15

“What the hell was that?” Taehyung mumbled once he thought he was alone. “He shouldn’t have been—he’s missing his canary chip, there’s no way he should’ve been able to provide physical comfort like that.”

Taehyung shook his head as he turned back towards Jeongguk, a strange look in his eyes. He approached him slowly, cautiously, like even looking at him wrong would break him. Gently he reached out to him, letting his rugged fingers run along the contours of his lifeless face.

“I can’t wait to hear your voice.”

            r e m o v e  i t

“The songs you could sing—I bet they’re beautiful.”

Of all the contradictions that Taehyung presented him with, that one was the most confusing. All of his life, Jeongguk believed that he was useless, because that’s what he had been told. From his very first memory, being discovered by scavengers, he was already worth less than garbage. Even when he was perfectly intact, when there wasn’t anything wrong with him. His entire existence was insignificant. That’s what he came to understand.

When Jeongguk came to he was sprawled out in the backseat of a van. He was haphazardly restrained with loose straps and zip ties, his lifeless shell was at the mercy of every sharp turn. His “saviors” sat in the front, bickering amongst themselves. Bickering about him. Again. Trying to figure out what they were going to do with him, where they could take him to make the most profit.

“I say we just sell it for scrap, I don’t want to drive through the Black Lands for this mechanic friend of yours to rip out a module that we can take out ourselves.”

“You say that but every time we try to open it up, we can’t. The fuckin’ thing’s busted, even the modular ports aren’t responding.”

“Do you have the gas money to get across the desert? Or the money to pay off the patrols? No? Didn’t think so!”

“Listen, I know a way around all that, if we just  if we — ”

“No, I’m sick of this bullshit. We’re going to take him to a salvage shop. We’ll make back our money, that’s all I’m concerned about. Worthless piece of shit.”

So why—why did Taehyung save him? Why did he want to save him? He’d been asking himself that same exact question more times than he could count. Humans like him didn’t exist, Jeongguk learned that very quickly. They were not programmed for kindness. Humanity thrived on greed and success, if you did nothing to further either of those ideals you were thrown out. Taehyung’s actions, his words and his promises, directly conflicted everything Jeongguk thought he knew. He didn’t feel afraid when Jimin had him open on the table, he didn’t fear for his own existence even when he was most vulnerable.

Why?

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