A Love Most Robotic

by Silas Vale

  That was a loaded question.

  She glanced towards him for a moment or two, and after a moment smiled and shook her head as she laughed. "Nych, I was an absolute monster when I was a teen." She looked ahead, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm serious. I'd get drunk and smoke pot on the regular- I mean, I still do. But I'm nowhere near the level I was at when I was like seventeen." She walked up to the bench and sat down as she set her things on her lap.

  "I still enjoy that life. Going to punk-shows, getting smashed, running from the cops with Blake. But…" She looked down at her binder. "I know now that I have to keep that life separate from my school and professional life."

  She perked up again, and shrugged casually. "I don’t know. I guess that's just the way I am."

  He seemed to ponder over that for a few moments, before he nodded his head.

  "I guess I've never really been able to get into that kind of lifestyle. I mean, the way I am… I wouldn't get invited to parties or anything of the sort. I can't handle loud noises and such, and I… Well, I can't be away from medicine for too long."

  He stopped talking as a bus pulled up to the stop. They presented their student passes, got on the bus, and continued down the aisle.

  "I've always wanted a quiet future. One where I might have a couple kids or something. Change the world with the things I invent. That's what I really want."

  He sat down on the inside seat, giving her the outside.

  "I want to make the world better than it was when I came into it."

  "That's fair." Willow nodded, leaning back in her seat and relaxing in the crowded bus. The buses that ran through the campus were always crowded. It was kind of a given at that point. "I'll show you some of my projects tonight. I've got working prototypes and everything." She grinned somewhat, apparently excited to show off her own projects. She could talk to Blake about them, yeah, but she never quite got it.

  It was quiet for a moment or two.

  "You know, if you ever wanted to come to a party, you could come to the next one I go to." She looked towards him. "Just chill with me for the night. They get kinda crazy but… That's part of the fun."

  Nych looked at her, surprise lacing his eyes, and asked, "Why?"

  That… Was an odd response to that statement.

  "Why would you want to be seen, at a party, with me? That would put a definite dent in your reputation, no matter who you are. Do you care that much for me, to be seen with someone universally hated at a party he never should have gone to?"

  That was the first time he'd let genuine self-hate show through.

  She frowned, and after a moment shook her head. "You think I care about what a bunch of dumb frat boys and sorority girls think of me?" She said after a moment. "There is not a brain cell in a single one of those parties, they're the dumbest fucking people I have ever met."

  A brown-haired girl standing nearby gasped, scandalized, and glared at Willow. Willow glanced towards her, and after a moment flipped her the bird and rolled her eyes as the girl huffed and turned her back towards her.

  "The reason I go is because they have booze, and admittedly, it's hilarious watching them do dumb shit." She shrugged her shoulders, looking towards Nych and putting a hand on his knee. "I have fun because my friends are there with me. That's why me and Blake do everything together. It's fun." She sent him a reassuring smile. "I would take you to any party you wanted to go to, because I think you're cool and I like hanging out with you."

  She leaned back in her seat. "And I'm six foot one of pure Scottish muscle and I'll beat up anyone who questions me." Ah yes. There was the rebellious Willow again.

  It was a good thing that they had nearly reached the diner. Because Nych reached up and pulled the rope, signaling for the driver to stop. He then stumbled out of his seat, making his way toward the entrance of the bus and falling to the ground outside of it.

  He was coughing.

  He was coughing up blood.

  But that wasn't the thing that he was most concerned about. Oh no, this had become rather normal. The thing that alarmed him, well…

  It was the fact that there were tears rolling down his face.

  It didn’t take long for Willow to follow him.

  "Shit-" Willow cursed, looking down at him. She carefully hooked her arms beneath his, and lifted him out of the way of the other exiting passengers as she ushered him towards the side of one of the buildings lining the streets. "Fuck, are you okay?" She knelt down in front of him, looking him up and down with worry as she put a hand on his shoulder, gently rubbing his back. She wasn't sure what was happening.

  "Should I call an ambulance?" She fumbled her phone from her pocket, almost dropping it before she looked back towards Nych. "Nych?"

  He was going to have to tell her what was wrong sooner or later.

  "N-No." He said, blood dribbling slightly down his chin as he weakly tried to slap her phone away. "D-Don't call an ambulance. They'll take everything away. All my work. All of it."

  He was mumbling now, and everything he said was barely audible.

  "Just… Give me a second. I'll be okay."

  With that, he pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket, unscrewed the top, and downed two of them.

  He stood up very slowly, using the building as support to pull himself to his feet.

  "Hey, no. Sit your ass down right now." She lightly eased him back down to the ground, hesitantly putting her phone away and furrowing her brows as she looked to her friend in front of herself. In her eyes there was absolute worry, and she was clearly very concerned for his well-being. "Take it easy, Nych. I'm a medical student for God’s sake, you can't just pull this and expect me to brush it off."

  Her features softened after a moment, and she took one of his hands and squeezed it. "… You need to tell me what's going on."

  She sighed, shaking her head. "I… I gotta know what's wrong. You're obviously in some pretty bad shape, considering what I've seen today. I'd like to know what's going on so I know how to deal with it too, and I can help you. Otherwise, I'm just going to treat it how I see it."

  Nych stared at her for a long, long while, with tears streaming heavily down his face. This was the first time that someone, anyone, had cared this much about him. Nobody had ever noticed the coughing fits, the reddened tissues, the sudden bursts of weakness. He had always wanted someone to hold onto, to help him with this, but after so many years of isolation… He didn't know if he could do it anymore.

  "I… I…"

  In that moment, he threw his arms around her, and began absolutely sobbing.

  "I have cancer."

  Learning the truth

  Willow tensed up, and her breath left her chest. His words echoed in her mind for a moment or two, before she cinched her arms around him tightly to try to comfort him. "Shhh... It's okay..." Her own heart was racing, and she could feel anxiety begin to set in on her chest. He had cancer. The most brilliant man she had ever met, someone who she had discovered she loved being around, had cancer.

  But she pushed her own thoughts aside. He needed her at that moment.

  "Oh, Nych..." She closed her eyes, resting her chin atop of his head. "I'm so sorry." She bit the inside of her lip. "I- what kind? Do you know how bad it is?"

  He nodded his head, though it took a moment to get himself under control. Even when the tears had stopped, however, he still clung to her. He held her tighter than he'd ever held anyone before.

  "Stage four acute myelogenous leukemia. It's a blood cancer. I could've possibly gotten rid of it with a blood transplant a few years ago, but..."

  He looked down to his arms with a sigh.

  "Have you heard of Rhnull blood? The rarest blood type in the world? It appears that I have it, and that it's diseased. So a blood transplant, well... It was impossible.”

  Which meant...

  "There's no cure for me anymore. I'm reaching my end."

  Willow was silent for a couple seconds, and it felt as though she had been punc
hed in the gut. She hadn't known Nych long, but the thought of him suffering through this and dying... It pained her to no end. She hugged him tighter after a second, closing her eyes and biting the inside of her lip. "I'm so sorry." Her voice was quiet, and... Sad. She didn't want to lose him, even though she had just met him.

  Anger suddenly flared within her chest. He was ill and suffering, and everyone else had the audacity to be so... Awful. If anyone so much as glared at him while she was around, she was going to crush their head against the pavement with her own bare hands.

  It flickered out after a moment, and she sighed heavily. "... Do you know how much time you have?" Willow murmured softly after a second.

  Nych chuckled a bit, and looked at her with something new in his eyes.

  Determination.

  "I should have died yesterday according to the doctors, but... I'm still kicking. Three months and one day ago, they gave me three months to live. I'm still out here trying to find a cure for all cancers. Not just my own."

  So that was why he was so adamant about it.

  "Other than that... I've got no idea how much time I've got."

  She stared at him for a moment or two, and then slowly nodded. "... I see."

  After a second, a small smile came to her lips. "I guess we're going to have to make the most of every day, huh?" She quirked an eyebrow, and after a second leaned forwards and lightly touched her forehead to his. It was shockingly intimate, but the woman didn't seem to notice or mind. "We can work on those bots like we do every day. And... Once we're done working for the day, we can go do other fun shit."

  She paused for a second, content with staring into his eyes.

  "We can go to parties." She continued after a moment, eyes sparkling. "Oh, have you ever gone horseback riding? My parents have horses. I'll take you out there and we can go ride. And we could see some movies, or go to restaurants we've never gone to before. We could go to some of the conventions around the city-" She shook her head, looking into his eyes. "We're going to have fun, okay? And... I'm going to help you through this. No matter what."

  Nych looked into her eyes, and saw something there that he'd never seen in another person.

  Compassion. For him.

  Just the fact that she was willing to spend her life with him, for the rest of his own... It was more than he could ever ask from anyone. He never would have asked anyone to go with him on his journey of death, and yet... Here was Willow.

  Offering to go.

  "I'm... I'm so glad I met you." He had put his chin back on her shoulder, averting his gaze from her eyes, because he was terrified of saying anything too intimate to her while she gazed back into his soul.

  "... Me too." She nodded, silently holding him as they sat on the edge of the busy street. She sighed, relaxing in the embrace and tuning out the rest of the world around them as she lightly rubbed circles on his back with her fingers. "... You're brilliant, Nych. And... If we don't get those bots done fast enough, I promise I'll finish them for you." She was a little more somber now. "I won't let this be the last of you, I promise."

  And she meant those words with absolute sincerity.

  After a second, she pulled away from the embrace, and held her hands out to help him up. "Let's go eat shitty burgers and unwind, yeah?" She smiled a sad smile, tilting her head to the side. "You think you can make it?"

  Nych scoffed, pulling away reluctantly and nodding his head. "Like I told you. Yesterday, I was supposed to be dead. So I'll keep walking until this fucker drags me under. Let's go."

  With that, he began walking toward the dimly lit building at the end of the street.

  It really wasn't a big place, and therefore most of the college students didn't know about it.

  And that was the best part.

  "I'm... Sorry about all that."

  "No, no." She shook her head adamantly. "Don't apologize. This is hard, I know." She walked slowly for him, looking towards him with worry imprinted on her features. "You should have people that are able to support you through all of this. So I'm serious, if you ever need me, even if you think it's for something stupid, don't be afraid to call me. I'll come sleep at your apartment if you want me to."

  She pushed open the door to the small diner, and lead him inside and over to one of the booths.

  She sat down, setting her things on the table and leaning back into the vintage leather seats. It was old, but it had a certain small-town charm to it. It was nice.

  Eventually, a waiter walked up to them.

  She was a small girl, and had to be as young as you could possibly be and have a job. She was wearing a green jacket over the employee uniform, and was extremely thin. Her dark brown hair dangled in front of her face, and she was constantly blowing at it to keep it at bay.

  "Hi Willow." Jacqueline said shyly. "What can I get you today?"

  She seemed sweet.

  "Uhhh." Willow pursed her lips, glancing at the board they had above the cash register a little ways away. Most of their menu was on there, and the rest she had memorized from her and Blake’s constant visits. "I'll get the double cheeseburger with a side of fries, please." She sent the girl a polite smile, and then looked over at Nych. It was clear that something had transpired between the two of them not long ago.

  They were both still a little worked up.

  "Do you know what you want?" She asked after a moment. "The burgers here are really good."

  Jacqueline was a rather bright child, and could see the tension that existed between them. She didn't say anything, however, and merely waited for Nych to give his order.

  "Just give me what she's having." He said, smiling kindly. The girl nodded, scribbled their order down in her pad, and walked off.

  Leaving the two of them alone.

  Two geniuses walked into a shitty burger joint. One had cancer, the other drank so much she'd probably join him in the hospital with liver failure.

  It sounded like a bad joke.

  Willow was quiet for a moment or two, and then reached across the table and lightly took his hand. She didn't say anything about it, however, which was somewhat more jarring than if she had gone off on another long emotional spiel. "... You're staying at my place tonight." She said quietly after a moment. "Blake will be there. But... She'll probably do her own thing for the most part. We could just sit and watch movies if you wanted."

  She rested her head on her other hand, squishing her cheek against it.

  "I'm gonna walk you home every night." She said quietly. "And I'm going out to my parents’ for dinner tomorrow. I think Blake will be coming too." She shrugged her shoulders. "Do you want to come? We're going to be cooking on the barbecue. It'll be really good."

  Nych gazed at her, completely overwhelmed with the night. First, she'd offered to spend her life making sure he was okay. Now, she was offering to take him to meet her parents, and even eat with them?

  He didn't know how to handle it.

  "I, uh... Sure." He said hesitantly, looking down at the table.

  "So..." He was obviously attempting to find something to talk about, because he was absolutely terrible with small talk.

  "What's your love life like?"

  Willow snorted, shaking her head. "A hell of a lot less eventful than Blake's is, I'll tell you that much."

  To be fair, most people's love life was probably less eventful than Blake's. She had gone through more boyfriends and girlfriends than Willow could count on her fingers. She wasn't sure how she managed to go through them all so quickly, but she sure as hell did.

  "I dunno. I've been single for a while now." She shrugged her shoulders, glancing out the window before meeting Nych's gaze once again. "Had a couple boyfriends during high school but, eh. Never lasted for more than a couple months. I haven't really been looking for anything lately." There was a clever glint in her eye. "What about you?"

  "Well, this girl is taking me back to her apartment. She's rather pretty, and everyone knows her, and she'll probably try to get me
to sleep on the couch at first. If I play the cancer card, though, I'm pretty sure I'll get into her bed."

  He raised a brow, a slight smile on his face.

  "Other than that, nothing much. Kinda dying here, and nobody really finds that attractive."

  Ouch.

  She snorted at first, before sobering a little as he continued. She shrugged, glancing away somewhat shamefully. "Sorry. Dumb question, I guess." She looked down at the table, and after a moment slowly lifted her gaze up towards him again.

  After a second, the mood lightened. "Aw, come on. You're cute." She snickered. "Putting aside the terminal illness, you could totally get a girl if you wanted to. Or guy. I don't know what kind of preference you've got." She shrugged, shaking her head and looking over at him eagerly. "Come on. Tell me. Celebrity crush? What's your type?"

  Well, now that they were on this train she certainly wasn't getting off.

  He raised a brow.

  Two could play at that game.

  "Well you see, I've never really had a type until a little while ago. I'm totally into redheads, especially fiery ones who like to go out and break things. I'm into geniuses who can put together robots in mere moments. My type includes the girls who go absolutely doe-eyed when I show them that I'm an alchemist, and who take me to diners when they figure out some of my deep dark secrets. I'm into girls who offer to live the rest of my life with me, and show me things that I otherwise never would have seen."

  That had gotten far more real than he had intended.

  "Yeah. That's my type."

  Willow stared at him for a couple seconds, before something truly quite amazing happened.

  She blushed.

  Obviously a little flustered, she scoffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She rolled her eyes, leaning back in her seat and trying to play it off like he didn't get to her when he said that. "Yeah, right." She smirked slightly. "Don't lie to me. Come on. I wanna know. Brunettes? Muscular? Ooo, short, maybe?" She raised an eyebrow. This was actually quite amusing, and he was probably the first guy to ever get to her to blush.

  Nych raised a brow, before he sat back in his chair, obviously proud of his newfound ability.