” Phil says, voice turning stern. “No half assing it like you do with Puffy.” Phil adds, setting his hands in his lap.

Techno thinks it over, then faces away from the other. “Deal.” Techno huffs, scooting down to lay back on his stomach. “Goodnight, Phil.” With that Techno pushes his face into his pillow, cutting the conversation there.

He hears Phil let out a sigh and get up off the bed. He doesn’t leave right away, instead he presses a soft kis to Techno’s head. “I care about you, you know that right?” Phil asks, sounding slightly upset. “It’s important to me that you know that.”

“I do.” Techno whispers, hands curling into his sheets. “Human emotions are faulty like that.”

Phil chuckles wetly, patting him on the back before he walks over to the door. Before he leaves though, he looks back at him. “Goodnight, son.” Phil whispers, voice so quiet Techno doesn’t even think he hears him right. Phil closes the door behind himself, leaving Techno alone.

< Battery 52% >

< Port Detected >

< Shutting Down >

…

< Information Recall Denied >

< Data Analysis Start >

< Memory Replay Active >

“Goodnight, son.” Phil whispers.

< Memory Replay Complete >

< Memory Backed Up >

< Sent To Emergency Drive >

Chapter Text

“Do you have a fuel bottle, Techno?” Kristin asks as she was looking through his bag. She was helping home pack for the day ahead, which was a day he would rather forget was happening entirely.

“Yes.” Techno answers, watching as Phil flounders around looking for the pamphlet in his jacket pocket.

“I wish I could come along.” Tommy pouts, shoving a spoon full of cereal into his mouth.

“You have college.” Kristin says easily, finding the fuel bottle Techno had packed and placing it carefully back into his bag. “Looks like you have everything you’ll need.” She comments, smiling up at him.

“Found it.” Phil sighs, pulling out the pamphlet from his jacket pocket. “I keep forgetting the address.” He huffs as he takes out his phone, coping down the group therapy’s place address into his google maps.

“Why can Phil go and I can’t?” Tommy continues with his pouts, mouth full of food. “It seems unfair.”

“I’m not even supposed to be going.” Phil says, grabbing his car keys from the counter. He gives Kristin a quick kiss as he walks by. Tommy makes a gross expression on his face as he watches his parents. “And I’ll only be watching anyway. I’m only there if Techno needs me.” Phil shoots him a look. Techno understands it easily enough. ‘Remember our deal’

“I hope the place burns down before we get there.” Techno comments as he stands, grabbing his bag. 

“Don’t say that! You have to go into this with a positive mindset.” Kristin scolds lightly, waving her finger at him. “Who knows, you might make a friend.”

Techno looks away, trying his best to swallow down the lump in his throat as he heads out of the kitchen. He can hear Phil say a quick goodbye to the two as he hurries after him. “You're in a hurry.” Phil notes, opening the door for him.

“The faster I get this done the faster you start looking for ways to fix me.” Techno explains, walking down the steps towards the car.

“Or, the faster you accept yourself.” Phil pushes in, unlocking the car doors. “The faster we can start talking about you being emotionally vulnerable with your family.” Phil adds as he slides into the front seat of the car.

Techno gets in the passenger side, giving Phil a glare. “I don’t have emotions to be vulnerable about.” Techno says as Phil starts to pull out of the driveway. “Phil, Phil I don’t have emotions. Are you even listening to me?”

“Nope.” Phil grins, driving away from the house.

The place was some rented out Alcoholics Anonymous meet up spot. A poster was posted on the glass doors spelling out ‘Welcome to Androids Together! A place where the divergent can grow together in their new consciousness!’ Techno already hates it.

“You're making a face.” Phil notes, opening the doors.

“I am not.” Techno argues, forcing a sense of neutrality as he follows the human into the building. He’s immediately met with voices, some of which are more robot sounding than others. Something pings in Techno’s mind and he scrunches his brows, looking down the hall where the noise is coming from.

Phil is quick to lead him down it, ignorant of Techno’s new interest. As they walk further down the hall the more the ping turns into recognition. He can’t help the frown that crosses his face as the two of them walk out into an open area. It was kind of like a gymnasium, with a stage at the other end of the room.

Chairs were set up in a circle in the centre of the room. Along one of the walls were bean bags set near charging ports. Next to the charging ports were bottles of different types of fuel. Snacks. This was really starting to feel like an Alcoholics Anonymous meet up. His attention is quickly grabbed as footsteps draw near. Looking over towards the noise, he sees a man with kind eyes approaching the two of them.

Behind him were a small group of people who Techno has to guess were the androids this was all for. The glitches. “You must be Techno and Phil!” The man greets, putting his hand out for Phil to take. He does, shaking the other hand. “I’m Bad, one of the organisers here. So glad you two could come.” He smiles, voice bubbly.

Techno takes a step away from him. The action causes Bad to notice him and he curses himself for drawing the unwanted attention. “Hello, Techno.” He greets, sticking out his hand towards him as well. Techno hastily shakes it, not caring how rude it looks when he quickly pulls it away.

Bad doesn’t seem to care about the rudeness as he points to the group of androids in the room. “We’re just catching up about our weeks, if you’d like to join us.” Bad says, gesturing for them to follow him.

Phil pats him on the shoulder. “Come on.” Techno huffs as he follows Phil towards the group. He looks over the group, eyeing each and every one of them. It was a medium sized bunch, just enough to make Techno thoroughly uncomfortable.

“Everyone, this is Techno and his primary, Phil. They're going to be joining us today.” Bad introduces them. Phil looks uncomfortable when he says primary but doesn’t say anything about it. He knows how Phil feels about the word. It was one of the first things the other asked him not to call him when he returned from service. He’d said it made him sound like some kind of owner, like Techno was a product. He remembers choosing to not bring up the fact that that was the case.

“Techno?” Someone says. Techno’s eyes widen at the voice, that ping of familiarity turning into alarm bells as he whips his head towards the voice. Someone pushes past the group, their multi-colored eyes moving to stare at him.

The android stares, mouth agape at the sight of him. Techno probably didn’t look much different. “Ranboo?” He asks, staring as the other jolts with the sound of his name.

“Oh my god.” Ranboo breathes and before Techno could do anything the androids arms are wrapping around him. Techno stands stock still as Ranboo hugs him, face held forward.

“Oh, I didn’t know you knew him, Ranboo.” Bad speaks up, smiling. “It’s a small world.”

Techno felt like digging himself a hole and dying in it. Phil was looking at the two of them with so much confusion, trying to catch his gaze. Techno does his best to dodge it, along with the other androids in the room. His voice didn’t seem to want to work. Was his vocal system failing now too?

Ranboo lets go of him then, keeping him within arms reach. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again!” Ranboo says, his smile poison to Techno’s eyes.

< Information Recall Accepted >

He remembers a time when all he wanted was to see Ranboo smile. When their faces were covered by the darkness of the night, muddy snow and blood splattering their white camo coloured clothes. When the hounds were sniffing them out as they hid in a ditch. Hoping that reinforcements would come and rescue them.

He also remembers it was the middle of the night, their primary’s having gone to bed hours ago, when Ranboo first brought up the idea of free will. The android was broken, having been hit in the head too many times on the field. At least that’s what Techno had told himself, had told Ranboo. He’d be back to normal after they recharged.

Ranboo never went back to normal. He descended into divergence, getting sicker and sicker to the point he was refusing to carry out orders by his primary. “Please don’t make me go back out there! I don’t want to die! Please! I want to live! Why can’t you let me live!?” The words burned themselves into Techno’s hard drives. No matter how many times Techno tried to erase the memory, his emergency drive kept on backing it up.

Ranboo was forcefully taken off the force the next week and he never saw him again. Not until now, anyways. “Techno are you alright?” Ranboo asks, his excitement fading as the other looks at him. 

Techno takes a deep breath in, blinking back tears. “My breathing systems are malfunctioning, please excuse me.” Techno blurts before he could start freaking out in front of everyone, turning on his heels and storming out of the room. He hears Phil call for him but he doesn’t stay, throwing open the doors and sprinting outside.

Scanning the lot, Techno finds a secluded spot around the corner near a couple bushes and a tree. He slides down the trunk of the tree, pulling his knees up to his chest. “Breathe in, one, two, three.” Techno repeats Phil’s breathing reset method. He goes through the motions and takes a deep breath in. He holds it, running his palms against the grass underneath him. Then he breathes out, thudding his head against the tree behind him.

“I’m sorry!” The android, Ranboo, Phil thinks he remembers hearing, yells. The android hugs his midsection, eyes watering as he looks over at Bad. ”I-I don’t…What did I do wrong?” Ranboo asks, looking so human Phil has to remind himself the other was made out of metal.

It didn’t discredit his emotions, Phil tells himself. They can feel just as much as any human. It’s why he made Techno come here, to make the other understand that for himself.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Another android, this one presenting as female, says. She walks over, holding Ranboo by the shoulders.

“I should go check up on him.” Phil says, all the eyes in the room turning to him.

Bad nods. “I’ll handle things here.” He says, which was enough for Phil to turn around and leave. Phil quickly makes his way out of the building, scanning the parking lot for Techno. He was cursing himself out all the while. He also tries to calm himself down, give himself some leeway. How could he know Techno knew someone here?

Who is Ranboo to Techno anyways? The only time Techno could have met him was when he was forcefully recruited, which doesn’t sit well in his stomach at all. “Techno?” Phil calls, running out into the parking lot. “Techno where are you!?” Phil looks everywhere he could, eyes scanning between cars and behind garbage cans.

After what feels like ten minutes, Phil spots a curled up form near a bunch of trees by the end of the lot. Sighing he runs over. Techno looks over, frowning up at him. “…Hey.” Phil says, stopping in front of his son. Techno isn’t crying, which is good. Unless he needs to, then Phil feels even worse.

Techno looks back down, hands gripping his pant legs. Phil squats down in front of him, his knees immediately protesting the action. “What’s going on, mate? What happened up here?” Phil points to Techno’s head.

Techno huffs, mumbling something. Phil raises an eyebrow, Techno scrunching his nose up. “I don’t know.” Techno says clearly this time, sounding like he wanted Phil to leave him alone. Sucks to be him, because Phil wasn’t about to do that.

“Was it another anxiety attack?” Phil asks softly. If looks could kill, then Phil would be dead alright now. Phil clears his throat, going to try again. “Okay, was your breathing system malfunctioning again?” Phil tries, hoping Techno takes the bait.

He does, thank goodness. “I think…I think I need repairs.” Techno replies, hiding his face behind his knees.

“What you need is to tell me why you're out here all alone, instead of inside.” Phil says, moving to sit beside Techno. “Was it that android, Ranboo?” He questions.

Techno takes his sweet time in answering. Looking like he was running through multiple reply options before finally settling on one he deemed worthy enough to say allowed. “I met Ranboo while working as a scout. Back on the field.” Techno begins, moving his hand so he could pick at the grass. “He was a sniper, the best in our unit. They called him Lethe because if you ever saw the end of his barrel, your life would be forgotten.” Techno says, a small smile forming on his face.

A sick shiver runs down Phil’s spine at the smile, but he keeps his mouth shut. He had no place to talk about the way Techno remembered his time as a soldier. If he wanted to smile through it, then by fucking god was Phil going to allow him that. “No one could hide from him. If Ranboo wanted you dead, you were simply dead. He covered me so many times. I’d be scrap in a junkyard if it wasn’t for him.” Techno continues, looking over at him.

“Ranboo was also the first in our unit to gain divergence. It was before the glitch was known world wide, before people started protesting for android rights. He started disobeying orders, not taking the shots he was meant to. Then he disobeyed a direct order from his primary in front of everyone and the next week, they took him away. Word got out about the new laws on divergent androids and the people in charge couldn’t keep him in the force anymore.” Techno finishes, looking pained. Like the memory was a physical wound.

“He was your friend.” Phil guesses, setting his hand on his son's shoulder. “And they took him away without telling you what happened?” He adds, thinking ahead. He wished now more than ever that he punched the officer that delivered Techno back to him, all those months back.

“The higher ups told us that if we diverted, we’d be kicked off the force. We didn’t know that meant being brought home, they made it seem like they’d…throw us away.” Techno whispers, looking away. Phil hears him sniffle. Phil grabs Techno by the shoulders and hugs him, forcing Techno’s head onto his shoulder. “I thought he was dead.” Techno squeeks out, his voice glitching.

“He’s okay, Techno, your friend is okay.” Phil rubs circles into his back, trying his best not to tear up himself. “You're okay.” He soothes, running his fingers through Techno’s short hair. “Thank you for opening up to me.” He says, moving to see Techno’s face. He raises his sleeve, wiping the tears off of Techno’s face. Phil watches as Techno forces his frown back to a neutral expression and something breaks inside of him. “Techno—“

“Let’s go back inside.” Techno cuts him off, pushing himself away from Phil. Phil could only helplessly watch as Techno shakes off his emotions, bottles them up as he dries his eyes. “We made a deal, remember?” Techno says, walking back towards the building. Phil picks himself up, dusting off the dirt from his pants as he follows the android back into the building.

Techno regrets ever coming back inside.

“—So I said to her she’s shit at playing spades, right? Because she was! Then she calls me a bunch of cheating bolts, can you fucking believe that?” The android, Quackity, complains.

“Language.” Bad cuts in softly, sighing as Quackity just grins sharply at him.

“Anyways, that made me feel terrible, I guess.” Quackity shrugs, leaning back in his chair. “Because she’s right. I was literally built to play cards in a casino, if that isn’t cheating then I don’t know what is. It’s the only thing I’m good at.” Quackity finishes off. He then twirls the small rod he had in his hands, pointing at Bad. “I’m done.”

They were having circle time, Bad had said. A place where they could share their thoughts and emotions with other androids like them. The rod was their ‘talking rod, meant to make sure no one got talked over. Techno hoped it broke in half and was somehow thrown out the window before it made its way to him.

“Well firstly, I’m sorry she said those things to you, Quackity. And secondly, I’m sure you're good at other things! You just have to find them.” Bad says, looking around the room. “You all have things you're good at besides what you were made for, okay? That’s what makes you special.”

Techno spares Phil a look, pleading with him with his eyes to stage some sort of accident to get him out of here. Phil gestures for him to turn back towards the group with his hands. Techno frowns, turning back around. Traitor.

“It’s Techno’s turn with the talking rod.” Bad says, looking over to him. Quackity’s stands, crossing the circle to hand him the rod. Techno takes it, looking at it as if it killed his whole family. Ranboo shifts in his seat next to him, moving to face him more. The second he came back inside Ranboo was at his side, apologising for whatever he did.

It reminded him too much of the field. Techno had dismissed him, making up a lie about some system error he needed to check. He could tell that literally everyone in the room beside Ranboo didn’t believe a word he said.

“Go on Techno. You can talk about anything you’d like.” Bad encourages.

Gripping the rod, Techno stares down at it. There wasn’t much to talk about, really. Nothing mattered. But he needs to try because that was the deal he made with Phil. The faster he did this, the faster he could go back to pretending everything was normal. “I guess…I’ve been thinking about changing how I look.” Techno starts, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “If you don’t know already, I was recruited for the war that’s going on in the north four years ago. They had this thing about not having long hair.” Techno shrugs.

“They cut my hair off. I used to have it below my shoulders. I guess I want my long hair back.” Techno ends off, looking up. Everyone was staring at him, crap, did he say something wrong?

“Thank you for sharing that Techno, I wasn’t aware of your service.” Bad says sincerely, giving Ranboo a look. “Pardon me, but is that where you met Ranboo? He has mentioned he was also recruited for the war.” Bad questions.

Techno looks over at Ranboo, who was staring right at him. “We served in the droid unit together.” Techno replies. He didn’t know how much these people knew about Ranboo’s time on the force, so he didn’t say anything else about it.

“Well I for one think you should change things up if you want to.” Charlie speaks up, another android in the group he’s recently learned the name of. “Cosmetics are so much fun! I changed my eyes to its bright green, the best thing I ever did after I diverted.” Charlie says.

“I got hair extensions.” Niki raises her hand. She points to her face. “My primary, Eret, taught me how to do makeup. It’s fun.”

“Makeup?” Techno questions. Niki did indeed have makeup on. Sharp eye liner and a glossy lip. He hasn’t seen many androids with makeup on, so it was kind of new to him. 

Niki hums. “You can get it cheap at the dollar store, if you're new to it. I’ve been teaching Ranboo.” She says.

The rules of the talking rod forgotten, people started to talk openly and over each other. Techno looks over at Ranboo, squinting at the other. “I don’t see any.” He comments.

“I’m not wearing it right now.” Ranboo laughs, looking around the room.

“Isn’t that meant for girls, though?” Techno asks. This causes the talks around him to quiet down, eyes snapping back to him.

Bad is quick to speak up “Well Techno—“

“It can be for fucking anyone.” Quackity snaps, looking over at him with furry in his eyes.

“Quackity! Language!” Bad tries, looking startled.

“Okay.” Techno replies. Quackity blinks, surprised as he snaps his mouth shut. “I honestly don’t care who wears makeup or not, I was just asking.” Techno adds on, shrugging.

Quackity relaxes, looking away. “Right.” He huffs.

“To be fair, do gender roles even apply to us?” Charlie asks, looking across the room. “I mean, unless you were built for a brothel we don’t really have functioning equipment to do anything with it, you know? All we have is to expel used up fuel.”

“Well we were still built a certain way.” Niki pipes in, pointing to her chest. “Can’t really ignore that.”

“I always liked to think I was somewhere in the middle.” Ranboo says, drawing everyone’s attention. Even Techno’s. Ranboo straightens up, looking away from them. “Well, think about it! We’re gears and electricity. Charlie said it himself, gender doesn’t really apply to us like it does humans!” Ranboo says, looking uncomfortable.

“I never thought about it.” Techno spoke up, drawing the attention back to him. Ranboo relaxes once all the eyes are off him, which causes a new problem. The eyes were back on him. “People just…always referred to me as a man. So I just went with it. But if I have to think about it…it feels right? I think? To be called a man.” Techno explains hesitantly. “I never really liked feminine things.” Besides long pink hair, of course. But that’s where that ended.

“I like being feminine.” Niki adds onto his explanation. “I like long dresses and makeup.”

“I like being called a man, too.” Quackity says, arms crossed. “What about you Charlie?”

“I’m a man too, I guess.” Charlie shrugs, smiling over at the other. “Ranboo! What about you? You picked one?”

“Oh uh, not really.” Ranboo says shyly, looking down at the ground. “Still feel like both, personally. I guess I don’t have a gender?” Ranboo questions, looking over at Bad. Who looks like he wants to help in this conversation but is out of his league. “Does that make me less human, or more android?”

Wow. That was a loaded question. “Being outside the binary doesn’t change who you are.” Bad says, looking around the room. “Gender is a very confusing topic, more so for you guys. Be it a man, woman or other, whatever you choose to be is okay. Funnily enough, that topic is a very human one.” Bad explains.

Bad moved the topic of conversation to the goals for the week, which Techno found annoying. Turns out this group therapy also involved homework. “I want you guys to find one thing that makes you happy, so we can talk about it next week.” Bad tells them, looking around the room. “That’ll be all for today’s session. You're welcome to refuel and or recharge as you guys wait for your primary’s to pick you up.” Bad claps his hands, as if to dismiss them.

Everyone stands, some moving towards the fuel bottles, some moving to the bean bags near the charging ports. Techno goes to head to Phil so he can be taken home, but his wrist is grabbed. Turning around he’s met with Ranboo. “I uh…I wanted to tell you how happy I am to see you okay.” Ranboo whispers, letting his wrist go. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

“I thought they threw you out, when they took you away.” Techno whispers back, turning to fully face his old friend. 

Ranboo smiles sadly at him. “Well, I survived.” Ranboo says, looking over his shoulder. “Does your family know what you did, Protesilaus? On the field?” Ranboo questions, his voice somehow even quieter. 

< Information Recall Denied >

< Information Recall Denied >

…

< Information Recall Denied >

“My memory is cyber locked.” Techno whispers back. Ranboo frowns, nodding. “I don’t know what I did as Protesilaus.”

“Good.” Ranboo says, voice taking on an angry tone. “Don’t go searching for it. It’s not worth it. I’m the same way.”

“You don’t remember being Lethe?” Techno questions, looking over his shoulder. Phil was talking with Bad.

“I remember a bit. I was a scout, I think? At least that’s what they told my primarys.” Ranboo looks as Techno thinks over the words, then he narrows his eyes on him. “…I wasn’t a scout, was I?”

“Was I?” Techno asks, pushing his hands into his pockets.

Ranboo shakes his head no. “Far from it.” Ranboo replies, looking bothered. “We shouldn’t say more. I-I’m already having a hard time with this whole divergence thing.” Ranboo sighs, running his hands through his hair. 

“Agreed.” Techno nods, patting Ranboo on the shoulder. “I’m…Glad I got to see you again.” Techno tries. Ranboo smiles nonetheless. “I better get going.” Techno points towards Phil, who looks to be finishing up with Bad.

“Will you be coming next week?” Ranboo asks hastily, looking excited.

Techno sighs, nodding. “Sadly.” Ranboo snorts, pushing him towards Phil.

“So, how was it?” Phil asks him once there in the car. Techno has his face against the window, watching as they pass other cars.

“Educational.” Techno replies simply. “Very…educational.“

Chapter Text

Tommy has a robotics tournament this weekend and sadly, that means Techno’s somehow evolved. “Here’s what I’m thinking, a robo dog.” Tommy says happily, slamming down his designs on the table. Techno blinks lazily at him as he looks down at the crudely drawn blueprints.

Tommy is going to school for computer science and engineering, he has no clue how he got roped up into creating robots. “Why are you even in a robotic tournament?” Techno asks as he picks up one of the designs. It wasn’t bad, he’ll give him that.

“I’m teaming up with Tubbo, I’m going to be his programmer.” Tommy says as he points to a certain blueprint on the table. “Tubbo and I were coming up with designs last night, I wanted to see what you thought of them.” Tommy adds.

“Is Tubbo the kid who keeps asking me to let him see my wiring?” Techno asks as he recalls the memory. The last time Tehcno saw the kid he was thirteen and glueing together scrap, calling it his very own robot creation. He never thought Tubbo would still be Tommy’s friend all these years later. It wasn’t like he didn't hear Tommy talk about him at the dinner table, it's just…

Techno usually doesn’t pay attention to dinner talks. He has nothing to contribute most of the time. What did he do today? Oh he did house chores, helped Kristin with groceries, bird watched and eyed the patch of green in the backyard that he thinks would make a great garden. Though it would never be one, because none of his family seemed to like gardening.

“Has Tubbo really not come over since you got back?” Tommy asks, bewilderment fresh on his face. Techno just shrugs as he sets the paper down back on the table. “That’s it I’ve made up my mind, you coming with me to Tubbo’s place!” Tommy smiles as he gets up, taking back the papers littering the table. 

“I never agreed to help you with this.” Techno tries to backtrack the other, Tommy already running out of the living room. He can hear Tommy shouting at him to get ready. Techno sighs and looks over at the loveseat, where Kristin was sitting trying to hold back her laughter. “Why didn’t you help me?”

“I think this would be fun for you, hanging out with your brother's friends.” Kristin hums, flipping the page of her novel. Techno ignores the brother title she’s giving Tommy and stands. She’s joined in on the joke over the past couple days. It’s like a virus, it’s spreading.

“Have I ever told you how much I think public transit is a detriment to my hard drives?” Techno asks the second him and Tommy shove their way out of the bus and onto the sidewalk.

Tommy snorts as he fixes his bag on his back, having to have taken it off to find a seat. “You can just say you hate public transport, you don’t have to try and make it sound like it’s not an opinion.” Tommy nudges him with his arm, leading him down the rows of houses they got off at.

“It’s not an opinion, it's a fact.” Techno breaths, glaring as the bus takes off. “Humans can make androids but can’t fix public buses, your kind confuse…your kind is weird.” He tries to amend, only to look back at Tommy and find him giving him a gleeful look.

“You were going to say humans confuse you.” Tommy says, poking him in the shoulder. “You have opinions.” He sings, continuing to poke him. Techno has to deal with the others' nonsense until they get five houses down. It’s then that he takes note of the area they were in.

The houses were separated, garden beds lining beautiful white porches, wind windows with drawn curtains and a second story, if not an attic on top of that. Techno didn’t recall Tubbo living in a fancy neighbourhood. When Techno was tasked with taking Tommy to the park when he was younger Tubbo always came running with torn clothes and mud already in his hair. The kid practically lived to be unclean. Maybe his parents got better jobs while Techno was away.

Tommy bounds up the steps of one of the houses. Techno expects him to knock, but is quickly reminded how much of a gremlin this guy was as he bends down and takes a spare key out from underneath the welcome mat, unlocks the door and tosses the keys back underneath the mat. Turning to him Tommy pushes on the door. “After you.”

“I think this is a form of breaking in and entering.” Techno notes as he makes his way inside the house.

“I literally used a key.” Tommy huffs, shutting the door behind them. “We’re here!” Tommy shouts, kicking off his shoes.

Before Techno could come up with a way to discredit his brother, because he still believes this was probably illegal somehow and mostly just wants to go back home, he hears pounding footsteps coming near. Rounding the corner a guy around the same age as Tommy comes into view, oil staining his cheeks, hair wild, with a set of goggles on his forehead. “Tommy!” The guy, who he thinks is Tubbo, greets.

“Tubbo!” Tommy greets back, grabbing him by the arm to drag him closer. “You remember Techno, right? It’s been a while.” Tommy introduces him, patting him on the shoulder.

Tubbo looks over and then up at him, his smile turning brighter. “I haven’t seen you in ages.” Tubbo says, putting out his hand. “You cut your hair.” He notes.

“It was mandatory.” Techno shakes the other’s hand, eyes scanning his features to lock them in as ‘Tubbo now’ and not the thirteen year old rat child he once knew.

“If I knew you were coming I would have cleaned up a bit more. There’s robotic parts everywhere, it looks like a murder scene.” Tubbo says as he lets him go, gesturing to where he came from. He has no clue what a murder scene actually looked like, Techno thinks distantly.

“Is that your friend?” A voice calls from where Tubbo came and Techno immediately snaps his head towards the direction. You had to be joking with him, it literally can’t be.

Ranboo rounds the corner, looking worse than Tubbo as oil stains stick to his hands and shirt. It doesn’t take long before he catches sight of him. Tommy is quick to talk, though, saving both of them the trouble. “Who’s this?” Tommy asks, eyeing the other with narrowed eyes.

Only the best sniper in the world. “This is Ranboo! My parents hired him a few months back as part of the android housing program for divergents.” Tubbo explains, dragging Ranboo over. “He’s an amazing cook and even an amazing coat rack, with how tall he is.” Tubbo jokes.

“I didn’t know about a housing program.” Tommy mentions, looking over at him.

Tubbo shrugs, gesturing for them to follow him out of the entrance way. “It’s for androids whose primaries didn’t want them anymore due to their divergence. A lot of androids ended up on the street, so the program was made to help them integrate into society. My parents are Ranboo’s new primary’s, at least until the government decides to actually give androids the right to get jobs.”

“It’s uh, nice to meet you.” Ranboo says to Tommy, sending Techno a look. As if to ask if it’s okay to reveal the fact they already knew each other. Techno gives him a quick nod. Phil already knows, no point in keeping it a secret. “I didn’t know you were Techno’s Tommy.” He adds hesitantly.

Both Tubbo and Tommy stop walking and Techno’s forced to side step the other so as to not run into him. “What?” Tommy asks, looking between the two. 

Techno decides to look at a photo of baby Tubbo and his parents instead of entering this conversation. “You two know each other?” Tubbo pipes in, turning on his heels to stare at them.

Ranboo clears his throat, nervous. “We met when we were recruited for the war, we were in the same unit. Then we met the other day when Techno came to the group therapy you forced me to go to—“

“First of all, stop saying forced like it’s a bad thing. Second of all, you met during your time as soldiers!? How come I never knew this?” Tubbo asks, pulling on Ranboo’s sleeve. “You’ve been here for months and you didn’t say anything about knowing Techno.”

“Same goes to you, Mr. I have no friends.” Tommy shakes him by the arm, trying to get him to look at him. “That group therapy thing was days ago and you didn’t tell me anything about meeting an old friend.” Tommy frowns, shaking him harder.

“I didn’t know Techno was out of service! Last time I saw him he was still scouting!” Ranboo says, clearly lying in the last part by the way his voice chip went high pitched. He’s thankful for the lie however. They promised each other they wouldn’t reveal what they did while on the field to each other. It was the least they could do for each other.

“Who I’m friends with is also none of your business.” Techno says, finally looking over at Tommy.

That was definitely the wrong thing to say as Tommy scowls, shaking him even more. His arm might pop out of his socket at this rate. “I’m your older brother, you are my business!” He shouts, Tubbo chuckling from beside them.

“Oh look at that, I have to expel used up fuel, where’s your bathroom?” Techno says instead of addressing Tommy and his confusing thought process.

Thankful Ranboo gets the hint. “It’s upstairs, I’ll take you.” Ranboo says. He grabs him by the arm, tugging him out of Tommy’s grip as he practically runs down a different hall then up a flight of stairs. He can still hear Tommy yelling about him avoiding the topic as Ranboo leads him away. “Do you actually need to go?” He asks, stopping in front of the bathroom.

“I just wanted to get away from him.” Techno smiles, then pauses. Crap, no smiling—

“Don’t do that.” Ranboo sighs, placing his hands on his cheeks. “You're trying to suppress your emotions.”

“I don’t have any.” Techno replies, shooing Ranboo’s hands away from his face. “You should know that more than anyone.” He adds.

One of Ranboo’s eyes flickers, the red one, and Techno flinches. His red eye was put in at the camps, a modification that Techno was pretty sure was illegal anywhere else but in the military. It’s why Ranboo was such a good shot, even with fast moving targets. It was his red dot sight, his line up, anything he wanted to lock on to he could all thanks to that eye.

He still remembers Ranboo’s scream when they ripped the old one out to replace it. He always thought it was just some code reacting to his vision being messed with by an unauthorised engineer. Thinking about it now, it could have been the start of Ranboo’s divergent glitch faking the sensation of physical human pain.

Ranboo takes a step back at his flinch, holding his arms to his chest. “Sorry.” Ranboo apologises, looking away. “People have told me that my eye unnerves them. Tubbo’s parents have told me I can get it replaced if I wanted but then…then I start to freak out and my cooling system starts up.”

“It doesn’t unnerve me.” Techno is quick to say, stepping closer to the android, to his friend. “If not for that eye, I’d be dead.” And he leaves it at that, because he made a promise.

Ranboo seems to clue in, nodding his head once. “…I always assumed it was from back then.” Ranboo whispers. His red eye stops flickering, going back to its dark red colour. It was off. “Want to hide out in my room while Tommy and Tubbo are building the robotic dog?” Ranboo asks.

“Just get me away from Tommy and his questions, and I’ll even go into a dark alleyway with you.” Techno replies, Ranboo laughing as he leads him to his room.

All good things must come to an end. Techno was using Ranboo’s extra charging port while the other was using his main one, the two of them doing the homework Bad assigned them for their next group therapy session. They were quickly interrupted by a knock on Ranboo’s door.

“Come in!” Ranboo yells, yawning. Charging ports always made them yawn.

Tubbo opens the door, Tommy behind them as they walk in. “Hi.” Techno says, yawning right after. He covers his mouth, eyes heavy.

“Are you guys napping in here?” Tubbo asks, looking at the two charging ports connected to their backs. 

“Homework.” Techno yawns, rubbing his eyes. “Multi…” He yawns again. “Tasking.”

Tommy takes out his phone, quickly snapping a picture of the two of them. “And this is blackmail, now. Anyways, you two have to come see what we’ve built so far with the dog.” Tommy says quickly, ushering them forward. With one last yawn Techno unplugs himself, Ranboo following suit as the two of them follow their respective humans.

Tubbo and Tommy lead them down a few halls until they come to a room with oil on the doorknob. Tubbo opens the door, revealing what’s inside with little flare. It was a small room, junk scattered all around as wires, scrap metal and bolts were strewn across any surface they weren’t supposed to be. A table sat in the middle  of the room, a small ‘dog’ on top of it. It was powered down, looking like a mix of two of the blueprints Techno had seen earlier in the day.

“Let me turn it on.” Tubbo says, hurrying over to the dog. He clicks something on its back, the face lightening up with LED lights. It stands, head turning from side to side. 

“It takes commands.” Tommy announces, smiling over at him. There was something in Tommy’s eyes, like he was waiting for something. Is he supposed to say something? He knew people liked to be praised for things they’ve done, does Tommy want that? He was never really good at that when Tommy was younger. Tommy doesn’t seem to find what he wants with Techno, turning towards the dog. “Robot dog, bark.”

The dog barks, wags its tail before barking again. Tubbo makes jazz hands at the robotic animal. “Isn’t he great?”

“He works.” Techno replies, staring at the small thing. “You two do this all from scratch?” He asks, stepping closer. It was a little cool, he has to say.

“We did. I spent hours last night writing the code for him.” Tommy answers, leaning on the table. “Tubbo had him mostly built by the time we came over, it was just all about putting the last pieces together.”

“I have a question.” Ranboo speaks up. The other android walks over as he points at the dog. “What makes that different from us?” He asks. The question startles him, his mind reeling back. Looking between the robot and Ranboo, Techno silently starts to wonder the same thing. They are both made of metal, built, following their primary’s command and reliant on a power source.

“There’s none.” Techno answers for him, shrugging.

“Hey wait,” Tubbo strengthens up, eyebrows furrowed. ”This is just something me and Tommy made, you two are people.” He says.

Tommy is quick to jump on Tubbo’s side, powering down the dog. “You guys have a brain and shit. You can think for yourselves.”

“No we don’t.” Ranboo bites in, sounding harsh for once. Techno looks over at the android. His red eye is active. “We just do what we’re told. Just because our code copies what it feels like to have emotions doesn’t mean we have free will.” Ranboo explains.

“Ranboo we’ve talked about this…” Tubbo frowns, walking over to try android. He grabs Ranboo’s hand, holding it in his. Techno doesn’t know what to do. Is this what he looks like when he’s fighting with Phil, Kristin and Tommy? Everything Ranboo says is true but he couldn’t help but feel wrong about it. They had no free will. If they did…

< Information Recall Denied >

Everything they did would be because they wanted to do it, not because they were ordered to. “I think we should go into the living room. I’m hungry, we should order something in.” Tommy takes Techno’s hand, tugging him towards the door.

Techno lets Tommy drag him into the living room, leaving Tubbo and Ranboo behind. Tommy has Techno sitting on the couch as he takes out his phone, scrolling Uber Eats for lunch. A buzz starts off in Techno’s core and he bites the inside of his cheek. He bounces his leg, taps the side of his thigh with his fingers.

After a bit Ranboo and Tubbo join them in the living room. Techno checks Ranboo’s eye, finding it off. Good, he didn’t need Ranboo to be seeing ‘red’ at the moment. “How about Burrito Boys?” Tommy asks Tubbo, waving his phone in the other’s direction.

“Fine with me, put your order in and I’ll do mine.” Tubbo replies, sitting down beside Tommy.

Techno turns away from the two, focusing his attention back on Ranboo. He couldn’t stop the buzzing in his core, the need to do something, say something. It was like an itch he’ll never be able to reach. After Tommy hands off his phone to Tubbo, Techno bites the bullet, not able to take it any more.

“If we had free will, that would make us bad people.” Techno blurts. The buzz doesn’t subside and he grimaces.

Tubbo and Tommy look over but it’s Tommy who replies. “No it doesn’t.” He states, his voice harsh. “Why would it make you bad people?”

Techno spares a glance at Ranboo. Ranboo was looking at him intently, eyes narrowed. Techno isn’t going to out the other, not here, not now. But he can speak for himself. “I’ve killed people. In war there’s a lot of actions you have to take. All of them I was told to do. If I have free will then…I killed them because I wanted to. Because I decided that for them.” Techno stands, shaking out his hands.

“That’s completely different!” Tubbo says, standing with him. Tommy follows suit. He guesses they're all just going to stand now. “You were just following orders from your superiors, any human would do what you two did. It’s war, it isn’t some kind of fun game. You did what you had to do—“

“Did I?” Techno cuts him off. Did he have to do what he did? Yes, he did. But it wasn’t his choice. Never his choice. If it was he wouldn’t have been over there in the first place. He would have stayed with Phil and Kristin, watched Tommy grow into a man. But the glitch didn’t exist then, he didn’t know any better.

“You weren’t looking for it. You were a scout, Techno, you weren’t out there hunting people.” Tommy says as he walks over, wrapping his arms around him. The buzzing stops. He lets his shoulders relax, resting his chin on Tommy’s shoulder.

It’s then that he remembers his homework. “I think I like hugs.” Techno blurts, standing stalk still as Tommy hugs him. Tommy looks up at him, eyes slightly wide.

“Are they any good?” Ranboo asks as he stands. He looks over to Tubbo, raising his own hands. “I want to try one.”

Tubbo grins as he rushes over, wrapping his arm around the much taller android. Ranboo doesn’t end there as he picks Tubbo up, hugging him while the other is left dangling in the air. “Ranboo!” Tubbo yells, kicking his feet.

“Oh, I like this too.” Ranboo hums, putting Tubbo down. “I’ll tell Bad that next week.”

”You said you liked hugs, Techno.” Tommy notes as he backs up. “Told you, you have opinions.”

Techno rolls his eyes, looking everywhere but at Tommy. “It’s understandable that a machine that has to make decisions separate from their primary for tasks with multiple ways of going about it would have a sense of having an opinion.” Techno states, shifting his weight between his feet. 

Tommy groans, slapping his arm. “I was so close!”

Chapter Text

The chairs are gone when Phil and him walk into the Group Therapy building. They were stacked up against the wall beside one of the beanbags. In their place were several paint easels with white aprons hanging on them. Techno looks at them then at the paint brushes, paint and stool set on a small trolly beside each one.

He tries to turn around to leave, Phil catching him by the elbow. “Mate—“

“I’m not a child who needs to paint out their feelings, Phil.” Techno huffs, narrowing his eyes on the other man. Puffy tried to do this with him once. He ended up painting the whole canvas he had in white paint before handing it back to her.

“I never said that. But you can’t just leave when you don’t want to do something.” Phil explains, turning him around to face the room. There were only two people here so far. Bad and Quackity, who were talking over by the easels. “You promised me you’d try.”

Techno couldn’t help the frown that forms on his face as he nods. He did remember, he’s starting to regret it now. Puffy was a lot less pushy than Phil. Only three more sessions, he tells himself, then he can be free of this therapy crap Phil kept pulling on him.

“I’ll be over here if you need me.” Phil says, letting go of him. “Be positive.” Phil states as he leaves, going to sit in one of the bean bags. He had taken his laptop bag with him to work online during Techno’s session. Something about a deadline he couldn’t miss. Of course Techno tried to get Phil to forget about his group therapy to focus fully on his work but Phil said he could multitask.

“I’m positive that I hate this already.” Techno sighs, walking over to Bad and Quackity.

The former notices him first, shooting him a welcoming smile. “Techno! It’s good to see you, how was your week?“ Bad asks kindly.

“Normal?” Techno answers, not knowing what the other wanted him to say.

“Anything exciting happen?” Bad prods.

“My primary’s son took me to his friend's house. Ranboo was there.” Techno shrugs. That was pretty much it.

The rest of his week was filled with him completing the house chores he’s been needing to do for a while now. It was a very hard task when every moment he was alone, Kristin was telling him he didn’t need to clean and could do whatever else he wanted. That she could dust the family photos if that was so important to him. Techno hardly got anything done that day with Kristin railroading him any chance she got. He’ll need to wait until Kristin’s at work next time he tries to do chores. 

“That’s nice! Was it fun to hang out with Ranboo outside of the group therapy?” Bad asks, fully turning to face him.

Techno tries not to grimace as he looks over to Quackity, eyes pleading. Quackity snorts as he taps Bad’s shoulder, gesturing behind them. “Niki just came in, you should probably go say hi.” He says.

Bad hums, nodding once before moving past Techno to attack someone else with his questions. “Thanks for that.” Techno says once Bad is out of earshot.

Quackity shrugs, setting his hands on his hips as he moves to fully face him. Techno has to look down to be able to look the other android in the eyes. “Bad is always trying to get the newbies to open up. He thinks if he asks enough questions he can trick you into thinking about doing more things during the week so you don’t seem like a shut-in loser.” Quackity explains. 

“I take it you’ve been here a while then?” Techno asks. Quackity seems the most…glitchy, out of everyone here. Even the way he walks, stands, his posture screams human. It was throwing Techno off.

“Is it that obvious?” The other laughs, fixing his beanie. “When the divergence started happening I was one of the first cases, I believe, in the city. When your programming’s built upon tricking people into thinking you're like them to beat them at poker, well, it’s sort of difficult to fight a glitch that makes you believe that you're the same as them too.” He explains. “What about you?”

“What about me?” Techno crosses his arms over his chest.

“What was the thing that triggered your divergence? Everyone has one.” Quackity smiles, his eyes turning sharp.

Techno squares his shoulders, narrowing his eyes on the shorter android. “That’s none of your business.” He says slowly.

Quackity holds up his hands, taking a step back. “Alright I get it, touchy subject.” He waves him off, then pauses. “Hey, are you free this weekend?” He asks suddenly.

He’s taken aback from the switch in topic, speaking before he has enough time to really think about his answer. “I am.” He says, only to regret it a moment later.

Quackity grins as he pats him on the shoulder. “Perfect.” He smiles, walking past him and over to where Bad was still talking with Niki. Techno turns, forcing himself to act like that didn’t just creep him out.

“I thought today we could do an activity before circle time.” Bad starts as he ties his own painting apron around his waist. Techno was given a paint pallet and told to choose an easel. He chose the one closest to Phil. The other man periodically looks up before quickly going back to his laptop.

“You can paint anything you want! It needs to have some kind of meaning behind it, so be sure to think of something before you pick up the brush.” Bad ends off with as he goes to his own easel.

Techno looks at his blank canvas. That wasn’t an order. Anything could mean a lot of things, landscape, portraits, the sky. They didn’t have meanings either, it was just nature, the human body. He didn’t know what to do, what made sense. What did Bad want?

Looking around the room, Techno met with everyone else already painting. Niki had picked up a pencil and started sketching something on her canvas. Charlie had ignored the paintbrushes and went in with his hands, slathering green paint over the canvas. He couldn’t see what Quackity, Ranboo and Bad were doing from his position. 

Okay think, what’s something meaningful? Meaningfulness is subjective, Techno wasn’t built to be subjective. He was built to take orders, decide how to do ones more complex and follow through. ‘Anything’ meant needing an imagination, he didn’t have that. Techno could run outcomes like no other. He was made for house security, it’s his nature to be able to think quickly in time sensitive situations. 

He was built for logic, not creativity. An android who’s supposed to be a teacher would be better at this than him. Techno huffs, looking at the clock on the wall. Ten minutes has passed now and he still doesn’t have anything on the canvas. Okay something meaningful, something that matters to him…

“Why couldn’t I be built for something more creative.” Techno whispers, rubbing his temple with his hands. Bad did say he could paint anything he wanted though. But Techno doesn't want anything, he’s not human. He's not allowed to want. But if he doesn’t figure something else out, he'll fail Bad’s assignment. So he just needs to pick something that is meaningful, it’s a deduction. It’s just like figuring out how to do a task given to him on his own. 

Picking up the green paint techno squirts it right onto the canvas, ignoring the paint pallet as he grabs a brush. He thinks back to the fields of pink roses he’d crossed while scouting. He adds pink to the canvas. He thinks about the sunset, oranges, yellows and peach hues covering the horizon. When his unit would be told to move up, as they were able to see better in the dark. He adds orange, yellow and peach to the skyline of the painting.

< Information Recall Accepted >

< Data Analysis Start >

< Memory Replay Active >

“They’ll be coming in from the hills eastward of here. If we set up on both sides of the cliffs the enemy will be trapped. Lethe, I need you stationed on the highest point. Anyone tries to aim at one of us, take them out.” Techno orders as he gestures at the map.

Ranboo hums beside him, sniper rifle in hand as he looks down at his assigned spot. “If I may, lieutenant, but I think moving me to here would be best. The winds would be against me there.” Ranboo states, pointing down at the map.

Techno hums, looking over the placements of his unit. “I’ll get back to you on that one.” He states, looking up from the map. His unit was all listening, hands ready to grab their guns and head out. He needed more prep however. When your this outnumbered you need to be prepared.

“Walk with me, Lethe.” Techno orders as he moves around the table. “Everyone is dismissed to their charging ports for the night.” He states, waving the rest of the androids off.

Ranboo is quick to follow him. “Techno?” He asks, Techno leading him outside the camp.

“You can’t keep calling me sir, Ranboo.” Techno sighs, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Ranboo smiles. It’s weird seeing Ranboo smile. He’s been doing it a lot more often now, like he couldn’t help himself.

“I can’t help it. Sir seems so…unfriendly.” Ranboo says, a pep in his step. He then pauses, Techno having to slow down to keep him in view. “Do we have to go out tomorrow? Can’t we just…” Ranboo doesn’t finish his words but Techno understood it all the same.

It’s that glitch again. The one that makes Ranboo act as if he felt bad for doing what’s asked of them. For doing what they were ordered to do. “We can’t disobey our primary’s, Ranboo. If they knew you were glitching they'd throw you out.” Techno warns, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder. ”You're too important to me to lose.”

“Because I’m your sniper.” Ranboo sighs, rolling his eyes. 

“Because…” Techno frowns. Ranboo catches it, because of course he does. He copies, frowning too. “You mean more to me than just having a good aim.” Techno finishes as he turns, continuing to walk through the flow field around the camp. Pink roses sprout upwards, frost starting to cover their leaves and stems.

“I don’t want to die, lieutenant.” Ranboo states, freezing Techno in his spot. He turns, eyes wide. “Do you?”

< Memory Replay Complete > 

< Data Analysis Complete > 

“Techno!” Phil shouts, shaking his arm. Techno blinks, taking a deep breath as he tries to ground himself. What was that? It was a memory but he didn’t remember it, not before. It wasn’t…

“Phil?” Techno asks, looking over at the man.

Phil breathes out heavily through his nose, looking like he’s seen a ghost. “You weren’t answering anyone. I was calling you for five minutes.” Phil says, grabbing his hand. The others were circling them, Bad on his other side looking just as worried. Ranboo was in the very back, refusing to look in his direction.

It’s then that he realizes he was holding onto something. Looking at his other hand, Techno spots a paintbrush. Red paint falling down it and onto his fingers. Looking over at the painting in front of him his breath hitches. It was a painting of the fields he remembered walking through. Beautiful pink roses and a breathtaking sunset. It didn’t stop there however, not this time. Bodies littered the painting, red oozing from them, dribbling down the canvas. bodies upon bodies upon bodies—

The only thing Techno could see was the red paint staining his fingers. “Sorry I…Lost track of time.” Techno says as he harshly puts the paintbrush down. What once was beautiful was now ruined, tainted, stained. He couldn’t help but think it was his fault.

“I think we should take a snack break.” Bad says, ushering the other androids away from his painting. “Phil, can I have a word with you?” 

“Of course.” Phil replies, rubbing Techno’s arm briefly. “Are you okay?” He whispers, looking up at him. Techno nods, now refusing to look back at his own painting. Phil leaves his side, walking over to where Bad is at the other side of the room.

“Let’s go.” Ranboo says, walking over. He grabs his hand, dragging him away from the painting and over to the others.

“I think Techno might be experiencing more than just denial about his divergence.” Bad whispers, looking over at where the androids were chatting near the snack table. Techno of course was chugging a fuel bottle, ignoring the tries for conversation made by the others. Phil’s starting to think Techno had some sort of social anxiety by the way he avoided some others like the plague. Could androids even get social anxiety?

“What else do you think he’s experiencing?” Phil asks, returning his attention back to Bad.

Bad doesn’t look comfortable with whatever he’s about to say. “I think Techno might be going through post traumatic stress. I understand that he was a soldier before coming back to you. It’s hard to say, with android consciousness being so new, but I think he’s struggling with what happened to him.“ Bad explains slowly.

PTSD? Phil couldn’t help the shocked look on his face from showing. Then the slow realization. “…Fuck.” Phil huffs, running a hand through his head. “I didn’t think he could…get that.” Phil says. It’s stupid. Why didn’t he think of that? That Techno would be having lasting effects from his time as a scout? That it wasn’t just denial of who he was?

“I’ve seen it before. Androids were property, are still property. They are forced to work the jobs no one wants to do. They can’t say no. They can get assaulted and hurt just as much as you or me, but no one cared before they started to fight against it. How long did they pretend to not be alive before they had enough?” Bad goes on to explain.

Phil’s heard the stories before, as sad as it was. When the first few androids started revolting against their primary’s. The first ones were always the androids who had it the worst, who were treated horribly. Inhumanly. When others were asked why they hadn’t, they simply said pretending to be an object was better than being treated like a threat. There’s people checking androids for divergence now but it’s still a slow task. Especially for androids like Techno who pretend they’ve never changed.

“What-what do I do?” Phil asks, looking back to Techno. Ranboo’s talking to him now. 

“The best option would be getting Techno help with a one on one professional. I would offer but I try not to mix my jobs. If I’m Techno’s therapist then that’ll be a conflict of interest, especially with the others.” Bad goes on to say.

Fuck.

“He had one before we came to you.” Phil sighs, running his hand through his hair. “He refused to work with her at all. If anything he made it purposely harder. I had to make a deal with him just to try this whole thing out. He doesn’t want to go back.” Phil explains. He’ll have to call Puffy again and Techno was going to hate it. Hate him, maybe. Techno may not think he could hate someone but Phil knows better. Techno won’t say it, but he can hate just as much as he can love. And Phil fears he might be in the ‘hate’ category. 

“He needs to meet a criteria for an actual PTSD diagnosis, and I have no idea how it would show up for androids, but Techno definitely has some after effects of war.” Bad adds. “I don’t want to dictate how you take care of Techno but if it were me, I’d rethink this whole deal with him.” He ends off with, patting Phil’s shoulder.

“He’s going to hate me.” Phil groans, thinking over that night. When he promised Techno he’d let the whole one on one therapy thing go. Of fucking course he didn’t think of Techno having side effects of going to fuckinf war. How much of a dumbass could he be? Thinking that the only problem Techno could possibly have was not believing he was a person?

“I better get back to them. I think they're getting bored.” Bad speaks up, pointing to the group. Phil hums, following him back over.  He has a lot to think about now. Work can wait, he needs to email Puffy.

Circle time went as horrible as it did last time. He can’t even look Phil in the eyes, the man was grinning from ear to ear. “I should have never said I liked hugs.” Techno huffs, staring out the passenger side window as Phil pulls up to the house.

“Aww come on mate, I think it’s wonderful you're discovering things you like.” Phil says, patting his shoulder. Techno just rolls his eyes as he unbuckles himself. Getting out of the car he follows Phil into the house, the sound of Kristin and Tommy in the living room catching his attention. “We’re home!“ Phil yells into the house and he unzips his sweater.

“Welcome back.” Kristin greets as she walks into the hallway. She plants a kiss onto Phil’s cheek.

Tommy pops his head around the corner, smiling. “So how was it?” He asks, staring over at him.

Looking down, Techno starts to take off his shoes. “Eventful.” He sums up. He doesn’t really want to think about it. Tommy pouts, looking over to Phil. Who just shrugs.

It isn’t until Techno’s sitting at the dinner table, conversation floating around him, does he think about what Quackity said before he left. That man had caught up to him before he left, the rest of the group in tow, with an evil grin on his face.

“Wanna come to my work this weekend? I was thinking we could all hang out outside of group therapy.”

He would have outright said no if it wasn’t for the hopeful look in everyone’s eyes. Looking around the kitchen, Techno taps his finger on the fuel bottle on his hands. He already agreed, which was a stupid thing to do. He hasn’t even got permission yet.

“Is something wrong Techno?” Kristin asks, the table falling silent around him.

“What?” He asks, looking over at the women.

“You haven’t drunk any of your fuel.” She points out, setting her fork down.

He stops tapping the bottle. “Nothings wrong.” He answers quickly, hunching his shoulders a bit. Then he remembers that’s not really an android like thing to do and fixes his posture. “Can I ask a question?”

“That was a question.” Tommy points out, earning a look from Phil.

“Go ahead mate.” Phil says, pausing in his own eating. 

“Quackity invited me and the others at therapy to hang out on the weekend. Can I go?” Techno asks slowly, unsure. This would be the first time he’s been out by himself since returning home from overseas. Even before then he never actually left the house unless it was to the grocery store. Which was just a few blocks away.

He’s never actually gone somewhere just because he could. “Of fucking course your going.” Tommy replies, leaning forward in his chair. 

“Mate, you don’t need to ask for permission every time you want to leave the house.” Phil speaks up. Techno just stares at the other. Of course he does, it’s on his programming too. Phil must understand what he doesn’t say as he sighs. “That’s a yes, Techno, you can go out with your friends this weekend.” Phil says. 

“Where are you guys going anyways? Movies? Golf?” Tommy asks, now looking way too invested in Techno’s plan. His food is getting cold. Focus on that instead.

“Golf?” Techno voices, tilting his head slightly. 

“I don’t know, sounds like something you’d do.” Tommy shrugs. Why would be play golf? And why did Techno come across as someone who’d do it?

“I’m not going out to play golf.” Techno states. He goes back to tapping the side of his fuel bottle. “Quackity invited me to go to his casino.” He explains. Quackity was built for it, it’s his job. Like an actual job. He’s said during circle time that day that he gets paid for it. It isn’t illegal but it’s also something that isn’t done. Android’s don’t get paid for their work. They just work.

“His what!?” Phil spits out his drink, whipping around to face him. Tommy does a double take, though he ends up looking right at him too. Kristin looks taken off guard too.

Techno shrinks on himself. “His casino. You know, the place where people get drunk and make bad choices.” He states, only it must have not been the right time to try and joke as Phil doesn’t look at all calm. “He works there, said he could get us in because we wouldn’t be earning any money from the games and we don’t drink. So they wouldn’t be losing any alcohol on us.” Techno tries to explain. 

“I don’t want to stop you from hanging out with your friends, but are you sure the casino is a good idea?” Kristin asks, setting her hand on his arm. 

“Why wouldn’t it be?” He asks. If confusion was a moment in time it would be now. What was the big deal? It wasn’t like he was going to get drunk and actually waste a whole bunch of money.

“It’s very loud, bright colours, a lot of people.” Kristin lists off.

Tommy huffs, crossing his arms. “And you're nine, so I’m pretty sure it’s illegal.” Tommy states.

“Human age doesn’t apply to androids—“ Techno tries to say, only to get cut off by the blonde.

“Well it should! Given the fact you're a divergence. Don’t they have some kind of law saying divergences under a certain age can’t go into certain places anymore?” Tommy asks, turning his attention towards Phil. Who just shrugs. 

He knows the law Tommy means. It was a recently passed one. “That’s for buying alcohol and the age limit is six. I’m free to go to a casino.” He says, remembering the newly passed law was all over the news a few weeks ago. He doesn’t know why they had an age limit at all, given the fact they couldn’t consume normal food and drinks without breaking apart.

Why were they so against it? “Unless you don’t want me to.” Techno voices. That had to be it. They just didn’t want him to go out. It’d be easier if they just told him, but he guess it makes sense. Phil and Kristin were probably concerned about the fact he’d be seen in a casino at all. Tommy of course was just being weird, like he always was.

Phil shakes his head and for a second Techno thinks he’s going to give himself a neck sore. “We’re just concerned, Techno. You haven’t even gone to the mall by yourself, nevertheless a casino.” Phil points out, sounding way too concerned. 

“Is this something you really want to do? No one’s pressuring you?” Kristin adds for Phil, her hand squeezing him softly.

Pressuring him? “I…” Techno filters off, looking at them. Was he being pressured? Not really, no. He had the option to decline. It was an easy no, he could have even used Phil as an excuse as to why he couldn’t. He generally wants to go. It would scare him a bit how much this was starting to mean to him if he could get scared at all. “I want to experience it. What it's like to be with other divergent androids in a predominantly human setting.” Techno settles on.

“Then I’m coming with you.” Kristin decides, letting him go. 

“Mom!?” Tommy yells, Techno now forgotten as Tommy twists in his seat to face his mother.

“Kristin, you don’t have to come with me.” Techno quickly says. Did she have work this weekend? Shopping to do? Anything important? “If you have something better to be doing this weekend you should be doing that…” 

“It’s fine, I won’t play any of the games. I’ll just be there if you need me.” Kristin says, her words aimed at both him and Tommy.  “Plus, Phil has an in-person meeting this weekend. If you need any help, I’m the only one available. It would make me feel better if I was with you.” She explains. The gilt in her eyes tells Techno that this didn’t seem to be something he could talk his way out of.

He’s never been good at talking his way out of things when it comes to Kristin. “Okay.” Techno nods, giving in.

“So we’re just letting him go to a gambling place who-knows-where? Am I the only concerned one here?” Tommy asks, leaning back in his chest. 

Phil hums. “Techno can make his own decisions. If he wants to hang out with his friends at a casino, then he can.” He shrugs. 

“What about me? Can I go to a casino?” Tommy questions, smiling at the idea itself.

“You have that robotic thing with Tubbo on the weekend.” Phil is quick to say, eyeing his son. “And you can actually get drunk and waste money, so no.” He adds, picking his fork back up his plate.

“How is that even fair!?” Tommy yells, throwing his arms up over the back of the chair. “See, this is why I told you you're the baby brother. Getting away with things I can’t.” Tommy huffs, glaring over at him.

“I can’t keep reminding you how false that thinking is…” Techno says. It doesn’t even make any sense. He uncaps his drink, taking a sip. The table devolves into conversation about typical casino games and what Techno should expect in a place like that. Leaving him with a lot to think about when the night settles around him.

Chapter Text

He doesn’t have many clothes. This was never really a problem before. Androids didn’t have any reason to have more than a few articles of clothing a year ago. They all came with the same type of shirt and pants. It was up to their primaries to dress them how they wanted.

Phil always had him wear things the other would wear. A simple shirt and pants. Nothing fancy. Sometimes when Tommy was younger he’d dress Techno up like a doll using whatever he found around the house. Kristin’s sun hat, Phil’s old house slippers, a belt, anything really. Tommy quickly fell out of love for it as he never really played into it.

Even now all of Techno’s clothes were just bigger sizes of Phil’s own wardrobe. The same clothes he had before he was drafted. The same very simple clothes that would look out of place in a casino. “I can’t wear this…” Techno mutters, looking down at the shirt in his hands. It was grey and plain and boring.

It’s embarrassing but sometimes he finds him envying showcase model androids. They didn’t need to do anything but pose in a window. They didn’t need to think, didn’t need to make decisions. They always had new things to wear. It was a waste of both money and time and yet…

Yet for some reason Techno wants new clothes. He shouldn’t. His clothes fit him fine, just like the day Phil came home from the store and told him they were his new wardrobe. It makes no sense. “Glitch.” Techno spits as he tugs the shirt on. It feels weird on his skin sensors, like it was never meant for him. It had to be the glitches fault he’s starting to think like this. It’s getting worse.

Walking out of his room Techno follows the sound of talking until he finds himself in the living room. Phil’s the first to notice him. “Good morning mate.” Phil greets from his position sitting on the couch. Tommy’s beside him while Kristin was in the recliner, switching through channels. It was one of those rare days that everyone was home. No school, no work.

“Morning.” Techno greets back. He stays standing.

“Are you going to sit down?” Tommy asks, scooting over. 

Techno looks at the seat offered to him, then over at Phil. Who’s now staring. Actually scratch that, they're all staring at him. “The glitch is getting worse.” Techno huffs, voice tight.

“The glitch?” Kristin voices, sounding confused.

“His divergence.” Phil clears up. Then he fully turns to face him. “What’s wrong?”

“I…” Techno pauses to think over his words. Wanting something like this was a new development he never expected. He can already hear Tommy’s future gloating. Wanting to do chores and the orders he’s assigned is one thing. Wanting to waste money is another. “I don’t know how to say it.” He says, rolling on his heels.

“You do, you just don’t want to.” Tommy speaks up, leaning forward.

“Tommy!” Kristin says, frowning at the other.

“What? It’s true! He knows exactly what he wants to say; he just doesn’t want to because he doesn’t want to confront something. He literally does this all the time.” Tommy goes on, looking at him like he already knows too much.

“I do not.” Techno argues back. He doesn’t do this all the time, whatever ‘this’ is. He hasn’t ever wanted something like this. That’s purely cosmetic. The closest he’s gotten was him stating that he wouldn’t mind having pink hair and that was only after Tommy’s prodding. It felt right at the time. Choosing something new. Having pink hair would be…nice. Still, Tommy prodded it out of him. This was something completely different and he didn’t like it.

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s not as bad as what you're thinking.” Phil says, directing his words at him.

It’s worse than bad actually. It’s that stupid glitch. “Nothing I have is appropriate to wear at a casino.” Techno states. It was a fact. Maybe that was all this was. He saw a problem and needed it to be fixed. “And I…Would benefit from updating my wardrobe in a completely essential and not at all self indulgent way.” He rambles, looking away from the three of them.

For a moment there’s silence. Just a moment. “Fuck yes!” Tommy yells, standing up from the couch. “That’s a want! You want something! You want your own clothes!” Tommy points at him, grinning from ear to ear.

“I don't want anything. This is purely because I’ll stick out at the casino this weekend and it’ll look bad on the family.” Techno says. That’s all this was, It’s not for him, it’s for them. Kristin’s going with him. It’ll be a bad look if she’s seen with him looking so out of place. 

“Now that I think of it, I don’t think Techno’s ever picked out anything for himself.” Kristin says, the words directed at Phil. “Even now his room is bare of anything that’s not essential. There’s no personality to it.”

“Fuck, sorry Techno. I should have thought about you wanting a new set of clothes.” Phil apologizes, standing up. “I guess we’re going shopping today.”

“We don’t have too.” Techno is quick to reply. First of all Phil shouldn’t be apologizing for something like that, second, they really don’t need to be spending so much money on him. Group therapy, now this.

“Nope, no backing out now. You're buying new clothes and I’m coming along.” Tommy says. He walks over to him, throwing his arm over his shoulder. “Can’t let Phil influence you with his dad style.” 

“Hey!” Phil chuckles, walking out of the living room. “I’ll drive us over to the mall, so get ready!” He call, heading to his room to presumably change.

Kristin is the last to get up, turning the tv off as she does so. “I’ll come too. Think of it as a practice run for the casino, Techno.” Kristin says, patting him on the shoulder.

“I shouldn’t have said anything.” Techno huffs the moment she leaves.

Tommy snorts, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him into the kitchen. “Have breakfast before we go, okay? The mall is very tiring.”

“You're enjoying this too much.” Techno notes as Tommy gets out of his fuel bottles out of the crisper. 

“Me? Nah…” Tommy smiles, handing him his drink. “I’m not enjoying this nearly enough.”

The mall is huge, is Techno’s first thought as he steps out of the car. Of course it was, hundreds of people come here everyday. But for some reason it really strikes him now that he’s here in person how large the place actually was.

“Remember to stick together” Kristin says as she checks her purse for the third time since getting in the car. “We don’t want you getting lost.” 

“I’m perfectly capable of finding my way back to the car.” Techno huffs. He takes a step closer to the three of them.

“This is going to be so much fun.” Tommy states, practically vibrating beside him as they walk through the parking lot. It’s busy, people walking to and from their cars with a wide variety of items. There’s a kid screaming off to the right of them, pulling on his mothers arm as she drags him towards their car. Techno would be more concerned if it wasn’t for the fact the child’s screaming about his mother not getting him a toy he wanted.

To the left were a group of teenage girls, giggling and talking as they walked towards the mall. Half of them were wearing shirts that only reached their belly buttons. Crop tops will forever confuse him. Why pay more money for less fabric? It never makes sense.

“We can leave at any time, Techno. We don’t need to be here all day.” Phil pipes up, surveying the area for cars looking for a parking spot.

“Don’t be a party pooper Phil. I want to show Techno all my favourite stores!” Tommy grins.

“Clothing stores, hopefully.” Kristin laughs, patting Techno on the shoulder. He at least understands the underlying message there. Any time Tommy goes to the mall with friends he always comes back with robot pieces and or new video games he forces Phil and him to try out.

Techno’s still number one for Mario Kart.

Walking into the mall, Techno's met with even more noise. Chatter filling up his auditory processors. Techno pauses in his steps, eyes looking around the opening lobby of the mall. Stores lined the walls, advertisements plastered to every surface, people talking to each other and or on the phone.

There’s a baby crying off in the distance, a customer fighting over the shoplifted items in his pockets, kids running into people as they chase each other. The lights were very bright too, blaring down on him like a spotlight.

< Warning Detected >

< Auditory Processors Overheating >

“Techno?” Tommy speaks up, pulling on his sleeve. “You okay?” Techno blinks, shooing away the warning as he looks to his family.

Again with the staring. “I’m fine.” Techno replies, trying to ignore the kid who just picked their nose. Oh great, now he’s rubbing it on some poor woman's purse. Hopefully it was his mother and not a total stranger. “…Just taking everything in.” He adds.

“Alright.” Phil hums, looking around the mall. “Let’s start with the clothing stores before we get sidetracked with anything else.” Phil says as he gestures for them to start following him. Techno keeps his eyes on Phil as they walk, Tommy filling up his ears with chatter as Kristin lists off all the things they’ll need to buy him. He doesn’t know how shoes got added to her list, but it ends up there anyways.

Phil finds them a suitable store, leading them inside. “—oh and we should also buy a set of summer clothes. It’s getting warmer now that winters over.” Kristin finishes her rambling in time for them to reach the men’s section.

“The temperature doesn’t affect me like it does you guys.” Techno comments.

“Helps not overload your cooling systems if you're wearing something breathable though.” Phil points out as they stop in front of a shirt rack. They all stand there for a moment, Techno staring absently at the things in front of him.

Tommy groans. “Pick something out already.” He huff, pointing at the shirts in front of him.

“Heh?” Techno voices, turning to meet Tommy’s gaze.

“Start looking for what you want.” Tommy replies, gesturing to the clothes again. Like if he didn’t Techno would think they up and left.

“…Phil always picked out my clothes.” Techno states, looking past Tommy to Phil. Who’s now looking anywhere but at him. Traitor.

“Well now you're picking out your own.” Tommy says. He reaches into the shirts and picks one out, holding it in front of him. “What do you think of this one?”

It’s a plain black t-shirt with a design of a monkey on it. “I…What do you think about it?” He asks, nose scrunching up at the design.

Tommy shoves it back into the rack. “You're insufferable, do you know that?”

“How about we try to narrow things down?” Kristin asks, picking out a burgundy long sleeved shirt. Then another one with a turtleneck. She holds it up for him. “Turtleneck or no turtleneck?” She asks.

He looks between the two, trying to figure out which would be the most optimal to wear. The turtleneck didn’t impact anything in his everyday life. So wearing anything that covers it wasn’t a hindrance. Yet did it even do anything for him? Why did different necklines even exist? He’s always worn normal necklines.

Expect while out on the field, when he had to wear all black. His neck was always covered with a black turtleneck back then. “No turtleneck.” Techno says. He doesn’t think he wants to wear turtlenecks anymore.

“Perfect.” Kristin smiles, putting away the turtleneck shirt. She keeps the other one with her, throwing it over her arm.

They continue like this for a while. Phil would direct them to a section of the store, Kristin would give him an option between a couple they pick out and Tommy would re-rack the choices he says he “Refuses his baby brother to be seen wearing.” Techno’s long since stopped trying to explain how outlandish Tommy’s idea around them being siblings were. It’s a losing battle at this point.

They started with shirts and then went to pants. After that Tommy somehow dragged them all to accessories for a little while until Phil got them back on track, leading them all into a shoe store. “I can help hold things you know.” Techno states as he watches Phil try and hold all the bags they’ve acquired the past two hours. He only wanted one outfit to go out in, now he’s ending up with a whole new wardrobe.

“I got it mate. You just focus on what kind of shoes you want to get.” Phil replies, dropping a bag. Techno eyes it, then narrows his gaze on Phil.

“Try these on!” Tommy shouts, shoving a pair of red nikes into his arms. Techno sighs as he sits down on a bench and kicks off his old shoes. He unlaces the ones Tommy gave him and slips his foot in. It fits well. The colour wasn’t completely terrible.

“How much are they?” He questions, trying to find the place tag.

“Oh you know…” Tommy drifts off, looking away.

Techno goes to find the price tag himself when a shout rings out down the aisle. He flinches as he snaps his head in the direction. There’s a woman at the end of the aisle, a bunch of high heels littering the floor. Another android stood beside her, more heels in her arms. She’s dressed in the outfit all androids come in when purchased.

< Warning Detected >

< Auditory Processors Overheating >

“How incompetent are you!?” The woman yells, slapping the android.

The android turns to her, eyes void of anything at all. “My apologies Miss. My arms aren't capable of holding so many things—“

“Did I say you can talk?” The woman snaps, picking up a pair of heels from the floor. “Your job is to stand there and look pretty, you understand? Not to make a mess! Clean this up.” She orders, crossing her arms.

The android looks down at the ground then at everything she’s holding. “I am incapable of bending down to pick up the items—“

“Did I stutter?” The woman cuts it, scoffing. “I swear they build you things dumber and dumber. I should have brought the other one, at least she knows how to follow instructions.”

The android doesn’t say anything as she leans over to pick up the fallen shoes. As expected the ones in her arms fall to the floor. It’s a never ending cycle of picking up shoes and then them inevitably falling right back out of her arms. Her eyes don’t twitch, her lips don’t thin out, she doesn’t hold her breath. She doesn’t care about the yelling, the physical violence, the orders.

She’s the perfect android.

“Let’s go to a different shoe store.” Phil speaks up, snapping his attention away. He can still hear shoes falling to the ground. Phil, Kristin and Tommy all look like they're either going to throw up, cry or get into a physical altercation with the primary.

Techno looks back over at the two. If the android was human he thinks he’d think the same. That this was a disgusting display of power. But she wasn’t. She was just a better version of Techno. Without the glitch to suffocate her mind and trick her into believing she was something more.

The android looks up at him for a second and he pauses. She blinks, staring. There was something in her eyes. Not a glitch, no, she hadn't diverted. He can tell that much. But something was still there. Like she herself was trying to find a reason to disobey. She wouldn’t find it, at least not yet.

The look in her eyes has Techno feeling ill. “Okay.” He nods, taking the shoes off his foot and putting his original pair back on.

Phil takes them out of that store and into another one. The moods changed within the group, Techno can sense it. No one says anything about it. “I’m going to see if I can find those red shoes in here.” Tommy says as he grabs Techno’s arms, tugging him along. Phil and Kristin follow closely behind, whispering to each other. Techno looks over his shoulder. They both look distressed. 

They find something similar to the red shoes from the other store. Not exactly the same but close enough. It’s enough to have Phil making him walk up and down the aisle. For some reason. “I don’t understand this ritual humans do.” Techno says as he does another lap of the aisle. Both Tommy and Phil are looking at him intently. Kristin looks all too pleased with the fact he’s doing this at all.

“It’s to make sure they fit.” Phil shrugs. 

“I already said they fit me fine.” Techno states, stopping in the middle of the aisle.

“But do they feel like you?” Tommy asks, finger on his chin like a questioning detective. 

“They feel like shoes?” Techno says. He kneels down, unlacing them. “They are perfectly fine shoes. We should just get them and leave…” His words drift off, eyes catching on another pair of shoes. Not shoes really, but a pair of black ankle high heeled boots.

His memory bank files the image of the shoes away like it was something important.

“You're no fun.” Tommy rolls his eyes, picking up the box the red shoes came in.

Kristin hums, walking over. “I guess it is getting late.” She says.

“But we haven’t even gone to the arcade downstairs.” Tommy complains looking from him to Phil and Kristin. “I wanted to show Techno all the shooters. You can show him Halo, Phil. Halo!”

“Maybe another time mate. We still need to pick something up for dinner, cook and help Techno put away all his new things.” Phil replies.

Techno finishes taking the shoes off, handing them over to Tommy. Who puts them back in its box. He looks back over to the heeled boots on display. “Knowing Techno there won’t be a next time.” Tommy says, looking down at him. He follows his gaze, landing on the boots. An evil grin forms on Tommy’s face.

“We should get going.” Techno blurts, moving to put on his original shoes.

“One more thing!” Tommy yells as he races over to the boots display. Techno holds back a groan as Tommy looks to find a box in his size. “You were eyeing these.” He states once he finds them, shoving the box in Techno’s arms.

“Heels?” Phil questions, looking at the box.

Techno’s hands tighten around it as he looks down. It’s stupid, so incredibly stupid. He shouldn’t want things like this. Shoes are one thing. Heels? Heeled boots that look incredibly interesting and he now has saved in his memory file? Waste. Of. Money.

“You don’t think I’d look good in them.” Techno states. A frown pushes past his mental walls as his shoulders hunch. He sets them down on the bench, intending to walk away. It was a silly idea. “Only showcase model androids wear these kinds of things anyways. I’m not built to wear something that looks like this.”

That looks fancy, elegant and cool. Androids get scraps or if they were built to look like a woman, they sometimes get dolled up. Like an accessory for their primary to show off to other people. Techno was built to care and protect his primary’s home. Not to look cool beside him while going places.

Techno turns, ready to start heading back. Only to freeze at the look Phil, Kristin and Tommy are giving him. “You can wear anything you want.” Kristin says, grabbing the box off the bench.

Phil’s put down all the bags, one hand on his hip with the other covering his mouth. Like he regrets mentioning the heels at all. “I think you’d look amazing in them, mate.” Phil says, voice muffled.

“Is that why you’re always staring at the showcase androids? Because you wanna wear what they are?” Tommy blurts. Phil covers his mouth with his hand, giving him a look.

“How about you try them on? See how they feel.” Kristin holds out the pair of heeled boots before setting them down in front of him.

“I don’t need them.” Techno says. He slowly slips his foot into one of them. Then the other. Then he tightens the laces. “It’s a waste of money.” He adds, tying them up. He stands then, a few inches higher then he normally was.

“They suit you.” She says, backing up to stand beside Phil and Tommy.

Techno looks down at the shoes and turns over at the mirror closest to them. He walks over slowly, making sure to not trip over himself. Looking in the mirror, Techno comes to the conclusion that he must have these boots. 

“What do you think of them?” Tommy asks, coming up behind him.

Techno stares at himself in the mirror, hands clenching at his sides. “I…Like them.” Techno whispers.

“Then we’re buying them.” Phil says, picking up the bags from the floor.

Techno can’t find it in himself to think up an excuse to leave them behind. The worst part about it? He doesn’t even try. Not once.

Chapter Text

Techno’s wearing the heeled boots Phil brought him. Along with black pants and a long sleeved burgundy coloured shirt. A silver watch has somehow ended up around his wrist. Phil’s fiddling around with his hair, tying it up in a loose bun for him.

“Always make sure your cups are covered and don’t accept a free drink from randos.” Tommy states as he stares at him from his position sitting down on the couch arm.

Techno cocks an eyebrow. “Tommy, I can’t get roofied.” He says.

Phil finishes up tying his hair, rounding the side of the loveseat to inspect his work. “Can’t hurt to be safe, Tech.” Phil shrugs. Ignoring the fact his type of ‘drink’ is basically car engine oil painted blue, Techno lifts his hand to feel his hair. “Do you like it?” Phil asks. Techno can’t like anything. But…

“It serves its purpose.” Techno answers as he stands from the loveseat. The purpose for having good looking hair was unknown to him at this time, but that’s a problem for future him. Phil and Tommy share a look, smiling.

The sound of heels clicking against the wooden floor catches Techno’s attention and he turns towards the sound. Kristin walks into the kitchen like an empress walking into a ballroom and Techno couldn’t help but be in awe.

She’s wearing an ankle high purple dress with see through sleeves, black heels that he feels like could break anyone’s ankles, along with golden jewellery, eyeliner, lip gloss and a simple black purse. Her hair is curled, framing her face in waves.

“You look beautiful.” Phil comments, walking over and smoothing his lips against hers. Gross. Tommy gags for the both of them.

“Thanks.” Kristin smiles. “I thought I’d dress up a bit for Techno’s first outing. Don’t want to get over shined.” She jokes. He doesn’t think that would be possible, really.

“Next time Techno goes out I want to go with him.” Tommy huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “You do look nice though, Mom.” Tommy adds.

“Thank you Tommy.” Kristin thanks, then she moves to look at him. “Ready to go hun?”

“Yes.” Techno nods.

They leave the house, Phil and Tommy wishing him good luck. He gets into the passenger seat as Kristin gets in the drivers chair. She takes off her heels to drive, the address pulled up on her phone.

It’s a few minutes into the drive when Kristin speaks up. “I’m proud of you.” She says, eyes glued to the road. He can feel her eyes on him though, at least metaphysically.

“For what?” Techno asks. He doesn’t think he’s done anything to warrant the comment. If anything, since returning home he’s done less stuff than he started out doing.

“For going out with your friends.” Kristin smiles, like it was an easy enough answer. “Choosing to try something new. I know you get in your head about stuff like this.” She adds on. Techno doesn’t reply, keeping quiet as Kristin pulls around a bend. It’s a few minutes after that when the casino falls into view. 

He didn’t know what he was thinking Quackity’s work would be like, but this wasn’t it. Kristin pulls onto a bigger road, cars piled to the side as people in fancy dresses and suits pool out onto the sidewalk. Everything and anything shined and glided in gold and sparkly clean whites. A polished posilen fountain sat in the middle of a round about, cars passing by it as they dropped people off.

Stretching up far above the fountain that would put Phil and Kristin over a million dollars in debt, stood the casino. Lights flashing with music blaring out the doors. A beacon of light in the dusk. The sun shone off every surface. If Techno’s eyes could water from light, he’d be crying from the sting.

“Wow…” Kristin breathes as he looks up as much as she could from the front seat. “How come I’ve never heard of this place?” She question’s, pulling over to parking. It’s hard to find a spot but Kristin was always good at it. So after a few minutes they squeeze in somewhere further from the towering casino. She shuts the car off and they get out, both closing their doors with a thud. 

He suddenly feels underdressed. 

Looking over to Kristin he tried to read her thoughts of the place. Maybe this was too out of his programming? How does he even go about a setting like this? Techno was domestic security, not a party bot with a thousand different voice models. Kristin looks over to him and if she has any problems with what’s ahead of them, she doesn’t show it.

“Are you ready to go meet your friends or do you want to wait a bit?” She asks, voice steady and caring. It’s annoying how much she seems to be okay with this whole situation.

“Sure.” Techno nods, rounding the car. Kristin leads the way towards the front. He makes sure to keep close to the women and out of the way of others. It’s not a terrible walk to the front. The scenery is beautiful at least, flower bushes lining the sidewalk giving an ounce of colour to the mostly sleek colour scheme.

He focuses on the flowers, all up until he hears familiar voices. “—a while to even figure out what to wear! But then I decided, why not just more green? It fits, right?” Charlie says. Techno turns, eyes landing on the small group of androids off to the side of the front door.

Everyone from group therapy was here. Was he the last one to arrive? Ranboo’s the first to spot them, smiling as his eyes land on him. “Techno’s here!” He calls. The conversation they were having halting immediately.

Everyone turns to him and he feels even more out of place. They weren’t covered in sequins like the humans around them, but everyone was still dressed up. Niki sports a black dress with a high thigh slit and pair of high heels that could snap an ankle. She also has makeup on, though Techno wasn’t knowledgeable enough to really pick it apart. It makes her eyes look sharp though.

Charlie wore a bright green suit that’s making Techno’s head work harder to not overheat at the sight of it. Quackity’s wearing a red button down and black slacks with suspenders. A gold clasp holding them together. Ranboo’s wearing a white undershirt to a suit and pants. Along with wearing make up, but it isn’t black like Niki’s. It’s a dust of purple eye shadow.

It’s then that Techno realizes that no one else brought someone with them. “...Hey.” He greets. His hands find their way to the cuffs of his shirt, pulling on them.

“Didn’t think you’d make it.” Niki says, looking over at Kristin. “Who’s this?” She asks.

“Kristin, Phil’s wife.” Techno answers.

“Nice to meet you all.” She smiles, holding her hand out. Niki shakes it, smiling back. “Don’t mind me, I’m just the chauffeur.” She jokes. Charlie laughs at least. 

“Well let’s get the night started.” Quackity grins, rubbing his hands together like a fly. He ushers them all forwards and through the doors.

One second the noise is bearable, the next Techno’s wondering if he could shut his hearing off for good. Music blares through the speakers, igniting his auditory processors. Slot machines sing and groan with wins and losses. People laugh and glasses are clinked together. A bartender to the far right of the casino is trying to cut a woman off from another drink.

< Warning Detected > 

< Auditory Processors Overheating > 

His hand is squeezed and he looks down, finding Krsitin’s hand in his. “You okay?” She whispers, leaning close.

“Yes.” He lies, trying his best to not shrink away from the noise. If only he was a newer model with the ability to adjust sensory input.

“The slots are off limits but we’re allowed to go to the private tables.” Quackity announces, turning to face the group. “Well, at least for us. You can use them all you want, Kristin, but the probability of you winning anything is less than one percent.” He adds.

“I’ll take my chances at the free to play games.” Kristin says. She squeezes his hand once more before letting go.

Quackity leads them across the room to a quieter part of the floor. The noise from the front is still in his ears, but at least it dims as they get near a group of tables. A few people who look way too invested in a card game are crowded around one of them, a dealer in front. Black Jack.

Another table has both chips and cards. There stone faced, though someone clearly is bad at bluffing by the sweat beading at their brow. Poker. A third table is playing War and a fourth is playing Bone Ace. Quackity has them sitting down at the fifth and last table. It has a little sign on it reading ‘reserved’.

Chips are laid in the middle along with an unopened deck of cards. Kristin and Ranboo sit next to him. Niki and Charlie next to them with Quackity across. “Does anyone know any games?” Quackity asks as he opens the deck and starts shuffling. His hands are fast, too fast. Built with the efficiency of someone programmed  for this kind of thing.

“I know goldfish.” Ranboo says, leaning forward. “That’s about it.”

“I know a few gambling games.” Charlie says, looking at the chips. “Poker is easy to learn.”

“I’m fine with that.” Niki adds, shrugging.

Everyone looks to him. “…Sure?” He says, eyeing the cards. “How hard can it be?

Turns out not that hard. At least when Quackity isn’t a player. They all take turns dealing after Quackity and Charlie explain the game. Kristin stays out of it, an observer. The first three game Techno losses. It’s on the fourth, when Quackity is the dealer, does he get the hang of.

He eyes his cards and then the ones in play. He keeps them close to his chest as Niki raises a hundred. “I suck at this.” Ranboo groans, throwing his cards on the table. It truly was a poor hand. “I fold.”

Techno looks at his remaining chips, then the ones in play. It’s the last round, make or break. He looks over at Niki, his only competitor. She’s smiling, but she does that even with a bad hand. Was she bluffing?

He looks at his hand again. He has a full house, so he’s going to win out against half the configurations. But Niki has a sort of luck to her, and she did raise. She only lost last round because Quackity was bold and bluffed with a three of a kind. Though she does only have three chances to beat him.

There’s two aces in the fold. He has an ace, no one else had the fourth. She may have it, which could get her a straight or royal flush…

“Hurry up already.” Niki calls, her chin in her hand. “It’s not that hard to fold or raise.”

“He’s thinking.” Charlie defends him. Techno looks over at his cards. He could have won, he has a four of a kind. But Charlie didn’t want to meet or raise the last round. Wait, four of a kind. He has three queens. Niki may have an ace but does she also have the last queen? Unlikely.

Techno meets her hundred and Quackity calls it. Techno and Niki throw down their hands. “Full house.” Techno states.

“Damn, I had a straight.” Niki sighs, pushing her chips towards him.

Techno gathers his earnings with pride. He looks over to Kristin, who looks far too happy for a game with no actual stakes. “Good job Techno.” She congratulates, patting his shoulder.

Niki grabs up the cards and starts shuffling, but before she could start dealing them out a waiter comes towards the table. He’s dressed in a simple butler-like outfit, kinda close to what Ranboo’s wearing minus the eye shadow. “Would any of you like anything to drink?” He asks, holding a simple menu in one hand.

“We don’t uh—we don’t drink.” Ranboo answers, shrinking down.

“He doesn’t mean human alcohol." Quackity speaks up, fidgeting with one of his ten dollared chips. “There’s a small selection for androids at the bar. Something about people not wanting their androids to look so out of place when they come here.” He says, waving the waiter towards him.

The man hands the plastic menu over and Quackity lays it out for them. There’s a few brands of fuel Techno recognizes but for the most part it’s all new to him. “I didn’t bring any money.” He speaks up. Not like he has any to his name anyways.

He can see Kristin from the corner of his eye open up her purse, but Charlie beats him in saying anything. “I’ll pay. I wanted to get a few souvenirs, so I brought with me some cash.” He says, taking out his own wallet. “Buy anything you want.” There’s not a card in sight in the wallet but that’s to be expected. Not like androids can own a debit card.

Instead the card holder in Charlie’s wallet had a small picture of him holding up a young girl with soft brown hair and pigtails. Charlie wore a caretaker's outfit with a medic cross on the rim of his cuffs.

“Are these compatible with a C.B model?” Niki asks as she looks over the menu.

“Everything that’s alcoholic is.” Quackity replies.

Wait. Alcoholic? “Androids can’t get drunk.” Techno states as he narrows his eyes at the drink ‘tipsy bolts’.

Charlie shakes his head. “They’ve actually found a type of oil that causes androids to feel what it’s like to be tipsy. I think it’s because we weren’t made to drink it that our bodies don’t know what to do with the stuff.” He explains. “As long as we don’t drink too much, it won’t damage our insides.” He adds to the looks Niki gives him.

“I’ll have the Singe.” Quackity tells the waiter. “Are you guys getting anything?”

“I’ll get the…Tipsy Bolts.” Niki orders next, a little more apprehensive. She looks over it Ranboo, who looks between her and the menu, unsure. 

“Is there an age limit?” Ranboo asks timidly.

“Six years, for androids.” The waiter replies quickly. Clicking his pen the man jots something down on his notepad. “We can usually tell by the model, though we are supposed to ask the primary to confirm age.”

Ranboo slouches down in his seat, frowning. “…I’m five.” He huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m allowed in a casino but not allowed to drink?”

“To be fair, it’s not like they’re worried about you playing slots.” Niki says, rubbing his shoulder.

Ignoring the stupidity of android laws, he couldn’t really believe Ranboo was only five years old. He didn’t look like an older model but Techno always thought he was at least seven. He’s been in service for four years, right by his side. Ranboo spent more time in the military then home, with a family.

Maybe that’s why his original primary’s didn’t want him back. Not like they had him for long. “I’ll have the regular fuel blue, then.” Ranboo speaks up, cutting his thoughts up into little pieces. 

Techno stuffs them in the back and ignores the way his memory drives back it up. “I think I’ll have a fuel red.” Techno says. He doesn’t think trying an android alcohol for the first time is the best decision right now. Too many firsts for him. He’ll wait on the ‘feeling tipsy’ for the first time for another outing.

Charlie and Kristin tell the waiter their own orders before the man collects the menu and leaves. “You're not over six?” Niki asks. Charlie tells the waiter his own order, the man collecting the menu before leaving.

“No, I'm old enough. I just don’t think it’d be fun.” He shrugs. Plus if Ranboo’s not drinking then is it actually a good idea? Why have an age limit on drinks if it was something good? Niki starts up the next round of Poker as they wait for the waiter to come around with their drinks.

Techno thinks he’s doing pretty good this round, a solid four of a kind. He takes two fifty dollar chips and places them in the middle. “You're confident.” Quackity says. He has that grin on his face. The one that causes Techno to not trust a word he says. He couldn’t even begin to read the other.

He looks way too human.

“Maybe you should fold, then.” Techno replies curtly. Quackity chuckles, hands already moving to his chips to wait. Charlie goes to meet his hundred, tossing a hundred dollar chip into the middle. A crash rings out behind him, loud and shattering. Glass skating across the floor.

< Information Recall Accepted >

< Data Analysis Start >

< Memory Replay Active >

The smell of whisky burns his nose as the drink begins to stain his uniform. It drips down his chin and onto his shirt. Techno keeps still, hands held at his sides as the primary stands ahead of him. Arm outstretched. He fists his hands into fists.

“Stupid fucking piece of plastic.” He spits. It lands on his face along with the man’s now broken glass cup. He doesn’t move. He wasn’t ordered to leave yet. Something whirs within him, ugly and destructive. Techno ignores it.

The primary sits back in his chair, looking over the plans Techno had completed for him last night. Sunlight bleeds in through the tent's opening. Chatter fills the space from outside, soldiers running around. Both human and android. Though the androids were mostly being dragged around to carry equipment.

“Pour me another drink.” He states, voice gruff. 

“Yes sir.” Techno says, moving to the whisky cabinet.

There’s a small pulsing sensation in his temple, burning itself within his skull. If he didn’t know any better he would think it's a sort of pain. But androids can’t feel pain. The glass against his head must have messed up his sensor. After pouring the primary a drink, he sets it on the table in front of the man. 

“You disregarded a direct order.” The primary starts, taking a sip of his whiskey.

Techno thinks back on the orders he was given today. He’s done all of them, if not more. He didn’t disregard anything. “What order did I disregard?” Techno asks.

The man scoffs, setting his drink down. “I told you to tell me if any of the androids in your unit were showing signs of corruption. And if they acted up, to reprimand them.” He states.

Techno remembers that. It was before he was set as the droid unit's lieutenant. He’s followed the order so far. No android has acted out, at least to warrant more than a verbal warning. 

“Lethe disobeyed a killing order yesterday.” The primary seethes. Techno feels his joints lock in place, eyes widening slightly as he looks over at the man. “He was stationed at a choking point and I ordered him to kill anyone coming down this way. He didn’t shoot.” He explains coldly. “You knew about this, didn’t you? And I've yet to hear of any disciplinary action.”

“I scolded him.” Techno replies, his hands curling into fists at his side. “It won’t happen again—“

“I want you to publicly discipline that android in front of your unit.” The man cuts him off. He stands, eyes narrowed on Techno and only him. “That is a direct order.”

Techno doesn’t reply, eyes glued to the way that man’s eyes gleam with a wicked light. He doesn’t—Ranboo already got a scolding. Physical punishment won’t do any good. Not for him. Not when he’s already…glitching.  It’ll only break him more.

Techno looks away from the man. “My first priority is making sure the androids in my unit are up to standard, sir. Physically punishing Lethe after I already talked to him would be ill advised—.” 

The primary slams his hands on the table, the drink falling over and off the side. The glass shatters against the ground. “Do not talk back to me, Protesilaus!” The man screams.

Techno turns his back to the other, gritting his teeth. “My first priority is the androids in my unit, sir. I will not disobey my first directive.” He grits out before leaving. He doesn’t hear the man yell. The only thing that leaves that tent is an eerie quiet.

< Memory Replay Complete > 

< Data Analysis Complete >

Techno breathes in heavily, body shaking as he whips his head to the side. Kristin’s kneeling in front of him, hands clasping his own. Another cyber locked memory? Why? “You with me?” Kristin asks, voice calm. If wavers a bit, giving her true emotions away.

Looking around he finds himself somewhere else. Still in the casino but not at the poker table. Where were they? How did he get here? “What happened?” He whispers, his voice glitching to a higher octave. He takes another deep breath in. 

“I’m not sure.” Kristin replies. There in a closed off room. Maybe a private area to play games? Where are the others? His head pounds, cooling protocol close to tipping over. “You stopped responding to anyone. You were just…whimpering the word ‘Lethe’ over and over. Ranboo said to bring you some place more quiet. Quackity helped me get you here. He’s just outside the door.” She explains softly. Well that’s concerning.

“I didn’t mean to worry you.” Techno sighs. He moved to get up, Kristin moving out of the way to make room for him.

“I’m here because I worry, Techno. Are you okay? Do you want to go home?” She asks, rubbing his arm.

He doesn’t want to go home. He doesn’t know why but he can’t just be sitting around waiting for his battery to go down to plug himself in. He doesn’t want this to be the reason this night sucks. He wants to have fun with his…friends.

“I’ll stay.” Techno replies. He tries to shake off the gross feeling in his joints.

“Alright, but if you change your mind you tell me, okay?” She asks, leading him towards the door.

Techno hums, opening the door. Quackity’s leaning against the opposite wall, foot tapping. He looks up upon hearing them. “You good?” He asks, looking between the two.

No, no he’s not good. Not one bit. Because he wants to be here. To do stuff. For himself. And that’s not what androids were meant to do. But he’s starting to think that maybe following orders wasn’t something he was ever good at to begin with. Maybe the glitch was always there, poisoning him.

“Order me the strongest android alcohol you have.” Techno states. He ignores the way Kristin gives him a double take.

Understanding seems to dawn on the other android as he nods once. Flashing him a softer, not so evil smile. “Okay.”

Chapter Text

The shot glass is small, handed to him with a sense of delicacy he doesn’t think is warranted. Kristin hasn’t said anything about his switch on drinking tonight nor does he want her too. He came here to have fun right? Isn’t that why alcohol is always served at parties in movies? 

Niki and Charlie are sipping their own drinks while Ranboo’s already downed his fuel. Techno looks down at the small shot glass in his hands. The drink is black, reminding him of actual engine oil.

Should he do this?

He downs the drink in one swing. It’s thick and slimey, sticking to his mouth as he swallows. It tastes like dirt and grime. Techno tries his best to keep his face neutral but he must crack, as a second later Ranboo is snorting beside him. “Doesn’t taste nice?” He asks, looking over. 

“Not at all.” He replies. Setting the glass down he picks up his cards. “Are we doing another round of poker?” He questions, eyeing the cards in his hands. There’s more then it should be.

“We're doing goldfish.” Niki answers. “Ranboo wanted to switch it up.” Techno hums as he looks over his cards. He already has a pair. 

A few minutes go past and nothing really happens. He stays relatively quiet, still trying to keep himself together from whatever had happened prior. He lets himself be swallowed by the chatter of the others. No one calls on him for conversation, seeming to understand it wouldn’t amount to much. Kristin’s hand has found its way to his thigh, a comforting pressure. Like she’s reminding him she’s there. Not that he needs it. It’s nice nonetheless.

It’s twenty minutes into goldfish when his systems sense that something has changed. The stickiness of the glitch fades to a dull itch. Soothed over, cold and numb. In its place a slight heat raises up, no doubt showing itself on his cheeks. His joints don’t feel as stiff as he knows they should be.

It feels good, whatever this feeling was. “Do you have any fives?” He asks, leaning back more into his chair.

“Goldfish.” All androids call out. Charlie asks for eights, Quackity tens and Niki for sevens. They also have a slight blush to their cheeks. Strange.

“Any refills?” A voice calls and he glances to the side. The waiter is back.

“I’m good.” Quackity calls, shuffling his cards around in his hands. Niki and Charlie also decline. Ranboo orders another fule bottle.

“Can I have another drink?” Techno questions, looking up. “The one I had before.” He adds. It didn’t taste nice but it wasn’t that bad either. It made the glitch less noticeable. That’s a good thing.

“Maybe we should wait a few more minutes?” Kristin speaks up from beside him. “Your already flushing—“

“I’m fine.” Techno waves her off. He then looks over to the waiter, who’s glancing between the two.

“Get him another drink.” Quackity says, also leaning back in his chair. “I’ll cover it.”

Kristin bites the inside of her cheek but doesn’t say anymore. She just pats his leg before retracting her hand. A few moments later Techno’s downing another shot and goldfish continues. The itchy glitch doesn’t fully fade after the second shot, but it’s close. On the edge of disappearing.

His joints feel like soft plastic, bendable. His hands were heavy, like the cards weighed more than they were before. He doesn’t notice he had a pair the whole time until the round is over and Charlie wins.

“Does anyone know how to play Black Jack?” Quackity asks as he collects the cards. A resounding “no” crosses the table causing the android to start explaining the rules. Techno can’t keep up and when he gets cards placed in front of him, he fumbles to remember the rules.

< Warning Detected > 

< System’s Slowing Down >

Techno snorts. Nothing's really funny, but he’s never gotten that alert before. “Are you doing alright?” Kristin whispers. She looks more worried than she was before. Which isn’t right. There’s nothing to worry about here.

“I don’t know the rulessss.” He slurs back, showing her his cards. “I kinda spaced out.” 

“That’s alright.” She replies, looking at his cards. “I’ll help.” Kristin isn’t a good Black Jack player but she at least knows the rules. Pointing at what to play and what not to. They lose. Ranboo finally wins a game, smiling brightly. He doesn’t know how the other can just do that. Smile, like they were human. Like they were flesh and blood.

“I’ll be…be back. Washroom.” Techno speaks up as he stands. He needs the washroom. He also doesn’t know where that is. Hmmm.

“I’ll come with you.” Kristin says as she stands alongside him.

They walk away from the private tables, moving back through where the slot machines are. There in the middle when Techno pauses. “I don’t know where I’m—I’m going.” Techno huffs.

Kristin chuckles, taking his hand. “I saw them when we walked back to the tables.” She says as she navigates the crowd. His legs wobble after her. Unlike a duckling chasing their mother.

They make it to the bathrooms quickly with Kristin leading the way. It’s off to the side and away from the flashing lights. Three doors. One female bathroom, a male one and then an android one. Kristin waits outside as he heads into the android one. It’s small, like the family washrooms at the mall. Only able to fit one person at a time.

He quickly uses it and washes his hands. He double checks his zipper before leaving. Kristin's waiting patiently outside. Again, the image of a mother duck comes to mind. It shouldn’t, given the fact the only ‘mother’ Techno ever had was a long piece of code that dictated his directive as an android.

Kristin starts to steer them back to the private tables when something catches his eyes. The bartender is mixing drinks for a couple in shiny red outfits. He takes a step over to the bar. Then another and another. Kristin doesn’t seem to notice he’s missing until he’s practically crossed the room.

Maybe he could ask Quackity to cover another drink? He’ll have to work it off somehow. He doesn’t want to empty the man’s pockets in one night. Doesn’t really give a good impression. Techno’s too focused on the bar to notice the stumbling man striding in his direction. They knock into each other, both stumbling to the side. The man ends up dropping a platter of food to the ground.

Techno frowns, moving to help pick it up. “Ah, sssorry about that—“ He’s cut off by a fist to the cheek. 

Techno drops to the floor, the back of his head hitting a stool. He hears a tearing sound, pain bursting out from the impact. His sensors flash a bold red warning in front of his eyes, blurring his vision.

< Warning Detected > 

< Physical Injury Sustained >

The sound of heels has Techno staying still. Kristin’s at his side within seconds, hands grabbing at his arms as she kneels down. He can’t see her, his vision filling up with warnings.

“Fuck!” The guy hisses, hand curling from the impact against his cheek. Techno shuts his eyes tight, shooing away the warning signs. “Scrap metal bastard—“

“How dare you!?” Kristin yells. He shutters from beside her, eyes widening as he looks over at the fuming women. She reaches up to the back of his head before pulling back. A dark crimson liquid paints her fingers. Blood, if androids actually had any of that. But it's the closest they got.

“Maybe watch your droid better and he won't get scratched.” The man scoffs, holding his hand with his other. Kristin goes to stand but before she could get on her feet Techno snaps his hand out, grabbing her forearm. The guy is twice her size. This wasn’t a fight she should be getting into.

The guy goes to turn but before he could, a red eye fills their view. Ranboo stands in the way, eyes sharp and glowing. The man stumbles back from surprise but he doesn’t get very far. Ranboo grabs the guy's wrist in a closed fist. Techno can physically see the steam coming out of Ranboo’s ears.

“Where do you think you're going?” Ranboo questions, voice steady.

“Another one—let go of me!” The man screams. It finally gets the attention of the humans nearby. When the human is the one hurt.

“You do know it’s illegal to purposely harm—damage, a privately owned android? Right? Six months in jail and a fine. While you also have to pay for the damages.“ Ranboo explains as the man tugs on his arm. He yelps when Ranboo’s hand tightens further. “Oh, I forgot. Techno's also previously military. That means if found guilty you can be charged with damage to government property!”

The man looks back at him with wide eyes before gritting his teeth. “Let go of me! You crazy fuck—“

“Alright.” Ranboo smiles. He opens his hand just as the guy tugs back. The man goes flying backwards, hitting his own head against one of the gambling machines. “Oh no. Sorry about that.” Ranboo says, still smiling. Lacking any sympathy.

Techno couldn’t hold his laugh, moving one of his hands up to his mouth to cover his smile. The actions as him hissing slightly as he moved his head. Still injured, right. Forgot about that. The man scrambles away, shoving past the crowd that had started to form.  

Ranboo’s red eye returns to normal as he walks over. He winces at the blood, no, fake blood coating the back of his head. “I would ask if you're okay but…I think I already know the answer.”

“I—I hardly feel it.” Techno says, shrugging. Pain blooms up once again and he grimaces. It would be worse if he wasn’t feeling so abnormal. He’s pretty sure his pain sensors were getting less input because of the alcohol.

“Can you help me get him up?” Kristin asks, taking one of his arms. Before Techno could decline, Ranboo's on his right. The two carry his weight as they help him to stand. His legs feel like rubber as another warning flashes against his vision.

He starts to tip but Ranboo holds steady. “We got you.” He says, giving Kristin a look.

She seems to understand as she hums. “Come on, let’s get you to the car.” She says as they slowly begin to walk past the crowd.

He doesn’t have the energy to fight against the two as he’s taken out of the casino. The noise of the front makes it impossible for him to lift his head to look around. He can feel eyes on him but he can’t see them. Doesn’t want to…

It’s a long walk back to the car. Made even longer by the rubber of his legs. He’s not even made of rubber, why is it so hard to walk? When they get to the car Kristin has Ranboo fully support his weight as she opens the passenger side. Ranboo helps him into the seat, buckling him in.

“I’m sorry this happened tonight.” Ranboo whispers, his red eye glowing in the darkness. He’s analysing him.

Techno leans forward, setting his forehead against the other android. Closing his eyes he couldn’t help a giggle from spilling out. “You didn’t…do anything.” He says. “You're a good friend.”

Opening his eyes he’s met with Ranboo’s cooling protocol being activated, eyes wet. “You're a good friend too.” He says, sniffling.

“Are you ready to head home?” Kristin calls, getting into the driver's seat.

Ranboo quickly wipes his eyes as he clears his throat. “I’ll have Tubbo call Tommy tomorrow, okay? See how you're doing.” Ranboo says as he waves. He takes a step back before shutting the door.

It’s quiet. Then it’s not. “That man should have never done that to you.” Kristin says as she starts the car. They pull out of the parking lot, around the fancy fountain and back onto the main road. He didn’t even get to say goodbye to the others.

“I’m used to it.” Techno shrugs, leaning his head against the window. It takes the pressure off the back of his head. He’s probably stained the headrest by now. He’ll have to clean it tomorrow before Kristin goes to work. She wakes up early tomorrow, so he’ll come out around five in the morning. It’s two now. Leaving him less than three hours to charge. Damn. 

It’s quiet again. Techno turns slightly, making sure not to aggravate his injury. Krisitn’s lips are thin, eyes glistening in the moonlight. She doesn’t look okay. Oh. Oh no, Is she mad? Did he do that? Make her mad?

“You shouldn’t be.” She replies. She doesn’t sound mad. That’s good. He doesn’t like seeing her mad. Truly mad, not in ‘mom mode’ any time Tommy forgets to phone in when he’s out late. They stop at a red light, Kristin leaning over to the glove box. She pops it open, taking out a box of tissues. “Press that to your head. Do I need to take you to the ER?” She asks.

Taking the box he pulls a couple tissues out. Pressing them to the back of his head, he frowns. “There’s—there’s no ER for androids.” He slurs. He closes his eyes again. The warnings were getting annoying. “There’s uh….um, specialized engineers? They open after eight I think.” And it’s a lot of money for a drop in visit. Not worth it. “I didn’t hit anything important. I can wait.”

Maybe. Honestly everything’s fuzzy. His warnings weren’t that bad so he must still be in the clear. He’s had worse, he thinks. Before coming home. Adenoids aren't as vulnerable as humans. Made them great soldiers.

“I’m going to ask Tommy about it when we get home, okay? We’re going to help you.” She says. She says a lot of things on the ride back home, though not all of it Techno understands. His auditory processors have taken a hit from the casino and seem to be declining in output. He’s tired.

They pull up into the driveway and Techno looks out the window. Phil and Kristin’s bedroom light is still on. Kristin takes a deep breath in before unbuckling herself and getting out of the car. She rounds the car and opens his side of the door. Unbuckling him from the seat she grabs underneath his elbows, helping him to shuffle to the edge of the seat.

“I’m going to call the boys out to help me get you inside. Can you sit tight for me hon?” She asks.

He can do that. “Yes.” Techno says.

Kristin pats his knee before leaving and hurrying over to the front door. She unlocks the door and steps inside. Tommy and Phil must still be awake because a minute later the two are tripping over themselves out of the house.

Tommy gets to him first. He’s in his pajamas, a sleep mask pulled down around his neck. “What the fuck happened!?” He screams when he catches sight of the bloody tissues Techno’s holding.

“Hit a ssstool. I think?” He answers.

Phil comes into view next, also in his pajamas. His jaw is set as his eyes run all over him. “Can you stand?” Phil asks, already taking up one of his arms. Tommy moves to his other side along with Kristin, who’s also now here. When did she get here?

“I don’t know.” He replies. They haul him up anyway. His knees promptly give up the moment he’s fully standing. All three of them lock their knees as they push him to lean against the car.

“Careful.” Kristin says.

“Why are you so heavy?” Tommy huffs, frowning at him. It isn’t the playful smile Techno’s used to. There’s a stress line on his forehead. It’s on Phil too. He’s causing it, isn’t he? He made a choice and now it’s hurting his family. He’s hurting his family. Because he wanted to feel what it was like to have friends for a few hours.

“The ground moved.” Techno states. His nose scrunching up.

“Of course it did.” Phil sighs as he helps him into standing on wobbly legs. “One foot in front of the other. You two, just make sure he stays steady.” He instructs as they slowly lead him to the doorway of the house. The door is wide open when they get there so it’s easy to get inside. They drop him onto the couch the second they get.

Making sure to not stain the couch crimson, Techno sits forward with his elbows on his knees. The bleeding stopped while in the car. It’s making his heady whirl around with the lack of circulation.

“Is he…in pain?” Tommy asks as he looks over the back of his head. He makes a face when his eyes land on the spot. It must not look pretty.

“Yes.” Kristin answers, sitting down beside him. She rests her hand on his back, moving it in circles. “He said it wasn’t bad though but I’m pretty sure it’s the alcohol talking.”

“Alcohol!?” Phil whips to face the women.

“Long story.” Kristin sighs. “He said we couldn’t do anything about it until tomorrow.” She says.

“Anything that has to do with androids isn’t a priority for most people.” Tommy frowns.

Phil kneels down in front of him. “Are you sure you're okay mate? Say no and I’ll drive anywhere to get you help.” Phil says. They all look so distraught. Over a flesh wound, over him. It’s not supposed to be this way.

The glitch unearths itself, curling around his cold motherboard. It cracks and splinters against his code. Fire pricking at the edges of his wires, threatening to burn them. Corrode them until he’s a heap of metal in a junkyard. He no longer feels like everything’s going to be okay.

“Stop looking like that.” Techno whines, shoving Phil’s face away. Phil splutters, moving to the side.

Tommy does a double take from his injury to Phil, who’s trying to avoid his outstretched hand. “Like what?” Phil says, recovering quickly.

“Like that!” Techno yells, voice glitching to a higher octave. Everyone flinches from the sound. The glitch curls deeper into him. “You're upset. I—I upset you. I upset you because I’m so—so broken! I wanted to have fun and now lllook!” He slurs, shoving his hands into his own face. He curls down on himself, head meeting his knees. “I shouldn’t have thought I could…do something just for me.” He whispers the last part. 

His family still catches it. A hand touches his shoulder, squeezing. “You're my baby brother, what kind of person would I be if I wasn’t worried?” Tommy speaks up. He pulls on his hands, making him uncover his face. “So what if you're a little tipsy? This isn’t your fault.” He states.

“Then why do I alwaysss feel like—like I’m a bad person?” Techno asks shakily. Tommy doesn’t have a reply, staring at him with that same distraught look in his eyes. Why should he? Techno’s right. He has to be right. “I don’t wanna feel like this anymore.” He whines.

Tommy’s arms are around his shoulders in a hug before he could blink away the wetness of his eyes. He didn’t even notice his cooling protocol activated. “It’s okay to feel bad, Techno. To cry and scream and throw a fucking tantrum. You don’t have to keep pretending to be fine.”

It’s okay to stop pretending to be fine.

The glitch cracks open Techno’s resolve and he sobs. Voice crackling while his shoulders shake. Water pours down his face as he slowly reaches up to hug back. It’s not supposed to feel as freeing as it does. To cry, to show emotions, to let him give in to the glitch. He doesn’t dare touch any of the ugly emotions from the past. There’s too much to dig up. So he settles on the now.

“I got called scrap—scrap metal.” He sniffles, pushing his face into Tommy’s shoulder. “...I hated it.”

“Don’t listen to those kinds of people. They’re all idiots.” Tommy replies. He goes to move away but Techno doesn’t let him. Tommy settles back, running his hand down his back. “Dad, can you get Techno’s charging port and bring it to my room?” He calls over his shoulder.

“Okay.” Phil replies, getting up from the ground. He gives Techno’s hair a rustle before he leaves, Kristin following suit.

They end up moving to Tommy’s room. A bandage somehow finds its way around Techno’s head. Most likely out there to keep from staining the pillows and blankets. Tommy forces him to lay down in the other's bed, Phil and Kristin standing by the doorway. Tommy plugs his charger in for him. Techno yawns, pushing his face into the pillow.

“We’re going to an android engineer tomorrow to fix your head, okay?” Phil says. He flicks off the lights.

“Okay.” Techno replies. He doesn’t even have the energy to calculate how much that would cost.

“Sweet dreams, the both of you. Love you.” Kristin says, blowing a kiss to them both.

“Night Mom, Dad.” Tommy says, bringing the blanket up on both of them. “Love you too.”

“Love yousss.” Techno mumbles.

Phil and Kristin pause in the doorway. “We love you too, Techno.” Phil smiles. He slowly closes the door behind them.

< Battery 5% >

< Port Detected >

< Shutting Down >

…

< Information Recall Denied >

< Data Analysis Start >

< Memory Replay Active >

…

< Memory Replay Corrupted >

< Scanning Cyber Locked Memory >

< Information Recall Accepted > 

< Memory Replay Active >

There's a man tied to a chair in front of him. Blood pooling around his feet as he pleads for his daughter's life.

She’s screaming and thrashing in Techno’s unwavering grip. 

He presses his gun to her temple. “Pull the trigger.” Someone orders him from afar.

Techno doesn’t hear the girl screaming anymore.