Page 23 of Garbage

A moment later, his phone rang and his screen lit up.

He picked up his phone, amused. “Hi, Quincy.”

“Hi, Evan!” Quincy wiggled and looked up at him. “Can you hear me? Ohhh… I can hear me!”

“You can call me any time, buddy. But I might not pick up right away if I’m at work, and you’ll need to leave a message. Or send a text.”

“I sent messages to Mo,” Quincy confirmed. “I can do messages. And look!”

They both turned to the screen. There was a line of code. Then a search bar. Kitten videos filled it without the usual pause of typed characters.

“There are really 16 million?” Quincy asked. Soon one was playing. Then four. Nine. Sixteen. A hundred.

“I have no idea,” Evan responded. “Ben? Can you back up the veracity of your claim?”

Ben laughed. “Not at all. Quincy, you let us know.”

“Alright, last one,” Evan interrupted. Quincy had been laying on his couch, ass winking at him, for entirely too long. “Ready?”

“Yes, please.”

Evan thought he was ready too, but he still wasn’t prepared for the suppleness of Quincy’s warm skin. Or the little wiggle as he exclaimed, “Look at that kitty! It’s licking its paw. And… see how they’re cuddling?”

Well, at least this time Evan didn’t moan.

He popped in the board and returned the cover. When it clicked into place, he did the only responsible thing and returned Quincy’s thick, neoprene pants to their place, gliding his hand up the seam from knee to waist.

Quincy was such a luxurious handful.

Who was apparently watching a hundred kitten videos simultaneously and enjoying every one.

“Wanna see if that one works?”

“Yeah…” Quincy replied, half distracted by the kitten buffet.

Evan could see instantly when it did. Quincy popped up from the couch, limbs twisting and words racing together. “Everything’ssofast!Wow,it’slikeI’mflying.What’shappening?Ohit’ssofast!Wheeeee!”

Evan jumped over, terrified they’d done something wrong and harmed Quincy irreparably. Not that he could do anything, but his stomach churned with helplessness.

Fortunately, Ben’s calm good sense prevailed. “Quincy. You gotta reset your clock cycles, man. That’s a new processor.”

“HowdoIresetmy… Ohhhhhh…”

There was a long, twitchy pause, and then a sigh of relief. Quincy blinked a few times. “That was not what I expected.”

They all laughed, and Evan dared another hand on Quincy’s arm. “How are you feeling?”

Quincy turned to him with a grin. “What’s the feeling called where you feel like you could float away?”

It took a moment for Evan to really answer, because what could he really say? He’d never seen anyone this happy before. He’d never helped anyone feel this happy before. And Quincy was looking at him with those deep, brown eyes like he had the answers to life.

That hero worship probably wasn’t going to last long now that Quincy had sufficient storage to form memories and a connection to the world at his fingertips. Evan knew that Quincy was going to change. Within a week, he might not be recognizable.

But for now, he was undeniably sweet. “I think it’s called euphoria, buddy. It’s a lot of happiness all at once.”

Quincy nodded. “That’s what I have. Euphoria.” Then he pulled Evan into a hug, squeezing him tight against those warm, hard muscles while spindly metal claws chased over his back, sending tingles down his spine. Then he whispered against Evan’s ear, breath warm and soft, and Evan knew that he had no idea what effect he was having. “Thank you, Evan. You’ve made me soooo happy.”

Evan was going to have to stop with this little crush, stat.