After a moment of the two of them blushing awkwardly at each other, Caleb remembered the present in his hand. 

"Should I open this now?" he asked Isaiah, gesturing towards the gift. "Yeah, just hold on a second." Isaiah grabbed Caleb's wrist, dragged him over to a nearby tree, sat down, and patted the ground next to him, motioning for Caleb to sit beside him. 

Caleb did, turning the parcel around in his hands while Isaiah rested his head on Caleb's shoulders. Caleb's face flushed before he slowly and meticulously tore off the wrapping paper decorated in bright glimmering snowflakes. 

Once the wrapping paper was completely off, he looked down to see a picture of him and Isaiah taken earlier that school year, grinning with their arms slung over each other's shoulders. 

"It's not much, sorry," Isaiah mumbled, embarrassed. "Are you kidding me? It's great! I love you! It, I mean it!" Caleb quickly corrected himself, silently cursing himself for being so stupid. Isaiah smiled. "I'm glad you do." 

Caleb looked down at the photo again. Someone else had taken that picture. That person had been a robot. Everyone he had grown up with and loved was a robot. Mrs. Scottlesbee was a robot. Mr. Walker was a robot. Even his mom--his own mother--was a robot! 

Everything had been fake. All of it. His mom had never really loved him. No one actually cared about him. Caleb started crying for what felt like the millionth time that day. 

"Hey, what's wrong?" Isaiah asked in a concerned voice. "Those people were my family. My friends. And it was all fake." 

"I can't begin to imagine how hard this is for you. It's okay to let it out," Isaiah whispered soothingly, pulling Caleb close to his chest. "You still have me, okay? I know I'm nowhere near good enough, but I promise I will try my very best to be there for you." 

"Thank you," Caleb mumbled into Isaiah's shoulder, his voice muffled. He didn't want to let go.