[Can we live...] Happily Ever After [?] - Chapter 4
Title: [Can we live] Happily Ever After [?]
Rating: PG-13 || Genre: Drama/ Romance/ Fluff/ Friendship/ (slight) Angst (?)/ AU || Status: Ongoing || Chapters: 4/9 (maybe?)
Pairing(s): YooSu / YooMin (friendship)
Warning: Loosely based on "Zettai Kareshi" and the movie "Bicentennial man". Although the idea was inspired by something else, I do desclaim the story as mine. I wish I could claim all 5 as mine though, but unfortunately I can't...
Basic Synopsis: In a modern and technologicaly advanced world, where God is no longer the only creator, perfection is born.
Junsu is an college art student who has the most boring life ever, which makes his best friend think that what he needs the most in his life is love and so he decides to get him the perfect girlfriend. The only problem is that his 'perfect girlfriend' is perfectly beautiful... male.
Previous: Prologue & Trailer || Chapter 1 || Chapter 2|| Chapter 3
It was already 7:30am and much to Yoochun's despair, that was trying to make Junsu wake up, the boy kept his eyes shut.
“Junsu, please wake up. You'll have to get up or you will be late for college”
“Just five more minutes, mom...” He mumbled
“Junsu, your mom is not here and you have already slept for five minutes after the scheduled time so get up.”
“What time is it?” He asked, trying to look for his alarm clock but failing.
“Seven hours, thirty-six minutes and forty-two seconds in the morning.”
Junsu pulled his covers again, grumbling “I can be a little late today.”
“That is unthinkable,” Yoochun beamed “so please get up or I will have to use a forceful method”
“You can't. I'm your owner so you can't hit me.” He said, sinking even more under the covers
Yoochun smiled, or at least Junsu thought he did by the way his voice sounded “Two days ago, it was established a friendship bond between the two of us and that gives me the right to use other methods.”
“Are you really going to hit me?” Junsu asked, still hidden in between his sheets
“No. I am going to use a much more effective method: I'll kiss you.”
That statement triggered Junsu into getting up immediately, kicking his covers and getting out of bed, still stumbling “It's okay, it's okay! I'm up! Happy now?”
“Very. Now hurry up and shower” The cute android said, slapping the boy's butt before leaving a very shocked Junsu behind.
Junsu was quick in getting ready and headed to the kitchen, stuffing himself with the breakfast that Yoochun prepared and almost choking on it until the android rubbed his back and gave him a glass of juice to drink.
“Oh now that I think about it... have you installed the application we talked about the other day?”
“Yes. Now I am able to ingest human food, but my system is still processing the change so it might take about 48 hours for it to be fully active.” Yoochun replied
Suddenly, Junsu thought about what happened the previous night with Yoochun waiting until late in the night for him to come home and again a feeling of guilt rushed through him. He tried not to think much about it though. “So tell me, how do things work now that you can eat and drink like me? I mean, how do you manage things? Do you need to use the bathroom too or...”
“No, that won't be necessary since my stomach processes and digests food in a different way. They are digested, processed and dissolved by the internal system without the need to be released in a normal and physiological way.
“Well that's practical. Can you imagine the amount of toilet paper that people would save if they were like you?” Yoochun tilted his head while looking at Junsu “Never mind that. So, since you will need to eat from now on, you must not forget to do so and if I ever got home late, don't wait for me and eat, okay? I don't want you to starve. Oh, and I'll have to go shopping with you too since my clothes are really loose on you. I won't forget about it, okay?”
“I don't need it. I like these clothes”
“Are you developing a rebellious personality?” Junsu asked, mocking his 'friend'
Yoochun lowered his head quickly “I apologize. It wasn't my intention to-”
“I was kidding, Yoochun” He said, reassuring Yoochun “I'll have to go now. Oh, I almost forgot that I have to take my painting.”
Junsu left the kitchen, going through the hall and heading to his studio, noticing that it was incredibly clean. Junsu took one of the canvases and removed the cloth that was covering it so that he could wrap it and leave to college but he had a surprise when he looked at his painting. Or lack of it that is. “Yoochun, come here quickly!” Yoochun ran from the kitchen into the studio, and stopped at the door “Where did you put the painting that was here? Did you move it elsewhere?”
“Oh, yes! Remember that I told you that I cleaned the entire house yesterday, right? Well, I took the chance and cleaned the studio as well.”
“Alright but here did you put the painting that was here? It's not this one, right?”
“It is.” He said “I noticed that it had splashes of paint all over it, so I cleaned it up.” Yoochun finished, while smiling.
“You CLEANED the painting? Are you insane? Do you even know what you did?”
Yoochun got scared at the yelling Junsu in front of him with his face completely red from all the screaming. “Did I do something wrong?”
“That painting was my art's project!”
“I'm sorry, I didn't know...”
“I told you not to touch anything in here, didn't I?” Junsu yelled, yet again.
“I am so sorry. I just wanted to help you. Can't you paint it again?”
“ARE YOU STUPID?” Junsu yelled and for a moment Yoochun thought that the vein that the boy had on his neck would pop out at any minute. “Each and every painting is unique and it's impossible to be reproduced exactly like it was before.”
Yoochun lowered his head, not knowing what to do “I'm sorry. My intentions were-”
“I don't care about your intentions!” Junsu snapped, startling Yoochun “Just grab your things and go back to where you came from, okay?”
“But Junsu... I don't have anywhere to go...”
“I don't care. I don't need you here. I have always lived by myself and I managed perfectly so I am going to talk to Jaejoong and solve this matter at once.” Junsu threw what was previously his painting to the floor, leaving the studio at once. Yoochun followed, blocking his way.
“Wait! Isn't there any other way? I promise I won't ever touch your things and - ”
“Get out of my way please, I'm late for class.”
For once, Yoochun didn't obey, so Junsu grabbed his wrist, pulling him aside and going out of the house.
It didn't take long before he arrived to college and luckily (or not) the first person he saw was Jaejoong.
“Good morning, Junsu.”
“Terrible day, Jaejoong” The elder sent him a questioning look “Does that thing has an insurance, a warrant or something like that?”
“I don't know... Why, does he need to be repaired?”
“No, I just don't want him”
“You had him for two days only!”
Junsu glared at him “Two days and I am already sick of him! Do you know what he did? He cleaned my studio and my art's project along with it” Jaejoong widened his eyes, like he didn't believe Junsu's words.
“I'm sure it wasn't on purpose. You have to be patient and teach him.”
“I don't want to be patient, I don't care about anything else, I just want him out so do something about it. I don't care what you need to do, but deal with it. Just call the maniac that sold it to you.”
Jaejoong sighed “You're being hot-headed and you'll regret it later so think about it and -”
“Call him!”
~*~
The day went by painfully slowly to Junsu. His morning was awful, with his teacher being mad at him for not doing the art's project and as if it was not enough, at lunch time, Junsu remembered that having fought with Yoochun in the morning and leaving so hastily, made him forget to even bring lunch or money to buy it so it had to be Changmin lending him some to prevent the boy from starving to death.
“Don't just stare at the food, hyung. Eat it too.” Changmin said, looking at his friend going all emo.
“My life is miserable...” He said while sighing heavily “The teacher was so mad at me and he scolded me in front of the whole class which was incredibly embarrassing, plus he made me compromise myself into participating on the college's contest to make up for it.”
“It could be worse.”
“No, it couldn't, Changmin. The college's contest is the worst that could happen to a talentless person like me. No talent, no inspiration and only one month to do it... I'm so dead.”
Changmin scoffed
“You know... this time, I'll have to agree with Changmin” Yunho said suddenly “I think you take pleasure into torturing yourself.”
“The truth is that he is much more depressed because of his fight with Yoochun than with the sudden imposition of entering the college’s art contest in order to save his grade.”
Junsu picked up his spoon, threatening Changmin with it, before dig it into his pudding “That is not true and I don't want to have any kind of connection to 'it'”
Changmin huffed “Did anyone ever tell you that you are pretty bad at lying? You are obviously having a hard time because you probably feel guilty”
“Nope. I don't feel any sort of guilt whatsoever” he said scooping his desert.
Meanwhile, Jaejoong made his appearance, sitting right next to Yunho.
“I tried to call Heechul but he doesn't pick up his phone.” He said “If I can't talk to him until the end of the day, I'll take Yoochun home and then will keep trying to call Heechul, okay? I just want to know if you are sure of what you are doing.” Junsu hummed “That's a very convincing answer, no doubt about it.”
“I'm going to go to the art's club department. Thanks for the lunch, Min. I'll pay you back tomorrow.”
Junsu left the cafeteria, while is friends remained there, looking at him leaving and sighing
“He is so stubborn.” Jaejoong grumbled
“He is so feeling guilty” Changmin said matter of factly and earning a nod from his older brother
~*~
“Kim Junsu?”
Junsu turned his head, looking at the person who had call his name only to get a fright at the sight of a man with long, shinny hair, tied up in a ponytail and dressed in bright pink clothes. “My name is Kim Heechul and I presume you have heard of me before”
Junsu recognized the name “Yes, the maniac from whom Jaejoong bought Yoochun. He told me he didn’t manage to get a hold of you.”
“He tried to but I didn't get to talk to him. I am actually here because I believe there is a problem with H-ent001 Soulmate.”
“Yeah, there is and I want you to take it back with.”
Heechul took out his notebook and his pen “Can you tell me the reason?”
“I don't need it.” He said
“Is there any specific reason? Is it malfunctioning?” The weird man insisted
“He gets in my way and bothers me.”
“I see. Person of highly unsteady and grumpy personality...” He mumbled, while scribbling on his (pink) notebook.
“No, he is quite calm” Junsu pointed out
“I was referring to you, mr. Kim”
Silence filled the room for a few seconds then until Heechul spoke again “I don't know if you are aware of it, mr. Kim, but H-ent001 Soulmate has an internal microchip that allows me to analyze the status of his system and his condition permanently and the thing is that this is not the first time that I see a problem with him.”
Junsu questioned the man with his eyes, grabbing a chair then and finally asking him “What kind of problem?”
“Well, contrary to what you might think, he is not just a robot. He is special. He is the result of an incredible evolution in technology, but that's not just it. I am sure that you are aware that apart from his system and artificial brain, everything in him is like a human. Slightly different mechanisms, slight differences in its internal organs, but he is a human replica.”
“He is still a machine” Junsu noted
“Than can cease to be if the technological advancements go on. A few changes to the old system will allow us to change the only part of him that is artificial. My question is: is it fair to release your frustrations on someone who is oblivious to them? Is it fair for someone who cares about you without even asking for something in return?”
Junsu gave him a stare “Are you spying on us?”
“I refered the internal microchip, right? Through the data that I receive daily on Yoochun's condition, I can see that he is not well.
Do you know why people started using robots in the first place?” Junsu nodded negatively “It's because they can deal better with what they assume that can't feel a thing than with real people so they think that by releasing their frustrations on something that can't “feel” they'll be guiltless.
In H-ent 001 Soulmate's case, he is special because whether you want to accept it or not, it is like being with a real person that might not be able to feel things physically, but have all the emotions that a human can have and those will be developed accordingly to the environment to which he is exposed, much like a child who is growing up.
Apparently, with all the characteristics that were implemented in him, plus his brief connection with you, he is developing a very sweet and sensitive personality which means it's easier to hurt him.”
Junsu thought for awhile, unable to say a word. He really did not believe that a machine could be all that sensitive.
“He has the same emotions than a human can have,” The man started again “which means that he can feel happiness or sadness, depending on the occasion and I can tell you that happiness is an emotion that he hasn't been feeling these days. I don't know what happened, but his happiness levels decreased dramatically.”
The boy sighed “Great. Now he's depressed?”
“He is sad and hurt and I am sure that you are the reason behind it, so I just want to break your legs and toss them into the river or something.” He threatened and Junsu instinctively backed away from him “Don't you think it's pretty depressing not being able to express when he is sad? Don't you regret hurting him?”
“What do you want me to do? Throw myself out of a bridge? It's not my fault that he is artificial and can't cry or show that he is sad. How about what I feel?”
Heechul was actually about to give up on talking to Junsu. He was too thick headed to understand.
“Yes, actually you falling out of a bridge is a thought that brings me joy,” He admitted “however, 'he' would be sad about it so I'll tell you this: he was programmed to assist you in everything you order him to do and as his complicity with you grows so will his affection. Like a human, he will feel attached to you.”
“I don't want to be attached to something that isn't real”
Heechul sighed in defeat at last “Well, I had to try at least. Since you are so determined into giving it back, I'll go by your house this afternoon and pick him up.” He said, while bowing briefly and then heading to the exit door.
“Hey! Just out of curiosity... what will happen to him?”
The man turned around, facing the boy then “He will be taken into the lab and his system will be disconnected and then destroyed. Since each robot is unique - at least for me as a creator - there can never be two of a kind, so when he is 'put to sleep' there won't be a way for him to comeback. If the system is terminated, he will be gone forever. I'll need you to sign the authorization papers for H-ent001 Soulmate's system to be shut off though. Do you want to do it now?”
Junsu hesitated, but ended up nodding and Heechul headed towards him again, holding a sheet of paper that he took out of his pink bag. The boy signed the papers, while having his hands shaking like crazy though and after returning the paper to the man in front of him, the weird looking male bid his farewell.
“Just one more thing,” Junsu said, making the ma look at him again “he has a name. It's Yoochun.”
~*~
Junsu remained in the room for more than an hour, thinking by himself until Jaejoong came and interrupted his thoughts.
“Junsu, I haven't been able to talk to-”
“He was here.”
“Oh” A pause “So... that was fast. How do things work now?”
“He's going to take him and shut his system off.”
“You look so awfully depressed right now...” His friend pointed out
“I'm feeling bad after doing it. I feel like I'm somehow killing him. What do I do now, Jae?”
The elder smacked his friend's head hard and Junsu didn't even retorted back. He knew Jaejoong was kind of right into doing that “That's why I told you that you would regret it later you idiot”
Junsu sighed. Hard.
“What are you still doing here you moron? Go get him!”
“It's too late now. I have already signed the authorization.”
“Go to Heechul and tell him that you thought about it and reconsidered. He won't refuse it but do something!”
“He hates me, he won't allow me to get Yoochun back”
Jaejoong snapped “So what? Not everyone can like you, alright? Now, move!”
Junsu got up his chair, determined to do what his friend had just told him to do and so he left the room saying a “Thanks Jae” to the elder.
The boy ran through the entrance hall and off the gates, passing by Taeyeon and Hyo Yeon in the process but not even looking at them.
“Junsu oppa...” Taeyeon sighed “I sure hope he comes to your birthday party. You did invite him, right?”
“Yeah, kind of. I think Yunho will make everyone come. Unfortunately.”
“Well I sure hope so because I want to make my move on him.”
“I really don't know what you see in him but okay. It's probably time for you to make a move anyway” Hyo Hyeon said
“I could say the same about you and Jaejoong.”
“Oh, and speaking of the devil... Excuse me for a moment.” The girl said, while looking at the tall blonde that walked out of the room.
The girl walked towards him until he noticed someone behind him and looked back, huffing next.
“Hey there handsome. So, I was wondering... you haven't changed your mind about my party, right? You'll go, won't you?”
“Against my will, but yes.”
“Good. You're not going to regret it, Jae”
Jaejoong stared at the girl “Something tells me I will. Oh, and I want to ask you something: stop calling me 'Jae'”
“You used to like it.”
“I don't like it when it's you calling me that. It actually sounds dirty coming from you, so don't and stop ogling over me, okay?” He said, while the girl was already preparing to get closer to him.
“Hyung!” A younger voice called
“Hey there… Changmin. Let's go, I have something for you.”
Changmin looked at Hyo Yeon from head to toe as he passed by her and then let his brother put his arm around his shoulders.
“Hello Changmin.”
He stared “Hey there… fish face!” He said, before Jaejoong ruffled his hair, playfully like what masters do to dogs when they do something great and leaving a very embarrassed Hyo Hyeon behind.
“That girl gives me the creeps hyung, how do you even talk to her?”
“She's the one that talks to me, Minnie. I'm glad you showed up though. Thanks for saving your hyung.”
“She's such a creepy and slimy creature... Not to mention that she looks fake when she smiles.”
Jaejoong ruffled his brother's hair again “You're so perceptive, little fellow. I just hope Yunho can see what you see and get away from her.”
~*~
Junsu had just arrived. He tossed aside his shoes and got into his living room, looking for Yoochun.
Not in the kitchen. Not in the bathroom. Not in the bedroom. Not in the studio.
He started panicking when suddenly his eyes discovered a nicely folded piece of paper on top of his living room table.
It was written by Yoochun himself.
'Dear Junsu, annyeong!
I would have liked to bid you farewell, but I think you must still be mad at me for what I have done. I want to apologize again for my mistake since I should have known that it was one of your paintings so I'm really sorry for it. I hope your day was not too tough though; you didn't even take lunch so you must be starving.
I left your food packed with food so you won't have to cook for a few days.
I really wish I could have been more useful to you than this but I am truly grateful for the little time I spend with you. You truly are a kind person despite what happened today.
Thanks a lot for everything and I hope you can be very happy from now on.
Love,
Yoochun'
That was it! Now Junsu was regretting everything he had done so far. Why did Yoochun have to be such a nice person even when he was the most hateful guy ever? Alright, so he had just referred himself to Yoochun as a 'person' in his thoughts... Although it was not very far from reality actually and at least he was much more 'human' than Junsu when he thought about what happened that morning.
The boy entered the kitchen, opening the fridge and looking at all the food, nicely put into labelled boxes and took one out, opening it and tasting part of the content that despite being cold was delicious.
Heading to his room, he opened the door and looking at his chair, he noticed that Yoochun had picked two outfits for him to wear. Guilt took over him completely so he just laid in his bed sighing and wondering what he could do or if he should do something or not. His head told him to lay still; his heart told him otherwise, so he go up quickly, leaving the room and looking for his bag where he knew he had Heechul's business card that Jaejoong had given him and made a call.
“Hello? Is this Heechul? This is Kim Junsu, we talked this afternoon.”
“Yes, I remember. H-ent001 Soulmate is not - ”
“His name is Yoochun. Anyway, I want to cancel my order. How do I get there?”
“Excuse me but things don't work like this, you know? There is a signed paper...”
“Screw the signed paper. Just rip it off, burn it, eat it, do what you want with it. Now, tell me your damn address!”
“The process has already started so I can't guarantee that - ”
“I swear I'll kill you if you don't tell me where you are right now!”
~*~
Twenty minutes passed until Kim Junsu finally arrived to Heechul's place-slash-company and anxiously rang the bell, hearing a questioning voice coming from the intercom soon after.
“IT'S KIM JUNSU!”
“I am not deaf, you know? Come in.” Heechul said while the door opened for Junsu. The boy entered and headed to the main door where Heechul appeared in all is 'pinkyness' with a tea cup in his hand.
“Can I get you some tea?”
“Where's Yoochun?” Junsu asked immediately
“I'm sorry but - ”
Junsu almost jumped on him, while shaking the man back and forth and trying to suppress his will to snap his neck “I told you to stop, you stupid pink freak!” He yelled, still shaking the man, making him drop his tea cup on the floor.
“It's your fault. This would not have happened if you were not so hot-headed and insensitive.”
Well, Junsu knew that, but he really wanted to kill that freak for 'murdering' Yoochun, even if it was him who told the guy to do it at first. Meanwhile he loosened his grip on Heechul's neck and darted his look into a forgotten corner of the room when he heard a familiar voice.
“Heechul-sshi, do you want more tea?”
Junsu widened his eyes, looking at his supposed-to-be-shut-off android, holding a tray with a tea pot. “YOOCHUN, YOU'RE ALIVE!” Junsu screeched and ran to him, only to be avoided and almost smashing into a wall.
“You should be careful since I am carrying this and you might hurt yourself, Junsu”
“[There goes the 'feeling'] Yoochun, I came to get you.”
The cute robot looked at him, slightly puzzled and Junsu decided that he needed to explain himself... thoroughly.
“ I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning, really but when I saw that the painting was gone... aish I hate when people touch my paintings but you didn't know that so it's not your fault and I should have warned you, but you see Yoochun, the thing is that paintings are not to be washed... I thought you said you knew what paintings were, although I know I can't really call my paintings 'real paintings' because yes, I admit, it was weird and abstract but damn, I have no talent and my inspiration left me long time ago so I think I can understand why you thought it wasn't a painting but it would be better to have that than nothing at all since I was so embarrassed while being scolded by my teacher and oh my God, I didn't want to enter the college's contest but now I have to and since there's nothing I can do about it, can you please come back? I know I said I didn't need you, but let's face it: my cooking sucks and I might blow up the kitchen ever now and then, not to mention that I love your pancakes and I'll even let you wake me up with a kiss if that’s what you want to. I just ask you not to clean the studio again, so can you please consider it? I can't even pick up a decent outfit Yoochun... so if you can really look into this situation and come with me... That would be great.”
And then he finally breathed.
“I didn't even know it was humanly possible to talk so much in such a short period of time without breathing in-between...” Heechul said.
Yoochun smiled and put the tray on the table at his left “Okay, I'll go back.”
[That was fast] “Thank you.” Junsu grabbed his robot's hand and dragged him out of the room, smiling too and ignoring all the yelling coming from Heechul. Junsu did manage to hear something that sounded like 'If you ever hurt him again I won't let you be' and took a mental note to be the first to slap himself if he ever did that again.
~*~
On their way back home Junsu and Yoochun saw Jaejoong's car and as the blonde saw the both of them, he made a quick u-turn and stopped the car right beside the two males.
“Look who is here... I see you got your man back...”
“Jaejoong!”
“What? I was talking to Yoochun, you know?” Junsu blushed “Are you going home now?” Junsu nodded, unable to as a think since he was still blushing “I have an idea. In order for us to celebrate Yoochun's comeback, let's have a party for all six of us”
“Why six? Aren't you referring to us two, you, Changmin and Yunho? That's five, not six.”
“I always count Yunho as two, since he eats enough to feed two people.”
He had a point there.
“If it's for Junsu's friends, I'll be happy to prepare everything.” Yoochun said, smiling cutely and successfully making Jaejoong melt.
“Aigoo... you cute little thing! I’ll have to get one of these for me too... a feminine version that is. Well,” He continued “since me and Yoochun have already decided, I'll go get Changmin and Yunho and we'll meet in a few hours at your place, okay?”
Junsu nodded and Jaejoong started his car's engine again, disappearing as fast as he appeared. Yoochun and his 'master' returned home meanwhile.
“Welcome home. Again.” Junsu said. [That was cheesy] He thought
“Thank you. By the way, Junsu?”
“Hum?”
“What should I cook for the party?”
A sigh and soon after a smile came from Junsu given his robot's oblivious personality “Do whatever you feel like doing. I'm sure they'll love anything made by you. I'll take a bath now and then I'll help you out too, alright? Although I'm a lousy cook, I can be a pretty decent helper.”
“I'll wait for you then.” Yoochun said, smiling sweetly at Junsu, who tried to ignore his sudden red cheeks and headed to his bathroom, having a feeling that his shower would have to be a cold one this time...
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