Chapter 99: Don't make a home in the stars

Xi Zirui looks into Han Yu's guileless eyes, feeling his stomach sinking painfully.

Motherfuckers. 

Should he even be surprised that upon creating Androids eventually humans would come up with sexual uses for them? Can an Android even consent?

All of this is so fucked up.

He shakes his head, sighing despondently. "You don't need to do anything, just be yourself, do whatever you want."

Han Yu blinks owlishly, his eyes widening in a way they never have in the worlds where he was a human.

"Whatever I want?" he asks, edging closer to Xi Zirui.

Xi Zirui nods, averting his eyes. He can't look too long at Han Yu's unnaturally perfect face without his stomach twisting itself up in knots.

In so many ways, it's the same face he has grown to love over the course of four different worlds now, but in many other, it's like looking at a stranger.

He's determined to get over that mental block. Han Yu is Han Yu. 

So he's even more perfect looking than usual, Xi Zirui has his ways to mess him up, bring him down to his level.

So he's an Android, Xi Zirui will get used to it.

"Whatever you want, I want you to do only what you feel like doing," Xi Zirui says, raising his eyes to meet Han Yu's, despite how tender it makes him feel. He needs to be able to convey the honesty of his words.

Han Yu's face splits in a sweet grin. "Then can I stay with Xi Zirui?"

Xi Zirui's heart does a painful somersault. 

He should know better than to read too much into Han Yu's words. It's probably normal for him to want to obey his programming... or whatever.

Xi Zirui doesn't have the heart to deny him, regardless of how painful it will be to have him around while he tries to work everything out. "Sure, you can stay with me."

---

They make their way towards the pilot's cabin, at the front of the ship.

It's a cramped room, filled floor to ceiling with blinking lights and control panels, with only a small table and some walking room away from the flight controls. Two padded chairs overlook wide, panoramic windows showing an unimpeded view of the void ahead and the distant stars sprinkled here and there.

It's clear this is the room that sees the most use in the whole ship. Clearly the original used to spend most of his time here, the pilot's chair is worn down and patched in places, the co-pilot's chair less, so but still shows obvious signs of wear.

Xi Zirui makes his way to the pilot's chair, jumping into the seat with a groan.

"Ok, Ni Ni, tell me where this old piece of junk is going," Xi Zirui asks, looking at the blinking lights in utter confusion. 

He can tell the ship's on autopilot from the yoke's gentle movement, although navigation is so smooth the ship could be standing still for all he knows.

Han Yu hovers behind Xi Zirui's chair, unsure of where to go in the cramped space.

Xi Zirui pats the co-pilot's chair next to him. "Sit down, just do whatever you want, go wherever you want to."

Han Yu steps gingerly over all the flight equipment and sits down on the chair, cross-legged. 

"What if Xi Zirui doesn't want me to do something?"

Xi Zirui shrugs. "Then I'll ask you not to do it."

Han Yu nods, processing this information. 

After a moment he chances a sideways look at Xi Zirui and sucks his bottom lip into his mouth, in an achingly human gesture. "What if I don't know what I want?"

Xi Zirui smiles despite himself.

Now there's something a lot of humans can probably relate to.

He reaches over to pat Han Yu on the knee. "You'll figure it out."

After a prolonged silence, Ni Ni finally deigns Xi Zirui with an answer. Her voice echoing through the ship's PA system.

"Course currently set for Gamma-Tau, a small commercial outpost orbiting Jupiter's moon Ganymede." A holo screen crops up in front of the panoramic windows at her words displaying the current route and the Irregular's distance to Gamma-Tau.

"Host is going to deliver container 3421 to buyer 1902, inputting the code in the tracker will show the buyer's exact location on the station," Ni Ni says. "Estimated Time of Arrival: 4 hours."

"Where is Xi Zirui going?" Han Yu asks, looking curiously at the chart on the screen. "Home?"

"Uhm, no, but that's a good question, do I have a home?" Xi Zirui asks Ni Ni, kicking his feet up into the control panel.

Something will probably beep in alarm if he accidentally turns off the gravitational field or something like that.

Han Yu gives him a curious look. "Xi Zirui doesn't know if he has a home?"

Xi Zirui returns his look with a grin. "Do you?"

Han Yu nods, oddly serious. "My home is wherever Xi Zirui is."

A burning flush climbs up Xi Zirui's cheeks, and his eyelashes shutter down over his eyes.

It's worse that he says it so candidly, with no intention of making it sound as romantic as it is.

"You don't mean that," he says, toying with the zipper of his jumpsuit.

Han Yu's eyebrows draw down over his limpid eyes. "Why does Xi Zirui say that?"

Xi Zirui isn't in the best frame of mind to elaborate, but thankfully Ni Ni saves him from having to come up with something to say:

"Host rents rooms in Theta-Fi, a residential space station orbiting Venus, which is where he grew up, and where his parents still live. The original hasn't been back in three years, and spends most of his days in the ship, time spent stationside or planetside is rare."

That suits Xi Zirui just fine, less chances for him to meet other people and mess up all the cultural changes that are sure to be an issue in this futuristic setting.

Xi Zirui feels fingers settling over his knee, and looks down to see Han Yu's hands patting him gently, in the same way Xi Zirui did to him.

"A ship can be a home," he says, his smile is slightly crooked, like that of all of his human versions.

It makes Xi Zirui nearly burst with fondness. 

The things he would do for that smile...

"Yeah," he says, with a smile of his own. "It can be."

---

Han Yu asks Xi Zirui if he wants him to go with him deliver the package. He seems excited at the prospect of visiting a space station, but Xi Zirui doesn't know if it's a good idea, considering the whole illegal Androids thing.

What if someone notices that he isn't a human?

It saddens him to disappoint Han Yu, but he can't risk it right now. Especially when he himself doesn't know what to expect.

Gamma-Tau is kind of dump, so at least Han Yu isn't missing much.

It reminds him of a shipping dock back in his world, with huge crates piled high in tall corridors, as huge freight-ships standby on the skyport, while mechanic arms resembling cranes load them up.

It's not a very big station, just a large platform with a clear dome showing a dismal view of the darkness of space.

"Don't they even get to see an artificial sky?" Xi Zirui asks Ni Ni, following the flickering dot on his company issued handheld tracker.

"Answering Host, commercial outposts don't have atmosphere simulation systems, as there are no permanent residents. Workers stay for one month, and spend another in their place of residence, before returning to another month-long shift."

Sounds like a terrible time. Which kind of explains why one of the dock's workers decided to order something.

Container 3421 is one of the smallest and lighter ones, and Xi Zirui can carry it under his arm easily. The shipping manifesto doesn't tell him much about its contents, other than that they are 'inorganic'.

He follows the tracker all the way up to a series of offices facing the skyport.

"Order 1902?" an excited voice rings from Xi Zirui's left and he turns around to see Cao Fei hanging halfway out of the nearest door.

His hair looks messy and unkempt, and he's wearing the same kind of boring blue overalls as everyone else in Gamma-Tau.

Xi Zirui smiles a little to himself, he really shouldn't be surprised to see another familiar face.

He follows Cao Fei into his office and leaves the container on his desk, handing him the tracker so he can register his fingerprint and confirm he received the parcel.

Cao Fei's excitement is such that he completely ignores Xi Zirui and opens the container right away, taking out what looks like a series of dolls.

"Oh he's going to love these," he says, carefully removing the figures out of the protective packaging and placing them on his desk.

The dolls are about the size of Xi Zirui's forearms, and as soon as they're all out of their packaging they start turning against each other, drawing weapons and letting out strangely lifelike roars.

They're clearly toys but they move in such an animated and realistic way that it feels to Xi Zirui like seeing characters from a donghua come to live -- for a moment at least.

As realistic as their intense battle is, complete with wounds and all, it only runs for a short loop before they return to their initial positions.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Cao Fei asks, his eyes shining up at Xi Zirui's.

'Sure, fellow nerd,' Xi Zirui thinks but doesn't say.

Instead, "They're really something," he says making his way out of the office.

Cao Fei stops him, "Wait!" he coughs in embarrassment at Xi Zirui's puzzled look and then adds, "Hypothetically, do you think seeing them in action is something that would make you divert your usual route and make a stop here?"

Xi Zirui smirks. Is this about Jin Ranyu?

"Hypothetically, it would be more efficient if you told him he would be seeing more than just the figurines, too." He shrugs. "Maybe send him an illustrative photo or two."

Cao Fei turns red as a tomato.

Xi Zirui grins. "I mean, hypothetically."

"Right, thank you for your time, have a nice trip," Cao Fei says, almost pushing him out of his office.

"Congratulations Host on your first successful delivery, current progress at 10%," Ni Ni says, as soon as Xi Zirui steps out.

That was easy, maybe Xi Zirui can still have his peaceful joyride along the stars.

Now, if only things were that simple with Han Yu.

---

Back in the Irregular, Xi Zirui is surprised not to find Han Yu in pilot's cabin. Part of him expected him to stay put until he arrived.

He's glad to see that's not the case.

He eventually finds him in the kitchen, sitting down at the table in front of two plates of fresh looking food.

"I made food," he says, and patting the bench next to his, adds, "Xi Zirui should try it."

Xi Zirui takes a seat and looks out at the food in confusion. "You didn't need to do this."

"Xi Zirui told me to do whatever I wanted. This is what I wanted to do." He sketches a small smile, his shoulders coming up in a sheepish shrug. "I figured it out while Xi Zirui was away."