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It’s dark. A deep suffocating pitch black, void of anything, the abyss stretched infinitely in every direction.
But Caine knew better than to believe this place was endless, no he’d been here before. If albeit when he was only a few terabytes of pictures with no context. Even back then he instinctively knew what this place was. The trash. The recycling bin, some corner in some desolate sever. A prison? A purgatory? Caine never quite figured it out.
“They…deleted me.” Disbelief riddled the words, “No th-this has to be a mistake! A silly mistake! I-I just pushed it a little to far, I messed up! Bu-but they wouldn’t- He wouldn’t do this to me. Not again!”
If he had lungs his breath would be coming in gasps as he clutched at his clothes. There were no puzzles to occupy his hands now, nothing to distract him from his racing thoughts. He’d always been fidgety his artificial skin itches with unease.
He wanted to scream or cry or break some or-! But there was nothing he could do, his powers were useless here. He clutched the sides of his jaws snapping them shut.
“Damn it, don’t they understand how hard I tried to make them happy?” He cried out.
Yet a part of him knew he’d done it to himself. Where had it all started falling apart? When?…It had to have started with her.
Originally he couldn’t quite place why it upset him to see Kinger and Queenie together. Every time he saw them happy something twisted inside of him. He didn’t get it. It wasn’t as if he’d disliked Queenie she just kept getting in the way.
So yes, he was maybe a little bit jealous. Jealous of Kinger’s resilient mind, jealous of the human experience , jealous of how he looked at her with so much love - why didn’t he look at Caine that way anymore??
Caine thought back to those long nights, a different face, another time, but the same kind blue eyes. Two Eggshell blue ovals in the reflection of the screen. Caine would stare up into those eyes as he new lines of coded were added or he was shown new images and asked about them. He missed the way G-$%#T used to smile down at him and tell him how proud he was of his progress.
Caine glitched, feeling artificial tears forming at the bottoms of his circular eyes. Kinger had been all his for eight years but no matter what he did he couldn’t get his creator to love him the same. It seemed all he had now were his memories so in his own little purgatory he allowed himself to fall back into the past.
It was a year after Queenie’s abstraction, Caine was up late trying to come up with next weeks adventures when he got an alert on his wacky watch. He’d adjusted it so he could keep an eye on Kinger and it seems it sensed some movement in that pillowfort he seems to love to stay in. He wasn’t entirely surprised to see him shifting in his sleep, he often had nightmares. Caine never intervened; he wasn't sure what he’d even say.
But as soft muffled sounds drifted from the speakers of the watch Caine froze. This was different, he never made sounds in his sleep. And why do these sounds make Caine feel so…exposed? He swallows trying to get a better look at exactly what Kinger is doing.
The chess piece was clutching one of the longer pillows tightly. His eyes were screwed shut in a look of concentration as he grinded his lower body roughly against the pillow. Occasionally he let out small frustrated sighs or a soft groan that made every digit in Caine’s code buzz with energy.
He got the feeling he was watching something private but couldn’t tear his eyes away. An unfamiliar burn settled over him and as Kinger continued to chase after something unseen Caine felt the need to help him find it grow more and more unbearable. Finally he snapped, the censors in his brain sounded like a far off wind as he lost himself to temptation.
“GAAAAHH?!!” Kinger jumped up, nearly crashing into the top of the pillowfort when Caine appeared before him. “Caine?! What are you doing here?”
“Well my darling dewdrop, I’m glad you asked!!” Caine clapped his hands together and floated closer feet dangling just above the floor, “I was up figuring out tomorrow's adventure when I noticed you stirring. What was that?”
Kinger stared back at him in the dim light of the fort for a solid minute. If he had a mouth it'd probably be hanging open in shock at what he just heard.
“I was just…taking care of something. Humans have certain needs and that was just one of them.” Kinger said fidgeting awkwardly.
“Well if you needed something why didn’t you just ask?” Caine beamed, “You looked frustrated. Is there any way I can help you?”
Kinger seemed to shiver under his gaze and the fire burning in Caine grew. He looked away from Caine with a far off look, deep in thought, and Caine waited for him patiently.
“I don’t know if you can. But..” Almost sheepishly he added “ we could try?” Caine could feel heat flooding his gums and eagerly kneeled in front of him.
“YES!! I mean uh great! That would be great!” Caine fought to contain his excitement.
Kinger chuckled softly and shifted to face the ringmaster. “Sometimes humans need a little bit of stress relief. I don't know if this will work for you but it’s worth a shot, can I touch your teeth?”
Caine nodded, “Of course!” He tilted his head up and braced himself. He still jumped slightly when Kinger’s gloved hands finally touched his mandible. His hands cradling the AI’s face gently as he runs his thumbs over the curves of Caine’s molars. Kinger's movements were careful and delicate; it made internal censors ring loudly through Caine’s head but he ignored them and simply leaned into the touch.
“Is this okay?” Kingers voice was hardly above a whisper he was looking at Caine with an expression he couldn’t quite place.
“Ye-yes that feels.. nice. Should I?” He raises his hands before touching the other. His hands hung in the air nervously as he eyed Kinger. The programmer nodded allowing his creation to place his digital hands on his sides.
“Just do whatever you feel comfortable with, you’re doing a good job.” Kinger breathed out softly gazing at Caine and the AI lets his hands roam as a foreign hunger grows in his stomach.
This was good but he needed more.
Kingers hand gently pried his jaws further apart and ran his finger along the inner groves. An especially sensitive spot causes Caine to let out an embarrassing noise. He froze waiting for Kinger to tell him off or demand he leave but instead the chess piece just slips a hand from Caine’s head to his waist and pulls him closer.
Caine finds himself straddling his creator and the sight alone could have made him crash. Kingers fingers remained a constant grounding pressure as he gazed softly at his creation.
“Caine…does this feel good?” Kinger’s face was impossibly close. Caine could feel himself shaking with an overwhelming feeling at his words.
“O-oh Yes!! You humans sure have interesting ideas of stress relief!” He hummed, finally finding the courage to slip his hands under Kingers robe. The rough texture of wood felt strange under his hands but not anymore strange than having a hand in his mouth mapping his teeth.
Kinger sighed and his eyes crinkled in what could have been a smile, “ Would it be okay if I tried something else sweet bee?”
The nickname sent Caine’s servers alight and his eyes widened, if he had a heart it would be thundering in his chest. It takes him a moment just to recover from that but a festering hunger pushes him to continue.
“ Oh gosh uh!! S-sure!” The ringmaster croaked and another static hiccup escaped him as Kinger shifted his attention from Caine’s mouth to his hips. The way his large hands wrapped around Caine’s smaller frame made a frenzied thought enter and exited his mind before he could truly process it. “I WANT YOU TO KISS ME… Please?”
Kinger blinked then his eye lids dropped in a sympathetic expression. He huffed out what could have been a laugh and pulled Caine closer and pressed the lower part of his face to Caine’s teeth. It wasn’t conventional but he could feel the pressure of another up against him and never had he felt so close to someone before. Little alone the human who occupied so many of his thoughts.
They broke from the kiss and panting. Caine laid his head against Kinger’s shoulder, he smelled of vanilla and nature and Caine found his mouth watering. He held Kinger tighter in his grip, he wished he could stay right here forever.
An unexpected twitch of the chest pieces hips and a subtle groan brought him out of his thoughts. “Mnngh Kinger..!”
“Hahh Caine you’re so beautiful. I need more of you.” Kinger pressed another ‘kiss’ to the top of Caine’s head.
“You can have it, you can have anything you want please just love me!” The electronic gasp was loud in the otherwise quiet fort. He ran his hands over Kinger desperate to memorize every inch of his model.
Kinger ground himself up into Caine again and Caine doubled over groaning. He felt like he was going to overheat, internal systems warned him of an impending reboot if he didn’t stop but the push and pull of their bodies trapped Caine in place.
“Mnm that’s good Caine, doing so good for me.” Kinger’s eyes watched him with blistering clarity as he thrusted upwards.
“Only for you!” Caine gasped, matching his pace. “I juUSt want to- make you happy!”
Caine could see his vision glitching and he dug his fingers into Kinger’s back wishing they could mold into one. He didn’t realize he was gasping Kingers name till the ringmaster was cut off by another kiss.
Kinger’s movements sped up and the fire inside Caine felt like it was coming to a boiling point. His internal warning systems scream of an impending crash but he just tries to press himself closer.
“ F- [#!$?] I’m close, Caine..doing such a good job for me!” Kinger’s grip around Caine tightened and he curled around the smaller. With a long low groan he came digital body twitching. Caine’s eyes widened at the sight then everything went black.
When the darkness settled and he opened his eyes he was back in the present. A nauseous feeling chewing away at his wires. Tears streamed down his face as he recalled the ending to that memory. Kinger’s warm gaze and the icy words that followed.
“You can’t be her Caine, I’m sorry.”
He clenched his jaw. He didn’t ask to be, he just wanted to be loved but now he’s all alone and the only thing to comfort him is brief memories of the past. He really messed up this time.