The next morning, Zane had remembered Lloyd's complaining about not being served breakfast, and decided to prepare a proper meal to attempt to mend its mistake. It began preparing the ingredients for pancakes and a complimentary fruit salad, finding solace in the quiet calm of the kitchen as opposed to the rather busy past few days.
Making food was something it could get lost in, something that didn't require it to think about what it was doing. It loaded up the recipe in the top left of its vision, and went to work, mixing batter and chopping fruit intermittently. It thought of Cole still sleeping in the other room after Zane had lulled him to sleep, and it felt a painful spike of something pass through its chest. Cole had stayed up late for it, listened to it when it had expressed its memories, and had even calmed its nerves by reassuring it of its status.
Zane almost wished that Cole had been made the primary owner over Jay, who didn't seem inclined to want to pay attention to it more than he had to. Not that he was supposed to, it was just a curious change of pace to have someone listen to it. Before it knew it, the batter was ready to be put on the pan, just in time for said ninja to arrive in the kitchen first.
"Good morning, Jay. As per Lloyd's request, I am preparing breakfast this morning. If you are unhappy with the selection of food, feel free to give me suggestions on how to improve the menu for next time."
The Lightning Ninja merely blinked, before sleepily rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah, sure. Cole not get up with you?"
"No, he is still asleep to the best of my knowledge."
Jay sat down at the table without another word, and Zane followed him with its peripheral vision. After a minute or so of silence except for the gentle sizzle of the pancakes, Zane decided to try and spur a conversation.
"Would you like a beverage?"
"Nah, I'm good."
"Would you like the fruit salad now? It is finished if you would-"
"Can you just... stop talking? Please?" Jay grumbled, and Zane nodded, gaze falling back down to the food. The two existed in silence once more, Jay whipping out his phone to check his social media while Zane continued to make the pancakes.
Kai was the next one to enter, although he seemed to be in a slightly better mood than Jay.
"Pancakes? Nice," He commented, peering over Zane's shoulder before joining his boyfriend at the table. Zane nodded in acknowledgment before flipping the batch on the stove over.
"Morning Jay," Kai plopped down next to him, and received a shrug in response. Kai's mouth quirked. "Sleep didn't fix your mood, huh?"
"Not really," The Lightning Ninja set his phone down with a thump before leaning his head on Kai's shoulder. "I just wanna go back to bed, it's too early for this."
"We got kids to teach, Sparky," Kai said, although he didn't sound quite happy about it either. Zane glanced over at the pair occasionally, cataloging their reactions to try to better understand the two other parts of the trio. The Fire and Lightning Ninja seemed to be the quippier of the two, always biting back at each other as opposed to Cole's more mild reactions. Despite their disagreements, they never seem to think ill of the other after a spat, so it supposed there was some greater meaning that it wasn't quite grasping. But with that thought, the third party entered the room.
Cole looked tired, but not exhausted like Jay did. He greeted Zane with a smile before turning to his boyfriends, who had each raised an eyebrow.
"Never came back to bed, huh?"
"It was pretty lonely waking up without you, man."
Cole looked sheepish, and Zane decided to wait to see what he said before jumping to any conclusions
"Yeah, I kinda fell asleep after getting Zane situated. Sorry."
Zane was about to bring up the fact that Cole had woken up in the middle of the night, but remembered Jay's order and clenched its teeth to prevent a slipup.
"If you want to cuddle the robot, you can just say so," Jay snapped, earning a glare from Cole.
"It's not about that, Jay."
"Then what is it? Its stress levels raised a little too high and you felt the need to pamper it all night? It's supposed to be the other way around."
"Well, maybe I feel bad leaving it shaking by itself because I made it have a panic attack."
"It being defective isn't your fault."
"It's not fucking defective! Just because you were expecting an emotionless slave doesn't mean that you get to force that on it."
Zane wanted so desperately to break up the fight, but that risked making Jay even angrier, which would not be wise in this scenario. Its eyes flashed yellow with concern.
"Guys, shut up," Kai said agitatedly, and Zane breathed an inward sigh of relief, irises flickering back to light blue. "The last thing we need is for you two to fight this early in the morning. Tell you what, I'll take Zane to the school again today. You two can sort your shit out together and get on the same page, and I'll keep it far away from being pulled in opposite directions. Got it?"
Cole and Jay stared at the Fire Ninja, dumbfounded for only a moment before they nodded, grumbling to themselves before Kai turned to the android.
"Finish up the pancakes, and we'll get ready, yeah? I was gonna take each class on a short hike today, so if you know any nature information I'd get that sorted before we go."
Zane nodded again, and Kai couldn't help but furrow his brow.
"Your voice okay? Usually I'd be gettin' an essay from you by now."
"Oh, that's my bad," Jay shrugged, and Zane turned towards him. "You can talk again, it's fine."
"Thank you," Zane replied, and turned back to its food. Kai could tell Cole was fighting back a remark, but he seemed to be restraining himself for now.
"You need any help while you finish up?"
"I will be fine on my own, but thank you," Zane smiled appreciatively and piled the pancakes that had just finished onto a platter, pouring a fresh batch as the three sat down at the table together, still tense. They didn't speak much to each other as Zane made the food, Jay returning to his phone and Kai gently rubbing Cole's arm. Soon after, the rest of the Bounty joined them and the tension eased, if not only performatively.
After breakfast was cleaned up and the ninja were ready to leave, Kai took Zane out with him to the school early, leaving his boyfriends alone at the Bounty. The Fire Ninja seemed awkward, as though he had invited Zane without thinking and now was regretting his decision but felt it was too late to back down.
"Please don't take this the wrong way Zane, but I wonder how things would've been if we had rejected Borg's offer, or never sent an email in the first place. Robots had always been kind of a touchy subject, but I didn't think it would get this bad."
"If you had rejected Mr. Borg's proposition, odds are would have been that I would have undergone more testing for the ZN600 line. They are most likely working on a new line of prototypes as we speak."
"Is it a weird feeling, knowing that you're made to be replaced?"
"Not particularly. I know that I am a rough draft, so to speak, and that the android that you receive as compensation for testing me will be far better suited to its tasks."
"What do you mean? You're staying with us, right?"
"I was not made to last," Zane said so casually that it almost didn't strike Kai as fucked up. "I am unsure of my expected lifespan, but the previous ZN prototypes lasted no more than three years each."
"Why is that? What makes the regular models last so much longer?"
"As per the nature of prototypes, we are created to test every feature possible for the next line, so the engineers can pick and choose the capabilities that work the best. By the end, prototype androids either physically break due to increased stress on their endoskeleton, or they destruct due to increased workload."
"So... you're either going to fall apart at the seams or commit suicide?" Kai gulped, and Zane nodded.
"Suicide is not quite the correct term, but essentially yes."
"Are you not scared? Aren't you terrified that you could just die at any time?"
Zane didn't answer right away, its eyes falling blank and expression levelling.
"I do not feel fear, Kai," The android paused in front of the doors of the school, anticipating that Kai did not want to bring this conversation into the classroom. "And my death is not the same as yours. As a human, your job in the world is to pave your own path. As an android, my job is to fulfill the job I was assigned. As such, an android's death is the final stage of this. By working until I cease all functions, I have made myself as useful as possible for the longest amount of time I could have. Death in of itself is fulfilling. However, I would rather not do so until it has been an appropriate amount of time, as I have a lot of work still left to be done."
"Well when you put it that way," Kai nodded in a daze, and opened the door. "Well, guess we better get ready for the kids. You got your tree facts all lined up?"
"Affirmative, I am prepared with much trivia regarding the local flora and fauna."
"Great. Here's to hoping that Jay and Cole sort their shit out at home, eh?"
"Yes, indeed. Having two members of a polyamorous relationship fight is never good for the group as a whole. Communication is key to a strong bond."
"Right you are, Zane. Right you are."