The next morning, Jongdae woke up and he wasn't alone in his apartment. That could probably be said about his friends, as well, but unlike them, Jongdae had no nasty hangover. Or whatever human nastiness they brought home from the club.

Well, to be perfectly fair he had been the one to quite literally take someone home, someone objectively dirty, too, but Jongdae felt no regrets as he lay in bed, sleepily staring at the ceiling. Definitely no regrets... just a tiny bit of unsettlement maybe. Or panic. It felt quite like waking up after an undeserved nap right before a deadline - suddenly, you realize that your actions might not have been all that well thought through. Kyungsoo was an unregistered android. Would that get him into trouble? Possibly. Though maybe Kyungsoo would be the only one getting into trouble. Jongdae had never really come in contact with androids, but in movies, they usually took the android away for further evaluation and eventual re-programing if they weren’t registered under a human’s name. To Jongdae's good-natured human mind, reprogramming an android felt like killing it and he wouldn't wish that upon anyone. Either way, he had to figure out how to proceed from here.

He rolled out of bed with a distinct lack of grace, blindly reaching for a piece of clothing he'd thrown over a chair. Then he remembered that he had a guest and decided that just a t-shirt wouldn't do it. Admittedly, his guest was an android, but said android had also persistently tried to get into his pants last night, so there was really no reason to give him the wrong idea now.

He didn't know what he'd expected, but finding Kyungsoo buried under blankets sure wasn't it. It wasn't that cold in his apartment - and did androids even feel cold in the first place?

Jongdae cautiously knocked against the doorframe, and the pile of blankets on the bed moved; moved towards him until the android's eyes peeked at him.

"Are you alright...?" Jongdae asked very slowly. The android blinked in reply, no, squinted his eyes?

"It's bright as hell," he said, sounding perfectly awake but muffled by the blanket. Jongdae thought that the crude language didn't suit a person hiding away from something as harmless as sunlight.

"Well, that's cause it's daytime," Jongdae replied, not quite awake yet. "Tends to be bright then. If we're lucky, that is."

"So you're sure it's not harmful?" Kyungsoo asked suspiciously, while Jongdae opened the windows.

"Dude, you're the one made of fancy metals. If it doesn't kill me, it shouldn't harm you either."

"Fair enough," came the swift reply, but a look told Jongdae that that Kyungsoo had a hard time actually lowering his blanket armor.

"I mean, if I'm in the sun for too long, my skin gets burnt and then kinda flakes off for a bit, but I doubt that's gonna happen to you," Jongdae joked, and he got an alarmed stare in return that clearly said "You're kiddin’, aren’t you?"

Taking pity on him, Jongdae walked over to pry the blanket off him.

"Calm down, you'll be fine. If you look out the window long enough, you'll probably see plenty of androids walking the street just fine. You're not a vampire."

He wrinkled his nose at the smell of smoke, alcohol and hangover. Yes, if he had to describe the smell of a hangover, he'd just drag in this android.

"What's a vampire?" Kyungsoo asked, following Jongdae out of the room.

"A fictional monster that blood and turns to dust in the sunlight," Jongdae replied mindlessly, aiming for the bathroom.

"How do you get blood out of a ?"

Jongdae instantly halted whatever he was doing and thinking about to shoot the android a disturbed look.

"What are you talking about?"

Kyungsoo replied with patience.

"Well, if you someone, there's two things that can come out of it, maybe even three, but none of those are blood. Sounds kinda like a bad sign-"

"Oh my god, stop. Talking." Jongdae commanded (a command so weak it should be ashamed), " doesn't only refer to s, okay?"

He only got a puzzled look in response.

"Vampires the blood out of human's veins," he explained decisively. "Nothing ual about that."

Instead of understanding or at the very least resignation, the android showed even more confusion.

"That makes even less sense."

"Fictional monsters don't usually make sense," Jongdae retorted and decided that the topic was closed for now. Forever. For his sanity.

"Alright. So are you waterproof?" Jongdae asked instead, and Kyungsoo blinked. Opened his mouth-

"I don't wanna hear anything about bodily fluids right now, okay?" he cut him off. He felt a little bad for being so curt, but it was too early for this. Kyungsoo closed his mouth.

"I guess I am. Can't say I’m a huge fan of a lot of liquid in my mouth," he began, changing directions under Jongdae's 'I dare you' look, "but other than that, it's fine."

"Good. I don't suppose you can clean yourself on your own?" Jongdae asked, a little softer now that it had become obvious that the android was trying to meet him halfway. The android actually snorted - Jongdae had never heard an android snort.

"Of course I can. It's no big deal, right?"

He went to the sink and began to wash his hands.

For a few seconds, Jongdae blankly watched him. Then he reached for two fresh towels instead of one.

A few minutes later, Jongdae squished himself into his tiny shower with a very much android, armed with cheap showering gel and shampoo.

"I'll just give you a heads up again - nothing ual happening here," Jongdae all but warned the other, who was very distracted by the water coming from the ceiling and looked a bit like a wet dog. With a smile, Jongdae got to work. Kyungsoo was considerably less chatty now that he was in an unfamiliar situation and kept his eyes scrunched closed to avoid getting shampoo in them. Jongdae took the opportunity to get more familiar with the android. He'd never been this close to one before, and there were actually quite a few noticeable differences. Usually, he was only able to tell apart androids from humans if they chose to publicly identify themselves (usually by glowing marks), or if the models were really old. Kyungsoo didn't necessarily look old, though he didn't look like the otherworldly high tech models, either - not that those ran around unguarded a lot. Kyungsoo looked just like a regular human with unique facial features, which was unusual among all the ethereal-looking androids. Androids were created by humans, and humans liked to create things they deemed pretty, liked to impress people. At this point, androids were just known to look flawless. Kyungsoo didn't look ugly, not in any way. But his thick, unkempt brows and roundish face looked really natural. With a grimace, Jongdae turned the android a little to rinse off the first layers of dirt and drizzled more fruity gel along his shoulders and collarbones. His skin looked natural and felt natural, except for the lack of soft flesh or muscles beneath it, which was an entirely alien feeling he'd have to get used to.

"You can relax a little," Jongdae suggested, "if you didn't short-circuit so far, nothing's gonna happen from here on out."

"Okay," Kyungsoo said, voice echoing through the bathroom. Nothing visibly changed about his posture so Jongdae could only take his word. He'd just been trying to distract himself, anyway, trying to completely downplay the fact that he was washing someone's chest, and that the android had s. What did an android need s for?

Jongdae had never pegged himself as a prude but the past  12 hours or so had been pretty rough on him. He paused, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

I'm cleaning an android, he told himself. Nothing weird about that. Alright, everything was weird about the whole situation, but nothing was weird in a ual way. He was not physically attracted to androids and androids weren't attracted to humans (though some could simulate it). Whatever the hell Kyungsoo was simulating seemed to go completely overboard though, which was only helping Jongdae in keeping his calm. This android had no idea what he was doing and needed his help. With that thought in mind, Jongdae steeled himself for whatever mess he was about to find and knelt down to clean his lower body parts.

Jongdae heard a sloppy, but encouraging 'hmm' from behind him, and absently shook his head as he glanced at the clock. He'd have to leave for work soon.

"How come you don't have any basic knowledge about... the world?" he asked, deciding that saying 'about anything at all' would’ve sounded a little harsh.

"Androids usually get all the info fed to them when they're first booted, right? At least that's my understanding of it."

He placed the boxes of sliced fruit and yogurt back into the fridge and took a seat at the kitchen table with his improvised breakfast. Yogurt with peaches, tangerine, raspberries...

"Do they? I wouldn't know. Seems like a reasonable thing to do though," Kyungsoo shrugged, watching Jongdae pour a generous amount of tiny chocolate splits over his yogurt. Life was too short to hold back on chocolate splits. Jongdae had never thought about having a life motto, but this one seemed as good as any.

"Well, I told you, they just left after booting me. Seemed like they really wanted to get outta there."

Jongdae hummed thoughtfully as he mixed his yogurt.

"That's right. I wonder what they wanted you to do that they abandoned you like that..."

He paused the stirring, feeling guilty over the lack of tact, but the android didn't seem bothered at all.

"Like what?" he asked curiously, swiping at the wet fringe that kept obscuring his sight.

Jongdae stared into his yogurt.

Drug smuggling. trafficking. Assassination. ion.

"Uhm. Illegal work? Maybe they wanted you to bartend but then never pay you?" he said lightly, taking a big spoon of his breakfast, eyes not meeting Kyungsoo's.

"Oh... but why would I mind not being paid? The only use of money is buying drinks, and I can't drink 'em," Kyungsoo continued. Jongdae sighed and shoveled down more of his food after throwing another gaze at the clock. He was going to be late at this pace. He wasn't used to actually interacting with someone at this time.

"Money is super important in this society though," he said, properly swallowing before he continued, "what do you think, that some mighty ruler just gifted me this apartment and food?"

"Why wouldn't they?"

So many questions. So many discussions Jongdae had no time for.

"Look, I gotta leave for work soon-"

"Oh, you're a bartender? Or a DJ?"

"I'm flattered you think I can do more than scrubbing toilets," Jongdae blankly threw in.

"Oh. I thought only cleaning machines did that."

"Never mind, I'm taking that back."

Jongdae got up to place his bowl in the dishwasher and get dressed - not that his job required a special uniform.

Kyungsoo stood in the doorway like the one night stand Jongdae never had, watching him tie his shoes.

"Can't you take me with you?"

"My boss would probably not like that," Jongdae replied, adding another knot, "and also I couldn't take care of you while working. And also you'd probably get arrested for ual harassment before we got inside the building."

"What's that?"

"Exactly," Jongdae said, reaching for his jacket. Then he looked at the pouty android.

"Look, we'll do it like this. I'll go to work and meanwhile you stay here and take in your surroundings, maybe have your first little reality check. Or update. Whatever. Read some books, watch some TV, look out the window, I don't know. Anything that doesn't demolish the apartment. And when I'm back, we'll go out shopping together. How does that sound?"

"Very confusing," the android admitted. "But I'll give it a shot."

"Good," Jongdae said, more to himself than anything. Before closing the door, he turned around one more time.

"Don't let any strangers in, okay? When in doubt, stay away from buttons. And call me if something is wrong, the chat should be open on the screen in the living room. Bye!"

With that, Jongdae closed the door, and began his long journey of worrying himself to work, thinking of the one hundred and... never mind, probably three hundred ways an unworldly android might up his apartment.

"You're back, hi!" he said almost excitedly, and Jongdae knelt down next to him, placing his bag on a chair.

"Hi. What are you up to down here?" he asked, looking at a recipe for carrot cake in amusement. Jongdae didn't actually have a passion for cooking, but he possessed the obligatory amount of recipe books that friends and family gift a single guy.

Kyungsoo's gaze, that had already flitted back to the recipe, met his.

"I'm reading. You have a lot of books!"

"Eh... that's. Kind of an overstatement, to say the least," Jongdae began, but the android was too excited to wait for him to finish.

"I've never seen books like this, all solid and new, and there's so much stuff in here I didn't know about!"

"Uhm. Everything you just said is up for debate, but I'm glad you could entertain yourself while I was gone."

He got to his feet and Kyungsoo placed the books back on the shelf with something akin to awe. When he hesitated to put back the one he'd currently been reading, Jongdae told him to keep it for as long as he liked.

"This probably sounds dumb, but I didn't know you could read. Since there's not much to read at a club and all," Jongdae conversationally said as he prepared a glass of water. Kyungsoo placed the book on the table, still unnecessarily careful with the cheap book full of cake recipes.

"There's a lot of signs, a menu and a few brochures. I taught myself to read when I was bored."

"That's impressive," Jongdae said and meant it. It was a long overdue reminder that he was indeed dealing with an android, not a human. Even though it was easy to forget that.

"So, you said we'd go out today?" Kyungsoo asked hopefully, and Jongdae nodded.

"Of course, let me just..." he began, emptying the glass of water in two swift gulps, "finish this. Okay. We're good to go. Let's see if you can fit into any of my shoes."

Kyungsoo's feet turned out to be smaller than his own, which made his walk in the worn out work shoes a little more clunky, but it worked.

"I'd love to buy you some mechanic shoes, but I'm afraid I don't have the budget for that," Jongdae admitted as he locked the door behind them. "Regular shoes gotta do it."

"Well, it’s not like I'll grow out of them or anything, so whatever," Kyungsoo replied with a shrug and, yes, he did have a point.

They made it down the streets safely, with Kyungsoo sticking to his side and constantly whipping his head from left to right to take in as much as he could of all these buildings he'd never seen in daylight. It was a tiny bit embarrassing how everyone was staring, but ultimately Jongdae told him to try and be subtle because he was worried some stray police officer would see the suspicious android and check him up.

Aside from a pair of shoes, Jongdae had been thinking of getting Kyungsoo a couple other clothing items, nothing fancy, really - the main purpose of this trip was to introduce the android to the society they lived in, and gently so.

"What's that over there? A party?" Kyungsoo asked, pointing at the obvious bulks of people and booths of the late summer festival. That couldn't be further away from a gentle introduction to society if it tried.

"Kinda. More like a big market," Jongdae said vaguely, shooting the fascinated android a suspicious look.

"Are you sure you wanna go there? It could be pretty stressful."

"It looks pretty chill," Kyungsoo responded, and well, maybe it was rather calm in comparison to a nightclub, but it was also completely unfamiliar terrain. Still, the hopeful, polite question shining in the android's eyes was absurdly human and convincing. Jongdae wasn't a monster.

"Okay, fine. But if it gets too much, just tell me, alright? And take my hand, I wouldn't wanna lose you in there."

Biting his plush lips to keep in the grin, Kyungsoo grasped his hand. An android was reaching out to hold his hand without inhibition, and for some reason, that made Jongdae feel funny. As they were walking down the street, Jongdae tried to categorize this feeling, but he couldn't think of anything similar. The dry, solid fingers in his didn't remind him of nervous dates, the security unlike the one he got from his parents as a child. It was just an odd situation, walking hand in hand with an android, a warm summer breeze fanning over their faces, and for some reason Jongdae thought it was one of those little, seemingly random moments that get stuck in your mind for a long time.

As an adult, Jongdae saw the summer festival for what it was - a big market with lots of curious and mostly crappy things on sale and artists trying to impress passersby.

Kyungsoo was having an absolute blast, and quite frankly, Jongdae was a bit scared he'd actually implode from excitement.

"How about this one?"

Jongdae looked up from the quite tacky shirts he'd been browsing at a booth to be assaulted with the mother of tackiness. A big net shirt slash dress, made of golden lamé and fat, ugly rhinestones all over it.

"Please put that back where you got it," Jongdae blankly said, and Kyungsoo threw a slightly confused and disappointed look at the monstrosity.

"Really? It's so pretty though."

Jongdae considered buying him a dictionary so Kyungsoo could check up on his definitions, and that’s when he already appeared in front of him again, with the next visual insult in his hands.

"This?"

Jongdae looked at straps of pink leather, a snakeskin pattern and not much else.

"Where did you even find- never mind, just please return it before I turn blind," Jongdae said, staring at the neon fabric with serious concern. Concern that was mirrored in Kyungsoo's eyes.

"Can that happen?"

He instantly lowered the poor excuse for a garment.

"I just thought it looked good."

Jongdae sighed and softly took the piece of fabric from him to hang it away.

"You know, that is totally up to you. If you like it, I respect that, but I don't think you realize in what kind of position wearing it would put you into."

"I thought wearing leather straps allowed you to try both positions-"

"Not that kind of position," Jongdae cut him off, but it lacked any vigor or impatience.

"Look around. Look at the way other people are dressed."

The android followed his instruction and took exactly five seconds before making his judgement.

"Boring as ."

Jongdae nodded.

"Exactly. I mean, uh. Objectively speaking, from what you're used to, it's probably boring. Now if you were to wear that leather strap thingie, what do you think their reaction would be?"

"I'd stand out to them and look more interesting?" he suggested, and before Jongdae could go into the deep and depressing depths of society's oppressive nature, Kyungsoo remembered something.

"-oh, but I don't really need to stand out anymore because I don't need to be taken home anymore. Gotchu. Still, dressing boring on purpose seems like a waste."

Jongdae could only blink at all the assumptions thrown his way and decided not to comment on them for now. They picked a few colorful shirts and he was kinda glad androids didn't need a huge wardrobe. Finding shoes that didn't look comical on Kyungsoo took way longer and when they finally did, Jongdae was starving. They aimed for one of Jongdae's favourite little soup restaurants around the corner when Kyungsoo stopped in his tracks without warning, like a stubborn dog.

A question of 'What now-' died on his lips when Jongdae turned to see that an artist had caught Kyungsoo's attention. A traditional artist who was showcasing his paintings. Traditional art with paint on a canvas had become exceedingly rare, but it was Jongdae's favourite, so he could hardly blame Kyungsoo's interest. The android walked closer to examine studies of a busy street at night.

"Gorgeous, right?" Jongdae asked with a smile, tipping a few coins into the artist's box. He couldn't afford actually buying whole pieces off of every artist he liked, but the gesture was enough to make the artist smile gratefully and tip her hat.

"They are," Kyungsoo said, nose almost touching the protective layer of plastic, before switching to a very realistic-looking sketch of a single flower lying in a chaos of cables. "Though I don't get why anyone would spend money on this. You can just make them yourself, right?"

The artist shot him a very disapproving look, and Jongdae frantically searched for words.

"Kyungsoo, please. Uhm. I'm very sorry for him. He's an android and he's kinda... new. Newborn."

That sounded weird, even to his own ears, but the artist relaxed immediately, the smile returning to her face.

"Do you want to give it a try?" she asked, offering Kyungsoo a simple pen.

His eyes flitted to Jongdae for confirmation, and he gave him the go ahead, undoubtedly a little curious how an android would draw like. He took the little sketchbook the artist offered him and stood before the big canvas showing a street. With long, precise movements, the pen was dragged over thick paper. It didn't take all that long until it stopped. The artist just sat there, smiling patiently, but Jongdae stepped closer to take a peek over his shoulder. Perfectly aligned lines mimicked the street, buildings and street lamps.

"Wow, you're really good at this!" he praised, but Kyungsoo wouldn't hear any of it.

"It's all wrong," he protested.

"Well, this painting is made of different materials-"

"No, materials considered," Kyungsoo impatiently cut him off. "It's all wrong. The alignment is too smooth and not even that accurate. The sketch is empty and dead. Not at all like the painting."

He sounded really frustrated and Jongdae didn't know how to cheer him up. He'd always naively assumed any type of craft would come easy to an android, and maybe that wasn't too far off. If he missed the feelings, though...

"It's alright, it was your very first try," the artist chimed in, and due to his newfound respect, Kyungsoo hurried to turn to her and listen. "Finding your own language to convey your emotions until you're satisfied with them takes time. Painting takes a lot of practice."

Kyungsoo nodded, handing back the sketchbook and pen.

"This is the part where you might wanna apologize for being so presumptuous earlier," Jongdae lightly advised him, but Kyungsoo shrugged.

"Why? Not like I knew any better."

The artist actually chuckled at that.

"An android indeed."

"But thank you for teaching me better," Kyungsoo continued, with his smooth voice being even and serious for once.

"You're very welcome. You're actually unusual for an android, so it was a pleasure meeting you."

Kyungsoo seemed torn about how to reply, so he just smiled wished her a nice day.

By the time Jongdae finally got around to enjoying his soup, the sun was already setting and a brand new little sketch block and a few sealed pens were resting on Kyungsoo's lap, who kept looking down at them.

"Oh my god, I'm alive," Jongdae sighed, happily plucking a dumpling out of the savory soup.

"Nothing new there," Kyungsoo commented, earning a definitely not pouty look in return.

"It's a saying."

"Oh? What does it mean?" Kyungsoo asked, looking almost concerned.

"That the soup is really good."

He'd never been judged that hard by an android, who looked at him like he was drunk-rambling, and for some reason, Jongdae found that really funny.

"It's true though!" he defended himself with a wide grin. "You may not need food, but I haven’t eaten anything worth mentioning since breakfast and I'm starving. And if you're hungry, everything tastes better."

"So you're just telling yourself that the soup is good because it's food," Kyungsoo skeptically said.

"Nooo, it's amazing to begin with, and now it's heavenly!"

"If you say so...?"

Jongdae did and he meant it, and even though it was never wise to eat a lot after not eating for most of the day, he finished his bowl, be how stuffed he was - but there were no regrets, really. They were on their way home when a familiar, faint crackling sound was heard. Kyungsoo's grip on his hand tightened immediately, and Jongdae rubbed over his hand soothingly before the android could absently break his fingers or something.

"It's all good, nothing to worry about. It's just a firework."

Kyungsoo looked at the sky in faint worry as more and more cracks were heard. Luckily, Jongdae knew these streets like the back of his hand and knew just which turns to take to get a good view. There were a few other people standing in the parking lot of an apartment building, and the view wasn't anything to write home about, but the lights were visible and not too far away. Sprinkles of green and red filled the air, with gold sprinkles emitting a loud, prickly sound as they descended.

"The sky is colorful - just like back home," Kyungsoo said in utter awe.

"Yeah," Jongdae said, and for the lack of a better response, he squeezed his hand a little. It was unnaturally hard, but he didn't mind.

For a long time, they watched the fireworks in silence and the android seemed to forget about asking questions or rambling out his thoughts.

"I'm alive," he suddenly said.

"Hm?" Jongdae asked, taken aback.

"It means that the fireworks are good," Kyungsoo patiently explained. "And the market, too. It was good to begin with, but because I've been starved, it's even better."

Jongdae looked at him, watched the lights dance over ghostly white skin and reflect in his dark eyes that were firmly set on the sky.

He ruffled his hair and pulled him closer with an arm around his shoulders.

"Yeah. You're alive."