Title: Clone
Pairing: Chasang
Related Chapter: none
Word Count: 753

The book in Sanghyuk’s hands fell to the floor, closely followed by the boy himself.

“Sanghyuk?” Hakyeon called, rushing to the other boy’s side, “are you alright? What happened? What did you find?”

Sanghyuk opened and closed his mouth uselessly, unable to find the right words to cover what he’d read. Hakyeon went to grab the book and he snapped out of his stupor, rushing to rip the book out of the other’s hands. Hakyeon couldn’t read it, he couldn’t know what Sanghyuk was. If he knew, he would never look at Sanghyuk the same way. He’d be disgusted with him, just like all those scientists, the ones who’d made him.

“Sanghyuk,” Hakyeon said, trying to sound calm even though he was anything but after seeing the haunted look in Sanghyuk’s eyes, “please let me see.”

“No,” Sanghyuk hugged the book to his chest, backing away, “no. you’ll be just like them. You’ll be disgusted with me. I can’t stand it if you…..if you hated me, Hakyeon.”

“I could never hate you,” Hakyeon assured him, moving closer until he had Sanghyuk pinned against a wall, “there is nothing in this world that could make me hate you. I love you, Sanghyuk.”

Slowly, Sanghyuk released the book from his grip. As soon as Hakyeon had it in his hands, Sanghyuk was across the room, hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth. Hakyeon frowned in confusion before opening the book.

“Project S objective. To successfully take the DNA of captured and convicted serial killers,” Hakyeon read, voice just above a whisper as realization dawned on him, “and create clones from that DNA. These clones will then be tested to see if……..if they can be turned into weapons for the military.” Hakyeon closed the book, unable to read any more about the project.

“Please don’t hate me,” he heard Sanghyuk sobbing, “please don’t hate me.”

“Sanghyukkie,” Hakyeon rushed over to the other, “I told you, I could never hate you. I love you, Sanghyuk, so much.”

“I’m a monster,” Sanghyuk cried, wrapping his arms tightly around the other, “they……they made me from a killer. He……he killed so many people. And……and it was awful how he……how he killed them and--.”

“Shh,” Hakyeon hushed him, kissing Sanghyuk’s lips over and over to assure him that he was still there, that he wasn’t going anywhere any time soon, “don’t think about it. Just don’t think about it. You are Han Sanghyuk, not…..not that guy who killed all those people. You’re good and kind. You want to help people and make the world a better place. You love me and our friends. You aren’t a bad person, you are not a killer.”

“Our friends,” Sanghyuk stiffened, recalling the four young men in the other room, “what…..what will they think.”

“They’ll think the same as me,” Hakyeon assured him, “that you’re you. Not this killer guy.”

“Please don’t tell them,” Sanghyuk begged, “I….I can’t lose them.”

“Alright,” Hakyeon gave in, unable to say anything else when Sanghyuk looked so broken, “we won’t tell them. Not right now.”

“Thank you,” Sanghyuk smiled gratefully, “thank you.”

“Anything,” Hakyeon replied, resting his head on Sanghyuk’s shoulder, “now let’s go home, alright? I don’t want you to be here any longer.”

“Find anything?” Taekwoon asked as the pair rejoined the group.

“Later,” Hakyeon mouthed, shaking his head no. Taekwoon seemed to understand that whatever it was that they had found had been bad, so he let it drop. Later, Hakyeon would tell them.

“Let’s get out of here then,” Wonsik scowled at the lab equipment around them, “this place creeps me out.”

“Too bad we didn’t find anything about you, Hyukkie,” Hongbin smiled, getting the feeling that Sanghyuk and Hakyeon really had found something but not willing to press for information when Sanghyuk looked so sad, “maybe next time we’ll find out about your past.”

“Maybe,” Sanghyuk nodded, voice small.

“We’ll find something,” Jaehwan smiled, hoping that he might be able to make the youngest smile because no one liked seeing Sanghyuk sad, “and then we’ll defeat all of these evil scientists! Just like in those anime series you watch.”

Hakyeon watched his lover give a weak smile and squeezed his hand, hoping that Sanghyuk would be comforted by his presence beside him. Hakyeon believed everything he had said; Sanghyuk was no killer. He was Sanghyuk, the one that Hakyeon loved more than anything in the world. It didn’t matter who’s DNA he’d been made from, he would always be Sanghyuk.

A/N: I actually wrote this two weeks ago when i was going through the themes list. I saw the theme and just needed to write this idea while I had it. Heavily inspired by ‘Project Cain’ by Geoffrey Girard (I freakin’ love this book, totally recommend giving it a read).