Jinhwan blinks twice before saying a word, gauging the weight of Jiwon’s words. He tries not to sound too excited, but the smile that accompanies his voice when he speaks again betrays him. “Really, you’d let me do that?”

Jiwon flushes and he looks down. If it makes Jinhwan this happy, then he’ll gladly give him the world too. “Of course,” Jiwon smiles at Jinhwan and bites his lower lip, stopping himself from saying more, from blurting out promises he won’t be able to fulfill, because yes, he’ll gladly give Jinhwan the world, but he’s not in any way capable of doing so, and the thought—although not new—causes him a brand new sadness that he doesn’t let show.

“I don’t think I’m ready for that yet,” Jinhwan quietly says, tracing the clumsy stitches he has made on Jiwon’s wrist.

Me too, Jiwon wants to say, but instead he just hums, brushing his fingers across the stitches and resting his hand on Jinhwan’s. “I think you did a wonderful job.”

Jinhwan stares at their hands with a contented smile on his face. Jiwon didn’t think it would convince the boy opposite him but it looks like it did. Jiwon allows himself to harbour some hope that what he thinks matters to Jinhwan, that Hanbin is not solely his world, that he now exists in it, too.

Jiwon ponders on this thought and smiles to himself. He feels his ‘heart’ swell, and a sharp pain shoots up his stomach to his chest. The loud whirring sound it makes catches Jinhwan’s attention, just in time for the boy to catch the look on Jiwon’s face as the droid pulls back his hand and clutches it to his chest.

“Jiwon!” Jinhwan gets to Jiwon’s side in a blink and he reaches out a hand to the droid. “What’s happening?”

Jiwon grunts in pain and angles his body away from Jinhwan. “Don’t touch me,” he tells Jinhwan through his teeth.

Jinhwan goes on his knees beside Jiwon, trying to take a better look at the droid while trying to maintain an acceptable distance. “W-What’s happening? Please? Is this my fault?”

Jiwon has to look at Jinhwan then, and he regrets doing so. The worried look on Jinhwan’s face causes Jiwon more pain than he could imagine that he has to close his eyes so he does not see.

“Don’t worry about me,” Jiwon whispers, and his eyes burn so much he thinks he’s going to cry, but no tears come out. That wasn’t engineered into him.

Jiwon tries to regulate his breathing, and in seconds, his whirring quiets down to nothing. It’s too quiet. Jiwon’s silence is deafening that Jinhwan ignores Jiwon’s warning not to touch him.

Placing his two hands around Jiwon’s arm, he calls for his name. “Jiwon?”

It feels like such a shot in the dark, and Jinhwan tries to tell himself not to worry in case Jiwon can still hear him. He tries not to worry because he’s picking up the anxiety in his own voice, and it’s causing him to be more anxious.

“Jiwon?” He tries again.

Nothing.

When Hanbin arrives, Jinhwan’s worry is immediately mirrored onto his face, like Jinhwan is the projector and he is the screen. Of course, it was impossible not to hurry home the moment Jinhwan phoned him and he felt the boy’s anxiety coming off in a tidal wave.

Jinhwan has both hands around Hanbin’s arm as he pulls the doctor to his room.

“You know I couldn’t move him.”

When they find Jiwon, he reminds Hanbin of his days as a student taking every opportunity to sleep even if it means unfulfilling naps on his study desk and drool on his notebooks, because that’s what Jiwon looks like: like he’s asleep because he’s exhausted from studying too much. But Hanbin knows this isn’t that. Jiwon is not a student nor is he human. He’s a droid who doesn’t sleep. Regardless, he looks almost serene with his head on the desk and his arms limp on his lap, but Hanbin reaches out to the back of his nape anyway.

“You didn’t switch him on,” Hanbin repeats what he heard from Jinhwan on the phone as he almost fearfully presses the button. He’s known it won’t do anything.

Hanbin doesn’t look at Jinhwan for confirmation and just tells him, “We need to move him to my room.”

Hanbin bends down and hoists Jiwon’s arm over his shoulder. Jinhwan takes a step back and makes way for Hanbin as he walks out with Jiwon. Jinhwan just about lingers right behind them and asks, “It’s not serious, is it?”

Hanbin does not respond but just turns to Jinhwan as he opens the door to his room where he’ll examine Jiwon. He honestly doesn’t know what to tell him.

Jinhwan once again reaches out a hand to Hanbin’s arm. His eyebrows furrow as he looks at Jiwon. His mouth opens as if to say something, but he just bites his lip. He shakes his head and pulls his hand back.

Hanbin wants to tell him that it’s not his fault, stop him from blaming himself like he’s been doing over the phone call. He wants to comfort Jinhwan but he doesn’t allow himself to. He also wants to comfort and reproach himself at the same time. It’s not at all the right time to be jealous of an unconscious droid but it’s the first time he’s ever witnessed Jinhwan really worried about someone, or err, something. Hanbin—he’s never really allowed Jinhwan to worry over him.

Hanbin just watches Jinhwan and doesn’t say anything. Jinhwan still has his eyes locked on Jiwon so Hanbin hurriedly takes Jiwon inside.

Jinhwan stays on the doorway, barely half a foot inside Hanbin’s room, and he looks on as Hanbin brings Jiwon deep into his room and disapp