[100 suju fic challenge]
027. Replacement - Heechul/Kibum
PG-13, 1300 words, AU, sci-fi, whut.
“….This is the replacement?”
“S’what it says,” is the gruff and uninterested reply. The deliveryman huffs and pulls out a small electronic notepad.
Heechul continues to stare, a little dumbly, and a lot confused. “Are you sure? This is my replacement?”
The guy - his little, half-worn nametag says ‘Park’ - looks insulted, as if Heechul just called him an idiot, and wasn’t simply seeking confirmation. “So it says. Come on, I ain’t got all day, print here.” He thrusts the small notepad right in Heechul’s face and clicks his tongue, impatient. Heechul presses his thumb against the print-sig, and before he can ask anymore questions, or get out a biting comment at the less than polite deliveryman, he’s left on his own, front doors sliding closed.
Well, not entirely on his own, he has his replacement. It’s still baffling him greatly, too. His old housebot, a fairly cheap and simple HouseMate 274, good only for domestic chores and cleaning up the house, had broken down just yesterday, much to Heechul’s annoyance as it had been right in the middle of its duties, and he’d video-phoned the company to demand a replacement because his fucking guarantee wasn’t up yet and it was a fucking disgrace if he had to pay for another one of these shitty housebots but someone needs to keep my fucking house clean and I’m not hiring a maid who might steal my valuable possessions thank you very much, assholes.
Or something along those lines.
And here is his replacement, and yet…it isn’t at all a HouseMate of any series, and it doesn’t even look like a housebot. Heechul scratches at the back of his neck and continues to stare a little, highly perplexed. This one actually looks human, looks almost real. Housebots barely resemble even a humanoid shape, instead made to be most efficient at their built-in duties, but this, this robot looks far more high-tech, looks real. Except for the fact that it’s not breathing, and whilst it’s switched off, there is no movement whatsoever.
Heechul takes a step closer, curiosity filling his confusion, and peers at the robot. Male, most definitely a male. His hand reaches out, threads through the dark strands of hair, and his mouth opens in a silent gasp of surprise - it feels real! Of course, synthetics has come a long long way, and it’s possible now to make almost anything feel real when it’s not, but still, it catches Heechul by surprise. It feels like real hair slipping between his fingers. His hand slides down, fingers brush across forehead, cheek, follow the strong curve of the jawline, and this time, he does gasp out loud.
The skin feels real, too. A little cool, it doesn’t feel alive and full of warmth, but it feels like skin, real skin, and Heechul can’t tell at all that its just a loose layer of synthetics to cover the metal and whatever else makes up the robots these days - Heechul has no idea, honestly, robotics was never something he was interested in, unless it benefits him in some way.
But, if it weren’t for the lack of breathing, and any other movement, he would have thought this robot was actually a person.
Whilst it’s switched off, he feels no shame whatsoever in exploring a little more of his new replacement - wonders how he even got this to replace a goddamn housebot, this is so much more advanced, someone must have made a mistake - and lets his hand wander down to finger at the shirt, and that’s another surprising thing too, because robots are never dressed, how can they be when most household and domestic series don’t even resemble humans?
His hand pauses above the space where the heart would be, and he feels nothing, nothing at all. Then, struck with a new curiosity, Heechul wonders just how human this robot has been made, how realistic it actually is. He reaches down, fingers fumbling with a zip, and is about to find out, when a voice, sudden and unexpected, speaks up.
“Good morning, sir. What can I do for you?”
Heechul jumps, pulls his hands away as if they’d been burnt, and stares into that now very much on, and almost very much alive, face. The robots eyes are dark, but as Heechul stares, he sees nothing else behind them, nothing human. He’s not sure if he’s more relieved by that, or a little more disturbed.
“You…what? How the hell did you do that? You were off.”
“Touch sensitive, sir.”
Oh. Well, that was new. Heechul had always had to turn his robots on manually, or by remote. This one really was advanced; how could anyone make the mistake of sending him this?
“Who are you?” he asks, makes his voice sound colder, harder, if only because he doesn’t like being taken by surprise.
“KB1759K,” it responds promptly. The voice almost sounds human, too, Heechul realises, almost holds tones and sounds and notes, almost has a human feeling to it. A little dry, perhaps, but certainly sounds more lifelike than any other robot he’s had or seen before. And as he stares, he finds himself slowly starting to think of ‘it’ as ‘him’, because the face and the voice are unmistakably male. He wonders again how far that maleness actually goes.
“Well, I’m never going to remember all that, and I like to have actual names to call someone by. So I’m going to call you,” he pauses for a bare second to consider, then adds with a definite finality to the decision, “Kibum. You got that? Your name is Kibum.” Heechul looks at the robot, and decides it suits him.
“Yes, sir.”
“And don’t call me sir,” Heechul adds, without even thinking. He had his last robot addressing him as ‘The Almighty and Knowledgeable Lord of the Universe’, and the one before addressed him as ‘King Heechul’, because Heechul gets a kick out of those kind of things, but he finds it a little strange, to think of this, him, Kibum, calling him any of those. He’s too real, too human, and it would feel too weird. “You can call me Heechul. What do you do, anyway?”
“Anything you require of me.”
Heechul raises an eyebrow. “Anything? Not just domestic work, and things?”
The robot - no, Kibum - shakes his head, and Heechul watches in quiet amazement as the hair moves along with the motion. It’s so real.
“Anything you require of me, Heechul.”
Heechul taps a finger thoughtfully against his mouth and paces a little; Kibum’s eyes follow his movements. He really doesn’t keep up with all the latest news and advances in robotics, so it can’t be too surprising that he’s not even heard mention of robots as advanced as this before.
Eventually, Heechul stills in front of him, mind made up. “I think I could enjoy having you around, Kibum.”
Well, even if it is a mistake, Heechul won’t ever make mention of it, because he seems to have lucked out for once in his life.
(Two weeks later and Heechul finds out exactly how far the human likeness of Kibum goes, and that he really will do anything Heechul asks of him. It’s quite shameless of Heechul, actually, but its not as if Kibum can get offended, he’s not a person after all, and Heechul simply asks him to take off his pants. The synthetics feel real absolutely everywhere, and Heechul is quite surprised to find that the skin is actually warm - internal heating system, Kibum explains, to make him appear even more lifelike - to the touch. Even when he kisses Kibum, after his curious explorations, it’s warm and feels real. And when Kibum touches him, Heechul almost forgets that he’s simply a robot, and that beneath the synthetic skin of his hand is only metal and wires and technology).
- end -
notes: uhhh....is it obvious I wasn't sure just how far I wanted to go with this? 8D I love robot stories and sci-fi though. I wish more people wrote robot fics :(
05/100 [archive]
PG-13, 1300 words, AU, sci-fi, whut.
“….This is the replacement?”
“S’what it says,” is the gruff and uninterested reply. The deliveryman huffs and pulls out a small electronic notepad.
Heechul continues to stare, a little dumbly, and a lot confused. “Are you sure? This is my replacement?”
The guy - his little, half-worn nametag says ‘Park’ - looks insulted, as if Heechul just called him an idiot, and wasn’t simply seeking confirmation. “So it says. Come on, I ain’t got all day, print here.” He thrusts the small notepad right in Heechul’s face and clicks his tongue, impatient. Heechul presses his thumb against the print-sig, and before he can ask anymore questions, or get out a biting comment at the less than polite deliveryman, he’s left on his own, front doors sliding closed.
Well, not entirely on his own, he has his replacement. It’s still baffling him greatly, too. His old housebot, a fairly cheap and simple HouseMate 274, good only for domestic chores and cleaning up the house, had broken down just yesterday, much to Heechul’s annoyance as it had been right in the middle of its duties, and he’d video-phoned the company to demand a replacement because his fucking guarantee wasn’t up yet and it was a fucking disgrace if he had to pay for another one of these shitty housebots but someone needs to keep my fucking house clean and I’m not hiring a maid who might steal my valuable possessions thank you very much, assholes.
Or something along those lines.
And here is his replacement, and yet…it isn’t at all a HouseMate of any series, and it doesn’t even look like a housebot. Heechul scratches at the back of his neck and continues to stare a little, highly perplexed. This one actually looks human, looks almost real. Housebots barely resemble even a humanoid shape, instead made to be most efficient at their built-in duties, but this, this robot looks far more high-tech, looks real. Except for the fact that it’s not breathing, and whilst it’s switched off, there is no movement whatsoever.
Heechul takes a step closer, curiosity filling his confusion, and peers at the robot. Male, most definitely a male. His hand reaches out, threads through the dark strands of hair, and his mouth opens in a silent gasp of surprise - it feels real! Of course, synthetics has come a long long way, and it’s possible now to make almost anything feel real when it’s not, but still, it catches Heechul by surprise. It feels like real hair slipping between his fingers. His hand slides down, fingers brush across forehead, cheek, follow the strong curve of the jawline, and this time, he does gasp out loud.
The skin feels real, too. A little cool, it doesn’t feel alive and full of warmth, but it feels like skin, real skin, and Heechul can’t tell at all that its just a loose layer of synthetics to cover the metal and whatever else makes up the robots these days - Heechul has no idea, honestly, robotics was never something he was interested in, unless it benefits him in some way.
But, if it weren’t for the lack of breathing, and any other movement, he would have thought this robot was actually a person.
Whilst it’s switched off, he feels no shame whatsoever in exploring a little more of his new replacement - wonders how he even got this to replace a goddamn housebot, this is so much more advanced, someone must have made a mistake - and lets his hand wander down to finger at the shirt, and that’s another surprising thing too, because robots are never dressed, how can they be when most household and domestic series don’t even resemble humans?
His hand pauses above the space where the heart would be, and he feels nothing, nothing at all. Then, struck with a new curiosity, Heechul wonders just how human this robot has been made, how realistic it actually is. He reaches down, fingers fumbling with a zip, and is about to find out, when a voice, sudden and unexpected, speaks up.
“Good morning, sir. What can I do for you?”
Heechul jumps, pulls his hands away as if they’d been burnt, and stares into that now very much on, and almost very much alive, face. The robots eyes are dark, but as Heechul stares, he sees nothing else behind them, nothing human. He’s not sure if he’s more relieved by that, or a little more disturbed.
“You…what? How the hell did you do that? You were off.”
“Touch sensitive, sir.”
Oh. Well, that was new. Heechul had always had to turn his robots on manually, or by remote. This one really was advanced; how could anyone make the mistake of sending him this?
“Who are you?” he asks, makes his voice sound colder, harder, if only because he doesn’t like being taken by surprise.
“KB1759K,” it responds promptly. The voice almost sounds human, too, Heechul realises, almost holds tones and sounds and notes, almost has a human feeling to it. A little dry, perhaps, but certainly sounds more lifelike than any other robot he’s had or seen before. And as he stares, he finds himself slowly starting to think of ‘it’ as ‘him’, because the face and the voice are unmistakably male. He wonders again how far that maleness actually goes.
“Well, I’m never going to remember all that, and I like to have actual names to call someone by. So I’m going to call you,” he pauses for a bare second to consider, then adds with a definite finality to the decision, “Kibum. You got that? Your name is Kibum.” Heechul looks at the robot, and decides it suits him.
“Yes, sir.”
“And don’t call me sir,” Heechul adds, without even thinking. He had his last robot addressing him as ‘The Almighty and Knowledgeable Lord of the Universe’, and the one before addressed him as ‘King Heechul’, because Heechul gets a kick out of those kind of things, but he finds it a little strange, to think of this, him, Kibum, calling him any of those. He’s too real, too human, and it would feel too weird. “You can call me Heechul. What do you do, anyway?”
“Anything you require of me.”
Heechul raises an eyebrow. “Anything? Not just domestic work, and things?”
The robot - no, Kibum - shakes his head, and Heechul watches in quiet amazement as the hair moves along with the motion. It’s so real.
“Anything you require of me, Heechul.”
Heechul taps a finger thoughtfully against his mouth and paces a little; Kibum’s eyes follow his movements. He really doesn’t keep up with all the latest news and advances in robotics, so it can’t be too surprising that he’s not even heard mention of robots as advanced as this before.
Eventually, Heechul stills in front of him, mind made up. “I think I could enjoy having you around, Kibum.”
Well, even if it is a mistake, Heechul won’t ever make mention of it, because he seems to have lucked out for once in his life.
(Two weeks later and Heechul finds out exactly how far the human likeness of Kibum goes, and that he really will do anything Heechul asks of him. It’s quite shameless of Heechul, actually, but its not as if Kibum can get offended, he’s not a person after all, and Heechul simply asks him to take off his pants. The synthetics feel real absolutely everywhere, and Heechul is quite surprised to find that the skin is actually warm - internal heating system, Kibum explains, to make him appear even more lifelike - to the touch. Even when he kisses Kibum, after his curious explorations, it’s warm and feels real. And when Kibum touches him, Heechul almost forgets that he’s simply a robot, and that beneath the synthetic skin of his hand is only metal and wires and technology).
- end -
notes: uhhh....is it obvious I wasn't sure just how far I wanted to go with this? 8D I love robot stories and sci-fi though. I wish more people wrote robot fics :(
05/100 [archive]