Rowan was shaking his head but maintained a smile of amusement as he shoved his phone back into his pocket.
Milo was not yet convinced about Raina. While she did not have a good track record with dating, given the family chat’s history, there was no indication she wasn’t interested in changing that. Milo would have to play things by ear, as humans said, and see if he might learn more to assist Troy. He understood that romantic entanglements should not be forced, but he couldn’t help the sense of comradery he felt toward Troy now.
If there was hope for Troy’s longing to be fulfilled, perhaps Milo’s could be too.
A passerby heading in the opposite direction accidently shouldered into Milo, upsetting his stride.
“Oh, shoot, sor—” The person, a young woman, began to apologize, but the moment her eyes met Milo’s, she sneered and continued on without finishing.
That was odd.
Milo’s hesitation meant another person, an older gentleman, ran into him as well, since he was taking up too much of the sidewalk. The man also seemed about to apologize, only for his demeanor to change as soon as he looked into Milo’s eyes.
“Mind your space,bot.”
It was Milo’s eyes. Unlike any other external part of him, his eyes gave away that he wasn’t human, and once people saw that, they no longer treated him like a person.
“Milo?”
Milo did not want to call attention to them, per Rowan’s wishes, but he felt a new emotion swell within him. Anger. Was this anger? All they had done was be slightly rude to him, but everything he had been researching around how certain emotions felt pointed to a boiling heat that was not like other heat and warmth he had experienced, and not at all pleasant but made him want to… yell? Hit things? Stand there frozen, silently seething?
“Milo?”
How could people treat him so callously simply because of what he was? They didn’t know any better, that was true. No one knew a bot could be anything other than an appliance, like… like some disposable toaster. But Milo was not a toaster! Even if he had been, non-organic things should not be treated like trash!
These people thought of him like trash…
“Milo.”
Just trash that could andshouldbe thrown away for the smallest malfunction.
Malfunction. One of Milo’s M-words.
Like miserable.
Maddening.
Malic—
“Milo!”
Rowan’s hand on Milo’s arm startled him. Oh no! He had been calling attention to them, despite not wanting to. A few people were even staring as they passed.
“Are you okay?” Rowan whispered.
“I… I-I am sorry, Rowan, but—”
“Come here.” Rowan tugged Milo’s arm, gently but insistent, and Milo followed Rowan’s lead as he pulled him into a side alley. In the alley, there was no one, no stares or snide expressions. Milo found it easier to take a moment.
Breath in.
Breath out.
“Good,” Rowan said, eying the rise and fall of Milo’s chest. “Now tell me, what was that?”
Milo averted his gaze, since it felt weird and wrong to look at Rowan. It always did when Milo feared he had disappointed him again. “People were rude to me once they saw what I was,” he answered miserably.
“Milo, people can be rude even when you’re not a bot. Ask Raina.”
