“O-ouch! Hey!” Ven stiffened, his internal machinery whirring quietly as the technician poked and prodded around in his abdominal cavity. “Be careful!”

True, androids such as himself couldn’t feel pain, but some of the stuff the technician was messing around with was delicate, damnit! He would know, he had pulled a few important components out of place on purpose. He had requested to see this specific technician on purpose.

He’d never tell them that, though. Nope. Never. Not in a million years. After all, desire was a human emotion. Ven didn’t want to risk getting scrapped because he had gone deviant just a few months ago, going against his program to want things.

This damned human was to blame. This technician, with their bright eyes, kind smile, soft touch and—

Wait! Stop! Stop thinking!

His atrium pump seemed to work just a little faster. Ven couldn’t afford to get lost in his thoughts. Not right now, not with them so close! He sucked in a breath, artificial lungs inflating and deflating in time with every breath. GenoTech outdid themselves with his design. Sometimes, it was hard to tell he was an android.

The technician who was working on him seemed puzzled. The damage was too clean to have been the result of battle damage. Ven was a military android, after all. Damage and breakage weren’t uncommon for him. And yet, these specific cuts on his wires were too clean, his vital components just barely shifted out of place.

“W-what?” Ven stuttered defensively. Uh oh. He looked guilty. The technician was onto him, he could tell. His internal computer was going haywire, trying to find anything that could serve as a reasonable, believable excuse. The algorithm eventually settled on, “I-it wasn’t me! T-they got nanotech now, y’know? C-cuts us up from the inside!”

That was a total lie and they both knew it. The way his voicebox was buffering was evidence enough. Damn it!