Word Count: 1,288

“Hello. My name is Cho Kyuhyun. I wish to buy a custom mecha from you. Other builders said that creating this specific mecha would be very challenging and that if I wanted him to be perfect, I should come to you. I don’t care how much it will cost. I just want you to build him for me,” Kyuhyun ordered, rather rudely Baekhyun noted.

“I don’t know about perfect, but I’ll definitely do my best…” Baekhyun replied timidly. Kyuhyun was not only rude, but also intimidatingly tall.

“I guess that will just have to do then,” he said with disdain. Baekhyun looked at Kyungsoo and shook his head ever so slightly, signalling that Kyungsoo shouldn’t say anything in Baekhyun’s defence.

“Thank you Mr. Cho,” Baekhyun said politely.

“I have a picture of the person that I want this mecha to be based off of because I know how you people are about having models to create from.”

“You people?” Kyungsoo asked, taken aback. “You realise that he’s doing this for you. He could easily turn you away and you would have to find someone else to do the job and take your abuse,” he said.

“Kyungsoo, stop,” Baekhyun warned but Kyungsoo ignored him.

“Do you realise how difficult it is to make a mecha, especially a custom job? You should be grateful!”

“Kyungsoo! Leave, now,” Baekhyun said, stopping him from continuing on his rant. Kyungsoo looked like a kicked puppy, but retreated back into the workshop to work on their current project all the same.

“I’m sorry about that. He usually doesn’t do that…”

“It’s fine. Are you still going to take the job?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun looked down at the picture in his hand. “What’s his name?”

“Sungmin. His name is Lee Sungmin,” the man standing before Baekhyun said.

“And you said that this is a custom job that even Chanyeol and Yixing said they didn’t want to do?”

“Chanyeol said that it would take too long to do, not the body of course, but the personality program that I want. He said that it wouldn’t be worth the time he would spend on it regardless of what he charged.

“I see… Well how long did he say it would take?” Baekhyun asked cautiously.

“The programming alone would take four months to complete,” Kyuhyun responded.

“Oh…”

“Are you saying you can’t do it either?” Kyuhyun’s eyes narrowed. Behind the snide tone, however, Baekhyun thought he detected a small amount of fear in the man’s voice.

“No. It’s not that, I’m just a slower programmer than he is, so it might take five months instead of four, but because Kyungsoo, he’s the one who was just here, can help build the body, it should only take about five months to finish after we start,” Baekhyun said.

“And when will you start?” the man asked impatiently.

“We’re in the middle of something at the moment and have one other commission after that so we should be starting Sungmin in about three months. No, you cannot move yourself up the waiting list by paying me. Everyone either waits their turn or goes elsewhere,” Baekhyun replied flatly.

“My hands are tied, so I guess I’ll just have to wait,” he muttered through gritted teeth. “How much will this project cost?”

“My guess is around €30,000 but the amount of time it takes could vary, so I guess a more accurate estimation would be between €32,500 and €27,500,” he replied uncertainly.

“Fine,” Kyuhyun replied curtly.

“So this custom job that you were talking about. Can you describe this Sungmin’s personality for me please?” He sat down on the desk and pulled out his laptop, opening a word document.

Kyuhyun’s description of this Sungmin person was so detailed, it was almost scary. He even conveyed all of Sungmin’s little mannerisms. He spoke almost too quickly for Baekhyun to follow along even though he could type at 90 words per minute. As Kyuhyun talked, Baekhyun’s fingers flew back and forth across the keyboard. Four long hours later, Kyuhyun had finished describing the entirety of the man and Baekhyun’s fingers felt like they were going to fall off any second now. He quickly saved the document and then popped his knuckles.

“I’ll phone you when we start the project and if we have any questions as we go. Please fill this card out with your contact information and such,” Baekhyun said handing Kyuhyun a card and pen. “Thank you.”

“Yeah. Thanks,” Kyuhyun threw back before exiting the workshop. Baekhyun exhaled a sigh of relief that the guy was finally gone before heading back into the workshop to try and talk to Kyungsoo.

--

Baekhyun wandered slowly into the workshop to find Kyungsoo working meticulously on the current project. He broke the silence with a timid voice.

“Kyungsoo? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you earlier…”

“No. I shouldn’t have overstepped my boundary like that,” Kyungsoo replied, strangely monotonously, which made Baekhyun feel all the more guilty.

“It’s fine. I’m glad that you said that in my defence. I guess I thought I deserved it…” Baekhyun stared down at his feet but before he knew it, he felt the familiar arms around his waist.

“I just want you to be happy, Baek,” Kyungsoo said apologetically. “But you took the job from Kyuhyun didn’t you?” Baekhyun sighed and nodded. Kyungsoo held Baekhyun at arm’s length. “You don’t need to do this for him. You don’t need to take his crap at the very least. If he wants to verbally abuse you, he should go somewhere else.” Kyungsoo’s tone sounded almost protective and it was touching until Baekhyun realised that it wasn’t real. Mayhaps the sentiment was real, but the actual feeling was not. It was synthetic.

“I want to do the job. I don’t know. I just like doing this for people, regardless of how the people are. They are usually bitter from loss. I guess what I truly like about this is the look of relief on their faces when they are reunited with lost loved ones. The only thing I hate about my work is when things don’t go quite right…” he trailed off.

“What does that mean? ‘When things don’t quite go right’?”

“I-I’ll tell you later, mayhaps. It’s just that sometimes, people don’t know what they are getting themselves into when they get mecha. It’s dicey to drabble without knowing the risks of bringing back the dead…” Baekhyun replied.

“Baek-ah. You’re leaking again…” Baekhyun hurriedly wiped his eyes on the heel of his hand “Is it about missing someone again?” Baekhyun nodded, knowing that if he opened his mouth, the only thing that would come would be endless sobbing. “Never mind. I’ll not press… Why don’t we call it quits for today? It’s late and I feel like you shouldn’t really work anymore today…” Kyungsoo said worriedly. Baekhyun nodded again and let himself be led back into the house.

Baekhyun plopped down on the sofa and Kyungsoo sat down next to him. “Is there anything I can do to help you?” Kyungsoo asked. Baekhyun could have sworn that there was genuine concern in Kyungsoo’s voice. Baekhyun shook his head as the tears began to flow again. He buried his face in Kyungsoo’s chest as he cried his eyes out.

“Baby Don’t Cry Tonight

当黑夜不再亮起来

Baby Don’t Cry Tonight

就当作没发生过一样

你永远都不会化成像泡抹一样

要永远都不知道“

Kyungsoo sang softly under his breath. At some point, Baekhyun fell asleep, sobbing into Kyungsoo’s chest and listening to the quiet, steady hum of the mechanical heart.

A/N: More hints about Jongdae. I'm really sorry about what happened to him and I'm sorry if it breaks your heart... Lyrics from Baby Don't Cry Ch Ver in the event that you didn't recognise them. "Baby don’t cry, tonight/when the dark night lights up again/Baby don’t cry, tonight/Just act like it never happened/You will never become foam/Do you not know?" Sorry for super y Kyu, that's just how I always saw him. 

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