It's Not in My Programming

One: Different.

if connor had known that being a deviant would be so tiring, he might have considered not being a deviant at all. not because he doesn't enjoy feeling emotions like empathy and happiness, but because he doesn't enjoy feeling things like anger and disappointment.

in hindsight, he should've known that he would be getting bad emotions as well as good ones, that was a poor judgement on his part. however, he thought these negative emotions were just irrational reactions that humans and deviants were having to dangerous and upsetting situations, he didn't know they were so common. he also took into consideration that he's more level headed and thoughtful than his peers.

or so he thought.

so here he is, sitting in the passenger seat of hank's car, arms folded and lips pursed forward in a pout.

"quit pouting." hank huffed, turning on to their street and pulling in to the driveway. "it's not my fault that androids aren't allowed to drive yet. besides, you can always take a cab to wherever it is that you want to go to by yourself."

"i'm not pouting," connor insisted. "and it's a stupid law. why shouldn't i be allowed to drive? i am the smartest model of android there is besides that damn RK900. my mental capacity is far more superior to any human's and yet i'm the one who's not allowed to drive. in what world is that fair?"

"it's not fair, you're right. but i still can't fucking change the law so for now, you'll have to take a cab or bus like all the other androids."

connor sighed and got out of the car, slamming the door shut much harder then he needed to in order to make a point (he had seen someone do that in a movie once). when he walked inside with hank, he greeted sumo and only relaxed just a little bit, still hung up on not being able to drive.

reasonably, he isn't that upset that he can't drive. he was more upset about the fact that for a free android, he didn't have a lot of freedom. he has to ask hank every time he wants to go somewhere, he essentially has no privacy. it's not that he wants to hide something from the man who basically adopted him and took him in, but he just wants to keep some things to himself. his own little secrets. maybe a secret place to go or a secret person to visit.

that secret person being markus, specifically.

ever since the android revolution six months ago, connor's been taking any excuse he can get to see markus again. at first it was innocent, but then hank started to catch on, and he questioned the brown-eyed android.

"what's up with you visiting markus all the time? you got a secret boyfriend or something?" he chortled, probably meaning it as a joke.

"excuse me?" connor had asked, his cheeks turning a deep shade of blue. "you know romance isn't a part of my programming. that's a ridiculous assumption to make." he mumbled, turning his face away so hopefully his full on blush wouldn't give him away.

"there's a lot of things that aren't a part of your programming, but fine. i'll stop joking around about your fuckin' boyfriend if that will make you feel better."

it didn't, but connor appreciated the sentiment anyway.

he had tried to get to jericho by other means, like taking the taxi. however, his taxi programming was connected to hank's credit card because connor has yet to get his own bank account. which also means that hank would get the receipt and also the destination of the trip. so that was a no. same thing with taking the bus, they only had one metro card that was hooked up to hank's bank account.

after those ideas had been shot, connor had flirted with the idea of walking. after doing the calculations, if he walked as fast as his program would allow him to without looking suspicious, he could make it across town in an hour. so that was also a no.