Jongin's had a ty year to say the very least.

He promised himself a plethora of goals that he was so sure that he would accomplish by the end of the year, but life decided to bend Jongin over and royally him in the . It started off with first, being demoted from his original position as manager at his 9 to 5 office job. Although an inconvenience, he was aware that he would still be paid just a few cents less. It still though, knowing that he no longer had a huge office space to do his work. He was so hastily shoved into a cubicle next to Baekhyun, his best work friend. 

It all went down hill from there.

His boyfriend of 2 years had dumped him. Jongin was serious about the relationship he thought, but his ex, Taemin, thought otherwise. Taemin had been out having affairs under the impression that they were in an open relationship. When Jongin confronted Taemin about this, he freaked out and left Jongin alone in his apartment. They haven't spoken since.

With the loss of 'manager' as his title, Jongin soon realized that his benefits were significantly reduced. That meant no more 2 week paid vacations. Yes Jongin, because that's what matters most. Your paid vacation and not the currently deteriorating mental state or crippling lonliness that you're feeling.

Jongin knew that it was pathetic to allow these things to affect him as much as they did, but he couldn't help it. Baekhyun seemed to pick up on this as well.

When the year came to an end, Jongin vowed that he would try to pick himself back up again.

So when his birthday rolled around, Baekhyun decided to take Jongin out, because that's what friends do. Actually, it was about 2 days too early but his birthday happened to fall on a Monday and Jongin didn't want to come into work on a Tuesday with a raging hangover

However, Jongin had expected a night out of endless drinks and body rolling on attractive men and women. Not this.

The two men stood outside of a large building that could've been mistaken as a mall. It was almost like a skyscraper, and at the very top in bold, white letters were placed to read 'Build-a-Boyfriend!: for all your romantic needs!'.

"Baekhyun, can you tell me why we're here, at an adult Build-a-Bear, and not at some bar?"

The shorter, blonde haired male clicked his tongue as the two walked into the massive building, "We can get drunk later. I've been planning this for a long time now."

"I've never heard of this place before, are we gonna make our own dolls or something?"

Baekhyun dragged Jongin inside by the ear. Jongin swears his ear was gonna fall off just by the full force that the small hyung used.

Despite Jongin's protests, they pushed past the glass doors of the building. Inside the lobby were multiple women, mostly young adults and older women, hanging out with what Jongin assumed to be their new android boyfriends. There were some women complaining at the customer service desk and Jongin swears he sees some men making out in a (not so) private corner of the building. It felt like an extremely toned down version of a brothel. Or some kind of an service. Either way, Jongin couldn't wrap his head around the concept of people making their own custom boyfriend like some sort of video game character. Pushing that aside, he trailed behind Baekhyun begrudglingly.

They marched towards the service counter and were greeted by a human worker, as opposed to the other android ones.

Androids have become a societal and economical norm in modern society, outperforming humans in most things ranging from house work to hard labor. The only thing that they are not able to do as well as humans, however, is handling emotions. Which meant that most jobs that humans were given were office jobs, similar to Jongin's, which dealt with interpersonal situations, complaints, and customer service. 

Although the humans and androids look completely the same, androids were distinguished by their clothing, which clearly displayed their names on the left side of their chest. Not only that, but when greeting someone new, they were required to introduce themselves by their serial number to avoid confusion. That being said, Jongin still found it creepy how there were man made entities that were as smart as- no, that are smarter than mankind. It's amazing, but creepy and something that just barely misses the cut for the uncanny valley.

"Hello, welcome to Build-a-Boyfriend! My name is Junmyeon, do you have a reservation?" The worker smiled sweetly at the two of them. Baekhyun nodded and returned the smile as Jongin stood behind the smaller man and watched. The building was relatively quiet, but not absent of sound. Baekhyun pulled out a card and handed it to Junmyeon, who promptly took the piece of plastic and scanned it with a watch that he wore on his wrist. With a beep, the watch announced that the party of two, under the names Byun Baekhyun and Kim Jongin, were right on time. Junmyeon handed the card back to Baekhyun and bowed.

"I will be assisting you with the designing process today. Before we leave, do you two have any questions about the product?" Junmyeon asked politely.

Jongin was quick to respond, "Ah yes. I have a question actually. So, are we just building our own android servant? Because I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that."

Baekhyun lightly slapped Jongin's arm, causing Jongin to whine, "Yah, you really haven't heard of this place before? It's all over social media!"

Jongin pouted. He wasn't very good with apps like Instagram or Twitter to begin with, let alone feigning interest in the latest android trends. Junmyeon laughed reassuringly, "Mr. Kim, this service is simply to meet your romantic needs. Only you can decide whether it is a servant or not, but as most people with this products do, they simply treat them as if they were a human."

Jongin nodded, but still felt as if he were doing something wrong. He turned to Baekhyun, who was bubbling over with excitement. With a sigh, he let the feelings go.

"I assume there are no further questions?" 

Baekhyun shook his head enthusiastically, "We're ready to start the process."

Junmyeon smiled once again and gestured towards a door behind the corner, "Please follow me into the design lab."

As they followed the worker through the door which led into a long, white hallway, Jongin still had questions racing in his mind. So, would Baekhyun be paying for his android? Wouldn't that be unbelievably expensive? Or, what if he doesn't like his stand in boyfriend?

Jongin slightly nudged Baekhyun, who was now happily skipping next to him.

"Hey, how much is this?" Jongin whispered into Baekhyun's ear.

"Don't worry about it stupid, we're gonna have a free trial period with the android. You don't have to buy anything."

"Mr. Byun is correct. To ensure the best results, a 6 month trial period will follow after the arrival of your new boyfriend. This allows for the android's AI system adapt to you and develop its connection with the buyer. If you are not satisfied with the product, you may send the android back for refurbishing and you will not have to pay." Junmyeon stopped in front of a tan, wood door and pressed his palm on the middle of the door. Almost immediately, the door slid open, revealing a dimmly lit off-white room with two large screens to the left and to the right of the room. On the left screen, 'Kim Jongin' was displayed in the middle in big, white letters. On the right screen, it was almost mirrored except for the fact that the name on the screen was 'Byun Baekhyun'. They all walked in and Junmyeon stood in the middle of the room and allowed the two men to walk to their respective screens.

Jongin stood in front of his with wide eyes. There were so many options, he felt like he was making a video game character. On the other side, he heard Baekhyun already beginning to tap away at his screen. Jongin started with 'physical traits'. When he tapped those words, it revealed more options. They were basic things, like ethnicity, height, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, and so on and so forth. He chose Korean for ethnicity, earning a small snort from Baekhyun who had obviously peaked at Jongin's screen.

"Wow, you're into Korean guys huh?"

"Shut up, Byun. I know for a fact that you chose Korean too."

"Yeah, but I know what I like. I don't even think you know what you're into ually."

Jongin ignored the comment, but felt his ears heat up anyways. He felt bad for Junmyeon, who stood idly, waiting for the two of them to finish.

For a boyfriend, Jongin believed that he would have to be a considerable amount shorter. He gave his boyfriend big doe eyes, plump lips, swept black hair, and pale skin. Jongin wasn't sure how the final product would come out, considering that he was really choosing generally basic things without being able to see an example. He really hoped that everything looked good on the android.

"So, what is the success rate for relationships between these androids and humans?" Jongin asked Junmyeon as he explored more options regarding his android's hobbies, Jongin settled with cooking and singin for his boyfriend.

Junmyeon hummed, observing the two and making sure they were not confused with anything, "I personally have one named Yixing. Our relationship is kin to a regular human relationship, and of course there will be faults. But there isn't a day where don't I feel as if I am talking to the person I love."

"That's...nice I suppose."

Baekhyun, of course, had other questions for Junmyeon, "So how's the ? Is it the same as it would be with a human?"

Jongin heard Junmyeon audibly choke before answering reluctantly, "It's...good. It's like doing it with an incredibly experienced human...exactly like doing it with an experienced human."

"YES! I haven't had good in so long!"

Jongin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose at the shamelessness in Baekhyun's words. He's going to have to give Junmyeon a good review on Yelp after he's finished with his boyfriend.

Eventually, Jongin got to an option called 'Psychological presets'. There were so many, ranging from reserved, all the way to even sadistic. Junmyeon walked over to Jongin as he hovered his finger over the text.

"I would reccomend for you to choose the default AI preset.This will allow the android to tailor to your experiences."

Jongin nodded and tapped the default preset. Junmyeon shuffled over to Baekhyun as well to inform him of the same thing.

After what felt like hours, Jongin stood back and tried to see if there was anything he didn't fill out. 

"I think I'm done." Jongin sighed in relief.

"Yep, I think I am too!" Baekhyun squealed.

Junmyeon nodded in acknowledgement and looked at his watch, tapping it slightly. Following that action, both Jongin's and Baekhyun's screen disappeared and a default 3D asset loaded up on their screens. With a few minutes, they loaded and revealed their new android boyfriends.

Jongin's heart leaped.

He was beautiful. The android was beautiful, and Jongin made that. The traits he filled out worked so well together.

Of course, he can't judge it just yet since he hasn't seen him in real life yet, but he was so beautiful on screen.

"Oh my GOD, MINE IS SO HOT!" Baekhyun giggled and jumped in happiness.

"Are you two satisfied with the physical traits of your androids?"

Jongin could only manage a nod while still admiring the model on screen. Baekhyun squeaked in agreement.

To Jongin's disappointment, the model went off screen and Junmyeon walked over to his screen to type in what he believed to be a code.

"Would you like to name him, or would you like a randomly generated name?"

"Randomly generated."

Junmyeon did the same to Baekhyun's screen.

With one final glance at his watch, Junmyeon nodded and smiled at the two men.

"Congratulations! Your new boyfriends will be delivered to your address in 5-7 business days!"