Word Count: 1,030

It began as tremors. Baekhyun thought it was nothing and continued working. If he concentrated hard enough, his hands stopped shaking and he could work as he always did. He could stop the shaking if he really tried. Kyungsoo didn’t notice it when Baekhyun began to work more slowly, only a little at first. But as the weeks dragged on, Baekhyun’s progress slowed as he tried to keep control of his hands and the tool as he worked. At one point, Kyungsoo did notice that Baekhyun was slowing down considerably.

Occasionally, his hands would twitch with momentary stabbing pains, especially at night. Luckily, it never happened when he was building and he didn’t make any mistakes. Keeping his hands under control was a huge problem because his fingers stopped moving the way he wanted them to. He began to lose strength and feeling in them, but it could be overcome by willpower. Kyungsoo finally brought it up when he realised that while he had finished his half of the mecha, Baekhyun had only managed to complete two thirds of his portion.

“Baek-ah? Are you feeling okay? Are you having troubles with your hands? You appear to be working more slowly,” he observed.

“Yeah, I’m fine hyung.” Baekhyun’s smile resembled a grimace more than anything.

“I think it would be best if you visited a doctor. We need to confirm your health status.”

“I swear I’m fine,” Baekhyun replied.

“Hyung is just worried about you,” Kyungsoo stated, to which Baekhyun replied with a sigh. Even if it was just the program telling Kyungsoo to say the words, the illusion that Kyungsoo could actually feel was enough for Baekhyun to at least take the advice.

“Okay, I’ll visit the doctor sometime this week.” Kyungsoo smiled the empty smile that always pained Baekhyun.

“I can finish this one and you can call the doctor. You are obviously in pain so it would be good if you took care of this.

--

“Byun Baekhyun. The doctor is ready to see you now.” Baekhyun nodded before getting up. He turned to Kyungsoo.

“Just wait out here, okay hyung?” Baekhyun instructed Kyungsoo.

“Okay. I’ll wait out here for you,” Kyungsoo confirmed. Baekhyun nodded before following the nurse back into the doctor’s office.

“Hello, my name is doctor Kim Joonmyun,” the doctor said, extending a hand.

“Byun Baekhyun,” he replied extending his own shaky one. He tried to concentrate on stopping the tremors, to no avail. He could tell that the doctor had noticed.

“So what seems to be the problem Mr. Byun?”

“I have these tremors and pains in my hands and they don’t seem to be going away.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“I think it’s been about two months now.”

“I will need to conduct some tests, starting with a brain scan and then a couple of other simple things,” Joonmyun told Baekhyun.

“Can I first tell Kyungsoo that I might be a while?”

“Sure.”

He went back to the waiting room. “Kyungsoo? I’m going to be in here for a while. Why don’t you just head home? I’ll be fine. I’ll catch a cab home or something.”

“Okay. I’ll see you.” Kyungsoo got up and waved before exiting and Baekhyun turned back to the doctor and they proceeded to the MRI room. The MRI showed no signs of brain damage or cancer of any sort, but the other tests showed more than Baekhyun would have liked to find out.

“Please write your name here. Write it neatly and clearly.” The time in which it took for the three characters was much too long, a whole minute. When asked to squeeze Joonmyun’s fingers, he couldn’t produce much force, no matter how much he concentrated.

“You have a nerve degeneration disorder,” he stated.

“A what?”

“Your nerves are slowly breaking down,” Joonmyun explained as kindly as he could. “It means that you will slowly lose control of your muscles and your body. It starts with extremities, fingers and toes, and then moves toward your diaphragm and heart. First you will lose the ability to walk and then the ability to speak, and then you will die. There is no kind way to put it,” he said sadly. “I can give you some medication, but that will only temporarily symptoms and slow the progression. In some cases, as your nerves deteriorate, you will feel ghost pains, pains cause by lost nerves,” he continued.

“Yeah. I have that already…” Joonmyun looked at the boy before him sadly. Baekhyun wasn’t expecting this diagnosis, or at least he would not admit that he was expecting it. “How long will I have, with the drugs?”

“You will have another year, judging by the slow progression so far.”

“When will I lose my voice?”

“Probably eight months or so I suppose.”

“And my fingers?”

“Probably about eight as well.”

“How long do I have without the drugs?”

“Six months maximum.”

“I see…” Baekhyun replied numbly. Joonmyun turned to his notepad and scrawled out a prescription in a doctor’s script before tearing it off and handing it to Baekhyun, who took it with a shaky hand.

“If, after you pass the five month mark, you stop taking the medication, you will die within the week,” Joonmyun said very seriously.

“Noted,” Baekhyun replied.

“You take this medication twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.” Baekhyun nodded.

“Thank you doctor Kim,” he said before leaving the office.

He hailed a cab and stopped by the pharmacy to get the meds before returning home.

“What was the doctor’s diagnosis?”

“He said it was just fatigue,” Baekhyun replied, not allowing Kyungsoo to see the prescription. “He said that this would help, though.”

“So you will be healthy again soon?”

“I should be,” he lied.

“Are you sure? You look like there is something bothering you.”

“I do?”

“Yeah, your face looks kind of upset, like this.” Kyungsoo pulled a troubled look.

“I don’t look like that!”

“You really do,” Kyungsoo said, laughing his strange little laugh.

“Maybe it’s just the fatigue, then.” He grinned tiredly.

“You need to get more sleep as well then,” Kyungsoo asserted.

“Okay hyung,” Baekhyun laughed lightly.

A/N: Um... This is when things get awkward and sad... I'm sorry for the lack of fluffy at the moment.

So I'm going to adding some fluffy chapters in between this and the prior chapter and I might do a little editing to keep it consistent. For now I'm going to be working toward the ending. Stay tuned for such updates!