breathborne:

> The sensation of your atoms being taken apart and rearranged somewhere entirely different has you feeling a bit sick and disoriented, considering — so when you hear a human voice ring out, it alarms you.

> Actually, it does more than alarm you. You haven’t heard a human voice in what you perceived to be five years, aside from TV and all that. Hearing Arley’s voice totally wrenches at you, and you try to take a step forward in a smooth maneuver that causes you to stumble and land on your ass, and then — insult to injury! — you start crying.

> Like, sobbing. You fall on your butt in the middle of a stranger’s house, with a human-sounding android watching, and you just start bawling and it’s terrible and embarrassing and you want to shrivel up and disappear but you just can’t help it.

> You’re off the ship. You’re free.

> It actually worked.

> Casey blubs at you in concern, and her bubble pops against your face, which feels gross and just makes you start hiccuping in time with your sobs. Red-eyed, messy-faced, and disheveled, you look up to the small humanoid standing across from you.

“Thank you!”

> At least your choking noises managed to come out sounding like words.

Oh! Oh no! He was crying! He fell and he’s crying and instantly it made Arley’s chest clench and he was suddenly upset too, eyes wet as he stood there, hands covering his mouth, excited vibrating making way to anxious trembles. Fingers quaked against his cheeks, kneeling a good three feet away from the other boy before very hesitantly inching forward on said knees, afraid to touch or say anything that might upset him further. Oh no. Oh no??

He heard the thank you though and was finally able to tear his hands away from his face, welled tear-like secretion sliding from the far corners of his eyes. He leaned forward, placing a hand on John’s arm, and - screw it. Arley got closer still, hugging John from the side right to his little chest, petting his hair. Arley liked it when D had pet his hair, and he had heard that Dirk used to like it too - so he figured that maybe it would help John feel better.

“Please don’t be upset,” he murmured quietly, sniffling a little against him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do something that would upset you. I can wake Dirk up, I can tell him you’re here if you’d rather see him!” Honestly Arley had no idea why John was crying. He didn’t fully understand the vast spectrum of reasons that humans cried yet.