"A pet?" Schuldig asked, wondering if he'd heard right. "Like an animal?"
"Yeah. Omi just dragged me into the pet store. Schuldig, you should have seen him. The man in there let Omi sit with one of the puppies, and Omi was laughing."
The importance of this dawned on Schuldig almost immediately. "Something small... Something that won't get too big, either.." His first choice was a cat. When he'd lived with humans, they'd always had two or three cats, and he'd learned to like them, but he wasn't sure if Omi would want one. He was running through a list of animals that the pet store sold. "A small dog, or a ferret, or something." he finally decided, and told Loki and Kali of the decision mentally.
Schuldig back-tracked quickly. "He was laughing?" he asked. He hadn't thought Omi capable. No wonder Nagi was so interested all of a sudden. "AND he dragged you in? I couldn't possibly say no to that, you know..."
Nagi smiled.
"Thank you Schu. I can't wait to see Omi's face." He said then hung up. He put the phone away and hurried back to Omi.
The sheer relief was clear on Omi's face when Nagi came back. He'd thought for a moment that Nagi was going to take Loki and the twins, and leave him here by himself, with nothing but an order to wait.
Nagi went over and gave him a hug.
"Sorry about that." He smiled. "I had to call Schuldig and ask him something." He said still smiling. "I have a question for you Omi. If you chould choose one animal out of that pet store. What would it be?"
Omi smiled at the hug, hugging him back briefly. He frowned at Nagi's question. His first reaction was the puppy he'd seen, but Schuldig had spoken to him almost as Nagi was, and he knew that not only were they serious, they wanted him to choose. Schuldig didn't want something too big, though. "I..don't know..." He said. He didn't. He'd never been given something like this before. He wasn't quite sure how to handle it.
Loki herded the twins into a quiet corner. "Omi's going to get a pet," he informed them.
Hoshi and Tomo blinked at him.
"A pet? Why does Omi get a pet?" Hoshi asked pouting.
"Yeah, that's not fair. Schuldig never let us have a pet." Tomo said also pouting.
Nagi smiled. "It's okay. You don't have to deside right this second. You can go back in there and look at all the pets before picking one if you want."
"I thought you'd be happy that there'd be something else for you two to play with," Loki said. "And Schuldig never let you get a pet because you're still too little to take care of an animal like it needs it. Omi's not. And Schuldig said that when Omi saw them, he was laughing. In a couple years, we'll see about getting you two a pet, too, even if I have to claim that it's mine." he said.
"Okay" They said.
"Loki, do you think Omi will let us help him take care of his pet?" Tomo asked. He was a little upset that Schuldig woulnd't let them get pets but if it made Omi happy, then Tomo wasn't going to complatin about it.
Loki nodded. "Omi's going to need help with it. I'm sure you two will do a good job." Loki said.
Nagi took Omi's hand and led him back into the petshop. "Pick whatever you want."
The friendly man came back over, smiling. "Did you decide you wanted one?" He asked. "Would you like a puppy? A kitten? We have rabbits and ferrets and guinea pigs, too." Omi processed the information, filing it away. He noticed a rack with several books on it. "May I... may I read?" he asked, shyly, motioning them. The man nods, and lets him flip the books.
/I would like fish someday/ Omi thought, looking at the pretty pictures. He jumped when he realized he was doing the impossible. He was making a decision for HIMSELF. The fish made him happy, and he wanted them. His mood lifted further, and with a smile, he looked through the other books. Just from being in the pet store he knew that birds made a lot of noise. He didn't want to disturb anyone else with his pet, and he wanted something that could play with him, too. A puppy would require a LOT of work, and he was just barely learning to take care of himself. He knew he wouldn't be able to handle something else, too, despite how he loved the puppies.
Setting the books down, he wandered into the shop a little ways, more than he'd gone the first time. He looked at each animal closely, and thought about everything the books had told him. After several moments, he decided on a black kitten. Kneeling down next to the kennel the kitten was contained in, he grinned, and pointed. "this one," he said. The kitten licked his fingers through the 'cage'.
Nagi went over to him and looked at the kitten.
"Aww, that one's cute." He said.
Omi smiled. "Can I?"
Nagi nodded. "yes, I think a kitten would make a very good pet. And it's not to big, so Schuldig won't pitch a fit." Nagi said smiling.
The man took the kitten out, briefed them on the care and feeding of a kitten, and gave them supplies like food and a litter box and litter. He gave it a pill for any diseases it may have had, and put it in a small cardboard box that Omi could carry easily. He handed the bags to Nagi after they paid, and smiling, waved them off again. Omi was rocked to his core to see a barcode on the mans inner arm. He was a slave...
Afterwards, Omi was more interested in the kitten than getting himself more clothes, and tried to work up the courage to ask if they could leave.
"Okay, I think we should find where Loki and the twins are. I think we'll stop for lunch on the way home. How does that sound to you?" Nagi asked looking at Omi.
Omi blinked up at him. "How..?" He stopped. "Yes." he nodded.
"So, what are you going to name the kitten?" Nagi asked as he looked around to see if Loki and the twins were anywhere near them.
"...Schwarz." Omi said after a few silent moments deliberation. Black, like his fur. like the world a slave must exist in.
"That's a good name." He said after a moment. When he turned back around though, he was attacked by the twins. Hoshi and Tomo jumped on Nagi and hugged him.
"Nagi! Look what we got!" Tomo said and held up a bag that had a couple new toys in it, along with a thing of bubbles. Nagi blinked and then looked at Loki.
Omi flushed, glad that Nagi liked the name. He'd decided on it the moment he'd laid eyes on the kitten, the moment he'd decided that it was going to be his. Schwarz was his world, but Nagi was quickly becoming his life. Liebe, he decided again, for Nagi. Liebe would be the private name that only he called the kitten, that only he knew of.
Loki shrugged sheepishly, and held up a bag of clothes for the twins. He'd taken it upon himself to get Omi some clothes, too, knowing that after the introduction of the cat, they wouldn't be too focused on anything else.
Hoshi and Tomo went over and looked at Omi's cat.
"It's so cute!" Tomo said and looked up at Omi. "Can I hold it? Please?"
"Not right now Tomo." Nagi said. "Let Omi have some time with his kitten first. Come on, let's go get some lunch, then head home."
In the back seat of the car, Omi let the twins hold and pet the kitten while Nagi and Loki weren't looking. He gave them each an equal amount of time with it in their laps before returning it to the box so it could sleep. Diagnostics proved that it was a male cat of about nine and a half weeks of age, and in excellent health. He smiled, thinking about how much had changed just in that one trip to the mall.
Schuldig was outside waiting for them when they returned home, and he helped them carry in the bags. Omi woke his kitten up, set up a corner for the food and the litterbox, showed him where they were, and followed him around as he made the rounds, exploring.
Nagi was sitting in the living room smiling as he watched Omi follow the kitten around. /That has got to be the cutest thing I've ever seen./ Nagi thought. And because his connection transmitter had been on the fritz lately, he wound up sharing that thought with everyone in the house.
Kali rolled off her bed laughing, having just thought the same thing two seconds ago as Omi and kitten wandered past her room. Schuldig and Loki had similar - if less violent - reactions. Schuldig snapped off a few pictures of it, and Omi, having no idea at all about what he was talking about, largely ignored him.
Nagi blinked his face turning bright red when he heard Kali laughing.
The twins came bouncing in giggling. The each got on a side of Omi smirking at him. Nagi glanced at them. "You think Omi is cute?" Hoshi asked. Nagi glared at him.
"No." /...yes.../ He thought hoping that his comunicator was turned off. But when the twins giggled more Nagi realized it wasn't. "SCHULDIG!" Nagi called, he wanted Schuldig to fix it, right now.
Schuldig came in wiping his hands. The smirk was dripping off his face. "Yes?" He came into the room and started laughing. Omi was on his hands and knees, reaching under the couch for the kitten.
"Come here little one," he said quietly.
-Nagi, turn around,- Schuldig said, pointing.
Nagi blinked and turned around. He snickered when he saw Omi. He looked back around and bent down looking under the front of the couch. He saw Omi, and then the kitten. He reached under and grabbed the kitten gently. He turned back around. "Looking for this?" He asked.
Omi straightened, and flushed. "yes," he said.
Tomo and Hoshi smiled and looked at eachother before looking at Omi, then Nagi. Their smirk looked slightly evil. They bounced around and went over to Omi, leaning down Hoshi whispered in his ear.
("Omi, did you know that Nagi has a crush on you? He think's your really cute.") He said. Tomo giggled and Nagi blinked at them wondering what they were telling Omi.
Omi's head tilted to one side like a dog that didn't understand. "Crush?" It tilted to the other side. "Cute?" His voice wasn't quite a whisper, but it was quiet enough that only Tomo and Hoshi would hear.
Schuldig pulled Nagi down into the repair shop. "I'll have to put you under to fix this... It's inside your mind, and it's going to take a while. You'll still have free reign of the house through the System, but you won't be able to touch anything. Should give you ample opportunity to spy on Omi. I'm going to suggest he take a shower later, if you want to watch him." Androids were as human as ... well... humans, in that regard. Sex was sex, and sleeping with an android was much the same as sleeping with a real human, except that it was harder for androids to 'fake it.'
"Alright." Nagi said, his face going redder. "And I'm not going to spy on Omi! And deffinitly not watch him take a shower." Nagi snapped. /...although the thought is tempting./
Tomo and Hoshi were practicly rolling on the floor. It was very rare that Nagi took an intrest in someone, but it was very amusing when he did. And the twins always had fun with it.
"Yeah, a crush." Hoshi said and tried to think of the best way to explain what a crush was.
"A crush is when you like someone a LOT. And you want to be near that person, and you like the way that person looks. And it makes you happy to be around them." Tomo said. "And cute...cute is like your kitten. It's soft and fluffy, and well...cute." Tomo said and scratched his head. "I don't think I explained that to well..."
Omi blinked, understanding. "Cute is... attractive?" he asked, wanting to make sure. /Nagi likes me/ he thought, and smiled. /Nagi wants to be around me. He finds me pleasing to look at.../
Schuldig smirked. "He won't mind. He finds it flattering, although he doesn't know it." Schuldig had worked on himself enough that he was highly advanced when compared to normal bio-androids, and his ability to pick up on thoughts was incredible. -Omi...-
Omi was the only one who heard Schuldig, and froze, unfocusing. To an outsider it would look as if he suddenly zoned out. -You should take a shower. Do you know how to work it?- Assent. -Nagi wants to watch you.-
/Watch me/ he asked. -Watch you in the shower.- /Oh. Okay./
Omi put the kitten in his room where it promptly fell asleep, and went into the bathroom. Schuldig did a quick rewiring of the house camera's and screens, so Nagi's consciousness would be focused in the bathroom Omi was in. That done, he put Nagi 'under' so that his conscious mind would be removed from his body while he was being worked on. While he was 'under' he wouldn't be able to move from the bathroom. Schuldig smirked.
When Nagi first found himself in the bathroom, he tried to move out and go to the kitchen, or somewhere other then there. When he found he couldn't, he was going to have to scream at Schuldig later.
Hoshi and Tomo nodded. "Yes, cute is attractive!" Hoshi said smiling.
Omi had smiled back at them from the bathroom door, and went inside. He figured out the controls fairly easily, and stepped out of Nagi's borrowed clothes. He nearly left them on the floor, then thought better of it. "Nagi's," he murmured, unaware of Schuldig's game, and picked them up to fold them. Standing nude before the mirror, he looked at himself. /Nagi finds me... attractive.../ he thought, and smiled.
/Schuldig is an ass, I'm going to get him for this. The last thing Omi needs is someone watching him while he's in the shower./ Nagi grumbled to himself, but he was looking Omi over, and found him to be even more attractive with no clothes on. Nagi mentaly kicked him self for that thought. /Schuldig had better hurry up and fix my body./
-It's going to be several hours, kid.- Schuldig said, half teasing, half serious.
Omi stepped under the water, and leaned his head back, getting himself wet. It had been a while since his last good shower, and he sighed happily under the water.
/I am so going to punch you as soon as I'm back in my body Schuldig. I really am./ Nagi said, trying to look anywhere in the bathroom. But it was a small bathroom, and even if he looked at the mirror, he could still see Omi. He actually had a better view of Omi by looking in the mirror.
Schuldig simply laughed, and began working on what needed to be fixed, tuning everything else out.
Omi, more comfortable by himself than with anyone else around, started singing. It was just a simple lulluby, but it was one of the things that was purely HIS. It was one of the few things that his masters had never beaten out of him, and he sang as he washed his hair.
Nagi smiled as he watched. Omi really was cute, and Nagi never would have thought he was one to sing in the shower. Nagi liked Omi's voice, but when he was around other people, he always seemed shy, and uncertian of himself. Nagi hoped that time here would change that, for the better.
Still unaware that he wasn't as alone as he thought he was, Omi let more of himself out from behind the mask that kept him alive as a slave. He realized he was tired of it, tired of being terrified, tired of everything. He wanted to live like Tomo and Hoshi, like Schuldig, Kali, and Loki. Like... "...Nagi..."
Before he realized what was happening, he leaned against the shower walls, and started crying. /Why couldn't we be human/ he wondered. /Why did we have to be slaves.../
Nagi wished he could reach out and hug Omi. He wanted to know why he was crying, he didn't like seeing other 'slaves' hurt, or have so hard of a life that they couldn't tell what they wanted any more. Nagi vagly remembered being like that. He knew he was bad when Schuldig first picked him up, and he knew that Schuldig had to replace a lot of his parts. And even though he said his memory had still been intact, it wasn't all there. And Nagi was sure if it had been there, he would have been as bad as Omi is now. If not worce. And it was because he knew that, that he didn't like seeing Omi sad. And he wanted to be there for him, he wanted to help him.
Before too long, Omi pulled himself together, and finished washing. He wrapped a towel around his waist, and got out. He stared into the mirror again for a moment, then dried off, and dressed.
He was in longer than he'd thought, or Schuldig was finished quicker than he'd imagined he'd be, because shortly after Omi was finished with his shower, Schuldig pulled Nagi back into his body. "You should be all fixed, he said, and beat a hasty retreat.
Omi dressed in the night clothes that Nagi had brought for him the night before, and was curled up on his bed around Schwarz, humming.
Nagi growled and chased Schuldig out. "You just wait! I'll put bolts in your food!" Nagi called after him before he turned and went upstairs to see how Omi was doing.
Schuldig laughed as he ducked into the kitchen. "You enjoyed it!" he called back.
Omi largely ignored the noise from the rest of the house, still curled around his kitten, petting it. Schwarz was making a clicking sound in his chest, what would one day become a purr when he was big enough for it to rumble.
Nagi knocked softly on the door.
Omi jumped. "Yes..?"
Nagi slowly opened the door and peeked in. "Hi." he said smiling a little.
Omi's surprise melted into a smile. "Hello," he said calmly. "Are you feeling better?"
Nagi nodded. "Yeah, Schuldig fixed the problem." He said tapping his head as he came in. "How are you doing?"
"Good. I think Schwarz is hungry..." He said, and the little kitten gave a lion sized yawn.
Nagi smiled at Schwarz then looked back at Omi. "Are you sure you're okay? I saw you crying in the bathroom..." Nagi said and blushed.
Omi blinked owlishly. "I wasn't crying," he said quietly, a blatant lie, but he didn't know how Nagi had been watching.
"I saw you." Nagi said again.
Omi's eyes widened. Nagi MUST have seen him, somehow. He wasn't bothered by the fact that Nagi was spying on him in the shower so much as he was by the fact that Nagi had seen him cry. "I..." he started, afraid that Nagi would be angry with him.
"It's okay." Nagi reasured him. "I was just worried about you, that's all. And I wanted to make sure you were okay now."
Omi relaxed. "I'm okay." he said, not offering up anything else. /Nagi was worried about me because he likes me/ he thought, putting things together.
Nagi smiled and went over hugging him. "If you ever need to talk, you can always talk to me." He said and smiled at him.
"About what?" Omi asked, curious.
"Anything. LIke if there is something you don't understand, or if you just don't want to be alone."
"I'm never alone," Omi said.
Nagi sighed and looked down a little. He was trying to get Omi to open up to him at least a little. /I guess it's a little to soon for that./ He thought but smiled at Omi anyway. "Alright. Just...remember, if you ever need to talk, I'm right across the hall." He said and kissed Omi's cheek. "I'm going to make something to eat, would you like to join me?"
Omi blinked at the kiss, and tilted his head. "Err... Sure?" he said, a little uncertainly. He realized that he was already starting to change the way he thought about things. The episodes in the mall had changed something deep inside his wiring, and he was scared of it.
"Anything specific you want to eat?"
Omi thought this over, and shook his head. He smiled, and got to his feet. "Anything you want to make is fine," he glanced down at his feet. "Nagi... I want to talk to you. Tell me things we can talk about."
"We can talk about anything really. We can talk about what we like, or what we don't like. We can talk about things we've seen," Nagi said, smiling a little.
"I would... Would you... Please... Tell me what you like?" Omi asked, shyly. /He likes me. But what else../ he wondered.
"Well, I like computers. I used to watch Schuldig in the workshop when the twins first came here. I watched all the things he could do with the computers, so I started learning how to do that. I also like to cook. But I think that's just because it was programed into me." Nagi said and thought for a few seconds. "I also like being with my friends. And family. All my friends in this house have become my family. And even though they annoy me, I still don't know what I would do without them."
"The twins...?" Omi asked, forcing the words out. "Schuldig?" he followed him out to the kitchen as they talked. "I don't know what I like," he whispered. "I like being able to eat... And not getting hit. But I don't think it's the same." Again the earlier thought came back to him, and he slumped down into a chair. /I wish I was never a slave... I wish I could be like Schuldig and Nagi...I wish... I were human.../
Nagi sighed. "Omi, you are human. Just because you were created instead of born, dosn't make you any less human then anyone else. You can think for yourself. You just prooved that by saying you wish you were human. If you were just a slave, another android, then you wouldn't be able to think for yourself, all your thoughts would have been programed into you."
Omi glanced up, giving him a smile, and opened up his forearm where the screens kept a watch on everything that went on in his body. "No," he said softly. "Not human." He stared at his arm a bit more, then sadly got up and wandered out. An idea occurred to him and he padded downstairs to the basement, where Schuldig was hiding from Nagi.
"Can I help you?" He asked. Omi nodded, and he sat up.
"I want you to do something for me," Omi said.