Youngjae stirred.

He felt the sunlight pouring all over his milky skin, touching his eyelids and beneath the lids, causing him to squirm.

His lashes slowly left contact with his eye bags, and Youngjae laid there, eyes half-lidded, and the only thing that was moving around was his chest that was heaving up and down. 

It wasn't long before he decided that the light that the sun was casting was starting to become increasingly annoyinng, and he slowly sat up, his weight of his lower body increasing the number of creases formed onto the bedsheets beneath him.

Everything felt like dream. Or it could because he actually had a good sleep since the past few weeks.

Youngjae got changed up, wearing just a shirt and harem pants paired with slip on canvas shoes. He didn't bother looking so professional on a day he felt that he deserved plenty of rest.

He headed down to the lab, his mind wondering if Daehyun was doing alright.

Youngjae flipped the lab switch, the lights flickering before it steadied. 

Daehyun was standing at his cylindical vessel, his eyes were shut, his body motionless.

Youngjae walked up to him and stared intently at Daehyun, his gaze tracing Daehyun's prominent facial features.

His hand landed softly on Daehyun's cheek, feeling the life-like flesh getting warmed by his touch.

The android's eyelids fluttered open, scaring the daylights out of Youngjae, causing him to squeak in surprise, then stumble and fall backwards.

"Master! I'm terribly sorry!" Daehyun panicked, rushing to Youngjae's side, helping him up.

Youngjae smiled and thanked Daehyun as he was lifted up.

"What brings you here?" Daehyun asked with a smile.

"Checking up on you", Youngjae replied, unable to keep himself from staring at Daehyun. "How are you? Are you experiencing anything abnormal?" 

Youngjae held his breath.

"I'm doing well, Master. I don't feel anything strange. Is there anything you need?"

Youngjae heaved a sigh of relief.

So far, no physical abnormalities expressed ever since yesterday. And also, the rendering process went more smoother than expected despite the fact that the faulty chip had been implanted due to carelessness, which surprised Youngjae. However, he couldn't let his guard down just yet. He still needed to monitor Daehyun closely.

There was an awkward silence between the duo, until Daehyun suddenly shut his eyes again and went limp, falling into Youngjae's arms.

"Daehyun? Daehyun??" Youngjae exclaimed, shaking the humanoid

"Daehyun! Are you alright? Answer me!"

Streaks of panic surged through Youngjae's veins.

No, no. This was just only the second day. Had the erratic chip already began infecting Daehyun?

Youngjae panicked.

His hard work can't be gone just like that. 

It was then Daehyun slowly lifted his lashes, his eyes locked onto Youngjae.

"Master.. I'm famished.."

Humanoids could be hungry?

______________________________________

Youngjae stared at Daehyun while Daehyun munched down onto some cake that Professor Kim had baked for him as a small token of congratulations.

Youngjae had taken a slice of cake but only one, and left the rest in the fridge, planning to give the rest to Zelo.

It seems like that wasn't going to happen.

Youngjae gingerly took a slice and took a bite of the cake, the soft texture invading his teeth and the taste spreading all over his taste buds. 

"This is good", Daehyun commented, taking a napkin to clean his mouth. 

Youngjae smiled at Daehyun. 

Despite that Daehyun ate most of the cake, there were about three slices left, nicely saved for Zelo.

Daehyun took a moment to scan his surroundings.

This was his Master's apartment, so it seemed when he was heaving Daehyun into to the elevator.

"Your apartment is really well-kept, Master"

Youngjae blushed a little upon hearing the humanoid's compliment and muttered a soft "thank you", before leaving the plate into the sink to wash up later.

And thus, the two spent the whole afternoon chatting away, opening up to each other, laughing with each other. It felt like a human-human relationship, not a human-robot relationship.

Youngjae would never have known that robots could build up bonds with humans, for he always knew that even if robots had emotions, they would still be superficial.

Which was funny because robots should not be acting that way....right?

Soon, dusk slowly crept in, and Youngjae escorted Daehyun back to the laboratary. 

"Master, do I have to stay in here every night?"  Daehyun asked, his gaze never leaving Youngjae's milky face.

"You're still under observation for now. Once you're good to go, I'll let you know. Are you not comfortable here?"

Daehyun took a while to answer, but replied, "No."

Youngjae smiled. He connected the tubes and wirings back into Daehyun. 

As he was about to turn and leave, he heard a small voice that came from Daehyun.

"Goodnight Master."

A smile yet again had spread on Youngjae's face involunterily, and he returned the goodnight before switching off the lights and before Daehyun went into sleep mode.

🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

Youngjae didn't decide to go to sleep, despite the fact that he could feel the fatigue slowly crawling up to him once more.

 He left Professor Kim a text, stating that he would pop by later at Professor Kim's lab to ask him some questions regarding robotics, as expected. 

The text notification popped up which read, "okay. 9pm." 

Youngjae went to freshen himself up before meeting his professor.

He stepped out of his apartment at 8.30pm, worried that he would be late.

Upon reaching Professor Kim's lab, he knocked gently and was replied with a "Come in!"

He pushed the door open daintly and spotted Professor Kim, dressed in a peterpan collared sweater and trousers, his hair toussled messily, but he seemed ignorant about it. Professor Kim was sitting on one of the benches and was engrossed in studying more documents that laid messily on the bench.

"Professor Kim", Youngjae greeted.

"Spare the formalities, Youngjae. It's already nightfall", Professor Kim replied, not looking up from his current engagment.

"I'm sorry, Himchan." Youngjae greeted once more, however more sheepishly.

Himchan looked up from his desk and smiled warmly. "Good evening Youngjae." 

Himchan gestured Youngjae to take a seat and offered to get some coffee, which Youngjae declined, mentioning that he would prefer some honey lemon instead.

Himchan left the table to prepare the drinks, leaving Youngjae all alone in Himchan's lab.

Youngjae's curiousity did take the better of him. He had been into Himchan's laboratory multiple times, however, he never had the chance to explore the place.

Lest he knew that exploring the elder's personal lab was rather rude of him, nonetheless, his curiousity bit through him and Youngjae stood up to wander around the fancinations that surrounded him. He could now see everything in detail.

Himchan had displayed an interest in studying molecular generics alongside robotics, however, Youngjae never understood why. With slow steps, Youngjae paced through the lab, taking in subtle details he noticed that he never did before during his previous visits. 

Something had caught his eye whilst he was doing that.

Youngjae paused his footsteps and his glided upwards, meeting a humanoid-like creature. Probably even a humanoid itself. 

However, something about this humanoid threw Youngjae off a little.

The humanoid that stood before him reminded him of Daehyun. He continued to eye the masterpiece. Noting down interesting details, like how the humanoid's skin was beautifully tanned and how his lips had a wonderful curve.

He reached out to touch it, just a little slightly, only to withdraw his hand in shock with a soft gasp. 

The skin that he had felt beneath his touch was real skin. He could tell, for artificially synthesized skin had a more...well, artificial feel to it. However, the skin that Youngjae had touched felt like real human skin. Either Himchan had really taken the molecular genetics thing to pull into robotics to make the most realistic skin ever, or, he was actually using a real human. 

Youngjae inhaled, entranced by this magnificent humanoid. 

He continued to walk around the lab, eyeing the many chemicals that sat on test tube holders. Some were in jars, some were kept in freezers.

He then came across this strange substance that was the only thing that was on the desk, leaning against the support of the test tube holder, sealed tightly with a rubber stopper that covered the mouth of the test tube. 

The chemical was a beautiful shade of wine red and was glistening against the lights. 

Youngjae took interest and his eyes landed into the pile of notes. His eyes skimmed the headings and small wordings of the documents and his eyes widened. 

Apparently, Himchan was studying and experimenting on making chemicals to turn mechanical vessels into real human bodily functions.

Youngjae's curiousity was raging rapidly, for he knew that this kind of things were impossible to achieve, let alone, wondering if it was even legal to be studying such in-depth studies. Youngjae was left to wonder. 

It was before he managed to read over to a another scientific research on the study of cyborgs Himchan had done before, the sound of footsteps outside the lab had alarmed Youngjae.

"I ran out of lemons. So I made some ginger tea instead", Himchan mentioned, settling the mug onto the desk, before taking a sip of his americano.

Himchan sat down and gazed at Youngjae with a glint of curiosity in his eyes.

"So, what was it that you needed to ask me about?"