Word Count: 1,923

The young boy stepped back after sealing up the robot’s chest. He closed the cavity where a heart would be if the robot had one such beating organ instead of a generator. He put a simple black shirt on the robot to finish the outfit of black skinny jeans and black sneakers. Baekhyun stood back to admire his work. It was more life-like than any mecha he had made and the closed eyes merely made him look as if here were sleeping and simply resting against the wall beside the worktable.

The 17-year-old boy pressed a point on the back of the robot’s neck and heard the mechanical heart come to life. The eyelids opened slowly and lit up as the body came to life. This always exhilarated Baekhyun. He loved seeing the result of months of toil come to fruition. The mecha stared blankly at his creator.

“Hello,” Baekhyun said to the robot.

“Hello,” it replied monotonously.

“Your name is Kyungsoo.”

“Kyungsoo?”

“Yes. Kyungsoo. You are a mecha, a robot.”

“Mecha. Definition: an android that very closely resembles a human in appearance. Especially masterful mecha creators can make their mecha appear very life-like. Amateurs make them look more like traditional androids and move more mechanically. The most talented mecha creator at present is Byun Baekhyun, aged 17,” the mecha recited from the interweb database.

Baekhyun frowned as Kyungsoo continued monotonously. “Kyungsoo’s creator is Byun Baekhyun.”

“Wait. I am not the most talented mecha creator,” Baekhyun said. “My last creation, Sehun, said that the most talented creator was Chanyeol and that was the information in the database.”

“The database has been updated between Sehun’s creation and mine. The database states that Sehun, commissioned by Kim Jongin, has surpassed Park Chanyeol’s most recent and advanced mecha, Luhan, commissioned by Kim Minseok, in both appearance and function. Byun Baekhyun is now the best mecha creator in the world at present,” Kyungsoo explained.

Baekhyun pulled a corner of his mouth back as he thought on this new piece of information. "Despite new advances in mecha appearances, no algorithm has yet been found to give mecha the ability to feel emotions. They are capable of learning how to imitate reactions but not how to feel. Byun Baekhyun has been working toward this goal but to no avail as of yet,” Kyungsoo finished.

“Is that last part really what the database says…?” Baekhyun all but groaned.

“Creator? Your tone of voice indicates frustration or distress. Have I done something to offend you?”

“No, I’m fine. I just wish that they could phrase it a little more kindly,” Baekhyun sighed. The news was both of success and failure.

Kyungsoo cocked his head to one side in confusion. “How does one make the truth more kindly? Facts are facts.” Baekhyun eyed the emotionless boy before him.

“You seem rather literal. Did I forget to install a personality algorithm?” Kyungsoo nodded. “Do you mind if I installed the software?”

“The creator is free to do whatever he wants to with his creations,” Kyungsoo replied, implying many implicit things, not simply software changes.

“Kyungsoo, you really need to lighten up.” Baekhyun turned toward his shelf of program disks, some of which he himself wrote and some of which he commissioned from top programmers and builders like Park Chanyeol and Zhang Yixing. Baekhyun lightly ran long delicate fingers alone the spines of the cases of the disks until he found what he was looking for. It was the section between knowledge and skill, emotion.

“Do you have a preference of personality?” Kyungsoo shook his head. Usually owners of the mecha commissioned personalities and skill sets alongside appearances and because of this, Baekhyun had collected and created a variety of personalities ranging from y to cute to mature and dozens of others. Kyungsoo was not a commission for a customer, he was built for Baekhyun himself, but he didn’t really know what he was looking for in his mecha. He just wanted a companion, a friend for a lonely scientist.

“I do not have a preference. You may do with me what you will,” Kyungsoo replied flatly.

“I’ve never really dealt with a mecha without a personality installed before turning it on because I always installed it before starting it up to meet the terms of the commission,” he explained to the mecha standing behind him. “Is this what a blank mecha is like?”

“Yes. Without personality algorithms, we are nothing more than subservient metal shells.” Baekhyun made a face in response, somewhere between confusion and disgust. The idea sickened him and he always installed personality programs, more out of habit than anything else. He didn’t know what a blank mecha truly entailed.

“I’m going to try a couple out before I install one. Is that okay? Just shake your head or nod please. The whole ‘You can do anything to me’ is disconcerting.” Baekhyun added. Kyungsoo simply nodded.

Baekhyun pulled a cartridge out. The box was titled “cute” and he pulled out the 500-yen coin sized disk. Kyungsoo removed his shirt, exposing an outlet just above his left collarbone where Baekhyun could insert programs for testing or download. He inserted the cartridge and Kyungsoo’s chocolat brown eyes turned to a vibrant violet colour.

Suddenly, Kyungsoo invaded Baekhyun’s personal space, kissing him on the lips and pushing him up against the wall beside the shelf. Baekhyun tried to push him away but the mecha was by far stronger.

“What are you doing!?” Baekhyun asked as he at least managed to break the lip contact.

“Your body language indicated you needed physical attention,” Kyungsoo purred in a deep voice, pushing closer.

“What program are you running in your emotion processor,” Baekhyun’s voice jumped an octave at the end of the question because Kyungsoo decided if he couldn’t kiss Baekhyun’s lips, he would his neck seductively.

“Love droid program,” Kyungsoo responded. His tongue felt warm and disconcertingly human on Baekhyun’s neck.

“That isn’t right,” Baekhyun said. “I misfiled the disk or something…”

“Are you sure it wasn’t right? Your mouth says one thing but your body says another. Mayhaps it was a Freudian slip,” Kyungsoo whispered in Baekhyun’s ear.

“P-positive,” Baekhyun stammered. “Please stop and get off of me.” Baekhyun complied, releasing Baekhyun, who promptly pulled the cartridge out and inspected it. Although the case said hyung, the disk said love droid. Baekhyun sighed in exasperation and flipped through the collection of disks to find the love droid case and the actual cute program. He found it and swapped the two programs.

The violet glow in Kyungsoo’s eyes softened and his seductive smile turned to an aegyo one.

“Baek-ah! Do you like this personality?” Kyungsoo’s voice had gotten higher and cutesier. He smiled and his mouth made a heart shape. Baekhyun looked at the other thoughtfully.

“It doesn’t seem exactly right…” Baekhyun said slowly.

“Why not?” Kyungsoo pouted and put a finger to his lower lip.

“I don’t know. Maybe we should just try something else…”

“Okay!” Kyungsoo piped. As he waited, he bounced his head from side to side like a metronome.

“I’m really sorry about what I was doing earlier…” He dragged out the really and the sorry in an attempt to be cute, which was also disconcerting. Most mecha were created with a certain purpose in mind and a particular personality, accompanied by obedience of course.

“That’s okay,” Baekhyun said absently. He turned around with the hyung disk in hand to see Kyungsoo squishing his cheeks adorably. Baekhyun decided that it was still strange and took the disk out before slipping the hyung one in.

Kyungsoo’s eye colour changed again, to blue this time. His face relaxed and the smile looked less forced.

“Baekhyun-ah. This is a nice personality. Do you like it?” He asked with a normal toned voice. That Kyungsoo kept asking whether everything was okay with him was a little odd. Baekhyun only wanted a friend, not a companion like the buyers. Jongin wanted a dongsaeng boyfriend type and was happy with Sehun’s natural inclination to please.

“Do you have your own wants or needs?” Baekhyun asked casually. He had never been around a mecha long enough to find out.

“Not particularly. I just want Baekhyun, I just want you to be happy.”

“Hm…” Baekhyun turned back to the shelf to find any more disks. In the end, the hyung personality was fine and if Baekhyun really wanted something different, he could simply switch the program later. He downloaded the program to Kyungsoo’s processor and carefully put it back in the right case.

“I’m sorry for being so indecisive, I just am not sure what I want,” the lonely creator said slowly. All he wanted someone to work with and to have as a close friend. He sighed.

“It’s okay Baek. I’ll be here for you.” Kyungsoo smiled an almost reassuring smile. Despite his efforts, it was an empty smile, a learned smile.

Buyers of the mecha didn’t notice that they were actually empty words and empty smiles. They had an expectation and imposed that expectation on their mecha. With the expectation in mind, they overlooked the falseness, not wanting to admit that it was a fake reality.

“I’ve forgotten. Kyungsoo? What programs are you running right now?” Baekhyun asked, looking up and down the shelf at what he might want to give to the mecha.

“Knowledge V: basic scholastic knowledge including science, maths, Korean, and world history. Knowledge XII: about mechas including link to interweb database. Personality hyung: male friend of an older age. Skill IX: basic mecha building. Skill XX: advanced coding and programming.” He replied instantly.

“Do you mind if I add some more?”

“Not at all.”

“I should have guessed that. Well at least you stopped saying ‘You can do whatever you want with me’.” Baekhyun said almost to himself, flipping between skill disks before finding the one he was looking for, Skill IV: singing and musical theory. The last time he had used this program was on one of his earliest mecha, Ryeowook, commissioned by a Choi Siwon.

“Here. Try this one then.” He inserted the disk and for a moment, Kyungsoo’s eyes turned green as he downloaded the software. Once he was done, he removed the disk and put it gently away.

“How is it?” Baekhyun didn’t know what it was like to have information simply downloaded into his head. He could only imagine.

“I like the information,” Kyungsoo replied. “Would you like me to sing a song?”

“Sure.”

“What would you like me to sing?”

“I would say, ‘anything you want to sing’, but you really don’t have the capacity to choose… Do you?”

“Based on the situation, I will sing you ‘What is Love?” Kyungsoo had a lovely singing voice and he hit all of the notes exactly how they should be hit, but there was no soul behind the music. Baekhyun pulled back a corner of his mouth in thought.

“Was there something wrong with my performance?” Kyungsoo asked, worried.

“No. Your singing was perfect,” Baekhyun replied absently.

“Then why are you making that face?”

“I’m not making a face.”

“Yes you are. It looks kind of like this.” Kyungsoo drew his lips into a thin line and drew a corner of his mouth back. Baekhyun laughed.

“Do I really look like that?” Kyungsoo nodded, also laughing. While Baekhyun’s laugh was genuine, Kyungsoo’s was still fabricated. Baekhyun didn’t know quite what he was going to do about it or whether true emotion could be taught to a mecha. 

A/N: I hope you like the story! This will be filled with angst, you can be assured. There are approximately six mini-arcs despite the fact that the song only has 3.