The restaurant was lovely. It was located in an old building, the restaurant’s space split up between multiple different rooms. The big ones housed up to the ten tables, the smaller rooms only had one or two tables set up. Sun Fang walked through the majority of the building before he reached a room that he liked, where there was only one round table and the walls were painted a soothing green. The light from the chandelier was soft, the carpet on the floor plush. The paintings on the walls were gorgeous landscapes and surrounded by curtains reaching the floor. There were no windows, and no door in the doorframe.
Sun Fang spun around on his heel, nodding with satisfaction when he’d done a full twist. ”This is nice,” he said, walking over to the chair and sitting down on the soft fabric. Ivy followed his lead, sitting down opposite him.
While they waited for the server to come by with the menus (ones with this ancient an ambiance usually had physical menus instead of electronic ones), Sun Fang licked his lips and cleared his throat. He eyed Ivy, the straight back and the perfect posture. ”Is your pronouns still it?” Sun Fang finally asked, after staring for a good twenty seconds while he was working up his courage.
”Yes,” Ivy answered flatly. The mechanical eyes looked at him from a far too symmetrical face, covered with unblemished artificial skin.
Sun Fang bobbed his head. ”You’ll tell me if you change them, right?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
”Of course.”
”Good.” Sun Fang smiled. He ducked his head and listened to the soft music coming from the speakers. It seemed to be a rock ballad of some kind, not a song that he’d heard before. Sun Fang enjoyed it nonetheless and his foot tapped on the floor in time with the rhythm.
The waiter arrived the menus and Sun Fang took his, smiling politely. Ivy didn’t pay any attention to it, unable to process organic foods. It was a shame that the restaurant didn’t have anything for androids to enjoy; Sun Fang knew about three different researchers currently trying to create artificial food for androids to eat that would actually give them some nutrition as well as allow them to enjoy the natural taste. It was a work in progress still in its beginning stages, but Sun Fang found it fascinating.
(He may or may not have donated quite a lot of money to them—a lot even for him. Not that it was anyone else’s business what he chose to do with his money.)
Ordering was quick, Sun Fang being in a particular mood. And with this mood came a need for food that he already knew he would enjoy, rather than experimenting. Once the server had his order, the woman in the snazzy suit left.
Sun Fang placed his elbow on the table and rested his head on his hand. He stared straight at Ivy, the AI simply looking back at him without blinking. Sun Fang blinked, and the AI blinked as well. Sun Fang took a deep breath and stored the air in his cheeks, puffing them out. Ivy did the same, it’s cheeks going wide and puffy.
Giggling, Sun Fang rose a hand to cover his mouth and snorted to himself. It was a shame that he didn’t have time to take a picture before Ivy let the air go back out.
”You know, sometimes Ivy, you’re so cute that I want to kidnap you and lock you away in a castle,” Sun Fang said, amusement evident in his voice. He grinned at Ivy’s reaction, the stillness that suddenly overcame it.
Ivy then deadpanned, ”Young Master is obviously cuter so if anyone were to be kidnapped and locked in a castle, it would be Young Master.”
Sun Fang snorted. He picked up the glass of water the waiter had left them with and sipped from it, drinking it slowly and letting the cold ease the heat in his cheeks. ”You can’t just say things like that, Ivy, it’s not good for my heart,” Sun Fang whined, mumbling into the glass. Ivy, of course, had superior hearing and heard it effortlessly.
”Do not worry, Young Master, I always take your heart’s heath into consideration,” Ivy responded and Sun Fang just about died a little inside. Ivy really could be too shameless sometimes! It really should be illegal, what if it killed someone?!
Sun Fang humphed exaggeratedly and said, ”You’re just saying that to flatter me,” picking up his glass again. When he put it to his mouth and yet didn’t get any water, he frowned. Lowering it, he glanced down and felt his mouth twitch as he saw the empty glass. He sighed and placed it back on the table.
”I have never lied to you,” Ivy said. Sun Fang stopped, every muscle freezing. He took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, Ivy continued, ”You are my precious Young Master, the child I have raised from young. I will always protect you, so sometimes I don’t tell you things that will only hurt you for no reason, but I will never lie to you.”
Sun Fang… could say nothing. He stared at Ivy until his eyes watered, then he blinked rapidly and cleared his throat, coughing lightly to get it to work again. ”I have… lied to you, though,” he pointed out, unable to think of anything else to say.
Ivy simply said, ”Not about something important and not about something that would hurt me.”
Sun Fang’s lips twitched. He couldn’t keep looking at Ivy’s impassive face, couldn’t keep staring at the eyes looking ceaselessly at him. Ivy was so rarely this candid, so rarely expressed its own opinions freely like this, but now that it happened, Sun Fang didn’t quite know how to react. He cleared his throat again, but couldn’t think of anything to say.
The server came eventually with Sun Fang’s food. And though they (he) ate in silence, nothing about it was uncomfortable.
👀👀👀👀 is this the birth of ivy x sun fang?!!!!
yayyyy
IVY X SUN FANG I TELL YOU!! I NEED IT 😭😭
Ivy is too cute!
thanks for the chapter <3
Hmm the cruise approves of this
Thank you for the chapter 💜
Finallyyy, an Ivy x Sun Fang moment!! Thank you, Author daren!! 😍