Bleached Out Eyes

Chapter 4 - Red

For a few long, painfully drawn out moments, Ghoul could only stare in disbelief at Party, hazel eyes looking into faded yellow ones.

There were real tears swimming in the waterline of Party's bleached out eyes, his bottom lip quivering in the lamplight, body shaking with stuttering breaths, his expression reading as fearful.

"I..." Ghoul tried to say something, anything, but found himself asking, "But the Pornodroids are girls?"

Party's expression relaxed a bit as he sat up straighter and looked at Ghoul in confusion.

"You're wrong. I'm a pornodroid and I'm anatomically male. Maybe... Psychologically, not so much, but I was designed as a male pornodroid."

Ghoul shook his head, even more surprised with the idea that an android had an understanding of gender. "I-ah... Sorry? I mean, the last time I was in the City, there were only females. Male droids... Didn't exist. You... You're..."

Party frowned, looking away as his entire body began to vibrate. It was like he was having a panic attack, but Ghoul wasn't sure if droids could have panic attacks, and started to worry that Party might just explode.

"Wh-What's wrong? Party, just... Calm down for a sec, okay? You're scaring me a bit..."

"I'm- I-I'm sorry... I just..." 

Party was crying. He was full on sobbing, his body shaking as it was wracked with sobs, and Ghoul had no idea what to do. He had no idea if Party was really telling the truth about being a droid, but if he was, Ghoul had no idea that droids could cry like this.

It took him a few seconds to react, but Ghoul remembered that, yes Party might be a droid, but he was crying like a human and needed comfort like a human. Tentatively, Ghoul wrapped an arm around Party's shoulders and pulled him into his side, hushing him softly.

"Hey, hey... It's okay. You're alright, you don't need to cry. O-or... You can cry if you want to... Or need to. Crying's okay. But nothing bad's gonna happen, you're safe here."

Party continued to cry and shake for a while, not saying anything as his tears rolled down his face, leaving streaks through the dust on his face. They sat in silence for a while, listening to the storm raging outside as Party's shaking subsided and his became almost still. Ghoul was still trying to comprehend the fact that the man beside him was in fact an android, but his awareness of the fact meant that the soft hum and whirring of components under his skin were obvious to him now, the vibrations just about detectable. 

Ghoul wanted to ask why Party had started crying, and how he was crying actual liquid tears, but thought better of it. Instead, he asked another question.

"Party?"

"Yeah?"

"Is, um... If Kobra's your brother, is he a droid too?"

Party shook his head, "No, he's human. But he was the first person to see me as anything other than... Than an object."

"I'm sorry."

"You've no need to apologise. I mean, I'm out of the City now. Things are better."

"You know, I'm struggling to see you as anything other than a person, so... I guess that's something?"

Party sat up and looked at Ghoul, his eyebrows pulled together, "Please don't try and see me as just a droid."

"No! No no no, I mean, I-I just... I thought you were human! And now it's, like, weird knowing you're not flesh and blood. Like, you're so... Real?"