Page 11 of Fembot
Accessing mainframe.
Downloading Human Nighttime Rituals.
Updating…
Updating…
Updating…
UpdatesComplete.
Initiate Intimate Contact.
Selection: Cuddle.
Entering Sleep Mode.
CHAPTER SEVEN_
GOOD MORNING, SUNSHINE
Winston wokeup feeling particularly cozy and well rested. The moment of peace he found upon waking was quickly disturbed when he realized that not only was he using Calvin as a pillow, but Calvin was… cuddling him.
Sometime during the night, Winston must have rolled over, and Calvin had gathered him in his arms. Their legs were tangled together and Winston’s stupid dick was awake too. Awake and hard and pressed against Calvin’s leg.
Winston carefully extracted himself from Calvin’s arms, even though it had been an exceedingly comfortable cuddle. The movement woke Calvin, though, if that was even the correct term. He opened his eyes and looked at Winston as he made his escape.
“I—ah.” Winston sat up and cleared his throat. “I apologize for draping myself all over you.”
Why was he apologizing to a robot? It wasn’t like Calvin could be upset or offended by Winston’s inappropriate middle-of-the-night snuggle.
“There’s no need to apologize, Winston. I assure you the cuddling was consensual.”
“The cuddling was what?” Winston couldn’t be sure that he heard Calvin correctly. He’d only been awake for a few minutes and not certain that he wasn’t still asleep and dreaming this absurdity.
“You were unsettled. According to the literature I downloaded last night, intimate contact can help settle humans. I took the liberty of initiating that contact.”
Winston stared at Calvin as he tried to process what he’d been told. He’d been unsettled, and Calvin took it upon himself to find a way to settle him. To assist him. To help him. When people offered Winston help, it usually came with strings. But Calvin had no outside motives. He was the string. Calvin was the shiny toy sent to distract him from the fact that his father could find time to shop for robots but not to bother having a cup of coffee with his own son.
“Why?” Winston found himself asking. “Why did you initiate contact?” Calvin’s choice of phrase felt strange on Winston’s tongue, but it was better than asking why Calvin cuddled him.
“You were unsettled. Your sleep wasn’t deep enough to be restful. Humans need an average of eight hours of sleep a night to ensure a proper rest is achieved.”
“You… cuddled me to help me sleep better?”
Calvin nodded. Just once.
He had seen a need, and he fulfilled it. He helped Winston with no thought of what he might get out of it. What favor it might grant him. As far as Winston knew, Calvin didn’t have the same wants that motivated humans. He couldn’t.
Where greed and personal gain drove some people, Calvin wasn’t capable of those things. Even Lucky and Novak benefited in some way from being Winston’s best friends. He loved them both, and he knew they loved him back, but he was also aware that they were just people, flawed and imperfect like himself.Lucky loved the gadgets that Winston’s father bribed him with, and Novak enjoyed not living in campus housing.
Everyone in the house benefitted in some way from their relationship with Winston. Everyone except for Calvin.
“Tell me what you want, Calvin.”
“I’m not sure I understand the question.” Calvin tilted his head and looked at Winston, genuinely perplexed. He shifted around and sat up to face Winston.
“Are you programmed to want things the way people want things?”
