Chapter Text
Liam laughed as he and Iko walked through the New Beijing gardens, smiling as he recalled how he had acted when he and Iko first met. A “pompous, outrageous brat,” according to Iko’s definition.
Iko grinned too, glad at how close they had become. As odd as it was, knowing that she might be… programmed, she had grown to love him. And though he probably wouldn’t admit it, he loved her too.
He would never admit it, she knew that, and the thought saddened her. Liam was still ever so slightly prejudiced against androids, not quite comfortable with the thought of loving one. Iko understood that, though. Anyone with a heart would be able to.
Even if the said heart was made of wires and steel.
Liam sighed and motioned toward a bench. “Iko, please sit.”
“Nah, I’m not tired,” she said, bouncing on her toes a little. Being an android certainly did have its perks sometimes.
“No, please. Sit.” something about the desperate hint in his voice made her, so she did, eyeing him suspiciously all the while. Liam almost never got nervous, he was as closed of as Jacin most of the time.
“What are you doing?” she asked, as Liam walked closer until he was sitting next to her, leaving only a few inches of space between them. His hand was right next to hers, not holding it, as he normally would have done in this situation. “If you almost got yourself killed again when I told you distinctly not to, I will not forgive you this time. Well. Probably,” she says, reconsidering. “I’ll most likely end up forgiving you anyways, since you’re so charming.” she was only half kidding.
Liam turned to her, snapped out of his strange trance, and looked down at their hands, half meeting but not quite there. “I… I have something I want to ask you,” he said, so quietly she could barely hear him, even with her accelerated android hearing.
“Shoot,” she replied.
He moved his gaze up from their hands to her face, and turned to face her completely. “I… Iko,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I… would like to ask you if you would… if you would be interested…” he was so obviously nervous, Iko couldn’t begin to imagine what he was going to say.
“If I would be interested in…” she said, prompting him onward.
“Right. If… if you would be interested in possibly… maybe… being… my wife.” he flitted his eyes away, refusing to meet her gaze.
“Your… wife.” for once, she was absolutely speechless.
“I… yes. Right. I know you might be an android, or a, uh, escort-droid, but there’s no denying that I… have feelings for you. Feelings that I don’t think I could possibly have for anyone else.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is… Iko, I love you.” he finally brought his face up to meet her eyes. “I have for a while now, but I never let myself believe it.” he shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe his own stupidity. “And I want to spend the rest of my life with you- escort-droid or no.”
Iko simply sat there, gaping, for a few seconds, before a slow smile formed on her face. “Well. At least you didn’t almost get yourself killed,” she said, before leaning in, grabbing his hand, and kissing him.
It certainly wasn’t their first kiss, but it felt like it. She felt the kiss down to the nerve endings on her toes, and it left the ones in her brain tingling.
“I think I’ll take that as a yes,” Liam said, for once, letting a real, true smile fill his face.
“Yeah. You can take that as a yes.” she said, eyes bright pink with love.