Are You There - Chapter 38: Chapter 38

Jooheon arrives at the hospital alone, several text messages sent to Hoseok to alert him of his taxi's location throughout the journey. He finds a familiar man at the entrance to the building, clearly waiting for the blonde. The rain has started up again, and memories of last night, real or fake, flash before Jooheon's eyes as he approaches Minhyuk at the top of the concrete stairs.
The nurse, with an approaching shift at his own hospital, has donned his scrubs while waiting for the blonde. "Sir!" He waves Jooheon close, smiling as best he can when the man pauses just before him.
The rain is light, nowhere near the storm it had become last night, but Jooheon's hair still presses damp to his forehead when he reaches the nurse. "Minhyuk," he blurts, the name familiar on his lips. He recalls seeing him not only last night, but in passing at Hoseok's many parties over the last few months. Never a man Jooheon had known well, but a face in the crowd he can place easily enough.
The nurse nods, his ears burning a bit. He does not often get recognized by people he has worked to wipe, and it draws his nerves into his throat as he gestures for Jooheon to follow him into the hospital. "Hoseok and Changkyun are in a recovery room on the second floor."
Minhyuk thanks the heavens when Jooheon shrugs his damp jacket from his shoulders, giving him the available skin-to-skin contact he will need to carry out his plan. Minhyuk has not shared his ideas with Hoseok, but he has been mulling it over in his own blocked mind for several hours. When Changkyun was revived, a part of him threatened to give up and die. It had been terrifying to watch Hyungwon and Hoseok argue over his waning light, and though the vampire's survival should have brought the telepath relief, it only struck new fear through his chest. Changkyun had been attacked for being alive, and Minhyuk knows that it will not be the last time.
His plan began developing the moment he arrived at the hospital just past midnight, Hoseok in tow. They both received the call from Hyungwon, and knew that the impossible had been done. Minhyuk could hear Changkyun's thoughts loud and clear, even in his coma-like state. His mind did not rest, each moment calling loud for help, for the pain to stop, for Jooheon. Minhyuk could not listen to it for long, and often left the room to breathe; but his plan only strengthened the longer he listened.  Changkyun had had the intent to tell Jooheon the truth before everything had happened. The telepath had read that from him at the tea shop yesterday afternoon. In his sleep now he can hear it, and Minhyuk refuses to let the vampire's pleas fall through.
His plan begins now.
"Let's take the elevator," the nurse chirps, forcing a smile in an attempt to calm the blonde's visible nerves. The pair can see a small gathering waiting for the next elevator headed up from the lobby, but the nurse leads Jooheon in that direction anyway. He can use the cramped space to his best advantage. "Someone hit number two," Minhyuk calls out when he and the blonde press into the small box, six others pushed together like sardines and drawing the nurse closer to Jooheon.
The perfect excuse to let his hand press into the blonde's arm.
The elevator ride will be short, Minhyuk knows, and he cannot exactly extract every implant he has placed in Jooheon's mind in such a short time, but he is eager to see just how far he can work in twenty seconds. He would do much better with a hand against Jooheon's temple, but a gentle clasp around the blonde's wrist works fine as Minhyuk begins sifting through his thoughts.
The nurse is surprised to find their first interaction hidden in the depths of Jooheon's mind, an old memory from over six months ago now. Back when Minhyuk took his job as a nurse far less seriously. Back when he was working exclusively for Hyungwon, and the hospital was only a hiding place for the vampire's plots. Back when Minhyuk used his ability on just about every guest, Jooheon included.
Plucking that memory from its dry patch is easy, and Jooheon's brow furrows as it lifts seemingly from nowhere. Minhyuk finds the lie he had given Jooheon that late night; that Changkyun was alive and the blonde should go home and forget it had ever happened. The blonde's brow furrows further as the memory becomes clearer and less distorted, confusing him beyond relief.
Why is Changkyun suddenly around months ago-
Minhyuk moves on, finding the next instance coming along when he had wiped Jooheon at the coffee shop. Many memories are locked together within this small sector of his mind, that night and the following day filled with many implants and swipes under the rug. Many of them do not connect, and even clash with one another, leaving Jooheon even more lost as they resurface and are sponged clean by Minhyuk's own mind's reach. The telepath is almost in shock to know they were not erased when Hoseok sifted through the blonde's mind and erased everything of Changkyun.
Minhyuk's locks must be more powerful than he thought.
The elevator doors open to the second floor, and Minhyuk uses the last few seconds it takes to push through the people to dredge up the most recent implants Hoseok has placed on Jooheon's mind. These are easier to clear out and replace, Hoseok's ability with adjustments weak compared to the nurse's. Minhyuk has the time to find a flaw in Hoseok's ultimate wipe when Jooheon tugs his wrist away, put off by the prolonged contact.
"Excuse me," Jooheon mutters, a hand to his head in thought. "We met last night, right?" Rather than sorting out the old memories that do not make much sense to him, Jooheon decides to settle what he is less unsure of. What exactly happened last night?
Minhyuk nods, leading the blonde through a lobby-like space, mirroring the hospital's entryway in color and scent. Compared to the emergency room Jooheon faintly recalls, this space is far warmer and inviting to the eye. He does not feel threatened, or the need to leave as a nurse he can half remember urges him to leave. "We met at the comic shop last night. But we've met before as well."
Jooheon nods, almost yawning as his mind overflows with new and old.
"I'm Changkyun's roommate," Minhyuk explains, figuring it cannot hurt to fill in that blank. "And Hoseok's friend." He does not add it with much thought, but he cringes at his tone the moment the words have hit the air. He sounds like a teenager crushing on his professor, so childish.
Jooheon does not care who this Minhyuk character is, but the question of why memories from months ago can surface the moment he meets him here is becoming more and more pressing. "Can I ask you something else?"
Minhyuk nods, slowing their pace as he reaches the corridor leading to Changkyun's room. He cannot see the future, and he is not sure which question Jooheon will pick from his wild thoughts, so he waits in trepidation. He cannot even begin to prepare an answer for what Jooheon asks.
"When did Changkyun and I first meet?"
Minhyuk knows not the answer, and he does not know just how far the wipe on the blonde's mind goes. Whether old instances of Changkyun had slipped through the cracks, he cannot see. So he only shrugs before saying, "A while ago." Gesturing to a door they have paused at without the blonde even noticing, Minhyuk adds, "Him and Hoseok are in there. Tell Hoseok I'm leaving for work, okay?"
Minhyuk leaves the man alone in the hall, walking quickly so he cannot ask more questions. Minhyuk had done his part and removed what he could of the blonde's blocks. Now it was left to Changkyun to fill in any blanks he chose to fill when he woke.
[ x ]
"Do you think he can hear me?" Jooheon leans over the tan man in bed, peering down his nose in curiosity. He has never seen a comatose patient before, and he must admit that it is quite interesting. Changkyun is breathing on his own, no support from an oxygen tank, but his chest barely moves every few seconds which puts Jooheon off. He wonders just how many times a comatose heart beats per minute; whatever it is does not seem nearly enough.
Hoseok shrugs, standing to grab for Changkyun's wrist. He cannot read the vampire without contact right now, their connection split somehow. The younger's mind is slow moving, thoughts cyclical around Jooheon and those closest to him. Hoseok catches snippets of himself on the vampire's mind, Hyungwon and Minhyuk trailing close behind.
"Hey asshole! Can you hear us!?" Hoseok's voice is loud, and Jooheon actually flinches back in surprise. Hoseok is not one to shout, not even in anger, but here the broad man is yelling at a possibly deaf man. Hoseok smirks when Changkyun's mind reacts, shouting back in annoyance. "I think he can hear you," he mutters to Jooheon as he walks back to his chair, settling against the hard leather with a sigh.
Jooheon stays standing beside Changkyun's bed, unsure if they can be considered close enough for him to sit on the edge beside him. Probably not, he thinks to himself before dragging a second chair to Changkyun's bedside. "Is he okay?" Jooheon stares at Hoseok over the plains of sheets between them, Changkyun's stomach rising with a deep breath in.
Hoseok shrugs, unsure. "Our Ma-" He stops, coughing to try and fix the statement. "Our friend patched him up pretty well. He's alive, I don't really know what else to say." Hoseok wants to kick himself for almost calling Hyungwon his Master in front of Jooheon. In the sixth months that he has spent under Hyungwon's Claim, the fae has never slipped up like that. He knows he has called him Master in public, but never in front of anyone that would have an opinion that matters.
"Your friend is a doctor?" Jooheon seems skeptical, and he has many reasons to be. He knows nearly all of Hoseok's friends, the group slowly dwindling over the last few months of house gatherings and outings.
Hoseok's eyes wander as he thinks up a valid answer, but falls short quickly. "Not exactly." He wonders what he can call Hyungwon, besides the obvious. Vampire will not exactly work out well, he knows, but what else is he meant to call the man? "He kinda deals in natural healing? Not under a license." Yeah, that works. Hoseok nods his head to himself, proud of the reply he has scrounged up from the dust beneath his shoes. Jooheon does not like the thought however, and only sits stiff in his seat.
"So he was really stabbed last night?" Jooheon can piece together what he believed to be a dream, what Minhyuk had convinced him was not real. What for, he is not sure still, but he knows it had to have happened. What else had really happened that he'd been cast out of?
"Yeah, he was stabbed." Hoseok gestures to his own side, a vague wave to wear Changkyun took the brunt of the wide dagger. "Big nasty scar there."
Jooheon stares down at the sheets that cover the younger up, wondering if Changkyun would know if he pulled them aside to see the scar. He remembers checking Changkyun's side not even two days ago to see the original scar, he does not like to think that there will now be a second, scarier one on his other side. He does not like to think even more that he has a hand in that second gash.
"Did I actually pull the knife out of his side?"
Changkyun's thoughts stir at that, startled to hear that Jooheon had not only been present, but active in the sort of rescue that had occurred. He is not asleep; he in fact has not been sleeping since Minhyuk stood himself up an announced that he would wait downstairs for Jooheon. But he does not know how to peel his eyes apart and announce this quite yet.
"That's what you said when I got there." Hoseok's fights with his voice, begging it not to waver as the fear from last night floods his senses. He can recall easily enough how panicked Jooheon had been, surely scared that he had just killed Changkyun himself when he tugged the knife from his side. Perhaps he had made things worse, letting the vampire bleed out quicker, but Hoseok knows the younger would never blame Jooheon.
"But then I just walked home?" Jooheon shakes his head at himself, confused now more than ever. Old thoughts and old images can be damned, he wants to understand the now. The last night. The tomorrow.
He eyes the bag of blood hanging from a drip beside Changkyun's bed, ominous and dark above his head. "Isn't he supposed to be getting fluids?" The blonde gestures at the thinning bag, grimacing at Hoseok across the bed again.
Hoseok nods, eyeing the blood as well. If last night had never happened, perhaps he would be just as uncomfortable now as Jooheon is. But it had happened, and he realized just how important the vampire was to him and his life force. The sight of blood, from a vampire and for a vampire, of any sort really will never have the same negative effect on him again.
"That is his fluids." It is a vague enough answer that Hoseok does not worry about Jooheon putting the broken pieces together, but the blonde makes a casual joke that has him blanching within moments.
"Like a vampire." Jooheon chuckles to himself, the words light and silly in his mind. He knows that nothing so outrageous could be real, but it helps him cope with the idea of someone in the hospital like this. Perhaps in the hospital because of him. Perhaps someone he has known forever and cannot even remember.
But Hoseok does not shed a laugh, and when the blonde glances up, he is startled by the older's pale expression. Changkyun however has to fight a sudden sputtering chuckle, pretending to still be at rest as the pair speak above him. He cannot imagine it would be a great entrance here; right in the middle of his practical outing.
Yet Jooheon catches the flinch in his expression and stands himself up, leaning over the bed with a hand against Changkyun's hot skin. His fingers can feel the pulse point at the younger's wrist, dull as his blood pumps slower than any human's. Changkyun's nose twitches as the familiar caramel scent, strong moments ago, suddenly infiltrates his entire being. He supposes this is as good a time as any to peek a glimpse at what waits for him.
[ x ]
"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Minhyuk pushes a hand into his hair, annoyed to see the broad fae stood before him. His hair is growing increasingly annoying, and the pair of surgical shears tucked into the passing doctor's jacket look enticing for a moment as he holds his fringe away from his face. Hoseok kicks at the ground, glancing about cautiously before grabbing Minhyuk's wrist and dragging him into an empty testing room. It was not particularly easy to find the nurse today, as it usually is when Hoseok drops by unexpectedly. Minhyuk is not in the emergency room running about as usual, but instead mucking through the Walk-In clinic with the easy cold and flu cases. The most excitement he has seen since walking into the hospital two hours ago was a man with a fractured wrist.
"Hoseok-"
The fae does not let the telepath speak, heaving one long sigh as he wraps his arms around the younger's thin waist. He just needs a moment to pause, collect himself, and speak. He only needs to be held for one breath. Minhyuk freezes in the older man's grasp, startled into silence as he lifts his own arms to complete the embrace. He is scared to reach into Hoseok's mind, worried that perhaps what he will see there will not be good. But Hoseok only sighs again and speaks into the crook of the telepath's neck. Minhyuk's entire body floods with warmth, each word hitting him with Hoseok's hot breath against his skin.
"Changkyun woke up."
Minhyuk finds a smile pulling his lips upwards, relief washing through him. "Jesus-" He coughs as Hoseok's arms tighten further around his middle. "I thought you were here 'cause something happened."
"Changkyun told Jooheon he's a vampire."
Minhyuk freezes again. Though this had all been part of his plan, and he hoped that Changkyun had received his thoughts when he was sleeping, he was not actually expecting it to be executed. "He did what?"
Hoseok, with a hand against the back of Minhyuk's neck, sighs. He cannot believe what he is seeing. He should have known that Minhyuk had some kind of hidden agenda when he urged Hoseok to let Jooheon come to the hospital. Yet here he is surprised and let down. Leaning away, he pushes himself from Minhyuk's grip with a frown.
"Why would you touch Jooheon's implants?"
Minhyuk almost laughs at the question, not quite understanding his meaning. And then he matches Hoseok's sigh with one of his own, his eyes closing as he steps away from the fae completely. "He should know." Dragging his hand through his hair again, this time out of sudden stress, Minhyuk peels his eyes open to find Hoseok already staring at him. "Changkyun was going to tell him anyway. I saw it. I'm sure you did too."
Hoseok had seen it. He had been there right after Changkyun had faded before the blonde man, he had spoken with Changkyun about it. The vampire wanted to tell him. But Jooheon's memories cannot be given back after a wipe, and Minhyuk should know as much. "What was the point of unlocking those old memories? He can't get the rest back after I took all the time to erase Changkyun."
"I know..." Minhyuk stops, scratching at his throat as he thinks up a valid excuse. "Honestly, I just thought maybe if he had more reasons to ask questions, he finally would. Every time he's been anywhere near me these last few months, I've nearly thrown up with how dark and wrong his mind is." Minhyuk can recall each instance where he had hidden away from Jooheon at Hoseok's home, not only from fear of being seen but out of fear of a migraine.
Jooheon's thoughts are never off. Even when he does not realize what he is thinking about, his mind is working on overtime to make sense of missing chunks of his life. Hoseok can understand to an extent. He has only ever had difficulties when their skin touches, and only for some moments of time. He cannot imagine breathing through that monstrosity like Minhyuk has to for anything more than a minute.
"You realize you took away four years of his life, right? You can't rewrite that much with just implants." Minhyuk's cheeks flush pink as Hoseok glares, annoyed over having his work criticized. "Sorry, but it's true. A human's brain isn't like ours. It can't take that kind of change."
Hoseok is listening, but he cannot find the attention to react. If Minhyuk could stop pushing back his damned hair, the fae could focus just a bit more, but the pair become aware almost at once that they are shut inside an empty exam room, and neither of them know what to do about it. They both have differing ideas on what can happen here. Minhyuk is prepared to fight his point to the grave, so long as Hoseok can just pay attention.
Hoseok is prepared to jump the younger and apologize for ever doubting him, doubting his abilities or his emotions.
"Hoseok put a damn block up." Minhyuk takes a long step back, annoyed now. While he would not exactly mind getting an apology from the older, now is not the time to have Hoseok's crude thoughts infiltrating his own head. Sighing with finality, Minhyuk lets his hair fall into his eyes again, preparing to head back into the main hall. "I'm glad Changkyun woke up, I'll visit him when my shift ends."
The telepath reaches for the door, but Hoseok does not want to be left alone just yet. He should take this chance. He has been through too much in the last twenty-four hour and can acknowledge now that his life is not permanent. He is not about to finish it off without earning back at least the friendship he once had with Minhyuk.
"I'm sorry," he blurts out, winding his thick fingers around Minhyuk's thin wrist. They encircle the small of his arm perfectly, fingertip to fingertip, and he smiles at the once familiar sensation.
Minhyuk's lips purse, his eyes on the exam room door. He almost begs for one of his coworkers to stumble in and find them in the dark. He wants the apology, but not now, not here. Not when Hoseok is looking at him like that, desperate and hurt.
"I'm sorry for pushing you away months ago, and letting you think you weren't worth enough."
Memories flood both their minds; nights spent hidden away turning sour and burning under words too hot for their own lips. Insults and slander, stabs and curses. Hoseok has been too caught up in his bloodline's own beliefs to let himself fall completely in love with Minhyuk, and he ruined it all months ago.
He made it worse when he realized that pushing Minhyuk aside was not right, and it hurt to be alone. He made it worse again when he let Hyungwon collapse into his own feelings, thinking that if Minhyuk could not give him some kind of warmth, perhaps the vampire could. Hoseok just keeps messing things up.
"I'm sorry for still not knowing what I'm supposed to do, or what I'm supposed to say." Though his hand is wrapped around bare skin, where he can easily read the telepath, he chooses not to. He does not want to fake his way through it this time. "I'm sorry for letting you think that I didn't care and putting myself before you."
Minhyuk's cheeks puff out as his eyes dart further away from Hoseok's face. The door has been thoroughly looked over, and the wall beside it, but there is not much more for Minhyuk to stare at as Hoseok continues speaking. His hands have grown clammy, his fists tight from fear. He does not want to give in this easily. Hoseok had worked his charms easily enough months ago, yet something feels different about this small moment.
Hoseok can feel it too, but while Minhyuk is left confused, the fae knows why they feel so connected. Hoseok had given a piece of his soul to save Minhyuk yesterday, and while Changkyun may have a grip on part of him, Minhyuk now holds his entire essence in his hands. Whether he wants Hoseok or not, the fae is here to stay. Minhyuk cannot rid himself of Hoseok, not without killing the man.
"I'm sorry that I keep finding new ways to hurt you." He tugs Minhyuk's hand, begging the younger to just glance his way. Minhyuk's dark eyes, damp beneath his long hair, stray from their resting place to find Hoseok's pale cheeks. He cannot make eye contact. "I'll apologize for the rest of my life if you need me to. Just don't shut me out anymore."
Minhyuk's bottom lip disappears between his teeth, his eyes burning as he ducks his head away again. His chest aches as the hold Hoseok has on him grows, pulling him in all over again. He can only hope that the fae does not give up on himself this time. Because the nurse refuses to stick around when that pain later turns to Hoseok giving up on him.