“Baek.”

“Baek.”

“Hey, why are you avoiding me?” Chanyeol asks, trying to catch up with Baekhyun right after he exits his room. Baekhyun keeps his face blank, blocking out any of Chanyeol’s protests.

“Hey, I said I was sorry, okay? I’m sorry I... Did that to you.” He said, pausing as he remembered every single movement and touch in between the intimacy. Baekhyun stops, facing Chanyeol with a finger separating them. “You’re remembering it, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” He says with a goofy smile, eyes floating in the air as if he was on cloud nine. Baekhyun lifts his hand, ready to smack Chanyeol’s smirk off his face until he is brought to a complete stop.

“What the hell?” He complains, looking down at the obstruction at his feet. It was a tiny cube robot that was walking on two legs, eyes blinking blue and red alternately. “What the heck is this?”

“Looks like something my brother made.” Chanyeol sighs, bending down to face the robot directly.

Baekhyun blinks thrice, trying to absorb the situation. “So, your brother is an inventor too?” He asks, inwardly judging the robot in his mind. Chanyeol takes a few seconds to reply, something Baekhyun hadn’t expected.

“Yeah, my dad’s been forcing him into robotics since I always refused when I was a child.” Chanyeol finally says, his hands ready to heave the robot up to his arms. He then turns to Baekhyun with a smile, the robot in hand. “He’s really good, isn’t he? He made this from scratch.”

Baekhyun didn’t have the heart to criticize it, waving it off with a smile. “Yeah, great.” He slips to the side to pass Chanyeol by, walking towards the staircase to escape from Chanyeol’s clutches.

Baekhyun escapes to the rooftop, heaving in the fresh air that seemed like decades when he last felt it brushing through his nostrils. He walks towards the edge, peering through the large forest that engulfed the entire Park Residence.

Baekhyun sighs, remembering the simple life he had back in Canada. He bites his lip, trying to accept the fact that he’s here, and that Kris and Jongin would no longer come back for him.

He takes a seat at the edge, his legs dangling towards the side. “It’d be nice if a brain like mine would just disappear.” He hated how he had always been used, abused and mistreated. How governments would harness his knowledge and use it for their own gain.

He takes a few seconds before shaking the idea of taking his own life off until there’s a jab to his shoulder. He has a mini heart attack, turning his head back to see a small metal hand tightly clutching unto his shoulder’s sleeve. A little boy with a blank face stood there, a controller in hand.

“Don’t do it.” He says in monotone, pulling the lever attached to the controller to allow the cubed robot he had seen earlier pull him back.

Baekhyun falls on his back, sharp pain vibrating through his spine. He quickly gets on his knees, poor defense pose automatically surging through his body. “Who are you?”

The little boy his head to the side, examining Baekhyun with cold, blunt eyes. They freeze for a few seconds, just the exchange of looks and standard breathing.

“Did you guys do it?”

Baekhyun snaps out of his frozen state and wearily looks at the boy, who was know looking at his crotch area. “I went through all the trouble to let Robo-Maid 12.0 direct you to Chanyeol’s room, but you look completely fine—“

“What? What are you saying?” Baekhyun says while creasing his eyebrows. The little boy just shrugs, taking out a small sketchpad buried in his pockets. “I guess it wasn’t that rough then, seeing as you’re not limping—“

Baekhyun’s jaw drops, piecing together whatever the little boy was trying to say. “Are you… Did you… Oh God.” Baekhyun says with a groan, his palms reaching to his face as he squats to the ground.

“Oh, so it does hurt. Then, my thesis is complete. Thank you, Byun Baekhyun.” The boy then breaks his straight face, crossing his face with a cheeky smile before turning around to go back into the building.

It was awkward during dinner, Baekhyun seated in the chair farthest away from the Park siblings. He angrily stuffs a piece of meat into his mouth, pouting after he had fully consumed the cuisine.

“What’s wrong with you?” Chanyeol asks with a groan, but couldn’t help but stare at Baekhyun as his lips protruded. He felt a drip of saliva crawling out at the edge of his mouth.

“He must still be angry because of the previous incident.” Chanyeol’s younger brother, Yoo, says as he takes a old-fashioned tape recorder from his pocket. “Subject shows defense, approximately seated 10 chairs away from culprit.” He says into the recorder before scribbling down.

Chanyeol eyes the younger, trying his best to catch up. “What?”

Yoo just shrugs, scrambling off the chair and out of the dining hall. “It is a pleasure to be of your observance, Byun Baekhyun.” He says with a bow before completely disappearing into the main hall.

The atmosphere grows heavier, just the sound of forks clashing against plates. Baekhyun finishes up the rest of his food, pushing his chair back to walk back to his room.

Yoo had confined himself to his room, breathlessly typing codec’s into his computer screen. The bridge of his nose is graced with a pair of red specs, large and round in its own way.

“Byun Baekhyun, subject A, slow progression of endearment.” He says to his tape recorder, another hand on a pencil that was scribbling unto a pad paper. “Park Chanyeol, subject B, showing great amount of affection, one-sided.”

He then turns his revolving chair, rolling towards the monitors attached at the other side of his room. He looks up, searching for his test subjects in the monitors. “Now, where are you…”

He sees Baekhyun in his room, hands unconsciously revolving a rubik’s cube. His eyes are staring straight ahead, not paying attention to whatever was in his hands. “Subject A seems to be unoccupied. Subject A is part of the astute class.”

He then turns his head to look for Chanyeol, who was also residing in his room. He is lying flat on his back, hands resting in his stomach. His eyebrows are squished together, mumbling inaudible words. “Subject B seems to be normal, showing his imbecilic side as accustomed.” He says with a sigh, his thumb and index finger massaging his closed eyelids.

“Now, shall we get this show on the road?”

Baekhyun peers from over the bed too look at the posh, spacious room. “I miss my laboratory.” He says with a pout, the absence of the omnipresent scent of oil and gears breaking through his sense of smell.

It had been a while since he had been separated from his habitat, and going to school like a normal child, socializing and mingling with the humans wasn’t something he had come to enjoy.

He lies there for a few minutes, throwing the rubiks cube across the spacious room. When the cube fell, Baekhyun’s ears immediately perk up. He hears various sounds of robotic clicking and moving. “Hm?” He faintly recognizes the sound of metallic condensers clashing against each other, the ever so familiar sound of gears turning into place.

All of a sudden, the wall that separated his room and the room beside it slid down, revealing a bathroom that looked extremely familiar. Baekhyun recalls that this was Chanyeol’s, which was 4 floors above his.

He sees the sight of Chanyeol walking into the bathroom, letting his bare feet pierce through the cold floor. He yawns, a hand scratching his belly from under his shirt. Baekhyun just stares, his jaw dangling down as Chanyeol started to strip.

“What the hell are you doing?!” He shouts, but is ultimately ignored by the shirtless man. He then fumbles with his belt, making Baekhyun bring the covers up to the bridge of his nose. It was as if Chanyeol didn’t see the fact that the entire ing wall just ing slid down.

Baekhyun just stares at Chanyeol, unmoving even when he was down to his underwear. He snaps out of it, jerking the covers over his eyes when two thumbs brought the white cloth down, exposing everything divine about the man.

Baekhyun clears his throat, trying his best to compose his mature self. “I’ve seen everything, anyway…” He says, slowly bringing the cloth down to let the wall comes into view.

Chanyeol was slowly getting into the bathroom, which too, was shown completely well in Baekhyun’s line of sight. Baekhyun gulps as Chanyeol starts the shower, the water droplets dancing against his rejuvenated skin.

He could feel his throat running dry, trying his best to clear his mind. He shuts his eyes close, just the sound of water hitting the tiled floor.

After a few minutes of silence, Baekhyun once again peers over the bed. He sees Chanyeol’s back facing towards him, his milky skin covering all around his body. Baekhyun’s eyes stop at Chanyeol’s cheeks, marveling at the perfect sight.

Baekhyun slaps himself, trying his best to stay calm. This, however, doesn’t work when he feels the sudden rush of blood and pain to the lower half of his body.

He bites his tongue in defeat, stuffing a pillow to his face in order to hinder his breathing and possibly, his life. “.”