Love this post by @microsff
You went to a garage sale to see what you could find. You had been working on so many projects that you were hoping to get parts for cheap, when you saw an Andrew the Android. He was sitting on a table, swinging his feel that barely scraped the ground. He was an early version. It was easy to tell by his stocky build, and the way he barely looked humanoid. Newer ones looked more human.
“How much is he?” you asked the man sitting by a lock box, pointing to Andrew.
“You don’t want that one,” the man grinned, showing off all his teeth in a way that made you frown. “It’s a weird one. Sent it up to clean my gutters in a storm, you know, testing out that ‘waterproof’ feature.”
“Uh-huh,” you said unsurely, shifting on your feet slightly.
“And it got struck by lightening. Been odd ever since. Telling me to call it ‘Andy’ and asking me questions. Didn’t think these ones of them were meant to be so annoyingly human.”
“I still want him. How much?” you insisted.
You and the man go back and forth for a bit before you finally handed him a small wad of cash. A giddy feeling fluttered in your chest as you approached him. He looked up at you, a blank look on his expressionless face.
“Hi there. I’m Y/N. I just bought you,” you explained as you offered him your hand. “I’m so excited that I found an early Andrew. You’re one of my favorite androids of all time.”
“Andy, please,” was his response. He held up his hands, no, claws, as if to apologize for not shaking yours. “It’s nice to meet you.”
You brought him home, and he settled in quickly. One day, he greeted you at the door.
“Can you make me hands?” he asked.
“Why? Your claws work better, and you can swap them out with other attachments,” you asked back as you started gathering things for the project you were working on.
“I want to pet your cat.”
“You can’t even feel her fur though.”
“But she can. And I want her to like me petting her.”
You paused, thinking for a moment. “Alright. I can build you hands.”
“I also want to learn guitar. Can you make sure I have good fingers?”
That made a grin crack your face. “Yes, I’ll make you good fingers.”
You two lived in good harmony for awhile, until one day, he showed you a book. “Why is one character being called ‘they’?”
“Oh, because they’re non-binary.”
He nodded as he went back to the book. “I think that fits me better than he.”
You nodded back at them, scrolling through your phone. “Okay.”
Another day, they come to you, holding a book with a picture of a flute. “Can you build me a mouth? And move my port?”
“You want to learn to play the flute?” you asked curiously, looking at the book, their fingers curling around the pages.
“Yes.”
“Alright.”
They took to the flute much better than the guitar, but you don’t say anything. Even when they wake you up in the middle of the night. They’re still not very good, but you enjoy hearing their progress.
Yet again, they come to you, showing you a magazine with synthetic skin and hair on an android. They don’t say anything as they hand it to you, looking down.
“Okay. I’ll take you in and let you pick everything out,” you say as you hand them back the magazine.
“Do you think I’ll really be able to feel?” they asked nervously, rolling the magazine up into a tube.
“Maybe. Why?”
They looked away, and you thought if they were human, they would have blushed. “I want to pet your cat.”
“You pet her all the time.”
“I want to be able to feel it too.”
As always, you nodded. “It’s worth a shot at least then, right?”
Andy went in many times for many more modifications on top of the ones they asked you to make for them. Over the span of months, but in a way that hit you all at once, you fell in love with them. The way they laughed. How excited they were to learn. How excited they were to just be.
“Hey, Y/N! Andy! Welcome in yous guys. I got the room set up. Andy’s got a surprise for you, Y/N. You’re gonna let Andy pick out everything as always, yeah?” the mechanic greeted the two of you as you stepped inside.
You thought it was a little odd she just kept saying “Andy” instead of “they” but you brushed it off. “Yeah Sal. It’s Andy’s body. They can do what they want.”
Andy and Sal shared a grin before you were ushered into the waiting room. A couple hours later, a dark haired woman came out, her hair styled into a neat bun on the top of her head. Her eyes were green, your favorite color. There was a softness to her face and features, as well as a stockiness to her build. She reminded you of Andy, in a way, so you returned her smile.
Sal came up behind you, gesturing to the woman. “What do you think?”
“Oh she’s lovely, perfectly stunning, but you know I’m just waiting on Andy,” you said with a frown and furrow of your brows.
“Hi Y/N,” the woman said shyly, looking down at her feet.
“Andy?”
“I mean, I guess, but I want a new name.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know yet.”
You tilted your head, looking at her curiously. “But you already know every name that there is to know.”
A sweet smile touched her lips as she walked over to you, taking your hands in hers. “I don’t know how they sound when you say them yet.”