Chapter Text
A month after the incident involving OD-10. Kato had eventually made it home safely and with a new addition to his apartment no less. He spent most of his days at home, tinkering with various old projects of his. After the events on the Cogito Ergo Sum, looking too much into modern technology made him a bit uncomfortable. However, the one thing he could stand to be around all the time was Cube. Oh, how proud he was of that little robot.
Cube had been adjusting to their new surroundings, the place Kato considered “home”. It had been quite the adventure analyzing new things and experiences that weren’t previously found on the ship. Every day was spent learning and processing information given to him by Kato, to then save and archive it into their memory banks. A simple task, but enjoyable for both parties involved.
Cube was archiving another day's worth of info when suddenly, he noticed a common reoccurrence. Several glimpses of warm smiles and gentle words had been scattered through the day's documentation. Interesting. Had it always been like this? The small robot searched through their memory banks. Records of reaffirming pats on the head started to replay in Cube’s robo-mind. The same several positive actions had been happening consistently ever since the two made it “home”. What could it mean exactly? Searching for an answer in his local folders yielded no results. Connecting himself to the internet, Cube came upon a term.
love
/ləv/
noun
1. an intense feeling of deep affection
Love…Was that really what it was? “love” was added to their mental dictionary. While he had the literal definition, Cube wondered if Kato’s personal definition of love was truly the same. An experiment was now in motion, Operation: Ask Kato what Love is. Cube turned away from their mini docking station set up on the floor next to Kato’s bed and looked up at his maker, a still silhouette could be seen, Kato was very much asleep.
On any other night, Cube would be patient enough to wait until his waking hours to ask. But their still incomplete knowledge of “love” left much to be desired. Cube reached up, standing on his roller skate tippy toes, and nudged Kato with a faint warble.
The engineer stirred. “Ngh... Cube? What are you doing still up little one?”
“Kato, what is love?” The robot got straight to the point. (In warbles Kato could somehow understand.)
“Oh?” Kato tiredly chuckled. “What brought this up all of a sudden?”
Cube had to think about their answer for a moment. Why did it matter so much? Kato interjected before Cube could dwell on it for too long.
“I’ll tell you in the morning, ok? It’s very.. very late.” He said between yawns.
“But I need to know! I want to learn Kato!” Cube chirped in robotic beeps and boops. Cube’s enthusiasm caused the sleepy engineer to chuckle once more.
“Ok ok, uh..” the engineer thought for a moment. “Love is.. is when you cherish something. This really warm feeling that makes you feel like nothing else matters except the one you care for most.”
Kato’s face softened as he gave his answer. He stared for a bit at Cube with that same warm smile they had grown used to seeing more and more often. Whether the stare was out of sleepiness or something else, Cube couldn’t exactly tell in the moment. Regardless, Cube’s eyes lit up with Kato’s interpretation of the word, corroborating the definition they found earlier.
“Is that a good enough explanation for now?”
Cube nodded his head and warbled cheerfully.
“Ah, that’s good.” Kato sighed in contentment.
Cube all of a sudden, felt his feet leave the ground. Kato picked up his robot and tucked them right into bed with him. Cube’s face peeked out from the sheets and blankets stacked on top of them as his maker gently pulled him closer to his heart. While it was a bit hard for Kato to get comfy with a giant metal ball, he still held him regardless, laying on his side and faintly curling around him as if to shield him from whatever may come their way in the night.
“Analyze this until tomorrow ok?” The engineer joked sleepily, lightly rubbing Cube’s head.
Kato took one final look at Cube, a fond smile found its way to his face before he closed his eyes and sleep took over, resting his head against Cubes, his cheek lightly pressed against the robot's temple.
This feeling.. the sensation Cube recognized before. The certain warmth that even a robot could feel. Could this be... love? Does Kato love Cube? All actions leading up to that point seemed to support the idea. The little robot looked up at his creator. His outline could barely be seen in the dark but Kato’s face was still, calm, and tranquil. Almost too relaxed for holding a robot in his sleep. The faint sounds of breathing were all that filled the room for an otherwise silent minute. Cube wanted to finally place a word to the moment. They wanted to ask again -just to be sure- does Kato really love him? But from the overwhelming amount of evidence, Cube came to the conclusion himself.
Kato loves Cube unconditionally, and from the little robot’s understanding, after everything the two had been through, it was safe to say Cube loved him back just as much.