Archive of Our Own ^beta

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"Master, you requested that I remind you of a meeting at seven-thirty tomorrow morning." The monotone voice wavered slightly as it read out the reminder from its internal memory banks.

The android that Anthony had ordered only a week before had arrived that day, and he'd decided to test out some of the functions it came preinstalled with. There was a multitude of things he could install, and he'd spent much of the day tinkering online and downloading new software for his as yet unnamed android. He'd pondered on names for a while and settled on Ian, but like many things, he found he had to program it in, which baffled him slightly.

Clutching the manual, Anthony approached the android. "Very good. Delete the reminder." He walked around to the other side of the android's body and tugged his shirt collar down so he could access the USB port on the back of its neck.

"Very well. Reminder deleted, master."

"Power down," Anthony spoke softly - he felt strange about being able to turn off what was almost a sentient being if the adverts were to be believed. All models scored highly on the Turing Test, almost as highly as a real human would.

"Very well. To power me on again, hold down the reset button, master."

Fiddling with the flash drive in his hand, he took a breath and plugged it in, watching as the light on the end of the USB stick lit up, indicating the transfer of data. Anthony had picked and chosen bits of software to install - things like alarms, a program which contained over three thousand recipes, and a somewhat more intriguing offering which claimed to get rid of the monotone nature of the voice and make the android seem a little more human.

The last offering interested Anthony the most if he was honest - he'd read the reviews, ones which claimed there it brought on strange behaviour, ones which praised the voice changer... Eventually he'd gone for it, because at least there was always the chance to force a factory reset if anything strange happened.

Once the data transfer was done, Anthony unplugged the USB and held down the reset button behind Ian's ear. The skin=like polymer that coated his metal insides was still warm to the touch.

"Good evening, master. The time is ten fifty two PM. How can I assist you?" The android spoke. Its voice was warmer and less metallic, with a mellifluous quality to it. Anthony was already impressed.

"I don't need assistance right now, Ian," Anthony tested, seeing if he'd programmed the android correctly to recognise its new name.

"Very well. Would you like me to power down?"

"No, wait here." Anthony got up to get a drink, leaving the android to curiously peer at its surroundings. He heard the android picking up things delicately and putting them down again, making its way around the room until it got to Anthony's cat, Pip.

"Master, would you like me to care for your pet?"

"No, that's okay," he called from the kitchen. Anthony hissed when he dropped a glass and promptly cut his finger on an errant shard of glass. "Oh, fucking hell."

"Master?" The android's voice wavered as it speed walked through Anthony's apartment and clutched at his arm. "Master, please elevate your arm to the optimal height to stop blood loss."

This was unusual - Anthony hadn't installed any programs that made the android into a caretaker, had he? Maybe he'd done it by accident.

"Your heart rate is slightly elevated and your core temperature is normal. Would you like me to contact the emergency services for you?"

"No, thank you." Anthony had a little difficulty prizing his hand from the android's grip - he was metal underneath that polymer after all - but eventually he succeeded. "It just needs a band aid on it, that's all."

"I am worried about you, master," Ian replied, a small whir echoing into the quiet kitchen as he furrowed his brows together.

"You- You're what?" Anthony asked. Androids were supposed to be close to humans, yes, but they weren't supposed to have feelings - in fact, it was one of the things that the company he had brought from explicitly stated wasn't possible.

"I am worried, master. Please elevate your arm."

Anthony ignored the android and reached into the cupboard above the sink to get a band aid from the box that was placed near the front. Sticking it onto his finger, he held his hand up to Ian. "See? All better."

"Your heart rate is still elevated, master."

"I'm okay. Follow me." Anthony walked through to the living room and picked up the manual, carding through it. In small print, near the back, he found a disclaimer that said that anyone with an android that had shown human emotions should immediately, and in no uncertain terms, send them back to the factory for incineration.

He was a little shocked at that. How could they burn something which potentially had feelings? What if there was a way for androids to feel pain?

Rubbing his forehead, Anthony placed the manual down again and watched as Ian promptly scooped it up and stacked it along with the other papers on his coffee table.

"Are you feeling better, master? I was worried about you, master."

Chapter Text

"Where's that grey hoodie of yours?" Anthony asked as he righted the towel around his waist and carried on furtively looking through drawers. Ian was still in the shower, rinsing his hair out and combing his fingers through it lazily.

"The old one?" Ian shouted back. "Why'd you want that?" When he got no response, Ian figured that Anthony had found it and carried on showering, content with the warm water falling over his body and pooling at his feet.

Anthony had managed to dig up the hoodie from below about five others, after a fashion. Humming softly, he pulled it on - it still smelled of Ian's cologne, and of something irrevocably evocative of the other man that Anthony couldn't put his finger on. He discarded his towel, all but slam dunking it into the laundry basket, and tugged on a pair of boxers as well. He turned on their TV and put on a movie, turning the volume down low enough for them to fall asleep with it playing.

It had been a long day, one which Anthony was glad was finally over if he was honest. He hadn't stopped moving all day and the set had been so noisy he'd thought at times he was coming down with a migraine. Sitting on his and Ian's bed, half underneath the covers, with no light on but the TV, was relaxing. The only thing that would make it better was Ian curled up against his chest while they fell asleep together.

Anthony heard the shower turn off and a few moments later, Ian emerged from the bathroom with damp hair pushed back off his face and a pair of boxers on.

"Where's your old hoodie?" Ian asked, grinning over at Anthony as he wandered to their chest of drawers and started almost blindly rifling through it. Emerging triumphant, Ian tugged on the hoodie and rolled the sleeves up a short way, so that the sleeves weren't past his fingertips.

Ian climbed into bed, already feeling soft and boneless from his shower, and dutifully curled up at Anthony's side lie they did every night, without fail. He placed his hand on Anthony's broad chest and smiled up at the other man, wordlessly asking for a kiss. Anthony obliged, kissing the corner of Ian's lips softly before moving to kiss him properly, fingers brushing slowly through Ian's tangled hair.

Chapter Text

Anthony sighed softly as he finished bolting the camera to the tripod. He turned the screen around so it was facing Ian, who was sitting in a chair with his hands folded in his lap, being uncharacteristically quiet. Anthony could get that, though. They were about to make a move that could at worst destroy their careers and contracts with important partners, and at best no doubt bring on more nasty comments on their videos than usual. It hadn't been an easy decision for them to make, and they'd been debating on doing it for some time - years in fact - before finally getting the gumption to go through with it. That is, if the video didn't sit unedited on Anthony's laptop like so many attempts at coming out before it had.

"D'you think we're doing the right thing?" Ian asked as Anthony tinkered with the focus and exposure on the camera, making sure their lights were set up properly. He shrugged.

"I think we are. It's not good for us to keep hiding who we really are," he said with another shrug of his shoulders.

Up until a few months ago he'd been vehemently against coming out, even to his parents and friends, convinced that the nagging internalised homophobia he'd dealt with for so long over his feelings for Ian would be reflected in his loved one's reactions as well. Finally, after a slightly tearful night of open honesty and a lot of hair stroking on Ian's part, Anthony had been convinced to come out to his parents at least, (they were surprised but took it better than Anthony could have hoped for them to,) and later their friends. Now, they held hands and shared little kisses around offices and sets without worrying, and it was... Nice, for the lack of a better word, Anthony thought. He liked holding Ian's hand, liked showing affection in his own little ways, and he wanted more than anything to be able to go on real dates with Ian and not risk having a fan see them snuggled up together in a booth at a restaurant or walking around Disney holding each others' hands. In public, they always kept their distance out of fear of what the fans might say.

Of course, they knew that some of the fans might react positively too, and that had been Ian's driving force behind wanting to come out. He wanted the fans who were gay, or bisexual, or pansexual, or any other non-straight sexuality, to know that they weren't alone and that the people they looked up to were bisexual instead of straight, and that they were together and had been for a long while. He could deal with the hate from confused teenage boys who refused to acknowledge that being anything but straight was fine and dandy. While the prospect of it affecting their professional lives did scare him a little, Ian was fairly certain that they'd been good enough at picking corporate partners and sponsors. and wouldn't lose anything in that sense.

He was still nervous though, sitting in their newly shared apartment in Los Angeles, watching Anthony set up the camera and lights. It finally had hit him, what they were about to do, but not in an entirely negative sense. All it took was for Anthony to walk over and drop a kiss to his forehead before sitting down to settle Ian's turning stomach.

"Ready?" Anthony asked, havin already pressed record on the camera. Ian nodded and stared down the lens. It was now or never, and they were both determined that it wasn't going to be the latter.

Straightening up, Ian reached for Anthony's hand and smiled faintly at the familiar feeling. Anthony smiled as well, giving Ian's hand a gentle and reassuring squeeze before letting go slowly.

"Hey guys, so this week there isn't going to be any Smosh is Bored, but there's a good reason for that," Anthony started. "We have some news, and it's more important than us dicking around on Google or saying words backwards..."

A couple of weeks later, after the video had been edited and uploaded, Ian anxiously watched as it went live. Anthony was sitting next to him, lazily petting Pip and refreshing his Twitter feed. They were both nervous about what the reaction might be, but they were pleasantly surprised when the first few comments and tweets poured in. A trickle, then a rush, of support and caring messages overtook the few negative ones quickly. Ian found himself grinning when Anthony picked the laptop up off his legs and replaced it with himself, arms thrown around Ian's shoulders.

"Told you it'd be okay," Anthony said softly, and as Ian's arms wrapped around Anthony's waist he just smiled, knowing that from there on out, they didn't have to hide anymore.

Chapter Text

"Can we talk?" Anna asked one day, which took Ian a little by surprise. His friend wasn't much for serious talks, even though he'd learned first hand from his older sister what teenage girls could be like with wanting long chats. He spent a lot of his free time as a kid listening to his sister's complaining about boys, and on the whole he was glad that Anna didn't seem too keen to talk about that kind of thing despite how close they were.

That's why, simply put, her serious expression and tone took Ian off guard. He nodded anyway, dragging out the vowels in a 'Sure?'

"Can we do it on the way to yours, after school? I don't think I want everyone to know about this... Thing." She frowned, which made Ian frown as well.

He spent a lot of the day worrying about what could be wrong. Was Anna's mom sick or something? Was Anna sick herself? Ian didn't know and though he didn't want to, he found himself dwelling on the simple proposition of a serious chat for hours.

By the time the end of school wound around, Ian was almost ready to burst with wonder at what could be wrong with Anna. She never wanted serious chats, and the idea worried and scared fifteen year old Ian in equal measures. He found Anna spinning around the flagpole with a small gaggle of their mutual friends, waiting in the same place as she always did for Ian.

"Come on," she said, taking hold of Ian's arm and all but dragging him away from the school before he even had chance to say hi or goodbye to any of their friends.

"What's wrong?" Ian asked once he deigned that they were far enough away from the groups of students piling into buses and carpools.

Anna's sudden silence concerned Ian - she was normally vibrant and full of life, but she looked almost scared when she took a deep breath in and spoke in a softer tone than usual.

"Do you ever get the feeling that something about you isn't right?" Anna asked, and Ian shrugged up a shoulder, letting her continue instead of asking what she meant like he really wanted to. Whatever she wanted to talk about was obviously serious, so Ian was content to just listen for the time being. "I've had that feeling for a while, y'know? But I've never been able to pin down what it was... You're my best friend, dude. I'm trusting you to not, like, ditch me or beat me up over this." Her elbow found Ian's side and jabbed playfully when she let out a nervous laugh. "I think... I think I'm what's called 'transgender'. As in, I'm a guy, but stuck in this weird body that doesn't feel right."

Silence fell over them again as Ian tried to process the confession. He was full to the brim with questions, but held back on asking any of them.

"It's never felt right," Anna continued. "So... It'd be cool if you could start, I dunno, referring to me as a guy and maybe helping me to try out new names?... Say something, dude, you're freaking me out right now."

Ian stopped still and pulled Anna into a tight hug, his arms closed around his shoulders. "I'd call you a porpoise if that's what you were," Ian spoke softly, dropping his normal jokey persona for a brief moment. "What do you want me to call you? I guess Anna isn't too manly," he joked, but he saw a flash of hurt across his friend's features before he smiled.

"I'm glad you didn't kick me in the gut for coming out to you," Anna started, reciprocating the near-bone crushing hug that Ian was giving him. "I was thinking about Aaron, or Anthony? I think I like Anthony better."

"Anthony... Sounds like a cool name to me," Ian pulled away and patted Anthony's shoulder before releasing him completely. Anthony was the first to start walking again, Ian walking a step or two behind.

"You really think so?" Anthony asked. He was smiling to himself this time when silence fell over them.

They walked the rest of the way to Ian's in almost total silence, but it was a comfortable one. Anthony was overjoyed that it had gone better than he'd thought it would, so much so that he was tempted to start damn near skipping along the sidewalk. Once they got to Ian's and played out their usual routine of stealing a bowl of Lucky Charms to snack on before heading to Ian's room to play video games together, conversation picked up again, this time about classes and homework.

"Hey, dude?..." Ian said with a stifled yawn. They were both stretched out on Ian's bed, shoeless and playing a round of Grifball on the Xbox. "I was just thinking, and I have some old clothes that you can have, if you want them. My mom's just gonna throw them out anyway."

Anthony raised an eyebrow in a questioning way, but he was smiling broadly again. "Are you serious? You mean I could just... Have 'em?"

"Of course, man. No sense in throwing them out if someone else can make use of them." Ian quickly exited the game and got up to rifle through his chest of drawers. He pulled out random shirts, a couple of pairs of loose fit jeans and a hoodie, throwing them onto the bed next to Anthony. "Feel free to try them on, if you'd like to. You know where the bathroom is."

Anthony almost leaped at the chance to get some more masculine clothes on his body. Wearing the girl fit shirts his mom bought for him with the best of intentions was a big bone of contempt in his life at that point. He scooped up the clothing and, still smiling, headed to the bathroom to go and try them on. He pulled a face at his figure in the mirror, but was relieved to see that Ian's shirts did a good enough job of hiding his breasts until he could get his hands on a binder. Keeping one of the shirts on, a pair of the jeans which were a perfect fit if not a little scuffed up at the knees and the bottom of the legs, and the hoodie, Anthony scrunched his clothes up into a ball and quickly paced back to Ian's room, keen on showing off his new look.

"Dude, they suit you! And that shirt actually fits you where it doesn't fit me," Ian quipped from his place, cross legged on the bed with the bowl of cereal perched on his one leg.

Anthony paused for a moment before dropping his old clothes and the shirt and jeans he didn't have on. He walked up to Ian and hugged him tightly, nearly knocking the cereal over. "Thank you," he said quietly, and Ian nodded.

"Anytime, dude. You're my best friend, nothing will ever change that."