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Penny had not liked the pink-haired, so-called roommate of Iris’s. He was mean, rude, and worst of all, he took up the majority of Iris's attention.
She hadn’t liked him at all, but he had a way of growing on you like a rust spot, always around and under-palm, making Iris laugh and smile. It's not like she couldn’t do that too - she absolutely could - but she had to admit it was sometimes nice having the help to cheer up her boy.
He was still annoying, though. Infuriating.
It was even worse when she met them.
Immaculately designed, sleek lines and oiled gears. Well maintained perfection, and of course the most ideal match for someone as excellent as her.
So why oh why did they have to be his legs? How dare he. The audacity of the pink-haired demon to stake his claim on the ones who had stolen her affections.
Lillium wakes up thrashing and ready to fight for the third time this week, kicking frantically to get a phantom weight off of him.
The weight flies across the room and crashes into the wall, unmistakeably real. Lillium sits up with his heart pounding, knife in hand and searching for the intruder. Was that….Penny?
Lillium groans, “Iris? Did you sic your she-devil on me?”
He slides to the edge of the bed, looking back for a response. Iris just mumbles in his sleep and rolls over, claiming the warm spot Lillium had just vacated.
Lillium’s foot jerks, startling him. He stares, sure it's just his imagination. The other metal foot twitches as well, angling itself towards the metal arm shuffling back across the floor.
“Oh no. No no no. No. Nope. No. This is not happening.” Lillium scrambles backwards over Iris, flailing. “Iris, please wake up.”
Iris grumbles, grabbing onto Lillium’s waist, “Wake up- who what?”
Lillium's foot turns to hook onto the edge of the bed as if to keep him from retreating further.
“Whatdidyoudotomyfeet!” Lillium scrabbles at where the prosthetics slot onto his legs, frantically trying to remove them.
Finally awake, Iris tries to process what he is seeing as Lillium hurls one leg across the room, quickly followed by the other. They clatter to the floor, motionless.
“What- why'd you do that?” Iris asks, baffled, “What's going on?”
Lillium just points at them, wild-eyed and furious. After a long moment, they began to shift and drag across the floor on their own.
“Did you make my feet sentient??”
Iris stares at them, mouth open wide, speechless. Penny crawls across the floor to join them, piling on top and curling her fingers around the ankles.
“Please tell me this isn't real,” Lillium pleads, “Let me go back to sleep and this not be real.”
“I just wanted the joints to respond better to you?” Iris tries, words coming out weak and flimsy.
The pile of limbs shifts on the floor, metal fingers delicately running along metal shins.
Lillium throws his arms up in disgust, flopping back down on the bed. “I feel gross watching that. You have to make me new ones. I am not wearing those again.”
Iris leans down to look closer and grins, mischief sparking in his clever eyes. “Yeah, you're right. We can't separate Penny from her new girlfriend. Look how cute they are together.”
Lillium shoves a giggling Iris unceremoniously from the bed, his indignant shouts chasing Iris from the room.
"So now you're picky." Iris tosses a wad of paper at Lillium's head.
Lillium bats the wad back at Iris, exasperated. "I just said less sexy. Less. Are you capable of following directions?"
Iris grins at him, unrepentant, holding up his elaborate diagram of beautiful metal legs. "Nope!"