Author's Note:

Heya! I've noticed that due to the way I've formatted this story, and with its many limitations, some of the chapters are short. I've decided to try and post twice a week because of this. It's not like it'll take a toll on me; Fox and I have finished this story wayyyyyy back, so... yeah.

Enjoy!

Strangers: Become Lovers

Act II

BL4K3

14:00

THURSDAY

YANG: Neutral

A forced chuckle. "This place hasn't changed much."

Blake tried to keep herself from showing any signs of… uneasiness. She'd fairly succeeded, she'd like to think.

This particular human, however, happened to be very expressive, and therefore couldn't help but wear her awkwardness on her sleeve for the world to see.

The effort to make small talk was appreciated, though.

"Of course it hasn't. It's only been a week." Blake's words might've been perceived as harsh if not for the soft tone and the even softer smile on her face. "Yang… thanks."

The blonde, ever so kind, smiled, finally allowing her body to relax as she sat down facing the bartending android. "Hey, it's no problem, really. I'm glad I was there. Otherwise…"

Blake looked away quickly, her LED flashing yellow for only a moment.

"Yeah…"

She refused to think about what might happen. She refused to tell her owner about it, too. She feared he wouldn't take the news lightly. She feared the least he would do was hunt down those men and beat them up.

Ghira could be scary like that.

He was a gentle giant, but a giant nonetheless.

She really was lucky Yang was there, more than the blonde would ever realize.

Androids should not, in any circumstance, made a move to injure a human even if it was to defend themselves.

The law of self-defense wouldn't work on a soulless machine.

If she were to do something, anything at all, they'd claim that it was she who malfunction and attack them without provocation… like a rabid dog.

And everyone would believe them, no matter how skew the evidence was.

She was an android. They were not. Simple as that.

"So, umm… How was life?" Blake looked at her almost tiredly. Yang backpedalled almost immediately. "Umm, I meant, how was your robot… android… not-life?"

It was… horrible. But acceptable, considering that the blonde just saved her life. "Everything seems fine, but…"

"But…?"

-[SINCERE]-

-[COLD]-

She… she could trust Yang.

Yang wouldn't hurt her.

Not intentionally.

"Ghira. My owner," she clarified when the blonde looked lost. Blake grabbed a glass and began wiping it with a rag almost mechanically. "He… He keeps expecting me to be… more… and I don't know how to deal with it."

"More?"

She stopped with her administrations.

"... I shouldn't say."

"No, no. It's alright." Yang leaned forward, catching her eye almost too easily. "You can trust me, Blake."

-[STAY QUIET]-

-[SPEAK]-

She didn't know why choosing the latter felt almost natural.

"... He wants me to turn deviant. To act like a… like a human."

The last part was spoken in a whisper.

After she said it, she quickly looked around, making sure that no one, no one heard her despite knowing from the beginning that they were the only ones that were there.

"... And?"

Blake looked at her incredulously. She put down the glass with a tad more force than necessary.

"Yang. Can't you see? I'll get in trouble if I turn deviant. Big trouble. They'll disassemble me and-" kill me, she didn't say. "And that's if I'm a deviant." She looked at Yang with a hard glare. They both knew she was far from angry. "And I'm no deviant. I'm a machine, Yang. Nothing more."

She might as well bow down on two knees with how badly she was pleading the human.

She refused to look into the human's eyes, fearing that she'd see disgust or, worse, enjoyment. Humans could be cruel, crueler than any monsters. It scared her. It scared her even more if she were to find those sick emotions in Yang's bright and kind eyes.

A hand found its place on her shoulder, making the android jump.

"Blake…" Yang sounded troubled but determined, "I know how dangerous it might be back then, but... everything's different now. You don't have to lock yourself up like this anymore. You can be free, Blake. Your owner is okay with it. I'm okay with it. So… it's alright."

Blake thought back to the wall she'd seen. To the white 'thing' that lived inside her.

And she tried her best to ignore them and what they could mean.

"I… I can't, Yang. I just… can't."

If Blake expected the human to point out her sorry excuse of an answer, then she expected wrong.

"I'm sorry, Blake. I won't pry. I won't ask. And I won't push." Very hesitantly, amber met lilac. "I realize that now... that it's your decision and yours alone. I can never force you to do something you don't want to do. And that's… okay." Yang smiled. It was genuine. She could tell. Which made her next words even more moving. "Just know that I'll always accept you, no matter what."

A beat passed.

And another.

And another.

And finally…

"Thank you, Yang."

YANG: Warm

And with that, things seemed to be getting back to normal again.

"So… where's my alcoholic drink?"

Blake glared at the reckless human. "You won't get it, Yang."

"Oh, c'mon!" she whined, throwing her arms up. "I'll pay double!"

"Not happening."

But the human was stubborn. "Isn't that, like, breaking the law?"

"Oh, so I'm breaking the law?"

The blonde pouted.

… No pout should look that adorable.

"You know what I mean."

"My function here is to simply take care of the pub," she reasoned.

"Huh." The blonde looked up in thought for a moment, biting her tongue.

"What if there was a fight, though?"

"I will not intervene until they start to break my owner's property."

Yang shrugged. "Weird flex but okay." Blake handed her the drink. She took it gingerly and sipped, humming in pleasure right afterward. "Man, I miss this."

"Does that mean you'll keep coming here every day?"

"Only if you start serving me actual drinks."

"In your dreams," she scoffed.

Yang wailed. "Pretty please, Blakey!"

"Not until you're no longer underage."

"Blakey!" Yang faked her crying - hiccuping and sobbing and wiping her 'tears'. And she looked so damn adorable it almost had Blake disobeying her functions and give into the blonde's demands. Her illegal demands. "Don't torture me like this! It's just alcohol, Blake!"

"Underage drinking is dangerous, Yang!"

"Not if you're serving it, it's not!"

"That doesn't even make sense!"

Author's Note:

Ugh. So, I wanted the awkwardness to go on longer, but the bees decided they want some fluff. Like, no really, it's weird, sometimes the characters choose where they go instead of me controlling them. Like, they choose what they say and do… like real people… I heard it happens to some writers… and I also heard that it's a good thing because it means that your characters aren't 2D… which is… good.

So, yay, I guess.

Alsooooo, did you guys notice the meme I very subtly and expertly put in there? I mean, I don't think it's a meme, but at the same time, I don't think it's not a meme, you know.

Can anyone guess?

… I'm gonna tell you anyway! It's the "Weird flex but okay" thing! :D

I am so clever.