#but maybe another time skskks

[zappedbyzabka]

Self indulgent reverse TKK thoughts where Daniel is in Cobra Kai and Johnny is in Miyagi-Do.

Johnny came from a different part of Cali and is trying to blend in (which is easy for him)—not expecting five boys to come around and push him for talking to a girl he just met.

He did some wrestling before, but karate? Nope.

Maybe he was a little rude, but getting pummeled by a guy way smaller than you in front of everyone is embarrassing and undeserved in his eyes. The boy was cute. Way too baby-faced and fluffy to be so damn merciless.

To his surprise, one of the boy's buddies helped him up—the one with bleached hair he thought was just having a moment of kindness until he used that same grip to tug him close and promise darkly that he'd be seeing them again—with or without Danny. Then tells him with a shrug and deceptively casual tone that Daniel is the nicest out of all of them, so keep that in mind, man. He meant the warning. Johnny sees them at school and at random. And it's when they're without Daniel that they're far more salacious to him. Even the one with longer hair, who seemed a little concerned for him before.

But Johnny wants to see more of Daniel, yet he doesn't at all. Daniel seems kind to others around school when he’s not…irritated about something. Flip that switch and he’s making you bleed.

The aggression is attractive and Johnny can’t help but like when it’s directed at him—just a bit. Underneath the pain of a bruise.

His Sensei is even more intimadating. Has the eyes of a predator that make Johnny freeze when he gives him a once over with a smile. Looks him in the eye the whole time as he tells Miyagi to make Johnny enter the tournament.

Daniel is struggling with his morals. He and Kreese are always butting heads, and some days he truly can't stand the man—but Cobra Kai helped him get stronger. Less movable. How could he just leave something that's done so much for him? He owes at least one more win to Kreese.

He's pissed, alright. Pissed about the wreck his relationship with Ali became and pissed that he can't get that stupid blond guy with pretty lips out of his head when he keeps showing up. Pissed about his so-called friends doing things without him.

Definitely not terrified of change.

He wonders what Johnny's lessons with Miyagi look like—probably dreamily calmer.

[pinky-in-blankets]

What doesn't kill is now very concerned about their health-

(Not me throwing Scribbles in another TADC Au sksks)

Introducing Anti-Virus Scribbles! She'd be in @rabid-mercenary15 's TADC Corruption Au!

She was deployed by the early programmers to try and deal with pesky viruses! Unfortunately, She isn't able to do much since they forgot to give her the program access/command code to actually purify the virus completely.

Being an anti-Virus, She cannot be corrupted or glitched since she's basically a walking cure. And inactive cure, but still a cure.

She can still harm the virus, but can't undo what it's done thus far unless she finds out the access code to complete the code bracket.

Virus!Caine knows this very well so he uses the abstractions and the corrupted code to keep her locked up and under surveillance; constantly changing the code so she can't purify it.

He gets really anxious when she gets out sometimes and will not relax unless she's caught again.

(Time for the obligatory self indulgent art skskks)

Scribbles may not be able to fix the corruption.. but she can ease the pain and Stop the glitching effects. Since she's not found the code to complete her command the effects dont last too long. But Often times when she does ease the pain for the abstractions She will be able to communicate with their small shred of sanity they lose through binary code.

Amazingly, Only Jax seems to be open to letting her ease the pain and often Volunteers to guard her. After all, something is better than nothing.. and maybe.. he might actually enjoy her company.

(And now for a Little Game mechanics idea sksk)

Scattered throughout the corrupted digital circus, Scribbles left pieces of her code in the shape of Music notes. If you can find all 100 notes, You can free her and restore the missing line code to give her access to her purify command. Not that finding all 100 will be easy..

( Last but not least; a bonus doodle.)

The real reason the virus hates her aside from the fact she can hurt it is that when she first manifested, she immediately threw hands with it specifically.

[clonecaptains]

Whenever I see people write tyler as being from Texas I think "This is incorrect, ask Taylor 😤"

I know glen is from Texas but not my boy tyler nuh uh 😤, though it feels like most writers just make every southern character from Texas like—as a southerner myself (georgia/florida) I'm like 🙄

This is not meant to disparage anyone, write what you want. Just a jest and a mini vent ❤

omg anon ily im giving you a big cheek smooch LGKJSLG IM DYING AT THIS ASSOCIATION !!!!!!!!!!! im so honored you associate him w/ me lsjkglskgj

but no like. ive said before but seeing twisters IN arkansas was truly an experience!! ive seen it 3x in AR and another time w/ my bff in idaho and like,,,, seeing it in arkansas was so funny alkgjksgl and not at all the same as it was in idaho LOL

seeing it here at home - eveRY TIME that javi says the wranglers were from arkansas - you could hear like whispers and then some WHOOP WHOOP kinda things in the crowd skskks EVERY TIME

and hearing tyler blast the song "arkansas" by chris stapleton? part of me came ALIVE. some of the lyrics in that song you'd only get if you were local and i get all the refs and it makes me SO HAPPY. i could go on and on about that song alone.

youre getting so much more than you asked for on this anon cuz im all excited now LOL like the town 'russellville' is on their van - and i know right where that is. ive been there. it's like an hour from me!!

tyler specifically just FELT arkansan. everyone i know who is from here that saw it agrees and it's so hard to explain. and while yes glen IS a texan - ur exactly right - not every southern character is texan!! there are distinctions!! i'd LOVE to talk to glen about this. about playing an arkansas boy <3 and tell him how much it meant to me

also im sure ive said this before but there was a guy i had a huge crush on in school and tyler sounds just like him. when tyler was like "hi kate :)" i was like algkjlKGJSHKJSGHKJ cuz it reminded me so much of that guy.

i know im holding onto tyler being an arkansas boy SO TIGHT because arkansas NEVER gets any rep. esp not good rep. we are SO MUCH MORE than racist redneck stereotypes!!!!!!!!! that gets so old. and the wrangler crew being all different types of people was good to see too! there are in fact different types of people here!!!

it makes me stupid emotional how much it means to me to have a character that everyone LOVES and he's from MY STATE!!!! MY HOME!!!!

on the way home from the movie the first time i saw it, my cousin and i blasted country music and we were so amped up i felt like i do on the fourth of july LOL it's a tangible thing for us arkansans and also just a thing for the south too!!

and also - maybe it's just me but i like to be picky about details of where characters are from!!! they did NOT hide that he was from arkansas. i guess it might be a detail to miss but? they mention arkansas a few times and kate mentions "u of a" aka the university of arkansas, and tyler has arkansas plates on that truck!!

at the end of the day if you write him from texas then it's a harmless mistake but it takes me out of the fic right away algkkslg

this is so cute anon thank you for letting me go on this lil tangent sklgjslg

[riewritten]

hello rie👋 could you tell us more about yourself if you dont mind? age? nationality? what do you like to read? what you do during freetime? what are your favorite series? artists? anything else?

even if I reread yoyr works all the time I feel like there is still so little I know about you🥲 i love your works so much. one of my favorite authors❣

thank u for expressing interest in your resident author (シ_ _)シ (i think i will jus make this post my about me page skskks) but im not actually comfortable revealing my actual age on fanfic blogs out of habit bc i used to be one of those minors aging up myself to read adult stuff (╯•﹏•╰) pls don't do that, kids. fortunately i really am an adult now hehe (early 20s)

i'm RIE ≽ܫ≼ and i'm somewhere around ASIA ! (guess which country. clue it got colonized 3x)

📚 authors — i like to read SYLVIA PLATH, PAULO COELHO, and recently i've started reading FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY too. my writing style is inspired by theirs, but i practice often using plath's narration style. she is my mommy

🤾‍♀️ hobbies during freetime... idk, i read? write? draw? hang out with siblings, and maybe girls night out with frens? 😭 if those aren't enough to distract me i usually end up crying and bedrotting

📺 fave series — i think it's quite obvious at this point lmao 😭 but aside from MONSTER and ATTACK ON TITAN, i also like CHAINSAW MAN, DEMON SLAYER, SPY X FAMILY, DN ANGEL, & RUROUNI KENSHIN. the rest are manhwa or manga. but recently i started KILLING EVE, too! in another universe naoki urasawa made anna liebert the monster and she'd be so villanelle-coded.

🎶 fave artists — idk i listen to songs to get the ~fanfic vibes~ but i don't usually remember the artist. here are the ones i've listened to recently tho (guess which fanfic/s were inspired by lana del rey)

❔ anything else... i honestly don't know what else i could share 😭 hmmnmm i'm currently on school leave due to medical reasons and i'm working full time in an advocacy-based non-profit organization! :) it has helped me a lot so far. i think i will be going back to school next semester tho. das why i'm excited to get better. i want to finish my studies and settle in my career as a development worker for good. heee heee (〃￣ω￣〃)

[infernaleikon]

1/? Okay but that line “I would never fall for you” applied to obikin Is so so delicious. Idk, some au where anakin grows up resenting obiwan for some reason. Maybe some sort of misunderstanding that never gets resolved & anakin just holds onto that grudge. But over time his reason for hating Obi-wan gets weaker & weaker until at some point he realizes he doesn’t actually hate him & it’s just a matter of pride at this point/he’s made a point of being enemies with him for so long he doesn’t know

2/? how to stop without embarrassing himself. Anyway maybe on a night out with a mutual group of friends anakin finds himself involved in a debate about the type of person he’d fall in love with & Obi-wan makes a joke about how anakin just described him & that’s anakin’s response! Except as he says it he realizes he’s actually fucked up and gone and fallen in love with Obi-wan but Obi-wan thinks anakin HATEs him and yeah. Just love Obi-wan being his charming flirty self versus anakin having to 3/3 pretend he isn’t affected by Obi-wan’s charm & handsomeness. Fond, teasing Obi-wan meets pouty, sullen anakin who always has to act aloof in his presence

oooooohohohoho i love this!!

this makes more sense to me in a modern au tbh so i was thinking that they're neighbours or obi-wan is a family friend or they've known each other otherwise for a long time. and when teenage anakin finds out that obi-wan is quite popular with people, he just sort of scrunches his nose and very confidently in his teenaged arrogance tells him that he would never fall for him. obi-wan barely even snorts because it's not like some bratty teens opinion on that matters much to him and plus, he pities the person who will possibly, some way down the line, fall in love with anakin who is whiny, arrogant and awkward on a good day.

cue several years down the line, anakin is now in his twenties, he's matured (a bit skskks) and he's a catch, thank you, regardless of what obi-wan other people say. it's only a bit unfortunate that he's developed a huge crush on obi-wan between then and now. obi-wan's gone on to become a professor at the college anakin's ended up studying at and anakin had taken a class or two of his. and well, the first one of obi-wan's classes was a mandated one and anakin had grumped and bitched about it all the way until the first session (which is when he found that it's not actually terrible and that obi-wan is very easy to listen to). and over the span of the semester, something had sparked in him, something had shifted, something felt different but anakin being anakin refused to even consider that obi-wan could be hot.

except, well, they do see each other outside of class regularly as well. and because anakin befriends aayla who is friends with/being mentored by quinlan who is friends with obi-wan, anakin ends up seeing him even more than before. and it's then that anakin sees obi-wan flirting with other people, being charming, being, well, obi-wan.

it's not just a crush, of course. and over the course of anakin's undergrad, he gets closer to obi-wan in new ways. obi-wan helps him when anakin is frustrated with his studies or struggles finding friends or needs a few kind words and encouragement or stresses about something that he thinks he can't talk with anyone else about. and, he realizes, it's not even that obi-wan is suddenly different than before. he's kind and patient, he offers advice and support, but he doesn't coddle. he's firm and straightforward and never lets anakin stew in his self-pity.

and then anakin makes the mistake of taking an elective class with obi-wan. anakin doesn't pay much attention to it's course content, he just wants to be in another one of obi-wan's classes and wants to sit and listen to him teach, moon over him, and just watch him being passionate and competent and obi-wan. except the class turns out to be something about sex and eroticism in poetry or something, so anakin has to sit through a whole semester listening to obi-wan talk (and read) about that. it awakens one thing or two in anakin. he hands in his final paper beet red. obi-wan smirks only a little.

anyway, yeah, they're out one night and they somehow get to arguing about what type of person each of them would fall for, and when anakin argues his own case, obi-wan snorts a little and quinlan howls with laughter and imitates arrows pointing at obi-wan being like, hi hey that's this guy. but anakin has his pride, okay, and he remembers that conversation from years ago and how obi-wan had been so unimpressed. he's convinced obi-wan would laugh in his face if he knew about anakin's feelings. but that's beside the point. anakin has his pride. so, he, again, stupidly, says "i wouldn't fall for you" except he already did and obi-wan smiles wryly and answers, "yes, so you've said"

MEANWHILE obi-wan is working through massive amounts of guilt over falling in love with this loud-mouthed brat that used to irritate him to no end (and still does, even) and that he watched grow up. and he has his pride, too, a little. (it's mostly the guilt tho.) but he can't admit that he's pathetically fallen in love with this bright eyed kid when not that long ago he felt pity towards whoever would develop feelings for anakin skywalker. joke's definitely on him. and then anakin just goes and describes obi-wan as his ideal partner but reiterates that of course it's not obi-wan.

but then they eventually get around to who would be the type of person obi-wan would fall for. quinlan is smirking like a shark, and well, obi-wan realizes he does seem to have a type and that type being contrary, argumentative, bratty, insufferable, keeping him on his toes and occasionally giving him headaches but passionate, loyal, ingenious and earnest. he lists those attributes and shrugs, joking about how he's had partners like this and he values these traits but yet he couldn't make any of the relationships work. and quinlan quips lightly how there's one person right in front of him who he hasn't tried with. obi-wan doesn't kick him in the shin and he doesn't flee, exactly, but he does decide to leave then and orders quinlan that one obscenely expensive and equally disgusting drink that they serve at the bar before before he does.

anakin just sort of scowls through the whole thing, blinking, watching obi-wan avoid his eyes and ducking out of the booth, while something in his own head blinks red lights at him. and he sits with it for a little, feeling like he missed part of that conversation, and it isn't until he's on his way home with aayla that a persistent, giddy, hopeful part of him breaks through and urges him to go see obi-wan and find out what that was all about.

when obi-wan opens his door, there's a strange look on his face; a weird mix of surprise, hope and defensiveness, maybe, something wary and tired and yearning.

but instead of asking, what does it mean, or any of the other things anakin had come to ask about, he rushes in and kisses obi-wan. and for a split second, nothing happens and his anxiety is just about to ratchet up, when obi-wan grips him and kisses back. the surge of relief and joy is huge.

between kisses anakin tells him, "i would fall for you. i did," and punctuates it by pressing closer still, kissing obi-wan eagerly, sloppily, full of enthusiasm and pent up horniness, and obi-wan groans and kisses him back deeper, biting and nipping, losing himself in the intoxicating feeling of having anakin in his arms.

but then anakin pulls back and asks, "did you...did you, too?" and he looks so bashful despite the spit slick, swollen lips. obi-wan wants to eat him, so he dives back in but anakin leans back, blinking huge eyes at him, and there's a subtle smirk on his face.

"yes, i did," obi-wan says, fondly, so affection, but he can't help the eye roll, "you insufferable brat."

and anakin's smirk grows wider. "so you've said," he says before pulling obi-wan back in for more kisses.

[dollwrites]

I'm so with you, I'm sick of everyone baby-fying villains and basically all male characters, and dont even get me started on the fact that basically everyone I come across on tiktok and twitter insist that ALL Male characters are subs. Like oh yes it makes so much sense for someone like Dio to be a sub 🙄 I saw a post on tiktok the other day that said toji would whimper and beg you to peg him like WHAT LMAO. Like just admit that some characters aren't soft, wouldn't "fall for you" and "change for you", and would treat you like a fucktoy lmao. Idk why recently people act like it's a sin for people to think some male characters are doms (thankfully I dont see that as much on here, BUT I only follow people like you so maybe I just havent seen it 🤷‍♀️)

HONESTLY!!!!

No bc you’re completely right, Dio is another one !!! Stop making him sub !!! 90% of his character revolves around his desire for power !!!! It just doesn’t even make sense. And like as a dio stan there is nothing that pisses me off more than seeing him get turned into some weepy sub 😭

I HAVENT ACTUALLY USED TIKTOK IN SO LONG every time I logged on I would just see the absolute worst takes.

SAY IT WITH YOUR CHEST!! I COULDNT HAVE SAID IT BETTER!

and anyone who says toji would whimper or beg for anything… they’re just wrong I said it SKSKKSK that man is TAKING what he wants from u.

trust me there are PLENTY of beefy, strong men that could sub and still be canonically accurate and I just wish that the writers who like to write dom readers could just use them instead of changing a character’s entire personality to fit a fic?

but…. Then again toji is super popular right now, so I’m sure that the majority don’t actually care about who he is they just wanna get in on them sweet sweet notes SKSKKSKSK

AND IT KINDA TICKS ME OFF because I’ll admit I wasn’t super interested in him until I found out koyasu is doing his voice but when I finally sit down and get to know him I’m sure I’ll enjoy him and when I write for him I will drive myself INSANE trying to get his characterization perfect because I’m passionate about keeping the characters the way they are. we fell in love with these characters for who they already were, no? Why give them a whole new identity SKSKKS it’s so weird

[luvkuvi]

hallo ill be inactive for awhile and maybe answer some asks another time bcs im busy today >< + my wifi broke and im only using data rn skskks

[goshikle]

Hey I I herd you like bugs and my adhd brain is obsessed with all bugs and other weird friends (like spiders, frogs, snakes) some of my favorites are moths, bees, and snakes what about you? (Feel free to ramble I love hearing about other people’s happies)

TW: BUGS / ANTS (just in case)

Bro bro bro,,,,,

Finally someone who has class

I fucking LOVE ants, so much that i can just talk about ants for 2 hours if you let me and my friend back in HS got me an ant plushie for my birthday cause of how much ive talked about them!

I love ants, trantulas, cockroaches (sue me), random bugs really, snakes, hamsters, etc

I just god love ants and how they just dont give a fuck type of personality ! They are strong yes but there are different types of ant classes in different ant species. Like the leaf cutter ants, have a major/solider, minor and a worker ant!

The minor (or mimima!) process the gathered leaves, tend fungus gardens, and care for the brood! SURPRISE LEAF CUTTER ANTS ARE RAD FARMERS who farm on a fungus that evolved with the ants!

Soliders care and protect the colony and can gather materials if they want.

Where as worker ants just are construction workers and gatherers!

The queen just vibes 😤✌

Also fun fact an "ant bite" isn't really true its more of an ant sting, ants have stingers just like a bee or a wasp! They 'bite' to hold onto ya so they can keep stinging you just like a wasp! (Fire ants or scienticfically called Solenopsis) are a GOOD example of this:

They are native to Brazil (Amazon rainforest) but spread basically all over the world becoming an invasive species in North America! Thats why they can float cause their antcestors had to deal with Amazon rainfloods.

Another fun facr before I end this ramble (so sorry) that worker ants only live up to a month and a half at most! So every 2-3 months you see a BRAND new generation of ants in your backyard 💚 the QUEEN has been recorded to live up to 30+ YEARS in captivity! (So maybe 5-10 years in the wild!) This is different for every species of course tho! (And the queen ant in fire ants only needs to go through her mating once and has enough to colonize for YEARS, call that efficent and a tired mom with her thousands of daughters and sometimes sons)

[sugawarassoulmate]

how would enemies to lovers Kita react when he gets jealous? like maybe reader gets pissed off by him so she flirts w another guy, or lets another guy flirt w her?

(also idk if i asked to have an anon emoji yet, but could i be 💀 anon lol)

of course you can be an anon!

skskks kita doesn't care he cares so much, he's never cared about anything more in his life.

you two get into another argument right before you're about to head out to a party and you leave with a simple, "you know what? i might just make out with someone tonight," before stomping away.

you're bluffing. you're so full of shit. but it doesn't stop kita from stalking your insta story on his burner account that you don't know about (he DOESN'T worry about you when you go to parties without him, he doesn't give a shit)

sure enough, you've posted a few photos with your friends, drinks in hand, and dancing like idiots. and, of course, you shared a pic with a guy's arm wrapped around your waist. he doesn't care. he doesn't care.

"did ya fuck anyone else?" he asks a few days later, balls deep inside of you. it's the same song and dance each time. the two of you get into a fight and don't speak to the other for a few days, only to end up back in bed eventually. so pathetic.

"you're really asking me that now?" you groan, nails digging into kita's skin as you grow used to his size.

kita gingerly moves his hips, earning a few gasps from you. "yes. tell me or i won't let ya cum,"

he'll do it too, the son of a bitch. "i haven't fucked anyone else besides you, shin. you're the only one," you admit much too quickly. you're too horny to make him wait for it and you need his cock now.

"good," he chuckles before fucking you properly.

kita definitely doesn't care.

[letstalkaboutfandomsbaby]

If you write for Sukuna, I need head anons of him falling in love with a chubby reader. Either Canon Sukuna or fanon Sukuna, either works

Babe, i am so sorry but i went a little hogwild and wrote a novel instead of just a couple of headcanons, pls forgive me for how much you'll have to read 😔🙏 anyways, we're gonna do modern au Sukuna bc although i love that canon genocidal freak of nature, i have an idea and i wanna write about it. Also Sukuna is pretty ooc in this but ykw idgaf, i liked writing him this way sksksk

Word count: 6,826 (im so sorry, pls forgive me sksksk)

CW: chubby fem reader (ofc aldjakdj), modern au Sukuna, smut, use of the words "daddy" and "bunny", use of the word "fat" in a nonderogatory way, not beta read bc this shit is too damn long

Okie dokie artichoky skskks, lemme set the scene for yall

You're a curvy, gorgeous, hardworking woman getting your bachelor's degree and you are 💫FABULOUS💫

You live off campus bc it's cheaper than a dorm. Yea, it's kind of a crummy apartment and one time a mouse crawled under your door but you're stubborn and don't wanna spend a bunch of money

You live at the end of the hall, and for two years no one has lived next door to you, and you were happy with that

Then that all changed when Ryomen Sukuna, an up-and-coming MMA fighter, moved in next door

The first time yall met was when you woke up to hearing him fucking some girl on the other side of your wall

So obvs you go over to his apartment and angrily knock on his door bc wtf dude i'm trynna sleep over here, what kinda asshole makes this much noise this late at night 😤

Ok but when he answered the door, you really didn't expect him to look like THAT

Modern au MMA fighter Sukuna is about 6'3", has pink hair, body and face tattoos, his ears pierced, oh god and he's jacked just built like a fucking god and he absolutely towers over you—

"You here to join or what?" oh FUCK his voice is deep too wtf yall what the FU—

wait

what did he say??

This bitch straight up starts flirting with you while his side chick is waitin for him back in his bed and you're just ??????? HUH????

You're super flustered but politely ask him to quiet down bc you're trying to sleep and he's making too much noise

And this mothafucka SMIRKS and says, "Sure, bunny, I can quiet down for ya. Not sure if she can, but I'm sure I can give her somethin else to do with her mouth."

If you could turn pure scarlet you definitely would bc you are currently losing your shit wtf why is he talking to you like this who tf is this guy—

Anyways, you stutter out a thank you and hurry back to your apartment, pretending like you don't hear him let out the sexiest chuckle you've ever heard behind you

He's kind of a menace after that. He's not the worst neighbor you could have, like he did quiet down after you asked, but then he just brought another girl home the next weekend and was just as loud so you had to go ask him to shut up again 🙄

Oh, and don't worry, he does that again. And again. And again, for five weeks in a row jesus christ, how many girls actually wanna fuck this dude wth?

But it doesn't stop there. No, this dude also insists on bothering you whenever you're home. Doesn't matter if you're just relaxing or studying, he'll knock on your door and interrupt you with some stupid shit

His go-to line is "can I borrow some milk?" which come on dude who tf drinks milk anymore, like I can't even finish a carton of oatmilk on my own and you're out here bothering your neighbors for some?

BUT ANYWAYS you get him some milk while he watches you from your doorway, leaning against the doorframe and eyeing you up and down until you bring a cup of milk to him

"Thanks, bunny. I'll have to return the favor sometime; maybe give you some milk of my own ;)" MAAAAAAN, IF YOU DON'T TAKE YOUR FUCKIN GLASS O' MILK AND LEAVE—

You hate that he flirts with you, you know he's a player, he's got fuckboy written all over him so you know he aint bein sincere when he flirts with you, so why the FUCK does your dumbass heart start to race every time this motherfucker shows up shirtless at your door?!

Sorry, got a lil angry there sksksk

Anyways, Sukuna flirts with you too damn much and you know he's just flirting for fun and doesn't mean any of it so you're pretty sick and tired of his antics

But the truth is that Sukuna actually is attracted to you, even if it's just in a shallow way

Tbh he's never fucked a curvy woman before and he's intrigued with how it would feel

He's curious about what it'd be like to fuck your tits or your thighs, or how you'd look folded in half and drunk off his cock

Surprise surprise, Ryomen likes rough sex and he really wants to be rough with you 🥴

I'm talking slapping your ass, tits and thighs, pulling your hair, fucking your face, choking you, spitting in your mouth. Mans literally wants to beat you up which?? you good dude? you need somebody to talk to because your kinks make me think that you need therapy sksksk

But since you're not used to big buff guys wanting to have sex with you and flirting 24/7, you don't see him as anything but an annoying playboy who just flirts with you bc he's bored and has nothing better to do

You avoid him whenever you can, but he always seems to show up, whether it's at your door or by the mailboxes, and you wonder if you're gonna have to spend the rest of college like this

But then, one day, he stops showing up around you

You expect to hear him fucking someone new that Saturday night, but you don't hear anything and actually have a good night's sleep for once

You expect to see him the next morning when he comes by for some milk ("Gotta have somethin nutritious after that workout last night ;)"), but he doesn't show up

It's Wednesday now and at this point you're kinda concerned, like did he die? Wtf happened to him?

Yk he's an MMA fighter, so you decide to look him up on the internet; maybe you'll find answers there?? It's better than sitting around and asking "what if" questions all day

First link that comes up is to a video showing Sukuna getting knocked tf out in his latest fight. You watch the aftermath of the fight, a hand over your mouth as you see blood drip out of his mouth, his face already swelling as the announcers comment on the fight

Ok, that's it, you're gonna go check on him.

Yes he's annoying and stupid and you've lost a lot of milk thanks to that asshole, but you're still worried about him and wanna make sure he's doing ok bc you're a good person

So you go to his apartment that evening and hesitantly knock on his door

He opens the door a minute or two later, and tbh he looks like shit. His jaw is definitely broken, exceptionally swollen on the left side where he got hit a couple nights before, and he looks super tired

"Need sumthin bunny?" he mumbles, barely able to move his mouth due to his broken jaw

"Are... are you doing alright? I saw your last fight and... I just wanted to make sure you were okay..."

Ryomen shrugs, "Yea, I mean... could be worse..."

The two of you stand there awkwardly, not sure what to say in this situation

"Are you... sure you're okay? Are you sleeping alright? Are you getting enough to eat?"

"I mean," he starts, rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm drinkin protein shakes..."

Ok, you don't know what it was about the whole situation, but you could feel your motherly instincts kicking in and you just had the strongest urge to take care of him bc clearly he isn't taking care of himself

Long story short, you insist on cooking meals that are nutritious and pureed so that Sukuna eats some real food while he's healing

Cue you inviting forcing him to come over so you can make him some food and make sure he eats

He tells you that you don't have to do anything for him but you're stubborn as hell so once you've set your mind on something, you're not gonna change it sksksk

He tries to flirt with you and lighten the mood like he usually does, but tbh he just feels so exhausted and shitty that he can't keep up his playful attitude

He kinda just crashes on your couch while you make him some dinner and begrudgingly drinks the blended soup you made with a straw

You do this for him at least four nights a week, bringing him over to your place and sending him home with enough leftovers for at least lunch the next day

It becomes a new routine for the two of you: him coming over and chatting while you made him dinner, then watching a movie or two before he went back to his place

You start to learn that there's more to this guy than you once thought!

He's not just some annoying flirt who fucks a new woman every weak; he's actually pretty down to earth

Turns out that his upbringing wasn't the best: he was raised by a single mom and he didn't have a lot growing up

He was a delinquent in school, and he got into way too many fights. He eventually started fighting for money in high school, and he was scouted when he was 17

He got a manager and a trainer and within a year he was fighting professionally. He got his tattoos and piercings once he turned 18, wanting to stand out in the ring, and it's definitely worked! A lot of fans like him for his style more than his fighting ability

He earns a lot of money fighting, upwards of $50,000 per appearance, but he doesn't like to spend very much. He's put most of his money into savings and stocks so that he can live comfortably when he's a bit older

Fun fact: he invested in bitcoin when it was worth less than $500, and he got hella cash when the stocks skyrocketed, and then he sold his stocks and ran off with the money sksksks

Anyways, he's well off, but bc he prefers saving money and investing, he lives as cheaply as possible (hence the fact that he now lives in your shitty apartment complex)

Sukuna also starts to learn a lot about you!!

He learns about your interests, the degree you're studying, your taste in movies, and the more he learns about you, the more he realizes that you're not just a pretty face that he wants to pump and dump

And so, Ryomen's crush on you begins when he's healing from his last fight, coming over almost nightly to eat with you or even just to talk

Now, Sukuna doesn't know how to process his emotions at first

Tbh, the first time he realizes that he feels differently about you is when he finally gets the energy to masturbate again

He's masturbated to the thought of you before, fantasizing about all the nasty things he wants to do to you in bed, but those thoughts don't get him off this time

No, this time he keeps thinking about how gentle you are with him since he's injured, being so sweet and kind to him while he heals

He thinks about your pretty smile and the way your round cheeks puff up when you grin, how your hands move when you cook, how your laughter rings like windchimes while you watch a comedy together

And suddenly he's imagining that he invites you over once he's healed, either ordering an expensive meal or cooking something special for you as a way of thanks

He thinks about eating with you, bonding with you, letting his knuckles graze your cheek and jaw before he tilts your head towards his and kisses you oh so gently

He's been with plenty of women before, and he's always been rough with them, pretty much using them for his pleasure, not really thinking about their desires

But you're different from all of them, and he wants to treat you differently too

He wants to guide you to his bedroom and lay you down, kissing along your thighs and up to your sex

He wants to taste you, to lick along those chubby pussy lips and suck your cute clit into his mouth and he wants to hear you moan and feel your soft hands grasping at his hair and pulling him closer, suffocating him in the best way possible

He wants to slide his cock into you slowly, thumbing your clit the entire time, feeling you spasm gently on his cock once he's balls deep inside you

He wants to feel those plush thighs wrap around his waist, ankles locking under his ass and keeping his thrusts shallow, your arms holding him against you, letting him feel your heart beat rapidly next to his

He wants to touch and kiss every inch of you, hearing you whimper and whine with each squeeze, his name falling from those pretty plump lips of yours before he goes in for a kiss—

Ryomen realizes near the end of his recovery that he's fucked

What's he going to do once he's healed? Ask you out? You ignored his advances before his injury, why would you suddenly accept them? The two of you have gotten close enough that you consider each other friends; he doesn't want to ruin that when he's almost certain you wouldn't reciprocate his feelings

Basically, even though he's crushing on you hard and wants nothing more than to make you his, he worries that you won't feel the same and it'll ruin the friendship you've created

No, he can't let that happen. He's rather suffer by your side than lose you altogether, so he keeps his mouth shut and enjoys his time with you, not uttering a word about his newfound feelings

Two months have passed and Sukuna is finally all healed up and ready to fight again

You're prepared to be woken up that Saturday by him fucking some girl, but surprisingly, that doesn't happen

You check the internet to see if he had a fight, which he did, so you were confused why he hadn't brought home one of his fans

Well, maybe he's just too tired this week. He'll probably bring someone home the next week or the week after that, but that doesn't happen

It's been a month since he's healed up and you know for a fact that he's had at least three fights since then, so why hasn't he had victory sex? I mean, he used to do that all the time, why has he suddenly stopped? Did his recovery mess with his libido or something?

Now during this time, Ryomen has continued to be friendly towards you. He's not flirting like he used to; he's treating you with respect and his actions and words seem genuine

The two of you got so used to your routine while he was healing that you decided to hang out in the evenings during the week

Ryo always comes over to your place (he doesn't have a proper couch; he's got a beanbag chair and that's it), either bringing food with him or helping you cook

You alternate who chooses the movie and you just chill with each other, enjoying each other's company in a way that you never in a million years would've imagined happening

He's become... softer with you. You're not sure how to explain it, but before he got hurt, he was all smirky and teasing and unpredictable, but now he's gentler, his flirtatious smirk almost nonexistent at this point

His eyes were softer too; before they had some bite to them, something mischievous, but now they're relaxed and focused, and you start to wonder if his eyes were always that pretty or if something changed along the way—

Oh shit

Ok so maybe you've grown more attached to Sukuna than you originally thought, but who can blame you? It's the Florence Nightingale effect, it's a very common occurrence so it's not like you're alone in how you feel

But how do you feel? Do you like him? Bc for the longest time he was just your annoying neighbor and you avoided him like the plague, so what changed? Was it bc you helped take care of him? Was it bc you got to know him?

There were too many variables for you to pinpoint the exact reason why you started feeling differently about him

All that you knew was that he was nicer now and you actually enjoyed having him around and you wondered if his hair was as soft as it looked—

"Why are you touching my hair, bunny?"

Shit, you didn't realize you had reached out to touch him. You pulled your hand back, curling into yourself on the couch and looking back at the TV

"Sorry. I was just thinking."

Sukuna tilted his head back onto the couch cushions, looking up at you from his spot on the floor

"Bout what? Wonderin if my hair is greasy or somethin?"

You giggle at that, and Ryomen can feel his heart pounding against his ribcage

"No, dummy. Just... I don't know, I was just thinking about your hair, like... like how often you dye it and stuff."

He feels like you're lying but he's not completely sure. He shrugs and looks back at the TV

"Well, I get it done every month or so. I got a personal stylist for photoshoots and shit and she usually does it before a promo for a big fight."

You hum in acknowledgement, barely listening to him. You're still staring at his pink strands, wondering what they look like when they're not gelled back, maybe after a long hot shower after a grisly fight

"You can... you can touch my hair, if ya want. It doesn't bother me."

You feel your face burn, and for a moment you wonder if he can read your mind. You hesitantly reach out again, combing your fingers through his hair, hearing him sigh softly at the contact

It's nice, petting his hair like this, scratching along his scalp and twirling his hair around your fingers. You swear you can hear him moan softly at your touch, leaning into it and following your hand for more.

"You're like a cat," you mumbled, your index finger lightly grazing the nape of his neck, making him shiver. "You act all big and tough and hiss, but once you get a little affection you turn into a little kitten."

"Excuse you," he retorts, arching his brow at you, "but I am not a kitten. If anything I'm a wolf."

You snicker. "Oh yeah? What makes you a wolf?"

"Well, I'm big and strong and protect those I care about—

"—and you turn into a big puppydog when people love on you."

"AYYO, SHUT YER MOUTH" he'll yell, throwing the pillow in his lap at you, making you giggle. You throw the pillow back and soon enough you're having a pillow fight, Ryomen laughing and you squealing as he gets on top of you and bops you with the cushion

"OKAY, OKAY, UNCLE, UNCLE, YOU WIN!!" you squeak, giggling as you pull the pillow out of his grasp and above your head, leaving you face to face with Sukuna

The two of you stare at each other, your smiles faltering as you search each other's faces. The atmosphere has changed; Ryo's eyes turn from playful to thoughtful before he sighs loudly

"Fuck it," is all he mutters before he leans down and kisses you

Long story short, yall fuck on the couch

PSYCHE, YOU REALLY THINK I'D LET YALL DO THAT ALDJALDJKJD

You end up slapping him away, pouting as he leans back, your eyes beginning to water

"Jesus, what the hell, Y/N? What was that for?"

"You go too far, Ryo," you mumble, your lip quivering as you hug the pillow to your chest, looking away. "I don't mind you flirting with me, but playing with my emotions when you don't like me is cruel..."

Sukuna stares at you, rubbing a hand over his face as he sighs again

"God, you're so dumb, Y/N. You really think I'd kiss someone I'm not interested in?"

You blink, eyes darting back to see his face burning red, his gaze averted.

"...What do you mean? ...do you like me??"

Somehow his face turns darker, his hand rubbing over his neck as he looks up at the ceiling, breathing deep for a few moments.

"Yea... I like ya..."

He's prepared for you to kick him out, or worse, tell him that you don't feel the same and ask if you two can go back to how things were. He's tired of not being able to hold you, kiss you, cherish you, call him his. He's not sure if he can stay your friend forever—

"I... I like you too 🥺👉👈"

His gaze shoots back to you, eyes wide as he takes in your bashful expression. He can feel his lips curl unconsciously

"Shit... for real?" His grin spreads wider when you nod, his heart pounding as he leans down again. "Well then don't push me away this time."

Aaaaaaaaand it's official, you're dating sksksk

Tbh not much changes with your routine: Ryo still comes over for dinner and to hang out but now there's cuddling and kissing 🥰

You have a lot of doubts at the beginning of the relationship tho. Like you've seen the kinds of girls he used to fuck (literally all of them looked like models) and you obviously don't look like that so you're insecure about that and dont know what Sukuna even sees in you

You bring this up to him about two weeks after yall officially started dating and he asks if he can show you how he feels

You weren't sure what you were getting into but you agreed, letting Ryomen take your hand and tug you back to your bedroom

Now, Sukuna may be pushy at times, but he'd never force you to do anything, so everything he does is preceded by a question.

"Would you lay on the bed for me? Can I kiss you? Can I touch you here? Can I take these off?" and suddenly you're left in your underwear on your bed with Ryo on top of you

He's a man of actions, not words, so he barely speaks as he pushes his face into your cleavage, pushing your breasts together and groaning softly between them

He fondles your breasts for a while, his big hands are gentle but firm, squeezing your tits before he pinches your nipples, tugging at them before he introduces his tongue

You can feel his erection press into your thigh as he sucks your nipple, lavishing it for what feels like an eternity before he moves to the other one. At one point he pushes your breasts together and tries to suck both nipples at once, making you whine from the attention.

He eventually moves down your stomach, kissing and squeezing it along the way, leaving a trail of love bites before he reaches your sex

He nibbles at your plump mound, sucking on the extra flesh above your cunt, squeezing your thighs as he keeps them open

Once he finally reaches your pussy, you're completely soaked, your underwear drenched in your fluids

He teases you a bit ("Seems like somebody likes the attention they're getting 😏") before he practically rips your panties off, diving into your cunt like a starved man.

He eats you like you're his last meal, taking his sweet time slurping and sucking on your labia, bullying your clit mercilessly before pushing his fingers into you

You easily cum on his thick fingers, riding out your orgasm as he laps at your cum, but he doesn't stop. No, he pulls not one, not two, but three more climaxes out of you before he decides that he's done.

By the time he's finished, you're practically begging for his cock, on the verge of tears as you pull on his arms and try to bring him closer

"What's the matter? Does my cute chubby bunny want my cock? You want me to fill up that pretty pussy?" And you'll nod and whine and whimper for him, and how can he deny you when you're acting so precious? He hasn't even fucked you yet and you're already needy for more.

His cock is massive, to put it lightly. You always wondered why his past partners screamed so loud in his bed, and now you know. He's about 9 inches long, about as thick as a soda can, so heavy that it hangs low once he takes his boxers off

"Nervous, bunny?" he asks, massaging your thighs as he brings his cock closer to your entrance. "Don't worry. Daddy's gonna be real gentle with ya, okay? Gonna make you feel so good, baby girl."

And he does, he really really does. He's so gentle and sweet with you that you wonder what happened to your real boyfriend. The man on top of you is nothing like the man you first met months ago, and yet he's still sporting that same playful smirk right up until he pushes the head of his cock into you, thumbing your clit rhythmically

"Oh fuck, baby. Jesus... if I knew you'd feel this good, I woulda fucked you a lot sooner."

He doesn't last as long as he usually does, and it's all your fault. It's your fault for having such a tight, wet pussy that squeezes him just right; it's your fault for being so soft and warm and squishy underneath him; it's your fault for moaning wantonly, mouth falling open and eyes rolling back, looking so deliciously pretty as he grinds his cock into you.

He makes sure that you cum one more time before he pulls out, jerking off on your tummy. He groans loudly when he sees his thick, white semen coat your pudgy belly, and deep down all he wants to do is rub his cock against your tummy until he cums again.

Instead of that, he just plops down beside you, pulling you to his chest, not caring about the mess he's made.

"Feel better?" You nod and he chuckles tiredly. "Good. Now no more feeling insecure. You're too pretty to be sad." 🥺🥰💕💕💕

Once yall fuck for the first time, all bets are off sksksk like Sukuna is CONSTANTLY horny for you wtf

He's wanted you for so fucking long and now he's gonna have you in every way possible

He fucks you on every piece of furniture in both your apartments (yes, this includes all the countertops and even the walls)

He tries to be gentle with you after your first time, but he really can't help himself. I mean, you're just so cute and sweet and hot and god the look you give him when he slides his cock into you is to die for

Sukuna isn't a fan of pulling out, he'd much rather finish inside you. He also doesn't like condoms so be prepared to be on birth control if you aren't already bc he's gonna cum in your pretty pussy 95% of the time. Occasionally he'll pull out and finish on your ass or thighs, but he prefers watching his cum drip out of your tight hole 💕

He's normally pretty chill during sex, like he's not fucking the life out of you most of the time, but there are some exceptions!! For example, when he comes home after winning a match, when he's feeling jealous and possessive, when you're wearing something too cute/sexy. If any of these things happen, he'll be rougher with you, his fantasies from before his crush on you resurfacing

He only does these thing's with your consent, but once you give him permission he goes wild. You will not be able to walk for at least an hour after and once you do, you're gonna be wobbling like Bambi for a bit

You'd think that his fav position would be doggystyle so he could see your ass bounce, but he honestly prefers positions where you're facing each other. He wants to see your face when you cum and feel your nails scratch up his body plus then he gets to hold you close and feel your soft plush body against his 💕

He's begun a habit of buying things for you. You never ask him to, but sometimes he'll show up at your apartment with a few bags or packages and he'll ask you real nice and sweet if you could model some clothes for him.

He gets lingerie, little dresses, crop tops, mini skirts and shorts, just anything that'll show off that sexy curvy body of yours. He'll sit on your couch with his legs spread, the outline of his cock extremely noticeable in his gray sweatpants, relaxing with a beer while you try on the clothes he got for you.

It's pretty embarrassing for you, having this hot guy buy you clothes you didnt ask for, telling you to turn around and let him get a good look at you. Your body gets so hot from the looks he gives you and the little whistles and comments he makes as he eyes you up and down.

"Cmere, bunny," he'll say, making you feel like prey in the presence of a predator. You listen, of course, bc you know he would never hurt you. He'll have you straddle his lap, bringing your hips flush against his so you can feel his throbbing cock against your cunt.

"Look at what you did, baby. You went and made me all hot and bothered for ya. Are you gonna take responsibility for yer actions or am I gonna have to bend ya over and punish my little bunny?" LORD, GIVE ME STRENGTH—

Fast forward to you bouncing on his cock, your new clothes ruined already from Ryo ripping them out of impatience. He doesn't care tho, he's got plenty of extra cash to spend on you.

Ok but Sukuna has a tendency to use the word "fat" but not in a mean way like he uses it during dirty talk. "I love this fat little pussy of yours", "you got a nice fat ass, bunny", "who's this fat cunt belong to?", "you better sit that fat ass on my face before I lose my patience" like???? Ok, it's a little jarring at first but he partly does it bc he doesn't want you to hate the word "fat". Like he knows you have a rough history with the word and he doesn't want you to have negative emotions associated with the word, like every time you hear the word he wants you to think about his thick cock splitting you open instead. Idk man, i can't explain it, he just loves how big and plump you are and he gets turned on every time he calls your pussy fat 🤷‍♀️ but ofc if u don't like it then he won't do it 💕

Has a habit of using your clothes to hold you better and fuck you harder. Like if you're wearing his shirt and lookin like a fuckin snacc he will bunch that shit up in one hand and uses it like reigns, like he's gonna pull you onto his cock with each thrust and fuck you harder

He's a fan of anal. He can live without it, but he loves fucking your ass while you've got a vibrator in your pussy. Again, he won't do anything you don't wanna do, but he'll bend over backwards just to put the head in let me put the head in oooo i dont want more than that girl i respect the cat i promise just a touch—

SPEAKING OF SEX TOYS, he loves using them with you 💕 he doesn't really like em on himself, but he loves using a vibe/clit sucker on you during sex, maybe put a cute little heart shaped plug in your ass, maybe put some clamps on your nipples that clink and jingle while you bounce on his cock. He's got a little collection, but he uses vibes most often bc he loves how it makes you jive on his dick 🥴

He calls you his good girl, but when he's in a rough mood, he calls you his little slut 💕

RYOMEN SUKUNA IS A SLUT FOR STEM BITCHES, LIKE IF YOU GET A DEGREE IN A SCIENTIFIC FIELD HE WILL JUST HNNNNNGGGG GO APESHIT!!!! He doesn't know wtf you're sayin but you sound really sexy sayin it. Big man just wants to turn a smart girl dumb with his big fat cock 🥺💕

He gets really pissy if you try to go on a diet or lose weight. Now dont get me wrong, he's happy if you're happy, but if you try to lose weight bc you don't like your body he will shut that shit down immediately. Makes sure that you don't skip meals and eat enough calories, he doesnt CARE if you don't like your size, you're literally perfect and there's no way in hell you're gonna change just so society accepts you so why don't ya chill out and let him order you some takeout after he dicks you down? I mean, ya gotta regain your strength after all that strenuous activity, might as well have a meal from your fav restaurant, hell, have some dessert too! If you're worried about gaining weight, he'll find a way for the two of yall to burn some calories ;)

Although he seems like the kind of guy who only cares about sex, he's actually a very loving and sweet boyfriend. It's just that his love language is physical touch so he often uses sex as a way to express his feelings for you. But that's not the only way: he also insists on cuddling with you every second he can, and if he isn't holding your hand when you're going out then he gets all pouty and grumpy.

Overall, you're very happy with your relationship with him and you don't have any complaints... well, there is one thing

You've noticed that Sukuna never asks you to come to his fights. It's not like you want to go and see your boyfriend of six months get beat up, but you want to be there to support him! You wanna cheer him on and give him a big kiss when he wins!! Is that too much to ask?? 🥺💕

You watch highlights of his fights at home, and sometimes you'll watch the interviews after the fight and listen to what commenters say.

At some point, the commenters start talking about Sukuna and how he's changed over the last several months. They talk about how he used to be seen with a new girl after his fights every week, his arm around their waist as he answered a few questions before leaving, but now he's always alone and he tries to leave asap after his fights. "What happened to the playboy that Sukuna's fans grew to love?" they ask rhetorically.

You end up asking Sukuna why he never brings you to his fights, and he's hesitant to answer. You ask him if he's embarrassed by you and he firmly denies it, saying that he isn't embarrassed by you in the slightest. He eventually reveals that he doesn't bring you along bc he's seen how the media treats other fighters' partners and he doesn't want anyone to attack you for any reason.

Yall talk through things and basically you tell him that you're a big girl and you can take care of yourself. And although Ryomen just wants to keep you safe away from all the people who could be shitty to you, he gives in and invites you to his next match.

Fast forward to said match which is actually against the same dude who broke his jaw almost a year ago. You're sitting right outside the octagon where his manager and trainer are (they're super excited to finally meet you!! They're v nice and cool 😊). You're wearing one of Ryo's fav hoodies and almost bouncing with excitement bc omg you’re gonna get to see your strong hot boyfriend fight irl for the first time!!

The match starts soon enough, and you're cheering on your boyfriend the whole time. It's nerve-wracking to see him get hit, especially since this guy hurt him so badly just this year.

It's the main event so there's five rounds total, and it's long and grueling, but Sukuna wins by a hair and you're so excited!!! You literally start jumping around when he wins, squealing and clapping and cheering for him.

He leaves the ring and goes straight to you, picking you up and twirling you around. You're squealing, yelling at him to put you down bc you're "too big" and he "shouldn't exert himself after a fight like that". He finally puts you down, cupping your face and kissing you hard. He smirks at you when he pulls away a moment later.

"I know my limits, bunny. You need to relax and trust me a bit more." You open your mouth to protest but he just kisses you again, the two of you ignoring the rambunctious crowd in the background. "I'm gonna have to bring you to fights more often," he almost yells as he pulls away. "Pretty sure you're my good luck charm." 💕💕💕

You become more involved in his career after that, showing up to the majority of his matches and supporting him. You've even got some fans of your own! There's people out there that are literally cheering you two on and want you to stay together forever and it's so adorable 🥺💕

Side note: you know how they have those pre fight press conferences with opponents? And how the opponents trash talk each other and shit? Well, at his next big conference after yall went public with your relationship, the guy Sukuna was supposed to fight made some rude comments about your appearance and Sukuna ended up knocking him out on stage with a flying kick. Nobody dared talking shit about you after that

Ok so you're convinced that Sukuna is the only big buff dude who finds you attractive but you are WRONG, DEAD WRONG. A LOT of the gym rats that occupy the same spaces as Sukuna find you very sexy and wanna fuck a chubby beauty like you (bc let's be honest, a lotta gym rats are chubby chasers). You may not notice these guys looking at you, but Sukuna does and he hates it, you're his chubby bunny and he needs everyone to know it, so what does he do? He records himself fucking you from behind and sends it to his acquaintances so they know who you belong to. Also will not hesitate to drag you to the gym with him so that after he trains he can fuck you in the showers in the locker room. He likes knowing that his fellow fighters are right outside changing and can hear you moaning like a whore for him.

After a couple years together, Sukuna gets a tattoo associated with you. Could be your name or a little bunny, but he wants to have a physical reminder of his love for you. Maybe it's his wedding gift to you (bc he's dumb and corny like that sksksk).

Yes, he's had playboy tendencies in the past, but tbh once yall started dating he knew you were the one and he was ready to settle down after the first three months. He doesn't propose for a couple years, but in the back of his mind he knows that no one else can make him as happy as you do, so he's certain that he's gonna spend the rest of his life with you.

Please don't break this boy's heart. He puts on a tough act, but he wears his heart on his sleeve and can't handle when his loved ones hurt him. That's why he doesn't have a lot of ppl close to him: he's worried about getting hurt.

He won't admit it, but you're the only thing that matters to him, like you're his reason for living. Before you, he just went through the motions and didn't really think about what he'd do when he retired. Sure, he saves money for retirement and whatnot, but he doesn't really have a plan for life besides fighting.

Then you come along and make him all soft and mushy and now he's thinking about getting a nice house with a backyard, adopting a big dog and maybe having a kid or two if you wanted. He's finally found a reason for living and he's for damn sure never going to let you go 💕

[bwoahtastic]

What are Sebs three Alphas different relations to the pups and how is it with Kevin, since he is so much older, and Kimi basically arrested him a couple of times.

Oh pllssss! Dan is obviously liked by most cos ye is their fun homeschooling teacher and always ready to cause chaos skskks. And Lewis always sews them cosy pj's and makes them teddies and blankets and he has dogs which the kids are really wxcited about! The kids saved by Kimi obviously adore him but some others take a while to warm up to him cos he looks big and imposing, but they quickly realise he is a soft cutie who can't really say no to them jdkdkkd

Kevin would struggle with all three a little bit I'd say, hell he even struggles with seb a lot too at first. He is just so sure they will let him down and he is better of hating him. Seb is too sweet, too kind, and Kevin doesn't know how to react. Daniel is too loud and Kevin isn't homeschooled so doesn't want to deal with another teacher when he comes home from school himself. Lewis asks about his life, his school, and nico too much snd Kevin doesn't need a 'friend' or free clothes. Around Kimi, Kevin is always really on edge and will thump his foot warningly whenever Kimi gets too close. He is pretty scarwd off Kimi snd embarassed about Kimi basically arresting Kevin.

Poor Kevin needs so much love but doesn't allow himself to receive it! He only cuddles his little brothers and is so sweet to them, but the adults he can't let close. Maybe Nico gently urges him on to at least get closer to Seb, and it causes a bit fight between Kevin and nico but Kevin knows Nico was right. Kevin shyly going up to Seb one night, when all the pups are to bed and the Alphas aren't around. Seb is enjoying a cooking show, curled up on the sofa, and Kevin crawls on the sofa next to him and shyly pushes into Seb's sight and plsss poor little bunny sniffling a bit cos he is so emotional finally getting momma snuggles!

[smutsonian]

Ma'am I had this idea. Outrageous but I did😂😂. Dark! Colin Shea. Can u imagine. Him acting all friendly but his intentions r not so good. So I can't sleep now. Yay😂😂

Heyy! So another movie I haven’t seen 🤭 But it’s basically like a Neighbor AU situation, right?

I’m going to try something, I guess 😂

safe hands

colin shea x reader

warnings: smut! dark fic! noncon! drunk reader, innocent reader, stalking, obsession, loss of virginity, dark!colin, not proofread  

wc: 1606

a/n: not me writing for characters i dont even know... @jack-skellingtons-stuff hope ur sleepin well now sdkskskkd

masterlist

So Colin...

Probably a boy next door

Like literally. You just moved and he’s your next-door neighbor.

So, imagine you... A young pretty little thing that’s fresh out of college and is looking for a job but you’re just this awkward little ball of sunshine that keeps messing everything up.

You never even go out of your apartment unless it’s for an interview, even then, you so dread those stuff.

“You’re a freaking adult now! Why can’t you just act normal and do adult... stuff?!” You would chide yourself in front of a mirror, groaning in desperation at your lack of... experience? Like workwise.

Hey, there are people working from home. Maybe you can do that?

And you did. And you actually found one which is great for your adulthood but not great for you because you never go out of your apartment anymore. At all.

That’s when Colin comes in.

He was there when you moved in, expecting you to greet him like every girl who sees him. He really gets em easily. I mean... look at him.

So he watched you as you brought boxes in which there was not much. There were like 3 boxes, maybe 5 but not more. He watched you with amusement as you were too busy grunting at the boxes, missing his nude form by his door, only a small towel to cover himself.

He takes a bite of his apple, obnoxiously chewing to catch your reaction but he was met with a slam of your door.

Since then, he has become fond of you.

He’d watch you as you went in and out of your apartment in those cute little skirts and wonderful blouses and every time, it’s a sight for him.

He eventually found out that you’re going to job interviews and he found himself following you and witnessing some of those awkward interviews and he finds himself growing more fond of you. Even got himself thinking that he might actually like you... Is that even possible? He’s Colin Shea. He doesn’t settle down.

But for you, he might.

He saw how you would block everything out and he listened to your late-night talks with yourself and he can’t help but think about how adorable you are. How helpless you are. Something ignited in him and all he wants to do now is be there for you. Protect you. Take care of you.

Imagine his reaction when you’re no longer getting out of your apartment.

So he finally decides to meet you. Or for you to meet him. He knows so much about you already but he won’t say that to you.

A knock forces you away from your laptop. You open the door to find a man staring down at you with a friendly smile.

“Umm, hi? D-did I, Was I making any noise or something?” Your stuttering would make Colin’s heart leap out of his chest and the way you're dressed down with shorts and a huge sweater only made his heart swell even more.

“Uh hi! I’m Colin! I’m your neighbor! I uh... Was going to ask a favor, if that’s alright?” He smiles shyly at you.

“Um, yeah! What’s up?” You smile awkwardly, silently praying for him to leave already. Not that he was annoying. You were just not used to this... And besides, you’re doing work.

“I locked myself out of my apartment and I tried talking to the office but I guess they’re already out. I mean it’s pretty late.” He looks down at his wristwatch before looking at you with a hopeful smile making your heart beat faster. Not because of his boyish cute smile but because the idea of a stranger being with you just doesn’t sit right.

But it would be more awkward to deny him now, would it?

“It’ll be as if I wasn’t here. I promise. Just need somewhere to spend the night. I mean I can sleep by my door but that would be--” 

“Y-yeah, I guess you can stay for a while.” You give him a small smile which Colin found extremely adorable which then made him grin. A grin that soon fell when he took a look around your apartment.

He watches as you make your way back to your laptop, quickly getting back into your zone. His heart falls at the sight. Is that what you’ve been doing the whole day?

“Have you eaten?” He finds himself asking, not being able to resist.

He watches your face contort into confusion and he would’ve awed at the sight but your reply made him somewhat angry.

“I guess not... Did you want anything?” You pull yourself away from your laptop once more and Colin didn’t know if he liked the idea of you preparing his food but nothing for yourself. 

What a sweet girl...

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll order take-out!” Colin cheered before pulling out his phone, wiggling his eyebrows at your shocked expression.

That’s how you find yourself eating pizza while watching some show on the telly.

Then those nights became a thing.

Colin would often visit you, making sure that you eat and take a break from work because he said that you tend to overwork yourself.

“You’re not my mom!” You’d playfully slap his chest.

“Well, I might as well be!” He’ll take your wrist before dragging you towards your bed and forcing you to watch another batch of comedy shows.

He’d be laughing at the show so much that you find yourself laughing as well. 

You would no longer feel so stressed.

But then things went badly. 

The company you were working for decided to let some employees go and unfortunately, those who work from home weren’t as important as those who work in the office.

You cried in Colin’s arms that night.

Colin did feel sorry for you. But maybe it’s for the best. Even the universe thinks you shouldn’t be working like that. He’s there to take care of you. You would no longer have to stress yourself out to live.

He’ll make sure to take good care of you.

Then the drinks came up.

One bottle of beer. Then two. Then three.

Honestly, you lost count.

Colin didn’t. He didn’t drink any.

He’d watch you with a smile as you’re sad and brooding aura turned into a giggly one.

“I’m sleepy...” You would mutter, head falling down Colin’s shoulder and he would embrace you happily, stroking the side of your face gently.

He’ll smile at the way you would squeal when he carries you to your bed.

“You enjoy being relaxed, babe?” He asks, taking your socks off. Then your shorts and shirt that went unnoticed by you.

“Too hot!” You’d fan yourself with your hand which Colin would take. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.” He’ll press a kiss on your forehead that’ll make you giggle.

Colin would watch your naked body, touch your warm skin with patience.

“So beautiful... And all for me, right?” He presses a kiss on your lips and you nod at whatever it is he’s saying.

He’ll easily play your body, making you and himself feel good. His fingers would play with your clit while his mouth laps on your nipples, taking turns from left and right.

He’d bask at the sound of your moans and whimpers that went straight to his hardening cock.

He’ll only stop when you’re drunkenly begging for more which he happily gives.

His hard cock would be poking your entrance and as he pushes in slowly, your eyes would widen, suddenly not so drunk anymore.

“Colin?” Your frightened voice alerts Colin and he would shush you with a kiss.

“Don’t worry about it, baby. I got you... I got you...” He whispers before pushing in, swallowing your cries with lustful kisses.

“God!” He moans when he’s fully seethed in, your walls hugging his cock. He stays there for a while, listening to your heavy breathing and slightly feeling guilty at your cries.

“Ahh...” You cry out when he slowly pulls out. He’d kiss your tears away before slowly pushing back in, pulling your body closer to his in a hug, whispering promises about feeling better soon.

And you did.

Your cries turned into moans which motivated Colin to thrust faster yet still careful to not hurt you. He didn’t even have to ask because when he looked down at his cock, he saw little blood, and his jaw clenched, feeling some sort of remorse.

“You’re doing good, You’re so good to me.” He whispers before resuming his thrusts. He’d dwell at the sound of your pleasured moans and his hand would find its way down your clit, fingers playing with the nub until your body was shaking violently underneath him.

“You gonna cum? Cum for me, baby... You’re good. You’re safe...” He grunts at how your walls are tightening around him. You whimper before curling against his body, unknowingly pulling his body closer to yours. 

He shivers before cumming as well, his seeds filling your hole, making you drip with his cum. He places a loving kiss on your forehead before pulling out.

The mixture of blood and his cum makes him get a cloth before gently cleaning you up, being extra careful when he wiped at your core.

He cleans himself up before lying back beside you. He presses a kiss on the side of your head, your nose, and then your lips.

“I’ll take care of you. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore...” He places a hand on your stomach before smiling and pulling the covers over the both of you.

You’re in safe hands.

---

a/n: see i dont think i should write for these guys (from movies i haven’t watched/too lazy to watch) because im probs messing up a lot skskks anyway hope y’all think this one is alright! also im a sucker for innocent reader jcnavn

taglist

General: @readermia @unlikelygalaxygiver @xoxabs88xox @anncutamarica @chaoticfiretaconerd @i-love-superhero @caffiend-queen @coconutqueen21 @jtargaryen18 @jennmurawski13 @mushyjellybeans @ninjabucky @evnscvll @buckstaybucky @donutloverxo @rebloggingeverything @adriannajackson @la-cey @awaywithtime @gotnofucks @empath-bunny @belovedcherry @white-wolf1940 @the-soulofdevil @mianorth @littlegasps

Anything Chris: @patzammit @princess-evans-addict @shadowcatsworld @notyourtypicalrose @onetwo3000 @bluemusickid @heyiamthatbitch @inlovewiththefictionalcharacters @slytherinandoutasgard

Chris and seb: @harrysthiccthighss

[dreamwritesimagines]

only Cherie would need another room just for planning. “Elias told you that Anthony had accepted every demand of your father.” Anthony Impatient™️ Bridgerton everyone lmao he just wants this over and done with like as soon as possible. he’s got tunnel vision, he just wants to marry Cherie no matter what. he’s not even reading anything. the settlement could have it in there that he has to sacrifice a kidney and he wouldn’t even second guess LMAO. 

“Anthony I have terrible news!” she almost gave Anthony a heart attack jfc ksksks why would she do that LMAO. “…That’s the terrible news?” YES ANTHONY IT IS. WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE??? i love how their worries are on different planets lmao. Anthony's terrible news is that Percy changed his mind and he would have to go to Gretna Green meanwhile Cherie...her veil not being finished on time, of course. but omg, this whole conversation just shows who’s the dramatic one and who’s the logical one on SOOOO many levels LMAAAO. the fact that she’s willing to sacrifice her frickin firstborn to church all for her veil and then Anthony just...gives a quick solution with no sweat at all. well, no sweat but a whole lot of Harlotness™️ that's for sure. he just can’t keep his hands to himself can’t he?? Obsessed Harlotness™️ Counter: Anthony - 1 | Cherie - 0

OH MY FUCKING GOD BWAHWJDSKJDAJVDHQKD ANTHONY WHAT !! IS !! IN !! YOUR !! POCKET?!?!?!? ALKSALSK HELP I CAN’T BWAHAHAHAHAHH it’s The Symbol of Whorism™️ Cherie, that’s what’s in his pocket. “Darling,” he said, somehow breathlessly. “You might want to stop moving.” SHE IS KILLING HIM AND SHE DOESN’T EVEN KNOOOOOW. Obsessed Harlotness™️ Counter: Anthony - infinity & beyond | Cherie - 0. he wins this chapter i’m sorry sklssks oh Benedict, idk if you’ve saved him or cockblocked him. both i think. LMAO he’s hiding it behind the desk i caaaan’t. this it too funny kskskss

TEN (10) !!! nightgowns?? why spend so much on that? when it’s going to end of on the floor either way??? alksalkslkasakslks sorry sorry. ANYWAYS THAT’S STILL SO MANY??? “Dear God, he will spoil you rotten.” i mean, isn’t she already?? ksksks Anthony’s already going above and beyond and they’re not even married yet. i mean in his eyes they already are but legally, not yet.

“It’s sheer.” well, you won’t be wearing it for long tho so there’s really nothing wrong with it sksks. i love how clueless she is. like, i really want a whole scene dedicated to her just realizing everything after their honeymoon just how clueless she’d been around Anthony and her just remembering every single innuendo Anthony hinted at her before. i can see her walking into his study all shocked saying, “You had too much fun with me asking you to take me to a brothel, didn’t you?” skskks it’s just too funny to think about. 

“It’s a nightgown for your honeymoon,” she reminded you. “What did you expect to wear? An actual gown?” oh Anthony would NOT like that skslsk i’m pretty sure he’d complain that there’s so many thing to undo and yada yada yada and he’ll get the scissors and Cherie would be so offended of him trying to hurt her gown and it’ll be a problem LMAO

“not to…rip easily. You know newlyweds.” AUNT LAVINIA SKSKSKSK tho i don’t think any type of fabric would stop Anthony The Obsessed Harlot™️ Bridgerton. if he wants it ripped, it will be ripped LMAO. “That Anthony won’t rip them off in the haste to get you out of them.” hmm, maybe an armor would do sksksk

“No, I don’t think Anthony wants to see me without my clothes on.” oh he’s been seeing/dreaming you without clothes on so i highly doubt he won’t want to see the real thing, i mean, Cherie, you saw his pocket earlier so LAKSLAKSLASK i know Cece is just DYING to tell her but it’s still two weeks out so patience <3

ugh. why is she here. she’s just ruined my mood completely. i won’t even name her. she’s not worth the effort to type lmao. “He might love you for now, yes. But that’s not the same as desiring you.” hmm, idk about you ma’am but your logic is a bit skewed. wanna know why?? bc you’re not getting both from your husband sooooooooo you don’t really have a say in that. UGH I HATE HER. SHE’S SUCH A JEALOUS BITCH AND I;M JUST CAN SHE FUCK OFF. she’s not even speaking the truth like my GOD. ask Anthony’s pocket, i’m sure it will prove his desires sksksksk (i’m sorry dee but i’m not going to let this pocket thing go it’s too funny)

“So I must ask. Should I send the invitation for you and your husband, or you, your husband and his mistress?” YES. YOU TELL HER!!! now THAT stung bc she knows it’s the TRUTH. “I hope it hurts.” omg.. does she mean like, the consummation? if so then :// bc she’s speaking from experience right? and like, i want to feel bad her but then. BUT BUT if she just means Cherie and Anthony's marriage in general then sorry ma’am, that ain’t happening. these two are far too in love unlike you.

but ugh, i hate how she’s just put those insecurities back especially when Cherie knows so little. like i’m sure everyone can see how much of a Cherie Whore™️ Anthony is with the way he just looks at her but she just thinks it’s admiration and love. and yes, it is, but it’s also Carnal Lust™️ and Desires™️ madam. Anthony loved you yes, but did he want you? YES. YES HE DOES. ASK HIS POCKET DAMMIT SKSKSK. tho i’m sure Anthony will be quick to reassure her of that.

“What happened?” he’s just so attentive aah i love him. like he just knows right away that something is bothering her.

“See through, you say?” ugh, Anthony will you stop thinking with your pocket for a second lmao. “Do you want me?” LSAKSLASKK SHE CAN’T JUST ASK THAT. god she’s going to kill him before the wedding idk what’s going to happen to him after LMAO. “I’ve never loved or desired anyone more in my life.” see??? “I’m nearly going insane here.” SEEE??? his pocket is about to Bust™️ LMAAAO but god this whole conversation is HILARIOUS. “I will enlighten you about that really soon.” oh god Anthony WHY DID U HAVE TO USE THAT WORD YOU WHORE™️??? we’re preparing for The Enlightenment™️ is that it then? that’s why that chapter is called Preparations? kslaksla i’m kidding, i’m kidding. we can NEVER be prepared when that time comes LMAO

“You could enlighten me tonight, you know?” CHERIE BWAHAHAHA it’s even funnier that SHE DOESN’T FUCKING KNOW WHAT SHE’S ASKING OF HIM. you are killing you future husband madam. “You deserve better than some stolen moment.” oh pls <33 look at this growth. honestly, who is this man. WHAT DID U DO TO MY OBSESSED HARLOT™️? lmao he’s being The Gentleman™️ right now and i love it bc he’s in soooo much pain while doing it lololol. “We’re going to another room with people in it before I give in to my desire and decide to enlighten you right here.” OOP. NEVER MIND. HE’S HERE. THE OBSESSED HARLOT™️ IS HERE. lol he never left. can never take out The Whority™️ out of this man. “Trust me, you won’t have to remind me.” pretty much lmao that’s been on his mind BEFORE you were courting. i doubt he needed the reminder.

but god, this was such a fun read (apart from the bitch bit lmao) but aaah so the engagement ball is next chapter right? and then the wedding after that??? EITHER WAY I CANNOT WAIT OMG. The Talk™️ omg Elias and Percy crying??? Percy walking her down the aisle?????? there’s so many things that’s about to happen and i’m so excited!! <333 amazing chapter as always love!

– TM Anon™️

Omg omg darling helloooo! Aaaaaa I’m so excited for this! ❤

I doubt Anthony was even paying any attention during those settlement negotiations😂 Like, he wanted to sign it as soon as possible so that they wouldn’t have to delay the wedding even for a day, he was so impatient! 😂

Oh I think she will do that a lot! 😂 Like, they’re incredibly different than each other and Cherie likes to be dramatic, it runs in her family 😂 So they will be having conversations like those many times 😂

The Symbol of Whorism™ I AM DYING AT THIS! 😂

Obsessed Harlotness Counter is like going into overdrive whenever Cherie is near Anthony latelyyyy😏😈

TEN NIGHTGOWNS YES😍 That was probably Aunt Lavinia’s idea and it’s uncommon for sure😂 Other brides probably got like one or two for the honeymoon but Aunt Lavinia knows better, she saw how they were looking at each other 😂

Oh she will put the pieces together after the honeymoon😂 And Anthony will have so much fun with that😂

He will complain about how there are so many things to undo the moment she changes into anything other than her nightgowns during the honeymoon😂 And Cherie’s gowns are very, very important for her 😂

AN ARMOR LOLLLL😂😂😂

He has been dreaming about her nonstop for a while now 😏

Oh Miriam is so wrong about that!

does she mean like, the consummation? if so then :// bc she’s speaking from experience right? and like, i want to feel bad her but then. BUT BUT if she just means Cherie and Anthony's marriage in general then sorry ma’am, that ain’t happening. these two are far too in love unlike you. Oh no no, Miriam is actually not speaking from the experience BUT she’s heard it might happen during her “talk” before her own marriage. I don’t think it hurt her during her own consummation, it wasn’t unpleasant or anything but it lacked passion💔 So she’s basically wishing some horror story she heard on Cherie, not her own experience!

That definitely made Cherie very insecure! Everyone but her knows how much Anthony actually desires her but not her ❤

ASK HIS POCKET DAMMIT Lolllll this is so good! 😂😂

Anthony will you stop thinking with your pocket for a second HONEY YOU’RE HILARIOUS OMG😂😂

Anthony thought she was joking at first 😂 He couldn’t even believe she would ask him that, he thought it was very clear 😂

Enlightenment 😏😁❤

lmao he’s being The Gentleman™ right now and i love it bc he’s in soooo much pain while doing it lololol. EXACTLY! Especially after talking to her…😈

that’s been on his mind BEFORE you were courting. i doubt he needed the reminder. You’re absolutely right! 😂 Anthony has plans for the honeymoon for sure 😏

Yesssss, the engagement ball is next chapter and the wedding chapter after that! ❤❤ I’m so excited, I hope you’ll like them! ❤

Honeeey, you’re amazing and you’ve made my day with this, thank you so so much! ❤❤❤

[marc-spectorr]

I'm back all I know about Diatrice is that she has pink hair, and she dose take over a moonknight for a time but, there also a plot point where her mom takes her and they get away from Steven/Jake/Marc. I don't know much more about it and unfortunately I don't a have a comic store near me so I can further my research about them being dad's. 😔

Ps. Also this is random but the song Jessie's girl make me think of the Steven/Marc Layla love triangle. Which I feel that song would definitely be on Stevens play list. In my head I can see Steven singing it anyway have a good night. 🧡

she takes over moon knight ??? :o

okay i must check this out skskks. i really want to start reading the comics 😩 luckily we have several comic book stores around where i live, but i hope you’re able to get them another way! maybe they’re available to read online or you can have them shipped to you?

hehe i agree with that 😌 i think steven’s playlist would have tons of classic songs like uptown girl. i was listening to somebody to love by queen the other day and imagined him singing it if he ever does karaoke. he’d also listen to this song on the way to work too. ooO i lowkey wanna make a playlist for each moon boy. that would be fun :)) when i have some free time, i probably will!

[ellitx]

Art school au 👀

Venti and you are strangers who both attend art school. As one day the teachers tells that there will be a new project that makes 70% of the grade. The teacher makes a groups. You, Venti and Xiao are in one group, of course Xiao drops out cus he wants to work alone so It's just two of you. Both decides to meet at Venti's house.

You don't know what type of art to do for your project, after spending some time together you decide to go dress up into pyjama. As you're dressing up Venti on accident opens he room and walks onto you changing.

He sees your wonderful body and imidietly develops a crush. So when you end up being panting mess under hin with your red flushed cheeks he gets a camera and takes some pictures.

And a few minutes you sit on his lap still panting as he paints you onto his canvas.

-🧺

Skskk didn't expected this to just came to my mind i-

Omg this is such a good concept!!!!

Artist venti ready with his camera to use you as his reference for his art hnggg hecc he might even used those image for different purposes 👀

He wants to recreate those lewd scenarios stuck inside his head onto that canvas but it would be a trouble if anyone sees this. What else could he use as other means of putting his inspiration to something else?

Maybe asking you if he can take more pics of you, slowly and gradually getting erotic. Removing each article of your clothing one by one until you’re practically naked in front of him. Eventually you striked him another inspiration and he’ll keep in his head and sketch it in his art book :>

[thekidultlife]

100 Things I Learned About Love | Vernon!Android AU

Pairing: Hansol Vernon Chwe x female!reader

Genre: SCI FI!! Action, Romance, Angst(?)

Word Count: 22.2k (yes another giant fic)

Warnings: A bit of death and gore

A/N: Well, I’m gonna say sorry first to the anon who requested a vernon android au when we were just starting this blog (like three yrs ago) and I only managed to finish it now;; 

So this fic is a continuation (and is in the same universe) of the Jihoon Android AU The Coldest Human; The Warmest Robot. It is primarly inspired by the book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick and the anime “Beatless”. This one here has also elements from Huxley’s “A Brand New World” (because I just love reading dystopian novels for some reason). I kind of mashed everything together to create the world! 

This will be the 2nd part of a four part series! Next would be Soonyoung’s story and then finally Joshua’s! This series kind of explores the whole world I created for it. Jihoon’s story introduced the whole world and the relationship between android and creator, while Hansol’s story explores the world of bounty hunters! I still haven’t decided fully with what to do with the rest but I hope you enjoy this one!!

Tag List: @haotheheckk, @smthingabtlove!! (because they asked to skskks)

If mornings had any color, it would be a disgusting green. Afternoons, electric orange. Midnights, as dark as crude oil. Cities were built upon lines of flickering yellow, as streets were colored with the void of space; dark, desolate, and meaningless.

Society is tinted with the same shades of emptiness. Dressed in uniform white body suits—hair covered entirely as it was deemed unhygienic—only the face bore the resemblance of the classic human being, as if it was a mask. Serene smiles and polite gestures were exchanged almost to a hundred times; laughter was hollow and chemically induced, as with tears and frowns. Frivolity and superficiality were the main trends. 

As what they appear to be, is what they are actually are.

Welcome to the West Martian colony!

“Here ya go. The case’s now yours, doll,” your boss tossed a folder filled with papers on the polyester table. “Choi quit a few days ago after retiring Woozi.”

Your head perked up immediately as soon as you heard the news; disbelief painted on your face.

“What? Why?” you asked, standing up with mouth agape. He was one of your idols, your role models; the reason why you went into this line of work.

“He’s not talkin’, doll. Sadly. Told me it’s personal. But can’t blame him really, this business is gettin’ old.”

Your boss with his thinning hair and scotch-tapped broken glasses, sipped from a coffee stained mug; seemingly too overused for years of constant coffee drinking.

Yet you loved this place—this pseudo-police department home to bounty hunters of West Mars, with its crumbling brittle plastic window blinds and its moldy paper odor—all a different world than that of the city around it. You loved how it was like something straight from an Earth comic book; classic, rustic, and homey; a sheer contrast to the minimalist style of the new century.

“So what do we have here? Some andy from the Orion branch?”

A finger flipped through the factsheet with brows raised and lips in a tiny pout as you scanned the information laid before you. There were several official photographs of the unit after it was made, but none were security cam shots.

“So, from the organization…SVT-class Type-12 Vernon. The name’s too Western.”

Your boss shrugged. “The org’s just pastin’ names on their andys like butter on bread, dolly.”

“Guess so. But this Vernon just looks someone my age,” you remarked, munching on the biscotti within your arm’s reach.

“It’s an andy, YN. A hundred years, and it’ll still look the same. Now off ya go, better start retiring ‘em or you’re gonna get retired first.”

Sighing, you stood up and brushed the crumbs off your skinny jeans. Bending over, you picked up your briefcase filled with a laser gun and a V-T scale equipment as you bid your boss a short goodbye.

In reality, you didn’t want to leave the home base.

One particular reason was that you’d be taking the hovercraft and start cruising around the godforsaken city, not that it believes in any god for as long as you could account for. The city was an abomination, a stubborn mulish creation born out of rejection of the old, ancient ways—ways that had led to the destruction of the Earth, ways you still hold on to despite migrating to Mars. Despite being physically present, and even born in the red planet, you knew your heart was still back on Earth. You were proud to be to be human, with ancestry from the noble home planet, and everything which diminishes humanity is your enemy.

—you paused.

Lips parted, eyes transfixed.

A thousand snowflakes suspended on the air as if you were in a colony-sized snow globe. You continued to wonder, because you had never before seen snow in its truest, purest form, and everything you knew about them was from data gathered on Earth.

You removed your glove to touch one floating. It was cold, you shivered. However, it did not melt as you expected it to be as it only glistened against the dark backdrop of the city night like holographic particles.

“What the—!”

As if deliberately cutting you off, the hovercraft swiveled across the air, its power flickering on and off until it was unable to balance itself, swerving up and down across the night sky. You held on to the metal rails, as the turbulence brought you to your knees, the alarm systems of the vehicle blaring on your ears.

“Fucking hell…!” You cursed, grabbing your laser gun as the vehicle plunged you towards the empty streets of the city. Fortunately enough, you were trained to encounter these sorts of problems and thus, you were able to jump towards the nearest rooftop before the hovercraft exploded upon impact to the asphalt road.

Sighing, you watched the flames burn plastic and metal as if you couldn’t believe what you had just experienced. Well, of course it was unbelievable. So far, the only adventure you had experienced in your whole life was your day-to-day job of ‘retiring’ andys, which could get a bit messy but those were on balmier days. Normally, it wouldn’t get pass you to laser a hole on an andy’s head, but if you’re doing it like ten to twenty times a week, it could get boring.

Bam—!!

Your thoughts were placed in a halt as several other hovercrafts continued to fall from the sky like shooting stars, except that people could get killed. But havoc proceeded as it did, where lines of self-driving cars suddenly powered on and chased after human beings who had heard the crash and checked what had happened.

“What the fuck is happening?” you whispered, eyes peering on the alley beneath you. Hopping on several rooftops and sliding down the gutter towards the ground, you cautiously approached the main road, seeing if there was anyone who was in trouble. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone loitering around at this hour anymore.

You checked your intercom for any news or announcements from your home base or from the AI government, yet there was none. As it were, your intercom was actually having trouble projecting a hologram or following any of your commands seemingly halfway hacked.

“Dammit, I couldn’t get hold of HQ,” you grumbled, running towards a nearby police android to alert its human command center. “Hey, could you get in touch with your district station? It’s getting chaotic here.”

Yet the android only stared at you, its eyes blank as if you were a mere holographic image. The artificial smile on its face, which was made to comfort humans interacting with it, seemed more sinister than welcoming. The prolonged silence causing your heart to thump in anxiety.

“Hey? You heard me? Tell the—”

“Hi there. I’m Akiro. What can I do to help you?” It’s human voice making shivers crawl down your skin.

“I said, alert the district station! Haven’t you detected the level of violence—”

“Hi there. I’m Akiro. What can I—Hi there. I’m Akiro—Akiro—Hi—Hi there. H-H-H-Hi-i-i-i—”

The malfunction was obvious in its speech. It wasn’t unusual for an android to malfunction but when it began moving closer and closer to you, you took a step back, dread treading on your spine. Androids made you uneasy as humans once felt ill at ease with clowns—its artificial expressions making its lack of a soul even more prominent, triggering your fight or flight response.

It continued to move towards you until a snowflake dropped on its head, stopping as if it was suddenly glued to the ground. You hesitantly walked closer to it, inspecting its dead eyes to see if it had returned to normal. Raising an arm, you reached for its control box hidden behind its neck.

It grabbed your wrist, without warning. You gasped and began struggling to release yourself from its vice grip, yet you knew how strong androids were.

“Fuck it!”

“Hi there—Hi—I’m A-A-A-Aki-Akiro,” the android continued talking as if its movements were controlled by a remote system.

You moved to reach for your laser gun at your back pocket but the android was swift enough to twist your arm in a lock on your back. It pushed you to the ground as you grit your teeth at the scrapes on your knees and elbows, but you couldn’t break free.

“What can I do to help you?”

You groaned. “Maybe letting go of my fucking arm?”

Gathering your wits, you pushed yourself off the ground, rolling sideways and then kicking the android who was thrown off-balance with your two feet. As it fell to the ground, you grabbed your laser gun and without hesitation, pulled the trigger to blast off its processor.

As the headless android dropped to the asphalt, you sighed in relief as the adrenaline continued to pump into your veins, breathing heavily from all the action. You didn’t understand why the android was behaving out of its initial program and attacking you, a human, who it was supposed to protect.

While you were resting, the glaring headlights of a self-driving car were flashed towards your direction.

Disoriented, you froze to the ground as you tried to make do of your situation and surroundings. However, just like the android, the car sped right towards you in its maximum speed, as if it was trying to kill you. As soon as you heard its tires screech, you willed yourself to move away as the car missed you in just a few centimeters—throwing you to the ground and slammed itself towards the nearby wall.

Without even letting you take a breath, an arm was encircled around your neck, making you unable to breathe; its grip tightening gradually. Two other androids—one a police android, the other a personal helper—faced you with their blank stares as if they were zombies ordered to kill any human on sight.

The helper android had your laser gun on its possession as it slowly aimed it on your head. Panic rose as you tried to remove the arm locking you in place. Mentally, you were cursing at how you had underestimated the situation and let yourself die under the hands of goddamn androids.

Silently, the android pulled the trigger and you braced yourself for impact.

Except it didn’t come.

Your eyes were forced open when you heard the sound of metal dropping to the ground. What you saw had your eyes widen in astonishment as another small disk stuck itself on the police android’s head and split it into individual pieces. In a few seconds, you were dropped onto the ground, choking on your knees as the pieces of the android holding you fell into heaps next to you.

“Are you okay?”

A warm voice asked as a hand was offered to you. You looked up to see doe-like eyes gazing at you with a curious but a worried expression. His slightly curly caramel colored locks fell to his forehead softly as if it were made of the finest materials.

You nodded silently, still stunned by everything happening around you.

When you didn’t take his hand, the mysterious man carried you on his back as he walked you away from the site. While you were being carried, you noticed how he was ‘destroying’ the approaching rogue androids with a disc-like device which would stick on their skin and eventually ‘disassembling’ them to several parts.

“W-who are you…?” you finally asked, your voice returning despite still being painful.

Grabbing another disk from his pocket, the guy hurled it towards an incoming self-driving car which had it stopping, its parts detaching themselves automatically.

“I’m called Hansol. The snowflakes are nanobots which hacks the AI in androids and cars and drives them into killing humans. Unfortunately, I don’t have the capabilities to stop it,” he replied, his voice kind of removed, which had you wondering if he was an android or not. “Though I think Jihoon can.”

“Then…this…this will all continue?” you asked unbelievingly. You didn’t want it to continue, of course. More people would die and you still weren’t sure to what extent the casualties are because of this sudden outbreak.

“The snowflakes will lose its power when its controller is far away. So far, Joshua is already gone from this area.”

“Joshua? An android?”

“Yeah. SVT-class Type-03 Joshua. We came here together, and I tried to convince him out of it, but he wants to test out his abilities.”

Having enough evidence, you pushed yourself away from Hansol and landed safely on the ground with an abhorrent look on your face.

Aiming your laser gun at him, you shouted. “You’re an android too, aren’t you?”

Hansol simply gazed at you with his piercing eyes—tempting you to retract your accusation.

“Yes, I am. SVT-class Type-12 Vernon,” he replied, then looking down on the ground as he scratched his nape. “I like the name Hansol better though, so I want to be called Hansol from now on.”

You grinned. Your prey presented itself right in front of you without you giving an ounce of an effort.

“I’m supposed to retire you, you know?” you remarked, still aiming the gun at him. “And I will.”

Hansol stared at you with a frown on his lips, obviously disliking the fact that he was about to ‘die’ tonight. In fact, he didn’t want to die. He had a lot of things he wanted to do, so many questions yet unanswered.

“I’m…I…I don’t know how to plead. The data is incomplete in the cloud, but, um…don’t shoot me…please,” Hansol replied as he raised his arms.

You were obviously taken aback by his plea. You couldn’t count how many androids begged for their lives because there were none. He was the first one who ever did it.

Shaking thoughts of doubt, you tried to reason with yourself.

Androids don’t plead. They escape. Kill.

The most efficient way out is what they do.

“How am I supposed to believe you?” you shouted back; your finger threatening to press on the trigger. “You might be using analog hack for all I know.”

He scratched his nape again, unable to give an appropriate answer. “Well…I guess I could only ask you to trust me.”

You laughed sarcastically. You have never seen an android use deception so badly.

“If that’s too much to ask, then I guess this is it,” he continued, looking at you again straight into the eyes with his evocative gaze.

You just couldn’t believe what you were hearing. For all the years you spent hunting androids, never had you encountered one who had basically given up without any chase or struggle, especially from one who had every capability to squash you like an ant. You couldn’t help the itch to ask.

“Why? Why give up?”

Hansol shrugged, his gaze on the yellow lines outlining the faraway city buildings. “If I fight back, I will hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you.”

You gazed right into his eyes for a moment, trying to gauge the truth in his words, trying to calculate if he was using analog hack against your weakness as a human being. You dislike androids but never had you seen one like him.

“How should I know that?” you shouted again; laser gun still aimed at him. “Using tricks like reverse psychology…I’ll give you an A+ for creativity.”

“I’m not lying,” the android instantly replied. “If you have to kill me, then there is nothing I could do. I made a vow to myself never to hurt humans because that’s the right thing to do. I don’t want to see anyone suffer because of what I did. For some reason, it pains me as well.”

If only you could see how wide your eyes were, or how your lips parted in disbelief the moment you heard him. It almost gave you goosebumps. The air that hung underneath his every word felt so real and heavy that you would have never thought it was uttered by a mere android.

Androids and morality? Fucking hell…who would’ve thought you’d string those words together in the same sentence.

He was more human than most people living in the city. An android—known for their lack of soul; born only to be enslaved by their own programming; without their own thoughts, their own convictions.

But here is one in front of you, willing to die for his own principles; saying it pains him to see you hurt. That is not what androids do. Not in a million years.

What the hell is he then?

You threw your arms up in the air and tucked the laser gun in its holster as you made one big, ugly groan.

“Oh fine! Fuck it! I give up!”

Whether or not he will run away or he will kill you, you didn’t care anymore. It was a risk. You blame your biological flaw to see human traits in objects if he ever did harm you, but whatever, you decided to trust him.

With a small smile and a tiny huff, Hansol walked towards you slowly.

Heart hammering against your chest, you were deathly afraid that he might twist your neck or blast a hole through your chest. You couldn’t be so sure with these androids.

As soon as he had reached you, Hansol placed a hand on top of your head; your eyes squeezed tightly shut as if trying to brace for something bad coming. Yet as soon as you felt his hand, you opened your eyes and gave him a quizzical look.

He only smiled.

“Thank you for trusting me.”

The following morning was the same as ever. Except, not.

“—last night which appears to be a massive AI hack on neighboring Sectors 3, 4 and 7—“

With eyes heavy and a cup of coffee, you pressed another button.

“—71 people dead and more than a thousand injured, hospitals are in full capacity as of the moment—“

Another press of a button.

“—and take a deep breath. Happiness is found within Mercer as we continue to ascend up on the hill—“

“What a load of crap,” you muttered, turning to another channel. It was still six in the morning and you were already in a painfully awful mood. It could’ve been easily fixed with a Penfield Mood Organ but that was another can of shit you’d rather not touch with a ten-foot pole.

“—Mrs. Kim?”

You hadn’t caught on with what the news anchor was asking Mrs. Kim, but you could already take a gander that it was definitely about last night.

“My husband…He was just…he was truly a hero,” Mrs. Kim answered, wrecked by staggered sobs and sniffling of noses. You continued to watch, wondering what had happened to Mr. Kim—crushed by a car? Ran down by a flaming rogue hovercraft? Murdered by an andy?

“Your husband a hero, Mrs. Kim?” The interviewer repeated, coaxing the other for details. You waited for the dramatic reply after Mrs. Kim had settled herself down from the crying fit she was having.

“Yes…someone was stealing our ducks last night—“

You paused.

“During the whole chaos?”

“Yes, sir,” she sniffed and you rolled your eyes. “He—he tried protecting them yet they murdered him! Those bunch of foul-hearted bastards! Our ducks! Our Muscovy ducks…they were fifty grand a piece—“

You switched the TV off, now more tired and irritated than you were when you had turned it on about an hour ago. If you were asked to name one trend which just tasted like shit to you, that would probably be the current craze over owning animals. The whole Mercerism thing was only running second to that.

“I, uh…made some pancakes,” a foreign but familiar voice interrupted your thoughts, making you turn your head towards the doorway. With your eyes set upon Vernon, or Hansol, as he liked to be called, you instantly recalled what had happened last night.

You wondered if your brain disappeared that time or your common sense simply deteriorated because there was no way you would let a half-a-million-dollar bounty money just run free. Not to mention that he has all the capabilities to decapitate you in a millisecond.

Inwardly groaning, you gave him a small glance as he waited for your response with sheer curiosity. At least he followed you to your apartment and now you have a free housekeeper.

But that was last night, this was today. You can certainly do something about it, but you weren’t really in the mood for it. A headache was threatening to split your brain into half and racking your brain about the moralities and the whys of your decision last night wouldn’t really help anyone.

“Oh, right, right,” you replied absentmindedly, removing yourself from the cover of your flannel blanket and walked towards the dining room of the small apartment your meager earnings could afford.

It was a simple place. White walls, dirty carpet, and a worn-out sofa which had seen better days. Kitchen was slightly okay—the once white tiles now yellowed with age; the grout covered in black mold of unknown origin. The view was horrendous; covered up by dark globs of factory shadows and the ever-present rumbling of the monorail as it passes by.

Being a bounty hunter wasn’t exactly a glamorous job. It wasn’t like you were the police, who, as a matter of fact, are now mostly made up of androids. A bounty hunter does the nitty-gritty jobs the police wouldn’t do; such as hunting androids. Yet you liked this job. Even if it was stupidly exhausting.

Settling on your chair, you gazed at the expertly done pancakes and bacon, sending wonderful scents of home to your senses. You wondered why you had never thought of getting a helper android for yourself with how convenient they are, yet considering the fact that one helper was an inch away of killing you last night, it was better that you hadn’t.

“I hope you like them,” Hansol said, placing a bottle of maple syrup on the table. “I searched the cloud and it says you liked pancakes and bacon.”

Awkwardly, you nodded at him and then looked down on the piping hot breakfast on your table. You continued to gaze at it, the burnt patterns on the pancake beginning to take form of an image in your head, and then back at Hansol who was just standing at the side.

“You don’t like it?” he asked, as soon as he noticed the blank look on your face, curious if the cloud made some mistake.

“N-no! It’s…it’s fine,” you replied, waving your hands to and fro. “I just, um…are you just going to stand there?”

Hansol raised his brows at your question, his doe eyes widening just a bit. “Ah, me? Yeah. Isn’t this the right way?”

“The right way?” you asked, your forehead creasing.

“Yeah, the right way. I’m an android so I can’t sit with you. I heard from the cloud.”

“Why not?”

Hansol shrugged, the kitchen towel in his hands hanging. “Heard it’s inappropriate according to human table etiquette. Besides I don’t need to eat and I don’t really get tired.”

Sighing, you rolled your eyes at his response. “Human standards, what a load of bull. You just standing there makes me uncomfortable. So, you either sit down or you scram.”

You could tell that he was definitely taken aback, and began wavering if he should follow you or not. In the end, Hansol was forced down on the chair in front of you with a nervous look, awkward in his seat as you continued to stare at him.

Finally acknowledging that everything was alright, you began to drip maple syrup on your pancakes. The android was only watching you and your actions—very typical android behavior; gathering data from its surroundings.

“So, you’re Hansol?” you began, slicing through the three-tiered pancake tower with a knife.

“Yeah. Vernon is my model name, but I want to go by my own name.”

You raised your brows at him, biting into a forkful of food. “Cool. You picked that name on your own?”

“Yeah. It was the name of a musician I liked, so I took it.”

“Oh,” was the only thing you could say, because deep inside your head, you were already in a state of confusion.

For all the years working as a bounty hunter, this was the first time you’ve ever seen an android want to name himself after a musician he liked. Hell, this was your first time seeing an android have preferences. Usually, they would reflect the preferences of the human being they were talking to, but you haven’t even said anything about yourself to him other than your name.

No. He probably accessed the cloud or something. Androids of his caliber usually have better access to the place data miners dump people’s personal information.

Is this how advanced the Nexus 9 really is? If so, this could potentially cause a stir among bounty hunters. If they can’t identify their prey, things could potentially end up disastrous.

“You do know I’m assigned to retire you? Or kill you, to be exact. Not sure why we’re still using euphemism towards damn machines but whatever,” you pushed on, curious of how he would respond, thinking if there was anything more to the Nexus 9.

“Yeah, you told me last night,” he replied immediately and at the most flippant way; as if he wasn’t talking about being killed by the person in front of him.

“And…you’re not worried?” you asked, eyeing him up and wondering what was currently running in his processor. “I could just whip out my laser gun and fire a hole through your head while I eat this pancake, you know?”

Hansol leaned his head to the side, looking as if he was trying to process an answer to your question.

“I’m not worried. I mean, if you wanted me dead, you would’ve done it already,” he replied, as a matter-of-fact.

“What if I’m just too lazy to do it today? I could do it any other day I want, any time I want, and the thing is, you robots can’t even predict it with your fancy algorithms,” you smirked at him, your prejudice against androids showing through.

Yet even with your provocations, Hansol remained calm.

“It doesn’t matter. The fact that you haven’t done it yet means a lot to me. That’s why I trust you.”

At his answer, you simply frowned; unamused that he rebutted you with a good response and by the time he replied, you had already ran out of rocks to throw at him. So, in the end, you simply scoffed and finished your pancake, leaving him by the dining table with an irate glare.

Hansol watched your retreating back as he began to clean up the mess on the table. He was truly being honest with his words—he trusted you, and if he dies at your hands, well, that was it. Even though he didn’t really want to think of that possibility.

It was strange that the thought of you betraying his trust hurt more than the thought of dying.

“I’m going to work now. Don’t even think about leaving this place,” you told him as soon as you returned from the bedroom, all geared up. “There are other bounty hunters out to get you, and I don’t want them to get my bounty money.”

Silently, Hansol nodded as he saw you pick up your work equipment and your laser gun in a manner that seemed routine. Before you took another step further however, you stared into his eyes, thinking, pondering what you were about to do.

Slowly, you raised your arm and allowed the laser gun on your hands to unfold, pointing towards his direction. You saw the crosshairs between his doe-like eyes—an image you frequently saw seconds before you blow a hole through an andy’s processor. A decision made in a fraction of a second can ultimately change your life—that if you simply pressed the trigger within your grasps, Hansol would no longer move, or talk, or look at you with evocative gazes.

At that moment, you had all the power between “life and death”, as he unquestioningly relinquished it all to you by simply standing there in his spot in front of the kitchen counter.

Hansol felt himself tense up despite his calm exterior. He could already see it, just after thinking about the possibility, yet he never thought reality felt more painfully sharp than his thoughts were.

Your fingers brushed against the trigger. Just one press and he will be gone and you will be rich. Just another day as a bounty hunter. Could you do it?

You sighed.

In the end, you lowered your gun and turned to the other direction as if nothing had happened.

“I’ll be late for work,” you simply remarked, more to yourself than to anyone and then left him there in the kitchen, still stunned. You wondered if your shoulders felt burdened because of the heavy gun or because of the decision you just made.

Quick footfalls echoed across the dreary hallway.

The place stunk like hospital antiseptic and muriatic acid; matching the dim-lit atmosphere illuminated by only a few incandescent bulbs hanging every two meters. There were glass windows every so often, and if you took your time to peer through, you would see rows and rows of human-sized cylinders filled with a greenish liquid; all connected by wires the size of your torso to a place you simply assumed was the power supply.

“What an ironic place to hide for an andy,” you remarked as you looked around. Your partner this time, by the name of Morrison, scoffed amusingly at your comment.

“Who would’ve guessed they’re in a fertilization plant?”

You frowned. “What a gloomy place to be born in.”

Exactly as the name suggested, fertilizations plants ‘manufacture’ children. While that is as disgusting as you thought it was, that is the reality of the world you live in. While there are a few rare exceptions, people no longer have sex—it was too animalistic, too impure of an act to participate in.

Thus, the solution to a declining population is just to make babies just like how factories make your easily reproducible mug sitting on your kitchen counter. You couldn’t even deny the awful truth that you were made in one of these factories (you know, just like your mug). And more disappointingly, there was truly no ethical problem, because the world today only worships one god: Purity, in its coldest and most cruel manifestation.

In the end, aren’t we simply androids as well? Just made up of blood and guts?

“So? Have you caught on to that SVT andy yet?”

Morrison suddenly asked, dragging you back from your inner thoughts. You took a double take.

“The what—?”

“The SVT-class andy,” he clarified, “you know, the Vernon one.”

The mere mention of his model name made you purse your lips in annoyance. If only you could say that he was in your apartment doing some arbitrary thing an android would do if they were left alone.

“Still nothing. I was supposed to do an initial search last night but after being caught in all that chaos, I just went straight home,” you lied, having no choice. There was no way you would let everyone know you have something worth half a million bucks in your dingy, totally unsecure apartment.

“Well, no one could have it easy with these military grades. They’re craftier than your average andy after all,” he shrugged, giving you a pat on the shoulder. “Remember when Choi Seungcheol took almost three months to locate SVT-class Woozi? Man, I could still remember coming with him to a dozen places just to look for leads.”

As soon as Morrison reminisced memories with the former chief, you feel a bit heavy hearted. You did look up to him as your hero.

“You ever knew why he left?” you asked.

Morrison only shrugged. “Some say he just got tired of this awful job. Some say he was getting married. Most of them are just gossip anyway.”

You only sighed. “I guess we might never know the truth.”

“C’mon! Choi wouldn’t want you depressed! Straighten those shoulders! We have an andy to face!” your partner smiled, again giving a strong shove on your back. “Today’s just a commercial grade escapee. It wouldn’t be that hard. Peyton had it already detained and ready for questioning.”

Sucking in a huge amount of air and exhaling loudly, you prepped yourself up for some wonderful, heart-palpitating action.

“Alright! Let get it!”

As soon as the both of you entered the room, which was definitely a locker room prepared by the factory staff for your visit, you could already see the subject sitting quietly in front of a steel table; a dim white bulb only giving light to the gloomy room. It was definitely a classic cult-style interrogation room you’ve seen in vintage silent films.

“Good day to you sir,” Morrison greeted as he set his fedora on top of the table and prepped his V-T scale. “I am Agent Will Morrison. You are under suspicion of being an android and we will be administering this test to confirm it or not.”

“I told him so many times already! I’m being framed! The manager hates me and he’s been spreading those rumors!” the man screamed, his face heavy with fear and anxiety.

“We’ll see. If that’s the truth, then there’s no need to worry,” you retorted back with a clipped tone.

You then placed your hands on his shoulders, asking him to wear specialized VR glasses and then carefully arranging the electrodes attached to a spectrometer on his face.

“Settle down now. You don’t want to affect the test results, right?”

At your cleverly concealed threats, the man stopped his outbursts and looked at you in fear. You simply smiled at him before giving Morrison the go signal.

Identifying and hunting androids almost every single day of your life, you couldn’t even count in your head how many times they went for this flimsy cover-up story. They probably thought they were being clever or something.

“So, Jonathan West, age 35 and working as a plumber in one of Sector 3’s fertilization plants, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” the man replied, unbeknownst to him, the test was already starting.

“You are accused as the android who committed the Palmaide Apartment murders wherein six people were discovered to be brutally murdered and then embedded inside the concrete walls of the apartment.”

“Sir! I’m not android! Please believe me! I have a wife and two kids….! I-I can’t possibly be the murderer!”

You slid unnoticed under the shadows beside Agent Peyton, although still nearby enough to the subject that it would be easy to subdue it down if it goes berserk.

Watching the test being conducted for the nth time, you could easily claim to have memorized all hundred and fifty questions in the questionnaire.

Most questions are practically the same—asking how you would react to certain and usually gruesome scenarios—all designed to gauge micro-expressions and reactions. It is a common belief that androids do not have these sophisticated and almost undetectable movements on your face. Hence, the electrodes.

“I want you to immerse yourself in a certain situation,” you could hear Morrison speak as he turned on the virtual reality system. “Tell me what you think of it.”

Here it comes. Your thoughts turned rancid as you recalled the contents of that video. It was made to intentionally cause distress in humans—limbs being torn, live vivisections, disgusting lobotomies and other gruesome things that could make your stomach lurch; and more importantly, it is intentionally shown to be done to people the subject knows in real life.

Tests such as the Voight-Kampff Scale however are hardly perfect. Humans are complex creatures and are fundamentally unpredictable variables. Different people react to one single scenario in a million different ways. Even if you are looking for signs of empathy—a true testament of humanity—not everyone exhibits it the same way.

That’s why, no matter how many times you’ve blasted a hole through an andy’s head, you would always have this unreasonable nagging feeling underneath your gut that screams you might be wrong. You might actually kill an innocent person.

As you stood there and studied Jonathan West, you realized that his expression turned from disturbed to one of sheer horror. It was quite easy to know, to be honest—he turned pale and looked as if he just wanted to pluck his eyes out and forget that he ever seen what he was seeing right now. It was too real to be simple analog hack.

“Sir…I-I…please make it stop! Please, please….I can’t look anymore,” He muttered weakly, looking as if he was really going to puke big time, which prompted Morrison to immediately close the virtual reality system.

The man was still panting when it was shut down; visibly distraught by what he had seen. Agent Peyton, who was silent during the whole ordeal, then went to the man and asked him if he was alright. In the end, Peyton gave him a glass of water before the test proceeded as it should.

In your opinion, after that display, the subject was already leaning to the ‘most likely human’ side of the spectrum. He wasn’t making red flags which could mark him as an android, though he had a few quirks such as making a rather hollow laugh. Some humans have that kind of laugh, so you didn’t really mind it.

There are days when the excitement of discovering an android wouldn’t really pay you a visit. Sometimes, humans are mistaken as androids either because of their personalities, or by people who simply don’t really like them. Just like how it was in this case.

After a series of more questions and tests, Morrison was also convinced that Jonathan West was human. Besides, the processor level of the android you were looking for wasn’t capable of doing such complex analog hacks.

Even after a deliberation between the three of you outside of the room, it became a unanimous decision to exonerate the subject of any of the accusations placed on him. While you were still a bit doubtful, both Morrison and Peyton—men of more experience than you have as a bounty hunter—agree that West was human and the rumors simply might have been caused by office politics.

“Mr. West, the three of us have finished deliberating and we have decided that you are indeed as human as you could be,” Morrison began, sitting on the same seat he had been for the past few hours.

The man let out a heavy sigh of relief as he made a bashful smile. “Oh my god! Thank you so much, my good sir! Thank you! Thank you!”

Studying the exchange just beside Morrison, you made a small smile. In the end, you didn’t make a mistake and he still had a chance to live. Accidentally killing someone just because of some careless assessment was something you’d rather not go through in your entire life.

“Well, we thank you for giving us your time,” Morrison said as he stood up and walked towards the man, extending a hand. “And we apologize for the inconvenience.”

West shook his hand as they walked towards the door with you and Peyton following closely behind. It was finally over, and you could finally think about what you’d have for lunch. It’s been a while since you had some simple sandwiches. Going for a Subway down 14th Street would be great.

Your eyes found themselves again watching the man and your partner Morrison. You can’t stop smiling at how peaceful the day had become, contrary to what you were expecting.

“It’s no problem, sir!” West exclaimed. “Thank you for trusting me.”

You halted. Your smile faltering.

Those words rang loudly like a deafening siren in your head.

Someone had said those exact same words to you the day before, but for some reason, right now, those words made you shiver in dread; fear dropping down the pits of your stomach.

You instantly averted your alarmed eyes towards West who had been looking back at you as well.

He gave you a blank look.

He knew. You knew.

In just a span of a few seconds, you immediately seized his wrist, twisting it behind his back before tackling him to the ground. You saw the glint of a concealed knife in West’s hands before it flew away to some indiscriminate area of the room.

The man struggled yet he was pinned down by your whole body weight, unable to move—a tactic you learned through experience by subduing andys day in and day out.

Without a second thought, you grabbed your laser gun and fired it center of his forehead. The man lay still in a matter of seconds.

Your heart was beating wildly. You had finally done it.

For a moment, you feared that you might see blood and pieces of bone after the bright light of the laser dissipated. Yet when you finally stood up, huffing, the only thing you saw was the bright red glow of metal heated to melting point.

The two men beside you only stared at the motionless body of the andy with stunned expressions in their faces; unable to believe that they had almost made a grave mistake.

Everything it did was an incredible display of analog hacking.

Because androids are incapable of creating actual emotion, they simply react to the environment and transmit the appropriate response as dictated by the cloud and by their own programming as a means to communicate properly with humans. Using this technique and the fatal flaw of humans to anthropomorphize objects, androids are able to give the impression of ‘humanness’, of having a soul. That is analog hacking.

By ‘hacking’ through people’s ability to empathize, androids are able to deceive, to give a feeling that they too have a soul. It almost killed all of you today.

Eventually, your colleagues’ stares migrated to your direction while you were still gathering yourself.

“What?” was the only response you gave.

It was only until later that noon, as the three of you enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the 14th Street sandwich joint, when Morrison finally put an end to his curiosity.

“Say, YN,” he began, his mouth full of sandwich. “That andy earlier. How’d you know it wasn’t human?”

You were in the middle of sipping from your can of soda when he opened that question. You could only scrunch your brows together, looking for the right way to answer the question.

“Well…” you replied, unsure of how to say it. “I just…I guess I just knew. There’s really no secret behind it. We just exchanged looks and I knew he was about to stab you.”

Peyton nodded. “Pure instincts, huh?”

You knew he was only acknowledging your reason, yet to you, it felt like he was questioning whether you were telling the truth or not. And to be perfectly honest, you were lying by omission.

Because after all, you can’t just tell them that the way that andy said those words and the way Hansol said it, felt so drastically different.

It only took as far as thirty minutes for Hansol to get bored of your characterless apartment and began to get curious about the city of West Mars. Peeking from your dirty windows, all he could see were the tall skyscrapers, fluorescing still despite the morning sunlight, and the numerous utilitarian-looking factories doting the Martian landscape.

He guessed this was a neighborhood no one really fancied to go to, other than those who actually live here—the specials, the dirty, the outcasts. Even after a few hundred centuries, human civilization barely took one foot forward. Even after the Earth had died and most of the population moved to space colonies, life was still the same. There were still oppressors and the oppressed.

Hansol clutched his tightening chest; his eyes still transfixed at the smoke belching from the factory chimneys.

It had been months since he began to feel something. At first there were small bursts of ‘pressure’ in his chest, just some unexplainable pangs of ‘pain’, ‘guilt’, and ‘conscience’— it all began when his fellow android Joshua started murdering people. Six people; a family.

Hansol couldn’t bear to watch it and tried to stop him, yet he also got embedded into the wall with them. The only thing saving him was his ‘second brain’ or a backup processor installed only in him, which was supposed to aid him in his tactical assessments. Otherwise, he’d be dead as well.

He tried to save those people, but he had been a few hours late. In the end, he could only call the police. All this time, whenever he recalled that certain memory, he had to hold himself together. All sorts of things swirled inside him that he thought he might have had a hydraulic leak, but there was nothing physically wrong with him upon inspection.

Jihoon called it ‘emotion’, as soon as Hansol contacted him—born from the rumored empathy organ installed inside all the SVT-class androids. It blurred the lines between human and machine. Hansol couldn’t understand it, even until now, he didn’t have a tight grasp on such an abstract concept. All he knew is that he didn’t want to see anyone get hurt because of him anymore.

Just like those six people.

Caught himself in reverie, Hansol decided to explore the city some more. Staying in your apartment seemed to be making him…reflect. If that was the right word.

He silently apologized to you as soon as he stepped out of the front door, a bit guilty that he had to disobey. But he wanted to do a few things first, and most of them involves going out of your apartment. If he could just go out and then be back before you were back from work, it was as if he never went out in the first place. Well, at least to you.

Going wherever his feet took him, Hansol found himself out of the slums and in the middle of the busy city center.

The tall buildings from the distance were now like crystal towers before him, extending to eternal heights to the heavens beyond. The bright lights of large TV screens flashed in vivid technicolor as it sang ads for the miraculous Penfield Mood Organ, while the throngs of people clad in all white body suits walked across the glowing asphalts beneath their feet.

The thrum of city life vibrated all throughout the crossing like a magnetic field pulsing at every nanosecond; almost undetectable by an indifferent crowd, yet to Hansol, it was almost as if electromagnetic waves were coursing through his skin.

He placed his hand over his chest; trying to ground himself as soon as he felt his heart (if he did have one) soar over something much bigger than life. He tried to put his finger on what to call it, but he guessed the closest he could describe it would be something akin to what humans call ‘wonder’, or ‘amazement’ or ‘astonishment’.

 “Good morning, sir! I am Akito, the police android! Is there anything I can help you with?”

Just like that, Hansol’s bubble was popped as soon as the android appeared. It seemed like he had been standing in the middle of the city center for far too long that it made him quite suspicious.

“No, I…I’m about to go anyway. Thanks, Akito,” Hansol replied, still quite disoriented from the sudden intrusion, but left his place eventually.

Wandering around the area, he noticed a variety of shops and stores, and even some that he didn’t really understand what for. Yet when he was browsing over the different designs for the white body suits most people seemed to enjoy wearing (not like it had other designs), he found what he was looking for.

Well, first on the agenda, then.

After a rather filling lunch, you and your colleagues went out of the restaurant and hopped into the company hovercraft to go back to the office. Since the whole hunting went surprisingly well and ended earlier than expected, there weren’t any hunting jobs scheduled for the rest of the day.

As you laughed at the joke Morrison cracked about how Peyton didn’t utter a single word for the first six months when he joined the company, you spotted a rather familiar figure from the distance.

You frowned and inwardly groaned.

“Boys, I think I have a few errands to do in the city center. You go on ahead,” you told them as they looked at you in bewilderment but reluctantly agreed.

“Well if that’s the case, see you tomorrow, YN,” Morrison replied as he wore his hat again. “Good work today!”

“Thanks! Good working with you two as well!” you told them and the pointed at Peyton playfully. “Better start working on your goodbyes too. See ya!”

As soon as there where gone, making sure that their hovercraft were already a few miles away from where you were standing, you marched irately at the subject of your irritation. It seemed he had moved places from where you had first seen him but you doubted if he had seen you as well.  

“Mister, mister! Do that again!”

It did take time for you to finally locate him since he was pretty much easy to spot relative to the city dwellers who were in all-white body suits. Voices of children were getting louder as you went deeper inside the nearby park, and finally, you caught up to him blowing bubbles in sizes no one would probably be able to do other than him.

“Hansol,” you called behind his back, your hands on your hips and frown on your face. “Why’s your hair black?”

Eventually he turned around and saw your rather upset expression which made him avert his gaze back to the ground. The children around him (and yes they were wearing those stupid body suits) looked at the both of you in wonder, surprised that their entertainment aka Hansol had stopped blowing bubbles all of the sudden.

“Who’s she, mister?” a child asked, probably confused at your sudden appearance. “Your girlfriend?”

“Oh, no,” Hansol replied, ready to explain everything. “I’m actually an android—”

Letting him finish was something you’d rather not do, so you immediately covered his mouth.

“Sorry kids, we’ve gotta go now!” You apologized and then managed to drag him out of the park, away from all those children.

Reaching a faraway bench at a rather remote place, you made him sit and contemplate about what he had done. Hansol seemed to know what was wrong and proceeded to sulk at the far end of the bench with a downcast look.

“Well?” you began, your arms crossed and your brows furrowed. Standing in front of him like that, it only made him feel a bit more guilty.

“I, uh…I’m really sorry…” he replied, still unable to look at you. He didn’t calculate the fact that you might be in the same area as well thus his plan had failed. He should consider attaching a GPS tracker on you.

“Didn’t I specifically tell you to not go out of the apartment?” you reprimanded him. “You could be seen by my colleagues and you’d be dead!”

“Sorry…I just wanted to change my appearance so I could hide more easily.”

You groaned and sighed heavily.

“You could be killed! You were lucky it was me who caught you the other night! You think other bounty hunters would just magically trust you if you asked them pretty please?”

“Then why did you?”

Hansol threw back a question right at you like a curve ball and it hit you hard right at the gut. Taken aback, you simply pursed your lips and glared at him.

“Please don’t ask me that,” you replied and then abruptly turned around. “C’mon. Let’s go back.”

 Watching your retreating back, just like this morning, Hansol silently regarded you and your response. In the end however, he couldn’t understand anything, and eventually rose up from his seat and followed you home.

“Tell me more about yourself.”

You asked one day, as the both of you enjoyed a quiet breakfast on a Sunday morning.

It was clear to you that Hansol was not your ordinary android. He does things and says things which clearly were not ‘android’ by nature. As someone who identifies and hunts down androids for a living, you thought you already knew how to distinguish a human being from an android, but considering your confusion towards Hansol, it seems like you clearly do not.

Which is why, you had to ask.

“Me? Uhh…” Hansol scratched the nape of his neck, thinking what parts of himself should he tell you because there really was a lot of information about him. “Well…I’m an android designed for tactical assessments.”

You raised your brow at him, clearly pondering why that was the first thing he wished to share with you. “What does that mean?”

“Oh, I, uh…I gather data, consolidate them and then give an assessment of what choices the enemy could make during battle. I just give information and it’s Jihoon who would give the orders and the others would do the fighting. I’m a non-combatant type.”

“So that’s why your only weapon are those disks. They’re for self-defense,” you replied, leaning back. “Anything else?”

Hansol only stared at you, caught off guard that he had to provide more. “Uh…my birthday is on February 18.”

You nodded at him, unsure how his processor actually works, because it seems like he’s been giving you random things about him. “You mean your manufacturing date. Andys don’t give birth.”

“You could say it like that, but I like to think it’s my birthday,” he replied, and you arched another brow at him as you took a sip from your cup of coffee.

“Why?” you asked. The more Hansol talked, the more you sink into bewilderment. You regarded yourself as someone who could tell the difference between an android and a human being, yet right now, as you conversed with Hansol, that fine line was beginning to get blurry.

“I think,” he began, snatching you away from your thoughts, “I think there’s just something special with a birthday than a manufacturing date. It’s like…how do I say this…if you have a birthday, you matter as an existence. You were born to leave a mark in this world. As an android who isn’t exactly ‘alive’, I’d like to know what mark I would leave.”

Utterly speechless was what you were after you had heard Hansol’s explanation. It was weird, truly weird how he had the self-awareness to question his purpose, and you were sitting there wondering if any of the androids you had retired before had thoughts like this. If they did, you weren’t so different to a murderer as you thought you were.

As guilt began to spiral inside your gut, you tried to rationalize your concerns. Hansol was just different, probably using a novel way to use analog hack. Yeah, he’s probably analog hacking you—pretending to have deeper thinking and consciousness which he could easily access through the cloud. That scenario had the highest probability to be true.

“Oh, wow,” you replied hesitantly, gazing at the empty plate before you. “I—uh…I don’t think I’ve ever met an android like you.”

“Really?” he asked, his voice seemingly curious. “I guess maybe because we have an up-to-date processor….”

“Maybe you’re right.” You quietly scoffed. Are the organization’s labs really that advanced to even mimic human thought?

Smiling, you stood up from your seat. “Why don’t we take a breath of fresh air?”

Hansol glanced at you with a questioning look. “Where are we going?”

“Oh, just a trip to the grocery store.”

Hansol had several presumptions before he arrived to the West Martian Colony, before he had met you.

From what he had gathered in the cloud, human beings are always unpredictable. They were not run by any program, any command, not like his kind who were bound to the beck and call of a few strings of code. Humans follow their “heart” or whatever that means. They are selfish and cold, kind and warm.

Hansol was definitely apprehensive. He had never met any human being aside from his creator and a few scientists who would come and go into the labs like a cold draft. Yet despite that, Hansol knew deep down, that he doesn’t hate people. He certainly doesn’t hate you.

His brothers’ views towards humans were varying however. Hoshi, or Soonyoung was a lot more carefree, though he believed in the traditional roles of an android servant and a human master. Jihoon was too preoccupied with figuring what was wrong with him that he didn’t seem to care about them (though it seems like he has that sorted out now, according to his last status report). On the other hand, Joshua disliked people. He always made it clear to his brothers that humans were weak and that androids had long outpaced their creators.

Clear enough to make him murder people just to show you how he looks down on them.

It was interesting listening to them in past back in the labs. However, now that he had escaped and had met you, these memories began to resurface in his processor. Hansol had no idea why, to be honest. Was it because he was beginning to interact with a real human being in a much closer environment? That would be an interesting theory to explore, but right now, Hansol had to focus on where you were taking him.

“—are you sure you haven’t met another android before?” you asked him, the first part of your question he hadn’t caught. “I mean; don’t you have that info in your cloud?”

Hansol hummed, scratching his head. “I have my brothers and I met a few police androids, but other than that, I don’t have much experience. As for the cloud, it only stores pure information. We cannot derive actual experience from it.”

“Ah, I guess that’s right,” you replied, realizing that maybe it was like gathering information about something only through a book. It’s likely not going to make anyone instantly good at something.

For a while now, Hansol had been studying you. He was quiet about it, but he always wondered why you haven’t retired him yet. It was no secret that he was your assigned target, but surely, a mere plea from that night wouldn’t change your mind in an instant. Humans are so unpredictable.

“Hmm…we should sit here,” you suddenly said, stopping before a stone bench. “This has a great view of the shopping plaza.”

As you had said, it indeed held a spectacular view of the massive plaza just a few steps in front of you. There were several boutiques, cafes, stores of every shape and size—yet of course, it was as drab as it can be.

Everything was white, as Hansol stared at one giant building, from the stone ground to the shops, buildings and even the latex suits people wore as they walk around. The only redeeming feature it had were the ever-changing holographic ads shown on the white walls.

“Looks stupid, doesn’t it?” you remarked as you seated yourself on the bench with a cold expression.

“Is that why you’re not wearing those suits?” he asked as he sat beside you, glancing at the plaza.

“Everyone else in this city is stupid,” you told him, ignoring his question.

“Why?”

You snorted loudly. “Look at them Hansol. Why are they wearing those stupid suits from head to toe?  Look at how they’re all smiling so happily as if everything’s alright. It’s stupid.”

Hansol continued to stare at them, gazing at every face, every being in that plaza. Of course, he could remember all of them because of his impressive processor, yet despite that, he couldn’t understand what you were trying to say.

“But those are just clothes,” he replied, shrugging.

“Not sure if an andy like you would get it. But it’s more than a fashion trend. It’s an ideology.”

Ideology. He turned that word over and over inside his mind, trying to milk out anything substantial from that word alone. A way of thinking. What are these people thinking then whenever they decide to wear those body suits? Why would they do that?

Your questions seemed to have opened a whole new world for Hansol to explore. Human ideology; there were so many of that from the old century alone—liberalism, fascism, socialism. Why do humans subscribe to these thoughts and beliefs? And what would that mean to him as an android? Would he be able to subscribe to an ideology? Or had he always believed in one, just never realizing it?

If that’s the case, would he be able to find his purpose in it?

“What do they believe in?” he asked you, now fascinated.

Glad that he asked, you immediately replied.

“Purity. Cleanliness. Everything that is old is dirty, bad, and everything that is new is clean, good. I mean, I could understand why. It’s our fault that the Earth is basically a one big garbage dump. Maybe we just want to wash our hands clean from all of that guilt. I don’t know.”

“Why is that stupid then? I think that’s a valid reason.”

“That’s true,” you replied. “But that was how it was back then. It used to be an ideology. Now, after hundreds of years had passed, it had been so ingrained into the culture that no one really asks why is clean good and dirty, bad. People are being ostracized because of this and no one really understands why. It just seemed to have become desensitized. It’s true meaning forgotten.”

“What do you mean?”

You scoffed. “Ask one of them why they where those body suits and I bet you they would answer it with something like ‘it’s clean’ or some sort of bullshit. Ask why the Penfield mood organ is such a huge trend nowadays, or why they would submit themselves to chemicals just to induce happiness.”

“People couldn’t bear to feel any longer. Emotions have become so burdensome that it’s just easier to change your mood with one press of a button. They just do whatever other people do and, in the end, it became some sort of a mob mentality.”

For once, Hansol saw true despair in your eyes. Even if you appear to hate how the world is, he knew you were just deeply sad at how things ended up. Anger is after all, expressed when you are too sad to cry.

It struck a cord inside his processor, for some reason, as he felt the urge to do something to make you feel a little bit better. He didn’t understand why, but he knew what he should do.

Silently, Hansol took your hand, his fingers slowly intertwining with yours. He felt warm, was what you immediately thought while you anticipated what he was about to do.

“It must be lonely living in this city. There are people all around you but they all feel like ghosts. Passing by, passing through the walls and then disappear without a trace,” he began as he kept on gazing at your connected hands, talking as if he was expressing his actual thoughts.

“Hansol…?”

“That’s why, as this city becomes more and more alienating…” he continued; his honest eyes piercing right through yours. “I’ll be your friend.”

For a moment, you gazed at him, too stunned to even utter a sound. It was just a simple proposal of friendship, yet why does your heart feel like it’ll burst from the seams?

“W-why…?” you asked, becoming more and more conscious about how he was gripping your hand so tightly; his thumb brushing your skin in slow soothing circles.

“Why, you ask…I’m not even sure myself, but,” he replied, “Maybe I just want to make that sad look on your face disappear.”

You pursed your lips, head totally blank for any response.

You shouldn’t just say that to anyone, you know?

Not to me who’ve never felt something like this before.

The sound of lasers fired. Muffled voices; indiscernible against the background battle noise.

It was another day out in the field, and you were lucky there were five of you hunting a military grade android. During hunts like this, you don’t usually share the earn; it was all for the experience. Besides, how much would you even get if the bounty was divided upon five people?

You zeroed in on your prey. Shooting a laser beam at its direction, you deliberately let it miss as the android dodged it. When it had stopped running, you slid on the gravel and kicked its feet off the ground, then turned around faster than it could recover. As you aimed your two laser guns at it, the image of Hansol flashed in your brain, which made you hesitate to press the trigger.

“YN! Watch your head!”

To return to your apartment with a bandaged forehead and a huge frown on your face was enough to let the door slam behind you. It was both stupid and humiliating to falter in the middle of a simple mission like that, especially if the reason was the android living in your apartment.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. You were supposed to retire Hansol several months before yet here you are still hung up and getting more and more sentimental towards him as the days pass by.

You couldn’t help it. You were only human.

If he wakes you up in the morning with a smile and some PB & J; if he talks about his sudden interest in various things with an eager look; if he greets you as you return home from work, dinner on the table and then asking you about your day; if he holds your hand and says he’ll be your friend—could you even stop yourself from softening up?

You were clearly angry with yourself to let this whole thing get to this point.

Were you really that lonely that you would even find comfort in an android?

Tossing all of your equipment—V-T scale, laser gun and leather bag—on your worn-out sofa, you went straight to your bedroom and found the subject of your frustrations, sitting on the bed and looking at the window with a rather pondering gaze.

“Say, YN,” Hansol started, without even waiting another second to pass by. He probably knew that you were going home the moment you left the office.

“What?” you replied, unbuckling the holsters on your belt and all the safety gear you had on your body. “I’m not in a good mood so make it quick. I just got hammered by an android.”

Before he replied to you, Hansol decided to turn around and look at you with those eyes that seem to gouge the truth from the depths of your being. It made you halt all your fussing and returned his stare back at him.

“How do you know the difference between an android and a human being?” he asked which made you turn your head slightly. What a simple question to ask a bounty hunter.

“Well, isn’t that obvious?” you replied as you placed your hands over your hips. “Humans have empathy while androids don’t.”

“But what if something was invented to make android experience empathy? What then?”

You blinked several times at his second question and then began chuckling. “You mean an empathy organ? Sorry to burst your bubble but that’s not even real. It’s an urban legend.”

Hansol made a side eye as he pondered what he was going to say next, his expression basically unchanged.

“Just hypothetically speaking, if an empathy organ does exist, how would you know the difference now?”

“Eh…if we’re hypothetically speaking, then I don’t really know. I wouldn’t be able to hunt anymore if that’s the case. I can’t risk making a mistake and kill someone, not to mention that if androids begin crying before me and beg me for their lives, I wouldn’t be able to shoot them at all.”

As soon as you uttered those words, you paused and contemplated.

You gazed back at him—realization dawning on you; your eyes wide with incredulity.

It was no longer a matter of if. Someone had already begged you for their life and you didn’t shoot them.

No. No way.

That’s not possible.

At your silence, Hansol never confirmed or denied your realization and simply stared at you with those powerful eyes; waiting for you to finally digest it all.

“This isn’t hypothetical at all, is it?” you finally asked, your expression uneasy.

“No, it isn’t.”

You sighed frustratingly but it made sense.

If Hansol really has an empathy organ, everything he did—asking you to trust him, his un-Android like responses, him holding your hand—everything made so much sense. And while it did provide some answers, it gave you more questions as well.

First of all…

“H-How is that possible?!”

Hansol shrugged at your sudden outburst. “That’s why we escaped from the organization. We don’t know how it works or if it’s really installed inside of us, so we went our separate ways.”

“So…so…!” you pointed your finger at him, still incredulous. “There’s more of you?”

“Yeah. All of the SVT-class androids have empathy organs installed while we were being made in the organization’s laboratories. At least that’s how Jihoon suspected it.”

“Jihoon?”

“Yes. SVT-class Type-07 Woozi. He stayed behind the labs to search for our original creator. He did find her daughter and they’re working on an experiment to test the validity and the effectivity of the empathy organ.”

For a minute you felt like the ground was going to swallow you whole. There was too much go on, too much information that you can’t properly process them all. Falling on your knees to the ground as you leaned against the bed for support, you felt like you were going to have an aneurysm.

“YN? Are you ok?” Hansol dashed to your side in Mach speed, his hand easily finding your back.

For Pete’s sake! You’re the reason why I’m not ok!!

“I’ll get you a glass of water and some ice for your head injury. It seems like it could be the cause of your headache,” he told you and the disappeared towards the kitchen, completely oblivious of your dilemma.

Goddamn it.

Didn’t Choi Seungcheol retire Woozi already? If the andy’s still alive then did he fail the mission? If he did, then why did he confirm that he retired Woozi?

And then it seems like there are more empathy organs out there. Not to mention I’m living with an andy who’s supposed to have one.

It wasn’t even two minutes before Hansol was back with a glass of water which you promptly drank, and then allowed him to settle himself behind you while he was giving a cold compress to your head—all done without complaints because you were too lost in your thoughts.

No. No. No.

An empathy organ is just a myth! Something like the Holy Grail or something! It’s impossible for Hansol to have one!

But…it just fits so well with all the strange things he had done so far! Who android would hold your hand just because you looked sad?

Wait. Get yourself together, YN.

Hansol is just a weird android.

He’s totally chill and a bit spaced out. He sometimes says really deep stuff and then comforts you so gently that your problems just melt away.

That’s…That’s what androids are supposed to be right?

Without even realizing, Hansol had already wrapped his arms around your waist. It was only until you were done with your internal monologue that you realized the warmth you felt from behind you.

“Wha-what are you doing!” You exclaimed, though still unable to move because of how he was holding on to you tightly.

“Oh, this?” he began, completely oblivious to your embarrassment. “I’m embracing you. I wanted to know if it feels as warm as what the cloud tells me.”

You groaned, struggling to get free. “Don’t patronize me! I know what a freakin’ hug is! Now, let me go!”

Instead of opening his arms, Hansol instead pulled you closer to him, making you flush even more. “Sorry. Just endure it a bit longer. The data I’ve gathered is still incomplete. Besides, now that you know about the empathy organ, it’s safe for me to test it on you, right?”

“What! I never—”

As soon as you met his eyes, you were unable to finish the rest of your words. There he was again with those eyes that just makes you screech into a complete halt. It was so intense that it almost gave you shivers down your spine.

“Do you really hate it?” he asked again. “I’ll let you go.”

You allowed a few moments to pass by—the sound of passing cars and the incessant ticking of the clock was what you could hear, as well as your faint breaths.

“Fine. Do whatever you like,” you finally conceded and leaned against chest. It was warm.

With a calm smile, he nuzzled against your shoulder. “How did you get that injury?”

“Oh, this? I almost got my head whacked by an android,” you replied plainly, almost forgetting that you were actually having a bad day because of what had happened.

“That’s unusual.”

“You could say that again. I just got…distracted.”

Hansol raised his brows at your reply; noting the pause between your words. Since he cannot place his chin on your head, he decided to prop himself on your shoulder, his lips near your ear.

“Was it because of me?”

You jumped at the sound of his voice being so near to your ear. It made you ticklish and pulled back away from him just for a tiny bit.

“You’re too close!” you exclaimed, flushed and uncharacteristically nervous. “And I didn’t get distracted because of you!”

He sighed at your response. “Sorry. But I’m glad it wasn’t because me. I’ll be troubled if I distract you from your work.”

Pursing your lips, you only returned to your original position in silence. You have been distracted me from work since the beginning.

“Maybe I can help you?” Hansol continued talking when you didn’t reply.

“With what?” you chuckled cynically. “Hunting androids? Don’t you feel bad about killing your own kind?”

“Well, some humans don’t feel bad if they kill other people. What’s the difference?”

You scoffed. “Touché,”

“I’ll help you if you’re in trouble.” He pressed on and you could only groan in exasperation. While he tends to be a bit spacey, he can also be stubborn. It’s not like you can stop him if you refused.  

“You’re weirdly obstinate—”

About to add an explanation, your words were cut short however by the doorbell. You stood up to get it but got dizzy from the sudden change that Hansol decided that you better sit down and rest.

As he padded his way across the living room, Hansol opened the door to see no one except for a bag of food on the ground. He tried to look around and assessed the surroundings, yet he found nothing suspicious.

Confused, he leaned his head to the side and eventually decided to take the food inside. It didn’t seem harmful.

“Wonder who that was,” he muttered before going back inside.

As a freeloader, Hansol took it upon himself the responsibility of maintaining your apartment in tip-top shape. From the floor to the ceiling; to every nook and cranny he finds—he made sure that everything was sparkling clean to the point that you thought you went to a different apartment when you went home.

It was easy to pretend he was a regular every day helper android since he always kept to himself at most times, and other than visiting a regular antique vinyl shop in an indefinite area of the city, he never really did anything out of the blue.

Hansol had two leeks, one in each hand as he assessed which one was the best using his state-of-the-art processor. The engineers at the labs probably never thought his military grade processor would be used in this way but it was extremely helpful. He tossed the one on his left to his grocery cart and the other back to the stall—concluding that it was already at 40% freshness and most of the chlorophyll and other biominerals had died out.

One of his responsibilities was making sure that groceries and other supplies in your apartment were well-stocked. And while it did make you furious at how he easily hacked into your bank account to access money, you eventually gave him permission to go on grocery trips for you because of how he efficiently did everything.

He turned his cart to the left, its squeaky rusting wheels making it hard to keep it moving in a straight line.

Next stop was the chicken aisle. He remembers seeing a photo of you in the cloud as you enjoyed a bucket of chicken nuggets, and he plans to make them for dinner that night. Halting the troublesome cart before the freezers, Hansol checked the display if there were any of the chicken nuggets he wanted to buy.

“This one’s too expensive…” he told himself in contemplation.

“Hi! I’m Martin of Fresh Daily Chicken! How may I help you?”

And there were those androids again.

Hansol knew they were just following their program but it was getting on his nerves. They kept on bothering him every single time he went out that it was very tempting to just dissemble them in front of his eyes.

“I’m fine, Martin. You can go help someone else,” he replied, wondering if there was an edge to his tone as he returned the chicken back to the freezer.

Instead of leaving though, Martin gripped Hansol’s arm tightly, as the other stopped and glared at the android with suspicion. In a beat, Hansol flicked his hand away and stood still for a moment, assessing the situation at hand. Nanoseconds pass, he finally realized what was happening.

“Joshua. What are you doing here?”

His voice was filled with animosity; his eyes like fire flickering. Hansol knew his brother was up to no good as soon as he showed up using a hacked android.

“Sharp as ever, aren’t we?” the android replied, the tone of its usual monotonous voice reflecting the malice of the hacker behind it all. “I guess I should expect no less from an android made to evaluate things.”

Hansol wasn’t having any of this small talk. “If you don’t have anything important to say, I’m leaving.”

“And what? Play house with your bounty hunter?” the android sneered. “She doesn’t trust you as much as you trust her, you know?”

Hansol threw daggers at the android with his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

It made a rather hollow chuckle. “Did you forget how despicable humans are? She’s planning on retiring you and your pleading won’t help you now. That’s why…”

“That’s why what?” Hansol felt uneasy.

“That’s why I’ll help you finish her off first.”

Like the wind howling, the android’s words felt like a siren blaring right into his ears. If he had any blood, it would’ve been boiling by now. If only looks could kill, the android would’ve been long dead.

“No. I don’t need your help and I never will. Get fuck out of here before I—”

“Fine, fine,” it responded rather dismissively, unperturbed by Hansol’s threats. “But if you need me, I’m just one call away.” 

And just like that, Joshua disappeared. “Hi! I’m Martin of Fresh Daily Chicken! How may I help you?”

Hnasol sighed and returned to his grocery shopping.

“Empathy organ?”

A boisterous laugh was all you could hear across the otherwise silent donut shop. You frowned, clearly annoyed.

“Didn’t know ya believe in those bullshit urban legends, YN.” Your boss replied, crumbs falling down his shirt, and thus has been looked at disgustedly by the people around you.

“Just answer the damn question, please,” you replied, giving him a not-too-pleased expression.

“What can I say?” he shrugged, “It ain’t real.”

You hold off clicking your tongue, and instead averted your gaze to the window beside you, towards the quiet concrete and asphalt streets of West Mars. Thinking that you could achieve something by bribing your boss with donuts, was a dashed dream. He easily dismissed the notion, now munching on some more donuts you had bought with your own pay.

“Doesn’t matter if it’s real or not. I just want to hear what you know about it,” you insisted, pushing your plate of donuts to his side.

He gulped in some coffee. “Well, for one, we don’t know where it is. Rumors say it was made by an engineer in the org, and they died without telling anyone.”

An engineer in the org? You felt like you have two pieces of the puzzle right below your nose, yet you couldn’t wad through the multitude of memories you had.

“Some say it was silently waiting in that engineer’s lab, but not gonna lie, doll, I myself don’t think it’s in there. Can’t be too easy,” he eagerly chomped on a bavarian. “It was prolly never built, kinda a blueprint of some sort.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?” Your boss chuckled again. “It’s just not possible! Look, have you ever heard of the phrase ‘good in theory but not in practice’? It’s just like that. You can’t build something science can’t even understand.”

You slumped on your chair, disappointed at his replies.

“C’mon now, doll. Stop digging around urban legends and focus on getting more andys to retire,” he continued when you didn’t reply. “Besides, you still got that SVT andy on your plate, don’t ya? Better set your eyes on that. These military grades ain’t just your ordinary tin foil man.”

Sighing, you silently berated yourself for letting this situation go out of hand.

“Alright. I’m still working on it though.”

You really weren’t. The fact that Hansol was still alive and kicking after several months since you the assignment dropped to your lap was proof that you were procrastinating. And becoming weaker.

You cursed yourself.

“Just a little warning for you. These andys, like the SVT line, are notoriously good at analog hacking. So, do be careful with handling them. Just because they told you you’re friends, ain’t gonna stop them from killin’ you when it suits them. They’re smarter than you’d expect.”

Pursing your lips, you felt your boss’ words weigh down upon you like a pile of stones.

You shouldn’t have trusted Hansol.

It was a gamble you shouldn’t have made in the first place.

The sun was already high and bright; blinding your eyes with its garish lighting as you stood before an android you just made into Swiss cheese with the number of holes you created a few seconds ago. Kicking off the dead weight, you decided to find the other one.

Another day out in the field means another chance to falter and fail even in a simple mission. You had already hesitated once and it had cost you a head injury. If you hesitate again, what would it cost you this time around?

It was getting into your nerves.

Was it truly wise to trust Hansol all this time?

Even if he had no intention of hurting you, it was your job to retire runaway andys before they harm anyone. Therefore, it makes sense to shoot him dead with a laser gun; no questions asked.

Then what was stopping you?

You stalked the andy a few meters away from you like a lion in a hunt; eyes laser focused and ears picking up every minute shuffle. The laser guns on both your hands were ready to shoot yet it wasn’t the right time or place.

Running a few meters away, you shot a few laser beams into the air; the sound echoing across the apartment rooftops in resounding waves. Your target tensed up; alarmed at how the sound was nearby.

You laid your trap.

The android began calculating the most efficient way out and then stood up from its hiding place, unaware that it was the moment you were waiting for. It jumped towards the nearest building and crouched beside a water tank, sniffing the air of your presence.

You grinned. “Looking for me?”

The android looked up, its eyes blank but you knew it was surprised. With two laser guns on both your hands, you aimed at it from the top of the water tank, the sun casting a glare over you. Lunging from its position, it made a narrowing escape as it sacrificed one leg to a laser beam.

It was all over.

You caught up and then threw it to the ground with one harsh kick. Stepping over its torso; effectively pinning it down, you took one good look.

“Did you know that it takes about three minutes for the Nexus 7 processor to calculate the next best move?” you told the android, despite knowing it wouldn’t really listen to you. “Enough time for me to set you up.”

“In the past, it only took you a minute.”

The android rebuked you, making you scrunch up your brows. How the hell did it know that?

“You’ve grown weaker, bounty hunter,” it continued, a grin creeping up to its lips; making its rather soulless expression more unnerving. “Could it be that you like us now?”

“Shut up,” you replied, aiming the two guns at its head. “That’s not going to stop me from retiring you.”

“What if I beg for my life then? Will you spare me now?”

You stopped.

The hands clutching your guns became unsteady. Its words zeroed in at your predicament just like how you had obliterated its leg with numerous laser beams—mocking you; taunting you with your weakness for Hansol.

“You think you could separate androids into your moralistic categories of good and bad? That android is only using you, you know? Like poison, gradually weakening your resolve until you could no longer pick up your laser gun. And when that time comes, he would strike and he will kill you.”

Your temper flared up.

You pressed the triggers furiously, your foot holding it still as laser after laser shot through its head. Even if the head was no longer recognizable, you continued to shoot just to please the rage and frustration weighing inside of you.

As the concrete beneath your feet began to weaken, you eventually stopped; realizing what you were doing all this time. Breaths heavy and eyes wide, you stared at the android which became, more or less, bits and pieces of burnt metal and hydraulic cables.

It still irritated you, so kicked it as far as you could so you wouldn’t be able to see it.

When you returned to the office to hand over the post-hunt report, Morrison was waiting for you t your desk; the serious and alarmed look on his face making you anxious.

“Morrison,” you acknowledged him, tossing your report to your table as well as your various work equipment. “What brings you here?”

“YN. We need to talk,” he replied, his tone of voice not so different that you had originally assumed which only heightened the tension of the situation.

As you followed behind him, you wondered what he wanted—was it about your dwindling work performance? Are you getting fired?

You only knew the answer to your questions when he stopped by a deserted hallway and then faced you. It was all your fears could ever hope for.

“Please tell me YN, that the person living in your apartment isn’t the SVT andy, Vernon.”

Your heart, along with your gut immediately dropped.

“W-what…”

“A few months ago, I saw you with someone walking around the city. I thought it was your boyfriend so I ignored it. The other day however, I heard you got injured so I went and delivered you dinner. That’s when I realized that the person you’re with was the SVT andy.”

If only the ground could swallow you whole. If only you could disappear at that exact moment. You had no explanation. You had been found out. You had nothing in your defense and the only thing you could do was hang your head low and avert your gaze out of guilt and shame.

“YN…”

“I’m sorry…” you replied, voice just above a whisper.

“Is that andy holding you hostage? Is it threatening you?” Morrison asked out of concern as soon as he saw you. “I could help—”

“No. This is my own doing,” you replied. “This is my own fault.”

“Then…why?” he asked. “Among all of us here, you were the one who hated them the most. Have you become sentimental towards them?”

“How the hell would I know!” You screamed as you tremble in both rage and despair. “Do I look like I’m enjoying it right now? Look at how weak I’ve become! Look how I almost died just because I hesitated to pull the trigger!”

“YN…I—”

“Shut up. All of you shut up,” you cut him off. “This is my problem and I’ll solve it on my own.”

Turning to the side, you marched down the hallway and left Morrison stunned and worried about you.

You tightened your fists until your knuckles turned white. Guilt, shame, anger—everything swirled inside of you like a thick soup; slowly pushing you downwards to a spiral of turmoil.

Androids would always be androids no matter what they say. Hansol was only using the way he knew he would survive. Even if it meant deceiving you.

You were angry.

More to yourself than anybody however.

How could you let yourself be swayed by an android’s sweet talking? You felt like an idiot; trusting his words, getting soft and sentimental for a mere android. You were weak and you hated it. Like slow moving magma, your rage was scalding you from the inside until you could no longer bear it. You pushed pass the entrance way and escaped to the streets of West Mars.

How could you be so susceptible? How could you allow him to easily manipulate you using your own desperate need for companionship? How could you allow yourself to succumb to such a baser kind of human emotion?

As a bounty hunter, you should’ve tossed all of them aside a long time ago. You should’ve been erased that weakness when you first began.

Yes, it was lonely. But in order to succeed, one must be alone on top of the mountain with no one to depend on.

You allowed the day to pass you by. As the afternoon became night and the flashing lights of the city returned to illuminate the streets with animations at a million frames per second, you sat high above a building and watch it al unfold like flowers blooming at night. As the dark skies slowly encroached the sunset reflecting the red dunes of Mars, you waited for the exact moment to solve all of your problems.

Problems of your own doing is something you have to solve by yourself. It was your fault that you believed in him when you clearly knew you shouldn’t have. Even if it weighs your heart, the guilt you felt was heavier.

You shouldn’t have allowed things to get to this point. Thus, you reap what you sow.

Head still swimming, you returned to your apartment at the wee hours of the morning. It was the perfect time; the calculated time—because you knew Hansol was at the living room, charging up next to a wireless charging station he himself had built. You saw him at that exact position; sitting, leaning against the wall with head hung low as a circular light glowed underneath the skin of his nape.

You knew what you have to do.

He was defenseless before you; asleep and unaware of what you are about to do. It was perfect this way— he couldn’t say anything, he couldn’t do anything, he couldn’t feel anything.

As you looked at his sleeping figure, you couldn’t help but notice how his now dark hair tumbling against his forehead in a soft caress, how his long eyelashes padded gently across his skin, how his soft breaths echoed across the room. Even at these last moments, he still caught you off guard.

Yet beautiful things erode and fade away like the fleeting spring.

You raised the laser gun to his forehead, your finger already by the trigger.

You can do it YN. Just one press and he’ll be gone. All your problems will be gone, and you’ll be able to return to your everyday life. You’ve done this so many times already.

He’s only an android.

‘…Vernon is my model name, but I want to go by my own name.’

He can be easily manufactured again and again like a replaceable object.

‘…As an android who isn’t exactly ‘alive’, I’d like to know what mark I would leave.’

Your hands trembled as your chest tightened into a vice grip. You couldn’t breathe.

Stop it.

He’s only using you for his own means. You don’t matter to him.

‘I’ll be your friend.’

‘Maybe I just want to make that sad look on your face disappear.’

He looked so peaceful, so innocent and so forgiving. Not like you who had been dirtied by the sins of humanity. You knew that even if you shot him, he would still smile and say ‘I understand.’

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!

He’s just faking everything. He’s just deceiving you YN.

‘Thank you for trusting me.’

You screamed one painful cry; your knees giving way and sunk to the carpet in a thud. Hands propping you up as tears continued to stream down your face, you couldn’t stop crying all the pain you held inside for all these years. It was too painful.

You can’t do it.

“Just kill me now, goddamn it!” you shouted yet your eyes were looking at the floor, too scared to know if he was awake or not. “If you’re planning to kill me eventually, then do it now! Kill me now while I still trust you!”

In the midst of your endless sobs, you felt strong arms pull you into a tight embrace; wrapping you with all the love and warmth he could muster in one single action. You could only bury yourself to his chest, clutching to his shirt as if you were holding on to him for support.

“Kill me now, Hansol…”

“I won’t kill you YN. I have no intentions of ever hurting you,” he whispered as he brushed your hair gently with his fingers.

“How could you fucking say that!” you exclaimed; screams muffled. “I keep on hurting you! Hell, I even pointed a gun to you while you were sleeping! How…how could you just forgive me like that…”

“You only did what you needed to do, and if you need to kill me, then I wouldn’t mind dying. I understand that there are things you must sacrifice.”

As soon as you heard those words, you looked up to him with aghast. You could see that despite what he had said, you saw a flicker of pain in his eyes; a sadness that was accepted because there are things you simply cannot change.

“W-why…?” you asked as your heart poured out for him. “Why are you saying that even though it hurts you…?”

Hansol made a small smile and wiped away the tear stains away from your cheeks. “Because you’re the first person who ever trusted me, and it made me so happy to stay by your side all this time. That’s why even if it hurts, I feel relieved that I can at least make you happy in return.”

Stabbing pain filled your chest as if you were being pierced through by laser beams numerous times. You could feel yourself tremble as tears threatened to spill from your eyes once again; grasping to his shirt as if he might slip away any time soon.

“You fucking idiot…!” you muttered through your sobs. “You think I can still retire you after saying that? I can’t do it. I can’t…Hansol…I don’t know how or why but you matter so much to me now.”

His hand that was on your cheeks continued to caress you as gently as he could; not letting you go until you stopped crying. For some reason, he felt touched that you were pouring out all of your thoughts to him among all people in the world.

“I always kept myself so busy all this time just to distract me from all the loneliness I was feeling. I always try to be tough and cold so that my emotions wouldn’t get the best of me. But…but you showed me something I had thrown away a long time ago. You cared for me even though I tried to kill you so many times and it hurts so much how you are able to forgive me like that. I don’t deserve any of these, Hansol. I don’t deserve you.”

As he comforted you, he could feel his chest swell with so much emotion. You were crying for him, and he couldn’t help but share a bit of that pain as well. Picking up your hand, he slowly intertwined his fingers around yours and gazed at you with those eyes that easily seized you; body and soul.

“I feel like I should be saying something now but I don’t know what,” he whispered. “That’s why, I’ll just show you how I feel.”

Cupping your cheek with his hand, Hansol slowly reduced the distance between the two of you until his lips met yours in a soft and gentle kiss. It was warm and peaceful and light—as if everything which held you down were released and swept away by the cool breeze. You held on to his hand tightly, never letting go of this exact moment as you etched it vividly into your memory.

As the both of you pulled away, you gave him a small bashful smile.

“I think ‘I like you’ would be the best thing to say,” you whispered to him as he gave a toothy grin.

“You finally smiled,” he remarked as he allowed your foreheads to touch.

“Because of you.”

The both of you stayed that way until you felt your heart calm down. That night seemed to have uprooted all of your being—everything that you have built upon yourself for all these years was turned upside down. It was like a transformation; yet rather than frightening, it felt cathartic in some sense.

“Say, YN,” Hansol started, breaking the companiable silence the two of you shared. “Why did you become a bounty hunter?”

“Hm?” you hummed, gazing at your carpet as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. “Good question. Why did I become a bounty hunter?”

“You don’t know the answer?”

“I do know why,” you replied as you became more contemplative. “I think I was just too angry at the world. Angry that I was all alone; angry that no one really cared. So, I searched for ways to release that anger. That’s when I found myself wanting to be a bounty hunter.”

He pulled you closer, nuzzling to your shoulder; wanting to give comfort to the both of you. “Did you grow up like that?”

Amused by his question, you chuckled. “The thing is, when you are made from a glass incubator, it feels like you’re an artificial existence. Even if there are parents or siblings, most of them just kind of want to play house or something. When they’re done, you get thrown out. That’s it. And somehow just like that, I ended up all alone.”

Hansol was quiet, feeling like you weren’t done talking yet.

“When I met you…when I got to spend time with you, it felt like I was in a foreign territory. I wasn’t used being taken care of. It’s always just me so, I was scared as fuck that maybe this wonderful thing wouldn’t really last. That maybe you were just deceiving me and I was being an idiot for believing that life would finally give me some slack.”

You continued. “That’s why, I thought…let’s just end this with my own two hands. That way I can still have my dignity intact.”

As soon those words left your lips, the android embracing you hugged you tighter—a silent declaration that he was never going to let you go; that you deserved better and he will give everything just to make you happy.

“I don’t think I can ever leave you, YN. I was lucky that it was you who I met that night. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to understand myself or what I was feeling. I wouldn’t be able to experience a normal everyday life if I hadn’t met you. You have become someone important to me as well.”

At that night, as you finally fell asleep on Hansol’s shoulders, he easily carried you to your bed and gently laid you there without making a sound. Unable to resist, he slipped under the covers and silently watched your chest breathing in and out.

It was the first time he felt this way. It was unbelievable.

Combing your hair as softly as he could, Hansol contemplated this future with you. He was incredibly happy, if that was how the beautiful feeling in his chest should be called—how you embraced him tightly, how you grinned at him and held his hand. Those were things he could never forget.

With that said, he had to ensure that everything would stay as it is as long as it could. Using the built-in network among the SVT-line androids, he made a call.

Beep. Beep.

Click.

“Hello, brother? It’s me, Hansol. I need your help.”

The sun was still shining like any other day; as if it was unbothered by the egregious happenings of your life. Just like how it was during your first day as a bounty hunter.

Yet everything was different now. The anger that you held on to for far too long was released to the polluted city air just like scattered ashes of a bygone age. Now you have to rebuild yourself from scratch; to start anew and live differently than what you were doing all these years. Yet you weren’t alone this time, you had Hansol to support you along the way as the both of you rediscover life and the whole point of it.

That’s why it’s important to cut the few loose strings you had and tie them securely so they wouldn’t unravel in the future.

It was your last day on the job. Your last hunt.

“YN.”

You heard Morrison call you, turning to the direction where you had heard him. You were about to leave with your hovercraft to the designated location where the andy was reported yet he had stopped before you ever could.

“Last time, I—”

“It’s ok,” you cut him off. “I think I needed it to realize what I truly want to do with my life. Being a bounty hunter taught me a lot but I guess we just overgrow things.”

“Are you sure?” he asked you.

“Yes, you could say I was happy with my decision.” You scratched the nape of your neck. “You know, I think I understand now why Choi Seungcheol left.”

Morrison grinned. “Oh, really now?”

“Yeah. I think he realized the same thing as I did,” you replied, hands on your pockets. You just can’t live with anger in your heart.

Your partner genuinely smiled at you and give you a pat on the back. “Well then, it was great working with you, YN. You’ve been phenomenal.”

“Thank you. It was a pleasure working with you as well Morrison,” you grinned. “Now, time to go for my last hunt.”

“Good luck. Don’t go easy on the andy now,” he replied while you hopped into your hovercraft.

“You bet I won’t,” you replied, smiling. “Well, see you later then!”

With those words, you turned on the hovercraft as it slowly ascended to the skies. You could see down below Morrison who was looking up at you with a bittersweet smile on his face. This business was indeed dying.

“Alright. Time for my swan song.”

Your destination for today was in Sector 12, where all the warehouses and cargo facilities were located as they enter the West Martian colony. The andy in question was a normal escapee posing as a cargo boy—which was as common as it could get.

You hoped that your last andy should’ve at least been a little more challenging. But alas, you can’t have everything.

Turning the steering wheel to the side, you avoided a tall building and continued cruising through the sector with nothing much in mind. That is until something entered the hovercraft; making it shake through the skies like a rogue vehicle.

You clung to the wheel as you braced the impact, avoiding getting tossed to the air like a pancake. Still recovering from the shock, you were greeted by a punch which completely obliterated the hovercraft’s UI and had just missed your head by a hair.

Turning around, you saw that it was the android you were supposed to retire today—seemingly fallen from god knows where to your lap. Just like how Hansol just came to you that night. Lucky.

“Don’t underestimate me, fucker,” you exclaimed as you grabbed its arm with both your hands and levered it with your shoulder to the air, sending it flying to one of the buildings below. Taking your two trusty laser guns, you jumped off of the already derailing hovercraft before it plummeted to the ground in an explosion of fire and smoke.

Landing safely to one of the rooftops, you spotted the andy running away from you.

“Hey! Don’t get cowardly now!”

Shouting, you continued to shoot laser beams at its direction, pissed that it was playing some game of tag. With a head start of a few meters and an exceptional speed, there was no way you could ever catch up to an android. The only way you could ever gain an advantage was to play the strategy game.

Disappearing from view, you hid yourself as you pursued it; minding your distance so it wouldn’t be able to detect your presence with any of its scanners. Since the andy you were after had a Nexus 6 processor, it can see you through thermal readings which had a scanning radius of a few meters.

Confused of your vanishing act, the android in question stopped running and looked around. There was no sign of you yet you can see it using a special set of goggles which was luckily inside your pocket than in the hovercraft.

As it walked in search of you, you fired your laser guns to the distance which predictably alarmed the android and dashed to where it came from. And just like that, you were able to lay your ambush—jumping out from high ground and trapping it in place.

When do they even learn? You’ve done this technique so many times that it was hardly clever strategy to you anymore.

You shot it with your laser gun, missing its head in just a few centimeters. That however, was a fatal mistake as it swerved your leg around, tripping you to the ground in the process. Without stopping, the android then aimed for your head with its fist which could’ve easily broke your skull if not for the fact that you rolled out of the way just in time.

Even if your head was still reeling and you were still on the ground, you kicked its torso with both your feet as it staggered and lost balance. You ran off somewhere, picking up both your laser guns as it continued to pursue you.

Man, I judged this way too early.

Now that the tables have turned, the both you found yourselves inside a warehouse complex devoid of any human or andy. It was kind of strange that there was no one in sight except for the both of you, yet you shouldn’t really be wondering about that when an andy is after you with a huge metal pipe.

Now that you think about it, why was it even running after you? And why did it attack you in the first place? Shouldn’t it be running away from you?

You couldn’t find time to answer those questions when a pipe was hurled at your direction, hitting the cargo container you were hiding behind and piercing through the metal. You could’ve died if not for your quick reflexes. Clearly annoyed at being in the defensive, you faced the android square on and fired your laser guns at it as fast as you could.

A laser beam hit it on its chest and then on its legs, creating rather large gaping holes on its body. When you were near enough, you kicked it hard; crashing against the doors of the warehouse which opened upon impact. In one final blow, you shot through its processor at point blank.

It fell down to the ground in one swoop. It was all over. The final hunt was done.

“YN…?”

You heard your name being called by a familiar voice you never expected to hear while you were in the middle of a hunt. In an instant, you turned your head and saw with great surprise the person you had trusted the most.

“Hansol? What are you doing here?”

“No, what are you doing here?” he answered back. “You shouldn’t be here!”

“Looks like the final guest has arrived.” A figure from the shadows appeared; a gentle expression was on his face yet there was something dark looming just underneath his presence. “Took me some time to get you moving but looks like it went well.”

“Joshua, what’s the meaning of this?” Hansol asked, his eyes dark like coal; brimming with suspicion and fury.

“Joshua? Isn’t he one of your brothers and wasn’t he the one responsible for the AI hack that night?” You asked Hansol with incredulity bearing in your eyes.

You were standing there in the midst of it all, mouth ajar and eyes wide; unable to follow what was happening. You didn’t understand why Hansol was there or why he seemed to dislike his brother. If anything, it all seemed to suspicious.

“You’re right, YN. I am one of Hansol’s brothers and the AI hack was my work,” the android calmly replied which made you feel uneasy.

“And there’s no meaning at all, brother. I just wanted to meet YN,” he replied, shrugging with a carefree smile. “And besides, you did ask for my help.”

“I didn’t ask for your help. I came because you threatened to hurt her.”

Hurt me? You dared to take a look at Joshua who seemed to notice your apprehension yet only smiled so serenely—making it even more menacing.

“Ah, as honest as ever, huh?” Joshua replied as he pocketed his hands. “Or not.”

There was no denying that Hansol gazed at Joshua with contempt; the first time you have ever seen him display such a negative emotion. You now wondered what Joshua had done in order to push Hansol, who was as kind as ever, to treat him that way.

“Did you forget what happened to that family of six a few months ago? You know, that one in Palmaide.”

Joshua continued when Hansol refused to reply. You blinked several times at his words, feeling like you were familiar with the story one way or another. At the mere mention of the memory, Hansol immediately grit his teeth; sending death glares to the other android.

“Oh? Why are you looking at me like that?” Joshua asked, and then grinned, a malicious lilt in his voice appearing all of the sudden. “You didn’t tell YN, did you?”

“Tell me what?” you answered back with a clipped tone. “Tell me what, Hansol?”

In the midst of your questions, Hansol could only furrow his brow and purse his lips. He turned his head to the side, unable to face you.

“I-I…I’m sorry. I just…I always wanted to tell you…” he began, his voice unsteady.

“What is it?” you asked again, completely alarmed and afraid of what he might say.

“I—”

“He’s partly responsible for six deaths in the Palmaide Apartments.”

Joshua was the one who answered for him; malaise dripping from every word like thick poison. You could only gaze at him with disbelief and turned to Hansol for an explanation yet he couldn’t even look at you.

“Is that true, Hansol?” you asked, your voice a mere whisper; smelling the scent of betrayal.

“I…I didn’t want to hurt them,” he answered you as he trembled like a leaf in the wind. “Joshua was—”

“I did most of the killing but he just stood there, you know? Watching as I sliced open everyone and bury them to the wall,” Joshua interrupted. “Why the wall you ask? Don’t you think human guts look pretty when displayed?”

“You sick fucker!”

You pointed both laser guns to Joshua who only looked at you curiously even though you were shaking with anger. He seemed totally unperturbed by everything; a testament that he was far from sane.

“You shouldn’t be pointing your gun at me,” he replied as he leaned his head to the side. “Hansol was only lying to you, you know…saying he cares about you. Soon enough, I’ll be dissecting you and he’ll just watch me do it with those eyes you love so much.”

You wondered if the empathy organ really exists; wondering if Joshua had one or if Hansol had one. They could really be deceiving you for all you know. Back and forth, you tossed possibilities and motives inside your head, unsure of who to believe.

In the end, you gradually moved the guns to Hansol’s direction; your eyes meeting his. He looked hurt, but you could never really tell if that was real or something faked. Even if you had so many years of experience, the true test of your instincts was at that exact moment. It was only you who could determine who to trust.

Joshua grinned at the whole situation.

“You, move!”

You ordered which Hansol promptly followed, walking to the left and in front of Joshua. Still with the guns pointed at him, you continued to shout.

“Hansol, explain to me what happened.”

With your demands, Hansol flinched and then bit his lip, scared of what you would say if he told you the truth yet obeyed you nonetheless.

“At that time, I was so shocked—I just…I didn’t know what to do,” he began as he fiddled with his fingers. “I tried to stop Joshua…and we got into a fight. I lost and the next thing I knew I was in the wall as well…”

“YN, I’m…I’m really sorry…I-I—” he continued as his voice trembled and his heart beating wildly. “I didn’t know what you’ll say. I tried to save them but I was too late…the whole thing…it scares me sometimes. I don’t want it to happen ever again. That’s why I want to protect people as much as I can…”

About to say something, the sound of slow clapping stopped you from continuing. You gazed at Joshua who was looking at the whole thing with an amused expression.

“How heroic. You can’t obviously fall for that, YN, can you?” the android remarked, his arrogance obvious. “Don’t you think it’s now time to shoot?”

“You’re right,” you replied with such a cool and calm voice; as if a decision had finally dawned on you.

Hansol feared for the worst but like he said, there was nothing he could do if you decide to kill him. If that’s what makes you happy, then he understands. If that will make you more at peace, then he can forgive you. It hurts but it hurts him more if he sees you in despair.

You breathed in, and then breathed out. With eyes that seem to pierce right through Hansol’s being, you gazed at him with those clear looks as you pointed your gun at him.

“Keep still!”

You shouted at Hansol while the other tensed up. It was not a moment to falter.

In a heartbeat, you pressed both triggers. Hansol closed his eyes and braced for the impact. Even with death at his doorstep, he can proudly say that he loves you.

“You bitch!”

Hansol could hear Joshua curse from behind him, prompting him to open both of his eyes and realize what you had just done.

Shooting two laser beams at Hansol’s direction, you deliberately missed it a few centimeters off so it would instead hit Joshua, who was right behind him. The other was of course fuming mad. Before Hansol could reorient himself however, you grabbed his hand and began running.

“I’ve seen way better acting than yours, motherfucker!” You screamed with delight as you saw Joshua bending over to a partially burnt arm and leg; throwing murderous glances at you.

“What…?” Hansol asked but you only grinned at him, squeezing his hand.

“Let’s go! I don’t think I can wipe him out with just that.”

Dashing towards the exit, you were stopped by throes of androids who blocked the way. You clicked your tongue—totally forgetting that Joshua’s main ability was designed to overwhelm the opponent— and tried to find another way out.

“Ah, even that wouldn’t work, huh?” the voice behind you resounded across the empty warehouse. “I tried so hard to eliminate you, YN. If I didn’t, Hansol would never give up his weak mindset of protecting people. Too bad.”

While he was busy with his evil villain monologue, you were trying to find a way out of your situation. The entrance was blocked and you could take a gander that the whole building was surrounded as well. You had totally forgotten about his abilities, and Hansol couldn’t be of much help either since he was never made for this kind of combat. Oh for Pete’s sake!

“Oh well, so much for trying,” he sighed. “Everyone, you can dispose of them now.”

Shit.

You gazed at Hansol for an answer yet you noticed that he was only standing there with the most composed expression he could ever muster in a situation like this.

“We have to get out of here, Hansol!” you exclaimed, seizing his hand yet he didn’t budge a single inch at all.

He was just staring at one random spot in the warehouse.

“What…”

“Sorry I was late.”

A voice you have never heard before now echoed across the area. You looked up and saw someone standing by the mezzanine, leaning against the rusted railings as if they had no care in the world.

“Jihoon. You took your time,” Hansol responded, smiling.

“Why are you here?!” Joshua shouted, now even more furious at the turn of events. For some reason, you sensed that he had just lost his upper hand.

“Hansol asked for my help. So, I came,” Jihoon replied while you noticed black diamonds floating high above the air and settled in to surround the whole place. “He knew you were bound to cause some trouble, and you did.”

“If you think you’re one step ahead of us, we are two steps ahead of you,” Hansol continued. “Jihoon and my abilities are a good match after all.”

The android who was at the center of it all was silent as he trembled with sheer rage. If you could describe the tension weighing down all of you inside that warehouse, it would be like a dense core of a black hole—as if everything was compressed to the point of singularity. You were very much afraid but you knew you were not alone.

In a quiet voice, Joshua muttered. “Get them. Kill them all.”

Without even waiting for a second, the androids from outside marched in, making you take a step back. As soon as they entered however, the androids were immediately electrocuted; shaking in a frenzy before plummeting to the ground still twitching due to the remaining electrons passing through their conductors.

“Jihoon can easily stop all of those androids. That is his main ability as a tactical adviser,” Hansol explained as he caught your shoulder. “But we should go now. Joshua will probably go after us.”

In one breath, Hansol picked you up from the ground and carried you over his shoulder; sprinting out of the warehouse by kicking a hole through the roof. You didn’t want to be carried this way but you understood why. Hansol was far faster on foot than you; besides, it was easier to shoot this way.

As expected, Joshua came running after you; cursing both your names. You began to fire at him yet he was too fast and the whole ride on Hansol’s shoulder was a little too bumpy. It wasn’t as effective as you imagined it would be.

“This won’t work” you told him, trying to distract the android chasing after you. “At this rate, my laser gun would run out of batteries, and your energy would get depleted before we could ever chase him out.”

“What are you suggesting then?” Hansol asked, climbing on top of a cargo container tower.

For a moment, you were silent as you thought of how to defeat your agile enemy.

“Say, those diamond things your brother uses…they’re the ones doing the electrocuting, aren’t they?”

Hansol nodded as he dodged the iron beams being hurled at you both. “Yes, they’re made of specials alloys that conduct well with electricity and a special aluminum coating to protect it. They can be spread out as far as a hundred meters in radius.”

You grinned. “Perfect. Now, this is what we’re going to do.”

It had been quiet for a while.

Joshua clearly lost the both of you when you made use of a container full of flour to mask your escape earlier. But he wasn’t going back. He was incredibly furious and the both of you needed to pay before he could make Jihoon suffer.

He paused and looked around. Something was in the air but he didn’t know what it was.

Without warning, a laser beam appeared out of nowhere and hit him behind his shoulder; making him stumble forward and almost pushing him to the ground. Before he could even recover, another one came flying from a different direction—now to his left.

“Calculate the angle for me, Hansol,” you ordered; a massive railgun at your grasps. It was a sleek black gun that was propped up behind a cargo container.

The both of you were actually far from where Joshua was at but with the help of Jihoon’s diamond things—as you aptly described it—scattered across the sector, you were able to locate Joshua as well as shooting him from a distance in various directions.

How? Well…

“39.9 degrees up, 5 degrees to the right, yes…” Hansol replied as he watched over your shoulder.

Immediately, you found the right coordinates and fired the railgun—the sound of its energy loading up increasing the adrenaline in your veins. The laser beam hit one of the diamonds floating above you, but instead of destroying it, the magnetic field generated by the diamond bent the laser beam as it ricochets to another diamond a few distance away, sitting at a perfect angle to hit Joshua. Like a game of BBTan.

There were several diamonds sitting just above the two of you which you alternated with so that Joshua wouldn’t be able to tell where the laser beams were coming from.

“Good thing Jihoon brought Soonyoung’s railgun,” Hansol remarked as he fixed your goggles from before; adjusting it so that he can transmit signals to it.

“Soonyoung’s another brother right?” you asked as you adjusted the crossfires of the massive gun. “Is he dangerous?”

“If you’re asking if he’s dangerous to humans like Joshua, then no,” he readily replied. “As a military-grade android, then yes. He’s the true combatant-type. I don’t think any bounty hunter can deal with him.”

You whistled. “That’s scary. I’m glad he’s not the one I was assigned to hunt.”

“He’s too carefree to be able to pull off something like this though, and Jihoon has him on a leash anyway. I’m not worried.”

Chuckling, you pulled your attention off of the railgun and turned to Hansol. “Is he still moving?”

“He’s at a weakened state now. I think I’ll handle this on my own. This is something between us, after all.”

“Sometimes I envy your sense of composure,” you remarked as you sighed. “Don’t die on me.”

“I don’t plan to.”

Just as he had said, Hansol stepped out of one of the cargo containers to face a rather battered Joshua. Using his state-of-the-art processor, he assessed that Joshua was only hanging due to the immense anger he feeling and one powerful strike can finish him off in an instant.

“Didn’t think you’d show up,” Joshua remarked his face marred with bruises and burnt marks.

“I thought maybe you’d want to give up,” Hansol replied. “I don’t want to hurt you any more than this.”

Joshua furrowed his brows as he threw daggers with his eyes at Hansol. “Save me the heroics. I’m not weak like you. I don’t need humans to help me.”

“We’re made with the same materials; the same blueprint, Joshua. You have to accept that you have an empathy organ inside of you, and rejecting it any further would lead you to deteriorate.”

“Don’t make me laugh. The empathy organ isn’t real!” He scoffed. “Jihoon made a wrong interpretation of the data he gathered.”

“I disagree,” Hansol replied. “The data I have gathered says otherwise. It was consistent to Jihoon’s findings.”

“Who would’ve guessed you got smitten by that bounty hunter! I guess I just have to convince you out of it,” Joshua grinned.

Without warning, Joshua sprinted from his position; throwing a high velocity kick towards Hansol’s direction. Hansol immediately blocked it with his arms and clutched Joshua’s ankle; smashing him down to the ground in an explosive crash.

Through the cloud of dust, Joshua hurled debris towards Hansol’s direction which he easily dodged. However, he wasn’t prepared when the other android suddenly flew at his direction; hands outstretched to grab on Hansol’s neck.

Hansol immediately countered, ducking below and grabbing the other’s neck in a chokehold before slamming Joshua back to the ground. He picked him up soon after and tossed him faraway like a curve ball. Joshua caught himself flying and saw himself crashing to the concrete floor; shards of rock and dust clouds up in the air.

“You know you’re no match for me if I use my predictive algorithms,” Hansol remarked as he looked down on Joshua who was lying on the floor. “Especially at that state.”

The other android grinned as he wiped leaked fluids from his lips. “I’m impressed. By asking Jihoon for help, the only one who could counter my AI hacking, then have your girlfriend shoot lasers to weaken me, and then finally attacking me one-on-one where you have the upper hand—your android side is showing.”

“I never denied my identity as an android. I will always be made of artificial materials. But I will not deny the fact that I have developed emotions and a consciousness of my own,” Hansol answered. “We will always be creatures of myth—a cold android swayed by their own emotions.”

Joshua spat on the floor; disgusted by his brother’s words. “I will never be like you!”

Again, he sprung from the ground and dashed towards Hansol.

The other easily countered everything his brother threw at him. As Joshua hurled an uppercut, Hansol dodged and smashed his fist at Joshua’s stomach; the other immediately curling.

“Stop this already!” Hansol pleaded; his chest tightening at how stubborn his brother could be, even to the point of near death.  

“Fuck you.”

Joshua stood up, trying to land a blow on Hansol yet he was already struggling to stand upright. Hansol dodged the attack as he pushed Joshua away, putting in more distance between them. Every time Joshua tried to strike, he only ducked, dodged or jumped above the other.

“You’re looking down on me, huh? You think you’re above everyone else just because you think you understand yourself!” Joshua shouted.

“I’m not! Why are you even doing this?” Hansol replied as he bit his lip. He can no longer bear looking at his brother who he once looked up to.

“He’s right, you know?”

Jihoon’s voice resounded across the area, floating diamonds following just behind him. “It’s time for you to stop.”

Joshua clicked his tongue, knowing full well that he can’t take on both Hansol and Jihoon at the same time. With barred teeth, he glared at both his brothers.

“We’re not done here yet.”

With those words, he jumped off the building where a hovercraft caught him and escaped away from the city skylines. Hansol and Jihoon watched as their brother left, realizing that they must take significant measures to prevent Joshua from hurting anyone ever again.

“Did you do what I told you?” Jihoon asked Hansol, who only nodded in response. “We’ll have to deal with him sooner or later.”

“He’s not going to stop, is he?” Hansol responded as Jihoon turned around and waved his hand.

“It’s going to take a lot to stop him. We might need Soonyoung after all,” he replied, and then stopped walking, averting his gaze to Hansol. “While we’re planning things, you should enjoy this down time with your girlfriend. Things might get a little heated soon.”

Somewhere inside a fully automated café, Hansol was sitting beside you as he observed the people walking to and fro outside the busy street. He had been staying with you since that night and he was more than satisfied to explore his newfound freedom with you.

“So, you quit as well, huh?” a deep voice echoed across the café filled with people dressed in weird latex suits—you three being the only people dressed normally.

“There’s…I just don’t know…Seungcheol,” you replied, looking at your cup of macchiato with a pensive expression. “Sometimes, I get nightmares.”

The other man chuckled. “That those andys you retired might be human, right? Me too.”

You gave a bitter smile. “Humans and androids all seems to identical nowadays. Especially with that new research about human-android relationships…I feel like I’m killing humans when I retire androids…”

Seungcheol mirrored your expression.

“I felt the same. I felt like that for years…and the last one I did, SVT-class Type-07 Woozi…I couldn’t do it anymore. That android was too close to a human being. It was protecting its girlfriend,” Seungcheol recounted, as you looked at a newspaper article featuring a top scientist with a blond android leading the research on humans and androids, on top of the table.

“That line…there were rumors that there was an empathy organ embedded on its androids,” you remarked, relaying a very well-known information.

“He’s part of that line, isn’t he?” Seungcheol asked with a father-like knowing grin as he sipped his coffee—his eyes staring at the direction of a distracted Hansol.

You threw a smirk at him. “I couldn’t retire him. How could I refuse if he asked me to trust him?”

Your companion chuckled. “These andys knowing what to throw at us bounty hunters. But I didn’t regret letting that android live.”

You glanced at Hansol, and as soon as he realized your gaze, he looked at you curiously. “Me too. I think I’m at peace more than I was before. I didn’t realize it, but I was being stubborn.”

“You don’t dislike them anymore?” Seungcheol asked.

“I still dislike all this baloney,” you scoffed, pointing at your surroundings filled with people in white overalls with expressions induced by chemicals. “But I don’t dislike him.”

Seungcheol raised his brows at you. “I’m surprised you accepted the existence of an empathy organ.”

“I can’t deny that I’m skeptical about it, but I also can’t deny the fact that Hansol is different compared to all the androids I’ve met before. He made me realize how much anger I was hiding inside of me. He doesn’t make me feel lonely as this city does.”

“People are living in spaces separate from each other…not caring, not loving. It’s funny, you know?” you continued when your companion didn’t reply. “Androids are becoming more human, as humans become more robotic. You’d wonder what the future holds for us.”

He nodded in understanding.

“Yeah, you’d wonder.”