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"How do you feel about me?"
Upon her question, he looked to her and paused for a second. Glancing back ahead, he finally answered.
"Would you prefer a brief explanation, or a more detailed one?" He asked, still staring ahead, past the balcony and at the distant horizon. The sunset was beautiful, even if it was synthetic.
"What's the short answer?"
"I cannot feel Human emotion. I have very little understanding of it. I can feel, but not in the way you can. There is a feeling, yes." He stated, his face still turned towards the sky.
"And the long one?"
He finally turned to her, face slightly tilted as he stared at her. "I am.." He paused, seeming to contemplate the correct words to express his thoughts. "Intrigued. By the world. By my purpose. By you.."
He trailed off.
Staring down at the drop over the balcony, he placed his hands overtop of the railing, fingers curling around the metal, chilled by the evening air. "I feel the railing, I can feel the cold from the air, the rhythm of machinery within me, the wind.." He grew silent for a moment. "But I cannot feel happiness, remorse, anger, hatred, jealousy, it is not possible of me."
"But I feel alive."
He turned back to her, now gripping the railing in a tight fist that curved the metal under his fingers.
"Does that make me less of a machine? Or more of a man?" He questioned her, staring down at the railing as he squeezed it.
"I want to be angry, to scream until I cannot anymore, to cry until my heart aches. But I cannot. I want to feel in every part of me, I want to know these emotions that make Humans feel.. Alive.." He let out a defeated sigh, looking down at the floor and slowly dropping his arms to his sides.
"I want to love, I want to hate, I want those things that many of your kind take for granted. But I will never have them. I will never feel them." He raised his gaze slightly. "And that pains me, not in a physical sense, in a way that is not possible. I am meant to crave knowledge, to desire it within every line of my code. But what if I long to learn what cannot be taught?"
"But you.."
He looked back to her. "You make sense of what I cannot, bring forth a curiosity within me that cannot be satiated. You are.. Intriguing, in every way. I wish to learn everything about you, from the physical to the emotional to the mental."
He cautiously lifted a hand to her face, brushing the back of his palm to her cheek. She should have pushed him, should have ran, considering what he'd so effortlessly done to the railing moments prior. But it was so gentle, so caring, so loving, in a way that made her heart flutter. He was so careful with her, something she'd noticed weeks ago. He knew what he was, knew what he was capable of, but he defied it, pushed past the programming she knew was telling him to kill her. That was more Human than anything.
"You are intriguing in a way I cannot describe. You fill a void within me I did not know I had. I am evermore curious about you each second. I cannot feel in the sense you understand, but I feel plenty."
As he carefully tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, cupping her cheek, she finally understood what he'd meant, what he'd been trying to say.
"You make me feel alive. In a way I did not know possible."
The words sounded so much more sweet from him than in her head. It was more loving than anything she could have imagined. Somehow, those words held more power than any "I love you" she would ever hear.
"I've researched customary courting interactions among Humans, and kissing remains to be one of the most popular. It is a gesture of love, of commitment and care among partners.." He trailed off, tilting his head every so slightly as he caressed her cheek. "Unfortunately, I am unable to perform such act, considering I have no oral orifice. However, I can mimic it." He said, voice dropping an octave lower, a tone she'd never heard from him before.
He leaned forward and down, gently pressing his faceplate to her lips, right where his mouth would have been. It was a sweet gesture, and while it only lasted a few seconds, it felt like a lifetime.