Mechanical Gods (lgbtq+)

Chapter Six: Habituality

     Tyler woke up to Aiden hovering over him beside his bed. "Ah!" Tyler screamed, rolling over to the other side and fell off. Heart pounding, he quickly got up to his feet. "Don't do that. Ever. Again!"

     "I didn't mean to scare you," said Aiden, innocently. "I was just about to wake you up. You told me to wake you at five in the morning."

     "Next time, please knock."

     "Duly noted."

     Tyler tiptoed over to the bathroom, his bladder feeling like the shriek of the damned with how awful it felt. Though, as he peed, he realized Aiden was standing by the doorway, staring at him.

     "Dude! Privacy!" hollered Tyler.

     "Oh. I'm sorry. You should've closed the door," said Aiden.

     "I live alone, so I usually leave it open. But could you, like, close it, please?"

     Aiden nodded and closed the door. "I've also prepared the clothes you told me last night. I'll place it on your bed," said Aiden.

     "Thank you. But could you also not talk to me behind the door while I'm doing business? It's awkward."

     "Oh."

     There was a pause.

     "My bad," he added. Tyler heard Aiden's footsteps walking away from the bathroom.

     As he stepped out of the bathroom, placed on his already made-up bed was his gym clothes with his running shoes at the bottom of the bed. Tyler put them on and walked out to the living room.

     Aiden stood in the middle of a pristine living room as if no other soul had ever lived in it. His bookshelves had its books decluttered and in alphabetical order. The coffee table was spotless, the wooden floors were clear of even a speck of dusk, the kitchen had no grimes, and the couches had their stains removed, and also organized to follow some Feng Shui. Tyler stared at Aiden in shock.

     "Did you do all this?"

     "Yes. I don't know what to do in the living room, and I determined maybe cleaning would be a good start."

     Tyler ran his finger over the spot where a stain used to be. He spilled pad thai on top of it before. Now, it smelled like lavender and citrus. "I don't have anything citrusy, or even lavender."

     "I went out to the store last night two blocks away and bought cleaning supplies."

     Tyler's eyes widen. "You did what? Aiden, you can't do that."

     "Why not? You only have a vacuum, a toilet cleaner, laundry detergents, and an odor eliminator spray. I have to get more."

     "But still, you can't just go out of my apartment alone. It's dangerous. People might steal you, or worse, hurt you."

     "It was a no bother--"

     "Aiden. Promise me. You can't do that again."

     Aiden seemed to think about it for a second, though, Tyler couldn't read Aiden's impassive stare. "I apologize again. It seems I've been doing that lately."

     "No, it's okay. You're still learning our routine. But so that you know, you can't go out alone. You stick with me, okay? There's a lot of sketchy people out there who might have bad intentions against you. Androids aren't very welcome by some folk."

     "Noted. I'll save that in my databank for reference. Would you care for some breakfast?"

     "No, no. Not yet. I still have a thing to do."