Chapter Text
It was because of a balloon, a heart-shaped yellow balloon some toddler accidentally let go of in the street.
It reminded Mark of his childhood, all those long years that cruelly passed by. It also reminded him of the balloon he lost when he was seven. It also was bright yellow, the color of a sunshine he used to greet after a sleepless night; his mom spent her last money for it, but Mark let go of the thin thread that was tied to it, and the balloon flew – far, far away. He followed the balloon with his eyes, feeling his cheek burning fire red from his mom’s slap that came after calling him stupid, but weirdly, he didn’t feel any pain. Not until now, twenty years later.
Maybe, just maybe, if he managed to catch it now, his mother would come back and praise him, telling how smart he was.
So he dropped everything he was carrying, flyers and letters he had to deliver together with Jackson, who threatened to break Mark's ribs if the latter fucks up his first day at work. Mark wasn’t sure what that meant, but it sounded pretty painful, since the guy came to their facility from a place where all the bad guys go if their moms don’t love them, but he couldn’t control himself, taking off after the balloon, not paying attention to anything else.
Not even to the fact that he was in the middle of a busy street, not minding Jackson’s terrified shout. Not even the sound of a car hitting the brakes and its horn that followed.
Mark just needed a balloon.
“Fuck.” Jinyoung breathed out, feeling the seatbelt cutting into his skin. He didn’t see a person running into the road, probably because his mind was wandering elsewhere, and he thought a car accident would be a funnily fitting finish to this morning – he was tired after an almost sleepless night, he was also late to a meeting and he knew that Jaebum will rip him apart for this.
When Jinyoung finally got out of the car, the guy was lying on the cold ground that was still a bit wet from the rain that was pouring all night, and his heart dropped for a while. But there was no blood or anything and after kneeling next to the person and seeing him weakly smiling, clutching a thread of a balloon, Jinyoung exhaled in relief.
“I’m so sorry, I told him not to run around like crazy.” He heard a voice next to them and confusion filled up his head. Jinyoung turned to the voice and saw a guy, probably not any older than he was himself, panting from running all the way to them with a pile of flyers and at the same time trying to shoo away the crowd that was already gathering to stare at the scene. “Mark, get up.”
Jinyoung couldn’t help but wonder what kind of relationship those two guys had, seeing how the first one slowly checked Mark’s face from bruises and injuries and cleaned his shirt and pants with a few swipes of his hand when Mark finally stood up.
“I got a balloon.” Was the only response of the guy and Jinyoung frowned. Something about him seemed off, but he couldn’t determine what. “Jacks, I finally got one!”
“Yeah, yeah, good job, kid.” His friend sighed, looking at Jinyoung with an apologetic expression and the latter saw a shadow in his eyes, like the situation they were in was painfully usual. “Don’t mind him, he didn’t mean any harm. He’s just a bit… slow, so we keep an eye on him. Is your car okay? My name is Jackson, by the way.”
Actually, Jinyoung wasn’t sure about the condition of his car, but he didn’t even look at it before saying, “I think so. But what do you mean by slow?”
However, Jackson didn’t seem like he wanted to get into details. “Listen, I’m a simple guy, just trying to push through my first day in work, I don’t know all these big fancy words related to why Mark is who he is. He just… doesn’t act his age, that’s that.”
Jinyoung’s eyes shifted to the said guy, still holding the balloon next to his heart, as if it was his most valuable belonging. Mark was smiling brightly and nobody could’ve ever told that a few seconds ago he almost got hit by a car, dark hair tousled on his forehead, always getting into his eyes, making him blink and shake his head every few moments.
“I want to be smart, so that my mom would come and take me back!” Mark suddenly exclaimed, weird childish joy at the thought coloring his voice.
“When he was sixteen, his mom left him to our boss who has some sort of a facility for troublesome people,” Jackson explained seeing Jinyoung’s confused stare. “I got out of jail a few days ago, the man was the only one who accepted me to work, and that’s how I met Mark.”
“Sorry to hear that.” Jinyoung mumbled, feeling uncomfortable. An ex-prisoner and a disabled person wasn’t the company he wanted to be in the most right now, as brutal as it sounded. “If he’s okay, I will be going, I’m late for work.”
“I’m sure he’s fine and you must be busy. I’m sorry again.” Jackson said, slightly bowing to him and poking his friend to do the same.
Mark was still smiling as he waved to Jinyoung and the latter gave him a backhanded smile in return, getting into the car again only to break god knows how many more traffic rules speeding through the streets, Mark and Jackson being shoved somewhere deep down his brain. There were more important things to be worried about.
“What did I miss?” he finally whispered to Youngjae twenty minutes later, one arm in a lab coat already, another one trying to gather his notes of the speech he wrote for Jaebum to say during the meeting.
Youngjae’s response was almost lazy and kind of bored, “Nothing new, just Jaebum losing his mind because you’re late. You know, it wouldn’t be as amusing if I didn’t know that he probably came here from your place.”
“He didn’t.” Jinyoung put on a wry smile, finally getting his lab coat on himself properly, but Youngjae didn’t look like he believed this. However, it wasn’t a lie – it was him who spent the night at Jaebum’s apartment this time, because the latter was panicking about today’s meeting. “Where is he, anyway? The meeting was supposed to start ten minutes ago.”
He didn’t need to wait for an answer, as Jaebum entered the meeting room with a whole bunch of businessmen, trying to look intimidating with all those black suits and stone cold faces. This was an important meeting, they all knew that – it was to determine whether their research gets a sponsorship or not. Jinyoung didn’t hope much, the concept of the research was still too vague and they didn’t even know the exact outcome of it, but Jaebum was obsessed with the thought that they were about to make history.
“So now that we’re all here,” Jaebum started, throwing a cold and accusing stare at Jinyoung and the latter responded with a stare equally cold, “I think it’s time to introduce the investors with our research. Yugyeom, could you please turn on the presentation?”
Yugyeom’s facial expression was clearly saying that he wasn’t paid for taking care of Jaebum’s laptop and its contents, but he complied anyway, and a set of slides, meticulously made by none other than Jinyoung, flashed on the board.
“This was a video of an extremely excellent rat.” Jaebum told five minutes later, after the businessmen started whispering among themselves, not really understanding why they’re shown a video of a lab pet trying to get through a maze. “This little friend of ours is getting a special treatment that includes alpha lipoic xanthine glucoside.”
It was clear that aside Jaebum himself, Jinyoung, Youngjae and Yugyeom nobody had any clue about what was being discussed, so Jaebum continued, nervously fidgeting in his spot, “While doing experiments, we administered this medicine, shortened as ALG, to the neurons of our lab rats, combining it with high-frequency electrical stimulation. As we hoped, synapses in their brain started to form, increasing the number of them tenfold and we found out that it could lead to higher efficiency of the brain.”
“What are you trying to say, Mr. Im?” one of the businessmen asked with a frown etched in his face. “We’re businessmen, not scientists, and I’m sure our clients aren’t either. Can you offer us a simpler explanation? We need to know what exactly you’re trying to sell us.”
Jinyoung saw drops of sweat appearing on Jaebum’s forehead, and his hands that were starting to shake even more – now he was obviously panicking, unsure of what to do.
Im Jaebum was never simple, skipping a few grades of elementary school because he was solving cubic equations when his peers were learning the multiplication table, then graduating from high school at the age of sixteen. Graduating from Seoul National University Chemistry department with honors and a double degree in biology at the age of twenty one. Accepted into one of the most prestigious research laboratories in the country the same month, leaving it two weeks later, because being told what to do wasn’t something that went well with Jaebum’s views on life, then creating his own. Discovering a treatment that could throw the entire world upside down being only twenty five.
And yet, he still wasn’t capable of explaining his trace of thoughts so that others would get a grasp o it.
“What he is trying to say,” Jinyoung loudly exclaimed, trying not to freak out from the stares slowly shifting to him and Jaebum’s eyebrows furrowing at this unexpected interruption, “Is that the treatment we developed maximizes the capacity of the brain. In plain terms, it can make people smarter.”
“Smarter? What is this, a sci-fi movie?” one of the men asked and some others joined him in a mocking laughter, making Jinyoung clench his jaw.
“This is far from the things happening in movies you must like so much.” He poisonously smiled, not ready to throw away his pride and suck up to every rich guy on earth for a few billions of wons. “We’re not talking about producing geniuses, but it potentially could help people with disabilities to reach at least the intellectual capacity of healthy people.”
The businessman, a bit humiliated, turned back to Jaebum, completely ignoring Jinyoung’s words, “Okay, so it worked on a rat. What’s next?”
“Next… Clinical trials with people.” Jaebum quickly answered, shooting a quick death glare at his younger colleague. “We just need a suitable person who would agree to this treatment for us to see if it works on people. To see that it works, I mean.”
“And have you found a person like that?”
Jaebum lowered his head, “Not yet. But we’re trying.”
Another two hours later he finally placed his signature on papers that announced the research center getting a donation worth three billion wons and they all sighed in relief.
“My office, now.” He mumbled passing by and Jinyoung sighed, knowing that it meant nothing good. He didn’t follow immediately, however, as if trying to make a statement that Jaebum couldn’t control him, but a few minutes later he turned to go, Youngjae and Yugyeom accompanying him, as those two were going to the lab to do their shifts.
“Don’t you think Jaebum is a bit reckless with this?” Yugyeom asked, clutching his lab coat closer, trying to protect himself from the harsh early autumn wind as they were walking outside, moving from one building to another.
“What do you mean?” Jinyoung responded, but he knew very well what the younger was talking about. Somewhere deep inside he had thought about it too – Jaebum was like crazy at the times, obsessed with this research like he never was with anything else, rushing it as much as possible.
Youngjae agreed, his calm voice now echoing through the maze of corridors, “If we succeed, it will certainly be a historical moment, but clinical trials all of a sudden? In all our experiments, it was only two or three rats that succeeded. What will happen if we get ahead ourselves and something terrible happens?”
“Nothing bad will happen.” Jinyoung mumbled, trying to convince himself with it as they reached the corridor which led to Jaebum’s office. “He knows what he’s doing. If Jaebum judged that there’s no risk in trying it on people, I have no grounds to disagree.”
“Maybe you’d think otherwise if you weren’t sleeping with him.” Yugyeom shrugged. He didn’t mean it that way, they all knew - he was being blunt and honest, just like he always was, and on other occasions Jinyoung even valued this trait of his, but now it just hurt.
His voice was ice cold, when they finally needed to separate, “I trust him and it has nothing to do with whatever you think is happening between us.”
“But—“
“You’re also a member of this team, don’t forget that.” Jinyoung said, disappearing behind the door leading to Jaebum’s office – that sacred place where no one was allowed in without a serious reason and where no one really wanted to be invited in. Jaebum was pretty intimidating when he wanted to be.
“Thanks a lot.” Was the latter’s greeting when he finally lifted his eyes from the report he’s been writing. Usually it never meant anything, just one word to express gratitude, maybe for Jinyoung getting him out of a tricky situation earlier. But from the sarcasm in it, Jinyoung judged it wasn’t that. “For almost ruining things for us.”
Jinyoung looked at him exasperated, “What are you talking about?”
“Was it necessary to be so rude?” Jaebum asked, anger clearly showing in his exhausted face. “movies you like so much? Is that a proper way to speak with someone who gives us money?”
“He was making fun of you, for god’s sake.” Jinyoung was on the verge of losing his patience. “But if we’re about to discuss the meeting, when were you going to tell us that you’re ready to do clinical trials? It wasn’t really nice to pretend that I knew it when Youngjae and Yugyeom were arguing whether you lost your mind or not.”
It was that moment when Jaebum was the one looking sorry, “I had to convince them to invest, so I just blurted it out. But we are ready, we just need a person for it. But is it even legal to do it when we don’t know what might happen?”
“It’s not a thing you could blurt out, Jaebum.” Jinyoung sighed, seeing the older standing up and giving him an apologetic back hug. A cold and secret one, one that wasn’t ever supposed to be seen by others and it made him helpless.
It was always like that, Jinyoung bitterly thought. Their relationship was always a secret regulated by ridiculous rules. They always had to arrive to work separately, even if they spent the night together. If they ended up in Jaebum’s apartment, Jinyoung could never stay for the night and Jaebum never stayed longer than a few hours either.
It was a public secret by now, but Jaebum refused to go public for whatever reason, making it the hottest topic among everyone working in the center, and Jinyoung, feeling a tiny bit hurt by this, couldn’t do anything else but sigh. He knew that it’s not fair and definitely not even right, and he also knew that he definitely was the more in love one in this relationship, but it didn’t bother him that much, as long as he was feeling Jaebum’s warm breath on his neck.
“Yes, it’s legal, as long as you have a consent and properly inform people about the risks.”
“Intellectually handicapped people, Jinyoung. They can’t give consents.”
“I know. Parents, guardians, anything works.” It wasn’t the greatest topic to discuss while he still was in Jaebum’s cold and controlling embrace, but Jinyoung conveniently minored in medical law while in university and Jaebum wasn’t ashamed of using it to his advantage.
The latter sighed, “I’ve been contacting schools and other facilities for people with special needs, but everyone declined. It’s too risky and they don’t seem to trust me.”
Jinyoung raised his eyebrows at this unexpected confession, wondering what else he had been doing behind their backs. Jaebum was starting to change, that was for sure. He was ready to go incredible lengths for this project and the possible lengths scared Jinyoung.
“You can’t blame them, it’s basically sending a person to the unknown. People are not rats, Jaebum, you can’t expect them to line up in front of your door just because you think you can cure the incurable.”
Jaebum looked sad and tired, his skin had this greyish undertone as an evidence of not seeing the sunlight that often, most probably because of his habit to spend all of his time in the lab working on his projects, one crazier than another, and Jinyoung quickly added, “You’re not alone in this, I’ll do everything to help you.”
He didn’t really have any confidence in his words, but a few rough kisses later, when he was sent out of the office to work, he suddenly remembered the accident in the morning, those two guys. He couldn’t remember their names, because this entire morning was way too overwhelming, but he thought that there was some hope, at least he could try to convince them to participate in the experiment.
With the guy’s determination to become smart, it didn’t seem that hard, Jinyoung only needed to find him.
“I need all possible contacts of the companies that are responsible for post deliveries, flyers and stuff like that.” he said to Yugyeom, when he finally reached the lab.
“You do realize that it will take ages, right?” The younger didn’t even asked what it was for – weird requests didn’t surprise him anymore, considering where he was working, but this task sounded extremely absurd. “There are shitloads of those in Seoul.”
“Not all of them have disabled workers, so that should make your work a bit easier, shouldn’t it?” Jinyoung deadpanned, sitting down and turning on his laptop. “Youngjae, help him.”
The latter just sighed, putting down his half-eaten sandwich, knowing that lunch time was over for them. “What are you up to?”
“It’s for the research.” Was the only response he heard before Jinyoung glued his stare to a bunch of databases. “I want the phone numbers to be on my table before five, if not, you’re not leaving the lab.”