Chapter 11~the Deer and the Sloth

Jongsuk had been awake for quite some time, staring at his sleeping friend. The sun was shining brightly through the shades, but Woobin hadn't moved or twitched for the past eight hours. It was very frightening to say the least,  Jongsuk had never seen something of the likes of this,  but waited nonetheless,  as patiently as he knew how.

Jongsuk Woobin’s hair gently, wishing the other would wake up so he could clean and tend to his wound. The bump on Woobin’s head was bigger than it was at night, a big concern to the fact he was still sleeping.  

Finally, Jongsuk couldn't wait any longer. He started shaking Woobin,  and then poking him, but nothing seemed to work. He bit his lips, looking towards Woobin’s plush ones.  

Just one kiss wouldn't hurt anyone,  right....? He leaned forward, bending as close to Woobin as he could. His lips touched Woobin’s,  and the jolt he felt at the contact made him rear back. But when he looked back at Woobin in a panic, he noticed that his eyes were open and steamily looking towards him. Jongsuk gulped, shyly looking away from Woobin.  

Woobin’s husky voice forced him to look back though. "Do that again..."

"You're awake!" Jongsuk said instead, forcing his blush away.

"It was magic" Woobin chuckled.  

Jongsuk clutched his heart, trying to get his head back on straight.

"Okay, let's clean your wound okay? I was very worried!" Jongsuk's voice shook as he quickly got off the bed. He ran towards the bathroom glad he thought ahead to ask for fresh towels earlier that morning.  He brought the bucket for the dirty and bloody pieces,  then rushed back to Woobin,  who was still looking at him with lust in his eyes.

“Stop looking at me like that…” Jongsuk muttered, staring purposefully at Woobin’s dirty bandages so he wouldn’t have to face the steamy eyes on him.

“But you kissed me.” Woobin said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Jongsuk didn’t have an answer to that though,  especially since Woobin seemed very eagre and wistful at the same time.

“You kissed me,” Woobin said again, ignoring the pain he felt to lean over towards Jongsuk and stare into the others eyes.

“Y-yeah…” Jongsuk agreed finally, once he had finished cleaning the wound. He wrapped the clean gauze and linens onto Woobin like he had done the day before, then courageously looked up towards Woobin. Before Jongsuk even had a chance to inhale, Woobin’s lips were on his, kissing him hard and making him gasp. But Woobin only took this opportunity to stick his tongue gently into Jongsuk’s mouth, exploring it.

“Nnnggg!” Jongsuk gasped again. It took him a moment to come to his senses, and as he did, Jongsuk let himself cave into the other boy. He kissed Woobin back, deeply, and with as much passion as he felt for his best friend who had almost died. He loved Woobin. That was for sure.

By the time Woobin and Jongsuk broke apart, they were both sweaty and panting for breath. Jongsuk was embarrassed into silence, while Woobin couldn’t stop grinning.

“I love you…” Woobin whispered softly. but Jongsuk, who had his eyes closed, pretended not to hear.

~~~~~~

Luhan wasn’t sure how he had got into a bed. The last thing he remembered was Sehun pushing him off the bed, then seeing another man about to hurt Sehun. He winced as he remembered the loud sound of the gunshot, and then the feeling of relief to be alive. When he looked around the room, it wasn’t the same as he had been the night before, and for a moment Luhan panicked. He abruptly stood up in bed, the arms of his Hyung had slackened around him and the other stirred slightly at Luhan’s movement. They seemed to be in a private room, the sunlight streaming sharply through the closed blinds.

Luhan got out of bed, when something suddenly fell from his pocket. Not remembering ever putting anything in his pocket, he curiously picked it up. 'Tao will protect you. If I'm gone, you'll be safer anyways.' Luhan rubbed his eyes and read it again. What did that even mean. He went out of the room, letting his Hyung sleep in longer. When he walked through the little hall, he noticed he could hear quiet murmurings of Ilhun and Sangtae.

He leaned his body against the wall, closing his eyes so he could let his ears work better.

“Sehun is still not back.” Ilhun was saying, a crack in his voice.

“Did you not even receive a message from him?” Sangtae asked, his voice a tad louder, but still nearly incomprehensible.  Luhan glanced at the note, clenching it in his fist. He should show the older boys, he knew that. At least Sangtae was older. But it seemed that Ilhun knew exactly what he was doing. Luhan took a step closer then stopped when he heard his name mentioned.

"Luhan. What will we do about him?  It seems that Sehun left him behind."

"No." Sangtae responded.  "Sehun wouldn't leave him behind."

Luhan crushed the note in his hand, suddenly understanding.  Sehun did leave him. Sehun wasn't coming back.

He got down on all fours, slipping past the two boys who had stopped talking to think. Neither of them noticed him.

Luhan stood up once he was in the kitchen. He no longer wanted to hear anything anyone had to say. He didn't want to be around anyone.  Luhan knew what would happen once everyone was awake. He would be the subject of attention,  and no one would leave him alone for even a minute.

Reaching into his other pocket,  Luhan was glad that he found a bundle of cash still remaining there. It was from what his parents had given him. He had no idea what had possessed him to refill his pockets since everything had happened,  but he wasn't going to complain.  Luhan let out a silent and brief chuckle, it felt sarcastic,  but he knew that his parents had been part of this plan to send him and Zelo over to where they were now targets.

If he ran away though, nobody else would get hurt because of him. Plus,  anyone chasing after him would have thought he would never leave the side of protection.

How wrong they were, he thought as he scoffed. Luhan nodded, grabbing a sandwich from the large fridge.  The door squeaked, making Luhan freeze. But neither Ilhun or Sangtae looked his way. He grabbed another one figuring he would get hungry on the way. Nodding again, Luhan shut the door of the fridge, coming face to face with Bokdong.

Bokdong was staring at Luhan, a frown on his face that made it feel like he knew something.  

"What's going on? Why are you acting as if you did something wrong? Yah, I'm going to te-"

Luhan scattered.  Bokdong blinked and by the time he refocused,  Luhan had disappeared from his line of vision.

"What the fu-" he started to say, then figured it was probably better to catch Luhan first.

Except Luhan had already left the room.

"LUHAN!" Bokdong screamed,  finally getting the attention of Ilhun and Sangtae.  Zelo had burst through the doors, panic written clear on his face.

"Luhan, wae?" He asked, paling.

Bokdong pointed to the front door, clutching tightly to his chest.

"He ran..." Bokdong whispered timidly.

Zelo didn't wait a second longer. He ran after his dongsaeng,  his body shaking with nerves.

"Stay here." Ilhun instructed of Sangtae "Watch our dongsaeng."

Sangtae sighed and nodded, plopping down against the soft leather couch.

"Why does everything keep going wrong?" He asked of Bokdong, but Bokdong didn't have an answer.  

"We can only hope this whole situation calms down. It's ridiculously out of hand" Sangtae sighed.

"It can't possibly get worse can it?"

"Everything can always get worse, it's when you expect the best that the worst happens."

Bokdong nodded his head slowly, inching his way back to the bed. He already knew not to expect anything, but Bokdong decided he would let life happen the way it was meant to and never interfere again. Instead, he leaned back as he heard the fading footsteps of Zelo.

Zelo on the other hand, had been expecting Luhan to do something strange.  He had been expecting it since the others had told him Luhan had stopped talking. The one thing he had not been expecting however, was for it to happen without him.

Zelo was freaking out, his heart was definitely beating too quickly for a normal human being. He stopped running, his breath convulsing into gasps. He had to think.  He had to bring himself into Luhan’s mind. He had to become Luhan for Zelo to be able to find him again. He touched his hair. That was already like Luhan’s because of L.Joe's ingenuity.

Zelo slowly calmed down as his mind focused on his new plan. He walked up and down the halls of each floor of the hotel thinking. He had just witnessed the near death of himself and was around the actual death of another despite who they might have been. Unable to speak, he wouldn't tell anyone his plans verbally.  That meant he would leave a note somewhere. Zelo had to find the clue, That's what Luhan was up to.

Zelo sighed softly; sometimes he wished Luhan would not have grown to be so timid. Nonetheless,  Zelo was grateful that Luhan used his head no matter the situation.

~~~~~~

Luhan had been running full speed down the stairs before he realised that no one was close behind him. It had been strange for him, the feeling of not feeling anything.  And now, he felt the touch of adrenaline that spurred him to keep going. Luhan walked into a quiet corridor as he thought.  Zelo would likely figure out his plan eventually.  It wasn't like he was hard to read. Instead, having grown up with his twin always next to him, Zelo knew Luhan better than his parents knew him.  But that truthfully wasn't saying much.

He missed being able to just hang out with Zelo in their quiet backyard with the large stream that led to the river. It was his favourite part about waking up everyday.  If he could find something like that out in the wilders, he thought he might be able to come around to things.

He stuck his hand in his pocket looking for a pen. Finding none,  Luhan pricked his finger with the tip of the blade he had started keeping in his pocket.  It was one Sehun had left behind,  and for a reason he didn't understand,  he loved having it with him. It made Luhan feel secure when nobody was there with him.

Ripping off a part of his t-shirt,  Luhan slowly traced with his finger a hint for Zelo.

"I went to find Sehun" he wrote. Luhan felt like chuckling at the fact that he hardly had enough blood to write out the message.  

Once it was done, he hung it on the doorknob of the door he was sat at, hoping almost savagely that the owners of said room would be none the wiser.

When he was done, Luhan looked both ways as if on a crosswalk.  Seeing no one,  he scampered down the hallway towards the fire exit. What Luhan didn't see was the boy who opened the door he had just hung his message on.

~~~~~~

Kai was bored sitting and doing nothing.  By the looks of it, D.O wasn't doing any better.  Sehun still hadn't come back and it had already been three hours. With the sun bright in the sky,  and no word,  it was more frightening than he would have thought. This fact didn't brighten his mood in any way, and his edginess was getting worse with each second.

"Why don't you guys head out and get something to eat, or go to the park while we settle things with camp and Sehun?" Suho suggested, a strange look on his face.

Kai though, not wanting to sit for another moment jumped at the idea. "Let's go." He told to D.O and Chanyeol who had just walked back into the room.

"Baekhyun went back to sleep." Chanyeol announced.  

"Let him sleep and come along with us." D.O suggested.  

"If you sit any longer you'll likely lose your mind."  Kris agreed, stretching from his position on the window.

"What about you guys?" Chanyeol asked, since the others remained quiet.

"Tao, Lay and Chen tend to have their own agenda" Suho said while Kris nodded. "And Xiumin is with Yongguk's group, so really it's just you four." Kris added.

"Three." Chanyeol corrected. "Baekhyun isn't coming along."

"Three." Kris mollified.

"Okay let's just go. We can bring back food for them"

Chanyeol trooped out of the hotel room, D.O and Kai following silently behind each in their own thoughts.  

As soon as the door shut behind the boys, Tao emerged from the room, Chen and Lay on his heels.

"Okay so what'