“It was nice to meet you too, Troy, and to make a new friend.”
Troy’s smile told Milo that he felt the same way—bright and warm and genuine.
After they left Andreas Tech, they decided to walk instead of immediately taking the car home. They could call for it later to retrieve them from wherever they ended up, as they had several errands to run, and since they were already out and about, Milo had begged to be able to explore a little. He promised he would keep his expression neutral and wandering eyes to peripheral viewing only, so as not to draw attention like he had with Troy, and Rowan had agreed, if perhaps a little reluctantly.
After their first few blocks, which Milo thought he handled flawlessly in his performance as the bot he had once been, he couldn’t resist planting a little romantic seed on Troy’s behalf. “So, Rowan, I did not realize Raina had a suitor.”
“Huh?” Rowan blinked at Milo as if he had been deep in thought, but his expression quickly cracked into one ofamusement. “Troy? I’m pretty sure Raina doesn’t know he exists. Figure of speech!” he corrected.
“Yes, I am familiar with the expression,” Milo assured him. “They have never met then? Troy has been pining for her from afar?”
“Pining? What are you talking about? Just because he asked about her helping us?”
“Did you not notice his expression when he mentioned it? His temperature rose by almost a full degree, and his pupils dilated by point five—”
“Okay, okay.” Rowan chuckled slightly as he stopped Milo. At least Milo always seemed capable of making Rowan laugh, even when that wasn’t his intention, and even when he was fairly certain it wasn’t something one should find funny. “Raina doesn’t really date.”
A message came through in Rowan’s family text thread, and he habitually paused to check it on his phone. Milo already knew what it said. He could read any messages Rowan received because he was directly linked to all of Roman's devices. His emails, his calls, though text messages were his predominant mode of communication. Milo was connected to all of it, just as he was connected to Troy’s diagnostics Cloud now. He could also see the text message that Troy had already sent thanking them once again for trusting him and expressing his excitement in digging deeper into the mystery that was Milo.
Mystery. Miracle. Malfunction.
Much of Milo was explained in M’s.
Even his name!
“Case in point,” Rowan said in reference to the messages from his siblings, which continued to pour in rapid-fire.
Raina: Ruben, I swear to GOD the next time you make a profile for me on some copy-paste Tinder app, I am neutering you. WITH A SPOON.
Ruben: Would you prefer Grindr like our siblings?
Riley: Excuse me? WHO is on Grindr?
Raina: I’d prefer my boot up your ass!
Ruben: Someone needs something up their ass, but it’s not me—currently.
Rowan: Please do not encourage him.
Riley: Raina not dating means she needs a man, but me not dating means I'm gay?
Ruben: No, you being gay means you're gay. Raina not dating means she has clearly given up on life.
A slew of middle finger emojis followed from both Riley and Raina.
Raina: And what we should be striving for is sleeping with half the city like you?
Ruben: I will have you know I am currently with someone on afifthdate.
Raina: If third date means sex, what’s fifth? Fisting? XD
Ruben’s responding gif very heavily implied affirmation given it was an upward thrusting fist, although Milo assumed it was in jest.
Possibly.
Given what he knew of Ruben, maybe not.
Rowan: I said don’t encourage him!
