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Xiaojun has a bar on a tiny asteroid.
The bar isn't much to look at. It's part of a lonesome rest area for travelers on the galactic expressway, just a stone’s throw away from the nearby energy bunk and a quaint pod motel. But to Xiaojun, the bar is his life. From the three retro bar stools to the budget friendly interstellar fare to his equally small residence on the building’s second floor, it's his entire bite-size world.
This setup isn't uncommon. Xiaojun is a franchise clone: a clone created, owned, and employed by a private organization. He and his bar are a package deal, and one of many that look exactly the same, sprinkled around the Belt and beyond.
It's really no biggie to Xiaojun. But Hendery has always been more upset over the clone's fate than Xiaojun is, himself.
"Run away with me," Hendery says, not for the first time. The bar is presently devoid of customers, and Hendery sits on the counter, swinging his legs. "I hate that you're stuck with this job. Even though it's my fault," he mumbles in the end.
"Hey, I love my job." Xiaojun pauses wiping down the counter to poke at Hendery's arm. "Now, off the counter."
Hendery grumbles, but only for a moment before jumping down.
Xiaojun does love his job. But he also knows that his feelings for his job isn't his to pick and choose, but rather due to his preset design.
Hendery’s design, to be specific.
Hendery and his colleagues had precisely curated Xiaojun to be the ideal capitalistic worker. Xiaojun was made to enjoy being a cog in the company. It's the perks of having a diluted ego and equally diluted self-pity that inconveniences, otherwise.
But Xiaojun understands. The developers were only following orders, after all.
“What if I buy this asteroid from you?" Hendery forges on. "Then you’ll have to move.”
“Not a chance. This asteroid is what keeps me afloat.”
“Was that a pun?” Hendery balks. “You’re terrible.”
Xiaojun grins. "But you love me, anyway.” The second those words leave his mouth, he internally curses himself, turning away. He knows better than to play with Hendery’s emotions.
Hendery speaks up behind him. "I brought something for you."
Xiaojun looks back to see Hendery shyly holding a single flower, glowing a pale yellow.
"See?" Xiaojun pokes Hendery's nose. "I don't need to go to other worlds, not when you bring those worlds to me."
Hendery pinkens, and Xiaojun's heart almost skips before he catches it. He's not the reason for those rosy cheeks, he reminds himself.
Then, over Hendery's shoulder and out the front window, Xiaojun sees a less pretty sight.
His eyes follow an obnoxiously painted space bike flying down the road and coming to a screeching stop just before the entranceway. Doing a quick identification scan, Xiaojun puts together the names to the passengers' faces.
The driver, Yangyang, shuts off the engine and doesn’t bother to latch his bike to the ground, ignoring the warning signs about tethering oneself due to low gravity. To Xiaojun’s continued concern, Jaemin, the other rider, also stays untethered, serenely looking around while floating higher and higher.
After some awkward acrobatics, the two eventually grab the entrance door handle. They depressurize in the bar's foyer and step into the inner sanctum where they take off their helmets.
Hendery, who has been busy fussing at the flower he had tucked behind Xiaojun’s ear, abruptly propels away from Xiaojun the moment the customers step inside.
Jaemin raises a brow, but says nothing.
“Take care of her, will you, sweetie?” Yangyang doesn’t even make eye contact as he nonchalantly throws his keys over the counter.
Xiaojun offers an apologetic smile. "It's self-park."
“Are you serious?” Yangyang looks around while loudly chewing on his gum. "What kind of place you running here?"
"A humble one."
"At least you're honest about it.” With that, he fixes his helmet back on and marches out again to tether his bike. Fortunately for him, the bike is still only hovering an arm’s-reach from the ground.
Meanwhile, Jaemin has walked up to the counter and takes a seat, curiously cocking his head at Xiaojun.
“What can I get for you?” Xiaojun asks cheerfully.
Jaemin makes up his mind to speak, but it isn’t to answer the bartender’s question. “I know your secret,” he whispers loudly, furrowing his brows as he leans in across the counter. Xiaojun mirrors him. Jaemin reverts to talking into his ear in full volume. “You’re cheating on that guy, aren’t you?”
Xiaojun’s eyes turn into saucers at the same time Hendery starts coughing uncontrollably. The sound of the pneumatic doors behind them signal Yangyang’s return.
“Oh shit?” Yangyang plops down on a stool to Jaemin's left. “Drama!”
"Yeah, dude!" Jaemin starts, turning. “Remember the other bar-”
“Wait,” Hendery interrupts, placing a protective hand on Xiaojun’s shoulder and Xiaojun struggles to maintain a semblance of professionalism. “You’re confusing him with someone else.”
“Really,” Jaemin scrunches up his face. “Then how come I saw him on the other side of the solar system smooching another dude?”
"I haven't stepped off this asteroid since I was born." Xiaojun's tone is as cheery as ever.
“Damn,” Yangyang stares. “That's depressing.”
“I’m sorry.” Hendery looks down, toeing the ground.
"I'm a franchise clone," Xiaojun clarifies.
“Ah,” Jaemin nods in understanding. “I must've confused you with another one of your buddies, then.”
Yangyang swivels to face Hendery, looking at him more properly now. “And who are you?”
“Cloning developer. Just here doing my check-ins.”
“Oh?” Jaemin waggles his brows, eyeing Hendery’s hand still on Xiaojun. “Must be some thorough check-ins.”
Hendery yanks his arm away like he’s touched hot coal. “This isn’t- we’re not-”
“A clone and his creator,” Jaemin coos, perching his elbows on the counter and dreamily looking between the two. “Forbidden love.”
"Preposterous!" Hendery reddens.
Xiaojun shakes his head. Hendery may be in love, but the object of his affection only looks like Xiaojun. Still, Xiaojun is friendly in his response. “You're mistaken. I am only designed to follow this bar’s rules.”
“And who wrote those rules?” Yangyang pointedly looks at Hendery.
“It wasn't me,” Hendery tries, but can't help but to throw a sorry look at Xiaojun. Not that Xiaojun has ever believed Hendery was in the wrong for having a hand in the cloning business. Hendery has continuously apologized as far back as Xiaojun can remember. But deep guilt doesn't age or fade away, as Hendery has learned by now. “I’ll have you know that developers have no input on-"
“Yeah, yeah,” Yangyang waves hand, apparently bored with Hendery and turning towards Xiaojun. “So you're an exact copy of some other guy?”
Xiaojun can’t help but flit his eyes towards Hendery once. “Close, but not exact. I was developed with modifications from on the classified human's genes. And I'm six months younger than him, grown using accelerated growth technology.”
"Uh huh," Jaemin squints. “And how’d Mr. Classified get selected?”
Jaemin gasps at Yangyang. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Aren’t I always?” Yangyang says with pride.
“Imagine being Mr. Classified,” Jaemin gazes into the distance. “And having models of our sexy looks everywhere.”
“You don’t want to be a franchise clone’s blueprint.” Hendery’s abrupt response causes three heads to turn.
Yangyang gives a low whistle. “Someone’s mad.”
“Dude,” Jaemin leans in towards Hendery, attentive. "Spill the story."
Xiaojun claps his hands, regaining his authority for Hendery's sake. “I’ll take your orders now.”
"Red eye," Jaemin says, without missing a beat. "On the rocks."
"I'm sorry-"
Yangyang raises a finger. "And milk tea for me. Hold the rocks."
"Right away," Xiaojun smiles sweetly. Nevermind the fact that the menu hanging on the wall has no mention of coffee or tea. But getting customers in this locality is rare enough, so Xiaojun decides to make do with his small stash of Earthly relics.
He promptly walks to the far side of the bar and gets to work. Hendery follows behind him, relieved to escape the interrogation.
In the meantime, the two customers strike up a conversation among themselves.
“Look at you,” Yangyang mopes. “Here you are, beautiful as hell, and yet there’s only one of you in this entire universe.”
“Yangyang, when I see you, I see a gorgeous, stunning specimen.” Jaemin looks at his friend in equal sadness. “It’s like you were created in a lab.”
“It’s a pity there’s only one of each of us.”
“A tragedy, really.”
With the customers now in their own worlds, Hendery eases his own tension and glides up next to Xiaojun, standing close but not quite touching. He nervously fiddles with the ancient espresso contraption, waiting for Xiaojun to speak first.
“You okay?” Xiaojun asks once the grinding of freeze-dried coffee beans ends.
Hendery is hesitant before responding. "Sorry I was rude in front of the customers. They touched a sore spot." He laughs shortly, rubbing the back of his head in embarassment. "I’m terrible at keeping a poker face, aren’t I?”
“I’ll say,” Xiaojun nudges shoulders with Hendery, smiling in jest. From the sad, puppy eyes and the invisible weight drooping his entire figure, Hendery can be read like an open book. His honesty has always been a trait Xiaojun has looked upon fondly.
Xiaojun has known Hendery from the moment of his first awakening on this asteroid. And with Hendery’s continued visits for upgrades and maintenance fixes, Xiaojun has had enough time to understand him. There are other visitors - Kun and Winwin, the motel and energy bunk owners, respectfully, and a handful of regular customers. But Hendery has always held a special place in Xiaojun's heart.
But Xiaojun knows his feelings won't be reciprocated.
See, the humans who were selected to be the blueprints for clones have an exceptionally secluded life after being replicated, for copyright purposes and libel lawsuits, naturally. It’s an ivory tower life surrounded by the elite, complete with all amenities except a door to the rest of the world.
Xiaojun can piece together the reason behind the careful attention Hendery pays to Xiaojun. The way Hendery treats him a notch above the rest, as if he’s known the clone longer than the clone has been alive.
Xiaojun knows Hendery's behavior around him, his sincere looks and pretty words and soft touches, they've all been for someone else. Someone who might look and act awfully a lot like Xiaojun, but someone else, nonetheless.
Like Hendery, Xiaojun has his own share of guilt, the one from receiving a kind of love he cannot give, because he simply isn’t that person.
“Don’t apologize,” Xiaojun says kindly. He pours the seeped tea decoction into the hot cup of milk before reaching out to squeeze Hendery’s hand. “If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here for you.”
Hendery closes his eyes at the touch, huffing in annoyance. “I don't want to talk about Dejun. He chose his path. This isn’t about him.”
“Of course.”
Hendery clearly wants to say more, but be it present company or his own stubbornness, he's silent.
Xiaojun reaches up to ruffle Hendery’s hair. “Now wipe that frown off your face, we have customers!”
The two turn back around to the counter, where Yangyang and Jaemin are still going at it with their woes around their own good looks.
“And here are your orders!” Xiaojun chirps, placing their drinks in front of them.
The drinks go unnoticed as the two continue with their very much emotional conversation.
“You have a perfect body, dude.”
“Thanks, dude. And you? You’re cute as a button.”
“I appreciate that. But you know what,” Yangyang shakes his head as if he’s heard the most unfortunate news. “I can’t believe we’re just wasting this perfection!”
“Agreed,” Jaemin clicks his tongue and takes a sip of his coffee. “I feel like we should be sharing our beauty with the universe. And yet, here we are, in only one place at one time.”
“I know, it’s frustrating!”
“And yet, somebody thinks it’s a bad idea to become a clone blueprint.”
Hendery groans, and Xiaojun comfortingly pats him on the back. “Can’t you just drop the topic?”
“Not until you give us one good reason why it’s a bad idea,” Yangyang sips his drink, smacking his lips in satisfaction. “We know the perks. Those guys get a sweet crib on Titan, a lifetime salary, and literal immortality.”
“You’ll never be able to see anyone else outside of that moon again,” Hendery points out.
“Yet another perk,” Jaemin shrugs. “You scored into your own goal, dude.”
“Oh yeah?” Hendery looks in between the two of them. “What if you make it in, but your boyfriend doesn’t?”
“Oh my god,” Yangyang practically shrieks. “Boyfriend?”
Jaemin chimes in, equally offended. “We’re not together.”
Xiaojun bites down a laugh.
“Right,” Hendery gives a perplexed look. “Moving on, then. What I’m asking, is what if only one of you makes it in?”
“Well that’d just be wrong,” Yangyang makes a face. “I mean, look at us! Why wouldn’t we both be chosen?”
“But if only one of you do. I’m sure you’ll promise now you won’t accept the offer so you can stay together-” Hendery is interrupted by Jaemin clearing his throat, at which Hendery corrects himself, “-as friends, I mean. But don’t kid yourself.” Hendery sighs, looking away, and Xiaojun wants all but to hug him. “Some temptations are apparently too big to resist.”
“That's bullshit.” Yangyang swivels in his stool towards his friend. “I don't wanna be like them. Jaemin, you're the most amazing person I've ever known. If you get the offer, I swear to all the gods, you better take it. This is a lifetime opportunity, dude, and you’ll get to live like the prince you are-"
"Listen, Yangyang,” Jaemin cuts him off. “You are one in a billion. You deserve the stars. And I promise you, I’ll see to it that you get that offer, and you take it. Your happiness is my responsibility, alright? I’ll do anything to make this happen-"
“I never loved him,” Hendery suddenly speaks up, his face dawning with revelation. Everyone goes silent, staring at him. Hendery quietly ends with, “Or I would've been happy for him.”
“Shit,” Yangyang slowly says. “Dunno what you’re talking about, but that’s raw, dude.”
“Good thing you’re with this guy now, huh?” Jaemin adds sympathetically.
“I'm not,” Hendery is tightlipped. “But thank you for your concern.”
This is it. They’ve only ever been friends, Xiaojun knows. But he also knows that even their friendship was only built on him being based on Hendery’s former lover.
He knew their ending would come. He just always thought it’d happen slowly, as Hendery realizes that the clone isn’t the original human, after all. But Xiaojun didn’t expect an abrupt ending, where Hendery would see him and only feel anguish. Would never want to see him again.
It hurts Xiaojun. Not in the way he imagines Hendery is hurting now, but in a way it hurts to lose a friend. Which, by all accounts and measures, may be just as painful as heartbreak.
“Hope you'll still visit,” Xiaojun eventually says.
Hendery looks at Xiaojun, incredulous. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because I look like him,” Xiaojun says, confused as to why it isn’t as clear to Hendery as it is to him. “And you’ll no longer see love where you see him.”
It takes a moment of silent gear churning for Hendery to understand.
“But I don’t see him here, Xiaojun.” Hendery’s eyes are brimming with love and on any other day, Xiaojun would’ve played along as the shadow of a person he had always assumed he was to Hendery. And then Hendery says, “I see you. For all that you are.”
With that, a hidden switch within Xiaojun is flipped on, allowing him to dream, to realize that he is a complete being, separate and independent, free to love and be loved, by anyone.
“Oh, just kiss already,” Jaemin groans, at which Xiaojun breaks out of his daze, remembering they have an audience.
“I swear, Jaemin, some people are just clueless,” Yangyang wipes a tear from laughing so hard.
“You,” Hendery rounds up on Yangyang, wagging his finger. Yangyang, however, is totally unfazed. “Deal with your own problems first.”
Jaemin sticks his face in between the two. “So, about hooking us up with those blueprint offers-”
“That’s not-”
Xiaojun swoops in, saving Hendery. “Why don’t you try modeling, instead?”
“Modeling,” Yangyang repeats, tasting the word in his mouth.
“Good ol' fashioned modeling!” Hendery’s confidence rises at the customers’ lack of rebuttals. “It's less restrictive, easier to make it, and you can show yourselves off without signing your entire soul away.”
“You also get to stay together, whatever happens,” Xiaojun winks at Jaemin, who is momentarily stunned.
“Not that that was ever our priority,” Yangyang feigns indifference and looks at Jaemin. “But this is actually not a bad idea. Dude, I can already see your face plastered on billboards all over the galaxy.”
“And you in fancy magazine spreads!” Jaemin is now more animated than ever. “Can you imagine?”
Yangyang stands. “Next stop, the nearest top modeling agency!”
“Thanks for the drinks.” Jaemin drops some outdated bills on the counter. “You accept Earth currency, right?”
“No, we don’t-” Xiaojun tries, but in vain. The customers make their leave as dramatically as they had entered.
“What an odd couple,” Hendery says, still mildly shaken.
Xiaojun dares himself to reach out and hold Hendery’s hand, warm in his own, before tiptoeing up to leave a soft peck on his cheek. “What's wrong with a little odd?”
Unrestrained joy blooms on Hendery’s face as he registers the kiss. He looks at his feet, blushing furiously, and then at Xiaojun.
And so, Xiaojun finally recognizes that he's been the object of Hendery’s affection all these years. And it feels right. It feels good.
“Nothing wrong at all," Hendery grins, and this time Xiaojun lets his heart skip a beat.