Stephen applied some blush onto Zero’s cheeks. Tinting them just enough to replicate a bit of flushness but not enough to make it obnoxious. Zero sat incredible still. So still, in fact, that he might as well have been a statue.
“You have to breathe,” Stephen drew back staring at her work.
Zero frowned slightly, staring up at Stephen. “Wouldn’t it be better to work on me if I wasn’t breathing?”
She grabbed Zero’s chin, turning it back and forth. “Yes, but you should still practice.” She set the blush down, picking up mascara. “You need to look and act as human as possible.” She turned back to him, staring at him with pursed lips. “Look up, don’t close your eyes.”
Zero began to breathe. “Is this all really necessary?”
“Yes,” Stephen drew fine lines beneath Zero’s eyes. “I’m just bringing out your feminine features so it matches with the body that you got installed.” She drew back again, looking down at Zero’s now feminine frame. A small snicker left her lips. “Man, they even gave you a nice rack.” Zero stared at Stephen with a raised brow, confused. “Your tits,” she pointed. Zero still stared at her, still confused. A sigh escaped her lips as she reached down to roughly grab Zero’s right breast. “Your boobs, Zero.”
As she held Zero’s breast, she heard someone enter the room. “Woah!” came a shocked gasp.
The both of them turned their heads to see Axl and X standing in the doorway. X’s face grew red with embarrassment, whilst Axl stared Zero down as if he was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. Though, no one was quite sure if the reaction was made because Zero sat completely naked on a chair. Quickly Stephen drew back her hand, her face turning red.
“Have you brought the dress?” Zero turned towards the two of them, completely ignoring the elephant in the room.
X, still flushed red, nodded his head. He walked forward, handing Zero a box of clothes. “Alia gave me some of her old dresses she doesn’t use. Hopefully they’ll fit.” His eyes wandered down to Zero’s breasts, but quickly shot up as if he realized what he was doing. Zero, of course, did not care at all. He opened the box, staring at the selection. The group of them stared as Zero picked up a rather revealing dress. Axl hopped over to look over what he had been provided. Some were scantier than others, and even surprised Zero seeing them in Alia’s collection.
Stephen peered into the box for a moment, almost impressed. “Wow, didn’t know Alia had it in her to wear some of these.” Stephen placed the makeup down, rifling through the box finding the right dress.
Axl turned his attention towards Zero, poking his outer thigh. “They did a really great job.” The synthetic flesh rolled over Zero’s mechanical body and sat against it as if it was naturally human.
Zero stood, brushing his now shortened hair back. Though he did the motion, he had forgotten his hair had been cut so short. It frustrated him, to say the least. Frustrated him that he was sitting in this extremely human flesh suite and was now seemingly turned into a completely new person. A frown.
“Its new technology,” he opted to fold his arms over his chest. Only to find it difficult with his new set of breasts. He tried several times, before frustratingly letting his arms fall to his side. It got a snicker from Axl. “Signas managed to convince the company to allow us to test it on me for the mission.”
X approached, finally composing himself, stretching his hand out for Zero to hold. It took the machine a moment, but he eventually placed his hand against X’s allowing the other to observe the way the skin rested on him. X brushed a thumb over Zero’s knuckles, almost fascinated by how human he looked. More human looking than X. It was strange, to say the least. For practically almost a century he had exclusively seen his friend without flesh, and now he stood completely human-looking.
X looked up at Zero, a small smile. “How does it feel?”
Zero’s face turned to disgust. “I hate it.”
X’s smile grew a bit wider. That was the reaction that X expected.
“Try this on.” Stephen approached Zero holding a dress, pressing it to his chest. She turned towards the group, throwing her thumb back towards him. “You should hear the voice box they gave him.” She crossed her arms over her chest, a snicker. “I’m so glad you guys pulled me out of retirement for this.”
Zero groaned, sliding the dress onto his body. “I don’t really see why I had to be the one to go on the mission. I’m sure Axl would have been more than capable to do it.” X could only give a small laughter in reply. It wasn’t like Zero to complain, so it was a bit humorous when he saw it fit to. “I should be on the frontlines instead of this.”
Stephen watched as Zero flailed around attempting to get the dress to fit on his body. “Because no one will expect you posing as a human.” Stephen approached Zero fixing the dress a bit and tying the back. “Hmm… Needs some jewelry. I think I might have a necklace somewhere…” she trailed off. Stephen busied over Zero for a moment, placing some jewelry over his body before stepping back and admiring her work.
A fish out of water might have been the most appropriate description of how Zero stood in the middle of his room. It was true, he looked like the splitting image of a human.
“Breathe,” Stephen pointed her finger at Zero. An annoyed groan as he started to breathe again. “Alright, convince me!” She clapped her hands together, a disgustingly mischievous look smeared across her face. Axl could only revel in the torture, living vicariously through Stephen’s subtle jabs.
Zero looked between the three of them. A frown smeared across his face. “Do I really need to?”
“Come on, you’ve been training for weeks.” Stephen nodded her head. “You can look as human as you want, but that doesn’t matter if you can’t act human.”
Zero made another disgusted face. “You’re lucky you’re retired.”
Stephen smirked walking behind X and pushing him forward. “Alright, pretend X just bought you a drink and he’s hitting on you.”
“Why would he be attacking me?” Zero stared at Stephen confused.
Axl burst into laughter as Stephen stood there with her mouth agape. Eventually a sigh as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Flirting with you. Pretend he’s flirting with you.” She turned her attention towards X, staring at him expectantly. X stared back at her not quite sure what to say. “Well? Go on! Hit on him!”
A bit of a startle. But soon enough X fell into character. A slight cough before he presented himself as a well-adjusted gentleman. “It’s a loving evening, ma’am.” It was incredibly awkward. Axl and Stephen could practically feel the second-hand embarrassment. “Why would someone as beautiful as you be alone tonight?”
Zero relaxed. His shoulders slightly drooping just a way that called for relaxation. His eyes fluttering in just the right way that was playful. Lips curling into a smile, parting so slightly in a flirtatious manner. Body turning just barely away to not look standoffish. A rehearsal he had been training for weeks day in day out to perfect such a human movement. Hands brushed his hair just slightly away from his bare shoulders. A flirtatious gesture showing his neck. Even Stephen would blush.
“I’ve just been waiting for someone,” Zero replied. But it wasn’t his voice, rather the feminine voice box installed. “Maybe it was you.”
Practically everyone in the room cringed.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Axl replied. His hand covering his mouth.
Stephen shut her eyes closed, a hard grimace plastered on her face. “Oh my god.”
Even X couldn’t help but scrunch his face slightly. “That was really good.”
Zero returned back to his usual machine-like stature. “It doesn’t sound like it was,” his voice was still switched to the feminine one. Everyone cringed a little harder. “Did I do something wrong?”
Axl shook his head, “No! But its just so weird seeing you act like that. I’m used to you being a hard ass all the time.” Zero shot a glare at Axl who threw his hands up in defense. “What!? I’m being honest!”
There was a knock at the door. “Come in,” came Zero’s sigh.
Alia entered, holding a box. “Stephen, I forgot to give you some—Woah…” Her attention drew from Stephen to Zero who stood at the other end of his room. “Zero!?” she balked at the sight of his figure.
“Did you bring more clothes?” Zero spoke again in the other voice box. Alia stared at Zero, confused and horrified. “What?”
There was a deathly silence as Alia stared for a moment more. A moment later, she shoved the box unceremoniously into Axl’s arms. “I think I need to go.” A moment later and Alia turned around and left, her face flushed bright red.
Zero stood there, even more confused. A snicker echoed throughout the room. “Am I doing this wrong?” He stared at everyone in the room.
“No.” Stephen shook her head fixing Zero’s face a little. “I think we’re just not used to you being human.”
Zero laid exhausted on the hotel bed. He had always wondered what people meant when they had emotionally exhausted themselves. Always finding the complaint as just a round about way in saying that they did not want to hang out or participate in a gathering without saying so. But now here he laid on the bed, mind muddled and brain a fog, as he stared at the blank ceiling. Body ached in a way he was unfamiliar with. The touch of his ‘skin’ making him curl in disgust.
There was a knock at his door.
“One moment,” he managed to muster in the other voice. Carefully he fixed himself, ensuring that he presented human once more, before he approached the door to open it. Eyes looked through the peephole before he relaxed back into the machine and opened the door. “X…” a relieved sigh before he motioned the other to come in.
X smiled at Zero as he entered the hotel room. “Zero,” X passed the other a small leather bag. “How did the night go?”
Zero took the bag, staring into the contents. “I’m just glad its over.” With quick steps he fled to the bathroom. X slowly followed behind him, sitting on the toilet seat watching Zero undress and turning the shower on. “I obtained the information we needed and they’ll be making a buy next week over on 65th and State.” The machine hopped into the shower, scrubbing his body down aggressively.
X crossed his legs, looking over Zero’s figure. “In that old company building?” X mused as he watched Zero.
Zero made a huff of a laugh. “Yeah, I guess they’re backed by some rich guy.” He continued to scrub his body, becoming increasingly frustrated by the skin that still kept attached to his body. A frown, gritted teeth, an annoyed huff as he continued to scrub deep into his skin to remove the human from his body. “Ugh! Why won’t this come off!” he yelled increasingly more aggressive with his movements.
“Zero,” X stood. Carefully he approached the shower.
The machine’s body began to shake. “I’m sick of looking at myself like this,” he began to dig into the flesh.
“Zero,” X whispered again. Touching the other’s hands.
“What?” he snapped.
X simply smiled. The calmness sedating Zero’s anger. The tender touch washing away the frustration. Not a word was spoken between the two. Their glances said more than enough.
They were silent as X moved to turn the shower off. Gently, he removed Zero’s hands from the flesh that he pried away. Carefully his hands touched the pieces that his companion had already begun to rip off. Gently peeling away the skin to reveal the black metallic body beneath that he had become so accustomed to for years. Zero relaxed into X’s touch. His soul soothed by the removal of the human to uncover the machine beneath. Every piece was gently removed, recovered, and placed in the trash bin.
Zero closed his eyes, basking in the soft touches. “Do you think the cleaning crew will freak out over the trash?” he murmured tipping his head to the side as X peeled the skin from his neck.
X softly laughed, “Maybe. But I think they’ve seen worse.” The laughter grew a little louder in reply to Zero’s disgusted face. “Did you really hate it that much?”
“One of the worst things I’ve ever agreed to.” Zero opened his eyes peeling the skin from his hands. Flexing his digits and staring at how his mechanical pieces moved against one another. “Whenever I caught myself in a reflection, I couldn’t believe that it was me. Whenever I had to speak it was like another person speaking for me.” He frowned at several particular memories, “Ugh… and all those people that kept trying to get me to go home with them.” He cringed pressing his hand to his face trying to forget all the touching hands and eyes that lusted for a body that wasn’t even his.
Slowly, Zero turned towards X so that he could completely face him. Half machine. Half human. The skin clung to him. The makeup dripped from his face. “You did look very pretty,” X brushed his hand across the part that was machine. Zero stared down at him. “But I think I like you more like this.” X gave him a timid smile as he continued to peel the skin away.
Zero scoffed. “You’re just saying that.”
“I’m being honest,” X continued to pull the skin from his companion’s body. Zero continued to stare. Hands fluttered across his chest, taking great care to remove each and every piece that remained. Gently, Zero grabbed X’s hand. His hand still human.
“Would you prefer if I was human?”
X stared up at Zero. His face was serious, but close. Blue eyes staring deep into green. Zero hardly showed the emotions that trembled deep within him, but X could feel it from beneath the artificial skin that clung to him. Even if there was comfort in the flesh, in the warmth, X couldn’t picture Zero as anything but a machine. Slowly he pushed his hand forward, drawing closer to the other, touching the metallic body once more.
“You’re perfect like this.” X smiled at the cold metal. It was comforting. “Why does it matter if you look more human or machine? This is the you that I know you as, and the Zero that you prefer.” X stared at Zero, with a smile before drawing back to the sink. He grabbed a makeup wipe and busied himself over the bag he brought in. “Whatever form you take, if you’re happy then I’m happy.”
He turned back towards Zero, reapproaching his friend. “You make it sound so simple.” Zero shrugged as he resumed peeling away at the skin.
“Because it is simple.” Carefully X took Zero’s face in his hand, wiping away at the makeup.
Again, Zero grasped X’s wrist once more. Pressing the hand that held his face closer. A small gasp came from his lips as he drew back the wipe. “What about my face?”
“Huh?” X blinked.
“That’s human, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes.” X glanced away, his face slowly turning red. “I suppose its human looking.”
“And… you like it, right?”
X nervously laughed, “I do. But not because its human.” The two of them stood there for a moment. Unmoving. Zero staring simply into X’s eyes, whilst X stared into Zero’s wanting more. “Because its you.” X smiled softly, drawing close.
“What about these emotions?” Zero drew close.
“They’re just you.” X closed his eyes.
There was a knock at the door.
X was the first to break away from Zero. The machine’s body slightly deflating as X ran to the door, peering into the peephole.
“Its Axl,” X looked back at Zero who stood in the bathroom, only a quarter human. It was if X had forgotten all about what had just transpired between the two of them. Or perhaps he chose to forget.
“Of course,” Zero sighed. “Let him in.” He stepped back into the shower, continuing to tear away at the human once more.