o2.

“Good morning!”

Or afternoon, maybe. Yongguk unclasps the safety locks and the door swiveled backwards with a small whoosh. Himchan sat up, not as hyperactive as Yongguk hoped he’ll be, as today he was more synchronized into his ‘perfection’ chip. It takes Himchan a few unhumanely stretches to get his body working properly.

The robot and the scientist stares at each other awkwardly for awhile, until…

“Yonggukie!”

Now that, was unexpected. The young scientist was suddenly tackled by the robot and almost squished to death by a literal death hug (remember robots have superhuman strength… kinda). Himchan lets go of Yongguk after processing some profanities the scientist had thrown at him into his brain, before a cracking smile lit up his face again.

“Where are we going to go today? Outside?”

Yongguk chuckles at the innocence of this bot as he takes its hand, leading him out of the laboratory.

“You’re going to meet someone very like you.”

—

Himchan shifts uncomfortably in his seat. The robot sitting in front of him stares at him coldly, with an aura of seemingly absolute perfection surrounding him, which made him look much superior although, according to Yongguk, that robot’s earth age was younger than him.

“I’m Choi Minki,” said robot extends a hand, offering it for a handshake. Himchan carefully takes it and shakes the other male’s hand, something he’d learnt during his incubation period where Yongguk was sticking all sorts of chips into him. Minki shows a forced smile to  Yongguk and lifts one hand, pointing towards the doorway, which clearly meant that he wanted to human to leave. Yongguk looks unsure for a moment but Minki’s cold eyes gets to him and he leaves, shooting a final worried glance at Himchan.

“You’ve got a nice master… someone who cares about you,” Minki begins in a soft voice, “although there’s nothing to worry since we’re of the same family…”

Himchan says nothing, a little intimidated by the other experienced robot.

“I heard you were going to be my successor,” Minki cracks a small smile at this, whether mocking or genuine, and sighs while leaning back on the chair, a frown etched on his face.

“It’s not good to frown…” Himchan faltered a little. Minki smiles in response and suddenly grasps the older’s hands. The look in his eyes were piercing and intent as he started speaking.

“I heard somewhere that the government is going to set a new law. To bond robots with humans. Too many robots like us are abandoned almost everyday. Only one robot to one human. Marriage or as their child.”

Himchan frowned, not understanding.

Minki presses on. “The robots that are not bonded will be destroyed. Gone. You have to stick with Yongguk. For your survivial…”

“Then what about you?” The question was simple and short, yet it brought about an indescribable sadness in the younger robot.

“Soeun wouldn’t want me…” Minki says, a sad smile plastered onto his perfect-looking face. “She thinks robots are just toys. Oh well. But at least… you can try. Yongguk might want you. You have to survive.”

“But… why? Why me? Why are you doing this for me?”

Minki smiles, genuinely this time.

“Because I believe you can do a better job than me.”

—

Minki then spends the rest of the day teaching Himchan things he should know but didn’t, and by the fifteenth time Minki tried to teach Himchan how to cook, the two of them emerged from the kitchen choking on smoke. Yongguk glares at Minki disapprovingly when Himchan grins bashfully at him, the ends of his blonde hair singed by the fire and Yongguk announces that Himchan was going to get a haircut.

Minki shoots Himchan a wry smile and mouthed ‘hwaiting’ as Yongguk drags Himchan into the bathroom. His systems were running overtime — was this normal? Yongguk sits Himchan down on the toilet seat and starts to find a pair of scissors.

“Yonggukie?” Himchan says softly as he examined one of his singed locks. Yongguk doesn’t look up, now vigorously digging through a bag trying to pull something out, humming in response.

“Will you ever abandon me?”

Yongguk suddenly freezes, back faced towards Himchan. It was a question asked with such innocence — damn Himchan’s innocence — that Yongguk feels his heart clench a little.

“Don’t get too attached to the robot. After all, they’re just toys…”

Soeun’s words kept bugging the scientist as he struggled to think of an answer. After all, how would the robot know what would happen to him if he got abandoned?

Himchan has such an innocent mind now, his own mind bugged him, you don’t want him to be all upset and turn out be a second Minki right?

No, his heart answers truthfully.

“Yonggukie?”

Yongguk turns around, scissors in hand as he moves in to snip off bits of blonde hair. It had only been two days since they’d met, but there was an indescribable urge of protection he wanted to shower over the younger robot.

“No…” Yongguk decides after awhile. “I won’t.”

Himchan leans in, eyes closed, taking in the scent of the older male as he willingly let Yongguk trim his hair. Yongguk almost cuts his own finger and he curses softly as the young robot suddenly nuzzled against Yongguk’s body, his warm arms wrapped around the latter’s waist.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Yongguk coughs out nervously, unable to stop the blush spreading out on his face as Himchan just hugs tighter in response. Funny, I never taught that kid to do skinship…

Must be that damned Minki.

Yongguk can’t stop blushing but also can’t stop the other robot from slowly moving his hands up Yongguk’s back.

He’s just a robot… don’t think… don’t…

Yongguk’s heart doesn’t stop accelerating when he suddenly feels someone’s lip brush against his neck and this time, he pushes Himchan away.

“What are you doing?” Yongguk knows his face is extremely red right now and tried to keep on a stern face, meanwhile failing badly at it.

“I just wanted to know how Yonggukie felt like in case you ever abandon me.”

Yongguk suddenly feels so much guilt piling up in him that he retorts, quite weakly, “Who said I was going to abandon you?”

Himchan’s face lights up so brightly as ever that Yongguk feels even more guilty than before.

Right, he wasn’t going to abandon that robot.

But what is this guilt that he feels?

author'snote;

OH HIMCHAN >:) YOU ONE INNOCENT PIECE OF METAL . XDDDDDD . Comment and subscribe ~ it makes my day ! :D