Yongguk focuses on the city below, ankles dangling carelessly over the edge. People mesh with the colors of this metropolitan, dull and terribly quiet tonight. I could drop right now, he thinks. 

There’s a voice calling out to him from behind and he sighs when he remembers that he let Jongup stay with him after what had happened with Daehyun. That house feels too empty; there’s too much sadness there Jongup said. Yongguk doesn’t turn, just loosens his grip on the railing he’s sitting on and again the voice comes.  “What are you doing?” 

“Just wanted some air,” is all Yongguk musters and Jongup doesn’t like the lack of energy in his tone. “Let’s go back inside,” Jongup says coolly, keeping his distance. Yongguk his head to the side, rolling palms over chipped paint. “I’ll be there.”

Jongup’s jaw tightens, not wanting to leave because he isn’t keen on the way Yongguk is hanging off the edge like that, but he clings onto the hope that Yongguk isn’t selfish enough to pull the same crap Daehyun did and leaves. 

Yongguk sighs at another failed attempt. You’re such a coward, he tells himself, climbing back over the railing and onto the balcony back into the apartment. Jongup is sprawled across the couch and the elder shoves his feet off to make room for himself. He’s watching some sort of reality show which Yongguk hates, but he lets it go because he isn’t paying attention anyway. His mind is busy with why Daehyun did what he did and how he can live with himself after bearing witness to such horror. 

The hospital staff is speaking, but Yongguk hears nothing because Daehyun is in bed helpless and beaten. His Dae is in pain - wanted to end the pain. Yongguk comes to realize that his Dae was just as much a coward as himself - unable to handle life, to overcome its obstacles, to push forward. It breaks Yongguk to a point of no return and he’s pushing the nurses away from the patient, clawing at the frail body on the table. He feels someone apprehending him with a grip tight enough to wrangle a bear, but he fights to stay with Daehyun.

“How did he get in here?” he hears a staff member yell before everything goes black. He awakens to bright lights and the smell of antiseptic and tries to move, but his arms, they’re strapped down. He lifts his neck to see that his limbs have been bound.

“What is this?” he yells to no one. A nurse pulls the curtain open. “Are you alright, Mr. Bang?”

“Who are you? How do you know my name? What’s going on? Where’s Daehyun?” Yongguk asks, frantic.

"You were sedated and restrained because you were getting belligerent and physical." 

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