Word Count: 1,702

They began work about three and a half months after the commission, a little later than Baekhyun had originally promised. More than anything, Kyuhyun sounded worried when he answered the phone at the end of the three and a half month wait. The tone was quite the change from the rude Kyuhyun Baekhyun had met with at first.

“Hello? Mr. Cho? Yes, this is Byun Baekhyun. I’m just calling to notify you that we’ve started working on your mecha today,” he said. “Sorry for—“

“I’ve been waiting for this call for the past two weeks,” Kyuhyun all but screamed into the phone. “What took you so long in the other projects that you didn’t have the time to start promptly,” he growled into the phone. There was also a hint of fear or anxiety in his voice, or mayhaps it was just Baekhyun’s imagination.

“It’s just that there was a minor set back in the mecha we just completed,” Baekhyun replied timidly.

“Well whatever. As long as you’ve started…” Something resembling relief crept into the customer’s snarky voice. This project, this mecha, must be really important to Kyuhyun, Baekhyun thought to himself.

“So, I guess that’s all I really wanted to tell you… I’ll phone if we have any more questions and when we’ve finished,” Baekhyun said.

“Okay,” Kyuhyun said. It was probably the closest thing to gratitude that Baekhyun would get from the man; so he just accepted it with a silent inward sigh. “Bye then,” Kyuhyun finished before hanging up. Baekhyun sighed aloud this time. He just couldn’t figure that man out, his motives or his feelings.

Baekhyun headed back to the workshop. “Well, I guess we should start on Sungmin then,” he said to Kyungsoo, who nodded. Kyungsoo began working on the body and Baekhyun pulled out his laptop to begin writing the mind, or personality, the “Sungmin” program.

--

As he went, Baekhyun taught Kyungsoo how to write more complex programs. Sometimes, he would call him over to show the mecha little nuances about programming. Sometimes they would go over little things as Baekhyun ate supper. He thought that it might be possible for Kyungsoo to do his own programming, one day. Mayhaps he could even do the sorts of things that Yixing, Chanyeol, and he, Baekhyun, could do. Mayhaps he could do it independently, once Baekhyun was gone that is.

“You already know advanced generic programming, don’t you?” Baekhyun asked Kyungsoo, who nodded in reply. “So you know how to write looping algorithms and that sort of thing as well.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo replied.

“As you know, then, the parameters for the loop are key. With personalities, setting parameters for the loop is a little trickier than simple action algorithms. You usually need to expand it to encompass the full reaction loop,” Baekhyun instructed as he munched on Kyungsoo’s kimchi spaghetti at the dinner table.

“Okay,” Kyungsoo confirmed.

“Some things you want to keep in mind as you write more realistic personality programs is that to make a mecha seem more human, you have to include many seemingly-insignificant reaction codes. Little mannerisms really make a difference to a person. Little nuances of a personality make the mecha seem more real.”

“Why do we want them to seem more human?”

“Humans want a better representation of the person when they want him or her brought back,” Baekhyun tried to explain in response to Kyungsoo’s slightly blank look.

“So we are trying to mimic finite details in order to create a better substitute?” Kyungsoo tried, misunderstanding human sentimentality.

“Well... Em… I guess so… It just seems so harsh somehow when you put it that way…” Baekhyun replied slowly.

“But that is what we are doing, especially in cases like this with custom personalities, right?” Baekhyun pulled back a corner of his mouth as he thought of how to reply.

“Well… Yeah,” he conceded. “But it’s more complicated than that,” Baekhyun tried again.

“How can it be more than that?”

“I don’t know how to explain it. I guess it’s just a part of being human and having sentimentality.”

“I see…” Baekhyun wished more than anything that he would be able to teach Kyungsoo human emotions, from joy to sadness. He wished he would be able to teach the robotic heart how to feel. “Well at least you know how to program, even if you don’t know why,” Baekhyun finally said.

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo said with his robotic dejection.

“It’s not your fault,” Baekhyun said, smiling. It’s mine, he thought sadly.

--

Kyungsoo finished the construction in record time, after only three months. Sungmin looked exactly how he did in the picture. “Wow Soo. You did a fantastic job,” Baekhyun commented, looking up from his computer.

“Thanks Baek.” He smiled and Baekhyun wasn’t sure anymore whether it was the programmed smile or whether Kyungsoo was smiling for his own sake.

“Why don’t you start work on our next project and I’ll continue working on the program then?”

“Okay. That’s Izuru for Daisuke, right?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun replied, smiling tiredly. He was getting much deeper into this Sungmin mecha than he had any other, well almost any other. There was Kyungsoo and then there was… No, he didn’t want to remember her. He shook his head to clear the thoughts and returned to working on Sungmin, referring to Kyuhyun’s description every now and again.

--

His fingers flew across the keyboard as he input code for the various actions, building a person, slowly but surely. The precision that Sungmin required was the real time consuming part. The code itself was rather simple, with a few exceptions. He knew most of the parts like the back of his hand; it was just typing all of the inputs and outputs that took time.

Someone came up behind him to look over his shoulder at the code. “Come on, Dae. I don’t need to be looked after anymore. I know what I’m doing,” he giggled, not looking up.

“Dae? Who’s Dae?” A voice that wasn’t Jongdae’s came from behind and Baekhyun’s blood ran cold. Kyungsoo was looking over his shoulder.

“Oh, uh, sorry Soo. It’s nothing…” Baekhyun was finally realising what he had gotten into, taking this job. It was digging up memories he had wanted to never revisit, both good and bad. He just wanted to forget all of it, but fate would not allow for it. The situation was getting just a little too familiar for comfort. “Just forget it,” even if I can’t, he thought bitterly.

Kyungsoo furrowed his brow as he gave his creator a concerned look, but eventually decided to drop it. “I was just going to tell you that it was nine and that you should probably eat dinner.”

Baekhyun turned to look at the clock. “You’re right,” Baekhyun laughed a little nervously. He took a moment to scroll through the last thousand lines of code. He would have another week of straight programming and two days of proofing and then Sungmin would be finished. Izuru was already half built, which meant that a month had passed without his noticing.

--

“Baek, you look tired. How about I make dinner tonight?” Kyungsoo asked as they headed back to the house.

“Sure,” he replied absently, missing Jongdae now more than ever. He decided he wouldn’t cry, but that fell through as he sat at the table and watched Kyungsoo cook. His vision swam as stinging tears dripped down his face faster than he could wipe them away. He sank to the table, burying his face in his arms. Suddenly, or maybe not so suddenly, a light arm was wrapped around Baekhyun’s tiny shoulders.

“Shh… There, there, I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you,” he whispered soothingly.

“You must—think—I’m really—weak,” Baekhyun choked out between sobs and hiccups.

“No. I don’t think that at all. I just think that you have an injury that hasn’t healed yet,” he replied with a soft voice. “All you need is time and a hand to hold along the way.” Baekhyun looked up to see Kyungsoo smiling gently at him. He returned with a weak smile on a splotchy, tear-stained face.

“That’s deep,” he replied giggle tiredly.

“Do you still want dinner or shall I put it away and you can eat it later?”

“I’ll just have it later…”

“M’kay.” Kyungsoo put the plate away and Baekhyun watched his back, sighing.

“Do you want to watch a movie tonight? A romantic comedy or something?” Baekhyun asked. They didn’t watch movies very often, just like they didn’t go shopping or take breaks from work very often.

“If you want to,” Kyungsoo replied, smiling. “What were you thinking of watching?”

“I didn’t really have anything in mind. Why don’t you choose?”

Kyungsoo thought for a second. “How about ‘About Time’?” Baekhyun nodded, almost giggling. It was definitely one of his favourites.

“That sounds like a great idea.”

“Why don’t you go up and change into your pyjamas and I’ll put the movie on.”

“Okay.” Kyungsoo popped the disk into the player and then sat on the sofa, waiting for Baekhyun to come back down. Baekhyun plopped down beside him, wearing soft flannel pants and a large black t-shirt. He leaned on Kyungsoo’s shoulder and tucked his legs up beside him, snuggling in close as the movie started.

Twenty minutes into the movie, Baekhyun began to realise how tired he was and how comfortable Kyungsoo was. At the thirty-minute mark, he was fast asleep, wearing an angelic facial expression that almost made the mecha smile. But it still wasn’t a true smile, just a learned one.

Kyungsoo turned the movie off, but Baekhyun didn’t stir. Kyungsoo carried the boy wedding-style back to his bedroom. Luckily Baekhyun was already in his pyjamas because Kyungsoo didn’t want to wake the boy up, as peaceful as he looked.

The robot tucked him into bed before changing into his on pyjamas and sliding into the bed on the other side. As a force of habit, he hummed a melody softly, tonight’s was “Last Night, Good Night”, before going to sleep, arms wrapped loosely around Baekhyun’s waist. After he finished, he said a soft “Goodnight Baek.”

A/N: So Kyuhyun is a brat. The song I'm referencing can be found here. Little BaekSoo moment. The is the end of the sub-set of arcs called "The Second Miracle". That's about it.

The ending should be coming in about five chapters? I hope you enjoy