Subtle.
But also impossible to understand without context.
Ruben: Ok, spill already. WHAT am I missing?
Riley: Brain cells?
Raina: Tact?
Riley: A sense of shame?
Raina: Leverage to get literally anything else out of us? XD
Ruben sent a gif of Tina Fey shaking her head and saying, “God, I hate you.”
Ruben: Come on, Rowan! Is it really serious? Coz he was hot, good for you, but you’ve never really done serious.
Rowan hadn’t. No one else had ever wanted to. Rowan knew he was partly to blame for that, but he was also fairly certain he attracted the wrong kind of partner—which was probably mostly his fault too. He hadn’t believed before now that he deserved a real partner.
The only men he’d ever been with had always wanted something from him, and not to be partners in an equal relationship. Not to be happy and accepting with everything each other was even when times got tough or they didn’t understand why the other was the way they were.
Rowan knew he had struggled to do that with Milo, but Milo had never once failed to be patient and understanding with him.
With Milo itwasserious because Rowan loved him. He loved him. They’d both said the words, and Rowan knew beyond a doubt that he meant them, and that Milo meant them too.
He decided to respond to Ruben in family text thread fashion and sent a gif fromBrooklyn 99of the character Jake, played by Andy Samberg, saying, “Oh, I am as serious as a heart attack.”
The gentle whir of Spot entering the room caught Rowan’s attention, and he looked down from where he had been sitting on the bed.
Somehow, those googly eyes, no matter which direction they should have been pointed, always seemed to be looking at him.He’d find it eerie if he wasn’t growing fonder and fonder of his childhood project.
“Hey now, my ankles are off limits,” Rowan called teasingly.
As Spot drew near him, continuously cleaning the carpet and floors, even if they were already pretty spotless, she—miraculously—bypassed around the dangle of his feet.
“Rowan!”
Rowan leapt off the bed on instinct at Milo’s cry, but before his fight or flight could fully process and kick his legs into gear, Milo came running into the bedroom. “What is it? What did you—”
“I know what Andrew is planning!”
Biting back his initial response, Rowan waited for Milo to continue once he’d caught his—well, notbreath, but took a moment to slow his circuits.
“He’s going to use bot awakening to make slaves out of us without needing the human element at all.”
“Wait,what?”
Milo took another moment to collect himself before elaborating. “The reason Andrew was so supportive of us pursuing this wasn’t only for more effective bots, but because he could spin it in his marketing as Andreas Tech still having the human element they’re known forwithoutactual humans. He was planning on firing you from the beginning, firing everyone, at least everyone he could, to reduce the paid workforce, and use awakened bots as smarter, more effective unpaid labor that can work around the clock without any laws to protect them.”
When spelled out like that, Rowan was honestly shocked he hadn’t guessed this from the beginning. “That’s…great!”
Milo startled back a step. “It is?”
“Yes!” Rowan bridged the gap separating them and took Milo’s hands like earlier—like he always would so Milo would know how much he meant to him. “This means we won’t be fighting alone. If Andrew is really planning that, he’ll havetonsofnaysayers. He won’t be able to just quietly brush us under the rug if we go public before he does. We’ll have him backed into a corner, and the public, thepeoplewill decide.”
“Well… I was actually thinking of taking it a bit further than that,” Milo said, “but you’re on board? You’ll support me?”
“I promised you I would. But what do you mean further?”
