Chapter Text
A silence fell over the pitch-black darkness of the cold and damp prison cell, only broken by the uncontrolled chattering of teeth from one of the pair. It seemed like neither of them had any energy left to recounter the memories that landed them in this situation.
“S-Sunwoo...” Changmin’s voice was a hoarse whisper, trying his hardest to hold back the reflexive jerking of his lower jaw. “Come here...”
There was a pause, followed by a small sniffle before the younger boy slowly shuffled his way over with slow, hesitant movements. It was as though he was holding himself back, out of guilt or fear, or maybe an ounce of both, from going near the elder.
From causing Changmin any more pain that he already was in.
“Use your warp, let me see you.” Changmin murmured, slender fingers wrapping around Sunwoo’s wrist. He didn’t need to feel around for where the other was - it was like he just knew. Perhaps that’s what happens when you accidentally form a soul bond while trying to save their life. His entire body felt like it was on fire - like his very soul was bleeding from how much damage he’d done to it after ripping a part of it out and giving it to someone else. The strange men said he’d made a mistake, doing that at the hospital. But Changmin couldn’t find it in himself to regret it one bit. Sure, he’d trade the cell they were thrown into for a hospital bed any day, but not at the expense of Sunwoo.
“Sunwoo...” He tried again, his fingers trembling from the exertion as he tightened his grip. “Please.”
Either the shaking or the desperation in his voice seemed to work, for the younger reluctantly created a spot of light from his palm. It flickered dully, wavering in intensity each time Sunwoo tried to force a smile onto his face. Given such a situation they were in, Changmin was proud enough that Sunwoo was able to come up with some sort of positive emotion to use his warp. It made the dark spots dancing around in his vision much more comforting that it should have been. His control is getting better...
Up close, with their faces illuminated a pale yellow, Changmin’s face was wan but his lips pulled into a fond smile as he finally took a good look at his companion. Said companion was determinedly staring at his own dimly lit palm, doing his best to avoid looking at the elder.
“Sunwoo, look at me.”
A gentle hand grasped Sunwoo’s chin, guiding him to face Changmin. Sunwoo swallowed as he finally met the elder’s gaze, taking in the pale cheeks, eyes crinkled into smiling crescents and the streaks of drying blood marring his handsome features.
The light blinked out.
Changmin could feel the younger’s shoulders shake violently as he drew him into an embrace, mindful of the sparks of flashing hot pain that flared up across his abdomen. Hushed sobs were muffled into his shirt as he tried his best to comfort Sunwoo.
Sunwoo, who never asked for any of this. Sunwoo, who didn’t deserve to be treated like an object alongside him. Sunwoo, whom he would soon have to leave behind.
“Don’t cry, Sunwoo...” Changmin’s voice came out in a strained whisper, trying his best to give what he hoped were comforting pats in the younger’s back. As comforting as their situation could be, anyway.
“We’ll get out of here...” The lightheadedness was really getting to him. He tried his best to continue providing whatever support he could to Sunwoo, but he could feel himself losing his grip on reality. “I’m sorry, Sun…woo...”
“Hyung...?”
“Hyung!” Sunwoo called out in desperation, his movements working up into a frenzy. At the lack of response, the younger could feel his heart pick up its pace, pounding relentlessly in his chest as he frantically scrambled around Changmin. To shake him awake, check his pulse, anything to show that the elder wasn’t just leaving Sunwoo in the dark like this. Not when they were finally at this stage.
Never in his life had he ever been so terrified of losing someone. Well, these past few months had been plenty of firsts to begin with, but this...they were supposed to be idols, worrying about their next comeback or their next stage performance. Not trying to save each other from the brink of death like in some tragic romance novel.
“Help! Is anyone out there? A guard? Someone?”
“I don’t care what you want to do with us but please, save him!”
“I-I’ll do anything...! Anything you want! Just...just save him, please...”
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
The mechanical beeping of an unfamiliar machine filtered into the darkness surrounding Changmin. It’s continuous monotone was seriously about to drive him crazy. He had half a mind to raise his arm and swat at whatever source was ruining his sleep, only to find out that his arm felt like it was weighed down by lead - even thinking about moving any part felt exhausting. With a strained grunt, Changmin’s consciousness finally forced his eyes open, blinking blearily at the flood of light that pierced his vision. Blank, white walls and the monitoring machine next to him...he was in a hospital.
...How?
From what he recalled, he had been stuck in some dark room after he used his warp on Sunwoo...Changmin let out a groan as a sharp knife-life pain threatened to split his head open. Sunwoo...where was he?!
Changmin jerked up at the realisation, the numerous tubes and wires connected to him flying in response to his sudden movement. The pounding ache that filled his mind and body made him regret his decision immediately. He bit back a curse as he thumped back down against the mattress, his bones creaking in protest. All he needed to do was to turn his head and he would’ve seen Sunwoo curled up in his own hospital bed beside him, equally attached to a number of (but significantly lesser than his own) machines.
“Ah, I see you’re awake.”
The sudden voice made Changmin very nearly jump out of his skin once again. Holding himself back from spewing a slew of stinging curses, he glared at the source. The voice was...oddly familiar?
It was the woman in the white lab coat and the horn-rimmed glasses again. She had been there when he used his warp...but he had been so focused on Sunwoo then that he hadn’t been able to notice anything else. Now that he was able to see without tears, sweat or blood dripping into his eyes, he knew this woman…
“Noona?”
Hospital...lab coat…his eldest sister worked for the government...
With a mounting horror, Changmin quickly pieced the puzzle together. This was no ordinary hospital - they were in a testing facility for those whose warps were considered ‘a threat’ to society because they were too strong. Too useful. And his sister was here with him because...
“Is this what your job has been all along?”
A hesitant nod, in reply.
Changmin gaped at his eldest sister. All the memories from his childhood were filtering through his mind in an instant - from when he first discovered his warp, her reaction and the authorities somehow never finding out about it…
“So instead of being a public servant, you drag teenagers from their homes and put them through who-knows-what in this laboratory like some guinea pigs?” He wasn’t sure where this unexplainable anger was coming from and he knew even less whether it was right for him to direct it as his sibling at this very moment. But after all that he had put Sunwoo through because of his warp, only to find out that one of his closest family members was in on it all along...Changmin was furious. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
At his sister, for still choosing to stay with and work for this sort of sick cause. At himself, for not being able to shield the younger boy from getting swallowed by this bullshit because of his warp.
“I understand your pain, Changmin-ah, but now is not the time for an explanation.” His sister sighed, stepping closer to his bed with a forlorn expression. Evidently, she had expected this conversation to happen, sooner or later. “You need to get out of here while you still can.”
At Changmin’s disbelieving frown, she let out a heavy sigh.
“The Korean government isn’t some sort of cruel slaughterhouse from the stories we’ve heard from our childhood. Or at least, it hasn’t become that sort of place yet. But there are countries that have placed bounties, prices on people with warps like yours that can be weaponised. Used for their political advantage. Here, there are also those considered too dangerous who have either chosen to live in isolation, or had their warp permanently neutralized. None of them were tortured or killed.”
“But they were kidnapped from their families and placed in a dark, damp cell until they made a decision.” Changmin’s lips were pressed into a thin line, trying his best not to raise his voice at his eldest sister. It wasn’t her fault, not fully anyway. “And why did that not happen to me?”
“Your little stunt almost killed you, Changmin! And we had no idea!” He winced at the reminder. There was no mistaking the ‘protective mother hen’ tone he heard from his sister. Given he nearly died, it was an understandable reaction…but he would not have had it any other way. Not when Sunwoo’s life had been at stake.
“It was only until Sunwoo started yelling for help that we found out the implications that using your warp had on you,” his sister continued, her expression morphing into one of distraught by the second. “And by then it was almost too late!”
“Yeah, hyung...what the fuck was that about,” a familiar voice croaked from the bed beside him. “I think you gave me enough trauma for a lifetime.”
Sunwoo!
“You’re awake,” Changmin struggled to sit up again, his eldest sister gracefully sweeping to his aid. Ignoring the brief flare of pain from his mending ribs, he finally gave the younger a good once-over. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I got hit by a truck, except you took it for me.” Sunwoo began. The moment they made eye contact, Changmin could see his lower lip begin to tremble. But he blinked once, twice, and that moment of weakness disappeared in an instant as the younger schooled his expression into one of blank calmness with practiced ease. Just like their company taught them. Changmin fervently wished he could go closer to the younger man and offer some form of comfort, to erase whatever pain - that he himself had caused - from Sunwoo’s mind. Unfortunately, the countless machines he was strapped to proved quite an obstacle. “But I’ll be fine, hyung. I just passed out after they came for you.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through so much, Sunwoo,” Changmin’s sister began sincerely, albeit with a forced smile of sorts. “Both of you.”
“But I think you’ll want to know what happens to you two next?”
A quick nod from both parties.
“Because your warp, Changmin, isn’t considered dangerous to the public nor can it be utilized by the state without unnecessary bodily harm to yourself,” At that reminder, Changmin reluctantly accepted the pointed glare from his eldest sibling. Given what had happened with Sunwoo, he wasn’t about to go around using his warp on random strangers either. “For now, you have been classified as safe, and you two are to return to your daily living. With the relevant added security measures in place, of course, you should experience little disruption to your lives.”
There was a short silence that followed, as Sunwoo and Changmin both digested the news. Or lack thereof.
“I-is that it?” Changmin couldn’t help but ask, staring bewilderedly at his sister. For everything they had gone through - the crash, all that blood, the prison and its mental torture - expecting them to just return to normal felt oddly...deflating. Like they had just been cheated of all their life savings. “We just went through all this shit and can go back to being idols?”
His eldest sister winced, evidently uncomfortable with the ridiculity of their situation as well. “After you get cleared medically, yes. That’s it. I know what you’re thinking guys, but this isn’t some sci-fi action movie. You really can go.”
Changmin sank back down into his bed. It seemed as though someone had poked a hole in his side and all the pent-up anxiety, fear and pain had just rushed out of him in an instant. There was an odd sense of absurdity filling his chest.
This was ridiculous.
Beside him, Sunwoo was a picture of absolute nonchalance, as if he hadn’t gone through that dreadful night in the prisons as well.
“When can we leave?” The younger asked, glancing at Changmin. “Are Changmin hyung’s injuries stable enough for us to move back to our dorm to recuperate?”
“You boys underestimate how long you have been lying here for, worrying me half out of my mind while we ran tests on you - it’s already been a week. Medical clearance has been completed. I will lead you out once you are ready.” Changmin’s sister paused, making her way out of the room.
“I will give you some privacy, but don’t take too long, please. This is not a pleasant place to remain in.”
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
Changmin glanced at Sunwoo worriedly, said person staring determinedly out of the taxi that they were being sent back in. Their entire trip out of the hospital (institution? laboratory?) had been in an odd silence. The only thing that told Changmin the younger’s true feelings was through the soul bond. Which he still had yet to figure out properly. But he could sense bits and pieces of emotions through this connection between them. And it was not telling him sunshine and rainbows. He figured Sunwoo just needed some time to himself - they had both gone through some messed up shit in the past week or so and it wasn’t something that either of them could just pack into a cardboard box and leave it behind in the room with the white walls.
“Boys, we’re here.” The taxi driver announced, effectively snapping his two passengers out of their daze. “Your dorm, right?”
“Ah, yes.” Recognizing the concrete building before them, Changmin hurriedly agreed and handed over the bills provided to them for their fare. “Thank you, Sir.”
“Are you sure you kids are alright? You two look awfully roughed up.”
Forcing a polite smile, Changmin quickly unlocked the door and pushed a stunned Sunwoo out of the taxi. “We’ll be alright, Sir. Thank you so much!”
A silent trip up to their dorms later, they were warmly welcomed by their entire team in the doorway. It was a flurry of very cautious hugs and a lot of fussing by their older hyungs before they finally stepped foot back into the house. Jacob hyung had the most worried expression that Changmin had ever seen in his entire life.
“Are you alright, Changmin?” Jacob hyung asked, stepping up to him with a frown. Beside him, Sunwoo was similarly swept into his own bombardment of questions. “We only heard that you and Sunwoo got into a car accident and that we couldn’t visit you at the hospital for the whole week at all. Eric even contemplated breaking in to see if you two were alive or not! And suddenly the company told us that you were on your way back here.”
“What really happened, guys?” Chanhee quipped, the dorms falling into a rare silence as Changmin and Sunwoo glanced at each other. Through the bond, he could feel the younger’s growing trepidation and hesitance, only manifesting in the telltale trembling of his fingers. He couldn’t read minds, but he could sense what the other was thinking. Neither of them said anything, but Changmin gently moved to grasp Sunwoo’s shaking hands with his own. It’s okay, he tried to say.
At the lack of a reply and this sudden, weird action by his closest friends, Chanhee suddenly felt rather awkward.
“It’s good enough that you’re back, Changmin, Sunwoo.” Sangyeon hyung declared, hurriedly waving his arms around as if to dispel the tension in the air. “You two can get some much deserved rest. You can spare us the details later on.”
“Whenever you’re ready.” Jacob hyung added warmly.
Changmin couldn’t help but feel a sudden rush of gratitude for his hyungs. Thank you , he mouthed as he pulled Sunwoo towards their room by their intertwined fingers. Hell, his ribs still ached a ton but all he and Sunwoo needed now was a nice, hot shower and some time to talk.
Properly.
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
Changmin stepped out of the shower with a sense of accomplishment. Allowing himself to savour the moment, he closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath of humid but familiar dorm-room air. After spending forever on the hospital bed at the institution after their ‘accident’, he had spent a good deal of time scrubbing himself squeaky clean. Throw on a pair of black sweatpants, a white shirt and he was ready to collapse on his bed.
But as much as he was bone-weary of the week’s events, Changmin had one last thing to do.
He rapped gently on the door of their shared room, alerting the inhabitants of his presence. Said inhabitant was currently curled up in a small lump on Changmin’s bed, clearly waiting for the elder after his own shower.
Changmin’s gaze softened as he paused in the doorway. They had gone through so much in the past few days and it was all because of him. Him and his oh-so-special warp that was far too useful than normal. He would be lying if he claimed he did not feel a single ounce of guilt for dragging the younger through this mess. In fact, he was positively drowning in it whenever he had a moment of silence to himself. The only thing keeping him from floating away into the endless pit of his own mind was the soul bond. Sunwoo. And how he needed him now. Changmin could beat himself up later. He had more pressing matters to attend to.
“Are you asleep?” He murmured as he slid under the covers as well, wrapping his arms around Sunwoo’s torso. The younger’s breathing was slow, steady and his emotions anything but. Changmin opted to rest his chin on his shoulder and for a moment, they lay there in silence, pressed up against each other. In a way, there were no words needed for them - Changmin offering his presence as a comfort, both of them laying their raw emotions out for the other.
“Don’t think I can sleep anymore, hyung.” Came the broken whisper, it’s heart wrenching effect multiplied by the small sniffle. The arms wrapped around Sunwoo’s waist tightened imperceptibly. “I tried to close my eyes and maybe just try to forget everything, b-but I just…can’t.”
“The silence is just too loud,” Changmin agreed, half-heartedly tracing circles on the younger’s back. He was familiar with the feeling - it was something he experienced even as an idol, trying to live up to everyone’s expectations of him. And now Sunwoo was going through all this pain and mental trauma because he couldn’t protect himself, or his partner well enough. “I know…”
“I’m sorry.”
The words had barely left Changmin’s parted lips, before he was suddenly face to face with the younger, palms pressed against his chest as if to push him away, yet unable to bring himself to do so. Sunwoo’s eyes were brimming with tears, but they still shot daggers at the elder. “It’s not your fault, hyung! None of this is! You never asked to be tortured because of something you were born with, it was them!”
“Why do they have to do such things and think they are being charitable compared to others...since when was basic human rights something to compete over?” The banks had overflowed by now, spilling onto Sunwoo’s cheeks. “I hate that they did this to you, hyung! Because you never deserved it - none of you do! But because of them …”
“Because of them, I made you suffer, Sunwoo-ah.” Changmin’s lips pulled into a forlorn smile, gently thumbing at the younger’s cheeks. To wipe the pain away, for a while. “It hasn’t been easy for you to stay by my side, has it?”
The question seemed to set more waterworks into action, even as Sunwoo shook his head furiously in denial, his expression one of grim defiance. But his heart seemed to tell a different story, as his face crumpled once more. Biting back a sob, he buried his face into Changmin’s sleeping shirt. “No, hyung...it’s been hard for me but you’ve had it even worse...I-I don’t even remember the accident but you had to go through it…”
The accident?
His memories were muddled enough. Changmin remembered the impact - the sound of glass breaking, the screams and his own incoherent sobbing as he clutched at Sunwoo’s unconscious form. He remembered the blood dripping into his eyes as he fought to keep himself awake in the ambulance, and the scene he was faced with in the hospital. And he remembered- he remembered the flat line, the monotonous beep and suddenly, they were on the floor with Sunwoo in his arms. Breathing, alive. His warp had worked, and that was all that mattered. That Sunwoo was safe.
“Everytime I close my eyes, Hyung, all I can see is that moment in the cell and I-“ He broke off with a shuddering gasp that ripped shreds out of Changmin’s heart. “What did I do to deserve your sacrifice?”
“Kim Sunwoo...Sunwoo,” Changmin couldn’t take it anymore. Pressing his forehead close against the younger’s, he silenced him with a searing kiss. He didn’t want to be reminded of that accident, or the suffering he went through alone afterwards. He didn’t want Sunwoo to think about the prison, or question his worthiness. Because those were moments they had spent without the other, albeit not physically, but mentally. And now that they were finally together, he didn’t want to dwell on those moments apart for a moment longer. They would come back to them afterward, he was sure. But for now, he just wanted to erase the pain for both of them. Their lips met briefly, but roughly as they both fought for each other. For Sunwoo, who had always been the joyful and carefree one between the two of them. “You’re the only one who would willingly stay by my side, even after knowing the danger we faced. And you still question your worth?”
Sunwoo blinked up at him, doe-like eyes filled with pure emotion . Changmin still hesitated to put a word to that feeling, but it choked him up nonetheless. To be able to care for someone like home, to...love him so selflessly. Only Sunwoo. And he tried to tell the younger as much through the soul bond, marveling as it was reflected back at him twofold.
“Let me take care of you for today, Sunwoo.” Changmin murmured, his hands drifting downwards to rest on his hips. The words seemed to serve as an unintended reminder for the younger, who immediately leaned backwards, eyes blown wide open.
“But hyung, your injuries! You’re not fully recovered yet! What if-“
“I’ll be in pain either way, baby, but I can deal with the physical one…” Changmin paused, his gaze drifting to the side. He hardly showed this vulnerability to anyone and whenever he did, he couldn’t help but feel so raw and exposed . “So will you help me, Sunwoo?”
Feeling the younger relax slightly in his embrace, Changmin leaned forward once more to press a chaste kiss against his lips.
“Help me, and help us to forget about everything…”
“Forget everything, except just you and me .”