Glitch (boyxboy/android)

Chapter 3:The PT

"Are you saying I'm stupid?"

☆

Leo manages to make his way back to his room without detection. He begins to shed himself of his clothes, momentarily forgetting the life size figure still standing in the corner of his room. He suddenly stops, grabbing a blanket from the bed, to cover his boxers and bare chest, as he looks up at the PT.

He stands in front of the figure, noticing the once orange eyes had now turned a deep green. He gets up a little closer studying the face of the figure. Its slender nose, slightly full lips, and face, perfectly symmetrical. Too flawless to be human. Leo found himself wondering what its smile would be like. Would it have the urge to smile?

He now gazes further down the PT's body. How realistic did they make these things? Did they have all the features a human possesses, a human male?

A thought crosses his mind to actually look. To take a peek at what lay beneath...but that would be wrong...and weird. He shakes his own head as if to get rid of the thought entirely from his mind, then he looks down at the blanket shrouding his body. Why was he even covering himself up anyways? It wasn't as if it could see him.

Leo throws the blanket on the bed before sneaking out of the room to quietly brush his teeth, then he pads back to his room and crawls into bed, wanting to forget the day.

***

Saturday! The alarm on his phone beeps. Leo had to get up for his part time job, flipping burgers at the local diner. He rolls onto his side, once again staring at the PT. His mother had expected him to set it up last night and would probably be asking questions this morning...no time like the present.

He pulls himself out of bed and looks for the quick set up card which was eventually located on the end of his bed, on its way to getting lost down the side of the mattress.

After unplugging the cord from the back of the PT, Leo begins to read step two....

Step 2: Place your palm on the palm of the PT-148 to sign in and activate your tailored plan.

"Ok..." He focuses on the step, now taking the PT's left hand moving it so its palm was facing outwards. Leo was surprised at how pliable the figure was and how real the silicone flesh felt under his touch.

With the hand now in place, Leo holds up his own hand. He gulps down nervously as his fingers make contact, followed by the palm, pressing against the palm of the PT.

Leo looks into the eyes of the PT, waiting for something to happen....

The PT's eyes suddenly widen, just a fraction, making Leo subconsciously mirror the action. It then blinks a couple of times, before making eye contact with Leo.

"Hello, Bonjour, Hola, Annyeonghaseyo, Bona, Salam... Please speak so I can identify your language." It repeats in the many default languages it was programmed with.

"Leo. My name is Leo." Leo replies a little nervously.

"Hello Leo. Nice to meet you. I am your Personal Tutor." The PT now smiles, showing off some very clean white teeth and two dimples in its cheeks.

"So you do smile." Leo finds himself saying out loud.

"Yes. I do smile when the situation requires." the PT replies, the smile then disappearing as soon as it had arrived. "Please remain still while I correlate your algorithm." The PT says, looking again into Leo's eyes.

"My algorhythm, what's that?" Leo says in confusion.

"I am detecting your academic strengths and weaknesses in order to calculate your IQ, therefore developing the correct tutoring program for your requirements." The PT says in a very intellectual tone.

"Wow, you smooth talker." Leo jests, making the PT's fake eyebrows move slightly into a furrow.

"Would you like me to adjust my tone?" It asks, making Leo laugh a little before clearing his throat to compose himself.

"No. It's fine." He says, with the room now going monetarily quiet.

The PT now moves its connected hand from Leo's. "I have calculated your IQ to be 97."

"97?" Leo says, on the defence, dropping his hand suddenly. "Are you saying I'm stupid?"

" I am saying your IQ is 97, I am not saying you are stupid." the PT replies, again in a factual tone.

"Whatever. I've got to get ready for work." He huffs as he grabs his towel and heads to the bathroom for a shower.

***

Around 15 minutes later, Leo returns to his room, getting distracted by his phone, pinging through messages. With only a towel around his waist, he begins to reply to the texts. One from Harley about his crazy evening, one from Yan expressing words of a similar nature and one from Anna, wanting to go out later.

Leo sighs at the last message. He didn't know what to do. He liked her...well, he should like her. She was pretty and could be fun sometimes but...that kiss. It felt wrong.

His mind elsewhere, Leo absentmindedly lets his towel drop to the floor as he thinks out loud. "What do I do?"

"With regards to what Leo?" The PT responds, making Leo nearly jump out of his skin.

"Jesus Christ!" He says, holding his chest as he frantically grabs the towel, holding it against his front half.

"Jesus Christ is a religious figure who..."

"I know who Jesus Christ is!" Leo shouts, causing the PT to stop his sentence. "I...I was talking about a girl."

"The physical anatomy of a female is ..."

"Lalala! Stop talking!" Leo screws his eyes closed. the PT again ceasing its word. Leo takes his hands from his ears, thinking how to rephrase the question. "What I mean is, how should I feel about a girl?"

"I'm sorry, that Information is not part of my program." the PT replies.

"Leo looks at the PT sighing. "Of course it isn't." He replaces his towel. "How do I turn you off?" He asks, turning again to face the figure.

"I can be put to standby, by you signing out. Just place your hand on my palm." The PT holds up its hand ready to be silenced.

Leo wastes no time in pressing his hand against the PT's. "Until next time." The PT says, before his voice ceases to speak and what artificial life was in his eyes, somehow fades away.

Leo feels a little odd having this kind of power over the PT, it didn't feel quite right, but neither did that kiss.