Episode 9:

Patients

(This chapter is going up un-betta-ed at the moment, so I apologize in advance for any typos or awkward grammatical errors)

YoungBae cut the engine as the vehicle came to a wobbly stop in the dusty garage down the alley. It was ringing out with left over white noise and Daesung's gentle even breaths until the honey blond stirred softly. He had slept most of the ride home, curled up uncomfortably against the presumably chilled window. The younger man's head lulled several times in its blue hood before he managed to wake up enough to ask, “Are we home?” The words tasted stale in his dry mouth and his head was fogged over with sleep as he tried to drink in the odd darkness around him.

“We sure are,” YoungBae sighed, “You ready to go in?”

To this, Dae offered no verbal reply, just pulled his hood off and shook his soft hair out. He also managed to unfold and stretch out his creaky bones as he unlatched the seatbelt that was clipped in at his hip.

“Me either,” The black haired man agreed whole heartedly. He leaded forward and crossed his arms over the steering wheel stretching the small of his back against the pain of being cramped against a beaten car seat for nearly three hours. It was the most use they had gotten out of that old Toyota in a good year.

“Time?” Daesung yawned out rather than speaking.

“Nine.”

The younger man hummed as he rolled his shoulders, “We're never up this late.”

YoungBae managed a chuckle and half a smile as he pondered his options, since going inside was clearly not the thing to do and staying in the car sounded painful.

On the one hand, a lot of the shops would be closing at ten and he never liked to be the last person in before close. On the other hand; how often did they get to walk main street when it was glittering with string lights and high on the crisp autumn air? It was fall. The décor was all warm tones and wonderful. He was rarely up late enough to walk the street while it lit up like a perfect wonderland in the middle of the night.

Maybe it was selfish to ask, because Dae looked so tired, but maybe it was just what he needed? YoungBae grappled with the guilt of desiring something that was perhaps not in the best interest of his sick boyfriend for only a flash of a second before he opened his mouth. “Wanna go on a date?”

“Hell yes,” Daesung hissed out, trailing off with a tension release that sounded almost like a swear word the younger man didn't often use as he kicked the door open. “Hell yes,” he said again, “That's the best idea anyone has had all day.”

The older man laughed and silently, very silently, disagreed because it was certainly not the best idea all day, he wasn't about to argue though. Dates were a rare commodity.

The air outside was clear, like crystal ocean. Salty, thick with the not so distant shoreline but not heavy. YoungBae's breath came out in white clouds as he stepped through the door, making a point to hold it for his precious boyfriend. Darkness never greeted them on their little Main street, even the alleyways were strung up with net lights like it was Christmas all of the time. No one could see the stars there anyway so the city had decided to supply them, twinkling just bellow the second level of every building until eleven in the evening every night.

“Park or food?” he managed to inquire.

Daesung smiled as he crossed the metal threshold and stepped out into the sparkle of lights reflecting off old red brick, “Can we go see Jin? He said he had something new he wanted me to try yesterday, but I was too tired to go.”

“You should have told me,” the elder said, “I would have picked it up for you.”

Dae shrugged, “Take out is never as good as his company,” he said, “Besides, I haven't told him about the...cancer thing yet.”

“Why?”

The younger man shrugged again, “Calling seemed cheap.”

“Mmm,” YoungBae blew out a long wisp of white and shuffled the rubber soles of his shoes on the silver concrete.

“I know it's not the park, but Main Street is pretty, and we can take the long way?” the blond begged.

The older man his lips, and bit at them as his serious look melted into a deeply resonating smile. It spread across his whole face, radiating like the warm sun that had gone down hours ago. His legs bounced a little, he chuckled gently and he offered his hand to his precious boyfriend.

“You don't have to bribe me Dae,” he offered.

Tae's smiles had always been contagious but that one threatened to fill Daesung with a sort of happiness that was still foreign to him as he took the hand offered to him. It ripped the chill out of his bones, replaced it with something of a comfortably warm, nervous jitter.Curling their fingers together made butterflies flutter up in both of their stomachs. Their simultaneous sighs, laced with relief and difficult to dispel awkwardness met in the space between them

For a minute they just stood there, hands held loosely, trying hard not to shuffle.

YoungBae was waiting on the sky to start falling or the stars to start raining down from the heavens because, geez, he was about to go on a date with his best friend. Daesung looked amazing with messy hair, and beat up old hoodie, he looked amazing all of the time. The twinkling lights cast a sparse, uneven glow on sandy locks and the older man was so sure that Dae would always take his breath away. He would spend their whole life together breathless, and that would be fine.

The black haired man opened and closed his mouth at least six times before he could find the words but they got smashed up in a garble as both men tried to speak at the same time.

In the end he settled for, “Come on,” with a compulsive wink that earned him an eye roll, “I want to show you off.”

“I look like death,” Daesung joked as they began a slow march forward.

“Nah, you look like my Daesung,” YoungBae replied.

“You wont be saying that when all my hair falls out,” the younger countered.

“Aish,” was the only response offered, sometime later followed by, “Come on, lets go see SeokJin.”

They fell into step so naturally it was like they had been dating for ten years. It was like they were married. It was like they had been together all along, not just strangely platonic best friends.

Trading smooth concrete for the uneven brick of the old sidewalk, where it met half way down the alley, was comforting despite the way the red clay impacted Daesung's foot initially. The tip of his shoe bounced off of the tiny step and he stumbled sideways into strong arms with a yelp...that turned into laughter. With a hail of deeply felt laughter trying to rupture his aching lungs the blond wrapped his arms around well muscled shoulders.

YoungBae had to snap his hand away in a flash to pull his arms around the taller man's torso. “People are going to think you're drunk,” he chuckled, trying to keep the other upright as best he could. Honey blond hair tickled his cold flushed cheeks and the light breathlessness that came as an aftermath to that ringing laugher pressed hot into the nape of his neck.

“Sorry,” Dae offered, his voice muffled, but dripping with a sort of light contentment, “I didn't see the brick transition.”

“You could have just ask for a hug you know,” the elder said. He was instantly shoved hard at the shoulders. Pushed away so fast he stumbled backwards half a step.

“It was an actual accident,” the blond defended.

“Yeah, just like that time we kissed in seventh grade at that sleepover right?”

“More of an accident than that,” that really had been an accident, just not much of one.

“So more like that time in high school when I fell on top of you in the hallway outside choir practice?”

“Oh geez,” Daesung groaned as the memory, “I had forgotten about that.”

“Do you remember the rumor that started?” YoungBae asked, stretching out his hand to take Dae's again and restart the forward motion of their short walk.

“That wasn't one of the dating rumors was it?” the younger inquired, wracking his brain for all of the rumors that had been spread about he and his Tae in high school. “No, that was the one where we broke up and were making up in the hallway.”

“Yup.”

“We got called into the principal's office.”

“And you started calling me Bae all of the time because we ended up in detention,” the elder added, “and you were set on making everyone uncomfortable about it.” TaeYang shook his head as they turned the corner onto the street.

“That was the time my mom tried to stop letting you over wasn't it?”

They popped out right between Flour Boy Bakery and EXO Deli and turned left to walk along the the dark wrought iron railing for the outdoor seating to the sandwich shop. The twisted metal spikes were lined and wrapped with obnoxious LED ropes that had burnt out in several key places.

“Was it?” the black haired man asked. His voice was sharp, but it wasn't angry, just moderately distracted.

“I'm pretty sure it was,” the younger replied, shrugging again. “That worked out well for her didn't it?”

YoungBae laughed gently, “Incredibly.”

The evening lulled with silence for a moment, just the scraping of shoes on old brick and the gentle hum of ocational people out braving the new autumn air.

“So,” Daesung sighed out,“about the cancer thing.”

“Is that really what we're going to call it?” the other sighed back.

Daesung shrugged.

Gentle rattling managed to turn their heads at the same time to peer into the dark windowpane of the Deli.

Kyungsoo's wide smile greeted them along with small fingers curved into a heart shape. His hair...was very new. Usually it was fluffy and dark, well, it was still dark. But it was dark red, not dark brown, and he had a bandanna tied along the undercut sides.

Daesung managed to point to his own hair and give a thumbs up, which made the freshly minted red head smile even wider. “It looks nice on him,” he directed at Youngbae. “It's nice to see him with something new.”

“What do you think Heechul's been spreading today?” the elder managed through clenched teeth with a broad smile as he pressed the thumb and index finger of his right hand into and itty-bitty heart shape.

“It's just a haircut,” the taller man laughed, but he could feel his companion's disapproving look without even turning.“Probably whatever Seughyun said he could,” Dae offered, waving a goodbye at the Deli's night manager.

Kyungsoo sent a heart back and waved before swiftly moving back to wiping the counter along the gigantic window.

“He wouldn't say anything harmful,” the younger continued, “he likes Ji's frosting too much.”

That was fair.

Main street...well, the entire historical district that covered the surrounding three blocks, was mainly for the tourists and the rich towns people from the nearby suburban and urban areas. It was rare that the people who lived and worked there truly got to enjoy it.

Hand in hand, they meandered slowly, waving at friends and acquaintances every now and then. Neither of them thought much about how their whole lives revolved around that three block radius now, but they saw at least three of their closest friends as they marched down to First Avenue and crossed.

Bangtan Barbecue was a tiny hole in the wall on the right side First street gong south. It was just passed Flaming Charisma Cupcakes. The lights from the cupcakery spilled onto the darker stretch of street. There were always bright signs for local events plastered across the windows, it was hard to see the pristine inside for all the clutter that mucked up the windowpane.

FCC had an interesting business model for a bakery. They opened later in the morning and stayed open until nearly ten at night for the late night crowd. It made sense. The old four screen movie theatre was farther down first. Sometimes during big midnight movie releases in the summer they would stay open until three and not open again until four the next evening.

YoungBae slipped his phone out of his back pocket and checked the time. 9:12pm. He made Dae stumble a bit as he came to a halt in front of the two concrete steps that lead to the door.

Usually, when they went to see Jin, they stopped and got cupcakes to take with. YoungBae thought to ask but then decided upon, “You go ahead and see your baby brother, I'll get cupcakes and meet you there.”

“You sure?” Daesung asked.

The black haired man was already one step up at the old door when he leaned over to kiss his flustered boyfriend. It was fast, but warm and made up for the chill of having to let got of the handyman's hand had left. “Give Key and Minho hugs for me if you can,” the younger offered as he his heels to finish the last twenty feet of the walk on his own.

The door to Bangtan was small in comparison to the buildings around it. It was tiny steel beamed one level that had been built three decades ago to fill the gap between two other, must older places. Like an after thought it was squeezed between much more refined structures.

The door bell made a metallic clang,following with resounding little jingles as Dae slid in. It was empty, like most places at that hour on a Tuesday. They lived a sleepy little town after all.

It smelled like sticky, sweet, and hot all at the same time. Like the best kind of spicy mixed with dark, rich sauce. It smelled like heaven, but that was probably just because he hadn't eaten much in the past week. Or because Little Jin was the best chef in town.

Or both.

Namjoon, Jin's childhood best friend, with his stark white hair and his giant, round glasses was standing out front. Presumably waiting for customers, but really just looking bored as he scrolled through something on his cell phone.

“Hey,” the younger man nodded.

“Namjoonie,” Dae offered with a wink as he passed by, “I'm just going to seat myself okay?”

“Go for it,” he responded with a sort of minor distain like he always had when he got called 'Namjoonie' and then a sudden burst of “JIN YOU'RE BROTHER IS HERE!” came screaming through his big mouth. It almost knocked the elder off his feet and left a ringing in his ear.

Bangtan had started out as a Korean barbecue place but the décor gave no indication of nationality or affiliation. That was a good thing though, because in the half a year that it had been around it had turned into an international fusion barbecue restaurant.

Jin had made most of his own money to open it, doing Mukbang, with a small photography business on the side. There had been some help from the bakery and a large donation from a not so terribly anonymous but still unknown to Jin himself investor.

Daesung was immensely proud of his baby brother and it probably showed on his face every time he walked through the door. He slid across the clean black tile easily to his usual table, against the wall on the left side.

He had just pulled his sweater up and off, letting it tug at his shirt and pull uncomfortably at the tiny hairs on his arms and dragged it off when...“Dae!” The heartwarmingly cheerful voice of his second youngest sibling squeaked. The door to the kitchen flew wide open, and there was Jin looking like a mess. Covered in sticky brown sugar sauce and splattered in oil. “How was the hospital?”

He was a bit taken aback by the abruptness but it probably shouldn't have surprised him all that much. SeokJin still lived with their parents. Mom had probably been driving everyone crazy asking.

“Not great,” he admitted, holding his arms out for an incredibly rare brotherly hug. Jin obliged. Scrawny arms wrapped around Daesung's ever shrinking waistline and the younger rested his head on his older brother's collarbone. Daesung let out his ten millionth sigh for the day, curling his fingers through thick, shiny black hair, “Sorry I didn't come yesterday.”

“S'okay?” Jin asked rather than saying. His confusion was understandable. The elder was usually more for teasing than for affection.

As they broke apart, what seemed like an eternity later, Jin's bewildered expression became one of concern, “You okay DaeDae?”

To which the blond man responded with a shrug, more of habit than of dismissal.

“Can I go home Jin?” Namjoon asked suddenly, “It's 9:20.”

“Have a good night,” the black haired chef offered in reply, “See you tomorrow.”

There was no reply after that.

“Ten minutes to close huh?” Daesung asked, “I guess I'm that guy.”

“You're my brother idiot,” the other laughed.

The door rang out and Dae would have assumed that it was just Namjoonie leaving but then he heard a second voice and some shuffling and Jin offered, “But he's not. He has to pay,” with a rueful smile and a respectful nod in the direction of the commotion.

“And to think I brought you a cupcake,” YoungBae huffed, holding out the small tie dyed box like a peace offering, expecting Jin to take them.

He got a hug instead and a, “Hey Tae.”

“Hey Jinnie.”

The youngest groaned but made no actual complaint.

“Did he tell you about the hospital yet?” YoungBae inquired.

“I was just getting there,” Daesung sighed, “Then Namjoon opened his big mouth to leave.”

Both black haired men looked at him, waited expectantly. It made the blond giggle because his handyman already knew at least the diagnosis.

“Turns out I have cancer,” he shrugged, shuffling to look at his feet.

After a moment in agonizing silence the answer he got was “Mom's going to kill you for not calling her when she finds out.”

They all three sat down together, at Daesung's favorite table and ate a dinner made by his brother.

The first question was easy and super predictable, the second question was what caught Dae off guard.It shouldn't have because it was very...very, like SeokJin to be the first one to ask, “How can I help?”

The answer was painful for him, as a big brother, as a person really. Daesung was the kind of person who preferred not to ask for help at all, but this wasn't one of those times he got a choice.

“Honest answer?” Dae asked, running a hand through his hair as he fixed his gaze on the sticky ribs in front of him.

“I'm not even going to dignify that with a response,” Jin snorted.

“Well,” Dae sighed, “I was going to bring this all up later, with more people around so I wouldn't have to ask everyone I know individually but I guess now is as good a time as any.”

“You can just tell Heechul later,” YoungBae dismissed with a mouth full of grilled corn.

As much as Daesung didn't think that was funny in this particular case, he did also find it very funny. “Here's the thing,” he said, “One way or another I'm going to need a bone marrow transplant...Doctor Lee said the more people get tested the better chances of finding someone that can donate. Since we're related there's a better chance you'll be a match.”

The door rang out loud with a shrill mechanical beep. The smell of cigarette smoke wafted in on the chill of the evening air. “Do you want me to lock the door babe?” a sweet, rich voice that sounded super familiar asked. A startled, “Oh,” reached Daesung's ears as he turned in his seat to find a rather flustered looking Junho standing in front of the glass shop front.

“You have costumers?” the gym manager choked out as he pulled his red hood down, letting it drag around his shoulders. Freshly dyed red-pink hair popped out. Freshly dyed, because he had been a nearly blond for a good two years by then.

“Not customers,” Jin offered between bites of delicious beef, “Guests.”

~~~~~

Contrary to popular belief I do not actually like cliffhangers...I just happened to have set this up like a Kdrama and Kdrama's love them. Also This chapter was getting wildly out of control. I'm not going to lie, I have struggled a little with this story in the past month, even the past week. This chapter was hard for me. I wanted to make it longer but I split it into two parts instead. The rest will be coming next week. I am so sorry for the short hiatus guys. My life got so busy. I promise I didn't forget about you or this story. I promise I never ever go a day without thinking about the lovely people who read this; and I will work harder to be more consistent moving forward.

I love you all even though I don't know you. Pretty please leave a comment if you enjoyed, let me know what you think. I love hearing from you all.

Much love

~RFL

(Super tiny side note: It bears to mention that I crack ship sometimes...or a lot...mostly because I let the AU pick it's ships according to the character arcs. So yeah...crack ships. Sorry about that.)

(Really, please leave me a comment. They keep me going.)