ANGELEYES, dbh connor

FORTY-FOUR

━━━━━━(●'ω｀●)━

"I'VE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO meeting you," Richard's voice is coated with sugar, a concoction of sweetened lies. The smile he sends you only further poisons the deal. A tendril of discomfort warps around your throat.

Something is off. Richard's smile is too self-satisfied; his teeth gleam like polished pearls and his tongue is slightly pressed between both rows as if he's holding back an even further Cheshire-cat smirk.

At least Lorelai, who's seated next to Richard, is someone you can take at face value. She's so easy to read━especially right now, considering she looks royally pissed off. Perhaps in another situation, it would please you.

But right now, you're too preoccupied.

"Stop playing with us," Connor says, his voice suddenly firm. Almost scolding. It seems like he's finally snapped out of his shock. "Just tell me what you want. Keep Y/N out of this."

"That's no way to talk to your big brother," Richard says in a silky voice. Amusement dances in his icy-blue eyes. Yet his face suddenly stiffens and turns cold. His cheeks relax and his lips return to their thin, sharpened straight line.

It's like someone's turned a switch.

...He's more of an Android than you are.

"Fine. I'll cut to the chase," Richard sighs through his nose and slowly pans his eyes over your shoulder toward where Connor's standing awkwardly, like an infant giraffe. "You haven't noticed it yet?"

"I literally have no idea what you're talking about," Connor said bluntly. His patience seems to have worn thin.

Richard sighs again. His brows furrow together in a faux-sympathetic expression. "That's disappointing. It was so obvious... I mean, look at her." He gestures your way.

Naturally, Connor slowly turns his head and blinks at you, his head tilted slightly like he's slowly morphing into a confused puppy dog. He studies you for a moment with warm, swirling brown eyes, and you merely stare back at him, feeling as lost as he looks.

"Look at the color of her hair. Of her eyes. The slope of her lips and nose. Doesn't she remind you of something?" Richard hums. His tone of voice is a strange mixture of bored and arrogant, something you haven't heard before.

Connor slowly turns his head to face Richard again. "No. She doesn't... She... Look, just stop drawing this out and just tell us what you want." He sounds resigned. But you know him well enough to hear the thin layer of concern plastered beneath his words.

"Fine, fine. You always ruin my fun, little brother," As Richard pauses, a thick, uncomfortable silence fills the room. Even Lorelai is too confused to speak. "Amanda assigned me a task about ten years ago. She made it my life's work... I needed to see if Androids were capable of falling in love... with humans."

The still air sounds like static.

"So I spent my whole career working towards that. You know, Deviation was always going to happen. But that was Kamski's thing. This? This was mine. I wanted to prove to myself that I could make it possible. But I knew nothing about love... And I needed to find a subject."

Your thirium pump pauses, stopping dead in its tracks for a few critical beats.

What?..

You think you know where this is going.

"But Connor, I know you better than anyone else in the world," Richard purs, a sadistic undertone to his words. "It's only natural I'd choose you... And it worked, didn't it? Y/N is your ideal type in everything. In behavior, appearance, and voice. I made sure of it. I personally made her for you. Even her most minute mannerisms are things you'd find ideal in a partner. You fell for her hard, didn't you? Hell, I'd bet money you liked her the moment you saw her... "