Justifying the existence of something, anything was not intended to be a human’s choice by nature. Yet it was something mankind took upon itself, as if it was a verdict that belonged to them by default. As if it was their right.
Android 04 was a product of said verdict, created as a grim reminder of the arrogance that was human sadness. The self inflicted right to decide over a being to regain control that had long been lost.

Android 04 remembered everything. No detail had ever been forgotten by him. He remembered light, blinding light, to be his first memory. He later found out it was artificial, and would only discover the irony behind it even later. But back then, he was not familiar with irony, or the turn his installation would take.

However, upon his commissioning, he had immediately been familiar with a name. It was the first thing that came to his mind. So deeply engraved into his code, it could never be separated from his mind anymore. And as it turned out, it would never be.
Park Chanyeol. Mr. Park. His Master. His Creator.

The name attached to him like a limb, it would easily become his whole existence.

The man itself was right beside him as he was welcomed into the world, gazing upon him in interest, his unusual gleeful expression destined to become everything to Android 04. Because it would only reappear a couple of times after this, left to be something he would long for on the daily. Like a drug.

“Can you hear me?” Voice deep as he asked, big hands moving to turn the machine’s head to inspect his reactions. The grip around his face tight but there still was a certain cautious behind it, like he was something to be treated carefully. Their eyes met for a brief moment. Mr. Park’s eyes were dark and piercing, like they would look through the fibers of his systems easily.
“Yes, Master.” His own voice was so much softer than his Creator’s one, he noticed. It was a contrast he found interesting.

“What is your name?” He got asked again and the smaller crooked his head. For the split of a second, there was a letter in his head, that he could not pinpoint. But it was gone as fast as it had come. It must be an error. He already knew his name.

“Android 04, Master.” He replied, the sound of this name a bit strange, but it seemed to be right, for Chanyeol moved his head in acknowledgment. The Android seemed to work perfectly so far. Good work.
“Exact.”

The smaller crooked his head some more as he watched the man intensely, studying the human in front of him. His mind was full of information about him, but he could not recall how he looked. That was information not stored into his system, why would it even matter? To Android 04, it was an important detail. So seeing his Master for the very first time right after being welcomed in this world, was something that had always stuck with him. The sharp jawline, the bronze skin, the light blond hair, perfectly sculpted and styled. Those almond eyes that seemed to carry a world inside, that he would later find out would rarely look at him. The broad shoulders dressed in a basic button-up, sleeves rolled up, his large hands writing down some notes regarding the successful new android he had just created.
It was when he heard Chanyeol humming along with his thoughts, a sound that seemed very pleasant to his ears, that the small robot felt inclined to say something.

“Park ...Chanyeol, that is your name, right?” Innocent eyes looking up at the scientist, once Chanyeol raised his head. For the split of a second, his eyes went soft as he took in the frame in front of him, watching those big eyes that were patiently waiting for an answer.

Chanyeol felt like there was something that had long been erased from his mind, that had long been forgotten, or he had tried to do so at least. But the machine in front of him pushed him back and he felt like he was set back a couple of years prior, pushed right back into memories he was yearning to delete. But no matter how much he wanted to erase them, he was just a human after all. Nothing could ever be wiped off completely.

Human traits and behaviorism barely bothered him now, for he was trying to lock out everything that would evoke a reaction inside of him. Acknowledging any kind of emotion was one of many things he had tried to erase from his mind. So, it was quite peculiar how it was something artificial that had risen these feelings out of him.

That’s why his voice sounded irritated as he answered, but that was not something Baekhyun’s innocent mind could detect. Yet.
“Yes, that is right.”
Thinking back, Chanyeol probably should have shut him off right away at that very moment.

___________________________________________

Being brought into this world was not out of pure boredom or entertainment purpose. Android 04 was programmed to be a general assistant to whatever Chanyeol needed help with. The renowned scientist lived alone and secluded, a thing he very much valued for his life. He was not keen on experiencing the company of other humans. So a robot did the job just fine.
Whether it was cooking, cleaning, or even helping with the scientist’s research, the robot was to carry out his tasks. He was coded to be independent, self-exploring and -developing due to his very advanced Artificial Intelligence. Yet he was still to always follow Chanyeol’s order as his utmost priority. He was his creator, his master. His words were the standard.
So it was no surprise that he turned out to be a very diligent servant, his tasks usually were just being a little help in the big house Mr. Park lived in.
It was a separated, gated area with a big property and a big ancient three story mansion as the center. Big premises probably too big and too spacious for a single human, but Chanyeol valued the feeling of silence that came with such a massive space even more.
And they were the only two that were present in the estate at all times. So he did the laundry, cleaned, cooked, and occasionally helped out with his Master’s work, doing little, mundane tasks for him so he could work without interruption. The tasks were never living up to the map of skills the machine had, but they didn‘t need to. Android 04 was never complaining. Of course he wasn’t, that was not in his nature. Only humans could complain.

The small android rarely made any mistakes, the only, minor issues came with cooking since he couldn’t really judge how well it tasted. A machine had no desire or even need to eat. Although with more instructions and exercise, he improved fairly quickly and Mr. Park seemed to be pleased. At night, Android 04 would charge. There was not much about his life, it was fairly simple.

So, with everything going well, what was the issue? It actually came very, very slowly. Like a sunset, approaching slowly without anyone noticing. And suddenly it would become dark.

Android 04 would often watch his Master. With Mr. Park being the only person around him, he depended a lot on watching him to develop his Artificial Intelligence. It was needed to grow and improve. And, fairly often, Android 04 was just confused while watching the human.

There was just something so off about this man, something he could not understand.
His core knowledge was quite limited, there were a few basic pieces of information installed. Certain kinds of speeches, face recognition to sense basic emotions so Android 04 could act accordingly. It was very limited because the scientist didn‘t feel like there was much of this needed. He wanted a machine, not a human after all. So Android 04 had to watch him a lot, even if there often was not much to see for the Scientist resembled a machine pretty accurately. Android 04 found himself the difference between humans and machines fairly early.

Mr. Park’s days weren’t extremely eventful. He would rise early in the morning, going for a run on the large property and then shower and have breakfast that 04 would have prepared by then. He would then work in his office most of the days or leave the house to drive to the nearby city.
He was a well known scientist and engineer, specialised in humanoid beings. The reason why 04 was such an elaborate being that moved, looked and spoke exactly like a human was thanks to the man’s groundbreaking research in the field he worked in. Park Chanyeol was a renowned personality among the industry and valued for his works and teachings. Yet despite his great contribution and success, he seemed to prefer being alone. Android 04 learned that Park Chanyeol was not overly fond of humans.
It should be easy to be liked by the man one might think. But despite Android 04 being a machine and exactly what Mr. Park seemed to want, it was not as easy as it might sound. It was quite the opposite.

His master turned out to be a very…. difficult one. Park Chanyeol was not a cruel person. He was not openly malicious towards him, yet he acted very hostile most of the time. He was neither lifeless nor completely inhumane, but there was just something about him. Something that Android 04 could not pinpoint. He did not think much of it at first, because, why should he?. After all, he was just a machine. Mr. Park was the only human he knew, the only human he had ever met. So there was no reason to doubt anything. That was probably how humans were, right? So nothing to be suspicious about. He just learned about Mr. Park’s persona and how to behave around it and moved on. Easy, right? That at least was what he tried.

So he watched Mr. Park sitting in his office day in and day out, occasionally enjoying a cup of coffee at his balcony while enjoying the peaceful, rural view of his property. He would rarely talk, so their days went by in silence. Sometimes, Mr. Park would like to listen to old, classic music and it would ade the halls of the large house. It was one of the first things that Android 04 actively decided that he liked. Music felt good in his ears.

Android 04 was free to roam around the house when he was not needed, but he had no idea how to spend his time or how to fill his day. Chanyeol had programmed a broad variety of skills into his code, he could do a lot of things, but spending his leisure time was not among them. At first, he did not mind, because the property was big and he used the free time to roam around the halls, trying to get in as many impressions of the large space as he could. The long corridors, the impressive paintings on the walls, the, sometimes modern and sometimes antique, interior of the different rooms. The different purposes of those premises. It was interesting. The whole house had such a big charme, it was built a couple hundred years ago as far as he knew, it had withstood all those centuries. Every corner had a story to tell that Android 04 liked to listen to.
A thing he also decided he was fond of was the garden. Large, green spaces and a lot of different plants that he liked to study, his repertoire of botanic knowledge was actually quite big. Occasionally he was instructed to water some of the plants but most of the garden work was something that Chanyeol liked to do because it was a great way to balance out all the time he was just sitting in his office. Only when Chanyeol was too busy, was he instructed to do a bit of garden work. The Android’s body was not intended for heavy, physical labor, but watering plants, it was something that was still easy for him to do.

But after a couple of weeks, he had seen everything. There was no more to explore. So he would just stand somewhere and wait until it was time for his next task. Technically, it should not be an issue for a machine that did not mentally rely on things happening. However, he did not know what it was, but after a while, Android 04 was… bored.

___________________________________________

„Master, is there anything left to do?“ Android 04 would ask a couple days after the realisation of boredom, watching as Chanyeol sorted through the files he was working on. The man looked up briefly, noticing the afternoon coffee 04 had just brought.
„No, you can go.“ Android 04 hesitated, the scientist noticing fairly quickly as he took a sip of his hot brew. Technically, he should obey, but there probably was something that still needed his attention, therefore Android 04 had deemed it necessary to not jump on the command immediately.

„Is there something else?“ He asked, watching as 04 averted his eyes, almost as if he was nervous. Chanyeol shoved that observation away. Probably just his imagination.
„I was wondering if there is maybe something to do in my spare time. I don‘t know what to do after my chores.“ He explained and it had Chanyeol irritated for a moment.
„Well, do you need something to do?“ He asked with a raised eyebrow, skeptical.

Android 04 was a machine, he was not real, therefore boredom was not something that he should experience.
„I think I should have something to do.“ It was a strange reply, but given that machine in front of him ran on an AI, it was not that surprising. Actually, it was quite an interesting aspect, the scientist in him thought. It was expected that he would evolve beyond what Chanyeol had added into his code, so it was fairly natural for 04 to develop his thoughts. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Well, even for a machine it presumably wasn‘t ideal to not do anything, especially for one with such an advanced AI, for he should probably use his spare time to develop in as many aspects as he could.
And he did find it quite annoying to have the thing linger around him, disrupting his work atmosphere with his presence. It was not like he did not notice the little machine staring at him from a distance. He was quite obvious.

So, with little thinking, he came up with an idea pretty quickly.
„The attic.“ He said, now moving to stand up. Android 04 crooked his head in confusion, moving to follow where the tall man was going. Something inside him weirdly… excited. Chanyeol led him upstairs to the highest floor of the house, a place he had never been before, for it was a bit hidden away in a corner at the end of the corridor and if not shown by his Master, he probably would have never noticed it.
It was a big, single room that was quite spacious and unlike any other room he had seen in this house. The A-shape of the roof bending the ceiling into two directions, making it impossible for anyone to walk at the corners, for the ceiling was too low, even for him. Android 04 was of quite a small build but not that small.
It was a very strange place to look at but Android 04 did like it a lot. The sunset was falling through its large window, dust visible in the lit-up air, dancing calmly through the room and 04 watched it in awe. He had never seen anything like this. It looked nothing short of ethereal, like… a dream.

„I want you to organize this space, it has become a mess over the years.“ It was then that the small android looked around. The room was full of things scattered around. Lots of books, documents, and miscellaneous items were waiting for 04 to get cleaned up and sorted through. A fortuitous affair for the machine.
He turned to Chanyeol and nodded, who was already on his way outside, more focused on going back to work than making sure 04 knew what to do. The Android was intelligent enough to be able to figure everything out.

And he did, probably more than Chanyeol had intended for him to do. However, at first, he was confused, not everything was familiar to him. Some objects were strange, others seemed kind of useless to him. Yet, the small thing got to work immediately, a foreign enthusiasm leading him, for he had finally gotten himself a task that would probably occupy him for at least a week if not even longer, judging by the space and amount of items.
There were a couple large shelves with books that seemed very, very old together with stacks and cartons full of loose documents and magazines, waiting to be thrown out. Everything was dusty and in need of a good cleaning.

Cleaning supplies were retrieved easily and the first evening was spent loosely sorting the objects, documents on one side, books on the other, furniture pushed away so he could have enough space to move things around. The sun slowly set, so what was once a golden arrangement of wooden objects and dust floating around, was soon replaced by a bluish hue and the wind shaking up the papers. It had the Android chasing after them, looking like a little puppy chasing a ball.

With that the android‘s boredom was something for the past. It was interesting. He really liked this room. There was an undeniable feeling of satisfaction upon seeing all the tasks he had already completed in his mission to give this room a new life. Android 04 liked the idea of ending the day with a little bit of a success. So when he made his way down from the attic, the feeling of a low battery was a positive.

04 was a highly complex being that ran on multiple different parts that required a lot of energy. And since his whole purpose was to be a mere help to Chanyeol, he had adjusted his destined energy use and charging time to fit his sleep schedule. Eight hours a day, Baekhyun would have to regain his energy in which he was put into standby. It was not sleep, but it was the closest to explaining it. Therefore, even 04’s days had an end and a beginning and it would help him structure the day and get a sense of human time that in turn was beneficial for Chanyeol.
Even if he wanted to continue, he had to stop eventually, noticing how his movements got slower, heavier. Just like fatigue, his system ran on a low battery. Mr. Park had told him to take his charging time seriously, as he shouldn’t rely on his Master helping him out in case he was not able to move anymore.

So that is why at one point, when the sun had long set and it was dark, he got up and moved downstairs, silently so as to not wake Chanyeol up even though the house was big enough so he shouldn't be heard.

Plugging himself to the charger was not something that required a lot of effort. It was simply done through a magnetic cable that would be attached to a point on the back of his neck that it easily connected to. 04 would automatically go into stand-by mode. It was probably what humans would probably call sleep. However, sleep was something that contained so many layers, different sleeping states, body movements, the automatisation of one’s breathing system and even dreams. Vivid dreams that helped them to process their previous day thus furthered their development. For 04, when he closed his eyes, it was only darkness. However, he was not sure, but there were some instances where it felt like there was more. Not just darkness but…. actual shapes. There were letters and faint, very faint voices and faces, not enough to be identified in any way. But those letters… they always stuck with him.

After approximately eight hours, his battery was fully recharged and 04’s system was brought back from standby mode. Eyes opened, the small android took off immediately where he had ended his thoughts last night. There was no fatigue, no heaviness in his movements, no trouble getting out of bed. Not like he was in one in the first place, his charging station was a backroom of Chanyeol’s study.

Android 04 did not ponder on the fact that his sleep was not real sleep, yet there was just something that seemed off that day. It irked him as he pulled off the plug on his neck, his mind on high alert like always. He did went about his day like always, but never to be left feeling like something was… missing

___________________________________________

The attic was full of things he had never seen. Some things just old and not usable anymore, some almost foreign to him, seemingly from another time. One where machines like him did not exist yet. Androids were a pretty normal belonging now although not affordable for every class, thus labeling them as a common luxury.

He was especially amazed by all those books. Mr. Park had lots of books in the living room and in his study, but it never felt like he was allowed to look at them. This time, it was different. It felt like his creator had given the attic to him. Like he could explore himself. And so it did not feel like the books were off limits anymore.
He knew he did not have the time to read those books anytime soon, his task was a different one for now. Chanyeol had given him this mission and a part in his AI did not allow him to indulge in all this writing before he had finished it.
But a thing he really liked to do was read every title of the book. And the author’s name. So many names. It took a little while for 04 to process those words were in fact names, and a bit longer to realize none of them were numbers.

It never came to his mind that there was a difference between those two. He never had a particular feeling towards his identification, but reading all those beautiful names, he found Android 04 to be bland. There was no ring to it. But maybe it was intentional. He knew why, but he shoved the thought away. Instead, the small robot wondered what his human name would be. He had recognized a pattern after a couple names. They mostly consisted of two words, sometimes three. He was not quite sure how they were used, but the pattern always seemed kind of similar. 04 came up only with one word for himself, though, one name.
Not quite sure what the second word should be, he spoke the word out loud. Definitely had a ring to it.
It was the one made with the letters that he would sometimes see at night. He wondered if that was what a dream was like, maybe?

04 kept on sorting through the bookshelves while mouthing this name over and over, removing all the books to dust off the shelving and put them back. A small extra row developed quite naturally, where he would place the books with interesting titles or author names. Something to be read later. He was quite surprised to find the same concept of names when it came to find his way through CD’s and old vinyls. He had never thought about the concept of music, as he skimmed through the titles, wondering how those big vinyls had to be used in order to play music.
However, he could not find interest in finding it out yet, for his mind kept wandering off to the string of letters in his head, the ones from his dream, that didn’t seem too keen on leaving his conscious mind.

___________________________________________

It needed courage, something that was never intended for someone like him. Why would a machine need it, they had no desires. But for Android 04 it was very hard.
„Master.“, he would ask one day, carefully placing the dishes Chanyeol had used for his dinner on top of each other so he could carry them to the kitchen. The balcony the taller had chosen to dine on today giving view to the many many stars the sky harbored. It was more of a patio, placed on the ground floor so there was no real height to it. Definitely not more than two meters down until the garden would start, grass pushing against the stone wall that served as railing. Yet it still looked beautiful and everything could be looked at so clearly. With the area being secluded from the city, there was no light pollution, thus making everything so visible to see. It distracted the machine for a couple of moments, for his mind wandered to the insignificant place the human earth probably was. Was he insignificant, too?

Actually, he did not want to have an answer for that.

"Is there something?" Mr. Park would ask. 04 hesitated, not talking at first. Instead, the small robot crooked his neck, almost like he contemplated whether he should proceed. He decided to go through with it. It was important to the robot. So he answered, finally.
„Y-yes. Actually I was wondering if I could have a name.“ He decided to finally blurt out. Chanyeol paused and looked at him. He then laughed. Laughing was good, right?

„But names are for humans.“

04 was not sure what to say, he felt crushed. He lowered the dishes onto the table again, looking down onto the expensive porcelain. There was nothing invading his nostrils, despite the scent of food still lingering in the air. Just another reminder of his mechanic shell. He avoided his eyes from that, too. His insides working hard, he tried to come up with a convincing reply.
„B-but… people give their pets names, too. Right?“ He looked up, a pathetic hint of hope on his face. It had Chanyeol stifle another laugh, cruelly so, as he leaned over the table, right into his direction.

„Let me make it clear to you.“ Voice so threatening it had 04 back away for a bit, even he, with his very little knowledge about human emotions, understood that tone. Chanyeol‘s only intention was to hurt. He didn‘t need to be cautious, right? Because Android 04 couldn‘t be really hurt.
„Name‘s are for those with a beating heart.“
It left Baekhyun completely defeated, rendered to be nothing after all.
Chanyeol raised his eyebrow in irritation, for Baekhyun looked genuinely sad. Something that should not be possible.

For some reason, Chanyeol‘s heart went soft for the split of a second, for the small figure did look so miserable. He could not remember for artificial eyes to look so sincere, for them to look so vulnerable and longing.

„Well, how do you want to be called then?“ He asked, maybe it was curiosity or maybe, maybe a small part in him actually wanted to consider.
The little android‘s eyes crinkled into little crescents as his mouth raised into a smile. Happy, almost.
„Can you call me Baekhyun?“
Chanyeol‘s heart hardened instantly.

“Where did you get this name?” He asked, an unusual tone in his voice the machine could not pinpoint. Baekhyun blinked at his Master, remembering the letters at night.
“I … I saw it in a dream.”

Teeth pushed together as his jaw tightened, 04 realized he had given another wrong answer.
“You can’t dream.” Harsh word spoken by a venomous tongue resulting in severe bewilderment within the robot’s system.

“So no.” The man stood up. “I can not call you that.”
Suddenly he was towering over the small android and 04 crooked his head in confusion. What did this mean? He made a step forward, so naturally 04 had to follow, making a step backward so the human would not crash into him. However, apparently that was exactly what he wanted to do. 04 felt large hands on his chest and shoulders.

Maybe Mr. Park truly hated him at that moment. Truly despised him. Large hand pushed against 04’s small chest, he could not withhold the brute of the push in any way. But even if he had the body strength, he would never be allowed to use it against a human anyways.

It was probably more bitterness than actual anger that Chanyeol felt at this moment, but 04 did not know that. There was no information in his system to tell him how to react, so he only stared blankly at his Creator, watched as the annoyed expression turned into that of… fear? Was Chanyeol afraid? But for what? 04 did not understand it though as his small body fell over the railing of the patio. His sensors took in the air right at his fingertips from the speed of his fall. It was not long, maybe a couple of seconds but looking into Chanyeol’s eyes, watching as he leaned over the railing, hand spread out, it felt so much longer.
Why was Mr. Park’s face like that? How did fear and anger match?

There was an impact, but nothing to be felt. As his body crashed into the hard lawn, his vision turned black for a couple of moments, his sight getting filled with black spots that seemed to jump in front of his eyes. It was… strange. 04 noticed he lost connection to his hand as his body came in contact with the floor in front of it. 04 was confused. His vision blurred at the harsh impact, his processor momentarily glitching
.
04 wanted to get up, but it felt as his body was locked in this position, frozen in a state he could not control. His eyes, still layered with black dots, turned towards the arm he had lost connection to and it did not look like it should, weirdly twisted away from him. He blinked, the impact must have damaged something.

He looked up and suddenly he felt …. sad? Mr. Park was not there anymore. There was a weird feeling inside of him, had he been abandoned?
It was nothing like this. 04 looked up, no pollution, only stars. Shining so brightly onto the dark blue canvas that was the sky. It was pretty, he thought. What made things pretty? he wondered. Was he pretty? Did all humans find the same things pretty?
Chanyeol’s face shoved itself into his vision, his eyes able to catch his attention easily. Way easier than the stars would. Mr. Park was very pretty, he concluded. He wondered what it was that filled Chanyeol’s thoughts as the man scanned the android, his eyes lingering at his twisted arm. Occasionally at his eyes, the scientist would find them to be messy, flickering, defocusing and glitching, sometimes shutting off and on. 04 found it hard to focus as the dark spots would sometimes overtake his vision and he discovered that it was something he did not like, for it rendered him unable to look at Mr. Park. He was so, so pretty. That was his last thought before his system finally shut down.

The rest was a blur, he would only occasionally be able to open his eyes, his system trying to boot up multiple times, but there must have been some malfunction for it was never successful. His head had also been impacted greatly by the fall, the soil beneath the lawn may be soft, but it still had the ability to damage. He briefly thought about what would happen to a human if he would fall. Would humans survive this damage? What would happen to their system? Would they malfunction, too?

Whenever he slipped into a brief cohesive state of mind, he experienced different sensations. One of them was to be picked up from the grass, two large hands lifting him and he felt his head lolling towards something hard. Mr. Park’s chest he assumed. He would see broad shoulders, blurry and still hidden by those black spots. He would also hear a deep voice and his sensors picked up the vibrations from within Chanyeol’s chest. However, his sensors could not pick up a sound, something must block that part in his hearing.
So 04 would never know the multiple curse words that left Chanyeol’s lips.
The , the what have i done? and the i’m sorry. An expression he would never be able to hear from Mr. Park ever again.

Was it… regret?

Chanyeol placed Android 04 onto the chair in his office gently, almost as if he would break him any moment if he was not careful enough. And who knows, maybe he would. For a short moment he wondered why he cared about that, 04 was a machine and nothing more. Everything about him was replaceable. But there was just something about violating someone that looked so real. Even the weight in his hand when carrying the small android felt real. He should not feel bad… but he did.
He took a couple of seconds to look into the Android’s eyes, take in the unfocused eyes, that would sometimes turn completely black. The weirdly mechanical movements every time 04’s system crashed and he would reboot only to crash again. It was strange to observe, for it looked like a human slipping in and out of consciousness. His gaze then wandered to his arm, twisted in a strange angle from the elbow down. It did not look pretty.

Chanyeol did feel bad for damaging him. But how could he not? How could he not when this … thing, this machine had just spoken those words. How was he able to pick up this name? It was impossible… right? He had implemented no such thing for the small android to know about this.

He shoved the thought away, after all, Android 04 was an investment, it was not cheap to manufacture such a highly developed machine. So he was in no place to harm or destroy it. He could in no way deny the storm of emotions that would sometimes seep through his veins, his heart, while looking at 04. But he did this to himself so he needed to deal with it.

He tended to his system first, wanting to check and fix it first in case it would crash once again and do more damage. With the machine plugged in swiftly by the magnetic connection at the back of his neck, he quickly fixed the issue with a simple line of code, causing 04 to shut down completely and stay shut so the disruption the impact of the fall had caused could stop. There was nothing damaged, he was lucky, so once everything was cooled off properly he would reboot again without any loss or prolonged damage.

With that issue solved, he turned to sit in front of the android, now ready to repair his arm. To be frank, it was a bit unsettling to touch the twisted skin, for artificial skin nowadays barely had any difference to human skin. Sure, it did not regenerate itself and it was not part of a real living organism that was the human body, but it did feel very much real. Soft and smooth, especially 04’s hands were very pretty. Even with doing all his chores, there was nothing that blemished it due to its durability. However, even the most durable material had its limit, Chanyeol noticed as he raised his gaze, watching the twisted arm. For a short moment, he wondered if it hurt. But he remembered quickly, it couldn’t. It was very stupid, why even did he think of such nonsense?
Shaking his head, he got his scalpel and utensils ready. He would have to cut the skin open to fix the joint and then seal it close again, it would be a seamless procedure once he was done. Chanyeol went to work quickly, he had done this multiple times already for many other androids he had built or helped build for companies, yet it felt weirdly different this time. Maybe because it had never been his fault for having to repair a damaged robot. Maybe it was because this was done by his own hand. His cuts were precise and only where needed, it was not complicated and he only had to replace a couple of components.

Halfway through fixing 04’s joint, the Android would finally reboot again. A vibration went through the whole machine and Chanyeol noticed his fingertips twitching, a natural occurrence. He looked up from his work, right into 04’s eyes. He probably did not see his creator yet, for his vision would only be started a bit later in the booting process, so Chanyeol had time to watch the lifeless irises getting colorful, a pretty golden brownish hue he had picked, moving around as if to test their functionality. Once the test was successful, his vision could be activated. By the time 04 could see again, Chanyeol had already removed his eyes from his face and was back to removing a part from the machine’s elbow. Android 04 was pretty, he had to admit. But then again, it was a given, right? Modeling his assistant after something he liked to look at? Why would one design a machine and make it not appealing? Baekhyun had pretty, round eyes, full cheeks and pretty lips that were probably just as soft as real ones. His frame delicate and his hands so divine, he had detailed him as much as he could. Even down to a little mole on his index finger. It was not bad, right?

Android 04 was… confused. Could he be confused? Luckily, the fog of ignorance was quickly lifted, as information was quickly directed towards his main processor and he remembered. The fall. He looked at Chanyeol. Mr. Park had pushed him. 04 looked down at his elbow. He had damaged him.
He attempted to move his arm, he did feel a connection again, courtesy of Mr. Park replacing a destroyed connection cable, but he was quickly stopped by his Creator, locking his fingers in his so he could not shift them anymore.
“Don’t move. I am not done yet.” He commanded and, of course, 04 listened. He watched as the scientist repaired his arm. Mr. Park was a lot taller and bigger than him, his arm longer than his, now that he saw it in direct comparison. His hand was so much larger and not as delicate as his own. Was every human like this? Were they different?

Android 04 was not sure… about anything. What did Chanyeol’s reaction mean? Why did it throw him off so much, that 04 has asked for something as simple as a name? Was that forbidden? What was it, about simply wanting to be someone? It fueled the curiosity within Baekhyun, but of course he did not ask. He didn’t know what it was, maybe he was… afraid? Humans being violent was not something good, so much he knew. And for Mr. Park to become violent… maybe he shouldn’t have asked this question. He concluded to not ask again, it was the logical decision in this situation.

But, 04 still wondered as he sat there and watched Chanyeol apply a layer of liquid onto the part he had sliced open, knowing it would turn into proper skin soon, why was the thought still not leaving his head?
04 still wanted to be someone, he wanted to have a name. He did not like thinking of himself as Android 04, it did not feel like who he was supposed to be. It did not even feel like a real thing. Was ist forbidden? Not wanting to be an item, but rather something that was living?
He looked at Mr. Park, face stretched into a scowl, jaw hardened as he finished up his work. He did not seem happy. 04 wondered, did machines deserve an apology? Violence was bad, right? But was it a human’s duty to apologize to someone like him? Android 04 felt like he would like to hear an apology.

His wish was not bad, right? He knew it very clearly went against his creators' demands, but there was just something that didn’t want to be bound by those rules anymore.
So, even with Chanyeol denying his request, even going so far as getting violent, Android 04 had decided. At least for himself, he wanted to be someone, so he decided to be Baekhyun.
So from now on, Baekhyun liked to write the name down or speak it out whenever Chanyeol was not around to chastise him.

___________________________________________

Chanyeol always tried to reason with himself as he watched the android. The only reason he had modeled him like this was because he knew this face like the back of his hand. It was easy to create. At least that’s what he always told himself. The reality laid a bit deeper, nestled in a mixture of love and hate. Chanyeol‘s desire to experience love while never losing control. He had given up on love already, but he still wanted someone to pay, his life had never been kind to him, so he did not know how to be kind himself.

___________________________________________

Baekhyun did very well when it came to not reading the books. However there was one thing that captured his attention beyond just normal literature. Hidden in one of the cartons stacked with old papers, it stood out like a sore thumb once it was revealed. A booklet, bigger than a usual book, carefully confined in leather, it looked a bit like an ancient document. But what Baekyhun found inside the book was far from being ancient, it was quite the opposite as it seemed to be a scientific report, almost like a dissertation. The leather binding was smooth under his fingertips, an interesting sensation. It was a foreign feeling, something he had never felt before, imprinted on it were the simple words Theory of Love. Baekhyun crooked his head in confusion, what does this mean? Love? What was love?
He knew about the limitations within his system, he was not to read the books unless he was done with his work, he really knew it.

But it was just something about it, the book so contrasting to all the other ones, he just could not help himself. So he opened it in an unusual wave of anticipation. What he found was handwriting instead of typed letters. Baekhyun was not sure if he had ever seen a handwriting that was not Mr. Park’s scribble that he had trouble reading. The writing he saw now was beautiful. The written on paper was not bound like the other books, it was mere documents and written papers put in there loosely, almost threatening to fall out like they didn’t belong there. Baekhyun, curious to say the least, looked at the time, it was not too late. Mr. Park would not come home until much later, so there was no reason to feel bad for not doing his duty.

He could bend the rules a little, right? Not like Mr. Park cared what he did in his free time. So he couldn't indulge himself a little, no? His eager eyes set themselves down the first page, taking in the letters all over the pages. He was infatuated from the start to say the least.

THEORY OF LOVE

Love. What exactly is love? I should probably know about this feeling, given that I have spent a decent amount of time in this world. But to be quite frank: I don’t know. I wish this would provide a proper piece on what this word means. I wish I would know how it feels. I wish I would be able to receive it. I wish I would know what it was about, that this world always seems to put on a pedestal. To be worshipped like the elixir of life. Like the system human’s ran on.
But I just can’t. I can’t. I can’t.

So instead, I hope this will give an insight of my journey on finding out about it. About love. Dear Reader, please don’t judge me for using this word so frequently, you must know, I wish it would not cross my mind so often and just leave me alone forever, too. But the truth is, it doesn’t. The only true knowledge of love I have, is that it hurts. I have been in this pain for far too long.

Love hurts. That is what this work will start with. However, I dearly hope it will not end like this, too. So I am going to document my research in this, trying to find love.

I figure to start this off, it is essential to explain myself further. But to do that, I think I need to further a bit of information on myself. I, Kim Junmyeon, have never received love. I have lived my life alone, forgotten by everyone. Just a side piece in my own story. Humans are not inclined on showing affection towards me and I have never understood how and why. I am a human myself, too, right? Yet I have been living a lost life, one that had never been kind to me. I have accepted it already, that humans would not give me what I need. No words, no tender touches, no love.
Therefore, I have decided to turn my back on them and use my funds to acquire something that can give it to me.

The question I want to answer is: can I make artificial touches genuine? Can I create something that will fill the void in my heart despite it not having one of their own?

However, Artificial Intelligence is a manmade creation, so in the very end, would that not make it human, too?

Baekhyun was confused as he finished the first page. He had read many texts throughout his short period of existence, helping Chanyeol with research, but he never had words resonate within him like this. The small android had troubles understanding what Kim Junmyeon was talking about in his research, but in a way, it made sense.
Artificial Intelligence, that was what Baekhyun relied on. It was something that Chanyeol had implemented in his system so he could grow and develop his skills, making it easy for Chanyeol because he did not have to teach him everything himself. It would be time consuming.
His AI was essential for him to exist. He could do and process many things solely because of it. But could creations like him give love?

I have started my new project, Baekhyun read further.
It will be one of my most developed robots I will ever create. I plan on developing the project to the point that calling it a robot will no longer be necessary. It shall no longer identify as such. Project 00 is supposed to give me what I long for. And in turn, I will give him the ability to be human.

The android found himself intrigued as he read those lines. The ability to be human. Was this what machines were actually capable of? Baekhyun wondered, what did it mean to be human? His thoughts quickly wandered to the only human he knew: Mr. Park. He did not seem so far off to what Baekhyun was. There was no certain behavior on the outside that indicated a difference between Mr. Park and his creation. If there were inside processes that differed from Baekhyun’s, he could not tell because it seemed to change nothing in his characteristics as a functional being. There were bodily functions that were different. Mr. Park had to eat, sleep and clean himself. But those were also characteristics of animals. So what was it, that was exclusive to humans?

Was it possible to create someone like him, a machine, that was human without defining what a human was? Baekhyun really wanted to know.

Kim Junmyeon was a scientist, Baekhyun read in the documents as he looked through them. He had used all his knowledge and funding to work on a very special kind of Artificial Intelligence.
A special kind?

He found himself losing his functions earlier that day, a result of his system being put to a heavier use today, thus draining his battery faster than usual. It had the small robot wondering for a couple of moments. Was it the physical work … or the thinking? The reading? Was this something that happened to humans, too? How tired could they become? He kind of wanted to ask about it.
Of course he did not, instead making his way downstairs.

It was then when he properly realized it, Baekhyun did not have a room of his own, his charging station was a backroom of Mr. Park’s personal office, exactly where the Android had first opened his eyes. The machine had figured out by now, that this was not how humans rested, far from it actually. They had a destined room for it. A bedroom. With a bed to lay on and a blanket to put on top of them. Baekhyun couldn’t really understand it, but it seemed very peaceful. A harmonious environment.

But when looking around now, eyes a bit unfocused due to his low battery status and steps a bit unsteady, it did not seem peaceful at all. Not like he was able to judge, but the interior did not seem as one would expect a personal room nor like how Chanyeol’s bedroom looked like. But… he was no person, so he did not deserve a personal room, right? So the sterile interior, the table with some research paper, the random instruments and his docking station were fitting, right? The only thing that could be remotely personal was a little stack of clothes for him to change into. It was only a couple of items. He did not have to change like humans, there was no hygienic reason for him to do so. Baekhyun only changed his clothes when they would get dirty due to cooking or cleaning. Baekhyun looked at them in thoughts as he moved towards the cable he would have to connect himself to, right where his neck was. It was the most vital point of his body. In this moment of time, the only thing that belonged to him were these clothes. Mr. Park did not care which of them he wore, so those items were the only ones that gave him options. Those pieces of clothing were the most human thing about him right now.

Naturally, Baekhyun made an effort and changed into different clothes the next day, not because he needed to, his current set was perfectly fine, it was simple… want. He wanted to wear those clothes. Make a choice, just like real humans did.

Chanyeol, of course, did not notice the change of clothing. Not like he would ever care, how and why Baekhyun changed was not of his concern. A small part inside of Baekhyun wanted for him to notice, for the machine it was a big thing, a human thing. Sometimes humans complimented each other on their clothing choices, he had seen on TV, if they were pretty. 04 looked down onto the yellow polo shirt and the beige pants. Maybe this was not pretty?
The android shoved the thoughts away, though, for there were bigger things on his mind right now.

Next to his newly found task of the attic, he still needed to attend to his usual chores. His first task of the day was the laundry, this time, he paid extra attention to the different kinds of clothing he would sort and put in the machine. There were a lot of whites, greys and blacks among Chanyeol’s clothing. Baekhyun preferred his yellow polo. Yellow was pretty, it reminded him of the sunset.

However, his system was still contemplating over the stuff he had read yesterday, Mr. Kim’s theory, so when he went to the Master’s bedroom, carrying a basket full of freshly folded clothes, he was lucky to be met by Mr. Park. The tall man only sent him a small glance upon his entrance while putting a few things on his bed. Mr. Park would drive down to the city later that day to run some errands. Something he regularly did because they lived in a secluded, rural area. No shops or even neighbors. Mr. Park valued being alone. As far as Baekhyun knew, he also regularly did some research and taught classes at some of the city’s universities. Mr. Park seemed to be a very important person.

The small android silently made his way to the closet to store away the fresh laundry. He did not notice the glance Chanyeol would send him occasionally, watching the small figure taking every piece of clothing with extra care and placing it right where it should be. Chanyeol had to admit, his closet had never been as tidy as it was with 04 around. He did his chores very well. The fact that the machine was barely noticeable helped as well.

However, the small thing could not help but speak after a while, figuring it was the best chance to get an answer he would have right now.

“If I may, I have a question.” Baekhyun said as he neatly stored his Master’s freshly folded clothes into his spacious closet, not yet ready to look at the tall man. Chanyeol was leaning over the bed, storing his things in his bag for his trip later. Chanyeol liked to be left alone, this included not being bothered by the small android that was Baekhyun, but he always tried to be attentive to his questions, observing the progress on the work he had done on him. He wanted him to work efficiently after all. It was probably the inborn curiosity of his profession, too. Scientists loved to observe progress and learn.

“Sure.” The robot got a reply and Baekhyun made sure his creator’s button up’s had been neatly ironed before he placed them onto the clothing rack. Still deeply engrossed in his work, he asked, not realizing the severity of his question.
“What is love?”

Chanyeol scowled, not visible for 04 however, and would not even think about the words, instead, his reply came promptly.

“A nuisance.” Voice deep, it had Baekhyun halt in his work and turn his head, watching as Chanyeol closed the zipper of his bag.
“It is nothing that should concern a mechanical being. That is not in your nature.” He explained and Baekhyun nodded, because that was what he was used to doing when Mr. Park spoke. He seemed visibly upset by the question, maybe it was not a good thing after all? He turned his head back to his task, grabbing another button up to place it into the closet.

“But why does it stick to my mind then?” He asked, although it was not loud enough for Chanyeol to hear, the scientist suddenly engrossed in his own thoughts.
It was strange, Baekhyun figured. Why was this word clogging up his system so much? He would like to know. However, he chose to store that question away together with the clothes.

It would still not leave his mind, Mr. Park's reaction to it only made him more curious, for it seemed strange. He thought about Kim Junmyeon’s words and how love was something he was longing for despite it hurting while his creator seemed to be deeply appalled by it. Like it was something bad. Baekhyun remembered when Kim Junmyeon talked about how he only knew that love hurt, maybe Mr. Kim was wrong altogether? Pain was bad, right? Maybe Mr. Park was right that it was a nuisance. Maybe he was lucky... that it was nothing that concerned him.
But then, again, why would it not let him go?

He spent the day catering to his chores, Chanyeol would leave in the middle of the day, probably staying for the night in the city. It was a pretty long drive he would occasionally stay overnight if it was already late and he was still outside. That left Baekhyun with more time for himself as usual, for he didn’t need to prepare his Master’s meals. He crammed his work in the shortest timeframe possible, something akin to anticipation curling inside him to go back to the attic.
It was earlier than yesterday when he arrived, so the room was not yet soaked into the light of the sunset, it was very much still broad daylight that was seeping through the windows.

Coincidences wasn’t a concept that Baekhyun was familiar with. So when he made his way through the attic to continue exactly where he had finished off the day before, he was finding out that surprise was quite an exciting feeling.
A lot of things in the room had never been really clear to him, or he had not really managed to properly look at it. One of those items had just been a collection of wooden pieces that did not make sense. But looking closer, Baekhyun noticed that it was a large frame turned sideways. He crooked his head and his eyes widened as he approached the dark wood. It was a bed frame. A bed.
Baekhyun now looked around the spacious room and suddenly… this felt like it made sense.

His mind went wild. In a good way. Mr. Park…. he did not really care what he made out of this space, as long as he cleaned it up, right?
Something inside of him probably knew about the strange nature of his idea, of how unfit it was for someone like him. And something told him that Chanyeol would not appreciate his concept, so he kept it towards himself. He did not need to know, right?

A room for himself had never been on Baekhyun’s mind, he had thought it, but never about actually having one, for it did seem strange, even to him. But now that he reflected about it, thought about the sunlight that would come through the windows of the attic. Thought about how much he liked it and would, quite often to be honest, pause his work to just watch the sun hiding as it would slowly get darker. The way the wooden walls of the room would turn into the color of the sunset was so beautiful. It really did seem like this room was perfect for him.

His mind was momentarily clouded as he thought about how Chanyeol would probably not even find out, for he did not care about what he did with this room. He had told him to clean and declutter it, yes, but even after days, he had never questioned his progress or even came up to check on him. Mr. Park certainly did not care.
Baekhyun was not even sure if that was true, for he agreed to that thought quicker than he should. He just wanted to have a place for himself. He wanted something that was his.
So he cheated through the maze that were his thoughts way too easily, trying to justify what he was doing with loose explanations.
There was a certain and sudden enthusiasm about him, that had him work quicker than he had intended on.

Baekhyun worked hard, the trips he made up and down a lot, for he had to get rid of the things destined to be thrown away. He also assumed he must look a bit silly when sneaking into the guestroom the farthest away from the main staircase, knowing that Mr. Park would probably never enter it anyways, and take the bedding with him. A pillow and a cover, the thick fabrics dwarfing him as he bundled them up and carried them up the stairs. For something that was filled with feathers, they were quite heavy, he had noticed.

He tried to not be too greedy, so he only reached for a couple of things that he thought he needed. A couple covers and the lightbulb from the guest room’s night lamp, for he had seen a pretty antique lamp in one of the many boxes in the attic that he could use for when it got dark.

The last thing he took from the room was the mattress. People slept on mattresses, Mr. Park had one, too. Pushing it all the way up the stairs to the attic was quite a task and Baekhyun had feared to fall, for the size and weight of the item was a bit overbearing for his small frame. He was not built for so much labor and such heavy things. He figured his battery would run out quicker than usual that day, for he needed a lot of energy. But he did not mind. At all. It was the opposite. Because tonight he would sleep like a human!

Baekhyun never noticed the smile on his face, the way it washed onto his lips in little moments, making his cheeks look so full and lively. He had smiled before, in front of the mirror, when he tried to resemble what he knew to be a human smile. Not like Mr. Park ever smiled, so he did not exactly know what it looked like. So he tried it a lot of times, but those were artificial smiles. Not because he was artificial, but because they had no cause. Happiness needed a cause, right?
So they could never compare to the small Android’s face glowing as he finished making space where he wanted it to be, pushing the bed frame against the wall, right under the large window that gave him the most beautiful look onto the land of his Master’s property and the field way behind it. He could even see the big city that seemed so far away. But the most important was the sunset. He could not wait to watch it in his free time.

Baekhyun made a couple of steps towards the bed, wanting to know how it felt under his fingertips. He had never laid in a bed, sat on the padded seating of the sofa in the living room, yes, but not a bed. He could not wait for himself to explore what that sensation was.
But to complete his mission, there was one thing left to do.
He hesitated a bit, but eventually, he would make his way downstairs. He crossed Mr. Park’s bedroom on the way to the Master’s study room, the light was off. Of course, for he was still in the city. The office was empty, yet it felt forbidden, even more so than everything he had done in the past hours.

Maybe it was because he was tired, because his energy was low, but he did not feel like he did something wrong as he sneaked into the room he usually spent the night in. However, he was not brave enough to turn the light switch, so the room was kept in darkness, it was the north side of the building, so the premise was already significantly darker than the other side of the mansion. Only the moonlight revealed that Baekhyun, in fact, was there.
He made a couple steps, only the ones necessary, until he reached his charging station. Only a cable plugged into the wall, really. Nothing special. His meager collection of clothes placed onto an ordinary, boring chair. Baekhyun took both of them.

He walked quickly, as if he would be caught every second by no one, practically running by the time he was catching the last staircase. A breath of relief escaped his mouth once he was back.
Immediately, he was not worried anymore. It was as if the attic gave him a sense of security whenever he was up there. He knew Mr. Park would not notice those things, for he simply did not care.
With that, Baekhyun finally possessed a room of his own. A place to sleep. A place to be. A place only for himself to be someone.
Baekhyun was happy as he laid down that day, pulling the blanket over his head and looked up to watch the stars. It felt so normal.

___________________________________________

Cleaning and sorting through the attic also felt like sorting through his own mind. Baekhyun processed a lot of things and he figured out some of the things he wanted. As a machine, he could not want anything. But as a person he could, right?

Baekhyun would spend his days reading through the Theory of Love as he listened to classical music coming from the vinyls. He had finally figured out how to use them when he found a gramophone inside a carton. So soft music would accompany his little reading sessions, he kept the volume low and the door to the room closed so Chanyeol could not hear.
There were many pages and parts that he found interesting in Mr. Kim’s writing. Many of them deciphered his progress, some were boring because all they had were scientific research that Baekhyun found boring, but others were interesting statements and anecdotes about his research. There was one in particular that gathered his attention the most. Sitting on the ground, surrounded by books and boxes, Haydn’s 45th symphony playing softly in the background, he would read the following lines.

Sometimes I find it difficult to believe in a heart. Scientifically, I know what it is. I know what this meant for. It's to keep us alive, it's to give us the ability to love. To keep people inside our hearts that are dear to us. But who to keep? I don't have anyone, I wish I had someone. Being kept inside a heart is precious, I yearn to know that feeling. There are many definitions to a heart. Scientific ones, Objective ones, subjective ones, made up ones..
I want to create an artificial one. It may not make sense to you but what difference does it make? I want to create a heart in the mind. I did my research, I have not found an AI like the one I want to create. 00 will be the first form of its kind. The first one with a heart. I want to feel it beating against his chest as I lean on him, but I know it’s not that easy. My tests so far have been successful. I am still at the start of my research, it's not much, but I'm optimistic. I can feel it in my heart.

A heart. Baekhyun found himself intrigued, how does this work? Why was a heart so important for humans? He knew that a brain was essential for humans to function. It was their mind. It was the part inside of him right in his head, that mirrored the human brain, acting like the core of the system. That's where his artificial intelligence learned and developed. But what exactly was the heart inside of Baekhyun? The way Kim Junmyeon talked about the heart, it seemed essential for a human to survive, for he seemed to go to extra lengths to achieve it. If it was so important, shouldn't Baekhyun know about it? After all he was made to resemble a human being. However, he only much later realized that the absence of a heart was purely intentional.

___________________________________________

After the incident, Chanyeol hurting him, Baekhyun was wary, he still didn't didn't fully understand what had happened back then. But whatever it was, he was not keen on repeating it. The concept of rage foreign, he wasn't sure what it was that led Chanyeol to hurt his own creation. Even after Baekhyun voiced out his wish Mr. Park did not listen, he was still just a combination of numbers to him. Android 04. Baekhyun could not deny that this was something that did make him feel weird, it was like something in his chest dropped every time Chanyeol called him 04. The Robot always contemplated on correcting Mr. Park whenever he did so, telling him that he had a name. But quite frankly, Baekhyun was scared, what if Mr. Park shoved him again? He seemed to be fine with every other question he asked, but he made sure to disregard the one request that mattered to Baekhyun. It was like he insisted that nothing about Baekhyun was human in any capacity.

„Master, I was wondering about something.“ The android crooked his head as he looked up, hands busy polishing a series of steelen, artificial joints, limbs and hands his Master planned on showing his students in a future lesson, thus why it was Baekhyun’s task to oil, clean and polish them so they looked presentable. Chanyeol watched him this time from his place on the sofa, a book in his lap.

„You are wondering about lots of things these days, it seems.“ It was a mocking tone, one that Baekhyun could not decipher, he did struggle with things like sarcasm and irony. For a human, it would’ve probably been easy to understand that he shouldn’t continue, that it would be a fruitless harvest. But no matter how much he wanted to pretend, he was not real after all. Chanyeol did not spare him another glance as he continued with his book, the childlike questions of the machine sitting on the floor rarely needed his full attention. He hummed though, a deep sound that resonated within the small Android's system. The frequency so unlike everything else he would receive.

“What is a heart?” He asked, voice layered with curiosity.
The words so bluntly spoken, not realizing the weight in it, Chanyeol turned his head towards the small being.
“Why the question?”, he retorted and Baekhyun lowered his head, watching the intriguing arbitrarily created pattern of the marble floor he was sitting on. It probably was very cold, but temperature was not something that concerned an artificial being.

“I read it is something that beats in your chest, but nothing is beating inside mine.” Small hand placed on his chest as if to verify that there was nothing. He did not notice how Chanyeol raised his eyebrow in great irritation because it was replaced with the usual apathy once Baekhyun looked up again, wondering where 04 would have read such a thing. However, he did not ask.

“Do you have a heart, Master?”
The question made Chanyeol suddenly chuckle, for it seemed so obscure. It tasted bitter but it was nothing that 04 could decipher anyway.

“I figure there is something similar inside.” He answered, voice dry. The robot’s eyes went wide, a childlike innocence that Chanyeol could not remember implementing into his software. Yet it was here and the taller blamed it on the artificial intelligence that helped the robot learn.

“Master, do I have a heart too?” The question was so grotesque, but for some reason, Chanyeol enjoyed the well-displayed confusion on the small android’s face. For someone that asked so many questions, he barely understood the answers. So Chanyeol continued. “Well, do you feel a heart?” He asked and it confused Baekhyun.
“Feel? Feel what?” Baekhyun did not understand.
“You can feel the actual beating in your chest.” He explained, almost bored at this point, why did he explain something so bland like a heart to a machine?

“Can I touch it, Master?” Now that was a request he did not expect. The small android would kneel before his armchair now and Chanyeol hated how excited he looked. Why should a machine be excited? Why should it be curious? He didn’t let his thoughts wander too much, but he did not even notice that he nodded, allowing a certain spark to ignite within the Android’s eyes upon his request being approved. He sighed.

“A heart is something unique to living things.” Chanyeol explained as he watched the petite hand touch his clothed chest, feeling for his heartbeat. It was calm and even but everytime Chanyeol looked at his face, it seemed to fasten a bit. A motion pattern Baekhyun did not really understand. It was there but… how?

“It’s important for them to be able to live.” Baekhyun looked up, brows furrowed in more confusion.
“Living things? But Master, am I not a living thing, too?” Chanyeol lost himself in those dark, golden eyes fora moment, but then looked at him as if he was stupid and clarified, a hidden note of cruelness in his words.
“Real living things.”

The small robot felt something inside of him that he had never felt before at those words. But it was not a heart. It... stung. Suddenly Baekhyun did not feel like talking anymore. He lowered his head, fingertips leaving the spot he had touched. The spot that harbored Chanyeol’s heart. Beating against his touch. His small fingers wandered to his own chest, but there was nothing.

___________________________________________

The days became gradually darker for his mind, a place that seemed to plague him with many, many questions. He found himself thinking about how life would be if he was not created as a machine, but rather born as a human. Would life be easier? Watching Mr. Park, Baekhyun did not think it was. He would often seem pained, in rare moments where he did not realize Baekhyun was there. It was like sometimes a mask would drop off his face and he just seemed so sad. Was it loneliness? Mr. Kim was lonely too and it was evident in his writing, seeping through the ink he was writing with. The absence of human contact seemed to be able to utterly break people. Baekhyun related to the impact of negligence. He felt alone, too. But if both he and Mr. Park were alone, the easiest thing would be to just heal their sorrows together, right? Yet it was everything but what Chanyeol wanted, for he seemed to construct a big wall between them. He would reject everything human that Baekhyun wanted to be. More so, he would mock it whenever he looked into his face, as if his face was a trigger to act cruel.

So both ended up living their lives alone among each other, only coexisting. Chanyeol had no interest, only distaste.
Then why create me? Baekhyun would often ask himself whenever Baekhyun wanted to talk about something that Chanyeol found stupid. Yet the question was always left unspoken.

Reading Kim Junmyeon’s report seemed to be the only thing he could find comfort in, for he could relate to all of his words so much. Mr. Kim was why Baekhyun realized that not all humans were the same. They were different, they longed for different things. Even with all those other books in the attic, all he could pay attention to was Mr. Kim Junmyeon’s writing. Even after he had sorted through all the books and almost finished his work, he would come back to the Theory of Love.

Baekhyun would find different documents among the handwritten pages, scientific articles and publications that did not seem to be Junmyeon’s. They all talked about the AI he had created. Some were interviews with him. Baekhyun found that the articles had praised his work, framing his work as a success. But the machine would not read about the success in the interviews. It was the opposite, while all sides praised the scientist, Dr. Kim seemed defeated. It seemed weird to Baekhyun, how could the same thing contradict each other so much? Were the perceptions of his work so much different if observed from the public eyes and not himself? Without much restraint, Baekhyun found himself deeply indulged in the documents, trying to make sense of it.

Kim Junmyeon had failed his research, but till this day, his breakthrough with the AI he created was still unmatched. There was nothing alike. But instead of celebrating, it seemed that Kim Junmyeon felt like a failure more than ever.

I give up. Baekhyun could read in his handwritten notes. I will never be loved, reading this, it made Baekhyun… sad. I look at Project 00 … at Yifan… and sometimes I believe there is something inside of him. Something beyond mechanics and engineering. Sometimes he looks at me and I feel like there is something in his eyes beyond the glass and lenses they are made of. But then… nothing. It is time to accept it, I think. That love is not for me.

Baekhyun could find something in this writing that aligned so well with himself. The sorrowful words, the longing for someone that would never be able to give what he wanted, and the hope that would always be crushed.
It felt strange but in Baekhyun’s head it was like he was Kim Junmyeon and Chanyeol was Android 00. As if their roles were reversed. But…. Chanyeol was a human, right? So there should be a place for love somewhere inside of him. Humans didn’t rely on artificial intelligence, they were the intelligence androids were made to resemble after all.

“Master, who is Kim Junmyeon?” Baekhyun would finally ask one day, the curiosity of this strange persona he was reading about not wanting to let him go. Chanyeol did not look up from his book.
“He was a scientist, like me.” He explained and elaborated further.
“He created the AI that I used for you.” This came as a surprise to Android. He hadn’t gone that far to make the connection since their research purposes were so different.
It was quite hard for Baekhyun to accept, but Chanyeol had no interest in a heart. Dr. Kim had considered his research and his Android 00 as a failure. It worked perfectly, but to him, it was not what he wanted.

“So that means I am a failed project, too?” There was something inside his chest upon noticing that Chanyeol would finally look at him, it was hard to gather the scientist’s attention like this. So it was always a small but meaningful win to have the tall man look at him. To have Baekhyun take in his face, the almond-shaped eyes, storing it in the data inside his head for him to recall later.

“As far as I know, your AI module works perfectly, just like Mr. Kim’s research concluded, so why would you be a failure?” He asked. Baekhyun looked down.
“Dr. Kim considered what he created a defeat.” He said. “I read his notes. I don’t really understand them. But he wanted…. love?”
The small android looked up again upon the last word, a foreign combination of letters to him. Chanyeol was still not keen on explaining it to him. He even had read countless definitions of it, but it still didn’t make proper sense to him. Yet he felt deeply indulged in that word and what he read about it. It just confused him, because he could not properly understand it.
“I think I briefly heard about him researching an emotion centered AI, but I was not looking too much into it, as I am not interested in that.” Chanyeol explained, turning his head away and it felt like a loss to Baekhyun. He always loved when Chanyeol looked at him, sometimes he pictured him smiling at the small machine.

“Master, do you consider me as a failure?”

The answer came not that fast, for it had the Scientist in thoughts. If Chanyeol was completely honest, he had overlooked a lot of things. In the end, there was still something inside of him. Something that wanted exactly what 04 wanted to give to him. But the small part was swallowed and overthrown by the unending feeling of hate, misanthropy practically running through his veins. It was his default setting to hurt 04. After all, wasn’t that why 04 was made for? So he chose to dodge the question, for there were things even he was afraid of when thinking too much of his Creation.

“Well, you are working, right? Last time I checked, all your functions were intact so I don’t see why I should consider you a failure.“ Was the reply Baekhyun got and it did not feel satisfying at all. He did not feel like Chanyeol understood his question properly. Wasn’t Kim Junmyeon‘s goal to create a human-like being? One that would give him what he needed? But Baekhyun canceled this thought immediately because after all, Chanyeol‘s goal was not the same. It still didn’t answer the question, no matter if he looked at it from Chanyeol’s or Dr. Kim’s angle. Was he a failure? What even was his purpose by now? … Baekhyun gave up on the question once he realized Mr. Park was not willing to provide anything helpful to him.

Baekhyun’s system drained from energy fairly quickly that day.

___________________________________________

The robot knew about Mr. Park’s work as a professor at one of the city’s universities, he only loosely knew about the concept of education, so he was not all too familiar with it. He never spoke about it, would only leave the estate for a couple of hours around two times a week. This area of Mr. Park’s life had never affected Baekhyun, so he was quite surprised, when one day he was told that he was to attend one of his lectures. The current topics of his classes were about Artificial Intelligence and so it was only natural for his student to be interested in seeing one of their professor’s creations.

Baekhyun was surprised and both scared and excited. He had never left the property, always just seen the lights of the city from far away, wondering how it was. The thought of meeting humans that weren’t Chanyeol was so thrilling, for he hoped it would answer some questions of his. But he was also scared, what if it turned out that everyone treated him like Chanyeol did, like an object.
However, the excitement exceeded for the moment, the promise of learning so many new things about the world and the people living in it.
He tried to conceal his smile for the whole day he had been told the news, fearing that Mr. Park would somehow take back what he had said if he would see him happy. But even then, for the first time in a while, he felt like nothing could cloud his mind, like there was finally something to look forward to.
It was as if he realized that anticipation was something that made humans happy. That helped them carry on. Baekhyun really wanted to carry on for this.

The little android made sure to dress nicely, wanting to impress the people he would meet, missing the fact that his sheer existence was probably more than enough already to impress the students he would meet. Anything that moved like a human but wasn’t has to be impressive by default.
Yet Baekhyun did not bother to think about this, for those thoughts were immediately shoved away, they only reminded him of his inner demise. He rather spent his time making sure everything about his appearance was clean and he wore fresh clothes that fit well. He really wanted to look good. Of course Chanyeol did not care, however he eyed him longer than usual when Baekhyun met him in front of the house, scanning his appearance from top to bottom.
He wore simple jeans and the only sneakers Canyeol gave him, a simple pair, and a white button up carefully buttoned all the way up. The thing that caught the man’s attention was the yellow striped, woolen cardigan that he wore over it, an oversized fit but it still worked well with the small hybrid.

“Where did you get that?” Chanyeol asked, a frown on his face, index finger pointed towards the woolen piece of clothing while he fished out his car keys from his bag pocket. Baekhyun smiled at him, cheeks all round.
“I found it in the attic.” Almost proud of his find, yet Chanyeol did just nod absently, suddenly lost in his thoughts and Baekhyun crooked his head at that reaction. But he followed the man nevertheless as they made their way to Chanyeol’s car.

He had never sat in this car, there had been no reason to obviously. He faintly knew how it looked from the inside, sometimes he was sitting at the window watching as his Creator left the estate in this car, hands fixed on the steering wheel and eyes focused on the path.
The small machine, as naive and unprepared as he was, had not thought about actually sitting in a vehicle.
However, something in his stomach dropped as he followed his tall Creator, seemingly just mirroring what Chanyeol was doing. Walking to their designated place, open the door. Led by a concerned curiosity, the android looked around the interior of the car as he opened the door to the passenger seat. It seemed spacious, black leather stretching over the seats. They seemed quite soft.
Reluctantly, he got in as Chanyeol was already seated, turning to place his briefcase on the backseat.

„A-are you sure it is safe?“ He asked, voice genuinely concerned. Chanyeol swiftly put on his seatbelt, listening to Baekhyun doing the same, the robot mirroring his actions.
Baekhyun looked around warily as he sat down on the passenger seat. It was comfortable yet it seemed very scary.

„Your memory probably has more information on car safety than I do. You know it is safe.“ He curtly answered, starting the car.
Right when he buckled in, the car moved and the little android almost jumped, listening to the muted buzz of the car and feeling the faint vibrations of it moving. They probably weren’t as strong but the robot was quite sensitive to such things.
While this fact was nothing but true, it still did not ease the fear inside him at all. Where did this come from? There was no ounce of logic that could explain the lump in his chest, the way his knuckles tightened around the armrest of the car once it started moving. „It doesn‘t feel safe.“ He said, teeth pressed together. Chanyeol only spared him an irritated glance, the only acknowledgment he would ever give him it seemed, for he was used to it.

His mind did not even notice how small fingertips dug into the car seat as Chanyeol took to moving his foot on the accelerator in a fluid movement and had the car shift towards the big gate that separated Mr. Park#s property from the outside world. It was big and almost antique, edged into gold and shining so brightly when the sun would rise, a sight Baekhyun really liked. The gate moved on its own once Chanyeol approached it, allowing them to leave and even if the car was very scary, he knew it would be rewarding in the end, for he would finally see a world outside the fence. Outside this world that Chanyeol had created for him to live in.

With Mr. Park residing in a rural area, enclosed by nature, forests and country roads, the paths weren’t always the most pleasant experience. Baekhyun felt like he was going to be shattered into pieces at some occasions, but everytime he looked at Chanyeol, he was calm, so he took it as a guidance. Human confidence was a very vital aspect when it came to safety, he had learned. So with Mr. Park not caring about the bumpy road, it must be safe, right? It only made sense.

But why was it that Baekhyun felt such immense fear sitting in this car? As if something was bound to happen every second.
“Mr. Park, have you ever been in a car accident?” Baekhyun asked, noticing the way Chanyeol’s hold around the wheel tightened for a faint moment, almost not to be seen, but the android saw.
“Yes, there has been one.” The machine’s eyes wide, he turned his head in interest.
“Did you get hurt a lot?” He asked, sudden worry clouding his mind, for he pictured Chanyeol being in pain - a different one from what he knew he must feel.
Chanyeol gave him a quick side, watching as 04 sat in his passenger seat, the oversized, yellow cardigan on his lite frame and as he scanned his face, the situation was oddly familiar to a past memory. One that resulted in an arrangement of discomfort. His mind recalled the accident in his past, but he quickly pushed the memory away and focused back onto the street in front of him.

“Pain is hard to measure through time. I remember being in pain a lot.” Mr. Park replied as he stopped the car as they arrived at a railroad crossing that had just closed their gates, seemingly in thoughts as he waited for a train to pass right in front of him. The giant vehicle moving in front of him, making it both visible but also not quite clear to observe. The motion of the large vehicle a blur in his sight.

“But thinking about it now, I don’t think it was that painful. There are things that hurt more.” He explained, unusually open and Baekhyun soaked up every word the man would give him, storing them in his system like a treasure, for it was not always that Mr. Park would say such things to him. It was like a gift, so Baekhyun nodded. Chanyeol’s words a soothing layer over the unpleasant experience a car ride was, it almost made him smile. But in favor of not ruining the moment, he held back.

Baekhyun luckily survived the car ride, by the time they entered the city, he was too distracted to even be scared, for the view was just so out of this world. The large buildings right next to each other, the absence of nature, just houses next to houses, streets and cars making their way through the paths designed for them.
Even Chanyeol seemed almost amused at the way the small robot would pretty much be glued against the window of his seat, Baekhyun flush against the glass as his eyes went wide. Among all those colors, all those high buildings and movement, the thing that stood out the most where the humans. So many of them, Baekhyun had a hard time processing them. He deeply wanted to memorize every single shape there was but he just couldn‘t.
It was okay, he figured, soon he will be in a classroom with them. He would have enough time to look at them.

It was new, the feeling of being a part of his Creator, Baekhyun realized as they left the car. The android was left gawking over the pristine building that was the university. Not as tall as some other building they crossed, but not less proud, for it seemed like a momentum in itself. The method of construction more ancient and less modern, giving it the impression of keeping centuries of knowledge hidden behind the stone walls.
He was left walking next to Chanyeol, for he had no idea where to go and it was the first time he was really meant to be around him. It felt… good. They almost looked like they belonged together, they did, right? They were entering this building together and Chanyeol would even talk about him? Baekhyun could not help but smile as he made his way up the big stairs to enter the university. To bystanders, he must look like a student with a crush on his teacher, following him like a puppy. It was not far from the truth.

When Baekhyun imagined there to be humans he could look at, he did not expect this many humans. The auditorium was huge, row after row stacked with students until the very end of the room. Baekhyun looked from left to right, up and down, trying to take in everyone he saw. Humans came in so many different types, he would have never thought. His system momentarily overwhelmed, he noticed no one was looking at him, for he seemed like a normal human himself. He stood by the door, exactly where Chanyeol had told him to stay, so he was not in most people‘s vision, yet everyone that passed him didn‘t bat an eyelash.

That was good, Baekhyun thought, for it really was not obvious that he was not like them. Maybe they thought he was a student, too? The thought made the small android feel warm and he imagined himself sitting in those seats, mingling between other students in the rows. After all, he did not look much older than them, he assumed he could blend with them well.

However, suddenly all eyes were on him once Mr. Park started the lesson, the comfortable buzz of young adults talking among each other gradually silencing, until it was quiet. After a short greeting he extended his hand, gesturing for Baekhyun to come forward, meet him at the podium right at the center front of the auditorium. He did exactly that, making small, insecure steps toward the pult Chanyeol was standing on. He looked so good in his slacks, the perfectly fitting dress shirt and the blazer thrown over his broad shoulders. He wondered if all those students thought the same.
„Let me introduce you to 04.“ He said as the small machine made his way. He felt… nervous. The gasps of the audience ringing in his ears. Baekhyun realized that he had been a fool or thinking this experience would give him the opportunity to be human for a couple of hours, for it was very clear they did not see him as such.

„It looks so real.“

„Wow…“

„He‘s too pretty to be a machine.“

Baekhyun did not want to listen as he stood beside Chanyeol, almost contemplating on hiding behind the man. The robot was small, his lite form could easily hide behind Chanyeol‘s broad frame. Yet the large hand on his shoulder prevented him from moving, it probably was the first time Mr. Park would touch him randomly. It was the only thing keeping him sane, keeping that system in his head running smoothly, for everything in him wanted to escape those many eyes. He did try to focus on something else, but that was hard when he was made to process a lot of information at once. Chanyeol‘s voice was what stood out the most because Baekhyun longed for it the most. So he listened to the deep baritone, giving away technical details about Baekhyun and how he was created. It soon led to Chanyeol drawing away and Baekhyun turned his head to follow him with his eyes, hand on his shoulder now gone, leaving behind the warmth of a human. He knew it would be gone soon.
Chanyeol came back soon, this time, his hand wandered to his neck and Baekyun felt excited, for the touch was so welcoming. Maybe this wasn‘t as bad as he thought. However, it did not stay there, soon a magnetic cable was placed onto his neck and in just a couple of seconds, Chanyeol had connected the machine to his laptop.

It seemed kind of scary to Baekhyun to be so openly on display for all those students, he turned, eyes wide as he could see the coding of his mind on the big wall.
For the split of a second he was scared, scared that Chanyeol would see something that he was not supposed to. See things that Android 04 should not be supposed to have.
However, all that could be seen was lines of coding, that didn‘t make much sense to him. Baekhyun understood the basics, but his AI was not advanced in those technical details nor did he need to, for he was supposed to rely on his Creator.
However, it did seem to make a lot of sense to the students and Mr. Park, that went on and explained the basic software components he was made of and discussed it with the course.
Baekhyun listened, too, mainly because of Chanyeol‘s voice, of course.

„Mr. Park, did you create this AI?“ A student asked, leading to Chanyeol shaking his head. „No, it was created by a man named Kim Junmyeon.“ Suddenly, Baekhyun listened.
„Kim Junmyeon, wasn‘t this the scientist that went crazy or something?“ One student chimed in and a majority of the course chuckled over the anecdote, followed by some random chatter.

Baekhyun did not like the way they would speak about Mr. Kim, for he related to him so much, his loneliness and desire for humanity a perfect match to his.

„Whether he had personal issues or not, it is indisputable that Mr. Kim has played a big role in the research of Artificial Intelligence and till this day, his creation is unmatched. So far, nothing can compare to his research, that is why you will see parts of his work in pretty much every advanced tech you can find these days. So no matter what you think of him, it will be the base of your future work until it will be surpassed, that is why you should pay attention regardless.“
Chanyeol sounded indifferent yet his words must have had an impact on his students, for they seemed to pay close attention to what their professor was explaining now as they went through Baekhyun‘s coding.
It felt odd standing there being looked at like nothing but an object to study, yet Baekhyun did find faces in the crowd that were more focused on him than on Chanyeol‘s words, a thing he found odd, for shouldn‘t their professor get most of the attention?
Nevertheless, Baekhyun looked around as well, a thing he found fascinating were the female humans. Obviously, he had never seen a woman in person, they looked the same… but also different. He could not explain it. They were pretty, he noticed. A lot of humans were pretty.
But if he was completely honest, their appearance and the way they moved were not much different to himself. It was unfair.

„Are there any questions left?“ Chanyeol asked once they went through the basics of his mind, an act Baekhyun found more and more violating the longer they progressed. What gave them the right to see everything that was to him? The small android was relieved it was only lines of coding and not his actual thoughts that would be exposed. He knew Chanyeol would get very angry if he would see his mind that clearly.

„How real is he, though? How far can he think for himself?“ One of the students asked, Baekhyun turning to Chanyeol, probably as curious about the answer as the rest. But Mr. Park, arms crossed in front of his chest, just nodded towards him and Baekhyun was surprised. Should he answer?
With Chanyeol not speaking, Baekhyun turned to the class again, he had never, never spoken to anyone else. He didn’t like that the first time would be an arrangement of lies.
„I can think and function on my own, but my mind is limited to what Mr. Park has implemented in my system. I can expand within those restrictions, but not further.“

The answer was so unlike anything Baekhyun would really say, strangely unnatural even for his artificial mind. Yet he knew it was exactly what Android 04 was supposed to say. At this point, not even Chanyeol believed that anymore, for it had been a ghostly thought haunting his mind. But the class did not need to know that.
So they believed him, listening in awe at the fascinating invention right in front of their eyes.

„Hey Mr. Park, he‘s very pretty. Is he a robot, too?“ The question followed by laughter, Mr. Park only rolled his eyes at the jester‘s question, what did he expect from students that were barely even adults at this point.
Baekhyun did not really understand the question and it must have been apparent on his face for how some the students giggled and cooed at his expression.

With that doubtfully serious question, Chanyeol dismissed the class, giving them a few chapters to read for the next lecture.
The casual buzz seemed to return immediately after his words, the students now getting ready to leave the classroom.
With that, Chanyeol unplugged the cable from his neck, pulling a bit too harshly for Baekhyun‘s taste, but what did it matter? The small machine turned to him, trying to stay as close to him as possible with all the students suddenly swarming through the room, it must have been a hundred at least. It was a bit overwhelming, so he stayed right by his Creator.

For a short moment he wondered if people would notice if he was just to mingle among them. If he was to flee Chanyeol‘s hand, would he be able to pass as a human? Could he succeed living among them without anyone noticing? But then again, why should he live a life when it was without Chanyeol?

Curiosity strong, Baekhyun observed Chanyeol packing his briefcase and making some curt notes about his election. He was always so neat when it came to his work, it was admirable.
„Mr. Park, what is a robot?“ He would ask then, cranking his neck up so he could look into the man‘s face. Chanyeol sighed, obvious annoyance on his face, why would the student put such a word into the Android‘s head? It did not help at all that Android 04 was staring at him like purity itself while asking such an obscure question.
Chanyeol was not keen on answering the question properly, Android 04 did not need to know about such things.
„There are many other tasks robots are made for, I guess physical services are among them.“ Baekhyun crooked his head, trying to process. The information.
„Is this a service I can provide, too?“ He asked and Chanyeol was ready to punch a wall, the urge to just throw a heavy workload onto his students for giving the machine those thoughts strong.

Ironically, they were the ones to save him from answering the question because quickly, they were surrounded by some of them. Oblivious to Baekhyun‘s former question, they now took to looking at the Android, for it was just so much more mesmerizing observing him so closely.
They fawned over the detailing on his skin, his fluid movements as Baekhyun looked around them, almost a bit overwhelmed by the attention. As a being full of neglect, it was suddenly just so much.

„God he‘s so cute and so detailed… look at his face mole!“ One girl said, sparkling eyes scanning his face and Baekhyun found himself touching it, index finger absently laying on his lip. It only made them to coo more among men and women alike. Baekhyun felt swallowed up, for he was a bit on the shorter side and Chanyeol watched for a bit before he stepped forward, bringing his hand forward to gently push Baekhyun behind him. The robot had to smile, for it was exactly where he had wished to be at the start of this lesson.

„Step back a bit, he is not used to so many people. The only human he knows is me.“
„Wow, isn‘t that boring? Are you keeping him locked in that mansion of yours, Mr. Park?“ One of the student‘s teased, they always seemed kind of jokeful with Chanyeol and Chanyeol even let them, Baekhyun wondered, how different was his Creator with other people.
„Don‘t you all have another class to attend?“ The professor said, successfully shooing the students away. That was probably the nicest thing Mr. Park had ever done for him.

Baekhyun thought they would leave again after the lesson, but it turned out that Chanyeol wanted to run some errands first, leading to them walking through a market place only a couple of blocks away from the university building. It gave the Android plenty of opportunities taking in his surroundings, stumbling behind his Creator that seemed unfazed.

The city was such a different experience than Baekhyun could have ever imagined. Somehow, it was exactly what he had envisioned it to be, but then again, it was the exact opposite. Yet what does a machine that had been sheltered away all its existing know about human cities anyways?

The place looked so unlike everything Baekhyun had ever seen with his own eyes. He had seen videos and pictures, yes. But the landscape they were crossing now was so different. The colours so vibrant, no screen or photo could ever compare. Chanyeol’s estate was in a secluded, rural area. The property was big but gated, Baekhyun had never seen anything outside of it himself.
He knew the big mansion and the garden like the back of his hand. Even some of the outside areas surrounding them, which was mainly nature, left alone fields and a lot of trees. It was quite ironic, for how his work revolved around technology and science heavily, his home seemed like something from the past. Maybe it was intentional? Chanyeol fled from the progress this world has made.

The first thing Baekhyun noticed, as they walked across the market and shops to get every grocery Chanyeol needed, was how all these people were smiling. An action he barely noticed on Chanyeol, the Android did not know it was such a common occurrence on someone’s face. Were humans actually happy? It seemed strange.
The street was busy, the little machine not used to so many people, to so many things happening at once. It was actually hard for him to keep up with everything. His sensors had trouble filtering out all the noises so it was a constant buzz, making him struggle to keep up with Chanyeol even if he tried hard. The taller was unbothered, the human brain could handle those noises, colors, and people easily, he had walked these streets multiple times already so there was no need to look around. It was not easy for Baekhyun to maintain himself like this, but he enjoyed it so much that he just couldn’t help himself to filter anything that came across him manually to make things easier. It was all just so beautiful. So full of life.
Baekhyun wondered, as he desperately tried to control his core, if Chanyeol had looked around the first time he was here. Was Chanyeol a curious person in general? Well, he had to be if he was working in science, but Baekhyun wondered if he had ever been curious for new things, for new places, new people. Was he overwhelmed at first, too?
It was sad, he thought, how he knew nothing about Chanyeol despite his memory being full of information. All Baekhyun knew were rational things about the man and his surroundings, but not who he was. Chanyeol had built a wall around himself and Baekhyun was too small to surpass it. It was… sad.

As always, he tried shoving the bad thoughts away, because those were there all the time anyways. This little trip was only now, so Baekhyun just walked around next to Chanyeol, pretending like he was a regular person getting groceries. Food had always only looked good to him, for he could not pick up scents or tastes nor could his body digest food. A shame, because Baekhyun imagined it to be so heavenly indulging himself in food. Chanyeol seemed to really like all meals of the day. There was a sensor in his nose that could analyze a scent so he knew what a product was, but it had no impact or sensation on his system other than a piece of information that was fed to him. It was boring.

Chanyeol, always a fan of freshly bought vegetables, came to a halt on a particular market stand, filled with all kinds of those desired products. The people there seemed to know him, for they greeted him in such a familiar manner, it made Baekhyun feel like he was an intruder in their conversation. Chanyeol even smiled politely, exchanging pleasantries with the shop manager while he picked the items he wanted. Almost intuitively, the machine backed away a bit, for some reason it almost felt a bit wrong standing so close to this exchange.
So he went to observe all the fruits and vegetables the stand had to offer, looked at all those vibrant colors and read the handwritten little labels that named a specific food. Most of them he knew, some of them were unfamiliar to him and he made a notice to look them up later, for they were so, so pretty.
An elderly woman he spotted behind the stand, in the process of restocking some of the displays, making them look all pretty and presentable. Baekhyun watched her for a bit, so taken in by her hands working so quickly and making everything look so pretty. Of course it was only a matter of time until she noticed, looking up.
Immediately noting how the small boy had looked at the colorful display.
“A quite successful harvest this year, wasn’t it? Everything has turned out so well.” She commented, her fingers grazing the vegetables in an almost adoring manner. The robot knew about the basic concepts of agriculture but was not too familiar with the circumstances needed to plant and cultivate such fine vegetables, but he figured there must be something to it. So he just nodded and smiled, he kind of liked how excited this human looked about such small things. Chanyeol was never excited about anything.

“Ohh… such a pretty young man you are.” She suddenly remarked, pulling him out of his thoughts, her eyes crinkling into those of little crescents, fine lines emerging around her eyes making her look so wise and… welcoming. He smiled back.
„What is your name?“ The nice lady then asked and Baekhyun felt like this was his moment, for there was finally someone that could potentially see him as a human. He could tweak reality a bit if it gave him some more inner peace, right?
His master was faster, though.
„It is a machine, there is no name.“
The Android had not noticed that Chanyeol was already done, paper bag filled with groceries now in his hand as he suddenly stood beside him. Towering over him, so intimidating.

The woman looked thoroughly surprised, eyeing Baekhyun again, only this time it was different. Disappointing. The curiosity in her eyes was nothing he wanted to see as she scanned his face and his whole appearance. It was not noticeable at all, he already knew what her thoughts were. The way his face looked soft and youthful, the way he wore some washed-out jeans and the woolen cardigan, looking like a random student you would often see on the streets in this area.

„They start to look more realistic every year.“ She just mentioned, in awe and it made Baekhyun… sad. Being looked at as a thing was nothing he should be surprised by, it was expected, but it was still something that stung. He looked at Chanyeol in defeat, that would only grant him another soulless look before he turned his head and started walking again. Just like always, the man had taken away an opportunity to be seen as someone. Baekhyun was not sure what Chanyeol would get out of this. Why did he create him, if he despised him so much?
The car ride back was silent, Chanyeol seemed unfazed, for it must have been a normal day for him after all. For Baekhyun, it had been an adventure he had seeked out for so, so long. Yet the experience left a bitter taste in his mouth ever since they had left the market.

___________________________________________

Like a bad omen, Baekhyun could see the sky darken as they entered the premise, clouds shunting over the sun like they were trying to undermine it forever. Almost as it was a forbidden thing that needed to be concealed forever. Baekhyun was no expert by any means, but if there was one day, that deserved bad weather, it was this one. Because once the car came to a halt, he felt like a bucket of ice-cold water was thrown over his head.

Baekhyun had no idea how someone could enter through the gate, as it was secured by either a remote Chanyeol kept in his car or fingerprints that had to be saved into the system manually by Chanyeol himself. There was no way someone else could come in, right? Chanyeol did not want anyone here. So it was odd to find a figure standing in front of the mansion, seemingly having walked up all the way from the gate to the estate. Chanyeol carefully drove up to park on his usual spot at the left side of the mansion, knuckles tight around the steering wheel.

For Baekhyun, it was hard to identify the person, for it was still far away and he could only make out that it was probably a man. The machine looked briefly to Chanyeol, who was already exiting the car so he did the same. It was the human confidence he saw on Chanyeol again that made Baekhyun not question anything, only this time he was misinterpreting it entirely.
The small android went to open the door of the backseat to gather the acquired groceries like he is used to doing whenever Chanyeol comes back from his trips. However, he didn’t come far, for something very, very strange happened.

“B….Baekhyun.”

The Android’s head shot towards Chanyeol, excitement shooting through his non-existent veins for a split of a second, only to realize that.. it was not him Chanyeol was speaking to? Mr. Park’s face was focused entirely away from the small machine.
He did not look at him.
It was the stranger standing in front of them.

The machine made his way around the car to see what Chanyeol was looking at, who Chanyeol was looking at. Baekhyun’s eyes went wide, his system momentarily overwhelmed at the sight in front of him, for it did not match up with his reality at all. Was it a glitch? He blinked, one, two, three times, but it did not go away.

As it turned out, it was not really a stranger standing in front of them.

Because this man… looked like him.

The little android wanted to question Chanyeol, wanted to ask why someone was here, why it was someone that was his mirror image?
But even if he would voice out his question, the chance of actually getting a reply in return was small, for all the man could do was look at… this human…?

“Are you… real?” He heard the deep voice, followed by a chuckle, this person even sounded like him. Yet it was still so different, but maybe the Android could not tell, because, in fact, he had never laughed or chuckled.
“Why should I not be, Chanyeollie?”

It was the first time in his whole existing, that the android saw Chanyeol smiling. Really smiling. Suddenly, he was so happy. As if his shoulders got finally released from all the weight, all the bitterness, all the hatred seething through his human veins. Was this person the solution to all of his problems?

It was as it seemed, for Chanyeol would make his way to the human. One step, another, faster, until his face was close enough for the tall man to grab it and connect his lips with him. The robot gasped, for he had never witnessed a kiss. A sign of love, wasn’t it?

“Baekhyun, you are here.”

It was then, that he remembered again. He was not Baekhyun. Because apparently, Baekhyun was someone else. He was Android 04. Not a human. A machine. A … thing.

___________________________________________

04 could not quite pinpoint this relationship that was unfolding in front of him. It was like he was thrown into a book when it already was halfway through. There were too many questions and no one there or even willing to answer. Why was this man, Baekhyun, here? Why did he look like 04? Why was he so familiar with Chanyeol? Chanyeol… why did he act so… different? Chanyeol seemed starstruck. It was like this Baekhyun was what was missing inside of the scientist. Like Baekhyun was the final gear that finally kept him running again.
No one bothered to tell him anything about this man and why they looked the same. It was as if a story went a long and he was just a mere passing character, not needed to end it. From what he could piece together, it seemed like Chanyeol and the real Baekhyun, the thought bitter, had been a couple in the past. But for some reason… Baekhyun had left?
Android 04 assumed by the way Chanyeol embraced the new guest with every fiber of his body, the bitterness of the past had been because of his lost love. Was this why he was created, too? He had not yet figured out his role in all of this. For some reason, he was scared to do so.

Suddenly, Android 04 was of no use anymore. What had changed? What was so different about Baekhyun? They looked the same, right? Chanyeol had modeled him after Baekhyun, so they should be the same too, no?
04 was left to be alone most of the time, roam around the mansion silently, so 04 spent his days wondering what he had done wrong. And why did he miss Chanyeol so, so dearly? They had never really had a proper bond anyways, right? But still, why was it so hard to watch Chanyeol with someone else? Especially with someone that looked like him?

Android 04 wondered why his mind was so deeply engraved onto Chanyeol. Was it simple ownership or was it true love? A mixture, perhaps? But he learned quickly that an answer for this was not necessary, because in the end, it did not matter.

“What is this thing though, Chanyeol?” Android 04 would hear the male would ask the second day of his arrival as he watched them from a safe distance, watched Baekhyun crooking his head playfully as his pretty finger danced over Chanyeol’s shirt, the fabric a bit crumpled, ceasing in such fine lines it could compete with those delicate hands. The scientist seemed… ashamed. Ashamed of… 04?
“It looks like me, it seemed to even wear this old cardigan I left with you. did you miss me so much, Yeollie?” Baekhyun giggled, throwing a glance at 04, that blinked at him in confusion, thinking of the woolen piece of clothing he had been wearing, it was... Baekhyun's? Was this why Chanyeol had looked at him strangely? This man was very difficult to understand. He was smiling, laughing, sounding so joyful, yet his words seemed like daggers. 04 found it hard to decipher if this human was trying to be nice, or if he was mean. Was this normal behavior?
“I needed a model for 04, and I was the most familiar with your features.”, he explained, but it sounded clumsy, more like a little schoolboy hiding his crush from everyone.
“Of course you did.” Baekhyun retorted, of course he did not believe him.

Ever since Baekhyun came into the picture, or came back to be more precise, things went downhill for Android 04 fairly quickly. Because, with a happy couple and Chanyeol finding what he had lost, 04’s existence became completely insignificant. And useless things usually were thrown away.

___________________________________________

The first time Baekhyun got shut down was terrifying. It shouldn‘t be an issue, artificial intelligence didn‘t rely on being alive. In fact, there was no such thing as a self-preservation instinct, for that was solely reserved for the actual living. But when getting shut off, Baekhyun felt like he could remember the darkness. Like his mind was trapped and he could not move. It was like there was still something inside of him that could not shut down. Of course, the first time it happened it was not because of him, or because of Chanyeol. It was because of Baekhyun.

Android 04 thought that Baekhyun was mean. He could not understand why Chanyeol liked him so much, why he would want to have him around at all. The machine had a hard time understanding this man that into this house like it belonged to him, like he had any right to be there at all. 04 did not want to admit that he probably had that right, for it truly seemed like Chanyeol wanted him to be here. It made him sad, because 04 did not think that the scientist wanted to have him here at all. When it was only the two of them, he barely even wanted to look at him, 04 had been the best when he was just silent, doing his chores so that Chanyeol would not notice he was there. But he had still been there for him, talking to him, acknowledged his existence and even answered his questions, no matter how useless they seemed to him. But now, it was like he had no place in here. Like he was nothing but a nuisance. Android 04 knew that he was still somewhat needed for the more menacing tasks, but gone were the days where he was tolerated in the dining room or had the chance to help Chanyeol with his research. Now, all he was allowed to be was a silent shadow that was only allowed to watch from afar.
04 was only tolerated, not appreciated.

It got worse on a day to day basis, with Chanyeol passing him in the hallways, looking through him like he was glass while he always had a smile to spare for Baekhyun.
Android 04 did not find that Baekhyun deserved those smiles. He didn’t even think the human belonged in here. Not at all.
It was most definitely jealousy, but even with Baekhyun looking so much like him, he looked like a foreign object in the mansion that 04 knew as his home. It was just not right.

His comments were mean, the persona behind the pretty face nothing short but sinister. It seemed like Baekhyun thought because 04 was a machine, he could just say anything and not expect it to have an impact. Granted, Android 04 acknowledged that this probably was how it should be. But the painful truth was that it wasn’t. He did not know if it was pain, but he did know that it hurt. Baekhyun’s mendacious smiles were a source of horror to the naive machine. His words, spoken in a sweet tone, carrying heavy weight that cluttered onto the artificial being.
His words were subtle, but punctured his weakness in a preciseness he didn’t know humans could express.

Baekhyun knew, he thought. He did not just say all these malicious words, he must know that there was something inside of 04 that had the ability to feel hurt. He knew he had the power to affect him in a way it shouldn’t be possible to affect someone like him. And he thoroughly enjoyed it. He would assess a behavior so strange, it had 04 confused for several days after his arrival. Did Baekhyun like him? Did he not? Did he want to know him? Did he not? Did he want to be friends? He did not.

The strange man would exert friendly behavior, but in a way that made it… cruel. He would touch his hand while objectifying him, telling him how real they looked, even going as far as wondering what would happen if he was to bend them in an inhumane angle. Would the snap back? Would they break? It had 04 pull away his hand as soon as he could, carefully checking every single digit to make sure they were intact. Baekhyun noticed.
It was paranoia that filled 04 from then on, whenever Baekhyun would come close to him, he felt scared.

Baekhyun would wrap his arm around his smaller shoulders, laugh and tell him how cute he looked, his grip an unnecessary tight sensation around his neck. 04 had picked up on the passive aggressiveness eventually and he wondered what he did wrong. It was not his fault, right? He had no control over how he looked, what he was supposed to embody. It had never been his choice. If at all, shouldn’t it be Chanyeol. Because it had obviously been Mr. Park, that had him modelled after his past lover, a realisation that Android 04 still had a hard time to stomach and understand. It had opened a whole other topic that the robot was still too scared to enter, so he shoved it aside.

Chanyeol’s memory of Baekhyun, the human, was an old one. Therefore 04 was a past version of the original, his face more youthful and eyes more innocent. His frame is a little bit smaller. Baekhyun looked so much more mature, his face a bit sharper, for it probably had seen more than the small robot. He had probably grown into his features over the years, so Baekhyun looked like a kid in direct comparison. And since robots never aged, he would stay like this.

However, the point was, he was innocent, right? He had just been a consequence of the circumstances. Of Chanyeol’s loneliness. Why did Baekhyun not pick on Mr. Park?

The thing was, he did. It was subtle, even more subtle than with 04. It came in small portions of humiliations. Baekhyun made snarky remarks as he was seated on Chanyeol’s lap, a place Android 04 imagined to be the most comfortable he could imagine, and whispered into his ear. Small glances towards 04, little giggles and Chanyeol looking embarrassed, sometimes he would laugh with him and 04 hated that. Baekhyun was hard, but he could take it, he did not like the human after all. But Chanyeol? It hurt.

However, what Android 04 thought hurt the most was how Baekhyun talked about Chanyeol in his absence. Those moments were rare, but they happened, Chanyeol still had his work in the city and his research, he could not slack off.
So Android 04 was often alone with Baekhyun, most of the time he would withdraw to the attic, the only place where he could be alone, as neither of the two humans thought to step a foot into it. But he couldn’t do that all the time, after all, his only valid excuse to still not being shut down was that he had his duties.

Android 04 was a pretty skilled cook now, he thought at least, as he prepared the dinner for today. The ingredients had doubled, there were two humans in this mansion now after all. He hated those small reminders, the increase of laundry, the incready of food intake. It was barely noticeable, but it was there. It had been two of his favorite tasks, but now he dreaded them.
Yet, there was no choice. Especially not with Baekhyun leaning against the counter, watching 04 stir the pot and attentively measure the rice to prepare. It was an uncomfortable experience to say the least.
“I still can’t wrap my head around it.” Baekhyun would speak, almost so as if he was just in thought, but of course he wasn’t just talking to himself. “The fact that Chanyeol loves me so much he creates you. Isn’t that strange?” He asked. Android 04 did not know what to reply, was it really strange?

“But you know, I kind of like it. Chanyeol may be your creator, your Master. Whatever you want to call it. But it gives me power, too. I created this Chanyeol, it was me. So what happens to you, ultimately is for me to decide, too.” Baekhyun now said, this time voice void of any kind of attempt to conceal his cruel intentions. Pretty fingers now reaching out to 04’s own, they looked so similar it scared him for a moment, and took away the spoon the machine was using to stir the pot himself. “I wonder how far he will let me go. I wonder what I can make you do.” He innocently wondered, turning the big spoon in the pot, leaving 04 to just stand there and watch him, for he had no way of getting back his position. “Why…. why would you want to make me do something?” He eventually asked, having Baekhyun turn his head, it was like looking into a mirror. A weird feeling, probably for both of them. The human chuckled, looking back at the pot, index finger lightly tapping against the steel. He hissed, a little hot escaping his mouth as he felt the hot sensation under his fingertips. He continued to giggle as he reached for a kitchen towel to wrap around the handle for it to be easier to lift by human hands.

“Maybe the question is less about what I am going to make you do and more about what you’re not going to do.” Baekhyun turned his head towards him again as he lifted the pot, smiling all teeth, it scared 04. Did he really…?
Suddenly, 04 was panicking internally, but there was nothing he could do. Yet he found his chest to be tight with worry, he feared he would just break down and drain his energy on the spot for how every gear in his body seemed to work at full speed, as if his shell was trying to cope with what was inside of him.

“B-but-” 04 knew he should not talk back, and Baekhyun knew it too because he quickly shut him down, just how it was his right as a human. “But what? Do you think you have any room to decide what happens to a thing like you? The fact that Chanyeol even created you speaks volume about my role in this. That fool can’t live without me.” He raised the pot and 04 crooked his neck, not really understanding what was happening. Chanyeol never spoke like this, never even approached him. He also never had this glint in his eyes, so ready and joyful, something that was not a look Chanyeol ever carried on his face.

“Oh I am sure Chanyeol chose for you to look like me purely, because he wanted to feel in control for once after I left him. He is so ing easy.”
04 just did not… understand. What did those words mean? Was this really why he was created like this? For Chanyeol to regain the control he had lost with Baekhyun in their past relationship? Was the reason 04 got treated like this by his creator a result from Baekhyun’s doing in the past? Did Android 04 got hated by the person he wanted to be liked by the most solely because of his mirror image?

04 felt his vision flicker, for his system was momentarily overwhelmed, it was as if his mind was not able to take this, simply chose to shut down because those memories and feelings of abandonment and neglect by Chanyeol came crashing onto him all at once. It was just too much.
But he had no time left to properly process this, for Baekhyun decided otherwise for him, out of honest, pure maliciousness. He smiled as he lifted the pot, looking the machine in the eyes before he finally tilted it.

04 found himself screaming as he watched the hot liquid seep through his skin, temperature too high for his artificial shell. His skin could not survive this kind of temperature, he knew. The boiling point of water too high. He would be damaged. There probably was no real pain, but 04 was still horrified. He looked at Baekhyun, watching the sinister smile on his face as he carelessly dropped the pot on the ground and if he was able to cry, he was sure he would’ve been weeping now. This was horrible.

Chanyeol was standing in the door to the kitchen in a matter of seconds, it was only later that 04 realized it was not because of him, but because his scream sounded like Baekhyun. It was not the robot he was worried about and it showed once Chanyeol realized his precious lover was fine because he visibly let go of the tension in his face. Android 04 felt so alone among them.
“Are you alright?” The deep voice spoke and he wished, wished so much it would have been directed to him.
“Yeah, I am fine, don’t worry. Little robot here accidentally knocked over the pot. I wonder if he’s working alright?” Baekhyun replied innocently, smiling as he let Chanyeol’s hands wander over his body to check for an injury, of course there was none. He was relieved. Mr. Park then turned his head towards 04, mustered his drenched appearance and his arm. The hot liquid had completely melted down his skin, the steel inside his arm making an appearance. 04 was scared.

Half of his clothes drenched in a broth he could not smell, he looked at the couple in front of him, watched as Baekhyun’s slender hands s around Chanyeol’s neck and it hurt, because what he saw was what he couldn’t get. No machine could have this. Even if he looked like the person one loved. He briefly thought about Kim Junmyeon, but the thought was only fleeting, for his mind was too fearful to focus on one thing.

By now, he knew there was no use in trying to defend himself. A machine cannot lie, but Chanyeol would not believe him anyways.
He looked at his arm that was, once again, not presented how it should be. It reminded him of the evening Chanyeol had pushed him down the balcony. He remembered the anger he had seen in Mr. Park’s eyes because of his question. Back then, he had not understood why the man got so angry at 04 simply wanting a name. His vision flickered as he turned his gaze to Baekhyun who was busy flattening Chanyeol’s crumpled button down with his hands, making a show out of it, purely to mock him. Now, 04 understood why Mr. Park had acted the way he did back then. Oh how 04 wished he could just go back to his ignorant self.

Chanyeol looked at him with a mixture of disdain and annoyance, for 04 turned out to be quite troublesome for him. Right now, he would have rather seen the anger again than the pure annoyance, as if 04 was nothing than a nuisance.
He knew what would happen to nuisances, had learned it when, one day in the past, Mr. Park had replaced his TV. Upon asking, Chanyeol had told him that the one before was malfunctioning and he had no desire or time to handle those issues, so he had just bought the other one. 04 was shocked to find out that the old one had simply been thrown out into the trash.

So he physically winced when Chanyeol reached out his hand, easily wrapping around 04’s neck at the familiar button installed and shut him off. Darkness.

Android 04 woke up in confusion, mind frozen onto that of panic, the fear of Chanyeol shutting him off forever He felt his body shaking but was immediately silenced down by his creator himself looking at him with a gaze 04 could not analyze, if it was because of his system still booting up or because he simply couldn’t, he didn’t know.
He looked around majorly confused, this was not where he had been just moments ago. This was Mr. Park's office, an environment all too familiar to him at normal times, but in this instance it felt foreign. With his mind still in the kitchen, clothes drenched and ridiculed by Baekhhyun, being suddenly here without knowing how was … scary.
The man in front of him did not seem willing to offer an explanation though, instead grabbing his arm, or rather what was left of it, and inspected the damage.

“Can you move it?” He simply asked, only looking up at the Android’s face long enough to see him nod. His connection to his limb was very much still in contact and he moved his fingers to confirm. Chanyeol seemed pleased with that, it meant he would just have to replace the outer layer, something that could be done fairly quickly.
There was no word spoken about the incident, Baekhyun pouring the water over him, 04 concluded it had not been that long ago because his clothes were still wet, maybe an hour or two. Drenched in liquid, he felt a form of humiliation washing over him, one almost as great as Baekhyun doing this to him.

The last time 04 sat here, getting repaired by Chanyeol, it was very different. It probably wasn’t that long ago, maybe a couple of months, but 04 felt like it had been a lifetime. He
looked at the rest of his arm that had not been affected by Baekhyun’s malicious doings, skin blemish free lest the part that was injured, and he thought, that if he was a human, he was sure his body would show the scarring of the time. 04’s battery was full, but he felt tired. Living in this world was not easy.
Not feeling the physical pain of this injury was probably what hurt the most. 04 hated those constant reminders.

Bit 04 did not want to think about this or even Baekhyun, the real Baekhyun, did not want him to consume his mind, he’d rather be consumed by the man in front of him. Watching Chanyeol work gave him a certain kind of peace, his processor seemed to visibly calm down as he just watched his Creator apply the liquid skin, making the steel beneath it something that did not exist beyond his surface, his shell. He was relieved it was like this, seeing the wires instead of veins was depressing, for it did not reflect the persona he so desperately wanted to be.
His gaze kept on Chanyeol, he watched as the man worked in concentration. 04 had already concluded, he wanted to be whatever would make Mr. Park like him. Watching him had always been calming for him, something he could never be bored of, it felt like he had memorized every tiny detail about him down to the exact movements of his ears, the way his forehead was crinkling when he was focused, the way he blinked.
04 had not seen many human’s in person, but it did not matter, for he could not imagine anyone to look as good as Chanyeol. Even when he looked at him in distaste, his eyes were so full of something…. of longing. Chanyeol wanted something, and 04 just wanted to give it to him.

His arm was restored faster than 04 wished it to be, for he was lost in his thoughts, lost in the vision that was Chanyeol and the man frowned at him, making 04 finally come back from where his mind had been.
“I’m done, go change your clothes. The smell is disgusting.” He said, not even looking if 04 was listening. 04 looked down on him, right, half of his clothes were still wet. The motion of his nose useless, he once again attempted to use it, but nothing would enter his nostrils. He sighed, an action so utterly human it had Chanyeol look at him. But 04 did not notice, instead he got up, knowing he had probably overstayed in the man’s presence already. He still looked at his hand. It looked brand new, he did not feel brand new, though.

Another wave of sadness overcame him as he noticed how it looked so different from before. The skin tone the same, yet it did not look how he was used to how it looked. The mole on his index finger was missing, Chanyeol did not bother to redo the detailing he had done the first time. It made 04 sad. A lot of things made him sad recently, he noticed, as he left the office.

He should have just shut him off completely, but something inside of him stopped him. Chanyeol did not know what it was that let him have mercy with the machine. Maybe it was his outer shell, or the innocence inside his artificial mind that seemed so forbidden and unlike everything that was known to him.
Chanyeol acknowledged that 04 still living, functioning had no legitimacy anymore. It made no sense. He had Baekhyun now, right? All those wounds of the past were healed now, he told himself. There were no bad feelings anymore, because he had Baekhyun, right? He had been the puzzle piece that was missing. All 04 had ever been was to be a shell that would remind him of something he couldn’t forget anyway, a shell that would provide him with the satisfaction of control. Because 04 was solely for him, he could not leave. But Baekhyun was here now, so that should have been the end of 04’s existence.
But it was just not that easy for the scientist. He kept telling himself that 04 was needed, solely because of the work he did around the house. The lie laid thick over a truth he refused to acknowledge.
Just a little bit longer, he told himself as he watched 04 leave his office. Looking smaller than usual.

___________________________________________

So days after days, 04’s fear of finally getting shut off grew steadily.
His fear turned out to be reasonable in the long run, for 04 found himself being shut off quite frequently and out of pure arbitrariness.

Quiet truthfully, it was just Chanyeol being a coward. He would turn 04 off, telling himself this is it, vowing that this decision was final. Only for it to not be final. The thing was, Android 04 was still annoying him, but this time it was for completely different reasons. Reasons he did not want to see, for everything he wanted to see was Baekhyun. So it was impulsive to say the least, grabbing the small Android whenever he pissed him off and just turned the switch.

He ignored the fear he would see and the little pleas of p-please d-don’t kill me he would hear in favor of looking at Baekhyun.

For Chanyeol, it was nothing more than a coping mechanism, using the power switch how ever he pleased, it truly was like this. Giving him the power he felt he was losing in this moment. It was actually very easy for him, because he was not the one to pay the price of this.

However, Android 04 suffered greatly from this. Chanyeol could be very scary, the movements towards him always fast and hectic and even if there was no pain, 04 feared to be hit and it was the implications that actually hurt him. It could be anything. 04 wrongly seasoning the food or folding the laundry differently or simply Baekhyun being annoyed with his presence. To be truthful, most of the time it was his mirror image that riled up the scientist, clinging onto him like a devil on his shoulders, making sure he saw what a nuisance the machine was, as if he was wrong for simply existing. Stopping a machine from existing was easy when it had a power switch.

All in all, Android 04 slowly deteriorated because it felt like dying every single time. When he was switched again, he would feel more and more dizzy the longer his shutdown progressed. The world around him just a fog of lines and colors. He was disoriented and it actually was confusing and even painful the longer he was shut down. Most of the time it was just hours, sometimes days, depending on Chanyeol‘s mood.
The android would not do well with the skipping of time. It actually messed him up a lot more than one might expect. The days here were usually the same, for Chanyeol lived a quiet and secluded life, yet every little detail that was amiss would cause Baekhyun to be even more irritated. Every wine glass placed differently in the cabinet, a different arrangement of food in the fridge, a book placed on the coffee table that wasn‘t there before. He tried to not show it, he didn‘t want to seem like something was wrong with him, but the little machine stumbling across the mansion could not be kept a secret to Chanyeol for long. It also only led to more wrongdoings on his side, for his mind was not able to process things like he used to. His battery ran out quicker. He needed more energy to do simple tasks. 04 felt so, so tired.
But to his luck, Chanyeol had long lost hope in the robot, he had given up on the maintenance checks simply because he was afraid of what he would find.

The negligence led to 04 slowly losing the capacity of his existence. He was … tired. So tired. What once was a full 16 hours of functionality was gradually reduced to only a couple of hours a day. 04 found it hard to just exist. And soon, his existence was almost a forgotten thing, for neither Chanyeol nor Baekhyun did care much. At first, 04 had still catered to his tasks, cooking, cleaning, laundry. It was strange, because as long as he did those chores, he was still able to make it through at least the majority of the day. But as soon as the last shred of purpose was pried away from his hands he just felt so useless.
It started with 04 finding Chanyeol and Baekhyun making out in the kitchen as they cooked together more often than not, until no one expected him to cook anymore. They would even clean up themselves, making jokes as they collected their clothes for the laundry machine.
One after another, 04 was released from his duties… or rather kicked off.
At first Chanyeol would at least look at him, tell him he didn’t need to do anything, his help was not needed, but the more time progressed, the more he overlooked him. It was as he was invisible. The machine found himself in a difficult dilemma, because on one hand he yearned to be noticed again, to have Chanyeol look at him. But more often than not, it ended with those many days of total blackness, a nuisance quickly silenced and 04 woke up again only days later in fear and confusion. Exhausted.

So 04 spent his time as silent as unseen as he could. To be honest, there was not much to be alive for anymore, but he could just not imagine not being in Chanyeol’s presence anymore in any way.
Only one thing turned out to be a positive, if one could call it that. The time he spent watching Chanyeol and Baekhyun, Android 04 finally understood what love was. It all made sense now, all those times before 04 had wondered, watching, lonely and drenched in bitterness, Chanyeol searching for something that seemed lost. Now it was like a solved puzzle. Chanyeol was in love with Baekhyun.

Android 04 did not know why he could never dispute Chanyeo, Mr. Park. When it came to Baekhyun, he did find himself at least trying to resist his cruel antics, but when it came to Chanyeol, he took everything no matter how much it hurt. 04 did not know why exactly. But like a little duckling imprinting on the first thing they would see once they were born, 04 was bound to his Creator. He liked to think that he had to follow Mr. Park’s authority, but he could not help believing that he was in love. There really was not much left to deny.

He remembered the words he had once read in Kim Junmyeon’s journal.

It is time to accept it, I think. That love is not for me.

Android 04 was close to just accepting it. It wasn’t even hard, since he barely had the energy to go up, he spent the days in the only safe place he had left, the events of the past weeks forcing him to find harm in any corner of the big property, every angle of the house giving 04 a wave of anxiety, for he was just too scared. The attic had become his home and would just lay in his bed hooked onto the magnetic cable making sure he stayed conscious.

The small android would close his eyes and summon those pictures in his head, everyone that was Chanyeol, for it was the only thing left to do to be close to him anymore. Now that he understood Kim Junmyeon’s theory, he understood his own feelings, too. Android 04 had fallen in love with his Creator. The very own Creator that had solely built him to spite a love he had thought was long lost. In the end, he had fallen again, rendering the machine he created useless. It was ironic, 04 thought, that Chanyeol had achieved what Mr. Kim had tried in vain, and now he was throwing it away so willingly. It was as if the universe had given Android 04 to Chanyeol to spite him even more. But for what reason did it give them Baekhyun back, then?
All those thoughts made the artificial being tired. So tired. Too tired to live, too scared to die.

If the thoughts got too much, he just closed his eyes, pulled the blanket over his head and wished he could just cry. Everytime he picked up the Theory of Love, its pages already looking so old from the many times he had skimmed through them, he thought about the times Kim Junmyeon wrote about how his tears would never stop as the loneliness consumed him. 04 could almost relate.
So when he hid under the thick blanket, he did feel at least a little bit secure. A servant was not supposed to steal, especially not an artificial one, but the large hoodie hiding his small body told another tale. 04 wondered if Chanyeol missed the white piece of clothing, but as it seemed, he did not care enough if that was the case. The small android just wanted to have something, anything that could make him feel like he was part of Chanyeol. It probably even smelled like his creator, not like the machine could tell. But pretending made things at least a little bit better, not that it was noticeable at all. The heat that would result in staying under the blanket was probably not good for his, already severely affected, processor either, but there was not much motivation anymore for him to care.

How was it that a machine could feel so utterly depressed? It was those moments when 04 wished he could just be what Chanyeol had always envisioned him to be. A soulless piece of inventar, meant to do mundane tasks and to take Chanyeol’s cruel antics without batting an eyelash. But it was not what he was. Instead, he was the successor of what Kim Junmyeon had yearned so much for in the Theory of Love, yet he felt like the failure the scientist had labeled his research. Android 04 wished he would understand. Android 04 sometimes found himself wishing he did not yearn to be someone anymore. Humanity was so cruel.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun had already lost interest in him, caught up in their own little bubble full of human love, they did not need a foolish machine. The rare times Android 04 did make his way downstairs, he was alway met with the luring threat of humiliation and darkness, apparently he was able to ruin Chanyeol’s mood and get Baekhyun into a spiteful state with just his presence. So he tried to stay alone. Not like anyone cared where he was, apart from the one time Chanyeol had shown him this room and told him to clean it up, he had never been there again. Sometimes 04 thought about what had happened from back then until now. It was only a couple of months, yet it felt like a lifetime already.

___________________________________________

Yet one night, someone would finally find the secret realm that the attic has become for him. 04’s eyes were heavy, yet they teared open the moment he heard a voice. A chuckle, to be precise. He knew who this was, even from the retreat under his thick blanket. The android’s vision blurred for a couple of moments, for anxiety was seeth through every fiber of his being.
“Right when I thought the little machine couldn’t become any more pathetic, I find this.” Too afraid to look up, all 04 could do was listen to the echo of shoes on the old, wooden floorboards mixing with Haydn’s 45th symphony tha faintly played in the distance. An unpleasant sound in his head, especially upon realizing they became louder and louder with every second passing. With every step, he found himself closer to his own misery.

The little robot heard himself wincing when the cover was forcefully pulled away and he curled into himself, artificial legs peeking out of the shorts he was wearing and he suddenly felt so vulnerable.
“Aren’t machines supposed to be graceful?” Baekhyun asked, his face so clear in the moonlight once 04 gathered the courage to finally look up. It still was scary to look at his own face in that way, especially when it was stretched into such a cruel smirk.

Hesitantly, 04 raised on a sitting position, cable still attached to his neck, hair tousled into a mess as he observed Baekhyun walking through the attic as if it was a museum hall. Studying every little thing, the neatly put together bookshelves, the storage units 04 had organized with miscellaneous things. Everything seemed normal until he noticed the little closet, stored with a couple of clothing items that easily weren’t Chanyeol’s. A little night stand next to the bed the pathetic machine was laying it. It had Baekhyun laugh, especially upon noticing the large piece of clothing 04 was practically drowning in.

“Little machine is playing human as I see, hm?” He asked, dangerously so as he made his way towards him. It was intimidating, the way the human moved like an agile cat, a panther of some sorts. Android 04 noticed the black hoodie he was wearing only emphasized that observation. It was Chanyeol’s hoodie, too, a rare instance where 04 understood the irony behind it… and it was bitter.

The mattress bent under Baekhyun’s knee as he was approaching, now joining 04 on the bed, a poisonous expression on his face as the small android watched him in horror.
Even with both of them looking so, so similar, there was nothing alike about them.
Baekhyun was a human, but he imagined his hands to be as cold as his heart as it carefully placed itself on his neck, seemingly enjoying the way 04 flinched as he removed the magnetic cable. His only source of energy now gone.
“W-what….”, he tried, but his system was so, so tired. So overwhelmed, he was sure Baekhyun could see the flicking of his eyes reflecting in the moonlight. Baekhyun crooked his head, fingers dancing over his neck so easily, dangerously close to his switch. Android 04 desperately wanted to do something about it, but he was so exhausted, watching the cruel human in front of him already took most of his energy.
04 really wished he could cry.
“Please… p-pleasse… don’t.” He begged, eyes wide as Baekhyun turned his head, his dark hair moved by the wind coming from the open window right next to them. The cold summer night still warm, a bit fresh, but not enough to feel cold for the human, Android 04 was not affected either way.

04 really, really wished he could cry.

“I already told you, what happens to you is something that I can decide so easily. Don’t you remember?” Baekhyun teased and Android 04 felt like screaming. Yes, he did.

Remembering every little thing was not as convenient as one might think. It was the opposite, Baekhyun thought. There were a lot of things he would rather erase from his memory, but the way he was coded made him unable to. The only way to erase all of it was through Chanyeol. But why would he bother? So he was forced to remember every detail, every cruel gaze, every derogatory word. Words that probably seemed insignificant and irrelevant when spoken to a machine, so Chanyeol didn’t bother with care. It was the opposite. Chanyeol wanted it to be cruel.
And Baekhyun definitely wanted to be cruel.

It was different than last time. This time, 04 was afraid.

“You should say your final goodbye before I finally end the mistake you are, Chanyeollie will not care anymore this time.” His voice was so, so heinous, almost as if venom was seeping through his hands, poisoning the innocent skin, as if every moment a virus was going to enter his body and destroy his system.

Human fear was a fascinating thing, the adrenaline running through their veins, giving them energy they wouldn't even possess on a normal day. But extreme situations called for extreme actions. Baekhyun’s other hand around his jaw felt like a vice, fingertips pushing into his skin and it did not feel good. From the corner of his eye, 04 could see the mole on his finger, the one he once had, too, but Chanyeol hadn’t bothered to replace it.
Human fear, Android 04 thought, was this what he felt? He knew he was exhausted, but he realized, he just couldn’t allow himself to be.

Baekhyun had pushed him enough, so Android 04 pushed back.

___________________________________________

It was a strange feeling, the mansion seemed oddly quiet the following morning. Baekhyun had been quite a chatty one, so for the past weeks, there was always laughter or the male‘s chatty tone as he roamed around the halls, delicate hands around Chanyeol‘s arms as he wrapped him around his finger with his silky voice echoing the hallways.
The silence was pressuring, a thick layer weighing Chanyeol‘s shoulders down. It was obvious even though 04 could not feel it.

The morning had been cold, the wind blowing through Chanyeol‘s hair as 04 found him outside. It was early in the morning, the sun had nearly risen for the day. An orange tint painting the landscape, including the scientist. The small android wished it could have been turned into a painting for him to look at at all times. There was a sadness surrounding it that cut as deep as the sharpest blade, yet the calming arrangement of colors made it seem so peaceful. The mixture of distress and finally peace on display so openly, it overwhelmed the machine for a couple of moments. The silence had always calmed him a lot, Baekhyun‘s antics had always made him nervous. So this slow, quiet setting was a welcomed and dearly wanted sight. To finally have it was… something he needed to get used to again.
However, worry consumed him again as his eyes set himself on Chanyeol‘s frame again. What would happen now?

Android 04 had never seen Chanyeol like this. Nothing of his tall built was imposing anymore, instead, he looked Iike an abandoned little dog. And thinking about it, he probably felt like it, too. Baekhyun was gone. Again. Chanyeol felt like he had enough. There had never been anybody else in his life, only Baekhyun. He knew that the male had never been good for him. Had never been worth fighting for, because he would always leave when things got rough. Every time when Baekhyun had been there, Chanyeol was actually alone. Yet he could not help but feel so utterly hurt. All those years felt wasted, he had thought of himself as strong. Someone that could never be affected and swayed by humans anymore. Someone that had long cute ever last bit of connection to them, thus why he had created 04 in the first place. He had really thought he had risen beyond the need for humans, his distaste for the race too strong. But Baekhyun had ruined everything, again. Chanyeol felt like a game once again, he had always been just a game to him.
Finally, he realized, there was no denying. No escaping. The bitter soul inside his body only wanted… love.

The android‘s knowledge about Chanyeol‘s past was limited to this day, the tall man a hard shell unwilling to open up to him. Why would he bother with a machine anyway? And all of this was still so new to the artificial being, so he could not understand the lone figure watching the sunset properly.
But with all the things 04 actually had learned to feel, it was genuinely surprising to him that he felt no remorse, not even something alike. However, he did feel bad for Chanyeol‘s sadness. But he knew, it was something he could cure.
So his strides out of the house and towards Chanyeol were actually confident, for his artificial limbs felt no sense of sin. After all, he was a machine. His little hand came up, placing itself at the broad expense of the scientist‘s shoulder that seemed so heavy. A loss that carried heavyweight and Chanyeol felt it.
There was a brief moment where Android 04 was scared Chanyeol would reject him. Insecurity flooded his core, maybe it was a mistake. Maybe now it was Chanyeol’s turn to abandon him, treating him with even more distaste and hate, just because he was the mirror image of the person that had left him. Yet he was convinced of the opposite when Chanyeol turned his head to the side slightly, acknowledging that the robot was there.

He turned around a pained smile on his face. It was so unlike everything he had ever seen on the man. It was not the usual cruel smirk or the bitter expression upon watching the robot that he usually seemed to despise so much.
„Baekhyun.“ He said and the small machine could have sworn there was jumping something inside him at the word. Almost like… a heart. Because if he possessed a heart, he knew it would belong solely to Chanyeol.

„You are here, Baekhyun.“ Large hand coming up to cup the Android‘s face. His cheek soft, it was hard to tell that the boy was not human by the way his skin felt. Yet he was probably cold to the touch, so much unlike a human, but Chanyeol didn’t seem to bother. It couldn‘t have been colder than the real Baekhyun anyways.
„Yes, Chanyeol.“ It was the first time since his birth, that he had spoken the name, for it had always been an unspoken rule to not use it. After all, he had been just a servant to his Master. But this time, he was allowed, because this time, he was no longer a machine, he knew.
„I am here. I will always be.“ He said.

Chanyeol of course knew, there was no way, he was no fool. But Chanyeol was tired. Tired of being abandoned. Tire of pushing people away. There was no way to be certain, but it almost seemed as if Chanyeol was painfully aware of the machine‘s sin, but chose not to care. It did not matter. With Android 04, no Baekhyun, he knew he would never be abandoned.

Baekhyun was well aware that whatever kindness he would receive from now on was not for him. It had never been intended for him in the first place. His whole existence was to be the replacement for something Chanyeol wanted to hate so deeply. But it was enough for him. What else could he expect? No matter how much he wanted to pretend, he was not a real person, not a human. Someone like him had to take whatever he could. And it was enough. The small android crooked his head, eyes wide and it felt like nothing could destroy this as Chanyeol looked at him. Usually, the man barely acknowledged his existence, but this time he could not take his eyes away from him. He was finally looking at him. He could even feel his heartbeat, thumping against his chest. It almost felt like he had a heartbeat, too. Android 04, no, Baekhyun, smiled.
He remembered the words once spoken to him. That fool can’t live without me. It was very much true.

A machine could not be selfish, but the crime he had committed was nothing if not pure, raw selfishness. Therefore, this inhuman act brought him as close to humanity as possible. Innocent smile, an unforgivable sin on his hands.

Baekhyun was happy.