#ifwts is one of those “changed my brain chemistry” stories

[epersonae]

#prev!!!#I would looooove some recommendations!#I’ve already got one and I’m always up for more!!!#:D#also sadly this will never become a fic (at least not one made by me) cause I don’t write 💔

In Favor With Their Stars my beloved by @mxmollusca; AI rather than android, a lot of those themes of Stede "becoming a real boy" (ala canon tbh) in your list!

There is a Flower Within My Heart by @adamarks is a Treasure Planet AU with some of that robot physicality stuff in addition to the emotional development

They have similar themes but different vibes and imagery, and both are excellent!

Many thoughts about android Stede and human Ed… hmmmmmm

Stede starts off completely “emotionless” but slowly changes over time. He starts to question things more and more, starts to feel more and more. He doesn’t realise it’s happening until one day everything has changed.

Ed is an engineer of some sort? Stede is his android assistant. Did he build Stede? Did someone give him Stede? Who knows! Not important! All we care about here is the fact that Ed can fix Stede if anything goes wrong with him. (He will not let Stede set foot in a repair shop lest they try to factory reset him!)

Ed noticing that Stede is starting to act kinda weird (for a robot at least). He keeps asking questions, sometimes he doesn’t quite fulfil Ed’s requests properly, and he keeps following Ed around like a lost puppy even when Ed says he doesn’t need any help. Sometimes he feels like he sees Stede deep in thought or even getting distracted.

Meanwhile this whole time Stede has been trying to figure out why he wants to be around Ed so much, why he wants to know so much about him, why he keeps messing up what he’s meant to be doing. Is he getting distracted? What by? He’s an android he’s not meant to get distracted! Must be an error or a bug if some kind but he doesn’t want to say anything cause he’s scared he’ll get reset! Wait he’s not meant to feel fear!! Oh shit-

Ed tries to secretly run some personal tests to see what Stede is capable of

This leads to Stede finally realising that he can just… do what he wants! He doesn’t have to do as he’s told, he feels a LOT (emotions are hard when you’re an android who is feeling them for the first time), and he just freaks out. He thinks he must be broken or some shit but when he sees how excited Ed is he’s immediately calmed.

He and Ed get very excited when they realise Stede has kinda become, self aware and has developed free will and they start testing all sorts of shit, giggling the whole time. (Ed: *drops a tool on the floor* ok Stede pick it up! Stede (bursting with excitement): heeeheeehee noooo not gonna!!! 🥰 Both of them: *giggling like crazy*)

Stede didn’t realise he could disobey until this point, just out of habit. But now that he can actively do it he is sooooo obnoxious about it, he keeps denying even polite requests from Ed to just hand him something.

Stede wants to know what cuddles feel like. Ed wants to know what they feel like to Stede. Can he feel the warmth of it the way a human would? Does it matter if he doesn’t? It doesn’t matter, the way Stede feels it is important to him, it feels good to him, he likes being close to Ed, he likes feeling him breathe and looking at his eyelashes, the creases around his eyes…

Oh no! Something in Stede has broken (he’s robot sick!) Ed’s gonna have to open him up and fiddle with his wires to make him better! (It tickles, it feels funny, Stede likes it maybe a bit too much)

I could go on but I need to go to sleep but uhhhhh I’m sleepy, hope that made sense… yay! Ily android stede