Static Crush {M/M} ✔

Chapter #27

Accepting that he wants Rayner is a difficult pill for Hale to swallow after months of insisting he wasn't even capable of desire. Though Rayner mercifully never brings up the humiliating scene in Theo's workshop and proceeds as though it didn't happen, Hale can't forget it. He wants to analyse this new information and research the programming of artificial intelligence to see if he can find clues as to the origin of his feelings, but the difficulty therein lies in confronting his newfound, overwhelming lust directly.

That is to say, he has very few quiet moments to reflect on it where Rayner and Theo aren't present, and even fewer where Damo's malignant presence isn't lurking. Delving further into the subject could result in more surprise erections, and he barely withstood the indignity of the first.

In those brief moments of solitude where Rayner and Theo are busy, and Damo goes offline, most attempts to research his behaviour lapse into either lurid fantasies or melancholy solipsism. One moment, his processes are concerned with Rayner's long-fingered hands on his hips, and the next he's cynically berating himself for entertaining the notion. Whatever Hale's sensors read about Rayner's biology, the man had several blatant opportunities to have sexual relations with Hale and declined every one.

There are two silver linings to the entire affair. One being Damo's continued ignorance to the whole affair, since he seems completely disinterested in reliving the installation of his nervous system. The second is that the weather forecasts rain on Thursday, and Hale's gift for Rayner should be ready by then. Though he's disgruntled by the notion of sharing the moment with Damo, that doesn't deter him enough to put it off.

Hale can't bring himself to regret the new upgrade. Though it takes time to get used to the brush of clothes on his skin, Hale finds joy in all the mundane, domestic tasks suddenly made fuller than he ever understood them to be. When he first pulls out fresh laundry, he nearly melts into a puddle on the bathroom floor underneath the dryer-warmed sheets. A cool wind blowing through his hair on his walk to the grocery store nearly sets him laughing. And, of course, the casual touch of Rayner's hand patting his shoulder, or his body brushing past in the hall are novel moments for him. He likes them very much, a fact for which Damo teases him incessantly.

>>Christ, just jump his bones, you horny fuck.

>>You're disgusting. I've no interest in your crude voyeurism.

>>Oh, but that doesn't mean you don't wanna! And I ain't gonna watch you getting freaky, Haley. I'll just be around after to take the piss. Bet you're a one-pump chump and the whole thing's just disappointing.

>>Speaking from your own experience, I assume.

>>OHHH! So you do bite back.

On occasion, Hale attempts to push back the other way with their network connection. It seems only fair that if Damo eavesdrops on his every waking thought, Hale gets to do the same. When he tries though, he comes up against a solid firewall. Damo seems positively gleeful at these 'weak efforts,' and Hale doesn't pursue them long.

Even Damo's daily abuse can't blacken Hale's mood when Thursday rolls around, the slate clouds of the late-November sky promise gloom. It's dark, despite the noon hour. The first drops of rain speckle the windowpane when Rayner looks up from his laptop.

"Of course, it starts raining now."

Theo stops working on her miniature concrete mixer robot and glances out the window. "Yup, just in time for our cafe date."

"Cafe date...?" Hale asks with a bewildered, sinking feeling. He can't give Rayner his gift if Rayner isn't home.

Rayner pulls on a jacket and hands Hale his own. "For all of us," he says. "And a friend. Remember how you said you wanted to learn how to hack?"