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You aren’t quite sure how you ended up here. Lying motionless in a bed not your own, with large, metallic arms gently cradling your form. Keeping you close. Keeping you safe.
…keeping you there.
Which, unfortunately for you, isn’t helpful right now. The cheesy, branded alarm clock on the side table doesn’t lie; you’ve got work in an hour, and are worryingly unprepared for the day. Attempting to roll over, you hear a whine of protest from the TV wrapped around you as his arms tighten.
“C’mon, Tens…” You plead, pushing the cathode away best you can, “You know I gotta get up, so just…”
Tenna’s screen flicks on with that distinct sound you’ve grown oh-so-accustomed to, looking at you as you try to leave. He’s doing his best approximation of puppy eyes, despite not… having any in the first place. It’s oddly charming.
You have to admit, it would work on you if the situation was lower stakes. As the cathode mumbles something about it being way too early to wake up, you can’t help but find your gaze back on the clock, which quite clearly disproves his claim.
So, despite the desperate attempts to keep you there, you pry yourself out of his reluctantly loosening arms. With a sigh of relief that he let you go easily this time, you move to slide off of the TV’s bed.
As your feet hit the ground and you rise to standing, you hear the hiss of static in your ear and the warmth of a screen near your face. With a sigh, you turn to face him. You don’t want him sulking all day, but you really need to be going.
“Tenna, come on, really, I need to…”
You… need to do something, for sure. You’re positive there was just something very important that you had to do, that you had to do now. Tenna’s facing you, and you’re facing him. What was it you were just saying? You can’t pry your eyes away from the mesmerizing swirls on the cathode screen, and you just can’t seem to remember what you were doing.
“Are you okay? You just paused, and…” he says, voice clear despite how fuzzy everything else feels. “You look… cold.”
You see his smile reappear among the swirls you can’t stop staring at. He’s right, it suddenly feels very, very cold.
“It’s so early, right? Too early!” He adds, and you find yourself nodding along. The numbers on the clock are jumbled garbage, but you don’t even need to look at it to confirm. It’s so very easy to just… trust him. What were you even doing out of bed so early? You’re still so, so tired, anyways.
“So…” he starts. “Come back? Stay a little longer?” He says, with a tilt of his head. It’s phrased as a question, but you don’t even consider disobeying. There’s nowhere you’d rather be right now than with him. Why would you ever think of disobeying? He’s right, after all.
You slip back into bed, and are met with warm, comforting arms. Met with the gentle pulses of electricity running through a robotic body. Met with that handsome screen.
Met with those pretty, pretty spirals.
“There we go, doesn’t that feel better? Isn’t this nice? Say that it’s nice.”
“…’s nice… mhm.” You agree, far too groggy to think much past the warm, fuzzy haze you’ve found yourself in.
“Right! It’s nice, you feel good! See how good you feel?”
You do feel good. You can’t remember feeling good before that, but you must have felt good, otherwise Tenna wouldn’t have said you were. You feel so good. Why wouldn’t you? You’re here, you’re warm, you’re being held and being told all about how nice this is and how good you feel, why wouldn’t you listen? Why would you want to think otherwise?
Why would you ever want to think, when listening feels so easy? Why would you ever want to leave?
“You should do this more, right? Listening to me? You will, right?”
You will. You nod, a silent confirmation as you nuzzle up closer to him.
“Ah, really?! Fantastic! Yes, you’re doing so well! I knew my star contestant would come around eventually!” He says, barely able to contain his excitement as he holds you tighter.
Your bed feels so, so warm, and Tenna seems so, so happy. You seem so happy. Was there even anything wrong in the first place?
“Say you’re happy, tell me you’re enjoying this?” He commands, and you obey. His screen glows a little brighter. “I’m so happy you finally decided to listen to me, if only I could have everyone listen like this… We’d certainly get a lot more work done, haha!” He jokes. You think he’s joking, at least.
“Mhm…” you agree, sleepily, as he continues talking.
“And hey, maybe if everyone was like you, my employees might, uh… like me. A bit more. Hahaah.” He says, shrinking a little bit. “Maybe if… maybe then we’d get… better ratings.” He grows back to his previous size after that statement, pausing his speech for a moment, and leaving you with a moment of clarity.
Is he genuinely considering it..?
You aren’t given much time to think about it, as Tenna turns to you once more. The spirals swirl, and you’re once again lost in those pretty, pretty patterns. You listen.
“Say you love TV. Say you… say you need me. Say you won’t leave me.”
“Please.”
And the words spill out of you as naturally as breathing. Nothing else in the world matters right now. You’re here. You’re so happy. You’re so compliant.
You really, really do love TV.