Smile for Me (His Almost Boyfriend on Radish Fiction)

2 | Elias the Robot

Before age 12, Elias Khoury had been a normal kid. He ran around, played, and laughed. But one day that running around resulted in a head injury that changed Elias's persona forever. He still felt emotions the same as anyone else, but they were barely detectable in his expression or voice. Behind his back, his peers called him a robot. It was hard to connect with anyone the way he was, so he focused less on social relationships and more on his studies.

Then at prep school during his senior year of high school, he met a kid who had also mastered the art of being emotionless: Eran Kristiansen. When they occasionally met by chance at science competitions and conventions, they would chat along with Eran's only other friend, who went by the nickname Bubba. The trio (all biology nerds) got along well.

While Bubba took over his late father's restaurant, fate would have it that Eran and Elias chose the same university and department. Four years in undergrad, then two years in their Master's; now they were starting their doctorate and despite seven years together, Eran still refused to use the word "friend" to describe Elias. Eran seemed to have an impenetrable wall up on each side, preventing anyone from getting too close, so Elias gave up in undergrad.

It was the first Fall of their doctoral studies when Eran told Elias about the high school kid he'd met and let into his home. On the outside, Elias had appeared entertained. On the inside, he was half worried, half confused. Seven years was Elias no more than a "colleague," but here Eran was letting a strange delinquent kid stay at his home? The reason Eran let Riley close likely wasn't that great. Based on Eran's description of Riley, there was definitely a resemblance to a certain someone.

Then, when Eran admitted that he and Riley had started dating, Elias was half worried, half glad. Since Riley had showed up, Eran seemed happier and more complacent. But dating someone seven years younger for possibly unhealthy reasons was concerning. Nonetheless, Elias never voiced his thoughts. If anything bad ever happened, he would try his best to be there for Eran.

He also decided he would try his best to support the couple's relationship. One day, that suddenly involved meeting Riley's best friend, Jay.

Wow, Jay. Elias could tell Jay was someone who said and did what they wanted, when they wanted, and at the pace they wanted. After that one meeting, Jay started showing up more and more. Times when just Riley used to come to the lab, now there was Jay tagging along with him. And his goal was clearly just to tease Elias. From asking questions like, "Did you get brain damage?" at their first meeting to "Should I make you fall for me?" at another... to literally clinging to Elias at graduation, then randomly saying, "Mom, Dad, Elias is going to tutor me," Jay was always trying to coax out a visible reaction. But with Elias's condition, he'd learned patience.  So he put up with Jay, occasionally throwing off the teen with sarcasm, jokes, and exaggeratedly normal expressions.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jay turned 19 not long after becoming a university student. His recreational activities were no longer illegal (not that he cared before). Although Riley was attending the same university, he was still more focused on spending time with Eran, so Jay spent a lot of his free time with Alex.

One day, while out in town with Alex and his other LGBT friends from the university, Jay noticed Elias in a café with a girl. He grinned internally. "Wait... I see someone I know. I'm gonna go say hi."

"Should we wait?" one of his friends asked.

"I'll catch you later." They parted ways. Jay walked into the café and straight up to Elias's table. "Ah, hey, Elias. I thought that was you."

"It's me." Elias sounded especially unenthused.

"Are you two on a date?"

The girl shook her head. "N-no. It's not—we're not on a date."