Kurt was wrenched out of a peaceful sleep by a strange noise in the apartment. He sat up straight in bed, his heart pounding, thinking of intruders and murderers and robbers. He leaned over in bed and reached for the baseball bat Rachel had given him when he first moved to New York, "You never know Kurt, it doesn't hurt to be ready to defend yourself."
Kurt shook his head, remembering Rachel's warning, and reached for his phone charging on the lampstand instead. He'd rather call 911 than go after an intruder with a bat and get himself shot in the process. He sat in bed with his phone in his hands and his ears straining to hear the noise that woke him up.
Kurt held his breath as he heard something from down the hall. It didn't sound like someone lurking around his apartment. It sounded like... Crying? Kurt's heart sped up for a different reason as he threw his covers off and hurried out of bed. He rushed down the hall to B's room, standing outside of the door to listen. He was right; the noise was coming from B's room. He heard a shaky intake of breath and a short, cut-off sob, like B was trying to stop crying.
Kurt's heart twisted in his chest as he knocked lightly on the door. "B?" he called. "Can I come in?"
There was a pause where Kurt held his breath before B responded, "Yes." His voice was trembling and soft, and Kurt couldn't get to him fast enough. He opened the door and took in the sight before him. B was sitting up in bed, shakily wiping at his cheeks that were damp with tears, looking distraught. A choked whimper made its way from Kurt's throat. It hurt to see B this way. He rushed forward, crawling up on the bed and kneeling by B, bringing one hand up to tentatively rub small circles on B's back.
"I'm sorry, Kurt," B said, sniffling.
"Sorry? What for?"
"For waking you up. I didn't mean to."
"No, no, B," Kurt cooed. "Don't apologize. Just… Please, tell me what's wrong?"
B looked up at him, his eye wide and wet. It wasn't red-rimmed the way a human eye would be after crying, but B's cheeks were splotchy with color and his bottom lip trembled in a way that made Kurt feel like crying himself.
"I don't know," B said, taking a deep breath and visibly calming down as Kurt continued to rub his back. "I think I must… I must have had a dream."
Kurt froze, but only for a moment. He didn't want to upset B any more than he already was, so he settled down next to him, keeping a hand on his back. "A dream?"
"More like a nightmare," B said, quietly looking down at his hands twisting the sheets in his lap.
Kurt didn't know what to say. Androids couldn't dream; they didn't have nightmares. Kurt didn't understand what was going on, but then again, when did B ever do things the way Kurt was used to? He needed to not think of B as a machine right now, but as a friend. A friend who was clearly upset.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Kurt asked, quietly leaning into B's side.
"Um…" B bit his lip and sighed. "I don't know for sure. It's all kind of fuzzy now, but there were… boots?"
"Boots?" Kurt sat up a little from B. "You had a fashion nightmare?" he smiled, hoping to lighten the mood. He was rewarded by a small smile in return as B shook his head.
"No. More like… boots stomping on me and kicking me?" He looked up at Kurt. "Like I was on the ground and couldn't get away."
Kurt's throat tightened and he felt a little ill. "You mean a dream about people beating you up, attacking you?"
B nodded. "Yes."
"Oh god, B. I'm so sorry." Kurt leaned his head against B's and wrapped him in his arms. "That isn't going to happen. I would never let that happen to you." Kurt didn't know what had brought this on, why B would dream that. "Are… are you afraid of people treating you that way?" Kurt asked softly.
"No. Not really." B exhaled, his breath tickling Kurt's neck as he hugged him back. "I'm not actually scared of that happening. I don't know why I dreamed about it."
Kurt pulled back a little to look B in the face. His eye patch was off- apparently he didn't keep it on to sleep - and the red light in his socket blinked like it always did, but it was B's good eye Kurt couldn't look away from. He just wanted B to not look so miserable. "Have you had dreams like this before?"
B shook his head. "No. I… mean. I don't know. I think I might have had dreams before. But I've never thought about them or remembered them afterwards."
Kurt nodded silently, trying to understand what this meant.
"I'm sorry again for waking you," B said, his voice clearer now that he'd calmed down.
Kurt ran his hand down B's back and reached to hold both B's hands in his own. "Please B, don't apologize."
"I just feel like you're always doing things for me. Being here for me and… And I don't want our friendship to be uneven."
"Oh, B," Kurt said with a smile, catching B's eye to make sure B was looking at him and saw that Kurt meant what he was saying. "Our friendship isn't uneven. You being here in New York is such a huge thing for me. I'm so glad to have you as a friend and roommate. You listen to me complain about my classmates and freak out over assignments. And you are there after a long day of work and school, always greeting me with a smile. This friendship isn't one-sided, I promise you."
B's face finally lit up with a real smile, spreading from his lips and cheeks to crinkle around his eyes. "Really?"
"Of course, silly," Kurt said. "I'm kind of a drama king, and you put up with it beautifully."
B laughed, and the sound of it made Kurt's stomach swoop.
"I love living with you," B said, his smile turning a little bashful, and suddenly Kurt was very aware that he was sitting in bed with B while only wearing a tank top and a pair of boxers. B was in a T-shirt and pajama bottoms and Kurt felt his stomach swoop for a whole other reason.
"Are you okay now?" Kurt asked, trying to not let his eyes look at B hungrily.
"I'm fine," B said sweetly. "Go back to bed. I know you have a busy day tomorrow."
Kurt squeezed B's hands before climbing off the bed, looking behind at B's soft smile one last time. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Kurt. Thank you for checking on me."
Out in the hall, Kurt shut B's door and leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, his heart beating a little fast.
He had only left so quickly because he had wanted nothing more than to just lean in and kiss B. And not just as a friend. He wanted to feel his lips on B's lips and his hands on B's skin. He wanted to make B gasp and shiver and… oh god. Kurt needed to stop this train of thought. He was starting to have a situation in his boxers. That realization led to another one. He didn't even know if B was… equipped for the kind of things Kurt was fantasizing about doing with him.
Kurt cleared his throat and headed to his room. He really needed to nip these thoughts in the bud, they couldn't lead anywhere. He was friends with B and it was inappropriate for him to be thinking about him like this. He didn't want to betray the trust B had in him. What he did want to do was get to the bottom of what was going on with B. Nightmares? Why would a droid have nightmares? It was high time to learn more about where B had come from, time to learn about Smythe Industries.
The next day, Kurt hung out at school even after his classes were over. He wanted to do some research without the possibility of B stumbling upon it. The first thing he did was look up Smythe Industries and their descriptions of their top-of-the-line androids. Words and phrases like "life-like", "believable" "custom-crafted" filled the pages. But nothing that made Kurt think their androids had emotions, or desires or that they dreamed.
He also couldn't find anything about a line of "B" androids. Smythe Industries' most expensive droids, at prices that made Kurt's jaw drop, were "Z" class droids. They made 20 of them a year and were different from their popular "G" line because the Z droids were customized to the buyer's description. You could basically design your perfect droid down to nose shape and the tenor of their voice, and they had personality options too.
The personalities interested Kurt, but he still couldn't find anything that made him think these advanced droids were like B. What he really needed was to talk to someone from Smythe Industries, and he might just have an opportunity to do so. Smythe Industries started in Ohio, but now their corporate offices were in New York City, and they were holding an in-house expo soon.
The expo was for potential buyers (invite only), and for android engineers. Kurt technically wasn't an engineer, but his father was, so Kurt could probably bluff his way into this party using his dad's credentials. He looked at the registration fee, and let out a frustrated breath. He'd have to dip into his savings, but it was really the only way to see anyone from Smythe Industries - they were very closed-doors to visitors.
Kurt clicked on the Register Online button. He was going to do this; he needed to know. His heart needed an answer before he fell for B even deeper than he already had.
Kurt got home that evening, groceries in hand. B wasn't in the living room. He might still be at work in fact. He headed to the kitchen and placed the bags down on the counter, accidentally knocking something to the floor. Kurt leaned down and picked it up, smiling when he saw the yellow legal pad from Burt's office that B wrote his "Things To Do" list on.
Several of them were already crossed off. "See New York", "Go to a movie", "Pet a dog". Kurt chuckled. Seriously, how could a person be as adorable as B was? His eyes glanced up to the top of the list, to some of the first things B had written down. There was one that hadn't been crossed off yet: "Kiss someone", except the word "someone" had been crossed out, and it now read "Kiss someone Kurt".
Kurt couldn't breathe for a moment, his heart in his throat. He stood up and put the pad back on the counter, face down, as if he had never read B's private list. He swallowed heavily, his heart skipping a beat. He shouldn't have seen that. He had told B from the beginning to only share the items on the list he wanted to share. Kurt didn't think B meant for him to read that, but he had and now Kurt couldn't get it out of his head.
B wanted to kiss him.
"Oh god," Kurt moaned. "What am I going to do?" He nervously brushed a hand over his hair and started putting away the groceries. He'd bought a new throw blanket for B's room, not because he needed it really, but because Kurt had thought it was pretty and B's room still needed a little sprucing up so it wouldn't look like just a guest room anymore.
He walked down the hall and opened the door to B's bedroom, before freezing as a yelp escaped his lips.
B was home.
He was standing in his room in the middle of changing out of his diner uniform and he had nothing at all on except a black undershirt. Kurt's eyes drifted down on their own accord before he drew in a sharp breath, backed out of the room and slammed the door. He ran to his own room, heart beating fast and cheeks burning with embarrassment.
Okay, well… That at least answered Kurt's questions about whether or not B was equipped. He. Was. And oh god, oh god, oh god! Kurt threw himself down on his bed and buried his face in his pillow. He shouted into it for a moment, mortification, and if he was being honest, a little desire thrumming through him.
It was only few minutes later that there was a knock on Kurt's door. He knew he needed to talk to B about what had just happened, but he really didn't know if he could face him. "Come in," Kurt moaned and looked up as B opened the door and poked his head around, now fully clothed.
"Oh god," Kurt said, burying his head again. He heard B walk to the bed and felt the mattress dip as he sat.
B placed a hand on Kurt's back and Kurt wanted to moan again. "What's wrong, Kurt?" B asked, and his voice was laced with worry.
"I'm sorry," Kurt said into his pillow. "I am so, so sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
Kurt looked up at B's face, and he wasn't blushing. He didn't seem embarrassed at all, just confused.
"I just walked in on you… and I saw… and you were… and… I…" Kurt's throat felt dry.
B shrugged. "So you saw me without clothes. No big deal, Kurt."
Kurt blinked at him and shifted over to his side to look up at him better. "No big deal?"
"I mean… That's how your dad found me and all the mechanics in his shop have seen me in some state of undress while I was being repaired. I guess knowing that someone put you together and others have worked on you… I don't know." He smiled and it was light and carefree. "I guess being naked in front of people isn't that big of a deal to a droid."
"Oh," Kurt said, and sat all the way up so he was next to B.
"I'm sorry I embarrassed you, though."
"No. That was my fault. I should have knocked."
B grinned and lifted up the blanket Kurt must have dropped outside of B's door. "Is this for me?"
"Yes," Kurt said, trying to will his cheeks to stop blushing. "I thought it could go on the end of your bed."
"I love it," B said, bumping Kurt's shoulder with his own. "It's the same shade of blue that your eyes are in the morning when you're sleepy and haven't had your coffee yet."
Kurt laughed at that, feeling better. "Rachel walked into the bathroom once when I was showering. And she had a boyfriend for a short while that just walked around the loft naked."
"Well, that's taking it a little far," B said, grinning.
"No kidding!" Kurt smiled too, glancing at B's lips and trying not to think about what he had read on the list in the kitchen. This was the day for seeing things he wasn't supposed to see. "I guess we're officially roommates now."
B got up from the bed. "Not until I walk in on you showering," he said with a wink, and Kurt's mouth fell open. He knew B was joking… He was joking, right?
"I'm going to start dinner," B said as he walked to the door. "Thanks for the blanket!" And with that, he was out the door and down the hall.
Kurt was left with his mouth still open and his mind conjuring up images it shouldn't be thinking of. He fell back onto the bed with a groan, and then he started to laugh. B was kind of cheeky, who knew? Kurt liked it.
