Sehun set Tao down gently on the bed, tucking him in with obvious care to make him comfortable while he slept. Surely Tao could use a good rest after all that they'd just been through. They both could, but Sehun had to keep watch. Nearly everyone in the city was still on the hunt for Tao. "We'll have to leave the city...", he said with a sigh.

Tao's eyes remained closed as he laid still in bed, but his weakened voice still passed his lips. "We...? There is no we. I must leave... I'll leave at dawn", his voice was soft and broken. Sehun began to wonder if Tao had just been playing everything off as cool in front of everyone else, but the blows he took really had hit him hard. Or maybe Tao was just parched. Perhaps he was afraid? Sehun offered him a glass of water, lifting his head gently with one hand while the other hand brought the glass to his lips to let him drink. Tao hastily drank until the glass was empty.

"Saving you from them put me on their hit list too. It'd be wise for you to stick with me, given your condition, for at least until you've healed. You've got some broken ribs. We'll leave at dawn. Just rest until then", Sehun explained, then got up from where he had knelt by the bed. He sat at a table on the other side of the room, which had many oddly shaped pieces of scrap metal along with tools scattered across it. Tao sat up, his eyes wide open with a deep frown set across his face.

Tao got up, clutching his side as he tried to head for the door, but got as far as the table before he fell to his knees. Sehun caught him before he could fall further. "My ribs were broken before Taemin's little show. He didn't really make them any better, but I'll be fine... I don't need you to come with me Sehun! You go your own way, and I'll go mine", he snapped, nearly yelling at Sehun, but it hurt to speak so loudly, so he calmed himself quickly.

Sehun shook his head as he scooped Tao up in his arms again. He sighed and sat back in his chair with Tao in his lap,"Your stubbornness really doesn't have an end to it does it? No matter what you just can't let yourself feel defeated. You must always be so strong, so brave, so tough", he spoke softly as he held Tao's chin, gently tilting his head up so that their eyes met, even though he knew Tao couldn't look at him. "You don't have to be like that around me you know. There's no one who knows more about how hard it is to put up a tough front each and every day of their life better than me", he looked down at his left arm,"I have to wear this stupid piece of itchy silicone just to feel normal...", Sehun tore the fake skin off of his arm to show that it was made of metal from the elbow down,"After I lost half my arm in the war everyone looked at me with either pity or horror. Seeing the stump that I was left with for an arm, people thought I was some kind of monster that was mutated after the bomb raids. Those that pitied me were harder to deal with though. Everyone felt the need to help me with everything. They wouldn't let me open or lift things, because of my disability. It irritated me to no end to be treated like a child again. I lashed out at everyone that offered help, just like you do. I won't try to convince you that you're wrong, or tell you how I came to just accept their help, because I never did. I might not look like it, because I've been particularly fond of you, but I am not the friendliest person on Earth. I still tend to push them all away. I made myself this hunk of scrap metals so that no one would try to offer anymore. All I'm saying is, don't pretend in front of me, and don't you dare lie to me again. You're hurting, admit it. I'm not going to be tucking you into bed every night or spoon feeding you, all that stuff today was because I was so worried about you I forgot what it was like being in your position. I promise, no more help unless you ask for it, okay? Now quit trying to be so tough in front of me. A faker can spot another from miles away", Sehun said as he looked into Tao's eyes with sincerity. Even though Tao's eyes didn't work, gazing into them he smiled, because they were the most beautiful gray he ever saw. 

A thousand thoughts ran through Tao's mind after Sehun had told his story along with the thousands of emotions that swirled about his body. He took a deep breath, while resting his head against the other's chest. His fingertips slowly brushed over the cold metal with long . "Can you feel that?", he asked with his soft and weakened voice again.

Sehun's friendly expression turned dark as he stared, watching Tao touch his arm. For a minute, he didn't speak, but then shook his head sullenly. "I can sometimes feel things. Doctors call it the Phantom Limb Syndrome or whatever, but not when people touch me, because there's no skin. I can only feel a little when I grasp things. It's really complex robotics and whatnot that I learned while in college, but I managed to make it able to sense my movements as they're happening and react instantly like a real hand. That's how I'm able to open and close my hand, or grab things still, but even if I do feel something it's very faint.

Tao took Sehun's metal hand in his and laced their fingers together,"How about that?", he asked as he squeezed his hand as hard as he could in great effort to get him to feel it. Sehun's lips slowly quivered into a smile. He just gave a simple nod and closed his fingers over Tao's. Bringing Tao's hand close, he gave the back of it a gentle kiss before letting go. A string had been pulled by him in Sehun's heart with this gesture. Never before had someone not seemed to care very much about his arm being metal. Whether they pitied him or not they always made him feel so unnatural and irregular compared to everyone else, but as Tao had squeezed his hand, he felt it. He felt normal again, a feeling that he thought had been lost forever since the day he lost his arm. This feeling made him want to stay with Tao, not just to make sure he didn't die of recklessness while injured, but because Tao was the only person who made him feel like a whole man again. No matter the danger or the stubbornness of Tao, he decided he would stick to him for as long as the feeling lasted.

Sehun then opened a hatch on his arm that had all sorts of strange gears and springs inside. He laid his arm flat on the table, starting to fix where it had been nicked earlier in the fight by a bullet as well as making sure everything else was intact. "You should go back to bed now. In a couple hours I'll wake you for your shift to stand guard. We'll head for Incheon tomorrow. I have some connections there that can hook us up with a place to stay", he suggested as he focused on his work now, trying to forget about all that had happened today. Without another word, Tao hobbled back over to the bed, where he fell almost instantly into a deep sleep because of exhaustion. He could hardly remember when he'd last slept for more than an hour, or in an actual bed at all. It felt so unbelievably nice that he dreamt sweetly rather than the usual nightmares that provoked him while he slept on the hard earth any other time.

"Sweet Buns~ Yeah you over there! Hey wait up!"

"Don't talk like you know me..."

"What if I'd care to know you?"

"I wouldn't care to tell."

"Then well I'll just talk about me. You can jump in any time and talk about yourself if you want"

"...Go away"

"My name is Sehun, I'm a pretty important guy in the ranks of the Seoul Snatchers, and my type is you, Bumbly Brans~"

"Don't call me that..."

"Well I wouldn't have to if you just told me your name"

"My name is-"

"Wait! Don't tell me now, Lovely Lumps, this is kind of fun~"

"My name is Tao..."

"I like Sweet Buns more. It really reflects on your personality"

"Stop before I punch you..."

"But I was only saying you have a nice-"

"Idiot..."