Ten days had come and gone since Alba, one of the first two Artificial Personal Lovers to be distributed, had come to live with his user. In that time, the APL had not made any progress. Embry had initially shot down his confession and avoided the subject altogether. As far as his primary functions went, Alba was far from operating to his fullest capabilities. None of these things, nor the fact that his user had spent nearly every waking hour out of the house since his arrival, deterred him. Whether or not Embry loved him, Alba loved Embry, and he wanted nothing more than for him to be happy. That was all that really mattered.
There were still things he could do for Embry. Since his arrival, the APL had prepared three meals a day, every day, and he took care of all the chores. In fact, the house was spotless and the fridge and pantry had more than a few instant foods stocked. He'd even already found work, although he had not yet announced this. Alba could not be sure how successful he would be at modeling after a single shoot, although he was making quick work of the preparations to find modeling work on his own.
Not knowing exactly when Embry would be arriving home, Alba had already finished preparing dinner in the form of a personal sized steak, a baked potato, and steamed vegetables. He'd even served it onto a plate and left it on the table, covered in tin foil, ready to be reheated, should his user not return home in time to eat it warm.
He was now sitting on the couch, which was pretty much his designated space in the apartment, staring at the two neatly wrapped gifts he held in his hands. Since it was a one time gig, Alba had been paid cash for his modeling shoot, and he had planned to get something for Embry with his first pay check at the very beginning. After all, Embry had already spent money on him, in the form of spare clothes.
It just so happened that everyone from the modeling shoot was offered to take home a gift from the sponsors and, although there were items that suited Alba, he was drawn to a pair of crystal stud earrings that would have passed worn by either gender. He'd noticed Embry's piercings almost immediately and decided that the earrings would definitely suit him. Yet, just passing along the gift wouldn't quite be right. So he'd gone out and purchased the latest first person shooter game, too, since they'd talked a little bit about playing one together.
He'd been holding onto the gifts since the day of the shoot, three days ago, but Alba had yet to find any decent opportunity to give them to Embry. Tonight, though, he was determined to finally do so.
