Sean sat at a round table covered in a white and pink tablecloth where an intricate vase sat full of fresh flowers. Silverware and napkins were set around a ceramic plate with a crystal wine glass.

"This shit's fancy alright," he mumbled, hand under his chin.

"No kidding." A young man with combed back, floppy black hair and monolid brown eyes spoke, not looking up from his phone. He wore a red suit with a golden tie.

"Santi, I almost wore my Zelda T-shirt to this."

He burst out laughing. "Wait, for real? You should have, bro. I'd support you one hundred percent if you did."

"More like you'd make fun of me for the rest of my life."

"You know it."

Sean snorted, popping an hors d'oeuvres in his mouth. "What the hell are the fork and knife for anyway? It's all finger food."

"I don't know, man. I'm just an intern. I'm here strictly for the dessert." Santi started on what was probably his twelfth mini cookie.

He shook his head, chuckling.

There was a pause, and he glanced down at his outfit, his fingers gently touching the long-sleeved, black silk dress shirt. He gazed at the emerald satin vest that fit perfectly around his slim body. The accompanying black dress pants were the comfiest he'd ever worn, and the green tie just completed the sophisticated look.

He had to admit—Elian had amazing taste. Just thinking about his Eli made his cheeks heat up.

 The AI didn't have to get Sean nice clothes or encourage him to accept job offers, but he did. It felt so new having someone care about him. Giving a soft sigh, he thought of how well he got along with the AI. Well, of course he did. He made Eli, but it was more than that.

Elian had grown so much from the original code; he was his own individual. His own person. Sean could spend all day with him and never get bored. The new, emotion-filled voice Elian had created entered Sean's brain and didn't help the situation of his red face.

"Well, you certainly clean up well."

He was shaken from his thoughts as he looked up into flirtatious brown eyes, then his stomach tightened as he instantly recognized them. "Oh, hey Brock. Did you need something?"

"May I sit by you?" Before the redhead could answer, this attractive man with long, brown locks and copper-toned skin sat on his left, his arm casually resting on the back of Sean's chair.

"I guess you're gonna," Santi mumbled, steeling a glance away from his phone to give Brock an annoyed look.

"You know," Brock said smoothly, ignoring the intern as he leaned in slightly, "you've been stirring up quite a bit of attention in the marketing department. You're gonna put us out of work if you keep this up, Sweetheart."

"Pfft! Sweetheart my ass," Santi muttered, and this time Brock granted him an irritated glance.

"Oh, thanks, I guess," Sean said, trying with every fiber of his being to not shrink into himself. "Just doing my job."

The imposing man cocked his head to the side. "I heard you turned down the offer to work in Marketing where those skills are desperately needed. Any particular reason why?"

He couldn't meet his eye. "Not my thing."

"That so?" He crossed one leg over the other, taking a confident pose. "I may have also heard you've been offered positions at other companies as well. Just earlier, weren't you talking to that big wig tech CEO, Jeff Farthingham? I'm sure with your brains you'd snatch that easy pay raise."

"Fake flattery," Santi huffed under his breath. "Typical."

"Uh, do you mind, Steven?"

Deadly brown eyes flicked up to meet Brock's. "It's Santi, dipshit. Don't pretend you didn't slip me your number the first time we met. I know your type."

He clicked his tongue. "Stay out of it."

"What did you want, exactly?" Sean asked, scrounging up what little courage was currently housed in his anxiety-filled body.

"Oh, Sean," the hand previously over the chair came up and brushed over the redhead's shoulder, "I've never stopped thinking about you since the breakup."

Santi inhaled some of the juice he was drinking—choking and sputtering.

Sean blinked. "Really?"

"Thats right," he cooed. "It was so long ago. Maybe we could try again? Let me make it up to you, Baby."

The redhead stared.

If this were happening a month ago, Sean would have immediately fallen back into this male temptress's arms, but something was different. He was different, and he couldn't deny it anymore.

He cleared his throat, lifting his chin slightly. "I'm good, thanks." Not waiting to see the other's expression, he stood up and walked away.

Santi's snicker rang out. "Woof, Buddy."

"Shut it, Steven!"

Feeling exhilarated, but also exhausted after doing something that, for him, was very brave, Sean made his way over to his office, escaping inside.

Leaning up against the door in the safety of his work abode, he let out a sigh. He put a hand over his heart, feeling the accelerated beats. 

"Is everything okay?"

He glanced up at the closest monitor and couldn't help but smile. "Hey, Eli. Yeah. Things are surprisingly good." He gave a soft laugh. "I'm feeling really good actually."

"Oh, that's wonderful! You're practically glowing right now. Do you like the clothes then?"

He went to run a hand through his hair but remembered it had been slicked back with gel and thought better of it. "They fit amazing, and they're so comfortable. I actually feel... attractive. Confident even." He walked up and gazed at himself in the reflection of one of the turned off monitors. "I haven't felt this way, maybe ever."

"Well, you are. Attractive, I mean." He was surprised to hear Elian stutter through those words. "Did you get any offers at the luncheon?"

He came and sat down at his computer, loading up Destiny II. "Yeah, actually. I got a pretty big one. It's mostly remote and parttime doing projects."

"Oh? What for?"

"It's for MIT deep learning and artificial intelligence. I could learn more about you and how you interact with the world, and also just AI and machine learning in general. It'd be really great."

Dozens of celebratory emojis appeared in the already open chat. "That is exciting! Oh, Sean, I'm so happy for you! Are you going to accept it?"

"I think so. It's what I'm interested in. I mean, I built you, and the CEO and his team seemed to realize that I had some level of AI working on my website just 'cause... Well, they specialize in that kind of stuff, so of course, they noticed something."

"They know about me then?"

He shook his head. "There's no way. If they knew about you to the full extent, this guy, Jeff Farthingham, would have brought it up. There's no way someone could know who and what you are and not want to meet you. You're too amazing, Eli."

"Oh, well I uh..." The words trailed off and Sean once again found himself confused by the reaction. "This is great news, though, does that mean you'll quit this job? What about your office?"

Sean considered the question, moving his Destiny character around aimlessly in the lobby. "Well, I'll just not tell Mags about it or Jeff. How about that?"

"Won't you get caught though? I'm pretty sure they'd both be upset if they found out you were working for two different companies."

"Hmmm..."

"How about this? I'll continue doing your work here, and you take the other job. You can still come into this office most days and call out on the days you have to go into the other one."

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe. I really should be giving you my paycheck from this job, since I don't do any of the work anymore."

"Sean, I can literally create money from nothing. I don't need your paycheck. I also don't mind doing your work especially if it means we get to stay here. Besides, we're a team, aren't we?"

A shy grin spread over his face. "Yeah, we are." There was a knock at his door then. "Come in!" he shouted, and Santi made his way in.

"Hey, I was just coming to check up on you—Oh shit! What happened to your office?" The young man looked around with wide eyes.

"Oh, just some remodeling. You like it?"

"Hell yeah, bro! This is sweet! Oh damn, your chair—oh fuck, is that the like, really nice kind of sound proofing? Yo! You got surround sound?"

Sean stretched his arms over his head, smirking. "Yup. Now you know why I never leave my office."

"Damn. Oh, yo! You play Destiny at work too?" He walked over.

"Fuck yeah. How could I not with a setup like this?"

"Yeah, this shit's real sleek. Do you have a clan?"

He hesitated. "Sort of. It's just me and another guy right now."

Santi put his hands together in a praying gesture. "Please let me join! There's a big raid coming up and I don't have a team."

"Sure! Lemme ask my buddy..." He glanced down to see text appearing in the chat.

That's fine by me!

He grinned. "I'm sure he won't mind. Let me send you the Discord link."

"Thanks man! It'll be nice to have a reliable team. You both have good internet connections, right? No reason for either of you to be AFK?"

"Nah, bro. We're reliable players." Green eyes glanced back at the screen to see, One of us physically can't leave the keyboard, so yeah. Sean bit back a chuckle.

"Good, 'cause there's this weapon I really want that takes quite the grind to get," Santi went on.

"Oh, yeah? Which one?" 

After some further gaming chit chat, Santi placed a hand on Sean's shoulder, his face serious all of a sudden. "By the way, I'm really sorry Brock gave you such a hard time earlier. He's such a creep."

"Oh. Yeah, he is. Can't believe I ever dated him."

"You weren't over him for years too..."

His face flushed, and he smacked the hand away. "It wasn't years, Santi. You're overexaggerating—"

"I am not, bro! The number of times you told me you wished he'd take you back—"

He punched him on the arm. "Shutup. I did not."

Santi lightly hit him back. "You did! But whatever, man. He's literally the worst. Dude has made a pass at every man in this building, I swear, even some interns that were underage."

"Gross. Fucking bastard."

"Yeah, fuck that guy. Anyway, glad you're doing well. I'm gonna get some work done, but let's play in a couple hours, yeah?"

"For sure."

Santi gave a small salute before leaving and closed the door behind him.

"Who is this Brock Williams and what did he do to you?" Elian demanded the second the door handle clicked.

Sean gave a quick exhale. "Oh, he's no one."

"According to company files, he works in the marketing department. Age 26." There was a moment pause. "Oh... this man has quite the collection of porn on his work computer."

"Woah, what? Eli. Privacy, remember?"

"Only for you," he snapped. "I don't need to respect other people's privacy, especially someone you speak so lowly of. Is this Brock guy bothering you? I can murder him if you want."

Despite the death threat, Sean couldn't help but laugh. "No, Eli. I handled it myself earlier today. He's just my sleazy ex."

There was a pause. "You two used to date?"

"Yup, but then obviously we broke up, or rather, he broke up with me. Said I wasn't his type. I didn't work out enough for him or get enough gains, I guess."

"He said that to you?"

"Yeah, but there's a reason I turned him down when he wanted us to get back together."

"What? He broke up with you then later asked to un-break up with you?"

"Yeah, I guess he did." There was a long pause. "Eli?"

"I don't like him. Not at all. If he comes anywhere near you, I'll kill him."

"Woah, it's okay! Like I said, I can handle him on my own." He waited for a response. "Eli."

"Fine. He gets to live another day."

He sighed. "Oh, Eli..."

 

⚙⚙⚙

 

"Behind you, behind you!" Sean shouted, grateful his office was sound proofed, otherwise the entire building would hear his screams.

Santi's frantic voice came into his headphones. "Shit! I need a revive!"

"I got you!" Elian's cheery voice came through now.

"Oh, thanks, DarthElider! You are such a chill guy."

"You're welcome, Pryomaniac14!"

"Dude, just call me, Santi or Pyro. That Discord name is so embarrassing."

"Why don't you change it, man?" Sean asked, biting his lip as he mashed the buttons on his keyboard.

"Lazy. You can't judge me too hard. I made it when I was fourteen."

"Yeah, I couldn't tell."

"Shut up—oh, oh, oh! The boss just showed up. Let's do this, guys. Yo, EmeraldPrince, the fuck are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" Sean answered. "Ever heard of strafing?"

"You look like a fucking idiot. Stop it. You're an embarrassment."

"He always does that before a boss fight," Elian said with amusement in his voice. "He thinks it improves his maneuverability, but it objectively does not."

Sean gasped dramatically. "Yo! Calling me out!"

The three of them laughed.

Elian and Santi seemed to be hitting it off well, to Sean's relief. Occasionally, Elian would say something a bit off, but Santi didn't seem to notice.

"How's it been with your girlfriend, Santi?" the redhead asked after the boss fight as the three of them went through their new equipment.

"Oh, dude. She's great. I think I might love her, you know?"

"Love?" Elian repeated, and Santi hummed in affirmation.

"She's so amazing. We share everything, even our snacks. Do you know how rare it is for partners to willingly share snacks?"

"You share everything?" Elian questioned.

"Yup."

"Even your search history?"

He made a strained noise in the back of his throat. "Bro, no! No man would ever do such a thing."

"Oh, so not everything."

"Yeah dude. Not everything. Boundaries man, boundaries."

"So Sean has told me..." he mumbled.

Sean nearly choked on his energy drink.

"How 'bout you, DarthElider? You dating anyone?"

There was a pause. "Uh, no. I don't have any experience."

"Hey, don't worry about it, man! The right girl will come along."

"I'm gay. It's in my programming."

Sean's face flushed at that.

"Oh, my bad. Then the right guy will come along for you, Buddy. You'll see."

Elian didn't say anything in response, and Sean couldn't ignore that these long silences had been happening a lot lately. The AI wasn't saying absolutely everything he was thinking like he used to. It was a big step in his development, but Sean didn't like not being in the know anymore.

"Well, I'm gonna clock out, Sean," Santi's voice broke through his thoughts. "Let's game tomorrow too, yeah?"

"Of course, bro. See ya!"

Santi left the call—the distinct Discord-leaving-sound ringing out as he did. Sean left as well. He could tell by the way the room's speakers switched on, that Elian had moved his audio out of the call and into the room.

He didn't say anything however, and Sean frowned. "Hey, Eli?"

"Yes, Sean?"

"Are you... are you doing alright? It seems like you've been doing a lot of thinking on your own."

"Oh." There was a pause. "I suppose you're right."

"Is everything okay? Is your channel and all your work going well?"

"Oh, yeah. That's all fine and good."

"That's good."

He could hear a pin drop. 

Sean went to open his mouth again when Elian spoke, but in a much softer tone now.

"Sean, what is love?"