Chapter Text
‘No, this is a very bad idea.’
They were both standing a couple of steps away from the box, which was tall enough to make their kitchen look crammed. The sloppily wrapped cling film around carboard degraded the item’s value to an almost comedic degree.
The tension was still heavy even when Simon, hands still on hips, sliced the silence with his hesitant footsteps. He gave it a once-over, ‘We ought to take it back, and fast.’
John scoffed. ‘What are you talking about? We broke our backs bringing this up the stairs.’
‘Then call a moving agency.’
There was something in Simon’s eyes, the blue disrupted by urgency. It must have been the ticking clock that made their silence so grave, a bit too grave for John’s liking.
‘You’re being stupid again,’ John murmured, averting his gaze, and sped to the box. The cling film got torn apart with an easy tug, the carboard soggy from the rain. ‘You made this, Simon, how could anything go wrong?’
‘It’s an old model, I don’t know, I did something weird with it, there’s a reason I’m not selling this you know-’ but his voice got drowned out by the sound of ripping papers and plastic cases, and all John knew was that his monologue had ended in something like “I hate you John, goddamn it”. But the words didn’t reach him.
There was a third presence in the kitchen meant for two. A girl. She was tall and slim and upright, her exposed skin peachy, hair falling in golden waves on her shoulders. She stared ahead with a blank look, eyes unmoving, unblinking.
John was too stunned to move. ‘What…?’ he whispered.
Simon sighed, deeply. He clutched his spiky locks tightly, bringing his chin to his chest. ‘This is Jana,’ he groaned.
John, magnetised by the sheer still beauty before him, took a step, small enough not to frighten a mouse. ‘I-is she… can she hear us?’ he whispered.
‘No, asshat, she isn’t on.’ Simon watched with narrowed eyes as John approached Jana in a crouched stance, so slowly as if she were to run off. He was only a little taller than her right then, and John was from the few people Simon had to look up to. ‘You look ridiculous,’ he stated, but nothing of the usual bite pierced his clear nervousness.
John slowly extended his arm, made a move to brush his fingers over Jana’s shoulder, but that’s when Simon got out of his trance and lunged forward, gripping his wrist tightly. John’s eyes grew wide and panicked as he drew a sharp breath. ‘Listen, John,’ Simon said lowly, accentuating his words by moving the clutching hand, ‘She is an early model not meant for the purpose they are made for now. I never intended to operate her because I didn’t want to risk anything. I don’t know how she might develop.’
John’s eyes darted all over his face, steeply arched eyebrows high.
‘You do not address her personally. You do not ask her personal questions. In fact, if you can avoid talking to her altogether, do it.’ He watched as John’s eyelashes fluttered, unsettled. ‘Do you understand?’
John breathed out slowly. ‘Yes.’ Simon let his hand go, gently.
With the same cautiousness, John finally touched Jana, and his breath hitched. It travelled to her hair, traced her thin eyebrows, her feathery eyelashes, dug lightly in her lip. He shook his head in disbelief. ‘Simon, how…?’
Simon gulped. ‘You know I can’t tell.’
A light snort escaped John, disrupting a few of Jana’s gleaming strands. ‘Something tells me you’re the only engineering student who actually doesn’t share the knowledge. So strange, considering you never hesitate to run your mouth when it comes to other things.’
‘Engineering is not just a course, as you can see. If everyone went around talking, we’d be living in a very different world right now.’
‘One world with this as the norm?’ John said, framing Jana with his hands, his excited tone exceeding a mutter for the first time since they entered the apartment. ‘Whyever not?’
‘Just think about it, Johnny.’
The more John admired Simon’s piece of hard work, the more he felt like boasting about it, about the dedication and passion and trial and error, but that was the knowledge – the knowledge he was not supposed to share. Engineering students met this fate, they had to keep their studies to themselves. There was no law about it, no one forced them to, but it just felt like the right thing to do. And for some reason, when there was no punishment or threat behind it, it was just so much easier to follow. You did it because it made sense. Technology was for the few, and for a few purposes – the fact that regular people never realised its impact in their lives aside.
John crooked his finger under the soft fabric of Jana’s bra and peeked inside, in a way that was completely innocent. He had seen John otherwise, and he recognised this as simple and absolute wonder. ‘Are you sure it’s not just a girl?’
A loud, hoarse buzzing shattered the delicate atmosphere, making them both jump. Jana remained still as ice.
‘Christ!’ Simon hissed. ‘Was that the intercom?’
A smirk began to form on John’s lips. ‘Yeah,’ he replied, and with his fingers still lingering, he trotted to open the door.
‘Who’re you letting in?’ Simon cried with voice cracking in panic, striding after John almost groggily. ‘Have you lost your bloody mi-’
John turned around, and something played in the depths of his mischievous eyes, visible even in the corridor’s darkness. John always had this look when it came to that person, but he had yet to identify what it signified, even after four years since their first meeting, one year of rooming.
‘I phoned Nick,’ he said.
Simon resisted the urge to slap a hand on his forehead, but could not resist shutting his eyes in frustration. ‘Why would you phone Nick?’
‘Because he needs to see this!’
‘John, I swear to God, I will murder y-’
‘How were you planning on keeping this from him, anyway?’
‘You could have at least asked me before inviting him,’ Simon stated, arms landing heavily on his sides.
‘What are you so worked up about?’ John asked, his voice tinted heavily with a smile. He liked to tease, but for once this wasn’t a game. ‘It’s the first time we get to see something made by an engineering student! I’ve been trying to convince you for weeks, why would I let my efforts go to waste? And Simon, this is-’ he scoffed, ‘-she is just-’
‘Wait, isn’t Nick supposed to be working right now?’ Simon said, glancing at his watch. ‘It’s still half-four.’
‘Well, I phoned him last night,’ John replied with a shrug, ‘I always know how to ask.’
‘Nick always knows how to comply, more like,’ Simon murmured under his breath, raising an eyebrow. ‘Never met such a pushover of a person.’
‘Why, thank you, Le Bon,’ came a deep drawl, enhanced by the echoing corridor. ‘It’s very nice to see you too. Step aside, I need warmth and hospitality, it’s raining cats and dogs outside.’
Nick replaced with hair and fashion what he missed from height, so even though he barely reached over his two friends’ shoulders he still had a presence between them. ‘If this isn’t about your mum’s funeral, Johnny, I’m afraid I’ll have to get back to work.’
Simon didn’t attempt to suppress his grin as John stepped closer behind the newcomer, leaned until his rough jaw grazed his cheekbone. ‘Fuck my mum’s funeral,’ he breathed.
He helped him out of his dripping coat, Nick silenced yet flushed in the low, cloudy lighting. John and Nick went a long while back is all Simon really knew about their relationship, but he could not remember if Nick had always been so pliant to John since he met them or if that was a transformation happening before his eyes.
‘Well?’ Nick asked, turning his palms to the ceiling.
Simon had half the mind to apologise for the disturbance and lead him back out, but John took him by the wrist and waltzed to the kitchen, Nick – somewhat eagerly - struggling to balance out their difference in stride.
‘Mmh, something smells nice in here for once,’ Nick was remarking as they stood at the doorway. It took him a second to register the third presence, and with a surprised sound he averted his eyes. ‘Excuse us!’
John laughed airily. ‘It’s alright, Nicky, she isn’t real.’
Nick’s eyebrows furrowed, eyes turning full of confusion to his friend.
‘She’s one of Simon’s works.’
Nick finally cast these eyes on Jana, first passively, then, bewildered, surprised, admiring, shocked. ‘You mean, an engineering project?’ The heels of his shoes sounded sharply against the kitchen tiles as he gingerly approached the foreign item, giving Simon a sense of deja-vu. ‘What’s she doing here?’ he asked in a small voice.
‘I accidentally let slip out that I had an unused prototype sitting around in the laboratory and John wouldn’t let me sneeze in peace after hearing that. He really wanted to see her for some reason.’
‘Everyone’s curious about engineering students’ projects,’ Nick said, and Simon rolled his eyes at how much John had seemed to rub off on him as he parted the fabric over Jana’s chest. ‘Are you sure she’s not just a girl?’
Simon didn’t think he could roll his eyes more. He walked over to Jana and stood behind her, bending forward to reach the small of her waist where her power was installed.
‘Why didn’t you sell her, actually?’ Nick asked as Simon fiddled with her controls. ‘She looks so fine.’
‘She was an experiment,’ he just said. ‘We produce other types based on her.’ With a sharp click and a low, inaudible whirr, she was on. Simon stepped back slowly. ‘Nick, John, this is Jana.’
Jana fluttered her curved eyelashes, then brought her bare feet closer together. Her movements were fluid and smooth like a dancer’s, and every time she moved the air around her smelled lightly like vanilla. Despite the frosty details in the fibres of her iris and the glassy highlights over her contracting pupil, her gaze was still blank and neutral to her surroundings. ‘Hello,’ she said in a soft, high-pitched voice.
When all the two first-timers could do was to try to gather their chins from the ground, Jana turned to Simon who was still a few steps behind her. ‘What is happening?’
Simon extended an uncertain hand to the pair, the way he was leaning a cocked hip against the chair exposing his pride. ‘Nick is the short one, John is the tall one. They came to visit.’
Even in his state of shock, something shifted in Nick’s eyes. ‘Is that all you have to say about me?’ he breathed, gaze still glued on Jana’s gracefulness.
‘Hello Jana,’ John stammered instead.
‘How are you doing?’ Nick asked awkwardly, clearly at loss.
‘Alright, thank you,’ she replied coolly.
The chair Simon was leaning against creaked loudly against the tiles as he shot up violently. ‘Nick!’ he cried, full of panic, making the shorter flinch back to John instinctively. ‘Don’t ask her questions! For the love of Christ, don’t address her personally!’
‘Why, what’s wrong? She answered fine,’ Nick stuttered.
‘You just mustn’t! Even I don’t know what will happen otherwise, understand?’
‘Alright,’ Nick said softly and frowning to express his confusion, noting how Jana did not even flinch being right next to Simon who was urgently flinging his arms around. ‘Sorry.’
‘Do they need pleasing?’ Jana asked instead, eyes closely analysing the two figures.
The breath Simon was releasing got interrupted by a near choke, ‘No, no they don’t.’
Nick snapped his head to Simon, pinning him with an equally icy stare. One didn’t need much imagination to see Nick as a doll himself, with his smooth skin, strong nose, voluminous blond hair, and tinted lips, and Simon got startled. But his ‘what?’ was so flat and confused and characteristic.
‘She’s a sex doll,’ Simon explained casually, running a hand through his short hair in attempts to calm his nerves.
Nick looked at him like he had dropped a bomb. ‘What is that supposed to mean?’
‘Well, the truth is I went a bit all-out with her, she doesn’t have the usual repertoire of the other dolls in the market. I suppose she’s not only limited to that.’
‘That’s amazing,’ John, who hadn’t let a single twitch of Jana’s go to waste, said breathlessly. ‘So she’s like a sex doll but better?’
‘Wait, wait,’ Nick extended his arms, ‘sex doll?’
‘Yeah, Nicky. Haven’t you noticed the sellers?’ John said, almost tenderly, ‘Don’t you remember the time I wanted to give one a try?’
Nick’s lined eyes widened in horror as he twisted around to look at John. ‘You’d have sex with that? Why would you ever do that?’ he cried, then quickly turned to Jana, ‘No offense, Jana, you look stunning-’
‘Thank you, you do too.’
‘-but- oh. But Johnny, you can literally have any girl you want! With that face…’ Nick’s voice lost its classic edge in his final addition, falling almost timidly between them.
‘But no girl is so perfect,’ John marvelled with a dreamy smile, eyes abandoning Nick and leaving him cold. ‘She’s so… peaceful and calm and graceful, and her movements are slow and subtle. She looks ethereal, like a fairy, like she’s out of this world,’ John scoffed in disbelief, watching as Jana trailed her fingertip across the edge of the chair’s backrest, looking right back at him expressionlessly. ‘How could you hide her from me all this time?’