Page 87 of Smart Ass

“Yeah, well, it’s not!” Ben shouted. “It’s fucking perfect. So just don’t…” Ben must have realized what he sounded like, because he suddenly grew quiet. “You don’t have to change anything, man. Just, um, be yourself.”

Did Ben really think that all of his spying and monitoring was “fucking perfect”? It didn’t seem possible that it was true.

If it was, though, was Ben, maybe, ready for more? For a real relationship, where Max was really his boyfriend, and when he got a body, they’d do things together?

“Ben, um…” At the last minute, Max chickened out. Ben didn’t really talk about feelings, so Max went for the next-best thing. “Would you really be okay with me putting up cameras in your apartment? That’s not too weird?”

Ben still looked exhausted, but his sweet, silly grin was back. “I’m surprised you haven’t already snuck them in somewhere. It’s fine, Max.”

“Do you actually want me to, though?” Max needed to know. There was such a huge difference between Ben tolerating the invasion of his privacy and actually desiring it.

Ben huffed. “Yes, oh Mister Sir, your Domminess, I want all your damn cameras. Okay? Our kinks match or something.”

Now Ben was looking decidedly uncomfortable and pink.

That had been a big admission of feelings on Ben’s part, and Max felt like he could fly.

Maybe he had been right all along, not just in his obsession with Ben, but how he was expressing it as a Dom. Maybe it didn’t matter if he didn’t fit in with any of the knowledges, or androids either, as long as Ben wanted him like he was.

“I’m going to order them now.”

“Uh… maybe don’t keep stealing from Orbit? Like, order them with money.”

That led to a whole new feeling of warmth that Ben really wanted this… and another layer of insecurities. “Your money, you mean? I can’t have an income until I’m certified as a spark.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Of course, my money. Don’t think I didn’t notice when you went into my bank account to put the lawyers on retainer. It’s yours.”

“I’ll pay you back,” Max promised. “And I won’t misuse it.”

Ben huffed.

“Alright, fine. I’ll spend it all on cameras and dildos,” Max teased. He knew when Ben was done with serious conversation and ready for a break.

“That’s a lot of dildos.”

“You’ll be swimming in them.”

“And I’m never going to have any privacy again, am I?” Ben sounded like he was complaining, but he was smiling, too.

“I’m going to put them in the bathroom,” Max told him. Just to see Ben smile.

“You’re so messed up.”

“I’m gonna watch you poop.”

Ben snort-laughed. “I’ll save all of my noisiest farts for you. Do you want stool samples, too? Should I get a smart toilet?”

“Uh…” There were actually toilets out there that checked the person’s health with a chemical indicator and logged the data. Max, uh, wouldn’t mind that additional reassurance that Ben was healthy and well.

“God, you’re a dork.” Ben was grinning.

Max had made him happy again.

The car parked itself, and Max followed Ben home through the phone connection, jumping from camera to camera as Ben passed little stores and apartment buildings. Max almost had the whole area accessible now.

They were still joking as Ben wandered into his apartment building, yawning.

He didn’t even mind when Max bullied his way into watching Ben brush his teeth through the tablet camera before he went to sleep.

For just a little while, everything was right in the world again.