Glitch (boyxboy/android)

Chapter 12: Intense

"Leo, you are far too tense to study."

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Leo drags his fatigued body through the front door after his busy Sunday shift. His father was dishing up some dinner to put out on the table. He looks over to his dad, presently trying to juggle serving dishes in his hands on his way to the dining room. "Hey. I got this." Leo says as he hurries over to his dad, just managing to save a bowl of rice from being upturned on the floor.

"Thanks." His father responds gratefully as they now make their way to the table and set down the dishes. He takes a heavy sigh before looking at Leo. "Just like being at work hey?" He jests.

"Kind of." Leo says with a smile. "But your cooking is better." He adds, with Leo's dad patting him on the shoulder, appreciating the compliment.

"Oh you're home." Leo turns to see his mother enter the dining space, followed soon after by Enzo, who was still wired up to his phone, not even looking up.

This doesn't go unnoticed by Leo..."Hey, no tech at the table!" He pulls a wire from one of Enzo's ears, causing Enzo to angrily bat Leo's hand away.

"Hey. Get off me!" Enzo protests.

"No tech at the table!" Leo repeats.

"Mum said I could today." Enzo says smugly, replacing the earpiece in his ear.

"Hey, so does that mean that I can too?" Leo asks hopefully.

"What have you done to deserve it Leo?" His mother replies. "Enzo here has been so busy thoroughly cleaning his room from top to bottom. Where have you been?"

"What?...I've been at work mum." Leo being put out by the statement.

"Ah yes...that ridiculous job you insist on going to, when you should be studying! You've hardly engaged with your tutor at all." His mother's words stung. Her single tracked mind on where she thought her son should head to in life and what he should achieve, clouding the fact that he got up, out of bed every day, either going to work or school. She just couldn't see how focused and hard working Leo actually was.

Leo looks at a smug Enzo through squinted eyes. It didn't sound like the brother he knew. Enzo rarely lifted a finger.

"Sweetheart. Don't you think you're being a little unfair?" Leo's dad tries to challenge his wife, which makes everyone suddenly go tense. No one usually challenged Mrs Alessi.

"Giuseppe, we agreed when we got this tutor that Leo needed to study more. If he is always out working at that greasy diner all the time when he could be studying, he'll never get into medical school. Do you want him to end up like you?"

The silence which now hits the room is deafening. Even Leo's mother knows she may have crossed the line, though she would never be heard to apologise for it.

Leo feels he needs to speak, or at least do something. His dad just dared try the impossible, he at least needed to try and appease the situation. 'I...I'll study for the rest of the day mum ok?...I promise." He looks at his mother and father, who's faces seem to relax slightly, probably for very different reasons, with Enzo pretending to be oblivious on his phone.

"I think we've all said enough." His dad comments in a low tone. "Let's just eat before it goes cold." Everyone takes a seat, with the meal being eaten in silence, apart from the faint sound of music coming from Enzo's phone.

***

Later as promised, Leo heads to his room to study with his tutor. He pulls out the charging cord and starts the The PT up with his palm. The now familiar green eyes once again spark into life. Leo for some reason feels his heart lift slightly at the friendly face of The PT. "Good evening Leo. How can I assist you?"

"I really need to study." Leo replies, less than enthused.

"Fantastic. I can help you with that. What do you wish to study?"

Leo pulls his rucksack filled with textbooks and notes from under his bed, looking at the first book he pulls out, which happens to be an algebra textbook. He stands up, holding the book in both hands. "Uh maths...I guess."

Leo places the book on his desk and proceeds to sit on his swivel chair, pulling a pen and notepad from the side. He begins to stretch his head from left to right and shake his shoulders up and down, as if to psyche himself up for his learning experience. The shift at the diner didn't help his tired body.

All of a sudden, Leo feels two hands place themselves upon his shoulders. He feels so tired, that he doesn't really pay much mind to it at first, the feel of the fingers and thumbs making soothing motions upon his tired limbs too pleasurable and relaxing to think about who was actually doing them. That is until he hears the voice.

"Leo, you are far too tense to study. Research suggests that a healthy body equates to a healthy mind."

Leo now pings his eyes open wide, hurriedly leaning forward in order to turn around to see his tutor... his tutor standing right behind him, giving Leo a full shoulder and neck massage. "W...what are you doing?" He is a little unnerved by the whole thing.

"As I just said Leo, you are too tense to study. I am preparing you to learn at your optimum level." The PT just carries on, like this was completely normal.

"But...." Leo is in too minds to pull away, it did feel good. The PT most definitely had magic hands, but this was clearly just a little weird, wasn't it?
"...But how? How are you doing this? I mean...ah yeah...just there...I mean you are what was it? An audio..."

"Auditory tutor." The PT corrects.

"Yeah one of those." Leo says lazily, possibly enjoying the massage a bit too much.

"I've been upgraded."

Leo now really does pull away from the soothing hands. The swivel chair pushes back slightly as he stands up to face his tutor, who is smiling pleasantly at him. "You've been upgraded...how?"

"Enzo and his companion upgraded my system. I am now a holistic Tutor, capable of helping you learn through speech, demonstration and interaction." The PT smiles widely at Leo, making its dimples form on its synthetic face.

Leo's eyes widened with surprise. "LORENZO!...WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY TUTOR?"