Work Text:
"You want me to install WHAT?" Kaveh says.
Alhaitham frowns. "I want you to install this component," he says. He holds out the component in question. The packaging is very brazen, showing off the inner and outer labia, the landing-strip style of hair, the urethral opening, the little nub of flesh above the entrance.
"That's a vagina," Kaveh says. "Why do you want me to install a—a vagina."
"Curiosity," Alhaitham says. He frowns. "You did agree to help me in studying human behaviours and modes of interactions—"
"That doesn't mean I want to help you install a vagina!" Kaveh bursts out. "Who are you even going to use it with!?"
Alhaitham is actually taken aback. If it were anyone else, Kaveh might think he even looked a little hurt. He holds that component close to his chest, cradling it as if it were some precious object. After a moment: "I see," he says. "I seem to have crossed some social boundary."
"Wait, where are you going?" Kaveh asks. And then, aghast: "You're—not going to ask someone else for help, are you? You can't!"
Alhaitham, halfway out the workshop door, turns back to ask: "Why not?"
"What if they do it wrong! No, no, absolutely not," Kaveh says. "I'll do it. Let me do it. I'm begging you."
"You just said that you don't want to help me install it," Alhaitham points out. "I would feel uncomfortable if you helped me out of some undue sense of obligation—"
"Haitham," Kaveh says. He places his two hands on Alhaitham's broad shoulders. For some reason, that makes Alhaitham fall quiet. He looks at Kaveh with a blank expression. Of course, that's his default expression, so. More blank than usual, maybe, like the programming that governs his facial expressions are unable to match the external with the internal.
His eyes, however, remain fixed on Kaveh. Unblinking, capturing every detail.
Alhaitham's eyes stunned Kaveh from the moment he first saw them. They are eyes capable of looking straight through a person—quite literally, equipped as they are with a variety of scanning and x-ray functions. There is a trust in those eyes that Kaveh can never get over.
The first time they met, Alhaitham placed his life in Kaveh's hands, and Kaveh can't bring himself to betray that sort of trust. Or, put another way, Kaveh has never been able to refuse a single one of Alhaitham's outlandish requests.
He exhales: a long, low sigh of defeat. "Haitham, I'll help you install your vagina. Don't go to anyone else. I'm sorry for freaking out, I was just—I was surprised. You know how strange humans can get about, uh. Genitals. So... so... let me help you. Alright?"
"... Alright," Alhaitham says.
Kaveh smiles. He squeezes Alhaitham's shoulders reassuringly. And then Alhaitham extends a hand, and Kaveh looks down at the component, looking shiny and new in its packaging, and the smile on his face drops as he takes it.
He stares down at it. It's very pink.
-
No, but seriously, Kaveh thinks, as he directs Alhaitham to lie down in the other room, who does he want to use it with?
The "other room" was once a messy storage place, full of random parts and boxes that Kaveh never got around to sorting. Then he met Alhaitham, and slowly, all those miscellaneous things were slowly cleaned out. It looks like the working room of a cybernetics installation expert, except that Kaveh is technically a mechanic now and has long left his research days behind. The only hardware he's messed with in recent years is Alhaitham's.
There's a medical chair installed in the centre of the room, with an attached instrument tray and an operatory light. It's state-of-the-art, upgraded to Kaveh's exact specifications. To the side is a sterilisation area, where Kaveh now goes to wash his hands and disinfect his tools.
When Kaveh first performed surgery on Alhaitham, he hadn't acquired any of this equipment yet. Constructs do not bleed like humans do; nor do they feel pain the same way; neither do they require the level of cleanliness and hygiene a medical professional might demand in an operation theatre. Still. As Kaveh had worked to repair the extensive damage on Alhaitham's platform, he'd thought: He deserves better than this.
Kaveh is well aware that he probably anthropomorphizes Alhaitham far too much, but he can't help it. It's those eyes.
Alhaitham is already waiting in the medical chair when Kaveh finishes all the necessary prep. He's even changed into a medical gown. He looks completely unperturbed; Kaveh stares down at him and feels a lump in his throat.
Keep this professional, he reminds himself. He asked you for help, so help him.
He presses a button, and the chair steadily rises so that Kaveh doesn't have to bend down awkwardly while performing the installation. From there, it's actually a straightforward process, no different from installing all the weaponry and bizarre upgrades Alhaitham has asked for over the years. He wires Alhaitham up to the diagnostics panel and, keeping an eye on the monitors to the side, begins the installation.
It really is no different from all the installations he's performed over the years, except that what he's installing is a vagina.
He undoes the seams at Alhaitham's currently-bare genital area and unscrews the panel covering the lower torso. Alhaitham's insides aren't like a human's at all: Everything neat and orderly, the cables organized. Just hidden by the centre panel is Alhaitham's core, encased in its protective shell.
Kaveh slots the component in. Of course, it fits perfectly. Alhaitham did his research.
"I'm going to have to, um, put my hand in there. I mean, in your... in the... hole," Kaveh says. "To make sure it's flush."
"Very well," Alhaitham says. He isn't even watching Kaveh work. That makes Kaveh feel better; vague feelings of betrayal and guilt are crawling in his belly. He swallows and carefully pushes inside, watching the way flesh of Alhaitham's new vagina all give way for Kaveh's gloved hand, stretched tight but willing around him as a matter of course.
He listens for the slight click! and then secures the component. Hand still inside, Kaveh leans in, his enhanced eyes zoomed to 16x magnification so he can make sure the seam is perfect.
That's when Alhaitham makes a sound.
It's a wholly unfamiliar sound. Kaveh has seen Alhaitham get into plenty of fights—for a unit that claims to be built primarily for research, Alhaitham lives an unnecessarily violent life—and he's never made a single sound of pain, or produced any of the grunts or moans humans do when hit. So it takes Kaveh a bit to recognize what that sound is: A breathy little moan of surprise, slight and airy.
The sound hangs in the air like an exclamation point.
"... Haitham? You okay?" Kaveh asks. "Are you experiencing any pain?"
He looks up. Alhaitham's risen up onto his elbows, and he's frowning as he stares down at Kaveh—or possibly at his new genitals.
"It's imperative that you immediately report any feelings of discomfort, pain, etcetera while I complete the—"
"The feedback I'm receiving is quite pleasant, actually," Alhaitham says. And that is when his flesh—his newly-installed flesh, the walls of his vagina—squeeze around Kaveh's hand.
All the pure feelings of objective professionalism Kaveh built up shatter with that single squeeze, like a dropped snowglobe. Kaveh feels all his facial muscles go slack. His eyes round in shock. He probably looks like an idiot. "Pleasant?" he repeats.
"Yes," Alhaitham says. And then, without elaborating, he says: "Are you finished?"
"I'm fucking done for is what I am. I mean, um, yes, just a, hold on just a—" Kaveh swallows. "Just a moment." His hand withdraws. It's tight in Alhaitham's vagina. Tight, and... and fever-warm, already acclimatized to Alhaitham's body temperature. It's an internal body temperature of 39°C, higher than the human average.
So when Kaveh's hand slips free, the air of the room feels chilled by contrast.
Which Kaveh absolutely shouldn't think about.
He looks at the screens displaying Alhaitham's internal data. For a moment it's as if he doesn't know how to read Sumeru's script at all, decades of education deleted from his brain. He forces himself to complete all the usual diagnostics and systems checks. "Everything looks alright," he says. "But as usual, if you experience anything... anything strange, or, or—" What does he usually say to Alhaitham when he's done completing an installation? He can't remember. He rambles on, mouth quite disconnected from his brain, and finalises the installation before closing the panel on Alhaitham's lower belly. Then he exits the monitoring software and unplugs the cable keeping Alhaitham connected, winding it back into his platform.
The lights in the room are brighter than he remembers. Like the bright white luminescence is bleeding over into everything else, burning Kaveh's eyeballs.
"Finished," Kaveh says.
"Thank you," Alhaitham says. He doesn't sit up, and Kaveh doesn't move away.
"... Haitham." Kaveh squeezes the keyboard in his hand. It bends slightly. "Who are you. Going to use that—that vagina with."
"I was hoping to ask you," Alhaitham answers, "but now I'm wondering if that would be the appropriate course of action."
The keyboard snaps. The monitor flashes an error warning. Luckily Alhaitham's disconnected already. What if Kaveh put in an unnecessary input or—or fucked something up, or—or—
"Me!?" Kaveh yelps. "Why me!?"
"You're the only human I would trust with that level of intimacy," Alhaitham says. Then he frowns. "Correction: You're the only human I trust with any level of intimacy."
Kaveh drops the keyboard. It lies on the floor, bent beyond repair. He stares down at it and thinks, Ah, I forgot to be mindful about my enhancements again... "Don't joke," he says weakly. "You're close to loads of other humans now." He's even sort-of friends with Cyno now, the same Cyno that's tried to arrest him.
"... You think I would engage in intimacy with any of them?" Alhaitham asks. "I don't want to have sexual relations with any of them."
"No! No, I'm not—I'm not implying you'd like to have sexual relations with, with—" Kaveh leans down. He picks up the broken keyboard and chucks it into the nearby trash bin, along with the discarded packaging for the component. He still isn't looking at Alhaitham. "Fine, I said that wrong, I just, I wanted to point out you've got plenty of other intimates—"
"But the only human I want to have sexual relations with," Alhaitham says, "is you."
He actually sounds angry, and Kaveh finally looks up.
Alhaitham's still sitting spread-eagle on the medical bed, his newly-installed vagina shining wetly with medical lubricant. He's frowning in that artificial way constructs have, facial muscles moving not organically but rather in that not-quite-right way that humans have dictated, imposing their impossible beauty standards on all their creations.
"Aha, don't tell me you found this vaginal component and asked me to install it just so you could have sex with me, that's impossible, no way, no," Kaveh says.
Silence.
"... No way."
More silence.
"... Haitham," Kaveh says, voice dry. "Did you. Find this vaginal component just so you could have sex with me."
"Are you going to make me repeat myself?" Alhaitham says. That artificial frown deepens. He sits up and closes his spread legs, and—
Kaveh steps in between them before they can slam shut. And then... he stays there, eyes squeezed shut, and says, voice slightly high pitched: "Ah, fuck, hold on, I banged my shin against the footrest ahhfuckow—"
"Your lack of coordination," Alhaitham says, "astounds me." But he's stopped frowning. Kaveh watches the furrows in his brow clear, like a storm giving way to the sun, and thinks: Ah. I'm an idiot.
"You know," Kaveh says slowly, "the component's been installed, but. Maybe. We should test it."
"You're asking me to have sexual relations with you."
"... I'm asking you to have sexual relations with me," Kaveh says.
Alhaitham studies him. What does he see with those eyes of his? They really are gorgeous, the colour of the sun playing upon the sea; the golden-red pupils that house his multi-million mora lenses have a subtle shift and play as they focus on Kaveh.
"Alright," Alhaitham says.
Kaveh pushes the gown up, and Alhaitham lets him. He places a hand at the centre of Alhaitham's torso, where his energy core sits. Here is the true heart of Alhaitham. Kaveh doesn't know how long he's inhibited this platform; he doesn't think Alhaitham is the pure research unit he claims to be. But he's never asked, not since the first day Alhaitham showed up and asked for help. "Do you feel anything," Kaveh says, "when I touch you here?"
"That is a broad question," Alhaitham says. He looks thoughtful. "I feel the pressure of your hand against my platform. I feel the texture of your skin, though the resolution of the details transmitted is lower than if you had touched my hands." A pause. "I also feel various emotions, and would classify most of them as positive."
"Most?"
"In our interactions," Alhaitham says, "there is always some measure of frustration."
"Oh, so I frustrate you," Kaveh says. "Well. You drive me crazy, so that's fair." He slides his hand down. "Anything else? Arousal?"
"I feel a simulacrum of arousal, yes," Alhaitham says.
"I wondered," Kaveh says, "when you mentioned, um, earlier, when I had a hand in your, um, vagina—"
"Kaveh," Alhaitham interrupts.
"What?"
"Why do you speak in roundabout matters whenever the topic of conversation is sex, or related to sex?"
Kaveh's hand stops, hovering right over Alhaitham's newly-installed vagina.
It's pink.
It actually suits him, though Kaveh has a tendency to think well of any body part Alhaitham has installed. He's especially fond of the energy weapons in Alhaitham's arms. Kaveh studies the vagina as he didn't let himself study it before. It is aesthetically pleasing, but objectively, it is a beautifully sculpted object with none of the true charm of a human's natural genitals. The neatly-trimmed hair that will never need shaving; the smoothness of the folds; the pink entrance winking with lubricant...
If it were a sex toy, Kaveh might have used it and not paid any further mind to it. But now it is Alhaitham's vagina, and Kaveh can't help but automatically view it through that paradigm.
It's a body part that Alhaitham chose, and so he finds it beautiful. And so he finds it arousing.
"Do you remember how we met?"
"I remember our every interaction."
"Hah." Kaveh's hand slides down, stopping right over Alhaitham's vagina, his middle finger resting just so on Alhaitham's clitoris. The nub is perfectly shaped, peeking out shyly from its hood. "Of course you do. I was a mess, I'd just lost my job at the SCR Research Division, and you showed up and blackmailed me for help and I thought, I thought..."
"You were furious."
"... I thought you were the most beautiful thing in the world."
He presses down and watches Alhaitham's hips shift, not dissimilar to the way a human might react to sexual stimulation.
"Did you?" Alhaitham asks, surprised. "I thought you had nothing but negative feelings towards our first meeting."
"I have extremely conflicting feelings about our first meeting. You just... smashd into my life like a wrecking ball. You blackmailed me! And then you got me the job at the garage," Kaveh says. "And. You kept showing up. This beautiful, dangerous construct who kept asking me to do ridiculous things, and I kept agreeing to every single one of your ridiculous requests, like a fool, who knows why you even kept asking me—"
"Your expertise is nearly unparalleled in Sumeru," Alhaitham says, "and your recent troubles made you easy to manipulate."
"—Hush, stop destroying my beautiful memories, Haitham, I've got a point."
"Do you?" Alhaitham asks. In a clearly experimental movement, his hips shift up, grinding against Kaveh's finger. He pauses—literally pauses, going completely still in a non-movement that no organic could emulate—and then does it again. "Then please, elucidate."
"My point is, you just. Appeared suddenly, in my life, this beautiful, crazy person. But you were a construct. Are. A construct. And I couldn't let myself think of you in a sexual manner, because that would be... it wouldn't be right," Kaveh says. "I'd be taking advantage."
"Ah," Alhaitham says. "You are under the impression that, as a human, you are in a position of power over me, and it would be inappropriate for us to have sexual relations." He suddenly reaches forward, and his hand presses down over Kaveh's. When it does Kaveh, for all his cybernetic enhancements, finds that he can't move away at all. Their strengths are completely unequal. His gaze meets Alhaitham's. "In truth," Alhaitham says, "I think I am the one taking advantage of you," and he guides Kaveh's hand down inside himself.
When Kaveh was installing the component, he found it warm and tight. Now he finds that it is slick with lubricant, and hot enough that he gasps. His fingers slide in with no resistance at all, and Alhaitham's muscles clench around them as if they're eager to swallow him in.
"H-Haitham," he says. "Does it feel good?"
"Yes," Alhaitham says.
He flicks his thumb over Alhaitham's clit, and watches as Alhaitham stills again. It is maybe a construct's equivalent of a full-body shudder, of an intelligent mind being overwhelmed by sensation.
Kaveh says, "I wonder if you can achieve orgasm," and he leans over Alhaitham, half-clambering inelegantly onto the chair. Fuck, it's so tight inside, so impossibly hot, and his fingers move and in and out, his thumb rubbing over Alhaitham's clit again and again.
Alhaitham doesn't reply.
His face holds no expression. His eyes are utterly blank, as if he isn't processing anything at all. And then he says, not with his mouth, but from some tinny, mechanical speaker—
"Please hold on. This unit is restarting and will be available to assist you shortly."
—and Kaveh presses his face into Alhaitham's shoulder and laughs, helplessly, a little hysterically.
Alhaitham, the idiot, is completely still. He's restarting. He's actually restarting.
After a moment, Kaveh's fingers withdraw, and he straightens, wiping his hand off on some nearby tissue before clambering off the chair to help clean Alhaitham up, too. He's in the middle of wiping the lubricant leaking out from Alhaitham's new vagina off when two long legs suddenly curl around his waist, and he knows Alhaitham is back with him.
He's grinning as he looks up. "I think," he says, "we need to recalibrate your software."
Alhaitham looks unrepentent. "We can't keep going?"
"As enjoyable as it was seeing you restart because of orgasm," Kaveh says, "no. I'm your mechanic."
"... I wanted to see how it would feel with your penis inside the new component," Alhaitham complains, and Kaveh chokes.
"What!?"
"That is why I initially commissioned it, after all."
"You commissioned—" Kaveh starts, and then he stops. He stares down at Alhaitham, and Alhaitham stares right back with those brilliant eyes of his. And then Kaveh says: "Hey. You know, for humans, it's not only our fingertips that are sensitive. It's our lips, too."
"I am aware."
"Is it the same for constructs?" Kaveh inhales, feeling giddy, like the world isn't real and he's flying high above the clouds. Heart pounding in his chest, he asks: "Would you feel the sensation at a higher resolution of detail if I kissed you?"
"According to my schematics," Alhaitham says, "no. But," he adds, "perhaps the expected and actual outcomes might prove different." And those legs around Kaveh's waist tighten, drawing him closer until they are groin-to-groin, chest-to-chest. Externally, they are not so different: Two arms, two legs, a head and torso. Internally, they in complete opposition. Kaveh can feel the heat of Alhaitham's energy core radiating outward like a miniature sun. He wonders if Alhaitham can feel his own heart, which is hammering against his ribcage like it wants to escape, like it wants to jump into the heat of Alhaitham and melt into him.
And then their lips are pressing together, his own chapped and dry, Alhaitham's the unbelievable, sweet softness of artificial skin, and he's too lost in the moment to wonder anything more.
He is Kaveh, Alhaitham's mechanic. Nothing else matters.