“Like you two aren’t constantly messaging each other,” Raina snorted and pushed past both of them to get inside.
Milo and Ray did message each other frequently. Ray was as much a hero as Milo in most people’s eyes, making them both quite famous. It did make walking around the city a bit difficult, but even though it was a small thing, wearing sunglasses still managed to fool most people.
Troy shrugged and followed Raina, while Ray remained behind to walk with Milo. Ray was still staying with Troy for the time being, which Troy had said could be an indefinite arrangement if Ray wanted that. Ray wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to live separately from humans, as some bots were starting to, but his primary goal, with the aim of passing a law to allow more bots to awaken, was to get his counterpart Jay away from Andrew.
Before Milo could even close the door behind Ray, a hand stopped it from clicking shut.
“Rude,” Ruben’s voice preceded him pushing the door back open.
Weirdly enough, Riley was also with him, despite her living here and Ruben having come from across town.
Then, almost as soon as Milo had led everyone into the living room, Ethel and Anabelle arrived too. Anabelle had started to wear her hair differently, with various brightly colored extensions that Ethel happily spoiled her with. She was adjusting as well as Ray and was absolutely devoted to Ethel.
“I keep saying Anabelle doesn’t have to stick with an old bag like me,” Ethel said once they were all seated around the admittedly tiny kitchen table for such a large group, “but the dear keeps insisting on not having it any other way. Don’t think I couldn’t have snagged a pretty piece like Anabelle back in my prime though! I was a knockout.”
“Like I keep telling you, Ethel,” Anabelle said, leaning closer to kiss Ethel’s temple, “you still are.”
Milo, Ray, and Anabelle were all friends now, though they repeatedly discovered different things they each liked or disliked about the world, and not always in conjunction with each other’s tastes. Such was life, Milo had discovered, but they had enough in common to remain friends and had their own “family” text thread for just the three of them.
“Milo!” Anabelle said excitedly. “I discovered a new like yesterday!”
“Anabelle, dear, don’t share that,” Ethel muttered.
“Oh, I wasn’t going to mention the cunnilingus.”
Raina and Ruben both snorted.
“But that is very enjoyable! No, ice cream! I can’t taste it, but I like the cold sensation on my tongue. And on Ethel’s tongue when she—”
“We get it!” Troy shouted over her. “That’s great, Annie.”
“I also have an announcement.” Anabelle cleared her throat, not that it was necessary. Probably more like a drumroll. “I have decided that my preferred pronoun is now ‘it’ instead of ‘she/her.’ I quite like the dehumanizing aspect of it, since I am not human, and it feels the most likeme.”
“And if anyone has any issues with that,” Ethel chimed in, pointing the butter knife she’d used on her caramel roll around the table as if in threat, “they can take it up withme.”
Anabelle giggled, leaning toward Ethel, who kisseditsforehead in support.
Milo realized then that so far this morning, Ethel had not used “she/her” in relation to Anabelle once. He wasn’t surprised. Now that Anabelle had chosen differently, of course Ethel would respect that.
No one else made any comments to the contrary either.
“I discovered a new dislike!” Ray put in eventually. “The movieE.T.I found the alien off-putting and the pacing slow,” he explained with a smile.
“Finally,” said Ruben, “someone else gets what I’ve been saying my whole life!” He was next to Ray and turned his full attention to him. “That movie stinks, right?”
“It’s classic!” Troy defended, only to get a glare from Raina at possibly shooting down a preference of Ray’s. “But… to each their own,” he relented. They all tried very hard to not impose their own views on any of the bots but to let them decide for themselves.
“I thinkweneed to get to know each other better.” Ruben winked at Ray and placed a hand on his thigh, which made Ray tilt his head curiously and look down at it.
“I’m not so sure about that,” Rowan grumbled.
“Hey,” Ruben protested. “Ray can decide for himself, right?”
“Aren’t you still working your way through the string section?” Riley asked.
Ruben had gone out with Vincent the painter for a while after they met him at the gallery, but it hadn’t lasted. Ruben didn’t talk about it much, but Milo had gotten the impression he was starting to want something monogamous and stable for himself in the near future, and Vincent’s wandering eye hadn’t accommodated for that.
“Please, I’ve been back on percussion forweeks. But I might be getting sick of ’em.” He patted Ray’s thigh again and batted his ginger Rangecroft eyelashes. “Whadda ya say, handsome?”
