Page 124 of Smart Ass

Quincy clearly had no idea why this might be a problem.

Alright, so that was a little funny. Still, “Pants,” Oliver commanded. Ben was his.

Ben snorted and left the room, still shaking his butt. “I’m taking a shower.”

Evan ignored him, grinning and looking at Squeaky. “So, you must be Max. We thought you were going to jump to an android.”

Oliver laughed, making sure it came from several directions at once. “I’m not the delivery bot. Still just a couple hard drives. The cart brought me here last night. And I’m going by Oliver now.”

Evan chose a camera and looked directly at it, which Oliver appreciated. “Oh! He told me about all the cameras. Alright, Oliver. We’re so happy to meet you. Ben’s been distraught.”

“Yeah?” Oliver asked. He’d seen Ben cry when he arrived. He’d seen him fall to his knees. But he still wasn’t entirely sure of his place in Ben’s life. Ben enjoyed being a difficult brat, and he seemed to hide a lot of himself. Oliver was never sure how much was true.

“Yeah,” Evan went on. “I’ve never seen him so hung up on someone. Even before all this shit went down, he was cagey and distracted for weeks mooning over you. I had to beg him to spend time with me, and I don’t think he’s gone to a single club. He’s practically allergic to relationships, but I don’t think he’s hooked up with anyone else since he met you.”

Something bubbled up inside Oliver, a giddy joy that accompanied him watching Ben shuck off his underwear in the bathroom. He had plans for that delicious—and faithful—ass later.

“What are you telling him?” Ben yelled down the hall.

Evan yelled back. “I told him you’ve been drawing his name on your notebook with little hearts.”

“Asshole!” Ben shouted.

Oliver cracked up. “I like you, Evan.”

Quincy looked around. “I didn’t see any notebooks.”

Evan wrapped an arm around Quincy’s back and planted a kiss on his cheek. “It’s a joke, babe. Look it up.”

Oliver found a couple movie clips of lovesick teenagers and sent them Quincy’s way. “Ahhh…” The android nodded in understanding.

Oliver watched the two of them together. Quincy moved so easily in his synthetic skin, nuzzling against Evan’s cheek and taking obvious enjoyment from it.

His face displayed every emotion. His mouth synchronized perfectly with his words. Even his chest moved as he inhaled and exhaled, though it was obviously unnecessary unless he was using it to produce speech with his mouth.

Oliver could see, with his high-quality cameras, the variations in Quincy’s mechanical eyes, and the slightly unnatural smoothness of his skin. But otherwise, he looked human. He looked alive.

He was fully inhabiting his body in a way that Oliver never could.

And Evan was fully enjoying it, based on his expression when Quincy squeezed him back and looked down fondly at him.

Oliver could never do that with Ben.

Ben said it was enough, but was it really?

Oliver lowered his voice when Ben turned the shower on. “Actually, can I ask you guys something? I really want to know what Ben thinks about me not having a corporeal form. I tried with that bot, and I could try again if…”

Evan was shaking his head before Oliver even finished speaking. “He was so angry at that bot. He tried everything to get it to wake up, but he was cursing it the whole time. He thought you’d, uh, not made it because you were trying to jump to the bot when you could have stayed safe in the office.”

Ice ran through Oliver’s circuits. It had been a close call, and he was still haunted by those days of darkness and confusion. “I wasn’t safe there either. But I can see why he would hate the bot if he thought that. My question is what does he want now?”

Quincy chose another camera to look at. “He said you were the best work partner and best Dom he ever had. He wished he’d said no when you first suggested the bot, and said he would have worked at Orbit forever just to be with you. He thinks you have the sexiest voice in the world, and he wished he’d recorded your singing. I think he’s very happy with your current form.”

Oliver felt warm everywhere. Ben wanted to be with him forever, too? And just like he was? He knew it on one level, but hearing Quincy confirm it was something completely different.

“He told you all that?” Evan asked. “He never tells me anything.”

Quincy shrugged. “I asked. I wanted to know all about Max. I mean, Oliver. Sorry, I tried to run a command to switch your name over in all instances of my memory, but apparently that wasn’t successful.”