Title: Robot
Pairing: Luck
Related Chapter: none
Word Count: 2359

Taekwoon smiled slightly as he looked over the robot before him. This one had to be his best work by far. No doubt that the robot would bring a hefty sum once he sold it. In fact, the robot would probably sell for so much, that he’d never have to worry again about the bills that were starting to pile up. He’d get the easy life he’d always wanted.

And yet, he didn’t want to part with the robot standing before him.

It was foolish, but he’d come to care for the robot a great deal over the years he’d spent working on it. This wasn’t just another robot, just another of his creation. This one was special, too special to part with. He felt like a complete fool, yet still couldn’t find the will to contact his friend who had helped him sell all of his other robots.

“I can’t sell you,” Taekwoon sighed, running his fingers along the robot’s jaw, “you’re special.”

With one last look at the robot, Taekwoon headed out of the room. He was tired and needed a good long rest. Maybe in the morning, he could revisit the whole ‘to sell or not to sell’ question. Maybe he could even call up his friends, ask them for their opinion on the subject.

….

Morning came and Taekwoon found himself sitting across from his creation, just looking it over for the hundredth time. Nothing had changed since the night before; the robot was still perfect and Taekwoon still didn’t want to sell him. Calling up his friends hadn’t given him any answers either. While Hakyeon had urged him to sell the robot, to think of all those bills he had yet to pay, Hongbin had insisted he listen to his gut telling him to keep the robot. Jaehwan and Wonsik hadn’t been of much help either, one agreeing with Hakyeon while the other backed Hongbin.

“What do I do with you?” Taekwoon asked the robot, almost like he expected it to start talking.

“I know I said sell it,” Hakyeon’s voice suddenly rang out, causing Taekwoon to jump up in surprise, “but looking at it now….keep it.”

“What?” Taekwoon frowned, looking between the robot and his friend, “what changed your mind?”

“Seeing it,” Hakyeon shrugged, “kind of gave me a new perspective on the matter.”

“You aren’t telling me something,” Taekwoon frowned, “what do you know?”

“Nothing,” Hakyeon raised his hands up in surrender, “I swear.”

Taekwoon gave him one last, hard look before returning his attention to the robot. Hakyeon made his way closer, walking around the robot as he examined every inch of it. Taekwoon silently watched him, noting how it seemed like Hakyeon was looking for more than just an imperfection. It was…..hard to explain, really. He’d smile slightly when he found something or frown when he didn’t. It was obvious that he did indeed know something Taekwoon didn’t.

“What are you going to call him?” Hakyeon asked.

“Does it matter?” Taekwoon asked, choosing to ignore how Hakyeon was suddenly calling it a he, “I never named the others.”

“But you didn’t keep the others either,” Hakyeon pointed out.

“Who says I’m going to keep this one?” Taekwoon countered.

“Call him Hyuk,” Hakyeon said, turning back to the robot as he examined its face once more, “call him Hyuk.”

Taekwoon couldn’t see Hakyeon’s face, but he knew that the other had tears welling up in his eyes.  He knew for sure now that there was more going on than Hakyeon was telling him. It was just a matter of finding out what it was.

…

Taekwoon watched Hyuk move around the kitchen, washing and drying the dishes. He’d told the robotic man countless times that he didn’t have to do things like that, but some things were just too hard wired into the robot’s programing. Doing the house hold chores, for example. Given, that did make life easier for Taekwoon, but something felt…..weird about it. Sure he liked the extra time it gave him to work on his next creation, but…….

It felt liked they’d done this before. When Taekwoon was caught up in his work and Hyuk suddenly walked in with a plate of food, it felt so……..familiar. Or when Taekwoon woke up to the smell of breakfast being made and found Hyuk standing by the stove. It felt like all that was missing from those moments was a bright smile. Sometimes, Taekwoon would even get a flash of…..something. A memory maybe? It wasn’t much, just an image of someone who looked a lot like Hyuk smiling. It was there one second, gone the next.

And Taekwoon knew he was missing something.

Not that anyone would tell him anything. Hyuk only knew what he’d been programmed with, so he was of no help. Hakyeon denied knowing anything, denied keeping anything from Taekwoon. Hongbin would just give him this sad smile – like he might start to cry at any moment – and tell him that he didn’t know anything. Jaehwan just shrugged before changing the subject. Wonsik would get a weird look on his face before telling Taekwoon that he didn’t know anything – that look said otherwise, but something about it made Taekwoon not want to pressure an answer out of him.

This left Taekwoon with nothing but his work, his robot, and hundreds of questions no one seemed to be willing to answer.

…

“Hi, Hyukkie,” Hakyeon grinned, throwing his arms around the robot, “I missed you so much. Did you miss me?”

“Hello, Hakyeon,” Hyuk greeted with his normal emotionless voice, not even flinching as the human lunged for him to hug him. once Hakyeon pulled away, clearly disheartened, Hyuk left the room.

“So stiff,” Hakyeon sighed, “Taekwoon, you need to programme him with a personality. Or at least emotions.”

“Not my job,” Taekwoon retorted, “besides, he’s a robot. They don’t have emotions or personalities.”

“They could,” Hakyeon muttered, “you could give Hyuk one.”

“Why are you so determined to make me reprogram him?” Taekwoon asked, “What is it about him that makes him so special.”

“Nothing,” Hakyeon said, faking a laugh, “I just thought it would make him more fun to be around.”

“Stop lying to me,” Taekwoon hissed, “I want the truth, Hakyeon. Just tell me the truth.”

“I can’t,” Hakyeon sighed, “it would hurt too much.”

“Hurt who?” Taekwoon frowned, “you or me?”

“Both,” Hakyeon sighed, dropping down into the chair beside Taekwoon, “but I think mostly you.”

“I can take it,” Taekwoon assured the older, “please, just tell me what everyone else seems to know.”

“Remember your accident?” Hakyeon finally said after a long silence.

“Yes,” Taekwoon nodded, “the car crash. I took a major blow to the head and most of my memories from the time I was five until the accident were lost thanks to the damage. What about it?”

“You forgot a lot of people,” Hakyeon sighed, “but most importantly, you forgot him.”

“Him?” Taekwoon frowned.

“Sanghyuk,” Hakyeon sighed, “he was…..”

“A friend?” Taekwoon asked, “like you? Or was he more?”

“He was a lot more,” Hakyeon said, a sad, bitter smile on his face, “he could always get you to smile, always make you laugh. When he was around, you were happy. You loved him a lot.”

“What?” Taekwoon couldn’t seem to form the words to respond, so Hakyeon kept going.

“You met him in high school,” Hakyeon explained, giving a bitter laugh, “it was like something out of a cheesy teen romcom. But, ya know, real. Everyone knew you two would be together forever, no one dared get between you two. You were just so perfect together.”

“What happened?” Taekwoon asked, a feeling of fear building inside of him. he wasn’t so sure if he wanted to know the answer anymore.

“The accident happened,” Hakyeon frowned, eyes dark as he recalled the horrible night in question, “it was bad, around twenty six cars. A lot of people died that night.”

“Including Sanghyuk,” Taekwoon whispered, a flash of memories filling his mind.

He could see himself in the driver’s seat, glancing over at a young man with a bright smile who looked exactly like the robot who cooked his meals. He could hear the young man in the other seat giggling about something, but couldn’t seem to make out the words. Then there was the sound of tiers squealing and the car in front of then swerved. Taekwoon could almost feel the wheel in his hands as the him in his memories tried to avoid the accident before them. then something was hitting their car, sending them into another car.

Everything went black for a moment and then Taekwoon recalled the bloody face of the young man, smileing softly as he urged Taekwoon to stay awake. Taekwoon recalled trying to focus on that voice, on those gorgeous eyes he loved so much. He was focusing so hard, he didn’t register the large hunk of metal cutting into the young man’s stomach. He didn’t seem to register the pained expression the young man was doing his best to hide with his smile and reassuring words of ‘we’ll be alright, baby. Don’t worry, just keep your eyes open.’

“They rushed him to the hospital,” Hakyeon said, “he was declared DOA. Dead on arrival. They worked through the night to save you. They succeeded, clearly.”

“Hyuk,” Taekwoon almost didn’t want to ask, “he looks just like him, doesn’t he?”

“Save for the odd scar or birthmark,” Hakyeon nodded, “he’s a perfect physical copy of Sanghyuk.”

The pair fell silent at that, neither knowing what to say or do.

“I can’t sell him,” Taekwoon finally said, “but I just…….i can’t keep him. Not knowing what I know.”

“I shouldn’t tell you this,” Hakyeon said, looking very troubled by what he was about to say, “but before the accident, you saved a copy of Sanghyuk.”

“What?” Taekwoon blinked, not understanding in the slightest.

“You saved his memories, his personality,” Hakyeon sighed, “everything. It’s all on a harddrive. You did the same with yourself. You said it was in case anything happened, so you two could still be together. I…..didn’t really get it, but Sanghyuk seemed to understand.”

“Where’s the harddrive?” Taekwoon found himself asking.

“No idea,” Hakyeon replied, “you put it someplace safe, someplace you’d never lose it.”

Taekwoon fell silent again, thinking over everything that he had been told.

…

“Sir?” Hyuk questioned, looking at the plate of untouched food he’d left an hour ago, “you haven’t eaten.”

“Oh,” Taekwoon didn’t even look up from his search of his files, “sorry. I’ll eat it later.”

“You require food,” the robot spoke up and for a moment Taekwoon as convinced he’d heard concern in Hyuk’s normally emotionless voice.

“I’ll eat now, then,” Taekwoon said, taking the plate from Hyuk’s hand.

“Sir,” Hyuk question, “you have been looking for something the past several days. Might I be of assistance in finding it?”

“No,” Taekwoon said after a long pause, “I…..I want to find it myself.”

“Understood,” Hyuk bowed slightly before leaving.

Taekwoon sighed before dumping the food into the trash and returning to his search. He had to find the harddrive with Sanghyuk’s memories on it. Given, he didn’t know what he would do with it, but he had to at least find it. He needed to see what was on it. Then….then he could figure out what he wanted to do.

…

Taekwoon sat at his desk, trying to decide if what he was doing was right. In front of him was Hyuk, waiting for whatever he decided to do. Everything was ready, all the wires were plugged in. all he needed to do was flip the switch and……he would get Sanghyuk back. But could he do that? There had to be something morally wrong with uploading everything that made Sanghyuk who he was to a robot.

What would Sanghyuk say?

With another sigh, Taekwoon hit the power button. He closed his eyes and just listened to the machines working. He was so scared to watch, so scared of what was going to come of what he was doing. Had he just made a horrible mistake? Would he live to regret this? He honestly didn’t know. What he did know was that it was time to face the music when his computer announced that the transfer had been successfully completed.

Carefully, like he expected something to explode or something, he made his way over to Hyuk and unplugged the wires. Taekwoon stood there, watching the robot for a moment before turning it on. Hyuk’s eyes lit up, but the soft glow was different from before.

“Hi,” the robot smiled, “I’ve missed you, Taek.”

“Sanghyuk,” Taekwoon felt like crying, yet it felt wrong to do that. He still didn’t recall much about Sanghyuk, only what the others had told him.

“Took you long enough to use the harddrive,” Sanghyuk laughed, sitting up, “I can’t imagine how you managed to keep yourself alive for so long without me.”

“How do you know it’s been a long time?” Taekwoon questioned.

“Robot,” Sanghyuk smirked, pointing to himself, “not to brag or anything, but I kind of have clock and calendar programmed into me.”

“Right,” Taekwoon couldn’t help but laugh at that, silently wondering if this was what Hakyeon had been talking about when he said Sanghyuk could always make him laugh and smile.

“What happened?” Sanghyuk suddenly asked, turning serous, “for you to have built, well, me…..something happened.”

“There was an accident,” Taekwoon admitted, “a car crash. You…..you died.”

“Oh, Taek,” Sanghyuk pulled the human into a hug, trying to be mindful of his strength so he didn’t hurt the other, “I’m so sorry, baby.”

“I don’t remember you,” Taekwoon admitted, pulling back as the tears started to flow, “I remember some things, but most of it……”

“It’s alright,” Sanghyuk assured him, “I’ll help you remember. Taekwoon, please don’t cry. And you still have that harddrive for your memories. We can use that to help you.”

“I’ve missed you,” Taekwoon whispered, throwing his arms around Sanghyuk, “even though I can’t remember you, I’ve missed you.”

“I know,” Sanghyuk nodded, “I know.”

A/N: this was way longer then I planned, but I like it. I hope you all do too!!