Everything about this current situation was hurting him, whether it be the immaculate walls or the pristinely bright, white tile floor. The smell of rubbing alcohol clouded the air and the lights shone too brightly for his taste as they left little to the imagination. 

"I didn't have to come, babe," Kai whispered, still trying his best to keep a low profile, "I wouldn't have minded staying at home today." 

"Home alone? With Appa? I think not," the older knew this wasn't the real reason though, "you know I need you right now." 

"I know, but is it worth it if I have to come like this?" he pointed at the outfit he was wearing. 

Kai had a point, they'd taken long measures to be able to stay together out in public right now, but their current situation wasn't either of their faults. 

Since the revolt ended a few days ago, a harsh security wave and anti-sentiment rolled in against the entire Chattel community. After they watched news reports of rampant Chattel bashings and murders throughout Seoul, they knew that to stay together they'd have to take some kind of action. 

So he'd decided he could counter the problem if he presented Kai as something other than Chattel entirely. He put the younger in wide lensed sunglasses and put on a huge, floppy sunhat that would cast a ton of shade on his face. The younger had to wear a jacket everywhere he went and jeans so that he could cover up any part of him that showed his skin tone and he wore a pair or worn leather gloves to keep his hands from view.

Because that was usually the standard people used, that was what had always been the way someone could easily tell if Chattel or not. It was the dirty little secret, another in a string of them revolving around the practice, and this was one of the worst. 

The reason the Chattel had been pulled out and differentiated in the first place was largely to do with their skin. When the program first started, Doctors reasoned that the darker the skin tone, the more likely you were to be Chattel rather than human. 

And so people with dark skin went into the doctor one day and suddenly they where 'stripped' of their humanity. When 'human' is stripped away from one's birth certificate, they realize they lack basic rights altogether. 

It made him uncomfortable to think about this though, it brought on a terrible wave of guilt that he wish he didn't feel. How cruel, how evil his father and the rest of them must be to do this? To subject people to a life of servitude due to the color of their skin, to something they couldn't help being born with. 

It made him sick, absolutely ill, but he couldn't correct the social ills of those around him right now, not when Kai was at such risk. It was easier to work around them and so that's why he went through these ridiculous measures to ensure that Kai's skin was either covered and hidden. 

They where lucky it had been cold lately, this would have been so much more difficult if the sun had decided to cook them that day. 

"Soo, I didn't mean to upset you, it's just ... I'm not even sure how well I'm pulling this off and we're not doing a a good job of being inconspicuous," Kai reached out and touched his cheek, "I'm just not sure this is worth the risk."

Kyungsoo nodded his head, "I know, but I have to be here for Baekhyun whenever he needs me and I also couldn't be without you ... I'm not sure if I'd still be sane without you." 

"Hold my hand," Kai flexed the glove, splaying the fingers and allowing Soo to slip his own between the openings, "I'm here with you and I'd never let anything happen to you." 

"Or Baekhyun?"

"I'm not in love with Baekhyun."

"I think Baek is going to need your support too Kai," he hated that he had to represent his friend's interests with the younger considering he was still just the tiniest bit bitter over their night together, but he wasn't nearly cruel enough to try to intentionally make some kind of wedge between them, "I know he - he has a lot of ed up opinions and says stupid things you don't like, but he still views you really highly and he thinks you two are good friends."

"Well," Kai was grumbling, "we are friends ... but the obligations I have to you do not extend to your best friend." 

"Okay, okay, I get it," he giggled at Kai's fight to be sympathetic but also get his way, "I maybe went a little too far, but I needed to get us talking about him so that I could ask you to be as kind as possible." 

"Soo, I'd never disrespect Baekhyun," the Chattel grinned down, "he's one of the few humans I like." 

"I know, but after what happened with Appa I-,"

"This isn't the same, I doubt Baek would ever threaten you or I so blatantly." 

"Well yes, but I just needed to make sure." 

"I get it ... I wish you'd trust me more-,"

"I do trust you." 

"You don't trust me enough to think I know how to handle Baekhyun on my own."

"It's not that, it's that I know that after these last few days you've been in a more emotional state and you've gotten worked up over all that's happened, and I'm just trying to feel out when I should be worried."

"That doesn't sound much better, babe."

He wanted to keep trying to argue his point, but he knew Kai was right and that hewas being overly cautious with the Chattel. It was just that Kyungsoo was nervous; he didn't know what to expect from the blonde and he wanted to make sure Jongin was in the proper state to reasonably react to things. 

A solemn nurse came out from the room and waved them forward and wordlessly they followed the silent order to the interior. He didn't know how to prepare himself for this, so he just fortified his insides as best he could by wrapping one arm around his stomach. 

His other hand was in Kai's and that helped him not to up-chuck as soon as he stood and made his way into that room.

That dreaded ing room with it's beeping machines and it's glaring windows and the cold nature it felt towards who it was to take care of. Hospitals where a nightmare to Soo, he'd want to be anywhere else right now then standing in the midst of such sadness and hopelessness.

The woman caught them before they came in and whispered softly, "console your friend, he feels very powerless right now."

He nodded and they trudged forward and saw Chanyeol on the bed, his eyes shut and his body looking morphed and ruined. His head was covered in bandages, gauze was everywhere and one of his legs was in an elevation sling. His arms where strapped to the sides of the bed and there where tubes all over him, leading to his mouth and his throat and to veins and vessels, anything that told them more than what they could see.

This broke