Androids could have a character. Jongdae knew that. There were differences in how elaborate the programming was - a working android in a restaurant might always be cheery and patient, but it might feel fake and unnatural to humans. There were androids living independent lives, albeit not too many, and most of them were almost impossible to differentiate from humans, excluding the appearance.

Kyungsoo was... neither this nor that. He was something in between, and it was peculiar in a way that Jongdae just couldn't put his finger on what was so off about him. His friends had told him that he was probably overwhelmed and biased - only to demand they got to meet him, which Jongdae had refused for the time being; because if anyone was overwhelmed it would be the android whose entire world had radically changed overnight.

Kyungsoo believed that it was kinda sad how all the light bulbs in the house were white or yellow.

Kyungsoo had woken him that day with a completely blank face, saying, "I lost my teddy bear. Can I sleep with you instead?"

When Jongdae asked him if he ever owned a teddy bear, he said no. 'It's just a thing people say to each other'.

Kyungsoo was observant and quick-witted - he seemed to have memorized every single molecule in Jongdae's apartment by the second day, and used the knowledge to mock Jongdae for not being able to find his keys. Or his tablet. Or a pen.

And currently, Kyungsoo was poking a piece of Jongdae's breakfast with his finger.

"What is this?"

"A tomato. You shouldn't touch other people's food like that-"

"Why?"

"Because there's all sorts of germs on you."

"Hardly more than anywhere else. I don't even have any bodily fluids," Kyungsoo argued, and Jongdae sighed - which broke into a yawn. It was still too early.

"You can still catch dirt or dust. Humans like to pretend they don't get in contact with too much dirt."

"But the rest of the world is dirty, so-"

"I said pretend. And you know tomatoes. Ketchup is made from them."

Kyungsoo gave him this wide-eyed look Jongdae was growing eerily accustomed to, with this being only the start of their second week living together.

"Really? They look totally different though - if I mashed this, I wouldn't get ketchup. No way."

"Yeah, you'd also have to add a ton of sugar, soy sauce, salt, vinegar, and probably a load of other seasonings and ominous chemicals."

"Why?"

Why. With Kyungsoo, it was all why and how and that makes no sense.

"To make it look and taste like ketchup," Jongdae said patiently.

"Why go through all the effort when you can just eat a tomato like you do?" Kyungsoo asked skeptically.

"Because that's sort of the point of cooking - you process and refine ingredients for a nicer taste. And also it would look kinda stupid to put a big tomato on your fries."

"Why?"

Jongdae gave up.

"I was trying to be funny."

"Oh. Sorry," Kyungsoo said.

"I'm also sorry," Jongdae sighed, stuffing the last bit of omelette into his mouth. At first, he assumed this was what parenting felt like - answering countless fundamental questions. But children didn't question everything on the same level as Kyungsoo did. He was like a fully-developed adult that had spent his entire life living in a basement. Minus the emotional trauma. That was not too far from reality though, and that's why Jongdae stayed patient. He really was a patient person - it was just a little hard to stomach a hundred questions before he had as much as a glass of water.

Yes, they'd been living together for about a week, but Jongdae had spent most of that time at work, leaving Kyungsoo alone in his apartment. He felt guilty about that, but Kyungsoo didn't seem to mind. When Jongdae returned in the evening, scarfing down some fast food at the kitchen table, Kyungsoo usually just stated he'd had a nice day. Watched some videos, looked out of the window, read an old brochure he hadn't read before and the ingredients on the cornflakes box. He didn't express any active need to leave the house, and Jongdae wasn't sure whether he was simply content with what he had for now, or whether he was aware that venturing out on his own might be a bad idea at this point. Either way, Jongdae was glad about his compliance - he was pretty certain Kyungsoo wasn't registered, and as soon as he drew attention to himself, the authorities would probably look into him. Meaning at the first ominous pick up line, they'd probably take Kyungsoo away to a lab or something. Jongdae wouldn't want that.

There was no denying that the android learned steadily, but he had yet to accept that pick up lines were not a suitable conversation starter. Maybe the series he’d been watching online were only making things worse, Jongdae speculated. Still, today he deemed Kyungsoo ready for another little step towards the real world in all its dull glory and lack of tacky beats underlining it.

"Do you want to accompany me today?" he asked a while later, when the food was back in the fridge, except for the package of tomatoes Kyungsoo was currently scrutinizing. He was always quick to divert his attention to Jongdae though.

"Where to?" he asked, tilting his head.

"To work. It's just a short shift today since it's Sunday," Jongdae explained from the doorway, buttoning up his shirt.

"Would that be allowed?" Kyungsoo asked in disbelief. So many emotions in such a small android.

"I mean, you'd be pretty much on your own since I got work to do... but I'm sure you'll be fine. You'll probably like it."

"Like what?"

But Jongdae wouldn't elaborate. No matter how sneakily Kyungsoo worded his questions, Jongdae refused to spoil the surprise all the way down the stairs, into the subway and along the short walk they had to take. It was all worth it when they entered the building and Kyungsoo saw dozens and dozens of shelves lining the twisted interior, going up many stories... all stacked with books.

"There's so many of them!" Kyungsoo exclaimed, a little too loud for his environment, looking completely awe-struck. Jongdae couldn't keep the cheshire grin off his face.

"I told you you'd like it."

"I've never seen a store this huge - can I read the backs of all of them?" he asked, earnest enthusiasm painted all over his face. Jongdae bit his lips to stop the ridiculous grin.

"Even better - you can read the entire books to your heart's content. Or to your tech's content, whichever works for you."

"What? But..."

Kyungsoo thought about it, brows scrunching together, thinking hard, as Jongdae threw a glance at the old-fashioned clock on the wall. There was still plenty of time.

"But if you read them all, then you would only buy those that you'd want to read again. Though you wouldn’t even have to do that because you can just come back to read them again-"

"That's exactly the point. This is a library, Kyungsoo," Jongdae patiently explained as he walked further into the building, Kyungsoo trailing after him. "It's a big storage for books, and anyone can read them here. You can also borrow them and take them home, but you gotta bring them back all in one piece. Some books have become rather rare, though, so you can only read them here."

"Just like that? Doesn't it cost anything?" Kyungsoo asked incredulously. "Someone has to pay you, right?"

An odd way of approaching a foreign system, but Kyungsoo had grown up among part-timers and bartenders, so the concept of work equaling pay was deeply ingrained in his mind. Most androids found the idea of payment in itself hard to grasp (because why build up a society on pressure and currencies if they could all just do what's necessary? what do you mean, humans are stupid and greedy?) - at least that's what Jongdae got from the movies. He might be wrong. He might have to meet more androids.

"I'm getting paid, don't worry. Pretty well, actually. As I said, books are pretty treasured nowadays, and the library is financed by the government, though it does take donations, too."

"Oooh..." Kyungsoo breathed out, his gaze trailing over the rows and rows of books as they took a flight of stairs.

"Is this why you have no books at home?" he suddenly asked. Jongdae was getting whiplash all around the clock at this point.

"What? Why would you think that?"

"Well, you can just read everything here!"

"Oh," Jongdae said dumbly. "Yes. Yeah. That is totally the reason I don't own many books."

Kyungsoo was a master at sarcasm, both detecting and using it, but he was still too starstruck and distracted to mention it. It was adorable. Jongdae loved seeing happy people.

"I'll give you my library card and then I'll clock in. I won't really be available for you while I'm working, but you can read any book you want till the end of my shift. How does that sound?"

"Exciting," Kyungsoo replied, rather curt, but genuine. It seemed like he forgot about his over-the-top demeanour when he was distracted. Or excited.

"Great. There are instructions and guidelines about the library and how you use your card. You can find them over there. I doubt you will have trouble understanding them. Just please," Jongdae began, placing both hands on Kyungsoo's shoulders so the android would pay close attention. Indeed, his eyes flickered up to meet his gaze.

"Please don't hit on anyone. In fact, it's probably for the best if you keep interaction with strangers to a minimum. Okay?"

Jongdae looked into an obviously confused expression.

"Why would I bother engaging with anyone when there's so many books around me?"

Jongdae sighed, and then patted his shoulder.

"Good attitude. I'll see you later, have fun."

Instead of an attempted kiss - which Jongdae had taught him was very inappropriate in public, especially the kisses Kyungsoo had in mind - the android took his hand, squeezed it and smiled at him.

"I will."

A few minutes later, Jongdae slipped into his uniform with a smile mirroring Kyungsoo's. It was as if he'd borrowed a bit of his happiness. Luckily for him, he was on shift with Jongin that day, who was a quiet, withdrawn guy - not the type to mess with Jongdae or for his dopey smile. They shared the front desk, where Jongin stood ready to assist customers in need, while Jongdae checked a few recently returned books for damages, changed out protective book covers before sorting them in between the others, so he could place them back later. Sure, all of this could be automated, but in order to both match the spirit of books and ensure the best, possible outcome, most tasks were still done manually. Librarians were surprisingly well-respected, and Jongdae liked his job. It required precision, a keen eye for detail, provided an option to broaden his horizon in the technical department (which Jongdae wasn’t terribly interested in, to be honest, but it was nice to have), and, most importantly, social skills. As much as people could be astonishingly dumb and annoying, he still preferred them over being surrounded by dead machines all day. That wasn't for everyone, but Jongdae was a social person, and there was nothing he could do about that.

"You can just leave this one here," Jongin said, pointing at a thick novel with a starkly blue cover. "People have been waiting for this to be returned - I'm sure they'll snatch it off the desk within minutes."

Jongdae complied with a shrug, picking the book out of the cart and placing it next to Jongin, who smiled at it as if it was an especially pretty flower. He never questioned Jongin's decisions.

Because while Jongdae was good at his job, there was one minor issue.

He didn't read. At all.

Not like he couldn't, and he had read a few comic books as a kid, but other than that? Stereo silence.

Jongdae just wasn't the type to read. It was ironic, but he didn't think it was necessary to force himself to read. This was a job, and he was doing it well. Besides, if anyone wanted personal guidance, they could search the net... or ask Jongin.

Jongin was the biggest bookworm Jongdae had ever seen. The soft-spoken boy with the untameable curls and very sporadic use of contact lenses, had his nose buried in books in every free, given second, and seemed to know the content of the library inside out - even if he still didn't know the shelves by heart. Or the floors.

Jongin was such an eager reader that it remained a mystery to Jongdae how he'd maintain his healthy, golden tint. Jongin had simply said that he liked to read outside, too. That's why it was nothing out of the ordinary for Jongin to borrow books for himself, even on their way to the break room. While Jongin scoured a shelf for a book, Jongdae waved at Kyungsoo, who had been occupying a table all by himself. It was as if the android had an inbuilt radar filtering out random movements from Jongdae moving, because he immediately looked up and smiled brightly, waving back. Jongdae approached the table, and Kyungsoo got up to meet him halfway, giving away his still prevalent excitement.

"How is work?" he asked, and then, "how much longer is your shift?"

"Only two more hours," Jongdae replied, resisting the urge to boop the other's nose, "Sorry to disappoint. But it won't be my last work day."

"Okay."

"You like it here so far?"

"Yes, it's amazing. Mind-blowing. I found, like, so many good books!"

"You can take some home if you want. What have you found so far?"

Kyungsoo lit up even more, if that even was physically possible. Maybe he had an inbuilt glow up function Jongdae didn't know about.

"This one-"

He lifted a new-looking book and the image of shutterstock abs glared at Jongdae, complete with a photoshopped tribal tattoo spread across a chest. Behind him, Jongin spluttered. Jongdae shot him an apologetic look.

"You found your book, huh?" he asked Kyungsoo, praying the other would move on from this quickly. He didn’t.

"It's really interesting - one of them is about vampires, and they blood, just like you told me!"

"Amazing," Jongdae breathed out for the lack of an actual response. Jongin was still doing this thing where you try to keep in your laugh and make ugly snorting sounds.

"That is," he forced out, trying to compose himself, "an interesting choice. I don't think I’ve ever seen anyone pick that one up."

Kyungsoo looked at him, genuinely shocked.

"Really? That's such a shame, it's really good. You should give it a shot!"

"If you say so, I definitely will."

Jongin was now looking at Jongdae, grin so wide that nothing could keep it at bay. Jongdae had never seen his colleague so amused, so that was probably a nice thing.

"So, you're friends?" he asked, and Jongdae rubbed his neck.

"Eh, well..."

He lowered his voice and leaned forward a bit.

"He's an android who's living with me, but maybe keep quiet about it for now?"

Surprise bloomed on Jongin's face, who looked at Kyungsoo in an obviously different light after that.

"Oh. So- so you're roommates," he backpedaled from whatever was on his mind, extending his hand. "I'm Jongin, nice to meet you."

Kyungsoo stared at the extended hand, gears obviously ticking. Jongdae stared at him, fearing the worst. Please don't do anything inappropriate, please don't slap his , I know you watched some drama series, please-

He took Jongin's hand and shook it in an exaggerated, overly proper motion. Jongdae exhaled in relief.

"Hi, I'm Kyungsoo. It's handy that I have my library card because I'm totally checking you out."

The sound of Jongdae facepalming drowned in Jongin's laughter.

"There were even books about medication for specific animals, that's just insane!"

Jongdae hummed, took a slurp from his chilled fruit juice, and punched in the code to his apartment, with a never-ending string of basic library facts following after him.

"Though the books on human medicine were much larger in number - I wonder whether there's a lot of duplicate information in there-"

"I'm sure there is," Jongdae said, toeing off his shoes, "because everyone wants their book to be read even if there are ten other similar books available."

"Right..." Kyungsoo trailed off, still mind-blown in every way, when another sudden thought seemed to have made it up the priority list.

"So why don't you read? I cannot understand how anyone would not be interested in just learning all these things - it's so easy and free!"

Jongdae ruffled his hair with a shake of his head.

"Great to see you know the value of free things," he said, but Kyungsoo wouldn't let him off that easy, following him into his bedroom.

"So why? Do you already know all these things? Have they become boring to you?" he prodded, sitting on the edge of the bed while Jongdae ed his shirt.

"No, I definitely don't know everything, but if I need anything, I just look it up online."

"But how do you know what you'd love to know if you don't know it yet?"

Jongdae blinked. Kyungsoo looked confused, a bit like he had confused himself, and while he re-considered his question, Jongdae got rid of the shirt and the one underneath. The dress shirt went on the hanger, the other in the laundry.

"I mean, don't you miss out on a lot of knowledge and great stories?"

Jongdae wouldn't admit it out loud, but he tried to keep his back to Kyungsoo until he had slipped into a fresh shirt. It was silly to be shy in front of an android, but he couldn't help it.

"Ah, I just... I'm just not very interested in reading novels, that's all," he explained distractedly as he tugged out a pale blue shirt, one that was folded neatly and certainly freshly washed. "They're not bad, but it's pretty time consuming and involves a lot of sitting around. I'd rather watch movies instead."

"You're also just sitting if you watch a movie," Kyungsoo said, and if it was anyone else, Jongdae would have groaned at the discussion he'd had a dozen times before, but Kyungsoo wasn't trying to accuse him, he was trying to understand.

"But a movie is over in an hour or two. Likely two, to be honest. I don't really need to get immersed in a fictional tale for days on end," he shrugged, when a sudden question popped up in his head and he turned to Kyungsoo, no longer shirtless, "why do people even consume fictional stories? What good do they do? Ever asked yourself that question?"

Kyungsoo obviously hadn't. It was just obvious in his expression, that went wide and unguarded. Jongdae took pity on the overwhelmed android and patted his shoulder. Kyungsoo liked touching, liked it more than it was appropriate and socially accepted, but there were certain gestures Jongdae could definitely offer.

"It's okay, I'm not pushing for a definite answer or anything. There's probably none. I just prefer to spend my free time in a different way."

With this, he left for the kitchen and, predictably, Kyungsoo followed, a reply on his tongue already.

"By dancing at clubs," he stated. Jongdae had the decency to feel at least a little ashamed - not of the fact that he went partying, but of the fact that he'd ended up at a club as shabby as Kyungsoo's.

"Sometimes," he admitted. "But not that often, actually."

"Then what else would you do? Go out and visit festivals?"

"Those don't happen all that often," Jongdae laughed, getting his backpack to stuff a bottle of water inside. "I'm meeting up with some friends. You wanna come along and meet them? I'll show you what I do in my free time."

Kyungsoo looked intrigued, maybe even a bit guarded, as if any activity beyond dancing at clubs and reading (and maybe watching drama series) was highly questionable. That's because it was, to him, Jongdae reminded himself. He slipped back into his shoes and while Kyungsoo did the same, he swung the heavy backpack over his shoulder and rummaged through a cupboard filled with old stuff. When he found what he was looking for, Jongdae offered it to Kyungsoo, who was cluelessly holding on to what must be an entirely foreign, mysterious object to him.

"You'll need these," Jongdae said, giving Kyungsoo something to mull over on their way to meet his friends.

By the time they left the subway station, Kyungsoo had figured out that they were shoes, but part of him refused to believe it. Even when Jongdae explained it to him, he only got this disbelieving stare in return that was so judging, Jongdae kind of felt like an idiot even though he knew he wasn't talking nonsense. If Kyungsoo was a superhero, that would probably be his super power. Judgement, literally.

They exited the station and aimlessly walked down the pavement, avoiding the moving part - Jongdae wasn't that lazy and in perfect health condition. The sun was still pretty high up in the sky, aggressively shining down and reflecting off the bright grey street and feeding the planted trees with precious light. Kyungsoo had complained about that at first, stating how it was way too bright and  he couldn't see. He'd purposefully spent half a day trying to adjust his eyesight, which he'd never had to do, not to that extent. Jongdae was definitely envious of his skills, but also not too envious, because at least he knew how to use his body. Kyungsoo obviously didn't have an inbuilt handbook telling him how his body worked, and that seemed tiresome.

"Where are we going?" Kyungsoo asked, soaking up the foreign environment.

"The park, over there," Jongdae gestured, already spotting his friends in the distance. It was hard to miss Chanyeol and Sehun, who were both ridiculously tall and usually sported bright hair colors. At the moment, Sehun's hair was short and bright orange, while Chanyeol still wore his wild perm in an unforgivingly bright, fire truck red. It was enough to be blinding all on its own, and they obviously had to endure Jongdae giving them nicknames after various vegetables, but that didn't seem to put them off. In fact, while both of them could be whiny and dramatic, there was hardly anything that could put them down for good. They were of a fighting nature and Jongdae had some deeply rooted respect and admiration for them. For all his friends, really.

They were waving at Jongdae and Kyungsoo from where they sat on a bench, bathing in the sunlight. The closer they got, the farther Kyungsoo seemed to walk behind him. It surprised Jongdae that he was be nervous, but then again, saying playboy pick up lines to strangers and being confident didn't exactly go hand in hand.

"Hey guys, am I late?" he greeted them, high-fiving Chanyeol, because that was their thing, and meeting Sehun's gaze with a smile.

"Aren't you always late?" Sehun then asked lazily, which Jongdae refused to accept.

"That is a fake rumor made by you and you alone - I'm a very punctual person, you just coincidentally hang out at our meeting points way too early," Jongdae stated with crossed arms, before remembering the android standing practically behind him at this point. He stepped aside, placing an arm around Kyungsoo's shoulders.

"This is Kyungsoo, I told you about him."

They both looked interested, and Jongdae bit back a warning for them not to ogle. Kyungsoo would probably like being ogled, anyway.

As usual, Chanyeol demanded attention first, his hand outstretched and a hearty smile brightening up the overall mood.

"I'm Chanyeol, hi."

Remembering the earlier incident, Kyungsoo obediently took his hand, shook it, and said nothing more than a stiff "Hi," - it made for an almost comical exchange when Sehun greeted him in an equally curt, but not unfriendly way. That was just how Sehun was though - he was a rookie actor, meaning that he was more often than not surrounded by strangers with possibly impure or at the very least unfriendly intentions. He didn't open up that easily. Much unlike Chanyeol.

"So you’ve never been skating before?" he immediately asked, scooting over on the bench and patting it until Kyungsoo took the hint.

"I don't think I've ever seen an android wear inline skaters," Sehun blurted out and seemed to immediately regret it. Kyungsoo didn't take offense though, seeing as he had never seen an inline skating android either. He watched in skeptic wonder as Jongdae helped him get into his old skates. Meanwhile, Chanyeol's mouth was running on autopilot.

"We used to be four people, which is always great cause you can play two versus two, right? But then Baek, another friend of ours, moved out of the country recently," he rambled, fingers drumming on his knees. "He works as a white collar guy, which is a little strange if you know him, but anyway, he's pretty good and was transferred, so we couldn't really play against each other anymore. So it's cool you're here!"

"Chanyeol," Sehun began blankly, "No one's listening to you except for me, and I already know all that."

"You're just mean, you know that? And also-"

"No, I was listening," Kyungsoo corrected him, looking up from where Jongdae was tying the skates to his feet. He kept subtly shuffling his feet, getting a feel for the new, foreign weight of the shoes. "You shouldn't drink any more. You're doing great now, but it'll get worse if you don't stop now."

"What?" Chanyeol asked in an earnest confusion that, as usual, rubbed off on Kyungsoo, who in turn got confused as well. From the ground, Jongdae paused clicking the snaps into places, because by now, he had a pretty good grasp on Kyungsoo's obvious way of thinking.

"He's telling you that you sound like a happy drunk," he blankly said, just to enjoy the way Sehun snorted and understanding bloomed on Chanyeol's face just a second too late.

"What? Hey, I'm not drunk-" he defended himself, nudging Kyungsoo's side and then whining about how hard his skin was, sparking a conversation about their recent trips (or lack thereof) to the gym.

"There you go," Jongdae said, patting the side of one of the skates. "It's all done and should be tight enough. Come on, let's test the fit."

He got to his feet and offered his hand. Kyungsoo ignored him and naturally tried to stand up, obviously miscalculating what the wheels under his feet would feel like, and smacking back into the bench first. Jongdae stared at his friends, dared them to laugh, but Chanyeol was wise enough to hold back (and Sehun wasn't the type to laugh at people who he didn't know could take it).

"We'll take it easy, I'll help you," he assured him, and this time Kyungsoo did take his hand, getting up agonizingly slowly. It was a bit comical, the way he looked like a cat walking over soft ground for the first time. But Jongdae had this inborn instinct of helping out people who were lost in any way, so he only took his hand and gently led him away from the bench. At first, Kyungsoo didn't do anything and let Jongdae drag him along slowly, stumbling over the slightest uneven bumps on the ground.

"Try to move your feet to push yourself forward and gain control of your movement," he instructed softly. For a while, it was silent as Kyungsoo cautiously tried to understand the concept of inline skating. They walked down the asphalted ground while Sehun and Chanyeol noisily rode around the park's little skating rink, already competing for speed. It was rather run-down, since people rarely used it anymore. People rarely left the house anymore, really. Places like the park, which was once used as a go-to place for people to enjoy being outside, were mostly deserted these days. Jongdae wasn't too sad about that - it was kinda magical, having such a wide space to themselves.

"How do you find friends?"

The question came out of nowhere, coming out rather tense as Kyungsoo was still trying to maintain balance.

"Well..." Jongdae began, thinking about it. It was a question that bothered quite a lot of people, regardless of their kind or upbringing.

"You see, we don't really say we're 'finding friends', but we 'make friends'," he explained, squeezing his fingers, anticipating a tumble that never came. "People put in an effort to get to know each other and if they're compatible and like each other, they become friends."

"Can people be friends with androids, too?"

"Do you want to be friends with those two, too?" Jongdae asked, slightly amused. Kyungsoo thought about it.

"I don't know. I'm trying to figure out where my place is supposed to be."

Jongdae smiled and walked just ahead enough to be able to catch Kyungsoo's gaze.

"It can be wherever you want it to be," he said and began to tug a little harder at Kyungsoo, until he had to jog to keep up with the breathless, highly overwhelmed android. He kept jogging until he had to run, Kyungsoo's worried claims that they were going too fast flying after them. They skated and ran until Jongdae ran out of breath and slowed them down, explained how to brake, and even though they were fairly slow already, Kyungsoo's failed attempt at braking sent them both to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Jongdae asked, and his own shock was mimicked in Kyungsoo's face.

"Yes?"

For some reason, Jongdae chuckled. It was just funny, and somehow nice. This day was nice. He leaned back on his hands, where tiny pieces of gravel were piercing his palms, letting the sunlight rain down on him. Next to him, Kyungsoo closed his eyes.

"I'm so excited," he stated curiously. "I've never been so excited before."

He opened them when Jongdae grabbed his hand, inspected the spot where gravel had dug into his artificial skin.

"Aww man, I'm sorry. This can be fixed, right? I think there's bandaids for stuff like this."

"Why are you sorry?" Kyungsoo asked, watching his face attentively. "You fell, too."

"That makes it fair, huh?" Jongdae asked with a grin, but Kyungsoo wasn't swayed easily. Unless he was on skates, that is.

"It's like drawing. It seems like you need practice for this, too," he said both patiently and earnestly, "I wouldn't have gotten this far without your help."

It was odd how refreshing Kyungsoo’s unguarded, simple honesty  was. It made Jongdae realize that humans really liked to make communication among each other harder than it needed to be.

"I'll help you anytime if you want me to," he replied, wishing to be a little more like this, too. Kyungsoo hesitated, looked at the gravel on his hand and back at Jongdae.

"Can you help me make friends when it gets difficult?"

"You want some friends?" Jongdae asked, because basic questions like this weren't uncalled for, not when it came to Kyungsoo. The other nodded.

"I have to try if I want to understand. I want to try having friends so I can understand how it works and find my place."

"Sure."

With this, Jongdae got to his feet and offered both his hands, awkwardly pulling Kyungsoo up.

"If that's what you want, I'll help you - if you even need me at all," he joked, and Kyungsoo's worried grimace prompted him to laugh.

Chanyeol and Sehun called out for them from the rink, demanding they come and play, calling them childish names like snails.

"Start with those two dopey idiots over there," Jongdae suggested, walking towards the rink with Kyungsoo following him, slowly, but all on his own. "They're so simple though, your android brain might feel insulted by the lack of a challenge."

"But what is a snail?" Kyungsoo only asked, and Jongdae gestured towards the rink.

"Go ask them. I'll get into my skates and join you in a second."

It turned out that Kyungsoo was far from ready to play hockey in skates (or without skates, really), so he spent the golden hour of dawn watching them spar against each other in a silly, uncoordinated way. It seemed to excite Kyungsoo, and at some point, he started to round the rink from outside, one hand on the railing, eager to learn how to master the 'absurd, wheeled shoes'. By the time they left, he had another scrape on his forearm, but could proudly say that he didn't need the railing anymore.

It was the most adorable thing, how Kyungsoo passed out as soon as he hit the cushions of his bed. Who would have thought that androids needed sleep just as badly as humans? Jongdae drew the curtains shut and after a quick shower, he crawled under his own blanket with a pleasant ache running down his legs. What a nice day indeed. His gaze fell upon his work bag, and he remembered the books he had stuffed in there earlier. It was a quite desperate stretch that made him almost fall off his bed, but he got a grip of the bag's strap and pulled it closer.

Kyungsoo had borrowed three books, and Jongdae had been too caught up in the other's excitement to really look at them. He pulled them out now, placing them on the nightstand. The first one he already knew - the tacky vampire novel. He flipped it around to read the summary. Hot, beautiful femme fatale, hot, beautiful vampire guy, both meeting in a club. He flipped it back to the front and now he noticed the terribly cheap photo of a disco ball printed in a corner. The book took place in a club - no wonder it had caught Kyungsoo's attention. It was probably impossible for Jongdae to understand what such a book meant to him, and how he felt while reading it. He placed the book back on the nightstand and reached for the second one. It was an overly colorful book, obviously aimed at children, maybe elementary schoolers. The title spelled 'Animals From Ant to Zebra' in thick, childish letters, and it made Jongdae smile. The only animals Kyungsoo had seen so far were flies, a few birds from afar, the occasional dog and maybe a butterfly. What must it be like, to discover the existence of animals so late in your life?

Jongdae picked up the last book with a shadow of a smile still ghosting across his face, but it got smaller, more retained, until it was just a memory.

The last book had a very child-like cover, too, with a white drawing of a girl on black background, her long hair waving behind her, bare feet standing in the grass. She looked up at the stars, the moon, birds and a tiny rocket. "Am I a Rocket or a Bird?" was written on top of it all, in clumsy, cursive handwriting. Jongdae flipped it around to read the summary. It was a story about an android girl who questioned life. What does it mean, to be a girl? Does it mean anything? Do I wish for anything, and what if I don't? Am I like a human-made rocket? Or more like a bird?

Jongdae slowly flipped through the book, soft pictures flying by in a blur. For some reason, reading it now wouldn't feel right to him. Like this was something personal, something Kyungsoo had a right to read first. So he placed it down and reached for the vampire novel instead, flipping open the front page, reading about a y brunette grinding up on a stranger. It didn't entirely chase away the weird feeling he had, but it was softer like this, more bearable.

Still, when he turned off the lights later, and even in the shower and when he made breakfast the next day, the faint echo of 'Am I like a rocket or a bird?' wouldn't leave his mind.