A/N: The interesting chapter. I adjusted their ages a bit to fit the story. Again please forgive my lack of medical knowledge.

Tao had just began paddling when the wind was picking up and the waves became more aggressive. He had just struck out for land when a wave caught him on the left unexpectedly and the kayak rolled over. He face-planted into the water and the shock of cold water winded Tao. He accidently took in a mouthful of river water as his lifejacket forced him to the surface. He gasped and sputtered and managed to grab onto the kayak while he tried to breathe normally again. The water was freezing cold and Tao breifly panicked as he realized he had to get out fast. He tried to right the kayak but realized it had filled with water. It would take too much time and energy to try to get it upright and paddle to land. He would have to leave it behind. Sehun’ll kill me.

He scanned the shoreline for a spot to swim to. The river shore was not meant for boat launching and it would be impossible for him to climb up the concrete banks by the time he got there. Tao decided to aim for the only person he saw in sight. He struck out, swimming as quickly as he could toward the police officer on the dock.

*          *          *

Kris was internally panicking as he realized there was no one at the kayak. He checked his watch. 12:54. Kris remembered vaguely from first aid training that a person in cold water could have about 10 minutes before he was 'in danger' as the manual said. He pulled out his radio to call for someone but realized there was too much interference from the wind for anyone to hear him. “Stupid radio,” he growled. Kris whipped out his phone, dialed the station, and immediately scanned for a person. “Hey, it’s Kris. I’m at Han River at that popular spot where everyone goes to eat lunch near the new construction. I see a capsized kayak, but I can’t see a person. Can you call a rescue boat?”

“Hold on a second, I’ll see if we can get someone out there.” Kris was put on hold. He scanned the river again, bouncing on his toes and pacing to see if he could see anyone. The water was dark grey now and choppy. He had just checked his watch for the fifth time (12:58 now) when the voice came back on again. “Hey Kris? I called around and we have someone who can get a boat out, but it’s pretty far from you. He says he can be in your area in 20 minutes.”

, that’ll be too late, he’s already been in there almost 5 minutes already. “Okay, got it. Thanks Minseok-hyung.” Kris had just hung up when he noticed something bobbing about halfway from the dock and the kayak. Kris looked again and realized the object was silver among the grey water. Then he saw arms paddling and relief immediately flooded through him. He called Minseok back. “Hyung, I can see the person. They're alive and swimming toward the shore. Tell the guy that and tell him to pick up the kayak, it's a red single seater.”

“Sure thing Kris.” Kris hung up and checked his watch. 1:00. He looked at the silver head. The person, who he could now make out as a man was swimming strong and heading directly toward the dock Kris was on. He waved his arms and indicated to swim to him. The stranger was exhausted and as he got closer Kris could tell his face was pale and his lips were blue. His eyes were unfocused but he still tried to keep a steady course toward the dock. When he was about 50 feet away Kris checked his watch. 1:07. .

“C’MON YOU CAN MAKE IT,” Kris shouted to him. With an extra burst of energy, the stranger managed to close the distance, push himself toward the dock, and grab the edge. The metal railing was up to Kris’s hips so he was barely able to reach down to grab onto the boy’s hand. The boy looked at him in shock. “On three, push for me okay?” The boy nodded. “One. Two. THREE.” The boy was too weak to give much of a push but with a rush of adrenaline, Kris managed to pull the stranger up so his arm hooked over the railing. He readjusted his grip to the underarms, almost hugging him, and with another heave, pulled him up over the railing. The boy was apparently not strong enough to stand and immediately collapsed onto the ground, Kris barely managing to catch him before he hit his head. The stranger’s eyes were shut hand his breath was coming in sharp gasps.

He looked around and saw the remainder of the lunch-goers beginning to crowd around. Luckily he saw his partner running towards him. “Kris, what-?”

“Chanyeol! Radios won’t work, call 119 and start crowd control. Got it?”

Chanyeol immediately pulled out his phone and began to usher all the curious onlookers that had started to crowd toward the scene. However, one man managed to slip under Chanyeol’s arm and sprinted toward Kris and the semi-conscious man. He had big eyes, honey-colored hair, and was wearing light blue scrubs.

“I saw what happened, I’m a nurse. May I help him?” Kris nodded, allowing the blonde-haired man to kneel next to the freezing stranger.

He patted the boy’s shoulders in attempt to rouse him. “Hi there, my name is Luhan and this is-”

“Kris-er…Officer Wu.”

“Officer Wu who rescued you. I’m a registered nurse from Seoul National University Hospital, may I examine you?”

The man continued to take quick, harsh breaths and his eyes were barely opening. Kris looked at Luhan straight in the eyes. “He’s barely conscious. Examine him, I’ll take responsibility.” Luhan nodded and made quick work of giving him a general examination.

“He’s hypothermic, we need to get him dry while we wait for the ambulance to get here.”

Kris sat up and yelled toward the crowd. “YA, DOES ANYONE HAVE A BLANKET?!”

After a couple seconds, the girls that had been staring at him and Chanyeol earlier scurried forward and offered three tiny tea towel-sized blankets before hurrying back into the crowd of spectators.

Luhan began unfolding the blanket. “Start taking his clothes off, we need to warm up his skin.”

Kris immediately did as he was told, sitting in between the stranger’s legs, leaning over him to pull down the zipper to the lifejacket. “Luhan-sshi, can I sit him up to get the lifejacket off?”

“He has no external injuries, it should be fine. WHAT’S THE STATUS ON THE AMBULANCE?!”

“They’re caught in traffic, there was an accident. They said 30 minutes at least,” Chanyeol said, trying to keep some bystanders from taking pictures.

Kris swore as he pulled off the outer jacket the boy wore. The ambulance might have to fight construction traffic too. He carefully removed a camera in some weird plastic bag and set it aside. He felt around for the bottom of both sweaters and carefully pulled both of them off at the same time, leaving the poor stranger shirtless. A very minute, minuscule, absolutely tiny part of Kris’s brain registered the lean muscles the boy had but he immediately disregarded those thoughts as he and Luhan lay the stranger back down and began rubbing his head with one of the blankets. “Pants too.”

“What?”

“We need his pants off, his body is still wet. Use one of the towels to cover his groin and dry him with the other, okay?”

“Got it.”

Kris set to work on the belt. Once he had the belt off and the fly ped, he took off the boots and socks and covered his (ahem) groin with the towel. Then he began to peel off the skintight jeans the boy wore. It wasn’t so much awkward as it was difficult since the fabric wasn’t very pliant from the cold water. By the time he got the pants off, Luhan had moved onto drying the boy’s (or was it man, he really couldn’t tell) arm.

Kris quickly searched the pockets, pulling out a wallet. “Chanyeol, wallet!” His partner spun around, caught the flying object, and began looking through it for some sort of ID and contact info.

Kris had finished drying one leg when Chanyeol shouted back to him. “Huang Zitao. 22. Student! His roommate said he would meet us at the hospital.” Kris nodded and finished drying the second leg, touching his knee tentatively. “Luhan-sshi, he still feels cold.”

“He’s not warming up fast enough. We need to try skin on skin contact.”

“What’s that?”

Luhan looked uncertain as he glanced at Kris. “It’s where we deliver direct heat to him through use of another person’s body heat…directly on the skin.”

Skin on skin…oh…Kris nodded and reached for his tie. “If that’s what he needs.” He pulled off his tie and quickly and began working on the buttons of his shirt.

“Careful not to place all your weight on him. I’ll massage his legs to warm them up.”

Kris nodded as he shrugged out of his shirt. He heard some gasps from onlookers but ignored them. He arranged, then carefully lowered himself diagonally across Tao’s torso. Holy he’s freezing. Kris was getting cold just laying on him. He situated his arms as close to Tao’s ribs as possible and leaned his head down so he could breath warm air onto his neck. He heard the boy (Zitao. Right, that’s his name.) groan and began moving his arms, trying to push Kris off.

He spoke in a soft but commanding voice into Tao’s ear. “Zitao? Can you hear me? Don’t struggle. My name is Officer Wu and I’m trying to warm you up. You’re hypothermic and the ambulance won’t come for a while. Luhan-he’s a nurse-he’s trying to warm up your legs. We’re trying to help you, okay?”

Apparently Tao could hear him because he stopped trying to push Kris off. Instead Kris was caught off guard when two freezing arms pulled him down and circled around his waist. Kris was now cheek to cheek with a freezing body. “…warm…” The word was soft, but Kris heard it.

“Luhan, I think he’s beginning to come around! He said something.”

“That’s good, keep him talking. Ask him things to keep him awake okay? WHERE THE HELL IS THE ING AMBULANCE?!”

Kris winced at the shouting but leaned his lips to Tao’s ear again to speak. “Okay, I’m gonna ask you a few questions and I need you to stay awake okay? What’s your name?”

“Hwa-huangg. Z’tao,” he croaked quietly.

“How old are you?”

“Èr shí èr…twenty-two,” he corrected himself with a slur. His brain was not processing so he repeated the number in Korean.

Kris was caught off guard. , it’s been a while since I’ve heard Mandarin. He responded back softly in the same language, “When were you born?”

“May 2…201 no, 1992.” His voice was a bit clearer this time, but still soft.

“Where do you attend school?”

“S-seoul National Univers-sity.”

“Wow. What do you study?”

“Photography.”

“You go to a school like that for Photography?”

“Heh…Architecture too…”

“Really?”

“Mmm. W-who are you?”

Kris began to get worried. “I already told you, I’m Officer Wu.”

“N-name.”

My name? Oh… “Kris.”

“Kris…you t-talk Mandarin good…”

“I’m actually Chinese. I moved here for high school.” Tao grunted. Kris moved his head to look at Tao’s face, realizing his eyes were closed. He gently patted Tao’s cheek. “Zitao? I can’t have you fall asleep. You need to stay awake. Where are you from?”

“Quingdao.”

“Okay, um…what’s your favorite color?”

“Blaaaaaaack.” Tao’s eyes were still closed. Kris patted his cheek again. “C’mon Tao I need your eyes open okay? Look at me.”

“Mmm…nooo…” Tao moved his hands to a warmer part of Kris’s back and snuggled his face into the crook of his neck. “…cuddle…”

Despite the severity of the situation, Kris blushed. , I can’t tell if this kid is delusional or adorable. “I’m cuddling with you now, Tao.” He felt the brush of Tao’s eyelashes as his eyes opened again and he blinked lazily.

“Zitao, are you more awake now? What do you see?”

“Sky. L-looks like rain.” His voice still sounded raw.

“Yeah, maybe it will later.”

“W-why are you on top of me?”

“The nurse told me to keep you warm. How do you feel?”

“Numb. B-but I feel more awake now.”

“Good.”

“Why are you speaking Mandarin,” Tao asked in Korean.

“Because you started talking to me in Mandarin, Zitao,” Kris also switched back to Korean.

“Just Tao.” Kris nodded against his head. “Kris?”

“Yeah?”

“You have a tattoo.”

“Yeah, got it when I was 18.”

“How old are you n-now?”

“25…aren’t I supposed to ask the questions?”

“I think so…”

“Umm…what’s your favorite animal?”

“Panda. Yours?”

Kris was about to answer but was interrupted by the sounds of sirens. The ambulance had finally arrived. The driver and another EMT rushed over and Kris began lifting himself off of Tao. As he was sitting up, Tao latched onto his bicep so he was still leaning over him. Kris looked at him. His eyes were fearful.

“Ta-?”

“Don’t go.” His grip tightened.

“But-”

“Kris, stay with him. He needs something to hold onto now,” Luhan said from Tao’s feet. Kris nodded and moved Tao’s left hand from his bicep so it was clutching his right hand. He and Luhan began giving the EMTs all of Tao’s basic information as he was covered in blankets and moved onto a stretcher.

“Sir can we ask you to let go of-”

“NO!” Kris, Luhan, and the EMTs jumped a little at Tao’s surprising loud vocal ability. “He-he can’t go.”

“But-”

Tao began dry sobbing. “Don’t let him go, please don’t make him go.”

After a brief discussion, the EMTs agreed to let Kris ride in the back with one EMT while Luhan rode in the front with the other since they were going to his workplace anyway.

Chanyeol appeared and said he would report what happened to the police station and bring a change of clothes for Kris, since hugging a hypothermic kayaker drenched his pants and lost him his shirt. Chanyeol was about to leave when Kris whispered to him. “Yeol, can you hand me the camera and phone over there? It’s Tao’s.” He passed them to Kris who hopped in the ambulance, never letting go of Tao’s hand.

A/N: So maybe this will be a 4 shot? I give up, I dunno how long it's gonna be guys...