The sun is about to set the sky on fire and the city is bustling with people getting off work and heading home when Chanyeol exits the hospital. The temperature is warmer than he expects, and he slowly takes off his jacket. It’s still too early to be spring but Chanyeol doesn’t care when he walks through the city, he calls his home and observes people walking past.

He sits down on a bench in front of a small corner park and looks at the city around him. The thing that overpowers him, though, is the feeling that he’s missing a part of himself. Minseok should be there beside him, pointing out the birds that fly a little too close for comfort or the young couple playing with their young son. He should be there, holding Chanyeol’s hand and resting his head on Chanyeol’s shoulder. There is something so fundamentally wrong in being here alone that Chanyeol feels a lump in his throat and a knot in his heart.

It’s not that Chanyeol isn’t used to walking around alone or being independent. He is. He goes to work alone; he goes grocery shopping alone and he hangs out with his friends without Minseok. Chanyeol is independent enough but he likes coming home to Minseok and snuggling up and becoming a twosome.

With Minseok in the hospital, however, Chanyeol feels more alone than ever. It . He gets off of the bench and continues on his way home as the sun slowly sets in the distance and the sky turns orange.

---

Chanyeol is awakened at 6 AM by his phone ringing. He reaches out towards the noise, his foggy brain not caring too much about who’s calling. He rolls over onto his side and notices the cold side of the bed that is Minseok’s and everything comes back to him. It’s not the hospital calling, though, and Chanyeol groans when he hears his best friend on the other end.

“What time is it?” he asks, voice hoarse and sleepy. Baekhyun sighs on the other end and Chanyeol grimaces in his bed.

“Why so early? What is it?” He listens while Baekhyun tells him about a Kris Wu, a chemist at Lab 32, that has been admitted to Asan Medical Center with untreatable hypothermia. It takes a while for Chanyeol’s sleeping brain to catch up.

“Wait, what? Are you serious?” Chanyeol jumps out of bed and flings the closet door open. He’s trying to grab a pair of jeans but everything he gets his hands on are Minseok’s and he’s just too tall for Minseok’s jeans.

“We have to go there!”

Baekhyun continues on about how Chanyeol isn’t in any state to drive and he’s going to pick him up and Chanyeol mocks him silently with grimaces while he still tries to find any decent clothing. When he hangs up on Baekhyun, he has fifteen minutes to get dressed and shaved.

He’s not ready when the doorbell rings at 6.25 AM. He opens the door with his razor in hand and shaving cream still covering half his chin. Baekhyun groans.

“Go get ready, you caveman,” he says and pushes Chanyeol back into the apartment. Chanyeol rolls his eyes but does what he’s told. He finishes shaving, brushes his teeth and washes his face with water. Baekhyun looks at their painting in the living room when Chanyeol finds him again.

“Are we even allowed to visit at this hour?” he asks and Baekhyun shrugs a little.

“It’ll take an hour or more to get there anyway because of traffic and we have to pick up Sookyung first, so we should be good. I don’t know too much about Kris Wu’s condition, though, so it might not be the same and they might not give you any details.”

“How did you get details anyway?” Chanyeol asks as he locks the front door to the apartment and starts towards the stairs. Baekhyun grabs his sleeve and pulls him in the direction of the elevators instead.

“I have connections,” he says with a smirk and Chanyeol knows it’s a lie, so he punches Baekhyun’s shoulder lightly and asks again. Baekhyun looks betrayed at Chanyeol.

“Sookyung has connections. I don’t know how she got the details; maybe she forced it out of someone with her muscles.”

Chanyeol snorts at the mental image of Sookyung holding someone in a headlock, forcing them to spill whatever details they know. It’s not that the image is unlikely, Sookyung has put many strong men in headlocks, including both Chanyeol and Baekhyun, but she doesn’t like to display just how strong she actually is outside of field work. Chanyeol knows he wouldn’t dare be her enemy, however. She’s small but extremely terrifying – another reason she has been promoted so quickly in the military.

Sookyung hits them both on the head with a newspaper when they pick her up and tell her about the torture, she must’ve put someone through to get the details of Kris Wu, currently in a hypothermic coma.

“He’s the uncle to one of the guys,” she says and hits them both again, just to really stick it to them. “You’re idiots. I don’t go around torturing people.”

Chanyeol and Baekhyun share a look that says otherwise.

“If you say so, sweetheart,” Baekhyun says and Sookyung raises the newspaper in warning. “Thinking of you headlocking someone makes you way cooler.”

She rolls her eyes, lets the newspaper down again and looks out the window, purposely ignoring both of them while they share another grin.

When they pull up to Asan Medical Center, there’re already filled parking lots and ambulances arriving to the ER. People are filing in and out even though it’s only 8 AM. Baekhyun is cursing as he cruises through the parking lots, Sookyung is texting someone and Chanyeol is getting increasingly impatient.

When they round the parking lot for the fourth time, Chanyeol groans out loud and Baekhyun looks annoyed at him.

“Okay, okay, I’ll drop you off in front of the main entrance and keep looking for a parking spot,” he says. Annoyance is dripping from his voice but it’s nothing compared to the annoyance Chanyeol feels bubbling to the surface. He keeps it hidden, though, when he exits the car with Sookyung, and they stand in front of the large main entrance.

“How are we even going to find Kris Wu?” he asks her and Sookyung shrugs.

“Private Zhang said he would be visiting today, I was hoping we could tag along,” she explains, hand twisting her hair nervously. Chanyeol blinks a couple of times, then laughs.

“You’re brilliant, Sookyung!”

Time ticks by oh so slowly while they’re waiting for Private Zhang. Baekhyun has started grading papers, his glasses hanging low on his nose, making him seem older than he actually is. Sookyung is resting her head on his shoulder, eyes closed, even though she’s the only one who could possibly recognize Private Zhang. Chanyeol has resorted to guessing the diseases of those who enter the main entrance.

A diabetic man, a woman with COPD carrying her home-oxygen in her purse. There are a lot of children coming in with their father and leaving with both their parents and the new addition to the family. A woman enters with flowers and continues towards the staircase.

They buy brunch at the cafeteria but none of them are eating a lot of it. Food from the hospital just doesn’t taste the same as homemade food and with Minseok in the ICU they all feel they’ve had too much already. The receptionist goes home and another one replaces her, and they continue their waiting until sometime in the afternoon when Sookyung gets off of her seat and salutes a young man.

The man is taller than her, but he looks oddly nervous around her as he salutes her as well and then bows 90 degrees. Baekhyun and Chanyeol share a look before they too get up from their seats to greet Private Zhang.

Private Zhang is named Yixing and he asks them all to address him by his first name. He’s half-Chinese, half-Korean and serving in the Korean army had been his dream since he was a child and saw his father serve. He sends Chanyeol a sympathetic look, when he learns that it is Chanyeol whose boyfriend is in the ICU and he then guides them to the ICU where his uncle is currently also frozen in coma. The doctors and nurses all look at the three newcomers with suspicion. Chanyeol is about to present himself when Yixing does it for him.

“I’m here to visit my uncle, miss Joohyun. This is my bo…” He doesn’t get to say anymore before Sookyung interrupts.

“Brother-in-law,” she says and points to Chanyeol. “It’s his brother-in-law and we’re his friends.”

It takes all of them off guard. Yixing blinks confused for a few moments, before Sookyung scowls at him and then fakes another smile to the nurse.

“Oh, yes. It’s … it’s, uh, my brother-in-law. Can he join me at my uncle’s bedside? He knew him as well and he just arrived back in Korea after some time abroad in Africa after he heard the horrible news.”

Yixing sends Joohyun a sweet smile, dimples showing in both cheeks and Joohyun sighs loudly and gestures towards the door.

“Don’t spend too long, he’s going to radiology again for a new cat-scan later,” she says and Yixing nods. He grabs Chanyeol’s wrist and pulls him to the door. Sookyung and Baekhyun look after them before she sighs and sneaks her hand into Baekhyun’s and intertwines their fingers.

Inside the room, Chanyeol turns to Yixing with wide eyes.

“Africa? What the ?” he says, maybe a little too loud. Yixing shrugs a little and turns towards his uncle on the bed, cold and still.

“It was the first thing I could think of,” he says and runs a hand over Kris’ hand. Chanyeol turns to the man on the bed and watches him.

He’s seen him before, he thinks. At the annual Christmas gala that Minseok had dragged him to the second year they were together. If Chanyeol’s memory serves him correctly, he was a scary man with few words. He shudders a bit. Then he turns towards all the monitoring. Kris isn’t hooked up to an ECMO like Minseok, but the heart rate and respiration rate are alike.

“What’s his temperature?” Chanyeol asks and Yixing breaks from his thoughts and looks at him.

“Uh, I don’t know. Why?”

Chanyeol doesn’t respond while he checks the ECG that lies around. Someone must’ve forgotten it, he notes, but it doesn’t give him any news on the condition.

“My boyfriend is at 28°C and he stays there no matter how aggressively they treat him. They’ve found an unknown virus in him. Since your uncle and my boyfriend both work as chemists at Lab 32 I was thinking there may be a connection,” he says and Yixing looks at him in wonder and admiration.

“That’s really cool. You have to tell the doctors,” he says and is about to leave to fetch someone. Chanyeol stops him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

“The CDC is already on it and they’ll find the cure to the virus. I’m sure they have already been here to confirm or deny the existence of the same virus in Kris,” he says and smiles sadly. Yixing looks dubious at him but then turns back around to his uncle and continues talking to him in Chinese. Chanyeol taps his shoulder a couple of seconds later.

“Thanks, kid.”

Then he exits the room and is greeted by a curious Baekhyun and a sleeping Sookyung.

---

Chanyeol can’t sleep at night. The apartment is stifling and too cold. It’s like every nook and cranny of the apartment misses Minseok as well and the pain seeps from the walls. It’s not right, the apartment whispers at him, and Chanyeol feels like he’s going crazy.

It’s been a week since he learned that Kris Wu was also in the ICU with the same strange condition as Minseok and he hasn’t heard anything since. The hospital calls him once in a while to keep him updated but there’re no news. Minseok stays stable and nothing changes at all. Nobody has any information about the unknown virus but it’s beginning to drive Chanyeol crazy.

How long can it take for the government to find the same things he has. They have more resources and still, it feels like they don’t care at all. Chanyeol is now convinced there’s a relation between the strange virus and the condition, all they need is to find the creator of the virus and force him to hand out the cure. It seems easier than done, however, if he is to take the fact that absolutely nothing happens into account.

He grows angrier as time goes by, even Baekhyun notices, and sitting next to Minseok isn’t the same when he’s covered in paper coats and gloves. The toilet seat slams against the porcelain and Chanyeol stares into the mirror. No, he can’t take another week, another month, of this – of waiting for nothing to happen. If nothing else, he can track down the terrorist who poisoned his boyfriend with a man-made virus and demand the cure himself. If the doctors can’t do anything for Minseok, the least Chanyeol can do is try to find the cure.

The water is running from the faucet as he continues encouraging himself to do the impossible. It’s stupid to think of him as some kind of superhero but as he stands in front of the mirror, everything comes back to him. He’s Minseok’s everyday superhero, the one who makes a difference for so many people. It’s what Minseok tells him when he’s having doubts, when he’s having difficult patients and horrific accidents. When all he arrives to is death and disaster, he can go home and ask for forgiveness for not having done enough and Minseok will remind him of all the good he does. If Chanyeol can do so for everyone else, he can do the same and more for his boyfriend.

He turns off the water and leaves the bathroom, determination setting in.

---

Chanyeol’s stomach growls and he hits it lightly to stop it. Baekhyun looks at him with pity, sandwich in front of him already half devoured. Chanyeol’s food sits untouched.

“Come on, you have to eat. Minseok would be sad to wake up to you becoming ultra-skinny. He likes your muscles and you haven’t been hitting the gym,” Baekhyun says and points his sandwich towards Chanyeol. Chanyeol rolls his eyes.

“He would understand that I’ve been worried and that it has taken its toll on me like it has him. He hasn’t been hitting the gym either.”

Baekhyun looks up from his food, staring at Chanyeol in disbelief.

“You’re not serious, right?” he asks, obviously in doubt. Chanyeol snorts.

“Of course not. Minseok would understand,” he says. He’s confident in his boyfriend. Besides, if the situation had been reversed, Minseok would’ve been worried sick. At least Chanyeol hopes so. He has a pretty good feeling he’s right about this. Baekhyun sighs and goes back to eating.

“Yeah, I know, he would, he’s a good guy. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to take care of yourself as well. Now eat up.”

Baekhyun swipes his hand towards Chanyeol’s food again to remind him to eat and Chanyeol relents, mostly just to humor his best friend. When he’s halfway through his food, he looks over his shoulder and leans across the table at Baekhyun, who leans back against his chair to keep the distance between them. Chanyeol squints at him and beckons him closer with his hand.

“What’s up?” Baekhyun whispers when he leans in conspiratorially.

“I’m going to find whoever created the virus before the doctors,” Chanyeol whispers back. Baekhyun chokes on his saliva and has to lean back and cough. When he finally recovers, Chanyeol looks out the window, staring at the people walking by.

“What?!” he screeches, and someone shushes them from the bar. They ignore the glare they’re sent. “Are you for real right now? How can you possibly do that?”

There’s silent for a few minutes while Chanyeol considers his response.

“I have you and Sookyung, she has to have some connections. And I can maybe get Luhan and Joonmyun to help with the virus. Or I can visit Lab 32 and find some of Minseok’s cowork...”

“Have you gone mad?” Baekhyun interrupts, voice now hushed and hurried. “You don’t know any of Minseok’s coworkers and you could lose your license if you dig into medical files that are not for you to see.”

Chanyeol pouts. All of it is true, but …

“I have to do something,” he answers, voice just as low as Baekhyun’s but not as panicked. “I can’t wait months for the CDC, the ECMO isn’t going to keep Minseok alive forever. It’s already been a couple of weeks. There’s another victim out there as well and the CDC is doing nothing. I have to do it Baekhyun.”

They stare at each other.

“God, you’re not doing this alone,” Baekhyun eventually says and Chanyeol widens his eyes in confusion and surprise.

“What?” he asks, dumbfounded.

“If you’re going to do illegal to save your boyfriend, you’re not going to do it alone.”

Baekhyun sips the last of his drink, reaches around his chair to grab his jacket and stands up. Chanyeol’s food is still only half-eaten and he’s still sitting on his chair, mouth open in shock, as he stares at his best friend.

“Come on, you fool.”

The smile that spreads across Chanyeol’s face is huge. Baekhyun ignores it.