Glitch (boyxboy/android)

Chapter 15: What am I?

"If the question is meant for no one, then why ask it?" 
☆

Leo went straight to his room that evening. He didn't really want to eat, but made the effort, not wanting any unwanted questions or interrogations heading his way. 

He dumps his school bag on the floor and face dives onto his mattress. His fingers begin to grip tightly onto the sheets as he lays on the bed. He finds himself curling up his knees and lays there still, in a huddled position. 

Leo feels exhausted, he's physically and mentally drained. People all around him with expectations, wanting something from him. Things he couldn't give. He feels a prickle in his eye and realises that he is beginning to cry. Just the one solitary tear rolling over his nose, invading his other eye socket, before making its way to the sheets beneath. He takes in a sniff and wipes his eye with the palm of his hand. "Why am I not enough?" He mumbles to himself.

"What makes you say that?" 

Leo suddenly sits up, head turning to see The PT looking at him. Its face is not it's usual vacant expression, but one of more genuine concern, almost human-like. 

"Did I not turn you off this morning?" Leo questions. 

"The new feature allows me to activate when needed. You are clearly distressed, I can sense it." 

"You think you're so clever." Leo snorts out a sarcastic laugh. 

"I am actually. I'm not your tutor for nothing." The PT replies, matching Leo's humour.

"I see you've picked up more personality." Leo comments now sitting up, fully swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. The PT walks over to Leo and sits down beside him. 

"Maybe so, I now have the capacity to learn human traits as well as provide knowledge."

"Oh yeah?" Leo looks at The PT's eyes, they didn't look as green as usual, more of a hazel colour. "Tell me, what have you picked up?"

"Well, I can see you are sad, upset about something. You spoke about not being enough." The PT concludes. 

"You weren't meant to hear that." Leo confesses. That was for..."

"For who?" The PT questions. 

"I don't know?" Leo sighs, beginning to bounce his heels. "No one I guess."

"If the question is meant for no one, then why ask it?" 

"Ok, smartass! Then I'll ask you. Why am I not enough for people?" Leo snaps back. 

"Which people Leo?" The PT probes. 

"My mother for one. She wants me to go to medical school, to be a doctor. I don't want to do that. I want to be an actor." 

"Leo. It's all about your potential." The PT responds in a calm voice. 

"My potential?" Leo asks in wonder. 

"Yes, your potential. As long as you fulfill it, you are more than enough."

"I don't understand what you mean?" Leo turns to face The PT a little more. 

"Hypothetically speaking, Your mother wants you to be a wasp. You are a bee. No matter how hard you try, you can never be a wasp, but what an amazing bee you could become." 

Leo is silent for a moment taking in the words, possibly the most beautiful thing he has ever heard. "So I'm a bee huh?" 

"Hypothetically speaking." The PT repeats. Leo smiles briefly, but it again drops as he hangs his head down, beginning to fiddle with his fingers. "I sense there is something else." The PT deduces. 

"Anna." Leo says as he sighs. 

"The incompatible match from the experiment." The PT recalls. 

"Yeah, that's the one." Leo chuckles lightly. "She still wants me to ask her to the prom." 

The PT looks straight ahead. "I don't understand how that request would work. I suggest you decline." 

"I can't!" Leo says almost desperate.

"Why not? Didn't we just discuss wasps and bees."

"This is more complicated than that. I have to become a wasp or..."

"Or what?" The PT questions. 

"She will spread rumours about ...about you and me. Rumours about us...being intimate." Leo looks at The PT with a mixture of panic and embarrassment. 

"But I am your tutor, your knowledge advisor. She is mistaken." The PT looks confused for once in its non-existent life. It looks over at Leo and places a hand on his shoulder. "Would it help if I conversed with her?" 

"No...no no! No it wouldn't. Please don't do that." He shakes his head frantically. 

The PT now stills for a moment as if distracted. Its hand is still in contact with Leo's shoulder. "Leo, may I check something?"

"W...what are you checking?" Leo now felt a little hot under the collar with the way The PT was staring into his eyes in an intense way. A palm is placed on Leo's chest making Leo hitch in a surprised breath. He can feel his palms getting sweaty, the fight or flight mode kicking in.

"Your heart rate is increasing with my touch, your temperature is rising, your pupils are dilating." 

Leo stands up straight away. "What are you talking about?" 

"I'm only reading the signs Leo. The same principles as our previous experiment. It indicates that..."

"Well it's wrong!" Leo bites back. "It's wrong, you are wrong!" But he knew his words were not matching his body language. Leo knew that there was something about The PT which made him feel different.

The PT now stands up from the bed. "There is one final test to prove or disprove the theory." 

"Yeah, what is that?" Leo asks, panic still present in his voice. 

"I require you to close your eyes, while I take a reading from your lips."

"I'm not closing my eyes, are you crazy? Whatever it is, I'm doing it with my eyes open." Leo tries to brace himself for whatever The PT was planning. 

"Very well." The PT replies, taking a step forward. He edges closer to Leo, they are face to face. The PT leans in closer and closer, the tutor doesn't take its eyes from Leo's, until they are literally nose to nose. Then The PT takes a hand and places it on Leo's hip, its eyes not wavering from the gaze. Then another hand is placed on Leo's other side.

Leo now wishes he had closed his eyes as all he wants to do is to gaze down onto The PTs lips. So full. God why was he thinking this? Why was Leo leaning in, why are his eyes closing? 

Leo suddenly cannot resist the urge to press his lips against his tutor's. The pull, too strong to fight back. As soon as the contact is made, something inside him ignites. The feeling. That feeling! The one where a spark lights up. This is what was missing from Anna's kiss!

It felt strange. Leo knew in the back of his mind that having any kind of feeling for a synthetic being was not normal... far from normal, but here he was. Him and The PT sharing a kiss like it was the most normal thing in the world. 

It's as if The PT knew. It knew just what to do, how to move its mouth against his. Then he remembered the upgrade. The optional extras which could prime it for these kinds of situations. 

He didn't know whether The PT needed to take a breath, but Leo was definitely feeling light headed. He pulls away from The PT's soft lips. 

"Well...I guess you got your reading." Leo says, now feeling so red in his cheeks with shyness. The PT removes its hands from Leo's hips and stands statuesque. "I uh...I'm just gonna go to the bathroom,'' Leo says, nibbling slightly on his lips. He doesn't look at The PT. He doesn't see its eyes spinning and rotating so fast that the colour of the iris's were changing...changing to a deep set brown.