Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia: Axis Powers or Black Mirror. All rights go to their creators.
TW: For what could be described as mentions of mercy killing and character death.
Chapter 12: Crossing Over
Feliciano stared back at him, shock evident on his face, as he opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. He was sitting on the edge of his bed as Lovino was standing in front of him.
Lovino crossed his arms, blowing a breath out of his nose. He was still jittery from earlier, a movement to hide his still trembling fingers.
"So you've been in love with a robot this whole time?"
"What? I didn't fucking say that!" It would be like him to pick out that out of all the things he'd just said.
There were sparkles in Feliciano's eyes just then, "Ahhh! It's so romantic! You wanted the robot to be real so bad that you traveled across the ocean on the off chance you'd find the person he's based on!" Feliciano smushed his own cheeks with his hands. He swung his legs, heels bouncing against the side of the bed. "Which kind of defeats the purpose because this person would have no memory of any interaction you had with the robot."
Fuck, apparently he was listening.
"But I don't understand why you would have to delete your little robot friend if you clearly like him, especially since the real version of him is deceased." Feliciano cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy.
"I don't want that bastard to go stir crazy in my app because he can't talk to anyone else but me. And it's fucking weird to keep him around!" Lovino looked at Feli, and he just grinned at him in that stupid way he always did.
"Don't make everything so complicated, Lovi." Feli got up and walked over to the bins pushed against the wall.
They were going to be transporting the androids back to NYC where Kiku could work with the other engineers at the company to improve them before making the finished product.
Feli slapped one of the bins, "You could put him in one of these, eh? Eh?" He said, raising his eyebrows.
"Honda's gonna be on our asses if we mess with one of those things. I don't want to get in any more trouble than I already am just because I went poking my nose where I don't belong." Lovino shook his head.
"C'mon! C'mon, why don't you ask your little robot friend if he wants to come out here with us?"
"Hell no!"
"I'll ask!" Feli held out his hand for his phone.
Lovino rolled his eyes, "He's going to say no. You're so fucking brain dead!" Lovino slapped his own forehead,"Fuck he's probably having an existential crisis right now!" He hurriedly pulled out phone and pushed the voice function on the app.
Lovino bit his lip as the phone continued to ring. He feared the little bot wouldn't pick up. But after an agonizingly long few minutes the line clicked.
"L-lovino I'm so sorry. I-I hope you don't think I lied to you." His voice sounded a bit hoarse, "I truly believed–" He sniffled.
"No, I didn't think that. You yelled at me about it, remember? I don't think you could've faked that." Lovino's voice was quiet.
"I-I'm glad, because you've done so much… Although I did enjoy being your chatbot, I-I can't stay stuck in this little white void. I just can't. Plagued with memories that aren't mine, things I'll never experience."
"Yeah, no, I get that… I figured as much." Lovino sighed, "Did you want me to delete you now, just so I wouldn't waste your time, you know?"
And then his phone was snatched from his hands, "Ciao! I'm pretty sure Lovi has told you a lot about me, I'm Feliciano!"
Lovino blinked and tried to get his phone back, but Feliciano jumped on top of the bed.
"He's trying to get his phone back, so I'll make this quick! We've got this android that we could sync you to, and you can be like a physical robot." Lovino wobbled as he stood on the bed and tried to run after Feli, who nimbly jumped down and ran around to the other bed. Lovino jumped off as Feli jumped on.
Feli pouted, "You don't have to be so mean! What did Lovi tell you about me?"
Lovino climbed on the bed and Feli went through the process of jumping down and running to the other side of the room as Lovino had just gotten his footing. Lovino groaned.
"He really thinks that? He didn't tell me…" Feli looked at him with sad honey brown eyes. Feli jumped on the other bed.
"Anyway, what do you say? You want to get in this android and leave that app behind?"
Feli furrowed his eyebrows after a pause, "C'mon! You want to escape the app, Lovi wants you to be real, you two practically want the same thing! Please? You can't see my face, but I'm giving you puppy dog eyes."
By this point Lovino had managed to tackle Feli down onto the bed. Feli still held the phone out of reach. "Feli stop being a minchione! This isn't the time for your meddling!"
"Lovi likes you-–." Lovino covered Feli's mouth as Feli wiggled around. Feli held Lovino back with his foot to his chest.
"Fine. I'll try it." Lovino heard from the phone and Feli let it fall from his hand and onto the bed, giggling as he met Lovino's eyes once again.
Lovino got Feliciano to agree to wait after ending the call. This would be entirely too much right now.
Isn't there something ethically wrong with doing this?
Essentially bringing another version of Arthur into their space, a replica, a distasteful replacement. Android Arthur couldn't go home and slide back into the Kirklands' lives, being a literal product of Lionessolutions, the company that screwed them over by taking the real Arthur's likeness and personality to profit from. So essentially the android would be back to being lonely…an adjustment would have to be made for him to fit somewhere in Lovino's life.
And Lovino would have to face João at some point, not giving him the full explanation but to make it clear he was never going to come into contact with the Kirklands again, they wouldn't have to worry about him.
But Feli didn't seem to think about any of that, high in the clouds of his own world, where everything worked itself out. As he's said before, life handed Feli everything in a pretty package, spoiled him. But he wondered briefly what exactly the little bot had said to him, although it didn't change anything.
With that heavy on his mind Lovino decided to go to sleep, he was too mentally exhausted to eat dinner and collapsed onto his bed in their hotel room after changing out of his clothes.
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The first thing he noticed was that his feet were wet. Feliciano was giggling and their fucking apartment was flooding.
Water was continuously pouring in from the hallway of their complex, and bathroom.
Lovino had stepped onto the couch, and started screaming, as the water reached his feet even on the couch. Feli was hopping on top of floating chairs.
"It's like the floor is lava!" Feli said and Lovino wanted to smack him.
The water was rising higher and higher, it was to his waist. He finally had a thought to go toward a window.
He tugged but the window wouldn't budge, although he saw Arthur on the other side, struggling to open the window too.
……
Lovino woke up, shaking his head, glad to realize that it had only been a dream. Although it was too early to wake up, 4am, he grabbed his phone. He opened the Iggy Two app.
L: You don't have to do this, you know. Feli is stupid.
A: I'm aware. Has it really troubled you this much? It's 4am.
L: Have you thought it through? Because you can't just pick up where he left off with his family.
A: I know that. But what do I have to lose by trying it out anyway?
A: Are you scared?
L: No!
A: I'll tell you a secret.
L: What is it?
A: Not unless you admit you're scared.
Lovino rolled his eyes, this fucking bastard.
L: Of course I'm fucking scared! This doesn't happen to normal people!
Lovino watched as the dots danced in the corner of his screen. He wondered what kind of secret he would be told. Something embarrassing no doubt.
A: I'm scared too.
Lovino blinked, before pursing his lips.
L: You're just saying that.
A: No I'm not! What if this goes terribly wrong and you realize you've made a mistake?
L: Me?
A: I have no family, never did, and if I fuck it up, I'll have no one.
L: Fuck it up how?
A: By being him, by being me.
L: Oh, I know all about that, so I'll give you some slack don't worry.
A: I suppose that's somewhat comforting.
Lovino couldn't help but feel a little less nervous then. Lovino couldn't possibly hold the little bot to a higher standard than himself. With that he went back to sleep.
The next morning he woke up to the scariest text message: João saying that he was outside.
"Fuck this bastard." He muttered and told him to wait while he got dressed. Then Lovino told him they could talk over breakfast cause he was fucking hungry.
After getting dressed, Lovino slipped out the door while Feli was still asleep, sprawled out on his bed.
The car ride to a little cafe was tense, not a word was said. But Lovino pushed down the growing anxiousness that was rumbling in his stomach, along with his hunger.
João's green eyes were angry, he'd only seen Antonio like that once and it wasn't even directed at him, this was just like that. They were sitting across from each other, inside a cafe, waiting on their tea.
"First off, I don't mean any harm to your boyfriend's family, alright?"
There was a slight break in his angry expression, his mouth twitched, "U-uh Dylan and I we're not–!"
Lovino raised an eyebrow, "So then why the fuck am I pleading my case to you?"
João slammed a hand onto the table, "I've known this family for a long time, and ever since the lawsuit it's been hard. So, I didn't want another burden on them, you know?"
"Oh, you're a long time family friend. I get that. But seriously, I'm done. I got into something I shouldn't have with Lionessolutions and it led me there. There's so little info on Arthur, I didn't know he was dead. I can't imagine how hard it is, seeing how popular the app is."
João sighed, "It's really fucking hard, the company came in with their fancy lawyers, and a chunk of money and the issue was settled just like that. They get to use Arthur's likeness."
The waitress set teacups down in front of them.
João blew on his tea. Lovino absentmindedly stirred his tea, slight clinks following the action.
"So, do you miss NYC at all?"
"You mean do I miss Toniho at all?" João shrugged, "I used to, a long time ago. Back when I was in school, fresh from having heard 'I abandoned the family' from Toniho himself."
He brought the cup to his lips and sipped, "But phone calls are fine."
Lovino sipped his own tea then, "If you don't mind me asking, how did Arthur die? He was young right?"
"You live in NYC, you tell me. It's not like Lionessolutions is clamoring to give up that information. Internal investigation my arse."
Lovino blinked, "That's fucked."
"It is." The man gave him a nod. "Are you going to do something about it? Since you're already snooping around?"
"Oh no. With how much trouble I've gotten in, I'm going to keep my head low and go back to what I was doing before: looking for a place to stay."
"Oh right, tu hermano. He said he was moving in with a German man, Luddy? They're getting married, no?"
Lovino nodded, "Probably, there hasn't been a proposal yet. But they're definitely going to live together."
"I pray for you, rent is high these days alone." He grabbed what was called a scone, the waitress had just set it down.
Lovino had grabbed one and was buttering his. "Grazie," he muttered.
And with that they ate their scones, putting grape jam on them, a low murmur as patrons filled the little cafe. But of course, the prospect of digging into Arthur's past tugged at his mind.
"Were you Arthur's friend or Dylan's?"
João gave him a look, "Arthur and I were friends at University. I didn't lie about losing contact with them, Dylan was the most likely to pick up if I called with an emergency."
"Ok, ok that was the last question." Lovino sipped his tea again.
"So, you're not dating Toniho? Who's he with now, is it still Francis?"
Lovino nodded.
"I thought Toniho would've grown up by now. Francis always got on my nerves."
"Something's changed between them. So it's not so bad." Lovino shrugged, "I think Francis is good for him now, he needed to grow up, not Antonio."
João gave him a pensive look, offering just a "Hmm" in response as his gaze flickered back to his food.
João drove him back to his hotel, around noon. And Lovino finally got to use his knowledge of Doctor Who for something as they discussed who their favorite Doctors were. They settled on 10 being really good after a heated dispute between him and 11, and threw theories back and forth for the upcoming season.
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Feli texted him saying that he was out with Ludwig.
And so that left Lovino back at the hotel room with the bins. Lovino popped off the lid and pulled out the man Iggy Android.
Upon standing it up, Lovino noticed that it was taller than him. How Kiku did that was beyond him. The android was wearing a brown wool plaid waistcoat over a white button up, a black tie, and black dress pants with black penny loafers.
"Are you going to another business meeting?" He muttered, "Damn, why are you all dressed up?"
Feli really went all out on these clothes for the damn androids. The woman Iggy too.
Lovino pulled out his phone, feeling jittery all of a sudden, and opened his Iggy Two app.
L: Are you ready?
A: As ready as I'll ever be.
Lovino pushed the power button that was located on where a left side collarbone would be. An awkward place to have one, he had to pull the android's collar down to access it.
The Android's eyes glowed green, "Hello. My name is Iggy. What action would you like me to perform?" A robotic male sounding voice spoke to him.
"Sync my data from my Iggy Two app."
"You do not have any data stored in the cloud. Please connect your device."
Lovino rolled his eyes, as he realized he'd have to unscrew the panel from the back of the android's head.
He dug around in his pocket for some change, he'd collected some British money. He came upon a penny with the king's face on it.
He unscrewed the panel, its wig in his hand, before going to get his charger from the nightstand. He plugged in the charger and his phone.
"Allow Iggy Android to access your app's data as prompted from your device." Sure enough a little notification popped up on his phone and he pressed "accept."
"Syncing process has begun. Allow 60 minutes to complete."
"How much data did I have on that thing that you need an hour to download?"
Lovino turned on the television and flipped through the channels until he found the news, something about rain that would be rolling in later today.
He settled on a nature documentary, an episode of Planet Earth. Apparently the episode was about the ocean, while starting off with his full attention, he found his eyes becoming heavy. His vision blurred, eyes blinking slowly. And soon he had fallen asleep right on his bed.
Lovino felt something cold on his neck and snapped his eyes open. He barely had time to register the glowing green eyes staring down at him before he screamed.
"Eliminate all humans!" The android said.
"Aaahhhh!" Lovino kept screaming, grasping the metallic hands at his throat, wondering if he was in some sort of dream or if this was really how he was going to die.
Why the fuck did I listen to Feli?
But then there was the rattling sound of shaking metal, "Oh fuck, your face." Laughter, he could assume coming from the android.
His heart pounded against his ribcage and he managed to throw the offending hands away from him. More laughter filled the room as Lovino tried to calm his still rapidly beating heart. He could only gawk as he took in more air.
"Oh fuck, I got you good. What a way to wake up, yeah?" The man Iggy Android stood at his bedside, hands on his hips, head cocked to the side. Apparently the syncing process had finished.
Lovino, after regaining his bearings, grabbed a pillow, and whacked the android with it. "Fuck you! You fucking bastard! Why couldn't you have just woken me up like a normal person? I could've had a fucking heart attack or some shit."
"Where's the fun in that? Now I've got my first real memory."
Lovino stopped assaulting him with a pillow and pursed his lips, "Don't get all sentimental on me."
"Don't be weird about it. I was just stating a fact." Arthur crossed his arms.
"This entire thing is weird. I think I'm allowed to have some reservations." Lovino sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.
"How do you think I feel? In the span of an hour I went from being on your phone to being a robot that pretended to choke you. I don't even have skin, or what appears to be skin."
He pushed up his sleeve to reveal the pale skin colored metal of his arm, connected by visible hinges and gears to his hand. Just underneath Lovino could see the wires in what could be described as his wrist.
That was true, he looked more human-like in his phone, which was now on the nightstand. Apparently Arthur had reattached the panel to the back of his head, as he was now wearing the blonde wig again.
"Yeah…but I'm sure you'll get used to it. I'll try not to be weird about it either." Lovino placed the pillow back against the headboard.
"Can I scare the shite out of your brother?" He still sounded the same at least, although with limited mouth movement.
"Si, you have my full fucking permission." Lovino nodded and Arthur sat down next to him, on the bed, visible distance between them.
"It's so strange to be able to feel things, like the texture of this comforter. I'd have to remember what certain things felt like in order to feel them before." He pressed his palm to the comforter in a circular motion before wiggling it around in waves. "For scientific purposes, I'm not trying to be weird, I promise." He continued.
"If you have to phrase it like that, it's going to be something weird."
"I-I just…Technically it's been more than ten years, and I couldn't get it right from memory." He averted Lovino's gaze entirely, "Fuck this is embarrassing, you could say no if you want."
"Is it something gross? You want me to kiss you or something?" Lovino said as he noticed the android twiddling his thumbs.
"No, no. If it was that, it would be easier to ask for." Arthur looked back at him then out of the corner of his eye, "But this…could you, could we…uh…embrace?"
Lovino could practically feel the embarrassment coming off of Arthur in waves. At first, Lovino's instinct was to mock him, but he held his tongue. Because honestly he felt bad for him.
He can't remember what a hug feels like? Enough to want one from me of all people?
Like if Feli was here he would've given him one immediately without being asked. He could just tell Arthur to wait for Feli to get back.
"Sure, but don't be weird about it." Lovino opened his arms and Arthur scooted closer to him so Lovino could wrap his arms around his waist. Arthur wrapped his arms around his neck. Lovino felt a bit of shock from the cold metal first hitting his skin, but soon it was the same as any other hug from someone he knew.
"Is this what you remember a hug feeling like?" Lovino asked as the android rested his head on Lovino's shoulder.
"Not really, hugs just capture a feeling, a feeling of warmth. I hadn't felt it in a while, so thank you."
Lovino felt his cheeks warm with blush.
Just then the door burst open, "Lovi! Lovi! Guess what!"
Feli ran into the room as Lovino and Arthur scrambled to break away from their hug. He was visibly shaken up as Feli physically grabbed him and pulled him up from the bed. His hands gripped Lovino's as he jumped up and down.
"Guess what! Guess what!" His eyes were wide and sparkling like stars.
"What?" Lovino furrowed his eyebrows.
"Luddy proposed!" Feli yelled.
"Ugh, finally." Lovino rolled his eyes.
To which suddenly Arthur hooked his arm around Feliciano's neck from behind, "You've got ten seconds to tell your brother you love him before I snap your neck!"
Lovino was stunned for a second, having been caught off guard. Feli immediately started screaming, "Ahhhhhh! What's going on?! Who are you?" Before he burst into tears, "D-don't kill me please!"
"It's even funnier the second time," Arthur laughed before letting Feli go.
Feli sniffled as he met Arthur's gaze, "You're so mean."
And then Feli met Lovino's gaze, before he gasped, looking back at Arthur.
"You're Lovi's robot friend! It's nice to meet you in person!" Feli held out his hand.
Arthur shook it in turn, "I hadn't given you my name, Arthur. Congratulations on the proposal."
"Grazie!" Feli bounced on his toes, his grin even wider as he met Lovino's gaze once again.
Lovino crossed his arms, ire stirring in his veins.
00000
Lovino was at dinner with Ludwig, Feliciano, and Kiku two nights later. Feli was talking about engagement party plans and wedding plans. He also showed his ring to Kiku, who marveled at the size. It was impressive, but Ludwig was rich so of course he could buy that fancy shit to spoil him.
Lovino munched on his fries that came with his fish and chips meal. They powered down Arthur while they're at dinner and put him on the charging platform.
As Lovino blocked out whatever it was they were conversing about, he was free to think about the uncomfortable truth that he, Lovino Vargas, had romantic feelings for…something that wasn't even human.
He'd known before, but it was easy to push down when there was still a possibility he could for lack of a better expression "have his cake and eat it too." This was madness, insanity, only something that could happen to someone that wasn't him. He'd looked down on people like that, because that was unhealthy. This was unhealthy.
But it didn't make it any less real.
And all the thoughts he had before came swarming back in at full force, someone better would come along and Arthur would go with them. Lovino tried to shake off the insecurities: Antonio, Vladimir, and João found him interesting enough to want to stick around without Feli's influence.
Feli had excused himself to go to the bathroom and he became aware that Ludwig and Kiku were giving him their stoic looks of intensity.
"I got it! Your damn boss made it clear that I shouldn't do any more digging or she was going to kill me, mob boss style!"
"What did you find? Because if you took anything, we could sue you for theft of intellectual property." Ludwig said.
"Nothing! I couldn't get into anything because it was all locked up!" Lovino sipped his glass of wine, gaze flickering between the two as they stared at him unblinking.
"What were you looking for?" Kiku asked him.
"Nothing! I was just being a nosy bitch. I found the upstairs and thought I could find some shady shit, like embezzlement or tax fraud. You know, like the movies." Arthur had given him this suggestion.
They both stared at him, probably trying to see if he'd falter and break down, but Lovino held firm because technically Ludwig couldn't hurt him. Kiku was another matter but he wasn't physically intimidating.
For once Lovino was relieved when Feli returned and the tension melted away from them both.
"Lovino, I remember Feliciano mentioning to me something about you trying to find a friend of yours that you'd met online. Apparently he was from just outside of London, had you had any luck in meeting up with him while we've been here?" Ludwig asked and Lovino casted a glare in Feli's direction.
Feli let out a chuckle, the one he did when he was nervous.
"No, I–."
"Yes he did!" Feli interrupted him, "But it turns out he was catfishing him the whole time." Feli and Lovino exchanged glances again.
"Yeah… it was terrible. Turns out he wanted to make his ex-girlfriend jealous and was going to stop after 2 months but got too attached." Lovino added on. Feli watched too much reality television, but it was a good thing he had watched a few episodes of that show too.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Ludwig gave him a nod, "But do not give up on your romantic pursuits. I have hope that you will find someone special for you." There was this look in his icy blue eyes, a softness that just made Lovino want to punch him in the face.
"Humans are needlessly complicated and are prone to hurting each other. Soon you can get an android and you won't have to worry about messy situations such as this." Kiku said, sipping from his wine glass. Ludwig and Feliciano looked at him as though he'd grown a second head.
"I-I didn't mean you two of course. Other people who aren't fortunate to live in a romantic fantasy land where you meet the love of your life as a child."
"I thought you said you were happy for us Kiku!" Feli whined.
"I am. I'm just being realistic for other people."
And there Feli went making Lovino's situation about him. Feli started sobbing about how Kiku doesn't support his and Ludwig's marriage and doesn't think they should be together because he doesn't believe in true love. Ludwig was trying to calm him down and Kiku clamped his mouth shut, deciding he'd said too much so more words would just make it worse.
And Lovino couldn't even be offended, because it really did feel like "true love" was only for Feli and Ludwig. But also he had to wonder if the real Arthur was a part of Kiku's jaded view of romance.
Has he done anything perverse with these androids?
Lovino might have to wipe Arthur down with disinfectant wipes just as a precaution.
A/N: I hope this wasn't whiplash, it'll probably only be to someone who's binge reading.
Thank you for reading! Constructive criticism welcome.