Chapter Text
Before the sun passed through the guest room window, the robot's golden eyes snapped open. Cherry took a few seconds lying in bed, scanning his memories and processing new information from the night. The most recent one, four seconds ago, was the information that his daily sleep hours had been successfully achieved.
He sat up in bed and then focused on a muffled, repetitive sound coming from outside the bedroom—it was Sunday, so Joe was probably doing something like getting stains out of his shirts with weird, useless concoctions he'd learned from his mother. Cherry had already warned several times that it was not the correct way to clean fabrics, but the stupid human never listened - and irrationally Cherry's mood worsened at the thought of it, but he ignored that small change. Minimal emotions like that were getting more and more frequent as time went on, but it irritated him too, so he finally got out of bed and went to brush his teeth before facing what Kojiro had invented to put in his clothes this time.
He found the human muttering something in the laundry room, barefoot and scrunched up - certainly not at the expected wake time, per Cherry's records.
- What do you-
- OH FUCK! OH GOD, CHERRY!
Joe cursed at the top of his voice, and his body shuddered with surprise at having unexpectedly heard Cherry's voice behind him. The robot couldn't help a momentary tension in his shoulders at the human's noisy reaction, and his heart rate spiked in response.
- You stupid human, you scared me too! Why the hell did you do that?
- You who appeared like a soul back there! YOU scared me first!!! Damn, I almost died! - Joe replied stressed, and Cherry's eyes focused on a wet and soapy rug in his left hand - with his right he was holding a packet of washing powder.
- Why are you washing clothes at this hour? - a quick moment of silence for the robot to check the time. - It's a quarter past five.
Joe let out an irritated sigh and returned his attention to what he was doing, turning his back on her again.
- I forgot to leave the laundry door open, so Bibu pooped on the living room rug. - he explained in a more subdued tone, and Cherry managed to analyze it as guilt. The cat litter box was right under the sink Joe was working on, so with the door closed overnight...
-But why did he do it on the rug? Cats just can't defecate in the sand? - Cherry asked, genuinely confused by the cat's behavior, and leaned against the door to listen to Joe's answer.
-Yeah, they have that instinct... I think the texture of the rug was the closest they had to that. - Kojiro sighed, letting silence hang over the room for a second before adding softly - I'm so stupid.
At that, Kaoru didn't know what to think - but even to him, the phrase seemed to be more personal than directed at just one specific situation; as if Joe genuinely believed he had no intelligence or was inferior to other people.
Cherry couldn't agree entirely with that - Joe was rrally stubborn and did things that made no sense to Cherry, but the robot didn't think he was all stupid. His intelligence was only focused on other areas, and he got carried away by emotion most of the time, which made him look a bit silly.
- Well, next time don't forget the door closed then. - Cherry said, but Joe didn't seem willing to talk anymore at the moment. He just stood there, washing the rug, so the robot left him alone with the task.
Kojiro spent good hours of the day in a sour mood after the incident with Bibu, and Cherry noticed that he spoiled the kitten and played with him a little more than usual - perhaps this was Nanjo's way of dealing with the guilt of what he had done.
Bibu seemed happy with the attention, as he would follow Joe across the floor or up cupboards and table to always stay within reach while his owner cooked lunch.
It was curious to the robot how that human was able to extract flavor and smell from the pans just by using spices or different ingredients, and all the recipes were well done. Joe didn't seem to use anything as a guide, just memories of him, and that impressed Cherry, as much as he didn't want to admit it.
- Joe, how do you do it?
- I do what? he asked absently, opening the sink drawer to pull out a clean spoon and taste a sample from the pan.
- How can you remember so many recipes by yourself?
- Oh, I... I think it's habit. - he said, covering the pan. He realized some time later that Cherry was still looking at him as if they expected him to say more - so he sighed and pulled up a chair to take a break from the continuous standing, feeling the heat of the stove on his face. - You know, when I moved I was very young. I hadn't even passed college yet, I was just starting adult life.
- How old were you? - the robot interrupted to answer his question.
- Oh, about 19. - Joe tried to remember if it was really that age, but decided that it wasn't so important to know exactly. - My parents weren't happy with my choice, but I ended up doing gastronomy anyway.
Kaoru raised his eyebrows lightly, understanding why Joe was so good in the kitchen. He had academic knowledge and had already mentioned several times that he also learned a lot from his parents or grandparents.
For humans, cooking was very much about family and culture, Cherry concluded. Joe was no exception.
- Not so worth it, I guess. I worked for a while in restaurants, but it's not what I dreamed of, so I gave up and started looking for a job in other areas. It's been... five years? That I work in that factory, but I don't like what I do there either.
His expression was one of disappointment as he spoke, and his mood soured even more at the thought of the dreams he had shattered by his choice. Cooking under orders was not what he imagined, the pressure was absurd and anxiety took over his body, making him waste dishes and ingredients and leaving the chef more and more dissatisfied.
But as Kaoru had already guessed, humans are stubborn and stupid creatures, so Joe kept to himself the desire to revive his passion by opening his own restaurant.
However, he didn't mention anything to the automaton; he busied himself shifting the focus of the conversation from himself to the other.
- How about you, Cherry? Can't think of any careers you'd like to try? - he asked, getting up again to bring two glasses to the sink, and a dark green glass bottle of wine to the table. The robot was silent for a long time, contemplating his memories to try to mention something that sparked some interest in him. It was a lot harder than he'd initially thought, but he didn't feel pressured by the question itself. Just worried that Joe might insinuate that he was out there gathering dust, not working like he did.
Cautiously, he thought of an answer to what he saw in some book on medicine digitized in his head, and thought of a career linked to it.
- Doctor? - Cherry asked himself more than Joe, hesitating to accept the glass of wine he offered. - But I don't think that's what I'd like to do every day. Discover anomalies in the organism, prescribe medicine and what? Looks like there's something missing.
- Hm. - Joe let out while taking a sip of his drink, bringing Bibu from the floor to his lap. - There is not only one area of medicine. Perhaps you do well with psychology.
- Are you serious? - Cherry frowned, displeased with the irony of the suggestion. He? A robot that barely has affective memories dealing with the emotions of others?
The smirk Joe gave wasn't hidden by the cup on his lips.
- Who knows? Even an old can like you can get away with it. Someone with depression comes to see Doctor Kaoru and he tells the person to simply be happy.
- Fuck you, stupid human. - Cherry cursed, rolling his eyes, to the delight of the smiling human. Of course he wasn't smart enough to advise someone like Kaoru, what a joke.
Joe grinned at Cherry's annoyed and bored expression, trying to stop the cat from climbing onto the table.
- Come on, it was just a joke. You can work in the criminal field, such as medical examiner or coroner. Option is not lacking.
- Medical examiner? - Cherry came across the term, and quickly looked up what the function of one was. And surprisingly, the subject really interested him; but she didn't know if she could call it a "passion", as Joe put it. - I like that.
- Well, you can try. You are good at everything you do.
He said this casually as he gulped wine, apparently not even realizing what he'd said. Immediately, Cherry's devilish habit of teasing the human kicked in and he gave a satisfied smile, both at the lighthearted compliment and the likely expression he would see on Kojiro's face.
- It's so cute when you don't try hard to hide how much you admire me.
The result of the sentence came almost immediately, with Joe's face changing from surprise to anger as he stared at the robot, with his shitty smile.
- Wha- I SAID THAT BECAUSE YOU ARE A ROBOT!
- Come on, Joe, you don't have to be ashamed. It's a natural feeling, you know?
- BUT I DON'T- God, whoever created you must have had the worst possible day! Why the hell are you like that, you fucking robot??? - He exclaimed exasperated, his eyebrows furrowing when he heard Cherry's smug laugh - You know what, you stink! Stinky. You should take more showers, just because you're a robot doesn't mean you don't smell like everyone else!
Cherry's smile faltered for a moment, his relaxed posture made more rigid by the answer. What a joke.
- Joe, you're the only one who lives walking and arranging a thousand things to do even when you have time off at work, you never stop still. You're the stinky here, you're always sweaty and you have foot odor.
- Stinky feet??? Have you been sniffing my shoes by any chance??? - this time, Joe smiled at the brilliant argument given easily by the robot. - Is that what you do when I go to work? Smell my socks and cry with longing?
A moment of silence filled the room, and Joe couldn't help but burst out laughing at the other's expression. Cherry looked so genuinely confused and lost by the stupidity of the conclusion that he could barely react, and Kojiro couldn't bear to continue the discussion in a serious manner again.
- What the fuck are you thinking? - Cherry said, clearly disgusted by the simple image of even getting close to the human's filthy and stinking shoes, let alone smelling them. And Nanjo continued laughing for whole minutes at the situation, bending his body over the table, breathing deeply, looking at Cherry's face and laughing even more, repeating the process. What the hell was so funny??
- Oh my god... Your face... - he gasped between laughs, running his fingers over his eyes that were spilling tears of laughter. - Is this how you break your system? Speaking of smelling shoes?
- I... - Cherry looked for a valid answer, but the atmosphere of the discussion had already dissipated. - I think so? What the hell made you think of that??
- I don't know! You who brought my foot odor into the discussion, ask yourself. - Joe mumbled with a loose laugh trapped in his lips, threatening to come back every time he looked at Cherry's confused and strange expression. Apparently, he couldn't stop mulling and laughing as Cherry searched for a logical answer to the accusation, and was still in defensive mode.
Lucky for him, Kojiro was perceptive enough to clarify that it was just a silly response, meant for laughs and not to offend, like children do when they can't think of good arguments.
- Oh. - Cherry murmured, analyzing the transparency of the alcohol in his glass, accepting the explanation. It made sense, because with the little time they had lived together he had already realized that Joe liked to play silly jokes, even if he didn't understand them well. - Is this because children are not mature enough?
- Perhaps. Lack of experience? Children are like sponges, soaking up information from the world around them. If they see a word on TV and remember it, they will use it later without knowing if it has a greater meaning or not.
Cherry didn't think to control his tongue before cutting the silence with something more acid.
- So kids are dumb like you.
Joe's hazel eyes darkened even as the smile remained on his face, as it did when a response from Cherry affected him more than he thought it would. But this time, he forgave him the fact that the robot had never seen or spoken to a child before.
- Children are not stupid, Cherry. They are in development, humans are not born ready like robots. - like you, he thought. - When you woke up, didn't you feel like you needed information about everything to survive?
- I already had part of the basic information about the world. It was not so hard.
- So it is. Children still have nothing in their memory beyond what they learn from their parents. Get it now?
In a way, that made more sense. Comparing it with the initial hours of his activation made understanding a little easier - the robot had no interest in unraveling the mysteries of the infant psyche, but at least he learned something for now.
- You mean you're not dumb, then?
Joe sighed, hearing the tease in Cherry's voice disguised as an innocent question. Was this robot never content with a normal conversation??
- Well, I don't think I'm going to convince you otherwise, but my answer is still no.
- Would you like to be a father, Kojiro? - Cherry released his question, this time without games or provocations. The previous one hadn't worked, and he was still curious to know the answer for how much the human had defended children just now.
- What is it, you became my wife? Are we arguing about having kids or what? - Joe countered in a lazy tone, clearly thinking it was some robot bait for another idiotic taunt. The wine in the cup disappeared between the man's lips and he got up to the stove again, finishing their dinner.
- You seem to like children.
- I really like it, but I don't want to be a father so soon. Satisfied?
Cherry grinned like the devil that he was, and Joe knew he'd walked right into that bastard robot's trap.
- So I'm glad your genes won't spread around the world. There are enough idiots out there.
- Go lick my dirty underpants, you asshole robot.
Joe's jokes certainly didn't amuse the robot, but Cherry let out a small chuckle, once again triumphant over the human exhausted by his offenses.