Word Count: 1,214

The next morning, Baekhyun found that someone had crept into his bed in the middle of the night. He felt the familiar warmth that accompanied Kyungsoo and heard the gentle whir of his heart. There was no rise and fall of his chest, as he didn’t need to breath. Somehow, it was a relief waking up to that embrace in the morning and he regretted turning his friend away the night before. Kyungsoo woke up when he felt Baekhyun stir beside him.

“What are you doing here Kyungsoo?” he asked tiredly.

“I’m sorry. I disobeyed your order. You just looked like you needed company so I came in.”

“It’s fine. I’m glad you came, actually. I needed a companion much more than I realised. Thank you.” Baekhyun smiled tiredly at the little mecha. Kyungsoo looked relieved and smiled back, almost humanly so.

Baekhyun tried to get out of the bed but his legs wouldn’t support his weight and he wobbled before falling back onto the bed. He realised that his head was pounding and the room felt much colder than it should.

“Baek-ah? Are you feeling healthy?” Kyungsoo pressed their foreheads together, taking Baekhyun’s temperature. “You have a fever of 40!”

“I feel fine,” Baekhyun replied stubbornly.

“If you try to get out of bed today, the likelihood of you getting worse is very high.”

“You’re not going to let me work today, are you?” Baekhyun groaned.

“No. And I’m stronger than you, so I can hold you down if need be,” he replied. Baekhyun groaned in response. “You stay here and I’ll make you some soup. Soup is good to eat when you are sick,” Kyungsoo recited. Baekhyun made a face before laying back on the bed in resignation, watching Kyungsoo’s retreating figure as he bounced off to the kitchen. Baekhyun covered his eyes with his forearm, thinking that crying his eyes out in the rain really had not been a good idea.

--

“Hyun? Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo appeared before him.

“Sorry, what?” Baekhyun was shocked out of his reverie.

“Is it possible to sleep with your eyes open?”

“Not really, no. Why?”

“You looked like you were asleep but your eyes were open.”

“It’s called daydreaming. It’s where you think for a long time and I guess it sort of is like sleeping with your eyes open…” Baekhyun trailed off, seeing the look of confusion on Kyungsoo’s face. “Thinking is remembering something or creating a new thought,” he tried again. “Never mind. It isn’t really important…” Kyungsoo did not have the capacity to generate his own ideas and remembering was only a matter of searching for data in his memory banks. He tried understanding what Baekhyun had said but quickly dropped it.

“Here. I have soup for you,” he said, smiling warmly and handing Baekhyun the bowl. For a moment, Baekhyun forgot that Kyungsoo wasn’t human and that this was merely a learned behaviour. For a moment, he could have mistaken him for the real thing. Baekhyun shook his head to clear it. Kyungsoo wasn’t human and he had to keep that line distinct.

“I also have some medication that you should take in order to recover more quickly.” Baekhyun took the meds quickly, trying to clear the thought that Kyungsoo resembled a human as much as he did.

--

When Baekhyun finished his soup, Kyungsoo took it back to the kitchen and then promptly came back to a sleepy Baekhyun. He slid in beside the lonely boy and began to sing “When Falling in Love with a Friend,” softly. Baekhyun burrowed down into the warm sheets, falling asleep to the familiar warmth, soft voice, and gentle hum of the heart-shaped generator.

Kyungsoo wondered momentarily what it was to daydream or even what it was to feel pain or loss. It was not something he could explain nor could he figure out with him robotic brain. He also didn’t understand how humans could spend long periods of time evaluating past data. Evaluating past data took moments, at least to the little robot it did.

Kyungsoo lay there, watching his creator sleep with cheeks red with fever. His programs told him that he should act protective and loving in such a situation so he snuggled up to Baekhyun and switched to sleep mode.

--

When Baekhyun woke up again, the skies outside his bedroom window were dark. He had lost a whole day of work due to illness. No, he had lost a day to stupidity. It was definitely stupid of him to stand in the rain long enough to get soaked to the bone.

“Are you feeling better now Baek-ah?” The concerned voice came from behind him. No, the seemingly concerned voice came from behind him. Baekhyun was finding it increasingly difficult to remind himself that despite seeming so human, Kyungsoo was still just a robot. Despite everything, Kyungsoo still couldn’t feel emotion; he could only imitate reactions and sounds.

“Yeah. I’m feeling a lot better, Thanks Soo,” he replied, smiling despite himself.

“Do you need more medication or soup?”

“I think I’m fine,” Baekhyun replied. “A little more rest should be sufficient,” he said sleepily. Even if he had spent the entire day asleep, his body still wanted a little more to recover fully.

“Okay. If you say so… Your fever appears to have gone down, so I guess it’s okay…” He pulled a corner of his mouth back, considering whether Baekhyun’s course of action was reasonable. His databanks said that it was reasonable, so after a moment of processing, he nodded.

“Would you like me to sing for you,” he asked.

“Sure.” Baekhyun had become so accustomed to Kyungsoo’s singing before he fell asleep, it would be weird to fall asleep to silence.

“What should I sing?”

“It doesn’t—“ he yawned in the middle of his sentence, “really matter. I just like hearing your voice,” he replied.

“きえゆくフェイクライット

うまれゆくツルライット

このてに

しろくそまるやみつきぬけて

あたらしいじだいをきざみつずけろ

ときはなしたこころのままに

はてしなくつずいてくびゃくやをとべ”

When Kyungsoo finished the song, Baekhyun was fast asleep. The robot could hear the soft breathing and feel the light pulse as he lay there with his arms lightly encircling Baekhyun’s waist.

The boy was naturally warm, while the robot only produced synthetic warmth through circuits running underneath synthetic skin. The boy had a pulse, while the robot only had a whirring generator. The boy could feel happiness outside the “feeling” the robot’s “feeling” when he completed a task satisfactorily. The boy could feel sorrow outside the robot’s “feeling” when he failed to execute a task properly. Baekhyun was a human boy. Kyungsoo was simply a robot. He felt like he was missing a part but the empty feeling went no further than that. It was not sorrow, loneliness, or emptiness. It didn’t bother him as he went to “sleep”. He merely accepted the flaw.

A/N: Lyrics for the Japanese Song (White Night True Light) "Disappearing fake light, True light being born, Into these hands... Pierce through the white-dyed dark, Carving out a new era, With a heart set free, Fly through the endlessly continuing white night" I thought a little bit of fluff for a chapter would be nice. I hope you enjoy. They still have a little time before trajedy strikes... I'm sorry if this breaks your heart...