While the Alphas did not need to eat, they did so anyway. This wasn't because they were programmed with a particularly detailed sense of taste, or because they even enjoyed it. They simply did it to blend in.
When Toue ate, they did too, indulging in a faux sense of normalcy. They were not human, and they had no desire to be so, but there were many little things that left pinpricks of content pooling in their abdomen. 'Normal' had always been a confusing word. To the Alphas, normal meant running errands, accompanying their Master, hovering over Sei, and at the end of the day, curling up in each other's arms and entering sleep mode together in their bed. When things were out of routine, that was when they considered it to be 'weird'.
Weird meant many things, and before now, Alpha had not considered malfunctions to be included as a possibility. But weird seemed to mean gears churning in his stomach as he ate dinner, a few warning signs flashing in his peripherals, and it meant asking to be excused because something was wrong and he could feel his throat gurgling every time he exhaled the heated air from his cooling unit.
And now, weird meant stumbling out into the hallway, one hand bracing himself against the wall. Warnings had quickly turned to errors, now, closing in at the edges of his vision. Something was wrong with his artificial 'digestive system', otherwise he wouldn't be feeling his throat full of gunk. Fuck, he'd never had a virus before...
Alpha Two's hand was on his shoulder before he could freak out further, at least, crouching down to his level. When had he doubled over like this? His entire body was reacting to the errors, now, and his stomach was audibly churning now as it fervently and ineffectively tried to repair itself.
"Are you okay, brother?" His voice was uncharacteristically small. Of course, it was just like him to worry, all the time. He was practically the reason to Alpha's desire; it was to be expected. He would surely have already gotten himself deactivated without the assistance of Alpha Two.
It was a bad idea to open his mouth, though he had initially assumed he was capable of responding. What happened was his body taking advantage of the opportunity, and a vile and sludgy mixture of oil and charred food spilling out onto the pristine floor, staining everything in its path, which included Alpha's clothes. Fuck. With his body using all of the energy it was producing to try and solve the problem, he dropped to his knees, letting out a choked noise. His vision was going red, and he hardly felt it when Alpha Two moved to unzip the front of his shirt, pushing it out of the way to avoid ruining it.
The second wave of the feeling called nausea hit, and Alpha shoved a gloved hand over his mouth to try and keep himself from dirtying the floor even further. It only served to force the black mess to drip through his fingers, spilling from his nose as he vomited again. When he pulled his hand away, it was sticky and darn brown. Disgusting. Everything was red and white and black, now, and he felt useless more than ever. The third was the worst, but last wave, leaving him spitting and gagging as he coughed up the last of the sludge. It was then that Alpha Two's arms wrapped around him, a gesture of comfort he had seen humans do before.
"It's okay. I'll get the others to clean it later."
Alpha only vaguely registered his counterpart picking him up before he finally blacked out.
He woke up, sore, but clean, warm in the bedsheets. It was weird to be there without Alpha Two beside him. He curled up into himself, grimacing. Toue was going to throw him out when he found out about this- about how defective he was. He was in his boxers, he supposed, and when he reached to rub the back of his neck, the hatch on his connection ports was only loosely shut. His brother had likely cleaned him up.
With a groan, he propped himself up, the sheets falling down to pool at his hips. His chest still retained a slight black tint, but otherwise, he was completely clean and goop-free. Alpha just shook his head, carefully standing up. He was still woozy; likely from most of his energy reserves having been used up. He padded into the 'living room' of their assigned quarters, where Alpha Two was sitting on the couch. A bowl of soup had been laid on the coffee table, and Alpha Two looked up from his book as the other walked in.
"Good morning, Onesie," he hummed, his face as expressionless as usual as he watched Alpha sit down on the opposite side of the couch. "Are you feeling better? I made soup."
"You mean you ordered soup," Alpha corrected. "That's a human thing. I don't need soup, I'll just make more gross sludge out of it."
"No, I helped fix you last night! Just eat the dumb soup, your body should be able to process it into an energy source again now."
Alpha sighed. His brother had always been the more 'human' of the two. He leaned over, taking the bowl from the table. It looked like some sort of meat and vegetable soup. He looked over at his brother as he took the first bite. It was lukewarm now, but that wasn't really a big deal. At seeing his mildly distressed (embarrassed, maybe) expression, he raised an eyebrow, making a vague noise that he intended to come across as questioning.
Alpha Two looked up, his own eyebrows furrowed. "Well... can I tell you something?"
Of course, Alpha nodded, swallowing. What was this all about?
"I, er... I liked it when you were malfunctioning earlier." What the fuck? "You just, ah, how should I explain it. You displayed a lot of emotion- much more than you usually do. Seeing such a different side of you... felt very intimate. I would like to see you make many more expressions in the future."
"...You're such a fucking sap, Twotwo."
