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“You can play music, right?”
Alvin blinked.
“There’s a button for that somewhere. I think.”
His screen hummed with static electricity while he thought it over. There probably was a music-player function somewhere in his system. He’s never pried.
“Shouldn’t you know?” he snapped.
He didn’t intend to sound irritable. Or maybe he did. Spending so much time cooped up in this small room during their not-so-frequent breaks was messing with his internal processors, it seemed.
“Right, well it doesn’t hurt to ask first.” Isidor turned to face the idle drone, who had been sitting on the ground in front of his ‘bed’ for the past, well, really long time. He’d hardly moved, and he didn’t have a reason to. It was a somewhat comfortable backrest afterall.
The repairman looked down at him.
Who was he to complain, though. He was standing taller than another being for the first time ever.
Isidor watched with slight mirth as Alvin’s expression shifted to confusion when the (temporarily) taller drone offered his hand to him.
“Would you like to do something fun?” he asked his robotic companion.
Alvin eyed him suspiciously.
“No.”
He took his hand anyway, much to his amusement. Isidor gave him a warm smile in return.
“Trust me. It really is fun.” Isidor tugged on his arm until they were both now standing on the cold floor of their short-term abode.
Standing face to face, Isidor boldly reached out to take his other hand, to Alvin’s surprise. His screen whirred in its haste to display a few extra lines where his ‘cheeks’ would be, were he human. Flustered already, Isidor would mentally note.
“All right. What tunes have you got in there?” He stared at him eagerly.
“I– I don’t know. Old stuff, probably.” Alvin responded, eyes wide and glowing.
Isidor grinned, “Old music is good. I like old.”
Alvin shifted on his feet nervously, not quite sure what he was expecting. Isidor was acting odd, weirdly excited. A small part of him wanted to pretend he couldn’t find any audio files in his system and go back to sitting doing nothing, but against his curiosity, it was a losing battle. He had a few songs in him. Maybe from a past life as a radio or something along the lines.
“Okay. Do I play one at random?”
“Be my guest.”
From his audio output device, the beginnings of a slow but comforting song started to play. It was instrumental. Humans loved those. Whatever was playing, it had a nice rhythm, a soft one. And a tempo you could easily keep up with. To summarise, it was nice. Really, really nice.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard this one. Is it labelled?” Isidor asked, still clasping both of Alvin’s hands tightly.
“No. Can you get on with the ‘fun’ already?” The (rightfully) taller drone glared down at him. Any longer with this premarital hand holding and he was going to short circuit.
“Right. Sorry.” The repairdrone chuckled, amused at his companion’s sudden moodiness.
In the back of his artificial mind, Alvin expected whatever Isidor had planned to be stupid. Entertaining, but stupid. What he didn’t expect, nor was emotionally prepared for, was the sudden placement of his own hand on the latter’s right shoulder, and the warm feeling of Isidor’s hand on his waist. Their other hands, which were still entwined, were now outstretched slightly to the side.
“..What are we doing?” Alvin stumbled, his internals already feeling the intense heat.
“Dancing. Well, this dance is called a waltz actually. Out of fashion, I know, but I thought it might help pass the time.” Isidor shuffled closer so that they were pretty much chest to chest. Or face to chest, considering the height difference.
The song continued, and the pair rocked back and forth, taking a few steps here and there in tune with the rhythm.
“See? We’ve already got the hang of it.”
“You stepped on my foot.”
Alvin huffed as Isidor ushered a quick apology.
He had to admit, as strange as this sentiment was, it was quite soothing in a way. Something about the soft tunes playing in the background as he swayed with the person he currently cared about the most, really put his mind at ease.
That swiftly changed however when Isidor, without warning, shifted his hand to the metal of his lower back, and leaned forward to rest his cheek against his chest. And they continued to dance as if nothing had even happened.
Well, Isidor did. Alvin’s processors had gone into overdrive and he was now having a hard time tracking where to step. Isidor was there to guide him, thankfully. He was enjoying the warmth emitting from the drone’s core. It was like hugging a sentient furnace.
“Your fans are getting louder again.” Isidor teased.
“Shut up.”
Alvin was growing more and more flustered by the second, his fans up and whirring but doing effectively nothing to reduce the rapid heat his body was enduring. If it were possible for a machine to blush, this one would be an absolute blushing mess. The many lines on his screen communicated it well enough, at least.
Isidor knew what he was doing. Alvin cursed him for it.
They swayed, making the most of the confined space and stepping to the rhythm of the song lost to time. Isidor had even begun to hum along to it. Alvin listened, sighing contently. They both were aware of the intimacy of what they were doing, neither of them paid any mind. It wasn’t like anybody was watching.
Eventually it was bound to end, and they peeled away from each other as the room was drowned by the inevitable returning silence. Save for the beeping of technology around them. Alvin stood still, almost like he was buffering.
“That was fun, wasn’t it?” Isidor smiled.
“Uh-huh.” Alvin lagged a little. “Yep. Totally.”
It seemed his system was a tad scrambled. Probably due to the overheating. He knew Alvin would fluster easily, but he didn’t think it would be that easy. It wasn’t like he regretted it much, his reactions were adorable, but he did feel bad about making his processors go funky.
From Alvin’s perspective, he didn’t quite seem to mind it at all. Whatever activity they just engaged in, whatever this ‘dancing’ was, it sent exhilarating sparks down his wires. Although it may have had more to do with the fact that it was with Isidor rather than the actual waltzing itself. But that was an entirely different mess he’d rather unpack at a later date.
In fact it would be way too embarrassing to even unpack at all. Feelings were awful, and way too human.
Before they knew it, their break was over, and they were shoved right back into the restless happenings of the hive.
Ah, well. At least they found a new way to pass the time, if either of them were ever willing to revisit it in the future.