Android Romance (2/?)
Title: Android Romance (2/?)
Pairing: KyuMin
Summary: Can an android, an artificial human, be able to love?
Rating: PG13 - 15
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Groaning, Kyuhyun turns to his side, rubbing his face with the back of his hand and wincing as he touches a rather sore spot on his head.
"Turn off your stupid alarm HyukJae!" He yells irritably, pulling the covers to hide his face. As soon as Kyuhyun takes a deep breath, he instantly snaps open his eyes. Did his covers smell like lilac and a hint of musk? No. It always smelled like the fake vanilla of the fabric softener.
Bolting upright, he immediately regrets the action as his head throbs in the most unpleasant way possible. The room spins as he slowly lays back down on the soft bed, blinking away the bright spots of light as his vision focuses again.
"I advise you to not move so abruptly." A calm voice says next to him.
Hearing that voice, he immediately remembers that he was in Sungmin's home, which then ultimately reminds him what he saw before he blacked out. Kyuhyun turns his head to the side to see Sungmin, arms intact and both eyes in place, looking at him with that blank expression. But something was off about his eyes, was it fear that he could read in those bottomless orbs? Before Kyuhyun could decide, Sungmin quickly breaks eye contact and pulls a chair next to the bed.
"You fainted." Sungmin bluntly states.
"After seeing you armless and eyeless," Kyuhyun counters, furrowing his brows. The bruises that he could feel on his shoulder, was enough proof for him to confirm what happened before he fainted.
Sungmin doesn't say anything, but rather, tilts his head to the side and stares blankly at Kyuhyun. Since their first meeting, this was the only other time Kyuhyun has been able to see Sungmin so up close. And he had to admit that if the situation wasn't so grave as this, he would definitely ask this delicate male for a coffee date.
"You do not deny that what you saw was your own imagination?" Sungmin asks, not trying to convince him, but rather, curious.
Kyuhyun sits up slowly, wincing at the gentle throb of his temple. "Yes," he states. After he looks Sungmin up and down, he frowns. "What are you?" he whispers, concluding that there was something odd about Sungmin, from the eerie grace of his looks, to the odd encounter of seeing him without an arm and eye.
Sungmin goes silent for the longest while, as if contemplating just what to say. All the while, he keeps looking at Kyuhyun with an uncomfortable stare, making the male on the bed fidget with unease.
"What do you know of artificial humans?" Sungmin finally says, crossing his arms.
Kyuhyun blinks. "Artificial-what?"
"Artificial humans, or also known as artificial intelligence, is the ability of a computer or other machinery to perform activities that normally are thought to require intelligence." Sungmin explains in a blink of an eye, "Have you come across this term?"
Kyuhyun just stares dumbly at the man while blinking profusely. He didn't need any more details; he may not be incredibly smart, but he was smart enough to understand. "Don't tell me you're..." His eyes widen as a slow smile spreads across Sungmin's lips; the first real expression Kyuhyun's seen.
For some unknown reason, his heart flutters at that smile.
"I am willing to tell you my secret, as the rate in which you will tell others are 46% at this moment." Sungmin murmurs, a strange low hum to his voice when he tries to speak deeper.
"Wait, what? I-I mean, how do you know if I will tell others or not? That's not a possibility you can predict with numbers." Kyuhyun says, a permanent frown etched on his forehead.
Sungmin taps his forehead with his forefinger, a strange look that can remind someone of arrogance showing on his face. "I was created in 1896 in the outskirts of London, England, by a professor that went by the name of Weir." He continues, not bothering to answer Kyuhyun's question. "He was a middle aged man full of curiosity when he created me, he surprised himself by accomplishing such a thing. As he was about to reveal me to the world of Science, he grew a sense of attachment towards his creation; as if I was his blood and bones. He treated me like his son."
"Instead of earning a name for himself, he kept me under his care and showered me with goods. Of course, he aged as the years went on, as it was only natural a human to do so. But for something like myself to not age was normal as well. The people around me grew weary, but soon came to some sort of understanding. Nearing his eightieth year, the professor passed. And I left England; travelling towards the East."
Opening and closing his mouth like a gaping fish out of water, Kyuhyun clamps his jaw shut and shakes his head, rubbing his temples. "So say..." he begins, "that I did believe all... this." he says, gritting his teeth and waving his hand in Sungmin's direction. "How have you managed to live for..." he does the math, "one hundred and fourteen years?"
"The professor programmed me yearly with new things and information, soon enough, I learned to fix and repair the damages that has happened to my body." Sungmin tilts his head to the side, "What you saw yesterday was a display of that. I tripped over a box and a bolt came out of my arm, dislocating it as I fell and damaged my eye."
Kyuhyun shudders at the memory. "Ahh... yeah, that." He looks at Sungmin with a new found curiosity rather than fear. "But, how is this possible? With the sciences and technological development now a days, we're still not able to create something like you!"
Sungmin nods slightly, "Unfortunately, I am not able to explain that one question. The professor taught and programmed me on everything there is to know... except for my own creation. That, he kept to himself."
Sungmin leans forward slightly, making Kyuhyun lean back simultaneously. He still couldn't fully grasp that Sungmin wasn't human.
"You're rather taking this very straightforwardly," Sungmin comments in that matter-of-fact tone, almost monotonous. "It is rather worrisome." He frowns slightly, another facial expression.
Kyuhyun raises an eyebrow, "you want me to run out screaming then?"
"No, that would be even more troublesome." Sungmin answers simply, sitting back up straight.
"Were you ever found out what you were?" Kyuhyun asks, leaning forward without knowing it.
Sungmin's lip twitches, "Never. This is my first time confiding someone of my existence."
"What makes you think I can be trusted?" Kyuhyun says, frowning. For a computer, it was very stupid.
Sungmin tilts his head, something, Kyuhyun concludes, that he does when he is thinking hard; even if it doesn't show on his face. "I have my reasons and statistics." Sungmin finalizes, staring at Kyuhyun with those expressionless eyes. Although his facial features may change with different expressions, and his body movements also express what he is thinking, his eyes stay cold, dark and void.
"Do you believe me?" Sungmin says after a moments silence.
Kyuhyun frowns hard, a grim line set on his lips. "Well, you are sitting before me... and I did see you... unassembled and everything," he closes his eyes at the thought. He looks up to meet Sungmin's cool gaze, "But how do you function? You couldn't have a heart... can you?"
Sungmin suddenly reaches for Kyuhyun's hand resting on his lap. Yelping, but with no resistance, Kyuhyun allows Sungmin to grip his hand. His eyes widen in surprise.
"You're hands warm..." Kyuhyun comments, blinking at the soft skin texture of Sungmin's hand, and the warmth radiating from it.
"My internal systems maintain my skin temperature at the normal human temperature always." Sungmin comments, he then pulls on the hand and places it on his chest.
For some reason, this action makes Kyuhyun blush profusely. Willing his heart to stop pounding and the heat to cool, he focuses on the palm of his hand which was pressed against the softness of Sungmin's chest.
'A heartbeat..? No, it couldn't be... something's beating... but not a heart... and a faint... whirring of something?' Kyuhyun shakes his head and looks at Sungmin, who was staring at him with an unreadable expression.
"I've tried many times to see what makes me run; what makes me function and stay alive; a sufficient term more or less." Sungmin comments, fingers caressing Kyuhyun's forearm, a trail of goosebumps rising with the touch. "But I've almost destroyed myself in the process. My professor didn't want anyone, even I, to know how he created me."
Kyuhyun grunts, gently pulling at his arm. Sungmin's fingers linger on his forehand, before quickly letting go. "You must be famished, fainting isn't good for a human body." Sungmin says suddenly, getting up from his chair. "Stay, I will prepare some food for you." And with that he leaves the room, as Kyuhyun sits there with a fair one to a million questions filling his mind.
He takes this time to look around the room. It was empty except for the bed and a table stacked with interesting machinery; something that he uses to fix himself Kyuhyun guesses. A curtain of the window beside bed was drawn open; Kyuhyun concludes that it was more for his sake then for anything else, since apparently Sungmin can move perfectly with ease without any lights.
Within a few minutes, a fresh aroma of coffee and something delicious fills the room; a nice change from the musky scent of old wood and dust.
"I wonder how good a robots cooking is?" Kyuhyun purses his lips, curiosity filling his eyes.
-----TBC