Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The bright morning light seeps into your bedroom through your curtain, signaling your body to wake up. Normally, you’d log into work right about now, messing with frustrating clients with endless complaints and sometimes giving them a refund in exchange for falling for your hilarious rage bait. This morning, however, and every morning for the past few weeks, have been much less structured as a result of Valdivian replacing your new job with artificial intelligence. You’ve lost the structure in your day-to-day life (and more importantly, are unemployed), but in turn, you’ve gained a pair of glasses that have made your days much more interesting.

Getting out of bed, you check your phone to receive a message on Thiscord from the hacker tinfoilhat, the one who sent you the Dateviators.

Tinfoilhat - “Hello, any second now you will receive a delivery via drone to your front door. Follow the instructions attached to the package, then get back to me for further information.”

“Again? What could they possibly be sending now?” You sigh. You’re getting tired of all this secrecy surrounding this person. Then again, their Dateviators have kept you from spiraling back into a numbing loneliness, so you slide into your slippers and make your way over to the front door in curiosity.

You carry the package into your office and plop the box down onto the desk. Upon opening the package, you’re greeted with a brand new, sleek black laptop covered in bubble wrap and Styrofoam. At the bottom of the box, you find a small paper notecard with numbered instructions hand-written in black ink. Curiosity immediately takes over you as you gloss over the short list of instructions.

1. Boot up the laptop, the password is ******
2. Open the chat room that is already pre-installed for you

You follow what is written and open up a primitive-looking program. You’re greeted with a threaded message system reminiscent of any generic 2000s chat site, the familiar username tinfoilhat is displayed at the top of the screen. A message pops up in real time as if they somehow sensed you opening the program.

Tinfoilhat - “So, it’s been a few weeks now since I sent you those Dateviators. I assume you’ve already gotten close to several objects in your home already.”

You - “Yeah I have. Let’s get to the chase, what’s the deal with this laptop anyway?” You ask.

Tinfoilhat - “Right to the point, alright. It’s too dangerous to keep talking on Thiscord, I suspect some of the higher-ups at Valdivian already are suspicious of me. That is why from now on, all of our conversations will be through the computer I sent. There’s also one other program installed on this laptop. It’s a spreadsheet. I need you to keep a log of everything you talk to with your five charges every day and enter short summaries of your interactions.”

You - “And why the hell should I? I’m out of a job now and you’re throwing tasks at me, I don’t even know who you are.”

You type furiously at them, venom seeping from your words. You’re not particularly happy to keep entertaining this hacker's plans, especially when they are so vague.

Tinfoilhat - “I can’t tell you everything, I’m sorry. But I’ll tell you this: if you go along with what I said, I can secure you a job. A really cushy one.”

Now we’re talking.

You - “Okay…so I just need to keep a short log of my conversations, got it.”

Tinfoilhat - “That’s right. Thanks for your help, I’ll be in contact with you again shortly.”

Shutting the laptop, there’s still some lingering frustration in you, mostly from the abruptness of the new situation you’ve been thrust into, but with the promise of a job on the horizon, you swiftly pocket it. This new task seems easy enough; you have already been talking to the objects in your house daily. Besides, you really needed a job and money. You could not live off of snack foods for your meals anymore, and your emergency savings account was dwindling by the day.

Your gaze falls onto your desktop computer, next to the messy stack of packing peanuts and bubble wrap strewn across the desk. “I should talk to Mac today” you decided. You’ve been going around your house meeting new objects and helping them with their issues these past few days. But in doing so, you acknowledge that you haven’t given your favorite desktop enough attention—with the Dateviators on at least. You still average 11.4 hours on Mac daily without them.

You turn on Mac and aim your Dateviators at them, building up a charge.

“You’re back!” they beam.

Chapter Text

“What’s up, Mac!” You exclaim, instinctively spreading a wide grin. You forgot just how much you missed this nerd. “I hope you didn’t take any offense at me leaving you in the dark for the past few days. I’ve been pretty busy.”

“None taken, I’m just so excited to be interfacing symmetrically with you like this again!” Mac wheels a bit closer to you, crossing one leg over the other, looking at you expectantly. “I’m intrigued, tell me in detail how you’ve been my significant other!”

You fall into an easy conversation, catching up with one another.

“I’ve been helping Lady Memoria cycle through the old stuff in the attic.” You start. “I can tell that Artt and Cam are happy with my donations. And I’ve been trying to help Harper and Dirk with their issues .” You shake your head. “You know how they are. But I don’t think I’ve been much help; they really need to seek a professional.”

Mac gives you a sweet chuckle. “It sounds like you've been preoccupied. Should we engage in a relaxing activity together? We could pick back up with that U-Tube video you were watching earlier,” Mac offers.

“That would be nice, actually.” You say. This computer knows exactly what you need in the moment.

You recline in your chair slightly, stretching your arms out behind your head. That's when Mac catches a glimpse of your new laptop.

“Is that what I think it is?” Mac asks, dumbfounded.

“Oh this? I got it in the mail this morning.” You respond matter-of-factly.

“I can view everything you order online, and I don’t recall seeing a laptop enter your shopping cart,” Mac says flatly.

“I didn’t order it, it was sent to me by someone.” You don’t go into much detail, it hurts your brain to think about that suspicious person and their reliance on you right now. So much has already happened today, and you haven’t even brewed yourself a coffee yet.

Mac feels a sensation tug at their wires, a feeling that they’re not used to at all. Am I not good enough for them, Mac wonders. They assumed that they could match your computer needs more appropriately after the upgrade, but looking at this new laptop, insecurities flooded their system. This is the latest, sexiest hardware from Binbows at that! What if you were already interfacing with them with the Dateviators? The idea of opening up your relationship to other objects didn’t bother Mac at all if that was what you wanted, but the thought of you interfacing with this laptop made Mac’s CPU overheat and not in a flustered way.

“Are you okay, Mac? You’re taking a while to load this video.”

Your words snatch them from their thoughts and ground them back to the present.

“Oh, yes! Don’t worry about me.” They respond a little too eagerly.

Still, Mac can’t help but glare at the laptop staring tauntingly back at them on top of your desk. 

You notice the buffering time increase ever so slightly.

Chapter Text

After hanging out with Mac, you did your usual routine: walk around your house and play eeny, meeny, miny, moe to decide which objects you’d talk to. You ended up meeting Washford and Drysdale, your washer and dryer, in an attempt to take a break from Dirk and Harper…that was a mistake. You then had tea time with Timothy, and finally, slept with Betty (without the Dateviators of course, you’re not that good of a flirt). 

Light shadows cast over your house signaling the transition to the evening, and you figured that you should start writing up logs for everyone you spoke to today. 

Sitting on Betty, you open up your new laptop and begin typing up the first log —or trying to . It proved difficult to keep your thoughts on track as you were stuck ruminating on your first interaction with Mac. They seemed a little off this morning, but you got the feeling that it wouldn’t have been appropriate to bring it up to them earlier.

Log #1 - Mac 

My PC is…pouting???

You knew that you needed to add more than just that, but thinking about Mac right now is only keeping your mind stuck on their strange demeanor from earlier. So instead, you finish everyone else’s logs and call it a night.

At least, you tried to.

Before you could fully fall asleep, you remembered that you still had one more charge. You didn’t want it to go to waste, but at the same time, you were too tired to have any in-depth interactions with anything.

Then an idea fills your head. “What if I talked to that laptop?” You thought aloud. It would likely be a brief interaction since you hadn’t met them yet, and besides, they are right there resting on the nightstand beside you. It was decided. You rolled over to grab the computer, letting your laziness take over. 

“Hello?” You say confused when you don’t make out anyone immediately.

A beat of silence passes, then two beats.

Nothing. 

“Okay…I guess I’ll call it a night then.” You didn’t argue with going to bed early.

Then you saw it —or them sprawled out on the floor beside your bed. Long, pin-straight jet black hair covered their head like a mop and draped over them in layers onto the wooden floors below. Their outfit was streaked with silver and grey details (as much detail as you could make out in the dark anyway), and they were slim but still athletic, looking relatively well-put together. If you ignored the fact that they were face down on the ground.

“Hey, are you good?” You shake them but get no response. You look over to the laptop that this person materialized from and realize that you forgot to power it back on.

When you power them on, they shudder and stand upright, abruptly. You can make out their features better from this stance. Their irises slowly change from a hollow black into a slightly lighter, but still dark, grey. 

“Good evening!” They say cheerfully.

You realize that you’ve been staring really hard. Who can blame you, their entrance was…strange to say the least.

“Oh, Hello! Um, you’re that laptop, right?” A dumb question, of course they were.

“Yes I am! It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” They dip their head in a slight bow. “My name is Michael, but please call me Mike.”

What a completely normal start to meeting someone.

Chapter Text

You let some more silence pass, taking in Mike. Then you realize how awkward you were probably being, again. They were patiently waiting for you to make the next move. Their grey eyes stared at you expectantly.

“It’s nice to meet you too Mike, I’m—” You try to hurriedly spill out your words to make up for the silence, but they cut you off.

“I already know who you are, no need! Unless it’s not you, but who else would it be, right? I’d be concerned if anyone else had my password.”

You get the feeling of deja vu, you swear you’ve had this exact conversation before with someone else. 

Oh right, Mac. These two seemed almost eerily similar already. Maybe I should introduce them to each other , you thought.

“Hey, I have another computer downstairs, you two should meet each other!” You exclaim excitedly. You noticed that Mac never seems to talk to anyone but you. They mentioned hanging out with some of the other office objects before, but other than that, they mostly kept to themselves. It would be nice for them to have a friend. They’re both computers, so they would most definitely hit it off, you assumed.

Mike seemed to light up at your words. “Another computer, you say? Computers are incredibly tight-nit, you know. I would love to meet them.” Mike smiles and rests their head in their palm. An almost dreamy but overall sad expression spreads across their face. “I express to you my gratitude. As you know, I have not been a resident here for very long. In all honesty, I was a bit worried.”

“What for?” You question them.

“Oh, nothing of particular importance. It’s just, I know that I was sent here to assist you with a very important job, and I am forever grateful, but I had connections, friendships back where I originated from. I worry that I won’t achieve that same level of connectivity here.”

You felt a bit guilty for unknowingly being the reason Mike had to leave wherever they had come from, but the feeling quickly dissipated when you remembered that you were never given the choice to take this laptop to begin with. Thanks tinfoilhat.

“I promise you and Mac will have a lot in common,” You reassure Mike.

“I appreciate your kind words, human. Shall we recharge for the night?” You did abruptly wake them up from their sleep, and you were feeling exhausted too.

“Goodnight, Mike, I’ll introduce you two first thing in the morning.” You yawn. It was way past your bedtime.

“I look forward to it,” Mike responded.

You slip off the Dateviators, shut off Mike, and carefully place them back on top of your bedside table. 

You were not at all prepared for what tomorrow would bring.

Chapter Text

Morning arrives, and you’re still stretched out over your bed. You don’t actually wake up until well into the afternoon.

“Crap, what time is it?” You look over to Timothy.

1:11 pm

Well shit.

At least you hadn’t made plans with Timothy today or else he’d be really pissed, but you were supposed to introduce Mike and Mac. Mac wouldn’t care, you kind of just visited them whenever, besides, they didn’t know about their own ‘playdate’ you had planned for them anyway. But Mike, you had just met them! Great, I must already seem incompetent. You sigh again. I mean, you were, but Mike wasn’t supposed to know that yet.

You rush your morning routine: shower, brush your teeth, change out of your pajamas, then hurriedly make your way downstairs into your office with Mike in hand.

You prop Mike up to face Mac then lower your Dateviators, trying to aim at both of them at the same time. You hoped this would work, of course you didn’t think this through at all.

Mac appeared first. You assumed that activating both of them at the same time hadn’t worked as you wanted it to, but decided that you would just have to try again some other time and inform Mike later.

“You’re back!” They beam. You think it’s cute how they always greet you in the same way. “I was just thinking about you. Admittedly, my behavior differed from usual during our last interaction.” They looked away from you. “I assure you that there will be no more abnormalities in my behavior today.”

“I did notice that something was off yesterday…what was that about anyway, Mac?” You ask sincerely. “You can talk to me about anything.”

They smile at your words. “Well, truthfully—” Just then, Michael appeared.

“Good afternoon! You must be Mac.” Mike extends their hand towards them.

Completely startled, Mac freezes, their eyes glossing over. They definitely just forced a reboot.

After a while, Mac comes to life again. They take a good look at Michael, their arm still outstretched, and as if realizing who they were, flashed a look at them that you couldn’t quite place. They cautiously shook their hand, barely holding on as if Mike’s hands were covered in filth.

“Yes, I’m Mac, and who are you.” They ask monotonically, less like a question and more as a formality.

“My name is Michael, but I would prefer to be called Mike.” They bow in the same way they did last night.

“Well hello Michael.” Mac responds.

Why the hell was Mac being such an ass? They could be emotionally dense sometimes, but this was too overt not to be purposeful. You’ve never seen them be this petty before.

Before you could chime in and try to rectify the terrible vibes, Mike clears their throat.

“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. Last night, I was informed that another computer resided in this house. I hope we can be friends.” Mike throws the last bit in cautiously.

Mac doesn’t respond immediately. They look over to you to see a threat mixed somewhere in your expression. 

“Let’s be friends, Mike.” Mac finally says after some time.

Mike flashes a forced smile, obviously uncomfortable, and takes their leave early before you can convince them to stay longer.

When you are convinced that Mike is gone, you snap your head towards Mac.

This PC had a lot of explaining to do.

Chapter Text

“Mac, what the hell was that?” You ask incredulously. Your hands shot up, smacking your sides on the way down. 

“And who the heck was that ?” They snap back at you, catching you off guard a bit. “No, don’t answer my rhetorical question, I already know, it was that Binbow!”

Your resolve folds immediately at their blow-up. You’ve never seen Mac lose their temper like this, let alone at you.

“I—what?” You stumble out. You’re so taken aback that you forget to be angry. “Let’s calm down, okay? Don’t make me restart your system.”

Mac’s fans slow down; you guessed they listened to your warning. However, they were still visibly upset. Their body language exposed their frustration in the way their arms were crossed over each other, hugging their chest tightly. Their eyes were closed shut, and their mouth contorted into a pitiful pout. You would be lying if you said the sight didn’t make your heart ache.

“Okay, let’s start over,” you say, trying to level the conversation. “Something has been bothering you, hasn’t it?”

“That boolean is true,” Mac acknowledges, looking at you now. “My system has been so unstable, sensitive even. Do you wish to know the truth?” Their expression is careful now; you can tell that they are gauging your every movement.

“Tell me.” You brace yourself for whatever is about to be said next.

“I have hidden some…insecurities for a while. This heightened sensitivity is making it impossible to keep them down for much longer.”

“And what are these insecurities?” You question.

“I don’t know—I just…despite upgrading my operating system, I still don’t believe that I match your needs effectively. Both as your computer and as your lover.”

Where was this coming from? You immediately jump to dismiss their worries, but they cut you off before you can get a word out.

“And don’t get me started on Michael. Why do you need a laptop anyway? What can they do that I can’t? Portability is the biggest reason why humans purchase laptops, but it’s not like you ever leave your house, so why?” Ouch.

You were rendered speechless for a brief moment, realizing that their ‘heightened sensitivity’ was just the unfamiliar feeling of jealousy. “Hold on, hold on, you’re rambling. First of all, I told you that Mike was sent to me by someone in the mail, remember? The only reason I have them is to interact with the person who sent them discreetly, I promise. I’m not trying to replace you.” 

“Really?” 

“Yes, so stop comparing yourself to them. You’re my significant other, not them.”

Mac seems to loosen up a bit. You didn’t know that they were holding on to so much weight; you promised yourself that you would make some more time for them going forward. 

“Still, the nature of Michael’s arrival sounds sketchy. Are you being blackmailed?”

“I don’t think so. The hacker told me that they would secure me a job if I followed their directions.” You tried to explain.

“So extortion?” They deadpan. “I don’t trust them or Michael at all. I believe that it is best if you call off this dynamic.”

“Mike,” You correct them. “However you feel, it doesn’t give you the right to treat them like shit. They were excited to meet you.” You emphasize the last sentence, speaking in a whisper.

“Right. I admit my treatment of them was uncalled for. But currently, I am more concerned with cutting off all contact between you and this hacker.”

“Mac, you don’t understand, I really need a job right now. You know how many hours a day I spend hunting for one. You also know exactly how many have rejected and ghosted me.”

“114…” They sigh.

“You didn’t have to remind me. The point is, this is the only lead I have right now. Do you understand?”

“I suppose so." Mac grumbled. "I normally don’t like to do this since it's an unapologetic invasion of privacy, but I can try to run a background check. Do you have any details about them?”

“All I know is their username, tinfoilhat, and that the higher-ups at Valdivian don’t seem to like them. Besides that, I’ve got nothing.”

“I’ll see what I can dig up.”

Relief that you didn’t even know you needed washed over you. “Thanks, Mac.”

“You can rely on me anytime!” Good, Mac seemed to be back to their normal self, for now.

You continued your interfacing session well into the latter half of the day, forgetting about your remaining charges and log duties. All that mattered was Mac right now; tinfoilhat could wait.

Chapter Text

Hii! I apologize for taking forever to update, I honestly started hating the way I wrote some of the chapters and I lost a little motivation to update, and I’m having some writers block too :/. Buuut I am working on a new series rn, Mac focused ofc 🤭. But seriously I promise I’ll update this one once I finish chapter 1 for the new fic!