Word Count: 1,220

“Where did you leave off the other night?” Baekhyun asked as they walked into the workshop.

“I have the basic human skull structure. We need to add distinct facial topography now,” Kyungsoo replied.

“Okay. How about you do that and I’ll get the skin and other synthetic fleshy things,” Baekhyun replied.

“Okay,” Kyungsoo replied brightly.

Baekhyun began t and modifying the parts to fit this specific mecha. Kyungsoo diligently carved away at the ceramic, giving shape to “Tao”.

After two more days of work, Tao was nearly finished.

“We just need to install the software and then we should be ready for Yifan,” Baekhyun informed Kyungsoo, who nodded.

“He requested that the mecha speak Mandarin as well as Korean, that he knows wushu, and that he have the generic admiring, dongsaeng boyfriend personality, right?” Kyungsoo recited.

“Yes, In addition to the other basic programs. Those would be standard knowledge, basic human actions and functions, and basic learning capacity,” he counted off on his fingers. “Am I missing anything?”

“The life binder,” Kyungsoo replied.

“Right…” that was Baekhyun’s least favourite part of mecha. The life binder program triggered the shut down of a mecha when its owner died. “How could I forget…”

“It is probably due to your dislike of the function. Despite your aversion to it, however, you have never actually neglected to put in the part,” Kyungsoo replied rather bluntly.

“Thanks Soo…”

“Sure,” Kyungsoo replied brightly. No, he replied with a bright tone, Baekhyun reminded himself.

“So when Yifan comes, he will need to give a blood sample to Tao in order to activate it, correct?”

“Yeah. And then when Yifan dies, Tao know and he, too, will die,” Baekhyun sighed.

--

Yifan came to pick Tao up the day after his completion. His face lit up when he saw Tao come to life right before his eyes.

“Tao...…You’re back...” he said softly, voice filled with relief.

“I’m back ge. I’m back for good,” he replied smiling. It was only Baekhyun and maybe a few others who noticed the lifelessness behind the smiles and voice. The rest deluded themselves into thinking that their loved ones had indeed returned to them. Yifan hugged Tao tightly, as though if he let the mecha go for even one second, they would be torn away forever.

“I promise I won’t let you go this time,” Yifan whispered. He released the mecha and turned to the small boy. “You truly are the best in the world.”

“Th-thanks,” Baekhyun replied, not familiar with such compliments.

“So, I owe you how much for him?” Yifan asked.

“ €17,500,” Baekhyun replied.

“Why is it so cheap?” Yixing’s are €20,000 and Chanyeol’s are €21,500, and they are the also among the top builders.”

“I don’t really need all that much. I can live comfortably and still afford parts with it, so I find that to be enough,” he replied as Yifan handed him a card, which Kyungsoo processed quickly before returning it.

“To finish Tao, we are going to need a blood sample from you. It’s a formality, really.” He nodded at Kyungsoo, who had a blood sampler in hand.

“Please give me your hand. This will hurt a little,” Kyungsoo said. Yifan presented his hand and Kyungsoo stuck the needle quickly into his ring finger. The little handheld machine took a drop of blood and registered the signature. The quickly downloaded the data into Tao.

“This just means that he will shut off when you die,” Baekhyun explained. “But you already knew that, right?”

“Yeah.”

“If you want any modifications of any sort, feel free to call or stop by. If you want any new software, memory upgrades or any generic programming, you can find it basically anywhere these days. If you want a custom job, you can ask me, Yixing, Chanyeol, or anyone else really.” Yifan smiled as he nodded, not really paying attention to what Baekhyun was saying now that he had Tao back.

“Thank you so much for this,” Yifan said before leaving.

--

Baekhyun exhaled the breath he didn’t realise that he was holding. “Are you okay Baek?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just glad that we could make him happy,” Baekhyun said. And I sincerely hope that he will stay happy with Tao, even if it is only an illusion, he thought to himself.

Kyungsoo nodded. “We should take tonight off instead of starting on the next project,” Kyungsoo stated.

“Okay,” Baekhyun replied. He had to admit that he was a little tired.

“I just think that a little break would be healthy is all,” Kyungsoo justified.

“You’re probably right,” Baekhyun replied, smiling tiredly, to which Kyungsoo gave a bright grin. It was just a normal grin. Kyungsoo wasn’t capable of being bright in that sense, but it was getting harder and harder for Baekhyun to remind himself of that fact.

--

“Why isn’t there a life binder in me?” Kyungsoo wondered out loud as Baekhyun was eating.

“What?” He froze.

“You never put one in me, or at least I do not have a sample of your blood and am not bound to you or anyone else. I did not want to say it in front of the customer, so I decided I would ask you about it later.”

“Well…” Baekhyun couldn’t think of what he wanted to say. “I guess this is me being overly sentimental…”

“How so?” Kyungsoo looked at him with large and curious eyes, tilting his head to one side.

“I wanted you to live for yourself and see the world on your own,” he replied slowly. “It’s difficult to explain…” Kyungsoo still looked confused. “I guess I’m just hoping that with more time, you’ll be able to understand.”

“What am I supposed to understand?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Something that can only be lived. Something that can’t be created and can’t be taught.”

“Your words aren’t making any sense in this syntax,” Kyungsoo replied with brow furrowed as he tried to comprehend his creator’s words.

“Do you know what a soul is?”

“The immaterial essence, animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life,” he responded.

“Well, yes, but there’s more to it.” Baekhyun rubbed the back of his neck. He finally gave up. “Maybe I can explain this later then…”

“Okay,” Kyungsoo replied. He didn't feel curiosity or anticipation waiting for the explanation, he just didn’t have the capacity for it.

A/N: Soon you'll find out about Jongdae, but for now, just hints. Thank you for subscribing and supporting me and writing comments. Thank you for reading and I hope that the ending of this story doesn't hurt too much...