12

“Oh well, we’ll get there eventually, there’s no rush.” He smiled. “I’m going to do another full body scan just so I’m sure of where we’re at.”

Before Taehyung could turn away, Jeongguk nodded his head in understanding. Which was—something he couldn’t do. Or hadn’t been able to. The gesture would’ve seemed small and insignificant to anyone else, but to Teahuyng it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen.

“Did you just—did you just move? On your own?”

He offered another hesitant nod.

“Holy—holy shit! This is fantastic! I was right! Can—can you move anything else?”

I don’t know…

Allowing curiosity to get the best of him, Jeongguk closed his eye and tried to will some life into his derelict parts. For a brief moment he let hope take over. He could feel energy surging through him, more than he had felt in a long time. Maybe—maybe there was still a chance for him. He was able to move each of his fingers for a short period of time. But the more he tried to move them the less they would respond, like the signal was being interrupted.

“Okay… good, it looks like your arms are mostly intact they’re just not receiving the messages your processors are sending.” Taehyung commented underneath his breath. “Your circuitry is probably fried, I already expected that much. That’s the main issues with older androids, wires fray and fuses short out. Luckily it’s an easy fix.”

Easy fix?

“Are you ready to get started?”

Jeongguk swallowed.

            p l e a s e

Taehyung smiled.

“Alright, let’s get you singing again.”

h o p e

i s

e t e r n a l

The next few weeks were strange for Jeongguk as Taehyung continued to work on him. Progress was slow, most of the parts that he needed were obsolete, no one carried them anymore so Taehyung had to do his best with salvage yards. In the meantime, the majority of their days were spent calibrating his senses, testing joint functionality, cataloging what needed to be replaced and what could possibly be fixed. Each night Taehyung would be at his side, working himself to the bone for an android most would’ve given up on. Doing whatever he could to fix him, no matter how miniscule the problem was.

Jeongguk watched him in silence, but not by choice. Taehyung would talk to him while he worked, rambling aimlessly about things Jeongguk wouldn’t know the first thing about. He would watch the words spill past Taehyung’s pink lips, admire his boxy smile that made up his perfect smile, mesmerized by the man who put the sun to shame.

Jeongguk had never missed his own voice so much, a voice he couldn’t remember. With words swimming around in his mind, his voice lost to the void, it was driving him insane. So many things he wanted to say and no way for Taehyung to hear them.

            can you hear me?

            would you listen?

“Okay, let’s see what that did.”

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