resting his head on his collarbone. Heat from Tao’s body seeps through Kris’ clothes; it feels…interesting. They’ve never been this close before.
“Being in a one-sided love is painful,” Tao confesses, sighing.
Kris doesn’t think he’ll ever get to experience love. It’s a human thing and he’s…he’s still not there yet.
“You know, you really would make a nice boyfriend.”
“It is my purpose.”
He hasn’t forgotten. “When you wake up, WF 112,” they had told him. “You will wake up with the person who will love you as much as you love them. Treat them well. Remember what your purpose is.”
Failing at the reason for his existence is not an option for Kris.
“And you’re warm too. I thought you’d be cold and all. You…you sound like my computer when it’s overheating.”
“It is normal,” Kris says. He raises a hand, hesitating in smoothing down Tao’s messy hair. Messes shouldn’t be made if they can be avoided.
Touching Tao so intimately stirs something dark and heavy in Kris, a feeling he doesn’t understand or thinks he has the capacity to understand. He holds Tao until Tao pulls away and retreats into his room. Byun Baekhyun is the cause of Tao’s most obvious sadness. There’s no telling just how long Tao has felt this way for his neighbor but Kris is well aware of his feelings. It’s hard not to notice when Byun Baekhyun’s name falls from Tao’s lips so often. Kris doesn’t understand the fascination, not really.
Tao should be fascinated with him. He’s perfect; Byun Baekhyun is just a human. Kris will never err to the extent a human would. Tao bought him for a reason so Tao should like him as much and more than he likes Byun Baekhyun. But he doesn’t.
When Tao starts allowing Kris out of the apartment to roam freely around the neighborhood, Kris runs into Byun Baekhyun more times than he would like. His disdain for Byun Baekhyun is present from the moment they meet and only increases when Byun Baekhyun buys himself a new boyfriend.
Right away, everything about this one called Chanyeol upsets Kris. Something of such low a quality should never have been allowed out of the factory but it’s more…much more than that. Chanyeol smiles and laughs. He touches Byun Baekhyun and his call of “Baekhyunnie!” is heard through the halls of their apartment complex whenever Byun Baekhyun returns home from school.
Though his mechanics leave much to be desired, Chanyeol is more human than Kris knows he’ll ever be. Byun Baekhyun’s refusal to send Chanyeol back and how easily Byun Baekhyun goes along with whatever Chanyeol did or said make Kris think long and hard about his relationship with Tao.
Byun Baekhyun is partly the reason why Chanyeol acts so human. Byun Baekhyun doesn't think Chanyeol is just a toy but Tao…Tao thinks Kris is only as real as other electronics are. He likes to “joke around” (which, as Kris’ internal system tells him, means he’s not to be taken seriously) and say Kris is related to his laptop or for him to watch where he’s going so he doesn’t bump into his “cousin” (Tao’s handphone.)
