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Megaman unlocked and opened the door, a small box holding everything he owned tucked under his arm. Roll followed him into his new apartment and looked around, inspecting the walls, floors, and outlets for any sign of damage. The apartment was a fairly large, unfurnished, open studio.
She tried the kitchen appliances and the light switches to make sure they all worked. She used her multimeter to check all the outlets and took down notes on every scuff and scratch. She’d been burned by slumlords before, so she never took any chances. Fortunately, the apartment was in good shape.
Mega had set down his box. All it contained was a few changes of clothes and a handful of books. He'd lived in temporary housing provided by the resistance since after the battle for the city, and didn't have the space or the need to own much else.
A bed and a couch were scheduled to be delivered the next day. It felt very empty, but Mega didn't mind too much. Roll was going to take him to some stores and markets where he could find furniture and household goods.
Mega wasn't really sure what he needed. He and Dr. Light had lived in an abandoned tenement, and Light had been something of a pack rat, at least when it came to electronics, tools, and scrap metal. They each had a bed, there were a couple mismatched chairs, some lamps, and Light's workbench. Other than that, they scavenged for what they needed as the need arose.
Mega and Roll headed out, Mega locking the door behind him. He followed her to a pickup truck they were borrowing from their friend and Mega's boss, Frank. It was old with a few rust spots, but Frank vouched for its reliability. Mega hoisted himself into the passenger side, and Roll slid behind the wheel.
She knew the city like the back of her hand. She'd been navigating across the city for years, and she had to know every back alley and side street to avoid Wily's patrollers.
She also knew where to find good deals. The people of the city had to be either rich or resourceful. Pop up flea markets selling used goods, counterfeit merchandise, and contraband appeared sporadically all over the city. They had to set up fast and be able to make a quick break for it if any patrollers showed up.
Without the threat of Wily's robots, the markets had become a little more fixed and predictable. City infrastructure was still being built up and organized, and there was talk of trying to set up sanctioned markets, but that was not the most urgent priority, and there was still disagreement among emerging city leaders on how to encourage more progressive economic systems. So for now, the mostly unregulated flea markets were still a good way to find a good deal, as long as you weren't too picky.
“Now, Mega, if you see anything you want, tell me, but don't act like you want it. And let me do all the talking,” Roll said as she navigated the truck through a familiar neighborhood. She knew how to haggle, and she knew when to walk away from a bad deal. And every once in a while, being willing to walk away was how you got a good deal.
She thought about trying to teach Mega how to negotiate for himself, but he wasn't great at hiding his feelings, and he avoided confrontation at all costs. He would likely get fleeced if left to his own devices. Besides, she kind of enjoyed the hunt for a good bargain.
“Why would I hide that I want something? If I'm trying to buy it, wouldn't that indicate I do want it?” Mega asked, confused.
Yep, he would definitely get fleeced.
“Well, yes, but you have to act like you don't want it that badly. The first price they tell you is going to be way too high. If you let on that you want it, you lose your leverage,” Roll explained.
“So they artificially inflate the price?” Mega asked.
“Yes, that's right,” Roll replied.
“But they're willing to accept a lower price?”
“Yes, but only if you pretend you don't want it.”
“And everyone does that? Everyone pretends?”
“Pretty much,” Roll responded.
“But if everyone pretends, then wouldn't the vendors know that you're pretending?” Mega asked, puzzled.
“I guess so. But if you show that you want it, they'll assume you'll be willing to pay more, and they won't lower their price as much.”
“But they would already know that I want it if I asked about purchasing it,” Mega said, struggling to wrap his mind around the expectations.
“No, they know you’re interested in knowing the price,” Roll said.
“But the price they will tell me is not the actual price they expect me to pay?”
“Right.”
Mega went silent as he tried to process the discussion. Roll sighed. Megaman was honest. He had integrity. She liked those qualities in him. But they were liabilities at the flea market.
“Look, just tell me quietly if you see something you’re interested in. I’ll handle the negotiation. Once I get us to a fair price, I’ll check with you. If you’re okay with the price, just nod, and give me the cash. And try to keep a straight face,” Roll said as she pulled the truck into a street parking spot.
Roll was about to open the door, but Mega stopped her by putting a hand over hers
“Wait, I still have questions,” he said, his doubt and confusion showing on his face. Roll wasn’t sure whether to find it frustrating or endearing. She settled on endearing, at least for the moment.
“Okay, go ahead.”
“What if I’m fine with paying the initial price?” Megaman asked.
“Well, the initial price isn’t the real price. It’s the price they want to try to get you to pay so they make more money, but they expect you to haggle them down.”
Mega grew warm, his confusion over the whole situation driving his processors into overdrive to work it out. Roll was a little worried about that. If he started giving off heat, it was likely to make people nervous. Enough people would probably already be nervous enough just from having a robot nearby.
“So they wouldn’t sell it to me at the initial price?” he asked.
“No, they would. They would love to do that. But it’s a bad price. They’re overcharging you,” Roll explained.
“Do these vendors need the money?” Mega asked. “What if they need the extra money more than I do? I’m making enough to cover all of my expenses with a lot left over.”
Roll studied his face and considered his words. She let out a deep sigh, not out of exasperation or frustration. Rather it was a sigh of resignation, but there was affection in it, too.
Roll had lived in poverty while involved in the resistance movement. She’d had to fight hard for every scrap she had. She often went to bed hungry, and she rarely bought anything that wasn’t a necessity. The only luxuries she allowed herself were the occasional case of beer and industrial size cans of coffee grounds that she always went through far faster than she meant to. She was generous with what little she had, and she was glad to share food or money with those who had less. But buying things at these flea markets had become a battle ground. By haggling shrewdly, she could stretch her limited means just a little bit further. She had lived in survival mode for years, and she kept forgetting that she didn't have to anymore. She didn't really know how else to live anymore.
Mega's perspective reminded her how much everything had changed for her. She had a good job, she could pay her bills with money left over, she no longer went hungry. And Mega was doing well for himself, and had few expenses. He could afford to spend a little extra on used furniture that would still be much cheaper than buying new. There were certainly stalls at the market that actively sought to take advantage of others, but most of the vendors were just trying to make ends meet.
“Okay, if they offer you a price that you're okay with, go ahead and accept it.”
They got out of the truck and walked down the street to the market. It was noisy and crowded, bustling with cutthroat bargain hunters and idle browsers. Mega found the crowd overwhelming. He tried to focus on scanning for things that might be helpful to have in his apartment, but he struggled to process all the unfamiliar sensory input. Luckily, Roll was in her element.
She subtly pointed out a pair of side tables for sale. They were painted a rather sickly shade of green, and the paint was scratched and peeling. But after a quick inspection, they seemed well made, and they could easily be repainted.
“What do you think?” she asked, speaking so softly that only Mega would be able to hear her.
“What are they for?” he asked. His language corpus cross-referenced with an image repository, so he identified them as side tables, but he didn't really understand the purpose.
“You can put them on either end of your couch,” she said softly.
“And then what?”
“You can put table lamps on them. Or use them to store your coasters. Or…” She thought for a moment, trying to think about what Mega might actually be able to use them for. His eyes didn't really need light to function, they created their own, so he might not care about lamps. He didn't drink anything, so he wouldn't use coasters.
But she wanted to visit him in his home, and she would use a lamp, and she would want a place to keep a drink nearby.
“Do you think I should get them?” Mega asked. He still wasn't sure they were necessary for him, but he trusted Roll's judgement.
“I think they'd be nice after a fresh coat of paint. Want me to ask what they want for them?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Roll talked to the vendor, and she was surprised by how inexpensive they were. She looked back at Mega who nodded and then pulled the money out of his pocket to pay for the tables.
It was then that Roll realized the flaw in her plan. They had borrowed the pickup truck to transport the furniture back to Mega's place. However, they couldn't just leave the furniture sitting in the truck bed while they continued to browse. There was little chance they'd still be there when they returned. She mentioned her concern to Mega, who just shrugged and carried the end tables under his arm.
Carrying the end tables worked well enough as they continued to browse. They slowly added to their load with a table lamp, a stereo console, a set of four metal framed dining chairs, and a blue braided fiber area rug. Mega kept asking the purpose for the items Roll pointed out, and Roll had mixed success describing functions for the items that he could relate to. But he trusted her, and he was furnishing his home with her needs in mind as much as his own. Probably more.
Mega looked more and more absurd, carrying the large load of furniture, everything balanced carefully. Roll had offered to help, but he only allowed her to carry the lamp and rug. Roll was impressed by how gracefully he moved, even with the awkward stack in his arms. People stared, and an obnoxious teen with a shit-eating grin even tried to trip Mega by hooking his foot with his own. But Mega reacted quickly and placed his foot down, shifting his weight to maintain the balance of his tower of housewares. Instead, it was the teen who fell, not expecting Mega's sudden and decisive movement.
“You should watch where you're going,” Mega said, an edge to his voice. “You don't want to hurt yourself.”
Roll watched with a smirk as the kid scrambled up and ran in a panic. She suspected he didn't realize he was messing with a robot until Mega spoke. He wore boots and jeans, and his face was mostly obscured behind everything he carried. But his synthesized voice was unmistakable.
It was now getting late in the day. Many of the vendors had packed up and gone home, and others were just starting to get ready to do the same. Roll was feeling good about their finds. Mega had spent a little more money than what she thought was fair, but he was pleased with the transactions.
They had just decided that it was time to call it a day when Mega spotted a beautiful dresser. It stood out from the rest of the wares. Most of what was sold at this market was made of plastic, metal, and wood composite, painted in garish bright or industrial colors. This dresser looked to be made of solid hardwood, stained to highlight the real wood grain. Megaman couldn't take his eyes off it, and even Roll struggled to hide her admiration of the piece.
The vendors selling it were a young family with a toddler and a baby. The father was packing up their unsold wares while the mother was minding the stall. The baby slept peacefully in her mother's arms, but the toddler was sobbing softly and asking to go home.
“Shhh, honey, we'll go home soon. Daddy has to finish putting everything in the truck,” the mother murmured softly, trying to maintain her best smile for any customers who might still filter through.
The woman noticed Mega staring at the dresser. He had put down his other purchases so he could admire it.
“That's real oak,” the woman said, hoping they could make this sale so they wouldn't have to load and unload this heavy dresser again. “Go ahead and touch it. The drawers are all in real good shape, too.”
Mega looked it over carefully, examining the drawers. He was less interested in checking the quality, and more mesmerized by all the wood grain. The natural swirls and ripples of the grain reminded him of his years in the desert. That had been a time of self-exile, and he'd spent most of his time mentally punishing himself for his mistakes and shortcomings. But every once in a while, he'd indulge himself and watch a sunrise or look out at the landscape at dusk. Something about the strata of rock and the natural formations in bright shades of red and orange and yellow, lit up by the sun, or cast in irregular shadows, it was just beautiful and brought him momentary peace.
It had never made sense to him that he, a machine, an unnatural and inorganic being, could find anything beautiful, much less a landscape that had hardly been touched by man. Something deep in the training data that had refined his software must have linked natural scenes to his reward signals. Whatever it was, the wood grain was having a similar effect.
“How much is it?” Mega asked.
The woman hesitated. Partly because she was caught off guard to find herself speaking to a robot who seemed to be shopping, rather than enforcing laws or doing tasks for someone else. She had heard of the hero machine who now lived in the city, and figured this must be him.
But she also hesitated because selling that dresser was complicated for her. Many people had admired the dresser, but every one had walked away when she'd given the price, not even bothering to haggle. Her husband had tried to talk her down from the price a bit, pointing out that they could use the money sooner than later, and it was a lot to lug around. But the dresser had been in her family for generations. It was the most valuable thing she had. She hated to let it go at all, even knowing they didn't have room for it and needed the money. But seeing the way Mega looked adoringly at it, she finally spoke, naming a high price that matched the quality of the work and the rarity of the materials.
Roll’s eyebrows shot up. That was almost a month's pay for her. She knew Mega made a little more than she did, and he didn't have food or healthcare expenses, but it still seemed like a lot.
Mega didn't even hesitate. He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and counted out the money. He hadn't been able to open a bank account, due to his shaky personhood status, so all of the money he had was in cash. Roll thought about trying to stop him, trying to help him haggle, but she saw the tears in the woman's eyes as she took the money that Megaman held out to her. She quickly counted it to make sure it wasn't a trick.
“Are you sure you want to sell this?” Megaman asked, seeing her tears and seeing the loving way her eyes lingered over the dresser.
“Yes,” she said, smiling. “I'm sure. We don't have room for it. I hope you'll give it a good home.” Mega found some deep comfort in the way she clearly loved this item, this thing. He knew there were people who viewed him as a thing and to him, being a thing came with the assumption of not being loved or liked it cared about. This woman clearly felt differently.
“I'll take good care of it,” he said, returning her smile.
The woman turned to her toddler. “I think we're almost ready to go home. And let's stop and get some fresh fruit on the way home.” The toddler’s face lit up. Fresh fruit was a very rare treat, one they could afford to splurge on for an evening with the money from the dresser.
Roll watched the scene unfold, feeling a new appreciation for her boyfriend with a body of steel and silicon and a heart of gold. Her own childhood had been comfortable, with all her needs met and her pantry always full of food and treats. Her time in the resistance had shown her how most children in the city were living, and how often parents were skipping their own meals to try to keep their child fed and growing. She stepped closer to him and took his hand in hers, rubbing her fingers against his affectionately.
“That was a great find. I think you made a very good choice,” she said, referring both to the dresser itself as well as the decision to pay the full price for it.
Then she looked at the dresser, and at the pile of Mega's other purchases.
“Now how the hell are we going to get it to the truck?”
Roll offered a few suggestions, including having Mega take the dresser to the truck while she looked after his other purchases and hope no one messed with it while he came back for the rest.
Meanwhile, Mega was working on his own plan in his mind. It would take strength, precision, and balance, but he had no shortage of any of those.
While Roll was still thinking out loud, Mega started stacking furniture on top of the dresser. He draped the braided rug over the top of the dresser to protect it. Then he balanced the console on top. He placed the end tables on top of the console. Then he balanced the metal-framed chairs on his shoulders and arms, holding all four at once.
“Do you mind carrying the lamp?” he asked.
“What are you doing, Mega?” Roll asked, realizing he intended to carry it all. “Are you nuts? You're going to break something! Let me help. I can at least take an end table or the console.”
“No, I've got it,” Mega replied, looking a lot more cocky than she was used to seeing him. He often carried heavier and bulkier loads of steel parts in his arms when he was at work, so this was no problem for him.
“Oh, I see. You're showing off,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Well, I'm not fixing you if you bust a joint trying to look like a badass.”
Mega smirked from behind the stack of furniture. Outside of work, he rarely got to use his immense strength. Which was better for the longevity of his parts. But he'd seen the hungry looks of lust and awe from Roll on other occasions when he'd demonstrated his power and skill. She turned away from him to start heading towards the truck, so he couldn't see if her face wore that look of desire that he'd come to adore. He did notice a little sway in her hips as he walked behind her, betraying the thoughts his feat of strength had put into her head.
With the dresser held high, he could see where he was going between the legs of the console. Of course, that meant everything stacked on the dresser was being held in place by nothing more than friction and the downward force of gravity. He had to focus a bit, feeling for any miniscule changes in the center of mass and making micro adjustments to keep anything from slipping. Roll led the way back to the truck, keeping a fair amount of space in between her and Mega, just in case something managed to fall. She watched out for any unevenness and obstacles on their path and warned Mega, but he usually saw them before she did.
Luckily, they made it back without an incident, and Mega quickly loaded up the truck and secured their load with ratchet straps.
“How are you feeling, Mega?” Roll asked as she drove them back to his new apartment.
“About the things I bought?” Mega asked.
Roll shrugged. “Sure, about the things you bought, and the experience of the flea market, and having your own place. How do you feel?”
A low, happy hum rumbled from his voice synthesizer, and Roll smiled. That said it all.
They got back to his place, and Mega carried the furniture into his apartment while Roll kept an eye on the contents of the truck. She knew she was probably being paranoid, but she'd learned from experience that if you wanted to keep something, you'd best not take your eyes off of it.
Mega took three trips to carry everything into the apartment, and he set each item approximately where he thought it would stay. He knew the length of the couch he had ordered and used a graphing module in his eyes to measure out the space on his floor where he planned to put his couch. He set the side tables on either end of the space. The lamp sat on the end table that was closer to an outlet. The console went against the wall, and they spread the rug on the floor between the stereo and the couch space. The chairs were set in a rough square near the kitchen, facing the center as if pushed into an imaginary table.
The dresser was lovingly set against the wall near a closet in the corner where Mega intended to set up his bed when it arrived. He immediately arranged the few sets of clothes he owned in the drawers. It was really far more storage space than he anticipated needing, but he hoped that at some point, Roll would use the dresser to store a few things for when she wanted to sleep over. They both stood and admired its natural beauty for a minute, Mega humming idly.
“That was a really good find,” Roll said, her face soft and relaxed.
Mega nodded. He was still a bit transfixed by the patterns of the grain that marked the seasons and growth of the tree that had been felled to make it.
It was getting a little late, and Roll was getting hungry. “I need to go return the truck to Frank and get my motorcycle. Do you want to ride with me? You can spend the night at my place.”
“Oh, I figured since it's my first night with my own place, I would sleep here,” Mega replied.
“Up to you,” she said. “But if you do, you're on your own. Sorry, but you've got no food, and us biological beings need to eat.”
“We could get takeout,” Mega suggested. “I'll pay. It's the least I can do after all your help today.”
Roll smiled warmly. “That's a very nice offer. But you also have no bed. I know you can sleep just about anywhere, but I will wake up sore and grouchy if I try to sleep on the floor.”
“Fair point,” Mega said. He considered letting her go home alone so he could enjoy his new apartment, but then he remembered the way her hips had swayed after seeing him lift all the furniture. He noticed she'd also been taking any excuse to touch him while they were moving the furniture in, and her skin had been charged with tingling energy. He suspected if he accompanied her home, they would find a number of pleasurable ways to spend time together, and he didn't want to miss the opportunity.
“Sure, I'll ride back with you. I still want to buy you dinner. We can sit at a restaurant or get something to take to your place.”
Roll pressed herself against him and kissed him tenderly. “That's really sweet of you to offer. But you spent a lot of money today. I've got food at home. If you don't mind keeping me company while I cook, I'll just fix something when we get back.”
Mega nodded. He really wanted to do something nice for Roll. He appreciated her help, and he didn't feel like thanking her verbally was enough. But he didn't want to push.
“I'm always glad to keep you company,” he said, wrapping his strong arms around her. They kissed, deeply and passionately, a small taste of what they would likely get up to after they got settled in at Roll's place.
“Well, let's get going then,” Roll suggested. “You can stay tonight and I'll bring you home tomorrow.”
Home. That word lingered in Mega's thoughts as he grabbed his jacket, turned out the lights, and locked the door behind him. The city had begun to feel like home to him. Even though she sometimes kept him at arm’s length, Roll had begun to feel like home to him as well. But now he had a place he could call his own. It was a rental, and he didn't anticipate he would be there forever, but in that moment it was home.