When Ten woke up, he noticed that he was in an unfamiliar room. The nurse who came made him aware of his surroundings due to her uniform. “Oh you’re awake,” she had a bright and soothing smile, “I was just coming to see if you made any progress.”

“Excuse me?” The nurse gave a hum of acknowledgment, “Why am I here?”

“Well dear, you fainted yesterday around midday I believe due to exhaustion from overworking your body. It also appears you’ve not been eating properly, which added to your body running out of energy, causing you to faint.”

All this information was a lot to take in, but the words ‘fainted’ and ‘exhaustion’ stuck out the most. At a point Ten did recognise that he wasn’t being careful with his health, but he didn’t think it had reached this extent. The nurse sensed his weariness, “don’t worry, your friends have been informed and are coming by later today. I’m sure they can fill you in on anything I may have missed.” She came and fluffed his pillow, “try not to stress yourself out too much love.”

“Thank you miss,” Ten politely smiled.

“Your welcome dear,” and she left the room. Ten looked around the room and let out a long sigh, he was on edge at how the others would be when they came. More specifically, he was anxious of 4 people’s reaction. He figured Johnny and Lucas would carefully and kindly chastise him for abandoning his health. But Taeyong and Jaehyun were a different story. When it came to Ten, Taeyong and Jaehyun were extremely overprotective, always hovering over him watching his every move. The shift and end to their relationship changed this, but Ten knew they were still checking up on him through the Dreamies.

In the midst of his daydream, two people entered the room. The first cleared his throat bringing Ten back into the room, “Hey.”

“Hi Taeyong, Jaehyun. How are you guys, is everyone else okay? I hope I’ve not scared anyone and they’re heal-”

Jaehyun scoffed, “Unbelievable!” he exclaimed. “You’re here lying in a hospital bed, but you’re still thinking of everyone but yourself!” Ten was shocked at his outburst. In their relationship, Jaehyun was usually the mediator, being the only one to stay calm in any situation. Seeing Jae worked up over him was a new experience, and one that swiftly shut Ten up.

“Jae calm down,” Taeyong pipped up. Jaehyun visibly calmed but he continued to grumble under his breath. Taeyong made his way to Ten and sat in the chair beside the bed, “Never mind about everyone else, who are fine by the way. How are you feeling?” He grasped Ten’s hand in his.

Ten melted at the action and tightened his hold on Taeyong, “I’m so sorry.” The moment the word left his mouth, he started to well up, “Good going Tae, you made him cry.” Jaehyun had pulled up a chair and was holding Ten’s other hand. Ten shook his head with a soft chuckle, “No, I’m fine. I’m just disappointed in myself for causing so much trouble, I really didn’t mean to.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Taeyong and Jaehyun said at the same time.

“Yah! I’m your hyung Jaehyun.”

“Okay… don’t be stupid hyung.” The boy had a cheeky smile on his face which made Ten laugh. Soon the others two joined in, Ten’s laugh having a contagious effect.

While they were calming down, Taeyong and Jaehyun shared a look. Ten looked between them trying to figure out what was going on, but Taeyong spoke before he could ask. “T-this isn’t really how we wanted to this,” he started.

“But I suppose now’s a good a time as ever,” Jaehyun added.

“I’m confused, what’s going on?”

“Well…”

“… we still love you.” Ten’s shock must have been more evident than he thought. “Before you say anything, we’re sorry it took you disappearing for two years for us to realise our mistakes. I took your love for granted and hid so many things from you. But when you left, you took a part of me with you, as cheesy as that sounds, and you’ve had my hearts ever since I first laid eyes on you. You have no idea how jealous I was watching Johnny and Lucas hang out with you, or when Mark would cling to you, and you would let out genuine smiles and laughs. I became mad at myself that I wasn’t the one who could make you smile anymore, and that all I brought was sadness.”

Once Jaehyun finished Taeyong started, “Everyday you were gone, I couldn’t stop beating myself up thinking I was the reason you left. Though there may be some truth in that, I’ve been waiting for this day to make it up to you. Our half assed attempt before was pathetic, but you still accepted it with all your heart, only to have it stomped on again. At first when we asked you to be a part of our relationship, it was all fun and games and we thought our fascination with you would disappear. But the more time we spent with you, I spent with you, I realised it was more than that. After you shared your insecurities with us, I wanted nothing more than to protect you. I was heartbroken reading your letter and then you left without even saying goodbye, but I deserved it, and I can only hope you’ll give me another chance to be all that you need. Give us another chance to prove we can be best thing for you.”

Ten was speechless. Although he’d been waiting for this moment, he never thought it would come. He had an inkling that their relationship wasn’t really in the beginning, but he put it down to his own paranoia and insecurity. At least he knew he was right. Ten didn’t know if this was what he wanted anymore. He spent the past two years trying to forget them; even though he failed, he was finally starting to feel okay again without them and he didn’t like this feeling of uncertainty that came from the possible rekindling of their romance.

His loosening grip on their hands made Taeyong and Jaehyun think they were losing Ten. They believed he was silently rejecting them, having been rendered unable to speak since their mini monologues. Jaehyun started to sniffle, disguising it as a cough, and that’s when Ten spoke up.

“Okay”

“Okay?” Taeyong looked at him. What was ‘okay’ supposed to mean?

“Yeah, okay. I hear what you’re saying, and I-I understand so I accept your apologies.”

“Okay… thank you. It means a lot th-”

“I’m not finished. I accept your apologies… but I can’t be your boyfriend again, at least not right now.” As much as Ten wanted to, he wasn’t foolish enough to throw himself back into the deep end when he was just learning how to float again. “I want to be with you both, but right now I need to learn to just be your friends. I know you mean well, it’s just a matter of trust and I don’t trust either of you enough anymore to be in a relationship. Maybe if this was two years ago, I would have run with open arm, but I need to be sure I can trust you both before I put myself in this again. I hope you can understand and accept my decision.”

Jaehyun squeezed Ten’s hand as he looked deep into his eyes, “Of course we do. I’m just glad you don’t hate us, I know I would and did after what happened.”

“I could never hate you, either of you. I love you both so much that it hurts, and that why I need to be just your friend.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself,” Taeyong’s hold also tightened. “Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to still be your friend. But just know we’re not going to stop trying to woo you back, this is just going to make us work harder.”

Ten let out a slight laugh, “I look forward to it.” The three stayed in their position until Ten was discharged. Taeyong and Jaehyun refused to let Ten’s hand free and Ten secretly basked in the feeling that spread through his heart. For the first time in three years he didn’t want to run and hide, as he watched the two animatedly filled him in on the missed journey of their two years without him. It may not have been where all three of them wished to be in the stage of their relationship, but they were thankful they be together again freely, with no fears or worries.