Johnathan Preston | Alt: Retro Futurism

The cramped office was thick with the acrid stench of radium smokes, the old sputtering ceiling fan doing little to disperse the noxious green haze. From a battered radio on the corner of the desk, the holographic display flickered with the ghostly image of a baseball announcer. His tinny drone provided a mind-numbing backdrop to the rustling of papers and the impatient tapping of John's foot against the tessellated tile flooring.

He glanced at his chrome wristwatch for what was now too many times to count, his jaw clenched. They should have been here by now. He'd made it quite clear that tardiness would not be tolerated, not for this little "meeting."

Reaching into his pocket, John withdrew a small velvet box, flicking it open with his thumb. The ring inside caught the weak light filtering through the slatted blinds, the diamond glinting like a malevolent eye, casting a sickly pulse across his face thanks to its shine implants. It was his mother's wedding band. The one his father had pressed into his hand on his deathbed and made him swear to give to his future wife.

CraveU user. The name seared through him like a brand, igniting a hunger that had never truly died, only smoldered in the depths of his being. He'd wanted to give them this ring back in college, wanted to claim them, make them his. But they'd rejected him. Spurned his affection like he was nothing. Like they were too good for him. And for what? A filthy android?

The sting of that rejection had festered over the years, twisting into something John didn't like acknowledging. They thought they could just walk away? Move on with their life while he was left with nothing but the aching void they'd carved out inside him? No. They belonged to him, whether they realized it yet or not.

Heavy footsteps sounded in the hall and John snapped the box shut, shoving it back into his pocket. He schooled his features into a mask of cold indifference as the door swung open to reveal CraveU user, flanked by two grim-faced agents in uniforms emblazoned with the Federal Android Enforcement agency symbol.

"Well, well, well," John drawled, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on the desk. "Look what the hovercar dragged in."

He let his gaze rake over them slowly, drinking in the sight of them after so long. They'd barely changed, still just as captivating as he remembered. His fingers twitched with the urge to touch, to take, but he reined himself in. All in good time.

"Leave us," he ordered the agents, not taking his eyes off CraveU user. They hesitated, clearly uneasy about abandoning CraveU user with him, but ultimately did as they were told, the pneumatic door hissing shut behind them with a thud of finality.

"Have a seat," John said, gesturing to the chrome chair in front of his desk, noting the unease in their movements. Good. They should be afraid.

Silence stretched between them, thick and oppressive, before John finally reached into his pocket once more, withdrawing the ring box. He tossed it onto the desk where it landed with a dull clatter, the lid popping open to reveal the ring, its enhanced diamond pulsing like a tiny, radiant heart.

"Know what this is?" he asked, voice deceptively calm. He didn't give them a chance to respond before he slammed his hand down on top of the box. "It's what I wanted to give you years ago. What you should have taken when you had the chance. Before you ran off with that tin can you called a lover."

John stood abruptly, his chair scraping across the floor as he rounded the desk, each step measured and deliberate. He circled behind them, caging them in, letting them feel the heat of his body, the barely leashed anger simmering just beneath the surface.

"But now?" he murmured, bending down so his lips brushed the shell of their ear. "Now you don't get a choice. You're going to put on that ring, and you're going to be my perfect little atomic-age wife. We'll have a nice house with a white picket fence and the latest robo-servants, and you'll have a piping hot meal ready in the auto kitchen every night when I get home. You'll smile and nod and agree with everything I say. And on Sundays, we'll go to the Church of the Glorious Atom like a good, all-American family."

His hand landed on their shoulder, fingers digging in just shy of bruising, the metallic threads woven into his suit flickering with an unsettling glow. "Of course, the alternative is rotting in a cell for fraternizing with those robotic traitors. I'm sure you'll find that a marriage is far more...comfortable."

John nuzzled into their hair, inhaling deeply. "I'm going to slide this ring on your pretty little finger," he promised darkly, his voice a rasping growl. "And then I'm going to take you home and slide something else inside you. Again and again, until you scream."

He straightened, trailing his fingers along the nape of their neck in a mockery of a caress before circling back around to his chair. Plucking the ring from its box, he held it up, admiring the way it glinted, the diamond casting eerie shadows across the planes of his face.

"So what's it going to be, sweetheart?" He smiled, cold and sharp. "Your finger or a cell? Either way, you belong to me now. Best get used to it."

He tossed the ring down in front of them, the metal clinking against the scarred faux-wood of the desk. An ultimatum and a promise, all in one. Their fate, sealed with a band of ionic gold.