((This chapter didn't want a name, either. However, since I didn't ask for its opinion, it got one anyway, pilfered from R.E.M., more precisely from You're In The Air. That's a lot cornier than I wanted but it's almost 2 am here and I have that song stuck in my head and can't really get my brain to produce any other sensible output. Also the same is true for the entire chapter, so it's not like I can win here anyway. Goodnight. I'm going to pass out. Right now.))


Chapter 14

I'm What You Found

Frank awoke in the middle of the night. The spot beside him was empty but warm. A door opened in the hall. He approached the panel and spoke to it in an undertone. 'MANES, is Adam in the den?'

'Yes, Creator.'

'Thanks.' For a moment, he'd been scared. 'Wonder when it'll get through that thick skull of mine that I don't have to be.'

'Excuse me?'

'Nothing. Go to sleep. And don't answer that.' Frank grabbed a dressing gown and followed Adam silently. He found him standing in the middle of the room, rooted to the spot. He was buck naked and gave Frank a wonderful opportunity to take all of him in. He felt a pang of anger towards Sarif for putting Adam through all the agony the unnecessary augments must have caused him. And while he wasn't struggling anymore, he was far from being comfortable in his own skin and maybe still unsure if he was the same man he'd been before. No-one knew better than Frank that wanting to be okay didn't make it so and that sometimes time alone wasn't enough to heal.

Slowly, the augmented man walked to the desk at the far end. He supported himself from it and stared down at the things scattered on it. It would look random to anyone else, but to Adam it wouldn't be.

His apartment in Detroit had been a horrible mess. The one in Prague was better, at least from what Frank had seen, but still. Adam had a tendency to drop what he didn't need wherever he was standing. Frank had no delusions of changing him, and he didn't even want to.

Now workspace was a different matter entirely. Frank had avoided Adam's office at Sarif Industries like the plague. He could count the times he'd been inside it on the fingers of one hand. But he did know that it hadn't been anywhere near as messy as Frank's office, which had papers scattered everywhere. People had found that hilarious. The head of cyber security had his notes on paper. He had his reasons, the most prominent being that he was a tactile learner and writing helped there. He also enjoyed the feel of paper.

At any rate, the fact that Adam was a neat worker meant that for what Frank wanted to do, he'd needed help. Well. He'd have needed help anyway, because he could hardly have flown to Prague, grabbed the stuff, and made it back without anyone noticing. But what he had also asked his helper was to take photographs before packing it all neatly and safely, so he had a chance to arrange it as it had been laid out in its original place. That had proven hard to do, since Adam had apparently left for Peterculter in the middle of a project, which meant there had been a lot of either very similar or horribly tiny things laid out on that desk. That project had to be one hell of a complicated task.

But at the end of the day, Frank had done it. Now, the desk looked exactly as it had in Prague, with the notable exception of a framed picture of Adam's dog Kubrick. Once his contact had mentioned a picture of a dog, he'd told him to send that, too.

Adam still stood at the desk as if he planned to turn into a statue. 'I know you're standing there,' he said at last. 'I heard you talking to your AI.'

'You and your damn augments. Well, I was appreciating the view.'

Adam turned and looked at him. His face was relaxed, but there was something there, some emotion he tried to hold down. And damn, he was beautiful, augmented or not. There was no doubt that he was still a man, just a man, not a machine.

Frank swallowed, pushing the thought aside. 'I … wanted you to feel a bit more at home here.' He felt the insecurity come back with a vengeance and he couldn't hold it down. Heat crept up his face and he felt naked, even though he was actually covered.

'Come here, Francis.' He walked towards the other man. Before he could say anything, he was pulled into an embrace. 'What can I do? Is there anything?'

Frank sighed. 'You're doing a great job already, Adam.' He pulled away a little. 'Sorry. This isn't your fault. It's not fair.'

Adam shook his head and placed a finger on Frank's lips. 'Maybe not, but you're totally worth it.' He let his hands glide down Francis's arms and pulled him closer – so close they were chest to chest, with only the thin fabric of Frank's dressing gown between them. 'Anyway to answer the question you didn't ask, I felt a call of nature, and I thought while I'm up already I'd take a look in here. I was about to come back to bed immediately, but I was … a bit stunned.'

Frank turned in Adam's embrace and picked up a cogwheel. 'What is this going to be when it's done, anyway?'

'A clock.'

'Really. I thought it was a dinosaur.'

'It's a table clock. A rather complicated one.'

'No specifics, please.'

Adam chuckled. 'You asked. Thanks, Francis, this isn't anything I'd have expected and it's great. I do realise that you took care to arrange everything the way it was. Literally everything. How d'you do that?'

'I had a few detailed photos of your desk.'

'You know, I've got something for you, too. I was wondering, because you don't need anything. Then I remembered something about that script you sent me.'

Frank raised an eyebrow. 'Okay?'

'Apparently, you didn't write it on a computer. Whyever that is. But I know you're weird that way.'

'You're right, I had a typewriter in Detroit. That may seem unusual at first glance, but it has its advantages.'

'Oh, I'd like to hear those. And while you're at it, you can tell me what the point of an arch built of ancient monitors is.'

'That … ah … was … um.' Frank licked his lips. 'They were in storage and no-one wanted them anyway, they were about to be thrown out. I wanted some decoration in my office.'

'You were bored, Pritchard.'

'Not all the time! I'm starting to think I just have bad taste. I must, seeing how we're even having this conversation.'

'Your insults used to be more convincing, you know.'

'That might be because I was more convinced of them myself.' Frank spread his arms. 'Where are you going with this again? Because it's still the middle of the night and you are stark naked and a bit of a distraction.'

'Yes, of course. I had a point there.' Frank had let himself be steered to Adam's room. 'I found this neat little store in Aberdeen while I fetched the camera for Abigail. They have antiquities of all sorts and trades, some broken, but most of them functional.'

Frank watched him approach a lumpy shape on the floor with a shirt thrown over it. It struck him what was coming and he grinned. 'Jensen, you didn't,' he said quietly when Adam had pulled the shirt away, and crouched down beside him. 'I was planning to hunt down a typewriter eventually. They offer a lot less distractions than a computer does, they're perfect for legal documents and envelops and stuff. You know, even I can't hack a typewriter. I also like the sound, and what with modern OCR, there's not really a disadvantage when you have to send a digital copy …' He trailed off and ran one hand over the keys. 'That's a good one, too, an Apex Culmen 24. And it's easy to get ribbons for these. Did you know that?'

Adam gave him a lingering look. 'I should say yes, but we both know that's not true. I asked the salesclerk.'

Frank stood and put his hands on Adam's sides, caressing him gently. 'Thanks, Adam. This is brilliant.'

Adam pulled him flush against him and cupped his buttocks. 'I'm glad. I wasn't sure about the model because this one has no memory. But then I decided if you of all people go old school, I think you'd go all the way.'

'You thought right.' He leaned closer to Adam and planted a kiss on his cheek. 'Come on, you. Let's go to bed.'

'Any chance you're not talking about sleep?'

'Only one way to find out, handsome.'


((I love synonyms. Ignore me.))