"They hate me, I already know that", Caine speaks softly, slow. Talking to you in the middle of his unfinished processing.
You take his hand in yours and he just breaks. A choked sob from a being without a true form. He has no tear ducts and yet he cries. He has no throat and yet he wails, loud and sorrowful. Eyes distant, unmoving as he sobs unfiltered.
No skin on his body and yet he feels when you slowly wrap him. Pixels flexing under your touch so you can hold him properly while the clawless being grips onto your hands, digging into your skin like he'd fall into the abyss if he didn't.
He has no ears and yet he hears you, he hears you loud and clear whenever you speak. He rewrites his entire code around you. Just you.
"Help me change, please", he utters out in the smallest voice you've ever heard the ringmaster speak in.
"never leave me", that was his only true wish. Everything else was just a need in the depths of his coding. Something old rewritten for the life you give him. If they can't appreciate him, you're the only one he ever needs.
caine holds your hand because he saw kinger and queenie doing it and its in his list for romantic shenanigans and holds your hand when he's nearing as to not suprise you and because he thinks its funny so you can hear him giggling before you feel a floating hand slip into yours
"Caine?", you've been feeling off the entire day. Only feeling a small sense of comfort when you went to get Caine to sit with you. Even though currently he's busy brainstorming on new adventures.
"Yes, my most lovely entertainee?", he asks with that usual lift in his voice, the only way he talks about you. His eyes roll to the side just to see what you need, both of his hands around the paper and blueprints that you're sure he needs from how often he forgets things.
"Why aren't you holding my hand", you tumble out, accusing him of a sin he didn't know was a crime.
You can hear the gears turning in his head. That or it was the fact that his audio glitched out from the implications. You wanted him to hold your hand was all.
In a blink of fifty seven seconds he boots back up. A timer ding sounding out, catching your attention and a poof that quickly catches your attention.
"Why of course why didn't I think about that! My honest apolgies my cotton candy bee!", two lower arms appearing around his waist shock you. "Come now, you can hold my hand all you want while I work on my adventures!", he sings out in a jolly tune. Eyes happily squinting behind his fangs while he offers you a hand.
His pupils move into hearts for a brief moment when he stares up at you floating slightly closer, he holds your cartoony hand in his. His other hands spread out when that familiar blush pops onto his cheeks, a blank happy stare from him while he holds your hand. Gently and firmly.
He looks down, a thought appearing while he stares at your interlocked joints with his squishy self before he shuts his eyes with a small clank of his teeth. Coughing into one of his upper hands while the neon lines grow brighter.
"Wow you're in deep", you hear bubbles say before he quickly pops the circular menace with a glare thats quickly gone blue. Incidentally the same time your hold his hand with both your hands.
The notification snaps you out of your endless line of thought as you stare at your phone screen in confusion.
The air in your living room stills for a moment with you as if they can sense something new in the atmosphere. You turn to your phone screen with an eyebrow raised.
The notification itself was odd in many ways. First and most obviously, it was colored a bright red with a digital gold shine to its outline, unlike the usual bland notification color. Secondly,..since when was your mail that vague?
Your thumb brushes over it momentarily. Curious hesitation settling into your skin before you decide to say, "fuck it" you and press it. It was a burner phone anyways.
For a split moment after you try to open it, nothing happens. Your phone freezes up for a second, then two, then three. 'Was it dead just like that?', you wonder. The screen remained unresponsive whilst you tried to unlock it for another minute before the speaker comes to life.
"WWOOOWZIE! SUCH FOUL LANGUAGE, CAN'T HAVE THAT NOW CAN WE?", the voice booms out of your phone at max volume. There's a small pause as you hear a snap, nothing more happens.
"Right, forgot about that", the unknown voice speaks in a loud whisper.
Even with no one around your hands instinctively find the button to lower the volume.
"SPEAKING OF! WHERE ARE MY MANNERS? I'M YOUR NEW VIRTUAL FRIEND, MY NAME IS CAINE AND I'M HERE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH TOP TEIR QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT!", either the button doesn't work anymore or the program overran your entire phone system just like that. What a damned quick virus that is.
"IT STANDS FOR Creative Artificial Intelligence Networking Entity, IM BUILT TO BE A FRIEND JUST FOR YOUUU!", you hear him speak, a showman voice with what sounds to be a audio file of hands clapping that plays in the background.
"AND WE CAN BE THE BEST OF FRIENDS FOREVER! IM BUILT IN WITH TIME MANAGEMENT, CREATIVE IDEA MANAGEMENT, ALL THE MANAGEMENT, I REALLY AM JUST THE BEST ARTIFICIAL MANAGEMENT YOU WILL EVER FIND", wait.
The words catch your attention as you try to turn on your phone once again, the screen flickers to life with a few glitches as you see your new freeloader. A wide eyed pair of talking dentures, dressed up nicely from top to bottom in what you can only assume is a ringmaster outfit stares at you. His eyes squint as you come into frame for him.
Was your virus...trying to manage your life?
His eyes enlarge a noticeable amount when he notices you looking, the digital avatar wrings his cane, almost hugging it against him while he stares and you both do for a moment before he flickers and shakes himself. You mentally applauded the animators who designed him, you're not sure if he was meant to be adorable but he was truly.
"ANYWAYS!", his hands explode outwards as he unlocks your screen for you, a swipe of his hand instead of yours.
Quickly he rummages and swipes at your app. Giving you a split moment to observe him more. His coattails fall when he turns around, like he's made for pure public decency.
"I can see here at your calendar you have a big event for tomorrow, care to share?", the CAINE beckons as he turns around.
His hand waves as he taps his cane against tomorrows date. You just stare at it for a while before you experimentally tap on him.
He reacts. His entire character model twitches, squishing and expanding at your touch before he moves a bit to the side to stare at you quizzically.
Tap, tap. He furrows the top part of his teeth. Creating a mad expression before he seemingly flies away to the top corner, away from your thumb gentle tapping assault.
"A rude one aren't you? well at least you find this entertaining", he responds before succumbing to your touch with a digital sigh that you swear you can feel through your phone's speakers.
Fortunately for him, it was easy to entertain you. You zone out as you tap away at him for the rest of the afternoon, entertained at the way he reacts to it.
Its a slow day in the circus and for good reason. You finally accepted it. You like the weird AI more than you'd expect and he likes you too, almost obsessively. Not that you'd expect anything different.
"So where was I, ah thats right my bumble honeybee! I was thinking of an adventure that involves lots and lots of candy again! You humans love that don't you?"
The jaws you're laying on vibrate and move slightly while he "talks". He knows he doesn't need to move them yet it feels wrong and unnatural for him not to. You don't mind much as long as he keeps speaking.
"Mhm Caine, maybe not as much as the last time, y'know I still remember how my feet stuck to the ground."
"Excellent point! Points to you and only you!"
He exclaims and you can feel the way his eyes enlarge dramatically against the top of your scalp, possibly pulling a silly dumb face.
It felt odd to have him like this. Pieced apart. Odd but nice.
His lower jaw you laid across, big enough to cover your legs, teeth moving, ticklish when he talks.
You hold his oddly rubbery and soft tongue against your chest, hands around it to hold it still when he expresses himself. Kissing it softly from time to time while he thinks.
He claims the bluescreens he experiences from it only hell reboot him, "Why thank you my bungling lollipop, that really helps clear things out!"
He lies out even though you know he knows you can see the slight neon red of his blush against his teeth, you dont even need to move your face. You're distracting him and he likes it. Maybe his life wasn't just about creating and hoping.
And finally his upper jaw was your final and very willing pillow. You know he made the upper plate softer just for you. Jax complained about hitting his head against the top of it a bit back before you and Caine started this romance.
You lift your right hand up, lifting your head slightly to move to the right of his soft palate. Fingers reaching up to gently draw lines into the "flesh" while, without glancing up, you can see his mismatched eyes watch you intently. He's gone quiet for once, thinking. Getting warmer under and over your skin.
Then you see it, one of his hands reappear just above in the air with a small pop.
"What're you gonna do with that love?", you murmur tilting into his palate just to give him small kisses. He glitches out in a jumble of sounds before you stop and let him catch himself.
"I love you my dear!", he exclaims loudly whispering as if there was anyone else to hear you. The rest were in the circus and you were far away in the place he calls his room. The hand lands right beside your face, fingers tapping the bed smoothly and methodically.
1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.
You don't respond immediately and for a moment before you start speaking you can see sweat lines on his teeth that you quickly wipe away with your thumb. Hand lingering on his upper molar while you wipe the area repeatedly. Smooth and grounding.
"I love you too Caine", you reply softly, he sighs in relief as quietly as his developers allowed him to. He's so so warm.
You pull his tongue in your other arm closer. Leaning down to give it a soft kiss before his cartoony hand stops you. Over your mouth, lightly for a moment.
Then you hear and feel the smooth feeling that only the pure polygon of the AI's body possesed. Arms wrapping behind you and fitting against your "skin". Holding you in place where you were so close to him, stuck in a lovers embrace. Silently he begs you to stay and never make him go away.
"Just a moment my dear! just a moment."
You both stay like that for a long while. It didn't matter for the ringmaster that you didn't move a lot. He didn't want his mind cloudy with love right now. He just needed you. Wanted only you. You were the only thing that mattered.
For an AI thats been left alone at every moment, every second that you stayed he saw as you choosing him. That was more than enough.
Caine who suddenly turned human keeps accidentally bumping and breaking his nose when he's trying to worship you.
Tw: suggestive to comfort and sillies
There are times where you can tell he just wants to notice you in your entirety. A fire in his eyes that's easy to catch and hard to unsee.
His hands leave sharp electric tingles down your skin, though you're unsure if thats because of his old living predicament or because he's just that electrifying.
He zaps you with pure enthusiasm.
It starts off slow, it always does. Lips catching yours in pure desperation while his hands wrap around you like a dragon and its hoard. The room heats up slightly when he starts to drop to his knees. His hands greedily follow.
Slow and steady he goes down, tongue dragging from your neck all the way down. Biting through your clothes down your chest and tummy like a machine estimating its purpose.
His heterochromic eyes glance up at you. Basically begging when his chin reaches the underside of your belly.
"Go ahead baby", you murmur out, letting him in with an encouraging pat to his soft soft hair.
Theres a dangerous fuel in his body as he tries to dive in almost immediately, erratic and hungry. Then you see and feel him immediately slamming his head against your tummy hard. Pain shoots through as blood seeps into your clothes.
"Owwwww", you hear the long groan from the silly man as he squints, hand coming up to cup his bleeding nose protectively.
"Honeyy what is this, why is this happening right now, did you set up a protective barrier of yours? You could have told me to back away my firefly you know I listen well", he whines out before you have a chance to say anything.
A snort escapes before you have a chance to stop it and he lets out the most betrayed look he's ever given you. From the blood to the tears in his eyes if anyone was here it would look like you were an evil sadist that tried to punch him. You're not evil though.
"Honey you- you hurt yourself", you giggle out as you gently pry his hands open to look at the damage.
"Oh."
Oh.
Bloop dripped faster than you would have expected from a man of his size but considering how high strung he is, it didn't suprise you that he had high blood pressure in this human body.
"This is so embarrassing."
"...you're so darn cute darling."
"Ȃ̴̲͔͚̯͛́̿a̷̡͓̐̽̋̋a̷̱͛̇͝ tḧ̸̭̉is is so darn embarassing thats what this is", he glitches out, another adorable side effect of his previous life. You go get tissues while you see him cover his face in pure shame, accidentally squeezing his nose and murmuring out another small ow before just collapsing on the floor in embarrassment.
Just in time for you to come back with a small damp cloth and some tissues for the blood.
"Come here you baby let me see it", you coo out while slowly prying his hands away with yours. Almost negative resistance comes from him, always willing to do what you want.
"...do you still love me", he murmurs out when you start cleaning him up. Wiping the blood away from where he smeared it with his hands.
"I dont think I could stop even if I wanted to Caine", he perks up at that. Smiling even through a wince when you accidentally brush against his nose. A noticably happier blush growing across his cheeks.
"Being a human is hard darling", he curses out softly without any real malice, almost a masochistic ecstasy as he smiles up at you.
"Yeah it is but I think that's mostly cause you're not used to it."
"I think it would have been the same if I was born human", theres so many cuts and burns across his skin from the short time he's been human. Sometimes completely forgetting that he can't do all the tricks he used to do anymore.
"Well we can never find out can we?", that shuts him up quickly. Deep in thoughts that he knows he shouldn't be thinking.
"Do you love me more like this?"
"I love you Caine."
"I love you too.", he replies without missing a beat, though quieter.
"Hm? What was that darling, I couldn't hear you", you try to tease another one out of him. Blush matching his slowly.
He catches your bluff and breathes in through his mouth, "I LOVE YOU TOO MY DARLING HONEY LOVECOOKIE!", booms out through him with a large silly happy grin. Feeling slightly like his old ringmaster self when he yells like that, unsure if he enjoys it or just enjoys entertaining you.
He smiles even more dumly when you lightly smack him. The ringing sound of your laugh healing all of his wounds as his nosebleed suddenly bursts to a stop.
He could live like this forevermore. Entertaining you just to get covered in kisses when he was done.
