fic for gingifere
Title: Nuts and Bolts
By: astrangerenters
Pairing: Jin/Kame
Word count: ~6000
Rating: PG-13
Genre/Warnings: Future AU - Jin is human, Kame is not. Only other warning is for some colorful language.
Notes: I love Janelle Monae's albums Metropolis: The Chase Suite and The ArchAndroid. They initially inspired me to go with the science fiction/android plotline, although I think the similarities end there. gingifere, you said AU is okay, so I hope you'll like this!
Summary: Every other android model Papa had created was metallic and shiny. Kame was the first to truly resemble a human.
"It's time for dinner."
Papa looked up from his workbench and smiled. Kame always liked the way Papa smiled at him. "Very well, Kazuya," he said, getting up and shrugging out of his white lab coat. "And what is for dinner this evening?"
Papa headed out of the lab, and Kame followed him back upstairs to the dining room. "Steak, medium rare, with a gorgonzola crust. Mixed vegetables. Wine."
"Bread and butter?"
Kame nodded as he held out Papa's chair for him. "Of course."
"What am I going to do without you, Kazuya?" Papa mused as Kame pulled the lid off of the plate, revealing the man's steaming hot dinner.
"Without me?" Kame asked, registering confusion. "But I'll still be here with you."
Papa smiled, setting his napkin in his lap and picking up his knife and fork. Kame poured the wine and remained standing at the side of the table while Papa started his meal. "I know that. But I'm so used to having you around all day. But you're ready, and it's time to prove your worth, isn't it?"
Kame nodded. He didn't have the same sense of time that Papa did, but the past few weeks had been good preparation for Kame's new job. He'd passed every test Papa and the Katori Mine Conglomerate had set for him. Papa was Katori's top researcher and Kame his newest, most impressive creation. At least that's what everyone had said during the tests - Kame himself didn't have much to compare with. Every other android model Papa had created was metallic and shiny. Kame was the first to truly resemble a human.
"I'll do my best."
Papa buttered his bread. "I'm sure you will, Kazuya. Or I'll lose my job."
"What?"
Papa laughed. "I'm just rambling. Been looking at circuits and things all day. Never you mind. Are you all charged up and ready to go?"
Kame nodded, wondering what exactly it would mean if Papa lost his job. During the tests, the men from Katori had said again and again how much money they'd poured into the Kamenashi Project, how much they wanted to stick it to the Nakai Extraction Corporation. Kame hadn't been out of the lab or the house much, but it was easy to tell from Papa's hushed whispers over the phone and his meetings with Katori-san that the Conglomerate was in trouble. Nakai was finding vein after vein here on the asteroid, and Katori hadn't found a decent source of tylium in over five months.
It appeared that Kame was the Conglomerate's last hope. Most of Katori's miners were indentured or serving sentences. This made them "lazy" in Conglomerate terms, or "not inclined to be devoted" in Papa's. Kame looked human enough, Papa explained. Maybe the workers would see Kame working hard and would do their best to make the Conglomerate more successful.
Papa finished his dinner, and Kame cleared the plates as always. Papa looked him over one last time before he went to bed. "Kazuya, whatever you do, these people cannot know what you really are. Is that understood?"
He'd only said so a million times, Kame thought. It wasn't exactly legal, having Kame impersonating a human worker. All android workers were expected to be tagged so that their quotas wouldn't throw off the human numbers. Kame didn't much like lying - his Papa had programmed him well, after all. But Papa had also hinted heavily that sometimes lying was necessary to maintain one's livelihood. And though Papa had created his skin and his insides, Kame had free will. Obeying Papa was a conscious choice. He'd do as Papa asked.
He closed Papa's bedroom door and sat down outside the door, running internal diagnostics. He wondered what it would be like to be a miner.
--
Papa's lab and house were well-lit and the air quality was impeccable. At 5 AM, Kame arrived by air shuttle at Katori's operations in the Southeast sector. There was nothing bright or welcoming about the place. There was a main building with flickering lights that the foreman brought him to first. Apparently a new face around Southeast was nothing strange, and Kame's letter of recommendation had come from Katori-san himself.
The foreman ushered him inside to a locker room. "You'll be in Shaft 3, Group 2." He gestured to the locker beside his. "This is your team leader. Play nice, work hard. Pay day's every other Friday." The man slapped him roughly on the back and departed. That was it. That was all he apparently needed to know before they sent him underground.
He changed into the provided uniform as other men started to trickle into the locker room. He looked at the locker to his right, his team leader. A piece of tape was markered with 'Akanishi' - Kame had never really had a job before, and the only person's orders he'd ever followed had been Papa's. He wondered if his team leader would show him the ropes or just expect him to know what to do.
"Oi!" called a noisy voice. "They finally got somebody to take Kusano's locker!"
"No shit, really?" came another voice. Two men soon approached, immediately looking him up and down.
The first man who'd spoken was a little shorter than Kame with dark hair and a wicked smile. His friend was slightly bigger and quieter. "You're sure you're in the right place, man?" the first man asked. "This is mining, not modeling camp."
Kame cocked his head. "Huh? Modeling?"
The guy laughed. "And quick witted, huh, Pi?"
The second man shrugged.
"Surrounded by genius!" the first man announced, pulling open a locker labeled 'Nishikido' while his friend opened one labeled 'Yamashita.'
"I'm Kamenashi," Kame said. Papa always said it was important to introduce yourself. "Kamenashi Kazuya. I'm new."
"We know that you're new," Nishikido chuckled. He grabbed Kame's hand and shook it roughly, then held up Kame's hand and his own side by side for inspection. Nishikido's hand was callused and cracked, Kame's was in perfect condition. "Tell us something we don't know."
"How about you all just shut up so we're not late again?"
Kame turned to see another miner approach. He was dressed sloppily and had a mess of long brown hair tied back. As he opened the 'Akanishi' locker, Kame realized that he was standing before his team leader. He bowed immediately.
"I'm Kamenashi Kazuya. I'm new to group 2."
Yamashita turned away to laugh quietly, zipping up his uniform as Nishikido rolled his eyes. Akanishi stared at him, and his eyes looked just as tired as Papa's did after a long night in the lab.
"Uh, welcome then," Akanishi said quickly before Nishikido was poking him in the arm.
"Long night, Jin? You blow all your paycheck at the casino again?"
"Suck mine," Akanishi replied, opening his locker. The three other members of his team continued to tease and joke with one another. Kame could only stand there in his brand new uniform, waiting for further instructions. He noticed the other uniforms were filthy and stained, and their boots and helmets had seen better days. He wasn't supposed to stand out, Papa had insisted. He was already failing.
"What are we doing today?" Yamashita asked.
Akanishi sighed. "Carts. Twelve hours of carts."
"Assholes," Nishikido complained.
Kame didn't know if it was appropriate to interrupt, didn't know how they'd interpret any questions he had. He didn't know what "carts" meant, and they'd only be more annoyed with him. He kept his questions to himself and followed his team and the other miners out of the locker room and out of the building. They all strapped on their helmets and queued up for the lifts that would take them deep underground.
The Shaft 3 line was off to the far right, and Akanishi led the way. Kame saw a team of four metal-bodied androids waiting at the front of the line, orderly and quiet. One of Papa's strongest designs, and he felt angry as Nishikido and Akanishi shoved the androids aside.
"Make way, nuts and bolts," Nishikido complained. "Come on."
"New guy, get over here," Akanishi ordered, and Kame watched the androids meekly step back, allowing group 2 to get in front of them in the line. Just as he was about to ask why they treated the android workers so coldly, he saw it happen in the other lines too. Some of the other miners even kicked the androids or knocked them with their mining helmets before cutting in front of them. No solidarity, Papa had said. The humans resented working side by side with androids. Kame hadn't thought it would be so sad to watch up close. The androids themselves shrank away from them, even though they were larger and stronger. What was the point in giving the android workers feelings if they were just going to get treated horribly? Wouldn't it have been better to just program them for their task?
There was a hand around his forearm then. "Hey!" Akanishi was saying. "Lift's here, get your ass moving."
Kame was pulled into the elevator with their team, the android workers staring blankly at Kame as the metal doors closed, shutting out the early light of morning.
--
Twelve hours of carts went by slowly, and Kame understood why his team members weren't fond of it. There were tracks running the length of the mine shaft, and the cart itself was old, metal, and extremely difficult to move. It took the four of them to push it forward so other teams could shovel in a load of tylium ore. The dust kicked up in their faces, and it seemed as though Katori didn't have the money or interest in providing their workers with masks.
Back and forth they'd gone, hour after hour, filling a cart and pushing it all the way back to empty it onto a conveyor belt. Kame himself wasn't that tired - he had the same endurance allowances as any of the metal-clad androids working down in the mine. But that only made it harder. He spent a lot of time idling as the other three took regular breaks, complaining and wiping sweat and dust from their faces. Kame didn't sweat, and thankfully the dark mine was enough to conceal that. He hoped.
It was an inefficient team. Kame knew they weren't working as fast as they could - five minute breaks turned into twenty minute breaks. His three teammates would complain, chat, talk badly about other miners or people they knew. They passed several android teams, working non-stop and without complaint. And yet it was the humans who complained about being overworked. It was the humans who complained about how boring it was.
Of course, Kame couldn't say anything. This was his job now. He had to be one of them. The work day came and went, and they rode the elevator back up. The sun was about to set, and Yamashita and Nishikido walked on either side of him, draping their arms heavily around him.
"Not bad for a new guy," Yamashita said. "You must have muscles we can't even see."
"Yeah," Nishikido teased. "You're a real freak. Don't push so fast around a corner, alright? Nearly ran my damn foot over."
"Gentlemen, gentlemen. Now, now," Akanishi said, turning around and walking backwards toward the main building. "You both know our new friend worked his skinny little ass off today. Which means..."
Nishikido and Yamashita laughed.
Kame looked to his team leader for guidance. There were a lot of jokes that he hadn't seemed to catch on to all day. "Which means?"
Akanishi stopped walking, staring him down long enough that it made him uncomfortable. Kame wondered exactly why Papa had worked so hard to ensure he felt emotions just as strongly as humans. Akanishi's smile was a little crooked, a little imperfect in a way Kame found interesting. When he'd first been activated, it had taken a while for Papa to explain how all people looked differently. Until his tests with the people from the Conglomerate, Papa had been the only human Kame had ever seen.
"It means, kiddo, that you have to buy the first round."
They showered away the grime, and Kame found that his skin got just as dirty as theirs did, as though the mine had wrapped its fingers around their ankles and come along with them. They dragged him into the locker room, going through the clothes Papa had prepared for him. A sweatshirt, t-shirt, jeans, and boots. But, Kame realized, he had no money. What kind of person carried no money? Why hadn't he thought of that?
"Hey, someone must have told him about us," Yamashita said with a laugh, shoving Kame's jeans back into his arms. "No wallet!"
"No wallet! Jin, I don't care how good a worker he is, I am not letting him stiff us on first round," Nishikido grumbled.
Kame could only think to drop to his knees, leaning forward and bowing his head down low. He had to apologize for failing! "Please forgive me! I forgot my money this morning."
The others were silent for a moment before bursting into laughter. "We'll see you there, okay?" Yamashita said, and he and Nishikido headed off while Jin sat down on the locker room bench to lace up his boots.
"Kamenashi," the team leader said.
He was still on the floor, half-dressed. "Yes, sir."
"Wow," Jin said immediately. "Don't...don't call me that, alright?"
"Yes..."
"Jin. Just call me by my name, okay? That sir stuff gives me the creeps."
"Yes, Jin."
"Okay, Kamenashi, can you please get up off the floor?" Kame felt the tip of Jin's boot poke him in the ribs. "You're embarrassing me with that."
"But I didn't bring any money. I'm not a good member of the team."
Jin poked him with his foot again. "Just get up, you're creepy."
Kame got to his feet, feeling even more ashamed. Apologizing had only made things worse. Why were humans so complicated? Apologizing made the most sense in what Kame knew about the world. He finished getting dressed, shutting his locker door to find Akanishi staring at him.
"Did I do something wrong?" Kame asked, seeing the strange way Akanishi was eyeing him, almost as if he was looking for something. Could he tell? How would he know that Kame wasn't human? He was the first one without the metal frame - nobody but Papa and the Conglomerate higher-ups knew he existed.
Jin shook his head, his features softening. The crooked smile returned. "Nah, you didn't do anything wrong. Come on, we'll get Ryo so drunk he won't notice us paying with his credits."
--
They took the air shuttle to the Southwest sector, and as Kame looked around, he saw a lot more people than seemed to live in the Central sector where Papa's lab was. The streets were dusty and crowded, full of miners from Katori. Bars lined the streets, and from the look of several of the buildings, brothels too. The asteroid they were on had started mining operations about thirty years earlier when Papa was just a kid back on Earth.
Jin luckily didn't ask him any questions, even though Kame had read up for days to have some sort of response. Had he worked in mining before? No, but he heard the pay was good if you contracted for five years. Was he from the Earth or the colonies? From Earth - Papa had told him enough about his life there that Kame had it memorized. What was he going to do when his contract was up? Colony hop for more work.
At the end of one dusty path off the main street, Jin hauled him into a dimly lit bar, finding their other two team members in the back with four empty beer mugs. Yamashita waved. "Oh, looks like you were too late for first round. We drank yours."
Jin pushed Kame a bit roughly into the booth and sat down heavily beside him, leaning back against the carved-up wooden bench. "As always, you have respect for your social betters," Jin complained, jamming his finger into one of the mugs to hopefully get a few remaining droplets of beer.
"I am sorry once again," Kame said, inclining his head. He hoped he wasn't being as creepy as Jin had said he was before. "Since I have no money, I won't drink anything."
He thought it was the best way to cover up the fact that he didn't actually need to eat or drink anything, but Jin was too fast for him. Kame felt embarrassed as Jin wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Don't give me that crap," his team leader said. "Fishing for us to buy you something. That's such a girl trick."
"Oh, don't buy me anything, I'll just sit here and watch you," Nishikido teased in a higher-pitched feminine voice.
Yamashita joined in. "Don't mind me, I'm soooo thirsty."
They all laughed at him again. He had to ensure that he politely declined any further invitations to the bars in Southwest. He just didn't seem to be catching on. The night wore on, and Kame watched in amazement as his companions drank mug after mug of beer. It wouldn't hurt him if he joined in - he had means of processing and expelling food and drink if need be, but it wasn't one of the things Papa had truly perfected yet. He took a few sips, tasting nothing, but his teammates were so intoxicated, they didn't seem to notice.
The three of them spoke about the same odd things they had underground. About their favorite brothel girls, about girls back home, and about where they'd come from. As far as Kame could tell, Yamashita was on an indentured contract the same as Kame was claiming, but Nishikido was serving out a prison term for fraud, Akanishi for smuggling. He wondered how people with criminal pasts could rise to team leader.
Jin's voice was slurring horribly when the woman running the bar banged her hand against the counter. "Alright boys, that's all she wrote tonight! Get to sleep so you can get back to your pits!"
Nishikido got to his feet first, wobbling as he pulled Yamashita after him. "We're hitting the casino, you guys in?"
Jin waved them off, nearly falling forward. "Nope. Broke."
Kame did a similar wave, imitating Jin's gesture as best he could. "No, thank you for the invitation."
The two headed off, and Jin turned to him with his eyebrow raised suspiciously. "Did you even touch your beer? Swear I paid for five of those..."
Nishikido had helped himself to four of them, thankfully, sparing Kame the embarrassment. "Thank you, Jin. I appreciate it."
They departed the booth, and Jin held onto him to stay upright. "...kind of boss would I be if I didn't help you get liquored up, am I right?"
Kame only helped usher the man from the establishment and back into the cold evening. Even with the terraforming efforts, it was still bitterly cold on the asteroid. At least that was what Papa said - Kame had skin like a human, but wasn't as affected by temperature changes. The upside to nanotechnology. His companion wasn't so lucky, and he was shivering inside his thin sweatshirt. He half-carried Jin to the nearest air shuttle. "Where is home for you?" he asked him.
"Come with," Jin laughed. "Find out."
It had been a long day, and Jin was drunk. It didn't mean anything. They were new acquaintances. Kame was only a recent student of human behavior, but he was fairly certain Jin wasn't consciously aware of what he was saying. Instead of responding to Jin, he asked the shuttle driver to ensure Jin got home safely.
Kame took the next shuttle home. Papa was still awake, tinkering away in the lab.
"How was your first day, Kazuya? Do you like being a miner?"
Twelve hours below ground with limited light, lazy comrades, and little organization. But he'd met Akanishi Jin, his team leader, and he found him fascinating. He was as far from Papa as one could get. Humans came in so many types.
"I think I can get used to it."
--
The first few months in the mines were a steep learning curve. There had been several days of carts duty, which taught Kame the importance of infinite patience. Patience for a job that could go smoother with a stricter team leader, patience for companions who spoke cruelly of the other androids. He discovered that humans tended to resent those who worked harder than them. Where Papa had thought Kame's addition would make them more competitive, it only brought about irritation.
"Slow down, Kame" and "Take a break already, Kame" became mantras he heard every day, whether from Jin or from his other team members. Their quotas could be so much higher, their work so much more efficient. But how could he understand? He didn't tire the way they did. He didn't need sleep the way they did. Maybe he'd never really understand them at all.
But as soon as they were above ground again and the soot was washed from their bodies, Kame was dragged along to Southwest. He'd finally learned that paying for rounds was not only thoughtful but expected. Drinking together seemed to bond the team together, although Kame was rather annoyed by their seeming need to be out almost every night. If they weren't hungover from drink in the morning, they'd be more efficient. If they didn't spend so much of their money at the bars and casinos, they wouldn't spend half their work day complaining about their low wages.
The Conglomerate was apparently none too impressed with the Kamenashi Project, even though their team's numbers were way up, obviously due to Kame's work ethic. Day after day, more androids descended into the mines. Day after day, the anger and resentment of his team members grew. There'd been talk in the bars tonight about some sort of meeting, that decisions had to be made. Kame wondered if he should tell Papa.
He was bringing Jin back to the air shuttle, just another part of the usual routine. They'd be going into the mines in four hours - he wondered how Jin could function on so little sleep. "Why don't you ever come with when I ask you to?" Jin was mumbling as Kame helped him to walk.
"What do you mean?"
Jin ruffled his hair, something Kame had never had done to him before. "I don't ask 'cause it's something I hafta ask you, ya know."
He didn't know what Papa would think. Papa stayed up every night waiting for him to come home. But even though he was programmed against the cold, Jin's body was warm and solid against his. Some nights Kame wanted to yell at Papa, to ask him why he'd been programmed to feel at all. He wanted to ask Papa why his feelings for Jin were so intense, why there was no internal diagnostic he could run to switch it off.
Akanishi Jin was a lazy worker and prone to reckless behavior. He'd been a criminal, smuggling illicit goods on his ship from colony to colony. And yet Jin was a good leader, always watching out for his team down in the mines. Always picking up the tab when Yamashita or Ryo ran short. He'd complain about Kame working too hard and not resting enough - he saw Kame as someone he had to look out for.
"I have to rest," Kame said gently, ushering Jin into the shuttle. "You should too, Jin."
Jin's eyes searched his face, and Kame could distinctly see the disappointment there. "I ask you to come with me because I like you," Jin admitted just as the shuttle doors closed. It lifted off, leaving Kame alone to watch it disappear into the darkness.
--
"Kamenashi and I are starting at Junction 17," Jin announced. "You and Ryo hit up 16. We switch off in an hour so we're not staring at the same shit all day."
"Rock is still rock, you know!" Ryo complained, hoisting his pickaxe and heading off, Yamashita at his heels. Kame lifted his own pickaxe and followed Jin. It had been strange ever since they'd been in the locker room that morning, ever since Jin had confessed his feelings the night before. Kame didn't know what to say. He felt the same way, absolutely. Well, as much as he could quantify the feeling. He wasn't sure how true his emotions were in comparison to a human's, but he was pretty convinced he felt them just as strongly.
Jin hadn't looked at him, hadn't said anything to him. Was he waiting for Kame to return the sentiment? He wasn't sure he could. He didn't want to tell Jin, who resented the androids in the mine more and more each day, that he'd been lying all along. That he wasn't human. That he was as "nuts and bolts" as the others when it came down to it. He didn't think he could say something like that, not after so many months.
They chipped at the walls in silence, leaving piles of tylium dust and ore at their feet for the android Carts team to come by and scoop up later. Junction 17 was new, and one of the human teams had set up the beams for the shaft just the other day. It was rare that one of the human teams got to do something so dangerous. It was android work, as was the first mining in a new junction. But assignments from the Conglomerate had been out of sorts now that there were so many more android teams to juggle.
Their hour was almost up when Kame felt the trembling. Jin dropped his pickaxe, suddenly alert. "Kame, you need to move. Right now."
The wooden beams splintered, and they heard Ryo and Yamashita shouting for someone to pull the alarm. Imminent collapse. Kame left his own axe behind as the beam to his left shattered, and the ceiling started to cave in. He felt Jin's hand around his wrist.
"Hurry!"
They raced to the end of the tunnel, towards the secure main passageway, but with the way the newest path was collapsing, Kame didn't even need to run a calculation diagnostic to know they wouldn't make it in time. Jin. He had to keep Jin safe. Papa had built him to be strong. He dove for his team leader, wrapping his arms around him and falling to the ground as dust and rock pummeled his body. He covered as much of Jin's body as he could with his smaller one, ensuring that Jin's head was protected. Helmets could only do so much during a cave-in.
"Kame," Jin was muttering beneath him. "Kame, you're so stupid!"
Kame could only focus on his task, protecting Jin, and running every diagnostic he could to ensure that he wasn't exceeding his physical thresholds. He could feel his skin tear and bruise under his uniform, his legs and back straining under the weight of the falling rocks. If they'd been any deeper in the mine shaft, they would definitely have been crushed. The alarm continued to blare, and it had taken every bit of energy he had to ensure that Jin was safe. To tell Jin without words what he meant to him.
Jin was nudging him. "Kame," he was pleading. "Kame, are you okay? Kazu!"
His diagnostics advised him to power down. Powering down would immediately alert Papa back in the lab. He shut his eyes, running a final check. He'd done everything he could do.
"Kazu, wake up!"
--
When Kame opened his eyes, he saw Papa staring down at him with disappointment. Papa had never looked at him that way before, and he felt intense shame. Papa hadn't hesitated to program him with that particular feeling.
"Kazuya," Papa said, shining a light in his eyes. "Run a diagnostic for me."
He did so, startling himself with the newest readings. "I have a new spinal column..."
Papa nodded. "You do. And do you know any statistics on humans with crushed spinal columns?"
He sat up, flexing his limbs. His skin had been repaired as well. "I haven't studied..."
"Most of them die," Papa said. "Or they never walk again."
His shame increased. "I've failed, haven't I?"
Papa sat down on the lab table beside him. "It's not your fault. But there are consequences..."
"Jin!" Kame shouted suddenly. "What about Jin? Is he okay? Did he survive?" He'd wasted time running his own diagnostics and hadn't asked about Jin's condition yet?
"Your team leader is fine, Kazuya. A little too fine. You did too good a job. The whole asteroid is abuzz with the story. An android saving a human worker. It's playing well back on Earth, but the Conglomerate's in trouble. After all, you're a human in their records. A human's not supposed to survive a cave-in like that, much less use himself as a shield to save another."
The one secret that wasn't supposed to be revealed, his true nature. It was being broadcast around the solar system. The Kamenashi Project - meant to increase the Conglomerate's influence and business share on the asteroid. It had all been for nothing. What did this mean for the mines? What did it mean for Jin?
Kame hadn't even been able to tell him face to face - all Jin had to do now was turn on his monitor and watch it broadcasted for all to see. Human saved by an android at Katori Mine Conglomerate Southeast. Android creator Kimura Takuya refuses to disclose details about android that resembles a human. Spokesmen for Katori deny any knowledge of an android working with a human team. Kame's face, shown system-wide. This is the face of the next stage of android tech.
"What do I do from here, Papa?"
"The mine's been shut down. The workers are on strike," Papa explained. "You can understand why they're angry."
It was all his fault, all of this. But at the same time, he was sure he'd made the right choice in saving Jin. Even if Jin hated him now, hated him because he was an android, he'd done what he absolutely had to do.
"They're running all android teams in the mine starting tomorrow," Papa continued. "Katori will lose too much money if they're shut down any longer. It's up to you if you wish to go in and work."
He looked down, frowning. "I am sorry, Papa. I've made such a mess for you."
He felt Papa's arm around his shoulder, comforting him. "I have never been more proud of you, Kazuya."
--
He took the air shuttle to Southeast come morning. What else was he to do? He was an android. Even if he was flesh and bone, he wasn't human. He had no reason to go on strike with Jin and the others. He fell into line behind the metallic androids. The humans on strike were milling about, holding up signs in protest. The androids were taking their jobs. The androids were making them obsolete. Katori Mine Conglomerate had lied to them.
Kame walked straight ahead as the miners booed, throwing bottles and other objects at them. He could see reporters from the newswire interviewing angry miners, and he understood the anger in their faces. Kame had worked alongside them for months. He'd betrayed their confidence and trust in him. He'd never be one of them, no matter how hard he tried.
They queued up for the elevators, and Kame felt a bottle strike him in the head, staggering him slightly. Then there was an arm around him, protecting and warm. Just like every night on the way back from the bars in Southwest.
"The next asshole who throws a fucking bottle is getting a punch in the face, are we clear?"
Kame could only shrink back as Akanishi Jin stood in front of him and the other android workers, his arms extended at his sides as if he was trying to create a barrier between the angry miners and the non-humans.
The crowd quieted down as Jin stood his ground, not budging an inch. The elevator down to the mine shaft opened, but none of the android workers made a move to enter. All eyes were on Kame's team leader.
"Kamenashi lied to us, and you know why?" Jin bent down and picked up the bottle that had been flung at Kame's head. "It's because we're all so stuck up our own asses that we see anyone like him or the nuts and bolts as a threat. Because we're too busy fucking around. I'm here because I got myself caught. You're here because you got yourself caught. Or you lost your job and took the first one you could find that paid a living wage. You hate it here. Well, newsflash, geniuses, we all hate it here."
"We hate it here, so we stopped giving a shit. They pay us to go down into that damn mine and risk our lives. And what do we do? We half ass everything. Maybe it took a dozen tons of rock falling on my head to make me realize it, but this situation is bad only because we are. The only reason they brought in androids is because we can't be trusted to do the damn job right. We treat them like shit because they make the rest of us look bad? Really? Or do we treat them like shit because we're not interested in doing the job?"
Jin turned around to look at him, and Kame was struck by the sincerity and honesty in his eyes. Everything about Akanishi Jin had always been so plainly written on his face. Maybe it was exactly why Kame had found himself drawn to him. Maybe Papa had given him feelings so he could see the world the same way Akanishi Jin did.
Jin grinned. "I've never had a better worker on my team than you, Kamenashi. It doesn't matter if there's nothing but wires inside that head of yours. You've got my back, and you've had it from the very first day we met." Jin looked back at the crowd. "We call them all nuts and bolts, but they've all got our backs. So why don't we all quit bitching and get back to our damn jobs?"
"You talk too much!" came a shout from the crowd, and Jin smiled as the men parted to show an amused-looking Nishikido Ryo. "No wonder we don't get any work done around here!"
The tension broke, and the crowd seemed to calm down. There was still a fair share of grumbling, but it seemed like everyone was going to get back to work. The newswire reporters almost seemed disappointed. Yamashita and Nishikido came up, wrapping their arms around him.
"Come on, nuts and bolts, you've gotta wait until we're ready," Nishikido complained, dragging him along. "Don't go down into the mine and make the rest of us look like amateurs."
"At least it explains why he's so much smarter than us," Yamashita said.
"You know, Pi, I don't think that's exactly the case," Jin teased. "I think you're just dumb."
"You're one to talk, asshole," Ryo shot back.
Kame followed them back to the locker room in the main building with a smile.
--
The locker room had emptied at the end of the day. Kame closed his locker door quietly, seeing Jin lacing up his boots. He wanted to get down on his hands and knees and apologize, but he knew Jin had advised against that sort of apology method ages ago. Instead he simply stood and waited.
Satisfied with his boots, Jin got to his feet. The locker room suddenly seemed a lot smaller than it had, though Kame couldn't detect any changes in the dimensions of the room.
"Jin. I'm truly sorry for lying to you."
"Well," he replied. "You always were a bit strange. Maybe I knew all along. At least that you're strange."
"I'm sorry."
Jin grabbed hold of his arm. "You feel the same as me here." He shakily brought his hand to Kame's face, moving them so Kame's back was to his locker. Jin's fingers stroked his skin. "You feel the same as me here, too." Jin's attitude had changed from earlier that day. He'd been loud and boisterous, getting the miners to stop striking. Now he was quieter, more nervous. Without eight or ten beers, Jin was a lot shyer.
Kame met his eyes. "Jin..."
Akanishi leaned forward, genuinely surprising Kame with a quick brush of his lips against his own. Jin stayed close, smiling as he pressed their foreheads together. "That definitely feels the same...but different."
"Jin, I don't understand," Kame whispered.
"I don't either, nuts and bolts." Jin released him, stepping back. "Does it really matter?"
Maybe it didn't.
"Come on, you've been out getting a whole new spine for a week. I think you owe us all first round tonight."
Kame smiled and followed Jin to the door. "That much I can do."
By: astrangerenters
Pairing: Jin/Kame
Word count: ~6000
Rating: PG-13
Genre/Warnings: Future AU - Jin is human, Kame is not. Only other warning is for some colorful language.
Notes: I love Janelle Monae's albums Metropolis: The Chase Suite and The ArchAndroid. They initially inspired me to go with the science fiction/android plotline, although I think the similarities end there. gingifere, you said AU is okay, so I hope you'll like this!
Summary: Every other android model Papa had created was metallic and shiny. Kame was the first to truly resemble a human.
"It's time for dinner."
Papa looked up from his workbench and smiled. Kame always liked the way Papa smiled at him. "Very well, Kazuya," he said, getting up and shrugging out of his white lab coat. "And what is for dinner this evening?"
Papa headed out of the lab, and Kame followed him back upstairs to the dining room. "Steak, medium rare, with a gorgonzola crust. Mixed vegetables. Wine."
"Bread and butter?"
Kame nodded as he held out Papa's chair for him. "Of course."
"What am I going to do without you, Kazuya?" Papa mused as Kame pulled the lid off of the plate, revealing the man's steaming hot dinner.
"Without me?" Kame asked, registering confusion. "But I'll still be here with you."
Papa smiled, setting his napkin in his lap and picking up his knife and fork. Kame poured the wine and remained standing at the side of the table while Papa started his meal. "I know that. But I'm so used to having you around all day. But you're ready, and it's time to prove your worth, isn't it?"
Kame nodded. He didn't have the same sense of time that Papa did, but the past few weeks had been good preparation for Kame's new job. He'd passed every test Papa and the Katori Mine Conglomerate had set for him. Papa was Katori's top researcher and Kame his newest, most impressive creation. At least that's what everyone had said during the tests - Kame himself didn't have much to compare with. Every other android model Papa had created was metallic and shiny. Kame was the first to truly resemble a human.
"I'll do my best."
Papa buttered his bread. "I'm sure you will, Kazuya. Or I'll lose my job."
"What?"
Papa laughed. "I'm just rambling. Been looking at circuits and things all day. Never you mind. Are you all charged up and ready to go?"
Kame nodded, wondering what exactly it would mean if Papa lost his job. During the tests, the men from Katori had said again and again how much money they'd poured into the Kamenashi Project, how much they wanted to stick it to the Nakai Extraction Corporation. Kame hadn't been out of the lab or the house much, but it was easy to tell from Papa's hushed whispers over the phone and his meetings with Katori-san that the Conglomerate was in trouble. Nakai was finding vein after vein here on the asteroid, and Katori hadn't found a decent source of tylium in over five months.
It appeared that Kame was the Conglomerate's last hope. Most of Katori's miners were indentured or serving sentences. This made them "lazy" in Conglomerate terms, or "not inclined to be devoted" in Papa's. Kame looked human enough, Papa explained. Maybe the workers would see Kame working hard and would do their best to make the Conglomerate more successful.
Papa finished his dinner, and Kame cleared the plates as always. Papa looked him over one last time before he went to bed. "Kazuya, whatever you do, these people cannot know what you really are. Is that understood?"
He'd only said so a million times, Kame thought. It wasn't exactly legal, having Kame impersonating a human worker. All android workers were expected to be tagged so that their quotas wouldn't throw off the human numbers. Kame didn't much like lying - his Papa had programmed him well, after all. But Papa had also hinted heavily that sometimes lying was necessary to maintain one's livelihood. And though Papa had created his skin and his insides, Kame had free will. Obeying Papa was a conscious choice. He'd do as Papa asked.
He closed Papa's bedroom door and sat down outside the door, running internal diagnostics. He wondered what it would be like to be a miner.
--
Papa's lab and house were well-lit and the air quality was impeccable. At 5 AM, Kame arrived by air shuttle at Katori's operations in the Southeast sector. There was nothing bright or welcoming about the place. There was a main building with flickering lights that the foreman brought him to first. Apparently a new face around Southeast was nothing strange, and Kame's letter of recommendation had come from Katori-san himself.
The foreman ushered him inside to a locker room. "You'll be in Shaft 3, Group 2." He gestured to the locker beside his. "This is your team leader. Play nice, work hard. Pay day's every other Friday." The man slapped him roughly on the back and departed. That was it. That was all he apparently needed to know before they sent him underground.
He changed into the provided uniform as other men started to trickle into the locker room. He looked at the locker to his right, his team leader. A piece of tape was markered with 'Akanishi' - Kame had never really had a job before, and the only person's orders he'd ever followed had been Papa's. He wondered if his team leader would show him the ropes or just expect him to know what to do.
"Oi!" called a noisy voice. "They finally got somebody to take Kusano's locker!"
"No shit, really?" came another voice. Two men soon approached, immediately looking him up and down.
The first man who'd spoken was a little shorter than Kame with dark hair and a wicked smile. His friend was slightly bigger and quieter. "You're sure you're in the right place, man?" the first man asked. "This is mining, not modeling camp."
Kame cocked his head. "Huh? Modeling?"
The guy laughed. "And quick witted, huh, Pi?"
The second man shrugged.
"Surrounded by genius!" the first man announced, pulling open a locker labeled 'Nishikido' while his friend opened one labeled 'Yamashita.'
"I'm Kamenashi," Kame said. Papa always said it was important to introduce yourself. "Kamenashi Kazuya. I'm new."
"We know that you're new," Nishikido chuckled. He grabbed Kame's hand and shook it roughly, then held up Kame's hand and his own side by side for inspection. Nishikido's hand was callused and cracked, Kame's was in perfect condition. "Tell us something we don't know."
"How about you all just shut up so we're not late again?"
Kame turned to see another miner approach. He was dressed sloppily and had a mess of long brown hair tied back. As he opened the 'Akanishi' locker, Kame realized that he was standing before his team leader. He bowed immediately.
"I'm Kamenashi Kazuya. I'm new to group 2."
Yamashita turned away to laugh quietly, zipping up his uniform as Nishikido rolled his eyes. Akanishi stared at him, and his eyes looked just as tired as Papa's did after a long night in the lab.
"Uh, welcome then," Akanishi said quickly before Nishikido was poking him in the arm.
"Long night, Jin? You blow all your paycheck at the casino again?"
"Suck mine," Akanishi replied, opening his locker. The three other members of his team continued to tease and joke with one another. Kame could only stand there in his brand new uniform, waiting for further instructions. He noticed the other uniforms were filthy and stained, and their boots and helmets had seen better days. He wasn't supposed to stand out, Papa had insisted. He was already failing.
"What are we doing today?" Yamashita asked.
Akanishi sighed. "Carts. Twelve hours of carts."
"Assholes," Nishikido complained.
Kame didn't know if it was appropriate to interrupt, didn't know how they'd interpret any questions he had. He didn't know what "carts" meant, and they'd only be more annoyed with him. He kept his questions to himself and followed his team and the other miners out of the locker room and out of the building. They all strapped on their helmets and queued up for the lifts that would take them deep underground.
The Shaft 3 line was off to the far right, and Akanishi led the way. Kame saw a team of four metal-bodied androids waiting at the front of the line, orderly and quiet. One of Papa's strongest designs, and he felt angry as Nishikido and Akanishi shoved the androids aside.
"Make way, nuts and bolts," Nishikido complained. "Come on."
"New guy, get over here," Akanishi ordered, and Kame watched the androids meekly step back, allowing group 2 to get in front of them in the line. Just as he was about to ask why they treated the android workers so coldly, he saw it happen in the other lines too. Some of the other miners even kicked the androids or knocked them with their mining helmets before cutting in front of them. No solidarity, Papa had said. The humans resented working side by side with androids. Kame hadn't thought it would be so sad to watch up close. The androids themselves shrank away from them, even though they were larger and stronger. What was the point in giving the android workers feelings if they were just going to get treated horribly? Wouldn't it have been better to just program them for their task?
There was a hand around his forearm then. "Hey!" Akanishi was saying. "Lift's here, get your ass moving."
Kame was pulled into the elevator with their team, the android workers staring blankly at Kame as the metal doors closed, shutting out the early light of morning.
--
Twelve hours of carts went by slowly, and Kame understood why his team members weren't fond of it. There were tracks running the length of the mine shaft, and the cart itself was old, metal, and extremely difficult to move. It took the four of them to push it forward so other teams could shovel in a load of tylium ore. The dust kicked up in their faces, and it seemed as though Katori didn't have the money or interest in providing their workers with masks.
Back and forth they'd gone, hour after hour, filling a cart and pushing it all the way back to empty it onto a conveyor belt. Kame himself wasn't that tired - he had the same endurance allowances as any of the metal-clad androids working down in the mine. But that only made it harder. He spent a lot of time idling as the other three took regular breaks, complaining and wiping sweat and dust from their faces. Kame didn't sweat, and thankfully the dark mine was enough to conceal that. He hoped.
It was an inefficient team. Kame knew they weren't working as fast as they could - five minute breaks turned into twenty minute breaks. His three teammates would complain, chat, talk badly about other miners or people they knew. They passed several android teams, working non-stop and without complaint. And yet it was the humans who complained about being overworked. It was the humans who complained about how boring it was.
Of course, Kame couldn't say anything. This was his job now. He had to be one of them. The work day came and went, and they rode the elevator back up. The sun was about to set, and Yamashita and Nishikido walked on either side of him, draping their arms heavily around him.
"Not bad for a new guy," Yamashita said. "You must have muscles we can't even see."
"Yeah," Nishikido teased. "You're a real freak. Don't push so fast around a corner, alright? Nearly ran my damn foot over."
"Gentlemen, gentlemen. Now, now," Akanishi said, turning around and walking backwards toward the main building. "You both know our new friend worked his skinny little ass off today. Which means..."
Nishikido and Yamashita laughed.
Kame looked to his team leader for guidance. There were a lot of jokes that he hadn't seemed to catch on to all day. "Which means?"
Akanishi stopped walking, staring him down long enough that it made him uncomfortable. Kame wondered exactly why Papa had worked so hard to ensure he felt emotions just as strongly as humans. Akanishi's smile was a little crooked, a little imperfect in a way Kame found interesting. When he'd first been activated, it had taken a while for Papa to explain how all people looked differently. Until his tests with the people from the Conglomerate, Papa had been the only human Kame had ever seen.
"It means, kiddo, that you have to buy the first round."
They showered away the grime, and Kame found that his skin got just as dirty as theirs did, as though the mine had wrapped its fingers around their ankles and come along with them. They dragged him into the locker room, going through the clothes Papa had prepared for him. A sweatshirt, t-shirt, jeans, and boots. But, Kame realized, he had no money. What kind of person carried no money? Why hadn't he thought of that?
"Hey, someone must have told him about us," Yamashita said with a laugh, shoving Kame's jeans back into his arms. "No wallet!"
"No wallet! Jin, I don't care how good a worker he is, I am not letting him stiff us on first round," Nishikido grumbled.
Kame could only think to drop to his knees, leaning forward and bowing his head down low. He had to apologize for failing! "Please forgive me! I forgot my money this morning."
The others were silent for a moment before bursting into laughter. "We'll see you there, okay?" Yamashita said, and he and Nishikido headed off while Jin sat down on the locker room bench to lace up his boots.
"Kamenashi," the team leader said.
He was still on the floor, half-dressed. "Yes, sir."
"Wow," Jin said immediately. "Don't...don't call me that, alright?"
"Yes..."
"Jin. Just call me by my name, okay? That sir stuff gives me the creeps."
"Yes, Jin."
"Okay, Kamenashi, can you please get up off the floor?" Kame felt the tip of Jin's boot poke him in the ribs. "You're embarrassing me with that."
"But I didn't bring any money. I'm not a good member of the team."
Jin poked him with his foot again. "Just get up, you're creepy."
Kame got to his feet, feeling even more ashamed. Apologizing had only made things worse. Why were humans so complicated? Apologizing made the most sense in what Kame knew about the world. He finished getting dressed, shutting his locker door to find Akanishi staring at him.
"Did I do something wrong?" Kame asked, seeing the strange way Akanishi was eyeing him, almost as if he was looking for something. Could he tell? How would he know that Kame wasn't human? He was the first one without the metal frame - nobody but Papa and the Conglomerate higher-ups knew he existed.
Jin shook his head, his features softening. The crooked smile returned. "Nah, you didn't do anything wrong. Come on, we'll get Ryo so drunk he won't notice us paying with his credits."
--
They took the air shuttle to the Southwest sector, and as Kame looked around, he saw a lot more people than seemed to live in the Central sector where Papa's lab was. The streets were dusty and crowded, full of miners from Katori. Bars lined the streets, and from the look of several of the buildings, brothels too. The asteroid they were on had started mining operations about thirty years earlier when Papa was just a kid back on Earth.
Jin luckily didn't ask him any questions, even though Kame had read up for days to have some sort of response. Had he worked in mining before? No, but he heard the pay was good if you contracted for five years. Was he from the Earth or the colonies? From Earth - Papa had told him enough about his life there that Kame had it memorized. What was he going to do when his contract was up? Colony hop for more work.
At the end of one dusty path off the main street, Jin hauled him into a dimly lit bar, finding their other two team members in the back with four empty beer mugs. Yamashita waved. "Oh, looks like you were too late for first round. We drank yours."
Jin pushed Kame a bit roughly into the booth and sat down heavily beside him, leaning back against the carved-up wooden bench. "As always, you have respect for your social betters," Jin complained, jamming his finger into one of the mugs to hopefully get a few remaining droplets of beer.
"I am sorry once again," Kame said, inclining his head. He hoped he wasn't being as creepy as Jin had said he was before. "Since I have no money, I won't drink anything."
He thought it was the best way to cover up the fact that he didn't actually need to eat or drink anything, but Jin was too fast for him. Kame felt embarrassed as Jin wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Don't give me that crap," his team leader said. "Fishing for us to buy you something. That's such a girl trick."
"Oh, don't buy me anything, I'll just sit here and watch you," Nishikido teased in a higher-pitched feminine voice.
Yamashita joined in. "Don't mind me, I'm soooo thirsty."
They all laughed at him again. He had to ensure that he politely declined any further invitations to the bars in Southwest. He just didn't seem to be catching on. The night wore on, and Kame watched in amazement as his companions drank mug after mug of beer. It wouldn't hurt him if he joined in - he had means of processing and expelling food and drink if need be, but it wasn't one of the things Papa had truly perfected yet. He took a few sips, tasting nothing, but his teammates were so intoxicated, they didn't seem to notice.
The three of them spoke about the same odd things they had underground. About their favorite brothel girls, about girls back home, and about where they'd come from. As far as Kame could tell, Yamashita was on an indentured contract the same as Kame was claiming, but Nishikido was serving out a prison term for fraud, Akanishi for smuggling. He wondered how people with criminal pasts could rise to team leader.
Jin's voice was slurring horribly when the woman running the bar banged her hand against the counter. "Alright boys, that's all she wrote tonight! Get to sleep so you can get back to your pits!"
Nishikido got to his feet first, wobbling as he pulled Yamashita after him. "We're hitting the casino, you guys in?"
Jin waved them off, nearly falling forward. "Nope. Broke."
Kame did a similar wave, imitating Jin's gesture as best he could. "No, thank you for the invitation."
The two headed off, and Jin turned to him with his eyebrow raised suspiciously. "Did you even touch your beer? Swear I paid for five of those..."
Nishikido had helped himself to four of them, thankfully, sparing Kame the embarrassment. "Thank you, Jin. I appreciate it."
They departed the booth, and Jin held onto him to stay upright. "...kind of boss would I be if I didn't help you get liquored up, am I right?"
Kame only helped usher the man from the establishment and back into the cold evening. Even with the terraforming efforts, it was still bitterly cold on the asteroid. At least that was what Papa said - Kame had skin like a human, but wasn't as affected by temperature changes. The upside to nanotechnology. His companion wasn't so lucky, and he was shivering inside his thin sweatshirt. He half-carried Jin to the nearest air shuttle. "Where is home for you?" he asked him.
"Come with," Jin laughed. "Find out."
It had been a long day, and Jin was drunk. It didn't mean anything. They were new acquaintances. Kame was only a recent student of human behavior, but he was fairly certain Jin wasn't consciously aware of what he was saying. Instead of responding to Jin, he asked the shuttle driver to ensure Jin got home safely.
Kame took the next shuttle home. Papa was still awake, tinkering away in the lab.
"How was your first day, Kazuya? Do you like being a miner?"
Twelve hours below ground with limited light, lazy comrades, and little organization. But he'd met Akanishi Jin, his team leader, and he found him fascinating. He was as far from Papa as one could get. Humans came in so many types.
"I think I can get used to it."
--
The first few months in the mines were a steep learning curve. There had been several days of carts duty, which taught Kame the importance of infinite patience. Patience for a job that could go smoother with a stricter team leader, patience for companions who spoke cruelly of the other androids. He discovered that humans tended to resent those who worked harder than them. Where Papa had thought Kame's addition would make them more competitive, it only brought about irritation.
"Slow down, Kame" and "Take a break already, Kame" became mantras he heard every day, whether from Jin or from his other team members. Their quotas could be so much higher, their work so much more efficient. But how could he understand? He didn't tire the way they did. He didn't need sleep the way they did. Maybe he'd never really understand them at all.
But as soon as they were above ground again and the soot was washed from their bodies, Kame was dragged along to Southwest. He'd finally learned that paying for rounds was not only thoughtful but expected. Drinking together seemed to bond the team together, although Kame was rather annoyed by their seeming need to be out almost every night. If they weren't hungover from drink in the morning, they'd be more efficient. If they didn't spend so much of their money at the bars and casinos, they wouldn't spend half their work day complaining about their low wages.
The Conglomerate was apparently none too impressed with the Kamenashi Project, even though their team's numbers were way up, obviously due to Kame's work ethic. Day after day, more androids descended into the mines. Day after day, the anger and resentment of his team members grew. There'd been talk in the bars tonight about some sort of meeting, that decisions had to be made. Kame wondered if he should tell Papa.
He was bringing Jin back to the air shuttle, just another part of the usual routine. They'd be going into the mines in four hours - he wondered how Jin could function on so little sleep. "Why don't you ever come with when I ask you to?" Jin was mumbling as Kame helped him to walk.
"What do you mean?"
Jin ruffled his hair, something Kame had never had done to him before. "I don't ask 'cause it's something I hafta ask you, ya know."
He didn't know what Papa would think. Papa stayed up every night waiting for him to come home. But even though he was programmed against the cold, Jin's body was warm and solid against his. Some nights Kame wanted to yell at Papa, to ask him why he'd been programmed to feel at all. He wanted to ask Papa why his feelings for Jin were so intense, why there was no internal diagnostic he could run to switch it off.
Akanishi Jin was a lazy worker and prone to reckless behavior. He'd been a criminal, smuggling illicit goods on his ship from colony to colony. And yet Jin was a good leader, always watching out for his team down in the mines. Always picking up the tab when Yamashita or Ryo ran short. He'd complain about Kame working too hard and not resting enough - he saw Kame as someone he had to look out for.
"I have to rest," Kame said gently, ushering Jin into the shuttle. "You should too, Jin."
Jin's eyes searched his face, and Kame could distinctly see the disappointment there. "I ask you to come with me because I like you," Jin admitted just as the shuttle doors closed. It lifted off, leaving Kame alone to watch it disappear into the darkness.
--
"Kamenashi and I are starting at Junction 17," Jin announced. "You and Ryo hit up 16. We switch off in an hour so we're not staring at the same shit all day."
"Rock is still rock, you know!" Ryo complained, hoisting his pickaxe and heading off, Yamashita at his heels. Kame lifted his own pickaxe and followed Jin. It had been strange ever since they'd been in the locker room that morning, ever since Jin had confessed his feelings the night before. Kame didn't know what to say. He felt the same way, absolutely. Well, as much as he could quantify the feeling. He wasn't sure how true his emotions were in comparison to a human's, but he was pretty convinced he felt them just as strongly.
Jin hadn't looked at him, hadn't said anything to him. Was he waiting for Kame to return the sentiment? He wasn't sure he could. He didn't want to tell Jin, who resented the androids in the mine more and more each day, that he'd been lying all along. That he wasn't human. That he was as "nuts and bolts" as the others when it came down to it. He didn't think he could say something like that, not after so many months.
They chipped at the walls in silence, leaving piles of tylium dust and ore at their feet for the android Carts team to come by and scoop up later. Junction 17 was new, and one of the human teams had set up the beams for the shaft just the other day. It was rare that one of the human teams got to do something so dangerous. It was android work, as was the first mining in a new junction. But assignments from the Conglomerate had been out of sorts now that there were so many more android teams to juggle.
Their hour was almost up when Kame felt the trembling. Jin dropped his pickaxe, suddenly alert. "Kame, you need to move. Right now."
The wooden beams splintered, and they heard Ryo and Yamashita shouting for someone to pull the alarm. Imminent collapse. Kame left his own axe behind as the beam to his left shattered, and the ceiling started to cave in. He felt Jin's hand around his wrist.
"Hurry!"
They raced to the end of the tunnel, towards the secure main passageway, but with the way the newest path was collapsing, Kame didn't even need to run a calculation diagnostic to know they wouldn't make it in time. Jin. He had to keep Jin safe. Papa had built him to be strong. He dove for his team leader, wrapping his arms around him and falling to the ground as dust and rock pummeled his body. He covered as much of Jin's body as he could with his smaller one, ensuring that Jin's head was protected. Helmets could only do so much during a cave-in.
"Kame," Jin was muttering beneath him. "Kame, you're so stupid!"
Kame could only focus on his task, protecting Jin, and running every diagnostic he could to ensure that he wasn't exceeding his physical thresholds. He could feel his skin tear and bruise under his uniform, his legs and back straining under the weight of the falling rocks. If they'd been any deeper in the mine shaft, they would definitely have been crushed. The alarm continued to blare, and it had taken every bit of energy he had to ensure that Jin was safe. To tell Jin without words what he meant to him.
Jin was nudging him. "Kame," he was pleading. "Kame, are you okay? Kazu!"
His diagnostics advised him to power down. Powering down would immediately alert Papa back in the lab. He shut his eyes, running a final check. He'd done everything he could do.
"Kazu, wake up!"
--
When Kame opened his eyes, he saw Papa staring down at him with disappointment. Papa had never looked at him that way before, and he felt intense shame. Papa hadn't hesitated to program him with that particular feeling.
"Kazuya," Papa said, shining a light in his eyes. "Run a diagnostic for me."
He did so, startling himself with the newest readings. "I have a new spinal column..."
Papa nodded. "You do. And do you know any statistics on humans with crushed spinal columns?"
He sat up, flexing his limbs. His skin had been repaired as well. "I haven't studied..."
"Most of them die," Papa said. "Or they never walk again."
His shame increased. "I've failed, haven't I?"
Papa sat down on the lab table beside him. "It's not your fault. But there are consequences..."
"Jin!" Kame shouted suddenly. "What about Jin? Is he okay? Did he survive?" He'd wasted time running his own diagnostics and hadn't asked about Jin's condition yet?
"Your team leader is fine, Kazuya. A little too fine. You did too good a job. The whole asteroid is abuzz with the story. An android saving a human worker. It's playing well back on Earth, but the Conglomerate's in trouble. After all, you're a human in their records. A human's not supposed to survive a cave-in like that, much less use himself as a shield to save another."
The one secret that wasn't supposed to be revealed, his true nature. It was being broadcast around the solar system. The Kamenashi Project - meant to increase the Conglomerate's influence and business share on the asteroid. It had all been for nothing. What did this mean for the mines? What did it mean for Jin?
Kame hadn't even been able to tell him face to face - all Jin had to do now was turn on his monitor and watch it broadcasted for all to see. Human saved by an android at Katori Mine Conglomerate Southeast. Android creator Kimura Takuya refuses to disclose details about android that resembles a human. Spokesmen for Katori deny any knowledge of an android working with a human team. Kame's face, shown system-wide. This is the face of the next stage of android tech.
"What do I do from here, Papa?"
"The mine's been shut down. The workers are on strike," Papa explained. "You can understand why they're angry."
It was all his fault, all of this. But at the same time, he was sure he'd made the right choice in saving Jin. Even if Jin hated him now, hated him because he was an android, he'd done what he absolutely had to do.
"They're running all android teams in the mine starting tomorrow," Papa continued. "Katori will lose too much money if they're shut down any longer. It's up to you if you wish to go in and work."
He looked down, frowning. "I am sorry, Papa. I've made such a mess for you."
He felt Papa's arm around his shoulder, comforting him. "I have never been more proud of you, Kazuya."
--
He took the air shuttle to Southeast come morning. What else was he to do? He was an android. Even if he was flesh and bone, he wasn't human. He had no reason to go on strike with Jin and the others. He fell into line behind the metallic androids. The humans on strike were milling about, holding up signs in protest. The androids were taking their jobs. The androids were making them obsolete. Katori Mine Conglomerate had lied to them.
Kame walked straight ahead as the miners booed, throwing bottles and other objects at them. He could see reporters from the newswire interviewing angry miners, and he understood the anger in their faces. Kame had worked alongside them for months. He'd betrayed their confidence and trust in him. He'd never be one of them, no matter how hard he tried.
They queued up for the elevators, and Kame felt a bottle strike him in the head, staggering him slightly. Then there was an arm around him, protecting and warm. Just like every night on the way back from the bars in Southwest.
"The next asshole who throws a fucking bottle is getting a punch in the face, are we clear?"
Kame could only shrink back as Akanishi Jin stood in front of him and the other android workers, his arms extended at his sides as if he was trying to create a barrier between the angry miners and the non-humans.
The crowd quieted down as Jin stood his ground, not budging an inch. The elevator down to the mine shaft opened, but none of the android workers made a move to enter. All eyes were on Kame's team leader.
"Kamenashi lied to us, and you know why?" Jin bent down and picked up the bottle that had been flung at Kame's head. "It's because we're all so stuck up our own asses that we see anyone like him or the nuts and bolts as a threat. Because we're too busy fucking around. I'm here because I got myself caught. You're here because you got yourself caught. Or you lost your job and took the first one you could find that paid a living wage. You hate it here. Well, newsflash, geniuses, we all hate it here."
"We hate it here, so we stopped giving a shit. They pay us to go down into that damn mine and risk our lives. And what do we do? We half ass everything. Maybe it took a dozen tons of rock falling on my head to make me realize it, but this situation is bad only because we are. The only reason they brought in androids is because we can't be trusted to do the damn job right. We treat them like shit because they make the rest of us look bad? Really? Or do we treat them like shit because we're not interested in doing the job?"
Jin turned around to look at him, and Kame was struck by the sincerity and honesty in his eyes. Everything about Akanishi Jin had always been so plainly written on his face. Maybe it was exactly why Kame had found himself drawn to him. Maybe Papa had given him feelings so he could see the world the same way Akanishi Jin did.
Jin grinned. "I've never had a better worker on my team than you, Kamenashi. It doesn't matter if there's nothing but wires inside that head of yours. You've got my back, and you've had it from the very first day we met." Jin looked back at the crowd. "We call them all nuts and bolts, but they've all got our backs. So why don't we all quit bitching and get back to our damn jobs?"
"You talk too much!" came a shout from the crowd, and Jin smiled as the men parted to show an amused-looking Nishikido Ryo. "No wonder we don't get any work done around here!"
The tension broke, and the crowd seemed to calm down. There was still a fair share of grumbling, but it seemed like everyone was going to get back to work. The newswire reporters almost seemed disappointed. Yamashita and Nishikido came up, wrapping their arms around him.
"Come on, nuts and bolts, you've gotta wait until we're ready," Nishikido complained, dragging him along. "Don't go down into the mine and make the rest of us look like amateurs."
"At least it explains why he's so much smarter than us," Yamashita said.
"You know, Pi, I don't think that's exactly the case," Jin teased. "I think you're just dumb."
"You're one to talk, asshole," Ryo shot back.
Kame followed them back to the locker room in the main building with a smile.
--
The locker room had emptied at the end of the day. Kame closed his locker door quietly, seeing Jin lacing up his boots. He wanted to get down on his hands and knees and apologize, but he knew Jin had advised against that sort of apology method ages ago. Instead he simply stood and waited.
Satisfied with his boots, Jin got to his feet. The locker room suddenly seemed a lot smaller than it had, though Kame couldn't detect any changes in the dimensions of the room.
"Jin. I'm truly sorry for lying to you."
"Well," he replied. "You always were a bit strange. Maybe I knew all along. At least that you're strange."
"I'm sorry."
Jin grabbed hold of his arm. "You feel the same as me here." He shakily brought his hand to Kame's face, moving them so Kame's back was to his locker. Jin's fingers stroked his skin. "You feel the same as me here, too." Jin's attitude had changed from earlier that day. He'd been loud and boisterous, getting the miners to stop striking. Now he was quieter, more nervous. Without eight or ten beers, Jin was a lot shyer.
Kame met his eyes. "Jin..."
Akanishi leaned forward, genuinely surprising Kame with a quick brush of his lips against his own. Jin stayed close, smiling as he pressed their foreheads together. "That definitely feels the same...but different."
"Jin, I don't understand," Kame whispered.
"I don't either, nuts and bolts." Jin released him, stepping back. "Does it really matter?"
Maybe it didn't.
"Come on, you've been out getting a whole new spine for a week. I think you owe us all first round tonight."
Kame smiled and followed Jin to the door. "That much I can do."