“I don’t need any help.” 

“It’s just for two months and it’ll help me out, JongIn.” 

“How is an assistant to me supposed to help you, hyung?” JongIn looked at YiXing. The two had known each other for years but lost touch, mainly because of Jongin’s isolation. When he received the text out of no where from the older boy, Jongin took three days to respond. He would have waited longer if he knew what he was getting himself into. 

“You said you’ve been busy and this new project will help with that,” The excitement in Yixing’s voice grew as he explained the new project. His heavy-lidded, russet eyes glistened, almost twinkling with glee. Jongin remembered that look, because he used to have it before the accident. 

“-and experts in Japan think that robots will be the next big thing in about twen-” 

“Did you just say robots?” Jongin’s voice grew an octave as his eyebrows shot up. “When did you start fooling with robots?” 

“It’s not fooling with. I’m working with them and if this prototype does well with you, it could mean big things, Jongin.” 

“Lay hyung,” A name Jongin used to call his hyung when they danced together, “I don’t need an assistant. I take pictures for magazines and restaurants menus. I can carry my own equipment and I can take my own pictures,” Jongin stood, shifting the table slightly as he pushed himself up, letting out a hushed groan.  

“Kai…”Jongin froze. He hadn’t heard his dancing name is years. A chill ran through his spine before he looked at his hyung.

“Don’t you get tired of this lone wolf act? You have to interact with people; be human.” 

Jongin shuffled away from the table, taking up his bag that hung on the back of his chair. 

“I don’t need your help, hyung,” Jongin took a step and froze again. The dizzy spells were normal nowadays but they still took him for a trip when they hit. Jongin opened his eyes to see the room standing still once again and looked at the scared looked on Yixing’s face. A force smirk crossed his face as he said his goodbye and headed home. 
 

Being a former dancer and now a freelance photographer, Jongin’s life went from being in the spotlight to being behind the lens. The drastic change had many effects on his life none more than his nightly routine. 

No more getting home past midnight with sore muscles to soak or going over his mistakes countless times before he falls asleep only to wake just before sunrise. Jongin no longer had the burden which was almost more burdensome. 
 

Jongin dragged himself into the dark apartment, slapping his hand against the light switch. The overhead lighting caused him to shut his eyes before opening them to his expansive living room. Jongin moved into his opened kitchen, brushed metal facade everywhere he turned, placing his bag on the counter and opening the refrigerator. Water and juice bottles lined the shelves. Jongin rarely had time to eat in his old life. Old habits die hard. 

His fingers pulled a bottle of water out before he moved back to his bag. Jongin opened the water before he rifled through the canvas bag that was with him always like an extra appendage. Jongin pulled out his new love, a Nikon D300, and sat it on the counter as he continued to look in the bag. The rattle of a medicine bottle entered the air as he lifted the green bottle up and unscrewed the top. He shook a single white pill into hand before throwing it to the back of his throat with a shot of water. 

With the bottle of water in one hand and the camera in the other, Jongin walked to the other side of the room where his workstation was built. Four computer screens sat on a long desk with a single pad and stylus sitting in the middle. Setting the water down, Jongin flipped the camera over and popped out the SD card that contained the day’s adventure. Uploading the photos would be quick but the long work would be the editing which he would do into the night until his eyes tire and he would have to drag himself to bed. He wasn’t up for that and the deadline for the photos wasn’t for another week. Placing the SD card into the port to upload and loading a new one into the camera, Jongin made his way to the bathroom. 

Jongin shoved his toothbrush into his mouth, scrubbing away the grime of the day, pushing his shower off to do in the morning. As he rhythmically went up and down, side to side, Jongin jumped as his phone vibrated on the ceramic sink. Grabbing it before it shuffled itself into the bowl, he answered. 

“Hello?” He muffled before he spit into the sink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. 

“Jongin? Are you still up?” Yixing asked on the other line. 

“What’s up, hyung?” 

“I was thinking about earlier.” 

“I don’t need your help, hyung. No robotics or whatever you’re trying to sell me.” 

“I’m not trying to sell you anything! Just hear me out! I wanna come by your place tomorrow.” 

“For what?” 

“We used to be partners, Jongin. I would hope you remembered that. Besides dancing, we had other things in common,” Jongin stared at his reflection. Some toothpaste remained on the corner of his mouth was as drying to a white crust. He the minty paste as he continued to look into his tired eyes. His dark circles looked to be getting darker and his cheeks looked to be sagging. 

“I have a scheduled appointment at 11. We can meet for a late lunch.” 

“Before then!” Lay said hastily. 

“Don’t come to my house at the -crack of dawn!” 

“I won’t, Kai! Before your appointment, I’ll take you out for coffee so we can catch up, for real. Okay?” 

Jongin huffed as he wiped his face before saying, “Fine. I’ll text you my address. Bye, hyung.” 

“Bye.”  

Jongin ended the call before shoving the toothbrush in his mouth to finish up. 

Nights were sleepless for Jongin. Either he was busy editing or he was forced awake by his dreams which were more like nightmares. They were always the same. 

That day always replayed. His car cruising down the slick road. The rain had stopped but hardly anyone was around. He had green lights down the straightway and he wanted a little fun. Jongin remembered depressing the accelerator, watching the needle climb as he past one light. Two lights. The third one was what caught him. Green. Yellow. Red. He had ran red lights before, but this time was different. 

The crushing of metal filled the air, covering his screams. The car rolled a few times. He lost count after the third time. His head slammed every which way until he out. He could have swore he heard when the ambulance came, and when they pulled him out, and when they said he died but came back. 
 

It wasn’t until weeks later that Jongin woke to a pounding head, scratches over his body and his left leg missing. It had been mangled when the delivery truck smashed into him. 
 

Nights were sleepless for Jongin. His eyes would close and his brain would rest but he would always find himself sitting up, soaked in sweat, screaming like he was in the car again. 

~~~~~ 

Jongin jumped from his sleep. The tangerine of the sunrise was filtering through his sheer curtains, coloring his room. The pounding that woke him continued on with a voice calling his name. Jongin sat up, reaching for his leg. It had been programmed into him now. Sit up and strap on the leg. Jongin pushed himself off the bed and lumbered toward the door, recognizing Yixing’s voice calling out. The boy had a voice that people called an angel but Jongin wanted to strangle his hyung. 

Jongin’s bangs flew up from the gust of wind he created from swinging the door open to a surprised Yixing. 

“So you are up!”Yixing said smiling, a singular dimple accenting his face.  

“Hyung, why are you here so early?” 

“Help me with this first,” Jongin stepped out of his apartment, greeted by a box falling toward him. He caught it quickly and watched as Yixing lifted the bottom from the floor. Yixing pushed the box, causing Jongin to back into his apartment into the spacious living room. They placed the box upright once again. Yixing continued to smile at Jongin as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. 

“Lay hyung…” 

“Wait!” Yixing pulled open the box, revealing a column of bubble wrap which he ripped away. Jongin’s eyes grew wide  at the figure that stood surrounded by cardboard. 

“Hyung...why do you have a person in a box?” 

“It’s not a person. It’s your assistant,” Jongin glanced at the grinning mad scientist. Jongin looked at the supposed robot. Jongin stepped closer to the figure. 

The skin was like porcelain, glowing bright even under the track lighting of Jongin’s apartment. Lashes brushed against the round cheeks under thick sculpted brows. Jongin’s eyes traveled down to the pink heart-shaped lips. Jongin reached up, lightly the lips and was surprised by their plumpness. Jongin, eyes still concentrating on the luscious lips, pressed his finger into the cheeks. 

“Oh! Squishy.” 

“Exactly! Synthetic skin to look and feel like real human skin. His chest moves like he’s breathing. He blinks and emotes. He’s almost human!” 

“Hyung, I don’t know if…” Jongin stood up straight. 

“Just hear me out, Kai. Please. It’s just for two months. It’ll be over like that,” Yixing snapped his fingers. Jongin sighed before looking at the robot again. 

“And he’s supposed to do anything I ask?” 

“Yeah, well...yeah. Basically.” 

“Two months?” 

“8 weeks then I take him away and I will never ask of this of you again,” Jongin sighed. 

“How do you turn it on?” 

“Oh! Easy. Kiss it,” The all-too-serious look on his hyung’s face shocked Jongin even more than what he said. 

“What?” 

“You have to kiss him to start him. The warmth from your lips will sent an electric charge to kick start his CPU.” 

Jongin’s jaw hung down, his glance looking between his hyung and robot. 

“Can I just…” Jongin placed two fingers to his lips and moved them toward the plump lips before him. 

“Nope. Lip to lip contact and don’t ask me to do it. It has to be the person he’ll be interacting with the most which is…” 

“Me. Ah, hyung!” 

“Just do it, Kai-ah!” Jongin combed his fingers through his bed hair, resting his hand on the back of his neck. His eyes focused on the rose colored lips. They sat perfectly still and almost pouting. Jongin moved into closer, closing his eyes. 

Clicks and whirrs entered Jongin’s ears as he opened his eyes to a deer-like stare. The head tilted to the side as the eyes blinked at Jongin. 

“Ah!” Jongin jumped back. “Our lips didn’t even touch!” Jongin shouted to Yixing who was doubled over in laughter.  

“I’m sorry, Jongin. I didn’t actually think you would try it!” 

“You said I had to kiss him to start him!” 

“I’m sorry. His switch is behind his ear. It was too funny. You were like,” Yixing imitated an exaggerated face of Jongin and continued to laugh. Jongin ruffled his hair again before he looked at his new partner. The large eyes blinked quickly as it looked between the two men. 

“So...is he going to just stand there?” 

“Ah! Introductions,” Yixing hopped to the side of the box. “Kai-ah, meet H.I.M, Human Interaction Model. This model is from the D.O .line” 

“D.O.?” 

“It stands for Dico,” Jongin just stared at the older guy that was unconsciously popping the bubble wrap in his hand. Yixing glanced at Jongin and chuckled. 

“It’s Latin. Don’t worry about it. He answers to D.O,” Yixing turned to the android. “D.O, meet your new owner, Kim Jongin.” 

D.O glanced from Yixing to Jongin and smiled meekly. 

“Hello, Kai.” 

Jongin felt his breath catch from the simple message from the new intruder in his life. 

“Umm...I...umm.” 

“Okay! You’ve met, you’ve gotten to know each other, I’m leaving,” Yixing patted Jongin’s shoulder before leaving out. 

“Lay hyung!” Jongin pulled him back. 

“Look, this is the manual. Anything you need, just look in here. D.O will do almost any request you ask. If you have any questions, just call, but don’t call. ‘Kay!” Lay waved to D.O and Kai before rushing out of the apartment. 

Jongin’s shoulders dropped  before he turned back to his new roommate who stood outside the box now.  

“D.O….” 

“Kai.” 

“Call me Jongin.” 

“I’ve been programmed to call you Kai,” Jongin sighed. 

“Of course,” Jongin murmured, cursing his hyung in his mind. “D.O, what can you do?” 

“Any thing that you request. Yixing has informed me of your job and I’m ready to assist any way I can, on the job and here in your home.” 

His voice was soft and melodic. Jongin was expecting something from a sci-fi movie like he used to watch with Yixing but it was almost soothing. 

“Okay then,” Jongin made his way to his workstation and back. “This is my schedule book. Learn my appointments,” D.O. blinked his response before moved to the black sofa that sat in the middle of the room and started flipping through the pages. Jongin shook his head as he moved back into his bedroom to get more sleep.  

“Kai-sshi. Kai-sshi!” Jongin turned in his bed to the the glowing face of D.O. He gasped and sat up, pulling his cover up to his chin to cover himself, even though he was still fully dressed. 

“What the hell are you doing in here?” 

“Your appointment with Kim Junmyeon, CEO of EXO Inc, is in two hours. I would think that you would like to get ready so that we can be there 15 minutes early.” 

“There is no ‘we’,” Jongin grunted as he slid to the edge of his bed. He stopped short of pulling his cover away, looking at D.O. 

“You mind leaving?” 

“Is there anything that you need?” 

“Yeah, for you to leave!” D.O. turned and walked out of room, closing the door behind him. Jongin huffed as he tossed the blanket away and looked at his leg. The shock of the absent limb was over but the shadow that covered him came over every once and a while. 

A/N: "EXO Inc. - Cheesy, I know. I'm sorry.