“Hyung, I don't want to...” Yongguk heard Zelo pouting first thing when he opened the door.

The others in the room didn't seem to see him standing at the door, watching them all. Daehyun and Youngjae had come to visit Zelo. Yongguk had been banned from coming to see Zelo since the events from the week before and came now only to bring him his dinner by order of Doctor Kwon.

Zelo sat in his bed, hooking up to his Ivs and whining as he refused his medicine. Daehyun continued to try and convince him to take it, but he refused. Youngjae tried, but he refused still. Yongguk wanted to laugh at the scene, finding Zelo completely adorable in the moment, laying in bed with his hair a mess and a pout on his face.

“Zelo-ah.” Yongguk spoke, letting the others know that he had just walked in the door.

“Hyung!” Zelo's entire face lit up, bouncing in his seat. Daehyun looked at him blankly and Youngjae frowned.

“What are you doing here?” Youngjae asked. “Aren't you banned?”

Yongguk shrugged, lifting the tray of food he'd brought. “Dinner.”

He walked past the two boys and over to Zelo's side, pulling the table over and putting the plate on it. Zelo's eyes never left the older man the entire time, soaking up every bit of him.

“Hyung.. I missed you.” He pouted. “When are they going to let us play again?”

Yongguk chuckled softly, reaching out and ruffling Zelo's hair. “As soon as you get better, they'll let me come visit you properly again...so why aren't you getting better, huh?”

Zelo whined, turning a puppy dog expression up at Yongguk. “But hyung...”

Yongguk shook his head, taking the small container of pills and holding it out to Zelo. “You've got to take your medicine, Zelo.”

“It makes me feel bad..” He pouted, yet still reached up and took the container, scowling at the medicine inside.

Yongguk sat on the edge of the bed, the two boys watching on with shocked expressions completely forgotten to him. “Zelo...I know it's going to make you feel bad for a while, but you'll feel much better once you get used to this new medicine. The doctors are just trying to help you..”

“I know, Hyung...” Zelo sighed, looking up at the older.

Yongguk smiled at him, a soft smile with a hint of gums and a row of white teeth. “Take your medicine, Junhong...for me?”

Zelo nodded, a small twist of his head, and popped the pills into his mouth. Yongguk handed Zelo the cup of water and the younger swallowed down the pills. When Zelo opened his eyes again, Yongguk still had the smile on his face. Zelo returned it, fingers tangling into the sheets wrapped around his legs.

“Now, eat your dinner, okay?” Yongguk asked him softly, petting his head as he stood up. “The sooner you get to feeling better, the sooner Kwon is going to let me come spend more time with you.”

Zelo nodded, his smile fading. “Can't you stay longer?”

Yongguk shook his head. “I'll be back as soon as I can, ok? You just focus on getting better.”

Yongguk's heart fell as he shut the door to the room behind him. Spending time at the hospital, but not getting to see Zelo hurt him more than he thought it would. It seemed his happiness had become dependant on getting to see the younger kid smile. His life just felt empty without the tall blonde.

“Yongguk.” A voice stopped him from walking and he turned around.

“What is it, Daehyun?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Talk with me a moment.” The younger sad, “In private.”

Yongguk raised an eyebrow, but nodded. He followed Daehyun through the halls until they came to a stairwell. Daehyun glanced around before opening the door and letting Yongguk in, following and shutting the door. The light was dim in the stairwell, and the cold prickled at Yongguk's skin.

“So what did you want?” He asked, hoping to make this fast.

“Zelo needs you.” Daehyun deadpanned, staring at the wall behind Yongguk with a blank expression. “He misses you and he's falling apart.”

“There's nothing I can do about it, Dae.” Yongguk responded, leaning against the wall with a heavy sigh. “I've been banned from spending time with him.”

“Then we'll sneak him out again.” Daehyun finally met Yongguk's eyes.

Yongguk rose an eyebrow, leaning forward a bit as if to try and hear better. “What did you just say?”

Daehyun groaned, spinning around and tugging on his hair. His frustration seeped through and the stopped to look at Yongguk again. “I'll bring Zelo out of the hospital to meet you. At night. He needs to see you, even if I don't like it. He's gotten attached.”

“He's not that attached.” Yongguk responded. “Besides, his new medicine is making him sick, it'd be bad to sneak out of the hospital in his condition.”

Daehyun groaned again. “Then what do you suggest? He won't take his medicine or eat unless you tell him to. He doesn't talk to us. He just sits there and writes in his book and he won't even acknowledge we're there unless we mention you. And once he figures out you're not actually there, he goes back to ignoring us.”

Yongguk frowned. He'd no idea Zelo had been acting that way. He sighed. “Fine. But we're not taking him far...”

“You can come up with something.” Daehyun responded. “You've seen it, haven't you?”

Yongguk knew immediately what Daehyun referenced, though he responded cooly. “Seen what?”

“The list...the one he wrote.” Daehyun spoke softly. “The bucket list...”

Yongguk looked at the younger boy for a while before he slowly nodded his head. “I've seen it.”

Daehyun grunted softly. “I don't know what your reasons for it are, and honestly I don't really care...but what you did that time, you helped him mark off something on the list, didn't you?”

Yongguk, again, nodded slowly. “I've got my reasons, and if I get the chance, I want to help him mark off as many things as possible.”

Daehyun nodded. “You're good to Zelo.”

Yongguk shrugged, saying nothing to this response. He watched his hands as he played with his fingers, waiting for Daehyun to speak again. After a long moment, the younger finally continued.

“Do what you can for him, and I'll help in any way I can.”

Yongguk glanced up at the younger boy. He studied Daehyun's expression for a long moment before he pushed off the wall and walked to the door. He opened it and stepped through before turning back to look at Daehyun.

“Have him outside in the parking lot at midnight tonight.”

Yongguk left, without waiting for Daehyun's response. His insides were twisting enough as it was without continuing the conversation. With a deep breath, he walked out of the hospital and drove home.

Waiting for midnight had been one of the most difficult things Yongguk had done in a very long time. Nothing he could do seemed to make the time pass faster. He paced the floor until Himchan threatened to break his legs, then he took a shower and ate something. He didn't get much eaten because his stomach didn't want to cooperate with him, and so he laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

At half past eleven, he finally jumped up and rushed out of his room. Himchan shook his head, frowning at the older man.

“You're going to end up in a lot of trouble..” He muttered.

Yongguk ignored him, shoving on his feet and nearly sprinting out of the apartment. He tried to drive slowly, not wanting to get there too early and have to wait, but his foot seemed heavier than normal. He ended up at the hospital in half the time he'd meant.

Leaning against the hood of his car, he looked up at the sky while he waited. Still impatient, his foot bounced, shaking his entire body. He tried to make out constellations in they sky, though the stars couldn't be seen very well with all the city lights. Not from the ground.

“Hyung!” The familiar voice brought him back down to earth and he turned just in time to be tackled into a hug.

Zelo wrapped his limbs awkwardly around Yongguk, squeezing him tightly. When he pulled away, both boys were grinning like idiots. Daehyun approached slowly from behind, his own expression serious.

“Take care of my brother, Criminal.” The smirk that appeared on his face had a hint of caring in it, the word that once had been an insult twisted into a term of endearment.

Yongguk smiled. “I promise.”

With a nod, Daehyun turned and walked back in to the hospital. Zelo pulled away from Yongguk and looked at him with a smile.

“I'm feeling much better, Hyung.” His smile seemed proof of that. His entire face lit up with a red blush and a shining glow that sent Yongguk's lips curling up into their own smile. He didn't look like the sad, sickly little boy he had just this morning. “What are we going to do?”

“You, my dearest friend.” Yongguk responded, plopping his hand down on Zelo's head, “are going to learn how to drive.”

Zelo's blank expression brought tears of laughter to Yongguk's eyes. He shoved Zelo towards the driver's side of his car. “Come on, don't you want to learn?”

“Of..of course!” Zelo squeaked, fumbling with the door handle until Yongguk reached over him and opened it for him. Zelo whined softly, a sound Yongguk almost barely heard. He smiled.

Zelo got in and Yongguk walked around to the other side to get in as well. He'd spent a few hours earlier in the day cleaning out his car when he'd been trying to waste away the day and just be able to come back and see the kid.

Yongguk held out his keys, dropping them into Zelo's trembling hand. “Dont be scared, Zelo, you'll do fine.”

“I'm n..not scared.” Zelo tried to sound confident, but the tremble in his voice betrayed him. Yongguk chuckled again.

“What are you supposed to do first?” Yongguk asked, voice soft.

Zelo sat, silent, in the driver's seat, looking from the steering wheel to Yongguk and back again. Yongguk laughed. He laughed hard, until tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. Zelo watched him, his pout growing and the cuteness only caused Yongguk to laugh even harder until he gasped from breath.

After he caught his breath, Yongguk pouted over at Zelo. “Zelo...I'm sorry for laughing...you were just too cute. Don't be mad?”

“Humph.” Zelo huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and looking out the window.

Yongguk whined. “Zeeellooooo.” He sang, his deep voice soft, close to Zelo's ear.

The younger glanced over at him, sighed, and shook his head. “Tell me what to do, Yongguk Hyung.”

Yongguk nodded, serious now. He listed off the steps of getting the car started for Zelo. Key in the engine, step on the break, turn the key, car in drive. Zelo managed to complete all the steps with a little guidance.

“You're doing good.” Yongguk praised as Zelo began to move the car out of the parking spot, going slowly forward with his tongue caught between his teeth and his brows furrowed together. Both hands gripped the wheel until his knuckles turned white.

“I'm gonna crash..” He muttered under his breath. “I'm gonna crash..I'm gonna crash..I'm gonna crash.”

“It's alright, Zelo.” Yongguk told him, reaching over to put a comforting hand on Zelo's knee. “You're doing great. Turn the wheel left now, gently..That's good.”

It went on like this for three hours. Yongguk talked Zelo through the parking lot three or four times before he got comfortable and quit muttering about crashing and killing them both. After a while, Zelo started to relax, and began having small, halted conversation with Yongguk. He focused more on driving, and not hitting other things, that he constantly stopped talking in the middle of a sentence or even halfway through a word.

Yongguk didn't mind. He thought it was cute and intentionally asked Zelo difficult questions just to hear him pause and start speaking again like that. But, driving could only be fun for so long, and they'd taken several laps around every level of the parking garage. Zelo pulled the car back in the spot he'd pulled it out from and killed the engine.

“That was the best, Hyung.” He grinned, looking over at Yongguk. “Thanks!”

Yongguk chuckled. “I just thought it's something you'd find fun. And we technically never left the hospital, so I won't get in trouble this time.”

Zelo responded with a grin, jumping onto Yongguk. His body sprawled awkwardly over the entire front of the car, arms wrapped around Yongguk's neck and head nuzzled into his shoulder. “You're the most amazing person I've ever met, Hyung...”

Yongguk smiled softly, rubbing Zelo's back gently. “Yeah, yeah, now come on. Daehyun's coming and he's got to get you back in bed before anyone knows you've been gone.”

Zelo pulled away, his smile fading a bit. “Will you come back tomorrow?”

Yongguk paused for a moment, not responding, then smiled another of his gummy smiled. “Of course I'll be back, Zelo.”