A new day started for Ren, as he slowly left his bed. He wasn't much happy to do so, but he had to go to work. His life was basically this: wake up at 7:30 am, eat breakfast and get ready to go within 15 minutes, leave home and arrive work within other 15 minutes, work until his staff ended, return home at around 5pm, stay on computer and then sleep when his screen started to hurt his eyes. All his days was like this, except weekends, where he stayed all day on his computer.
He never really left home, or had friends to talk with. Sure he knew one or two people from work, but that was it. He lived alone too, since his twenties. It was now three years since he left his Grandma's house to live by himself. He thought he was responsible enough to, and he wasn't exactly wrong. He had a work, paid correctly all he had to, didn't waste money with useless things, had a healthy regale, and so it goes. But even though... He felt something was wrong. He wasn't a happy person. He wasn't antisocial, closed or rude, but he wasn't very good with being social. He was... quite lonely.
Probably because of the lack of... living? He thought a lot about it, though he never really admited it to himself. He was breathing, he was moving, but he wasn't really alive. He was on his own place, doing the same things everyday, and when he wasn't he just sat in front of a screen and did whatever he felt like doing there.
He didn't like it. But he didn't know how to leave the situation. He had no idea what could be done to leave this state of loneliness, of darkness. So he simply accepted it, continued living as he has been since he left his old house.
And like that, he left his home.
It was now some minutes after 11pm. Ren was getting very sleepy, but also hungry. He decided to have dinner and then sleep. Gladly it was Friday, so he could wake up at whatever hour he'd like tomorrow. He was quite relaxed, usually by the end of his weeks he was more stressed, probably because of the pattern he had to deal with for five days straight.
When he arrived the kitchen though, it was a mess. Apparently, when he arrived home with his dinner bowl he'd bought, he forgot to keep it in the fridge. Now, all his food was around the kitchen table and floor, alongside with a... blue fur ball?
A blue fur that was now staring at him with a raw salmon in its mouth? Wait, mouth?
Ren stared back at it, and realised what it was: a dog. A puppy. It was probably an year old, no more. He was tiny and very fluffy, and blue. He tried to go near him (he thought it was a male dog, for some reason), but the puppy backed off a bit. Ren stopped, but then continued slower. This time, it seems the puppy got curious, interested by the approximation, so he kept still. When his hand was near his snout, the blue fur ball smelled his hand, and looked at him again. It seems he trusts me, Ren thought, and patted the dog a bit, when he noticed he was still holding the salmon. Ren laughed a bit.
"Hahah, I don't think dogs would like to eat it", he said while going to the fridge. Though he didn't really cooked that much, due to his lifestyle, he probably had something the dog could eat. He found a bit of meat, and it looked nice enough to be eaten. He put it in front of the puppy, who looked at him, then to the meat, and back at him.
"You can eat it, buddy. It's safe, I promise."
As if he understood, the puppy smelled it, and bite it. But he didn't eat it, in fact he ran with it, jumping to the table and then left the house by the kitchen window, that was open. Ren would've worried about letting his house open, if curiosity didn't hit him at that exact moment. Wasn't the puppy hungry? Wasn't that the reason he barged in and attacked his dinner?
Without thinking, he ran towards the door and searched for the dog. But it was too dark to see anything, so he returned his home, feeling a bit defeated. He looked at the mess that dog have made some moments ago, and started to clean it. He didn't get why he was feeling so... bad? About it. Actually he didn't even get what he was feeling. It was weird, heavy, and it was making him quite sad. Maybe loneliness hitting him again? Or was just the curiosity towards the blue one's act? A mix of both?
That night, he didn't slept as he thought he would, and at 6am, he was already up, making something to eat, but still thinking about that blue fur who visited him in the previous night. Then, he decided to do what he didn't last night because of the darkness.
Search for the dog.
He grabbed his bag, now with a pot with the rest of the meat and a bottle of water. He was quite anxious, it was the first time he left his home for something besides shopping and work. He laughed a bit, and thought: how could a simple dog do such thing to him? Maybe he was indeed deadly lonely that, on the moment some living creature interacted with him, even for a short time, made him want more contact. Regardless it was or not human contact, he still lacked and wished it.
He wandered much more than he first planned to. His legs was hurting a bit, since he was not used with long walks. Though he walked everyday he went to work, the place was very near his home so the paths he used to walk was short, much shorter than what he'd walked now. He stopped on a bench, and drank a bit of water, but not much. He was glad it was the start of spring, otherwise he'd be probably melting. It was now almost 1pm, what meant he was walking for around 6, 7 hours. That was a lot, too much for his likes. He was also getting very hungry. If he had brought his lunch or a bit of money, he could eat around where he was right now. But since he didn't, he decided to go back to home, at least for lunch, and probably rest a bit. It was too early to "call it a day", but he was tired.
However, when he arrived his home, he saw a very familiar blue fur in front of his house. He was sitting, looking constantly at the front door, as if he was waiting. As he got closer to the dog, he got up and looked at Ren, tail moving quickly and tongue out. Ren felt a warmth grow in his chest, he... He was waiting for me?
As if he could read minds, the dog barked at him. Ren smiled warmly at him, and took a bit of meat he had in his bag.
"Is this what you want?"
Another bark. Ren's mind was screaming the word "cute" all over again, even though he was a male adult.
He knew what would happen after he gave the meat to the puppy, but he did so anyway. And, the moment he ran away, he followed, even being tired. He didn't know why, but he felt he needed to do so, he needed to follow the puppy and discover why it didn't eat it. The food was good enough, and he was probably starving.
The walk took just a few minutes, and it ended in an alley. The blue fur ball stopped running, but didn't stop to walk, as he approached another fur ball, this one white. Ren stopped breathing a bit, and he felt sad. The white fur - another dog - looked very dirty and was probably hurt. The blue one put the meat by the other's side, together with another piece of meat, probably the one he took yesterday. The blue one then touched his nose to the white's face, shaking it lightly.
Ren approached them. He then noticed a few things he didn't before: the white dog was wearing something like a tiny gas mask on his face for some reason; at least his right front paw was broken, clearly seeing that he was not an animal, but a robot; he was probably off or broken, since he didn't move regardless what the other puppy did. Probably the blue one didn't notice, but Ren realised the white was clearly an Allmate. Maybe an old model who was abandoned by his old owner. That made his heart ache. Just like there are people who leave their pets on the street for some reason, that didn't mean that there wasn't something similar with robots, especially allmates, since each month there's at least one improved version.
Ren touched the white dog softly, and felt pity. Then, without thinking, he took the white dog and started to go home. He was going to fix it, no matter what. The blue one probably notice what was happening, since he barked at Ren and followed him. It wasn't an attack bark, a "stay away from him" bark, but more like a happy bark, quite supportive and accepting bark, and Ren didn't know how he'd know it, he just understood it.
After that day, Ren was very determined to fix him day by day, with Aoba - the blue dog, that he found out it was indeed a male dog - by his side, as an emotional support. He thought the white one, who Ren didn't give a name yet, was already broken but still played with Aoba, but probably broke due to not being repaired or something similar. It must have been a shock to the blue one, since he started to get food for the other. He probably thought he was hungry and couldn't move because his energy was out. He was... correct. In a way.
The model of the white fur ball was only two years old, so it wasn't rare to find the pieces he needed, but it was still hard to. He was glad he saved his money since he started working, otherwise it would be much harder to fix him.
The first thing he fixed, though, was not his broken paw, but his face. Probably his previous owner decided to put the mark for identification, but since it was never removed it damaged the dog's face. It was sad though, because the dog probably looked so pretty, but now was very hurt and dirty. I'm going to clear you, Ren said to himself. I'll clean you and fix you and take care of you. Both you and Aoba.
Ren didn't realise when, but he named the dog Clear while thinking so. As he cleaned and took care of him, he realised he was not wrong, he was perfectly good looking. Maybe because he was a robot, and not a real dog, but for Ren, those were only details. He didn't care if it was an allmate, an puppy, since now he, alongside with Aoba, was his pets.
It took weeks for Clear to be fixed, but also, it took too much for the human and the dog's liking for the robot to be activated. His motherboard was heavily damaged, and it was very hard to find a new one that fit him. The day he found it, the last piece remaining, Ren cried in front of the lady who sold it to him, who was very confused about that. He simply paid her and left, Aoba in his bag, who was now licking his tears. He was very happy, and so was the dog.
When he arrived home, he quickly went to his room, where Clear was, and set him up. He was quite anxious, since he felt his hands shake. Hah, what a dog could do to a being. He finished within minutes, and saw Clear open his eyes, slowly, to reveal pink eyes. He looked to the room, taking some minutes to explore it with only his vision, but then he saw the blue fur ball, now with his tail moving in a very fast velocity. He barked to the white one, who remained silent for some seconds, until he barked back. Ren didn't realise until now, but he had a very long smile on his lips, and was once again crying. He didn't care though, since he was very happy.
Clear then spotted him, and stared at him. Ren simply stared back, as the dog got up and went near him. He then heard a voice.
"Are you the one who fixed me, master?"
Ren was surprised at first, but then laughed at himself. It's obvious he can talk, he's an Allmate from two years ago! The voice was clearly male, though it was very soft.
"Yes, it was me."
"I see you also took care of my blue friend. Thank you very much."
The blue one barked again, as if he agreed with Clear.
"The pleasure is mine."
"So, what's your name, master?"
"Hahah, there's no need to call me master. I'm Ren. Oh, I hope you don't mind that I gave you and this one names."
The Allmate blinked a bit, in surprise. "Name..? I, no, I don't mind. I used to have a name under my previous master, but I can't remember now. It was long and weird though. So, what's our name?"
"You're named Clear, and he's Aoba", he replied, while petting both heads at the same time. Both seemed to enjoy it.
"It's a very beautiful name, Ren-san. I bet Aoba-san also loves his name."
They stayed quiet for some moments, as if the three of them were enjoying the contact. The same contact Ren lacked some weeks ago. He felt much more alive than before.
He now had two pets who he loved a lot, and who loved him back. Years passed, and they were inseparable. The three of them were very dependent of each other, they loved staying together, playing, sleeping, doing pretty much anything.
And Ren never felt again the loneliness, the darkness he once felt everyday. Waking up wasn't a shore. He felt much more happy, much more alive now, and it was all because of the two ball furs that now slept with him in his small bed everyday.
A/N: The AO3 post has my blabling about this in the notes thingy, but I find it ugly to add notes in FF since it's in the middle of the story part so I ain't gonna say a thing.