Sora's existence was defined by others, and he lived a life that showed that. Friends, family, and the city all recognized him as an individual of sacrifice. He performed his best at school or in work. Everything he did shimmered and glittered. To most, it made perfect sense why nothing crushed Sora's heart like seeing something he loved shattered. Yet it was an addiction. The brunette stood there on the sidelines watching metal clash against metal. Sparks fly. Wires like multi-colored spaghetti being ripped out from behind metal hearts. Click, Click, Click…The gears all stopped and the AI's head dropped to its chest as it fell forward hitting the asphalt with a thud. Screws bounced in all directions as washers rolled away. A breath. The feeling of loss. Shame. In a single instance he felt powerless and weak, and that, that was incredible to him.
The brunette had been born in the city. The streets like veins pumping life into an unseen heart. In the center, skyscrapers screamed out, penetrating the sky, ripping it open to make rain fall down on busy people. People too busy for anything but love and their own lives. They tumbled around being thrown from place to place, hoping to be able to find a hole of their own to patch up. There were only so many holes in the quilt of life not taken by AI, and yet Sora, Riku, and Kairi had found theirs.
In the mechanical undergrowth of the city, where cables snaked down like vines and iron beams jutted out like tree branches, they found their home. They were addicts looking for a fix in competitions that most of society wouldn't deem acceptable until once a year. When the date rolled around, the competition was a glorious thing. Something that deserved the limelight, but here in the shadows, under the same rules any other day of the year, they were deemed 'cruel' and 'inhumane'. Robot against robot. Steel against steel. Code against code.
"Do robots ever scream when they die?" Kairi whispered one night as they lay on the warehouse floor gazing up at airplanes flying overhead through a tear in the steel roof. Long ago there had been some great winds that had swept away a rusted part of the roof, now they used it to witness the lights from the city smother the stars.
Sora smiled sleepily, "That's a good question. What do you think, Riku?"
"If it's in their code-" The silverette was cut off.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. If it's in their code this. If it's in their code that." Sora rolled his eyes, "Nah, Riku. You gotta think. When Heart 12C was torn apart today, do you think he felt it? Do you really think he felt it? Did his conscious fade and in those last moments, did he pray to some higher power for help? Or did he assume he'd return to the database. I mean yeah, he's code. Oh, he's code…but are they… something more?"
A deep breath, inhaled through the nose, "No." The words left Riku's lips like a death sentence, "You're getting too attached, Sora."
"Guess I am." The seventeen year old wiped his oily fingers on a rag tied to his work belt, "Too many years in the game. I'm starting to go whack like Axel did."
"Axel isn't whack, Sora." Kairi jumped to the redhead's defense, "Just different. He's not down here in the pits."
The city cried out around them with the sound of sirens, and Riku was grateful that whoever it was, it wasn't them. "He's coming to the competition with that AI of his. You think he'll let me see the code?"
"If you're not a total asshole to him like last time." Kairi snorted. That's all Riku seemed to care about sometime. Code, code, code. She worried that he'd never be attracted to a human heartbeat. That he'd end up alone working himself to death in some backstreet AI lab, findings never being known by society. Out of the three of them, Riku was the eldest and had connections within the city. Not that Sora didn't, but the brunette's tended to be part suppliers compared to Riku's. Ex-Moshiva employees who had gotten kicked out for trifling on the wrong side of the rules sometimes floated in and out of the silverette's work space. She didn't like most of them. They made her skin crawl.
The day of registry, it rained a warm summer rain. The asphalt reflected a palette of neon lights, and in the crowd, damp red hair could be seen by Sora, looking for Kairi, but finding another. "Axel." The name slipped from his lips before he had the chance to swallow it.
Turning, electric green eyes took a moment to process and recognize, "Hey, Sora. Good to see you."
"Yeah, it has been a while. You're back in the city now? I guess you got over-" The brunette was cut off by a blond about his height who blocked him off to give Axel a hug.
Roxas beamed, "I found your mom! She's waiting over by the car. Ready to go when you are! Oh hey, you're one of Axel's old friends, right?" He asked the brunette, "Axel told me a bit about you guys."
"Oh, that's cool. I guess you're his…"
"Boyfriend." Roxas nodded, "Yeah."
Sora bit his lip feeling a bit awkward. He hadn't ever had an attraction to Axel, but for some reason he felt a bit jealous, "Oh, that's cool. How long?"
Axel decided to answer this one as Roxas let go of him, "A couple weeks."
A tight feeling began tugging in Sora's chest. Oh, he glanced up at Axel's long red hair. Maybe that was it. Kairi. Maybe not. "Well congrats!" He smiled widely, "You guys look cute together. What category are you competing in?"
"Reality composition. You?" Axel pulled out his phone as it buzzed. His mother was texting him.
"Demolition. We've been testing ours in the pits and it's looking really good." He nodded to himself, "So I guess we'll see you around?"
Axel smiled, "Yeah, it'd be cool if we all could meet up. Maybe for breakfast tomorrow."
"You still have my number, right? Just text me. We still hang out in Meow's Chow."
Another smile, "Alright." Roxas was holding his hand awfully tight, and he could see a pout growing. "See you tomorrow then."
"Tomorrow."
As the couple walked away, Axel couldn't help but tease the smaller male, "Jealousy is unbecoming, Roxas." He lilted.
Blushing, all the blond could manage was a quiet, "Shut up." As he let go of Axel's hand and ran ahead.
Review~ Thank you Layla for Betaing :3