Another long day of work and school was behind him, and Francis was pleased enough. At least it was Thursday – he didn't have classes scheduled on Fridays and his workplace was closed those days, which gave him at least one day off consistently. There had been some admittedly more horrible customers than usual due to the rain, but arriving at his apartment to the sound of Gilbert screaming at Sports (he couldn't hear what yet) on the TV was enough to cheer him up a bit. He kicked off his shoes and hung up his raincoat, attempting not to get too much water on his recently cleaned carpet, and went to join Gilbert on the couch.

"Welcome back," Gilbert said, watching the game (soccer, he saw now) with disinterest. "I'm mooching off your TV again because Ludwig wants to watch some crappy infomercial on mine."

Francis laughed softly. "That's fine. Nothing brings me more joy than coming home to your beautiful face," he teased, patting Gilbert's shoulder before getting up and starting to stretch. Gilbert sighed, realizing that the game wasn't going to get any more interesting just yet, and got up to join him.

"How was work?" he asked. Francis sighed.

"Some woman insisted that I could still use her stupid coupon two years after I expired. Kept talking about how 'the old manager' would have used it…the old manager from three years ago, by the way." He sighed, shaking his head. "And then her husband kept asking if I 'wanted to fight', and kept punching the counter…"

"Shittier than usual, then." Gilbert groaned loudly as he stretched (clearly a bit out of shape after being hunched on the couch for a few hours) before returning to a standing position. "Sorry about that, man…oh, dude, look!" He laughed, pointing to the TV. "This is the infomercial Ludwig couldn't stop watching. It's about those new Antis robot thingies."

Francis frowned as he looked at the TV – there were two men talking to each other, explaining some new 'revolutionary' human robot product that had just gone public and that was now out for sale. One of the men – one with black hair, gestured to the blonde beside him, who smiled and waved. Francis paused, staring at the screen for a few moments before gaping.

"That's a robot?!" he said, shocked. Gilbert laughed.

"Yeah, it's an Anti. They're these really human-like androids that you can program to do literally anything for you." He grinned. "Lud's totally obsessed. He wants one so bad…though, it seems pretty cool," he admitted. "If I had the money…"

"Saaaame." Francis flopped back down onto the couch, staring at the screen with remorse. "It would be so cool to have someone to do all my chores and take care of the house and stuff…"

"Seriously…" Gilbert sighed, smiling a bit and turning off the TV. "But we don't need to feel sorry for ourselves! We're perfectly able to clean, and we have each other." He grinned. "I can pretend to be a robot for you if you want."

Francis snorted. "I'll be fine, thank you." He looked to his side when he saw Gilbert's phone lighting up, the name "Mom" displayed in bright, white letters. "Your mom's calling," he said, handing the phone over to his friend.

"I was honestly expecting you to turn that into some horrible, sexual joke. I'm proud of you," Gilbert teased, grinning as he picked up the phone. "Hey ma!"

Francis could only roll his eyes, scooping up the plates that Gilbert had brought to the couch and bringing them into his kitchen area, washing them quietly as his friend chattered excitedly. He was nearly shouting, Francis couldn't help but notice, and Francis was almost tempted to snatch up the phone and see for himself what was so great…he shook his head, smiling to himself. Gilbert would tell him everything the second he was done, the chatterbox.

Looking out the window for a distraction, he saw two people holding hands and walking down the street. He couldn't help but think of the infomercial they'd just seen with the robots – could one of the people he saw be one of those…what had Gilbert called them, Antis? But even the thought seemed ridiculous – no matter how human they looked, robots could only feign love. He doubted any relationship like that would be a happy one…but then, who was he to judge? Love, in any form, was just that: Love. It was ridiculous to judge anyone else based on who they cared for. Maybe it wasn't his cup of tea, but no one had even asked him…also, the two people down the street were definitely human, considering their current actions. He doubted any robot would be stupid enough to start making out with someone and begin pulling off their clothing in front of a large apartment complex…

"Dude, Francis, stop being a voyeur and look!" Gilbert had shoved his phone into Francis's face – a bit too close – and once Francis's eyes had focused he saw a picture of two people…two robots. "My parents ordered these for me and Lud because of how good we've been doing in school! I'm gonna have my very own Anti!"

"Oh! That's…fantastic!" Francis said, giving Gilbert his best smile. It was apparently convincing enough that his friend didn't doubt his happiness, and without another word Gilbert was already bounding to the door.

"I know, right?! I'm gonna go tell Lud the good news!" Gilbert ran out of the apartment, cheering wildly as he sprinted back to his own place. Francis carefully shut the door after him, sighing softly. He was happy for Gilbert, but still couldn't help being a bit jealous – it was just like Gilbert to get everything he wanted thanks to his parents money. He wished his family would do that sort of thing for him…but there was no use dwelling on it, he knew. Taking a deep breath, Francis marched himself back to the couch and turned the TV back on. Today's soccer game was probably mind-numbing enough to distract him.

Two weeks later, Gilbert had called Francis (nearly shouting into the phone) and told him to come visit, that the Antis had finally arrived. Francis had been expecting the enthusiasm from Gilbert…he hadn't, however, been expecting it from the robot itself.

"Hola!" The smiling man (or what looked like a man) swung the door open and pulled Francis into a tight hug nearly instantly. "You must be Master Gilbert's friend, Francis! It's so good to meet you!" He released Francis and shook his hand, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm Antonio! Well, I'm model SP-1214, actually, but Gilbert—Master Gilbert, your friend – said he wants my name to be that instead! I guess SP-1214 is a mouthful for real people, haha!"

Francis had barely had time to wrap his head around the fact that this was a robot, much less catch his name, and stood there stammering while Gilbert came to the door and laughed. "Down boy," Gilbert teased, gently pulling the robot (Antonio, apparently?) away from Francis. "Give him a second, he's never seen one of you in real life."

"Oh! Right, lo siento!" Antonio bowed his head apologetically, and Francis couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"It's, um…it's okay," he said. "You were just talking a little fast for me. I didn't catch everything you said."

Gilbert grinned, putting his arm around Antonio and looking to Francis. "Francis, this is Antonio! Antonio, this is my friend Francis, who I told you about earlier. Would you mind cataloguing him in your system as a friend? Also, make sure to confirm that he has all the same permissions as I do – he can come in the house, use anything he likes…same as me."

"Yes, sir!" What Francis saw shocked him; Antonio, who had looked so human only moments before, suddenly turned to him with an inhuman speed, bright green eyes transitioning into chrome purple as his pupils faded away. A light beamed out onto Francis, scanning up and down his body in seconds before blinking out. Antonio spoke again, this time much more softly as he turned to Gilbert.

"Please state the name of this object and its relationship to you." Antonio wasn't breathing now, Francis noticed – the rise and fall of his stomach had ceased, and Francis realized that that, too, was simply programming. Robots had no need to breathe, but to appear human…it seemed that they could do just about anything…

"Francis Bonnefoy, best friend." Gilbert beamed proudly, waggling his eyebrows at Francis. "Give him access to everything, please. Same as me."

"As you wish." Though the voice was the same, the human quality of it had disappeared – Antonio's tone was flat and emotionless, even pitch ceasing to go up and down. Maybe they'd made it like that on purpose, Francis thought, to prevent robot take-overs or something of that nature…

"All done!" Antonio clapped his hands excitedly, eyes flashing back to green, and Francis marveled at the quick change. "Francis is now in my systems, including his weight, height, and age! I also took the liberty of taking his contact information from your phone and attaching it to my data on him in here!" Antonio pointed to his head…they didn't have brains, did they? Antonio giggled happily, looking at Francis. "It's so nice to meet you for real! I only saw pictures before."

"I…yes, same here." Francis smiled, before looking to Gilbert and raising an eyebrow. "So, has 'Master Gilbert' already asked you for sexual favors, or is it too soon?"

"Francis, don't—"

"Oh, well! He asked what kind of stuff I can do like that, and I gave him the rundown, but we didn't do anything yet!" Antonio smiled proudly. "Gilbert said that tonight we'll have to try it all out! Right?" The Anti turned to Gilbert, who was blushing furiously and hiding his face.

"Oh my god…" he mumbled, Francis nearly unable to breathe from how hard he was laughing.

"I can't believe you actually did it, Gilbert!" Francis laughed loudly. "Oh my god…I can't believe you…"

"Is that Francis?" Gilbert's brother, Ludwig, came down the stairs and looked at them both seriously. "Gilbert, did you tell him already?"

"Oh, shit! I totally didn't…" Gilbert grinned, clapping Francis on the shoulder before pushing him into their living room. "Come on, dude! I have something to show you!"

"What, Ludwig's robot?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm right here!" Francis jumped, only just noticing the man (robot?) standing at his side. "My name's Feliciano! I'm Ludwig's. You're Francis, right? Antonio and I swapped information about you!" He smiled, looking pleased. "We want you to meet my brother, though!"

"Uh…brother?" Francis looked at Gilbert, who only smirked. He shoved him into the room without another word, putting Francis face to face with…a second Feliciano. "Oh…" He paused, looking at Gilbert with confusion. "Why do you have three?"

"I received a duplicate model with the IT-176," Ludwig said, looking at Feliciano. "He calls it his brother."

Feliciano pouted, shaking his head. "It's not a duplicate! This is IT-177, my brother! He's supposed to come with me! Also, I have another brother, but they haven't released him yet. So for now, this is my only brother, but he's not a duplicate! He's his very own guy!" Feliciano crossed his arms, looking at Ludwig. "Apologize, Luddy."

Gilbert snorted, looking at Ludwig with a smirk. "Luddy?"

Ludwig hid his face, grabbing Feliciano's arm and pulling him up the stairs with embarrassment. "We need to talk…" he mumbled shyly. Feliciano giggled, waving to Gilbert and Francis before eagerly following Ludwig up the stairs.

"Well…" Francis laughed softly, shaking his head. "That was interesting…"

Gilbert smiled, patting Francis's arm. "Dude. Listen, okay? We want you to have him."

Francis frowned. "…have what?"

Antonio beamed proudly, gesturing to the other robot. "Master Gilbert wants you to have the IT-177! He's yours to keep!"

Francis's eyes widened, and he looked at Gilbert with shock. "…you're giving it to me?" he asked, dumbfounded. "But these are so…they're…"

"Fuckin' expensive?" Gilbert chuckled. "No skin off my back. My parents got three of them, so they must have wanted you to have one, too. Also, he's a boy – not an 'it'." Gilbert smiled. "So, you interested?"

"O-Of course!" Francis stepped forward, looking the robot over with surprise. "I…Gilbert, I can't thank you enough. This is…"

Gilbert laughed softly, shaking his head. "It's cool man. We both wanted them. It's only fair that you get one, too." He smiled a bit. "Why don't you take him home and get to know him? It's better to do it one on one with this kind of thing."

"So you can ask them for sexual favors?" Francis teased, nudging Gilbert before picking up the Anti. It was much lighter than he expected, and he was able to lift the robot into his arms with ease. "I…I guess I'll see you later, then," Francis said, smiling. "Thanks, Gil. Really."

Antonio giggled, waving. "Bye bye Francis! We'll see you soon!"

Gilbert held open the door for Francis, smiling at him. "No problem, man. Enjoy your Anti!" He grinned, waving at Francis as he made his way out.

(AN: I'm back, and here's a new story. It's based off Chobits, if you weren't able to tell - storyline varies though; I just enjoyed the concept and thought I'd like to use it. Enjoy.)