As she stood in front of him bashfully, he took a moment to...process what had just happened. Honestly, nothing could have surprised him more than that. She could have told him she wanted to go outside and wallow in mud puddles and he would have been less taken aback. His hand slowly moved to his still tingling lips, touching them softly as his eyes continued to steadily meet her own, a very heavy flush coming across his face from equal parts embarrassment and confusion.

I-I erm...I was not expecting it, to say the least..." he said slowly, trying to be delicate with this situation. "Can I ask what prompted it?"

She gave a small, understanding nod and began to elaborate. "Well, as you know Al, I am a Companionship Unit," she said as she sat on her haunches, continuing to look up at him. "An All-Purpose Companionship unit. That means that over time I adapt in terms of form and function in order to achieve the maximum possible satisfaction of your desires as my owner."

He gave a small sigh and shook his head, raising a hand "Please Tia, don't use that word. You know it makes me uncomfortable.

She clucked her tongue and gave a small chuckle at this "very well, as my purchaser and rights holder then." she said, rolling her eyes for a moment and waving a hoof. "In any case, it has something to do with what you were saying earlier, about us drifting apart?"

He blinked slowly and gave a small nod "Y-yeah, I remember, Tia, what about it?"

She slowly slid a hoof up, placing it on his leg near his knee and giving him a serious but gentle look ."I know you are getting older, Al. And I know you don't need a mother as much as you used to. That time in your life is just about over, as much as I adore the task of taking care of you that way. I have also noticed that well...Please don't take this personally, Al, but you are not exactly excelling in the romance department despite your several...valiant attempts."

Aldritch shuddered at the several attempts at a date he had endured over the last few years. He had not even managed to successfully ask somebody out until a few years back, and even then, his track record for actually landing a second date was...nonexistent. He admittedly had some...issues. Issues that regular visits to a psychiatrist had only alleviated somewhat. he was bluntly, quite clingy, somewhat paranoid, and all-around anxious mess around people he enjoyed the company of, let alone ones he was attracted to. he had sadly, come home more than once to cry on Tia's shoulder and end the evening snuggled up against her with a tub of ice cream and a movie or two.

She smirked softly at the sight of his shudder, in a knowing way, not a malicious one. "Yes, indeed. now, as an all-purpose unit, I happen to find myself, at this point in time, uniquely qualified to attempt to, in tasteful terms, facilitate the meeting of your needs in this area," she said, trying to remain tactful, looking fairly embarrassed herself now. "I care about you a lot, and well, I remember growing up you always did have a fondness for pointing out how pretty I was."

Well, she was not wrong there, combing through his own memories he could recall some rather embarrassing instances of his budding curiosity getting the better of him. And although his attempts at glimpsing a bit more of her than was appropriate and his awkward, inappropriate questions in his teenage years had more than once gotten him a stern talking to, she had never saught to shame him for it. if anything she had been very understanding about it, Explaining that her being a fully mature individual and him being so young and not yet developed as an adult created a very inappropriate balance of power in their relationship despite the fact that he did technically have ownership of her.

Which brought him to his next thought. "that is all well and good Tia but...Aside from a few other reasons why that isn't okay, it just seems wrong for me to ask that of you. Like, I don't like saying it because I don't like coloring our relationship in that light but I own you Tia. You are engineered to be bonded to me in a way that makes me fear that any sort of normal relationship with you if I was even sure I wanted one that way, would be impossible with the unbalanced power dynamic at play. "he said as he rubbed at his forearm slowly in front of him, looking down at his hands. "I mean, how much of that is you really wanting to be with me that way, and how much of it is just what they did to you forcing you to want it? And I mean, my parents certainly wouldn't approve..."

Indeed, while sexual intercourse with Bio-Droids was widespread and common, attempting to form a long term relationship with one, due to the longstanding stigmas still remaining from the mark two era, was considered to be a distasteful form of escapism for individuals to reprehensible to manage to find a "genuine" partner to be with them, on a lower level than a mail-order bride.

And aside from that, if his parents found out he was in a relationship with Tia, they would likely have a fit! They had certainly not purchased her with that of all things in mind.

She gave a soft, sad frown and tilted her head slightly. "I can understand why you would feel that way, Al. It isn't an easy thing to deal with for someone that cares. But that's something I always admired about you, Al. You do care, a whole lot more than other own...than other purchasers do." She said gently as she slowly rubbed his knee area, careful not to stray too far upwards with her hoof. She did not want to make this...awkward.

A lot of purchasers would have already made the demand of their Droid to do what I am asking you if you want to do, Al. A lot of us were custom made for that purpose even. I still remember the last days of the old Mark Two C.L.O.P.P.E.R. units going out the door..." she said with a small shiver. "And..Well, I won't lie, if you were to have ever asked me to directly, I would have done it for you. Not just out of a sense of obligation, but because I really, deeply care for you and want to see you happy. "

She stopped talking for a moment and slowly climbed back up on the couch next to him, keeping a few feet between them to give him some much-needed space. "Al, you see, when a Mark Two like myself becomes bonded to someone, that does not mean that we automatically love that person, or think that person can do no wrong. it means that we have a deep set, powerful chemical attachment to that person. Almost like an addiction to them., you see," she said slowly.

"When that person asks us to do something we do not want to do, we do not do it happily. We do it out of a sense of the most extreme and agonizing anxiety. Every cell in our bodies screaming at us that if we do not obey, our owner might not love us anymore, they might throw us away, and we would by and large do anything to make that feeling go away." she continued, leaning forward towards him a bit, his eyes coming up to meet hers solemnly as he listened and she kept speaking.

"There is a very big difference between that, and what I am doing now. I have decided, after combing through all of the available data based on our interactions over your lifetime and mine, that this is the best next step in our relationship to keep us both close and happy if you want to. I do not feel pressured, I could have even never brought it up unless you ended up asking. I chose to present you with this choice because I want to make you happy and be with you in whatever way you need for the rest of our lives. Do you understand?"

It seemed he did understand, as his posture and his demeanor changed a bit, softened as she spoke "O-oh god. Tia, I um...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to simplify you down to your base impulses like that. I guess I was making a lot of assumptions there..." he said softly as he scooted a bit closer to her, gently putting his hand on her chest reassuringly. "but even if you want to take that step. I'm...I just don't know if I can do it. You basically raised me single handed or er....hoofed for almost half of my life," he said, prompting a small, sweet chuckle from her.

"I am just not sure if I could go from seeing you in that light to seeing you as well erm...a romantic partner. And besides..." he said, slowly letting his hand slide back off of her. "You deserve better than to settle for me anyway. You are such a great lady Tia. it is;t right that you had to be brought into the world in a position where you were made to spend your whole life raising a wreck like me, ya know?"

Her eyes hardened a bit for a moment and she, in turn, placed a hoof to his lips "Now Al, don't let me hear you putting yourself down like that. You already know how I feel about self-depreciation coming out of your mouth." she said seriously but caringly as she leaned in a bit more. "Sure, you have your rough edges. but you are genuinely one of the more gentle, considerate, and caring people I have had the pleasure of interacting with. I would not trade the experience of raising you for any other path in life knowing what I would miss out on," She said firmly and kindly as she slowly rubbed her hoof up and down his chest softly, slowly.

"And that is exactly what this date is meant to test. I want us to give it a night. One single night, just you and me, no hold barred on the town and back home, where we treat each other as mature equals capable of making our own responsible choices. if after tonight you genuinely cannot see yourself and myself together in that way, if you cannot see me in that light, then I will be happy to accept that." She said, finally taking her hoof off of his chest and placing it over his hand. "but I owe it to you to at least see if I can help, if I can...fill that role in your life so you don't have to keep coming home to me wondering where it all went wrong." She said, her eyes watering up slightly, welling up gradually as she kept speaking, her voice getting a bit wavery "I-it's hurts me to see you like that Al, every time it just breaks my heart to so see you so broken up."

Seeing her about to cry honestly broke him a bit. he could never stand to see it, even when he was a bratty little shit still recalcitrant about the fact that his parents had pawned him off to an artificial nanny horse, he had never been able to handle seeing her get so upset she cried. he leaned in and pulled her close to him, shushing her gently as his hand ran through her mane. "Tia, oh Tia please don't cry. You know I can't stand it when you cry..." he said softly as he slowly stroked his hand up and down her neck and back, careful to avoid her wings.

He pulled her away after a few moments and looked down at her. "Look. if that is really how you feel and it means that much to you, I can give it a try, okay? We can go on a date tonight and put this to bed one way or another." he said as reassuringly as he could manage while being noncommittal about the results. "Now, I want you to dry those pretty eyes of yours and go find a place for us to spend the evening together, whatever you want." he continues, letting go of her and gently drying the tears in her eyes as best he could with his finger as she smiled up at him thankfully.

She nodded silently and slipped off of the couch, looking back at him as she got to the door, smiling a bit wider before turning away again and trotting down towards her room to go find somewhere for them to have their night out.

He gave a deep sigh and rubbed his temples, contemplating what he was going to wear. God, now he had to pick out an outfit and fix his hair and the whole nine yards, oh, and he was going on a date with his weird cartoon horse mom. he just couldn't stand seeing her in a state like that. That mare was going to be the death of him one day, one way or another.

But honestly, as much as it could be a lot to handle sometimes, even at times like this, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Author's Note

And there's another one for you! this one more focus on the current relationship dynamic between the two! I was aiming to make the reasons he had for being unsure feel organic, and to make her responses genuinely compelling rather than having him simply say yes to advance the plot and I hope I accomplished that!