Himchan's alarm went off at seven the next morning. Even though Yongguk would pick him up at nine, he still needed the two hours to get ready.

He started his routine with a shower. He didn't like baths because baths were like sitting around in the day's dirt. With showers, the dirt could wash off of him and he could start anew.

Next, he dried toweled off before selecting his clothing. This was the hard part. Yongguk never specified where they were going. He didn't know if he should dress up or dress casual. He settled for something that would pass at a restaraunt or an amusement park: nice jeans and a blue button down. He decided he looked nice enough and went to the bathroom to fix his hair.

When he decided he looked presentable enough, he went into his living room to wait. He sat down on his plastic covered couch. He ran a hand across the cool plastic and looked around his living room.

Unlike Yongguk's house, his apartment didn't look lived in. Sure, he hadn't cleaned it in a couple of days, but it was still immaculate.

He leaned back his head and sighed. Maybe this whole 'cure' thing was hopeless. Maybe he was hopeless. Maybe he should just call Yongguk and cancel the date. Maybe he should just cancel trying.

Himchan reached for his phone to call Yongguk and saw that it was 8:59.

.

A knock came from his door, and he checked the time.

9:00.

He got up from his couch and walked to the door. He grabbed a disinfectant wipe from the window sill by his front door and wiped off the door knob. He turned the knob and opened the door to reveal a gummy Yongguk with a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"What is this?" Himchan asked.

"Well, you should always bring a pretty girl flowers before the date," Yongguk said.

"But I'm a man," Himchan pointed out.

"But you sure are pretty," Yongguk grinned.

Himchan snorted.

"Let me get these flowers into some water," Himchan grumbled, snatching the flowers from Yongguk's hand and heading towards the kitchen.

He found a vase from underneath the kitchen to put the flowers in. He filled the vase with water and put the flowers in it. He placed the vase on his kitchen table, directly in the sunlight. He smiled at the flowers and made his way back to the living room.

"Get it taken care of?" Yongguk asked about the flowers.

"Yeah. So where are we going?" Himchan asked.

"You'll see when we get there. Shall we go?" he asked.

Himchan nodded.

They left the apartment, Himchan shutting and locking the door behind them.

They walked to Yongguk's car. Yongguk opened the passenger side door for Himchan.

"Oh, this is too much," Himchan said.

The passenger seat was covered in plastic, as was the seatbelt.

"Well, Junhong usually sits there, and the seat was all stained and covered in teenage boy, so," Yongguk said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

Himchan shrugged and sat down. He pulled the seatbelt across his chest and buckled it.

"Thank you," he said, and closed the car door.

Yongguk smiled and walked over to the driver's side. He opened his own door and got in. He closed the door and started up the car.

"Where are we going?" Himchan asked again.

"I told you you'll see when we get there," Yongguk said, pulling out of the parking lot.

Himchan looked over at Yongguk. He could tell by what Yongguk was wearing that they weren't going anywhere fancy. That made him even more curious.

They drove for a while, twisting and turning down the streets of Seoul.

Pretty soon, they pulled into a large parking lot, one that expanded farther than Himchan could see from where they were. As the drove up a little more, though, Himchan knew immediately where they were.

"No. No no no no no no no," Himchan said sternly, shaking this head.

"You said you wanted to be cured. This is a good way to start," Yongguk said, searching for a parking spot.

"You could've taken me to a restaraunt and forced me to eat off their silverware, not to a zoo!" Himchan shouted.

"But the zoo has cute animals," Yongguk said.

"If you wanted to see cute animals, we could just watch them on tv! Animals are disgusting. They're full of germs, and they're always eating something or something. Millions, billions of bacteria live in their saliva, and they are constantly spreading that everywhere. And you want me to go and see these vile things?" Himchan asked incredulously.

"Yes," Yongguk said simply.

Himchan turned to look at Yongguk.

"Are you crazy?" he asked.

"I'm a psychiatrist. I'm surrounded by crazy. It was bound to rub off on me eventually," Yongguk said, pulling into a parking spot and putting the car in park.

He unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door, and got out of the car. He walked over to Himchan's side and opened the door.

"I don't want to get out," Himchan said.

"Oh, stop acting like a baby," Yongguk said, sounding annoyed.

Himchan complied and got out of the car.

After they paid and entered the zoo, Himchan's face went pale.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Yongguk asked.

Himchan shook his head.

"What's your favorite animal? We'll go see it first," Yongguk said, looking at the map.

"Why are you doing this?" Himchan asked.

"Exposure therapy. I put you up against things that make you uncomfortable in order to activate your fight or flight response. It's the golden technique of curing mysophobia," Yongguk explained.

"Well, whoever came up with it was stupid," Himchan poured.

Yongguk rolled his eyes and started walking in the direction of the giraffes.

"You better come on if you don't want to be left behind," Yongguk said.

Himchan followed behind him.

When they reached the giraffes, Himchan went paler than he already was.

"What's wrong?" Yongguk asked.

"That giraffe. It just...it just inside its own nose," Himchan said.

Yongguk laughed.

"It's not funny. That giraffe doesn't care about all the germs it's letting inside its own body. I feel like I'm going to throw up," Himchan said, his pale skin turning green.

"That giraffe doesn't have a care in the world. I brought you here ao maybe you could learn from these animals. Now, I don't want you to your own nostril or anything, but I do want you to learn how to relax," Yongguk said.

Himchan looked at him as if he were crazy.

"I'm at the zoo with a mad man. Take me to the damn elephants," Himchan said.

Yongguk laughed and took him to see the damn elephants.

Himchan's zoo experience didn't get any better throughout the day. It didn't really get any worse, either, though.

"Can we go now? I think we've seen everything," Himchan whined.

"There's one more thing. I saved the best for last," Yongguk promised.

He led Himchan down a path towards the back of the zoo. If Himchan had to say what his favorite part about the day was, it would have to be the path. There were no animals on the path, and very few people. It was just Yongguk and himself, talking and laughing and having a good time. He really enjoyed that.

When they reached their destination, Himchan tried to turn around and run, but Yongguk had a tight grip on his clothed wrist.

"I'm not going in there!" Himchan exclaimed.

"We're not going home until you do," Yongguk said sternly.

Himchan looked at him with pleading eyes.

"That's not going to work on me. You're going to go in that petting zoo, you're going to touch at least one baby goat, or lamb, or chick, or horse, or calf, or bunny, I don't care. Just touch one, and we can go," Yongguk said.

Himchan gulped.

"Lambs are probably the most harmless next to the bunnies, right?" Himchan asked shakily.

Yongguk simply nodded and led him into the petting zoo toward the lambs and sheep.

"Do you want to feed the lamb?" Yongguk asked.

Himchan glared at him.

"I was just asking," Yongguk said, holding his hands up in front of him.

"So all have to do is touch it, right?" Himchan asked.

"Yeah, but we have to actually get into the pen first," Yongguk pointed out.

Himchan gulped again.

Yongguk opened the door to the pen for Himchan.

"I'll be right here with you," Yongguk said, stepping into the pen.

Himchan entered the pen.

One of the lambs looked at him. It walked over to him. He flinched, but he stayed where he was. The lamb sidled up to him and nudged his leg with its head. Himchan had to admit that the lamb was kind of cute. The lamb affectionately rubbed its head against Himchan's leg. Himchan hesitantly touched the top of the lamb's head with his hand.

The lamb made a soft affectionate noise and moved even closer to Himchan. Himchan looked over at Yongguk with a victorious look on his face. Yongguk shot him a thumbs up back.

Himchan looked at the lamb. He almost felt bad to leave it. He touched its head one more time before he turned away from it and got out of the pen.

Yongguk smiled at him proudly.

"I knew you could do it," he said.

Himchan smiled at him, the kind of smile that put the setting sun around them to shame. Yongguk's heart skipped a beat, but he returned the smile all the same.

"You ready to go?" Yongguk asked.

"God, I thought you'd never ask," Himchan said.

Yongguk laughed.

"Hey, do you remember that list I made you write? Of stuff you can't do?" Yongguk asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Himchan asked.

"Do you realize how many of those things that you've done since we've met?" Yongguk asked.

Himchan thought about it.

"I've touched a door knob and held stuff with my bare hands. I've let someone else give me something. I've let someone else touch my things. I've let someone else into my home, even though it was against my will since I was unconscious. I've let someone kiss me, and I've kissed someone else. I didn't realize that I had come so far," Himchan said, astonished.

"See, I told you that nothing was impossible," Yongguk said, smiling and taking Himchan's hand.

"Are you trying to hold my hand, doctor?" Himchan asked.

"Well, holding hands was on your list. We might as well cross that off too," Yongguk said simply.

"Can I put on hand sanitizer first? I just touched an animal," Himchan said.

"Are you referring to me or the lamb?" Yongguk asked.

Himchan scoffed at him and pulled out his hand sanitizer from his pocket. He put it on his hands and rubbed it in. He put it back in his pocket and grabbed Yongguk's hand again. He swung their hands back and forth as they walked, like a kid. Yongguk laughed.

"You're so cute," Yongguk said.

"This is only okay because of the hand sanitizer," Himchan said.

"I'm surprised you didn't run to the nearest bathroom after you touched the lamb. I'm impressed," Yongguk said.

Himchan stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" Yongguk asked, his voice laced with concern.

"I didn't, did I? I didn't wash my hands afterwards," Himchan said quietly, his eyes open wide.

"Himchan?" Yongguk asked apprehensively.

"I didn't wash my hands afterwards!" Himchan exclaimed, ing their linked hands into the air.

Yongguk laughed.

"Does this mean I'm cured?" Himchan asked.

"Not exactly," Yongguk said.

Himchan shot him a confused look.

"Well, curing you is a long process. Even though you didn't wash your hands, you still put on your hand sanitizer. You're warming up to the world. You're not quite ready to embrace it just yet," Yongguk said.

"Oh," Himchan said, a little disappointed.

"You didn't think that you would be cured in a day, right?" Yongguk asked.

"No, of course not. It's just, you've been exposing me for a while. And I've been living with this for as long as I can remember.  I just wanted to be normal, and I got a little excited," Himchan said quietly.

"Well, today, you went on a normal date with a normal guy, touched a normal lamb and held a normal hand. I say you're on your way," Yongguk said, smiling.

Himchan smiled back at him.

"Thanks, doctor," Himchan chuckled.

Yongguk swing their hands again.

They walked back to the car like that, hand in hand the whole way.

A/n:

Ahhhh chapter 18 is up!! Progress!!!!

Thank y'all so much for your supportive words an comments because I would've stopped already or just time skipped to a happy ending.

So, please continue commenting and subscribing and up voting. It is much appreciated. Much love!!