"That's not what I--" Connor fell quiet, because it basically was what he'd said, wasn't it? Even if he was repeating what he'd been told by his creators, what would literally be in the product manual if he'd been sold like any other model. But he hadn't been. He'd been a classified prototype with features most androids never had.
He opened his mouth to explain that when he noticed the blush in her cheeks. Which was such an interesting detail. Her design had really been incredibly thoughtful, and he found his own applications constantly confused by it, unable to read her like another android. Her stress responses were far more human than anything.
As she let go of his hand--a move he nearly stopped her in--he realized all at once what her stress responses might mean. And, fascinatingly enough, that his own stress data reflected something similar. It was terrifying to him given how quickly he'd lost anyone else he got close to like this, but it was also so clearly there now he couldn't ignore it. And he didn't want to.
['dahj' //PATH UNLOCKED: Lover?^]
He blinked away the prompt on his HUD. "That tattoo was already there," Connor explained with a slight smile of his own. "But if you like the hair, maybe I'll keep it too..."