Youngjae remembered the time when the first personal healthcare companion was invented. It was a fluffy-looking, gigantic ball of squish that many people cooed over. It would walk little, tiny steps with its bouncy, short legs and give hugs or first-aid to anyone who needed it. He remembered being extremely excited about the invention because he was ten and ten-year-olds are easily impressed by the smallest things, even the invention that is your ‘personal health companion’.

Okay, maybe it was cool. Was. That was when he was ten, but he’s not ten anymore and it has been so many years since the marshmallow-like robot was first invented and available through your everyday hardware stores. Now, the robots have been upgraded and there are so many forms of it. They still have the original fluffy marshmallow type bodies, but they also have the ones where they look and feel exactly like a human.

Youngjae shuddered just thinking about the time when he came across one in the hardware store for the very first time. It was on display and politely greeting everyone who walked past, self-advertising about it’s major selling points and what people could benefit from buying and owning him as a healthcare companion. He was initially unaware that it was a robot though, and he thought that the thing was a person trying to be funny and pretending to be something on sale.

So when he went closer to the machine and touched it, the thing blinked and said in a voice just like a human, “Hello, I’m Zelo, a personal healthcare companion!”, Youngjae jumped back, slightly startled. If it weren’t for the fact that this thing had been invented years ago, he would’ve thought that this human – this boy was really good at acting because he played the part of a robot perfectly well. The robot stared at him for a little while before holding out a hand towards Youngjae, which caused him to let out a tiny squeal. (It was a manly squeal though, and he will insist that it was manly until the day he dies)

“Your heartbeat is currently higher than a 100 beats per minute.”

Youngjae squinted at it, not believing what he was hearing. “Of course my heartbeat is faster than usual, I was startled!” he argued.

“Startled. To be startled is to cause to make a quick involuntary movement or start.”

“Yes, I happen to be a major in languages too, thank you very much for the less than helpful breakdown of what startle means.” Youngjae rolled his eyes.

Passers-by stared at the young man sulking in front of the healthcare companions and many of them chuckled at how silly the entire situation looked to them. But Youngjae was way too engrossed with the robot that he failed to notice the stares or chuckles that strangers were giving him.

“You are currently feeling an emotion that is called ‘annoyance’ in the normal dictionary.”

He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Again, I know what annoyance means. Jesus, are you always this annoying?”

“Jesus? I am sorry, but Jesus is not in my system drive.”

At this reply though, Youngjae had to laugh. It was hilarious how the thing had on a seemingly confused expression at one point. And he wondered if those machines can ever feel emotions since they’re so…real.

Deciding that he had spent too much time on a stupid robot, he decided to move on and go get what he originally came here for – a brand new DSLR camera. He had wanted to have one since he started taking an interest in photography some months back and right now, the clarity of an iPhone camera is just not enough for what he expects of his photos. He even started a photography Instagram account and somehow, he had gained a lot of popularity in a short span of time and many Instagram photographers compliment him in his natural flair for photography.

He currently has over ten thousand followers, and the number is changing every single day. So he wanted to expand on that and take clearer, better pictures and in order to do that, he needed that DSLR camera. Yes he did.

Half an hour later, he got the camera he wanted and was out of the store. He walked with a spring in his step, excited to go home to try out his new camera. He’d been having so many new inspirations for what types of photos he wanted to take because he had been browsing through some fashion magazines and noticing the way some photographers made the shots look artistically candid. But to do that, he needed a human model who was willing to work with him for free while he experimented and found his own style, which, is rather difficult because professional models will never work for free. Why would they when they could easily earn thousands of dollars for just one photo shoot?

But when he reached home though, he wasn’t greeted by the silence that he was expecting. His parents apparently decided to come back early from their business trip and fill the house with tons of people. When he turned the lights on, a chorus of “SURPRISE!” filled his ears and he blinked at the sudden loud noise. Surprise? What was the surprise? What’s the occasion? He was racking his brain for an explanation when-

“Happy 22^nd Birthday Youngjae!” his parents cheered, his mother stepping forward to exclaim excitedly, “We used the set of keys you handed to us when you got this apartment!”

He’d totally forgot about his birthday.

But birthday or not, he hated associating with people and just generally disliked crowds. He tried holding back a scowl and instead, let out a smile that looked like he was trying to smile after ting his pants. Half sheepish, half grimacing.

People would call him grouchy as he wore a constant scowl. But could he seriously be blamed? These people are so superficial and all they talk about is ‘which idol is more handsome’ or ‘which designer brands are in style’. He loved fashion, don’t get him wrong. But he just didn’t like socializing in general so he hated talking about stuff with people. He had a circle of really close friends whom he was extremely comfortable with, but that was about it. He never bothered getting to know anyone new. At least that’s how it was after him. And he refused to go back to that memory, back when he was actually sociable, back when they were together. He could not.

“We got you a present! Since you’re always alone and we figured you might need some companion,” his mother gushed and gave him a tight hug. The way she emphasized companion gave him a very bad feeling about what they bought for him. He wasn’t stupid and he was able to read from social cues and intonations of people’s voices. Nevertheless, he wrapped his arms around the petite woman and squeezed her lightly. “Oh, thanks mom.”

He looked at his dad over his mom’s shoulders to his dad and said, “Thanks dad.”

After they broke off from their hug, the party started and people started mingling, diverting their attention elsewhere while Mrs Yoo motioned Youngjae to the big, suspicious box in the middle of the living room, further confirming his suspicions. The box was as tall as him, if not taller. And by his parents’ excited expressions, he pasted a huge fake grin that he hoped would pass off as elated.

He reached out to the box to unwrap it but paused, cringing a little.

“Ah, I guess I’ll open it later in the night.”

Mrs Yoo looked like she wanted to say something but kept shut, seeing that this is her son’s birthday, she didn’t want to force anything on him. Besides, it would be better if he opened the present while he’s alone. So she nodded, smiling, while gesturing for her son to go around and talk to people.

Hours later, it was close to midnight and he was sitting in the living room after his shower, basking in the quietness that he enjoyed. The party had ended an hour ago and the moment he shut the door after his last guests left, he let out a huge sigh of relief. So now, he was sitting on the couch, staring at the big box in front of him. He tried to convince himself that it wasn’t what he thought it was. But the huge size and the fact that his mom had emphasized companion was a huge giveaway to what it was.

Steeling himself, he reached out to tear off the wrapper bit by bit. Once a hole the size of his palm was made, he saw a human-like hand which stamped the confirmation on what type of gift he got.

Moments of struggling later, he managed to get the heavy thing out of its box without it toppling over him or squashing him. Before turning it on, he observed the features of the robot and much as he hated to admit it, the robot was very attractive. It had thick, luscious lips that were really soft when his fingers gently ghosted over them. It’s hair was a shade of dark chocolate brown, perfectly tousled. It had a high nose bridge, long lashes and a mole under its left eye. He unknowingly smiled, thinking that whoever made this had great taste. The mole was adorable. And it kinda bugged him because it sorta looked very much like-

Oh god.

Taking a deep breath, he pressed the button at the back of its neck and moments later, it’s eyes opened and a smiled graced its features.

Oh god.

It is so handsome, just like him.

It.

“Hello, I’m Jung Daehyun, your personal health-“

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god,” Youngjae started panicking because  that thing had a really y voice and oh dear lord it sounded just like- it even had the same name as -

“You are currently feeling an emotion called incredulousness.” The thing – Daehyun tilted it’s head to the side and gave a little pout. How can a robot freaking pout?! He currently wanted to strangle the hell out of whoever invented this…Daehyun.

Youngjae rubbed his face with his palms before continuing to stare at the robot. After much thinking, he decided to ignore the thing and walked to his room. To his surprise, the thing walked just like a human. He would’ve thought that Daehyun is a human if he didn’t know better. It was so darn convincing that he felt a little uncomfortable. Since when did technology allow a robot to look and feel so human?

Daehyun followed him to his room, standing at a respectable distance observing Youngjae as he fiddled with his new camera. Without having to look, he knew that Daehyun was doing a little scan at the camera in his hands. Within seconds, Daehyun broke the silence to announce what type of camera Youngjae was holding.

When he thought that Daehyun would shut up after stating the model of the camera and its uses, he found himself horribly wrong when the robot started doing a search on famous photographers using the exact same camera as him.

And then the pictures that the photographers took.

And the year the pictures were taken.

And the name of the subject of the pictures.

And –

“Oh dear lord, shut up will you?” Youngjae snapped finally, glaring at the robot. Daehyun blinked once, twice before saying, “But I’m supposed to keep you company and help you feel less lonely. That is what I’m programmed to do. I’m a healthcare companion. I help in your healthcare and also to be your companion, hence the name Healthcare Companion.”

Youngjae swore he never felt more annoyed.

“You’re feeling annoyed. May I know what is bothering you?” Daehyun offered a small smile.

“You wanna know what’s bothering me? You are! I’m a person who enjoys solitude. And now you’re here blabbering about anything you find and it’s annoying me to no end!”

“I’m sorry but I can’t go back to my box until you are feeling better,”

Youngjae sighed, “If you can’t go back to your box then get out of my room. Now.”

“Okay, if that is what will make you feel better,” Daehyun nodded to himself and walked out of Youngjae’s room, leaving him to figure out his new camera alone.

A couple of hours later, he was done setting up the exposure and usual settings of the camera. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was nearly 2am in the morning. Which reminded him, it has been awfully quiet. Daehyun –

He rushed out of his room in a hurry, only to see Daehyun getting startled by the sudden sound Youngjae made and pressing something that let out a flash into the robot’s eyes, causing it to stumble back and plop onto the ground on its .

Looking at Daehyun’s current expression made Youngjae’s anger dissipate into nothing. He looked simply adorable, blinking at Youngjae’s phone in his hand and blinking some more, analysing the contraption in his hand before turning to Youngjae,

“Flash from a phone causes temporary blind spots to form.”

And Youngjae cracked up at the comment. He didn’t know why but looking at Daehyun now made him realize how endearing the robot actually is. Slowly, while trying to hold his laughter, he approached the robot and held out his hand.

“Is your hand hurt, Youngjae?” Daehyun asked while running a scan on his hand. “My scan shows your hand is not hurt.”

“No, silly. My hand is fine. Just grab it so I can pull you up to stand!” he laughed, and Daehyun slowly reached out his hand to take Youngjae’s in and with a little grunt, he pulled the Daehyun up on his feet.

“Downloading new data into hard drive.” Daehyun stated, “Download complete.”

“What did you just download?” Youngjae asked, genuinely curious. Besides the fact that Daehyun is an intelligent invention, he didn’t really know much of the functions that the robot had.

“I just added ‘Lending a helping hand’ into my software. I can always add new actions and new stuff into my unlimited storage for future reference.” Daehyun replied.

Over the past few weeks, Youngjae had taught Daehyun a lot of things. He taught Daehyun about social cues, which he thought was very important because he didn’t want Daehyun to say the wrong things when they were out in public. He taught Daehyun how to operate the television, how to do the chores and a lot of other stuff. And he had to admit, Daehyun was a fast learner. Well of course he’s a fast learner because he can just download every single thing into his hard drive.

One day, Himchan came over to Youngjae’s place to take him out for a movie. Upon stepping into the house, he was greeted by Daehyun, who blinked at him before introducing himself, “Hello, I am Youngjae’s personal healthcare companion. May I know who you are?”

Youngjae laughed at Himchan’s stunned expression before saying, “Daehyun, meet Himchan. He is my friend from university.” He motioned between Himchan and Daehyun before addressing the former, “Himchan, meet Daehyun. I got Daehyun as a birthday present from my parents.”

“Uh, okaaay. So let’s go?” Himchan asked, looking like he wanted to be out of the house as soon as possible. He looked as though he had seen a ghost.

Youngjae smiled at Himchan for a moment before turning to Daehyun, “I’ll be back by 8, okay? Be good!” he ruffled Daehyun’s hair before leaving the house, closing the door in Daehyun’s face.

Daehyun stood staring at the door, motionless for a few moments before turning away and shuffling back to the living room, sitting on the couch. He felt confused because he was feeling something he was sure he shouldn’t – or couldn’t be feeling since he is a robot.

But the mix of feelings made him feel awfully confused and he pouted, trying to search his hard drive for any data that might explain why he’s malfunctioning. After a few hours, he stood up, still not having the data he wanted. All of the files he had searched came up as a negative, not being able to scientifically explain this phenomenon.

Walking around the house, Daehyun finally decided to go into Youngjae’s room to see if there was anything he could help to tidy up. Searching for the document filed under ‘chores’, he opened it and started dusting, sweeping and arranging the boxes on Youngjae’s shelves. All of a sudden, one of the boxes toppled over and the lid came off, sending piles of photos fluttering all around Daehyun. He let out a little surprised, “Oh dear!” before looking around the floor, now scattered with pictures. As he reached down to pick up the pictures to put back into the box, he noticed that they were pictures of Youngjae and someone else. The guy in the pictures looked exactly like himself, and he would know how he looked like because he had seen the box he came in while tidying Youngjae’s store room the other day.

Picking up one picture gingerly, he started scanning the faces and confirmed that the guy in the picture indeed looked uncannily like him. They were smiling at the camera with wide grins on their faces, the guy having an arm around Youngjae’s shoulders.

Suddenly Daehyun was seeing white as flashes invaded his software. He started panicking – could robots even feel panic? And he was seeing visions, hearing voices he had never heard before. He saw himself in the lab, yes, that was where all the robots were tested and ensured that they were safe for sale and usage. That was where he was made.

And then he saw the man and the woman who bought him. They looked much younger than they are in the present, but he could still recognize the beautiful woman and the dashing man. He slightly calculated the time he saw them and the date came up as ‘28^th June, 2040’. He was created on the 28^th of June.

“Did you successfully download Daehyun’s memories into the software?” the dashing man asked his creator. His creator nodded, “Yes, I did. I did it as quickly as I could, before Daehyun’s brain was permanently dead.”

Daehyun?

The beautiful lady had tears in her eyes and she sniffed while nodding. “That’s good. Because ever since Youngjae lost Daehyun in that horrible car crash, he was never the same…”

The dashing man hugged the beautiful lady tightly, also having tears in his eyes. His creator told them that it would take around 4-5 years to completely perfect him and be able to be gifted to Youngjae.

Gifted to Youngjae.

Daehyun scanned his software to remember the date Youngjae first opened his box.

24^th January, 2045. Two months ago.

And then another flash as the ‘memory’ that his creator talked about sprang into his mind.

“Missed me missed me, bet you wanna kiss me!” Youngjae stuck out his tongue at him, running away. The Youngjae in the memory was much younger, estimated to be around 11 years old.

He ran, chasing after Youngjae, “Hey! That’s not fair! You started without counting to ten!”

And then another, but this time they were slightly older. Probably in their teens, in the year 2038.

Youngjae looked downcast, biting his lips. “I know you have never liked me that way but I just wanna say that I’ve always loved you… as more than a friend. And I know you’ll never love me back but-“

Before Youngjae could complete his sentence, he sealed Youngjae’s lips with a chaste kiss and beamed, feeling extremely happy, feeling as though his heart might burst out of his chest.

“Silly JaeJae, who says I don’t love you back? I’ve loved you since we were young, and I still love you now, more than ever.”

The younger blushed, fiddling with his fingers and looking shocked, “Really? You do? Because I always felt that you were my anchor and I couldn’t imagine myself without you by my side. I know everybody will tell me that it’s just puppy love but I just..I just know that-“

“That I’ll always be wherever you are.” Daehyun completed his sentence and Youngjae smiled, a blinding, beautiful smile.

“I love you, Daehyun,” he hugged the older’s waist as he gave Youngjae’s forehead a gentle peck.

A flash, and another memory came to mind. It was the year of 2040, June 26^th.

“You’re so stupid! How can you not see how she was flirting with you?!” Youngjae was seething, and they were in a car. Daehyun feeling extremely angry as well, so he took his anger out on the car, accelerating as their fight ensued.

They had never fought this bad but Youngjae was being a prick as usual.

He didn’t see anything wrong with the girl’s behaviour, and if anyone was being stupid, it was Youngjae.

“Can you stop being such a jealous and please just listen to me?!” Daehyun snapped, glaring at Youngjae and momentarily taking his eyes off the road.

But no one knew that in the one moment where Daehyun lost his focus, he was going to lose everything in the blink of an eye.

“Listen to you lie?! I hate you, Jung Daehyun!”

And as if fate had planned it, a truck from the opposite side of the road rammed head-first into their car and everything out.

Youngjae came home to a silent house. Usually, he would have relished in the fact that it was quiet but oddly, he felt a little off at the silence because usually Daehyun would be there to greet him.

Feeling dread rise in his chest, he took off his shoes in a hurry and walked around the house, checking every room until he found Daehyun motionless, lying in a pile of pictures. More specifically, pictures of… him and Youngjae. Feeling fresh tears spring into his eyes, he rushed over to Daehyun’s side and held him in his arms, a feeling of déjà vu overcoming him as he remembered the day he lost the love of his life.

“Where is Daehyun?!” Youngjae screamed. He was lying in the hospital bed with IV drips stuck into his veins and his face bruised and swelling from the accident. Besides a deep cut in his face, he had suffered from non-lethal injuries. But the way everyone was hiding Daehyun’s whereabouts from him, he knew Daehyun was not in good condition.

“Baby, please calm down-“ his mother started, only to be yelled at again, this time by a hysteric and sad Youngjae.

“Tell me where he ing is or I’m going to ing kill myself!”

Receiving such a threat, everyone panicked and agreed to let him know that Daehyun was currently under life-support because the impact from the truck had damaged his lungs permanently and there was no other way he could breathe without a machine.

Youngjae felt his world crumble beneath his feet the moment the doctor came in and told them that letting Daehyun live on was just making it more painful for him because he was practically a vegetable. There was no way Daehyun could ever recover.

Staying silent for a few moments, Youngjae spoke softly, a huge contrast to his hysteric yelling, “Okay, but I want to spend tonight with him. I want to celebrate his last birthday with him.”

So that was arranged. They sent him to Daehyun’s room and left him alone. With a little cake in his trembling hands, he sat by Daehyun’s bedside and waited till the clock struck 12 to sing him a birthday song.

“I’m sorry for causing us to break. I should’ve trusted you more.” Youngjae broke down into violent sobs, gripping the sheets of Daehyun’s blanket. He watched as Daehyun’s chest rose and fell in rhythm to the machine that was keeping his boyfriend alive for now.

He slowly reached out a hand to brush against Daehyun’s still warm cheek and sobbed even harder, “I’m so sorry, and I could never hate you no matter what you do. Please believe me, I don’t hate you..I love you. I love you so much.”

Youngjae let another heavy sob leave his lips before he pressed a kiss on Daehyun’s dry lips.

For the entire night, he sat by Daehyun’s side, holding his hand and reminiscing.

And when morning came, the nurses came to pull the plug.

He was holding onto Daehyun when they turned the machine off, and the rise and fall in Daehyun’s chest became smaller and even smaller.

The room was filled with a deafening beep before he finally let himself go, and cried for all he was worth, hugging Daehyun’s still warm body to his chest.

“Daehyun please, answer me!” Youngjae was turning desperate. He kept pressing the button at the back of Daehyun’s neck to try and turn the power on, but to no avail.

He felt his lungs clench and his hands started to tremble. No, he couldn’t lose Daehyun a second time, robot or not. The similarity was uncanny. And creepy as it was, he wanted to keep Daehyun by his side forever, even if it was a robot, even if it seemed crazy. He loved the robot. So damn much.

And then he started hating his parents for giving him this gift. What were they even thinking? To give him something so sensitive. They ing knew how hurt he was when he lost Daehyun! Why would they give something that hit so close to home? Did they not care about how he would feel if he ever lost the robot? He ing hated everyone. His emotions and memories were properly sealed up until this darned robot came along! He was fine!

Too lost in his own angry thoughts, he failed to hear Daehyun say “System rebooting.”

Only when Daehyun stirred in his arms did he realize the robot was awake.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he propped Daehyun against the wall. “Don’t scare me like that! What did you think you were doing?!”

The reply he got, however, was totally unexpected. Daehyun cupped a hand to Youngjae’s cheek before planting a soft kiss on his lips, only breaking to smile lovingly at him.

“I love you, JaeJae.”

Youngjae froze at the pet name. Nobody called him JaeJae, not since…

“Daehyunnie!” he threw his arms around Daehyun, earning a hug back from the latter.

“I’m here, I’m here. And I’ll always be with you. I’ll be your companion.” Daehyun planted a soft kiss on Youngjae’s temple and the younger’s back. “I love you.”

“And I love you too,” Youngjae pulled back slightly, looking into Daehyun’s eyes and smiled, “I’ll always love you, no matter what you do.”

Note:

If you guys are confused, I named the story "Reawaken" not because Daehyun is sort of reawakened from the dead. It's not that at all.

In the fic, Youngjae became this closed-off person ever since Daehyun's death and he has since concealed his true self and feelings from the world. As Youngjae hadn't even bothered to socialize. (In fact he hated it.)
So the arrival of robot!dae awakened his feelings and let all the years of pent up emotions loose, resulting in the title!

Towards the end the story revealed why he hated mixing around with crowds and it's just a simple reason - because Daehyun had always been his anchor and without Daehyun by his side he found that he couldn't be who he used to be because it all attributed to the presence of Daehyun.

And they got into the accident on the 26th of June 2040, 2 days before Daehyun's birthday. Youngjae woke up in the hospital with minor injuries on the 27th of June in the night, with hours left to spare before the 28th, which is Daehyun's birthday. It's also ironic that they will pull the plug on Daehyun's birthday. It also became he day he died.
Before his brain 'totally died', Mr and Mrs Yoo had contacted Daehyun's creator beforehand to extract his memories and recreate a new Daehyun, upon seeing their son so broken.

And it took 5 years to complete. Which brings us back to the present, year 2045.

I knew it sort of had the Error feel by the end but like I said, I didn't plan for it to be like that. It was a fun tweet abt Daehyun being Youngjae's personal healthcare companion and yeah. (From Big Hero 6)