(no subject)
money isn’t everything
AU | Futuristic | some angst | romance | PG-13 | one-shot
Summary: They lived in world where money can buy you anything- anything but love.
A/N: ALDKFJASODH WHY JAEJOONG-- /DIES
A/N#2: /revives/ happy Halloween :p
00:00:00:00:00:00
When Jaejoong was born, they told him that he had the most beautiful face customized to date. It was the latest limited edition special, which was granted to a selected individual who could afford the auctioned price. So far, only Jaejoong’s father had been able to outbid almost the entire world and grace his son with the most ethereal face on the planet. Even though his father had many other daughters who he could have given the prize to, he chose Jaejoong.
And Jaejoong felt special.
Because his father loved him enough to give him something not everyone could have. He was there for his family and he wanted to give them everything as much as he could.
However, it created a media fiasco and everyone wanted to see his face.
A face that was the most beautiful, gorgeous, the latest limited edition, and only granted to one individual.
And it was worth almost the entire world.
- ->
00:00:00:22:45:06
“Umma, when can I go outside?” Jaejoong asked, finishing his maintenance check as he watched his mother ran a scan on their home security system. It was rather loud outside and there were constant lights flickering against their covered windows.
Silently, his mother ruffled his hair, which were still growing, and gave him a hug. “When you upgrade a little more. We haven’t found all the devices to let you fully operate on your own.” She said with a smile. Though, Jaejoong knew he wasn’t entirely ready just yet, but he couldn’t stop asking even if he already has the answer himself.
“Okay.” Jaejoong returned the hug and went back to his resting pod to sleep.
- ->
06:44:26:05:20:08
It was when Jaejoong’s model turned sixty-four thousand, four hundred, twenty-six hours, five minutes, twenty seconds, and eight split seconds old when his mother let him walk outside for the first time. The hair implant on his head had grown down to his eyes and his mother had helped him style it so he could take pictures with ease after he got a camera installed in his lens.
Not only that, his mother had also allowed him to run some errands and buy Sooyeon a replace for her left foot that got jammed after she was learning how to operate the laundry machine until it malfunctioned. Of course, they would need to send it for repairs, but Sooyeon needed a replacement for her foot right away because she has to run a system check, which was overdue since she kept ignoring the notices.
Humming to himself, Jaejoong began to skip around after he had process the news to his updated restrains. The artificial sun felt great over his solar ray absorb skin as the powered generated wind brushed against his hair and clothes. It felt nice but he couldn’t stay in the way of the wind too long or some of his clothes will get dirty- as his mother would warn him.
Also, he wasn’t allowed to stay outside that long nor talk to strangers because people may start to notice his model version and might try to buy his face, his mother informed. Considering that his face was more or less, a one of a kind, and it could gather attention if he’s not careful.
It didn’t take long until Jaejoong reached the repair store that also sold parts. It was around the corner and they had all of his sister’s parts from V50 to the latest model. Luckily, his sister wasn’t far off from the latest model so there were plenty of feet parts that Jaejoong could choose from. The thought of buying his sister the wrong foot as a prank crept into his mainframe system but he easily pushed it aside and decided that he should be a nice brother.
Once he completed his task and ordered the foot for his sister, a hand grabbed his chin and lifted it up.
“Oh my god sun, that’s such a god given face.” The voice announced, touching Jaejoong’s chin and lips.
Awkwardly, Jaejoong stood still and stayed as quiet as possible to not raise any attention to himself.
“Um, hello? Are your speakers turned off? Hello?” The strangers asked with his hand still holding Jaejoong’s chin up high and turning it left and right.
The odd android was wearing winter clothing in a very clear warm day, his hair gelled up to the side and he wore a pair of specks right over his eyes. A fashion sense, Jaejoong would guess because the stranger could always replace his lens for higher definition instead of wearing such an accessory. Also, the winter clothes were out of date so Jaejoong could only assume the other man was an older model with a newly bought face because his sensor told him it should be worth about eighty million won.
“Um, can’t you let go?” Jaejoong pointed at the stranger’s hand, his discomfort made notice when the stranger let go.
“Sorry! I didn’t mean that! I’m Junsu by the way. You have a nice face and I just like it- I mean, want it- I mean…” The man fiddled with his fingers before he lowered the volume on his speakers. “Did you customize that?”
“Yeah, I got it personally customized.” He lied. It was easier when he added the extra plugins to his voice program.
Just when he thought the stranger would leave him alone, the other continued on, bombarding the Jaejoong with a new set of questions after another.
“What’s your model? Your ISN? Are those laser tubes?” The stranger gaped a little and it was not until there was a voice shouting at him did the odd android paused.
“Junsu, quit bothering my customers! If you’re not going to buy anything, then get the fuck out.” The voice chided, revealing another android with darker solar ray plates and adorn a simple uniform that covered him from neck to toe. He was wearing a customized face as well, considering he had very sharp features and a thick pair of lips (which are expensive).
“But Changmin, you know I can’t resist it when I see a beautiful face. And look, doesn’t it look expensive?” Junsu pointed, hoping to avert the aggravated android and his lie detector.
“You lie every time you say that. I don’t even need to use my lie detector for this.” The teller said while he swiped Jaejoong’s card onto his purchase and Junsu managed to mutter a ‘dammit’ right under his breath. That didn’t go unnoticed by Changmin, Jaejoong noted as he watched the other two android interact because he had spent most of his time at home and it was his first time watching other androids operate aside from his family.
“Stop cursing, Junsu and uninstall that stupid language FC 4 program. It’s making you look stupid.”
“What does the language FC 4 program have anything to do with how I look? I have a studio art CS 6 program for that and I bought them both from you!” Junsu said, picking up a K21 right arm and adding it to his cart.
Ignoring Junsu, Changmin completed the transaction, “Here’s your order, sir” and handed Jaejoong his sister’s new foot, all packaged in a box and wrapped neatly. Jaejoong signed the papers and while Changmin returned his card, Junsu blurted, “Holy fuck, Is that a black card?”
Idly, Jaejoong put away the card casually like he had not heard what the other was saying because it was very obvious what sort of card he had and he was grateful the teller had not made a mention of it. However, when Junsu spoke up, practically everyone in the store had turned to look at the teller and Jaejoong felt like his system mainframe was going to crash and malfunction right then and there.
Fortunately, the teller had the right response program and covered Junsu’s mouth, telling everyone in the store to ‘go back and store or get the fuck out.’ Most of them left and it made Jaejoong wonder for a moment if the teller had also installed the language FC 4 program as well.
“Thank you.” Jaejoong said, about to leave the store until he was held up by Junsu again.
“Wait, tell me what are the plates you used to customize with- eyah!” Junsu’s voice program got unplugged, leaving the android fondling for his cable. Apparently, Changmin had detached the cable and told Junsu. “Just apologize already and get out.” He said, malice evident in his speakers and Jaejoong saw Junsu take his words to his energy core when he began apologizing frantically.
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, but can we at least check how much your face is worth? Please? Pleeeeease?” The odd android plead animatedly and even distorted his face to make a pout (it did look cute). Even though Changmin was disgusted by the display, Jaejoong’s sensor told him that the android was also thinking. “I am curious too.” He finally said.
“Yeah, I want to know! Especially since you customized that face yourself!” Junsu piped up when Changmin wasn’t looking.
Surprised, it took some time before Jaejoong could answer because his response system was taking longer to pull up a solution for him. Considering the question was one of the questions he had problems troubleshooting and decided to make a manual response instead.
“Okay.”
Truthfully, he was also curious about the worth of his face since his father had not disclosed the amount to him at all. Not only that the media had not been able to obtain the purchase price since it was under high surveillance security owned by the federation.
“What’s your model?” Changmin asked.
“J86.” He reported from his response system. It was the closest to his model version K126, but since there were hardly anyone out there with the same model version, it would be hard not to figure out his real worth.
“Okay. Show me your arm.” The teller said, after inputting his model type and shouting at Junsu to stop playing with his artificial hair. He scanned the barcode on Jaejoong’s upper arm and the numbers started blinking on the monitor. Staring at the numbers increasing at a rapid rate, it continued onto six digits and when it reached eight, the other two android’s mouth and eyes slowly grew wider with fascination.
The monitor only had space for ten digits and when Jaejoong’s number made it all the way to the end of the flat screen, the monitor projected the words ‘ERROR’ in red and crashed. With a loud boom, the monitor began to burst a fog of black smoke and the flat screen turned black.
Unfortunately, the power system also went out and everyone began to scream and panic. Curses were thrown everywhere, especially from Junsu. It wasn’t everyday Jaejoong gets to see something like this, even when the other two androids were looking at him in shock.
“Are you really a J86!?!?” Changmin shouted through the commotion and pulled the emergency energy restoration as everyone filed out.
Clearly, Jaejoong did not understand the situation at all and did what his emergency evacuation system told him to do.
He ran for it.
- ->
00:24:32:50:02:01
It took two thousand four hundred thirty-two hours, fifty minutes, two seconds and one split second before Jaejoong stepped out of his house again. His mother was very frantic when he came home a few weeks ago, covered in soot and asking for a long sleeve sweater to cover up his arms.
Apparently, his emergency system response was working well when they ran a scan and system checks because most of his emergency involved running away, Jaejoong discovered.
It was on his way to polish his solar plates when he ran into Junsu again. This time, the odd android was accompanied by a different android (for obvious reasons, Changmin was working).
“Hey, hey, Yunho. That’s the guy! He’s the one who broke the machine! You should’ve seen it!” Junsu mentioned and Jaejoong quickly became nervous, hoping this time he’ll be able to get away safely. He just smiled at the two while his response program told him to stand there idly until they weren’t interested in his presence.
Though, it didn’t seem to work because the more he stood there, the more fascinated the odd android became.
“I’m Yunho. What’s your name?” This android had a small face with a mole accessorized onto the surface. Also, he had tan solar ray plates and his arms and legs were one of the athletic special editions. It was a pretty expensive limited edition and Jaejoong wondered how the other was able to afford it all until his sensor analysis was interrupted by the appearance of the other android’s tongue.
“I’m Jaejoong.” He smiled, thinking that it might be nice to have other friends, who were just as expensive. That way he could blend in more with the crowd, especially with his one of a kind face and model version.
The two hit it off pretty well with Junsu rambling on and asking questions non-stop. Jaejoong learned from Yunho that it was a program he was installed with that amplified his software usage in order for him to function to his fullest capacity. Whoever had installed that in Junsu forgot to insert an off switch, but Junsu never really cared, Yunho told him.
“Yeah, thanks Junsu.” Yunho said politely and gestured for Junsu to move a bit away from Jaejoong’s face because he had began to obsess over the beauty of it again. It made Jaejoong smile somehow that someone wanted to help him out. He also found out that Yunho was one of the latest models released and customized his own face as well. In addition, having a mole was pretty expensive. Not everyone could afford an accessory on their face without having their eyes, nose or mouth look funny.
But on Yunho, everything looked perfect.
- ->
00:03:15:02:41:05
After three hundred fifteen hours, two minutes, forty-one seconds, and five split seconds since Yunho and Jaejoong met, Yunho asked Jaejoong out.
- ->
00:00:31:24:05:12
Thirty-one hours, twenty-four minutes, five seconds, twelve split seconds after their first date, Jaejoong told Yunho his real model version.
“I’m actually a K126 model.”
He spoke up after changing his volume settings, hesitation still on the edge of his system as he waited for Yunho to give him a response. They had spent the rest of the day in Yunho’s sleeping pod, sharing earphones from the same music player. Jaejoong had wanted to know what sort of music Yunho was interested in and they both somehow ended up in one pod together.
“Really?” Yunho mumbled with his eyes close, his fingers drumming on Jaejoong’s side, which was obviously following the beat of the music. It took some time when he stopped (after the music ended) and pulled Jaejoong closer until their face were incredibly close. Only a few centimeters away from each other and Jaejoong could feel the surface of his cheek plate heat up a little.
“Why are you telling me now?” Yunho asked, their lips practically touching when he spoke.
“B-because…” Jaejoong paused for a moment, licking his lips as he eyed Yunho’s parted mouth.
“I like you…a lot.”
Quietly, Yunho lowered his speakers, “me too” and kissed him on the lips.
Jaejoong didn’t mind.
- ->
00:12:54:40:22:03
After their first kiss, Jaejoong had spent one thousand two hundred fifty-four hours, forty minutes, twenty-two seconds and three split seconds with Yunho.
Yunho kept staring at the manually customized faces and browsing through the isle as if he wanted to purchase one for himself. Though, Jaejoong really like Yunho’s face and doesn’t see why the other android would need to buy a new one. It was unnecessary and a waste.
“Yunho, why are you looking at faces?” Jaejoong asked Yunho one day. His curiosity finally getting the best of him once he finished updated his sensors and changed the oil in his left arm.
“Oh, I just want to see the new customizations. There seems to be new ones all the time.” He mused, but that wasn’t the answer Jaejoong was looking for. Considering that he had been watching Yunho closely and the way he would gaze at those faces was more than just a simple shopping expression.
“Are you trying to buy a new face? You know, for yourself?” He asked with a bit more caution.
At that, Yunho laughed and it surprised Jaejoong a little because he couldn’t understand what was really funny and thought he might have to update his joke program to decipher the joke.
“No, boo. I don’t want to replace my face. It’s perfectly fine. Believe me.” He said, holding Jaejoong into his embrace, nuzzling against his neck.
“Then why are you looking at them like you want to buy them?”
“I don’t and if this is about your face complex, don’t worry. I haven’t told anyone.” He gave Jaejoong a peck on the cheek and then kissed him on the lips. Even though Jaejoong didn’t feel satisfied with the answer, he easily gave in to the kiss and closed his eyes. He really didn’t want Yunho to change his face-if he was thinking about it-because he came to like the way Yunho looked and how they stood next to each other looked even better.
“Okay.” He muttered and Yunho captured his lips again.
- ->
00:00:54:21:11:02
Fifty-four hours, twenty-one minutes, eleven seconds, and two split seconds later, Jaejoong spotted Yunho at a gadget store and talking to another android. He was about to say ‘hi’ to Yunho (and probably kiss him too), but he stopped in his tracks once he realized they were in a deep conversation.
“Are you sure it’s possible, Yoochun?” He heard Yunho speak. It was at a low volume but Jaejoong was able to pick it up with his new hearing plates.
“Of course, it’s a one of a kind.” The other voice reassured and he could tell Yunho spoke with hesitation by the static in his voice. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it has the best features and it looks just as godly.”
Is he talking about him? Did he tell someone about his model?
“C’mon, Yunho. Why don’t you buy that guy’s face? It’ll look great on her, I’m sure!”
With that, Jaejoong’s eyes widen and he looked up at the two androids, too shocked to process the conversation any further.
He told?
He was only after his face all this time? And who is her?
Did Yunho lie to him?
Staring agape, Jaejoong didn’t realize Yunho had spotted him until he called out to him.
“Jaejoong.” Yunho uttered, and it was the way he called out to Jaejoong that he understood.
He lied. Liar. Liar!
The alarms came onto Jaejoong’s mainframe and he had a hard time scanning Yunho’s shocked face because his lens began to fog up and the warning notice told him that he needed to have them clean. However, he didn’t care and glared at the other android, as if all his problems will go away by the simple act.
Without fully understanding his emergency program, Jaejoong ran.
- ->
00:02:00:45:11:32
Jaejoong found the courage to go outside again two hundred hours, forty-five minutes, eleven seconds and thirty-two split seconds later.
He hadn’t talked to Yunho since then and even when the other android tried to telecommunicate with him, Jaejoong would always ignore his calls. It was simple when he was using the block program his mother installed for him. Not only that, Jaejoong was afraid once he picked up Yunho’s call, he’ll start apologizing and send SNS messages non-stop.
Even if Yunho didn’t love him back.
He should’ve known from the beginning that Yunho only liked him for his face.
Slowly, he walked along the Han River and spotted another android sitting near the water. For some reason, his system suddenly wanted to sit by the river was well. Even though Jaejoong wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, he didn’t want to be alone either.
So he went to sit next to the android and she jumped when he was close, hiding part of her face with her long artificial hair.
“Hi” he greeted calmly and the other android did nothing by stared back at him, replying with a meek ‘hello’ and watched him carefully.
When it became silent between the two, the android resumed to what she was doing previously and asked.
“D-do you need something?” She asked shyly, still covering part of her face.
“No, I just want company.” Jaejoong responded honestly. He didn’t want to scare the other android away but it was awkward to just walk up to someone without any ulterior motive as most individuals would have.
“What about you? Did you come to empty your feelings?” He asked curiously, his system automatically responding. He was never the type to stay quiet.
“No, it’s because I have this on my face.” She pulled up her bangs to show skin mashed together, distorted with red flesh and falling apart with metal chipped at the side. It took a moment for Jaejoong to realize that her face was rusting and thus, the collapse of her face was inevitably unless she replaced it as soon as possible.
“Ugly, right?” She said, still smiling even thought her face could have fallen any second.
“Why don’t you replace it?” Jaejoong suggested, not being rude, but it was a serious condition if she didn’t get this fixed right away.
“I can’t afford it. My boss fired me two weeks ago and no one is willing to repair something damaged like this.” The android muttered, still trying to hide the broken pieces behind her hair and was surprised when Jaejoong touched it.
“Then, how about I sell you mine?”
- ->
00:01:26:19:09:03
Yunho found Jaejoong with a new face one hundred twenty-six hours, nineteen minutes, nine seconds, and three split seconds later.
“Jaejoong? Jaejoong, is that you?” Yunho called out to him, grabbing his arm when Jaejoong tried to walk by Yunho’s detector system.
“No, I’m not.” Jaejoong blurted, forgetting to change the settings on his voice XU8 program because Yunho tightened his grip on Jaejoong’s arm and pulled him closer.
“Jaejoong, why did you do that? Why did you change your- “
“Let go! Leave me alone and mind your own business. I can do whatever I want- “ He was cut off when Yunho kissed him. Surprised that Yunho would still do something like this, even though he had already sold and changed his face. Quickly overcoming the shock, he pushed Yunho away and turned his face away.
“Jaejoong, look at me. Look at my eyes.” Yunho demanded, still holding onto Jaejoong’s arm.
Jaejoong wasn’t going to lie, but he was definitely afraid of being rejected once Yunho got a clear picture of his face.
“No, you only liked me for my face anyway. I heard you talking to someone about taking my face and giving it to someone else.” Jaejoong sniffed, wiping his nose with his sleeve. “You just wanted to buy it, that’s it.” He really didn’t want to believe his own words, but he knew they had to be true somewhere. Otherwise, Yunho would have run after him that day and just told him it was all a misunderstanding.
After a few moments, it became quiet and Jaejoong was beginning to think that Yunho was going to walk away any minute now. However, when he looked back, Yunho grabbed him into a hug instead.
“Don’t put words in my mouth, Jaejoong. I haven’t told anyone and I never said I wanted to buy your face.” He said, carefully stroking Jaejoong back while Jaejoong leaned into Yunho’s embrace.
It felt nice- right and he wanted to stay like this forever.
Just when Jaejoong had finally started to feel a bit comfortable, Yunho spoke up again. “I love you. Even if you change your face or became an old model, I’ll still love you.”
“Y-Yunho, I-I…”
Water began to flow from Jaejoong’s eyes as he tried to form his words, but even then, Yunho continued. “I fell in love with you because you’re Jaejoong, not because you have a face worth who knows how much. Money can’t buy you love and you’re worth more than just money, Jaejoong. You’re worth it for me.”
After hearing that, Jaejoong finally let the fluid below his eyes flow downward. The stimulus ran under his eyes glands and eventually emptied out of water stored below his lens. It felt odd to have water come out of his eyes and blur his lens. Though, it didn’t seem like he was alone anymore because he could spot the droplets pouring from Yunho’s eyes as they both embraced each other tightly into a hug.
“T-then, what were you buying?” Jaejoong asked curiously between sobs. Just to make sure they had everything clear or he just might run for it again.
“I wanted to buy my sister a new face because she couldn’t afford one, but she came up to me recently, telling me she got a new face. It also happened to be the face of a certain K126 model who has been avoiding me because he thought I was trying to buy his face and now we have to change it before it rusts.” Yunho summed, kissing him and Jaejoong’s sensors began to heat up again.
It’ll take him forever to get use to it.
99:99:99:99:99:99
A/N: This is super choppy and rushed but idgaf because I can’t handle too much sap. I’ll literally want to tear my eyes out. OTL And yes, they’re fucking robots (no pun intended but if someone can give me a good idea on how robots fuck, I might just write it) and I initially wanted to put them as humans but no one wants too much blood and gore for the sake of face switching. :p I was writing something horror-ish for Halloween but then I listened to Jaejoong’s new songs and ALOKDSJFOLH-THIS HAPPENED OTL /SHOT
ANYWAY, HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL! \o///
Comments, questions and criticism are welcome. :)
AU | Futuristic | some angst | romance | PG-13 | one-shot
Summary: They lived in world where money can buy you anything- anything but love.
A/N: ALDKFJASODH WHY JAEJOONG-- /DIES
A/N#2: /revives/ happy Halloween :p
00:00:00:00:00:00
When Jaejoong was born, they told him that he had the most beautiful face customized to date. It was the latest limited edition special, which was granted to a selected individual who could afford the auctioned price. So far, only Jaejoong’s father had been able to outbid almost the entire world and grace his son with the most ethereal face on the planet. Even though his father had many other daughters who he could have given the prize to, he chose Jaejoong.
And Jaejoong felt special.
Because his father loved him enough to give him something not everyone could have. He was there for his family and he wanted to give them everything as much as he could.
However, it created a media fiasco and everyone wanted to see his face.
A face that was the most beautiful, gorgeous, the latest limited edition, and only granted to one individual.
And it was worth almost the entire world.
- ->
00:00:00:22:45:06
“Umma, when can I go outside?” Jaejoong asked, finishing his maintenance check as he watched his mother ran a scan on their home security system. It was rather loud outside and there were constant lights flickering against their covered windows.
Silently, his mother ruffled his hair, which were still growing, and gave him a hug. “When you upgrade a little more. We haven’t found all the devices to let you fully operate on your own.” She said with a smile. Though, Jaejoong knew he wasn’t entirely ready just yet, but he couldn’t stop asking even if he already has the answer himself.
“Okay.” Jaejoong returned the hug and went back to his resting pod to sleep.
- ->
06:44:26:05:20:08
It was when Jaejoong’s model turned sixty-four thousand, four hundred, twenty-six hours, five minutes, twenty seconds, and eight split seconds old when his mother let him walk outside for the first time. The hair implant on his head had grown down to his eyes and his mother had helped him style it so he could take pictures with ease after he got a camera installed in his lens.
Not only that, his mother had also allowed him to run some errands and buy Sooyeon a replace for her left foot that got jammed after she was learning how to operate the laundry machine until it malfunctioned. Of course, they would need to send it for repairs, but Sooyeon needed a replacement for her foot right away because she has to run a system check, which was overdue since she kept ignoring the notices.
Humming to himself, Jaejoong began to skip around after he had process the news to his updated restrains. The artificial sun felt great over his solar ray absorb skin as the powered generated wind brushed against his hair and clothes. It felt nice but he couldn’t stay in the way of the wind too long or some of his clothes will get dirty- as his mother would warn him.
Also, he wasn’t allowed to stay outside that long nor talk to strangers because people may start to notice his model version and might try to buy his face, his mother informed. Considering that his face was more or less, a one of a kind, and it could gather attention if he’s not careful.
It didn’t take long until Jaejoong reached the repair store that also sold parts. It was around the corner and they had all of his sister’s parts from V50 to the latest model. Luckily, his sister wasn’t far off from the latest model so there were plenty of feet parts that Jaejoong could choose from. The thought of buying his sister the wrong foot as a prank crept into his mainframe system but he easily pushed it aside and decided that he should be a nice brother.
Once he completed his task and ordered the foot for his sister, a hand grabbed his chin and lifted it up.
“Oh my god sun, that’s such a god given face.” The voice announced, touching Jaejoong’s chin and lips.
Awkwardly, Jaejoong stood still and stayed as quiet as possible to not raise any attention to himself.
“Um, hello? Are your speakers turned off? Hello?” The strangers asked with his hand still holding Jaejoong’s chin up high and turning it left and right.
The odd android was wearing winter clothing in a very clear warm day, his hair gelled up to the side and he wore a pair of specks right over his eyes. A fashion sense, Jaejoong would guess because the stranger could always replace his lens for higher definition instead of wearing such an accessory. Also, the winter clothes were out of date so Jaejoong could only assume the other man was an older model with a newly bought face because his sensor told him it should be worth about eighty million won.
“Um, can’t you let go?” Jaejoong pointed at the stranger’s hand, his discomfort made notice when the stranger let go.
“Sorry! I didn’t mean that! I’m Junsu by the way. You have a nice face and I just like it- I mean, want it- I mean…” The man fiddled with his fingers before he lowered the volume on his speakers. “Did you customize that?”
“Yeah, I got it personally customized.” He lied. It was easier when he added the extra plugins to his voice program.
Just when he thought the stranger would leave him alone, the other continued on, bombarding the Jaejoong with a new set of questions after another.
“What’s your model? Your ISN? Are those laser tubes?” The stranger gaped a little and it was not until there was a voice shouting at him did the odd android paused.
“Junsu, quit bothering my customers! If you’re not going to buy anything, then get the fuck out.” The voice chided, revealing another android with darker solar ray plates and adorn a simple uniform that covered him from neck to toe. He was wearing a customized face as well, considering he had very sharp features and a thick pair of lips (which are expensive).
“But Changmin, you know I can’t resist it when I see a beautiful face. And look, doesn’t it look expensive?” Junsu pointed, hoping to avert the aggravated android and his lie detector.
“You lie every time you say that. I don’t even need to use my lie detector for this.” The teller said while he swiped Jaejoong’s card onto his purchase and Junsu managed to mutter a ‘dammit’ right under his breath. That didn’t go unnoticed by Changmin, Jaejoong noted as he watched the other two android interact because he had spent most of his time at home and it was his first time watching other androids operate aside from his family.
“Stop cursing, Junsu and uninstall that stupid language FC 4 program. It’s making you look stupid.”
“What does the language FC 4 program have anything to do with how I look? I have a studio art CS 6 program for that and I bought them both from you!” Junsu said, picking up a K21 right arm and adding it to his cart.
Ignoring Junsu, Changmin completed the transaction, “Here’s your order, sir” and handed Jaejoong his sister’s new foot, all packaged in a box and wrapped neatly. Jaejoong signed the papers and while Changmin returned his card, Junsu blurted, “Holy fuck, Is that a black card?”
Idly, Jaejoong put away the card casually like he had not heard what the other was saying because it was very obvious what sort of card he had and he was grateful the teller had not made a mention of it. However, when Junsu spoke up, practically everyone in the store had turned to look at the teller and Jaejoong felt like his system mainframe was going to crash and malfunction right then and there.
Fortunately, the teller had the right response program and covered Junsu’s mouth, telling everyone in the store to ‘go back and store or get the fuck out.’ Most of them left and it made Jaejoong wonder for a moment if the teller had also installed the language FC 4 program as well.
“Thank you.” Jaejoong said, about to leave the store until he was held up by Junsu again.
“Wait, tell me what are the plates you used to customize with- eyah!” Junsu’s voice program got unplugged, leaving the android fondling for his cable. Apparently, Changmin had detached the cable and told Junsu. “Just apologize already and get out.” He said, malice evident in his speakers and Jaejoong saw Junsu take his words to his energy core when he began apologizing frantically.
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, but can we at least check how much your face is worth? Please? Pleeeeease?” The odd android plead animatedly and even distorted his face to make a pout (it did look cute). Even though Changmin was disgusted by the display, Jaejoong’s sensor told him that the android was also thinking. “I am curious too.” He finally said.
“Yeah, I want to know! Especially since you customized that face yourself!” Junsu piped up when Changmin wasn’t looking.
Surprised, it took some time before Jaejoong could answer because his response system was taking longer to pull up a solution for him. Considering the question was one of the questions he had problems troubleshooting and decided to make a manual response instead.
“Okay.”
Truthfully, he was also curious about the worth of his face since his father had not disclosed the amount to him at all. Not only that the media had not been able to obtain the purchase price since it was under high surveillance security owned by the federation.
“What’s your model?” Changmin asked.
“J86.” He reported from his response system. It was the closest to his model version K126, but since there were hardly anyone out there with the same model version, it would be hard not to figure out his real worth.
“Okay. Show me your arm.” The teller said, after inputting his model type and shouting at Junsu to stop playing with his artificial hair. He scanned the barcode on Jaejoong’s upper arm and the numbers started blinking on the monitor. Staring at the numbers increasing at a rapid rate, it continued onto six digits and when it reached eight, the other two android’s mouth and eyes slowly grew wider with fascination.
The monitor only had space for ten digits and when Jaejoong’s number made it all the way to the end of the flat screen, the monitor projected the words ‘ERROR’ in red and crashed. With a loud boom, the monitor began to burst a fog of black smoke and the flat screen turned black.
Unfortunately, the power system also went out and everyone began to scream and panic. Curses were thrown everywhere, especially from Junsu. It wasn’t everyday Jaejoong gets to see something like this, even when the other two androids were looking at him in shock.
“Are you really a J86!?!?” Changmin shouted through the commotion and pulled the emergency energy restoration as everyone filed out.
Clearly, Jaejoong did not understand the situation at all and did what his emergency evacuation system told him to do.
He ran for it.
- ->
00:24:32:50:02:01
It took two thousand four hundred thirty-two hours, fifty minutes, two seconds and one split second before Jaejoong stepped out of his house again. His mother was very frantic when he came home a few weeks ago, covered in soot and asking for a long sleeve sweater to cover up his arms.
Apparently, his emergency system response was working well when they ran a scan and system checks because most of his emergency involved running away, Jaejoong discovered.
It was on his way to polish his solar plates when he ran into Junsu again. This time, the odd android was accompanied by a different android (for obvious reasons, Changmin was working).
“Hey, hey, Yunho. That’s the guy! He’s the one who broke the machine! You should’ve seen it!” Junsu mentioned and Jaejoong quickly became nervous, hoping this time he’ll be able to get away safely. He just smiled at the two while his response program told him to stand there idly until they weren’t interested in his presence.
Though, it didn’t seem to work because the more he stood there, the more fascinated the odd android became.
“I’m Yunho. What’s your name?” This android had a small face with a mole accessorized onto the surface. Also, he had tan solar ray plates and his arms and legs were one of the athletic special editions. It was a pretty expensive limited edition and Jaejoong wondered how the other was able to afford it all until his sensor analysis was interrupted by the appearance of the other android’s tongue.
“I’m Jaejoong.” He smiled, thinking that it might be nice to have other friends, who were just as expensive. That way he could blend in more with the crowd, especially with his one of a kind face and model version.
The two hit it off pretty well with Junsu rambling on and asking questions non-stop. Jaejoong learned from Yunho that it was a program he was installed with that amplified his software usage in order for him to function to his fullest capacity. Whoever had installed that in Junsu forgot to insert an off switch, but Junsu never really cared, Yunho told him.
“Yeah, thanks Junsu.” Yunho said politely and gestured for Junsu to move a bit away from Jaejoong’s face because he had began to obsess over the beauty of it again. It made Jaejoong smile somehow that someone wanted to help him out. He also found out that Yunho was one of the latest models released and customized his own face as well. In addition, having a mole was pretty expensive. Not everyone could afford an accessory on their face without having their eyes, nose or mouth look funny.
But on Yunho, everything looked perfect.
- ->
00:03:15:02:41:05
After three hundred fifteen hours, two minutes, forty-one seconds, and five split seconds since Yunho and Jaejoong met, Yunho asked Jaejoong out.
- ->
00:00:31:24:05:12
Thirty-one hours, twenty-four minutes, five seconds, twelve split seconds after their first date, Jaejoong told Yunho his real model version.
“I’m actually a K126 model.”
He spoke up after changing his volume settings, hesitation still on the edge of his system as he waited for Yunho to give him a response. They had spent the rest of the day in Yunho’s sleeping pod, sharing earphones from the same music player. Jaejoong had wanted to know what sort of music Yunho was interested in and they both somehow ended up in one pod together.
“Really?” Yunho mumbled with his eyes close, his fingers drumming on Jaejoong’s side, which was obviously following the beat of the music. It took some time when he stopped (after the music ended) and pulled Jaejoong closer until their face were incredibly close. Only a few centimeters away from each other and Jaejoong could feel the surface of his cheek plate heat up a little.
“Why are you telling me now?” Yunho asked, their lips practically touching when he spoke.
“B-because…” Jaejoong paused for a moment, licking his lips as he eyed Yunho’s parted mouth.
“I like you…a lot.”
Quietly, Yunho lowered his speakers, “me too” and kissed him on the lips.
Jaejoong didn’t mind.
- ->
00:12:54:40:22:03
After their first kiss, Jaejoong had spent one thousand two hundred fifty-four hours, forty minutes, twenty-two seconds and three split seconds with Yunho.
Yunho kept staring at the manually customized faces and browsing through the isle as if he wanted to purchase one for himself. Though, Jaejoong really like Yunho’s face and doesn’t see why the other android would need to buy a new one. It was unnecessary and a waste.
“Yunho, why are you looking at faces?” Jaejoong asked Yunho one day. His curiosity finally getting the best of him once he finished updated his sensors and changed the oil in his left arm.
“Oh, I just want to see the new customizations. There seems to be new ones all the time.” He mused, but that wasn’t the answer Jaejoong was looking for. Considering that he had been watching Yunho closely and the way he would gaze at those faces was more than just a simple shopping expression.
“Are you trying to buy a new face? You know, for yourself?” He asked with a bit more caution.
At that, Yunho laughed and it surprised Jaejoong a little because he couldn’t understand what was really funny and thought he might have to update his joke program to decipher the joke.
“No, boo. I don’t want to replace my face. It’s perfectly fine. Believe me.” He said, holding Jaejoong into his embrace, nuzzling against his neck.
“Then why are you looking at them like you want to buy them?”
“I don’t and if this is about your face complex, don’t worry. I haven’t told anyone.” He gave Jaejoong a peck on the cheek and then kissed him on the lips. Even though Jaejoong didn’t feel satisfied with the answer, he easily gave in to the kiss and closed his eyes. He really didn’t want Yunho to change his face-if he was thinking about it-because he came to like the way Yunho looked and how they stood next to each other looked even better.
“Okay.” He muttered and Yunho captured his lips again.
- ->
00:00:54:21:11:02
Fifty-four hours, twenty-one minutes, eleven seconds, and two split seconds later, Jaejoong spotted Yunho at a gadget store and talking to another android. He was about to say ‘hi’ to Yunho (and probably kiss him too), but he stopped in his tracks once he realized they were in a deep conversation.
“Are you sure it’s possible, Yoochun?” He heard Yunho speak. It was at a low volume but Jaejoong was able to pick it up with his new hearing plates.
“Of course, it’s a one of a kind.” The other voice reassured and he could tell Yunho spoke with hesitation by the static in his voice. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it has the best features and it looks just as godly.”
Is he talking about him? Did he tell someone about his model?
“C’mon, Yunho. Why don’t you buy that guy’s face? It’ll look great on her, I’m sure!”
With that, Jaejoong’s eyes widen and he looked up at the two androids, too shocked to process the conversation any further.
He told?
He was only after his face all this time? And who is her?
Did Yunho lie to him?
Staring agape, Jaejoong didn’t realize Yunho had spotted him until he called out to him.
“Jaejoong.” Yunho uttered, and it was the way he called out to Jaejoong that he understood.
He lied. Liar. Liar!
The alarms came onto Jaejoong’s mainframe and he had a hard time scanning Yunho’s shocked face because his lens began to fog up and the warning notice told him that he needed to have them clean. However, he didn’t care and glared at the other android, as if all his problems will go away by the simple act.
Without fully understanding his emergency program, Jaejoong ran.
- ->
00:02:00:45:11:32
Jaejoong found the courage to go outside again two hundred hours, forty-five minutes, eleven seconds and thirty-two split seconds later.
He hadn’t talked to Yunho since then and even when the other android tried to telecommunicate with him, Jaejoong would always ignore his calls. It was simple when he was using the block program his mother installed for him. Not only that, Jaejoong was afraid once he picked up Yunho’s call, he’ll start apologizing and send SNS messages non-stop.
Even if Yunho didn’t love him back.
He should’ve known from the beginning that Yunho only liked him for his face.
Slowly, he walked along the Han River and spotted another android sitting near the water. For some reason, his system suddenly wanted to sit by the river was well. Even though Jaejoong wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, he didn’t want to be alone either.
So he went to sit next to the android and she jumped when he was close, hiding part of her face with her long artificial hair.
“Hi” he greeted calmly and the other android did nothing by stared back at him, replying with a meek ‘hello’ and watched him carefully.
When it became silent between the two, the android resumed to what she was doing previously and asked.
“D-do you need something?” She asked shyly, still covering part of her face.
“No, I just want company.” Jaejoong responded honestly. He didn’t want to scare the other android away but it was awkward to just walk up to someone without any ulterior motive as most individuals would have.
“What about you? Did you come to empty your feelings?” He asked curiously, his system automatically responding. He was never the type to stay quiet.
“No, it’s because I have this on my face.” She pulled up her bangs to show skin mashed together, distorted with red flesh and falling apart with metal chipped at the side. It took a moment for Jaejoong to realize that her face was rusting and thus, the collapse of her face was inevitably unless she replaced it as soon as possible.
“Ugly, right?” She said, still smiling even thought her face could have fallen any second.
“Why don’t you replace it?” Jaejoong suggested, not being rude, but it was a serious condition if she didn’t get this fixed right away.
“I can’t afford it. My boss fired me two weeks ago and no one is willing to repair something damaged like this.” The android muttered, still trying to hide the broken pieces behind her hair and was surprised when Jaejoong touched it.
“Then, how about I sell you mine?”
- ->
00:01:26:19:09:03
Yunho found Jaejoong with a new face one hundred twenty-six hours, nineteen minutes, nine seconds, and three split seconds later.
“Jaejoong? Jaejoong, is that you?” Yunho called out to him, grabbing his arm when Jaejoong tried to walk by Yunho’s detector system.
“No, I’m not.” Jaejoong blurted, forgetting to change the settings on his voice XU8 program because Yunho tightened his grip on Jaejoong’s arm and pulled him closer.
“Jaejoong, why did you do that? Why did you change your- “
“Let go! Leave me alone and mind your own business. I can do whatever I want- “ He was cut off when Yunho kissed him. Surprised that Yunho would still do something like this, even though he had already sold and changed his face. Quickly overcoming the shock, he pushed Yunho away and turned his face away.
“Jaejoong, look at me. Look at my eyes.” Yunho demanded, still holding onto Jaejoong’s arm.
Jaejoong wasn’t going to lie, but he was definitely afraid of being rejected once Yunho got a clear picture of his face.
“No, you only liked me for my face anyway. I heard you talking to someone about taking my face and giving it to someone else.” Jaejoong sniffed, wiping his nose with his sleeve. “You just wanted to buy it, that’s it.” He really didn’t want to believe his own words, but he knew they had to be true somewhere. Otherwise, Yunho would have run after him that day and just told him it was all a misunderstanding.
After a few moments, it became quiet and Jaejoong was beginning to think that Yunho was going to walk away any minute now. However, when he looked back, Yunho grabbed him into a hug instead.
“Don’t put words in my mouth, Jaejoong. I haven’t told anyone and I never said I wanted to buy your face.” He said, carefully stroking Jaejoong back while Jaejoong leaned into Yunho’s embrace.
It felt nice- right and he wanted to stay like this forever.
Just when Jaejoong had finally started to feel a bit comfortable, Yunho spoke up again. “I love you. Even if you change your face or became an old model, I’ll still love you.”
“Y-Yunho, I-I…”
Water began to flow from Jaejoong’s eyes as he tried to form his words, but even then, Yunho continued. “I fell in love with you because you’re Jaejoong, not because you have a face worth who knows how much. Money can’t buy you love and you’re worth more than just money, Jaejoong. You’re worth it for me.”
After hearing that, Jaejoong finally let the fluid below his eyes flow downward. The stimulus ran under his eyes glands and eventually emptied out of water stored below his lens. It felt odd to have water come out of his eyes and blur his lens. Though, it didn’t seem like he was alone anymore because he could spot the droplets pouring from Yunho’s eyes as they both embraced each other tightly into a hug.
“T-then, what were you buying?” Jaejoong asked curiously between sobs. Just to make sure they had everything clear or he just might run for it again.
“I wanted to buy my sister a new face because she couldn’t afford one, but she came up to me recently, telling me she got a new face. It also happened to be the face of a certain K126 model who has been avoiding me because he thought I was trying to buy his face and now we have to change it before it rusts.” Yunho summed, kissing him and Jaejoong’s sensors began to heat up again.
It’ll take him forever to get use to it.
99:99:99:99:99:99
A/N: This is super choppy and rushed but idgaf because I can’t handle too much sap. I’ll literally want to tear my eyes out. OTL And yes, they’re fucking robots (no pun intended but if someone can give me a good idea on how robots fuck, I might just write it) and I initially wanted to put them as humans but no one wants too much blood and gore for the sake of face switching. :p I was writing something horror-ish for Halloween but then I listened to Jaejoong’s new songs and ALOKDSJFOLH-THIS HAPPENED OTL /SHOT
ANYWAY, HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL! \o///
Comments, questions and criticism are welcome. :)