It was one of those moments where TaekWoon just popped wide awake, even without his alarm. Outside, the sun was only thinking about coming up, and it cast dull, gray light through the bedroom window. TaekWoon looked over to his side where HakYeon slept; as usual, his hand was held captive by the hybrid’s in his usual pose: TaekWoon’s hand sandwiched between the pillow and HakYeon’s cheek with both of HakYeon’s hands loosely holding on to TaekWoon’s forearm. In that moment, he could forget about the bad things and just focus on the sight of HakYeon dozing peacefully.

But he woke up early for a reason. TaekWoon gently pressed his fingers of the hand being held captive to HakYeon’s cheek, passing his thumb along his hairline. “HakYeon?” he whispered.

A dog ear twitched to face the sound of TaekWoon’s voice, and the tail thumped against the bed a few times. HakYeon gave a lazy sigh before slowly opening his eyes, blinking away the sleep.

“You ready to go?”

The tail thumped even more in earnest, and HakYeon pushed himself up, eyes glittering. “Yeah!”

In the week that followed the breaking news, TaekWoon wondered if going into Bucket List-mode would have been too insensitive, but HakYeon was thrilled with the idea. That was probably just the hybrid trying to be overly positive about the whole thing, but as usual, TaekWoon let HakYeon do whatever he wanted. So, the first thing TaekWoon figured they should do was go on a trip.

“Ah, sorry,” the lady behind the counter replied. “Unfortunately, he… er, the hybrid wouldn’t be able to obtain a passport.”

HakYeon’s head tilted quizzically, and TaekWoon blinked. “Eh? Really? Why?”

“That is… First, there’s no form it would be able to use to apply.”

“Couldn’t I do one for him? As a guardian or something?”

“You would need to provide documentation of proof of legal guardianship. To be honest, I don’t know if that form would apply for hybrids. I’m sorry.”

“Eh?! You don’t have a car?!” JaeHwan had squawked over the phone.

“I live in Seoul, and I work in Seoul,” TaekWoon replied patiently. “Why would I need a car?”

“You’re right. Well, I have a car, so let’s go on a road trip!”

Even though it wasn’t the vacation TaekWoon would have liked HakYeon to experience, it seemed like it was enough. HakYeon bounded out the door to the sidewalk and leapt onto WonShik without warning, like usual. HongBin edged a step away, tolerant of the boisterous dogboys but still passed over a scowl. SangHyuk was snoring in the back seat, but JaeHwan was at full power, 100% at all times.

“Okay, kids!” he hollered. “Jump on the bus! We can’t delay!”

“Don’t you live near work?” TaekWoon asked, clambering to the third-row seats to plop next to SangHyuk. “Why do you have a van?”

“Because reasons,” JaeHwan replied helpfully. “Buckle up, everyone! No texting and driving! Oh, wait. I’m driving. Keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle! Next stop, the beach!”

At first, TaekWoon stayed entertained with the visual of HakYeon and WonShik wriggling around in their seatbelts, trying to stick their faces out the window. He only had half a mind to tell them to stop or be careful because the other half of his mind drew from the snoozing power of SangHyuk right next to him, and he ended up falling asleep, as well.

He didn’t stir until he felt the car slowing to a stop, the sun noticeably higher in the sky. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he whacked SangHyuk on the face in the middle of a stretch. In the seat in front of them, WonShik’s snoring self had half-sprawled on top of HakYeon as far as the seatbelt would let him. HakYeon, too, was fast asleep.

“We have arrived at our destination!” JaeHwan suddenly screeched loudly. HongBin, in the seat next to him, jolted in surprise; he was probably only just waking up, too. “Wake up kids! No point in sleeping in the car all day!”

It took a lot of grumbling and bumbling around to finally unload everyone from the van. SangHyuk could barely hold up WonShik, and HakYeon let out a huge yawn as he clung to the end of TaekWoon’s sleeve. At least he seemed to be reviving quickly, though, taking in deep breaths of the fresh air.

They checked in to the small motel easily and dropped by the room to dump whatever belongings they had. By then, HakYeon was properly charged and zipping through everyone, successfully bothering HongBin and waking up WonShik to level two. SangHyuk still looked like he was in need of coffee plus sixteen shots, so he immediately collapsed to the bed and punctuated his defeat with a snore.

“I guess he’s not moving,” JaeHwan commented. “Shall we adventure? Stop by the beach?”

HakYeon’s eyes glittered, and TaekWoon nodded. “Sounds good to me. WonShik, are you coming, too?”

The floppy-eared hybrid blinked, cast a confused look at SangHyuk’s corpse, and looked again at TaekWoon, obviously fighting with a conundrum. Of course, his problem was solved when HakYeon seized him around his waist and yanked him out the door. As they made their way along the sidewalk, TaekWoon typed out a message of where they would be if the kid decided to join them after he woke up.

Three hybrids chasing each other at high speed across the sand was an obnoxious spectacle. At first, HongBin made to settle in the sand next to JaeHwan – who had parked himself alongside TaekWoon at a spot against a low wall far from the surf – but of course he was (literally) dragged out by the dogboys. At one point, TaekWoon finally saw the catboy’s sulk lift into a huge grin; an evil grin, really, because at the time, he was flinging sand in WonShik’s face. TaekWoon continued to watch their antics. He didn’t let any other thought come to mind.

After a while, a message arrived from SangHyuk saying he was coming out to join them. TaekWoon looked over to JaeHwan to share the info, but he stopped short at the sight of JaeHwan sound asleep, a pamphlet of something that looked to be full of work-related jargon still open in his hands. TaekWoon let out a snort and looked out to the beach to search for the whirlwind of hybrids again. Except he didn’t see them. Standing, he glanced around again, only spotting HongBin burying WonShik in the sand.

He began to tromp his way down to the two but halfway along, he finally spotted HakYeon farther ahead. He was sitting in the surf and seemed to just be staring out across the water as the low waves washed over him repeatedly. A bit apprehensive, TaekWoon made his way out to where HakYeon sat.

“Hey,” he called out when he was close enough. HakYeon’s ears perked, and he swiveled his head around, looking up at TaekWoon. His tail slapped at the mud and froth as the water receded. “You okay?”

HakYeon blinked and looked back out across the ocean, silent. Then he nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay. This is nice.”

“Is it? I wish we could’ve gone elsewhere…”

“No, this is fine, really. WonShik and HongBin and everyone else are here.” HakYeon looked up again and gave TaekWoon a reassuring smile. “I’m glad we came here. I’m happy.”

He wished he could feel as optimistic as HakYeon did. Even in the middle of the bright day with the clear, ocean air and jovial groups of people all around them, TaekWoon felt nothing but heaviness in his chest. HakYeon surely must have felt the negativity oozing from TaekWoon’s being because he reached out to hold on to the end of TaekWoon’s sleeve, sunshine smile on at full blast. The smile was infectious; TaekWoon felt the corners of his lips lift, and he raised his hand to HakYeon’s head, wobbling a dog ear.

“TaekWoonie-hyung!”

Both TaekWoon and HakYeon looked up to see SangHyuk making his way across the beach, hand raised. WonShik, vigorously shaking sand out of his hair, followed close behind.

“Hey!” The kid reached the two, stopping just shy of the tide line. “… Why are you two in the water?”

“It just feels nice,” TaekWoon replied. HakYeon’s tail slapped at the water in agreement. “Is JaeHwan still asleep?”

“No, I woke him up before I came over here. He said we should walk around.”

The four reunited with the supervisor and the catboy, and they made their way back up to the beachfront where they wove their way through various small shops and food vendors. HakYeon had noticeably slowed down. No longer was he leading the group by energetically tugging whoever’s arm he could get ahold of. Instead, he lagged in the back, tailed only by HongBin who managed an aloof expression while discreetly watching HakYeon’s back. TaekWoon suggested they go back to the motel for a break, and no one objected.

All three hybrids flopped to the beds in the room, WonShik well on his way to dream land.

“Why don’t we buy some stuff to grill for dinner?” JaeHwan piped up. “There’s space right outside where we can cook. I saw some other people doing it, too.”

SangHyuk’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! Let’s do it!”

Looking over to the bed, HakYeon looked sleepy, but a grin spread on his face as his tail swished atop the sheets. TaekWoon nodded. “I guess these three are just going to nap. We’ll be right back, then.”

They ended up having to walk a bit of a distance to get to the closest market, and there, they had some difficulty trying to figure out what to buy since everyone had opinions and preferences for food, always having to backtrack to include the preferences of the hybrids, too.

Each person had at least a bag in hand as they easily strolled their way back to the motel. But their conversation trailed away when, about a block away from the motel, they spotted HongBin standing outside in the middle of the road, head and tail swishing around anxiously, searching.

“Ah, HongBinnie!” JaeHwan called out, and the catboy swiftly turned, spotting the group. “What's wrong? Did the dogboys lock you out?”

HongBin’s mouth opened for a second but closed again, eyes darting nervously to glance over TaekWoon and SangHyuk, but his mouth opened again, and TaekWoon didn’t even have the chance to marvel at the fact that he actually heard HongBin’s voice.

He only said one thing.

“HakYeon…”

TaekWoon was gone. He only had half a mind to hold on to the grocery bags in his hands as he stumbled down the road towards the motel, JaeHwan and SangHyuk shouting after him. The door had been left ajar, and TaekWoon all but kicked it wide open in his haste.

Briefly startled by the noise, WonShik jumped and whipped his head around, but after realizing the source was TaekWoon, he let out a loud whine and looked back to HakYeon. Both were situated on one of the beds, but HakYeon was completely unaware. He was curled in on himself, laying on his side, his eyes squeezed shut in pain as he took short, shaky gasps. WonShik was holding on to HakYeon’s arms as he helplessly looked on.

The grocery bags were quickly discarded, and TaekWoon was kneeling on the bed on the opposite side of HakYeon, drawing HakYeon’s head into his lap and taking his hands from WonShik. The others arrived at that moment, and WonShik bounded off the bed to latch onto SangHyuk.

“HakYeon?” TaekWoon called quietly. The hybrid shivered and gripped TaekWoon’s hands, letting out a broken whimper. “HakYeon, I’m here. You’re okay. You’re okay.”

“Maybe we overdid it?” SangHyuk murmured from across the room.

“Maybe…” JaeHwan agreed.

No time for regrets. TaekWoon released one of HakYeon’s hands – which instantly latched to one of TaekWoon’s legs – to dig out his phone from his pocket, the vet already on speed dial.

“You can’t bring him in?” MinWoo asked after TaekWoon spilled out the situation over the phone. “Even if he doesn’t like me, this is an emergency.”

“We’re… We’re not in Seoul,” TaekWoon confessed. “We went to Donghae.”

“I see.” There was a brief silence as the vet quickly contemplated. “Okay, you can get this human medicine for him, but absolutely do not give him any more than half of the tablet. If he gets any sicker or starts having bad side effects, you need to come back immediately.”

As MinWoo spelled out the name, TaekWoon echoed it out loud for JaeHwan to transcribe onto his phone, and he and SangHyuk sprinted out of the room to fetch the drug. After a few more instructions, TaekWoon thanked MinWoo profusely, ended the call, and went back to holding HakYeon. WonShik and HongBin perched at the end of the bed, too afraid to come close but too anxious to go very far.

Thankfully, a nearby convenience store had the medicine, and JaeHwan and SangHyuk were back in no time. Giving the medicine was no problem; HakYeon sat up enough to down the small tablet and then withered back down to lay his head across TaekWoon’s lap, still taking labored breaths. The vet had instructed TaekWoon to keep HakYeon’s head elevated to help relieve the pressure, but the hybrid easily took care of that in his attempt to drape his entire being over TaekWoon’s body.

TaekWoon finally let out a sigh. “Hopefully this will do the trick for now.”

“What should we do about dinner, though?” SangHyuk wondered. “Should we just go back to the convenience store and get stuff there?”

“Ah, no,” JaeHwan interjected. “We have all this stuff we already bought. We can still cook!”

TaekWoon vaguely wondered this, matching SangHyuk’s wary expression. The two knew very well the kid had the cooking capability of… a college student. But they weren’t too sure about JaeHwan. The supervisor paid no mind to their stares as he scooped up the bags and strolled outside to the open cooking area, SangHyuk and WonShik following behind and HongBin slowly trailing afterward. TaekWoon could still see the occasional flick of HongBin’s tail from the other side of the door, though.

TaekWoon moved as little as he could without jostling the hybrid in his lap so he could sit back against the headboard. Just when he thought he could relax, though, it became very clear that JaeHwan didn’t know what he was doing. The shouts and odd smells were indicators of that.

He considered for a bit. Glancing down, HakYeon had already calmed down quite a bit, his death grip on TaekWoon’s clothes minutely relaxing.

“WonShik-ah!” TaekWoon called.

He knew the floppy-eared hybrid was probably just lurking around and not contributing, and sure enough, WonShik zipped into the room almost instantly causing HongBin to jump away from his sentry position outside of the door.

“I think HakYeon is mostly okay now. Can you take my place so I can fix whatever JaeHwan is messing up out there?”

He nodded enthusiastically and hopped up on the bed. Prying HakYeon off of himself took minimal effort, and TaekWoon easily passed the doped-up hybrid to WonShik with HakYeon latching onto the new body without question. TaekWoon gave them a deciding once-over before he went outside and pushed JaeHwan away from the food. HongBin was smart to keep his distance.

When the food was done – with SangHyuk and JaeHwan already stuffing their faces – TaekWoon immediately went back to the room to check on the two dogboys. Both were asleep, both breathing deeply and slowly with light snores coming from WonShik. HakYeon didn’t seem to be in pain anymore.

“WonShik-ah.” TaekWoon gently shook WonShik’s shoulder until he stirred, blinking sleepily. “Thanks for watching him. I’ll take over so you can go eat.”

The hybrid took a glance over his friend before he nodded and detached himself, sliding off the bed. TaekWoon reclaimed his spot, passing his hand over HakYeon’s forehead. He wasn’t as warm as he usually was which made TaekWoon somewhat nervous.

“HakYeon?” TaekWoon gently brushed his fingers along HakYeon’s hair line right by his temple. A dog ear twitched at his voice, and HakYeon’s eyes slowly opened, blearily focusing on nothing. “Hey, you okay? Are you hungry?”

HakYeon blinked a few times before he realized TaekWoon was sitting next to him. But he minutely shook his head and settled back down, shifting to lay on TaekWoon’s lap again. JaeHwan appeared in the doorframe soon after to check on them.

“Is he alright?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“Yeah. I guess these drugs make him really sleepy.”

“With only half the pill, too. Are you hungry? Do you want me to bring you a plate?”

TaekWoon shook his head. “No, just save me some for later.”

HakYeon’s slumber continued undisturbed through the night. TaekWoon woke up at some point in the early morning to find HakYeon curled into TaekWoon’s side. At least he was warm again.

A/N: I'm alive... _o\_/_

Sorry this update took foreverrrrrrrrrrr... Work and school has been a mess in all directions.

Also, I came up with this chapter the same time I came up with [Break Even] so... :^) Just a fun fact for ya.