Jinki and Taemin might have gotten to the hospital not long after the sun rose, but they left hours after it set. The youngest had fallen asleep before they had even left and Jinki ended up just pushing him out in his wheelchair while he slept, not even waking him to buckle him into the car. The doctor is going to call us with the results tomorrow… It’s just one night of waiting. Taemin’s already asleep so that isn’t even a problem for him. One night; we can last one night. Then we will know everything.

He pushed the wheelchair with the sleeping boy into the silent apartment without waking anyone that wasn’t already up as well. Minho only looked up at them from the kitchen and Jinki couldn’t help but give a little smile at seeing the rapper standing there just eating. “You’re the reason we always fail on diets.”

“I’m the reason manager-hyung gave up on them for us.” He held out a spoonful of ice cream. “Want some?”

“Ate at the hospital.” He gave a little smile as the boy shrugged and ate the scoop himself. “I’ll sleep in the room with him tonight, so you don’t have to worry about him. Just use my bed.” Minho only nodded and Jinki looked down at Taemin, deciding it would just be easier to carry him than wheel the chair around more. Effortlessly, he lifted the small boy and just left the wheelchair in the living room.

After entering what used to be Taemin and Jonghyun’s bedroom, he laid Taemin on his bed and looked at the other. At one point, it had been Jonghyun’s, but they had taken to trading off the bed for whoever was on Taemin-duty for the next morning. None of their beds were really theirs anymore with how much they were traded, and clothes were even traded between rooms by then.

Jinki changed the maknae into pajamas, still amazed the boy was asleep even then, and laid him down under the covers before he grabbed clothes from a drawer for himself and cleaned up in the bathroom. After he entered the dark room again, he was wearing his glasses, though they did nothing to help without light. He checked on Taemin one last time before laying down in the foreign bed, his glasses on the table by it. Though thoughts of the results were bouncing around his head, he still managed to get to sleep in only a few minutes.

“Hyung.” Jinki cracked an eye open to see who was calling him, only to close it when he saw Jonghyun above him.

“What? I’m sleeping…”

“The hospital called.” Immediately, both eyes flew open and he sat up so fast he almost collided heads with Jonghyun. Any other time, the singer would have gone on about that, but seeing the anxious leader made him do different. “The doctor said for you to go talk to him.”

“Okay. I’ll just wake Taemin and…”

“Just you. He said to not bring Taemin.” That could have been either really good or really bad, but the eldest had a feeling it was leaning towards the latter. And from Jonghyun’s look, so did the other. “I’d hurry if I were you.”

“I’m on it. Just help Taemin for me.”

“Already planning on it.”

“Are these Taemin’s x-rays?” Jinki might have been staring at the pictures on the light-board next to the doctor, but he still saw the man nod. Just from the solemn look on his face, Jinki had a feeling it wasn’t good. “I’m guessing that spot isn’t supposed to be there.”

“You could say that.” He turned away to get another picture, putting it up right next to the one they were both staring at. “This,” he pointed to the new one, “is the original x-ray from when he was first diagnosed. This,” he moved to the second one, “is the one from yesterday. And these…” he pointed to the spots in the middle of both pictures, but he didn’t even have to say for Jinki to know.

“Are the tumors.”

“Exactly.” The man looked at the shocked leader, simply going back and forth between the two pictures. “The surgery managed to save his lungs, but it simply grew more around his heart. Before, it had only been pressure from being pressed against the muscle. Now, the tumor is actually growing onto the muscle itself.”

“It’s literally squeezing the life out of him.” He finally broke his gaze away to look at the doctor. “How long?”

“I can’t even say, but from how he looked when he came in yesterday, I’d say a month. Maybe.”

“Is there anything that can be done?” Jinki had tears in his eyes, but he didn’t let them fall. He saw something flash through the doctor’s eyes and got the answer. “There is. What?”

“We… A heart transplant could save him. But it would be risky. I can’t even say he wouldn’t die in the surgery, and waiting lists are so long that he might not make it until then.”

“But there’s a chance?”

The doctor slowly nodded. “A small chance.”

“Then we will do it.”

The living room was in complete silence as Jinki sat on the floor in front of them, facing the four on the chair and couch with puffy eyes. Already, they knew something was wrong. It was only a matter of what. And the leader couldn’t speak well enough to say. “Hyung? Is it about my results?” Slowly, Jinki nodded. While the other three froze, Taemin only took that in and looked down a little. “It’s bad then. I’m dying and we know that, so it had to be…”

“You’re not dying. I won’t let you.” His voice cracked as he spoke, but Jinki had resolve hardened in his eyes as he looked at Taemin. “I’m making sure of that.” He saw the boy giving a little nod and cleared his throat to make his voice stronger before explaining. “The doctor showed me the x-rays… The tumor grew onto your heart. Before, it had only been pressing on it.” He made a diagram with his hands like the doctor had done to explain to him in detail, pressing the sides of two fists together. “But now…” One hand un-curled and wrapped around the other, grabbing onto it. “It’s growing on the heart and making it harder for your heart to pump.”

“So it’s squeezing his heart to a stop?” Jonghyun asked exactly like Jinki had worded it to the doctor and the leader barely nodded before Key broke down into sobs. Taemin tried to wrap an arm around the shaking elder, but Jonghyun got up and completely hugged the diva. He might have helped calm the younger, but he was silently crying himself, tears running down into Key’s hair.

Minho had tear tracks, but nowhere near as bad as the others. “Is there anything they can do?”

Jinki flinched at the question from the silent boy, but gave another nod. “They said a heart transplant would greatly raise the survival rate. If Taemin makes it through it.” He looked up at the maknae now, since they were talking about him after all. “The waiting lists are so long that the doctor put you on just to get you a place, but you can be taken off if you want.”

“It’s worth a try, isn’t it?” Taemin looked at the crying hyungs, not even feeling tears in his eyes himself. “Did he say how long I’d have without it?”

That made the eldest swallow hard and look down at the floor. A few tears dripped off the tip of his nose and hit the wood floor before he spoke. “A month. At most.”

Key hated to be the one to ask, but once he heard that, he had to know. “Is that even long enough to get a heart from the list?”

There was silence for over a minute. Finally, though, Jinki spoke. “No. It’s not.”