A/N: All right, so my first chapter seemed to get a pretty quick, positive response, so I decided I might as well keep going while the inspiration is fresh. Besides, my Japan Shimeji keeps sitting by the Word program. Sometimes I wonder…. Anyways, here's chapter 2!
There was a long silence as Kiku waited for the robot to do something else. Yet, he stayed right there, holding him in an almost horizontal position, grin never faltering. His eyes were looking at Kiku's face, taking in his features in an almost curious, excited way.
"U… Um…" Kiku said, shifting in the strong hold. "Could you… let me go?"
"Oh!" Alfred actually seemed like he had gotten distracted. So lifelike… He straightened Kiku up and stepped back, grinning all the while and scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout that! I just got excited to see my new owner! You're my first, so I got a little distracted!"
"I see…." Kiku said slowly, taking a moment to dust off his clothes and gather himself. Whoever had created Alfred must have put a lot of time into his personality and actions. It was incredible how well he mirrored human quirks. "Um…. You're my first… robot… as well."
He guessed he said the right thing, for Alfred seemed to buzz with excitement, laughing a very loud, almost annoying laugh. "Then we're both learning, huh?"
"I guess so…" Kiku put his knuckle to his chin and regarded Alfred carefully. He would need to get better clothing than that… While Kiku didn't mind the view, it wasn't appropriate at all. Yet, Kiku was sure nothing in his closet would fit.
"Oh!" Alfred seemed to remember something. "Right. Introductions."
Kiku was about to ask what Alfred was saying, when Alfred suddenly went rigid and his eyes dimmed. When he spoke, it was so forced and planned, Kiku almost became concerned. He had to keep reminding himself that Alfred was, after all, a robot. It was all a part of his programming.
"Hello, I am Alfred, one of the hundreds of thousands of robots in the AI program at Kirkland Industries in the United Kingdom," Alfred said. "I have been programmed with my own personality and thought process. If at any time you decide you would like a different AI installed, you may contact the company through the email written on the back of my neck. You will then be asked to remove the chip via the console on my back, and send it to the company. The exchange of AI's is free of charge, other than shipping and handling."
Subtly, Kiku thought he saw Alfred's finger twitch and his face, at that time a neutral expression, shift into a slight frown as he said this.
"My purpose will be to learn from you and be a companion to you," Alfred continued. "I will take the time to learn your interests and study them. I also have the ability to be plugged in and used as a normal computer, as well as make calls, send text messages, access wifi, and many other functions. For a full list of my capabilities, please check your AI Handbook."
Handbook? Kiku realized he hadn't searched for one. Looking down at the packing peanuts, he began to shuffle through them, until his hand hit the cardboard surface of a hardcover book. When he picked it up, he grunted at the weight. It was likely bigger than any textbook Kiku had ever had. Setting it on the coffee table, he looked at it in silence. He'd probably skim through it later…
"At night, I will normally plug myself in to recharge, however, if under certain circumstances I am unable to recharge, there is a port at the back of my head allowing access to a wire and adapter which can plug into almost any outlet. At your command, I may also tap into my reserve power supply if I am needed for an emergency call or to be moved to an outlet. This supply will normally last an average of ten minutes.
"If there are any more questions, you may either consult the AI Handbook, or tell me to go into help mode. Have a nice day."
With that, Alfred's frame relaxed and his eyes brightened once more. His smile returned, but something was slightly different about it. Almost forced. Despite knowing he was a robot, Kiku had to speak up.
"Is something wrong?" Kiku asked. To his surprise, Alfred's smile faltered a bit, and he shifted on his feet, eyes tracing the room around them as he avoided Kiku's gaze. How could he possibly be so realistic?
"I um…" Alfred started, then looked down almost guiltily. "I was just wondering if you wanted a new AI chip?"
Alfred didn't look at Kiku, as the Japanese man started to understand. Though a robot, Alfred still seemed to be frightened that Kiku might want to get rid of him. That Kiku might not like him. Despite his hesitance and skepticism that this robot was truly feeling those feelings, Kiku took his hand reassuringly.
"No, I don't," Kiku said, feeling a bit awkward at comforting a robot. "You're a wonderful AI. I would never want to get rid of you."
Bursting into another grin, Alfred scooped him into a big hug, causing Kiku to tense.
"That makes me really happy!" Alfred said, swinging him around a bit.
"A-ah yes!" Kiku said, eyes wide. "B-but pl-please put m-me down!"
"Oh! Sorry!" Alfred said, putting Kiku down carefully. "Just got a bit excited is all!"
"I can see that…" Kiku murmured, fixing his clothes again. There was a long pause as Alfred looked expectantly at Kiku. Waiting for him to do something. "What?"
Alfred jumped at being called out on his staring, then chuckled sheepishly, shifting from foot to foot. "Sorry!" He apologized again. "I was just wondering what you wanted me to call you!"
"Huh?" Kiku seemed surprised, but it was understandable; he had yet to tell Alfred his name. "Um… Well I'm Honda Kiku… That's the Japanese formatting, so my first name is Kiku, and family name is Honda…" Alfred had probably already guessed that, but the blonde nodded anyways.
"All right!" Alfred said. "So what do you want to be called?"
"Um…" Kiku hadn't really thought about it, and tapped his chin in thought. Any Japanese honorifics would be customary, but… he doubted it would fit with the American accent. It never sounded natural. Plus, he wouldn't be able to decide how formal Alfred should be; should he be called Senpai? Or maybe Honda-Sama? Or just Honda-San?
"There are many options," Alfred said, filling the silence. "It can either be something informal, like a first name, or something very formal, like Master or Lord."
"N-no!" Kiku said quickly, face reddening again as many other fanfictions came to mind. Master and Lord were not terms Kiku would be comfortable with at all. "You can just call me Mr. Honda." It was strange to him, to use such titles as Mr when he was Japanese, but nothing else would quite fit, and he wasn't comfortable enough with this robot to be called simply Kiku. Besides, he was familiar enough with Western culture to know that it showed respect. His brother made a living in America, after all. He had visited several times and, while their social status was lacking the depth the Japanese had, Mr was something he had seen quite often for those of higher status.
"Got it, Mr. Honda!" Alfred said with his grin always present. It sounded right, and Kiku knew he had made the right choice with the name. "Now, what do you want to do first?"
"Um…" Sleep, Kiku thought. Yet, he wanted to test out a few things with Alfred first. To get somewhat used to him. His eyes trailed over to his old computer. "Well… I had been working on this story for a while, but the Word program stopped working… I don't know if you can recover it, but…"
"No problem!" Alfred said with a nod, happy to be doing something. "I can take care of that for you!"
Without hesitating, the man trotted over to the computer and plopped himself down in front of the tower. Reaching around to the back of his head, he opened a hatch and pulled out a cord with a usb connector, which he used to plug into the computer. A few moments of silence passed while the computers processed each other, then Alfred closed his eyes and Kiku's monitor came to life.
Things were shifted around as Alfred searched, finally finding the Word program and opening it. Kiku couldn't be sure of what he was doing, but before long, a loading bar came up. As something loaded, the paint program was pulled up and a picture started being drawn.
It was very crudely drawn, and Kiku wasn't sure at first what it was, but when it was finished, Kiku saw himself reflected back, as well as, in sloppy handwriting; Hi Mr. Honda!
A smile spread across Kiku's face despite himself, and he settled down to continue eating his sashimi, though glanced over every once in a while to see the screen drawing Alfred and Kiku together, and then superheroes that Kiku recognized as Spiderman, Batman, and, especially, Superman.
"You like superheroes?" Kiku asked, somewhat surprised. He knew Alfred had his own personality, but he didn't think Alfred had his own interests too.
"Yup!" Alfred said, eyes staying closed. "When I was built, I was allowed to spend time in the factory while I was waiting to be bought and shipped out. I discovered superheroes while searching through the internet, and I fell in love with them! I wish I could be one!"
"Robots have wishes?" Kiku asked before he could stop himself. He flinched as Alfred's smile faltered again, regretting his words immediately.
"Sort of…" Alfred's smile was a bit sad now. "I know that I feel like this is a wish, but it's just a part of my programming. Please don't feel like my wishes are anything to take seriously."
Kiku felt a pang of guilt hit his chest as he heard this. Alfred was a program, yes, but it was a program given the ability to understand it is a program. It was then Kiku decided to stop thinking of Alfred as only a robot. Alfred's feelings may have only been coding, but that coding made him hurt, just like Kiku's guilt did at that moment.
"Alfred-kun…" Kiku said softly, stepping over to him and sitting in front of him. Kun seemed like the appropriate honorific, he decided. "That was rude of me to say without thinking, and I apologize greatly. If you feel like you want to be a superhero, then you do, no matter if it's coding or a human brain function."
Alfred opened one eye slowly, then smiled softly. He didn't move, and Kiku guessed that he couldn't when he was working on Kiku's computer like that, but the smile was genuine.
"Thank you, Mr. Honda," Alfred said, having his worries put to rest by Kiku's words.
The loading bar finally filled, and Kiku found the document he had been working on staring back at him, all seven thousand words. Alfred removed himself from the computer and stood up, pulling the wire back into his head and closing the hatch.
"There we go!" He said, now back to being happy and excitable. "I reset the computer to just before the program crashed. I'd save it though, just in case the program crashes again. Either way, it's copied to the clipboard in case."
"Th-thank you, Alfred-kun!" Kiku said, quickly saving before the document could fail again "I was worried I would have to type it all again."
"It's no problem!" He said. "It was pretty easy!"
Kiku was going to thank him a few more times, when he noticed a sentence was different. Rewritten?
"Ah.." Kiku stopped. "This sentence wasn't like this? Did something happen when you were going back?"
Kiku began to worry he'd have to go through it all to fix any glitches that may have arisen, but Alfred actually seemed bashful at the mention of the changed sentence.
"W-well," Alfred said, grinning shyly, "I was going through it and I changed a few things here and there. Just where the wording didn't make much sense… I hope you don't mind!"
Kiku's face flushed scarlet. Did that mean Alfred had read it?! Oh dear, there were some parts that involved… Oh how embarrassing.
"I-I'm sorry!" Alfred said quickly, worried the redness meant Kiku was angry.
"N-no!" Kiku said, shaking his head. "It's fine! I just didn't expect… y-you to read it…."
"W-well I… I read a few sentences while I was loading it, and it was really good, so I ended up reading it all," Alfred shrugged. "I can change it all back if you want!"
"It's not that! I just don't know about that part… On the second page…"
"Oh!" Now Alfred seemed to be embarrassed himself. "I just… skimmed over that part…. I didn't really read much of it."
"O-of course. It's fine if you read it! I mean… I put it on the internet for others to read it so…"
There was a long silence after that, where the pair just stood there, looking anywhere but at each other.
"Well, my battery is running low," Alfred said quickly.
"Of course! I'm sure it must have been a… draining day for you," Kiku responded, happy for the excuse, even though he doubted Alfred's battery could have run out in that last hour or so. "I need to go to sleep anyways."
"Yeah, 'course! It's late… erh… early? So yeah…. I'll go find an outlet now."
Alfred hurried away, as Kiku pulled out his futon and turned off the light, crawling into it by the gray morning sun streaming through the windows. Still, he caught the blue light from Alfred's eyes shining onto the wall.
"Good ni-" Kiku started, but stopped himself, noticing the sun again. "Er…. Good morning, Alfred-kun."
Alfred laughed softly as he plugged himself in. "Good morning, Mr. Honda." Then Alfred faded into sleep mode, his eyes a dull green to show that he was, indeed, fully charged.
With a sigh and a look at Alfred's hunched position in the corner, Kiku gave into sleep as well.