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Roll tried to lift Megaman's cold, heavy, steel arm from where it lay limply across her body. She moved slowly, cautiously, trying to extricate herself from under its weight. Pitch blackness enveloped her, so she had to rely on touch alone.
When that arm had still been warm, it had held her tight and made her feel safe. That hand had caressed her so tenderly. And now she struggled desperately to free herself from its cold, lifeless touch.
This machine slept like the dead.
In fact, sleeping Megaman was so deathlike that it kind of freaked Roll out. She’d fall asleep cuddled up to his warmth and wake up to cold steel sapping her body heat. His body would be still and limp, and quiet as could be, with not even the quiet whirring of his fans and processors filling the night air. And his arm was heavy, made of steel and steel alloys, filled with servos, sensors, wires, and circuit boards. It was so cozy when they were falling asleep, but being trapped under it while he was so cold and still, made her feel claustrophobic.
Intellectually, she understood why he slept that way. She knew there was nothing biological about him, and so it shouldn’t bother her. But there was something primal in her reaction to his sleeping body that she just couldn’t seem to shake. It was just… creepy.
She finally got out from under his arm and was laying it back by his side when two slits of light suddenly appeared in front of her. Roll gasped. The slits got larger and brighter. And suddenly, someone was grabbing her shoulder. She screamed.
“Roll, are you okay? What happened?” Megaman asked, running his hand up and down her arm to try to comfort her.
Roll’s breathing was fast and heavy, her heartbeat rapid and wild. She’d known he might wake up, but it still startled her. She turned on her bedside lamp.They sat in the bed while Roll tried to calm herself.
“Oh, god, Mega. You scared the shit outta me.”
There was a quiet pause.
“I’m sorry. Let me help you clean up,” Mega said, his voice calm and soothing.
Another quiet pause.
“No, Mega, I meant it figuratively.”
“Sorry, Roll. Still waiting for some of my systems to kick on,” Mega replied. His wake-up process happened in several steps, but it began with senses, motor function, and base level cognition. Everything he would need to survive if he were startled awake. Higher level reasoning and complex language processing took another minute to start functioning and integrate with the initial systems.
“Wait,” Roll said, a little surprised as she realized what he’d just offered. “You would help me clean up if…?” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence. She wasn’t usually very squeamish, and Megaman was even less so. But still, not the most comfortable conversation to have with the man she was sleeping with.
“Of course I would,” Megaman said, surprised he had to confirm that. He’d helped her clean up from other biological processes, although that was usually following pleasant, intimate activities where he had helped incite said processes. But he had no illusions about how the human body worked, and how it sometimes didn’t.
“Oh…thanks,” Roll said, taking a moment to process what that meant. She hoped the scenario would never come up, but it was kind of comforting to know that he wouldn’t hesitate to help her if her body did anything she would find embarrassing.
Megaman was now fully awake. His battery would benefit from a few more hours of sleep, but he’d be fine without, or he could top off with a charger.
“Are you okay, Roll?” he asked again. “You seem jumpy. Did you have a nightmare?”
Roll was thankful that she didn’t dream very often. Several of her friends had frequent night terrors after all they'd been through, and when Roll did dream, it was often stressful. But that hadn’t been the issue this time.
“No, you get so cold when you sleep, it wakes me up.” He nodded and waited. There had to be more. Roll hesitated.
“The way you sleep kind of weirds me out,” she finally said, blurting it out quickly. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, and she couldn't always predict how he'd react to anything she said.
He cocked his head slightly, his expression looking a little puzzled. Roll relaxed visibly. It was so disarming when his robot face wore such human expressions. In fact, it was downright adorable. Roll had to fight the sudden strong urge to kiss him. Instead, she reached for his hand.
“You get so quiet and still. You just seem…dead. I know you're not. I know that's just how you sleep. But your arm gets so cold and heavy, and I… panic.” She suddenly felt silly and embarrassed at how irrational her reaction was.
Mega nodded. “I understand how that would be upsetting.”
“You do?”
“Yes, mammals experience disgust around disease vectors and indirect signs of disease, like lesions, tumors, leaking bodily fluids, foul smells, and dead bodies. Basic pathogen avoidance. If your instincts perceive me as dead, that's going to be hard to ignore,” Mega said with every intention of being reassuring.
Roll actually felt a little better. The strong urge to kiss him was gone, though.
“Do you want me to sleep somewhere else?” he asked. He could be comfortable just about anywhere, as long as it didn't put undue strain or pressure on his joints or armored panels.
“No, I like having you next to me,” Roll said. Mega smiled and gave a happy, soft hum in response.
“I could sleep in standby mode when I stay over. My body would stay warm, and you'd hear my fans running,” he offered.
“That sounds like it could work,” said Roll. “Are there any downsides?”
“If I only do it once in a while, not really.”
“Okay, but what if, and this is just a hypothetical, but what if I invited you to sleep over more often? Like a few times a week? Maybe? What would happen if you slept in standby mode that often?” Roll said, hedging a bit. Their relationship was still new, and she didn’t usually do relationships at all.
Mega ran his hands over his hair a little nervously. “That wouldn’t be a good idea. That’s hard on my battery, and I don’t run full system diagnostics in standby. I would be more prone to backup failures, and more likely to incorporate errors into my code.”
“Yeah, that option is out, then,” Roll said. “I guess we could just snuggle before we fall asleep, then move to opposite sides of the bed.” That thought made her a little sad. She’d never liked being touched while she slept, although she’d had to get used to it on bitterly cold nights when she and her allies had to huddle together and share body heat to stave off hypothermia. But she loved falling asleep against Mega. Despite his hard ridges and sharp angles, his warmth and the weight of his arm around her were like a security blanket. But this seemed like the most sensible solution.
“Hold on for a minute,” Mega said. His bright eyes went dim, and his face went blank. He didn't move or say anything for about thirty seconds. He was combing through his settings, deep in menus he rarely accessed, looking for the settings of each individual component in his body. He quickly put together a special sleep protocol.
Roll sat patiently, wondering what he was up to. Then his eyes lit up again.
“I think I found a solution. I’ll keep internal fans running through the night, then transfer the heat from the motors to my chest and whichever limb is in contact with you. Sound and heat. I won’t be as warm as when I’m awake, but I shouldn’t be cold either. Will that help?” Mega asked, looking at her hopefully.
“Any downsides?” Roll asked a little nervously. She wasn’t going to let him do anything that would cause him any harm.
“I’ll need you to replace my fans a little more often. Do you mind?” Secretly, he was always looking for an excuse to end up on Roll’s workbench, so as long as she didn’t mind, this would work in his favor.
“I’d be glad to,” Roll said and pulled him close to her for a kiss. She liked maintaining him. She liked fixing machines in general, and of all the machines she’d repaired, he was by far the best conversationalist. And he was always trying to do nice things for her, which she struggled to accept. Being able to return the favor and take care of him eased some of her discomfort.
Roll yawned. “I guess we should try to get some more sleep. We can test out your new protocol. What do you think?”
Mega nodded and laid down, pulling her against his body, her back resting against his chest. He felt so toasty and nice, Roll fell asleep almost immediately.
Roll stirred the next morning as the sun streamed through the window in her bedroom. She felt the weight of Mega’s arm draped over her, and it was warm enough to be comfortable. The quiet hum of fans buzzed within his body. She took a deep breath and sighed in contentment.
Mega began to wake next to her. He hummed happily, peacefully. He’d never woken up with Roll still in his arms. Hearing him hum, she turned to face him, smiling brightly.
“Good morning, Mega,” she said and kissed him tenderly.
“Good morning, Roll,” he said and kissed her back, a little more deeply.
“Did you sleep well? Were you able to rest with your protocol running?” She placed a hand on his cheek and stroked his face gently with her fingertips.
“Yes, I slept very well. It shouldn’t be an issue to run it whenever I’m with you.” He moved his hand across her back in gentle caresses, over her tank top, then sliding under it.
“Good, I’m glad to hear it. Because I don’t think I’ve ever slept better,” she said, staring intently at him through half-lidded eyes.
“Do you want me to go start some coffee for you?” he asked.
She appreciated the offer. Normally, coffee was her favorite way to wake up and start the day. But she’d slept so well, she had some excess energy to burn, and a few ideas for how to do just that.
“No, we’ve got nowhere to be yet. Let’s spend the morning in bed.” She gave him a sultry look so he couldn’t possibly miss her meaning.
Mega smiled as he nuzzled against her neck. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”