The sunlight filtering in through the hospital ward's window woke him up. Mir forced open his eyes, then paused when he felt a heavy weight on his stomach, glancing down with some difficulty to see Byunghee sleeping on the chair next to his bed, his head resting on the blankets. Something about the position made him smile, until he looked up and caught sight of the door opposite them through the clear glass.

A black cloud descended upon his mood, and he sagged back down on the pillows again, suddenly feeling helpless.

How many days had he been here? Two? One? Even three?

The door hadn't yet opened.

It was still closed.

The black lettering still taunting him.

"Cheolyongie?" Mir jumped as he saw Byunghee blinking up at him. "You awake?"

"What does it look like, hyung?" He deadpanned. But he didn't smile. He was too tired to smile. Now, smiling was an effort. And he didn't want to do that effort. Catching the sad look on the maknae's face, Byunghee sighed and tapped Mir's cheek. "Hey. Maknae."

Mir looked at him, and Byunghee suddenly realised how much he looked like a puppy. A lost, abandoned puppy with no place to go. He bit his lip. "You need to stop worrying," he tried again. Mir pouted ever so slightly. "But I can't. I just ... What if he never wakes up? What if he leaves us? And then he - we won't see him again and it'll - it'll be my fault because if we didn't move fast enough then maybe he wouldn't have been hit and now I don't even know whether he is able to wake up and -"

"Whoa. Stop right there." Byunghee covered the younger boy's mouth with his hand breifly, and Mir looked up at him with tears barely held back from spilling over his eyelashes as he stopped talking, the silence smothering them that was too heavy and too dark. "He won't leave us. Okay?"

"How do you know?" Mir's voice was soft, broken.

"You know Seungho hyung, he won't want to leave us. He definitely wouldn't want to leave me with a clueless puppy. Think, Cheolyongie. Do you think he wants to leave us?" Mir shook his head quickly, and Byunghee gave him a gentle smile. "Then he won't leave us."

"But -" Mir protested, but Byunghee silenced him again. "Yang Seungho is strong and he will not leave us willingly, remember?" His own heart was breaking to prices, still bathed in doubt, still shattered, fragmented. But he couldn't let his maknae become like this.

Slowly, Mir nodded.

Byunghee smiled and patted his head. "Good boy." But when the nurses visited a few hours later, Mir immediately asked whether he would be allowed to see Seungho. The nurse, a small, polite lady, answered, "He is not in critical condition but he isn't showing signs of waking up or responding. It can be arranged, though." And she exited the room.

Mir plucked at the IV drips. "Can I get off these too?" he asked the doctor. "I don't like them."

The doctor paused. "A few more hours," he decided. "But you might want to go and see your hyung first?" Mir's head snapped up. "I can?" Across the room, Byunghee glanced up. "I'm going too."

There was no-one who argued.

Too fragile, Mir thought in a haze.

The pale, still figure lying motionless on the bed, the IV drip slipping silver liquid down the tube, the heart monitor beeping softly, the air mask fogging up and clearing - he looks so small, he thought.

Too vunerable.

Mir didn't like it.

"Do you want to go?" asked Byunghee, frowning. Mir realised he had not moved for the last three minutes, and stepped forward. "No, I want to stay." He walked over to the bedside, each and every small scar and line of stitches becoming clearer to him the nearer he came, the faint pink lines painfully visible across his leader's face.

Where was the strong, unbeatable hyung who was never hurt by anything?

They were silent for a long time, doing nothing. Just standing there. Being.

When suddenly one of the machines began beeping at an increased rate. Byunghee frowned. "What -"

And suddenly a stream of doctors and nurses were pushing him away from the table, obscuring his view. He stumbled, confused. Was something wrong?

Then one of the doctors exhaled loudly and said, "He's waking up."

Mir stopped moving.

Ahhhh this was so bad *sobs* I might post another chapter soon but then I don't know T.T This was so bad omg and it's so short!! My chapters are getting shorter and shorter, soon they will only be one sentence xD