[A/N: listen. I like girls. Girls are pretty. I wish i could draw pretty girls. I wish i could be a pretty girl. But i can't. So i'll just pretend whenever i can. This might be a little ooc for Auto as a robot, but they're my SI, so they can be however the frig i want them to be. So. We're doing this where they react to Robot when he's wearing feminine makeup. Oh the fun we have when we pretend. Except i can't pretend to not be an emo bitch, so…

TW/CW: pretty self-indulgent at the end, makeup, nerves/nervous/anxiety, crushes, trying to hide those feelings, embarrassment, sadness, apologizing, trying to comfort a friend]

The three human boys made their way to their usual after-school haunt: Nob's Arkaid, complete with a metallic friend waiting outside for their arrival.

"Hi guys!!!" Auto was always happy to see them, as they were the only humans that were nice to him.

"Hey Auto!" They always gave their own salutations, and Auto would use it as an opportunity to further study humans in general.

He never minded waiting for any of his friends. He was genuinely just happy to have anybody to call a 'friend.' He made a great effort with all of them, trying to spend meaningful time with each individually. They were all very special to Auto. And yet, the three of the humans combined still weren't quite as important to him as their other robotic friend was. That one was different, like Auto was, and the two of them had very many experiences in common. It made Auto feel a little bit guilty that he wasn't as attached to his human friends: even more so when he thought to ask about the times that Robot wasn't around.

"He's off playing with his girlfriends today." Cubey made a face.

"'Girlfriends?' He has more than one???" Auto wouldn't have guessed.

"Yeah, there's a whole wolfpack of them that he hangs out with!" Mitch's voice went high.

"A whole wolfpack???!!! He has that many romantic partners???" Auto was surprised that he was doing so well with integrating.

"No, not like actual girlfriends. They're just friends that are girls." Socks clarified the phrasing.

"Oh." Auto hoped that he didn't sound as relieved as he was. He sometimes had a very difficult time trying to hide the crush that he had on Robot. It wasn't as if it were a mystery to anyone that knew him, but nobody really needed to know the extent to which it became encoded in his processors.

"But who needs girls when you've got friends like us?!" Socks wrapped his arm around Auto's shoulders and smirked.

Auto grinned back happily and made a few approving beeps. "Yeah, who needs them?"

"Let's go hit the cabinets already!" Mitch pointed and walked further into the establishment.

The rest of them nodded and followed after. "Okay!"

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It took a little more than an hour for their final friend to show up at the arcade. "Oh, hey Robot. Didn't think you'd make it out alive this time." Cubey greeted him as he noticed him enter.

"Oh you. The girls really aren't as bad as you make them out to be." He sounded slightly sassier than usual.

"They're just lulling you into a false sense of security." Mitch noted.

"Oh come on. They're nice girls! I know Cubey thinks that about Pam, at least!" Cubey's frustrated huff was audible, and the other two giggled.

Auto was trying his hardest to not flip out when Robot finally did arrive. He kept his vision on the game that Socks was playing, but he was paying more attention to the conversation that was getting nearer to the cabinet. He turned his head when they got close. "Hi Robot!!--" Auto was surprised by what he saw.

Robot was there in the metal. His stature was short, lightbulb polished, boots as clunky as ever. But his face was different. There were new colors in places that had been plain grey before. There was eyeshadow and blush and lipstick, and even false eyelashes on the edge of his eyelids. Some of it was glittery, some of it was glossy, and some of it was matte. It was all so different from what Auto had known about Jones' face, and he hoped that his own didn't give away how stunned he was from it.

He found it hard to speak. "W-w-what's on your f-face???" He knew it was rude to stare, especially so intensely, but he couldn't really control what he was doing.

"Oh, it's just some makeup, Auto. The girls like to practice looks on me and doll me up sometimes." He rolled his eyes. "What do you think of this look???" He fluttered his long eyelashes.

Auto's face instantly flushed hot and he turned away quickly. The only thing he thought that could portray an acceptable composure was to keep still and not look at Robot. His words came out very quietly. "I-i-i-i-i d-don't know m-makeup trends…" He felt embarrassed that it came to this.

The boys did a bad job of stifling the giggles. It was so silly to see a robot wear makeup to begin with, but to have another act like a dorky anime schoolboy because of it really took the cake. They couldn't hold it for long, and burst out in full laughter a few seconds later.

Auto's blush didn't subside: it just switched over from crushy feelings to humiliation because of their jest. He put a hand on his molten face.

"Auto, you're hilarious." Cubey chuckled.

"That was such a great reaction!!" Socks laughed.

"It's almost like you have a crush on Robot!" Mitch remarked, and gained another round of hoots from the boys. Of course, they already knew that Auto had a crush on Robot, so it was just a tease.

Auto couldn't make himself smile. His face was still red, and he didn't want to look over at any of them. His components whirred so hard in his chest that he could hear it from the outside. It all made him feel sad.

"Would you all quit it??! You can see he's not laughing!" Robot stepped nearer to him. "Are you okay Auto? I know that this kind of stuff really gets to you..."

"I-i-i should probably leave…" He checked to make sure that there was a clear escape route before moving.

Within one step, Robot reached over to touch Auto's arm. "Oh, no, please don't go!"

Cubey added "yeah, Auto, stay with us! We didn't mean it like that!"

"We were just laughing at the situation! We're not trying to make fun of you."

"I thought your reaction was really cute! It made me smile is all!" The boys agreed with Socks.

Robot looked genuinely right into Auto's forlorn eyes. "They didn't mean to laugh like that. I'd love to spend some time with you, but i understand if you want to leave."

Auto couldn't normally resist Robot. The increased attractiveness of the makeup made him almost unable to refuse a request. But he was feeling very embarrassed and humiliated and betrayed and was really saddened by it. The idea of letting down Robot made him even sadder. "I'm sorry, RJ…. I'm suddenly feeling a little down right now…"

"Oh, no, don't go!!"

"Yeah! We're sorry, Auto! We didn't mean to make you feel bad!!"

Auto considered it. He was so scared of being laughed at like that, and it happened by his FRIENDS because of how he reacted to seeing his crush being cute. If he were able to shake off embarrassment like that, he would still feel very hurt that the people he trusted the most would treat him that way. Part of him knew that he might be overreacting, but he also knew that he had a right to feel bad about things.

"You don't have to stay, Auto." He turned his eyes upward to look at Robot again. "I know you're upset. I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to."

Auto thought about it for another silent moment. He wanted to be able to shelf it all and stay here with his friends to have a good time, but he was not at all able to. He knew that he needed a little while to recover from being laughed at, and he couldn't do that here. "I'm sorry, Robot…" He walked out of the place like a sad puppy.

Robot felt bad about it. "Goodbye, Auto. I'll… i'll see you later."

Auto was heartbroken. He couldn't bring himself to lift his head as he walked back home. He relied on his internal GPS to get him there, moving sluggishly in thought. His mind would replay the incident, and he would need to spend a few minutes each time to calm himself down before it replayed again on its own. This loop that he was caught in wasn't becoming easier to deal with as it continued: it just made him feel isolated from the only people that he trusted.

Maybe it was his fault that this happened. He shouldn't have reacted so much. He made himself look stupid, and they were just telling him that he did a good job at it. This crush wasn't something that was programmed to happen in him, and it was his fault that he didn't get it fixed when it first turned up. The only good thing was that his human emotion simulation was working exceptionally well, to his detriment, like every other time he remembered he had it. It made him want to cry.

"Auto, wait up!!!" He slowly lifted his head and turned to see Robot running up to him. Auto wondered why he decided to follow him, but he still didn't feel like trying to talk to anyone yet. "I'm sorry about what happened back there."

Auto looked away. "It's not like it was your fault…"

"I chewed the boys out pretty good for it. They were really out of line acting like that."

"... It's fine, RJ."

"No, it's not fine!" He touched Auto's arm, which made them lock eyes. "They were bullying you, Auto! You're allowed to feel upset that people are bullying you, even if they are your friends. They shouldn't have treated you like that, and i'm not going to stand by when ANYBODY treats you that way." He leaned in. "You deserve better, Auto."

Words like these felt nice. They felt very nice coming from Robot. They felt very very nice coming from such a pretty version of Robot. Auto's head felt lighter, but his chassis still whirred with sadness about it. The event replayed in his mind again, and he turned his vision down. He didn't feel like it was true, and he shook his head.

"You deserve respect, Auto! Including from yourself! Don't feel bad about anything you did back there. You did nothing wrong at all, they did." He still wouldn't look at Robot. He tugged his arm. "I mean it, Auto. Please don't feel bad about it.

Part of him wanted to accept what Robot was saying. But the rest of him was feeling worse and worse about everything, including Robot being here and failing to convince him of these things.

Robot could see that the words were having a hard time getting through to him. He wasn't too sure what else to do to try and get him to listen. He thought of one thing, and decided to go ahead and try it.

Robot stepped in front of Auto in order to wrap him up in his arms. He shared the warmth of his running components and gave him a little bit of electricity in the parts of their metal that were touching.

Auto was surprised. He wasn't all too used to hugs, so it felt a little odd for just that. But Robot was warm and the electricity felt nice and the emotion behind it made Auto's chassis whir in a progressively happier way. He took a moment to think about everything that was happening then, and he thought that he should thank Robot for being so kind to him. He folded his arms around him and returned the feeling, making his chassis whir even happier.

They hugged for a minute before pulling back to look at one another. Auto smiled meekly. "Thank you, Robot. I… i feel better now."

Robot smiled wide at him, looking even prettier than he did with just the makeup. "I'm glad, Auto. You shouldn't have to deal with that kind of stuff coming from your friends." He looked all matter-of-fact. "You can expect a formal apology from all of the boys the next time they see you."

Auto smiled a bit more. "Hahhh, okay. Thank you."

"Of course, Auto, you're very welcome. You deserve it, okay?? Don't forget that." He held his hands.

Auto nodded with understanding. "Okay RJ."

He nodded back. "So. Can i walk you home???" He blinked his lashy eyes twice, figuring that a full flutter was probably going to be too much for Auto right now.

He felt his hard drive skip at his crush being cute and nice to him, and he could feel his face heat up. "Oh, um!" He scanned over Robot's face again, putting together his best friend and this pretty version of him, and gave a big shy grin. "S-s-sure, RJ."

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The two robots were walking home together, side-by-side. Auto was still trying to catch glimpses of Robot's face while he was wearing makeup. He didn't understand why, but colors smeared on metal in that way really made his hard drive run quickly. He was crushing so hard.

"Let's cut through here," Robot turned to Auto, and pointed and motioned his head toward a park.

Auto was tense. He was always surprised when this version of Robot explicitly asked something of him. His words caught. "S-sure." The two of them crossed the street and walked over the green grass.

Auto knew it was silly to feel this way about it. He figured that it wasn't totally weird for him, since he got that way around Robot when he looked like his regular self, too. There were so many times that Auto melted into a blushy, stuttery mess around him: it's just that it happened EVERY time Robot wore makeup. He didn't even understand makeup to begin with, so having such an intense reaction to a non-human wearing it completely baffled him. But he guessed that he must like the feeling enough to not do anything to correct it.

Auto felt a little zap in his hand as Robot barely touched it. He gasped a little bit and turned to Robot, who had halted. "Thank you for walking me home, Auto." He fluttered long false eyelashes over big, bright eyes and smiled softly.

Auto blushed at it. He dodged his eyes away, as he wouldn't be able to move or think at all if he looked at Robot for too long. "Of course, RJ!!!" He allowed himself to get little glances, hoping that he wasn't coming off as rude for not maintaining eye contact. "I'll walk you home any time." He smiled back.

Robot grinned. "Heheh, yeah, i know. I appreciate it."

Auto noticed that Robot was moving as his eyes caught his leg shifting. He quickly turned his head to look at Robot's pretty face and saw it come close from a small distance. His body became stiff and tense as Robot kissed a bit of electricity into him.

Their eyes met when Robot reeled back to himself and stood up straight. He watched Auto's burning face with a gentle smile, happy that it didn't take too long to get that big silly grin out of him. He giggled and smiled wider. He reached his claw out to Auto's hand again, holding onto it with the smallest sprig of static.

He started to walk forward again, and smirked at Auto when he didn't follow along. Auto's eyes got wider as he realized that he missed the queue, but he stepped quickly to be beside Robot again.

"I love you, Auto."

He responded with a slew of cute, happy beeps and tones. "I love you too, RJ!!!" He really liked being able to say that, and to hear those words come from Robot, too: whether he was wearing makeup or not.

[Post a/n: what tf is wrong with me istg. idk which dump i put this in as i'm writing it, but if it ends up in the main one, then uuuuuuuuhhhh, hi how are ya. About the ending: um, Auto tells RJ he loves him in "First Time" and they become boyfriends in "The Prom Fic," and that's what i'm referencing. I understand if you don't like it, like i get it. I said i was pretending w this fic tho, so like…. pretend to not hate me??? Tysm.]