At first going to the landfill was just an excuse to get away from his house.
Hoseok's parents had been suffocating him with their non-stop pestering about college applications. He was going to be graduating by the end of the year and they were hell-bent on having one of their children go to a real college, since, although proud of his older sister for getting so far in her fashion career, she never went to a real college. Being their only other child, the suffocation that his sister escaped, now fell on him.
So in order to escape his parents for just a few hours during the weekend, he told them that his science teacher offered his class extra credit if they could manage to make a small, functioning robot out of throw away items, in other words he inadvertently gave himself more work, and he actually had to go to a property of land full of trash that smelled worse than a pile of Mickey's poops. Plus, he'd have to bring home some of those items to make his lie believable.
But, in order to lengthen his break he decided he would make several trips in order to seal the deal. His dad had always told him that people miss a lot if they only look at something one time.
The first trip to the dump was spent just wandering around and reluctantly looking for decent looking items to stuff in his backpack, as well as regretting not bringing any wet wipes. He's always hated being dirty.
Maybe a dump wasn't the best place to come.
Maybe this whole science project excuse was just a terrible attempt at freedom from his parents grasp.
The second trip was practically the same as the first, except this time he had a pack of wet wipes with him. He was still reluctant to stuff the dirty items into his bag, that probably wouldn't ever change. Nor would the feeling of disgust that came every time a new wave of that horrible smell abused his nose or when he had to pick up an especially dirty item.
The third trip to the landfill didn't occur until several days later, school and dance taking up too much of Hoseok's time to plan for another trip to the what he now called "Trash Land." As basic as the name was, Hoseok didn't plan on wasting his time brainstorming a more creative one. Besides, "Trash Land" described the property perfectly, it just got straight to the point.
Upon entering the property, Hoseok set out for his usual location, near the middle of the junk yard. The large pile that would occupy the area usually had decent items that have so far worked for his little bot friend. He was going call it Kai, after a middle schooler that takes interest in his dancing, a cute and nice kid, but unusually tall for his age. He thought the kid would be happy knowing his elder thought highly of him.
Today, though the items that he would opt for were still in plain sight, something else caught his attention. A figure that could be mistaken for human laid upon a pile of throw away items, the only thing that told Hoseok that the figure was indeed not a human was the lack of a forearm where several wires were instead.
Hoseok figured it wasn't uncommon for people to throw out their robots, especially since now you can get them pretty much anywhere. He'd seen robots before, of course he has, almost everyone in his family had one, with the exception of his parents.
Jiwoo had recently got one from the shops, Hoseok was happy for her. His sister had always claimed she wanted a robot of her own, not so they did the chores, but to just keep her company. Hoseok assumed she now got one especially for that reason since she now lived on her own. If he remembers correctly she had named it something along the lines of Hyejin.
Instead of focusing on the items he is supposed to be collecting, having addressed the situation with his science teacher, who seemed to have a soft spot for him and agreed to the extra credit should he be able to make a function bot out of throw away, he made his way to powered off robot.
He was amazed at how far the design teams have come with the robots. This bot looked like a normal boy if you didn't address the fact that there are wires sticking out of his half missing arm. The designers had started adding a thick fabric that was of similar properties to human flesh on the robots to make them more realistic, they even went as far as making sure each bot had their own unique head of hair, much like humans. Not one bot looked the same.
This bot had a head of dark brown hair, similar to Hoseok's, and faire skin. He looked fragile but rough as well, his facial feature were incredibly detailed and Hoseok felt his heart skip a beat at the peaceful yet sorrowful look upon the bots face before he straightened himself out.
"What the hell, Hoseok. He's a robot, a non-functioning one at that!"
Sure it wasn't uncommon for people to order a custom robot with an ultimately romantic mindset and people even often fell for their bots, their bots complying for one of two reasons, they were given several expensive updates so that they could feel as a human would, or because they were made specifically with pleasing in mind, and as a result they automatically adjust to what their owners want.
Hoseok never saw himself being one of those people, especially not over a beaten down and broken bot he found in a junk yard, but here he was disappointed once again as the bot he found three years ago still wouldn't budge for more than a second or two.
With a sigh the man decides its about time he gets to the studio. He had to teach a new dance to his favorite idol group, both to work with and to listen to. Apart of this group was the young boy who used to watch him practice in the park with such fascination, Kai, going by his full name on stage. Hoseok never really guessed him to be a trainee, but he learned that Kai had been for two years before watching Hoseok for the first time.
DING!
Nature Freak Joonie
Any luck today?
Sunshine Hobi
Unfortunately not :(
I'm hoping soon though
Nature Freak Joonie
Hopefully
I feel like I'm being lead on by a broken robot
Is that weird?
Sunshine Hobi
Yes, that is weird
But I kinda see what you mean
Nature Freak Joonie
Anyways, I have some new parts and chips for him
Hopefully they help.
I'll put in the chips, they're the latest ones.
Sunshine Hobi
The new ones? Wont you get in trouble for that?
Nature Freak Joonie
Nah, the company loves me to much
These new ones only came out bc of me anyways
Sunshine Hobi
I swear, you're way to big headed
Nature Freak Joonie
I know my worth
Now shoo, you have work
Sunshine Hobi
I'm telling Jinnie Hyungie not to praise you anymore
I regret giving you access to my schedule
Nature Freak Joonie
Please, I'm way to good in bed for it to be avoided
Also, this happened bc last time you didn't show up to work until an hour after your lesson was meant to end
Sunshine Hobi
Unfortunately you cant say the same thing about the kitchen
Poor Jinnie Hyung has to keep you from blowing your house up whenever you step into the kitchen
Nature Freak Joonie
Suddenly I have a lot of work to do
Sunshine Hobi
Goodbye Joon
Nature Freak Joonie
Bye Hobi
Chuckling at his bestfriend, Hoseok makes his way to his car, gym bag already in the passenger seat with two iced water bottles. He got dressed for the day after he woke up and had a quick shower, ignoring the fact that he would have to shower when he got home and probably again before he went to bed should he practice at home at any given time before then.
Hoseok arrived before the idol group did and in turn he was able to get things set up without feeling rushed, despite the fact that the five boys we're incredibly patient.
Practice went smoothly and Hoseok was able to enjoy some extra time with his dongsaengs, just talking. He got the chance to have lunch with them as well which was rare since they usually had such a busy schedule.
As soon as lunch was over though he had to go straight back home in order to be there upon Namjoon's arrival, freshened up.
And as soon as Namjoon arrived he only smiled at his slightly older friend and headed straight down to the basement where they had been working on the robotic boy for a long while. Rolling his eyes, Hoseok followed his bestfriend down to the basement where the man had already started working on separating pieces.
"I'm only gonna be able to put in the data chips then I gotta go. Jin Hyung and I have dinner at his parents' place tonight."
"Nice to see you too, Namjoon."
"Oh," the hums, "Hi, Hobi."
Rolling his eyes again at the younger, Hoseok pulls the second stole next to the work bench and sits down to watch his friend work on the now clean bot which also had his arm repaired completely.
With the chips in place the younger of the two boys leave. In an hours time, Hoseok replaces the last few small, damaged parts before he plugs a cord into both the laptop to his right and the robot. For the first time in three years the laptop hadn't showed any errors.
With glee Hoseok disconnects the cord from the metal boy and powers him on. After several minutes the robot hadn't made a move and Hoseok's hope depletes. With a sigh Hoseok reaches over to laptop, saving the data collected in order to check what went wrong before shutting it down.
Only when he closed the laptop did he notice the change in the robot's position and his now open eyes illuminating a florescent green. Blue streaks dimly shined through the fabric, indicating that the machine was powered on, fully up to date and charged. Had Hoseok not seen him move his head around, he wouldn't have thought it moved at all. There wasn't even the quietest of squeaks or sound of machinery from the bot.
Namjoon knew what he was doing when it came to robots, that's for sure.
Hoseok didn't know what to feel upon seeing the robot's mouth start to open, glowing green eyes directed at him. So many emotions hit him at once that it was almost overwhelming.
"Hello, where am I?"
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A/N: Hello! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I actually enjoyed writing this a lot. I'm hoping I'll be able to continue to enjoy writing this and that I'll be able to update constantly, but I'm not too sure since school is starting up again in 3 days.
This story line/au belongs to @ yoonbootae on Instagram. Please go show some love to them, they are a very talented artist that I hope to be able to interact with more.