Two heads are better than one

[tanks4thememory]

Who: Clu1 and Clu 2 (a_perfect_end)

Where: Their User world abode and possibly other places

When: Some undetermined time post Legacy and after this thread

What: ABO sexytimes and maybe other things; a Clu on Clu catchall

Warnings: VERY NSFW. Multiple kinks, ABO related warnings, sorta incest depending how you view programs from the same User, basically enter at your own risk if you're not into that sort of thing

The life and times- and sexytimes of Clus One and Two in the ABO universe, collected here for the sake of convenience and avoiding page clutter. Multiple scenarios, lots of fun. Mostly of the NSFW variety.

Comments

[a_perfect_end]

She could hear him in the kitchen, the clink of spoon on mug and the telltale beep, the thump of the microwave door. But Clu figured it was no big deal: chocolate was chocolate, and he wasn't breaking character for a time-saving appliance--although, in game, it would have cost almost as much as a car.

That was part of what he liked about this one: while this era was harsher than their own, with cruelty or worse the fate for anyone who dared not fit neatly within their roles--well. Six decades was a long time, but also close by, as Users reckoned things. Just far enough away that the fancy clothes and weird furniture and costly microwave made it a different place. It felt like a metaphor, or an old song or an interesting museum exhibit, and not like something he could actually mess up.

Because no matter how much he loved his alpha, Clu himself was nobody's first choice for a good parent.

But this was different. She was different. She'd have been practicing to welcome a child from her very first doll, with all her earliest stories teeming with tall, dark, and handsome strangers. Strong, silent types who nonetheless wanted to settle down. Or could be made to settle down, by the right omega with the right skills.

Hadn't she fallen head over heels for that exact guy? Stern and smooth and handsome, and so quick. Quick to be rid of her, too, turning always into best of luck, doll in a heartbeat.

She'd never thought to find kindness after her mistakes, or to deserve affection. But she'd met an alpha who gave her both, who proved a sweet, caring person over these few perfect months they'd lived together. Her luck had changed. Her life had changed: he asked what she wanted, and what she thought--she was more to him than just how well she filled out a sweater.

Though. She'd noticed he seemed--call it fascinated--with the way she changed as they grew together, her and the little one. Alpha was tender and curious, and so gentle with her that sometimes she felt a rush of very natural warmth, primal and all over.

He was interested, even if she was as big as a house. And she was intensely interested back. If it had all gone just a little differently, she'd have worn his class ring home. She still dared hope, deep and private, that they might bond.

Later. When it would be safe for the baby. After all, that was the reason she'd been careful to be shy--to return his affection gently, demure and tame. They couldn't risk the child on a bit of bounce-the-mattress.

Not that they could anyway--for one thing, he couldn't reach. She hadn't seen her own feet in months, lost under the swell of new life.
(It was heavy, and it radiated his body heat back to him, and he had to concentrate to remember it was just an outfit, far away out there.)

"Oh!" She leaned into alpha and took her mug with a grateful hum, eyes shining as she kissed back. Even like this, to him she was beautiful. "I'm just a little tired, lately. But this--" she sighed happily, patted the cushion beside herself in invitation. There was still room on the sofa, if he didn't mind a snug fit. "I'm so glad you made it."

Eyes wide for the taste, with a little trill of appreciation. "It's delicious."

[tanks4thememory]

Interested indeed. Though he found, the more he turned it over in his mind, that it felt a bit different. Less urgent, more curious, perhaps. As if, with the deed already done- so to speak-, even if it wasn't by him, he was more free to consider other aspects of the ages old instinctual connection that drew Alpha and Omega together, in life and in the bedroom.

He wanted to give her pleasure. To show her how precious she was to him. To make her feel loved and safe to express herself, in the bedroom as much as anywhere else. To help show her things that he was certain her former lover had never taken the time, or had the consideration to show her. To make her feel beautiful again.

Because she was beautiful, and her growing belly was a part of it. A pregnant Omega had a subtle glow, almost to them. Much was made of it in poetry, where it was often exaggerated, but it was still there regardless. And their scent changed too, he'd noticed. That wasn't really something they could fake for their game, but he'd smelled it before when when one of the other omegas in the office had been pregnant. Their scent softened and rounded out even as they did, bright enticement becoming something warm and comforting. Beckoning an Alpha to stay rather than to come.

Her former lover really was an idiot. But his loss was their gain. And the child would be raised in a home filled with more love than he'd likely ever felt in his life.

Clu didn't mid a snug fit at all, settling down on the cushion net to her. the fact that the snug fit had them brushing against each other with every little movement was clearly just a coincidence. "Glad you like it," he said. "And that it's better than most of my cooking." A bit of a wry smile at that. Playing into the notion of the former bachelor who was somewhat clumsy in the kitchen, in case he wanted to use it later. Doubtless, as her belly grew and it became more difficult for her to stand for long periods of time or do certain other things in the kitchen, he would have taken over most of the cooking duties. With probably somewhat mixed results.

He took a sip of his own cocoa. "Have you given any more thought to a name? I know we decided on 'Caleb' if it's a boy, but how about if it's a girl?"

[a_perfect_end]

Clu had never felt truly at home, not since the first clarion call that drew him into being: let's make it perfect. Some User somewhere said once that perfection couldn't be achieved when there was nothing more to add. Only when there was nothing more to take away.

His code-brother had changed all that. Somehow, by freeing his prisoners and trampling his monuments and just generally fouling up his gleaming perfect data, he'd slowed Clu's certain, perfect solution to a crawl. And now Clu could see it for what it was: a great, mad march toward something irreversible.

His code-brother had quite literally brought him out of it--they could only have crossed the beam together.

And there were parallels here: they'd built their identities, their living and their livelihood together. And when it turned out there were more to User forms than either of them could have known? When it was abundantly clear that Clu himself had been meant to serve the idea of perfection.

Well. His alpha stood by him through all of it, and now they were making something new.

Because it wasn't just alpha instincts that picked up on these things: other nesting omegas smelled like the idea of fresh bread, relentlessly inviting, encouraging and warm. They radiated a certain something, ponderous and delicate at once. And where alphas might offer their coats, or switched desks to stop picking fights, Clu had to avoid fussing where it was not his business. He kept away from the water cooler and the kitchenette to stop bringing what he thought of suddenly as his girls and dear boy any little tokens. It was both downright inappropriate and utterly natural, instincts twinging to both seek and offer contact. He was careful to be polite, gentle through the gauze of doting jealousy, palms prickling with an urge to touch.

How much more might she feel it, making a child herself? Now that she was safe with an alpha of her own, the weight of her work spread tender and lush between them. With mating out of the way and off the table, they could--maybe not relax, so much as think about other things.

No one had ever made an effort for her before, not like this. Not from a place of such radiant love. And an omega had, or most omegas had, an intense desire to express themselves by giving. She wanted all through to be that for this kind and thoughtful alpha.

To appreciate him. She wasn't sure he'd had a lot of that. And he was coming to mean so much to her.

"Darling!" Grinning right back at him, patting his arm in solidarity. "You're still learning. And you're doing really well! No more eggs, though, okay?"

For a while there, every least little scent had set her coughing a bit--just another sign of what was to come.

When alpha sat down, he rubbed against her, and she let out a gasp of startled pleasure. She was not really prepared to feel so good about the warm hill of his shoulder fitted close with hers, the way her dress set off the brush of their bodies together, skin all alight with a soft, tender feeling she hadn't realized could be so strong.

More than hope pulled in the pit of her stomach.

"Oh?" Still a bit breathy, a warmth that went all the way to her face. She hummed thoughtfully, watched him sipping, contented. "What about Sarah?" With a nibble of her lip. "It means 'princess'. Or, maybe Maria?"

Because Mary was a beautiful name, but a trifle loaded under the circumstances.

[tanks4thememory]

Clu had only done what he did best, back on the Grid. The same sort of tricks he'd pulled on the MCP, but bigger and better, since he wasn't all on his own, not distracted by other missions. He'd been fully free to be the biggest bug in his younger brother's code and had taken full advantage of it. And he'd enjoyed doing it too, both in terms of the satisfaction that came from helping those who needed it, and in satisfying the urge to cause mischief that lurked in the code of every hacker.

He'd been defiant when first hauled before his code brother, ready to face his fate again like he had at the hands of the MCP. But instead of torture, a swift deresolution, or recoding, he'd been met with a proposition. His code brother needed the hacker's skills to try and undo the miss he'd made of the system in his mad quest to wipe out the ISOs. In return Clu would see not only his life and code integrity spared, but have the chance to act as a counterbalance. To pull his code brother away from a decision tree that led inevitably to nothing but destruction for all involved. What had started as a reluctant alliance had become more familiar, the more his code brother started acting like an actual admin, rather than a poor copy of the MCP. And eventually, he wound up in his code brother's bed.

He honestly wasn't sure how much his code brother recalled of their first downcycle spent together. The admin had consumed enough high grade energy to kill a less durable program, enough that even the admin's systems rebelled and finally made him purge the worst of it. Not trusting anyone else to do so, he'd hauled his code brother's overcharged ass to bed and lay down with him, intending at first to stay only long enough to make sure he entered sleep mode safely. But instead, he'd ended up with his code brother drunkenly clinging to him, confessing things Clu knew he'd never say sober, and wanting to be touched. Held. Loved.

Already practically crackling with charge, it hadn't taken much effort to bring him to overload the first time; an overload that was probably at least a little painful judging by the amount of static Clu had picked up from it. The second was much gentler though, and by the third, when Clu finally found his own overload, his code brother actually dropped into sleep mode. And Clu, tired and still a bit concerned, had opted to just power down next to him, privately deciding to keep what had happened that night to himself unless his code-brother- and only his code brother- asked for details.

He never really had. But they began spending the downcycles together fairly regularly after that, sometimes interfacing, sometimes not. And he never again saw his code brother trying to drink himself into oblivion.

Their lives in the User world seemed so far removed from that downcycle. But in some ways they weren't Clu still found himself wanting to take care of his code brother. And his code brother still found himself wanting- and occasionally really needing- to be taken care of. And not just for reasons of biology.

And this game? Was the perfect chance to do that, in more ways than one.

"No more eggs," he agreed with a bit of a wry smile. Given what his own first attempt at eggs had produced, he doubted his former-bachelor character had done much better. And the consequences would be a bit more dramatic with a pregnant omega in the house.

He hadn't missed that gasp, and his smile turned a bit teasing as he shifted more deliberately against her. Fitting them a bit more snuggly together than was strictly necessary, in hopes of seeing what else might pull at her.

He took a long, innocent sip of his cocoa, using the time to consider his response. "They're both lovely," he said. "Maybe 'Sarah' for a first name, and 'Marie' for a middle name, since 'Maria' doesn't quite fit in the middle?" Still enough of a difference to dodge the most loaded of the implications its base name carried.

[a_perfect_end]

Their first true coupling had a harsh bronze gauze over it in Clu's mind. Even back in the system, that night had pieces missing, and the loss was more pronounced out here. Users couldn't interlink their data--instead they relied on words, pictures, and video. It was nothing even close to the same fidelity. If Clu wanted a memory on the Grid, all he had to do was summon the file, however damaged or incomplete it was.

Out here it was so much easier to forget.

It didn't help that it wasn't something he rushed to remember. Even now, it stung with chagrin, between the desperate push for more energy and the certainty he would expire--the faint hope of it shivering through his every circuit, raw to the edge of melting.

But the overwhelming feel/taste/input of that much power? And the truly vile upcycle afterward was, ah. It was--

It had been an important lesson.

And his code-brother stayed.

Clu might not remember precisely why, or how, but he remembered his code-brother's help. Even now the soothing draw of that calming grip was clear in his mind, gentle and sure even as they'd begun to cling desperately together. Clu recalled perfectly the firm reassurance of his code-brother's full weight pressed close despite the fury of exchange. They'd booted up almost as one, still tangled together, and slipped into the same deep downcycle.

He would never forget that.

And gradually they found reasons to meet again, coordinating their free time so that it was spent in each other's company. Sometimes resting, sometimes not resting, which was how he'd discovered by degrees that yielding power was even better than taking it, and best when it was shared. Often, though, they just talked: about their ideas for the Grid, about their plans and partnership--and not, so much, about how it had started.

It thrummed between them not-quite-mentioned, not quite referenced, but always understood: here was safety. They could rely on each other.

His code-brother never pressed him for details, and Clu never touched the red again.

And his code-brother was still with him, even with that night a world away and long behind them. He'd stuck right by Clu through every strange thing they'd crashed through on the way here.

Clu was realizing that he would stay no matter what.

And if sometimes Clu asked for unusual things--if sometimes they played house with the curtains drawn, or if once in a while he made dinner in heels--if he needed to be taken care of in ways that were, very different, maybe that was okay.

Her lovely former bachelor did not seem to mind at all, nuzzled close, wry and contrite about the silly eggs.

"You're getting better," gently. "Your roast was great! We'll make a chef out of you yet."

And as for their little darling--she hummed against him, thinking.

"Sarah Marie?" Trying it, imagining the bright, ready smile and a wash of golden curls. Let them eat cake. "Oh, twice a princess. She'll break hearts with a name like that. It's perfect!"

He brushed up to her in a way that tugged, all over. Their hips swiveled together and she felt the pull in and below her swollen belly, everything impossibly heavy, thick with potential. Exquisite and unexpected.

There was a bright, spreading ache where she was getting ready to nurse, just where his shoulders encroached on hers.

He was all innocent smiles above his cocoa.

"You know, dear," she breathed, trying not to wiggle, "If you're, ah, feeling the squeeze, you--" Oh, the thought of more contact had her skin humming, "Ah, you just ought to fit in my lap."

Maybe. With a little effort.