“They didn’t make us, you know that, right?” Yifan whispered. His breath fanned against Yixing’s cheeks, and the taller’s arms were wrapped tightly around his waist from where he laid behind him. It had been days since Yixing’s first true visit to Yifan, and it was like everything fell into place again. Yixing was sure every negative bone in his body had been replaced by the other’s presence, filling him with what they both decided was love.

“What do you mean?” Yixing asked, his eyes closed. His fingers entwined with the large hand splayed on his hip.

“What’s your earliest memory?”

Yixing bit down on his lip. “I don’t know… Meeting Junmyeon and Baekhyun, maybe? Being escorted through the labs to see the others?”

“That can’t be your first one,” Yifan whispered. His lips brushed over Yixing’s neck and the shorter let out a small giggle at the touch. “I was the first experiment. They weren’t the best with what they were doing. I think they didn’t make me forget.”

“What?”

“I remember my mother,” Yifan said, and the room fell dead silent after his words were registered in Yixing’s mind.

“What?” Yixing repeated, his voice wavering. What? What?

“She was gorgeous. She was so tall, too. I remember her so well, and how she was crying for them to let go of me. Then it was all just… pain.”

“Pain?” Yixing’s voice cracked with the word.

“That’s why you don’t remember it. They didn’t want you to remember. Because if you remembered the pain, you’d be angry, like me. You’d be locked up without any care.”

Yixing his other side to look at Yifan, and found his eyes tightly shut, and his fingers were beginning to dig into his hip. “Yifan,” he whispered, but the other did not respond; his grip only got tighter.

“Yifan,” he gasped, his eyebrows furrowed, “Yifan, stop it, you’re hurting me.”

His words immediately broke Yifan out of his trance, and he gasped his apology and took Yixing in closer to his chest.