An air of depression surrounded the robot teen as he sat alone in the high school cafeteria. He stabbed one of the cherry tomatoes on his plate and brought it too his lips as he stared across the room at the one person, he so desperately wanted to talk to. The one who had the ability to make his wires feel like they were starting fires, but also, he recently learned, could make him wish he had the ability to turn invisible.

                ‘Maybe I should ask Yongguk about that.’ Zelo stabbed another tomato, his favorite food.

                “Hey Zelo!” Jongup walked over and slung his backpack onto the table before taking a seat. “Where is Bora?”

                Zelo’s mechanical heart felt heavier, which made the robot curious. He knew the mechanical part couldn’t gain weight, so why was it that when he was sad or lonely it felt heavier?

                “Zelo? Zelo, are you okay?” Jongup waved a hand in front of Zelo’s face.

                Zelo blinked a few times before pouting and pointing his fork to the middle of the cafeteria where he continued to stare.

                Jongup’s eyes followed Zelo’s arm and he nodded. “Still talking to that new kid, Jaewon?”

                Zelo sighed and stabbed another tomato rather forcibly. “I do not understand her. She swears he is just a friend but the way he looks at her is not friendly.”

                Jongup narrowed his eyes. “Like… will we need to tell him off for being mean?”

                Zelo pouted. “No, he looks at her like he likes her.”

                “Huh, what is—oh you mean, really likes her?”

                Zelo watched as Jaewon touched Bora’s shoulder as they laughed. “Yes.”

                “Zelo be careful! You just bent your fork!” Jongup said as he tried to take the fork from the robot. Zelo easily bent the fork back into shape and handed it to Jongup. Jongup inspected the fork, making sure it was okay and then stuck it in his bag. “I take it Bora hasn’t given you an answer either?”

                “Tonight will be our first date for her to think about it.” Zelo pouted as he continued to stare at his unrequited crush.

                “Well, in her defense, dating a robot would be weird.” Jongup said bringing Zelo’s mood down.

                “I can’t help the way in which I was created.”

                Jongup patted Zelo’s back. “I know, but no one can help the way they feel either, you know that.”

                Zelo put his hand to his heart. “I can though…”

                Jongup bit his lip in worry. “You really thinking about that, huh?”

                “Ah, she’s coming.” Zelo announced.

                “Play nice.” Jongup said, seeing that Jaewon was coming two.

                “What are we playing?” Zelo looked confused.

                “Hi guys!” Bora said as she took a seat. “Hope you don’t mind if Jaewon joins us.”

                “Not at all.” Jongup smiled.

                Zelo forced his face into a neutral expression. “Hello.”

                “What’s up?” Jaewon smiled confidently.

                “I thought since Zelo and Jaewon were the only new students that we should all get along.” Bora smiled.

                “Not too many new students this year.” Jongup said. “We should hang out this weekend.”

                Zelo glared at Jongup from the corner of his eye. “It is the first weekend of the school year. Perhaps Jaewon is busy.”

                “No, I’m not busy at all.” Jaewon threw his arm around Bora’s shoulders and looked at everyone. “It’s already Friday, do you guys have plans yet?”

                “We do actually.” Zelo said. “Tomorrow we were planning on visiting our other friend at his college. Fortunately, it seems we won’t have enough room in the car to bring you.”

                Bora pursed her lips. “I think you mean unfortunately, Zelo.”

                Zelo kept his blank look as he looked at his competition. Jongup nudged his side and Zelo sighed. “Right, unfortunately.”

                “Also, Youngjae said he would be busy this weekend with a school project, so we can’t go.” Bora said.

                “Really?” Jongup looked disappointed.

                “Yeah, but we can just do the usual.” Bora smiled again.

                “The usual? What’s that?” Jaewon pulled her closer to him as he looked down at her.

                At this point Zelo had forgotten that he needed to blink and breathe to appear human and let his components work properly. He just stared at the intruder who was making moves on his girl and began considering if he could ask Yongguk for lasers in his eyes.

                “Right, Zelo?” Jongup shook Zelo, bringing him back into the conversation.

                “Right what?” He asked.

                Bora chuckled. “Your house is the best place to watch movies because Yongguk made the huge screen.”

                “Who is Yongguk?” Jaewon asked.

                “Zelo’s cre—uh.. cousin.” Jongup fixed.

                “My house it great for movies. I especially like the ones with happy endings.” Zelo commented.

                “Great.” Bora clapped her hands together. “Why don’t we have a sleepover tonight?”

                “Tonight?”

                Jongup gulped as he looked at the saddened Zelo. “Bora, didn’t you have plans with Zelo tonight?”

                Bora’s smile faltered and she bit her lip. “That’s right…”

                Jaewon looked between the two. “Is there something going on between you two?”

                “Yes.” “No!”

                Zelo’s heart felt like the screws had come undone, allowing all the pieces to cave in on itself and then falling into a darkhole. “I see. I’ll meet you guys in class.”

                “Zelo wait.” Bora said regretting her words as the robot stood up.

                “I need to call Yongguk and prepare him for people coming over. Let me know what the new plans are.” Zelo directed at Jongup not being able to stand looking at Bora being close with another boy after rejecting him.

                Zelo started walking away but with even with his super hearing turned off he still could pick up their conversation.

                “Bora, what is wrong with you?” Jongup asked.

                “If you ask me, it’s a good thing she turned him down.” Jaewon said. “This way she isn’t leading him on.”

                “I didn’t mean to say it that way… I didn’t mean it! It’s just embarrassing.” Bora said and even Zelo could hear the sadness in her voice.

                “Did you know he has been practicing for your first date since you were in the hospital last week? Himchan only just said he could take you out.” Jongup sounded irritated. “If you didn’t like him you shouldn’t have gave him hope.”

                “Practicing? Seriously… the guy sounds like a total dweeb. Did you notice how he didn’t blink?” Jaewon tried to persuade Bora.

                “I don’t like the way you are talking about my friend. I’m sorry Jongup, I’ll go talk to him.”

                Hearing that Zelo exhaled and once he walked out of the cafeteria he waited beside the door. A few moments later Bora rushed out. Not seeing him she looked left and right before her shoulders slumped. Zelo’s laughter made her turn around and smile shyly, seeing as she had passed by him without realizing it. Zelo pushed off the wall and took two large steps towards her.

                “You heard us?” Bora asked.

                Zelo nodded and ran his hands up and down his backpack straps not sure what else to do.

                Bora sighed. “Look Zelo, I’m sorry I forgot about our date tonight and… I’m sorry I said there is nothing between us.”

                “Bora… if you do not wish to be my girlfriend, I should know.” Zelo looked down at his feet.

                “Zelo…”

                “I see the way you act with Jaewon and—“

                “What do you mean the way I act with Jaewon?” Boa asked confused.

                Zelo blinked letting his gears redirect his thinking process. “You only met him Monday yet he is allowed to touch you more than you allow me now.”

                Bora scoffed. “Zelo, you have to admit things are slightly awkward between us because of the date tonight.”

                “The date you canceled so Jaewon can hang out with us.”

                Bora pursed her lips. “We can have our date on Saturday, Zelo. I do want to spend time with you.”

                Zelo ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know if I will be able to watch movies tonight.”

                Bora tilted her head in confusion. “Why? It was going to be at your house.”

                “Because watching you let Jaewon touch you drives me crazy.” Zelo honestly admitted. “The circuits in my heart feel like they become weighted and are trying to bring me down, so it really hurts.”

                Bora was taken aback, still not used to Zelo’s sudden bursts of being straight forward. “I… Zelo… that’s jealousy. I don’t understand though, all the guys put their arms around my shoulders or hug me. What is the problem?”

                “The problem is that he likes you the way I like you…”

                Bora laughed. “Zelo that is absurd! We haven’t even known each other a week!”

                “I’ve seen the movies about love! Humans can like someone in less than a minute! So, every second I’m not with you is another opportunity for someone to steal you from me.” Zelo pouted. Bora smiled and went to ruffle Zelo’s hair but he backed away. “Why can’t you take me seriously? Am I just an object to you?”

                “What? Zelo, how could you think that?” Bora asked.    

                “Everything okay?” Jaewon asked from the doorway, appearing with Jongup.

                “Yes, we’ll be back in soon.” Bora tried to dismiss them.

                Zelo shook his head. “No, I should go home. Yongguk is home right now.”

                “You can’t skip our last class.” Jongup said.

                Zelo shrugged. “I don’t really need to go, you know that. I should be better when you guys come over later.”

                “What’s that supposed to mean? Hey! Zelo don’t walk away!” Bora called after him.

                Zelo kept up his fast pace making it to the deserted basketball court. ‘Yongguk told me that if I needed him to he would take away these feelings. I need to get myself fixed so that I can protect Bora properly. How do humans live with all this pain?’ Zelo slowed down as he really thought about it. ‘Is this what living is to humans? Living by loving and losing? I don’t want to be robotic… if I don’t have love feelings then I might not have the ability to like things or dislike things so I wouldn’t be friends with Jongup or hate lemons. Maybe like a human, my heart too will heal after a loss.’

                “Zelo!” Bora shouted.

                “Like Youngjae said, love makes us do crazy things.” Zelo sighed and turned toward Bora and Jongup who had run after him.

                “Zelo! Don’t do it!” Jongup said. “Yongguk told you there were risks!”

                Bora and Jongup finally reached Zelo and Bora hit Zelo on the side of his head but instantly regretted it and cradled her still sprained wrist.

                Zelo gently held her hand. “Why would you do that? Are you okay?”

                “Stop being such a baby!” Bora said. “If in the future we end up not working out would you really just get rid of your ability to love?”

                Zelo sighed and gently rubbed Bora’s hand. “I was processing the idea, but I just comprehended that getting rid of love would make living seem pointless.”

                “You gave us such a scare, you idiot!” Bora pouted.

                “Why couldn’t you have realized that earlier?” Jongup chuckled.

                “This was too easy.” The three of them looked towards Jaewon who was standing a few feet away smiling weirdly at them.

                Something felt wrong so, Zelo pushed Bora behind him. “What are you talking about?” Jongup asked.

                Jaewon laughed loudly and placed his hands on his hips. “Here I thought I would have to slowly work my way into your group to get learn where you all live but this… this is perfect.”

                Jongup frowned. “What’s perfect?”

                Jaewon grinned widely and Zelo went on guard when he noticed Jaewon’s teeth rapidly turning into razor sharp points. “So quickly you three allowed me to be alone with you. Now all I have to do is kill the two males and kidnap the female so that the rest of the rangers will come to rescue her, falling directly in my trap!”

                “Who are you?” Bora shouted out as she tried not to show her fear.

                Jaewon let out an ugly laugh that morphed into a disturbing gurgling sound as the boy’s flesh bubbled up, moving and shifting as even the bones made breaking and snapping noises.  The originally smooth clear skin was turning an ashen grey with the addition of bumps and bone spikes poking through. Zelo pushed Bora behind him completely so that she wouldn’t watch the gruesome sight.

                Zelo and Jongup pulled out their power coins at the same time and nodded. They each called upon the power Yongguk had put into the coin and before they knew it, they were standing there is their fighting uniforms, Jongup’s green and Zelo’s blue. They even had helmets covering their faces to keep their identities a secret but, in this scenario it didn’t seem to matter.

                “Bora, go hide!” Zelo commanded.

                “You’ll never get away with your evil plans!” Jongup shouted and raised his fists.

                “No, it’s you who will not be leaving here alive.” The creature snapped its jaws making a metallic clanging sound.

                It rushed at them and they barely had enough time to jump to the side. The creature stopped without any troubles and turned around aiming for Zelo. Zelo had enough time to calculate the monsters weight and speed though so instead of dodging again he stuck his heels in and stuck his arms out, bracing for the monster. It hit with the calculated force, but Zelo may have overestimated himself as the monster was slowly pushing him back. He was gripping the monsters hands as they tried pushing each other to their will. The sound of metal gradually bending and cracking filled the air as Zelo came to realize he wasn’t as strong as he originally thought.

                “Hey!” Jongup shouted.

                Zelo and the former Jaewon turned just in time for Jongup to smash the creatures head in with his fighting rod. It screeched and backed away holding its head. Jongup started his fight with the monster as Zelo stared as his deformed and slightly sparking hands.

                “Zelo, are you okay?” Bora came running out from the bushes.

                “Bora, watch out!” Zelo’s eyes widened and he rushed towards her seeing the danger which was an arm, Jongup had just cut off, flying in the air towards Bora, with its acidic blood spraying everywhere.

                Bora raised her arm in front of her face just in time to stop the grotesque thing from touching her face. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the slightly acidic green blood from touching her arms and uniform. She screamed out in pain just as Zelo reached her. He held her and was unsure what to do to stop the pain.

                “Zelo!” Jongup shouted in warning.

                Zelo looked over and saw the monster running for him. He unclipped the sword on his belt while holding Bora firmly to his chest to protect her. Zelo swung the sword up, taking the monster by surprise, and stabbed it through the heart, bringing it to a complete stop.

                “Cover Bora.” Jongup said and Zelo complied, bending his head so that her whole body was hidden from view.

                Zelo heard the slash and cutting of flesh and then came the sizzling and smell of his artificial flesh burning from the spray of blood before the thud of the now decapitated head hit the asphalt ground. Zelo lifted his head and saw only the monster’s body being held up by his sword so he flicked it off, letting the body roughly fall onto it’s on head as the steam from its blood made slow work of burning the body up.

                “Is Bora okay?” Jongup asked.

                Zelo looked down as saw that Bora was still whimpering and crying into his chest. Zelo shook his head. “No, we need to bring her to the hospital.”

                “Yongguk’s lab is closer. He said that if the blood ever touched one of us to go there.” Jongup said.

                The two let the images of their special outfits fade away. Zelo picked up Bora and they ran to Jongup’s car which luckily was nearby. The drive to Yongguk and Zelo’s house took only a few minutes since Jongup was speeding but to the worried Zelo, it wasn’t fast enough. Seeing Bora in pain was eating him up. He held her tightly not wanting to let her out of his grasp even for a second.

                Jongup barely had the car parked before Zelo was halfway across the front yard, heading towards the entrance to Yongguk’s lab. He used one hand to open the door and looked around for Yongguk.

                “Zelo! What are you doing here—what is wrong with Bora?!” Yongguk asked alarmed.

                “There was a monster. The blood hit her. Please fix her!” Zelo said.

                “Set her over here.” Yongguk motioned towards a table he immediately started to clear.

                It didn’t take Yongguk long to apply the special healing cream he had created. It took longer for Yongguk to fix Zelo’s broken hands, which Yongguk had practically cried over. When Zelo had showed him the few spots where the monster blood had hit him Yongguk had started nagging and muttering like a worried mother. Jongup had to pull him away from the robot to keep the older male from preforming yet another intensive internal check on Zelo.

                Yongguk and Jongup went off to another part of the lab to talk about what had happened and discuss plans for the future since it seemed the monsters now knew who they were. Zelo stayed by Bora’s side rubbing her hand as she sat there resting, exhausted from the pain earlier.

                “How do I look?” Bora asked with her eyes still closed.

                “Beautiful as always.” Zelo smiled.

                Bora opened her eyes just the minimal amount so she could see Zelo. “So smooth, you must be learning from Daehyun. I meant my arms, have they healed yet?”

                “Yes, the cream was very effective. Also, your brother told me not to listen to Daehyun about talking to girls.” Zelo admitted.

                Bora laughed and sat up. “So, you are saying that you really think I’m beautiful?”

                “I do not see the point in lying.” Zelo said. He pushed away the bangs from her eyes so it would stop bothering you. “Ah! You are blushing again. I embarrassed you?”

                “I’m not used to hearing those things…” Bora looked down.

                ‘So cute.’ Zelo chuckled. “If you will allow me, I wish to tell you every day just how beautiful you are, inside and out.”

                They sat in silence with Bora not knowing what to say. Instead she looked at the robot’s hands and fiddled with his fingers, fingers which she had seen just an hour ago twisted and bent in impossible positions.

                “Zelo…” Bora paused and Zelo blinked at her blankly not sure what to expect. “I have to tell you that going on a date with you isn’t going to change my feelings for you.”

                “What… what do you mean?”

                Bora sighed. “I like you Zelo. It’s why I’m more awkward around you and touch you less than the other boys, but you are a robot and I’m still not sure I can get over that.”

                “You like me?” Zelo asked excited.

                Bora let out a dry chuckle. “Did you not hear the rest of what I said?”

                “To me, as long as you like me and give me a chance, I’ll be happy. The rest, me being a robot, we can work out later. So, you really like me? That’s why at the amusement park you gave Jongup a better hug than me?”

                “You still remember that?” Bora laughed.

                Zelo pouted. “It made my heart hurt, of course I remember…”

                “So cute.” Bora touched Zelo’s face.

                Zelo gently cupped her hand and looked at her full of uncertainty. “So, will you be my girlfriend?” Zelo could feel Bora’s pulse pounding as she gulped. “I… we can still go on the date tonight if you need more time.”

                Bora smiled. “We, well humans only live once right… why don’t we go on the date, but you can take me as you girlfriend.”

                Zelo’s eyes shone just a bit brighter than before. “Really?”

                “Yes. I like you, so why should you being a robot come between us. Like you said, we can work things out as they come up.” Bora laughed.

                Zelo picked Bora up and hugged her as he twirled around in circles. “We’re dating!”

                Bora squealed and held onto Zelo tighter as the excited robot expressed his happiness. Unbeknownst to them, Yongguk, Jongup, and Himchan were standing in the doorway observing the whole scene. Yongguk smiled widely and clapped Himchan on the back. “Looks like you and I are going to be family.”

                Himchan scowled. “Aren’t you going too fast? I accepted him as a boyfriend but I didn’t say anything about marriage.”

                “Oh come on. You know they look like a cute couple, right brother-in-law?” Yongguk teased.

                “Since you created Zelo, doesn’t that make you Himchan’s Father-in-law?” Jongup asked.

                The wider Yongguk’s smile got the angrier Himchan looked. “Don’t you dare.”

                “My Son-in-law!” Yongguk laughed.

                “Bora! I forbid you from dating Zelo!” Himchan ran into the room.

                “No!” Zelo hugged her close. “No one can separate us now!”

                “You brat! Put her down!”

                “Zelo run!” Bora shouted while laughing.

                Zelo happily obliged just glad that she wanted to be with him. Yongguk and Jongup cheered Zelo and Bora on from the side of the room while Zelo dodged each of Himchan’s advances, just waiting for the older to get exhausted. Bora bent her head down to Zelo’s ear to whisper in Zelo’s ear. The robot boy smiled and danced around Himchan to run for the door. They waved goodbye, before going on their first date.