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jincherie · 6 years ago

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a well-oiled machine | i

➛pairing: jungkook x reader ➛genre: android au, futuristic au, prostitute au, fluff, angst, smut (next part) ➛words: 14.3k ➛rating: sfw ➛warnings: none in particular in this part-- some slight drunken behaviour and an android in bad shape! hints at previous abuse ➛notes: for @cinnaminsvga !! happy birthday zee!! i wuv u uwu !! <33 enjoy your roboporn u mecha slutte -- I’m sorry its not completely done!! I’ll do my best to pull the rest out my ass asap!!! <3 <3 <3

Your life takes a bit of a turn when you stumble upon an android in pieces, hidden in an alleyway in an area known for its shadows and debauchery. Taking him home to fix him might have been the best decision you’d ever made, but perhaps there was a little more to the android JK01-97 than you’d initially thought.

→posted; 20.08.2018

→ masterlist | part ii

Through the cool blue and lilac glow that fell from the holographic signs lining the streets, the fat droplets beginning to pelt from the sky and the darkness that began to linger alongside the buildings, a form was just barely visible. Jumbled and disorganised, a mess of metal and synthetic material that had seen better days was propped against a dumpster and the brick wall behind it. Hovering vehicles sped past, women in heels and men in dress shoes strode by, all oblivious to the shape hidden just inside the alley. The droplets that had sprinkled now began to pour from the heavens in earnest, and the form began to grow soaked. Water pooled across the chipped and uneven concrete, dripping and mixing with the deep, burnt violet that trickled slowly from metallic shapes that looked vaguely like limbs, the metal torn and busted, and the flesh-like material spread across it ripped and ruined. As the remaining light of day fled the sky and the distant rumble of brontide pierced the damp air, time began to run out for the form. It had been there for days, untouched by anything but nature, and while the LED light in its eyes had managed to remain, now it had begun to flicker. It was a hopeless night, a hopeless storm growing closer, and the glow of the signs’ light reflecting across the puddles was beginning to overpower the form’s own.

He didn’t have much longer at all.

x x x x x x x x x

The Red Light District wasn’t a place you enjoyed visiting, nor one you frequented by choice. Rather, it was a necessary evil; just on the other side of the district lay a waste field, ripe with discarded technology and all the parts in the world a simple tinkerer like you could ever want. Normally, someone such as yourself seeking to pilfer the field for parts and goods would be refused entry, but you had the luck of knowing and befriending the owner. Mr Bang was a retired scientist, an inventor of sorts, who’d specialised in AI and had even mentored some of your friends in their studies before he reached an age where he decided it was time to leave the profession. It was, in a way, quite peculiar that he now owned and managed what was essentially a trash yard for discarded technology. From simple things like microwaves and hoverboards to the rare early-age android, He collected them and stored them. The only place he’d managed to find big enough for all his, well, junk had been the warehouse on the other side of the Red Light District. And so, that was where you had to go— actually, it was where you were trying to go right now, if the storm and resulting traffic decided to let up.

Your car was somewhat a relic of an older time, but still technologically advanced enough that it was allowed on the road with other vehicles. You’d grown up being taught to drive by your parents, and secretly longed to be able to drive your own car, but the laws in this day and age were quite clear. On roads that hovercraft and wheeled vehicles shared, only automatic, self-driving units were allowed. Gone were the days when you controlled the speed of your own car, the turns and brakes. It was nice not having to think about all of those things on the journey to your destination, but at the same time you found it gave you too much time to think. While it took more mental capacity, driving in itself was a mindless sort of activity. You liked that it quietened your thoughts, but supposed you’d just have to deal as always with how loud they were for now.

You let out a sigh as you remained in the same position you’d been in for the past few minutes, bumper to bumper with two other cars. In a day and age when crashes on the road were few and far between, you weren’t sure what the hold-up was this time. You supposed it was probably the road itself— the rain had come out of nowhere and with so much in so little time, you didn’t doubt the winding, dipping roads of this area were prone to flooding. Automatic cars were incredible in their seamless ability to drive with much less hazard, but had a flaw in their programming; some, especially older models, were so wired to uphold their passenger’s safety that they sometimes jumped the gun a little bit. In example, what was probably happening a little further up the road was that a car or hovercraft was halted before a stream or pool of water. Its sensors and computer would register danger, and would lock the wheels or engine so that the danger was not intercepted. This was problematic when the water was only a few centimetres deep and easily driven through. There was a function for events like this, that allowed the passenger to commandeer the vehicle for a few minutes and override any automatic inhibitors, but the process of accessing that setting was… tedious. In all honesty, the time it took to activate manual driving was probably what caused this back-up of traffic in the first place, rather than a road being completely flooded. Your car thrummed suddenly, engine revving softly, and you moved forward one whole car space before you halted again. Then, no doubt, the process began once more.

You were getting tired of sitting here, gazing out the window in a district where there were things you likely didn’t want to see. The rhythmic swiping of the windshield wipers could only distract you for so long before you were seeking other entertainment. The storm had momentarily interfered with the local cell towers so you couldn’t even browse the internet, and you weren’t in the mood for any of your games. You liked the mindless kind, the easy ones with a little story and detail to spice them up, but your thoughts were currently too active for something like that. So, sitting and staring out the window it was.

You were wondering if it was better to forgo a visit to the tech yard this time. At this rate you were going to tear your own hair out before you even got to the other side of the district, and you didn’t want to even entertain the thought of what it would be like beyond the blocks of buildings and maintained roads. You shuddered. Perhaps you’d give it a few minutes, and if the traffic didn’t sort itself out by then you’d head on home. It was getting late as it was anyway. Well, six o’clock in the evening wasn’t technically that late, but you’d been up since early running the store and you were eager for the day to end.

It was hard to see through the pelting rain that melted against the glass and did its very best to obscure your vision, but you still managed to catch it as a woman in a short dress and crimson heels scurried past, bag held over her head in meagre protection from the rain— until her foot lost traction on the flooded path and she slipped. You gasped, wincing at the way her knees made contact with the concrete, and were opening the door of your car with an umbrella in hand before you could give it a second thought, ignoring it as your car letting loose a string of warning noises and a soft artificial tone, ‘Miss y/n, please get back in the car. Climbing out of a moving vehicle is a safety hazard.’

Well, your car wasn’t exactly moving but she had the right idea.

You hurried over to the woman, your form instantly growing soaked in the downpour. You managed not to flinch as a flash of lightning greeted your vision and thunder boomed and rumbled above almost instantly after. Ah, the storm was right above you, it would seem.

“Hey, are you okay?” you asked, speaking louder so she’d be able to hear you over the rain. The woman looked up, surprised that someone had stopped to help. Her eyes were a warm cocoa that matched her auburn locks, gratitude filtering into her irises as you popped open the umbrella above her. “I saw you slip a bit in the puddle.”

The woman winced, adjusting the way she sat so her knees were removed from the rough texture of the pavement; blood seeped from the scrapes marring her tanned skin, diluting in the water pooling along the path. She accepted your hand and wobbled to a stand. You scooped up her bag for her. “A-ah, yeah, I’m fine. I didn’t slip, though. I tripped on that.”

At the last word she gestured loosely, hands then returning and brushing tentatively over the torn skin on her knees. Your gaze followed the movement, surprise filtering through you at the sight of something metallic a few feet away, gleaming in the glow of the holographic sign above you. You squinted through the rain, trying to discern what it was. The urge to investigate tickled under your skin, tugging your sternum, but you forced yourself to remain where you were by the woman.

“Ah,” you murmured, blinking as you returned your attention to the situation at hand. You passed her the umbrella. “Here, you can have this— my car is just over there. Do you need help walking…?”

The woman blushed, shaky hands dusting her soaked dress as though there would be real dust clinging to the fibres in this weather. A little concern budded within you as you caught sight of her skin again and worried that she was beginning to turn a little blue.

“N-no, thank you though,” she held her hands up, and you winced as you caught the scraped skin of her palms. She took the umbrella from you with a sheepish look. “I’ll be ok. Thank you very much for helping.”

“If you’re sure,” you smiled, passing her the bag you’d picked up; she accepted it with a shy grin. “And it’s no problem. Try not to trip again.”

She let loose a giggle and agreed, offering a brief wave before she was off once more, trekking through the rain at a slightly slower pace now that she had an umbrella to stop her getting soaked. You, on the other hand, were now suffering for your generosity. You didn’t mind though— this was the excuse to go straight home that you’d been looking for, and you weren’t one to turn down an opportunity when it was so nicely presented to you.

Although, before you went back to your car…

You checked behind you quickly, and once assured that traffic wasn’t about to move again anytime soon, you dashed forward in the rain to the alley where the item lay that had tripped that poor lady. It grew clearer the closer you got, and it wasn’t long before you were halting in surprise.

A… hand?

Realisation quickly dawned on you as you caught sight of a thick cord attached to the bottom that lead further into the alley. An android— but what was an android doing here with its hand almost completely severed?

In all honesty, there were a number of likely explanations— androids weren’t human, and as such there were many legal… loopholes, with things one could get away with— and your heart hurt at the thought of every one of them. You quickly ducked into the alleyway, now just barely shielded from the rain by the brick wall of the building to your right. The alleyway was illuminated only by the glow of the holographic signs at the edge of the building, a dim blue and violet cast all you had to go off as you crouched and peered at the large lump before you. It took you a moment to take it in.

It appeared to be a male, of unclear make and model. Your heart throbbed in your chest— god, it was in absolute pieces. There wasn’t a single inch of its form that hadn’t been beaten or damaged. The synthetic material covering its outside was ripped and frayed, stained deep plum from the fluid that ran through droids like blood, the metal frame bent and dented and, in some places, even torn. You knew it was just an android, but the thought of anything— anyone going through something like this, no doubt at the hands of their owner, made your heart ache.

Your gaze scanned its form, sadness gathering within you at each new detail you took in— until you halted, surprise catching your breath in your throat. With the amount of damage this android had sustained, you’d thought it would no doubt be, well, dead. But the dim, flickering light you caught glowing behind closed lids ceased those thoughts— he was hanging on, clinging to life against all odds.

The light was weak, just barely there, and you knew that if you left him here he would die. If he had already gone, you might have taken him for parts— it was a better fate than leaving his frame to rust and decay. But now, knowing that he was alive… you had to help him. You tinkered for a living, you fixed things, repaired things— it was a family thing. In your mother’s case, the things she specialised in fixing were androids. And now, knowing that you had the skills, the knowledge, the opportunity to help one— you couldn’t leave it, couldn’t leave him. Your mother wouldn’t have, and you wouldn’t either.

You moved quickly, not wanting the android to have any more exposure than necessary to this atrocious weather. Thunder rumbled above you once more as you shimmied out of your soaked jacket, using it to gather and wrap up the parts of him that were closest to falling off. Some of his limbs might have been hanging dangerously, some panels popped loose, but for the most part everything was still attached in some way— even if it was only by a few wires or cords. You gathered his pieces, jacket wrapped around him to keep them together, and slipped your arms around his form to heave him up with a great huff. He was heavier than you anticipated, much heavier, but you’d be able to make it to your car okay.

You peered over your shoulder, through the rain, and upon confirming your car was still where you left it, you grasped the android tight and hurried over, wary of slipping in the various puddles. In the short time you’d been out of the car, the relentless downpour seemed to have made them grow deeper.

Your car beeped at you, politely requesting you get back inside as you popped the back door open and carefully laid the android’s cold, slack form across the backseat. Once sure he was safely secured, you shut the door and opened your own, diving into the seat and out of the rain, shivering a little. Right, well. That wasn’t how you’d expected this evening to go.

With cold, stiff fingers, you tapped the navigation panel and input your home as a new destination. The car hummed in affirmation, hot air beginning to blast as it read your significantly lowered body temperature. You allowed a smile as the car shifted and scanned the area before the wheels turned and it was performing a u-turn when safe— you were really beginning to appreciate these automatic vehicles a lot more.

x x x x x x x x

Laid across your workbench like this, all of his pieces rearranged to where they should be, you had to acknowledge that the android was handsome.

You’d connected him to a power port to stabilise his system as soon as you’d arrived home, and now you were talking a moment to admire the sight before you. The level of detail and dedication present in his features, in each suture of synthetic skin and weld of metal framing. You were in awe that someone besides yourself, besides your family, had taken such pride and care in their work— it wasn’t common nowadays, when most things were made by machines. Even for an android, it was difficult to emulate the level of attention to detail present in the works of someone who truly loves and enjoys their craft.

The android— model JK01-97, as you’d seen from the inked code on the inside of the wrist that was still attached to his arm— was almost a work of art. The skin, while you knew it was synthetic, felt real to the touch, and the hair shone beneath your work light with all the radiance of authentic, healthy locks found on humans. The line of thick lashes that crossed and clumped lightly, the sculpt of the brows and face— it was the kind of complete beauty that couldn’t be found in factory perfect androids, modelled after the impossibly image of beauty humans always strived for. His lips were uneven in their fullness, cupid’s bow pronounced, and his skin— the parts that weren’t damaged— was a lovely golden and had the occasional cute freckle decorating it.

It hadn’t been long since you’d arrived home with the android, and as a result you hadn’t had the time to really do anything yet. Your gaze swept over his form, the ripped clothing over his legs and his bare feet. Only pants… had his other clothes been so badly damaged they’d just fallen away? And his collar… most androids had collars with tracking chips in them so that their owner could find them in the event they were ever stolen, but this one… his throat was bare, though there was a slight discolouration on the skin that showed where the collar had been. You let out a sigh, the sight confirming what you’d thought all along; it had been his owner that did this to him— took the chip, beat him and then discarded him like nothing more than a cheap toy. You frowned, hand lifting from your side.

“I’m so sorry they did this to you, JK,” you said softly, brushing the soft raven strands from his forehead. The synthetic skin was stained plum where it was busted open, the android equivalent of blood having seeped out of the lesion. The informal name was Violet Blood, since that was essentially what it was, but it was more technically known as AMF— Android Maintenance Fluid. Not the flashiest name, but it did its job.

You watched as the thin ring that usually ran around the outer edge of an android’s irises glowed dim, deep blue beneath his eyelids. That colour indicated that he was currently in a state similar to very, very deep sleep, or really something more like a coma. It was a state their systems initiated when circumstances were unideal and the need to survive overran the need for more or less ‘conscious’ control. It was as though they went into standby, hibernated, until conditions were ideal once more. This meant when the stressors were gone, and the body was in optimal condition for operation again.

So, for this android— JK, as you’d begun calling him from his model number— to wake up, you needed to fix his body up. His frame, his skin, his wiring and circuitry were all you’d noted to be damaged so far, and you hadn’t even gotten to run scans on his programming and system state yet… you certainly had your work cut out for you. Could you really do it? You’d never fixed an android by yourself before...

Your gaze flicked up, to the right corner of your desk where a holographic picture frame sat. At the sight of your mother in movement, glaring playfully at the camera with the corner of her lips betraying her expression and twitching into a smile before she grinned brightly and waved, you returned your gaze to the figure laying prone before you with a renewed sense of determination. You could do it; it might take some time, and some patience, and probably a fair bit of money, but you could do it.

You adjusted the strands that fell over his forehead, brushing off a speck of dust from his cheek.

“I'll do my best to fix you, JK,” you vowed, tone conveying how serious you were. “I promise.”

And do your best, you did.

x x x x x x x x x

First, you decided, was the frame.

The android’s metal framing was, in a word, wrecked. It was dented, wrangled, and had taken more abuse than you’d thought possible. Considering it was so deep inside of his form, covered by layers of wires and cushioning materials, it was somewhat hard to gain the access you needed to fix it as best as you could. You had to carefully strip back synthetic skin and the harder casing beneath, part the wires and cords that acted as makeshift tendons and ligaments. The only experience you had in this area was when you’d accepted a job to repair some animatronics for an old restaurant franchise that extended from a brand of cinemas. It was similar in essence, but in details… there were more differences than you could count.

It was an activity that required a lot of time and a lot of patience, since you didn’t want to damage any part of him more than it already had been. The fact that you put such care into sorting out the frame, fixing kinks and welding the parts that had torn back together, meant that it took much longer than you originally thought. In amongst your daily tasks and jobs that came from running a second-hand goods and repair store, it took you over a week to completely adjust his frame. But once you were done, at no extra cost to the android, you were excited— the frame was more or less like the bones. Now that you had stable grounds to work on, you could get to the other areas.

As you’d gone along, you’d cleaned the android’s form wherever you were working. But now, as you settled before him once more with the bright warmth of a Saturday morning sun cast across your side, you decided he deserved to be cleaned properly before you continued to the next stage.

“God…” you winced as you brought the damp cloth across his forehead, wiping away the plum and lilac stains that marred his skin. His AMF levels had dropped enough that he’d stopped ‘bleeding’, but the sight of it still wasn’t entirely pleasant. “How could someone do this to you…?”

You couldn’t fathom how someone could expend all the money it required to purchase an android, and then treat it so poorly. It baffled you, but also angered you— with how advanced they had become in recent years, you grew more and more uncomfortable with the fact they were treated with such disregard. At this point, models were in production that could emulate a similar version of the care a parent felt for their child— nanny bots, of course. How long before they went too far in their endeavours and their creations were too human to fit into the box society had created for them?

For some reason, you found yourself talking to the android, JK, more often than you talked to yourself. You thought that perhaps it was the fact he looked so real, so human, that the idea of having company even if it was currently somewhat comatose was better than having no company at all, as it usually was. You weren’t always lonely, per se, but some days you certainly felt it more than others. It was just the way things were, you supposed.

“I’ll have to ask Seokjin if he has a manual for you,” you hummed as you went, talking to both yourself and him. The dark blue LED blinked behind his eyelid. You brought the cloth to his skin over and over, removing the unsightly, crusted stains. AMF was oilier than human blood, had a bit of a sheen, but it came easily off his skin. “I think I know what parts you’ll need, there’s a few that need replacing and some are missing, but I think it would be better to check. You seem… like a special model.”

You tilted your head as you stepped back to dip the cloth in the bucket beside you and wring it out; the water was dyed purple from the fluid that had gathered on the rag, colour dripping from your clenched fist. You allowed one hand to hold it, letting it drip dry for a second, and used your other to run your fingers softly over the planes of his face, almost with a sense of reverence.

“The amount of detail and care in your make… It’s really incredible, JK,” you told him, catching sight of a smudge you’d missed and wringing the rest of the soapy water out of the rag. You dabbed the mark away, resuming your task of cleaning the stains from his form as you spoke. “I really hope I can restore you. You seem like a really advanced android— and you’re almost a work of art, you know. I wonder who made you…”

There were a few companies that made androids, but they were all essentially owned by the same people. Each company hired different scientists, different employees, and tailored to different areas. In your whole life, though, you’d never seen an android, living or dead, as advanced or as detailed as JK. The desire to know what he was designed for, and who made him, burned deeply within you.

Seokjin, someone you’d known a long time, was one of the friends that had studied under Mr Bang. You could never quite remember which company he worked for— didn’t even know if he was allowed to tell you, technically. Not that that had ever stopped him running his mouth— but you knew he was excellent at his job and had a real passion for creating the AI, modelling their bodies and bringing them to life. He had a team that worked with him, some also your friends and a few you didn’t know, but he was usually the head of the projects. You would have to ask Seokjin about a manual, so you could look at the right parts, and if you couldn’t get one through him you’d probably have to hit up Mr Bang. You didn’t doubt he had a fair few collected and lying around from his years in the profession and time spent collecting junk.

“Ok, you’re all clean now and as handsome as ever,” you muttered to the android lying prone and asleep across your workspace, feeling very much like you were talking to a child who couldn’t yet respond back. “Now, I need to get your parts… and for that I need a manual. I can’t hook up your wires without all your pieces back inside you.”

This halted your little project for a few days, along with the fact you received a sudden influx of orders for repairs and fixes that came in through your shop. It wasn’t that hard, running a store on your own, but it was times like these where you had things going on in the background that you really felt it the most. It was only a mild inconvenience, but you were nonetheless glad when you finally managed to get your hands on a manual for JK.

It had been surprisingly hard to find one, and Mr Bang had been the one to help you; Seokjin was currently wrapped up in a big project and you hadn’t been able to get a hold of him. You’d both scoured long and hard, and you didn’t understand why it was so hard to find a manual for JK when there was a plethora of manuals available for all other makes and models— that is, you didn’t understand until you actually read JK’s manual. It was somewhat in pieces, sections missing, but enough was there for you to get most of the information you needed; it was the only one you were able to find, so you’d have to make do.

JK01-97, was part of a special line of androids and, essentially, one of a kind. While not the only one in the JK line, he was the only one of his specific make and model. You’d heard a bit about this line from Seokjin, an extension of the J branch, how each model was the only one in the world to look like that and have that specific personality. It explained the level of detail, commitment and care that you saw in him— he wasn’t just one of a hundred or more, he was the only one of his model to ever be made. His creator took pride in him, and knowing that just saddened you even more at the fact that whoever bought him had then treated him with such disregard and trashed him to such a degree. He deserved better.

Once you had the manual, you were able to begin ordering parts. There were chapters of the manual missing, pages and pages, but all the sections on mechanical components were present and that was good enough for you. Unfortunately, one of the missing sections was the one that covered functioning and purpose, so you still didn’t know exactly what JK had been made for. You supposed you’d find out once he was awake, given you managed to actually fix him.

You ordered the parts you needed, and one by one they began to arrive, with the occasional, expected delay. It took around two weeks for all of the parts to arrive; already this project was beginning to take longer than you usually spent, but you could tell in the end it would be worth it. In the meantime you worked on other things, small devices— the occasional holoframe, phones, a busted coffee machine, even. Your days weren’t overloaded but you were kept busy, and your account was kept full. You did your best to monitor the android in between jobs, making sure his condition didn’t worsen somehow. It was unlikely, but you’d rather be on the safe side.

As soon as you had all the parts, the android JK became your number one priority once more. Since you’d fixed his frame first and gotten the manual, you now had a stable guideline for where you were placing what. Androids were incredibly complex creations, you knew this, but JK… he was something else. You began to notice now as you worked that after you’d cleaned his synthetic skin, it began trying to fuse back together on its own. It was fascinating, the way you watched a small cut draw closed seamlessly, fibres reaching for the other side and binding as soon as they made contact. The way it smoothed over, like there’d never been a cut in the first place, reminded you oddly of the way kinetic sand would move and mould itself back together.

Bolts, screws, little pieces of technology that might have been hard to get a hold of if you didn’t have the contacts you did; bit by bit you put JK’s insides back together. He was missing a few important parts, but most of it was just the odd bolt, gear or wire. His computer system seemed to be intact, but you wouldn’t know for sure if anything was damaged until you hooked him up and ran some scans. That would be the last part of the process, though. You had a little while to go before you were at that point.

You were prone to humming as you worked, singing if you found yourself in a good enough mood, and it was no different as you worked on JK. Compared to the wait time for the parts, it didn’t take long at all for you to put them back where they belonged and fix them in place. You were done in just over a week, to your pleasant surprise. You were excited to move onto the next part— fixing his wires and circuitry was probably the part of the whole process that came easiest to you, after all. Most of the devices you tinkered with on the daily had wiring and you’d come to be pretty well versed in the reparation of items that relied heavily on it.

Idly, as you completed your last task to do with the repair of his parts, you thought that were your mother here to see your work, she’d probably be proud. The thought brought a slight mist to your eye, and your gaze was side-tracked to the holoframe on your workbench before you blinked it back and returned your attention back to JK’s abdomen. Right, things to do. You could get sentimental another time.

His body had been sculpted in a way that was very visually appealing, and while you could appreciate it, you had to wonder what purpose it served. Usually androids were only built with features that directly served the purpose for which they had been made. But, you supposed, the creator of this android had really just gone above and beyond in each and every aspect, you wouldn’t be surprised if there hadn’t been any real reason for it. It happened like that, sometimes. Art was prone to taking on a mind of its own when its creator was immersed and in love with their craft.

Wherever there had been dents or lacerations across his body, you’d attended to the wires that had been damaged as a result, starting on the peripheral and moving inwards. This, while it came easier to you, was still a painstakingly slow process; and while juggling this project with your own work and the shop, it ended up taking several weeks to work your way over the entirety of his body. You tried to do a little every day, but some days you were just too tired, too exhausted, to give the amount of attention and focus needed for the job. You always made up for lost time though, the next day more often than not consisting largely of working on JK. Now you were on the final area, a panel hidden in his abdomen that had been dented inwards and was unable to seal back as the rest of his form did, and were going over the clusters of wires and connections. You’d slipped on a pair of spectacles that magnified your vision and helped you focus, and had spent the better part of a week on this section alone.

Each bundle was grouped specifically and with purpose, and you had to be careful that they weren’t separated or lost from their group. The wires might have been colour coordinated, but that was only in regard to the sections they’d been sorted into; this meant there were double-ups on colours and it would be very difficult to sort one from the other should they get confused. Hence, the amount of time you’d spent here, carefully sorting and repairing wires and circuitry as needed. Your effort and patience paid off, however, and eventually you were finishing, popping the dent out of the panel and watching with fascination as you set it in place and the skin fused as you’d seen it do before, his abdomen soon showing no sign that the panel even existed.

You smiled, proud of how much progress you’d made so far as you gazed upon his form before you. You’d spent the a little over two months altogether working on this android, doing your very best to repair him, and very soon you would be done— it was something you could hardly believe. You were excited, anxious to see if the time and toil you’d poured into fixing this robot had paid off. A gaze to the side where the window sat told you perhaps you’d pushed it a little too close this time, the barest hints of the morning sun beginning to peek across the horizon outside. You let out a sheepish chuckle.

“Whoops,” you murmured, fighting a yawn. “Got a bit too carried away, I suppose. I better sleep— the shop isn’t going to run itself tomorrow, after all. Although, before I go to bed…”

You hummed in thought, allowing your hand to rest gently on his shoulder, finger tapping softly against the skin. As expected, he didn’t stir, remaining motionless on the table. The only thing left to do was run scans and do a full sweep of his system to see what had been affected and what would need to be repaired. Androids had a self-repair function for their programs and processing systems, but if the damage was bad enough there was the possibility you’d need to step in and repair what you could so that it could kick in and take over. Most of the damage he’d taken seemed to be external— you hadn’t had to fix the wiring as much as you had the frame, although both had been in a poor condition in their own ways.

With the technology at your disposal, it wouldn’t take long to perform the initial scan, and it would be good to know what you were working with. So, without much resistance on your end, you decided to perform it now, before you went to bed.

“I think I’ll do the scan now,” you voiced your thoughts aloud, for the android’s sake if nothing else. You didn’t think he could hear you, he was essentially comatose after all, but it felt… right, although you weren’t sure why. “We’re so close to being done, JK. I hope I’ve done enough.”

You hummed a half-hearted tune as you lifted his arm, taking his wrist into your grasp and pressing right where the vein would be in a human. There was a soft pop and shick! as a tiny panel, about the size of your thumbnail, revealed itself before your eyes, lifting vertically before it slid back over the skin of his forearm. You’d hooked JK up to a power source as soon as you arrived home with him so many months ago, but to scan his systems you’d need a different sort of connection. Holding his wrist in one hand, you used the other to fish amongst your tools for the cord you needed.

You let out a soft, victorious noise as you found it, quickly taking it into your grasp and pushing the thin needle into the receiving jack in the android’s wrist. You tapped your tablet, the screen lighting immediately, and slid your finger over the scan button. Immediately, there was a sudden hum and warmth washed down the android’s arm; you watched in awe as a faint purple, rosy hue lit beneath his skin in a pattern so pretty it could almost rival the stars. The LED beneath his eyelids flickered beneath deep blue and rosy violet. The screen of your tablet flashed, telling you that it was beginning the holistic system scan.

It didn’t take long at all for it to complete, thankfully (you might have wanted to continue working, but even you couldn’t deny how exhausted you were), and soon you were sitting, looking upon its results with an expression of concentration. Your teeth found your lip as you swiped through the report, taking in the information rapidly. Most of his systems were intact, if a bit damaged, but one in particular had been severely compromised. A shard of sadness wedged itself into your heart— his memory centres had taken a blow, and while you didn’t know what specifically he had lost or exactly how much, you knew from the scan that it was a lot of data. You felt terrible, despite the fact you knew it more than likely wasn’t a result of your fiddling but of the initial abuse he’d suffered.

Even in your tired state, your fingers managed to fly across the screen with ease. You breezed through his other results, before coming back to the ones that were affected. The others would be able to self-repair; the memory centres would be able to as well, but before you even attempted to task his system with that you’d need to do a bit of work. There was significant data loss, most of which you had no idea how to fix or retrieve, but there were some pathways you could reconnect manually on your own. You did your best with this for a while, finally stopping when your eyes blurred and sunlight began to peek through the window, unable to continue even if you wanted to.

You’d done what you could, now the rest of it was up to him. You stood, stretching your tight, tired limbs and letting loose a loud yawn. It was finally time for bed, but before you went…

“I’m going to go now,” you murmured to the android, reaching for your tablet and tapping across the screen— JK’s systems processed the command for a moment before they initiated self-repair as you’d told them. Purple glowed beneath his skin once more, and you let another soft smile slide across your face. “I’ve done what I can… I hope it’s enough. It’s up to you now, bud. I think you can do it— you hung on in that alley for lord knows how long, you can do this.”

You swallowed, feeling oddly emotional as you gazed upon his form. You didn’t have the words to put to the feeling currently making your eyes water and heart squeeze, and didn’t bother attempting to analyse it right now. You’d worked so hard, he’d worked so hard by clinging to life in that alley for so long before you found him— the fact that there was a possibility he still wouldn’t wake up was almost inconceivable to you. You bit your lip, brushing the hair from his forehead tenderly before, after a moment’s deliberation, you bent and pressed a soft kiss to the skin.

“Sleep well, JK,” you said softly, gazing upon the strong planes of his face with a fondness you hadn’t known you possessed for him— he was an android, but you’d spent the better part of two months tending to his every need and wound, repairing him, fixing him, healing him… it was hard not to grow attached in that time. “I look forward to meeting you whenever you wake up.”

With that you stood and allowed your body to stretch once more, before you began to shuffle out. You hit the light on the way out, the dim glow beneath JK’s skin the only thing illuminating the room now save for the trickling sunlight beginning to peek through the window. You cast one more look his way, chest stirring, before you exited your workroom and allowed the door to close behind you. The trip to your bedroom was spent in a tired daze, and you slipped into your comfiest pair of pyjamas before flopping onto your bed and wriggling comfortably beneath the covers.

You were out the second your head hit the pillow.

Your sleep was deep, and wholesome, and when you woke it wasn’t exactly with full coherency. You yawned, registering the deep sunlight streaming from your window, between the blinds you’d forgotten to close, and the warmth you were encased in as a result. It was just shy of toasty, and you were tempted to stay where you were before your stomach gave a loud, undeniable protest and you were slipping from the bed reluctantly. You tried to remember what you had in your cupboard— you’d been so wrapped up in your work these past weeks you’d forgone a few grocery trips and social outings. You were sure to be feeling the results when you made it to the kitchen—

Hold on.

You halted in your hallway, head tilting as you strained your ears. The slightest, softest shuffling could be heard, gentle cluttering of cutlery against a hard surface— there was someone in your kitchen? You were too tired for the alarm to really sink in, but you were definitely more awake as you continued down the hall quietly, peering around the doorway once you reached the room in question. Your mind ceased for a moment as your gaze fell upon the source of the noise and a gasp fell from your lips, but you didn’t have any longer than that to process it.

The figure in your kitchen turned around, apparently having heard your soft intake of breath, and upon catching sight of you standing in the doorway a bright smile lit across their face.

“Creator!” it was a strikingly familiar male, but the contrast between how you were used to seeing him, across your workbench, to how you were seeing him now, upright and rushing towards you, gave you whiplash. You didn’t have time to prepare as the android you’d been repairing for months, who was now apparently awake, came careening across the kitchen space and into you, his arms wrapping around your form tightly and holding you close.

You let out a soft ‘eep!’ as he buried his face in your neck, swaying you in the hug— he was an android, what was he doing? He was hugging you, like— like he was feeling overwhelmed with joy, or— or emotion. That wasn’t… that shouldn’t be possible!

Your body acted out of habit and muscle memory more than anything as your arms came up to embrace him back, thoughts whirring as you tried to comprehend the current situation. “...JK?”

The android pulled back, a sheepish smile tugging his lips as he released you— your heart fluttered at the detail his creator had put into his face now that you got to see it in action. The wrinkle of his eyes as his whole face smiled, cheeks lifting and bunny teeth peeking from behind his lips. God, his eyes shone, LED around his iris glowing soft lilac. That light was the only thing that betrayed the fact this man was not human.

“You’re awake, creator,” the was such glee in his tone, something in your chest clenched. He shouldn’t be so— so emotive! This… you’d never seen anything like this. It was like you were talking and interacting with a real human; it felt surreal. “I was waiting for you.”

“I’m not your creator,” you murmured, eyes wide as they swept over his form. Everything seemed to be running fine, normal, but… was this normal? In this world and society, no. But was this normal for him? Had he always been like this? Were these detailed emulations, or had something in his programming mutated to allow him to feel genuine emotions? Your mind was reeling.

JK’s head tilted, dark doe eyes holding your own as the ring around his iris ran soft blue. “No, you’re not,” he admitted, appearing for the first time to act like you knew androids to act. “But you are the one that fixed me. You made me anew.”

Your mouth parted; you didn’t have a response to that. The android was quick to read your expression and attempt to decipher it.

“But… if you do not wish to be called that,” he began, a tentative note in his voice, “What shall I call you? Owner? Mistress?”

Heat rushed to your face, embarrassment causing you to stumble over your words slightly. “My name is fine— you can call me y/n.”

“y/n,” the android echoed, as though testing how it rolled from his tongue and lips. A bright smile suddenly split his lips and your heart nearly faltered at the sight of it alone. “Thank you, y/n, for fixing me.”

And with that the android took you into his arms once more, and you were left just as confused and baffled as before.

What the hell did you do now?

x x x x x x x x x

In the two days since JK had risen from his comatose state, you’d learnt a lot— both about him, and in general.

You’d wanted to run another scan to see how his systems were doing, but he’d grown sheepish and assured you that he was already running scans and his damaged systems were in the process of self-repairing. You’d asked about his memories, and with a somewhat indecipherable look he informed you that while he had some, he had lost a majority of them. He couldn’t remember where or what he did before you found him, couldn’t remember his owner or creator. He hadn’t had a name before you found him, but you had a feeling that if he did he wouldn’t remember that either.

Everything you’d expected to experience when your project woke up had been promptly thrown out the window the second you’d found him in your kitchen two days ago. It was very apparent from the get-go that JK was unlike any other android you’d ever seen or even heard of. Aside from those first few hours, the android hadn’t displayed any other intense bouts of emotion, but there was a quality about him that led you to believe he was still feeling. Soft smiles that didn’t feel programmed, but that reached his eyes— the way those eyes would light upon seeing you, and the LED would flicker summer orange. There were little details in his speech and movement, and honestly you were still reeling. Had he been made this way? Was he the greatest achievement to-date in technological advancement? Or had he been made like any other android, and his software, his programming, had mutated? The possibilities were endless, and you didn’t know where to begin looking to find the answer.

One thing you noticed, in particular, was that JK was surprisingly clingy. There was hardly a minute that went by without him by your side or doing something for you around your house. He was very helpful, and it was all of his own volition; not once had you told him to clean— quite the opposite, really— but he’d taken it upon himself to do it anyway. You’d asked him about it on the second day of walking into the kitchen to catch him doing your dishes, and he’d offered you a soft smile, the ring around his eyes glowing warm lilac.

“You have been kind to me,” he’d said, like it was the simplest thing in the world. “Kinder than most people. I want to pay you back some way, even though this isn’t much...”

You’d had to leave before he picked up the increase in your heart rate and the flustered flush across your cheeks, a hurried ‘thanks’ thrown his way. He’d happily returned to his task, unbothered by your sudden departure aside from a slight furrow in his brow to indicate confusion.

Your third day with the android you’d saved from the street, and you were beginning to get used to having him around. Once you got past the initial display of emotion that had thrown you so, you noticed a lot more robotic tendencies that he had. He was still a machine, an android, but with each flash of emotion across his face you began to play with the idea that perhaps, realistically, he wasn’t too far from human after all. With so much going on in your head, so many thoughts struggling to make themselves known, you hadn’t really gotten to sit down and spend some time with your new housemate. It saddened you a bit; you wanted to know a bit more about him, wanted to talk to him. Ever since he’d woken your interest had been piqued and you wanted to learn everything there was to know about your android.

It was cool afternoon when you finally succumbed to the urge that had been calling beneath your skin the past few days. After a moment of deliberation, you halted your current activity, dropping the tools from your hands and listening as they made soft clinking noises upon impact with your workbench. JK, who had been standing behind you ramrod straight as he gazed over your shop and the shelves upon shelves of trinkets and devices, jumped at the sudden noise. His head whipped around just in time to see you turning, removing the plastic gloves you sometimes wore to protect your hands from oil. A trace of surprise registered across his features, the ring around his iris running green as he processed your current actions.

“You are finished?” he queried, peering over your shoulder before his brows furrowed, eyes returning to your own. “But the phone is not fixed… it is odd for you to take a break so early into the project. Is something the matter?”

You tried not to show how flustered you were that he knew your habits so well after only three days with him. “It’s not, but I’ll come back to it later. Nothing is wrong.”

You offered a smile, “I just wanted to spend some time with you.”

The android seemed taken aback, mouth falling open. “With me?” he echoed, brows drawn together. “But why?”

“Because I find you interesting,” you answered easily, reclining in your work chair while trying not to let it spin. “And I want to know more about you. You’re not like many androids I’ve seen, JK.”

The android shuffled, and you wondered if he was possibly feeling discomfort of some sort. You’d seen him display some emotions— were they limited? Could he only feel a set amount?

“JK,” he echoed once more, gaze averting before it returned to your face, somewhat bashful. “I remember you calling me that while you worked on me. Why?”

You were surprised at his words, your eyes widening a little. “I didn’t know if you had a name, and I didn’t want to just call you android. It felt rude. I took it from your model number, see?”

You reached for his wrist, turning it so he registered the numbers there. He made a soft sound of understanding. You spoke again, though, curious about something he’d said, “Did you say you could hear me while I worked on you, while you were unconscious?”

The android hummed, nodding. “Yes. It wasn’t a constant stream, but I remember hearing some things…” he paused suddenly, stammering a little. You could have sworn his cheeks tinted pink. “In particular… I really liked your singing.”

Heat washed over your face at once, embarrassment making you want to shrivel and die. Oh, you’d forgotten you’d done that while you worked.

“...Thank you,” you managed to squeeze out amongst your urge to throw yourself from the nearest building. The android smiled, and your head tilted as you voiced your previous thoughts, “Why did you ask about being called JK? Do you not like it? If not, I can stop.”

“No!” the android burst, barely a moment after the words left your mouth. He looked alarmed, eyes wide and LED flaring yellow. “I- I like it... I’ve not… had a name before. Please, do not feel as though you have to stop.”

You couldn’t help the sad smile that tugged your lips, “That’s sweet of you,” you said, watching his LED shift from yellow to sunset pink at the barest hint of praise you offered. “But it’s still a bit awkward for your first ever name… how about we compromise.”

JK tilted his head, curious as to what you were going to propose. You reached for your tablet, turning in your chair slightly; you could have sworn you felt his gaze burning along your waist, but dismissed it as paranoia. Returning to a normal sitting position, you beckoned the android closer and he was eager to comply with your wishes.

Your fingers tapped quickly across the thin, crystal clear display, and soon the page you desired was up before your eyes. You watched as the male’s gaze swept across the screen before darting to you, surprise filtering across his features.

“... Names?” he appeared as though he was trying to fight the smile tugging his lips, but it was a losing battle. His bunny teeth sank into the soft, plush skin of his bottom lip. “You are giving me a real name?”

You nodded, unable to help your own smile as he beamed in response. “Yep, but you can choose your own— choose whichever you like! I think since we started with JK, names starting with J will suit you.”

JK’s cheeks appeared to colour, his eyes eagerly finding their way back to the screen, rings soft lime. It took him only a moment to scan through the list you’d pulled up, hand lifting as he pointed to a section. “I like these.”

You hummed in acknowledgement, looking over the ones he’d chosen. The fact he’d pointed out more than one meant he probably wanted you to have at least some say in his name, and the thought warmed your heart thoroughly. “Oh, I think those would really suit you. I think… Jungkook? Oh, wait, actually I think the other version would suit you better…”

The android was looking at you with wide eyes as you turned to him, analysing his appearance for a moment before smiling. “Yeah, I think Jeongguk suits you better. What do you think?”

“I love it,” he beamed, and it was as though you could feel the warmth, the elation, just from looking at it. “Thank you, mistress.”

You squeaked, cheeks flushing hotly as you bopped his arm gently. “J— I told you to call me y/n!”

The android laughed, stepping back and resuming his previous position peering over your shoulder. The barest hint of mischief gleamed in eyes that flickered between lilac and pink, and it was with flushed cheeks and a flustered disposition that you returned to your current project. He was awfully cheeky for a machine.

Your mother would have loved him.

x x x x x x x x x

Jeongguk was more helpful and eager to please than you knew how to handle.

As he’d done ever since he’d awoken from his place laid across your workbench, he continued helping out however he could. Your laundry, your dishes— hell, sometimes he even manned the shop while you were gone. He was good with his hands, and you might have called him a natural tinkerer were he not an android and engineered to be perfect at human activities. You didn’t want him to feel obligated to do these things— it made you uncomfortable to think he was doing it because it was learnt, or because he thought you’d expected it. He’d assured you many times, though, that he did it because he wanted to; he enjoyed doing things for you.

You felt silly, but with each little favour he did for you and each small smile he shot your way, you grew a little fonder of him. More than once you’d come downstairs to find he’d already gone ahead and made you breakfast and a coffee— more than once you’d sworn to yourself you could have planted a big, fat kiss on his cheek out of sheer gratitude alone. You didn’t know how to articulate let alone process the feeling you got from having someone around like this, having someone look after you. You had friends, but no family you were still in contact with, and the friends you did have had lives of their own. It had been almost a month since you’d even seen Seokjin, despite your more frequent correspondence via instant messaging. Ever since your mother had passed, and you’d been left to your own devices with a shop to run and a small home to occupy, there had been a silently harrowing sense of loneliness that threatened to creep into your heart each time you lay your head onto your pillow and closed your eyes. In the silence and emptiness of your home, it was very easy to lose yourself to that feeling when it came knocking.

But with Jeongguk here with you, things were… surprisingly different. It was the good kind of surprise, the pleasant kind of surprise, and you thought that it was probably part of why you liked him so much. As days passed and time went on, you realised that you really did like him; you’d grown fond of him, attached, and not to the idea of him as a project, but as a person.

“You’re so helpful, Jeongguk,” you smiled, cheek resting on your palm; you made sure to address him by his new name whenever you could, because the resulting ecstatic smile that broke across his face was a sight you never wanted to miss. You were in the kitchen, watching as the android carried your drink to the table as he’d insisted vehemently he do. “Are you sure you weren’t a butler before I found you?”

A bright grin had split his face and your heart had stuttered in your chest— you could have sworn he had blushed. Were it not for the glowing pink ring around his iris, you might have forgotten he was an artificial being altogether. Jeongguk had laughed softly, and simply reminded you to message one of your customers about their order like you’d told him to.

You hurriedly dove into your phone, thumb flicking screens away until you reached the right one— the archive of all your messages. Your fingers were a little too fast for your brain and overstepped, leading you to land in your chat with Seokjin instead of the customer, and in your scramble to escape you ended up jumping to a point in the chat from months back.

‘—I can’t wait for you to see my project! He’s the only one of his kind that will ever exist, and I really think I’ve cracked it this time y/n—’

You blinked, thumb having automatically clicked you out of the chat before you could continue reading. You’d completely forgotten about the conversations you used to have about Seokjin’s big project— you wondered whatever came of it. Seokjin just suddenly stopped talking about it. It was around the same time as a particularly stressful period for your shop, and you regretted that you weren’t there more for him to ask what had happened.

Bringing your thoughts back to the present, you opened the right chatroom this time and messaged the customer as you meant to. You were glad Jeongguk had remembered, because you’d certainly forgotten.

Sadly, Jeongguk’s memory centres still hadn’t recovered and he was only able to remember things from after when you found him, and he woke up. His other systems were performing closer to normal, but his memories… had been the most affected by the damage. He still had no recollection of what he’d been doing before he ended up in the alley, who his owner was or even what he was designed to do. Hearing the same negative response each time you asked him made your heart hurt, but at the same time you were kind of relieved; whatever had happened before you found him clearly hadn’t been good, and you didn’t doubt it wouldn’t be something fun to remember. Perhaps, for now, he was better off in the dark.

Having said that, you did notice some… quirks, in his behaviour, that had begun to make themselves known more as time went on.

The first had become apparent not long after Jeongguk had received his name. In the time after that incident, you’d witnessed the android become even clingier, if possible. He was always by your side before, but now as he walked with you to complete errands and even in your home, his hands would reach to brush against your arm, your waist. He stood very close, always with a contented look like he couldn’t be happier if he tried, your presence alone enough to soothe him.

Even if Jeongguk hadn’t already appeared and acted as human as he did, you would have ended up treating him as a human out of habit nonetheless. Which was why you found yourself nestled into the corner of the couch, Jeongguk occupying the other, preparing to settle down for a long, long movie marathon with the Marvel superhero series. They were old, and you recalled that they were onto their — was it their 47th instalment, these days? The first of the movies had been made decades ago, and many didn’t watch them— they preferred the spiffy, more technologically advanced remakes— but you’d always enjoyed the classic films from a time before yours.

You’d sat down with the intention of introducing Jeongguk to the series, figuring that if he was an android that could feel emotions then he’d likely end up enjoying movies more than the average robot. You started with the chronological order of release date, and went from there; Jeongguk started on the other end of the couch, and then throughout movie after movie he had gradually shuffled close enough that he was curled comfortably into your side. Android’s couldn’t feel the cold the way humans could, but they could shiver, and the hue of their skin could alter. It was something included in their design for a more realistic effect, and despite the fact you knew this, you’d still draped the blanket over the both of you and allowed him to snuggle closer.

Analysis of Jeongguk’s systems, make and model told you that he had advanced, detailed sensors across the expanse of his body— so when you lifted your hand to begin carding your fingers through his silken hair and scratching lightly against his scalp, you knew the soft, pleased sigh he let out was genuine. You could feel yourself melting against him, heart fluttering out of nothing but sheer, light happiness as each time Iron Man came onto the screen, Jeongguk let out a soft noise to cheer. He had a favourite, clearly.

Sometime throughout the next few movies, which you’d had brief breaks between, Jeongguk’s head had migrated from your shoulder to your lap, and you’d continued running your hands through his hair. It felt nice against your skin, so it was a win-win you supposed. The movie you were on, one of the ones where the characters from their individual franchises began to overlap, drew to a close and as the credits began to roll you were unable to hold back a yawn.

Jeongguk’s gaze was on you immediately, LED rings running soft lavender as he gazed at you with dark eyes through his lashes; the look paralysed you for a moment, hand freezing in his hair.

“Are you ready for bed, y/n?” he queried, and your heart nearly stopped in your chest. His voice was low, a much lower register than you were used to, and had just enough huskiness that a flush washed over the back of your neck. You didn’t doubt that he was picking it up as your heart rate accelerated, thoughts racing through the gutter as his deeper voice altered how you’d received his innocent question.

“I— yes,” you gulped, knowing you couldn’t hide the way your body betrayed you from a being that had sensors built into his form. You smiled at him, still fighting tiredness. “Are you going to keep watching, or do you want me to go set up the charging dock, Kookie?”

The android jolted at the nickname you’d tacked on without a second thought, eyes blowing wide and every trace of the sultry expression he’d worn before blasted from his features. Colour flushed to his cheeks, an emulation of a bodily function that resulted from embarrassment, or fluster— which was he feeling, you wondered?

“K-Kookie?” he stuttered, curling unconsciously into your lap as his large doe eyes bore into your own.

“Yeah, Kookie,” you repeated, enjoying the way he seemed to vibrate with excitement in your lap as the word left your mouth. “A nickname… I was tired and too lazy to say your full name, sorry.”

“Nickname?” he echoed, murmuring softly. “Kookie… I like it. Thank you, y/n.”

You’d beamed at him. “No problem, Kookie. Now, are you gonna watch or…?”

The android definitely seemed flustered as he pulled himself from your lap and nestled back into the couch and blanket, shooting you a sheepish smile. “I would like to keep watching, if that is okay, y/n.”

Your smile was soft as it tugged your lips and you stood, ruffling his hair. “Of course it’s okay. Have fun, Kookie.”

The sight of his cheeks coloured pink at your words was almost enough to counter the memory of his voice and the look he’d sent you earlier.

Almost.

After that day, you’d noticed more occasions where the android would turn and as his eyes fell upon you, he would pin you with that very same look and low tone. Whether he knew he was doing it or not, you didn’t know, but it was absolutely lethal. At this point, you feared for your health.

The other thing that had become most apparent, was the way his eyes were drawn to your form. He was an android, you knew there wasn’t really anything to the way his eyes lingered or the LED around his irises flared bright rose upon seeing you, but sometimes… Sometimes you could swear you could feel the heat his gaze left on your skin, you could swear the weight of it had you trembling with an emotion you dared not investigate.

The occasion that this was most prominent, had occurred not entirely too long after the previous. There was a fine boundary that was maintained between the two of you, a line you didn’t often end up toeing. You were the only one in the house that needed to do things like change, and bathe, which meant the likely incidence of awkward encounters that often came as a result of living with someone in such close quarters was much less. Not long after that day on the couch, however, the first of such incidents occurred.

It was morning, and you’d already woken up to a grinning Jeongguk and a particularly delicious smelling breakfast of bacon and French toast. With a full day of manning the shop and tinkering at the counter ahead of you, you were quick to scarf the meal down and dash for the shower.

This… was where the problem lay.

Your house wasn’t entirely critter-proof, and while you weren’t the kind of person to scream about a little bug or a spider, or even a snake, you did still have your limits.

And the large, inky spider that honest to god looked like it spanned half the length of your fogged-up bathroom mirror as you stepped out of the shower, naked and oblivious, was crossing them.

It was only as you reached for your towel, hand grasping the fuzzy material, that you saw it. You didn’t even realise you’d opened your mouth to let out a loud, incredibly alarmed noise that sounded a cross between a scream and an undignified yelp until it reached your own ears and you were stumbling back. You attempted to put as much distance between the two of you as possible, scrabbling to wrap the towel so it guarded your bits from the gargantuan arachnid spawned straight from the ickiest pits of hell. You considered hopping into the bathtub before realising that was stupid and would only end up with you cornering yourself— you couldn’t afford to give the demon such power.

“Oh hell, oH HELL, OH— NO, DON’T, GO AWAY!” your alarmed babbling escalated to a frantic yelp as the spider shifted slightly and you nearly slipped in the water that had spilt from your exit of the shower.

In your consuming fright you’d completely forgotten about your current housemate until there was thudding footsteps down the hall the door to the bathroom burst open. Jeongguk’s gaze was frantic as he searched for you, LED a bright red that flickered to cool green the moment his eyes fell upon your trembling form. It was the second you felt his gaze grace you that he froze suddenly, body halting as he stared with wide eyes. You, caught in the building intensity of his stare, the heat that began to flush over your arms and down your back, didn’t remember until moments later that you were currently standing, dripping wet and clad in nothing but a dodgily wrapped towel before him. You squeaked.

“Spider,” you barely managed to articulate the word, let alone point, but it was enough to tear Jeongguk from whatever trance the sight of you had thrown him into. His gaze followed the direction of your finger and he almost did a double-take at the sight of the massive arachnid.

“Woah,” his expression was one of wonderment despite the lingering blush in his cheeks. His gaze flew back to you for a moment, your current state of undress cast from his mind. “y/n, look how big that spider is!”

“Yes, I’m looking,” you said, pressing yourself back further against the wall— the fine-furred fiend looked like it was eyeing you off and preparing to jump at any second. “I’m looking and I do not like what I’m seeing.”

Jeongguk seemed slightly amused if somewhat perplexed at your words, but it didn’t take him long to connect your fear to the intruder in the room. “Ah… I can remove it, if you’d like?”

You were nodding frantically before he’d even finished talking. “Yes! Please do, please.”

Jeongguk’s lips tugged into the barest hint of a smile, before he was quickly and carefully doing as requested. In a matter of moments he’d securely grasped the spider, its frantically wriggling legs making you squeak in alarm, and he was quickly exiting the room, presumably to deposit the hellish creature outside your house.

“Make sure you don’t leave it near the house!” you called as an afterthought, wondering how exactly it had gotten inside in the first place. You heard a light laugh before his footsteps faded and you were left standing alone, suddenly aware once more of the water dripping down your form and the short towel around your middle. With cheeks that scorched at the memory of his heated gaze, you hurried from the bathroom and into your room to get dressed. Even once you were fully clothed and brushing through your hair, you couldn’t chase away the phantom touch of his gaze across your form. Had you ever felt such a way from a look alone before?

You honestly didn’t think so, and that scared you a little. He’d been in your life only a few months, for most of which he was comatose, and already he’d rendered you to this? Jeongguk, perhaps the sweetest android you’d ever known, was truly dangerous.

And if the way his gaze continued to linger occasionally, and his touch against your form grew more frequent after that day meant anything, you weren’t sure if he knew he was either.

x x x x x x x x

This was perhaps the first time you’d left the house without Jeongguk in tow, and the outing had ended with you here— at the bar, three of your four close friends already gone with arguably the closest and incidentally most plastered left to your care.

Seokjin liked to drink, and he wasn’t all that messy of a drunk, but he was prone to his… off days, if you would. These were the days where instead of making him extra boisterous and extroverted as it usually did, the alcohol happened to exacerbate whatever doom and gloom was running through the back of his mind at the time. This happened to be one of those days.

You were a little tipsy yourself, but nowhere near as far gone as Seokjin currently was. It was with a sense of struggle that you hauled the two of you from the bar, arm around his waist so he didn’t fall and seriously harm himself.

“Come on, Seokjinnie,” you urged softly, amused at the loud, protesting groan the scientist let out in response. “We gotta get you a cab.”

“Don’t wanna,” he babbled, still grasping you tightly and following you haphazardly nonetheless. He allowed his head to roll and rest on your own. “Did I fin-ugh- finish my drink? Ugh, y/n I think I left my drink on the table—”

“You definitely left something on the table, but it wasn’t your drink,” you muttered. “I think it was your dignity.”

Seokjin let out a loud whine that was broken with a soft hiccup— his whole body jolted and his foot caught on a break in the pavement, the resulting trip nearly taking you both down. “I can’t believe you’re being so mean when I’m absolutely plastered like this. I’m vulnerable, a-and you— you’re uh… you’re doing something.”

You turned to see his brows were furrowed, before his face shifted and he burst triumphantly, having found the words he was looking for, “You’re b-bullying me, you b-b-buh-ass. You ass,” He paused. “You know, I have a nice ass.”

You snorted as you pulled your phone out and went about ordering an uber, trying not to burst into laughter at his drunken antics because you knew it would just set him off into a louder, more vehement set of complaints. “You do. Have you thought about modelling? I think it could get you some cash.”

“My face could get me some cash,” Seokjin muttered, seeming like he was seriously considering it for a moment before he shook his head violently; the blond strands of his hair nearly took out your eye in the process. “No! I’m a committed, I’m scientist to my work—”

“Wait,” He halted abruptly before you could even tease him for his slip, his ability to self-regulate kicking back in. “I’m a scientist, I’m committed to my work. Yes, that’s what I was aim— trying— that’s what I was going for.”

Even through the mist settled comfortably over your mind, his words triggered a sense of familiarity in you. Your thoughts went back to the old text message you’d stumbled upon the other day, and in your tipsy state you were unable to engage your filter in time— you blurted the question before you could give it a second thought, “Seokjin, what happened to that big project of yours? You know, the one you were really excited about?”

The blonde had been smiling at his little victory from before, but as your question registered in his mind the expression dropped from his face. In a violent swing of moods, his body seemed to deflate against you, bottom lip quivering. “Ah, my big project…”

He was silent a moment, gazing off into nothing, and you worried; perhaps you’d struck a nerve? Maybe you really shouldn’t have asked—

Seokjin’s body gave a heavy, shuddering breath, tongue darting to wet his lips before he spoke, tone soft and carrying a thread of sadness you didn’t think you’d ever heard from him, “They took it… My big project. I- god, y/n… they took him.”

Your head tilted, confusion blurring your thoughts too much for you to have a response ready. Perhaps thankfully, it was at that moment the uber pulled up— a hovercraft, it would seem to be today— and you busied yourself momentarily with getting your drunken friend in the back of the vehicle. Soon the two of you were safely inside, and the driver left you in peace as he began on the route to Seokjin’s home— well, the car began. He was just there to monitor.

You turned your gaze to the male in question, noticing his eyes had glazed slightly, a distant expression gracing his fine features once more. You were burning with curiosity inside, something nagging you to ask, to find out more. You knew Seokjin worked in the AI and android facilities, but for some reason you’d never heard the end of this tale. Now that you’d remembered, you couldn’t shake it from your thoughts. The sound of your voice seemed to break him from his daze.

“What do you mean, they took him?” you queried softly, hand finding his knee when he swayed in his seat slightly.

To your utter surprise, Seokjin’s eyes began to glisten with unshed tears, large chocolate orbs meeting your own and holding your gaze.

“He was the best thing I’ll ever make, y/n,” he said, hiccupping softly. He let out a faint groan, allowing his eyelids to flutter closed. Your heart twinged as you watched his features twist, a single tear tracing down his cheek while his voice grew thick and caught in his throat. “He... I really… I really did it this time, y/n. He… he was beyond a-anything I’d ever even thought I would be able to create. He was the first project I ever got full reign of.”

There was a pause as he swallowed, dark brows furrowing as he allowed his head to drop back against the headrest; the flickering glow of city buildings and signs as they blurred past cast a myriad of blue, fuchsia and violet over the tired planes of his face. His voice came out fainter this time, but there was a heat behind his words, an anger so intimately intertwined with sadness that you didn’t know how to go about untangling it.

“I worked so hard, and he… he exceeded all of my expectations. He had such potential,” Seokjin’s breath shuddered. “And they took him. He— he deserved so much better, deserves better than a life of servitude, degradation and humiliation… but they still took him from me.”

Any words you could have hoped to muster had long since died in your throat, your own eyes glistening at the pain in his tone. Something niggled at the back of your mind, something threatened to click in your subconscious, and even though you didn’t understand it, you found yourself asking, “What was his name? His model number?”

Seokjin sighed softly, drawing a hand up to scrub over his face; he was reaching the stage of the night where he shifted from silly/saddened drunk to exhaustion. It wouldn’t be long now before sleep welcomed him with open arms.

“I never got to give him a name,” he said, and it was as though the words saddened him even more as they left his mouth. “But his model number…”

The uber began to slow suddenly, and belatedly you realised you’d arrived at Seokjin’s apartment. You thanked the driver, climbing out of the vehicle and pulling a drowsy Seokjin out after you. Your ride was quick to pull from the curb, disappearing into the city lights from whence it came, and you stumbled towards the blonde’s apartment building with him in tow, arm draped over your shoulder.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Seokjin was mumbling to himself as you gradually made your way to his floor, nearly sweating from the effort of keeping him upright alone. “His model number… do I know?”

It was with great effort you managed to unlock his door and drag him into the apartment, depositing him on his couch while you went to retrieve a glass of water; you had to weave around metal parts that poked haphazardly from tables and benches as you went. When you returned with glass in hand, Seokjin had taken to discarding his shoes and socks and had loosened the collar of the button-up around his neck.

“I don’t remember…” Seokjin looked ready to cry again, and you hurried to pass him the water— he accepted with a soft ‘thanks’.

“It’s okay if you don’t remember,” you soothed him softly, hand coming to rest on his shoulder.

“No, it’s not,” Seokjin nearly dropped the glass on its descent from his mouth and you took this as your cue to remove the breakable item from his vicinity. “It’s not okay, he- he deserves better. He deserves name, he deserves to be remembered.”

“I’m sure he does,” you murmured as you urged him to his feet and guided him down the hall to his bedroom. Seokjin was silent, blinking drowsily as he slipped into his bed at your gentle urging, nestling subconsciously into the covers.

He could hardly keep his eyes open, but when they finally closed another tear slipped from beneath his lashes to roll down his cheek. His voice was soft. “If… If I had known… where he would go, what kind of life he would be destined for… I would never… never have made him this way… He deserves better…”

You waited a few moments more to see if he would continue, but upon the sound of a soft snore already escaping him, you surmised he was well and truly gone for the night. Shaking your head lightly, you made sure he was tucked in and comfortable before grasping the extra blanket from the end of his bed and making your way to the loungeroom; you were quite tired yourself, and the couch was seeming more and more appealing the longer you were awake.

Even with the muddling effects of the alcohol, your mind was still racing, albeit tiredly, as you settled on the couch and wrapped yourself in the blanket. Seokjin’s words, his tears and the distinct undertone of guilt in his tone as he’d spoken those last words all ran through your head one last time before your heavy eyelids were dropping closed, and you succumbed to sleep. When you woke in the morning, would you remember all that you’d learnt tonight?

→ masterlist | part ii

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