Minseok tried to count how many months he was at the hospital, but his head felt like it was on fire because of the new medicine he started taking. He wasn’t even sure if it was a Tuesday or a Thursday that he was going to meet his new roommate, but he was pretty sure about listening that today was a Wednesday.

Since his family decided to let Minseok on the hospital as a test subject, he started getting lonely as time passed by. A smile was almost every single second on his face while he was happy, but – not even himself believing that – he wasn’t the happiest person lately. For the last two weeks he had to share his room with an old man that wasn’t really up for talking, and everything he could do was watch bad movies on the TV or play with his Rubik’s cube which he at.

Checking his clock, it was a few minutes past nine in the morning when Baekhyun entered the room with his shiny smile, making Minseok smile back at him just like every time the nurse checked on him. The boy brought a wheelchair with him and stopped it next to the door before hurrying towards his bed with a funny look.

“Good morning, Baekhyun.” The words came out and made Baek’s expression change back to an unusual serious one.  “What are you staring at?”

“What are you waiting for?” Baek said as he looked deeply into Minseok’s eyes and placing his hands on his hips. “I told you that you were going to switch rooms Thursday morning. You were supposed to be ready. You said you would remember it.”

Of course he forgot about it. Baekhyun became what he could say was a good friend of his, so they always made arrangements between themselves to easy each other’s lives. Minseok was supposed to get ready to leave while Baek was supposed to bring one of the amazing sandwiches his roommate prepared. He felt bad about it, but he felt even worst with the new medicine.

“I thought today was a Wednesday.” Minseok spit the words out as he threw the sheets away as fast as he could and tried to get up. Dizziness hit him hard and Baekhyun had to help him sit down again.

“Don’t need to hurry either. You know you don’t have that choice.” The nurse walked back to the door and rolled the wheelchair close to the bed. “I can push you there if you want, but I hope you stand up before getting in. Don’t want to cause a bad impression towards your new roommate.”

He really wanted to walk like a normal person would, but he wasn’t that normal for a long time and he sometimes forgot about that. He forgets about a lot of things.

After a quick stop to the bathroom, Minseok said goodbye to the old man, – who completely ignored him – tried to make the tube on his nose the most confortable it could possibly be and started his way towards what would probably be an exactly looking room like the ones he was before. The doctors that walked past him did not waste their time looking at him, but the visitors couldn’t get their eyes off the sick kid that couldn’t even walk by his own.

Down a couple of corridors in silence, they made their way towards room 207 and Baek helped him up even though he didn’t feel as dizzy anymore. Voices could be heard from behind the door and he recognized one of them. The nurse opened the room door for him and Dr. Jong Dae stopped talking to look at him.

“Kim Minseok. It’s so good to see you like this.” A smile formed in his face as he took a step back, making Minseok finally see his new roommate. “Lu han, this is who I was talking to you about.”

The doctor was still talking when Minseok got completely lost in the new boy’s face. His eyes shined like a beautiful black pearl and his hair was a pretty mess like he just woke up. The boy was watching the doctor as he spoke, but he probably noticed that Minseok couldn’t stop staring.

“Minseok?” Baekhyun tried to catch his attention and soon everybody was staring at him. “Are you feeling okay?”

Blood rushed to his cheeks as he could feel them growing hotter and hotter. He nodded, forcing himself not to look at Lu han.

“As I was saying,” continued the doctor “Lu han here used to use Luvex too, and he will also start using Exo-M, so I hope you two will get along.”

Luvex. Minseok remembered how it felt. The first month was like someone punched his stomach every single minute while someone poured lava on his head. The second month was like a miracle. The doctors really thought that he would get cured, but as the other months came, it stopped making effect. There was a kid on room 204 that was Luvex’s biggest success, and even thought it started to stop making effect this last month, Minseok felt like they would never let the kid leave the experiment. He didn’t even hit puberty yet and probably never will kiss a girl. Lu han probably kissed a girl before. Maybe a boy, Minseok wasn’t there to judge.

“The nurses will help you with anything you want and if you have any doubts you can ask for me and I’ll be here as soon as possible.” Dr. Jong Dae gave them a lovely smile before turning towards the door, making Xiumin step out of the way. “You need to rest, Minseok. You shouldn’t be standing for so long like that.”

The doctor walked out of the room and Baekhyun mouthed something that Xiumin understood as ‘sandwiches later’ before leaving the two boys alone.

A sudden silent fell on the room and for the first time in forever he was afraid to talk. He really should sit down, but he didn’t want to move anywhere and cause a bad impression of any sort. The new boy moved awkwardly before opening his mouth and then giving up on saying anything. Minseok decided to take the opportunity.

“I’m Kim Minseok… but you probably already know that.” There he went ruining his chances of making a new friend. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Lu han. It’s my pleasure, really.”

If someone ever told Minseok that that boy’s voice was like honey he would never believe it, but there he was. He tried not to think too much about all the good things about the boy or he would end up getting lost again.

Minseok was about to say something stupid again when Baekhyun walked in the room with a box with his belongings. Stopping at the door the three boys just stared at each other for a second before Baek forced Minseok into sitting down on his bed.

The nurse hurried off to probably help another patient and the room went silent again. Not risking anything, he decided to open the box and search for his Rubik’s cube.

This time Minseok was the one sure that Lu han was staring at him. His mind went a little dizzy thinking about it, so he just found the cube on the bottom of the box and took it out of it, just so he could stare at it and not really do anything. He wasn’t really sure about what he was afraid of, but he knew he was.

“Are you going to play with it?” The sweet voice hit him hard and he couldn’t control himself and just stared into the boy’s eyes. “I’m actually really good at it.”

Minseok went silent for a bit, not really sure about what to say, but words came out anyway.

“Do you want to play?”

“If you let me.”

Their hands almost touched when he raised his hand toward Lu han’s, and all he could think of was what would happen if they did.

“I can do it in two minutes. Can you count it?”

Minseok nodded and that was the first time he heard the sound of angels. Lu han laugh was the sweetest thing he ever heard and he could feel him blushing again. What did he do wrong now?

“Do you have a clock to time it or are you going to just think it through?”

He wanted to feel stupid. He was supposed to, but that smile just couldn’t make him feel bad. Minseok dug throw his box to find his clock in it.

“I’m ready when you’re ready.” He sounded so lame, but he didn’t give a damn anymore. Lu han made him feel at home for once.

They counted up to three together and Lu han did what he had to do. His long fingers moved so fast, but his eyes somehow followed them no matter where they went. Minseok was just fascinated about it and lost track of time.

“Finished it!” Lu han screamed, with a smile on his face. “How much?”

As always, Minseok was confused. It took a few awkward seconds for him to remember that he was supposed to see how much time the boy would take to solve the cube. He blushed one more time and he decided it was already getting stupid.

“I forgot to count.”

Lu han started to laugh and Minseok couldn’t stop himself but to join him. He felt so happy by seeing Lu han be happy that that moment could never be ruined – but of course he ruined it. Minseok started to cough when he just went out of air and Lu han soon followed him with his own cute cough.

It took a few seconds for them to stop and silent fell once again into the room, ruining the moment.

“Lungs?”

“Lungs.”

Minseok wanted to kill himself faster than he already was.

~

They actually managed to chit chat a little after the wreck that was the last real conversation. A bad movie was on the TV, as usual, and they decided to watch it, but after ten minutes into it, Lu han ended up falling asleep. He did look tired the first time Minseok saw him, and he wouldn’t blame him for taking a nap.

The movie finished and another one was already on when Baekhyun showed up on the room.

He was normally really excited everyday he ate lunch with Minseok, but he made sure not to be too loud and wake Lu han up.

After a quick and quiet ‘hi’, Baek sat down on Minseok’s bed and opened up his Buzz Lightyear’s lunch box, taking the perfectly well wrapped sandwiched out of it and handing one of them to Minseok.

“It’s not either of our lunch times, yet.” Minseok stared at his clock that was now placed next to his bed. “You still have ten minutes of work and I still have ten minutes for my real lunch.”

Baekhyun ripped the plastic wrap the best he could before just giving it to Minseok so he could open it.

“I didn’t want anyone to see me giving you sandwiches.”

“Would you get in trouble?” Minseok said with a worried voice, handing the nurse his sandwich now unwrapped.

Baek took a quarter out of the bacon sandwich with one bite and resumed talking with his mouth full. People sometimes called him Bacon because of his love for it.

“I guess so, but they would ask for some. Kyungsoo’s cooking is really famous around here.” He pushed the food down his throat and took another big bite out of the sandwich. “Even you know about it.”

“What does that mean?” Minseok bit his own sandwich as Baek laughed at his face. “Shut up! You’ll wake Lu han up.”

They both looked at the sleeping boy at the same time, and somehow he still looked like an angel. Looking at him made Minseok zoom out completely while Baek tried to speak with him. He could leave the room and Minseok would not even notice.

“I’m talking to you!”

The loud voice of his friend brought him back to real life, but Lu han looked like he was in another room.

“What? I told you to be quiet.”

The nurse’s sandwich had already disappeared when Minseok looked back at him.

“I asked if he is a nice person.”

“Oh, definitely.”

He shocked himself with how fast he was able to answer that. Almost just three hours passed since he met Lu han and every time he had to say something related to him he choked on spot. Baek seemed to notice, but he didn’t say a word about it.

Minseok helped with the plastic wraps by throwing all of it inside of the lunch box and making a happy mess. There was mayonnaise all over Baekhyun’s face, but he said he could clean it by himself. He was tough like that.

“See you later for real lunch!” The nurse said as he closed the door behind.

He closed it too hard, though.

It sounded like thunder and Lu han woke up like he was just hit by one. His hair was messier than before and one of his eyes was covered by it.

He looked scared at first, but when he noticed that nothing really happened he just looked at Minseok for a few seconds. Whatever he did  it always looked perfect.

“Did I miss something?”

“Oh, definitely.”