Jongdae turned around very slowly, steadily, trying to keep the giddy grin from spreading across his face. "What is it, Minseok?" he responded, walking back to the shaken robot standing in front of the house.

Minseok stared for a good while, and somewhere in that odd, silent time period, Jongdae had made it back to him. He shook the new feeling out of him, reverting to his stern, responsible self.

"Stay away from that ledge, you could get hurt again," he ordered firmly, all vulnerability leaving his voice. At that, he turned around swiftly, all but marching back into the living room.

Jongdae stood in shock for just another moment, the gratification rushing through his skin. Sure, he had a long way to go, but every great accomplishment had a first step. He smiled; he had a good feeling about this whole thing.

He followed Minseok's actions and stepped inside, only to find him curled up in his usual spot on the couch, fast asleep, chest rising steadily with quiet, long breaths. He seemed to have a certain air of innocence for a reason that Jongdae could not determine. The way he seemed so confused, experiencing anything other than what he'd become accustomed to in the time after his original inventor had left the world, and the way he curled up when he slept, never having nightmares or particularly sweet dreams, just breathing slowly, and settling into the material of the couch.

Jongdae dismissed the thought, passing him without another glance and carefully making his way to the noisy stairs. He did his best to be silent on the way up, tiptoeing and wincing guiltily at each loud creak that was pulling from the wooden panels. He had learned several days earlier that Minseok, in fact, had been programmed to awaken to especially loud noises.

When he reached the top, he used his remaining energy to trot to his room, flopping himself down on the bed with a satisfying sound. How late was it exactly? It must have been quite so, but he didn't think about it for long; he was out in no time.

When he rose out of bed very late the next day, it was with confident grogginess, and a bit of a stumble in his step. He trudged out of his room with all the grace of a drunk elephant, and ended up falling halfway down the whining stairs. He tumbled down, landing at the bottom in a tangle of arms and legs, a small crumpled pile of clumsiness. He groaned, not moving, and suddenly he heard small, light footsteps padding over to his side.

"Sir, are you alright?" he heard Minseok's worried voice ask him. He smiled again at the activation of his work, and looked up at him to confirm, "Yeah, fine." Minseok shook his head, grasping onto Jongdae's hands and pulling him onto his feet. The real human of the two did not miss how oddly warm they were for not being real.

"You really need to be more careful, sir. You're going to really hurt yourself again," Minseok commented, staring pointedly at him. Jongdae's eyes moved to the floor, the smile remaining on his lips. "Sorry. I'll be more careful," he muttered, laughing softly at his own lack of swiftness. He'd only given him the ability to feel fear the day before, yet had already almost given him the closest thing he could experience to a heart attack twice. He really was something.

Minseok sighed, turning back around to go sit on the couch once again. Jongdae fidgeted with his fingers, following him to sit down on the other couch. He wanted so badly to continue with adding things, but he had to take it slowly. If there was anything he didn't want to do, it was to mess this up; mess up his chance to create something great.

Time without a task made him anxious, especially now that his only companion was a freakishly human robot who he had to admit attracted him in an unsettling way.

Get it together, Jongdae. He's a machine. He can't feel anything for you.

But that's why I'm here, isn't it? I'm going to make him feel things. Why not make him feel something for me? Something...a little more.

His thoughts scared him a little, but then again, who else was there around him? This oddly beautiful machine was all that he had anymore.

"Do you want to go on a walk?" he blurted out suddenly. Minseok looked at him blankly. "If you'd like to, then of course, sir."

Jongdae stood up quickly, and advanced towards the door, Minseok in tow. What was he doing exactly? He had no idea, but he needed to not sit here anymore; sitting around brings thoughts, and thoughts bring feelings, which he didn't want to deal with.

And so they walked into the cool, misty atmosphere together. "You don't need to worry about getting lost. I have navigation built into me," Minseok informed him as the cabin began to fade into the fog behind them. Jongdae nodded in acknowledgment, feeling himself get lost in the odd beauty of his surroundings. He had never really taken a proper look at everything out here, and he had to admit, it made him feel very calm and pleasant.

For no other reason really (or so he'd convinced himself) than that his mind was feeling dreamy and detached, he reached out and slipped his fingers through Minseok's. The robot just looked over at him, expressionless. "Why are you doing this, sir?" he asked quietly.

Jongdae smiled a small smile. "When two people like each other, sometimes they do this. Sometimes they do it to comfort each other, but other times they do it just because it's nice," he explained softly.

Minseok just nodded in understanding, his system taking the explanation as a hint to play along, and squeezed his hand gently in an unfortunately false return of affections that he could not hold himself.

He didn't realize he was making Jongdae's heart beat quicker, of course. In fact, with the intense flush spreading across his cheeks, Jongdae was wondering if he regretted reaching out or not.

But in the end, this was so nice for him. He didn't think about the fact that the robot wasn't really returning his feelings, he didn't think about the fact that he couldn't, he just enjoyed the feeling of Minseok's slender fingers tightened with his.

The atmosphere, the mist, the dull light of a cool, cloudy day filtering in through the endless pine trees; to him, this was the best feeling.

After a long while of silence, save for the pleasant background sounds around them, Minseok spoke, quietly so. "We should head back, sir. We want to be there before dark, considering the fact that you have unrivaled clumsiness and I don't want you hurt again."
Jongdae nodded, giggling slightly at the unintentionally teasing comment.

But this time, Minseok turned his head, expression glossed with curiosity. "What is that, exactly, sir?" he asked. Jongdae stared for a moment, confused. "What is what?"

"When your mouth curves up, and your voice comes out and your eyes thin out a bit. Luhan did it too. What is it?"

The light in Jongdae's face seemed to fall all of a sudden. "It's...it's called laughing. It's something humans do when we're happy," he explained gloomily, eyes now locked on the ground. "Happy. Luhan said that word to me once, and little drops of water began to fall from his eyes. Does that happen when you're happy too?"

"Well, sometimes. And other times...it...it happens...when we're sad," he forced out.

Don't you see, Jongdae? He's a machine. Just a machine. And no matter what you do, that's all he'll ever be.

---

Wow I'm so sorry for taking so long on this /-\ I really hope that it's good and I sincerely apologize for being such a piece of trash. I think I'm gonna try to more evenly update things. Hopefully. Until then, hope you liked it, and I'll see you soon! c: