Chapter Text
BB quickly glanced away from the screen and refocused on CH. He seemed to notice that BB had read and understood the sign, as he moved the sign to the back, revealing the next message.
‘What I meant was that I really like you.’
What was this? CH stepped closer.
‘And I think you like me too.’
No seriously, what was going on? Was the theatre seriously acting like a knock off Cupid right now? Another step.
‘I’d really like to go on a date with you.’
Never in BB’s wildest nightmares could he have conjured up this scenario. BB would almost rather have been stabbed than confessed to by a brainwashed CH.
CH was almost within grabbing distance, but BB was simply too shocked to notice CH coming closer.
‘So, what do you say, Crow?’
BB’s attention narrowed onto a single word. Crow. There was only one person that ever called him that. But, he was gone. And it was all BB’s fault. There was no way that CH could have remem—
BB’s spiraling thoughts were interrupted by CH suddenly lunging towards BB.
BB stumbled back, startled. CH reached up towards BB’s head and he realized too late what he was trying to do.
“No!”
BB tried to block CH’s hands, but he was too slow. CH ripped the headphones off BB’s head and suddenly he could hear again.
“Haha, now we can hear each other properly. Isn’t that so much better?”
It was Eden’s voice, but it wasn’t coming from CH. BB felt his emotions bubble up to the point it was almost unbearable. Despair. Relief. Guilt. Love. Was the movie theatre affecting his emotions or were they his own. BB couldn’t tell and that terrified him.
The voice spoke again. “Can you look up for me please? Just this once? Come on, you can trust me. We’re friends, aren’t we, Crow?”
And because it was Eden, he had to look up.
XXX
“…”
F wasn't sure what to do with his humans. It had long past the fifteen minute mark of the mission end time, but both humans seemed unconcerned with leaving anytime soon.
They were both acting strange. First, CH had held up some signs and flirted with BB. Then, it had seemed they were fighting. F’s humans were always fighting. F wished they would get along better. It would greatly improve their teamwork if they could. But they had stopped as quickly as they started and then skipped down the rest of the theatre stairs hand in hand.
F was confused, he had never observed BB skipping before in the time he had known him.
F had followed them down the stairs and watched as they had danced for a while in the open area in front of the movie screen.
After that a fully prepared dinner appeared on a fancy table for two. There were even candles that lit themselves and a romantic violin played in the background.
It had been five minutes since then and F watched them as they stared at each other.
“…”
What were their humans doing? Was this a human mating ritual that they didn’t understand? Did their human companions have such a relationship? F looked back through the memory files of all his other iterations and came to an inconclusive result.
After thorough review, both CH and BB had behaviors that suggested that they held their relationship to a different standard than others. CH referred to himself as BB’s only friend and seemed to go out of his way to interact with BB. While BB himself seemed to allow for that breach in boundary at times, letting CH hang on to him when scared and engaging in conversation occasionally. It was more effort than BB gave to their other colleagues.
But perhaps the sample was too small. They did tend to spend more time within their team than with anyone else. F would need to collect more data on the subject. Human emotions were truly such an unfathomably thing. How fascinating.
In the meantime, F had to find a way to get his humans out so they could finish the mission and turn in the report. F had tried to gently pull them away, but they resisted him rather violently.
F’s programming didn’t allow for further physical intervention as that could risk harming his humans. How inefficient.
Instead he had to figure out a different way.
F looked at the screen and then looked back at his humans. They were mirroring the actions on the screen. The theatre was known for brainwashing humans. F hadn’t noticed anything, but he wasn’t human so—
“…”
It was worth a shot. F walked over to the movie screen and punched a hole through it.
The movie theatre shuddered to a halt. The light burst back on and the movie screen went blank. The nice dinner table disappeared and his humans fell to the floor when their chairs disappeared from under them.
“Ugh…” CH groaned and rubbed his backside.
“What the hell just happened?” BB exclaimed from where he was sprawled on the floor.
F was satisfied. Theatre threat neutralized. Humans rescued. Mission successful.