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Ai sighed to himself as he admired his hands. His expression was wistful, Yusaku noted as his ears had pricked up on that melancholic and overly dramatic sigh that he had just released.
“What’s the matter with you?” Yusaku asked, not even looking up from his laptop as he did his homework.
“I want to paint my nails but…” Ai murmured and it was all too easy for him to shift the illusion, going from purple to pink to green to blue to orange to yellow and back to purple again. “It's just not satisfying unless I really paint them.”
“What do you mean?” Yusaku asked, turning his head, his eyes skimming over the artificial nails that Ai had now coloured a wonderfully deep purple just by thinking it inside his wiring.
“Well, I can’t do any of the fun stuff. I want a manicure, not just an alteration to my SOLtiS avatar.” Ai pouted but the sulk only lasted a second or two. His eyes went wide with a lightbulb moment’s glory. He had an idea, a brilliant idea. He inched closer to Yusaku and nuzzled him like he was a cat, “Hey, Yusaku…”
“No.” Yusaku retorted stiffly.
“Oh, please, Yusaku, please, please let me paint your nails.” Ai begged. “I have all the stuff ready: the base coats, the scrapers, the UV lights, it’d only take thirty minutes tops, promise. Please, let me live vicariously through you.”
Yusaku knew he was not going to hear the end of this whim until goodness knows when so it was now his turn to sigh, which he did. “Fine.” he relented. “Just let me finish this part of my history essay and then I’ll let you paint my nails.”
“Yes, thank you!” Ai gleefully shouted, he bolted to his feet. “That gives me plenty of time to set up.”
Ai ran off and Yusaku shook his head. He tried to waste as much time researching, adding to his citations list just so he could fend off being pampered immediately but Ai had an eagle eye, as soon as he saw Yusaku hit enter and tab on his laptop’s keyboard, he struck.
He dragged Yusaku away from the lounge to the kitchen table where he had meticulously set up baths of warm water, the UV lights, and various colours for Yusaku to set up. It was impressive as it was worrisome. Yusaku stared with slight concern.
“Where did you get the money for all this?” he asked as Ai patted his shoulder to indicate that he should sit down, which he did.
“Here and there.” Ai floatily replied.
Yusaku was going to assume that meant money from his siege against SOL Tech. He sighed wearily but put out his hands. Ai sat opposite him and pushed the little pools closer to Yusaku. He gingerly put his hands in them: there were dips for each of his fingers and in the middle, his palm was atop a plastic lump that made him hold it in a way he did not feel natural. Though the warm water was nice to soak in, Yusaku let a hint of a smile on his face and Ai smirked. He was determined to get the biggest possible smile out of Yusaku now.
After a few minutes of idle chat whilst Yusaku soaked his fingertips, Ai had him withdraw and dried him off. Yusaku didn’t mind this whole part of the processing, he could even dare to call it relaxing but then Ai set aside the cloth he was using to instead pick up what Yusaku could only describe as a “torture device”. He stiffened whilst Ai still held his hand.
“Oh, this?” Ai asked, waving it around. “It's going to push back your cuticles, its fine.”
Yusaku very much did not think it was fine and he couldn’t even get a protest in as Ai was quick to use it. The tool in question was made of metal and was used like a rake except it had a bulbous, club-like head that scraped over Yusaku’s nails and yes, did push back his cuticles. Every stroke made his skin crawl as Ai was as delicate as he could be with such a weapon. Yusaku endured it for a few minutes as Ai did every finger before declaring himself done and putting it away.
“I very much did not like that.” Yusaku spat, harried.
“Well, it's over, now isn’t it? Now’s the fun part, I’ll buff you up with this-” Ai spoke and he picked a squishy rectangular thing next, “-and then we’ll start on the base coats.”
Ai smiled as he gently buffed Yusaku’s nails, returning them to more like their natural state before he had gone and used that cuticle pusher thing that he hated. It was also entrancing just to watch how Ai delicately criss-crossed around Yusaku’s nails until finishing up, placing them gently on the table so he could paint those base coats.
Yusaku was genuinely surprised by Ai’s artistry. He had a technique to him that was neat and elegant, not at all like he was expecting. He blinked to himself as the various base coats went down on his fingers two at a time before Ai had him place his hands in the coves of the UV lights.
“Where did you learn to do this?” Yusaku asked.
“Youtube, like everyone else.” Ai joked. “Being a supercomputer has its perks, you know?”
“Yeah.” Yusaku replied with what might have been a chuckle, it was just as an awkward exhale but it seemed like laughter to Ai.
Believe it or not but Yusaku did often forget that Ai was a supercomputer. Something about him having free will made it difficult for Yusaku to remember that he was just an artificial intelligence. To him, he had always been a nuisance or a friend, it was difficult to comprehend that he was the outcome of his torture and duelling as a child. His personality just seemed so loosely connected to Yusaku but he was glad that it wasn’t, that their bond was intimate and spellbinding because of it. It was even nicer now that everything had settled down and they could just spend their days doing this, doing homework and painting nails.
The strokes of the brush on his nails were soft and Yusaku liked it a lot. More of his smile began to unhide itself on his face and Ai was far too happy with that - and with the satisfaction of finishing the base coats.
“There we go,” Ai commentated, “now we can do the really fun part of picking some colours. What would you like? I’ve only got a handful but to start, I have every colour of the rainbow as well as black and white.”
“Shouldn’t the answer be obvious?” Yusaku asked and he reached out towards the bottles that glistened under the kitchen’s light. “I want this one.”
Yusaku’s picked out the purple bottle from the lineup, moving it in closer and making it slide on the wooden table. Ai laughed to himself. Yes, it should have been really obvious that Yusaku would, of course, pick the bottle of purple paint.
“Okay, but what about a feature nail? Do you want a feature nail?” Ai asked as he picked up the selected bottle, uncapping it and playing with the paint inside. The smell of nail paint was pungent and fresh as it had only been opened once or twice before.
Yusaku mulled it over, his first impulse was to say no but then he looked through the options and back to Ai: his eyes were so startling. They looked human enough until one noticed that his pupils were rectangular; the colour themselves such an electric yellow. Yusaku hazarded more of that shy, suppressed smile of his and seeing it made Ai eager.
“I’d like yellow please.” Yusaku replied.
“Too easy,” Ai chirped, “we’ll start with the feature nails then.”
Ai put away the purple for now and picked out the second bottle that Yusaku requested. He opened it with a crack of its seal and then got to work. Yusaku laid out his hand for Ai and Ai began to paint his ring finger’s nail. Yusaku had such lovely hands, in Ai’s opinion, as he painted them. His fingers were slender, his palm had an elegance to it although his lifeline was woefully short. But all in all, Ai adored Yusaku’s hands and it was a splendid thrill to have the honour of holding them and painting his nails.
“How do you like the yellow?” Ai asked after the final stroke.
“I love it.” Yusaku earnestly replied as he admired how now yellow fingernails.
Ai blushed. Yusaku could be very unexpected in the smallest of ways and it flustered him, made him smile a gawky smile as he replied, “Great, then let’s do the rest.”
“Sounds good.” Yusaku agreed fondly.
Ai switched over to the bottle of purple paint but he felt rather jittery now. He wanted to do an especially good job since Yusaku already liked what he had done so far. He was a little bit nervous as he made sure to apply the next coats evenly and prettily. Yusaku enjoyed the whole process, feeling quite pampered, even.
Before long, Yusaku had two full sets of beautifully painted nails. There was a sparkle to his eye as he admired his new, shiny nails and their colours. The purple with a yellow feature nail made him very, very happy. He felt pretty, even. He really liked that sensation, it made his heart skip a beat and though he did not want to, Yusaku looked up from his hands.
“Thank you, Ai, they’re really good.” he said and he flashed a huge for Yusaku smile at Ai.
“No worries,” Ai said, cherishing the moment, the smile, “but there’s still one more step.”
Yusaku blinked, “There is?”
“I’ve got some stuff that helps your nails stay healthy with the coat and some moisturiser to go with it.” Ai said.
“Oh, nice.” Yusaku murmured.
He returned his hands to Ai who pulled out this teeny-tiny bottle of fluid with a dropper, as well as a tube of moisturiser. He used the dropper to scatter some of that fluid over Yusaku’s cuticles, it had a very tropical smell - like pineapples and coconuts - for the colours that Yusaku had chosen. Some of it dripped on the table, too, and then Ai smeared cream on Yusaku’s hands.
Ai rubbed Yusaku’s hands together and with his own. He was thorough, giving Yusaku a right massage with them. Yusaku felt himself blush as Ai massaged in the moisturiser and the nail growth treatment. It was very vigorous and Ai was having a lot of fun with it, his robotic hands were firm yet deft. Yusaku enjoyed it very much.
“There we go, all done.” Ai finally declared and he uncovered Yusaku’s hands.
They felt greasy with the residue but turning them over to admire his nails, it had been all worth it. Especially since it felt like it had taken more than thirty minutes. Still, Yusaku was starstruck with the colours and how shiny they were, even the feeling of the hardened paint had a texture he really liked to it.
“Thank you, Ai.” Yusaku said. “We might just have to make this a regular thing.”
“Maybe.” Ai replied and he propped his chin up, he melted into the expression of watching Yusaku be very happy with this little change to his appearance.