“Taeyong…please…You can’t do this to us - to me. I love you so much, please wake up…”

Trying to groan but failing, Taeyong slowly opened his eyes that he didn’t know were closed, blinking several times and registering the familiar bed of the base’s hidden underground hospital. However, his surroundings only lasted a second before a certain Japanese male was taking up his vision and sobbing in front of him.

“Yuta-hyung, back up,” A voice that Taeyong recognised to be Sicheng’s stated but Yuta simply shook his head, the other’s fingers coming closer to his face before they were caressing both of his cheeks. “Well…at least he’s stable.”

“Taeyong, you scared me so much,” Yuta sobbed out, guilt pooling in Taeyong’s stomach as he laid there against the sheets. “You had internal ruptures, burns, gun shots, what the happened?”

“I honestly, don’t even remember,” He answered honestly, wondering just how much he had missed. “How long was I gone?”

“Taeyong, you’ve been in a coma for a month,” Yuta stated, worry obviously in his eyes as Taeyong took the necessary time to process that specific piece of information. “You’re only here because Doyeon sacrificed herself and gave us her blood to give to you.”

One month. 

I’ve been gone for one month.

“Taeyong?” He heard Yuta ask before the other was patting his hair lovingly, adoration swirling in his eyes. “It’s okay. You’ll be okay.”

“Will we be okay?” He asked feebly, energy already slipping away but he was able to hear Sicheng’s chuckle and Yuta’s reassuring answer.

“Of course we will. Why wouldn’t we be, Tae?”

He allowed himself to smile before bringing his hands up to hold Yuta’s own that were on his face.

“I hope we’ll always be okay, Yuta,” He admitted, closing his eyes and enjoying the warmth that bloomed within him. “I hope so because I love you.” 

The lull of sleep called him once more and darkness surrounded Taeyong again.

~ ~ ~

“Jaemin…Jaemin, why can’t I stand?” Swallowing tears, Jaemin smiled wryly and planted a kiss on top of Renjun’s head, willing himself not to cry for the past times where he did, Renjun had panicked and tried to run over to him despite his healing legs. 

“It’s okay, baby. You just got into an accident and we’re waiting for your legs to heal,” He answered, seeing Renjun nod but also knowing that the other had seen through his lie. “Come on, why don’t we go and visit the others, yeah?” He asked, ignoring Renjun’s skeptical look but smiling gently nonetheless and sighing when the other agreed. It had been a month - a whole month of getting used to caring for Renjun like this. Picking him up and placing him in his wheelchair, pushing him around until they reached the elevator and taking him into the basement where they would meet up with Winwin in the underground hospital. 

“I still find it amazing how this is only a temporary condition,” Winwin stated in awe as he reviewed the brain scans that he had just done for Renjun - the patient too lazy to even sit up in the bed. “But the more amazing thing is how the hippocampus seems to be healing.”

“Is that a good thing?” He asked, looking down at the scans in the older’s hands but making no sense of it. “Like, don’t things heal?”

“Not the hippocampus,” Winwin answered, clenching his teeth as he continued to look at the scans. “Whatever happened to him as a slave, it must have made some part of him inhuman.”

“Are you telling me that my boyfriend is Superman?” He asked, half joking but also half concerned. His answer came in the form on Winwin laughing fondly.

“No, no, he’s human…well, mostly,” Winwin said before staring at Renjun who had fallen asleep on the bed. “I think B.A.P experimented with him or put some chemicals in him to see if they could use it on their enemies. But…they must’ve never known about this outcome.”

“But he’ll be okay, right?” He asked, concern filling his being as he thought of the leader of NCT as well. “And Taeyong-sshi? He’ll be okay too, yeah?”

“Taeyong-hyung woke up this morning actually,” Winwin replied, smiling softly at him. “He doesn’t seem to be in a bad condition mentally which I’m grateful for but it might take a while for symptoms to show.”

“God…who knew that it would come to this…” He let out, sighing and remembering the face of the receptionist at the university when he had gone to tell them that both himself and Renjun were dropping out entirely. 

“Do you regret it, though? Meeting Renjun and the rest of us?” Winwin asked him and he immediately shook his head, not wanting to know a life without NCT or Renjun - especially Renjun. “Better than living with the god brother?”

“I said that I was sorry for hiding that!” He exclaimed loudly, the groans coming from Renjun as he woke up breaking up their argument. “Baby, are you okay?” He asked, immediately rushing over to Renjun and ignoring Winwin’s comment of being whipped. He cooed internally when Renjun nodded sleepily and rubbed sleep from his eyes, the other looking up at him and making kissy faces to signal that he wanted one. Play fully rolling his eyes, Jaemin leaned down and gave a soft and lingering kiss to Renjun’s lips, enjoying every second of it when Renjun began to kiss back.

“Get out and take your make out session elsewhere.”

~ ~ ~

“Are you kidding me?! Only five hundred thousand?!” Mark sighed as he stared at his feisty boyfriend who was currently sitting opposite Daeyeol - the leader of Golden Child - in a negotiation. “These chemicals are worth twice that amount!”

“You see, the WGC Alliance doesn’t have that much, Haechan,” Daey