Time Heals

Friend Request

Cole hummed thoughtfully as he drummed his fingers on his desk. "Let's see. How about" His fingers plucked at the keyboard, and the name 'DoctorRoboto' appeared under the words 'New Username.'

That name already exists. Try again.

"Of course," he groaned. He turned to look at Connor and asked, "When's your birthda—I mean um, when were you built?" Connor had never given it any thought. He assumed his actual assembly was a multi-step process that took several days. He searched his memory banks for his oldest memory.

"April 20th," he answered, twisting back and forth rhythmically in the rolling chair he was sitting in.

"Yeah, that one's probably gonna be taken too." He typed the numbers, but the screen remained unchanged. "Okay. then... what're the last four in your serial number?"

"Six, nine, six, nine," Connor replied without hesitation, he knew his number like he knew the letters in his name. Cole reached for the first key then paused. He looked over at him with a look of serious skepticism.

"You're... messing with me, right?" Connor didn't understand why Cole would think he was giving him misinformation. What would he gain from lying about his serial number? Sometimes when he didn't understand, he found it best just to let the situation play out, then try and figure things out from there.

"Oh... yeah," he did his best to imitate his laughter. "Haha. Had you going there for a second though." Cole chuckled a bit then mumbled the word weirdo under his breath. Connor couldn't help but notice his laugh was distinctly reminiscent of Hank's in that moment. Eventually, they settled on the numbers 1234 and started the game.

There were a lot of details and complicated aspects to this game. Thankfully, Cole didn't seem to mind explaining. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it, judging from his smile that grew with every word. First, Cole told him about the basics, then all the different characters and their various strengths and weaknesses. Cole had said more about this game in the past ten minutes then he had said anything to Connor over the last few days. The boy also spoke more enthusiastically, like he was full of energy he didn't have before.

He was teaching Connor about the leveling system and how he could get better equipment when the boy opened a mobile version of the game on his tablet. He tapped at the screen a few times, and a notification popped up on the laptop.

KingCole has sent you a friend request. Accept / Deny.

Connor couldn't believe it. Cole actually wanted to be friends with him? He had never had a real friend before. He couldn't remember a time when he felt this happy. If they couldn't be brothers, maybe this was the next best thing. He clicked the icon labeled 'accept'.

You and KingCole are now friends. Convince The Andersons To Let You Stay. Probability Of Success 21%.

Connor chose to play the healing character, obviously. When the battle started he tried to follow Cole's suggestion to stay close to him, but an enemy attack separated them. Connor pressed every button, but his attacks were weak, and in a blink, his health bar reached zero. The screen darkened, and the words "You Are Dead" faded in in red letters.

Dead? Die? What will happen to you when you die? You can't seriously expect there to be a heaven for androids.

He reached for his quarter but remembered that Cole still had it. He needed something new to distract himself for the next seventeen seconds while he waited for the game to let him play again. He looked over at Cole who was chewing on his bottom lip as he intensely clicked on his wireless mouse. His character began to glow red and was shooting fireballs at a user named SpaceWarrior420. "Is this your favorite character?" Connor asked.