Infinite Number

Lovino Vargas was mistrustfully watching the guy, who was sitting in front of him at the table in the dining room: Feliciano... or Veneziano, his code name. Yes, code name, since that brown-haired young man with the dumb smile on his face was nothing less than a robot. Lovino was the grandson of Roma Vargas, a very famous scientist, who had dedicated his entire life to the study of Artificial Intelligence and who had just finished his biggest and most ambitious project, after having spent months in his laboratory. So long that Lovino was starting to forget the face of the man, who had raised him since birth. One morning, his grandpa had finally left his self-imprisonment, smiling like always, but with some grease stains on his cheeks and forehead. His unruly curly hair looked even more tousled than usual and the sparse beard on his chin had now spread over his entire jaw, not to mention that he seemed to have lost a few kilograms. "Romano, I've finished!" yelled the Italian, using the nickname he himself had given to his grandson. Lovino, who was devouring his pasta at the moment, turned around to him, laid his fork down next to his plate and rested his cheek on the palm of his hand, looking at the adult with a bored expression. "Finished what? Your computer games?" he asked. Roma started laughing and approached him to grab his shoulders. "No, Romano, no!" He paused to take a breath and continue talking. "I've finished my most ambitious project... and my gift to you." He took Lovino's wrist, dragging him to his laboratory. The young man frowned, he had never liked being in that place with metallic walls and always cold air currents, illuminated solely by the light of the computer monitors. He was being led through the maze of cables and tools, until reaching a high metallic table, on top of which someone was lying. Roma, who seemed more and more exited, was looking at Lovino, while the latter was eyeing the guy on the table in front of him. "What's this?" asked Lovino finally, but contrary to his grandpa, he looked annoyed and an expression of displeasure appeared on his face, as he finished examining the body on the table. "The question should rather be: Who's this?" Roma corrected him, putting his hands on his hips and looking proudly at his achievement: the first robot with a completely human form. "And why do we have the same face?" asked his annoyed grandson again, noticing that this "thing" on the table looked identical to him, except for the hair color and that strange rebellious curl that was sticking out to the side and not upwards. "Like I said, I built him for you, because I wanted you to have someone who will be there by your side... like a brother," answered Roma. Lovino just muttered curses between clenched teeth. "So you created a robot who looks like me..." He shot the "device" another scornful look. "In other words: you wanted a perfect grandson, since you always say that machines don't make mistakes." And with these words, he left. "You're wrong, Romano... Veneziano isn't perfect..." murmured the grandpa before bringing Veneziano to life, who opened his almond-colored eyes and showed the first smile on his artificial lips. A month had already passed since that day and Lovino couldn't bear the presence of Feliciano, who was always smiling and happy, doing household chores, cooking, helping grandpa and insisting on staying by his side the whole damn time... it was suffocating for the human always having him nearby and reminding him, how perfect he was compared to himself, the dumb and clumsy Lovino, who quickly got irritated and angry and cursed all the time... "Finished," announced Lovino, taking his empty plate to wash it. "Ve~ if you want, I could clean it for you," offered Feliciano like always, making Lovino grumble, who hated the robot's friendliness and was frustrated that, no matter how much he insulted him, he would never be able to hurt him. After all, Veneziano didn't have any feelings among his perfection that could be hurt, and maybe this was the fact that was making Romano angrier than anything else, he envied the robot for his insensibility. The human shot him a look of pure hate, while the other kept smiling, and threw his plate into the sink. "Do what you want," he spat and intended to leave the kitchen. "Don't be so rude, Romano," his grandpa scolded him, lovingly petting Veneziano's head and making Lovino feel all that anger and rage towards the elder man and his perfect creation once again. The rest of the day was exactly the same: Feliciano was offering himself to do everything and always staying at Lovino's side, although the latter was treating him as badly as he could. It was as if the robot didn't get that Romano didn't even want to be near him... however, there was one night, when Lovino did believe to see an error in Feliciano's programming... They were both about to fall asleep. Veneziano had acquired the strange habit to sneak into Romano's bed every night, and this one wasn't an exception either. Before the boy with the chocolate-colored eyes knew it, Veneziano was already under his blanket. "Ve~ I love sleeping with you," said the robot with his radiant smile again. Lovino said nothing. That phrase, that he had already heard a countless amount of times, reminded him of these teddy bears who said some sappy thing when being hugged. He was aware that Feliciano didn't really love to sleep with him, but was programmed to say that during his fabrication... oh, he hated him, hated these bland signs of affection his grandpa had constructed and given a human voice... and hated the fact that it sometimes seemed as if Roma preferred that artificial intelligence over his imperfect human grandson. "Shut up and sleep," commanded Lovino, perfectly aware that it was useless the chase Feliciano out of his bed, since the robot would come back in the middle of the night to sleep together with him. "Yes!" agreed Feliciano, making himself comfortable next to him. But as he did that, he noticed how Lovino's t-shirt rose a bit, uncovering the latter's stomach. "Wow, Romano, so you have one as well," he said suddenly, poking Romano's belly button, making him do a jump and let out his particular scream "Chigiiii!" "What the hell, you idiot?!" he screamed, pulling his shirt down and looking angrily at the robot, who just laughed. "Ve~ I just didn't know that you also have one," answered Feliciano, lifting up his own t-shirt and showing his navel. Romano raised an eyebrow and let out a sigh of pure anger. "Of course I do, everyone does," he said, running his hand over his hair. "Grandpa too?" inquired Feliciano with excitement. "Yeah, him too." All these stupid questions were making Lovino even angrier. "And what is it for? Grandpa made me one, but I never managed to found a use for it," commented the robot again, sticking his finger into the orifice, trying to figure out if it was maybe a kind of USB port or something like that. "Right now, it has no use anymore, but when we are in our mother's womb, it's connected to a cord that helps us breathe and feeds us," explained the other, lying back down and taking his time, otherwise he knew that the robot wouldn't stop pestering him about it until the morning. "In the womb...?" "Yes, we people develop nine months inside our mothers, the belly button is something like a proof that we were really there, I suppose. But you are an exception, of course." Lovino was about to close his eyes, but before doing that, he looked at Feliciano for some reason... the other was still sitting on the bed, examining his belly button and for the first time ever, there wasn't a dumb smile on his face. Just a blank stare and his mouth moving as if it was repeating the words he had just heard. " ...I'm an exception..." he said, and his almost sad expression became even clearer. Lovino widened his eyes. Feliciano wasn't smiling? Seriously?... No, that could only be his imagination, so he shrugged it off and decided to sleep. Veneziano wasn't even able to feel... After that day, Veneziano's attitude started to change: he had begun to question more things and seemed to suffer more and more from low spirits... but naturally no one made a big deal out of the last fact, since robots weren't capable of experiencing sadness. However, one afternoon, Romano started having doubts about that... He was running home, terrified. Once again, that stupid neighbor's dog was chasing him. Damn that German potato macho, who lived next to him and couldn't hold his pet on a leash! The Italian didn't like animals in the first place and really hated these dogs, who seemed to be eager to rip off your skin any moment. "I'm safe!" he screamed while entering the house and slamming the door shut. Hearing the dog's barks from the other side and the scratching of its paws, trying to enter and perhaps sink its teeth into Lovino. "Ve~ welcome home," he was received by Feliciano. Lovino just frowned when he saw him and went to the living room without a word, limping slightly. "What happened?" asked the robot, following a few steps behind him, as always. "Nothing, I just fell down on the way and scraped my knee," replied Romano. "Bring me the first-aid kit," he commanded, sat down and pulled up his torn pant leg, revealing his red and bleeding knee. Feliciano rushed off and returned as quickly as he could with the kit, to help Lovino. Having arrived, he sat down on the floor next to him, placed the box nearby and started examining the wound. But before he could begin with the treatment, his gaze got lost in the blood that was leaving Romano's wounded skin. "Romano... you're bleeding," he commented, without taking off his eyes from the small red drops that were running down the other's leg. The latter looked at him with anger. "I know. And now hurry and give me the disinfectant." But Veneziano didn't obey, instead carefully touching the wound, making Romano let out a pained sound and getting blood on his own finger. "Don't touch it, you idiot! It hurts!" complained Romano. Veneziano looked up to him, one again with that stoic expression on his face. His usually shining eyes seemed to turn a bit dull. "Bleeding hurts?" he questioned in such a neutral and quiet voice that it almost provoked shudders, confusing Lovino a bit as well. "Of course it does," he answered, while Feliciano turned his gaze back to the blood on his fingers and then to the wound. "I don't know how pain feels like... is it something bad?" "Yes, it's bad," confirmed Lovino, just to see Feliciano's reaction... "You're a lucky guy, Veneziano," continued Lovino with a slightly cruel smile on his face. "Robots can't feel anything at all, so you don't have to go through this. It's just a pity that you can't feel good things as well, such as love." He wanted his words to have an effect on Feliciano, wanted to rejoice in watching the latter putting on that expression again, the one similar to sadness. But when he did see it... it didn't feel that good at all, no, to his own bewilderment he perceived remorse, since it seemed like Veneziano was about to cry any moment, even though no tears were coming out. The hell was wrong with him? Was that machine damaged or what? Did he perhaps have a defect between his cables and his perfect programming? They were both silent. Lovino decided to pretend not having said anything and just frowned, letting the other, who wasn't asking any more questions either, just do his job and take care of his wound. During the following days, Feliciano was barely speaking and staying for entire hours in the living room, looking out of the window and muttering something under his breath. Grandpa Roma was worried and completely checked his system, thinking that perhaps there was something wrong with his battery, what could explain that depressive state. Even Lovino started thinking that maybe he had done some damage to Feliciano, but then shook his head: no, it was impossible to hurt someone, who didn't have emotions. And no matter how well Feliciano could imitate them, every time he was looking at the sky with that melancholic gaze of his... it still didn't mean that he really possessed them. At night, Romano was tossing and turning in his bed to such an extent that he managed to get dizzy. He just couldn't completely discard the idea of having done something bad, even if he had done it to an object that could be considered a piece of furniture. It was almost like he was feeling guilty, which got even worse when he realized that Feliciano hadn't even come to sleep in his bed during all these days. Angry and unable to fall asleep, he then decided to go to the kitchen and drink a glass of warm milk, in order to try to fight against his insomnia. After having almost run downstairs, he noticed that the light was on. Maybe his grandpa couldn't sleep as well. However, after coming closer, he saw the shadow of someone with an unruly curl on the floor. Supposing that it was Veneziano, Romano was about to insult him and command him to go back to bed. But as he entered the kitchen, he saw that the robot was holding a knife in one hand and cutting into his other arm. "Stop, you dumbass!" yelled Lovino, almost jumping at him and ripping the knife out of his hand, expecting to see streams of blood. But there was nothing apart from Veneziano's open skin with a bunch of spark producing cables and gears sticking out. "The hell were you doing, you idiot?!" he screamed, angry because of the scare he had gotten, and threw the knife away. The robot just lowered his head in embarrassment, not daring to look Lovino in the face.  "Ve~... I just wanted to see if I could bleed as well..." he answered quietly. "What?" questioned Romano, not understanding why he would do something stupid like that. After all, machines were supposed to never do anything "wrong" or "improper", only good and correct things. "Well... I thought that if I could bleed, then I would be able to feel pain... and if I could feel pain, then good things as well..." Feliciano explained. Lovino didn't know what to say, just looking at the other's damaged mechanical arm, realizing that his words did have an effect on Veneziano, but a very unexpected one. "Let's go to grandpa and have him repair this," was the only thing he could say, instead of apologizing for having given him all these ideas. But the whole thing was just too illogical. Why would a robot want to experience something like pain? Why seemed Feliciano, despite being envied by Lovino for his perfection, to desire his multiple flaws, out of which the biggest one was to possess feelings? The two guys had to go through a full interrogation by their grandpa, while he was repairing Feliciano's arm. However, the robot surprisingly refused to give him the reason for his reckless action. The grandpa also asked Romano, but the latter just played dumb, saying that there surely was something wrong with his stupid robot. After Veneziano was as good as new again, everyone went back to bed. Feliciano was about to go to his own, but Lovino ordered him to come sleep together with him, because he was fearing for the first time that the robot would do something dumb like that again. This time, however, there were no endless questions nor stupid giggling that was mixed with Feliciano's typical "ve~"... just complete silence. "Does it bother you to sleep with me after everything I said to you?" asked Lovino, as Feliciano was lying next to him, remembering their strange conversation the day he had hurt his knee. "No," the other answered simply, curling up under the blanket, showing nothing but his eyes. "You know, sometimes I do think that you're defective," commented Lovino, looking at him with slight anger. "Romano... do you want to know why I like sleeping together with you?" The latter just turned around to him, a bit annoyed, let out a sigh and laid down on his back in order to stare at the ceiling. "Even if I say no, you'll still tell me," he said like a kind of affirmative answer, and before Lovino knew it, he felt Feliciano laying down on top of him, resting his head on his chest and looking for his hands. "Hey! Get off me, you idiot!" exclaimed Lovino. It was the first time of Veneziano being so close to him, and he was surprised how cold the latter's skin was... it was almost making him shiver. "I like sleeping with you, because like this I can listen to the 'bump bump bump' of your heart... it's like a sort of proof that you're alive... I don't have anything beating in my chest, since I'm not alive like you, Romano, and that's why I love to sleep by your side and listen to you, knowing that you're real, that you're really here..." Lovino felt Feliciano taking his hands and entwining their fingers, but didn't object at all, because a huge lump in his throat didn't let him pronounce a word. In which moment had Veneziano developed that kind of thoughts? In which damn moment had a discrepancy happened inside his brain consisting of exact calculations and correct algorithms, that due to a small error, due to a badly programmed equation... had made him become aware of his surroundings? Made him begin to desire pain, to long for sadness, to envy the passion of jealousy, the torrent of emotions while crying and the thunderous sound of laughter? In which moment had Veneziano turned into something so similar to a defective human? Among all the questions that perhaps didn't have any answers, the two of them finally fell asleep. Lovino was freezing the entire night thanks to Veneziano's icy skin, but did not shove him aside, because he was feeling a desperate need to give him at least a bit of his own warmth. The next day was not long in coming, and the sun started to enter through the curtains, shining directly into Romano's eyes, who let out a bunch of curses, like always, moving under his blanket and palpating the sheets, expecting to feel Veneziano's cold skin again... but found nothing. "Huh? Did he get up already?" he wondered, rubbing his eyes to try to get rid of his sleepiness. Without wasting any more time, he got up, got dressed and went to eat breakfast. His grandpa was in his laboratory again, so Lovino supposed that Feliciano was with him, maybe having his arm checked again to make sure that nothing important had been damaged. Though, Lovino believed that it would be better to check the robot's operating system before he could try to destroy himself again. The morning was unusually quiet, as he had gotten already used to Feliciano's laughter and the robot's whole liveliness while doing the cleaning. That's why that peace even ended up making Lovino feel uncomfortable, without noticing it, he had grown accustomed to the other's presence... the presence of the robot he hated so much and whom he now seemed to miss. "Romano," he was called by his grandpa when the clock struck exactly twelve and Lovino was watching TV. "Have you seen Veneziano?" asked Roma, scratching his head with a wrench. Lovino turned around to him with a slightly frightened expression on his face. "You mean, he isn't with you?" "No, I haven't even seen him the entire day." They both kept staring at each other and suddenly rushed off to search like crazy in the whole house, calling Feliciano's name. "Veneziano! Where are you, dammit?!" yelled Lovino, getting seriously scared now. This just couldn't be happening. Why would Feliciano run away from home? Maybe because he was treating him so badly and always insulting him... in the end, everything was his fault once again... "I'm going to search for him outside!" he informed his grandpa and ran out of the house. Was he an idiot? Wasn't he supposed to hate that robot? And now he was searching for him and also feeling guilty for having constantly ill-treated him... but... but... Feliciano was the only one who always stayed by his side, the only one who wanted to talk to him... that stupid Veneziano, who didn't get neither indirect nor direct remarks and insisted on staying with him all the time. Or with better words: the only one who really wanted to stay with him. "Veneziano!" he shouted once again, after having run around the entire neighborhood and even reached the train station. Arriving at the train tracks, he was completely out of breath and felt his legs being heavy like lead weights. "Romano?" he suddenly heard a voice asking and turned around, spotting the robot who was looking at him with curiosity. "Veneziano, what are you doing here? Let's go home," demanded Romano, feeling his soul return to his body. He approached the other one and took his hand to lead him back. But the latter freed himself from his grip. "I won't," said Veneziano with determination, leaving Romano speechless for a couple of seconds. "Stop this nonsense. Come." "No... I won't return home... I won't go anywhere," objected Feliciano, averting his gaze as if he was ashamed.  "What are you saying? Why not?" Lovino started to get angry. "Because I can't be neither with you nor with grandpa." The robot raised his face to look directly at Romano. The latter felt his heart sting when he saw how Feliciano's eyebrows curved, giving his face an expression of pure sadness. "Romano, I'm a robot and want to be with you forever, I really do..." "Then come back with me!" interrupted Lovino him exasperatedly. "I can't... because no matter how much I want to be with you every day... I still don't have feelings... I can't understand you when you feel pain, because I don't know what it is..." Feliciano placed his hands on his chest as he spoke, as if he wanted to take out all his words from there. "Romano, I want to love you! I want you to be my most important person, but that's not possible! Not possible... because I'm a robot... and robots cannot love..." He took a breath of air, before continuing. "Look at me, Romano! I can't even cry! So how can I have the right to stay by your side if I can't do even such a simple thing as that?" Now he was palpating his face, hoping to feel the tears he was yearning for so much, but there wasn't anything besides his cold, dry skin. "Stop talking nonsense, Veneziano! Do you really think that crying's so easy for us people? Some don't do it for years. Do you think that we know what love is? Sometimes we can't even distinguish it from pain. You say you want to understand me, but damn! I don't need you to understand me when I'm sad or happy, everything you have to do is to be there! And what's with your stupid excuses? If you want to stay with me, then just stay! I want you to stay by my side!" exclaimed Lovino, clenching his fists tightly. His entire body was trembling. "Why?... Why do you want to have a useless piece of junk like me by your side?!" asked Feliciano this time, wanting to know Lovino's reasons. Without thinking twice, the latter approached Feliciano, grabbed his arm and pulled him roughly into his direction, making him step off the train tracks where he had been standing. Then he wrapped the robot into a hug. "Because you're my brother, idiot..." he whispered into Feliciano's ear and the exact moment he pressed the latter's artificial body against his own, they heard the thunderous sound of the train passing by close to them and a blast of wind tousled their hair. "Brother?" repeated Feliciano, clutching Lovino's clothes. His eyes were wide open and his voice barely audible. "Even though I never was in a mother's womb like you?" He didn't let go of him, fearing that the other would disappear the very moment he did that. "I don't care about that." "Even though I don't have a heart that makes 'bump bump bump'?" the robot questioned again, letting go of his clothes and wrapping his arms around him instead, trying to hold him as tight as possible. "Of course you do," replied Lovino. "Just feel it," he added in a quieter tone, and fell silent. Feliciano obeyed and closed his eyes, feeling Lovino's heartbeat against his own chest, creating the impression that it was pounding inside his own body. A "bump bump bump" that proved that he, too, was alive and real.  The end.