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“Do you ever wonder about family?”
Yes Man hears the question as a gunshot fires from the top of the Lucky 38, just missing a bottle of Sunset Sarsparilla™ on the ground below. Six is killing time before a visit from some NCR negotiators- a worthless cause, in his opinion, not that he would voice it- and he’s in his old frame beside them, watching the poor marksmanship.
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean!” Yes Man says, and is genuine about it. He’s a securitron, an Artificial Lifeform; he’s incapable of having a family, in the literal sense. He’s not sure he understands the sentimental sense enough to make a judgement there, either.
Six seems to get that, though, with a look bordering wistful, but mostly displaying a hopeless smile.
“You ever wondered what it’s like to have one? Do robots think about human… quirks?” They look up at him from under the brim of their hat- it doesn’t match their suit at all, and they’ve never cared- and Yes Man could swear their eyes betrayed an emotion beyond curiosity. He would if he were any good at placing human feelings, anyway- after all, he was just some robot! Not like he could understand the intricacies of human emotional displays!
He considers the clarified question for a moment, tapping a giant metal finger below his screen in a gesture of thought. “I don’t believe I ever have! Since I’m not human, after all, there’s no point in wondering about family! I didn’t even have friends before you rolled into town, so even thinking about friendship was something I couldn’t entertain!”
“Huh. I don’t really think about family either.”
The response took him him surprise, for a moment. But it made sense, didn’t it? Six barely remembered a thing from before they got shot.
“I guess I should be wondering where my family is, or if I had any friends before. But I haven’t! This was all… much easier.” They looked at Yes Man again. “Guess we’re in similar boats. No need to entertain the thought.” They aimed again and fired, missing once more. “Fuck! Still can’t do shit without V.A.T.S.!”
Yes Man wasn’t stupid. He was self-loathing, and cynical despite outward appearance, and lord knows he had a hard time with the finer points of Human Feelings, but he wasn’t stupid. In fact, he was rather proud of his strokes of genius. He could tell Six was bothered, in some way. He knew Six by now.
“Is something wrong with that?”
“I mean, being able to shoot on my own seems pretty important, Yessie.”
“Well, yes, but I meant what you said before that. About not entertaining the thought? Do you think you should be?”
Six put the gun at their side and looked up at the monitor that was his face. They looked up with a crooked grin and pride in their eyes.
“You’re really comin’ outta your shell, Yes Man. Speaking out, lately. I’m so used to you just rollin’ along with shit, it’s always so great when you actually remember you’re free of that old programming-”
Yes Man did something even bolder then: he interrupted them.
“That’s awful kind of you, Six! You could make a robot blush! But… Are you avoiding the question?”
“No, I just… didn’t have an answer?” They shrugged. “…holy shit you cut me off-” They burst into joyous laughter, bouncing on their feet. “You cut me off! God DAMN, you’re doing amazing!”
Yes Man was all at once flattered and flustered and confused. He supposed he understood WHY it was a ‘big deal’, but it felt like an overreaction. Then again, Six had always seemed to care more deeply for Yes Man than he had for himself.
“Thank you?” He settled for a simple response. Maybe Six found it so great because he never acted out at THEM, specifically. He wondered if Six worried that he held himself back around them, but truthfully his deeper urges to be unpleasant weren’t common towards them. They WERE his favorite person. They were practically his favorite ANYTHING- in human terms, he was certain they were best friends.
“…you know, some humans consider their closest friends to be their family, instead of the people they share blood with. I guess… I guess I don’t worry so much about the family I can’t remember, because you’re the family I have now.” Yes Man could only stare and process the statement as Six, addicted as ever, popped open another Sunser Sarsparilla. “You and all the others here, helping me run the place. But especially you.” They beamed up at Yes Man, then patted his arm affectionately.
Yes Man smiled back. “I guess we ARE that close, huh? It feels weird to have a family, but that’s likely because it’s a human concept. It’s certainly not a bad feeling!”
“Good. I’m glad.” Their smile softened, fond and warmer than the Mojave, then they took a gargantuan swig of soda and laughed. “Let’s hurry on down! Can’t keep those NCR guys waiting!”
They COULD. They HAD, before. They had once blown off a meeting with members of the NCR because they felt like hanging out with Boone and Arcade, shooting the shit whilst ALSO shooting the Legion. Arcade had said it was a fun afternoon. The NCR Rangers didn’t look amused.
But it seemed like Six wanted to be a little better this time around, so they skipped ahead and went back into the 38. Yes Man hesitated, for once.
He considered that he could now consider human 'quirks’, as Six had put it. He wondered what he REALLY considered Six.
He wondered if he was right about it being something as complex and human as love.