WAR MACHINE ⊳ connor x reader

Ch. XXII

"You're lucky I'm in debt to Elijah." The older man sighed and spoke again."Chloe will take care of your passports. I have given her all the information necessary. They should be done by morning. You two should go rest." Conroy said, eyes skipping back and forth between you and Connor. "Or at least you, (y/n)."

"I will."

"There is a guest room upstairs, at the end of the corridor. You can share it, if that's not a problem."

"No, of course not. Thank you very much, mister Shepherd. For everything." You smiled.

"You're welcome." He nodded and returned to the living room, leaving you and Connor alone.

"Come on." You turned around to grab Connor's wrist and guide him upstairs with you. He wordlessly followed you, eyes as doe and as clueless as they had always been.

You found the guest room easily and threw yourself onto the bed, taking a deep, exhausted sigh. Connor stood beside the bed cluelessly, fidgeting with his hands subconsciously.

"Stay with me for a while." You offered and pat a spot beside you. "There's enough room."

"Are you sure it's alright? I would dislike intruding your personal space without proper consent."

Always so formal.

You giggled in amusement. "Of course it is. C'mere."

Connor took a seat on the edge of the bed, taking off his shoes, then positioned the pillows to allow him to sit up. He lay down beside you, unsure of what to do, say, and even think. This was all sorts of new for him.

"I know you don't get physically tired and all, but...a break still feels nice from time to time, doesn't it?"

"A lot of things feel...like the right thing to do when you are around. Although I cannot seem to be able to explain why." Connor confessed, his pump skipping a beat when you took his hand in yours and set it on your cheek.

Just like you had done to him after he had regained his memory, Connor curled his fingers under your chin, cupping your face with his other hand.

"Can I ask you something?" You raised an eyebrow and stared up at Connor after he asked. Your hair disheveled, with some of the more rebellious strands framing your face, lips curled into a soft, gentle smile, eyes closed peacefully as you talked—that was positively the most wonderful sight Connor had ever witnessed.

"Of course."

"You told me your 'reptilian brain' said your purpose was to keep me safe. But that's not—someone's changed it. That wasn't your initial purpose."

"I...changed it by myself. That morning you came earlier than expected and found me with those books scattered across the floor. That's what I had been researching. And, also..." His voice trailed off, and you could have sworn you saw blue tinting his cheeks.

"Also what?" You asked drowsily, moving your head to rest on his lap. Connor swallowed nervously, and you were almost certain that if he still had a LED, it would be blinking red.

"I...tried to understand what was happening to me. I figured that it couldn't have been a glitch after looking through Kamski's notes and realizing that I was the first Android to suffer of Thirium pump palpitations. And of strange feelings in my abdominal area. So I looked through a human psychology book."

"And what was your conclusion?" You held back a giggle.

"That I am either suffering of stress, or that I...am in love." Connor answered, running a hand through his hair and avoiding your gaze. "Although both answers sound equally impossible. I am a machine I— I shouldn't be feeling things. I shouldn't—"

You reached up to his face with your hand and softly tilted it towards you. "You know, the thing about feelings is...it's that you shouldn't rush into anything. You should enjoy them as they come, and you shouldn't read into them too much."

"Hm." Connor hummed and took a strand of your hair between his fingers, playing with it as he processed your words. "Do you think I'd ever be capable of feelings as intense as love?"

"That's for you to see. But, speaking of love, I never told you who my favorite philosopher was, did I?"

"No. Go on."

"Alcibiades. He compares one's lover to the statue of Silenus. It's a sculpture that's ugly and hollow, but on the inside, it's filled with other tiny statues made of gold. And I think that truly is what love means — everyone sees the exterior, y'know? But when you really love someone, you look past that. You find the little golden statues inside." You traced your fingertips over Connor's jaw as you spoke, stroking up to his cheekbones. His face became flooded with blue.

He stared at you for a few seconds, then looked away, perturbed.

"Something wrong?"

"No, I— No. I just couldn't understand—" Connor shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"I think it matters. You can tell me, if you want to." You suggested, letting your hand fall downwards, coming to a halt on the crook of his neck.

"I just had the urge to..." Connor squeezed his expressive eyes shut, then reopened them, face still confused. "I think I had the urge to...to kiss you."

"Maybe you should just give in to it, then." You answered smoothly, in spite of your wildly hammering heart. Slowly, you sat up, positioning yourself in his lap.

"I don't think I have the necessary experience to make it pleasant for the both of us."

"Don't worry. Learning is part of being human." You smiled gently, cradling his face.

Connor had no idea what exactly had caused him to give in to what his inexplicable urge. Maybe it was your words, the way you had touched him, or just...you as a person. But what he did certainly know was that carefully brushing his cold lips over your soft, warm ones made an electric jolt go through him, and made him greedy for more.

He couldn't help but grunt when you ran your fingers through his hair, disheveling it. Connor couldn't deny that everything you were doing felt...absolutely amazing. You smelled slightly like rain and faded perfume, a bewitching combination.

Out of a carnal instinct he didn't even know he had, his hips bucked upwards, against you. The bed creaked at his sudden movement.

You chuckled into the kiss, parting slowly.

"Let's leave that for the near future. Wouldn't want you short-circuiting right on this bed." You joked.

"While Androids do function based on a fair share of electricity, most of the energy we use is generated using exothermic reactions happening in our Thirium. Thus, the risk of a short-circuit is rather low."

You giggled playfully, earning another perplexed look from Connor. "I'm well aware of that. I was just joking."

"Oh."

"It's alright." You smiled and closed your eyes, failing to suppress a yawn. "I'll try going to sleep, but..." you trailed off, almost swearing you heard Brennan's laugh ring in your ears. You were beginning to doubt that your mind was going to let you sleep, in spite of how awfully tired you were.

"I'll stay with you. As long as it takes."

"That's wonderful to hear."