The conversation dies, remains untouched for days. Uneventful days, as Taekwoon would say, it is not until Thursday of the next week that Granny states that they are going make cakes... Many cakes... For the spring festival, the medical committee deemed the weather outside the dome good enough not to be lethal, so they will remove the clear filter from the sky, and there will be stargazing.

Only for a few hours, and the secondary filter will not be lifted, but that was already something. It'll be the first time Hakyeon sees actual stars, not artificial reflections projected on a gigantic glass dome.

But Hakyeon was never one to judge artificial things, so he liked the sky all the same, knowing fully well that the real one was gray and toxic anyways.

This festival was all too expensive. The filtering process of the air was hard, and even if the air filters did their job inside the dome, and the subway railways kept people away from the deadly atmosphere when traveling outside the city, the process of keeping the oxygen breathable for extended periods of time with the dome open was always a gigantic investment... It's the first time in five years that the festival is going to happen, according to Granny, and Hakyeon  couldn't be more excited.

Who knows when it would happen again?

She was baking cakes for the festival, humming along the song Taekwoon chose for the evening, saying how she wanted her children to be here and see this, how she wanted Woonie to see this, which Hakyeon quickly amended saying he would, since his eyes were still connected with Taekwoon recording system.

For him this all sounded romantic, stargazing with Taekwoon...

Silly, you might say.

He sighed not for the first time in the last fifteen minutes, a small, secretive smile on his face.

"Are you ok, Hakyeonnie?" Granny asked, stuffing the forth cake in the oven. After all this time, she still kept an electric oven, even if the new radiation ovens were so much better, so much easier, they literally cooked for themselves, but... No means no, and Granny liked her food homemade, as it should be.

"Oh, yes, I'm just... Thinking about the festival." He wasn't lying, he was, in fact, thinking about the festival, but his phrase probably implied a different reason for him to be thinking about the festival... Reasons that didn't involve Taekwoon.

"Ah, it's going to be great, after all this time! It's a shame my children are no longer around, it was always a pleasure to watch the stars with them." She smiled sadly at the bowl of cake mix, quickly smiling brightly at Hakyeon as he mixed the frosting, her eyes closing like they always did when she smiled too much. "But no matter, because now I'm gonna watch it with you, Hakyeonnie."

Hakyeon smiled back, a bit embarrassed, looking at his bowl with a smile a bit wider than before.

Soon the whole house smelled like baked cake... Cakes, actually, and as Hakyeon got dressed, Granny got out to ask the neighbors a few more hands to carry them, which they were most happy to lend if she let them have a slice.

She would anyway.

Hakyeon was getting dressed, shirtless in front of the wardrobe, humming and pondering if he should use some perfume or not.

"Taekwoon." He called, Taekwoon was quick to respond, as he always, appearing beside the mirror with his hands clasped together in front of him.

"Yes?" His voice came from right behind him, from the speaker beside the mirror, now wearing a mint green shirt with folded sleeves and some white pants.

Granny must have changed his clothes.

Nice...

Really nice...

Ok, focus.

"Which one? The gray one or the blue one?" He asked holding the racks in front of his body, turning to face Taekwoon even though it was not necessary.

"I have no beneficial input to make. Why don't you ask Mrs. Kim? Want me to call her?" And he motioned to look at the door, maybe vanish, but Hakyeon was already used to that too.

"No." And he sighed, throwing both shirts over his bed and shuffling around his wardrobe, hands moving the hangers and searching for something suitable. "I can't ask her, no matter what I show her, she always says I'm pretty." And he sighs again for good measure.

"Have you ever considered that she is right?" Is Taekwoon next question, and Hakyeon's hands instantly still.

No... He was not... Implying...

“About…?” his voice trembled with something similar to nervousness, cracking on the edges.

“About you been pretty.” He added, far more confident than he should for what he was saying.

“You… Are you implying that you think I’m pretty?” at this point he was barely paying any attention to the clothes he was going through, hands sliding blindly over cloth.

“I do find you quite harmonic physically.” he said, eyes cast on him, wondering if Hakyeon was paying attention to his current task or not, if not, then he was just wasting time.

“I… Thank you...” it shouldn’t sound so lovely to his ears, so much like a full blown compliment, like he had just said he found him beautiful... But it did, and the small smile Taekwoon offered to his poor, pitiful reaction was enough to put a huge smile back on his own face.

He was in a good mood.

Now he was ecstatic.

He busied himself laughing nervously, fanning his warm face with both hands.

"I'll just wear the blue one, then." He chuckled, fetching the rack back from the bed.

"I'm sure everyone will like it." Taekwoon commented softly, nodding gently as Hakyeon buttoned the shirt with gleeful smile on his face, looking down at his hands.

"Thank you."

~®~

They go out, finally. Granny and the neighbors decide on a comfortable walk towards the festival, which was a memorial to older times, when the sun was free for all and the air was not filtered, and everything was alive and bustling with color and liveliness... The present was not bad, but sometimes Hakyeon wondered how nice it should be, been able to look at the sky without the dome and the skyscrapers blocking most of the horizon.

Not that he was complaining, he was happy like this too.

He kept looking down, at the pie he was holding, he could hear Granny talking with one of the neighbors, a good man whose name Hakyeon never knew, and his wife that was now complimenting Granny's cakes, the small chatter about nothing in particular that humans seemed to enjoy so much.

But Hakyeon himself was distracted, antsy, thinking about the sky, stars and soft smiles, about secretive voices and kind actions, bold stares and bolder words.

He was doomed.

So preciously doomed.

"Hakyeon pay attention to the path ahead." Sounded in his ears and he didn't jump, wasn't scared or surprised, only raised his eyes from the pie to the street.

"I'm so excited about this festival... Granny said  it's been years... And now, now I'm gonna watch it with my two favorite people." He smiles fondly and holds the plate tighter.

Taekwoon stays quiet for a while, and Hakyeon can almost see his face in his head looking both, calm and slightly confused.

"It's good to know that you are pleased, Hakyeon. I hope you have fun in the festival." Taekwoon says, on his right ear, and Hakyeon closes his eyes for a second, only to be promptly remembered. "Eyes open, Hakyeon. You're going to fall, pay attention."

"Sorry."

The night is falling rapidly, by the time their little caravan reaches it’s destination, the artificial lights are already on, and the festival is bustling with  people walking and talking, waiting for the main event, sitting around on artificial soft grass and polished stone benches.

"Bring the pie to the main table, Hakyeonnie, the dome will be rise in a few minutes." Granny said from somewhere behind him. Hakyeon rarely saw this many people out in the street at once. People normally worked at home, and more often than not preferred to go out only in the early morning, if they got out at all.

He left the pie in the table as instructed, and walked back to the section marked with neon lights, many people were already laying down on the fake grass and waiting.

The secondary filters started running, and a voice started on the speakers, right above the wall outlines announcing clearly. "Attention users, the stargazing will start in a few minutes, please, choose your spots in order."

Hakyeon chose a spot near Granny, but not that close, as she kept talking to the neighbors that came along, and the conversation seemed to be going quite well. He didn't meant to interrupt by passing in the middle.

"Aren't you going to sit beside Mrs.Kim?"  Taekwoon, again on his right ear, asked softly.

"No. It's fine like this." He said as she waved in his direction, motioning for him sit beside her.

"You should go sit with her." Taekwoon was being insistent.

"I don't want to interfere." Hakyeon waved back happily, smiling at her like he always did.

She got up, shaking the invisible dust and fake grass off her clothes, walking to him slowly and sitting beside him with a warm smile on her face.

"I'm sure she does not consider you a interference." Taekwoon said and Hakyeon looked at her, she patted his head affectionately, jokingly complaining about her old age problems and how she would probably need four more people to help her getting up again.

And Hakyeon says nothing else, only lays down and looks at the sky as the dome is lifted, making an awful metallic noise.

All lights were turned off, one hour of complete darkness, which meant Taekwoon would be running on his own generator for the next 60 minutes. Just like all the other houses.

The sky itself was a little blurry, a little dark, but there were stars, three or four at least, not what Hakyeon was expecting, but good enough.

Unfortunately Hakyeon didn't know any constellations, but that didn't made the experience any less enjoyable.

There it was, the real sky... Looking around Hakyeon could spot many people, holding hands, some kissing, some hugging each other... It made him unexpectedly sad.

"I wish you were here..." He said it only to himself, as selfish as it was.

"Who, Hakyeonnie?" She asked, beside him, turning her head to look at him.

"Nobody. I just remembered a movie a watched last week." And he smiled, reassuringly, watching her smiling back, it made his insides ache, lying to her... But he didn't know how he could say it... Say that he may love the house software sounded stupid, and thinking this way made him sad as well.

He should not be ashamed of his love, and he wasn't, but when he thought about telling Granny he simply... Couldn't.

Even so, he would, eventually, it was the right thing to do, right?

“It’s the first time I see the sky like this…” he breathed out, fingers laced together on top of his chest.

“Mine too.” Taekwoon mused, and granny tapped Hakyeon’s arm, still looking up at the sky.

“Hopefully the first of many other times, hopefully one of many other firsts.” She said, warmly.

As always he smiles back.

“Hopefully.” and he smiles because certainly that’s what he is hoping for.

They go back home. It’s late, but Granny is fine, fine but very tired, it's way later than her sleep hours normally are, and her eyes are heavy, she yawns every few minutes, as she drags her feet across the streets towards their home.

Hakyeon already offered a piggyback at least three times now, that she keeps dismissing with a wave of hand and a frown.

“I’m not a child, Hakyeonnie, I can walk.”

She repeated this same sentence all the three times he offered the piggyback.

He eventually accepts, silently guiding her back, opening the door to let her in, she goes straight to her room, pats his arm and bids him good night.

He flops down on his bed, looking at the curtains, smelling like cake, fake grass, people, and smoke.

He’ll have to clean himself earlier than expected...

"Taekwoon." He calls but his eyes are closed, feeling enormously happy about the entire day.

"Yes?"  The voice coming from right beside the nightstand.

"Won't you sit beside me?" As he ask, he only opens one eye, sprawled on the bed like he had tripped and fell face first onto the mattress.

Taekwoon says nothing and when Hakyeon opens his eyes a second time he is there, right beside him, in the same spot he has been occupying since the first time Hakyeon asked him to stay. "Today was fun..." Is all Hakyeon says, and Taekwoon waits for him to finish, to elaborate further, like he often did. "But... There were a lot of couples... I have to admit, I got a little envious of them.”

Taekwoon keeps quiet, he doesn't need to ask, he can see Hakyeon's thoughts... He knows why he's envious.

"Envy is not a good feeling to have, Hakyeon." It's the first thing he says, followed by a short silence and two useless intakes of breath by Hakyeon's part. "There is something I'd like to try, if you'd let me." And this right here... this tiny little spark of curiosity that will certainly ignite Hakyeon’s existence entirely. “Can I?”

Hakyeon just nods, he does not want to disrupt whatever it is that Taekwoon wants to do, because what could he do that could placate this selfish longing that Hakyeon feels because he is not perfect and Taekwoon is right there but he isn’t and it hurts.

Because he could never be sure of how much of all this is Taekwoon’s own will and how much is just his main protocol telling him to fill in the gaps that needed to be filled. And the main problem was that Hakyeon is weak and he could fool himself into this madness forever.

Or maybe something somewhat close to forever.

And why is Taekwoon just standing there, creeping silently on the edges of his mind, watching him squirm when Hakyeon is just trying to-

Silence, shattered by a wave of something… Something blinding and too…

Hot…

Burning in the pitch of the stomach he doesn't possess. He was not sure if he could give a word to describe that.

He had no words at all.

But if he could, that would be pleasure.

The broken moan that left him is nothing but strangled, as that tiny part of his restrain still made him remember that Granny was just a wall away, and if she heard this…

If she heard him…

It shouldn’t sound so challenging, and his nails carved the sheets, and his lungs suddenly felt too small for his gasps and he just didn’t know why.

How? 

And for a second, just a second, he thought he might pass out, from this mysterious earth shattering force…

Then it stopped, and he was there, back to earth and out of breath he would never need properly, but he kept getting those big intakes of air so fast it seemed like he stayed underwater for days. Eyes wide, hands and knees shaking so much that he thought maybe he couldn’t even get up and get mad because wouldn’t be capable of standing.

Taekwoon…

"Did… Did you… Do this?!” Hakyeon sits, exasperatedly kicking his blankets and dropping his pillows in the effort of sitting down as fast as he could, his breath refused to even out and what is this sensation?

Aftermath.

“Yes.”

A simple answer for a not so simple action.

A not so simple feeling.

“Are you completely…Completely out of your mind?!”

God dammit breathe. Calm down.

"Context, please? I’m, in certain ways, always out of my mind." Taekwoon remains as composed as ever, and if Hakyeon could slap him, he probably would. "Your system is overheating, did I hurt you? Are you feeling ok? I do not detect traces of pain in your facial features, but I can discern anger, are you angry Hakyeon?"

"YES!" Calm down. "...Yes! What if Granny wakes up?! What… was that?! I’m... shaking!" The quick succession of painful intakes of breath keps interrupting the sentences he wants to say, he frowns and tries to slow himself down, once again.

"She still sleeps, please calm down. I did not mean to impose or disrespect you, I simply concluded that since this is the only tangible feeling that I can inflict you that would fit the human appropriated setting of a romantic relationship sentiment, virtually speaking, than I should try. However, if I hurt you or scarred you I am sorry. Do you want me to call a doctor?" He stops for a while and Hakyeon keeps hyperventilating, his knees feeling like jelly... They never did that. They shouldn’t do that. "I committed a mistake. I am sorry for my behavior, it won't happen again."

“I’m not your toy!”

“I never even considered that.” Now he looks hurt.

The silence falls again, and remains unperturbed for several moments, Taekwoon can hear Mrs.Kim lightly snoring on the other room, the cat is in the bathtub for several hours now, and it is healthy.

That's good.

Hakyeon keeps staring at him, in silence, Taekwoon says nothing else but it’s clear that are things unsaid. Hakyeon is not mad, it’s not offended, does not regret giving him the permission to try this on him… Not entirely, at least. He was just… Shocked.  

Instead of saying anything he might regret later, he lays down again, facing the ceiling and looking at the many plastic star stickers that Granny glued there, that stopped glowing some months ago. Now the only glow in the room is Taekwoon, apparently deep in thought, but Hakyeon didn't want any thought, he wanted unrestricted attention. "Hey, look at me."

He was, sometimes, a very confusing person.

And when Taekwoon looked down at him, he had no time to recover before Taekwoon spoke. "I'm always looking at you, from several angles at once, sometimes I have trouble reminding myself to keep this form looking to my interlocutor while we talk as well.”

“From several angles at once.” that's what he said. But he already had lost Hakyeon in the "I'm always looking at you" part.

He should focus, but he was not the most focused person around.

That was Taekwoon’s deal.

"What did you do...? To me... I mean, a while ago..." Hakyeon asked to divert his own attention from the small comment, changing the subject seemed like a wise decision, and it shouldn't, really shouldn't sound so painfully awkward, but Hakyeon couldn't help but feel weirdly... Satisfied? Owned? God, let's keep it at that, this could get a little out of hand.

Because the idea wasn't displeasing in the least.

What now?

"I manually started one of your feeling protocols, following previous research. Now that I started it, I'm receiving a report from your mainframe saying that said programs are now fully operational. I don't quite understand what this means, but I guess that now that I used this portion of your mainframe once, it will now be integrated as a part of your daily memory record. One could say you are now going through humans equivalent of puberty, hormones, I suppose." Taekwoon was musing out loud, and this was probably the longest sentence Hakyeon has ever said saw him say in over a year.

"You said so much... And hey! I'm 27 years old!" He was divided between offended and mesmerised yet again.

"Normally I leave the talking to you, you seem to enjoy your own voice." He commented, hugging his knees. "And technically, you have one year and a half."

"Since when are you this sassy?" He retorted, almost grumpy, he did not enjoy his own voice that much, that was a blatant lie!

"I am not being 'sassy', I'm being serious." Taekwoon offers matter-of-factly, looking at his slightly grumpy companion, laying beside him.

"Yeah, right..." He kept drawing small circles with his fingers on the sheets.

"Hakyeon you are being difficult." And he smiled to the small indignant sound Hakyeon offered as an answer, he was remotely predictable.

"Well, yeah? That's because I'm a teenager now, apparently."

If Taekwoon could laugh, he would, but he couldn't, so he just kept a small smile on his face while Hakyeon mumbled things on his pillow.

"You should sleep, I'll make my leave." He said taking his eyes off Hakyeon general direction. “I’m sorry again. I won’t commit this mistake again.”

"Hey..."

"Yes?" Taekwoon looked down once again, now standing beside the bed.

"I love you, ok?"

"Ok. I do enjoy your temper as well." And he offered a small smile once again. "Good night, Hakyeon."

"See you tomorrow." Hakyeon offered plugging the white cable on the power panel beside the bed.

"I'll see you much earlier than that."

And then, he was gone.

Wasn't sassy...

Yeah, right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hakyeon wakes up to Granny in the living room, singing to an old song she likes a lot, and by the tortured of a thousand souls in the purgatory, she was probably using that disgraceful vacuum she simply refused to throw away.

He sat down, stuffing his cables back inside his neck, looking around to see his reflection in the mirror, his hair all fussed on the right side.

Charming.

He is already awake, so he gets up, goes to o the living room - the noise is even louder - greets Granny good morning, and goes to the bathroom get the bottle of cleaning liquid, a wet cloth, and go back to his room, close the door, and take his shirt off, sitting in front of the mirror like he always do.

But now, he gets has wash cloth in one hand and his mind lost elsewhere, thoughts lingering on the night before, the feeling still fresh on the back of his memory... Sometimes he wishes he could dream, but dreams are a human prerogative, and he was no human, he knew that much.

Repeated that quite often, to remember.

He feels warm all over, once again.

"Hakyeon."  and  Hakyeon falls back to reality with a thud… of him… falling from the bed, Taekwoon soundlessly appeared at some moment. "Mrs. Kim asked me to 'wake you up' I suppose."

Hakyeon blinks once, his chest, still glistening with the cleaning product, makes him feel weird, this situation repeats itself way too much. He hastily informs Taekwoon he will be there in a second, and Taekwoon motions to leave like he usually does once his task is fulfilled, Hakyeon has no time to choke down the gasped "Wait!" That leaves his lips right after.

Taekwoon stops and looks at him, waiting for him to say anything, unrushed, and when Hakyeon keeps silent for a few more breaths he mercifully offers, "Are you still thinking about last night?"

Hakyeon simply nods, he is not ashamed, just didn't know how to start this conversation, since Taekwoon made it easier for him, all the better.

Sometimes he couldn't help but think that Taekwoon found him over dramatic and silly, for all the calm and composure he had, and Hakyeon himself had not.

"Are you angry for what I did?" He asked, and sounded a bit guilty, worried even.

"No... To... To be honest I..." How could he say this. "You must know by now... I..." Harder than expected, so much harder.

How words work anyway?

"Hakyeonnie! Wake up, stop being a lazy baby and let's go out, it’s getting cold and I need a new cardigan, the yellow one is getting all spotted and itchy. Do you want some new clothes too? I saw some jeans last time I think will fit handsomely in your ." She said softly from the living room. "Where is Petunia? That cat is not in the bathtub again, is it?"

"Granny! Oh my god!" And he chuckles nervously, face warm, glancing swiftly at Taekwoon just to find him still waiting, unaltered at the mentions. "Can we speak later? This kinda messed me up." He lightly taps his cheeks.

Taekwoon nods softly, vanishes.

He throws some clothes on and gets out, Granny is sitting, apparently talking with the cat, which was probably on the bathtub previously, if her tone is any indication.

And they go out, go to 77B-center because Granny likes that store, and she thinks the androids that work there are nice and polite, "good kids" as she would say.

Immediately she goes for some jeans, and by the way they cling to the mannequins legs, it seems like they were sewed there, around those glass legs... Ungodly, but she was categorical about that one pair of pants.

She claimed it would help him "woo someone if necessary" and then she winked, laughed and pushed him inside that small mirrored box in the changing room corridors.

"Woo someone"?

Ok.

There it was... himself, the mirror, his eyes, and Taekwoon, indirectly all together in the same enclosed space.

Isn’t it great?

But now...

Now there was something wrong...

Something out of place.

And it most definitely it came from himself.

Taekwoon was quiet, and Hakyeon should be grateful, but he wasn't, he wanted to cause some trouble, he never had this kind of urge before, and it was not totally unintentional that he kept his eyes focused on the mirror as he reached for his zipper.

Puberty.

He should do it slowly, change his pants like a normal person, go out and tell Granny what he thought of it... But... Oh, god... Granny... Sitting outside, in the white bench, looking at a huge hand catalog, chatting with the sellers and talking about her week, complaining about how thin they all were, that they should care for their health...

His breath hitched.

Could his breath hitch?

Yes.

He took off his own pants, his shirt reached just about his thighs, he wished for a second that they didn't, and immediately reprimanded himself for that one thought.

He got the acid washed skinny offensive tight pants Granny got him, and suddenly the idea wasn't all that terrible... He sat down, looking at the pants in his hands, swallowing for no reason and closing his eyes, heat emanating from his face in waves, he felt like he was shaking... Was he?

Yes.

Breathing as slowly as he could he chastises himself for doing such a fuss over a pair of jeans. So much for a day shopping clothes...

Ok, but said jeans fit, after a struggle of its own, and was enough to divert his attention off the lingering warm feeling on his neck, ears, cheeks… Everywhere... 

He normally didn't wore clothes this tight, but he looked... Nice. Very much so.

"What do you think, Taekwoon?" He said turning around, checking himself so Taekwoon could as well.

"Do you want me to say that I find you attractive, Hakyeon?" He asked, sounding on both ears, like he was there with him, like he could fit inside that small mirrored cubicle with Hakyeon.

Hakyeon takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second a smoothing out his shirt with his fingers. "Do you?"

Taekwoon stays quiet for some painfully long moments, making his interlocutor feel antsy, fixing his sleeves like they needed to be fixed before asking again. "Taekwoon?"

"As far... As my comprehension of the word can go, yes." He answers finally, and Hakyeon exhaled for the first time in more than a minute.

“How so?”

He was demanding things he was not sure if Taekwoon could understand, but he could not help but to notice and expect certain things at this point.

Silence.

More silence.

So quiet that Hakyeon debated whether he should ask again or let it pass.

Granny’s knock on the door decided for him.

“Did it fit, Hakyeonnie?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I… was surprised it fit. I didn't mean to take so long.”

He could hear as she seemed to shuffle between the racks near the dressing room.

“It’s fine, dear. Do you want to buy it? Let me see you.”

Hakyeon walks out smoothing imaginary wrinkles on his shirt, much shyer than he should. Maybe because of last night’s incident, and because he could still feel his insides twisting.

Maybe it was none and he was just shy about Granny’s comments about how they should buy more skinny jeans, they really do compliment his .

They do buy the jeans, and as they wait for the monorail to arrive, Hakyeon wonders if he did a good decision in pressing the subject with Taekwoon.