forum 1-1 with @Hiro_Shimada (I’ll figure out a better title later, maybe)

Started January 03, 2022 by @Serpentess health_and_safety language

tune

hiros favorite thing was to cook, he always loved it when the lady behind the desk showed him how.

Malcolm continued to watch, and noticed that Bax was also watching. The little bot was so curious about everything. He couldn’t help smiling because of the bot.

Once hiro finished cooking he brought Malcolm a plate and made his own “ tell me how it’s tastes will ya?”

Malcolm took the plate and nodded. He took a few bites, letting the taste sink in, then turned to Hiro.

“You’re a fucking damn good cook, kid. I can’t cook like this, and I’m… eight or nine times your age,”he commented, chuckling in amazement.

Hiro chuckled and ate his food " I'm glad." He said simply

Malcolm snorted in mild amusement, then ate his food. Midas abruptly appeared next to him, though Malcolm wasn’t really surprised by it.

“Hanging out?”Malcolm asked the spidery bot.

Midas flashed at him, confirming his guess. Malcolm chuckled.

Hiro sniggered sending bax to go play. He watched as the two bots rolled around while play fighting

Malcolm watched as well, amused and fascinated. They were careful not to hurt each other, but their movements were precise, almost like a vicious little dance where they poked and smacked each other a lot. Malcolm couldn’t hide a chuckle.

Hiro chuckled when ever bax would show a bit of rage and storm off and come dashing back to pin and tackle Midas

Malcolm hummed softly, increasingly fascinated. Bax was steadily becoming more sentient, possibly enough to rival, or even surpass, Midas. The spidery bot was much more mellow by nature compared to Bax, and it showed in the play fight. Midas simply accepted the hits and tackles, and countered them with clever retaliations and sneak attacks.

Hiro smiled and bax finally stormed off and onto his shoulder “ give up?”

“Midas is too sneaky,”Bax said, as if complaining.

Malcolm snickered.

“That’s his way,”the old man mentioned, amused.

Midas came up to Malcolm, perching with a proud attitude next to him. Malcolm chuckled, petting one of Midas’ legs. The bot leaned into his touch, quite happy.

" just as much as his father." he said and smirked

Bax hummed, contemplating.

Malcolm looked at Hiro with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m sneaky?”

Sure, he knew he was secretive as hell, and he loved plotting against people, but in regards to stealth, Malcolm couldn’t sneak up on a glass of water. And, he was also blunt as fuck most of the time, at least, as far as he knew. So, Malcolm wasn’t exactly sure what Hiro meant.

" he speaks up on you with wisdom and faith, shows you kindness as your worst.."

Malcolm’s eyebrow rose even more.

“The fuck are you talking about, kid?”he asked, confused.

“ I would have never stayed if you’d hadn’t showed me you cared dad. You fixed me and that’s something that takes compassion from the start

Malcolm hesitated at that, still unused to the whole concept of being considered a dad, let alone anything other than a maniacal son of a bitch.

“Um… okay. So, you’re saying I’m sneaky in the sense that I’m a fucking asshole who apparently has a soft side?”he asked, just to make sure he understood.

"yes! thats exactly what i mean!"

Malcolm shrugged,”Well, then I’m very sneaky. Because I didn’t even realize I had a heart, or whatever the fuck, until I met you.”

He paused, considering his own words. They were true, but also not. He had always had a soft spot for machines, particularly the ones he had built. And, technically, he did build Hiro’s skeleton.

His features softened a bit as he considered that. He had never had any biological children, but he considered every machine, every nanobot, he had built his children. Sure, they were more accurately his brain-children, but nonetheless. And Hiro… was the closest thing to a true son Malcolm had ever had or known.

“So… um…”

Malcolm hesitated, unsure of what he was doing, which was a very rare feeling for him. He thought of the other metal skeleton they had found, and wondered if Hiro wanted a sibling. He was truly considering it now. It would likely do some good for the kid, and Malcolm still had the freedom to do whatever he wanted with the sibling before it woke.

" yeah?" He asked and looked over at malcolm

Malcolm hesitated again, then took a deep breath and steeled himself for his question and the likely conversation afterward.

“That skeleton we found. After I get it updated and checked and all that shit, it could become basically anything. And… even though this is very, very fucking strange for me to even be thinking about, let alone asking… Would you like a sibling? I’ll have to get the AI’s help on putting any sort of organic skin on it, but I can do whatever to the skeleton,”Malcolm asked.

He turned away once he was done speaking, uncharacteristically nervous.

" wait, you can do that!? " hiro asked excitedly, the boy shot up from his seat and was automatically pacing, thinking of ways to make the bot better suit malcolm then hiro could,or see what knowledge it knew about the end

Malcolm chuckled, amused by the boy’s enthusiasm.

“As I said, I can do whatever to the skeleton. Anything you can think of. The hardest part of the whole thing would be cosmetics, particularly if any sort of skin is put on the skeleton. I have no expertise in organic materials,”he said.

" so what are we waiting for?! " He asked, his eyes were a bright yellow as he stores all of his mental notes