The English language had so many adjectives to describe different personality types, and Connor loved discovering which of them applied to him. Clearly he was an animal lover, a gamer, and a classic rock snob, but he soon realized he was talkative, and would talk the ear off of anyone that would give him a chance. He was once told by a coworker that he was an optimist, but of course, that was only what he let people see. He tried to not let his fears or dark thoughts be seen. Luckily being forced to hide your feelings for five years makes one a master of it.
Cole would call him things like dork, weirdo, or neat-freak. Connor didn't like these labels at first, but in time he understood that those were things Cole liked about him, and he meant them in a positive way. He liked the words his father used for him, like considerate, adaptable, and a goofball. His Dad had more than once described him as a 'morning person.' Even though Connor did enjoy the mornings, he imagined he just seemed that way in comparison to his dad and Cole, who were the antithesis of morning people.
Exiting sleep mode. Current Time 7:00 AM. March 12, 2029. Primary Task: Make Breakfast.
Connor, like all androids, didn't need to sleep, but Connor, like most deviants, enjoyed sleeping. It was time for his busy mind to rest, which he needed after working back to back twelve-hour shifts at the hospital. Today, however, was his much needed day off, and he wasn't going to waste a second of it. He got out of bed and stretched, allowing his servos in his spine to realign. After changing into his nonwork pants and his favorite sweater, he put his pajamas away, then started making his bed. He carefully folded his sheets over the duvet and adjusted his pillow so they were perfectly straight. He stepped back and smiled at his handiwork. He liked when things were neat and orderly.
He looked over to the other side of the room, which was like night and day with how messy his brother kept it. The floor was covered in food wrappers and clothing. His nightstand consisted of three half-empty glasses of water and his mobile game console precariously placed on top of a stack of graphic novels, and Connor didn't even want to calculate the odds of that ending poorly. Cole was sleeping with his mouth wide open and one foot poking out of his covers.
"Cole, Cole time to get up," he whispered, nudging the side of Cole's mattress with his foot. "Cooolllleee."
"Ummmm... five more minutes," Cole mumbled as he turned over and buried his face in his pillow.
"Fine, but if you're not at the table by the time breakfast is ready I'm feeding yours to the dog, and you can have his food," he teased as he left their room, not seeing the middle finger Cole was flipping him.
Even Sumo barely roused from his slumber as Connor walked into the kitchen and began cooking. He already had a game plan for breakfast. For Cole, a spinach tomato feta omelet, and a glass of sweetened almond milk to help combat the boy's low iron and vitamin D. Dad would be having an egg white omelet with peppers and onions, half an avocado, and black coffee.
He smiled and hummed to himself as he chopped the vegetables and cracked the eggs. Cole once questioned how Connor could like cooking as much as he did if he couldn't eat, to which he responded, "So? You can't eat your art, but you still enjoy making it." Being able to share things with his family made him feel closer to them. He would never know what bacon tasted like, or what burning toast smelled like, but he knew what the smiles on his family's faces looked like when they were full of their favorite meals.
As always, Dad was the second one up, freshly showered and dressed for work in one of his tailored shirts with a solid color tie. "Morning Con. Smells amazing."
"Good morning Dad. Another early meeting today?" Connor chirped as he handed him his coffee.
"Yep," Hank groaned as he sank into his chair at the head of the table. "I need to teach you deviants about the joys of a late afternoon meeting, and casual Friday," he said tugging on his tie with disdain. Dad liked to bitch and moan from time to time, but Connor knew he was actually happy with and very grateful for his new job.
There was a fair amount of anxiety about money after Hank was fired from the DPD. Luckily, RK900 had put in a good word for him with the deviant leader. With Hank's history of law enforcement and his proven leadership skills, Markus decided to offer him the position as head of the security division at New Jericho. Hank was now in charge of a team of well-trained androids who wanted nothing more than to protect their home, instead of jerks like Gavin Reed. He answered only to Markus and RK-900, or Richard as he was now known, and Hank would prefer their level headed approach over Jeffrey's outbursts any day. He was even getting paid enough that they might be able to afford to move into a new house soon.
The door to the boys' bedroom slowly creaked open, and Cole shuffled his way down the hallway like one of the zombies he had been shooting online all night. His t-shirt was wrinkled but at least his pants were clean and his hair was somewhat brushed. The sleepwalking mess Connor called his brother took his seat at the table just as Connor finished folding his omelet.
"Morning," the boy croaked mid-yawn.
"Oh good. King Cole, slayer of zombies, graces us with his presence," their dad proclaimed loudly, sweeping his hands out in a grand motion. Connor chuckled at that as he brought their plates to the table.
Task Completed: Secondary Task: Ask To Borrow Money From Dad. Probability of Success 71%.
Connor would have to wait until after Cole left for school before he attempted to solicit money from his father. He pulled out his chair and sat with his family as they ate. If he had been low on thirium he would have poured himself a glass, but he had topped off the night before, so instead, he just chatted with his family about their upcoming days. His dad was more forthcoming than Cole was at first, but about halfway into his breakfast, the boy seemed to wake up a bit more.
When Cole chugged the last of his milk he brought his glass down onto the table with a thunk. "Hey Connor, can you get me some more?" He asked, slyly sliding the glass towards him.
"Boy you got legs, don't ya?" Hank scolded. "You can get your own drink. Connor's not your waiter."
"It's okay Dad," Connor interjected. "I don't mind." He picked up the glass and brought it over to the fridge to refill. The milk carton emptied before the glass was full. "Whoops, looks like we're all out," he said shaking the empty container while trying to fight back his smirk. "Next time I'm at the store I'll have to-" he raised the empty carton above his head and motioned as if to throw it, but never let it out of his grasp. "REVENGE!"
Cole yelped and put his hands up to block his face, then threw them down in frustration when he realized Connor had tricked him again. "UGH! You dick! It's been months now. When are you gonna stop doing that?"
"When it stops being funny." Connor giggled as he tossed the empty container in the recycling. He had told Cole that he would get even for the broken glass incident the night of the revolution, but he was having more fun dragging it out. The constant terror of not knowing when Connor might exact his revenge was putting Cole on edge. That was the fifth time Connor had made him flinch and it wasn't getting any less funny. He no longer denied it when he was told he had a sick sense of humor.
"Cole, don't call your brother a dick. Connor, quit being a dick to your brother." Hank half-heartedly nagged between sips of coffee.
Once Cole had practically licked his plate clean, he put it away in the dishwasher and completed his other morning chore of feeding Sumo. "Alright, I'm heading to the bus," the boy said as he put on his backpack. "Hey Dad? Can I have some money," he requested affectionately. Connor felt his smile drop along with his probability.
"What for?" Hank questioned without taking his eyes off his tablet from which he was reading the news like he did every morning.
"Marvin and Jessica are going to that retro arcade after school and they asked if I wanted to go."
Increase in Heart Rate Detected.
This wasn't the first time Connor noticed an increase in heart rate or body temperature whenever Cole spoke about this Jessica. He had a sneaking suspicion why, but whenever he tried to talk to Cole about it the boy would call him names and change the subject.
Hank gave his son a reluctant side-eye for a moment before releasing a sigh and removing his wallet from his back pocket. He pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and held it out, but when Cole reached for it he pulled it away. " You can EARN this money by cleaning up the dog poop from the backyard Friday after you get home from school," he said sternly.
"Oh come on," Cole whined as he reaches further across the table to try and grab the bill, only for Hank to keep it out of his reach. "We agreed that was a Connor job."
Connor felt his nose crinkle up. "I believe YOU were the only one who agreed on that," he pointed out.
"Well, it makes sense. You're the only one without a sense of smell." The boy looked over at his dad for confirmation but there was none given. Cole's shoulder sagged as he groaned dramatically. "Roger lieutenant. Poop patrol Friday after school," the boy said, giving a sarcastic salute. Hank brought the bill back into Cole's range and the boy snatched it from his hand like he was afraid it might vanish. He bolted off towards the door, even though he still had plenty of time before his bus would arrive.
"Hey, be home before six," Hank shouted after him.
"What was that Dad?" He called over his shoulder with a devious grin as he was halfway out the door. "Be home around seven? Okay sounds good. Bye Dad. Bye Connor," he yelled back to the kitchen. He turned toward the hallway wall where Molly's photo was now hanging proudly instead of being shoved away in a box. "Bye Mom." He slammed the front door behind him before either of them had a chance to say anything. Connor thought back to a few months ago when Cole practically needed to be shoved out of the house in the mornings. His overall mood had turned for the better lately. He knew things like having friends and a therapist were big parts of the boy's change, but he liked to think having a well-balanced diet and a fun big brother at home was also helping him.
Primary Task: Ask To Borrow Money From Dad. Probability of Success **%.
Connor was unsure whether Cole's successful attempt at getting money from Dad had hurt or helped his own chance. He decided to stop over calculating it and just ask. "Dad, would it be all right if I also borrowed some money?" he requested, being mindful to be more polite than his brother was.
"What?" Hank said, looking up from his tablet and giving his son a quizzical stare. "What the hell do you need money for?" Connor was taken aback by his dad's reaction and considered telling him to forget about it, but he knew his dad would only just insist that he tell him anyway.
"Well," he slid his hand into his pocket and ran his thumb over the ribbed edges of his quarter. "It's Cole's birthday at the end of the month, and I wanted to get him something."
"Oh, Con," Hank's expression softened. "That's sweet, but you don't have to get him anything."
"But, I want to. It's what you do when you care about someone, right?" The question was rhetorical. He understood the concept of gift-giving. He wanted to make Cole happy, and show his brother how well he knew him. This was their first birthday as a family, and Cole was turning thirteen, a pivotal time in adolescence.
"What were you thinking of getting him?" Connor retracted his synthetic skin from his hand, then reached out to interface with Hank's tablet. He opened a new tab that displayed his potential gift idea. "What!?" Hank shouted, bewildered. "Who the hell would pay eighty dollars for that?" Connor didn't respond but his dad seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. "You're right, Cole would," he said reluctantly.
Connor felt guilty for asking Dad for more money when he already owed him upwards of nine thousand dollars over his debt for the passport. No matter how many times he messed with his budget he couldn't find enough spare funds for a gift for his brother.
He still wasn't getting paid very much. Typically 40% of his check had to go to thirium and other everyday expenses. He would then give another 40% to Dad, leaving him with only 20%, which at first he thought would be plenty but he soon realized would disappear all too quickly. If only he hadn't bought that new game two weeks ago. He did have a little bit saved away but he was holding onto that so he could get a new thirium pump soon. He didn't want to say anything to alert his family but pumps of his model typically started experiencing problems around this time.
"I'm sorry. I only need forty dollars, and I can pay it back after my next paycheck, I just..."
"Hey, it's okay Con." His dad placed a hand on his tense shoulder. "You can pay me back when the Android Equal Pay act goes through, and you start making real doctor money, yeah?" He said with a reassuring smile as he pulled out one of his credit cards.
Connor wished he could be as optimistic as his dad was. The truth was the last four months of watching Markus and other deviants fight tooth and nail to change the laws surrounding androids, only to fail again and again had made him all but give up on the idea that he'd ever be seen as an equal in the eyes of the law. He didn't want his dad to know he was thinking like that, so he just smiled and thanked him.
On the night of Cole's birthday, Hank let the boy choose any restaurant he wanted. Normally Connor hated restaurants because all he could do was sit and watch as his family ate, but that night Cole had picked one Connor had never been to before. It appeared to have Japanese influences, and the majority of the meal was cooked in front of them by an extremely friendly chef. Instead of being bored he was able to clap and cheer on the chef with his family. He even got a chance to catch a piece of egg in his mouth that was tossed to him. Connor wondered if Cole had him in mind when he picked this restaurant. He didn't bother asking because if he did, the now official teenager would have certainly denied it.
It was a silly thought, but watching the chef made Connor consider a career change. It would most certainly be a more positive environment, and he'd get paid the same. The tricks the man did with his spatula weren't too far off from what he could do with a quarter. It was just a thought though, he'd never give up being a surgeon, no matter how hard it was on him. Cooking would always just be his hobby.
Connor enjoyed baking even more than he did cooking. Baking was more about precision and steady hands, two things that came naturally to him. He was pretty pleased with how Cole's cake came out. Cole and his dad must have felt the same way as they devoured more than half of it in one sitting. While they were eating Connor snuck back into their room and retrieved the neatly wrapped present from under his bed.
The boy looked a bit shocked to see him walk into the room with the gift. "Happy Birthday Cole," he said with a bright smile, holding out the colorfully wrapped gift for the birthday boy. Cole put his fork down and wiped his hands on his pants before excitedly taking it from him. As he tore the paper off the gift, his mouth dropped open when he saw the cover of the book.
It was the official art book to the boy's current favorite video game. It not only came with a code for a special custom skin for his character, but it was signed by the game's art director, a man that Cole had described as 'the kind of artist he wanted to be someday.'
"Wow, Connor, this…" Cole started skimming through the pages, flipping past concept art and other hand-drawn images of his favorite characters. He looked up at his brother and beamed. "Thanks, this is awesome."
"Of course. I love you Cole."
"I,um," Cole dropped his gaze to the floor and mumbled. "Ilovyotoo.."