“He’s stabilized now. You can go in to see him, but he isn’t awake yet. It might be a day or so.” The doctor had barely finished speaking before Minho was jogging down the hall, Key right behind them. He only glanced at the two and then back to Jinki, the only one left. “You’re other friend just had to get a few stitches. He should be completely fine in a few weeks.”

“Thank you so much doctor.” Jinki gave him a little bow before the man walked away and then looked from the hall Minho and Key had taken to the other way. “I’ll get Jonghyun first…”

“Hyung, can you slow down? With all the painkillers and numbing stuff they gave me I can’t quite feel my legs yet and it is hard to walk like that!” After stumbling for the umpteenth time, he’d finally said something and saw Jinki freeze ahead of him.

Only after Jonghyun had caught up did the eldest speak. “Sorry. I just wanted to see Taemin. I haven’t gone to him yet…”

“Well why didn’t you?” Jonghyun gave him a curious look before sighing. “I guess I’ll just have to learn how to run without feeling my legs…” He had barely finished before Jinki was gone again.

“Hyung, wake up. I’m taking you home.” Minho nudged a sleeping Jonghyun with his foot, trying his best to be quiet in the room. Outside, the moon was high, and inside, the lights were off. Jonghyun only gave a little groan and Minho kicked him a little harder. “Get up dino.”

“That’s not how you do it Minho. It’s like this.” A half-asleep Key leaned over the chair to get closer to Jonghyun’s ear, planning on whispering to him. However, in his sleepiness, he’d misjudged how far the man was and ended up practically sinking his teeth in the side of his head. Immediately, Jonghyun sprung up, looking around for the biter before his eyes landed on Key rubbing his lip.

“I’ll remember that. Now come on, the three of us have things to do in the morning.” He helped both of them stand and led them out of the room, leaving Jinki alone with Taemin. The man only gave one last smile to Minho as he left before looking back at the boy on the bed.

His hand wormed under the blankets to find Taemin’s and grasp it. “Please be okay Taemin. We’ve made it this far; it’s only a little before you will start getting better…” How long he sat there was a mystery, but the next morning, his head was resting on the edge of the bed as he slept, still holding the hand. He’d never let go.

Taemin gave a groan as soon as he recognized the scratchy sheets and lumpy bed he was on, but otherwise didn’t react as he started to wake. His chest hurt like hot oil was being filtered through it and he figured that was with all the painkillers they had pumped into him. “Are you awake?” He gave a half-hearted nod to whoever had asked, not opening his eyes and not speaking. The oxygen mask on his face shifted a little but he didn’t have strength to reach up and fix it. That wasn’t needed, however, as someone—probably the one that spoke—straightened it for him again. “I’m going to call the doctor in, okay?”

He only gave another nod and heard the little beep as the button was pressed in the otherwise silent room. It was only a minute later that he heard the shoes hitting the tiled floor and figured it was probably time to open his eyes. As soon as he did, though, he was shutting them against the bright light of the sun. “I see you’re awake. Do you still feel any pain?”

“Like hot rocks in my chest.” It was the first thing he said and his voice was all hoarse and cracking, but it got his point across well enough. A straw was placed between his lips and he drank only a few sips of the disgusting water before pulling away. More awake, he tried opening his eyes again and noticed first the doctor, and then Jinki by his bed.

“Well that can be expected when you stop breathing…” The man got closer and started doing some simple tests without Taemin talking again. “We tried to take an x-ray to see in your chest, but it was hard to see anything from the scar tissue and swelling still there from your surgery. Other tests came back normal for you though, so it seems like it was just another attack like you’ve had before.”

Taemin nodded a little, trying to take in as much of that as he could. The doctor said some more that Jinki listened to before he left, leaving them alone in the room. “Where are the others?”

“I asked Minho to take them home during the night since you weren’t waking.” Jinki’s voice was soft, like he already knew Taemin had a headache. “They have schedules this morning but they should be here by the middle of the afternoon.”

He let that sink in for a few seconds before asking his second question. “What happened?”

“Today’s Taemin’s eighth chemo! It’s August twenty-ninth just after seven in the morning and we are going to wake him…” Key was the one with the camera as the four navigated the quiet hallways of the hospital, filming it all. At his door, they stop and he zoomed in through the window to get a shot of Taemin sleeping soundly for a few seconds before Jonghyun opened the door and walked in. The others only followed after him and Key pouted as he zoomed back out and walked in last.

Taemin was already shifting in his bed a little, trying to cover his head with a pillow to drown out the noise. “Go away…”

“No can do Minnie.” Jonghyun patted the boy’s leg through the blanket, trying to get him to move some. Nothing happened. “You have to get up. It’s chemo day.”

“Is it?” He moved the pillow slightly and gave a yawn, but he was already too awake to go back to sleep then. “I’ve been here too long to keep track.”

“It’s only been five nights!” Everyone turned to look at Key behind the camera and he realized after a few seconds. “That is pretty long actually…”

“See?” Taemin groaned by threw the pillow away completely, hitting Jonghyun’s hands with it. “Stop touching my legs. It feels weird.”

“I don’t even feel my legs because of you.” He was joking and stuck his tongue at Taemin just to prove it, but the maknae was only laughing.

“I already apologized, but you had to be superman diving on the glass. Did you expect to not get cut?” Jonghyun was silent for a few seconds and Taemin’s eyes widened as he looked at the elder. “Did you?”

“Shut up…”

A collective sigh went out around the room as Taemin leaned over his bucket once again in the middle of watching a drama with them and Key paused it as he and Jinki both sat next to him to rub his back. Jonghyun already had a newly-cleaned one in his hands and stood behind them, waiting for Taemin’s stomach to calm long enough to make the switch between them. For the one that sloshed disgustingly, he put it in the hall and saw the nurse at the station give him a sympathetic smile. “Again?”

“I don’t even know where he’d getting stuff from anymore.” He gave her a small smile as she started to walk over to get it, returning back into the room after. Taemin moved over on the bed that was way too big for him to make space for Key on there as well with him and the seat arrangement change in the minute he had been doing that. As soon as he sat down, the show was started again.

But it stopped once more not much later. It was going to be a long night for Taemin. And all of them.