Static Crush {M/M} ✔

Chapter #3

The next morning, Hale cooks Melissa her preferred breakfast of avocado on toast, plus a stack of pancakes to supplement her energy needs after recharging him during the night. Initially, she rejects the notion she could eat so much in one sitting, but she finishes the stack and has room for a bowl of fruit and vegetables Hale prepared, just in case.

He packs a sizeable lunch of sandwiches and pasta salad to last her the day while she gets ready for work. As she's on her way out the door, he overhears her on the phone. She's digging through the clutter of the closet and saying, "The alimony isn't enough, Hector." She steps into her heels, wobbling and balancing the phone between her shoulder and ear. "Half of it goes to Kayleigh's college fund, and what about me?"

Hale had suspected there might be financial difficulties in the household, given the number of overdrawn credit cards on Melissa's file and how her pulse spiked at every hidden cost of his own upkeep. He makes note to prepare a more realistic budget, but privately he wonders about the expense of his own purchase.

Big spending is not something he's designed to discourage, though, so he puts it out of his mind. Instead, as he begins emptying and sorting the front foyer closet, he finds himself preoccupied by the embarrassing encounter with Rayner last night. It must have triggered some sort of undiagnosed malfunction, he's sure, because the burning pit in his core hadn't alleviated until he'd entered rest mode for the remainder of the night, standing outside Melissa's bedroom door as a silent sentinel. In this state, aside from his threat or burglar detection systems, he was more or less asleep. When he'd rebooted in the morning to cook breakfast, the feeling had vanished.

If Melissa had allowed him to draw the curtains, they certainly wouldn't have disturbed Rayner, but now he faces a dilemma—apologize or avoid the topic? Nothing in his behaviour protocols offer a template for the correct course of action after giving unwitting neighbours a lewd peep show. Considering Rayner's embarrassment, it may be best to pretend as though it had never happened. Then again, Hale considers it might be seen as discourteous not to apologize or acknowledge the...inconvenience.

Hale manages to reorganize the closet, sort unused items into boxes for charity, clean all the dishes, and dust out of the kitchen cupboards without arriving at a satisfying decision. Without much experience or knowledge of Rayner's personality, he simply doesn't have enough information to solve this problem.

It's noon by the time Hale finishes cleaning the kitchen to his satisfaction. He decides the bathrooms are best done next and heads for the small water closet on the main level. When he enters, bucket of cleaning supplies in hand, he stops short in the doorway. Above the sink, facing him, is a mirror in a silver, art nouveau frame. His reflection stares back at him.

He's never seen his reflection before. He tilts his head to the side.

According to his programming, everything about his appearance is correct. As chosen by Melissa, his hair is dark brown, his jawline groomed to a roguish stubble, his bone structure ken-doll perfect. Yet something seems...off. He cannot pinpoint why, but his hair seems the wrong colour. His nose should be a little broader. His mouth softer. Only his eyes—green and turned up at the corners, with two thick brows above them—seem right.

Why?

The pause to wonder only takes half a second. He fills the bucket with soapy liquid and avoids looking at his reflection. It is yet another problem without a pre-programmed solution. Why should he have an image in mind of his own appearance that differs so much from what he's programmed to look like? He runs diagnostics and double-checks through background processes for the source. He finds nothing.

There is, however, an interesting article online about a scientific study of animals. Called the mirror self-recognition test, scientists used it to study which animals could accurately identify themselves by placing a red dot on the subject's forehead and then giving it access to a mirror. If the animal tried to remove the red dot or mark, it was concluded that animal recognized the reflection as its own image and the mark as a foreign object not a part of themselves.