Jihoon opened his eyes to an unfamiliar place. The walls were plain white with a small shelf in the corner. An annoying beeping sound got his attention at his right side. He turned his head to see medical equipment he had only seen in movies. He followed an IV line down to his arm covered in fresh bandages.

Ah. That's right. His mind slowly came back to him as he remembered what happened.

He froze his thoughts, not wanting to replay his last memory of being awake as he felt something stir next to him. He glanced over to see a brown mop of hair sleeping with his head on the bed.

"Seungcheol," he murmured as his friend let out a grunt in his sleep. A frown laced his mouth as his eyebrows furrowed together.

"He insisted that he sleep here," a man's voice laughed from the doorway. The tag on his lab coat read Dr. Doogi. "I'm glad you're awake." He commented as he began changing out the IV.

"How long have I been out?" Jihoon asked as his doctor who was now humming a little song to himself.

"As of right now? Almost a full day." Jihoon sighed at this and glanced back at Seungcheol. "Your friend here hasn't left that spot. I'm not supposed to let visitors stay, but he said he was special and I shouldn't make him leave."

Jihoon smirked at this. "Special? More like stupid. He really should have went home," His heart felt warm though hearing about Seungcheol staying with him. It was nice to feel wanted. Dr. Doogi started to leave the room. "Oh wait, doctor." he turned around to face the bed with a friendly smile. "Um, thank you."

"Why?" The doctor laughed. Jihoon felt his cheeks heat up as his mind raced for the right words to use.

"For, um, saving me." Dr. Doogi's smile grew gentle as he walked back over to his patient.

"Well, it is my job." He laughed, patting Jihoon's head. "And if I couldn't do that much, what kind of doctor would I be?"

"Still, thank you." Jihoon muttered as Dr. Doogi began to leave again.

He paused at the door and turned around. "You should thank your friend." Jihoon cocked his head to the side in confusion. "You're really lucky you both have the same blood type." With that he left the room.

Jihoon looked down at Seungcheol. "Why do our blood types matter?" He murmured to himself. What a strange doctor.

<><><><><>

Seungcheol woke up with a shock. He hadn't meant to fall asleep and it really scared him to be waking up now.

"God, you sleep a lot." A voice muttered sarcastically.

Jihoon? He glance up to see his pink haired friend flipping ominously through a magazine. "You're awake!" He jumped to his feet, tackling his friend to the bed. "Oh god, I'm so happy!"

"You're crushing me." The small boy coked out. Seungcheol quickly got off of his friend with one final squeeze.

"I was so worried for you! They tried to kick me out of here a million and one times but finally Doogi, your super nice doctor by the way, told me I could stay until you wake up and then I fell asleep and I meant to stay awake to see you wake up and-"

"Seungcheol, it's okay." Jihoon laughed. "I already heard it from Dr. Doogi when I first woke up,"

"Oh." Seungcheol stopped, closing his mouth promptly. He didn't know what to talk about now. "I should notify the guys," he whipped out his phone and quickly sent a text to Joshua that Jihoon was awake and to spread the word. Joshua replied back in lightning speed saying they'll all come visit first thing tomorrow since it was way after visiting hours at the hospital. "Joshua said they're coming tomorrow morning,"

"Good." Jihoon sighed, placing the magazine down. It was silent in the room. Not uncomfortable, not overbearing, but just simply quiet. They both had so many things to say to each other but neither one wanted to break the silence first and so they sat.

Dr. Doogi appeared an hour later to give Jihoon some painkiller and asked Seungcheol how he was feeling. Jihoon found it weird for the doctor to check up on Seungcheol but figured it was because the boy probably hadn't left the room at all. Dr. Doogi left with a small head nod and quick "goodnight" leaving the boys once again in silence.

"Jihoon-"

"Seungcheol-"

Both boys frozen as they started to talk at the same time.

"You go first," Seungcheol said quickly, looking away from the boy.

Jihoon sighed. "No, you go." Before Seungcheol could deny again he added, "I insist."

Seungcheol in air. He had always been bad at bringing up sensitive topics. Every time he did he found himself exploding after a few sentences. He knew what he wanted to talk about though. Mingyu had called him and told him what Jihoon's dad had said on the phone and it had pissed him off. He figured Mr. Lee's homophobic nature had something to do with the current situation, but Seungcheol still wanted to know for himself. He wanted to know who to direct his fury towards.

"Okay," he started shakily, still not meeting Jihoon's gaze. "Why did you do it?" He felt the boy tense on the bed. He knew Jihoon was smart. He had probably been waiting for this question to arrive the minute he woke up.

"Seungcheol," Jihoon murmured. "I don't know if I can answer."

"I asked you a question, Jihoon." Seungcheol muttered quietly.

"And I said that I don't know if I can answer."

"That's a cowardly excuse," Seungcheol spat sharply. He felt himself slowly coming loose. He got up and sat on the side of the bed, making eye contact with his friend. "Do you know how selfish you were?"

"Seungcheol?"

"You were so goddamn selfish. You tried to kill yourself. And over what? Your dad not accepting your uality? Yeah, that more than anything. But you don't need him in your life when you have so many other people that would and do accept you!" Seungcheol ranted. He knew he was being unfair. He shouldn't be yelling like this or pushing his feelings on to the poor boy. But he couldn't help it. He was scared that he would lose his best friend. He was angry that this happened. And he was downright done with holding it all in.

"Seungcheol, please try to understand," Jihoon murmured.  

"What do I need to understand? I thought you were going to die, Jihoon. I thought that you were gone. That I would never see my best friend again." He looked away, tears burning at his eyes and threatening to fall. "Do you know how scary that was?"

"I didn't die. That didn't happen." Jihoon reassured, placing a hand on his friends' shoulder.

"But you tried." Seungcheol emphasized. "So why?"

Jihoon, about to break out in tears himself, looked down. "I'm gay. It's not easy being gay here in South Korea. There's so many prejudices and hate towards people like me. I didn't want anyone to find out, but eventually I had to tell someone. I told my mom and she was fine with it. She was supportive and urged me to tell the rest of my family. So at our family dinner, the day before my hair got dyed pink, I told my grandparents. They didn't react well at all," he paused taking a breath.

"They kicked me out of their house. They then told my aunt and uncle who proceeded to call me to tell me that I "wasn't really gay" and was "confused". Later I got on Twitter to see my cousin had tweeted "I don't want to be related to a queer" and it had fifty retweets; most of which were relatives and family friends. Do you know how awful that feels?" Seungcheol shook his head at this even though the question wasn't really directed at him. It was now just Jihoon talking from the heart.

"Then my hairdresser, a friend of my aunt, purposely dyed my hair pink. She had the nerve to say it was "the style every gay boy should have" and even overcharged me. I stayed home from school and you guys came over. And then," he stopped talking again. "Never mind. Anyways, my dad quickly found out from my other family members the next day and proceeded to ignore me. When he did talk to me he basically told me he disowned me and I would be better off not existing. I have a temper, I get it from him, and we got in a horrible argument. He hit me and I finally broke."

Jihoon stopped talking. He looked away from Seungcheol who was now staring daggers at his friend, and decided to look at the wall behind him. It was plain white, not a single mark defaced its surface. He wished he could be as clear as the way the wall was. As pure and white. Perfect. It was soothing thought that led him to being even more upset.

"Continue," Seungcheol said snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Wonwoo had been over since we were studying and sort of heard the fight. I ran by him in the living room and locked myself in my bedroom. He apparently called everyone and told them something was wrong and to come over since both my parents left after the fight. Before I fell unconscious the last thing I heard was all of you guys breaking the door open." He looked away from the wall and back at Seungcheol who now held an unreadable expression.

"It was a horrible scene when we opened that door. I thought you were dead right there. Luckily, the paramedics were already there so we didn't have to worry as much but it will always be engraved in my head. You, lying there motionless-"

"Please don't." Jihoon pleaded. He didn't want to know what they saw.

"There was so much blood everywhere-"

"Seungcheol, stop."

"A small kitchen knife was in you right hand. And your left arm," Jihoon winced as Seungcheol grabbed the freshly bandaged arm. "I could see completely inside it, as though it had been dissected." Jihoon yanked his arm away, fearing Seungcheol would remove the bandage with the way he was acting.

"I'm sorry," Jihoon murmured.

Seungcheol stared at him. "You're sorry?" Jihoon nodded urgently and Seungcheol scoffed. "I don't know whether to accept that or not."

Jihoon couldn't believe his ears. "Stop acting like the ing victim." He spat. Seungcheol flipped around to face the boy. "Yes, it was probably terrifying for you, but this is my problem. Not yours."

"It's not my problem?" Seungcheol laughed. "This became my problem the minute you called me!"

"I shouldn't have done that. I wasn't thinking," Jihoon said quickly.

"Clearly. But you did it anyways. I ran so fast over to your house to find you covered in your own blood. I road to the hospital with you having the medical staff saying you might not make it. I gave you my ing blood to keep you alive and you have the nerve to say it's not my problem? It became my problem the moment I fell in love you, !" Seungcheol shouted and immediately covered his mouth. He had said too much once again. He exploded. He honestly didn't even realize he was in love with Jihoon until the words escaped his lips. He shocked himself to the core and settled to avoid his friends confused expression.

"You, what?" Jihoon was shocked. What did Seungcheol just ramble about? "Wait, you gave me blood?" Seungcheol nodded as Jihoon sat up, moving closer to him. "Why?"

"They didn't have your blood type on hand here. I sort of donated my own," Seungcheol said rubbing the back of his neck. Now Dr. Doogi's actions made since. Seungcheol donated his blood to keep him alive. Jihoon moved to where he was now sitting directly in front of his friend. He grabbed his hands with his own and held them firmly, spinning Seungcheol around to face him.  

"You didn't need to do that," he murmured, leaning in slightly. Seungcheol held his look before his gaze began to flicker between his eyes and lips. It finally settled on the latter.

"I really did though. I couldn't just let you die," Seungcheol murmured.

"Thank you then," Jihoon smiled slightly leaning a little closer. "And what was the last part you said?"

"I, um, I think I'm in love with you," Jihoon closed the space in between their mouths. At that moment, any doubt within Seungcheol's mind vanished. He knew Jeonghan had been right, he was madly in love with his best friend. Why he hadn't seen it before was baffling to him but at least now he knew.

Their mouths moved slowly against one another's, taking in every aspect as they could of each other. Their noses bumped together lightly as they carefully kissed each other, both afraid that it wasn't real. There were no sparks or fireworks like everyone said but instead just an overwhelming feeling of joy. A feeling of comfort falling around them that neither had ever experienced before. They sank into each other's presence peacefully. When the kiss finally broke apart they both felt as if nothing could ever go wrong in their worlds again.

"You know, I don't think I'm in love with you. I knew I was in love with you the moment we met," Jihoon whispered in his ear before gracefully capturing the others lips once more.

They pushed all they had been fighting over, all of the horrible thoughts and memories behind them, and just kissed. They were caught up in the moment that they never wanted to let die.

"I don't want anything to ever hurt you again," Seungcheol murmured against Jihoon's lips. "And I'm going to beat up your whole family," Jihoon laughed lightly and Seungcheol paused. "I'm serious,"

"Seungcheol, please don't ruin the moment. We can talk about how to beat them up later," Jihoon laughed as Seungcheol bit his lip to show he was agitated. They continued on like that, kissing and talking a little until they both decided it was time to go to sleep.

That was the first time in the past couple of months that Jihoon slept without hating himself.

<><><><><>

There's you some JiCheol.

Thank you for all of your support and I will try to continue making this a worthwhile read! Thank you again and please have the most wonderful day~!!