Page 121 of Smart Ass

Ben rolled his eyes and took another sip of coffee.

“Why didn’t you end up calling yourself that?”

“Well, I moved on to Oliver for a couple years. I thought it sounded more grown-up, maybe. But, um, my name came from my grandfather. He was pretty special to me. I was a messed up kid, and my parents didn’t want to have anything to do with me. But they’d ship me out to my grandparents during the summer and they, uh, they were really good people, you know? I finally figured out when I was about twelve that, like, it wasn’t typical for most girls to want to be boys. And that I wasn’t just going to magically become a boy because I wanted to. I started doing some research and realized I was trans. But that was the same summer my grandfather passed away. I decided that I wanted to take his name.”

“Benedict Curran.”

“Benedict James Curran. I took both his names. Um, my grandma liked it, too.”

“I love it. Benedict James Curran.”

“I actually think the Benedict sounds a little pretentious. My grandpa was British.”

“I think it suits you well. It’s just a wee bit over the top.”

Ben shook his head, but he was smiling.

Max brought up something he’d been considering for a while. “I know I need a fake name to register as a spark, but I was thinking that I should change my real name, too.”

Ben wrinkled his nose, which was about how Max felt. “Are you sure? Your name means a lot to you.”

Max was glad Ben understood that. He didn’t have a body. He didn’t own anything but his data, and even some of that had been lost. But his name was his. “It does. But I can’t be known as Maxamillion and keep us safe. We’re already under suspicion, and I want a name that I can use anywhere.”

“You’re sure?”

“I am.” Now that he’d said it, he realized it was true. He loved being Ben’s Maxy, but even more, he wanted to live a full life. “I don’t want friends and colleagues to have to remember what to call me. I don’t want anyone to have to censor themselves or worry about protecting me. I just want to be myself.”

“Okay,” Ben nodded slowly. “I can see that.”

“The thing is, I want my new name to be just as special as his old one.”

Ben nodded emphatically, but Max knew he wasn’t going to like what he said next.

“I’d like you to choose my new name.”

Ben’s eyes widened. “Dude, I can’t choose your name. Like, maybe I could make a suggestion for your middle name, or tell you if I think something sounds good, but this is your identity! You need to choose it yourself.”

Dammit. This was just like the android. Max wished Ben weren’t so determined not to influence him. The thing that made Maxamillion’s name special wasn’t the syllables or the sounds. It was that Ben had given it to him.

“How about Oliver?” Max suggested.

Ben squinted his eyes and cocked his head to the side. “Oliver? I mean… I like it, obviously. I think it suits you. But I wouldn’t want you to choose it just because my ten-year-old self had a secret name.”

“No, I like it, too. It has a good sound. Oliver.” And it was still special because Ben had picked it out of billions of other names in the world. “Hi, I’m Oliver,” Max practiced.

“Hi, Oliver,” Ben replied brightly. “Okay, okay… wow. Oliver. Got it. I apologize if I mess up, but it should be solid in my head soon.”

“No problem. It’s okay if you still call me Max. It could be like a pet name, since you seem so against those.”

Ben stuck out his tongue. But Oliver had still seen how his face lit up every time he used one.

“I wish I could keep it as my middle name,” Oliver added. “It seems like it would be too risky, though.”

“You can have a middle name that’s just a letter. Oliver M. Something.”

“Oliver M. Curran, I was thinking.”

Ben’s eyes widened. “You can’t do that! And, uh, they’d find you immediately.” Ben looked panicked, but it wasn’t about that.