When Baekhyun received a call from Junmyeon about the incident that happened in Green Octagon Hospital, he immediately excused himself from a luncheon with his agent and scrambled to his feet to get the fastest taxi that can take him to see Kim Minseok.

Fear. That was the only thing panging in his heart. One agonizing and intense fear that once he stepped out of the taxi, he ran as fast as he could and was practically shouting at the front desk asking where Minseok’s room was.

He rarely sees Minseok nowadays then this happens? Dear God, please. Baekhyun shakes his head running to catch an elevator and-

Now, he found himself staring upon Minseok sleeping soundly on top of the hospital bed. Unbruised, unharmed, untouched. Baekhyun’s shoulders sagged in relief and dropped himself to sit beside the bed and held Minseok’s warm hands in his.  

He fought off the water stinging his miserable eyes and relished in listening to the music that was Minseok’s easy and sound breathing. He watched the rhythm of Minseok’s heart rate on the ECG, following the steady beat of his chest heaving up and down, and never dared taking his eyes off the heart beat monitor making sure that it stays that way.

The thought of losing him scares Baekhyun the most. He doesn’t know what’s going to become of him if one day, those green lines dashing up and down and that gentle beeping sound will one day just cease into a red flat line and followed by one long ear penetrating sound that –

Baekhyun threw that thought away. No, he wouldn’t want to think of that, not right now. Not when they’ve even barely talked to each other for the past few months and in those times when they actually had time to talk, it’ll always be Baekhyun complaining about Minseok’s unending interest towards Mechas.

No, Baekhyun wouldn’t want their last words exchanged were with anger, disappointment and goodbyes.

The door creaks open that had Baekhyun standing up as Minseok’s doctor enters with Junmyeon trailing behind him. The doctor wore his brows in a deep furrow, staring down at his mint clipboard and Junmyeon was the first to acknowledge Baekhyun’s presence.

Baekhyun was nothing but tense. Nervousness was visible in his features, clinging to Minseok’s hand as if the latter would disappear right in front of his eyes when he’s looking away.

“Doctor, I believe you know Mr. Byun” Junmyeon says and the doctor shoots his head up with a small smile. Junmyeon stands by Baekhyun and the latter greets him warmly.

The doctor adjusts his glasses, clearing his throat while glancing from Baekhyun and Junmyeon to his sleeping patient before flicking back at the two. “Mr. Minseok will be fine. It was a good thing the rebels he encountered didn’t hurt him-“

“Then why did he faint?” Baekhyun blurts cutting him off, apprehension evident in his rushed voice.

The doctor’s face was grim, bleaching the colors from Baekhyun’s face as he parts his lips to tell him about what they had discovered when running a couple of MRI and CT scans all over his body. That Kim Minseok was diagnosed with –

Junmyeon however, got ahead of the doctor and gave him a slow shake of his head in negation and a hand hidden from Baekhyun’s line of sight as a sign to zip his mouth and shut up about it.

The doctor got the message crystal clear and held up a smile instead. “He was just knocked out cold. Probably because the culprits didn’t want him recognizing their faces as he will be able to live to tell the tale”

“I wish he did though” Junmyeon curses under his breath. When Baekhyun turned to look at him and he added, “Aside from stealing a chunk full of medicines from the pharmacy, they claimed another great consolation prize”

“What did they steal?”

“One of the Mecha Cores” Junmyeon answers and when he notices Baekhyun’s confused face, he says helplessly, “A Core to put it simply, is a heart to us humans. These cores when infused to a Mecha can give them a running battery life for almost as long as human years or even longer. There’s actually three different Mecha Cores” Baekhyun seemed indifferent rather than actually paying attention to Junmyeon who trails off and quickly finishes off with a sigh, “basically, the one they stole was a Yellow Core, a common core used here for Nursebots and several more helping in the hospital. Common they may be, but very dangerous”

“What will these activists even do with the Mecha Core?” Baekhyun asks noncommittally, trying not to sound too inquisitive.

“Use it for their own convenience. Sell it. Keep it as a prize” Junmyeon shrugs. “Make a statement”

“That what? That they can take you scientists down like what they did with Minseok?” Baekhyun tightens his grip on Minseok’s hands. “You people should send your so-called Robocops and track these fools down before anybody else could get hurt”

“We’ll do everything we can Baekhyun, don’t worry. Minseok is my closest friend, he might as well be my brother and I will see that whatever they did to him and their crime in stealing Mechatron’s property will be brought to justice” Junmyeon shoves his hands in his pockets.

A soft groan had them pinning their attention to Minseok who started shifting gently on the hospital bed. Baekhyun dropped to the chair beside him and pressed both of his palms on Minseok’s hands.

“Minseok” Baekhyun murmurs his name softly like a caress, he however fell back to slumber.

“He’s going to be fine. He can be released from the hospital after he wakes up too” the doctor informs. He looks at Baekhyun and Minseok then at Junmyeon with a frown before leaving the room.

Junmyeon’s lips curl into a sad smile watching Baekhyun anticipate whether Minseok was going to open his eyes. He kicks the ground and asks, “Have you eaten?”

“I’m not hungry”

“I’m going down to the cafeteria to get some food for Minseok when he wakes up. If you need anything, I can fetch whatever it is you want while I’m at it”

“Well, there is one thing” Baekhyun turns to Junmyeon with a blush on his cheeks and a rare peaceful smile on his lips. “Can you buy some Mocha bread? Minseok would like that”

“Very well” was all Junmyeon said before leaving the room.

Baekhyun runs his fingers through Minseok’s smooth, soft cheeks caressing it with great care humming a sweet tune. Oh how he missed doing this to Minseok, just being here beside him where he usually sings a song whenever he sees that tired face of his and watch him smile as he starts to fall asleep until Baekhyun himself too could close his eyes and lie down beside him.

He grazes his palms over Minseok’s hair showering him murmurs of apologies about being rude and nothing but stress to him rather than being supportive of his studies and research and how he wished he could turn back time to undo all of those things.

Minseok doesn’t wake up though and he probably didn’t hear any even the slightest of those things.

“Wake up” Baekhyun murmurs his backhand brushing nimbly over Minseok’s cheeks with eyes clouding with water. “Come back to me”

After a gruelling silence, Baekhyun’s eyelids started to fall until he too fell into sleep.
 

The shifting of plastic bags and a refrigerator opening and closing was what triggered Minseok awake from his deep sleep. He opened his eyes, shortly blinded by the light on the ceiling. When he regained his vision, he was surprised to find himself lying on a hospital bed and seeing Junmyeon stacking some bottled water inside the refrigerator at the end of the room.

He groans, shaking off the pain stinging on his backhand where his eyes trailed following the tube connecting to the dextrose. He also noted that his coat was neatly folded on the side and he was now garbed in a scrub suit. Perfect. He throws his head back to the pillows and huffs an exasperated sigh catching Junmyeon’s attention.

“You’re awake” Junmyeon takes a bottle out and carried one of the mocha breads with him to sit. “Someone’s going to be happy to see you up”

Minseok’s eyes wandered over to the man resting beside him. Baekhyun was fast asleep with one arm under his head and the other, after all this time, his warm hands were still intertwined with his. Minseok knew Baekhyun well enough that the latter refused to let him go no matter what and his heart skipped beats for that.

Just then did he wonder, how did he get here?

“I called him up and told him what happened” as if reading his mind, Junmyeon answered it for him.

“What happened?” Minseok asks, trying to understand what Junmyeon was talking about.

“A group of rebels infiltrated Green Octagon stealing medicines and well, creating havoc and distress after breaking some glass windows for their escape. Some of the nearby guards had to fire at them, but they got away nonetheless. Then, we found you lying unconscious in the pharmacy’s storage room where half of the rebels were before they were chased off” Junmyeon sits back on one of the mint colored couches. “Did you happen to meet one of them back there or were you just lucky?”

There were images. Vague fractures of memories of a young activist trying to help him stand up and someone uttered his name. A name echoing in his head now that he tried to remember: Sehun.

‘Sehun. Yes, Sehun was his name’ Minseok clutches the white sheets of the bed. ‘I wonder what ever happened to him…’

“Also, these rebels stole a Yellow Core” that alone had Minseok snapping back at Junmyeon who tongued the wall of his cheek. “I don’t know how they got a hold of one but damn, I won’t rest until we get it back”

“Just let them be” Minseok had no clue why, but he was indifferent in retrieving the Yellow Core. ‘But why?’

“What did you say?” Junmyeon stares at him as if he was a mad man. He couldn’t blame him for looking at him like that, it was a Core that was stolen after all.

Minseok didn’t know why he said that either. He was surprised himself wondering why he didn’t much care that the rebels had the Yellow Core in their hands.

“Are you saying that it’s okay for the rebels to possess such a power?” Junmyeon pinches his eyes, disbelief written all over his face. “Do you even hear yourself right now?”

The Core is made up of solar energy extracted from the flares of the sun. The intense energy infused into the ball empowers the chip – or heart as they would call it - inside that once it comes in contact, beats life as if it was a living human heart. When attached to the body of the Mecha, that of solar energy travels into the circuits with surging electricity pulsing like blood. Thus creating a Mecha that can now walk, talk and react as if it was actually alive. That was the beauty of the Core, but there were also downsides to it all. With a power that so immense, it is said that a single core if someone were to detonate it, it could cause a destruction as deadly as a nuclear bomb.

It is a tedious, expensive and dangerous material and no doubt Mechatron will not stop until they retrieve that common core to prevent such a power like that now that it is in the wrong and clueless hands on what this thing could do. If not retrieved, it will all end in a maelstrom of disaster.

“You know how dangerous it is Minseok. They can start a war with it and you know it” Junmyeon huffs sagely.

“They won’t Junmyeon”

“How can you say that?”

But why, why isn’t Minseok moved by any of this? Why is it that even when Junmyeon told him about the possibilities of a deadly future he doesn’t seem to be bothered at all?

Perhaps it’s because of the way that Sehun boy looked at him with fragility in his eyes. Helplessness, uncertainty and fear were all clear in the way he looked at him when he threatened to shoot. What could be the horrors he and his brethren be facing in a world of poverty? Of scarce resources, food and medicine that they had no choice but to resort in stealing and if encountering an obstacle as Minseok had been to the boy, could result in murder.

But all of those dread from Sehun’s eyes changed when Minseok lets him go. His eyes glinted with both hope and confusion, perhaps because it was the first time that a scientist – a privileged man with a better life than theirs actually looked at them, gave them a chance to carry those sack of medicines they stole back to their homes. Even when they were both clearly “enemies” that Sehun boy even tried to help him unconditionally when he collapsed to the floor.

Unconditional. Minseok says to himself that had him grinning inwardly. Sehun helped him unconditionally by putting aside their differences. If only people could see that, if only they could understand -

Yes. Minseok believed that the rebels won’t even risk civil war, not when there could be hundreds of their people sick and dying.

“I’ve contacted The Court of Justice, the CEO and a few of our esteemed colleagues on a hearing regarding this event” Junmyeon says with a furrow of his brows.

“What?” Minseok snaps to him.

“They’ve been crossing our lines ever since and with what happened to you and the taking of the Yellow Core, I’m drawing the line to call for a hearing with our leader with theirs” Junmyeon stares intently at Minseok. “We’re going to summon their leader, Wu Yi Fan to the court and finally stop this ridiculousness”

“You can’t be serious-“

“Why are you even objecting? I mean, have you seen the news lately? They’ve been hunting down Mechas, our Mechas and destroys them - which costs thousands of units might I remind you – for their own pleasure” Junmyeon grates his teeth with a grimace. “Besides, it’ll only be the only practical way to stop this rebel cause if we push through with this hearing” Junmyeon balls up his fists, narrowing his eyes at him. “I also want to point out that we had to tell a made-up memorandum these rebels are doing for their cause to satisfy Baekhyun’s questions on what actually happened to you”

Minseok’s throat went dry. “What lie?”

“The doctors found out about your little secret and I saved you from hearing Baekhyun’s heart shattering into a million pieces by saying that these rebels who found you knocked you out to deliver a message” Junmyeon shoves his hands in his pockets. “And now, Baekhyun is holding a grudge over those who had hurt you”

He wanted to say something in protest, to argue about accusing the rebels that might lead into more pain and suffering on both their parts – but, Junmyeon was right. Junmyeon was always right. They had to end this activist movement, they had to retrieve that core back and-

Minseok looks at Baekhyun, his face flushing a bright red when finally, finally he got to tangle his fingers over his soft – overwhelming soft brown hair. Now did he truly realize how he missed Baekhyun so damn much that by merely seeing him gave him happiness.

He trails his eyes to look at his folded coat, picturing where the pockets were and –

“Don’t worry” another silent question Junmyeon quickly answers, knowing exactly what Minseok was looking at. “I’ve taken the liberty to hide it inside your bag to avoid spoiling your surprise”

Saying nothing, Minseok looks at Junmyeon with overflowing gratitude.

Junmyeon smiles brightly, teasing. “Advanced congratulations to the both of you then”

“Thank you Junmyeon” Minseok flushes and avoids eye-contact earning him a hearty laugh. “but-“

There’s always that but.

The smile on Junmyeon’s face disappears getting the drift of what he was thinking. “You know that you still have to tell him about it”

“Do I really have to?” the words fell off of Minseok’s tongue were faint and was barely a whisper.

“That’s the way it has to be” Junmyeon stands up peering down at his watch tapping it with two fingers.  “Time’s ticking Minseok”

“You sound so grim and fatalistic and it’s not helping”

“I am grim and fatalistic” Junmyeon grins sadly.

Minseok says nothing staring out the window overlooking the Capitol.

“I better go, I still have to discuss with the others about this hearing” Junmyeon walks over to the door a hand reaching out to halt before the knob as he looks over to his shoulders, “Minseok”

Upon hearing his name he darts his eyes at the Director of Artificial Intelligence who had the face of sympathy and care.

“I care for you like a brother and I want to keep you safe. We want to keep you safe” he quickly glances at the sleeping Baekhyun. “So please, come to the hearing” Junmyeon yanks the door open and smiles, “I hope to see you there, brother”

Silence. That’s what came after when Junmyeon closed the door behind him. Absolute silence.

It plagued him in that silence. That amount of heaviness, burden he was going to share with Baekhyun if he ever confesses his sickness that he couldn’t go back to sleep.

Time’s ticking. Death’s clock was ticking on his wrist waiting for Minseok’s time to come.

How was he going to start off in his confession?

Minseok clears his throat – like that would do anything – and recites in his mind.

‘Puppy Baek, I have cancer and-‘  he stops. ‘That’s too straightforward. Let me try again’ he pauses, gathering some words and, ‘I’ve got something to say. Puppy, I’ve got some good news and bad news. The good news is well, I have suppressant and the bad news is- , that…that is…’ he shakes his head.

How was he going to pull this off?

‘Baekhyun, I have something to tell you…’ Minseok closes his eyes, heaving a not-so-assuring deep breath. ‘I have cancer and- no, don’t cry like that Baek, I- please stop crying’ he tells himself in his thoughts again and again living the horrors of his imaginations of Baekhyun crying once he learns of the truth about his condition that he himself couldn’t fight off the tears in his eyes.

Minseoks bolts up to bury his face in his palms. ‘I can’t do this’ he shakes his head. ‘I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this!’

He wanted to scream his heart out. He wanted to say it to the world that he was dying in a slow painful death from his bones and brittle body. But. But he just can’t do it.

Time’s ticking.

“Time’s ticking…” Minseok agonizingly slides his palms slowly from his face dropping them to the sheets.

Time is ticking and I still have to find the cure.

Time is ticking and I haven’t changed The World.

Time is ticking and I’m not even cured.

Time is ticking and I don’t want to say goodbye.

A soft groan tore Minseok away from those haunting thoughts to find Baekhyun slowly waking up.  Minseok coos when Baekhyun groggily shifts from the side of the hospital bed and rubbed his eyes awake.

“Hey” he greets Baekhyun with a warm, peaceful smile.

Baekhyun didn’t even took the time to delay when he jumps from his feet and takes Minseok into an embrace. He buries his head onto the crook of his neck and purrs.

Minseok wraps his arms around him, the rush of joy washing over his whole body taking away the apprehension of the grim fate that was to come. Minseok stares at his bag where Junmyeon mention he hid the velvet box away for safe keeping.

Time’s ticking.

His body tensed, tightening his embrace on Baekhyun praying that they’ll never break apart. He’d rather stay like this forever and feel Baekhyun’s beating heart in rhythm with his if it was possible.

‘I need to tell him’

“You’re awake, thank goodness” Baekhyun breathlessly murmurs into his shoulders.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

“I thought I’d lost you”

Minseok’s heart stopped.

When they tore away, Baekhyun immediately scoops the mocha bread Junmyeon brought and fed Minseok gleefully, his puppy eyes shining brightly with pure relief and happiness. Despite being happy on the outside, Minseok was beyond terrified within himself. Baekhyun doesn’t seem to notice that somehow and it was a blessing Minseok thought.

‘Look at him. He’s so…’

“Minseok! Eat up, don’t starve yourself. I don’t want to see you dead by morning” Baekhyun puffs his cheeks combined with his lips pursed into a kissy face that had Minseok blushing wildly and laughed.

‘Happy’

His throat went dry and saw how Baekhyun looked so contented in his seat to see him awake and talking that Minseok didn’t have the courage to see that be ripped away when he confesses.

‘I can’t tell him’ he sighs heavily, eyes still directed at his happy, beautiful face. ‘I just…can’t’

 

AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Sorry for the very slooooooooowwww pacing but well, it gives more build up to the story right? ;) Hope you guys enjoyed this story as much as I loved writing it. Please do comment on what you think <3 I love your thoughts!