“Are you sure you want to do this?”

XV nodded, too nervous to speak as Taekwoon leaned back in his chair, leaving his morning coffee untouched. He ran a contemplative hand across his jaw while XV sat stiff and motionless across from him.

“This is quite an abnormal request.” He finally said, and XV prepared himself for rejection with a readied frown. “But there’s a chance it could work.”

XV’s eyes widened with surprise.

“It’ll have to go through the board first,” Taekwoon hurried to say in response to XV’s ignited interest. “But given the situation is just as abnormal as the request is, I believe they’ll authorize it.”

“Do you really think so?” XV replied, his voice laced with hope.

“I do,” He smiled. “But there’s more to it than just following Myungsoo around and making sure he doesn’t bite anyone.” XV stifled a grin, he was just too giddy.

“The committee will be the one to decide the explicit details of the treatment, but it’ll be an intense job.” He continued. “So before I fill in the application I need to know that you’re a hundred percent on board.”

This was the first shift XV had with Taekwoon since his last recharge, and he had to wait until morning to tell him about everything that has happened- a nerve wracking wait to say the least. It took him ten minutes to just explain Myungsoo’s apparent situation before stuttering out his heavy request, and Taekwoon was silent for the longest time.

XV had spent the entirety of the previous afternoon thinking of the exact phrasing and timing for him to finally request to be Myungsoo’s personal caretaker, crisscrossing between his brainstorming and escorting Myungsoo around his appointments for the day until his eventual recharging session. He then had the entire night to himself to just sit in the lounge and ponder why he was so anxious about this, and most importantly why he was doing this in the first place. The answer came surprisingly quick when he realized that if Myungsoo didn’t get better at interacting with humans (or any living organism, for that matter) he’ll surely be recycled, and that scared him more than he was willing to admit.

It was three A.M when he concluded that it all came down to Myungsoo’s brown eyes. They held too much resemblance to XV’s own. Albeit their different shape (XV’s eyes were much rounder than Myungsoo’s, though they did share a thin eyelid crease that for some reason was considered attractive), XV couldn’t help but find a reassuring similarity in the darkness of Myungsoo’s irises.

But more than anything, XV couldn’t help but dread the fact that Myungsoo’s possible fate could might as well had been his… because it should have. Because Myungsoo’s terrified frantic eyes took him back to another lifetime, where those eyes belonged to someone else, someone important, but they were empty and vacant as they stared lifelessly at the ceiling. And XV turned his back then, but he wouldn’t be doing that again. He wouldn’t be responsible for another deactivation.

“I am.” XV replied solemnly, his previous giddiness replaced with unequivocal determination.

“Well then,” Taekwoon said after another short silence. “I’ll schedule an appointment with the board right away.”

XV sighed in relief. “Thank you, Taekwoon, thank you so much.”

Taekwoon smiled his pursed little smile that looked more like a shy pout more than anything, taking XV thoughts right away from the morbid sentiment that overtook him. Leo might have had Taekwoon’s eyes, but he had his smile too, and that might have been XV’s most favorite, comforting sight in the world.

Taekwoon reached out to pat one of XV’s hands on the table before downing the rest of his already cold coffee with a swift gulp. He moved his chair away from the table, wincing at its uncomfortable scrape against the floor and got up.

“I’ll keep you updated.” He concluded as he walked away from the room, turning back to give XV a final wave.

XV remained seated in the empty lounge, practically beaming as his chest expanded with joy.

 

Myungsoo woke up two hours later, and XV was there to greet him with a hefty to do list scrawled onto a clipboard.

“Hi,” XV smiled as Myungsoo’s eyes fluttered open. Mine never do that, he thought. He usually had a very clean wake up- a swift lift of shutters, so swift, in fact, that he managed to startle quite a few by passers that happened to stumble upon the end of his session. Myungsoo looked like a human rising from a deep sleep.

Myungsoo returned two blinks, a gesture XV learned was a coherent form of communication for the semi-mute android. He thought that Myungsoo would be a gushing geyser of words since his self introduction to XV yesterday, but he seemed to regress back into his radio silence.

 “Does anything hurt?” He asked after helping Myungsoo down from the apparatus. It still felt strange asking that of an android, as he was used to an entirely different kind of dialogue. He would usually ask about any discomfort, and the android would reply instantly with a specification of the exact malfunction they were experiencing... Myungsoo on the other hand was more into playing charades.

Myungsoo shook his head, but XV knew better.

“Are you sure?” He raised a disbelieving brow. “Because that oil leak you had was a result of a punctured lung. That’s a serious injury we’re talking about.” Nothing.

“We could always run more tests…” XV said, a warning in his voice. Myungsoo’s head shook with frenzied disapproval. “Okay, so if something feels wrong, speak up about it.”

Myungsoo bit his lip and hesitantly pointed to his left ribcage.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” XV said, more to himself than to Myungsoo. “That’s the side of your punctured lung. You broke some ribs as well but we fixed them too, so you might be a bit sore until you get used to the new fusion.”

Myungsoo gave a single understanding nod, and XV took that as permission to carry on with the day.

“So we’re going to run a few more checkups on you today, because if your lung was leaking it might not be the only place.” He continued. “You might not even know it’s happening.”

Myungsoo’s face remained blank, but his adam’s apple gave away his concern as it bobbed slightly in his throat.

“Don’t worry,” XV assured. “I’ll be right here with you.”

 

XV was eight hours into his shift when Taekwoon summoned him for the meeting with the board, and thus compelled him to leave Myungsoo for the first time that day.

“Behave,” XV warned, and Myungsoo gave the subtlest eye roll in his direction, a hard task given he was currently undergoing an eye examination. The eye specialists snapped his fingers impatiently, requesting Myungsoo’s undivided attention and Myungsoo returned to face the doctor somewhat reluctantly. XV almost felt bad leaving him with the unpleasant attendant, but figured that the attendant might be just as bitter about being left with Myungsoo and that managed to even things out.

XV left along with Taekwoon, knowing that if he could he would have sweated buckets, and Taekwoon seemed to share the same sentiment.

XV eyed him warily as he wiped his clammy hands on his robe and turned to scan XV up and down with dissatisfaction scrunching up his nose.

“I hate these scrubs,” He commented under his breath as he fixed XV’s light blue collar over his neck. “Ready?” He asked when he was done, and XV pursed his lips before giving a shaky nod.

Taekwoon went ahead to open the door, allowing XV to enter first before following him inside. This was a room XV has never been in before, and he was startled by how small it was. Heiligtum wasn’t designed to be generously open-spaced, but he still didn’t expect to practically bump into the long desk occupied by the board members upon his entry.

“Hello everyone,” Taekwoon gave a respectful, right angled bow, and XV hurried to join.

He straightened up to face the four members staring up at him with two discernible emotions. There were two men and two women, one of which looked completely uninterested whereas the latter smiled back politely with varying amounts of teeth exposure.

“Hello XV, Dr. Jung.” One of the women greeted, and XV understood that she must have been the head of the board. “I believe this is the first time we meet this intern droid.” She seemed to speak to Taekwoon, but her eyes were focused on XV. They were kind and friendly, but XV still couldn’t help but feel scrutinized, if not by her then by her peers.

“We haven’t, ma’am.” XV went on to say, triggering a delighted gasp from the middle aged chairwoman.

“What a lovely voice!” She chimed. “He definitely is an XV.” She turned her gaze to Taekwoon, who by then shut the door and took a stance beside his protégé.

“We don’t hear that kind of vocal friction from every android.” She added with a wink and XV concluded that he liked her.

“It’s nice to see you again, Dr. Kim.” Taekwoon bowed in response, returning a warm smile towards his superior. “Hello, I’m Specialist Jung Taekwoon.” He introduced himself to the rest of the board, who returned a light nod.

 “Now,” Dr. Kim concluded with a dull clap of her hands. “Let’s get to your… interesting request.” XV gulped hard in response, and almost laughed at how unnecessarily human that motion was.

“Why don’t you elaborate about it for us, Taekwoon?”

“Well,” He started. XV was glad to know that most of the questions would be addressed at Taekwoon, because he was openly uncomfortable under all those watching eyes and couldn’t entirely trust his own tongue. Taekwoon seemed to be doing a fine job, at any rate.

He then went on to skim over everything that’s happened within the last few days since Myungsoo’s arrival, specifying XV’s discoveries and the “unique” (“strange” was more accurate, as far as XV was concerned) relationship they formed due to both being of the same model.

The board members raised surprised brows and hummed in approval every once in a while, asking an occasional relevant question, and XV couldn’t help but feel like they all were cogs in a turbine, all moving somewhat independently but otherwise serving the same purpose. Their reactions were individual but altogether the same, like they were all androids too.

“Wow, that’s quite a tale!” Dr. Kim exclaimed. “The last time something like this happened, it was with an XI when the sanctuary was first erected.”

“You were still probably in school then.” The woman on the furthest side of the desk said, and XV noted that she was the one scowling when they first came in. She will probably need to be won over, he thought.

“So we will discuss the matter further amongst ourselves. I can’t guarantee exactly how long it will take, but I believe that you’ll get your answer tomorrow.” Dr. Kim said, ignoring the distasteful comment from her coworker.

“Is there anything you’d like to say, XV?” She turned to smile at the android, whose eyes snapped to hers with an instant, mind suddenly overactive.

“Yes,” He managed to utter, hyperaware of everyone’s attention on him. “Just that I truly believe in Myungsoo’s recovery and that with the help of our care he could undoubtedly become an efficient and valuable social droid someday.”

He turned to look at Taekwoon for approval, and was glad to meet a proud grin followed by an affectionate hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you, XV.” Dr. Kim said, “Now if you’ll excuse us.” And that was their cue to leave. Taekwoon and XV both bowed once more, thanking the board in return before exiting the room.

XV was tense up until he heard the door close behind him and he could feel his systems sigh in relief, finally able to cool down. Taekwoon himself slumped against the opposite wall, letting out a loud breath that seemed to reflect XV’s own alleviation.

“That went well!” He exclaimed, moving his head to meet XV’s gaze. “You were great.”

XV didn’t think he did anything that important. If anything, Taekwoon was the one practically selling the idea to the panel, but he took the compliment anyway. “Thank you,” He breathed, still dazed from the stressful event.

“You look like you need to recharge,” Taekwoon said, more worriedly this time.

“No, I’m still okay,” XV responded. “I’m at fifty percent.”

“Fifty!” He exclaimed. “Then this entire ordeal took away at least twenty percent, you poor thing.”

XV chuckled, “It was pretty nerve wracking.”

“Well you handled it like a pro.” Taekwoon smiled back, and a pleasant silence slowly formed between them as they took off in the other direction, heading away from the source of their restlessness. They soon came up to a “staff only” set of doors and they halted as Taekwoon inserted his magnetic card through the slot, triggering a whoosh as they opened. “And now we wait.” He concluded before stepping back into the buzzing sanctuary.

 

XV was assisting a mechanic with the repair of a broken recharger when he received his first work related injury.

Being an intern, he was expected to juggle all the different specialties the sanctuary had to offer and decide his major only at the very end. He was personally more drawn to the people and android based professions, but his social nature wasn’t enough to grant him any sort of special treatment. He was the first model to have a specific function assigned to him upon initial activation, but regulations were regulations, and he had broken enough rules to last him a lifetime, it was time to follow them for a change.

The mechanic, on the other hand, made the wise decision of turning XV into his portable tool box, aware of the fact that he was practically useless as an apprentice. He had been standing behind him for fifteen minutes already, reaching behind him for the tools whenever the specialist requested and found that it was actually quite relaxing (considering his current job was babysitting a fussy android).

“Screw,” He ordered, and XV turned back to reach for the box, only to suddenly find himself elsewhere. He had this happen to him before when he saw Myungsoo’s eyes for the first time, but this time was different. Déjà vu, he recalled, was the human name for it, but that was exactly it- a human experience…and yet it felt so real.

He was standing at a different lab, miles away from Heiligtum, receiving the same order from someone of his own kind yet fundamentally different from him. His chest felt suddenly warm, but he knew that it wasn’t a malfunction- it was a coherent brain signal aimed at his titanium heart.

It was a mere flash in XV’s consciousness, but it was enough to disorient him so much that he’d completely failed to recognize the stray rod sticking out directly beneath him. He swayed involuntarily towards its sharp edge, unaware of the pointy metal penetrating the skin under his ear.

“Hey, watch out!” The mechanic called out from his crouched position. XV snapped out of his trance in an instant, realizing that he was in fact almost impaled.

“That’s a nasty scratch you got there,” He added, straightening out enough to examine the flesh wound embellishing XV’s jaw.

“Sorry,” XV blurted out, still dazed from the er punch he received from the memory.

“Don’t apologize to me, boy!” The mechanic barked out a throaty laugh. “You oughta apologize to yourself for doing that to your face.”

“It’s that bad?” XV resisted the urge to finger the slit and possibly worsen the case.

“Not as long as you’re not in pain.” He smiled a toothy smile, infecting XV to return one of his own over their shared joke.

“That’s more like it,” He clapped him on the shoulder in response to XV’s radiant grin. “You’re dismissed for now. Go find the lucky surgeon to have the pleasure of patching you up.”

XV bowed politely and took off, but he knew that he’s scheduled to meet up with Myungsoo soon and didn’t have time to stop by the E.R. Aesthetics will have to wait, he sighed as he approached the patient lounge.

He entered the vicinity and scanned the premise for Myungsoo’s familiar face, but he was nowhere to be found. Myungsoo seemed to favor the T.V station best, because every time XV came to him to his next appointment he was always glued to the flashing screen, entranced by the moving pixels as they danced their way into a picture. But he wasn’t there that time, nor was he at the foosball table, or the board game station (quite a geriatric assortment of activities, XV always thought).

Where could he be? He turned back to scan the hall again, assuming he might have missed him sitting in one of the examination rooms. If he ran off under my watch I’m getting recycled.

His walk adopted a frantic edge in response to the irrational thought, suddenly second guessing all the work he had done so far. Was I not treating him well?

He didn’t get far down the hall when he was stopped by a short whistle he assumed was directed towards him. He practically skidded into a stop in front of an open examination room and almost melted in relief.

“Looking for this?” Seungmin pointed her thumb at a guilty looking Myungsoo slumping over an operating table, his head bobbing loosely on his shoulders. “Found him limping around looking pretty slaphappy, I don’t suppose you had him doped for some reason…”

“His ribs were hurting so we gave him a calming solution,” XV explained somewhat apologetically as he entered the room. “It’s obviously experimental.”

“Great,” She groaned. “So now not only do we have a mute hypersensitive mechanical ninja/supermodel, but y’all went and got him high.”

“Sorry noona,” Was all XV had to offer. “This is a first for us too.”

She rolled her eyes but sighed defiantly, XV knew she was only half serious but it was also highly dangerous for Myungsoo to just be wandering around. He was lucky it was Seungmin who found him.

“Now that you’re here let’s get you checked up, shall we?” He approached Myungsoo with his signature caretaker smile. “We might be able to lower the dosage today since you seem to be healing pretty well—“

XV leaned over to retrieve a stethoscope from the desk and was cut off by a gasp coming from the intoxicated android. He turned around to meet Myungsoo’s horrified glare, focused unequivocally on the fresh injury he recently acquired.

“Oh, this?” XV pointed to it with a chuckle. “Don’t worry about it, I don’t feel a thing.” But Myungsoo didn’t seem assured. XV couldn’t decide whether Myungsoo’s mouth was hanging open with horror or just due to the muscle limpness the solution seemed to cause. His eyes, at any rate, were hooded enough to make him look like he was going to deactivate right there and then. Yeah, definitely time to lower the dosage.

“I’m just going to take a quick listen, okay?” He said. “Just to make sure everything’s pumping correctly.”

He approached Myungsoo, ear buds already tucked into his ears, and pressed the other side onto his clothed chest. Human specialists would often ask the patient to remove their shirt, but XV had enough going for him in the upgrade section that he found the task redundant.

He was listening to the even breaths elevating Myungsoo’s chest and the steady whirr of his titanium heart pumping away in his ribcage. All seemed well, meaning that the new artificial fusion was already assimilating itself to his body, or in other words- very good news. XV resumed by pressing lightly on his ribs, focusing on the fractured area, and was glad to come in contact with a smooth curve protruding ever so slightly from under his pectoral.

XV looked up, words of encouragement already forming in his mouth, but they were promptly caught in his throat when he met Myungsoo’s gaze. Suddenly there was nothing but sobriety in his pupils, nothing but pure curiosity in his elevated eyelids, but more than that, he looked at him with such tenderness that caused XV’s brain to buzz erratically in his cranium. There was only one other android who ever looked at him that way.

And if that wasn’t enough, Myungsoo reached out to touch the scratch on XV’s jaw. XV didn’t feel the tickle Myungsoo had felt when he brushed over the needle puncture yesterday, nor did his skin convulse with an involuntary shudder, but he did feel the soft pressure of his fingertips graze the surface of his wound and slide across the lining of his jaw, painting it with his improbable body temperature.

XV didn’t understand the meaning of his stare, despite crossing it with every equivalent he could salvage from his overheating systems. It was calm yet concerned at the same time, cautiously curious yet inexplicably violent, Myungsoo yet Leo. XV was left speechless.

A long moment went by until XV managed to form a coherent sentence, still overwhelmed.

“I’ll fix that today.” He felt Myungsoo’s fingers curl and recoil slowly from his face, watching him place them gingerly on his lap. He blinked at him, and XV could practically see the sobriety slipping away from his gaze, replacing itself with the previous dazed stare.

“He looks like he’s going to pass out,” Seungmin suddenly said from the other side of the room, watching the scene with a raised brow and crossed arms.

XV would have been startled if he was human, but his senses couldn’t allow him to ignore her presence even if he tried. He chuckled instead.

“No, he has almost eighty percent left,” He returned the stethoscope to its rightful place on the nearby table. “He’s good to go for at least another day.”

“Great,” She groaned. “More babysitting.”

“You know he can understand you, right?” He was full on smiling now. Seungmin’s dry humor was his favorite kind.

“With that dumb look on his face, I’d doubt it.”

XV turned to look back at Myungsoo who was trying his best to scowl, but his muscles seemed too relaxed to form anything but a slack jawed stare.

“It’ll wear off soon,” He said, reassuring both Seungmin and Myungsoo.

“But for the meantime,” He continued, turning to face Myungsoo again. “I’ll need you to wait in the patient lounge until I pick you up for your next appointment, okay?”

Myungsoo made the tremendous effort of bowing his head in a slow motioned nod and XV did his best not to laugh. He had never seen a sedated android, not like this, at least.

He then helped Myungsoo off the table and dragged him away to the lounge, forcing a promise from him to not go wandering off by himself again (to which Myungsoo gave another never ending nod), and shut the doors firmly behind him.

Seungmin awaited him by the entrance to the examination room, and they both took off towards their own lounge.

“He likes you,” She said in her typical laconic tone, swiping a keycard through a slot on a doorway.

“He hasn’t bitten me yet, so you might be right.” XV joked in response as he followed her inside the staff only ward.

“I mean it,” She insisted. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a patient get this attached to another android.”

“Well, we are an explicably social model.” XV replied, still half joking, but Seungmin’s words affected him regardless, managing to stir something up in his mind... He couldn’t pinpoint what exactly that thing was, though.

“When did you become such a smartass?” She turned to smirk at him before entering the staff lounge, heading straight to the sink to wash herself a mug.

“Learned from the best,” He returned a flash of gleaming teeth, to which she playfully stuck out her tongue.

“What are you two bickering about?” Taekwoon entered the lounge, rubbing the newly formed shadow of stubble on his chin. Is it another day already? He didn’t even notice the time go by, but Taekwoon clearly had just awoken from a very deep sleep. XV went on to fact check his speculation with his operating system, and yes, it really had been twenty four hours since his last shift with Taekwoon.

“Whoa what happened?” He then exclaimed, gesturing to the new addition on XV’s face. XV replied by a noncommittal hand wave.

“Oh, just about XV’s little school girl crush.” Seungmin answered his first question as a matter of fact, still smiling to herself. She shut off the warm stream of water from the faucet as XV sunk down into one of the chairs with a defeated sigh.

“You have a crush?” Taekwoon questioned, surprise raising his voice by an octave. But before XV had the chance to correct him, Taekwoon’s beeper went off. He bowed his head to read the notification, and his amused grin changed into a different kind of surprise.

“It’s the board,” He informed, his expression a mix of excitement and anxiousness. It was suddenly quiet in the room as the three specialists pondered over what kind of news the committee had to deliver. Seungmin, as always, was the first to break the silence.

“Well, better not keep them waiting.”