Hansol was humming along to the radio as he was finishing up his work for the day. He knew Seungkwan was going to be busy with Soonyoung tonight so he got a few extra hours of work in today to make sure he could leave on time tomorrow and spend some time with him. Hansol stretched his arms and cracked his back. He got out of his dirty overalls and hung them in his locker. He couldn't wait to get home and take a nice hot shower. He picked up his phone and checked if Seungkwan had sent him anything. He was expecting a few messages, maybe a photo or two, but he didn't expect his phone to be blowing up with messages and missed call notifications from basically everyone except Seungkwan. Just as he unlocked his phone to see what was going on he got an incoming call.

“Chan? What's up?”

“ing finally! Everybody has been trying to reach you!”

“Dude, I was working, stop yelling. What's going on?”

“Hansol...it's Seungkwan. You better get down here.”

“What with Seungkwan? Is he okay? And where is here? Where are you?”

“I'm at the hospital. The one owned by Mingyu's dad, he had him transferred here.”

“Transferred? Transferred from where? What the are you talking about, Chan!?”

“Just get here.”

<>

The hospital was all the way across town and every second it took him to get there Hansol felt more anxious. When he finally arrived he barged through the doors of the relatively quiet emergency room and slammed his hand on the flat surface of the reception desk to get the nurse's attention. “Excuse me! I'm looking for someone. Where is Boo Seungkwan?”

The nurse at the reception desk looked up at him, unfazed by the urgency in his trembling voice, “And who are you?”

“Does that matter? I'm his...friend.” From the look on her face Hansol could tell that his unsure pause told the nurse that he wasn't just a friend. She did not seem sympathetic in the slightest.

“Well sir, only family is allowed in right now. Friends can come back tomorrow during visiting hours.”

“Look lady, just tell me where he is!”

“Sir. This is a hospital, I suggest you calm down. I cannot let you see him right now. Like I said, you can come back during visiting hours tomorrow.”

“Are you ing kidding me!? Tell me where Boo Seungkwan is or-”

“Hansol!” Mingyu rushed towards him and placed a hand on his arm to try and calm him down. He looked at the reception nurse, “It's okay. I'll take him to Mr.Boo's room.”

“Visiting hours are over, Mr. Kim. Only family and-.”

“He is his family. I said I'll take it from here.”

Hansol had never seen this side of Mingyu. There was an authoritative air around him that was quite impressive. Something he might have appreciated more if his mind wasn't occupied with other thoughts.

“He's just down the hall.” Mingyu explained as he was leading the way, “That nurse is full of it. They let me, Seungcheol, and Soonyoung in to see him.”

“What happened to him? Is he okay?”

“Some guys beat him up. Him and DK from Daebak. When Soonyoung called me I called my dad to get him transferred here. This place is a lot better than the hospital the ambulance had brought them to initially. It's been a few hours and the doctors are done with initial treatment for now, but they're monitoring him closely. He's really in the best care right now, so try not to freak out too much, okay?” Easier said than done, Mingyu knew. He himself had some time to calm down and acclimate to the condition Seungkwan was in, but Hansol hadn't even seen him yet.

It wasn't hard to figure out which room belonged to Seungkwan as the hallway was crowded with their friends. As soon as he saw Hansol, Jisoo rushed over and hugged him tightly, “Hansol! I'm sorry we couldn't reach you sooner!” Jun and Chan got up from the bench they had been sitting on and offered some comforting pats on the back. Soonyoung slightly opened the door to Seungkwan's room and a moment later Seungcheol walked out.

Hansol pulled back from the hug. “You could have called my work directly.”

Jisoo's face turned white and he covered his mouth, “Oh Hansol, I'm so sorry. We should have thought of that! I-”

“It doesn't matter now. I'm here and I just want to see him.”

Jisoo nodded, “He's asleep right now, but you should be with him anyway. We've been making sure there's always someone with him so he's not by himself in case he wakes up.”

Before Hansol could go in Seungcheol placed his hand on his chest, stopping him right by the door. He looked tired and stressed, “The doctor said it looks worse than it is, all right?”

Hansol opened the door and saw Seungkwan lying in the hospital bed. One of his eyes was completely shut from all the swelling, his lip was busted, his arms were more black and blue than anything else. Hansol backed out of the room and let the door fall shut.

“Hansol?” Jisoo asked and he placed a hand on his shoulder. He could feel Hansol was trembling.

“Who did this to him?” he hissed in a low voice.

“We don't have all the details yet, but according to what we know now they were jumped for no reason by three men. The police are looking for them.” Seungcheol answered, voice steady and controlled.

“I'll find them...” Hansol continued in his strained voice, his hands tightly balled into fists, “I'll find them and ing murder them.”

This wasn't the first time Jisoo had seen Hansol angry, but it was a rarity he'd rather see extinct. When he was angry, really angry, Hansol scared him. Not that he was afraid Hansol would ever hurt him, but he was afraid of what he might do in his rage.

“The police are on it, okay?” Soonyoung decided to weigh in, “Right now all you, or any of us, can do is be there for him, and-” Hansol turned around and grabbed Soonyoung by his shirt and slammed him against the wall. His face dangerously close.

“Where the were you!? Weren't you supposed to be with him? Why are you fine and he's...he's-” His hold on Soonyoung loosened and he easily got pulled off by Seungcheol's strong arms.

“Calm down, man!”

Hansol wiggled free and pushed him off, “Calm down!? How can I calm down! Have you seen him!” He ran his hand through his hair in frustration and felt the tears stinging in his eyes.

“We're all angry, Sol.” Chan spoke in a calm voice. “But what he needs right now is for you to go in there and be with him. Not to run around all angry and attacking his friends who are just as pissed off as you are.”

Hansol was still breathing heavily, but he was trying to calm himself down. He knew Chan was right. This wasn't helping Seungkwan. This was only going to get him thrown out by security.

“Hansol, please.” Jun walked up next to him, “Go inside and focus on how much you love him, not how much you hate the people who did this to him.”

Hansol took a big breath and nodded. He cast a glance in Soonyoung's direction, “Sorry.” he mumbled. “I'm glad at least one of you is all right I guess.”

Inside the room he sat down close to the bed. It was hard to look at him. If this is what he looked like after they got him treated and cleaned up, he didn't want to think about how he must have looked when he was brought in. He carefully placed his hand on top of Seungkwan. “Seungkwan, I'm here.” he whispered, “I don't want to wake you. Just know that I'm here.”

<>

“Mingyu!” Come into my office for a moment.”

Mingyu walked over to his father with an apologetic look to his friends. They had barely gotten a chance to recover from Hansol's outburst and Mingyu suspected someone had called his father instead of security, “Now? I want to stay here.”

“It won't take long, son.”

So Mingyu sighed and followed him to his office.

“First of all, what happened with the nurse?”

“Nothing happened. She was being difficult. Hansol just wanted to know where Seungkwan was so he could go see him and she was refusing to tell him. So I told her I'd take him.”

“Hansol. He is Seungkwan's...” he didn't finish the sentence, but Mingyu understood what he meant. He hadn't told his parents that his friend was gay, but it's not like there weren't any rumors going around about what had caused the rift between him and his family. Mingyu nodded.

“I see. Well, he's with him now?”

Again Mingyu nodded. He never quite knew how to talk to his father. It's not that he disliked him, but they never seemed to be on the same wavelength. Now also, he couldn't tell if his father thought it was a good thing or not that he had brought Hansol to Seungkwan.

“Very well. Look, ehm, son, I know this isn't the best time, but I've been meaning to talk to you. You barely come home anymore so we don't see each other a lot. To be frank, this whole situation with Seungkwan, even before today, has got me thinking. How do you see your future?”

“I...I'll finish medical school like you want and eventually take over here. Right?”

His father nodded slowly, “Right. And besides that?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that owning this hospital is about more than providing medical care. We have a lot of patients who have strong family values and we have an image to uphold. I do expect you to get married and start a family in the future. Now...my concern is, or, not concern that's not the right word...Mingyu, you've never once brought home a girlfriend or even talked about having one and-”

“Dad, I-”

“Let me finish. I've heard a lot about your friend Seungkwan and his...preferences. I don't know if you share those preferences or not and frankly I don't care. What I do care about is the reputation of this hospital. If you can't or don't want to find a proper match for you, I will.”

“You already control almost everything about my life and now you want to dictate who I'm going to marry!?”

“I'm just saying that if you are not interested in girls I don't expect you to go out and bother finding one that you can marry. So I will.”

“Who says I can't find a girl!?” That wasn't the point. That was so not the point. “Maybe I'm just so busy trying to squeeze myself into the mold you made for me the day I was born that I haven't had time to!”

“Oh, please! You are constantly skipping classes, your grades leave a lot to be desired, and you probably still spend time on your 'art' instead of focusing on what's really important! When will you learn to appreciate-” His father stopped. Held up his hand and sighed. “Look,” he continued in a calmer manner, “I know it isn't always easy and that there is a lot of pressure on you. I know that. But I need you to realize that the romantic idea you probably still have of life and of love is naive and unrealistic. Marriage isn't all about love, Mingyu. Sometimes you have to realize that...Look at Seungkwan. He chose love, didn't he? Look at where he is now. An uncertain future, no family. Can you honestly say he's better off?”

“You have no idea what you're talking about! I don't want to talk about this right now! I'm going back to be with my friend!”

“Mingyu?”

Mingyu turned back around away from the door in frustration, “What!”

“Come home for dinner every now and then. Your, eh, your mother misses you.”

“Whatever!” He flung opened the door and walked without really seeing where he was going and he almost bumped into Minghao coming around the corner.

“Oh, hey. Minghao.” Mingyu mumbled.

He was lying if it didn't make his heart flutter a little hearing Mingyu use his real name in person for the first time. They had actually been messaging back and forth since Mingyu gave him his number. Not a lot. But that was mainly because Minghao had a habit of leaving Mingyu on read for prolonged periods of time.

“Hey.”

“Are you here to see DK? He's-”

“I know where he is. I've been here for hours.”

“Oh.”

“How is Seungkwan doing? DK asked me to check up on him. The last info we got is from a few hours ago, so...”

“He's...he'll be okay eventually. He's pretty busted up though. Thank you for asking.”

“Like I said, DK wanted me to check.”

“Right. Well, thanks anyway. I'd better get back.” It was weird how he had so much he wanted to talk to Minghao about, but when he was actually faced with him he never quite knew what to say. Or how to form coherent sentences that were longer than five words.

“Are...are you okay?” Minghao asked. He could tell Mingyu was upset and it didn't seem to just be about Seungkwan. He saw whose office he'd just come out off. He just wanted to ask how he was without making it seem like he actually cared.

Mingyu sighed and sat down on the bench between two vending machines, “One of my best friends got the beat out of him for no apparent reason and my dad thought it was a good time for me to reflect on my life and future. He also wanted me to know that marriage isn't about love. He's so full of sometimes. I've seen the way he is with my mother. There's no way that their marriage had nothing to do with love. He's just worried that I don't want to get married at all. Not to a girl anyway. I just...don't want to deal with this right now. Seungkwan he-”

Without saying a word Minghao simply sat down next to him and placed his hand gently on his.

Mingyu didn't see his father looking at them from his office window. Minghao did. It oddly gave him the confidence to tangle their fingers together. It was an unfamiliar feeling to him. Unfamiliar and a bit awkward, but nice. Mingyu's father closed the blinds.

<>

Soonyoung carefully opened the door and peeked inside. Thankfully there was no-one else there but the person he had come to see. He knocked on the door to get his attention, “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, of course!” Seokmin smiled at him and looked genuinely happy that he was there. Soonyoung wished he could return his smile, but he didn't understand how he could be smiling right now. Maybe Seokmin hadn't seen a mirror.

“Did your friends leave already? I can't believe they'd leave you alone right now.”

Seokmin pointed out the chairs pulled up all around to his bed, “You really have a low opinion of us, don't you?”

Soonyoung sat down in one of the chairs without giving a reply.

“They didn't leave me. They just went to get some food. I practically had to push them out the door, but I knew they were hungry. They'll be back soon.”

“Guess I don't have to worry about you being lonely then.” Seokmin chuckled and this time Soonyoung was able to smile back. A sad smile. Seeing Seokmin so cheerful even after what he had been through, made his heart ache. He reached out and held his hand, “I'm sorry this happened, Seokmin.”

“It's not your fault.”

“Still...I...you were there because of me.”

“You can't think like that. I don't want you to think like that. I was there because I wanted to be there. What happened was...a very unfortunate side effect.”

The room went quiet and a the air felt heavier than before. “Soonyoung? Did you talk to Seungkwan about what happened?”

“Well, I mean, I was there when the police talked to him.”

“Did he tell you...When they were beating us up they were,” his voice quivered, “yelling things to us.”

“What kind of things?” Seungkwan hadn't said anything about this.

“Things like..., gay trash...”

“What!?” Soonyoung had been angry before when he thought it was a random attack, but this really had his blood boiling.

“I...right before it happened Seungkwan and I had our arms linked together. Just in a friendly type of way and I really don't think anyone could have read that as gay, but...”

For the first time Soonyoung saw how this was pressing on Seokmin and he gave his hand a little squeeze, “Thank you for telling me. Did you tell the police any of this?”

Seokmin shook his head. Probably for the best.

“Oh! How did it go with your mother?” Seokmin almost yelled.

“We don't have to talk about that right now.”

And they didn't get a chance to anyway since the door flew open and in came Jihoon, Jeonghan, and Wonwoo.

“Oh my, are we interrupting something?” Jeonghan asked. The delighted smirk on his face was starkly juxtaposed by Jihoon's grumpy scowl.

Soonyoung let go of Seokmin's hand and stood up. He glared at them, mostly Jihoon, “I was just leaving.” He looked back at Seokmin and briefly brushed their hands together, “I'll talk to you later, man.”

He left Seokmin with his friends and walked back to the hallway in front of Seungkwan's room where most of them were still hanging out. He approached Seungcheol and whispered, “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

Seungcheol nodded, “Yeah, I want to talk to you too, actually.”

They slipped into an empty room and Soonyoung told Seungcheol about what Seokmin had told him. About the things the men responsible had been yelling at them. “I don't know if Seungkwan remembers this, but if he does it worries me that he hasn't told any of us. He always keeps stuff like this in. What do you think is best here?”

“For now let's wait and see if he opens up. Maybe he just needs some time. Maybe he really doesn't remember or didn't even hear.” Seungcheol furrowed his eyebrows, “What if they thought Seokmin was Hansol?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said yourself that Seokmin said he and Seungkwan weren't being overly affectionate or anything. Nothing to warrant such a viciously homophobic attack. So what if they already knew who they were attacking, but made a slight mistake.”

“Even if that's true, who would-” he stopped and saw the look on Seungcheol's face, “You think it might have been his father, don't you?”

Seungcheol sighed and ran his hand through his hair, “I just got off the phone with the police. One of my dad's buddies' son is on the case. We used to hang out whenever our dads dragged us along on one of their guy trips. He's a few years older than us. Anyway, he told me that they already found one of the suspects. Identified him through security tapes. They think he and the other two men were just hired hands. Nothing yet on who hired them or what their exact instructions were, but...”

“You really think his dad would do that?”

“You weren't there that night we ran into him. The way he talked, the way he looked at Seungkwan and Hansol. I wouldn't put it passed him to be honest.”

“...”

“Soonyoung, let's keep this between us for now. At least until we know something with more certainty. I'm just guessing right now.”

Soonyoung nodded in agreement, but Seungcheol added, “I'm serious. Don't tell any of the Daebak members, don't tell Seungkwan. And especially don't tell Hansol. He's an impulsive idiot when angry, as we know. If he finds out Seungkwan's dad might have had anything to do with this he might actually kill him.”

<>

It was late at night and everybody had gone home. Except for Hansol. He refused to leave. It took some effort, but the hospital staff had agreed to let him stay the night. He had just stepped out to get a snack and when he came back he saw a woman standing in front of Seungkwan's room. She was dressed in fine clothes and her overall appearance was neat and composed. Except for the look on her face, confused and conflicted. Hansol approached the room and stopped next to her, “You his mother?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

The woman jerked her head to the side, startled by the sudden voice. Perhaps she hadn't thought anyone would still be with him at this late hour. She pursed he lips and nodded. Hansol looked her over again before he pushed open the door to Seungkwan's room and went inside. He sat back down in the chair he had pulled up next to his bed. He could hear the door open again and the slow sound of Seungkwan's mother's heels as she walked over to the other side of the bed. She let out a small inaudible gasp and covered . The room was silent as she took in the sight of her son. She was still looking at him when she spoke, “You're Hansol, aren't you?”

Not answering her question Hansol replied, “How did you know he was here? I didn't think he'd have you listed as an emergency contact.”

“He didn't. I received a phone call from Mingyu's father.” She reached out and lightly brushed her son's hair with her fingertips, “I think my husband received the same call. He didn't even tell me. My son is in the hospital and I-”

“Maybe if your husband wasn't an homophobe.”

She looked at him. She was clearly shaken, but Hansol didn't care about her feelings. He didn't want her here if it would only hurt Seungkwan.

“You have to understand that it's not something we're used to in our circles. It's not normal. We can't just-”

“You and your husband sure are a perfect match.”

“Excuse me?”

Hansol stood up, he could feel his self-control slipping away, “Why are you even here!? Wouldn't it be much easier for you to keep ignoring him. Or better yet, what if he died? Wouldn't that make you happy? Then you and your precious husband wouldn't have to pretend that he doesn't exist!”

“How dare you! He is my son! I might not be a perfect mother, but I am willing to forgive him for what he has put us through, and-”

“What he put you through!? You've got to be ing kidding me! You are just-”

“W-what's going on?” Seungkwan's soft broken voice interrupted, “Hansol?”

Immediately Hansol took Seungkwan's hand to assure him he was right there, “Oh, baby, I'm sorry I woke you up. It's okay, just go back to sleep.”

Seungkwan was confused, why was his mother here? Was he on some sort of morphine high? He looked at her. She was stiff as always, but not as composed. “Mom? What are you doing here?”

She briefly looked at Hansol and back to Seungkwan. She opened , but closed it again without speaking and walked away. Hansol kissed Seungkwan's hand and put it down on the bed, “I'll be right back.”

“Hansol, wait-” Seungkwan groaned in pain and discomfort as he tried to sit up too fast, but Hansol was already out the door.

“Did he tell you? Did your husband tell you that he ran into us?” Seungkwan's mother stopped in her tracks and stood still. She didn't turn around, but Hansol knew he had her attention. “He told Seungkwan that he wished he never had a son and that he was disgusted by him. What kind of mother defends a father saying these things to her child? Don't come back. Leave him alone. You don't deserve him.”

She walked away and Hansol returned to Seungkwan's side.

“Hansol? Can you lie down next to me?”

“Are you sure? I'm afraid I'll accidentally pull out a tube or something.”

“Please?” His voice was so weak. It broke Hansol's heart. He carefully climbed into bed next to him and wrapped his arms around him. Seungkwan didn't ask why his mother had been there or why they had been yelling. He tried to push away the voices of the men calling him all sorts of things. He placed his head on Hansol's chest and focused on his heartbeat and the way he smelled. Slowly the warmth of his body and the slow movement of his chest moving up and down with his breathing lulled him back to sleep.

+++

omg I totally forgot to update here!! The next chapter will be posted soon too!