SURPRISE MOTHERERS

YA GIRL'S BACK

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"Really? Because I bet there are some people who'd be real happy to help out the son of a who finds him. And I sure could use a favor," he murmured, clenching tighter to the neck of Jongdae's shirt.

And the smaller boy knew. He knew he was done for. History. He'd been trapped; Chanyeol could beat the absolute out of him and then some if he so desired.

But despite that, he stuck firmly to his lie, holding onto the tiny chance that maybe he could make it out of this situation. "I know what my name is," he insisted boldly, wrapping his fingers around Chanyeol's wrist defiantly even though he knew it would probably earn him a good beating.

Chanyeol chuckled at that. "Fair enough. We'll just have to see if there's anyone else who knows your name, hm?" he replied, reaching for something in his back pocket. "Don't worry. I'll say goodbye to your little boyfriend for you."

"How rude."

Both of them froze.

The new but familiar voice bounced off of the walls, startling them both into complete, eery stillness, and a tense silence filled the room.

"I treat you with hospitality, and you make threats when you think I'm asleep," the voice scolded lowly, breaking through the motionless atmosphere, and into the light stepped Minseok.

And it was not difficult to tell just how unamused he was with what he was witnessing.

Chanyeol was surprised for a moment, but there was no guilt in it, and a small smirk met his lips soon afterward as he stared down at Minseok without letting go of Jongdae's shirt. "I'm not exactly a saint," he agreed. "But I don't mind."

Minseok's expression did not change in the slightest, and Jongdae had no idea how the moon glowing into his blue eyes wasn't making Chanyeol even the slightest bit frightened. "Well. I hate to break it to you, but I do," he deadpanned. "So if you could get your hands off of him, I'd appreciate it greatly."

Chanyeol snickered at that. "Right. Roger that, squirt. But what are you gonna do if I don't?" he asked smugly. "You're not exactly at an advantage here."

"Are you threatening me now?" Minseok questioned, stepping forward bravely and subtly pushing his sleeves up on his arms a few inches. "Because I don't recommend doing that."

"Oh, yeah? And what are you gonna do about it?" Chanyeol sneered in amusement. "You're smaller than my twelve year old cousin."

"Are you implying that you'd like to find out?"

"I am, actually," Chanyeol challenged, sporting a grin that spread sickeningly across his face.

Minseok took another step forward despite that, unfazed and unhesitant. "Fine then," he replied after a moment. "But I'll tell you something first."

Another small step forward, but Chanyeol was not beginning to back down even in the slightest.

"Keep your hands to yourself, and you'll be safe."

The space between them was shrinking, and Chanyeol pushed a wide-eyed, frozen Jongdae back onto his bed carelessly so he had two free hands, never breaking eye contact with Minseok.

"But if you hurt him," the robot hissed, "If you even touch him again..."

One last step.

"I will not hesitate to snap your neck."

That's when an involuntary fiery white filled his eyes like a burning star, and he looked bone-chilling, just as Jongdae remembered, as he pulled his fist back and then swung it forward into Chanyeol's chest.

The robot didn't even have to use all of his strength to send Chanyeol flying back all the way into the wall, his head banging up against it with a loud thud.

The wood creaked dramatically under his weight combined with pure force, and Chanyeol slid down so he was slumped forward on the floor, groaning and coughing from the impact. He raised his head up weakly, his face mixed with a small wince and a stare of terror at Minseok, who took a step forward again, causing Chanyeol to flinch.

"Is that clear?" he asked lowly.

Chanyeol nodded, horrified as Jongdae watched in awe.

Just how strong did Luhan make him?

"Now get out of here," he ordered sternly, pointing towards the open door as if he was scolding a child.

Chanyeol looked helpless, and Jongdae thought it was kind of a funny way to see someone who'd just been threatening him barely even a minute ago. The tall man clenched his teeth, grunting with effort as he pushed himself onto his one good foot and then placed the boot down afterwards.

He took nervous side glances at Minseok as he started to limp out of the room, and the robot followed him calmly, his eyes dimmed down back to their normal hue.

Chanyeol didn't look like he was pleased with that at all, but it wasn't like he was going to argue with Minseok at that point. Not a chance.

Jongdae sat, his fingers gripping weakly at the covers as he watched them go, and then listened to their footsteps lead down the stairs and to the door, which he heard open with a creak.

Several silent moments passed, and Jongdae thought that Chanyeol was probably way out the door and Minseok was done speaking to him, but he was proved wrong when he heard the robot's voice call after him, "Don't come back!" before the door shut again.

He pulled the blanket to his chest as he soon heard footsteps coming back up the stairs, and when Minseok appeared once more in the doorway, he wasn't really sure what to say to him.

The robot simply stood there, gripping the doorframe, and oddly enough, something akin to guilt seemed to be holding him back from saying anything, or even walking inside. Jongdae didn't really remember adding the sort of sub-emotion of guilt when he worked on sadness, but then again, he'd been working for hours. Maybe he had, and had just forgotten about it.

"I apologize," Minseok said suddenly, pulling him from his thoughts. "I should have been more judicious when I found him yesterday. What just happened was my fault."

Jongdae smiled sadly at him.

He doesn't even know how to smile himself, but there's something in him that makes him stay loyal to me.

I really can't complain.

He patted the spot next to him in gesture, and Minseok quickly got the message, obediently padding over to sit himself down on the mattress with a squeak of the springs that echoed into the quiet room.

"What made you hit him?" Jongdae asked softly, after a moment of silence. "What made you so upset?"

Minseok turned to make eye contact with him upon hearing those questions, and at first, it almost looked like he wasn't really sure of the answers himself.

But then he opened his mouth again, and what came out definitely surprised Jongdae.

"Luhan always said humans are far more dangerous than anything else in the world," Minseok explained. "They destroy with empty heads. They take because they are selfish. If a human loses my trust, I have to make them fear me, or I will lose everything."

Jongdae blinked.

Minseok seemed so wise in that moment. Like a being that had seen the world time and time again, observing, making his own judgements and mistakes and learning from them. It was hard to explain, but frankly that's what Minseok always seemed to be.

Jongdae tried to even find a word to start responding to him, but everything in his head was just jumbled together, and he ended up just sighing and changing the subject.

"Well, I've gotta thank you. This is the second time in the past couple of days you've saved my sorry ," he remarked, chuckling half in amusement and half in embarrassment.

Minseok shook his head sincerely. "No need to thank me. This is what I was made for."

For whatever reason, the words seemed to have a certain finality to them, and so, paired with the robot standing up from the bed, it seemed to Jongdae like the conversation was over, and Minseok was going to leave.

But it also seemed that Minseok was full of surprises tonight, because when Jongdae brought his legs back onto the mattress and scooted over to lay his head on his pillow, he soon realized that Minseok had simply walked over to sit on the floor, his back up against the wall.

"What're you doing?" he asked in confusion, on the verge of a yawn.

"Guarding you for the night, sir," the robot replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Unless you'd prefer I sleep on the couch."

Jongdae shook his head. "No. I want you to stay," he told him honestly, his cheeks getting a little hot. "But, um...you should come sleep here," he added, patting the mattress much like he had before.

Minseok slowly pushed himself up onto his feet again. "Are you sure?" he asked, just to be certain.

"Yeah," Jongdae replied timidly. "I don't wanna sleep alone," he confessed, pulling the covers down as a way of invitation.

Minseok nodded in understanding, padding over to the bed and climbing in with what felt like familiarity even though it was the first time they'd really done this. Unless you count the time they'd dozed off next to each other on the couch, which Jongdae doesn't.

He watched silently as Minseok snuggled up next to him, pulling the covers over his body. Things seemed gentle and domestic like that, Jongdae thought. He wished it was what it seemed.

"Oh yeah, and um..." he mumbled, staring up at the ceiling as if maybe it would grant him self confidence. Which, he did realize was a bit silly, considering that he was talking to a robot.

"You can just call me Jongdae again," he finally managed to say, fidgeting with the bedsheets, feeling them between his fingers as he peeked over at Minseok, whose soft hair swept out onto the pillow and hands felt the soft blankets as he curled up into the mattress and blinked back at him.

"Okay, Jongdae," he murmured eventually, shutting his blue eyes peacefully.

Jongdae smiled, tugging the blanket just a little further over himself before closing his eyes and letting his head sink down into the pillow.

And maybe if he wasn't so tired, it would scare him that the sounds of rain, the warmth of the place where he grew up no longer crossed his mind. Perhaps it would scare him that the only thing he could think of now to help lull him to sleep was how comforting Minseok's presence felt next to him.

*****

When he woke up the next morning, soft rays of light peeking through the window and reaching out to his eyes, he honestly almost expected to be cuddled up against Minseok's mysteriously warm body. He always did have a habit of clinging to anyone who was sleeping near him.

Which was why he was a little disappointed to find that Minseok was no longer curled up next to him.

He sighed, rolling over and listening for a sign that Minseok had gone somewhere else in the house, and sure enough, he was pretty sure he could hear a few creaks coming from downstairs.

With a grunt, he lifted himself up from the mattress, the covers sliding off of him as he climbed onto his feet with more effort than it probably should have taken.

Before he left, though, he did take another glance out the window to look at the time of day, and from what he remembered, Minseok usually didn't wake up until it was a little lighter outside than this.

I really hope he didn't get up because I was laying all over him when he was trying to sleep.

He trudged out into the hall, yawning widely even though he was pretty sure he'd gotten plenty of sleep last night with the extra warmth beside him. Now that he thought about it, maybe it was even earlier in the morning than he'd thought.

Or maybe he'd fallen asleep much later than he'd thought. It was hard to tell, really, considering that ever since he'd been there, he hadn't paid much attention to the time.

"Hey, Minseok," he greeted with another little yawn when he did reach the bottom of the wooden stairs, rubbing his eyes endearingly as he shuffled into the living room.

Things remained dead silent for a while afterwards, and to his surprise, when he looked up, all he saw was a tuft of hair peeking out over the top of the couch.

It reminded him a bit of the day he'd first met Minseok in an eerie sort of way, and he felt his heartbeat stutter in his chest at the thought.

Plus, I thought I just heard him walking around down here. I swear I did. Did I really imagine that?

He swallowed thickly. Not only that, but to his deep concern, he didn't hear even the faintest sound of breathing.

The same sound that had brought him so much fear on that very first day was now gone, and this time, the absence of it was what scared him.

"Minseok?" he called out, jogging over nervously to the other side of the couch so he could get a look at him. And when he saw him, he in a startled breath, freezing.

His blue eyes were open.

Wide open. Like little doors that lead to another dimension, one that held the heart not of a robot, but of a gentle human.

And yet, he moved not, and the glow in that familiar shade of blue was gone.

It scared Jongdae out of his ing mind for a moment, to the point where he thought his knees might buckle, but thankfully he realized before having a complete mental breakdown that the robot might have just been off for some reason.

I really hope that's all it is.

He bent forward tentatively, a little afraid of what he might see, but eventually he did pull the collar of Minseok's shirt down so he could get a look at the power button.

He let go of a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, silently rejoicing when he saw that much like Minseok's eyes, the blue glow in the power button was absent.

With a loud, relieved sigh, he simply pushed the button like he always did, watching the robot's irises light up familiarly and letting go of his shirt when he started to breathe and blink again.

"Good morning," he murmured to the now conscious robot, smiling pleasantly and placing a hand on his shoulder.

He waited patiently for a response, but Minseok just stared at him blankly, silent.

He waited a little longer, wondering if maybe being off for a while was just disconcerting and he needed a moment to collect his thoughts, but even as the seconds ticked on, Minseok never said a word.

"I said, good morning," Jongdae repeated pointedly after a while, patting his shoulder before standing up straight again. "Hey, by the way, I want to try maybe adding a new emotion today. Is that alright?"

Minseok only nodded at him calmly.

It was characteristic, but Jongdae was not satisfied with it, and he crossed his arms, giving the robot a pouting frown in response to his lack of response. "That's not very polite, you know. I'm talking to you, Minseok," he scolded gently.

Minseok, however, seemed to be getting just a little bit flustered, a little bit helpless, which on the other hand, was not very characteristic of him. He glanced around him momentarily in search of another option, Jongdae staring at him all the while, but he ended up just resorting to grabbing onto Jongdae's hands, giving him innocent eyes as he squeezed affectionately, mimicking what the boy always did for him.

The way the robot stared back at him with pink cheeks and a slightly trembling bottom lip was making Jongdae start to think that holding his hands was the only thing he could do to show he was still listening.

"Minseok, what's wrong?" he questioned, frowning and starting to become concerned again. "Can you not speak?"

Minseok shook his head in reply.

Jongdae furrowed his eyebrows, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. This definitely wasn't good. What was going on? Was he malfunctioning?

"Let me take a look at you, okay?" he offered gently, starting to feel nervous about what he might find when he does, and Minseok gave him another nod, letting go of his hands.

Jongdae just hoped everything was alright.

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I need to update more often lol

But regardless I hope you enjoyed this. See you soon! c: