“Would you like to hear some good news?” Kris asked Luhan as he took his place opposite him at the dining table.

                “What is it?” Luhan asked, sipping his coffee.

                “I’ve worked out all the necessary kinks for your serum.”

                “That’s amazing!!” Luhan clapped his hands excitedly. “Hand me the file!”

                “After breakfast, okay?” Luhan’s arm was stopped by Kris, and he gave him a look the same way a mother gave her child, strict and demanding. Luhan dropped his arm and pouted. An old tactic he kept ever since he was young.

                “The pout no longer works.”

                “Fine.” Luhan shrugged. “But thank you for taking all this time to look at my serum.”

                “You’re welcomed, but I should warn you there will still be some…side effects.”

                “You mean the fits and all?”

                “Not exactly. See, your serum is a condensed version of the normal human hormone, almost 10 times more powerful, so you can expect the side effects to be 10 times more potent, in this case, we’re talking about going unconscious.”

                “Unconscious?”

                “Yes, based on my understanding an overloading of hormones this high would cause the patient to knock out, and if this was a weaker patient, it could even be life-threatening.”

                “You mean…like a coma?”

                “It’s possible.” Kris shrugged, watching the look on Luhan’s face drop a little. “You must understand the consequences of your action. Perhaps you could administer it in series, bit by bit every day instead of at one go. That might reduce the risk of side effects, but I suggest you take your time out to think about this.”

                “Okay, thanks.” Luhan nodded, feeling a little better about his research. He knew he had some more work to do, and was starting to gobble his breakfast in order to hurry to the lab.

                “Do you want to hear more good news?”

                “What is it?”

                “Well, I didn’t want to say anything until we have settled, but I’m taking Zitao out for dinner tonight, so you might want to have your own dinner.”

                Luhan nearly choked on his cereal as backed up in his chair in surprise. He coughed and gagged, trying to clear his throat. “Wait…you and Zitao?”

                “He’s a nice guy and we have been in contact for a while.”

                “Yeah but…you are nearly 10 years older than he is!!”

                “He’s 31 and I’m 40. It’s not such a big deal.”

                “Yeah but…” to be honest just hearing the name Zitao made him want to throw up. It has been days since his ‘fight’ or whatever it was with Zitao and he hasn’t made up with him at all. Not even a word of apology or hello, and now his guardian, the man who raised him, wants to DATE him?!

                “Is it okay? I mean I suppose I should have asked first before…”

                “No no, I’m fine. It’s totally fine.”

                “Are you sure?”

                “Yeah. You raised me as a bachelor all these years and… well I just think it’s only fair.”

                “Thank you Luhan.” Kris smiled. “This means a lot to me.”

                Luhan smiled back. He took notice of the small wrinkles forming at the end of Kris’s handsome face, and the bits of grey hair around the back. He thought back to the time when he was young, and every time he was out with Kris he noticed the girls always looking at him. Kris never dated ever since he took Luhan on, insisting that he didn’t need love to be happy. He has a family.

                I can’t deny him. Not after all he has done for me.

*******************************

                One of the plus points of being given an official project to work on was that Luhan didn’t need to waste time on menial chores anymore. He didn’t need to be the one staying behind to clean the lab apparatus or take notes and minute meetings. Now when he walked into his lab in the morning, it was already cleaned and organized, like a stage with its props fully setup and ready to put on a show.

                The lab was Luhan’s very own Broadway Theatre.

                After a few hours of relentless calculations and mixing, Luhan finally produced the very first Anti-X Serum. It was carefully packaged in a small bottle, with a huge label on it saying Anti-X and warning stickers on it. Luhan held the bottled in his hand, cradling and staring at it like a mother looking at his new-born child.

                This could change everything. This could save them.

                Everything in this world has a counter effect. A few small drops of Anti-X would remove the symptoms of Triple X entirely. Instead of relying on kisses or plain hormone production, they could remove the effects of Triple X in over 100 subjects in less than thirty minutes.

                However what use would this serum be to S.M.E? The whole point of Luhan’s research was to fix E.X.O., but was removing Triple X a part of the solution to solving their problem? Would removing Triple X and reinjecting it bring them back to their former glory, or would they still be at risk? The whole idea itself was contradictory to the initial plan.

                Perhaps there just wasn’t any solution to fix them anymore. Or maybe there wasn’t even a need for them to be fixed anymore. E.X.O. have been left behind for too long, whatever problems they had were worn and outdated. S.M.E didn’t care for them anymore. In fact, the boys could die and no one would know or even care.

                Was all of this just plain fruitless?

                And what would happen if S.M.E got hold of the Anti-X serum? Would they actually use it? What for? Or worse, what if they asked Luhan to destroy it?

                The thought made Luhan clench the bottle so tightly to his chest, like a mother holding onto her baby in the face of danger. No, they can’t destroy it. Not after all my hard work. No. No.

                Or…what if others found it? What if S.M.E’s competitors found out? Or even…the Uprising?

                That was when he realized, Luhan did not create a formula to save E.X.O, he created the formula to ruin S.M.E.

                “Luhan?”

                “Huh?” Luhan shot up when he heard his name being called. He tucked the bottle away in the cabinet quickly, locking it with his password.

                “Jungkook asked me to call you. He said it was an emergency.” Jimin said, holding Luhan’s lab door.

                “Jungkook? Emergency?”

                .

******************************

                I’m coming. I’m coming. Luhan ran as fast as he could downstairs to the Hive. He found Jungkook leaning against the wall, an ice pack held up to his face.

                “Finally.”

                “What’s going on? What happened?”

                “Your boyfriend has lost it.” Jungkook groaned, removing the ice pack to reveal a huge purple bruise atop his left cheekbone.

                “Jesus…”

                “I was just trying to give him food. He hasn’t eaten in three days except for a few measly carrots and such. Then I tried to heckle him. You know, my usual self.” Jungkook grimaced as he placed the ice pack back on. “Bad idea.”

                “Sehun…”

                “Listen, you better make up with your boyfriend or something. This face is insured you know.” Luhan turned and walked towards Sehun’s cell door. His thumb hovered over the key pad.

                0456

                It’s freaky how he memorised the pin so easily.

                “Sehun?” he called weakly, not allowing himself to even step in. When he got in, Sehun’s food was on the table, probably cold after being left for so long. He was curled up under the blanket, his body curled into a foetal position.

                “Sehun?”

                “Lu…?” Sehun called out, lifting his head over the blanket. He sat up and Luhan wanted to cry. Sehun looked like he had been through hell and back. His hair was a mess, eyes puffy, nose red and his face thinner than it already was.

                “Sehun you idiot.” Luhan sat down to grab the young man’s face in his own. “Why did you do this to yourself?”

                “I…I missed you…”

                “You idiot.” Luhan sniffed, catching his own tears. “Please, let’s go and eat.”

                “I’m sorry Luhan.” Sehun held Luhan’s hand, his own fingers cold to touch. “I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

                “I’m sorry too.” Luhan nodded. “I was just jealous and insecure and…god I can’t even offer an explanation for myself without feeling pathetic.”

                “I thought you hated me. I was so scared you would never want to talk to me again. God Luhan I missed you.”

                “I missed you too Sehun.” Luhan leaned forward, their foreheads touching as he placed a gentle kiss on Sehun’s lips. His lips were cold and cracked but Luhan’s were warm and soft. Sehun wanted to hold onto him and savour those lips a little longer. He missed human warmth. He missed human touch. He missed Luhan like mad, and his whole body was just aching for more and more.

                “No matter what,” Sehun said. “I support you.”

                “Luhan…”

                “I don’t care what it is you want to do, as long as I am with you, I will do anything you say.”

                “Including eating?” Luhan smiled teasingly.

                “Yes.” Sehun laughed. Luhan bought his tray and the younger boy practically inhaled his food. He had no appetite for three days, so you could only imagine the hunger in his stomach. Luhan his hair softly, watching him eat.

                “Maybe I don’t have to do this.”

                “Do what?”

                “Maybe I can do something else.” Luhan said. “I have just invented something. I have to talk to Professor Kim.”

                “Can you tell me what it is?”

                “I’m sorry.” Luhan shook his head. “I’m bounded by contract.”

                “That’s okay. You’re smart. I’m sure you will work something else.”

                That was the best part about Sehun. He always made Luhan feel like he could do anything. Like he could save humanity, end world hunger or something like that. He made Luhan feel confident, a word that Luhan has never been able to use to describe himself.

                He made Luhan feel like he was worth something.

******************************

                “Professor Kim?” 10 knocks on Professor Kim’s door, only to find that he wasn’t in. Luhan thought about closing the door and walking away, but something willed him to go inside anyways.

                Should I wait for him? Leave a note? Or…

                There was a soft cackling noise coming through the speakers on his desk that were connected to the computer. Luhan walked towards it, sitting down on Professor Kim’s chair. He recalled just a month or so before he sat on this very same seat and hacked into his computer. Man, that somehow felt like ages ago.

                The screen came to life and Luhan found himself staring at a camera footage taken in the dark. You couldn’t see anything except for something that looked like a mountain before him. The mountain shifted to reveal a human figure and Luhan gasped in horror.

                It was him.

                “Oh? You think I come down here because of your looks?”

                “What the ?” Luhan breathed.

                “That and the fact that you are attracted to me.”

                “You are out of your mind.”

                “So you’re not attracted to me?”

                “God Sehun please.”

                Luhan watched himself, staring into the camera as he was lying on his side, smiling fondly like he was flirting. He was horrified as the video kept playing, the sound vibrating through the speakers, each word piercing Luhan’s heart.

                “You are making me really want to kiss you. And I’m not sure I can stop myself.”

                “ …”

                “Well?” Sehun’s voice was clear.

                “What?”

                “Aren’t you going to stop me?”

                Luhan wanted to scream, tears spilling out of his eyes.

                “No.”

                Luhan jumped from his seat, frantically pressing buttons until the screen shut down. What the just happened. How the…

                Then Luhan remembered. Sehun’s eyes. They were blue.

                Just because he was retired doesn’t mean the technology inside him wasn’t. Professor Kim used Sehun to spy on him. He knew everything that was going on. He knew…he…

                Luhan felt sick to his stomach. He grabbed the files and burst through the doors, not caring if anyone saw him along the way. The tears were b in his eyes and he felt exposed, and used. It was as if his nightmare had come true. His boss was spying on him, and he used the one thing he loved most in the world.

                Fury boiled inside of him. He originally had second thoughts. He thought there was another way he could fight this.

                You can’t fight someone who doesn’t have a conscience.

                Luhan pulled out his phone and dialled a number he didn’t think he would need. “Hello?” he breathed. “I’ll do it.”

                You can almost hear a woman smiling.

 

A/N: Oh yes, the Uprising is coming XD