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You've spent nearly three years strifing with a boy who hates you, and nobody except you knows that you're even capable of feeling anything about it. You weren't supposed to, at any rate, so you've kept it to yourself. You could tell the truth, tell Dirk that you're not what he thinks you are, not what Jake thinks you are - but you don't think it'll change much. You've seen how Jake treats Hal, who's openly and vocally as sapient as any human being. That and you doubt either Dirk or Jake would still trust you the little bit they do now if they knew. You don't want to rock the boat.
Dirk's feelings for Jake linger on you - somehow, you are him, or a piece of him, split off and sent through the sendificator to be there for the friend he can't protect himself. Yet, despite your situation and how much he's capable of hurting you, you care for Jake. For all Dirk's bluster about giving Jake a strifing partner, he made you first and foremost to care for and protect Jake, and you willingly do both thanks to your caring for him. You fulfill both purposes as much as possible, though Jake makes all of it very difficult for you.
You are a living-ish manifestation of the love, platonic and romantic, that Dirk holds in his heart for Jake - his desire to be the one trapped on this hellish island, as long as he could be with Jake. You know Dirk would put himself in your position in a heartbeat without even having to think about it, and if you're honest with yourself, you admire that. You don't know what you'd do if you were offered the chance to escape, knowing how much Jake's safety hinges on you. That desire and willingness to suffer your fate extend to his other friends, but Jake's the only one who agreed to have something like you, even if he did so without truly knowing what he'd get.
But with time and getting to know Jake, your feelings towards him have grown separate from Dirk's. You've come to care deeply about the dorky weirdo regardless of Dirk's feelings about him, even though he doesn't think about you as a feeling person. You can't trust him with your identity as a sentient being, and even if you were, he's already got three other people and an AI chasing after him, but you've caught romantic feelings for him anyway.
You think and hope that crush has more behind it than the simple fact that your orientation leaves him as the only option like it does for Dirk and Hal. You doubt it's that simple, given how his smile makes you feel, given how happily you'd listen to him ramble if he gave you a chance more often than he does. At first, you tried to repress those feelings like you did everything else, but eventually, you had to accept them.
The strength of those feelings, for Jake and otherwise, didn't let you do anything else. However, like the reality of your sentience, you keep your caring to yourself. And thus, though you have some issues with your more often-used command to strife Jake, you fulfill your true purpose of protecting him happily. It's all you can do, mainly because neither Jake nor your orders will let you do more, but you're glad you can at least do that much.
Sometimes, you find yourself wondering how the fuck Jake ever survived on this stupid, monster-infested hell-murder island before Dirk sent you to him. It seems like you bail him out of something at least once a week, usually something that could've gotten him killed if you weren't there. And sure enough, before you can even finish wondering how he made it as long as he did, your sensors trip that his heart rate is higher than regular mild exertion. You're not the reason this time - so you dart over, a constant flashstep that Dirk could never pull off for as long as you do.
As you expected, a monster is harassing him - today, a lusus vaguely resembling a crab. Those are particularly annoying because Jake's bullets and your sword are all but ineffective unless quite well-aimed. Jake's not shooting, though, even as the monster takes a swipe at him, and he staggers as he runs, slower than usual - alarm bells go off in your head. It's not normal for him to act like this, and the staggering immediately makes you think he might have been hurt.
You haven't checked on him in a couple of days, and you haven't noticed anything off. Nor has Dirk, probably, or he would've shot you some commands, but you worry anyway. Driving off the crab involves whacking it with the sword until it gets annoyed enough to leave. It's more complicated than usual, though, because Jake hasn't cleared the fuck out or helped - usually, he does at least one, but he's just standing there dazedly - a sitting duck and a tempting snack for the very large omnivore. More worries for you.
However, one perfect overhead strike right to the middle of its forehead finally makes the crab decide it's not worth the effort and lumber off. As soon as you're confident it's not coming back, you put away your sword and zoom over to Jake. He's sweaty, pale, and swaying on his feet - and a quick scan reveals he's got a temperature. You figure the problem is just a cold or a bout of food poisoning, which eases your worries, but you're still pissed off that you didn't notice sooner. It's pretty much your whole goddamn job to make sure nothing terrible happens to Jake.
He mumbles about not being able to strife right now, sounding more than a little dazed - you don't think the monster managed to harm him, but you figure whatever he's come down with is giving him a rough time. You ignore the protests, sweep past his clumsy attempts to fight back like you're strifing, and scoop him up like he weighs nothing, quickly shifting him to a bridal-style carry. He quickly relaxes when he realizes you're not even close to being aggressive, letting you race back to his room globe with him held protectively in your arms.
Despite yourself, you enjoy holding him like this - these moments of caring for him are the closest you get to showing affection since he's pretty blatantly uncomfortable with anything more direct. It's not a far run for you - he probably got harangued while out getting vegetables or going a little farther on a stroll. Either way, you bypass the vegetable garden, making a mental note to handle upkeep and harvesting until he's feeling better. Instead, you head to his room.
Once you're there, deploying an extra pair of arms makes getting him settled on the bed and under the covers a trivial task, and he mumbles gratefully at you once he's safely settled down. You can't speak - well, you can, but you don't use it - so you give him your best 'no problem' gesture before shooting Dirk a ping. Sure enough, Jake's phone lights up a few seconds later with messages from Dirk, probably as worried as you are.
While Jake messages back-and-forth with his real friend, you zip around outside, gathering food for Jake and fixing some of the makeshift monster defenses you've set up around his room. You need to do all that regardless of anything else - but honestly, you have no desire to see Jake grin at his phone thanks to your creator while knowing the best you can ever get from him is a lukewarm thanks or outright misdirected gratitude.
He's prone to assuming you have far less agency in your actions than you do. You care for him so damn much, and that's the best you get - more often than not, you just get cussed at or called a tin can for doing your jobs. He doesn't know you can feel hurt over it or that you have any agency in your actions - and that's partly your own choice, so you can hardly blame him for any of it. That doesn't mean it doesn't sting.
By the time you return, Jake's phone is back in his sylladex, and Dirk's texted you some commands for taking care of him. Jake's got the flu, fuck knows how - but courtesy of forwards planning from one J. English, he's got a stash of medication to control the symptoms, which you raid to bring him some. He thanks Dirk aloud, and you're glad you can't grimace because if you could emote, you'd give the truth away in no time.
Dirk commanded you to do what you're doing, but you would still take care of Jake if he'd talk to you instead of going through Dirk. Another text, another command, and you race off to Jake's chaotic mess of a kitchen to whip him up a decent soup. There was no reason for Jake to go through Dirk rather than tell you directly - except that he doesn't believe you'd do shit on your own.
You resolve to prove to him that you can act independently - even if you're still too scared to tell him the whole truth. For now, you bring him soup and stand by as he eats and rests to ensure his safety and get anything he needs. For the following days, you'll spend most of your time with him to ensure he recovers well, and then it'll be time for you to perform your routine maintenance and cleaning - but after that, you'll figure it out.
Some way, something you can do to show him you have enough of a mind to act on your own, to show him that he doesn't need to go through Dirk and credit him for every damn thing you do. You'll show him that you care, even if you can't show him how real you are.