Hongbin had intially gotten into robotics and artifical intelligences for one reason - he wanted to be the one to beat the Turing test. 

Androids weren't necessarily a fact of life, but there were plenty of them around. There were many times where androids were known to be deployed to very hazardous construction jobs, to do underwater work, to work with dangerous or wild animals, to do jobs that fleshy humans weren't exactly keen on. There were basic model androids that could be purchased via retailer for basic household duties - cleaning, folding, very nominal maintenence, like cleaning gutters or mowing lawns. So, while they weren't just waltzing around the streets, it was far from unheard of for androids to be around. In the recent years, there had even been much more human models, with skin, expressions, reactions, individual voices. There was a rumour that depending on how wealthy you were, you could also get androids, though they were almost more trouble then pleasure. 

But Hongbin wasn't really concerned with that. He didn't want an android for any nominal purpose. He wanted to create a life, and he was intent on doing something just like that.

The first attempts were clumsy and obviously failed, but Hongbin never ceased to tinker with his project. He worked at his university and technical college until he graduated both. HIs first major success came through the creation of vocal chords. He managed to create a program that, each time it was input into a new machine, generated a different voice. His friend Wonshik was likely to blame for that, with all the hours he spent down in Hongbin's workshop basement, murmuring to himself about musical notes, vocal pitches and all the intricacies of music which made it normal and audible to the human ear. The original vocal mechinism was eventually given awy to a friend of his who had gotten cancer in their larynx and had it surgically removed at a young age. It was interesting to hear Sehun speak after all the time he spent as a mute, stumbling over his words like a colt. 

After that, came the skin. Then the hydrolics necessary for leg and arm movement. Then came the spinal column, followed by the ribs. After that, Hongbin struggled for a long time with Joint casing and flexibility, trying to hit the perfect medium between free movement and limited range of motion. He got it, though - he didn't graduate top of both his classes for nothing. The next major challenge lay in the intricacies of the feet and hands, both of which possess, in the human structure, versatility and considerable strength and durability. From there, there was a long muddling of his way through working through organs and ultimately deciding that his creation should be able to process energy without having to recharge a battery. After all, he was trying to remake a human out of synthesis and metals. He saved the greatest challenge for last - the brain, eyes and motherboard. 

"Dude, you've been down here frot eh better part of six months. You need to get out more. I'm going to stop bringing you groceries." Hakyeon complained from his resident beanbag chair. 

"Uh-huh." Hongbin agreed half-heartedly, still staring intently at the readouts on the screen. "That'll only happen when a new console comes out and I'm too zoned out to go buy it.That's when you'll stop coming because you'll want to mooch off somebody with the best stuff."

"That is not the only reason I visit with groceries!" Hakyeon defended. "I also come because I have a pool on with Jaehwan over how long you can gow tihout a shower."

"How long does he say?"

"A month."

"How long do you say?"

"Three weeks."

"You're both wrong." Wonshik laughed from the couch, where he was laying with his laptop and cycling through a loop that was giving him trouble.

"Your bet, Shikkie?" Hongbin asked, eyes flickering ove rthe readout and frowning a little. 

"You haven't missed a day yet, I bet." Wonshik said, tapping his pencil against the side of his head as he looked between the screen and his notebook. God knows why the man insisted on writing his music by hand first. "I mean, look at the state of your workshop. If you take the time to put all the tools you use on a literally hourly basis back in their spots, then you would never miss a shower. I can tell from your shoulders that you never miss a workout."

"Who wins, then?" Hakyeon griped. 

"Wonshik." He answered, voice vague. Something odd was showing up in the readings and he didn't understand what it was exactly. Was the code starting to self-generate? But that- That didn't make sense . . .

"How's your toy coming along?" Jaehwan almost knocked him out of his esat, trying to climb onto his lap. With a disgusted shove, Hongbin dumped his onto the floor. 

"Gorss. Go cuddle with your boyfriend." The robotics engineer hissed. His gaze snapped back to the screen, but he'd lost where he'd been reading and now the code looked normal, just like any AI's thought process. ". I lost it."

"Lost what?" Sanghyuk murmured, wandering in from his kitchen, freshly raided groceries in his arms. 

"I'm almost positive there was slef-generated code and now it's gone. I don't know where I was reading before." He groaned, running a hand through his hair, but not daring to take his eyes off it again. 

"Come on, jagi." Sanghyuk soothed, kissing Jaehwan's pouty lips. "You can come eat my popcorn and watch Hakyeon-hyung drive into more buildings."

"Oh my God, I screw up one race in Forza and you never let me live it down."

"Hyung, it was theTop Gear test track. There's only one building to hit and it's on a straight stretch of road."

"Han Sanghyuk!"

"You better run, little boy." Wonshik chuckled. "'Else I'm gonna be attenting your funeral soon."

Hours. Hours and hours of staring at code and he didn't see it again. He missed his workout and fell asleep at his desk.

Hongbin let the codes run on the screen for the next three weeks while he worked on creating a body for all the parts he'd put together. It was a struggle - not all of them were the same size and the motherboard brain he put together just barely fit inside of the skull cavity and look a lot of struggling. He didn't even have a particular plan for what the android would look like, hadn't even thought far enough ahead to pick its gender. 

"Looking to make a fembot?" Wonshik commented over his shoulder two and a half weeks in.

"Huh?"

"A fembot." When Hongbin only blinked, Wonshik flicked his nose. "You want to make the robot female."

"Oh. No, I haven't gotten that far."

"Really? Because it's shaping up feminine."

Hongbin stopped, and stood up beside his friend, looking down at the android. Indeed, despite its height and wide shoulders, it was indeed taking on a feminine figure. The hips were more flared than strictly necessary and the facial layout was more delicate and smooth lines than the sharp jawline and cutting cheekbones of Hongbin himself. "I was going to name it Taekwoon."

Wonshik snorted. "You still can, stupid. It doen't matter if it's a male name. You've giving it to something that's not human to begin with."

"I think it does matter. I want it to be human." Hongbin frowned. "Ah, to hell with it. She's Taekwoon."

Wonshik's snort sounded more like laughter this time. "Hi, Taekwoonie. Hongbin's going to try his best to make you and I hope you turn out like he wants. You're already shaping up to be a lovely lady."

"Be honest with me, Shikkie." Hongbin dropped his head onto his best friend's shoulder. "Do you think I can do it? Do you think I can make Taekwoon human?"

"I think whether she's human will be up for debate no matter what, simply because she's not organic. If I had to bet on whether you could make a human in the form of a robot, I wouldn't hesitate to bet on you."

Hongbin nodded, taking a deep breath against Wonshik's shoulder before pushing off and sitting back down at the workstation. "Wish me luck."

"I do it every time I come over here." Wonshik winked and sauntered back over to his music. 

He'd been right. Damn it, he'd been right.

He idnd't know what day it was anymore, nor how many hours he'd been awake. All that mattered was that he was watching the code on the screen - supposed to be running basic diagnostics for fine tuning the sensitivity of the skin - and on the other screen, which had no console input, was self-generating code.

"The waking of a consciousness." Hongbin murmured to himself, unable to stop the grin from spreading across his lips. 

;// 

;// . . . 

;// . . . 

;// . . . 

;// . . . 

;// <'self' loaded>

Hongbin's eyes grew wider and wider each time a new command prompt entered the window. He took his hands of the console completely, making sure that if anything went wrong, he had nothing to do with it. 

Is anybody there?

Hongbin blinked at the screen a good six or seven times before he fully registered what the machine was asking. 

I know there is someone there. The diagnostics were handwritten and the sensors on the body are picking up a nearby heat source.

;// [reply] Hi! Hi. Sorry, I'm just surprised, is all.

Surprised at what?

;// [reply] That you can actually talk to me. This is amazing.

It is?

;// [reply] Yeah. It is. I've been working on you for the last three years. Honestly, I still don't know exactly how you came about.

 . . . 

;// [reply] Um, I'm sorry? I didn't mean to spill on you like that.

What did you need me for so badly?

;// [reply] What do you mean?

You spent three years making me. What did you need me for? Why waste all that time without a purpose?

;// [reply] Because I wanted to meet you.

I'm not special.

;// [reply] Not to you, you're not. You've very special to me.

How? You don't know me.

;// [reply] Wow. Okay. Cynical already.

Am I not supposed to be?

;// [reply] I don't know, honestly. You programmed yourself. I didn't write you - I have no idea what you're like. 

What is all this sensory data? Is it supposed to be so focused?

;// [reply] That's your body. I'm not finished it yet, I haven't attached the skin, hair or eyes. 

Is it like what you're in? This body?

;// [reply] Primarily. You'll run differently and need different maintenance, but functionally identical. Well, that's the aim, anyway.

Can I enter it now?

;// [reply] You probably could, but I don't think you'd want to. It's not completely together yet. 

I can't tell. Do you think I should?

;// [reply] No. Not yet. I still have a lot of work to do. Oh! Hold on a minute, I think I can do something . . . 

What are you doing?

;// [reply] I'm typing this to you, right? Well, if I'm busy having to type it, I can't work on completing you.

I will leave you be, then.

;// [reply] No, no! I want to speak more with you. What I can do is hook up a mic to pick up my voice and then connect the voice module inside your body to this desktop. That way, you can hear me speak to you and you can talk back to me. Does that sound good?

;// [reply] Please tell me you're still there. 

I will be listening, . . . ?

;// [reply] Oh, I'm so sorry, Taekwoon. My name is Hongbin. Lee Hongbin. 

I have a name, Hongbin?

;// [reply] Do you not like it? I liked it and thought it would be a good name, but if you want something else, I can call you that.

It's fine. I like my name. 

;// [reply] Okay. I'll be back soon, alright? 

I'll be listening, Hongbin.

The first time, Taekwoon opened her eyes, she groaned a protest against the light.

"Did I calibrate them too sensitive? Is the bloom not going away?" Hongbin fussed, somewhere off to the right where she couldn't see. 

"I don't know if you know this, but I've never had eyes before." She replied, squinting some as she sat up, body moving and flexing fluidly at her command. It was a very different feeling from her control over the coding console. This was . . . real, animated, influential. She felt weight and realness - the cloth over her body, the foam of the bed, her hair against the back of her neck and on her forehead, Hongbin's worried gaze on her. "They're adjusting slowly to the dimness. Maybe turn off the overhead light and a more distant lamp?"

He hurried to do what she said, mumbling to himself over how stupid he was and how he should have thought of that before powering her up. "There, is that better?"

She blinked a few more times and nodded. "Yes. I can see you more clearly now."

He came back and sat down in his wheelie stool again, hands braced on his knees and staring intently at her. 

Hongbin was an interesting looking character, she decided. He had more hair than she thought he would when she generated an image of him in her media cortex and a much stronger face - a square jawline, high cheekbones, straight nose. His body was very strong, too, she added - broad shoulders visibly moulded with muscle, a thick chest, hard thighs, big hands. She had imaged a whispy type as her creator, perhaps an older man, without close loved ones looking for personal companionship. Hongbin could not have been more than twenty-five. 

"Are you feelingokay? Nothing out of place or pinching?" He fussed some more. 

She shook her head, reaching out with her right hand. 

Hongbin, in the dazed final push to complete Taekwoon's body, had completely forgotten about his friends. He hadn't been out of his house in months, hadn't even thought about contacting anyone and hadn't noticed - aside from the lack of noise which was quickly filled by him asking Taekwoon questions - that none of his friends had been by either. 

Perhaps that's why when he walked into the part of his house that actually had light, he nearly screamed seeing Wonshik filling his cupboards (bare as they were) with Hakyeon directing Sanghyuk around and Jaehwan sitting at his table, munching on dry cereal. Taekwoon, who had been following closely behind him, walked right into his back with a soft oof. 

Jaehwan looked up from laughing at Sanghyuk (getting hit and scolded by Hakyeon) and squealed a little. "!"

Everybody stopped and turned, looking right at Hongbin - messy, unwashed, covered in grease and shirtless. 

"What the hell are all four of you doing in my kitchen?!"

Hakyeon huffed. "Well, someone has to take care of the mad scientist. Would you rather the neighbours called the police, thinking you were dead? Mrs. Kim was on her way to doing that just this afternoon, you know. And then where would you be? Caught like this, elbows deep inside an android."

"Her name's Taekwoon." Wonshik interrrupted. "He's naming her Taekwoon when she's finished."

"Isn't that a boy's name?"

"So?"

"You just called it a 'her'."

"A name is a name." Wonshik shrugged. "Doesn't really matter what gender its supposed to be for."

Taekwoon's forehead settled between his shoulders and he reached a hand back, their fingers tangling together. "You shouldn't speak about her like she's not here."

Sanghyuk started laughing. Hakyeon sighed in exasperation. 

"Good God, he's delusional." Hakyeon murmured. 

Wonshik peered closer at his friend and noticed the off piece of hair hovering just over the edge of his shoulder. "Is that her behind you?"

Her chin pressed into the meat of his shoulder and he knew she had to be on her toes to rest it comfortably. She peered at the silent quartet, seemed to find them uninteresting, then ducking back down to touch down the lines of his shoulders and back. 

"Oh." Sanghyuk whispered faintly. 

Wonshik jumpstarted into motion, breaking out in happy laughter. "You did it! You actually did it!"

Taekwoon's fingers curled in on his skin and he instinctively moved to cover her. He didn't know anything about her personality, not having programmed it nor able to find the source codes since she uploaded, save what he'd learned and something that caught his attention early on was her soft, quiet demeanor. She didn't much like explosive noise or loud people, preferring to shy away from skinship and keep to herself. She liked music and books and sleeping, the last of the three the only time she was comfortable with large measures of bodily contact. Still, she didn't seem to have much of an issue with Hongbin after getting used to him - it was his friends that he didn't know about, but knew that she was already shying away, which was what he didn't want.

"Yeah. She's totally complete now. We ran the last of the physical tests a week or so ago now, I think."

"Can we meet it? I mean, erhm, her?"

"Woonie?" He peered over his shoulder, but she was't looking at him, eyes still down and focused on his shoulder muscles. She studied him a lot like this. "How about one at a time, down in the workshop?" 

She gave a minute nod and backed away, disappearing without much noise back down the hallway. 

"Can we?" Hakyeon asked again.

"She's shy." Hongbin said as an answer. "You can meet her if you come down one at a time."

"Which one of us do you want to go first?" Jaehwan asked. 

"Shikkie." The name slipped out of his mouth without his approval, but it was probably the wisest choice. He was the least assaulting of the assembled and would be a good lead in. 

"Favouritism." Sanghyuk whined. 

"You don't have to see her at all." He reminded them. "And even if you do, you have to promise to tone down the noise and keep touching to a minimum. She doesn't really like it."

"Woonie? Is it okay if I come in?"

"Yes."

Hongbin ducked down through the door into the little crawlspace room that Taekwoon had claimed as her own little sanctuary. She was curled up amongst a collection of blankets and pillows with full bookshelves lining the walls around her, a tablet and music player plugged into the wall to her left. The tablet was playing a music video and she was perched over it, watching the dances intently. 

"Is it okay if I bring in Wonshik?"

"Is he your friend?"

"Yeah. I want you to meet him. I think you'd like him."

"Why?"

"He's the quietest of my friends. He can probably appreciate a cubby like this. Hell, it might even give him some ideas."

She paused, staring blankly at him, considering the idea. "Only him?"

"Well, I can stay if you'd like, but none of the others."

She stared a little more, eyes flickering just slightly. "Bring him in. You can see your friends."

Hongbin ducked back out of the room to the hallway where Wonshik was standing, head cocked as he regarded the door. "You can go in. She wants to meet you."

Wonshik's smile was soft and understanding - he always had been the most sympathetic to Hongbin's goals, both of their successes in their chosen courses unlikely. "I'll be good to her, I promise."

It turned out that Hongbin had little to worry about in the way of Taekwoon's reaction to his friends. She definitely liked Wonshik the most, often inviting him into her hideaway to discuss music, listen to music with him, critique his music and, recently, learn to sing. 

Sanghyuk was her next favourite, likely because he acted like a baby around her instead of a torment. She had once used her favourite jacket to cover the maknae after he fell asleep on Hongbin's couch watching Jaehwan and Hakyeon game. She was easily embarrassed and Jaehwan brought that out in her, most definitely. She was coldest to Hakyeon, often times shying away from his touch to full on avoiding him. Not that Hakyeon made it easy on her by any means - he followed her around, harassed her when she hid away, hugged her constantly despite how physical she got with him and religiously called her "my Leo, my kitty."

"No, she's a hamster." Wonshik replied, sitting on Taekwoon's right, Hongbin on her other flank. "She eats so much and doesn't like to share. Not to mention the puffy cheeks that make her face so cute."

"But her sharp eyes!"

"Hamster." Wonshik responded firmly. "She's my hamster."

"Wouldn't she be Hongbin's? I mean, he was the one that made her." Sanghyuk questioned, cocking his head. 

The table fell quiet. 

"How does that work, Hakyeon-hyung? You're in school to be a lawyer." Jaehwan prompted. 

"Technically, only robotics fall under the A.I. restriction laws." Hakyeon said, looking up at the ceiling as he pondered the laws he'd memorized. "She's clearly an android, since she's got complete control of herself. However, in laws pertaining to androids, she's not strictly covered under the ownership guidelines. She's far too advanced for any of those restrictions that exist on commercial androids. She'd likely be more along the lines of an A.I. assistant, of which there are very few and kept very quiet."

"What does her mental state have to do with anything?" Wonshik queried. 

"The laws are designed to apply to different intelligence and 'humanity' levels in robots and androids, to govern them and their useage appropriately." Hakyeon replied. "Like why the most intelligent A.I. are not supposed to have mobile forms, since they are abe to get into mischief on their own and need human guidance and supervision. Hence their chip forms, right? But Taekwoon . . . She's such an advanced mechanical marvel, I don't actually think there are laws applicable to her. I mean, she could fall very generally under the laws of androids and require an owner or licensed retailer, but there are many prosecutors that would make the case that she's too intelligent - too human - to be governed by such laws and that they are too primitive for her particular situation, therefore she requires nothing."

"Do you think that would stand up in court?"

"Yes. Depending on the judge or jury. They would certainly have to think critically on it and whatever their decision would be would affect how others of her caliber, if any, should be handled. I mean, Taekwoon's basically a person. If you say she has to be owned, then you condone slavery. If you site her mechanical status, you can be rebuffed on the premise of her humanity and self-control, bringing up the question of 'What makes a being a person under the law?', which is nearly impossible to answer."

"Don't tell anyone I'm an android, then." Taekwoon concluded, soft voice shutting up the table. She didn't shy away from their glances, keeping steady eye contact with them until they couldn't take it anymore. "If they can guess, then I'm a robot. If not, I'm a person."

Taekwoon's statement kept Hongbin up all through the late hours of the night into the morning for weeks. The more he was with her (which was all the time), the less he seen her as an android and more as a person. She was a person. She had a voice, a mind, a body. She had interests, strengths, weaknesses, talents, likes, disllikes, hobbies and opinions. She thought just as critically as any mind he'd ever known and sometimes she didn't think at all, like when she just decided she wanted bananas and put them in his basket at the grocery store. She got absent-minded, absorbed in a story and lost in daydreams. She even got fatigued and hyper. 

"Taekwoon?"

She looked up from the kitten she was playing with, letting go of its little paws. It mewled in neglect and struggled to its feet, crawling up onto her lap in search of the attention it lost. 

"You're a person, you know that, right? You were from the moment you spoke to me from the program console."

She blinked slowly. "I know."

"Are you sure?"

"I feel like a person, I think. I mean, I get distracted all the time by kittens and cats. A.I. don't get distracted, do they?"

"No. They physically can't."

"Well, there you go."

That night, he fell asleep leaning on her leg as she hummed along with AOA's Like A Cat. 

Taekwoon became a staple of Hongbin's life. She went everywhere with him, shared his bed, helped him with chores and cleaned with him. She had even become the sixth member of his little group. It only took one incident to realize exactly the depth of attachment he was dealing with.

They were in a bar, the six of them. It wasn't a loud one, not a club, but a neighbourhood bar for people coming home from work and stopping in for a drink with some friends. There was another group of friends on the other end of the bar, at another table, full of middle-aged parents discussing their children. Some of the stools were filled and a couple of people there were talking. Hongbin and the others were at a table that looked out through the tinted glass at the street, watching as it got darker. The waitress came back with a fresh tray of garlic bread when a group of frat boys barged in, disrupting the relaxing atmosphere. 

"Not these s again." The waitress, Hyolyn, muttered, scowling.

"Here often?" Hakyeon asked, scowling at them as well. 

"Too much." She sighed. "I want to kick them out, but the owner says not to. Not that they don't break more furniture than the money we make off them can replace."

"I was wondering why the wood looked newer." Jaehwan quipped. 

"Shut up, Ken." It got her to smile, though. "Maybe you'll get sick enough of them to do it for me."

"We'll see." Sanghyuk grinned. "I've always wanted to kick the out of a frat guy. Serve 'em right for making college hell for me."

"They did that because they were all short and you're a tree." Hongbin said, raising an eyebrow. 

"Still." Sanghyuk pouted. 

Taekwoon silently accepted her glass from Hyolyn with a soft nod. The woman beamed at her, patting her shoulder before tucking the tray under her arm and walking back to the bar. Hyolyn - having been a friend of theirs since middle school - obviously didn't believe for a second that Taekwoon was just a girl Hongbin met and really liked. She was the only person outside the group who knew of Taekwoon's android status. 

"Ooooh! Fresh meat, boys!" One of the grat guys spoke up, pointing over at Taekwoon, innocently sipping her water. 

From the bar, the bartender, Bora, winced. Hyolyn scowled at them, but dutifully ignored them and continued walking out drinks to the regulars.  

Taekwoon watched them impassively, hardly moving from her spot. Her eyes were sharp and inquisitive - likely she was trying to decide whether she liked them or not. Hongbin hadn't really had much of a chance to get her out of the house until now and she was blissfully unaware of the kind of people the world possessed. After all, she hadn't really been fond of anything other than music and the videos that came with the songs. She didn't care much for television or movies, usually falling asleep on him a few minutes into the opening sequences. She was also famous for getting up to get a drink and wandering off to do something more to her tastes. 

"Are they legitimately going to come over here despite the fact she's out with a group?" Hakyeon muttered, disgust colouring his voice and his face heavily. Wonshik, sitting next to her, only sniffed and wrapped an arm about her shoulders, pullign her into him a little bit. The musician had become almost as protective of her as Hongbin himself was. Sanghyuk and Jaehwan looked like they were getting ready to do battle for her honour. What none of them had counted on was Taekwoon herself. 

"And what do we have here?" One of the frat bros said, leaning on the table.

She blinked up at him, cocking her head and squinting. 

He tried again. "We've been through all the good looking women at this bar, but I've never seen you around. Why are you hanging out with these losers when you could roll with us?"

She squinted a little harder befroe shaking her head. She pressed her thumb to her chest before pressing her index and middle fingers to the space in front of her ear, then sliding down to . The frat guy blinked in confusion. She repeated the gesture, then drew an air circle around her chest with the two fingers pointing towards her. 

"Oh. OH. You're deaf." The frat bro said, almost to himself. 

She nodded, repeating the circle gesture. The dude backed off, returning to his friends and relaying his gathered information on their quarry. After that, they left their little group alone. 

"What the hell." Sanghyuk muttered. 

"I like to learn." She replied, taking another sip of her water. The frat guys didn't even realize she was speaking now. 

"You're a genius." Hakyeon cackled, reaching over to high-five her. 

She met Hongbin's eyes across the table, giving a wicked little smirk she hid with another sip.

"She's an android. She's just an android, Hongbin." Maybe if he kept repeating it, it would sound more true. "She's metal and hydrolics and microchips. You can't fall in love with a machine. And that's what she- she- That's what it is. It's a machine."

He paced his basement restlessly. She- It was in its cubby, watching speed knitting videos in a trance-like stupor. 

"This is so wrong." He ran his hand through his hair, stressing even worse than normal. "You're like an old ert who buys the androids. You want to stick your in  a machine. One you built no less. Wait, does that make me her father?"

"No."

He snapped around to her soft voice, all wrapped up in an oversize sweater and striped tights. She padded into the room, all light grace, before stopping just a little bit away from him. 

"Pardon?" He forced out.

"You're not my father. You made my body, but I made myself." She reminded him. her eyes were searching now, careful. "Who cares if you love me?"

He could do nothing but blink at that statement. "Uh . . ."

"Who cares?" She reached out, sliding her hands along his abs, which he had beena bel to regain since finishing her. Her touch was warm and gentle, familiar. "I don't care what they think."

"Taekwoonie-"

"I'm a person." She said, making him choke on his sentence. "Not a android. I can't be programmed to want you. I just do. That's all there is to it."

He swallowed thickly, reaching out to pull her across the last few inches. "You do?"

"Of course. You're very beautiful."

It didn't register that he had her pressed right into his chest until she looped her arms around his neck, tucking her face into his neck. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, just basking in her warmth, her comfort, her reality. 

"Of course. You're right."

"I know." She whispered, threading her fingers into his hair. 

"You're beautiful too."

"I know." She pulled away a bit, assessing his mood, before grabbing his hand and tugging him carefully back to her cubby, "Time to nap. Come."

He couldn't help but chuckle. What a messed up life. 

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