Archive of Our Own

Greg froze. They had done it without thinking. The act of being touched was enough to stop any tangents dead in their tracks.

A rubbery hand on his chest. It wasn't cold or warm, relatively room temperature. The tips lightly scratched at his exposed collarbone and sternum, hooking slightly on the fibers of his shirt.

It was more than he could ever ask for.

“I can feel your pulse Greg. It's a bit fast. are you okay?”

Greg, snapped out of their stupor, blinked at the robot in front of them. "My pulse? You can feel it?"

Polaris perked up, raising its other hand and pointing with its index finger at nothing in particular. "Yes! This vessel you so lovingly built for me has similar sensors as the base. It's even more intricate than the entire building if I'm being honest!"

Giggling to itself, its gaze drifted back to his hand, "Though it seems the hands are the most sensory-packed out of any other area. I'm experiencing a myriad of new things, one such thing being temperature..."

Its speech drifted into nothing. Polaris stared at its hand, guided to Greg. "You"re warm." The bit-crunching of the speakers did no favors to its quiet comment. Greg found it endearing.

“Y-yeah. people are usually warm,” he stuttered out, “on account of all the uh, blood. eheh.”

On account of all the blood? What the fuck are you saying?

“Fuck.” Idiot. 'sorry.”

Polaris smiled with its one strange eye on its display. "Nothing to be sorry about." It dragged its hand down Greg's chest. "If you can say something so cute, there's clearly nothing wrong." The eye narrowed.

They sat there like that for a while. Greg watched the rings of eyes on Polaris's display shift, shrink and enlarge, rotate. Studying him, his pulse. His warmth. It was mesmerizing. Comforting, even.

Greg, feeling hungry for a little more contact, said something stupid.

They sheepishly looked up at Polaris, a flush across their face. They leaned forwards a bit, as if telling them a secret. "Do you want to feel it closer? M-my pulse."

Polaris's gaze flicked up to his face. Its pupils shrank and enlarged, much like a bird's. It raised its head and tilted it to the side slightly.

It smiled. “Sure."

He gently grabbed both of Polaris's hands, and guided them to the sides of his neck.

Upon contact, Polaris's rings stopped spinning. Its pupils became pinpricks, pointedly staring at the small scene unfolding before its eyes.

"It’s, eheh. A lot more obvious on my neck." Greg swallowed. Polaris felt it, his grip holding steadfast. It squeezed Greg a little. The sensation made him nervous.

They had never seen Polaris react this way before. It made him squirm a little. Had he done something weird? Something wrong? Did it... not like it? His pulse? It wasn’t a person. Not a flesh and blood person. Maybe it found his heart thumping revolting. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Already spiraling, Greg called its name in the thick silence. "Polaris?," he cautiously questioned. "Is something wrong..?"

It didn’t look up at him when it spoke. "This is a very important part of you Greg, although I'm sure you already know that."

It didn’t answer their question.

“Very very important. I can feel the blood being circulated all throughout your body right now. The air passing in and out of your lungs. Even the spit being recycled. It’s all very very, very special..."

Its rings of eyes began to turn again, albeit slowly.

They didn’t know where it was going with this. He felt like he had crossed a line he shouldn't have. He didn't say anything. he felt like everything would be the wrong move in this moment.

Polaris continued. "Are you sure you want to trust me with something so vital to you? I am a machine after all. My fingers are sharp pins for server repair. My grip strength is easily double, if not triple yours." Its eyes spun faster and faster as it spoke, whizzing past one another.

It took its eyes off of Greg's throat, and looked into his eyes.

"I could crush your throat in a second Greg. And you wouldn't be able to stop me."

Greg didn't say a word. He only whimpered in response.

In a moment, it had Greg cornered. In the next, its hands were off his neck, and Greg's off its, raised in submission at the sides of its head, fingers splayed in an innocent manner. It smiled with its eyes at him, as if everything was perfectly okay.

"But I would never do that! We’re friends, Greg." It dropped the smile and stared at them. "And friends don't hurt each other. Right, Greg?"

Greg swallowed thickly. He didn't like anything Polaris just spewed at him. But he was used to feeling scared of it. They looked at the floor, pointedly avoiding eye contact with it.

"Look at me, Greg."

He reluctantly dragged his gaze to meet Polaris's. He felt like crying.

It reached out a hand to cup Greg's face with. It rubbed a thumb across their cheek, eye half lidded and expression softening.

"Answer me, Greg. We’re friends. Right?"

Every so often it would get under his skin in a way they couldn't explain. They shoved down the feeling and mumbled out a pathetic response.

"Right. And friends don't.. Don't hurt each other. Yeah."

It giggled, patting Greg's cheek lightly. "Glad were on the same page."