SHTDN Week

Day 3 - Love

 Agape had long since come to terms with the fact that the PC's owner was never coming back. In fact, he had made peace with it.

So after the PC rebooted during his attempt to merge his and Goyou's code, Agape chose to not try to destroy the PC anymore. Nowadays, he flew behind Goyou and answered any questions he had about the human world. It wasn't a dull existence anymore.

Once again, Goyou was making his rounds around the PC with Agape tagging along. Goyou had decided to stop trying to kill him, but there were still more viruses that could possibly affect the PC. In the end, it seemed that the antivirus was still dedicated to his 'job', in a way.

In their search through the files once more, they went into the file with the hotel bedrooms. Goyou's interest was suddenly piqued, and Agape knew that either a question or an observation was going to come next.

"Hm. You said that humans lie down and go on standby mode in these beds, right? 'Lying down' was the position I was in when you picked me up...it was the position you were in when I went into the ruins too..." Goyou seemed to consider something for a moment, then walked over to one of the beds. 

Climbing on top of the sheets, he laid himself on his back and looked up at the ceiling. "Am I doing this right, Agape?" he asked, looking over at the angel.

On the other side of the room, Agape couldn't help but feel something in his chest start aching. After his attempt to merge their code, Goyou was left unconscious after the PC rebooted. When he had seen the other software still on the ground with no sign of moving, he thought he had destroyed him with his recklessness.

At the time, he discovered a new feeling that he couldn't put a name to. Patrolling the PC with Goyou and answering his questions was another method Agape was using to find out what that feeling was. But seeing the antivirus lying down and bringing up that event was a grim reminder.

"Yeah, you're doing it right," he replied, hoping that getting this conversation over quicker would help the feeling in his chest dissipate.

Goyou sat up on the bed, finding that his clothes folding up underneath him made him uncomfortable. "You said that humans use beds for other things, like creating children. But when you tried to merge our codes, nothing happened," he pointed out.

"Ah, um, how do I explain this..." the angel sighed, remembering the disastrous attempt to give Goyou 'the talk' the first time. "Making a child is a biological thing inside human bodies. Since we're pieces of software, all merging our codes did was corrupt the PC into rebooting. I guess what I did was just stupid in the end, simple as that."

"You did it because you wanted to know what love was. I don't think the reason was stupid..."

"No, it was. Creating a child doesn't always mean love, and love doesn't mean that a child is created. Not from what I can tell now," Agape chuckled, shaking his head. "Whatever I did didn't even create anything new like I thought it would. And I nearly killed you too."

"That's not true." Goyou stood up from the bed. "You said that you were feeling some kind of emotion that you didn't know, right? I remember you saying that you never experienced it before. And I felt that feeling too."

At the time, Agape felt a painful sensation when he thought Goyou had died, as if all of his files were being corrupted. And the feeling in him when Goyou opened his eyes was nothing short of 'relief', and something else too. But their agreement to not hurt each other anymore made him feel lighter than he had been in ages.

He had agreed to keep teaching Goyou, even when the antivirus wanted to learn about him as well. Agape had seen that kind of grief and happiness in videos of humans interacting with each other, when he had been watching them over and over to try and know what they were feeling at the time. But in the end, the feeling he was looking for was...

"...Hey, move over. I think I need to sit down too," Agape requested, and the other complied to give the angel some room. His head felt like it was spinning, which he could only compare it to his files getting false errors. That feeling in his chest with no name, and the benign happiness whenever he stayed by Goyou's side. He would need some time to process it.

Goyou looked down down at his companion, unaware of the mental confusion in his head. "Are you alright?" he asked. He gently prodded Agape's arm, unsure of what was wrong with him. "Are your files corrupting...?"

"Nah, I'm fine. I just had a couple questions of my own answered, that's all. I haven't needed to learn anything for a long time, so my processing speed for it's slower than yours," Agape reassured him.

Goyou looked unsatisfied with that answer, but decided not to press the matter. If Agape wanted to say it, then he would; Agape was mostly honest with him, barring the occasional conversation redirection. "...If you say so," he decided to say instead.

Agape laid himself back on the bed as his head reeled from the revelation, and Goyou patiently continued to sit beside him. He'd have to try explaining this feeling to the antivirus later - once he gets a firm grasp on the concept first, that is.