[Can we live...] Happily Ever After [?] - Chapter 9 (Part 2 + Epilogue)
Title: [Can we live] Happily Ever After [?]
Rating: PG-13 || Genre: Drama/ Romance/ Fluff/ Friendship/ (slight) Angst (?)/ AU || Status: Completed || Chapters: 9/9 + Epilogue
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 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 || Chapter 7a) || Chapter 7 (b) || Chapter 8 || Chapter 9 (a)
About two hours went by since they got to Seoul and since Yoochun had been taken by Heechul to his lab.
Meanwhile, Changmin managed to convince Junsu into going to Taeyeon's house so that they could at least attest that she had nothing to do with what happened to Yoochun although he did have his doubts about her innocence.
“Junsu! What a great surprise.” The girl, greeted, giving him her best smile.
“Give me the microchip.” He said, straightforwardly, earning a puzzled look from the girl. “I know it was you, so give it back.”
“I really have no idea of what you might be talking about, Junsu. What is that 'chip' you're talking about?”
He tried to remain calm while talking to her although it was not being easy “I know that you are aware that Yoochun is an android and I know that you were jealous of him so you might have thought that the best way would be to switch him off. I know it, so if you are going to keep denying, it will only make matters worse for you. Do you know that what you did is a crime and that you can be punished for going into someone else's house and damaging private property?”
“What? Private property? He's just a piece of junk!” She said, tsking.
[So it really was her...] The boy thought, remembering of what his friend Changmin told him earlier and about his plan to try and catch her.
[Alright, so this is the plan: Junsu goes to Taeyeon's house and accuses her. You'll have to threaten her and ask for the microchip. Oh, and tell her that what she did was a crime because she barged into your house and not only stole something but also damaged it. That should be enough to scare her.]
Junsu tried to get back to his senses, feeling like he wanted to do something he shouldn't to the girl in front of him “How could you do it?”
“Junsu, you're not considering this correctly. He's a piece of junk while you are human. How can you leave me to be with a doll that isn't real and only likes you because it was programmed into doing so?”
“He's not only a doll; he's much more human than you'll ever be. I never liked you as a man, can't you see that? To me, you were merely my classmate but I foolishly decided to accept to date you because I was confused about my feelings for Yoochun. If he didn't exist, I would never have accepted you.
I love him, not you so you should accept that fact once and for all. Now, give me back the chip.”
The girl glared fiercely at Junsu, eyes brimming with tears of anger. “The chip was destroyed.” Junsu's eyes opened wide at her words, urging her to carry on “You heard it, I destroyed it, but if you really want it back, I can give you what is left of it.” She said, putting one hand inside her pocket and pulling out the chip, completely burned out and slightly melted.
“If you're not mine, than you're not his either.”
“You are crazy and the day that I am yours, will also be the day when I am dead for sure.”
Junsu turned his back on the girl, leaving her furiously glaring at him and crossed the street towards the spot where Jaejoong and Changmin were, waiting inside the car. The younger jumped in his seat as soon as he saw his friend, looking as miserable as ever.
“Alright,” Changmin started “from one to ten what is the level of the bad news?” Junsu didn't bring himself to answer, so he just showed him the burned microchip which actually made the youngest go crazily furious “Oh my God! That...that... AISH!!”
“Calm down. Let's take it to Heechul so that he can see what he can do. He's the guy who created an almost human robot, so I'm sure there' nothing he can't fix”.
~*~
“Impossible” The strange man said, flipping a page of the book he had been reading.
“Are you sure? Take another look; attentively.” Changmin insisted, putting the melted down microchip in front of his face.
“There's nothing to look at.” He said, sending his gaze towards the taller of the Kim brothers. “It's destroyed so it's impossible to recover any data from it.”
“Can't you do a new one?” Jaejoong asked
Heechul closed his book, looking at the blonde man “Of course I can.” He said, making Jaejoong sigh in relief “But it will be different. It won't be him. The microchip contains all data from its mechanism and system; all the main emotions, memories, personality, you name it.
Despite Yoochun's awsome ability to actually feel things - which is still out of my comprehension - by having a positronic system he was still considered an android and although he underwent some changes, he didn't have a fully developed 'will' of his own. This means that he was made out to have certain specifications with an ability to develop personality afterwards according to the experiences and environment that he might live in. So, although he developed the ability to actually feel at a physical level even without making a transition from positronic to neurological he still relied on his main system for sustainability and functioning.
Since nothing on his system was changed, the microchip is of utmost importance if we want to bring him back and without it, there's nothing I can do”
The man paused a bit in his explanation, grabbing the burned chip and putting it next on the top of his table before going on
“I can make a new microchip, exactly like this one and even with the same specifications that were asked initially however I don’t think that the memories and emotions can be recovered since it's something that were developed and not implanted. It won't be Yoochun, you see? I don't know what Junsu wants to do but it's your call and since he still has a warranty there won't be any charges, so...”
“I don't care about the charges!” Junsu said, basically yelling and interrupting Heechul “I want him back! I want my Yoochun back! Not someone who doesn't remember me, but the Yoochun who said he loved me.”
Heechul looked down “I'm sorry Junsu, but that won' be possible. Anyway think about it: Yoochun is an incredible android; I never thought he'd be able to develop such abilities and it's possible that if he is activated again he can develop those abilities and even come to have a very similar personality given the fact that he's going to be with you.”
Heechul was trying to make the boy look at things from the bright side, but apparently there was no such thing for Junsu and the man realized it as soon as he started crying.
“No, I don't want a stranger looking like Yoochun. It'd hurt me too much to look at him and think that I can remember everything we had but he doesn't.”
“Are you telling me that you want to deactivate him for good then?” Junsu nodded, unable to say the words “Like I said, it's your choice and I can't talk you out of it if that's the decision that you made however I'm going to repair him from the scratches and make him look like he used to before what happened today. I cannot bring myself to deactivate him before putting him back like when I created him. He'll be ready tomorrow morning so come to see him before letting him go.”
“Alright” He managed to say before starting to sob ever harder.
After getting out of Heechul's lab, Junsu headed home despite Jaejoong trying to convince him into staying with them at least for that night. Since his efforts were in vain, he decided to head home himself, with Changmin who looked incredibly depressed.
“Tayeon did what? That mad girl killed Yoochun???” Yunho yelled
“I'm so depressed that I don't even feel like eating” The younger declared, putting away his cake
“Yeah, she did. Poor Junsu is devastated. He really did fall for Yoochun... I never saw him the way he looked today, crying his eyes out in front of us. I think it's like if your girlfriend is dying or something, you know?” Jaejoong said, looking at Yunho, who made a very shocked expression before nodding his head furiously.
“Don't even mention that! It's depressing to just think about her dying so soon!”
Suddenly there was silence, as Jaejoong and Changmin turned their heads into Yunho's direction, noticing his weird silence.
“Spill it!” Changmin demanded “There's something fishy going on there. Who is she?”
“Someone who said she liked me.”
Suddenly, Changmin's interest rose as he almost jumped from his chair and demanded to know about the details of such confession. “Where did she confess to you?”
“In the bathroom” Changmin scrunched his face “In the man's bathroom”
“What the hell? That is like the weirdest place ever to receive a love confession, but then again we're talking about you. So, have you decided to date the first girl that came on to you, huh? Well, you should, since you never know when you might have another girl to like you again.”
“Hey!” Yunho pouted then.
~*~
Junsu woke up the next morning with a strong pain on his neck. Apparently he had fallen asleep without even noticing and slept in a very uncomfortable position all night.
The night before, he made sure to be as much of a masochist as he could by rambling around and looking at Yoochun's clothes inside the closet and sniffing the bed covers because they still had Yoochun's smell on them. He actually felt pathetic for behaving like that.
The first time that he ever fell in love was with a robot that happened to be of the same sex as him and that was never coming back because a lunatic decided to ruin his chances of happiness. His thoughts were interrupted by his ringtone though, bringing him to finally get out of bed and sigh at the name of the person who that was calling him: Heechul.
“Yeobuseo?”
“Good morning Junsu, It's Kim Heechul. I'm calling you because Yoochun's repairing is done and he's ready for the disconnection but I can't do it without a written consent from you. Are you available?”
“Yeah, I am. I'll come in shortly” He answered with a hoarse voice.
Junsu didn't want Jaejoong to take him there again, so he decided to catch a train to reach the location of Heechul's lab. As soon as he got there, Heechul guided him to the room where Yoochun was and Junsu was able to see him again, lying in the table like new, exactly as he looked like before, with his eyes closed. The boy suppressed his urge to cry right there and rushed Heechul into giving him the papers.
“Where do I sign?” He asked and Heechul gave him the documents where Junsu scribbled his signature a few times before returning them.
“Can I leave now?”
“Don't you want to be here when I - ”
“No, I don't.”
Heechul sighed, getting near Yoochun and pushing the button to deactivate the android as Junsu started leaving the room before being stopped by a sudden familiar voice.
“Junsu?”
Junsu looked back immediately, recognizing the voice as Yoochun's.
“I am sorry, Junsu but I couldn't bring myself to disconnect him like that.”
“Why is he awake? What right do you have to do it? Did you repair him and bring him back even when I said not to do it?”
“Why is he screaming? Is he angry?” Yoochun asked
“Turn him off, now!” Junsu yelled, barely being able to control his tears
“Did I do something wrong?” The android insisted, looking at Heechul, who was unable to utter a word.
The irritated male tried to calm down his emotions by looking at Yoochun who was looking like a lost puppy “Do you know who I am?” He asked him
“Of course I do. You're my owner, Kim Junsu whom I'll serve.”
Junsu smiled bitter sweetly and then looked at Heechul “What did you do to him?”
“Oh... you don't like me? Should I change my personality to one that is more to your liking then? I can proceed to the change as soon as you give me the order.”
“It's okay Yoochun. Heechul, turn him off.”
“But - ”
“Turn him off or I will!” Junsu threatened, grabbing Yoochun by the wrist.
“NO! Don't!”
Not listening to a word that came out of Heechul's mouth, Junsu got closer to Yoochun, grabbing him by the waist this time and putting his neck on his shoulder, looking for the shut down mechanism but failing to locate it.
“Well, well who would have known? You used to be much more delicate with me, Su...” Yoochun said suddenly, bringing Junsu to his senses at the sound of his nickname.
“What did you just say?”
“I said,” he started, releasing himself from Junsu's grip “that you are being too rough with me, Su. I'm sensitive, don't you remember?”
Junsu was actually lost for words at the moment “I think I am going to pass out...”
“Alright, time to explain, right?” Heechul blurted, mostly like some sort of crazy anime character, jumping forward while smiling like a mad man “Actually I was able to recover part of the data from Yoochun's microchip. It was a miracle that only my brilliant self could ever be able to create because somehow I was able to recover his memories and his personality. Then... I took the liberty of making on slight change in him since I couldn't bring myself to deactivate him so I implanted and activated his main nervous system. There! I said it!”
“You WHAT?”
“Everything he was able to feel before and that originated from what scientists might label as an error - but that I deem as him 'being special' - is now inherent to him. He's like 95% human since I did implant his past memories into his brain and since his organs are still different because they are artificially human but much more resistant than ours, but he has everything we have and now he is able to sweat, drool, feel... you know, the works. This also means that his life quality was seriously affected as of now.
“I'm just curious... does he also have... blood?”
“No, but he has a very similar thing running though his body. It has a very similar composition to blood but it doesn't deteriorate his body as fast as blood would. I mean, you want to be with him for a while, right? However, he will grow old. As years will go by he'll grow old although he might do it a little faster than you for example.”
Junsu's chin had just dropped on the floor and it was a difficult task to even close his mouth after what Heechul told him “Do you realize that you've just basically created a human being?”
Heechul looked back at him with sparkly eyes and a huge amount of giddiness in his voice “I know... aren't I awesome? It's like I'm professor Frankenstein or something... too bad I don't know how that happened.”
[He's completely crazy...] “Yeah...”
“Yoochun is unique, you know? I don't think there'll ever be another one like him and who knows? Despite me being a genius it was your heart who made him awaken so I guess you're more like his personal God than I am.
Well, he's all yours again. Almost human, with no other change that I can possibly make in him which means no microchips and no being disconnected by your weird and jealous friends although this also comes with a responsibility: it means he can no longer be repaired like before. He's like you and me, a human who will get hurt, who will live and die like us. I hope you can take proper care of him from now on”
“Thanks Heechul.”
“You're welcome. Yoochun-ah, you have to come see me often, okay? I'll miss you so don't stay away too long.” He said, getting somehow emotional “Now, now let's go back to work! I have tons of new orders so in about six months I'll probably be a millionaire and by the end of the year I'm sure I'll win the Nobel prize” He fantasised, ending his speech with one of the most ridiculously devilish laughs Junsu ever heard. It surely was Junsu and Yoochun's cue to leave the mad man alone with his 'creations'.
The couple left the place behind, hand in hand to the train station, smiling at each other like two lovebirds and as the first train came to take them home, both of them sat down and Yoochun leaned his head on Junsu's shoulder, while intertwining their fingers even more.
Junsu knew people were staring, judging, but he didn't feel like they were important enough for him to care; not after losing what he had of most precious in his life at that moment.
“Chun?” The boy hummed, questioningly while looking at his boyfriend “Today I was really, really scared, did you know?”
“How much is that 'really, really scared', Su?”
“I felt empty. I thought I'd lost you for good. ”
Yoochun smiled “I'm sorry for worrying you.”
“Well, at least that crazy genius brought you back. It really s good to have you back, Chun.” He declared, strengthening his grip on Yoochun's hand.
“It's good to be back, Su.” [Back to you]
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Epilogue
“We are late, Yoochun, hurry up!” Junsu yelled as he got out of the bathroom while still buttoning up his shirt.
“Sorry Su, I fell asleep. Here, eat this at least” The boy said, while putting the pot with the stew on the table.
“Thank you for the food” Junsu said, taking a big bite but regretting it in an instant.
Yoochun sighed “It's bad, isn't it?” He asked, depressed.
“No, no, you are improving!”
“You said that last week too...”
Junsu patted his boyfriend's head, trying to cheer him up “Practice makes it perfect, Chun. Besides, you're already able to make my favourite pancakes with chocolate and strawberries!”
Yoochun sighed even more before finally pouting “Why is it that from all the things Heechul couldn't recover one of them had to be my ability to cook? It really sucks!”
“You're human now, so you'll have to start a whole lot of things from the beginning. I promise I'll buy you some more cook books for you to practice, okay?” The boy said, pecking his lips right softly.
“You smell nice...” Yoochun noticed, giving Junsu a grin. “Did you change your cologne?”
“Oh, no, don't even start, alright? I have to be on time for class today” The brunette said, knowing exactly where that kind of conversation usually ended up.
“Please? Pretty please, with a strawberry on top?”
[Puppy eyes... Damn! Those puppy eyes!] Take your hands of my pants, mr. Kim Yoochun!”
A smirk
“Do you know, Su?” He asked, keeping his tone as sensual as he could “Do you know what the best part about not being a robot anymore really is?”
“No, what?”
“I can disobey you...”
The End
A/N: And this is it! Sorry it took me so long to post the last chapter, but I've been really busy. As a treat, the chapter is longer and you even have the Epilogue in one go as well ^^ Since it was a short epilogue I ditn's want to make a post just for it.
Let me thank every and each of you who kept reading and made me know about that by leaving wonderful comments who always made me smile. To those who read but didn't comment up until now, I'l grateful too, so if you want to leave a first-last comment, feel free to do so because it'll make me happy.
As for the next projects, I do have some YooSu love planned for Junsu's birthday, exactly one month from now, but I don't know if meanwhile something else will pop up ^^ Besides, I think my next chaptered project might actually be a MinSu (for a change) so I wonder if anyone will antecipate it XD
Finally and as always, I'll wait for your comments so tell me what you rhink about the newly completed project. Fail? No Fail? You tell me! ^_^