JongIn doesn't like hospital smells at half past one in the morning. In fact, he doesn't like hospitals at all. The harsh antiseptic makes his nose twitch and his stomach knot. Hand sanitizer and floor bleach. It give him a headache.

What's worse than hospital smells though, is hospital noises. Hopeless wails, pained yells, obnoxious beeping, hushed prayers. The sound of squeaking shoes on the linoleum floors. Clicking wheels of hospital beds. Incomprehensible medical terms being murmured quietly in the hallway.

JongIn not quite sure if he believes in God. But the Devil exists, so he supposes He must be out there. JongIn prays silently. The white-washed walls of the empty waiting room are listening. It pains him to know that the walls have heard far too many desperate wishes than the sacred halls of any church.

---

(flashback)

“Sir, please, you're going to have to wait outside,” a nurse says, holding him back. “Sir, you can't—sir, you can't go in there!”

JongIn watches as Kyungsoo remains motionless on the hospital bed. Doctors and nurses scramble around him, shoving tubes in his arms and down his throat. They shine a light in his eyes, check his heart rate. They cut open his shirt with a pair of scissors. JongIn watches in shock for a few moments more until more doctors arrive and block his view.

“Kyungsoo!” JongIn hears a horrible scream but then realizes it came from him. Half the nurses glance up but then resume their work.

He can't bear a moment of not seeing him. He has to be with Kyungsoo. He has to.

His hands reach out to Kyungsoo's feet as tears stream endlessly down his face. Nurses try fruitlessly to pull him away. He hears their voices, muffled by the sound of his frantic heartbeat, trying to ease him in to the waiting room.

“Please!” JongIn yells, although he's not sure who he's yelling to. “Please, he can't die! Y-you have to save him! Hyung, wake up! Kyungsoo! Hyung!”

Rough, burly hands appear on his shoulder and drag him away. The security guards are much stronger than he is, and are able to finally pull him away from Kyungsoo's bedside.

“KYUNGSOO!” JongIn screams again as doctors block his view. “PLEASE! WAKE UP! KYUNGSOO!”

(end of flashback)

---

The click of an opening door makes JongIn look up. Someone stands there, dressed in a white doctor's coat, hair slicked back, holding a clipboard of endless charts and graphs. Stereotypical stethoscope slung around his neck. An ID card clipped neatly on front.

“You bastard,” JongIn mutters, getting to his feet. “What the hell did you do to him?”
LuHan sighs sadly. “Hello JongIn.”
LuHan takes a seat in the chair next to Jongin, who is absolutely fuming with insane rage, looking as calm and patient as ever.

“I was really hoping I wouldn't have to see you here,” LuHan says quietly. “You were doing such a good job with taking the serum every night.”

“You bastard!” JongIn curses at again. “I said, what the hell did you do to Kyungsoo?!”
LuHan looks up calmly. “You can't say this was a surprise. It clearly says in the contract--”
“I read the contract,” JongIn says through clenched teeth. “But it doesn't say anything about Do Kyungsoo being...being dead.”

When he says the latter, JongIn's voice breaks. The back of his throat is burning with a horrible sensation, and his eyes are watering from trying to choke back tears.

LuHan's expression doesn't change. “JongIn, I didn't do a thing to Kyungsoo. If you're looking to blame anyone, blame yourself.”

“You did not just blame me--”
“Oh, but I am blaming you,” LuHan suddenly snaps, his eyes narrowing. “I held up my end of the deal: take you back 6 months. Done. Now you have to hold up your end. What ever happens to Do Kyungsoo is entirely your responsibility.”

There's silence except for the rhythmic ticking of a clock and the muffled sound of JongIn's heartbeat.

Their eyes meet, cold and hard as steel. Neither one moves.

Suddenly, there's a click of the door opening and JongIn whirls around.

“Kim JongIn?” a doctor asks. A real one, this time.

“Yes?” JongIn's voice nearly cracks again.

The doctor sends him an easy smile. “Good, you're still here. Follow me, your friend's stable. We moved him from ICU to a regular ward.”

JongIn's knees suddenly feel like they're going to snap. He grips a nearby chair until his knuckles go all white.

“H-he's....alive?”
The doctor nods. “Alive and breathing. He's going to be out cold for a few hours, though. We gave him some sedatives to calm him down. He suddenly started twitching and later he started thrashing. It scared us quite a bit.”
JongIn's mind is still running in circles. “W-what was wrong with him?”
The doctor forms a puzzled expression and shrugs. “We have no idea. His pulse was normal-- a little high, but nothing to worry about--MRI was just fine. It's like your friend just passed out. Really strange, I haven't seen anything like it in my 15 years here. But your friend's lucky you brought him in quickly.”

JongIn nods wordlessly.

The doctor puts a hand on his shoulder and steers JongIn out of the room. “Come, I'll take you to him.”

JongIn looks back at LuHan. But the seat beside him was empty, the artificial leather taut and clean. Like no one was ever there. A cold chill runs down his spine.

“Um....” JongIn balks, taking after the doctor, and the doctor pauses halfway out the door. “If I can ask, how did you know my name?”
The doctor smiles. “Your friend. He was yelling your name in his sleep.”

---

JongIn spends the night (actually it's technically morning) by Kyungsoo's side. He sits there, head resting uncomfortably on the side of Kyungsoo's bed, listening to the sound of the monitors. Their steady beeping was the only thing that assured him that Kyungsoo was even alive. The humming of the air conditioner made it hard to fall asleep. Not to mention the constant wave of doctors and nurses that came by to check on him every half an hour. It hurt to see Kyungsoo like this, motionless and still, with tubes in his arms and in his nose. The doctor's assured JongIn that Kyungsoo was fine, but sometimes he had to put the back of his hand near Kyungsoo's mouth just to feel his exhales.

At some point, JongIn does fall asleep, because he's woken up by Kyungsoo's feeble stirring.

“J-JongIn?” he chokes out. It's barely a whisper, but it's there.
Hot tears spring back to JongIn's eyes, but he refuses to let them fall. He grabs Kyungsoo's hand and squeezed it.

“Shh,” JongIn says, kissing the back of his hand, feeling a drop of saline falling down the end of his nose. “Shh, it's okay. I'm right here.”

Kyungsoo tries to sit up, but the endless tubes constrict him.

“W-where am I?” he croaks out. “What happened, what's going on? The last thing I remember was us on the Ferris wheel...then I out--”
JongIn squeezes his hand. Kyungsoo's eyes are tired and weak.

“Your at the hospital,” JongIn says, Kyungsoo's hand carefully. “The doctors say it's heat exhaustion. You'll be fine.”

The lie hurts. The tears leave streaks down his face. “Hyung. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”

Kyungsoo blinks. “Why are you apologizing? What's wrong?”

JongIn refuses to meet his eyes. “I thought I was going to lose you. I can't lose you, I just can't--”

This time Kyungsoo squeezes the younger's hand. It's warm and comforting.

The silence is all they need.

“JongIn?”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Does...Minseok know?” Kyungsoo asks in a tired voice. “Minseok, my manager, does he know?”

JongIn nods slowly. “Yeah, he knows. The doctors called him as soon as you were stable.”

Kyungsoo sighs. “Good. He must be worried sick.”

JongIn hushes him. “Don't worry about him. Focus on getting yourself better.”

Kyungsoo nods. “JongIn?”
“Yeah, what's wrong?”
“JongIn, I'm hungry.”

JongIn chuckles. “I don't think the nurses will approve of you eating just yet. You still have tubes in you--”
Kyungsoo winces.

“--but I'll get you some food anyway,” JongIn finishes with a smile. “What do you want to eat?”

Kyungsoo pauses.
“Chicken,” he answers. “Fried chicken.”
JongIn gets to his feet. “Okay, I'll go get some. I'll be right back. Don't you go anywhere okay?”

“No where else to go to,” Kyungsoo grins weakly. And with that, JongIn spins on his heels and briskly exits the room.

---

Chanyeol and Minseok arrive at the hospital around six in the morning. Minseok nearly had to fight their way past the press that were lined up outside. Cameras flashing, microphones being shoved into their faces, questions being screamed.

Chanyeol had been awakened by a very worried Minseok that told him to hurry and get dressed, Kyungsoo's at the hospital. Now, his heart was pumping loudly as the elevator doors hissed open and they made their way to Kyungsoo's ward.

They enter Kyungsoo's room as a nurse is checking up on the monitors. She asks him a few questions, then bows politely at Chanyeol and Minseok. The door closes with a snap behind her.

Kyungsoo's sitting up in bed, and he sends them a tired grin. “Hi guys.”
“Thank God you're okay,” Minseok says, sighing with relief. “We got a call from the hospital and were so worried.”
“I'm fine,” Kyungsoo says. “They say it's heat exhaustion. They want me to stay for another 24 hours, then I can get out of here.”
Chanyeol sighs.
“You left last night unexplained,” Minseok purses his lips. “We had no idea where you went.”

“I know, I'm sorry,” Kyungsoo says.

Minseok sighs again. “Well, we're glad you're okay.” He sticks his head out the door. “I'm going to talk to the doctor's okay? I'll be right back.”
Kyungsoo nods and Minseok leaves, leaving Chanyeol alone with Kyungsoo.

“You were with JongIn...right?” Chanyeol says quietly.

Kyungsoo hesitates.

“Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol begins and comes over to stand by the bed.

“I know what you're going to say,” Kyungsoo says defensively. “You're always the one that gives me the lecture instead of Minseok. You know I like JongIn and--”
“Kyungsoo, the both of us know that this is isn't good,” Chanyeol hisses, lowering his voice. “If the press found out about this, your career--”
“Well what do you suppose I do?” Kyungsoo hisses back.

Chanyeol sighs. “Kyungsoo, I know you like him. You really like him, but Kyungsoo, you have to...”
“What?”

Chanyeol doesn't meet Kyungsoo's eyes right away. “You're going to have to let him go.”

“Are you crazy?!” Kyungsoo says, furious.

“Look, I'm sorry,” says Chanyeol, cheeks going pink. “But you have a whole career in front of you. We have a career. The press, the fans—this is going to turn into a feud if they find out you're in love with a guy--”
“Well screw the press!” Kyungsoo snaps, and Chanyeol is taken aback. He's never seen Kyungsoo so angry before.
“Kyungsoo, it comes with the territory of being a singer—” Chanyeol protests.
“Then maybe I don't want to be a singer anymore,” Kyungsoo says.

Silence. It's uncomfortable and hot. It makes Chanyeol twitch.

“Kyungsoo, you don't mean that--”
“Yes, I do.” Kyungsoo says firmly. “Every word of it.”
“Kyungsoo--”
“Chanyeol, if you're going to argue with me some more, then get out.”