The night was quiet and Taekwoon was thinking.

Hakyeon was already sleeping.

So was Mrs. Kim.

The cat was in the bathtub, and seemed to be dreaming about long chases and exciting adventures.

Taekwoon, as always, stood, alone and awake, thinking about the day, processing data and storing information.

So as it seemed, Hakyeon had developed feelings for him, feelings he could not fully comprehend, nor quantify, nor analyze.

But Hakyeon seemed to be suffering for it, which was terrible.

As simple and plain as Taekwoon could be, he could still recognize when something was off. Hakyeon’s thoughts in the least few days were… Confusing. It was true the Taekwoon’s feeling regarding Hakyeon had changed since his arrival at Mrs. Kim house, and it was also true that he enjoyed Hakyeon cheerfulness and smiles, much like he did to Mrs. Kim, but in a different direction.

He could not call it love, it would be too arrogant on his part to address such a linear notion of care as love, but it was not a neutral unattached feeling as well.

If he would dare to say it, he could say that he would miss Hakyeon more than others if he was gone for good. Did it make sense? Maybe not.

He was limited like this because Granny refused in any way to terminate his session and update his interface, she claimed he would no longer be the Woonie she knew. His model was already too old by the popular standard, and his emotions too simple, if compared to the newer models.

That may be the problem, he may never reach the complexity required for a relationship.

And that would be enormously unfair to Hakyeon, to make him wait for something Taekwoon maybe couldn’t provide, even if he remotely wanted to, it could be merely a shade of his main program telling him to serve and keep happy. Telling him to please. To fill the gaps that needed to be filled.

But maybe he could do something about it.

Maybe he could search his protocols, search for answers, ask his collective mind.

And do something.

His first purpose was to comfort and protect, and he was failing hard, failing Hakyeon and breaking his heart.

And he had to fix it, fix his deficiencies to give Hakyeon just as much as he wanted to give.

After all he was not lying when he said he cared about him a lot.

He would do something, he would.

Even if he had to go against his own rules.

~+~

Laying on the couch with his eyes closed in the middle of the night, Hakyeon wondered how long it would take for Taekwoon to ask him to go to his room, and how the couch would ruin his back, which would be truth if he had any bones, but he had none.

“Hakyeon.”

“Hm…?” he didn’t bother to move… or open his eyes... or anything else aside from a single small acknowledgement noise.

"Are you ok? I thought you had gone on sleep mode. You've been still for some hours now."

"I'm not allowed to be still? Without you fussing about it, of course."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you."

Hakyeon took a deep breath, rubbing his face with both hands, it was not right to vent his frustrations on Taekwoon, it was not his fault he had no body... This sounded so terrible inside his head, he would never say it out loud for the sake of his own dignity.

"Sorry... It's not your fault... I'm happy you're worried about me... I guess I just like you too much..." He smiled softly, to his surprise Taekwoon smiled back, a small, shy smile.

"I guess… I like you too… I think." He said, sounding kind and gentle.

Hakyeon sat up, feeling his face, his insides, his hands, everything... Warm.

He was so easy to please, it was almost pitiful.

“Really?” he had the urge to sit, to walk around, to hug one of Taekwoon sensors in the living room… It made sense in his head, he would give it no other thought.

“I suppose… In a way, yes.”

“You suppose?” the urge died down a little.

“I have no protocols to make any conclusive insert. It’s hard for me, but I’m trying to come into terms with this.”

"I'm happy to hear that..." And he smiled, warm on the edges, making his face look childish. "You're not saying that just to please me, are you?" His smile waned a little, Taekwoon was the kind to do something like that, saying things just to make others happy, like he was supposed to.

"No. But please, smile, it's good when you do." He said floating around the room, the cat chasing after his holographic image, trying to catch it and failing.

And he did smile, because he was easy to please like that, and because Taekwoon smiled back when he did, and the last few days seemed to be stupid, he was stupid, his fears, his worries, his insecurities... All stupid and nonsensical...

Of course Taekwoon wouldn't treat him any differently because of his joints or his robotic body or his thoughts... He was not this kind of person... Person... Taekwoon was a person... Even if he had no body, he was... He was more deserving of the title than many people Hakyeon had met in his almost one year of life.

"I've been thinking... I would give so much just to be able to do normal human things with you..." He was not sad, but longing, Hakyeon longed for things he never had, but wanted so much.

"Like ?"

And the moment was ruined.

When Hakyeon raised his head, Taekwoon was looking at him with a serious glint in his eyes, like he actually knew what he was talking about.

"Who taught you that?!" His eyebrows knitted together because how could this kind, sweet conversation fall so fast to a subject he had left untouched for so long.

Purposefully left untouched.

"I've been doing some research of my own... I searched in my collective data about human relations and... Well, this is something humans normally do with other humans whom they love, right? Did I misinterpreted something? Please, correct me if I am mistaken."

"No... But... I... You are so... Why must you be so blunt?!"

“Sorry.”

Hakyeon catches the green light with the corner of his eyes, just to see the cat strolling by, it's tail up and it's head down, Taekwoon seemed to enjoy scanning the cat, truly, genuinely enjoy scanning the cat.

"The cat is healthy." He said, out loud, and Hakyeon looked at him again, bewildered, torn between amusement and confusion.

Is he paying attention? This conversation is important!

"That's good."

Taekwoon nodded slowly, shimmering and trembling weakly as the holographic projector glitched.

Then it hit him.

"What kind of research did you do...?"

"I've searched in my shared database, as I told you."

“Your shared database… The one that comes from recordings of other house softwares… While they watch people living? That shared database?”

“Yes. But watch is not the right definition, we passively record things. Which may or may not be a part of the users privacy.” Taekwoon said, stopping in the middle of the room, sitting down to play with the cat, or let the cat play with him, more accurately.

"You've watched... People having ...? Using other softwares eyes...?"

"I did not watch, I've searched for human relations and this was one of the most common results, aside kissing." He said, simply dismissing that subject as something unimportant. He saw worse.

Much worse.

"Oh my god!"

"Why are you so shocked, Hakyeon? I am a collective mind, after all."

"No. We won't talk about it!"

"But Hakyeon there is nothing shameful in that. is normal among most organic specimens."

"Taekwoon..."

"Yes?"

"Stop."

So Taekwoon says nothing else, in fact, he vanishes, and Hakyeon is left alone in a dark room once again. He sighs once more, twice for good measure, and gets up.

His battery is not running low but he feels like sleeping, it's not even three in the morning yet, far too early to go to sleep, he would end up waking up before Granny again, and would have to wait hours until she finally rose from her bed and went to the kitchen looking for him, like she normally did.

But what else could he do? The cat was already going to the bathtub, now that Taekwoon was gone, and going out now was… Not interesting in the least.

It's true that the stores never closed and he could go out to buy some more butter, some more apples, but he saw no fun in buying groceries alone, even if he could.

Granny always left her money card with him, but he rarely needed anything.

And then there was Taekwoon, who normally would be the best option to keep him company late at night, because really, he was the only other sentient existence in the house that never slept. And sometimes he still wondered if he felt lonely while he and everybody else slept, but every time he asked, Taekwoon would say that he is never, ever alone, so Hakyeon should not worry.

This made Hakyeon worry even more.

Now he wondered if he did good in telling him to stop, Taekwoon always took everything seriously and always held a deep sense of responsibility in everything Hakyeon ever said he disliked, even if he meant it as a joke.

Not that he was actually joking, he was uncomfortable, but Taekwoon always did things for a reason, right? And maybe Hakyeon had hurt his feelings?

Feelings... Could Taekwoon's feelings be hurt? He never complained. Not when those extremely rude workers from the Repair Company came a few months ago to mess with his inner hardware and system pieces... Or when the cat ate his cables and the whole power system of the house shut down for many hours and he had to reinstall every single program back in the mainframe, not even when Granny accidentally let juice fall onto his cooler and he overheated all the time for days until the problem was fixed.

Taekwoon is always calm and kind, polite and thoughtful, always asking if Hakyeon wants help with the housework - that Hakyeon always declines no matter how many times he asks - or if he is sad, or worried, or "unpleased"...

Hakyeon took off his day clothes, changing in front of Taekwoon no longer bothered him in anyway, if anything, he secretly enjoyed the quiet attention, he liked to pretend that this simple action was as pleasing for Taekwoon as it was for him.

He never really spoke about it, or intended to, for that matter.

Even if Taekwoon probably knew already.

“Taekwoon…”

“Yes?”

This time his voice sounded from inside his head, on his right ear. This always made him shudder; as he always had the strong impulse to look over his shoulder and look for someone who wasn’t there. However, by now, he could suppress this impulse and stand still.

“What did you have to say?” He asked quietly, looking down at his hands as he sat on his bed.

“About ?” it was so pitiful... the shudder that ran down his spine just by the word alone.

Hakyeon was too easy to please for his own sake.

“...Yes.” was the answer, willing his shoulders to relax as he wiggled back against his pillow, reaching for the cable on his neck, pretending to be calm. This conversation would not result in anything good.

“I was wondering if you ever thought about it. Your human settings must conventionally make you capable of considering it, maybe even be interested in .” he spoke like it was nothing, and maybe for him it wasn’t, but for Hakyeon this all sounded dangerous. “I know you have the protocols for such.”

Ok, so this was a surprise.

“Protocols for what?” he asked anyway, although he already knew the answer for his question.

“ related behavior. Human desire and human pleasure as well. According to your instruction manual, they made you capable of displaying such emotions to make your reactions more spontaneous, in case your user prefers to keep you as a partner as well. Mrs. Kim did not deactivated this emotions on your mainframe panel, so the protocols are still there.” as Taekwoon spoke, he pointed at a projection on the wall right beside him, a blueprint with Hakyeon’s model basic requirements and capabilities,  Hakyeon just listened, what could he say anyway? “Have you ever made use of them?”

“No.” he said, simply, because he hasn’t. “You downloaded my manual?”

“Yes, I did. Do you miss it?” Taekwoon inquires, and the projection on the wall vanishes.

"? I've never done it, I can't miss it." He was surprisingly calm about this whole thing.

"Let me reformulate. Do you want to do it?"

Silence fell.

Does he?

"I... How? I swear, if you suggest me to go out and have , I'll unplug your battery from the energy cables."

"This section would be terminated and I would return to my default settings."

"I'm kidding..." Hakyeon smiles, how serious could Taekwoon be?

"Oh... I'm sorry."

And Hakyeon chuckles, falls to his side, hugging his pillow, curling into himself. It was too easy really... To be comfortable with Taekwoon around.

It shouldn't be this easy... Taekwoon was quiet and unresponsive, but always so nice and gentle that made up for the lack of expressions and complex emotions.

The question is forgotten… for now.

"You're smiling... Are you pleased?" Taekwoon always entitled 'pleased' as a synonym of every good human emotion. Hakyeon's smile only widens.

"Yes I am... I do like you a lot, you know...?" And he sighs, not needing any air, but heavy with emotions.

"I do enjoy your company a lot too." Taekwoon's voice was soft and kind in his ears, if Hakyeon closed his eyes, he could pretend he was actually there, laying beside him.

The silence spread between them, quietness so warm and comfortable that Hakyeon could sleep like this, but he didn't connect his cables to the power panel beside the bed, and he had to move to do it, before sleep mode made him drowsy and useless for hours, and with a low battery on top of that.

"I have to recharge..." Hakyeon's voice was grumpy, he didn't want to move, but he had to, so he stretched out, making much more effort than he should to move as minimum as possible and plugged the cable, falling back onto the bed and staying like that, hopefully for the next few hours.

He opened his eyes to Taekwoon faint glow in the dark, sitting beside him on the bed.

"Are going to hold my hand until I fall asleep?" He joked, his voice low and drowsy, a small, playful smile on his lips as he spoke.

When Taekwoon's eyes turned to look at him, unblinking and serious as always. "You know I can't do that."

"But if you could, would you?" He poked his sides, his finger going through the faint cold light, intangible... As always.

"Would that make you happy?" Was his answer.

"Yes."

"Then I probably would."