6/27/2015

“Mr. Yoo, you shouldn’t have wandered off on your own. It’s dangerous, what if you fell?”

“No one responded to my calls.” Youngjae huffs indignantly from his place on the bed.

“We can’t have you doing this every day, Mr. Yoo,” Nurse Han sighs, adjusting his IV drip.

Youngjae knows it’s the sigh that means she’s making a mental note to herself about elevating the bed a little more so his feet can’t reach the floor next time.

“I know how hard it is for you, but you know it's part of policy that we can’t allow non-family members to be around Mr. Jung’s bedside.”

“It would be easier if I could be close to my own husband,” he responds as per custom, tone coming out more unpleasantly than not. He doesn’t think she comes close to knowing how hard it’s been, not having that one title be legally binding— how even now a hallway separates him and Daehyun, looming like a gulch.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Yoo. Now, please have some rest. We’ll get you some dinner later, alright?” The response is as mechanically rehearsed as always.

It was in Youngjae’s character to be adamant about not breaking rules, but with the duration Daehyun’s been in his life he has long since been lax about following through with that philosophy.

Youngjae counts his blessings for his wheelchair having been placed closely to the bed, and moves his stiff joints out of the confines of the bed slowly. He makes a leap of faith and manages to steady his shaky legs just before plopping down square in the wheelchair. He was still athletic, no matter what they said.

He rolls himself out of his room, careful not to pull a tendon in doing so, to the room at the end of the hall. Room 9300, the number he knows by heart.

Instead of the familiar stationary figure he expects to see when he goes in, however, all he sees is a freshly made bedspread with no occupant. A panic sets in. Did they move him without telling him? Did he die without him knowing?

Exiting out of Daehyun's room in a flurry, he picks up speed in his wheelchair when he sees two unfamiliar men, appearing to be doctors, not too far away.

“Dae,” Youngjae croaks in relief at the hunched figure the men are loading into a wheelchair. His relief is quickly replaced with anger. “You aren’t Dr. Song. What are you two doing to him?”

His presence catches one of the doctors by surprise. “Sir,” Dr. Bang-something, his nametag reads. Youngjae's rheumy eyes aren't as they're used to be.

“We’ll be relocating Mr. Jung,”

“Mr. Jung has consented to being part of our research,” the other Dr. Kim-something informs with a gravelly voice.

“How could he have consented to this? He’s had a a year ago and still can’t talk or write properly,” Youngjae seethes. “If you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’ll just have to alert the nurses of what shady business you crooks are doing,”

“Mr. Jung has no next-of- kin on record, so we’ll be relocating him,” They both are cautious, not wanting an outburst.

“I don’t care what the law says. He’s my husband,” Youngjae’s bordering hysterics.“I’ve been diagnosed with prostate cancer this year. I’m not expected to live long anyway. Please, I’ve got no one else but him,” Youngjae has his moments of pride as a nonagenarian, and he’s willing to toss aside anything to not relive separation with Daehyun again.

Dr. Kim glances eagerly at a hesitant Dr. Bang, and presents a clipboard in front of Youngjae anyway. “Very well then, Mr. Yoo. If you’ll just provide your consent here,”

He lets the two young doctors do the talking, and can’t help but feel rebellious as he is wheeled past Nurse Sunhwa’s questioning eyes and out the nursing home doors. Daehyun’s in a half awake stupor next to him and Youngjae is bordering dozing off himself, and for all he knows he may have just signed away the last of their savings in some terrible sham. For now, all that matters is that Daehyun is at his side and Youngjae is content with tasting freedom.

******

3/14/2045

It’s strange, but Youngjae’s not used to standing upright without the help of a cane or some other device, without the pang of arthritis and osteoporosis-related pain in his joints. He’s also not used to seeing this much hair on his scalp or less sagging skin on his face, but he’s not complaining about those. The back pain still lingers, though a ghost of it's former self. Amazing what a few decades does to make a difference.

“I see you there. You’re looking good as always, baby face--I don’t understand why you stare so hard into the mirror like you actually want to be more ancient.”

“I don't know what you're talking about. I’ve always been looking good. And you’re looking better,” Youngjae smiles playfully at the man before him. In Youngjae’s eyes Daehyun never ages. No matter the outward change, Daehyun is always the warm boy with sunkissed skin and voice oversaturated with honey—the same one he fell in love with. "We should get going. The doctors said they wanted to meet with us."

”Mr. Jung, Mr. Yoo. We believe it is time to debrief you in this time you have been at the agency. My colleague, Dr. Kim Himchan, and I are conducting research on the process for de-aging in humans. To put it in simpler terms— immortality.”

“We’ve been experiencing… complications in our human studies. What has worked on mice hasn’t exactly replicated for people. But you two have shown remarkable progress to the injection of telomerase serum. Ailments you’ve had, such as that of —” a nod to Daehyun, “—And prostate cancer—” a nod to Youngjae, “—Have been eliminated with your body’s age reversal. You two are beyond healthy, and it’s only going to get better.” Youngjae feels just a tad smug for now looking around the same age as the two doctors, and even possibly getting to be younger.

“So this means we can leave, right?” Daehyun quirks an eyebrow expectantly.

“I’m afraid you can’t. " Dr. Bang shakes his head. “Someone may recognize you, and jeopardize the confidentiality of this agency and yourselves. You two are listed as deceased in public records. It'll cause complications. ”

“You’ve got to be ting me. So you’re going to keep us here as your lab rats forever?” Daehyun scoffs, fists against his side.

“You two have listed your consent on donating your bodies for science. Please, at least until we can stabilize the effects of the serum." Dr. Kim tries to intervene between the mounted animosity.

Youngjae manages to chase Daehyun down before he hurts himself.

"Like it or not, they've brought a miracle for us. I never thought'd I'd see you here, with your voice back, healthy and all, ever again," he chokes on his words, gripping Daehyun tightly against himself until the other's anger subsides.

"I'm not going anywhere. At least, not without you," Daehyun promises.

******

11/24/2055

“What’s going on, Dae?” Youngjae asks drowsily as Daehyun rouses him from his nap; all dressed and clean shaven, two duffels in hand.

“We’re making a run for it,” He responds confidently. “I’ve already packed for us.”

“Wait, what?” Youngjae sputters awake. “We’re doing what?”

Daehyun pecks the tip of Youngjae’s nose, black and peppered gray strands of hair falling over his eyes. “While you were getting your beauty sleep, I slipped Dr. Bang and Dr. Kim some sleeping pills. Take your passport and get moving. We have a flight to America in an hour.”

“The agency’s totally going to track us down and find us—oh god, what were you thinking—and have you even thought about what we’re going to do to pay for our survival?!” Youngjae is panicking while imagining all the consequences that could unfold from Daehyun’s brash move, but he’s taking a duffel from Daehyun anyway.

“Don’t even worry about it, babe. I routed every single penny of my family’s trust funds into an untraceable bank account. ‘Cause them, you know? There’s plenty if you add it with our own savings; at least enough for until we figure out what to do.”

“That’s illegal,” Youngjae gasps.

“And the world will never find out. For all they know, Jung Daehyun and Yoo Youngjae were two single, family-less old fogeys that died in the hospital 40 years ago. Our graves are proof of that,”

“You’ve actually thought this through?”

“No, it’s called improvising and having everything falling into place. I'm not going to have us spend our second chance at life under a microscope. Admit it, you wouldn’t budge on this idea at all if I gave you time to think.”

“I swear, this is how you got that . We’re at an age where we can still get you know.”

“We’re one hundred and forty years old. Anything goes,” Daehyun takes his hand as they rocket down the emergency stairwell like giggling schoolboys.

******

5/17/2073

They are huddled together in a little corner of Central Park, Daehyun insisting on using their decades old and now considered ultra-vintage M&M’s blanket. It’s serene, and despite heavy technological advancements here and there, the sky is still a healthy blue and the grass just as green.

“Did you even wash that?” Youngjae questions as he is bundled up into the fleecy confines by hands of a no longer leathery quality.

“I didn’t realize it needed washing. It’s not like we didn’t do anything you didn’t like with it,” Daehyun retorts.

Youngjae gives a slight hum in response. Families and couples are dispersed here and there, but a great enough distance away for their privacy.

“What are you thinking of, hm?”

“What do you think will happen after we grow younger than our teens again? Will we become babies, unable to take care of ourselves? Age again? Or will we disappear for good?”

He shouldn’t be thinking about this, since after all they’ve abandoned the agency, but Youngjae’s truly scared of the uncertainty ahead.

“That’s a great many questions I’ve never thought about—and nor should you— about whatever the they injected us with.”

“I’ve got a second chance to relive our honeymoon. What’s not to love?” Daehyun wraps them further into the blanket, and with his voice vibrating against his ear, Youngjae relaxes. “I wasn’t able to give you the full experience the first time around,” he adds, apologetically, thumbing the gold band proudly adorning Youngjae’s ring finger.

“Swimming in the ocean of a Busan beach at night wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“Getting caught and separated again by my family was. We should've knew better and eloped somewhere else,”

“We got hitched in secret, they wouldn’t have known.” Youngjae tries to justify , thumbing through the pages of his memory book. He had began recording all the events of their life in the thick journal when they started finding it harder and harder to remember things occurring in the past year.

“What happened next? I don’t remember after that.” Youngjae skims the pages. In his scrawl he has written, Daehyun’s parents forced him to marry Lee Ji-eun. Restraining order against me, no choice but to go back to Seoul. Don’t want to write about it. Hurt so damn much.

“You got married. To some poor, beautiful woman,”

“…That I didn’t want to marry, obviously.”

The first time I saw Daehyun after three whole years, the idiot’d landed himself in a hospital for attempting suicide after his divorce. It took all my effort not to punch him right there in his bed.Youngjae decides not to read that aloud, flipping the page, but not before having a tear threaten to escape his eyelashes not going unnoticed.

“God, isn’t it great to forget all that ?” Daehyun’s eyes glisten with his own oncoming tears in dying rays of the sun. “Why remember the tough times when we’re all fine and dandy making new ones?”

“Can we just dump all these,” Daehyun says abruptly, reaching harshly for the book in Youngjae’s hand. Youngjae snatches it away from his grasp.

“No. We’re losing our old memories every year we grow younger, just like Dr. Kim said. We’ve been through a lot, and even though there are bad memories…they’re a part of us now. I’ve lost enough,” Youngjae states with implication in his tone, and Daehyun relents, clinging on more tightly to the other.

“All those who tried to separate us—they’ve got no say now. Especially since they’re all ten-feet something underground.”

“Don’t get cocky,”

“They don’t have my sympathy. I’ve loved you all my life, but I spent all my life basically apart from you,” Daehyun’s voice gets quiet.

“It’s my fault for loving you back. You always wanted children and a nice house and nine side dishes with every meal, but I gave you none of that except pain.”The blanket around him falls to the ground as Daehyun fiercely grabs a hold of his face.

“No, you stop right there.”

"It's true, and I've accepted it already," Youngjae laughs, covering the strong fingers in his own.

“You’ve always thought too much about things, Jae. This de-aging thing, this is fate saying ‘Yoo Youngjae, shut the hell up and enjoy this.’” With a smile, warm chocolate brown eyes glaze over. “Now, before I take my time making out with your beautiful self, tell me something you want to do that isn’t related to pitying our tragic first lifetime,”

“I want to go to Japan?” he breathes against plush lips.

“That’s more like it.”

******

6/24/2087

Youngjae feels the sweat running down his neck, dampening his grey t-shirt as he leans his lanky teenage frame against the metal barricade. The ecstatic screams of Lotte World’s children and children-at- heart echo all around him, coupled with the mechanical whir of the pirate ship ride above.

“Here you go, hubby.” Daehyun emerges with shaky legs from the throng of people with two ice cream cones. His caramel skin is taut and firm, b youthful radiance that happens only naturally at the peak of young adulthood. He hands Youngjae the cone that isn’t half-eaten, though Youngjae knows his ice cream won’t be spared from an “experimental ”, just like it hasn’t been for over a century.

After decades and another lifetime away from home, they had decided to settle down for what remainder of the years they had left in South Korea. The agency had found them immediately after their first night back. Dr. Bang and Dr. Kim had not experimented on themselves, it turned out—their surviving sons had met with Daehyun and Youngjae, only to gawk at the agency’s only successful de-aging experimentees, not to drag them back.

A longer than a century life could be achieved with the right vitamin supplements in this day and age, and the general consensus for living forever wasn’t altogether that favorable, they had stated, in addition to the fact that it was still unknown what happened at age zero. Youngjae had surprised himself by not being concerned in the slightest.

"To think after so many years I still struggle on the pirate ship..." With a crunch, the cone disappears into Daehyun's pouting mouth.

"It's time to stop being a chicken," Youngjae singsongs. "It's not like we'll have to worry about heart problems anymore."

"I could go again, you just watch me," Daehyun huffs indignantly, when he purses his lips, nodding to a few young men displaying affection in line. “Youngsters in this day and age are lucky they can truly love who they want freely, without carrying some sort of shame behind it.”

“We’re lucky to be able to see it come to fruition. I’d thought I’d never see it in my lifetime,”

“Second lifetime's the charm, Jae. Baby, we’re living it now!” Daehyun grins, pointing to the pirate ship, and Youngjae’s heart swells because he sees Daehyun swallow nervously despite his bravado. “Shall we give it another whirl?”

So I didn't interpret the prompt literally but I hope it can suffice...;; I don't know how many times I've typed this only to have it not save lol

the other day I was thinking about how some gay spouses still can't see each other at the hospital because law doesn't acknowledge them as family members, which is really disheartening....

And thus I really liked writing old!jae

I read a book back in the day called Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix, which also helped loosely inspire this~