Human

Chapter 6

"You should change. I brought you a set of fresh clothes."

Taekwoon sighed but nodded.

"Yeah, okay..."

He took the bundle and went to the bathroom. Hakyeon watched him leave and sighed. He knew that the younger was completely done from not having slept and had probably suffered from anxiety the whole time as well. Still it meant a lot that he was willing to go through this for Wonshik, for a man he barely knew and that he had hated a few days ago. It was good to see that he learned to trust again.

When he came back in a black t-shirt and jeans, the older sent him a reassuring smile.

"You're doing great. I'm really proud of you!"

Taekwoon looked at him startled. Hakyeon could see a light blush creeping on his cheeks.

"W-why...? I didn't do anything!"

The older chuckled lightly.

"You're working on overcoming your fears! That is amazing!"

The black haired clicked his tongue in annoyance, but it was rather obvious that he was embarrassed because of the compliment.

"Whatever! We should see if Wonshik is awake now. Then I can finally leave this damn place!"

~ ~ ~

Wonshik looked up when his partner and his boss came into his room and greeted them with an awkward smile. He didn't really know how he should behave when Taekwoon was there. Yes, the older had stayed here the night, had made sure that Wonshik was okay, but did a relationship change that easily? Or did Taekwoon still secretly hate him?

"It's good to see that you're finally awake. How do you feel?"

Hakyeon smiled and walked closer to the bed. Wonshik didn't look sick, but he also hadn't looked sick when he was about to die so that was not a very good indicator.

"I'm fine, I guess. Dr. Tuan told me I was free to go tomorrow, so..."

A cheeky grin spread on the oldest one's face.

"Well, that's good. Then our Taekwoonie doesn't have to spend any more nights here, am I right?"

He ducked under the punch that was thrown at him and fled to the door.

"Well then, I have to get back to the office now. I'll see you later!"

And with that he disappeared.

The atmosphere became awkward.

Taekwoon still stood in the middle of the room, not knowing what to do with himself, while Wonshik tried to not look at him.

"I...uhm...I'll also..."

"Thank you. For staying here. It means a lot to me."

The older blinked, his mouth still slightly agape because he didn't get to finish his sentence, a blush creeping on his face. He looked really cute like this actually, Wonshik decided. Like a lost kitten. He smiled.

"I'm sorry I thought you were just an ass."

Taekwoon got himself a chair from the window – mainly to hide his embarrassment and less to actually sit down on it.

"I'm...I'm not an ass...at least I try not to be..."

Wonshik couldn't stop the comment from slipping.

"You don't have one, that's a difference, honey."

He fully accepted that he deserved the punch and spent a slplit second thinking about how lucky the other was, that he had punched one of the few parts of his body where he was human. Slamming his hand into a piece of metal would definitely have hurt and maybe he would even have broken his hand.

"No, but seriously, thank you for ignoring my wishes before. You really saved my life."

"Well, that makes us even. Besides it was not as if I did this for you! It was my duty because you are my partner and..."

He shut up when he saw the soft smile on the younger man's face.

Wonshik had the feeling that he had learned to understand Taekwoon a little better by now. The other didn't exactly want to be mean, he was just really bad at admitting his own feelings – to others as well as to himself. So he tried to hide every bit of being nice behind a professional reason to not have to face the reality that he actually liked Wonshik.

The cyborg was sure that his partner had gone through some stuff that made him unable to just like people. But it wasn't Wonshik's place nor the right time to ask something like that, even if he was curious. They absolutely weren't close enough for that – yet. Because he fully intended to befriend the other now, now that he was finally able to see behind the facade.

"I...should leave now and catch some sleep..."

"I'm not letting you drive in that state! You're just going to get into an accident!"

The younger carefully made some place in his bed and patted the new space.

"You can sleep here. I don't think anyone will have anything against it."

Taekwoon sighed, but didn't complain.

"This is a one time thing! You will tell this to nobody and we'll never talk about it again!"

He couldn't help but laugh at how cute the older looked when he was embarrassed and upset at the same time.

"I won't tell anyone – even though I feel kinda bad keeping to myself how adorable you look right now."

He dodged the punch while at the same time pulling Taekwoon closer so that they could share the blanket. This was something he could get used to.