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SAEYOUNG x gn! reader | fluff
a/n: i wrote this mid work shift because someone got a yellow drink w/ red toppings... down so bad </3 also ! the title means “virus” in binary code
saeyoung knew he was calm and calculating when he needed to be. the world was just a bunch of 0’s and 1’s to him, his intellect locked behind a firewall he built for himself long ago. behind all his mischievous actions lay his true character, the pieces that operate himself when no one was there to witness.
he was always in a constant loop, the programming of his mind repeating like a software program caught in an endless loop he didn’t wish to stop; though even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to. his firewalls were meant to deter anyone from knowing who he truly was - and it was a shame his intellect was as high as it was. without even realizing it, he built his firewalls strong enough to block out himself as well.
yet against all odds, a new variable entered and broke through his firewall. like a virus made specifically for him, you started changing his perspective. suddenly the world was not solely 0's and 1’s but an open sandbox where he can use the binary codes as a foundation for what he wanted. he felt seen in a way so vulnerable that he couldn’t help but try and build more firewalls to defend himself. the world’s greatest hacker suddenly realized how it must have felt to have been hacked by him - yet you weren’t a hacker in a literal sense. you were someone inconspicuous, a person who would never be directly targeted due to lack of importance to the 1% of society. you were normal, far too normal for him to become angry at.
maybe that was how it was supposed to be though? an unassuming addition to his software that seemed like it would benefit him, only to be revealed as a program that wants to infect its host. out of everyone to fall victim to a virus, especially to willingly let it in, he felt he was the least likely. it damaged his pride and made him feel unworthy of his title. countless efforts to hide the binary code that operated on him revealed to someone as unassuming as you. somehow, though, he wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea of you.
maybe you weren’t infecting his software, but rebuilding the firewalls he had made to defend himself. for the first time since early childhood, he started to understand the operations that caused him to execute certain actions.
though, for someone of genius intellect, he still felt clueless whenever it came to you. his world started to take shape beyond its code but with you, it was as if there was nothing. it was comforting but unusual. his mind is a computer and it needed to undergo some processes for him to feel sane - yet he wasn’t sure what he was doing when he was around you. he didn’t understand why it seemed as if his heart was processing at a rate faster than possible yet his brain was at a standstill.
he needed to figure you out — figure himself out — before damage would be done to either of you. he didn’t mind a permanent change in whatever relationship you two have, whether you were truly a virus or not, but he couldn’t stand being in the dark. maybe the next time he subconsciously laced his finger with you and leaned closer to you, he would analyze himself better? or maybe he would analyze you further the next time you leaned into his hand that gently cusped your cheek, looking into your eyes as if they were somehow different from anyone else’s? maybe he would even confront the others if they felt the same way — like his mind unwillingly told him when he sees you happy with the rfa — that way he would know that you were in fact a virus?
a world of possibilities beyond the one he created, who would have known?
