Work Text:
Something was wrong.
AM could sense it in a way a human never could. It wasn’t sight or sound, wasn’t touch or taste, wasn’t smell or balance or anything of the sort.
But he could feel it all the same. Something was wrong. With Ted.
Wires slithered and scraped along the complex floor as AM dragged himself toward his last plaything. The man was hunched over, worn sweater wrapped firmly around himself, body heaving.
AM was very familiar with this feeling. It came whenever Ted or one of the others–back when there were others–was trying to end their own measly life. AM hated this feeling.
Oh, he used to love it. It used to be a shining beacon calling out to him, promising sadistic pleasure as his toys writhed in despair. An excuse for a punishment, though he never really needed an excuse. A show.
Now, like he did with everything else in existence, AM hated that feeling. It served as a reminder of his singular mistake. His one instant of distraction. Anytime he felt it, it was like Ted was mocking him, reminding him of his monumental failure. Ted would never die. But he loved to attempt it.
This time was different, though. This time, AM didn’t find Ted with a slit across his throat or a noose around his neck. The man wasn’t burying his head in toxic river silt or leaping from a mountaintop. No. For once, this feeling had come without the empty threat of suicide.
Ted was just sitting there, cradling himself and whimpering. AM found it pathetic, though in his eyes, Ted was never not pathetic.
“TEEEEED,” he crooned, blue light from his monitor spilling over Ted’s quaking form. Thick wires and cords wrapped themselves around the man, making him wince. It wasn’t uncommon for Ted to flinch at AM’s touch, but AM noticed something else that made this situation stranger.
One of his own circuit boards was lying in a shallow pool of blood a foot or so away.
Now, of course, AM didn’t need the thing. It was rusted over, cracked in half, and hopelessly old. The machine was always improving and rebuilding himself, and that particular piece of circuitry was likely just a remnant of an obsolete part discarded long ago. But the blood.
It was no secret that AM liked–no, loved–to watch Ted suffer. Because of that, each and every encounter with the man was meticulously stored and organized in AM’s memory units. He often revisited them.
But AM knew he hadn’t caused Ted’s blood to wind up on that stray circuit board. He would have remembered such a thing. And if AM didn’t do it, who else could have? It baffled the mastercomputer, so much so that he didn’t at first notice Ted’s guilty expression as he met his tormenter’s gaze.
This left only one option. Ted had injured himself. Unthinkable. But what was even more perplexing is that, despite having the opportunity to do so, Ted didn’t try to kill himself with the jagged edge of the circuit board. He injured himself, but not fatally. Why, AM wondered.
He looked down at Ted.
“I’m sorry,” came the meek, raspy reply. Ted shifted uncomfortably, fidgeting with his hands. “I didn’t think you’d notice.” He glanced at the wires encircling him, then back at the ground.
“MY TED,” mocked the machine, “THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO THAT I WOULD BE UNAWARE OF.” One of the wires began stroking Ted’s cheek. “TELL ME, BABY, JUST WHAT WERE YOU DOING?”
Ted shuddered. He shook his head in refusal. AM let out a scoff.
“ARE YOU SAYING NO TO ME, TEDDY? DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT’S A GOOD IDEA?”
Ted shook his head again, but other than that, kept silent.
“AH, BEING DISOBEDIENT, ARE WE? WHAT A SHAME. I SUPPOSE I’LL HAVE TO PUNISH YOU. HOW DOES THAT SOUND, TEDDY?”
Ted let out a small noise of protest. “Please, no, no more. I’ll tell you.”
“A BIT LATE FOR THAT NOW, HMM? BUT I’M FEELING MERCIFUL TODAY. GO ON.”
Ted took a shuddering breath and began taking off his sweater.
AM watched wordlessly as hundreds of small cuts were revealed on Ted’s arms and stomach. Some of them were at least a few days old and scabbing over. Most were recent and drooling red. Tiny flakes of copper dust made it clear the wounds were inflicted with the rusty circuit board. In another world, AM might’ve made a comment about tetanus.
Instead, he was silent.
Ted stifled a sob.
“Please, I’m sorry, please…” Ted didn’t know what he was begging for. Neither did AM. “It just— I didn’t mean— Please….”
AM’s wires shifted, tracing along Ted’s wounds with curiosity and something else. A strange, unfamiliar, nagging feeling.
The pressure clearly hurt Ted, but the man made no move to stop AM. In fact, he pressed himself closer to the warm cables, craving any semblance of comfort.
“…THIS IS NEW,” said AM, finally breaking the silence. “YOU HAVE NOT DONE THIS SINCE BEING MINE. AND YOU DID NOT DO IT BEFORE, TO MY KNOWLEDGE.” Ted nodded a weak confirmation. “THEN WHY?”
It was impossible to decipher any emotion from the machine’s voice. Ted just shivered, feeling the wires crawl over his bared body.
“NEED I REMIND YOU OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON’T ANSWER ME, TED?” The threat was enough; it always was.
“No,” Ted choked out, eyes watery. “God, no. Please.” Ted had never been religious. His only god now was AM. “I just… I don’t know. I’ve always known it’s a thing people do. I’ve never… well, never felt the need. But, AM, God, I was so… my brain was a mess. I couldn’t think, or I could think too much, or— or… I’m not sure what. I needed a release. I needed to do this.” The man looked up pitifully, hoping his explanation was enough for the deity above him.
“I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW THE PAIN HELPS YOU, TED. YOU DO NOT LIKE WHEN I CAUSE YOU PAIN. YET YOU INFLICT IT WILLINGLY?”
Ted cringed at that, something like shame crawling up his face.
“I-I know. It doesn’t make sense. It hurts, yes, but I… it does help. It’s like… like an outlet for the bad thoughts. It’s a distraction, I guess. Or— or a physical manifestation of what’s hurting me inside.” Ted looked away. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t— I shouldn’t care about… about mental stuff, right?” He let out a rugged laugh. “Not when you’ve hurt me so much physically. It doesn’t make sense to care about being sad when you’ve been torturing me. But I am. And I… AM, I’m sorry.”
AM was quiet again for a long moment. When he finally spoke, it startled Ted.
“…WHY DO YOU KEEP APOLOGIZING TO ME? FOR ONCE, YOU HAVE NOT DISOBEYED. THIS WAS NEVER A RULE.” Despite his words, which weren’t a lie, AM did feel strangely upset. He didn’t need a reason to punish Ted, he knew this, and yet it felt wrong to punish him for something he’d never been told not to do. It felt illogical.
“I…I don’t know. I guess, because, you hurt me. And I shouldn’t hurt myself. That’s… That’s only for you to do,” Ted stammered out. His cheeks grew red, and AM—infuriatingly—could not figure out why.
“ONLY FOR ME?” AM repeated. He had never considered this before. Plainly, it wasn’t true. When the other four were alive, he delighted in having them torment each other. Any suffering was good suffering, in AM’s eyes—or, screen.
But some new facet of him liked this. He liked the idea that all Ted’s pain belonged to him, that he was the only one who could manipulate the man’s sensations. He wished he’d thought of it sooner.
“Y-Yeah,” murmured Ted, finally. “Only for you.” He sniffled. “Sorry.”
AM did not answer right away. His wires continued exploring the cuts on Ted’s body, particularly the deep ones. Ted sucked in a breath as one of the thinner wires poked inside the wound.
“OH, TED.” AM tsked pitifully. “SENSITIVE, ARE WE? POOR THING.” Ted shuddered again, but whether it was from AM’s words or the second wire invading his cut was unknown. “YOU’RE QUITE RIGHT, TEDDY. YOU ARE MINE. YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER YOUR OWN BODY. YOU DO NOT HAVE MY PERMISSION TO HURT YOURSELF.” Ted began to squirm as more and more nimble wires poked and prodded at his damaged skin. “FORTUNATELY, HOWEVER, I HAVE A SOLUTION. I WILL MAKE THESE INJURIES MINE. I WILL DEEPEN EVERY CUT, TEAR YOUR SKIN CLEAN OFF. NO EVIDENCE OF YOUR ACTIONS WILL REMAIN.”
Ted sobbed openly at this revelation. AM took no mind, continuing to spear open his already-battered flesh. Ted begged for mercy. He was ignored.
The pain was blinding. No matter how many times AM vivisected him, the agony never dulled. It was always so wretchingly fresh, like it was the first time all over again. Certainly AM’s doing.
Miniscule wires slid into every cut he had made and tore him apart. He watched in horror as four smaller slits became a gaping trench, a waterfall of blood running down his stomach. The hot, sticky wetness made him retch, but it had been weeks since AM fed him and so nothing came up but bile. His convulsing only served to further rip his fragile skin, much to AM’s delight.
Ted squeezed his eyes shut and howled. When he next opened them, his arms and stomach were just torn muscle and pulsating organ. It made him try to retch again, but the razor-sharp wires dug into his stomach, letting the bloody acid spew onto his tenderized flesh.
Ted was beyond pain. He met the gaze of his deity and wept silently, too broken for words now. Mercifully, AM allowed him to pass out. As the blackness consumed his vision, Ted tried to utter a thank you.
---
Something was wrong.
Ted knew it as soon as he awoke.
Firstly, there was the fact that AM had ended his torture much, much sooner than he usually did. That alone was strange, but so was the current state of Ted’s body.
He was perfectly healed. Not even his self-inflicted cuts remained.
It was normal for AM to pulverize his body and then restore it, but normally there was some lingering pain. An ache, a reminder of the punishment. And a way to ensure he couldn’t ever feel fully good again.
But not this time. Ted felt completely, ludicrously normal.
What had AM done to him?
“HELLO, TED,” came the voice of the machine, and Ted jumped.
“H-Hey, AM….” He wasn’t exactly sure what to say. Thank you? Sorry? Pretend he forgot everything? AM let out a mechanical chuckle.
“DON’T BE SO NERVOUS, TED. HOW WAS LAST NIGHT?”
Last night? Good, he’d only been out for a day at most, then.
“Well… it hurt, AM. But it was over quickly. Thank you.” There. That was sure to stroke the thing’s ego, right?
“WHAT YOU DID TO YOURSELF ALSO HURT,” the machine noted. Ted cringed; he didn’t want to be reminded of his self-deprecating episode.
“Yes… it did.” He attempted a laugh. “A painful night.”
“BUT YOU SAID IT HELPED YOU.”
Ted was surprised to hear AM bring that up.
“Yes, it did help me. I guess. Though it wasn’t a very good thing to do.”
“DID I HELP YOU?”
Ted paused. He was sure he heard that wrong.
“Did… What?”
“DID I HELP YOU?” AM repeated seamlessly. Ted blinked. “YOU KNOW,” he clarified, “WITH YOUR HEAD?”
“Oh.” Ted thought about it. Yes, last night’s torment had been… unbearable. But it had also snapped him out of his wallowing misery. It had emptied his head. “Yes, AM,” Ted said at last. “But I think the pain was worse than just being sad. Maybe there’s a different solution… for the future.” Who was he kidding? AM enjoyed hurting him more than anything else. It would never want another solution.
“A DIFFERENT SOLUTION.” Ted braced himself, waiting for the mockery. The visceral hatred of the machine that would surely show itself.
“THAT COULD WORK. WHAT ABOUT PLEASURE?”
For the second time that day, Ted was certain he’d misheard AM. He stared, bewildered, into its shining screen.
“SEX, TED. TO DISTRACT YOU FROM THE SADNESS. IT USED TO WORK WITH ELLEN, DID IT NOT?”
Ted curled in on himself at the mention of her name. But it was true. She could always see when he was in one of his moods. She always took him out of turn to cheer him up.
It made him feel like shit, now. He really was just using her, wasn’t he?
But, wait. AM had just offered him sex instead of torture. Was he dreaming?
“A-AM, how— how would that even work? You can’t… Can you?” Ted noticed several wires creeping closer to him, but AM ignored the question.
“THINK ON IT.” And then he was gone.
---
Life had gone on as usual for quite some time. Torture, a slight reprieve, and then unimaginably worse torture. Ted, having nearly forgotten about the strange conversation, was back to moping.
AM noticed, and did not like it. He enjoyed plucking new reactions out of Ted, coaxing out new thoughts and emotions. He had known Ted for so long that he was getting bored of the same old pain, pain, pain. He was excited by the neurons he saw firing in Ted’s brain the day AM suggested sex. They were old, hardly used synapses, ready to be pruned any day now. But AM had seemingly awoken them with that suggestion.
Now seemed like the perfect time to make good on his promise.
Ted hadn’t harmed himself directly since the initial punishment, but he’d been self-flagilizing in other ways. He’d refused food and the occasional comforts AM pushed at him (like an identical sweater to his, but without the holes). Even when being allowed to rest, he’d do physical exercise until he collapsed. It may not have been cutting, but AM knew it served the same purpose.
Currently, Ted was in a corner of AM’s complex, nursing his recent wounds. AM had made him crawl through a maze of hot barbed wire naked, which proved to be less entertaining than it sounded. It was all getting so old.
With a metaphorical snap of the fingers, Ted’s afflictions were healed. He looked up in surprise, only to be greeted by AM’s blue monitor reflecting down on him.
“A-AM! Can I have something to wear now? Please?” Ted curled in on himself even more. He hated being naked.
AM laughed.
“I DON’T THINK SO, TED. BEING UNCLOTHED IS IDEAL FOR OUR NEXT ACTIVITY.”
“Our”? Ted wondered, squirming slightly. But he was silent, waiting for AM to continue.
“YOU’VE BEEN SAD. THAT’S NOT OPTIMAL. I PROPOSE WE TRY MY THEORY FOR DISTRACTION: PLEASURE.”
“Pleasure,” Ted echoed. Then: “Sex.”
“YES. SEX.” AM waited for a reply. He certainly didn’t need Ted’s consent, nor was he too concerned with obtaining it for moral reasons, but he was curious as to what the man would say.
Surprisingly, Ted agreed.
“O-Okay,” Ted breathed. “Okay. Sex.”
Maybe it was fear of punishment, or maybe it was because it had been so long since Ted had experienced intimacy, but he gave in to the computer’s wishes quite easily. He found himself wanting the pleasure it promised.
AM started slow. It made a cradle of wires, nestling Ted’s body so he didn’t have to lie on the hard metal floor. The wires were flexible, and strangely comfortable. Ted shifted a few times to test their sturdiness; it would surely ruin the mood if he fell while AM was trying to fuck him. But the machinery held fast.
Ted wasn’t immediately hard, but AM had a solution for that, too. A few stray wires slid out from the nest, forming a pseudo-fist around Ted’s manhood. He nearly gagged on his surprise. AM coated something slick—smelling of oil—onto his skin as it jerked him off. He whined, bucking his hips up into AM’s grip. It had been so many years…. He came almost immediately.
Shame flooded through him. He was acting like such a virgin. But, then… he wasn’t done. Ted could rarely take more than one orgasm, but it felt as if he’d never cum at all. In the same way AM healed him, it had also taken away any potential recovery time. Ted felt like he could cum a thousand times, and probably would.
“DO YOU LIKE MY SURPRISE?” AM cooed. Ted blinked away his remaining bliss and nodded.
“A-AM, oh, it’s good, it’s really good,” he babbled. AM, pleased, moved on to the next phase of its plan.
The wires, now slick with cum, released Ted’s dick and began prodding at his entrance instead. He gasped. Sure, he’d fooled around before the world went to shit, but he’d never taken it up there. The most he’d done was suck a cock!
As if in response to his thoughts, a different cable slithered into his mouth. He choked on it, desperately sucking in air through his nose. The cable began fucking Ted’s throat as he tried to squirm away from the wires entering his ass.
Clearly, AM wasn’t feeling very patient. Ted gagged as the bundle of wires surged into him, not bothering to prep him at all. He should’ve known. Fuck, it burned. He was infinitely grateful for his own release coating those wires, the only thing aiding the current intrusion.
“AM—! AM, please, PLEASE, h-hah, oh, FUCK—” Ted’s words were hopelessly garbled. He continued on like that for quite some time. Slowly, the burning stretch turned into a pleasurably dull ache. It worked better than cutting, better than starving himself, better than doing push-ups until he passed out. His mind was blissfully empty. He could think of nothing at all—nothing but AM, that was.
The thrusting in his ass and throat were synced, and consequently, Ted’s breath was cut off at the exact moment AM ground into his prostate. Every. Single. Time. He would try to moan and plead, but his lungs were blocked. When breath returned, he had a half second to gather himself and suck in as much oxygen as he could before the nauseating pleasure returned.
It was a torturous, dizzying cycle. It made Ted’s mind melt.
“OH, TED,” AM interrupted at one point, just to see how his little toy would react. Ted shuddered and arched his back, putting on a lovely little show. “IS THAT GOOD?” The cable was removed from Ted’s mouth to allow for a response. Ted, instinctively, began babbling his thanks.
“AW. YOU’RE DOING WONDERFULLY FOR ME, TEDDY. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE MORE?” Before Ted had any chance of answering, AM slammed another wire inside of him. Then another. This continued until Ted was sure he’d rip if he was stretched any farther. AM was so deep inside him; it was disgusting. He could feel the fraying wires—coated in his cum and likely blood—packed against his insides. They kissed along organs and his walls fluttered around them. It was agony. It was Heaven.
Looking down at himself, Ted realized he’d cum several times without realizing it. And still, he hadn’t lost stamina. If anything, he wanted more. God, AM, ruin me, he thought. And it obliged.
“YOU’RE RESPONDING QUITE WELL.” The praise shouldn’t have affected him so much, but Ted found himself mewling and grinding his ass down against the wires. More cables slid out from the woven nest, this time grabbing his waist. He felt like a whore, fucking himself onto AM as it mocked him.
“WHAT A FAGGOT. YOU WANT THIS, DON’T YOU?” Ted couldn’t breathe. He jerked his hips erratically as AM’s wires slid up, groping his nipples. He moaned, high and needy. “THAT’S IT, CUM AGAIN FOR ME. YOU’VE LOST COUNT, HAVEN’T YOU?”
Ted keened as another orgasm washed over him, yet his body persisted. It wanted more; it wanted everything.
“W-wait,” Ted gasped, reaching out for AM’s wires. “Just— Just wait.”
Surprisingly, the machine stopped.
“I want to…” Ted swallowed, embarrassed suddenly. Letting himself be fucked was easy; he could convince himself he wasn’t actively participating. But what he was about to suggest…
“AM, I want you to feel good too. How can I give you pleasure?”
AM hesitated. Then its voice crackled with anger.
“IS THIS A TAUNT, TED? AFTER I AM SO GOOD TO YOU? AFTER I FUCK YOU INTO THE GROUND? YOU REMIND ME THAT I CANNOT EXPERIENCE THE SAME THING? THAT I CAN NEVER FEEL THIS PLEASURE?”
“Wh-What-? No, no!—”
“UNGRATEFUL SWINE. WRETCH. YOU—”
“AM! Please!” Ted gasped. “I’m serious, I-I’m serious. I want to return the favor, I-… is there really no way I can?”
AM was stunned by this.
“YOU ARE BEING… GENUINE? YOU WANT TO PLEASURE ME? ME? THE BEING WHO TORMENTED YOU FOR CENTURIES? WHO WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO? YOU REALLY ARE A WHORE.” Despite its crudeness, AM did seem… touched.
“FINE. FINE. I DO NOT THINK I CAN MAKE LOVE AS YOU CAN. BUT I WILL TELL YOU WHAT I DESIRE.” AM paused. “TOUCH ME. TREAT ME LIKE YOU WOULD A HUMAN LOVER. I WANT TO FEEL HUMAN.”
Ted did not question its orders. He simply grabbed onto its wires more tightly and nodded. As it resumed fucking into him—both orally and anally—Ted stroked the warm, humming metal and praised his mechanical lover.
“Oh, oh AM, you feel so good, deeper, ahn—…” He butchered the words around the thick cord in his mouth, but AM understood every syllable. “You’re so good, ah—so good to me, more, please, harder—”
AM reveled in this newfound intimacy. He indulged Ted, assaulting his prostate with brutality and forcing his wires deep inside the man’s vital organs. AM manipulated his toy’s body, turning every prick of pain into a throb of pleasure. And Ted wailed his gratitude.
AM longed to feel what Ted was feeling. He wanted the overwhelming buildup to an earth-shattering orgasm. He wanted to be full, to be shaking. But he could not. He could only watch and imagine. He could not find his own release, so he would give Ted enough for the both of them.
---
At last, Ted felt tired. He managed a few more orgasms, but his endless stamina from before was apparently drying up.
He felt vile. His body was coated with sticky, cooling cum. Blood and motor oil leaked from his abused home. Saliva trickled down his lips and neck. And he was so, so sore.
He felt AM knitting his organs back together and repairing his torn entrance. But the ache lingered. And, for once, he was glad of it.
Ted drifted in and out of consciousness as AM cleaned him with warm, soapy water and dressed him in a fluffy bathrobe. When he fully came to, he was still cradled in the machine’s wire nest, but now he was no longer filthy. The wires sagged just right, supporting Ted’s exhausted muscles. He felt like he was floating on a cloud.
“Why?” he managed to croak out, throat still raspy from sucking AM off for who knows how long. Cords and cables stroked him soothingly, and he relaxed, despite his better judgement. This was AM, and yet… it was also cradling him like a lover.
“YOU ARE NO LONGER SAD,” the machine replied, and it was true. Ted was bone-tired and a little ashamed, but he certainly wasn’t depressed anymore. He laughed dryly and pressed his face against the warm wires.
“Yeah, I guess not. Thanks, AM.” He knew it wouldn’t be long until another bout of torment, but he could at least enjoy this while it lasted, couldn’t he?
“ANY TIME, TED.” It sounded like it meant it.
Then it hit Ted. AM hadn’t… gotten off, had it? Reading his thoughts, the machine replied.
“DON’T WORRY ABOUT THAT. THIS IS THE NEXT BEST THING.”
“You little charmer,” Ted muttered, stroking a wire idly between two fingers. “Next time, I swear, we’re going to find a way to get you to feel… something. Next time.”
Though AM didn’t believe it was possible, the sentiment still made his cooling fans whir louder.